MLP Marathon Bonanza S6 E4-6 (The one where Trixie comes back) · 9:03pm Nov 21st, 2017
I’ve been trying not to look too far ahead when I watch these episodes. I’m not super worried about spoilers or anything, but I like going in blind. It generally means I come out liking the episode a little more than I might have. That being said, I can’t help but notice that in this batch of three episodes we’re getting to No Second Prances, which apparently is the (second) return of Trixie, so I’m pretty fucking hyped.
On Your Marks
I was wondering how they were going to handle the first CMC episode post-cutie markening, and this certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s a good solid episode in the vein of some of the older CMC episodes, and most importantly it has a good message. I liked that Apple Bloom realizes she has to help Tender Taps to get over his fear of performance, but it almost felt like this would have been better as its own episode. Then again, it might end up rather boring if the entire episode were about Apple Bloom learning to tap dance and realizing she’s not very good at it.
This whole opening bit was silly, cute, and I loved it.
Like I said before, I think this episode has a really good message, and that’s what stands out to me. Sure, cutie marks may not exist in real life, but we all have something that we are good at, or at least have an affinity for. The CMC realizing that even after a big life event fundamentally changes the nature of their friend group, they’ll still always be friends. I think that’s really cute and a very realistic message. We’ve all had events in our life that separated us physically or emotionally from our friends, but if they’re good friends then you’ll never really stop being friends. Also, I think it was smart they put in a message about not having to enjoy the same things as your friends to be friends with them. That being said, I would definitely go bungee jumping with Scootaloo.
Gauntlet of Fire
Well dang, this was miles better than the last dragon episode. There are so many good things to like about this episode, so I’ll just start from the beginning.
Twilight and Rarity coming along with Spike is, of course, great because they’re two of my favorite ponies and they’re silly camouflage costumes are consistently humorous. In fact, this whole episode was consistently humorous. I chuckled a good number of times throughout it, especially at the end when Spike commands Garble to hug every dragon he sees but not tell them why. That’s just silly and great.
Torch is pretty fucking cool, not gonna lie.
In addition to being a pretty amusing episode, it was great how much lore they fit into this thing regarding dragons. I mean, there’s just so much surrounding the whole gauntlet that’s really interesting and cool. I love the sea serpents that shoot out of the water, and the rock slinger dragon things, and the Dragon Lord Torch is fucking awesome. As if all this weren’t enough, there’s also a really good message about friendship. I like that Princess Ember didn’t hide throughout the whole competition and then emerge the victor at the end, because that’s what I was basically expecting, and instead she won by her and Spike helping each other. I mean, that’s just sweet and classic MLP. Overall, this episode was really really solid and I kinda loved it. There’s not a lot of competition yet, but it’s my favorite episode of season 6 so far.
No Second Prances
Sorry about that Gauntlet of Fire, you were quickly unseated as my favorite season 6 episode (but is anyone really surprised?). Okay, I’m just gonna gush about this episode for a bit.
There’s gonna be a lot of screencaps #sorrynotsorry.
If you know me, then there was never really any doubt that I would love this episode. Trixie is far and away my favorite pony (for a number of reasons) but even beyond my blind love of anything Trixie, I genuinely think this is just a really good episode.
The friendshipping is strong in this episode.
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the Starlight x Trixie friendshipping, but the more the episode went on, the more I completely fell in love with it. Starlight and Trixie are similar in a lot of ways, and when Trixie says that no one really gives you a second chance it got me right in my heart. This was amplified by the fact that she was seemingly proved right as Twilight warned Starlight about Trixie.
Trixie getting back to her roots made me really happy.
I loved that Trixie’s new magic show had just one trick and yet was called “The Humble and Penitent Trixie’s Equestrian Apology Tour (it’s a working title)”. This is a great title for a couple reasons, and I’m gonna get a little deep here reading into this a lot more than I probably should. What I saw of Trixie this episode, it genuinely seemed like she was looking to apologize and wanting to make amends, and it’s just her way of showing that by having such an ostentatious title. Trixie is incapable of not being bombastic, and that’s part of why I love her. I also like that Twilight has to realize (again) that she needs to let Starlight make her own friends and figure out what friendship means to her, not just have Twilight tell her what to do.
Oh yeah, and there’s a great Dash face.
After she makes friends with Starlight and then screws it up by, basically, boasting again (hey look at that call back), she goes on to the stage and is absolutely pathetic. It’s not quite on the level that it made me tear up or anything, but “The Pathetic and Friendless Trixie’s Way to Go Dumb Dumb You Really Messed it Up This Time Repentance Tour” made me feel pretty bad for Trixie. She just wanted to have friends, dammit!
So yeah, pretty good episode all things considered. I kept squealing like a little girl waiting for Trixie to show up, and she didn’t disappoint. I’ll tell you what, I’m fucking excited she’s back and will (apparently) be a semi-regular character. Hell yeah.
No Second Prances is such an underrated episode in my opinion. The conflict between Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie was engaging, and their interactions throughout the course of the episode gave us both funny, heartwarming, and emotional moments. I came to appreciate it a lot more after a second viewing, and the triumphant return of Trixie was always going to be amazing.
Oh, and this means the next episode you'll be watching is the most controversial one since Magical Mystery Cure, and people in the fandom still argue about it. Just wanted to give you a heads up, because discussions on that episode can get pretty ugly.
The dynamic between Trixie and Starlight has been one of the more refreshing and interesting things to happen in the past few seasons. It works so well because both are brand new to the concept of friendship yet have certain quirks that makes it hard for them to make friends and keep them.
It's a big reason why I'm still sticking with the show.
I also like how Twilight, despite everything she's learned and being the Princess of Friendship, has major issues with Trixie. It adds a bit of realism that no matter what, she's not going to get along with everypony.
I'll be honest, when I first saw you were marathoning the episodes, I was afraid you weren't gonna like the new Trixie stuff for whatever reason and just give up on it.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I gotta be honest. As if I can be anything else. ;) But I seriously wanted to slap Twilight in 'No Second Prances' and give her an, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" speech. As in, you'll forgive Discord, Starlight Glimmer, but you'll act like a suspicious asshole around Trixie? Fuck you, Sparkle. Fuck. You.
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I've heard some... things about Newbie Dash, so we'll see how it goes. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll find it to be totally fine and not really get all the drama around it.
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Totally with you on Starlight and Trixie's friendship. It was one of the things that really drew me into their relationship a lot more than I would have expected. I completely get all the Starlight x Trixie shipping now.
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It would have been really hard for me to hate anything with Trixie in it, but it would have been so disappointing if they had somehow massively screwed the whole thing up. Luckily that's not the case.
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I get where you're coming from, but to be fair Trixie did come and fuck everything up twice and she was also super suspicious of Discord in past episodes after his redemption. Also, part of this episode is that Starlight questions whether Twilight really trusts her anyway, so I don't necessarily agree with Twilight about being suspicious, but it's not specific to Trixie. Though it does feel ever so slightly forced to give conflict.
No Second Prances is the real highlight of S6. :D
I mean, it's pretty much all downhill from there. :B
In which alex goes full fangirl.
That cute chin lift. I don't know if you've noticed stories with TenderBloom in them around, but there's why.
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And in the movie, she betrayed the Hippogriffs
for perfectly logical reasons. She keeps having the lapses in judgment we don't think she should have, almost as if she's...a flawed character!4731848
And we should call her ass out on it.