• Member Since 7th Feb, 2012
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Alex Warlorn


Just your average Brony who happened upon an idea that might actually turn out to be clever enough for guys to love.

More Blog Posts691

Aug
17th
2014

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Of Season 4 Of Friendship Is Magic · 1:59am Aug 17th, 2014

Since people have been asking, since I gave my thoughts on season 3, I'll give my thoughts on season 4.

1&2. "Princess Twilight Sparkle"

Okay, this episode has a lot. It gives us an origin for the Element of Harmony. It gives us a look at Luna's fall into madness and her sealing away. It shows the Princesses blasting Discord to stone. It shows that without Luna and Celly around, the day/night cycle simply STOPS. We also get a cameo by none other than Zecora herself, which is always a plus.

It also has the mane six do the SMART THING and force Twilight to keep herself safe since losing ANOTHER Princess is the last thing Equestria needs. But then Discord tells her that she's somehow abandoning her friends in spite of them TELLING HER not to put herself in danger. And of course, the Law of protagonist-casualty-correctness means it turns out to be the right choice since they needed all six elements to cure the tree of harmony and save Equestria.

Not to mention the Mane Six make a good argument on how the Elements were the only thing keep Discord in check.

And . . . THEY GET RID OF THE ELEMENTS!!!!! I know that as writers, they can't have the 'aim and shoot, problem gone' magic dodads be the answer to every problem, but bloody seriously, this when you SEE the hand of the writer nudging things along, it is NOT good story telling!!!

I did not feel sadness at 'Oh no, they have to give up their special status and special power to save the day', I felt indignation at 'the writer swept the elements under the rug.' I felt substance had been REMOVED from the story world.

Thumbs DOWN

-


3. "Castle Mane-ia"

While it's INTELLIGENT and RATIONAL (and we don't want encouraging kids to do anything stupid), I felt AJ and RD turning out to be wearing beesuits underneath the mass of bees they were covered with IMHO ruined the funniness of it for me.

I agree with other reviewers that the Star Spider were a poor red herring, and it would have been fun if more had been done with them.

The ponies scaring each other left and right is a typical plot, but it's done well enough here. And we get a hint of what Luna and Celly were like back in the old days.

And we get a hint of power truly powerful Twilight is once again when she's able to grab her friends all at once with her magic.

And we get the Castle restoration subplot going (which sadly didn't go as many places as it should have).

And we get a mysterious cloaked figure who doesn't return until the season finale.

And the Pony Of Shadows it turns out was just a myth like the headless horse after all. (For the record, I think the headless horse CARRIES its head with it, and THAT is how it can see).

The joke is, while EVERYONE ELSE seemed to already guess the figure was Pinkie Pie, me? I was SURE it was gonna turn out to be Zecora (who is a inhabitant of Everfree) or Luna (who, it being HER old castle, would have every reason to be there). It seems I'm the only one who didn't guess Pinkie Pie.

And why didn't I? Because, I'm USED TO characters being given brush off excuses so they don't need to be there for the episode (like Spike being in Canterlot for 'Read It And Weep' so he can't play referee for the mares bickering and keep Twilight's craziness in check as he normally does).

Thumbs UP

-

4. "Daring Don't"

Okay. The joke is? I didn't care that much for Daring Do on her own as a character before this episode. She was an Indiana Jones clone, nothing more, nothing less. She had nothing that made her unique beyond being a medium for readers of her stories in universe to feel like it's like to be an adventurer.

Another reviewer turned her appearance in this episode into her being a Refuge from the Land of Fiction (a reference to the G1 world where a golden gate existed to the land of fictional beings). Which IMHO, killed the charm and personality that this episode GAVE to Daring Do.

Because you see, I feel ironically that A.K. Yearling, is a MORE INTERESTING CHARACTER that Daring Do herself! The Clark Kent/Superman dynamic it adds to the character gives her depth and personality that she lacked before. And so many possibilities, and the question of how much she puts into her books, and how much she revises and embellishes, and how much she has to endure from her publishers and editors wanting to change things, not to mention fan suggestions.

AND I LOVED Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle speaking geek to each other early on in the episode, it really showed some fun and personality (something else removed from said review, which was sad for me, since it was a golden moment for me).

And of course, Rainbow Dash being a creepy fan girl for Daring Do. Yes, she's a hero herself, yes she looks up to the Wonderbolts, but she's just found out her FANTASY HERO IS REAL, this would throw her off her game since Daring Do wasn't real to her in the strict sense, she was able to completely idealize her, and now faces that ideal in the face.

And Pinkie Pie painting the red line as they go along was so Pinkie Pie.

And then Rainbow Dash gets an expy of herself staring in the next Daring Do book.

I hope some day we get more exploration between the two personas of the legendary adventurer and the mysteries surrounding her ability to keep her fantastic life fictional. And the contrasts that exist between the two personas, and what Yearling writes down, and what she actually does.


Thumbs UP

-

5. "Flight to the Finish"

This . . . this episode. I was watching it at April 15th. 4:30 PM PST. I was in the middle of watching it. When . . . sigh.

Harsh Whinny returns, always good to see reoccurring characters. We get more depth into the Equestrian Games.

We have it learned double, (like in One Bad Apple) that Diamond Tiara's 'black flank' retoric is ONLY because Applebloom is a blank flank along with her friends, Diamond Tiara herself doesn't truly buy it. And, of course, Diamond Tiara is flanderized more, as is mandatory for ANY of her appearances, to make her EVEN WORSE each appearance, which IMHO has taken her from being 'every bully' as she was as a one-shot baddie, to an outright PARODY at this point. Her total lack of depth and development is JARRING at this point. With one-shot baddies, this isn't noticeable, since they only appear in one episode, but having her appear multiple times, her lack of depth has made her stand up painfully in the show and not in a good way, she simply can no longer properly function in her designated role as 'every bully' since at this point, it's giving the message, 'the jackass who bullies you isn't a person, so it's perfectly fine if something bad happens to them, you don't need to feel empathy for them' which becomes a problem in life if you begin dividing people into 'good guys' and bad guys. Like I said, in one-shot villains, this isn't a problem, they're just robots programmed to act as an externalization of the hero's own moral problem, but the writer IMHO LOST their license to have Diamond Tiara remain a 1-D villain once she they decided to use her more than once.

We also get a reminder that yes, the CMC ARE perfectly capable of being effective as a group, when they WIN the competition, and everypony approves of their performance. The problem them trying their hoof at EVERYTHING regardless if they want to do that with their lives or not.

Also, IMHO, what a lot of people missed, was that they were JOKING about getting a cutie mark, and did it just to get a rise out of Rainbow Dash as some harmless razzing. This shows GROWTH on their part, as they are finally beginning to not see a 'cutie mark for its own sake' as the reason for having one.

"Flying is what makes ME awesome! You're YOU!" Ironically shows a lot growth for RD's part.

Though I will say, the idea of Scootaloo never being able to fly feels, well, cruel.

I am not giving up my fanon of Scootaloo not being with her family yet. If her parents show up in the show like it's nothing, I'll be VERY disappointed. Since after four season it would be as awkward and jarring as Shining Armor being dropped on us without any foreshadowing. Scootaloo is not an adult, unlike Fluttershy. Scootaloo doesn't exist just an prop character for someone else, like Silver Spoon is to Diamond Tiara. She's not a one-shot character. She's not a background character. She's had episodes that focus on her exclusively. So there had better be a bloody good in story reason why her parents haven't been shown yet.

Thumbs (due to the emotional happenstance that happened when I first watched this episode, I can't realistically give it an up or down, so it's abstained.)

-

6. "Power Ponies"

This episode was what it was supposed to be. Fun. Spike unwittingly buys a magical comic book that draws him and the others into the story. I have to agree with a troper who figured the entire comic was effectively glorified LARPing, and that the comic was an 'introduction module' since the Power Ponies in terms of abilities and numbers had the Maniac clearly out matched and the Maniac herself might been playing like a game's dungeon master, continuing to give the heroes a way to win.

The lack of NPCs like by-standards and the like suggest again this was meant as an introduction module. Also, the fact the comic returns to the shop after one use, suggests it's meant as a RENTAL.

Also we get a return to the castle restoration sub-plot.

I wonder if Hum Drum will make an appearance in the MLP Special where the REAL Power Ponies make an appearance (sadly, the Masked Matter Horn is a unicorn, not a pegasus or Alicorn, rats), it might be fun if it turns out he's a baby dragon in the comics as well.

Thumbs UP

-

7. "Bats!"

I do not like this episode.
AJ is given the 'Disagree With Me' t-shirt, and as depicted as some half-crazed jerk who hates the bats for irrational or unreasonable reasons and is driven purely by prejudice and ignorance.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy is given the 'Agree With Everything I Say' t-shirt, and is shown as the white saint who can not be wrong about anything, and that the bats ruining AJ's crops are poor and misunderstood and are right out of a Bambi movie.

And of course, their solution of making the vampire fruit bats not interested in apples, of course backfires horribly because Fluttershy didn't agree with it, and therefore HAD TO backfire horribly.

And AJ has to give up the prize Apple that she was so worried about from the beginning to save her friend who wouldn't be in trouble if they had gone along with everything Fluttershy had wanted in the first place.

And of course, the vampire fruit bats, SOMEHOW know where to stay on the orchard. It reminds me of a joke I heard in Florida. That they had set up areas for the manatees to be and not be in the boating lines. And someone mentions how "Someone forgot to tell the Manatees."

And the story completely ignore that for AJ, those trees aren't just trees, they're FAMILY to her, with NAMES, so of COURSE she's going to be protective of them, she doesn't CARE about profits right now from trees going faster, she cares about the trees being stripped bare by the Vampire fruit bats RIGHT NOW.

And we never find out how Granny Smith dealt with the last plague of vampire fruit bats. Though I know if we did, it would have been something to make AJ eat her words, since the narrative can allow nothing that contradicts Fluttershy's point of view.

Thumbs DOWN

-

8. "Rarity Takes Manehattan"

We get a good look at Rarity's attitude and her song. Ironically the trope page mentions how in real life that Rarity's generous attitude is the LAST THING you want to do in a big city, in particular in Manhattan, which, IMHO? I think I'm FINE with that. Why? Because it's a bloody reminder that this isn't real life, this is a FAIRY TALE, this is a FANTASY, this is My Little Pony, we aren't TRYING for human nature.

Suri ironically is an interesting villain, and what I think a lot of viewers MISS is when she talks about ponies "learning" how Manehatten "works" implies she was much like Rarity when first arriving, but the cut throat attitude of the fashion industry MADE HER a sociopath and a thief. And a another thing a lot of viewers seem to miss is the implication that once upon a time, she and Rarity were once friends FOR REAL.

The sad part is how after she's completed her preprogrammed function of giving Rarity her moral dilemma, and being the 'bad angel' to Coco, she vanishes into thin air. Leaving at least me with, the same "so what does she do with herself AFTER the crude hits the fan from her scheme being exposed" much like Trixie, I'm left wondering what happened to her after.

Maybe I'm just mental, (I wouldn't be surprised), but I never got why Rarity was IN THE WRONG for being upset at her friends for wanting to go see a musical over being there for Rarity for her big career moment they had just helped her so much with (and thus is the fruit of her own efforts as well).

Thumbs THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!

-

9. "Pinkie Apple Pie"

This episode, SURPRISED ME. A LOT! The way Pinkie Pie is introduced to being part of AJ's family is handled well done and cleverly (which I wasn't expecting at all). And Pinkie Pie's "HEEEEEY COUSIN!" is handled beautifully!

And we're given some actual depth to the Apple clan, as they try to be the perfect family for Pinkie Pie, but putting self-aware effort into something they're normally quite good at, screws it up.

I love the reference to 'Ponylicious' meme. AND the Cuthulu like horrors that inhabit the Scariest Cave In Equestria that was a RIOT! :D :D :D

Pinkie Pie teaching THEM a lesson about family. Which IMHO was clever since Pinkie's life style and that of the rest of her own family clashed, so she knows there's no such thing as a perfect family.

Thumbs UP

-

10. "Rainbow Falls"

Derpy, beloved Derpy is given a role, and is a delight even if the ninja-death-lawyers prevent her from speaking or having her name said.

Soarin' is given a bit of personality and some touching moments with Dash.

And Fleetfoot is given some personality as well.

RD AVOIDING the conflict of interests between her own team and the bolts is like her, since she doesn't like gray area conflicts (at least gray where her feelings are concerned).

I actually don't think that much less of the Bolts cause of this, they're playing to win, simple as that.

And it's nice to see the griffins make a return and are shown to be accepted as fellows rather than enemies. I know it would have ONLY distracted from things, but too bad Gilda didn't get a cameo through all this with the griffin team.

Rarity's designs are weird, garish, and TOO out of character for her normal clever designs, sorry episode's art team, you didn't do a good job there, sorry. I get what the joke was supposed to be, but the joke would have worked better if Rarity had tried for something too formal for a sporting event rather than something that looks like one of her fashion disasters in 'Suited For Success.'

Thumbs THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!

-

11. "Three's a Crowd"

We get a cameo from Flash Sentry, cool.

We get some foreshadowing with the Breezies, which I'll admit I like.

It's interesting Discord chooses to arrive just as Fluttershy leaves. And he infects AJ and Rarity, scares away Rainbow Dash, and lures away Pinkie Pie in spite of her being the only one who WANTS to spent time with him (Discord doesn't get friendship as much as he thinks he does).

Twilight and Cadence finally get to spend some quality time together without them having to save the world. I wonder how Cadence feels about Twilight's new Alicornhood and Princesshood, too bad it's never given in detail.

And we find out Cadence also has an interest in Starswirl.

Discord gets a musical number.

While we didn't exactly have time to cover it, it would have been interesting to see what happened with AJ and Rarity.

And we get the giant sandworm, who even Discord didn't know what it was, suggesting how obscure and old the beast actually is. And the flower flower at the edge of Equestria was a nice touch.

I think it reminds us that the world of MLP is NOT a 100% modern one! There ARE territories that are still big ??? marks, there is no giant mass transit, satellite mapping, no global instant communication, etc, there are HUGE 'UNKNOWNS' in this world that NO KINGDOM holds dominion over, and there are kingdom that are unknown to the map makers.

And it's nice to see Discord get his comeuppance in the end. And it feels ironically natural and perfectly fitting. It's ironic it' the Element of Honesty that doesn't want to tell Discord his got what was coming to him. And it's the Element of Generosity who DOES.

Thumbs UP

-

12. "Pinkie Pride"

THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!

I don't like this episode. At all. I do not like Cheese Sandwich. I get he is purely a cameo character. And I LIKE that they BOTHERED to add some foreshadowing with Maud Pie (showing that LEARNED from their mistakes with Shining Armor).

But I'm unable to enjoy ANY of the songs in this episode.

Pinkie Pie is shown in all ways to be simply INFERIOR to Cheese Sandwich. That she was his inspiration is supposed to make it all better.

And the fact that whatever Pinkie Pie made for RD's birthday, CS was able to out do her (the banner being the big example).

Thumbs DOWN


13. "Simple Ways"

Lost opportunity.

Seriously, lost opportunity.

There's just so much here!

The other ponies politely bowing out when Rarity is chosen. The other ponies approving of Rarity wanting a high-class celebration for Ponyville's celebration. Ponyville, which has SHOWN time and again to be as about as OPPOSITE to high class as you can get and being a traditionalist town.

I'm honestly curious WHY Rarity's theme was chosen!

Trenderhoof . . . I don't GET why people say he's racist for ADMIRING the work ethic of Earth Pony, I must have MISSED something.

The main plot, and the equation there of, is imbalanced.

Trenderhoof falls for Applejack, AJ wants to just avoid Trenderhoof and get on with her work, not seeming to get she's got a geek who's enamored with her.

Rarity, having her eyes set on Trenderhoof, decides to mimic Applejack, but ends up doing so in a painfully stereotypical way. And here's the thing.

RARITY is shown, very clearly by the narrative, and more importantly by the characters themselves, to be going by cliches and stereotypes, which gets AJ's dander up.

But when AJ chooses to throw this back in Rarity's face, instead of taking this to a absurd extreme and throwing a cliche of Rarity's life style in Rarity's face to get Rarity to see how Applejack feels about what Rarity is doing, she comes across as a proper lady instead.

Trenderhoof of course barges in, having come up with the same scheme as Rarity, wanting to completely change his lifestyle to impress Applejack, and is told completely reinventing yourself just for the WANTS of others is not a smart choice. This part is handled relative well compared to the rest.

Thumbs DOWN

-

14. "Filli Vanilli"

Okay. Rarity's singing group comes out of thin air. And the two others singers are never given name or personality screen.

Visit to Zecora, always a plus. Recall of poison joke, now used for a practical purpose, again cool.

Poor Big Mac is denied again being given some decent speaking line, oh well. And loses his reign as Turkey Caller king.

We get another hint that Applebloom was RIGHT and Big Mac and Cheerilee DID like each other after all, they had to develop it NATURALLY.

The songs by Rarity's singing group are also fun. And that's FLUTTERSHY who keeps the acceptances coming.

Noteworthy and Lyra are apparently friends.

Fluttershy, while not over her fear of crowds, does take a few steps forward.

But ironically, I THINK that Pinkie Pie was trying to help Fluttershy, but was going about it completely the wrong way, not realizing that her description WOULDN'T make Fluttershy laugh at how absurd her fears were, but instead would make her irrational fears sound plausible.

This episode I liked.

Thumbs UP

-

15. "Twilight Time"

The CMC don't talk about their cutie marks this episode, which IMHO shows they're reaching the point where they are no long reaching for their cutie marks for their own sake, but are now interesting in improving themselves and becoming more. And Twilight seems interested in politely nudging them into learning their special talents.

That Twilight is now the 'in thing' for the foals of Ponyville is VERY FUN!

Diamond Tiara, FOR ONCE is given a tiny bit of development and personality. First we are shown how she can work a crowd and given a good spin on nearly anything (including her elderly butler doing gymnastics for her).

And that the CMC fall into the same trap, IMHO is good writing, as they're also made to see how position and status can corrupt.

And, Pipsqeak makes a reappearance, which is fun. VERY fun.

And the 'Twilight time!' foal horde was fun to see (not much for the CMC, but still).

We see that Diamond Tiara is willing to quit teasing the CMC if it's to her advantage, again showing her 'hatred of blank flank' is bull.

And we FINALLY get a tiny look into how Diamond Tiara's ticks:
"You can base on how cool a party is on how many you can exclude from it."

Which is ironic considering the hoard of foals at her cutie mark party.

And SWEETIE BELLE learns to do magic! AT LAST!

And we get a visit again to Applebloom's talent with potions hinted at before with Zecora.

The way Diamond Tiara is willing to geek over Twilight Sparkle, when before being Celestia's apprentice and personal envoy was no big deal (but that's standard in this cartoon verse), but being a princess is something Diamond Tiara can SEE, and is drawn like a magic and a chance to get a hoof in the door and get in good with Equestria's newest princess. This is, ironically, the most NORMAL we've ever seen Diamond Tiara act!

While there was no place to explore it and the episode, and it would have DISTRACTED from the main point of story if it HAD been used, but I honestly wonder of things between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are.
Scootaloo is a pegasus who can't fly. Sweetie Belle is NO LONGER a unicorn who can't use magic! I honestly imagine they felt a tiny bit of unconscious camaraderie for the two of them lacking the trait that is the trade mark of their particular pony Type, and now Sweetie CAN use magic while Scoots can no longer fly.

I wish someone would do a fanfic about that already.

Thumbs UP

-

16. "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies"

Well. Before this episode aired, I was expecting G3 bashing out the woozoo. With the Breezies being secretly evil or evil-lazy or super-jerks, who lure Fluttershy into "taking care of them" and then being forcefully made their slave and the heroes having to resue her.

Instead we get a taste of how much it SUCKS for the little fairies, and WHY they live in their own pocket-world to begin with.

Also, the distinctions between mares and stallions is VERY sublime.

Seabreeze is first depicted as the standard-issue jerk, then it's revealed he had a BLOODY GOOD REASON for being a jerk and being so desperate to make it back home (he had a wife and child waiting).

And Seabreeze and the bees manage to teach Fluttershy about her Element, and her teaching him, about when and where to use what KIND of kindness, WITHOUT there being a one-shot antagonist thrown into the mix, or having a another character being underhanded. This makes this by far my FAVORITE EPISODE OF THE ENTIRE SEASON!

The transformations into breezies was fun too, too bad RD didn't get to be a griffin, that would have made a cool plot of RD deciding to visit the griffin tribes for a day to get a look at them, and maybe sublimely patch things up with Gilda. Too bad the writers didn't follow this up in a later episode.

THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!


Thumbs UP

-

17. "Somepony to Watch Over Me"

Applebloom is trusted at home.

I still see the bow and AJ WEAR as being special even if they have a million to spare.

AJ comes in on Applebloom at the worst possible time.

AJ suffers temporarily craziness wanting to baby proof EVERYTHING for Applebloom (and ends up Babyproofing 'Bloom's escape route, IMHO showing just how out of it AJ was).

Sadly the route with the chimera complaining about its sisters didn't go anywhere.

'Bloom didn't learn her lesson, even as AJ learn HER lesson!

I LOVED that Applebloom's song got interrupted as 'not enough time' and that AJ did off screen teleportation for one scene, (implying she was going nuts, and possibly tapping into her Pinkie pie genes).

And AJ it's shown by the time Bloom did her crazy stunt, was already calming down from her temporarily insanity.

Aside from the lesson being a little one sided, I love this episode.

Thumbs UP

-

18. "Maud Pie"

Okay. Since THIS new big sibling was actually fore shadowed some, she get a pass for being invented for this episode.

Also, the sheer contrast between her and Pinkie is indeed fun.

Though Boulder DID CHEAT for the game of hide and seek.

We also get another hint as how powerful an Earth Pony can be when they WORK at it. The show's creator went on the record as saying Earth Ponies weren't the 'have nots' of Equestria, so them being glorified intelligent horses doesn't make sense to me.

And for those curious, Maud WILL be making an introduction in the Pony POV Series before I retire.

Thumbs UP

-

19. "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils"

This was a good episode. And a contrast to when it was RARITY who learned the lesson, now it's Sweetie Belle's turn.

Her reactions, reasoning, etc, are all those OF A CHILD! A reminder that she IS A CHILD!

And Rarity appearing as an evil vicious storm cloud in her dreams is because THAT IS HOW SWEETIE BELLE IS SEEING HER AT THE TIME!

And Princess Luna is the one who choses to snip this attitude in the bud, knowing exactly where it leads. Even if at first Sweetie think she appreciate Sweetie's bad feelings towards Rarity, Luna appreciates where those feelings LEAD!

The Nightmare Sequence was everything it was supposed to be, helpless and frightening.

And a return of Sapphire Shores is great too. Returning characters always is.

Princess Luna is sublime, not but Sweetie realize her hand in keep this disaster from happening that she showed Sweetie Belle.

She could have done so herself, but at the same time knows that would have treated the symptoms, not the disease. Is Princess Luna somewhat ruthless in her lesson in Sweetie Belle? Perhaps, but she needed to be.

Also, what I'm surprised is that few mention how SIMILAR Sweetie Belle's expressions are to DIAMOND TIARA'S when she's getting her revenge on Rarity.

And Luna present Sweetie Belle with the other side of the picture.

And at the end, Sweetie Belle admits the play wasn't that good, and Rarity's costumes were the best part.

Thumbs UP

-

20. "Leap of Faith"

Flim and Flam are giving an upgrade from selling a legitimate product and trying to goad the Apples out of their farm, to selling a completely fake product.

I'm honestly not sure about the lie AJ is convinced BY A PAIR OF CON-STALLIONS is better to stick to rather than revealing the painful truth.

And AJ has the decision for keeping the wool over Granny Smith's eyes or not made FOR HER when she has to save Granny Smith's life. That is not good. AJ didn't MAKE a choice based on lies or truth, she made a choice on saving her grandmother or letting her die, that IS NOT A CHOICE AT ALL!

But didn't Granny Smith have a bad hip? When did it get fixed? Otherwise how was confidence enough to let her perform her swimming routine with Applebloom?

THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!

Flim and Flam take their money and RUN once the jig is up. They'll never able to make a deal in Ponyville again, and this time, with it being an out and out scam, they won't be doing any business where the large, wide spread, and close nit Apple family is.


Thumbs Down (sorry)

-

21. "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3"

This episode is weird.

Firefly, who Rainbow Dash was SUPPOSED TO BE, but due to copyright issues wasn't able to be part, appears, at least in mention. That was fun!

We also get some history on Equestria.

The addition of the Pony helicopter is interesting, that they refer to it as "that" implies it hasn't been around for very long, or gotten that far of use, at all.

At least Filthy Rich make a tiny cameo.

On the bright side, Rainbow Dash is now a part of the Wonderbolt Reserves.

Thumbs UP

-

22. "Trade Ya!"

This episode is much to do about nothing. That is the best way to sum it up. Nothing new is covered here that hasn't been done before.

Rarity and AJ's friendship.

RD and Shy's friendship.

Pinkie Pie's weirdness.

All in all, this episode just treads over old grounds. And is like a fanfiction by a new writer.

The trading sequence is weird.

It is not bad, nor good. It simply IS!

It adds nothing, and subtracts nothing from the Ponyverse.

Thumbs --- No up or down here.

-

23. "Inspiration Manifestation"

The joke is, I LIKED most of this episode. Rarity's sense of style going out of control. Spike's good intentions backfiring. Rarity deciding to 'improve' Ponyville. Oh, and since nothing else showed that Rarity now had teleport magic, I am going with the idea that mexican music band ponies were turned into CLONES of Octavia and her friends, not switched places with them, since that would mean sending the other band to Canterlot, which IMHO makes no sense given Rarity's tastes.

Rarity's vision growing bigger and bigger, along with her mania. Until Spike finally has to reveal the truth.

And then, sigh . . . protagionist/antagionist double standards kick in.

Trixie, who also was under the influence of an ancient artifact, due to be part of the antagonist club at the time, is able to remember all her actions while the Alicorn Amulet was using her, even when she tells Twilight she is ashamed and dismayed by her actions while under its influence.

But Rarity, due to being a protagonist, can't be caught doing something that bad, even if she also had he excuse of being under the effects of ancient artifact, and unlike Trixie, had the bigger excuse of not making a power grab with an item whose danger she was ignorant of. So nope. She doesn't remember a thing. Even thought Spike then explains it all to her ANYWAY. WASTING SCREEN TIME!!!!

And Twilight reveals she and princess just spent a ton of time reversing all of Rarity's changes because it was ALL DARK MAGIC . . . so why don't the ponies DESTROY any of these fancy evil items at first? If it CAN'T be used for good? When all they need to do is feed it to a dragon.

Thumbs DOWN

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24. "Equestria Games"

Positive: We learn Spike is worship as a hero in the Crystal Empire. Cool. When Twilight saves Spike's rear, she DOES NOT engage in a endless string of lies that will end with Spike in even GREATER danger and THEN revealing the truth after countless build up. Again cool. Spike gets to be the hero again for the Games. Cool.


Negative: Crystal Empire is racist against unicorns, (likely due to being enslaved by one). They bother with sealing away the magic of unicorns who attend to watch (basically putting them in a STRAIGHT JACKET), but don't even TRY anything similar with Earth Ponies and Pegasi. Boo. I know it was justification for Spike being the only one present could save the day. But it left a bad taste in my mouth, TOO BAD a taste in mouth, sorry.

I also agree with a friend of mine, that this would have been good as 'another side' story for Spike like in the pet subplot in season 3, and it would have been fun to see more of the games themselves.

Thumbs DOWN for that one.

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25&26. "Twilight's Kingdom"

THE RAINBOW EYES ARE FREAKY!!!

Tirek, THE TIREK, the first and greatest of all My Little Pony villains has returned to Equestria.

And we get a little bit of history with Scorpan, establishing that it's not 'always chaotic evil' here, with Tirek's kind. A nice touch. Since I feel that the changelings being 'all chaotic evil' doesn't fit with the MLP verse at all.

Tirek charms Discord, saying his friendship with Fluttershy is a prison.

But instead of Discord realizing he's done a horrible thing and turning on Tirek (even if his rebellion would turn up shallow due to too little too late), instead of Tirek does a mandatory obligatory arbitrary betrayal of Discord to snap him out of it and make him realizing what a jackass he's always been to others, and CARE that he's been such a jackass.

I'll admit at the end of the first episode, where Celestia said they had to give up their Alicorn magic. I was tick off enough the star themselves trembled at my fury. Seriously, I was VERY ANGRY INDEED! I'm basically sick of the 'let's knock-off, depower, dispose of, dismiss, throw out, etc, render null, high power super natural being' that every fantasy world story that runs long enough and that RPG that run long enough always fall into (see the trend with FF games to see what I mean).

It's the final removal of substance, done as a 'now we mortal get to make our own fate without those pesky gods getting in our way.'

I almost didn't watch the second episode, and almost done with MLP: FiM FOREVER with that one. I'd have never watched the series again. Period. Poof. End.

But after I'm assured it's not the case, I watched the next episode.

But then it's revealed that power like theirs, CAN'T simply dissolve into nothing, nor be neatly and cleanly disturbed among the masses equally, or locked in a chest and thrown in an ocean.

It has to be given to another Alicorn.

And Twilight has to raise and lower the moon on her own.

Yeah, warning her friends about Discord would have been an intelligent move, but sadly, having the power of three more Alicorns I think was addling her thinking.

We get an EPIC FIGHT with Tirek, and the Golden Oaks Library is destroyed, goodbye bees, they're dead now. And most of the books Twilight had is destroyed, sorry fan comics. At least Owloucious is safe.

And Twilight does the single most stupid thing he can, and to save HER friends, she gives up all the Alicorn magic to Tirek, dooming EVERY ELSE'S FRIENDS!!!

Of course, this being a little girl's cartoon, and right now we're busying teaching kids about making the 'right' decisions over the 'correct' decision so we don't encourage sociopathic thinking, (we'll get to teaching the gray areas of the world later after we teaching them the right and the wrong first), this turns out to be the right move as the item Tirek called worthless and gave to Discord, and Discord gives to Twilight in REAL friendship, turns out to be the last key, and they girls are sucked into the box, and are turned into living Elements of Harmony. And Twilight gains a crystal castle on the spot where her library used to be. And all of the girls get thrones, and so does Spike.


Thumbs UP

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Total Thumbs Up: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (14)
Total Thumbs Neutral: xxxx (3)
Total Thumbs Down: xxxxxxxx (8)
Final Thumbs: THUMBS UP

Report Alex Warlorn · 636 views ·
Comments ( 31 )

We learn AJ has no education. That she never attended a day of school in her life.

This one puzzles me, as AJ never said anything about not going to school. All she said was she didn't have any special study tricks.

Trenderhoof doesn't think that Earth Ponies are inferior, true, but he does subconsciously class them as farmers. And not even realistic farmers at that, but fantasized tanned and muscled ponies who whisper to plants and produce crops with a wave of a hoof. He's not maliciously racist, true, but he is... classist racist, if that makes sense, and obliviously so. Trust me, in some circles, that's actually considered worse.

On the first 7 eps ....

It shows that without Luna and Celly around, the day/night cycle simply STOPS.

My explanation for that is that the just-discorporated Sundreamer and Moondreamer, in that instant when they could tremendously affect their Cosmic Selves, had to make their toy cosmology fast, and it was only meant to run for a couple thousand years (it's run twice as long) and it was never meant to be played with by Discord, and it was a bit of a kludge to begin with. Oopsie. :twilightsheepish:

It also has the mane six do the SMART THING and force Twilight to keep herself safe since losing ANOTHER Princess is the last thing Equestria needs. But then Discord tells her that she's somehow abandoning her friends in spite of them TELLING HER not to put herself in danger. And of course, the Law of protagonist-casualty-correctness means it turns out to be the right choice since they needed all six elements to cure the tree of harmony and save Equestria.

Yeah, I was a little annoyed by the way that logic took a backseat to the Aesop of Friends Should Stick Together there. Though I liked the story enough in general that I was willing to let it slide.

I did not feel sadness at 'Oh no, they have to give up their special status and special power to save the day', I felt indignation at 'the writer swept the elements under the rug.' I felt substance had been REMOVED from the story world.

Though at the end of the season, they got them back in a new "Oh by the Great Dark, my visual sensors hurt, what am I seeing, I never should have tried to invade this Universe, too much light, I want to go home to my continuum of dead stars and endless night, someshade find the way home ..." extra-fruity delicious form. I liked Alara J. Rogers' description of that as "looking like a filly with some crayons had designed it."

And we get the Castle restoration subplot going (which sadly didn't go as many places as it should have).

I think it may go further in future seasons. If it doesn't, I'll be disappointed. Heck, in my future not only does the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters get rebuilt, but after the wars the surrounding area gets resettled. With a superhighway running through it, yet!

And we get a mysterious cloaked figure who doesn't return until the season finale.

Did you notice that no explanation was ever given for why Tirek was lurking around the old castle? My guess is that he wanted something from the castle library. But that shoe never dropped -- he didn't actually do anything with any book or item from the castle library. In fact there's close to an anti-continuity if Tirek was there -- if he was spying on Twilight Sparkle and her friends, how did he miss noticing that she was an alicorn?

And if that wasn't Tirek, then who it was has never been explained.

(For the record, I think the headless horse CARRIES its head with it, and THAT is how it can see).

RAINBOW DASH: It doesn't need a head to see. It's got eyes.

APPLEJACK: Hold on a consarn moment -- where's it got its eyes if not in its haid?

And Pinkie Pie painting the red line as they go along was so Pinkie Pie.

And a Shout Out to a scene in The Emperor's New Groove, which is one of the best animated comedies of all time IMO, right up there with The Road To El Dorado (interestingly, both are set in fantasy versions of American Indian civilizations).

Because you see, I feel ironically that A.K. Yearling, is a MORE INTERESTING CHARACTER that Daring Do herself! The Clark Kent/Superman dynamic it adds to the character gives her depth and personality that she lacked before. And so many possibilities, and the question of how much she puts into her books, and how much she revises and embellishes, and how much she has to endure from her publishers and editors wanting to change things, not to mention fan suggestions.

... and what she chooses to or is asked to leave out. I figure she probably acts as an unoffical agent of the Realm at times, possibly in cooperation with the Night Watch (in my fanon, the Night Watch are basically Equestria's equivalent of the BPRD from Hellboy).

And yeah. I want to see more Daring Do.

I, incidentally, like the notion of both Daring Do and Ditzy Doo (Derpy Hooves) being from the same family, both of them descendants of one of the leading Pegasus Clans of the Age of Thrones and the Lunar Rebellion Era.

This is one of my explanations for my Derpy Hooves being a Crouching Moron Hidden Badass (Explaining how she escaped from the clutches of a carnivorous vine monster in the deep Everfree, she simply tells Twilight "I had a machete."). She's a natural fighter just like Daring Do, and like her ancestors of a thousand years ago. (This also fits well with the Epic of Derpy Hooves and Carrot Top, which I'm going to fold into my fanon somewhere -- I can totally see her fighting alongside good-guy undead warrior ponies and giant spiders against the menace of the Windigo Queen).

I totally agree with you on Diamond Tiara. Each time they've shown her, they have made it obvious that she has an intense rivalry with Apple Bloom and that she's willing to hurt her friends to get back at her (she spends "Flight to the Finish" driving Scootaloo to what looks close to suicide over this, though I doubt DT realized it might go so far). But it's never really explained why DT feels this way -- it's true that the Riches and the Apples are respectively the top upper middle class and lower middle class families in Ponyville, but they have historically been allies rather than enemies -- DT seems to be constructing this feud out of nothing but her own bad will, to the alarm of her father Filthy Rich (who probably doesn't want to see it damage the many decades of good will between the Riches and the Apples).

DT seems to be so obsessed with her own dominance that she is flinging herself against realities beyond her changing in order to prove to herself that she's still top filly. For instance, the Apples were always respected in Ponyville -- with Applejack being the Element of Honesty and one of the closest friends of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the respect for and status of her family is bound to increase. Diamond Tiara merely makes herself look foolish and petty to carp over this, since the Apples are also well-liked in Ponyville.

In the latter episodes (like "Pinkie Pride") we even see her being mean to Silver Spoon, who is one of her true friends (maybe her only true friend). Is her Evil Plan to alienate everypony until she is a crazy old mare living all alone in a huge mansion with one loyal servant named Max?

Seriously, why is she doing this? Step 1. Alienate all my friends. Step 2. ???? Step 3. Profit! There really needs to be a Step 2 explained in here.

Though I will say, the idea of Scootaloo never being able to fly feels, well, cruel.

Plus she's been shown flying in several episodes -- it's just always when she's conceptualizing it as riding her skateboard. I think she has a very extensive and powerful flight field which she needs to learn how to focus, and which will eventually be strong enough to let her do things like pilot aircraft in aerodynamically-impossible maneuvers because she can extend her field to cover her whole vehicle.

I believe in going beyond mere Scootalove into Scoota-Awesome!

I am not giving up my fanon of Scootaloo not being with her family yet. If her parents show up in the show like it's nothing, I'll be VERY disappointed. Since after four season it would be as awkward and jarring as Shining Armor being dropped on us without any foreshadowing. Scootaloo is not an adult, unlike Fluttershy. Scootaloo doesn't exist just an prop character for someone else, like Silver Spoon is to Diamond Tiara. She's not a one-shot character. She's not a background character. She's had episodes that focus on her exclusively. So there had better be a bloody good in story reason why her parents haven't been shown yet.

Indeed ... just because Scootaloo is living in a room in a building instead of under a bridge doesn't mean that her parents are alive. I have her being raised by a maternal aunt, who regards it as her duty, and who makes sure Scootaloo is fed and housed well, but doesn't really give her much love. Which is why she's never seen.

... the comic was an 'introduction module' since the Power Ponies in terms of abilities and numbers had the Maniac clearly out matched and the Maniac herself might been playing like a game's dungeon master, continuing to give the heroes a way to win.

Yes. It looked to me as if the comic was set up so that there was literally no way to lose, no matter how apparently-menacing things got. Ultimately, all it took was for the main characters to use their powers halfway intelligently. Indeed, since Spike was the most pro-active of them all, he was the one who proved key to solving the situation.

I really liked Rarity happily and proudly prancing down her Lantern Ring Expy created steps. That was classic Rarity. And she's one of my favorite characters on the show.

Not the one I would want to live with, mind you (Spike's crazy to actually want her as his mate). That would probably be Applejack or Fluttershy, if I lived in that world. But the one who is the most fun to watch in action.

Ah well. Spike's a Dragon. They're tough. Maybe even tough enough to survive marriage to Rarity.

AJ is given the 'Disagree With Me' t-shirt, and as depicted as some half-crazed jerk who hates the bats for irrational or unreasonable reasons and is driven purely by prejudice and ignorance.

And mind you, AJ wasn't even being all that unreasonable. The vampire fruit bats were, from her perspective, vermin who were destroying her crop. Granny Smith had personal experience, which she'd passed on to AJ, of a previous visitation by them having caused the Apples intense hardship.

Oh, the Apples are richer now? Maybe they are, but their ability to reliably raise crops is what's going to help support AJ's and possibly Mac's ability to marry and support their foals, and Apple Bloom's educational possibilities. And remember Granny's hoped-for hip surgery? It's not as if the Apples are Captain Planet villains who just want to destroy the environment for incomprehensible motivations.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy is given the 'Agree With Everything I Say' t-shirt, and is shown as the white saint who can not be wrong about anything, and that the bats ruining AJ's crops are poor and misunderstood and are right out of a Bambi movie.

And note: this isn't even Fluttershy's farm. She is risking nothing (other than Applejack's ire) by gambling that the vampire fruit bats will do more good than harm to the orchards. Plus there's the issue of future value versus present value -- the way in which the vampire fruit bats help the orchard is by seed dissemination, which means lean times in the immediate future in the hopes of better times in the farther future.

And AJ has to give up the prize Apple that she was so worried about from the beginning to save her friend who wouldn't be in trouble if they had gone along with everything Fluttershy had wanted in the first place.

Interestingly, Rainbow Dash is the only one to appreciate Applejack's sacrifice. I say "interestingly" because Rainbow Dash is Loyalty and is close to Fluttershy, so this touches on her directly from two angles, both idealism and self-interest.

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Thanks for the comments dude!

Flight to the Finish:

And, of course, Diamond Tiara is flanderized more, as is mandatory for ANY of her appearances, to make her EVEN WORSE each appearance, which IMHO has taken her from being 'every bully' as she was as a one-shot baddie, to an outright PARODY at this point.

Pretty much one of the reasons why I like your POVerse more than the Heart World

Pinkie Pried:

I don't like this episode. At all.

Wow, never guessed that there is someone disliking this Episode. Not that there is anything wrong with it since Everyone has a different Taste. My biggest Problem with this Episode was, that the two best Partyplanners do all those amazing Stuff to celebrate Rainbows BIRTHDAY... which, as said by one Analysist Brony, would have done wonders to her Ego (even with Pinkie Pie alone) I would have used this Set-up to celebrate something that won't repeat every Year, like... Rainbow becoming a Wonderbolt for real.

Simple Ways:
This Episode was already dead to me when I saw the Synopsis... I hate that Rarity (my FAVORITE) has a sudden Crush on this Waste of Animation (even with a Stalker Shrine :facehoof:) and beeing reduced to a stereotypical Highschool Girl :raritydespair:. I've seen more potential in Flashlight than in this Ship (mostly thanks to the Fact that both Twilight and Flash Sentry didn't knew about the other before they met).

Maud Pie:

And for those curious, Maud WILL be making an introduction in the Pony POV Series before I retire.

:yay:

Equestria Games:

Chrysalis Empire

Didn't you mean the "Crystal Empire"?

8. "Rarity Takes Manehattan"

We get a good look at Rarity's attitude and her song. Ironically the trope page mentions how in real life that Rarity's generous attitude is the LAST THING you want to do in a big city, in particular in Manhattan, which, IMHO? I think I'm FINE with that. Why? Because it's a bloody reminder that this isn't real life, this is a FAIRY TALE, this is a FANTASY, this is My Little Pony, we aren't TRYING for human nature.

I don't actually know that the troper gets it right, either. Quite aside from the fact that this is a world where behaving in accordance with one's Element can literally make one more effective for magical reasons, the essence of Generosity as a social strategy is that Rarity picks Nice options first when dealing with anypony with whom she is playing social games. It would only be self-destructive if she persisted in picking Nice after she saw that another player was playing Nasty. But we've seen that she doesn't: Rarity is quite capable of being Nasty when she has to be.

Rarity is essentially playing a variant of the Tit-For-Tat Strategy; in fact the name for her strategy is Generous Tit-For-Tat, and it's been demonstrated to be one of the most theoretically-robust strategies in any Prisoner's Dilemma like game (let alone more lifelike games with greater positive-summing).

This has frequently worked for her in her previous life; it in fact frequently works for her in Manehattan. Suri Polomare, who betrays Rarity, is somepony from whom she would not rationally have expected betrayal: Suri was previously her friend, and had good rational reasons to continue their previous cooperation given that Rarity was now more prominent and successful.

The only strategy that would have worked against so great a tendency to betray would have been one so hostile that -- had Rarity been employing it -- she wouldn't have had any friends at all. Which would have greatly weakened her position in any and all social games.

Now, Rarity is demonstrably very skilled at playing social games. She can usually tell when somepony is being friendly or hostile, even if they are trying to conceal it, from various secondary clues (I imagine this as part of her overarching Talent, which is a high aptitude for pattern-recognition). Suri blindsided her because Suri was somepony she had reason to consider a friend, to trust.

This demonstrates that Rarity isn't perfect. But then, Ponies Aren't Perfect, even Alicorns like Celestia and Luna, let alone merely possible nascent Alicorns like Rarity. Even Celestia and Luna have been betrayed by those they considered friends.

Suri ironically is an interesting villain, and what I think a lot of viewers MISS is when she talks about ponies "learning" how Manehatten "works" implies she was much like Rarity when first arriving, but the cut throat attitude of the fashion industry MADE HER a sociopath and a thief. And a another thing a lot of viewers seem to miss is the implication that once upon a time, she and Rarity were once friends FOR REAL.

In my fanon, Rarity almost became like Suri in the wake of her Fillydelphia experience. She succeeded at the school by ruthlessly forcing herself to focus on success ahead of all other considerations, and in the year or two immediately after the catastrophe had very little trust or love for other Ponies.

The difference is that Rarity healed -- she came to understand that most Ponies weren't bad, and that she shouldn't let her heart remain cold. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to renew her friendship with Fluttershy, or befriend Twilight Sparkle or Spike. We don't know what happened to Suri, but Suri obviously wasn't able to heal from it.

The sad part is how after she's completed her preprogrammed function of giving Rarity her moral dilemma, and being the 'bad angel' to Coco, she vanishes into thin air. Leaving at least me with, the same "so what does she do with herself AFTER the crude hits the fan from her scheme being exposed" much like Trixie, I'm left wondering what happened to her after.

It's left open. And, unlike Trixie, we haven't seen her again so we have no idea. I am guessing that Suri continued her life and career as best she could, and that we might run into her again as at least a background pony at a fashion event. Or they might actually re-use her -- as an enemy, ally or Pony of ambiguous intentions.

I don't see Suri as a villain on the grand scale, or even really all that evil -- just nasty. Definitely nastier than Trixie -- and I've noticed that the comics agree with me that Trixie is more a basically good Pony with some serious flaws than a genuinely bad Pony. The difference is that Trixie doesn't seem to be treacherous -- if she decides that you're worthy of her cooperation, she won't stab you in the back. (And if she doesn't thnk you're worthy, you'll likely know it -- Trixie isn't shy of expressing her negative opinions to spare the feelings of others).

Maybe I'm just mental, (I wouldn't be surprised), but I never got why Rarity was IN THE WRONG for being upset at her friends for wanting to go see a musical over being there for Rarity for her big career moment they had just helped her so much with (and thus is the fruit of her own efforts as well).

Agreed. It was kind of important. And Rarity's previous plans had been derailed by Suri's betrayal. Rarity might have tried to go with her original plans anyway -- then both her and Suri would have looked less original -- but Rarity is a perfectionist and can't stand looking anything less than fabulous. Which is not a bad thing -- if Rarity wasn't like that, she wouldn't be succeeding as she does.

9. Pinkie Apple Pie

I really liked this episode because it does a lot to develop every one of the characters in the main story -- Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith.

Pinkie Pie teaching THEM a lesson about family. Which IMHO was clever since Pinkie's life style and that of the rest of her own family clashed, so she knows there's no such thing as a perfect family.

I think Pinkie deeply loves her family -- it's just that her requirements for life are incompatible with their way of life. She needs to be around lots and lots of Ponies having fun and helping them to have fun, and they're a bunch of quiet rock farmers. This is true even in my fanon, which borrows heavily from Ask the Pie Sisters for its characterization of all of them save Maude (who hasn't been worked into their story yet) and Claire (who's my OC)_ -- Igneous, Cloudy, Marble and Limestone aren't really as grim as they seem to outsiders, but they're not manically cheerful like Pinkie.

IMO Ask the Pie Sisters acknowledges this in very subtle ways; if you look at Marble and Limestone being cheerful, they most do so in rather subdued ways. An outsider might not notice when they were in a happy mood, even though Limestone in particular has a sunny disposition. Also, Marble is extremely shy and has problems expressing her more cheerful side around strangers.

10. "Rainbow Falls"

Derpy, beloved Derpy is given a role, and is a delight even if the ninja-death-lawyers prevent her from speaking or having her name said.

I don't even understand of what it is that Hasbro is afraid that terrifies them of using one of the show's most popular background characters. I doubt that there is anyone with standing to sue no matter how they characterize her, even if they did make her a genuine idiot (which I wouldn't like, as I see her as more mildly autistic and clumsy).

Soarin' is given a bit of personality and some touching moments with Dash.

And Fleetfoot is given some personality as well.

All three of the Wonderbolts who get speaking roles here get some good characterization.

The chemistry between Bulk and Fluttershy in this episode is half of the reason why I decided to have them have fallen in love in Divine Jealousy and the Voice of Reason. Bulk's characterization here is also more subtle than it seems -- do you notice how he does the shouting most when he's obviously nervous and ill-at-ease? As he finds himself increasingly accepted by Fluttershy and Applejack, he calms down a lot, and reveals a rather endearingly childlike nature. It's obvious that his shouting is a defense mechanism, and that he's actually somewhat shy.

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Though at the end of the season, they got them back in a new "Oh by the Great Dark, my visual sensors hurt, what am I seeing, I never should have tried to invade this Universe, too much light, I want to go home to my continuum of dead stars and endless night, someshade find the way home ..." extra-fruity delicious form.

I have to agree, though I think it looked good on Rarity. Not the others, though!

And in another universe, poor Ardi is heaving a sigh of relief that whatever happened to him, he didn't have to be Rarity while looking like THAT. Or as she did in Sonic Rainboom, either. :raritystarry:

Did you notice that no explanation was ever given for why Tirek was lurking around the old castle? My guess is that he wanted something from the castle library. But that shoe never dropped -- he didn't actually do anything with any book or item from the castle library. In fact there's close to an anti-continuity if Tirek was there -- if he was spying on Twilight Sparkle and her friends, how did he miss noticing that she was an alicorn?

... I never thought of that. Mind, I still think it was Tirek, as it would tie in with the later events nicely, but it's a problem.

And if it wasn't him, then maybe it was one of those young male humans Alara J. Rogers mentioned in her story with Discord, prowling the Everfree and working up the nerve to go to Ponyville and start hassling the mares. Okay, probably not.

RE: Diamond Tiara -- I begin to wonder if whatever cost AJ her parents, was what also cost Diamond her mother who we've never seen. That could explain her hostility.

Or maybe the writers just don't know what to do with her, who knows?

I really liked Rarity happily and proudly prancing down her Lantern Ring Expy created steps. That was classic Rarity.

Oh yes, I love that moment SO much. Rarity looked so utterly proud in that moment. As for living with her... Eeeee-yeah, that might get difficult. But boy would a lot of guys be happy to try. :raritywink: I admit to being surprised you wouldn't want to give Twilight a chance as a roomie. I imagine a LOT of scholarly fans would want to spend time talking with her. Heh, I remember that one comic where Twilight announces she's teaching a class on Equestrian history, and to her shock it ends up entirely filled with humans.

DVB

With Bats!, I just figured that it was just not executed well. While ponies are intune with nature manipulating creatures to not eat what they eat seems like a bad idea. Wallace and Grommit's Curse of the Wererabbit showed us that. Also, Fluttershy's speciality is in animals. We've seen this before when she came to resolve the feud AJ had with the beavers. I think both were at fault and the episode could be done better. I think what disappointed me most was that I felt this was the episode that should have emphasized and help grow Fluttershy's and AJ's friendship and we didn't see much of that.

With Pinkie Pride, Cheese Sandwich being better than Pinkie Pie kinda confused. While Wierd Al is Wierd Al, I found a satisfying answer from TVTropes. Pinkie Pie was his inspiration. He built upon her works. It's liking taking the first care and revolutionizing it with things like A/C, seatbelts and so on. Also, the point of being a party pony is to have fun and make others feel like they're having fun.

With Rarity Takes Manehatten, Suri seemed more fo an aquaintance than an actual friend. Also, I suppose I can't say much since I don't anyone in the fashion industry, but I reckon it's pretty cutthroat. Also, Suri made her own choices. Our environment brings out the possible traits, but in the end, we choose what happens.

With Simple Ways, it's not surprising AJ was able to come off as a proper lady. She was raised by her Aunt and Uncle Orange, even if it was for a short while. Also, she probably took a bit of time to show off and prepare (although one wondered where she got that dress. Was it a present from Rarity or did she plan to give it to her later?)

Overall, every failure we see the show do, we should take as an opportunity to see what we can learn and how it could be done better. And yeah, return of Tirek was awesome.

Now let's see if we get to see Grogar return or something.

You are a writing machine Alex. Neat.

11. Three's a Crowd

We get a cameo from Flash Sentry, cool.

I was glad to see that they hadn't completely forgotten about his existence.

While I do think that Twilight's attraction to the Humanoid Flash was kind of thrown into Equestria Girls as if the story were being written from a checklist ("Non-threatening unimportant love interest whose existence won't impede any other romance story we choose to write about our heroine in the future, check!"), they actually gave him enough of a personality and backstory that he could have been interesting. But of course, Pony Flash isn't the same individual as Humanoid Flash.

I was well aware when I included the whole Twilight / Luna Reincarnation Romance arc that I was writing something in for which there was very little support in canon and hence was very likely to be jossed. So I'm not going to be too horrified if they choose to give Twilight a serious love interest.

Indeed, I'm sure there are many alternate versions of the Shadow Wars universe where, for one reason or another, either Luna chooses not to pursue the Reincarnation Romance ("I am just glad that the new incarnation of Dusk is happy, and that we can be True Friends") or she screws up her approach ("Thou art alarmed by the gallon of baby oil, the two goats, and the baby hippo? Wouldst thou prefer less baby oil?") or she falls in love with somepony else instead ("Ah, Bulk Biceps, mine own true love ..." "Yeah!").

My problem with Flash Sentry isn't that he's a wicked waffle ... um, waifu ... stealer. Unless his Pony analog is very difference, I'm sure he's a nice guy and a good guy and an overall heroic type who respects others and helps little old mares cross the street ... if they want to cross the street, that is.

My problem with him as Twilight's OTP is that there is no canon interaction between them other than her bumping into him in the hall and her getting flustered by the realization that he had an analogue on Pony Earth. There is literally more reason to imagine Twilight with Luna (and there's very little reason for that in canon) than with the Pony Flash, because the Ponies and their Humanoid analogues are not the same people. They may often be very similar -- I suspect there's a mystical reason for this in the case of Element Bearers and Backups -- but they are not identical.

Now, if they bring Flash Sentry on for more screen time in Season Five and reveal things about his character and give him interactions with Twilight Sparkle which might plausibly support romantic attraction between the two, that's another story. They can do it -- they did it with Pinkie and Cheese, Mac and Cheerilee, Spike and Rarity, Fluttershy and Bulk, Fluttershy and Discord, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Intentionally, I think, in at least half of the cases.

But they haven't done it with Twilight and Flash. Yet.

We get some foreshadowing with the Breezies, which I'll admit I like.

(*nods*) What I like about it is it shows that they are thinking in terms of long-term story arcs.

It's interesting Discord chooses to arrive just as Fluttershy leaves. And he infects AJ and Rarity, scares away Rainbow Dash, and lures away Pinkie Pie in spite of her being the only one who WANTS to spent time with him (Discord doesn't get friendship as much as he thinks he does).

Discord was obviously acting according to a plan. He deliberately waited until Fluttershy was gone because -- if he showed up seeming ill and Fluttershy was there, Fluttershy would (literally, as she's a Pegasus) hover all over him taking care of him and generally paying him attention. Which, normally, he would love, but it would get in the way of testing Twilight.

He also had to get rid of the other four. Rainbow Dash distrusted him so much she fled his presence (correctly, as events showd). One loose end is that we have no idea where Rainbow Dash went.

He liked Pinkie Pie too much to want to hurt her, even a little bit, if he doesn't absolutely have to do so (I think in your world, and mine, because she reminds him so much of her ancestor Surprise), so he diverts her with something she likes. I'm guessing that he enchanted the balloon to resonate with her own Concept (basically a kinder, gentler Discording). Applejack and Rarity he temporarily incapacitated -- they couldn't actually die of his spell, but it was probably very uncomfortable for them.

Cadance's personality was well presented in this episode. She came across as somepony genuinely loveable, rather than somepony who is loved (romantically by Shining and as a friend by Twilight) simply because she's pretty and is holding a "Love Me" ball. She's been shown sympathetically before, but this was a purely social situation.

And we get the giant sandworm, who even Discord didn't know what it was, suggesting how obscure and old the beast actually is. And the flower flower at the edge of Equestria was a nice touch.

And that's another loose end. Discord knew the flower existed and apparently couldn't pick it himself. What's more, it had a guardian -- one with a power that worked especially against Discord. I still think that this was more than just a friendship test, but I'm not entirely sure what game he was playing.

I think it reminds us that the world of MLP is NOT a 100% modern one! There ARE territories that are still big ??? marks, there is no giant mass transit, satellite mapping, no global instant communication, etc, there are HUGE 'UNKNOWNS' in this world that NO KINGDOM holds dominion over, and there are kingdom that are unknown to the map makers.

I agree. It helps establish Equestria as a fantasy world, even if it is a science fantasy world.

2384474

I wish I was as fast as you imply I am.

2384893 Words. You have lots of word here. I write little but read much. Half a million words here and there show this. These words are not empty.

2384865

Thanks for your thoughts dude! Also, if you know any artists willing to do illustrations for the pony pov series audio adaption, LET ME KNOW!

Also, IMHO, what a lot of people missed, was that they were JOKING about getting a cutie mark, and did it just to get a rise out of Rainbow Dash as some harmless razzing.

I've seen Flight to the Finish dozens of times, and that bit never really came across as all that joking to me. But I still found it funny for RD's reaction.

Rarity Takes Manehatten is one of my least favorite Rarity episodes to date, and it's my second least favorite of the key episodes. I have a ton of problems with it that keep me from liking it as much as most seem to.

RD AVOIDING the conflict of interests between her own team and the bolts is like her, since she doesn't like gray area conflicts (at least gray where her feelings are concerned).
I actually don't think that much less of the Bolts cause of this, they're playing to win, simple as that.

I just want to say: THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT!
Rainbow Falls used to be my favorite RD episode, and it's my third favorite episode of the season, and I dislike how it gets hated on by most people who do reviews, so it's always refreshing to see someone who actually likes it and feels more or less how I do about it.

Although, it IS weird to come across someone who likes Rainbow Falls and dislikes Pinkie Pride. Usually it's the other way around.
But regardless, Pinkie Pride is actually my favorite episode of the season, and it used to be my favorite episode overall until Crusaders of the Lost Mark came along.
The songs in it are really catchy. The two emotional numbers always get a reaction out of me (And I love the animation during Pinkie's Lament). I found the humor to be top notch.
DT actually managed to be tolerable with her 3 lines. Plus, I love how her singing in CotLM was actually foreshadowed with this episode.
The fact that Cheese Sandwich was both inspired by, and manages to outdo, Pinkie actually makes sense, given that he's basically Weird Al as a pony, since I find his parodies of songs more enjoyable than the original songs themselves.
And then there's the fact that Weird Al is in it. That fact alone got me excited for the episode.

Simple Ways is one of my favorite episodes to give Rarity focus to date. And that's because I found Rarity attempting to be country to be hilarious.

But ironically, I THINK that Pinkie Pie was trying to help Fluttershy, but was going about it completely the wrong way, not realizing that her description WOULDN'T make Fluttershy laugh at how absurd her fears were, but instead would make her irrational fears sound plausible.

Again, THANK YOU!
I feel the exact same way regarding Pinkie's behavior in Filli Vanilli, which happens to be my favorite Fluttershy episode to date.

It Ain't Easy Being Breezies is an episode that I felt is simultaneously lackluster and enjoyable, so it's my third least favorite key episode and my least favorite Fluttershy episode overall.

Somepony to Watch Over Me is the only episode that I actually think suffers from the show's loose timeline of when episodes actually take place, since AJ's behavior felt more in line with her season 1 self than her season 5 personality.

Leap of Faith, I found to be dull.

The resolution to Twilight's Kingdom is actually kind of interesting if you think about it.
Had Tirek acted like a typical villain, and demand the Alicorn magic first before releasing Twilight's magic, and then not releasing the others at all, he would have won.
But instead, his loss was sealed by doing the exact opposite of that.

3566494

A friend suggested that AJ, was suffering from early bird mistakes with the Pie's crazy gene, she happened to get... she was unconsciously foreseeing different futures for Apple Bloom, but didn't realizes she was seeing a slew of VERY VERY unlikely possibilities that would do Bloom harm. (And became a self fulfilling prophecy when she baby proofed Bloom's own escape route).

3566544 That actually makes sense, if that episode takes place around the time that it's aired.
But, the funny thing is that we have no idea when the episode is taking place, except its after the CMC have been formed.
It could take place anywhere between that moment (which could very well be the 3rd episode in chronological order (counting the series premiere as one episode)) and Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
The reason I say that is because there are only a few details to indicate which episodes take place in certain sections of the show, and this episode is lacking two of them:
1. Twilight did not appear.
2. Neither AJ nor AB wrote in the journal.

3566571

I always have, and always will, go with the idea the episode aired in the order they were aired. And screw the 'entire series took place in 365 days' junk.

3566629 So, how do you deal with situations like this season, where one episode is a Hearth's Warming episode, and the one right after is one that takes place on Nightmare Night.

But as for me, I generally just don't care about when the episodes takes place, unless it would have a severe impact on how a character should have acted in it (like with Somepony to Watch Over Me) or if it seems like it would contradict another (like Tanks for the Memories supposedly taking place after May the Best Pet Win and Hearth's Warming Eve (the episode, this time), despite RD saying it's the first winter they have together).
Though in the latter case, i usually come up with a way to justify the second episode taking place later in the timeline.

Although, technically speaking, it was only the first 3 seasons that took place in a single year, and it's never been made clear just how long a year in Equestria lasts.

3566652

I take the first winter together thing as RD just being dense.

3566717 Well, the way I see it there are two possiblities, and both of them work, seeing as Tank did not appear in Hearth's Warming Eve:
1. The cities in Equestria get Winter on a rotation, so when Cloudsdale had its rotation, Ponyville was in a different season.
2. RD left Tank with another pony while she and the others went to Cloudsdale.

3566732 Plus, RD is actually smarter than you give her credit her for.

3566761

You've never read my pony pov series have you?

3566779 I've read Season Zero of it. Twice actually.
I've been meaning to read the rest of the series for a while now, but I kind of have this thing where it's hard for me to even start reading a story if most of the chapters are really long (meaning close to 10,000 words or more per chapter), plus my interest in reading a bunch of stories I haven't already read comes and goes in bursts that last for either weeks or a few months, and right now that interest just isn't there for even shorter stories.

3566806

Season 1 shows RD is anything but stupid.

3566822 All right. That's reassuring.
And I apologize for misinterpreting what you said.
It's just the way you worded your interpretation of what RD said made it seem like you thought she was stupid.

3566823

She's not stupid, just as single minded as AJ is stubborn.

3566826 Okay, that I can agree with.
Although, that is actually one of the things I love about her so much. Heck, if it wasn't for Cheese Sandwich existing, she'd be my favorite pony. As it stands, it's a close second, and she is my favorite member of the mane 6.

3566833

While there's Spike, Flash, Cheese, and Discord,

I think RD is most in love with herself (and maybe Soarin', but given he, she and Spitfire are all in the wonder bolts, a relationship between ANY of them might be a scandal since soldiers AREN'T supposed to be have relations with their COs). And AJ is married to her farm work.

3566877 Flash Sentry, I feel, is overhated.
As for Discord, he's actually another of my favorite characters.

As for the thing about soldiers not having relations with their COs, remember: Equestria works differently from our world, so I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the case there.

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