School of Hard Sucks [episode spoilers!] · 7:16pm Mar 24th, 2018
Last night, I dreamt I watched the MLP season 8 premiere.
Except for some pre-announced reason that I had forgotten, it was actually the new Hearth's Warming episode. And it was god awful.
Mostly because, partway through, MLP was being replaced by the new Ninja Turtles show. <.< Just imagine a bunch of snarky high-schoolers turning (slowly) into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And then at the end, there were a bunch of really loud, really obvious CGI ninjas walking around, perfectly visible to us, the viewing audience, but unconvincingly ignored by everyone else. And, I mean, ninjas, but come on.
Before we get into talking about (technically, viewing) the episode, I want to make a promise, to you guys, and to myself:
No matter what happens, I will not watch leaks this season.
I'm already dreading season eight as it is, and all the leaks last year made watching season seven an unbearable chore. I know some episodes leaked way early; I haven't seen those. I'm going into this episode dry, knowing nothing about the future save the two or three season eight trailers that were released, and the synopses of the various episodes. I'm still not looking forward to this, but at least I can make it easier on myself.
tl;dr: I hated it. Whether or not I continue watching the series, y'all ain't gonna have to deal with my bitching anymore, because this is the last one of these posts I do.
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to every Starlight fan in existence. This is what shoehorning new characters in looks like. Season six was a dream compared to this.
Look, I tried to keep my mouth shut, but I unequivocally hated everything about every season eight trailer I saw. New characters? No. Friendship school? No. Twilight and friends just dropping everything in their lives to suddenly become teachers? Why?
And I can safely say that I unequivocally hated everything about the episode, too, for the same reasons.
...Okay, let's avoid hyperbole. Maurice Lamarche as the Chancellor? Fucking brilliant casting, easily the best thing about this shitstain of a two-parter. Like, when he closes down the school with those magic chains? And him just randomly portalling into places all at once? Amazing. He did nothing wrong, Equestria for ponies! >:V I also have to admit to chuckling at the changeling's impersonation of Rarity. Like, that's just funny. Also, Starlight just being all FUCK BOOKS. Goddamn, she really has grown on me over the last two years. And of course, the best part was that awesome metal vocal cover of Dr. Wily's theme from Mega Man 2. I need to find that!
...Was that just the stream I was watching? Oh, darn. :V
But yeah. Pretty much every scene that involved the new characters — and even some that didn't — had me facepalming. This was just awful. A big part of why is those new characters, all of whom are either idiots, assholes, or both. For reference:
Idiots
The hippogriff
The pony
The changeling
Assholes
The griffon
The dragon
Both
The yak (go figure)
Let's break it down, shall we?
The hippogriff is fucking stupid because A) she's Skystar 2.0 (because we can't hire famous actors to voice characters or anything) , and B) Skystar sucked in the first place. I really just wanted her to shut up. <.< Skystar's only redeeming quality was obvious cabin fever leading to atrophied social skills. Silver whatever came off more as "doesn't understand words". Fucking stupid.
Also, just being able to change into a sea form? What's with that? I mean, I guess I could use it, it just doesn't make any sense.
Oh yeah, and I wanted to strangle her idiotic handler, too. He needs to just go back to Mount Aris so he can keep sucking Queen Novo's dick. Maybe it'll keep him quiet. :| And they still haven't turned that one toy into an on-screen character!
Next, the pony. Sandbar comes the closest to being a likable character. Maybe if he'd been headlining his own episode instead of jammed in with this lot, I'd have even liked him. But his placid stoner hippie routine got old quick. And you really have to wonder why they went with a pony instead of, y'know, something else. Not to get ahead of myself, but they could have given us, I dunno, a batpony? Something interesting? Yeah, I'm advocating for batponies. This episode would have been monumentally improved with batponies. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Also, what the fuck is his special talent?
Rounding out the idiots is the changeling. It was nice seeing Pharynx again, I guess, but changelings suck. They've always sucked. And while their placid hippie routine was amusing in the one episode it happened in, the less we see of them these days, the better. And what's up with that whole "turning into a giant bug then not being able to bug" thing? Plot convenience and a half! Ocelot being the nerdy, shy one was cute, sure, but everyone else only got one character note, so gee, why does Thorax let you have two? :V
Now, assholes! It's no surprise that griffins are assholes, that's kind of what their entire society is based around, after all. Does this mean Rainbow and Pinkie's hard work was for nothing? It doesn't matter, I guess. Gilda was always a dick, this kid fits right in her dick. And on that note, do griffins just all know each other? I know Griffonstone is a tiny shithole, but still.
As for the dragon, dragons also have a society built around being assholes. Maybe more tsundere assholes, and definitely more "being Rainbow Dash" assholes, but assholes nevertheless. I could say nothing about this character. Good job being the first agender character in MLP? Like, it would be an accomplishment if Steven Universe didn't already exist. Can't wait to see what people turn that into a hill to die on. :/
Lastly, the yak. The fucking yak. If there is one reason I hate this episode, IT IS THE GODDAMNED YAK.
Yaks are terrible. Yaks have never been funny. I do not care about yaks. I do not want to have to care about yaks. I do not want more yak characters in my episodes.
Yona's issue is being a yak, that's it. She's loud, she's stupid, she's obnoxious. And if you think I'm being harsh on her, consider this: her single character trait (apart from everything that comes with "be a yak") is being clumsy. This could be endearing, except she never seems to notice when it happens. It only serves to inconvenience other people, never her herself. And at the end of the episode, what do we see? Rarity tying her braids up so they're finally out of their way. There goes her single character trait. Yaks are too stupid to tie bows.
I hate yaks. I hate changelings. Dragons and griffons suck. Hippogriffs are stupid. Get these garbage characters out of my show, you fucking ingrates.
So they like 80% failed to ingratiate these new characters into my good graces, but that's not all there is to it. I hope I can fully explain where I'm coming from here, or else a lot of people are going to be very upset with me. Or like, uh, more upset with me.
See, the theme of S8, from what I know, is "Beyond Equestria". And that right there is the problem. Not because I'm not interested in what's beyond Equestria, but because they're jumping the gun.
In seven seasons, we've been introduced to a whole host of peoples, places and stories. Some of them, like the griffons and dragons, we've gotten to know a bit better. Why can't we look back and get some more info on some of the other races introduced to the show before we go adding in more?
I am specifically talking about zebras, though donkeys, Diamond Dogs and buffalo also fit the bill. Those last ones, I could maybe see the show staff never wanting to revisit; they were pretty awful cultural stereotypes, and the episode that spawned them was problematic. Then again, we have yaks, so what the fuck is stopping them?
But seriously, all of these creatures, and not a single one appears in a school ostensibly built to teach friendship to a multicultural student body? Why don't know we know where zebras come from? Why haven't we seen a Diamond Dog outside of Equestria Girls shorts? I would include Saddle Arabians on this list, but they apparently will be appearing later in the season; one outta five ain't bad? <.< Still, we should have a lot more non-pony students, if you ask me, and yaks, hippogriffs and changelings are too new.
(Yes, changelings are new. They've been around since S2, but we never knew anything about them until the end of S6, at which point they metamorphosed into essentially a completely new species with almost nothing left of their old lives. And actually nothing left once Pharynx joined the rainbow horde.)
To add to this, there are also a ton of places we've never gotten to see. We got Hollow Shades finally last season, but if you look on the official map, you'll find places like Tall Tale and Vanhoover that haven't even been mentioned. Anyone remember Hoofington? That isn't even on the map! Neither is Whinnyapolis, c.f. Princess Spike.
Compare this to the pukwudgies. When they showed up on the trailers, everyone was clamoring "Bushwoolies!" If this episode did anything right, though, it was not making them Bushwoolies, and not just because Bushwoolies were arguably the worst part of G1. Actually, they get major points for using the word 'pukwudgie', which I only know because I did some research in cryptids recently for a thing. <.< But seriously, when the first one appeared, I was waiting for one of those little shitheads to go, "It looks fuzzy and it came out of a bush! I'll call it a Bushwoolie!"
But look at what they did: pinned down the six students so the main six could come rescue them. You could have had literally anything here. Could have gotten the same effect with a cockatrice. Or a manticore. Chimera, anyone? Misunderstanding with a sea serpent? Instead, we got a new monster that we'll probably never see again. But I don't mind that much, because we don't need to know how monsters work for them to be effective, and it's always fun to see what kind of mythological creature the show can work into something new.
So why are we wasting time going outside Equestria when there's still so much Equestria to explore? :/ Just, put it off another season until the map is filled in, that's all I ask. But we can't have nice things.
Speaking of terrible things, let's talk about the friendship school! :V
Up through season seven, there have been a lot of events. Some I liked; some I disliked. But — with one major exception, that I will get to — all of them stemmed very naturally from where the characters had been. At least, all of the important, status quo-changing events, anyway. <.< Not so much animal sanctuaries.
The one exception I mention is Twilicorn. To repeat myself for the umpteenth time in the last five years, I always figured Twilight would become an alicorn eventually. But I figured it would be, like, at the end of the series, to demonstrate how far she'd come. Instead, it came at the end of the first third the series, and sent her into a spiral of character stagnation for a couple of years. She's finally started to come out of it, but the event itself, at the time, seemed random. Why is she suddenly turning into an alicorn? Why for completing this spell? If you were around the fandom at the end of S3, you don't need me to tell you what the backlash was like; if you weren't? Be glad.
The Friendship School, though? Far, far worse than Twilicorn.
For starters, there's the way it's presented in the show. After that awkward as fuck introduction scene that basically amounts to "Hey guys, remember when we were in a movie? That movie is totally canon now!" (bull fucking horse shit!), Twilight says they need to spread friendship to all peoples outside of Equestria.
(Side bar: Friendship is pony religion. Twilight is literally starting a mission. The way they talk about it, I can't take this any other way.)
But rather than be all, "Okay, good, this sounds like a good idea, should we wait for the map to present us friendship problems in foreign lands, or go seek them out ourselves?" Twilight just up and decides "We're opening a school."
Like
What?
Who are you and what have you done with Twilight? (Spike said this at exactly the wrong time.)
Twilight Sparkle does not just randomly decide to make huge changes like becoming the headmistress of an entire school on the spur of the moment. It sure doesn't help that all the, like, planning stages and building the actual school are accomplished offscreen. I mean, it wouldn't have made for good television, but "Raise This Barn" was fun. And if you want to talk about bad television? Twilight Sparkle versus educational bureaucracy. :|
Starlight Glimmer was a fantastic villain because she wasn't a super-power, world-ending threat, at least not at first. What she did was challenge the very notion of what it was that Twilight and her friends stood for, not to mention the foundations of Equestrian identity politics. She was an ideological threat, and all but said so herself. She was different, she was fresh, she was awesome.
A stuffy bureaucracy fits into "not super-powerful, world-ending threat", but it's boring. I do like Chancellor Neighsayer, really I do, but he's about the most milquetoast threat you could ask for. It certainly doesn't help that I was never invested in the school as a concept; I don't care if it gets shut down, I don't want it to be there in the first place!
I have to aside again (aren't I already in one?) to talk about Celestia. Celly, I love you, you're second-best pony, but long gone are the days where I could think of you as the doting mother goddess of Equestria. I don't want to also have to give up my dreams of you being useful and relevant, too. :| S6's premiere was bad enough, but now all you're doing is telling Twilight "go to the board of education"? Telling the angry foreign dignitaries, "Hey guys, settle down, Twilight will fix this"? Just standing by, doing literally nothing while your high Chancellor of education is a raging racist hatbag to some of your former student and good friend's friends. Who are foreign dignitaries. Who you really don't want to see going to war with each other.
Celestia, what in the fucking fuck?
My point is, school comes out of nowhere, is bad idea. And the issue isn't just that, isn't just that it runs counter to Twilight's character to up and decide to make one, but that it runs counter to literally everyone.
Rarity, you own three boutiques in as many cities. Two of them have managers, so I guess you can make yourself some glasses and come be a teacher!
Rainbow Dash, that thing you've been striving your whole life for, your fillyhood dream, that you finally get to pursue? Not important, come teach, even if you're only smart enough to know that you're too dumb to be a teacher.
Applejack, you know how your apple farm is, like, the foundation of your very being, the reason for your existence? How your regular workforce is maybe three ponies and you are one of them? How one pony plus all those apple trees just doesn't add up? Good thing none of that matters, you're a teacher now!
Yes, I'm doing all of these, funny you should ask.
Fluttershy! You have an… animal sanctuary. For some reason. Is that a thing that needs regular attention? Y'know, like the hundreds of animal friends you take care of on a daily basis in your own home? Well, Twilight Sparkle don't know shit about animals. She don't care! She don't care that you still have some problems dealing with social issues, having all eyes in the room on you, telling people what to do... You know, perfect qualities to be a teacher!
Pinkie Pie, you throw parties based on foals sneezing. Also, your definition of "personal space" seems to have decreased over the years. Let's put you in charge of a classroom, you'll make a great teacher!
DO YOU MAYBE SEE WHAT I AM GETTING AT HERE?
And, hey, I know that the school isn't going to be the focus of every episode in season eight. Maybe they'll have time to pursue their own interests in the meantime! Yeah, sure they will. If they don't spend that time teaching. Like, if the school doesn't actually matter in the long run. So why the fuck did you make it?
There is a distinct lack of commitment here. Can we please listen to Rainbow Dash for once? Like, what the fuck were even any of them doing?
Fluttershy's not teaching kindness, she's teaching biology, hands-on. Rarity's teaching fashion or something. Rainbow Dash is fucking around, so's Pinkie. Applejack is literally teaching apple supremacy. Did you notice how she had a "no oranges" and "no strawberries" sign up next to the circled apple? And then she's showing them how to applebuck? This is just like when she lost her ability to use countryisms in S5; the show writers literally have no idea what to do with any of these characters or the situation they've put them in. This isn't friendship, is my point.
And don't get me started on how that scene where they're all trying to convince Twilight to throw out the EEA's book and she's all "Herp derp our students." I haven't seen a mane six scene that cringey since they all bowed to her.
I was going to say that I found it hokey that the various leaders of the various species (minus Queen Novo, of course, because aforementioned lack of funds to pay actors) would chaperone random kids to a school, but I guess this is kind of a major international harmony thing, so that at least makes sense. <.< Except for Grandpa Gruff. That's just more like he's literally taking his grandson to school.
This is just a bad idea. I do not see any way it can be a good idea. I do not know of any way it can become a good idea.
And I didn't like either of the songs.
The transition from G3 to G3.5 was, to my mind, marked by two things:
1) Character redesigns
2) The dumbing-down of said characters
Rainbow Dash, for instance, went from being obsessed with rainbows to being the fashion horse. It doesn't seem like much of a downgrade, but trust me, it was.
With G4, I think we're going through something similar. The Movie is the actual lynchpin, as I see it. The character models weren't changed particularly much; instead, we got a change of medium, from Flash to ToonBoom, that still made them look different.
But there have been changes to the characters. Was I the only one who got really mad at that scene where the mane six are in Sugarcube Corner, going, GEE WHY DOES SANDBAR NEED FIVE DOZEN CUPCAKES?
ANY OF Y'ALL THINK HE WAS ACTING STRANGE?
WHY NO DARLING IT'S NORMAL FOR A COLT HIS AGE, NOW ABOUT THOSE MISSING STUDENTS
Like, mother of fuck, when did the five of you get so freaking dumb? D:
I've complained again and again about how Rainbow Dash has become a parody of herself. About Pinkie's lack of ability to deal with others. About Twilight's stagnated character and Fluttershy's inconsistencies.
These are not the characters we once knew.
Like I said before, things that happened in the show up to this point seemed to derive at least somewhat organically from where the characters had been. Even after Faust left the series, her influence was felt. No more.
And you know what? I'm done.
As far as I'm concerned, we're in G4.5 now. Nothing is canon. This is not the show I fell in love with. You're all probably sick of hearing me piss and moan about the show. Well, I'm sick of pissing and moaning about it. This isn't fun anymore. There's no point in comparing this season's episodes to those which came before; they're going to be completely different, because no one on this goddamn show has any fucking clue what they're doing.
So this is it. No more episode reviews. Forget the personal promise, I'm not even going to make an effort to keep up with the show if I can't help it. I think we'll all be happier. Aside from the fact that no one wins anything.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go fuck myself.
Wow... Just wow. I have no words for this review if I can even call it that. Just raging at everything.
And they call you honorary site staff?
A whining child is what I call you.
I think the real question is: Did you enjoy the S7 finale?
If not, i'll take this as fair criticism and abstain from watching the premiere. If you did, though...sorry, this can't be any worse than *that,* so i'll go and watch the s8 opening anyway.
4824173
Aye, this is just ranting and raging at everything, saying it all sucks now. Present, why don't you go join the "We Hate Everything That's Happened to MLP!" Group now, if it still existed, as that's what you're acting like right now, the kind of people who join that group. Pull this while you're at it.
tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/e/e8/Ruined_forever.jpg
Dude, chill.
As I watched New Horse:
"Wow, that was good horse! Well, now on to FIMFic to see why PP hated it!"
*actually reads blog*
And now we witness PP's descent into Hipsterdom
Yeah, I pointed out to my son while we were watching: "If Starlight Glimmer tells you that your plan is forcing all of the students into predetermined paths, you should know something's wrong."
You know as well as I do that adding too many characters makes storytelling *insanely* difficult. They have five majors, one major/minor, and a bunch of backgrounds. EACH of the majors is a major race that Twilight has had friendship relations with. (Hence no batponies) And yes, each of the races are idiots of sorts, with the changeling being the brightest of the dim bulbs in terms of having paid attention in class, and the yak being (potentially) the dumbest. They're dumb because that makes them kid-friendly. They're balanced, because if they all could fly (for example), the plot would not be able to throw any "Oh, we can just fly the one ring to the volcano and drop it in" plot holes.
Yes, none of the songs are 'earworms' Give them time.
So we've gone from six major characters to twelve, nearly half of which are not ponies. This opens up a whole new can of plot possibilities, which I'm looking forward to.
You know, when The Simpsons got so annoying that it made me angry to watch it, I stopped watching it. This one choice made the subsequent 20 years far more entertaining and peaceful.
All you're doing at this point is tormenting yourself. It isn't worth it.
Have a few beers before/during each episode and I promise you'll love them. Watching them with an analytical mindset can sap the fun out.
You monster.
Haven't seen the new episode, but I read your review anyways, because fuck spoilers.
4824195
Technically, I'd say that this bumps it from eight to fourteen. Starlight and Discord are practically members of the clique at this point. And hell, if they add in the six ancestors
and I pray to god that they don't,that bumps it up to 14/20.There's rather a lot of cast inflation at this point.
also, when the fuck are we going to get a discord spinoff series? John de Lancie is top freaking tier.4824173
Present Perfect is not a member of staff.
He is the representative of RCL who has been granted the ability to post siteblogs for the group.
4824210
Might want to rethink that, if this is how he's going to act.
4824201 Well, they have 'rotate in' characters with the ancestors, so if they want to do a story with Starlight/Rainbow/Yak/Dragon/Starswirl, they can just start it on the train with a "Ok, when we get to (destination) for our lesson on (name) with Professor Starswirl, what are you kids going to do?" That cuts out a lot of the setup, and since there's only 22 minutes to tell stories...
I haven't seen this much impotent rage since the Twilicorning.
I think that if the show is making you this mad, and if you have such problems with the writing, it might be time to stop watching it. I stepped off the rollercoaster around S4 (think that god awful finale was the first nail in the coffin) only hopping back on when the occasional plot synopsis or episode promo intrigues me. Maybe try that?
4824224 Stop with your self-righteous bullshit. If he wants to post a review/discussion of an episode on his personal blog, it's his own business. The RCL exists to promote underrated Fanfics, not discuss current episodes.
*reads entire blog twice*
Well, I respect the opinion you have, PP, and while I can't say I agree with some (really all) of it, I do get the points you're laying out. I sadly don't have the time today to really dig into any one thing, but overall for me I felt that even though they did kind of dump a lot of these characters out of the sky, it almost reminded me some of the feeling I had back when I first started watching Season 1. I'm really interested to see the direction these new characters (and I'm still optimistic enough to believe that the show staff/Hasbro won't just up and shove them back into the pantry to rot) take the show/play into the changing role of the Mane 6.
I do agree wholeheartedly on one point though, there should absolutely be a Diamond Dog attending the school *hides his To-Be-Written queue*
But who knows? Maybe I'm just a git who's easily amused by things *shrug*
Here’s a video of an Irishman talking about how Bitcoin is failing as a currency.
“I hate changelings”
Get away from me.
I do get a lot of where you're coming from. I suppose I'm just a bit less vocal about things, but that's because my writing is really what keeps me staying - I've got plenty of stories left to write, I suppose.
This is your personal blog, and you make points here. Are they wrapped in emotion too? Yes. Most things are. The people who read this whole thing through and are just playing Good Little Comment Goer and whining about being child-like are honestly the ones that come across as the more whiny and child-like themselves. I wouldn't pay attention to them, as annoying as it can be. You've said a few things I've been afraid and reluctant to say myself. Please don't delete this blog.
Just do you.
Yeah, I wasn't a fan of it.
4824224
We are not going to remove his privileges because he doesn't enjoy MLP.
I was merely correcting the original comment, claiming Present Perfect was a member of staff.
4824224
If this is how he's going to act? It's his blog. He can't express his opinion on his own blog? You are the one choosing to be here.
4824250
Except this was not a review of a episode, this was just ranting and raging about how everything sucked without bringing up any good points from the episode. And I'm sorry, self-righteous bullshit? I have a right to my own opinions of something, just as Present does even if you don't like them.
4824335
Fair enough, but this honestly... This was not a very professional review. I'm terrible at that sort of thing, and even I can tell that much.
Have ramblings
You answered your own question. This fucking episode, this conceit they want to use for the whole fucking season is born out of one thing: they have no fucking idea what to do with their characters, so they'll continue to Glimmer in new ones and hope no one calls them on it. Or at least that they can last until the end of 2019 and that G5's contract is in place. This is why Glimmer exists; this is why those fucking useless pillars are characters. This is why they threw 12 new characters at the show in the last 4 episodes. It's a distraction.
I have watched some leaks(four). There was a very good episode, a very meh episode, and a very bad episode. Also a Starlight/Sunburst one, so two very bad episodes. They have not completely lost their ability to write good things, but they are definitely fewer and further between.
In all your rage, I think you also forgot that this episode was incredibly boring. I mean, fuck. I liked Look Before You Sleep and this was just too far down the irrelevant bullshit and wasting time. Aside from it making no sense, I just don't give a fuck about these new characters. Why is Scootaloo a dragon now? That would actually make a better episode, IMO.
Maybe this is a replacement for the CMC, now that they have solved their problems? I know, because openers and closers have to relate to each other now, that this shit will show up again in the finale. Hopefully, this school shit is kept to a minimum.
Also, if you're gonna be so blatant about the movie, you could at least have Sunset somewhere in the BG. Oh shit. That's what they did. They stole EG's school setting and did a Next Gen on it.
i liked the yak
4824406
I'm like ten minutes in. I'll think about character and plot and stuff later, but right now all I know is the yak is so stinkin' cute.
4824173
Literally no one calls me that.
4824176
I loved the S7 finale! One of the all-time best two-parters, at the very least.
Though I have to admit, I was surprised to see there are going to be episodes in S8 with the Pillars. I mean, given that this premiere ignores its existence, I kinda figured we wouldn't ever hear from Star Swirl and co. again. <.<
4824179
And what are you acting like, I wonder? :)
4824381
Not everything has good points. This had at least two. Now I know you didn't bother reading the review. You can always leave.
4824427
Okay, I admit I just skimmed, I'm man enough to admit that, but I did that because all I saw was rage, rage, rage.
4824250
If you'll take a few recommendations, "Perfect Pear" is debatably the best-ever episode, and the S7 Finale was quite strong (and in my mind, the best finale to date). Both I think are worth views.
4824427
But yet this was an entire rant.
4824448
Shadowmane, as a friend, I advise you to shut up now before you make things worse for yourself no matter how true or not true this is. I've already gotten the anger of several horse-famous site goers with my comments, best you avoid the same.
Nitpick: this is where P.P.O.V. took place. It's not named, but compare flags.
4824450
Alright. I’ll stop.
4824427
Ahh, damn it. I thought i could trust your opinion. Oh well.
Like, honestly, that was the episode(s) that made me decide i wasn't interested in seeing the show anymore. I could rant about it until i was blue in the face, but you probably get the point.
4824460
Wait, seriously? O.o Flags were definitely not what I focused on in that episode... XD
4824469
I do! :D
I can't help but feel this is a huge bias steamroller.
I stopped reading it halfway through because I've never disagreed more with your assessment of an episode or series of episodes. I just felt frustrated, because I really enjoyed these two episodes, and for a lot of the reasons that you hate. It's down to a matter of opinion, I suppose, and I'm not going to change that, so I stopped reading before I got too deep into it. Sorry you didn't enjoy it.
Edit: seeing some comments here, I'm considering agreeing with a few people that suggested you move on from watching the show. There's plenty of MLP fan content to enjoy that probably won't make you rage, or you could even give the comics a try (I really enjoy those, but that probably means nothing), but maybe if the show makes you so rage-y... stop watching it? Gonna give yourself an aneurysm, man.
Like... I dunno. With the CMC all grown up, these guys seem like the new "kids" of the show. And they're way more likeable than S1 CMC. The show actually acknowledging different "kingdoms," international diplomacy, and the limited legal power of royalty seems like good world building. And I prefer this relatively low-stakes plot to introduced-and-defeated-threat-to-world #12.
I will definitely say the ongoing weakening of the Mane cast is a problem, but these new kids are really fine.
I haven't yet decided how much I liked this opener, though "more than you" is pretty much certain. One question, though: where the hay was Cheerilee? Surely if you're setting yourself up as teachers, one pony you want to consult is someone who's been an (apparently successful) teacher since before S1.
4824479
Flegs:
http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Seaward_Shoals_in_Pinkie_Pie%27s_story_S6E22.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_British_Columbia
Although I seem to have egg on my face, since the actual town they were in is apparently called Seaward Shoals and the flag I thought was Vancouver's is actually British Columbia's - the Canadian province of which Vancouver is the capital. Still, a suburb of Vanhoover is close enough to Vanhoover!
4824445
I really enjoyed Perfect Pear! Very strong episode with great pacing and characters and some shockingly poignant voice-acting performance, particularly from my boy Will Shatner. And the S7 Finale was a pretty dang strong episode too.
Gen 5 sounds like its gonna be amazing, I hope youll join me in waiting for it in excitement!
Alternately we can both wait in excitement for Genfic to come along and nonpony stories can start to be written with as many tools for convenience and quality of life as we have here with ponyfic!
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I've been saying "Where the hay is Cheerilee" for years now.
I love her so much! I just want more Cheerilee. Is that so much to ask, show writers?
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People are allowed to not like things.
Also yeah, the entire concept for this whole season is off. If this was our very first episode of pony I'd have no idea what the heck was going on, just a bunch of colorful talking blobs and one of them really likes apples for some reason. There are too many characters, too many toys, not enough time, not enough story.
4824544
I'd be up for a Cheerilee focus episode.
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You know what the worst part is?
Watching the show with an analytical mindset used to be what made us realize it was such an awesome show.
“Oh, I remember that! Wait, what about Tempest?”
“Oh, they couldn’t afford to pay her voice actor, so she’s off delivering pieces of Liev Schreiber to every county in Equestria.”
I’m also surprised that they introduced the viewers of the show to critters. As in from the movie, Critters.
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDVAFz5BhBti7rG4UezvndjKD9SeeI1CWXEpU8V38gUZ5cJCxb They even fire spines out of their backs...
I’m not sure what they were thinking. Was the entire writing staff replaced with one who hadn’t watched the show previously? You are quite right in wondering how they managed to forget that the mane six all have Jobs.
And I was disappointed with Celestia. I believe an outraged “I will not tolerate this kind of speciesism in my perpetual administration!” would have been appropriate. There is letting her student grow, but Twilight is not her student anymore. Now she’s allowing war to proliferate due to not supporting her co-ruler.
I’ve never really hoped for an “it was all just a dream” episode before. Wait, I lied. Twilicorn had me upset for a while, but I got over it... maybe the rest of the season will be ok or I’ll just get over this episode. I agree with some that at least possibilities have been opened up... maybe. Time will tell.
Yikes...