What would you consider to be the worst episode for the Mane Six?

[Azureth 687]

Every one of the MS have had episodes focused on them ranging from great, to mediocre, to really bad. But which do you view as the worst ones that have focused on them would you say are the worst?

Edited May 11, 2017 by Azureth

[K.Rool Addict 718]

Baby Cakes is the worst for Pinkie Pie

^That's all that jumps out at me atm o,o That episode almost made me quit the series lmao

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Somepony to Watch Over Me for Applejack, easily. 

[Megas 27,520]

I'm hard pressed to decide between Newbie Dash or 28 Pranks Later for RD(the latter of making the stunning achievement of being a worse version of MMDW)

S6 really wasn't a good season for RD

[Zachary 5,521]

Applejack's Day Off

Watch it for 2nd time and It's Boring!

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

Since I think you mean their character in the episodes, Twilight Time. I don't like CMC episodes but the way Twilight was done here was downright ATROCIOUS and stunk of MARY SUE.

28 Pranks later for Rainbow Dash. I should leave how her character was far off, and actually straight-up MEAN. I hope that RD is not characterized like this again, but she likely will be.

For Applejack, definitely have to go with PPOV. She was made into a complete jerk here. Come on Applejack! I know you actually have some goodness in you! You've shown it on SO many times!

For Rarity, I have to agree with Simple Ways. Really poor episode for Rarity. She's got some SERIOUS jealousy issues in that one...

For Fluttershy, Putting your Hoof Down. HOW DID HASBRO MANAGE TO TURN HER INTO A COMPLETE BULLY?

For Pinkie Pie, Rock Solid Friendship. I didn't like this episode, literally only because of how AGGRIVATING AND OBNOXIOUS Pinkie was in this episode. Seriously, she REALLY needed to shut up... I would have liked the episode otherwise.

 

Edited May 12, 2017 by Squirrel Luigi
Adding Characters... Also edited Twilight's.

[Dark Qiviut 22,371]

Mane Six ensemble: Bridle Gossip. If there's a great way to make them look like mean-spirited, out-of-character racists, it's this one. Every one of them really came out of this one for the worst, especially Rarity and Twilight. Rarity didn't have a good start to begin with, but judging Zecora based on her stripes really confines her to the stuck-up bitch stereotype. Twilight really came out bad, when she blatantly shooed away a spellbook for its awkward cover and eventually giving into her friends' conspiracy theories. It's the second-worst episode of the show.

For one character: Newbie Dash. Magical Mystery Cure remains the example of how not to write a status quo changer well, but ND does it much worse. Dash's promotion to a Wonderbolt is anticlimactic (and confined to exposition), but that's not the worst part. Throughout the episode, the Wonderbolts call her "Rainbow Crash," triggering back harsh childhood memories. Every time they call her this, her performance and self-confidence worsen, sometimes right in front of them. Every time she rightfully felt hurt, the episode punished her, including subjecting her into the mean-spirited joke of impersonating her friends to hide her hurt feelings. If that didn't slap the audience in the face, the climax (where she completely screwed up) and moral that endorsed hazing does. Unlike MMC, Rainbow Dash's triumph doesn't feel earned in the slightest, and you can't skip it if you want to follow the Wonderbolt Arc. It's a permanent stain to DHX's résumé.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Rainbow Dash: Newbie Dash

Applejack: Applejack's Day Off

Rarity: Simple Ways

Pinkie Pie: The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows

Twilight: Bridle Gossip

Fluttershy: The Hooffields and the McColts

 

 

[Sonic Shimmer 4,131]

Rainbow Dash: 28 Pranks Later (before that, it was Tanks For the Memories)

Fluttershy: Putting Your Hoof Down

Rarity: Rarity Investigates

Applejack: The one where Rarity and Applejack are at the spa (I forgot the title)

Twilight Sparkle: Twilight Time

Pinkie Pie: The One Where Pinkie Knows

 

And just to round things up...

Spike: Owl's Well That Ends Well

CMC: The racecar one (I forgot the title again )

Edited May 11, 2017 by Sonic Shimmer

[Thrond 3,262]

For Applejack: "Somepony to Watch Over Me" is just wretched. Applejack caring about her sister? Good! Applejack being ludicrously overprotective to the point where it's no longer believable? Not good at all. Rather irritating, in fact, and goes against both her grounded personality and how she's previously acted when she's not grounded. 

For Rainbow Dash: "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well," obviously, not only because it over-emphasizes her worst traits, but also because it seems engineered specifically to humiliate the character. Why are certain scenes of her failing even there? It plays like the episode either fundamentally misunderstands her character, or like it has an outright vendetta against her. 

For Pinkie Pie: You know, few episodes starring her annoy me all that much, but the recent "Rock Solid Friendship" was almost entirely brought down by her presence. Even compared to other episodes where she repeats a single joke for eternity, this one sets out to make her intrusive and irritating, and just doesn't have enough variety to make that tolerable. 

For Fluttershy: In "Scare Master," her usual scaredy-cat nature devolves into self-parody to the point where she's afraid of some genuinely absurd things which she's faced worse than in the past, and her character arc is horribly rushed. All of a sudden, she gets over those asinine fears enough to create something scary for her friends? Really? Don't buy that for a second. 

For Rarity: "Simple Ways," naturally. Just doubles down on all of her pettiness and self-absorption for a bunch of unpleasant cringe comedy. Plus, having Rarity in another romantic subplot when none of the other five ever approach that in the show is just unimaginative, and her bickering with Applejack is as tedious as ever. 

For Twilight: Any of her focus episodes from season 3 through season 6 would suffice, but the worst offender is probably "No Second Prances," which actually allows her to make a mistake and be unlikable and then completely neglects to develop that in a way which would make it interesting, leaving her not only unsympathetic but bland as well. 

[Batbrony 16,043]

How has no one even once listed "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" yet in this thread???  That's not just Pinkie Pie's worst episode hands down, but also my least favorite episode in general, and I could even make an argument that it's the worst ensemble episode to an extent, just because all of the characters in it, including four of the six members of the Mane 6, are vapid idiots.  I wrote probably my most blistering review ever for MLP:FiM for this episode!

https://mlpforums.com/blogs/entry/8185-batbrony-reviews-s02e24-mmmystery-on-the-friendship-express/

3 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Mane Six ensemble: Bridle Gossip. If there's a great way to make them look like mean-spirited, out-of-character racists, it's this one. Every one of them really came out of this one for the worst, especially Rarity and Twilight. Rarity didn't have a good start to begin with, but judging Zecora based on her stripes really confines her to the stuck-up bitch stereotype. Twilight really came out bad, when she blatantly shooed away a spellbook for its awkward cover and eventually giving into her friends' conspiracy theories. It's the second-worst episode of the show.

For one character: Newbie Dash. Magical Mystery Cure remains the example of how not to write a status quo changer well, but ND does it much worse. Dash's promotion to a Wonderbolt is anticlimactic (and confined to exposition), but that's not the worst part. Throughout the episode, the Wonderbolts call her "Rainbow Crash," triggering back harsh childhood memories. Every time they call her this, her performance and self-confidence worsen, sometimes right in front of them. Every time she rightfully felt hurt, the episode punished her, including subjecting her into the mean-spirited joke of impersonating her friends to hide her hurt feelings. If that didn't slap the audience in the face, the climax (where she completely screwed up) and moral that endorsed hazing does. Unlike MMC, Rainbow Dash's triumph doesn't feel earned in the slightest, and you can't skip it if you want to follow the Wonderbolt Arc. It's a permanent stain to DHX's résumé.

I'm largely forgiving of Bridle Gossip since (1) it has some great humorous bits, and (2) it's a Season 1 episode tackling racism, and for Season 1, I wouldn't expect such an episode to be earth-shatteringly good.  Aspects of their fear of Zecora are certainly overblown and a bit forced, but second-worst episode of the show?  Nah, at least not in my book.

There are bits of Newbie Dash that are REALLY bad, and I suppose it had more of an impact on the show than MMMystery on the Friendship Express did, but the latter is still far and away the worst episode of the show for me.  There are more than a few episodes of the show that I think are bad overall, but most usually have some redeeming qualities about them that still make for somewhat bearable watches, at least.  MMMystery on the Friendship Express to this day remains my sole, unforgivable episode.  It has two slightly good things in it, (1) the Pinkie Pie sequences about what she thinks happened are hilarious and creative, but really dumb when you consider she believes that's what actually happened as she is making this stuff up, and (2) Rarity's "I wear false eyelashes" line, mostly because of Tabitha St. Germain's delivery of the line.  But I can't really even call those redeeming qualities when the writing is so bad that the conflict should not exist in the first place, because the Cakes should be the ones transporting the bucking thing since THEY ALREADY HAVE A BABYSITTER, WHO HAPPENS TO BE THE PONY TRANSPORTING (very badly) THEIR MOST COMPLEX DESSERT EVER TO THE NATIONAL DESSERT COMPETITION, WHAT THE BUCK?!?!  Horrible writing in the entire episode that made for the most forced of conflicts and everyone except for Twilight and Applejack looks like an OOC idiot because of it.

[Firedog 320]

28 pranks later is the worst out of all the mane six.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Mysterious mare do well for dash, hands down.

[Dark Qiviut 22,371]

3 hours ago, Sonic Shimmer said:

CMC: The racecar one (I forgot the title again )

The Cart Before the Ponies.

1 hour ago, Batbrony said:

How has no one even once listed "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" yet in this thread???

As awful as MMMystery is, at least Applejack's spared. In Bridle Gossip, no one was likeable, and some of their worst characterizations (Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Apple Bloom) occurred in this episode.

---

And since some are using the entire (Re)Mane Six, why not me.

Twilight: Owl's Well. Jesus Christ, her entire characterization is a complete and utter train wreck. Throughout the episode, she showed a complete lack of care for Spike's feelings and why he's jealous. She doesn't explain properly why Spike suddenly has to share duties with Owlowiscious. Then when her friends were suddenly enamored with the damn owl, Twilight immediately dismisses the idea of Spike being jealous. Throughout the episode, she showed to not care once about Spike's feelings…and the episode treats this shit as OKAY!!! For the cherry on top, she explains half-assedly that Owlowiscious is needed so he can sleep at night when 75% of the episode takes place during the day!

Pinkie Pie: Filli Vanilli. Not even her episode, and her presence helps sour this thing. Every single time she speaks, she acts like a mean-spirited idiot who never even knew her. This happens not once, but three times, one of them including this line after getting glared at:

Quote

Pinkie Pie: What? Too much?

Implicates that she knew Fluttershy would break down if she did it, yet did it, anyway. And I didn't even talk about the stupid moment where Pinkie mocks Big Mac directly in his face while he's distressed.

Rainbow Dash: Newbie Dash for the reasons described above.

Fluttershy: Putting Your Goddamn Hoof Down. Single-handedly destroyed 'Shy's reputation, which didn't recover till season five. Need I say more?

Rarity: Spice Up Your Life and Rainbow Falls.

1. Season six wasn't kind to her at all. This is her worst appearance that season, and in a host of AWFUL ones, that says a lot. In both Suited for Success and Canterlot Boutique, she fought against conforming to social and societal pressures and stick to her guns, which could've cost her her career. By telling Saffron and Coriander with a straight muzzle that they have to conform to Zesty's biases to survive in canterlot's restaurant biz, she directly contradicts what she experienced and learned. It's like the writers didn't understand what makes her such a great character. When Pinkie makes a more in-character Rarity than Rarity, something's really wrong.
2. Nothing went right in Rainbow Falls. Everyone's characterizations were complete shit. Of the three filler flanderizations (AJ, Pinkie, Rarity), she's by far the worst. Her entire focus was on prettifying everything with complete disregard of Rainbow Dash's duty to help Ponyville qualify. Every time she establishes a presence, she's completely unaware of everything she's doing. The intelligence she exudes in several episodes, including RTM, is sacrificed for bad comedy.
   
   Her terrible characterization is summed up with one scene: her ugly Ponyville "uniforms":
   
   

AJ: PPOV. That whole episode is a complete and utter train wreck logically, structurally, and comedically. Pinkie and Rarity were out of character. Twilight pulled a conclusion out of nowhere. Spike's fine. But AJ was absolutely unrecognizable here.

1. Lies directly to Twilight and Spike about what happened in that cruise, betraying her biggest quality as a character. Instead of helping two of her closest friends in solving this crisis, she worsens it and leaves Twilight and Spike out of the loop even more.
2. Talks shit about Rarity and Pinkie behind their backs. Every single flanderization by Pinkie and Rarity was bad, but AJ's takes the cake. She portrays Rarity as a stereotypical, upper-class diva, Pinkie as an idiot who can't tell which is the sky or ground. If she's that pissed off to the point where she imagines them that way, then she doesn't truly care about her friends as much as she says she does, does she?

Edited May 11, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[Princess Book Horse 352]

Gonna be predictable here. MMDW for Dash and even more so for the other 5. 

 

As a bonus, I would say that "What About Discord?" Is easily the worst characterization for Discord.

[Megas 27,520]

I guess if we're gonna do the whole mane 6

Twilight: Owl's Well or No Second Prances. Leaning towards No Second Prances though because six seasons in Twilight should know better

AJ: PPOV or The Cart Before the Ponies. AJ comes off noticeably worse than anyone else in both. In PPOV, where Pinkie and Rarity's stories come off as pretty dumb, they're also funny and amusing, AJ's on the other hand, just comes off as really mean. Likewise, in CBtP, while RD and Rarity come off as self absorbed and oblivious to their sisters, AJ comes off as actively hostile towards Applebloom

Pinkie Pie: Mmmmystery of the Friendship Express. Jesus Christ The episode just makes complete idiot the entire time with the entire ending dedicated to Twilight fixing all of her screw ups

Fluttershy: Putting Your Hoof Down, I don't hate this episode like most, and I think it was really important for FS, but her "assertiveness" is racked up to irredeemable asshole levels

Rarity: Simple Ways, Rarity is Newbie Dash levels of stupid here, brings down the episode so much along with her idiot tag along Trenderhoof

Edited May 12, 2017 by Whompy Whomperson

[FirePuppy 724]

On 5/11/2017 at 3:14 AM, Whompy Whomperson said:

I'm hard pressed to decide between Newbie Dash or 28 Pranks Later for RD(the latter of making the stunning achievement of being a worse version of MMDW)

S6 really wasn't a good season for RD

Yeah, but I think some of the writers just wanted to give her more episodes mostly because they were a big fan of her.

[Megas 27,520]

1 minute ago, FirePuppy said:

Yeah, but I think some of the writers just wanted to give her more episodes mostly because they were a big fan of her.

reaaaaaally doubt that was the case

[Midnight Chimes 69]

On 11/05/2017 at 10:28 PM, Batbrony said:

I'm largely forgiving of Bridle Gossip since (1) it has some great humorous bits, and (2) it's a Season 1 episode tackling racism, and for Season 1, I wouldn't expect such an episode to be earth-shatteringly good.  Aspects of their fear of Zecora are certainly overblown and a bit forced, but second-worst episode of the show?  Nah, at least not in my book.

Objectively speaking, if an episode is bad, it is bad. It doesn't make any difference whether it was in a season surrounded by other mediocre episodes.

As for Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy's bullying/outburst isn't such a problem since she quickly realises what she is doing is wrong and shows remorse. The issue is the episode tries to shift all the responsibility onto Iron Will, as if it is his fault and Fluttershy is not in control of her own actions.

No Second Prances is the worst episode for Twilight, and probably any of the mane six. She is possessive and manipulative of Starlight, trying to steer her away from Trixie just because of her own personal issues. Their relationship is shown to be harmful and extremely toxic, not to mention that Twilight comes off as colossally unlikable.

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Can I just throw in "The Cart Before The Ponies" for Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity? All three of them act more like caricatures of themselves as opposed to their usual characterization, especially with Applejack being even more bull-headed and stubborn than usual.

As for individual episodes...

Rainbow Dash - Newbie Dash/Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.
I really can't decide which of these is worse, both of which feature Rainbow as a complete and total idiot.

Pinkie Pie- Filli Vanilli
This ones a toughie, cause unfortunately there are a ton of episodes with Pinkie Pie acting like a total episode, especially during S4. The worst though would have to her behaviour in Filli Vanilli. I mean... the hell was she on to act like that?!

Twilight - What About Discord?
I thought about picking Lesson Zero or No Second Prances, both of which feature Twilight acting kind of OOC, especially in the latter since she's supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. However, What About Discord is even worse because, while she kinda has a reason to be distrustful of Discord given he betrayed them in Twilight's Kingdom, he proved he learned his lesson at the end. She should be happy that Discord is getting along with everyone, not jump straight to mind control. Even worse was when she outright called her friends total idiots for falling for Discord's tricks. Real smooth move, Twi.  

Rarity - Simple Ways.
Rarity "trying" to act southern. Need I say more?

Fluttershy - Putting Your Hoof Down.
Actually, this episode could be the worst for all of Ponyville, since here they're shown to be a town of total jerks, and to Fluttershy of all ponies! 

Applejack - The Last Roundup.
Honestly, I had a hard time thinking of a truly awful Applejack episode, so I'd have to say this ones the worst for me personally due to Applejack's attitude and abandoning everyone over a few ribbons.    

Edited May 13, 2017 by PoisonClaw