2, 4, 6 Greaaat reaction and Life Update

*pants* it's, like, a million and forty-six degrees outside. Hope everyone caught in this warmer weather is keeping cool. It's far too hot :/

Before I start talking about the recent ep, yo:

This is the Coping With Limitations Through Pony assisted audio project Snowdrop, that I've been working on for a number of months. It was an absolute labor of love that has been a long time coming, and we, collectively, hope it is enjoyed. That is my voice... in all its glory. *gulps* Through this project I've learned quite a bit about team dynamics, as well as problem-solving and it was overall a good project to create. Have yet to decide what we'll be doing next year.

I did go to Bronycon and met Lauren Faust. She's really nice, very mellow, quite tall and seemed very happy to be there. The panels I attended were interesting, mostly on writing, a few put on by the makers of MLP and FiM. To be truthful, it's all a blur, but it was a fun blur. I also traded art and spent some time with a budding artist. Those small moments make conventions the best. What I was looking forward to most of all -- Bronypalooza with Michelle Creber -- I got to attend. The con was packed with over 10,000 Bronies, probably twice what they were expecting, but that's what they get for ending th convention run prematurely. While Bronycon was set up until 2025, like Friendship is Magic, it has already ended and anticipating that likely put a lot of people into survival mode -- those that hadn't been but wanted to made it their focus, and those who were on the fence wanted to come even more. I hear security was unusually hostile this year, but I didn't run into it.

There are already other conventions to take Bronycon's place, but I was just really hoping for it to last a couple more years.

So, without further ado, here is my thoughts on:

"2, 4, 6, Greaat..."

The episode opens With Twilight, Fluttershy, Snails, and Pinkie headed away from the school of friendship to the fields, talking about a new scholastic Buckball event where her school and Celestia's would be competing against each other... Celestia's a huge sports fan apparently. this in and of itself t could create a problem, especially if Twilight's school majorly outshines Celestia's, but the episode is just beginning. They have construction going on to furnish a new field, with... players on the field at the same time (strange, but it works for the opening)... and only two weeks to train. The three behind Twilight will be being responsible for coaching the team. Fluttershy, looks from side to side at her unphased teammates, hyperventilates, then... faints like a goat, with Twilight unaware the whole time. Seriously, Twi, Flutters and pressure don't mix.

Pinkie pours a glass of water of Fluttershy as Snails holds her, and she wakes up to say she had the most wonderful dream, except that the three above her were there, too, and it turned into a nightmare when she was told she had to train a team of practical newbies in two weeks to compete against Celestia. That was no dream, Fluttershy.

Twilight tells her "relax, you're going to do just fine" and, anybody who knows anything about anxiety... that is one of the worst things to say to someone who's got a very logical reason to feel anxious. "What makes you so sure?" Fluttershy calmly asks, to which Twilight replies, "Because I have faith in my friends... who also happen to be THE BEST BUCKBALL PLAYERS IN EQUESTRIA!!!!" and Pinkie leaps into action showing that she can still play the game, passing the ball to Fluttershy who demonstrates she can still play defense with her tail, tossing the ball right back, while Snails shows he can still catch before the ball leaves the arena. Basically, despite Fluttershy's anxiety, they are set. Twilight then goes on to talk about Rainbow...

Rainbow's job, aside from bringing in a giant bag of buckball gear, late (as she felt the need to grab everything she could), is not what she expects... but she's game to give it everything she's got as Twilight's even yet to tell her. Twilight wants her to coach the cheer squad... Rainbow deflates instantly, the weight of the hundred balls she has on her back seeming suddenly insurmountable. And here is the friendship conundrum for this week.

Cue opening credits.

While the teams are still practicing in the center of the new field, with boards laying around them a mere body's length away, the three Buckball champions look on while construction takes place (they paint the bleachers at the same time they hammer them in place, who the heck is managing this?). Rainbow, still buried by balls, cones, and dumbbells, expresses her... lack of inspiration to Twilight. Twilight continues to walk away, despite Rainbow flying after her and expressing a lack of drive to do the job. "Cheer squad IS important," is her response to Rainbow's dismissive comments about the job, and Rainbow laughs... until she realizes Twilight is serious. Rainbow simply responds, logically, that she's more about the players than those cheering for it, which is understandable... if she hadn't been shown being part of a cheer squad in earlier episodes.

Small nitpicks aside, it does make for some interesting conflict, because Rainbow is able to show Twilight what she wants, pointing at the players... which suddenly have no construction going on around them, and Twilight is still able to tell her what she expects -- for Rainbow to find out what is so important. Dash, flying somewhat above, ain't happy, and states that she doesn't even know what cheer squads do and is liable to just screw it up.... Twilight just looks at her slyly, and says "I'm more sure than ever you're the perfect choice!" Cue Snip's introduction:

Snips looks... ridiculous. He wears a shirt purple, pink and teal colors, with football streaks on his cheeks which stick out from his outline like band aids, a tail wrap, and one of those sports top hats that fans like to wear. It's a good caricature of what he's trying to look like, plus she's taped a post-it-note over his cutiemark to show everypony he's really about buckball instead. His angle seems at first to help Dash out, telling her the odds are against them all and they need her, but when questioned further... he's just trying to make money selling Buckball gear. He learned from the Fuckball Hall of Bame souvenirs make money, and might as well ride that gravy train while it's still big. If Twilight's team succeeds, afterall, he can sell stuff full-time in Ponyville. While I am happy Snips learned something on his excurtion, realizing how you can exploit others enthusiasm for personal gain isn't perhaps the best path for him to follow *hides custom MLP merch bought from Bronycon*. However, the idea of a 14 year old finding entrepreneurship is good, and it does give him a stake in the episode to be the assistant coach. Rainbow is unphased and unamused ^^

Next up is the reveal of the two cheerleaders Ponyville's School of Friendship, like, already has, and they follow a lot common stereotypes (Valley girl accent, Stepford Mom smile) that a lot of media associates with cheerleaders. Dash is taken by Snips into the indoor buckball ring (seriously, why is the buckball team not training in here and the cheer squad outside!?!?!) and when the lights come on the two cheerleaders are introduced in red and brown uniforms. They look a tad nervous but go through a quick routine, and show us, the audience, that they're both quiet agile and sound maybe more than a bit irritating, if not also reasonably pretty. Rainbow's uninvested and uninterested, but gives the pair a chance to introduce themselves -- Shimmy Shakes (the orange one, with thicker eyelashes) and Light Hoof (the green one, with less hairspray), the lead dancers from around the school. Turns out their actually dancers, despite their attire and being somewhat versed in actual cheerleader choreography

Rainbow continues to look like she doesn't care until Smoulder, Yona, and Occellus appear from behind the two dancers out of literally nowhere, then she acts slightly taken aback. Yona is the first to express her enthusiasm to make ponies cheer, dancing in a circle, causing everyone around her to fall over, via floor vibration; Occellus wants to show everypony she can do more than just change shape, and Smoulder's just the tag along... afterall, if Rainbow's probably going to make cheer squad cool or something. Once they're assembled, Snips says "tell us the plan" and Rainbow just shrugs, flying off... she doesn't know anything about cheerleading, and would rather look out the window at a real time. Way to disappoint your team, Drainbow Rash. Snips plays it off like a joke, but Rainbow is not laughing and neither is anybody else. The use of imagery as Dash is looking out the window to convey that she's looking past her own reflection at the team far off practicing buckball, not even realizing what she's bringing to her own team, is really effective (and the field's under construction again with players playing nearby). Snips has the team show Dash what they've got as she looks away. He starts the music and already we know this isn't going to end well:

Shimmy and Light Hoof go through their routine as Yona stomps... their rhythm and ability to keep balance disturbed by the reverberations through the floor. Smoulder reads a less than enthuastic cheer, which Occellus has to signal her for, and passes if off to Occellus who we can hardly hear. Smoulder then generates steam/smoke from her mouth, causing the enthuastic yak running circles around the arena to crash. After it's all over the dragon teen proclaims "that was a disaster." They're all focused in different directions -- the cheerleaders can't do their choreography with Yona causing the floor to move, Yona just wants to cheer and be part of the pony pyramid (good dog, not the top), and Ocellus suggests perhaps they focus on their cheers... Smoulder just sarcastic in response. Basically, it's a train wreck, and Snips is hoping in seeing all this Rainbow can help. Rainbow's attention is elsewhere, as is her mind, but she's able to tell them they've nothing to worry about... but not because she can help, but because everything looked fine to her.

Snips stops Rainbow as she tries to escape, pulling on her tail... she sees no reason to stay. Snips continues to advocate for the team, saying that they'll be unable to get the fans and team excited with that train wreck... afterall, if nopony's excited, no pony buys souvenirs. Rainbow declares he's blowing everything out of proportion, but there's a par of me that wants to respect Snips for sticking to his guns. Rainbow simply suggests Snips coach, since, afterall... he's got the vested interest in the team. He doesn't dismiss that idea, instead appears to want to embrace it.

Cue the outside buckball practice with blindfolded Snails floating via his own purple magic, giving his team rather amusing advice that sounds both profound and typical of Snails. They are, of course, weirded out. Fluttershy and Pinkie pitch a barrage of red balls to be caught to demonstrate Snails isn't just full of hot air. Then there's a strange cut, which could just be the copy I watched, and Rainbow is shown being confronted by Smoulder on the bleachers... which look nothing like what the construction ponies were assembling but still have unfinished boards on them. Snips was practicing with them instead of Dash, but he weighed them down with metals and pins, "flair" as it was called in Office Space, making it difficult for them to dance and cheer. Rainbow, again, is just flippant, dismissive, and unengaged. When asked questions about what they should do, Rainbow just shrugs and says "I don't know" so Smoulder gets in her face. Rainbow comes up with the idea they they should, perhaps, head indoors and listen to Snails for a bit... but he's of no help. They still try the blindfold method Snails is using to see what happens... this screencap has already been taken out of context by the fandom since the leak. Dash, of course, walks off while they're blindfolded and Yona peeks and sees this and tries to stop her. They continue to get angry at her for being a sucky coach, though Snails has a good idea "ask your friends for help". Montauge!

First is Pinkie. Dash tries to explain her situation to, over music, in a field. Her solution -- party canon! Second is Rarity, in front of her office; her solution -- to push new, sparkly purple uniforms still on the rack into the hall. Applejack is next, in front of her barn. Her solution is hay, pushed up by her brother. Zecora is last, Dash talks to her by her potion brewing pot... she seems unamused, and just walks off, giving her nothing.

After the montage Dash is shown casting blame on her team for nagging her about doing stuff to help them, to which Smoulder becomes understandably indignant, but Dash tells them she has got all they need -- everything her friends gave her is under a sheet. The problem is they've got new tools which -look- good in theory, but still no practical instruction as to what to do with them. Dash doesn't know, of course, but turns out Zecora did indirectly inspire Dash to get something -- a rhyming dictionary from the library. If it can rhyme a word with orange that might not be enough to save the group. After assuring they have all they need, Dash is ready to exit the unused Buckball practice room... and her team expresses their concerns about the deadline of tomorrow. Dash brushes them off and exits, to which they can only look at Snips... who is counting his duckets and looks regretful as he tells them to look elsewhere for help. Frankly, you suck Snips, and Rainbow blows.

So far it's followed the pattern of Dash needing to be responsible and ditching her responsibilities. Add a timer to the mix, where they have to perform tomorrow, and what can possibly go wrong?

Outside, where Dash wants to be, the buck ball team is shown performing and they're visibly becoming good players. The field is still full of construction and construction workers, but Fluttershy is asserting herself as leader, telling the team to take a break... Rainbow lets it be known she loves what they've been doing, and they're equally excited to see what she's has been doing. Rainbow laughs, again like with Twilight, until she realizes they're serious. “I'm sure you put in a lot of hard work!” says Fluttershy, to which Dash replies “How much work does cheer squad need?” Snips still continues to pedal his merch, flags and pins, as the squad gets ready.... suggesting it's all bought before the cheer squad starts. Oh boy. Fluttershy and Pinkie don't have long to be confused.

What ensues might be the highlight of the episode – Yona's stomping makes it difficult, but notably not impossible, for the cheerleaders. Smoulder's cheering completely sucks... Occellus lacks both volume and creativity in her chants, and the stomping realigns Pinkie's party canon to point at the squad rather than up. They are laid-out by the blast, and Dash's attention continues to be elsewhere.. and she doesn't seem to connect that she's responsible for the squads failure. Rainbow Dash, if you were my kid, I might have to reconsider not believing in corporal punishment.

Afterwards, inside the indoor Buckball ring... Rainbow kind of alienates everybody on the squad, telling them that they're job is unimportant and they weren't smart enough to figure out how to use what she got for them... causing Yona and, eventually, Ocellus to run off and cry. Smolder lays into her, and it finally sinks in... and about time. Rainbow finally realizes that for most of the episode she's been sucking, and it's cathartic to hear and see, but ultimately... Smolder leaves hurt. Then Snips almost gives up... but Rainbow has an idea.

The older colt wakes up every creature early in the morning, starting with Yona and Occellus... the later of which almost falls off the top bunk if it wasn't for his quick magic. He then grabs the two trained dance ponies, who appear to be doing yoga and look at him from between their legs as they're doing something akin to Downward Facing Dog and he shuts off their Victrola. It appears he's going to be leading them all. Then he grabs Smoulder from her resting place under the bleachers, her uniform taken off and in the dirt but thankfully not dirty. Once assembled, the team can't help being a tad cynical – after all, perhaps Snips just wants to try to make more money. Turns out he's got Rainbow Dash and she flies in ready and willing to do anything to help... but the team ain't having it. She admits she was wrong, and wants to try again, after all... she cares about the team, but not necessarily the cheer leading itself. Good turn around, plus Snails can keep his plans of selling wares.

So seeing Yona's stomping as a potential liability, Dash teaches Yona inside the outside Buckball field to stomp in sync with the beat of the music. This makes it so the dancers and anticipate and structure their movements around the stomping and use it to accent their choreography... Far out. Then Dash is shown focusing on teaching Occellus to speak more loudly and with more confidence... but it doesn't work. A megaphone will, though. She just needs to focus on memorization that way. Then Smolder's part needs work... rather than being on field doing the chant, perhaps above dropping flowers and blowing smoke might add atmosphere to the routine... except too much smoke makes it hard to see and breathe, but with simple flag twirling they can control the smoke so it doesn't get out of hand. Then Snips is shown setting up the party canon... he takes a blast of confetti to the face, but survives... despite having a desert sprinkle beard.

Finally the match is underway, and I have to say the first time I saw it, I thought, upon zooming in on the first buckball flyer “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?!” Turns out it's a unicorn with butterfly wings, just like in the first season. Groovy. There's also, on Celestia's team, another unicorn as the main offensive player, with a magic nullification ring so she can't control the ball. Camera then moves over to the bleachers where The Princess of the Sun expresses gratitude to Twilight for allowing her team of, what appears to be all unicorns, to compete. That's kinda cool... she also shouts for her school to win in a voice close to the Canterlot Royal voice like a soccermom/drunken football fan. On the sidelines the coaches are watching, nervous, all but Pinkie... who raises an eyebrow as to why Dash is nervous about, if it's not the game. Before anything can be explained, however, she flies off and the short routine starts:

There are a few differences between the practice and the actual routine as they show it, but it's pretty well derived from it. The hay bales are on either side of Yona, isolating her and making the audience want to see what's there, perhaps even dampening her stomps.... while also making her almost invisible from the sides (hopefully racist ponies not want to hide yak). The flag waving has turned into more of a signal for the smoke, and Yona's stomping is more controlled and perfectly timed... it simply punctuates the music like a drum and gets the crowd excited. Ocellus comes in with confidence doing backhand springs and with the mega phone. It works as more of an accessory to her chant, which... again, works the crowd, including Celestia, up. Everything seems to have shaped up really well :)

The only thing worthy of note is a strange inconsistency in the directing of the sequence from a technical standpoint -- audience can't decide if its stomping or not in beat with everything else. There's a couple zooms out where stomping can be heard but the audience is still, though the bleachers surround the field. At worst it's a minor gripe, and some of the animation in the BG of the little ponies moving to the beat is really detailed and cute.

So Pinkie and Fluttershy are impressed with Dash's work, her team walks off smiling, and at the end of the game School of Magic wins by one point... Fluttershy and Pinkie are supportive of their buckball team, and Dash runs up saying “YOU GUYS WERE AMAZING!” alleviating their disappointment momentarily, as she runs past them to the cheer squad, magnifying their disappointment after as she praises only her cheer squad... priceless. The school of Friendship lost, but they had an awesome cheer squad, in the end that's all that had Dash's focus.

Celestia and Twilight approach, the former praising Dash's coaching and the later revealing that she wanted to teach Dash a lesson this whole time – you don't have to care about the thing others like as long as you care about those close to you who like them. Dash rolls her eyes, and everyone laughs except for her. Fade to credits.

So, that's 2, 4, 6 Greaat. It isn't a bad episode. Unfortunately it's not a great one, either. It's got a good moral and, upon second viewing, left a somewhat fun impression... the first time it seemed really exposition-heavy. I'd seen some screen shots weeks ago on Derpibooru, due to the leak, and it looked interesting just seeing the outfits. Again it's somewhat heavy on the talking, and makes Dash seem like a bit of a jerk, but it's for an understandable reason. She's not connected to what's expect of her, and that's important when someone is given a task to do. It's also kind of a visual train wreck, with, at times, little rhyme or reason for the setting... seriously, why are they practicing a very movement heavy sport outdoors on an unfinished field with boards, construction workers, and tools everywhere, lol? That's a bad example for the target audience, suggesting it's okay to play in the same place the work is going on. Smolder's puppet when arguing with Dash looks... well, strange, especially in the uniform. She moves and stands almost mechanically, it's hard to explain. Nit-picks aside it's fun and worthy of a rewatch. The tune the dancers recite as they go through their choreography is also quite catchy, punctuated with Yona's stomps in the end.

Hp[e everyone's groovy. Take care

Comments

[Yosh-E-O]

I've been interested in knowing about this episode. Your descriptions really helped to flesh out what confused me.

What is this 'screen capture' that had everyone thinking something? You mentioned it with the blindfold? *Peers Curiously*

I think Smolder is there to show how she is still into 'girly' things. We had her experience that tea party in "What Lies Beneath" and, I think, she did something else in relation to this during "She's All yak". So, if this theory is as I imagine it, Smolder is cheerleading because she, likely, wants to wear the uniforms and feel the pep that one can only get from cheerleading squad.

Wow! They had an inhibitor ring on one of the Unicorns? I suppose that one was intended to play the role of the Earth Pony, right? Did the one meant to be the Pegasus just use a flight spell?

Dash was a jerk in this episode but, sadly, it does seem in-character for her. If it's not Dash it tends to get dumped. twilight just forced her, at the expense of the students, to learn that the world doesn't always have to revolve around that which motivates Rainbow Dash.

Snips being back is nice. He's shown up more in season 9 than in Season 3 through 8 combined! I still wish I could have genuinely met Lee Toackar, voice of Snips, as Tabitha St. Germain told me he is visually impaired and has 'swiss-cheese' vision. He draws using a straw to better his focus. :)

It may be the fact the show is ending, but I can't say much of Season 9 has been all that memorable to me. Though I think a lot of what they are trying to do is through visuals. (I didn't know we saw Zecora at all) There is also all the talk around Babs Seed and Gabby Griffon when, like zecora, they have silent roles.

The best episode for Spike has been, "Sparkle 7" as, to me, Sweet & Smokey gave Garble the most epic of passes for all the years he had treated Spike like trash. Perhaps, off-screen, Smolder gave Garble a bit of a tongue lashing for knowing her brother had hurt Spike's feelings on more than one occasion?

I didn't realize this, but iTunes is ahead on episodes! I thought we missed 2, 4, 6, Great while we were at BronyCon. However this is not the case as, on Sunday of this past week, I saw "A Trivial Pursuit". (I can't wait for your thoughts here as we see a massive blast of 'Twilinanas' here. We also see how, yet again, Spike is the voice of reason for Twilight's 'Twilighting')

Thanks for the visuals, my friend. Woop!