S05:E08 - The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

[FizzyGreen 908]

Gilda doesn't really have a choice in the matter since Pinkie Pie's reacted stunt escalated the situation.

Yeah... that's true... in that short amount of time Gilda must've handled quickly... but after that saving them! She could've been like "whatever dweebs!"

She just accepted thier friendships too fast for me. But well, hey, it's 22 Minutes of time the writers have, minus credits and intro.

[Cloud Strife 928]

Yeah... that's true... in that short amount of time Gilda must've handled quickly... but after that saving them! She could've been like "whatever dweebs!"

She just accepted thier friendships too fast for me. But well, hey, it's 22 Minutes of time the writers have, minus credits and intro.

 

Even right before it, her reaction to her reminiscing seemed...abrupt. She softened a bit too quickly, as did Rainbow during the episode. I know there's a 22 minute time constraint, but Steven Universe has an 11 minute one and they've managed to do character turnarounds smoother. If the writers didn't feel they had enough time, they could've made Twilight's book a tad shorter, as the joke was already well emphasized a few minutes into the montage.

[thepinkapocalypse 72]

You're right, the show is about friendship, and of course the morals are going to be about friendship, but that doesn't in any way mean that the morals can't be scrutinized. I'm very much in agreement with and @Jeric on this one, but at the same time I understand @Wind Chaser and @Dark Qiviut's criticisms, even if I don't agree with them, and it's worth hearing them out on their perspective, because there must be some reason that they got that impression from watching the episode.

 

They're not necessarily criticizing the fact that the moral is about friendship, anyway. What they're suggesting is that the moral is a bit too optimistic, to an unrealistic proportion. DQ put it rather passionately, but I'll restate what they said in that if you're too optimistic, you border on being delusional - that is, believing things that aren't necessarily true because they're positive. There's nothing wrong with being positive, but at the same time being in denial about possible negatives in the world and in yourself is the enemy of progression. Ignoring a problem in existence doesn't make it go away; it accentuates it. When you're in the real world, you want to have a good balance between cynicism and optimism, to the point that you don't see everything in rose-colored glasses but at the same time don't always view the situation as a glass half-empty. That way you don't bog yourself with unnecessary negativity, but at the same time don't get blindsided when negativity makes itself apparent, and know how to deal with it appropriately.

 

Of course, there's nothing wrong with you wanting to come to a show for optimism and optimism alone in order to make yourself feel better. Sometimes life can be taxing, and it's refreshing to come to a show as positive as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which did something brilliant in "Maud Pie" that subverted my expectations of preaching a negative "you can't make friends with everyone" moral and instead put a positive spin to it as "you can find common ground even with the most unlikely of people". If critical analysis of that isn't your thing, it's completely understandable. For some people, though, critical analysis is how they connect to the show. DQ and WC aren't criticizing it because they believe the show is terrible, hell DQ even said that they liked quite a few aspects of this particular episode; they're giving it criticism because they want it to improve and be the best that it can be, as well as have its implications considered so that people think into what they're watching, which is very important given what media can sometimes teach us. They, and others like them, like to think about what the show means to them and to other people, and what it can tell us about society, and they're perfectly within their right to do so.

 

If the 'complaining' is tiresome, keep in mind that's how people sometimes connect with their media, and that you don't ever have to subscribe to holding the same opinion as they do. There's also the fact that you should not feel even remotely ashamed for liking something despite how legitimate the criticisms directed at it are. If I can give an anecdote, there's a game I like called Shadow the Hedgehog, but there are many things objectively bad about it, and many people point out how bad a game it is. In a lot of those criticisms, I agree, but I still like it anyway and found it worth my time to play.

Okay good point. I just deal with a lot of crap irl so I see mlp as an escape from that. Still sometimes the morals do come off preachy and annoying. There does need to be a balance between optimism and cynicism. I liked maud pie too sometimes people just don't click.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, this was a pretty "eh" episode to me. I can't think of any particular stand-out moments, and I don't have much of any feeling (positive or negative) about the episode in general.

 

As others have pointed out, what might be the biggest issue with this episode is the overly simplistic resolution. Gilda makes friends with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash (in the space of a day), Pinkie teaches Gilda to make scones that taste good, and after Gilda shares them with one other griffin, the two of them start to converse. Then Rainbow's and Pinkie's cutie marks vibrate, and they consider this a job well done and leave. I guess the Cutie Map thinks that they solved whatever problem it sent them there for, but what problem did they actually solve? It looks as though Griffinstone's decline has occurred over a long period of time, and the evident problems with their society and standard of living seem to run pretty deep, deeper than it would seem could be fixed by the griffins slowly learning to make nice with each other. Pinkie proclaims that the griffins can replace the Idol of Boreas with something better, i.e., friendship, and says that Griffinstone could be a mightier kingdom than ever before, but how would they get there from where they are now? Is becoming a "mighty kingdom" as they were in the past even possible or desirable, especially given their current state? Again, it doesn't seem like "just make friends" is in itself the answer to these questions.

 

One particularly frustrating part of the episode for me is when Gilda sees the Idol of Boreas and, while she's clinging to the edge of a cliff and Pinkie and Rainbow are hanging on for their lives, reaches out and tries to grab it. Why couldn't she hoist herself, Rainbow and Pinkie up first, and then try to get the Idol? It would seem that the Idol had been sitting there in a stable position for some time; it didn't seem to be in immediate danger of falling or anything. In fact, the only reason that it did fall was because Gilda moved it (without holding on to it). Was this supposedly driven by some griffin instinct to immediately try to grab any gold they come across?

 

If Twilight has really wanted to see Griffinstone, what stopped her from going there to see it, either in this episode or at a previous time? We don't see Rainbow and Pinkie having to get special permission to go there or anything, and Twilight's deadpan line about staying to do "important princessy things" (as well as what she's said in previous episodes) would indicate that she isn't actually super busy with anything in particular. Maybe, if these trips that the Cutie Map sends the Mane Six on are government-funded, Twilight is just lamenting that she can't travel there for "free" like Rainbow and Pinkie are.

 

Pinkie is also up to her usual eyerolling "antics" in this episode. At the beginning of the episode, despite Pinkie supposedly being a pretty good baker, she can't seem to stir batter without splattering it all over the place. Then Pinkie gives Gummy instructions to continue baking, as though she seriously expects Gummy to do such things.

 

On the train, Pinkie drops a sack full of bits buying literally all the food off of the food trolley. Does Pinkie actually eat that much in one sitting? I guess it's not the first time we've seen Pinkie eating an obscene amount of food.

 

Later, when talking with Gilda, Pinkie thinks that singing a song or having a party or eating cake is what Griffinstone needs, seemingly not realizing (as she has failed to realize previously on the show) that not everyone may want to do those things, or will necessarily be cheered up by them.

 

And, of course, we have Pinkie throwing Rainbow a rope without holding on to the other end. And later, when Rainbow starts falling from her ledge, Pinkie grabs the other end of Gilda's tied-off rope and jumps after Rainbow from the top of the cliff (and inexplicably catches up to her). It seems like pure luck that the three of them survived by Gilda grabbing the edge of a ledge, holding on to it strongly enough that Rainbow and Pinkie didn't drag her back down with them, and then being able to hoist Rainbow and Pinkie up on the ledge with her.

 

Now for a few more miscellaneous observations:

 

Rainbow complains that Twilight "literally wrote a book" for them on what to do in Griffinstone, but it looks more like the size of a pamphlet - maybe 8-10 pages.

 

Twilight tells Rainbow and Pinkie to go to the king and say that the Princess of Friendship sent them. But, as we've seen in previous episodes, it seems like most of the other creatures in Equestria have never even heard of Twilight or the fact that she's a Princess of Friendship, so it doesn't seem necessarily helpful for Rainbow and Pinkie to say that.

 

The griffon guide wants more bits to throw Rainbow another rope, but if they want to haggle, maybe Rainbow could claim that the rope the griffon guide provided was defective and didn't perform as agreed upon (i.e. one wouldn't expect a normal grappling rope to break that easily), and so, to hold up her end of the deal, the griffon guide should provide another rope.

 

After Rainbow says she doesn't have any bits, the griffon guide turns and starts to walk away, then, almost immediately afterward, the camera pans out, and the griffon guide is nowhere in sight. How did she walk away so quickly?

 

In Gilda's flashback, filly Rainbow Dash says to Gilda "let's show these guys how it's done" - uh, by flying right at them and ramming them at high speed?

 

When Rainbow and Pinkie are telling Gilda to go make a friend, Rainbow takes the tray of newly-made scones and drops it in Gilda's claws - but does Rainbow actually know about the whole situation where Gilda is trying to bake and sell scones, but they weren't good, and Pinkie taught her how to make the better ones that are on the tray?

[Singe 2,109]

Yeah... that's true... in that short amount of time Gilda must've handled quickly... but after that saving them! She could've been like "whatever dweebs!"

She just accepted thier friendships too fast for me. But well, hey, it's 22 Minutes of time the writers have, minus credits and intro.

 

If there was more time after climbing back up, I would think Gilda would be more like "Are you crazy?!" freak out reaction towards Pinkie Pie. Then Gilda needs space from those two and some time to work it out the system.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Singe

[roptiriolg 49]

I loved the episode, though not as much as the previous with Discord. When I saw the title I imagined there would be some adventure part in the episode, that kind I like. And I expected something more interesting than a usual episode. I don't read the synopsis in advance, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Gilda and the griffon world. Also I do not remember episodes where not all mane 6 or one. but just two of them go on a trip. Makes that more interesting and new approach to how we see them.

 

The message of friendship is among the ponies, but it had to reach the griffons world. I like Gilda's coolness, and never disliked her. And regarding the plot, I likeed the quest-like background music that was heard, made me watch the episode with interest expecting something to happen from the beginning.

 

It is also the first time ponies' cutie mark blinks with light?

[thepinkapocalypse 72]

Overall, this was a pretty "eh" episode to me. I can't think of any particular stand-out moments, and I don't have much of any feeling (positive or negative) about the episode in general.

 

As others have pointed out, what might be the biggest issue with this episode is the overly simplistic resolution. Gilda makes friends with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash (in the space of a day), Pinkie teaches Gilda to make scones that taste good, and after Gilda shares them with one other griffin, the two of them start to converse. Then Rainbow's and Pinkie's cutie marks vibrate, and they consider this a job well done and leave. I guess the Cutie Map thinks that they solved whatever problem it sent them there for, but what problem did they actually solve? It looks as though Griffinstone's decline has occurred over a long period of time, and the evident problems with their society and standard of living seem to run pretty deep, deeper than it would seem could be fixed by the griffins slowly learning to make nice with each other. Pinkie proclaims that the griffins can replace the Idol of Boreas with something better, i.e., friendship, and says that Griffinstone could be a mightier kingdom than ever before, but how would they get there from where they are now? Is becoming a "mighty kingdom" as they were in the past even possible or desirable, especially given their current state? Again, it doesn't seem like "just make friends" is in itself the answer to these questions.

 

One particularly frustrating part of the episode for me is when Gilda sees the Idol of Boreas and, while she's clinging to the edge of a cliff and Pinkie and Rainbow are hanging on for their lives, reaches out and tries to grab it. Why couldn't she hoist herself, Rainbow and Pinkie up first, and then try to get the Idol? It would seem that the Idol had been sitting there in a stable position for some time; it didn't seem to be in immediate danger of falling or anything. In fact, the only reason that it did fall was because Gilda moved it (without holding on to it). Was this supposedly driven by some griffin instinct to immediately try to grab any gold they come across?

 

 

If Twilight has really wanted to see Griffinstone, what stopped her from going there to see it, either in this episode or at a previous time? We don't see Rainbow and Pinkie having to get special permission to go there or anything, and Twilight's deadpan line about staying to do "important princessy things" (as well as what she's said in previous episodes) would indicate that she isn't actually super busy with anything in particular. Maybe, if these trips that the Cutie Map sends the Mane Six on are government-funded, Twilight is just lamenting that she can't travel there for "free" like Rainbow and Pinkie are.

 

Pinkie is also up to her usual eyerolling "antics" in this episode. At the beginning of the episode, despite Pinkie supposedly being a pretty good baker, she can't seem to stir batter without splattering it all over the place. Then Pinkie gives Gummy instructions to continue baking, as though she seriously expects Gummy to do such things.

 

On the train, Pinkie drops a sack full of bits buying literally all the food off of the food trolley. Does Pinkie actually eat that much in one sitting? I guess it's not the first time we've seen Pinkie eating an obscene amount of food.

 

 

Later, when talking with Gilda, Pinkie thinks that singing a song or having a party or eating cake is what Griffinstone needs, seemingly not realizing (as she has failed to realize previously on the show) that not everyone may want to do those things, or will necessarily be cheered up by them.

 

And, of course, we have Pinkie throwing Rainbow a rope without holding on to the other end. And later, when Rainbow starts falling from her ledge, Pinkie grabs the other end of Gilda's tied-off rope and jumps after Rainbow from the top of the cliff (and inexplicably catches up to her). It seems like pure luck that the three of them survived by Gilda grabbing the edge of a ledge, holding on to it strongly enough that Rainbow and Pinkie didn't drag her back down with them, and then being able to hoist Rainbow and Pinkie up on the ledge with her.

 

Now for a few more miscellaneous observations:

 

Rainbow complains that Twilight "literally wrote a book" for them on what to do in Griffinstone, but it looks more like the size of a pamphlet - maybe 8-10 pages.

 

Twilight tells Rainbow and Pinkie to go to the king and say that the Princess of Friendship sent them. But, as we've seen in previous episodes, it seems like most of the other creatures in Equestria have never even heard of Twilight or the fact that she's a Princess of Friendship, so it doesn't seem necessarily helpful for Rainbow and Pinkie to say that.

 

The griffon guide wants more bits to throw Rainbow another rope, but if they want to haggle, maybe Rainbow could claim that the rope the griffon guide provided was defective and didn't perform as agreed upon (i.e. one wouldn't expect a normal grappling rope to break that easily), and so, to hold up her end of the deal, the griffon guide should provide another rope.

 

After Rainbow says she doesn't have any bits, the griffon guide turns and starts to walk away, then, almost immediately afterward, the camera pans out, and the griffon guide is nowhere in sight. How did she walk away so quickly?

 

In Gilda's flashback, filly Rainbow Dash says to Gilda "let's show these guys how it's done" - uh, by flying right at them and ramming them at high speed?

 

When Rainbow and Pinkie are telling Gilda to go make a friend, Rainbow takes the tray of newly-made scones and drops it in Gilda's claws - but does Rainbow actually know about the whole situation where Gilda is trying to bake and sell scones, but they weren't good, and Pinkie taught her how to make the better ones that are on the tray?

Nothing negative about dash huh? I take it you do not like pinkie at all because you spent half of the post dissing her! I thought she was really good in this episode to bad you couldn't see it since you have a biased opinion againist her. Through the whole time I am reading your post I can summarize it as you don't like pinkie and you felt the story was rushed oh and did you mention how much you don't like pinkie? I did not see you critize dash once. Edited May 24, 2015 by thepinkapocalypse

[FizzyGreen 908]

If there was more time after climbing back up, I would think Gilda would be more like "Are you crazy?!" freak out reaction towards Pinkie Pie. Then Gilda needs space from those two and some time to work it out the system.

Exactly! That's what i was thinking! I would've liked an inner conflict inside Gilda, and see that conflict, and then she is thinking about how everything would be better, if all griffons would work together, and so she. Is the one saving the day, that would've been amazing.

 

Just needed to get that one off my chest.

[Soaring Symphony 372]

This is my new favorite episode of the entire show. Period. I like it even more then "Hurricane Fluttershy" or "Pinkie Pride" I can't really articulate why. It's just.........good!!!!!!!!!

[Jaxsie (Inactive) 1,343]

I really enjoyed this episode; I think it may be my favorite out of the season so far. Pinkie was hilarious throughout and was actually a little more mature.  And that statue flirting...still don't know what was up with that, lol. Either she has a thing for rocks or male griffons; it'll be interesting to see where fans go with that. Also, Rainbow Dash's Twilight impression had me laughing so hard -- I had to play it over several times! The humor in general was top notch.

 

I'm not sure if anyone brought this up yet, but the episode also tackled prejudice between species. It seemed Dash thought griffons weren't capable of friendship because of one bad experience with Gilda. Pinkie was the one to see past that and without her Griffonstone wouldn't have been saved.

[Singe 2,109]

This episode doesn't spell out why Gilda was a bully. I'm not seeing the elements adding up to that and none of the other griffins were exhibiting behaviors akin to Gilda's bullying in Season 1. Not even some reason of why even Gilda hid her bullying from Rainbow Dash and play nice.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

9/10 

 

I really loved the episode, but it felt like it was missing something. I just don't know what it was. I love Pinkie Pie, I love Rainbow Dash, I'm happy Gilda is reformed, I love how Pinkie was flirting with the statue, so on. It was good, but it felt like something was missing. Maybe it was a Pinkie Pie episode without a song. She almost sang, but she didn't. Maybe that's what was missing. 

[dekutree64 711]

Pretty good episode overall. It’s more than clear now that AKR writes Pinkie better than most, including McCarthy. I've been waiting for an episode where she saves the day like in Swarm of the Century, so this was a bit of a breath of fresh air, even though it wasn't quite on the same scale.

 

As for negatives,Twilight was unbearably annoying in this episode. Of course we, the audience, have never heard of Griffonstone before, but naturally, she is already well-informed about it, as well as every little facet of its culture.

 

*eyeroll* Okay, whatever. Not sure why I would have expected differently. At least she won’t be accompanying them to save the day and come up with the solution to the issue at hand, right?

 

…right?

 

“Twilight literally wrote a book of what we need to do in Griffonstone.”

 

Oh, well, of course she did!  Why wouldn't she expect them to be completely lost and clueless without her?  She apparently doesn’t even trust them to know how to get there themselves.

 

“Oh, thank you so much, Mother Twily! We really appreciate you for holding our hooves through this whole thing since we can barely tell left from right ourselves! Maybe later at lunchtime you can cut the crusts off of our PB&J sandwiches and stick the straws in our juiceboxes! Oh, and after lunch, you can read us a story while you tuck us in bed for a long nap after our very first friendship mission without you!” 

 

*sigh* 

You know, this could be an interesting setup to better understand Celestia later. She hardly ever gets involved in things directly, whereas Twilight is currently a total control freak. Will Twilight get fed up with being left out, and horn in on an adventure against the map's will? Maybe she'll learn a lesson about trying to force things. In this case, I think her presence might have just made the griffons feel more inferior and unwilling to change. The more perfect Twilight becomes, the less she's able to do directly. And Celestia is the end result of that progression.

 

Anyway, I thought the episode was pretty good. An interesting take on history, that sometimes no news means that a country is in ruin. And Twilight's excitement over the history she did know was pretty adorable. And the mini-book was funny. And Pinkie spending that giant bag of money on candy Reminded me of that scene in Harry Potter where he buys the entire snack cart.

 

Gilda's imitating the old griffon was funny too, and the flashback scene of her and Dash was adorable. Really puts her in a new light to think that Dash was her only friend before.

 

I was kind of disappointed with Dash. There she was, down in a dangerous abyss searching for an ancient treasure, wrapping up her injured hoof just like Daring Do with her wing. But instead of getting excited she just wusses out and screams for help. It seems that before the start of the series, she was a rebellious tough girl with a dream, and through friendship with the mane 6, she's gradually softened into an aimless normal girl. Usually that only happens when characters get married and have a kid, so I guess it's at least interesting to see it happen with no romance whatsoever. But I don't think there's really any way for her to be a Wonderbolt at this point without going against her element of loyalty. So maybe she should just start a family since she's settled down already.

 

That silhouette scene of climbing out of the abyss made me cringe a bit. That effect has become so cliche in video games these days, and now it's spreading to TV 

 

Hopefully we'll get an episode in a future season showing how effective their little spark of friendship was.

[JH24 385]

I agree I like this episode a lot too. And Gilda finally apologizing made me tear up. there was so much feels at the end. I don't care what the other cynical loving nay sayers on this site say I thought pinkie was awesome in this episode she wasn't too random or anything she was still weird but took things seriously. I rather have blind optimism and live a long life happy healthy life then live cynical  and angry at the world because apparently being cynical is cool now. So yeah the episode had a good moral.

 

Yeah, I liked the moral too and feel the same way. I liked how this episode approached this issue. Friendship isn't going to magically solve all the problems in Griffonstone, and their will likely be resistance to the idea, but every change needs to start somewhere. With the loss of their idol the Griffons lost their pride and belief in their civilization, to the point everyone only cared for themselves as they saw no point in doing something (like rebuilding a kingdom) that wasn't worth it.

 

Maybe Gilda's grandpa actually tried to make changes after the idol was lost as he lived during that time but eventually gave up and became a disillusioned and bitter old griffon.

 

I like how the episode ended with a glimmer of hope. If friendship can replace the idol for the Griffons they might have something to believe in again. By becoming friends, by caring for each other, by helping each other and sharing you not only make others happy but it would also help to rebuild their society and in the long-term their infrastructure and kingdom. It would give the Griffons something worth living for, it would give them a new goal in life.

 

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash planted a seed, and it's up to Gilda and the Griffons to "water" it and "take care" of it. They have to build trust within their society. The solution of making friends appears simplistic at first glance, but goes so much deeper beneath the surface. 

Edited May 24, 2015 by JH24

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Nothing negative about dash huh?

I did not see you critize dash once.

 

In the episode posts I make, I don't try to make a specific comment on every single thing that happened in the episode; I'm just writing about some particular things I noticed and/or points I want to make. So the fact that I didn't criticize Rainbow Dash's actions in particular means that I probably didn't notice her do or say anything that I considered significant enough to comment on. If you want to discuss what Rainbow did in this episode, then we can do that.

 

I take it you do not like pinkie at all because you spent half of the post dissing her! I thought she was really good in this episode to bad you couldn't see it since you have a biased opinion againist her. Through the whole time I am reading your post I can summarize it as you don't like pinkie and you felt the story was rushed oh and did you mention how much you don't like pinkie?

 

Well, I would say (and I have written about this in previous posts) that I generally don't like Pinkie as a character, and she is my least favorite of the Mane Six. Her personality and her character's style of humor just don't appeal to me, and I often (though not always) find the things she says and does to be less funny or amusing and more immature, annoying, repetitive, and/or wasting other characters' (and the audience's) time. I realize, though, that the aspects of her character which I don't like are not likely to change any time soon, and that other people may like Pinkie for the same (or similar) reasons that I don't like her. So I feel like I have explainable reasons for not really liking Pinkie; I'm not sure that that would fall under the definition of being "biased", although, regardless, I wouldn't think that forum members have any particular obligation not to be "biased" in their personal opinions of characters in a TV show.

 

I described Pinkie's actions listed in my previous post as eyerolling, and honestly, rolling my eyes (figuratively) is about all I did in reaction. I'm not especially upset about what Pinkie did; really, her behavior in this episode is about par for the course for how she's acted for a while. And to be fair, Pinkie wasn't entirely bad in this episode; for example, it was nice for Pinkie to work with Gilda on improving her scones, her reactions to Gilda trying to help Greta up and to Gilda agreeing to help Rainbow (i.e. "duly noted...except it does") were a bit eyerolling but also gratifying, and some of her facial expressions are amusing.

[Time Shield 402]

I don't think they implied that friendship would fix all the problems, just that it would help give them the push in the right direction towards getting the rest of the problems solved (i.e., they won't start fixing the problems until they can get along better).

 

By the way, did anyone else notice the double meaning of the episode's title?

[Singe 2,109]

This was more of a Pinkie Pie episode than a Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie which it was lead to believe.

 

Though I was cringing at certain moments of Pinkie Pie in this episode. It was too much for me.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Singe

[Luffyiscool 397]

Not seeing the cringe at all, ya'll crazy.
Pinkie has been on fire all season.

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

People are cringing at Pinkies actions?

 

I saw that rope scene with Rainbow Dash and that was hilarious. People think that Pinkie Pie was stupid to throw the rope down, while i think that it was just her being childishly naive. Rainbow didn't exactly say, that she should bind the rope to a rock and then throw it down.

[Luffyiscool 397]

People are cringing at Pinkies actions?

 

I saw that rope scene with Rainbow Dash and that was hilarious. People think that Pinkie Pie was stupid to throw the rope down, while i think that it was just her being childishly naive. Rainbow didn't exactly say, that she should bind the rope to a rock and then throw it down.

Indeed, and she has a history with this.

She didn't secure the rope when they were chasing after Dash in the S2 opener either.

[thepinkapocalypse 72]

Not seeing the cringe at all, ya'll crazy.

Pinkie has been on fire all season.

 

Totally! this guy knows what he's talking about! XD She has been really good this season. people who are cringing at her probably just don't like that kind of humor anyway or they arent  pinkie fans so they just don't  like her in general. Which makes their opinion just an opinion not fact.

 

 

 

People are cringing at Pinkies actions?

 

I saw that rope scene with Rainbow Dash and that was hilarious. People think that Pinkie Pie was stupid to throw the rope down, while i think that it was just her being childishly naive. Rainbow didn't exactly say, that she should bind the rope to a rock and then throw it down.

That's because they either have no sense of humor or they have a biased opinion against her because she's their least favorite.

Edited May 25, 2015 by thepinkapocalypse

[Jeric 46,835]

People are cringing at Pinkies actions?

 

I saw that rope scene with Rainbow Dash and that was hilarious. People think that Pinkie Pie was stupid to throw the rope down, while i think that it was just her being childishly naive. Rainbow didn't exactly say, that she should bind the rope to a rock and then throw it down.

I agree. Normally (with the exception of a certain pearl and purple pone) I can sit back an just enjoy the characters as presented. This season has been remarkably good at nailing how I want to see Pinkie Pie. Pinkie (at least to me) is an instinct driven character. It makes her unpredictable and amusing. Her not tying the rope fits perfectly.

[Batbrony 15,994]

Another bullet point. Death has been undeniably confirmed to exist in this universe.

 

Well, we did see a funeral in the middle of Season 2 in the Hearts and Hooves Day episode, so that's not exactly new.  Not to mention we've seen plenty of older ponies, so I think it was always safe to assume that ponies do indeed die.  But I get what you're saying, the skull of a giant monster is a pretty jarring visual image for a kids show.

OK, welcome back everypony to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews".  This week, we're looking at "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone".  My apologies for the late review, the weekend's just been a bit wonky is all.  So to start, I really liked this episode.  It was our second "Cutie Mark Map" episode of the season (and the first to feature simply a pair of the Mane 6 rather than the whole bunch, a pattern that I imagine we will see repeated this season a few more times), and just like the first two episodes, it introduced us to a really cool new setting, Griffonstone.  On top of that, we got some great bits of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash bouncing off of each other and working together quite swimmingly (at least in the end) as well as the return of none other than Gilda the Griffon!

 

So let's start by talking about the new setting.  I really like Griffonstone for a couple of reasons.  We've never really seen a community in the show that's struggling economically, and by extension has many very apparent social difficulties as well.  It was kind of jarring to see that in MLP, but kudos to the writers for not shying away from showing such an imperfect place.  The history of the city-state (let's call it that, it wasn't exactly defined what kind of kingdom it was, but the griffons we saw at the Equestrian games behaved as Equestrian citizens, and it showed up on the Equestria map as well, so I'm assuming it's a part of Equestria) was very cool as well, and actually didn't do much to threaten previous head-fanon in the brony community, something I as a fanfiction writer very much appreciate.  As I said, the kingdom/city-state seems to be in a very remote part of Equestria, so it's not very hard for fanfiction writers like myself to simply say that this was a splinter group of griffons that simply emigrated to Equestria, while most griffons live elsewhere.  A random tangent, I know, and it probably wasn't intentional on the writers' part, but still, I appreciate it nonetheless.

 

 

Look at that fly charmer of a griffon king! 

 

The aforementioned difficulties facing the community made for an interesting lesson to be learned.  I understand that some bronies are upset with the fact that the episode didn't really address the economic difficulties facing Griffonstone even though it quite clearly showed they exist, but to that I say that the minimal effects of what Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash accomplished clear that up.  The episode did not say that friendship alone is going to solve Griffonstone's problems, and it didn't even show them resolved.  Gilda alone is right now the only griffon there committed to spreading friendship in her community, with the possibility that Greta might join her.  So Griffonstone's salvation is hardly ensured at this point.  What I think the episode was saying was that you cannot let material idols be the foundation, the basis of all unity and harmony in your community.  One can never always rely on material things, they will wither away at some point.  The foundation of a healthy community is that it must be one where the citizens inherently care for one another because it's the right thing to do, not because there's something to get out of helping one another.  Such a community can carry its citizens through the good times and bad.  Is the road ahead of Griffonstone going to be a long and hard one?  Most certainly, and the episode doesn't deny that, or provide all the answers even.  But a good place to start for a community as devastated as that place is is for griffons like Gilda to reteach its citizens what it means to care about something that truly matters, like each other.  Once there's some unity in the community, then it might be able to better start meeting its pressing material needs and once more become a prosperous community as it was before when the Idol of Boreas previously brought its people together.

 

 

Look at all the bronies, Dashie! 

 

Anyways, onto the characters themselves.  Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are always a hoot together; it was very bizarre, more than anything else, to see Pinkie Pie of all characters thinking things through more than Rainbow Dash (though that might've been Rainbow trying to get out of Griffonstone as fast as possible so she didn't have to be around Gilda), but I liked that, it showed Pinkie using her noggin in her own strange way.  Both of them were wildly entertaining, no surprised there, and had great episodes in their own ways, neither really felt OOC at any point for any reason.  It made perfect sense that Rainbow wouldn't want to help griffons or stick around Gilda given her previous experiences with Gilda, but thankfully she came around to seeing they were worth helping fairly quickly as well, and also made up with Gilda quite easily.  Gilda, herself, though probably shined more than any other character in the episode.  Not only did she take the first steps toward becoming possibly a social leader in her community, but we also got to learn about her past of all things (in an adorable flashback no less!).  To put into perspective just how great an episode she had, this was a character who up until this episode I never thought I'd stop loathing, mostly because she made Fluttershy cry in Season One and was just an all around douche in her first episode.  But miraculously, not only was she reintroduced, but the writers also managed to redeem her without it feeling forced in the slightest.  Pinkie Pie taught Gilda about friendship by example, and really, that's the best way for Pinkie Pie to teach things.  She's not so much a words-pony, at least when it comes to delivering lessons, she's a doer, and I'm certain that her treating Gilda just as friendly as she did when she first met her must have left an impression eventually on the stubborn, hotheaded griffon.  Overall, Gilda's redemption impressed me more than any other aspect of this episode's writing and execution, and I'm actually really glad to have seen it happen.

 

 

Buck, these two are gonna get shipped like there's no tomorrow, aren't they?    Ah well, 'tis but the nature of the fandom, I suppose

 

Not much else to say about this one.  The comedy was great, be it from Gummy, Pinkie, Rainbow, the side characters, whoever.  The animation as always was gorgeous (including those very cool history segments, I liked those a lot).  Overall, another Season 5 episode that hit it out of the park, what else can ya really say but that it was awesome to watch!  We've got a bit of a break now in the season; the next new episode won't be until June 13.  But... what an episode it will be.  Prepare yourselves, everypony, because the next episode... is the 100th episode of MLP.  Oh yeah, 'dis gonna be good. 

 

[Pinkie's Hat 167]

The episode was eggcellent

[YoshiFanGM 48]

To be honest I was happy when I saw Gilda again because I knew something was gonna change about her, and indeed, she was reformed.

 

It's been a while, like four long seasons without seeing her