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About this blog

Real-time notes from watching MLP episodes (starting with G1)

Entries in this blog

Rarity Takes Manehattan

See * for disclaimer   Rarity Takes Manehattan (January 4th 2014, 22 minutes)   Summary: Rarity discovers that generousity can be taken advantage of.   I sincerely hope the title is in reference to the Muppets take Manhattan, not Jason takes Manhattan. Although now that I think about it, that would be briefly amusing.   New York actually does have a 'Fashion Week', ever since 1943 in fact, and occur twice a year to handle the differences between Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer fashions.
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Bats!

See * for disclaimer   Bats! (December 28th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: We can't stop here, it's bat country! Sweet Apple Acres is infested with uncontrollable vampire fruit bats.   Apple Bucking Day? This is odd in several ways. One, AJ is seen bucking apples pretty much every day (which is weird actually). Two, I thought it was Apple Bucking Season, not Day. Three, under normal circumstances apples don't all go ripe at the exact same time on the exact same day. Different cultivars will
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Power Ponies

See * for disclaimer   Ah. Here we have a procedural problem. Up until now, I've been trying to do these entries in the chronological order of the source material's issue. Which means, I should be doing the second Pony Tales volume, followed by the FriendShip Ahoy! story line in the comics.   The problem is I'm reading those off of the Kindle Trade editions. And they haven't released the Kindle versions of these compilations. Supposedly the Pony Tales Volume 2 will be released for the Kindle
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Flight to the Finish

See * for disclaimer   Flight to the Finish (December 14th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders have to compete to carry the Ponyville Flag in the Equestrian Games. No matter what disabilities they are told they have.   The various towns are sending teams to the Equestra Games. So this is the Olympics writ small, with towns instead of nations.   Ponyville has a flag. Huh. I guess towns do usually have something *like* a flag, but it's not something that comes up often.
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Daring Don't

See * for disclaimer   This is another problematic episode from a worldbuilding perspective. Not impossible to work with, but it causes pretty severe shifts in perspective.   Daring Don't (December 7th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Rainbow Dash gets a chance that few ever get, meeting a fictional character.   Fortress of Talicon. Arrow defense. You know, that sounds like a video game. Or a hidden reference to Samurai Jack episode "Jack and the Three Blind Archers".   And Rainbow Dash ge
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Castle-Mania

See * for disclaimer   Castle-Mania (November 30th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Where are you, Ditzy Doo? No, Ditzy isn't in this one. It the best I could do for a Scooby Doo joke.   I've been curious about this library in Ponyville, anyway. Is there a library *system* in Equestria? Celestia seems to have direct authority over the libraries, in the same way she had direct authority over her own school, in order to put Twilight in as librarian with little effort. Are there book exchange pro
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Princess Twilight

See * for disclaimer   Princess Twilight (Parts 1 and 2) (November 23rd 2013, 2 x 22 minutes)   Summary: Princess Twilight must discover where Celestia and Luna have disappeared to, and to do that requires a sacrifice.   Part 1   Twilight thinking about it too much.   There's an interesting question. Twilight's got wings, but did she get the ability to walk on clouds and the like as well?   No need for that now? Was there need for that before? I don't remember Celestia insisting that
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My Little Pony: Annual 2013

See * for disclaimer   My Little Pony: Annual 2013 (Comic Special, October 30th 2013)   The Annual comic includes two functionally independent comics, both related to the Equestria Girls alternate universe.   The Fall of Sunset Shimmer   Summary: How Sunset Shimmer came to Canterlot High   Sunset taking a mid-term test at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.   We see cute-markless Twilight plus Cadance and Shining Armor in the background. That gives us a general time-frame for this
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Neigh Anything

See * for disclaimer   Neigh Anything (Comic Issues 11-12, September 24th, Octover 30th 2013)   Summary: The story of how Shining Armor and Cadance met, from their own perspectives. Sort of. Maybe. Accuracy of flashbacks not guaranteed. Definitely.   Issue 11   We're at Tealove's Tea Room, in Canterlot. Tealove is one of the ponies Big Mac got shipped with last arc, wandering around Ponyville. Canterlot is close enough to Ponyville that you can see Canterlot castle distinctly from the vi
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Pony Tales Volume 1

See * for disclaimer   I could do these as individual entries, but honestly at this point I just want to get through this stuff. I'm not exactly regretting this blog, especially with starting with G1's first special and going through *every* episode ever as I've found that to be a useful experience, but adding in the comics and novels may have been a mistake. Not that there isn't stuff to pull out and comment on, but that the length of time I've been doing this is a bit wearing and I find myse
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Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair

See * for disclaimer   Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair (Comic Issues 9-10, July 31st, August 28th 2013)   Summary: A day in the life of Big Mac.   Issue 9   The Apples have an upright piano. I wonder who plays?   Heh, Benford tool box. Reference to Tim the Tool Man Taylor, as part of the tv series and standup routine for Tim Allen back in the day.   For want of a Nail, a proverb that goes back to at least the 13th century.   Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown. Taking the 'wrap-up
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The Rockin' Ponypalooza Party!

See * for disclaimer   The second of the series of G.M. Berrow novels. As I mentioned previously, these are being treated as canon by Hasbro as IP owner, even if the DHX crew isn't. But then, maybe they are, because of something that happens with this particular book, and with the most recent episode. Otherwise I would have skipped this one, and the rest of G.M. Berrow books as fluff. With this, and the Cadance as a pegasis originally in the previous book, it seems that the DHX crew is in fact
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Equestria Girls

See * for disclaimer   This is not the first My Little Pony theatrical release. It's the second one. The first was back in G1 with My Little Pony: The Movie. Fan reaction to this EqG film was mixed, but it pulled in a lot more money than Hasbro expected on it's own. According to some stockholder reports, the box office returns for Equestria Girls was *astonishingly* high given the strange specialty release to only select theatres. Supposedly, however, it did not do what they wanted in selling
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Nightmare Rarity

See * for disclaimer   Nightmare Rarity (Comic Issues 5-8, March 27th, April 24th, May 16th, June 12th 2013)   A lot less pop-cultural references this time around. Which gives a bit more room for actually building the setting.   Summary: The Nightmare returns, and this time the corruption is less than generous.   Issue 5   Notice that Spike is sleeping in a dog bed? That's not just here, that's in the show itself.   Mabel from Gravity Falls, as Maybelle the pony, twinned with a cute
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The Return of Queen Chrysalis

See * for disclaimer   Another first, let's see what's in the comics this time. Just to summarize this; due to the nature of the comics this appears to be more a listing of pop-cultural references than anything else. There is actual worldbuilding going on, but it's buried under so many in-jokes that it's a bit distracting. So many references from the 80's that it's more indicative of the writer's backgrounds than anything. However, let's take a shot at this.   The Return of Queen Chrysalis (
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The Crystal Heart Spell

See * for disclaimer   Okay, I'm not sure how this is going to work, as doing what I've been doing out of written text rather than video feels a bit odd. However, I'm going to try at least once. I may not do the other novels individually, or at all, depending on how this goes. For those wondering what happened to the comics, I'm going to do them as a batch based on the trade compilations, and the first trade is Volume 1 which contains individual comics published from November 2012 to March 201
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Magical Mystery Cure

See * for disclaimer   This episode had a lot of controversy around it. So in addition to the disclaimer above, I'm going to reiterate that I'm not looking at judging the quality of the episodes. I'm just pulling out bits and pieces that are indicative of culture and worldbuilding within the episodes, plus noting things that amused me, because it amuses me to do so. Basically I'm taking things as presented.   Magical Mystery Cure (February 16th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Twilight Sparkle
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Games Ponies Play

See * for disclaimer   Games Ponies Play (February 9th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Can the Mane 6 win the bid for the Crystal Empire's hosting of the Equestria Games?   Yet again, a title reference, but this one even more vague. There's a variety of songs by this name, most of which were supposedly inspired by a 1964 book on human psychology and transactional analysis.   From a presentation point of view, the conceit of this episode and Just for Sidekicks is pretty neat. Running two epi
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Just for Sidekicks

See * for disclaimer   Just for Sidekicks (January 26th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Spike takes on the responsibility of critter-sitting.   More odd titles. Just for kicks, is a standard catchphrase. It's also the title of a rather bad series of films about kids football (soccer).   Nice little callbacks to the phoenix chick Spike had. Continuity!   Making a Jewel Cake. Treating the jewels similar to nuts or candied fruit. As such, he should coat the jewels in flour before adding them
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Keep Calm and Flutter On

See * for disclaimer   Keep Calm and Flutter On (January 19th 2013, 22 minutes)   Summary: Discord vs Fluttershy! Fight!   What's with the titles this season? This is in reference to 'Keep Calm and Carry On', a British poster from just before World War II that was rarely seen in the first place. It's well known now, because a couple were found recently, but at the time the series of posters had been discontinued before this one actually got posted.   So the lower end of their legs are sh
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Spike at Your Service

See * for disclaimer   Spike at Your Service (December 29th 2012, 22 minutes)   Summary: Applejack saves Spikes life, and gets some unfortunate consequences.   That's not really that many books. Back when I was in University, that kind of workload was expected.   The Everfree Forest, dark and dangerous, again. It seems to fluctuate.   Ah, timberwolves. These really strike me as Discord's sense of humor. "So you ponies like to eat plants, do you? How about a bit of quid pro quo?"   Ra
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Apple Family Reunion

See * for disclaimer   Apple Family Reunion (December 22nd 2012, 22 minutes)   Summary: Applejack tries to organize the best Family Reunion ever.   100 moons since the last family reunion. Okay, the first episode was specifically called out as an Apple Family Reunion. So if 1 moon = 1 month (which is what 'month' literally means), then it's been about 8 1/3 years since the first episode. If however 1 moon = 1 week (the time from one Moon Day/Monday to another) then it's been not quite two
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Wonderbolts Academy

See * for disclaimer   Wonderbolts Academy (December 15th 2012, 22 minutes)   Summary: Rainbow Dash follows her dream to become a Wonderbolt!   Rainbow Dash's mailbox is firmly stapled to the ground, not up on her cloud condominium. This could be because the postal service isn't all pegasi and the mailboxes have to be mounted so that all mailponies can reach them. Or cloud houses move around, so they're not considered a 'fixed address' for mail routes.   Either Rainbow Dash is really imp
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Sleepless in Ponyville

See * for disclaimer   Sleepless in Ponyville (December 8th 2012, 22 minutes)   Summary: Scootaloo will do anything to impress Rainbow Dash, but does that include facing her nightmares?   Title pun on Sleepless in Seattle, which thankfully has nothing to do with this episode beyond the title.   Checkers with little horseshoe markers. Cute.   Standard pup tents. You can't get these anymore unless you pick them up custom, as dome tents and their variants have taken over completely. They'
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Magic Duel

See * for disclaimer   Magic Duel (December 1st 2012, 22 minutes)   Summary: Trixie's back, and she is going to make Twilight pay!   The shop of 'Needful Things'. This one's an old trope, predating Steven King (novel by that name), and the Gremlins movie (which is probably why the shopkeep is dressed with a mandarin hat). It's a shop that you only find when you're vulnerable, and they always have something that will 'help' that turns out to be the worst thing ever. The oldest story I've re
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