SO MUCH TWIDASH [episode spoilers] · 3:09pm Apr 5th, 2014
Watching Leap of Faith a second time, I think I was maybe less enthusiastic about it, but it's still a really, really solid episode, even if it isn't the most amazing. Also I think Lyra has a granny fetish.
So yeah, the first half of Testing Testing was fucking amazing. So much Twidash. Rainbow being a terrible student. That fucking scene with Owloysius and Spike playing the drum and then Spike just leaves and we will never know what the fuck he was doing. Seriously, wtf happened? That was incredible. (It also kept me from hearing anything Twilight was saying, herp. :V)
Things after that got a little weird. I think having all of them there actually worked for once; I can at least say that. I did think things were a tad sparse overall, which I suppose is unusual as criticisms go. Let's see.
The play was funny, at least. (Fluttershy was so excited about everything and apparently Spike has waited his whole life to put on a play about the history of Celestia and Luna starring six animals.) The history bits were fun. The rap was... wtf even? And why was the sound quality so bad? That wasn't really something they should have tried to emulate, I'm sorry. The fashion show was great (again, we're gonna have some impressive porn off this episode). Applejack being 300% useless was hilarious. Also "E! U! P! Eeyup!" was genius.
The sparse bits were towards the end, when it was mostly Rainbow and Twilight flying and talking. I will say that the lesson was delivered well, and it's a good lesson to have.
I dunno. NinesTempest was saying last night that everyone was either going to hate or love this episode, but honestly I just kinda like it. It's nothing majorly either way for me.
HAH NINES, TAKE THAT YOU TURD :V
This list has kind of lost its meaning by this point, as I barely remember some of the older episodes.
Pinkie Pride
For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils
Rarity Takes Manehattan
Rainbow Falls
Leap of Faith
Daring Don't
Pinky Apple Pie
Somepony to Watch Over Me
Testing Testing 1,2,3
Twilight Time
Flight to the Finish
It Ain't Easy Being Breezies
Simple Ways
Power Ponies
Maud Pie
Filli Vanilli
Three's a Crowd
Princess Twilight
Castle Mane-ia
Bats!
I love that they established that Rainbow "Professionalism" Dash really is professional when it comes to certain things that she takes seriously.
I told you :V
The sound quality during the rap scene was distorted on purpose because it was emulating the VHS tapes we had way back when and their horrible playback quality. I thought it was quite clever
Yay, you agree that they shouldn't have decreased the sound quality for the rap.
Now go convince Vicodin, will you? He seems to think everything about that moment was perfect.
1983414
In that YOU CLEARLY LOVED THE FIRST PART and then were PP for the rest of it cause ur dumb
Yeah, a significant portion of this episode was just Twilight and Rainbow Dash calmly flying around and talking, or relaxing on clouds and talking.
...
Beat episode ever.
I like how the answer was foreshadowed in the opening scene with Rainbow's explanation of how she saw Twilight's "surprise" coming.
But now I'm confused about whether the whole Nightmare Moon incident was widely known history before Luna's return.
Rainbow Dash takes the title for cutest pony for this episode, not that she was ever not the cutest, though.
Huge fanon was destroyed in this episode and I don't think most people noticed:
Twilight is not obsessed with keeping her books in good condition, in fact, if she didn't like reading so much I would almost said she was a bookworm poser. She advises using highlight on books! WTF! That made me cringe, what kind of twisted advice is that?!
So anyway, all those fics about Twilight freaking out over dog ears and being over protective of her books, yeah, you got it all wrong. She doesn't care one bit, she probably has food and water stains all over her collection because that's the kind of thing monsters who highlight text on books do, no exceptions.
Also, apparently being portrayed as taller than you are is not something ponies find desirable.
1983354
That's Rainbow Danger Professionalism Dash for you.
Twidash fans are going to have a field day with this episode.
Clearly Twilight was just moments away from continuing with "beautiful, funny, caring..."
Celestia's favorite maneuver: the Icaranean Sun Salutation.
(Google Icarus, and what happens when he flies to the sun, for those that didn't get it. Hint: the same tale was also referenced in the episode Sonic Rainboom.)
1983419
Actually, emulating a high generation copy, possibly in LP or SLP mode (which means cramming 4 or 6 hours of video on a 2 hours tape, for those that are not old enough to know). Proper first generation copies in SP mode (only putting in the tape as much as it was made to hold) could look, and sound, almost as good as a DVD (with a 2 channels soundtrack).
1983694
I would say it was not a secret, but not common knowledge either. I mean, do you (or a common citizen of your country) know how your country's military force was first created? Ponies that seriously studied story should know about the Celestia/Luna rift (as called in the episode), but I don't think a common pony would.
Though the way the event was described suggest that the name Nightmare Moon isn't really used in the story books.
1983789
Or, perhaps, she knows spells to restore books. Which is more or less what I thought after seeing her actions in older episodes, such as she magically throwing every book to the ground when re-shelving them in Secret of My Excess.
(I also cringed when she told Rainbow to highlight the book. Yikes!)
1983812
No, she just re shelved them in the state they were left as, cause she highlights books and she's a monster, that's my new head canon.
When I first learned about Pinkie Pie rapping, I started getting that same dread that I got from the Power Ponies preview. But while Power Ponies was almost as lame as I thought it would be, Pinkie's rap... was probably also kind of lame, but brief enough that it didn't ruin the episode. I thought that there was no way rap could work in a G-rated setting like this. It brought to mind other times when clueless white people thought they could emulate rap without knowing anything about it, just resulting in something unbearably corny. But it's clear that they do at least know something about rap... probably more than I do since I don't really understand the significance of the hat Pinkie wore. Is it a Run-DMC thing? At least I know they're going it old-school, before gangsta took over.
But the rest of the episode hit pretty close to home because of the moral (and because of OTP). I thought it was interesting that every one of the mane six had different, unusual means of learning. If you have to use them all in the episode, this is how you do it.
As for the highlighters, I'm sure she doesn't use them for every book she has.
1983457
Vicodin is always wrong about everything, ever. :V
1983482
no u
>not thinking everything about this episode was goddamn flawless
So, so wrong and so, so casual.
I found this one cute enough. Not amazing, but it was a nice lesson and very understandable as to the frustrations that each one of them had in trying to help her. Yes, Big Mac's comment was priceless. It's almost like it was intentional...
Definitely an above-average episode, though I was surprised to see Dash so easily get disheartened about herself. Mostly, this was carried by the moral and the nice little moments scattered throughout, rather than being a great story, but whatever gets you there. It's much better than I expected it to be.
1984603
You're almost as bad as Nines.
1985149
I always go for Insecure Rainbow Dash, so that all made sense to me.
I also have to say that Applejack's study advice will probably add fuel to the fire of the "Applejack is dumb" part of the fandom.
1986883
She's not dumb! She's apples!
1984603
You know what's best, Alex.