Rarity Takes Manehattan review! · 2:09am Jan 11th, 2014
First off, The Longingverse (the series of fics I do with TheMyth) now has a TVTropes page! Go contribute!
Secondly, I swear an update of About Last Night is scheduled for Monday. Back to the weekly schedule, I promise.
Third, insert Friday the 13th or Muppet joke here. But Muppet would be more appropriate, since Jason barely took Manhattan. He spends two-thirds of that movie on a cruise ship. And if I remember correctly, he dies because of toxic waste flooding the sewer. Why was there toxic waste in a sew... oh, wait, this is a MLP review.
The Good:
1. Okay, honestly, I was afraid when I heard this episode involved Rarity alienating her friends due to high society, because she already had this kind of plot of putting high society before a friend once on her own (Sweet and Elite) and before that with everyone else (The Ticket Master, and maybe again with A Canterlot Wedding, but that's a can of worms I'm not touching again). But it was handled well, involving a shake up with Rarity trust instead of blatant shallowness.
2. Rainbow Dash does the best lampshades.
The Bad:
1. The song... it wasn't bad, but after several episodes having songs that were just "okay" I'm starting to worry.
No other big complaints, so... nitpick time!
2. Rarity moved from treating Sweetie as a slave to treating Spike as a slave, and now Twilight does nothing!
3. Speaking of Twilight, did the writers forget she's a princess? She seems impressed at Rarity's tickets when, as the third most powerful pony in the country, getting them herself shouldn't have been a problem. Eh...
Well... there you go. An okay episode. That's really summing up season four for me... okay.
Don't you worry, tomorrow's ep will have the best song, ever.
Well, maybe they're saving all the great songs for the Weird Al episode, Pinkie Pride.
That's a really big nitpick I have with all of season 4 post the premiere. Except for those first two episodes, no recognition has been paid to Twilight's new status. I'd have at least liked an episode where Twilight deals with the social impacts of the sudden change in status, like suck ups and political antagonists. Heck, I'd even like a return of Prince Blueblood if only so we can have "Twilight deals with royalty, expectations vs. reality". Blueblood might even get some character development out of it, and it would only make Twilight value her friends and her quiet life in Ponyville all the more. Beyond that, it would be a good excuse for world building if Twilight dealt with representatives or ambassadors! Seriously, Hasbro, you make Twilight a Princess, and if not for the wings still sticking out of her back, I'd swear the bell had already been unrung.
1704211 Remember, Hasbro doesn't give a shit about the show, only that it promotes their toys. Now, the recently revealed Twilight Time episode might hint at more focus on her new status in season four's second half, but if not we know Hasbro's 100% to blame.
Well, the whole issue of "why aren't the Mane Six more famous / influential / well-known?" has been an inconsistency ever since season 1, so the writers are at least being consistent in their inconsistency, I suppose.
Realistically, the Six should be pretty famous throughout Equestria by now, seeing as how they've only saved the world five times over, at least...
What about that little focus with the 'rainbow spool' at the end of the episode? I swear, that has to be related with the Harmony Box arc. And I'm getting really worried that they haven't spoke of that again!!!
Am I the only one that worries about that?
She can't even get a taxi!
And also, We have a new Prince!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/1/5/515615__safe_solo_screencap_alicorn_spoiler-colon-s04e08_rarity%2Btakes%2Bmanehattan_animation%2Berror_neon%2Blights_alicorn%2Bneon%2Blights.jpeg
Alicorn Neon Lights!
One thing that really bugged me about this episode kind of stems from something Rarity said back in the Sonic Rainboom episode. She said that she's seen enough fashion shows to know stage fright, etc. Right there, she says she's done a lot of fashion shows. I don't care what kind of high she was riding by being in the big city, there's no logical reason she'd give her competition anything more than the swatch Suri asked for. Giving anything more than a tip by word of mouth (and sometimes even that is career suicide) is just...insane! Surely, Rarity must know how cutthroat the fashion industry is. How did she NOT see that coming back to bite her in the flank?
1704211 I have to admit, Most of the time I forget she is an alicorn until some one mentions it or she uses her wings.
I can only theorize that the mass panic over Alicorn Twilight Is making the writers proceed with caution with anything that has to do with Twilight Being a Princess or Using her Authority.
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And yet, most of the fuss is "how is this going to effect things". Having things not happen at all, though...she might as well not have become a Princess in the first place. It needs to be addressed.
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The interesting thing is, the episodes were, for the most part, written BEFORE the fear of alicorn Twilight even became a thing. Bats was in Oct 2012, Princess Twi was August 2012, and so were most of the others we have seen so far. So it is not the audience fear that is causing it, it is more of the writers not letting such a thing stop them.
As for the fame, well...I kind of like of how someone mentioned its like not knowing who the princess of Yugoslavia is, or more poigantly...On the Ruby Spears Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon, the famous muscians who should be loved in the entire school, still had to deal with bullies so much that they had to call in Mr. T to stop it. that...and its manehatten, you could be the president and they would be like "F-you!"
I agree, the songs have been pretty disappointing lately. There hasn't been any really good songs that everybody remembers. They have been o.k., and sometimes good, but not great.
I've said this elsewhere but I suspect that several of the Season 4 stories (most notably Bats! and Rarity Takes Manehatten so far) were written for Season 3 and had to be shelved until Season 4 because of the short length of 3. Either for reasons of production speed, convenience or simply because no-one thought it was necessary, no-one thought to modify the scripts for Twilight's post-ascension status. So you get scripts that don't reflect her ability to fly or her royal status.
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Hasbro has NOTHING to do with FiM, other than sometimes telling Studio B that they need to put something in the cartoon. Hasbro is a toy company after all. Not an animation studio.
Oh, I'm looking forward to your review of Pinkie Apple Pie so much
1706003 Who do you think approves each episode and gives it the green light?
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In that case, I guess we should blame Nickelodeon for everything we don't like about Power Rangers, or blame Valve for all the bad games on Steam.
1706628 Those are different cases. Hasbro owns MLP, so they only air episodes they approve of. Knowing that, the writers might be pitching several episodes which the fans would love, but Hasbro is rejecting them for x and/or y reasons.
To be honest I doubt the citizens of Manehattan would've believed Twilight if she told them she was a princess. They probably would've even said "So you're a princess huh? Well why don't you just go hop on your royal escort and let the rest of the us ride the taxi?!"
Also am I the only one who liked the song? It was great, albiet sumsciously similar to "Smile, Smile, Smile". I gotta say this was the best stand alone episode of Season 4. The fact that this episode is getting such a mild reception among some fans baffles me. I mean it's a Rarity episode involving her generosity, what more do you people want?