Ever have a "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING" moment when watching the show?

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

Starting a bit off topic here to credit my source, but I love watching the Angry Video Game Nerd on Youtube. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he reviews old video games with wit, humor, and profound language. He has a catchphrase in most episodes where he says, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING" to the game developers mostly for poor level design.

 

This got me thinking, has there ever been a moment in the show where you sit there and ask yourself, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING" after watching it? That WWTT moment for me was Spike butchering the Cloudsdale National Anthem in Equestria Games. Those glorious 2 minutes were just too unbearable for me to watch. To this day, I am still perplexed that this got past the storyboarding phase of production.

 

Feel free to share your WWTT moments with me. Please don't go with cheap answers like "The whole Equestria Girls Series was a WWTT moment for me" (even though some people feel this way :okiedokielokie:).   

[Howling Voice 77]

That Discord Episode where he excludes Twilight and she thinks its a curse etc.

The message in this episode is actually a good one, the execution of it however, was really terrible.

More than anything it painted Discord as a vindictive asshat. Which in the end sort of overshadowed the message.

[BlackWater627 700]

 

 

That WWTT moment for me was Spike butchering the Cloudsdale National Anthem in Equestria Games. Those glorious 2 minutes were just too unbearable for me to watch. To this day, I am still perplexed that this got past the storyboarding phase of production.

 

So much how I feel. I almost have to mute it and do something else for that scene because it's too painful for me to watch. For me the problem was that it was too well done. The awkwardness of that moment reaches out of the episode and grabs you with cold hands. 

 

Anyways, I guess one of my moments would be when Spike fails the apple pie in Spike at Your Service. Besides the whole episode being counter-character, that scene made me wonder why they would 180 Spike on something very specific that he was long established to be good at. In past episodes, he was a great baker with the mane6 even giving him praise for it. People may have arguments and analysis for that episode but that particular scene just made me pull at the skin under my eyes. How did this get past editing? 

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Everything from Rainbow Falls other than Derpy's return. My mind still boggles at why such a poorly-written, poorly-characterized, and poorly-proofread script was approved and submitted for production.

 

Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Bulk Biceps, and Rarity are at their worst.

 

Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight are flanderized and out of character.

 

Bulk Biceps's characterization was assassinated.

 

Twilight's reasons for Dash to stay with Ponyville disrespect the crown. There are so many better reasons than that, including being struck with guilt, betraying Ponyville, and risking disqualifying Ponyville from the Games.

 

In the episode, the first four teams to cross the finish line qualify. But in the climax, it's a timed qualifier, and FIVE teams qualify?!

 

This whole episode is a complete contradiction of canon and killed the entire Equestria Games arc.

 

But if I had to pick one moment within this episode, it's when Rainbow Dash melodramatically faked her injuries and everyone bought it. No one in FIM is THAT stupid. If their intelligences weren't drained, they would've all caught her immediately.

 

For those wondering, I have a whole review panning Rainbow Falls here: https://mlpforums.com/blog/91/entry-9680-rainbow-falls-reviewanalysis/

Edited March 18, 2016 by Dark Qiviut

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Mysterious Mare Do Well:  The Mane 6 being the Mysterious Mare Do Well and doing the same thing Rainbow was doing and then playing it off as a good thing about teaching her a lesson.  Seriously WTF?

 

Magic Duel: Trixie taking over Ponyville and enslaving everyone and then only apologizing to Twilight. Oh and nobody except Twilight being able to stand up to the corrupted Trixie. And just what the heck was up with Fluttershy in this episode? Oh she'll stand up to a dragon when her friends are in trouble and go into the wood to rescue some filly, but going to her friends house to stop a dictator is too scary all of a sudden?

 

The Cutie Re-Mark: I could probably list this in it's entirety but that ending. Make Starlight's backstory incredibly weak, then give a friendship speech and make her completely reformed oh and now she super friends with the Mane 6 in less than two minutes and expect us to buy it. WWTT indeed.  

[Swifty 249]

I had this moment so many times, i can't count them. I don't want to rewatch the episodes to call those moments by name, especially in Season five.

[Cirrus. 1,088]

So far I've had that feeling only a few times out of 100+ episodes to a degree.

• In "What About Discord?", Discord was pretty much just harassing Twilight. All I could think was, "go home Discord, you're drunk "bored",  I guess? I get what the writer was going for, but it just wasn't executed well. I didn't find Discord very entertaining, and I usually always do. He wasn't creating chaos here, he was just being an ass. Another thing is that I think some young viewers are going to be lost as to what's going on. All in all, a mind game episode not written well.

 

• Another episode is "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". I got what the writer was going for in this one too, I just think the plan of the other 5 was a little mean spirited and contrived. There are better ways to address the issues with Dash in that episode than what they did. Again, a mind game episode not written well.

 

• "Spike At Your Service" is an episode I have a problem with for a different reason. Overall I thought it had its entertaining parts, but it had issues. From what I gathered initially, Spike was bored and made the dragon code up as an excuse to get some tasks to do. Fine, it seems like something an 8-10 year old child might come up with. THEN Applejack tells Twilight about her concerns and it turns out that THE DRAGON CODE is actually a thing as confirmed by Twilight. That idea just doesn't mesh with how we've seen dragons elsewhere in the show in my opinion. 

 

• "Twilight's Kingdom" I thought this was a pretty good two parter, except I think the writers and animators were eating/drinking whatever this guy does...

They definitely went ALL OUT, which was pretty entertaining.

 

BUT...

 

Remember this?!?!?

 

... NOPE, ah don't remember that one at all.

 

 

(Derpy in cute voice) YEAAHHH!

 

 

 

There are some other episodes that I just don't find all that interesting, but overall I think they've done a good job considering the demographic limitations and the fact that they usually only have 22 minutes to work with. I'm still watching the series, so it hasn't melted my brain yet.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Cirrus.

[KatonRyu 1,026]

Man, I haven't watched James's videos in ages. I really should rewatch them sometimes.

 

On topic, I would say I currently have two.

 

One is in Rainbow Rocks. They pony up when they play music. Why? It makes no sense and it's never explained despite its obvious relevance to the plot. Out-of-universe I understand them, I really do, because they were probably mandated to have a battle of the bands and this is an easy way to do it. But they didn't even give a token explanation of it. Worse, they even mentioned that it was weird, and then proceed to immediately say 'who cares?' This is one of the central plot points of the movie, and they just didn't bother. What were they thinking?!

 

The second one is Starlight Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer is IMO the scariest MLP villain thus far because of how realistically her brainwashing was portrayed. She's charismatic and clever and really sinister. All of this is entirely fine. Then comes the season final. First, she alters a spell made by Star Swirl the Bearded and figures out how to tie it to the Map, which is still largely a mystery to even Twilight and the other Mane Five. Then she fights Twilight equally in the past, and then when we finally hear her backstory, it's laughably weak. How did Starlight get so powerful? How can she fight with Twilight, who is literally magic incarnate? Why is her backstory so weak? It could have easily been done better as I and others have mentioned in other threads. How she got to be so powerful might yet be explained, but the backstory seems to be something we're stuck with.

[SilverStarApple 849]

Spike screwing up... pretty much anything too important to screw up. Anything he'd be likely to practice. Anything the writers threw in for cheap "SPIKE SUCKS LOL" HUMOUR.

[Luminance 2,181]

To me, it was Slice of Life. I watched the episode before joining the fandom so I didn't get any of the references.

[EQ_Theta 414]

Spike at Your Service in general. The way the characters were written, especially Spike, was cringeworthy at best. Kinda leaves me wondering how the writers treat the little guy as a lead character given his track record for episode quality. And then Princess Spike as a sort of successor to cringeworthy Spike episodes. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

The Cloudsdale Anthem was one of the worst for me...

 

Also...Rainbow Falls was pretty cringy...except Derpy's return. 

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

A lot of moments where the show beats on poor Spike tends to illicit a "The hell were they thinking?" We have the cringe inducing Cloudsdale Anthem, most of, if not all Princess Spike, him suddenly becoming useless in Spike at Your Service, and I could go on...

 

Oh, then there's the fact they made Daring Do, an Indiana Jones expy from an in-universe series of adventure novel, into an actual character and her books as an autobiography of her adventure. Equestria may be a weird place that has had potential world-ending events happening every other month, but I find Daring Do being real hard to believe.

 

Also, Make New Friends, But Keep Discord. ALL OF IT!

[Megas 27,050]

I'm gonna echo everyone who said MMDW. Hypocrisy of the worst kind

[Stasis 39]

The Cutie Remark: That wasteland scene. Besides confirming the fact that Starlight is a villain sue it has loads of Unfortunate Implications when you think about it like the world being utterly dependent on the Mane 6. Combine this with Starlight Glimmer's redemption and it probably killed it faster than her backstory.

 

I might not speak for everyone here but when I see Starlight showing remorse or having nightmares about what she's done I would not want to be reminded of this scene. She has the type of remorse which will make you despise her.

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

Rainbow Falls: Most widespread OOC-ness ever.

 

The Cutie Re-Mark: Starlight suddenly being OP out of the blue, and her backstory making me go, '...That's it?'

Edited March 18, 2016 by A.V.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

"Hey lets establish a character that was born at the same time the elements of harmony got their cutie marks, has mysterious origins of where his egg came from, literally chews through diamond as a source of food, can swim through lava like its your average day at the pool, has this strange connection with greed making him grow immensely large.......and do absolutely f*ck all with him. Actually-- stick him in an apron and smack him with a few doors, this character clearly has no potential" 

 

:okiedokielokie:

  :diamondtiara:

 

On behalf of Spike...What are they thinking!?   

[cmarston1 5,951]

All of Starlight Glimmer's character redemption.

After all of the horrible things the fact that the show expected us to forgive her in a grand total of 5 minutes does not sit well with me.

It doesn't help that there is barely any details given to her backstory either. Leaving a lot of questions that haven't been answered.

Because of that it ended up becoming a really weak backstory and my least favorite villain reformation from the show.

 

Besides that there was the whole EQG climax and how abrupt and random it was, but I actually found it to be really visually pleasing and it had a nice callback in Friendship Games, so I can't say that it really hurt my enjoyment of the film very much.

Although it really wasn't set up very well.

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Two major WWTT moments in Friendship Games:

1. The fact some of the participants had to perform motocross without evidence of a license and not even practicing for the event. No, no, no, HELL, NO! Motocross is one of the world's most dangerous sports; one mistake can paralyze or kill you. As a sport, motocross demands respect. The script doesn't respect it whatsoever.
2. During the motocross leg, tentacle-like monsters appear. Rather than calling off the race and immediately evacuating everyone, what do they do? Focus on the race. We're supposed to believe that the race is more important than everyone's lives on the pitch.

The only reasons this STUPID(!) idea exists are it looks cool to the audience, and we gotta have 'em toys. *facehoof* Oy! It's the worst idea I've seen in the main series since villainizing the WB in RF.

 

The rest of the film up to and after these is bad already. But these two moments turned it into a pile of garbage that deserves no praise.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,233]

Two friggin' words:

 

Time. Travel.

 

Whereas the first instance of time travel in show was used in a funny way that tied into the moral, the use in the season 5 finale was one that I just hated. Time travel and timeline alteration opens up too many cans of worms than what it is worth, so I really don't get why they went with that. Still, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, even if I still did not like the finale much. 

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

Tanks for the memories. Almost everything about that episode was a big "what were they thinking?" to me. The fact that she had that idea to stop winter, the fact that she actually decided to do that, the fact she tried to destroy the weather factory, that little scene in which I thought Tank was going to die, the "winter is coming" scene, and the crying in the end, which made me feel bad that I couldn't feel bad about a main character crying... But I guess the song was catchy, and also Fluttershy had a cool moment, and that's it.

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Three Celestia moments:

1. The Crystal Empire: A kingdom is revived, and there's a brooding evil waiting to eat it up. She assigns Twilight to protect the empire from him. Why? As a "test."
   
   To quote my rant:
   

    

   WHY THE FUCK SHOULD PROVING THE ABILITY TO LEAD HAVE TO REVOLVE AROUND PLAYING GAMES WITH INNOCENT LIVES?!!

   I hate TCE the most just for this, and the Twilicorn arc completely died thanks to this "reason."
    

2. Twilight's Kingdom demonstrated some of the worst leadership skills I've ever seen in a cartoon.
   
   a. When Tirek is revived, she summons Discord to follow him while having ZERO backup plan.
   
   b. Why did the AliTrio decide to donate their magic to Twilight? Because they believe Tirek doesn't know that a fourth alicorn exists.
   
   ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
   
   Discord allied himself with one of the worst villains in all of Equestria. For all they know, Discord already told him Twilight exists. And to make it worse, they warn Twilight NOT to tell her friends. The only reason this harebrained logic exists is to make Twilight look better and pit her alone against Tirek.

Of all the two-parters that force Twilight to fend for herself, Twilight's Kingdom and TCE execute it the worst.

[Jaxsie (Inactive) 1,343]

This...

 

*shudders* Who thought that this was a good idea?

 

[Stasis 39]

Three Celestia moments:

• The Crystal Empire: A kingdom is revived, and there's a brooding evil waiting to eat it up. She assigns Twilight to protect the empire from him. Why? As a "test."

   

  To quote my rant:

   

  I hate TCE the most just for this, and the Twilicorn arc completely died thanks to this "reason."

• Twilight's Kingdom demonstrated some of the worst leadership skills I've ever seen in a cartoon.

   

  a. When Tirek is revived, she summons Discord to follow him while having ZERO backup plan.

   

  b. Why did the AliTrio decide to donate their magic to Twilight? Because they believe Tirek doesn't know that a fourth alicorn exists.

   

  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

   

  Discord allied himself with one of the worst villains in all of Equestria. For all they know, Discord already told him Twilight exists. And to make it worse, they warn Twilight NOT to tell her friends. The only reason this harebrained logic exists is to make Twilight look better and pit her alone against Tirek.

Of all the two-parters that force Twilight to fend for herself, Twilight's Kingdom and TCE execute it the worst.

Actually thinking about it now didn't Twilight ignore her lesson from The Crystal Empire in Twilight's Kingdom?

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Oh....lots.  But I'll narrow it down to just a couple.  Daring Don't.  I can't believe they thought that making that universe real was a good idea.  It completely ruined what made Daring Do special.  Daring Don't doesn't exist in my mind.

 

But really, I think the lowest point of the entire show, the one and only thing that I've ever had a serious problem with, was the letter at the end of Pinkie Keen.  I can't even watch that episode.  There's lots of little things to pick at in this show, but imo, every single grievance pales in comparison to that letter.  It was the only thing in the show that was actually harmful to real life, imo.  Luckily, it was a one time slip up (even The Simpsons made a similar blunder early on), and Dr. Hooves cleaned up the mess in Slice of Life.

 

And just to ruffle @Chuckles4lyfe's feathers, I'll say the entire EG series as well.  WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!