Exotic Bear Jewelry: The Episode · 10:57pm Jun 13th, 2015
So, pretty much every major fandom ship just got confirmed? Literally all the references? Hasbro confirmed for hiring fanfic writers onto mlp next week?
Vote Holy for pornography branch of the Equestria Girls spinoff 
Anyway, hold off on the pitchforks, torches, and that noose, but I didn't really like today's episode. If you care to know why, read on past the break.
I may lose a few followers for this rant, but to start out, I'm not going to be a complete downer and say that mlp is ruined and I'll never love again because this episode ruined it for me, but I'm not going to be completely positive and praise it to high heavens just because it flaunted a ship I like. I mean, I like Lyra x Bon Bon and Octavia x Vinyl as much as the next guy, but popular ships does not make a good episode. I think my main problem with it was the fact that they shoved so many fandom references into in the first place. I mean, I don't watch the show to see if my community eventually gets acknowledged in some way; I watch this show because it's (ironically) an enjoyable, down-to-earth, slice-of-life cartoon about friendship, cute ponies, and the occasional adventure. It has been gradually moving away from that formula to try different things, but there are still episodes that give me that happy feeling of the warm and fuzzy embrace of equine friendship (Castle Sweet Castle being the most immediate example).
Throughout the history of the show, there have been plenty of instances of the dreaded panda ring, but I've never been the type of person to get upset about it or even really mind in the slightest. Derpy was probably the biggest example, and she ended up getting censored anyway. But there is a point where a show needs to draw the line between little nods to its fans and outright pandering to them by taking all the popular things in the fandom and sticking them in canon. That's kinda the fun of fanon; you get to make up your own ideas about things around the show. Really though, I can live with canon messing with my favorite headcanons, but what I don't like is seeing them do it purposefully, with the intent of just trying to please the fandom through references like this.
I get it. I completely understand why they did it. They wanted to give back to the fandom for helping support the show by showing them that they care what we think or whatever, and value the contributions we make to each other as a community. I know why. I still just don't like it. I know it's probably a one time thing, and we'll go right back to sweet little slice-of-life episodes about friendships, but this still bothered me. Even besides fandom references, pop culture references I find sort of aggravating too. They did this a few times in the latest Discord episode too, and I can't say I enjoyed it either. Not to say I think the show is heading downhill or anything, but I also hope that this doesn't become a recurring theme.
Maybe it's just me. I know I really don't enjoy pop culture or pretty much type of reference as comedy, so that might just be it. But I mean, Bon Bon is randomly a spy? Extremely over-dramatic flower pones? That was just dumb imo.
I really don't want to come off as some self-righteous dick, or seem like I think I'm suddenly a better author than the show writers just because I thought one episode was lackluster. I know I'm being overly negative right now, but I just felt like saying something about it in the midst of everyone praising it. I watch the show for episodes like Look Before You Sleep or Testing Testing 1 2 3, not to see how many fandom references they can pack into twenty minutes. And before you say it, yes, I do realize that I'm getting way too worked up over a show for little girls. This fact is not lost on me.
Anyway, enough of my personal ranting. If you enjoyed the episode, great. Don't let my bad spirits get you down. I'm not going to think less of anyone just for liking things that I don't like. Unless you don't like things that I like, then we gon have a problem 
How about I go over some things I really liked about the episode? That sounds like fun.
Derpy and Doctor Whooves! I can't tell you how happy I was to see Derpy back and uncensored. Her getting the boot in that first episode put a bad taste in my mouth. As an honest, red-blooded 'murican, censorship just doesn't rub me the right way most of the time, and I am definitely glad to see the writers putting the boot to the opinions of the illogical soccer moms of America for the sake creative freedom.
Doctor Whooves on the other hand got me excited for a very different reason. I doubt even a handful of you read it, but his voice was pretty much exactly how I envisioned it while I wrote Only the Daring, so that definitely made me happy, even if the Derpy shipping threw a wrench into the gears of my Daring x Whooves ideas.
Woo! Lesbian Horses! This isn't even close to how I imagined Lyra's voice, but oh well, I definitely liked their little exchange, barring the whole random spy thing.
Celestia and Luna arguing like sisters? That is absolutely adorable. If there was one thing in this episode that I want more of, it's this. We don't get nearly enough of either of these two, and even less of interaction between them. I think this is the most they've spoken to each other since the very first episodes.
Dat hoers tho. I know I dog on the show a lot (not really to you guys in particular usually), but I'm happy that the creators have a good relationship with the community and felt confident enough to put something like this episode out there to show us that they care. As much as I didn't like it, I do still see the gesture in it and I do appreciate all they do for us. As much as this degenerate porn writer's opinion matters anyway.
Now is your opportunity to yell at me in the comments.
RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
there...I yelled
*ANGRY RANT ABOUT HOW YOU SHOULD LEAVE THE FANDOM FOR NOT LIKING THE EPISODE*
luv u
3146465
I'm with you that I also like the show for the slice of life stuff more than nods to the fandom, but I also liked this episode. It was better than I had expected to be even if I wasn't apart of the fandom and watched this episode I would have loved it for the comedy alone like that bit with Gummy that had me laughing my ass off.
Celestia and Luna arguing was definitely my favorite part of the whole episode followed closely by Gummy. Kudos for finally giving those two a bit of realism.
I won't lie, I really enjoyed the episode. I'm not going to yell at you for not liking the same thing as me, because that would be just stupid. I usually enjoy a lot of references, and pretty much everything they did in this episode. It just rubbed me the right way even more so than usual this time.
I'm fine with you not liking it, just throwin my two cents out there.
I see all your points, and they are valid. I personally enjoyed the episode, but I can also see where - if they continued this theme - it could be bad for the show.
That's why I choose to see this episode as an Omake. In several anime I watch, there'll occasionally be 'bonus' episodes - anywhere from a few minutes long to full length - that explore something that isn't necessarily canon to the show as it happens, and those tend to be incredibly fun. At the same time, they're almost never referenced in future episodes. These 'bonus' episodes are called "Omake".
If you look at this episode as something like that, the issues seem less important. Did this episode actually happen in the canon of the series? Probably no episode in the future of the series - save other special celebratory anniversary episodes - will ever reference it, so we'll never know. But the writers made this episode for us, the fans, who have helped the show become so big. Considering it an Omake makes it just what it is, a love letter to the fans from the writers. ...and I like that. They're acknowledging the fan effort that's been put in that's made the show so big, and that's something very few shows ever do.
Might there have been a better way to do that? Sure. But this is one they could be sure everyone would see. And I can accept and enjoy it as that.
And hey, it could have been worse. Imagine all the other fan headcanons they could have stuffed in? Like Vampony Vinyl. Can you imagine how they might have worked that in?
Let me ask you this; if you didn't really follow the fandom, but were still a fan of the show, would you have enjoyed it? Yes, this episode was fan service, but we all knew that when they first announced it. So is it that they crammed a bunch of fan service into it for the sake of doing it, or that there was fan service at all? Nothing felt rushed, forced, or out of place, the pacing was good, the humor was spot on, and it was a heartwarming story about love and friendship, which you claim to love. So what is it that you really hate about it? If it's just that they acknowledged the fans, that's a pretty shallow reason to hate it.
Personally, I liked most of the things you disliked, though the Sweetie Drops thing was just... odd. Still, I respect your opinion and your right to it.
Also, the Giant Mutant Yao Guai Bee rocked.
3146934
I'd say I'd be pretty lost all around. Like I said, references aren't really comedy for me. It's not that funny, even if I do get it.
If you want to get into the technical aspects of the episode, I'd say they weren't exactly on par either. I definitely disagree that it didn't feel rushed, out of place, that it was actually funny, and that it felt like a "heartwarming story about love and friendship". This didn't feel like an episode of my little pony at all. They tried to fit a lot of little random tidbits into a twenty minute episode and it didn't feel cohesive in the slightest. They had to rush a lot of things just to get every little reference they wanted into it. The pacing was way too fast to even lead up to anything meaningful (I mean, the Bon Bon spy thing and gummy's little introspection came out of nowhere; that's not really comedy, that's just being random).
If they had decided to give each little arc its own episode, it might have turned out better, but with it switching to a different set of ponyville residents every two minutes or so, it didn't give enough time to the individual characters for me to really enjoy any of them. I honestly can't see someone who didn't get the references enjoying it, because that's pretty much all it was. They didn't really focus on character development or relationship building to any enjoyable extent; they just focused on which references they wanted to nail home.
So no. It wasn't a good episode for me regardless of whether I knew about any of this or not. It didn't really have any of the enjoyable aspects of the show for me that weren't done in under two minutes. I can tell you that no meaningful dialogue or relationship building is going to happen chopped into tiny sections like that. If you want to think that's shallow, then you have every right to do so, but I'm going to stand by my opinion thinking that I don't want more episodes like this.
Thanks to you, I don't have to watch the episodes.
I'm satisfied with your reviews, they provide enough of a summary.
3146696
Or even worse, if they'd thrown a Nyx reference in there.
I know this is probably only a one time thing, and that definitely eases the worry at least a little bit. What really has me worried is the move towards more references as comedy instead of actual situational humor. They definitely seem to be getting more comfortable with doing it if Make Friends but Keep Discord was any indication (but I disliked that episode for other reasons, honestly). I doubt it will ever be a serious problem, but I'd prefer if they kept the pop culture references and nods to the fandom to a minimum, instead of going this hard with it.
I mean, it's not something I'm going to leave the fandom over. I dislike episodes all the time for various reasons, but that's never stopped me from still checking each one out to see. I'm okay with it if they did it just as a singular event to give back to the fandom, I don't really enjoy the end product as it stands, but the gesture is definitely still appreciated.
3148399
Well at least they're good for something.
3148374 I know for a fact that you're wrong. Eleven of my friends are bronies, and of them, three only watch the show. They don't know or care about what the fandom likes or does, yet not only were they able to follow the episode just fine, they enjoyed it. They thought the Twilicane was just 'that thing Discord made to tease Twilight', and found it funny somepony found and kept it. They didn't know that Derpy was made out to be a muffin loving mailmare. Hell, they weren't even aware that Lyra and Bonbon were a common ship. Despite not getting these, it's amongst their favorite episodes.
It's your right to like or dislike whatever you want for whatever reason you want, and I'm not trying to say you have to like it. I just can't but help feel you're being overly critical simply because the episode is a fan tribute.
3148408
3149078
Wow, rude.
Not saying I don't believe you, but anecdotal evidence isn't exactly enough to convince me out of my opinion. I seriously doubt that anyone looking at this episode in any sort of critical light found it to be among their favorites. This episode was glaringly obvious to me that it wasn't up to the same quality as some of the better episodes. This actually isn't my least favorite episode, but I still didn't like it. There really wasn't a good overall connected plotline, the entire thing was all over the place and none of it was really cohesive or enjoyable. The comedy was references and random occurrences most of the time rather than actual, you know, comedy . They just wanted to do way too much in a twenty minute time span and none of it except maybe the scene with Celestia and Luna really worked out well for me. I'm sure to people who enjoy every episode regardless of what anyone else says, this would be fine for them, but it certainly wasn't for me. I don't think I'm being overly critical in the slightest in my dislike for this episode, overly abundant fan service or not.
3150110 First off, I'm sorry if I came across as rude, it wasn't intended. Looking at that again, I can see it really wasn't well worded, and I apologist. As for your arguments;
Everything was about getting ready for Cranky and Matilda's wedding.
Again, everything was about the wedding preparations, so there was cohesion. Everything was all over the place because everyone was in a panic about getting things done a that day when it was supposed to be the next, all while a monster was running around. As far as being enjoyable, that's a matter of opinion.
What about Vinyl and the doctor's interaction? Or the fact that everyone was treating the monster attack as a minor inconvenience? Or Stephen Magnet's (admittedly A-holeish) talk about how the wedding is all that matters? Or the random changeling that had all the foals crammed as far from it as possible? Or Celestia and Luna bickering like regular ponies, only to get 'proper' whenever anyone came near? The reference based humor was the minority.
I think maybe it's just that you approached this episode the wrong way. Yes, most of the times, when a show does a 'fan service' episode, they end up screwing up a whole lot of stuff. Hell, I've seen it plenty of times. The problem, though, is that when this becomes the norm, we start to expect every 'fan service' episode to be just as bad. When we expect something to be that bad, we tend to see it as such regardless of whether or not it is. Be honest, was this the mindset you had when watching?
3150193
It's alright, you didn't really offend me or anything.
A vague connection to an overall plotline is not enough to make it cohesive. It might be an excuse to call it connected, but none of the interactions were very well put together and definitely didn't support that overall plot in any meaningful way. You can tell they didn't add in Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl, and Octavia or any of their interactions for the sake of the wedding; they did that for the sake of the reference. I'm well aware of what it was all about, but I still don't see it as well-structured and don't go back on anything I said.
I still don't think any of that was really funny, and most of it I don't even see any reason as to why it might be, except for the bit with the princesses which I said I definitely enjoyed. Most of the episode was centered around references and fan service, not really standalone sections of comedy, or at least anything that was actually funny.
I usually don't watch shows that actually have fan service episodes, so any recurring theme about them being bad in general is lost on me. I can see why people would think that though.
In reality the teasers put that mindset in me when a friend of mine first sent it to me. Since they were part of the episode itself, I think that me feeling that way at watching actual snippets of the episode was warranted. Though, I went into the first Equestria Girls movie expecting it to be so awful I couldn't finish it and was pleasantly surprised. I don't think that movie is amazing, but in the end my expectations didn't affect my final opinion in the slightest. I certainly wasn't expecting this one to be so awful it was unwatchable, but it still wasn't good enough to warrant my stamp of approval. In my experience, my expectations are usually always overridden by the actual quality of the piece. Regardless of my prior expectations, I still don't think this was a good episode.
3150393 So, you feel that each of their stories should have been intricately intertwined? This episode is, as the title says, a slice of life. There isn't any deep, interconnected meaning any more than there is yours, mine, or anyone's lives. It's simply what these ponies were doing while the Mane 6 were busy fighting a monster.
The reason everyone thought the first EQG movie was going to be bad was because we all thought it was just an excuse to have a high school drama. The reason we were able to enjoy the movie regardless is because the reason we thought it would be bad simply wasn't present. If one believed this episode was going to be bad because of fan service, then they will dislike it because the reason they thought it would be bad was there, regardless of whether or not it was well done.
3150946
I already said what I thought would make it better, and why I thought how it was set up wasn't entertaining. I don't really feel like typing it out again.
Seriously? And this isn't pretty much the same thing as expecting an episode as an excuse for pandering to not be good? Eqg could have been terrible, but it wasn't. People were expecting it to be terrible, but it wasn't. It was still a high school drama with an interesting twist. It's pretty much the exact same situation here, except this episode was actually bad in its own right and didn't make up for it enough for me. It could've been done well, but it wasnt. I can see you really want me to admit that I'm just being blinded by my expectation of the episode and eventually concede that it was actually good, but that's not going to happen. Even if these characters were all replaced by OCs for the sake of the episode, it wouldn't have been a good one. The blatantly obvious pandering only made things worse, and I think that's really the reason why most people are just letting it slide.This episode wasn't well done. You just stating that somehow the circumstances are different and somehow expectations suddenly make more of a difference in this situation doesn't make it true.
" I still just don't like it. " -- that's the key to the entire article. That's why if I were your follower, you wouldn't lose me. But from where I stand, let me just say this -- how good a form of art is depends mostly on what objective it sets for itself and how well it accomplishes it. We all know what the objective of the episode was and how well it was accomplished. That makes it an absolute success in my book.