Batbrony

I hear ya, cowgirl, it's just one of those episodes where you can't stop thinking of good things to say about it!

Wait, really? No one's answered your question yet??? Well, apparently somepony's not a Game of Thrones fan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxhknGARGt4 That answer your question?

This was seriously one of the greatest episodes as far as references go ever! Mind you, those weren't the only great things about it, but they were amazing all the same! Oh, and Owlowiscious can jump off a cliff for all I care the next time he tries to do his stupid "Hoo" gag again, cause THAT'S ^^^^^ how you do a bucking "Who's on First?" reference, you stupid, useless owl!!! :okiedokielokie:

I actually disagree with that point. Rainbow's not quite as grounded as Applejack is (or even Twilight, most of the time). She's grounded at times, but that's mostly when it comes to something she's not interested in. When she gets riled up, RD tends to make A LOT of mistakes, and the only reason she doesn't make more is because usually her friends are around to keep her levelheaded. For example, what's the first thing that RD does in the very first episode the second that Nightmare Moon shows up? She tries to fly right in her face, and would have too if AJ hadn't held her back! Now, yes, Fluttershy told RD straight from the beginning that Tank had to hibernate. But the start of the episode made it very clear that RD had been looking forward to for quite awhile now spending winter with Tank. What happens, usually, when RD builds something up in her head, but it doesn't turn out the way she hoped it would? Especially when it comes to her friends? She usually stubbornly refuses to admit defeat or do her best to stop any outside force from messing with whatever plans she may have, and if the situation becomes more desperate, she tends to lose her marbles just a bit. Again, her friends usually keep her levelheaded, but she didn't spend too much time around them this episode, especially not when she set out to stop winter entirely, so I can see how she was able to lose control so badly of her own emotions. It's her loyalty to her friends (in this case, Tank) taken to an extreme, and it's certainly not the first time we've seen one of the Mane 6's elements that they embody actually leading to bad behavior (i.e. Rarity's generosity in Suited for Success keeping her from putting her hoof down when in her friends got demanding, Fluttershy last season being unable at first to bring herself to show the Breezies tough love because of her kind nature, etc.), so I think it's perfectly justifiable. Now I will also say that, yes, there was clearly a continuity error with the winter bit. But ya know what, I liked so much else about this episode that I was willing to forgive that. The greatest movies or television programs are never flawless, nothing is; heck, sometimes the flaws themselves can be endearing in their own way. There's a B:TAS episode from the first season where Batman fights the Clock King and ends the episode with the most horrible pun ever; when the commissioner asks if they'll ever see Clock King again, Batman says in an oh-so-cheesy fashion, "I'd say it's only a matter of time." AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Does that pun hurt? Yes, you betcha. But in an odd way, it's also just as much a part of the show as all the amazing moments of B:TAS. So yeah, there was a continuity error; is the MLP universe going to implode on itself as a result? Of course not. Did it ruin the episode? Heck to the no! Let's just call it what it is, laugh about it, and maybe even poke fun of it in the future, but let's not seriously let this ruin any of the MLP experience.

Welcome back everypony to another "Batbrony Reviews". First of all, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there this morning to watch the episode with everypony else; for those of you who don't know, I was volunteering as a judge for the Michigan state finals for National History Day in Lansing. It was a blast, I got to hang out with some of my fellow WMU grad friends, and also read some great papers and meet some bright young students, so it was well worth the absence, even though I missed you guys too. Anyways, this is gonna be a fun review. I'll try to keep it as short as possible since there's so many good things to say about this one, but no promises. This one hit about every note right as much as it possibly could have. Also, to my good buddy DashForever, this one's for you, my man. So, "Tanks for the Memories." This one is up there as far as RD episodes go. Right now, I can only think of a handful that might actually beat it out, such as "Sonic Rainboom" (but that's mostly for the nostalgia and awesome factor). I don't know if we've ever seen Rainbow Dash this emotional, I don't know if we've ever seen such a tragic side to her loyalty, and I don't know if we've ever had such a truly bittersweet Slice of Life episode. What probably impresses me the most about it is that it didn't really build up to a happy ending. It wasn't a happy ending. It was... very much bittersweet, but in a good way. It was about acceptance, namely, accepting that a friend near and dear to RD had to go away for awhile. And ya know what, for RD, the most loyalest of ponies who'd do anything for her friends, that bucking hurt, because she couldn't do anything to stop it. Tank had to hibernate, and despite trying to stop winter itself, RD in the end couldn't do anything about it. We've seen her have to learn to accept help from her friends before to certain extents, but never in the sense that they couldn't solve the problem together. Here, all they could was be there for her. That's all they could do, and that's all she really needed. All she needed to do, as Fluttershy so aptly realized, was cry it out, and boy oh boy, did she ever. She cried, and cried, and cried it out. She cried it out so hard that she got 3 other ponies to cry it out with her (and one on the inside, I bucking love AJ for that). And even after she'd cried it out, she still wasn't completely over it, but she was ready to accept it, and that's a valuable lesson to teach all of us. Sometimes, we can't solve all of our problems; sometimes, we just have to accept that some things are going to happen no matter what we do. It may hurt, it may hurt a lot, and it may require quite a few tears from us all, but accepting the hurt, especially with friends and family by your side, is better than running away, ignoring, or fighting it. That's by far one of the most mature lessons we've ever seen in any episode of MLP, much less a Slice of Life episode, and I cannot praise Cindy Morrow enough. She really knows how to tug at viewers heartstrings, doesn't she? Gosh dang it, why are these two so cute together? So that right there about sums up the highest praise I have for the episode. There's a lot of other great things to be said about it, but those were my most important thoughts. Besides how well all of the aforementioned elements worked in the episode, there was a ton of other stuff that I loved. Tank was adorable as usual, possibly more adorably awesome than he's ever been before. I always get the sense with him that, given that he's probably quite old at this point, he's got a lot of wisdom for a pet. He seemed to keep giving RD looks throughout the episode that just said, "Hey, it's OK, I gotta go away for a little while, but I love you, and I'll be back before you know it." Some of those faces alone made the impact of the episode itself all the harder to take, but again, it worked so well. Aside from that, it was pretty funny and cute to see him get more and more tired (aside from how much it was distressing RD). Besides Tank, Fluttershy shined quite a bit as well in this episode. She really knows when tough love is called for, especially when it comes to more emotionally stressful situations, and I liked that the episode highlighted that. Then she got an idea. An awful idea. RD got a wonderful, awful idea! I HAVE SPECIAL EYES!!! Comedy-wise, there was A LOT. I'll just name off what stuck out to me the most. (1) Rainbow Dash being racist to Spike (seriously, first the dragon is completely the same as the tortoise, then the next second it's "What would you know, you're just a dragon!"); (2) angry-eyes Rainbow Dash (following her equally hilarious angry-rant); (3) Rainbow Dash making the bucking Grinch-smile; (4) the debacle that was trying to stop winter in the Cloudsdale weather factory (especially when RD got zapped in the lightning room... which seems like an awfully dangerous way to store lightning, come to think of it); (5) Twilight "Ned Stark Winter is Coming" Sparkle and the most obvious yet still amazing Game of Thrones reference EVER; (6) the emotional RD/group-crying scene that somehow managed to get as hilarious as it was sad (capped off by us learning that AJ apparently cries on the inside); (7) my personal favorite, and that's saying a lot, but one of the most amazing "Who's on First?" references I've ever heard in my entire life in the conversation that those three new weather ponies had about how confusing their names were, that was bucking PRICELESS!!! That... was... GENIUS (and also blows any time they've done the same thing with Owlowiscious out of the bucking water)!!! Heck, they even SOUNDED like Abbot and Costello! So yeah, this was a funny episode, you get the idea. Besides that, it actually confirmed a lot of my head canon about Cloudsdale, which I personally greatly appreciated since a lot of that (particularly the fact that Cloudsdale actually moves around all over Equestria altering the weather, though I'd thought that was also previously confirmed in "Hurricane Fluttershy") material will actually factor into my fanfiction later on. Not to mention I just enjoyed seeing Cloudsdale extensively again since I love pegasi and I love that location a lot. The animation, as usual, was gorgeous, and apparently Daniel Ingram has been working overtime this season. Seriously, we have had a song every episode (and yes, short as it was, Applejack's lullaby from the last episode totally counts), and this, on top of everything else, was actually RD's first ever solo song. And ya know what? It was awesome! It's upbeat, fast-paced tone and instrumentals completely complemented her vocals to a T, and I loved every second of it. Finally, it was also cool getting to see both the Running of the Leaves again, as well as Ponyville at the end of Fall and the start of Winter. In fact, I just realized that, assuming Tank's gone for awhile, we might actually get to see a few episodes at least take place in winter, something we've never really gotten to see before. We've seen episodes here and there take place in winter in Ponyville or Canterlot, but never a series of them in a row, so that could be cool! Besides that, I don't have really anything else to say about this one. "Tanks for the Memories" was just a perfect Slice of Life episode in every sense of the word, and I loved every minute of this one. It reminded me why so many bronies consider RD to be best pony, and when any episode does that for any of the Mane 6, you know it's a good one. Thanks for the memories, Tank, good buddy; we'll see you again before you know it.

Welcome back everypony to another "Batbrony Reviews". First of all, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there this morning to watch the episode with everypony else; for those of you who don't know, I was volunteering as a judge for the Michigan state finals for National History Day in Lansing. It was a blast, I got to hang out with some of my fellow WMU grad friends, and also read some great papers and meet some bright young students, so it was well worth the absence, even though I missed you guys too. Anyways, this is gonna be a fun review. I'll try to keep it as short as possible since there's so many good things to say about this one, but no promises. This one hit about every note right as much as it possibly could have. Also, to my good buddy DashForever, this one's for you, my man. So, "Tanks for the Memories." This one is up there as far as RD episodes go. Right now, I can only think of a handful that might actually beat it out, such as "Sonic Rainboom" (but that's mostly for the nostalgia and awesome factor). I don't know if we've ever seen Rainbow Dash this emotional, I don't know if we've ever seen such a tragic side to her loyalty, and I don't know if we've ever had such a truly bittersweet Slice of Life episode. What probably impresses me the most about it is that it didn't really build up to a happy ending. It wasn't a happy ending. It was... very much bittersweet, but in a good way. It was about acceptance, namely, accepting that a friend near and dear to RD had to go away for awhile. And ya know what, for RD, the most loyalest of ponies who'd do anything for her friends, that bucking hurt, because she couldn't do anything to stop it. Tank had to hibernate, and despite trying to stop winter itself, RD in the end couldn't do anything about it. We've seen her have to learn to accept help from her friends before to certain extents, but never in the sense that they couldn't solve the problem together. Here, all they could was be there for her. That's all they could do, and that's all she really needed. All she needed to do, as Fluttershy so aptly realized, was cry it out, and boy oh boy, did she ever. She cried, and cried, and cried it out. She cried it out so hard that she got 3 other ponies to cry it out with her (and one on the inside, I bucking love AJ for that ). And even after she'd cried it out, she still wasn't completely over it, but she was ready to accept it, and that's a valuable lesson to teach all of us. Sometimes, we can't solve all of our problems; sometimes, we just have to accept that some things are going to happen no matter what we do. It may hurt, it may hurt a lot, and it may require quite a few tears from us all, but accepting the hurt, especially with friends and family by your side, is better than running away, ignoring, or fighting it. That's by far one of the most mature lessons we've ever seen in any episode of MLP, much less a Slice of Life episode, and I cannot praise Cindy Morrow enough. She really knows how to tug at viewers heartstrings, doesn't she? Gosh dang it, why are these two so cute together? So that right there about sums up the highest praise I have for the episode. There's a lot of other great things to be said about it, but those were my most important thoughts. Besides how well all of the aforementioned elements worked in the episode, there was a ton of other stuff that I loved. Tank was adorable as usual, possibly more adorably awesome than he's ever been before. I always get the sense with him that, given that he's probably quite old at this point, he's got a lot of wisdom for a pet. He seemed to keep giving RD looks throughout the episode that just said, "Hey, it's OK, I gotta go away for a little while, but I love you, and I'll be back before you know it." Some of those faces alone made the impact of the episode itself all the harder to take, but again, it worked so well. Aside from that, it was pretty funny and cute to see him get more and more tired (aside from how much it was distressing RD). Besides Tank, Fluttershy shined quite a bit as well in this episode. She really knows when tough love is called for, especially when it comes to more emotionally stressful situations, and I liked that the episode highlighted that. Then she got an idea. An awful idea. RD got a wonderful, awful idea! I HAVE SPECIAL EYES!!! Comedy-wise, there was A LOT. I'll just name off what stuck out to me the most. (1) Rainbow Dash being racist to Spike (seriously, first the dragon is completely the same as the tortoise, then the next second it's "What would you know, you're just a dragon!" ); (2) angry-eyes Rainbow Dash (following her equally hilarious angry-rant); (3) Rainbow Dash making the bucking Grinch-smile; (4) the debacle that was trying to stop winter in the Cloudsdale weather factory (especially when RD got zapped in the lightning room... which seems like an awfully dangerous way to store lightning, come to think of it ); (5) Twilight "Ned Stark Winter is Coming" Sparkle and the most obvious yet still amazing Game of Thrones reference EVER; (6) the emotional RD/group-crying scene that somehow managed to get as hilarious as it was sad (capped off by us learning that AJ apparently cries on the inside); (7) my personal favorite, and that's saying a lot, but one of the most amazing "Who's on First?" references I've ever heard in my entire life in the conversation that those three new weather ponies had about how confusing their names were, that was bucking PRICELESS!!! That... was... GENIUS (and also blows any time they've done the same thing with Owlowiscious out of the bucking water)!!! Heck, they even SOUNDED like Abbot and Costello! So yeah, this was a funny episode, you get the idea. Besides that, it actually confirmed a lot of my head canon about Cloudsdale, which I personally greatly appreciated since a lot of that (particularly the fact that Cloudsdale actually moves around all over Equestria altering the weather, though I'd thought that was also previously confirmed in "Hurricane Fluttershy") material will actually factor into my fanfiction later on. Not to mention I just enjoyed seeing Cloudsdale extensively again since I love pegasi and I love that location a lot. The animation, as usual, was gorgeous, and apparently Daniel Ingram has been working overtime this season. Seriously, we have had a song every episode (and yes, short as it was, Applejack's lullaby from the last episode totally counts), and this, on top of everything else, was actually RD's first ever solo song. And ya know what? It was awesome! It's upbeat, fast-paced tone and instrumentals completely complemented her vocals to a T, and I loved every second of it. Finally, it was also cool getting to see both the Running of the Leaves again, as well as Ponyville at the end of Fall and the start of Winter. In fact, I just realized that, assuming Tank's gone for awhile, we might actually get to see a few episodes at least take place in winter, something we've never really gotten to see before. We've seen episodes here and there take place in winter in Ponyville or Canterlot, but never a series of them in a row, so that could be cool! Besides that, I don't have really anything else to say about this one. "Tanks for the Memories" was just a perfect Slice of Life episode in every sense of the word, and I loved every minute of this one. It reminded me why so many bronies consider RD to be best pony, and when any episode does that for any of the Mane 6, you know it's a good one. Thanks for the memories, Tank, good buddy; we'll see you again before you know it.

That's cool, I wasn't sure if something this small qualified as a spoiler, but hey, your call. Yeah, it was as shown at the very start for about two seconds when Apple Bloom showed the letter Babs had written about getting her cutie mark. It was right at the bottom of the letter next to where Babs signed her name.

I won't lie, I kinda hope she holds them with her mouth, just because that would take the "What The Buck" levels through the roof! :comeatus:

I know, I love little details like that, they're so cool!!! Well I thought they were pretty clear that it meant she's gonna be a hairdresser (or manedresser?) given that Sweetie Belle mentioned that she was always futzing with her mane and tail (I liked that little detail too, including the tail as something they'd groom along with their manes), but I guess we'll know for sure next time she shows up. I'll admit, I'm still trying to figure out how exactly that's supposed to work for an earth pony.

OK, so I just started rewatching "Bloom and Gloom," and you'll never believe what I noticed Babs's scissor cutie mark looked like upon closer inspection! That's right, the base of the scissors looks like a sliced apple, with seeds near the center and even a little green stem on the side. I guess there's not much to discuss about this since it's just a fun little observation (probably signifies her being a part of the Apple family rather than anything to do with her special talent itself), but feel free to chat about any other fun observations you've all made about other cutie marks in the show.

Hence why I said great child VA. I don't think it's ever particularly fair to compare child actors/actresses, especially voice actors, to their adult counterparts based on the same exact standards, namely because you have to take puberty into account. I'm sure that there many among the great adult VAs who can't do voices that they used to be able to do before they hit puberty; the ones they can do, impressive as the range of voices is for many such as Tara Strong, they spent years training to do. So yeah, I don't think it's exactly fair to say that Claire's just good and not great for her age group among VAs just because she doesn't have the same range that many professional adult VAs who have trained and worked in this profession for years have (and who also have the benefit of working with a vocal range that isn't constantly changing as a result of puberty).

Ughhhh, I know what you mean, man, I know what you mean. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt, it seriously hurt me right in the feels. 'Tis the Catch 22 with any great child actor/actress or child VA; inevitably, they will grow up, and certain qualities about their earliest work can never be captured again. It may be something small, but gosh dang it if Squeaky Belle wasn't one of the most adorable things ever!

Welcome back everypony to another "Batbrony Reviews"! OK, well this is definitely a... hard episode to talk about. I've changed my vote once already from 'liked it' to 'loved it', but I'm going to change it back to 'liked it' as soon as I'm done writing this review. There are I things that I really loved about this episode, and things that I... well, just didn't really care for. Let's start with the... I don't want to say bad, but, how about, let's start with the 'meh'. The episode got very repetitive. There, I said it, and I'm certainly not the first person to say it. Now, don't get me wrong, it got repetitive in very creative ways; each dream sequence was increasingly more nutty than the last, and it did become clearer and clearer that Apple Bloom was in a dream. But it was so clear that she was in a dream after the first one that, I don't know, it felt like at least one dream sequence could've been cut out. Or, better yet, they could've instead shown all three of the CMC with fully developed dreams, instead of simply following Apple Bloom's POV the entire episode. Then, at least, the dream trope might not have gotten tired so fast. Again, the dreams themselves weren't poorly executed, but they just got very repetitive all the same. That's probably my biggest complaint about the episode; watching it, something just felt wonky about its execution. Now then, let's talk about what I loved. Despite some problems in the execution, I loved the writing here, really, I did. For one, it's very clever of the staff to tie things up with the CMC and Luna by basically concluding a deliberate story-arc in the CMC dream episodes that has spanned 3 seasons. That's very, very clever actually, and smart writing. I also liked that, given that it centered on Apple Bloom, who is, more or less, the de facto leader of the CMC, this particular dream episode, unlike the previous ones, focused on their constant questing for their cutie marks, in this case their fears revolving around them and, more generally, their futures. This sort of anxiety about not knowing what comes next, with all the possibilities that life presents to one, is especially suitable for children like the CMC to experience, knowing so little about what the future may hold for them. Those themes resonated more and more as the episode continued, and I thought they were excellently written and well-delivered. The CMC were very good here, I thought. They didn't exactly do much since the entire episode was, simply, a confrontation with their fears and anxieties in a dreamscape, but still, this seemed like something they would worry about. Their voices have definitely changed, especially Apple Bloom's and Sweetie Belle's; you can definitely tell that Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett are starting to go through puberty. Some people mentioned Scootaloo as well, but I disagree; her VA, Madeleine Peters, is 19 now, I doubt her voice is changing that much at this point. Besides the fact that they were cute and funny in their usual way, along with the fact that they confronted a problem that seemed very suited for them, I don't really have too much to say about the CMC given how repetitive the episode got and how much of it was in a dream. They were characterized fine, I liked the lesson they learned, and Scootaloo getting to fly in a dream was too cute (even if it was brief), but other than that, not a whole lot to say. As a quick aside, it's very cool for Babs Seed that she finally got her cutie mark, and I do hope we get to see her again sometime later this season. Good to see these silly fillies once again up to their usual shenanigans As for the dreams themselves, I'm really just gonna comment on the aesthetics more than anything since it was clearly a distortion of the CMC's reality. The animation looked very lovely most of the time, there were definitely some very trippy visuals as we've come to expect from the dream episodes, and some of those visuals made for some very funny visual humor. Big Mac talking as extensively as he did was probably the trippiest part of those sequences (and most amazing, to boot), along with Apple Bloom's shadow that everyone (myself included) was wondering the entire time if it was Princess Luna or Starlight Glimmer. The shadow being AB's own shadow, that is, her anxieties and fears, more or less, was a very cool bit of writing. However, what was not so cool was when Sweetie Belle's dream cropped up. :okiedokielokie: Not because of the dream itself, but because it was advertised by DHX prior to Season 5's premiere. I have a working theory now that M.A. Larson is slowly but surely corrupting the rest of the DHX staff and turning them all into belligerent trolls, because whoever greenlighted marketing that scene knew EXACTLY that they were just teasing us and setting us up for a MAJOR disappointment! I'm not mad, in fact, it's an excellent bit of trolling if I do say so myself, but it still got me like a sucker punch to the gut. Yeah, those bucking teases and trolls at DHX knew exactly what they were doing Princess Luna was, well, Best Princess as usual. She was definitely in the episode for a solid 5 minutes, and I loved getting to see her so extensively. I've made it no secret that I adore her design, and it was really cool getting to hear how much she's changed since "Luna Eclipsed". I know some people complain now that she's not as fun sounding as she was in that episode, but I like it and it makes sense too that she'd be much more gentler and soft spoken as time has gone on after that incident. She did a great job delivering the message, and there were, as in the previous dream episodes, allusions to the idea that maybe some of these very same experiences the CMC are going through, Luna herself has struggled with in the past (especially the theme of not accepting yourself for who you are and letting your anxieties eat away at you). It was a little predictable that she was gonna show up, and I do hope very much we get to see her more this season in other settings outside of dreams, but all the same her appearance here was very pleasant to see. She even got in some pretty funny jokes and one-liners before the episode ended. :comeatus: I do so love watching how these ponies' crazy dreams play out :comeatus: Finally, I'll just comment on some more aesthetic touches. As I said, the animation was gorgeous as usual, especially in some of the crazier dream sequences. The short lullaby that Applejack sang was completely unnecessary and pointless, but it sounded lovely all the same and didn't do any harm either. Overall, while this may not have been an episode I loved in every respect, there were things that I loved about it, especially the writing, and it's definitely one that demands a second viewing, if only to piece together the exact sequence of events going on in this episode. Can't wait to rewatch it, and still very happy with how Season 5 is going so far. Till next week, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

What are you talking abou- wait... oh... OH ... OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think that's completely unintentional, for the record. At least I hope it is. You do have to stretch that a bit to make that, well... connection, so I really do think it was unintentional.

If trolling is in good fun, I don't mind it. This just didn't seem to even be in good taste, though; there was no reason to troll us like that other than to just let us down. Mind you, I still liked this episode a lot, and that didn't really make me angry, just disappointed considering what a loving relationship there usually is between DHX and the fans.

That was downright borderline cruel on the trolling scale, seriously!

I was mostly making a joke (obviously Larson and the writing staff wouldn't worry about marketing), but I'm still convinced that whoever put that together didn't know exactly what they were doing!

Welcome back everypony to another "Batbrony Reviews"! OK, well this is definitely a... hard episode to talk about. I've changed my vote once already from 'liked it' to 'loved it', but I'm going to change it back to 'liked it' as soon as I'm done writing this review. There are I things that I really loved about this episode, and things that I... well, just didn't really care for. Let's start with the... I don't want to say bad, but, how about, let's start with the 'meh'. The episode got very repetitive. There, I said it, and I'm certainly not the first person to say it. Now, don't get me wrong, it got repetitive in very creative ways; each dream sequence was increasingly more nutty than the last, and it did become clearer and clearer that Apple Bloom was in a dream. But it was so clear that she was in a dream after the first one that, I don't know, it felt like at least one dream sequence could've been cut out. Or, better yet, they could've instead shown all three of the CMC with fully developed dreams, instead of simply following Apple Bloom's POV the entire episode. Then, at least, the dream trope might not have gotten tired so fast. Again, the dreams themselves weren't poorly executed, but they just got very repetitive all the same. That's probably my biggest complaint about the episode; watching it, something just felt wonky about its execution. Now then, let's talk about what I loved. Despite some problems in the execution, I loved the writing here, really, I did. For one, it's very clever of the staff to tie things up with the CMC and Luna by basically concluding a deliberate story-arc in the CMC dream episodes that has spanned 3 seasons. That's very, very clever actually, and smart writing. I also liked that, given that it centered on Apple Bloom, who is, more or less, the de facto leader of the CMC, this particular dream episode, unlike the previous ones, focused on their constant questing for their cutie marks, in this case their fears revolving around them and, more generally, their futures. This sort of anxiety about not knowing what comes next, with all the possibilities that life presents to one, is especially suitable for children like the CMC to experience, knowing so little about what the future may hold for them. Those themes resonated more and more as the episode continued, and I thought they were excellently written and well-delivered. The CMC were very good here, I thought. They didn't exactly do much since the entire episode was, simply, a confrontation with their fears and anxieties in a dreamscape, but still, this seemed like something they would worry about. Their voices have definitely changed, especially Apple Bloom's and Sweetie Belle's; you can definitely tell that Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett are starting to go through puberty. Some people mentioned Scootaloo as well, but I disagree; her VA, Madeleine Peters, is 19 now, I doubt her voice is changing that much at this point. Besides the fact that they were cute and funny in their usual way, along with the fact that they confronted a problem that seemed very suited for them, I don't really have too much to say about the CMC given how repetitive the episode got and how much of it was in a dream. They were characterized fine, I liked the lesson they learned, and Scootaloo getting to fly in a dream was too cute (even if it was brief), but other than that, not a whole lot to say. As a quick aside, it's very cool for Babs Seed that she finally got her cutie mark, and I do hope we get to see her again sometime later this season. Good to see these silly fillies once again up to their usual shenanigans As for the dreams themselves, I'm really just gonna comment on the aesthetics more than anything since it was clearly a distortion of the CMC's reality. The animation looked very lovely most of the time, there were definitely some very trippy visuals as we've come to expect from the dream episodes, and some of those visuals made for some very funny visual humor. Big Mac talking as extensively as he did was probably the trippiest part of those sequences (and most amazing, to boot ), along with Apple Bloom's shadow that everyone (myself included) was wondering the entire time if it was Princess Luna or Starlight Glimmer. The shadow being AB's own shadow, that is, her anxieties and fears, more or less, was a very cool bit of writing. However, what was not so cool was when Sweetie Belle's dream cropped up. :okiedokielokie: Not because of the dream itself, but because it was advertised by DHX prior to Season 5's premiere. I have a working theory now that M.A. Larson is slowly but surely corrupting the rest of the DHX staff and turning them all into belligerent trolls, because whoever greenlighted marketing that scene knew EXACTLY that they were just teasing us and setting us up for a MAJOR disappointment! I'm not mad, in fact, it's an excellent bit of trolling if I do say so myself, but it still got me like a sucker punch to the gut. Yeah, those bucking teases and trolls at DHX knew exactly what they were doing Princess Luna was, well, Best Princess as usual. She was definitely in the episode for a solid 5 minutes, and I loved getting to see her so extensively. I've made it no secret that I adore her design, and it was really cool getting to hear how much she's changed since "Luna Eclipsed". I know some people complain now that she's not as fun sounding as she was in that episode, but I like it and it makes sense too that she'd be much more gentler and soft spoken as time has gone on after that incident. She did a great job delivering the message, and there were, as in the previous dream episodes, allusions to the idea that maybe some of these very same experiences the CMC are going through, Luna herself has struggled with in the past (especially the theme of not accepting yourself for who you are and letting your anxieties eat away at you). It was a little predictable that she was gonna show up, and I do hope very much we get to see her more this season in other settings outside of dreams, but all the same her appearance here was very pleasant to see. She even got in some pretty funny jokes and one-liners before the episode ended. :comeatus: I do so love watching how these ponies' crazy dreams play out :comeatus: Finally, I'll just comment on some more aesthetic touches. As I said, the animation was gorgeous as usual, especially in some of the crazier dream sequences. The short lullaby that Applejack sang was completely unnecessary and pointless, but it sounded lovely all the same and didn't do any harm either. Overall, while this may not have been an episode I loved in every respect, there were things that I loved about it, especially the writing, and it's definitely one that demands a second viewing, if only to piece together the exact sequence of events going on in this episode. Can't wait to rewatch it, and still very happy with how Season 5 is going so far. Till next week, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

Alrighty, writing up my review as we speak. Should be up pretty soon, and hopefully not a terribly long one.

Let's just dump all the Inception references and get it over with. :comeatus:

Not sure what you're getting at since dreams have been explicitly made out to be Luna's domain alone. It's not like Celestia would show up doing something that's not her responsibility. I'm sure she's been plenty busy as usual handling, well... running an entire nation with her sister.