An Old Head

Probably pretty well, because they know that Pinkie will be back in no time at all. It's not like there's a premise of them losing their favourite party pony forever, she's just trotted off to another place for a while. With Magical Mystery Cure, their impression was that there'd be no way to fix something as grave as a pony losing her cutie mark. Like, that's a huge deal, the Elements of Harmony switched themselves around. They probably foresaw it being irreversible and then got depressed. The looks on their faces when she returned, though!

@@Cwanky Hi there - it looks like your topic was asking about the level to which we view our favourite characters, so I've merged it with our Character Love Scale thread. Just so that you know.

Are we talking huggable Pinkie? Best Pinkie!

Apologies, guys, I was given the wrong information for part of the OP. The OC of the Hasbro associate wasn't the wheelchair pony in Trade Ya, it was one of the wheelchair ponies from Leap Of Faith. I have amended the OP to reflect this. As a user above rightly said, the wheelchair pony in Trade Ya actually belonged to a child from the Make A Wish foundation. @, this concerns your question

I am friends with an employee of DHX, and he recently revealed some very interesting information that I thought would befit some discussion amongst you guys. This is what he posted a few minutes ago to a Brony Facebook group: "Just to let every pony know that yesterday's episode was to do with the Western trading companies. The animation was created and produced to give people an idea on what happens at trading conventions (as I like to call them) and the pony in the wheelchair from Leap of Faith is an OC of one of Hasbros work colleagues who had a car accident in September and is now wheelchair bound. People have been commenting about why there is more disabled ponies in this season. Well it's mostly to do with Derpy or Ditzy. See if Hasbro are going to use Derpy, they have to create new characters with other problems so Derpy isn't the only pony with problems if that makes sense, it's like pointing out the weak link in the group. So with new characters taking some of the heat off Derpy Hasbro can sort out writing good scripts for season 5." So it looks like Season 5 is underway in production, and we get this interesting tidbit on Derpy. It looks like we're seeing ponies added that have disabilities so that Derpy's supposed disability is evened out. So... What do you guys think of it? Do you agree with it/disagree with it? What other disabilities do you think will be encompassed?

@@ggg-2, Eyo, heads-up that there already existed a thread for switching lives with ponies, so I've merged your thread into it. For future reference, please use our search feature before making a thread - thanks

@, @, Hi guys, in case y'all were wondering, I've merged your two Legends of Equestria topics with this earlier one. Thanks!

So I just finished watching this after missing the stream because I am a forgetful fool. I should do that more often - makes me less inclined to switch tabs in the middle of the stream to voice my thoughts at the same time as everyone else. Also feels more complete given the lack of commercials. As a whole, I thought this episode was pretty solid. From within the first few minutes, I was impressed with one thing in particular - they're finally paying some real attention to Twilight's duties as a princess! She went and did what someone royal would do, away in Rainbow Falls, and that gives her status a lot more definition. Good on the writers for putting that in while still not losing sight of the episode's premise. Speaking of the premise, I thought the whole trading idea was very interesting. It was fresh and new, and it didn't feel contrived or as if they were running out of episode concepts. It gave them a lot of chance to put the character's personalities into a totally new situation (I'll talk about character accuracy in a mo' actually) as well as teach the audience at home a thing or two about the importance of fair trade and the potential pitfalls of the market. Reminds me of how they should've taught those sorts of applicable life skills in school - guess kids these days have to go to their TV shows to know of their existence! Good on the writers again for thinking of that one. Pinkie Pie, for the most part, was a very pleasant and enjoyable character, as always I saw a little bit of my father in Pinkie Pie this episode; my dad has a lot of proficiency in knowing how to get the best out of deals and turn situations in his favour. With Pinkie having the observational skills to reap some value out of Twilight's collection, I really smiled and said aloud "Smart girl!" I also like how it linked in continuity with her general aptitude at drawing a crowd's attention, speaking and captivating masses is a great skill that they're not afraid to bring out with her. Oh, and another thing I enjoyed about Pinkie Pie's role this episode is how she actually failed to properly entice the crowd and they ended up walking away. I think that was very important. It shows that you're never going to succeed at every undertaking you do, no matter your expertise. I really did nod my head in approval at that. On the friendship side of things, I gotta admit, I wasn't too distracted by how Pinkie continued her auctioneer act despite Twilight not wanting anything for her books. For me, that's just Pinkie Pie seizing an opportunity and simply mistaking Twilight's reluctance for modesty. She was always out to get something nice for her friend Twilight, simply because she's a kind soul, and I think that's what matters. I guess my only gripe(s) about the episode were the other two arcs. The Applejack-Rarity perspective on the market came off as very flat to me. I felt as if the writers were feeding the characters the words... they both said "I'm honest" and "I'm generous" rather bluntly and without a lot of inspiration, in my opinion anyway. Then there was the Rainbow Dash/Fluttershy perspective and I facepalmed a lot during their quest for the book. It's as if Rainbow Dash lost 92% of all her integrity. She seemed like a total ditz this episode, from carelessly breaking the chalice to her general naivety when it came to the final trade. Definitely felt sorry for the poor Flutters! I suppose on the bright side, it could be seen as a commentary of overly obsessive fans of anything - remember to chill out if you're overwhelmed by desire! On a whole? Solid 7, possibly an 8. This episode was a welcome addition to the series, and I appreciate it for what it managed to cover. I'd still ideally liked to have seen it a little more well-rounded when it came to keeping all the different character timelines in check. It's very easy to go off the rails - in terms of pacing and character accuracy - when you've got to manage more than one angle. They did it superbly in The Best Night Ever; should've brought it here! That still doesn't detract from how plenty of moments in this episode made me laugh, made me think "Good stuff" and generally pique my satisfaction. I'd certainly watch this episode again!

Whereabouts in the episode? D'you think you could upload an image to your OP? I must have missed it. Strange, the Lutece twins are meant to pop up everywhere! Should've been able to acknowledge them instantly if that were a true cameo, right?