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Dark Qiviut

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  1. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: Credit goes to critiques from Tommy_Oliver, Silver-Quill, and VoiceOfReason for this critique of Flash Sentry.
    One of the biggest elephants in not only Equestria Girls, but FIM altogether. Both movies have a host of problems, and one of them is Flash Sentry. If there's one point where you can narrow down the laziness of the entire alternate world, it's him. Poor writing, lazy direction, character derailment, playing clichés to the letter. Flash Sentry is a lot like the characters of G3: flat, stereotypical, boring, pointless, and receives undeserved praise. On top of that, he's also a Gary Stu.
    But that's just slicing through the surface of Flash Sentry's issues as a character. To really get to the roots of the problems, we need to be really analytical with his character. What are the problems? What causes these problems? Any implications his overall concept represents?
    Crush on Twilight.
    Pedestria's* overarching plot is the ongoing crush Flash and Princess Twilight have on each other. Twilight and Flash Sentry keep bumping into each other, setting off the crush. Each time they do, Twilight's crush "deepens," so to speak.
    One very huge issue about the romance angle is how there's no chemistry between them. Twilight Sparkle is a very established character with several strengths and flaws that make her so endearing. During the middle of the first movie, her adorkable side came into play when she got so fascinated over the school library and later read the history book of Canterlot High that night. She may not freak out anymore, but that doesn't mean she doesn't become any less antsy, like her loss of patience over Rainbow Dash's inability to learn through the traditional methods and subsequent insults until Fluttershy called both her and Dash out. She has a passion to learn and is very logical in her approach.
    In Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, Twilight only grows a crush on him because of his looks. Nothing about his personality. Nothing to create common ground. They establish nothing between them. Flash's lack of dimension doesn't mesh with Twilight's studiousness.
    Whenever the characters meet, they almost always bump into each other. It didn't just happen once nor was it organically varied. They bump into each other again and again and again. DHX, you're not creating anything unique or original when you have two prominent characters in EQG/RR meet up so predictably. The first time — in The Crystal Empire — was okay because they never met. The second time was pushing it to the point of predictable. But when she bumps him the third time, it was no longer interesting. It was predictable. There's a reason why Twilight spilling her drink on him isn't funny. By Rainbow Rocks, this cliché was beyond tiring. It was obnoxious. Any hopes for a developed relationship died before he bumped into the wall in the Rainbooms' studio because DHX doesn't know how to create FlashLight conversation without making the audience cringe.
    Twilight's reasons for her crush is out of character. Think of the implications surrounding teenaged hormones: the idea that teens attach to other people simply for how hot they look. She only likes him because he's hot, nothing else. This is a stereotype of how teenaged girls view their teenaged boy crushes. Even worse is how this universe never subverts this stereotype. Instead, they play it straight. With Twilight as the main character in both films (and an established, three-dimensional being to boot), she becomes very shallow. The crush angle is insulting to her character.
    But that's not completely correct; the crush angle is even more insulting to Flash. His a crush on an interdimensional being, one whose true form isn't even human, is his lone source of conflict. But this conflict is bypassed in the first film and only referenced in passing in the beginning of Rainbow Rocks, basically nullifying the plot point. Unlike Twilight, Flash Sentry made his debut much sooner, in EQG1. You could've had the whole movie play off subversions of the hot hunk cliché by giving Flash more originality in his character and time for Twilight to have a very tiny crush on him that could eventually build over time. But both movies hammer in their relationship when they offer nothing to make the audience legitimately believe they like each other.
    The biggest irony about this angle is how Flash's crush on Twilight actually feels more genuine than Twilight's crush on Flash.
    Think of the romance between Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. A Canterlot Wedding hammers in how much both loved each other, wanted to get married, and were basically made for each other. One major problem: The source of chemistry is exposition only. They have very little in common to create any organic perspective of both characters actually loving each other beyond that one asspull in the climax. When Chrysalis's brain was replaced with the Idiot Box in order for them to perform their counterspell, their credibility is more damaged. Show, don't tell.
    Past relationship with Sunset.
    One element from Equestria Girls that had literally no impact was the dumbest dialogue exchange in the first film:
    What made this scene so stupid was twofold:
    It was totally pointless. It had ZERO impact in the context of both this scene and whole film. It wasn't referenced again until Rainbow Rocks when Sunset admitted to using him for fame. Cut out this little piece of information, and nothing changes. Hell, it would've been a lot better if Flash and Twilight introduced each other after he helped her up. Instead of subverting the vile high-school-drama clichés, Flash Sentry fulfills one of the most obnoxious simply for that explanation. How? Because the evil alpha bitch (Sunset) has an ex-boyfriend (Flash) interested in the protagonist (Twilight). Sunset's character had no impact with her relationship with Flash. Because it was dropped as soon as it started, him being her ex-boyfriend never affected his friendship with Twilight, either. Instead of dropping it out of nowhere in the middle of the film and later pretend it never happened, why not do something to make their triangle feel interesting? Why not have Flash express his friendship with Twilight and Sunset, but not romance? Make him more focused on his studies and ability to excel in one of his fields (music) before he decides to get involved in romance again.
    That doesn't change anything. Again, the SunLight background romance had no impact in either film. It was there simply to fill in the formula mentioned above. The fact that he broke up with her is very similar to his car: It's not a personality nor is it a hint of his personality. You could've had her break up with him; it wouldn't impact either characterizations whatsoever.
    You see, when you play such a cliché down Broadway, even in passing, then you're weakening the characters even more. Having both movies mention SunLight in passing weakened Sunset's credibility as a villain and Flash's as a secondary protagonist (this I'll get back to later).
    But it's here where Flash Sentry's credibility gets permanently damaged. Even before the cafeteria scene, Flash was already a one-note character. Rarity's line to Twilight reduced him beyond that.
    He became a stereotype.
    Before anyone comes here to lie about stereotypes aren't inherently a bad thing, take a look at its most important definition:
    Stereotypes aren't three-dimensional characters. A stereotype is a very clichéd formula of a character. Instead of being genuine, the character becomes flatter than cardboard. They're predictable in the way they react, say, and do. Stereotypes aren't just typical formulas. They're insulting because they create a representation of certain characters as a whole. Stereotypes are caricatures of certain archetypes.
    The fact that Flash Sentry was Sunset's ex-boyfriend relegated him to less of a character. His potential as a character jumped the shark.
    There's no such thing as a good stereotype, period. For a generation that all but brags about how it can avoid stereotypes, having him play so straight to it is beyond shameful.
    No conflict.
    Outside of his interdimensional crush on Twilight, human!Flash has absolutely no conflicts. Let's break it down.
    Flash Sentry is really good at playing the guitar and is passionate about it. We saw this during the cafeteria song when he worked on it with the rest of his band with plenty of fervor. Financially, he's stable. Take a look at his car model:

     
    That car looks eerily similar to this 2010 Chevy Camaro:
     

     
    (Image credit.)
     
    Since Chevrolet revived the Camaro in the late 2000s, they aren't cheap. They can range from $25,000 for the coupe to over $40,000 for the convertible. Plus, Flash's fancy coupe has some intricate decals, which can cost plenty of money. So it's not like Flash makes end's meet. He's got a very stereotypical "bad boy" look. Think about it: jeans that reach the ankles, a shirt that's partially worn out, a black jacket, spiky hair, and plays the guitar. His attire fits the "rebel." How generically nice he is to Twilight. When he talks to or about Twilight post-interrogation scene, he stutters, becomes clumsy, and is just a plain goof.
     
    In case you're wondering, him being clumsy is not an organic flaw, because it doesn't affect his character nor any "conflicts" he comes across. Currently, his clumsiness is pure humor. The answer is very simple.
    Take a look at not just what the background ponies are doing, but also how their popularity started.
    For a few examples, Derpy, Lyra, and Colgate.
    You notice any similarities of the popular background ponies?
    Each of them stood out and did something.
    Derpy's eyes were wall-eyed.
    Colgate was dressed as a dentist (yes, dentists do use stethoscopes if their patients are older and/or have a medical history).
    Lyra sat on a park bench like a human.
    Vinyl Scratch had wild hair, wore big glasses, and bobbed to the tune as the record played.
    Dr. Whooves looked like The Doctor from Dr. Who and later contained many Dr. Who references like the tie, hourglass in SSCS6K, and 3D glasses as he jogged with Rose Luck.
    Octavia played a classical instrument.
    The list goes on and on. When characters in the background do something, it catches the attention of the fanbase. The community in Equestria feels very alive when background characters are active. They offer insight to their character; sometimes they're a part of the conflict, even for a split second. Headcanon is developed to flesh them out. For example, it's no surprise that many bronies love OctaVinyl; the tropes are there. Vinyl scratch's style of music playing is more modern. Visually, she's boisterous, loves to have fun, and just doesn't give a crap what you think. On the other hand, Octavia is very classical and formal due to her hair style and the playing of an instrument that dates back several centuries. They're perfect visual foils.
    Remember, they're called background ponies for a reason. They're there to fill the background.
    Conversely, Flash Sentry is a secondary character. Both movies billed him to be just as important as the ReMane Five. In other words, his character and actions become influential to the entire plot.
    Instead, what do we have? A one-dimensional piece of cardboard. For bronies who like and dislike him, they have no choice but to flesh out his character in fanart, fancomics, and fanfiction.
    The very same thing. Princess Cadance revealed Flash Sentry to be a new hire for the Royal Guard, but he was the one to announce Princess Twilight Sparkle's arrival. Later, he becomes a royal escort for Cadance (and presumably other ambassadors, if going by T'sK1).
    Rather than being shown hard work to join the rankings, Flash Sentry becomes one of the top guards simply because whoever's working behind the scenes wants Flash shoved in the spotlight. Consequently, Flash's character progression dissipates: Why confine all of his progression in the background when he was a secondary character and stated to be a recent hire? Don't leave it up for the fans to decide. Place in some effort to reward him for his efforts.
    Because his source of conflict is naught, bronies had to create some for him. One was through a look-alike featured in both Pinkie Pride and Twilight Time, unofficially named First Base.
     

     
    (Link to fanart.)
    In fanon circles, many bronies saw this as an opportunity to take a "character" into someone you can relate to. A big brother having a great relationship with a little brother. This isn't the first time, as these fanon relationships have been around for some time, most notably Dinky being Derpy's daughter (my favorite brony fanon), Snowflake being Featherweight's big bro, and Screwball (a.k.a., Topsy-Turvy) being Discord's adopted daughter. Despite being somewhat repetitive, this fanon doesn't get old because it's something each of us can relate to; many of us have very close relatives. The sibling bond is one great way for the characters to connect. For Flash and First Base, immediately it generates some form of conflict, and you can expand Flash Sentry in many ways:
    Does he miss his family? What does he feel about family in general? Where did he live? Where did he come from? How long did it take for him to climb up the ranks? If you mold the FB/FS fanon, what was their relationship? Do they write any letters to each other? Can you see the ample opportunities to evolve Flash into a living and breathing character? It's there, and Flash definitely has the background. Unfortunately, DHX evolved him to a point where they basically couldn't care less about him. With no visible goals in sight, Flash becomes a blank prophecy.
    Yes and no. I've made this point quite often in other blogs and posts, so for those who haven't read them, it's like this. Even though the characters have perpendicular counterparts, they each still represent that character. What do I mean? Even though the HuMane Five are different from the ReMane in Equestria, the HuMane Five should have some common sense, dignity, intelligence, ability to talk organically, and maturity. The HuMane Five's characterizations should match the ReMane Five — if any differences, keeping them subtle. Instead, the HuMane Five (Pinkie Pie exempt in EQG1) are flanderized versions of the ReMane Five. They're a lot shallower with a primary focus on one trait, and the vocabulary is simplified to the point where characters like Dash utter "awesome" several times.
    Flash Sentry, too. Albeit seeing little of him as a pony, the first movie suggests that their personalities are one of the same, too. If you saw Flash Sentry as a human personality-wise, you know his personality as a pony and vice-versa. If pony!Flash is completely different from human!Flash, then pony!Flash is out of character.
    Filler.
    I bet you've heard one criticism of some of FIM's episodes: "*character* is pointless. He or she can be cut out entirely, and nothing would've been lost." This was used a lot during several season four episodes like Rainbow Falls, Filli Vanilli, Equestria Games (although the criticism is for the deceptive setting instead); and several main IDW comics.
    Neither movie is exempt, especially Flash Sentry. Once more, his whole identity is Twilight's love interest. There's literally nothing about him that directly affects the conflict in any way aside from being a distraction. If you take away that drawn-out subplot, what differences would you get with either movie? Nothing. You can cut him entirely and not alter the story one bit. It could've been someone else who helps her get up. Twilight would buy the drink and sit by the lounge without the HuMane Six gossiping bull rubbish about Flash's past relationship with Sunset. Someone other than Flash would've retrieved the cutouts so Luna can end the interrogation. You could've erased him from Rainbow Rocks.
    Flash Sentry is the character version of Spongebob, You're Fired! There's a gigantic lack of quality simply by how pointless he is.
    "Someone other than Flash would've retrieved the cutouts so Luna can end the interrogation." (Then again, the whole scene was so stupid, it wouldn't alter the quality.) He's there for one reason only: to attempt to make the romance subplot convincing. As if there are other ways for Twilight and Flash to hook up. But when the results are the two babbling and blushing, the "chemistry" turns into a virtual checklist.
    Filler tests your audience's patience. Flash is filler.
    Gender politics.
    Silver-Quill made that point really clear in After the Fact: Flash Sentry (a great analysis and a basis in this critique; go watch it if you haven't). Other people were very critical of this, too.
    One gigantic issue with Friendship Is Magic is how it enforces a very sexist implication of how any form of entertainment with a specific gender or attitude brand in mind either can't have the opposite sex in a dominant yet positive role or can't have the opposite sex involved at all. We see this all the time in entertainment. Anime and manga have whole genres dedicated to presenting their products with a cast with one prominent gender, usually with the idea of pandering to one gender. MLP Tales, G3, and G3 also shove this sexist mindset in the audience's face.
    If you review this series yourselves, observe the roles of the male sex. For instance:
    Snips and Snails are stereotypical idiots in a character design. They're annoying, unlikeable, and one-dimensional. Boast Busters would've sucked much less if they didn't exist. The Diamond Dogs are the cliché villain of having plenty of brawn yet little brains. By writing them as stupid, it gives Rarity the edge to outwit them. This type of writing is very contrived because you're giving the protagonist the easy way out of the conflict. The moral itself is fantastic, but it's hurt by the lazy writing. Discord is extremely likeable even as a villain. Yes, he's evil, but a clever brand of evil. A villain with morals, he doesn't pull back punches while simultaneously not attempting to land them. His lone goal was to conquer Equestria while having fun. (I'm seriously thinking of a Return of Harmony analysis of his morals. Knowing how long I write them, it might be really long. ) When he became more chaotic neutral instead of evil, the writers had him play several hilarious mind games with the Mane Six. Spike is the longest running male character in the series. Unfortunately, FIM often puts him as the punching bag for humor, and most of it for no good reason. When he's written really well, he's normally the supportive character. But when he stars the episode, it's often terrible, like Dragon Quest, Equestria Games, and Just for Sidekicks. The dragon clan in Dragon Quest suffers from being so sexist, it's not funny. They're stereotypical bully characters, all of whom male. They do stupid things, steal, mock Spike for his size and femininity, and disregard life. DQ is one unfortunate implication of how it implies every single dragon other than Spike behaves like the stereotypes. Trenderhoof… *sighs crossly* Everything about him is so unlikeable. His personality is obnoxious. He's incredibly rude. He relies on trends just to fit in. How the bloody hell did Rarity ever get the crush on him?
     
    So what about her fantasy with Blueblood? Is that okay, as well? No. But there's a big difference between Twilight's on Flash and Rarity's on Blueblood.
     
    In The Ticket Master, Rarity presented a very stupid fantasy of wanting to be married to her prince charming. Here, her reasoning was blatantly recognized as being stupid. Why? Because every reason from the ReMane Five made just as little sense as hers. There was irony to her logic, and TTM played it as a joke tut-tutting the characters (who didn't know it) and the audience. Even though what Rarity did was in character at the time, it was stupid.
     
    In Equestria Girls, Twilight's shallow crush was considered pivotal to the story even though it was filler. Simultaneously, her lack of logic wasn't critique. It was praised. There are very few likeable males in this show. Discord is one, and so is Spike regardless of his characterization consistency. Cheese Sandwich is possibly the most likeable male character in the show for some fantastic reasons, one of them being how thorough and convincing his dedication to others' happiness is. He wants to deliver not just a great party, but an epic party. Big Mac is the most consistent stallion and is full of dimension despite his "eeyups" and "eenopes." (The two-part comic starring him is one hilarious way of delivering his character without having him say much.) However, his trademark remark is also a common punchline. More of him saying more words without confining him to singing, please!
    Flash Sentry has a strong sense of integrity. When there's something he believes is wrong, he's not afraid to get involved. Unfortunately, this positive trait is shared among the rest of the protagonists, so he needs another unique attribute to differentiate him from the rest of the cast. Otherwise, he remains relegated to being Walking Cardboard instead.
    What's really unfortunate for this show is how whenever a three-dimensional male is shown to be a positive role model, he's typically a one-shot. Cheese Sandwich, Fancy Pants, and Cranky Doodle Donkey are such examples.
    The gender politics are prevalent in EQG, Flash Sentry in particular. To quote from earlier:
    As mentioned previously, stereotypes are bad enough for they create one-dimensional caricatures. But that's not all. Presenting stereotypes and treating them as a good thing are damaging to society, especially kids. How? By delivering false perceptions of archetypes at best and lies at worst. It gets especially bad when stereotypes are used to spread morals; you risk creating a straw man, exemplified by Praiser Pan being a stereotype of critics in the Fluttershy Micro.
    Do you think that Flash Sentry, as he currently is, benefits kids by being a sexist stereotype and having Equestria Girls embrace it?
    I don't think so.
    Character design.
    (Credit goes to Silver-Quill for this segment.)
    If there's one final nail to confirm Walking Cardboard's status as forced love interest, it's the use of the color wheel.
    Here's what I mean:

    (Image credit.)
    When you see one color on the color wheel, its complementary is located on its opposite curve. There are three most-known complementary pairs: red & green, orange & blue, yellow & purple/violet. When these complements are near each other, the eyes play games. In design, a complementary color located in the background can make the foreground jump out, like a very subtle sky blue background behind a firm orange foreground. On the other hand, if the complements touch each other and are equal saturation, then they battle for visual attention, which can hurt your eyes. There's a reason why you often won't see red and green side by side in one design.
    Twilight Sparkle is a lavender alicorn — her natural complementary is yellow. Flash Sentry's fur or skin is predominantly yellow. Visually and psychologically, Flash is connected to Twilight. In essence, Flash's whole character is tied down to their crush.
    Now, I'm going to lay off the critiquing for a minute and analyze some color choices. The ponies in Equestria are visually versatile. Each of them has specific fur and mane/tail colors to give each of them an identity. When they're an animal, the color choices make connotative sense. As such, they don't stand out or create implications. Conversely, when translated to human form, they look uncanny at best. As a pegasus, Fluttershy's yellow fur feels normal, but when translated to human skin, it makes her look rather unhealthy.
    At worst, the colors are offensive. Big Mac's red fur feels very natural. But if Big Mac has red skin, then the public is reminded of something like these:
    Natives/Indians are some of the most oppressed people worldwide, and making Big Mac's skin red would perpetuate stereotypes so racist, FIM would've been canceled.
    Why is Cheerilee's skin a lighter purple instead of the deep purple? Very same reason. Cheerilee's fur color would trigger stereotypes of Natives on one end and — because she's voiced by a white woman — blacks on the other through subtle blackface.
    What does this have to do with Flash Sentry?
    Plenty.
    Pony!Flash's fur color has the hexidecimal value of FCC862 and CMYK value of 0/21/61/1. In other words, his fur color is a very bright yellow, almost a gold.
    Human!Flash's (Brad's) skin color has the hexidecimal value of F9E64A and CMYK value of 0/8/34/2. In contrast to his fur color, his skin tones are a very pale, dull tan. When comparing it to natural skin, it's near-accurate.
    Why is this so significant?
    Look at human!Flash's face, specifically his eyes:

    It has a very Asian appeal.
    Based on his looks, if you change his skin to that gold saturation from his fur, you'll trigger yellowface/yellow peril, an extremely racist Asian stereotype. If Friendship Is Magic had a character with yellowface, chances are you'll get a reaction worse than this from How I Met Your Mother.
    Flash Sentry has been a very problematic character from the start. Even if you ignore his characterization, his concept is based off being Twilight's love interest. Him being Twilight's visual complement, the clichés spewed in both films, and their poorly executed romance trigger the elongated subplot even when they're not conversing with one another. The crush damages Twilight's character because her reasons devolve to his looks. But it damages Flash's character moreso by having the narrative cling so hopelessly onto it with no end in sight. With his lone goal being her shortchanged love interest, Flash is beyond simply a Gary Stu. He's a one-dimensional plot device and stereotype. The stereotype label is what makes him offensive to the show. His character jumped the shark once Rarity revealed he was Sunset's former boyfriend, if not the minute he debuted.
    But to make it worse (from Part 2 of my RR review):
    By how little DHX cares for him, Flash's character has become almost irredeemable, and that's a damn shame.
    But it's not too late. There's still a little hope left to make him a three-dimensional character, but it'll require a lot of work. Sure, retconning's the easy solution, but both pony and human Flash have established characterizations. If you retcon them, then you're creating a completely different character, not Flash Sentry. Consequentially, a retconned Flash Sentry will be just as bad as the current Flash Sentry. The best solution is to revise his current character. Loosen him up so you retain his character foundation, yet don't lose who he is.
    What suggestions?
    Ditch the crush subplot. It offered nothing to the show and only holds Flash's potential back. Remember, it's Friendship Is Magic, not Clichéd Romance Is Magic. Obviously, DHX won't try to develop their relationship romantically. In conclusion, having Flash Sentry no longer crush on Twilight would give him a fresh start.
     
    Seriously, if a quick concept of Flash being a fanonical brother to First Base gives him much more dimension to his character than Flash in two 70-minute movies, then you're doing something really wrong. If Princess Twilight Sparkle returns for the Friendship Games, then the movie should give both of them some common ground. Rather than hammer in the obnoxious bumping, why not have Twilight and Flash meet in some other way, like a classroom, school cafe, or even Pedestria's version of Sugarcube Corner. Twilight's a geek. Flash Sentry is a mild geek himself. What interests do they have in common? Do they like some science? Complex theories, for example? Perhaps Flash Sentry needs to buy a better guitar because his old one is damaged beyond recovery, and his friends — both Twilights, the HuMane Five, or even Sunset Shimmer — help him locate an affordable guitar that can play just as well as the old one. What about his ethnic background? Don't throw it in there for keeps. Expand his background. Have him explore the rest of Pedestria. Maybe his family, other friends. For fanon-loving bronies, this is where you can use First Base and expand their fanonical relationship.
     
    What about his relationship with the rest of the characters? Flash Sentry and Sunset Shimmer haven't talked to each other much on screen since her character reset and redemption. Have them make permanent amends by having them talk amicably as friends. Have them get to know each other more and establish common ground. As for pony Flash, what is his relationship with the rest of the Royal Guard? How does he feel about them? How does he view the world in peace, peril, or in between? What has he done to gain in the royal ranks? For Celestia's sake, how did he get hired?
     
    How is he like when he's not so busy? Apparently, the guards protect Canterlot and all of royalty 24/7, but they're bound to take a day off or two to recuperate or merely enjoy life. Like what Jeric once suggested by letting Twilight "run her hair down" and have a great time being the the adorkable, friend-seeking geek that many of us got so invested in. As an equal, make him enjoy life. Maybe Flash is very innocent and childlike when he isn't so focused on being a royal guard.
     
    You can take these immature tendencies for human Flash, too. Think about it; he's a teenager, so he's going to be somewhat immature. Both versions can have their immaturity be a strength in their character for having the gift to defend and take things seriously in his schoolwork or job, but have it become a very distinct flaw. For human!Flash, his immaturity could affect his status in school and back home: rushing in his instrument work, homework, grades; being a little impatient with life back home; and wanting to feel a little freer.
     
    Pony!Flash could have this immaturity bite him on the plot, too. Perhaps he suspects a call of distress, and he rushes in to help before Shining Armor or Celestia create a plan and give him permission. It could turn out that the call for distress is either something so trivial, it'd make him feel or silly or something so serious, he's the one who must cry for help. Over a year ago, I conceptualized a fanfic adaptation of FIM by merging events from both Thomas & Friends and its adaptation basis, The Railway Series. Entitled The Equestrian Series, you can read the latest blog submission (Book 1 from over a year ago) here, which contains links to Book 0 and the overarching concept.
    My recent idea of adding Flash Sentry would be something similar to one of the later Railway Series books, Mountain Engines. Its leading character, Lord Harry, doesn't get introduced until the third chapter, Danger Points. Lord Harry was very arrogant — in Thomas fandom terms, too puffed up in the smokebox — and takes risks unnecessarily. One time, he decides to pay Culdee back for teasing him. Unfortunately, while pulling a passenger train, he derails at the summit, and this part of the Island of Sodor is very dangerous. When he was rescued, he was sent to the shed in disgrace and stripped of his name as punishment. In Devil's Back, he was released, but only allowed to shunt workmen up and down the summit at Devil's Back, a very difficult part of the Culdee Fell Railway. One day, there was an emergency, and #6 was sent up to rescue the workmen. Battling treacherous weather, he rescued the people. He was eventually named Patrick in honor of an injured workman who risked his life to save everyone else. Afterwards, he only took risks if necessary.
    In my idea, Flash Sentry would be a newbie training for the royal guard. He was modest, yet sensitive and immature. He'd let other pony's teasing get to him, resulting in him working too hard and being too reckless in his duties. As a consequence, he was scolded by his peers and sent to his quarters as punishment. Next day, he is allowed to return to train, but ignore their teasing and work with a mentor. That evening, it was windy, and other training pegasi teased him for his punishment, resulting in him saying he's brave. One of them dared him to take a load of cargo down the Canterlot mountains into the quayside about 500 feet below and about a dozen miles away.
    He would go, but forgot to light the headlamp and taillamp, so he couldn't see. He would stop at a siding and find some way to light up the lamps, but the wind kept blowing out the fire, and the wind was only getting worse. But he would stay until he could light up the lamps and keep them lit. Unfortunately, he couldn't, so he locked up the trolleys and flew around to find any shelter. He locates a signalbox, knocks inside, and asks the signalpony to help him light up the lamps. He gives him some oil to light them up and contains them so the wind didn't blow on them. Even with the nasty wind, Flash keeps on trucking and later arrives at the quay without any further trouble.
    Next morning, he returned to Canterlot to receive a warm welcoming for being able to find his way to unload the cargo without being so reckless and minding his safety. His fellow cadets apologize for daring Flash into getting involved, and each of them are demoted and forced to undergo more intensive training as punishment. Flash is invited to have a formal dinner with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, but Flash declines, saying he must earn his way through the ranks first.
    If you other criticisms of his character and suggestions for improving his character, please feel free to comment below.
    *One brony on Equestria Daily coined the human world "Pedestria," and I'm going to use it quite a bit now.
     
  2. Dark Qiviut
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls has been the center of controversy over the last few months off and on, starting in February and boiling over with the trailer and again with the prototype dolls. If you've followed it, I don't think I need to remind you of the drama, so I won't write it again.
     
    For a while, I actually kept myself rather mum about it. If you wanted me to give my viewpoint for Equestria Girls, I probably would've said nothing, because I didn't have much out there except the pretty bad character design.
     
    Then this character concept poster was leaked…

    …and I came close to flipping the damn table because of how FUCKING SEXIST the designs were!
     
    *sigh*
     
    Okay, Now to back up.
     
    After researching and reviewing everything Equestria Girls has demonstrated to me, I have to declare that what's been shown to me over the past several months have not only been underwhelming, but also demonstrated that Hasbro and DHX — not one or the other; both are equally at fault — apparently aren't communicating to me, as a consumer, that I should pay twenty dollars to watch it at this point.
     
    What both have done wrong are the following:
    The plot summary is hideously shallow and doesn't sound sensible or plausible.
     
    Once you have the mumbo-jumbo down, the summary is basically this: "A crown was stolen from the Crystal Empire. Twilight goes through a portal to become human. She's forced to study and experience in High School with an alternate dimension version of her friends while the fate of two worlds hang in the balance." The plot summary is way too simple, cliché with no effort to really twist it up, and predictable. Fantasy doesn't excuse implausibility, and a target audience is no excuse to discriminate the periphery demographics.
    As a concept, it does NOT fit the scope of what My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic IS.
     
    There is a reason why any kind of TV medium has a show bible: It provides the structure and purpose of what the medium is about. It's a reference guide for people to refer whenever they need. Here's the Wikipedia page of what a writing bible is.
     
    One of the rebuttals I've seen when it comes to Equestria Girls is during season one of Friendship Is Magic, there were several episodes that dealt with "girly" things: a sleepover, dressing to impressing, and the gala. But there's a HUGE difference between the two.
     
    1. For the episodes like Look Before You Sleep, Suited for Success, Green Isn't Your Color, The Best Night Ever, and Hearts and Hooves Day, these are individual episodes that are within a central concept and really twisted things up to make it not the cliché it sounds. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is about exploring and growing the magic of friendship in methods that don't conform to the typical "girly" fashion. (In Friendship Is Magic, instead of the setting being in a study hall, its central setting is a small town with some exceptions.)
     
    2. Equestria Girls is much more different, for the movie's central setting is in a high school. Friendship Is Magic is about straying away from the typical, cliché central setting that's plagued family-friendly entertainment for the past several decades. FIM wasn't intended to be like this, and it's completely disrespectful to what Friendship Is Magic's core is all about. I'll be explaining (and reitering) more about the core throughout this editorial.
     
    Just because it's a spinoff doesn't mean you stray the roots of the generation this far off, especially in a conceptual point where, throughout the series, we've seen Twilight struggle with several societal moments: saving Ponyville, keeping herself composed, and genuinely fitting in Ponyville in Winter Wrap-Up.
    The leaking of the extremely bad character design concepts shows no quality control.
     
    Regardless whether the character designs are prototypes or not, they should not have been leaked this early in the trailer development for this spinoff movie. Hasbro is a billion-dollar toy/media company (although Hasbro still claims to be toy first and "screw-media" second), and they have the money and ability to instruct those who are working on Equestria Girls (DHX, the marketing department, and other Hasbro employees) to keep the concept art secure and private. They have the resources to keep it all confidential, and the fact that so many concept art styles were released so early prior to the trailer is inexcusable.
     
    The concepts for the horrid character design shouldn't have been conceived in the first place. Right from the beginning, Equestria Girls' character design had undergone several extreme changes in the anatomy, clothing, hair, and details.
     
    Furthermore, the design atop of this blog is disgustingly sexist because it implies a message to their target audience — adolescent girls between the ages ten and fourteen — that the only way to be good and happy with yourself is to showcase an exaggeratedly thin body (particularly the artificial, model-like hourglass torso), skinny bird arms, and ugly tattoo imprinted on the cheek. With the exception of the cutie mark, everything that's so wrong in "kid-friendly" entertainment today exhibits in that picture. It's using a dangerous form of sex appeal to sell to young adult/"tween" girls: That concept base above isn't "just" skinny. It's scarily skinny.
     
    If Hasbro wanted to genuinely show off the concept art, then it'd be featured under the "Concept Art" menu in the DVD. There is no excuse for Hasbro or DHX to be so lackadaisical in its security.
    The official character designs are factually poor.
     
    You can erase the details and color and you still can't recognize them on first glance. The colors and little details in the clothing show who each character is, but what makes the design strong is when the details are erased and making the character designs a black silhouette.
     
    Look at the ponies:

     
    You can recognize them immediately by the shape of the hair and tail. The fact that you can insert distinguishable hair and tail on a simple base design shows how strong it is.
     
    With the Equestria Girls, they're much harder to identify because without the hair, the designs blend a bit too much. Crop off the head and hair and analyze them that way. Unless you can really study the anatomy, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference. Poor identity from a simplistic perspective is a great method to producing objectively bad character design.
     
    As for the girls' clothing, erase the colors and details, leaving only blocks of solid white or black. Layer the shirts, skirts, and boots on top of each other in three separate columns. They're almost exactly alike, and when you really want to demonstrate good character design, subtle changes are what you can't do.
     
    The perception that Flash can't handle complicated, varying anatomy is untrue today. Five to seven years ago, Macromedia Flash was much more primitive and couldn't handle animation as smoothly as it does today. But with Flash run by Adobe and receiving several huge upgrades over the past couple of years, it's since become an important application that can literally program animation akin to hand-drawn ones from Disney.
     
    And if you want to know how important graphic design is, read my excerpt of this post (particularly my response to the sexist concept art atop this editorial): The trailer dumps so much information for this movie.
     
    In sixty-eight seconds, we're told basically what the plot of the movie is from beginning to nearly the end. A trailer's responsible for promoting the movie the best they can. When you have that much information shown, Hasbro and DHX are telling everyone that they have no confidence in it. Good trailers wouldn't spill that much information every half-second and would keep important plot-centric spoilers away from the public eye. If they have faith in the overall quality of the movie, then they would've shown it in the trailer by keeping it simple and not spoil key plot points.
    With each update and leak, Equestria Girls screams that this movie is merely commercial-driven with complete disregard for the roots of the product.
     
    One indication why Friendship Is Magic is so good is how it's not so explicitly toy-driven. These characters are developed to make us as an audience focus on the characters instead. For the most part (Cadance, Shining Armor, the Friendship Express, and the Twilicorn being exceptions), the toys didn't become the characters. The characters became the toys. Friendship Is Magic, from the concept to the episodes, show genuine heart and effort from all parties, particularly DHX, who had to do whatever they could to get the stupidity known as the Twilicorn to blend in the canon (only to fail badly).
     
    Hasbro, however, remains stuck in their mindset that to promote new products, they shove sudden, contradictory concepts into the canon with hopes of getting people suckered enough to buy them, a practice with mixed results, and Equestria Girls is an even more blatant example than the Twilicorn. Unlike FIM, I've yet to see one bit of that heart in EQG. The fully-fledged sexist character concepts are an indication to this, as those designs shouldn't have existed, either as dolls (which you'll see below) or drawings. You couldn't offend a periphery demographic, even many people from the target audience, enough by displaying such demeaning ideas that merely harm our youth. The plot summary gives a lot away and demonstrates nothing to make it feel like Friendship Is Magic. Hasbro is inorganically shoving the inane concept into the canon to make it sell, and that's not you create great characters or great plots.
     
    That lack of heart is demonstrated even more in the prototype dolls, seen here:
     
     
      
     
    Those prototype dolls SUCK, and when offensive concepts like this is released to the public, you're asking for them to be judged, unsolicited or not! "Wait and see for the final product" is a stupid excuse and says you have no clue about genuine, objective quality or understanding of the design process, from the creative brief to the final execution. These prototypes do nothing except enforce two things:
     
    1. That EQG is merely a promotion for a new toyline in an extremely thin, lazy disguise, only to have the MLP:FIM logo slapped on the front to make it "appear" to be related to the main product. It doesn't matter whether the characters will be in character or whether the beginning of the movie will be set in the FIM universe. The FEEL of MLP:FIM and its roots must match in the alternate dimension and be appropriate with the spinoff inside the animation and products. FIM's roots are about not enforcing the clichés that plague the little-girl/family-friendly entertainment industry. The pilot itself criticized this cliché by relocating Twilight into a town. Currently, EQG is conceptually enforcing the typical girly cliché that goes against what FIM stands for.
     
    2. The sexist stereotype that adolescent girls need to be borderline anorexic and extremely girly to look good, well-mannered, and beautiful. A major problem in the toy industry is how girly characters are "princess-ified" or dangerously sexualized to sell toys and dolls. Monster High — EQG's competitor — blatantly uses that sex appeal and artificial beauty to sell to adolescents, but EQG's prototype dolls use a dangrous form of sex appeal to separate themselves from the competition. Recently, Disney redesigned Merida with an evident hourglass body, finer hair, exposed shoulders, and makeup, sparking fierce criticism from people of all ages, including Faust and former Brave director Brendan Chapman. These prototypes use these sexist figures to sell to young adults, and that's intellectually offensive! It sells out for the target demographic by making the prototypes all lazily uniform, artificially pretty, and so anorexic.
     
    The fact that these designs exist at any point should elicit anger, and just because it's a prototype doesn't mean it doesn't deserve justified scrutiny. Prototypes or otherwise, the anti-feminist, sexist figure these dolls share reinforces a scary culture that merely hurts our youth and instills this awful stereotype. The anger throughout these branches in the fandom (including 4chan and Faust herself) is loud and justifiable.
    At this point, Equestria Girls has shown to be blatantly anti-feminist, straying so far away from the roots and framework of Friendship Is Magic.
     
    How is Equestria Girls anti-feminist?
     
    1. It sticks Twilight Sparkle and "copies" of the Mane Six in a high school setting, a common cliché in family-friendly entertainment, with no honest-to-God effort to connect it to Friendship Is Magic. I already explained why EQG's central setting contradicts FIM's mission statement several times already.
     
    2. The production of the movie has sucked from the ground up on all parties. Reiterating what I wrote previously, each concept art that was leaked to the public occurred so early and so quickly for several months, indicating poor security on Hasbro's behalf and sending messages to people that this movie has no quality control. This movie underwent several serious changes since the beginning, particularly the bad character design (including that sexist bullshit atop), when both Hasbro and DHX should've communicated better and agreed to a design concept during the sketching and researching stages of the movie. Once again, the prototype dolls reinforce and promote the scary, sexist culture that Western society still instills into girls from ages two and up.
     
    3. This is a completely new franchise designed to attract adolescent girls, but Hasbro slaps the MLP:FIM logo on the front in order to attract those who've followed the main generation since its inception in 2010. Writing the characters in character and attaching Equestria in the beginning of Equestria Girls aren't enough. Like what I wrote before, the feel of FIM, from the concept to its setting, must match the main series. The atmosphere and mission statement from Friendship Is Magic must coexist with Equestria Girls. Just because it says it's MLP:FIM-related doesn't mean it is related. The info-dump of the trailer, plot summary, horrid production, and poor development of this movie proves how EQG is FIM's antithesis so far, and that's a really bad thing.
     
    Friendship Is Magic, on the other hand, is pro-feminist: It doesn't stick to the norms of "kid-friendly" TV that plagues current-generation entertainment.
     
    1. Its central setting isn't a school and is a town. Part of what makes this animation so successful quality-wise is how its main purpose is to provide plots to characters without having to stick to the stereotypical ideals of girl-centric TV. But when they did, Friendship Is Magic spun them in the other direction the minute you see a preview, editorial, or review. For example, Twilight being relocated from her school to Ponyville in the pilot is an underlying criticism of this stereotypical setting. There were other great concepts that were supposed to break away more like Princess Celestia being Queen Celestia, but Hasbro rejected that one because of the perception that little girls won't buy a fictional, benevolent, off-white, queen pony unless the word "princess" is plastered on the package.
     
    2. The characters are individual, independent, and break away from the tropes in common family-friendly fiction. Sleepless in Ponyville, for example, jabbed at the "common-trope" element when Rainbow Dash cut off Scootaloo's overly sappy campfire story before she could finish it. Each character shares an occupation or activity that both mares and stallions can perform successfully if given the scripted assignment to.
     
    3. As a whole, it sends a message to families that kids, especially young girls, can enjoy quality entertainment without resorting to girly stereotypes; and the writing succeeds in proving this to both the target audience and periphery demographic. G1's MLP Tales, G3, and G3.5 resorted to girly stereotypes that ransacked founder Bonnie Zacherle's vision of creating a franchise accessible to people of all ages and alienated plenty of the original G1's audience. I wrote this in my essay detailing FIM following the roots of the franchise, and it bears repeating: If FIM didn't air and push the concept to its fullest potential, the franchise might've died.
     
    Faust herself, who laid the foundation for FIM before she resigned from being fully invested in the production halfway into season two, is a feminist; and she's very blunt about it in her character design, interviews, and mission statement for quality family-friendly entertainment. Shows she helped work on — Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Powerpuff Girls — are known to deviate away from the norms of traditional family-friendly TV and criticize both anti-feminist and sexist values of female characters. In TPPG, Sara Bellum, Sedusa, and Femme Fetale have exaggerated hourglass bodies to criticize the "perfect doll" culture that so many companies and commercials exploit in Western society to sell.
     
    And the girls don't buy the toys alone nor always see the TV shows or movies without parent consent. The prototype dolls, like the movie, target young adults, but their parents buy them. The movie tries to get the kids excited, but the parents and/or guardians hold the income and determine whether it's appropriate for their kids to see EQG or not.

    Over the past several months, Equestria Girls's production underwent such a hellish tailspin. Several concepts spilled all over the brony fandom, especially sexist character designs that shouldn't have even been thought of. The plot summary is generic, and the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic logo is lazily hanging on the front of the production and toys to make it "try" to relate to the main series when it's exhibiting the exact opposite. The fact that it's related to MLP:FIM without any effort to objectively try atmospherically and organically is intellectually insulting to myself and the periphery demographic in general. Each time I see an update, Equestria Girls is screaming, "Hi! We don't have quality control! We suck worse than Kurt Angle! But that doesn't matter because we know you want to buy our toys! If you buy me, thank you for giving me your money. To those who dismiss me, you can kiss my plot!"
     
    To those who dismiss the development hell Equestria Girls has gone through, a message to you: When you use the target audience (here being adolescent girls) as an excuse for the product, you're calling the product "weak." Products that are factually good in quality don't discriminate periphery demographics regardless of target audience. And the target audience is no excuse for delivering poor quality products and hooks for them on the professional level.
     
    My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic shows genuine heart and respect for their main audience (families, especially families with young girls), and as a result, demographics unite under this show. "My Little Pony": Equestria Girls spits in the face of the periphery demographic, visually scolds its target audience, treats viewership altogether as if the people who see the product are stupid, and disrespects the roots of Friendship Is Magic.
  3. Dark Qiviut
    If you wanna read the comic online, watch the video. Be careful, the RR music that plays in the background can get loud, so mind the volume in your earphones.
    Like what I wrote here, FIM's IDW comics are an innate source of controversy. One of the latest to the pile — The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies — competes with Reflections as the worst of the worst. Ted Anderson is no stranger himself, yet if just reading his proverbial résumé, he's usually one of the best writers for the series. The CMC Micro, Manehattan Mysteries, and the Pinkie Micro are among the best of the best. One of his weakest is the 2013 Annual (the Equestria Girls prequel), which retreads some of the characterization of other casts, including Babs Seed. Now, he's back as the writer, with Tony Fleecs the artist and Heather Breckel the colorist, the sterile world of Equestria Girls demonstrates its lack of magic and imagination once again.
    Strengths
    Sunset Shimmer.
    I wasn't a fan of Sunset Shimmer in the first movie: As a villain, she was flat, generic, and stereotypical. In Rainbow Rocks, her snarky side was absent, but to give credit where credit's due, she was definitely likeable, and McCarthy took advantage of the chance for her to really improve herself (even though the rest of her friends were big asses just to make her appear better, unfortunately). Her character was forcibly reset thanks to the permanently soiled Elements of Harmony, which is completely different from Luna (her anger controlled her, and the EoH healed her) and Discord (he changed willingly).
    Here, I legitimately rooted for her as a character to a degree. You can tell she's really grown since the first movie and has evolved into her own. She was very sensitive to others, had a really caring heart, yet was also very determined. When the details surrounding the slumber party she had with her friends were revealed, you can tell her confusion and even her hurt when her "friends" immediately accused her of slandering the school despite very clear evidence to the contrary. It only gets more painful when the rest of the school turns on her, putting her into despair till she saw Twilight's final lines in their last exchange:
    Simultaneously, she's still reminded of the terrible things she did. Here's what she said to Applejack in the beginning of the special:

    One of Rainbow Rocks's biggest problems was how much the movie took on a very obnoxious role by hammering in her evil deeds from EQG. This is the only time it was stated whatsoever.
    The rest of the special shows you the rest of the event, which helps her continue to atone for her actions. It doesn't tell you specifically, and it's a very nice touch, as it's very obvious they still haunt her. Sometimes the road to redemption never ends. For someone like Sunset, this comic shows that her redemption in RR is merely the beginning.
    Improved artwork.
    When it comes to comics, accurate drawings that are organic and don't look like something from the uncanny valley is important. The art from last season's annual had some really off poses, faces, and proportions, and it creates a severe discomfort when reading the source material. (If you want a few other good examples, look at the two Micros with him as the illustrator: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.) Considering how good he is, it's unfortunate.
    Fortunately, Fleecs has shown a direct improvement in his craft. It was very noticeable in Friends Forever, and you see that, too, in this special. The lines are crisp, minimal of mistakes, and decently proportioned. The only exception to this case are the mouths, faces, and necks, each of them changing intermittently. But the critique doesn't hinder the high quality of the art in any way.
    Also, credit to Heather Breckel for doing a fantastic job on the coloring. It's incredibly clean, and the soft blend of highlights and shadows creates a rounding effect, which is really pleasing to the eye.
    Comic composition.
    One of the biggest lessons in good composition at its core is known as the Rule of Thirds.

    By diving the picture into specific points, it makes the image look very organic and comfortable to the eye. It no longer feels like you're slapping something right in the center. You're paying attention to the detail and making the negative space just as impactful as the subject.
    This is exactly the case with Tony Fleecs's art in this issue. His compositioning is excellent. With very few exceptions, nothing is aligned in the dead sections. Each point that attracts the reader's eyes gets captured as a result of putting them there.
    When he wanted to create something more dynamic, he uses a variety of angles. Three that stick out the most are when Applejack hands Sunset the smartphone to show the Anon-a-miss post mocking the ReMane Five on MyStable; the fighting in the cafeteria; and the angry, iris-less classmates yelling on top of a crying Sunset. But it's the last one that I'll dissect here.

    This drawing uses an unconventional two-point perspective to create extremely sharp angles. The rows and bodies each meet right where sunset is crouching crying. Just a few pages prior, Twilight and Sunset discuss the legend of Windigoes, and there's an image showing evil spirits (whether it's real or a conjecture of Sunset's imagination, it's unknown; this is for you to imagine) and every human looking down at her with no irises, similar to her vision. This makes the mood more dramatic and enhances everyone's anger towards her and, in a way, backs up her vision from the night before.
    The concept of HWE between the pony and human worlds.
    In the very beginning on the volume, Applejack relishes over the winter holidays, reminiscing how it reminds her of drinking the hot coca, smelling the fresh snow, and (above all else) spending time with her family. This monologue triggered Sunset Shimmer's disconnect with her family back in Equestria and how she spent her time alone since she relocated (the first time all of us heard anything about her backstory beyond being Celestia's student).
    During the time where her friends abandoned her, Sunset and Twilight wrote to each other once more, and Twilight reminded her the legend of the Windigoes:
    Ever since the hamfisted DEM in EQG's climax, Equestrian magic is being introduced more and more into the alternate canon and is connecting the concept that innate magic in the alternate dimension somehow exists. Unlike Equestria, it isn't so obvious, but it's there somewhere.
    But one point that drives home the concept of cyberbullying well is the sentence I bolded. Cyberbullying/trolling is a massive problem on the Internet. As a result of anonymity, the worst of the people gets exposed, and unless you contact a federal police bureau, you don't know where it's coming from. Sure, you can answer the IP address, but they can always be switched to cover tracks. Proxies are one way to a point. Over the past few years, media has really focused on how cyberbullying/trolling on social media has driven people to suicide like Amanda Todd. (MyStable is a clear reference to MySpace, once one of the most common social media sites before Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram overtook it.) As such, it's incredibly important to recognize how terrible cyberbullying is.
    "Pushing a button" is easily seen as a double entendre. Of course, Twilight uses "pushing a button" as the trigger that sends the victim of the Windigoes over the limit. All of us have a limit before we can't take it anymore, but these limits are so individual, you don't know what will make you snap. Not even the person him, her, or themselves. Plus, cyberbullying is a record that you can go back to, because it's on the Internet. The second you click "submit," it's exposed. So think before you submit.
    But there's more I want to talk about, and I'll get to in the "weaknesses" half, which begins now.
    Weaknesses
    Sloppy Pacing, Part 1: Rushed Flow!
    If there's one thing I learned while reading the comics, it's how inconsistent the quality of the pacing truly is. Sometimes it's so slow, sometimes it's really rushed. Here, it's really rushed. All of the high-school drama seen here starts one page and then ends just a few pages later. Anderson spent almost no time developing the conflict.
    This is especially the case where Sunset was immediately framed. One day, she helped save Canterlot High. The next, she's treated as the she-demon she once was. Everyone simply saw an image and immediately assumed she did it without gathering up the evidence.
    I mean, review her image on MyStable through Fluttershy's smartphone:

    The one in the middle is Sunset Shimmer's avatar. Just by that (as well as recent history), do you honestly believe that anyone with a God-given brain would think Sunset Shimmer is responsible, especially when she constantly denies the story and sticks to it?
    As a result, one well-known, signature flaw from FIM continues:
    Mean-spirited idiots.
    With the exception of Sunset Shimmer, everyone in this comic is unlikeable, an idiot, and/or a complete jerk. One day prior, Sunset Shimmer was being accepted by the ReMane Five as part of her surrogate family. Why? Because when Sunset admitted to spending plenty of winter holidays alone, Applejack and the rest of her friends planned a slumber party so she could be a part of that family. With the winter holidays approaching, the concept of family is a very fitting theme.
    Think about it. What is one of the most anecdotal things people look for during Christmas? Spending quality time with family. When you have no family to be with, then Christmas is no longer about feeling warm, happy, and joyful with the people you love and care for. Instead, "Christmas" becomes associated with loneliness and (if living in the Northern hemisphere like myself) a colder feeling than the actual weather.
    But by abandoning Sunset two days later, the ReMane Five suddenly turn into the very people that nearly caused their defeat in Rainbow Rocks. None of them retain any trust or faith in Sunset Shimmer, her pleas, and her tears. Instead of discussing the situation like actual human beings with brains, they still think of her as the cold, generic bitch who once terrorized CHS.
    Firstly, Sunset Shimmer singlehandedly saved Canterlot High. Back when her friends were bickering and causing tension, she was the only one genuinely aware of the chaos and didn't fall for any of the Sirens' tricks. She noticed the problems and tried to address it when the climax arrived. When none of her friends were capable of defeating Adagio, Sonata, and Aria, Sunset Shimmer confronted them personally, embraced their friendship, and became Twilight's protégé from across the mirror.
    Even though Sunset still had plenty to learn, Rainbow Rocks's events helped her grow into a standout character. She learned her lessons and capitalized on the opportunities. The mind games the Dazzlings played on her in the conveniently flickering hallway in Canterlot High weren't enough for her to break her down, hence the song in the climax.
    Secondly, it's a complete disregard of continuity.
    In Equestria Girls, the ReMane Five are complete idiots when it came to solving Sunset Shimmer's bait. Sunset Shimmer was able to disrupt all of their lives, resulting in misunderstandings that wrecked supposedly important events. Rather than conversing like people, they inexplicably stopped talking to each other as a cohesive group for a long time. This is very out of character of them all, as each of them are mature enough to understand each other. Plus, they all had the technology their Equestrian counterparts don't have. A simple group conversation would've outed Sunset Shimmer a long time ago.
     
    Because the misunderstanding is what caused their friction, they should've learned not to make assumptions so quickly when they realized it. If they legitimately grew from the event, instead of being irrational, their in-character beings would investigate the matter. This takes place after Rainbow Rocks. Remember, Sunset Shimmer was the hero, and she gained their full trust. By the way her friends treated her at the slumber party, you can tell her friends care for her, believe her, and put as much faith into her as everyone else. When Sunset was justifiably outcast by the rest of Canterlot High School, the HuMane Six were the only ones to actively support her despite their grandiose immaturity injuring their likeability meters.
     
    When they abandoned her, the lessons they learned from the past two movies — mainly the misunderstanding and petty arguing when forming the Rainbooms — were handwaved for the sake of hammering in the cyberbullying drama. By being so quick to judgment and forcing Sunset to live alone in CHS (I'll get to this, too), they act as if their word means nothing. Instead of supporting Sunset's alibis and investigating the source of the drama, they perpetuate the problem by being extremely mean-spirited and treating her like crap until the CMCs admitted to being the perpetrators.
     
    If this took place before RR, then their assumptions would've had some merit. By making RR the sequel, it'd make plenty of sense for the HuMane Five to not completely trust her. They'd try to make her a part of the gang, but remain reserved, only for Anon-a-miss to verify their initial impressions. Once the comic concludes, they believe Sunset and ebb their unease to the point of making her surrogate family. Instead, RR is the prequel, so there's no sense for them to lose trust so easily. Thirdly, after the secrets were spilled onto MyStable, the students at Canterlot High thoroughly enjoyed it. When the HuMane Six got embarrassed, they laughed at them and eagerly looked for more. Only when their own secrets got spilled did the verbal war truly begin and everyone protested against each other.
    Either Sunset Shimmer is too forgiving or too dumb, but this world is extremely cruelly behaved. The attitude of Canterlot High's students has an extreme edge of hypocrisy thanks to their glee for humiliating others until they got victimized. Maybe this is because of my moral limits, but as a result of how much they love how to treat each other and Sunset's lack of family there, why the hell would Sunset even want to be there? Considering how even after the drama ended, we still don't know much about her family.
    Lastly, not once did they directly say "sorry"! Sweetie Belle said sorry on behalf of the CMCs to Sunset, but the only apologies from the HuMane Five came toward the CMCs. You embarrassed Sunset and made her feel worthless! Why didn't you apologize to her right there?! Before anyone says, "They might've apologized off-screen," that may be true given by how well Sunset's treated in the epilogue. But by not writing in an apology on screen, it makes the HuMane Five's relationship with Sunset extremely disingenuous, similar to how the ReMane Five (minus AJ), Shining Armor, and Celestia treated Twilight in A Canterlot Wedding. Instead of organically maturing, the HuMane Five remain unpleasant, unlikeable, and immature. By retreading the same recycled lessons they learned from EQG and RR, their personalities are reduced to less than one-dimensional flanderizations. You want to make the characters grow; Anderson regressed their character growth to a point even more immature than the 2013 Annual.
    Speaking of character regression…
    …What the hell happened to TRIXIE?!
    She's boastful, proud, yet learned from her trials. Instead, her personality is similar to that of Magic Duel. But what makes her here worse than in MD is MD had her placed under a spell, so she had no idea what she was doing. Instead, she knows what Anon-a-miss is doing, admires her, and is jealous! Trixie may be a braggart, but for God's sake, the in-character Trixie has some damn morals!
    One of the biggest pitfalls about the world of Equestria Girls is how much its continuity absolutely sucks! At every chance the writers could give it some solidity, they break it. The broken continuity becomes even more egregious for how this is the third time the HuMane Five have to learn not to rush to judgment, and the victim is a person whom they trusted from the beginning of Rainbow Rocks. At this point, the only two points where continuity's even solid are The Fall of Sunset Shimmer and Music to My Ears.
    Seriously! Anytime EQG is the main subject, IDW or DHX don't even try to keep a solid continuity on this world.
    Lack of subtlety.
    If there's one way to kill the journey, it's when you figure out the villain really early. Anon-a-miss's identification is really easy to spot for a few reasons.
    Apple Bloom's teasing of Applejack over the phone had an edge. In one shot, AB was laying on her bed with a bit of an eye roll, as Applejack was at Pinkie's house and not Granny Smith's. "Piggly Wiggly." When AJ explained her nickname's backstory, she punctuated it with this line:
      The "good with the bad" implies to the audience of an approaching conflict. For those who read the synopsis, it leads up to the sinistry of Anon-a-miss later. The very next day, the first person to introduce Anon-a-miss was Apple Bloom. That afternoon, Apple Bloom framed Sunset during her one-on-one talk with Applejack, and the framing itself is obvious by how Sunset Shimmer went to sleep right after writing to Twilight. The fact that AB knew so much about Anon-a-miss made her actions incredibly suspicious. During the second sleepover, Sweetie Belle wanted to join, but Rarity escorted her out. Because Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are usually side-by-side and Sunset fell asleep after her second conversation with Twilight, it was apparent that SB was going to get involved later. Scootaloo? All three are always shown to be together in this world, much more than the pony world. I'll get to her later. If someone else told her about Anon-a-miss instead, then the surprise would've been much more convincing, and the antagonists wouldn't destroy the narrative's quality to a minute extent.
    Overemphasis.
    When writing a story, one method to display emphasis in a character's voice is to italicize a word. When used sparingly, it impacts the mood of the character. But in nearly every single word balloon, words are italicized. That's way too much. Instead of directing the tone organically, the tone in the emotion becomes really contrived, nullifying the impact.
    The library's security sucks.
    In Equestria Girls, there were several gigantic WTF moments. One of the biggest is the fact that Twilight Sparkle slept in Canterlot High's library. A gigantic subtext of Equestria Girls is the characters' ability to live in a world similar to ours. Unlike Golden Oaks Library, the school library would not tolerate anyone sleeping in. Typically, security would check the library to see if anyone was staying there for too long. Once spotted, they're escorted out. In Equestria Girls, Twilight sleeps openly in the library; not only wasn't she caught, the script tolerated this breech. Any sensible school library would not let that happen. In Rainbow Rocks, this plot hole was resolved by having Pinkie et al. sleep over at her house.

    But the plot hole reopens thanks to the fact that Sunset Shimmer openly sleeps over at the school library. Sure, you can guess it's because Sunset Shimmer was Twilight's precursor and now protégé, her living in the library would make some sense.
    But it doesn't.
    Sunset Shimmer has literally no family other than her friends, and her friends suddenly abandoned her. Where did Sunset Shimmer live this whole time? Just by this shot, Anderson's implying her home has been somewhere on the streets. That she's homeless. That she might've lived in the library the whole time while at Canterlot High.
     
    One question you could've asked while watching both movies is where Sunset lived since leaving Equestria. The question wasn't answered until this comic. The suspension of disbelief is now broken, for homelessness is something to never take for granted. Unfortunately, her home in the library is written in as a gag. Twilight (unnecessarily) lived in the library to tell the viewers to connect to her home in Equestria, a context that makes no sense given the difference in environments and laws. Here, the repetition reminds the viewer how Sunset's homelessness isn't supposed to be taken seriously. Homelessness isn't a joke, and it shouldn't be written as a gag. Too many people have to live through this harsh reality, especially children. Review how many LGBT teens are forced to live on the streets because their bigoted families disowned them. By extension, the HuMane Five knew Sunset was homeless. By dumping her and forcing her to relive her life on the streets, they're saying they didn't care if she died tomorrow. No sane, compassionate friend would ever dump their friend off live that. It's cold, sick, bigoted, and reveals how little they value her as not just a friend…but a human being herself. What's even sicker is, to repeat myself, when this whole thing takes place: after the movie (a movie where they supported her through thick and thin) and during one of the coldest times of the year. The Cutie Mark Crusaders.
    One of FIM's biggest surprises is the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Three characters who started very roughly thanks to their obnoxious S1 episodes grew into really well-liked, independent individuals. Their pony counterparts underwent really serious conflicts, grew so much since Stare Master, and aren't so fixated on getting their cutie marks as much as they used to.
    But no other character was bastardized more in this comic than them.
    Let's think about it.
    Because Sunset Shimmer never spent any time with anyone during Christmas, Applejack and her friends prepared a slumber party. Apple Bloom was missing Applejack because she spent more time trying with her friends. But she also felt jealous of Sunset Shimmer for having Applejack be with her and the rest of the group and not with her, so she created a troll account to cyberbully Sunset. Then, because Sweetie Belle was not invited to the slumber party at the pretense of having to go to bed, she decided to get involved and helped cyberbully Sunset. As a result of everyone at Canterlot High sickly enjoying the secrets and wishing for more, they soon suffered Anon-a-miss's wrath. Scootaloo got involved for reasons never explained.
    I think everyone knows the "inspiration."
    Or if should I be more precise, the "inspiration" for what is a ripoff of one of season two's most controversial episodes.

    (Link to poster.)
    And all I got to say is this…
    ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
    First off, neither of these issues are anywhere close to being the same.
    In Ponyville Confidential, the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to get their cutie marks in tabloid reporting. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders realized that their usual gossip columns were becoming hurtful, they willingly wanted to stop it. Unfortunately, succumbed to the pressures, they continued because the public loved them and wanted to eat them up. When they finally had enough, Diamond Tiara threatened to release the images unless they finally submitted a really hurtful report. Their letter of apology was a way to finally end the column.
    In the Holiday Special, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were willingly evil. In a jealous rage, they decided to frame Sunset Shimmer, willingly humiliate her and their family, and continue publishing them until they got exactly what they wanted: infighting and a very distraught Sunset. They had no idea the cyberbullying was going to spread, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders had no interest in stopping. If it wasn't going to affect their friendship, the CMCs were going to behave worse and worse until their friendship completely broke apart, even if it meant betraying their own kin.
    Moreover, unlike the Holiday Special, the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't jealous of anyone. They were in pursuit of their cutie marks and felt this was the way to do it. They decided to get into reporting because they believed they could succeed in the field.
    They didn't want anyone getting hurt, either, but like I said, when they realized it, they wanted to end it, but continued because they were pressured to continue. The ability to feel the weight of the pressure is individual; sometimes the pressure doesn't bother you until long after, sometimes you feel it immediately. It depends on whom and what.
    For fillies like the CMCs, this pressure was insurmountable. Everypony wanted Gabby Gums to publish juicy secrets. Not just Diamond Tiara, but their friends and family, too. But they also showed a conscience throughout, and what helped make their alibi more justifiable was by how you saw the whole conflict in their perspective. You saw how much it was hurting, so they wanted to make things right.
    But if anyone here honestly believes the CMCs from the Holiday Special were justified, I got a bridge to sell you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have absolutely ZERO justification for their actions. Throughout Rainbow Rocks, the HuMane Six trusted her. Because Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo know the HuMane Five to a certain degree, it's certain they'd trust Sunset Shimmer and treat them as much an equal as the rest of their friends.
    Hell, this trust is verified in the CREDITS! When Sunset's spellbook fell out, Apple Bloom caught it and gave it back. Afterwards, all four walked off-screen together.
    But let's say we didn't see the credits. The Dazzlings put them under a spell, and Sunset led her friends to their defeat. Because of AJ et al's immense trust for her and Sunset's determination, none of the kids have any leg to stand on when doubting Sunset.
    Even more importantly, despite the fact that the CMCs were involved, no one knew why. When they explained their logic, it falls completely on their faces. In PC, we saw the CMCs' complete thought process during their mission to get their cutie marks. In the special, they weren't the focus, and we didn't see their thought processes.
    Why they got jealous? Did they miss them? Did Sunset say anything that might've offended them and give them an alibi to slander her and her friends? Was there any friction between the CMCs and the HuMane Six prior to Anon-a-miss? Did anyone warn them that what they put out there is permanent? Did they think of any potential consequence simply for the idea? Why would SCOOTALOO get involved when she had nothing to do with the comic until the climax? Speaking of Scootaloo, there's no reason for her to be in the comic. There's no precursor whatsoever for her to get involved in Anon-a-miss. The only reason she's in on the action is because Anderson wrote so, which is extremely contrived. It's like forcing the Mane Six on an adventure when the whole story would've been much better if almost all of them were absent (e.g., Rainbow Falls; The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies; Filli Vanilli; Trade Ya!). She could've been cut out entirely, and nothing would change.
    Sloppy Pacing, Part 2: Confusion!
    Pacing isn't exclusively about the speed of the flow. It also has to do with the direction. Here is where the foundation of the comic's problems lie.
    The whole comic wants to tell one story, but tells another instead. In the beginning, the HuMane Five are anxious to celebrate the winter holidays. But because Sunset Shimmer always spent her time alone, two slumber parties were arranged to make her feel at home for once. Suddenly, Anon-a-miss shows up, and it becomes a story about cyberbullying. The subject of the winter holidays doesn't become a part of the story again till the epilogue.
    By telling two narratives, the issue confuses itself. What is this story supposed to be? Is it a Christmas special or a PSA about cyberbullying? Since it's trying to tell both simultaneously, the subjects of celebrating Christmas and consequences of cyberbullying are butting heads, and you're injuring the message in both. Without a clear focus, the story becomes a waste of time, value, and money.
    As for cyberbullying itself, it's a severe epidemic. Approximately all of us has been a victim at some point in our lives. More often than not, trolling doesn't end with a simple block or report. We speak out against it, but because it's difficult to track and end, no one knows how to combat it. Being bullied face to face is disgusting. Cyberbullying introduces a sick, dark edge, 'cause the anonymity of the Internet brings out the worst of people. Each time someone commits bullycide from cyberbullying, the statistic climbs, and cyberbullying worsens. You could argue that "don't feed the troll" doesn't work anymore, and that's true. Sometimes when you ignore the bully, he can't feed off the anger, so he finds someone else. Quite frankly, "don't feed the troll" has been a source of the problem, because that phrase implies a tolerance to bullying. Bullying should have zero tolerance under all levels, because the worse it becomes, the more desperate countries will try to curb it, therefore introducing bills with serious implications on privacy and simple rights violations. Today, thanks to DDoS attacks, hacking, and doxxing, trolling is more invasive, and it's going to get worse until more and more people decide to put their feet down and end it.
    Unfortunately, because the issue tells two stories, flows sloppily, has poorly written characterization, and contains broken logic, the discussion of cyberbullying is damaged. Cyberbullying isn't treated as a serious ordeal, but a simple conflict. Bullying is not something you treat lightly at all, and the light treatment of cyberbullying is immensely disrespectful to the victims of bullying and the activists who speak out against it everyday. People get depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other illnesses because bullying crippled their view on life, and they can't escape it. As I wrote earlier, victims of bullying have been driven to suicide because they can't escape. Online, the record isn't temporary, so seeing their words becomes more and more painful each time you go back and see them. The epilogue addresses it in passing, but doesn't go into direct depth, and that's a hugely missed opportunity.
    Plus, the CMCs' punishment is way too light! Having detention for the rest of the year doesn't cover the damage they caused. Their evil is very real because so many victims can relate to Sunset's crumbling opinion of the world around her. You can ask many cyberbullying victims what they went through; there's a good chance one answer will be someone decided to spill something personal, intimate online when they don't want it published, and everyone mocked them for it. But there's a huge difference between telling a subject and addressing/explaining a subject. The comic tells the subject, but doesn't thoroughly explain it.
    What helps makes this shameful is twofold:
    The instant forgiveness from the HuMane Five.
     
    Sunset Shimmer got falsely accused despite saving your plots? You're thrown on the street!
     
    The Cutie Mark Crusaders admitting to their crimes, saying sorry, and presenting one of the worst excuses in FIM history? Why, you're forgiven!
     
    Just goes to show how little the HuMane Five truly appreciate Sunset Shimmer. The moral is excellent. "No matter how big your family is, there's always room for more" is a great method to imply how family doesn't end on the bloodlines. Family is also step-family, in-laws, and very dear friends. Christmas celebrates the family, per the visual explanation of the epilogue. But the whole conflict contradicts the concept and doesn't respect the mature moral. Another completely wasted opportunity. Conclusion
    This past month, IDW published their second comic about the adventures of Equestria Girls. This time, it's about the merger of Christmas and cyberbullying. Individually, both ideas create an array of directions to tell a story. Since Christmas has become less and less personal, telling a winter holiday story about how important Christmas is to family is a great way to tell people that the spirit of Christmas should never be abandoned. Sunset Shimmer's personal story of being alone for the holidays helps connect homeless people to Christmas, for many kids don't have a Christmas to celebrate with their family; Sunset and her family rarely saw each other, and bringing her into the family helps tell her she's not alone. Likewise, cyberbullying continues to pile on more and more victims, and this epidemic will never go away unless a medium calls it out and doesn't tolerate it. With a franchise as personal as FIM, it makes sense to address it and critique it, particularly for a world as connected to real life as EQG.
    But Ted Anderson's biggest mistake is how both are part of one story. A comic only has so much volume, and by being a one-shot, you're gonna cram in too much detail. Anderson split the stories into two and executes it in a way that divides the overall narrative. It wants to tell a Christmas story, but wants to tell a cyberbullying story, too. From this blatant division, the story is a directionless mess, but it only worsens. The HuMane Five have to repeat the same identical lesson they learned from both Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks — don't rush to judgment — and break continuity by abandoning a homeless Sunset Shimmer after she was framed without any investigation whatsoever. Then the Cutie Mark Crusaders present a horrid excuse, turning the cyberbullying story into a ripoff of Ponyville Confidential. The lost opportunities, vile conclusion, and broken narrative are extremely disrespectful to the victims and survivors of cyberbullies, the families of bullycide victims and survivors, and anti-trolling activists.
    This is an issue even the Grinch would reject. If this was ever an episode, it would easily make my bottom-five at the very least. Overall, a sorry, sloppy, and horrible excuse of a "comic" and one of the worst professionally published FIM stories I ever read.
  4. Dark Qiviut
    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 categories:
    Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season 9 MLP: The Movie & Specials Equestria Girls series, RR animated shorts, specials, and IDW comic/annual Main Comic Series* Micro-Series Friends Forever If you want to see my order of every FIM episode from best to worst (with grades), click here.
    Be warned: There are no reasons given for any of the grades, and they're all subject to change. Let's begin!
    Season 1:
    Friendship Is Magic: C The Ticket Master: C- Applebuck Season: B- Griffon the Brush Off: D+ Boast Busters: F Dragonshy: B- Look Before You Sleep: B Bridle Gossip: F- Swarm of the Century: B- Winter Wrap Up: A- Call of the Cutie: B+ Fall Weather Friends: B Suited for Success: A Feeling Pinkie Keen: D- Sonic Rainboom: B Stare Master: C- The Show Stoppers: F A Dog and Pony Show: C Green Isn't Your Color: B Over a Barrel: D+ A Bird in the Hoof: D The Cutie Mark Chronicles: A- Owl's Well that Ends Well: F Party of One: A+ The Best Night Ever: A+ ———
    Season 2:
    The Return of Harmony: A- Lesson Zero: A Luna Eclipsed: B+ Sisterhooves Social: A+ The Cutie Pox: C May the Best Pet Win!: F The Mysterious Mare Do Well: F Sweet and Elite: B- Secret of My Excess: B Hearth's Warming Eve: B Family Appreciation Day: B Baby Cakes: C+ The Last Roundup: B
    The Last Roundup (edited): F The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000: C- Read It and Weep: B- Hearts and Hooves Day: D A Friend in Deed: B Putting Your Hoof Down: F It's About Time: B- Dragon Quest: F- Hurricane Fluttershy: A Ponyville Confidential: D- MMMystery on the Friendship Express: D- A Canterlot Wedding: C- ———
    Season 3:
    The Crystal Empire: F+ Too Many Pinkie Pies: C+ One Bad Apple: F- Magic Duel: B+ Sleepless in Ponyville: A Wonderbolts Academy: A- Apple Family Reunion: B Spike at Your Service: D- Keep Calm and Flutter On: D+ Just for Sidekicks: D Games Ponies Play: F+ Magical Mystery Cure: C- ———
    Season 4:
    Princess Twilight Sparkle: C- Castle Mane-ia: B- Daring Don't: D Flight to the Finish: A Power Ponies: C Bats!: F+ Rarity Takes Manehattan: B+ Pinkie Apple Pie: B+ Rainbow Falls: F- Three's a Crowd: C+ Pinkie Pride: A Simple Ways: C- Filli Vanilli: D Twilight Time: B It Ain't Easy Being Breezies: D- Somepony to Watch Over Me: F Maud Pie: C+ For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils: A- Leap of Faith: C Testing Testing 1, 2, 3: A Trade Ya!: F Inspiration Manifestation: B Equestria Games: D+ Twilight's Kingdom: B- ———
    Season 5:
    The Cutie Map: A+ Castle Sweet Castle: A- Bloom & Gloom: A- Tanks for the Memories: D+ Appleoosa's Most Wanted: F Make Friends but Keep Discord: C+ The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone: C Slice of Life: A Princess Spike: F Party Pooped: C- Amending Fences: A+ Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?: D+ Canterlot Boutique: B- Rarity Investigates!: B Made in Manehattan: C+ Brotherhooves Social: D+ Crusaders of the Lost Mark: A+ The One Where Pinkie Knows: C Hearthbreakers: B- Scare Master: B+ What About Discord: F The Hooffields and McColts: D+ The Mane Attraction: A- The Cutie Re-Mark: A ———
    Season 6:
    The Crystalling: B The Gift of Maud Pie: C+ On Your Marks: B+ Gauntlet of Fire: A- No Second Prances: F Newbie Dash: F- A Hearth's Warming Tail: A The Saddle Row Review: A Applejack's "Day" Off: C Flutter Brutter: F+ Spice Up Your Life: C- Stranger Than Fan Fiction: B- The Cart Before the Ponies: F 28 Pranks Later: F- The Times They Are a Changeling: A Dungeons & Discords: B Buckball Season: C- The Fault in Our Cutie Marks: A- Viva Las Pegasus: B+ Every Little Thing She Does: D P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View): F Where the Apple Lies: B- Top Bolt: B To Where and Back Again: F ———
    Season 7:
    Celestial Advice: B- All Bottled Up: A- A Flurry of Emotions: B+ Rock Solid Friendship: C+ Fluttershy Leans In: C Forever Filly: C+ Parental Glideance: A+ Hard to Say Anything: F Honest Apple: F A Royal Problem: C- Not Asking for Trouble: B- Discordant Harmony: A- The Perfect Pear: A+ Fame and Misfortune: F- Triple Threat: B- Campfire Tales: C+ To Change a Changeling: B+ Daring Done: C+ It Isn't the Mane Thing About You: A- A Health of Information: B Marks and Recreation: A Once Upon a Zeppelin: A- Secrets and Pies: D Uncommon Bond: A- Shadow Play: A+ ———
    Season 8:
    School Daze: B- The Maud Couple: B Fake It 'Til You Make It: F Grannies Gone Wild: A Surf and/or Turf: A Horse Play: A- The Parent Map: B+ Non-Compete Clause: D- The Break Up Break Down: A+ Molt Down: A- Marks for Effort: B+ The Mean 6: A A Matter of Principals: C- The Hearth's Warming Club: A Friendship University: B+ The End in Friend: B Yakity-Sax: D On the Road to Friendship: A The Washouts: A A Rockhoof and a Hard Place: A+ What Lies Beneath: A- Sounds of Silence: A- Father Knows Beast: B- School Raze: B ———
    Season 9:
    The Beginning of the End: B+ Uprooted: B+ Sparkle's Seven: A+ The Point of No Return: A- Common Ground: A She's All Yak: A- Frenemies: A Sweet and Smoky: B Going to Seed: B- Student Counsel: B+ The Last Crusade: A+ Between Dark and Dawn: A The Last Laugh: A- 2, 4, 6, Greaaat: D A Trivial Pursuit: B- The Summer Sun Setback: A She Talks to Angel: B+ Dragon Dropped: A A Horse Shoe-In: B+ Daring Doubt: B Growing Up is Hard to Do: C- The Big Mac Question: A+ The Ending of the End: C The Last Problem: A ———
    Specials/Movies:
    My Little Pony: The Movie: C Best Gift Ever: C+ Rainbow Roadtrip: B  
    Equestria Girls:
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: F- The Fall of Sunset Shimmer: A- MLP Annual #1: C- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls — Rainbow Rocks: D Equestria Girls Holiday Special: F- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls — Friendship Games: F+ My Little Pony: Equestria Girls — Legend of Everfree: C-  
    Dance Magic: C Movie Magic: C- Mirror Magic: D- Forgotten Friendship: C ———
    Rainbow Rocks Shorts:
    Music to My Ears: A Guitar Centered: C Hamstocalypse Now: C Pinkie on the One: D+ Player Piano: C- A Case for the Bass: B- Shake Your Tail!: C- Perfect Day for Fun: D  
    Life Is a Runway: A My Past Is Not Today: A Friendship Through the Ages: A  
    Main Comic Series:
    (Individual issues and overall arc are graded separately.)
    The Return of Queen Chrysalis: B
    a. Part 1: B+
    b. Part 2: C-
    c. Part 3: B
    d. Part 4: B Nightmare Rarity: F
    a. Part 1: D-
    b. Part 2: D
    c. Part 3: D-
    d. Part 4: F Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair: B+
    a. Part 1: B+
    b. Part 2: A- Neigh Anything: B
    a. Part 1: B-
    b. Part 2: B My Little Pirate: Friendship Ahoy: D
    a. Part 1: C
    b. Part 2: D+ The Bookworm: C-
    a. Part 1: D
    b. Part 2: C Reflections: F
    a. Part 1: D+
    b. Part 2: D-
    c. Part 3: F
    d. Part 4: F Manehattan Mysteries: A-
    a. Part 1: A-
    b. Part 2: A- The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies: F-
    a. Part 1: F-
    b. Part 2: F- Siege of The Crystal Empire: F-
    a. Part 1: D
    b. Part 2: F
    c. Part 3: F-
    d. Part 4: F- *The main comics have been so bad, until they clean up, I refuse to read them again.
    ———
    Micro-Series:
    Twilight Sparkle: F+ Rainbow Dash: F- Rarity: B+ Fluttershy: F- Pinkie Pie: A Applejack: D+ Cutie Mark Crusaders: A- Princess Celestia: B- Spike: C- Princess Luna: C ———
    Friends Forever:
    Pinkie Pie & Applejack: F Cutie Mark Crusaders & Discord: B Spike & Princess Celestia: C- Twilight Sparkle & Shining Armor: B Fluttershy & Zecora: A Rainbow Dash & Trixie: C+ Pinkie Pie & Princess Luna: A- Rarity & Applejack: D+ Rarity & Babs Seed: B Rainbow Dash & Soarin': A I wound up growing uninterested in reading Friends Forever, hence the short list.
  5. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This review has been edited and published in the main thread. If you wish to see the old review (now locked for commenting), click here.
    ———
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is the semi-blockbuster for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic franchise. The fourth generation has garnered hype and popularity since its inception on October 10, 2010, with the help of the target audience (families), market audience (families and families of little girls), and periphery demographic (everyone else — the teenager-and-up bronies, for example). However, unlike Friendship Is Magic, Equestria Girls's market audience is adolescent girls — ages ten to fourteen. With the premise revealed and controversy surrounding the spinoff, how does the movie itself hold up?
    To answer several questions and thoughts before I write the official commentary:
    If you watched Twilight's Hot Minute, you'll notice one segment where Twilight has trouble flying, a retcon from Magical Mystery Cure's ending. The clip in the commercial came from this movie. Flash Sentry, who was featured not that much and didn't have much dialogue, was a love interest. In passing, Rarity said Flash Sentry and Sunset were a couple, but broke up. Twilight gained a crush on him, and the two mutually respect each other. Derpy is featured at least thrice in the movie, once deep in the credits dancing to the tune and the second during Equestria Girls (the song) twice. In the latter, she appears walking in the lower-right-hand corner in the school cafeteria and dancing in the background as the song closes. There was a common question about why Twilight didn't stealing the crown back before retreating as fast as she could to the portal. Spike queried Twilight why she didn't ask Principal Celestia where it was, but that was the closest it came to this idea. Twilight didn't bother searching for it at any point in the movie. In the back of Sunset Shimmer's toy packaging, she's referenced as a former student for Celestia. In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, she was Celestia's former student who later abandoned her studies. Twilight Sparkle, while in her human form, didn't attended classes (at least on screen). At no point is the word "human" even uttered. If you wish to see the plot summary, head to its wiki page here. Now to my standard review.
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls markets to adolescent girls via the content within, but DHX and Meghan McCarthy are responsible for animate and write the movie. On one hand, there is plenty of material to attract the parents and periphery demographic with the wit and humor. On the other, there is so much, from the little details to the characterization to the overall concept, that is extremely patronizing to the periphery demographic to the point of segregating them from the rest of the audience. It has the potential and shows it occasionally, but on the whole, it's one gigantic clunker.
    First, there are strengths:
    The animation of the animals is extremely fluid. To repeat, one element from the series that is often overlooked is the quality and improvement of the animal animation. Instead of using Flash as a cost-cutting measure, DHX uses it as a crucial tool to develop the animation and make it as useful as handdrawing them, akin to a full-length Disney animated picture. The same can be said for Spike as both a dragon and dog. The way both designs move demonstrate no noticeable hitches or glitches. In the alternate world, the environmental graphics are solid. It's school, but it feels like a lively school, with bright colors, land, shadows, and many other nuances. In front of Canterlot High is a horse statue that contains numerous details to make it look polished and beautiful. You can see, pause, and observe the details in that statue. There are no complaints for the excellent voice work. Whenever they talked, the dialogue, reactions, and exclamations didn't sound fake or poorly acted. When Twilight was anxious, she appeared anxious. When Spike was concerned or snarky, he sounded exactly that. The tones were believable. Sunset Shimmer was a bully, and her aggressive voice (as a human, pony, and bitchy demon) fit her personality. Like the episodes themselves, one crucial point in the series is both the background musical score and song score.
     
    a. Once more, William Anderson performed well. Each time his score came into play, the mood resonates and correlates. When the situation was calm, the score captured that feeling of calm. When Twilight was anxious or panicking, Anderson's tunes captured that panic. During the lone fight scene, the score revved up to represent adrenaline and urge, and it matched the scene well.
     
    And if you are a Star Wars geek like I am, take a listen to the score once Twilight opens Principal Celestia's door open with her head. You'll notice a tiny bit of a Star Wars-esque tune before it switches into something more fitting to Celestia.
     
    b. Daniel Ingram is responsible for the song score, and what he did really harnessed the feeling of youth. The songs are teen pop, which tends to be upbeat, young, and urban in its music. According to Ingram, this is something very foreign to him, which he did quite well in two (three?) songs:
     
    i. A Strange New World: This is the most unique of the songs in terms of tone. In the other songs, you can really notice the similarities in the drums, symbols, and rhythm. In this one, however, the mood is much more different, which means a change of pace in the music. It's lower and doesn't have as much adrenaline compared to the others.
     
    ii. Equestria Girls: The second the song begins to plays, there's a tribute to Queen's We Will Rock You. It's by far the catchiest song in the entire movie, and Ingram's upbeat, high-paced score (akin to a song played at a baseball game during a road team's mound conference) revs up tremendous adrenaline, starting small and then climatically ending on a continuously high note.
     
    iii. The instrumental theme for the characters' transformation. If you're going to give this moment any impact, it's important to put in a great score for it. Ingram (Anderson?) did exactly that, combining the teen pop genre with the feeling of magic and majesty in the instruments. The characterization of the humans is rather decent. Twilight's misadventures as a human really fit her, for she transformed from a pony so suddenly. As for the other humans, their dialogue fits their personalities and roles (Principal Celestia, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, etc.). But there's one human who stole the show in some capacity: Pinkie Pie. If you love Pinkie Pie, you'll love her glorious performance. For almost the entire movie, she was extremely in character and random, but didn't behave like a mindless clone from Too Many Pinkie Pies. Whatever she was going to say, you had no idea when or where. But whenever she did, it fit her so well. She wasn't random for the sake of it nor was she random during very crucial, dire moments. If she was serious, she was. When she was surprised, she was surprised. When she wanted to surprise someone with her hilarious antics, you had no idea how, whether it's her "hunch," breaking the fourth wall, or hanging upside-sown with a megaphone in her hand. She was fantastic here and gave her character so much justice. A little detail, but Principal Celestia shone early in the movie. Her sassy, snarky expression once Twilight entered her office was funny, and she showed both patience and impatience. In that small clip, she displayed a bigger sense of character than her pony counterpart: her strength of wisdom, but a psychological flaw of greater importance and not wanting to waste time participating in needless conversations. When Spike is well-written, he is a tremendous character, and he was excellent here. The design choice of him being Twilight's dog is still stupid because it relegated him to a pet instead of Twilight's surrogate brother, but he was the levelheaded figure of the duo. He was intelligent, witty, and the wiser of the two. He sometimes said something that was hilarious and not as smart as he hoped, but he knew Twilight very well and guided her whenever she got stuck, lost, or anxious. DHX, this is how Spike SHOULD be written: not a comedic butt of jokes, but a character who's worth his screentime and attention to the audience. Suffice it to say, it's his best role since The Crystal Empire. Twilight Sparkle was adorkable, but not the same Twilight compared to season three. All of the character growth from the pilot to Magical Mystery Cure was retained: nervous, mature, and capable of quickly regaining her composure. Her leadership, which isn't highlighted as much as it should, played a role in many parts of the movie, from making her human companions of her friends again to being the one who helped clean up the mess in the hall to leading the chase in the end.
     
    (That said, I expect Twilight to grow more and make her change to an alicorn princess worthwhile so Magical Mystery Cure does not come off as a more haphazard disguise for the toyline than it already is.) That said, there are many issues, some small, some quite big.
    One big issue in many of season three's episodes is the pace, either because it's too fast or too slow. This issue is evident here on many occasions.
     
    a. Twilight was transformed into a human and had to adapt in order to retrieve her Element of Harmony. In what is a seventy-minute movie, Twilight had to adapt to being a human in only three days. Transformation from one species to another is not as easy to adapt as you logically think. Think about a baby walking. When a baby tries to walk the first time, he or she will stumble and fall down. Eventually, the baby will walk, but it won't happen right away. It takes plenty of time to adjust, and this example applies to Twilight. She's smart, but isn't going to go from acting like a four-legged mammal to a human who's capable of wiggling her fingers and walking on her two feet in a couple of days. Getting used to having different anatomy takes plenty of time to adapt, and it's too quick.
     
    b. A common issue in the series: explaining a villain's backstory with as little detail as possible. Sunset Shimmer is the main villain in the entire movie, and Celestia didn't explain her history as thoroughly as she should. If given one or two more minutes to explain her past more, then Shimmer's transformation from a confident student to a dishonest, egotistical bully might've made more sense. Instead, Celestia's explanation was rushed and only opened up more questions about her past. Sunset's flimsy excuse following her defeat didn't close the door on these questions, either, but rather left them just as open, if not more.
     
    c. Twilight's crush, Flash Sentry (a.k.a., Brad), is boring and flat. As a character, he has very little personality. Sure, he's supposed to be kind and gentlemanly, but when he spoke, there was so little to demonstrate something from him that stands out and make him thoroughly three-dimensional. Any physical, psychological, and emotional flaws that make the characters thrive are absent, and he had so few roles to make him verbally stand out. Basically, he was a tertiary character.
     
    d. The mutual respect for both Flash Sentry and Twilight resorts to three common clichés: Flash helping Twilight to her feet; Flash and Twilight bumping into each other, having a "crush-y" moment, and Flash being Sunset's ex-boyfriend.
     
    The latter cliché is such a major copout for two reasons: It creates unnecessary conflict (which never got brought up following the revelation), and it's a cheap excuse to hook Twilight and Flash up. If you want to write genuinely good quality cruses and romance, don't fall for these stupid traps that intellectually insult your audience.
     
    Furthermore, the family-friendly romantic feelings were implausibly developed. At one point, they met. The next, Twilight developed a crush. The third, Flash and Twilight developed mutual respect for each other. There was so much going on, no time for them to mutually communicate was given.
     
    e. From the beginning to the end, the plot crammed way too much information for it to flow plausibly. This is a seventy-minute movie that featured several plot points, and it's up to McCarthy and the rest of DHX to have everything flow smoothly and plausibly: Twilight learning how to be a human, regain the crown, team up with her Human Five counterparts, defeat Sunset Shimmer, develop a crush on Flash Sentry along the way, and return home all in three days. What was given the ample opportunity to develop everything well was cut for the required time given for the movie. When you're forced to cut corners to cram so much detail, you risk greatly diminishing the quality of the story. That's exactly the case here, with the plot going, "too much information, too little time." If anything, this movie should've been longer. While the animation of the ponies and other animals is fluent, the humans are very subpar. With the exception of the twirling during Equestria Girls, the humans don't appear fluid at all. For one, the squash and stretch (an important principle in animation) are missing most of the time. When they walk and run, it doesn't have that organic motor of their legs. When the characters walk, run, pose, or throw, it's as if I turned on a machine. Instead of using Flash as a crucial tool to produce high-quality animation, it comes across as a crutch to cut corners.
     
    While nitpicky, Snails carried that wheelbarrow full of bricks as if it was empty. One brick alone is extremely heavy, and he's pushing at least a dozen. That's about two hundred pounds of bricks. For a team that takes its physics very seriously, DHX slipped up here. The cause of the division of the Human Five is out of character. While teens are extremely naïve, the Human Five are extremely intelligent, and they were all friends when they went to High School as freshmen. When Sunset Shimmer sabotaged their friendship with questionable messages, in-character beings of themselves would've gone to the supposed messengers and ask if they genuinely sent them. If they weren't friends to begin with, then that's not a problem, but it's very problematic and doesn't make sense. While the callback to the pilot with Fluttershy being shy to Twilight is fine as a concept, it doesn't make sense as she communicated with Sunset Shimmer. Following the confrontation, Fluttershy wouldn't have been as shy to talk with Twilight, who helped her and saved her from getting any more verbal abuse. If Fluttershy was quiet and meek while communicating with Sunset Shimmer, then the correlation wouldn't have been a problem. The periphery demographic is segregated from both the market and target audiences, relying on constant current pop culture and brony references to retain attention. While it's fine to reference the brony fandom in the form of Vinyl Scratch (with and without her shades), Trixie, Photo Finish, and Derpy, it's important to balance everything out with well-written plotlines, intelligent dialogue, and thorough characterization; this movie forced itself to divide the demographics. I called this out way too many times, particularly in my editorial.
     
    The human character designs are extremely formulaic, both male and female (with very few exceptions [i.e., Snips, Snails, Celestia, Granny Smith]).
     
    What makes the ponies stand out is how individual they all look even from either a basic silhouette. The pony base design is so strong, a mane and tail are all needed to create a character in a basic shape. With the humans, however, the hair immediately recognizes who the characters are, but that isn't enough, especially if going by a basic template (and to replicate well-recognized characters). Here, you need to really make the clothing varied to make the characters individual, and altering clothing like the skirts or boots just a little bit isn't enough. You need extreme variations in the height, anatomy, clothing, and so on to make them recognizable in a basic outline. For the Mane Six, besides Rainbow Dash's athletic pants, they're so similar; you can swap the completed designs from one to another, and they'll still fit.
     
    I repeated this in my editorial, so I'll copy and paste it:
      While Equestria Girls is both well-sung and well-composed, the other songs' lyrics are extremely repetitive. A Strange New World used the same message over and over again, while This Is Our Big Night (both the original and reprise) continued the same lyrics and tune. The latter is short, but it could've used much more variety to make the lyrics much more interesting. The creative genius that we normally see in the lyrics and song score is lost in its repetition and lack of necessity.
     
    The song played during the credits, A Friend for Life, albeit interesting and brings back the implied message My Little Pony: Equestria Girls sends, is very forgettable. It doesn't have catchy lyrics nor the bouncy rhythm that makes Equestria Girls intriguing to listen and see. Although the Human Six are in character, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity (to an extent), the dialogue comes across as stilted. What makes great, three-dimensional characterization isn't merely having them be in character, but also not being able to predict somewhat what they're going to say. Whenever Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack spoke, I honestly expected what they were saying. It doesn't have to be an exact match, as long as the message correlates. Pinkie's characterization was great because you didn't expect what she was saying, but you can here with almost everyone else.
     
    It isn't only the Human Six, either. Sunset Shimmer, Snips, Snails, Vice Principal Luna, and Flash Sentry have the same issue, too. As they each spoke, I could predict what they were about to say.
     
    Rainbow Dash, despite being in character, has the worst dialogue. Her lines are not only way too stilted, but also too simple and limited in her vocabulary. Review the movie and see how much she says the word, "awesome."
     
    There's a big difference between in character and a combination of in character and three-dimensionality. Most of the characterizations leaned to the former rather than the latter. For a character who is supposed to replicate wisdom and intelligence, Vice Principal Luna shows none in her brief appearances, especially while interrogating Twilight in her office. Instead, we got someone who couldn't recognize a blatant cutout. The picture of Twilight causing the mess in the gym isn't a photoshop. It's an image with Twilight cut out and glued on the front to make it look like she caused the mess. Any vice principal with an ounce of intelligence would immediately recognize the ploy. Paper has texture, and you can feel the image being cut out immediately. The real Vice Principal Luna would notice this immediately, find Sunset Shimmer, and interrogate her rather than rely on a semi-Deus Ex Machina to get Twilight out of trouble.
     
    Simply put, Vice Principal Luna is an atrociously out-of-character idiot. The story's extremely predictable; it plays way too safe. While Friendship Is Magic mostly developed the characters conservatively, the writers aren't afraid to throw a curveball to make the plot interesting and accessible, sending a message to families (of little girls/teens) that good quality, fresh entertainment is available out there. But instead of throwing a great curveball that makes the audience whistle by how nasty it broke, Uncle Charlie lazily hung in the middle of the strike zone. This movie doesn't play fresh one iota. Instead, it sticks to the common clichés in high school with nothing genuinely interesting or faithful to the main series to keep things interesting. It's the typical "newcomer-arrives-at-High-School-meets-new-friends-gains-her-bully's-ex-as-a-crush-kicks-bully's-ass-and-the-story-ends-happily" plot, only with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic slapped on the front to make it appear related. It's extremely formulaic; I felt like I honestly saw or read the same plot in another book or show. Snips and Sails are extremely unrecognizable as characters. Sure, their faces, bodies, and voices exist, but there's a difference in seeing them visually and seeing, hearing, and identifying them. Snips and Snails spoke, but they're not them.
     
    In Equestria, Snips and Snails are innocently minded characters. While they tend to say and do stupid things, they're not evil. In the alternate world, they're evil! They're villains, and that's NOT them! They're a dumber version of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but as males instead of females. "Alternate Universe" is no excuse for disrespecting the original characterization and making them different characters with "Snips" and "Snails" slapped on the obverse. Sunset Shimmer is a TERRIBLE character! There was so much criticism for King Sombra for being flat and boring, with nearly nothing to make him a full-fledged, developed character. However, Sombra still has plenty of potential to become such a dastardly villain that Discord would squirm.
     
    Sunset Shimmer is just bland and uninteresting. As a personality, she is the typical, high-school-clichéd, one-dimensional bitch. What could've been a highly manipulative, calculative, cocky, greedy, proud villain is relegated into a cardboard with the typical bully, with bright colors and a black jacket dressing her. Swap the shared "personality" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had from One Bad Apple into Sunset Shimmer, and you have the same characters with only a different character designs and voices to separate them.
     
    Also, if she was interested in obtaining magical genius while studying under Celestia's tutelage, then why would she decide to venture into Canterlot High, a place where magic is much more obscure and difficult to conjure, in the first place? Instead, wouldn't she venture to another area to study harder, like a restricted section in the school library or another school where she feels she can study to her very best? Celestia describes Shimmer as hardworking to a huge fault, greedy, and thirsty to be the best sage. Greed and pride describe Shimmer fantastically, but it wasn't used properly for her because the concept of the alternate world suppresses magic, and she behaved dimwittedly. Instead of shutting down her perceived intelligence to make Twilight and the rest of the characters better, use her intelligence to make both Twilight and Sunset equal rivals, and use Twilight's own intelligence to problem-solve.
     
    For that matter, how the hell was Sunset Shimmer able to know where Twilight's crown was located, anyhow? That wasn't explained, and there was one perfect place to reveal how and why: their encounter under the broken light. If she explained how and why she knew the crown was there, chances are it would've made more sense.
     
    Her "master plan" to turn every student in Canterlot High's Fall Formal into a zombie army is stupid. If they were all monsters like Sunset Shimmer, then chances are I could give the plan the benefit of the doubt. But once they cross into Equestria and encounter Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the rest of the Mane Six, they'll be transported back where they came from.
     
    Then there's her excuse why she became cruel and dishonest:
      Her reason for becoming so evil is flimsy and shallow, making her a flatter, dumber character, and inorganically shoehorning the Magic of Friendship in the canon. Her cruelty needs to have much more basis than this. If she's going to be evil, don't throw in a rushed two-liner. Give her evil a basis to make her evil solid, logical, and empathetic. In the ending, Sunset is at her most vulnerable. Show us why we should feel sympathy for her. That throwaway line doesn't give her character justice. Instead, this bullshit stomps on any remaining integrity her concept once had. The ending is awful and makes no sense.
     
    a. Like the rest of the plot, the climax is way too quick. There was so much to deliver, explain, show, and tell, but the whole battle was crammed into five minutes.
     
    b. A second Deus Ex Machina blooms. Flash showing up to get Twilight out of trouble was the first. The second came here when Twilight and her human friends harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony. While the Elements of Harmony were definitely going to impact the movie somehow, Twilight was able to activate its power without the tools necessary to activate the Magic of Friendship. If the physical tools were unnecessary, then why did Discord steal them in Return of Harmony, and why did Twilight have to safeguard them from Keep Calm and Flutter On to Magical Mystery Cure? The DEM handwaves the purpose of having the tangible objects to begin with (using that "intangible tangibles" cliché), creating a big plothole that the universe didn't need having.
     
    c. As funny as Twilight was in the dance, her going to the Fall Formal at the end is completely out of character of her. She's running on time, and she barely entered through the portal before the clock ran out. What if she went into the Formal and didn't make it on time? She would really regret doing it. It would've been best for the plot if Twilight went on to say, "no," say goodbye to her friends, and leave for home.
     
    d. The fact that Twilight went back to her world this quickly is just plain stupid! This event is a very big change for her to adapt. High School and the Fall Formal are completely foreign environments, and it's up to her to adapt as well as she plausibly can and survive. But to be there from the beginning of the movie to returning to her own world makes no sense for two reasons.
     
    i. It shows right from the get-go that this movie's primary purpose is to sell toys. The plot is second-nature, and it shows how much how DHX has to try to cram such a dumb concept into the plot in order for the alternate dimension to make sense professionally and canonically.
     
    ii. It's such a huge mea culpa and exemplifies why converting Twilight from an alicorn back to a unicorn is such a stupid idea. It tells the audience that DHX spits on the concept and wants to do whatever it can to "rectify" an idea that's so unfaithful to Friendship Is Magic's roots. But this plot point is so cheap and admits to the audience that the movie shouldn't have been made, period. DHX and Meghan McCarthy are implying, "This movie conceptually sucks, and we'll do whatever it takes to get out of it." It's as if McCarthy ran into Writer's Block and sifted through The Generic Book of Generic Clichés just to escape. It takes whatever "soul" — or lack thereof — Equestria Girls already "had" and destroys it.
     
    If DHX wants to disguise this blatant toy promotion more convincingly, have Twilight not be able to return during the movie. As in, the only way to get back to Equestria is to wait for the next thirty moons or have Twilight adapt in High School, better expand the Magic of Friendship to Sunset Shimmer, battle through rough times in High School, become triumphant, and graduate. But this canonical method is cheap and lame: It tells the audience that DHX and Hasbro don't desire to explain and expand this world further. Finally, this movie as a whole has absolutely no soul. Just because there are patches of great work doesn't mean the passion is exactly there. It's very possible to churn high-quality work just for the sake of it. The movie's concept is extremely typical, but McCarthy and the rest of the crew didn't do something to make it stand out and make it not only differentiate from the rest of the typical High School plotlines, but also faithful to the roots of Friendship Is Magic. The concept is old to the core, but McCarthy could've still done something to make My Little Pony: Equestria Girls refreshing and not fall into the samey plotlines that have killed many movies (both blockbuster features and home videos).
     
    But Equestria Girls didn't dare to take chances and slapped in many brony references to capture the periphery demographic's attention. Too much was crammed in simultaneously, forcing the movie to hold its breath until the credits rolled. Like a furious and impatient conductor rolling through his or her notes, Equestria Girls speeds through one page after another and cuts corners to fit everything into one package. It's completely different to Magical Mystery Cure, where the path wasn't linear. Here, it was very linear with no thoroughly great characterization, poorly done character development, and the overall impression that DHX and Hasbro didn't care for the overall quality and performance of the movie at all. Executive meddling is no excuse for giving My Little Pony: Equestria Girls a Dementor's Kiss. ———
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a spinoff with the ability to expand the universe into more uncharted, interesting territories. Despite a concept that doesn't stay faithful to the core of the main series, the Next Big Thing for Friendship Is Magic provided ample opportunity for Hasbro and DHX to take it and make something fresh and good out of it. There are patches of high-quality characterization (primarily in Pinkie Pie and Spike), music, and overall potential. Instead, the story is safe; the humans' animation is inorganic; the lyrics are often repetitive or forgettable; and the overall script quality is sacrificed for time.
    In what could have been a great way to sidestep executive meddling and send a message to families, adolescent girls, and the overall periphery demographic that the High School concept can show a breath of fresh air, the clichés deliver the opposite, disappointing message and further prove that the concept just doesn't work. Although the potential is there, what is executed instead is mostly a convoluted, lazy, soulless mess. Overall, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a terrible movie.
    ———
    Source: Equestria Girls Post Reactions & Reviews
  6. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This analysis has been revised a second time — published on June 15, 2015 — with a new addition about the layout of the audience during the wedding ceremony and overall moral. Credit goes to Reflective Vagrant on YouTube for noticing it.
     



    This is what I wrote here, and I'll write a bit more. 
    If you're not into the core fandom, then chances are you won't get many of the in-fandom jokes.
    Bon Bon's "secret agent" angle is a very subtle joke at her two names: Bon Bon and Sweetie Drops, both of them official. Won't be surprised if it's a play on James Bond, too.
     
    @@Dolphanatic caught another reference to Bon Bon's "agent" work. One of the gags from the early seasons was how her voice was never the same. Sometimes it's very girly. Other times, it's very deep like "Mine's got rocks in it!" This solves the gag. Derpy's reference to "Muffins" is a reference to her love for them that began in the fandom and became canonized after her Comic-Con toy was released with the muffin vectors. Lyra sits like a P.O.'d human as both a callback to Swarm of the Century as well as a reference to a lot of the "Lyra likes human mythology" fanon. Octavia and Vinyl together is a reference to how they're often together in fanonical work and headcanon. The shark plushie that Octavia and Vinyl jumped over along the hill is a reference to "jump the shark." Button Mash's reappearance is a nod to the background pony's reemergence in the fanon thanks to JanAnimations. Derpy and The Doctor together is a nod to the popular DoctorDerpy ship and headcanon. Berry Punch's barrel of "fruit juice" is a reference to the meme of her liking alcohol/wine. Gummy's philosophical approach to the pony world is a hilarious meta reference to how he often looks like he couldn't care less. Derpy the mailmare a reference to the popular fanon (which later became canon in Rarity's Micro comic). Everypony not giving a buck about the monster attacks in Ponyville is a meta reference to the countless monsters that invaded the town. Plenty of Doctor Who references, from the accent to the scarf and "Allons-y." The horse heads that we see in many conventions. The "bug bear" is a self-reference "pandering" joke. Obviously, the Twilicane. Derpy locking out the Mane Six. Clearing up the friendship problem in "a half-hour or so" is possibly the best joke in the episode. It works so well because it's so matter-of-fact, doesn't feel like a joke, yet doesn't intrude in the story. Shining Armor crying before the wedding. Liquid pride, anypony?

    A question to everyone else: When Derpy looked through the vial of flameless fireworks, did it feel like a subtle reference to Derpy staring at the lava lamp? I don't know, but it somehow feels like it to me.
     
    If you're not into fandom jokes or never fully got the grasp of them, then a lot of the fandom humor won't make sense. What makes a reference solid is how you can find them funny without having to completely understand them. A ton of jokes are very tongue-in-cheek with the fandom while still keeping the content rating in mind. While the core fandom will laugh from many of the jokes, some will only be confused because they won't get it. Consequently, some of these jokes will either go through one ear and out the other or only bewilder them more.
     
    Sometimes the humor is there only for the sake of it. One of the worst is the random Twilicane. Good humor shouldn't be there "just because." They must have some level of in-story context. Otherwise, it's going to look like pandering. The Twilicane joke is plain pandering because it interferes with the rush of the climax. It would've been much better if Vinyl's bass cannon was tripped by a divot caused by the bugbear to give the chaotic battle some payoff or a big rock under the dirt. Bon Bon's "secret agent" is another, which I'll get to a little below.
     
    On the flipside, the interaction with Doctor Whooves and Derpy feels incredibly natural. Both characters really play off each other. Doctor Whooves's very analytical and relies on a ton of science to equate and solve problems. His goal for wanting to create some level of magic without needing a horn really drives him to getting the best results possible, but sometimes overthinks things. His demeanor resembles the popular Tenth Doctor, which is finalized by his "Allons-y." On the other hand, Derpy is a simpler pony who prefers to focus on a calmer, simpler slice of life. She doesn't care a ton about the deep, scientific approach. She simply wants to do her job and wants to do it well. Unlike The Last Roundup, Derpy's squeaky female voice doesn't have that artificial, sarcastic edge; it's innocent, cute, aloof, and genuine.
     
    Outside of Doctor and Derpy, the tandem of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch is magnificent. Octavia is the one who does all the talking, but she doesn't only make the scene. Vinyl Scratch's approach is more hands-on; while she's mute, her style of music does the talking. As a result, you can see how Vinyl feels, behaves, and reacts to the environment. The lack of dialogue forces Larson to show instead of tell, but Vinyl and Octavia really work like a team. Vinyl's dubstep/techno meshes with Octavia's classical standards and talents. Without just relying on the typical music, the two genres cooperate. Octavia wanted the wedding to be special; this was one way to make the episode special.
     
    The weakest tandem is Lyra and Bon Bon. Their voices are clichéd, and the "best friends" dialogue is hammered in way too much. Sure, it only enforces and teases the popular LyraBon ship, but they lack plenty of personality. Without the exposition, Bon Bon would remain a flat bore. Their conversation and vocality feel way too plain, especially Lyra; without her minty green fur, she'd be your stereotypical valley girl. Bon Bon's "secret agent" joke doesn't fit, either, because the joke feels way too out there and relies a lot on telling the audience rather than showing despite having some historic context with the bugbear.
     
    But you also dove into more of Cranky's history thanks to Steven Magnet. He and Matilda hit off (friendly-wise ) beautifully in the salon. Matilda was anxious, but Steven's suave, casual conversational attitude adds a bit of calm in between the storm. During all the chaos, it'd make the whole episode feel overwhelming. It's great to see them amicably talk for a stretch of time (and have SM grow back his mustache!). But he triggered those nerves when he told her the wedding meant everything, and with a very creepy closeup to boot.
     
    Thankfully, Steven's relationship with Cranky isn't dumped onto its audience and forgotten. The resolution gave it some context when he gave Cranky part of his 'stache willingly. It revived his classic look before Rarity "corrected" it in Part 2 of the pilot, but apparently, he either isn't as vain as he used to be or he just wants to do the trimming himself. Plus, it calls back to how subconscious he is over being bald, especially before a big crowd for a big wedding.
     
    The side plot of the bug bear makes the entire episode feel distracting. The main plot was to rush Cranky and Matilda's wedding because the invitation had the wrong date, but you're reminded of the constant battle. With it taking place only in the background, you don't get how the battle took place; his defeat is only mentioned via exposition. You want to see how the Mane Six fend off the bugbear as the rest of Ponyville is very busy preparing the wedding. In fact, the battle half is pointless: Remove it with another plot, and it would've made no difference. Wouldn't it make just as much sense for the Mane Six to suddenly leave due to a friendship problem abroad? That way, you fit the Council of Friendship's overall goal this season: to teach the Magic of Friendship while also learning it.
     
    Conversely, one piece of exposition isn't merely dumped onto its audience. The SSMB's Gato caught this reference when watching one of the teasers, so he gets the credit:
     

     
    Notice what Amethyst is wearing around the main part of her body and her left front leg. Each team has a captain. Amethyst was the animal team's captain, and the clothing style proves it. During the conversation, Amethyst claimed she hasn't done any organization since Twilight moved in. Winter Wrap Up is one of season one's earliest episodes, and the conflict was how Twilight could adapt to Ponyville without relying on magic all the time. The result: being the lead organizer of Winter Wrap Up. It's easily the cleverest reference of Slice of Life because it's a tiny detail with a lot of impact.
     
    In between the bustle, Celestia's and Luna's conversation is much more casual compared to years' past. The only times we got to see them talk as sisters were either via fanwork or IDW's comics. For the latter, Luna's out-of-character juvenile behavior often soils it. Here, both of them are in character with natural dialogue. Like Octavia, they treated the wedding with utmost importance. Who can blame Celly, especially? Cranky met Matilda at the Grand Galloping Gala, so it makes for Celestia to treat this ceremony personally. However, even though they'll argue occasionally, they're still very close, as they held hooves while in the audience during Mayor Mare's speech.
     
    But one detail stuck out to me personally:

     
    One of A Canterlot Wedding's biggest problems was the romance angle between Shining Armor and Cadance. Throughout the finale, the narrative keeps telling the audience they love each other, but how can the audience care for them if their personalities feel flat and their romance is confined to exposition? When they tried to show it, it was too late. Instead of feeling natural and awe-spiring, their romance was forced and cringeworthy. Here, they say nothing in the ceremony; she leaned towards him, and he wrapped his hoof around her. Their romance is more believable here in this scene than all of ACW combined.
     
    But it's not just the ponies who are there. One Changeling is in the crowd, and he or she just sits and watches as the other foals huddle away. @@ZOMG (which @@Jeric echoed in a post about the Changeling in this post from that topic) picked a really good name for him: Incognito, because he's in the background absorbing the love in the room.
     
    Larson said in a convention interview (in MLP-MSP, which aired this episode, IIRC) that he originally wrote a Changeling invasion at the end, but it was edited out for time. Honestly, it was better not to have it. The battle overwhelmed the town; adding a new battle would've severely overwhelmed the audience. One battle is enough. Letting the audience and fandom relax and enjoy the ceremony is a more satisfactory approach.
     
    Even better is the moral. Mayor Mare's speech to the background characters was more than simply that. It was also dialogue to the bronies without being extremely explicit despite referencing the main cast. Mayor Mare said that Ponyville isn't simply the mane characters, but everyone else out there. Connect the same thing to the relationship the bronies have with the cast. The cast help make the show, but it doesn't feel complete without all of us. Everyone in Ponyville matters. Everyone who watches the show matters. Without bronies (me, you, adults, kids, male, female, and everyone in between), how can the show's popularity spread?
     
    But the messages would feel really, really hollow if the moral's presentation was sloppy. As I listened to read Golden Fox's first impressions of the episode, I read the YouTube comments and came across
    by Reflective Vagrant. This brony makes a really great point: As you listen to the moral, notice how the positions of both the seating and the placement of each character remain the same regardless of the camera angles, vector layout, and timing. Sometimes the background in other episodes is very inconsistent, especially the popping of characters in and out of specific shots dpeending on the angle or Easter Egg the staff wants to throw at their audience. The animators really take their time making sure the characters stay in one location throughout Mayor Mare's speech. 
    Why is this important? If the characters don't stay in one spot, then you marginalize not only the importance of Cranky and Matilda's wedding, but the moral, too. Remember, even with all the fanservice, there's still a story. A sloppy background implies a lack of attention by the in-story audience, thus informing the audience watching the show not to care about the wedding or Mayor Mare's speech. Due to lazy animation and composition, the implications of the close relationship between DHX/Hasbro and the older brony fandom suddenly becomes pointless. The attention by the in-story audience tells us, the viewers, to pay attention, too. Consequently, we listen to her and understand the moral stated in the show and implied by the overall theme of Slice of Life. Little detail, tremendous impact.
     
    Finally, an open plot from season two is finally resolved. Following A Friend in Deed, you're left to open questions about Cranky and Matilda's relationship. For those who saw the animatic, you know it was being resolved this season. But we didn't know how it'd be resolved. Slice of Life answers those questions by focusing on the rest of society rather than just the Mane Six.
     
    So why did I critique this gift? The answer is simple: No one episode deserves special treatment. Just because it's a gift to the brony fanbase doesn't entitle Slice of Life to not get the same treatment as any other episode. Remember what Sugar Belle said to Starlight Glimmer in The Cutie Map, Part 2?

     
    This applies. I treat the other episodes with the same analytical, critical breakdown. Like the "It's for kids" excuse, there's no reason to give this episode a pass, either. To claim this as "ungrateful" or "spoiled" is immensely disrespectful to not just this episode, but the others, too, including what's coming up later on. What I critiqued both positively and negatively here would get the same level of respect as any other episode. It doesn't matter how big a milestone this is. The core of a good episode is the story. Without a good story, this episode is factory-laden junk food, and it's always better to eat a scratch-made, fresh meal. Fortunately, the foreground episode holds up nicely at this point. How well it'll age is up for debate.
     
    Is Slice of Life the best episode of the show? No. It has some flaws to work with, such as the background clutter and plain voices for both Bon Bon and Lyra. But depending on who you talk to, it may be one of the most personal, because it really connects with the core brony fandom. Some great characters shine through, particularly Octavia, Derpy, and Doctor Whooves. Plenty debate or look for fanon being crushed, when in actuality, plenty of fanon becomes canon, and whatever is left unsaid will only spark even fuller fanon and headcanon in the future. Slice of Life is pure fanon starter. The moral is appropriate for the show and relates very well to both the characters in the canon and the relationship between DHX and the bronies. Slice of Life keeps the bronies conneted thanks to the personal touches, themes, jokes, and overall moral. The moral itself is possibly one of the most important of the entire show. I don't know how long this series will last, but I'm sticking around for the ride!
     

     
    Source: S05:E09 - Slice of Life
  7. Dark Qiviut
    If I'm allowed to put a swearword in a title, I would, because it needs it.
     
    After re-reading and rewatching angry reviews of Breadwinners, I had the itch to bitch about it again because once isn't enough. I'd stop, but I might've lost a few years of my life, so whatever.
     
    Nickelodeon's Breadwinners really pisses me off! If you think modern Spongebob and Sanjay & Craig are at the bottom of the barrel, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Because Breadwinners is much, MUCH worse!
     
    How bad?
    The animation and character designs are goddamn terrible.
     
    Firstly, the voices don't match the lip-synching sometimes. The movements themselves are very stiff. A bunch of the scenes (hell, almost all of them) rely on stock images slapped and lazily animated, making the scenes look very awkward.
     
    Secondly, these "characters," SwaySway and Behdeuce:
     

     
    In case you're wondering, yeah, they're supposed to be ducks. Instead, they're geometric blobs. Flash is a tool to create great animation. Like Friendship Is Magic, Johnny Test, and Littlest Pet Shop, Breadwinners uses Flash, too, but doesn't put in the effort to design characters that look like ducks or smoothly animate their puppets!
     
    When Johnny Test, a widely panned cartoon, understands the tools of Flash animation better than Breadwinners, you're doing something wrong!
    The "humor" is stupid. Every "kid" joke relies on flatulence or a reference to a butt. The toilet humor is abundant, out of place, and lazy. They pretty much can't think of any joke beyond this or a disturbing "Getting Crap Past the Radar" moment. (We'll get to that later!)
     
    Speaking of cheap "humor," these "ducks" have a tendency to twerk. Yeah, a show with a content rating of TV-Y7 contains a sexually provocative dance. And it's not rare, either.
    The two main "characters"? Who are they? The two ducks who are supposed to be two, yet have almost the same personality? They aren't characters. They're obnoxious, disrespectful, stupid caricatures who will annoy the hell out of anyone who wishes to watch the "cartoon" with their brains turned on.
    The plots are shallow at best and creepy at worst. There's a lot of filler to slow the pace. It ignores its own continuity. Some of the concepts and resolutions create unfortunate implicationd. It relies on disturbing "humor" and stupidity to bypass any resemblance of logic or sense. Hell, they break the rules of their own show sometimes to pander to kids.
     
    To make it worse, many of the episodes rip off other Nickelodeon cartoons. And not just the good ones, either. Even objectively horrible episodes from modern Nick episodes (including ones from modern Spongebob) are ripped off into Breadwinners.
     
    The "creepy" part? Some episodes rely on stereotypes for a cheap laugh: Thug Loaf, for example, uses racist stereotypes as a joke. Another episode tortures a main character for simple laughs.
     
    And then there's one that was loudly bashed online: Love Loaf.
     
    If you want to read the synopsis, click the "spoiler."
     
      
    The saddest part? This show was rated #1 for kids ages 2-11 for a few weeks…and it's being renewed for a second season.
  8. Dark Qiviut
    Back when the brony community was still relatively new and still growing into one of the bigger creative powerhouses, one of the growing areas was the brony musicians. Slowly but surely, many of them were getting their names known, sending a message to unknown passersby that their dedication to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was genuine. Creativity is one of the clearest and best examples to show why, and music was one of them. But it was relatively slow back them. The one who really sent those shockwaves was The Living Tombstone and his remix of OdysseyEurobeat's Discord.
     
    And for good reason. Discord is a genuinely amazing song, and I say this as one who isn't a fan of electronic or dubstep music. The beats and pace of the music captures a sense of anger, frustration, and urgency. For further depth, the tone in the lyrics display confusion and frustration, such as this question during this chorus:

    "Discord, whatever did we do



    To make you take our world away?"


    In addition to the tone of the lyrics, its pace correlates with the frantic beat and captures it with the audience tremendously. You can feel the emotion throughout, from the beginning beats to the sudden ending to the exclamation in the second part of the chorus. The Living Tombstone's voice (including its echo) highlight Discord's desire for chaos well.
     
    Its second-biggest strength is its respect for OdysseyEurobeat's original version. Compared to the original, The Living Tombstone's version is quicker, more frantic, and more electronic. However, just because the genres are different doesn't mean it disrespects the original song. Instead, it treats the original with a lot of care meanwhile remixing it to tell people that it's also his own work. There is plenty of heart in the rhythm, tone, and overall execution of the remix.
     
    The Living Tombstone's remix of OdysseyEurobeat's Discord takes the original and recreates it to show his own talent in the music department of the brony fandom. Back when the fandom was still trying to mold itself, Discord's overall brilliance in the entire song exemplifies the heart and dedication the fandom generally has. It has garnered so much praise due to its great execution of the music, voice, and overall tone. But it isn't only the brony fandom who has complimented this song. Even general articles such as Rolling Stone have done so, too, and justifiably so. Without it, it is highly possible that the brony music would be a very niche corner in the fandom for a much longer time. But thanks to the amazing Discord, the brony musicians quickly became one of the most powerful voices this community has and shows everyone, brony or not, how powerful and dedicated this fandom is.
  9. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: With Twilight revealed to be an alicorn, this editorial has been revised to fit the current timeline.
     
    —
     
    For over a month, the rumor of having Twilight Sparkle evolve to an alicorn, either temporary or permanent, has floated throughout the brony community. Although it comes off as a worrisome hoax, there have been several hints of Twilight evolving to an alicorn since then, particularly the promos that hint Twilight's "destiny." Combined with the sticker book that was shown on Equestria Daily yesterday, the worries have arisen again.
     
    On January 29th, Entertainment Weekly has officially revealed the main context for season three's finale: Twilight will officially become an alicorn. At what point in the episode and how it impacts the episode remains to be seen.
     
    Now, before we move on, let me talk about the concept of Alicorn!Twilgiht alone.
     
    I think it's a fine idea. Throughout the series, we've seen how much Twilight has grown. Prior to staying in Ponyville, she studied in Canterlot as Princess Celestia's protégé. Plus, her cutie mark signifies both magic and the Magic of Friendship. Down the road, having Twilight evolve into an alicorn would work.
     
    But that's down the road. In other words, later in the series to the point where Twilight would be ready to advance further and further in her studies and beyond. But Twilight is evolving to an alicorn during season three's finale, and that idea is objectively terrible.
    It indicates a severe evolution of not just power, but also responsibilities in managing them. Throughout the series, there have been three main alicorns: Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Each of them have extremely strong responsibilities that determine the fate of the people they care for.
     
    Princess Celestia controls the rising and setting of the sun. The sun results in ponies waking up to do their work, maintaining their crops, controlling the weather, and so on. Luna controls the rising and setting of the moon. When the moon rises, the ponies know when to go to sleep and the nocturnal animals know when to wake up to start hunting. There is a symmetric harmony between controlling the sun and moon, so the fate of Equestria rests on their shoulders.
     
    But Cadance also has a strong sense of responsibility. She holds the ability to spread love, peace, and harmony. Furthermore, as hinted by her cutie mark and episodic progression, she is also responsible for keeping the Crystal Empire peaceful. Whatever happens to her affects the crystal ponies' everyday life.
     
    Twilight Sparkle holds the ability to perform excellent magic, including dark magic and other advanced magic. But the big problem of her evolving to an alicorn is that it represents her evolution in not just being able to progress into more advanced magic, but also harnessing the balance of harmonious magic. In the FIM universe, an alicorn is a symbol of greater responsibilities and the extreme preparation for them. (This symbolism is why there have been so few alicorns in the canon.) She's NOT ready yet. She dabbles here and there, but her ability to harness the balance of harmonious magic isn't there at this point. She's still a rather young unicorn who is still learning how to harness and maintain magic meanwhile keeping herself occupied with those she cares for. In addition, Twilight is still not all that mature as a character. Albeit growing up so much physically and emotionally, she still cracks under pressure and is extremely obsessive in performing her duties, tasks, management, and magic correctly. The progression in characterization is too quick for Twilight and puts her into a situation that doesn't fit her character one bit.
     
    (This also applies to the idea of having Twilight potentially becoming the bridge to help Celestia and Luna rise and set the sun and moon, respectively.)
    It's obvious product-meddling. What makes My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic so strong is the fact that Hasbro has given the team the creative freedom to do whatever they want all the while confining them to within the content rating. Occasionally, Hasbro has meddled in the team's business and mandated them to add what are product shots, such as The Friendship Express, The Crystal Ponies, and Cadance's alteration from a unicorn to an alicorn once Faust resigned. Season three has especially shown to give the team even lesser restraint than the previous two seasons combined. Turning Twilight into an alicorn in this season's finale would nonsensically be a complete 180 on the team and season's progress. Regardless of whether it's temporary or permanent, Alicorn!Twilight this season would make the excuse so blatant that it would become incredibly insulting. It's completely different to those who draw fanart or write fanfic because they don't have the limitations. They can have Twilight evolve into an alicorn at any given point in the timeline. If they take the time to explain the process, then her evolution to potentially evolve into an alicorn (this season or otherwise) would genuinely make sense. The professionals don't have this absolute freedom.
     
    A common reply is despite Twilight's transformation, nothing else will happen to her — She'll merely have wings, but she still won't change her personality or her duties. While that can be true, you're also not looking at it from a creative or business perspective (nor are you looking at the overall consequences of using this potential in-canon reason). In order for a brand new idea and completely different shape of a character to sell well, you need a great reason behind it. (This conviction must be even stronger when the concept itself is stupid.) With you have a show that's creative despite using realistic logic and physics behind their animation and canon (and especially when you're utilizing the popularity and success of the writing, humor, characterization, character development, common sense, and overall show as leverage to formulate a successful product line), the execution must be breathtakingly convincing. This aforementioned rebuttal makes no sense from a business and storytelling perspective combined: If all that's changing from her is merely the addition of her wings, then it no longer becomes an organic plot point whether she "evolves" as a personality or not. In other words, she doesn't become solely a character anymore. She devolves to an in-cartoon commercial. Viewers in general want to watch to be entertained, not to have a blatant HD-TV-sized billboard plastered in front of them. When a commercial airs, they will get a bite to eat, turn the TV off, or use the bathroom until the round ends. They don't want their brain to turn to gak by watching two boring minutes of commercials. If this devolution is so obvious, then your audience will be completely disgusted, and they'll quickly change the channel. Blatant props within a show are an immense insult to your audience.
     
    If you want to sell a new product or a different shape of a character within the actual episodic show or film, then the audience must be entertained. The prop must have a logical purpose. It must be fun. It must make concrete sense. It must feel like an actual piece of the film or episode rather than be a pointless product that you can just pick out from the shelf or dealership. One great example is the series of short films called The Hire, which features The Driver in various circumstances. To get around, he drives various BMWs, a luxury car brand. These films are obvious commercials, but the BMWs have a purpose, and they blend in with the scenery and action. Instead of having the audience solely focus on the BMWs, the audience is focused on the plot and characters; the luxury cars are secondary. This series is extremely well-received because these commercials aren't treated as such. They're treated as a series of entertaining films, and the BMWs aren't viewed as pointless moving billboards. Consequentially, the audience isn't insulted.
     
    The purpose for Twilight's transformation must be more than merely growing two wings, staying with her friends at Ponyville, and/or retaining her character. Twilight's evolution — whether it's temporary or permanent — must have a stronger, deeper, and more well-thought-out conviction that also makes sense within the Friendship Is Magic universe. Having her grow wings and nothing more comes across as a shallow, purposeless gimmick to your general audience. The brony fandom is extremely intelligent, and the last thing they want to see is blatant advertising that's in the actual episode and not in thirty-second commercials or two-minute-long infomercials.
    It gives the writers so little leeway to explain the process plausibly. Let's cut out the promos one minute and just look at the arc itself. Episodes one and two this season hints at Twilight evolving to the "next level of her studies" (a.k.a., performing more advanced magic). At the end of episode two, a book appeared before Luna. Since then, there's literally been nothing to hint Twilight's evolution of her studies. It's equivalent to season one's "loose 'plot progression,'" only with no plot points in between. Moreover, it's not a two-part finale. Like The Best Night Ever, the finale is one single episode, which means Larson must cram the evolution as plausibly as he can within a twenty-minute time span, and that is extremely difficult to perform well.
     
    As for the writers themselves, they're an extremely intelligent bunch. They can take Hasbro's incessant meddling and bad concepts and mesh it well with the universe. But they can only go so far before Hasbro gives them a call and tells them to have something happen their way in the show, no exceptions.
     
    Take a look at the backgrounds revealed last year, too. These backgrounds have a "313" link on them, dictating the season and then episode (season three, episode thirteen). There's extremely little leeway given to the writers and animation team. If the timeline was a little more obvious, and if Twilight showed much more maturity physically and mentally throughout the season, then the concept of her evolving to an alicorn this season wouldn't be as terrible as it factually is right now.
    Let's talk about the hypothetical logic of the Elements of Harmony being disrupted. Let's break it all down. We have six Elements: Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic. But now let's put them into three pairs.
     
    Applejack (Honesty) and Pinkie Pie (Laughter) are earth ponies.
     
    Rainbow Dash (Loyalty) and Fluttershy (Kindness) are pegasi.
     
    Rarity (Generosity) and Twilight Sparkle (Magic) are unicorns.
     
    There's a balance between races when it comes as to who holds the Elements. It isn't a coincidence that there there are three equal, balanced pairs. Just like the Elements, the pairs themselves demonstrate balance and equality. Especially in this case where Twilight isn't even mature enough to evolve further. Twilight evolving to an alicorn risks upsetting this balance, especially during a sequence where her evolution has no canonical momentum.
    It's just a straight-up HORRIBLE business practice. Twilight Sparkle has been shown for the last three years as a unicorn and is remembered as a unicorn. There's merchandise of Twilight as a unicorn, including some developed right now as I'm typing. The bronies like her for who she IS: a unicorn with raw abilities and potential to do great things. Her becoming an alicorn this season comes across as abrupt, nonsensical, and a waste of time and money to spend on material, molding, ink, and labor.
     
    My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is one of Hasbro's brands, but the Mane Six are also individual brands for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Just like their personalities, one of the biggest strengths in the characters is the ability to recognize or remember them by their basic outline.
     
    Take a look at this silhouette.
     
     
     

     
    Just by viewing those silhouettes, you can recognize who they are. In the world of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, character design and their simplicity are crucial in forming their own memorable and iconic identities. Like My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic itself, the Mane Six are their own brands.
     
    Twilight Sparkle herself is not only a character. She is her own brand (defined as a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization). Over the past three years, she has established herself as a unicorn and is adored as such. At this point already, she is an iconic figure to this fandom and the canonical universe.
     
    Switching her to an alicorn here is extremely risky. If pulled off greatly, you can make her even more iconic than she already is. But if the execution fails horribly, you run the risk of making her Friendship Is Magic's equivalent to Tropicana's repackaging project: generic, unidentifiable, and unmemorable.

    If Twilight Sparkle was more developed and genuinely mature enough, then maybe she can hold onto extra responsibilities. The idea and support of her becoming an alicorn would make more logical sense. But she can't at this point. She still needs more time to develop physically, emotionally, and mentally before she can have the ability to really step up in the ranks. Like I wrote before, the brony community is smart and can spot an objectively bad concept when they see it. The concept of her evolving into an alicorn this season makes no logical sense, and they have every reason to complain and/or worry. Her evolution in this season's finale is extremely risky and can potentially alter a very strong dynamic. The show is great, and they don't want what is a diamond-in-the-rough animation to become merely a soulless gimmick to sell products. If they didn't care about the show, then they wouldn't be complaining or worrying in the first place.
     
    Over the past several decades, Hasbro has repeatedly interfered in order to insert their own toys into the canon universe. When Hasbro and its toy department do this, they tend to literally screw up the shows. Two huge examples are Transformers (such as late in the first generation and the second, and the Beast Wars/Machines timeline) and the earlier generations of My Little Pony (G2's toyline, G3, and G3.5 by altering the demographic from an all-ages product to one that targets little girls only, a decision that nearly killed the the franchise). As a result, while there may be faith in the writers, there is even lesser faith in Hasbro due to their very mixed track record and repeated patterns of devolving shows into half-baked, half-hour infomercials rather than half-hour, high-quality entertainment packages.
     
    Also, you may LIKE the concept, but just because you like it doesn't mean it's factually good. And that's what the concept is: factually bad.
     
    Finally, there is executing the idea in the canon. It's easy to write a good concept badly. It's hard enough to write a good concept well. But writing a bad concept well is three to four times harder. When you have a concept this rushed and this stupid such as Alicorn!Twilight in season three's finale, then it becomes incredibly difficult for the writer to execute it and have your audience buy into it and further support it. M. A. Larson (the writer of the finale) has a lot of work cut out for him and make this daft concept genuinely sensible in execution. The in-verse reason MUST be great and MUST be extremely convincing. But he is the best and smartest writer on the team; if anyone can pull this daft concept out from its proverbial corner, it's him. He has the intellect to do it, and he understands the canon front and back. But he needs to muster that creativity in order to convince the community as well as myself that the execution of the idea of Twilight becoming an alicorn in season three's finale makes genuine sense.
     
    Because its concept doesn't, period!
  10. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This is a more thorough, revised review for season three of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Head here to read the previous version.
     
    —
     
    Season three was like a haphazard dinner at a restaurant. You have a decent appetizer, then a scrumptious entrée, followed by an awful desert.
     
    1 & 2. The Crystal Empire: Part one gave the season a great start. There were layers of great characterization amongst the Mane Six, notably Twilight Sparkle and Spike. The backstory of both King Sombra and the kingdom were also convincing, despite being brief. Its most notable drawbacks, however, were twofold (both in part 2):
    King Sombra's character was flatter than a board. What made Discord and Chrysalis engaging and more objectively menacing were how their personalities shone through. They had depth. Sombra was scary just for the sake of it.
    The plot crawled. Part 1 had an engaging plot that varied in pace. Part 2 had the pace crawl to a standstill as Twilight and Spike explored the Queen's castle while searching for the Crystal Heart.

    Its strongest moment is easily the Door of Illusions/Door of Fear. It explored Twilight's greatest fear and desire to do whatever she can to pass the test. Twilight took this test so seriously and doesn't want to let herself, her friends, and Princess Celestia down. This powerful magic also gave Sombra the only layer given: his utmost cruelty for anyone aside his own.
     
    While part one was great, part two was noticeably weaker. But it was still a hit.
     
    3. Too Many Pinkie Pies: Dave Polsky's best episode by far. It was an episode full of comedy, but it also provided magnificent depth for Pinkie Pie, as well. Her clones were shallow and one-dimensional, with the minds of airheads, intentionally written to separate them from Pinkie's complex layer of care, laughter, and toughness. There was one obvious brony reference, too: G3!cloned Pinkie. The only flaw was the obvious Deus Ex Machina in the middle of Act 2 (where Spike discovered a secret cupboard within one of the back walls to reveal the book).
     
    4. One Bad Apple: An episode that brought in a brand new eventual Cutie Mark Crusader: Babs Seed. The song is easily the catchiest of them all, with a great rhythm, great musical score, and psychedelic background. The CMC underwent the tortures of being bullied by someone who was coaxed under peer pressure to bully. The drawbacks in this episode were one objective, one personal:
    The revelation of Babs being bullied back in Manehattan came off as way too sudden. Even with the foreshadowing earlier in the episode, there was way too much buildup for the opposite. At least one extra hint while Babs joined the forces of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would've given the twist a bit more convincing.
    Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were flat. In Ponyville Confidential, Diamond Tiara was given extra depth by being organized and conniving. She put the Cutie Mark Crusaders in hostage with the threat of having their private photos being released in order to embarrass the trio. Here, Diamond Tiara was a generic antagonist. The same can be siad for Silver Spoon, whom was given a little extra layer of depth in Family Appreciation Day when she was the first to applaud to Granny Smith. That layer was missing, and she was relegated to a sidekick again.

    5. Magic Duel: Easily my most favorite episode in season three (and second-best in season three, too). My two analyses can be found here and here.
     
    6. Sleepless in Ponyville: Magic Duel is my most favorite episode in season three, but this one is easily the best. I praised this episode here.
     
    7. Wonderbolts Academy: At the time, it was the boldest episode with Rainbow Dash joining the likes of Snowflake/Horse Power, Thunderlane, Cloudchaser, Raindrops, and Lightning Dust (Dash's foil and episode antagonist). It was Merriweather Willimas's first Dash-centered episode since The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well (arguably the worst episode in the series and in season two), but she didn't disappoint here. WA is by far the best Dash episode since Sonic Rainboom (and easily Williams's best episode); her complex character was explored entirely, and she obviously learned her lessons from her previous appearances. Rather than finding a fault, her faults were showcased and balanced with her biggest strength: her loyalty to what is her family. Rainbow Dash's character is a concrete highlight this season after a disastrous first half of season two. I wrote my full analysis of the episode here.
     
    8. Apple Family Reunion. Unlike the previous episodes, this one is akin to season one and two's slice-of-life episodes. It's tame, but extremely well-done. Applejack's previous episodes centered around her stubbornness and occasional drive to steer away from troubles. Here, she did whatever she could to make the reunion grand, only to have her plans fall apart so badly. It explores a really fantastic side of her: her dedication and love for her family. My most favorite moment of the episode was when Granny Smith said to Apple Bloom that not everyone may make the next reunion, leading up to Applejack's desire to make this reunion the best ever. Here is my full review.
     
    9. Spike at Your Service: Here's where the season's quality began to objectively drop — It was a clunker that reversed Spike's progress in character throughout the series and season three. It had many good smaller moments (including some funny lines), but Spike was handled horribly through a very inane concept. Here's my full review.
     
    10. Keep Calm and Flutter On: A complete reversal of SaYS. The previous episode had a great pace but a shoddy plot and characterization, but this one had easily the strongest characterization of the full cast and shoddy pacing. Fluttershy was extremely in character who didn't fall into being needlessly shy, She was strong-willed and did whatever she could to make Discord trust her in some way. Discord's plan to manipulate Fluttershy completely worked, but Fluttershy witnessed this plan from the very beginning and had him beat in his own game. She's tenaciously patient, and this episode showed the character development she received from Dragonshy, Putting Your Hoof Down, and Hurricane Fluttershy; she was given justice, and Polsky (and Teddy Antonio, the story's creator) deserve immense credit. But Discord's redemption isn't factually as convincing because:
    The pace was abnormally fast with no time to recuperate at any point.
    Celestia's throwaway line when describing her interest to have Discord redeemed was contrite and nonsensical.

    It would've been a hell of a lot better if Discord's redemption was a two-parter; too much information was compacted into one twenty-minute episode, and the timeline was implausibly short. My full review is found here.
     
    11. Just for Sidekicks: Easily my most hated episode of the season. Corey Powell is a wonderful writer who can handle the characters brilliantly. But Spike's character was written atrociously. Instead of being balanced with his greed and commitment to perform right, his qualities were sacrificed for his conniving and greedy sides, lessons that he learned in the past. Powell knows the universe, but tried to give Spike a flaw that he is capable of understanding the need to caution himself. There were several fantastic small moments, but Spike is the focus, so the episode is weighted by his performance. Spike's characterization was an absolute travesty, and I wouldn't EVER recommend this disgusting episode to ANYONE. Here's my full review.
     
    12. Games Ponies Play: This episode I haven't watched yet. But that only determines whether I'll like the episode or not. But I read the transcript on the MLP:FIM wiki, and the characterization is bullshit. It had the worst overall characterization since The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well; they behaved like idiots and got rewarded for it. I'll skip it over.
     
    13. Magical Mystery Cure: The songs are strong and progressed the plot. But that's really the lone strength (besides the animation; it's always been strong). The plot was way too fast, and Twilight's evolution to an alicorn had no momentum from TCEII onward. It was refreshingly dark in many aspects, but the plot whizzed through like flipping a storybook without reading the lines. Each sequences had no time to relax nor explore the consequences of the changing of the Mane Six's core. This episode easily should've been a two-parter to not just make the premise interesting, but also sell the Twilicorn concept better. Like what I wrote in my editorial (found here), The Twilicorn concept is factually stupid, and it was going to take something brilliant to make the idea convincing in the canon. (Liking a concept does NOT mean it's objectively a GOOD one.) M. A. Larson had to weave in the Twilicorn concept in the best fashion possible, and while it was a hell of a lot better than it could've been, given Larson's intellect, it should've been much stronger. It had no momentum, and it showed through here. Overall, I'm okay with it, but objectively (sadly), this episode is a strikeout. My full review for it can be found here.
     
     
     
     
    And she appeared at least five times, three of them WITH her derped eyes!
     
    ———
     
    With the overview of the episodes complete, it's time to review the characters.
     
    After losing some screentime in the last third of season two, Applejack participated in all thirteen episodes. This background pony had very huge roles in almost every episode this season. Examples include:
    Too Many Pinkie Pies: Rounded up all of the Pinkie Pie clones.
    One Bad Apple: Was the "surrogate" sister for the Cutie Mark Crusaders and was the one who said Babs came to Ponyville because she was being bullied back home.
    Sleepless in Ponyville: Was a tertiary character during the camping hike.
    Apple Family Reunion: Need I say more?

    For the most part, she was written very well, and her characterization was great for the most part, even in the bad bad episode she co-starred in, Spike at Your Service. Barring Games Ponies Play (an episode where every character was shafted), she was written well.
     
    In a reversal from Applejack, Rarity had no episode starring her, even in the lone episode where she participated in a somewhat bigger role, Games Ponies Play. She was a tertiary character throughout the season, and she didn't get as much screentime compared to last year. Spike at Your Service and Sleepless in Ponyville wrote her quite well: sassy but caring for her family and friends. But there were no more crucially big roles for her to where she as a character can legitimately stand out.
     
    Even though Rarity had no central episodes, Fluttershy was more of a background pony, even with Keep Calm and Flutter On starring her. In many episodes, she had a very diminished role (i.e., being a background character in One Bad Apple and tertiary character in the second half of SaYS). Two of them didn't have her in the episode at all (SiP, AFR). She didn't stand out as much, but had enough character into her to be identifiable and in character most of the time. That said, it's time for her to grow into a role akin to Keep Calm and Flutter On: more assertive, sweet, and firm in her duties, yet still subtly shy and not as anxious as she once was. Give her more of the ability to further communicate with more citizens besides the princesses, animals, and Mane Six.
     
    Compared to her episodes in season one and two, Pinkie Pie is a mixed bag this season. Too Many Pinkie Pies really explored her as a three-dimensional, complex character who loves her friends and wants to do whatever she can to redeem herself. She showed that she can really make a mistake, but she isn't that aloof. The same can be said for Wonderbolts Academy, where she worried that Rainbow Dash's hard training will result in Dash forgetting her friends, a concept that really works because of how close they are. But her biggest offenders are One Bad Apple, Spike at Your Service, and Games Ponies Play. In those three episodes, she treated the situations with a severe lack of care, resorting to slapstick conversation and attitude rather than paying attention to the action at hand.
    One Bad Apple: When the Cutie Mark Crusaders pleaded to get into Pinkie's float, she kicked back and read the paper instead of paying attention to the panic the CMC had in their faces and tones. The "VEGGIE SALAD!" yell made no sense, either.
    Spike at Your Service: In the scene before the last round of commercials, Applejack said in order to break the "Dragon Code," Applejack's life needed to be saved. Pinkie Pie suddenly acted in a happy, slapstick manner. It didn't fit the scenario nor her character one bit.
    Games Ponies Play: She was basically an airhead with an IQ of 3.

    Of the six ponies, Rainbow Dash was easily the best written. In the first half of season two, her characterization was very shaky, ranging from nice to being a bigger jerk than what she's supposed to be. But from The Last Roundup onward, she's been written much better, and that's very difficult with a character as complex as her. Hurricane Fluttershy took her up in a secondary role; she was the firm, supportive leader and character, giving her her best characterization since early in season two. Season three continued this trend, especially in two key episodes: Sleepless in Ponyville and Wonderbolts Academy. Sleepless in Ponyville explored her caring side, being a surrogate sister to Scootaloo. But even though Sleepless in Ponyville is the best episode this season, it's objectively NOT Rainbow Dash's best performance. That belongs to Wonderbolts Academy, her best episode since season one. Her characterization is extremely strong and incredibly balanced in her strengths, flaws, and callbacks in her developed psyche. She was the breakout character in season one, and season three is where she improved. This season had many weak links; Rainbow Dash's characterization isn't one of them.
     
    Twilight Sparkle showed her growth this season, but it wasn't the case magically. She grew intellectually. This is especially the case in Magic Duel. Trixie used spells that Twilight couldn't do thanks to the corrupted Alicorn Amulet. Early in the season, she showed her temperament, lack of patience, and nervousness, but that was no longer revisited as if ignored. (Unfortunately, this is something Magical Mystery Cure should have exploited, because the REAL Twilight wouldn't have been so calm in the episode.)
     
    The big flaw in her character "growth" this season is, of course, her ascension to being an "alicorn princess." It was a plot device shoved in inorganically with no clear momentum, and the method was so rushed that it resulted in a poor first impression. And with season four's premiere not airing for several months, this skepticism is something you don't want laid out to your audience.
     
    But you can't have Twilight without Spike. Early in season three, he was given three smaller, important roles that grew his character:
    He was the one instructed to return the Crystal Heart to its shrine.
    He found the Deus Ex Machina in Too Many Pinkie Pies.
    While Twilight was exiled in the Everfree Forest, he kept the team together.

    Unfortunately, his important roles as a tertiary character diminished greatly. And to make it worse, the two episodes starring him made him completely out of character. In Spike at Your Service, he was incompetent and careless, a complete contradiction to the previous episodes. Just for Sidekicks wrote him just as badly by converting him into a very unlikeable bastard, something from Owl's Well that Ends Well that I didn't miss at all. And in here, he was a greedy bastard, and he learned about the consequences of greed back in Secret of My Excess and Dragon Quest. It was a total flip-flop, and as a Spike fan, his episodes really disappointed me. The next time he shows up as a main character, less use of made-up "flaws" for him (and less use them as lame excuses for humor) and replace them with genuine good quality characterization!
     
    Rainbow Dash was the first breakout character in season three; Scootaloo is the other. She had one main episode all season: Sleepless in Ponyville, and her character was explored majorly in it. She idolizes Rainbow Dash and wants to do whatever she can to perform at her best just like Dash. Dash's personality evidently ebbed onto her because she had a façade so others don't see her as "weak." That conversation at the end really helped cement some needed character growth for her.
     
    Now I can talk about Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. His "redemption" episode was handled a hell of a lot better than anticipated. And at the end, he remains chaotically antagonistic. That said, issues with the way his character "grew" are extremely evident, and I mentioned this in my review of the episode linked above and overview early in this review alone. That said, if he isn't used at any point in season four, his episode is purposeless.
     
    The same can be said with Trixie. Magic Duel was supposed to be an episode for season two (in fact, the final draft of the script was submitted sometime in early-2011). I'm unsure why it wasn't released for season two, but part of me believes it has something to do with animation or another episode taking its place (maybe A Canterlot Wedding, I don't know), but that's merely speculation. Her episode brought her back, and she returned with anger corrupting her conscience. She was a showmare who got the short end of the stick in Boast Busters, and Magic Duel showed her pain and bloodthirsty desire for revenge. The end of the episode was tremendous growth of her character (as well as Twilight's), especially her stumble at the end before getting back up and galloping away. It's unknown if she'll ever get another episode, but she has so much potential for it to go to waste.
     
    ———
     
    So, what went right?
    The characterizations of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo are brilliantly done. They were the breakout characters this season and were one of the major improvements season three had from season two. This is especially the case for Rainbow Dash, whose three episode were among the weakest in season two.
    The songs are brilliantly done, as usual. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has always done one thing right, and that's compose some very great songs. Babs Seed and Raise This Barn are extremely catchy with clever animation, great music that fit the characters and situations, and in-character personality. Despite Magical Mystery Cure's failure to produce, the songs (despite being chopped for time) never dipped in quality.
    Each season, the animation has become more complex and smoother, and this season is no exception. There have been little tidbits to make the animation smoother, such as not as much constantly mirroring in the heads (Trixie's bangs in Magic Duel being a great example). Other examples include the little movements in their chins in front view, putting the anatomy in perspective, and Twilight's waving of her hair in The Failure Song.
    When the bold decisions went right, it was extremely great. Magic Duel and Wonderbolts Academy are two such episodes where the staff went bold and did a damn great job accomplishing it.
    Keep Calm and Flutter On — despite being a okay episode — didn't accomplish this feat as well as some make it out to be. Discord's redemption was horribly rushed and isn't as solid as it should've been. Frankly, it should've been held back for a two-parter in a future season.
     
    There's only one concept that I saw that a self-contained redeemed Discord episode would work. A user on EQD named HMS_Celestia wrote this small passage in Twilight's perspective (first-person) in response to this challenge:
     
    So, what went wrong?
    The background ponies rarely had a role in any of the episodes. As I wrote several times before, background ponies help give the universe much more life than if it was the Mane Six (plus Spike, the princesses, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders) alone. Each background pony has a personality who helps give the canon life. Seasons one and two had them participate in several important roles. This isn't the case in season three: The Crystal Empire, Wonderbolts Academy, and Apple Family Reunion are the only episodes where they were doing something and/or were actively involved on stage during the action.
     
    And it isn't only Derpy who was a victim of this cost-cutting measure. Every background pony was affected!
    Budget is a really key issue here. Back when season three was under production, the writers and Hasbro interpreted it to be the final season for the series. In a thirteen-episode season (and in a supposed series finale), the budget gets sliced. The script, storyboarding, appearances of the background ponies, and rough executions of many ideas dictate this.
    Season three got too bold too quickly. Seasons one and two had much more relaxed approaches to developing the characters. As a result, the characters developed progressively and naturally (90% of the time). In season three, the team dropped in several bold ideas that should've gone through much more proper care and revisiting.
    Speaking of "bold," season three forced itself to go bold. There is a major difference between going bold progressively and going bold for the sake of it. Keep Calm and Flutter On and Magical Mystery Cure went bold for the sake of going bold (both due to the initial expectation of season three being the final one and Hasbro's greed for toys), with no prior momentum to realistically execute the subsequent events. Magic Duel and Wonderbolts Academy went bold progressively and took its time to make the episodes as plausible as possible. Despite its massive foreshadowing throughout, Keep Calm and Flutter On didn't have the prior momentum to make Discord's redemption as easily sold, either.

    [*]Many of the episodes had major pacing issues. KCaFO and MMC each zoomed way too fast, and GPP's ending was too sudden, too. Crystal Empire, Part 2's first and second acts were too slow. The quality of the timing in the plotline was extremely inconsistent, a complete reversal of the episodes from seasons one and two. The excuse of "you have only twenty minutes to make an episode" doesn't work, including in season three. Check out Corey Powell's two episodes in season three, Apple Family Reunion, and Wonderbolts Academy. Pacing was NOT an issue in those four episodes.
    [*]Too many ideas were crammed into one condensed episode. Magical Mystery Cure and Keep Calm and Flutter On are the two lone, obvious offenders. They should have been two-parters, because there was so much material to cover, and having everything settle after twenty minutes makes the episode rushed and convoluted. Magical Mystery Cure is the biggest offender of the two, because it was the season finale and had an extremely fragile concept (the Twilicorn) that can go really wrong if handled poorly.
     
    And this is the key issue of McCarthy's and Strong's words during their interviews regarding Twilight's current status. They said she's still the same character in personality (and Twilight possibly continuing to live in Ponyville), but that isn't good enough. The purpose for her being an alicorn must be greater than that. Doing what Strong and McCarthy claim runs the risk of devolving (or "ponyvolve," according to one of NetRaptor's kids on her DeviantArt journal) Twilight into a digital billboard. She is a princess; in Equestria, a princess and alicornhood mean more than mere titles. They're symbols of royalty, respect, and responsibilities of managing themselves emotionally and physically. If all that changes is only her wings, then the Twilicorn (and princess) concepts are meaningless! Just because things change doesn't mean it's a good change. The Twilicorn at this stage is an objectively terrible change that risks altering the core of the entire dynamic of the series.
     
    Lastly, because it was treated as the series finale, MMC was supposed to resolve some needed questions. Instead, it opened up more questions and even more confusion. As a writer, unintentional questions and extra confusion following a supposed series finale (and potentially series-altering dynamic) are some of the last things you want: It's a sign of very bad writing.
    What kind of princess will Twilight be?
    What purpose will she have as an alicorn?
    How will the consequence of her ascension affect her relationship with her friends — the Mane Six, Spike, and the rest of the citizens in Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire — psychologically and emotionally?
     
    (Even though they supported her, it doesn't mean they'll completely like eventual results down the road.)

    [*]Some of the concepts shouldn't have existed in the first place. Spike at Your Service is an obvious offender due to Spike's poor portrayal. Hasbro's excessive meddling of the canon with the Twilicorn is another, but seeing as I harped against it in my editorial (linked above), I won't go further. Another is the concept of predestined circumstances. In my review for Magical Mystery Cure (also linked above), I wrote why the concept of predetermined consequences doesn't realistically work:
    Quote
    [*]Season three is treated as the last, period. Both the writers and Hasbro viewed it as the end, hence the very bold ideas and thirteen-episode format. The original order is sixty-five episodes. In seasons one and two, the approaches were as conservative as a Republican, but the overall results made the characters stronger and believable. Not too often did Hasbro mandate DHX to go bold. But then, there was some logic to go bold, but not so bold as to have your audience question your business practice.
    [*]Its biggest flaw: its brevity. Because of its compacted size and lower budget, quality of the editing, scriptwriting, characterization, and logic are sacrificed in favor of cramming everything into several smaller packages like a seven-foot-tall basketball player inside a Smart Car. This makes the episodes feel stilted and not up to snuff. When this happens, the quality of the season suffers, and you run the risk of alienating your audience (and if they don't leave, have them doubt that the staff can't really dig themselves out of that hole). It's not like the only bad episode was the season finale, because the overall track record prior was more successful, and there is another season coming up. Instead, we've had a consecutive string of some really bad episodes with very questionable decision-making from people who are paid to produce good quality work, and season three's finale was treated as a series finale. Imagine if the series ended right there. You run the risk of soiling My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's reputation as a good quality animated product.


    So what now?
     
    This is the good thing about season four. It gives the team the opportunity to right the ship and fix some of the issues seen from season three. The Twilicorn left a pretty poor first impression. And first impressions are so critical, especially if the execution sucks. A poor first impression risks staining the character's reputation and can make a character virtually unlikeable. Twilight's first impression as an alicorn is factually poor in writing quality (you're kidding yourself if you say otherwise), and that will never go away. However, with twenty-six episodes on the horizon:
    It gives the Twilicorn's execution another chance. If the series was over, that was it. You risk ruining Twilight as a character permanently. But season four opens up the opportunity to make the Twilicorn work in the canon. Its start was poor, but hopefully its finish will forever redeem her.
    More questions can hopefully be resolved, such as the poorly thought-out retcon of a cutie mark from a "talent/interest" to a "destiny."
    A full, twenty-six-episode season means a much bigger budget. This means:More time can be spent to compose the scripts, edit them, and resolute them so the characterizations, timing, logic, physics, and consequences make sense.
    The background ponies have the opportunity to behave like important secondary or tertiary characters rather than having the characters there for the sake of it. Bigger budgets allow two important things.
     
    Firstly, the storyboarders can lay out the foreground, middleground, and background, yet give them some kind of roles instead of half-statues.
     
    Secondly, the animators will be capable of animating the cartoon with more computer energy. When you have lesser background characters, the overall memory of the episode drops, giving the animators a lesser chance of screwing up. Unfortunately, lesser background characters equal lesser life in the environment and lesser games for your audience to play.

    [*]Not as many ideas have to be crammed into one package. Twenty-six episodes means you can spread out the bigger ideas into several smaller ones. You're given the room to provide a more conservative method to grow the characters, which leads to less stilted characterization and confusion. if going bold, it allows better foreshadowing to lead up to those needed moments.
    [*](From a personal perspective) More opportunity to grow (other) characters organically, like the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Discord (hopefully), Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Babs Seed, etc.


    Overall, season three's episode quality is a mixed bag. There were so many great episodes in the first half, but of the last five episodes, only Keep Calm and Flutter On can be called good, and even that was greatly flawed. Seasons one and two progressed in several baby steps, but season three, due to its order of sixty-five episodes, attempted to perform bigger and more grandiose. Some episodes did a fantastic job (Wonderbolts Academy, Magic Duel), but it failed in others (Magical Mystery Cure). It felt like a final season in a series rather than a continuation for several seasons. So the team attempted to put forth more radical ideas that would make much more sense if given more time to foreshadow everything, especially the horrid Twilicorn concept. It forced itself to go bold, and it's evident by the really wavering quality of the episodes and even the ideas.
     
    Nonetheless, I still have a lot of faith in the team. With season four having twenty-six episodes, there are many possibilities for the series to progress into deeper, more whimsical, and more thoughtful territories. I trust the writers and storyboard artists in getting the job done for season four. Moreover, it gives some poor concepts and results (like the Twilicorn) another chance to redeem themselves and eventually work. Who I have no faith in, however, is Hasbro: They're notorious for inserting some very stupid, series-altering ideas in the canon with no other reason than to sell toys. The results have been mixed, so I patiently wait for the subsequent quality of the upcoming episodes in season four.
     
    —
     
    So, with that, here's my list of season three episodes (from most favorite to least favorite regardless of quality):
    Magic Duel
    Sleepless in Ponyville
    Wonderbolts Academy
    Apple Family Reunion
    The Crystal Empire, Part 1
    Keep Calm and Flutter On
    Magical Mystery Cure
    Too Many Pinkie Pies
    One Bad Apple
    The Crystal Empire, Part 2
    Spike at Your Service
    Just for Sidekicks

  11. Dark Qiviut
    For most of my twenty-six-year life, I've been an extremely big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Initially debuted in the U.K. in 1984, it was introduced alongside the popular PBS series, Shining Time Station, in 1989. Like most American viewers during my time, Shining Time Station was the gateway to TTTE&F. For nearly thirty years, Thomas & Friends has grown from generation to generation, from the old-school, die-hard classic and newcomer fans alike.
     
    However, the United Kingdom's Thomas fandom is much older and dates back when many of our parents and grandparents were children. The late Reverend W. Awdry created The Railway Series, one that deals with anthropomorphic characters on the fictional Island of Sodor. His first four-story published Railway Series book, The Three Railway Engines, was published in 1945. Wilbert Awdry published twenty-six books, the last one in 1972 as Tramway Engines. His son, Christopher, continued it with the twenty-seventh in 1983, and the newest one — TRS's forty-second — was released in 2011.
     
    There are many differences between The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends. Two of them are:
    In TRS, continuity is much stronger and is extremely embedded in British railway realism, referencing them quite a bit every now and then. The Awdrys used their experience on the railways to create scenarios that would make realistic, logical sense. A lot of old school, die-hard railfans of Thomas & Friends take railway realism extremely seriously because the Laws of the Railway are there to make everyone's lives safe.
     
    Thomas & Friends's continuity started off quite strong, as the first four series were almost completely based off the Awdrys' books. There are some exceptions like Henry's Forest — originally a magazine episode written by Andrew Brenner, it was criticized by Rev. Awdry for having trees too close to the line and Henry stop in the mainline without prior permission, but mostly loved for showing a softer, more peaceful side of both the Island of Sodor and Henry's character. Brenner was hired prior to Series 17 and is the head writer for Thomas & Friends. However, TTTE&F would maneuver stories around, mostly due to production cost and incapability to complete a script within the four-and-a-half-minute timeframe. Once the series deviated away from TRS in Series 5, continuity was much looser; the timeline was much more fantastical than realistic; and each episode is self-contained with nearly no cliffhangers.
     
    Moreover, beginning with Series 8, Thomas & Friends was produced under HiT Entertainment rather than the smaller Britt Allcroft productions. There was vehement criticism of the series afterwards from many older fans, even from those who aren't all as keen in The Laws of the Railway as many of the purists, for being way too unrealistic — i.e., have the character wander around and operate without a driver (and fireman if the engine is steam), something that Awdry would be steaming mad and roll in his grave — and others:
     
    a. Shoehorning Thomas in every single story simply because he was the most popular. There have been many stories that didn't need him in the story, but he was there anyway, sometimes changing the crux of the plot.
     
    b. Disregarding significant character development. If you want an example, watch these three Series 1 episodes in succession: Henry's Special Coal, The Flying Kipper, and Whistles & Sneezes. Then watch the Series 15 episode, Henry's Happy Coal.
     
    To spoil it, Henry's new shape invalidated him from needing special coal anymore. Henry's Happy Coal (and Allcroft Production's Thomas & the Magic Railroad in 2000) contradicted it, a major continuity lapse.
     
    c. Repeating and shoehorning morals over and over again. What moral you watched in Series 8 or 9 will likely will be repeated somewhere a season or two afterwards.
     
    d. Shoehorning a constantly repetitive "three strikes" formula so blatantly, the writers weren't even telling a story anymore. It was always like this (copied-and-pasted from the Series 15 review from the Sodor Island Forums blog):
     The formula repeated itself in each story.
     
    e. Reducing the marketing capacity of the series to mere children ages two through five. This was something both the Awdrys and Allcroft Productions were REALLY against. Their main market audiences were families and guardians their target audience. Many of the post-Allcroft stories are in no way, shape, or form factually good simply because the writing is so bad.
     
    f. Mishandling characters (classic, mid-range, and new) in such ways:
     
    I. One-dimensionalizing classic characters/turning classic characters out of character — Edward being frail and useless and then being being cheeky, boastful, and judgmental; Percy being the village idiot all the time; James's stories almost always about vanity (cheekiness and pride of running the express alongside Gordon are crucial to his character); Toby continuing to question his usefulness instead of being a careful and wise mentor.
     
    II. Constantly shoehorning new characters just to sell toys. In Awdry's stories, if new characters were going to be introduced, they were going to correlate to the ever-changing scheme of British railroading. Several characters in the HiT Era have only appeared once, only to never show up again. It was rightfully annoying in Series 5 through 7, but it only got worse since. Occasionally, some scenery stained the aura, mystique, and plausibility of Sodor, such as Misty Island and its aforementioned movie, which is often regarded as one of TTTE&F's lowest points.
     
    III. Having characters perform really dangerous, exceedingly devious deeds without consequence. One of the biggest examples: Fiery Flynn.
     
    IV. Reducing many popular classic characters to the background and/or making them absent from the storyline. Donald, Douglas, BoCo, and Oliver are obvious examples. Before Series 17 came in with a new writing team and style, Bill, Ben, and Duck were amongst the classics to be missing, but are back and have crucial roles in several stories.
     
    If you want to see good HiT Era TTE&F stories, watch Hero of the Rails; Blue Mountain Mystery; King of the Railway; and many Series 17 episodes that you can find here. (I recommend Bill or Ben?, Percy's Lucky Day, The Thomas Way, Henry's Hero, Gordon Runs Dry, The Lost Puff, and Wayward Winston most.)
    Thomas & Friends is mostly consisted of very light stories with occasional moments of genuine peril, distress, and sadness. You don't see or hear mentions of death in this series.
     
    The Railway Series is something completely different. The stories there are actually much more mature and can get a bit graphic. One example in the book Mountain Engines, Godred relied too much on his brakes, and he rolled down the mountain, turning him into scrap. The same goes for Toad Stands By after S.C.Ruffey was split apart: TRS scrapped him, while TTTE&F mended him with better parts. Plus, the racism diesels and steam engines have against each other is much more venomous in TRS, while TTTE&F deals with it more comically and stubbornly.

    However, enough of that at this point. As a devoted fan of Thomas, a part of me has been extremely loyal with the franchise. Plus, as a brony, one of FIM's greatest strengths is the organic character interaction, but sometimes the plot progression can be a little weak or out of character. Plus, like many of HiT!Thomas, the toy plugins are sometimes very transparent.
     
    So my thinking process became this: How about a TTTE&F/TRS adaptation? Each little "book," there would be a range of three to six stories, with the characters having an obstacle and then solving it and growing in a story pattern that's similar to Thomas?
     
    For example:
    A retelling of Thomas' Train/A Big Day for Thomas. Twilight, still embarrassed and cross at Applejack for paying her back after playing a cheeky trick on her, had to put her pride behind her. One night, Spike got ill. While his temperature was normal, he wasn't feeling well, and typical remedies didn't help. She writes a royal letter and reviews through the books, only to find no answer. She brings him to the hospital where Nurse Redheart takes care of him, and he felt just as bad next morning. Spike, with an IV in his wrist, weekly asked Twilight to look after the Library and finish any chores that he can't do. Twilight said, "yes."
     
    She reviewed the list and began to do his chores for the Library. But there were also a couple of others, one being to help Applejack transfer the apples from the tree to her carts. She grumbled, but went about her way, only to find Applejack not there, so she worked with Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and a new pony called Braeburn to help with the bucking. She tries out herself, only to do it rather quickly and giddily. She was given permission to pull the apple trolleys to an organic orchard marketplace out of the town, but before they were able to do so, she began to run, not knowing the they were empty. Then she came cross a level crossing where Applejack wondered why she was there. She was helping trade the apples to an organic farm. Then AJ asked where are the apples. Twilight looked back, gasped, and felt upset. So she ran back, feeling very upset with herself and waited more patiently. Once the apples were placed on the trolleys, she pulled them and used her magic to not strain her back.
     
    ———
     
    Later, in an adaptation of Coal/Henry's Special Coal, Spike's health isn't as sick as before, but who was once a very reliable dragon isn't as reliable as he used to be. Sometimes he has so much strength that he can complete his tasks quicker than anypony. Sometimes he has no strength at all and is confined to either his bed or one at a hospital. While Spike was away in a hospital, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna make a rare private visit one night to talk with Twilight about maybe finding a new assistant instead of him to do the work. Twilight doesn't want that and is sure if found something, then he can get better.
     
    Celestia makes a visit to Rarity, who was working with her little sister, Sweetie Belle, on designer dresses. When asked about finding gems that can heal Spike, she isn't sure, but there may be something that could help him. Healing gems are located at an old jewel mine where the Diamond Dogs roamed. That's where Celestia, Luna, and Rarity immediately went to. The Diamond Dogs weren't very intellectual and irritable, but knew their way around the mine and had knowledge about the gemstones. So Rarity used her business-savvy sense by striking a deal with the Dogs because a good friend was sick and believe the gems could help them. They gave Rarity the gems said to write a letter if he feels better.
     
    They returned to Twilight's house with the gems. Twilight finds a potion book and mixes bits of the gemstones with a little vinegar, for they were strong. They handed Spike the concoction, grimaced, and hated the taste, but he drank it. He wondered what good it'd do. Celestia winked and said, "Wait and see."
     
    They didn't need to wait long. The next day, Spike was wide awake and dusting the shelves. He was feeling happy, speedy, and energetic. Twilight laughed and warned him not to do it too fast. But he takes off for his next job, which Twilight reviewed in her parchment. It was to deliver art supplies to Rarity from the shunting yard. He was there early with smaller trolleys in tow. The foreponies lowered the art into his trolleys, and Twilight caught up as Rainbow Dash flew down to see. Spike teased Twilight for being late and took off. The Bearer of Magic chuckled to Dash if she'd seen anything like it, who agreed she never did.
     
    ———
     
    Come to the winter and The Flying Kipper, and Spike was impressive. Since being given the experiment in the fall, he has grown stronger and faster, but his shape was still the same. So impressed that a country where the elite live, The Crystal Empire, heard the news and invited Spike and two others to come for a little vacation. There was only one train, the Sunrise Topaz, and it leaves at 5 AM. Spike agreed and invited Twilight and Rarity to join, who accepted.
     
    As they prepared, a large tender engine was being inspected and cleaned to remove any dust and frost from the joints and rods. Its firebox was also cleaned. Soon, a large supply of coal poured from a hopper. A half-hour before the departure, the engine showed up while pouring one crystal coach as well as a caboose. They climbed in, said goodbye, and the train left the station. While sipping some of the remedy, Spike watched with awe as little bits of color started to peak out of the dark sky. He was feeling great and awake; he wasn't interested in sleeping. Rarity, and Spike shared a quiet conversation, and she planted a tiny kiss on his head "for good luck."
     
    Meanwhile, the driver and firepony checked the signals and sightings ahead, all giving them the clear, and they headed down a section of track via frozen points. They trekked several miles before stopping at a signal at danger. The points in front weren't aligned, and a freight train behind them was scheduled to pass. To kill the time, the driver and firecolt went to the brake van to drink cocoa with the guard. Rarity and Spike decided to join, and Twilight followed. The brake van was dim and cold, but the energy from the engine and tail lamp lit up the small room.
     
    Several minutes later, everyone wondered why the train never passed, but they had to wait. Suddenly, the vibration of an incoming train and loud honking, and the guard peaked out. It was on their track, and the train applied the brakes. Everyone scrambled out, but when Rarity and Spike did, the train plowed into the brake van, and a wood panel rammed right into Spike, knocking him out cold.
     
    When he woke up, he was lying in the hospital, tired and in pain. All of his friends — including Celestia, the Diamond Dogs, and Queen Cadance of The Crystal Empire — were there beside him, Twilight and Rarity lightly bandaged from the crash and pounding on the hard snow. Luckily, scrapes and a concussion were all he had. He wondered what happened. Celestia said ice and snow locked the junction into place, and the snow forced the caution signal down. Also, the jewels that he needed to replenish his energy were destroyed in the crash, and he apologized to the Dogs, who didn't care; they were glad he was okay. Nurse Redheart said he'll be in the hospital for a couple of days just to check on his brain. If good, he'll be cleared to go home.
     
    They decided to let Spike rest, and the Dogs ushered everyone out. The reason: The dragon Fluttershy escorted away from Ponyville was waiting outside. He heard about the condition and figured out a way for him to not need the healing gems anymore, but he will need a change in the diet and a whole rehab regime. There's a rehab center west of Equestria, but only where dragons live. Sick dragons are there to get rehabbed and treated, and because it's not such a terrible case, it should take about a month or two before he returns.. Due to dragons not having a good relationship with ponies technically, Spike can only come alone. They weren't sure, but Fluttershy and Rarity believed he should go. If it's to keep him healthy and alive, they'll do it. But they had to ask Spike for permission, and if he said yes, the big dragon must promise to keep him safe and cozy. He did, and when they asked Spike if they should go, he considered, but will miss them. Rarity decided to give him a reminder that they love him and will be there to see him when he comes back: her great grandmother's fire ruby, which she wore as a good luck charm. Finally, he agreed to go.
     
    Springtime came. Spike was medically cleared to return home and was given first-class apprenticeship via a flight by the Royal Guard. The little dragon liked living at the rehab center, but was glad to come back. His baby fat was gone. He grew a little bit taller, and his arms and legs grew strong, visible muscles. When they touched down, Spike walked to the Library, but no one was there.
     
    "SURPRISE!"
     
    Everypony peaked out and greeted the happy dragon, and everyone admired how he looked. The Mane Six was especially glad, and they all missed him. The ponies also admired Rarity's fire ruby, and he said to not credit him. Thank Rarity for giving it to him as a good luck charm. Plus, he said he's interested in getting back to work and proving if the trip was truly worth it.
    A retelling of Fluttershy being scared of grown dragons similar to The Sad Story of Henry/Come Out, Henry! and Edward, Gordon and Henry/Henry to the Rescue. They trek up the mountain, but Fluttershy, scared out of her wit's end, hides in her cottage. Her animals tried pulling her out on Spike's whistle, but she never moved. Then they tried pushing from the other end…only to fail. Big Mac came along, and the animals begged for her to come out and help now that the smoke died, but Fluttershy assured it'll begin again soon. Suddenly, on Spike's and Dash's call, Big Mac pushed her via a buck, but she clenched on the jam and kicked him back hard through the walls. They gave up, and Angel led the charge by building a protective brick wall to confine her, only leaving a tiny slit above where her door was. Poor Fluttershy could merely watch activity rush by and have food delivered to her, but she never spoke. Depressed, she crawled back inside, crying.
     
    As she remained confined, the rest of the Mane Six came up with a plan to distract the dragon and have him escorted out. Fluttershy wallowed about maybe coming out, but found herself too physically and psychologically weak to try. During a quarrel, a cloud of ash rains all over Ponyville, and the Mane Six retreated, Rainbow Dash injured from a sprained wing. Angel decided to communicate back to Fluttershy and ash if she can help. She gulped, but accepted. Applejack and Big Mac bucked the wall apart, and she walked out, looking dirty and stiff. She exercised her legs and wings and then came back, refreshed. They trekked up the mountain and confronted the cross dragon again. Only this time, Fluttershy talked sternly, and they got to know the dragon more. Instead of fighting him, they negotiated and decided to help look for a place where he can sleep much more quietly. They sent a letter to Celestia asking for such a spot, and she wrote that there was a cave several miles southwest. Far away from civilization. She gave the dragon a celestial map, and after a gesture for good luck, the dragon flew away, but not after telling Fluttershy she needs a bath. She grumbled, but agrees. Fluttershy helps Dash back home, and Fluttershy learned that she doesn't mind big dragons to an extent and knows that the best way to face her fear of them wasn't to hide into cottages, but to negotiate and treat the dragons with kindness.
    A retelling of Saved from Scrap. Heartstrings, a long-time blank flank, was assigned to shunting trolleys. However, her manager gave her a job to explore a dump a few miles away and find any intricate items. She arrived with empty trolleys in tow. It wasn't just a dump. It was also a scrap yard, where metal was broken up, melted, and later reused for new material. Heartstrings explored and saw a lyre and harp, each dusty and unpolished. She begins to play it and hears an angelic voice. There's no name for the pair, but when Heartstrings asked why they were there when they weren't broken or rusty. The reason: the previous owner gave up on them, calling them old-fashioned and useless. Heartstrings snorted and said despite being teased for being a blank flank, she's reliable and is proud to do her job. The pair would be a part of family concerts and orchestras. The fillies and foals adored the atmosphere in the music.
     
    Heartstrings takes off and decides to help the instruments. She passes by a cherry orchard with a house beside it. A young stallion with a mahogany coat, blond mane/tail, white conductor's top, and violin cutie mark — his name being "Capriccio" — was playing his violin before his young children and saw the upset Heartstrings. The mare answered that a harp and lyre pair was being broken up, but useful. She admitted that that the instruments spoke to her as she touched the strings and said if given the chance, they can be bought and saved, but she doesn't have the money. Capriccio considered and decided to meet up in two days. Two days later, they met the manager of the scrap yard and asked if they could borrow the pair for a while, who said "yes."
     
    The next day, with approval from Mayor Mare, Heartstrings and Capriccio arranged an unannounced concert with Heartstrings taking the stage. With her eyes closed, she begins to play a harp/lyre duet via her unicorn magic, creating music in her head and guidance from the instruments. There were no notes physically, merely mentally. The two instruments kept guiding her through the ten-minute piece. When she finished, everyone clapped and gave her a standing ovation. When the crowd dispersed, the manager of the scrap yard was there and said he was impressed and said that he's willing to strike a cheap deal. Capriccio negotiated, and Heartstrings signed the deal to become the rightful owner of both the harp and lyre.
     
    But she wasn't done. A lyre cutie mark symbol appeared on her flank, and she grew ecstatic. Finally, she decided on a new name: Lyra Heartstrings.
     
    She still lives in Ponyville, but her home is much nicer, and she doesn't spend as much time shunting trolleys. She continues to talk and mail with Capriccio, who is now her manager and conductor. With aid from the instruments, she plays short concerts weekly, particularly to little kids.
    Now flash forward to Toby the Tram Engine/Toby & the Stout Gentleman. An old-fashioned mailmare, Derpy, has been trustworthy throughout an island located north of Equestria. She lives in a paradise that was strangely constant: cool falls and winters, but not to the point of snow; and decent springs and summers that don't sweat her cool gray coat. She always pulls a small antique mail carriage wherever she goes, either in the air or by ground, which she fondly named "Ash," as she always found comfort where he went. Ash tends to carry mail in little pockets on the side to allow passengers (which can fit up to six) to settle in the middle. However, Ash had seen better days: "It's not fair at all," he tends to grumble, recalling how several clouds tended to wander behind him carrying passengers on quiet days and rubbish whenever busy. However, as the years went by, the clouds usually dwell still in the sides of the sky, and only three or four clouds dance behind them. Ground trollies and pony carriages carried passengers, goods, and mail around. But despite her lazy eyes and aloof personality, Derpy hasn't had an accident in years, and she gets a chuckle at why everypony below always tended to have accidents. However, Ash and the clouds are becoming mostly empty.
     
    One day, a proud mare (Mayor Mare — a.k.a., "Arete") and her grandchildren were waiting in front of a trolley car barn. However, Derpy had never seen them before. Suddenly, the young filly suddenly asked (about Ash): "Isn't the carrier electric?" Ash's wood panels trembled in anger, and her brother told her, "Shh! You offended him." Soon, the family scrambled inside. While Derpy was ecstatic, Ash inwardly grumbled, making the filly uncomfortable throughout the initial ride.
     
    After riding through the small town and dropping off the mail, Arete and Derpy finally acquainted. Then Arete conversed with Ash, and he started feeling a little more comfortable. The family stayed there for two weeks, and both the filly and Ash grew a liking for each other. Sometimes they helped shunt fellow trolleys. Other times, they helped collect the mail. On the last day, Ash invited them all to saddle up and ride inside the cab. Unfortunately, Arete and family had to go back home, and both Derpy and Ash said "goodbye" and left sadly.
     
    Months passed. Derpy and Ash were being given less work. Fewer passengers tended to come. Loyal clouds slowly grew distant and floated beyond to find better work. Mail that tended to be given to Derpy was being greatly reduced; she now only carriers two small bags per day. Finally, while she slept in an old shed she called "Henrietta," she heard someone open her mailbox, close it, and leave. She checked and found a letter from her manager. The manager was losing money and couldn't afford the business. So, he decided to close the business next week. Derpy grew sad and could only eat a portion of her muffin before she lost her appetite and gave the rest to Ash (who couldn't eat even if he tried, but Derpy didn't care).
     
    On the last day of the business, she went to her station and found a whole crowd there, including a "FAREWELL, DERPY!" sign hanging aside one lamp pole from another. Several cloud decided to visit the town, too, to accommodate the passengers. The ponies joked and sang, but Derpy and Ash wished they wouldn't. They explored the small town, lifting a little off the ground and watching the scenery around. Derpy began to absorb the feeling of being appreciated and finally saying "goodbye." They returned to the old stable station, and both Derpy and Ash said "farewell." They returned to Henrietta, where Derpy started to cry. Ash comforted him, but Derpy couldn't muster any way to cheer her up. Not even a muffin could do it. She decided to go to bed early and fall unhappily to sleep. Ash stayed where he was and fell asleep, too.
     
    Next morning, Derpy woke up and checked the sunshine. It was bright and cheerful. No cloud in the sky. But Derpy didn't care. She was out of business and didn't know where to go. She walked to her mailbox. A gold letter waited for her inside, and it was from Arete. She opened the envelope and read the letter.
     
    For the first time in weeks, Derpy smiled.
    In an adaptation of Duck Takes Charge, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders during their month-long time in camp, but they weren't as adventurous as the official media. Apple Bloom has a cheeky side and tricked Diamond Tiara. That made DT very cross, and she planned a trick back that embarrassed AB. During some adventures, Cheerilee noticed AB and SB feeling exhausted after trekking; Cheerilee decided to ask another member from another period and class to help them out for the next few days.
     
    Next morning, the filly showed up. Her name is officially Scootaloo, but her parents affectionally call her "Autumn Fowl" because it's her family surname and how she prefers to walk, run, and stay on the ground more than fly, which she can only do in small distances. How they'd like to call her depends, but she likes "Autumn Fowl" better. When Autumn Fowl finished preparing equipment for a new tent, DT mocked her by bawking and wheeshing steam at her.
     
    AB and SB saw it and felt sorry for Autumn Foul, but Fowl had an idea that could teach the bully a lesson. As Cheerilee relaxed by a river to splash some freshwater on her muzzle, she heard thecommotion of DT being unable to enter their tents because the CMC and Fowl blocking their way. When Cheerilee ordered an explanation, Fowl explained how her family does their work without fuss. "It's the Fowl Way or the Wrong Way." And she feels like the fillies should not have to be put up by the commanding of DT. When she reacted, Cheerilee spoke severely to the trio for causing confusion. Then she scolded at DT for creating the disturbance in the first place. Eventually, they were given a talk, and they all completed their tasks.
     
    Fowl managed alone. She did so…easily.

    ———
     
    So you get the idea. These ideas aren't just about the Mane Six: Besides them, society is encrusted with so many walks of life, from Spike to the Diamond Dogs, and so on. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of potential that's wasted in the professional media, and that's disappointing. (One of my biggest peeves in TTTE&F and FIM these days is the wasted potential for so many characters and ideas.)
     
    And if you look at TRS list here, there are a lot of stories that can be told. Twenty-six possible adaptations from Rev. Awdry's series, sixteen more from his son. To expand it, a part of me is thinking about adding side-stories, sets of four to six, to fill in the gaps and expand its world, but one that fits the adaptation. More ponies' stories to be told besides the Mane Six (and Cutie Mark Crusaders). The Railway Series really grew its cast into wonderful characters over a seventy-year span, each full of delightful, rich tales to tell. FIM does the same, although in a more inconsistent manner.
     
    If I get my rear into gear, I can lay out my stories.
     
    Now the question I have to ask myself:
    Should the adaption begin the moment after the two-part pilot?
    Do I reset it entirely?

    I'm currently leaning more to the latter, as it gives me the better ability to expand the story. Currently, the idea for the latter is to have Celestia as the Queen. Luna would be a Queen, too. However, Luna was banished to the moon not because Celestia was forced to power up the Elements of Harmony against her, but because Luna tried to use them herself, but her jealousy of her sister caused her to lose control of them. The negative energy of the Elements of Harmony created Nightmare Moon, and the positive energy from the Elements themselves created a long, temporary seal into the moon with the hope the heirs can break them. As a consequence, the celestial queens could no longer bear the Elements.
     
    Present day: Twilight gets sent to Ponyville because she stayed cooped in her dorm and was responsible for creating Summer Sun Celebration. Celestia would be waiting that night. She bumps into a cast of characters eventually called the Mane Six. Twilight grew cross and uncomfortable and didn't want to be there. The company made her feel uneasy, so once she finished, she ran into her new home, the Golden Oaks Library, where Queen Celestia waited. She said she knew Twilight didn't like it, but that was why she was here. Celestia told her the tale of Nightmare Moon and the seal. Come midnight on the day of the Summer Solstice, the seal breaks; all of Earth will be blanketed by eternal night, and Celestia's power would be sealed away. Queen Celestia will not be there that morning.
     
    This was why she sent Twilight to Ponyville: Part of her mission was to make some friends, and she instructed Twilight to try to acquaint herself better. She sees something inside of her that can help bring Luna back. Twilight reluctantly agrees; Spike would watch the progress. Celestia teleports away, leaving Twilight to fend for herself and start over. I would then have to plan the rest of the pilot.
  12. Dark Qiviut
    Have you ever seen a half-assed excuse used so much, it drives you crazy? Way too many drive me nuts, and one of them is "it's for kids" — specifically "it's for little girls" in and out of the fandom — as an excuse for shortcomings. As far as FIM (and this message board) is concerned, when making an in-depth analysis or review of something, the most common response I get and see is the "FIM is for kids/little girls" excuse. Friendship Is Magic's show and IDW comics are for all ages, enjoyable by anyone. But even if it was simply "for kids," it doesn't change the fact how that STUPID argument should forever be quelled.
    Why should it never be used again? A few reasons:
    It goes against the foundation of Friendship Is Magic. Back when Lauren Faust helped lead the show, she wanted to create a feminine-looking television product with brand new archetypical standards. Instead of school, the mane ponies are adults, some of them with full-time jobs. (The first part of the pilot — Twilight being transported to Ponyville from Canterlot — is a response to this cliché.) Rather than focusing on crushes all the time, every single mane character is independent and free-willing with more important things to do. Faust tells its audience there are many ways to be a girl in media besides the stereotypes. For the most part (outside of A Canterlot Wedding, Twilicorn, and EQG), it succeeds in subverting those archetypes and create new, feminist rules of intelligent, hardworking, independent females in media.
     
    By using the "it's for little girls" excuse, you're spitting on those foundations. You're telling everyone these foundations have no merit; they're pointless. It talks down to Faust and any single person who actually comprehends the standards they — DHX and Faust — instilled on the product as well as the standards they (the people behind the scenes) are responsible for helping build and raise. It's very ageist. By throwing around the "it's for kids" excuse, you're saying kids are inherently stupid and will eat up any shit they see. This mindset is dangerous, because kids are like magnets. They observe their surroundings and respond accordingly, sometimes acting like their idols. Yes, including fictional characters. Quality family-friendly television is important because you want high-quality protagonists to be well-written and suitable for kids to love and idolize. Three-dimensional characters who stay in character, mature along the way, and properly learn their morals through the right context are vital in family-friendly entertainment. If adding to that, intelligent conflicts, intelligent humor with multi-layered referencing to appeal to a wide audience, intelligent graphic design, great music scoring, and so on. Writing that respects multi-demographical audiences regardless of age, sex, or culture. The excuse patronizes kids. By patronizing kids, you're embracing mediocrity. Even if you claim you don't, dishing out the "it's for kids" excuse shows otherwise. Do you know the basis of why this fandom grew and sustained it? Because the quality of the storytelling reaches out to people young and old. Objectively good writing doesn't segregate demographics. The embrace of mediocrity does. Whenever you use "it's just a kids'/little girls' show/*whoever audience*," then you're passively calling Friendship Is Magic — and every single product with an audience in mind — inherently weak. Any product worth our time and money respects demographics across the board. Including periphery demographics! Products that do use this excuse are often to be complete garbage.
     
    You want examples of the latter? Fine.
     
    a. My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. You already know how much how I hate this overrated, idiotic, antifeminist piece of shit (along with its sexist toyline), so I'll move on.
     
    (But some don't know this, and I'm not joking, either. I actually respect Tales, G3, and G3.5 more than Equestria Girls. While they're all garbage, EQG tries and fails to mask its bold-faced lie that it's FIM-related [when it genuinely isn't]; but the other three actually show it's MLP, minus the audiences they're pandering to.)
     
    b. My Little Pony Tales, G3, G3.5. Just like Equestria Girls, obnoxious toyetic pandering to little girls at its worst. Tales also deserves the scorn for making the characters unlikeable, stupid, and overly cynical for the sake of "realism."
     
    c. Modern Spongebob. Watch A Pal for Gary, One Coarse Meal, Are You Happy Now?, The Splinter, Pet Sitter Pat, any modern episode that tortures Squidward, and so on. The writers for Spongebob today don't know nor care what made classic Spongebob successful, and Nickelodeon itself doesn't care.
     
    d. Nickelodeon's Breadwinners. There are reviews (both video and otherwise) bashing the show apart on sites like YouTube or TV.com. Or at the very least, you can read my rant. How the FUCK did this insulting piece of trash become the #1 cartoon on Nickelodeon for a bit? I don't get how anyone can enjoy it unless they want kids to enjoy quality equivalent to JERSEY SHORE! (And, yes, I compared that "reality" monstrosity to a Nick cartoon "for kids." I won't take it back.)
     
    e. Series 8-16 of Thomas & Friends. The stories are far too generic. Several of the newer characters show up once and never again (something that's been rectified with the CGI era). A bunch of trains and other vehicles to pander to young kids and third-party companies that produce their toys. Massive flanderization and derailment of the characters with complete disregard for the Laws of the Railway. Fortunately, the new team from Series 17, KotR, and 18 are apparently pushing the series in the right direction; and I suggest you watch them.
     
    f. Approximately every single anime 4Kids dubbed and mangled. One Piece, I'm looking at you!
     
    g. Many of the Disney animated movies in the late-1990s through mid-2000s like Chicken Little, Pocahontas II, Belle's Magical World, Home on the Range, Hunchback of Notre Dame II, and Cinderella II.
     
    h. Star Wars's prequels, especially The Phantom Menace and Battle of the Clones. Jar Jar Binks, a character with the purpose of pandering to children, was slammed for this along with being a racial stereotype. (There's a reason why he's basically nonexistent nowadays.)
     
    i. As a big Gargoyles fan, The Goliath Chronicles is full of flanderization, lapses of logic, poor animation, and also out of characterization. This product spits on those who watched the first two seasons along with the newcomers.
     
    And this is only the shit marketed "to kids." I can go out and bash horrific entertainment aimed at adults, too. It's an outrageous double standard that demeans the fandom, its growth, and its sustainment. Since points go through one ear and out the other, I'll repeat it: Do you know or remember why the fandom sustained in its size? Because the show has a quality that bridges demographics together. The characters are relatable. Several high-quality episodes emotionally connect with people on a very deep level, like Suited for Success; Hurricane Fluttershy; Testing Testing 1, 2, 3; Pinkie Pride; Winter Wrap Up; and Sleepless in Ponyville.
     
    You can't say plenty of the content bridges beyond the base demographic, yet simultaneously claim this is a product "for five-year-olds" and that the older voices don't matter one bit. Like what Tommy Oliver lambasted in his Equestria Girls review, these statements are incongruent, and "it's for kids" is inherently hypocritical. It's either for all ages (which it is, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying) or "for little girls" (who, by the excuse, you imply that they deserve the pandering schlock that nearly killed the franchise in the first place). The people you're talking to doesn't determine the quality of the product. The execution of the content determines the overall quality of your product. The audiences you're trying to attract only determines the content rating — what is allowed or not by law. Friendship Is Magic, for example, is rated TV-Y in the US, by far the strictest rating. Hasbro and DHX can't afford to put in more graphic content in hopes of not having the FCC or standard-and-practices lawyers being sicced on.
     
    A few decades ago (notably the 1990s), several cartoons weren't afraid to step across the boundaries and deliver quality entertainment. Sure, some of them were misses (Powerpuff Girls's Mime for a Change for its out-of-character ending; Collect Her for its mean-spirited commentary towards older fans), but plenty were hits. Hey Arnold! (not one of my favorites) is a great cartoon that took its audience seriously and portrayed many city and child problems tactfully, thus expanding the characters' dimensions. Courage the Cowardly Dog is unbelievably creepy with plenty of great slapstick, but it wasn't afraid to tackle real problems and portray them seriously; check out The Mask for its commentary on domestic abuse, sexism, and homosexuality. Or another Hasbro product: Beast Wars's "Code of Hero." Heck, even pre-movie Spongebob is still remembered because most of the time, it didn't fall into the traps that factually bad animations make.
     
    Then again, if Nickelodeon can get away with close-up shots of ripped toenails, portraying suicide realistically to mock it (twice), blatant animal cruelty, racist stereotypes, and rape jokes in cartoons rated TV-Y7, then— I don't wanna think about that idea anymore! NEXT! Kids are never a target audience. A target audience is the idea of selling a product to someone. Do you think kids are going to be buying those products? No. So how do they get? By their guardian's approval. The guardians (particularly ones with common sense) decide if the product is suitable in both content and quality for his or her kid(s), not the kids themselves. And what "children's" television works best? Ones where kids and adults are treated with equal respect. MLP:FIM, in terms of the comics and animation, is suitable for all ages. Young kids, teens, parents, and any adult who enjoys quality animation. It's the same audience as the Disney classics, Pixar, several classic children's books, and other current products of today that know what they're doing. If people love and enjoy factually bad shows as kids, there's a chance they'll enjoy factually bad shows as adults, too; that's intolerable. Kids should be directed to quality family entertainment so they can create sets of standards.
    Because kids are easily influenced by the voices and sights surrounding them, family entertainment should be enforced with STRICTER and HIGHER standards, not lower. If the quality is good, it should be recommended. On the other hand, if it's bad, it should be called out and criticized sternly — if it's abominable, very harshly. "It's for kids" is no excuse for bad concepts, bad executions, bad animation, bad writing, and bad products in general. The more various sections of the brony fandom and people in general use it to bypass quality flaws that make or break the story; episode; comic; or movie, the more they'll accept any kind of quality, including the really bad kind that Spongebob's going through now and Thomas until last year. The less the lazy "it's for kids" handwave is used and the more the excuse is called out, the better.
  13. Dark Qiviut
    Link to the blog.
     
    And here are three articles: Eater, EpiCurious, & Gawker
     
    ———
     
    Okay, I know most of us LOVE deep-fried food. Of course, there's the chips/fries, chicken, turkey on a stick, potato chips, plantains, dougnuts, beignets, calamari, and spring rolls. But then there's the funnel cake, Twinkies, Oreo, pickles, Mars bars, and ice cream.
     
    But deep-fried BUTTER is the icing on the cake! X__X
     
    Or should I say, batter on the arteries.
  15. Dark Qiviut
    After seeing Feld0 at BronyCon, he wondered when I was going to post my review for the Poniverse logo (both the original and revision) that I promised to publish. The following is my review.
     
    Overview
    This logo's intended purpose is to integrate multiple networks into one supercommunity. "Poniverse" is a portmanteau of "pony" and "universe," so a theme of "universe" follows in the signature (the term to describe the trademark-wordmark combination). The trademark is a stylized "P" in the abstract shape of a pony's head (the oval being the pony's eye). Surrounding the head is an abstract galaxy, rotating at high speed. In the revised version, the trademark is separated from the wordmark, and a graphic symbol encompassing the trademark are multiple circles (satellites) surrounding one huge hub (a star or galaxy), indicating how several networks are merged into one.
     
    Josefin Sans Light, a sans serif type style, is used to make the logo the central focus. The typeface uses simple, organic shapes akin to the show. To make the supercommunity more easygoing for multiple audiences, the "p" in "poniverse" is lowercase, capturing the casual, light, happy-go-lucky nature of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and its respective networks. Lastly, the revised wordmark uses cyan — a very light, pastel blue compared to sky blue above it — combining the feeling of corporate, loyalty, and fun in one hub.
     
    Trademark
    A lot of elements signatures have is called a trademark, which is the main symbol that defines the brand. Examples of trademarks include:
    NBC's peacock
    Chevrolet's bow tie
    Toyota's stylized "T" (made up of three rings: the customer, the company, and the big ring wrapped around the "T" for unity)
    Dunkin Donuts's coffee
    Baskin Robbin's BR (which hides the "31" for "31 flavors")
    CBS's eye
    The Pepsi smile
    Microsoft's four colored windows.

    Some companies only use the trademark like:
    Apple's bite of the apple
    Nike's Swoosh
    Starbucks Coffee's mermaid
    McDonald's golden arches.

    Poniverse's trademark is two galaxy clouds of dust swirling clockwise, positioning in a form to where it looks like a "P." However, there are several issues with it.
    It doesn't look like a "p." While it's supposed to be abstract, there's abstract and then there's going too abstract to the point where the Prudential rock looks like a triangle instead of a rock. When I first saw it, it looked like the galaxy was designed to where it looked like a squished "O." It also doesn't help when the human eye looks from top to bottom instead of the other way around. Just flip the vision, and it suddenly looks like a "d" instead. This accidental double meaning hurts the abstract trademark's message. More definitive shapes are recommended.
    The pony head looks way too squished. When you look at ponies from their bases, you notice that each part of their anatomy is consisted of circles, triangles, ovals, and rectangles (minus the eyes, mane, tail, wings, etc.). A pony's head consists of one circle (or egg from frontal view). However, this pony's head looks like a rectangle, gave it really rounded corners, and then rotated it a few degrees clockwise. The head looks inorganic and doesn't fully scream "pony head."
    The lines that make the abstract "p" are way too close to Nike's Swoosh.
     
    Here's the Swoosh:


    Rotate the Poniverse trademark, and you'll get this:
     

     
    People can and will catch that if it stays around long enough. I noticed it the second the winners were announced.
     
    Wordmark
    To make the wordmark (the distinctive lettering for the signature) connect with the trademark yet not disturb the eye, the typeface Josefin Sans Light is selected. It has a lot of qualities similar to other great Art Deco typefaces like Futura, Kabel, and Avant Garde, but with minute differences in stroke, angles, and weights to make it unique.
     
    The choice fits wonderfully. When viewing the trademark, you notice how heavy it looks. Each shape is very thick and easily visible whether big or small. Josefin Sans Light is a beautiful contrast in the form of light anatomy. Even in a small size, I still notice the typeface's anatomy. Furthermore, the size of the type compliments well with the trademark. It's also a great choice making "poniverse" lowercase throughout, making the entire wordmark readable and mentally accessible for a general audience. And as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic uses mostly simple shapes (for both the characters and atmosphere like the houses and mountains), Josefin Sans Light is extremely in character.
     
    That said, while the typeface, size, and weight work, it still needs some cleaning up. Here is a small demonstration.
     

     
    Look closely at black lines in between each character. That indicates the space between each character. Space in between each character is called kerning (while the total amount of space for each word, line, sentence, paragraph, or document is called tracking), and good typography in logo design pays close attention to the kerning so each letter looks even as you read it.
     
    Each space in between the characters is irregular. For the first example, the "o" in "poniverse" leans too much to the left, leaving a big gap between the "o" and "n." There's also a little too much irregularity between the characters from the "o" to the second "n"; extra polish would clean it up. However, the tracking in "net" is tight, showing inconsistency in the typography. When it's one line like "poniverse" or "poniverse.net," either keep the tracking loose or tight. Don't do both.
     
    Graphics
    Besides the trademark, there is one main graphic: the circles behind it. One big circle (basically a star or large planet) is surrounded by several smaller ones (planets or moons), either via overlapping or approximate distance, sending a message that several smaller communities is operated by one gigantic hub.
     
    The message of the big supercommunity operating smaller communities is clear in itself, but there are two big issues.
     
    If you want to see it, review the Skype icon here:
     
     

    The background graphics for Poniverse look way to similar to Skype. A big circle encompasses the "S," and two smaller ones orbit around the main hub or caller. For Poniverse, you have several small circles orbit Poniverse.
    The blue color, which symbolizes loyalty, is also too close to the Skype logo, which also uses a brilliantly sky blue.

    Suggestions for Improvement
    Clean up the kerning and unify the tracking. Instead of using two sets of spacing, use the same amount of space throughout. If you want the space between each character to be crowded, make it crowded. If more open, leave it all open.
     
    To see if the space between the characters look evenly distributed optically, alter the size for the wordmark. Look at it in a big point size like forty-eight, sixty, or seventy-two points or higher and at a small size like eight, ten, and twelve.
    Choose a brand new background symbol. Currently, the bright blue and coordination of perfect circles give unsuspected audiences an impression that the logo ripped off the Skype icon.
     
    An idea is a galaxy (with some hubs on either side), for they're one of the most recognizable masses in the universe and the trademark plays off one in the form of a spiral.
    Choose a brand new color for Poniverse. Currently, when I see that light cyan, I think of Skype, which is a communication company. Try to think of another color besides cyan, and there is a very wide palette. Suggestions include:
     
    a. Scarlet — a calm red. Symbolizes empowerment, brightness, defiance, and enthusiasm.
     
    b. A soothing green like emerald or jade — make it too light like lime, and you make it look like it's unprepared.
     
    c. Orange — a bright, warm orange, which can enhance socialization. However, this may cause problems: AT&T uses orange to both honor Cingular Wireless (the company AT&T bought) and accentuate its globe trademark.
     
    d. Brown — warm and creates a sense of security depending on its saturation. Be careful not to make the brown look like chocolate brown, or people will instantly think you're a candy bar organization.
     
    e. Purple — luxurious, but also wise, creative, and exotic.
     
    f. A deeper blue — darker and not light like cyan, but retains the same messages.
     
    -----
     
    Don't be afraid to not combine colors to capture the feeling of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Poniverse itself, creativity, inspiration, and majesty.
     
    If you're going to use a blue in the same range as cyan, my suggestion is twofold:
     
    a. Dull it with a little bit of magenta or black so the color isn't as bright.
     
    b. Use it as a secondary color. In the official logo, cyan is the primary. Maybe you can use a sky blue as the color for the wordmark.
    Redraw the trademark. A stylized "p" in the form of a galaxy is a great idea, but the triple messages and the way people view compositions risk confusing people and muddling the trademark's symbolism.
     
    For the stylized "P," how about making the spiral galaxy look a little more like a "P"?
     
    If you haven't done it, take your revised signature and see it in black only. Black is neutral and bold, which forces you to view the logo from a compositional standpoint (the trademark, wordmark, placement, and logo/typography relationship), the foundation for any great logo. If you review it in color only, then your brain gets tricked into thinking the best way to show off your logo is to tweak the color. Once you have the composition complex, then add the color.

    The Poniverse Revised Logo: Step-By-Step
    I have some suggestions for the revised logo, but instead of telling how to do it, I'll show it step by step process, from the black vector to the completed graphics. Click the "spoiler" to view them and the explanations.
     
     
     
     
    -
    This is a trio of suggestions with some minor differences. Each signature contains both the trademark and wordmark. Josefin Sans Light is still being used, but cleaned up with some semi-wide tracking to make it accessible big and small better. The wordmark is placed both below and to the right of the trademark, each one containing the ".net" address and without. Plus, each signature is in black to review the composition before advancing to color (which I'll show next).
     
    But the big difference is the galaxy. Poniverse's official trademark has been altered to where it officially looks like a "p" instead of a combination of a "p," "o," and "d." The trademark has three variations.
    The "p" is sliced into two separate pieces. The bottom of the bowl is separated from the top with the intention of the eye connecting the rest of the letter. Two small arms make up the outer edges of the spiral galaxy.
    In the second and third, the "p" is connected from the bottom of the bowl to the rest of the letter. The only difference between the two latter options is the extra arm below the bowl is missing in one of them.
    Instead of a squished head, the inner-body is a perfect circle, commemorating the organic shapes of the letterforms, pony's bodies, and atmospheric graphics. There is an oval eye, slightly slanted, as most of the pony's eyes are an oval shape.
     
     
    -
    Another suggestion, in color, is below:
     
     
     
     
    -
     
    However, each example uses one color for the entire signature. How about using more than one to see if the colors contrast nicely?
     
     
     
    -
    Now you see how the logo is coming together more. With a combination of colors, you send more and more messages as to what Poniverse will feel and tell to your audience.
     
    Now, of the colors presented here, we can begin narrowing them down. So far, the ones that work most are purple, navy blue, lavender, and periwinkle. Emerald and bronze are on the border. Scarlet, brown, and black don't work.
     
    Purple and navy blue are creative, bold, and full of life. Purple is one of the most complex colors because it hosts multiple emotions. Navy blue is still blue, but it doesn't stick to the cyan scheme, where people will immediately think of Skype. Furthermore, it still stimulates creativity, passion, and will to work at your best.
     
    The newest colors in the edition are lavender and periwinkle, which are tints. Periwinkle is the lighter tint and is more to the blue hue, while lavender is darker. These colors are warm, comforting, and a bolster for creativity, but aren't as bold as the darker siblings, giving the trademark its much needed focus. Plus, the pastel colors still remind people that this is brony- and MLP:FIM-related.
     
    As you work with the colors, you begin to develop the color palette: the main and secondary colors used for the Poniverse brand. (The brands within Poniverse can wait temporarily, and then the colors can be slightly adjusted depending on Feld0's and Poniverse Staff's desires.) Part of the palette will be on the main logo and graphic symbol for Poniverse.
     
    Now you can begin thinking about the colors on the border.
    Bronze is a medal used commonly in the Olympics, with gold and silver above them. Bronze is more of a dirty gold in appearance, but it can lead to an impression that they're very relaxed and don't set a standard for creating a great supercommunity. Therefore, you can eliminate bronze (along with gold and silver) for the main logo.
    Emerald or jade is about wisdom, purity, and generosity. But when you think of Poniverse, you think of pony and universe. Emerald, like green, is more earthy, and we're trying to attract a wide audience from multiple cultures, not just one. Emerald is a more singular color, so emerald/jade won't work for the signature.
    At this point, you now have four colors: two dark, two light. But now you have to think which colors best symbolize and promote the Poniverse brand in the form of the logo?
     
    This leads to the next spoiler below.
     
     
    -
     
     
    -
     
    The revised logo has several options, but one thing is consistent: either purple or navy blue for the trademark.
     
    The signatures with the blue trademark have various shades of lavendar in the wordmark: light, medium, and dark. The ones with the purple trademark have two shades of lavender and dull blue in the wordmark (a new color into the mix).
     
    But scroll down, and you'll see pairs of logos where the trademark is paired with a dual-colored wordmark, where "poniverse" is in lavender or periwinkle and ".net" in a dull blue. The difference makes it differentiate, but also blend with the "poniverse" portion of the wordmark.
     
    However, my senses tell me the two colors in the wordmark don't work.
    It makes ".net" appear tacked on and has no purpose other than telling people, "Hey, I'm a Website only."
    ".net" is stuck on an island rather than actually be a part of the overall signature.
    With that, I can cross off the three-colored signature.
     
    Also, the dull blue doesn't fit the message Poniverse is trying to achieve. Instead of trying to be a proactive community, the blue looks gray and implies a morbid mood. So the blue goes, leaving behind the four colors again. However, the light blue as a spectrum may still be used as a secondary color to accentuate the trademark.
     
     
     
    This leads me to the stage where I suggested to combine the galaxy-like graphic with the trademark and wordmark. Click on the next spoiler to access it.
     
    -
     
     
     
     
    With the graphic symbol structure finalized, I can drop in the color combinations that are located below.
     
    -
     
     
     
     
    -
     
    Above are a group of suggestions of what the colored graphic symbol-trademark-wordmark logo relationship would look like when stacked. The primary color options are navy blue and purple; the wordmark options are a light blue, a light lavender, and a dark lavender. I brought back the blue for the wordmark to balance the rest of the secondary logo without it being so bright and hindering the hierarchy, yet not so dull to confuse the audience's impressions.
     
     
    -
     
    But what about an option where both the graphics and wordmark are positioned across?
     
     
     
     
    -
     
    Two of my favorite colored options are located below.
     
     
     
     
    -
     
    After this tedious step-by-step process, my most favorites are the following:
     
    http://i107.photobuc...l-5A_Page_1.png
     
    http://i107.photobuc...l-4A_Page_3.png
     
    http://i107.photobuc...l-5A_Page_2.png
     
    http://i107.photobuc...l-4A_Page_4.png
     
    -
     
    For the top two, navy blue is the main color to stimulate creativity. While it's a very cool color, it's also the one that sends messages of sincerity, trust, confidence, and will to communicate. To provide contrast, lavender provides the inspiration, three-dimensionality, and life to the audience. When the trademark and graphic symbol are merged, the trademark is dropped, using the white background as the color.
     
    (The white trademark you see in front of the galaxy graphic apples to all of the other trademarks. I chose my most favorite of the bunch, but whichever one you like most applies to you.)
     
    As for the bottom pair, it's in reverse, with purple as the primary and sky blue/azure as the secondary. Purple is the most complex color, but with it shifted more to the magenta side, it symbolizes life, creativity, and imagination. With the purple clean, it doesn't muddle the message. Sky blue is a very calm, comforting color, inspiring the audience to be creative despite not being the central focus.
     
    Why the contrast?
     
    Several reasons:
    Poniverse is designed to be a powerful, fresh, willful supercommunity. One of bronydom's strongest points is the ability to socialize via social networking. The word-of-mouth advertising from one brony to another spread the messages of not only the show, but the brony community altogether, too. Poniverse is a hub to unite as many supercommunities as possible without having to separately join each one, from forum-browsing to uploading music and so on. It's an extremely bold idea, and the two main color options are presented very boldly. You have a bold message, hence the bold primary trademark colors.
    Meanwhile, Poniverse is centralized behind the theme of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. One of its strongest elements is the bright, pastel, warm colors. The lavender and sky blue retain the messages the original, bold colors provide, but it's softer and pastel to remind people that this is a brony/MLP:FIM supercommunity instead of merely a supercommunity in general.
    The two obvious contrasts provide a balance. You have the bold trademark colors as well as the softer, brighter pastel colors. When you have the logo consisted of one color throughout regardless of strength, then the logo becomes extremely overwhelming and uninviting. You make everything one tone/hue/saturation, you risk muddling the overall message and may make people choose something else. When you have two contrasting colors, you can marry the entire logo as one instead of risking the two separate parties divorcing.
     
    If you want one official example, look at the NBC peacock with the NBC wordmark below it. The six feathers (representing the six separate departments at the time of the logo's release in 1986) are the main colors of the rainbow. The black wordmark balances the composition out.
     
    The contrast in the final Poniverse logo ideas balances the parties and strengthens the composition. Blue and purple are next to each other on the color wheel and help guide the eye rather than taking one very sharp, bright color like red and slapping it into the composition.
    When it comes to the composition with the galaxy graphic symbol, the elements being stacked on top of each other allows the viewer to see the logo scaled in multiple sizes while providing more effective real estate for other mediums like letterheads, business cards, envelopes, print ad campaigns, and apps. When the signature is across, it takes up a lot of room and real estate regardless of size. You can have the logo be about an inch high, yet six to eight inches across, and that's a lot of room. However, the stacked format puts the signature in a near-perfect square, which allows the designer to scale it in multiple sizes without losing the identity.
     
    If anyone's curious, here's a sheet with the logo (with the graphic symbol) scaled in multiple sizes, starting from one big size to the smallest possible without it being unrecognizeable.

    Conclusion
    Poniverse is a supercommunity with the purpose of congregating several smaller communities under one hub. It is a bold idea that we haven't seen before in the brony community, which means a bold logo that encompasses everything into one. The stylized "P" in the form of a galaxy is an excellent idea, but design issues in the trademark, color, and graphic symbol jumble the message. The critiques in this review and process to make a revised logo hope to fulfill Poniverse's bold, creative, imaginative messages to the brony community and beyond, while not replicating another company's logo design.
  16. Dark Qiviut
    The worst written scene in all of FIM is Vice Principal Luna interrogating Twilight in her office. Luna bought into "evidence" of photos that were clearly cut out and glued together. The whole scene has no tension, because it lasted barely over a minute. Flash's moment of intervention could've been removed in favor of the Mane Six or Luna not falling for that stupid trick. It's so broken, it turned the first film into a colossal failure, and nothing after would save it.
     
    But my most hated part of all of FIM occurs during the climax. Sunset Shimmer was presented as the mean-girl, alpha-bitch stereotype and turned into a she-demon from a Diabolous Ex Machina, and then the EoH are acted by a Deus Ex Machina. The EoH defeat Sunset Shimmer…and completely destroy her character.
     
    Sometimes we can get tired of redemption stories in the show, and part of it is twofold. One for the villains not being well-written, the other for having the redemption story be poorly done. Redemption stories by themselves, though, aren't bad or good. You need the execution to be good to make it satisfying.
     
    Including the IDW comics, Sunset Shimmer's redemption is the second-worst in ALL of Friendship Is Magic. Worse than Sombra from Siege of The Crystal Empire. Worse than Discord. Worse than Luna/Nightmare Moon. They're better than Sunset's. One exception is Radiant Hope from Siege, because she's a complete Mary Sue, lured in villains to sabotage the Empire, and watched others get hurt and killed all for the goal of reviving Sombra without a shred of guilt.
     
    The one big problem with Sunset's redemption and the idea of me thinking of forgiving her is the fact that the Sunset seen in EQG1's resolution, Rainbow Rocks, the Holiday Special, the shorts, and Friendship Games isn't Sunset Shimmer. What we see in the films is the Elements of Harmony replacing her original personality with a brainwashed version of her. This is how the Elements want Sunset to be. This is the Elements influencing Sunset's psyche and development through a personality they created.
     
    Sure, she has the same memories, clothes, hair, and voice. But there's more to a character than those. The mannerisms and natural development from villain to protagonist matter, too. Sunset never had that. She never had that moment where she actually chose to change for the better. She didn't decide during the climax that she was going to try and make things up. The EoH's version of Sunset is the one doing all the redemption for her. As a result:
    Her whole redemption lacks any conviction. The scripts try to tell the viewer that Sunset is the one who caused it, and she's the one who can change it. But how can Sunset change it when the real Sunset doesn't even exist anymore? The quality of Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games worsens. Each of their plots is partially about Sunset's redemption and spreading her wisdom to others. But neither acknowledge how Sunset became the way she is. They acknowledge her defeat, but that's it. In fact, both films flimsily hide her complete character change.

    Villain!Sunset is flatter than Flash, but the current Sunset is completely fake by how forced her transformation and development are.
     
    Sunset's current personality has factually way more dimension than the prior. There's no denying that. And there are reasons why she is popular. But when it comes to something like a magical lobotomy, I don't care if Villain!Sunset was a stereotype. If I want to see Sunset redeemed, I want to see Sunset redeemed, not a brainwashed figure in her place. To this day, it's my most hated aspect of the spinoff. What the EoH did was so evil that Equestria Girls hasn't recovered from that scene. Until they settle it once and for all rather than treat her redemption as something she chose throughout, it won't.
     
    The way she changed is similar to Nightmare Moon's defeat and change back to Luna. But even the first film screws it up. Princess Luna grew so jealous of Celestia that she turned herself into a completely different pony. Nightmare Moon is Luna, but Luna isn't NMM. The EoH relaxed her anger, bitterness, and jealousy and reverted her to the Luna of old.
     
    Now, contrast Sunset's with Starlight Glimmer. Unlike Sunset, Starlight is the best villain this show's ever had. Rather than re-write about her, I'll quote my analysis:
     
    A lot of people focus on the what and the time (the latter being an okay reason) and not the why. Take a look at why The Cutie Re-Mark showed she became the way she was and focus on obvious details.
    Starlight and Sunburst were blank flanks, and the episode pins down that he was her only friend at the time. When Sunburst saved Starlight from the book collapsing on her, he got his cutie mark. His friends and family celebrated, and they never saw each other again. In what was supposed to be one of the best days of Sunburst's life, Starlight lost someone she cared for most.
     
    Now, on a more complete scale, does that sound rather petty? Yes. Even Starlight admitted it by saying "he moved on, and I didn't." She knows it's a petty feeling, but the event that etched deep in her subconscious triggered anger for cutie marks and the thought that if it happened to her, she won't let that happen to anyone else so they don't feel the same pain. She never blamed him. Each time this event was addressed, she always blamed his mark, not him. Sunburst was an equal to Starlight, but when he got it, he was seen as the really special pony in her town. To her, he achieved a much higher status, while she was still stuck there. Those things don't go away, especially when you're a kid.
     
    Unlike Sunset, who wallowed that she never found another way even as a teen/adult mare, Sunburst was sent off to Canterlot while Starlight was still a foal. Kids are impressionable, and what may look like simple, petty feelings to us as adults can leave a lasting impact on kids. It doesn't matter if she talked with her family or not. If this kind of event created a trauma trigger as a kid, talking to parents won't go away so easily.

    In short, cutie marks and the idea that the cutie mark = someone may be more special or better reminded her of that event. Their cutie marks are trauma triggers, and they can be just about anything. That's why she created Our Town and repressed others' talents. She believed by repressing others' talents, everyone will be on equal level, and she'd create true friendship and true harmony. Unlike the other three-dimensional villain Discord (who willingly manipulated the Mane Six), Starlight truly believed she was doing the right thing. But when she was outed and her entire world crumbled, Starlight became angry, desperate, and hungry for revenge. If she lost her comfort and her home, then Twilight will suffer, too.
     
    Why Twilight?
    She led her friends to Our Town. As the Princess of Friendship, she bears similar responsibilities to Cadance, Luna, and Celestia even on a lower level. Alicorn princesses have a lot of weight in their words and ideology. Current Equestrian canon relies on the princesses' decisions, because they affect everyone else around them. She has a higher class status. Twilight Sparkle tried to figure out a plan to free the townsponies from Starlight's totalitarianism. Focus on the scene outside Sugar Belle's bakery. She kept her friends in check when they were arguing and pointed her head at Double Diamond. Secondly, while they were all locked inside Starlight's jail, they had to come up with a plan. Twilight was the one who helped lead the idea of Fluttershy being the one to find clues and defeat Starlight, for she was the one who bought into them. 'Shy outed her, but Twilight helped plan the ruse.

    Even when Twilight told Starlight that her interrupting the Rainboom, Starlight didn't believe her, accusing her of lying and being egotistical. This indicates not that she doesn't care, but in reality is completely unaware of the consequences.
     
    But what changed and started her path to redemption are three things:
    Starlight being extremely startled by the wasteland. Observe by how said that there's nothing here. This expression:

     
    Remember why "show, don't tell" is lauded. By showing reactions and details, vivid images embed subconsciously. The clearer the image, the more impactful. That image was the mark of when her ascension began. And it was here where the audience truly realizes that what see saw from Starlight as evil isn't what Starlight thought as evil. This led to the flashback scene in her hometown followed by the climax and resolution. Starlight snapping at Twilight when she hoped Starlight'd change her mind. It was one of the most literally insane soundbites I've ever heard. Starlight wasn't just fighting hard to gain revenge on Twilight. No longer did she focus on the wasteland. Literally, she lost control of her own conscience and showed a moment of fury. Starlight looked…lost.

    Even though the climax didn't rely on lasers and topographical destruction, it was one of the tensest in this show's history. Twilight and Spike's lone path to returning the timeline to normal was stolen and on the verge of being destroyed by a unicorn trapped in her own psychological destruction. Insane fury brimmed in her eyes and bled on the parchment. The loss of her friend plus the loss of the town she helped rule ate her up, including still denying the destruction of her timeline.
     
    There, Twilight demonstrated how far she'd come. Rather than literally fighting her, she had to convince Starlight with Twilight's own lessons she learned. Rather than take her out physically, she had to help her and convince her that this path wasn't worth it. And even if Starlight as worried that what happened with Sunburst could happen again:
     
    And after Starlight agrees to take her hoof and let the Sonic Rainboom occur, Starlight's redemption was Sunset's done correctly. Rather than forcing a redemption out of her and brainwashing her into redemption, she gave Starlight the opportunity to choose redemption. By letting her choose, you see the character's thoughts, actions, and consequences all in one go. Her redemption feels genuine.
     
    But to make that better, becoming Twilight's protégé makes her redemption feel very satisfactory. She chose to face the consequences, but rather than force her to spend time in exile, Twilight elected to teach her so she can use her powers for good. She knew Starlight was powerful, but rather than let her go with no direction, Twilight believes her leading Starlight into doing good things will allow her to use her magic expertise and knowledge for the benefit of everyone. More importantly, it recognized one of Keep Calm's flaws, even if backhandedly: Discord was redeemed because Celestia assigned them. Celestia didn't assign Twi, Twi decided to herself.
     
    Also, the comparison between the Equal Four and CHS is apples and oranges. The CHS were frightened of her from the start and hated her. The Equal 4 (and by extension, the rest of Our Town) didn't hate her. They felt betrayed. If the four didn't want to forgive her, who can blame them. But they believe Starlight's apology was genuine and forgave her.
     
    For those who are curious, here's my ranking of redeemed antagonists/villains, from best to worst.
    Diamond Tiara Starlight Glimmer Trixie Nightmare Rarity Gilda Discord Nightmare Moon Snips & Snails (EQG) King Sombra (Siege of the Crystal Empire) Sunset Shimmer Radiant Hope

  18. Dark Qiviut
    Following two grand episodes in Rarity Takes Manehattan and Pinkie Apple Pie, Corey Powell was challenged to write the official script for Rainbow Falls. This is the second time Rainbow Dash is the central character this season (Flight to the Finish doesn't count, for she was secondary). Along with Fluttershy and Snowflake (Bulk Biceps officially), Rainbow Dash's trials to qualify for the Equestria Games with her team hits a grinding halt via a very lazy mess.
    Strengths:
    Derpy returns. Without question, the best part of the episode. She doesn't speak nor does she have a name, but she's an integrated part in the third act and treated as one. And she has the lovable wall eyes that make her her! Very beautiful scenery of the village and waterfall. You can tell the animators paid close attention to the structures of past Olympic Games, both the winter and summer, by the housing and placement. The animation has little to no hiccups. There was some little bits to make the characters act natural, like the flick of the mane from a sharp turn of the head. Of course, the Friendship Express had somewhat awkward rotations as it clickery-clacked down the track, but that's mere nitpicking here. Griffons return for the first time since Season 2! Unfortunately, they're there as unspoken cameos, but there needs to be more about them, as FIM's form of Earth is more than merely Equestria. Fluttershy's character development was actually recognized. Instead of just being Timidshy all the time, the character development she received from past episodes is put into some use.
     
    Keyword being "some." Weaknesses:
    Continuity issues are all over the place. Instead of just picking a couple, let me give you a fuller list: Snowflake has trouble flying. This character was seen flying in Hurricane Fluttershy with the rest of the pegasi, pretty much without issues. But then we see him again in Wonderbolts Academy. He was one of the select few to successfully participate in the military camp. He responded and despite screwing up, showed his worth by kicking plot and flying well throughout! In this "episode," Snowflake has so much trouble flying, Scootaloo would be a better candidate!
     
    And to make it even stupider, how the hell would this dumbassery contribute to the plot? By making the Wonderbolts and every other pony, minus Fluttershy, look better?
     
    Speaking of Fluttershy… Fluttershy's fears are incredibly inconsistent. You have her boldly try out for the EQGames. That's fair. But then when she reacted to "Pinkie Pie's" cheerleading out of fright, then there's inconsistency. Not to mention this is never explained properly. It's there simply to be a gag to fill in time.
     
    Then again, Fluttershy participated in the tornado because it was her civic duty on behalf of both Ponyville's and Cloudesdale's behalves. Here, this is apparently a volunteered competition. This is nothing like what happened there. It's basically the jousting competition, only on a much larger scale. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of characters will be attending and watching her and everyone else compete, so to see her nosedive when she doesn't care a ton about extreme flying beforehand becomes rather contrived. Spitfire didn't need to be retaught about the loyalty and being pushed to the right direction.
     
    Firstly, being a Wonderbolt is one of the most prestigious honors of any pegasus. The main purpose of being a Wonderbolt is to be the best, overcome pressure, and be proud and loyal. You're showing how amazing you are physically, psychologically, emotionally, and virtuously. You must show some integrity, also.
     
    What does this have to do with the continuity lapse? There's a difference between being incompetent and being vindictive and betraying your damn badge AND your own tag-team partner!
     
    Not to mention, Spitfire already learned firsthand about loyalty and recklessness. If she (and Fleetfoot, by association) had any damn intensity, integrity, and intelligence, she didn't need to have the concept of loyalty rehashed in front of her face. She learned that lesson the hard way after Rainbow Dash stomped the wingpony pin on her desk and stormed off. In fact, she admitted passively to learning that lesson right after Soarin' jammed/dislocated/broke his wing.
     
    And for that matter, the Wonderbolts, who were explicitly stated by Dash herself and a background pony named Dizzy Twister (by the fandom) to be the best fliers, chose to lie and abandon their own friend and teammate (who was medically cleared to practice, mind you) in favor of a much weaker, less inexperienced flier.
     
    Speaking of the Wonderbolts… The Wonderbolts are a militia and aerial demonstrators modeled after the Blue Angels. They're not a sports team. They have no business being there other than to artificially create conflict. Rainbow Dash's purpose was to get her team to quality for the aerial relay. As the de facto captain, her job was to lead the team. There was no good reason for her to decide to abandon them in favor of a couple of out-of-character, villainized Wonderbolts. If Rainbow Dash had an ounce of intelligence, she would've scolded them for even thinking of pulling such a stupid stunt and said, "Hell, NO!" to their faces. Hell, Rainbow Falls lapses in its own continuity rules.
      By the end of the episode, five teams qualified for the Equestria Games.
     
    And "teams" was specifically mentioned. No matter who or what species, the first four qualified, period. Either the animators or writer screwed up, but that mistake is so easy to catch. How that error was overlooked, even after the script was locked, is beyond me. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity are all absolutely pointless. They each have smaller subplots simply to garner humor. Unfortunately, none of their roles are investing, and when they get involved, they're all incredibly out of character.
    Applejack: Apples, apples, apples. And when she performs a trick, she screws up. Her life doesn't center all on apples and apple-related products. Outside of Rainbow Dash, she's perhaps the most athletic member of the Mane Six because of her very powerful legs and back.
    Pinkie Pie: Simply an obnoxious cheerleader just to drive the audience and rest of her friends batty. Remember what I wrote in my review for Rarity Takes Manehattan?
    It hasn't changed, and to see Pinkie's "character" reduced from the offbeat three-dimensionality in Pinkie Apple Pie to the flanderization seen here is staggering. Rarity: Without question her worst role this season, and she's completely out of character. In Daring Don't, she's a background pony. In RF, she's a tertiary character, along with Pinkie, AJ, and Twilight. Her uniforms are so poorly designed, Hoity Toity would've given her a ripping so bad, Gordon Ramsay would look tame in comparison. The designs are such a ginormous retcon from Suited for Success and the rest of the episodes she influenced (including Green Isn't Your Color and Rarity Takes Manehattan), it made watching those episodes feel pointless briefly.
    There was no need for her to tag along and design the dresses at the village. She could've spent her time at Carousel Boutique, plan out her dresses there, design them, and then ship them off to Dash, Fluttershy, and Snowflake while they're training for the trials. Then at the trials, she could show up and watch them qualify.
    Lastly, the scene where Rarity steals away with the dropped horseshoe was unlike her. If she was truly generous and in character, she would've picked it up and toss it back to them so they can continue practicing. By taking it away, the trio had stop practicing and then wait until she returned with the gaudy design. With time not on their side, it made her look selfish and stupid. Instead of being treated with some integrity, her actions and choices are played for cheap laughs, disrespecting her character in the process.
    Just because a character is operating within her element doesn't mean she's in character or believable. It's how she's executed. In Rainbow Falls, Rarity isn't there. It's a completely different character disguised as her.
    Two things:
    a. If you pay attention, you'll notice a very familiar track as the village and falls were explored.
    That track came from Wonderbolts Academy, which has a very military atmosphere.
    b. At one point, imagery from Sonic Rainboom (a sudden flyby of a Derpy recolor) was borrowed into the scene, and then you have basically the same well-known background ponies as pegasi, like Dr. Whooves, Berry Punch, and Bon Bon (with a different mane and tail style).
    The recolors are, well, okay on their own. If this was a standalone episode, you can toss it all aside. And the show does reuse tracks quite often. That's okay, too.
    But Rainbow Falls is situated in between two major arcs: the Equestria Games and Chest of Harmony. By using such obvious shortcuts, it gives a feeling that the animators and Anderson aren't so invested in them. This isn't some low-budget B-animation like Scooby-Doo and pretty much every Hanna Barbera cartoon two generations ago (at least not anymore), nor is it a mere standalone episode that has nothing to do with a season-long plotline.
    DHX and Top Draw are investing some of their time and Hasbro's money into these three storylines (the refurbishment of the old castle the third). Top Draw and/or the storyboarders should've used that time to make interesting background characters with different palettes and manes/tails. Anderson, for the matter, should've composed a brand new background track rather than have his Wonderbolts Academy piece recycled.
    The biggest annoyance between the two, though, is the recycled track. It was there specifically for the atmosphere and relationship Dash has with the military. When you're reusing music with a very specific purpose into a scene with a completely different feel and message, then it becomes extremely contrived.
    And the worst part is that track is repeated at other points in the episode in a higher pitch when 'Shy and Snowflake embarrass themselves. That really contradicts the whole atmosphere and sucks the humor out of the scenes.
    There is way too much exposition in this episode. Instead of showing all of the moments and actions most of the time, a character tells another, sometimes to their face. That zaps the attention right out of it and makes the scenes a chore to watch.
    And by using such exposition, it tells the audience about one of the biggest story flaws all season: the pace. Because there's so much of it, the pace becomes very wonky. Most of the time in Rainbow Falls, the pace is so slow, the moments tend to crawl, and the obnoxious side-stories only worsened this issue. Then when it gets to the third act, Fluttershy and Snowflake find a quick replacement in Derpy. As fun as she is, you're not going to find a replacement on short notice that easily.
    Two extremely painful moments of exposition are as follows:
    a. Dizzy Twister and then Rainbow Dash telling her partners about how great the Wonderbolts are, the latter telling them how much she likes them. Despite showing incompetence to create gags, the 'Bolts' greatness and Dash's idolization of them are a running theme since the pilot and was told and shown to the audience each and every time the subject came up. Rainbow Falls wasn't the Wonderbolts' grand return from season one or the pilot. You don't need to remind the audience again; they're not stupid. Let the visuals and tricks explain it for them instead.
    b. After Soarin' was saved, Fluttershy jogged up to Dash and said this:
    You don't need to remind the audience moments after it all happened. It would've been much better if Spitfire, Fleetfoot, or Dash asked Soarin' if he was okay. It's out of character for Fluttershy and degrading to viewers young and old. This episode has some of the worst contrivances this season. The recycled music just turns your head and makes people wonder how much care the people in the back put into their post-production. But there's much worse than that.
    There's no reason for Snowflake and Fluttershy to actually be on the aerial relay team. Yeah, sure, Thunderlane and Helia exposited that ponies can only compete in one event, but there are two major issues.
     
    a. In real life, Olympians are allowed to compete in multiple events. You don't need for the ponies to be confined to just one unless you handwave one of the most known rules in the Olympics.
     
    b. The story explained how those ponies couldn't compete. There are multiple pegasi from not just Equestria, but Ponyville altogether. Take a look at how many pegasi it took to create the tornado in Hurricane Fluttershy. Surely, there are other pegasi in Ponyville who are better qualified for the aerial relay race than Snowflake and Fluttershy (both of whom should be somewhat competent fliers, anyway).
     
    And on this matter, Helia and Thunderlane were competing in the aerial sprinter qualifications. Because they're much better fliers than Fluttershy and Snowflake (who, by principle, is damn good enough to try out for the Wonderbolts!), surely they would be better than them.
     
    The only reason they weren't with Rainbow Dash was simply for comedy, plugging in the entire Mane Six without necessity, and to provide out-of-character conflict and "humor."
     
    Even if the episode wasn't fixed elsewhere, if Snowflake, Fluttershy, and Derpy competed in the sprinters competition and Helia, Thunderlane, and Rainbow Dash in the relay race, then after treating the conflict, characterization, and humor with competence and intelligence, you would've given Rainbow Falls a smidge of believability.
     
    Now that she's an alicorn princess, couldn't Twilight compete in the trials rather than be stuck in the middleground as an idiot? More about this later… To continue ragging about Fluttershy and Snowflake, it's so obvious that they wanted nothing to do with the Games. Until the qualifying race, they showed little care and focused more of their time leisurely with the others. They were there simply because the script mandated them to. The Wonderbolts, specifically Spitfire and Fleetfoot, are villainized. Instead of suggesting Dash to try out for the Cloudesdale team, they manipulated her into confusion. It only worsened after Soarin' admitted that Spitfire and Fleetfoot blatantly lied to Dash and him so Dash competes in the Games instead of him.
     
    More about this later. The flanderization of AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie, all that I explained earlier. The fact that the Wonderbolts showed up to practice at the Games when they're not designed for sports. Again, already grew very annoyed at that. Because Rainbow Dash's partners are so absentminded and inept in their practices, they suffer some consequences from their poor work and stupidity. But all that did was make the slapstick and consequences extremely forced and cringeworthy to watch.
     
    And they didn't slightly get better. They started off badly for no good reason and only worsened. They couldn't do a wing push-up (for Snowflake, he had a good reason, as his wings are too small), fly through a relay ring, pass the baton, or even hold onto the baton. Then when they're not practicing, they tend to look really stupid, like playing with the Apple Brown Betties and donning in Rarity's embarrassing uniforms.
     
    Part of the conflict would've looked so much better if Fluttershy and Snowflake started off slow early and then improved. That way, it would've made the choice between joining Cloudesdale and Ponyville a bit more difficult (and even then, it still wouldn't have made this episode any less dumb). The sequences during Act 2 only plodded the plot and were a complete waste of time.
     
    Spitfire and Fleetfoot commended Rainbow Dash for her effort at the academy. Yes, part of their commending had to do with saving Soarin' from a nasty fall, but several other background characters from WA are there: Thunderlane, Cloudchaser Stormwalker, Raindrops, and Snowflake himself. They're recognizable and could've been chosen other than Dash. The fact that they only sucked up to Dash alone is quite jarring and makes them look more manipulative. Starting from Act 2, the ending of the episode got predictable extremely fast. Even with the stupid and out-of-character slapstick and Derpy featured as well-done fanservice, you could easily predict that Rainbow Dash was going to be swayed into joining the Cloudesdale relay team (or even the Wonderbolts because she idolizes them so much and proved her worth last season), only to be befuddled, don't know which team to choose, stay on Ponyville's squad, and finally qualify at the end. Chances are you won't really get the smaller bullet points and the ways they're shown, but the bigger points are easy to guess correctly.
    Before anyone here uses the insulting "the show's for kids; they can be predictable" excuse, this show has a measurable quality regardless of audience where tropes that are usually predictable get shot down. Even when the ending could be predictable, it's altered to freshen the experience. Look at episodes like Hurricane Fluttershy, Party of One, Suited for Success, Green Isn't Your Color, The Best Night Ever, Wonderbolts Academy, Pinkie Apple Pie, and Pinkie Pride.
    Products, more specifically television productions, require the audience to be attentive. Twisting the trope captures the interest of your audience and sends a message of the overall quality of the product. Having tropes being written down the letter via predictable clichés and outcomes is discouraged in the show, and excusing it is disrespectful to the product. There is a reason why the fandom sustained in size, one of them being the high-quality storytelling you tend to see in the show. Seeing something like the outcome being this obvious is extremely disconcerting and contradicts My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's subliminal mission statement.
    For that matter, children's television needs to be put under higher standards, not lower, to prove to people old and young that children aren't stupid. Lazily excusing the game-changing flaws regardless of which episode you're watching and critiquing means you're treating the children with lesser intelligence. Also, using the show's primary audiences (families as its market, the kids' guardians as its target) to handwave such issues means you're calling Friendship Is Magic — and every other product, by association — inherently weak and stupid.
    If an episode is written where the ending is so predictable that you don't need to watch the rest, it sucks the investment out of the viewers and makes them want to change the channel. Episodes with such predictability like this one don't expand the brony fandom; it stagnates it. So for Rainbow Falls to drop the horseshoe so quickly talks down to its entire viewership.
    Besides Soarin', pretty much the only character beyond Derpy with in-characterization (for the most part), the rest of the characters are unrecognizable. What they said, acted, and responded was completely unlike them. Snowflake, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash aren't in character one iota. Let me break them down.
    Snowflake might've been a stallion of few words and the "YEAH!" gag, but he still had a lot of personality. He was proud, competitive, and kind. If you were going to give him a duty, he would do it, and he tried whatever he could to make sure he succeeded. The fact that Wonderbolts Academy accepted him provided some background to his capabilities, athleticism, and intelligence, and Spitfire treated him (and the others) respectfully.
     
    Rainbow Falls spat whatever competence he had to the ground and turned him into an incompetent dope. Flying is a struggle. He screams all the time. And whatever he says and does makes him look stupid rather than absentminded. Compared to his previous appearances, this is a completely different character. Along with Fleetfoot, Spitfire turned from a kind, competitive Wonderbolt with a military edge into a manipulative, antagonistic jackass. Before some of you excuse about Spitfire's competitiveness and behavior akin to Wonderbolts Academy, the comparison is apples and oranges. In The Best Night Ever and Hurricane Fluttershy, she showed kindness and loyalty to the crown and Rainbow Dash. She had a very kind personality despite somewhat of a competitive edge. Wonderbolts Academy dispelled that in favor of the drill sergeant, but she was like this for a very good reason. The fact that she pushed everyone neutrally showed respect to the cadets and demonstrated some form of integrity.
     
    Meanwhile in Rainbow Falls, she and Fleetfoot decided to lure Dash into joining the team and being a Wonderbolt. They aren't asking her to consider joining after the trials and Games are over. During practice for qualifications, they wanted Dash to join and, pretty much, have Ponyville not just fail the relay, but also get potentially disqualified.
     
    And this is where Fleetfoot also gets hit under scrutiny. Until Big Mac's two-part comic and Rainbow Falls, her personality was very up in the air. But the fact that she's a Wonderbolt is a testament to her sacrifices and trust she has with Spitfire and Soarin' and vice-versa. So to see that pushed that to the extreme is way too far, even for her.
     
    (In case you were wondering, her role in the two-story comic with Big Mac was stupid because she reinforced the misrepresentation of the Wonderbolts and overall incompetence.)
     
    Then there's the icing on the cake: them lying to both Dash and Soarin'. As I wrote earlier, being a Wonderbolt is about displaying athleticism and integrity. Fleetfoot and Spitfire betrayed their honor by deciding to attempt to lure Dash into the Cloudesdale relay squad. If they were true friends, they wouldn't blatantly lie to Dash and Soarin' and be forced to relearn what loyalty is. They're so out of character and out of line as Wonderbolts, you could have them written out as a completely different team. They're there simply to build up tension, since Dash idolizes them so much, but the lazy characterization is a gigantic slap to the face of the show.
     
    Moreover, the entire resolution is idiotic. Lying betrays one's trust, especially with one so blatantly evil. By manipulating Dash and lying to her and Soarin', they betrayed their statuses as Wonderbolts and severely embarrassed Cloudesdale. It's ridiculous for Soarin' and Dash to forgive them without as much as a bat of the eye. Dash quit the academy because the reckless abandonment was all but enforced, nearly killing her friends in the process. This is the second time that the Wonderbolts betrayed Dash's word.
     
    The fact that Dash still looks up to them is mind-boggling (and, quite frankly, unfaithful to her morals). You also don't betray your status as a military commander and not get severely punished for it. It makes no sense for Soarin' to immediately forgive his friends for willing to fracture a tight friendship.
     
    It's one thing to be incompetent at times. It's another to recycle the Shadowbolts segment during Friendship Is Magic, Part 2 and The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well with a spread-out conflict, the "superhero" subplot cut, and dumb dialogue added. Rainbow Dash's portrayal is completely backwards. All of the character development she received up to this point is retconned, and the Bearer of Loyalty is written as if she had never experienced any of the conflicts from previous episodes he starred in. Instead of being a smart pony who learned how to compete wisely and stay true to her ethics, they never showed up until the last three minutes.
     
    For one, she was much more arrogant here than the rest of season four. Notice in the rest of the episodes prior, her cockiness was much more toned down, Power Ponies being a slight exception. (Bats! doesn't count, for she was more focused on drinking the apple cider rather than her own abilities and ego. Daring Don't is about Dash willingly putting her own abilities aside, clouding her judgment and doubting her own strengths.) Here, she's focused on wanting to qualify for the Games, not exactly for Ponyville, but herself. In the very beginning, she said this:
      This only continued via her assuredness that she'll qualify even if Snowflake and 'Shy screw up, her smug attitude and face on the train ride to the village (as well as her continuous guarantee that Ponyville will qualify despite evidence to the contrary), and willingness to prepare for the trials with Spitfire and Fleetfoot even though her Ponyville teammates were struggling.
     
    Then there's the obvious manipulation from the Wonderbolts. After Soarin' was transferred to the hospital to have his wing examined and bandaged, they manipulated her into working out with the Wonderbolts in such a conniving personality, especially from Fleetfoot. Dash has a past history of knowing and understanding suspicious actions, especially if they contradicted her fidelity and ethics, with an exception being The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well because she was portrayed as an egotistical moron. If Rainbow Dash learned every single one of those lessons, including Wonderbolts Academy, Sonic Rainboom, Hurrine Fluttershy, and Flight to the Finish, she would've asked some curious, severe questions for their attitude and say no at most. At the very least, she might've said, "I'll think about it" and continue coaching Snowflake and Fluttershy.
     
    The thing about Rainbow Dash is how much she matured since the pilot.
     
    In Season 1, she was the breakout character and received tremendous character development that made her much more than plain boastful and egotistical.
     
    Season 2 flanderized her until around the halfway mark and took advantage of her growth, tenacity, and element in Hurricane Fluttershy.
     
    Last year, Rainbow Dash was one of Season 3's biggest improvements. Gone was that character derailment in favor of a proud, cocky, yet extremely intelligent and loyal pegasus. Two episodes, Sleepless in Ponyville and Wonderbolts Academy, marked a significant evolution of her character, from the immature, arrogant, egotistical tomcolt into someone who can guide and lead.
     
    This season's Flight to the Finish enforced that growth. While she was still jubilant and excited, she wasn't that boastful and showed much more concern for the Cutie Mark Crusaders than her own capabilities because she wanted them to carry the Ponyville flag for the Equestria Games. Did she want them to win? Definitely. But she wanted them to win in their own unique way; if they didn't, then she would be proud of them, anyway.
     
    In Rainbow Falls, the continuity of her very own character development was completely ignored. Her increased, out-of-place arrogance and selfish desire to work with the best team while being clouded under a ball of stupid was absolutely unlike her. The fact that Dash even considered joining Spitfire and Fleetfoot while knowing doing so would cost her friends a chance to compete in the Games betrayed her character.
     
    To make matters worse, until the end of the episode there wasn't any guarantee if Ponyville would qualify for any other event at the Equestria Games. If Ponyville didn't qualify for any other event, then Ponyville is out of the running. If Dash elected to join the Wonderbolts, then she risked being a gigantic goat. Dash (and the script itself) didn't consider this, which left out a lot more potential for an even greater dilemma and resolution for Dash's poorly constructed conflict.
     
    Like Rarity Takes Manehattan, Rainbow Falls tests her loyalty. But this scenario and Rarity's main quality being tested in Rarity Takes Manehattan have a very clear difference.
     
    In RTM, Suri Polomare — a brand new character in the series — vindictively took advantage of her generosity by plagiarizing her entire line, causing her to get upset and consider if doing so is just pointless. It was extremely believable and realistic of her to abandon her quality because her trust was deeply severed, both emotionally and creatively.
     
    RF's test of loyalty lacked in any form of believability. In order to drive the test of loyalty home, the episode relied on Dash's broken characterization and questionable logic from the Wonderbolts that would've made her very cross if she was truly in character.
     
    Speaking of broken characterization, the sequence where Dash wheeled herself before both the Ponyville and Cloudesdale teams is unbelievably STUPID!
     
    a. It only reinforced the idea that Rainbow Dash had absolutely no intelligence in the episode. Quite honestly, she would've been much more devastated if she can't fly again.
     
    b. It's a plan that can easily be caught. Unlike Rarity, who can be a really convincing drama queen, Dash's acting was so terrible, it was cringeworthy. But to make it even worse, everypony bought it. Not just the rest of the Mane Six, but Spitfire and Fleetfoot, as well. If they had any bout of intelligence, they would've been very suspicious and get her checked.
     
    c. Her plan is so transparent that without handwaving, it would've been over before it got any further. She would've been sent to the village hospital and have her body parts X-rayed. Once the doctors reveal that none of her bones were broken, her plan is ruined, and she would be extremely embarrassed in front of everyone.
     
    (The fact that Soarin' was cleared to continue practicing made the entire hospital scene even more ridiculous. Once the doctors X-rayed his wing and found out it was healed, then he would begin some rehabbing before being medically cleared to practice with the Cloudesdale squad. He wouldn't remain stuck in a hospital bed with his wing splinted and bandaged.) Twilight's characterization as the middle-mare was absolutely deplorable. When Dash considered joining the Cloudesdale team, she said this:
      There are so many better reasons to question her motives. By joining Clousedale:
     
    a. Rainbow Dash disappoints and betrays Ponyville, as the only reason she brings Fluttershy and Snowflake along is to qualify Ponyville for the aerial relay.
     
    b. She betrays Scootaloo, who looks up to Dash and uses her ambitions and support as motivation to help herself, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle become the flag-holders for the Games. If no other team from Ponyville qualifies, then the training to wave the Ponyville flag at the Games is for nothing.
     
    c. The whole trip to the village becomes all for naught.
     
    d. Snowflake and Fluttershy train for the relay team and practice out of Dash's support and guidance. You don't play games with other peoples' trust.
     
    e. Dash can kiss her values, integrity, and moral goodbye, and the subsequent guilt will forever haunt her.
     
    Compared to those five reasons above, Twilight's reasons are small and not very good. With all of her development to this point, Twilight should know better and understand what it means to understand the magic of friendship. If she gave those five reasons instead, then she would be reasonable, sensible, and honest without behaving pettily simultaneously. Instead, her guilt tripping contradicts what she has learned and, by virtue of being an alicorn princess, disrespects the crown.
     
    Nice going, Twilight. The moral is very clunkily written. While it's an obvious one that any sensible person should believe in (working with your friends is more important than winning with someone who plays dirty), the poor execution of what is an interesting premise disserved the path leading to the moral.
    If it weren't for such bad writing, the episode would've been over during the middle of Act 2.
    Written by Corey Powell, Rainbow Falls is the second episode to focus on both the Equestria Games and Chest of Harmony. With RF overlapping two of the three overarching plotlines this season, there was plenty of potential to weave them. The Games could've also been a good way to test Dash's loyalties with there being so much at stake. Instead, the Mane Six, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot were incompetent, stupid, and/or out of character. Rainbow Dash suffered from extremely terrible characterization the most because she was the central character, and the Wonderbolts being there contrived the plot. Combined with major continuity issues, sloppy writing, extremely forced/repetitive humor, and an abundance of plot holes, Rainbow Dash is not just my most hated episode so far (more so than Just for Sidekicks), but also one of the worst episodes in the entire show.
  20. Dark Qiviut
    Last year, HiT Entertainment's Railway Consultant, Sam Wilkinson, uploaded a revised Thomas & Friends map of the Island of Sodor to the Sodor Island Forums.
     
    If you look at the upper-left hand corner, one of the more interesting railways is the Small Railway, which is connected to Duck's branchline. Starting in Arlesburgh West, a trio of miniature engines would roll along a short little railway that the standard and narrow gauge engines can't get to.
     
    In TRWS, there are three (and later four) small engines: Mike, Rex, and Bert.
     

     
    Mike is in red, Bert in blue, Rex in green.
     
    They would make another appearance under Christopher Awdry's penmanship and introduce a fourth, named Jock:
     
    http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/ttte/images/a/a6/TeamworkRS4.png/revision/latest?cb=20140109035238
     
    Despite their popularity, their very small sizes made them apparently unable to be introduced to Thomas as a model.
     
    Well, there's a REALLY HUGE spoiler coming up!
     
     
     
  21. Dark Qiviut
    Author’s Note: This is Part 2 (#6-3) of DQ's list of best and worst FIM episodes (#6-3). Click here for Part 1 (#10-7). Click here for Part 3 (#2-1).
     

    Sixth-worst: Putting Your Hoof Down
     
    Is it one of the best episodes? Not even close.
     
    Is it bad? Damn right it’s bad.
     
    Is it the worst Fluttershy episode? Hell, yeah!
     
    But is it actually among the three worst episodes in the series? Don’t even try me, because it’s not. There are five worse episodes than this.
     
    So what did it do correctly?
     
    The episode was intentionally unpleasant. Angel abusing Fluttershy wasn’t comedy-centric; it was written to be disgusting, and the angry reaction to Angel was what DHX looked for. The whole episode was about cringing at the actions of others in Ponyville. We know what they’re doing was wrong. We know they were taking advantage of Fluttershy. We know anyone who dared to be a jerk following the seminar deserved the consequences for their actions. The humor post-seminar was aimed mostly at those who deserved their just desserts. The gardener, Bon Bon and that other background pony, the rude blue mare, and the cabby passenger who stole Fluttershy’s ride deserved to have their plots kicked. I’ll get back to this later.
     
    But when Fluttershy was being this cruel, the episode wanted to show how much Fluttershy crossed the line, and it did. Instead of rooting for Fluttershy, we rooted against Fluttershy; Pinkie’s and Rarity’s anger and horror were understandable. I’ll get back to this, too.
     
    Iron Will’s advice to Fluttershy was completely ridiculous, and DHX wants you to know it.
     
    The references and visuals are very well done and convey the mood of the scenes accurately.
     
    Unfortunately, this is where all the positives end. Here’s what went really wrong.
     
    Almost every single pony up to Act 3 was a major jackass, and most of them either made their debuts here or only appeared here. By having them appear so suddenly when they didn’t previously show up, you not only make the whole conflict both predictable and convenient, but also write Ponyville (a very happy town to a fault) out of character. But the ones up to the seminar were especially bad, because they got away with it. To make the plot minutely less artificial, Fluttershy would see them again with the same ol’ attitudes and antics, and the script would punished them for their actions. Hell, maybe if Fluttershy was truly in character, she would’ve told off Pinkie and Rarity for their behavior towards the nerd and tomato vendor.
     
    It isn’t just the background ponies, either. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were very big assholes, too.
    Rarity wooed a nerd stereotype to retrieve asparagus for Fluttershy. Keep in mind, he bought the asparagus fair and square and wasn’t an asshole at all. Although Rarity traded, she performed it underhandedly. This wasn’t generosity, and those who claim so are kidding themselves.
    Pinkie Pie scammed a tomato vendor out of one extra bit. Just because it’s a classic Looney Toons gag doesn't a good joke make. It turned Pinkie into a character she’s not: someone who wanted to make others’ lives miserable. Hell, it contradicts The Smile Song’s core message of being happy when others are happy!

    As for Angel? He may be rude, but he’s not this spoiled nor ABUSIVE! Of the three, he was undoubtedly the worst characterized. First, he punts a salad onto her head. Secondly, he slaps Fluttershy across the muzzle and shoves the cookbook to her face. When it wasn't perfect, he punts Fluttershy — and the salad — out of the cottage. Like the pre-seminar ponies, Angel never gets properly punished. Having Discord torment him in Keep Calm and Flutter On isn’t good enough because his just desserts occur way too late.
     
    The Show Stoppers had the potential to ruin the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Putting Your Hoof Down ruined Fluttershy’s character so badly, it hasn’t recovered. Not the doormat part, but how she warped Iron Will’s advice without justification like a chess player developing his or her Queen in the opening phase of the game. There was no proper buildup. It just…happened, and she devolved into a psychopath.
     
    Her insults to Pinkie and Rarity are evil. DHX wants us to know it’s evil, and we receive that result. But here’s the whole problem, and it’s twofold:
    Her “assertiveness” is grossly sensationalized and makes her whole conflict artificially sadistic. Having Fluttershy call Pinkie’s and Rarity’s reasons to live meaningless is easily the cruelest thing she's ever said onscreen and one if the cruelest insults from ANYONE alive. It's even WORSE when you consider how close the trio is with each other, which makes you also consider whether she either harbored those feelings all this time or felt so insulted by Pinkie and Rarity’s warning that she wanted to hurt them where it hurt the most.
    The consequences of her cruelty got downplayed. When you’re calling their passions (and livelihoods) worthless, you’re cutting into them deeply. It’s psychological bullying. She became as big an abuser as Angel Bunny.
     
    But the next scene? Rarity and Pinkie return to Fluttershy’s cottage and quickly put the blame on Iron Will. The sudden jerks were bad enough; that dialogue exchange broke the whole episode. Rarity and Pinkie were jackasses earlier, but they’re not THIS stupid! Iron Will’s advice was terrible, but Fluttershy’s actions were hers and hers alone. It’s extremely out of character for Rarity and PP to absolve ’Shy of total fault and scapegoat Iron Will. The script suddenly treats Fluttershy’s bullying as a game.
     
    Despite intentionally treating Fluttershy’s actions as wrong, the episode still excuses her. It sympathizes with Fluttershy and cuts several corners to make the audience feel sorry for her. As a Fluttershy brony, why — the hell — should I?

    Like MDW, PYHD suffers from Boast Busters Syndrome. The final act treats Iron Will as the antagonist for the whole thing. He never suggested any of the advice Fluttershy skewed, but the ending acted like it was something Iron Will planned throughout.
     
    Three words: Don’t bullshit me!
     
    It’s a shame, too, because this is my third-favorite episode from season two and by far my biggest Guilty Pleasure. Unfortunately, the egregious errors prevent me from not giving Putting Your Hoof Down a pass.
     

    Sixth-best: Lesson Zero
     
    Thus far, the best Twilight-centric episode in the show. Back when I first watched it, I considered it rather overrated. Sure, it was fun and all of that, but the third act came off as way too random and over the top for me.
     
    But upon further viewings, my opinions (and overall quality viewpoint) of the episode changed. Not only is it much better than I thought. It’s genius in a bottle.
     
    One of the biggest things people talk about this episode is how insane Twilight Sparkle became. By observing past episodes (including Swarm of the Century, Winter Wrap Up, Green Isn’t Your Color, and Feeling Pinkie Keen), this was coming. Her insistence of being both on top of everything and picture-perfect culminated into the illusions she got and insistence of getting everything done on time. It was hilarious in a sympathetic sense. The dark comedy makes you feel sorry and heartbroken for Twilight, and her over-the-top insanity isn’t something out of the ordinary, either. You have plenty of people who insist on being this organized and flip out when something goes wrong or slips by them when you feel it shouldn’t. (Personally, Lesson Zero is where I actually identify Twilight the most because I focus on the nuances as meticulously as her — if not more so; and I like Winter Wrap Up more than this one.) For Twilight, missing out on the friendship report when she kept tabs of it throughout season one is the perfect bait for such an idea.
     
    I bet some people got creeped out or got their pants wet just by seeing this:
     
     
     
    This:
     
     
     
    This:
     
     
     
    Especially this:
     
     
     
    And this:
     
     
    Then there’s Spike, who was at his best and hasn’t been topped in an episode since (unless Equestria Girls counts). He played his role so well and brought forth a sense of maturity not seen in any other episode. Previously, he was simply the snarky, semi-sarcastic “baby” dragon with pride in his duties. Here, McCarthy added extra depth in his character by being the wingman, support plug for Twilight’s failing sense of sanity, and trump card for the fourth wall jokes.
     
    Most importantly, it mends the biggest sin of season one: Twilight being shoehorned. Far too many episodes there suffered quality drawbacks just by forcing her into episodes where they would’ve been so much better without her. Three obvious examples are Look Before You Sleep, Green Isn’t Your Color, and Stare Master.
     
    And it solves it very cleverly. Yeah, the ReMane-ing Five don’t truly do anything wrong, and their reaction to Twilight’s overreaction was justified. Nevertheless, their collective response was written as something in the wrong, because their ignorance to Twilight’s ordeal was the catalyst to LZ’s climax, and they felt very guilty over it, as they should. Celestia’s resolution to the conflict was great from a narrative and meta perspective.
     
    So how come this is only sixth? Because five others are just as great, if not minutely better, than this one.
     

    Fifth-worst: Rainbow Falls
     
    Easily the most thoroughly broken episode is the series and objectively— no, factually the worst of season four. Nearly every single thing doesn’t work.
     
    The comedy? Forced and stupid.
     
    The conflict? Implausible and contrived.
     
    The motives? Stupid and illogical.
     
    The continuity? Broken.
     
    The characters? What characters? You mean those puppets with flanderized or out-of-character personalities? That’s not developing characters. That’s developing caricatures.
     
    The antagonists? Contrived to the core, out of character, and completely forced.
     
    The plot contrivances? WAY too obvious.
     
    The resolution? Lazy rip off of Wonderbolts Academy.
     
    The overall plot? A soulless, predictable mess.
     
    You could write a 25,000-character essay or review breaking down all the flaws narratively and logically, something I did here. You can apply a Band-Aid in the form of Derpy, the griffons, and beautiful scenery, but it still doesn’t change the fact how poorly written it is. Like Somepony to Watch Over Me, it gets far too much praise than it rightfully deserves. The only difference is unlike Somepony, RF isn’t actually overrated.
     
    With how much I hate this episode, how is it only at #5? Well, despite the episode being so broken, the next four are broken not just narratively, but morally, too.
     
    But first…
     

    Fifth-best: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3
     
    My all-time favorite episode as of today. It easily competes with Pinkie Pride as best S4 episode; in fact, you can make an excellent case for TT123 being better than PiP.
     
    How well does it do? A few things.
    Great characterization all around. Every single character in the episode is in character. The pets, Mane Six, and Spike (despite not talking once) act very believable. And with the exception of the two-parters and Twilight Time, Twilight Sparkle isn’t a bore. She has emotions, personality, and justification to act the ways she did. Because she was so three-dimensional here, it made me realize how important those traits are. Does she need to grow and become more mature? Yes. But the direction season four gave Twilight robbed her of relatability by flanderizing her strengths and maturity, thereby turning her into a robot.
     
    More importantly, her foil, Rainbow Dash, was explored very well. Despite a lack of maturity, she was till very in character with an incredible balance of emotion through her multi-layered quirks: casualness to the test, laziness, cockiness, and then the huge cloud of self-doubt that’s been a huge part of her since Sonic Rainboom and referenced aplenty since then (especially Wonderbolts Academy). When reviewing her whole personality, you can tell her bravado is fifty percent genuine, fifty percent façade; you see all these clues realized here when Dash becomes vulnerable and has no strength to hide her despair. To see that vulnerable side revives one big reason what helps make Dash so well-liked: She may be a hotshot with plenty of ego, but her characterization has so much dimension that makes her so likable.
     
    The whole story is character-driven, a prominent trait that was often missing in the first forty percent or so in season four. Every single line of dialogue is extremely well written, witty, and organic. The message was important, but the riveting character-driven conflict honed it all in.
    Despite never properly explaining how every one of the ReMane-ing Five (minus AJ) knew about the history of the Wonderbolts and Dash’s test, it kind of makes sense. Think about it, Ponyville’s a small town, and the others know how big Dash’s test is. News isn’t self-contained. Critically consider the characters and the continuity in general — Dash not knowing the history behind the Wonderbolts while four of her friends do is kinda justified from a narrative perspective.
    Continuity is reinforced and used as a backdrop without being forceful. Episodes such as Sonic Rainboom, the pilot, Wonderbolts Academy, Rainbow Falls, The Crystal Empire, and Hurricane Fluttershy are referenced and used to TT123’s advantage.
    Each of their approaches to learning fit the characters. What’s even better is how despite being somewhat convenient, they vary enough. Because they drive the conflict and desire to help Dash in every possible way, their methods to learn blend better than Suited for Success.
     
    Twilight teaches and analyzes the traditional grind that most of us experience in public school. Flash cards, lectures, pop quizzes, highlighting, etc. As somepony keen to learn, she understands the formulas and progresses through her studies until she becomes one of the best while retaining her personality.
     
    Fluttershy has a very close relationship with her animals, so having the animals participate in a play is in character. Like Rarity, Fluttershy's study method is visual, but real-time and simple. Unlike Rarity’s visual approach, Fluttershy teaches us to learn through use of imagination. Atypical, but works very well for many people.
     
    One of Pinkie Pie’s unique traits is breaking into song in the most inopportune times (FIM2; Bridle Gossip; The Best Night Ever; A Friend in Deed; Dragonshy; Party of One, Pinkie Pride), many very hilarious. Music is a great method for some to focus and memorize. To put it short, it’s auditory learning, and many use this format because the catchiness of the rhythm and song allows them to dedicate their time to studying without becoming bored.
     
    Rarity comprehends topics through the creative design process (subtle continuity from several of her past episodes like Suited for Success, Sweet and Elite, and Rarity Takes Manehattan), hence the uniform treatment. Like Twilight, Rarity loves to invest in things, but does it her way by how they dressed, and it stuck. Like Fluttershy, it's a very visual form of studying, and you have plenty of people do well simply by focusing on the graphics.
     
    Like what she told Rainbow Dash, Applejack learns by working hard and through years of experience, hence the “labor of love.” To make her role less convenient, hilarious reinforcement of The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 is enacted, as she doesn’t know the history of the Wonderbolts, either, and couldn’t care less. Due to her love for working in the fields, it makes plenty of sense.
     
    Rainbow Dash really loves flying and devotes plenty of her life to flying. Unlike Twilight, she's much more adapt to the air and, thus, can really focus on the tiniest of details. When she doesn't have to think too hard on everything all the time, she concentrates better. Her being able to fly through a sustained stretch of time lets her focus on the test without even knowing.
    This episode is extremely hilarious and contains some of the best jokes in not just the season, but the show altogether. There are several cues where gags worked to perfection.
     
    i. “E.U.P.” Guard. A.k.a., the “Eeyup” joke.
     
    ii. Dash referencing The Failure Song in the prologue to Twilight.
     
    iii. Fluttershy’s play with the animals.
     
    iv. Spike, Dash, and Owlowiscious playing the Wonderbolts Academy fanfare as Twilight lectured the lesson of the Wonderbolts.
     
    iv-i: Spike not speaking once, yet was pivotal to the plot by helping everyone out.
     
    iv. Pinkie Pie’s rap.
     
    v. AJ’s brutal honesty like her thinly veiled insult to Rarity’s testing method.
     
    vi. “I’m not THAT tall!” Sure, Twilight.
    Despite its humor, it’s also one of the most mature and serious episodes in the entire show, and this is a big surprise because the title and initial synopsis hinted about the moral of “don’t cheat.” But previews clued in on what it was truly about. The actual episode confirms it. What makes it better is the approach; when it was time to be serious, Rogers doesn’t cut corners.
    The moral itself is fantastic. “One way of learning isn’t better than another. After all, everypony is unique and individual.” Even better is the story’s approach. It wasn’t told to Dash or Twilight. It was shown through the progress of the story along with a very great payoff at the end. Even better was Twilight writing the lesson, connecting the older viewers to the story. And considering the primary demographics FIM speaks to, it becomes even more potent.
     
    As an antithesis of Mare Do Well, Dash was able to learn the history of the Wonderbolts by unknowingly having her friends and all on Ponyville help her out. On a personal note, it’s my most favorite moment of season four and one of the biggest reasons why it’s my favorite episode today. To see Ponyville help one of their own reinforces the community feel from not just several episodes, but the overall root of Ponyville: When you live in a small town like Ponyville, people tend to know everyone. The townsfolk doesn’t become friends, but really family. Everypony knew Rainbow Dash was in trouble and believed she will fail. Thanks to Twilight, Ponyville planned Dash’s lesson by using her best skills to her advantage.
     
    As what Twilight said: It features some of the best animation and production of the season. The transitions are very creative, yet not intrusive in the slightest. And they don’t go overboard in this style, either. It’s only used when appropriate.


    Fourth-worst: The Crystal Empire
     
    This is the one that fell the hardest, dropping from B- on my list to D- all the way to F. Why? These reasons.
    King Sombra has the potential of Tirek or Discord, but the execution of Sunset Shimmer. We’re told he’s evil, but he isn’t shown he’s evil except in the background story and Door of Illusions. Seeing Twilight’s worst fear coming to life really proves how remorseless Sombra can be.
     
    But what else about present day? What would make him so menacing today? Whenever the ponies (Mane Six or otherwise) encountered him, would they be feared by what he does, his personality, and what he can do?
     
    We don't see it. His full personality is nonexistent, which means the exposition must rely to inform the audience and citizens of The Crystal Empire how evil he is. He's a power-hungry, controlling, brooding villain with no motive other than to be evil, a “personality” I see all too often in amateur and professional work. Moreover, Sombra had merely his past actions and presence to “appear” scary, a cliché in itself. The flashback of him holding the Crystal Ponies hostage ain’t cuttin’ it. Besides the door, there’s literally nothing to show how scary he is nor experience it fulfillingly. That’s bad writing and makes for a clichéd, boring villain.
     
    You can’t sacrifice one to emphasize the other; you’ll result in making the villain extremely implausible, unmemorable, and flat. Sombra exemplifies such a villain, and Sunset Shimmer screws that up worse in EQG.
    The pacing is inconsistent, sometimes crawling in Part 2. Part 1 flow from one scene to another quite well, starting and stopping occasionally for exploration, song, background explanation, and humor (when applicable). But Act 2 was very different. For most of the second half, Twilight was exploring how the castle (and going up/down stairs) to locate the Crystal Heart. This takes way too long and wastes time, which you can spend on the ReMane-ing Five and Sombra’s looming threat.
    Speaking of the ReMane-ing Five, the episode treats them as an afterthought. The whole episode was about Twilight protecting the Crystal Empire and defeating Sombra in order to pass her test. As she searches for the Heart, the others must preoccupy the Crystal Ponies. Unfortunately, Twilight’s search takes a bulk of the running time, relegating the ReMane-ing Five into the background and concentrating on MLP:FIM being MLP: Twilight Is Magic.
    The biggest problem, and the reason why this episode is one of the worst.
     
    The premise is immoral!
     
    To repeat the synopsis that I wrote: Princess Celestia assigns Twilight et al to go to The Crystal Empire to protect it in order for Twilight to pass her test.
     
    Here is the biggest problem: “assigned” and “pass her test.” The Crystal Empire was put under siege by King Sombra, and he enslaved all of the crystal ponies with no conscience. When push came to shove, Luna and Celestia defeated Sombra and reduced him to a mere soul. But with the defeat comes a consequence: Sombra takes The Crystal Empire and its inhabitants with him.
     
    Then, it inexplicably returned. What do you think would be the most viable option? Find out a way to protect The Crystal Empire from King Sombra. That’s what Cadance and Shining Armor did (although that plot point came out of thin air, too). The protection of the Empire was important, but that wasn’t the point of the episode or goals from Twilight, Luna, and Celestia.
     
    The whole episode was about Twilight facing a test and passing it. Storywise, protecting and saving the Crystal Empire was secondary compared to Celestia’s and Luna’s true intention: prove Twilight’s worthy of ascension.
     
    The Crystal Empire was a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself. Celestia and Luna intentionally put thousands of lives on the line to see if Twilight can help lead a kingdom. You DON’T play games with lives just to see if your protégé is capable of becoming an alicorn princess.
     
    What if Twilight genuinely failed? Once the common folk find out that the Royal Sisters knew about how much danger the revived kingdom was in and did nothing to personally protect it, they can kiss their reputations goodbye. To make it worse, Celestia and Luna treat their tactics like it’s a noble deed, when it’s not. Through this episode and tyrannical approach to protecting the Empire, Celestia and Luna appear very unlikeable.
     
    Also, the whole episode constantly hammers the test.
     
    Twilight’s assignment? To successfully protect The Crystal Empire.
     
    Twilight’s biggest fear? Failing her test and thus not continuing her studies.
     
    Twilight’s biggest goal? Passing her test despite telling Spike to bring the Crystal Heart back to its holster.
     
    What was Twilight most excited about? Passing her test.
     
    From the characters and story, passing the test was the primary and more important conflict than protecting the Empire. Even when Twilight decided to sacrifice passing it to save it, that focus never wavered, which is a damn shame because FIM should’ve presented itself in a more moral way.
     
    Someone is likely going to come by and claim that Celestia and Luna might not know Sombra returned.
     
    • How come Luna wanted to assist Twilight, her friends, Cadance, and SA?
     
    • When the guard told Celestia the Empire resurfaced, why did she tell another guard to find Wifehorse and Husbandhorse?
     
    Simple. To protect it. Sombra was defeated, but not destroyed. His presence lingered, and the Royal Sisters knew Sombra was waiting. Shining Armor admitted this very point in Part 1.
      The only thing Celestia and Luna didn’t know directly is how he was going to be defeated.

    There are other methods to make Twilight ascend into an alicorn princess, ones that make more sense, more morally sound, and more in character of the Royal Sisters and Twilight. Twilight’s ascension arc was self-contained to only TCE and Magical Mystery Cure.
     
    Just like Rainbow Falls with the Equestria Games arc, The Crystal Empire caused MMC to jump the shark before it even started due to Celestia’s, Luna’s, and the script’s dictatorial portrayal. Except MMC tried to fight back, only to really fall flat on its face and become one of the twenty-five worst episodes. In contrast, EG was absolutely lazy with the arc and didn’t put in any effort to redeem it as much as possible.
     

    Fourth-best: Pinkie Pride
     
    In a world like Equestria, special talent is not only defined, but also differentiated. The cutie mark simplifies what the character does, but they’re all very different. Pinkie Pride called out the sense of individuality and put forth a conflict you don’t see in family entertainment: To echo Tommy Oliver’s analysis of it, what if there’s someone else who not only specializes in what you do, but also is more renown, more refined and better than you?
     
    Pinkie and Cheese are great party planners, but Cheese’s skillset is better. It’s not a theme you commonly see in family entertainment. As he’s an excellent party planner with a ton of dimension (and thanks to Weird Al, Cheese IS Weird Al!), CS is a magnificent foil to Pinkie, allowing the story the ability to progress. Not to mention the twist of Cheese being inspired by Pinkie’s party planning is brilliant.
     
    Speaking of Cheese, albeit being voiced by Weird Al Yankovich, he wasn’t written exclusively to shove in a celebrity voice. He’s a brony with as much passion for this show as most of us here in this fandom. He belonged in the world of Equestria, and the setup via the intro was the perfect lead-up to a great payoff. It’s also fascinating by how Cheese was never the antagonist; instead, Pinkie’s pride was the antagonist.
     
    More importantly, Pinkie Pie is treated like a three-dimensional character and is IN character (one of the few times in season four, really). Sensitive, intelligent, sad, happy, and eager to please. This episode thoroughly explores her character and takes its time doing it. Even though the pace was quick, it still flowed swimmingly because the simplicity of the plot provided enough air for the episode to breathe. Despite being in the wrong, she had a reason to let her pride get into her head. Once she realized she got carried away, she immediately learned her lesson and felt very guilty for it.
     
    Because it’s a PP episode, you’re bound to see comedy and wonder if it works. Every single joke succeeded. The reference to the Pinkie Sense and passion for grandiose parties foreshadowed how much Pinkie inspired him to plan parties at the very end. Then you had all the gags throughout, including:
    Cheese Sandwich immersing himself into the storyboard.
    Pinkie trying to keep the constructed skyscraper — a Mare Do Well reference — afloat.
    Cheese and Pinkie literally breaking the fourth wall.
    The Goof-Off in general. (Cheese singing a polka version of The Smile Song and having Pinkie call him out for it was extremely clever and, in my opinion, is the funniest moment in Pinkie Pride.)
    The clever joke to conclude the episode when Pinkie forgot his name. It’s a great reference to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and is a Western trope altogether, a setting established in the prologue and Cheese’s overall attire) as well as the constant use of Cheese’s name throughout.

    Lastly, the ambiguous moral is one of the best decisions throughout the season. Prior to this whole list, it was my most favorite moment in season four. (Now it’s second most behind TT123’s climax.) She wrote in the journal, but it wasn’t revealed because it was shown step by step and came full circle in the first song’s reprise. And by not telling the audience, the writers trust the audience into knowing the lesson and allow kids and their parents to discuss the lessons side by side.
     

    Third-worst: Dragon Quest
     
    Easily the worst episode in season two. It’s one where it deserves so much scorn, and I say this as someone who likes this episode.
    In the prologue, Rainbow Dash tried to force Fluttershy into watching the dragon migration despite her wanting nothing to do with the dragons… But what went wrong here was the fact that Rainbow Dash had an extremely good point when ’Shy forced Dash to watch the butterfly migration. The end result? Fluttershy assaulting Dashie and fleeing for the rest of the episode.
    Flanderization is extremely apparent, particularly Rarity when she rolled out the red carpet. Not only does this segment highly exaggerate her vanity and ego, but it also contradicts a lesson she learned in Sonic Rainboom — don’t let her vanity get into her head).
     
    To make it worse, the episode contains some really serious implications of endorsing racism, classism, and every other disgusting anti-feminine/anti-masculine stereotype. In what ways? Well, let’s look them over.
     
    Spike appears in Part 1 wearing a frilly pink apron as a joke. Rainbow Dash mocks him, and Spike asks if he’s not like other dragons. The answers?
     Then you had Rarity get in on the act, turning one of his biggest idols — and one of the best characters in the show — into a sexist jukebox. Not even five minutes into DQ, and this episode was guaranteed to be at least one of season two’s worst just by the sorry portrayals in the opener. You won’t gain fanbases if cruel and demeaning idiocy like this is the first thing they see in an FIM episode.
     
    *sigh* How I so wish Twilight called them out for this. Unfortunately, none of them suffered any consequences.
     
    But the stereotypes don’t end there. They worsen by presenting the dragons as stereotypical bullies and male teens.
     
    One-dimensional? Check.
     
    Stupid? Check.
     
    Incompetent? Check.
     
    Obnoxious? Check.
     
    Stereotypical accents and voices? Check.
     
    Greedy to the core? Check.
     
    Willing to steal? Check.
     
    Vandalize? Check.
     
    Mock the little one and force him to succumb to peer pressure? Check.
     
    A complete disregard for life? Double check.
     
    To make that worse, the episode actively teaches to the audience that these bully characters are like every single other dragon in Equestria. There’s a term for this: generalization! A theme you typically see in horrific entertainment. A theme the show aims against!
     
    In short, it treats one whole race as a collection of idiots while pushing the agenda of ponies as perfect godsends. To steal a quote from one of my all-time favorite cartoon series, Gargoyles:
      On a bit of a lesser scale, the buildup for the meat of the plot is extremely contrived. Twilight, a character who read about the dragon migration, couldn’t find anything about dragons throughout her whole library? After a really touching conversation between Twilight and Spike just a minute prior, talk about a major mood killer.
     
    (I mean, couldn’t Twilight ask Celestia or Zecora for info on Spike and his ancestry instead?)
     
    In fact, the majority of DQ spent time killing the mood. Besides the example above, two major mood killers exist:
     
    • After a scene where Spike migrates (with absolutely no talking), the episode veers from exploring the possible lore of dragons to presenting caricatures.
     
    • Dash, Rarity, and Twilight finally got out of their disguise to confront Garble and the rest of his gang. Instead of standing their ground, they ran away. Yeah, when you have a defenseless egg, you can argue this was the best option, but it makes the climax very anticlimactic.

    A few years ago, I said Dragon Quest was a big improvement of Williams’s writing from The Mysterious Mare Do Well*. Now I wonder what I was thinking, because DQ was a major downgrade. A shame, too, because there were many great ideas here, and Spike’s characterization is pretty solid. But thanks to its really abominable storytelling and rancid implications, the entire lore of dragons effectively dies.
     
    *Putting Your Hoof Down’s story is created by Charlotte Fullerton and written by Merriwether Williams.
     

    Third-best: Party of One
     
    Back when I marathoned season one in the summer of 2011, this was the one that stuck out the most. If there was an episode I loved more out of every one in the whole show at that point, it’s this. Until Magic Duel aired, it remained firmly as my all-time favorite episode. (Today, it’s now fifth behind Pinkie Pride, SiP, MD, and finally Testing Testing.)
     
    And so much was done right, starting with the story. The narrative in and of itself is paced beautifully. Every single bit in this episode made sense and treated the audience with plenty of respect. Characterization was good characterization.
     
    Speaking of really good characterization, Pinkie’s character and logic really shine through, especially when she forgets her birthday. The Bearer of Laughter is a gigantic workaholic, spending plenty of time working in Sugarcube Corner and preparing countless events, jokes, and parties for ponies throughout Ponyville to laugh and spend casual quality time. Gummy’s birthday is a big event in Pinkie's perspective because she loves him and desires to prepare as much as she can to make the gator happy. When you have such a tight, countless, erratic schedule, particularly for a character with such a bubbly, funny, energetic personality, you're bound to forget something, even your own birthday. This is what happened to Pinkie Pie. While it may be a cliché, it works within the story’s context, includes a magnificent payoff, and reinforces the season’s (and show’s) most important theme: subversion (which climaxed beautifully in The Best Night Ever). Frankly, if it was something else, you risk breaking PoO and ruining the story.
     
    One sloppy excuse was one thing. It’s another to see her collection of friends come up with a row of excuses that become sloppier than the one before. One important point about her party making is she parties not to make herself happy, but to make others happy. When she makes others happy, she is happy. So when the Remane Five (her closest friends) BS themselves from attending Gummy's after-birthday party, Pinkie gets suspicious. Then their sneaking around Ponyville, suspicious dialogue, and constant hiding reinforce her hypothesis of them not wanting anything to do with her anymore. It makes her feel worthless, causing her to mentally break down before Act 2 concludes.
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T22wxk1DSJY
    “Creepy” is the operative word to describe Pinkamena. Until Creepy City in Lesson Zero, Hurricane Fluttershy, and Somepony to Watch Over Me, this really defined “creepy” in the context of FIM. Despite being played as a semi-joke, it wasn’t done to mock Pinkie, but to exaggerate it and make the viewer feel sympathetic towards her. In response, the jokes work, and it only gets better once Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash argue.
     
    Another great strength in this episode is the comedy. There’s a ton of it, and none of the jokes failed. Each time one sprouted before the audience, it never stops being funny, and they never fall into the traps of being cheap. Each joke remains fresh, keeping the audience engaged. More importantly, when the joke is told, it makes the audience convey a mood. The excuses are stupid; McCarthy wanted us to realize how stupid the excuses are to make the viewer feel for Pinkie without making the ReMane-ing Five out of character or unlikeable; altogether, the jokes work.
     

    If you want to read Part 1 (#10-7), click here. Click here for Part 3 (#2-1).
  22. Dark Qiviut
    Do you wish for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic to end with a great, big bang? It already happened once before in Meghan McCarthy’s A Canterlot Wedding via its sentimental BBBFF, the fantastical comparison and contrast between the real and fake Cadance in This Day Aria, and its action-packed hilarity between the Mane Six and changelings. McCarthy’s résumé of two-parters is extended this season with Princess Twilight Sparkle (the premiere) and Twilight’s Kingdom (the finale). Discounting Testing Testing 1, 2, 3, the finale itself reintroduces Twilight as the central character for the first time since PTS, leading through a two-parter full of adrenaline, emotion, obvious writing shortcuts, and a rather fulfilling conclusion.
     
    Strengths:
    The abundance of Derpy. ^__^ Plenty, but not overbearing.
    The battle is absolutely intense and is easily the best part of the finale. Given the very strict content rating (TV-Y) and Hasbro’s reputation of keeping it safe, DHX could’ve badly botched it and turned it into something extremely monotonous. Instead, it told a story. A great story. A fantastic story.
     
    If you remember Dragon Quest, one of the scenes was the transition as Spike migrated. He travels in hopes of keeping up with his fellow migrating dragons, starting and stopping and taking any means of transportation. While DQ — don’t even think about it — was a train wreck, that transition used no dialogue and was easily the best part (one of the best scenes in season two, I might add) and saved it from being worse than it is. If Dragon Quest was confined to simply a quest with as little dialogue as possible, you could’ve told a grand story.
     
    Why do I say this?
     
    Tirek vs. Twilight had no dialogue, and it was extremely well told. Without the dialogue overshadowing the action, Top Draw and DHX concentrate on showing the battle’s intensity through its choreography, special effects, Anderson’s background tracks, and animation instead. With it, you get two things:
     
    a. Tirek’s villainy (and he’s one evil fuckermother) from his strength is shown and validated.
     
    b. Twilight’s goal of showing loyalty to Equestria, confidence, and those she cares takes place within her mind, especially after her home of four seasons gets destroyed.
     
    I’ll get to that la— Oh, what the hell?
    The Golden Oaks Library’s destruction is one bold move the sadistic bastards at DHX imposed on the audience. And god-fucking-dammit, wasn’t that grand. The main purpose of destroying the library is how, like I mentioned just moments ago, it's her home. Like what a famous song from the famous musical Promises Promises declared, a house is not a home. The library is possibly the most iconic landmark from a storytelling perspective. Think about it. The central character in the show lived there since the pilot, and there are so many fantastic moments like Twilight finding the Guide and fighting with her discorded friends as they refused to cooperate, drove her mad, and initiated a nasty catfight.
     
    And did it initiate emotions? Although not from me personally, it definitely worked because all of Twilight’s memories are suddenly gone. No way to recover from them. And if using continuity from Trade Ya!, the destruction (and near-death of a weary Owlowiscious) hit her really hard, as it SHOULD.
     
    Moreover, it marked one of the last steps needed for Twilight to complete her transition from common unicorn studying in Canterlot to one of the regal princesses in Equestria. Despite my major criticism of Twilicorn (and quite frankly, I still am against it due to extreme lack of utilization and recognition), it would’ve been really dumb to revert her back to the unicorn she was pre-Magical Mystery Cure.
     
    The destruction of the Golden Oaks Library and subsequent Castle of Friendship seals this. In other words, reviving the library would be very dumb because it’ll age T’sK very quickly and nullify her status. You progress her development. Keep it!
     
    (By the way, this response has nothing to do with the petition floating around online. The petition is pure trollbait.)
    Without question, Tirek is the most imposing villain, which he ought to be due to his foundation from G1. If there was one way to describe him, it’s Sombra done right. Unlike Queen Chrysalis and Sunset Shimmer (whom McCarthy relied on being uncharacteristically stupid to be defeated), Tirek’s villainy hits all the right notes. Not only is he evil, but a combination of evil and cunning. One of his biggest advantages is his ability to play mind games. Conceptually, it creates a really menacing villain.
     
    a. His excellent first impression helps, too. While the valley scene is rather cliché in itself, it executes the right notes. Firstly, besides being a subtle nod to Magic Duel (and for those who focus a lot on continuity, Twilight’s Kingdom‘s continuity is pornographic!), the musical score is incredibly menacing, foreshadowing the terror that crept in the night moments later. Secondly, the wind and clattering of the can continued the transition, as all of us met Voldemort’s long-lost cousin, who later silently chanted avada kedavra and sucked the talent and goals out of unsuspecting unicorns. More importantly, it presents Tirek’s imposing, businesslike evil early without making the threat contrived. Overall, that scene was extremely creepy for the right reasons and easily the best in Part 1.
     
    Also, if focusing on Jayson Thiessen’s Twitter, you can confirm that Tirek is The Pony of Shadows rumored from the end of Castle Mane-ia.
     
    Why?
     
    Look at these three screenshots from its end.
     

     

     

     
    Now concentrate on Tirek’s frail state:
     

     

     

     
    Notice any similarities?
     
    Yellow eyes.
     
    Identical cloak design.
     
    Identical furrowed eye design…
     
    Really sneaky, DHX.
    Ingram’s musical score for both You’ll Play Your Part and Let the Rainbow Remind You fit very well with the scenes each represented. YPYP concentrates on Twilight’s current purpose as Equestrian Princess (thus becoming part of the Quarteticorn both physically and mentally), thus the focus on a Broadway-esque, royal mood from discouragement to optimism. On the other hand, LtRRY concludes the arc on a very upbeat rhythm, as Twilight finally finds her purpose and role in Equestrian society, one she — in HER words — CHOOSES to have.
     
    (By the way, that was a very clever lampshade of Magical Mystery Cure’s broken plot hole. )
    Discord pre-alliance was very hilarious. The prankster was up to his tricks again by driving them all mad, fitting their agitation so much. On the flipside, his tricks fit the clever references, from Patton to Mary Poppins. His personality plays off very well with Tirek, for they’re both foils. Tirek takes things seriously, while Discord also takes things seriously, but with plenty of comedic flair.
     
    Also, despite not being self-contained, Discord’s betrayal was foreshadowed during his three previous episodes (PTS1/2, 3aC), as he drove the ReMane-ing Five absolutely nuts with his physics-defying logic, riddling, lack of specifics, and mocking. Although he was friends with Fluttershy, he never got along with the others nor behaved like he wanted to be friends with them. Up to the end of Part 2, he was still extremely antagonistic; after Discord intentionally got Rarity and Applejack sick, why would they trust him? Hell, even Discord confirmed to not caring for the others besides Fluttershy simply by the sly whisper once confronting Tirek.
     
    (In Three’s a Crowd, you can create a headcanon that Discord lured Twilight and Cadance into the distant hill to try to murder them in disguise of an accident, as he faked his illness and brought them out to a lethal land where Cadance and Twilight fought for their lives.)
    Conceptually, Discord being the one to give Twilight Scorpan’s medallion was solid. It reinforces the theme of the series’s main arc, which is to give a gift to the one who symbolizes the ability to understand his or counterpart’s Element. It was very clever for Discord’s trust for someone else rear its ugly head, delivering much needed karma and further understanding of friendship. Moreover, it closes the door on Discord’s neutrality and evolving him into a more chaotic protagonist instead of neutral. Will the others beyond Twilight and Fluttershy trust him? If to avoid breaking continuity, they better!
     
    Also, pay attention to Scorpan during the hieroglyphic animation in Part 1's second act. In a panel or two, you’ll see him wearing the medallion that Tirek and later Discord donned.
    Speaking of the medallion, once you look deeper into Tirek, notice this pattern. In early times, Scorpan wore the medallion. Later in the two-parter, Tirek is shown to be wearing it. You can make a great guess that Tirek wears it to remind himself of his brother, who he loathed for “betraying” him. The medallion made him very angry and further motivated his lust for conquest and dominance. Because he saw Scorpan in Discord, he allowed the draconequus to wear it and then steal his powers.
     
    By doing this, he’s telling the audience Scorpan’s decision to not side with Tirek still hurt him, and his cunning decision to lure Discord into trusting him was a way of getting back at him and relinquishing the anger that boiled inside of him. Once Discord was powerless, one piece of his lifelong anger was wiped away. When you think about it, it was really clever of Tirek (and McCarthy) to bait Discord into that subtle trap, furthering his credibility as a tyrant.
    After going back to reading David Ker's panning of A Canterlot Wedding, T'sK illustrates the tension so well. (And this is something I should illustrate more in future reviews and see if it succeeds in next season's episodes.) With the urgency of the situation foreshadowed by the MD callback and illustrated in Act 3's montage, you can tell everything on the line.
     
    This is one thing Tirek actually does so well. Although the writing's shortcomings damaged his credibility as a villain, he helped create the magnitude of the stakes that he imposed on the princesses and Equestria as a whole. He's tyrannical, menacing, and maniacal, and manipulative. There was nothing he was going to do to conquer and destroy Equestria, even if he was going to use someone else's trust as a puppet for his schemes.
     
    Earlier, I wrote that the battle between Twilight and Tirek illustrated two very important strengths. There's a third: The tension and stakes that were told and shown culminated in this battle. Both sides gave it their all to prove who was the higher, more imposing power: Twilight's commitment to keeping Equestria safe and Tirek's lust for conquest. The fact that they ended at an impasse was extremely clever on McCarthy's behalf because it brought back one aspect of Tirek's personality that was lost in transition: his trump card, which led to the final key and overall resolution.
    As Rainbow Falls is a train wreck that doesn’t deserve an ounce of praise minus Derpy’s glorious return, this deserves a mention:
     Even this episode recognizes how lazy and broken Rainbow Falls genuinely is.
    The concept of the roundtable (or Council of Friendship, according to Voice of Reason and AnY’s collaboration) is a rather genius way to plug some of the questions people have as far as the ReMane-ing Five is concerned. By putting them — and Spike — on the same pedestal as Twilight, it gives them a sense of importance narratively. Previously, Twilight rose above the status quo by becoming a princess and becoming one of the most important voices in all of Equestria (does that old expression need to die or what?!), but the others remained in their same positions vying for the same goals.
     
    Now that they’re a part of the council, they’re still the same ponies in Ponyville and can vie for the goals they’ve yearned since the pilot or The Ticket Master, but have a semblance of voice and status that wouldn’t be quelled because they’re “beneath” the quartet. As heavily flawed are Rainbow Falls, Breezies, and Leap of Faith are, they fulfilled their trials and are rewarded for their efforts.

    Weaknesses:
    It doesn’t matter if Spike’s words were obnoxious. Smacking a child upside the head isn’t funny, DHX!
    T’sK’s main internal conflict is despite Twilight’s status as alicorn princess, she’s merely stuck in limbo, discouraging her. She wants to contribute to Equestrian society and have more of a role. There are a couple problems:
     
    a. Several of the episodes literally have nothing to do with Twilight’s status as a princess (and sometimes ignoring it like in RTM). Sometimes, when she does, she either accepts it reluctantly or wants little to do with it. In Trade Ya!, when the traders greeted Twilight, she got very nervous and took off. When she became the de facto leader when Luna and Celestia were horsenapped in PTS, she took position as leader and guard commander.
     
    In other words, Twilight has been involved in important roles as princess. But this episode acts as if her status is mostly or exclusively about being a background princess (no pun intended), when she actually shared an equal balance of getting involved when necessary and not wanting anything to do with it at all. It doesn’t tackle the issue so directly.
     
    b. It doesn’t excuse the way Twilight was used all season up to the finale. If anything, her use in several of the episodes in season four becomes even more glaring and will cause some people to wonder if Twilight’s role in several of them — including Rainbow Falls, It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Breezies — should’ve been cut out entirely.
    One of season four’s overrunning problems throughout is the overload of exposition, and it reared its ugly head again. For some examples:
     
    a. Twilight bowing before the duke and duchess of Mare-tonia and then having Celestia explain the purpose of her being there. Rather than using up about a minute of screentime, you can chop it up by having the AliTrio meet up with Twilight, who’s walking down the hall discouraged and then have Twilight explain how much her lack of involvement is hurting her.
     
    But the real problem is the dialogue in accordance to the exposition. The sentences are very complete, long-winded, and lacking thorough emotion. It’s a bunch of talking heads in pony form.
     
    b. Some of the lines from the ReMane-ing Five and Discord added very little aside from air and humor. After Celestia told Twilight she was going to send Discord out to find Tirek, there was a scene by the Tree of Harmony where Discord all but recounted events we all saw earlier. Although the jokes lightened the mood, it ate plenty of time. Unlike point 2a, this can still work if the lines were reworded to show more variety besides bringing in the journal and chest into the conflict.
     
    c. Act 1 of Part 2 had the Quarteticorn congregate in Canterlot Castle, and they all jibber-jabbered through the conversation for several minutes about what is a really stupid plan (which I’ll get to). Cutting down the dialogue, getting down to the point, and writing lines that genuinely fit the AliTrio (Cadance, Luna, Celestia) without the stupidity would’ve done wonders with the scene.
     
    d. Tirek’s passive dialogue in several of his scenes hurts his credibility as a villain. Sure, he’s supposed to be threatening, but the amount of passive lines he spouted lessens the strength of his evil from a narrative perspective.
     
    And these are merely some of the offenders. Thankfully, unlike A Canterlot Wedding and Magical Mystery Cure, the pacing issues tend to hide a bit better for the most part.
    Although McCarthy’s a very good writer, one of her quieter yet bigger problems in her bigger projects is her dialogue, and that’s the case in T'sK. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance don’t resemble any individuality due to how formal and long-winded each of them were; each line is Celestia’s under another voice. Applejack suffers from the same problem with lines like “As in Discord Discord” and her preference of the pre-reformed Discord. When Twilight and the others discuss the moments they had the Elements of Harmony they represent challenged, the vocabulary tended to be minutely repetitive; varying the vocabulary without looking like you’re relying on a thesaurus and length of the lines would’ve done that there.
    The AliTrio’s reasoning for transferring their magic to Twilight’s was unbelievably DUMB!
     
    HELLOOOOOOOOOO!!
     
    Discord is helping Tirek absorb others’ inherent magic, and Discord has known about Twilight since their first encounter in Return of Harmony, Part 1. For all the quartet knew, Discord might’ve told Tirek Twilight is an alicorn before they conferenced in Canterlot’s throne room and was on the way. Imagine while they talked and prepared to transfer their magic, Tirek barges in and eats it all up. It would make Celestia, Luna, and Cadance look like idiots for coming up with such a claim.
     
    It’s honestly very baffling why Twilight never second-guessed her “logic” and went with it. If she were, then she would’ve interrogated them for this logic. The only reason she didn’t was to handwave any sensible logic and have Twilight fight Tirek alone.
     
    And even when they accomplish the feat and have the story contrivedly play off the bullshit of Tirek not know about Twilight because Discord “was playing a test” (be honest, that logic makes no sense other than to handwave Celestia’s idiocy), it was just as stupid to not cover up Twilight’s tracks by leaving the stained glass window out in the open. If the AliTrio wanted their hardest to keep her presence a secret, then instead of standing around and doing nothing, they should’ve hidden everything related to her before she arrived in Canterlot.
     
    And this doesn’t count Celestia telling Twilight not to let the others find out [about Twilight's powers] “because doing so would put them in great risk.” DHX, why the royal fuck shouldn’t the ReMane Five know about it? Friendship is magic, and it's important for them to know about it.
     
    On another note, how come they don't know Discord switching sides? Why didn't DHX have Twilight tell them so they can prepare themselves? Just so they get conveniently trapped, which Tirek can use as a crutch to betray Discord, which then DHX can shove the conflict into that large battle of rainbow explosions, which leads to the rushed third act? Bullshit!
     
    This plot point was beyond stupid: They HAD to know because Twilight knows, and she had to tell them for two reasons:
     
    a. So they wouldn’t be caught off-guard.
     
    b. Every single pony is in great danger, anyway.
     
    After all, wouldn’t it be better if they hid along with the rest of Ponyville or stood beside Twilight to fight both Discord and Tirek instead? It was as if the AliTrio’s warning of Discord’s betrayal was mentioned at one point and then forgotten once the script was locked. If Twilight saw her friends trapped and realized she had forgotten, then I would've had less of an issue as far as not telling them about Discord's concerned.
     
    Another user pinpointed another part of Dumbass!Celestia: sending Discord out to find Tirek without a backup plan. Because he’s apparently shown fragility in his allegiance (and even she doesn’t trust him too much, as evident by her whisper to Twilight and doubtful gaze in Keep Calm’s ending), it doesn’t make sense for the trio to enact without Plan B.
     
    And one more thing: Discord was sent out by Celestia because he could sense magical imbalances. When Twilight absorbed all of the princesses’ magic, he went haywire. Without McCarthy replacing their intelligences with idiot balls to make the plan credible on the surface, it would’ve fallen apart and — I guarantee you — would put Celestia, Luna, and Cadance into several “hated character” lists due to their severe incompetence.
    Speaking of that, there was no need for DHX and McCarthy to retread the same side-conflict featured from the series premiere, Return of Harmony, Equestria Girls, and Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why does Twilight have to re-learn the concept of friendship is magic when she’s done this multiple times? Sure, she has to fulfill the plot of finding her key, but there are ways of accomplishing this feat without having to rip off past two-parters — including the season premiere — and stylize it differently. Reduce the plot into simple bullet points:
     
    • Twilight has a conflict.
     
    • A villain poses as a threat.
     
    • Twilight must solve the conflict by herself for a contrived reason.
     
    • Twilight realizes her friendship creates the magic she needs.
     
    • She and her friends defeat the bad guy.
     
    • Episode ends on a happy note.
     
    This is what you get. Sure, the episode dressed it differently and might’ve presented a different moral. But it still doesn’t change the body underneath. There was a ton of action with extremely high stakes, but variation of both its premise and story will be necessary. DHX, you can’t rip off past episodes for the sake of contrivance anymore nor can McCarthy and crew pretend this is any different and hope to have several people fooled. It’s old and treats the arc of finding the keys (especially Twilight’s) with severe disrespect.
    The pacing throughout was extremely flimsy. You can obviously tell it was a problem simply by the expository dialogue padding some of the scenes. But it was very problematic in other scenes:
     
    a. Tirek’s manipulation to convince Discord to join him was very implausible. One of RoH1’s biggest strengths is how Discord was able to manipulate four of the ReMane-ing Five (Fluttershy exempt due to her “incorruptible” status) into becoming the opposites of who they truly are.
     
    i. Applejack being told a “blunt truth” of ending their friendship with her behind her back, hurting her and wanting to tell lies.
     
    ii. Pinkie Pie’s Element of Laughter was turned upside-down when balloons laughed at her and continued to bully her into a mega grump.
     
    iii. Rarity being mesmerized by a large, once-in-a-lifetime, perfect “diamond,” converting her into someone greedy.
     
    iv. Discord was able to convince Dash into either continuing the game or having Cloudesdale collapse from Discord’s magic.
     
    Tirek targeted Discord’s teetering conscience as someone who loves to pull tricks that annoys others while remaining loyal to Canterlot and Fluttershy. However, Tirek’s mind games aren’t deep or sharp enough. They were passive and don’t have the bite or longevity to convince Discord to side with him.
     
    b. All of Act 3 in Part 2 crammed way too much to flow organically. You had Twilight stare at her friends trapped in Tirek’s bubbles. Then, she receives her epiphany and receives Scorpan’s pendent from Discord (who was betrayed earlier). Next, they race to the chest with Twilight feeling confident the pendent was the final key. The chest opens, and they become the latest Rainbow Powers, who then seal Tirek back to Tartarus and revert Equestria’s magic back to normal. The chest becomes Twilight’s castle, and they all become important “knights,” per se, for Princess Twilight’s roundtable. Cue final song to end the episode.
     
    That is a ton of information to cram in eight minutes. They just go from one after another without spending any time developing them. The script was quickly telling itself that time was running out, and they had to end it or force overtime. Instead of having Twilight receive her epiphany and key midway in Act 3, then how about cutting a repetitive scene or two out and start Act 3 when Twilight and the others open the chest?
    As for Tirek, despite being very threatening and evil, that still doesn’t make a factually good villain. He has some problems himself.
     
    a. Like what I said earlier, his credibility to manipulate others was marginalized by the poor pacing, dumb planning by the AliTrio, and blunt exposition.
     
    b. Despite him eating everyone’s magic, he basically stands in one spot as he victimizes others or banters with others. By doing this, his screentime presence becomes typical via its journey. This is unlike villains like Discord, who was very active in his constant corruption of Equestria and the Mane Six themselves and never stayed in one place for so long, always popping up when least expected.
     
    c. Tirek’s personality really shines most when he’s still confined in his cloak and frail. His voice is croaky, dry, and weak. Ironically, this gives him an edge in wisdom because of how old he looked. When he becomes giant, quite possibly his biggest personality strength (his quick wits and ability to manipulate others emotionally) gets pushed to the wayside in favor of his lust for rule over Equestria, and his voice becomes very typical for a villain. Healthy? Sure. Unique? No.
     
    d. His original centaur design from Part 1 was very creative and stuck out from the one featured in G1. His skin remained red, but it wasn’t clean and leaned towards brown. Just by that, you can tell how evil he was, but his presentation was much more subtle, especially with the elderly voice that accompanied him. When he became a giant with brilliant red skin and shades of gray and black in his body, the centaur no longer becomes unique anymore. Black and red are typical colors of evil, so the color combination boasts his villainy far more than it should. Like Sunset Demon in Equestria Girls, Giant!Tirek’s design doesn’t show the audience he’s evil; he’s telling them he’s evil. The centaur's frail presentation is much more menacing because he showed the audience how evil he was in a rather cunning and ironic manner, and it doesn’t fall for the typical clichés in graphic design.
    You’ll Play Your Part has a fantastic score, but the lyrics themselves leave a bit to be desired. There are three problems:
     
    a. Some of the lyrics feel stiff. One important component of lyrics is to create a sense of direction that aims at the goal immediately and explains and/or exemplifies it.
     
    Here's an example picked out from Digibro in his analysis video:
     
    I want to have a purpose
    Want to do all that I can
    I want to make a contribution
    I want to be a part of the plan.
     
    Here, despite wanting to contribute to the royals, the lyrics are rather passive because she says the same thing above and below, but what makes it worse is the structure. Because three of the meters started with “I want,” it makes the verse very repetitive, circular, and mechanical. They parallel to what Twilight feels and yearns, which is great, but how she says it makes it sounds very artificial. It’s too structured, undermining Twilight’s desires. It’s important to have the lyrics drive the story (both in the song and around it) forward. More direct activity in its drive would've helped.
     
    This one here’s more of a personal gripe, but when Luna sung, they used “more” and “soar” twice for the rhymes. Again, more variety with more oomph would do quite a bit more justice.
     
    b. One of T'sK's biggest problems is the pacing. Here, it goes on too long. Twilight tells the Alicorn Trio that she doesn't feel like she's contributing. There is so much to go through, and forty minutes is very little time. While Kazumi Evans singing as Luna is a wish come true to a lot of bronies (and it in itself is a grand treat), it doesn't mean it'll help the story. You can have Twilight worry about her status and explain it to them succinctly. Luna, Celestia, and Cadance would reassure with a couple of lines themselves to end it. Instead of spending over three minutes to explain it, chop the song down to two minutes, if not a little over one, and have the trio sing YPYP only. From there, use the spare space to expand other scenes and give them more depth.
     
    c. From a musical perspective, the visual appeal is plain. For over half of YPYP, the princesses stay in all but one spot and relied on very few visuals to drive the message and not force the viewer to fast forward. Its visuals are VERY conservative and don't get inherently interesting until the final chorus; when you have a three-minute song within a twenty-minute episode, that hurts it.
     
    I think some are going to ask this (and this has been discussed back and forth already): How are the visuals and choreography in songs important?
     
    Much more important than you think.
     
    While songs can carry weight, it’s much more different between hearing it through your earphones and hearing and seeing it simultaneously. In all forms of viewable entertainment, it’s extremely important to keep the viewer engaged. When you hear and see it, you need to not just have the song good, but also have the visuals tell a story along with it. Make it bold. Make it interesting. Make it memorable! Make the choreography engaging to drive the story to the next part and make even the weakest of songs sound even better.
     
    Yes, choreography does determine the reception of the song much more than you think.
     
    Take Three’s a Crowd’s A Glass of Water. De Lancie has a history of not being a good singer and will sometimes disguise it. Admittingly, the vocality is rather lackluster. But what did it were the visuals and gags. The pop culture references, animation, transitions, and overall gags really did the song justice and made the experience truly hilarious. Without the visuals driving the story and providing plenty of laughter, then A Glass of Water would’ve been around the middle at least.
     
    Another from this season is The Goof-Off. It’s a very good song with a very clever Smile Song reference, but on its own, it doesn't have that strength. Yet, it’s the visuals that really did it. Every single gag and joke fits Pinkie’s and Cheese Sandwich’s characterizations so brilliantly. They’re wild, wacky, hilarious, and story-driven. None of the characters stayed in one spot, and the camera angles and transitions provided that heartstopping tempo a competition such as TG-O successfully made. Combine all those with two funny live-action shots, and you create a memorable one-plus minute off the bat. The end was perfect for Pinkie to receive her epiphany, and that’s what happened. If the visuals were plain, TG-O would’ve flopped and be placed in more “dislike” columns. But because of its bold and hilarious choreography, it's the most memorable song in Pinkie Pride.
     
    Finally, season two's The Smile Song contains a chirpy, happy tone that fits Pinkie to a “T.” If it weren’t for Party of One, it might’ve been Pinkie’s best characterization. Do we know Pinkie likes to make others happy? Oh, hell, yeah! We’ve known it since the pilot. But one thing TSS does so well is keep it nice and fresh. Each meter is very organic because they vary, sound very “Pinkie,” and feel like something someone in real life would actually SAY! And the flow is incredible — never skipping a beat and honing both Ingram’s and Rogers’s musical prowess. It tells her love for happiness without making it repetitive.
     
    But would have it been memorable if the animation was poor? Absolutely not! The beginning of the episode commences with the snap of her hooves, showing life and joy; a subtle detail, but really helped start the song on a high note. Combined with the jumpy instruments, it’s a great hook that gets viewers immediately invested. During her tour in Ponyville, Pinkie’s joy begins to rub on everyone and turns their solemn or glum moods into happy ones. That happiness joins into one big ball of joy, sending happiness throughout and making them loose and fun.
     
    The animation is fun. The song is fun. It WANTS to tell you it’s fun to watch. It SUCCEEDS! Its presentation is absolutely refined, and the choreography is fantastic, especially in a few scenes:
     
    i. Pinkie and the fillies jumping rope while no one’s holding the ends.
     
    ii. Happiness and sadness personified during the bridge.
     
    iii. As Pinkie hops on the rooftops, ponies who followed her did the same.
     
    iv. The ending that was building itself up for the previous two minutes hit its mark. The background dancers exploded in joy and joined in the chorus. Up till the end where she meets Cranky.
     
    I bring this last example up because YouTube reviewer Mr. Enter claimed The Smile Song has much, much less to do with the narrative in A Friend in Deed than YPYP. Quite frankly, that's bullshit! Again, The Smile Song tells a grand narrative of what she loves and how her happiness ebbs on them and vice-versa. So when Cranky Doodle Donkey shows up and doesn’t smile, she gets confused and wants to do whatever she can to make him smile, leading to her screwups and tension. The fact that her antics bothered him makes sense because it ties back to the narrative presented in the song. The chaotic situations were funny because she was presented as a character in the wrong from a narrative perspective (at least in the first two acts). And the fact she screwed up royally by accidentally destroying the scrapbook crushed her, leading her to want to make it up. Of course, she screws up again and then after finally realizing the situation, she was able to make up for it, all leading back to what Pinkie likes to do: make friends and make friends smile (as established by The Smile Song), which makes her smile, and she learned personal space…after the moral.
     
    Granted, she should’ve been presented with a consequence or two because the cartoon methods of apologizing create unfortunate implications, and the moral itself is tacked on. What Pinkie did from beginning to end was very in character, but took a very safe approach in Act 3 and really teetered the line into making her just as creepy as Party of One. “Not everyone will want to be friends with you if the way you’re behaving towards them rubs them off” would’ve been better. A better method of solving the conflict would’ve been following Twilight’s advice instead of going Looney Toons on him. Still feeling guilty, she talks to Matilda, who later meets up with Cranky, who was cleaning up the mess. Matilda and Cranky talk about how they met long ago and wanted to find each other again; Matilda also holds a copy of her scrapbook containing a copy of the pictures taken at the Gala. Pinkie apologizes for her behavior. Cranky forgives her, smiles, and calls her a friend. Cue the moral. Episode ends.
     
    Regardless, the song really connected to the thematic message of not just the episode, but the series and moral, also. It was a major catalyst to the conflict that immediately followed and foreshadowed the ending and moral. Hell, The Smile Song is what started the conflict in the first place! On top of that, it’s one of the best written, most fluent, and best composed in the series. The choreography strengthened the song, made it belong in the episode structurally and thematically, and helped create the gigantic following TSS has.
     
    What does this have to do with YPYP?
     
    Although TSS and YPYP are thematically relevant and carry great scores, The Smile Song has the polish and drive from beginning to end along with fantastic visuals to compensate it and make it better and memorable.
     
    For songs that aren't exactly so catchy or well sung, A Glass of Water doesn’t have a satisfactory singing performance (on its own, it's one of the worst songs of the season), but the hilarious visuals hide it very well and tell a grand story. Without Discord's antics and chaotic animation, AGoW's reception would've been down the middle at least.
     
    Conversely, You’ll Play Your Part doesn’t have that. Some of the meters are clunky and remain as idle as a running car until Celestia sings or the first chorus. To make it worse, the plain visuals and conservative choreography do very little to carry the message and influence its impact. In actuality, the lack of visual substance hurt the song’s message, underminded its importance, and made it less appealing to listen to and follow along. Sure, you have little details to alleviate it (the aurora representing Celestia, Luna's night sky, and Cadance's Crystal Castle), but without the bigger details, the little ones won’t matter.
    The Rainbow Power ponies. Besides having the ending spilled several months ago (unrelated to the show, BTW; just an observation), there are two problems:
     
    a. It all but renders their sacrifice of the Elements of Harmony rather pointless. One of the greatest strengths of sacrificing the Elements of Harmony from a narrative perspective is twofold: Their friendship is connected far beyond powerful jewelry, and DHX is forced to come up with solutions that don’t rely on a possible Deus Ex Machina or hat-pull. The fears reared its ugly head in EqG and all but ruined the reputation of the concept. The Rainbow Powers are a more powerful, elaborate version of the Elements of Harmony. Despite a change in status, the Rainbow Powers basically put the concept back to square one.
     
    b. The designs themselves are TERRIBLE! I take graphic design very seriously, so the designs are personally my most HATED part of the finale. FIM contains a soft, pastel atmosphere, making the colors visually comfortable. The RP ponies rely far too much on style over substance. The bright colors clash with not just the pastels of the characters, but other bright colors that touch, also. Thus, the characters’ presentations are too gaudy and unpleasant to look at. Hasbro doesn’t need to plug in flashy colors just to pander to kids; it’s very bad character design and bad graphic design in general. You can make the characters look aggressive withOUT saturating the colors.
     
    (Apparently, the Rainbow Powers will have some importance in Rainbow Rocks, as evident by the change of the characters and Rainbow Power appearances in the leaked music video Shake Your Tail!)
    The castle design is very unpleasant. Sure, Twilight’s new castle is supposed to connect with the Tree of Harmony’s rocky, crystal presentation, but on its own, it doesn’t fit at all. The Golden Oaks Library perfectly represented not only Ponyville, but also Twilight. It was homey, beautiful, clever, and pleasant in its interior and exterior. But…
     
    a. The rocky exterior doesn’t have the organic shapes of Ponyville. It looks like something that belongs to The Crystal Empire, but even their shapes are more organically structured. The colors themselves are also too dull and don’t have the pastel, yet warm colors. Visually, the presentation is out of character of Ponyville because it’s far too elaborate, the cold colors clash with the rest of the town, and its inorganic structure appears incomplete.
     
    b. Inside, the hallways and throne room are very rocky with very deep, dark colors to counterbalance with the bright whites, greens, and yellows. It doesn’t have a sleek, regal presentation, and the really dark majesty doesn’t make the castle feel like home, but a prison instead.
     
    Altogether, Twilight’s new castle is telling the audience, “This is my new, grand home,” but it shows the opposite.

    Like Princess Twilight Sparkle, Meghan McCarthy’s penmanship in Twilight’s Kingdom takes center stage. In the premiere, it was McCarthy’s goal to create a satisfying story of Twilight adjusting to royal society. Despite annoying retcons and sloppy writing decisions (poor pacing, the alicorn potion, goofing up Applejack’s and Pinkie’s characters, poor dialogue, a lack of concrete timeline), it nonetheless pushed season four forward. Meanwhile, the finale sealed the overarching plot of the Chest of Harmony and the annoying flaw of Twilight’s princesshood being merely a title. It behaves like a series finale, but also an opening for future ideas. With season five coming up sometime during the winter holidays, it’ll create many new questions without having the dark cloud that hung over the head following Magical Mystery Cure.
     
    Now, as insulting as the idea is, as Tommy Oliver stated in his FIMpression, (like A Canterlot Wedding) the less you think about T’sK's flaws, the more fun it is. And it's a blast to watch on the first try.
     
    But now that Twilight’s Kingdom has aired, it’s time to think about it. So through the critical eye, is Twilight’s Kingdom the best FIM finale?
     
    No. That still belongs to The Best Night Ever.
     
    It’s full of really unpolished executions, so these pieces collectively dropped the quality. Objectively, it’s at most above-average. But it’s better in quality than the other two-part finale, A Canterlot Wedding: While A Canterlot Wedding is rushed as hell, very sloppy, and full of several loose ends that weren’t fulfilled, Twilight’s Kingdom contains more importance than its comparison; while there's plenty of stupidity and pacing issues to question, season four's finale concludes itself and many arcs as a whole more satisfactorily.
     
    Now, bring on EqG: Rainbow Rocks season five!
     

     
     
    Source: S04:E25+26 - Twilight's Kingdom
  23. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This essay has been revised April 10, 2013.
    ———
    The third season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is over, and the passionate brony community is out there displaying their dedication to the show, characters, worldbuilding, and so on. Artwork, music, customs, and plushies are being published a lot over the past several months since The Crystal Empire, and it bloomed further with several dedications to the Babs Seed song; A True, True Friend; and What My Cutie Mark Is Telling Me. In late March, two highly popular fan-animations, Double Rainboom and Snowdrop, were published. The creativity and dedication help thrive the brony community, and so many news outlets take notice consequentially.
    Ironically, this community almost never happened…because the franchise was struggling mightily between MLP Tales and FIM.
    Long ago, MLP began production in 1982 with help from Hasbro and founder Bonnie Zacherle. The first TV series ran from 1982 to 1987. A standalone series of G1, MLP Tales, was produced in the early 1990s. Altogether, G1 ran until 1995. When the original G1 was developed, it targeted girls and boys, both the toys and animation. Despite using ponies, it never discriminated its audience and actually did quite a bit right, mainly the plot and animation. Although the animation and characterization haven't aged that well (back then, episodic animation had a rather limited budget, and that's currently evident in its production and graphics), it's still nostalgic enough to nonetheless carry weight.
    But it's this little tidbit: the original purpose — the roots — of My Little Pony. The background, origin, original concept, and initial execution (and a successful one at that). G1's My Little Pony Tales, G2 (exclusively a toyline series that ran for three short years because it flopped), G3, and G3.5 targeted towards girls only (and for G3.5, female toddlers). However, G1's original series targeted girls AND boys. It wasn't supposed to be an anthropomorphic competitor of Barbie, where the characters used the stereotypical female tropes, had personalities flatter than matzah, and contained overall lazy writing. In contrast of Tales/G2/3/3.5, My Little Pony was supposed to be both gender-friendly and family-friendly. Not toddler-girl-friendly. Combined with its extremely poor effort, My Little Pony suffered as a product on the whole, eventually becoming a gigantic laughingstock in the media.
    Then Friendship Is Magic, led by Lauren Faust, debuted. It started off slow, with only 4chan watching it in response to a relatively negative article. But as the weeks progressed, people got hooked, specifically teenage and adult males. Promotion spread via word of mouth, and the fanbase began to erupt into the passionate, crazy, controversial, and creative fandom it is today. When it gained popularity, the fandom dubbed themselves as "bronies," which encompasses the fanbase regardless of gender, age, and passion.
    And for one good reason: the show never disrespects its audience, which is family-friendly and gender-friendly. It teaches the morals so kids can understand, but adds depth of character, worldbuilding, older references, and overall clever writing so adults can enjoy it, too.
    Is it a coincidence? No, it isn't. Lauren Faust worked as a storyboard artist with her eventual husband, Craig McCracken, on The Powerpuff Girls, a 1990s superhero parody cartoon that utilizes nearly the same bright, zany, simplistic art style and great characterization. Despite being "girly" in impression, it doesn't alienate one specific gender and/or age group, resulting in pop culture success.
    But the big similarity is how they're family-friendly. Great for both kids and adults of all ages, and they each follow the same schtick. They weren't "kids shows."
    But one difference between The Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony is TPPG was a completely new franchise started by Craig McCracken. MLP:FIM is the fourth generation of a once proud franchise, "fourth generation" and "once proud franchise" being key phrases.
    This is where MLP:FIM gets the respect it so deserves.
    If it weren't for MLP:FIM and its eventual success, this franchise would have been DEAD! Not dying. DEAD! Discontinued. Ceased to exist. Officially jumped the shark and devoured by it!
    Prior to Friendship Is Magic, I always occasionally visited several toy stores just because, both the mom-and-pop shops and the big commercial chains, like Toys R Us, FAO Schwartz, etc. These kids' shelves would be packed with toys. Barely anything had My Little Pony on them, sometimes none at all. That was how obscure these products were back then. Despite a dedicated collector base at that point, you can't successfully run a franchise by having collectors (and parents of little girls) buy them alone. You need an even bigger range of people buying them so the product has a chance to thrive. My Little Pony had absolutely no leverage because the finance wasn't there, especially when several other franchises like many of the board games (i.e., Life, Monopoly), G.I. Joe, and Transformers being so popular.
    But now it isn't dead — nor close to it — because Friendship Is Magic returns the product back to where it belongs: its roots. Its origins. And it does a great job showing it in its overall execution. Unless there's an extremely great reason, one should never ditch the origins of the franchise. For a great example, Thomas & Friends had that family-friendly origin surrounding realistic laws of the railway. The Railway Series (initially written by Reverend W. Audry and later his son, Christopher Audry) and the first seven season of Thomas & Friends (the TV series) were family-friendly, intelligently written, and didn't insult the audience's intelligence, be they young or old. When HiT Entertainment bought the TV series prior to the eighth season (The Railway series has no influence from HiT), they changed the storytelling, laws of the railway, audience, and overall premise (from a character/adventure hybrid to a three-strikes-style character moral format) to target very young kids. Combined with its lazy writing, the series spiraled downhill, with the fifteenth season being considered the worst in writing, characterization/development, potential, realism, creativity, and storytelling. The horrible writing and plot-development of the episodes are why the older fans hate the newer seasons so much. And even if they wrote better, the roots of the show (the realism of the railway) tied everything together and gave the show developers the background and motivation. Without the respect of the railway laws, it shows a complete lack of respect for Reverend W. Audry and his family, who were responsible for The Railway Series in the first place.
    This applies to My Little Pony. Zacherle intended it to be its own gender-neutral creation and have it suited for families. The original G1 show, movie, and toyline showed heart, care, and passion from themselves and the audience it seeks. But under MLP Tales, G2's toyline, G3, and G3.5, its quality suffered, and the roots of the franchise were alienated so Hasbro can cash with the very young girls, female toddlers, and their parents. G2 flopped, but G3/3.5 barely succeeded enough for the product to stay afloat. Yet, it still disrespected the founder, and older fans noticed this. This is the reason why Tales, G3, and G3.5 get no respect from me and don't deserve it whatsoever: They take Zacherle's bold vision and ransack it.
    MLP Tales shows little respect for her and the original G1 tales because its sexist, stereotypical characterization is intellectually insulting.
    G2 I'm neutral with despite its narrow audience and poor financial success, because it was advertised poorly and never fully got off the ground.
    G3 and G3.5 gets none because of its lazy production regardless of budget flexibility.
    The original G1 series, however, gave Zacherle that respect, and I give it that respect in return.
    This is what FIM is doing. It's giving Zacherle the respect she deserves. FIM treats its audience with respect, so the audience treats FIM respect in return. And it isn't merely noticed by bronies who became fans merely from FIM alone. There are plenty of bronies who were fans of G1 initially. And there's one big reason why: FIM shows G1 that identical respect. Lauren Faust herself adored G1 and used it as motivation to develop FIM, which basically takes the qualities of G1 and improves it in the form G4/FIM. The fans notice this respect in the writing and overall development, and this is one of the biggest why FIM is raved by the fandom so much. Bronies (male and female, young and old) catch this respect and are now attached to Friendship Is Magic as a result. Although Faust no longer works on the show, we still see this exact respect from the writers, voice actors, rise in social media, and the close relationship the bronies have with the professional staff (current and former). With FIM, Zacherle's vision finally comes in full circle.
    MLP:FIM returns the franchise where it belongs: back to its roots. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
  24. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: Initially, this was just a ranking for the first half of Season 4. But as of March 3, it's a personal ranking for Season 4 at large. With Twilight's Kingdom now officially aired, I compiled my final rankings and will link this list back to a review of the entire season.
     
    ———
     
    Like my MLP Micro-Series ranking, I'm ranking the Season 4 episodes as we go along. Here, I'm ranking them from most favorite to least favorite. Unlike my mega-sandwiches, these aren't critiqued objectively and observed with more of a subjective eye. (I, however, will call out quality flaws and strengths for my thoughts, but how much they'll influence me is personal.)
     
    Unlike the Micro-Series, I categorized the episode list to six sections: "love it," "like it," "meh," "dislike it," "hate it," and "unknown" (as in not finding a spot yet and will have to think where).
     
    Let's begin!
     

    Love it:


    1. Testing Testing 1, 2, 3: Originally, this was fifth on my list, but after a rewatch, it climbed up. After watching the episode more and more, it really climbed up in my favorite rankings. As of today, it's my all-time favorite episode! Of the episodes to be featured this season, this one is by far one of the most mature in terms of morals and theme. "No method of learning is better than another. What works for one may not work for another" is something you don't normally see in any media; it takes guts, and did AKR brilliantly execute it. First, the characters are very in character and three-dimensional; Twilight Sparkle actually showed some character for the first time since Twilight Time, and she was the one to write the lesson in the journal, a brilliant twist to the lessons post-Season 1. The worldbuilding was excellent, including plugging in Faust's most favorite pony, Firefly, into the plot as a Wonderbolt. While sometimes the setting tends to be an arbitrary gimmick to the moral (thus making it pointless), the setting and moral communicate with each other. In addition, the episode contains an incredible balance of humor and drama without making either overbearing. Not to mention the foreshadowing early was very subtle, yet noticeable. Pinkie Pride is one of the best episodes this season, if not the best, but you can argue that TT123 is just as good if not a little better than PP.
     
    2. Pinkie Pride: What else to describe it? This is easily not just one of my most favorite episodes this season, but also among the best of the series. (In fact, it's in my top 5, fourth place behind Sleepless in Ponyville, Magic Duel, and Testing, to be exact.) Pinkie is Pinkie Pie instead of an out-of-character idiot who blubbers randomness all the time for no good reason. This episode did what MMDon't: write a musical in twenty minutes without sacrificing quality. Cheese Sandwich is a wacky name, but fits Weird Al so well, and he was AMAZING. So far, it's the only episode this season where I watched it more than ten times. There are some logical flaws (including a script/storyboarding error in Spike being dropped from the episode during Act 3), but they're so small, they don't detract from the experience. Easily the best episode this season and will stay that way until something grander comes along.
     
    3. Pinkie Apple Pie: Part of the five-episode stretch where three great episodes came out of it. For one of the few times this season prior to Pinkie Pride, Pinkie Pie was very in character. There's a completely big difference between being offbeat (which is a unique style of humor with substance in mind) and random. Pinkie's the former, not the latter; in PAP, she's the former. Excellently portrayed with great humor for the right reasons. the core four Apples are very realistic with their fighting and constant screw-ups, but PP did care because she thought she found family close by and wanted to know the ins and outs. Apples to the Core is a musical masterpiece (although I like the background clapping a tad more, but that's just my preference). While the plot comes out of thin air and Pinkie's status of being an Apple or not is hidden by exposition, it's hidden very plausibly because the characterization, journey, personal reasons for each character, and humor are superb.
     
    4. For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils: Initially, I said RTM was Polsky's best episode. FWtSBT more than likely eclipsed it. The conflict was very believable. Just through the tension, even without SB blurting out the "fifth birthday" comparison, Sweetie Belle had obviously lived under her bigger sister's shadow for some time and was getting tired of it. When the play she worked hard on got overshadowed by Rarity's fantastic dresses, it was as if her work became null. So it made plenty of sense for Sweetie to ignore the consequences of her actions and destroy the headdress. But the consequences she received (the nightmare) was delicious and one of the best examples of "show, don't tell" in the series. Instead of being told the consequences, she was shown, not just through Luna, but also her own angry mind. It's a Christmas Carol reference done beautifully well. Although the ending followed a rather typical cartoon gag of twirling the windows and the cat-and-mouse chase, it all paid off well at the end.
     
    5. Rarity Takes Manehattan: For the first time since Sisterhooves Social, a good Rarity episode. While the song tells too much and puts her generosity front and center, its reprise is fantastic and delivers fresh consequences for her behavior the night before. But her not being so generous to the Remane Five had an extremely fantastic reason. Rarity's generosity was once taken advantage in Suited for Success, but Suri is the first to vindictively do so by plagiarizing Rarity's clothing. As a creator, when your hard work is stolen so cruelly, then it hurts you at the very core and questions your worth creatively and emotionally. It isn't pretty and can get you into a fit of rage. I don't blame Rarity for this. The moral itself is fantastically woven in and deep. It's also a different type of episode for Polsky, as it's more down to earth compared to his original concepts. Good thing, too, because it really helped him create a great episode that paid attention to a fantastic concept and ended with a very relatable moral. To see a longer review, click here.
     
    6. Twilight Time: This is one that caught me by surprise in a very good way, and I'd argue this is the most underrated episode this season. There is humor, but like RTM, the slapstick is rather toned down (except the final scene where the apple exploded). As far as the CMC are concerned, the approach to the conflict was simple but realistic. DT and SS received the attention, and the CMC want it. Any criticism of SB being an incompetent airhead is just, but she felt jealous, collected, and immediately regretted it when things got out of her own control. Each of the CMCs shared tendencies from their sisters/protégés, but weren't identical of them, still being individual yet showing the audience how much they're growing up. Ironically, SS and DT were antagonistic (but unlike One Bad Apple and Flight to the Finish, they were individual characters with separate personalities who didn't go for the typical one-dimensional low blow that marginalized Scootaloo's disability), but it was the CMC who brought the conflict upon themselves. It was also much better to see the Disasterly Duo and the rest of the fillies getting caught in the act. Even better, Twilight demonstrated serious growth without breaking her character. She was geeky, but not so extensively to regress her character, and the continuity from Games Ponies Play wasn't distracting. It was easily her best role in an episode since Magic Duel. The only real hangups are the timing of the fanaticism (if this were like the fourth episode, I'd buy it), DT/SS suddenly worshiping Twilicorn despite her living there for at least a year, Pipsqueak expositing the CMCs' plan, Spike being reduced to Spikabuse (writers, we're tired of this shit! ), and how the week-long progress was reduced to a couple of scenes. That aside, it's simple, but mostly effective and definitely one of the genuinely good episodes of the season. To see my longer observations, head here.
     

    Like it:


    7. Castle Mane-ia: As contrived as the traps and gags are, there is so much grand humor to go by. On a personal level, my most favorite thing is how the Sidekick Five (including Pinkie, by association) suffered some hilarious consequences for trespassing the old fortress. One of my biggest pet peeves in the entire series lately is how when a character does some stupid stunt, bullies, or some crime of friendship, it isn't surprising for the character to sometimes not only get away scot-free (Babs Seed in One Bad Apple; the Remane Five in Mare-Do-Well), but also rewarded (Rarity in Sweet & Elite; the Mane Six in Games Ponies Play). The five ponies infiltrated the fortress without prior knowledge from Luna and Celestia and suffered all those booby traps and dark humor as damning punishment for their idiocy. As stupid as the Spikabuse was near the end, this gave the building much more depth. How well it'll hold up remains to be seen.
     
    8. Three's a Crowd: One word: Discord. Without question, the best part. Hilarious and subtly menacing by tricking Twi and Cadance into getting a flower that could've gotten them killed. He may be somewhat of a prankster now, but the charisma and neutral attributions to his character make him a treat to watch, especially when he rubs everyone the wrong way. And Glass of Water ain't exactly a good song, the visuals and franctic pace reinforce his character and disguise de Lancie's lack of singing talent well. Unfortunately, the plot is way too slow. Pinkie's a flanderized airhead. Twi and Cadance were easily convinced by a character they (especially Twi) know she shouldn't trust him. Some — if not all — of the pop culture references during the song are very blatant, giving the scenes great risk of becoming very dated in the future. And the vocabulary is way too repetitive given the franchise's base market (six and up). An above-average episode, but Discord's breathtaking comedy is worth it.
     
    9. Twilight's Kingdom: This is an episode where so much was on the line, as it should. Tirek was ruthless, manipulative, and tyrannical. He wouldn't let anyone interfere in his conquest. The fight between Tirek and Twilight is easily the most action-packed and violent fight in the show; even in its current state, the fact that FIM still retained the TV-Y rating surprised me. And the whole Discord arc arrives full circle, now a part of the family with him gaining Twilight's trust and friendship. When it got epic, it really got epic! That said, the plot is marred by stupidity, poor dialogue, mechanical lyrics from You'll Play Your Part, poor pacing, and unpleasant graphic design featured in the final act in Part 2. I like it, and it's very satisfactorily, but objectively, an above-average finale. You can read my whole review here.
     
    10. Inspiration Manifestation: A bit of a surprise for me. Only the second Spike episode I like nowadays (Secret of My Excess the other). Spike had some nice characterization early on. Inspiration Manifestion (the book) brought some really great moments with Rarity going crazy in her creativity, from doing things small to becoming addicted and imposing her corrupted will on everyone in Ponyville. The yellow-brick-road reference was very clever and contributed to the anticlimax. That said, some big problems. Rarity's overdramatic whining was out of place and flanderized her. The "who" joke never got funny. And the biggest issue: the conflict went too long: By basically tagging along Rarity and glowing praise during Acts 1 and 2, the conflict started to plod on his side. As for Spike himself, there's a line between being naive and being stupid. As he continued to blindly support Rarity, he crossed it, even during his dilemma before the last commercial hit. If he realized it much sooner (maybe midway in Act 2), then you could do something about it. Overall, above-average.
     
    11. Daring Don't: From a quality perspective, it sucks. It's easily one of the worst episodes this season (either third- or fourth-worst in my calculations). Continuity from Read It and Weep (Daring Do being a Dash recolor so Dash can connect to her and become her fantastically) was swiped away. The pacing was all over the place and had absolutely no flow, ruining the foreshadowing. Rainbow Dash's characterization and growth are put into serious question. The fan/creator relationship (even from a meta level) wasn't told well at all. Almost all of the M6 minus Dash and Twi are background ponies. There were plenty of really stupid moments (the M6 watching the fighting scene instead of helping Daring Do, Dash being a bumbling idiot while tag-teaming with Do in Act 2). But I simply can't help but like it. Maybe because of the charm that's there, some of the comedy, foreshadowing, and potential in the worldbuilding. If it weren't for Rainbow Falls, Equestria Games, Somepony…, and It Ain't Easy Bein' Breezies, this would be the worst episode this season.

    Meh:


    12. Power Ponies: This episode is, well…conflicting. At one point, I was very excited to see how Spike's role as a secondary butt of jokes was going to be stabbed at. While it's done hilariously, it was very poorly paced. The way that can be noticed is by all the info-dumping, especially the repetitiveness of it. When you have to cram this point in the script every few minutes, it becomes moot, and I tell the screen, "Get on with it already!" It also doesn't help when Fluttershy decided to abandon her friends during the middle of an important fight. (As a FS fan, the flanderization here is plain dumb!) But some things were done right: the humor, the henchponies keeping the M6 frozen after every few minutes, the cheesy "mane" puns from Mane-iac, and how Spike was the one saving the day in a self-contained episode. So, personally, average, but a bad performance.
     
    13. Maud Pie: For a couple of days, I had no idea where to place the latest episode, but I do now. Maud Pie is a very interesting and relatable character with a tremendous amount of passion despite showing very little enthusiasm in her voice. The storytelling isn't all that clumsy, and it doesn't rely exclusively on exposition, instead showing the conflicts and consequences. And the fact that Pinkie really desires to have her friends be friends with her sister enforces Pinkie's biggest quality: being happy as the result of the others being happy. The way the social awkwardness (particularly the expectation Pinkie laid out for them) made it all pretty plausible, and I can appreciate them trying to get along better with Maud without trying to look incompetent and stupid. Unlike several other episodes this season (a.k.a., Daring Don't), the Remane Five were there for a good reason and shared plenty of screentime.
     
    On the flipside, there are many issues to cover. Firstly, the climax was contrived: You could've had Dash race to rescue Pinkie while Maud jackhammers through the rock. Its pacing was very wonky, starting from slow and then speeding up to the end. Surprisingly, the animation isn't all that polished, either, as in-betweens and keyframes are much more visible to the naked eye. Spike wasn't written in at all, making his association with the Mane 6 becoming more and more of an afterthought. Although this episode is as much a character study as a comedy, Maud's other interests revolve around rocks, which makes her look very two-dimensional as a first impression; if you varied it and introduced something new that have her focused on other interests, then you could've kept her introverted personality yet make her more interesting upon seeing her for the first time. To make it worse, her introverted passion and overall dryness of the humor are overplayed, risking a severe detachment of her character to many viewers and making her boring; don't beat a dead horse. Also, there's way too much exposition among the Mane Six, forcing the scenes to suddenly pause or end. Because MP tells too much, the morals and overall theme lack focus, going from one to another without any time to delve into them. Lastly, the episode — inadvertently or otherwise — wants you to laugh at how uncomfortable the Remane Five are in response to Maud, but then suddenly criticizes the audience for laughing in the first place. Dry humor has an appeal, but it got too dry sometimes, and it would've been far better if some of the scenes and responses weren't played for laughs.
     
    Compared to IAEBB and StWOM, MP has many good qualities, and there's enough to call it decent, if not good, from an objective quality perspective. On the other hand, because there are many issues that hold MP back and don't fulfill its potential. I don't like it, but I don't dislike it, either. It's a shame, because I was really looking forward to it, and I really wanted to like it. Maybe I will sometime in the future, maybe I won't. That'll depend on my future feelings with MP.
     
    14. Filli Vanilli: I think all of you here know why, but I'll do it, anyway. Fluttershy's stage fright was explored, this time when exposing her singing talent. Big Mac gets a role beyond saying "Eeyup!" all the time. The many continuity nods don't ram you on the head (Flutterguy, Rarity learning from Green Isn't Your Color, Fluttershy the one responsible for spreading the Ponytones's popularity in Ponyville).
     
    But a few problems exist. The Remane Five stared in disbelief over her beautiful singing voice (as if Find a Pet and her other songs don't matter ); sure, you get a subtle clue, but it's too subtle to be noticed immediately, causing the continuity from several episodes (including Hearth's Warming Eve) to overlap. Zecora was Miss Plot Device again. Continuity from Hearth's Warming Eve wasn't fully paid attention to (from that episode, Fluttershy was on stage as a side character instead of a lead role, but she was very important; it would've been better if that was addressed somehow). Lastly, Pinkie Pie was not just an out of character idiot, but an insufferable asshole that the audience was supposed to laugh at and find it okay! Pinkie's behavior wasn't okay in the slightest, and the fact that it was written to be a good thing is inexcusable. And not just breaking character to Fluttershy (disregarding her morals in Griffon the Brush Off and the lessons she learned up to this point), but also to Big Mac by rubbing her victory in knowing that he was sick. In short, what would be loved and good is marred by Pinkie's offensive behavior.
     
    15. Leap of Faith: One of Haber's biggest weaknesses is how he tends to follow the cliché down to a "T" without really altering anything to make it refreshing, a similar problem with CM-ia and Simple Ways. Here, one of AJ's strengths is her characterization to a certain degree. The Flim Flam brothers are still very funny. The moral — telling the truth may be hard and hurt others, but lying hurts even more — is mature. But it's marred by a few things, starting with the formulaic "placebo effect" cliché and lack of subtlety in its subtext. Secondly, Silver Shill doesn't have a strong personality; although he learns his lesson, his realization is weak and relies on formulaic dialogue. Finally, the plan was very obvious from the start and had to rely on stupidity just to fool everyone. By far, season four's most average episode.

    Dislike it:


    16. Simple Ways: While Trenderhoof isn't a jerk, he's an extremely flat character who served one purpose: to force the plot along. Plot-induced stupidity and incompetence doesn't a good plot make and, after enough viewings, changes the viewing experience from fun to cringeworthy and obnoxious. This is the main issue here — how Rarity and TH turned into incompetent idiots and couldn't really do their job right. While Rarity was funny initially, her forced Southern accent and stereotyping became a chore to watch, while AJ's accent and sensual behavior (even if "accidental") remained a laugh riot. It also doesn't help by how the moral was exposited and rushed, making it all anticlimactic. On the flipside, Spike's character is who he should be: sarcastic, deadpanning, but caring and didn't have his crush on her holding him back. Plus, so much crap went past the radar, I'm surprised it still holds the TV-Y rating. That said, it doesn't save SW from competing with Sweet and Elite as the worst Rarity episode.
     
    17. Bats!: Some things hold up: the M6 suffering bad consequences for forcibly altering the ecosystem, the song itself (Williams's second song this series), some of the humor with Pinkie ('cept her yelling and drilling into the ground ), Flutterbat, and the awesome visuals. Also, this is the first episode this season with a very solid pace from start to finish.
     
    Unfortunately, the fact that AJ and crew were villainized despite having a plausible worry of the bats chewing up the crops and Dash simply thinking of the cider don't help. In itself, the entire conflict was broken in favor of supporting Fluttershy's implausible, idealistic opinions. Moreover, the conflict between animal rights and protecting the farm was a stepping stone for the moral, marginalizing a really sensitive political issue into a hapless gimmick (something this show NEVER gets right!). I once liked it, but the issues bug me more and more, and the way the politics were poorly written hurt this episode (in both quality and enjoyment) tremendously.
     
    18. Princess Twilight Sparkle: Mechanical dialogue really stifles the flow. Then there's Pinkie being flanderized here and there. *glares at her tumbling down the stairs* Twilight, who was able to fly in MMC, was suddenly incompetent; the contrivance kept going for far too long. Zecora and the Alicorn potion is both a Deus Ex Machina as well as a cheap gimmick to push the script along. The pace was inconsistent, namely the second part and very quick flashbacks. The flashbacks and Tree itself hone in the idea that ponies' futures, specifically Twilight's, are predestined, the glaring plot hole that helped make Magical Mystery Cure the worst season finale thus far. The timeline was poorly constructed: While I'm sure McCarthy was trying to say that some time has passed since the pilot, the wording and importance of the event made it feel like only a year passed. Discord's appearance and antics, the action, animation, want to contribute and not screw up, and excellent solution to the Elements of Harmony concept helped prevented the premiere from being a dud. That said, it's still rather weak and possibly the worst two-part opener outside of the pilot.
     
    19. It Ain't Easy Being Breezies: Fluttershy's key episode, and so much doesn't add up. But first, Seabreeze is a jerk, but has a very good reason: He wants to get home before the portal closes, and he's the only one who seems to care about not just where he lives, but also his family. He's the only breezie with a sense of perspective. Secondly, the breezies are cute and don't rip off the G3 ponies. Thirdly, the main moral is very deep. Fluttershy learned that sometimes being kind and keeping someone complacent despite knowing they'd be in grave danger does more harm than good, and being firm is the kindest method. But there are several problems.
    The breezies are really cute and decently designed, but they're there for no other reason than to sell toys (both the M6 breezies and the others). Yeah, FIM may be a commercial, but it's a good commercial that usually disguises it. When you disguise it as poorly as Equestria Girls, you're doing it wrong.
    There's so much exposition, robbing the episode of any deep conflict and symbolizing the poor pacing throughout.
    Plenty of the humor fell flat. Dash's lines are bleh. Rarity's vanity made her look like an idiot. Just poor comedic timing. The only moment was the reversal of Sonic Rainboom in the prologue.
    The ending is dumb for a few reasons.
     
    a. It's a DEM.
     
    b. It showed the audience that the episode was almost over and makes this episode a chore to finish and later rewatch.
     
    c. Twilight was a background pony up to this point. Having her barge and memorize a spell we had no idea existed in a few hours is out of place.
     
    d. You question Twilight's character and how the writers resolve conflicts whenever she participates now. you risk making her an extreme know-it-all-type character that the writers can pluck out and solve conflicts five minutes in unless you dial back her IQ. You risk cheapening her other roles simply by having her do these powerful tricks. In other words, a character with a role equivalent to Celestia or Zecora (without the cryptic rhyming).
     
    e. Possible the biggest flaw: It marginalizes Fluttershy's epiphany by pushing her importance to the background.

    This episode feel flat from beginning to end and felt a lot like something out of G3. The lack of investment, blatant infomercial that'd give EQG a run for its money, and sloppy writing hurt IAEBB's credibility. Easily the fifth-worst episode in season four.
     
    Conversely, Levinger deserves some credit for doing whatever she can to hide the toyetic being. Rainbow Falls was lazy; Breezies actually had some effort to integrate the breezies, but the overbearing exposition told the audience she was trying too hard to hide the promotions, thus making the plugin more glaring.
     
    20. Trade Ya!: Three words describe TY!: messy, predictable, stupid. For a bit, this was an episode I hated, but not anymore. The plot is very formulaic, falling for every single cliché in their books and filling in . But the biggest problem is the horrendous characterization of the Mane Six. Not only are they out of character. They're also very stupid and incompetent! To quote my comment from its "Pick a Flaw" thread:
     

    Hate it:


    21. Flight to the Finish: How far it's fallen, from the low "like it" list to now one of four I hate. Which is a shame because Hearts Strong as Horses took some getting used to, but I've warmed up to it, and I now really like it, especially when Sweetie Belle's singing it. Although Dash doesn't show the professionalism till later, she retained the character growth, especially maturity, from seasons past, including Daring Don't. And Scootaloo's inability to fly was a very daring concept to focus on, and you can definitely relate to her. How Valentine approached Scootaloo's possible disability was really sweet and helped her grow as an individual.
     
    One big problem: DT and SS are flat antagonists again — carbon copies of each other. Because they were flat and were only there to antagonize Scootaloo via the lowest common denominator, they had no purpose to be there. In fact, their presence and low blow underminded the entire conflict. If Scootaloo came to this realization in some other way rather than having an underhanded and predictable bully gimmick intruding FttF, the conflict would've had more weight. As a result, I take this a bit more personally than Simple Ways's stupidity, PTS's sloppy gimmicks, and Breezie's shortcuts. Is it one of the worst episodes this season? Not even close. But I really can't help but feel really stung by it because the Disasterly Duo are catalysts for the main plot.
     
    22. Somepony to Watch Over Me: On the positive side, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are in character. The interruption of the song was absolutely hilarious. None of the Mane Six outside of AJ show up. Some of AJ's actions were funny. In the third act, the visuals, action scene, and chimera's design kick ass.
     
    On the flipside, Good God Almighty, the rest of the episode's a complete train wreck. Acts 1 and 2 revolve around AJ suddenly pampering Apple Bloom when it wasn't needed. When AB read the list aloud, the portrayal was suddenly going to hurt badly. When AJ completely ignored AB and instead replaced her rational, proud, well-thinking brain with the Piñata of Idiocy, she was turned into a complete caricature of herself. If this was a season one episode following Call of the Cutie, it would've worked in nicely and possibly resolve the continuity and characterization issues surrounding Bridle Gossip. It's extremely out of place now and COMPLETELY out of character of Applejack. She may be my least-favorite of the M6, but I like and respect her for being full of personality. That character was sacrificed for contrived stupidity that has no business being here.
     
    If that wasn't bad, the method the moral was approached was destructive. "Apple Bloom made a small mess, resulting in Applejack becoming Applestalker. But the fact that Bloom disobeyed AJ and nearly got herself killed is enough to become independent"? Without a doubt, the worst Applejack episode and third-worst episode in season four. I took the episode apart here.
     
    23. Equestria Games: The second-worst episode of the season and my second-most hated episode overall behind Rainbow Falls. Of the four episodes centering the Games, three of them emphasized it to a degree of major importance. Because of the way seasons three and four (and the web advertisements) hyped the arc, there was a level of anticipation for an event that was consider grander and more important than the Grand Galloping Gala. Instead, it was a pointless backdrop for Spike, concluding an arc that doesn't deserve its disrespect. Add contrived plot points and poor characterization of Spike from the halfway point onward, you got a disaster. Refer to my review for my ripping.
     
    24. Rainbow Falls: Derpy, the griffons, and the scenery were the only bright spots throughout. The rest of it was a bunch of sloppy, lazy bullshit. Objectively the worst episode in season four and my most hated episode of this series so far. Read my review to see how much I tore it.
     
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