Thrond

This kind of comparison was also brought up a lot in season 6, and almost always for episodes which aren't that much like season 1. 

I agree, this episode was absolute garbage compared to Rock Solid Friendship. Up till now in the season it felt like a storyline showing the development of starlight but no.....random episode comes flying in and now apparently Fluttershy is one of the most assertive ponies out of the mane 6.

Fluttershy's assertiveness was established in season 6, and I fully expected that Starlight wouldn't be the lead of every episode, but I don't think either this or "Rock Solid Friendship" come even close to "A Flurry of Emotions." All I want is for this show to be fun. Is that too much to ask? 

Bout time. We need more family development within the mane 6.

We're finally gonna meet Rainbow Dash's parents!!!

How i figure it is, Moondancer only really had one friend, that being Twilight. She attempted to come out of her shell, so to speak, and have a party. She hoped Twilight would attend. So she got angry/upset that Twilight didn't attend. Now, i don't remember why Twilight skipped the party, i forgot that episode for the most part. But what I said above could be why people liked the episode

I never got a good feeling for why Moondancer considered Twilight a closer friend than any of the other ponies who existed around her. 

Well, They were both in the same class, and both were in a group together. Also, both of them were/are pretty smart. So theres that idea

War, death, danger, mayhem, destruction etc all of them are definately scary in real life and i dont want them happen to me, and everyone else of course... butttttttttt~ we can enjoy them in fantasy world, that why wars related video games were born, right, we love exciting stuffs, and Guardian of Harmony toyline are desighed to attract boys because our characters are armed like military with spears and armors and i think they are best pony merchandise  and i will buy it if i have money  Warlike toys are made for boys because boys like military stuff right!?

Any war related content in the show will definately attract male audiences, and is it not a good thing? I know a lot of people loves Sombra future the most in Cutie Remark because it features wars and military.

Bronies definately love the show for what it is but i know their inner masculinity want something more from it 

Maybe this isn't what you're saying but I definitely don't feel the show should have more macho stuff in it. It certainly brings intensity, but in cases like "The Cutie Re-Mark" I also find it rather boring. Plus, I just don't think it'd be right for this little girls' show to incorporate elements of a stereotypical boys' cartoon, and I definitely don't want it to pander to a male audience with violent content. This is a children's cartoon for girls! 

I just feel like making the Wonderbolts a military unit makes Rainbow's dreams about more than just flying, and I feel like that's an unnecessary complication which the show will probably never dig into. 

Too late, they already did that with Twilight Kingdom, it changed the Bronies fandom, set the new "standard" for this little girl shows. I dont think it is the best finale ever but a lot of people do, the Dragon ball Z fight scene is like a "fuck u" to anyone who say this show is for girls only, when my parents asked why i dont watch anything more "manly", i showed that scene to them ;). Take that, anti-brony!!!

About Rainbow Dash, i dont know what coming next for RD because she is already a Wonderbolts and she can flight along with her idols already, her story arc is officially ended right? What next? She will replace Spit Fire and... oh my god... she will become a lousy sergeant and then become a extreme nationalist lol. I predicted RD will become a legend like Firefly, she will be an  famous officer in military. 

Welcome to Call of Duty: Wonder Warfare...

It actually was really cute, far more than I expected. :3

Season 2 was one of the best though.  I did not know people here actually disliked it but I guess everybody has different tastes.  I liked season 5 as well though (mostly the first half) so I guess I can sort of see were people are coming from.

I think part of it was because S2 had a lot of exaggerated and annoying characterizations (particular towards the jerk end). Bronies tend to get pissed off at jerk behaviour.

Not everyone will like the same thing... forever  I am not even fan of these Lady Writers and i hated Legend of Everfree but i love S7 premiere, i had fun watching these episodes with my friends with snacks and coca 

To me, the smaller slice-of-life episodes are more important now than the big epic adventures. 

Yeah, as far as the show goes on, Slice of Life episodes are proved to be superior in writting. The comics are adventure heavy with dark theme but they are usually bad-written and discontinuity are over the place, yeah, adventures are not what we want from mlp...

Bonus: Chrysalis killed a cat? WTF She's born in the tree made with dead ponies, WTF. Only in Comics  Yeah, i dont that either even i love ultra violent and gritty movie :))

I kinda dig a fair few of the comics, though that particular arc is just kinda silly. The comics are willing to give characters a lot more emotional complexity, so I feel like that makes the big adventures feel less meaningless and impersonal. 

After that many seasons, nothing surprising if that is the case, but hey, we still got many existing characters and a bunch of new characters, Twilight is one of very few characters who are left behind  Not a very big deal...

And I think that's the problem. Aside from "Bloom and Gloom" and "Crusaders of the Lost Mark," which both deal with the issues of children, my favourite episodes of the season are the more lighthearted ones. Season 5 took itself so seriously so often that every little issue was more pronounced, and every risk it refused to take couldn't hide under humour or charm. It was always so full of itself, and yet there were only a handful of small moments which broke the mold, and many stories were still overly simplistic and somewhat dumb in spite of that. Season 5 bores me, at least when it's not annoying the crap out of me, and I almost never felt it was justified how seriously it took itself. This show is not willing to do what it needs to be "adult," and when it loses the childish appeal, there's no reason not to watch a genuinely adult show instead. It might even be halfway entertaining. Season 6 is an improvement in almost every way because it gets back to what made this show appealing in the first place. 

Not necessary agree with you about the last statement but i can agree the tone shift of S5 can alienate you . Hum... Maybe you and me had different expectations for this show, so our opinions are so vastly different  

Ok let put this discussion for another day, let see WHAT MADE OF SEASON 7, to me, I want it to be much more improved compare to S6, because the good chunk of episodes didnt reach 80% of my satisfaction, too "kid-friendly" and predictable  

Hope S7 will have more "Oscar bait" episodes...  

Please... anything but that. Anything. I'd rather have much more casual slice-of-life, much more sitcom-y episodes like "The Saddle Row Review," and much more of Rarity and Rainbow Dash's careers. I want them to screw around with the format more, and I want the balance of humorous to serious episodes to stay heavily in favour of humour. I liked the direction season 6 was going in, so with a bit more polish and more specific directions for all the main characters, I can imagine season 7 being especially satisfying. Just... anything other than the show taking itself so seriously again. 

So excited for her!

Even worse is some people still aren't over the S3 finale. :\

They wont get over S5 finale and they wont get over S6. It's time to GET OVER these guys.

I think what he really came to understand was that ponies were instrumental in forming his values, and even if he found were nicer dragons than the frat bros he came across, it would not render his sense of belonging with his pony friends any less "right." A little silly to have him learn that through contrast with frat bros, though.

Oh come on, how can these episodes can be worst than Mare Do Well? Spike didnt do anything wrong and Fluttershy just snapped after being a doormat for long time. For me, the episode can be tied and worst than Mare Do Well is Mmmmystery Express.

At least neither of those feature several pointless scenes of a single character embarrassing themself.

yeah I feel the same way

Even the harshest critic has their soft spots for anything ;3. This fandom just want a saint like Sunset :}} not real people who can mske the same mistake from time to time.

saintly Sunset is so much more boring than when it looked like she might actually have flaws, internal torment, etc.

My Past is Not Today. From that day, she decided to abandon her old-self and become a Phoenix, she now stands in even higher ground that i cant look up to her anymore because its too high and far away. I hope Starlight can keep standing in the ground that i can see and look up to, even stand by me. That my metaphor of relatability;3

Honestly that's kinda what I liked about it. I dislike "Princess Twilight" because it's way overstuffed, but "The Crystalling" is low-key and personal. It's about nothing more than Shining and Cadance dealing with becoming new parents, alongside the Starlight/Sunburst stuff. Flurry Heart is cute and funny but she also represents how stressful I imagine parenthood can be. I think people exaggerate how much seasons have overarching plots.

Well, as an episode, Crystalling is an enjoyable episode, just like the rest of season 6, but as a season premiere, it should be, you know, intriguing? Season premiere is just like a "hook", to catch your interest, make you wonder what will happen next. After season 4, overarching plots are expected, heck, even some people said S6 lacks sense of direction. S4 finale and S5 premiere set the standard of the show really high and high expectations are inevitable.

Well, my tastes clearly differ, as I found seasons 4 and especially 5 to be more lacking in direction in spite of their half-baked "story arcs." The season 2 premiere is the only other one which doesn't set anything up at all, but the lack of any pretense towards having a "major plot" actually kinda refreshing, and for me the only thing the premieres really ought to do is entertain, as this show has never really had a continuous story drawing viewers along. And, y'know...

1. Too bad, some people really really hate ss6 finale just because the absence of the mane cast.

2. Well, just like shonen anime, people expect the threat level scales higher and higher. Twilight Kingdom set the bar and people want above not below. Maybe we will get a villain who can destroy the element of harmony lol.

I think the problem is more that it SOUNDS like the episode did. I don't believe the episode ever promoted hazing, nor do I believe the writers wanted that. If that's what people came out of the episode with, to me that just means the writers did a poor job of conveying the message

Unfortune Implications?

Suppose so; it never came across that way to me, maybe because I never really viewed the nicknames as "hazing," per se. But the message isn't "oh, it's okay," it's more "this doesn't mean we think less of you," and it was always Rainbow who decided she was cool with that. Always thought that was obvious.

*Big thumb up*

Season 6 is a great Season 5's expansion pack , not joking. Your reflection is great, even there are some parts I have to disagree .

I dunno, I think season 6 makes some pretty significant changes to the style of season 5. Much more slice-of-life, much fewer big emotional events, etc.