Do you want a Appleloosa’s Most Wanted Review? · 12:21am May 7th, 2015
Sorry about this blog post being so late. Life got in the way... and my laptop... and my Grin Brothers upload schedule... and work... and work following me home (I hate moving sand). As for other matters... well I ended up using the above picture due to it's relation to the last episode I reviewed, what with having missed out on Tank For The Memories. Kill La Kill was the last anime series I've watched in it's entirety, now being concerned for my large backlog of videos about potential viruses in pursuing other cartoons and anime to watch online (and the list of the ones I want to watch keeps growing). I really enjoyed it, great series overall, feel free to give a shoutout below if you've also watched Kill La Kill.
Why no Tank For The Memories review?
Avengers: Age of Ultron was awesome! Yep, that’s my reason for not watching and reviewing last week’s episode, family trip to the cinemas.
Also, my computer is practically dying. Yeah… that’s a bit of a nuisance. Apparently it had a lot of viruses on it, which was why my laptop was slowing down (and here I thought it was cat hair). I’ve had the viruses removed, but the laptop is still rather wheezy, supposedly due to the harddrive effectively dying. Sometimes opening up Word becomes a chore for it, so you can imagine the difficulty I go through when it then comes to making Grin Brothers videos.
Will I be watching and reviewing Tank For The Memories at some point? Certainly, the first episode break we receive during this season will be when I hope to watch and review the episode.
Other Episode Reviews of Bloom & Gloom
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Thejboy88
Strebiskunk
Episode Review of Appleloosa’s Most Wanted
I like the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Even back in season 1, when either a large part of the fandom or merely a vocal part of it disliked their episodes, I liked the characters. In turn, even when it came to episodes I dislike, the featuring of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, interacting with one another attributed to instantly having at least one positive for the episode I’m watching. As such, it’s always pleasing for me when an episode is announced starring the Crusaders as the leads, such as with Appleloosa’s Most Wanted
The episode centres around a rodeo taking place at Appleloosa. Applejack and Apple Bloom’s cousin, Braeburn, has a broken leg, and so Applejack has travelled to Appleloosa to take his place in the hay stacking rodeo event. Along for the ride are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who are eager to take part in the many rodeo events to try and earn their cutie marks. Unfortunately for the crusaders, after an accident almost resulting in them being flattened by a hay pile, it turns out that a notorious rodeo ruining outlaw known as Troubleshoes is lurking about. Unluckily for the Crusaders, Applejack decides that having three fillies attending the rodeo whilst there is a dangerous outlaw on the loose is a bad idea, and has Braeburn keep an eye on them. Unluckily for Applejack, the CMC sneak away, and decide to get to get their cutie marks by getting Troubleshoes caught.
The first thing I’d like to bring up in regards to what I liked about this episode is the set up for the plot and events. The case of Troubleshoes, who he is and the trouble he is causing, is given a real sense of both intrigue and alarm. The characters react with concern, and yet also pride, as the Sherrif vows to keep the rodeo going on despite Troubleshoes presence. The history of Troubleshoes, of the ‘crimes’ he’s committed, just give this weight to the episodes events and character actions. Adding to this setting up, is the great tone and atmosphere brought in when the Cutie Mark Crusaders go looking for Troubleshoes. Their search in the woods, on a dark and rainy day, their growing fear of being lost is brought about well, and as with most episodes this season, looks beautiful.
Another key aspect I enjoyed about this episode are the characters. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are brilliant as always, Apple Bloom in particular I felt was great, effectively taking centre stage. Applejack was worried, yet for good reason, and was generally well presented with some very good interactions with the returning Braeburn. Sheriff Silverstar is terrific, a determined character who refuses to be intimidated by Troubleshoes presence, and yet also is somewhat reasonable in what types of crimes he thinks fits with Troubleshoes profile. The highlight of the character listing for me though, is Troubleshoes, to whom I can’t say much as it would be spoilers. I will say that he has a decent backstory, brings about plenty of humour to this episode, and kind of reminds me of Cranky, at least in regards to being one of the few pessimistic oriented characters. I will also give credit to the two pitchfork and torch wielding ponies wishing for a mob, I love them for that joke alone.
The last positive I wish to point out and praise are the morals of this episode. It’s an aspect I usually downplay, as long as I don’t feel their giving out what I believe to be a wrong message, the morals I feel don’t affect my enjoyment. In this episode though, I feel they worked out pretty well. It’s hard to explain without spoiling things, but in part it comes down to a matter of perspective. You can view something as negative, and in turn shut out the possibility of seeing the positive to it. Alternatively the moral can be interpreted as there are many ways to make use of a talent, and sometimes things you might not even consider a talent. I felt it was rather well presented, though it does help that it explored a viewpoint I’ve pondered on before, and it was a decent thing to have revolve around the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Troubleshoes. An additional moral is given through a kind deed being its own reward, an always nice moral to deliver, and is effectively delivered here.
Moving onto negatives, and despite my praises for the moral of this episode, my first negative is relating to the moral. Whilst I have come to interpret the moral as a positive one, certain parts of the episode and the manner in which things are said, can easily lead to a more negative interpretation of the moral. I wouldn’t be surprised if people were to also interpret the moral as there being only a singular way to going about things, or implying the moral here is an ‘abide by fate’ scenario, though frankly the mere existence of cutie marks have the unfortunate interpretation to them.
The other negatives are rather short things. Things like nopony listening to the Cutie Mark Crusaders when their trying to explain things, particularly Applejack after the event the CMC are trying to explain, and one very bizarre scene cut which feels like the animators forgot what they had the characters doing after a panning shot, are minor nuisances. Those hoping for Troubleshoes to be a big time villain, well just warning you now, you’ll be disappointed… unless like myself, you end enjoying the character and way the episode plays out to the point that you don’t mind too much.
So then, that there was my review of Appleloosa’s Most Wanted. Once again, criticisms were rather hard to come up with for this season 5 episode, and the animation was brilliant. An unfortunately, once again this season 5 episode was amazing, but failed to blow me away. That said, I will say it did a better job than the other episodes in impressing me. Perhaps it was my love of the CMC, perhaps it was the setting, perhaps it was Troubleshoes, or perhaps it was how I’ve found this to be the funniest episode of Season 5 so far. Appleloosa’s Most Wanted may not be an absolute favourite, but I will credit it for being a Fantastic episode, and one I feel comfortable giving an 8.5 out of 10.
