As usual, I like to post the official discussion thread for an episode the night before, and this weeks episode is going to be called "What About Discord?". I'm guessing it's about Discord?

All official discussion can go in here, of course!

Oh, also, I decided to redo Soaring's episode index yesterday, so now, it's replaced by this new thread. and is totally up to date. It makes sense, because I can update it while posting. Hopefully it'll be easier to find these threads now!

--Sweetie Belle

>inb4 someone says "Hisssssterical"

I am really excited about this! And thanks for the reminder that I have to go to bed earlier than usual tonight so I can stream for people :P

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No problem! I always kinda figure it's easier to remember to do this the night before then to count on not accidentally sleeping in the next day...

--Sweetie Belle

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I'm curious how many people are going to get the reference in this episode's title without having it be explained to them...

4837491 Aw picture is adorable! Discord and the CMC hanging out with one another! Kind of convenient since I'm writing a CMC-centric fic with Luna though... So an episode called What About Discord eh? Definitely sounds like it's a Discord-centric episode what he does in it I don't know...

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I tend to like trying to put some sort of related picture in, and this one was cute! Of course, Discord did hang out with the CMC in the comics once.

What Discord does in the episode? I'm gonna say "everything".

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That should be interesting to see...

--Sweetie Belle

4837537 Again with the comics! I've been neglecting them for quite a while and it bothers me that there are events in the comics that would have my attention such as the Nightmare Rarity Arc! Aw well, not like it bothers me much, hahaha... Is shuddering so much for not reading the comics

But back on the topic of the picture, yes that is so adorable but upon a second looking at it, I absolutely laughed to no end when I saw Sweetie like that sprawled out, like what the heck Sweetie!?

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I'm honestly rather worried this will be one of those mean spirited plots I'm not really a fan of...Like, there's going to be a scene where Twilight gets mad, yells at Discord, and the girls get mad at her and it's just a very angry scene, I don't really like watching scenes like that, it's part of why I don't like fics with betrayal as a main story element. Then again, I was worried about Make New Friends but Keep Discord...And that turned out to be one of my favorite episodes of the seasons.

I still hope it'll be good though, but I might wait for the official verdict before watching it.

Also, is the Writers Group getting new folders for the new tags?

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Well, these things happen...

It's probably a comfy, warm spot. Discord might get a bit of a crick in his neck, tho'.

--Sweetie Belle

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Discord the girl scout!!!

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I'm just gonna watch it an' see. I prefer not to come to conclusions before seeing it for myself, really.

Probably on the folders, but I think we'll talk a little bit before coming to an official consensus on that.

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Doesn't Fluttershy look really happy about the whole thing?

--Sweetie Belle

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I see what you're saying, I'll still wait cause if their is a scene like that...I'd like to know in advance.

Can't wait. you and the admins take as much time as you need.

And yes, Discord the girl scout...We have a new meme!

4837602 Ngah, I dislike myself for not reading these comics in the first place! She does look a little too happy about the whole thing, but then again this is her we're talking about... Discord, on the other hand does not looked pleased as obvious, ha!

4837491 It's gonna be a good episode that's for sure.

Discord is such a great, versatile character.

If you're into shipping, then you can explore that part of him, but if anything, he's that kind of 'world's best uncle' character.

Just looking at the picture shown in your post, this was the thought that came to mind.

He's just fun! Fun to explore, fun to watch and fun to write about.

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Of course, Discord did hang out with the CMC in the comics once.

*Twice. There was the time he took them, along with Fluttershy, on a time-travel tour. And then there was the time he tried to help them with their cutie marks (Leading to great lines like “Lion tamers? Done it!” and “Sorry Discord. We tried firefighting already.”).

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Three times. It's in the latest comic with him too.

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Well it is a friendshipping episode. Honestly I expected Discord to be friend shipped with Pinkie before any of the other mane six, but guess Dash makes some sense.

Bookhorse is back! The tree totally made her Princess of the wrong thing.

Oh no! Discord is angry at Twilight for not calling her and is going to seduce all of her friends one by one right in front of her very eyes!

Just like in my fanfic! Only with Discord instead of Trixie.

Still not sure what Discord's angle is, here. Guess I'll have to wait.
I'm just waiting for that eyebrow to twitch.

Edit: Okay, she's close, but no twitchy-twitch yet.

Time travel is too dangerous to mess with!

Wow, are we sure something didn't happen to Twilight? Plus, that sounds kind of like foreshadowing…

Edit 2: Rats, no twitchy eyebrow.
My mother has the worst timing. I missed the last two minutes. Guess I'll have to watch it again on YouTube…

Discord... he's gone to plaid!

Yeah and I'm not crazy, Twilight's getting tall.

Bob Ross Discord! I can't tell if the animators love doing Discord, or hate it.

Discord, what are you up to?

Also ugh, another 'Some things can't be explained' episode. Bullshit, everything can be explained.

Best insult: "What kind of fertilizer have you had your nose in?" Also, probably the first time I've seen Twilight's title go a bit to her head.

And Discord once again shows he's a lot wiser and older than he sometimes lets on. Also that eyebrow dance.

Decent episode, but not an all time favorite.

I suspect that this episode occurs before Made in Manehattan, in terms of in-universe chronology, as Twilight finished reading those 20,000 books after making an even more efficient filing system. Correct me if I am wrong.

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Also ugh, another 'Some things can't be explained' episode. Bullshit, everything can be explained.

That was my major gripe with this episode. Sure, recounting a situation might not be funny, emotionally, the way living it was; but you should at least be able to understand, intellectually, what it was that seemed funny at the time. If a full recounting of events truly turned up nothing that could have actually been funny, I would be just as suspicious as Twilight.
At least they also slipped in a legitimate problem with social experiments: The presence of the researcher (and being researched in itself) screws with the results.

My minor gripe with this episode is that they turned Twilight into a straw-man scientist again. It doesn't ruin my enjoyment, but it certainly gets on my nerves.

I thought it was a pretty weak episode. The writers were trying too hard to push the message and the storyline kinda suffered for it. I've liked most of the episodes this season, but this one just didn't seem that good. Honestly, I'd rank it 2nd worst of the season.

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From what I'm hearing, it was a little mean-spirited. If it really was as 4838370 said, that it was the second worst of the season, I'm glad I skipped it.

4838392 Yeah, Discord was being a troll. Though it's worth it because in the beginning, he's gone to plaid!

4837491 Now this wasn't exactly what I expected, but we did get a major breakthrough in today's episode. We got an answer to a question that has haunted all of us since Season 1.

We now know what's in Zecora's cauldron.

4838392 It was definitely mean spirited. That ending was just awful. Can we show another side of Discord, besides his trolling prankster side? You gave Diamond Tiara a redemption episode, writers, and pretty much everyone loved it. You need to do the same for Discord, show us why we should believe he's a good guy, and don't just go "He's Q and he's always a trickster". There's more to Discord than that, and you know it.

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In that case, I don't think I'll EVER go back and watch this episode. Mean spirited plots are just...Not my thing, it's why, as good as RR is, and even though there's a reason for it in the plot, I can't rewatch all of it. Even though Poofy, Gothy and taco-ey are my favorite villains in the entire series.

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Just watched it. The thing was, hearing a joke that's not funny, and hearing a bunch of laughter at it is cringeworthy. I can sympathise with Twilight, 'cause I was cringing every time it happened. This episode had lots of laughter, and nothing I actually laughed at. It's sorta like watching something with a laughtrack.

The Zecora bit was good, and I liked the Spike x Twilight moments. And I liked when Pinkie Pie dressed up as Marty McFly with back to the future music. Discord's sciency outfit wasn't bad. If we could just cut out most of the bits with Discord...

I'm already dreading the fact that I'm gonna be going back to get screenshots of a few things when I've got a good copy, 'cause I really don't want to watch it again.

--Sweetie Belle

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Okay, I am really glad I skipped out on this one now... I remember actually, it sounds like you thought it was a bad comedy, would you say it was mean spirited Sweetie Belle? Like on a scale of 'Rainbow Rocks', 'Owl's Well that Ends Well' or 'Ponyville Confidential' how mean are we talking?

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Well, the laughter bits were mostly 'in-jokes' referencing things that Twilight (and we) didn't have the context for because she wasn't there. And the ending was mean spirited. I'm not sure I can give a mean-spirited scale, tho'.

I think I like this episode less then the last one this writer did, which was Princess Spike...

Maybe someponies liked it, and that's okay, but it totally fell flat for me.

--Sweetie Belle

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I see, so jokes we couldn't understand, and a mean spirited ending, written by the same guy who wrote princess spike...Errrmmm, this guy might wanna go back and study up a little.

In my opinion, the episode felt kind of like it was running backwards. Other than Fluttershy, none of the Mane Six has ever really treated Discord as a friend; Twilight in particular has always displayed open disdain for Discord's antics. I'm glad the Mane 6 are making progress in that regard, but it seemed odd that Twilight initially accepted her friends' interactions with Discord, and only later became distrustful of him. The episode would've made a lot more sense if that had been reversed.

On the bright side,

Discord: You weren't there observing us. No matter how hard we try, we can't possibly recreate our weekend of fun exactly as it happened because you'll always be watching, and you weren't there.
Main cast sans Twilight Sparkle: Hmmm.
Pinkie Pie: He makes a good point.
Discord: It has only served to prove that moments of levity and bonding between friends simply cannot be recreated so that others might share in the experience.

Ohmygoshohmygosh

It is the first MLP episode which I absolutely hate. I was irritated by everything. At first I wanted to slap Discord and then I wanted to hide under the table in order not to see Twilight's awkward behavior. And then I wanted to slap Discord again. The ending is also "wonderful": everyone insulted each other, everyone's happy, friends forever. Great.

The only notable moment is with Zecora.

I thought the episode was so-so myself. It's the only Discord episode I wouldn't watch again. While I did like the idea of Discord seeming to be deliberately antagonizing Twilight (though I am probably in the minority- I like the idea of him either not truly being reformed and it all being a ruse/planning to double-cross the Mane Six, or if he is reformed, he still is not a nice draconequus), I wish it had been done better. I also felt there was a decided lack of the usual silly gags that are in most Discord episodes.

4837491 Geez, you're early about this.

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed this episode as a whole? It was truly entertaining!

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It seems to be the general sentiment that, whether or not the idea was good, the execution was handled very poorly. The writer of this episode was Neal Dusedau, and his only other episode is… Princess Spike, which was also an episode where, regardless of whether people liked the concept, there was general agreement that it was handled poorly. Seems like we have a stinker, here.

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Yes, I think you are. I found myself enraged by Discord's blatant disregard for social conduct and his manipulative scheme to make Twilight look like a fool for no other reason than that it amused him. I left my full thoughts on this on your post, and my own personal blog, but the idea that someone could enjoy this episode astounds me.

4839409 Oh come on! What about the Bob Ross reference, and this!:

The reference in the episode isn't shown in Google images or in the gallery yet. So I might just have to go with this.

4837510 And no, I don't think many people (and that includes me before researching on it) will get the title reference...

Felt like some legitimate issues with Twilight's character could have been addressed but were instead ignored because they had to make sure it was clear Discord was the cause of it all.

All he said was not to bother Twilight. That spending three days straight in the library, reorganizing books? That was all her. So she comes out and starts feeling jealous for missing events that she could have been there for otherwise is something she needed to come to terms with cause that's what happens when you exclude yourself from the world.

Also episodes that spends time talking about how it's wrong to exclude your friends does so to Discord at the end because why not. Before any of you say "Turn about is fair play" No. Just no. That kind of thinking is the kind of reasoning behind "eye for an eye" as opposed to rising above.

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I like to create the thread the night before, so it's ready for the episode. It's easier if I create it then trying to coopt somepony else's thread to be the main one, 'cause things are more consistent in the first post. The fact I haven't watched it yet when I post starts it off kinda unbiased, too. Though it means I hafta ignore all my notifications once the episodes out till I've seen it.

I'm sure that there are others who enjoyed it, but it seems like there are a lot that didn't. I didn't really go into it wanting not to like it, either. I'd have rather have liked it. I also think its kinda like that I wasn't enjoying it, so my brain was kicking in and pointing out all the other stuff about it that I didn't like, which I might have ignored if I'd been having fun, or there'd been a bunch of singing going on.

--Sweetie Belle

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“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” -Attributed to Gandhi, but the first occurrence of this turn of phrase appears to trace back to a George Perry Graham of the 12th Canadian Parliament.

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I cringed at that

4839470 XD!

4839447 I find it hard to make sense of Discord's motives, as he seems to be suspiciously well-versed is the ways of friendship. In Princess Twilight Sparkle, he's the one who sends Twilight back to her friends in the forest, and at the end claims that he was trying to teach her a lesson. In Twilight's kingdom, he's the one who identifies the chest keys by marking the relevant passages in the Friendship journal.

In Three's a Crowd, he does something similar to this episode by sending Twilight and Cadance on a wild goose chase. When Cadance says that the experience brought her and Twilight closer together, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to interpret Discord's surprised reaction as genuine, or as an act put on for Twilight's benefit.

Same with this episode. Discord is clearly trying to provoke some kind of reaction from Twilight, but I can't tell if it's because he just finds it amusing, or if he's really trying to teach her a friendship lesson.

As for the ending, I'm not sure what to think of Discord's reaction either. From how quickly he rebounded, I'm guessing it was an act. Maybe not? I dunno. Don't friends tease each other all the time, though? Back when I still had "friends", we knew that the insults we threw at each other weren't supposed to be taken seriously.

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I don't think many people (and that includes me before researching on it) will get the title reference...

Alright, I guess I'll go ahead and explain it for anyone who might still be interested: The title for the episode "What About Discord?" is a reference to a 1991 Bill Murray movie - "What About Bob?"

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Nope! I enjoyed it too. It wasn't a great episode, but it had enough for me to enjoy. I think a lot of the problems are that people want this show to be something it isn't, and has never tried to be. It is a 22 minute cartoon aimed to teach some kind of moral to/entertain children. The little gags and nods to their older fanbase are nice, but that's it.

Discord has shown, in his own way, that he does care for the Mane 6. He is simply too proud of a creature to come out and say it with completely altruistic motives. There always has to be a catch, some other angle he is playing. It is just in his nature. That's why him harping on Twilight was needed, because it was Discord's way of justifying his own actions with himself.

All in all, I found it very believable.

-Lumino

I will say this, I kinda like the idea of Discord being a bit antagonistic to Twilight. Discord and Twilight could have a relationship similar to Q and Picard's in Star Trek: TNG. I just think it was poorly executed in this episode.

4837491 I actually liked this episode. It was way better than Scare Master. Discord is Bob Ross, Pinkie Pie is Marty McFly, and Fluttershy is Flutterorange The Annoying Orange. Princess Twilight Sparkle still has some of her craziness from Lesson Zero. And Pinkie Pie dressing up like Marty McFly was almost perfect tining since last month is when the events of Back To The Future Part 2 took place. But I am stilling waiting for my hoverboard though.