Stellafera

Me too, since it was sort of what I was hoping for from the Season 5 premiere. :-P *Our Town finishes* *cut to Discord butting in on Spike + Big McIntosh watching sports*

Not sure if I'm entirely sold on Sunset Glimmer becoming a main cast member. She's growing on me but, her personality traits seem less veritable than the Mane 6. Or maybe that's just a lack of creativity speaking.

Even No Second Prances? Finally, somebody who agrees with me!

Ooh, I disagree with a lot here. So far, I consider Season 6 to be one of the stronger ones. I loved No Second Prances and thought that Twilight was being very in-character. Last season's What About Discord (which, admittedly, is also an episode that many hate) helped establish that Twilight has become overly protective of her role as group leader and Friendship Princess. I think this is a great development for her character, especially since some of her earlier flaws have faded. In this light, the fact that she's manipulative of Trixie and Starlight makes perfect sense, especially if she's actively nervous about two former villains teaming up. I thought Zephyr wasn't even really supposed to be sympathetic at the end, or at least not before he fixed his shit. It did bother me that he became more and more of a caricature as the episode went on, but when he was introduced I loved the character. I have an older sibling who, while nowhere near Zephyr tier, tends to live a very disorganized life, so I could really relate to Fluttershy's feelings. Agree with you on the excellent Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash characterization. Overall, I absolutely agree that Newbie Dash was the worst of the season. Other than the cold open, 1st half was pretty good, but once the impressions started it just turned into complete crap. I still liked it a bit more than most, though. The Wonderbolt atmosphere felt less like "jerks" and more like "machismo". RD never pointed out to them that the Crash nickname was much more hurtful than the ones that the other teammates used. Granted, it was because she didn't want to look like a sissy, but still the other Wonderbolts didn't know. Spitfire seemed back on form after her childish behavior in Rainbow Falls. Screw y'all, I liked Applejack's Day Off. I mean, that scene at the end was pretty silly, but the episode implied that that behavior only got out of hand recently. "Applejack is stubborn and sticks to her ways" is actually a relatively unexplored part of her character compared to her workaholic nature, which was nice to see. So what DIDN'T I like? I didn't like Gauntlet of Fire nearly as much as the fandom at large, it seems. It wasn't bad, just not spectacular. Princess Ember felt like a better written version of Gilda, but still a bit dull and too quick to change.

This, basically. (Although I'd counter that AJ usually has the most consistently good appearances).