>>28781 I have an episode or two in mind I wouldn't mind writing about for this thread. Hopefully I can get to them later this week.

>>28797 sure , no need for forcing yourself for this thread if it does not get any engage , i will just assume no one gives a fuck about it

>>28781 >make sure to write at the top of your text that if it is Spoiler free or not , there are new pony-fags who have not finished the series yet Starswirl the Bearded dies

>>28800 do you remember pony? she dies the king u see there he dies -- from aids prob

>>28781 spoilers Canterlot wedding I wouldn't post it if my view didn't clash with some others that I read on various places... anyway, here's shit nopony cares about: People have seemed to rant that Twi's friends didn't support her in her speculation that cadence is a mean bitch, but on what basis? she didn't see her foalsitter she apparently loved so much for years and when she sees her, she is in the middle of a wedding not just a wedding, but full-blown royal ceremony observed by whole equestria and beyond, sort of like if british royal family wed not even counting that there were attack threats and high security everywhere doesn't make wedding organisation any easier under this payload of stress, of course cadence would act dismissive, under some situations straight up hostile, and that's alright hell, most of us couldn't keep our heads cool so hasbro missed an opportunity to show to kids that it's not evil to snap in stress, and instead turned her into a witch not to mention they just all out of nowhere introduced three major characters, which I don't really mind as scenario planning can get messy, but atypical of FiM

>>28804 nah , your points are valid

What an odd thread.

>>28860 is it? we used to do that in /mlp/ when a episode was aired it is better someone posting and shitting on a random episode per thread

>>28860 You're an odd thread.

>>28860 It is a bit odd in' it? I think it's just worded in a strange way, and worrying about spoilers this late down the line is odd too.

>>28916 come to think of it, yeah. i'm not here often but i've never seen <text> anywhere not sure why he put "episodes" in quoation marks "pony-fags" is something i haven't seen used as far as i can remember and aside these things, it seems like written by an ESL nigger no problem with the spoiler though. i sometimes forget episodes

>>28916 nah because i seen many new pone lovers joining the herd so i was worried may they don't like to get spoiled on also there are some bros who have not watched mlp compeletely -- >>28918 that is just a term from the old /mlp/ channers...i hate that i know that <text> used to be a command

Here is my review of Look Before You Sleep. This episode goes from one adorable moment to the next with each pony being cute in a way that fits their personality. Even though it's just a sleepover the conflict is interesting because it's about defining the relationship dynamics of members of the main cast. Usually, the show tried way too hard to focus on adventure and stumbled over itself in the attempt, but whether you're writing a story about cute ponies in a tree, or giant robots fighting, or sentient paper clips on a desktop, the story is good only if the character interactions are good. At the end of the episode we still see that Rarity and Applejack are capable of feeling friction with each other but are willing to move past it, rather than just being rewritten to "fit" each other for the sake of the lesson. It's interesting to note that The End in Friend is basically the evil bizarro version of this episode.

>>28943 >Usually, the show tried way too hard to focus on adventure and stumbled over itself in the attempt The show didn't even have a high enough age rating for adventure episodes to have the teeth they needed to be interesting in the first place; it probably would have been better off if it started out with a TV-Y7 rating like Transformers Prime did, and I doubt that most of the intended audience wouldn't be able to handle whatever they threw in there with the slightly higher rating. >is basically the evil bizarro version of this episode. That alone describes most late season episodes pretty well.

>>28804 My main problem with Canterlot Wedding was the Mane six getting into hoof fights like some weird ooc superhero nonsense, but the songs and the ending made up for it all, at least they did to me, and "Love is in Bloom" isn't a bad song to end the series on either. >not to mention they just all out of nowhere introduced three major characters Candyass, Shining, and Mombug were great additions, (even if Cadance should have just been a Pegasi, and Shining looked odd at some angles) so I don't mind too much.

picking a random image from my folder to see what I review, not gonna rewatch shit tho >those outfits Okay, I guess I'm reviewing two of these fuckers. Spoilers from this point on, bitches. >Magic Duel This is a Larson episode. Everyone is fun in it, whether they're having a solo moment or they're part of the group. At one point Rarity realizes that the entire town has been enslaved. Then she accidentally pokes her hoof with a sewing needle; she starts crying. I laugh everytime. Zecora shows up and they do some Empire Strikes Back homages; then she reminds Twilight of the real magic, friendship and all that. Meanwhile Trixie has trapped the entire town under a glass dome ala Mr. Burns. She was just some bitchy weirdo in Boast Busters, then one bad night in Ponyville turned her into a laughing stock throughout Equestria, so she went and found an op amulet in a Gremlins shop, traveled back to Ponyville, and enslaved everybody. It's actually fitting for her, in a way. After airing A Canterlot Wedding, the writers certainly weren't afraid to jump the shark anymore; and turning Trixie into a psychopath made for a good episode. She had unlimited power, she lost it, but she apologized this time, so it's all good. Friendship. >Rarity Investigates Don't remember who wrote this one. Charlotte Fullerton? Was she on MLP? I can't remember. I think after MMMystery they realized that they wanted to do another mystery story, but didn't want another Sherlock parody with Twilight. Rarity in a noir setting is such a perfect idea that I feel like it must have been something that the creative team had been sitting on between seasons. Rainbow Dash is kind of a dope in this one iirc. She even throws out the cliche "Maybe I really did do it!" line once. It's funny seeing her grow frustrated with Rarity's precise detective work, but the joke gets old when it's just so obvious that Rarity is going to solve the mystery with her methods. And of course the culprit was the one guy that the audience wants to suspect, so no surprises there. MMMystery kind of has the edge in that regard, since Pinkie actually did help solve the case near the end there. As it is, Dash doesn't really have her own moment like that to shine. I know I would have loved a scene where, after she breaks away from Rarity, she tries to do some of her own detective work, voice over and all--faster than Rarity would, of course--and fails miserably.

>>28943 it was when that the show was still girly so yeah i expected to have only cuteness and wholesome tone i liked the episode because of the personal conflicts between the two characters , AJ being a mud pony and Rarity being the dazzle it was interesting for what it gave us -- >>28970 >magic duel Zecora being the Yoda hmm...duel i see! help you need twilight with the force i say trixie was awsome and creative with her powers also she was a cheating noob tho So they manipulated her to give up on her amulet -- >Rarity investigates FASHION DARLING BRO-OUTFITTING rainbow was just done with rare at some point but i loved how scooby do ass episode it turned out to become -can't write much because of power outage shit

>>28984 Rarity investigates was funny and how silly rarity's methods were, trying to act like normal detective >but i loved how scooby do ass episode it turned out to become exactly >>28970 I know these names, but I've never looked into who wrote each episode. how much do they differ from one another? do they have their own style and quality?

>>28995 from my understanding M.A Larson and meghan are the best or most known there are so few other names that worth mentioning -- the problem is Season 8's most writers were new that is why you see that so many of those episodes are hated from the season 8

>>28997 the season didn't feel literally bad to me, but they sure did drop in quality most probably, the introducing of new story arc related to the 6 students of school of magic, which just wasn't that interesting

>>28797 I was thinking about 2 episodes that have grown on me over time. I'm not an analyst or reviewer so apologies if my thoughts are scattered. The first one is Baby Cakes. I know, I know, but let me explain. It has some good things going for, and the good parts add more to it than the weak parts detract. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the better Pinkie Pie episodes (not the best, but up there) because it has her in one of her most rounded roles. She has a great emotional range in this episode and it always highlights for me, on rewatching, how much depth she can have as a character when she isn't being sidelined as comic relief. It makes me wish Charlotte Fullerton had written more Pinkie episodes; I think she could have done some cool things with her character. Another thing I like about this episode is the pacing and structure. For such a low-stakes slice of life premise, the episode feels very snappy. No line or gag feels wasted or filler-ish; every scene builds on itself and once the tension in the central conflict starts building, it doesn't slow down or get tangled up in asides and subplots. It really shows that you don't need big set pieces or character melodrama or deepest lore to make a good episode; this episode is about as bare bones and bottlenecked as it gets but it can still make 3 characters (really 2 if you consider the twins effectively act like a single character) interacting in 1 location compelling. I think that's another thing about it that stands out to me: how well it does so much character work with so little material. Obviously the most polarizing part is going to be the Cake twins. They haven't grown on me or become more 'relatable' as I've gotten older. Maybe if I had kids of my own? While they aren't my favorite characters by any stretch, I do think they're the right foil for Pinkie in this episode and I can't think of anything I'd really want to change about them that wouldn't end up making the episode weaker. Every moment they're on screen can feel exhausting; this doesn't make for the most relaxing viewing, but they work well for their role in the episode, maybe even a bit too well at times. It's hard for me to hate their characters for that. I wouldn't fault anyone for not liking this episode - again, I have been annoyed by it as well - but I think it has a lot going for it and is generally underrated in the fandom. I can see the same soulfulness in it that you also get in episodes like Look Before You Sleep or Best Night Ever, and that soulfulness is FiM at its best.

>>29043 out of M6, pinkie feels like the most background one to me, which allows her to act a bit more eccentric so seeing pinkie pie in more natural light while still preserving her childishness was actually relieving to me >They haven't grown on me I don't think they were supposed to, they were just an object in episode centered around pinkie pie. but i do think that writers designed it with parents watching in mind: showing how stressful parenthood can be for two little rascals that shit themselves and scream at things i don't have a kid, but i often babysat for my then baby cousin still, it shows at the ned, and it's truth, that the self-shitting rascals are worth it in the end

>>28995 >how much do they differ from one another? A lot and very little... To me, it comes down to their approach to the material. I agree with the Look Before You Sleep anon, character interactions go a long way towards making a story fun. One of the main strengths of MLP is that it has six great main characters to write about. But it's also for television, and certain rules need to be followed. Each script has the same three-act structure, and they need professionals who can write their stories to fit into those strict guidelines, like Amy Keating Rogers, for example. She began writing scripts in the nineties, and had worked with Lauren Faust on Powerpuff Girls. They also need to be able to write jokes. Comedy makes up a large part of every episode of MLP, and for the most part, the jokes fall into two categories: >character humor >gags There's usually a good mix of both in every episode. Applebuck Season is a great example of this. Applejack's stubbornness is the root cause of all of the gags in that episode (which are foreshadowed during the town hall scene early on.) She's too tired to actually help anyone, but she's also too stubborn to admit that she's not in any state to help anyone. Amy wrote Applebuck Season. Merriweather Williams is another career writer for television. She worked on the show at the same time Amy did, and she also has a good grasp on the characterization of the mane 6, but her episodes tended to be formulaic, suffering from bad writing tropes and cliches that we expected from shows like Care Bears, not MLP. Mysterious Mare Do Well is a good example of that. This was a divisive episode when it aired, but most people hated it. It has good parts to it (first appearance of the Rainbow Dash fan club), and we get a good look at some of Dash's insecurities, but it's all wrapped up in one of the most cartoony plots the writers room ever cooked up. The mane 6 put multiple ponies in danger throughout this episode, and it's all to teach Dash a little humility. The characters are effectively, for a time, rewritten so that they can serve the story. And Merriweather did this a few times, with Spike At Your Service being another example of that. I actually think that episode is funny, because the mane 6 do have some good lines in it, being great characters and all--but it's also a terrible episode too. Sorry if that rambled. That's a hard question for me to answer, honestly. >>29043 You've made me very happy Nonners. I unironically love Baby Cakes. Please write about your other slowburn episode. One thing I'd like to add about Pinkie's character: Twilight. She comes back to help Pinkie out later, but Pinkie denies her. She tells Twilight that she doesn't need any help, she has things covered. Which are all obvious lies. Pinkie is clearly in over her head by this point, but now she's got something to prove, not only to herself but to her friends as well, and that is that she is responsible, that she is grown up, and that she can handle a little babysitting. She kind of digs her own grave by that point, but you also want to see her succeed too. And the Cake twins, I think, are menacing in slightly different ways. Pound is more active, being the Pegasus, and while he's breaking things, Pumpkin is content to stay behind and find something to jam into her mouth. She was the more sinister one. They're not good characters or anything, but I think they're more interesting than, say, the twins from Rainbow Roadtrip.

>>29043 Baby cakes... that scene were one of the babies says pinkie and other says pie makes me teary , also that pinkie pie's face is adorable the whole story of that episode is how hard it is to take care of the children and why you should ask for help to share the responsibility -- slice of life was undoubtedly a fan-service episode for appreciation of brony fandom and it did a very good job of it

>>29143 >>29076 >>29043 guys please don't let this thread to die i am having fun reading your guys' reviews

>>29043 It's Mother's Day so I guess that's a good enough segue into my other underrated episode, which is...you guessed it...Family Appreciation Day. This one's never been as hit-or-miss among fans as Baby Cakes and I've definitely seen more anons over the last few years praising it. Still, it tends to get overshadowed in show discussions by more memorable or memeable episodes. The most common criticism I think I've seen is that the lesson, or conflict, is a little too obvious: why doesn't Apple Bloom stop making such a big deal about Granny Smith and just get over being embarrassed? It's easy to judge as being much ado about nothing from an adult POV but, and this is personal experience speaking, I found it a relatable episode (even as an adult) since I've certainly been embarrassed by family members before...especially growing up as a socially conscious kid trying to fit in at school. I think the strength of the episode is that, while it may come off a little trite or contrived to some on first viewing, it really sinks in after watching it more than once. It grows on you. It's very introspective and not at all flashy in a way that few other episodes of the show are. The flashbacks are fun and don't feel distracting. In fact I really like all the effects and visuals around the zap apples; it's a visually interesting and well-shot episode for a very simple story. It also gave us one of the best pieces of background music in the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu5jqJ5IKNA And that brings me to my next point: it's the best Granny Smith episode in the show, at least in my opinion. She usually shows up in episodes more as a gag than an actual character, so it's refreshing to see her treated like a real pony with a real life and backstory. There are some other episodes that feature her in actual roles, but they're rare, and I don't think any of them do what this one does. Ridicule, fitting in, peer pressure - these are all really powerful factors in human psychology and this episode puts on a solid lesson about loyalty and learning to stand by people close to you even when it isn't convenient. Just like Baby Cakes, I think this is the type of episode that's FiM at its finest.

>>29455 Family Appreciation Day is actually one of my favorite episodes. I think it comes off as contrived on the first viewing because Granny never had a history of embarrassing her family members before, but then Diamond Tiara, an obvious bully, suggests to Apple Bloom that Granny Smith may be a kooky old lady, one that's going to make a fool of her in front of their entire class--and Apple Bloom just believes her. Suddenly, everything Granny does is embarrassing. This isn't unbelievable or ooc or anything like that, especially when a kid as young as Apple Bloom is your main character this time. But as viewers, we know that there's obviously going to be more to the story than that. Still, most of act two is spent on gags centered around Apple Bloom trying to keep Granny from attending Family Appreciation Day. The story beats around the bush here imo (it did give us Scootaloo in a bell hop outfit though. So cute!) The Zap Apple lore, learning about them, helps keep things more interesting than they would have been otherwise, while we wait for Granny's presentation. Like you said in your review, Granny was just a gag character before this episode fleshed her out. She was the eccentric old pony. And after they've established Apple Bloom's fear of being embarrassed by her, they leaned harder into that eccentricity than they ever did. Granny wears a bee beard, she starts talking to glass jars, etc. Of course later we learn that all this kookiness ends up serving different purposes, all of them related to making Zap Apple jam. Apple Bloom doesn't realize any of this though, despite the fact that she's been "looking forward to making Zap Apple jam for years." Growing up on the farm, you'd think that she would have asked about the pink polka dots in the kitchen at least once before. Granny also licks a chalkboard later on, but they don't explain that one. Anyway, the episode is great because Granny's story ends up being captivating. (She's conveniently lucid during its telling, never forgetting any details or tripping over her words or anything like that, not unlike some old people irl.) She was just trying to help feed her family when she went into the Everfree Forest. Instead she went on a journey that ended with her discovering the secrets of making Zap Apple jam. Listening to her, the class realizes that her story is theirs too. She founded their town, they wouldn't be sitting there right now if it wasn't for her. Diamond tries one last time to get everyone to see Granny the way she sees her; she tries to poison their view of Granny, like she did with Apple Bloom earlier. But Apple Bloom gets up in front of everyone and finally sticks up for her Granny. >"She is not a kooky old lady! She is the most amazing pony in all of Ponyville." She's both. And it doesn't matter whether she's telling a great story or forgetting the words to a different one, Apple Bloom will always love her. >best pieces of background music I believe William Anderson did all the background music. Underrated part of the show imo. I don't love all the songs in MLP, but I do love all the background music.

<spoiler> Father knows beast i think this episode could have been so much better if; Sludge was actually spike's father but instead he would become such asshole father and made spike realizing that twilight even she is not his real parent she is a better choice for him as a family -- instead of sludge saying: "spike i am not you're real father" , instead he said "i left you because i did not wanted to take care of you" -- other than that i think the episode was had an interesting idea i liked that it worked on the relationship between spike and twilight but it exceuted badly also at the end it should have been sludge getting his ass kicked by starlight for throwing her out of the window that would be so sattisfying -- what you guys think?

>>29477 Family Appreciation Day was amazing it given us that baby AJ also that raise this barn song which was amazing AB was cute too Granny smith was funny as well babs seeds come back also rainbow fruit bats are kinda interesting too

>>29478 there's something to that writers obviously realised the mystery behind spike's past, though there are way more interesting mysteries, like discord's beginning these little enigmas are sometimes discusses in comics though I feel like detailed story behind him could be explained in a simple two-part IDW comic On the other hand, some things are better when we they leave us guessing, such as picrel for Mombug explaining her past

>>29484 i guess they did not wanted to making it that dark comic writers are much free-er than TV Y writers