The hiatus is over, and we can continue watching the rest of the season! (Well, tomorrow, anyways.)

The funny thing about this next episode is that the title sounds like something that might be posted here anyways: "Stranger Than Fanfiction". That's pretty strange.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers so that any summaries I give on these are fairly wrong, but I have a bit of an idea anyways. Any entry into fanfiction pretty much has to involve Daring Do and Rainbow Dash, and it was pretty obvious that Rainbow was working on a bad fanfic at some point.

Maybe Rainbow Dash starts reading Daring Do fanfiction. Just thinking of the type of fanfiction she might encounter, I'll just take a stab at the plot. Daring Do has to team up with Ahuizotl to fight a common enemy. Ahuizotl turns out to be pretty witty and starts wearing leather pants. As they adventure he reveals an angsty backstory. Maybe he was orphaned, abused by his guardians, killed 'em and began a life of crime or something. By the time they finish off their enemy, he decides to stop being evil and settles down with Daring Do. Various M-rated stuff than happens.

That's what I picture Daring Do fanfiction being like, anyways. Finding something stranger than it ought to be interesting!

This one is by Josh Haber and Mike Vogel. Mike Vogel did Spice Up Your Life and A Hearth's Warming Tail. Josh is head story writer right now. The Crystalling, Simple Ways, Leap of Faith, Castle Mane-ia, The Cutie Re-Mark... You should know who he is by now.

Anyways, this is our the thread to discuss the episode. Have fun!

--Sweetie Belle

I wonder if this will get as much of a crazy backlash as Newbie Dash.

5391752 I have a bad feeling about this episode what with a title named like that...

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Maybe Rainbow Dash starts reading Daring Do fanfiction.

"Hah, whoever wrote this is a real bozo. Daring Do would never let herself get caught by Ahuizotl. And she'd never be this scared!"
"I didn't know that Daring Do could wrestle like this! Wow, they're both really good wrestlers!"
"W-wait... why would he kiss her... he's not her boyfriend, he's her sworn enemy! Is she in pain? Are they both in pain?"
"WHY DO THEY KEEP TALKING ABOUT CHICKENS AND CATS?!"

"I DON'T REMEMBER THIS HAPPENING IN THE BOOKS"

Edit: Daring Do waifu pillows. That's all.

Good god that face.

5392624 That's the most incredibly smug grin I've ever seen.

5392624 Rainbow Dash: Element of Faces.

On a more serious note, I enjoyed this episode a lot. Loved Quibble Pants' snarky attitude and the adventurous elements woven into the mix. It was also nice seeing Daring Do in action again, not to mention the great interactions between all of the characters. Plus, I happened to find some parts hilarious. It might be my favorite episode of S6 so far, but I understand if some might disagree.

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I enjoyed it, to be sure.

...why do I get the feeling that the latest episode 'Stranger than Fanfiction' has a rather passive-aggressive undertone from the writers, given how they wrote Quibble Pants?

Also, every time I see Daring Do, I swear my brain has a minor aneurism as I feel my neurons go into overdrive to figure out the canon behind that one out.

(SPOILERS!)

Stranger than Fanfiction comes close to being a heated atom bomb. But instead of creating an even greater rift between the writers and fans, it finds the right balance and does not explode at all.

Rainbow Dash attends a fan convention for Daring Do, and meets up with an earth pony named Quibble (voiced by Patton Oswalt). At first they hit it off, enamored by the fun activities celebrating their favorite hero. Then things get heated when Quibble reveals his hatred for the Daring Do books after the first trilogy, which happen to be Dash's favorites. The two argue adamantly.

Quibble says the later books are nothing but implausible action, which Dash knows is not technically true. In the Season 4 episode Daring Don't, Dash and the gang meet up with Daring Do's author A. K. Yearling, and find out that she's secretly the real Daring Do. Asides from the implausibility of an adventurer being able to publish her real life stories exactly as they happened without anyone catching on, the episode was not great.

Luckily Stranger than Fanfiction is an improvement, and feels more daring (no pun intended.) The locations are more interesting, the action better paced, and the conclusion more satisfying.

But back to the story. Also attending the convention is Daring Do herself, as her A.K. Yearling persona. Rainbow knows this, and wants Daring to prove to Quibble that the later books are indeed possible. Daring, on the other hand, is in the middle of a mission to stop her nemesis Dr. Caballeron and his goons from obtaining a key to unlock a mystic seven-sided chest, located within an ancient temple.

Rainbow and Quibble end up getting kidnapped by the Dr, who suspects them to be working for Daring. They are taken hostage to the temple, located in a dense jungle. Quibble thinks its one of the convention's "adventucation" courses, until event after event prove otherwise, the biggest being chased by an alligator monster.

Once Quibble realizes the events are real, he and Dash team up to stop Dr Caballeron. Daring Do arrives in time, and the three utilize their talents to save the day.

This is a really fun episode all around. Unlike other shows might do with the premise, the episode does not shove pop culture or current trends in our face. Sure, Daring says the word "cosplayers", and the con itself is riddled with the usual array of fandom geeks. But I don't mind any of it, because it fits in with the story, and still feels in-universe for the show.

Story wise, it may not be as strong as Gauntlet of Fire. But overall I like Stranger than Fanfiction more, even with its problems.

The most potentially damaging part of the episode is Quibble and Dash's arguments. What I feel saves them from being unwatchable is that both Dash and Quibble are are petty and unrelenting. Dash is just as insulting and critical as he is, even if the episode does not always treat it that way. Quibble's criticisms, though obnoxious, sometimes lead to funny banter, and he's actually useful to the story. He even helps Daring and Dash solve a major puzzle! Dash admits that though Quibble is stuck up, "he's [also] usually right."

The ending message of the episode is that it is perfectly fine to have different opinions. Quibble still does not like the Daring Do series after the third book, Rainbow still likes the later books most, but the two are able to accept each other. Despite the myriad of issues the episode presents, I believe it finds a happy balance.

Extras:
*The pre-title sequence features Twilight, forlorn that she cannot make it the convention. The reason: Princess Celestia wants her to solve a friendship problem in Griffonstone. Anyone else get the feeling this may be a hint to a future episode?
*I will admit, Quibble does come off as a stereotypical critic...but, Dash is not much better. Plus, as Dash stated, Quibble is not just a useless mouthpiece. He actually gets stuff done.
*While Dash and Quibble enjoy drinks near the concession stand, there are what I can only assume to be FiM's equivalent of hotdogs on rollers in the background: carrots.
*I love the banter between Quibble and Caballeron. Quibble finds the villain's accent "all over the place"
*My favorite line is Quibble telling Dash she should get a refund after a bridge falls apart.

5391752 The Youtube upload is late today, so I haven't seen the episode yet. But judging from all the screencaps it's going to be fun.

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The Youtube upload is late today

On that note, I'm just going to leave Rule 6 here as a preemptive reminder for everyone:

6) Don’t break site rules.
This is kinda common sense, but I thought I'd mention a few that might trip you up.

First, you can't post links to mature stories in groups that aren't NSFW, like this one, though you can talk about them, and link to your story list. You can't post NSFW pictures at all.

Posting full episodes or movies isn't allowed either. I know you might want to post a youtube video of the current episode in the episode thread, and we’d love to too! But it’s against site rules, and the site admins enforce this.

Edit: Here's the direct excerpt from the site rules page:

Illegal content is not allowed. This includes links to unofficial uploads of episodes or other copyrighted material.

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People are trying to upload the episode, but it's so meta that it just keeps folding in on itself.

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The thing is that it showed up on Netflix like right when the episode aired or earlier, so everypony probably watched it there and hasn't bothered with an upload yet. That and they figure they can upload a better quality version from Netflix.

I think I've had to moderate threads with Quibble Pants in them before...

--Sweetie Belle

Alright, how many secret temples are there in Equestria? Whatever the Old Gods were, they must've been a big deal. I mean, these things kept Daring Do in business for years, and it never seems to take more than a few weeks to raid one.

5392901 Five bucks says somebody will have one made and ready for order by tomorrow.

"SESAME STREET JUMPED THE GODDAMN SHARK THE MINUTE GODDAMN GROVER SHOWED UP."

If The New Yorker is doing it, it's everywhere

5391752 It was a fun episode, but I found it really off-putting how Quibble could be so consistently cynical throughout the whole adventure. On the other hand, that might just be because the episode is so meta. He knows that nothing bad's actually going to happen, but I can't say I've ever seen this kind of delivery before. He's not nonchalant like Discord was in Return of Harmony, but the sense of urgency doesn't stick with him at all. Maybe a part of him still believed that none of it was real?

The talking over the credits was quite funny though. I guess when you get a guest voice actor you want your money's worth.

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I think he was having trouble believing it was real, honestly. It was characters from a book suddenly showing up in real life, after all.

And did you know that all of his talking over the credits was totally ad-libbed? That was all the voice actor improvising, and it apparently had them laughing a bunch, too...

--Sweetie Belle

5392624 It wasn't just one frame either. She held it for a full second or two.

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Now with a gif version!

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My exact face when I'm drunk and I need to tell somebody that they are my best friend in the whole world.

So much better than the second half of Daring Don't, but still a Season Six Episode.

We've all seen this already...right?