Was there any point to the whole castle restoration B-plot in Season 4? All that build-up, and they fucking dropped it out of the blue. I can't even remember any time it was acknowledged in S5, either, outside of that one alternate timeline where Nightmare Moon won in the finale.
Did Tirek fuck it up again in "Twilight's Kingdom" off-screen? Did the rope bridge leading there give out or something? They dedicated (if not merely utilized) it in so many episodes, I can't believe that was all for nothing.
>>25674104
I think it is obvious to everyone this was originally going to be twilight's castle, but a certain entity that wishes to sell toys decided it wasn't garish enough, and demanded a crystal castle instead.
>>25674983
Apparently the toy inserts are so subtle sometimes they just work them in. Like Cherry Berry's stuff or them taking a balloon.
>>25674104
The entire storyline was deflected late in the writing process so Hasbro could have it's "Castle of Friendship".
The actual work they did for the "restored Castle of the Two Sisters" doesn't get used until the S5 finale's NMM section, where you get to see what it'd have looked like.
>>25674104
That bugged the shit out of me. Would have made a bitchin' legion of friendship
>>25675361
sauce?
>>25675361
Didn't they have concept art for a tree-based town around the castle? I seem to recall that.
>>25674104
There was one episode where it was the focal point and like one more where they just happened to be there while the real plot started. You call that "all that build-up"? It was just a set piece.
>>25674104
Did Rara ever return the tapestries she ''borrowed'' for ''inspiration and restoration'' from the abandoned castle?
>>25677705
They did? where did you hear that?
>>25677730
There were never any Tapestries darling, I have no idea what you are talking about, Now be a prince and help me sell these new Castle inspired vintage Dresses
>>25677770
Rarity acoolpony
>>25677770
Rara you cold?
Why are your rubbing your hooves like that?
>>25677730
There's another example of what the castle plot derail did in terms of storyline holes. Even stuff like Inspiration Manifestation make more sense if the Mane 6 were supposed to end up in the gradually restored Castle of the Two Sisters more and more often, but the discontinuity of the "yeah, we're gonna need you to make a fucking big castle out of nowhere in the middle of Ponyville" was already being toyforced in at that point.
Officially, you won't hear shit about it until after MLP is dead and gone as a series, because officially, what you see is what you get- like Sibsy/Wildfire never being in the Wonderbolts training team because they put in Libmanpone instead- but they forget to take her cutie mark off the blackboard in one of the scenes.
Rewrites happen to some degree constantly, but the castle one was too big to really hide all the signs of it, considering how much of S4 had already been written up and actually done.
>>25677841
The castle could've been really interesting, especially if Twilight made it her residence/Kingdom. Just expand a nice village around it and you have a new city.
>>25677850
At least it would be a proper medieval castle with a history related to the show deep in the woods, instead of a crystal empire cut-out in the middle of a rustic town.
>>25677866
They could have had at least made it look better, and better fit it. Not like something straight out of the Crystal empire. Like picture related.
It was a bit weird because they spent the entire episode implying that it was going to become Twilight's castle.
And then we got the fucking eyesore instead and it was dropped.
>>25677714]
THIS... maybe
I mean why would they even want to repair an old castle if they weren't going to live in or use it? it leads you to think they were, so you can't blame people for being mistaken.
>>25677841
sauce on the libmanpony thing?
and how do you figure it was make a big fucking castle out of nowhere? i figured that they would've said somethign if they had to make rewrites, they've mentioned it before, and if Lauren was able to mention rewrites too - and say she wasn't happy with them - than Hasbro aren't going to mind them saying it.
Also, considering that the art on the box was designed by the same production team, clearly, as it was the same style, then obviously they were designing it under direction from the writing staff as with ALL THE OTHER SETTINGS IN THE SHOW. The staff DID come up with the idea and a bit of the general outline of the art.
Like Carousel Boutique. Lauren designed that. She was ASKED by Hasbro anf given the freedom to do it so that the toys could fit into the show in a way she wanted and have less clashes over difference of opinion. And that, according to Polsky at BUCK last year is the way they still roll now.
It could merely seem like there was a reqrite because they started fielding ideas for locations before actually writing the plot and doing the art for the show, such as the castle of the two sisters, maybe a writer thought of it, and they thought, yeah, we'll put that in, and designed some art, did an episode as a standalone thing, and then all the other episodes slowly got suggested, they did art for them with the writing etc...
and then they though, well, the crystal castle thing looks nice and twilight getting her own castle as a plotline is a nice idea, so we'll keep that and dump the castle of the two sistersas the new home for twalot.
But we liek the art for it and the story of that episode so we'll still keep them.
TLDR they started with that in mind as the new home for twi but changed their mind when they got the idea for twilight getting her own new castle and saw the art for the crystal castle.
Not necessarily the Hasbro Execs' idea, but maybe Meghan's or Larson's or Big Jim's.
>>25674104
>They dedicated (if not merely utilized) it in so many episodes
Not really, it was the main focus of one episode and appeared in a few others. That's not really a lot.
And honestly, I don't think it was ever supposed to be Twilight's castle. For one, while they did restore it a little, the thing is still a ruin and wouldn't be inhabitable unless they get a construction crew to completely renovate it. And then it's in the middle of the Everfree forest, far away from Ponyville, which ponies usually avoid, what with the whole "Everfree Forest is a scary place" thing. Not really the perfect place for a public library (assuming her home still functions as that) and do you really think Twilight would want to live that far from her friends?
I can see why people would think this was the intended castle, and admittedly the box could easily just have fixed the thing at the end of the season, but the location simply doesn't fit in my opinion. The crystal castle definitely isn't perfect (the exterior simply sucks, but the interior is pretty cool albeit a bit lacking in warm colors and coziness), but at least it's better placed.
>>25677714
>>25678211
>Princess Twilight two-parter - takes the time to establish why the castle was in ruins in the first place, and offers a glimpse of what it looked like in it's prime
>Castle-Mania - an entire castle-centric episode
>Power Ponies episode - first five minutes begins with them doing restoration work with the castle, even though the plot could've just as easily started anywhere else
>Inspiration Manifestation - again revisits the castle for the focal point of the plot
That's plenty of build-up, by this show's standards. Even if it wasn't going to be Twilight's actual home, they could have at least done something with it.
They could've made it into a "Nightmare Moon / Elements of Harmony" heritage center to attract tourists, like Salem does with those witch museums. Help disseminate the facts from the legends, so ponies don't keep mistaking their secondary ruler for a deranged cannibal. They could've also played with it's location being the nearest building to the Tree of Harmony, or the key to why the Everfree Forest holds so many supernatural elements, despite that location originally being fit for the Princesses centuries ago.
>>25678679
>Because it has strong ties to Nightmare Moon they could've restore it to a Bat pony military outpost
Damn
>>25677938
It's canon and it could have happen in S6.
>>25678126
Visual here.
Note Wildfire's cutie mark on the board- they forgot to alter it. Cross-check the other cutie marks against the other trainees.
The only one missing is Libmanpony, who has Wildfire's model but is a recolor. Sibsy gets wiped from the episode mid-production, too late to do anything but "reskin" her as Libman's OC.
>>25677938
What was even the deal with the castle having that weird crystal structure in the first place? Is it made out of pure magic, or some shit?
>>25681198
The same stuff the Tree of Harmony is made from, it would seem.
>>25678126
Supposedly according to Big Jim there is less Hasbro demands than one might expect.
I think once the writing and animation/design staff realized that the direction of the season was not focused on it but rather on the key arc and the Tree of Harmony, they needed something to fit.
Supposedly Hasbro bases toys around what's in the show and not the other way around a lot of the time with big things like this. The problem with the castle restoration arc was that it wasn't tied into the Tree of Harmony one.
The Friendship Castle shows all the trademarks of being designed by Phil Caesar too, so that adds credence to the "wait, them restoring the old castle doesn't go with the story we're actually ending up telling" theory.
>>25678679
They still might, minor plot lines also take incredibly long to finish in this show, what with how many important characters are involved. Rainbow Dash became a Wonderbolt trainee, in, what, S3? It took a long time before they even clarified she was in the reserves now. The buildup for the Equestria Games also began in S3, and didn't finish until the last episode of the finale in S4.
>>25678737
Not involved with your discussion, just chiming in to say that yep, this is legit. Sibsy's Wildfire was cut in favor of a recolor that Libman later "adopted" as her own. Why Sibsy's OC was cut is mostly up to speculation and rumors.
Anyways, there are more remnants of Wildfire in the episode, many scenes that show only small parts of a pony, especially group scenes with featuring the competitors, aren't recolored, so instead of the pony who wound up competing you actually have Wildfire.
>>25681480
Sauce? Did he go into details? Was there soemthing he said in an interview (it sounds detailed and therefore interview-y),
Sauces, if there are multiple instances?
Mayonnaise?
Paul Newman's?
>>25681898
Interview with Bronyville last night. He talked about how half the time people don't even notice it. Like, Cherry Berry's pedalcopter in TT123 or whenever they use the balloon.
I'm inclined to believe that the castle of the two sisters just sort of fell by the wayside when it became obvious the Tree of Harmony plot was directing everything. They wanted to tie stuff together and it wasn't really related.
>>25682070
What, kind of like what I said? >>25678126
that they just thought this was better halfwaay thru production?
Thanks by the way.
What do you mean, people don't even notice it? How does that mean there are less demands than you;d think from the Corporate Pigfuckers?
Does the pedalcopter even have anything to do with it, even count as a demand, given that they weren't even going to sell that as a toy?
Or the balloon?
Link to the interview?
Also is there a link to the journal of the two sisters? There is nothing even on yayponies!
>>25682191
Yeah. The whole Journal arc wasn't supposed to be the focus of the season like the key are was. So they dropped it.
>>25681505
Just blame the entire group behind it and burn them all.
>>25683115
Yeah, because Hasbro is still losing money since Black Friday.
