#mylittlepony - #Info About Previous Drafts of the Movie from the "Art Of My Little Pony: The Movie" Book

Info About Previous Drafts of the Movie from the "Art Of My Little Pony: The Movie" Book

People who have read the book have been talking about what's been revealed about the previous versions of the film. Here's a rundown from TVTropes:

• Tempest Shadow's current character is an evolution of Cosmos, Celestia's brother and the Big Bad in the original draft. From there, she became a pony composed of different animal parts like Discord, to one in a monstrous suit of armor that hid her identity, to a rugged survivalist who was more of an anti-hero than a villain.

• The original concept for the Storm King had him as a three-eyed, quadrupedal creature resembling a cross between a dragon and a wolf. He was also more directly connected with storms, in the sense of being interpreted as almost a storm elemental.

• One version of the film's opening would have featured the Storm King stealing his staff from the Arimaspi King, while another would have shown an aged Scorpan as the staff's original owner.

• Various subplots, such as a lengthy trek though a massive, alien-looking forest beyond Equestria, to an encounter with an obnoxious "mud trolls" midway through the journey, were cut and/or shortened to condense the story.

• Capper was originally a fox named Mendax, named after the Latin word for "liar", and he had a sentient scorpion's tail that expressed his true motives behind his cheerful facade. He also had a hidden deformity, such as an extra set of eyes or a pair of antennae, which Rarity would help him come to terms with. Besides a cat and fox, the artists also considered other species for Capper, including a black-footed ferret, a Siberian husky, and a honey badger. Another alternative name for him was Tybalt.

• In a concept for Klugetown that even the artists themselves admitted was way to dark, the whole city would have been built around a colossal dragon skeleton that was impaled on a sharp mountain peak, where citizens mined its crystal heart. If not for The Journal of the Two Sisters (which is already ambiguously canon), this probably would've given some disturbing implications for the Crystal Empire.

• Captain Celaeno was called Madame Harpy, and she and her crew were straight-up villains who would undergo a Heel–Face Turn, rather than just being friendly from the start. In addition, the designers toyed around with making the pirates dogs, monkeys and other things before settling on parrots/harpies.

• Princess Skystar had two sisters named Haven Bay and Selina Blue, who became background characters to give Skystar a Friendless Background.

• The climax would have featured a Big Damn Heroes moment involving the hippogriffs. Since this would have taken focus away from the Mane Six, it was changed to give them a more direct role.

• There was an idea for the Mane Six to take on Super Modes in the final battle against the Storm King, but the creative team felt it was best left saved for the series.

In addition (I don't know if this is in the art book or not), TVTropes also gives a brief mention to the very first version revealed during the Sony hacks.

• While Sony was still attached, there was a whole treatment of the film that originally concerned Twilight and her friends dealing with the return of an evil alicorn named Cosmos, who is implied to be Celestia and Luna's brother, resulting in friction between Twilight and Celestia over the former's capacity to handle the situation. Executives who looked over the treatment complained of severe Continuity Lockout and numerous Plot Holes regarding the characters and setting, which would have resulted in a much more limited audience than desirable.

Submitted August 31, 2017 at 09:23AM by Tyranid457
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