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.

There's a very good case for it, but I have it fourth below Toils; Testing 1, 2, 3; and Pinkie Pride. You get no argument, and I altered the text to fix it. It's definitely better than FIM1/2 (easily the weakest two-parter), but I still can't call it that good.

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

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. Unknown: N/A

It's possibly worse.

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.

Dat Cute Woona! <3 <--- Link to the artist's image.

Although Tales has a completely different art style compared to the original generation, Tales is officially G1. Agree with pretty much everything else, however. G3 and G3.5 get widely hated because they DESERVE to be hated. Both G3 and G3.5 are factually bad for several reasons: The conflicts are very shallow. The characters are flat notes. Writing? There's a difference between writing and plastering stuff on screen. Hell, G3 doesn't even respect its own continuity and wants you to like it. Some of the morals are hammered in at the last minute or create unfortunate implications. As far as G3.5 is concerned, the animation is horrid. The effort altogether is LAZY and treats the demographics they're talking to (five-year-old girls and their guardians) like shit. Those on here who think FIM should be watched with their brains turned off should watch an episode from G3 or G3.5, because that sorry excuse is used in practice here. FIM may be a moving commercial at times, but for the most part, they at least put a certain amount of effort (EQG notwithstanding). G3 and G3.5 are blatant toy commercials, and their writers don't care beyond their paycheck.