>>4900
>Twilight Sparkle's storyline in this felt pretty cookie cutter. Not her ascension so much as the beats that were hit; we saw all of this in the season premiere. A hopeless situation, the fall/destruction of Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle freaking out. The Ending of The End in many ways just feels like a more epic version of The Beginning of The End, and both share a lot with season 4's final as well, along with to a lesser extent the premiere of that season (we don't have the elements now!).
and as I have said before, this my major complaint with the episode that I can extract out of it. It´s quite logical to take it but it doesn´t take a lot risks because it has been established before. The biggest I can be quite snide here because...are you describing the movie or season 4´s finale? Because Tirek didn´t blow up Canterlot in that finale yet Tempest conquered Canterlot in less than 5 minutes.

>while I have yet to fully judge the elements of harmony being taken out of the picture and Twilight facing reality on her own twice only to have rainbow friendship magic come save them at the end. It is something that I can draw critical lines at yet almost smile in amusement that it happened twice. I will say this though: if you'd ask me anywhere large amounts of fan service and a bonkers turn your brain off and just watch the homages and call backs, it is the final of FiM.
the lack of the elements doesn´t bother me at all. In fact, more than service that moral of friendship being the actual power and acknowledging that the elements were simply tools to expose it with more clarity for a certain period is what has made Twilight´s discourse stronger and so, setting up the final climax properly. Honestly,I appreciate that they didn´t go through an outlandish route at beating them and those who helped the mane 6 were characters that interacted with her and learned a few lessons as well.

>>5033
>I could go on a tangent on so many things! Positive, negative, theories etc. It just feels like I could run so long with this that I'm not sure where to start. I've decided just to make what could turn out to be a pretty rambling finish to this review and move on.
yeah, I am applying that idea as well, reviewing it as if it was like any other because otherwise, we would never end with this. I had asked myself how I would comment on this yet all that I reflect in the end are a combination of both spontaneous yet down to earth answers that I can offer while posting.