My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[Specineff]

.... At this moment, considering whether or not I should also do another Pony episode review. No other episode made me want to kill someone quite as much as the Worst Two of Season 3 did, but there are plenty that need a good tongue-lashing.

Please do. I want to see if it's just me being too critical, or there are really some broken episodes.

[Edmond Dantes]

.... At this moment, considering whether or not I should also do another Pony episode review. No other episode made me want to kill someone quite as much as the Worst Two of Season 3 did, but there are plenty that need a good tongue-lashing.

Please do. I want to see if it's just me being too critical, or there are really some broken episodes.

Any particular episodes you have in mind?

I was thinking of possibly doing A Friend in Deed or Ponyville Confidential next.

[Specineff]

Actually those two would be fine, though I always felt Friend In Deed was weak and Ponyville Confidential was decent. (Not going to be a troll and ask you dissect Magical Mystery Cure)

[Edmond Dantes]

Actually those two would be fine, though I always felt Friend In Deed was weak and Ponyville Confidential was decent. (Not going to be a troll and ask you dissect Magical Mystery Cure)

.... I've already done MMC, actually (or rather, I showed it to my friends and basically I recorded a discussion about it. Still, we hit on every point that could possibly be brought up).

My video on One Bad Apple was a real review and the style I'd likely do future videos in.

[KennyMan666]

-There's an issue where Chrysalis kills a kitten.
-The covers all have illustrations of background ponies, and there are a lot of meme-references in the comics themselves
-Nightmare Moon was caused by a space miasma.
-Said miasma tries to infect Pinkie with nightmares, and she defeats it easily, because the writers thought that would be funny.
-The artstyle just looks... weird to me.

Right, so, in order:

It's all but explicitly shown in the comic that Chrysalis and her Changelings massacred an entire vilage full of cute little critters to replenish strength after they were defeated. The instance you're talking about does indeed happen as well. I don't really see how it'd be a warning flag, the comic in general goes a bit further than the show does.

The comics definitely have more fandom nods. Each issue has several different covers and some of them are heavy on it, I guess.

Nightmare Moon being the result of an outside force corrupting Luna was already canon, so...

That's not even true, and the rest of this is as unspoilery as I can make it: It happens to all of them twice, first time they get regular nightmares that they wake up from and the second time, where it's more intense, they all had to get outside assistance to snap out of it.

And that last one is just a matter of preference, of course. I really like the artstyle of the main chapters.

[Edmond Dantes]

-There's an issue where Chrysalis kills a kitten.
-The covers all have illustrations of background ponies, and there are a lot of meme-references in the comics themselves
-Nightmare Moon was caused by a space miasma.
-Said miasma tries to infect Pinkie with nightmares, and she defeats it easily, because the writers thought that would be funny.
-The artstyle just looks... weird to me.

Right, so, in order:

It's all but explicitly shown in the comic that Chrysalis and her Changelings massacred an entire vilage full of cute little critters to replenish strength after they were defeated. The instance you're talking about does indeed happen as well. I don't really see how it'd be a warning flag, the comic in general goes a bit further than the show does.

That's exactly the problem. I already have plenty of anime and books that have tons of violence and dark themes. But shows like MLP are what I go for when I'm tired and taking a break from that stuff.

It would be like if you came home from work only to wind up doing more work. Who wants that?

(Though to be fair, lately I've found the actual show tends to be either sickeningly saccharine or else too dark too. Nothing will ever be as good as season one, which perfectly balanced intelligence with fun, un-heavy storytelling)

Nightmare Moon being the result of an outside force corrupting Luna was already canon, so...

Uhhh, since when?

That's not even true, and the rest of this is as unspoilery as I can make it: It happens to all of them twice, first time they get regular nightmares that they wake up from and the second time, where it's more intense, they all had to get outside assistance to snap out of it.

Kay, I double-checked with the guy who told me this. He stands by his recollection. I quote: "The second one where they 'all need assistance' her friends do go into her dream... just in time to see her rock out and beat the shadows herself. Maybe she sees them and THAT gives her confidence, I dunno. They certainly don't give her a pep talk like they do the others."

[KennyMan666]

That's exactly the problem. I already have plenty of anime and books that have tons of violence and dark themes. But shows like MLP are what I go for when I'm tired and taking a break from that stuff.

It would be like if you came home from work only to wind up doing more work. Who wants that?

Eh, I don't know. The Changelings being back with replenished strength after being so thorougly beaten by the love nuke should already come with some nasty implications given how they sustain themselves.

Uhhh, since when?

Okay, I'm not 100% sure if it was before or after she left, but Faust said Nightmare Moon was something more than just Luna herself. Basically, her disappointment over people not appreciating her night as much as her sister's day was a weakness that allowed Something Else™ to corrupt her.

Kay, I double-checked with the guy who told me this. He stands by his recollection. I quote: "The second one where they 'all need assistance' her friends do go into her dream... just in time to see her rock out and beat the shadows herself. Maybe she sees them and THAT gives her confidence, I dunno. They certainly don't give her a pep talk like they do the others."

I have the actual comic pages right here, and while it's true they don't give Pinkie a pep talk like they do the others, Twilight does enter the audience and holds up a sign that says "Yay Pinkie Pie! Please wake up now!". It's kind of ambiguous as to whether or not that was the trigger Pinkie needed to break out of the nightmare, but it's there. Even then, I don't really have much of a problem if Pinkie has an easier time breaking it on her own. Arguably, her nightmare was the weakest anyway (and the rest of this is pretty much massive spoilers in a roundabout way): Twilight gets Celestia rejecting her, Rainbow Dash loses use of her wings in a situation where they're needed the most, Fluttershy has her animals turning on her and Applejack's nightmare is Sweet Apple Acres in total ruins and her family mad at her. Pinkie just gets a theatre audience not appreciating her comedy performance, which doesn't quite seem as hard-hitting as the other's.

Give the Rarity micro-series issue a try. The micro-series comics are more lighthearted, and Rarity's is by far the best one. It could easily have been an actual episode of the show.

[The Coop]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnlquKcFM58

Some animatics (and a song) from Season 4.

[The Coop]

I didn't know was in the making until about a month ago, but holy shit. This just blew the other fan animation projects right out of the water...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW5n3k2VgZE

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

^That was awesome, Coop. I think they were working on that for a few years.

[njiska]

I didn't know was in the making until about a month ago, but holy shit. This just blew the other fan animation projects right out of the water...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW5n3k2VgZE

Sweet, it's finally done. Excellent!

[Stormwatch]

Button's Adventures, anyone? Weak writing, excellent animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VhC1QF7ww

[The Coop]

Button's Adventures, anyone? Weak writing, excellent animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VhC1QF7ww

It's considerably better than any part of "Double Rainboom," and it's only one sixth the length. At least I got a few laughs out of "Button's Adventures."

[drunkninja24]

Button's Adventures, anyone? Weak writing, excellent animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2VhC1QF7ww

It's considerably better than any part of "Double Rainbow," and it's only one sixth the length. At least I got a few laughs out of "Button's Adventures."

This so much.

I enjoyed it.

[antron]

whoever did this should bron-up.

[Stormwatch]

Original here.

[Specineff]

http://sakuyamon.deviantart.com/art/Let ... -415315447

Dr. Who and FIM Premiere today. LE W00T.

[drunkninja24]

I must say, I quite enjoyed the S4 premiere episodes.

Nice way of setting up a theme for the season, and a nice bit of lore to boot.

[Edmond Dantes]

.... Right, I think I'm gonna burn my Brony card and get rid of any MLP memorabilia I still have (which isn't much since I don't tend to collect memorabilia).

This show has just become too stupid.

[Specineff]

My evaluation. (Possible spoilers)

Tree of Harmony: MacGuffin.
Celestia and Luna: USELESS.
Twilight and the others falling back to the elements in one way or another: Formulaic.
The box with the keys: MacGuffin-ception.

Twi and the others getting used to her position: More or less good. Writers are trying to undo the damage that Hasbro's forceful direction caused.

Pacing: A little bit off. Neutral.

Box with the keys, 2.0: Story-arc. Yes, potentially good.
Flashback to NM's uprising: Surprisingly good for such a short sequence. The animators put some serious work there.
Flashback-inducing Potion: Drugs are canon in Equestria. And Zecora is a peddler.

Bonus points: Everything Discord. DeLancie is having a blast playing him, and I found myself enjoying everything he did or said. I can see an arc or a couple episodes with him facing a true test of morality, and there's a lot of potential there. The writers better don't drop the ball.

8.5 out of 10.

[Stormwatch]

It's only an 8.5 if you're using Famitsu's rating, 8.5 out of 40.

[evil_ash_xero]

So, a thread that started as a "WTF?!" about bronies, has somehow became the thread about the show, that the bronies post in?

Interesting.

[drunkninja24]

Curious what some of you guys didn't like about the episodes....they might not have been perfect, but it was definitely well put together imo.

I definitely liked the characterization of Discord. He's not really evil anymore, but he's definitely still a bit of a prick, which is fitting.

[Specineff]

It's only an 8.5 if you're using Famitsu's rating, 8.5 out of 40.

Fine. 85 out of 100 total possible points.

I definitely liked the characterization of Discord. He's not really evil anymore, but he's definitely still a bit of a prick, which is fitting.

Q in a fantasy setting. What else can we ask for?

[Skykid]

So, a thread that started as a "WTF?!" about bronies, has somehow became the thread about the show, that the bronies post in?

Interesting.

It was only fair to let them have it in the end, so changed the thread title.

I was talking about the show not long ago with Rupert H and we both agreed we couldn't fathom the appeal. It just doesn't seem very good in the way people were making it out to be (scripting etc). When compared to Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack it feels very average.
An odd fad, for sure.

[heisenbergman]

Oh lol, so there's a MLP: FIM thread here as well? Nice

MLP:FIM is quite entertaining. Me and my wife watched maybe the first dozen or so episodes when the Brony phenomenon first gained a lot of attention and we found it to be a good kids show even though the brony appeal might seem a bit odd.

Then we stopped following it, and now we're catching up with it again since we have a daughter turning a year old and thus have a good "excuse" to do so )

[Stormwatch]

Fine. 85 out of 100 total possible points.

You mean out of 400, then. It was a clusterfuck. It was AWFUL. The writing was bad, the directing was bad, even the music was bad. It made even less sense than the previous season's shitty finale.

[drunkninja24]

Fine. 85 out of 100 total possible points.

You mean out of 400, then. It was a clusterfuck. It was AWFUL. The writing was bad, the directing was bad, even the music was bad. It made even less sense than the previous season's shitty finale.

I gotta respectfully disagree. Everything seemed spot on to me, but eh.

[Edmond Dantes]

So, a thread that started as a "WTF?!" about bronies, has somehow became the thread about the show, that the bronies post in?

Interesting.

It was only fair to let them have it in the end, so changed the thread title.

I was talking about the show not long ago with Rupert H and we both agreed we couldn't fathom the appeal. It just doesn't seem very good in the way people were making it out to be (scripting etc). When compared to Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack it feels very average.
An odd fad, for sure.

While for once, you're absolutely right (about any except the first season), I do honestly raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack are better. They feel just as bad in their own ways IMO.

I actually liked Samurai Jack, up until the episode where the only reason he couldn't reach a portal home was because Aku held it out of his reach... and then at the end Jack found a way to defeat that. The show should've effectively been over right then and there, but no, we're meant to believe he kept being stuck.

That's why I prefer anime. They don't drag a series out past its prime (except maybe Shonen crap) and if they do, they at least shake things up so that there's a new thing for us to be interested in. Arguably, the recent episodes of MLP did that, but they did it in a very hasty, half-assed fashion that was less convincing than Snake Armor He-Man.

[BrianC]

Powerpuff Girls was great until around the time of the movie. The movie was ok, but many of the episodes after it were weak. Many episodes were filled with jokes that completely missed the mark. It felt like those jokey sitcoms with the laugh track, only without the laugh track. I noticed a couple series on Cartoon Network pulled this strong early seasons, major change in later seasons thing. Dexter's Lab and Johnny Bravo did this too, though at least the latter had the original creator return later on. I liked the Powerpuff Girls Christmas special, though.