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Dark Qiviut

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  1. Dark Qiviut
    Notes: A few points to go through:
    The entire review will contain very heavy spoilers for the movie. As such, it's contained under a spoiler tag. If you haven't seen it and don't want to be spoiled, don't click and leave. There won't be any comparisons or contrasts with the TV series, judgment of whether the movie does something better or worse than the TV series, or whether continuity's reinforced or contradicted. No judgment of existing show characters as IC, OOC, and/or flanderized. The movie is being judged as a movie, not a continuation of the series. So if you're expecting me to praise or criticize the film for sticking true to or contradicting continuity, click back now.  
     
  2. Dark Qiviut
    Josh Haber extended his résumé quite a bit since joining FIM back in Season 4. During that time, he published and edited a combination of the good, the bad, and the average. He wrote really good episodes like Re-Mark and Bloom & Gloom, yet edited Season 6, the worst of the series, and helped write To Where and Back Again, FIM’s worst finale. For most of Season 7, he was absent while working on another show. One week ago, he made his return joining the Lady Writers as editor for Daring Done? In his first written episode since To Where, Haber showed his growth and wrote Season 7’s most surprising amethyst.
    Strengths:
    Colorful characters.
    Ponyville’s charm comes from its cast. With the tertiary and background characters, Mane is no exception. Just about every character in this episode is very likeable. Filthy Rich in his desire to find the right flower bouquet for his Spoiled wife. Mr. Breezy and Davenport in trying to improve customer service and sales. The flower trio using Rarity’s advice to select and sell bouquets easier. Townsponies weren’t only interested in listening to Rarity’s advice, but also receptive to each other. It feels like the town actually likes each other and wants to help one another.

    Pay attention very closely to two very clever continuity nods in the background.
    As the flower trio sold out, Granny and Grand Pear were next door in the booth the entire time, cluing those who watched The Perfect Pear they put the past and feud behind them permanently.

      In the beginning shot, look very closely:


    Apple Bloom and Burnt Oak conversing.
    >BM and Sugar Belle…
    Seriously, good to see the show continue building the relationship after a massive screwup.

    One of the ponies to catch my eye most was Daisy and how receptive and kind she was to Rarity the entire time. Only a few episodes ago, she and Diamond Cutter denigrated her behind her back and was part of the anti-Rarity boycott. It was one of the most out-of-character moments of the entire show, ’cause this normally sweet pony bashed a supposed friend. Here, it’s like none of that happened, and everything returned to normal. Thank Mama Celestia!

    However, the background characters share their role. Fluttershy, Dash, AJ, TS, SG, and Zecora do, too, in their own ways.
    Zecora: Over the years, she has appeared very sporadically, sometimes only making two appearances for an entire season. In her first speaking appearance since Re-Mark, she clearly points out which item is which. True, Zecora could’ve labeled them, but the conflict and accident aren’t her fault whatsoever and, thus, not a flaw in the episode at all. She pointed with her hoof which is the shampoo and which is the remover potion. Rarity’s accident caused the mix-up.

    Telling Rarity to conclude Act 2 she can’t brew a potion in time is a breath of fresh air, particularly in a show where magic’s sometimes considered the be-all end-all. To conclude Act 2 or the episode as a whole with Zecora saying she got one available right now would be as anticlimactic as Dragon Quest. Fluttershy, RD, and AJ: Like any good friend, they try fixing Rarity’s mane as a last resort. Each of their choice for wig works, because they’re familiar with the items they share with her: tree leaves, cloud moisture, and straw. Rarity desperately wants to be in the photo shoot, but can’t with her mane so messy, and with their last resort being a failure, it leads to Rarity having to cancel. Why does this work? Because they’re doing whatever they can to help her. Their wig creations are intended to help Rarity, and both she and the audience get it.
    Twilight & Starlight: They, too, tried their best to help. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
    Although there was a clever callback to Re-Mark: More about them a little later.
    Of the RM7, the character that got my attention the most was Applejack. Over the past few seasons, when they communicate, it’s if they can’t stand each other rather than the opposite (Made in Manehattan exempt). Here, after Rarity sulked to the point of downing tubs of ice cream, AJ turned on the light and had enough. This is exactly who she should be: honest to the point of saying the uncomfortable truth, yet do so because she cares for her.

    Now, a good episode doesn’t require background ponies to be involved in the episode. But when done right, it makes Ponyville feel more like a town and community. It does that here.

    Rarity.

    It ain’t a good episode if the star isn’t written well. She was written well here. Every line she spoke oozed with personality: confident, sassy, vain, unsure, hopeless, upset. She reacted to specific situations she was involved in, whether it’s having super-sticky string bound to her body, accidently applying remover potion on her mane, and so forth.

    One criticism I noticed of this episode from an analyst is he called the salesponies in the town dumb for not recognizing Rarity under her black cloak. There’s a problem with the argument. Rarity completely covered her entire body aside from her hooves and face with a large cloak. When Rose tried to peak underneath, Rarity shyly refused from fear of ostracization and embarrassment. A few times, she pulled her hood down, once after opening Mr. Breezy’s door and as she headed to Davenport’s auction, possibly to keep her identity hidden.

    By how the episode was structured, Rarity apparently looked forward into taking part of Vanity Mare and Photo Finish’s photoshoot. How long? Not stated. Although you can guess it was scheduled well in advance. Her self-assurance was obvious throughout the opener by how she used her mane proudly during the three scenes. Being no shortage of ego, it ain’t a surprising for her to flash or focus her proud locks.

    The accident was so sudden and so close to the date of the shoot that she was desperate in trying anything to fix it. Borrow a Crystal Pony’s glass-like mane, mask it with a beautiful dress, use a cloud or straw, have Zecora quick-brew a potion to revert the mane to its original state. When her wig options dried out, she was forced to cancel her shoot, which she longed planned for and visibly upset her.

    From all the buildup and the RM4 worrying about her wellbeing, her iconic meltdown isn’t treated as a joke. Her disappointment and sadness are real. Nothing is exaggerated. Consider this: If by chance you lose your hair through some kind of accident before some kind of important event, how would you feel? It makes sense in Rarity’s character to be so upset. Good for DHX and Haber to treat her situation seriously.

    When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

    Getting back to Starlight and Twilight, some lines grabbed my attention:
    How significant are these lines? Very.

    A magical boundary within this world is established. It doesn’t matter how rich the world of ponies is. Without rules, you arbitrarily pull solutions out of your basket. Worldbuilding is fun, but it’s equally important to sit back and cut off possible shortcuts. Look no further than Twilight having only a few minutes to become one with a book and griffons never getting cutie marks.

    Twilight, Starlight, and Zecora (from earlier) inform and remind her that magic doesn’t come out of thin air. You need something of substance to create the magic. Rarity’s mane is so shredded and damaged by Zecora’s remover potion that re-growing her mane with magic’s even riskier.

    So, what about the mustache and poison joke?
    The mustache temporarily grows above the lip. At some point, it either disappears or falls off. Rarity pleaded to grow her mane back to what it used to be as a permanent solution. Rarity’s mane and tail were fully grown when the poison joke made dreadlocks out of her fur and hair. With most of her violet hair missing, there’s no guarantee if she’ll be poisoned the same way. Once more, the poison is temporary; a bath reverts the joke.
    Mane sticks to their established guidelines of Equestrian magic. Like Zecora’s quick brew, finding a spell to revert the potion’s effects is anticlimactic and contrived, neither of which this episode needs.

    More importantly, they set up the platitude expressed by AJ and FS:
    Older than time, but its truism helps circulate it and not expire. Rarity is one such pony capable of turning around a worst-case scenario. Just two questions: How can she overcome this horrific problem, and what can her friends do to help her?

    Twilight answers the latter:
    With Rarity at her lowest point in a few years, comforting her makes sense. This trek commences this conversation chain, including feeling guilty for canceling her photoshoot and believing to be a fad the entire time, her friends reminding her of the goals she accomplished, and Twilight nudging a lesson of self-confidence to get by her difficult situation.

    Here, we’re reminded of one important detail: Throughout Act 2, she assumed that ponies looked at her differently because her mane is missing. Again, that’s not true. Everyone she came across knows her for her pizzazz, ability to help others, and inherent command for attention. How big of an ego does the Element of Generosity have? Really big. Yet, they never ostracized her for not being pretty. She isolated herself and desired to blend in, an act they see as out of character of her if they knew it was her. Rarity was so shy around the merchants that she refused attention. The townsponies weren’t acting like jerks at any point.

    So, with the barriers of what ponies can’t do with magic, Rarity’s desperation and depression, and their words of encouragement, what do you get? Three things:
    Reinvigoration of Rarity’s self-worth. Kickass Rari-punk mane.
    And one of the cleverest and smartest resolutions of the series. Although she canceled the shoot, her decision worked out for everyone. Rarity’s lavender order was left over, so Filthy was able to give his spoiled wife bouquets of her flowers for Mare’s Day. Mr. Breezy relocated his large fan outside his shop, allowing traffic to interact with it firsthand. Davenport’s chaise is sold. Everyone picked up the best possible. (Good for the show to have Rarity’s mane grow naturally.)

    Yet, if that wasn’t enough…

    Warm cup of karma.

    Although Rarity canceled the shoot, Photo Finish took pictures of her as she ventured through Ponyville, courtesy of her friends.

    Sure, this ending is sorta Hollywood-ish, but Rarity underwent a literal bad hair day and then attached her newfound look to spread goodwill to everypony that having her front and center of Vanity Mare magazine makes sense. Negotiating with Photo reinforces how much they care for Rarity and will do anything to make her feel better. Mane comes full circle with the ending.

    Good at what it doesn’t do!

    Back when I first heard about Mane, I was concerned. Coming to the episode, my two biggest fears were:
    Rarity’s worst personality trait reemerges: her judgmentalism. Occasionally, sound bites of prejudice spew out of her mouth, most notably her racism towards Zecora in Bridle Gossip. Witnessing one of the most groundbreaking characters in the series showing a prejudice to bald ponies would seriously damage her rep.
    An unfortunate implication of the story belittling cancer patients. How would that be represented? Rarity or any pony treating somepony bald or becoming bald differently than folks with a full mane. Ponyville treating Rarity differently for losing her hair. Magically growing her mane back after melting down for losing it. The idea of baldness as the worst possible thing. Neither happens.
    Her mane grows back naturally a few months later.
    Rather than vanity or prejudice, self-confidence during the heat of a sudden crisis is Mane’s overarching theme. Rarity assumes ponies will treat those without (good) manes differently. Instead, no one insults, shuns, or intentionally shames her. Self-embarrassment by her destroyed locks causes her to cloud her own judgment and believe her own livelihood is a lie. After Twilight reassures her that her lost mane shouldn’t destroy her self-worth, Rarity takes what should be the worst-case scenario into the best. Until here, Rarity’s confidence was never tested, and this plot rounds her character more.
    Credit to @Jeric for helping me provide info for this section.
    Weaknesses:
    Clean Up on Aisle 19!

    Every episode can use a cleanup, and Mane ain’t no exception.

    The dialogue can use some better editing and more varied vocabulary. How many times does the episode use the word “mane”? Forty-one. That’s way too much! Dash herself said the word “awesome” thrice. Varying the word choice and cutting down the repetition will allow the dialogue flow a bit more. If you ask me which bothers me more, it’s Dash’s “awesome.” These days, that word has become a catchall identification for her, when she’s more than capable of using others. At least, multiple ponies rather than just one used “mane”.

    The script’s repetitive vocabulary also made the moral of shining from the inside out really heavy. Saying it once as Rarity changed into Punk Rarity is fine. But to do it twice more pushes it.

    Shake off the excess.

    The opener takes too long to establish some level of conflict. Usually a minute long, the theme song doesn’t play until three minutes in. For a 22-minute episode, that’s excessive and slow. The message can begin more effectively by either rearranging the song’s placement — perhaps after ordering the lavender bouquets — or trimming some of the runtime in the market.

    Mane-ly forgotten.

    After Pinkie accidentally applied Zecora’s shampoo on Pound and Pumpkin Cake, the episode focused the entire time on Rarity. No mention of her at any point until a few minutes before the end. Considering she was the catalyst for the conflict, her absence left a gap in the story and felt like she was re-inserted to tie it all up.

    Nevertheless…

    Nice ‘do.
    Conclusion:

    Well, well, well, what a pleasant surprise. Out of every episode in the second half, this one worried me the most. Prior to Daring Done? (the episode preceding Mane), I was looking forward to DD more. Why? Blame the synopses. That said, the actual story is something very different. I’m really surprised by how I enjoy Mane more, Mane is (in over quality) better than DD?, and none of my fears came true.

    In Haber’s first story since co-writing To Where and Back Again, he shows his FIM touch. Rarity has easily one of her best appearances in quite a while. The rest of the mane cast is also well done, especially Applejack. Zecora’s first speaking appearance since Re-Mark brings her to the familiar role, yet at the same time showed how she can’t solve all problems. No background or tertiary character is a jerk, reviving and sticking true to that refreshing (albeit familiar) welcoming atmosphere the show proudly presents itself in. A guideline of magic was both established and stuck to, providing Rarity (and the episode itself) the opportunity to twist the story’s formula. Mission accomplished!
  3. Dark Qiviut
    I made it clear to some of my friends, but for those here, no, I haven't watched the FIM Movie yet and am steering clear of spoilers for the time being. That won't be long, though. Earlier this evening, I bought a ticket and will see it tomorrow.
    And with seeing it may come forth a review.
    Now, unlike past reviews for this series, if I write one, it's gonna be a little different in a few ways.
    The animation and music will be talked about and judged.

    Traditionally, I don't, because they're really well done, and my focus is primarily the story. The only times I talk about them are when they do something extraordinary or if they screw up in some way. Unlike the rest of the series, the FIM Movie is animated in Toon Boom Harmony, a completely different program. A different program and theatrical release mean new character models, revised set design, and different animation movement and style. The music is performed through an orchestra, so you're gonna get a different type of feel for it than the show. There won't be exact lines of dialogue quoted in the review. I'm able to do it in ones for the comics and episodes, because I can read or watch them online, where they're readily available. Every episode and EQG flick has a transcript in the FIM Wiki. That's not the case for the FIM Movie. I'm paying $15 to go to a theater, so the best I can do is paraphrase it. I'm gonna have to retain a general sense of what the plot will be and what the characters do and will read plot spoilers afterwards as a reminder. And, no, I won't read any transcript for the movie until it's released for home viewing.

    Once it gets released, and if I desire to rewatch it, I might edit it to include lines to indicate which are significant in a positive or negative sense. NO continuity references, comparisons, or contrasts. NO judgment of continuity being reinforced or contradicted. I won't judge existing characters as in character, out of character, flanderized, or a combination. Whether any of the Mane Six are given solid development, balanced, not shifted to the background, and don't act flat are what I'll generally look for.

    The villains and new heroes: the same thing. Since they're brand-new, I'll be judging their development (including whether the character is underdeveloped or not), believability of their motives, richness of personality (or lack thereof), stereotypical or not. The entire review will be hidden under the "spoiler" tag. Many still haven't seen it, and the movie is getting released internationally at later dates. So, out of respect, I'll keep it completely hidden. If I edit the review further in the future, perhaps I'll un-spoil it. It's getting a little obvious what I plan to do, but for those who still wonder, I will judge the MLP Movie as a self-contained movie, NOT a continuation of the TV series! Why? If I treat it like it's part of the series, then I'm being unfair to not only the movie I'm watching, but also the rest of the series that came before it. Yes, Big Jim stated on Twitter it takes place between seasons 7 and 8, but this movie should hook people who'd never seen FIM before and wonder if it's worth watching. The FIM Movie is its own entity and ought to be judged on its own merits.
  5. Dark Qiviut
    Note: Credit goes to @ChB, @King Clark, @AlexanderThrond, @Jeric, WaterPulse, and Razgriz for this review.
    FIM (and by extension, bronydom) is close to seven years old. Over the years, the characters grew into lovable role models and inspirations. Each has their own reasons for watching, loving, and sticking with the show. Through thick and thin, FIM's overcome turbulent times, yet succeeded. How long it'll last is to be determined. By extension, the brony fandom grew, underwent a whole bunch of drama, and grew some more. While Slice of Life was a love letter to the fanbase, Fame and Misfortune takes their own frustrations and responds in a really lazy, broken way. It's the Rainbow Falls of Season 7.
    Strengths:
    Glimhorse = Awesomehorse!

    All season, Starlight's been the best-written Mane character. In every episode she's been in, her roles make sense. She continues to grow into her own and is more and more one of the Mane cast. Even when the episode isn't as good as it should be, she's usually the best part.

    This episode is her best post-reformed appearance. Everything about her role fits perfectly. While the RM6 wrote in the journal, she was absent and had no knowledge about it. So the journal is new to her, and she can look at what's going on with a fresh mind. Simultaneously, she's treated like an actual, genuine part of the gang, not an ancillary member that the writers can plug in when the episode calls for it.

    Her best moments occur in two places:
    At the restaurant after Rarity ran away wailing after two patrons denigrated her behind her back. She took Rarity's reaction and what they said about her really hard. The chilling part is her bitter tone as she replied to Twilight: Combine that with her nasty glare, it's perhaps the angriest the audience has seen her. As Twilight went off to Sweet Apple Acres with AJ, she stayed behind. Her mannerisms and worried expressions show how much Rarity means to her and doesn't want her to get hurt. Moments like these implicate to the audience how much she values her as a friend. When I first began writing this review, I read a comment offsite accusing her of acting like a Deus Ex Machina, a criticism that makes no sense at all. If she's like one here, then she wouldn't be established until the climax or resolution and pops open an idea that wasn't established at any point in the series. Starlight was an important secondary character since the opener and had a major impact in all four acts. Just before she temporarily departed in Act 3, she told the ReMane 6 (and by extension, us) that she'll be back with something important.

    Coconut Cream & Toola Roola.

    These two fillies, based on their G3/G3.5 depictions under the same names, are good characters. What makes them strong is, yes, they argue petulantly, but they argue like children. When Twilight stops them, she shows them an important moral to learn from and decide to try. Even with the little screentime, they grow in each successive appearance. Whether they'll appear or not anytime soon I don't know. Personally, I hope they do. This may depend on the VAs (who are kids) themselves.

    Strong melody.

    The melody for We're a Work in Progress is really good. It's positive, uplifting, and inspirational. All the qualities that help hone the welcoming backdrop and make FIM's world so endearing.
    Weaknesses:
    Handwaved continuity.

    There are at least four continuity errors, two of them major. Like my RF review, instead of a brief summary, here's a fuller list:
    They learned that lesson from Return of Harmony. The season 2 premiere. The journal didn't debut until season four. Unless they stated to add them in later (which they didn't directly), it should be only S4 lessons, not a mesh of all four together.
    The fact that everyone suddenly wanted to know about what they learned. Once they published it, they became popular and unpopular. Why does this not make sense from a continuity perspective?

    Ever since they defeated Nightmare Moon, Ponyville and Canterlot revered them as celebrities. Sure, other episodes within the earlier seasons had this type of occurrence before, ala 'Shy from Green Isn't Your Color. But Green is from season one, when the characters and world still grew. At the time, it was mostly Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Everfree Forest, So the writers could get away with that.

    Nowadays, the Forest has no more plot utilization, and the world has expanded beyond not just Ponyville and Canterlot, but Equestria altogether. In RoH, Celestia rewarded their victory with a celebration and stained-glass window. They saved The Crystal Empire from Sombra. Twilight became a princess. After defeating Tirek and saving all of Equestria, they and Spike became responsible for spreading the Magic of Friendship across the world. You get the point.

    If this was a early-season episode (seasons one through two), then their sudden popularity would be believable. This is season seven. They're international celebrities. If they were interested in the journal and lessons, they would've done so long ago. Particularly the ponies from Ponyville. More about this later.
    The CMCs' sudden popularity makes no sense, either. They dipped into popularity contests twice (Confidential, Twilight Time). In Flight to the Finish, they were awarded the spot representing Ponyville for the opening ceremony. After Lost Mark, they became permanent celebrities and are sought for advice whenever they wonder where to either find their Mark or reconnect with it. Hell, they remark about their history of success during Forever Filly:


     
    So, why would they suddenly become really popular again now? And why would they conveniently skip over Twilight Time's lesson, which SB wrote in that same journal?
    In the Equestrian world, Daring Do is nothing but a figment of A.K. Yearling's and the Daring fandom's imagination. The RM6 know she's real, yet they respect Daring's/A.K.'s boundaries. She wants nothing but to be remembered as a quality children's storybook series. The entire Daring Do con is commemorated specifically for Daring the character, her world, and overall cast. The ending of both Don't and Stranger imply they (both the ReMane Six and Quibble) keep her identity and privacy a secret.

    But the RM6 out her in their journal. Not one of the seven, especially Dash nor Twilight, pause for one second to reconsider the consequences of unsolicitedly revealing Daring's secret identity — how big it'll be in the Daring fandom after reading something that should never have been revealed. They just go, "Screw common sense!! We'll publish it, anyway!"

    The continuity error's even worse when Dash directly references Don't after SG magically published several clean, refurbished copies.
    Dialogue, you disappoint me.

    A good chunk of the story's believability lowers considerably when the dialogue is often forced, and that's what happens here. Even though the RM7 and CMCs act in character and the two new fillies are portrayed like kids, sometimes the lines are mechanical, turning fully-dimensional and relatable characters into robots. It happened in many episodes prior, including Rainbow Falls, Trade Ya, Newbie Dash, and Buckball Season. Same thing here. Starlight, Toola, and Coconut spoke the most natural here.

    The most annoying points come after they remind the audience of the lessons they learned and, in particular, after Rarity ran off:
    Thanks, Twilight, for reminding us everything we all just saw seconds before. And loud enough so the snobby couple a few feet away could hear (yet didn't react due to plot contrivance).

    It gets worse when the ponies exposit, and there's a lot of it here. What's the golden principle in entertainment? Show, don't tell. In "children's" entertainment, even more crucial. By expositing so much, much of the seriousness and humor are sucked out, leaving behind an arid story.

    The tone will be mentioned later. But a repeated flaw in this show (and episode in general) isn't:

    A Whole Cruel World.

    The entire setting is really, really cruel. One or two days ago, the Mane Eight were among Equestria's biggest celebrities. Once they published the journals, they became pariahs. A group of leaders that (in the townsfolk's POV) deserve nothing except abuse. Wherever the script went, the RM6 felt miserable. And the more Twilight witnessed their pain, the more and more pain she felt, too. And how did all of Ponyville (or Canterlot) react? Selfishly.
    Rarity (the diner): Two background ponies talked shit behind her back. Neither of them clearly understand anything what the journals were supposed to say and went off on nothing except baseless assumptions. After she ran away, they feel oh so proud of themselves and pretend like it's no big deal. Not even Starlight's scolding through their thick heads worked.

    It's really unclear what they're supposed to portray. Is it supposed to be a jab at people for criticizing the writing within the episodes, missing the point in an episode, or hating Rarity's character? Any of the above, all, or none? Whatever the case is, it fails for five reasons. The lack of clarity already explained.
      The "stuck-up rich bitch" stereotype is enforced.
      Rarity underwent major trials that completely transformed her as a character. We as an audience saw that ride…but all they read is the result. To echo @Jeric in a chat with me, both RTM and Simple Ways showed her at really low lows. When all they read is how shitty you behaved, then they may have an awful impression of you regardless of outcome.
      Daisy, a well-known background pony from season one with a sweet (yet overly-dramatic) personality, bashed Rarity. For her to act like a snob is very out of character of her!
      The newspaper. Observe the 1.5/5 score in the shot linked above. The pony who read it really disliked it, and the couple's dissing only piled everything on. That one shot further muddles the point.
      Pinkie: It's one thing if they're tourists meeting Pinkie for the first time and wanting to get acquainted with her. All five — Carrot Top, Cherry Berry, Sassaflash, Berry Punch, and Coco Crusoe — are long-established background ponies dating back to season one. We've seen them help each other out so everyone's lives improve. They were seen at one point or another during The Smile Song; all but Coco and Sassaflash not only have very dedicated fanbases, but also actively followed, smiled, sang, and danced with her. Pinkie's presence was more than enough to make them all happy.
     
    Glad you said this, Pinkie, 'cause that doesn't make this scene okay! In fact, it makes it worse. Them knowing her for years and suddenly laugh AT her like complete jackasses does nothing but implicate that their happiness before and after Pinkie brightened their days is a façade.

    In fact, hold that quote.
      Dash: Bratty pegasi continue to pressure Dash and refuse to leave her alone. It's one thing if they truly were eager to hear more about her stories and adventures. It's another to rip out Twilight's lessons gleefully, pretend Twilight isn't even there, and act all smug about it. Dash wasn't happy with how poorly they treated her friend, but was forced to put up with it, since her "fanclub" is too stubborn to listen.
      Fluttershy: Several big problems: Like every other pony before them, all four adults are assholes. Or to be accurate, worse than just assholes. They're abusive, gang up on Fluttershy, and then put up a shoddy, lazy excuse just to be awful people. "Entitled to know"? "Why can't I be in the book"?!

    ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!

    There's NO excuse to gang up on her, period! One of the ponies here is Lemon Chiffon, who debuted in Mare Do Well. Previously, she had two hearts as her cutie mark. Here, a half-full glass of water mark along with a snooty, "masculine-sounding" voice. She resembles a lot like Lily Peet, a MTF brony "pundit" with a history of bashing bronies. I don't know or care if she laughed from that or not.

    If it's intentional, that's a line you never cross. Why? When you parody specific fans, it comes off as tacky at best and self-indulgent at worst. It tells the audience you have a very hostile opinion on not only specific members of your audience, but also the people you're trying to reach out to. Personally, if I'm parodied like this, I'd be really offended, because I'm treated like a caricature rather than a real person.

    If it's unintentional, then while the line ain't crossed, her attitude, voice, and mark are supposed to mock the "entitled fan" stereotype when FS stands up to them, three qualities Chiffon can't control. Sometimes intent doesn't equate result, yet the possible transphobic implications remain.
      This "gang" resembles PYHD's market scene, one of the worst of the series. Unlike the former, all of them debuted previously. These four characters and their so-called "personalities" are designed for this episode only. Good chance some or all of them will either never make an important appearance again or (hopefully) change to a more likeable personality.
      @AlexanderThrond brought up a great point in his review, and I'll expand on that. Fluttershy is used as a vessel to respond to the "criticism" (read: abuse in the episode's context) of their struggle to develop her, completely contradicting their intentions several seasons ago. From Luna Eclipsed until right around Rainbow Falls, her character stagnated, and her shyness was often reduced to comic relief. It looks even worse following an episode where she learns a very valuable lesson. When you flanderize a character like her after she underwent significant development in season one, you reduce her from three-dimensional to one-dimensional. Any long-time brony understands how this valid criticism of her didn't come out of thin air.

    During season four, DHX attempted to write better stories surrounding her, even when they aren't quite up to snuff: Bats!, Breezies, and Filli Vanilli. The following season, that criticism blossomed, and the flanderized Fluttershy has been absent ever since. The one episode showing Scaredyshy in S5 wasn't written as a daft joke: It expands a pointless scene from LE and explains why she hated Nightmare Night so much: She hates being pranked, and NMN without the pranks isn't fun. Without reading the valid criticisms, understanding them, and putting forth solid effort to fix this flaw, the Fluttershy we see today won't exist. Season five was great for her. Seasons six and seven are her best to date.
      It conveniently ignores It Ain't Easy Being Breezies. She had to assert herself through a very difficult action that she hated to make: kick out the breezies so they can continue their journey home. In her journal entry, she marks down how she had to learn that tough message. It's her very last journal entry that we witnessed, and it'd make sense if it were her last one in the journal, too. Not one time is it referenced, and it's ignored in order to continue using that journal as a forced plot device to dissuade. To handwave one of the most important episodes and subsequent lessons in her entire saga just to drive a point home makes the meta reference and payoff very deceitful.
      Rarity (boutique): The context behind the jump scare pile onto the torture. But why would Lemon Hearts (one of Twilight's friends from Canterlot) even be a part of the anti-Rarity hate mob in the first place? She'd know how much Rarity (and the rest of her friends back in Ponyville) mean to her, and she'd respect that. If she got upset, chances are she'd write or talk to Twilight.
      Applejack: No, they didn't bash her, pretend she didn't exist, laugh at her, or gang up on her. These are huge AJ fans.

    They're still assholes. Every single one of them show up at Sweet Apple Acres unannounced, immediately declare themselves to be part of her family without any consent, and force them to accommodate them, whether they like it or not. Big Mac, AJ, AB, and Granny not only moped as they slaved away for trespassers, but were actively distressed. Obviously, they want nothing to do with them, yet can't do anything about it since they're so outnumbered by this mob. All of them are terrible, but since she's my favorite character, the FS scene is my least-favorite.

    Oh, and Twilight? She's her own section.

    "Comedy."

    What this show does well often is the comedy. The jokes, timing, and corresponding tone can really make an episode funny. But when the jokes make no sense, forget it.

    The jokes suck for varying reasons, ranging from missing the point to the story's tone to hypocrisy of the meta "humor."

    The biggest offenses are the following (in airing order):
    Fluttershy writing her journal entry minuscule and nervously using the excuse of leaving room for others. This joke is very vague. Is it to reference her Timidshy past, or something?
      The mashed, rotten apple used to indicate AJ's lesson. Why the hell would she even smash an apple in there to begin with? She may not be the tidiest pony, but c'mon, man.
      Lemon Chiffon's voice and attitude so the audience can laugh at the "entitled fan" stereotype from all four who brigaded FS.
      This jump scare:
     
    By far the worst joke in the episode and second-worst grossout face of the season to this: If it's a jump scare, it's supposed to be a surprise. Rarity has a history of exaggerated faces, and both Twilight's and Starlight's distress/grimaces clue the audience that they'll hate what they'll see from her. Credit to @ChB for pointing this out.
      It takes up a good amount of the frame, and is drawn in exaggerated detail. The slowly-dripping mascara and level of intricacy for her mouth are no accident. It's done to be disgusting.
      The context surrounding it. The couple bashing her behind her back, reading the bad review in the newspaper as they dissed her, and Canterlot boycotting her in front of her boutique took a toll. Of the six who were tortured, Rarity had it the most devastated reaction.
      The entire scene with AJ is supposed to be a meta reference to her lack of popularity in the fandom and how little she appears in merch compared to the others. Unfortunately, what's supposed to be a gold mine for excellent meta jokes (including parodying the short end of the stick she received by the showrunners since Mane Attraction) is turned into a major missed opportunity. Just about every character who invaded SAA is established as far back as S1, including Cherry Berry (again) and Dinky Doo. This scene reinforces one of the episode's fatal flaws: the sudden treatment of the RM6 as celebrities.
      Context is key. If this was the first or early joke in order and rewritten a bit to make it seem like it's tens and eventually hundreds of happy tourists from abroad flocking in line at the entrance to meet her, then it's possible to make it work. Instead, every pony other than a specific few leading up to this scene live in town and trespass because of plot convenience. These ponies reinforce that context. AJ's statement of not liking the newfound popularity understates the chaos from SAA and their insufferable behavior.
     

    That line (and who it represents) is an imbecilic straw man. People complained about Twilight in season 4, because her characterization was boring, and rising her into princesshood put her on a much higher pedestal compared to the rest. Turning her into a princess means she takes part in ruling the kingdom and making sure none of her actions hurt Equestria.

    The Twilight of old appeared in Castle Mane-ia, yet what made her so lovable and her status played hooky until Twilight Time. Later episodes, Twilight's castle forming a round table (thus equalizing the Mane Six and Spike), and season five since rectified that, and the criticism has since dwindled considerably.
    So, how many jokes were successful? Two.
    Pinkie's party favors popping out of the journal once Dash opened her journal page.
      Twilight's face becoming flat as a pancake after AJ accidentally smashed her into the wall. Her exaggerated scowl and glare made it funny. Best joke of F&M. *closes "Twilight"*

    Even though this is an ensemble episode, Twilight receives the most focus. Each time she witnesses a caricature of fans attack/stalk her friends or is completely ignored herself, Twilight's confidence gets beaten down more and more. Like the others, she's tortured by the townsponies just to create a payoff (whether it's the punchline to a joke or otherwise), but the torture pornography helps ruin it, among other things.

    "Among other things" being the littler details. Recall how I called the dialogue a flaw: There's more to this problem generally. On two specific instances, the dialogue helped ruin the story.
    Here, Twilight both affirms and doubles down on an absolute viewpoint of what the journal and results should be: If you don't take the friendship lessons to heart, you're not to be listened to, even if you enjoy it. There's no homogenous way to enjoy a product. If there are ponies out there who enjoy the journal, but isn't fully invested in absorbing the lesson, so what? There's no one right way to enjoy it. I'll return to this point soon.
     
    …

    …

    …
    Where do I even start with this shit?

    F&M is FIM's third meta episode of the series. Only this time, the characters are portrayed as the showrunners' avatar, and those who are abusing the ReMane Seven represent the fans they're retorting. It's self-referential and doesn't hide it.

    When we as an audience criticize the Mane Eight, we don't usually do so because we hate the characters or expect the worst. We criticize because we know that this show is very good and has done great, yet can do better. As an audience, we relate to them in some way or another. It can be a mane pony, secondary, or background. Everyone has a preference of who they like and dislike. Nobody looks at a character exactly the same way. Guess what? That's okay. At the end of the day, we still love the characters as a whole and appreciate the show and staff for what they do.

    This "parody" is completely inaccurate in message, conflict, and theme. This exchange is the worst dialogue in the entire episode and causes the whole conflict to fall apart.
    They're characters, not real people. They exist only on screen, on paper, or within our own imaginations. It's the creators' job to flesh them out and make that character become high-quality and memorable. Neither the avatars nor antagonists are real.

    But in the universe, the characters ARE real and conquer major trials. Each time they wrote in the journal, they changed for the better, even after the episode sometimes doesn't work. Fluttershy after Breezies, Dash in Equestria Games following Rainbow Falls, Rarity after Simple Ways, etc. In canon, the characters aren't dictated by a writer's pencil or keyboard, because there, they don't exist. On the other hand, the antagonists see the autobiographical lessons as fiction and those who wrote them as fictional characters.
      Neither the antagonists nor protagonists are on equal conflict ground. The ponies questioning, bashing, stalking, and abusing the RM6 are treating them not as real people, but as either characters that we as readers want to replicate on paper and recreate or property that we can recycle. How the hell can the reporter — probably the one who released the 1.5/5-star rating, though that's just a guess — honestly believe the RM6 are fictional characters when he's talking to them directly? Once more, why do ponies from within their inner circles suddenly begin to see them as celebrities when they've known them for so long, anyway?

    This small exchange does nothing except tell the audience that all of these "antagonists" are straw men. Characters written to be proven wrong in order for the main characters to have the upper hand. What makes them so bad is that you're taking what could be valid points and eliminating them so the protagonists have the upper hand in everything they do. You're making what should be a complex conflict completely one-sided, thus telling parents that the episode — and show, if they watch it for the first time — is trying to emotionally manipulate children into viewing the plot through a black-and-white mentality. F&M uses real talking points from within the fandom, checks them off, and morphs them into abusive caricatures of fans rather than taking the good, bad, and recreating them into what fans as a whole truly are — people. In layman's terms, what could be a good lesson is morphed into a bad one. Straw characters helped ruin the Fluttershy Micro, Root of the Problem, Spice Up Your Life, AND here. NEVER use straw men to teach a lesson! Good melody, poor lyrics.
    While the musical melody for Work in Progress is good, the lyrics make the song the worst of the season. (Yes, worse than the duel between Big Mac and Stereo Pop.) The song (and by extension, the "we're not flawless" moral) is a loaded statement. Everyone knows the characters are flawed and how important the combination of both strengths and weaknesses makes the characters appealing, relatable, and memorable. Sometimes, the characters make really terrible mistakes, but what makes them work or not is whether these mistakes make sense or not. Sometimes the showrunners make sloppy, careless, or lazy mistakes, and people criticize the execution of the characters and story, because they love the show and know the writers can do much better, hope they learn from their mistakes, and hope these mistakes don't happen again.

    The "It's flawed" excuse is as stupid as "It's a kids' show." Flawed characters don't make up for poor characterization, worldbuilding, or writing overall. When you're a moral-driven cartoon with huge focus on likeable characters like this one, your reasons for characters (especially ones designed to be role models to children) to act like jerks must make sense. "In character" and "flawed" don't justify bad behavior.
    Think through your implications!

    Time and time again, the show has a history of not thinking through the unfortunate implications. Sometimes they're small and don't affect the story so drastically. Other times, they completely affect the entire story and moral. See DQ, Mare Do Well, OBA, and Hard to Say Anything.

    Here, the implications (in story and out, small and big) are abundant.
    The RM6 out Daring Do as real, invading her privacy.
      Pinkie's laughed at by ponies who's known her since at least season one, implying that their appreciation for her and friendships together are lies.
      The implications surrounding Lemon Chiffon.
      The fact that ponies from Canterlot and Ponyville suddenly become enamored at the idea of the RM6 publishing the journals. I wrote it earlier, and I repeat it. Place this episode in season one, adjust the story to remove the implications, and write better jokes, this is passable. Why? Because we still haven't fully acquainted with the Mane Six and Ponyville. But have Ponyville and Canterlot act like they never knew them from the beginning in a season-seven episode? A time when where they're celebrities and help spread the Magic of Friendship abroad? Nonsense! Do they genuinely care about the ReMane Six, or was their appreciation for them prior to F&M a waste of time?
      This moment, when White Lightning walks away, hurt by Lemon's insults of FS:
    This is supposed to represent how sometimes very vocal negativity can drive a wedge in discussion and may make people fear to express themselves. It becomes even worse when the person is brigaded by many like-minded negative people, creating a very toxic atmosphere. Toxicity goes both ways. "Toxic positivity" is as true as "toxic negativity."
      As far as the scene itself's concerned, the characters' fans and haters both attempted to trespass on Twilight's property, and it's assumed WL's part of that crowd. It's very difficult for me to pity her when she behaves as poorly as everyone else.
      The moral is really clunky. It's supposed to be about how despite a whole bunch of people trashing the work, as long as some enjoy it, the effort's worth it. But there's a difference in what you're trying to say and what you're saying. After the song and friendship speech, both sides resumed their bickering and feuding. The lesson paints all of the abuse as merely an obstacle of their next friendship quest. However, this isn't merely an obstacle. These fan clubs and haters are willingly or accidentally ruining their livelihoods. Rarity's boutiques remain boycotted; AJ still can't figure out how to eject her freeloading fanclub; Dash will still be nagged by brats in the sky; haters will still stalk and verbally abuse Fluttershy; and old friends will continue to treat Pinkie like an automatic laugh track. Only Twilight can deal with her problems post-credits. What happened here is not okay and shouldn't be handwaved for the sake of a cheap gag.
      Coconut Cream and Toola Roola are (apparently) a metaphor of the show's assumed primary demographic: young girls. Because of how self-referential Fame is, how those two fillies are the only ones not the ReMane Seven who are sympathetic, and how they're the only ones who actually the lessons to heart, it sends an unintended message that little girls who take the morals to heart are the only people who matter.

    What makes this toxic? Let's go back to Twilight's quote from before:
    Parallel this to the brony fandom and FIM. Would anyone want to take the lessons to heart if they're not entertained first and foremost? FIM's educational entertainment, the emphasis intentional. Everyone wants to be entertained when watching the show. But answering the question as this is a generalization. Critically think why you like the show. Why are you entertained when watching it? What entertains you about it? For some, it's easy, not so much for others. Bronydom is a fanbase of millions. Like human fingerprints, each reason why each brony — yes, little boys and girls count as bronies, too — watch the show and what they value most in the show is very individual. Could be the stories they tell for one, the colorful cast another. One may like the Mane Eight equally, some more than others, or have a dislike of at least one of them completely to the point where they can't stand 'em. For others, could be varying degrees of heart, humor, storytelling, and so forth. For another, how both kids and adults alike can watch it without shame. Hell, the morals of friendship they teach may be the primary reason a few watch it. How much they personally emphasize depends on their preference.
    Earlier this season, A Flurry of Emotions hinted this moral in the background; whether it's intentional or not doesn't matter. Spearhead creates abstract pieces of art with intent of witnessing other ponies' reactions and emotional experiences once they see them. He understands how each one reminds Cadance and SA of Flurry Heart and dearly missing her and that someone else will react really differently. He's explicitly open with this fact.
    No one watches the show the same way, either.

    To echo, Twilight and the entire premise affirm that if the ponies don't learn the friendship lessons and grow from them, then whether you like the journal or not, you're not worthy of being listened to. The moral in itself implicates this by using two fillies as tokens. Combine that thought to bronydom, and it implicates that you're only a fan if you take the friendship lessons and morals to heart; if you don't, you don't qualify for a fan.

    I doubt that's supposed to be that way. But from how the story's themes were presented and what the characters believed, it makes sense why many take it that way. Because that ideal, accidental or vice-versa, is dishonest in every facet. Some may love aspects of the journal, some may hate it. Others may have equal or less sharp reactions. You can control the content you put in, but not how they feel when they view it. How you, the ones who publish it, respond to it is up to you. Likewise, to repeat from before, no one will react to any FIM episode, comic, short, or EQG film/special the same. No professional material (episode, movie, comic, short, etc.) is free from questioning. Do they miss the point sometimes? Absolutely. All of us have done that, myself including. But when the characters behave out of character, you paint an uplifting and likeable world as cynical and mean-spirited for the sake of the story, and/or teach dishonest and hurtful messages, then criticizing and bashing the story's integrity is fair game.

    For that matter, and this is a message to everyone reading this review, people regardless of age are entitled to like and love the show how they see fit. People are entitled to dislike and even hate episodes. People are entitled to criticize episodes if they suck. People are entitled to take NO lessons to heart! Does any of this make them lesser of a fan than others? If your answer is yes, exit the page now.
    Aside from the mane characters, CMCs, and the other two fillies, everyone is a quarter-dimensional, abusive caricature of specific groups of fans. Each set Twilight encounters includes the entitled fan, collector, hate mob, brat, and freeloader. Swap lines within their groups, and their personalities are exactly the same regardless of who's speaking. There's no redeeming quality in anyone here.

    But what makes this really sad?

    a. Both kids and adults combined represent these stereotypes, including ALL adult fans. The fact that all of them are false representations of who fans are regardless of age talks down to not only adults who watch the show, but also little kids. The episode paints a broad brush on every antagonist by turning them all into one-note bullies. Every adult (both the lovers and haters) acting so petulant hurts the episode's themes, messages, and reinforces awful geek-centric stereotypes. On their own, the stereotypes are bad enough; it's even worse when using them to try to teach a moral to children.

    b. F&M doesn't isolate the criticism from the abuse and reacts very defensively to valid (and dated) talking points. Fans (including big Fluttershy fans, like myself) criticized her, because we know they can write her better. (We're seeing this now with AJ and her flanderization.) Ironically, the past three seasons are among her best of the series, thanks to the criticism. Even though he wasn't in the episode, Spike wouldn't have his best season last year had the fanbase not hammer them for their poor treatment of him for so long.

    c. As written before, these caricatures are straw men.

    d. Recall the quote:
    It applies to everyone, not only Pinkie. Most of the characters have been present since the pilot, a large chunk (i.e, Lyra, Bon Bon, Daisy, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Rose, Amethyst Star) with canonical characterizations prior. The background characters became beloved from their antics, spawning ideas, theories, and other creative forms of imagination. When characters do something with the mane characters, like help, sing, or dance, they tell us how much these ponies care for one another. Slice of Life works in so many ways, one of which is how much they care for each other and see others as part of Ponyville's soul. They actively helped Matilda and Cranky prepare an impromptu wedding and fussed little. The moral and animation presentation make it feel like they accomplished something.

    So, what do they accomplish here? Becoming ungrateful bastards. That's not what the show stands for. It's so out of character of the show's welcoming atmosphere and progressive morale.
    Rebuttals to some/common/eventual defenses for this episode.
    When all we see is everyone from Ponyville or Canterlot behave like assholes, you're telling us to assume that everyone from both towns behaves like this. The same logic applies to bronydom. When 99% of all the audience sees is badly-behaved fans, you paint an impression that this is not only the norm within the brony fandom, but that almost everyone who's a brony is some kind of "manchild." You're guilting people by association.
    If you're trying to suggest that it's only a portion, either SHOW a portion or clearly dictate that that these jerkasses, while very loud, don't represent the whole. Don't use real talking points. Consolidate the assholes to a spare few, while making the characters recognize throughout that kids and adults — not just two kids — do care about the journal and their well-being.

    Two episodes apply your defense much better than Fame:
    Spike's Search from G1. Stranger Than FF. Yes, Quibble can be an elitist and sometimes a bit of a jerk. But he's also a fan of Daring Do like the rest in the con, and the ep never lets you forget it. Just a fan of the first three books. It's very clear to the audience that he was only one bad apple within that entire con, yet the episode treats him as a genuinely good person who just got caught up. On top of that, he learns his lesson at the end. This entire episode is very laid back in tone, so the writers are able to get away with cartoony shenanigans, the satire, and a bunch of the humor.

    The Daring Do con is a satire of fandom conventions and their quirky charm. It shows us how dedicated many Do fans are, but the con is written in a way so the audience knows it's in good fun. We as people see ourselves in that con, but its accuracy and good-nature comedy make it funny. We laugh at ourselves by simultaneously laughing with the writers.

    BTW, thanks to Fame, I respect and appreciate Stranger now. Though I stand by on Quibble being OOC in the second half, I was wrong to call him a stereotype, and I was really unfair towards the episode the entire time.
      Self-deprecation comes primarily not at the audience's expense, but at their own. We're not laughing at ourselves, but at the situation the comedians are in. Rodney Dangerfield was amazing at it: He always never took himself seriously, knew that the audience and he were going to have a great time together, and was just an all-around good guy.

    You know who was great at making the audience laugh at themself? A hint: he just passed away. Don Rickles. He could deliver any type of insult at you. There was no line he couldn't cross. So why was he funny?
    Again, Rickles never took himself seriously. The lighthearted tone in his routines loosens the atmosphere and makes the audience more receptive to the jokes. Rickles knew how to insult you without getting personal. He put in the effort to make you laugh through his performance. If they laughed, then he succeeded. He roasted everyone and made them laugh so hard that they couldn't breathe. Despite his act on stage, he was an excellent person behind the scenes. The stories people tell about him show how good he was as a person. When he has that good of a reputation, the audience knows his insult routine is all in good fun. Some of his best roasts were to people he respected or were close friends with, like Sinatra and Reagan. In short, guilt-trip someone who's insulted to laugh at themself, the joke is neither good nor funny. It failed. To double-down and accuse them of being part of the problem is hypocritical.
    Like "SJW," "fanbrat," "fanboy/girl," and "alt-left," this pejorative jumped the shark. In fact, I hated it ever since I heard it. Why? Because it mocks people just for being able to feel. You're directly trolling people for sharing an emotional response. You mandate that people should act like robots or live in some kind of hive mind. Humanity doesn't work that way. Diversity helps shape up our world. You can't control people's emotions.

    Ironically, calling people "snowflakes" or "sensitive" is hypocritical, too, 'cause you're emotionally reacting to their emotion.

    "But why do you love Cutie Map, when it's one of the most cynical settings of the show?" Glad you asked, my imaginary questionnaire.
    This setting is completely confined into that town only, and both its presentation and Mane Six's reactions make it clear that what they see around them is not normal. Everyone's happiness is completely controlled. Starlight continually brainwashes Our Town's inhabitants into sticking to her ways, or else. Starlight was a ruthless, calculated control freak. Not to mention she was the villain. Something folks like her should do. If she wasn't so evil, then it won't make any sense. It was also very well written. DHX very carefully planned everything about that episode from beginning to end, and the Mane Six figured out how to solve a life-threatening friendship problem very cleverly. In short, TCM's about celebrating diversity and free will, not the opposite. It's cynicism done right.
    Congratulations for answering your own question. There's no place to treat real people and groups of real people like stereotypes in any show, especially one with intent to educate to children. The fact that we teach kids that (ageist) stereotypes are A-OK in entertainment makes me take it very seriously. This show is way better than this pandering schlock.

    The better the show, the more it respects kids. And, yes, kids DO care about lore/worldbuilding. If they don't, then why is magical thinking so important in children's development, and why do psychologists and high-quality children's educational shows (i.e., Arthur, Mister Rogers', Sesame Street, Shining Time Station, Magic School Bus, Dragon Tales) value it so much?
      In a June 2017 interview from The Hollywood Reporter, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner admitted that boys make up 30% of FIM's TV audience, and they no longer allegedly aim toys to a specific gender. Observe the recent trend of FIM being marketed to boys AND girls over the past year-plus. With Let Toys Be Toys campaigning for the desegregation of toys, Audi's Spanish branch publishing a car commercial satirizing gender roles, and companies like Target, Toys R Us, and TJ Maxx (for clothes) de-sexing aisles, this trend is only (hopefully) continuing.

    Focus that back to MLP. Zacherle founded the franchise as a unisex toyline, and MLP & Friends was for all ages regardless of gender. Faust and crew published FIM as an all-ages, gender-neutral show, too, and it's been that way since. The family-friendly approach and refusal to apply gender and age barriers onto their stories and world are two background reasons why the fandom became so enormous and boisterous.

    The point? "It's for kids" is a stupid excuse. Being for children shouldn't affect the quality of your product. To use it regardless of circumstance talks down to kids and treats them like idiots. Apply this to "it's for little girls," as well. Labeling FIM as for (little) girls shoves gender roles upon our children, segregates genders into categories, applies different standards of quality to girls when it should be universal, and treats girls as tokens to excuse misogyny and misandry. Being a "good girls' show" shouldn't matter. Be a good show, period.
      It's odd how no one has come forward to claim credit for the aired product. Larson repeatedly disassociated himself from this episode, both in ToonKritic's podcast and on Twitter.
     
    Big Jim was unaware, too:
    I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but given the visual and audio evidence, the theory of it being a lighthearted poke either originally or after submission to Hasbro deserves the benefit of the doubt.

    However, for the aired product, it's ridiculous to claim it's lighthearted when Ponyville and Canterlot treat them like crap and the characters become emotionally distressed and scared as a result. Unlike Best Night Ever, Slice of Life, and Stranger, the meta conflict and character reactions are supposed to be taken seriously. The tone and mood are played straight; both sides treat the matter as a really big deal. Laughing and grimacing at the stereotypes don't a satire make. That's why The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies isn't a parody (despite its intentions), and the same applies here.
    Razgriz made an excellent point last month when criticizing Fame, and I echo my reply on Discord to here with changes: You can't have a show without an audience. People watch and follow the show out of interest, admiration, and so on. They don't watch to get called out. It's a bad move to taunt any portion of the fanbase, because it can come across as an attack on the people you're not attacking. "Lighthearted fun" or "a portion" makes no difference. If you're going to respond to any group of fans, you BETTER know what you're doing.
    Rickles knew what he was doing when roasting people. Whoever ghostwrote this script didn't.
    If you have that thought, erase it. There's no excuse for anyone to abuse the showrunners, and I never condone it. I'm on record of being against it, sometimes replying to users angrily when they do. No matter how angry we get at episodes from time to time, these showrunners, animators, and editors are people. They earn as much respect as everyone else here. The criticism, even the harsh ones, are aimed at the product. If I criticize the company or showrunners, it's for their lack of effort if applicable because I know they do better, releasing something with stereotypes or harmful morals (since kids are impressionable), or their behavior if they cross a line (which I've done to no one but IDW's Ted Anderson for his sexism). But I don't get personal; that's a no-no under any circumstance.

    At the end of the day, DHX is an entity full of people like you and I.
    That "argument" is the most obvious self-fulfilling prophecy I've heard within fandom in quite some time.

    One thing the show does very well is it creates and enforces a very uplifting, inviting atmosphere. The pastel colors, likeable mane characters, likeable background ponies, idealistic solutions to friendship, and proactive approach to solving friendship problems tell the audience this isn't supposed to be that type of world where "realistic" doesn't translate into stereotypical cynicism. This was one of the themes when the show started, and it's shown by how Ponyville and Pinkie actively welcomed Twilight in the Golden Oak Library. Sometimes even when the episodes don't do as well, it stays true to its tone.

    Think about this. When were the episodes at their best? When it shoots up. Hurricane FS, Winter Wrap Up, Perfect Pear, Lost Frickin' Mark! Even when it doesn't do as well as it should, like A Friend in Deed, it still capitalizes on that welcoming, confident setting.

    OTOH, what are some of the biggest flaws in Mare Do Well, PYHD, Ponyville Confidential, Bats!, Filli Vanilli, 28PL, Newbie Dash, and Owl's Well? The mean-spirited tone. Everything about it is not only completely cynical, but also done in a way that completely beats down on the mane character and makes it act like the entire world is out to get them. When the setting dials up the mean-spirited tone, it makes the world they're living in very unpleasant to watch. Do so with an idealistic, uplifting world like FIM's, then it's done for no other reason than to serve the plot. If you're gonna present something mean, make it feel organic.

    Each time the series turned up this level of contrived cynicism, the quality of the atmosphere and overall story degrades. You're piling on cruelty again and again just because. Fame, to repeat it, has that same flaw. Ironically, it's similar to one of season 2's worst, which Larson wrote and took credit for:
    (Link to poster.)

    Replace the gossiping theme and CMCs with fandom and the ReMane Six, respectively, and you get the same episode. Remove the fandom allegories; all you have left is a town deciding to suddenly declare the ReMane Six famous and treat them like dirt just because they can.

    So, here's a question, and think about it long and hard. If Fame and Misfortune didn't include fandom allegories, would you grin viciously at this episode? Would you act like white supremacists following Trump's election victory and publish the vitriol in the first place?

    For a good chunk of you, chances are it's gonna be "no."

    That alone means Fame is a failure. This "bravery" is cowardice and a self-centered desire to air your dirty laundry as well as support the idea that kids should embrace lazy shortcuts of entertainment. Excusing this lowbrow shit is bad enough. To do so through this doesn't make this episode any better. In fact, you only make it worse.

    One final note.

    A few self-contained scenes completely contradict continuity…but I held out one more: the whole premise itself. There's no care in backstory, worldbuilding, and contextual logic in any way, shape, or form. Echoing WaterPulse offsite, it feels like the one(s) who ghostwrote it didn't give a damn about the Equestrian world or threw it all away just to drive home a point. If the story doesn't care about the rich, ever-growing world, why should your audience?
    Conclusion:
    Wow.

    Just…wow.

    Now, to give Fame some credit, it has a lot of potential. The material to create an excellent satire is there. We as a fandom have its strengths and flaws. A good, effective satire can allow the fandom to actually poke fun at itself: acknowledge the problems, yet do it that makes it funny and not anger-inducing. Stranger pulls it off rather effectively, particularly within that con and treatment of Quibble as a nice albeit stubborn guy. And apparently, this was supposed to be lighthearted, too.

    So, what the hell happened? Where's that traditional love and care for the audience? How did the show (which aired The Perfect Pear one episode prior) manage to publish an episode that was so wrapped up in trying to send a message to its audience that it forgot to write a story, much less a good one? Larson makes it known that plenty of it was ghostwritten during development, and the fact that nobody claimed responsibility for it is troublesome. That doesn't mean DHX doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Far from it. They're a reputable company, and the people within care about their craft and the quality they publish.

    I feel very sorry for Larson. Even though many of his ideas weren't his, laws require him to be credited for it. This episode as is feels out of character of him. Out of everyone who worked for the show, he's closest to the fandom. He may've screwed up on one satire, but that was due to story oversights, not spite. Additionally, in every episode he writes, he focuses a lot on sticking to the continuity and not contradict it; neither episode that keeps it in mind (this and MMC) were his fault.

    I originally skipped this one, because I believed it was going to be bad. After watching it the first go around (and then skimmed through a second time), it blew me away. Was it as bad as I thought? No. It's twenty times worse.

    Fundamentally, it's broken. It doesn't understand what a parody is supposed to be; it tries to parody obnoxious fans, yet the characters play everything so straight that it's treated as a serious plot instead of a satire. Continuity is ignored for the sake of the story, both in sections and throughout. Jokes are rammed in without focus on having them make sense. The premise used the idea that the ReMane Six would finally be recognized as a result of their journal, even though their celebrityhood dates back to the pilot in Ponyville and Canterlot and expanded following MMC. Fanatics are painted with a broad brush by having everyone sans two fillies portrayed as abusive caricatures. Yet, by combining valid criticism with the abuse, reducing existing characters into less-than-flat caricatures and ageist stereotypes of fans, and painting the antagonists as seeing the RM6 as only fictional characters, the antagonists become straw men, damaging the story and morals. The beginning is stupid, and it only worsens with each passing minute. Starlight's appearance, her best since reformation, is wasted here.

    Fame & Misfortune panders to the lowest common denominator. Lazy, dishonest, and intellectually offensive. This garbage exists as is to check off common talking points within the fandom, whether it makes canonical sense or not. Whoever decided to warp the script into a callous attitude should be ashamed of themself. It overtakes 28 Pranks Later as the most mean-spirited take of Equestria in the entire show and is fundamentally worse than Rainbow Falls and EQG1. Unlike Fame, those two tried to tell a story. Add the unfortunate implications (the ageism, enforcement of tired geek-based stereotypes, and treatment of Coconut and Toola as tokens), it's even worse. It's both my most hated and (so far) worst episode of season seven.
    At the start of the review, my bottom-13 was like this:
    One Bad Apple Bridle Gossip Newbie Dash Dragon Quest The Crystal Empire Rainbow Falls 28 Pranks Later Princess Spike P.P.O.V. The Mysterious Mare Do Well Owl’s Well That Ends Well The Show Stoppers Putting Your Hoof Down Now, after talking about another awful episode (Newbie Dash) with King Clark, it's now this:
    One Bad Apple Newbie Dash Fame and Misfortune Bridle Gossip Dragon Quest The Crystal Empire Rainbow Falls 28 Pranks Later Princess Spike P.P.O.V. The Mysterious Mare Do Well Owl’s Well That Ends Well The Show Stoppers
  6. Dark Qiviut
    A few days ago, I watched one of Mr. Enter's older videos: a countdown of his ten worst FIM episodes of the series (only the first three seasons counted). At the time, Dragon Quest was his second-worst, only behind Putting Your Hoof Down. The one thing that caught my attention when summarizing DQ's issues is how he called an episode from G1 better than this. After a quick Wiki search, I found Spike's Search, a 1987 episode from MLP & Friends, containing the following summary:
    Hmm…similar to DQ, ain't it?
    For those who are curious, here's a link to the episode:
    Let's quickly get a few of Search's flaws out of the way.
    At the time, all animation was hand-drawn, so you'll see shortcuts. A chunk of this animation is more dated than a classic Scooby Doo episode. The lip-syncing is horrible. Many times, the characters were saying one thing, yet their lips say something else. The B-Plot — Weston the Eagle looking for his parents — was dropped until the resolution. The song…not good, either. Both lyrically and vocally. The dragons are stereotypical bullies. Fortunately, this story isn't a dud, and plenty of the faults come from the standards at the time. The background is really good, and Spike is very sympathetic with a noble goal.
    If I tell you more, I won't be able to explain why Spike's Search is better than DQ.
    How better? Well, let's get crackin'!
    The trigger.
    Every story has to set the conflict somehow, and this is no exception.
    Two adjectives apply to DQ: sexism, xenophobia. The entire episode is prevalent in this nature, including the opening act. Spike's desire to know about his origins and family comes from their infamous conversation within the ditch: Dash laughs at (and insults) Spike for his pink apron (along with his so-called "feminine" action of baking cookies), and this:
    This is just one part, but it ruins the story as a whole. Spike's friends declaring how not acting like other dragons makes him better than the rest of the population. In story context, let's put it this way:
    Not convinced?
    Apply it to real life:
    Not funny now, is it?
    The xenophobia comes from the ponies mocking dragons as a whole for their supposedly brutish, tough, ugly-looking, and aggressive nature while not understanding at all who dragons as a race truly are physically, emotionally, and psychologically. For all the audience knows, they're knocking them through perception, not fact. The one thing all six are aware of about them is their migration patterns.
    In Spike's Search, that conversation doesn't exist. As the group played volleyball, Spike sneezes, accidentally shooting fire in the process and frightening all the ponies. Spike repeatedly apologizes, and both Megan and brother Danny continually reassure him that it wasn't his fault. Though, the fact that he nearly hurt ponies triggered his guilt, and sneezing fire multiple times afterwards doesn't help. While Spike's friends from DQ peer-pressured him into joining the dragon migration, Spike from G1 pressured himself to find his family. His quest to find his parents stems from the belief that they'll better raise him, control his accidental fire-breathing, understand manners, and so forth. In short, he feels like he belongs better with other dragons.
    The stereotypical bully.
    Both Dragon Quest and Spike's Search use the stereotypical bully. It's a big flaw in both episodes.
    But if you ask me which stereotypical bully is better, it's from Search. Why? DQ attaches both age-old teenage boy and teenage bully stereotypes along with the bully archetype itself. All of their mannerisms are simplified human beliefs of masculinity: overly aggressive, greedy, vocal, the "traditional" teenage boy voice, a lust for intimidation, macho, and selfish. Design-wise, each dragon is supposed to represent what a dragon looks like in their teenage phase. With each scene, the episode shames Spike for being a dragon (and to parallel it, a boy IRL for traits completely unlike a "normal" boy).
    Spike's Search doesn't do that. He's originally happy to take part in the group of adult dragons, but is taken aback by their rudeness, greed, and selfishness. When two dragons insulted him for his size, the older king dragon dissented and crafted colorful language to try to make him prove to the group that he belongs in their gang. Rather than initially trying to physically bully him into joining or else, the king dragon emotionally lures him via mind games.
    Most importantly, the metaphors of dragons = boys and ponies = girls don't exist. Not only aren't the labels of masculinity and femininity visually depicted, but the dragons don't attempt to classify ponies as female-oriented, either. Instead, the dragons use Spike's naiveté to bring them into Dream Valley to further manipulate him.
    The climax.
    Search's climax is infinitely better.
    DQ: Dash, Twilight, and Rarity challenge the dragons to a fight, and Spike disassociates himself from his race, literal fighting words to the dragons. So, what do they do? Run away. *sigh* Talk about a major anticlimax.
    Spike's Search: Spike's friends assemble a party to lure them into a trap. Their weapon of choice: rushing water that temporarily douses their fire-breathing. If they're going to bully people throughout the town and their close friend, there'll be consequences. Since they use fire, words, and size as weapons, Spike's friends using their strengths against them creates a satisfying comeuppance.
    The moral.
    This is what seals it.
    So, what makes this very different from DQ?
    How it's set up. To reiterate, Spike wants to be a grown-up dragon and initiated his quest on an accident. Dragon life isn't automatically declared to be inherently inferior to pony life at any point. Hell, the group supported him throughout, and both he and Danny walked together to find some. Additionally, it emphasizes that this is only a cluster of dragons, not an actual representation of dragons as a whole. It doesn't metaphorically differentiate boys from girls. With it absent, the sexism implications don't exist. When Spike begins to believe that the dragon life is about bullying other people, Danny quickly interrupts him and reminds him that those dragons aren't the only ones out there. There are different kinds of ponies and dragons. Rather than affirm a generalization to both him and us, he tells Spike he only ran into some bad luck. This type of moral applies as much today and can be done really well if you know what you're doing and tell a decent story in the process.
    Conclusion:
    Friendship Is Magic is a great show, but it screws up royally here and there. Dragon Quest stands as season 2's worst due to sexist stereotyping, racism implications, and botching the moral of how no one group is a monolith by generalizing a select few as the whole. Is FIM better than G1? Yes. But sometimes it can take a lesson or two from its predecessors. Albeit with worse animation, Spike's Search does DQ's same plot nearly twenty-five years prior better.
  7. Dark Qiviut
    Eleven years ago yesterday, a major terrorist attack struck the World Trade Center twin towers and Pentagon (with a fourth plane plunged down in Pennsylvania by passengers who weren't willing to give up a fight and let more people be killed). Once the attacks were over, nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered. Tens of thousands of people mourned, a whole nation went into pain, and a whole world prayed for the U.S., which is considered to be the focal point of the globe. Normally, the U.S. doesn't get hit hard by attacks, but when it does, time stops, and it becomes eerie and disturbing.
     
    Eleven years later, I still remember what happened that very day. I was asleep when my mom woke me up to tell me that the north tower was on fire, either by some kind of in-house fire or a helicopter. I went upstairs to see what was going on, for I can see the towers from the roof of my building. When I did, more than twenty people were there watching, and cops showed up not long after to protect it. About ten minutes later, the second tower got hit, and all of us were into a "holy shit" mode. I was speechless, I didn't know what was going on.
     
    Soon, I walked down and turned on the TV to discover the south tower had collapsed. It was a terrorist attack into the towers, the Pentagon, and another one that was diverted by passengers. About ten minutes before the north tower collapsed, I ran back up to the roof and saw Downtown Manhattan billowing in thick, black, brown smoke and dust and the north tower burning up to the point where I knew it was going to collapse at any given moment. And a few minutes later, the north tower collapsed. I was stunned and shocked. I was fourteen at the time, so I was more aware about death and huge tragedies at the time, but witnessing one and reading them are two different things. I watched thousands of people dying in front of me, and it took only later that night, the tributes, and age to fully soak it in.
     
    Later that day, Mom told me that I watched the worst attack in American history, and she's right. Long before my time, and even before my mother's and aunts', a major attack by the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. 9/11 is this generation's Pearl Harbor for Americans.
     
    And even though it was America that was hit the hardest, 9/11 shouldn't be forgotten for the following.
    It changed the entire American culture, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C. Part of the skyline's fame is the tall towers, and the twin towers were easily recognizable because of their tube-like structures. Part of the FDNY's background logo is the twin towers. In addition, the New York Mets' scoreboard skyline from Shea Stadium (which is now the roof decoration for Citi Field's Shake Shack) had the towers, and it was wrapped in the red/white/blue memorial ribbon following the attacks.
    It completely changed everything we know about security throughout not just the U.S., but the entire western world, too. Notice all the security measures before and after 9/11. Many of those, from the tighter security check-ins in the airport to more cautious reviews of people's passports to the controversial screening and pat-downs in the U.S., are a result of 9/11.
    The United States is, more or less, a place where people consider themselves safe, especially New York City's hearts like Downtown Manhattan, the revitalizing of Downtown Brooklyn, and Times Square. People come to the U.S. as a way to get themselves off the ground and function in society. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 broke that seal and "bereaved a lot of people" (Vertekins, the SSMB).
    It was an attack on the military core. The Pentagon was hit hard by the attacks, and if it weren't for the brave passengers on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania, that plane would've hit the White House. The Pentagon, Capitol, and White House are part of the core that makes up the United States military.
    It didn't just affect one nationality. Everyone from all nationalities and religions, in some way or another, were affected. Jews, Christians, Catholics, Muslims, etc. The remembrance of 9/11 is a tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died from the attacks; to commemorate, remember, and honor the loved ones who perished; and mourn along with the tens of thousands of loved ones. Not one nationality nor religion was exempt from the terrorist attacks.
    Thousands of brave men and women joined together to aid others, even at the cost of their own lives. The NYPD and FDNY sacrificed themselves in order to save innocent people from the burning World Trade Center. The hospitals worked overtime to care and heal those injured on 9/11. The boat workers went beyond the call of duty and rescued people hurt and dusty from the debris and get them back home to safety. Forgetting about it makes their hard work purposeless.
    It's a chain of events that happened in broad daylight, on live TV, for the world to see. As a New Yorker, I watched nearly the whole thing live, both on the news and in front of my very eyes. Compared to atrocities like North Korea and the wars in Africa, we don't capture this raw, graphic footage and pictures anywhere, especially when it's rolling as I'm watching. I, and millions of people around the world, watched almost 3,000 people DIE from the time the first tower was struck to the days after the collapse of the World Trade Center. Events like this are horrifying and very hard to sink in.
    Telling people to "get over" it is completely insulting to yourselves, myself, and the entire world. Eleven years, even today, is still not a very long time to end mourning. It especially doesn't make much sense due to the fact that people were killed in the masses by cowards, and the dead's family and friends couldn't do anything except watch and hear the voices of their loved ones tell them, "I love you," and die as the infrastructure is crushed on top of them. On YouTube is a very disturbing phone call from a man whose line got cut off when one of the towers collapsed on top of him.
     
    Furthermore, telling people to "get over it" demonizes the police and fire department who went beyond the call of duty, put all of their training to work, and rescue as many innocent people as possible KNOWING that they were likely going to be killed themselves. You also desecrate the graves of the passengers who were on that flight that crashed into that Pennsylvania field if you tell people to "get over it" and pretend it never happened. Those passengers sacrificed their lives to make sure the terrorists didn't murder any more innocent people. You're basically calling their efforts to rescue as many innocent people as possible meaningless!
     
    And lastly, telling people to "get over it" does nothing but tell the entire world that we didn't learn anything from 9/11, period. September 11th, 2001 was a wake-up call to the U.S. and the entire planet that we had to be more secure and watchful of what we say and do. We can't just use this "we're jesting" excuse. Many new security measures began as a result of 9/11. Have you heard of this phrase, "If you see something, say something?" Ever recall the Patriot Act (and, yes, I hate this Act due to its ability to withhold habeas corpus for non-U.S. citizens)? But this phrase, higher security measures (however controversial they are), and reminders of 9/11 are there to tell people about it and make sure we don't get another occurrence such as this again. Will it never happen again? We don't know. Hopefully, it never does.

    The last reason is much more personal. I rarely, RARELY mention this anywhere on the Internet because it's that personal to me. In fact, besides today, I've only talked about it twice only. So I'm hiding it under spoilers.
     
     
     
     
    I recommend to read and watch documentaries about 9/11. Around the tenth anniversary was raw, never-before-scene footage of a rescue mission by one house of the FDNY on CBS. It lasted for hours, straight through, uncensored. It showed the urgency of the house, the people jumping to their deaths, the anxiety of the FDNY, and the sound of the towers collapsing. It was disturbing, raw, and emotional. I deeply respected the brave NYPD and FDNY for sacrificing themselves in order to rescue the innocents. This show made me respect them more and showed the more gruesome horror of the terrorist attacks and the brave responses of the FDNY.
     
    If that doesn't work, attend the 9/11 Memorial or look at pictures of it. Opened on the tenth anniversary, it's a place where everyone who died from the attacks is memorialized. It's quiet, somber, and shows a complete amount of respect for those who perished from those cowardly attacks.
     
    September 11, 2001 was a dark day for the U.S. and the entire world. Forgetting about it means the sacrifices of the police, fire department, other rescue workers, and the passengers on that flight that crashed into the Pennsylvania plains worthless. While we don't need to have an annual tribute show, it is nonetheless important for people to know about 9/11, research it, remember it, and understand it to ensure that a mass, concurrent tragedy like this never, ever happens again. I witnessed it as a New Yorker, and while I didn't lose any loved one, I understand and feel for the pain for those who are still mourning for the losses of their loved ones. 9/11's anniversaries and tribute, no matter how big or small, keeps the memories of the dead alive, and forgetting about them diminishes those memories and their sacrifices. 9/11: Never Forget.
     
    P.S.: Credit goes to Vertekins of the Sonic Stadium Message Board for some of the pieces of my blog post here.
  8. Dark Qiviut
    Two days ago, Sega released Sonic Mania digitally for the Switch, PS4, and XBox1. (The PC version's delayed till 8/29). But the manual's already posted.
    The focus is on Page 3 below:

    Focus on the Motobug at the far right underneath Heavy Rider.
    The Sonic Mania Team (consisted of The Taxman, Stealth, and many others, many of them former Sonic fangame hackers from Sonic Retro) named him Jimmy and gave him identical move sets in honor of Polygon Jim, a Sonic fangame hacker who passed away in 2013. Jimmy was most known for creating a fan-hack of Motobug in Sonic 1.
    It might be my all-time favorite Easter Egg in any Sonic game. Excellent tribute, guys! ^^
  9. Dark Qiviut
    To continue the pattern from last year, a review of the first half of season seven, with both tops and bottoms in respective categories. To view the rest:
    Season 5 Season 6, 1st Half Season 6 Discordant Harmony and Perfect Pear are featured in this overview without spoiler tags hiding the comments. So if you haven't seen either and want to read it, be warned.
    Episodes
    Bottom-3:
    Hard to Say Anything

    Two words: unadulterated shit. After about 7 to 8 minutes of meandering (but nothing genuinely wrong), the minute Feather Bangs Stereo Pop shows up, the episode flushes down the drain. Big Mac and the CMCs have their worst (and maybe second-worst) characterization in the show (respectively). Big Mac for following on the CMCs' hairbrained schemes to try to woo Sugar Belle, the CMCs for actually believing that the fairy tales are how-to guidebooks. None of the jokes or twists work at any point — Stereo Pop's characterization is a blatantly dated Bieber parody, Stereo Pop's cutie mark resembling an erect penis, he shallow song-off between Mac and Stereo Pop. Protip, DHX: Sexual harassment ain't funny, either.

    Big Mac's crush on Sugar is contrived as hell, too; not only for the blatant ending, but also by the fact that we don't actually see it develop; the entire crush plot is unrequited. You could've written this episode much more differently and make it better. Hell, Starlight would've been a fine secondary character. Instead, it's a generic, clichéd, by-the-number plot that DHX couldn't even write well. Hell, continuity stated in the episode was ignored to make it work.
      Honest Apple

    While the former was marred by a terrible middle and ending, this episode's marred by a terrible beginning and middle all the way to the climax. Rarity acted incompetent and out of character by putting her contest into action despite only two judges signing off on it with no possible backups beforehand in case someone had to cancel. Apple Bloom looked really dumb for not realizing that her bow would cause major problems (and is a contrived plot point to boot).

    But what really drags this episode down is a complete lack of understanding of what makes Applejack the Bearer of Honesty. Does she tell the truth? Absolutely. But tells them while still caring about others' feelings! So, what does she do here? Turn into a complete control freak with no clue how to judge fashion properly and a lust to tear down their work. The worst moment, by far, is shaking the crossed-over-stitched feathers off Lily Lace's hat. An in-character AJ will NEVER pull this stupid stunt! The only way she was able to realize she was verbally abusive was when Strawberry Sunrise (upon introduction from Rarity) received the same abuse in return. We're in season 7; AJ should NOT have to learn about how important tact is when being honest.

    The new characters in the episode? Including Inky Rose, they're all unlikeable, stereotypes, generic, or all of the above. Hopefully, none of them return!
      A Royal Problem

    The saving grace in this episode: Starlight. No, her actions were wrong, but the episode built that up to the point where Starlight's nightmare was so soul-crushing that it could've damaged her psyche. More on that a little below.

    Celestia was great in Advice; there, she shows how human she is without devolving her character. The same can't be said here. She and Luna are out of character here. Is it fine for them to bicker as sisters? Totally. But their bickering crossed the line into being personal attacks; each of them treated each other's important roles in Equestrian society as not just pointless, but wasteful, too. On top of that, they never understood that THEY were the friendship problem until Starlight told them directly to their faces, and even then, they were still too dumb to get it till later. (Seriously, Snips and Snails are smarter than them here!)

    When did they finally get it? When they witness Starlight's heartbreaking nightmare. Their lack of appreciation for one another makes no sense, since Luna feeling jealous of her sister and lack of appreciation are why she turned into NMM in the first place. You'd think at their age, they'd figure something out. It's among their five worst appearances for each in the show.

    But the worst moment of the episode comes during the resolution when Celestia tells Starlight that she was right to swap their marks. Firstly, she performed her spell on them against their will. Just because they say it's okay doesn't make it okay. The princess absolve her of her wrongdoing. That side would've been resolved had she asked first and the princesses not act like idiots. Secondly, when they say she did the right thing, Starlight's emotional pain during her terrible nightmare becomes an afterthought. That her self-infliction plot-wise and emotion-wise was pointless.

    Despite quality characterization from Starlight, background music, and animation hints, Celestia's and Luna's out of characterization, idiocy, and incompetence completely kill the episode. Dishonorable mention: Fluttershy Leans In.
    ---
    Top-3:
    The Perfect Pear

    Best episode of the season, and possibly the entire show. Any possible flaws in this episode are complete nitpicks.

    Pear Butter and Bright Mac = best FIM couple and best-written parents of the show. Everything about this couple is the complete opposite of the likes of Flash/Twilight and Sugar Belle/Big Mac: The development of the romance is like someone who knows romance wrote these ponies. Their chemistry from foalhood to matrimony's completely organic and makes complete sense to the audience. They show how much they love each other during and after life.

    Every joke lands.

    Only the third episode to make me cry and did so on a few occasions. One of them when Big Mac asked Burnt Oak if they can return to hear more stories about their dad. More about that later.

    It has some misplaced criticism about them leaving out how they passed as well as Granny avoiding the tree. This isn't that episode. TPP's about celebrating their lives, cherishing their pasts, and letting go. Each note is hit as the episode progresses. Secondly, the entire Pear family disowned Pear Butter for marrying an Apple, and they died early. The marriage site gives her too much pain to deal with. The ending is the perfect closure to this episode.

    "You're in My Head Like a Catchy Song" = best S7 song, and will likely be that way once it ends.

    Grand Pear = show's most tragic character. The night his daughter married and became an Apple is all but the last day he saw her alive. Unfortunately, he'll never apologize to her. And excellent voice acting by William Shatner (and Felicia Day for Pear Butter).
      Parental Glideance

    Wow.

    That's the word to describe this treasure. Easily the best episode by a debut writer in the series.

    Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles = character-wise, two of the best canonical parents in the show. They play the ebarrassing parent trope while still subverting the clichés, making them feel like they love Dash, and acting realistic. They're hyper, but so damn lovable.

    The jokes land perfectly.

    *gasp* The Wonderbolts are fucking LIKEABLE! Somepony call the Vatican! We witnessed a miracle!

    This episode also shows how to have a likeable character do a Putting Your Hoof Down rant correctly. There, Fluttershy calculatingly insulted both Pinkie and Rarity and then had the blame shifted to Iron Will that night. Here, Dash was at her limit's end, lost her cool, and immediately wanted to make things right.

    The criticism against the moral's execution is a flaw that doesn't even exist. Was Dash right to be upset at her parents? Yes. Some actions (despite having downplayed stakes) were reckless. Does she have the right to yell at them, slap Bow's hoof away, and implicate disownment of them because they embarrass her so much? No, she doesn't. She takes her supportive parents for granted, and Scootaloo would love to experience this feeling just once. Less BSing this hot air, the better.
      Discordant Harmony

    This is much tamer compared to the other two, but that doesn't make it not good. This is an all-around solid episode.

    Discord has his most likeable performance in the series. He was the spirit of chaos, but in many of his post-villain appearances, he was being a jerk for the sake of it. Here, he shows how much he cares for Fluttershy and wants to be seen as a valuable friend to her. Pinkie's advice's solid, but Discord's naivete with friendship made him take her too literally. Because he and 'Shy are close, it makes sense for him to feel really sensitive when ponies question it.

    Fluttershy continues to show off her growth from past seasons. Unlike Leans In, it does it better. She's not so timid anymore and really shows how much Discord means to her. Not in the way that Keep Calm implicated, but a genuine care for him. Like equals. When Discord became too normal and began to fade away, Fluttershy jumped into action to try to save him. More about her and the moral later.

    Out of every episode, this is the first to actually treat their friendship like one. Prior, the show tells us they're friends, but they don't behave like friends. Here, their friendship feels incredibly genuine, a long-time coming for this show. Honorable mention: All Bottled Up
    S7 episode ranking (so far):
    The Perfect Pear: A+ Parental Glideance: A+ Discordant Harmony: A- All Bottled Up: B+ A Flurry of Emotions: B+ Celestial Advice: B- Not Asking for Trouble: B- Forever Filly: C+ Rock Solid Friendship: C+ Fluttershy Leans In: C A Royal Problem: D+ Honest Apple: F Hard to Say Anything: F ---
    Top-13 episodes (in order, updated):
    The Perfect Pear The Best Night Ever Crusaders of the Lost Mark Amending Fences Sisterhooves Social Parental Glideance The Cutie Map Party of One Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 Pinkie Pride Suited for Success Lesson Zero Sleepless in Ponyville Honorable mentions: The Times They Are a Changeling, Flight to the Finish, A Hearth's Warming Tail.
    --
    Bottom-13 episodes (in order, updated):
    One Bad Apple Bridle Gossip Newbie Dash Dragon Quest The Crystal Empire Rainbow Falls 28 Pranks Later Princess Spike P.P.O.V. The Mysterious Mare Do Well Owl’s Well That Ends Well The Show Stoppers Putting Your Hoof Down Dishonorable Mentions: Boast Busters, Appleoosa’s Most Wanted, Trade Ya!
    So far, none of S7's worst come close to qualifying for the Bottom-15. Good.
    Moral
    Bottom moral:
    N/A: The purpose of this section is to post the worst moral, period. Execution doesn't matter. So far, none of the morals are objectively bad, even if their execution sometimes isn't great.
    ---
    Top moral:
    Discordant Harmony: Your best friend may have nothing in common with you, but you're still true friends because you care for each other.
    This is true to just about anyone. Many of us have at least one person we know who have nothing in common in personality, opinions, qualities, 'tude, and preference. Commonness doesn't determine true friendship, but by how much they love each other. Neither Discord nor Fluttershy share anything in common. Their personalities and tastes vastly differ, but they're still friends and show us that. More importantly, she's the one who took him in and trusted him. By delivering that moral, Fluttershy hones in past continuity and growth while not degrading her character.
    Honorable mention: Don't hold onto past anger and guilt forever. Celebrate their lives, and pursue new memories with their loved ones (The Perfect Pear).
    New Characters:
    Characters that appeared either in the background or as cameos in prior seasons don't count.
    Bottom character:
    Stereo Pop. Fucking Stereo Pop! A blatant, dated parody of teenage Bieber and stereotypical boy bands. Without him, Hard would actually be able to go somewhere. And, no, that asspull at the end doesn't deserve the false praise.
    Dishonorable mentions: Strawberry Sunrise (unlikeable asshole), Lily Lace (valley girl stereotype).
    ---
    Top character:
    Buttercup & Bright Mac. 'Nuff said.
    Honorable mention: Windy Whistles & Bow Hothoof.
    Mane 8 (includes Spike and Starlight)
    Bottom M8 character:
    Applejack. She's the only one of the Mane Eight to have her characterization be so bastardized. Not understanding fashion? Fine. Crossing the line of honesty into smugly bring cruel and being proud of it? NOT okay! Honest Apple crosses PPOV and Somepony for her worst appearance and episode, respectively. (Thankfully, she did much better in Pear.)
    Dishonorable mention: Rarity.
    ---
    Top M8 character:
    Starlight. Overall, she's the best written and most consistent. After a sloppy redemption arc, DHX seems to be taking a lot more care in writing her correctly. She's not as nervous and hesitant as before, has a sardonic edge, and isn't boring or unlikeable. She still has a ways to go, but the Starlight here has transitioned into a more-self-confident pony.
    Plus, she's given much proper use. Last season, she was treated as someone who could be plugged in for the sake of it. This season, she feels a lot like a character who belongs in Ponyville. Her role in Rock Solid's fantastic, and it's a nice touch how she worked with the RM7 to build Fluttershy's sanctuary.
    Honorable mention: Rainbow Dash.
    ---
    Full M8 rank (in order):
    Starlight Glimmer Rainbow Dash Spike Twilight Sparkle Fluttershy Pinkie Pie Rarity Applejack Moment:
    Bottom-2 moments:
    Big Mac forcing an attempted kiss on a sleeping Sugar Belle. Ah, nuthin' like a scene that says, "Hey! As long as it's a comedy, sexually harassing girls is a-okay!" Anyone who thinks this…


    this…


    AND THIS…


    …is okay or funny is lying. Big Mac's trying to force a kiss on Sugar Belle, who had no idea he was there! If SB showed or said anything to suggest that she knew he was there and teased him, then this moment won't look as bad. As is, it has NO business anywhere, especially in an education-centric cartoon like this one! I doubt there will be a moment worse than this one for the rest of the season.
      Celestia tells Starlight how swapping their talents was the right decision. Already explained why it's such a wreck earlier. Dishonorable mentions: AJ destroys Lily Lace's hat; Celly and Luna fight.
    ---
    Top-2 moments:
    Big Mac asks Burnt Oak if he could return in the future to hear more stories about his dad. This tearjerker is full of great detail. Big Mac being the one to ask breaks away from his "eeyup" gag and makes knowing more about his parents feel more important. After he asks, Burnt Oak cries, indicating clearly how much he missed his close friend. Little touches in episodes like this one turns a great episode into an amazing one. Amazing direction! 
      Bow Hothoof admits to installing the music by himself. Firstly, best joke of the season. Secondly, narrows Dash's parents down perfectly. They devote their entire lives to their daughter and cherish her, period. It helped build up the fallout later on. Honorable mention: Pear sings to Mac.
    What I want for Season 7, second half:
    Clean up Rarity's characterization. Dash is better; AJ on the right track.
      Until PG, every episode felt like lost potential. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it felt like there could've been more polish on the scripts, even the good ones. It seemed like they didn't edit them as well as hoped for. Afterwards, they've been better, but hopefully, that lost potential feel can be put to rest.
      Continue Starlight's development.
      So far, the difference in episode quality is staggering. The best episodes of Season 6 weren't THAT good, while the worst were REALLY awful. This season's the opposite: Even when they're horrible, they're not so awful that they qualify for the worst of the series. Hard was closest, and it ain't that close. Remember, this is a team full of new writers. If you want proof how important an editor is to the show, this is it; Josh Haber knew how to write Spike, but was a really poor editor. Credit goes to The Sister Writers for keeping them all in check and pushing forth new ideas while making them work. Hopefully, nothing bottom-10 level will come.

    And watch out for your unfortunate implications!
      From my S5 review: In layman's terms, less of Lily Lace, Stereo Pop, Inky Rose, and Star Streak. More of Burnt Oak or Windy Whistles.
      From my S6 review: May nor happen this season, but y'never know.
    Verdict:
    While S6's the worst, S7's one of the best. After a slow start, it's picked up. Some episodes are more flawed than others, but other than three, none of them get near the bad territory. If the worst the rest of the way is as average as FLI or as bad as A Royal Problem, fine. But if there are many great episodes the rest of the way, even better. The first half has better characterization, better plots, better execution, and better quality control. Currently, it's above Season 1 in third place. Hopefully, the second half will do just as well.
  11. Dark Qiviut
    The brony fandom has grown exponentially since My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic revitalized the once dying franchise. Over two years ago, it was confined exclusively in 4chan. But since late-2010/early-2011, it's spread to further corners of the Internet and was promoted via word of mouth in the form of e-mails and social networking. People all over the world among various cultures came together to watch a family-friendly, brightly-colored Flash animation. As of this moment, the fandom is now higher than it's ever been, and the show's massive popularity has garnered huge media attention.
    Aside from the fact that most of the fandom is consisted of young males, we're seeing a lot of fantastic art. What I mean by this is fanart, music, customs, plushies, 3D prints, fanfic, wallpaper, pins, buttons, rings, sewing patches, fandom animations, voice acting, and so on.
    But all of the art surrounding this fandom hasn't just been good. It's been great! It's been amazing! Whenever we see the art, we are constantly wowed by how fantastic it is. There is such an explosion of great talent, but whenever we're wowed, we suddenly see art that is even greater than before. The talent in this art seems to be pushing further and further beyond not only the fandom's collective expectations, but even the person him or herself.
    But where is the art coming from?
    How do they their art in physical form?
    Why are we seeing it?
    What gives them the ability to create such great art?
    It all comes down to one word: talent.
    One of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's quirks is the talent amongst every pony. Each pony has the talent to do great work. When they demonstrate that talent, they succeed, and they each have something that they're extremely excellent at doing.
    But why My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? Why are we seeing such great art there at such a rapid pace and not anywhere else?
    Let's backtrack a little bit. Prior to My Little Pony, the most popular art was Sonic the Hedgehog. Despite its ups and downs and divisions, the Sonic fandom has always been extremely and expressively creative. When they upload art, it's often good to great. With that pride as a Sonic fan, they want to show it. Now My Little Pony has eclipsed Sonic by far and wide, and Sonic art looks extremely miniscule by scale.
    But why My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? Why are bronies creating such high-quality art in a high quantity? Why are they displaying the talent there and not other fandoms?
    "Talent"…
    Some comments I see around the Internet (in response to seeing great art) is them feeling jealous of their talent and how they don't have it. I see this here in the brony fandom, and I see this everywhere else. Unlike what is perceived, "talent" is very misconceived and extremely misunderstood throughout the art world. Whenever people think of "talent," they think of an innate ability to perform great work quickly and consistently without practice. And it's extremely understandable because we want to do work as great as them, but don't know where to start nor know if we can.
    But I have one thing to say on this.
    That is not true at all. You can do art. You can do great art. You can do amazing brony art. You can do art greater than those you love. You can be the Michelangelo, the Queen, the whatever of the brony fandom. And you can start right now.
    And why?
    Because the concept of "talent" isn't as complicated as it truly is.
    The summary of "talent" is defined by one famous quote from the late and great television painter, Bob Ross.
    "Talent is a pursued interest."
    That's all "talent" is. Basically, if you have the dream and desire to do it, you can. Some people can do it pretty quickly, but others need a little more time to hone their skills more. But you can execute great talent if you have the will to do it. You need that little spark of confidence and outside will to continue encouraging you.
    What we are seeing in the brony fandom is exactly this. Everyone in the brony fandom had a starting point. John Joseco. Rina-chan. MandoPony. Toxic Mario. Device Heretic. Pen Stroke. Veggie55. Black Gryph0n. JanAnimations. WhiteDove Creations. Pixel Kitties. The Living Tombstone. You name me an artist, and I will tell you that they all started off not so well. Every artist here in this fandom has to start somewhere, and none of their works were good when they began. They all had to commence somewhere and then commit themselves to do great. But they were able to push themselves further and perform greater in their craft than where they started.
    The rest of the brony fandom isn't any exception. They all had to hone their craft. But they were eventually able to push themselves, and now they are able to publish high-quality production without trouble.
    But the craft itself is not enough. You need a certain push to get there. The brony is the shopping cart. Without some kind of leverage, they can't demonstrate their talent.
    That's where My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic comes into play.
    This fandom exploded because the show is so good and defies everything the series and episodic family animated television offers, especially for a franchise that, for over a decade, was leaning exclusively to little girls and was a failed cash cow. Friendship Is Magic, on the other hand, has heart. When it has heart, it'll attract people no matter what age, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, religion they associate with. This is a fandom where we all came together because we all adore a great show. Despite our differences, we are able to demonstrate commitment and confidence. That's where we get our passion. That's where we get our strong investment for the show.
    All of that in the above paragraph is the base of our talents. If we are so invested in something we love, we don't want to merely tell it to the world. We want to show it. We want to continually prove to the entire world that this fandom is creative, committed, and together. That we can show our love for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic in the form of fantastic craftsmanship.
    The brony is the shopping cart. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the hand that rolls the cart along the stretch of road and into the supermarket. The products in the supermarket is our audience, and we want to attract them. Great art and a great craft are what drive them. They are so invested in their craft that they want to perform to their expectations and beyond. When they don't, instead of burying their heads sourly, they go out and perform even better. Then they hone it better and better and better. We see the bronies show so much great artwork because the art makes them proud to be a brony, and it also makes their audience proud to be a brony. The great art tells the media how great it is to be a brony and impresses the media itself about the art. It catches the media by surprise, and we take pride and joy of what we — the bronies — see from them — the media and the people who aren't bronies. We push ourselves to become better, because My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is our passion and mental investment, and we want to exhaust our creativity and then improve upon it. We want to continually impress, and the show is our drive to our eventual artistic successes.
    For those who are jealous, those people you see and want to become, you can. If you have the passion for the show like they do, then you can demonstrate this passion in your craft. To paraphrase Bob Ross, "All you need is a dream, a heart, and a desire" to put it out there. You have to start somewhere.
    But what if you do have that passion, but fail?
    This is every first-time artist's greatest fear: failure. Doing your work and either stopping because you think it isn't good or uploading your first work and then coming back to see comments saying they don't like it. This is a common thought process, and it's perfectly normal to think of this. In fact, failing is one of our greatest fears.
    Let's look at Twilight Sparkle and her fear when opening the Door of Illusion. Her greatest fear at that point was failing Celestia's test, and it's understandable. She's worked so hard that she didn't want to screw up. But isn't just there; Twilight Sparkle is a very keen witch and doesn't like to fail, period. When she fails, she gets flustered and disappointed in herself. When she thinks about failing, her mind tends to not think straight or be clouded by previous events. Check out Twilight while being trained under Zecora.
    Another example is in the biography, Bob Ross: The Happy Painter. One of the Bob Ross Instructors had no artistic background at all. When he used the palette knife for the first time, he literally shook from fright.
    The nerves and fright are common and completely understandable, because when you try for the first time, you feel uptight and don't know if you will succeed or fail. When you past that first step, then the nerves tend to subside. But failing in public is another, and it's completely understandable. No one likes this impression that their initial work is unlikeable, and first impressions matter. And no one likes criticism, even if it's constructive. Constructive criticism, whether one wants to admit it or not, stings. You say you're looking for it, but you don't. No one does. We treat our own projects like our babies, from birth to adulthood, so we become very protective. The fear of failure is completely understandable and it makes you want to scrap your talent.
    But it's completely okay if you fail. No one has started off well. They had to keep honing their craft to the point of where they are now. The same can be said for you. If you fail the first time, that's okay. Rise back to your feet and keep trying. See what makes the brony artists you love great, and then use what they do as inspiration to continue improving your talent. If you have an interest to pursue, don't stop. Go for it. If you can, you can always ask them questions via e-mail or private message and ask how they worked on their craft, where, how they got their ideas, and so on. Do not be afraid to ask the brony artists questions. Their answers will do nothing except make you want to do better.
    But we're seeing artists churn great art quickly. Why is that?
    The reason is the investment and commitment to continually prove why they adore the show. When artists improve their craft continually, one huge advantage is also improving on their ideas and cleanliness of their craft. When brony artists begins working on their craft for the first time, they're always slow and take as much time as they need to execute correctly. When they have the experience, then they don't need to go as slow as they were several years ago. They can churn great art on short notice. You notice many of the speed drawings and paintings in response to memes and villains they love? They didn't start speed-painting immediately. They had to spend a lot of time honing their talent just to get there. And the better you hone your craft, the faster you can execute your art. You can reach at that speed if you have the drive, continuous commitment, will to improve, and investment of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic to help you reach that goal. For example, whenever Bob Ross was asked how long he took to paint, he said it took "twenty years, twenty minutes." When he was a traditional painter and beginner wet-on-wet painter for Bill Alexander's Magic Art Company, he didn't start off fast. It took him time for him to paint a completed painting in twenty minutes — for him, twenty years.
    But along the way, you develop something that you don't intend to make. For instance, instead of pure rock brony music, you have a mix of rock and country instead. Or instead of dubstep, you have electric. Don't stop, nor get upset. To quote Bob Ross, "We don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents." Don't get upset if something doesn't go your way. Step back, stop working on it, and look at/listen to it first. Keep working on it and see if that little "mistake" works. Who knows? That "error" may be what helps you stand out amongst the rest. It may be where you can grown in your talent. And don't say the brony fandom has enough talent already. The fandom is growing, and when it's growing, so does the growth of new talent. You're always welcome to show off your work. If you screw up, try again. Because I guarantee you. If you have the ability to practice hard enough, if you have the heart, you can execute great brony art, and then people will come and admire your creations.
    The brony fandom is doing exactly that. They don't just want to show off good work. They don't just want to show off great work. They want to show off amazing work! Beautiful masterpieces that they can go back and admire a few years later. They have such an investment for the show that they want to prove it with absolutely incredible art. They don't want to stop their craft at a certain level. They want to continually push themselves and make this work even greater than what they dreamed of.
    As a consequence of the high quality in both the cartoon's excellence and the fandom's outstanding craftsmanship, we formed very firm, high expectations in both the brony talents themselves and their audience. When the show is great, and how much we bronies and the creative professionals want the show to continue being great, the talent wants to prove to be not just as great, but even greater, than what they see and hear in the actual professional world. The continuous push and expectations for excellent talent results in neverending dissatisfaction from the brony audience, the talented bronies themselves, and the professionals who work on developing the actual cartoon.
    This dissatisfaction can also be rather scary because we have such high expectations that some just dismiss them as "unreasonable." But in fact, our dissatisfaction is one of the greatest things this fandom has, and this is something every other fandom should observe.
    When you're dissatisfied, you always strive to do better. We have a level of talent in this fandom that continually rises each and every day: Just like our extremely high expectations for the actual show, we always want them to do their best. When we want them to do their best, the talents themselves see this, and combined with the strength of their fellow bronies and themselves, they push for better masterpieces. The strive for continuous improvement results in amazing art in the brony fandom today and even more amazing art tomorrow.
    The brony fandom is a talented community where everyone comes together. Because there is such an investment for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, they strive to show off their talents and develop outstanding art and later amazing art. Everyone has a starting point, and some fear that, because of the fandom's strict expectations, they fear they don't have the talent. But talent is nothing more than a pursued interest. If you have the investment and will to practice, you can show off your talent and execute amazing, museum-worthy masterpieces. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic shows heart, and it reflects in the bronies' craft. This creative heart reverberates throughout all of the corners of the brony art community, and we as an audience have developed very high expectations and neverending dissatisfaction towards both My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the talent the bronies continuously exhibit. Instead of dismissing it, this is something we should look at with immense inspiration and admiration. With continuous dissatisfaction, we always strive to perform better than yesterday. If they can do it, you can, too.
  12. Dark Qiviut
    I recently read a reply on Equestria Daily from a fellow "brony" who's both a fan of MLP:FIM and the older generations to me. She doesn't find enjoyment of this fandom nor likes bronies one bit due to them "always" acting like kids such as being overzealous, occasionally respond passionately negatively to older generations like G3/G3.5, etc.
    This is is a response to both her and various other bronies who feel similar. (The quoted passages are similar to what I responded to, but paraphrased to make the blog more general.)
    Quite frankly, you're not looking at all the places. We have Equestria Daily, YouTube, DeviantArt, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, 4Chan, various forums like the MLP Forums, and so on. The fact is that the brony fandom is so widespread, and not all the bronies follow these places so extensively to the point where they become extremely active participants.
    There are so many outlets of the brony community that we tend to have both the good AND the bad blended together, but the fact of the matter is that the passionate, yet overzealous, portions of the community tend to be the loudest, but they're also amongst the smallest. There are so many great contributions to the fandom that break from this stigma and make this fandom as great as it can be. We've got fanfiction, fanart, music, plushies, customs, 3D prints, analyses/essays, pins, traditional art like canvas painting, communication between fans and the staff, reviewing (both professional and amateur work), presentations, convention organizers, brony charities, etc. Some of us are really active in one or more of these categories, but many of us aren't fully active at all and occasionally dabble here and there. But even with the occasional drama doesn't change the fact that the majority of the community is hardworking, loving, and want to show how much they adore the show to this fandom. And a lot of these works are good, great, or AMAZING; and they all by far outweigh the bad.
    And I say this with experience. Some of the griping here or there is NOTHING compared to other places I've seen. I'm a part of the Sonic fandom, and I both keep an eye on it and participate in it constantly. What you see here is NOTHING compared to there. The Sonic fandom is easily more divided (with fans of some specific outlets; the franchise has exclusively fans of the comics, games [some only a fan of the Classic Era from 1991-1998], cartoons, Sonic X anime, etc.), and it's literally ten times more cynical and fierce. However, despite the fierce cynicism, the fandom itself is passionate and just wants the franchise to be extremely great. Beyond the testy wall, it's a great community, and it deserves that rightful respect. If the Sonic fandom, with all its division, deserves its respect, then the brony fandom deserves respect in return with the even less occasional drama it carries.
    Contributing to promote the community is great, but doing it the way you're doing is the improper way to go. At times, it is appropriate to criticize some actions of the community and coach the community to sway more to the positive direction, but only at an extremely rare situation when you have an extremely good reason. But when it gets to the point of being a "nanny" repetitiously, then that's actually a problem. When you act like a "constant nanny" in the fandom, then you take the little drama that's there and suddenly increase the chance of amplifying the tension on all sides. Instead of dispelling it, it makes you look like you're badgering; it worsens the drama, resulting in making the fandom look much worse than it objectively is, and that's NOT what this fandom needs.
    That's why the communities and Tumblrs highlighting the sour side of the fandom are so bad and not worth the time joining, following, or commentating in: They hypocritically amplify the drama. Many of these places are run by fellow "bronies" to make themselves look better and saner than the rabid (and sometimes prejudice) bronies they highlight and mock, and several other bronies follow them by association to make themselves look better. They follow and sometimes join the fray to make themselves look more mature when all it does is show the opposite. Remember One Bad Apple, and how Babs Seed, under peer pressure, bullied the Cutie Mark Crusaders and how the CMC tried to pay her back by sabotaging her float. It merely made the CMC look like bullies. That's what those anti-rabid brony communities look like. They see something bad and either get mad or laugh at them. They claim to be the "saner," "better" bronies, but all it does is make themselves look like bullies, and more often than not, they'll look worse than the people they mock.
    If you really want to contribute positively to the fandom, there are many other better ways to do it. Examples include going to conventions, conversing casually to other bronies (and instead of scolding them all the time for going too far, coach them into doing the reverse and help them feel good about themselves and give solid, constructive advice on how to handle their own as a brony better), writing fanfic, drawing/painting fanart, contributing to charities, collecting, cosplaying, writing long analyses, and so on. Positively influence the brony fandom by promoting the artistic and upbeat qualities of the fandom rather than highlighting the negatives all the time. They don't have to be extreme contributions to the point of making you look like a die-hard fan, and you can choose whichever your preference, but they must collectively have more impact that what you're displaying at this point.
    As for being a "fandom nanny," I suggest taking that and putting it at the very bottom of your résumé. Only do so as an extremely last resort. And if you're a follower of the anti-rabid brony "lulz" places, sign off of them and pretend they don't even exist. It'll alter your overall viewpoint of the fandom for the better and make you feel much less cynical.
    I hear this reason all the time here and in other fandoms, and my answer is always the same whenever I run into them.
    This reason is ridiculously flawed, because you're seriously overthinking what makes a brony a brony.
    You don't need to be a heavy contributor to the fandom nor follow all the common fanon ideals religiously to be a brony. Most bronies here aren't even heavy contributors, but they do whatever it takes to better themselves and show why they love to be a brony. My contributions, for one, are anything but heavy. They're extremely light compared to what we see here in this fandom all the time. But I'm a brony because I love the show; the community is a welcomed bonus.
    For the latter claim, I'm a Sonic fan who doesn't conform to the general ideals of the fans of the Classic Sonic Era, one that is considered to be the peak of the franchise and fandom. Almost three years ago, I wrote a whole essay supporting the post-Classic Era. However, just because I don't conform to most of the "basic" Classic Sonic fandom politics doesn't make me any less a fan of both the franchise and the fandom nor does it mean I have to give myself an extra haphazard label to constantly stand myself out amongst the rest of the fandom. I'm still a Sonic fan nonetheless.
    This applies to you. A brony is nothing more than being a fan of MLP:FIM. If you're a fan of both FIM and at least one of the older generations, you're both a MLP fan AND a brony. You don't need any other labels to separate yourself from the thousands of "other" bronies. If you do, however, you look no less pretentious than some of the overzealous members of the fandom you supposedly confronted.
    Every single fandom has a huge group of positive contributors as well as its fools. My three other fandoms — Digimon, Sonic, and the railfan/busfan hobby community — have them. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has that, too. They have their overzealous members, and they also have some sub-divisions. Some of the more overzealous crew will mellow out and realize how silly they look; some of them will use their zeal more wisely; others may prance to another fandom to play with. I see them, too, and I won't lie — it gets annoying. But like I said before, the fandom is full of absolutely loving and caring people who do nothing except express their passion for MLP:FIM. There are so many people who desire to contribute to the fandom, and it'll do nothing except make the fandom grow into something even better than what it was yesterday. It was a great fandom two days ago. It was a great fandom yesterday. It's a great fandom today. It'll be a greater fandom tomorrow. It'll be even greater than that on Saturday. You get the gist.
    Look back at that what the brony fandom was just over two years ago — it was only a small subset. Now it's a pop culture phenomenon full of people all over the world in varying countries, religions, and cultures, all spreading via social media. It's highly possible we may never see anything like this again. So enjoy it while it lasts, because one day, it'll end, and you'll look back and regret not enjoying it when it was at its peak.
  13. Dark Qiviut
    One of the hearts of the brony community is the thinkers. The people who behave like scientists and analyze every facet about the show: the characters, atmosphere, episodes, and little references in each episode. Compared to other fandoms (the lone exceptions being possibly Sonic and Harry Potter), this fandom tends to review things from an extremely critical perspective, whether it's positive, neutral, or negative. Sometimes, we do this to a fault where we may occasionally think too much. But knowing us scientists, we like to take the information, break it down, and then reassemble it. It's as if we're taking a physics class 24/7, except it's more fun, and we don't have to take an academic exam for it.
    Now, there has some rather loud dissent of the thinking, part of it when some bronies have been rather critical of Rainbow Dash's character as of late. I've seen one loud fan call the (perhaps overly) critical dissent as (in his exact words) "Over-analyzing at it's best here people." Well, it's time to respond back and why thinking this critically is one of the greatest things in this fandom, even to a so-called "nitpick."
    Early in the brony fandom, one of the most popular and biggest pieces was a physics presentation, the one that basically exposed the brony community to the Internet and its potential to reflect intelligently and critically. Taking the show, this person then showed a complex presentation of the way the show's physics work with its universe. Here is the video.
    It's rich. It's deep. It's smart. It's informative. Even almost two years later, I'm still wowed by it. If you haven't watched it, please do.
    Afterwards, the brony fandom has begun looking at the show from an extremely critical view. We take a close look at everything we see and hear from the show, from the episode itself down to its little detail in Rarity's shopping bag. Currently, we have a plethora of rich analyzers here: myself, Chaotic Discord, Kyronea, Scootacool, Alfonzo Dennard, and so on. We review the show inside and out so we can fully comprehend its premise, characters, and whether they make sense. But around the brony fandom, there have been a lot of deep analyses. Several months ago, one user broke down Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark and what it truly stands for. If anyone wants to read it, click here. It's very good and extremely informative.
    Sometimes we take such a close look that we tend to overthink or think the wrong stuff. For instance, some of the fanon like Lyra's interest in humans. Sometimes, it results in us getting a bit too far in ourselves. In other words, we tend to analyze to a fault occasionally.
    But this flaw is also such a great strength in the community.
    For one, these moments of really thinking about the show shows a completely fresh perspective of we watch and hear. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the most intelligent family-friendly episodic animation since Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it isn't done by accident. When we view the show from its exterior only, then we just see the animation, characters, beginning/middle/end. End of the episode. Going back to analyze the episode little by little gives the mind such a fresh look on the episode, be it positive or negative. For example, when I watched Magic Duel for the first time, it was great with well-done characterizations, plot, and ending. Then I rewatched it, and I gained a much more thorough, fresh perspective on it.
    Here are my consecutive analyses of the episode (either via the links or the "spoilered" em-dashed passages below):
    ———
    ———
     ———
    I followed this same pattern with "Sleepless in Ponyville" here.
    When we deeply review episodes, we can analyze them inside and out instead of just its dress. It makes us appreciate the overall production of the episode and show. Whether it makes you like the episode or not, and whether it determines whether that specific episode is good, average, or bad is up to you.
    And to go even further in its intelligence, the staff always adds in some references here or there (say, they may add them anywhere! ). These references play a little game for the viewer to spot, find, smile, laugh, and appreciate.
    Secondly, we analyze the episodes this deeply because the staff WANTS this. When we analyze, we create rich communication between the professionals and the bronies. The bronies see all this rich information beyond the dress, and we relay this back to the professionals either intentionally or accidentally. They see it themselves and appreciate how much we like to see the episodes and overall show beyond the veil.
    This communication also results in the staff appreciating not just the audience, but their overall product more. When you work on your product, you tend to see this from tunnel vision. In other words, your world, your vision. The animators and storyboards take the ideas and script to give it more life. But the viewers then take what they see and pick it apart. They see what's so great about it, what's not so great, and how they can make the product even better. When they see us reviewing it from a more critical, microscopic perspective, it gives the team a much fresher, prouder, more concrete view on their product.
    When the staff notices this fresh viewpoint, then they play some games on how to make themselves appreciate the quality they display on screen for millions of people. These games, normally in the form of newer references (sometimes subtle to only the bronies) give us a bigger and better opportunity to review a more revised and better product and then see the results of this communication. The bronies and professionals have an extremely close relationship. The richness in these analyses are one of the key reasons why.
    Finally, these rich analyses show us that we care. The brony community is so invested to the show, that we review the product deeply to prove it. Sometimes our analyses result to the point in disliking the episode. In Sleepless of Ponyville, one person couldn't like it as much as the others mainly because he considered dreams and nightmares to be a very private matter, and he didn't appreciate how Luna got involved in Scootaloo's nightmares. (A rather refreshing point, which I disagree with, but a pretty good point nonetheless.)
    We love this product sometimes to a fault, and these analyses show how much we adore it, even if we tend to think too far to the point where we get a splitting migraine. But after leaving and then going back to review what we wrote, all it does is show how much we just love to see the product and want to nurture it. When we analyze this deeply, we want the show to grow beyond its potential. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is such a great show, but we're not satisfied, and nor we should. Being satisfied means accepting the quality we have. The analyses are an underlying message that we want it to grow in its intelligence, world, characters, atmosphere, and overall production.
    My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the most intelligent Flash episodic animation and the smartest episodic animation currently airing altogether. There are many layers that help us appreciate how the staff shapes up the episodes. These rich analyses provide such a brand new, rich perspective on how the staff created and executed My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But these analyses also give the staff extra appreciation for their own product, creating a multitude of ways to communicate between the intelligent community and the staff. Although we may experience points where we may overthink, dismissing it all as such is a major insult to the show and the brilliance of the staff, bronies, and overall communication between the two. Rather than dismissing it, embrace it. This show is only demonstrating how smart it is, and all of these deep analyses (whether good, bad, concrete, or overthinking) are what help not only strive to create better staff-fandom communication, but a desire to improve the product even further, as well.
  14. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This essay has been revised April 10, 2013.
    ———
    The third season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is over, and the passionate brony community is out there displaying their dedication to the show, characters, worldbuilding, and so on. Artwork, music, customs, and plushies are being published a lot over the past several months since The Crystal Empire, and it bloomed further with several dedications to the Babs Seed song; A True, True Friend; and What My Cutie Mark Is Telling Me. In late March, two highly popular fan-animations, Double Rainboom and Snowdrop, were published. The creativity and dedication help thrive the brony community, and so many news outlets take notice consequentially.
    Ironically, this community almost never happened…because the franchise was struggling mightily between MLP Tales and FIM.
    Long ago, MLP began production in 1982 with help from Hasbro and founder Bonnie Zacherle. The first TV series ran from 1982 to 1987. A standalone series of G1, MLP Tales, was produced in the early 1990s. Altogether, G1 ran until 1995. When the original G1 was developed, it targeted girls and boys, both the toys and animation. Despite using ponies, it never discriminated its audience and actually did quite a bit right, mainly the plot and animation. Although the animation and characterization haven't aged that well (back then, episodic animation had a rather limited budget, and that's currently evident in its production and graphics), it's still nostalgic enough to nonetheless carry weight.
    But it's this little tidbit: the original purpose — the roots — of My Little Pony. The background, origin, original concept, and initial execution (and a successful one at that). G1's My Little Pony Tales, G2 (exclusively a toyline series that ran for three short years because it flopped), G3, and G3.5 targeted towards girls only (and for G3.5, female toddlers). However, G1's original series targeted girls AND boys. It wasn't supposed to be an anthropomorphic competitor of Barbie, where the characters used the stereotypical female tropes, had personalities flatter than matzah, and contained overall lazy writing. In contrast of Tales/G2/3/3.5, My Little Pony was supposed to be both gender-friendly and family-friendly. Not toddler-girl-friendly. Combined with its extremely poor effort, My Little Pony suffered as a product on the whole, eventually becoming a gigantic laughingstock in the media.
    Then Friendship Is Magic, led by Lauren Faust, debuted. It started off slow, with only 4chan watching it in response to a relatively negative article. But as the weeks progressed, people got hooked, specifically teenage and adult males. Promotion spread via word of mouth, and the fanbase began to erupt into the passionate, crazy, controversial, and creative fandom it is today. When it gained popularity, the fandom dubbed themselves as "bronies," which encompasses the fanbase regardless of gender, age, and passion.
    And for one good reason: the show never disrespects its audience, which is family-friendly and gender-friendly. It teaches the morals so kids can understand, but adds depth of character, worldbuilding, older references, and overall clever writing so adults can enjoy it, too.
    Is it a coincidence? No, it isn't. Lauren Faust worked as a storyboard artist with her eventual husband, Craig McCracken, on The Powerpuff Girls, a 1990s superhero parody cartoon that utilizes nearly the same bright, zany, simplistic art style and great characterization. Despite being "girly" in impression, it doesn't alienate one specific gender and/or age group, resulting in pop culture success.
    But the big similarity is how they're family-friendly. Great for both kids and adults of all ages, and they each follow the same schtick. They weren't "kids shows."
    But one difference between The Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony is TPPG was a completely new franchise started by Craig McCracken. MLP:FIM is the fourth generation of a once proud franchise, "fourth generation" and "once proud franchise" being key phrases.
    This is where MLP:FIM gets the respect it so deserves.
    If it weren't for MLP:FIM and its eventual success, this franchise would have been DEAD! Not dying. DEAD! Discontinued. Ceased to exist. Officially jumped the shark and devoured by it!
    Prior to Friendship Is Magic, I always occasionally visited several toy stores just because, both the mom-and-pop shops and the big commercial chains, like Toys R Us, FAO Schwartz, etc. These kids' shelves would be packed with toys. Barely anything had My Little Pony on them, sometimes none at all. That was how obscure these products were back then. Despite a dedicated collector base at that point, you can't successfully run a franchise by having collectors (and parents of little girls) buy them alone. You need an even bigger range of people buying them so the product has a chance to thrive. My Little Pony had absolutely no leverage because the finance wasn't there, especially when several other franchises like many of the board games (i.e., Life, Monopoly), G.I. Joe, and Transformers being so popular.
    But now it isn't dead — nor close to it — because Friendship Is Magic returns the product back to where it belongs: its roots. Its origins. And it does a great job showing it in its overall execution. Unless there's an extremely great reason, one should never ditch the origins of the franchise. For a great example, Thomas & Friends had that family-friendly origin surrounding realistic laws of the railway. The Railway Series (initially written by Reverend W. Audry and later his son, Christopher Audry) and the first seven season of Thomas & Friends (the TV series) were family-friendly, intelligently written, and didn't insult the audience's intelligence, be they young or old. When HiT Entertainment bought the TV series prior to the eighth season (The Railway series has no influence from HiT), they changed the storytelling, laws of the railway, audience, and overall premise (from a character/adventure hybrid to a three-strikes-style character moral format) to target very young kids. Combined with its lazy writing, the series spiraled downhill, with the fifteenth season being considered the worst in writing, characterization/development, potential, realism, creativity, and storytelling. The horrible writing and plot-development of the episodes are why the older fans hate the newer seasons so much. And even if they wrote better, the roots of the show (the realism of the railway) tied everything together and gave the show developers the background and motivation. Without the respect of the railway laws, it shows a complete lack of respect for Reverend W. Audry and his family, who were responsible for The Railway Series in the first place.
    This applies to My Little Pony. Zacherle intended it to be its own gender-neutral creation and have it suited for families. The original G1 show, movie, and toyline showed heart, care, and passion from themselves and the audience it seeks. But under MLP Tales, G2's toyline, G3, and G3.5, its quality suffered, and the roots of the franchise were alienated so Hasbro can cash with the very young girls, female toddlers, and their parents. G2 flopped, but G3/3.5 barely succeeded enough for the product to stay afloat. Yet, it still disrespected the founder, and older fans noticed this. This is the reason why Tales, G3, and G3.5 get no respect from me and don't deserve it whatsoever: They take Zacherle's bold vision and ransack it.
    MLP Tales shows little respect for her and the original G1 tales because its sexist, stereotypical characterization is intellectually insulting.
    G2 I'm neutral with despite its narrow audience and poor financial success, because it was advertised poorly and never fully got off the ground.
    G3 and G3.5 gets none because of its lazy production regardless of budget flexibility.
    The original G1 series, however, gave Zacherle that respect, and I give it that respect in return.
    This is what FIM is doing. It's giving Zacherle the respect she deserves. FIM treats its audience with respect, so the audience treats FIM respect in return. And it isn't merely noticed by bronies who became fans merely from FIM alone. There are plenty of bronies who were fans of G1 initially. And there's one big reason why: FIM shows G1 that identical respect. Lauren Faust herself adored G1 and used it as motivation to develop FIM, which basically takes the qualities of G1 and improves it in the form G4/FIM. The fans notice this respect in the writing and overall development, and this is one of the biggest why FIM is raved by the fandom so much. Bronies (male and female, young and old) catch this respect and are now attached to Friendship Is Magic as a result. Although Faust no longer works on the show, we still see this exact respect from the writers, voice actors, rise in social media, and the close relationship the bronies have with the professional staff (current and former). With FIM, Zacherle's vision finally comes in full circle.
    MLP:FIM returns the franchise where it belongs: back to its roots. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
  15. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: This review has been edited and published in the main thread. If you wish to see the old review (now locked for commenting), click here.
    ———
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is the semi-blockbuster for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic franchise. The fourth generation has garnered hype and popularity since its inception on October 10, 2010, with the help of the target audience (families), market audience (families and families of little girls), and periphery demographic (everyone else — the teenager-and-up bronies, for example). However, unlike Friendship Is Magic, Equestria Girls's market audience is adolescent girls — ages ten to fourteen. With the premise revealed and controversy surrounding the spinoff, how does the movie itself hold up?
    To answer several questions and thoughts before I write the official commentary:
    If you watched Twilight's Hot Minute, you'll notice one segment where Twilight has trouble flying, a retcon from Magical Mystery Cure's ending. The clip in the commercial came from this movie. Flash Sentry, who was featured not that much and didn't have much dialogue, was a love interest. In passing, Rarity said Flash Sentry and Sunset were a couple, but broke up. Twilight gained a crush on him, and the two mutually respect each other. Derpy is featured at least thrice in the movie, once deep in the credits dancing to the tune and the second during Equestria Girls (the song) twice. In the latter, she appears walking in the lower-right-hand corner in the school cafeteria and dancing in the background as the song closes. There was a common question about why Twilight didn't stealing the crown back before retreating as fast as she could to the portal. Spike queried Twilight why she didn't ask Principal Celestia where it was, but that was the closest it came to this idea. Twilight didn't bother searching for it at any point in the movie. In the back of Sunset Shimmer's toy packaging, she's referenced as a former student for Celestia. In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, she was Celestia's former student who later abandoned her studies. Twilight Sparkle, while in her human form, didn't attended classes (at least on screen). At no point is the word "human" even uttered. If you wish to see the plot summary, head to its wiki page here. Now to my standard review.
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls markets to adolescent girls via the content within, but DHX and Meghan McCarthy are responsible for animate and write the movie. On one hand, there is plenty of material to attract the parents and periphery demographic with the wit and humor. On the other, there is so much, from the little details to the characterization to the overall concept, that is extremely patronizing to the periphery demographic to the point of segregating them from the rest of the audience. It has the potential and shows it occasionally, but on the whole, it's one gigantic clunker.
    First, there are strengths:
    The animation of the animals is extremely fluid. To repeat, one element from the series that is often overlooked is the quality and improvement of the animal animation. Instead of using Flash as a cost-cutting measure, DHX uses it as a crucial tool to develop the animation and make it as useful as handdrawing them, akin to a full-length Disney animated picture. The same can be said for Spike as both a dragon and dog. The way both designs move demonstrate no noticeable hitches or glitches. In the alternate world, the environmental graphics are solid. It's school, but it feels like a lively school, with bright colors, land, shadows, and many other nuances. In front of Canterlot High is a horse statue that contains numerous details to make it look polished and beautiful. You can see, pause, and observe the details in that statue. There are no complaints for the excellent voice work. Whenever they talked, the dialogue, reactions, and exclamations didn't sound fake or poorly acted. When Twilight was anxious, she appeared anxious. When Spike was concerned or snarky, he sounded exactly that. The tones were believable. Sunset Shimmer was a bully, and her aggressive voice (as a human, pony, and bitchy demon) fit her personality. Like the episodes themselves, one crucial point in the series is both the background musical score and song score.
     
    a. Once more, William Anderson performed well. Each time his score came into play, the mood resonates and correlates. When the situation was calm, the score captured that feeling of calm. When Twilight was anxious or panicking, Anderson's tunes captured that panic. During the lone fight scene, the score revved up to represent adrenaline and urge, and it matched the scene well.
     
    And if you are a Star Wars geek like I am, take a listen to the score once Twilight opens Principal Celestia's door open with her head. You'll notice a tiny bit of a Star Wars-esque tune before it switches into something more fitting to Celestia.
     
    b. Daniel Ingram is responsible for the song score, and what he did really harnessed the feeling of youth. The songs are teen pop, which tends to be upbeat, young, and urban in its music. According to Ingram, this is something very foreign to him, which he did quite well in two (three?) songs:
     
    i. A Strange New World: This is the most unique of the songs in terms of tone. In the other songs, you can really notice the similarities in the drums, symbols, and rhythm. In this one, however, the mood is much more different, which means a change of pace in the music. It's lower and doesn't have as much adrenaline compared to the others.
     
    ii. Equestria Girls: The second the song begins to plays, there's a tribute to Queen's We Will Rock You. It's by far the catchiest song in the entire movie, and Ingram's upbeat, high-paced score (akin to a song played at a baseball game during a road team's mound conference) revs up tremendous adrenaline, starting small and then climatically ending on a continuously high note.
     
    iii. The instrumental theme for the characters' transformation. If you're going to give this moment any impact, it's important to put in a great score for it. Ingram (Anderson?) did exactly that, combining the teen pop genre with the feeling of magic and majesty in the instruments. The characterization of the humans is rather decent. Twilight's misadventures as a human really fit her, for she transformed from a pony so suddenly. As for the other humans, their dialogue fits their personalities and roles (Principal Celestia, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, etc.). But there's one human who stole the show in some capacity: Pinkie Pie. If you love Pinkie Pie, you'll love her glorious performance. For almost the entire movie, she was extremely in character and random, but didn't behave like a mindless clone from Too Many Pinkie Pies. Whatever she was going to say, you had no idea when or where. But whenever she did, it fit her so well. She wasn't random for the sake of it nor was she random during very crucial, dire moments. If she was serious, she was. When she was surprised, she was surprised. When she wanted to surprise someone with her hilarious antics, you had no idea how, whether it's her "hunch," breaking the fourth wall, or hanging upside-sown with a megaphone in her hand. She was fantastic here and gave her character so much justice. A little detail, but Principal Celestia shone early in the movie. Her sassy, snarky expression once Twilight entered her office was funny, and she showed both patience and impatience. In that small clip, she displayed a bigger sense of character than her pony counterpart: her strength of wisdom, but a psychological flaw of greater importance and not wanting to waste time participating in needless conversations. When Spike is well-written, he is a tremendous character, and he was excellent here. The design choice of him being Twilight's dog is still stupid because it relegated him to a pet instead of Twilight's surrogate brother, but he was the levelheaded figure of the duo. He was intelligent, witty, and the wiser of the two. He sometimes said something that was hilarious and not as smart as he hoped, but he knew Twilight very well and guided her whenever she got stuck, lost, or anxious. DHX, this is how Spike SHOULD be written: not a comedic butt of jokes, but a character who's worth his screentime and attention to the audience. Suffice it to say, it's his best role since The Crystal Empire. Twilight Sparkle was adorkable, but not the same Twilight compared to season three. All of the character growth from the pilot to Magical Mystery Cure was retained: nervous, mature, and capable of quickly regaining her composure. Her leadership, which isn't highlighted as much as it should, played a role in many parts of the movie, from making her human companions of her friends again to being the one who helped clean up the mess in the hall to leading the chase in the end.
     
    (That said, I expect Twilight to grow more and make her change to an alicorn princess worthwhile so Magical Mystery Cure does not come off as a more haphazard disguise for the toyline than it already is.) That said, there are many issues, some small, some quite big.
    One big issue in many of season three's episodes is the pace, either because it's too fast or too slow. This issue is evident here on many occasions.
     
    a. Twilight was transformed into a human and had to adapt in order to retrieve her Element of Harmony. In what is a seventy-minute movie, Twilight had to adapt to being a human in only three days. Transformation from one species to another is not as easy to adapt as you logically think. Think about a baby walking. When a baby tries to walk the first time, he or she will stumble and fall down. Eventually, the baby will walk, but it won't happen right away. It takes plenty of time to adjust, and this example applies to Twilight. She's smart, but isn't going to go from acting like a four-legged mammal to a human who's capable of wiggling her fingers and walking on her two feet in a couple of days. Getting used to having different anatomy takes plenty of time to adapt, and it's too quick.
     
    b. A common issue in the series: explaining a villain's backstory with as little detail as possible. Sunset Shimmer is the main villain in the entire movie, and Celestia didn't explain her history as thoroughly as she should. If given one or two more minutes to explain her past more, then Shimmer's transformation from a confident student to a dishonest, egotistical bully might've made more sense. Instead, Celestia's explanation was rushed and only opened up more questions about her past. Sunset's flimsy excuse following her defeat didn't close the door on these questions, either, but rather left them just as open, if not more.
     
    c. Twilight's crush, Flash Sentry (a.k.a., Brad), is boring and flat. As a character, he has very little personality. Sure, he's supposed to be kind and gentlemanly, but when he spoke, there was so little to demonstrate something from him that stands out and make him thoroughly three-dimensional. Any physical, psychological, and emotional flaws that make the characters thrive are absent, and he had so few roles to make him verbally stand out. Basically, he was a tertiary character.
     
    d. The mutual respect for both Flash Sentry and Twilight resorts to three common clichés: Flash helping Twilight to her feet; Flash and Twilight bumping into each other, having a "crush-y" moment, and Flash being Sunset's ex-boyfriend.
     
    The latter cliché is such a major copout for two reasons: It creates unnecessary conflict (which never got brought up following the revelation), and it's a cheap excuse to hook Twilight and Flash up. If you want to write genuinely good quality cruses and romance, don't fall for these stupid traps that intellectually insult your audience.
     
    Furthermore, the family-friendly romantic feelings were implausibly developed. At one point, they met. The next, Twilight developed a crush. The third, Flash and Twilight developed mutual respect for each other. There was so much going on, no time for them to mutually communicate was given.
     
    e. From the beginning to the end, the plot crammed way too much information for it to flow plausibly. This is a seventy-minute movie that featured several plot points, and it's up to McCarthy and the rest of DHX to have everything flow smoothly and plausibly: Twilight learning how to be a human, regain the crown, team up with her Human Five counterparts, defeat Sunset Shimmer, develop a crush on Flash Sentry along the way, and return home all in three days. What was given the ample opportunity to develop everything well was cut for the required time given for the movie. When you're forced to cut corners to cram so much detail, you risk greatly diminishing the quality of the story. That's exactly the case here, with the plot going, "too much information, too little time." If anything, this movie should've been longer. While the animation of the ponies and other animals is fluent, the humans are very subpar. With the exception of the twirling during Equestria Girls, the humans don't appear fluid at all. For one, the squash and stretch (an important principle in animation) are missing most of the time. When they walk and run, it doesn't have that organic motor of their legs. When the characters walk, run, pose, or throw, it's as if I turned on a machine. Instead of using Flash as a crucial tool to produce high-quality animation, it comes across as a crutch to cut corners.
     
    While nitpicky, Snails carried that wheelbarrow full of bricks as if it was empty. One brick alone is extremely heavy, and he's pushing at least a dozen. That's about two hundred pounds of bricks. For a team that takes its physics very seriously, DHX slipped up here. The cause of the division of the Human Five is out of character. While teens are extremely naïve, the Human Five are extremely intelligent, and they were all friends when they went to High School as freshmen. When Sunset Shimmer sabotaged their friendship with questionable messages, in-character beings of themselves would've gone to the supposed messengers and ask if they genuinely sent them. If they weren't friends to begin with, then that's not a problem, but it's very problematic and doesn't make sense. While the callback to the pilot with Fluttershy being shy to Twilight is fine as a concept, it doesn't make sense as she communicated with Sunset Shimmer. Following the confrontation, Fluttershy wouldn't have been as shy to talk with Twilight, who helped her and saved her from getting any more verbal abuse. If Fluttershy was quiet and meek while communicating with Sunset Shimmer, then the correlation wouldn't have been a problem. The periphery demographic is segregated from both the market and target audiences, relying on constant current pop culture and brony references to retain attention. While it's fine to reference the brony fandom in the form of Vinyl Scratch (with and without her shades), Trixie, Photo Finish, and Derpy, it's important to balance everything out with well-written plotlines, intelligent dialogue, and thorough characterization; this movie forced itself to divide the demographics. I called this out way too many times, particularly in my editorial.
     
    The human character designs are extremely formulaic, both male and female (with very few exceptions [i.e., Snips, Snails, Celestia, Granny Smith]).
     
    What makes the ponies stand out is how individual they all look even from either a basic silhouette. The pony base design is so strong, a mane and tail are all needed to create a character in a basic shape. With the humans, however, the hair immediately recognizes who the characters are, but that isn't enough, especially if going by a basic template (and to replicate well-recognized characters). Here, you need to really make the clothing varied to make the characters individual, and altering clothing like the skirts or boots just a little bit isn't enough. You need extreme variations in the height, anatomy, clothing, and so on to make them recognizable in a basic outline. For the Mane Six, besides Rainbow Dash's athletic pants, they're so similar; you can swap the completed designs from one to another, and they'll still fit.
     
    I repeated this in my editorial, so I'll copy and paste it:
      While Equestria Girls is both well-sung and well-composed, the other songs' lyrics are extremely repetitive. A Strange New World used the same message over and over again, while This Is Our Big Night (both the original and reprise) continued the same lyrics and tune. The latter is short, but it could've used much more variety to make the lyrics much more interesting. The creative genius that we normally see in the lyrics and song score is lost in its repetition and lack of necessity.
     
    The song played during the credits, A Friend for Life, albeit interesting and brings back the implied message My Little Pony: Equestria Girls sends, is very forgettable. It doesn't have catchy lyrics nor the bouncy rhythm that makes Equestria Girls intriguing to listen and see. Although the Human Six are in character, with the exception of Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Rarity (to an extent), the dialogue comes across as stilted. What makes great, three-dimensional characterization isn't merely having them be in character, but also not being able to predict somewhat what they're going to say. Whenever Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack spoke, I honestly expected what they were saying. It doesn't have to be an exact match, as long as the message correlates. Pinkie's characterization was great because you didn't expect what she was saying, but you can here with almost everyone else.
     
    It isn't only the Human Six, either. Sunset Shimmer, Snips, Snails, Vice Principal Luna, and Flash Sentry have the same issue, too. As they each spoke, I could predict what they were about to say.
     
    Rainbow Dash, despite being in character, has the worst dialogue. Her lines are not only way too stilted, but also too simple and limited in her vocabulary. Review the movie and see how much she says the word, "awesome."
     
    There's a big difference between in character and a combination of in character and three-dimensionality. Most of the characterizations leaned to the former rather than the latter. For a character who is supposed to replicate wisdom and intelligence, Vice Principal Luna shows none in her brief appearances, especially while interrogating Twilight in her office. Instead, we got someone who couldn't recognize a blatant cutout. The picture of Twilight causing the mess in the gym isn't a photoshop. It's an image with Twilight cut out and glued on the front to make it look like she caused the mess. Any vice principal with an ounce of intelligence would immediately recognize the ploy. Paper has texture, and you can feel the image being cut out immediately. The real Vice Principal Luna would notice this immediately, find Sunset Shimmer, and interrogate her rather than rely on a semi-Deus Ex Machina to get Twilight out of trouble.
     
    Simply put, Vice Principal Luna is an atrociously out-of-character idiot. The story's extremely predictable; it plays way too safe. While Friendship Is Magic mostly developed the characters conservatively, the writers aren't afraid to throw a curveball to make the plot interesting and accessible, sending a message to families (of little girls/teens) that good quality, fresh entertainment is available out there. But instead of throwing a great curveball that makes the audience whistle by how nasty it broke, Uncle Charlie lazily hung in the middle of the strike zone. This movie doesn't play fresh one iota. Instead, it sticks to the common clichés in high school with nothing genuinely interesting or faithful to the main series to keep things interesting. It's the typical "newcomer-arrives-at-High-School-meets-new-friends-gains-her-bully's-ex-as-a-crush-kicks-bully's-ass-and-the-story-ends-happily" plot, only with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic slapped on the front to make it appear related. It's extremely formulaic; I felt like I honestly saw or read the same plot in another book or show. Snips and Sails are extremely unrecognizable as characters. Sure, their faces, bodies, and voices exist, but there's a difference in seeing them visually and seeing, hearing, and identifying them. Snips and Snails spoke, but they're not them.
     
    In Equestria, Snips and Snails are innocently minded characters. While they tend to say and do stupid things, they're not evil. In the alternate world, they're evil! They're villains, and that's NOT them! They're a dumber version of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but as males instead of females. "Alternate Universe" is no excuse for disrespecting the original characterization and making them different characters with "Snips" and "Snails" slapped on the obverse. Sunset Shimmer is a TERRIBLE character! There was so much criticism for King Sombra for being flat and boring, with nearly nothing to make him a full-fledged, developed character. However, Sombra still has plenty of potential to become such a dastardly villain that Discord would squirm.
     
    Sunset Shimmer is just bland and uninteresting. As a personality, she is the typical, high-school-clichéd, one-dimensional bitch. What could've been a highly manipulative, calculative, cocky, greedy, proud villain is relegated into a cardboard with the typical bully, with bright colors and a black jacket dressing her. Swap the shared "personality" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had from One Bad Apple into Sunset Shimmer, and you have the same characters with only a different character designs and voices to separate them.
     
    Also, if she was interested in obtaining magical genius while studying under Celestia's tutelage, then why would she decide to venture into Canterlot High, a place where magic is much more obscure and difficult to conjure, in the first place? Instead, wouldn't she venture to another area to study harder, like a restricted section in the school library or another school where she feels she can study to her very best? Celestia describes Shimmer as hardworking to a huge fault, greedy, and thirsty to be the best sage. Greed and pride describe Shimmer fantastically, but it wasn't used properly for her because the concept of the alternate world suppresses magic, and she behaved dimwittedly. Instead of shutting down her perceived intelligence to make Twilight and the rest of the characters better, use her intelligence to make both Twilight and Sunset equal rivals, and use Twilight's own intelligence to problem-solve.
     
    For that matter, how the hell was Sunset Shimmer able to know where Twilight's crown was located, anyhow? That wasn't explained, and there was one perfect place to reveal how and why: their encounter under the broken light. If she explained how and why she knew the crown was there, chances are it would've made more sense.
     
    Her "master plan" to turn every student in Canterlot High's Fall Formal into a zombie army is stupid. If they were all monsters like Sunset Shimmer, then chances are I could give the plan the benefit of the doubt. But once they cross into Equestria and encounter Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the rest of the Mane Six, they'll be transported back where they came from.
     
    Then there's her excuse why she became cruel and dishonest:
      Her reason for becoming so evil is flimsy and shallow, making her a flatter, dumber character, and inorganically shoehorning the Magic of Friendship in the canon. Her cruelty needs to have much more basis than this. If she's going to be evil, don't throw in a rushed two-liner. Give her evil a basis to make her evil solid, logical, and empathetic. In the ending, Sunset is at her most vulnerable. Show us why we should feel sympathy for her. That throwaway line doesn't give her character justice. Instead, this bullshit stomps on any remaining integrity her concept once had. The ending is awful and makes no sense.
     
    a. Like the rest of the plot, the climax is way too quick. There was so much to deliver, explain, show, and tell, but the whole battle was crammed into five minutes.
     
    b. A second Deus Ex Machina blooms. Flash showing up to get Twilight out of trouble was the first. The second came here when Twilight and her human friends harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony. While the Elements of Harmony were definitely going to impact the movie somehow, Twilight was able to activate its power without the tools necessary to activate the Magic of Friendship. If the physical tools were unnecessary, then why did Discord steal them in Return of Harmony, and why did Twilight have to safeguard them from Keep Calm and Flutter On to Magical Mystery Cure? The DEM handwaves the purpose of having the tangible objects to begin with (using that "intangible tangibles" cliché), creating a big plothole that the universe didn't need having.
     
    c. As funny as Twilight was in the dance, her going to the Fall Formal at the end is completely out of character of her. She's running on time, and she barely entered through the portal before the clock ran out. What if she went into the Formal and didn't make it on time? She would really regret doing it. It would've been best for the plot if Twilight went on to say, "no," say goodbye to her friends, and leave for home.
     
    d. The fact that Twilight went back to her world this quickly is just plain stupid! This event is a very big change for her to adapt. High School and the Fall Formal are completely foreign environments, and it's up to her to adapt as well as she plausibly can and survive. But to be there from the beginning of the movie to returning to her own world makes no sense for two reasons.
     
    i. It shows right from the get-go that this movie's primary purpose is to sell toys. The plot is second-nature, and it shows how much how DHX has to try to cram such a dumb concept into the plot in order for the alternate dimension to make sense professionally and canonically.
     
    ii. It's such a huge mea culpa and exemplifies why converting Twilight from an alicorn back to a unicorn is such a stupid idea. It tells the audience that DHX spits on the concept and wants to do whatever it can to "rectify" an idea that's so unfaithful to Friendship Is Magic's roots. But this plot point is so cheap and admits to the audience that the movie shouldn't have been made, period. DHX and Meghan McCarthy are implying, "This movie conceptually sucks, and we'll do whatever it takes to get out of it." It's as if McCarthy ran into Writer's Block and sifted through The Generic Book of Generic Clichés just to escape. It takes whatever "soul" — or lack thereof — Equestria Girls already "had" and destroys it.
     
    If DHX wants to disguise this blatant toy promotion more convincingly, have Twilight not be able to return during the movie. As in, the only way to get back to Equestria is to wait for the next thirty moons or have Twilight adapt in High School, better expand the Magic of Friendship to Sunset Shimmer, battle through rough times in High School, become triumphant, and graduate. But this canonical method is cheap and lame: It tells the audience that DHX and Hasbro don't desire to explain and expand this world further. Finally, this movie as a whole has absolutely no soul. Just because there are patches of great work doesn't mean the passion is exactly there. It's very possible to churn high-quality work just for the sake of it. The movie's concept is extremely typical, but McCarthy and the rest of the crew didn't do something to make it stand out and make it not only differentiate from the rest of the typical High School plotlines, but also faithful to the roots of Friendship Is Magic. The concept is old to the core, but McCarthy could've still done something to make My Little Pony: Equestria Girls refreshing and not fall into the samey plotlines that have killed many movies (both blockbuster features and home videos).
     
    But Equestria Girls didn't dare to take chances and slapped in many brony references to capture the periphery demographic's attention. Too much was crammed in simultaneously, forcing the movie to hold its breath until the credits rolled. Like a furious and impatient conductor rolling through his or her notes, Equestria Girls speeds through one page after another and cuts corners to fit everything into one package. It's completely different to Magical Mystery Cure, where the path wasn't linear. Here, it was very linear with no thoroughly great characterization, poorly done character development, and the overall impression that DHX and Hasbro didn't care for the overall quality and performance of the movie at all. Executive meddling is no excuse for giving My Little Pony: Equestria Girls a Dementor's Kiss. ———
    My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a spinoff with the ability to expand the universe into more uncharted, interesting territories. Despite a concept that doesn't stay faithful to the core of the main series, the Next Big Thing for Friendship Is Magic provided ample opportunity for Hasbro and DHX to take it and make something fresh and good out of it. There are patches of high-quality characterization (primarily in Pinkie Pie and Spike), music, and overall potential. Instead, the story is safe; the humans' animation is inorganic; the lyrics are often repetitive or forgettable; and the overall script quality is sacrificed for time.
    In what could have been a great way to sidestep executive meddling and send a message to families, adolescent girls, and the overall periphery demographic that the High School concept can show a breath of fresh air, the clichés deliver the opposite, disappointing message and further prove that the concept just doesn't work. Although the potential is there, what is executed instead is mostly a convoluted, lazy, soulless mess. Overall, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a terrible movie.
    ———
    Source: Equestria Girls Post Reactions & Reviews
  16. Dark Qiviut
    One big pet peeve I have from many corners of this fandom is the STUPID "you're afraid of change" strawman. Instead of creating a debate about why the change is good or bad, too many destruct the argument to "You don't like it? You hate change!" or "You're afraid of change!"
    This is like "It's for kids/little girls" as an excuse for FIM's too many shortcomings or "older male bronies stole FIM from little girls" to discredit the impact of the brony community (both of which I'm seeing way too often here).
    So why is this excuse so stupid?
    Well, think of strawmen. They're massive exaggerations, misinterpretations, or fabrications of another person's argument simply to make him or herself look better. The second you use the strawman, you're not creating a point. You're devaluing your whole opinion by being dishonest. The more you parrot it, the more I wonder if the those who embrace this strawman actually care about FIM's quality. You claim you want to see it improve, but your actions contradict what you claim.
    It's not about the change itself that's the flaw or strength, but the quality of the change thereof. How the change was executed. If the change is a good change, then it's fine. If it's a bad change, then people have every reason to complain or criticize.
    People complained of the Twilicorn because it was a poorly executed change. Executed far too quickly, retconned the cutie mark as predestination and being fixated on it instead of something innate and grown into embracing, and the unfortunate implications. Five minutes is more than enough time to deliver a solid first impression of the Twilicorn, and DHX failed. If Magical Mystery Cure was objectively good, then there wouldn't have been complaints even to this day. And if Twilicorn was actually treated with respect in season four (as in they wrote her as if they knew how to deal with her current status as royalty), then there still wouldn't be much criticism over it.
    People complained about Equestria Girls because the concept was DOA. A world of stereotypes and clichés that do nothing to help expand what made the show spectacular. Sunset Shimmer was a stereotypical villain. Flash was a stereotypical good guy with Twilight only getting a crush on him 'cause he looked hot. The HuMane Five are shallow caricatures of their pony counterparts. Rainbow Rocks does nothing to deconstruct this sterile world. Flash is still a walking stereotype. The HeMane Five regress. By having her whole character reset and the HuMane Five acting like idiots just to make her look better, Sunset's character development/redemption subplot is discredited…and it's unfortunate 'cause she had a decent arc with a LOT of potential. The villains are flat. Even though some of the charm exists in RR, part of what makes FIM a lovable world (a fantasy world designed to subvert antifeminist stereotypes) is still absent.
    People praised the ending of Lesson Zero because it was a well-executed change. One of the bigger problems of season one was how Twilight was often shoehorned just so she could narrate the lesson. Having the other characters write the friendship report fixed the problem. And it helped when Lesson Zero and Sisterhooves Social are so well-done and easily two of the ten best in the show, Sisterhooves the best season two episode, too.
    People praised Luna Eclipsed because it was an improvement. Luna had a fuller character dynamic and became even more relatable than during season one. If Luna Eclipsed wasn't well-executed, then she wouldn't still have such a big fanbase, would she?
    People complained about Twilight's new castle because it's not that aesthetically pleasing. Visually, the Library is Twilight in essence. How? It's quirky, homey, and organic, yet very balanced. In character of Twilight, iconic, yet not sticking out. Tirek blowing it up is bold and really pushed forward the fantastic — if not bombastic — battle scene. The castle, however, is really jagged on the outside (sticking out aplenty in the organically shaped buildings of Ponyville) and looks really dark on the inside. Outside, it's very unbalanced by having most of the structure lean on one side. Inside, the dark colors, jagged edges, and cool colors make it gloomy, sterile, and cold; the hard-seated thrones only accentuate the unfriendly connotations. There's a really great song from Promises, Promises called A House Is Not a Home. The new castle may be Twilight's house, but it's not a cozy home for the reasons already explained. Twilight's castle replacing the Library is like idea of a cookie-cutter stadium (Riverfront Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, RFK Stadium) replacing Camden Yards.
    People complained about Discord turning good in Keep Calm and Flutter On for nearly the same reasons as MMC: a contrivedly fast pace, but with Fluttershy's evil implications when delivering the moral. Many speculated a return to the dark side for Discord in season four for a reason. Conversely, many praised Discord's true change in Twilight's Kingdom because the narrative took its time. When Discord became evil, he was given the freedom. But he made a huge mistake and paid an even huger price, thus having to learn the lesson of friendship the hard way. Given the context, it makes more sense and remedies Keep Calm's flaws.
    Many people accepted Maud because it was done well for the most part. Maud's a pretty memorable character and a great candidate for so much analysis. (Her matter-of-fact approach to everything, including her love for rocks, while maintaining her dry focus invites plenty of speculation and headcanon.) She and Pinkie definitely have a great relationship, and they care for each other. Not to mention, Maud was foreshadowed early in Pinkie Pride through the photo hanging on the wall (and PiP is a fantastic episode, too).
    People praised the evolution of both Dash and Scootaloo in Sleepless in Ponyville because it was something that was a long time coming, and done really well. Scootaloo idolized Dash and really emulated her despite being herself. She grew, and Dash was really well written up to this point. Confident, a great storyteller, yet very oblivious to Scootaloo's nightmares. The moment between them is extremely sweet and relatable.
    And speaking of Scootaloo, people praised the evolution of her possibly being disabled in Flight to the Finish because it was really well-done. It was an idea Faust thought of when she was in control only to not be used. Valentine et al. used that long-time idea and went with it. The moral itself is amazing, and the episode itself is really well-done. They addressed her possibility of not being able to fly tactfully.
    The CMCs' characterization in Twilight Time is a change embraced. Because Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo look up to Applejack, Rarity, and Dash respectively, someday they were going to emulate them someway. Polsky merged them very subtly, thus keeping their personalities intact and not making it contrived. The same goes with Twilight eating sloppily in the fast food joint: praised for developing into being more relaxed yet remaining adorkable.
    The evolution of Fluttershy's shyness is also an embraced change. Previously, when Fluttershy was shy, it was because it was part of her name. She was born shy. HF shattered that conception by giving it so much backstory. Because of her past history with bullies, Fluttershy obtained a crippling version of stage fright. This stage fright wasn't just shyness anymore. It was a crippling phobia. Then she worked hard to try to do better, only to believe she can't do her job. The climax made her confront her fears and become the reason why Cloudesdale got that water.
    Conversely, Fluttershy's approach to being assertive isn't a welcomed change. You could argue that Fluttershy had that pent-up anger and couldn't take it anymore. But all that excuse does is handwave the blatant contrivances that created this circumstance. In addition, the narrative downplays Fluttershy's cruelty and then completely scapegoats Iron Will for the whole thing. There's a reason why so many hate Putting Your Hoof Down and why it's a terrible episode.
    Although Maud Pie was welcomed, the breezies weren't welcomed for good reason. The exposition clashed with each other, making the narrative very confusing. Then you had the breezies other than Seabreeze being completely unlikeable, willing to sacrifice their home and families just to be with Fluttershy. Unfortunately, the narrative semi-treated Seabreeze as the breezy in the wrong, and Fluttershy's moment was robbed when Twilight barged in with the DEM.
    Lastly, Derpy's censorship is one of the most unwelcomed and offensive changes in cartoon history. What was a hilarious, aloof character with a carefree and childlike personality while Dash treated her as any other commonpony was suddenly out of character, her voice altered into a nasal, sarcastic stereotype. Dash treated her like she was stupid. Derpy's eyes were more straightened, and her name was retconned. By trying to fix a "problem," Hasbro's "solution" made things worse.
    To get more people to accept the changes, DHX and Hasbro need to execute the changes well. They've done it, but they have a spotty record. They need to do better. The criticisms of specific changes aren't there without merit, so it's time for that strawman to be like The Undertaker's Streak:
    Rest. In. Peace.
  17. Dark Qiviut
    Season five has its share of coming-of-age feels.
     
    The Cutie Map marks a transition of the show. For characters like Twilight, rather than receiving lessons (of friendship), she's responsible for giving them. The map acts as a guide to spread the Magic of Friendship beyond merely Ponyville and the common lands of Equestria, landing a sense of adventure. What the audience got is easily the darkest, most mature episode of the show with several appropriately included allegories to real-life cults, communist societies/governments, and excellent characterization.
    Castle Sweet Castle presents levels of mourning, but without acting so sappy. Twilight had very great reasons why she doesn't want to live there. Was the ReMane Five's approach daft? Definitely. But they also meant very well, and they realized their mistake. Despite some slow pacing, the tale was successful.
    Bloom & Gloom is an episode I don't have a personal attachment to because the approach behaved a lot like a virtual checklist than a series of fears. But the fears are very real, and the approach to them is very real. The questions Apple Bloom asked — usually jokes in the fandom — was taken very seriously, and the nightmares played with her subconscious. Thank @@Wind Chaser's excellent analysis for swaying me into looking at this episode in a much more positive light.
    Tanks for the Memories continues with the first Dash-centric episode of the season, this time focusing on her relationship with Tank the Tortoise. Both of them have a strong relationship with each other, evident by their Eskimo kisses during Just for Sidekicks. In what is Cindy Morrow's first episode back as writer for the show after taking last year off, it's easily my least favorite (and at the time of submission, second-worst) episode this season so far.
    Ignorant of the situation.
    What makes each of the Mane Six (including Spike) so likeable is how they're all very real. Even with their cartoon exaggerations occasionally, they're not without depth. They each have their strengths, quirks, and flaws. The flaws enhance the archetypical subversions, helping them become very relatable. Rainbow Dash ain't exempt; outside of Rarity, she's the most three-dimensional of the Mane Six.
    But there come the times where Dash has behaved so insufferably. Alongside Rarity and Applejack, she initiated an unnecessary conflict with Trixie. In Fall Weather Friends, she and Applejack taunted Twilight and acted childishly, only to get her just desserts. The first half of season two made her a pain to watch thanks to her abusive behavior to the animals in May the Best Pet Win! and acting very egotistical in Mare Do Well (her friends not exempt from the poor behavior, either). After a great return to her true, maturer form in season three, her character regressed starting with acting like a rabid fan stereotype in Daring Don't, accentuating the conflict as a desperate idiot in Rainbow Falls, and completely disregarding her lifelong friendship with Fluttershy in order to trade for a one-of-a-kind book in Trade Ya!
    Guess which Rainbow Dash fell to? The insufferable kind.
    Rainbow Dash is VERY out of character! Part of it has to do with ignorant approach to the conflict from start to finish.
    To begin with, when she was the weather team's captain during WWU, part of the goal was to cooperate with Applejack's and Amethyst's teams below. She must cooperate with both Applejack's in order to help grow the crops and Amethyst's in order to help wake up the animals from hibernation and melt the ice. Was she physically involved in waking up the animals? No. Due to her assignment, she doesn't need to be. But no captain would lack certain levels of logic over how important hibernation is to not only the circle of life for Ponyville's populous (and possibly any other village nearby), but the other animals, too. In other words, it makes absolutely zero sense for her to be so unaware of how hibernation works to reptiles and mammals.
    Since she would've needed to be knowledgeable of animal life just to help lead the weather team, Dash didn't need to be reminded of how important hibernation is to the animals. But Tanks for the Memories treats her ignorance as if she never understood it. Take a gander at these two lines from very early in Act 1:
    The way Dash acted in this situation, she behaved as if reptiles don't hibernate at all. In Winter Wrap Up, Fluttershy made it clear that the animals had to wake up slowly. She wasn't merely talking about mammals. Reptiles, too.
    But let's say she was ignorant of brumation — the reptilian term for hibernation with some differences — the whole time. That's no excuse whatsoever. The moment she completely disregarded Fluttershy's guidance, Dash's credibility flushed down the toilet like Twilight during Bridle Gossip. These two are very close friends, and it's obvious Dash trusts her; why wouldn't she go to her in the first place? 'Shy has a lot of knowledge of specific species. She woke up mammals before. She woke up reptiles before. Obviously, her encyclopædia about hibernation and brumation contains plenty of knowhow. Otherwise, why the heck would she be assertive when Dash ignored her and after the whole conflict in the first place?
    Since she didn't believe her closest friend, why didn't Dash head over to Pinkie Pie after interrogating Spike? Alligators brumate, too. Whether Gummy's been around since before the pilot is unknown; the series doesn't imply the specific timing of the event. But Pinkie has been with Gummy since well before The Return of Harmony. So she should have some knowledge of reptilian brumation. According to the "Don't-say-that-word" gag, she's very familiar. If Pinkie told Dash that her alligator has to brumate, and Gummy comes out unscathed:
    There's no need for Dash to come up with such an evil scheme. Dash's song is completely pointless. The death allegory becomes more jarring than it currently is. Pinkie and Dash are close, and Dash trusts her. If Gummy survives brumation, so can Tank. The allegory collapses on top of itself.
    Imbecilic and evil.
    Her actions in Tanks for the Memories are a complete contradiction to several key episodes about her.
    Winter Wrap Up: To repeat what I wrote earlier, TftM violates Winter Wrap Up's continuity because she had prior understanding of the weather cycle's relationship with fauna. But there's one more egregious violation of WWU's canon, too.
    Observe the most notorious block of lyrics from her song, which I'll get back to later:
    Notice my emphasis. In song, she admitted that it's "only" the weather she'll change. Her philosophy is to not just have Tank hibernate — She'll change the weather and stop winter from coming, ala How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
    The big problem is how dismissive she is of the weather. Since the pilot, she completely understands its impact along with the pegasi's importance of the weather. Instead, she treats the weather's impact like it's no big deal. That she can change it anytime and anywhere. Here, she's unaware of the impact weather has on society. For a character like her who comprehends the weather and operated as the weather team captain, this is completely out of character of her.
    Think about it. The episode treats the conflict as an allegory of death. But the entire plot is about Tank needing to brumate to stay healthy. It's supposed to capture the sadness of death without actually being death. Given the need for him to brumate due to health and how it equates the two, it makes Dash look idiotic without even proper justification.
    The Mysterious Mare Do Well: In an episode that contradicts canonical setting and characterization for the sake of horrid contrivances, Rainbow Dash said this (in maybe the episode's best scene):
    For good reason, too. Because everyone was glorifying the Mare Do Well and the ReMane Five were absolutely malicious, Dash is now seen as the villain, and she's now alone with no one there to like. She desperately attempted to regain some of that recognition only to make things worse.
    One of the defenses for Dash's actions here is the fact that she doesn't like being alone. In response, it'd be in character of her to keep Tank awake. Just because he or she's in character in one scene doesn't make him or her in character the next. It depends on the circumstances. In Mare Do Well, Dash was acting stupid because her popularity crumbled, and she tried to do something for others to like her. It was torturous to watch her fall from grace because we were supposed to laugh at her misery, but her actions were believable.
    Dash in Tanks calculated a plan to sabotage Cloudesdale's weather factory. That's not desperation. That's evil. Out of character.
    Wonderbolts Academy: Initially, she was brash, very happy, proud, and cocky for good reasons. Then the Rule of Thirds builds up both the internal and external conflict presented by Dash to us. As Dust lets her ego get the best of her, Dash takes on the role of wingpony and becomes more reserved and concerned.
    In Dust's first act of recklessness, she told her to slow down her dive because someone could get hurt. Dash sprained her wing during. Next, Spitfire bluntly stated that the next event wasn't about racing. Dust defied that. Dash followed because she didn't want to let the Wonderbolts down. But before the last straw, Dust wanted to really blow away the competition despite Dash stating they were winning by a mile. But the voices in Dash's head hit her, and she didn't want to look like she was disobeying authority. So she followed it up. The point is that Dash is aware of the consequences of her actions. She may be brash, but today's Dash isn't the Dash of season one. She stands back, thinks things through, and is more humble now. The turning point came during Wonderbolts Academy, where she chose to give up her lifelong dream because she thought Spitfire (and by association, the Wonderbolts altogether) awarded ponies for their recklessness rather than being rewarded for doing the right thing.
    This is where the first meter from Tanks comes into play.
    In WA, she wants to do the right thing. Even though it was wrong for her to agree with the tornado, she agreed to do so reluctantly for the reasons already stated.
    In a later episode — Testing Testing, 1, 2, 3 — Twilight called her out for nearly spitting in her eye and destroyed her straw. Dash hunkered in embarrassment, as she should. Dash wasn't focused on her test and instead played fun and games without thinking of the consequences. But Twilight kept her accountable.
    In Tanks for the Memories, this situation shows how aware Dash is of everything. She's extremely aware that sabotaging the weather factory in Cloudesdale will have very dynamic consequences on Ponyville's environment. And by association, the towns nearby and Cloudesdale. Ponyville and the surrounding villages need winter to keep the cycle running, notably the hibernation of other animals, not just Tank. But Dash isn't caring about them. Instead, she focuses on keeping Tank up despite being told time and time again that she needs to hibernate in order to maintain her health.
    Was what Dash did wrong? Definitely.
    Did she know it's wrong? Absolutely.
    But she was going to do it, anyway!
    Unlike what happened in Wonderbolts Academy, she doesn't have a solid alibi. None of what she did here was remotely reasonable or understandable. Instead, she's being incredibly self-centered and disregards the lives of her friends and Tank himself. But the episode treats it as an understandable situation.
    Most unfortunate is Dash gets away with everything she did wrong, all of it in cartoon fashion. But in an episode with as much emotional weight as this, the typical cartoon logic is completely inappropriate. Her actions such as clearing up the skies, melting the snow, and putting the leaves back on the trees are indiscreet; the idea that nopony has any idea she was the culprit makes no sense, especially since plenty happen in plain sight. Her most discreet decision was vandalizing the weather factory, but in a show about teaching kids morals, she should get some legal consequences for her actions like paying to fix the factory or doing most of the heavy cloud covering.
    A high-stakes game of Connect Four.
    If I want a really tense, exciting matchup, I would rather watch a game of Blackjack or Poker where millions of dollars are piled in the pot, not a casual game I would play with friends or kids.
    @@Bhending the Rules on here and YouTube states this succinctly (and this segment of the analysis is credited to him): The stakes in Tanks aren't high enough.
    Like what I wrote earlier, the entire episode is an allegory of death. You can tell through its explicit use of Kübler-Ross's "Five Stages of Grief" model:
    Denial: Dash denies Tank needs to brumate even after Fluttershy tells her he must sleep. Anger: Rainbow Dash inexplicably shouts at the Mane Six when they confront her about it. Bargaining: In order to prevent Tank from brumating and keep her awake, Dash decides to sabotage winter. Depression: When Fluttershy bluntly tells her the truth about her winter being petless, Dash loses complete control and starts to cry. Acceptance: With support of her friends, she says goodbye, lets Tank brumate until spring arrives, and reads her a bedtime story. But there's one big problem: the lack of an actual death. The Five Stages of Grief are utilized in an episode about a pet needing to sleep to rejuvenate for spring. Once Fluttershy explained to Dash about Tank needing months of sleep, the tension, sorrow, and grief feel fake. Everything the rainbow pony subsequently does to keep Tank awake lack emotional and storytelling weight because Tank's brumation is burned in the audience's mind. Rather than being believable, her logic is cringe-inducing.
    Simply put, there's no reason for anyone to feel sorry for a character who, while supposed to feel sorry for, should feel some form of relief that Fluttershy gave an unfortunate villain some level of consequences. Unfortunately, the consequences feel hollow for the reasons I already stated.
    If there were some actual stakes, then Dash's recklessness would've made some sense. What if during the first winter together (I'll get to this below), Tank wakes up not feeling well and needs some time to recover? Then once winter approaches, Dash would start to worry about Tank hibernating and not waking up, only to not work. You can play the Five Stages or have Dash try to slow down winter so Tank doesn't have to brumate as long, if not at all. But it doesn't work, and Tank has to brumate. Dash stays nervous, but has to. So with his and her friends' guidance, Tank goes to hibernate, and Dash goes by her everyday life, still feeling worried. But when spring comes around, Tank wakes up feeling nice and healthy. Dash won't have to worry about the hibernation stage so much now.
    Little details go a long way.
    But all that I stated earlier — the lack of proper stakes, Dash's horrendous characterization, the lack of appropriate consequences, contradiction of past episodes — aren't the big flaw. The biggest flaw comes from one line of dialogue in the very beginning of the episode:
    Why?
    It's an explicit contradiction of continuity.
    How?
    Rainbow Dash first met Tank in May the Best Pet Win!, season two's seventh episode.
    Four (originally six) episodes later, Hearth's Warming Eve premiered.

    Ponyville blanketed in snow is HWE's first shot.
    Going by the post-Lesson Zero timeline, this means that Dash and Tank have spent at least one winter before. In other words, Dash would've already known Tank (and reptiles, period) needed to hibernate, would've undergone the grieving model once before, waited for Tank to wake up, will trust both Fluttershy's advice and the brumation cycle more, and won't supposedly be so ignorant of the situation.
    Every single problem in this episode that I pointed out is traced to this line. Not even two minutes in, the narrative completely falls apart. Because of this piece of dialogue, the whole conflict isn't simply out of place timeline-wise. It's also forced and pointless. If Tanks for the Memories took place before Hearth's Warming Eve, then Dash's emotional dilemma would be somewhat justified; somewhat stupid, but also understandable. There's zero justification for her to act like this during the middle of the fifth.
    Conclusion.
     
    While past episodes like Hurricane Fluttershy, Sisterhooves Social, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Rarity Takes Manehattan operate a lot on playing with your emotions, the stakes were high enough to pull you into the conflict and make you swim in their horror or sorrow. Here, TftM operates on attempting to play some serious stakes, but it's immediately bogged down by a very conservative approach to death. In 1983, in response to actor Will Lee's death, Sesame Street killed off his on-screen character, Mr. Hooper, and approached the conflict with Big Bird as the child character; he presented the Five Stages of Grief like Dash, but the feelings are genuine, and part of that is how they didn't cut any corners. Conversely, the corner-cutting, poor continuity, lack of believability, and overall stupidity gutted Tanks's overall quality. In essence, Tanks for the Memories is twofold:
    The most emotionally contrived episode since Magical Mystery Cure. Part of the season three finale's angle is the ability to feel sad for Twilight for accidentally putting herself, and especially all of Ponyville, in a problem with virtually no way out. But sloppy pacing makes the episode hold its breath with no way to exhale. Rather than feeling proud, the implications of Celestia knowing things can go terribly wrong if Twilight screwed up the incomplete spell and the complete role reversal of the cutie mark's purpose (changing it from something you choose to having your life predestined before birth) makes Twilight's accomplishments feel incredibly hollow. The Nightmare Rarity arc of the show, except way better. In my Slice of Life analysis, I described how the little details inside Town Hall validated the wedding and Mayor Mare's speech. Like the comic arc, the little details in Tanks opened up huge questions regarding the show's continuity. Here, the little bits of detail also broke apart the ability to sympathize for a very sympathetic character in what was supposed to be a relatable, understanding conflict. And that's a shame, consider there are a few good moments.
    The creepy faces were either hilarious and creepy (the Grinch homage as Dash rubbed her hooves together) or emotional (Dash's close-up angry face).
    The "Who's On First?" homage is both a great tribute to the famous skit and a hilarious meta parody to how Hasbro and DHX name their characters.
    Fluttershy's blunt message to Rainbow Dash while she was at her most vulnerable sounds cold on the surface, but it's actually one of her best moments of the show. As she knows Dash better than anyone, she's the right pony to tell her the blunt truth and help her transition through the fourth and fifth stages. More importantly, it validates the morals she learned in both Putting Your Hoof Down and It Ain't Easy Being Breezies.
    Unfortunately, the good moments are wasted in between a bunch of sloppy writing.
  18. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: Credit goes to @@The Second Opinion, @@Buck Testa, @@~StatesTheOblivious~, @@Wind Chaser, and @ for this analysis. Parts of this analysis were revised to clean up some inaccuracies and add some insight from other reviews. My critique of Fancy Pants was revised as a result of feedback from both @@Nuke87654 and @@Sunny Fox.
    Also, thanks, Walmart, for the entry image.
    Since season three, episodes starring Spike are very notorious for being the ones many folks don't look forward to. As a fan of Spike, this notoriety's very well earned.
    Owl's Well That Ends Well: This is the episode that began the Spikabuse train. In a very clichéd story about jealousy, Spike is written as the antagonist despite having very reasonable fears of being replaced. The Mane Six appear completely ungrateful by being super-impressed with Owlowiscious despite never seeing him before, while giving Spike the same present last night after being around them for (maybe) a year. Twilight's reasons for keeping Owlowiscious makes no sense, for most of it's in the daytime, and Owlowiscious is up and driving Spike crazy. This is a classic torture porn. Dragon Quest: Season two's worst. Mean-spirited characterization of the Mane Six. Sexist implications by mocking Spike for wearing a "feminine" apron and presenting stereotypical male bullies. Xenophobic by stereotyping the entire dragon race as a bunch of thugs and writing a terrible moral implicating how ponies are better than dragons despite how his friends caused the whole conflict. Spike at Your Service: The start of Spike's flanderization and persistent out-of-characterization. The reliable, intelligent assistant is disregarded in favor of the incompetent, idiot servant. The Timberwolves are contrived. The Dragon Code is contrived (and had its original continuity disregarded by being taken seriously despite being a play card earlier). The climax is rushed and OOC of Applejack. Spike couldn't learn the lesson unless he was told directly. Spike's fear of being abandoned were completely ignored. Applejack's and Rarity's characterizations can't save this train wreck. Just for Sidekicks: Three words. Spike — torture — porn. An episode that made him act as if the morals he learned in Secret of My Excess and Dragon Quest never existed. Power Ponies: Not a complete disaster, but still really, really weak. The main problem was how Spike's role of comic relief was completely hammered in. They keep expositing how useless he is as Humdrum, while the other characters become useless with the obvious intent of making Spike the hero. Not all good satires have to be subtle, but the destination was too close to the viewer's face. Equestria Games: The biggest drawback was how The Hub and Hasbro tried to sell the Games, only to play against their expectations and make it merely filler. But even if the setting was different, Spike was still really stupid here, and the treatment the script gave him was painful. Discovery Family/Hasbro has always put in some effort to publish at least one teaser to excite the audience. The day before Appleoosa's Most Wanted aired, a teaser was published, and there was reason for hope: It was the episode's best scene. So when Princess Spike's synopsis appeared, plenty of people like myself were apprehensive toward it for the reasons outlined above. When there was no teaser for it, fears conjure up even more.
    After watching it, I can see why. Princess Spike is a mess.
    Now, to get it out of the way, contrivances aren't inherently bad. The point of a contrivance is to serve and advance the plot. If you're going to be a writer, you must add them. The catch is to hide it. Every episode has at least one, but some are more naturally hidden than others. The issue is when the contrivance becomes transparent, hence "contrived." Rainbow Falls and Trade Ya! are two examples of very contrived episodes.
    Currently, Princess Spike is season five's most contrived episode. How?
    We'll start with the exposition in both the prologue and Act 1.
    I made this point in so many other reviews/analyses, including Rainbow Rocks, but for those who haven't read them, I'll repeat it. When you have so much exposition very early, you suck the tension out and make the journey feel boring. Exposition shouldn't have to be relied on to progress the plot.
    In Flight to the Finish, Mrs. Harshwhinny told the fillies the rules of the contest. But you see chalkboard illustrations as she speaks. Their exposition sets up the plot, but it's ancillary and enhances the conflict.
    The Cutie Map starts out with some exposition when Rainbow Dash summarizes why Twilight has The Castle of Friendship. Quick, done, moving on. Like Flight, Pinkie tells us and her friends about the townsfolk's creepy smiles, but we get to see it, and the exposition enhances the conflict.
    In other words, good exposition shouldn't feel out of place or dependent. Princess Spike depends on telling the audience elements of the plot. At the minimum, good exposition should be the chocolate syrup on the sundae, not the ceramic plate for the sundae.
    One obvious contrivance occurs right in the beginning when Twilight is so sleepy, she can't stay awake. What happened was completely adorkable; it doesn't make as much sense sleeping on the floor as opposed to a pile of books. But what really gives it away is twofold:
    By having her prepare for it offscreen, Cadance has to be the vessel to move the plot forward. Because the title appears on the screen during this part, the journey to Spike's conflict suddenly becomes realized: Twilight is asleep, and he must make sure she isn't disturbed. In the same sequence: The minute he promised to Cadance, you know something is about to go awry, either with him or with Twilight. For long-time bronies, Spike's line spells trouble because almost all of his episodes involve him screwing up, making himself look like a fool, antagonist, or combination of other factors. One of which is being out of character. Why this is so transparent is how the conflict commences by mostly telling the audience. Do we see her exhausted? Yes. But do we see her get to that point? No. If Princess Spike showed us how hard she worked, then the conflict adds some impact. Witnessing the effect is one thing. Witnessing the cause is another.
    In addition to telling the cause of the conflict, three others were introduced: the polo game, the dragon sneeze trees, and the broken water pipe.
    Originally, the game felt natural in the story. But once the dragon sneeze trees appeared, it became extremely transparent. How it was going to be involved was unknown, but FIM doesn't leave plot devices hanging often. Later, the field was greatly decreased, making playing the game much more difficult, so the size was going to impact the story. The dragon sneeze trees have every single reason to be knocked down. Not only were they a health hazard to dragons. But the trunks have difficulty supporting the leaves' weight, hence the swaying animation. If one tree falls down and lands on somepony, then the royalty faces a major lawsuit.
     

    Well…I hope. There are many factors behind water main breaks, including very cold temperatures in the winter and their ages being older than most of my family tree. But one thing I know is if the pipe is in imminent danger of breaking, you must take care of it. A broken water pipe is a hazard whether it's a cartoon or not. Alone, the contrivances were very obvious. When combined, they expose a really confused tone. When he initially tried to keep Canterlot quiet so she can sleep, the entire setup for his role behaves less as a serious matter and more as a joke. He wants her to sleep peacefully, but silly cartoon logic gets in the way. But rather than playing the matter seriously, the script tells the viewer how they're not as dangerous in-verse as we think they are. Nick Dusedau, Thiessen, and Big Jim Miller present the script and story with key hazards, both to ponies and dragons. But how can the audience treat it seriously when the tone's presentation is silly? There's a way to make the audience laugh and simultaneously acknowledge its serious moments, like The Cutie Map. But it's trying to tell both, yet can't figure out what to tell and how to balance them.
    I'll return to the confusion later.
    @The Second Opinion points out a moment in the prologue where Spike's role in canon and to the audience starts to unravel:
    Notice the contrast. Spike tells everyone in the hall how he wants to help anyone, but everyone ignores him. This tells the audience the plot's angle, but the approach is subtle like knuckles clanging steel.
    There, another major contrivance is presented: Canterlot's citizens behaving like a hivemind towards the princesses, especially Twilight. I have no idea where this inspiration came from, but part of me believes it comes from Canterlot's past complacency to other high-end ponies, first seen in Sweet & Elite. The big difference between here and Sweet is how Rarity's and Fancy Pants's high-quality taste and conviction help sway Canterlot's elite. But Fancy Pants doesn't blindly follow everything; his maturity is capable of seeing variations of good even if it's simple like Rarity's underdeveloped dress for Twilight. But in Princess Spike, Canterlot's citizens are presented as a bunch of out-of-character idiots.
    Why is Canterlot out of character?
    Both the arborist and construction worker have very valid reasons for their work. It doesn't matter if Spike told them to stop in Twilight's name. If they were really as smart as they should've been, then they would've ignored Spike and continued working to keep Canterlot safe. The New York stallion and Whinnyapolis mares (the latter a Fargo reference with a stereotypical Minnesotan accent) went to Princess Twilight to sort out speeches about their local economies. But when "Twilight" "sorted out" the problem, this happened:
      …
     

    …
     
    Okay, what the hell is this?!
     
    Seriously, just because Twilight is a princess doesn't mean she's right about everything. Princesses make mistakes just like any common pony or being. Luna can make mistakes. Celestia can make mistakes. Cadance can make mistakes. Twilight has made mistakes. Princesses won't always make the right decisions. So what if any of their decision is royally stupid? Should the ponies act like drones and suck up to them, or would it make much better sense to think for themselves?
     
    Apparently the latter, because it gets worse. Later in Act 2, one of the stallions wanted to see Twilight because of a friendship problem. The problem?
       
    …
     
    …
     
    …
     
    …
     
    I'll be blunt. The fact that a stallion actually wondered if he should preserve his friendship with someone over a seat competes with Rainbow Dash wheeling herself to Rainbow Falls as the second-dumbest piece of writing I've ever seen in this show. Any sensible being isn't this pitiful. If your friendship is going to be broken up over someone taking over your seat, then maybe that friend really isn't your friend. (More is added later.)
     
    Canterlot's poor characterization is condensed to this exchange in two things. Firstly, when Spike called him out for this, Fluffy Clouds told Spike he only wanted to hear Twilight, not "some random dragon's opinion." FC's xenophobia calls back how Dragon Quest's narrative stereotypes dragons as bullies, thugs, and dummies and him being ignored in the prologue in favor of the princesses. A dragon's or common pony's opinion can be just as valuable as a princess's, if not more. You just need to pay attention to him or her and critically think whether his or her advice makes sense. Don't take advice at face value. Think. Secondly, as Fluffy Clouds whines, several background ponies are in earshot and equally involved in the same dilemma. Why didn't anyone else call out Fluffy Clouds and tell him to not to waste her time over trivial matters?
     
    Oh, wait, if that happened, then we have no plot! You had a whole queue asking "Twilight" for advice. She's not the only royalty in Canterlot. Cadance, Luna, and Celestia also exist, and they are all a part of the summit. Rather than wasting time in line and bothering Twilight, why not take time to ask any of them?
     
    And another thing. Why the hell did Celly and Luna disappear following the prologue? It's as if either the script pretended they don't exist or the Royal Sisters don't matter. Either way, they're there preparing for the summit while Twilight's asleep. Celestia is just as revered and has lived for over a millennium, and Luna isn't far off. So won't it make just as much sense to talk with either of them instead? I'll get back to Cadance later.
     
    On top of that, Fancy Pants's characterization is also called into question. In Sweet & Elite, Fancy Pants was, well, an elite, but he wasn't afraid to dissent against the rest of Canterlot's high-end suck-ups. When Twilight's dressed was mocked, he complimented it. During the middle of Act 2, he wasn't any better than the rest of the background idiots, for he groveled over Twilight equally and asked to have access to every meeting and party in the Grand Equestria Royal Summit. Although he was fine with the rejection, he's still much more humble than that.
     
    As far as his anger in Act 3 is concerned, there's validity. When a royalty tells someone to stop working on a hazard, implications are sent to him that she cares about nopony but herself. Fancy Pants worked hard keeping an eye on the hazards to protect everyone. Because he doesn't know that she was sleeping, he has every reason to feel suspicious. On the other hand, he shouldn't squarely blame Twilight. Even though he called out the public workers, he never held them accountable when he should've. Only "Twilight" told them to stop, but they never got complete approval from any of the other princesses. So while it was great of him to forgive Spike, and he was okay at best, his overall characterization feels hollow. To put it short, the ponies in Canterlot's summit are a bunch of numbskulls.
    I'm a big Spike fan. I love to see this kid succeed in stories that starred him beyond fanfiction and fancomics. Unfortunately, sans Power Ponies and Just for Sidekicks, whenever a Spike episode is bad, they're really bad. Owl's Well That Ends Well, Dragon Quest, Spike at Your Service, and Equestria Games are all among the bottom twenty. Two** are in the bottom-ten. Despite liking Spike, I outright despise the majority of Spike-centric episodes due to their objectively low quality.
    Spike's treatment is this episode's most outward flaw.
    The really confused tone in the beginning — which I mentioned above — sets up the quality of the story. Just like the background characters treat the hazards seriously, Spike himself treats the whole situation seriously. He's very proud of being her assistant and doesn't want to let anyone down. Each time there's noise, Spike starts to panic, and he doesn't want to let Princess Cadance down. Listen to his frantic vocality and watch him flail his arms as the bird sings on top of Twilight's horn.
    Then immediately after, Canterlot suddenly becomes very bustling. Like the bird, his motives are very sincere. Without sleep, she can't function for the ceremony that night. Spike may be a child, but he wants to really do a great job.
    But where the episode starts to hurt is when real-life hazards are introduced. Even though he's naïve, he's not dumb. He's not incompetent. To make a mistake is one thing. To really lack proper judgment and tell the arborist and construction worker not to clear the dangers is another. If the two background ponies were as competent as they supposedly are, they'll tell him something like this:
    As biting as this is, this is a much more satisfying direction for the plot. Why? Because Spike is so desperate to not wake her up, he's overlooking much more important social and environmental issues. Normally, you don't see anyone criticize a princess canonically. Equestrian royalty is highly trusted. A citizen calling out a princess with very valid reasons wakes him up from his desperation and (minutely) snaps the canon out of treating Canterlot's princesses as deities. By the virtue of criticizing Twilight, Spike is hit personally because they're supposedly very close. Spike is supposed to look out for her best interest, but he's overlooking everyone else's, his own based on the trees, and the summit.
    But despite very dangerous problems in Canterlot, the ponies blindly support Twilight and stop working out of plot convenience. Is the situation treated respectfully? No. Rather, their incompetence is designed to make people laugh.
    This is where the real trouble begins. Spike is treated as a punching bag right from the start. When Cadance accidentally smashed Spike in between the door and the wall, the audience is given a clue about how the writer and editor (in this case, M. A. Larson) thought about Spike here. Immediately, Spike was a victim of really terrible slapstick, and the audience is supposed to laugh. But whether the viewer has watched the show for a long time or it's his, her, or hir first, the joke fails. Why?
    Notice the sequence.
    Not one minute into the first act, the scene is enough to make people cringe. The accident put a child in a lot of pain. Yes, it's short-lived, but that doesn't validate the treatment. He's just trying to open the door, but it resulted in him getting smashed.
    Is it a joke?
    Yes.
    Is it a good one?
    Hell, no! It's mean-spirited!
    Unfortunately, the jokes remain relentless until the commercial break. Every sequence (of sound) — the bird tweeting, Canterlot's collective noise, the trees/Spike's nasty allergies, the ponies' ineptitude — are all jokes. But like I wrote in my impressions, every joke here is terrible because Spike doesn't deserve it. The poor dragon isn't being sleazy, greedy, or abusive. He's trying to do his job. If any of the chaos wakes her up, how do you think he'll feel? I have two guesses:
    Disappointed for breaking his promise to Cadance. Disgraced for failing to let Twilight sleep. But after Act 1 finished, the episode started to shift in tone and characterization.
    While the episode plays off to be comedic, it tries to be serious also. Pop culture references sprout in these scenes in order to make the audience laugh, but the conflicts are also played straight. Like I said before, Spike legitimately worries about what he needs to do to not only keep Twilight asleep, but also prove he can do a really good job. You can understand his internal conflict: He doesn't know what to do. From a storytelling perspective, Dusedau is juggling to balance them both. But instead of treating the conflict respectfully, their stereotypical voices and petty arguing injure the mood of the tone.
    The mood is damaged more when Fluffy Clouds whines about his friendship with some other dude ending over a seating conflict. For me, I'm not sure if this scene is supposed to be either a joke or serious. Part of me believes this is supposed to be funny because the conflict is so trivial. But Fluffy Clouds treats this matter seriously, and two delegates were also serious. If this is all supposed to be a "joke," I'm not laughing. If this is supposed to be serious, then it doesn't risk overtaking the beginning of Rainbow Falls, Act 3, as the second-dumbest moment. It competes with EQG1's interrogation scene as FIM's dumbest altogether.
    There are several big problems with his bout of greed.
    He already understands the consequences. In Secret of My Excess, he learns how a dragon's innate greed causes them to grow at the expense of their genuine personalities. If he doesn't control it, then he risks hurting someone. When he realized the damage he caused, he felt incredibly guilty. Dragon Quest's intended moral is to not succumb to peer pressure and grow into your own conscience.
     
    Since Spike at Your Service, his characterization resets. If you watched Just for Sidekicks, you watched Secret, because the internal conflict and moral are very similar. But it also pretended how his past growth didn't exist. Power Ponies and Equestria Games retreads his desire to prove his worth from Owl's Well without the envy.
     
    Princess Spike marks the third time he learned about how his lust hurts others. Sure, there's the flat disguise of not to be selfish and take advantage of Twilight's position of power, but that's on the surface. Just's and Princess Spike's are very similar. First, he lets his greed willingly corrupt. Secondly, he realizes how greed hurts others when confronted about it. Then he understands how not to allow his selfishness and greed control himself and take advantage of others. In short, Princess Spike rips off a ripoff and makes him out of character. Until the fourteenth minute in, his corrupt side had nothing to do with the story. Spike used his connection with Twilight to try to restore order. Each time he ordered for Twilight, he intended to help unload some of her schedule. To him, if he succeeded, then she won't have to chase for her bed and sleep through the summit.
     
    Unfortunately, he made some extremely stupid decisions, thus enforcing his flanderization dating back to Spike at Your Service. The polo ponies need a lot of room to play their game, or else they'll get tangled and can misfire. Each dragon sneeze tree must be chopped down and the broken water pipe must be fixed for safety reasons. The little dragon is a "baby," but he's also very intelligent. When Twilight was getting out of control in Lesson Zero, he wrote to the princess to have her intervene. When the teenage dragons ordered him to smash the phoenix egg, Spike stood his ground. When Inspiration Manifestation continued to corrupt Rarity, he tried to steal it and later ate it. In other words, this kid understands danger. He's competent. He's not stupid. He'll try to do the right thing even if his friends don't confront him.
     
    If Spike was his in-character and competent self like in Inspiration Manifestation, Lesson Zero, EQG1, and Dragon Quest, he would've allowed the arborist and construction worker to continue working, and he'll fix the sound problem some other way. The tower's window is open, and her room isn't sound-proof. If he was truly responsible, he would've attempted to lock the window and go to maybe Celestia to conjure up a sound-proof spell for Twilight.
     
    So what caused the drama in the climax? Resolutions he came up with very early in the episode. When Spike moved the polo teams, the field shrunk. This lead to a crowded and reckless game. The punted ball toppled the dragon sneeze trees like dominoes. After a tree landed on the broken pipe, it burst, causing a major flood on the streets and inside the hall. Dragon sneeze plants floated into the hall, which erupted Spike's allergies and caused him to sneeze the statue to smithereens. Led by Fancy Pants, a mob of delegates infiltrated Twilight's tower. None of his greed or abuse of power came into play at that point. Each time "Twilight" decided, his logic behind why was semi-believable.
     
    So what happened when he acted like an antagonist? A pony messaged his back. Chef Gustave le Grand baked him some jewel cupcakes begrudgingly. A background pony painted a portrait of a sexy adult Spike, calling back from A Dog and Pony Show. And an endless bucket of jewels to gorge. That's it. Did anything here relate to the overall conflict? No. Divide the halves, you get two severely disjointed stories.
     
    Aside from the moral, what did his antagonism mean to Princess Spike? Nothing. Spike receives all of the blame for the drama, and the source is his abuse for power. But like what I wrote before, the drama is the consequence of good intentions. By blaming him for trying to do the right thing, you tell the audience no matter how much he tries, he's going to remain stuck in mediocrity. If he tries to do the right thing, then you let Canterlot down. If you don't, then you let Cadance and Twilight down. From the get-go, Spike is caught between in between two precarious predicaments with no ability to balance them. Cadance's enforcement of his promise doesn't create compromise.
     
    In fact, Cadance is a source of the problem. Spike has never been in such a position before on screen. To us, this is foreign for him. So, why didn't Cadance tell him to come to her if he has trouble solving any political problems? She rules the Crystal Empire, so the audience will assume she knows something about diplomating. But by ignoring his bold-faced lies and letting him abuse his power, she shares some of the blame for the drama. But the script doesn't call her on it nor put her responsible for some of the trouble, leaving Spike as a scapegoat.
     
    (BTW, she made one two really stupid decisions during the climax. Firstly, she left a child alone to drain the massive flood. Secondly, blocking an active water pipe is extremely dangerous; prior, someone should've turned it off.)
     
    But there's another source of the problem: Twilight for organizing the convention and spending three sleepless days just to get it ready on time. Unfortunately, her struggle to stay awake resulted in conferences and events conflicting with one another. If Spike doesn't get involved and clean it up, then the summit would've been a worse public relations disaster than Unicon. In short, she earns a bit of the blame. On the other hand, con preparation is very hard work, and the visuals dictate how much effort she put into it to make it special, so I can't dominantly fault her for the conflict. She earns some shuteye. Although the moral itself is really good, the approach is broken.

    a. It's complete filler. He learned two other variations prior. If I want to watch an episode with a very similar moral, I'll watch SoME, not a double retread.
     
    b. It reinforces the clichéd formula seen in past Spike episodes. With the exception of one, every Spike episode has him screwing up badly at some point. As a result, you're going to make the audience wonder what he'll do to badly screw up. This formula has been used in almost every Spike episode. As a result, you'll merely tire long-time bronies. Inspiration Manifestation has him making a big mistake, but his alibi makes sense: Rarity had a complete meltdown in front of him after a client bashed her stage for focusing on the visuals rather than the utility, so he didn't want to see the same problem repeat.
     
    To make it worse, many Spike episodes — Owl's Well, Dragon Quest, and Service — reuse clichéd storylines without changing anything beyond the surface. @Buck Testa describes how Princess Spike closely follows the "dumb guy" cliché seen in several 1990s/2000s sitcoms:
     
    "The dumb guy makes a really stupid decision that will get him in trouble if found out, so he tries to hide it. By covering it up, he worsens the problem. Finally, he's confronted personally, and he spews a moral he never learned."
     
    Spike is the dumb guy here, and a dumb and incompetent Spike is an out-of-character Spike! By hammering it in, he's a flanderized Spike, too.
     
    c. Spike is the only one held responsible. Again, what caused the problem were his three terrible decisions very early in the first act, even though his irrationality has some believability. But like what @~StatesTheOblivious~ said in his review, none of Spike's actions are written to be in the wrong until late in Act 2. They were encouraging, and it looked like he was trying to do the right thing. In other words, his actions helped save the con.
     
    However, a coincidence and careless oversight resulted in him being the bad guy for everything, including reorganizing the con. Canonically, he apologized for abusing his power, yet he really apologized for saving royalty's backside. This implication hurts kids because Spike is blamed for everything here even though all four alicorns ought to share the majority of it for failing to properly organize the event and keep Canterlot safe. Celestia and Luna really deserve a lot of scorn for apparently being AWOL much of the day.
     
    (Also, why didn't Cadance call Spike out in Act 2 for not addressing the safety hazards when the construction worker's complacency's happening right in front of her?)
     
    d. It's a non sequitur. Even with the climax bridging the two halves, the moral is off-topic and disconnected. But despite all the problems, the approach to giving Spike his recognition was really sweet. When he tried to rebuild the statue and failed, all of the delegates united with him. Cadance said it best: No matter how much you play your part, you're as important as everypony else. During the last part of her speech, she looked at Spike sincerely, implying to both him and the audience how important he is to everyone. Even with all the torture porn in this episode, at least he has his moment at the end…
    …But this tasteless joke fucking ruins it!
    The imagery is disgusting. It was already painful to see Spike's eyes swell from allergies the first and second time around. The poor dragon suffered enough. Why overwhelm him — and the audience, by extension — by reviving it once the moral is resolved? Damn it, the later the scene, the more the grosser details hurt. DHX confirms to the audience how much of a punchline Spike is. Even though the audience can assume he's a constant joke, the resolution gave the audience faint hope that Spike is more than a one-dimensional piñata. That he's as equal a character as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Instead, the only main male character is relegated to a sideshow who does nothing but get himself into situations where he'll badly screw up.
     
    What worsens this implication is how FIM is supposed to be a pro-feminist show. A show with proud, unique qualities that can attract all sorts of demographics. A show that teaches us new techniques of masculinity and femininity without being tied down to sex. The morals are supposed to reach out to people young and old. When the morals are really mature, kids are respected. One of its most important morals is to be yourself. By endlessly punishing Spike and making him suffer long after he learns his lesson, kids are being told how meaningless the show's morals are. Even after you learn your lesson, karma will still bite you back. Spike is a really unique character, as he's the only dragon and male/boy of the main cast, so there's ample opportunity to bring a fresh perspective of Equestrian society. With this scene, DHX tells longtime and first-time watchers that being different means the show can make a complete ass out of you, and you will like it. My question to you is this: What does this teach children? What does this teach parents of children? For me, being ordinary is the way to live. Sticking out from the crowd and being yourself makes you inaccessible. Having a fresh voice in life invalidates your existence. Say I'm a father of a young kid and want to find a good cartoon show for him/her and me to watch together. If this was my first episode of Friendship Is Magic, I would feel horrified, never let my kid watch the show again, and not recommend it to other people in my inner circle.
    In addition, what does this teach in the name of feminism? Remember, feminism is bringing all genders at an equal level. This scene asks the viewer where Friendship Is Magic stands for as a feminist icon. For me, this scene confirmed a major hit in its credibility. How? Because it implies a return to the status quo for Spike in a rather daring product. As the rest of his friends mature, he's stuck and will have his character reset for the next episode, maybe in another clichéd episode with another clichéd setup with the possibility of characters as stereotypical as the bullies from Dragon Quest, Snips and Snails from Boast Busters, or Tree Hugger from Make Friends But Keep Discord. For he's different in both species and gender, this scene doesn't furnish feminism, but anti-feminism instead. To echo @Wind Chaser and merge his thoughts with mine, the scene and aforementioned episode epitomize hypocrisy in a show that champions individuality and challenges the status quo, two main goals of third-wave feminism. Season five has dared to move in a fresh direction with their characters, plots, and morals. Despite being imperfect, it earns credit for advancing in this path. To suggest a return to the status quo for the only main male character and not even attempt to hide it calls the ethics of FIM's canon and production into question.
    Ironically, a clip from Slice of Life had Vinyl's bass cannon literally jump over a shark plushie. Because of how flanderized and out of character he is, how much Spike is abused in the episode's canon, Princess Spike's terrible writing quality overall, and how much DHX panders themselves to this complacent pattern, Spike episodes have officially jumped the shark to me. I held out hope that we could have more and more really good Spike episodes. Instead, DHX acts like they don't have a clue how to approach him. Whenever he stars an episode, they tend to pick really unimaginative stories, attach terrible implications, or torture him for the sake of a lazy joke. For a while, this pattern annoyed me. But it hasn't improved. In fact, I argue it's getting worse, for Spike is slowly being reduced into one flat note. Now this pattern disturbs me. As a feminist, Spike's treatment in this show goes against my own morale. Echoing , these episodes are self-fulfilling prophecies. His roles as a secondary character have been rather decent. This season, he was the victim of some slapstick in Castle Sweet Castle, but it was situational, very brief, and it didn't reappear. He meant well, fulfilled his job, and got rewarded. Currently, I have no hope for Spike episodes in the future.
    As for the writing quality of this episode…well, without a doubt, it's season five's worst by a long shot. Appleoosa's Most Wanted is awful, but Troubleshoes is a very endearing, lovable, and relatable character who caught a break. Spike never caught a break here. If you were to tell me which are the worst written episodes of the show (without putting any emphasis in any category) prior to PrS, the bottom-five list would be like this:
    Rainbow Falls Boast Busters The Mysterious Mare Do Well One Bad Apple The Show Stoppers Now it's like this:
    Rainbow Falls Princess Spike Boast Busters The Mysterious Mare Do Well One Bad Apple Princess Spike's writing quality is worse than Boast Busters! Where it's placed in my bottom-ten episode list overall remains to be seen.
    Because Princess Spike's so bad, I'm now beginning to look forward for EQG: The Friendship Games in some capacity despite really hating the whole spinoff. Even though the past two films suck, Spike was the best written character, and EQG1 gave him his best role and characterization of the entire generation (including this hilarious line). Hopefully, he'll be written with some dignity in the third film, too.
  19. Dark Qiviut
    Author's Note: After publishing it, I felt dissatisfied with what I wrote, so I revised it. This revised analysis was originally published in Canterlot Times on June 14.
    Spice Up Your Life is way, way better than Flutter Brutter, but there is a fatal issue in this episode: the moral’s execution.
    There are multiple morals in this episode, including how not to let others decide your decision for you and to think for yourself. The overall moral is dealing with criticism in multiple ways. Two of them include properly delivering criticism and learning how to appreciate it. Criticism in itself is an art that way too many people in and out of the fandom take for granted. A good chunk of society loves to stereotype critics and dissuade the art of criticism, sending implications that to think for themselves and critically think of material is meaningless. This classism is echoed here in the brony fandom by how many bash the analysis community or anyone who has good reason to point out the flaws and pan an episode for poor quality.
    Simultaneously, Zesty Gourmand proved in Act 1 and the latter half of Act 3 that she’s terrible at her job. As a critic, she’s responsible for analyzing and explaining observations and facts to lead to conclusions of the overall quality of the restaurant. She doesn’t do that and instead lets her taste, opinions, and ego get in the way.
    On the other hand, a good moral about criticism has two glaring flaws.
    Rarity’s approach into making The Tasty Treat succeed was out of character. Does she have a reason to go about the way she did it? Yes. Every other restaurant in Restaurant Row, despite their low-quality meals and generic decor, are highly successful. Rarity wants The Tasty Treat to succeed and stay in business, and that leads her to believe that in order to do so is to start anew. This rationale is completely understandable; sometimes restaurants don’t succeed the first time, so a complete retooling can improve the restaurant and invite more attention and better success.

    Unfortunately, she was really blind in her approach. Rather than trying to increase the quality of their meals or focus on other more constructive ideas to increase the chance of success, Rarity was completely focused on pandering to Canterlot’s stereotypical snoot, which were reinforced by how much the ponies gave Pinkie and Saffron the cold shoulder when they refused to think of everything except the lack of rating. In other words, she believed the best method for success is to make the entire restaurant as bland and generic as the others. It’s out of character of her, because she takes pride in succeeding via individuality, not conformity. Rather than stripping The Tasty Treat of its Middle-Eastern and/or Indian roots, maybe they could’ve tried to advertise the restaurant better and ask questions about the other restaurants themselves. And maybe ask questions about if Zesty was wrong. Zesty Gourmand is a complete “tyrannical critic” stereotype. A single-track mind with the expectation of Canterlot to suck up to her and fuel her ego, yet completely inept in actually being a critic. She doesn’t know what makes a restaurant successful. Rather than judging each restaurant on its own merits, she forces them to conform to the way she wants it in presentation, taste, and decor. If you don’t, then it’s a failure. That’s not how to judge the restaurant’s objective quality.

    Yet, when she judged The New Tasty Treat early in Act 3, she was right to slam it. By trying to be successful, Rarity forced Saffron and Coriander to rip off the others in terms of flavor and decor, creating a poor first impression for Zesty, who had every right to call her out for her poor creative choices. And, yes, the service was very substandard. The episode tried so hard to paint her as entirely in the wrong, but screwed up when she was completely justified in her words just before she left the first time.
     
    But rather than make up for what she did, Zesty stayed true to her stereotypical roots when the episode painted her as an even bigger egomaniac than the scene prior. Immediately, she went from being inept to giving her a valid point to instantly invalidating her. Her reintroduction in the resolution entered way too suddenly and thrust in the moral of how to not to let others dictate your taste. There was no gradual buildup into making the moral work.
     
    Zesty’s presentation as a stereotype, a straw character, and the only serious professional culinary critic in Canterlot muddles the message.
     
    a. Surely, there are tens or hundreds of culinary critics, both amateur or professional, out there. Why does Canterlot’s fine-dining hinge on one? What about the others out there, if they exist? Did they write their reviews, too? What do they say about the meals, restaurants, and so on? There ought to be more than one reviewer, including ones who are way more competent than her. There are many critics in real life who really comprehend and appreciate the art of criticism.
     
    b. For those who don’t know, straw characters — or straw men/women — are visual fallacies. Their only purpose in the story is to use terrible logic to back up their points in order to be proven completely wrong at the end, while the other side of the argument is entirely supported. One big problem: A majority of the debates have many valid arguments across every point of the snowflake. If you’re going to teach a (gray) moral or conflict, using a straw character is one of the most dishonest, laziest ways to teach it. Zesty Gourmand is the first in the animated show and third overall (the others being Praiser Pan from the Fluttershy Micro and Well-To-Do from Root of the Problem).
     
    To use a straw character/stereotype villainizes one side of the moral on an issue with fifty shades of gray. There are multiple people with multiple tastes with what they like or don’t. Initially, Spice Up Your Life tries to paint both Rarity and Pinkie as equally right and wrong by justifying their worries. Who can blame them? The three-hoof system parallels the Michelin Guide; in France, losing one star can determine whether it will thrive or go out of business. Here, no stars equals no business, so her review can determine whether they’ll have a job or not. But Zesty herself and the rush to paint her as a villain in the resolution results in painting Rarity’s side (which makes sense) as 100% wrong and Pinkie’s 100% right. To generalize one side so broadly hurts the other.
     
    And the fact that this show is supposed to teach lessons to kids makes the stereotype of critics even more damning. Kids are smart, yet easily impressionable by their surroundings. To glorify a stereotype like Zesty can present a false impression of critics and the art of criticism to kids.
     
    c. Zesty’s whole concept comes across as a parody of Anton Ego without understanding his whole purpose. Anton Ego is intelligent with an ego and strong sense of taste. His backwards perspective on Gusteau’s motto about how anyone can cook gave him blind spots. Despite his tough approach to reviewing, he willed to try something new and admit to being wrong. When the ratatouille delighted him, he ate his words and delivered easily the best moral about criticism in entertainment. But the way he spoke about it delivered the message about criticism without being condescending, and the fact that he said it made the moral feel authentic. Unlike Zesty, Ego was the antithesis of a stereotype. Caustic, yet fair. Everypony else delivering the moral for Zesty and Zesty letting her ego get in the way contrives the moral. What ideas can improve it?
    Allow Rarity to handle her half of the solution better early. Going back to Sweet & Elite, the Bearer of Generosity has credentials in Canterlot. Yes, she’s more about fashion design than food, but does that mean she can’t use her status and eye for quality in other material? No. It makes no sense for her to fear Canterlot’s hive-minded mentality. Instead of deciding to rebrand The Tasty Treat, why not write a review herself? Judge the restaurant by the meal presentation, decor, and meal flavor. She understands the food tastes good and, quite possibly, tastes the complexities themselves. Remember, one of her strongest assets is her ability to analyze details so finely. Use it to challenge the stereotypes of Canterlot society and make them reconsider Zesty’s words. Don’t drag the fate of Canterlot’s fine-dining on one. Culinary criticism is a competing occupation covering multiple magazines, newspapers, books, and TV shows. Again, others equally trusted like Zesty, yet are more competent in their jobs than her, ought to be out there. What do they have to say about Restaurant Row, and what do they recommend? What do they have to say about Zesty herself? Don’t paint Zesty as a stereotype and bad guy, and rewrite the moral. The “evil critic” is a cliché in and of itself, so it’s very difficult to execute him or her very well. Anton Ego is a well-written villain critic. Instead of writing a stereotypical antagonist out of Zesty, why not allude to the idea of Zesty being the antagonist, but when she decides to show up, she isn’t like what any of the four make her out to be?
     
    Early on, Coriander and Saffron admit to disliking her for hearing bad things she allegedly spewed about the restaurant and staff. But when she shows up, expectations crash. She’s intelligent, can easily analyze the textures and flavors, and doesn’t talk down to anybody. She wanted to give The Tasty Treat a chance, but had to leave due to an emergency, but in earshot muttered angry things about a restaurant next door that had a history of abusing the staff. As for the poor quality of the other meals, they were very good last year, but apparently, the meal quality degraded since then. So she gives The Tasty Treat a fair chance, likes it, and encourages others to write reviews for all the restaurants. The fate of everyone’s occupation shouldn’t have to be pinned down to one person. Just because some of the customers here may not be professional critics doesn’t mean they’re incapable of thinking critically of the overall quality of the meal, too. While Pinkie and Saffron try to convince others to come into the restaurant, Coriander tells Rarity to renovate the restaurant against her best judgment. Graphic design is her best field; she can critique color theory, ideas, originality, and the details far better than the other seven. It goes against her best judgment to willingly change the decor and not realize doing so is a terrible idea. To make her change it as she trepidates allows her to change the decor without derailing her character. Streamline the conflict. I talked with a good friend on Skype yesterday, and he explained to me about how SUYL suffers from an identity crisis. In many corners of the episode, the episode indicates decision to want to teach one thing, only to attempt to teach something else, only attempt to teach something else. This episode crammed way too many ideas in one episode. The moral it spouts is not be a sheep to critics, but its whole lesson is to appreciate the art of criticism as a whole, but the ideas within the presented conflict came and went, helping damage the credibility of the morals it was trying to teach. One conflict while showing it in objective detail and not using a stereotype of critics can really improve the quality of the episode. Don’t write Canterlot as a hivemind. Hundreds of individuals live in Canterlot. No one pony will think the same as the other or snub it just because it doesn’t have a rating. Chances are at least one from Canterlot ate there, and some ponies there might’ve heard about it and planned to visit for lunch or dinner. To make them think and step away from the city’s most unlikable trait from the get-go subverts the expectation that Canterlot’s a robotic, pompous society. Rather than trying to suggest appreciation for the art of criticism, it implicates that criticism deserves abandonment. While that’s not what they’re trying to say, there’s a difference between what they’re trying to say and what they’re saying. SUYL suggests appreciating criticism, but Rarity’s poor characterization, Zesty herself, and the rushed ending suggest the opposite. In short, it’s a below-average episode with a good moral hurt by sloppy execution.
    Source: S06:E12 - Spice Up Your Life
  20. Dark Qiviut
    That's what I wrote yesterday. Now that it's processed somewhat, let me dissect two storytelling aspects in TSRR: the comedy and the dialogue.
    Even though FIM isn't a comedy show, FIM always has a diet of comedy. Whether the joke works or fails — a.k.a., the objective quality of the joke — depends on the logic behind the joke, the effort put into it, the element of surprise, and not sacrificing the characterization to make it work. In short, your joke must make sense.
    In Saddle Row, a great chunk of the jokes works. Why? Well, let's look at a few of them:
    "NO SPOILERS!" Rarity doesn't want anyone to spoil the review for her. Many of us can relate to her: A good chunk of society doesn't want to be spoiled, whether it's a bit or at all. Personally, even though I don't mind being spoiled, there's one exception for me: Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lastly, the surprise element. Rarity's outburst was sudden, but makes sense under the current circumstances. The snappy dialogue between the J. Jonah Jameson parody and Rarity. He wanted to know everything about how Rarity for You succeeded, but he and Rarity varied in personality. He was quick and wanted to get it done right away, while Rarity wanted to be patient. The interruption was that little click to make the joke work. "DING!" Transition to Twilight. Good opportunity to throw Uncle Charlie in the mix. "Sweep, sweep, sweep." Dusting is tedious, boring, and something all of us wanna avoid. Twilight's little "sweep" jingle fits her character, makes it less boring to her, and corresponds with the party palace in the brownstone's top floor. The Too Many Pinkie Pies reference. Responds to Rarity's scattered wish of having multiple copies of her and that element of surprise after Pinkie ate all those pancakes. Rainbow Dash's imitation of Rarity to the reporter. Dash imitated her friends in Newbie Dash, but it massively failed. Why? Two words: secondhand embarrassment. Dash imitated them, because she was still grieving by the trauma-induced insult and wanted to impress the Wonderbolts. Here, Dash was responding to a stimuli that annoyed her (Rarity's tantrum), and unlike ND, TSRR's tone's very lighthearted. It borrows from Dash's imitation of Twilight from Lost Treasure, but uses the same logic. THIS is how you write an imitation joke correctly! The squirrel waiting in line to enter Rarity for You when it opened. Again, the element of surprise, but consider who's helping to open Rarity for You. Fluttershy is very friendly with the animals and treats them with respect.

     
    Angel!Rarity's halo is literally made of hay. A very excellent pun of the word. Yeah, a couple of them missed the mark, but a lot more didn't. Why is this important? Two things:
    To echo above, The Saddle Row Review is lighthearted in tone. With the light atmosphere, the plot doesn't take itself so seriously that it becomes melodramatic, but the humor quality doesn't make TSRR so pretentious that it becomes a poorly-crafted parody of itself. With the high-quality comedy, the audience can laugh its way through. Even a cringe joke like AJ holding a full dustpan with her mouth doesn't feel gross in hindsight, because it comes across as part of the job. The twist in the format. This whole episode is about a review for Rarity for You's grand opening in Saddle Row (a reference of London's Savile Row; thank @PiratePony for explaining it). If you keep the format the same as it was in every other episode, then you can run into big problems. One of them is the humor's weight. In the traditional format, the humor won't have its impact because the review is the centerpiece, but the review enters very late, so the jokes feel more contrived than organic. By having Rarity read the review, flashback everything, and cut it back as a reality TV parody, you create suspense so when the jokes arrive, they fall right into place and the audience doesn't expect it.

    Furthermore, the cutbacks are a parody of reality TV. In just about every reality show, you see people do things on reality TV (whether it's the "traditional" reality BS or reality game shows like Survivor), but during the middle, they cut back to interviews so the audience is informed about what they're thinking. Normally, reality TV is supposed to be taken seriously. In TSRR, you have the stake of Rarity wanting to open her Manehattan branch by nightfall, but the destination isn't as emphasized as the journey. Almost all the jokes occur during the journey. The destination is the satisfaction that wraps it all up. A lot of media in this series have really, really bad dialogue. I'm talking about Trade Ya!, Rainbow Falls, EQG1, Friendship Games, the Rainbow Dash Micro, A Canterlot Wedding, FIM2, Princess Spike, and McColts. Why is bad dialogue so detrimental? Because it stalls the flow of your story. None of the characters are robots; they're supposed to feel emotions like ours. Great, organic dialogue opens up those emotions and can be as powerful as a set piece. Bad dialogue reduces the character's dimension and makes it appear as if the writer quickly penned the script down to exit writer's block. Bad dialogue lacks any polish and can ruin the story.
    Saddle Row has easily some of the best dialogue in the series. All of it has a ton of weight put into the episode, even the standard exposition in the prologue. But notice how most of it is very snappy. Quick, not always in complete sentences, pauses here and there, and doesn't stick to one subject. Look at how Dash says one thing and then changes the subject after the reporter writes it in his notebook offscreen. The dialogue also allows the characters to play off one another, like Dash and Applejack commentating on Twilight's "sweep" jingle or the chemistry between the reporter and Rarity. More importantly, snappy dialogue helps carry the story's tone. If each sentence is long, complete, and drawn out, you ruin the joke's timing. Quick, organic talk keeps up the pace without making it feel too fast and opens up lots of opportunities for lots of jokes.
    For a recent example outside of FIM, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has very snappy dialogue. Why does it work? The pacing flows from one scene to another, makes the characters feel more real, opens up opportunities for humor, and creates extra impact on the more serious moments when they arrive.
    In conclusion, The Saddle Row Review works in many levels, especially the humor and dialogue. You can tell a lot of hard work was put into it to make the story succeed. A very bold, successful effort, to be precise. It's unquestionably Nick Confalone's best episode so far and one of the best of the whole show.
    ———
    Source: S06:E09 - The Saddle Row Review
  21. Dark Qiviut
    If you wanna read the comic online, watch the video. Be careful, the RR music that plays in the background can get loud, so mind the volume in your earphones.
    Like what I wrote here, FIM's IDW comics are an innate source of controversy. One of the latest to the pile — The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies — competes with Reflections as the worst of the worst. Ted Anderson is no stranger himself, yet if just reading his proverbial résumé, he's usually one of the best writers for the series. The CMC Micro, Manehattan Mysteries, and the Pinkie Micro are among the best of the best. One of his weakest is the 2013 Annual (the Equestria Girls prequel), which retreads some of the characterization of other casts, including Babs Seed. Now, he's back as the writer, with Tony Fleecs the artist and Heather Breckel the colorist, the sterile world of Equestria Girls demonstrates its lack of magic and imagination once again.
    Strengths
    Sunset Shimmer.
    I wasn't a fan of Sunset Shimmer in the first movie: As a villain, she was flat, generic, and stereotypical. In Rainbow Rocks, her snarky side was absent, but to give credit where credit's due, she was definitely likeable, and McCarthy took advantage of the chance for her to really improve herself (even though the rest of her friends were big asses just to make her appear better, unfortunately). Her character was forcibly reset thanks to the permanently soiled Elements of Harmony, which is completely different from Luna (her anger controlled her, and the EoH healed her) and Discord (he changed willingly).
    Here, I legitimately rooted for her as a character to a degree. You can tell she's really grown since the first movie and has evolved into her own. She was very sensitive to others, had a really caring heart, yet was also very determined. When the details surrounding the slumber party she had with her friends were revealed, you can tell her confusion and even her hurt when her "friends" immediately accused her of slandering the school despite very clear evidence to the contrary. It only gets more painful when the rest of the school turns on her, putting her into despair till she saw Twilight's final lines in their last exchange:
    Simultaneously, she's still reminded of the terrible things she did. Here's what she said to Applejack in the beginning of the special:

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

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

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

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

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

    (Link to poster.)
    And all I got to say is this…
    ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
    First off, neither of these issues are anywhere close to being the same.
    In Ponyville Confidential, the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to get their cutie marks in tabloid reporting. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders realized that their usual gossip columns were becoming hurtful, they willingly wanted to stop it. Unfortunately, succumbed to the pressures, they continued because the public loved them and wanted to eat them up. When they finally had enough, Diamond Tiara threatened to release the images unless they finally submitted a really hurtful report. Their letter of apology was a way to finally end the column.
    In the Holiday Special, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were willingly evil. In a jealous rage, they decided to frame Sunset Shimmer, willingly humiliate her and their family, and continue publishing them until they got exactly what they wanted: infighting and a very distraught Sunset. They had no idea the cyberbullying was going to spread, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders had no interest in stopping. If it wasn't going to affect their friendship, the CMCs were going to behave worse and worse until their friendship completely broke apart, even if it meant betraying their own kin.
    Moreover, unlike the Holiday Special, the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't jealous of anyone. They were in pursuit of their cutie marks and felt this was the way to do it. They decided to get into reporting because they believed they could succeed in the field.
    They didn't want anyone getting hurt, either, but like I said, when they realized it, they wanted to end it, but continued because they were pressured to continue. The ability to feel the weight of the pressure is individual; sometimes the pressure doesn't bother you until long after, sometimes you feel it immediately. It depends on whom and what.
    For fillies like the CMCs, this pressure was insurmountable. Everypony wanted Gabby Gums to publish juicy secrets. Not just Diamond Tiara, but their friends and family, too. But they also showed a conscience throughout, and what helped make their alibi more justifiable was by how you saw the whole conflict in their perspective. You saw how much it was hurting, so they wanted to make things right.
    But if anyone here honestly believes the CMCs from the Holiday Special were justified, I got a bridge to sell you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have absolutely ZERO justification for their actions. Throughout Rainbow Rocks, the HuMane Six trusted her. Because Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo know the HuMane Five to a certain degree, it's certain they'd trust Sunset Shimmer and treat them as much an equal as the rest of their friends.
    Hell, this trust is verified in the CREDITS! When Sunset's spellbook fell out, Apple Bloom caught it and gave it back. Afterwards, all four walked off-screen together.
    But let's say we didn't see the credits. The Dazzlings put them under a spell, and Sunset led her friends to their defeat. Because of AJ et al's immense trust for her and Sunset's determination, none of the kids have any leg to stand on when doubting Sunset.
    Even more importantly, despite the fact that the CMCs were involved, no one knew why. When they explained their logic, it falls completely on their faces. In PC, we saw the CMCs' complete thought process during their mission to get their cutie marks. In the special, they weren't the focus, and we didn't see their thought processes.
    Why they got jealous? Did they miss them? Did Sunset say anything that might've offended them and give them an alibi to slander her and her friends? Was there any friction between the CMCs and the HuMane Six prior to Anon-a-miss? Did anyone warn them that what they put out there is permanent? Did they think of any potential consequence simply for the idea? Why would SCOOTALOO get involved when she had nothing to do with the comic until the climax? Speaking of Scootaloo, there's no reason for her to be in the comic. There's no precursor whatsoever for her to get involved in Anon-a-miss. The only reason she's in on the action is because Anderson wrote so, which is extremely contrived. It's like forcing the Mane Six on an adventure when the whole story would've been much better if almost all of them were absent (e.g., Rainbow Falls; The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies; Filli Vanilli; Trade Ya!). She could've been cut out entirely, and nothing would change.
    Sloppy Pacing, Part 2: Confusion!
    Pacing isn't exclusively about the speed of the flow. It also has to do with the direction. Here is where the foundation of the comic's problems lie.
    The whole comic wants to tell one story, but tells another instead. In the beginning, the HuMane Five are anxious to celebrate the winter holidays. But because Sunset Shimmer always spent her time alone, two slumber parties were arranged to make her feel at home for once. Suddenly, Anon-a-miss shows up, and it becomes a story about cyberbullying. The subject of the winter holidays doesn't become a part of the story again till the epilogue.
    By telling two narratives, the issue confuses itself. What is this story supposed to be? Is it a Christmas special or a PSA about cyberbullying? Since it's trying to tell both simultaneously, the subjects of celebrating Christmas and consequences of cyberbullying are butting heads, and you're injuring the message in both. Without a clear focus, the story becomes a waste of time, value, and money.
    As for cyberbullying itself, it's a severe epidemic. Approximately all of us has been a victim at some point in our lives. More often than not, trolling doesn't end with a simple block or report. We speak out against it, but because it's difficult to track and end, no one knows how to combat it. Being bullied face to face is disgusting. Cyberbullying introduces a sick, dark edge, 'cause the anonymity of the Internet brings out the worst of people. Each time someone commits bullycide from cyberbullying, the statistic climbs, and cyberbullying worsens. You could argue that "don't feed the troll" doesn't work anymore, and that's true. Sometimes when you ignore the bully, he can't feed off the anger, so he finds someone else. Quite frankly, "don't feed the troll" has been a source of the problem, because that phrase implies a tolerance to bullying. Bullying should have zero tolerance under all levels, because the worse it becomes, the more desperate countries will try to curb it, therefore introducing bills with serious implications on privacy and simple rights violations. Today, thanks to DDoS attacks, hacking, and doxxing, trolling is more invasive, and it's going to get worse until more and more people decide to put their feet down and end it.
    Unfortunately, because the issue tells two stories, flows sloppily, has poorly written characterization, and contains broken logic, the discussion of cyberbullying is damaged. Cyberbullying isn't treated as a serious ordeal, but a simple conflict. Bullying is not something you treat lightly at all, and the light treatment of cyberbullying is immensely disrespectful to the victims of bullying and the activists who speak out against it everyday. People get depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other illnesses because bullying crippled their view on life, and they can't escape it. As I wrote earlier, victims of bullying have been driven to suicide because they can't escape. Online, the record isn't temporary, so seeing their words becomes more and more painful each time you go back and see them. The epilogue addresses it in passing, but doesn't go into direct depth, and that's a hugely missed opportunity.
    Plus, the CMCs' punishment is way too light! Having detention for the rest of the year doesn't cover the damage they caused. Their evil is very real because so many victims can relate to Sunset's crumbling opinion of the world around her. You can ask many cyberbullying victims what they went through; there's a good chance one answer will be someone decided to spill something personal, intimate online when they don't want it published, and everyone mocked them for it. But there's a huge difference between telling a subject and addressing/explaining a subject. The comic tells the subject, but doesn't thoroughly explain it.
    What helps makes this shameful is twofold:
    The instant forgiveness from the HuMane Five.
     
    Sunset Shimmer got falsely accused despite saving your plots? You're thrown on the street!
     
    The Cutie Mark Crusaders admitting to their crimes, saying sorry, and presenting one of the worst excuses in FIM history? Why, you're forgiven!
     
    Just goes to show how little the HuMane Five truly appreciate Sunset Shimmer. The moral is excellent. "No matter how big your family is, there's always room for more" is a great method to imply how family doesn't end on the bloodlines. Family is also step-family, in-laws, and very dear friends. Christmas celebrates the family, per the visual explanation of the epilogue. But the whole conflict contradicts the concept and doesn't respect the mature moral. Another completely wasted opportunity. Conclusion
    This past month, IDW published their second comic about the adventures of Equestria Girls. This time, it's about the merger of Christmas and cyberbullying. Individually, both ideas create an array of directions to tell a story. Since Christmas has become less and less personal, telling a winter holiday story about how important Christmas is to family is a great way to tell people that the spirit of Christmas should never be abandoned. Sunset Shimmer's personal story of being alone for the holidays helps connect homeless people to Christmas, for many kids don't have a Christmas to celebrate with their family; Sunset and her family rarely saw each other, and bringing her into the family helps tell her she's not alone. Likewise, cyberbullying continues to pile on more and more victims, and this epidemic will never go away unless a medium calls it out and doesn't tolerate it. With a franchise as personal as FIM, it makes sense to address it and critique it, particularly for a world as connected to real life as EQG.
    But Ted Anderson's biggest mistake is how both are part of one story. A comic only has so much volume, and by being a one-shot, you're gonna cram in too much detail. Anderson split the stories into two and executes it in a way that divides the overall narrative. It wants to tell a Christmas story, but wants to tell a cyberbullying story, too. From this blatant division, the story is a directionless mess, but it only worsens. The HuMane Five have to repeat the same identical lesson they learned from both Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks — don't rush to judgment — and break continuity by abandoning a homeless Sunset Shimmer after she was framed without any investigation whatsoever. Then the Cutie Mark Crusaders present a horrid excuse, turning the cyberbullying story into a ripoff of Ponyville Confidential. The lost opportunities, vile conclusion, and broken narrative are extremely disrespectful to the victims and survivors of cyberbullies, the families of bullycide victims and survivors, and anti-trolling activists.
    This is an issue even the Grinch would reject. If this was ever an episode, it would easily make my bottom-five at the very least. Overall, a sorry, sloppy, and horrible excuse of a "comic" and one of the worst professionally published FIM stories I ever read.
  22. Dark Qiviut
    The FIM comics are an innate source of controversy.
    Fluttershy's Micro comic was supposed to deliver a moral of ignoring poor-quality criticism that amounts to nothing, only to use a straw character, resolve via poor continuity and a Deus Ex Celestia, and write a moral about how all criticism is meaningless.
    Princess Celestia's horrendous behavior in Reflections followed by mocking people who dissect and analyze the medium.
    Of course, Ted Anderson's blatant sexist and racist behavior after admitting to plugging in DragonDicks and David McGuire (two well-known anti-bronies, the former an anti-male advocate), along with a disgusting decision by IDW that resulted in me boycotting IDW as a whole for a while.
    But after receiving a PM from a friend about the latest controversy in FIM's latest main series arc — The Good, The Bad, and the Ponies — I decided to see what the fuss was about.
    Good thing I did, because this arc is, without a doubt, one of the worst. How bad? I'm going to use Wind Chaser's method in his reviews: take specific topics and break them down. This time, the many big flaws.
    Too much exposition very early.
    This has been a problem with FIM as a whole, but especially seasons one and four. Instead of organically setting up the conflict, the audience is introduced with a series of dialogue that tells the reader what the conflict is about within the first few pages.
    This is just one example. Personally, this reminds me a lot of Trade Ya! and Rainbow Falls, as the characters bluntly told the audience the conflict very early on. By telling us immediately, you're sucking the investment out of the comic, and it makes the initial pages feel really slow.
    And it kept going throughout part one, explaining what was going on at Canter Creek and who was terrorizing the citizens there.
    The Mane Six.
    The Mane Six are much smarter than what many of the stories lead them out to be, and we see this in so many episodes. Unlike Patrick Star from pre-movie Spongebob, the Mane Six's stupidity is never endearing, but irritating because it's so forced. Whenever they act stupid, it's as if their lack of intelligence gets dripped out from their fur and onto the audience, thus treating the audience as if they're dumber than turkeys.
    Part of this problem comes from the constant flanderization of each of the cast.
    Pinkie's zany behavior crosses boundaries into acting really dumb, especially after defying Sheriff Tumbleweed's warning against eating a ghost pepper whole.
     
    Later, when Longhorn and gang return, she was ecstatic!
     
    The next issue, when she tells Twilight to take advantage of the "red tape," Pinkie said, "Red tape? Are we wrapping a present?"
     
    No, no, NO!!
     
    Just by her actions here, her idiocy from Princess Twilight Sparkle, One Bad Apple, Three's a Crowd, and Filli Vanilli is reinforced. Applejack gets judgmental on farming, contradicting the lesson she "learned" during Bridal Gossip. (BTW, desert farming does exist.) Even worse is when Twilight keeps harping her broken logic throughout. As a result, she has to resolve on defeating Longhorn "the Earth Pony way," which isn't going to work all the time.
     
    To make that worse, she insults Twilight's magic in Comic #25 and calls her a "weirdo" in #26. Twilight and Rarity are also incredibly juvenile. During a very serious conversation introducing Longhorn and his gang of Cattle Rustlers, Twilight used this very imbecilic joke: It doesn't work because Twilight is someone who usually treats conflicts like these with utmost importance. Given her status as alicorn princess, even more so. By making light of the situation and using an out-of-character joke, she basically mocks the viewer for treating the conflict seriously.
     
    When the barn gets engulfed in flames, Twlight and Rarity team up to take out the flames. When Dash urgently asked for help, the response: After they take down a water tower and doused most of the flames (as well as Dash, who got in the way), Twi and Rarity brohoofed proudly. An aggressive fire isn't something to play games with no be so nonchalant in your conversation.
     
    I'll continue harping on Twilight a little later. Fluttershy's role gets seriously reduced into being a "corrector." When they keep calling the Cattle Rustlers "cows," she corrects them by saying "bulls." Then she helps trigger the ol' fourth-wall joke by correcting Pinkie and Rarity, "I think you mean 'To be continued.'"
     
    Then to make that worse, she gets reduced to being the "cute" pony to distract longhorn's cronies. Don't deny it, Fluttershy is inherently cute and just acts in a way that is cute plenty of the time. But there's more to her than that. One of the biggest problems with each of the characters is how forced they are. None of their dialogue is organic in any way. Even in many of their worst episodes and most unlikeable states, the characters tended to speak with some kind of flow. (Some exceptions include Look Before You Sleep, EQG/RR, and Rainbow Falls.) Here, it's as if Katie Cook reduced their essences to one note, wrote down the script in one draft, and submitted it for publication. There's no cohesion in their dialogue.
    To make it worse, every single one of the Mane Six doesn't contribute to the story at all besides mucking it up and can written out entirely. Hell, even though this two-comic series is supposed to star Applejack, there's very little to do with her at all. Instead, AJ's plugged into the background with Twilight riding in the saddle for her.
    Very forced comedy.
    Friendship Is Magic prides on using some very intelligent comedy. Here, as none of the dialogue is cohesive, same goes for the issues' unintelligent comedy. Many of the jokes are too corny and ruin the tension in the conflict. Calling out the jokes as being stupid doesn't nullify IDW from being called out for using it. Instead, addressing the forced joke sticks out like a sore thumb for hammering it in.
    Some of its worst comes in Part 2. Longhorn has lived in Canter Creek for a while now, and it was their actions that helped chase Chili Pepper out. Therefore, you can make a very good, educated guess that he knows what many of the ponies look like, especially the clerk. Twilight's and Rarity's disguises are extremely transparent, it only takes an idiot to not recognize them. By having Longhorn not notice their disguise (as well as the true clerk, who was bound in plain sight), it reduces the intelligence of the villain as well as the reader.
    To make that worse, TG,TB,aTP blatantly rips off The Looney Tunes by using gags and traps that rely a lot on cartoon logic. But Katie Cook completely misunderstood how the Tunes' traps work as a comedy by having the heroines' tricks failing each time. What made the gags worked in Looney Tunes is how the villains suffered from the gags at their own incompetent expenses. The audience hates bad guys, so to see them fall is bemusing. But when the protagonists fail as a result of their own incompetence, yet simultaneously treat Longhorn as a capable threat, the jokes fall flat. As a result, the pacing becomes way too slow, and the reader's time is completely wasted.
    The alicorn in the room.
    If you like Twilight, you will hate her here. If you hate Twilicorn, you'll hate her even more.
    To call Twilight insufferable is being way too kind. It's a complete understatement to call her out of character. She has the moral integrity of Celestia from The Crystal Empire and Magical Mystery Cure, the idiocy from Feeling Pinkie Keen and Games Ponies Play, the hypocrisy from Bridle Gossip, and a shell as hollow and useless as Rainbow Rocks.
    If this was an actual episode, it'd overtake Bridle Gossip as her worst to date. By far, Twilight is easily the worst flaw of this arc. To break it down better, it's best to use bullet points.
    Compared to past episodes, Twilight is far more juvenile here. Even when she was really immature, when there's a serious problem at hand, she's very attentive and will do whatever it takes to help. Like I wrote earlier, because of her status as an alicorn princess, she takes things even more seriously, as she admitted in Equestria Girls, PTS, and Castle Mane-ia. But she cracked up so many stupid jokes during a time of urgency, and they completely destroyed the tension. As far as her ego is concerned, this sow does a pretty good job having her show off proudly without making her sound so prudish. This comic crossed that line big time when creating her first trap.
     
    From the middle of Part 1: And later on: A tip: If you have to tell how clever the trap is, chances are your trap's gonna suck.
     
    And, really? Twilight and her friends legitimately believed this would work? Given how vicious the Cattle Rustlers were just prior to this trap, there was no chance in hell of it working.
     
    How the hell this level of incompetence passed through is beyond me. Then we have the worst part: her hypocritical ethics. She keeps harping about how they can't use magic on the Cattle Rustlers because they're citizens of Equestria nor can they destroy the notarized forms. But when they decided to trick them, they held the clerk captive and then applied the magic on them after Longhorn destroyed a part of Rancho Bronco after it became a historic landmark.
     
    Oooookaaaaaaaayyy…
     
    Firstly, this is taking the essence of Twilight, scrubbing it off, and replacing her personality completely with a backwards version of her. Ever since the pilot, she'll break away from the norms if she believes she's doing the right thing. Episodes like The Ticket Master, Boast Busters, Winter Wrap Up, Equestria Games, and Twilight's Kingdom are just some examples for better or worse. Instead, Twilight willingly let others suffer at the hands of Longhorn's terrorism.
     
    Why?
      BULLSHIT!
     
    A town is in great danger and has every right to defend itself. The second Longhorn assaulted the sheriff and Applejack, Twilight had every right to defend her friends and the town by keeping them at bay and creating a jail cell for them. (This I'll get to later.) If we're going by simple morality, the real Twilight would act and punish the Cattle Rustlers long before it became a historic site.
     
    Even if she couldn't here, she became a commander-in-chief after Luna and Celestia were horsenapped. When she witnessed Longhorn committing arson on a farm simply to scare Canter Creek, she could've sent a letter to the Royal Guard and round them up. Instead, Twilight treats the law very strictly and, because it's so backwards, the guilty are more protected than the innocent.
     
    Secondly, when Twilight's character couldn't get any worse, she had absolutely no problem tying up the clerk and impersonating them. This is impersonation of legal authority and kidnapping, and both are very serious crimes. If she had any regards for the law (both the written and moral, as she thoroughly claimed), then Twilight and her friends would not've kidnapped Equestrian authority of Equestria, be proud of it (sans Fluttershy), and blatantly pull disgusting tricks on Longhorn, who legally prepared to acquire Rancho Bronco because it was considered abandoned.
     
    Twilight's moral character is completely disregarded throughout TG,TB,aTP. It's completely immoral of her and the crown that she claims to respect to never use her magic when her friends are held hostage or assaulted, but only do so when a historic site was vandalized. But if Twilight had any credibility, she would've stuck with her "I-can't-do-magic-blah-blah-blah" throughout. By completely disregarding the law in order to one-up Longhorn and then use magic at the end, she had no moral character, and the continuity that Cook already broke was broken even more.
     
    Thirdly, her point of not using magic on Equestria citizens is a complete disregard of continuity. Several times, she's used magic on Equestrian citizens since becoming a princess, like freezing her friends in Castle Mane-ia, reversing the spell in Bats!, and turning her friends into breezies in It Ain't Easy Being Breezies.
     
    Next, why the fuck didn't Twilight build a jail in the first place? It would've been a nonviolent solution to the Cattle Rustlers' reign of terror. Instead of all those stupid plans, they should've asked the sheriff or clerk if they could use some empty land for a jail, even if temporary until a Royal Guard shows up to arrest them. That way, they don't have to use any of their stupid plans to try to outwit them.
     
    Lastly, this entire sub-conflict is an indirect ripoff of one of FIM's early classics:
     

     
    (Link to the artist's poster.)
     
    But there are two huge differences.
     
    a. Twilight is constricted as a result of the tradition, and she screwed up really badly when she defied the tradition and tried to use her magic on Sweet Apple Acres. Because she screwed up, she had to find another method, and she was able to succeed in a role that fits her mentally and intellectually.
     
    b. WWU's comedy was her errors, but Morrow still treated the whole situation seriously and with respect. In TG,TB,aTP, Cook constantly plays her situation as a joke and basically laughs at the viewer for thinking of the idea. They know Twilight's magic can solve the problems, but the disregard of continuity forced the plot to chug until the finish line. If Twilight used it, it would've been over by the twelfth or sixteenth page of Part 1! Like what Silver-Quill wrote in his critical review of the arc on EQD, no sane world would protect Longhorn from being able to claim properties because he committed several huge crimes: robbing, destruction of property, vandalism, arson, and assault. Any sane world would've had the police arrest him a long time ago. Instead, they're protected. If this was how Equestrian law truly worked, I'd never want to live here.
    Twilight was absolutely useless in this entire arc and only made things worse simply by being there; because she did nothing as Longhorn and his gang terrorized Canter Creek, she's just as responsible for the damage. If there was an ability to remove Twilight by popular vote, I'd no doubt vote against her and implore every citizen to kick her out.
    Sure, the arc ends on an anticlimax, but that was the least of its problems. I'd rather have a good arc or episode with an anticlimax (Return of Harmony) over a really terrible arc or episode with a decent climax (Reflections).
    Fortunately, Spike isn't in here (with Twilight explaining he was at a convention in Las Pegasus) and instead has to take part of a pretty good, if eventually dated, Dashcon reference.
    Runaway Chili!
    The hanging subplot in this two-part arc is Chili Pepper. As a result of the Cattle Settlers terrorizing Canter Creek, Chili Pepper ran off, and it was AJ's responsibility for taking care of it until he came back.
    But he never came back. In fact, after that revelation, Chili's mysterious absence hung over the whole story, and it gets more haunting when Rancho Bronco is basically left abandoned for several months despite growing some pretty good crops. But where it gets the most damning is how it became a historic landmark.
    Now that it serves the public, Rancho Bronco is no longer Chili Pepper's home. What if he comes back and realizes he no longer owns the home that helped built the town in the first place? He'll have no home to go to unless he buys new land or leaves Canter Creek once again.
    It would've been somewhat satisfying if Chili Pepper made any sort of contact with Applejack, the clerk, or the sheriff during the arc. Instead, his mentions reduce more and more as the plot steers away from keeping Rancho Bronco busy to not allowing Longhorn to buy it. With the subplot left unresolved, the audience is left to wonder what happened to him.
    Conclusions.
    On EQD, Silver-Quill wrote this in his concluding statement of The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies:
    This describes the quality of the arc perfectly. From the get-go, it was a pain to read. When the exposition is very blunt in the first few pages, then you risk making the reader bored because the details for the conflict are out in the open. But if it couldn't get any worse, it really could. The Mane Six sans Twilight were flanderized, one-dimensional caricatures, and their forced dialogue reduces them even more and makes them all totally pointless. If you cut out all of the Mane Six, chances are you would have a more fluent arc plot-wise, but the dialogue is still in question.
    Yet if it couldn't suck any worse, Twilight was a complete IDIOT! By harping a "law" that completely contradicts continuity and only protects the guilty, she and her crown show their incompetence and complete disregard over her terrorized citizens. As a result of her own inaction, she's just as responsible for the Rustlers' destruction. Even as recently as during the fourth season, she'll go against the rules out of the belief that the restrictions only hurt the people she cared for. Instead, she sticks to rules that an in-character Twilight would rip to shreds. This isn't Twilight Sparkle in this arc. It's a completely different character in disguise.
    There are too many sloppy writing choices. The plot is one contradiction after another. The excuses, resolutions, humor, and overall characterizations are thoroughly lazy. Nothing went right. This arc is completely irredeemable. If this was an actual episode, it'd take over Rainbow Falls as the worst written. Combined with the nasty implications, there's a chance of it overtaking Dragon Quest or even Bridle Gossip as the second-worst episode overall.
    For the comics themselves, here's my previous bottom three.
    Reflections Arc Fluttershy Micro Rainbow Dash Micro (But you can make a really good case Dash's is worse than Fluttershy's because the dialogue is unreadable.)
    The Good… bumps the Dash micro off the list. Without a doubt, the recent arc is in the bottom three.
    But how bad is The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies? You can argue it's as bad as Reflections…if not worse.
  23. Dark Qiviut
    Trigger warning: If you have photosensitive eyes or suffered any photosensitive seizure (symptoms), then the explosions of color and rapid movement from the video game trailer may bother you. Watch here at your own risk.
    Cross-posted from: Canterlot Times on Tumblr.
    A few days ago, Mighty No. 9 was released after several years of development hell. After so many people were excited, the release of the game felt more like a thud than a cheer.
    But that’s not what this is about. On May 25, Deep Silver published a trailer for the game, titled Masterclass. Suffice it to say, the trailer sucks. Why? Several reasons.
    One of the biggest rules in any form of media is show, don’t tell. In storytelling, exposition risks killing investment your audience has on a book, episode, or movie. Why? Because we’re being told of the material. When telling, we don’t see the material the characters experience themselves, and when the show does happen, it can become very underwhelming.
     
    This rule applies in advertising, too. Throughout the 85-second ad, a stereotypically-1990s dude narrates. He keeps telling us about how awesome the moves, abilities, and powers are through some very corny jokes, one-liners, and a bunch of other bull rubbish. Your audience doesn’t have to have every single detail shoved directly in their faces. This is a visual/audio commercial; they’re not listening to the radio! Instead of hyping up the game, the stereotypical narrator is destroying the hype by shoving in the supposed “qualities” in our faces without giving the audience any opportunity to gauge anything appealing. The choice for narrator and script are absolutely horrible!
     
    To repeat about the narrator, he’s trying to sound like your typical “I’m-too-cool” and “I’m-really-hip” stereotype seen so often in the 1990s. Everything about his voice tries to rip off other successful products like Sonic the Hedgehog, only to fall flat. Except Sonic showed us he’s cool by his moves and little details in his expression in response to something. No smug narrator was needed to “help” him. In Masterclass, the narrator was attempting to act cool, only to act pretentious instead.
     
    And it doesn’t help with Masterclass’s hideous script. Either they tried too hard to be funny or didn’t try at all. The hallmark of a good joke are at least threefold: Do they make sense within the context presented, surprise your audience, and not signal vile stereotypes? Every joke here (including the infamous simile) was a surprise, but none of them make sense. They have no place in a commercial attempting to woo people into buying it. Rather than being funny, they were cringeworthy.
     
    The accent, jokes, and overall “attitude” the script and narration exudes blatantly panders to kids, yet I have no idea what Deep Silver attempted in their method. Were they pandering to kids by trying to parody the 1990s or pandering to kids by trying to make fun of people who lived in or were born in the 1990s? Whatever the case is, the creative decisions by DS were BS. Saving this piece for its most notorious joke.
     
    “And make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night.”
     
    No, no, no, no, no, NO!
     
    What’s wrong with this joke?
     
    a. It calls back a very sexist stereotype about how geeks are incapable of attracting anyone to go to a prom. Geek culture has a history of being stereotyped, spat on, and verbally assaulted for the past few decades. Brony-bashing and the association of fedoras and trilbies with “geeks” and “perverts” are recent examples. A few years ago, a female intern at Gizmodo shamed and outed a man because he was the 2000 world champion of Magic the Gathering.
     
    b. The pot’s calling the kettle black. Mighty No. 9 is unabashedly inspired by the classic Mega Man games and is considered to be a spiritual successor of it after Capcom continued to slump and treat its signature franchise poorly. MM, for the matter, had several spinoffs outside of gaming. One of them was anime.
     
    Look at Mighty No. 9 in any official image online. What does he look like? An anime character. The look resembled Mega Man and anime, and Mighty No. 9 was attempting to attract Mega Man and anime fans.
     
    Now think about the terrible analogy further. It’s a very terrible idea, period, to diss any audience, whether it’s the prime demographic, periphery demographic, or the rest. That line dissed anime fans/otakus, one of the demographics Comcept and Inti Creates are trying to sell MN9 to!
     
    There’s a gigantic difference between mocking stereotypes and using stereotypes to mock. Masterclass uses the opposite. That “joke” is the worst line I’ve ever heard in a trailer and will go down as one of the worst lines in commercial history.
     
    Take it from someone who’s educated in advertising and how it works: NEVER insult who you’re trying to sell to! I don’t play games anymore, but if I was looking to perhaps buy one, and I see this trailer, then the publishers and developer would’ve lost a potential buyer. The purpose of a trailer or commercial is to hype the audience into buying the game. If your customers are instead bashing the game’s graphics, development hell throughout the process, the blatant pandering to kids, and the stereotypes used to promote this game, then something’s wrong.
    This horrible “trailer” has no redeeming value. To everyone aspiring to be an advertising/graphic designer or creative, use Deep Silver’s massive errors here as a lesson on how NOT to advertise.
  24. Dark Qiviut
    Take it away, Miz!
    Over the past several weeks, excuses after excuses after bashing after bashing from anti-bronies (and fellow bronies) have been chapping my teeth. First, it was the "it's for kids" excuse, and I wrote a blog calling that excuse (and the general population who uses it) out. Next, it was the bashing of the FIM analysis community (BTW, calling analysts "ANALysts" isn't cute or funny; it's stupid), and I'm seriously thinking of prepping for a defense of that community. Another imbecilic claim I see (including from other bronies) is how the older bronies and the community itself "stole the show from little girls."
    Newsflash: That statement is full of shit. Older bronies never stole the show from ANYBODY. They're just as part of the fandom as the little kids and vice-versa. They're just as entitled to appreciate a good show, see it grow, want what they like to see (as long as it works in FIM's context/roots and doesn't deviate from the content rating), and critique it so it gets better as the kids and their parents. The core fandom is a very relevant part of sales, and bronies altogether are very influential both in merchandise and the show big or small, like fact-checking the Celestia doll from pink to (off-)white and (because the core fandom and little kids are growing up along with the characters) helping edge FIM into a more mature direction for season four (e.g., Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 calling out the public school system; Flight to the Finish addressing Scootaloo's inability to fly; plagiarism in Rarity Takes Manehattan; the Twilight/Tirek fight scene). Hell, don't even bother denying it — Because the show spread popularity to bronies young and old, we even have seasons four, five, and beyond.
    And what's more idiotic is how some so-called "feminists" pull this "bronies are entitled/steal the show" bullshit. If you claim to be a feminist and then pull that card, then, well…this should explain nicely.

    Any feminist with an ounce of common sense would never pull that antifeminist, sexist card. It's hypocritical (about as hypocritical as Femme Fetale from The Powerpuff Girls), and if you really are a feminist, you should feel guilty for saying it, much less thinking of such bigotry.
    Bronies regardless of age, gender, or culture NEVER stole FIM from ANYBODY, and it's downright antifeminist and sexist to believe otherwise.
  25. Dark Qiviut
    After Britt Allcroft stepped down, Thomas & Friends veered into a completely different direction. One of them was abandoning the use of "Christmas" in their stories and instead go with "winter holidays" with the purpose of being more inclusive. Despite a valiant effort, the whole atmosphere was definitely Christmas thanks to the decorations, tree, and Christmas setup with "Christmas" scribbled out. The setup was so controversial, after the fifteenth series, Rev. Awdry's late daughter spoke out against what is political correctness gone completely awry. Since then, HiT decided to use Christmas, and under Andrew Brenner's tenure, it's been very blatant to a fault. One of the most obvious is Brenner's Last Train for Christmas, and it's one of the best episodes in the series.
    Strengths:
    Every character is in character. Diesel, Connor, TFC, Thomas, et al. all spoke exactly like they should. Not one moment that didn't make sense or was unlikeable. Whenever they said or behaved, they were true to form.
     
    One of the smaller, yet crucial, elements to the story was Thomas and his snowplough. Since his days in TRS, he hated his plough and tried whatever he could to not wear it. After more than sixty years, No Snow for Thomas finally concluded the arc, and the episode referenced it without hammering you over the head by being comfy in that role. I'll get back to it in a little bit.
     
    Diesel gets an especially bigger piece of credit because he delivered two lines of dialogue that retain his character, but don't reduce him to a good guy. As Thomas tries to persuade the Fat Controller to continue ploughing the snow, Diesel acts as a dissident by saying the train may have to be cancelled and the stations will be closing soon. His words may sound antagonistic, but they're very justifiable, especially due to the safety hazard of the thick, deep snow and erratic snowstorm. Like its continuity, there are two important facts Brenner tells its audience without being obnoxious about it.
     
    a. TFC's railway is privately run. Unlike the railway on the mainland, the anthropomorphic trains run on a private schedule with its own rules and regulations.
     
    b. By having no trains run on Christmas, the holiday's importance is emphasized. Christmas is a national holiday in many Western countries (Britain no exception), and Christmas is one of those holidays where there isn't much activity. (For instance, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is closed on one day of the whole year: December 25th.) With Christmas Day just around he corner, there's a lot more urgency in getting the passengers to their destinations before it's out. There are five important places of showing the audience and helped make it better.
     
    a. Robert Hartshorne's music has stepped up considerably since Brenner took over, and this is no exception. Throughout the episode, the score dictated the mood and really enhanced the script. One of its most powerful occurs just after Connor crosses the Vicarstown Bridge back to the Mainland to pick up his last passengers. Here, the music got louder and more climactic. The scene switches to TFC hanging up the receiver in his office, and the music suddenly stops. With the background being quiet for just a few seconds, you can tell how much The Fat Controller really didn't want to cancel the last train. To call this composition brilliant is underselling the quality of Hartshorne's musical work here.
     
    b. This little scene that causes TFC to change his mind about cancelling the last train:
     

     

     

     
    All done without Mark Moraghan telling the audience. It's a scene so simple, yet reminds TFC and the audience how important family is for Christmas. If they can get reunited during the dead dark, so can the remaining passengers. It's an extremely mature direction for this show, especially in this stage.
     
    If the show still used models, then you couldn't pull it off, too, and have to rely on narration, which had been very monotonous until Moraghen arrived. But with CGI in place, we could see the whole transition, thus using CGI to its advantage and treating its audience — especially kids — with plenty of respect.
     
    c. Thomas's urgency inside Knapford as everyone met up with TFC. You can tell how much Thomas really wanted that final train to arrive at Sodor on time, and the conviction in his tone made it sound like he really wanted to get the job done. If no one was going to do it, then he was alone. His maturity was organic, and his care for the railway and his friends are obvious.
     
    d. Very early on, you can tell Christmas Eve on the Island was extremely chilly just by the snow. But you usually don't get to see the humans respond to it. Arc took advantage of Christmas's cold denotations (as far as the U.K. is concerned) in two ways.
     
    i. Very early on, a little girl on the right sneezes as she descends the staircase.
     
    ii. Because it's so cold, a boy walking with crutches has pink cheeks and a really red nose. This leaves you a hint about how much the cold affected him without telling you.
     
    e. The ending. In the second half, several engines saw a red light, and Percy and Hiro speculated at first that it was Rudolph pulling Santa and his sleigh, thus leading to a well-done gag. To conclude the episode, Thomas sees this:
     

     
    Because he saw Harold exactly like that, he said, "Merry Christmas, Harold!" and went home.
     

     
    But by having "Harold" be Santa Claus instead, it does two things.
     
    The gag is resolved and doesn't go too long. The joke works because the gag is reversed, and you don't expect Santa to appear in the shot, seeing as Harold looked exactly like him earlier.
     
    There's an excellent payoff to the story. With everyone back to Sodor in time for Christmas, they can wait for Santa's humble gifts to arrive while knowing everyone is home. The solid conclusion makes the tiring, stressful journey of clearing the tracks for Connor's last train worthwhile even when they don't know it. For the first time in so long, a Thomas Christmas episode actually feels like a Christmas episode. Series 17 had two Christmas episodes themselves, but they kinda felt a bit hammered in and weren't as well constructed compared to Bill or Ben? and Gone Fishing.
     
    Last Train for Christmas really captures that Christmas essence completely. With the well-done atmosphere in place, the characters' conversations about Christmas is a sprinkle on top. Connor really can't get the passengers home by himself. He needed every single engine to help him, and the engines knew this, especially Thomas.
     
    Part of what makes Christmas special is the ability to give. The steam engines worked tirelessly to give Connor the ability to get back to Sodor and beat the snowstorm.
     
    As such, LTfC contains plenty of urgency in the conflict with no gimmicks. The well-done musical score, dialogue, and expressions in their voices really sold the conflict and showed their dedication to Connor and the passengers. It's subtle, yet brilliantly done. The slippies weren't one and done. With them appearing, Brenner and Arc told both kids and the older and more dedicated fans of Thomas that they're not just gimmicks. They're a unique component of Sir Topham Hatt's Railway, and their purpose fits exactly not only Connor's desires, but also the urgency in the situation. In TtTE, snow is sometimes treated as a very huge nuisance, and for good reason. Snow can be extremely heavy, and they've caused plenty of accidents in the past. Having Paxton get stuck in the storm and Emily feel dismayed over being unable to clear the track by the Vicarstown Bridge are great ways of showing the storm's impact. Once more, the CGI is absolutely brilliant. The CGI has been one of the series' bigger pluses since its complete transition in Hero of the Rails, and Arc's attention to detail is no exception. We have the beautiful snow, the treacherous snow, the snow on the engines/wheels, the tracks, human interaction, and beautiful camera shots. Weaknesses:
    The exchange between Duck, Thomas, and Oliver felt somewhat forced, particularly this part:
      Oliver's been around for a very long time now, so he knows about Christmas. His ending reply makes it sound like he doesn't know about the holiday. To let you know, it doesn't sound like it, but it feels like it. It would've been better if he said he forgot about the holiday and then feel happy about it. Earlier this season, Connor was shown pulling five coaches. Here, he was pulling three and needed the slip coaches. By having two coaches inexplicably missing with no reason why, it makes his need for them contrived.
     
    Fortunately, Brenner et al. were able to use that to their advantage and make it feel like it belongs. One bigger bugaboo that's there is the lightning quick switching of the points. Just after Hiro and James chug to the sidings, Connor was able to speed on by. Two big problems.
     
    a. Points don't switch that quickly. They take a little time to pull/push and change, and Connor is not far behind each time. By having the points switch with little room for error, there risks a very huge accident.
     
    b. More importantly, neither the levers or signalboxes are in sight. That's very dangerous considering the "arm's length" between the trains and Connor's speed. Last Train for Christmas continues one of Thomas's well-known traditions of using the winter holidays for their stories. But instead of "winter holidays," Brenner writes in "Christmas," reviving an older tradition dating back to prior the sixth series. Christmas is a national holiday, and the narrative treats it with utmost respect thanks to Hartshorne's excellent music, Brenner's careful treatment of the narrative, and well-executed sense of urgency. Thomas, TFC, and everyone want to serve the public until the very last train arrives on Sodor and worked hard to clear the tracks for Connor and his remaining passengers. Even with the flaws, it's written so well, they don't distract from the audience, and its heart really captures the beauty of Christmas. In all, it's one of the best Christmas episodes in Thomas history.
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