~StatesTheOblivious~

I like wolves the most. Dunno why, but I really like their physiogonomy, especially their eyes.

Just came back from Day 1 and ... Phew! Lotta people, lotta things to see and I'm exhausted from carrying all the merch, goodies and my camera. But it was totally worth it. Tomorrow will be mostly demo playing only, hopefully I won't have to wait too long in the queues for Overwatch, Legacy of the Void, WH 40K Inquisitor, Uncharted 4 and Battlefront.

This was ... the best Luna episode yet and one of the best episodes of this season so far. Gonna write a review, I think.

The call-backs, the pace, the concept - all very nice.

Oh, and I'm surprised this wasn't in the episode:

I liked it. If you wanna know why I don't love it, here's my review: https://mlpforums.com/blog/2437/entry-16999-slice-of-life-or-how-to-literally-jump-the-shark-after-more-than-91-episodes/

Long story short: The fan service was a bit too strong.

I’m … positively speechless. This was not just better than the last two episodes, it was the most entertaining episode in a long time. One funny moment followed another, several crazy new things like Discord’s lovecraftian home-dimension, return of The Smooze, all the references and Trollestia galore!

This was awesome!

Yet extremely …

Direct quote from Wikipedia:

The Kübler-Ross model, or the five stages of grief, is a series of emotional stages experienced by survivors of an intimate's death, wherein the five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Now, we all know that the show will most likely never deal with death and its emotional and physical consequences in a straight forward way, so all we’ll ever get will be hints and allegories like this very episode here. But that’s the problem: What this episode delivered was - ignoring the continuity breaking by having it aired way after Hearth’s Warming Eve or the actually quite differed way of integrating the five stages and forms of mourn in it - still not a good approach, mostly because of two reasons.

1) It simplifies the Kübler-Ross model. Not by simplifying the model itself, but its very scope. Yes, losing a companion, an emotionally close individual, is a hard thing to take. But Rainbow should’ve known from the very beginning that this “loss” was going to be a temporary one. She knew what hibernation was. She reacted like something really traumatic already happened. Her reaction might have been a totally emotional one, so you can only blame her for not controlling herself, but it was still a very childish one. She overdid it. And that leads to the second reason.

2) She might have not caused any irreversible damage by sabotaging the Winter Lab, but she still did something that wasn’t right. Now, while there is a lesson in the end, it’s just a half one. It was to accept loss and let go when it’s time, but she didn’t learn that doing what she did to prevent tank from hibernating while going through the five stages was wrong, no matter the outcome.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still things about this episode that were great. Honorable mentions go to the song and the comedic parts. I’ll Fly is probably one of the best songs from the show on my list and was the Rainbow Dash song the fans have been waiting for. While it’s not as great as it could have been – mostly because of the context it was presented in and not because of its quality – it still is a very good piece of music. And the way some of the 5-stages-scenes were done was done quite well, especially her getting angry (and her angry face) and the little scene with a more or less puzzled Spike. Not to forget about the scene with Open Skies, Clear Skies and Fluffy Clouds. That one was a really good laugh.

So my final rating of this episode is “Meh”, but probably in a more positive way than my rating of last week’s episode. Tanks for the Memories had a good idea, but failed a bit because of the show’s limits.

Uh ... Uh huh ... huh-wha-? I, um ... huh? Huh?!

Maybe it's because I've been watching this episode at 11:30pm, but I think I need some time to think about it and to watch it again after a good night's sleep. This was so right and so wrong on so many levels. Right now I'd say it was better than last week's episode, but for the wrong reasons. Hm ... Gonna write more tomorrow.

Okay, I’ve watched it again … but my opinion doesn’t change. In fact, I see it as one of the most mixed feelings-inducing episodes on my list. There are two things I have to talk about in this matter.

First, there’s the writing itself. There are good episodes in other TV shows and even entire movies about “time loops” and repeating dream sequences, but this here is just too simple to actually be anything but predictable. It felt very repetitive. At least there were some of the show’s funniest moments mixed in there. Then there’s also the pacing. Right in the middle of the second dream sequence, I thought “Dammit, get to the point!” But it didn’t. Ironically, after all this time and after so many episodes that could’ve needed more than just twenty two minutes of usable screen time, there’s finally an episode that could’ve been much shorter without losing any of its message. (This way most of the gags felt like fillers. Fillers were the thing I liked the most about an episode from a show that has proven to live from no-filler moments! Boy!)*

The latter brings me to the second point; the message. Right in the second dream sequence, we have something that could be considered the rough lesson to learn that simple differences shouldn’t get in the way of friendship and that you can still be friends even if you change. Nothing to complain here, but after all the time being, the CMC might have been more of the “Getting our CM’s for the sake of getting our CM’s!”-kind all along, but I hoped that the writers would actually implement that the CMC are more about helping each other to receive one’s and their CM’s instead of nearly excluding anyone who got it, despite the possibility of them still helping the ones who didn’t get them yet, even though they don’t end the friendship between them. This feels like a step backwards.

But my personal most “disturbing” thing about this episode is not the writing, nor is it the Matrix/Inception mashup or the ending, no – it’s Babs’ Cutie Mark. Why? Just let me put it this way … If you give a tomboy a scissor as the symbol of their special talent … Get it? I hope not.

*In addition, there’s also Luna’s part. It’s nice to see her as a benevolent ruler who’s guiding her subjects. But this felt so forced after having it already seen in the same way in two earlier episodes, so even the episode itself was kinda repetitive within the show’s continuity.

AFTERWORD: I do not hate this episode. It’s just easier to exactly point out the things one doesn’t like. It’s a “meh” on my scale. Not fantastic, but far from terrible.

Okay, okay ... This one was the worst out of the four aired episodes yet.

Don't get me wrong.

It wasn't bad, especially because it had this entire Inception and Matrix mashup and some of the most funny moments in the show, but it was less fleshed out in execution than the previous three were. The very predictable outcome and the extremely repetitive plot weren't able to do it for me. Not as much as the rest of the season has so far. Okay, Flapplejack (Ha-ha!) and actually good, but lazily implemented lesson aside, it was still enjoyable but kinda ... well, off. Didn't actually feel like a MLP epsiode to me, I don't know. I will probably write a longer review later, or at least more of my thoughts down, after rewatching it.

Okay, after watching the episode again, now in HD and without commercial breaks, I can see a few flaws, a few problems, but they're all nothing compared to the one probing, important, mind blowing question that's now stuck in my mind ...

It's not getting worse, it keeps being good. Yay!

Nice slice of life episode here with some good laughs and many feels. Also worth mentioning: Continuity! Great thing, got too less of that in the past of the show.

*watches new episodes*

...

Whoa, got a lot of potential there.

Not gonna talk a lot about the episdes' plot here now, just that it was good. Period. Nothing mind-blowing, but an excellent initial situation for the entire season, given the possibility - or even foreseeable guarantee - that Starlight Glimmer will return at one point or another. And her motivation is very interesting, to say the least. Animation got even better than it was last season and the song, while catchy, was nice but rather simple.

Oh, and we obviously have a Hall of Freindship now, cannot wait for someone making an edit of this one:

Well... just like almost every episode of the show.

Yeah, but at least most of them don't give away most of the plot by the synopsis alone.

Okay, while it might turn out pretty well in execution, I can already say that this will most likely be very predictable.

I mean, come one, what will happen? Dash tries to prevent winter from coming and then realizes that affecting that many people and things for a rather "selfish" goal is a no-go. Hopefully it will be told well, even if the plot turns out to be kinda predictable in the end.

Huh, wha-? Okay ...

*starts new trailer*

Okay ...

*finishes watching*

...

The hype just got real.

So, what did we see? Tons of hints that it will be an adventure-focused season, even better animation than in Season 4 and enough to make every fan at least a bit hyped for it.

Oh, and of course, this here ...

Everyone who gets this wins one internet.

Now, come on, Season 5. Start already! The wait will get longer the more we get hyped. I actually ask myself what the already announced trailer that will be showed at PonyCon will add to this piece of information ...

If I'm not mistaken, this actually is a basic feature of IP.Board's software. Isn't it? Would I like this to be implemented? Yes and no. Yes, because it has all the advantages you mentioned, no because it's something that'd make the forums a bit ... less open. Uh ... Actually, scratch that, I think it's a damn good idea. Period.

Not really, because it's not one name for those Ponies.

...

Snap!

Then I decide that the English names sound better.

Well, Blau Mond and Rot Stern sound more like an actual name. Take the viking Blue Tooth for example. He is called Blau Zahn in german.

But then you could still do this: Blaumond, Rotstern, Blauzahn ... Damn, I managed to turn this into a discussion about German spelling.

Thanks for the translation!

Blau Mond

Rot Stern

*tries to supress his inner German grammar nazi*

... Blauer Mond and Roter Stern.

*fails*

...

Okay, I'm a horrible person ...

While we're at it: Tender Voice.

The only reason I'll most likely never get a tattoo - no matter what it depicts - is that once you get older, they look pretty, well, um ... bad, you know. Wrinkles, anyone?

And a tattoo of Spike? Dunno ... Probably a bad-ass fanart version of him, but as I said: No tattoos for me.

It will go like this:

Human Twilight investigates the strange events that happened at Canterlot High at the end of Rainbow Rocks. While doing so, she will get to know the Humane 6 (Sunset Shimmer +5) and learn about their connection to said events. All of this will happen during that strange Olympics-sport-event-thingy (which will come with a fight against a new villain) and in the end she'll become a part of the gang. And so we'll have the expostition for a brand new series that follows a nerdy girl's first experiences in friendship. Wonder why that last point sounds so familiar, though ...

I'm actually surprised we don't have a Mudkip yet ...

Yesterday was Appreciate A Dragon Day over on MLP's Facebook page.

Seems like it wasn't spread that much over the fansites, though.

Sign me up for best moth.

Seems like (most of) the work is done.

https://twitter.com/TheRealSibsy/status/553668453631283201

And now we play the waiting game ...