Pipe Land 8-11 [episode spoilers!] · 7:31pm May 25th, 2017
Time to catch up on two weeks' worth of episode rewatches! Which, in a better world, would mean two episodes. :| Blame Canada.
Hard to Say Anything
Fuck this episode. I'll watch it again after the season is over and not before. 2/5
Honest Apple
How weird is it that we're still dealing with Spike's crush, seven seasons on? I mean, it's only been like, a year, two tops, in-show, but still. It feels so done.
I know I called this very season 1 in my original blog, but it's actually very season 2. By which I mean, it's a Rarijack vehicle, but you've got large doses of Pinkie in there as well, because they don't live in a vacuum.
The "what?" joke was well-played. But I really do like that it's a surprise to AJ.
I remember the fandom was livid when it was suggested — and I don't remember if it was just the comics, or if it happen in-show, too — that AJ's hat was nothing special, but the "20 versions" joke makes it all worthwhile. XD
Why did Pinkie boo? It seemed like there's a beat there for a joke, but nothing happens. It's weird.
"Sleep on it?" "And by 'it' I mean 'me'?" 
Man, Apple Bloom's hat weirds me right the fuck out. With the ribbon, it looks like your standard bonnet, but once it's unfurled, it turns into a clone of AJ's hat. Do Stetsons actually do that? O.o (She does look super-cute once it's turned up, though.)
Also, why is AJ just bucking apples onto the ground? I mean, it's not because AB isn't keeping up.
So mistake #1 in this episode was Rarity making an 'unorthodox choice' for fashion judge. Mistake #2 was AJ thinking anything she has is "exactly what the community needs". I still blame Rarity for infecting Applejack with bad decisions but love will do that to you :V
That said, this really is a good episode to show how far Rarity's come. She's had her success, she remembers how hard it was at first, she wants to give back to the fashion community. Spike is right to expound on her virtues.
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" My god, I've never been a huge fan of Photo Finish outside of nostalgia reasons, but she was 120% best pony in this episode. XD
"Miss Pommel is showing? I didn't even know she was dating!" :V
"Who is dis who speaks?" Photo Finish does not just let anypony speak in her presence. V:
Also, she's way cute without her weird glasses.
"I FAINT!" Literally the best line ever.
Yeah, no, Rarity not changing her mind right then and there with "I have no idea what you're talking about" is the point where this turns into a fiasco.
Lily Lace is great. I would have thought she would be my least favorite of the three designers, but something about her perkiness, accent and the way she says "lit'rally" is just endearing as all fuck.
Star Streak is amazing because he's so New Wave, and he's got like a Bauhaus thing going on with his designs.
And of course, Inky Rose beats out Mei Pony for the Pony Gother Than Thou award. :V
Gosh, Applejack, you can't just call clothes black! D:
Yeah, at this point, Applejack's being dumb and Rarity's being too stubborn to call her off. Also, I still wonder why in the heck the contest judges are interacting so closely with the contestants, but that's already been discussed, I think.
I still don't get the guitar solo joke. That's so wacky, so out of left field, so very season 7 in an episode that's season 2. Maybe that's why it feels so incongruous. Also, I can't stop thinking about how the guitar only has two strings.
Applejack does get dick points for the feathered hat. I mean, practical or not, Lily put a shit ton of work into that. Which, y'know, is kind of the whole point of the episode, innit. :B
Of course, if the feathers come off that easily, she maybe didn't put enough work in. :B
"Fashion is ridiculous!" Never have I identified more with Applejack than at this moment.
I just love Lily Lace gagging and "I can't even". XD
No brakes on the Apple honesty train.
And then you've got Strawberry Sunrise, who's a very season 4 "character created to prove a point" moment. Again, odd, but not as incongruous with the rest of the episode. It does still feel like they've stepped out of the original episode and into something completely different, though.
She's such a little shit, too, I kind of like her. Somebody write a story about her and how hard life is when you live in a town that runs on apples.
I really do appreciate that AJ rants and then immediately gets the idea halfway through. The ponies rarely get to teach themselves this way.
Inky's very casual "Run" is the best.
But yeah, this whole montage of AJ being one part assistant and one part model just makes lit'rally no sense.
That's the best segue into a Pinkie scene ever.
Today, the part of Fezzik will be played by Applejack.
Okay, so personally? I'd have gone for Lily Lace to win. Star Streak's obviously got potential as a designer, but his work was far too subdued, the last piece excepted. Inky Rose has like, zero variation on a theme is "black and more black with hoods". Lily's dresses at least have a liveliness to them, some bounce and vivaciousness, though they're also fairly similar. Fashion is hard. :B
I do like that she found a goth model, though. :V Gotta wonder what that dude's story is.
That final "can't even" and gag XD
I do still really like this episode. It's based around the ponies acting dumb, but it's thoroughly entertaining (zero cringe humor!) and introduces three new, fun characters alongside bringing back two old classics. Oh yeah, and I went looking for VA info? Lily Lace is Andrea Libman. Inky Rose and Starstreak (I guess it's one word) are voiced by actors who, respectively, have had four roles, and been working for over a decade in literally nothing I've ever heard of. Strawberry Sunrise is voiced by Sweetheart from MLP Tales. :D I am extremely happy they got her on board! 3.5/5
A Royal Problem
Y'know, Twilight's freakout at the start makes me realize that this episode basically answers the "Can I come too?" question about the cutie map with "Sure, why not". I don't know why Twilight's always felt sidelined by that.
I guess this cements Starlight as part of the main cast, though, like it or not. :B
Way to be clairvoyant, Spike.
Tiny Luna pout.
Okay, so, I'm not the one who's interested in tininess, but goddammit is Twilight (and later Starlight) super fucking cute in that ballerina outfit. D:
I do like that Starlight immediately gets a handle on the Sisters having a problem.
"Nooooo…" Goddammit, Twilight, stop being great, I'm not supposed to like you anymore. D:<
Larger Luna grumpface.
And she just starts eating a whole pineapple. XD Amazing.
Whose pancakes did Celestia scrape into the bucket? The last we see of them, she's set Luna's on the table, and has sort of cut into her own. HELP THIS IS IMPORTANT it'sreallynotimportant
"I think you might be biased." At least someone realizes this.
The lavender thing was a very nice, very unexpected touch. Once again, the show uses Luna in good ways the fandom never comes up with.
Twilight is definitely not helping things by bringing up Nightmare Moon. I mean, that conflict and this really don't have anything to do with each other. Not, I'm sure, that she realizes that, but come on, you're supposed to be the smart one. D:
Once again, Twilight idolizes the princesses. Nuts to anyone who thinks she was in character in Lesson Zero. :B
Man, gotta wonder just how much time it takes Celestia to pancake in the morning. Granted, she's likely the most powerful magic-user in the world, she could probably do everything simultaneously, but still. And did she do this for herself before Luna came back? Argh, peaches and pineapples are making me hungry! D:
BANUNA :D
UBER GRUMP LUNA FACE XD That's the one they stole from Andy Price.
This episode is great, because it's the first time we've EVER gotten to see Celestia really teed off.
And she just shoves Starlight out of the way. XD I really love how organically this moves from being Starlight's episode to being the Sisters'. Basically, once she swaps their cutie marks is when it happens, though she's still there to be a damsel in distress later on. But this scene is a clear indicator of what's to come.
Seriously, Luna's just like FUCK STARLIGHTS XD
But honestly, all Starlight did was shout "Enough!" and SUDDENLY CUTIE SWAP like, holy shit, she's got more magical power than Twilight and about as much control as filly Twilight under the influence of the Sonic Rainboom. Even if she's not evil, she's dangerous, they need to lock her up or something. D:
Someone pointed out that Luna's cutie mark originally was not shown including the black spot, but I have a feeling they swapped that because otherwise it would have disappeared completely on Celestia's snowy white butt. :B
"I'm gonna stop talking now." This is the best thing Starlight has ever said.
FUCK TWILIGHTS >:V
Really neat designs for the morning staff, there.
I do wonder when Luna got to sleep. <.< I mean, did they take a day to just not do anything?
FUCK RIBBONS
Weird to see that lanky pony in the purple suit from, uh… Wasn't it that episode about Coco Pommel sucking really hard? Wasn't that in Manehattan?
That's an amazing face she makes for the photo. XD God, I know we've all been there.
So the Equestrian version of the Streisand Effect would be the Luna Effect. :V
I find it very gratifying that the hallway they walk through to get to the throne room is the one with all the stained-glass windows. Like, you can see the mane six defeating Discord. :D
Starlight should honestly make a go at being a royal assistant or something. Like, she's really good at keeping their itineraries straight, not to mention balancing how they should be approached.
Smuglestia is bestia. XD
The sound effect for Celestia raising the moon is "HRRRRK-bwop".
Interesting that the first time we get to see a pony enter the dream realm, it's not Luna.
In case you haven't seen all the image caps of the dream bubbles, here's what I see:
- Tiny Fluttershy riding Angel
- Daring Do swinging on a rope
- Cadence jamming out to DJ Flurry Heart's smooth mixes
- Discord having a pillow fight with the Smooze (good callback!)
- Pinkie surfing on Gummy
- Babby Applejack in her parents' arms :V
- Twilight flying with Rainbow Dash (so that's why the TwiDash group was in an uproar)
- Dr. Whooves giving a very nervous look at something statue-like in the distance…
- Flim and Flam on a mountain of gold? Or it could be sand, that looks like a sandcastle in the middle. Could be a goldcastle, I guess.
- Queen Derpy with scepter
Celestia talking to herself is so great.
"This is big!" said big Twilight. I wanna see someone overdub that with "BULLSHIT!"
Oh my god, Daybreaker is just the best thing ever, like seriously one of the best moments in the entire fucking show. :D I've always been a huge fan of Nightmare Moon, but Nightmare Celestia? So much hotter better.
I love that she calls herself prettier, like, vanity is apparently one of Celestia's vices.
Also, I'm pretty sure this establishes that any alicorn can fall to a Nightmare.
God, I love how straightforward she is with the fighting. :D
One question I do have: how much of this is actually Starlight's dream? <.< Like, these are clearly Celestia's literal demons.
"So much black! We get it, you're sad." This. This is the best line ever. XD
They did a great job making Luna's dream legit scary. Like, the fillies in the mirror not being there when she looks away? And then the teeth. I've never had a teeth-falling-out dream before, but the effect is really disturbing.
This declaration of sisterly devotion brings tears to muh eye. ;_;
GOD IT'S JUST SO FUCKING COOL
Celestia's barf-face is amazing.
Funny how two episodes in a row end on a "They're awful!" note.
All Twilestia shippers are hereby notified that I am totally okay if they all switch to Starlestia instead. :V Just so y'know.
"I already know!" said Twilight, popping in unannounced. "I stayed up all night watching you remotely with a viewing spell! Not that I do that regularly or anything. I didn't get one. Bit. Of sleep!"
Spike's toothbrush is amazing.
"TELL ME EVERYTHING" Gotta hand it to Tara for making this rant work. XD
Man. Like I said before, this isn't the Celestia/Luna episode we wanted, but the one we needed. It's up with at least Hearth's Warming Tail in terms of "early instant season favorite" episodes. Five outta five, good show!
Not Asking for Trouble
"Sorry Applejack" is the most important part of this episode. Because, I mean, we start with Pinkie bouncing around, super-excited, upsetting life in Ponyville as usual, and while she doesn't actually go back to fix what she's wrecked, she at least notices she's wrecked something, and that is considerably more self-awareness than she displayed in season four.
Gotta love being able to shoehorn the entire cast into an episode, though. :B
Is "Baked Goods" what the yaks call the Cakes? I mean, it's either that or Sugarcube Corner, but the letter distinctly says "lives with".
I can't remember if I've published the review yet, but when I say I was thinking Twilight had become superfluous, this "official" scene is kind of what I'm talking about. I mean, she just sort of makes an official position by saying so, because Pinkie knows she can, but… I dunno, it just seems like a non-event is all. I don't even know what I'm on about. D: I hate this episode.
Oh god, the interminable balloon scenes. D: There hasn't been this much dead air in an episode since Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.
Pinkie really should have guessed that a yak festival would involve destroying things.
I will give this episode one point: "Yak's head never been so clear." That's kind of funny. But not super-funny. <.<
The yaks have discovered humor, there's no dealing with them now.
The mirrored progression of the "Yakyakistan tour" (seriously, it's just one village!) and the original yak episode makes this one extra-boring.
I was honestly expecting the conflict to be more centered around "you bring this upon yourselves every year and haven't figured out a way to prevent it yet". Maybe that would be too anti-traditionalist?
"You can lead a yak to water, but you better not let him know you're doin' it!" is also kind of funny.
"Or it's super-easy 'cause I'm awesome." And Jenkins was spared the bees once more.
That was the dullest montage in the history of dull montages.
I think I can sum up the yaks in one word: exasperating. I guess I'd rather watch this episode than Party Pooped, but the difference to my eye is infinitesimal. I just don't care about them; I mean, look at how little I had to say about this! I hope this is the last yakisode we get. 2/5
"Miss Pommel is showing? I didn't even know she was dating!" :V
Wait... They said that in episode?
Also, I didn't notice Twilight and Rainbow Dash dream... I wonder if it's more of Twilight dreaming of being a better flyer like Rainbow?
I really like the Yak episode and since there not ponies... They're personalities sure fit them.
This week is going to be big! We got a Discord and AppleJack parents episode this week
Hard to... no, I'm going with the official Night Vale town motto on this one: "If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget." 2/5
Wait... there were ponies other than Photo Finish in Honest Apple? Huh. I may have to watch that one again. Seriously, though, this is a great example of how good the artists on the show are. 4/5
She puts moonwort and asphodel in the vases in the hallway in The Luna Cypher... nya >:P
Lucky you. It is frikkin' awful, and the moment it happened to Luna, I nearly lost my shit.
Yes, best sisters make for best episode. This one was delightful in so many ways! 6/5
I actually liked the yak episode. I don't think I could articulate exactly why, though. Tiny yak girl is adorable, and it's kind of nice knowing that Yakyakistan is a third-world crapsack. 3/5 for me.
They’re going to make a Yakyakistan series based on how much we mirror yak speaking.
Yak no like spin-off series because it not exist. YAK SMASH!
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I may have added the second part. :B
You know, I'm torn here. I couldn't decide if I want to this image
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or this image
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I love that the twidashers are a faction in the fandom that we can just, like, notice being happy :D
As I recall, it was actually a commercial where some unseen journalist interviewed AJ and she said she won her hat at the county fair.
And yeah, this is one heck of a mixed bag.
No you can't do that to a Stetsons. It's made out of felt. After a short period of time the seams would separate.
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Ah! Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. The comics (or maybe it was a novel?) had her say she won it bobbing for apples.
Hard to Say Anything was dull as a hammer's head. Unnecessary and muddled episode that feels too much like an obligatory "Well, we're a cartoon, so we have to have an episode like this."
Honest Apple could have been really good, but we're left stuck wondering: should someone have explained fashion to Applejack so she'd know wtf everyone was talking about, or should Applejack have been more insistent that she has no idea wtf anyone's talking about? Everyone was wrong, but nobody fessed up to it in a way that made sense. AJ was only shat on by that apple hater, who didn't actually do what AJ did to the fashion ponies. And why did she viciously destroy someone else's hat?
Royal Problem was literally only good for the Princesses. Starlight was not only unnecessary, she's a plot contrivance who shows up to cause the problem.
Not Asking for Trouble was good until the end when they seemed to forget that the episode needed a moral that wasn't confused as shit. "It's okay to help even if they don't ask for it, because secretly they want it, and then they'll take credit for forcing you to help after making you leave. Also they will deliberately act like goddamn idiots but this is healthy behavior because you are there to solve their problems."
4546645 Or not. If Zap2It is correct, Treehouse is going back to episodes 1 & 2 this weekend. There may be a mini-hiatus for we Canadian-schedule folks after all!
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I REALLY HOPE SO
4547155 Oh, so there going to fix the problem... I don't mind, I can't think we can handle two more awesome episodes yet.
I have waited years for a Sisters episode and when it came, it had Best New Pony being Awesome too, so I am most happy.
Now I hope I only wait till Season 8 at the latest for another
Speaking of things the show does but fics don't... have we ever seen the friendship map used in any fic here ever?
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I want to say probably, though I can't think of any I've read. Then again, I'm constantly playing catchup, so there's a good chance I just haven't gotten that current. :B
Criiiiiiinge huuuuuumor.
If we presume they're porking on the side, it makes sense. Rarity wants to pull Applejack into her hobby so they can do more things together, Applejack awkwardly agrees because she doesn't want to let her lover down, Rarity doesn't correct her because it's Applejack's first fashion show so she wants to be super tender with her feelings...
Really, it's the best circumstantial evidence for Rarijack we've gotten since their last mediocre episode together with the spa.
Some fans of Celestia have criticized the episode, noting Daybreaker's claims that Celestia has massive power are worthless because she's just a fear-induced dream of Starlight. I would rebuttal this on two points:
1) Luna's magic can change and influence dreams, and Celestia's an amateur with it. Something could have leaked.
2) Celestia felt the need to rebut and deny Daybreaker, as though her lines were hitting close to home. If Daybreaker's angle was truly alien to her, the response would have been closer to, "Starlight, dafuck did you get this?"
As is snark. "We get it, you're sad!"
As noted before, I find it telling the most common complaint with this is, "I don't like Pinkie and/or the yaks." It was watchable and non-cringey, which puts it in the top half of S7 for me.
My biggest issues are largely cosmetic: the Prince's story of being trapped in the ice gave a loose end that never got tied, and the ponies fixing Yakyakistan in one night gave me "ponies are the master race" vibes more than any number of griffon episodes.
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I really feel like if the episode had some changes, the largest of them being excising the entirely pointless and actively detracting Starlight (and putting some more thought in generally), this might have been a 4 or 5 episode for me instead of like a 1 or 1.5 (maybe 2 because of how good Luna's nightmare was).
Is there a Twidash group you're in that I'm not aware of? The groups here are dead... is there one on Discord or something?
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Nope! I'm just in the usual ones here, I think.
And I mean, I saw a thread talking about the episode, that's literally all I was talking about. :B