The Enduring Man-Child

Ugh! I forgot another great thing: MORE WOONA!!!

The ten greatest/most notable things about the season finale: 1) Machine gunner Pinkie Pie! 2) Machine gun Twilight Sparkle! 3)There are more than two alicorns. 4) After being submerged for much of season 2, we are reminded that Twilight is the star/main character. 5) Magical Female Powers™! 6) A new race of evil supernatural baddies. 7) Princess Celestia owes Twilight an apology. Why didn't she apologize??? 8) A great brother-sister relationship. 9) Vinyl Scratch didn't get enough screen time! 10) Spike has no idea what a bachelor party is, or when it's supposed to be thrown. A great finale to tide us over till next season. If season 3 is as much of an improvement as season 2 was, we're going to have our socks blown off!

So far as I know, last sat. and this morning is the first time the Hub has re-aired this episode since The Great Derpy Controversy. Now that tempers (including mine) have cooled a bit, I realize that the new voice isn't really that bad (Tabitha gave her a colt's voice the first time because she thought Derpy was male). No, this second voice is kinda cute. Not as cute as BaldDumboRat's Derpy voice, but cute. Now if only they would re-derp her eyes (they're still slightly derped, but they were most definitely changed) and (most of all) restore Rainbow's line calling her Derpy, think I'd be perfectly satisfied. Unfortunately, we all know they aren't going to do this. She'll always be Derpy Hooves to me.

Another epic Pinkie episode. After being very scarce for the first half of the season, she's back with a vengeance. And who isn't happy at that fact? No way the target audience would get the movie parodies or the reference to Julia Child (whom I used to watch back when PBS was NET). It just keeps getting better.

I just noticed on re-watching the episode on YouTube that the "What is Big Mac hiding?" photo was one of him holding Smarty Pants in his teeth. Excellent continuity in this series!

BTW, could anybody make out Featherweight's cutie mark? I couldn't see it on TV and I can't see it on YouTube either.

The typewriters and old fashioned printing press were a nice touch. It wasn't just the Crusaders who learned a lesson this week. All the ponies in Ponyville enjoyed and patronized Gabby Gums until they themselves became her victims. This is especially true in the case of the Mane Six. Only Twilght Sparkle thought it was a bad idea from the beginning. Good girl, Twilight!

Okay...I know absolutely nothing about who "Gabby Gums" is going to turn out to be (I hate spoilers!), and this is pure speculation and nothing more on my part, but I know who I'd like her to turn out to be! MWA-HA-HA!!! (Is it okay if I post the name here? I won't if it's not all right.)

That's just a bit of an exaggeration, as Applejack was going to compete anyway (the party at which Town Hall was destroyed was to send her off). But true, she did afterwards promise to donate her winnings to the repair job. Whether or not she would have avoided returning home anyway (just because she was ashamed of not winning a blue ribbon, aside from financial considerations) is something the writers didn't tell us. But I understand what you mean. Fluttershy in athletic headband and ankle bands...can you say "sockies???"

Pinkie Pie. She's the absolute greatest, bar none (and this coming from somebrony who is almost the exact opposite of her in every way). And she is not a psycho. Or a monster. Her song Smile, Smile, Smile describes her exactly: she lives to make everypony happy. That's all there is to it. No sinister motives or secrets whatsoever. And definitely no "Cupcakes." I've never really had any friends. It's nice to know there's a pony who (if she were real) would really want me to be her friend. And I would be honored to be just that.

Your comment about not acting like spoiled children is well-taken, as are your arguments regarding the legitimate reasons some objected to her. If the objections had been limited to the target audience I would have understood. What I didn't get was the bronies who objected to her. Why would the people who created her object to characteristics they had given her themselves? Your "perfect storm" point also makes much sense. I much preferred Balddumborat's fan voice, and, yes, Tabitha gave her a stallion's voice. But "derpy" does not mean mentally retarded. Until I started reading about her, I had never heard the word before. As I understand it, it simply means "clumsy." If anyone were going to be offended by clumsiness it would be me, as I am perhaps the clumsiest person who has ever lived. Furthermore, I have a personality disorder, which means I am technically mentally disabled. But then, I am not the mother of a little girl who watches the show. Again, the objection of that demographic makes more sense than the objection of bronies. But I must ask why making her a stereotypical "dumb blonde" with the name "Ditzy" ("ditzy" being a common adjective to describe "dumb blondes") would be any less objectionable, especially considering that some of the children and mothers in the audience would naturally resent the stereotype. I feel a sort of special connection to Derpy. After discovering the series I began reading fan fics and I encountered her almost at once. I couldn't wait to see her on the show, delivering mail and interacting with the other characters exactly as I had seen her written. It wasn't until after I had watched the entire first season that I found out everything I had read about her had been created by the fans. That's why I was in seventh heaven when she was addressed by name and spoke to us. The entire Internet seemed to explode with joy. The whole fiasco was just a shame. I have no intention of arguing about this (I got in trouble on another forum for doing so). I thank you for your input and hope you will accept mine as well. Other than that, what's done is done, none of us can do a thing to change it.

Hey all. I don't want to get to into this thing since it's been discussed to death (and also because I got in trouble on a previous forum), so I'll just say the simplest possible thing: I wish they'd left her as she was.

WOULD I???!!! Is Fluttershy a tree?

Yes, and how sad. And almost unprecedented shout out to the non-traditional fans of the show (the bronies) was turned into a PR nightmare by, as I understand it, some of those fans themselves. Why they complained about the characteristics of a character they had basically created themselves (and why Derpy is any more offensive than a zillion other similar cartoon characters, or worse) is beyond me.

Sorry. I won't do it any more. I have a preference for Times New Roman. (Please be patient with me; I'm just a blank flank.) The only thing the writers put into Pinkie's character was her cartoony powers as a joke. It was the fans who twisted her into a monster. I can't help but think that the writers noticed, and I honestly think she was being downplayed for a while this season. Again, her "powers" are merely cartoon character powers meant to entertain the audience. They can't intefere with the plot in any way. For example, when Dash or Cranky are trying to get away from her, she's everywhere. If she's actually in danger (as from the Hydra in "Feeling Pinkie Keen") she has to be rescued by Twilight. Her "powers" are a joke, nothing more.

I'm sorry; it wasn't my intention to be vulgar. It's just that the stallion in question has been dubbed "Roid Rage" by others, and I'm aware of (though I had no part in the creation of) the "wing boner." It seemed kinda obvious to be. If I'm overthinking, I'm glad of it. I wouldn't want the writers/artists to push any envelopes inappropriate to the target audience (or to surly old puritans like myself). ::Sigh:: It would have been so great if Derpy could at least have been addressed in the episode even if they didn't let her speak. At least she was there.

It's always great to see a Fluttershy episode (Andrea's ponies are best ponies!), but I don't understand how the indirect reference to the "wing boner" (in "Roid Rage"'s tiny wings) is less objectionable than poor Derpy's appearance in "The Last Roundup."

Sorry to be late to the thread, but I'm new here. I want to thank Pencils for his (her?) excellent analysis of Pinkie Pie's hidden greatness and the tragedy of her being misunderstood by all around her. Pinkie is my own favorite pony despite the fact that I'm probably least like her (my pony personality test came out Fluttershy, though I also have aspects of Twilight and Applejack). I must confess that as I watched the episodes in order, at first I found her annoying. I dismissed her as one of those "loopy" characters every series has to have (like Radical Edward in "Cowboy Bebop"). But then something happened that caused me to take her to my heart. Like every brony, I endured the initiation ritual of reading "Cupcakes," and (while I don't begrudge any writer his artistic vision), it hurt me to see her treated like that. But the story wasn't the only problem. For a while there Pinkie was completely subsumed into her "Cupcakes" personality. Every pic of Pinkie, every video, had a zillion comments from people referencing that story. And many people said that they could see canon Pinkie--the "real" Pinkie--as being capable of exactly that. I thought that was terribly uncalled for. But then even more stories showed up. And often it wasn't enough for Pinkie to be a dangerous psychopath; now she was often given supernatural powers and turned into a horror that couldn't be escaped. She "haunted" other ponies. She appeared in mirrors. She did all manner of terrible things. Now it's true that in the series Pinkie manifests genuinely bizarre, unexplained, and absolutely unique powers that belong to apparently no other pony (perhaps not even the princesses). She did actually appear in a mirror in "Green Isn't Your Color." She often appears to be everywhere. She sometimes appears to be floating in the air and has even been two places at once. We saw from Rainbow Dash's attempt to escape her in "Party of One" that this is impossible. And of course, ever since she addressed the audience at the end of "Over a Barrel" she's been considered the pony most likely to break the fourth wall and actually visit us. (Note that I haven't even mentioned the "Pinkie sense" which is tame compared to this other stuff). Now the actual reason for these "powers" is that Pinkie is the series' explicit cartoon character, and all these things are common properties of cartoon characters. But I believe that the combination of these "powers" in the show and her personality as the fun-loving party pony has morphed her in the minds of some people into one of the most terrifying memes of the modern world: The Evil Clown. According to Wikipedia, the "Evil Clown" is a modern trope unknown until relatively recent times (they refer to John Wayne as the origin, though I think it goes deeper than that). Nevertheless the examples of "evil clown" are now numerous: from the old World Wrestling Federation (Doink) to Batman's Joker to Ben 10, evil clowns are everywhere. And no evil clown is more terrifying than Pennywise. I watched the 1990 TV movie of Stephen King's 'IT!' back in November of 1990 when it first aired (I've never read the book), and I have never been so scared in my life. I admit it! There are few things more twisted, more sickening, and more terrifying than a practically omnipotent monster that uses its supernatural powers to murder children, the most vulnerable and innocent segment of the population--and to do so in the guise of a clown. I confess that I was afraid of clowns for a while myself after seeing that show. (Its turning out to be a giant spider was a big disappointment. Yeah, clowns are scary, but spiders are adorable.) I think this is what Pinkie has become the victim of. Her balloon cutie mark ("They all float!"), her chronically happy and childlike attitude, and the "powers" the writers give her as a joke have all come back to bite her. For a while there it looked as if Pinkie was going morph permanently into Evil Pinkie in the eyes of the fandom. Every Pinkie-centered fic seemed based on it somehow. And I honestly believe that this picture of Pinkie is one reason she was so little seen in the first half of season 2 (I mean, in season 1 she was everywhere) then suddenly when the other five are in scene she's missing). But now this appears to be passing. She's showing up more, being more awesome than ever ("The Last Roundup" was the best episode ever, "A Friend in Deed" wasn't far behind, and Madam Pinke was a work of art). So it looks now that maybe people are going to quite absorbing Canon Pinkie into Cupcakes Pinkie, and people are remembering what she's really like. I know now that when you see a Pinkie fic she's just as likely to be her lovable self as a a psycho, and I'm glad of it. So because of the way she was being treated, I sort of adopted Pinkie as My Pony, and feel very protective of her. If she were to break the fourth wall and spring from my computer or TV screen into my home, I know that I would trust her implicitly. And even if she were an all-but-omnipotent extra-dimensional being whose true essence resided as a series of flashing lights outside the universe, I'm sure she would only use her powers for good! (Sorry for the long post. Hope I haven't made fool of myself, but I wanted to post my thoughts on Pinkie. Thanks again, Pencils!)