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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season 4 |OT| Twilight Princess Returns

Frantic Fanatic

Neo Member
Do what the comics do. Chrysalis is attacking. Other forces are also at play. Twilight goes after Chrysalis, Celestia defends Canterlot (along with Spike). Nightmare Rarity arc. Twilight and co go to the moon to get Rarity back, Celestia and Luna organize forces back in Ponyville. Heck, the new arc looks to have both Celestia and Luna feature prominently in the final showdown.

DuRIE6o.jpg

And the whole thing with Celestia fighting in Canterlot was about 6 pages of a four volume comic. They hardly took the focus away from Twilight and the others.

Comics you can read over and over. TV Episodes you can't easily watch over and over.

I understand you can have multiple plot threads in TV shows, but you risk over-complications and it takes some real talent to do so, especially in a kid's show.

What demographic are the comics marketed to any ways?

Is it just me, or was this the most devastating loss in the series so far?

I really, really hope they rebuild the library rather than have Twilight live in that godawful Tree Palace.

The palace is still probably the library, and if it is brought up, all the books are probably fixed by the same magic that fixed everything after Discord's reign.

At least those are the bets I'll place. Libraries are a magical place after all. :V
 

LuffyZoro

Member
So I just watched the last... 6 episodes in a row, having been putting them off for a while. And I've gotta say, that was a good run. Honestly, I think I can say I enjoyed all of them, which is more than can be said for most random 6 episode streaks.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
The palace is still probably the library, and if it is brought up, all the books are probably fixed by the same magic that fixed everything after Discord's reign.

At least those are the bets I'll place. Libraries are a magical place after all. :V

I'm sure they'll sort the books out, but is there a cure for tackiness? The old Library had some warmth and charm to it. The Tree Palace, though?


Lose the pink/purple colour scheme and throw in some greenery and we'll talk.

So I just watched the last... 6 episodes in a row, having been putting them off for a while. And I've gotta say, that was a good run. Honestly, I think I can say I enjoyed all of them, which is more than can be said for most random 6 episode streaks.

Season 4 has been pretty strong in general, I think. If there's been a dip in quality, I'm sure not feeling it.
 

$200

Banned
622730.png


Interesting that Discord, Starswirl, Sombra, Scorpan and Tirek are all from pre-Nightmare Moon era. The 1000 year since NMM seems rather uneventful in comparison. Unless Celestia is so old that 1000 years is only a small fraction of her lifespan.... =S
 

kunonabi

Member
Is it just me, or was this the most devastating loss in the series so far?

I really, really hope they rebuild the library rather than have Twilight live in that godawful Tree Palace.

my biggest beef with it is Twilight still being in ponyville instead of actually shaking things up and actually giving her a new kingdom. This whole Princess thing has been supremely lazy and a total waste of potential.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
my biggest beef with it is Twilight still being in ponyville instead of actually shaking things up and actually giving her a new kingdom. This whole Princess thing has been supremely lazy and a total waste of potential.

Cadance was a Princess for years before getting her own Kingdom.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
my biggest beef with it is Twilight still being in ponyville instead of actually shaking things up and actually giving her a new kingdom. This whole Princess thing has been supremely lazy and a total waste of potential.

Kingdoms don't just appear out of thin air you know.

iGKi7ln5EJ78f.gif


Oh, wait. Never mind.

Seriously though, Cadance was a Princess before she had her own kingdom. Maybe there's a waiting period. Additionally, it's possible being a Princess isn't directly tied to having your own kingdom at all; Luna seems to get on fine sharing with Celestia.

EDIT: Beaten by the Doc.
 

Shinypogs

Member
The finale was okay but not stellar for me. I was sad to see that Discord really did just betray them like that. I was hoping there was going to be a good lesson in there somewhere about finding balance. There needs to be a middle-ground between letting him run wild and expecting him to to behave to the standards of ponies. Outside of Fluttershy I don't think anyone ever really accepted Discord for what he was and tried to make real of use of or have some fun with his skills.

Hell, I would have even been cool with the initial betrayal if the point had been to get him to double cross the villain later when the group proved to him they realized what he had ( in his own way) done for them and that he was valuable despite being different in a lot of ways. You could still have tied things into Twilight realizing friendship itself was magic somehow.


I like the opening song a lot though, and there were some really great scenes throughout. I probably won't re-watch it anytime soon but all in all it was enjoyable enough and I hope for greater things in the future.
 
622730.png


Interesting that Discord, Starswirl, Sombra, Scorpan and Tirek are all from pre-Nightmare Moon era. The 1000 year since NMM seems rather uneventful in comparison. Unless Celestia is so old that 1000 years is only a small fraction of her lifespan.... =S

Well Luna was around for those villains. I am interested in what happened since. I just assumed it was complete peace, except in Celestia's micro comic, where she tells of a siege of Canterlot. I'm honestly more interested in how long it had been between when Discord was defeated and when NMM was banished. I've been hearing "thousands of years".
 

Korten

Banned
I love the season finalie... Also if just for the fact that we live in a world where there was a MLP episode that reminded me of a Dragon Ball Z fight scene.
 
Is it just me, or was this the most devastating loss in the series so far?

I really, really hope they rebuild the library rather than have Twilight live in that godawful Tree Palace.

If the books weren't magically restored then she'll probably take all the books from the abandoned castle.

Also the finale was decent, could have had more backstory but oh well. 8/10
 
Well, for what it matters I liked it. There are some serious logic issues here, but I can always justify them by Celestia having an all-seeing-eye and knew what it would take for Twilight to get her kingdom. Kind of like Dumbledore with Harry and the Horcrux's and Obi Wan and Luke. They made a sacrifice to help their respective characters start a journey to self discovery. I loved that Discord was the character that learned from Twilight, it redeems Keep Calm and Flutter On which was a lack luster episode. I want to make a point that I do not believe Fluttershy is an idiot to believe in Discord's reform. She's kind and a little naive, but putting faith in someone despite their past does not make her an idiot by any means.

Loved the fight, thought the first song was brilliant (can't believe it wasn't better received around here but everyone is entitled to their opinion). Really dislike the Rainbow Power designs. I don't mind the premise at all, but yeesh, please redesign them. So, yeah. Thought it was good. Best Night Ever is still the best season finale.

So next season we get M.A. Larson back. I really hope we get Cindy Morrow back as well, as she is probably my favorite writer. But I do want to give massive credit to the new writers who, for the most part, did a bang-up job this season.
 

McNum

Member
I'm gonna say that Applejack rocked the Rainbow Power look. Those streaks of colors and green bows on her mane and tail looked good on her. Rarity came off the worst. Too tacky. Even for Rarity.

Also, there's something I noticed when it came to Twilight's key. The other five had situations where they had to double-down on their element, to face its downside and overcome it, inspiring someone else in the process. Twilight? Well, hers seems similar, until you realize what her trial actually was.

Twilight is the Element of Magic, or maybe I should say WAS the Element of Magic. Because, despite what the show's title may say, Tirek pretty much put Twilight on the spot with it. "Friendship is Magic." Well, Twilight, time to choose. Friendship OR Magic. Pick one. And ONLY one. And without a moment's hesitation, she picked Friendship, giving up more Magic than she ever had and trusting in her friends.

And now she became the Princess of Friendship. Not Princess of Magic as we'd thought. Because Twilight may just have switched her Element. She's probably still one of the most talented mages in Equestria, but that's just what she does now. It's no longer who she is. She's Twilight Sparkle. And she's doing the princess thing now because she wants to, not because it's her duty, and because she can do the one thing she felt was missing. Share the glory with her friends.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this. Are they going to retool the show a bit? And if so, into what? They'll need a new intro, at least.
 

$200

Banned
thought the first song was brilliant (can't believe it wasn't better received around here but everyone is entitled to their opinion).

Listening to the songs the second time and I am finding them ok now. I'd say it's the awkwardness of the scene and animation that killed them for a lot of people, rather than the music itself.

Agree with all this

The important question is, was Owlowiscious released to the wild or is Twilight gonna bring him to the castle?

The finale was actually surprisingly good and has me looking forward to season 5. Didn't expect that to happen.

Just had a sudden realization that this is the first time I don't want to rank the mane 6 at the end of a season - because I love all 6 of them so much this time.
 
The important question is, was Owlowiscious released to the wild or is Twilight gonna bring him to the castle?.
A lovely orange foal found me and gave me a home at another tree house. She visits a lot along with her two friends and they like to sing songs a lot. But I'm always asleep while the group is around.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Well, for what it matters I liked it. There are some serious logic issues here, but I can always justify them by Celestia having an all-seeing-eye and knew what it would take for Twilight to get her kingdom. Kind of like Dumbledore with Harry and the Horcrux's and Obi Wan and Luke. They made a sacrifice to help their respective characters start a journey to self discovery. I loved that Discord was the character that learned from Twilight, it redeems Keep Calm and Flutter On which was a lack luster episode. I want to make a point that I do not believe Fluttershy is an idiot to believe in Discord's reform. She's kind and a little naive, but putting faith in someone despite their past does not make her an idiot by any means.

Loved the fight, thought the first song was brilliant (can't believe it wasn't better received around here but everyone is entitled to their opinion). Really dislike the Rainbow Power designs. I don't mind the premise at all, but yeesh, please redesign them. So, yeah. Thought it was good. Best Night Ever is still the best season finale.

So next season we get M.A. Larson back. I really hope we get Cindy Morrow back as well, as she is probably my favorite writer. But I do want to give massive credit to the new writers who, for the most part, did a bang-up job this season.

Agree with all of this, especially in regards to "You'll Play Your Part" (loved hearing Cadance sing again) and the big fight (loved seeing Twilight getting angry).

Yes please to getting Cindy Morrow back, too. She's been away far too long already.

Also, there's something I noticed when it came to Twilight's key. The other five had situations where they had to double-down on their element, to face its downside and overcome it, inspiring someone else in the process. Twilight? Well, hers seems similar, until you realize what her trial actually was.

Twilight is the Element of Magic, or maybe I should say WAS the Element of Magic. Because, despite what the show's title may say, Tirek pretty much put Twilight on the spot with it. "Friendship is Magic." Well, Twilight, time to choose. Friendship OR Magic. Pick one. And ONLY one. And without a moment's hesitation, she picked Friendship, giving up more Magic than she ever had and trusting in her friends.

And now she became the Princess of Friendship. Not Princess of Magic as we'd thought. Because Twilight may just have switched her Element. She's probably still one of the most talented mages in Equestria, but that's just what she does now. It's no longer who she is. She's Twilight Sparkle. And she's doing the princess thing now because she wants to, not because it's her duty, and because she can do the one thing she felt was missing. Share the glory with her friends.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this. Are they going to retool the show a bit? And if so, into what? They'll need a new intro, at least.

Fantastic post, really well thought-out. I'd not considered that Twi's element might be changing/changed. Really interesting idea, that.
 

$200

Banned


What kinds of villian do you want to see in season 5? As far as power level goes, unless they're actually turning the show full DBZ I don't think it will go beyond Tirek any time soon. Maybe it's time we get a "evil doctor" guy? Personally I'd love to see someone like King Smurf too - an ordinary looking earth pony doing great damage with political influences, but smarter than Mayer Mare, obviously.
 

Orcastar

Member
I was thinking that the finale did a good job of expanding the lore of the show until I realised that they completely retconned Cadance's entire backstory for no reason.

In the original script for A Canterlot Wedding, Cadance was just a normal unicorn; this has been confirmed by Lauren Faust via Twitter. However, Hasbro wanted a new pink princess to sell toys of, so they changed Cadance into an alicorn. In A Canterlot Wedding, it's established that she was Twilight's foalsitter and we even see a flashback of young Cadance with Twilight doing their "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" dance. Cadance's backstory is further expanded upon in Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, which reveals that she was a pegasus until Celestia uplifted her. Issues 11 and 12 of the official comic book series show that Cadance and Shining Armor met each other in high school.

In other words, it's been clearly established that Cadance became an alicorn quite recently. Yet in the season finale, Tirek is shows no surprise at finiding three alicorns in Canterlot instead of just two, which suggest that Cadance was already around a thousand years ago when he was banished to Tartarus. On it's own, Tirek's lack of reaction could be a mere oversight, but then there's this:


Notice the stained glass window on the left: three alicorns, not two, so Cadance was already around over a thousand years ago before Discord was first turned to stone. So yeah, the show just negated everything we've learned about Cadance thus far and made the Cadance and Shining comic book arc non-canon.

Great job, McCarthy.
 

brian577

Banned
Notice the stained glass window on the left: three alicorns, not two, so Cadance was already around over a thousand years ago before Discord was first turned to stone. So yeah, the show just negated everything we've learned about Cadance thus far and made the Cadance and Shining comic book arc non-canon.

Great job, McCarthy.


Those are cleary "improvements" made by Discord. He changed all but Twilight's window. The original image on the left is supposed to be of a earth pony, pegasus and unicorn.

 

PaulloDEC

Member
I was thinking that the finale did a good job of expanding the lore of the show until I realised that they completely retconned Cadance's entire backstory for no reason.

In the original script for A Canterlot Wedding, Cadance was just a normal unicorn; this has been confirmed by Lauren Faust via Twitter. However, Hasbro wanted a new pink princess to sell toys of, so they changed Cadance into an alicorn. In A Canterlot Wedding, it's established that she was Twilight's foalsitter and we even see a flashback of young Cadance with Twilight doing their "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" dance. Cadance's backstory is further expanded upon in Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, which reveals that she was a pegasus until Celestia uplifted her. Issues 11 and 12 of the official comic book series show that Cadance and Shining Armor met each other in high school.

In other words, it's been clearly established that Cadance became an alicorn quite recently. Yet in the season finale, Tirek is shows no surprise at finiding three alicorns in Canterlot instead of just two, which suggest that Cadance was already around a thousand years ago when he was banished to Tartarus. On it's own, Tirek's lack of reaction could be a mere oversight, but then there's this:



Notice the stained glass window on the left: three alicorns, not two, so Cadance was already around over a thousand years ago before Discord was first turned to stone. So yeah, the show just negated everything we've learned about Cadance thus far and made the Cadance and Shining comic book arc non-canon.

Great job, McCarthy.

Firstly, I can guarantee you that nobody at Hasbro or DHX has ever given this subject as much thought as you've just done. Collating information from multiple mediums to form a consistent canon isn't something the production team are ever going to waste their time doing.

Secondly, there's much simpler explanations for the events you're taking issue with. Regarding Cadance, she'd already become a Princess by the time Tirek escaped from Tartarus, so he probably learned about her during or immediately after his escape. As for the window, that was probably Discord's handiwork (as Brian pointed out).
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Proving that they best know the magic of Friendship and are in fact the best ponies, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the only ones to get ethereal manes and tails (well, only a tail for Fluttershy).

ma6bfdC.gif
 

$200

Banned
In other words, it's been clearly established that Cadance became an alicorn quite recently. Yet in the season finale, Tirek is shows no surprise at finiding three alicorns in Canterlot instead of just two, which suggest that Cadance was already around a thousand years ago when he was banished to Tartarus. On it's own, Tirek's lack of reaction could be a mere oversight, but then there's this.

Eh I don't know how you reached that conclusion that Cadance had to be over 1000 year old for Tirek to know her. At the time of his escape she's already a princess for a while.
Twilight didn't become one until end of season 3. We don't know how long it's been between end of season 3 and 4, it just hadn't been long enough for Tirek to have heard of Twilight.

p.s. The comic books were never canon. Stop believing what Dr tells you.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
p.s. The comic books were never canon. Stop believing what Dr tells you.

I guess a better term would be "canon-friendly". It seems like there's been at least a little effort to ensure both mediums can co-exist without trashing the overall canon in the process.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Admittedly, the entire sideplot of Tirek not knowing about Twilight was really silly. Especially since he had been out for 2+ years before this. It's not really a contradiction with Cadance, but a contradiction with Twilight and was just Meghan's way of getting the other three out of the way and handwave a reason for Twilight to get all the power.

Better explanation (and it does still work, it's just not clearly stated), is that Celestia knew she had to set up a scenario for Twilight to get her key. She showed no surprise at the box in "Princess Twilight Sparkle", just that she didn't know where the keys were. She also didn't show any surprise at Twilight's castle at the end.

p.s. The comic books were never canon. Stop believing what Dr tells you.

Cause screw official stories that you don't like, right?
 

Orcastar

Member
Firstly, I can guarantee you that nobody at Hasbro or DHX has ever given this subject as much thought as you've just done. Collating information from multiple mediums to form a consistent canon isn't something the production team are ever going to waste their time doing.

Wow, seriously? This is your counterargument? It's just a kids' show, so continuity doesn't matter? It's just a kids' show so we should just stop criticizing and it enjoy it for what it is?

One of the reasons I originally fell in love with the show was that the production team (or Faust at least) seemed to treat continuity and lore seriously. What is the point of even having continuity or lore if you're not going to "waste your time" on it?

I admit that I forgot about Discord making "improvements" to the windows so I can accept that Tirek not reacting to Cadance is just an oversight or that he learned about her after escaping, but the fact that you rebuff any criticism by basically saying that "It's a kids' show and therefore above criticism" is really starting to get on my nerves.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Wow, seriously? This is your counterargument? It's just a kids' show, so continuity doesn't matter? It's just a kids' show so we should just stop criticizing and it enjoy it for what it is?

One of the reasons I originally fell in love with the show was that the production team (or Faust at least) seemed to treat continuity and lore seriously. What is the point of even having continuity or lore if you're not going to "waste your time" on it?

I admit that I forgot about Discord making "improvements" to the windows so I can accept that Tirek not reacting to Cadance is just an oversight or that he learned about her after escaping, but your argument is really weak.

Cadance was certainly more visible to the public than Twilight. But again, it's a lot less "stupid that Tirek knows about Cadance" and more "stupid that Tirek doesn't know about Twilight".
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Wow, seriously? This is your counterargument? It's just a kids' show, so continuity doesn't matter? It's just a kids' show so we should just stop criticizing and it enjoy it for what it is?

Well, yes and no. Yes, it's a kid's show and we should try to enjoy it for what it is. No, we shouldn't stop criticizing and analyzing it; that's half the fun of being a fan.

As always, I'm trying to preach realism. It's fun to examine the show in depth, but we've also got to face the fact that on a show like MLP, the writers and producers simply don't have time to police the canon in the way fans can. I didn't mean to be blunt, but it just isn't fair to be slamming a showrunner for stuff like this.

If the show was LOST or something similar where the lore is a key attraction, it'd be a different story.

I admit that I forgot about Discord making "improvements" to the windows so I can accept that Tirek not reacting to Cadance is just an oversight or that he learned about her after escaping, but the fact that you rebuff any criticism by basically saying that "It's a kids' show and therefore above criticism" is really starting to get on my nerves.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm trying to block criticism; I swear I'm not. I just wish we could all think about the practical realities of producing 26 episodes of television in less than a year before we go all "Great job, McCarthy" on the folks working hard to do it.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
If you want to bash Meghan, bash her for lazily writing Celestia and Luna out of every one of her two parters. But even with that, this finale was pretty good.
 

Korten

Banned
Honestly If I had to guess why Tirek didn't know about Twilight is because...

1. Twilight is relatively new at being a Princess.
2. She didn't have her own Kingdom whereas Cadeance and Luna/Celestia do. (Much
harder to avoid noticing.)

Considering he was most likely in hiding, it's easily possible to understand not knowing about it. Maybe he learned about Cadeance being a Alicorn from Queen Chrysalis, whom when she tried to take over, Twilight wasn't an Alicorn and therefore Chrysalis didn't know to tell Tirek.
 

$200

Banned
Even your regular citizens of Manehattan didn't recognise Twilight. It really isn't that hard to believe someone who's been hiding in alleys might not know her...
 

Psxphile

Member


What kinds of villian do you want to see in season 5? As far as power level goes, unless they're actually turning the show full DBZ I don't think it will go beyond Tirek any time soon. Maybe it's time we get a "evil doctor" guy?

m22I3YV.jpg

Evil science doctor pony, you say...
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Manehattan is a big place and seeing Celebrities probably isn't a big deal to them.

Or possibly they just don't give a crap about Twilight. I mean, Celestia raises the Sun and Luna raises the Moon; those are significant. Cadance does... well, something, but she's got her own Kingdom. Twilight lives in a tree in hick-town.

Well, lived.
 

$200

Banned
Or possibly they just don't give a crap about Twilight. I mean, Celestia raises the Sun and Luna raises the Moon; those are significant. Cadance does... well, something, but she's got her own Kingdom. Twilight lives in a tree in hick-town.

Well, lived.

too soon
 

jwk94

Member
Proving that they best know the magic of Friendship and are in fact the best ponies, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the only ones to get ethereal manes and tails (well, only a tail for Fluttershy).

ma6bfdC.gif

I haven't watched since season 2 but wtf is going on in this gif? Did the ponies go Super Saiyan or something?
 

Korten

Banned
I haven't watched since season 2 but wtf is going on in this gif? Did the ponies go Super Saiyan or something?

Considering what happened minutes before, they mind of well have gone Super Saiyan. Without spoiling much, a battle ensues just before hand that is on DBZ levels.
 
I'm gonna say that Applejack rocked the Rainbow Power look. Those streaks of colors and green bows on her mane and tail looked good on her. Rarity came off the worst. Too tacky. Even for Rarity.

Also, there's something I noticed when it came to Twilight's key. The other five had situations where they had to double-down on their element, to face its downside and overcome it, inspiring someone else in the process. Twilight? Well, hers seems similar, until you realize what her trial actually was.

Twilight is the Element of Magic, or maybe I should say WAS the Element of Magic. Because, despite what the show's title may say, Tirek pretty much put Twilight on the spot with it. "Friendship is Magic." Well, Twilight, time to choose. Friendship OR Magic. Pick one. And ONLY one. And without a moment's hesitation, she picked Friendship, giving up more Magic than she ever had and trusting in her friends.

And now she became the Princess of Friendship. Not Princess of Magic as we'd thought. Because Twilight may just have switched her Element. She's probably still one of the most talented mages in Equestria, but that's just what she does now. It's no longer who she is. She's Twilight Sparkle. And she's doing the princess thing now because she wants to, not because it's her duty, and because she can do the one thing she felt was missing. Share the glory with her friends.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this. Are they going to retool the show a bit? And if so, into what? They'll need a new intro, at least.

Fantastic post. What I love to is this line from Twilight: "As princess, I believe I have the power to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. That is the role I am meant to have in our world! The role I choose to have!" Totally supports your post, and, for me, puts a lot of the "Twilight's destiny being forced on her" to bed. Twilight made the choice of what her kingdom would be, what her role as a princess would be.

I haven't watched since season 2 but wtf is going on in this gif? Did the ponies go Super Saiyan or something?
QVtautK.png

ukKFJTV.jpg

uxrNOh4.png


So yes. They did. And it was awesome.
 

$200

Banned
I haven't watched since season 2 but wtf is going on in this gif? Did the ponies go Super Saiyan or something?

622768.gif


622773.gif


622800.gif


622806.gif


According to Meghan's tweet they were not allow to show Twilight punching someone in the face. But death rays are of course a-ok. And I'm pretty sure they've shown ponies punching changelings before...
 

jwk94

Member
WHAT. THE. FUCK?! The hell happened to this show? Is this DBZ crap something they've been building up to or did this just pop up out of nowhere.....either way this makes me want to catch up....
 

Korten

Banned
WHAT. THE. FUCK?! The hell happened to this show? Is this DBZ crap something they've been building up to or did this just pop up out of nowhere.....either way this makes me want to catch up....

It was built up through the episode... Not much in the overall series... (Though I'm mainly referring to the battle, the rest of the episode was built up from the start of this season.)

But let's hope we see more of this in season 5!
 

brian577

Banned
WHAT. THE. FUCK?! The hell happened to this show? Is this DBZ crap something they've been building up to or did this just pop up out of nowhere.....either way this makes me want to catch up....

It was a build up over the past season and but really only Twilight does the fighting in the episode.
 
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