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About this blog

These blogs carry various editorials, articles, and essays.

Entries in this blog

"Going to Seed" Quickieview

Note: Expanded my original thoughts. Credit also goes to @AlexanderThrond, @Odyssey, and @OptimisticNeighsayer for it. With a world as magical and fantastical as Equestria, any form of mystical being is possible. They may sound like fairytales (or "pony's tales," as what Spike once said about the Mare in the Moon). Not too often does the show do the opposite: establish the legend of a mystical jokester no one witnessed and make both ponies and viewers wonder if he doesn't exist. Considering
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"Sweet and Smoky" Review

Note: Credits to We Are Borg, MarikAzemus, and @Truffles for this review. After Sweet and Smoky, I won't be surprised if Season 8 was planned as equally as the 9th. The way she teased her off-screen bro after his horrid molt shows her edge, yet still cares for him. Combine this with Spike's feud with Garble still hanging in the air, what perfect time to address it than an episode about dragon-breeding. This episode mingles three plots: figure out how to hatch the eggs, get Garble to
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"Frenemies" Review

Note: Credits to The Dragon Warlock, @Sepul-Coloratura, and @TheAnimationFanatic for this review. Villains are often some of the more interesting characters in animation. Often they vary in personality, from grounded to eccentric. But the cartoon medium also gives writers an extra incentive by how amoral they can be and showing no remorse for their actions. Some of Disney's best villains like Jafar, Gaston, Honest John, Mother Gothel, and Scar are super expressive. When there's a song, they
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"She's All Yak" Review

Sometimes you just not look forward to an episode. Whether it’s the synopsis, unimpressive preview, or whatever, something didn’t click. Personally, I looked forward to it, although I understand why some didn’t. It had the makings to being the worst episode of the season at this point. Fortunately, it’s not. In fact, it’s a sneaky great one. For one, there’s a whole lot of really good comedy. Like every other episode this season, there’s a huge array of facial expressions, and they sell
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"Common Ground" Review

Note: Credit goes to @Cwanky for this review. For the first time, FIM brings back a celebrity guest: Patton Oswalt. When I first watched Stranger Than Fan Fiction, I panned the character he voiced (Quibble Pants), calling him a stereotype of superfans and for being so dumb to think he's still near the Daring Do convention despite being in a radically different climate. Upon reflection, he's nowhere nearly as bad as I claimed. Holding onto the idiot ball in Act 2 is a big flaw in the epis
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"Sparkle's Seven" Review

Note: Credit to @CloudMistDragon, @Justin_Case001, Kaperon TSB, and Applegeek for this review. Today Sparkle's Seven is Season 9's greatest episode. Everything fell into place and was written so, so well. But writing just this much only really undercuts the mastery of its storytelling and humor. Rather than doing simply a breakdown of the episode in a strength/weakness structure or a long essay, I'll break down specific points, ala my Movie review and Zeppelin analysis. Setting
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DQ's episode order from best to worst

After I failed Fake It 'Til You Make It, I decided to put all 28 failed episodes in order from worst F- minus to least worst F+. That list eventually expanded into a complete list of episodes I graded, from the best letter-plus episode to the worst letter-minus, . The statuses can be found here: A episodes, B episodes, C episodes, D episodes, and F episodes. With each list compiled, I'm taking every episode in the show and arranged it in order from the best to the worst. The list is always
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DQ's letter grades for various FIM media

One of my biggest peeves in reviewing is giving something a calculated score, because it's very difficult if not impossible to reduce the quality to such a mark. Plus, whenever many people see a score, they tend to not read the review at all and rely on the score/grade itself as proof for purchase. Nonetheless, if I were to grade the following based on the following items below, they would be the followings below the first rule. The grades are respective and separated to the following categ
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"Uprooted" Quickieview

Note: Credit to @Zestanor and @Truffles for this review. Since School Daze, the Young Six have been some of the best characters. Eccentric and childlike, yet diverse in personality, gender, and race, their friendship is linked by caring for each other. After Cozy thrust doubts subconsciously, the Tree's spirit reminds them of their powerful friendship. Uprooted is their second (unplanned) test: The Tree's detroyed to their massive shock, and they concluded to memorialize it. So how
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Buffalo Man's Tops and Bottoms of Season 8

Note: Various users are credited here, and there are some uncovered Season 9 spoilers (so read at your own risk!) Well, Season 9 arrived, so it's time to post my tops and bottoms of FIM's second-best season so far. My previous overviews are linked below. Season 5 Season 6, 1st Half Season 6 Season 7, 1st Half Season 7 I don't apologize for gushing over S8 this early. One important note: Despite being counted as an episode, The Best Gift Ever is se
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FIM's most impressive feat: consistency of good quality

With season 9 being its last, I could give my thoughts on it ending, but I did so already. Instead, I want to reflect on what the show has done. Over the years, FIM has had moments where many, myself including, declare whether the show jumped the shark or not. For those who don't know, "jumping the shark" is the moment that indicates its peak has passed and won't return to form again. Examples are located here and here. Of course, when something jumps the shark is subjective. What might be
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Soapbox draft: Season 8's dialogue

Being one of Season 8's biggest supporters and defenders, I wanna write an EQD soapbox explaining one reason why it's one of the show's best. You can check it out in the quote block below.  
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"Father Knows Beast" Review (Revised)

Note: Credit to @Truffles, @Sparklefan1234, @PathfinderCS, and Silver-Quill for this review, which I C&P'd from here with extra edits. This review has been revised to include a little more content. Sludge may be the most hateable non-villain of the series, if not one of them with Svengallop, Garble, Zephyr, and Spoiled Rich. Garble's someone to just hate, but Sludge you love to hate. This slob knows how to con others with no remorse. He wants to lives the luxury life and make you work f
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"Sounds of Silence" Review

Note: Credit to @Truffles and @Justin_Case001 for my review. Am I interested in talking about this episode? No. I'D RATHER SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! For Season 8, Nicole Dubuc brought in a few writers: Brian Hohlfeld, Kaita Mpambara, and Kim Beyer-Johnson. Minus Kaita, each of them have strong connections with Dubuc and worked with her on Transformers: Rescue Bots. Gregory Bonsingore is no exception. But for him, he's a little different compared to the rest. Bonsignore is an
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"What Lies Beneath" Review

Note: Credit to @Ganondox and Loganberry for this review. Like using Chrysalis to explain past events to the Everfree trees, much of what Vogel uses to start What Lies Beneath is exposition to describe the Tree of Harmony, its history, and purposes. But rather than using a character babble it out, it's told in the context of a classroom lecture followed by studying for a surprise test, and it wasn't all explained immediately or through one mouth. When Twilight lectured, students either a
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"A Rockhoof and a Hard Place" Review (Revised)

Note: Credit to @gingerninja666, @Ganondox, @Theanimationfanatic, and Justin Galloway on YT for this review, which has been revised to expand my thoughts better and for better editing as a whole. Out of every legend from Season 7B, Rockhoof's was the worst. Combined with being a boring character, the story itself was very bland, and Applejack told the entire thing rather than letting the tale show. It's competent, but completely uninteresting. How ironic that in his first self-con
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"Road to Friendship" Quickieview

NOTE: Copied and pasted my review from here and contains some extra edits. Trixie and Starlight's chant and dance were total cringe. Looking for me to dish another negative? You ain't gonna find it here. (On the) Road to Friendship's story's incredibly simple, its focus driven 100% by Starlight, Trixie, and their incredible chemistry. Just like Spike, Big Mac, and Discord from Break Down, they only became friends two seasons ago, yet thanks to Haber's clever writing, you'd think
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"The End in Friend" Quickieview

Having the teachers learn is okay. Having them become so out of character and incompetent in order to make the Student Six look like better friends and teachers isn't. There are many reasons why Complete Crap Clause is such a disaster, which I don't need to explain in this paragraph. One episode later in S8, The End in Friend, shares a lot in common with it, but unlike its predecessor, it fixes NCC's primary issues. Which ones? To go through them one by one: One of the biggest differe
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analysis "Once Upon a Zeppelin": Twilight's Growth as Princess

Last year, I praised Once Upon a Zeppelin as Fame & Misfortune written correctly for three reasons: writing an actual story than a hodgepodge of "jokes" disguised, the princesses' fans not written disparagingly, and writing Twilight well while simultaneous treating the multi-sided conflict with respect. Princess Twilight is the most developed of the Mane Eight; initially focused on her studies over friends, now it's reverses: she loves to read and study, but emphasizes friendship first. Beco
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"A Matter of Principals" Quickieview

Lately, when Discord is at his best, he's a jerk with a heart of gold. Without his inherent edge, he's a completely different character in his voice. Discordant Harmony and especially The Break Up Break Down handle that side very effectively. But when he's just a jerk, he loses that dimension and becomes antagonistic just because. And that's the case here. Because he's not leading the school, he makes Starlight, established previously and here as a friend, miserable. His worst moment, very
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The Return of Harmony: Princess Celestia's Second-Best Appearance

Consider this a little belated gift for the Summer Sun Celebration. Princess Celestia's best appearance was Horse Play. For the first time, FIM had a quasi-legit Celestia episode, and she was written very well. Despite being a country ruler, she had no acting experience and really showed how much she sucked at it. But when the play was on the verge of collapse in "celestial" proportions, Celestia leads the Mane 8 into saving it and becoming a nationwide success. This episode is a marvelous
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"The Mean Six" Review

Note: Credit to @Jeric, @PathfinderCS, and @Captain Clark and conversations with them on Discord for this review. One of The Return of Harmony's biggest strengths is its clever execution of the Discorded Mane Six. Discord manipulated each and every one of them — sans Fluttershy for humor's sake — into exposing a major internal weakness, such as Applejack fearing no one loves her and running away from the idea and Rainbow Dash fleeing the labyrinth and leaving her friends behind to protect C
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"Molt Down" Quickieview (Updated)

Note: This review has been edited to add more content. Do you remember dreading the thought of a Spike episode? I do. For so long, Spike episode were usually among the worst of the series, much less the season. For the first five seasons, no matter the plot, episodes usually starring him were usually awful; anything better wasn't the norm. But since Princess Spike (his worst outing of the show), everything changed. His episodes became good. DHX wrote him with dignity. Since Newbie
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"The Break Up Break Down" Quick Review

I don't know who was nuts enough to think Discord, Spike, and Big Mac would make a great team back in Season 6, but whoever it is, thank you! Big Mac, Spike, and Discord all act like they knew each other for years, even though this trio only formed after Discord officially became a part of the Guys' Night team. They play off one another through their actions, responses, and emotions, creating great chemistry with one another. Speaking of chemistry, Spike and Discord are outstanding in their
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Buffalo Man's Tops and Bottoms of Season 7

To continue the pattern from S5, this is a review of S7 as a whole, with both tops and bottoms in respective categories. To view the rest: Season 5 Season 6, 1st Half Season 6 Season 7, 1st Half No apologies for C&P'ing content from my First Half overview (with some changes). Episodes Bottom-5: Fame & Misfortune Where do I start? a. The dialogue is atrocious. b. The RM6 published all of their lessons from S4, including the one from Dar
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