Nyactis Mewcis Catlum

Perhaps one should look at the fact that the fanbase is "unpleasable" because all of the negative opinions are being lumped together as being associated with each other, when in actuality there are different people with different opinions everywhere. For instance, not everyone who didn't like Twilicorn had a problem with Fluttershy's episodes feeling same-y, and vice versa. The problem is that the fanbase is being treated as a monolith, rather than a diversity of ideas. It's not that everyone wants a reason to complain, it's that different people complain about different things, and that's inherent in human nature. What bothers you may not bother me, and vice versa. That isn't to say there aren't critics who are overly negative and complain about everything in the show, but they're hardly representative of the fanbase as a whole, and making out like they are holds them up to a pedestal - which I'm sure is not the intention of the writers nor the people commenting here. Their opinion should hold no more weight than anyone else's, and yet they're being given special attention in the show itself and on the forums. Such complaints would not hold such weight if people just... Didn't give them attention. Critics who are overly negative and make a living off of that live and die off their audience. It is much more productive to criticize them directly, or to simply not give them your attention at all, than it is to put a spotlight on them. Psst: The spotlight is usually what those negative critics WANT because it makes them more money and draws more people to their channels. Even without that considered, the "incidental ponies" concept does not sound like a good concept from a writing perspective. It's probably done to push a moral, but for anyone who's watching the show through, the inconsistency will be obvious and a common complaint of the show... And whaddaya know, it is a common one for those who don't like the episode. You can use characters as mouthpieces for ideas, but it's better to introduce new characters for that rather than use the ponies in Ponyville; it's way too glaring that these ponies would have known the Mane 6 very well by this point and thus their criticisms come off as extremely odd and out of place. I don't want to use "out of character" because that is commonly used as a way to dismiss a character's behavior in certain situations when it hasn't been demonstrated how they would react in this situation, but I can at the very least say it's jarring when the ponies of Ponyville treat Pinkie Pie, the pony we know from the very first episode of the show personally gets to know every pony in Ponyville, like she's a stranger to be laughed at.

Are we the same person or something? This is exactly how I feel to a tee.

The problem is that approaching this from the angle of "they were doing it just to cover things up" not only vilifies those who did this, but also redirects the blame onto the wrong people. ToonKritic's friends are not responsible for his behavior. He is responsible for his behavior, and there are a myriad of reasons why people did not 'rat it out', not the least of which being the fact that they were manipulated into believing him when he said that these were exaggerated stories meant to make him look bad. Would you not think similarly if your friend made such a plea of you when they were being accused of something? Your first thought would be to believe your friend over these strangers throwing accusations at them. And this is similar of a lot of those who were hurt by ToonKritic's actions; many of them simply did not want to believe their friend would do something like this, and were willing to believe him over the voices of people they didn't know as well. It's a common human trait, and people going out of their way to cast doubt and suspicion upon what are completely normal, human, empathetic reactions to a situation muddy the waters and take the blame off of the real person we should be mad at: ToonKritic. An example of how detrimental this can be to getting the right guy was already stated within this thread, so I won't repeat it, but I will say this: I understand your outrage, but you can't let anger toward ToonKritic cloud your judgment of the people around you. Our country operates under innocent until proven guilty for a reason. Unless you have concrete proof of people doing this to cover their reputations, it's a lofty accusation to throw at them and just dilutes the conversation. That is not to say we can't learn from this. We should recognize our natural human biases of believing our friends over random accusations, and treat every person with the same amount of skepticism. Not doing so risks allowing people who are close to us, who are popular, and who have that horse famous title to get away with some pretty heinous things, just because we're more eager to believe them over accusations. We should look into what we hear from other people and not just accept anything at face value. It's very clear that the relationships were abusive in nature. The victims in question were hurt by his actions. Where you live may have different laws, but I'm sorry, there's no way in hell a 14 year old has the same emotional maturity for relationships as a 24 year old. It also helps that ToonKritic is confirmed to have been cheating on these girls, as well as the actual one consensual partner he had, so even without the age gap, these relationships started out with an angle of deceit and manipulation. It's not just their age that makes us think this. I will not describe it in depth here (too graphic), but you can tell by the chatlogs that he was giving classical grooming behavior. It was clear that he was taking advantage of their lack of experience with relationships as well as making himself out to be the Mature, Responsible One TM on purpose. The language that he uses in these interactions is not innocent. There's nothing good about these relationships. Strip away the age gap, and you still have an obvious maturity gap, obvious grooming mechanisms, and cheating behind them. And that's a really big if on the age gap. There's a reason why the age of consent is higher in most places, and that's because it's incredibly uncommon if not nonexistent for a relationship between a teen that young and an adult of that age to be a healthy, consensual relationship.

Season 7 spoilers: Doesn't have any bearing on how actually big the ponies should be.

Huh, not even the one with Mistmane? Fair enough, I suppose; different strokes for different folks. At least it is acknowledged that there are charming aspects of the character interactions. For me personally, it was nice to see how Rainbow and Scootaloo grew together, and witnessing Rainbow take the cool big sis role so fervently.

It's definitely one of the less "epic" episodes, but I do think it had just as much attention and care put into it. It was also strange seeing a lot of complaints for the episode regarding not being able to get into it because of the comic grab; I've never read the comics, but I found it was pretty easy to get the tales that were being told within it.

I personally actually liked the song, despite not liking the moral. It's one of those that sounds great and only really looks bad upon further examination for me. Forgive me for sounding a bit pedantic here, but that behavior actually more closely resembles borderline personality disorder, not bipolar disorder.

I wouldn't say romance would ruin the program if it happened. As I have professed before, I'd be interested in seeing Rarity get together with someone. I just don't think Rainbow is the character they'd show it with. Also, someone being a tomboy doesn't mean they're not interested in romance...

Rather than singing its absolute praises, I'm actually concerned about the existence of "Amending Fences". As someone who has been guilt tripped for not being around for a part of someone's life for some reason or another (bearing in mind that I often was unaware of such an occurrence, or I was busy, or I had something personal going on at the time), I fear that this episode will give people justification for vilifying people who don't deserve vilification, and leading to unhealthy expectations in friendships. Certainly the episode is poignant, but the implication that Twilight must be guilty concerns me. "Tanks for the Memories" is reprehensible. I get that it's supposed to be an allegory for the Five Stages of Grief, but they couldn't have chosen a worse pony to do it with. If Tank was actually dying, this episode would be as great as people make it out to be - but simply put, he's not, and that's what sabotages the entire episode. Rainbow has routinely been shown to be a more down-to-earth pony, and although she's done embarrassing and outlandish things for the sake of earning attention, that's because Rainbow thrives off of receiving attention. Her reaction in this episode does not fall in line with previous depictions of her. Even if it did, it kind of vindicates those who don't like her. Rainbow's boasting in "Campfire Tales" didn't bother me. In fact, I think people exaggerate how often she does it (and also don't realize that part of the reason she does it is to impress Scootaloo and make a point to her; if you pay attention to Scootaloo's reactions, you can tell Rainbow's egotism does actually seem to help calm her down). Actually, I think a lot of aspects of this episode are down-played and not really appreciated. Not a big fan of "Fame & Misfortune", and the intolerant attitudes of those who do like it toward critics kind of vindicates why. Don't think this is rather an unpopular opinion (probably not) but i am so glad that scootabuse is finally dead

A girlfriend, on the other hand... Kidding, kidding. But yeah, that's pretty likely for canon. Still won't stop people from hoping, though! And it's not like people can't write fanfics.

I mean, you did ask who everyone else thinks Rainbow Dash's soulmate should be.

I think this is where the problem with this whole theory lies. "The positives of friendship" implies there are negatives of friendship. But there kind of isn't... Not for healthy friendships, at least. If Celestia is planning on ruling all of Equestria but she is spreading benevolent teachings that ultimately benefit the world, certainly it's still a dictatorship, but does that mean it's inherently a bad thing? "Forced" as those friendships were, the friendships came at a mutual benefit, and those who refused friendship's calling did so at their own detriment. Also, for the record, I think it's less brainwashing and more characters coming to realize the way they viewed friendship was backwards and unhealthy. Brainwashing of the kind you're suggesting (that is, the kind that is cult-like to change your entire moral system to believe something) is something that takes years, and even then it's commonly ineffective. Learning something new and seeing that you're doing things in a way that only harms you, however, is far more feasible, and something that happens to people every day of their lives.

I'm definitely very much a TwiDasher. That being said, as far as the actual show canon goes, I'd actually rather she doesn't end up with anyone. She's perfectly content and has a full life without a romantic interest.