Pipe Land 17 & 18 · 8:50pm Sep 20th, 2017
WHOA I am way behind on these. D: I'm not gonna bombard you with four episodes at a go, though. There's the weekend to rewatch the newest one, anyway.
To Change a Changeling
"Not exactly straight, Starlight." You heard it here, folks. Starlight is not exactly straight, and Trixie knows. :V
Still impressed Triple Threat laid the ground for this episode so directly. Are two-episode arcs something we're seeing more of lately, or something that's coming back from previous seasons? I can't even remember anymore. @_@ There's gonna be a season eight. ;_;
And what the fuck is a Mallworth? Malwurt? Maulworf? What the fuck.
And Trixie claims she is unscarable, and cue thing that scares her.
Man, Starlight is just in there, defending her girlfriend with laser beams, like, no second question about it, just blam!
In case someone out there hasn't seen this in the last month, you can draw a line from "Teleportation spell, go!" to "Teacup, teacup, teacup!" I maintain that Trixie is so used to doing stage magic, she reflexively adds a vocal component to all her actual magic. :B
Holy shit, those arts and crafts changelings drew a decently-rendered, full-color picture of Starlight and Trixie in like one minute flat! :O
Oh my god, just that thing where Starlight grins at Trixie two different ways and Trixie only responds in grunts. XD They're the best couple.
My god does that changeling have anger problems.
I do like the addition of "good pony, bad pony" to our lexicon.
"I put you in a bag. I thought it went great!" And then I just had to wonder why anyone would want to change him. :V
"Oh, you'd hate her, I used to." You kinda get the feeling Trixie still does, just a bit. :)
Trixie definitely has not come to terms with being second best. XD
Listening to Thorax gush about the Feelings Forum, I again can't help but sympathize with Pharynx, just a little bit. Changelings suck now. (Granted, they sucked before, but that was for different reasons.)
Goddamn, that Feelings Forum leader changeling though, mmf. :B
Yeah, so how do they make 'little changelings' nowadays? c.c How did the young changelings deal with the change? Was it easy to convince them to embrace love or whatever? Is that the kind of decision a child should be making? D:
I love the fucking soup changeling, though. Like, goddamn, you have the easy problems, dude, they solve themselves. >:V
Yeah, Trixie, is all about undermining Twilight's authority. What a rotten little stinker, I love her so much. :D
One has to wonder if Thorax would have as much difficulty with a changeling who he wasn't directly (?) related to.
Her "Mmmmmaybeee?" is perfect. XD
Post-grub changelings are kind of amazing.
SO THIS RAISES A QUESTION. Pharynx has apparently always been black with red and purple. Why? Literally every other changeling looks the same, has always looked the same, up to the point where you can at least see where Chrysalis, the one changeling who looks different, is pretty much the same as all of her subjects. The first time I saw him, I thought Pharynx had just given himself some colors as a token of everyone being not-just-black anymore. Is the color scheme just meant to help him stand out in this scene? Then why have we never see a changeling that wasn't black with green and blue before? This really bothers me. :|
Another question: is his attack bug form the recreation of an actual monster, or evidence that changelings can assume forms based on their own whims?
"Pharynx loved me in his own way." Like, seriously… They're promoting domestic abuse. Abusive relationships. Solving bullying with bullying. How the fuck did this episode get greenlit?
>butt touch
I love how completely terrible Starlight's plan is. Like, it makes sense, solve a problem with a problem, but with no contingency plan, the setting was right for everything to go completely wrong. Which, actually, it didn't. :B But still, comedically terrible plan.
Okay, Trixie's "Don't be too hard on Starlight" line is almost crossing the "now you're actually a jerk" line. I still can't hate her, though.
Starlight's speech is fucking amazing. I wish she had more scenes like this, where she's turning a skill that would have helped her as a dictator into something constructive and useful to others.
It is weird that the potential was there for Starlight's plan to end in disaster, and then it just didn't.
The rest of the changelings showing up en masse is a real feel-good moment. :D And like I said, I get major Flutterpony vibes from watching them fight in concert.
Seriously, this is the most uncomfortable monster defeat ever. D:
I really wish they had played up Pharynx's "I still care, but I don't belong anymore" side, because that would have made for a better arc than "penitent bully".
I dig Pharynx's dark teal coloration. Helps him stand out. Ignoring the smaller antlers, of course. :B
It's also weird that this wasn't a cutie map episode. I mean, it's got all the hallmarks of one, and seeing Starlight and Trixie being summoned would have been cool.
And then we end on a "bullying is funny!" note and I just… If not for Trixie and Starlight, I think I would actually hate this episode. It's got value as canon fodder for the new changelings, but the message is just wrong. All Starxie do is fuck shit up! And I must express dismay that the 'renegade changelings' plot is introduced and resolved offscreen over the course of two episodes. This is just all over the place. 3/5
Daring Done?
That time Pinkie said "shrubbery".
Okay, seriously, it's been like two years in-show since Swarm of the Century, and Fillydelphia just now got rid of the parasprites? D: Or did they come back? Pinkie needs to outsource her shit.
>ponies talking about politics
>ever :V
Rainbow Dash, you are such a drama queen. :B Don't you have some Wonderbolts to practice with or something? (You realize her relationship with Daring Do is the only thing she has left, character-wise, since joining the team?)
Good on Pinkie for giving Daring some space there.
Pinkie actually said "colon". XD Why is this so funny?
"All we have to do is go down there and explain" And this is where someone should have pointed out that Rainbow Dash is about the dumbest pony ever and should stop talking now. :B There's an allegory here for arguing on the internet, but I can't be arsed to find it.
The really neat thing about this episode is that, yeah, it turns out the smear campaign against Daring Do is something orchestrated by Caballeron, but it's not like he was wrong. For the most part. Daring Do and friends save the day, then have to deal with the fact that, yeah, a bunch of stuff got trashed, and it's her responsibility to clean up after herself. Daring's never out of the wrong in this one. And that is a good message. :)
Plus, it's unusual to see Daring so vulnerable. That alone might be why I like this episode.
Anyone notice the village of Somnambula is like, right northeast of some dark ziggurat? :B
Funnily, I missed that this was written by G. M. Berrow the first time around, but it explains that reference to the Doomed Diadem and the Wild Bunch Gang. G. M. Berrow wrote a series of Daring Do books, and by golly, we are not to forget about them! >:V
You realize that's some long-lost desert-dwelling Apple family member, there.
C'mon, guys, that accent is unmistakable. :V
That was at least four angry ponies, Pinkie. :B
"Cramping her saddle" is another excellent addition to the lexicon. :D
Again, worth mentioning, the Get On Inn is from the actual novels. I seem to recall really liking the innkeeper. :)
More points to Pinkie being able to code-switch like that. :D Even if it didn't work.
So, uh, what happens to all the glopaz offerings? Like, was there originally just a big pile of stones in front of the statue, or do they get collected by someone for something? c.c This seems like a system ripe for the looting, is what I'm saying.
He tells them to meet at the statue "tomorrow". So like… when the sun rises or something? Is everypony just going to be hanging awkwardly around the broken fucking statue until he decides to show up? <.<
Can I just say how much I love that one pony with the glasses and the hood? Her style is excellent. :D
"Weird claw-thingy on his tail." Rainbow continues to not know what hands are, and this amuses me to no end. :3
Given that Pinkie can just hop into the crowd, say, "He's a baddie!" and that's enough to get them all doubting Caballeron's words, you have to figure these ponies are pretty gullible and not too bright. Why, Rainbow Dash would have to do something monumentally stupid to not be able to gain their trust, which, oh hey, guess what.
Goddamn do I love the Egyptian-style 2D flashback.
You realize this is one of the very few named princes we've ever had in the show? Well, okay, the only unnamed one I can think of is the one from the love poison story, but that's still like, number four of ever.
I'm also surprised they actually show us the Pharaoh, considering, when you have a character introduced as "the son of the leader" in a cartoon, they're usually the focus.
I'm sorry, Seth is right, Somnambula is a total cutie.
And good job on the design team for making the Sphinx legitimately intimidating. Like, not actually scary, but big and dangerous-looking.
I really do wish they'd given them proper voices, though. See also Wubcake.
Man, it's not much of a leap of faith when you know the bridge is there. If there's one thing I would change about this episode, it's right here.
Oh, duh, the ziggurat I noticed on the map is the same temple the Sphinx was in. <.< It's right there in the final image, and probably before that, too. Herp.
Yeah, and if Caballeron hadn't taken his cloak off, Rainbow Dash would literally have never figured out it was him. Like, she should have known it was him during that second round of protestations. Heck, she could have even unmasked him and the crowd would have been like, oh, uh, well, he's not from around here, but that doesn't mean he was lying.
Okay, yeah, there's a lot of things I would change about this episode. D: Fly, you dodo!
Daring cares about Rainbow Dash, but sadly, Rainbow's heart belongs to another. :V
So, correct me if I'm wrong but the censors definitely got to this scene. Slime. Who the fuck cares about slime? Rainbow's been through way worse. Sure, she might drown if she's not untied, but it's not that life or death. No. That is clearly acid. And it was likely scripted as acid, and then the censors came down and said, nuh-uh, no acid, that's bad for kids, so we get this toothless fucking wannabe deathtrap instead. :|
So question: why not run around the acid slime pit and jump onto the platform from the other side? Like, it's way closer to that end, it's sinking, which means you should have a good angle to reach it by the time you get over there. Just saying. <.<
Also, if there's no flying, how the fuck did Caballeron get up to the skylight? c.c
So, correct me if I'm wrong, but Pinkie's "leap of faith" assertion is something something Feeling Pinkie Keen controversy? <:B
God, this is the stupidest asspull. >.< We get a look down the length of the acid slime pit, and there are no goofy air-poofing nozzles anywhere. D: Lots of things I would change.
Given Daring is able to bounce across the steam, I take this as evidence for Pinkie's pegasus magic. :B
Oh yes. The slime, it is green, and bubbling. Here's hoping no one takes a bath in it. :|
How ballsy do you have to be to walk through a town with the sack full of shit you stole?
I am getting tired of the extended moralizing that seems to mark this season. I really miss the letters and journal. ;_;
Lots I would change, but not the moral. I really do appreciate it. The fact that there's no narration or dialogue in that final scene also drives home the point of "actions speak louder than words". Oh yeah, and you look at those sacks of money being tossed around, and you realize, holy shit, Daring Do books sell like no one's business. A. K. Yearling is loaded! She probably has more money than she knows what to do with! Someone use this.
This is far and away G. M. Berrow's best episode to date. She's had a pretty shaky run so far. It's probably not the best Daring Do episode, but it's still better than Campfire Tales as far as the legends go. 3.5/5
Maulwurf is literally just German for mole. I'm curious to see how they'll localize that one.
The most impressive thing to me is that they already had the right colors on hand. Or maybe they can secrete whatever pigments they want now because of Crayola bughorse powers.
Pharynx wasn't the only mutant in his generation. Thorax's colors were greener than most. That clutch apparently had a lot of genetic drift.
Counterpoint:
I know, right?
No one said slime can't be acidic. Or disease-ridden. Or boiling. Or related to the Smooze.
Actually, that last one has a lot of potential...
C@#t Trixie is absolutely best Trixie!
The Somnambula episode is a 80/20 love/hate situation for me. And it looks like we will see the pseudo-Egyptian cutie again!
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80/20 sounds about right.
And fuck, did you see the synopses for the season finale? Oh my god, I'm so stoked.
Or maybe they changed to all look the same?
I didn't even notice the arts and craft changelings made a portrait!
I'm probably alone in that I adore the new changelings.
They're brightly colored metrosexual hippie idiots, making them be to ponies what ponies are to us. They're the fresh-from-high school idealists going, "Why don't we just disband the police and military? Then there won't be violence!" And then this asshole conservative motherfucker (who is a goddamn edgelord too) saves the day and gives them a lesson in balancing ideals with practicality. Mixed with Thorax's growth and a fun combination of Trixie's dickishness and Starlight's impulsiveness and we had a fun episode for me. Though I do agree the "bullying is funny!" bit really made for an off-putting finale.
Daring Done was off-putting for me initially - the really good moral of responsibility for one's actions felt tacked on at the end, with an obvious plot and atrocious Deus Ex Steam Vents to boot. Once I took off the adult hat, though, the episode was fun. High adventure, good use of Pinkie and Daring, and a Sphynx who managed to be both frightening and adorable. Not taking much away, but twas a fine 22 minutes.
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I'll say the new changelings' idiocy is endearing, especially where Thorax is concerned.
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Oh hell yes!