Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty late to this party considering so many others started doing it in 2020. But with all that was going in the world and in my personal life I just wanted to wait until things somewhat settled down a little before jumping on this bandwagon. For at least the foreseeable future I'm going to doing these re-reviews once a day, probably at least through Season 4 and maybe into Seasons 5 and 6 (I think most of my reviews from Seasons 7-9 are pretty spot on about what I like and

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So, just as Season 2 was finally back on the right track with "Hurricane Fluttershy" another polarizing and controversial episode was on tap. M. A. Larson was in the writer's seat here, and by this point Larson's reputation and credibility had taken a nosedive given "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" and to a lesser extent "Luna Eclipsed" had shattered the image of him being near perfect. But it was a Cutie Mark Crusaders episode and the CMC had begun to stop fixating on cutie marks in all

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Although this episode was the eighth in production order, it was bumped to the eleventh episode to air so that it could directly tie in with the episode coming immediately after it (something the show would only do once more throughout its run). It was a Spike episode, one written by newcomer Corey Powell at that who had penned the impressive "Sleepless in Ponyville" all by herself. So now she was moving from Scootaloo to Spike, a big step up even if the episode was labeling Spike a sidekick

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After being denied a focus episode in Season 3 because Meghan McCarthy thought Rarity was "too mean" for feeling guilty about lying to Spike, Rarity got to have her long overdue return to the spotlight for the first time in over a year. In fact, over two years since "Sweet and Elite" had aired in 2011. And Dave Polsky got to do a Rarity episode like he had hoped to do in Season 3 before Meghan gave his script to Merriweather Williams for revising. Yet nowadays people seem to mostly remember

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After several episodes of Season 2 had been less than stellar, capped off by "Dragon Quest" and the ultimate insult to anyone who cared about Spike's character, Season 2 desperately needed something good. A Fluttershy focused episode was on tap and Cindy Morrow was in the writer's seat for it. Given her previous track record it was anyone's guess if she'd be good or bad. So, did Cindy Morrow keep the faith alive or just continue Season 2's skid? Well, let's find out.

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Because Season 4 didn't already have enough on its plate with two arcs (assuming you count Twilight trying to figure out her role as an alicorn princess as one), a third one was added with this episode. Everyone probably thought the Equestria Games would never be seen, but surprisingly they would come back for Season 4. I'm willing to bet though that the games were originally meant for Season 3 before it was made a half season, so once Season 4 was announced they came back to some of their

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The new writers kept on coming for Season 4 as the next to debut was Natasha Levinger. And it was both a Pinkie Pie episode and an Applejack episode, both of which came with a lot of baggage and high stakes since both characters were easy to get wrong or easy not to write well. This episode was one of four to have an animatic clip of it shown off at conventions in 2013 to build hype for Season 4, specifically the song that was going to appear in this episode. So, with Season 4 now starting to

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They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but Merriweather Williams sure seemed determined to try. After "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" didn't go over well, Merriweather had a chance to indicate whether it was a fluke or not with this episode. In fact, this episode and the two immediately following it were moved around in episode order so that this episode could air in time for the Christmas 2011 break, the first such instance of an episode being one number in production

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Season 7 seemed to have no direction of any sort out of the gate, and after three episodes it was impossible to pick up on any sense of quality. So it was that Nick Confalone was stepping up to write, his tenure in Season 6 having mostly been defined by the controversial "No Second Prances" even though he'd also written "The Saddle Row Review" and "Dungeons & Discords" which had far more positive of a reception. Early synopsis' suggested the focus of this episode would be Pinkie Pie trying to

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So when the second arc of the comics got off to a promising start only to immediately squander it on contrivences and continuity errors, was this second issue of it able to get things back on track or only serve to throw everything further away? Well, let's find out.

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This is it, folks! We've hit the big one! The one many of you have probably been waiting for! For those of who you joined the fandom at a later date, it cannot be stated enough that in 2014 this four part comic arc in the main series took the fandom by storm! It was everywhere, and coming off of more than a few less than stellar issues and arcs ("Neigh Anything", "Pirate Ponies", "Book Worm") the fact that the comics in the main series were going back to a four parter was quite shocking. And by

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Season 7 had been up, down, and all around in quality up to this point, the longest such period of inconsistent writing quality stretching all the way back to Season 1 when the show was still trying to find its footing. It almost feels like Season 7 was originally going to be a half season, which would explain why it was the only one not to get a two parter season premiere. It being ordered while Season 6 was still in production likely had something to do with the theatrical movie taking longer

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With 2013 coming to a close and the micro series also drawing to a close as the show's fourth season was in full swing, the main series had to continue this pirates story that had quite a few issues in its first half. And considering the previous two parters in the comics did worse in their second halves, it seemed like there was so much against this issue right from the get go? But did it manage to defy the odds and do a good job of getting the comics back on track? Well, let's find out.

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After the absolute disaster that was "Secrets and Pies", Season 7 really needed something to redeem it and give it the chance to go out on a high note, especially now that the big 2017 movie had come and gone, and the show's future was still uncertain. Josh Haber, after having returned to the story editor's chair and ultimately taking back the reigns fully from Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco for reasons unknown, now decided the time had come to pen another episode himself. But this time, he

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Oh joy, it's back to Season 8. Season 9 has its fair share of detractors, but hardly anyone I know ever sings Season 8's praises, and for good reason. We now know that the School of Friendship was added at Hasbro's request because they wanted the show to wrap up with nine seasons, forcing the writers to change their plans for the pillars. About the only good thing to come out of Season 8 seems to have been the young/student six, though even then some get more praise and attention than others

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So after the first comic started things off on a fairly promising (if now somewhat rocky) a start there was naturally pressure on the comics to keep it up and perhaps do even better. But many regard this as the first of many stumbling blocks for the comics, even back when this is the only other one to go on. Considering I found the first comic to have not aged the greatest (though still ultimately enjoyable) has time made this second issue any better or just made it worse? Well, let's find

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Oh boy, it's this episode. All the way back in 2011 this episode touched off a real firestorm of controversy, and a lot of what it involved (science v.s. religion) has only gotten worse since then. Dave Polsky wrote this episode, marking his debut as the last of the writers assembled for the show. So, putting aside the controversy for a moment, is this episode actually good or is it still bad on its own merits? Well, let's find out.

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*Sigh*, well "A Dog and Pony Show" was nice while it lasted. But now we're diving right back into the bad stuff. I think I can pin down what the problem is with Season 1's second half though. The show was caught in the crossfire between Lauren Faust who kept wanting to take it in a more adventure and action driven direction, and Hasbro who wanted the show to be more slice of life based so it'd be easier to market. The writers knew that no matter what they did they would never be able to please

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And so we come to what, at the time, could've very well seemed like the grand finale for the whole show (unbeknownst to fans Lauren Faust was working on her vision for a grand finale). Of course we know now this isn't true, but at the time no information about Season 2 had been released. Amy Keating Rogers, a dedicated veteran and the first to work alongside Lauren Faust was given the honor of writing this finale. Considering she'd been cranking out hits like "Fall Weather Friends" and "A Dog

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Now we come to the big one. This was the first episode that no one was willing to defend back when it aired, and it still remains often among the show's worst episodes. This episode also marked the debut of the show's first new writer in the form of Merriweather Williams. She had previously worked on Spongebob Squarepants during its first three seasons and had more recently been involved with Adventure Time which sparked the cartoon renissance of the early 2010's. So you'd think

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