Dark Qiviut

For the most part, "TV-Y" is about how to approach a topic without being lewd, vulgar, violent, or graphic about it. Addressing Maud's attitude and psyche will likely not affect it as long as the content itself is suitable for children. In the scenes where her matter-of-fact deadpan is a big factor, the way she and the others respond to each other is played to make you laugh. However, because she's actually serious and the Remane Five are uncomfortable around her, you're supposed to feel for her and question yourself why you laughed, as well.

I went with "other" as my choice, because the episode's biggest flaw (beyond the "YMMV" dryness of the humor) is how the episode wants you to laugh and criticize you for doing so. Throughout, the scenes, communication, and awkwardness of everything causes you to want to laugh. At the same time and later on, the writing and script of Maud Pie switches it around and ridicules you for it. Maud Pie would've been better if the scenes weren't played for laughs and instead focused on a more neutral, somewhat serious side in response to the awkwardness and miscommunication.

The answer isn't even close: Discord. Of the main villains here, he's the embodiment of chaos who cares for no one but himself. Besides his free-flowing, menacing, comedic personality, what makes him scarier is the fact that his motivation has no set goal. He wants Equestria to be his own personal playground; if he ever feels bored, he can recreate it whenever he wants, whatever he wants. His ability to improvise lies with a snap of his fingers.

This happens too often in school: the kid gets bullied and gets blamed for the bullying. Still, it doesn't become any less disgusting, and this is no exception. School administration decisions like these do nothing except force him to push his passion for Friendship Is Magic into the closet (something he apparently doesn't want to do, which should be commended) and validate the bullying.

That still doesn't give AJ a basis for her paranoia's origin. Starting in the beginning of Act 1, AJ's paranoia was becoming very obvious via the scroll and wish to put in trivial reminders. That's very off because AJ trusts her and knows she's competent, clever, and intelligent. Apple Bloom is capable of caring for herself over the next third of the day, and AJ knows it. If you're going to make her so paranoid that she'll willingly throw all of her trust she has for Apple Bloom away, give a good reason. "Just because the plot says so" doesn't cut it.

If this question was asked a few weeks ago (around where Pinkie Apple Pie was), I would've easily said Rarity, as her in-characterization was easily the most consistent. But with about two months left, the answer is much tougher. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie suffer from major characterization problems this season. Beyond Twilight Time, Castle Mane-ia, and PTS, her role as an alicorn princess is often either unrecognized or ignored entirely, reducing her to the middle-mare that either gives out bad advice, has no character, or is a DEM. Dash's characterization is very inconsistent. In character in Flight to the Finish. Very questionable in Daring Don't. WAY out of character in Rainbow Falls. Pinkie Pie has been VERY flanderized this season so far, more than last year. Rarity has started to become rather flanderized for the sake of drawing out humor (her entire performance in Simple Ways, her inability to design high-quality patterns and uniforms in Rainbow Falls, and thinking of her shiny fashion over the breezies despite being warned about their delicate touch in the intro). The true breath of fresh air came during Filli Vanilli as the support role for Fluttershy. Despite a massively flanderized personality in Rainbow Falls, Applejack was the most consistent… Then she hit a GIGANTIC brick wall in Somepony… Fluttershy suffered a major flanderization problem in Power Ponies and then had her fantastical point of view of the vampire fruit bats glorified to hone in a moral that had no purpose being there. In Rainbow Falls, her flanderization appeared again by actually being too developed and involved willingly. On the other hand, she's made huge strides since in Three's a Crowd, Filli Vanilli and It Ain't Easy Being Breezies. So, I'm stuck between Applejack and Fluttershy, but chose Fluttershy. I might reverse my choice sometime later. Spike. The Spikabuse has been a royal pain in the ass over the past three seasons. But here, his role is more or less confined to it minus PTS, CM-ia (and there, he still suffered from the slapstick ), PoP, and SW. But even after Power Ponies addressed and criticized his role, he's still there, and that episode is now portrayed as needless filler. His best role was obviously Simple Ways, where he was the one telling Rarity to calm down and got a headache from her stupidity. But that isn't enough. Second on this list is very debatable because there are so many choices. I'm going to go with Twilight myself because her character hasn't advanced at all. It's at a gigantic standstill where she's becoming the "get-out-of-jail" card for the writers lately. Of course, she's been in this role, but she had to experiment and wasn't very mature. But now she's the middle-mare who has the knowledge and rights. Since the pilot, TT's the lone one to deepen her character. Easily Pinkie Pride. Objectively, the best episode so far. This did something Magical Mystery Cure failed to do: write a twenty-minute musical without sacrificing objective quality. It's a rather simple story, but there's so much depth, and the characters are extremely in character. Each of the songs is fantastically written, and none of them feel like they've been shortened for time, something MMC did (both figuratively and literally, as admitted by Daniel Ingram last year). On top of that, the animation was definitely out of this world with fantastic lighting, composition, transitions, and movement; the only exception is when Spike said, "I'm sorry," he wasn't seen again (the storyboarders and animators get the blame for this goof). When I saw this episode the first time, I loved it, and I only loved it more and more after each watch. There's so much depth in the writing, yet its pace is handled beautifully. Cheese Sandwich is an excellent foil to hone in the key, morals, and themes. Rarity Takes Manehattan is great as well, but Pinkie Pride handles the plot, animation, songs, and overall pacing better. RTM is easily in the top fifteen (if not top ten) for being so well-written; PP is in the top five. And there's more thing Pinkie Pride does so well and makes it stand out compared to the others this season: It keeps the morals ambiguous. You see Pinkie write the lessons she learned in the main journal, but you don't hear her recite them. By doing this, AKR and crew trust the audience into knowing what the morals are, don't let the morals interfere with the conflict, and inform how the lessons don't outweigh the each other. Rainbow Falls. Need I say more? This one is actually a lot more difficult than I'd thought it'd be. Despite FttF being a big flop, Scootaloo was definitely in character, and her relationship with the other CMCs and Rainbow Dash was organic. She was also very hilarious in both Twilight Time and Somepony to Watch Over Me. Then again, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are perhaps the most consistent and best written characters this season. Twilight Time brought them a really subtle, yet much needed change by adapting bits of their mentors' character traits while never abandoning their own. To play it safe, I went with Scootaloo, but depending on the upcoming episode with Sweetie Belle, that's subject to change. Cheese Sandwich. Geez, was he so good! Firstly, his characterization is so three-dimensional. He have the skillset Pinkie has (if not better), but is a fantastic planner with the ability to make everyone shine and happy, just like what Pinkie did to him when he was a filly. There's a full range of character: happiness, generosity, eagerness, the ability to make others happy, eccentricity, sadness, and guilt. He's Weird Al ponified, and just lights up a room. Furthermore, it was great to see him be a foil, but not an antagonist. (Pinkie Pie's ego and pride share that honor.) When their feud ended, they coexisted and planned the best party anypony could ask for. Also, the fact he existed demonstrates a very mature theme that wasn't explored in FIM (much less most family entertainment): What if there's another character who shares or uses a very similar skillset or talent to his advantage and does it just as well as, if not better than, you? On one hand, Pinkie Pie is an excellent party planner, but does it more sentimentally and in smaller capacities. On the other, Cheese used that skillset to perfection and really makes the occasion feel like a national holiday. In turn, Pinkie learned that just because this overlap exists doesn't mean you shouldn't abandon what you love to do nor accuse him or her as an enemy. She should use it to improve herself and better everyone around her. She grew without sacrificing any part of her character nor making her out of character. Coco Pommel is an easy second on this list because she does so well with so few lines. Right from the start, you can tell how hurt she was for helping Suri plagiarize Rarity's entire fashion line. From her posture, eyes, and overall relationship with Suri, you can tell she slaved over sewing the line. Even afterwards, she looked very uncomfortable with how Suri behaved so smugly. The way Rarity responded to her losing Fashion Week inspired her to make a name for herself and not be Suri's doormat: quitting as her intern and giving Rarity the trophy. As a reward, she got to make the costumes for Hinny of the Hills's next show. Those little moments can change a person and decide what he or she can do for him or herself, and Coco capitalized it. Pinkie Pride. Need I say more? Thus far, I'm the only one to vote for this. I don't like how season four has been handled currently. So far, it's my least-favorite and the only one I dislike. If it ended right now, season four is undoubtedly the worst one of FIM so far. Thankfully, there are nine episodes left and has time to catch up, but not much. There needs to be a better grasp on the quality control to keep it consistent. That said, there's still plenty to discuss what they've done right and wrong. First, some of the right: Two of the three times, when a bold subject is nailed, it really nails it. Rarity Takes Manehattan and Pinkie Pride tackle a very mature topic for any kind of entertainment, but they take plenty of time explaining it and don't sacrifice objectively good quality. Filli Vanilli tackles stage fright again, this time by having the crippling phobia from revealing her passion for singing before a large crowd. For the most part, it does a great job, but Pinkie's disastrous characterization ruined the quality. If Pinkie did nothing, it would've rivaled Hurricane Fluttershy as the best Fluttershy episode. So far, only one story with a really bold concept to truly fail was Flight to the finish for two reasons: a. The pacing is very wonky. FttF starts off rather slowly, but then starts to speed up before rushing at the end. Performing to wave Ponyville's flag was perceived to be the main conflict, but it's secondary. The main conflict doesn't start until halfway through. b. HOW the conflict with Scootaloo's possible disability was approached. One of my big peeves in this show is how one-dimensional Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have been lately. In One Bad Apple, they shared perfect "one-note-bully" personalities that help really bog the episode down. If you swap Sunset Shimmer's personality with theirs, they're a near-perfect match. FttF takes this one step further by shoving those two unnecessarily into the conflict. They not only retain the same lack of dimension, but they go for the obvious kill by attacking Scoots's inability to fly. Yes, they were written for me to hate the Disasterly Duo, but even THIS was too far, even for them. And in every scene up to the end, the story continues to remind how Scootaloo became so determined to fly thanks to their taunts. Their mental presence and attack prior underminded Scootaloo's goal and made the whole conflict cheap and hollow. If Scootaloo came to this realization in some other way rather than having an underhanded and forced bully gimmick intruding FttF, the conflict would've had more weight. The animation rarely slips up. In fact, it's made a tremendous leap in quality, taking advantage of the effects palette and overall composition to make a dynamic scene rather than relying on flat objects. The balcony scene during Pinkie's Lament, Twilight crying over a wounded Celestia during the first flashback, the chimera in Somepony to Watch Over Me, and the moment where the CMCs huddled in Twilight Time help prove how much Top Draw/DHX has pushed the restrictions and took full advantage of its capabilities. Top Draw/DHX aren't using Flash as a cheap gimmick for animation, but an important tool for high-quality animation without the expense. So far, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been the most consistently characterized this season. Discord himself is as hilarious as ever, taking advantage of his two outings to bring back hilariously dark gags that piss off others. Fluttershy has improved quite a bit since Rainbow Falls. Several of the one-shot characters are fantastic. Suri, Coco, and Cheese Sandwich are fine characters. Mane-iac is a guilty pleasure because she's funny, yet badly written. The Seeds of Discord were tremendous as a villain. Unlike Sombra last season, they were menacing and willing to raise hell once they grew. They did something from beginning to end. There are five undoubtedly good episodes this season: Pinkie Pride, Rarity Takes Manehattan, Twilight Time, Pinkie Apple Pie, and Castle Mane-ia. So, what went wrong for some of them? As usual, the pacing is a problem this season, although it's a bit better now. Each of the first six episodes have pacing problems. Sometimes they're too slow (FttF, Three's a Crowd, Rainbow Falls's second act). Other times, they include some filler (Twilight running back to Ponyville, only to return after Discord played mind games with her; Power Ponies). Occasionally, the story will flow and then hurry it up to hammer the conclusion and moral (CM-ia, IAEBB, FttF, SW). Sometimes they go so fast, the story doesn't properly develop (Power Ponies, PTS II, Daring Don't). Bats! was the first this season with a very solid pace; the beginning, middle, and end flow naturally. It's better now compared to its bad start, but it needs to do better. Quite often, the episodes rely on continuity as a key to write these episode, sometimes relying it so much, it distracts the audience from the rest of the episode. Continuity is very important in this series because the characters aren't static; they develop. But continuity is a tool. If you use it as a big backbone and reference it all the time, you tell your audience that you have no trust in your craft. Trust it, reference continuity when needed, and let the story flow. Starting from Rarity Takes Manehattan, there is much better pacing along with the integration of the community, one of the biggest strengths in seasons one through the first half of the third. However, this makes the first seven episodes and what we see from RTM onwards so disjointed. The first seven episodes feel like an episode on its own island, while RTM onward is season four-and-a-half. The characterization of the Mane Six (plus Spike) is extremely inconsistent. Each of them has suffered some very bad characterization, which I explained earlier. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Twilight are the biggest victims of flanderization this season. As much as I hate to say it, Rarity is not far behind. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were major, one-dimensional antagonists for Flight to the Finish. Fortunately, they have dimension in their Pinkie Pride cameo as well as Twilight Time (being the card to bring the conflict upon the CMCs). Way too much exposition. When to exposit so much, you're telling your audience a few things. a. The episode's pace is off, either really slow or really fast. b. You risk making the storytelling very clumsy. c. You take moments where there can be tension and nullify it. d. Sometimes the dialogue can become redundant and even dumb. I see so much tell, some moments that could've been really great don't have the impact if it was shown. Pinkie Apple Pie has a moment (twice) where it was told to Pinkie that the bottom of the family tree was smudged. It Ain't Easy Being Breezies relies on so much exposition, the conflict becomes clumsy upon the second act and holds little weight. DON'T tell us, show us. Far too many episodes not up to par this season. Somepony to Watch Over Me, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, Flight to the Finish, Rainbow Falls, Daring Don't, Power Ponies, Simple Ways, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and It Ain't Easy Being Breezies are anywhere from poor to downright terrible. Three of the last five are bad, Filli Vanilli and Twilight Time the lone exceptions. The quality control from now to the finale needs major improvement.

Emphatically yes. It wasn't just flanderization, but a complete nullification of not just AJ's character, but also her growth up to this point. Applejack knows how Apple Bloom behaves, what she does, and whatever happens in case of an emergency. For one thing, she's both competent and resourceful, not to mention capable to perform very dangerous stunts. *points at The Showstoppers, Cutie Mark Chronicles, and Family Appreciation Day* Furthermore, she has lived on the farm throughout her entire life and understands the ins and out of both safety and danger there; with her maturity, she's more than ready. After completing her chores, she doesn't need to be at SAA; she could spend the rest of the afternoon with other ponies in Ponyville like the Cutie Mark Crusaders or an extra lesson of Twilight Time if she's that interested in it. As far as Applejack is concerned, there have been episodes where she was protective, like Bridle Gossip, Call of the Cutie, and Over a Barrel. But in those three, she had thorough reasons for them, Bridle Gossip exempt because she was as out of character as the rest of the Mane Six for being too stupid, unlikeable, and stereotypical. In Somepony…, her worry was overexaggerated without plausible context, making her incompetent and stupid. Like what DryColt said on the second page, I have a big rebuttal in another thread. You can find it in its entirety here or in the excerpted passage below: