Hard to Yak Anything [episode spoilers!] · 7:00pm May 21st, 2017
Well, my friends have gone back to Baltimore, so I can get back to a regularly irregular watch schedule. Got a lot to catch up on! :B
As for the yaks, they're pretty high on my "didn't need to see this again" list. I mean, even if you like them for some reason, when was the last time we saw a Diamond Dog outside an EQG short? Point being, I enjoy the nods to continuity, but they're a little scattershot.
(Alternate alternate title: Winter Yak-Up.)
So is cringe humor just SOP for season 7? It seems like they don't have any other plans. Anyway, I can't remember the last time I had such a nil reaction to an episode. This was, to paraphrase the yaks, the perfect balance of boring and dumb. So I'm just going to talk about how much I hate the yaks.
Party Pooped was, in my opinion, the worst episode of... god, was it season five? Being the worst ep of the season that gave us Amending Fences and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep is hardly an ignoble place to be, but I really hated it, and the reason is simple: the yaks. A tribe of walking one-note jokes, a monoculture of dunderheaded barbarian perfectionists who are absolutely impossible to deal with. It's kind of like why I've never really liked Maud: she's impossible to figure out. But then again, she's only one pony, while the yaks are an entire assortment, incredibly strong, and very easy to trigger.
Fact is? This episode might even be worse, because it's just the exact same joke stretched over a second episode. There was no surprise here; there was tons of dead air (balloon) instead. I mean, Prince Rutherford gets a mote of character development, but I don't give two damns about him because he's King of the Shit People. We get more Griffonstone-style lazy world building showing us that Yakyakistan (did they change the name, or was I just mishearing it?) is yet another city-state. Or village-state, more like. The lesson is "asking for help is okay" I guess? Which is exactly what Applejack learned in EPISODE FUCKING FOUR OF THE SHOW, and with less cringey international politics-based 'humor'.
And speaking of lazy, what is up with these episode titles? A Royal Problem is actually guilty of this, too; why wasn't it "A Royal Pain"? Hard to Say Anything is at least a reference to something, albeit something not even I caught at first, and I lived through the 80's. Not Asking for Trouble makes sense in hindsight, but it's just one of the most forgettable titles ever. Imma call it "Party Pooped 2: Electric Poopaloo" from now on. :B
I said I had no reaction to this episode, but now I'm mad. This was fucking garbage-tier dreck. Swing and a miss for the new writer.
A Royal Problem
Parental Glideance
Honest Apple
All Bottled Up
Rock Solid Friendship
Forever Filly
A Flurry of Emotion
Hard to Say Anything
Celestial Advice
Not Asking for Trouble
Fluttershy Leans In
Best Friends Until the End of Time
Battle for Sugar Belle
May Chan sounds like a weird 4Chan event...
I couldn't figure out what the moral of this episode was supposed to be.
I honestly feel both the yaks and their nation are vastly improved if you assume that what we see as Yakyakistan is actually some back country village where the king's stupidest son has been exiled.
But yeah, agreed on the lazy episode titles.
You now have to write a fic called Electric Poopaloo
I thought it was fun. Pinkie held up as a lead, the Yaks got a bit more fleshing out from their godawful introduction, and the cringe was more culture shock than anything. Rutherford's response at the end made it for me - I can easily visualize a culture where asking for help is taboo, but that doesn't mean it's unwanted. Pinkie helping without being asked was said to indicate that she "gets" them: more accident than anything, but the shoe fits.
This won't be anyone's new favorite, but by S7's middling standards it was perfectly watchable.
4541537 There was no moral. The writers are running out of ideas and have to rehash old content into new animations.
I wasn't impressed with this episode, though Pinkie Pie was pretty good in her role. This was about as serious as I've seen her in any episode. Given I wasn't too impressed with the Yaks (they're morons), it was a 'meh' episode. At least it wasn't as cringe inducing as A Royal Problem, but I have issues with that particular episode for other reasons.
This wasn't a terrible episode, but on the same note, I didn't really get anything out of it. Apparently it's okay to cross borders illegally for humane reasons. I dunno. I think I'm reaching here. It was a filler episode that left me feeling empty.
The Yaks did have a wall. It did not keep the ponies out.
4541544
It sounds too much like poop + Scootaloo, and I already have a story about that. :B
4541549
A dire warning to Trump. :V
I guess Pinkie did have a good showing, but it was overshadowed by the yaks being yaks. Actually, the best part of the episode was "Sorry, Applejack!" That apology, that note of self-awareness, is something that Pinkie has been sorely lacking over the last three seasons.
4541582 then write it again but with electricity
Or steam power.
Steampunk Poopaloo
For once, PP, I am in total agreement with you. This episode was garbage. I was bored from the opening scene.
I hate cringe "comedy." It is lazy.
In the first six seasons of MLP, there are only a few episodes I won't re-watch. In this season alone, there are at least as many as the rest of the show combined. Unfortunately, that pretty much puts it at the doorstep of the story editor.
4541542
Headcanon accepted!
4541548
I am certain you meant that as a compliment.
4541582
4541594
ELECTRIFIED FIBROUS NUGGETS
ELECTRIFIED FIBROUS NUGGETS
ELECTRIFIED FIBROUS NUGGETS
ELECTRIFIED FIBROUS NUGGETS
ELECTRIFIED FIBROUS NUGGETS
4541608
A backhanded one.
Most of these episodes have been so damn cringey, and I didn't get that from Yak 2: Electric Boogaloo. It was pleasantly watchable, and I find it telling most of the complaints are "I don't like the yaks" rather than anything particularly wrong with it.
And again in the Flim-Flam episode! :V
But yeah, this lesson looks a lot worse when put in the context of IR, with a relatively underdeveloped and, frankly, objectively-inferior-at-this-stuff people. Also, it makes it look like the moral might be that you should pick up on people's passive aggressive hints and give them what they really want, even if they say they don't (ummm... :| ). Or that it's fine to be that way. (For all that Pinkie's "subtle hinting" was obnoxious, it beats that.)
And the thing is, there could even be applications where this wouldn't be so bad, like how people who are depressed or suicidal might be unable to ask for help because of the nature of their problems (closer to, but not the same as Cranky). Granted, I don't expect the show to ever touch on those topics. And Pinkie would be the wrong person to use for it anyway. Maybe Twilight or Fluttershy, even Applejack.
For all that, I did at least get a couple smiles out of this episode, mostly from the show recognizing that Pinkie being Pinkie can be really annoying, even if it's sometimes better to just roll with it.
4541608
This is the first season where I'm actively suggesting friends don't watch certain episodes.
4541793
But... yeah. 
Ouch!
I'm calling it "Appleyak Season" from now on, I think. And since AJ was actually in the damn episode, I'd have expected at least a one-line callback. Lazy. I didn't hate this ep, and I don't dislike cringe humour -- I still like "Newbie Dash", which I appreciate makes me irredeemable in some eyes -- but it was pretty average stuff. Okay, average is still watchable when compared with a lot of shows, but my God was this a step down from yesterday's episode.
4541549
The writers have been out of ideas since early Season 5. Hence retreading Twilight's narrative with MarySue Glimmer.
Seriously, how is it possible that them adding variety by giving the yaks more than one facial expression, a demonstrated range of emotions beyond property damage, and at least seven new character models is being treated as a complete repeat of an episode that spent half its runtime with literally one solitary punchline to all its jokes?
Speaking as someone who found nothing redeemable in Party Pooped, I enjoyed this episode and was pleasantly surprised that they didn't try to do another 'pony horrifically misunderstands all other cultures' plot.
This seems an odd review to me. First the moral was obvious, if someone is being too stubborn to ask for help but clearly wants/needs it, help anyway. Second we learn quite a bit about the Yaks, but the main one is everyone follows the prince blindly (herdlike one might say) no matter what he does or says, but they do have their own opinions, this is very clear. They're still a little one note, but there is room to write a neat story, plus it's not like he actually forces them to follow him they just do. Third is Pinkie was great in this and this is exactly how she should be written, weird, excitable, but very clearly not an insensitive idiot. I especially loved the one joke even though you could see it coming the second the 20million questions got mentioned. Of course she runs out, because Pinkie.
At least it was better than the new Alien film.
But I thought it was... passable. Passable but forgettable. Too bad since episode 10 was a masterpiece.
4541859
Admittedly, there have been a lot of episodes, good or otherwise, that were eclipsed by what came before them.
4542569 Fair point. Even "...Magic Sheep?" -- which I really like -- came straight after "Amending Fences" -- which is spectacular.
4542733
And that's probably the best example, because they're both fantastic, but Amending Fences was just a little bit better.