S05:E14 - Canterlot Boutique

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

It took this screencap for me to realize that she has a cutie mark OF HERSELF. I'm assuming she's either famous, or absurdly self-centered.

Yeah I noticed that too and thought the same thing. It's interesting to know a cutie mark of yourself can exist in canon.

 

 

 

Pinkie was on point as she has been this entire season. They really must of took notes on all the bad reception Pinks got from season four.

. I fully agree with you about Pinkie. I think Amy Keating Rogers is extra careful with Pinkie after people complained about " Fili Vinli" 

 

It says the "Goth Pony" was Andrea Libman and the fat pony (I'm assuming, I'm not 100% sure on it) is listed in the credits as "Nasal Pony" voiced by Cathy Weseluck.

Ah yeah now I see. The credits went by on TV so fast that I didn't see that LOL. Andrea does a good job sounding like Maud. 

[Truffles 2,033]

 

 

Yeah I noticed that too and thought the same thing. It's interesting to know a cutie mark of yourself can exist in canon.

 

Indeed, and I wonder what her parents thought when they saw their own daughter's face as her cutie mark?   OTOH it's so large I wonder now if she didn't paint over her real cutie mark with one of her face and star? Either way, she seems to be overly self-important.

[The Nth Doctor 658]

Where's Coco?

 

This would've been a great episode to have her stop by and tell us what she's been up to

 

Maybe she'd recognize Sassy from her time with Suri

 

Plenty of Fic fodder in this episode

[Thaliel 116]

Sooooooooooooooo, basically, this episode meant to critizise mass production?

 

The running gag with pinkie's cupcakes seemes unnecessary

[Princess Book Horse 352]

I didn't realize that Spike was in this episode until a re-watched it. Seriously, he was even less important here than he was in "Bats!"

[Jangocoolguy 433]

...

 

I'm gonna be honest with you guys: I found it to be a mediocre episode with some good stuff thrown in, mainly "Rules of Rarity" and in the last few minutes with the colorful minor characters (for minute there I thought Tara had broken out the Raven voice!).

 

I thought it was a fairly bland episode. To be fair, coming after such an eventful, adventurous, fanservice (not that kind!) filled episode like "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" can't be very good for a SoL episode and we should approach it with an open mind, but...most of it was just so dull to me. Not to mention overly familiar, as the moral felt like things we've had before.

 

Also...what's up with how Amy K. Rogers writes Pinkie?

 

Sometimes she writes her at some of her best, then others she's at her all time worst!

[LeafFerret 3,382]

I sort of felt that this episode could've been written better, I just thought that all the other episodes of S5 felt like the writers tried to make it into a completely different cartoon compared to previous seasons where this episode sort of was forced to have some sort of elements of MLP in it where in the other S5 episodes, it had very little elements of MLP.

 

I just thought that might've been a bad idea for this episode considering that the show now has to compete with other cartoons showing now compared to what it was in 2010/11. I guess I'm the only one who can admit that.

[Lexamena 391]

First off, SOOOOOOOOOO happy that ponys are back!! F that hiatus!

 

While Rarity is not one of my favorites, i liked this episode. The story line was perfectly fine, it fit into the season progression just fine, all the characters were great in my opinion, the morals were fine. I thought the pacing was good. I'm not that big on musical numbers, so I could've lived without that.

 

A couple of things I could mention are that 1, Sassy Saddles successfully gave off the experience vibe, and I felt like it made Rarity look a bit out of touch or naive about fashion in the big city, which I didn't like. Though her expertise certainly won out at the end, thank goodness. Also, SS's horn and body design bothered me some but I loved her multicolored mane.

 

And 2, I loved all the fresh new background ponies. Lots of new color combos, hairstyles, and cutie marks. I get it that the canterlot population is more fixated on outward appearance so it went over very well to me. The mare with the stacked angle bob mane totally made me want to cut my hair again. I rocked that style for years. I'm tired of seeing the same old background ponies, so I guess I should say I like it when the mane 6 gets out of Ponyville. But even still, there were fresh ponies in this episode that I've never seen in canterlot before.

 

Oh ya and I thought that there were several shots that will def become memes in the near future.

 

Overall, thumbs up from me.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Lexamena

[Notachangeling 101]

I loved it, best episode evea 10/10. 

 

Okay seriously though I loved this episode. Not just cause it means the drought is over, though thank the sisters for that. But also because it features Best Pony, being Best Pony. I loved the new outfits, the new Background characters, and Sassy. Well I didn't 'love' her per Se but she grew on me and I'm glad she turned around at the end. 

 

Also yes, Wtf with the fat pony at the end. Massive Wtf. I was yelling at the screen: 'Wth is that?!' 

 

Now I want Goth Pony Plush. 

 

Also apprently it's been confirmed that Goth Pony and Happy Pony are sisters. So their like Proto Celestia and Luna. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Notachangeling

[glitterbomb 162]

was anyone else kind of shocked by the fat joke they made at the end? it isnt very pony to laugh at fat people 

The episode was good- I suppose, it was as good as it could have been. My interest in MLP was admittedly dying (as I have discovered shows I love so much more), but this has once again grabbed my attention and made me remember why I love this show so much. The supporting cast was great, Rarity truly shined in this episode, the song was decent enough, and the dresses were beautiful. I know that if I could, I would wear each and every one of them. There was nothing really wrong with this episode- nothing I would have liked changed. 

It's very interesting to finally see another one of the mane 6 achieve their goals/destiny. It was always, at least in my mind, endgame that Rarity would go to Canterlot and open a boutique. I did believe she was going to move there near the ending of the show, but I do like the idea that she wants Ponyville to be her base of operations. I want to see where she'll go from here- Rarity achieved her goals, so what is there for her now? Will she open more boutiques, will she become an even more famous fashion designer? These are questions I would very much like answers to, but I'm sure I won't get them until later on.

Sassy Saddles- I think her name was- was a good character in her own right. I'm very pleased that the writers didn't make her this throwaway character, this bad guy that ruined Rarity's boutique and wanted the store for herself or etc, etc. Though at first I must admit I did think it was headed towards that direction. I would like to see more of her, and I wonder if we're going to have more "Rarity and Sassy" episodes in the future. 

I admittedly came out of the episode shipping the Luna and Celestia dress wearers. I actually drew a piece of fanart before I scrapped it, haha.

One thing that caught me off guard was the overweight pony at the end of the episode. Don't get me wrong, I love to see diversity in characters, but it was just out of nowhere. She seemed more like some gag rather than a character. Unfortunately, I've already seen plenty of jokes made at the expense of her weight- art depicting her as the 'princess of bacon', saying things like: "Woahh what a fat whale.". 
Yikes.

As someone who's struggled with her body image for years and has had every fat joke in history hurled at her, the way that the fandom is treating the character is rather uncomfortable to me. But what can you do about it.

Overrall, the episode was likeable. Can't wait for the next Rarity episode (I'm finishing up my fanart of Rarity in her beautiful detective outfit)!

 

8 million brohoofs to you. It's so unlike this fandom to make fun of somepony for being overweight. Where's the love man?

[Ruddboy Olaf 10,628]

I admittedly came out of the episode shipping the Luna and Celestia dress wearers. I actually drew a piece of fanart before I scrapped it, haha.

They're sisters,unfortunately.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Mystery

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, this episode seemed pretty average - nothing really great, nothing too terrible. In general, the episode did seem to drag a bit, and watching Rarity meekly and repeatedly take punishment from Sassy, customers, etc. was painful to watch. I think both Rarity and Sassy Saddles were partially at fault in the episode, although I'm not sure how much either of them ultimately learned by the end.

 

The major conflict of the episode seemed to be not enough planning and/or communication between Rarity and Sassy, and both of them not acting properly in an employer/employee relationship. As an example, at the grand opening of Canterlot Carousel, Sassy repeatedly seemed to "step on Rarity's hooves". Sassy took it on herself to announce the grand opening, levitate the dresses around the audience, rename and introduce the Princess Dress, and take orders for it. It looks as though Sassy overstepped her role and tried to take some of the glory for herself. However, I can't help wondering how much Rarity discussed the planned logistics of the grand opening with Sassy. Did Rarity in fact say whether she wanted the dresses to stay on stage, how Twilight and the Princess Dress would be announced, whether orders would be taken at the grand opening, etc.? Some of the conflict (though not all) could have arisen from insufficient planning of the grand opening, or insufficient communication of Rarity's plans for the grand opening.

 

After the grand opening, while Rarity does communicate some of her displeasure with what Sassy did, Rarity doesn't really punish Sassy or restrict her role, but rather, lets Sassy dominate the discussion and get the better of her. And this continues to happen throughout the rest of the episode: Sassy and her "pattern" are allowed to dominate, and Rarity more or less meekly accepts it, until eventually she asserts herself and orders the closing of the Canterlot Carousel. Obviously Rarity could have pushed back and not let herself be treated as lesser or inferior by Sassy when Rarity is the employer, owner, and dressmaker.

 

Rarity also may not have done her due diligence as an employer when she first hired Sassy. Rarity says that when she saw Sassy's resume working in all of the finest boutiques in Canterlot, Rarity hired Sassy right on the spot. But later, Sassy is desperate not to close Canterlot Carousel because she worked too hard for this and she couldn't be part of another failed boutique. That implies that Sassy was part of at least one failed boutique. Did Rarity investigate why Sassy stopped working at all of these finest Canterlot boutiques? What happened at the failed boutique(s) that Sassy played a part in? Perhaps Rarity needed to find out more about Sassy's previous employment history before hiring her.

 

Additionally, multiple times in the episode, Rarity is shocked and angered by the next step in Sassy's "pattern" for success of Canterlot Boutique, which makes me wonder whether Rarity has even seen Sassy's entire "pattern". For instance, Rarity is seemingly horrified by the idea of assembling an assembly line for the Princess Dress, and never having to sew again, but why wasn't Rarity already aware that this was the final step in Sassy's "pattern"? If the "pattern" involved ultimately making the dresses on an assembly line, why not plan to do that from the beginning, rather than having Rarity personally make 200 Princess Dresses first? Did neither Sassy nor Rarity think it important for the two of them to sit down and go through Sassy's "pattern" prior to implementing it?

 

Speaking of Sassy's "pattern" and it differing from Rarity's expectations, probably one of the biggest issues in this episode is that the business model of Canterlot Carousel is not well-established. I think @@colt .45 made some good points about this. Is Canterlot Carousel a shop where Rarity produces garments tailor-made to individual ponies? Do ponies come to her with some general ideas of what they'd like, and then entrust Rarity with applying her artistic vision, etc. to fill in the details and make the final product? Does Rarity make unique dresses ahead of time, and then ponies walk in to Canterlot Boutique and buy them off the rack (i.e., like what ponies were doing at the going-out-of-business sale)? Or were the racks with dresses displayed on them originally intended as just demonstrations of her work, and not necessarily to be sold? Does Rarity make multiple copies of dresses in her collections, or is each collection a one-time production? I don't know what Rarity had in mind for how Canterlot Carousel and her business in general were supposed to work. Perhaps Rarity needed to better plan how exactly Canterlot Carousel would operate, and clearly communicate that to Sassy before she began implementing her "pattern", marketing the shop, taking 100 orders for the same dress at one time, etc.

 

At the end of the episode, I don't feel like Sassy has really "earned" Rarity's forgiveness (as demonstrated by the two of them even hugging each other) and just keeping her post as manager of the Canterlot Carousel with no questions or caveats. At that point, Sassy hasn't really done anything different. All that had happened was that Rarity opened for the going-out-of-business sale and interacted with some customers; for all we know, Sassy just watched from the balcony and didn't participate at all. Sure, Sassy said she was sorry, and said that she understands the "Rules of Rarity", but I would think Rarity would want to see that demonstrated before completely forgiving and trusting Sassy.

 

Finally, some people seem to have taken the lesson of the episode to be something about how mass production is inherently bad, because it leads to artists/creators/etc. compromising their visions and creativity, because mass produced goods are soulless and only made to rake in obscene profits, etc. But that's not how I see it. In the episode, I don't think the main issue was that it was inherently bad to produce a large number of Princess Dresses (setting aside that Rarity shouldn't have been making all those dresses by herself in a short period of time). Rather, the lessons I see in this episode are that a potential new business should be well-planned out ahead of time; that the employer/owner of the business should clearly communicate (and discuss, if need be) the goals and expectations with employees, especially ones like managers who will be taking on a lot of responsibility; and that the employees, while they can take initiative and make suggestions for improvement (particularly after showing that they are dependable and can be trusted), should ultimately respect the wishes of their employer and not overstep their roles.

 

Now, for my remaining miscellaneous observations:

 

Pinkie says that the strawberry cinnamon cilantro flavor combination sounds just as bad as it tastes, but if it sounds bad, then why did she make it? And of course, after describing and demonstrating that they taste bad, why would she offer some to Rarity? It's just Pinkie being stupid, I guess.

 

Twilight says that Sassy's attention to detail is truly impressive, but on what basis is Twilight making that comment? All that Twilight had seen Sassy do at that point is say that she laid out a plan for Canterlot Carousel to guarantee success - Twilight hadn't even seen what the plan was yet.

 

Apparently, according to Sassy's market research, Twilight is the "hot new princess" in Equestria, and the most popular princess in every poll Sassy took. When did this happen? What has Twilight done to become so popular? And because of this supposed popularity, making a gown based on Twilight's coronation and having Twilight model it makes the orders for it just fly in. But why? Have most of the residents of Canterlot actually gotten to know Princess Twilight much, if at all? As far as we've seen, Twilight rarely spends much time in Canterlot, and even when she does, she doesn't seem to be spending much time with the elites or with Canterlot residents (except for a few special events like the Grand Galloping Gala). We also haven't seen Twilight performing many ostentatious royal duties of the type that we might expect Canterlot residents to be impressed by. In short, Twilight doesn't really seem well-connected to Canterlot, as Celestia and Luna would be, and for the most part, Twilight doesn't really act like royalty, even if she technically is. So it seems especially shallow for Canterlot residents to herd together and all buy one particular dress solely because it's related to and modeled by Princess Twilight, whom they likely barely know and may have only seen a handful of times. But I don't know, maybe that was the point and all this was intentional meta-commentary.

 

Rarity is so excited about opening the Canterlot Carousel that she says "Somepony pinch me!", but is that really something that Equestrians do? Is it common for ponies to pinch each other - maybe with magic, if not their hooves? That just seems like an idiosyncratically human phrase for Rarity to be using.

 

Apparently Sassy was able to write down 100 orders for the Princess Dress in a little over 20 seconds.

 

Rarity tells Sassy that she doesn't want her friends helping her to make the Princess Dresses, which is understandable, but could Rarity have found some temporary hired help with filling the 100 orders? I don't know, maybe Rarity doesn't like to work with others on making dresses, maybe she just doesn't trust someone else to make the dresses the way she does, or maybe she makes her dresses in such a way (i.e. eyeballing things, not making measurements of every detail, etc.) that she couldn't easily dictate the process to someone else.

[FlootahBabby 265]

It was a GREAT episode, I think it might be in my top 5 favorite episodes of season 5 so far.

It shows how responsible Rarity is and makes an example of the struggle of being a creative person when someone is admired by only one of a person's work.

A fantastic song! It reminds me of circle of light for some odd reason.

Even as a Fluttershy fan I could say that Rarity is tied for the most responsible in the group (with Applejack).

This episode really reminded me how amazing Rarity really is. <3

But where was Sweetie Belle during all of this? And Spike didn't flirt with Rarity once? That confuses me.

Edited September 13, 2015 by FlootahBaby

[Blaze Bronson 343]

I feel like we have seen this episode before. I am disapoint.

 

At least we got so see more of Rarity's passion.

How she likes to see other ponies be amazed by her creations, and making them happy to wear what makes them feel comfortable.   :grin2:

[PittyPaws 118]

I loved some of the ponies in that episode and the song was good too. Also, don't forget.

Wait a minute. Is her cutie mark her own face on a star? Why would somepony have their own face as a their cutie mark? Is this supposed to mean that she is self involved? 

[EVBP 94]

I saw on Equestria Daily that the heavyset pony at the end was being dubbed "Diabetty".

 

First off, I am a type 1 diabetic, and even I thought this was kind of a funny/silly nickname. That being said, I think if that name were ever to catch on, it would enfore the stereotype that bigger people are either diabetic or at risk for diabetes. I also the name "Sponge Cake" suggested. I think that one is cuter and a much more politically correct fit.

 

Also, is there an official name for the gothic pony? I was thinking "Night Shade" would be good, but then I discovered that that was the name of a G1 pony. How about "Raven", for obvious reasons?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufjlJQCWmrk

[Will Guide 21,357]

I thought it was a calm return after the previous episode. That stallion who writes for that magazine and those two mares who loved the day and night Princess dresses were very enjoyable!

[Luffyiscool 397]

I saw on Equestria Daily that the heavyset pony at the end was being dubbed "Diabetty".

I thought we were going with "Woah Nelly", which is the name she's tagged with on derpibooru?

 

Also, is there an official name for the gothic pony?

I think the new ponies were left nameless for the sole purpose of the fandom naming them,

which will then probably become their canon names.

 

As for Goth pony, a popular name so far has been "Moonlight Raven".

[LHfunk 422]

Dear Sassy Saddles,

Thank you for making me like Rarity a little more. She never seemed very interesting a character and was annoying and flat. But now she seems like a real character. She's far from my favorite character, but now she's much more likable.

Sincerely,

LHfunk

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Indeed, and I wonder what her parents thought when they saw their own daughter's face as her cutie mark?   OTOH it's so large I wonder now if she didn't paint over her real cutie mark with one of her face and star? Either way, she seems to be overly self-important.

LOL yeah no kidding. Painting over one's cutie mark is an interesting concept we saw Starlight Glimmer use. I am surprised we haven't seen the CMC, especially Applebloom paint a cutie mark on to their flanks but maybe "Cutie Pox" taught them that a fake cutie mark gets you no where. If the cute super obese pony did paint it on I bet it has been washed off by accident multiple times like Starlight's cutie mark was.

 

was anyone else kind of shocked by the fat joke they made at the end? it isnt very pony to laugh at fat people 

 

8 million brohoofs to you. It's so unlike this fandom to make fun of somepony for being overweight. Where's the love man?

See this is what I was afraid of…people getting touchy over the obese pony. I do not think it is a big deal. I respect your opinion as I don't think it is nice to make fun of overweight people at all, but if you ask me, if the obese pony is a gag she is a poke at the popularity of shows about obese people or they are making an irony joke about Canterlot being absorbed with image yet a kind of pony who would be made fun of in our world is not made fun of in the pony world…who knows? No offense to you of course. It could be the obese pony was a flash error they exaggerated for fun with stretching of the animation in the software. The obese pony and the other ponies never say anything offensive about weight. The obese pony is treated like a regular pony.

Edited September 14, 2015 by StitchandMLPlover

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

A decent episode to end the hiatus. Nice seeing more development of Rarity's personality.

[TwistedGear 27]

Not much a fan of rarity episodes however these two:

image.jpg
 

Made it worth it to me. I think Midnight Gloom And Daylight Bloom  could work as names for them, since they're Day and Night themed and they were introduced in the same season as Bloom and Gloom(Aliright, so I picked the names to rhyme and they just coincidentally came out like that) pretty sure that they're already named something at this point. They also might just be Maud and Pinkie PIe in disguise.

Not much a fan of rarity episodes however these two:

image.jpg
 

Made it worth it to me. I think Midnight Gloom And Daylight Bloom  could work as names for them, since they're Day and Night themed and they were introduced in the same season as Bloom and Gloom(Aliright, so I picked the names to rhyme and they just coincidentally came out like that) pretty sure that they're already named something at this point. They also might just be Maud and Pinkie PIe in disguise.

[Cherry_Bloom 165]

I have to say I was a little nervous when i saw that this was going to be a Rarity episode. I love Rarity but I wasn't sure what to expect with this episode. I was pleasantly surprised though! It made me see just how passionate and devoted Rarity is to what she does. And it showed that she loved her work not only for the fashion, but also even more because of how it made other ponies feel to find the dress they had always dreamt of !  To me they didn't really delve very deeply into Rarity's love of fashion as well as they could have up until this episode. I loved the song, i loved that Rarity finally stood up for herself and saw that her boutique could succeed very well as long as she stuck to her way of doing things and worked from her heart and not from a bit purse. I also adored the Luna dress and Celestia dress ponies, they were so adorable!   So was the stallion from Cosmare magazine. And I was kind of shocked to see that big mare at the end. I'm not sure how I felt about it. I always wondered if their were any overweight ponies and now that question has been answered for me. And while Sassy Saddles and Rarity didn't do anything to make fun of her or anything like that i feel like the brony community has in a way begun to do so, dubbing her names such as Whoa Nelly and Diabetey. Being overweight myself it makes me remember all the times I myself was picked on.   I hope it doesn't become acceptable. Aren't we a fandom that promotes love friendship and tolerance for all? Does that exclude overweight ponies?

[Buck Testa 5,505]

They're sisters,unfortunately.

Even if that were the case, the ship will still probably happen. There are always those "wincest" shippers after all lol. 

 

 

 

See this is what I was afraid of…people getting touchy over the obese pony. I do not think it is a big deal.

 

Obese pony should never of happened in my opinion. It was shoe horned in at the very end to deliver a joke any, and I mean any, background character could of delivered. This looks way worse than the Derpy debacle ever did, and it could come back to bite hasbro in the butt. There was no reason for her even existing, its not like we haven't had overweight ponies before, and those were handled way more tastefully than her design was. She wasn't just fat, she was grotesque, and clearly made to be a gag, and not even a mildly funny one I might add. I'm not saying weight based humor can't be funny mind you, Gabriel Iglesias made a comedy career around it, but this wasn't funny. When offensive humor fails with the humor part, the only thing left is offensive. 

 

[Moonridge 41]

It was a nice episode with so cute parts and a wow!! fat pony at the end was a little funny