S08:E18 - Yakity-Sax

[Dethde 20]

Spoiler

This was one of the worst episodes in MLP for me, it seems like the writer completely forgot what pinkie as a character was and just wanted to use pinkie pie's deflated mane, sure The Mean Six was a huge waste of potential, but this episode was genuinely unlikable, Pinkie annoys the entire town by playing an instrument, (Even though she was great at playing other instruments shown before.) apparently losing her element as soon as called out on it, and choosing to MOVE to Yakyakistan, abandoning her friends, her band, her shop and the cakes, and the entirety of equestria in a way (Not being able to use the element of laughter against an opponent), because.... she couldn't play an instrument. The moral of this episode was completely off, and i don't mind morals, as long as the episode itself is entertaining and good, but it's not. I'd have expected this pinkie in Season one, not 8 seasons in, this is what i'd expect Discorded Rainbow Dash to do, not pinkie pie.

Overall i'd rate this episode 2/10 as it genuinely disgusted me, I feel like the only episodes worse than this was 28 Pranks Later which was just plain horrible.

 

[Conred 274]

This episode along with Non compete Clause, Fake it till you make it and Matter of Principals is a proof of Story Editors having no idea how to handle Mane6 and Discord and completely assassinating their characters

[bigbertha 414]

This episode is really bad. Pinkie is so out of character. Everything Pinkie does in the episode is motivated by how much she loves the instrument. This would be fine, except that the episode doesn't tell us why she loves the instrument so much. This is a very important plot detail and without it, the entire episode makes no sense.

The moral is also bad. Pinkie doesn't say she'll stop playing in front of her friends. She doesn't say she'll try to get better. The rest of mane six apparently just have to deal with Pinkie ruining their lives because it makes her happy.

There are other things I don't like, like the sound of the instrument. It sounds terrible and that makes the first 9 minutes incredibly annoying.

And the jokes don't help. Maud is kinda funny and there are a couple gags here and there, but that's not enough to counter how bad the rest of the episode is.

Score: 2/10

Edited March 30, 2019 by bigbertha

[Dark Qiviut 22,379]

3 hours ago, bigbertha said:

This would be fine, except that the episode doesn't tell us why she loves the instrument so much.

They didn't in the beginning, because for Pinkie, no reason's necessary. She loved playing it because she loved playing it. The ending pointed that out, too, as the yaks and Yigrid cheered Pinkie: Playing it made her feel good, so the yaks feel good, too. Pinkie's really good friends with Prince Rutherford, so her reputation is carried around Yakyakistan. He trusts her, so they trust her, too.

3 hours ago, bigbertha said:

The moral is also bad.

The moral is right on the money. If she reacted poorly to the RM6's suggestion she improved, that's one thing. Instead, they hid what they truly thought about her poor playing of the yovidaphone and hoped she improved. When they revealed their true feelings, they told her to stop playing it altogether. That's atrocious critique, especially to one of the more childlike characters of the series. Her major depression and apathy for the world around her makes complete sense. She really wanted to play an instrument that made her feel happy, but feared a reaction as bad as the RM6's, if not worse.

Even if they're not good at a particular skill, it's best for her friends to offer support, not tell them to stop for sucking. No one is entitled to tell anyone to stop a hobby they enjoy because they don't like it. That's why the RM6 are in the wrong and the ones who learned their lesson.

Edited August 3, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[Goat-kun 2,527]

31 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

The moral is right on the money. If she reacted poorly to the RM6 suggesting she improved, that's one thing. But they didn't suggest it at any point. They hid what they truly thought about her poor playing of the yovidaphone and hoped she improved. When they revealed their true feelings, they told her to stop playing it altogether. That's atrocious critique, especially to one of the more childlike characters of the series. Her major depression and apathy for the world around her makes complete sense. She really wanted to play an instrument that made her feel happy, but feared a reaction as bad as the RM6's, if not worse.

Even if they're not good at a particular skill, it's best for her friends to offer support, not tell them to stop for sucking. No one is entitled to tell anyone to stop a hobby they enjoy because they don't like their poor skill.

Don't practice for a peeing competition on a public lawn, or in your friend's garden for that matter. Not all hobbies can be shared with friends. Those who think they deserve support just because they enjoy doing something are the truly entitled.

[Thrond 3,263]

8 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

The moral is right on the money. If she reacted poorly to the RM6's suggestion she improved, that's one thing. Instead, they hid what they truly thought about her poor playing of the yovidaphone and hoped she improved. When they revealed their true feelings, they told her to stop playing it altogether. That's atrocious critique, especially to one of the more childlike characters of the series. Her major depression and apathy for the world around her makes complete sense. She really wanted to play an instrument that made her feel happy, but feared a reaction as bad as the RM6's, if not worse.

 Even if they're not good at a particular skill, it's best for her friends to offer support, not tell them to stop for sucking. No one is entitled to tell anyone to stop a hobby they enjoy because they don't like it. That's why the RM6 are in the wrong and the ones who learned their lesson.

But I feel like this exaggerates those emotions in a way which doesn't really make sense for this character. Pinkie has so many other passions in life that I don't understand why this particular one would send her into such a severe spiral of self-doubt.

Furthermore, while "you're not very good so stop playing" isn't very good advice, that doesn't mean Pinkie should be let off the hook either. She was practicing the instrument in places where it was clearly not appropriate, and not considering her friends' feelings while doing so.

This episode's binary storytelling is its problem: The mane six cannot be wrong unless Pinkie is right, and Pinkie cannot be right unless the mane six are entirely wrong. It's overly simplistic without building upon the groundwork already established by the show, and the moral doesn't quite fit the evidence we see in the episode. 

Edited August 4, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[Dark Qiviut 22,379]

1 hour ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Pinkie has so many other passions in life that I don't understand why this particular one would send her into such a severe spiral of self-doubt.

Because playing the yovidaphone made her feel happy. It's an instrument that contents her soul regardless of how well she played it. And she didn't become depressed because she couldn't play it, but because her friends told her to quit playing it forever.

1 hour ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Furthermore, while "you're not very good so stop playing" isn't very good advice, that doesn't mean Pinkie should be let off the hook either. She was practicing the instrument in places where it was clearly not appropriate, and not considering her friends' feelings while doing so.

Being inconsiderate to them still doesn't entitle them the tell her to completely give up playing it. The RM6 could've handled it a million times better, but screwed up royally.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[Senko 459]

8 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

But I feel like this exaggerates those emotions in a way which doesn't really make sense for this character. Pinkie has so many other passions in life that I don't understand why this particular one would send her into such a severe spiral of self-doubt.

Think of it as friends. Pinkie is friends with the entire town but when her 5 best friends seem to be ignoring her it sends her into a depression where she starts talking to inaminate objects and isolating herself. She has other interests but the Yovidaphone is as important to her in its way as her 5 friends are. She tends to latch onto specific things more than others so losing them hurts her more look at when she had to choose between Maud and her party cannon, she choose Maud but was miserable all day without her cannon.

8 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Furthermore, while "you're not very good so stop playing" isn't very good advice, that doesn't mean Pinkie should be let off the hook either. She was practicing the instrument in places where it was clearly not appropriate, and not considering her friends' feelings while doing so.

Except that she thought her friends were enjoying it as well from her perspective they went from "this is fun" to "You're never allowed to do this again" I have a similar problem with unspoken things and need people to just tell me clearly when I'm crossing a line and need to back off a bit. If they'd told her she needed to take some lessons or asked her to limit her playing to certain times/situations she'd probably have been a little sad but not spiraled into this bleak depression. Honestly I think Pinkie has some deep seated issues that are masked by how happy and friendly she normally is issues that only crop up when something gets too close. We know her family loves her but I can't shake the feeling something happened between her getting her cutie mark and that first party and when they came to accept their happy, little filly.

[Thrond 3,263]

10 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Because playing the yovidaphone made her feel happy. It's an instrument that contents her soul regardless of how well she played it. And she didn't become depressed because she couldn't play it, but because her friends told her to quit playing it forever.

I still saw it as being mostly about the yovidaphone, which is weird to me because we’ve never seen it before.

10 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Being inconsiderate to them still doesn't entitle them the tell her to completely give up playing it. The RM6 could've handled it a million times better, but screwed up royally.

Good thing I didn’t say otherwise.

4 hours ago, Senko said:

Think of it as friends. Pinkie is friends with the entire town but when her 5 best friends seem to be ignoring her it sends her into a depression where she starts talking to inaminate objects and isolating herself. She has other interests but the Yovidaphone is as important to her in its way as her 5 friends are. She tends to latch onto specific things more than others so losing them hurts her more look at when she had to choose between Maud and her party cannon, she choose Maud but was miserable all day without her cannon.

All the stuff about Pinkie’s friends is kinda tied to her own sense of self-worth, and the party cannon is directly tied to that. We have seen it enough that it’s sentimental value makes sense. We have never seen the yovidaphone before, so while it’ s not entirely unbelievable that Pinkie would grow attached to it, her reaction seems too sudden and extreme for something which, to my eyes, she had so little history with. This episode is also about her self-worth, but its approach to those themes isn’t very subtle or nuanced, which makes the yovidaphone stuff much more confusing.

4 hours ago, Senko said:

Except that she thought her friends were enjoying it as well from her perspective they went from "this is fun" to "You're never allowed to do this again" I have a similar problem with unspoken things and need people to just tell me clearly when I'm crossing a line and need to back off a bit. If they'd told her she needed to take some lessons or asked her to limit her playing to certain times/situations she'd probably have been a little sad but not spiraled into this bleak depression. 

I would have liked that story more, because it would have seemed less extreme and binary. 

[Senko 459]

I think part of the problem you have with it is that their simply saying she had been playing for moons and not getting better wasn't enough you wanted it shown that she's been bonding with the instrument over several episodes. Is that right?

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, Senko said:

I think part of the problem you have with it is that their simply saying she had been playing for moons and not getting better wasn't enough you wanted it shown that she's been bonding with the instrument over several episodes. Is that right?

That would be a bit unusual for this show, but that would have helped. I don't think that much is necessary, though. 

[Allen 1,387]

Well, that was a few weeks of hiatus until this episode aired one week on a Friday on Discovery Family before my birthday. What an annoyance at the beginning part that Pinkie Pie was playing that thing called the yovidaphone from Yayakistan very poorly until she loses that by that garbage pony despite of having no experience of her instrumental talent, and she was dusty of her own coat and mane color and her mane style the next day after it was lost. What a heart-broken party for her.  She moved out to Yayakistan feeling distressful until her Mane 6 friends show up that she will be willing to play that thing again with that kind of experience and talent that she taught in a while ago. And finally, nearly at the ending part, she show that those yaks and her Mane 6 friends enjoy that great music with that thing she plays again to restore her own coat and mane color and her mane style too. She was relieved to do that and that's how it's done for that thing to be enjoyable for them, and I will give this episode a good rating too! Her problems was fixed from the help of her Mane 6 ponies! 

Edited August 6, 2018 by Allen
Minor update comment.

[Lord Valtasar 12,690]

one of my favorite Pinkie episodes,i loved how she gave up what made her happy so nonchalantly just to make her friends happier, without them even noticing they hurt her

[MangoFoalix 24,944]

Pinned and featured thread on the main page since this is this week's episode in America.

[Ganondorf8 11,281]

I'm going to watch this episode again on the weekend so that I can get a better understanding/appreciation of what it was about.

[SparkleSan79 91]

That was absolutely hysterical!!  It also taught us a great lesson:  Doing something you love, even if you're not that good at it, makes you happy.  No one should stop that.  

[Jon the VGNerd 885]

As funny as the episode is, I kinda have to question Pinkie's intentions regarding playing the bagpipe. Couldn't she have played it elsewhere? I get she wanted to impress her friends, but it seems she's become a public nuisance right off the bat at the start, which drove the residents away out of sheer annoyance. And when she stopped playing the bagpipe altogether, well, she becomes full-blown Pinkamena again, and then becomes a vagrant by moving from her hometown. All for one, noisy instrument others found it grating? I can't say it's a bad episode, but not a good one either.

Pinkie does need serious help. I get she's being herself, but it's gotten rather overkill.

[Ganondorf8 11,281]

Using a spoiler tag here.

Spoiler

 

After watching this one for the second time to get a better understanding, I can see why people had issues with it due to Pinkie Pie. She was pretty selfish at times during the first act especially when she made all those animals cry--it made me cry on the inside--but I wouldn't call her downright evil for it or at the minimum malicious. In her mind, she was trying her best to master an instrument that most ponies probably didn't even know exist and the resulting tones just had an unfortunate side-effect that affected everyone else around her. That being said, her descent into Pinkamena--first time we've seen this form in a very long time--was to be expected though I do have to agree in principle over how she overreacted over unable to enjoy playing the Yuvidaphone--not sure on the spelling here.

Why on principle? She was good at other things so losing out on one thing wasn't going to be the end of the world. However, Pinkie was passionate--very much so--about her playing so I can understand her heart being crushed and losing all joy in her life. Maud making an appearance was surprising and her deadpan humour was on full display once again. I wish she had been given a bit more screen time but I suppose she was meant to serve as a plot device to get the story along. And then there is Yakyakistan. I personally never get tired of seeing this place though why wasn't Prince Rutherford around? I honestly was expecting him to appear and perhaps contribute to the resolution but instead he was a no-show and we got a new yak in the form of Yigrid. Granted, she was a good substitute who knew how to solve the problem in her own unique fashion.

I did like the gags that were on display with my favourite being Applejack covered in confetti when the party cannon had a delayed firing mechanism. It reminded me of classic cartoon slapstick where someone looks into the barrel of the cannon only to be blasted by it. At least Applejack didn't get the worst of it--we should be thankful otherwise things would've gotten controversial in a hurry. On a final note, I liked how they referenced the fact that Twilight wasn't honest with Celestia earlier in the season and figured on getting right to the point in hopes of solving things without it spiraling out of control. It shows that the Mane Six continue to take their own lessons and use them in further escapades though they do need a reminder every now and again. I wasn't surprised with Twilight wanting to use magic as a solution as we all know how bad that usually goes.

Overall, I'd have to give this episode an 89%. Why? Pinkie's selfishness in the first is what brought it down for me though she did improve as the episode progressed. I also have to fault the others for not dealing with the issue and instead trying to side-step around it.

 

 

[Misty Shadow 7,842]

Like with Non-Compete Clause, I'm going to be playing the devil's advocate here (sort of?) in saying that this episode was actually good. I do get why the moral confused people and agree that Pinkie Pie's obsession with the instrument to the point where she was going to leave Ponyville was somewhat hard to believe...but again, this just feels like another time to me where too many of the things an episode did well are being overlooked. We had some really good jokes, like the opening gag that I actually laughed at, the return of Maud Pie in another hilarious cameo, and the return of Pinkamena. Besides, the "being honest about telling your friends that their talents lie elsewhere" moral was already done in Horse Play and Pinkie has overreacted and tried to leave Ponyville before, both in Pinkie Pride and The Maud Couple. I do believe that the others should've still encouraged her to get better at the instrument at the end and that the "leaving Ponyville" plot point is getting redundant, but I still really enjoyed the episode and completely disagree with it being labeled as "The Worst Episode of Season 8" by some. For Celestia's sake, even Fake It Till You Make It is worse, and I don't even mind that one. 

[Sonic5421 423]

This episode was kind of half and half in terms of me being able to watch it and cringing away whenever Pinkie appeared to cause a ruckus with her instrument.

However, it was interesting to see how, without the joy of playing the yovidaphone, Pinkie turned into essentially a mixture of what happened to her in Party of One and The Return of Harmony, becoming both gray scale and straight mane and tail due to having lost all joy in her life at being unable to play the yovidaphone anymore, and not even moving to Yakyakistan to listen to the professional yak player there in Yigrid play it could cheer her up.

Realizing it is their fault because Pinkie's playing of the yovidaphone made her happy, and they took that away when they truthfully told her she was not improving in her practicing and should stop, the rest of the Mane Six convince her to play it again, despite how awful she sounds, and it doesn't take long before playing it again restores her to normal, with both color and curly mane and tail included.

Yigrid even voices her agreement that playing it, even if she's not good at it, makes Pinkie happy, which she and the other yaks are accepting of.

All in all, I think I'll give this episode a 7.5, maybe 8/10 as my final rating on it.

[ImpctR 155]

Yatky-Sux

The spoiler that I got was that it was not going to be very good. Well, after watching it I can confirm, that was really mediocre. I give it 3/5.

The only few things that made me chuckle was Maud, she's funnier than Pinkie or when Pinkie and her sister converse.

Other than that, I like this hairstyle of Pinkie more but in past seasons wasn't she still in her colors even when she looked insane? she looked desaturated like in 'The Return of Harmony' season 2 premiere.

It's hard to say what the episode is even trying to achieve, quite a filler, and although the lesson is something like 'If you want to do this activity, we will respect your decision since that's what friends are for' or something of that kind, well it's a lesson quite over-done

The yaks are now like 'we didn't even notice ponies are coming' it is totally normal? 

As some say, forced is the right word. Not something Pinkie would do and choose over her friends after all these seasons. It's a filler episode but there are such from time to time.

Edited August 25, 2018 by ImpctR

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

After months of avoiding this one...finally watched it and I have to say, what a well written episode. Teaches several things here, about being sensitive and keeping certain things to yourself. I may suck at Call of Duty, but I'm always up for playing a round of it with friends, because that's what matters the most, being joyous together no matter how bad I am at something. 

[ShadowPhoenix 153]

Definitely over-hated, Yaxity-Sax was hysterical, everypony here had some hard-hiting and emotional lines and their dynamic still shone through. Pinkie Pie has been shown to vacillate between extremes before, this is not the first time she has almost left Ponyville, which is understandable, given her lonely upbringing and need for emotional connection with her friends. What this episode lacked was simply greater nuance as a middle-ground could have been struck, simply by having Pinkie Pie practice indoors, or having her receive lessons from the yaks.

The lesson is in there, if somewhat questionable, not that every episode needs groundbreaking character development or a universally applicable/relatable moral. People should know that.

The episode is fine.

Edited August 26, 2018 by ShadowPhoenix

[Kolombo 8]

Woah, pony friends! I don't want to talk on behalf of anypony, but this episode kills Pinkie Pie.

Again, the whole premise was bad. It would be enough telling Pinkie off for

1. She destroyed AJ's harvest. (Okay, Twilight got this, but anyway)
2. Fluttershy should tell her : "Piss off, you pink maniac, it's 11 P.M. Can't you think of anypony else?"
3. Rarity: "When did you come into my house, and can't you see I am in the middle of my work. Don't you have job to do, Pinkie?!
4. I cannot say any bad about the Wonderbolts Race. Car racing and football match are for blowing annoying trumpets and shouting like animals.

So, the problem was not that she was playing on that thing, but the indelicate way she did it. They should have told her "Not play when we are working, not 11 P.M. because it's simple etiquette.

And okay, everypony is happy, Pinkie learns playing music in a more polite way, ( in the woods, miles away)

This episode was very painful, because it was from Pinkie Pie and I would not except acting like this from her.

She gave a crap on all of her friends, only because she is sulky. Total, emotional terrorist bitch, if I am not happy, other pony should not to be. Get it? And Pinkie pie does it.

Her pour friends almost try everything, and she gave a crap on their efforts. The friends even pull out the fillies card. Because they adore and look up on Pinkie and her cheerfulness, but NO she cares nothing about it, because she is sad, now.

Do not missunderstand, I love Pinkie Pie's character, that is why, this episode hurts me that much. 

Unfortunately, it is not the first case she acted so selfish.

Edited August 26, 2018 by Kolombo

[ChB 18,550]

Awww, I thought Yona was gonna star in this episode.   

 

But anyway, here is my opinion of the episode:

Spoiler

For the most part, I didn’t really like it. Pinkie’s behavior with the sax was not funny, but annoying and even a bit creepy. The ReMane 5 could have easily asked Pinkie to practice her sax in her house or in a place where it doesn’t cause a disruption to everyone else. Instead, they just asked her to quit playing. For that reason, most of the episode just felt like plot-induced stupidity to me. There were a few parts of the episodes I liked, though, such as the Yaks applauding Pinkie’s performance, which is a possible reference to innovative music and how different cultures can appreciate different style.