S08:E09 - Non-Compete Clause

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

I liked this one but...it got pretty predictable...I ended up skipping and coming back and knew that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were gonna cause chaos. Still a good episode and after 8 seasons, Applejack and Rainbow Dash still cannot let their rivalry chill for once. 

[ImpctR 155]

Warning: NEW Writer inbound.

I would give it a 4/5 because of the School Six but rest was kind of meh to me.

TL:DR: Many points for the Students of Friendship (they are so cute and nice and I liked them even more, I started liking and caring to see more episodes with them from School Daze, now I just love them!)

Minus points for the way AJ and RD were here... basically switched personalities (the kid and the adult) when comparing the students and the 'professors'

 

Things I loved in the episode were: Fluttershy winning the teacher awards, I think they already found her the coolest from the School Daze.

The Students of Friendship: Clueless and cute when they had to do the work, and so much common sense already. One could say they were smarter than expected being younger and still students. I especially loved Ocellus' transformation, so much power, transforming directly into sea pony? That's possible? Also then into that piranha giant fish. Poor Yona, im not gonna freak out like some will over Yona's danger situation but yea as I will say further, probably the worst RD and AJ for seasons. And Silver Stream , my most fave was coolest to me of all. Smoulder was also cool in his own way with 'im with clear mind unlike our professors' kind of attitude.

 

Things that went wrong: Obviously RD and AJ not only acted way childish but when allegedly they stopped with their row after Twilight intervened the first time, they continued in becoming even more foolish. Not only that but from professors they were portrayed as total tools that the Six students already looked like the grow ups to these two fillies of the Mane 6. Kind of seen them plenty to consider the RD-AJ competition funny, it was boring and overdone.

[Misty Shadow 7,842]

AJ and Dash fans hate this one? Won't say I blame them too much. After all, the episode kicks off with proof that Fluttershy is best pony. Being real, their unrelenting fighting did quickly grow to be tiring and a bit hard to believe, but I did laugh at how they kept pretending to agree with each other while the students were too smart to fall for it, knowing that they only cared about the award. Them actually not learning their lesson at the end and making up, I also weirdly liked just for going against the usual formula of the characters in conflict being happy friends after everything is over. Gallus also continues to shine as my favorite member of the Young Six. He wanted to see his teachers get ripped apart. I adore the subtle sadism in this show so much.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

So I saw MLP "Non Compete Clause" and I really liked it. I found it very funny because my college professors were really like that with each other unfortunately LOL. (No really I saw 50 and 60 yr olds going at it like children trying to get each other fired, yet they were "professors") I thought the lesson was good even if it was predictable and kind of treading on old territory for AJ and RD. It was great to see more of the students especially in the rescue scene. 

[YoshiAngemon 223]

You know, if it were up to Twilight, She should've just cast a spell that FORCES Applejerk and Rainbow Crash to cooperate, by binding them together, and if they compete, the pain they feel will get worse and worse! I want to apply the competitive kind of attitudes into a Source FilmMaker video, where I voice AOSTH Robotnik, demanding that those two Euciferous Equines get Sonic, OR ELSE THEY GET SENT TO THE GLUE FACTORY, only to wind up getting Shadow instead! Make him wish he hadn't scrapped Scratch & Grounder! Note: I had just bought a Dr. Robotnik plush to go with my Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Knuckles, and Classic Amy, and I find myself channeling AOSTH Robotnik.

Edited May 12, 2018 by YoshiAngemon

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

2 minutes ago, YoshiAngemon said:

You know, if it were up to Twilight, She should've just cast a spell that FORCES Applejerk and Rainbow Crash to cooperate, by binding them together, and if they compete, the pain they feel will get worse and worse! I want to apply the competitive kind of attitudes into a Source FilmMaker video, where I voice AOSTH Robotnik, demanding that those two Euciferous Equines get Sonic, OR ELSE THEY GET SENT TO THE GLUE FACTORY, only to wind up getting Shadow instead! Make him wish he hadn't scrapped Scratch & Grounder!

Lilo & Stitch The Series had a plot like that but not as dark. Episode titled "Link".

[YoshiAngemon 223]

47 minutes ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

Lilo & Stitch The Series had a plot like that but not as dark. Episode titled "Link".

I still think that ironic punishments would be better for them! You know: A Forced Fusion Spell that would slowly wear away the more they cooperate, like the Two-Headed Composite Hulk from that Agents of SMASH episode with Impossible Man, and how he fused Red Hulk and Greenie together! In the end, there's only one thing they can agree upon: "SMASH!" And they punch the guy! A forced fusion spell would be something DISCORD would come up with! As a matter of fact, I speak for everyone when I say...

Edited May 12, 2018 by YoshiAngemon

[RDDash 19,163]

48 minutes ago, YoshiAngemon said:

You know, if it were up to Twilight, She should've just cast a spell that FORCES Applejerk and Rainbow Crash to cooperate, by binding them together, and if they compete, the pain they feel will get worse and worse! I want to apply the competitive kind of attitudes into a Source FilmMaker video, where I voice AOSTH Robotnik, demanding that those two Euciferous Equines get Sonic, OR ELSE THEY GET SENT TO THE GLUE FACTORY, only to wind up getting Shadow instead! Make him wish he hadn't scrapped Scratch & Grounder! Note: I had just bought a Dr. Robotnik plush to go with my Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Knuckles, and Classic Amy, and I find myself channeling AOSTH Robotnik.

Twilight, as well as the only 6 students that matter pretty much were tired of Rainbow and AJ nonsensical behavior, and was already prepared to cancel their activity

[YoshiAngemon 223]

7 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

Twilight, as well as the only 6 students that matter pretty much were tired of Rainbow and AJ nonsensical behavior, and was already prepared to cancel their activity

This calls for a rewatching of "Fall Weather Friends!"

[Jeric 46,850]

Bad episode was bad and it should feel bad!!!

I don't even know where to start. I kinda don't even want to waste any time tearing it apart. It really isn't worth the effort. This season has been mostly solid minus a misstep with that one Fluttershy outing. This was just boring, predicable, writers made puzzling decisions when it didn't have to, and was poorly constructed. 

It's a soft 2/5 and I receive the right to lower the score to a 1. 

 

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

So this episode is Fall Weather Friends: School Edition or Fall Weather Friends: These two friends still arguing with each other until the end version. This episode is so cringeworthy but not in the good ways. AJ and RD are supposed to be teachers to teach the young generation what they learned about friendship in the past 7 seasons and here they are, what a shameful display! AJ and RD are not worthy to be the teachers, even until the end of this episode, heck, I'm glad these students still call them "professors". This episode isn't even funny enough to distract me. 5/10.

Teacher ranking:

1. Fluttershy

2. Rarity

3. Pinkie

4. AJ

5. RD

To be fair, RD is much worse than AJ. AJ at least still concern about her student safety and her earth pony status is her shortcoming (her bridge is not bad, she just need help), unlike RD who is much more flexible but all she did are breaking stuff. RD is the WORSE TEACHER because she give no shit about her student's safety. AJ is the second worse because she LIED.

Fluttershy still the best teacher of the month, I wonder what happen to Pinkie or Rarity, I hope they tried their best. 

This is the worse school episode and I wish it would be the last. Back to theme-episode of season 4, AJ and RD are the worst of the mane 6 (Rainbow Fall is the worse key episode and Leap of Faith is the second worse) so I hope the next school episode will be spectacular. 

 

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

                                                                                                                                                    Malala Yousafzai

 

 

                                                                                                                 
 

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

It wasn't that bad. The AJ/RD stuff was annoying as hell, but I kind of liked the parts with the students. All the little scenes with them helping and supporting each other and working together was pretty cool. And even though poor Yona could have drowned, it was awesome seeing Ocellus and Silverstream with no hesitation leap into action and rescue her. Even though the one side of this episode sucks tremendously, the teamwork of the students pulls it back some. Also, the one scene with Yona will remain priceless for a long time to come.

[KH7672 1,604]

34 minutes ago, Lambdadelta said:

Teacher ranking:

1. Fluttershy

2. Rarity

3. Pinkie

4. Flower Pot

5. AJ

6. RD

Fixed the rankings for you! 

Edited May 13, 2018 by KH7672

[Megas 27,564]

"Oh man we really need to get fans to like these new student six, how do we do that?" 

"I know, lets take two characters people love and are supposed to serve as role models for the new students, strip them of all of their progress and development and make them argue over stupid things and have them act incompetently throughout, and then have the students show them up, doing everything better than them and make them look like the greatest kids ever!"

"Hey it worked for Starlight!"

We know damn well RD and AJ are better than this, they've both been shown to have the qualities of being a good teacher via interactions with the CMC among others, we had an entire goddamn comic that made a point about how RD was actually capable of being a good teacher. And we already know they're better about putting their rivalry behind them and work together, that's why fucking Buckball Season was so great, they were both more than willing to acknowledge that Pinkie and Fluttershy were better than them and take their spots. And now you're telling me they're incompetent idiots who don't deserve to be teachers? Fuck off with this garbage. And if you think this was gonna make me more interested in seeing the students, well then you failed spectacularly at that job, now I hope they fuck off an never come back. Like I said, bastardizing established characters in order to make new characters look better in comparison is gonna have the opposite effect, because it's incredibly lazy, cheap, and all it does is piss people off.

This episode has some of Josh Haber's worst habits as story editor(which were already rearing their ugly heads since S8 started) on full blast here. Ignores past characterization for sake of the plot. Drags established fan favorites through the mud to make new characters look good. A poor story that could have easily been salvaged if someone actually looked at the damn script. Retreading old ground only to come out with an even shittier episode. Seriously, they keep making episodes where RD and AJ act out and need to be shown up, when they damn well know no one ever fucking likes it. At this point it just comes off as if the writers doing it to assholes

Edited May 13, 2018 by Whomps

[Thrond 3,263]

This almost exclusively consists of stuff which I haven't liked in the show before. I can take the lack of consistent characterization - I like season 6, for crying out loud - but the jokes here are fairly stale and the moral is strained to the point of insult. I don't see what's entertaining about Rainbow Dash and Applejack just bickering constantly, as that's what I hate about most of the Rarity+Applejack episodes, and the student six's reactions are so rote as to barely even register. I don't think the snarky dialogue is all that creative, and when the main thing the students are doing is offering snarky reactions to Applejack and Rainbow, I can barely tell their personalities apart aside from vocal delivery. And sure, I'm angry about how Applejack and Rainbow Dash are written here - this is far worse than season 1, where at least this kind of thing would start calm and escalate - but I'm much more angry that this is just such a simplistic moral. You wrote both of these characters as selfish and immature to what end? Was it really worth it?

Please treat the characters I actually care about with respect. You don't need to take the old characters down a peg to sell us on the new ones. Also, please don't do that "actually, they showed us what not to do" thing. It's asinine and nobody buys it. And please - PLEASE - don't have Twilight talk down to her friends as the voice of reason. That's just the worst. Don't do that. 

Mostly, though, I just didn't find this very funny. There were one or two moments I laughed at, and the students were somewhat appealing, but it wasn't nearly enough for me. I can take a lot of issues from this show if I'm not bored, but I was definitely bored here. I just got very little out of this one. 

Score:
Entertainment: 3/10
Characters: 2/10
Themes: 4/10
Story: 1/10
Overall: 25/100

Edited May 13, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[RDDash 19,163]

3 hours ago, YoshiAngemon said:

This calls for a rewatching of "Fall Weather Friends!"

Don't actually remember that episode, but this one was pretty bad, so wouldn't hurt

[Thrond 3,263]

3 hours ago, YoshiAngemon said:

This calls for a rewatching of "Fall Weather Friends!"

Not a bad idea! That one actually has jokes. 

[Megas 27,564]

2 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

Don't actually remember that episode, but this one was pretty bad, so wouldn't hurt

That one is still considered one of the show's best. It pretty much does everything this one does better

 

 

And it was all the way back in season 1

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

*sigh*
I miss Lewis and Songco.
What the fuck was this episode? Why are Applejack and Rainbow Dash so stupid? Why are they so competitive even at the risk of others safety, they aren't even acting like competitive friends like in "Fall Weather Friends" they are acting like rivals who put up with the other one rather than care about them. It's irritating. The Student Six were the only decent part of this episode and that isn't a good thing, considering we didn't get any real development for them. 

Ugh, season 8 man, so far it has more ups and downs than the Wild Blue Yonder, a strong episode followed but something decent, followed by something bad, up to average, and then a string of 3 great, well written episodes, just to fall back down to this. I want some heart, some character building and emotion, not just generic "lol it's sol" stories.
Now I wish I hadn't watched Breakup Breakdown, because that episode is truly amazing and it would have been wonderful to see it for the first time after this mess.

.

.

Still better than 28 pranks later tho

[GiFTGewEhrSCHutzen-4 8,828]

This is "Fall Weather Friends" all over again. Ugh, seeing them being competitive again brings me to dislike AJ and RD, well, mostly Dash. Really dislike her High School Jock attitude for this episode. The only good thing about this episode is the Student 6 (or Young 6), also Ocellus changing into a Seapony, and also into a Bite-acuda. >.>

[Luminance 2,186]

Hmmm...I'm not sure about this one. It's basically Rainbow Dash VS. Applejack which they gladly brought back up from the depths of when the show was still good. We get it...AJ and Rainbow has an competitive edge and that is the plot. The students are just there caught in the hellfire between the two bickering and eventually learning from the errors of their "teacher's" ways. 

Season 8 looks really weak, especially this following up after the disdain premiere of the movie. 

[Jonny Music 3,400]

Ahh yes, the classic rivalry between RD and AJ again. Despite that similar scenario being used again, I rather liked this episode in general. Sure RD's and AJ's conflict was predictable, but the way how the writers managed the episode, made it more enjoyable to watch, especially when it came to trying to teach the School Six the importance of teamwork. I really like seeing these relatable, slice of life episodes every now and then.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

This one was just painful to watch. While the Student 6 were actually competent and the ONLY saving graces of the episode...the rest of it was not good at all. Arguing in front of the students? REALLY!?

Sorry; but no. This gets a 1 from me. At least the Fluttershy-persona mess was an entertaining episode. This was FAR from that.

[Truffles 2,033]

8 hours ago, Whomps said:

That one is still considered one of the show's best. It pretty much does everything this one does better

And it was all the way back in season 1

FWF does have one stain on an otherwise impeccable set of credentials: The roping and bucking contests. Those events are still two of the most blatant examples of Spikeabuse to date. Why would the ponies ever think treating a kid like livestock was a good idea? 

Fortunately, the episode makes up for it by having Spike co-anchor the actual race with Pinkie. An inspired idea that has yet to be duplicated 7 seasons later.

[Jon the VGNerd 885]

This is basically Fall Weather Friends revisited, only except Rainbow Dash was taking Teacher of the Month WAY too seriously, and even AJ wasn't of any help either. Sadly, this is not the great episode I've ever watched.