Today, I watched the "Baby, It's Cold Outside" arc of My Little Pony 'n Friends. I think that overall, this show is getting better at more strongly characterizing the ponies, as opposed to them all being vaguely cheerful or friendly. I mean, I know it's not meant to be taken that seriously, but it's more fun this way, you know? I also don't remember seeing any absurd quality control issues that are in some of the other episodes, like the wrong characters being animated talking and stuff like that.

The plot was basically about a penguin king using his ice powers to envelope the world in a winter storm meant to be inhabited only by penguins. He essentially says that any creature who can not survive the cold deserves to die for being "weak". Which is... topical. (What is this? I watch MLP to escape!) Honestly, I was a little surprised by how far he was willing to go.

In the end, the king has a change of heart after accidentally freezing his own son (typical!) and is able to reverse the winter with the help of Galaxy's unicorn magic.

Every time I see this movie (movies?), I'm blown away by it. The animation, the story, the tone... Of course I love Digimon when it's fun and silly, but I love it most of all when it suddenly turns on its head and takes itself seriously. So I feel so spoiled when it comes to the movies. A full hour of my ideal Digimon content? No complaints here!

Something I found interesting watching this a second time was how Wallace, in a way, almost echoes "Chocomon's" desire to return to the past. He talks about wanting to go back to the way things were, how Chocomon had changed beyond recognition. Clinging to the memory of that field of flowers. It was similar to "Chocomon's" inability/unwillingness to recognize the more grown-up Wallace, in a way. Though Chocomon was literally being possessed, I almost feel like that was kind of a missed opportunity. Maybe, in another world, Chocomon was never possessed, and his conflict with Wallace is only resolved when he comes to terms with Chocomon changing, maybe for the worse, maybe never being able to go back, and how he can't control what Chocomon does. Just like how Chocomon can't force Wallace to be a child again.

But anyway I really loved it! I wouldn't try to pick it apart if I didn't like it or find it interesting, after all. Like, one of my favorite parts is when Angemon and Angewomon swooped in, right as it looked like everyone else was going to be defeated! Frankly I had kind of forgotten that Hikari and Takeru and their partner Digimon were even involved for a minute (lol), so it was an exciting twist and was really unexpected! Though honestly, I loved everything about that final confrontation with "Chocomon". The tension? The animation? The strong relationships between the characters? I love it!!!