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HawkbitAlpha

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Posts posted by HawkbitAlpha

  1. Yep, bringing back an old SBM idea of mine from years ago! Back in 2016, I called on SBM members to pool together and make a big collection of songs we all loved, as a means of cross-pollinating our various music tastes and giving each other new stuff to listen to. Yeah, I did that, and then... made a couple of other attempts at a second, but never followed through on them. Well, now it's time for the first SBC version, for real!

    The basic idea remains the same: if you want to pitch in to this sonic mosaic, drop a reply below with Youtube or Spotify (preferably, Youtube) links to a few songs that you want to be added - see the rules below for how many are allowed per person. All of them will go into a playlist on both websites, and if y'all want, I might compile everything into a huge cache of MP3 files as well, tagged up as a compilation album. I'm planning on ending the submission period at midnight on June 5th at the moment, but it can go longer if we feel like it.

    A few rules:

    • Length limits per person: you have a total of 28 minutes worth of songs to play with. This means that you could either submit, say, the first 13 tracks of Madvillainy, or a single 28-minute-long song. I'd recommend constraining it to 4 tracks, 7 minutes long max just to keep things simple (so I don't have to do math, yay!), but the 28-minute limit is what really matters. (I'd recommend using this site to count it all up.)
    • Joke/troll entries can and most likely will be excluded.
    • Try to make sure that what you're submitting is available (i.e. not copyright-blocked) on both YT and Spotify.
    • No repeat entries (can't submit the same thing as somebody else).
    • AFTER-THE-FACT ADDITION: If possible, try to make your submissions with a Spotify playlist. That makes the process of building the master playlist a lot faster.
    • Most of all: have fun with it!

    Let's get the ball rolling!

     

    Spoiler

    HawkbitAlpha:
    *Muse - Prelude
    *Muse - Survival
    *Steam Powered Giraffe - Lyin' Awake
    *Gary Clark Jr. - Pearl Cadillac
    *Marty Friedman - Ashita e no Sanka
    *Plini - Selenium Forest

    Fred:
    *James Brown - Cold Sweat
    *Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
    *Prince - 1999
    *Living Colour - Cult of Personality
    *Lenny Kravitz - American Woman

    Steel Sponge:
    *MLP:FiM - Smile Song
    *Steven Universe - Both of You
    *Phineas & Ferb - Summer Belongs to You
    *The SB Musical - I'm Not a Loser
    *Steven Universe - What's the Use of Feeling (Blue)?
    *Merrie Melodies - The Wizard

    Aya:
    *GOOD COMING - Nakama
    *BEAT CRUSADERS - HEYx2 LOOK x2
    *Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day
    *Blue's Clues - Alphabet Song
    *David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
    *Lady Gaga - Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)
    *Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
    *Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time

    jjs:
    *The Killers - Miss Atomic Bomb
    *The Beatles - Across the Universe
    *Phil Collins - Take Me Home
    *The Lonely Island - Finest Girl

    sbl:
    *The Beatles - Because
    *Johann Strauss Orchestra - Second Waltz
    *Coldplay - Politik
    *Radiohead - Weird Fishes
    *CamelPhat/Elderbrook - Cola
    *Madvillain - Operation Lifesaver aka Mint Test
    *Tyler the Creator - 435
    *Peggy Gou - Starry Night

    Storm:
    *Britney Spears - Break the Ice
    *YUQI - Bonnie & Clyde
    *Eminem - Cinderella Man
    *K/DA - MORE
    *D'Andre Martin - Look at My Life
    *Lil Peep & XXXTENTACION - Falling Down (Travis Barker Remix)

    Burgerpants:
    *dgoHn - Elle
    *Klute - Hell Hath No Fury
    *Darren Styles - Gettng Better
    *CLSM - See You on the Other Side

    WhoBob:
    *Queen - Who Wants to Live Forever
    *Elton John - Someone Saved My Life Tonight
    *Catherine Feeny - Mr. Blue
    *Paramore - Last Hope
    *George Michael - Faith
    *Taylor Swift - Welcome to New York

    JCM:
    *Bill Withers - Lovely Day
    *The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
    *Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke
    *Earth, Wind, & Fire - September
    *The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
    *The Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman
    *The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
    *Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

    Rusty:
    *They Might Be Giants - The Statue Got Me High
    *Andy Yu - Castaways
    *Albina - Tick Tock
    *The Flaming Lips - Spongebob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy

    magic the veemon:
    *Noam Kaniel/Blush - Glitter Force Theme
    *Josie and the Pussycats Theme
    *Alessia Orlando - Butterflix Power
    *The Fresh Beat Band - Friends Give Friends a Hand
    *The Fresh Beat Band - Bananas
    *Stefano Calivieri - What's New, Scooby-Doo?
    *Fancy Nancy - Add a Little Fancy

    Kylie:
    *Calvin Harris/HAIM - Pray to God
    *Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind
    *Ariana Grande - Honeymoon Avenue
    *Rihanna - James Joint
    *Radiohead - Let Down
    *Carly Rae Jepsen - This Kiss
    *Zedd/Foxes - Clarity

    SquiddyFace:
    *Sonic 3D Blast - You're My Hero
    *Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
    *Sonic CD - Sonic Boom
    *Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure

    dmandaman:
    *Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
    *Depeche Mode - People Are People
    *Lone - Lying in the Reeds
    *The Crystal Method - Keep Hope Alive
    *Prince - Purple Rain

    OWM:
    *Blur - Coffee & TV
    *Joni Mitchell - Help Me
    *SZA - Drew Barrymore
    *At the Drive In - Invalid Litter Dept.
    *Genesis - Turn It On Again
    *Teresa Teng - Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin

    Aquatic Konquest:
    *Badshah/Dilijit Dosanjh/Aastha Gill - Proper Patola
    *Aastha Gill/Badshah - Buzz
    *Megan Nicole - B-e-a-utiful
    *Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl
    *Cover Drive - Twilight
    *Maluma/Farruko - ¿Dónde Estás?
    *Craig David - 7 Days
    *Conor Maynard - Just in Case

     

  2. Over the last year, I haven't been as present on SBC as I was before. There's a very clear reason for that: I've returned to activity in my good old home game of YSFlight, coming out of a more than 3-year break, and joined a little combat-oriented group called the 2nd United Combat Wing. On top of that, I was finally unbanned (after almost 6 years - sounds familiar, huh?) from the game's main community, YSFlight Headquarters, so I've been putting my time in there as well. Combine that with the fact that I haven't had much to contribute on SBC, and, well, you've got a recipe for a big ol' dead Hawk. But the way I see it, just because I've started playing an old game again shouldn't mean we don't talk anymore. So I had the thought: why not bring the fun over there?

    That's where this thread comes in: I'd like to personally invite everyone on SBC, gamers and posters alike, to join me in the long-joked-about YSFlight Simulator! I've decided to announce it at this point in time because of the two events that'll be going on back-to-back this weekend, so if any of you want to get a taste of being in the community (which is about the same size as SBC), this is a great time to do so.

     

    MARCH 19: FRIDAY NIGHT FLIGHT

    3Mi3J9j.png

    Okay, this one isn't a super special event, since it's weekly, but it works nonetheless. The idea is simple: everybody gets on one server (usually Neocon's Civil Aviation Server, but mine is a backup for when CAS is down), decides on a flight plan, and has a group flight from point A to B. Starts at 7:15 Central/00:15 UTC, and usually lasts about an hour to an hour and a half. Any plane works as long as it's fast enough to keep up, has enough fuel to make the entire journey, and you don't use it to shoot other people down. A great and relaxing way to get to know a few people, if you will.

     

    MARCH 20: THE YSFLIGHT AIR & SPACE EXPO

    cUMBPeO.png

    Now this is a much bigger event that you can expect more than a dozen people to attend. It's the first YSFlight community airshow of the year (a typical year usually has a few of these, one every few months), in which people will be flying and making a variety of performances, aerobatic stunts and all, for everyone to see. (Here's what one usually feels like.) I'll be flying in this airshow myself, representing the aforementioned 2nd United Combat Wing with a stubby little jet called the Whizzing Arrow II (*wink!*). Capping it all off is the YS Thunderbirds, our community's recreation of the real-life US Air Force Thunderbirds. Registration for this airshow has already closed, but everyone is free to come in and enjoy the show as a spectator!

    For more detailed information: https://forum.ysfhq.com/viewtopic.php?t=10549

    (Also, it's hosted on the YSTB's own Discord, where the narration and audio are streamed. If you wanna get into both of these events, make sure you have at least two slots for Discord servers open!)

     

    I'm well aware that the idea of flight simulation probably doesn't interest anyone on SBC, but I'd like to point out that it doesn't even interest me. I come at YSF nowadays purely to have fun as a simple gamer, and I think many of you could as well given the right introduction. With that said, if you want to give it a try and come to either of these events, hit me up on my dedicated Discord (or just a DM, if you prefer that), and I'll try to help you get everything set up. And in any case, see you soon!

    • Thanks 2
  3. If you're one of the people who loved this game, then you probably know that the in-game soundtrack for it was mixed down into a very flat mono sound. That translated into rips of the soundtrack, and for the longest time, the only stereo mixes we'd get of the BFBB soundtrack were the tracks that were re-used for the Truth or Square game; even BFBB Rehydrated only had what Coleslaw and I call "fake stereo".

    Until now, that is!

     

     

    Apparently, fans were able to get in contact with the original developers and soundtrack artists for BFBB, and in doing so, got hold of the true stereo copies for the game. You can go here to get FLAC copies of the entire thing. As for my recommended tracks, if you want just some to keep: Poseidome, Mermalair, Rock Bottom, Slide, Industrial Park, Flying Dutchman's Graveyard, SB's Dream, and the final boss theme all sound amazing like this!

    • Happy 1
  4. Looks like we now have somebody who's actually interesting to debate!

    A couple of nights, I made a response video to a guy that some of you (apparently, from "Sandalscord"?) know as DTH, aka The Man With Nothing To Offer on Youtube. He made his own video on the topic of abortion from a pro-life stance, and I felt it would be a good starting point to make my own entry into making video content. The main problem with it is that I'm absolutely horrible at organizing my thoughts in real time (probably due to some combination of ADHD and autism), and that left behind a lot of room for more arguments to be made... which he did, by leaving a lengthy comment on my response video. I'm gonna be responding to that here. Yes, here, for reasons of... things. I dunno. Where the hell else am I gonna make a long-form, blog-like public post like this?

    Before we go on, if you're deep enough into this topic, I'd advise you to stop here and watch DTH's original video, as well as the response, and check out his comment on said response (it's the pinned comment). I go through the whole thing in one take in my response, but let's just make sure we're all on the same page.

     

     


    Alright, are you done with that? Are you sure? Are you really sure? Cool, now let's get into the fun part!
     

    Quote

    Hi, there. Sorry to have made a bad first impression on you the night I had "debated" you, supposedly. I have neither ADHD nor autism, but I am not good at talking about things when either unprepared to do so or when I have no idea wtf I am doing, which is what happened over that night. I was kind of pushed into it, soooooo forgive me for my incoherency.


    So we were in the same situation, huh? Amazin'!
     

    Quote

    I should advise that I address a lot of the arguments that you make in the video, I then say a retort to later on the video. Like, the whole thing about it not being responsible to raise a child if you are having financial turmoils. You believe that I think that having a child is the most responsible thing to do and even during financial turmoil that is of great responsibility. I don't endorse this stance. What I was saying was that it's not a good idea to have children during times of financial turmoil because it's expensive and it's only best to do it in times of secure financial decision making. I agree with that and then you act like I disagree with that and then you skew your response to make it as if Im unwillingly agreeing with that, even though I am agreeing with that. That's the whole point of my argument. It's not a good idea to raise a child in times of financial turmoil and if you try, the burden's on your back. That's why I have no sympathy for that because that's something that people need to take more seriously and a lot do not, specifically a lot of people who have abortions. I must reiterate, it seems like you agree with me on this matter, but you think I don't or not in the way you think that I do. And to add on to you saying "then, don't" to that sort of dealio, there are certain fractions of people that do have children who lack financial security that irresponsibly or maybe out of their own lack of condition have children. You ignore that (but then again I do too, that would've been a good point to bring up). Some people lack financial literacy, self-discipline, and foresight and I think that not only sex education, but promoting financial literacy programs can somewhat alleviate that.


    Let's reframe this portion of the response video, and I can explain what I was saying. My original reaction was the following:

    "Okay, I'll tell you why [most people don't use the argument that people who get abortions are irresponsible]: because it's not a good argument. So, how do you define what's responsible in this situation? Or do you just assume, based on your opinion, that having a child is the most responsible option? Because, if you ask me, we know that most abortions are because of the parents not having a good [...] financial position, social position, or whatever. I'd argue that it's actually more responsible to not raise a child when you are not in a good position to do so, or you don't think you're ready to, than to just push ahead..."

    Underlying this entire section is the assumption that "you", in a hypothetical, are a pregnant woman who's not in a good position in life. Consequently, because you're not in a good position, you want to terminate your pregnancy, so as to not irresponsibly try and push on ahead with raising a child without the resources to do so. Also in this hypothetical situation, we're assuming that abortion is, if not outlawed (since you said early on in the video that you have a sort of paleolibertarian position on it), then considered highly taboo, to the point where getting one is liable to ruin you socially. If you get an unwanted pregnancy in this situation, and you're not in a good financial position, then you're kinda fucked in more ways than one by way of having no clear out.

    Now, of course, the usual response to this is to say that you shouldn't get pregnant at all if this is the case. The problem with this prescription is the same one that we run into with other issues like police discrimination: while it makes sense to prescribe individual solutions to individuals, on their own, they're not an adequate answer to issues of public policy. Telling black kids to not commit crimes doesn't seriously impact their disproportionate crime rate, and in the same vein, telling people to not have unprotected sex doesn't significantly prevent that either. There have to be more measures taken, sex ed among them (we agree on that), and as a last resort, abortion should also remain on the table for the betterment of society at large.

    (Funny enough, I'm also somewhat anti-abortion myself on a personal level, but I don't think it's my place to judge others for having them - again, personal level.)
     

    Quote

    Plus, I never really said I was against sex education and/or contraceptives (I always carry 6 condoms with me just in case, my guy). Those are good things, but the purpose of my video was not to talk about that, it was mainly to address pro-abortion arguments. I never make a mention of taking the stance of defunding planned parenthood either. I just think that abortions are not really a procedure that should be warranted. I am not a "conservative" persay in the sense that I think in relation to the mainstream Republican agenda and on that note that is one of the things I don't really necessarily agree with the full approach of that matter of banning sex education and defunding PP (conservatives think we should abstain from sex altogether until marriage, but not having knowledge of sex kinda fucks you over, but lol the interwebs kinda takes care of that for you, sadly), although I do think that the way in which we teach sex and/or sexuality in schools is a little skewed within this sort of rise of political agendas behind the LGBTQ+ community rather than reproduction itself and how to protect/abstain from sex. That should be fixed.

    Whenever I have an argument like this, all I can really do without knowing more about the person I'm arguing with is extrapolate their likely beliefs from what they say. You might be the first anti-abortion person that I've ever seen actually be in favor of some of the things that would reduce them, so nice! (Worth noting: I live in a painfully evangelical place known as Mississippi, where, for example, we get shit like this for sex ed, if it's present in school at all.)

    I could object to that last part about sex ed, but that's a completely different topic that I'm not gonna bother getting into here. Pretty sure that was what our first "debate" was about, actually.
     

    Quote

    In terms of the abortion/rape argument, it does kind of kill the pro-life argument because that surrounds itself around the moral/ethical justifications of it. So, then pro-lifers backtrack themselves.

    It's not a particularly effective argument killer then, because I don't think I've ever seen an abortion debate where bringing up rape cases has ended it. Usually, pro-lifers will (as you did) point out how rare those are, and then continue with other points. I don't use this argument myself, anyway; cases of medical necessity are better for the point of establishing that abortion isn't an intrinsically evil act.
     

    Quote

    Also, you mention the overburdening of the adoption system and to this I say that reform is needed in variants. My father has occassionally worked in foster homes and whatnot and the conditions are pretty terrible, I agree with that. This all rolls back to an even bigger argument, that I think that more government funding should be allocated to those locations rather than our high military budget or other such discretionary spendings as part of the federal budget. Why give international aid to Israel ($38 billion alone to their military) when we can use that fix things like the adoption system. You sort of subside yourself in the approach that it can't be fixed and it's a high burden and I disagree, although lots of leadership changes and government changes at its core and foundation should be revitalized in order for something like that to occur. I have unfounded optimism that when there's a will, there's a way and if we can improve the adoption system then maybe resorting to aborting the child will not be the best course of action in the future.

    There's two big problems with this.

    First, these aren't mutually-exclusive positions. It's entirely reasonable to simultaneously believe that: A) abortion should be kept on the table (see this again for an idea of what happens when it isn't), B) we should be redistributing the laughable amount of waste in our federal budget to other things, and C) foster care services should be among those things (as well as Medicare for A-*cough* I mean, death panels healthcare, infrastructure/green energy, etc).

    Also, I couldn't find any numbers on what improving foster care would look like funding-wise, but I'll say this: if we spend $5bil on foster care at the moment, that could maybe be reduced slightly by policy changes within the system, but even if we were to guess that it could be reduced by 20% down to $4bil, the 7.5x increase in the size of the foster care system that would result from ending abortions (114,000862,000) would require us to give $30bil to the system, almost as much as you bring up with regards to Israel. Now, bear in mind, that's assuming that improving the system would reduce the cost; if they went up, they would most likely exceed that $38bil. Also, this isn't even taking into account the fact that it's unlikely that more potential adoptive parents would proportionally pop up, which is a problem of its own.

    Alright, now my head hurts a little bit from that. Let's get this thread done soon.

    Second, keeping in mind the fact that individual prescriptions aren't solutions to large societal problems, this also isn't taking into account how little the idea even factors into mothers' decision-making:

    • "Most women who received abortions were aware of but uninterested in adoption. A minority of women denied abortions (n = 231; 14%) were considering adoption at 1 week after denial. Of participants who gave birth (n = 161), most (91%) chose parenting. [...] Among women motivated to avoid parenthood, as evidenced by abortion seeking, adoption is considered or chosen infrequently. Political promotion of adoption as an alternative to abortion is likely not grounded in the reality of women's decision making."
    • "Findings suggest that the anti-abortion framing of adoption as a preferable alternative to abortion is inconsistent with birth mothers' pregnancy decision-making experiences and their feelings about adoption. Reducing social barriers to both abortion and parenting will ensure that adoption is situated as a true reproductive choice."

     

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    On another note, back up your stats on the "healthy white girl" stat. I find that to be a bit fallacious, considering that most adopted children I've seen are African, not to stereotype, but I dont think everyone wants an Annie.

    This was a cross-reference of a couple of different statistics. It's a galaxy-sized pain in the ass to find the numbers again on health/disabilities in particular, because when it comes to adoption stats, they all fall under a broader "special needs" category alongside (IIRC) children of color, siblings, and those over 16. The second half, though, is easily demonstrable through studies. In that 114,000 number I cited earlier (of children waiting for adoption), "males outnumber females, African American children are disproportionately represented, and over half are 6 years old or older." And here: "We show that adoptive parents exhibit significant biases in favor of girls and against African-American babies. A non-African-American baby relinquished for adoption attracts the interest of potential adoptive parents with probability 11.5% if it is a girl and 7.9% if it is a boy. As for race, a non-African-American baby has a probability of attracting the interest of an adopting parent at least seven times as high as the corresponding probability for an African-American baby."
     

    Quote

    CONTEXT: "Say that you're driving drunk, and you crash into somebody, you almost kill them. You're both in the same hospital together. You wake up, and you find that the hospital's hooked you up to the person you injured. They say you've got the same blood type, so they're transfusing your blood to them. Now, in this situation, it's your fault that that person is in as bad a shape as they are. But should it be the state's responsibility to decide whether or not you commit your bodily resources to that person? They do not have that right."

    As for (god lots of transition words Im using here) your hypothetical at the end, the hospital and the state are not equivalent to each other and I don't see abortion as a matter of the state deciding your bodily autonomy. Abortion is not a constitutional right, it is a medical procedure and whether or not said medical procedure is ethical or should be done on a person is up to legislation. That's why shit like euthnasia's illegal. It's not a right to your bodily autonomy, it's not really a good medical procedure because of the effects of it. It's protection that is vital, especially when it comes to protecting your body as well as the child inside your body from abortion.

    This is side-stepping the point of the hypothetical. Even if we say that the state and the medical system are separate, the question then becomes "should a hospital be responsible for deciding whether or not you commit your bodily resources to another person?" The principle of the question isn't changed in that situation.

    The greatest right that we have as individuals is our bodily autonomy, so while abortion may not itself be a right, our bodily autonomy is. You have to commit a crime (or, well, be committed) to have it taken from you. Even after you've committed a crime, you have, at least on paper, a great deal of rights when it comes to that. The reason why the situation in my hypothetical is unheard of is because the state unconditionally recognizes that right. If, in that scenario, you killed the other person, you could be sued, or punished in a number of different ways, but still can't be forced to commit your bodily resources to the livelihood of the other person.

    You shifted away from the philosophical angle of the hypothetical to a legal one for a rebuttal, which, again, is missing the point of the thought experiment. Hell, I even said early in the video that the legal language that abortion currently rests on is weak, so it's not like the "not a constitutional right" part was ever really in play.

    Oh, and this is all talking about a grown person, not a fetus. When you combine this with the debate of applying personhood to a fetus, you get into some truly absurd philosophical territory.
     

    Quote

    CONTEXT: "There's a very easy way of proving that a fetus is not equivalent to a human life. You wanna know how I can prove that? Imagine, for a second, that... I'm holding in my hands... in my left hand, a fetus, and right hand, a 3-year-old boy, hanging both of them off a cliff, and I make you decide which one I drop. Are you gonna pick the fetus, or the 3-year-old?"

    So right into your last hypothetical, the only reason why you would throw down the fetus is only really because it's dead. The fetus is the early phase of a human being in the process of life and it needs to be sustained through nutrients from the umblicial cord. Without that, it's fucking dead. There's no laws against throwing dead bodies down a cliff, so meh.

    Again, this is missing the point. We're assuming, in that scenario, that the fetus is, somehow, still alive. I thought this was obvious, but... ahhhh, well, when have I ever been good at making things obvious?
     

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    I think you make a lot of presumptions about my beliefs in this video based on the groundwork of other people's beliefs and I think that when responding to a video, you should take into account that person and only that person's arguments and not any other. Otherwise, decent video.

    Probably. As I said before, all I can do with an unfamiliar opponent is extrapolate from what they say.



    Alright. This took 5 hours to write. I'm gonna go do something else now. Maybe listen to some Gary Clark Jr. or something.
     

     

  5. You know those moments when you hear a new movie being announced, and the synopsis of it alone sounds dumb, probably not bearing much potential? Yeah, this thread is one of those moments. It's about a notorious hardass dude who decides to watch a cartoon made for little girls. Doesn't sound very promising, does it?

    Well... this might get a bit personal. So sit back and enjoy the story!

     

    When the infamous brony movement hit SBC in 2011 (mind you, a time when I was nowhere near as progressive-minded as now), I was, to say the least, baffled from wondering why a bunch of men had decided to embrace MLP, of all things. Without stopping to hear their reasoning out, my 11-year-old self thought it was best to take a stand of "masculinity" (*vomits*) against brony-ism. Only it didn't stop after that - I spent the show's entire 8 years of running trying to avoid it, and continued even after it had ended, still as stubborn as ever to try and not look "uncool." A total 9 years of baseless aversion.

    Then, everything changed 4 months ago, when a new development hit me.

    My friend Stack asked me why I was so opposed to ever giving FIM a chance, but this time, I admitted to her point blank that I didn't really know why beyond projecting the "girl show ghetto" stigma onto it. She told me what FIM was actually like, but I still wasn't quite sold on it, even despite getting a solid dozen recommendations from other friends to watch the show. Then Stack sent me this article written by the creator, Lauren Faust. It blew my mind to hear that Faust took a similar approach to MLP that I've spent the past several years planning to do with My Life as a Teenage Robot. Most of all, it was the ending of the article that really struck me:

    Quote

    I never expected to work on a show based on a toy line, but I accepted the project based on my sincere childhood love of the toy and Hasbro’s desire to create an entertaining show that is not just a long toy commercial. When I took the job, I braced myself for criticism, expecting many people - without even watching the show - to instantly label it girly, stupid, cheap, for babies or an evil corporate commercial. I encourage skeptics like this to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with an open mind. If I’m doing my job right, I think you’ll be surprised.

    It was at this point in early August that my curiosity was finally piqued, so I decided to download the first season of FIM and give it a shot.

    Now (as of the making of this post) my avatar everywhere is Rainbow Dash. I think you can already tell how it ended.

     

    I went into FIM not really knowing what to expect, but I figured that it would be at least decent. Through Stack, I knew who the main characters were, but that was about it... and as it turns out, the characterization is everything in this series. Three seasons in now, I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the writers added so much nuance not only to the Mane Six, but even to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and other recurring characters. What do we get out of the Mane Six? Twilight: initially antisocial and sometimes neurotic, but a natural leader; Pinkie: incredibly hyperactive and friendly, sometimes to an outright damaging degree; Applejack: sensible, but painfully honest; Rainbow: somewhat arrogant and brash as hell, with a very clear facade of "coolness" that eventually starts breaking down (sound familiar?); Rarity, who balances occasional vanity with serious generosity; and Fluttershy, an animal lover with severe self-esteem issues that slowly fall by the wayside. I have a sort of test for determining my judgements of character-driven shows: take note of the characters' personality traits when they're introduced, then compare them with their traits some length of character development later. (Things like My Hero Academia fail that test.) With the possible exception of Applejack, all of the Mane Six see either character development or expansion of their existing personalities (see: Pinkie), and to a lesser extent, the same goes for the CMC.

    To illustrate how much all of this matters to me: I just finished season 3, and got to witness Twilight's transformation into an alicorn. It gave me the same feeling of pure joy that I had upon seeing Aang finally realize his destiny in the series finale of Avatar, the cartoon that still remains my absolute favorite to this day. To come within striking distance of Avatar in my book is an insane feat!

    As much as this is ostensibly a show made for little girls, there's only one way that really stands out to me (in a writing sense, not an aesthetic one), and it's still something that can go over well for people of any age: the life lessons that most episodes are centered around. I went into watching completely unaware that these were present, and came out of it taking them to heart. In a weird way, it makes me feel really stupid for not watching the show when it was running, because I could've done well to hear the lessons it had to offer when I was still a kid. "Family Appreciation Day" is a great example of this, as when it comes to my last two remaining grandparents, I only learned to really value what they had to offer in their last years (they passed in 2017 and 2019, both in their 80s). On more than one occasion, it's also gotten comically meta for me, with "Read It and Weep" being the standout instance. Tell me, after reading what I've said so far, does this sound familiar?

     

    The "don't knock it 'till you've tried it" lesson this episode is all about is really the moral of the story behind my adventure into the world of FIM. I went in not expecting much, and got something that's burned a permanent place in my heart right next to Avatar, by way of putting a good smile on my face every time I see it... and that's coming from a guy who usually is pretty stoic when it comes to media. In short, this sums up my thoughts. My thoughts are always mathematical like that. Maybe I could divide them for my next review. Or add them. Add a LOOOOOT of them. Or maybe subtract them?

    (Now you see why I don't write reviews. This thread took 5 hours, and this mess is the best I got. Hope you enjoyed reading though!)

     

     

    Spoiler

    Dear Princess Celestia,

    When I was first introduced to your Most Faithful Student™, Twilight Sparkle, I had no idea what you had in mind by sending her off to a new land to learn about friendship. I'm happy to report that I now understand - Twilight's saga has taught me that one of the most valuable parts of life is developing personal bonds, especially with your friends and family. From the wacky, to the down, to the introverted, everypony has the potential to become a great lifelong partner, as long as you understand them as well. And though I likely won't be actively searching for new friends going forward, I've learned more about how to better get along with my current ones, and respect the personal differences I have with them. All in all, I see that my studies are incomplete, and I'm very much eager to continue them.

     

    ~Your loyal subject, Wedge Hawkins

     

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