S8 E18 "Yakity-Sax" in a nutshell · 12:01pm Jul 22nd, 2018
"Pinkie Pie, we've all come to a decision. You know those flaming sacks of literal horse poop you were leaving on all our doorsteps?"
Pinkie glowered. "Yes. You told me they made you unhappy."
"Well, we didn't take your feelings into account. We all realized that your leaving flaming sacks of literal horse poop on our doorsteps was making you really happy, and we had no right to tell you to stop. We tried to encourage you to maybe just poop in a bag and light it on fire somewhere else, but we saw the error of our ways when we realized that a critical part of your enjoyment hinged upon you putting them on our doorsteps specifically, not just the act of generating flaming bags of literal crap. From now on, when we see the fecal matter--literally on fire--on our doorsteps, we will just smile because we know how happy it makes you."
"I get really happy when I murder other ponies," Fluttershy volunteered, out of nowhere.
There was an awkward moment of silence.
"And we have no right to tell you to stop," said Twilight Sparkle, firmly.
Fluttershy smiled as she snapped Twilight's offered neck, feeling that she was finally, truly accepted for who she was.
Twilight died knowing that this, and nothing short of this, was what it truly meant to be a good friend.
Pinkie Pie was charged with arson after discovering, only too late, that Rainbow Dash's cloudhome was entirely made out of sculpted methane.
Ah. Haven't seen it yet, but one of those "being a friend means accepting your friends when they are toxic and disruptive" episodes.
Hm.
4905654
It is the exemplar of that moral, distilled to the purest form yet seen in the series.
How do you upvote blog posts?
4905651
I can't stop laughing at this idea, even though I know it's just so wrong!
Yeah. I just watched the episode when I saw your blog title (psst - it's season 8!)
Yeah. That was... Maybe not the worst episode they've done, but watching Pinkie be a complete, self-absorbed douchnozzle (at a level which runs directly contrary to her like, whole EVERYTHING of making people smile) for twenty minutes was not particularly good entertainment. The humour just about dragged it up from the mire, but wow.
They should have ended it at the 10-minute mark (after AJ did the call-back to Celestia's acting[1]) and called it a day.
[1]And there is no convincing me that Sunbutt wasn't just trolling them that whole time.
I'm hoping that's not the actual synopsis. Still, I've been hearing things like this about the new episodes. Are they still any good?
4905683
This was a low-point. This season has been... mixed, though more from mediocre (by pony standards) and up, but the highs are still high, in my opinion.
4905683
They didn’t tell her to do it somewhere else. They told her she was wasting her time and would always suck. They were actually out of line.
They didn’t tell her to do it somewhere else at the end either though.
4905704
Yeah, I omitted the part where Twilight lies about her reasoning, presumably to spare Pinkie's feelings, and ends up making things much worse--and then doesn't address this in the finale either?
4905683
4905696
Same same here. Any pony season is a mixed bag, and S8 hasn't been pushing my personal buttons (I suppose the complete lack of Candybutt outside of the updated credits doesn't help) but the high notes are still really high.
Also the inevitable SDCC footage is in, and one new character at least looks like a riot, so I'm still looking forward to more.
4905704
In other words, the whole episode is a wash because it’s impossible to hear the lesson over the sound of everyone being disagreeable jerks, and we’re all going to be better off pretending that it never aired?
4905836
I thought it was okay. The lesson it's teaching to kids is reasonable ('don't tell people not to do things they enjoy') but it would have been better if they'd maybe told her how to enjoy herself without aggravating everypony. Because it might come off as 'let people annoy everyone around them' and that's not right either.
Yeah, this was one of those frustrating episodes where they had a good moral but then undercut it by also promoting a bad moral along side it.
Yeah, the moral bothered me too.
I reconcile it as basically this. Pinkie Pie is friends with everyone in town, right? She has thrown wonderful parties for everyone, done lots of friendly things for everyone, etc. She has made immense deposits in the friendship bank, so to speak. Now she's making regular, significant withdrawals via yovidaphone. I guess the idea is, having Pinkie Pie live in Ponyville is still a net positive, even after the yovidaphone playing, because of all the other things she does, so it makes sense for Ponyville ponies to invite her back and just wear earplugs a lot.
4905864
I can see that, although the obvious extension of allowing others to enjoy the things they like within reasonable limits would have been a good addition.
And from now on we will see flaming bags on everpony's doorstep in every episode because Pinkie won't just instantly forget about the whole thing when they get back to Ponyville.
Right?
4905866
So it's "Feeling Pinkie Keen", then.
...I was under the impression that her experience with Cranky should have covered this area as well, seeing that the two situations could be considered equivalent.
Saw it. While it wasn't terrible, it strikes me as the same misfire that marked the Celestia episode: what they need to say is it is okay to suck at something if you enjoy doing it. Making Pinkie's musicmaking hugely obnoxious and destructive really confused whatever they were trying to do with the ep.
4906015Not exactly. Where Feeling Pinkie Keen had a good moral that just got garbled its delivery, this one had two morals:
1) If you truly love doing something it's okay that you aren't any good at it—keep doing it anyway.
2) If one of your friends is doing something that makes them happy but it makes you miserable—you're wrong to ask them to stop.
Of course, the one they meant to promote was the first one. But the story really hammered home the second (unintended) one.
4905654
4905675
Calling Pinkie toxic or douchenozzle is a way too extreme. It's just an annoying instrument, and the rest of them are at fault for not just asking "How about we do this another time?" Admittedly I wish that HAD been acknowledged, but the episode still moved at a full clip for me, and the implication of finding a balance was enough at the end.
Pinkie had none of the nastiness we've seen with the likes of Diamond Tiara, Suri, Trixie, Starlight or Discord (even after 'reformations' of the latter two) because of the level of slapstick she's presented with. Even just the image of Viking-Pinkie hauling around a turbo-charged set of bagpipes is funny.
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It's definitely not like how we hated AJ and RD for almost letting Yona drown earlier this season; her almost dying was treated with full seriousness. Although I know humor's subjective, and trying to explain a series of jokes or sight gasg in the comments section isn't the way to get somebody to laugh at it. But compare it to this: calling a Pinkie a vandal or a bully because her bad music makes things explode is like call Jerry a murderer for dropping an anvil on Tom. It's the reason why we don't call any of THIS an act of criminal intent:
Then again, we're the fandom that's been saying Pinkie's been harboring the desire to kill people since Season 2. Plus we're filled with introverts (myself included). So maybe I shouldn't be surprised she's being called a terrible friend for loud noise. All in all the humor was really on point this entire episode, with things like Fluttershy's intro, the Yak barflies, Twilight taking her library with her, everyone giving into the madness of Gummy, and Daisy's "I'm so done" face. With how hungry we are for shipping in this fandom, I'm shocked no one's bringing up "Apple-solutely," or how pleased AJ is that Rarity is picking up on her silly sayings. (With the last EQG special, the Rarijack fans should be swarming right now). What really impressed me was how they were able to go above and beyond the sacrosanct Rule of Three, with gags of Pinkie's lousy instrument playing, her glumness warping the world around her, and the attempts of Mane Four-out-of-Six trying to cheer her up.
4906208
Thanks so much for providing an opposing view!
"Amending Fences". Bubble of Silence spell. Problem solved.
This episode frustrated the hay out of me. It was so close to being a nice, low-stakes throwback to old-fashioned Pony. Then there was that ending. I can actually live with Pinkie's self-absorption -- I've known people in real life get utterly obsessed with one apparently minor interest to the degree of feeling bereft if they have to leave it for even a short time. But the moral of "Do what you want, even if it ruins everyone else's life" -- nah, I'm not going along with that one.
Emotional Manipulation for Fun and Profit: The My Little Pony Story
4905864
I would disagree there. The anvil-to-the-head approach that the show takes to morals for children is often annoying, and this one sounds both far less subtle (note that I called the normal ones an anvil to the head!) and is a terrible idea. The comment about FS wanting to murder people is a great reason why.
Heck, I still have a weight problem because no one told me sternly enough that eating daily desserts (which I enjoy) is a bad idea.
4906242
Thank you for the support, it just seems like I've made anyone else unhappy.
4906475
I can't comment, because I didn't make them, but it's possible the down votes in this case mean "I disagree" rather than "I disagree and I'm angry with you." Those red numbers can be disproportionately threatening.
4906208
I think that at the point you are ruining public events (and potentially causing injuries, given the Wonderbolts did crash into each other, did they not) and disrupting your friends while they at work and destroying produce, you have gone rather beyond the boundaries of polite behavior. (That Rainbow Dash's parents, for example, or other ponies have been just as bad doesn't excuse it, I found them obnoxious as well when they were disrupting public events.)
I can perhaps only speak for myself, but I certainly would not tolerate that sort of behavior from one of my friends (especially since my stuff is fragile). I tell you now, if one of my friends came in, blowing some instrument (regardless of the level of competance involved) while I'm trying to freaking work, they'd get an earful of the patented Bleakbane Rant (see: this entire post[1]) at the very least. (And if they left under their own power and not via angry-Lich-with-rocket-launcher-propelled ballistic velocity, it would be because I was in a good mood...)
(And for that matter, because (as those of you passingly familiar may have gathered from my usual tone) - I have inherited the family trait of being loud (and emphatic) when animated[2], so out my mob I AM mostly likely the noisiest one, and do not take it badly when occasionally my friends have to nudge me to lower the volume (because I'm, y'know, an adult at nearly 40); so I expect the same from everyone else. Heck, my family doesn't tolerate my preschool nephew screaming at the top of his voice when we're in a restaurant.)
If I'd have been around, I'd have (if asking once politely did not work) quite likely torn a strip off [whoever] personally for not having any respect for other people (or at the VERY least, because I am LAWFUL Evil, I would have reported them to the appropriate authority and let them do it).
Perhaps I am also in a more foul mood that usual because I do not respond well to the current heat wave over here, but I did not find it amusing like Pinkie Pie's usual antics. (My local ponythread also has not been keen on this episode, either come to that.) Maybe you found it funny - people are amused by different things (I personally find Teen Titans Go hilarious[3], for example) - but I did not.
(And for the record, I'd also have had AJ and Rainbow's hides for fracking about while on duty with students in a dangerous environment.)
[1]Actually, there is a reason I type these things up (especially when first thing in the morning as I am more curmudgonely in the morning that now in the evening) and then leave it several hours before posting so I can edit it down to be less potentially shouty, as this is much less emphatic and ranty than when I first posted it.
[2]See aforementioned "letting a rant-y post sit for hours".
(Also in before anyone says "as a Lich aren't you anmated all the time?" Ahaha. It is to laugh.
[3]Did I mention I'm Evil?
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it was a good thing that I didn't notice when the episode came out.
4906208
My comment was made before seeing the ep. My post viewing opinion is presented above, and as to your argument, I would agree Pinkie wasn't being a douche or bad friend or whatever.
Unfortunately, this was still the lesser take on Pinkie - oblivious and obnoxious, although unintentionally so. That her friends took the shitty "stop playing because you suck" route instead of "stop disrupting our lives" was super questionable, especially since it wouldn't have changed the plot at all. I really would have liked to see that, and the episode fading out with Pinkie playing away at the secluded forest perch she did at the start.
Because Pinkie should play because she likes to, Celestia should act because she likes to, Hasbro you nailed it with Sweetie Belle why is this so hard?
4906574
There's no reason Celestia or anyone shouldn't be allowed to keep trying to act or audition for a role. I'm confused as to what you're referencing with Sweetie Belle.
4906866
They never made an episode out of it, but Sweetie has repeatedly demonstrated to 1) be awful and sewing, and 2) loves doing it. This is a great lesson that the play and sax episodes really misfired.
4907102
I had thought there was consensus that Horse Play was one of the strongest of the season, and gave us the Celestia story we'd been waiting years for. At what point did it misfire? By the end of it, Celestia didn't decide she was just going to keep at it anyway, unlike what people are criticising Yakity Sax for (though I myself didn't have that problem).
4907332
Maybe not a misfire, but I'm really disappointed the resolution was for her to quit what she really enjoyed just because she was bad at it.
Otherwise, yes, a fine episode.
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with the second half of this season. Just like Yakity-Sax, the lesson from A Matter of Principals is a little...
Discord causes trouble around the school, putting students in danger. In response, Starlight apologizes for making him feel left out and offers him the position of vice principal.
4909817
Hm.