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S06:E16 - The Times They Are A Changeling


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What did you think of the episode?  

212 users have voted

  1. 1. Did you like it?

    • Times are changing, and I do not approve!
      6
    • Eh, not really.
      2
    • Times have changed. MEH!
      13
    • Could've been better
      39
    • Times are changing, and THAT WAS AWESOME!
      152


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I really hate this episode. Once more they must redeem an antagonist. I know it's a kid show primarily but what lesson are you teaching kids?! Not all cult members are evil?

And yes, I just called the Changleings a cult.

 

Not to mention this episode brings back memories of a group of Bronies who thought they were actual Changelings and bullied and harassed me online. Though I do laugh now because the canon changelings changed and to the total opposite of what they acted like.

 

I mean, I do like the fact Spike was not a comic relief this time. He had an ok song, but the pitch was too high IMO. I hate this episode mainly for the whole "there's actually one good guy in the terrorist cult" now that I think about it.

 

What's next? Pinkie Pie and Rarity make Alozoltol(I butchered it, I know) a good guy because his sad backstory is that he's the last of his kind?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't help but feel the entire conflict could have been resolved in the span of about three seconds if Spike had just gone to Twilight. Despite her reservations regarding changelings, she would at least trust Spike enough to meet with Thorax, after which her nerdy side would probably take over and she'd interrogate him about changeling society. Sadly, they went with the painfully cliché method of having the disguise break at the worst possible time.

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And about time too they revealed to us the mystery of the good changelings. The episode itself was really good, although it disappointed me because I still wanted to know where on earth Queen Chrysalis went and what happened to her. There are no more sights of her in the present so far. Other than that. Excellent episode. Enjoyed it really much- Especially sighting the royal guard ^_^

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  • 11 months later...

This episode was going so well...until that song came out of nowhere.

I just hate that the whole problem was solved with just one song. It should have been more complex than that.

Regardless of the song, it was one of the best episodes of the season.

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  • 3 months later...
(edited)

I liked the Character of Thorax, i liked that the Changelings are back and given a bit more Character and i also liked the concept, just the Climax was disappointing. I thought Thorax would have to save someone from the other Ponys, to prove that he is good but instead all that it took, was a cheesy Song, to convince everyone, that he is nice. And they let him even get near the Baby, just like that. Also i guess, he completely forgot about the Fact, that he cant control himself, when there is to much love around him because for some Reason, nothing happened, when he got the trust and love from all of the Ponys. ( and near the Baby again, unless i missed something )

I liked the Episode for its Concept and Thorax, but i dislike the final scene, so i only like this Episode and not love it.

Edited by Luna Moon
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  • 3 weeks later...

This episode really hits the common phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I really liked the alternate perspective towards changelings. I never before had considered they could become happy.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I liked it. Although, the ending was a bit too sweet and ridiculous. I would've preferred if the reason they began to trust Thorax, was that he saved Spike again.
But, whatever.

BTW, Thorax and his pony form are adorable as all hell.

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  • 4 months later...

So this is a pretty obvious racism analogue. I like a lot of what it sets up, Thorax is adorable, and the stuff about Spike choosing between Thorax and his family is especially powerful. I still kinda think they should have gone even farther and ditched the idea of a changeling changing, as if a changeling needs to change to be accepted... but then, this episode does justify that to some extent, as we see Thorax needs to put effort into not just preying scarily on ponies. As I said before: if even a changeling, who has been made a predator by both nature and nurture, can strive to to good, then so can we all. A few beats seemed rushed this time around, and I find the song really boring, but I still love this one. 

Score:
Entertainment: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Themes: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Overall: 88/100

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  • 4 weeks later...

I like this episode, but there were a few off moments. I think the only reason Spike abandoned Thorax when his disguise broke is because it's a cliche. These kinds of stories have to have one of them abandon the other in their time of need because of social pressure. It's not done badly, but it feels so by the books. And I think the ending should've been more complex than a song convincing everyone that Thorax is good.

Other than that, this was a solid episode.

Score: 7/10

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  • 3 months later...

I love this episode! Everypony, even changelings should get a chance, and this episode delivered that message well. I also liked the fact that Spike got a song in this episode. I don't think Spike sung before, and it was interesting to hear. His pitch was a bit high, but his voice was great and I still liked the song a lot.

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  • 3 months later...

There's nothing that wrong here, but this is way to basic to be that interesting. The friendship between Spike and Thorax is pretty shallow, there aren't any good jokes, the song at the end is way too cheesy, and nothing about the episode stands out. 

Score: 5/10

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  • 1 year later...

In my opinion? One of the best episodes in the series. This episode tackles racism really well, and not only does it introduce my favourite Changeling, but A Changeling Can Change is the one of the most emotional songs in the series. So hate on TTTAC all you want, but meanwhile, I'll be here crying my little eyes out to a purple dragon and a black bug :)

Score: 10/10

Edited by SpittyPie2005
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26 minutes ago, SpittyPie2005 said:

In my opinion? One of the best episodes in the series. This episode tackles racism really well, and not only does it introduce my favourite Changeling, but A Changeling Can Change is the one of the most emotional songs in the series. So hate on TTTAC all you want, but meanwhile, I'll be here crying my little eyes out to a purple dragon and a black bug :)

Score: 10/10

Not going to hate on it - it's a great episode, and one of the few that doesn't nerf Spike.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm going to start adding my comments of episodes as I go through them. Weird place to start but this the first episode recently that has compelled me to comment on it:

So I thought the whole idea of the episode and the return of the changlings was fantastic and the character of thorax great. (I will disclose here that I have heard of this character but I haven't watched past this episode so didn't really know anything about him). The first interaction with spike was well done and Spike acted originally as I would have hoped. Thorax is also really adorable in how he tries his hardest to go against what he's been brought up to do and apologises for stuff that takes a lot of will power to control.

Now I am not angry at how the other ponies reacted to when he revealed himself, it was sudden and there was obviously the awful incedent beforehand. However the fact that Spike didn't stand up a bit more was quite annoying (granted he did hestitate but he didn't seem as friendly as he was before). But the two scenes after that were far too rushed in my opinion, the fact that Thorax so quickly retrusted Spike (and that they managed to get into the throne room without any resistance but that's minor) and for the song to change people's opinion. Surely Spike speaking earlier should have had the same effect. I felt the last few scenes were there to put the song in.

But in my opinion still a great episode just felt they should have shortened the start and the song a bit to add a few more details and interactions between Spike and Thorax.

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1 hour ago, Eniac said:

The first interaction with spike was well done and Spike acted originally as I would have hoped

Yes, we see some great character development here for Spike - who frequently gets unfairly treated by writers.

1 hour ago, Eniac said:

However the fact that Spike didn't stand up a bit more was quite annoying

It's hard to go against your peer group even if you know they are wrong; Twi has been pretty much a big sister to him, and possibly Shiny a big brother. We could have praised him for not hesitating so much, but its understandable.

1 hour ago, Eniac said:

the fact that Thorax so quickly retrusted Spike

Changelings literally absorb love - that implies that they can tell easily if someone is genuinely showing positive feelings towards them, or putting on an act.  But as a side benefit - a changeling receiving genuine affection from others, has no need to feed at all, they can receive passively more than enough to sustain them.  There is a little more exploration of this later in S6 and during S7, but I won't give details as that would be a spoiler.

1 hour ago, Eniac said:

I felt the last few scenes were there to put the song in.

About time Spike had a decent song :)

I feel there was a cascade affect though - Twi was willing to trust Spike's judgement, given how forcefully he argued his case, and that swayed her bother and sister-in-law too. Once all the senior ponies in the room were willing to accept the situation, it is unsurprising the rest of the guards fell into line.

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@CypherHoof Yea I really see your point. I guess it's much easier to put moral codes on people when looking from a third eye view.

I will say that the song was great and yea th fact that spike gets a song is very nice, I just personally felt it was a bit spontaneous (but hey it's a cartoon world spontaneity is everywhere). I haven't seen much interaction with changlings, but the that explanation is a good one. It's probably discussed later but why haven't changelings thought of this before? Either way I look forward to seeing more changelings in the future.

 

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2 minutes ago, Eniac said:

It's probably discussed later but why haven't changelings thought of this before?

Possibly they have, and Cheesebutt has "dealt" with them as heretics.

Fanfic even before this episode aired, had swathes of stories of Changelings that managed to integrate into pony society - some feeding passively like this, and some more actively "vampires". I won't spoil the future episodes for you with details of how the canon develops.... but there are some awesome episodes ahead.

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  • 8 months later...
On 2020-05-12 at 6:44 PM, Eniac said:

@CypherHoof Yea I really see your point. I guess it's much easier to put moral codes on people when looking from a third eye view.

I will say that the song was great and yea th fact that spike gets a song is very nice, I just personally felt it was a bit spontaneous (but hey it's a cartoon world spontaneity is everywhere). I haven't seen much interaction with changlings, but the that explanation is a good one. It's probably discussed later but why haven't changelings thought of this before? Either way I look forward to seeing more changelings in the future.

 

Spike had to go up to an entire group of adults that he loves and respects, then say to their FACES that they are wrong for thinking the way they did about Thorax. That is not an easy thing to do and the fact that he's still just a kid and having this kinda situation forced on him made it very easy to see why he had trouble doing it at first. But even then he instantly regretted it and felt horrible about not standing up for Thorax. Thorax also still trusting him shows even more how much of a good person he was. He had every reason to let Spike fall the second time but he did'nt, because he knows he's a stranger asking a little kid to do something insanely hard. And that's rewarded by Spike using that as motivation to chuck those fears at the door in order to do the right thing. I love his episodes from season 6 onward but this one is definetly the best with Mold down being very close. I felt so proud of Spike for managing to stick up for Thorax in the end and that song is just awesome sorry. Was the ending quick sure, but this show not being a seriliazed one had always been it's biggest flaw but not one that the writers could really do anything about without pissing off the stuffy execs. So it's unfair to hold that against the episode.

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  • 3 months later...

Great episode, I love it. A episode where Spike shines. He even gets a solo song here :mustache:

The topic is great but it's also far to big to be covered in one episode. This could be easily a whole arc of multiple episodes. Due to it's time restraints (one episode) not everything what would one expect could be covered like trying to see if Spike could speak with Twili at first. She has history with the Changelings but at least I would have expected for Spike to try to speak with her at first. This would be most likely not so easy at first. So here could also be some confrontation with Twili moments from season 2. So the plot could be much more here, but this would also mean it would have taken more than one episode. So this could have been more, but I don't hold this against this episode. This episode is for this kind of show really great in my opinion.

 

 

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  • 6 months later...

So this was my last episode for this Mor-night (sleep soon).  I really don't think I could have landed on a better episode.  I think I would have been right there with spike, if put in the same situation, almost the whole way through.  I have no way of knowing yet, but the hints from Thorax toward the end do possibly suggest a future arc .. even if it's a couple episodes.  I suspect if, in the future, Thorax does try what he suggested that it may sway a large portion of them, but surely not ever Queen Chrysalis.

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  • 1 year later...
On 2016-09-18 at 6:56 PM, Rainbow Dash said:

I really hate this episode. Once more they must redeem an antagonist. I know it's a kid show primarily but what lesson are you teaching kids?! Not all cult members are evil?

And yes, I just called the Changleings a cult.

 

Not to mention this episode brings back memories of a group of Bronies who thought they were actual Changelings and bullied and harassed me online. Though I do laugh now because the canon changelings changed and to the total opposite of what they acted like.

 

I mean, I do like the fact Spike was not a comic relief this time. He had an ok song, but the pitch was too high IMO. I hate this episode mainly for the whole "there's actually one good guy in the terrorist cult" now that I think about it.

 

What's next? Pinkie Pie and Rarity make Alozoltol(I butchered it, I know) a good guy because his sad backstory is that he's the last of his kind?

Seems like you predicted Daring Doubt apart from Pinkie and Rarity not being the catalysts there,although that episode’s a whole controversy itself. 
 

Anyway I personally liked it, including the song, although whoever said they forgot about Thorax’s control problem in the end.

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  • 1 year later...

This is a great Spike episode and is a breath of fresh air from the last two episodes. The only thing I’d change is having Spike just outright admit that Thorax is his friend instead of lying and then immediately coming back and singing his song. Although I can understand why they didn’t do that.

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