Well, maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders could get Season 6 off the ground when the main characters seemed incapable of truly doing so. I mean after all, the CMC had gone from being the undisputed weak links of the show in Season 1 and early Season 2 with their repetitive "Gotta get our cutie marks" plots to some of the most mature stuff we'd seen in children's media in a long time (the dangers of gossip and tabloid journalism, dealing with a potential disability, where jealousy can truly lead and

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So at very long last, Rainbow Dash was going to take the first steps towards becoming a Wonderbolt. But Merriweather Williams, the new black sheep of the writing staff without a single uncontroversial episode to her name, was in charge. And she was responsible for writing arguably Rainbow's worst outing to that point in "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well". So suddenly this episode wasn't looking so great. But was Merriweather able to defy expectations and actually crank out something good? Well,

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When Season 9 came back for its second half, the leaks returned as well. Before long, everything that the show had sought to keep under wraps was spoiled, including a controversial twist in the finale. In the meantime, desires to give characters a proper conclusion were meeting with mixed results. Pinkie Pie got "The Last Laugh" which seemed decent, but Rainbow Dash had the appalling "2, 4, 6, Greaaat" and from there we went to "A Trivial Pursuit" which saw Twilight's freak outs get so bad that

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They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but Merriweather Williams sure seemed determined to try. After "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" didn't go over well, Merriweather had a chance to indicate whether it was a fluke or not with this episode. In fact, this episode and the two immediately following it were moved around in episode order so that this episode could air in time for the Christmas 2011 break, the first such instance of an episode being one number in production

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Season 7 seemed to have no direction of any sort out of the gate, and after three episodes it was impossible to pick up on any sense of quality. So it was that Nick Confalone was stepping up to write, his tenure in Season 6 having mostly been defined by the controversial "No Second Prances" even though he'd also written "The Saddle Row Review" and "Dungeons & Discords" which had far more positive of a reception. Early synopsis' suggested the focus of this episode would be Pinkie Pie trying to

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Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty late to this party considering so many others started doing it in 2020. But with all that was going in the world and in my personal life I just wanted to wait until things somewhat settled down a little before jumping on this bandwagon. For at least the foreseeable future I'm going to doing these re-reviews once a day, probably at least through Season 4 and maybe into Seasons 5 and 6 (I think most of my reviews from Seasons 7-9 are pretty spot on about what I like and

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Although Lauren Faust was no longer executive producer of the show, she was still involved throughout Season 2 even after it was announced she would be stepping down once that season was over. No one knew the reason why at the time, or that this was one of a handful of episodes that Lauren played a role in shaping (albeit not as greatly as episodes prior). Considering "The Return of Harmony" was still fresh in people's minds at the time, was this episode written by Meghan McCarthy able to keep

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Though not the seventeenth episode to air (that was "To Change A Changeling") this episode was seventeenth in production order. And what may be most noticeable is that Josh Haber was returning to the story editor's position here and would stay in it through the rest of Season 7, at first sharing the role with Lewis and Songco but eventually taking over completely. Considering Season 7 had been stuck in the mud up to this point under Lewis and Songco, unable to shake off the bad writing of "Fame

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So after we finally got a good episode focused on the School of Friendship, we had three episodes in a row that either barely focused on it or not at all, and wasted our time with plots that were either cliche, annoying or just not interesting. And by now leaks were a plenty for what was to come at the end of Season 8, so people were already not looking forward to what was in store later on. And this episode tends to be regarded as another bad episode of Season 8. It certainly doesn't have the

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By the time this issue came out the comics had started to attract drama for the fact that starting in the next arc they were going to include alicorn Twilight just in time for the show's fourth season. And while all of that was going on the micro series was trudging along now that it had focused on each of the mane six. So a two parter focused on Shining Armor and Cadence involving how they met probably wasn't the most exciting thing ever, even considering how slice of life the previous arc had

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After the absolute disaster that was "Secrets and Pies", Season 7 really needed something to redeem it and give it the chance to go out on a high note, especially now that the big 2017 movie had come and gone, and the show's future was still uncertain. Josh Haber, after having returned to the story editor's chair and ultimately taking back the reigns fully from Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco for reasons unknown, now decided the time had come to pen another episode himself. But this time, he

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With 2013 coming to a close and the micro series also drawing to a close as the show's fourth season was in full swing, the main series had to continue this pirates story that had quite a few issues in its first half. And considering the previous two parters in the comics did worse in their second halves, it seemed like there was so much against this issue right from the get go? But did it manage to defy the odds and do a good job of getting the comics back on track? Well, let's find out.

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Oh joy, it's back to Season 8. Season 9 has its fair share of detractors, but hardly anyone I know ever sings Season 8's praises, and for good reason. We now know that the School of Friendship was added at Hasbro's request because they wanted the show to wrap up with nine seasons, forcing the writers to change their plans for the pillars. About the only good thing to come out of Season 8 seems to have been the young/student six, though even then some get more praise and attention than others

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It looked like Season 8 might be finally getting back on track after it fell hard from grace with "Non-Compete Clause". We had an honestly good episode in the form of "The Hearth's Warming Club" that finally painted the school in a good light, then we had "Friendship University" which at least gave us a proper RarityxTwilight episode, and then we had "The End in Friend" which managed to salvage itself in its third act. However, this episode ended up getting an early airing in the states, on a

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This re-review has been bumped up due to the fact that I won't be around next Saturday to post it. I'll be on vacation with my family. We're going to Florida, specifically to the theme parks, all four Disney parks and both Universal parks (the Nintendo Universe park is slated to open next year). If I'm being honest, I'd rather not go. Not only are we going in August, when Florida's heat and humidity are at their most oppressive, but the parks are sure to be packed. Plus, I went to them in March

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Season 7 had been up, down, and all around in quality up to this point, the longest such period of inconsistent writing quality stretching all the way back to Season 1 when the show was still trying to find its footing. It almost feels like Season 7 was originally going to be a half season, which would explain why it was the only one not to get a two parter season premiere. It being ordered while Season 6 was still in production likely had something to do with the theatrical movie taking longer

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First and foremost, I would like to provide a brief update to what I touched on back in "Marks for Effort". My dad's not going to retire after all, so I'm not in immediate need of funds. I'm still going to keep my paid commissions account up for referal, though. And now back to the show. After "Yakity Sax" screwed things up, Season 8 did seem to once again improve with two episodes that were actually good in both "Road to Friendship" and "The Washouts". But even those episodes had their

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So it is that we come to the last of the Equestria Girls full length specials before Hasbro opted to pull the plug on the half-hearted attempt at a spin-off, instead deciding to settle for an unasked spin-off and an attempt to artifically extend FiM's lifespan in the form of "Pony Life". And keep in mind, that was greenlighted in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. So even though Hasbro was planning to have G5 debut in theaters in 2020, they decided that extending FiM's lifespan

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Welp, "Tell Your Tale" is now also officially dead. And as it turns out, Hasbro cancelled it all the way back in February of this year, cutting about 75 out of a total of 100 episodes planned. Makes you wonder why they lied and said we'd get four specials from it, let alone why they bothered greenlighting a second season if they were just going to cancel the show all together. And with the IDW comics announcing no MLP comics at all after December of this year, G5 is now officially dead, lasting

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So when the second arc of the comics got off to a promising start only to immediately squander it on contrivences and continuity errors, was this second issue of it able to get things back on track or only serve to throw everything further away? Well, let's find out.

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