Truffles

21 hours ago, Sherbert Music-Guard said:

He would obviously choose his pony family over his dragon family!

He doesn't conciser himself a dragon, He considers himself as a pony!

While one may have wondered about that after "Dragon Quest," it has been established since then he considers himself a dragon. Notable examples are his Dragon Code in "Spike at Your Service" the following season, his exclamation of "I'm a dragon!" when Rainbow Dash comes to him in "Tanks for the Memories" for tortoise advice, and in "A Flurry of Emotions" where he openly expresses pride over being a dragon when reading a tale about a heroic dragon (who looks suspiciously like him? Hmmm....) to the sick foals.

3 hours ago, Jeric said:

It would be nice to see some other shared dialog between the other family members (we did get some interaction between Cadance and Spike in Princess Spike that came across like a sister chiding him).

And Shining getting very cross with him over his "joking" about befriending a changeling.

As for the topic itself, there really isn't a lot of Twilight's other family members being supportive of Spike which I suppose is why the thread was started. The only thing I can think of is earlier in the same episode where Shining assures Twilight the guards will look after him.

In "Equestria Games," Cadance is supportive of Spike, too, but it's more akin to reverence over his role in the Sombra incident and not talking to him like a family member.

Hmmm.

13 minutes ago, Tacodidra said:

Tom x Boulder or Rocky x Boulder would work, though.

I forgot about Tom, and especially Rocky. Touche!

Any secondary or background character (besides Maud) x Boulder.

27 minutes ago, Prospektlicious said:

Spike x Gilda

That is a very adorable crackship!

There's even a logic to it if you consider 1) they've actually met and 2) they have being a minority species in Equestria in common with one another.

5 hours ago, Karnak said:

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But I have a big question, why would any adult dragon pretend to be his dad? One could say its because Spike is somewhat famous and that dragon wants in on that, but with him trying to make him a "real" dragon, I doubt that's the case. I mean who would hate Spike enough to pretend to be his father and then try to make him give up the culture and community he loves. Another possibility is that this is some scheme by Garble, but he's too dimwitted to come up with a scheme like this, unless he got help, but I doubt he hates Spike enough to do something like that. 

 

Oh..and as for that

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hate to break it to you, but I heard that is a male...I'm not even kidding, even more confusing, he is a Prince. Soooo...is this Ember's brother or brother in law? Also he mentioned in Molt Down having a brother..I hope it's not Garble...:/ 

 

 

I haven't watched episode 13 except for the animatic that was already publicly available, so I don't know how it turns out. But the other possibility is it's Chrysalis once again trying to muck around with the Mane 6's relationships and break them up, using Spike as the attack vector this time around.

I can still see how Spike would attract attention from other dragons, however, so it could just as easily not be her. He was Dragon Lord for a minute, and it's not clear Ember even controls the scepter since her eyes didn't go all weird like they did for Spike and we have yet to see her actually use the thing. It may be that the scepter has to choose the dragon as well  and that Spike really is the Dragon Lord and some other dragon knows it and has plans to control the dragons through him.

This is all speculation, of course - I guess we'll know for sure at the end of the season!

As for the Prince, yeah, I found out he's male. It is curious how he's a prince since Ember is the only known royalty. I guess all of that will be answered in the season opener or maybe in that episode that focuses on the new characters? I doubt he's related to Garble, because I wouldn't expect Garble to be slumming it with a bunch of random teen dragons if he was royalty as well.

6 hours ago, Rebellious Rainbow said:

Oh congratulations not only they now kicked out Mayor Mare from Ponyvile, but they now outsourcing Cheerily from her job as well.

I don't think it's that kind of school. It's a school designed to teach friendship across different species, not the basics like math and reading.

That is a good question. I decided one day to see what the big deal was with this show and started with "Winter Wrap-Up." I liked it well enough, but was not convinced I wanted to stick with the show yet. I set a season pass on my TiVo and binge-watched everything as fast as The Hub would run repeats from seasons 1 and 2 until I was caught up. Then S3 started a week or so later and the rest is history.

So it's difficult to say exactly which episode might have turned me, though "A Canterlot Wedding" seems to stick out in my memory - mainly for the "This Day" aria and that opening shot of Twilight at the start of pt 2 which looked as good as any feature animation.

How do I feel about it now? Are you kidding - I can't wait for the new season to start!

There is the (in)famous scene of Trenderhoof seeing Applejack wipe away the apple juice off her muzzle in a saucy manner. Though I'm not sure that was very under-the-radar as most everyone with a certain amount of knowledge caught the reference.

However, there was another instance at the very end of the episode that got less attention where AJ tries to come clean and explain that she's not interested in him, ending her sentence with an "I'm - uh...." right before Rarity interrupts, saving her from having to basically state she prefers mares. While not conclusive, a significant portion of the fandom believes this to be the case (myself included) until the show says otherwise.

And Spike has ended up with his lips pressed up against Starlight's a couple of times since she was redeemed. Not particularly racy, but it certainly provides a bunch of shipping fuel between the two of them, even if there's nothing there beyond that. (Or they're just trying to make Spike look creepy again since it's usually him pulling her in close in that manner.)

14 hours ago, Tacodidra said:

I immediately thought of "Spike at Your Service" when I saw the thread title. I wouldn't consider it one of the best episodes in the series, but I think it has many funny moments:

• Rainbow Dash's reaction to the rock tower
• Pinkie Pie's mustache
• Spike's dragon song
• Applejack playing the damsel in distress (my favorite moment in the episode)

While there are no MLP episodes that I actually hate, I can think of several that I've enjoyed less than "Spike at Your Service".

I agree those four scenes are worthwhile to see, but it's just too painful for me to see Spike act like a subservient buffoon for the sake of the plot. Spike is much better when he's a bit stubborn, especially when the stubbornness is exemplified by a cynical attitude. I admit he's stubborn in a way in this episode because he won't give up his Dragon Code, but we don't understand why he's so stubborn about it either because the episode fails to explain where it came from in the first place.

14 hours ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Princess Spike is a better example of an overhated Spike episode to me, since Spike was more in character. It just gets a lot of hate since it involves Spike messing up again, which always seems like a silly complaint to me in a show that’s key formulae is to have a character learn a lesson.

This one has issues deeper than Spike messing up again, though. Instead of Spike being the incompetent one like he was in "Service", it is all of the delegates (and to some extent, Princess Cadance) who are all incompetent, helpless ponies for the sake of the plot. It's also painful for me to see this one because of all the garbage Spike has to put up with, and that terrible last-minute swipe at him at the very end really put an exclamation point on why this episode is disliked so much.

I agree though that "Magical Mystery Cure" and "Slice of Life" get way more hate than they deserve, especially considering the extenuating circumstances involving their geneses.

3 hours ago, MegaSean45 said:

 

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Then his real parents'll appear at the very end! :3

 

Or:

52 minutes ago, Singe said:

There is one thing to add about Dragonshy, the ponies have power over the sun, moon, and the weather. They couldn't come up with a magical solution or technique to deal with smoke.

I suppose if it were the real world they would just install a scrubber (like they use on smokestacks) over the mouth of the cave to get rid of the soot.

2 hours ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

Okay, so I will now give a short expected thoughts on every episode based on the titles/synopses

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School Daze I+II: Sounds like a low stakes premiere, but could have some great character moments from Twilight, expecting it to be a good yet middle of the road 2 parter
The Maud Couple: If Maud found a boyfriend it will probably be someone just like her, I wouldn't mind a male Maud, could be funny, decent
Fake it till you make it: Could be a fun episode, Flutters doing a Rarity job could be enjoyable, good episode.
Grannies Gone Wild: I..I don't know, sounds like it could be really funny. 
Surf and/or Turf: Yeah I am all for this, movie continuity, amazing episode inc
Horse Play: More Celestia is always good, great episode inc.
The Parent map: After learning from Haber about Starlights parents, I am definitely excited for this one
Non complete Clause: More of an introduction to the students, very interested in how they will work as characters.
Break Up Breakdown: Sounded okay, but I can confirm this episode is just amazing.
Molt Down: Sounds like an excellent Spike episode, back to the glory days of s6 Spike
Marks for Effort: Yeah okay, sounds cool
The Mean 6: I love when they do bigger more important episodes mid season, and from what I have seen, seems great.
A Matter of Principals: Discord and Starlight is a great recipe for awesomeness, great episode
Hearths warming club: Idk sounds like some good development for the studens.
Friendship University: Good premise, Starswirl is a great thing all around
The End in Friend: idk, seems like something that should have happened in season 1 or 2
Yakity Sax: No,I was wrong about Secrets and Pies being bad, but Pinkie Pie going this overboard AGAIN will damage the lesson of previous episodes
On the Road To Frienship: Yeah Startrix episodes are usually fantastic sooo, yes. Just yes.
The Washouts: Scoots and RD, no complaints here
A Rockhoof and a Hard Place: 2nd and last pillar appearance this season, can't say I am happy about that but hey, Rockhoof is cool
What Lies Beneath: This is very intriguing and sounds like it could be very important
Sounds of Silence: Nice sounding, AJ and Flutter is an interesting combo and sounds interesting enough
Father Knows Best: SPIKES DAD WOOOOOO
School Raze: I feel like we will see Cozy Glow before this finale, maybe she is in charge of the EEA secretly, I am not sure but we will find out, either way, two different plots, one on the surface and one in TARTARUS, very much looking forward to this

Final thoughts, I don't think this season will challenge 5 or 7 as my favorite season, but I do think it will match 4 for the second spot, sounds like a lot of great stuff.
Five songs should be good, hopefully they are all full songs and not parody like in Battle for Sugar Belle

 

Episode 24 - the finale before the finale. It will be awesome as long as:

Right before I go to bed the site is the same as usual.

I wake up and log in, and behold a new look!

This scene popped into my head as soon as I saw the changes:

The site backdrop color even reminds me of Ember's scales! 

50 minutes ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

But I liked season 6, I even said that, but I didn't only use ratings as a factor, I said across the board it seems like overall viewership in the season has gone down. I was trying to figure out why and given the reputation of season 6, I considered that a pretty plausible factor.

Maybe no though, maybe the show hasn't dropped at all and less people are using sites like that, it can be anything.

Sorry about sounding a bit gruff there - I think various recent news events have me on edge. =P

One other possibility is issues with DFC itself - while they do an okay job with promoting the show at times, other times it's downright pitiful. It seems like they could do more to help the show's ratings but for whatever reason choose not to.

I wouldn't say an episode has "triggered" me, though I admit a few have really gotten me worked up. For example, not long after I joined this forum I went off on a big rant about "The Super Squeezy Cider Easy 6000" because I despise that episode so much. (Except for the song, which is the only good thing about it.)

And the crazy thing is, it was at least a year or more before I wrote the post that I saw that episode! When an episode gets me riled up enough after all that time that I still felt the need to vent, you know it's pushed my buttons in the worst way.

1 hour ago, AlbaTross said:

Is it just me or has there been an unprecedented amount of jerks this past season?

You may be onto something here - those are some good examples of ponies acting like jerks. However, I can't say with any certainly S7 had the largest number of jerky characters in a season. I can think of examples from just about every season but don't have a good enough memory to quantify their amounts from all of them without going on a total binge-watch of the entire series.

If I had more time it would be a fun(?) exercise to make an accounting of every time a character has acted like a total jerk in an episode and sum up the numbers to see if S7 really does have the most; or if it's just because it happens to be the season that's the easiest to recall at the moment.

I don't think a ratings decline can be pinned on a particular season's quality. There are far too many other variables to consider. Outside of external forces like changing viewership patterns, you could argue just as easily that folks were turned off by the forced promotion of Flurry Heart when S6 started, or how Starlight was redeemed and then elevated to Mane 6 status even though a lot of folks didn't like it and didn't think she deserved it. Those are factors not tied to the quality of individual episodes, even though such factors might bear an influence on the overall likeability of specific episodes.

For example, did the ratings drop precipitously after season 3? That season seems to get the most hate but I don't recall ever seeing fans leaving the show in droves over that particular aspect. If they left after season 3, it had more to do with Twilight's alicorn status than anything else I would think.

Anyway, call me skeptical when folks come to such conclusions based on how they personally felt about S6, which is how this thread reads to me.

6 hours ago, KH7672 said:

I haven't seen the episode yet, but you have no idea how much I internally screamed in horror inside when I initially read that as Button Mash and Sweetie Belle. 

I know people say "so and so is the thing that that would make me leave the show" but I'm being serious, if the show legitimately acknowledged this dumb main and background character pairing (background and background is fine) I would immediately quit the show! 

Please leave that pairing just in the fandom.

Oh, I'm sorry about that! I had never even realized those characters all had the same initials! XD

It's funny you should mention Button Mash and Sweetie Belle, though:

8 hours ago, BasementSparkle said:

Still though, you're right there will be loyalists who only enjoy G4, which is fine of course, but a lot of them probably won't even give G5 a fair chance, and will get hostile and aggressive with their opinions.

Considering there are already a few who think G4 ended after Lauren left or after Twilight became an alicorn, G5 being on the outs with some won't surprise me a bit.

(Though it also might be an opportunity to bring those folks who now hate G4 back into the fold with a generation switch.)

6 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Watched another last night. And it may be one of the ten best of the series:

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The Break Up Breakdown (ep. 10): Holy. Shit! This was INCREDIBLE! Everything was absolutely flawless.

1. This episode is completely hilarious. Every single joke landed. My favorites are:
   1. Discord throwing shade at V-Day's commercialization.
   2. Love music playing in the background as BM runs to Sugar in slow-mo.
   3. Spike teasing Discord for having a possible crush on FS.
2. But the episode isn't simply funny. It also applies heart when needed, too, and it was all organically placed, adding an extra layer into the plot. Couples won't always get along. Sometimes they'll struggle, argue, or have a difficult time. The healthy ones work it out at the end. That happens here. Big Mac and Sugar Belle behave like a legit couple here. In addition, BM feels like a legit character, and not just because he doesn't repeat the same one-liner as a gag. His lines vary in personality, and the degree of noise easily indicate whether he's happy, sad, scared, or angry.
3. Breakdown follows up three episodes: Hearts & Hooves Day, Hard to Say Anything, and especially Dungeons & Discord. The continuity nods don't hammer you over the head, and when it's explicit, it's interwoven so well.
   
   Speaking of interwoven, I don't know who's the nut responsible for thinking Big Mac, Discord, and Spike would work well as a trio. Whoever it is, give them a gold medal! The chemistry between all three is extremely natural, like they knew each other for a long time, but keep in mind that Discord joined them two seasons ago. OTOH, Spike apparently learned under Discord's tutelage real quickly, 'cause their banter is absolutely hilarious. Discord and Spike tease each other a lot here, but nothing crosses the line, and it's all in good fun. Clearly, they're great friends.
4. This episode may be Spike's best appearance to date. Not joking. Spike fans will LOVE his role here!
5. Big Mac developed exponentially here. Throughout, he tries to figure out how to openly admit his feelings without fear, and through trial and error, he figured it out. After this conflict, he's more open. Whether he'll talk more or not later's unknown.
6. But Discord's the trump card here, and TBUB is among his best appearances to date. He doesn't give sound advice, though he means well. And he salvages BM and Sugar's relationship in his own, clever way.
7. Even the B-plot (the CMCs accidentally receiving the Valentine's pie and trying to figure out who Sweetie's secret admirer is) was excellent. In both episodes I watched featuring them, they step up and are written very well.
8. The dialogue is perfect. Not one clunky line anywhere, varying degrees of emotion and length, and so clever!
9. The two morals are absolutely fantastic.
   1. "Don't assume. Communicate with your friends, and everything will work itself out."
   2. "Don't be afraid to openly admit your feelings. Those who care for you will listen and understand." <--- This one may be my top lesson of S8 when it's all done.

Other than the montage love songs, there's no background score or sound effects. But with or w/o 'em, it's one of the best episodes to date, and I can't wait for the final product!

Grade: A/A+

 

I loved this one too, for all the same reasons. Though because of my own personal nature I felt like the main conflict could have been resolved quickly in a much more straightforward way. The payoff for drawing it out, however, was well worth it, so I'm not gonna complain.

I felt guilty after seeing this one, however, (and declined on watching any of the others) because between this and Spike's episode that follows it, this one really needed to have the full musical score to back up the poignant scenes between BM and SB. I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to see it again when it officially airs.

My impression from the comments is that all of this was from the same break-in and the hacker simply decided to do this next dump of info at this later date. I haven't gone near any of the leaked emails so I don't know if they are dated before or after the movie leak. If it is after, then that would indicate the hacker is still getting into their systems.

2 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

Spoiler

Oh my god, I think I've been waiting for something like this since MMC. SPIKE GOT WINGS, IT WAS AMAZING. FINALLY OUR LITTLE DRAGON IS GROWING UP 

 

Heh, his fans in the Crystal Empire are going to go batpoop crazy the next time he visits there. XD

Also, I ended up watching the H&H Day episode after all and another way he's growing up is there might be some daylight between him and his one-track focus on Rarity. He basically asks Discord if:

to which Discord chides him over his attempt at trying to fall in love with a fictional character. That by itself seems like a gentle poke at the fandom, but it's also the first time I've ever seen Spike put out feelers for anyone besides Rarity.

4 minutes ago, Hieroklicious said:

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I still would have changed Spikes body too. Something more like Ember, hey... The wings epic as hell.  The only problem with it is that Twilight had problems flying, while Spike just had a little struggle.

 

35 minutes ago, Hieroklicious said:

Epispde 13 is an amazing episode.  And episode 11 was amazing for Spike. 

I'm still giddy with pride and a wide ear-to-ear grin over the last few scenes in episode 11.  Spike looked so overjoyed! I'm so anxious to see the finished product with all the music added that I am already dreading the long wait until it finally airs - which will probably be sometime in June.

I'm kind of curious what brussels sprouts and cotton candy mixed together actually smell like, now, though. XD