The My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic Thread

[The Chronicler]

Part 4 of the Set Your Sail comic miniseries released last week:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/07/my-little-pony-set-your-sail-4-released.html

Here's this week's new episode of Tell Your Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGPEJ-Vh1Ec

Spoiler: ShowHide

So, basically, Posey joins the main five mares for a sleepover (Hitch is not included for obvious sleepover reasons). Turns out Posey has never been to a sleepover before, leading into a music video for the remainder of the episode, which naturally features Posey gradually joining the fun everyone else is having. Overall, just yet another random filler episode, leaving me wondering at what point we might finally see any real progression on the series story arc (certain sneak peek images I remember seeing months ago suggest it will happen eventually, which at this point is pretty much the only reason I'm still following this series).

[The Chronicler]

The complete animatic version of some FiM episodes have recently started appearing for everyone to watch (and compare to the finished version we're all familiar with).
Lesson Zero: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/full-animatic-for-my-little-pony.html
A Canterlot Wedding Part 1: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/a-canterlot-wedding-part-1-full.html
A canterlot Wedding Part 2: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/a-canterlot-wedding-part-2-full.html

Part 3 of the Maretime Mysteries comic miniseries released last week:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/my-little-pony-maretime-mysteries-3.html

The 5th and final part of the Set Your Sail comic miniseries released yesterday:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/my-little-pony-set-your-sail-5-released.html

Some more episodes of Tell Your Tale (all of which have already released on YouTube) will soon be added to Netflix:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/new-episodes-of-tell-your-tale-heading.html

And here's this week's new episode of Tell Your Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GaGTC1I2KM

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's taken nineteen episodes, but finally we see Comet make his first appearance in Season 2 (after appearing in several of the last few episodes of Season 1). Well, better late than never, because in this episode, he helps Sunny at her smoothie stand at the Boardtrot when things start to get too busy for her to keep up on her own. He turns out to do quite well (perhaps a reference to how he used to specialize in making hot cocoa back in Starlight Ridge), so much so that while Sunny is away to get more produce, he ends up doing even better than her, much to her frustration when she discovers everything has been rearranged without her permission. Thankfully, Izzy stops by just in time to help them reconcile and they soon start working together very well. Overall, I actually like this episode, especially compared to the string of mediocre ones we've seen recently. It also helps that we finally got to see a certain character that we know has been around this whole time, but for some reason never made any appearances at all this season.

[The Chronicler]

Not much new official content recently, though apparently full episodes of Make Your Mark are now being uploaded to the official MLP YouTube channel:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/08/the-my-little-pony-youtube-channel-has.html

And just earlier today, some concept art from some yet to be released TYT episodes has been shared:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/g5-my-little-pony-background-concepts.html

In any case, here's this week's new episode of Tell Your Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQuxnMgIjyI

Spoiler: ShowHide

Well, it's been ten episodes (literally half of the season so far), but we finally get to revisit what Allura has been up to, which is not much at all. Izzy stumbles across her cave and, predictably, Allura is still furious at her for unknowingly destroying the Nova Charm. But that's pretty much where the interesting stuff ends, because much of this episode is spent as a running gag where Izzy tries to greet the stranger in the cave, then discovers fearfully that it's Allura who promptly kicks Izzy out, only for the combination of Allura's spell and an ocean wave to give Izzy some short term amnesia, causing the cycle to repeat over and over until a very enraged Allura finally decides to trap Izzy instead. Fortunately by that point, Zipp and Pipp were able to catch on to Izzy's repeating behavior and follow her into the ice cave on the beach. They successfully rescue Izzy, but all three ponies are then kicked out of the cave by Allura, who then seals up the entrance to her cave... and the episode abruptly ends right there. Overall, while it's nice to finally get an acknowledgement of the aftermath of the special long episode from earlier this year, this episode ultimately felt like a whole lot of nothing.

One more thing I'm going to add on here is that there's been concerns among the fans lately that G5 might be coming to an end somewhat soon. This mostly has to do with how the release of TYT episodes have been more spread out this year, and that there's apparently no way to know for sure if the three other special long episodes scheduled for later this year will even be shown at all. I won't bother going into any details, but if you're interested, this page talks more about what is and isn't known at this time:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/the-future-of-generation-5.html

[The Chronicler]

Strangely, there is no new episode of Tell Your Tale this week. Regardless, there's still quite a bit of news worth sharing here.

Remember when I mentioned the animatic version of some FiM episodes began showing up? Here's another one.
Secret of My Excess: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/secret-of-my-excess-full-animatic.html

The MLP Briddlewood game on Roblox was recently updated:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/new-bridlewood-rp-update-for-roblox.html

The fourth and final part of the Maretime Mysteries comic miniseries was released last week:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/my-little-pony-maretime-mysteries-4.html

Speaking of the comics, it seems that despite assurances that more is still on the way, none are scheduled to release during the month of December:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/idw-has-more-mlp-g4-and-g5-comics.html
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/no-new-mlp-comics-announced-for.html

And perhaps the biggest news of all is the recently confirmed plans Hasbro has for the MLP brand in 2025 and 2026:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/hasbro-confirms-retro-vibes-for-mlp.html

[The Chronicler]

Well, looks like there actually is a new episode of TYT this week. It just went up a day late for whatever weird reason:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z03q-ue2ipQ

(I'm a little busy with something else right now, so I'll edit this post later to share my thoughts on this episode.)

EDIT:

Spoiler: ShowHide

There's yet another new attraction that has suddenly appeared at the Boardtrot, this time it's a magical vending machine that dispenses huge portions of just about any kind of food. Of course, the machine eventually malfunctions, and Hitch and Sunny unexpectedly find themselves pulled into the machine and have to navigate their way through floating obstacles of oversized food. They eventually find the source of the problem is an intruder, Kevin the racoonicorn (who Hitch claims to have an extensive criminal record), who's been overeating on just about everything around him. After a prolonged fight, the two ponies are successfully able to pull that culprit critter out of the vending machine. Overall, this to me seemed like a rather average episode, nothing particularly exciting about it (unless if silly action moves in a wacky environment are your thing), but also nothing I really disliked about it.

[The Chronicler]

Normally, I'd wait until the next episode goes up to share whatever additional news there might've been in the meantime, but this time there's something very significant that I feel like should be shared right away.

It has now been confirmed that not only is Tell Your Tale coming to an end, but that apparently it was rather abruptly cancelled as it's final release date for an episode will be October 17, implying that of the 100 episodes and four hour-long specials that had been planned for this year, only 23 episodes and one special were actually finished.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/hasbro-seemingly-confirms-tell-your.html

Some animatic images of a few Tell Your Tale episodes have recently been shared, including from a couple of later episodes that apparently we now know will never be finished.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/tell-your-tale-animation-images-shared.html

I'm honestly a little hurt by this news, possibly even in a bit of denial, I'll confess. It is just absolutely shameful to see a series get cancelled so suddenly that a lot of loose ends will be left wide open. Friendship is Magic got a proper conclusion, Equestria Girls was apparently cancelled before a proper season finale could be made (but at least it had the excuse of essentially being forced to conclude at the same time as the primary G4 series), and Make Your Mark at least appeared to have a proper conclusion set up only to then go just one more episode further to provide the empty hope of some kind of continuation. Tell Your Tale, from what I've been hearing, seems like it's now due to have the worst ending possible, where the storyline just suddenly stops with any further episodes that could've tied things up will now forever remain as simply unfinished works in progress that we'll be lucky to ever see or hear any details about.

It's a lot for me to process right now, so I guess we'll just have to wait a month or two to see what this could mean for G5 as a whole, as well as for all of My Little Pony in general and what might really be up next in 2025.

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

Normally, I'd wait until the next episode goes up to share whatever additional news there might've been in the meantime, but this time there's something very significant that I feel like should be shared right away.

It has now been confirmed that not only is Tell Your Tale coming to an end, but that apparently it was rather abruptly cancelled as it's final release date for an episode will be October 17, implying that of the 100 episodes and four hour-long specials that had been planned for this year, only 23 episodes and one special were actually finished.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/hasbro-seemingly-confirms-tell-your.html

Some animatic images of a few Tell Your Tale episodes have recently been shared, including from a couple of later episodes that apparently we now know will never be finished.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/tell-your-tale-animation-images-shared.html

I'm honestly a little hurt by this news, possibly even in a bit of denial, I'll confess. It is just absolutely shameful to see a series get cancelled so suddenly that a lot of loose ends will be left wide open. Friendship is Magic got a proper conclusion, Equestria Girls was apparently cancelled before a proper season finale could be made (but at least it had the excuse of essentially being forced to conclude at the same time as the primary G4 series), and Make Your Mark at least appeared to have a proper conclusion set up only to then go just one more episode further to provide the empty hope of some kind of continuation. Tell Your Tale, from what I've been hearing, seems like it's now due to have the worst ending possible, where the storyline just suddenly stops with any further episodes that could've tied things up will now forever remain as simply unfinished works in progress that we'll be lucky to ever see or hear any details about.

It's a lot for me to process right now, so I guess we'll just have to wait a month or two to see what this could mean for G5 as a whole, as well as for all of My Little Pony in general and what might really be up next in 2025.

Same here honestly. I'm just... disappointed by it all.

[Sneak]

Sigh.
I haven't fully seen anything from this generation, but, in memory of G4, I still have followed it, reading about news, plot progress and fans' discussions and reactions to all this.

And if this info is true, then I have to say I am not surprised, and - I am not sorry about these news.

I can call a hundred problems I personally found in this generation, and I still think the main problem of this generation was parasitiziting on glory and worldbuilding of G4. And even this was made in the worst possible way  and didn't save the show. If they made a separate universe, and have kept serious themes they tried to bring up in starter movie, it would work, imo.

Only thing that bugs me is the show doesn't seem to get the ending in ANY form, what is bad for any fiction product, even G5. Even if creators decided to cut their initial plans, then they should end the show SOMEHOW, to make it completed.

[The Chronicler]

Part 1 of the Storm of Zephyr Heights comic miniseries officially released last week:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/the-storm-of-zephyr-heights-1-released.html

And apparently some misconceptions about how the remainder of that comic miniseries will be released has prompted one of the writers to try clearing things up:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/09/scaremy-whitley-details-storm-of-zephyr.html

And since I already covered the big news from less than two weeks ago, I'll just get straight to this week's new episode of Tell Your Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx47Dn29Ee8

Spoiler: ShowHide

Well, we've waited all year for this, but we finally got some backstory for Allura. Twitch is desperate to explore the Boardtrot, but Allura doesn't want to encounter any of the ponies, so Allura begrudgingly compromises by breaking into the park at night when no one will be around to bother them. While Twitch excitedly explores everything, Allura recounts her backstory through song, most notably that she and her brother Alterro were separated as kittens while playing with the Nova Charm and accidentally activating it, with the curious young Allura immediately jumping through the resulting portal and ending up trapped in another realm separate from her home and her brother. Overall, I'm really glad we got to see this as a complete episode, as it manages to at least attempt to answer some questions we've had about Allura's backstory.

Such a pity that with TYT being cancelled, we'll never get to see how Allura's journey would eventually get resolved, but at least now we have a good idea of how it all started. I'm actually looking forward to seeing where some fanfiction writers might decide to go with this.

Only one more (finished) episode left to go, just two weeks from now...

[The Chronicler]

Well, it's finally here. Today is the day when we get the release of possibly the final animated episode of a continuity that goes all the way back to the beginning of Friendship is Magic fourteen years ago.

Perhaps it's only fitting that we also got news that there had been plans for a G5 Equestria Girls series to show alongside Make Your Mark and Tell Your Tale, but it seems this "Cutie Mark Club" series was cancelled in development:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/10/we-may-have-almost-had-g5-equestria.html

For those of you wondering why G5 has been entirely cancelled seemingly so abruptly, some YouTuber made a video to explain the most likely reasons:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/10/youtuber-cxcds-final-g5-video-is.html

And with the latest news out of the way, here is the final (completed) episode of Tell Your Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYKkF_v6jQc

Spoiler: ShowHide

It's a hot day and with nobody out in such brutal conditions, Izzy imagines what it would be like if the Boardtrot had a water park added on. As she lets her imagination run wild, the magical creativity powers she had obtained from the special episode activate along with the fragments of the Nova Charm, and the water park she imagines just suddenly appears out of nowhere. Her friends find out and they invite all the ponies to come have fun there. As everyone is enjoying all of the water park attractions and activities, Izzy then speculates just for fun how amusing it would be if the water park were to vanish just as suddenly as it had appeared... and her creativity magic causes exactly that to happen, much to everyone's displeasure. If this was just another episode as intended, I would call this a rather good episode, as we finally got a second demonstration of Izzy's new magical super power, which we last saw at the end of that special episode.

In the context of cancellation, this episode and the previous episode really demonstrated just how much more potential there would almost certainly have been, even if just a few more episodes had been completed. It's really bittersweet, and that's honestly all I can really say about it.

So what happens next? Well, there's still two more issues of the ongoing G5 comics left to go, but after the last of those come out next month, we just don't yet know anything else what might be ahead. I guess now that there's no more new episodes to keep track of, I'll just share any interesting news whenever it happens rather than save it for whenever an episode would come out. If things slow down significantly enough, I might not even bother continue to share any updates here. I honestly don't know at this time. We'll just have to wait and see...

[The Chronicler]

I guess it's time to get caught up on MLP news now that Part 2 of the Storm of Zephyr Heights comic miniseries has released:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/10/the-storm-of-zephyr-heights-2-released.html

Spoiler: ShowHide

While advertisers had called this comic series a "G5 meets G4 crossover", the reality is more like "G5 characters in a G4 location".

While there are no comics scheduled for release in the month of December, we now know that there will be a new comic coming out in January next year, and this one will feature the origin story of Princess Cadance:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/10/new-g4-comic-announced-my-little-pony.html

While there are now no more new episodes, some information did recently surface explaining some of the plans for G5 had it been allowed to continue:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2024/10/future-bat-pony-episodes-opaline.html