S06:E17 - Dungeons & Discords

[BikerDash 24]

Loved it....  On one hand, it reminded me of high school (90s) where the jocks were looking down their noses at all of us headbangers who were into heavy metal, played D&D, and just quit caring what mainstream society thought of us...  

[cider float 2,537]

I've never played Dungeons and Dragons but I always liked people talking and parodying about them in movies and shows like this. I wish they went into more detail with the game rather than it spent on Discord acting up. 

 

And wtf, ogres? Don't ogres have very close human-like features? Ogres along with Centaurs (Tirek) can imply that there is some form of humans around?

 

I think Twilight would also be really interested in Ogres and Oubliettes. Though this did seem like it was parodying how guy's night was just a bunch of guys sitting in front of the television playing Xbox or a PC MMO.

Edited August 28, 2016 by cider float

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

And wtf, ogres? Don't ogres have very close human-like features? Ogres along with Centaurs (Tirek) can imply that there is some form of humans around?

 

Actually Tirek was designed to seem more of a Bull/horse combination to avoid Human-like features..

I'd expect the "Ogres" in this game might have the same sort of treatment

 

Much like how Arimapsi the "Cyclops" was made not as a human with one eye, but as a Mountain goat-like creature..

Edited August 28, 2016 by Aura Dust

[Rare Crypty 4,765]

Yeah, 6th sason is full of original stories. I love it

 

Squizard made my day!

 

Edited August 28, 2016 by Crypty

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

S6 has been such a roller coaster of good and bad that it's got me so nervous before every episode.  I just want it stay good through the end of the movie.  That's all I ask.

 

That said, I am jumping for joy today!  This was spectacular.  Probably the funniest episode of the series for me, and quite possibly the best Discord episode of the series as well.  So much good about this episode.

 

I love how they're developing Discord, but keeping him as a mischievous troublemaker.  He hasn't lost his spirit at all.  Really, they're developing him much the say way they did Q, which is what I love so much.  Spike's characterization was great as well.  Damn, he's really had a lot of spectacular spotlight time now, hasn't he?  That's great, since he's been so poorly handled in past spotlights.  With his role in The Crystaling, Gauntlet of Fire, Changeling, and D&D, this is probably the best season for Spike.  And Big M was cute in this episode.  I like when they include him and give him some depth, rather than forgetting he exists.  I think it's adorable and awesome that he and Spike are buds.

 

Discord was in top form for gags today.  This was absolute perfection.  I laughed out loud far more today than I ever have at a FIM episode before.  Overall, I think this was Discord at his best, though I think I'll still have to give my vote to his standup routine where he made fun of Twi's flying abilities as his number one joke (mostly because of Tia's laugh, though).

 

I'm really glad that it ended the way it did, because throughout the episode I was thinking: if you had Discord as a friend, why the hell would you want to play a board game and not go there in real life?  We play role-playing-games as escapism, to go somewhere in our minds that we can't go irl.  Now, the power of imagination is a great message, but still, being friends with Discord means they can go anywhere, and do anything!  I mean, HOLY SH*T, think of the possibilities!  Why would you not utilize that??!!  But they did it perfectly--they conveyed the message of imagination, but they came to their senses and let Discord make their night more exciting, too.  Oh, and incidentally, that club he took them too, where he did the dance competition--holy crap, that looks like the best place in the world.  I want to go there!  Is that a real place in Equestria?  Where is it??  It's gotta be in Las Pegasus.

 

The premise was great.  The execution was great.  The characters were great.  I initially doubted the potential of the episode when I realized it would not feature the mane 6,  but it worked, and beautifully.  What drew me to this show initially were the dynamic, gorgeous female characters, which are hard to find in entertainment, but I was amazed at how thoroughly engaged I was, which speaks volumes about the show's storytelling quality.  And no shoehorned moral!  How bout that! 

 

What I love most about this episode is the fact that it broke form by featuring only male characters (disregarding the mane 6's departure and arrival and the beginning and end.)  I think this was a great thing to do, and will help to break the idea that girls are only suppose to watch girl characters, and boys are only supposed to watch boy characters.  I would always want the show to be female dominated (that's one of the reasons I love it), but I think it's incredibly useful to show the target audience that they can be enthralled by a male dominated episode within their own show.  What I mean is, the target audience isn't watching Batman, here.  This is their show, their world, but it can be just as good with male characters.  This will help dissolve the prejudices and silly ideas that children are supposed to stick their own kind.  The idea that little boys and little girls don't like each other, and that the opposite sex has cooties, is a completely learned phenomenon.  Children typically have no innate dislike of the opposite sex.  Many children will play with other children of the opposite sex, only to be told later by their peers that they are traitors for conspiring with the enemy.  FIM seeks to break these harmful ideas.  I especially liked when Pinkie & Rainbow joined guys night.  Unless my ears deceived me, they yelled "guys night" at the end, right?  That was fantastic.  This teaches that people don't need to feel excluded based on their sex, and that anyone should be able to enjoy "guys night" or "girls night".  These are loose concepts that shouldn't be literal nor restrictive based on sex.  Case in point, even though I'm male, I've always been highly interested in the types of activities typically associated with "girls night", and always wished I could participate.

 

This seems like a good lead-in for small tangent.  One thing I've long wished for on FIM is an effeminate stallion who fits in better with girls, and wants to participate in girls night.  Due to the course of our patriarchal history, we are treated to ample representation of females breaking traditional gender roles, challenging the ideas of how to be a girl, and showing that girls can do anything guys can.  Rainbow has always served this purpose well.  But society can often be punishing and demoralizing on the effeminate male, such as myself.  I have written many a long post on the unfair double standards regarding women being celebrated for transcending their gender roles, whereas men are typically ridiculed for being feminine.  We need representation of male characters doing traditionally "girl stuff", and being accepted.  Now, this was in no way a grievance about this episode, it's just that the ending with Rainbow and Pinkie got me thinking about it.  I just want it to go both ways.

 

Anyway, that's it.  Smash hit episode.  Loved it.

 

*EDIT*  Oh, I forgot--I did a rant about how I would have rather seen the Griffonstone friendship summit than what we actually ended up seeing.  Now I have to grumble about how I want to see the goodwill tour of Yakyakistan.  If we never get to see Celestia actually doing anything, at least we get to hear about it.  It's better than nothing.  It helps to portray her as a useful ruler.  She seems to actually have a role as an international ambassador this season, which is awesome.  Too bad it's off camera.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Justin_Case001

[cider float 2,537]

Okay now there's going to be tons of Big Mac Skyrim Dragonborn ponification.

 

 

 

FUS RO DAH!

Edited August 28, 2016 by cider float

[ErisPegasus 56]

This episode was...underwhelming, to say the least.

 

The writers stalled for far too long. Discord doesn't warp Spike and Big Mac inside the game until two-thirds of the way through the runtime, and said sequence ends almost as quickly as it began. The bulk of the episode is him sputtering and dragging his feet at the events around him - time which could have been used somewhere else. All of the promos suggested this episode would consist of them playing inside the game, but that barely lasts at all. Instead we see Discord acting like a pedantic child, which isn't the way to endear the viewers to his character.

 

That's my other issue with this episode - Discord is AWFUL. He spends the time attacking and hectoring others who have been nothing but polite to him. His willingness to harm Spike and Big Mac - and his sadistic gloating throughout - made me wonder if he was reverting back to his evil self.

 

This isn't the 'ambiguous' Discord the fandom has built him up as post-reformation; he's literally being a villain here!

 

I think I prefer 'What About Discord' to be honest. At least that didn't hype itself up to the extent of 'Dungeons & Discord'. Unlike many others, I enjoyed simply having an episode of Discord being Discord and Twilight getting jealous. It was down-to-earth, despite having the Spirit of Chaos, and it was great to see him bonding with the other Mane 6 members.

 

But this...? Nuh uh.

 

My attitude to this is identical to Lily Peet's attitude to Crusaders of the Lost Mark. This episode is worse than filler, because it takes a good premise (Discord bringing a board game to life) and wastes it on bad writing. At least filler episodes can be good, even if they don't add to the overall story. But this actively takes away, considering it's likely the only Discord appearance we're getting this season.

Edited August 28, 2016 by ErisPegasus

[Eggy0 103]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.

In my opinion, it's a yet another well written episode with lots of humor to boot thanks to Discord's presence, and Discord is my favorite "villain" (well, not anymore after being reformed) alongside Queen Chrysalis. I kinda felt sorry for him when Spike and Big Mac yelled at him, especially since I know Discord was only trying to have fun and personally didn't find the roleplaying game enjoyable at first (though admittedly he was acting egoistic, which is part of his character, so the guys' reaction is justified).

My favorite parts of the episode would be the "Opposite Dimension" and Discord's entrance at the start of the Guys' Night. The former at first seemed like Discord just inverted the colors and mocked his "opposite personality" only for Fluttershy to go all "Putting Your Hoof Down" (and be horrified of what she's just done after Discord returns the colors to normal), and the latter really cracked me up for some reason.

Also, "Squizard". That's genuinely funny

[Mouse 302]

This episode was so chock-full of laughs that it let me overlook the pacing issues, to be honest. Just a fun endeavor all around.

[manic 121]

While I enjoyed this one more than 'What About Discord?', I still found this episode underwhelming because of one simple thing: Discord. Yeah, him. Every episode involving him focuses WAY TOO MUCH on his antics and far less on the subject matter. I was hoping for an adventure episode where they traverse the lands of the game while Discord is being his stubborn self but slowly comes to like all of it. This was more of, well, random chaos. So for an episode with only Discord doing Discord things, it is 10/10, but it wasn't that. It was an episode with Spike and Big  Mac with a really cool premise. I still enjoyed the episode for what it is, but mostly because of Spike and Fluttershy at the beginning, and some of the Discord jokes worked, but to me, most of them fell flat. Discord episodes have the wrong idea I think. Yeah, he is chaos incarnate and random and prankish, but there needs to be some restraint.

 

It wasn't a bad episode, but for the premise and the potential, it was just disappointing. I feel like there was just so much more potential. I mean, they didn't even get to the game until half-way through, and the whole Discord being stubborn thing at the table went on too long. I will say that I did like the ending though, it was fun looking, I just wish there was more of THAT.

 

If I had ot rate this episode, probably a 5/10. Not bad, not really good, just average.

 

Agreed about Discord being a bit too much focused on, specifically his 'downer' attitude'. I wish they'd stayed in the world more and did over the course of the adventure he finds he's having fun or something. Rather than a usual 'oh ok I'll decide to have fun now' thing.

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

Really enjoyed this one! I always loved D&D parody episodes, even though I haven't played D&D before. (I had some version of it while I was younger, but no one wanted to play ). I enjoyed Spike's character, feels like he gets more adorkable as time goes on, and of course Discord is a blast to watch. Gotta love how Dash and Pinkie joined in at the end too! All in all, really liked this one.

 

PS: Opposite Fluttershy...dayumn. D:

[Vulcan 3,254]

Pinkie Pie

> says she  brought Yeti Food

> Mentions  Yeti eats Ponies O_O

 

Feels like a subtle Pinkamena reference ^ ^

 

Liked the Episode by the way, It was a good one

[Conred 274]

Oh, so much Dislestia fodder this episode.

 

This episode ships Celesticord so hard (sorry Fluttercord shippers).

You mean literal dislestia scene when Discord make fun of Celestia? Because in term of shipping the episode gave even more FlutterCord ship teasing confirming that Discord want to date Fluttershy and go to the beach with just her. Episode also confirm that beside Fluttershy and Mane6 he has no friends, that include Celestia and Luna.

[Soaring Symphony 372]

This episode was okay, but Gravity Falls already did pretty much the exact same thing and did it way better

 

http://www.watchcartoononline.com/gravity-falls-season-2-episode-13-dungeons-dungeons-and-more-dungeons

[Thaliel 116]

Any tabletop player watching this would have squealed in joy. Wasn't it basically going from just using your

to full-fledged LARPing? (maybe minus the actually being outside part)

 

now, if I could just finally find some ppl near me who would help me get into D&D

[Redhatbrony 59]

This is a different episode for me.

I think it's average but nothing special.

For more reasons, view my review.

https://youtu.be/6i5gA-mspes

[Castle Bleck 19,330]

Also, who else liked Spike-as-"Garbunkle"'s magic (turning one giant die into countless tiny ones, freezing a river solid, turning another giant die into practically a Pegasus, etc.)?

Edited August 28, 2016 by A.V.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

This episode was okay, but Gravity Falls already did pretty much the exact same thing and did it way better

 

http://www.watchcartoononline.com/gravity-falls-season-2-episode-13-dungeons-dungeons-and-more-dungeons

 

I think it would be unfair, to compare this episode with gravity falls, since even gravity falls idea isn't original.

 

DnD was parodied 1000 times in movies and television. It would be better to judge the episode by it's on merits.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Dude, that's just monsterous.

 

Knowing Equestria, this game is probably banned. XD

 

But's that what would make it be so fun to watch. XD

Someone should totally make a fanfic about that.

If there were to ever be a follow up to this episode, I would love to see Celestia, and Luna, and all of the mane 6 added to the mix for ultimate chaos.

[weesh 690]

so, in the opening, when opposite fluttershy went all sassafrass on discord, how much of that was her, and how much of that was discords spell?
Once she snapped out of it, she was horrified...but at the same time, it was a completely logical reaction.  Seems like maybe it lowered her inhibitions a bit?

[BrawnyCharger 511]

I would have liked to have had Big Mac have a few more lines in the episode more than just "Eeyup" and "Nope", He is capable of it after all. This would have also been a great chance to include other stallions such as Shining Armor, Cheese Sandwich, Zephyr Breeze, Dr. Hooves, etc.

[Soaring Symphony 372]

I think it would be unfair, to compare this episode with gravity falls, since even gravity falls idea isn't original.

 

DnD was parodied 1000 times in movies and television. It would be better to judge the episode by it's on merits.

Would it really though?  This isn't the first time MLP has had an episode that resembled a Gravity Falls episode which came out first and arguably covered the topic better.

 

 "Northwest Mansion Mystery" is a lot like "Crusaders of the Lost Mark".  Both episodes revolve around redeeming the long standing rich bully character by showing that she had a crappy upbringing and having her do a good deed towards the end.  

 

Also, "Dipper vs Manliness" is a lot like "Dragon Quest".  The plot of both episodes is that the male main character doesn't feel manly enough so he goes and hangs out with a hyper masculine race to learn how to be manly but than realizes how stupid his whole crusade is when the hyper masculine race asks him to kill an innocent creature.  

 

I'm not saying the writers of MLP have been ripping off Gravity Falls, but the parallels are definitely there and it's kind of hard to ignore.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

As a fan of Nick Confalone, i like every eps of his, but this ep isnt his best, sadly. It fell for the same trap of Three's a Crowd, they take too long to the actual meat of this ep, the gameplay. Discord is the one keep this ep away from boring, other characters are just... standard. Overall, there arent nothing wrong with ep, but nothing spectacle either.

 

...Well, i should talk about what i like about this ep:

- Opposite Fluttershy is the best Fluttershy

- Trip to Yakyakistan, continuation of Party Pooped

- Celesticord

- Discord and Fluttershy

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

Would it really though?  This isn't the first time MLP has had an episode that resembled a Gravity Falls episode which came out first and arguably covered the topic better.

 

 "Northwest Mansion Mystery" is a lot like "Crusaders of the Lost Mark".  Both episodes revolve around redeeming the long standing rich bully character by showing that she had a crappy upbringing and having her do a good deed towards the end.  

 

Also, "Dipper vs Manliness" is a lot like "Dragon Quest".  The plot of both episodes is that the male main character doesn't feel manly enough so he goes and hangs out with a hyper masculine race to learn how to be manly but than realizes how stupid his whole crusade is when the hyper masculine race asks him to kill an innocent creature.  

 

I'm not saying the writers of MLP have been ripping off Gravity Falls, but the parallels are definitely there and it's kind of hard to ignore.

 

So what? If it's true or not, i think it's incredibly unfair to judge an episode by these merits, just because another show did them.

 

Lets compare all discord episodes with all the episodes where Q was in star trek next generation in that case. Same thing.

 

Or let us compare King Sombra to Sauron from Lord of the Rings, because it's an obvious reference and that the crystal heart is the one ring of power.

 

Everything was already done in Television

[MLPegasus 4]

Reminds me of the old days...