Gauntlet of Fire aka The Return of Dragons Review (Spoilers) · 4:24pm Apr 16th, 2016
FINALLY! THE RETURN OF DRAGONS! In case, you didn't notice this episode was the one that I was most excited about this season. If you have read my story you know why.
There are a surprising amount of similarities between Tale of the Second Alpha. Therefore, I will both list the similarities and see if I think the show lives up to the world that I created. While still giving a proper review. Now, let me makes this clear I am not saying that the show stole my ideas. I am just saying that there just happen to be similarities between the show and my story. Now that I got that out of the way, let's continue.
I will start out with the similarities. The Dragon Lord and his call. His very similar to my Alpha and his call. While the call of the Dragon Lord only seems to make the dragons under his command scales glow. My Alpha's call lets the respective Alpha control the very minds of other dragons. Based on the fact that mind control would most likely be shot down instantly by Hasbro a good choice in my book. The Dragonlands vs The Dragon Empire. Both are basically the same thing with a different name. While the Dragonlands just seems to be a separate part of Equestria that has been uncolonized due to the existence of dragons. I made the Dragon Empire a completely separate country from Equestria. Torch vs Alpha and Omega. His Torch better than Alpha or even Omega when it comes to ruling a country. While no, but that can steam from the fact that Torch isn't supposed to be seen as a great leader and only drive his daughter into becoming the next Dragon Lord.
Ok enough comparing into the review. The episode was interesting and gave some much-needed information about dragons, and shocking we finally a dragon that was a complete jerk (excluding Spike of course). That dragon comes in the form of Ember. The daughter of the Dragon Lord Torch. While Ember can be seen as just a dragon version of Twilight, she was still fun.
The humor was great, my personal favorite being in the very beginning when both Celestia and Luna made fun of the show through dialog. I love meta humor. The spat at Torch and his daughter was fun and it kind of reminded me of the relationship between King Triton and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Some slapstick at Grumble's expense is a welcomed relief as while.
The animation, like every other episode this season, was great, It really gave you the idea that this was an action adventure. Me thinking that I was watching Lord of Rings with ponies and dragons multiple times.
Ember was a great addition to the show and I hope with her being the new Dragon Lord. I can just imagine all of the antifeminists raging right now. As I have said Amber was a great addition and I surely hope that she can lead the Dragonlands into a better life, and make an appearance in more than one episode this season. This episode is probably one of the best showings of Spike as while. Unlike in episodes like Spike at your Service. Spike was helpful to the others around him and he wasn't annoying while doing it. With The Crystalling and now Gauntlet of Fire, Spike looks to becoming one of the highlights this season. Much like Fluttershy was last seasons.
Overall, I wouldn't call this episode the best of the season. That still goes to the premiere (I count two-parters as one episode). But I would call this the best single episode so far. I give this episode a 9 out of 10 stars. As always, I am the HeroofBergen signing off until next time.
