"28 Pranks Later" was a particularly worrisome synopsis. It promised to repeat the worst crimes of "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" and continue to have Rainbow Dash re-learn already-known lessons. Thankfully, the episode itself is surprisingly good-natured and entertaining, even though it still feels like a repetition of earlier character development. It's just too bad that this is the show at its most thuddingly predictable and simplistic, repeating all of the previous episode's mistake with

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Usually, I'm not all that bothered by My Little Pony incorporating predictable plots, as long as it can put some unique spin on it. Take my favourite episode of season 5, "Rarity Investigates!," which by all means offers a deeply predictable detective mystery. That episode stands out for everything around the central mystery. It has a lovely noir style, a previously uncommon character dynamic, relevance to a major character arc, and a modest degree of continuity. However, episodes like "The

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"Stranger Than Fan Fiction" is yet another example of season 6's endless deluge of good ideas, featuring an analytical fan taken from a Daring Do convention into a literal Daring Do adventure. The setting of a convention had been a popular idea in the fandom for a while, especially given the prominence of conventions in the MLP fandom, and it's a great fit for a new Daring Do episode, considering how the Daring Do books have been revealed to be autobiographical. With season 6, the episode

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After this week's episode, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will go on hiatus. When the show went on mid-season hiatus last year, I published my thoughts on the season so far. For season 5, these thoughts were mixed, but I largely felt frustrated and disappointed by the season, which continued right to the season finale. Thankfully, season 6 is a marked improvement, and while it's still far from perfect, it's the first time since at least early season 4 that I have been happy with this

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The map is back.

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I didn't hate it, but wow that was disappointing. So much potential wasted, and it isn't even a particularly strong character showcase for Rainbow Dash. That impression sequence is an okay idea but this was really not the right context for it. Still, there's some interesting touches to Rainbow's characterization, and I kinda enjoyed how it approached acceptance. Not entirely sure that its theme was coherent, which is probably a major reason why people think it condones bullying, but I kinda

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New blog post

If you've followed me first from here, you might not know that I've actually been much more active on my blog, where I review and analyse episodes of the show. My most recent post, found here, is an in-depth analysis of "Bloom and Gloom." I have a lot to say about that episode!

Story progress

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