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

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

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.

There's a reason starlight glimmer is such a polarizing character.

 WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoYWdHe4tQ4

Edited March 19, 2016 by Unlikeable Pony

[bluseymoe 258]

 Every time a Spike episode is announced. 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

 Every time a Spike episode is announced. 

Hah. But how else will they advertise his 40.00 toys?

 

that being said, while I will not dispute that the... quality of spike epsiodes often times leave something to be desired, he IS a very popular character amongst a very large part of the FIM bronies population (just look at the rage storms that pop up on twitter against the writers everytime spike gets an episode with him as a buttmonkey).

[baba_booey 4,299]

One Bad Apple is one episode in particular that had a lot of "wat" moments to me.

I mean, it's bad enough that Babs Seed gets off scot-free just because she was bullied in Manehattan (a very shitty reason that was mentioned at most contrived of moments) and Pinkie Pie's "Veggie Salad" joke wasn't even remotely funny, but the main thing that kills this episode is it's lesson basically saying "If you're being bullied, tell an adult."

Uh.. no, it doesn't work that way. Just because you tell an adult doesn't mean every problem is just going to vanish. For one, the adult probably won't even be able to handle the bully, and even if he/she does get the person in trouble, it most likely won't stop. In fact, it'll just make it worse because they'll think of you as a snitch and cause more trouble towards you. And trust me, I have found articles that have stated kid committed suicide due to bullying, continuing even after he told his parents and teachers. It's for that reason I consider it hands down the worst "moral" in the entire show.

[That Guy with the CMB 5,872]

Episode 100

 

 

Rather than something original, let's just throw together all "our" favorite fandom memes and fanon things and put it in one episode. In fact, since it seems plenty of bronies are also Dr. Who fans, let's put a Dr. Who reference in there. Let's put Vinyl and Octavia in making music. Let's even ship Lyra and Bon Bon in a subtle-but-not-actually-so-subtle-to-anyone-paying-attention way. (Look at the way the caressed each other's cheeks. If it weren't for angry parents who would write in about where they stand on same-sex couples, Lyra and Bon Bon probably would have kissed. Don't you think so?)

[Aurora Storm 83]

What About Discord got on my nerves. It's one of the few episodes I didn't enjoy one bit. Discord can be a jerk at times but her friends should have tried to include her or see that she wasn't feeling good about being left out and told Discord to cut it out.

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

I'm going to go with a slightly unusual one, but one of my WTFWTT moments is from Season 4's Daring Don't. Specifically, the way Rainbow Dash was acting around Daring Do. The worst part is Dash watching Daring Do fighting Ahuizotl's cat minions, and instead of trying to help her out, asks her if she wants her hat back. And then Dash gets held hostage. We went from kicking an adult dragon in the face to damsel in distress.

 

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

Gonna play fast and loose with the topic title:

 

I used to go (quietly, and on the inside), "What were they thinking?" anytime there was a blatant butt shot.  And then, shortly thereafter, I'd go, "Oh, I know what they were thinking."  *Wishes the Dash smirk from "Daring Don't" were an emoticon.*

 

They were thinking:

 

 

Butts are good; can't have too many butts.  What's the first thing I say when I get up in the morning?  "Perfect time for a butt."

 

 

[Claire Alsguard 229]

My WTFWTT moments whould have to be

 

Starlight Glimmer and Flurry Heart.

 

In the case of Starlight.. they made her for no reason at all.. my guess is that they are trying to get brony's/Pegasister's to forget about poor Sunset who worked hard for herself to be redeemed.. while Starlight get's redeemed to in 2 seconds... beat that Rainbow..

 

as for Flurry Heart? well Mimicing Fairy Oddparents is a bad idea and plus it show's the show is gonna die.

[King of Snake 54]

The Cutie Mark Crusaders at the beginning of The Return of Harmony acting completely out of character by having a big argumenbt and actually getting into a physical fight.

[AtomicStone 723]

Just the whole princess spike episode.. Hopefully I'm not the only one that thinks this but this episode was just awful!

[hollow-shades 129]

When Twilicorn became a thing.

 

When Drama Queen Glimmer reseted the whole Equestria because of one friend.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Flinp

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

The Cutie Mark Crusaders at the beginning of The Return of Harmony acting completely out of character by having a big argumenbt and actually getting into a physical fight.

I'd always assumed that Discord somehow magically induced that fight so that he could use their argument to break himself free.

[Rawzy 1,302]

Every single mlp episode I've watched I think that at least once.

[Luminance 2,181]

When Spike was trying to sing the Cloudsdale Nation Anthem. Nopony didn't even bother to react during Spike's sorry performance and not even Twilight. What a bad way to run time down during an episode.

[cider float 2,535]

It's more like "they weren't thinking at all" for me.

[Manman20x6 359]

• Tanks for the Memories: Rainbow Dash does all of these awful things such as undoing everyone's hard work and blowing up a factory, and at the end she gets off 100% scot-free. No one is even aware of what she did. I think TftM is the show's worst episode by far, but if there was just one scene at the end showing Rainbow apologizing, it would have been enough to make it OK, maybe even great.

 

• Slice of Life: the episode is supposed to be humorous, but has no real jokes. All it does it acknowledge that bronies make memes, without using these memes in clever ways. For example, the opening scene's "joke" is that Derpy says "muffin". Sorry, but that doesn't count as a joke. Additionally, there's the problem of new fans who wish to binge-watch the whole show before looking up fan content in order to avoid spoilers. If one isn't familiar with the fandom's in-jokes, the whole episode is just a confusing mess with zero entertainment value.

 

• The Cutie Re-Mark: This episode turned Starlight from the best, most threatening and realistic villain in the show into a pathetic joke. The "backstory" they gave her is far too weak to justify her horrid acts. However, I don't have a problem with her redemption being so quick, because it's made clear that she wasn't actually evil, just misguided, and genuinely wanted to change after realizing the harm her actions caused. The only problem with the episode is the pathetic excuse for a backstory they gave to Starlight, but that IS a very big problem.

 

• The Gift of the Maud Pie: The way they resolved the episode is just awful. Apparently, that pony dude is supposed to be the bad guy, even though he didn't actually do anything wrong. And we're supposed to side with Rarity and Maud, who threaten him until he's in tears and force him to accept a trade when he was clearly happier with his new cannon. I've seen people say "he's clearly a scammer who took advantage of Pinkie" but I didn't see that at all. His trade was fair, and both participants agreed on the terms, unlike Maud's.

[Envy 6,000]

Slice of Life. Do I even have to state it? That episode is so poorly stringed together that even I can tell you it is. The Doctor Who references were so overt, it was too much for a - at the time new - Doctor Who watcher. And the Octavia/Vinyl scene... You don't even want to get me started on that atrocious blasphemy. That should have never been made canon. The whole episode shouldn't have been, but that scene especially.

 

The Season 5 finale contained a lot of these kinds of things, too. Especially the King Sombra scenario. That was by definition bad horribly off-color fanfiction that has no place in the MLP world. But really none of that finale made any sense, and Starlight Glimmer being redeemed was ridiculous.

 

Pinkie Pie in that episode (was it called Filli Vanilli?) where her personality is taken way too far off base turning her into a complete jerk.

 

That scene where Rarity's crush (I forgot his name. Sue me.) fantasizes about Applejack. YUCK. What in the world is that doing in this cartoon?!

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

Got a good one from The Cart Before the Ponies. Thank @PacificGreen for publishing the Derpibooru link here:

 

Not the first time they pulled off contrived cartoon logic for the sake of high-speed "awesomeness."

[Vulcan 3,254]

Why yes...Yes I have...

 

 

Hasbro: Let's replace the homey library with a giant <bleep>in Castle...The fans will love it! <3

[Megas 27,064]

I could list a lot of things, but I'll go ahead and say Newbie Dash in general, simply because I'm still appalled that they thought that was a satisfying conclusion to the show's longest arc

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Got a good one from The Cart Before the Ponies. Thank @PacificGreen for publishing the Derpibooru link here:

 

Not the first time they pulled off contrived cartoon logic for the sake of high-speed "awesomeness."

 

I was thinking the same thing today! I know the Mane Three were being idiots in this episode, but whoever designed the track is an even BIGGER idiot!

[Prospekt 10,984]

I could list a lot of things, but I'll go ahead and say Newbie Dash in general, simply because I'm still appalled that they thought that was a satisfying conclusion to the show's longest arc

 

This. The CMC's first arc ended the season before, which left me with high expectations for future episodes in which a character completes a long arc. Not sure why they didn't just go with what already worked.

[cmarston1 5,951]

Even after redeeming Starlight Glimmer (in an incredibly unsatisfying way) they have barely done anything with her this season.

The "romance" between Big Mac and Marble Pie despite them probably being cousins.

The really unneeded inclusion of Derpy and Vinyl Scratch in No Second Prances that ended up being pretty forced and distracting, and was only there as blatant fan pandering.

 

The idea that the story of Applejack's Day off had enough in it to make a 22 minute episode when it really should have only been 11 minutes.

 

The fact that we got an episode about background props before an actual Celestia episode.

Edited August 7, 2016 by cmarston1

[Thrond 3,257]

I'm generally forgiving of supposed logical slip-ups in this show, as they rarely affects my immersion and, more often than not, make the show more fun. Still, there are points where I've questioned the writers' judgement. In chronological order:

 

1. "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well": The mane six's hypocrisy needs no explanation, but the episode's constant focus on RD embarrassing herself is just as bad, and makes it feel like it just plain hates RD. One has to wonder why an episode seems to go so out of its way to shame one of the show's main characters. 

 

2. "Magical Mystery Cure": First of all, what were they thinking with the whole "destiny" thing? Do these ponies have any control over their own lives? If the mane six don't like what their cutie mark is saying, why can't they just do something else? And then, later, what on earth made the showrunners think they could do Twilicorn the way they did with so little buildup? It's supposed to be climactic, but what is it a climax to? Why does this only relate to one character if that's so? People say this feels like a series finale, but if so, it's a horribly unsatisfying one. 

 

3. "Rainbow Falls": All of it, really. I don't hate this episode like everyone else does, but it just seems like it easily could have been a lot cleaner. Why does any of it play out the way it does? There's so many creative decisions that are actively harmful to what they're trying to do here. This episode doesn't play half as well now that S4's thematic arc no longer impresses me. 

 

4. "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?": The phrasing of that moral. Did they just not realise how potentially offensive telling Luna to get over it would sound? 

 

5. "Made in Manehattan": Sequence where Applejack is fixing the stage. Is that anyone's idea of fun? Why does my brightly coloured small pony cartoon have such a pointlessly depressing sequence in it? 

 

6. "What About Discord?": All of it, but more specifically: Why is the whole episode based around a joke that the audience isn't supposed to understand? Why does this episode both have Twilight descend into hysterics and show Discord to be outwardly malicious? You can't have your cake and eat it too! 

 

7. "Spice Up Your Life": Good episode, but why did they cast white people to do fake Indian accents? That's not exactly okay. 

This...

 

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

 

This reminds me that sometimes, the writers put in weird stuff like this that, while perhaps questionable judgement wise, is absolutely hilarious to me. Three primary examples, including the above:

 

1. "Hearthbreakers": Do they not realize what pairing up Marble Pie and Big Mac like that looks like when they put so much emphasis on Pinkie and Applejack being cousins? They're not even "real" cousins, but goddamn, the episode says it so much that "incest" is still the first thing that comes to mind. 

 

2. "The Cutie Re-Mark": Can't say whether Twilight was supposed to come across like a pedophile in this scene, but she pretty blatantly does, and I've been laughing my ass off for months because of it. 

 

3. "Stranger Than Fan Fiction": I know exactly what they were thinking when they put a tied-up Daring Do body pillow in the background, but I must ask what the censors were thinking when they let that through. That is not particularly child-friendly. At least I had to go out of my way to discover that "The Saddle Row Review" had a drug reference in it. 

 

These are all questionable decisions, but I am so glad they were made, because all of them are some of the funniest things in the show to me. 

Edited August 7, 2016 by AlexanderThrond