Season 6 Liveblog: "The Gift of the Maud Pie" · 12:40am Apr 3rd, 2016
My usual MLP episode discussion forum has been inconveniently dead for most of the last week, and venturing into the FiM subforum at the MLP Arena can be a mixed experience, so I guess I'm over here for the time being~! I have paid absolutely zero attention to season news--in fact, I'm only just now learning the episode title--so this is a satisfyingly blind run.
Speaking of said title, I recognize it as a reference to "The Gift of the Magi" but I am also realizing I don't actually remember what happened in that story. :| It's one of those western high school things, right? Like The Lottery and The Necklace? But I don't remember which one it is. Maybe it's the one where two people buy gifts for each other but they have to sell important things to get the money for those gifts, only they'd have needed those things in order to use the gifts they get? Or maybe that's the Necklace? Ehhhh I dunno, maybe watching the episode will remind me.
IIRC third episodes in this show have historically tended to set the stage for their upcoming seasons, maybe expand a bit on events introduced in the season opener, albeit in less adventurous, more slice-of-lifey fashions? At least some of the time? So I'm assuming Starlight Glimmer will continue to be involved this week, as our new main character, and hopefully somewhere along the way she'll get some character development that makes her more interesting than in the openers. Otherwise... something with gifts and Maud, apparently. Also not my favoritest character (I managed to leave her out of Magic on the Rocks almost entirely), but I'll admit I own both her brushable and her blindbag-scale minifig.
*presses play*
Neither of these two characters appear to be Starlight Glimmer. That's... odd.
Oh, but I forgot we've also got the big "Explore Equestria" theme to sell this season! I guess that makes sense, then. Lots of Manehattan all the time. Will this be the episode with the swanboat? I really want to see that swanboat. :3
Also Rarity is a big success now, that's right, good for her :D
Okay what is Maud doing in Manehattan and can we hang out with Luckette the cute pink beret-wearing background pony actress instead?
I had forgotten that Rarity got her cutie mark for her special ability to speak exclusively in exposition.
Huh, I just saw Suri Polomare (sorry, I mean Buttonbelle) in the background. But the show doesn't seem to be planning on commenting on that?
Pinkie is not endearing herself very well.
Don't look so shocked at Maud's skating moves, Rarity! Didn't your human counterpart compete on (a different kind of) skates in the Friendship Games? That probably means you're a natural too.
awww poor sad blue soup stallion, I giggled
This conversation is what people think G3 is like.
"Back in a few moons." Oh my gosh are we going to get some idea of how long moons are??? This could change everything.
Rarity that was... actually really cruel of you to say? And out of character?
Please stop mentioning "sunset" and "moons" in the same episode, you are teasing me mercilessly.
Okay, yes, we're getting closer to [what I'm guessing Gift of the Magi was about]. So next up, Maud sells... boulder? That seems unlikely. For... ribbons or something? Hmmmm.
Aww, pronking Rarity is suitably adorable.
SWAN BOATS
SWAN BOATS
Confetti, okay, close enough to ribbons I guess.
So my best guess for how this episode came about is someone said "hey, what standard episode plots haven't we done yet?" and someone else said "Gift of the Magi" and then someone said "okay but how we do make a pun on that?" and then everyone realized "Magi" sounds vaguely like "Maud Pie" and then the episode wrote itself.
For better or worse.
YES, I TOO WANT YOU TO RIDE THE SWANS
Incidentally, Hasbro, I don't want to tell you how to do your job (that's a lie I do want to tell you that) but was Suri Polomare really the best choice for a random Manehattan character to make a background appearance back there (and now repeated again in this later scene)? I mean, her brushable toy is probably on clearance by now if it's still on shelves at all. But Pursey Pink (and Coco Pommel for that matter) is, like, actually finding her way into stores right around now? Sooooo maybe she would have been the better choice? Whatevs, I'm never clear how much the showmakers really talk to anyone else anyway.
Okay so that's that.
Ehh, I dunno, that episode was kind of boring and unnecessary and it probably didn't have enough plot to make it worth liveblogging. Oh well. But I guess we've got the Explore Equestria theme started off, albeit with one of the most uninteresting available locations.
The thing about the "standard plot" thing is that I'm guessing their target audience hasn't been watching cartoons for 20+ years, so it'd probably seem new to them. You'd see the same thing happening in the comics industry with Superman in the 50's and 60's, where they'd recycle comic plots every three to four years because they figured their audience had "grown out of comics" by that point.
Boy were they wrong.
Although I do admire shows like Kids Next Door, which actually adapted the plot of Air Force One into a cartoon, which was a treat.
And perhaps the Suri(Buttonbelle?) cameo portends a future plot in Manehattan where it's Coco vs Suri Magical Fashion Fighting Rival Forces!
Just my thoughts on your thoughts.
3844781 Sure, I don't object to the use of standard plots in principle, and I appreciate that they even made this a little different than pure Magi (in both the onesidedness of Pinkie's loss and then the later reversal). I just wasn't into the execution, 's'all.
3845211I can dig that.
Others will draw joy from what they want.
It served its purpose,