Truffles

I see Rumble as a mini version of Cranky - he just wants to be left to be a blank flank but the CMC keep pushing him to get one.

LOL, when Rumble said he didn't want a cutie mark, I thought for a moment Sweetie Belle was going to need a fainting couch. XD

Is this the first time Thunderlane has had any dialogue? Coolness.

It's curious both of Fluttershy's focus episodes this season made callbacks to the characters from "Secret of my Excess," even though they were all written by different people. Maybe it's just because a lot of Fluttershy's life revolves around caring for the sick (in her case sick animals), but other than it being a coincidence I can't think of a good reason they would end up in both of her episodes. 

3 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Furthermore, later in the episode, Fluttershy and Twilight appear to be reading directly from journals that Mage Meadowbrook wrote herself. But if Mage Meadowbrook lived 1000+ years ago, then we would probably expect that she would have written in Olde Ponish or some other language that would need to be translated, but we don't see Fluttershy and Twilight doing that.

Good catch, it never even crossed my mind that the books in her house would be written in the same language she had to do a bunch of research to translate. I like @Jeric's idea though that Fluttershy might have a knack for it once she learns how due to her ability to talk with animals.

3 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

What, was slowly being turned into a toxic tree for the rest of your life, hopefully losing all sapience in the process, not dark enough?

Kind of gives a whole new meaning to the term, "Getting wood." 

2 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

Swamp Fever... Such a terrifying disease especially that last part where you are turned into a tree. I wouldn't that to happen to anyone, even if they were the worst character in the show.

While Equestria might be better off if Spoiled Rich were a tree, I admit sacrificing Diamond's mom and Filthy's wife is a pretty steep price to pay for the two of them.

43 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Twilight and Spike's cooking competition is seen short, but really cute. There are very few bonding moments between the two this series. More of those, please.

It was, and yes they should do this more often. This scene was a bit of a revelation to me, however, because everything I'd seen in the past indicated Twilight's cooking was only good enough for passable.

It seems she is every bit as good of a cook as he is if they are indeed having cooking contests with one another. I'd like to think she learned all his techniques while she was sitting around in S5 bored out of her skull and became a great chef.

In fact, he pretty much admitted she won that particular contest since he ate all her muffins but left his cauliflower bites alone. XD

Of course, I'm not really a fan of cauliflower so I'd pick the muffins, too. Sorry Spike. 

Pretty good episode. It ends quickly, but this is one of the few times a quick ending is totally appropriate since the issue was resolved and there wasn't anything else that needed to be said. I had some issues with Twilight being nerfed again and unable to levitate a glop of honey out of that hive, but I suppose it was needed for the story. Though why they didn't pick one of the other non-magical Mane 6 or Spike to accompany her to avoid that issue is strange. I guess they really wanted to do another Twi-Flutters pairing again?

I LOLed at the off-color humor about the things Cat Tail had to endure to try and get the honey. One can only imagine. XD

I see the Ponyville doctor still has the same lousy bedside manner that he had when Twilight took Spike to see him. X3

That laced sleep mask is a bit frou-frou, don't you think, Spike? 

15 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

What's the first?

The transmutation circle Starlight and Sunburst cast in Twilight's fantasy in the season opener.

It's really interesting to see Sunburst getting some attention. At the end of "The Crystalling," I wrote I had hopes he would move to Ponyville because he'd be an awesome male role model to add to the cast of major secondary characters.

I guess if I can't have a Spike's parents episode just before the season finale, having one with Sunburst isn't too bad of a trade-off.

I'm hoping the interaction is between him and the Mane 6 more than Trixie or Maud, but I have a bias because I really want to see him and Twilight geek out over magic theory in her library.

6 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

But at least they had months pass, and not just a week or something.  It's interesting to think that several months passed during that episode.  What adventures happened during that time?  I'd be stoked if it turned out that the movie happened during that time, and Rarity's mane is a half-grown, shaggy mess during the whole movie.  But alas, we already know that isn't the case...  Are they gonna wrap up this season early so it's done before the movie?  If not, I wonder what their plan is.  That would be awkward if the movie is supposed to happen in the middle of the season. 

Huh. That's a really good observation. I don't really know when the movie is supposed to take place either, but I presumed it was sometime during or shortly after S7. It would make sense for her to not have a full mane in the movie, unless they pushed the time all of the remaining S7 episodes take place that much farther into the future.

That creates conflicts with the whole sneeziversary idea presented in this episode, however, and the Cake twins still looking like newborns.... 

5 hours ago, Lambdadelta said:

That single line made me rethink every magic that actually create things of the show, Fullmetal Alchemist, everyone!

That would be the second time this season MLP has referenced FMA if that is the case! 

2 hours ago, Tilgoreth said:

Also is the show saying that only a year has passed since season two? Pinkie said it's been a year since the baby cakes first sneeze. Unless that happend in like season five, I don't see what else the writers could be implying.

What's sad is that it isn't unreasoble that season three to seven encompases a year. Which means that Starlight has only been a good gut for like three or four months at most.

It's easier for me to believe the Cake twins simply didn't sneeze for a couple of years, though I'd have to go through every single episode they have appeared in to be able to say that with any confidence.

Otherwise I have to explain away 3 Hearthswarming Eves and 2 Nightmare Nights and a host of other evidence to be able to claim we're still just outside a year of their birth. Unless the follow-ups to those take place out of order in the future? O_o

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

There were other little things that seemed to be overused, like showing Rarity constantly brushing her mane at the beginning in multiple scenes when just one scene would get the point across.

It felt like the cold open was the longest one we've ever had in an episode. And I agree 100% it went on too long.

We get it. Rarity really likes her mane. 

In fact, it gave me a bit of a negative impression of her at first because she came off as vain, and I'm sure that wasn't the point since those of us who watch the show regularly know how she looks is about confidence and not vanity.

Plus, they could have put that time to better use to give a certain dragon some lines expressing his thoughts on the situation since Rarity's emotional state is of great importance to him. 

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Did Pinkie even consider that spraying "super-sticky celebration string" all over everything would create a very difficult mess to clean up?

I wonder who invented a product like that, anyway? It seems like such a thing wouldn't sell well after word-of-mouth spread about how difficult it was to clean up. It makes me think Pinkie invented it herself down in her party dungeon basement.

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

If Zecora wasn't going to label the two bottles, even as they look indistinguishable, could she have kept them more separate, rather than plunking them down on the table right next to each other?

I was surprised the potions were identical in color. Usually, in fiction (and games) potions that do different things are different colors. It might have been better to have them in opaque bottles so this wasn't an issue, but it's just a minor quibble for me, anyway.

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Finally, when Rarity goes to see Twilight and Starlight, she bemoans how differently she's treated when she can't command other ponies' attention, but then, speaking softly and shrinking away might tend to do that. That seems more a problem with Rarity's behavior than her looks, per se, which might have been the point that Twilight and Starlight were trying to make.

Exactly. That whole thing with her being ignored was the set-up for the resolution. Namely, it wasn't necessarily her mane that needed fixing, but her confidence.

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

With all the tubs of ice cream Rarity's eating, is she looking to gain weight to go along with her mangled mane and tail?

It seems like ever since her pity party in "Inspiration Manifestation," Rarity eating tubs of ice cream is now the running gag whenever she gets depressed. I miss the "nom, nom, nom" that goes with it, however. =)

1 hour ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Upon seeing the still messy inside of Sugarcube Corner, Rarity says "perhaps I'll fetch the rest of that remover potion". But we saw earlier that Rarity dumped the entire bottle in her mane and levitated away an empty bottle.

Good catch! I didn't even notice this. (Partly because I normally only see episodes in low-def since DFC doesn't have an HD channel on my satellite provider. =P )

Secondly, you've conflated the debate over whether Spike should have resolved the crisis and whether he should have appeared in the episode at all. You write one sentence about how Starlight needed to be the one to fix the problem, then write several more paragraphs why Spike shouldn't be in the episode at all. Those are two completely separate issues. You could have Spike in the episode without him being the one to fix things.

In fact, you start out replying to @KH7672's mini-story with a "No, just no," even though it gives an explanation much like you describe in your following paragraphs as to why Spike wasn't in the episode and says nothing about him being the hero. Reading into your comments further, I don't understand how you can think requiring the audience to come up with excuses for problems in an episode is better than the episode itself giving an explanation.

With that logic, we'd have to give all episodes 10/10 like you gave this one because we can retroactively come up with an excuse for anything that's wrong with them:

Rainbow Dash forgets she can fly and becomes a wimp? No problem.

AJ, RD, and Rarity treat their family and fans like dirt and wreck their carts? Perfectly acceptable.

Spike suddenly can't cook and is a total klutz? We can work with that.

Contractors decide to make stuff on their own when their client comes up with a vague design instead of asking questions? Sure, why not?

If a character is going to be omitted from an episode when they should be seen and heard, there needs to be a reason given by the plot. They had time to do so in previous episodes: Spike was off on royal business during Twilight's slumber party. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were at a class reunion during "P.P.O.V." For other episodes where certain characters don't appear, it is plausible if the setting doesn't move to where they are located. It was fine that Spike wasn't with the CMC in "Campfire Tales" or with RD and Pinkie in Sonambula. I don't recall anyone bitterly complaining about where Spike was in those episodes.

When it feels like a character should be present but isn't without reason, it undermines an episode's credibility. No episode is so jam-packed that there isn't room for even a single-line explanation.

38 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

1. There's a big difference between growing a temporary mustache and actually regrowing someone's mane. Rarity wanted her mane to quickly return as once was, but they can't do that magically.
2. Trixie changed Rarity's mane color to a putrid green to make it look ugly.
3. The poison joke forced Rarity's hair to grow into dreadlocks and flop over her. But considering her terrible hair state, it doesn't mean the poison joke will play the same trick as FS from Filli Vanilli.
4. In this episode, Rarity actively tries to hide her mane from being exposed and wanted a replacement without anyone finding out.

You make some good points there, and some of them even crossed my mind. However:

1. "Boast Busters" never really revealed long the mustaches would last. Spike's lasted long enough for him to go and hang out with Rarity (and learn she hated it. ) They may have been temporary, but growing hair for a period of time long enough for the photo shoot seems like it should have been possible. Rarity seemed fine with Rainbow Dash's solution even though it wasn't her original mane. It was only due to it's immobility that it was impractical.

2. True. My point was if someone as weak in magic could affect a mane, it seems like the notion of it being "tricky magic" is contrived. Between the team of current Twilight and Starlight, a solution should have been possible - especially with point 1 being relevant. I guess it could be making a mane hideous is easy and making it beautiful is hard? That doesn't sound satisfying either, however.

3. True. I thought of that as well. I figured it would be worth a shot, though. I suppose if it were brought up, Rarity could have simply nixed the idea due to the inherent risk of it possibly not duplicating the same effect -- even though the episode you referenced (Filli Vanilli) indicates otherwise.

4. True. However some of the ponies still managed to see her. I was expecting one of them to run after her to see what happened and offer their hair as a replacement - essentially paying back her generosity she's displayed to all of them over the years. Even though only a few saw, the town's gossipy nature (as we've seen in the past) would come into play and I would have expected the whole town to know about Rarity's condition in short order. If that were the case, a resolution of many of them donating a bit of their hair (similar to how they came together in "Testing, Testing, 1,2,3") would have been equally as satisfying as the one they went with.

This one contrivance is nowhere near as bad as the numerous contrivances in the last act of last week's episode, so that at least is an improvement. 

OTOH, this contrivance is what the entire plot hinges on, so it's really noticeable. 

A pretty good episode with an excellent message and some really funny scenes and Easter eggs. I loved the message and the callbacks, loved that (most) everyone got some time to shine in this episode.

It loses points for Spike not having a single word to say about Rarity's issue, as that seemed a pretty glaring oversight. I guess a non-speaking cameo is better than nothing, but... grumble. =P

It also loses points for the contrivances needed to make the plot work. I know Zecora set up the premise by stating "mane magic is tricky stuff", but with all the callbacks to S1, it's difficult to take seriously: Unicorn Twilight can grow a mustache on Spike? Trixie was able to redo Rarity's mane even though she's weak with magic? Poison Joke grows Rarity's mane? Not a single pony whom Rarity has been generous to was willing to donate their mane to her for the photoshoot, even with the callback to Steven Magnet?

Lots of possibilities that should have worked. The resolution they went with helped the audience overlook all that, though, since it was such a good message.

In the end I liked this episode, but some missed opportunities there.

EDIT: Also, the Sofa a Quills guy is named Davenport? I didn't know that. Is that new?

9 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Where the episode took a dive for me was the temple rescue. Everything was fine until then.  Not perfect, but okay.  But the temple rescue was horrible.

And here I thought it'd be the helpless Rainbow Dash scene that would push your buttons. 

On ‎9‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 7:06 PM, Ryanmahaffe said:

And the song is catchy 

Upon hearing it in this preview it immediately became my favorite song of this season, displacing Pear Butter's song from that spot. I'm really looking forward to this episode now, and am curious whether they'll resolve the issue by making him "see the light" and getting a mark, or if he gets to stay a blank flank along with his friends like Pip. (I didn't even realize Pipsqueak still lacked a mark.)

Of course, I asked the same question about Pharynx and they went halfway with him - changing him over but allowing him to keep his dark colors and gruff, military-minded personality.

Maybe Rumble will do the same and get a -- question mark? XD

On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:15 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Finally, Rainbow again declares that the articles are "a heap of rotten apple cores", even though A.K. herself already admitted that they're true. Again, what basis does Rainbow have to declare otherwise?

Blind fanaticism? I can believe she's such a fan of Daring Do that she would ignore the statement and prove her wrong.

On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:15 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Does Equestria abide by "innocent until proven guilty"?

Well, from "Rarity Investigates," they might not. <_< Though that was military where the rules might be different.

On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:15 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

When the sphinx tells Somnambula that she must walk to the prince across a deep chasm while blindfolded, that doesn't strike me as a particularly difficult challenge, at least as it's portrayed. It's a relatively short distance on a straight path across what looks to be a reasonably stable bridge, and Somnambula was able to see it ahead of time.

One possibility is the secret of the pyramid (the vents) was lost to legend, and the bridge being in the story is inaccurate. Admittedly, the vents seem like a more memorable way to tell the story, so I don't know if that's a good explanation. The myth would have worked better if it simply stated how Sonambula got across was still a mystery, other than "she had hope."

9 minutes ago, Mesme Rize said:

I thought that the idea of Daring Do being so thinskinned about a supposed accident that happend, seems a bit contrived to me. I just don't feel like that it really suits her character and is just there for the plot.

That part I didn't find contrived. I could see Daring Do not being aware of the damage she caused - like you see in many superhero comics - and only noticing it when the press turned against her. She wasn't feeling bad because of the negative press - she felt bad because she realized she was responsible for a lot of destruction. Also it seems in-character for someone with as much swagger as her to think payment for things like food and respite would be her saving the town. Clearly, the folks who need to make a living on such things didn't think so which is why it was good she made amends in the end.

Now that I've seen the last act again, I still don't like that section at all. The whole act is contrived and the ending is very pat. The only good thing about the last act is that they showed the aforementioned scene of Daring Do making amends for all the damage and skipping out on paying for the stay at the inn.

One of the things I wanted to mention earlier was whether Celestia would have allowed the village to go on cursed by eternal night and get swallowed up. As ruler of Equestria, would she have tried to reverse the curse or is she powerless to do so? There is some history for the latter because of what happened with the Crystal Empire. But Sombra's magic is very powerful and it seems like a simple curse just doesn't compare.

Also, looks like we found Grand Pear's long lost brother in the old storyteller. 

I just love the cold opening in this episode. I just could sit and watch the banter between Rainbow and Pinkie for a whole episode. 

Also, the background was scrolling too slowly for the pace of Rainbow and Pinkie's galloping. 

7 hours ago, Philweasel said:

Personally I thought the regular changlings were the least sympathetic characters in the episode. The fact that they all become like Thorax when he's in charge, and were like Chrysalis when she was in charge, does not speak well of their sense of identity and pride. Nor the fact that they were all violently intolerant of any opposing viewpoints (where Thorax at least tried to understand his brother).

I miss Twilight's fantasy changelings who were still having issues adjusting. I loved that scene with the one shouting, "Attack! The winner gets to choose!" It would have been a lot of fun if they stretched that part of their development out in the actual world.

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 10:10 PM, Jeric said:

That's the job of an editor. This was barely touched.  And no, I am not saying that all of the above were problems, but that is what a content editor would be considering. Haber just isn't that good at that particular role. He really is better at just handling writing assignments. 

If he's the one who was responsible for Spike not having a single bad appearance in S6, then as far as I'm concerned he can stay on as editor forever if that was the case. Of course, I have a personal bias in that judgement. 

As to who to blame for the various issues present in the few S6 and S7 episodes (in fact, all seasons for that matter) is difficult to say. I feel uncomfortable pinning it down on just one person since there have been a fair share of content problems evident in both seasons whether Haber's been at the helm or not. Songco, Lewis, and Haber were all (presumably, if the credits are to be believed) editors on this episode, so with all that brainpower between them it's still a mystery how the capture scene made it through like it did.

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 1:43 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Pharynx says that he doesn't get excited about pretty flowers and feeling circles, but will he presumably stop trying to destroy them and stop harassing others to do things the "old way"? In other words, how much "assimilation" will Pharynx do

The scene where Pharynx rips down the vines is a notable example of this. I wasn't sure whether he was being serious about the vines presenting a defensive safety hazard or he was just nitpicking because he hates flowery things like that. I have to presume with his new official position he will make recommendations and there will have to be some kind of compromise with the rest of the members of the hive as to how much decoration is present vs. the "dangers" of them being claimed a "hazard".

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 1:43 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Starlight says that "now that the changelings don't feed on the love of everything around them, plants have started to grow back". But I'm not sure what exactly the connection is. How did the changelings' feeding on the love of others cause plants not to grow around their hive?

I was thinking as a last resort the changelings were feeding on the love of the plant life around them because they were starving, causing everything to whither and die. I'm using Apple Bloom's ability to give a flower sentience back in "Twilight Time" as evidence that plants in this world must have some level of emotions, thus they can be used as a food source - even if it's a meager one.

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 1:43 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

That kind of makes me wonder, then, whether all the previous talk about changelings "feeding" on love and "starving" for it was meant to be taken literally. Are love and "normal" food interchangeable for changelings?

My own thinking is they need love and other emotions for energy, but still need real food to build cells, bone, and muscle. I have no idea if it's accurate, but it makes sense to me.

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 1:43 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

Finally, when Pharynx is fighting the maulwurf, he at first tells Thorax, Starlight, and Trixie to get out of there and let him handle this. But then, no more than 30 seconds (and one attempted kick) later, Pharynx says that he could beat the maulwurf with the rest of the swarm, but not alone. Is he supposed to have done a 180 on whether he thinks he can defeat the maulwurf in that short of a time frame?

I think he said that just because he didn't want to see them get hurt, especially Thorax. I'm not sure he thought he could actually beat the creature, but he probably surmised he didn't have a choice since none of the others were into fighting anymore. There's also the possibility he was initially suicidal when he went out there to battle it, but maybe Thorax, Starlight, and Trixie showing up indicated those three at least cared about him? That might have been enough for him to not want to throw his life away and so he made a plea for help from the rest of the hive to his brother.

7 hours ago, Jeric said:

It felt like an unedited fanfiction from a capable storyteller who forgot to reread their own story.

I was thinking the same thing, though from a different angle: How did some of the plot points get through the revision process, and even more so, how did it get through storyboarding? If the big issues at the capture scene somehow escaped the scripting process, they should have been plainly apparent when the storyboards were drawn up. I don't get it, and it's a shame because there's a lot to like here.

5 minutes ago, Lambdadelta said:

Daring Done, another super 'meh' episode of S7, written by the G.M Berrow, the same writer who wrote FLUTTERSHY LEANS IN  After The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows, there is no DECENT episodes i got from this writer.

After complaining about the contrivances in this episode, I went back and looked at my final comments for "FLI":

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 8:03 PM, Truffles said:

Sigh. There's just too many contrivances for this episode to be believable.

Which is exactly how I felt about the last act of this episode. I'm beginning to wonder too, what's up with GM Berrow and contrived plot devices? "TOWPPK" was an awesome episode, but this season she's been missing the mark. What @Jeric said above is correct, this episode and from what I recall of "FLI" - her previous episode -  seem like they went straight from first draft to production, overlooking some obvious plot issues that take viewers like me completely out of the story. Again, I don't get it... 

25 minutes ago, Barik the Luigineer said:

Seriously, how did she NOT recognize Caballeron in that orange hood? He's the only pony I've seen with STUBBLE...

I noticed that as well. The only other pony with stubble is Rainbow's arch-nemesis, Zephyr. XD

I do wish they had kept who it was pulling the strings in this caper a little closer to the vest. I would have liked to have the "aha" moment when it was revealed it was Caballeron. Visible-Stubble-pony was just too obvious. =)

2 minutes ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

Huh, it seems after Fame and Misfortune a lot of people are entering that "overly critical" mode. This usually happens after a "best of series" contender comes out, people are suddenly more disappointed by everything.

There is truth in that - "A Perfect Pear" showed me what the showrunners can truly do when they put their minds to it, so everything else now gets compared against that. It's unfair, I know, but taking a hard look at basic things things like story structure, use of characters, music, etc. is proper, IMO.

8 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

Daring Done Episode Spoilers

  Hide contents

The "leap of faith" at the end of the episode reminded me of "Feeling Pinkie Keen".

 

I think it's no coincidence GM Berrow paired Pinkie with RD in this episode, for that exact reason.