Since it hadn't been done yet, this is the official discussion thread for the Canterlot Boutique. Um, the episode, that is, not the place. That'd be kinda confusing. Anypony talking about the episode should talk about it in this thread, and any other new thread's 'bout it will be locked or deleted, in favor of this one.

I haven't actually watched it at this point. I just saw there wasn't a thread for it yet...

--Sweetie Belle

4706283 YAY! Finally! We've been waiting for too long! And it's a Rarity episode! Freaking fantastic! (I haven't watched the episode yet, but I'm just so nervoscited! )

I am stupidly happy that it's a Rarity episode.

4706297 ME TOO!

Rarity's co-star has a name that makes me think she didn't get her start in couture fashion...

New Character Sassy - love child of Rarity and Lesson Zero Twilight?

Plus sized ponies - at least two appeared, one of whom wanted a Princess Dress at the end, sported a cutie mark of herself.

Goth pony.

The pony that Spike spoke with about gems in "Princess Spike" got a new dress!

(recapping some of the discussion deleted in the duplicate thread)

I kinda hope that super-fat pony doesn't become a thing. If anyone, the goth pony should be a thing!

Also Sassy Saddle was horrible to Rarity! If only Rarity had hired Coco Pommel instead.

4706398 I'm pretty sure it's a visual reference to Kate Beaton's fat pony.

4706409

Oooooooh! Lumi thought it was a reference. Guess they were right.

4706409 I was hoping that wasn't actually based on anything. Spawned by the twisted mind of some writer/artist combo. I shudder to think at the psychological ramifications of a pony with a cutie mark of herself.

So, buddy comedy featuring the two ponies that bought the sun and moon dresses, anyone?

"One's a perky outgoing clutz, and the other practices practicality. One lights up your life, while the other darkens your doorstep. Together they are... Night and Day! The brand new buddy guard series on the HORSE network that will keep you on the tips of your hooves! These mares are total opposites, but that won't keep them from locking up the baddies. And let's face it, the witty banter writes itself. Watch them come together to eclipse the competition!"

Several clips follow the announcer, including a scene where Sunny hops a fence, followed by crashing and a long groan. Dusk winces and mutters, "Ooh, Sun down."

4706398 What do you mean? Sassy wasn't horrible. She's a great manager!

4706398
Coco showed up for her grand opening. If only she'd have had more screen time...

4706506

She stepped in front of Rarity! And she ruined Rarity's song! This is an unforgivable crime!

4706506 She was placing unjust demands on Rarity, and insisted on getting her way. She even treated it like she was calling the shots, when she was only hired as a consultant to help manage the business. It wasn't her shop, and Rarity didn't ask for her to make decisions for her. Sassy cleared wanted the glory to herself, because she felt she understood what the customers wanted. But the thing is, if that was the case, she should've struck out on her own, or expressed her desires to Rarity.

4706761
'Blatantly self-serving' seems to be a common theme in MLP 'everyday antagonists'.

But hey, I guess it's just the show continuing to teach real-world lessons.

I also find that they usually also have really good character design, at least visual.

4706283 Jellybean is best pony!

I vote Jellybean for next princess.

And also, Big Mac.

Behold the wonder that is Jellybean!

4706836 I just love that ending, I was laughing my ass off. To bad I didn't hear what she said because of the house phone was ringing all day.

I hate the house phone.

4707063 I absolutely love the Jellybean pony! She is my new fav.

You didn't miss much. All the Jellybeans asked was if Rarity had a Princess Dress, to which Rarity and Sassy Saddles said, "No!" :P

I liked the episode.

It's not my favourite. Not by a long shot. That doesn't make bad in any way, though. I only have one favourite, after all.

I think I liked Sassy Saddles the most in this episode. She's no real villain. You could argue she's trying to help Rarity the only way she knows how... and she isn't exactly wrong, either. The store was a success. It just wasn't what Rarity wanted, and wasn't the kind of success Rarity wanted.

I think my biggest problem with it was it perhaps resembled Suited for Success a bit too much. Someone(s) want Rarity to make this dress. Rarity thinks it's flawed, and eventually gets miserable. Does what she wanted in the first place and is happy. I really do think that the different context made the difference though. Sassy was well meaning enough for me to kind of like her the whole while, and there was the whole bit about something being mass-manufactured that took the joy and uniqueness out of things, which I halfway agree with. Suited for Success didn't have those.

It was nice.

Rarity can be kinda dumb sometimes. Having a few hundred orders for the same dress doesn't mean you drive yourself crazy making the same dress over and over. It means you hire a couple other ponies that might not be good at coming up with their own dresses, but can reproduce the same one easily enough, and have them make the dresses while you come up with new ones or spend time with your sister.

Of course, the same dress shouldn't have been pushed over and over either.

And why wasn't I at the grand opening? Rarity never takes me anywhere.

--Sweetie Belle

4706283
I was losing interest in the episodes. This was nothing exactly fantastic, but my interest has been re-piqued.

4706398
Coco will be in Manehattan either next episode or the episode after that... both of which are also Rarity episodes.

4707104 To be fair, her shop had just opened and she had most likely spent a lot of bits on buying that new location.
It is pretty logical to assume she just didn't have the bits to actually hire ponies at first.

Plus her love comes from making different pieces. To sell the same thing over and over goes against her very nature as she said in the song, which was beautiful btw. She was not only torturing herself with working too hard, but also from seeing her fashion causing one of her worst nightmares, all creativity was lost and there was no spark anymore.

4706283 Going to add this thread to the episode thread archive. Thanks for posting it Sweetie while I was out! Had to cook some buns. :D

4707190
I figured she had the money from several hundred orders. Or maybe her friends could have helped her with some of 'em until she did have enough money? They did in Manehattan, after all.

But the shop really did need to be selling more than that one dress. The way it was set up at the end should've been how it was set up originally...

4707338
No problem! I happened to be up at the right time, and figured it'd be a good idea, though I kinda went back to sleep afterwards for a bit.

What kind of buns?

--Sweetie Belle

It was OK. Maybe it's just my imagination, but with just a few exceptions something about the writing in this season feels dumbed-down to me. The dialog and timing in the previous seasons felt like it popped a little bit more.

4707387
French rolled 6" buns. Used them to make sandwiches for a fair. Largest one in the state, as a matter of fact.

Rarity episodes are usually good, but this one was kinda meh. Not bad, but very average. I will at least give it credit for not doing the 'Rarity misses her friends and thus moves back to Ponyville' cliche that I thought it was going too. They at least tried to go a better route. Didn't work out perfectly, but the attempt was made.

Also, I do love the goth and peppy sister duo. They were one of the best parts.

4707104

And why wasn't I at the grand opening? Rarity never takes me anywhere.

During school? Come on, that's not the way for a young lady like yourself to think.

4706283
One other minor complaint I have about this episode.

Pinkie is beginning to grate on me more and more. She hit her absolute high in "Pinkie Pride", but ever since then she just has been worse and worse for me. I don't know why that is.

4706595

Crystals...?

4708303
Well, I spent the entire episode gritting my teeth and wanting to slap Sassy Saddles. That kind of diminished the 'kick back and giggle at cute ponies' aspect for me.

This is a common thing with Rarity antagonists. They're all utterly insufferable and make me want to scream.

4708521
A lot of Pinkiness depends on the writer. Some use her well. Others just whale away with the 'LOOK HOW ZANY SHE IS' hammer, and it gets facepalmable.

And I guess it was almost inevitable that a certain amount of Flanderization sets in.

4706297
The next two are Rarity episodes as well! Three back-to-back!

That's a whole lot of marshmallow.
Our appetite will be ruined for dinner, for sure.

4710881

Well, I spent the entire episode gritting my teeth and wanting to slap Sassy Saddles. That kind of diminished the 'kick back and giggle at cute ponies' aspect for me.

This is a common thing with Rarity antagonists. They're all utterly insufferable and make me want to scream.

Literally did nothing wrong.

Other than being written so forced to be a bitch when she never needed to be.

4710887

Literally did nothing wrong.

Unsure if serious or meme.

She stole her client's lifelong dream out from under her in order to grandstand around and get the reflected glory and adulation for herself. She, as the PR help, then essentially took said dream over and ran it in a way that was causing its owner obvious wailing distress, and gave exactly zero f... cares.

She was a callous and heartless nag.

Whose stupid plan would have led Rarity's boutique to becoming a burnt out fad in short order anyway.

4710896

She stole her client's lifelong dream out from under her in order to grandstand around and get the reflected glory and adulation for herself. She, as the PR help, then essentially took said dream over and ran it in a way that was causing its owner obvious wailing distress, and gave exactly zero f... cares.

Except Rarity hired her to make the good Boutique look good.

Sure, she got a little carried away but except for one line that felt incredibly forced, she had good intentions and wanted to make the business a success.

I think you forget that while Rarity talked about her dresses, Sassy added in affects to make the presentation look even better. Somehow this annoys Rarity... despite the fact it's the very thing she hired her for.

She didn't really steal anything save for the opening itself. She never said she was the designer, she never said she made any of the dresses, she was just doing good PR. Just because she thought the Twilight dress would sell the most (bearing in mind that's a good business proposition), that doesn't make her evil, it's just a matter of miscommunication between her and her client.

4710900
Never said she was evil. I said she was a nag.

Because she's a nag.

Dress it up however you want, but she didn't care one bit about Rarity, her wishes, or anything but self-glorification and soothing her butthurt over her previous failures. She was basically the FiM equivalent of a Captain Planet villain or a megacorp CEO. Profit at any cost! Human (Equine?) considerations be damned!

4710900

Sure, she got a little carried away but except for one line that felt incredibly forced, she had good intentions and wanted to make the business a success.

Which line was that, in your opinion?

4710902 I wouldn't go that far.

Frankly, I think the whole thing came down to bad communication. Rarity asked for her store to succeed, and Sassy did exactly what she thought that entailed. I'm not sure she was even aware that Rarity might not want a hundred or so orders of the same dress, because sales=happy customer in her eyes. Not one of the ponies leaving the store with the Princess Dress were doing anything less than smiling, after all. And if she tweaks things to make more sales? Well, that means more happy customers, right? And happy customers = happy Rarity. R-right?

In the end, though, I think it comes down to interpretation. It's certainly not hard to see Sassy trying to steal the spotlight and stuff, given how things played out. But then again, I'm not so sure I'd lump her in with other MLP antagonists Suri or Flim and Flam, who aren't even trying to provide for their customers, and are only out for themselves. She was doing what Rarity asked, not what she wanted. I think that's an easy thing to mix up.

This is also a reminder that you should always listen to the plan in its entirety before you start implementing it. More communication troubles between employee and employer!

4711016
Eh. Different things annoy different people, I guess.

I actually found Sassy harder to bear than Suri. At least with Suri, you could write her off as an evil little wretch and be done with it. I guess Sassy hit a lot closer to home. Most of us have probably had the misfortune of running into 'The ends justify the means' sorts in our lives, who don't consider the feelings of other people.

4711039 I'm not saying it wouldn't be annoying. I'm just saying I think I can picture where she was coming from a lot more. Heck, I might have even been guilty of it once or twice.

4710979

Which line was that, in your opinion?

The one where she calls the Boutique 'Sassy's Boutique' or something along those lines.

Came the fuck outta nowhere to me.

4710902

Dress it up however you want, but she didn't care one bit about Rarity, her wishes, or anything but self-glorification and soothing her butthurt over her previous failures. She was basically the FiM equivalent of a Captain Planet villain or a megacorp CEO. Profit at any cost! Human (Equine?) considerations be damned!

If she never cared then it's highly likely she wouldn't have taken the job on in the first place.

Also businesses are hard work, man. It must be incredibly crushing when, despite your best efforts, your previous ventures fail. I think you're being way too harsh on her.

4711207
S'okay. I'm sure her feelings won't be too hurt. She'll always have the comfort blanket of nonexistence to shield her from my dislike of her personality.