S06:E17 - Dungeons & Discords

[Music Chart Fan 818]

One quick observation: It's interesting, and yet a little surprising, to see the lack of consistency among the Mane Six as to what constitutes appropriate clothing for very cold weather. All of them are wearing something, but no single one of them is wearing everything. Applejack and Fluttershy are wearing sweaters that (mostly) cover their front legs, while Pinkie is wearing a puffy vest that doesn't completely cover her front legs, and Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity are only wearing scarves (along with Applejack). Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie are wearing booties, while Applejack and Fluttershy aren't (although Applejack says she has hiking boots). Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie are wearing warm hats, while Twilight and Fluttershy are only wearing earmuffs, and Applejack has no cold weather-specific headgear - just her usual hat. Rarity is wearing some kind of glasses that maybe are supposed to serve as snow/wind goggles, but no one else is wearing anything like that. And finally, none of them see fit to wear pants or anything to protect their rear legs from the elements - I guess, in Equestria, displaying their cutie marks takes higher priority!

 

In contrast, if a group of people were going on a very cold weather camping trip (which seems, more or less, like what the Mane Six are doing), I might think that there would be more agreement about what they would wear - multiple layers of clothes, heavy coats, warm hats and gloves, boots of some kind, etc.

 

[Thrond 3,257]

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.

Shining Armour is a notorious Oubliettes & Ogres nerd, as shown in the comics where the title was first mentioned. Too bad he's all the way over in the Crystal Empire. 

[Truffles 2,033]

Shining Armour is a notorious Oubliettes & Ogres nerd, as shown in the comics where the title was first mentioned. Too bad he's all the way over in the Crystal Empire.

 

Perhaps Shining Armor has formed an O&O group with Thorax and does "guys nights" with him? Short of having Discord around for your sessions, having a changeling is probably the next best thing!

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Shining Armour is a notorious Oubliettes & Ogres nerd, as shown in the comics where the title was first mentioned. Too bad he's all the way over in the Crystal Empire. 

 

Perhaps it was him who taught Spike the game when they were younger! Then Spike put the game into use when the Mane Six are out of town, and he invites Big Mac to try it out with him!

[Sonic5421 423]

Perhaps it was him who taught Spike the game when they were younger! Then Spike put the game into use when the Mane Six are out of town, and he invites Big Mac to try it out with him!

 

That sounds like a good idea. Learn from the Captain of the Royal Guard, and you can pass what you learned onto others to help them get into the game as well.

[Darthy Hooves 106]

I always look forward to our annual lessons on friendship from Discord!

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, I didn't find this episode very entertaining. There are a few enjoyable bits here and there, particularly with Fluttershy's interactions with Discord in the first few minutes. But I didn't like Discord's alternating ego-stroking and pouting behavior, and that stretched out over most of the remainder of the episode. I've never particularly been a fan of Discord, and this episode didn't do anything to change that. Additionally, I think the conflict of Discord not being interesting in Spike's and Big Mac's game could have been resolved much more quickly and easily, which could have left more time for them to play together, which, as others have suggested, might have been more entertaining to watch. Spike and Big Mac are a little cringey with the seriousness with which they take "guys' night", although they're otherwise fine in this episode, for the most part. And I've never played D&D, nor am I particularly interested in it, so that aspect of the episode wasn't really exciting or anything for me.

 

First, we see that Discord seemingly can't abide Fluttershy leaving for an overnight visit to Yakyakistan, pleading to go with her and trying to trick her into staying. This seems like rather pathetic behavior for a powerful being who is hundreds of years old - acting like a clingy 5-year-old whose mother is leaving him at school for the first time. Is Discord really incapable of entertaining himself for one night? This raises the question of how much time Fluttershy spends with Discord on a day-to-day basis, if Discord is acting like this when Fluttershy will be gone for, at most, a day or so. Does Fluttershy entertain Discord every day, and if so, for how long? Has Fluttershy ever been away from Discord for more than a few hours, and if so, then what's the big problem with Fluttershy taking an overnight trip?

 

And while it is amusing to see Fluttershy being a smart aleck toward Discord, I would probably agree with Discord when he tells Fluttershy "Oh, please. Don't stoop to tedious reverse psychology. You're better than that.". Fluttershy's suggesting that Discord is afraid that Spike and Big Mac won't like him is a cheap shot on par with the countless other instances of the "get people to do things by saying they're scared" trope.

 

Then I'm not sure exactly why Discord continues to hang around at the train station after the train has left, pretending to read a magazine while hoping that Spike and Big Mac don't approach him. Did Discord promise Fluttershy that he would talk to Spike and Big Mac about hanging out, despite not wanting to, and Discord hopes that he'll get out of it if the two of them don't approach him first? I'm not sure that would be an acceptable answer to Fluttershy. In fact, Spike says later that part of the reason he and Big Mac invited Discord was that he was just standing there all alone at the train station, and Discord acts surprised. So, again, what was Discord doing by continuing to stand at the train station, if not fishing for sympathy?

 

When Spike mentions "guys' night" and Discord asks if they mean "a rowdy evening of reckless revelry - zoot suits, fedoras, swing dancing", Spike replies "Eh, something like that". No, actually, what Spike and Big Mac are going to do is essentially the opposite of that. Wouldn't it be better for them to be upfront about what they're doing, so that Discord could really decide whether he wants to join them and would be a positive addition if he did?

 

Of course, when they're trying to play O&O later, Discord is obviously acting first bored and disengaged, then angry and taking their comments personally, and yet Spike and Big Mac never seem to try to make any accomodation to him, nor do they ask him to leave. If they really want to include Discord, why not try to find a mutually agreeable activity if they can't convince him of the fun of O&O? Or, if they're really set on playing O&O, why not just point-blank ask him either to engage with the game or leave (and maybe talk to Fluttershy about his behavior when she gets back)? Similarly, on Discord's part, if Spike and Big Mac are rejecting his suggestions for "guys' night", then why not try to think of something else they would want to do? Or if Spike and Big Mac are intent on playing O&O and Discord's really not interested, then why not just excuse himself?

 

This is probably why I didn't like seeing Spike and Big Mac immediately regret Discord's leaving and want to "give him another chance" as soon as he left. They might have initially felt sorry for him, but if they really want to play O&O and he refuses to cooperate, then what's the point in trying to continue with him? They don't need to guilt-trip themselves over it - they had an activity already planned, and asked Discord to join, but he ultimately wasn't interested and was interfering, and so he left.

 

When the squizzard and his other soldiers move to attack Spike and Big Mac, the first thing they do is run away. Couldn't they try to fight back first and see if it's even possible to do so?

 

When the Mane Six walk in on Spike, Big Mac, and Discord, they seem to be playing not so much a strategy/RPG game as a fighting or shooting game, just brute-force taking down waves of enemies, and those seem like two significantly different genres. So it's kind of funny that, for all of Spike's and Big Mac's insistence on playing O&O, they're fine with doing this, too.

 

Finally, when it comes to calling a night of playing O&O "guys' night", that term seems to me to imply that girls are not allowed or wanted to participate, when that may not really be the case. When the Mane Six are gone, that frees up Spike and Big Mac to hang out, and coincidentally, they're both guys. When Rainbow and Pinkie join - or if, say, the Cutie Mark Crusaders or some other girls they knew wanted to play or do some other fun activity - they don't seem to have a problem with it. So it seems like they could just call it "game night" or something like that. Speaking of the CMC, at the end of "Brotherhooves Social", it seemed as though Big Mac and Apple Bloom realized that they wanted to spend more time together, so wouldn't Applejack's leaving on a trip make for a good opportunity to do that? To be fair, though, there might be some other time during the day for them to do that, since "guys' night" started at sundown.

[Aurora Storm 83]

This wasn't my favorite episode by any means, but I liked seeing Big Mac and Spike as friends and this was far better than Discords last episode by a long shot. It's nice seeing the "sidekicks" get an episode. Now if we could get a Princess centered episode (preferably with some musical numbers since Cadence, Luna and Celestia sound awesome together, Twilight optional. I like her but she's had enough spotlight time).

[FanOfManyShows 396]

I enjoyed the jokes, I probably would've laughed at more of the jokes if I played D&D. The episode is a bit dull, they most certainly should have focused on the D&D scene longer than they did.

 

What they should've done was just have the mane 6 leave before the intro, have Spike intro Discord to the game, and then have the intro. That way they could've cut to the case immediately after the intro and just go straight for the scene where they are in the board game after Discord suggests he runs the game by putting them in the game.

 

I'm yet to figure out what the lesson was as well, maybe it was because they didn't explicitly say what it was, but I have no idea what it would've been if they did say it, maybe somebody else knows?

 

Over all, I liked it, could've been better though. I enjoyed the references.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Frannis

[Thrond 3,257]

Perhaps Shining Armor has formed an O&O group with Thorax and does "guys nights" with him? Short of having Discord around for your sessions, having a changeling is probably the next best thing!

I haven't actually played D&D, but doing so with a changeling certainly sounds fun. Could add an extra layer of immersion! 

 

 

Perhaps it was him who taught Spike the game when they were younger! Then Spike put the game into use when the Mane Six are out of town, and he invites Big Mac to try it out with him!

This is actually rather plausible, to the point where I see no reason not to assume this is how it happened. Great suggestion there. 

[vanillapudding 44]

While the overall episode felt pretty disjointed, the last couple of minutes were g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s. Despite Spike being all giggly about 'guy's night' and his and Big Mac's games, they didn't mind when Rainbow and Pinkie jumped into the fray. I really wish 'the guys' from my neighborhood had been more like that when I was interested in the game years ago. No one made a big deal about it. That subtle little moment just made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.

 

As for the friendship lesson of the week - I really liked seeing that Discord wants more friends. He's realized that friendship is indeedy magic and it feels good to have and he's kind of like I used to be he has it. He got comfortable with his one friend and tends to primarily only spend time with her (probably because most others don't really want him around most of the time, and he's generally ok with that because it means he can cause more chaos, especially if he can direct that chaos at Twilight), but that's really not a healthy way to go about things. He already dealt with it a little at the gala and now he really has to face it head on...and he was pleasantly surprised by the results. He enjoyed the game and he made the game more enjoyable for his new friends. 

 

Discord is in the process of learning how to have healthy relationships, which is invaluable on the subtle notes that it's been hitting since his reformation. They don't always do so well with the broad strokes, but it's those little things like him realizing he actually is rather lonely and actually does want to spend time with others - and actually having him do that instead of, say, stalking Fluttershy to YakYakistan and causing trouble there. 

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

I do not think that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie understand the meaning of "Guy's Night"... 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

I am so glad that we have so many talented artists in this fandom; what a perfect scene to capture.

 

 

Source: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Through-Ogres-and-Oubliettes-631023770

[Colourful Blast 66]

I liked it, but it wasn't as good as I expected

Edited August 29, 2016 by colourz

[King of Snake 54]

I want to see more of Opposite Fluttershy!

 

Also, why did Opposite Fluttershy refer to Discord as 'sassafras'? Wikipedia tells me it's a type of tree.

[ImpctR 155]

 

 

Source: http://www.deviantar...ettes-631023770

 

 

Now that's what I call bada$$. The trio in the first pages pic didn't look that cool imo with the frightened look.

[BlinkZ 1,151]

"where the plot?"
"Uh not till ten minutes in!"
"Get on with it!"
"five minute wrap up Go!"
FIN
Yeah..mixed bag for me. It was funny with the antics but would have loved to see more of the fantasy world thing. not the tabletop part the alternate world thing.   The table top scene was geeky to the extreme just dragged on and on and on.  Funny..yet...meh

Will have to let it sink in some I guess. Spike was great though

[Sh Pie 65]

This episode made me want to play D&D again but I lost contact with the DM after middle school so I guess I can't.

 

Great to see Discord once more but an opportunity was wasted to have him interact with Starlight. Anyway, I'm glad it was his focus episode and not the Mane 6 since Yakyakistan has all those obnoxious yaks who smash anything that isn't perfect. O&O reminded me of nostalgic memories of playing D&D especially the part where Discord's character tries to break out of the cell and fails in the most epic way.

[CT-1138 3,179]

In the words of Rainbow Dash, "it was 'ight." I foresee a lot of fanfic in regards to that ending, though.

 

I do not think that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie understand the meaning of "Guy's Night"... 

If you go by Discord's (and by extension, a lot of guy's) definition, I think they do. 

 

Also, anybody else get vibes of both Fluttercord and Dislestia from this episode? 

[cider float 2,535]

Discord was trying so hard to be cool.

 

I want to see more of Opposite Fluttershy!

 

Also, why did Opposite Fluttershy refer to Discord as 'sassafras'? Wikipedia tells me it's a type of tree.

I think that's referring to how sassy he is. Kind of a one minute made up word to describe someone sassy though it does exist in a corner of the urban dictionary as the same thing. 

 

I suppose Discord looks like a tree and he's sassy so he's a sassafras.

Edited August 29, 2016 by cider float

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

If you go by Discord's (and by extension, a lot of guy's) definition, I think they do. 

 

Oh...ugh. This episode gets more and more disturbing the more I look into it... 

With Rainbow Dash's line of "look at Big Mac's sword, I totally want in", and the fact that Pinkie loves "fun", I am really creeped out...

Writers... This stuff better be accidental... Otherwise I will be very concerned...

Edited August 30, 2016 by Babyyoshi309

[weesh 690]

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.

 

i don't need more VERBAL communication from him, but more communication from him would be appreciated.

there's nothing wrong with a quiet character as long as you find visual ways for them to communicate.  

that is certainly tricky, but well worth it when done well.

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Actually, Big Mac does say "Parsnips" at one point.

[Rarity Is Best Pony 634]

This was a mixed bag for me. On one hand I enjoyed seeing more Discord but on the other I wasn't big on the absence of any real plot. However in the other slice of life episodes I don't mind so I guess it just had to do with the available characters. 

 

As for some positives that I took away from this episode

 

1) Sparity while I don't support the ship it was a nice call out to the fandom.

2) All of the zany things Discord did

3) Dash makes a kickass rouge

[PiratePony 8,473]

I'm only posting for triple Rarity. Somepony else keep the streak alive!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that they went with the hand drawing characters in the "game for real" dimension. That made the entire imaginative play aspect come to life and it was very charming.

 

Discord reminds me of what I got into pokemon cards in high school, when I at first scoffed at the kids who played it.

Kind of like how I viewed the bronies about a year and a half ago.

 

irony.