Well, Tell Your Tale finally decided to try to do something interesting, because the last episode showed Sunny's mom in a flashback. But they didn't even give her a name, let alone elaborate on what happened to her. And given the way Tell Your Tale progresses, I'm not expecting any follow-up anytime soon. Getting back to G4, Season 8 hit its first stumbling block only four episodes in, and the School of Friendship was already looking like a bad idea because it was a plot restricter rather than

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While we now know that this has to take place not just before Season 8 but before the events of the 2017 FiM movie, it first premiered in February of 2018, about a month before Season 8 of FiM hit the airwaves. Interestingly, the Discovery Family broadcast omitted several scenes that were later released as part of an "extended" version. As for the writer, it was none other than Nick Confalone, who apparently got the job of writing for FiM because he was friends with Josh Haber. He would be

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First and foremost, I want to briefly mention that my account for paid commisssions is up and running. It's CSPB2024. If you could all help spread the word about it, that would be appreciated. Now it's on to the episode proper, though I do briefly want to touch on the controversy surrounding the rumor about A.I. voices for "Make Your Mark" and "Tell Your Tale" that were recently debunked. It's sad that this is even a thing considerng we just had a major writers/actors strike last year that was

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Season 8's mid season hiatus couldn't have come at a worser time for it, right on the heels of really bad episodes "Marks for Effort" and "The Mean Six", which were so low quality you have to wonder how they didn't get flagged for obvious writing mistakes or plot holes, and just further seemed to make the School of Friendship look like a bad idea that should not have been greenlit. So many people were already declaring Season 8 the worst season of the show, worse even than Season 3 or Season 6

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So, when Twilight, Spike and Starlight go back to Cloudsdale each time, it's as if the previous times they went back never happened. So what if Twilight decided to go back to after the rainboom?

We've only two comics left to go before the re-reviews end. My reviews for all the main series comics that I did review after this I think still stand as they were, summing up the flaws and the things they did right. And the ones that I didn't cover I have no desire to cover because they're just that bad (if you though the bookworm arc was bad, "Siege of the Crystal Empire" is gonna like bad fanfiction. Same goes for the Accord arc or even the mismanaged "Ponies of Dark Water" arc). And we

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So after "Power Ponies" floundered, Season 4 needed to get back on track fast if it didn't want to end up stuck in the doldrums. Previous seasons had shown how it only took one bad or underwhelming episode to kill a season's momentum for a considerable period of time, given how Season 1 hit an abrupt dry spell after "Sonic Rainboom" that wasn't broken up for good until "Party of One", and Season 2's first half tumbled down hard with" Hearth's Warming Eve" with "Family Appreciation Day" and

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So, with the show's fourth season and the end of the micro series looming large over the fandom, "Neigh Anything" really didn't have much of a chance to hope to change the subject or stand out. But how did its second half go? Did it wrap up the arc decently, or did it just indicate that this was an arc done solely because no one had any ideas and needed to fill space? Well, let's find out.

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With Season 4 half over it looked like things were on a roll, nothing could possibly stop it. This episode was heavily touted ahead of time for what it was, a return appearance by Flutterguy. And it was written by Amy Keating Rogers, the very same Amy who had rose to new heights with "Pinkie Pride". But by the time the dust settled on this episode, controversy would rear its ugly head once again with Amy at the center of it. Has that controversy overshadowed the episode? And if so does that

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If you thought my opinions on "The Return of Harmony" and "Luna Eclipsed" were unpopular, just wait until you see my opinion on this two parter. So many people still hold it in high regard, I daresay there's not a two parter more popular than it or more highly praised than it (the only one that comes close is "Shadow Play"). Happening to coincide with the MLP franchise's 30th anniversary, many still say this is where the show reached it peak and where it should've stopped. And this is despite

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With the Cutie Mark Crusaders having started to mature in Season 4 and move away from obsessing over their cutie marks, Season 5 looked as if it were going to revisit that. Josh Haber was picked to write this episode, but his most recent writing endevor at the time had been the utterly bland "Leap of Faith" which had starred Applejack. So, was Haber more comfortable working with Apple Bloom, or did he only end up proving that Apple family characters were not his forte for interesting stories?

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So after the 100th episode came and went it was back to business as usual for Season 5, in more ways than one. And by a stroke of misfortune, the episode now having to follow up on the fandom love letter was a Spike episode. Considering even "Equestria Games" had been met with criticism over its abrupt shift to Spike, it seemed like a lot was working against this episode already. Not helped by the fact that a brand new writer in the form of Neal Dusedau debuting here, though the story was being

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As word started to spread about what was in store for the show at the end of Season 5, and word of the big theatrical movie continued to slowly be released, Season 5 itself welcomed another writer into its ranks. This one wasn't quite a newcomer though, Gillian M. Berrow had previously written various chapter books for the show with her first name shortened to G. Her books had been of varying quality, though she had also briefly done a Daring Do series that only lasted for three books. But she

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So, after the map called all of the mane six to a village in the middle of nowhere, and then called Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to Griffonstone, what was next for the map? Calling Applejack and Rarity back to Manehattan, a familiar location. This episode actually has a very interesting production history, because it was originally going to involve Flim and Flam again. One of them would become mayor and ban all apple products within the city. However, it would all turn out to be another

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So the show got back on track with "Dragonshy", well it wasn't going to last. This episode is the start of a small dry spell that, again, I'm so glad it didn't get the show killed or cause people to completely lose interest. Charlotte Fullerton wrote this episode, and it's rather weird because she is the only one of the original writers who had never worked with Lauren Faust before. I would assume she was either recommended by Hasbro, or one of Lauren's assembled writers knew about Charlotte

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And so it was that, after a season of several unexpected shake-ups as the show seemed to be maturing (or at least trying to), we would come to a finale where spoilers had already given away what was going to happen. A sign of how things would not be as tightlipped for future seasons as they had been in the days of The Hub. So instead of another "Twilight's Kingdom" that everyone was looking forward to, it seemed like the finale would be another "A Canterlot Wedding" or "Magical Mystery Cure"

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So we're closing out the first half of Season 1 with what by all accounts is a classic, even by the show's standards given how much they seemed to love trying to call back to this in later seasons. It's also an episode that I think almost singlehandedly launched the ship of AppleDash, which alongside FlutterMac used to be all over the place in the fandom's early days. Amy Keating Rogers wrote this episode, so we should be in for a good time, right? Well, let's find out.

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So another comic arc had to wrap up in four issues, and this one was just full of problems and questionable continuity nods/errors. But considering the previous arc was able to kind of get back on track at the very end, maybe there was hope for this one to do the same? Well, let's find out.

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Discord had been noticeably absent from Season 6 up to this point, though this was not entirely by intent considering he was planned to appear in "A Hearth's Warming Tail" but was cut due to time constraints. Spike, meanwhile, had been through his ups and downs that included "Gauntlet of Fire" and "The Times They Are a Changeling". The idea of them sharing an episode was certainly out there, and Season 6 really needed something to get back on track after two duds and an episode about racism

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So after Season 6 gave us Starlight Glimmer at her absolute worst and made her the one character all season who couldn't apologize sincerely for making a mistake (Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Discord, Twilight and even debateably Trixie all managed to do when they screwed up at various points), it really needed something to be able to improve its reputation considering the lows were standing out more than the highs. But perhaps if that was the case they shouldn't have paired up the writing staff

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