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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 7 |OT| Is this still a fad?

UberTag

Member
Someone's on an anti-Starlight kick.

How hilarious would it be that we fill this entire thread up with spoiler bars to protect folks who purportedly catch Friendship is Magic weekly on Discovery Family only for it to be disclosed that almost everyone is catching it digitally online after an episode airs?

Seems like most weeks I'm the only one commenting right after the episode's done.
 
Someone's on an anti-Starlight kick.

How hilarious would it be that we fill this entire thread up with spoiler bars to protect folks who purportedly catch Friendship is Magic weekly on Discovery Family only for it to be disclosed that almost everyone is catching it digitally online after an episode airs?

Seems like most weeks I'm the only one commenting right after the episode's done.

Getting up Sat. morning at 8 a.m. is hard
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Someone's on an anti-Starlight kick.

I will admit that since the recent synopsis for the Celestia and Luna episode I've gone from "I don't really like this character and think she could have been developed much better" to "OK, now I loath the writer's pet".
 
Someone's on an anti-Starlight kick.

How hilarious would it be that we fill this entire thread up with spoiler bars to protect folks who purportedly catch Friendship is Magic weekly on Discovery Family only for it to be disclosed that almost everyone is catching it digitally online after an episode airs?

Seems like most weeks I'm the only one commenting right after the episode's done.
DrForester often posts right after the episode airs too. I believe he uses a livestream, though.

Although I watch the episodes digitally, I'm watching the episodes only after it airs in the US for the following reasons:
* Keeping episode viewings spaced out - If Canada airs even the finale early, then people who kept up with those airings are in for one hell of a hiatus.
* Keeping my follow up posts spaced out - Although I always make these while watching videos and such that I was going to watch anyway, piling on an additional episode each week makes things more difficult.
* Matching the pace of the fandom - For reasons that may or may not be the same as mine, many people are using the US schedule for episodes. This means a lot of fan works and reactions won't be available until after the US airing of the episode. Not only does this make things awkward for me as an individual, but it also makes follow up posts more awkward.

To be clear, even if I wasn't making content collections for you guys, I'd still be using the US schedule.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Someone's on an anti-Starlight kick.

How hilarious would it be that we fill this entire thread up with spoiler bars to protect folks who purportedly catch Friendship is Magic weekly on Discovery Family only for it to be disclosed that almost everyone is catching it digitally online after an episode airs?

Seems like most weeks I'm the only one commenting right after the episode's done.

I watch new episodes as early as I can, but I think that time zones mean that the episodes air at like, 2am Sunday for me. I love the show, but not enough to wake up that early on a Sunday.

I also watch leaks and early releases because I'm weak.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I'll be watching Canadian airings of the show if I can. I'm not going to deal with the dodge-the-spoiler game when it looks like Canada might end up several months ahead when all is said and done.
 

Ogodei

Member
DrForester often posts right after the episode airs too. I believe he uses a livestream, though.

Although I watch the episodes digitally, I'm watching the episodes only after it airs in the US for the following reasons:
* Keeping episode viewings spaced out - If Canada airs even the finale early, then people who kept up with those airings are in for one hell of a hiatus.
* Keeping my follow up posts spaced out - Although I always make these while watching videos and such that I was going to watch anyway, piling on an additional episode each week makes things more difficult.
* Matching the pace of the fandom - For reasons that may or may not be the same as mine, many people are using the US schedule for episodes. This means a lot of fan works and reactions won't be available until after the US airing of the episode. Not only does this make things awkward for me as an individual, but it also makes follow up posts more awkward.

To be clear, even if I wasn't making content collections for you guys, I'd still be using the US schedule.

Have to watch a Livestream. I'd have to get the children's package on Comcast to get Discovery Family, and i already get Cartoon Network in my "basic + HBO" package.
 
I have no intention of waiting for the official release. I do hope that eventually Treehouse's broadcast schedule ges synced up with the rest of the show but until then I'll be watching both episodes a week as they air. Sucks that it splits the fan base but not much I can do about it.

I usually watch new episodes around 12 or so PST but I've been usually waiting to post my thoughts on it until a bit after since I usually take a while to write it and my opinion on the episode tends to shift a lot after I've had time to digest it and possibly rewatch it since my opinion often changes quite a bit the second time seeing it.
 
I've said that stuff not related to the current season should go into the Community thread... but I think I'll make an exception for this, because everyone needs to see this Taiwanese live action music video.
Besides everything else about it, a weird part is how they inexplicably show Twilight instead of Rarity during her part of the song
.
EDIT: Here's an incentive:
maxresdefault.jpg


Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight - Cinco de Mayo

Oh, and I expect the "Fluttershy Leans In" follow up, and all future ones, to be pretty big, so I'll just dump the fanworks of previous episodes I have right now.

WTF Celestia?
Rock Solid Friendship
Rock Jokes
WTFCelestiabyRubyW321493843940339.png
RockSolidFriendshipMLPFIMSeason7Episode4byViejillox64Art1493673827784.jpg
RockJokesbyDocWario1493673826950.png


My Newest Creation
Doctor of Rock
Hello Pinkie
MyNewestCreationbydm291493769435087.png
DoctorofRockbySentireAeris1493769435618.png
hellopinkie_by_tsitra360-db81bav.png


Like Nobody Else
Harpie
KiteBurst
LikeNoponyElsebyVanillaGhosties1493843939967.png
Harpiebythediscorded1493935113219.png
KiteBurstbybobthedalek1493935114991.jpg


Comics
RIVAL by uotapo - Mentioning the artist since he's pretty popular here.
Pinkie Kite

"Best Friends Until the End of Time" piano cover
PMV - I Am a Rock - Made soon after "Rock Solid Friendship" aired.

Speaking of "Fluttershy Leans In", I am curious about how much discussion this episode will have after the US airing.
 
Got my hand over my eyes to avoid the spoilers because I"m sure y'all are way ahead of me but:

The MLP comic that released this week (#53 I think) fuuuuuuuuuucking sucked. What a shit wrapup to that story, which was pretty fun on the whole. Writing and art were just bad. No one acted normally cept maybe Rarity, but then the writer crutched on her big tropes and avoided anything interesting.

Hope next week's Legends of Magic is better.
 
Today's episode is

5. Fluttershy Leans In
Fluttershy is determined to make her career dreams come true with the help of some very special ponies. But when her true vision is not being executed properly, she must find a way to stand up and fight for her ideas.

Canadian episodes
6. Forever Filly - When Rarity surprises Sweetie Belle with a special day together filled with all of her favorite activities, she quickly learns that her little sister is no longer the little foal she used to be.
7. Parental Glideance - When Rainbow Dash's parents discover she's a Wonderbolt, they show up at every event to cheer her on. However, their unabashed enthusiasm proves to be rather embarrassing and pushes Rainbow Dash to the brink.

Also, here's a new section that I expect to be more useful in the coming weeks.

Episodes that have aired in the US
1. Celestial Advice - Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer's future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia.
2. All Bottled Up - While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle's friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map.
3. A Flurry of Emotions - After planning a jam-packed day, Twilight Sparkle also agrees to babysit her niece, Flurry Heart. But with Flurry Heart along for the ride, Twilight Sparkle struggles to maintain her title as 'The Best Aunt Ever' while keeping Flurry Heart out of trouble!
4. Rock Solid Friendship - When Pinkie Pie learns that Maud might move to Ponyville, she does everything she can to make sure her sister sees that it has more to offer than just rocks.
 

draetenth

Member
Last episode before I go on vacation with the inability to watch the next 3 episodes or so and unfortunately Fluttershy leans in was an okay episode and probably the worst this season so far... Not that I think it was a bad episode or anything, but it didn't feel very memorable to me.

I like to think Angel hurting his foot was karma for his attitude toward Fluttershy at times.

Seems a little odd that all three completely ignored Fluttershy's wishes when building the sanctuary. I mean sure there's incompetent workers out there and those who just cheat you/do half-assed job/take the money and run, but I'm not sure there would be any to completely ignore you and go in a completely different direction.

Nice to see Fluttershy be bold and assertive especially when she was right about knowing animals better than anyone else.

Nice to see that... hillbilly from the Twilight + Fluttershy map episode, but what was his purpose? He's the only one to show up and it didn't look like he did anything. He and Fluttershy only watched while the others did the work. He could have been removed and nothing would have changed.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
So, do we have a consensus on how to handle the Canadian ep discussions?


Well. Forever Filly was an OK episode. I really, really liked the last act. I thought the buildup to the ending was pretty meh, with Rarity getting hit a bit too hard with the stupid-stick.
 

Ogodei

Member
I feel like Fluttershy Leans In is one of those episodes that, looking at it as an adult, teaches exactly the wrong lesson. Fluttershy had irrational expectations and was very unclear in her direction to the experts, although they were presumptuous in overriding her guidelines, her guidelines were also vague and nebulous.

It's like when my boss tells me to write a fundraising letter that's "compelling and people-centered." You need more specificity than that.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
No one expressed interest in not using the current rules, so we're going with spoiler tags for Canadian episodes. Overall views of the episode are fine outside of spoiler tags.

That's going to get really weird as the weeks go on and we're looking 2+ months ahead...
 

DemWalls

Member
I feel like Fluttershy Leans In is one of those episodes that, looking at it as an adult, teaches exactly the wrong lesson. Fluttershy had irrational expectations and was very unclear in her direction to the experts, although they were presumptuous in overriding her guidelines, her guidelines were also vague and nebulous.

This is definitely true. One of the reasons that make the episode pretty low-tier.
 
That's going to get really weird as the weeks go on and we're looking 2+ months ahead...

I mean, the alternatives are:
* Canadian episode discussion has no spoiler tags. People who wish to avoid that discussion have a harder time avoiding it. People may complain about black bars, but spoilers that are indistinguishable from normal discussion on a glance aren't exactly better for them.
* US episode discussion is moved over to the Community thread while this becomes the Canadian episode discussion thread. This would be difficult to coordinate in a number of ways, including for people who haven't been aware of the entire Canada thing.
* A separate thread is made for Canadian discussion. There is precedent for Game of Thrones and the like, but let's be blunt, MLP is nowhere near as popular on this board. And while GAFers don't get as upset about MLP threads as they used to be, I don't think having two threads would be seen favorably. Plus, there are still coordination issues.

It was going to be awkward no matter what. As long as people make sure to use spoiler tags and say which episode they're using spoiler tags for, I think this is the least awkward solution.
 
I didn't care much for it myself.
I figured it would be the "parent/older sibling doesn't recognize younger child has grown up more since 5 years ago" plot. However, what irks me is the Dipper Well plot. The dog is lethargic the whole time, and all it needed was a bigger toy? We have 2 dogs that are about 11 years old, and they still love to play around and be loved with baby talk and going for walks and such.

Also, Rarity's voice sounds off.
 
Alright so generic feeling before I go deep into spoiler territory. The episode definitely has a lot of flaws which is unfortunately expected as it is a Fox bros episode. Gift of the Maud Pie seems like it was a love-it-or-hate-it episode for many people but I don't think there's many fans of P.P.O.V (Cool idea concept ruined by being generally unfunny and having a horrible plot resolution) and at this point Applejack's "Day" Off is pretty infamous for its terribleness. That being said I do feel like this is the best effort they've put out so far, warts and all. There is a lot development shown by characters in this episode and although it could have been better there were plenty of heartwarming scenes as well. Overall I would probably put this episode above Fluttershy Leans in and Flurry of Emotions but well below All Bottled Up.

On to specifics:

The opening scene I feel shows a lot of the promise and issues with the episode. Sassy Saddles goes from freaking out that they aren't going to be ready to actively advocating for Rarity to take the day off. Rarity's emotional outbursts feel so forced and unnecessary. Sure that's her thing but she's acting like Sweetie Belle has died. But at the same time after seeing them in Sisterhooves Social it's nice to see Rarity care so much about her sister and go to such extreme lengths to try to make her happy. I'm reminded a lot of her portrayal in For Whom the Sweeite Belle Toils where she was shown to be a caring sister that sometimes accidentally ends up hurting things accidentally.

This heart as well as showing how these characters have evolved is what really helps make this episode for me. I liked the treehouse scene where Rarity makes a lot of parallels between Sweetie Belle's new job as part of the CMC with her own work, noting that Sweetie Belle has clients now too that she has to take care of. And the activities that Rarity takes Sweetie Belle on at least feel like something that a younger kid would really enjoy. I just wish that it didn't feel like the episode wasn't just avoiding outright showing how little Sweetie Belle was enjoying Rarity's efforts to Rarity as I feel like the episode is padded out and repetitive because of it. I would have liked to see less focus on Rarity doing things Sweetie Belle didn't enjoy and maybe a longer scene of them doing stuff she liked in the end.

Many people have pointed this out elsewhere but Rarity definitely was taken up to 11 in this episode to the point where she might grate on people. And although I feel like the moment when you realize how Zipporwhirl's storyline ties in to the one between Rarity and Sweetie is an amazing feeling the secondary plotline does nothing interesting up until that point and drags the show whenever they focused on it. The episode definitely is a Fox Bros episode and unfortunately despite a really strong concept I feel like it only lives up to part of its potential. A better writing team probably could have made this episode a classic up there with Sisterhooves Social and For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils but as it stands there's some good and some bad and although I definitely think it's a massive step up from P.P.O.V. and AJ's Day Off it's hard not to ask "what if a better team got their hands on this episode?" Everything being said I liked it and I hope that this can be the new baseline of quality for Fox Bros episodes going forward.
 
I feel like Fluttershy Leans In is one of those episodes that, looking at it as an adult, teaches exactly the wrong lesson. Fluttershy had irrational expectations and was very unclear in her direction to the experts, although they were presumptuous in overriding her guidelines, her guidelines were also vague and nebulous.

It's like when my boss tells me to write a fundraising letter that's "compelling and people-centered." You need more specificity than that.
Yeah, this was my view of this as well. "Do you have any blueprints?" "Well, no"

Then how can you expect him to help you? Like hell Fluttershy, you need SOME guidelines not "make a thing for animals to be happy." No one but you knows what that means.

Episode was okay. I like how much of a change Fluttershy has gone through since season one.
 
I didn't care much for it myself. "Forever Filly" spoilers:
I figured it would be the "parent/older sibling doesn't recognize younger child has grown up more since 5 years ago" plot. However, what irks me is the Dipper Well plot. The dog is lethargic the whole time, and all it needed was a bigger toy? We have 2 dogs that are about 11 years old, and they still love to play around and be loved with baby talk and going for walks and such.

Also, Rarity's voice sounds off.

Yeah, I think this is too much detail to go without spoiler tags. This falls into what I mentioned in my last post, with this seeming like "Fluttershy Leans In" discussion until I was well into the post.

I have "Gabby Returns" on my Bingo Card.

Should I count a picture of Gabby?

What episode are you talking about?

Written before I read the discussion about this episode from last week.

Fluttershy Leans In
So the supervisor with the vague idea that doesn't provide any concrete plans is the one we should support, and not the experts who in the absence of direction do the things they were hired to do? Yeah, screw this episode.

Well, that is a bit harsh, but I don't think an episode has annoyed me this much since "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". If they didn't include that thing about Fluttershy not actually having a plan, just wishes, I'd be less upset about this episode, but that would still leave the moral nonsensical. It desperately needed the third act to be about Fluttershy realizing she was the problem for not thinking things through, and then she brings in Big Daddy McColt to help her actually plan it out before calling the experts back.

Speaking of which, Big Daddy McColt was a random as hell returning character. The way he was being hyped up was similar to how Derpy appeared in "Rainbow Falls" back in season 4, but I don't think anyone at all was looking forward to this character returning. I was skimming over the thread and saw DrForester mention Gabby (without reading the rest of his post), so I was expecting her, meaning I was doubly perplexed by this.

Anyway, it's a shame that the moral of this episode was botched. I otherwise like the way Fluttershy showcases her character development. I also see what people meant last week when they said this episode resembled "Applejack's "Day" Off". There were a lot of scenes that seemed pointlessly drawn out, especially in the first third of the episode.

EDIT: Opinion on the episode seems to largely hinge on three factors:
* If you viewed the experts as being chiefly at fault or not.
* How strongly you enjoyed Fluttershy being more assertive.
* How much the slow pace annoyed you.
 

DemWalls

Member
Okay, I guess that going into it with reasonably low expectations might have had its advantages, because I didn't dislike it and it's certainly the best Michael and Wil have done, although that's not saying much.

Still, it's disappointing that just a few, minor tweaks here and there could have made the episode easily better, first of all a bit of subtlety in Rarity's behaviour. To be blunt, she acted like someone mentally impaired for a good 80% of the episode.

PS: For some reason, I couldn't stand Zipporwhill's accent.
 
Yeah, I think this is too much detail to go without spoiler tags. This falls into what I mentioned in my last post, with this seeming like "Fluttershy Leans In" discussion until I was well into the post.

I'm sorry, I thought this was today's episode, and thus open to discussion.
 
I'm sorry, I thought this was today's episode, and thus open to discussion.
At the start of every Saturday, I've been posting what episodes are airing that week (and now in what regions), so that should help.

Okay, I guess that going into it with reasonably low expectations might have had its advantages, because I didn't dislike it and it's certainly the best Michael and Wil have done, although that's not saying much.

Still, it's disappointing that just a few, minor tweaks here and there could have made the episode easily better, first of all a bit of subtlety in Rarity's behaviour. To be blunt, she acted like someone mentally impaired for a good 80% of the episode.

PS: For some reason, I couldn't stand Zipporwhill's accent.
This doesn't really have any spoilers, but still, it would help a lot if everyone said what episode they're talking about at the start.
 

DemWalls

Member
At the start of every Saturday, I've been posting what episodes are airing that week (and now in what regions), so that should help.


This doesn't really have any spoilers, but still, it would help a lot if everyone said what episode they're talking about at the start.

I thought the Fox brothers mention in the first sentence made it clear. Besides, as you said it's not really spoilery. Had I said anything more specific, I certainly would've indicated the episode and tagged everything appropriately.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
To recap my thoughts on Fluttershy Leans In, I was in agreement with Ogodei, Conkers, Sigma and quite a few others. It seemed like the whole thing was being set up for both sides (Flutters on one, the experts on the other) to learn something, but in the end it was made out to be all the fault of the experts. Scenes like the one with Fluttershy's "dream board" had me so sure that there was a "You can't expect people to interpret your crazy fantasy project" moral coming, but nope.

As for Forever Filly, it just felt like absolutely basic MLP to me.
No spark, not many laughs, not that clever. I thought the premise itself was interesting, and the way they mirrored what Rarity was learning with what Zipporwhil(?) was learning was quite good, but the execution just didn't have much energy IMO.

To be blunt, she acted like someone mentally impaired for a good 80% of the episode.

I actually didn't have issues with her behaviour this week.
Two of Rarity's defining traits are that she's stubborn and that she tends to think she knows best, so her refusal to acknowledge that she doesn't know her sister anymore seemed fine to me. If you wanna delve beneath the surface a little, there may have even been some denial there.
 
I thought the Fox brothers mention in the first sentence made it clear. Besides, as you said it's not really spoilery. Had I said anything more specific, I certainly would've indicated the episode and tagged everything appropriately.

I think it's important to hammer this in now for future clarity. It's going to get even more confusing tomorrow when "Parental Glideance" airs, especially if people continue to discuss both "Fluttershy Leans In" and "Forever Filly". And then there will be even more episodes to juggle.

This would be an issue even if every episode was free to discuss without spoiler tags.
 

UberTag

Member
I enjoyed Forever Filly... but then it would have been a surprise if I didn't seeing how Rarity and Sweetie Belle top my fave pony rankings.

The fundamental problem with this episode is that it's wholly disposable. There are a handful of Friendship is Magic episodes where there's an obvious moral premise that are otherwise paper-thin and they just hammer the day's lesson over and over again until the characters finally clue in and realize what the audience figured out for themselves two acts prior.

The best part of this episode was everything in the first act until the obvious conflict was introduced. Which is unfortunate because I love the Rarity-Sweetie Belle relationship dynamic and all of the good points from this episode came before they interacted. Contrast that with Sisterhooves Social which highlighted that dynamic and then introduced an inventive solution to the episode's core conflict while still having other things going on like the Apple Bloom-Applejack relationship, the fun sister bonding obstacle course and Granny Smith being silly.

So this episode came off as a shallow failure... and yet I enjoy these characters so much I didn't mind it all that much. Tabitha doing melodramatic over-the-top reaction takes will never not amuse and delight the hell out of me.

Incidentally, I rewatched Simple Ways for the first time in a long while earlier today and was surprised to see Rarity went so all-in with her farm girl shtick that she wiped off her iconic blue eyeshadow. It's literally gone for that entire segment. She couldn't be committed enough to take out her false eyelashes to completely sell it but we know she has a hang-up about those. But I was surprised to see the eyeshadow gone because it's ever-present at every other time and she doesn't adjust it to match her wardrobe.
 
While Rarity isn't Best Pony, she's Secret Best Pony.
I used to think it was Pinkie, then she got annoying. Then I thought it was Twilight, but she got boring.

So now it's Rarity and I hope I don't start to not like her too :(

At least I still have Spike. May that dragon never change.
 

DemWalls

Member
I actually didn't have issues with her behaviour this week.
Two of Rarity's defining traits are that she's stubborn and that she tends to think she knows best, so her refusal to acknowledge that she doesn't know her sister anymore seemed fine to me. If you wanna delve beneath the surface a little, there may have even been some denial there.

Indeed, but I think there's a thin line between being stubborn and just acting like an imbecile, and I reckon the writers made Rarity cross it this time. Don't remember ever thinking that before, not even in episodes like the aforementioned Simple Ways.

That said, the previous message really was a hot take, and I may appreciate this episode more on subsequent views. It happened in the past, and all in all I don't consider this episode terrible. Just... inoffensive?
 
Oh, a best pony discussion? For me it's still Twilight at the top, then Rarity. Then probably Fluttershy. It's more nebulous after that.

Concerning Twilight being boring now, I felt that was the case in early season 4, but I haven't had any problems with her since then. We still have plenty of dorky moments, moments where she freaks out, motherly moments with Spike, etc., and now bae moments. Fun fact: before I started the series, I was only really familiar with it through GIF avatars (which NeoGAF no longer has), which made me think for some reason that Twilight was a villain. Particularly, I thought she was supposed to be the ineffectual Team Rocket style villain that gets caught up in things like a crowd tossing her up and down in the air: that's how I interpreted a GIF from "The Ticket Master" where she has an unamused expression while Pinkie has ponies do that. Plus, you know, she had dark fur, so clearly she was the villain while the white unicorn was the hero. I was actually pretty surprised when I started the first episode and saw Twilight was not only a hero, but the main character.

I wasn't particularly a fan of Rarity early on, only thinking she wasn't as bad as she could have been as the stuck up popular girl character. I liked her more after "Suited For Success" showed more sides of her and portrayed her as an actual professional, but it took "A Dog and Pony Show" for me to really enjoy her as a character. I don't recall finding her melodramatic scenes that entertaining before then, but I did after that. I really appreciate the continued focus she's had as a businesswoman, and how much they've avoided the stuck up popular girl qualities I was fearing.

As for Fluttershy, she just has an adorable design that strikes you from the start, and she often gets pretty good episodes, even if they often have similar themes. It might surprise you to learn that I once feared a character was becoming a Mary Sue, and of all characters, it was Fluttershy. "The Return of Harmony Part 2" had that scene where Fluttershy is chasing after Discorded Rainbow Dash and catches up to her despite having a hot air balloon tied to her, which led a lot of fans to believe that Fluttershy was secretly faster than Rainbow. Combined with "Green Isn't Your Color" showing that Fluttershy is a better model than Rarity, "Suited for Success" portraying Fluttershy as having more sewing knowledge than Rarity (as fans then interpreted her rant about how Rarity should have stitched her dress), and "Lesson Zero" portraying her as being super strong, I was worried they'd end up revealing she was better than everyone else at their respective skills. Not intentionally, but through constant gags involving subverting expectations. I have to imagine the show crew realized this too, because we haven't actually had scenes like that since, to my knowledge. "Hurricane Fluttershy" largely put my fears to rest.

More fun facts: before I started the series, I assumed Applejack was significantly younger than the others, since I only saw her in a GIF of her sitting down, leaning against a tree, which made her look smaller, and one of her making a silly face from "Look Before You Sleep" after telling the "ghost story" about Rarity, which didn't provide size information. I think I largely interpreted Rainbow Dash correctly, besides her being more into sports than I expected. I don't believe I was aware Pinkie existed before I started the series, oddly enough; did I really never see an image of her? When she appeared in the first episode, gasped when Twilight greeted her, and ran away, I really thought that was the end of that character, and was surprised when she returned to throw her a party.

I also thought the definition of pony was "young horse" even when I started watching the series, up through "Applebuck Season" where Mayor Mare appears. I was thinking, "Huh, weird that they have a young horse that's supposed to be old." That finally drove me to look up what "pony" meant. I blame Celestia for me not looking it up before. Literally, since it's easy to think Celestia is meant to be the one adult in a world of children when she's the only normal sized horse; I figured it was a Neverland situation. Oddly, I had that assumption while also thinking Twilight was meant to be a college student, but I suppose I just wasn't thinking about it before then.

On another note, I'm looking at Derpibooru, and maybe I had it backwards when I assumed that episodes airing early would increase the amount of fan art. There's significantly less art of "Fluttershy Leans In" than "Rock Solid Friendship", and not much came out before Saturday. There doesn't seem to be an increase in detailed art either; the ones that have come out are from artists that usually release detailed art on Saturday or Sunday anyway. Maybe it's just this episode; we'll see next week.

Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight: Who You Are

And I suppose I should make these posts on Sunday too.

Today's Canadian episode is
7. Parental Glideance
When Rainbow Dash's parents discover she's a Wonderbolt, they show up at every event to cheer her on. However, their unabashed enthusiasm proves to be rather embarrassing and pushes Rainbow Dash to the brink.

Episodes that can be discussed without spoiler tags
1. Celestial Advice - Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer’s future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia.
2. All Bottled Up - While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle’s friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map.
3. A Flurry of Emotions - After planning a jam-packed day, Twilight Sparkle also agrees to babysit her niece, Flurry Heart. But with Flurry Heart along for the ride, Twilight Sparkle struggles to maintain her title as 'The Best Aunt Ever' while keeping Flurry Heart out of trouble!
4. Rock Solid Friendship - When Pinkie Pie learns that Maud might move to Ponyville, she does everything she can to make sure her sister sees that it has more to offer than just rocks.
5. Fluttershy Leans In - Fluttershy is determined to make her career dreams come true with the help of some very special ponies. But when her true vision is not being executed properly, she must find a way to stand up and fight for her ideas.
 

Village

Member
Lets cut the bullshit here.

Best pony is filthy rich, my man is despite his wife genuinely a good dude and rides on nimbus cloud of money. Filthy rich leauges above and beyond most ponies.

Best alicorn, Luna
 

Orcastar

Member
Parental Glidance:

Wow, they just spent an entire episode awkwardly avoiding saying anything about Scootaloo's parents.
 
Through season 1 and part of season 2 my favorite was Rainbow Dash. As a naturally competitive person she is the member of the Mane 6 that I relate to the most. But then early on in season 2 Sisterhooves Social and Sweet and Elite both aired as well as Mysterious Mare Do Well which soured me towards Rainbow and made me love Rarity. As far as the Mane 6 goes she's remained my favorite since then although at this point I think my favorite character overall is Starlight. She hasn't had an episode that wasn't great so far and has generally been the most interesting thing in the show to me since her introduction back in Season 5.

I think part of the major problem with Twilight now is just that her character kinda feels aimless now. Pre-ascension she was working towards the eventual goal of being a Princess but it happened way too early and I feel like the writers still don't have a good plan for her going forward. Season 4 her princesshood was either non-existent or the entire focus of an episode and it feels like they originally had a plan for her to delve deeper into magic and become some super powerful magician (with the element of magic being revealed to literally be her cutie mark and having that mark already be on the Tree of Harmony right next to Celestia's and Luna's) but like their plans for the Castle of the Two Sisters it feels like all of that got thrown out the window as they re-planned her arc going forward with the introduction of Starlight. And Starlight feels like a massively missed opportunity for her as it would have been a great opportunity to have her act as a strong mentor to her and show off how far she's come but in practice Twilight usually was busy doing other things while Starlight largely learned everything either through Spike or trial and error. When Starlight defeated Chrysalis with her suicide squad it should have felt like as much of a triumph for Twilight for helping Starlight become who she was as it was for Starlight, but no such correlation has been made. Twilight has had some good episodes the past couple years (I loved her appearances in Testing 1, 2, 3, Saddle Row Review, and Top Bolt) but her overall arc has been unfocused and unsatisfying ever since she became an Alicorn.



Also since no one is saying it, Today's episode Parental Glideance was really good. Josh Hamilton (Previously best known for working on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, and the new Thundercats show) had a very impressive first showing and I look forward to seeing his work in the future. Finding new talent to replace the old writers that leave the show is essential to insuring the show's quality going forward and it definitely looks like Hamilton has potential to be one of the better ones they've had.
 

Ogodei

Member
Pone rankings:

1) Fluttershy
2) Twilight Sparkle
3) Rainbow Dash
4) Rarity
5) Pinkie Pie
6) Applejack

Though they all have their moments.
 
I'm beginning to notice a trend here: family-focused episodes are pretty consistently the best in the series. Whether it be the Apple family going on a roadtrip, a holiday spent at the Pie rock farm, Fluttershy trying to right her brother's life, or Sweetie Belle and Rarity getting closer at the Sister Hooves Social, there's something really great with how the writers tackle family.

That leads me to Parental Glideance,
which was one of my favorites in the show ever. Tons of laughs, Rainbow Dash's house was awesome, pretty interesting dynamic between an accomplished child and overzealous parents, and Scootaloo x RD bonding always welcome.

But what the fuck Cheerilee, too many pictures? A 'B'? Go away.

Lol reminds me of an old German comic that someone translated. This was my favorite part:

r8raEI3.jpg

This image is a national treasure. There's about 10 things I can point to that's wrong with it.
 
Lol reminds me of an old German comic that someone translated. This was my favorite part:

r8raEI3.jpg

Is that the comic that randomly introduced Prince Hans or something, a colt prince who looked like Blueblood's younger brother? I remember that people thought he was going to show up in "A Canterlot Wedding". In the picture, the random pony recolors at least make sense because they're from the toys, but I love how they included Spike's Nightmare Night costume and edited out Spike.

EDIT: It was Prince Leon, now I remember.

Also, I'm reminded of the Squishy and Squashy series.
 

UberTag

Member
I jumped the gun on the latest pony ranking refresh a few weeks ago... so here's a reminder. (Only two of the Mane 6 made the cut.)
My current Fave Five pony rankings...

1) Rarity
2) Sweetie Belle
3) Trixie
4) Fluttershy
5) Starlight Glimmer
 
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