S09:E04 - Sparkle's Seven

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

4 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

On a related topic, Twilight tries to give the excuse to the rest of the Mane Six that doing this is "to protect Celestia's castle", and I've also seen people saying or believing that all these lines of defense for the Canterlot castle (designed by Shining Armor) were serious and were going to stay even after Twilight's and Shining Armor's little competition. But that's not the impression that I got from watching this episode; it seems to me like this gauntlet of defenses would be untenable to keep around the castle for the long term. Do the residents of Canterlot and the castle, and the potential visitors to it, really want the airspace above and around Canterlot castle to be nearly unusable, permanently? Is it really feasible or desirable to keep the tunnels below the castle sealed permanently? Who would be paying for the permanent doubling of the ranks of security? Do Celestia and Luna really want a permanent floor trap, activated at the slightest touch, right in front of their thrones in the throne room? And do Celestia and Luna really want biting and very loudly honking geese taking up permanent residence in the throne room? If the geese's honking can be heard "all the way in Ponyville", then presumably everyone in Canterlot can hear them. Do all of them really want to hear the honking every time the geese are agitated?

I think that the characters really believed that Shinning's defenses would be both suitable and permanent.

That is one of the problems with MLP: the people making it don't think about what it's doing and it works with the rest of the series, or even common sense, sometimes, as long as the episode that comes out is funny. I mean, no one believes that, whatever is going to happen in the finale, beating the bad guy will have anything to do with those. The whole thing is just a backdrop for the episode to happen.

Honestly, I couldn't imagine a serious monarch turning security into a game for the siblings to begin with.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

2 hours ago, Truffles said:

I think the real sore spot for Twilight (and Spike) is Shining kept the crown to himself and didn't share it with her over the past several years. Twilight won the (monthly?) competition several times, so she may have felt slighted that he took it and hid it from her.

Twilight explains at one point that "at the end of each week, we'd add up the stars", so it looks to have been a weekly competition. And I can understand Twilight's having some resentment toward Shining Armor if, for example, he happened to be the last winner of the weekly competition before it was stopped, and he then kept the crown for himself, with the implication - or even explicit statement by Shining Armor - that this meant that he was the ultimate winner. (Whereas, if Shining Armor had returned the crown to their parents, that would be an implicit or explicit statement that neither of them was the ultimate winner, or that it didn't matter.) I just feel like, if I were in that position, I wouldn't view reviving the competition one last time to determine a really ultimate winner as a good resolution; I feel like I would rather just see everyone reach a mutual agreement that it really doesn't matter who the ultimate winner was, and to set the competition aside. But ultimately, this might just be something that Twilight handles differently than I would; there are still plenty of other things with which I can relate to Twilight.

2 hours ago, Truffles said:

But couldn't have Luna teleported the Helm out to Twilight before any of the plans even started? I suppose that would mean Luna would get the Helm and not Twilight, but in terms of testing would it not be just as valid an "inside threat" as the way it actually played out in the episode? A lot less fun, I suppose.

Yeah, I guess there wouldn't be much of an episode if Luna had just teleported the crown out of the throne room. I can also see it as Luna enjoying "toying with" Celestia in a similar way to how Shining Armor enjoyed "toying with" Twilight. Shining Armor let Twilight's plan appear to work until the last second, and then snatched victory away from her. Similarly, Luna could have been letting Celestia believe that she was right to do things her way and to ask Shining Armor to handle the security upgrades, only for Luna to show Celestia at the last second that Shining Armor's security - and, by extension, Celestia's decision to ask him to handle that while cutting Luna out - wasn't as good as Celestia thought.

55 minutes ago, Metemponychosis said:

I mean, no one believes that, whatever is going to happen in the finale, beating the bad guy will have anything to do with those. The whole thing is just a backdrop for the episode to happen.

I suppose Celestia does tell Luna at the end of the episode that "it seems we need to make adjustments to account for threats inside the castle as well as out", so that could serve as an explanation for some - or most - of Shining Armor's defenses being altered or removed offscreen. But I can also imagine, for example, the newly-tuned shards of Chrysalis's throne playing some protective role in a later episode. I guess we'll have to see whether any of Shining Armor's defenses are shown or referred to in any later episodes, or whether they'll be dropped as just devices for this one-off episode.

[Zestanor 98]

2 hours ago, Metemponychosis said:

I think that the characters really believed that Shinning's defenses would be both suitable and permanent.

 

All except Luna, who wants nothing to do with it. She seems to think it's all ridiculous, and though she respects Shining Armor, she clearly thinks she could have done a better job.

[Truffles 2,033]

6 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

he then kept the crown for himself, with the implication - or even explicit statement by Shining Armor - that this meant that he was the ultimate winner. (Whereas, if Shining Armor had returned the crown to their parents, that would be an implicit or explicit statement that neither of them was the ultimate winner

On a side note, it was presumptuous of him to declare himself the ultimate winner just because he had the last win. A better standard would have been to count the number of wins by each of them and the one who won the most is the ultimate winner.

Of course, then the episode wouldn't be able to close Spike's story arc since he'd have just that one win. But I suspect Twilight and Shining both realized they had both been petty with each other by the end of the contest upon seeing Spike so glum. They decided the right thing to do was give it to him as part of their apology for taking him for granted for all those years the three of them lived together.

6 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Yeah, I guess there wouldn't be much of an episode if Luna had just teleported the crown out of the throne room.

I had to revise my previous statement: I was actually thinking she should teleport it outside the castle walls, away from all the guards. But I forgot about the changeling throne shards blocking that magic. While she could teleport it to another location inside the castle, I suspect the extra patrols would make getting it to one of Sparkle's 7 very difficult and too much of a risk to attempt.

I don't think she could teleport it to the tunnels under the castle, either, because they also may be outside the magic barrier.

She could teleport it to another room in the castle, but would that really be any easier than the throne room if they are not all familiar with the layout of the place? I guess Spike's plan of having the real heist go down right under Celestia and Shining's noses with everyone present was ultimately the best option.

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

7 hours ago, Zestanor said:

All except Luna, who wants nothing to do with it. She seems to think it's all ridiculous, and though she respects Shining Armor, she clearly thinks she could have done a better job.

Let me rephrase. In the context of the conversation, Luna did believe that those measures were serious and would stay. She didn't agree with them, but she believed that Celestia and Shining Armor were serious about them.

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

Today we ask the age-old question:

WILL IT PONY?!

Spoiler

 

What's poning, ponles?

I loved it!  The first good episode of the season!  Thank Celestia.  Wow, an Ocean's 11 parody!  I absolutely flipped.  What a great idea!  It was a smash all around.  Terrific.

First off, omg, Rarity's "the house wins" speech!! 

Spoiler

 

Love it.  Love it.

When I first read the synopsis, I feared another immature fight, another Non-Compete Clause.  I was afraid that Twilight and Shining Armor were going to do a Lucy and Ethel style bit where they start hating each other over something stupid, and one minute into the episode they're shouting, "I'M NEVER SPEAKING TO YOU AGAIN!"  "GOOD RIDDANCE!!"  Omg, so glad they didn't go that way.  I mean, you just never know with this show, but this time it was great.

Parodying Ocean's 11 was brilliant.  Not too much to say, really.  They just did a fantastic job.  And they made it different by doing the inside job twist.  I liked it very much.  Although, one little thing confuses me: weren't the Chrissy throne shards preventing magic use?  How did Luna use magic to teleport the crown, then?  And it seems to me that preventing magic use in the castle would be too big of a risk to begin with.  Sure, the enemies wouldn't be able to use magic, either, but I dunno--still seems too risky.  You might end up with some disaster like at the Equestria Games where nopony could stop it.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the entire premise of upping the castle security, and calling in the "big guns", Shining Armor, to help, as if castle security has ever done anything, ever.  Scarecrows would be just as useful as those castle guards.  But, y'know, I guess we're suppose to assume that without the guards, Chrissy would have waltzed in and killed everyone a dozen times over.

Some really great moments sprinkled throughout.  We got to see Noir Rarity!    And the whole bit with Rarity convincing Rainbow to distract Zephyr was brilliant.  I really liked Glamour Dash.  She cleans up real nice.    There was something really endearing about the whole scene.  Perhaps it's because I can empathize so much with Zephyr's having a crush on Rainbow.  Who wouldn't?  Perhaps she'd actually like him back if he stopped acting like the most insufferable windbag in Equestria.

Applejack's singing story was very amusing.  I'm assuming it was made-up.  It seemed like a weird continuity error to me, but her reaction to Rainbow asking if it was made-up made me think it was definitely made-up, which was hilarious for some reason, perhaps just because it was from the Pony-of-Truth.  What was her stage name supposed to be?  I heard "Apple Core", but I've seen posts in this thread saying "Apple Chord", (which makes sense), and "Apple Corn", (which doesn't really make any sense).  Guess I could turn on closed captioning to find out.

Ooh, and I LOVED the Maud appearance.  The rock specialist.  Brilliant.  However, as much as I enjoyed AJ getting to shine here, one does wonder why Maud didn't just destroy the rock herself, since she has proven that she's strong enough by saving Pinkie from the boulder on her death obstacle course.  Maybe that was because she had a life-or-death adrenaline surge.  She probably can't do that normally, I guess, huh?

Of course, the best part was Spike finally getting the recognition and brother status that he deserves.  Fans have long bemoaned the fact that he gets ignored or brushed aside.  I think they've even joked about it on the show, right?  Was it Chrissy that kept referencing the the heroes and saying that there were seven, and then Spike would clear his throat and say "eight".  Didn't that happen?  Or am I mixing up Totally Legit Recap with canon again?  Anyway, I'm sure everyone was thrilled to see Spike get that recognition.  I certainly was.

Y'know what, though?  I think that, personally, my favorite moment was when Luna huffed and made the real horse sound.  Anytime a character makes a real horse sound, I just , and when LUNA does it, well, I just !!!!!!

I will say that I'm not so sure Twilight is ready to rule Equestria if she jets off at the drop of a hat without actually asking if Starlight can run the school.  Moreover, if Twilight and all the other mane 5, as well as Spike, are all doing Castle Heist... then who's teaching class at school?  Cuz school was clearly in-session... 

Now, I realize that laying the Ocean's 11 parody on too thick would have been beating a dead horse, but there's one thing I really wish they had done.  I wish that they had come up with a way to include Starlight, without leaving the school unattended of course, (Headmare Pro-Temp Discord?), and then done this scene with Twilight and Starlight sitting at the Hayburger:

Spoiler

 

Well, before I close, I have to answer the question--Ocean's 11: will it Pony?  HECK YEAH!!  Many times over!!

[Music Chart Fan 819]

1 hour ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Although, one little thing confuses me: weren't the Chrissy throne shards preventing magic use?  How did Luna use magic to teleport the crown, then?  And it seems to me that preventing magic use in the castle would be too big of a risk to begin with.  Sure, the enemies wouldn't be able to use magic, either, but I dunno--still seems too risky.  You might end up with some disaster like at the Equestria Games where nopony could stop it.

When Shining Armor introduces that line of defense, he says "The castle is surrounded by shards of Queen Chrysalis' throne. Thanks to Star Swirl, its anti-magic powers are now tuned to stop anycreature from using a spell to get inside". So it looks as though Star Swirl could have modified the throne shards to prevent outside magic from coming in (or vice versa), but people inside the castle would still be able to cast magic.

1 hour ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Moreover, if Twilight and all the other mane 5, as well as Spike, are all doing Castle Heist... then who's teaching class at school?  Cuz school was clearly in-session...

Yeah, I had noticed that too. But one explanation I thought of is that the heist could have occurred on a weekend or some other day when classes weren't being taught. So Starlight could stay at the school just to keep an eye on the students living there and to be on hand if something were to happen, but the Mane Seven would be free to (try to) execute the heist.

[Truffles 2,033]

10 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

What was her stage name supposed to be?  I heard "Apple Core", but I've seen posts in this thread saying "Apple Chord", (which makes sense), and "Apple Corn", (which doesn't really make any sense).

It's Apple Chord. At least that's what my ears heard.

10 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

Was it Chrissy that kept referencing the the heroes and saying that there were seven, and then Spike would clear his throat and say "eight".  Didn't that happen?  Or am I mixing up Totally Legit Recap with canon again? 

It was Tirek in last season's finale who kept forgetting about Spike while they were all trapped together in Tartarus. And he kept saying 6 with Spike correcting him to 7. So it did happen, just not with Chrysalis.

11 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

I think that, personally, my favorite moment was when Luna huffed and made the real horse sound.

I thought that moment was hilarious. I'll bet if Starswirl had been present, he'd gently scold her for being un-princess-like.

[bwrosas 252]

Here I give a follow-up on my review this past Saturday.

Comments are Welcomed

#MLPSeason9 #Follow_Up #MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic #Review 

Spoiler

 

 

[JCKane 345]

Another enjoyable episode.  Still, I expected Twilight to come up with a newer plan after the first one failed.  But I did like the Spike Subterfuge, Pretty fun if you ask me

As for the facial expression, I voted other, cuz still loved all the eye rolling Rainbow Dash did when having to 'distract' Zephyr XD

[Senko 459]

Finally got to watch this episode and honestly I'm not really a fan of the spike sibling desire especially after the way he broke twilight's heart in father know's beast by saying she wasn't family. Its a cute episode but it just doesn't seem to really fit wtih that one I'm also not sure if Luna being an inside conspirator was good or bad.

 

I did like the horse noises they kept making when annoyed or frustrated. Same with Starlights "I guess that explains your love of charts and so much else."

 

And the guard are made out to be idiots with one of them falling for Rarities guard disguise could have at least had Shining Armour explaining he'd even ordered the guard to let them through.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Senko

[Hierok 11,831]

I don't know... It didn't feel special to me, while I hoped it would.

First of, I really loved Spike in this episode, but it came out of nowhere. Never have we seen Spike felt left out. This could have been built on a bit better imo.

Then, I really liked the stuff between Luna and Tia, and the plan of Spike and Luna. That was very special to see and very well executed. 

At last, the plan of Rarity was not really convincing to begin with. I liked she took charge, but I would've liked to see them coming up with a plan themselfs, not just switch the old plan...

Overall, it was enjoyable, but not very special...

[Plonkett 345]

Thoughts?

Edited April 26, 2019 by vgmaster9

[BlinkZ 1,151]

it's a mixed bag for me. The ending felt a bit sudden but given hwo many gags they used i can see htey ran out of time for it. The Luna grudge thing wa a tad confusing but uh..okay iguess... 
INIce to see Spike get some love too. 

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

2 hours ago, BlinkZ said:

it's a mixed bag for me. The ending felt a bit sudden but given hwo many gags they used i can see htey ran out of time for it. The Luna grudge thing wa a tad confusing but uh..okay iguess... 
INIce to see Spike get some love too. 

Everyone's a critic...

[RulesofRarity 489]

On 4/22/2019 at 3:46 PM, Lambdadelta said:

This 200th episode is nothing like 100th episode, it made me love it without any fanservice at all.

This. I'm so so glad they had the 200th episode focus on the main cast, the characters that have carried this show for the past 8 years. The 100th was an actual slog if you had no investment in the background ponies.

[Darthy Hooves 106]

For me, "Sparkle's Seven" was a good episode, but really didn't feel like a "special". I was glad to see Spike finally get some love & respect. So I give it a "10" as a Spike episode & a "6" as a special. For me "Slice of Life" was a "10" as a special.

[Light Blade 8,673]

Just saw it, finally. It was a lotta fun!

- Wow, Spike is quite a plotter. Didn't expect that from little guy. And Her Lunar Highness herself helped him! Oh Lulu, you...Blofeld!

- And that frame of her with her older sister. Konfetka!

 

- A lotta Twiliedorbs at the beginning (mostly) makes me very happy

- Oh my Lu, ZEPHYR BREEZE. All the juicy Dash-cringe XD

- Flutty's dangerous mission outfit makes its triumphant return!

- Did I mention also return of Noirity?

 

8.5/10 from me personally. maybe not as impactful as Slice of Life but still is a lot of fun!

[bwrosas 252]

Blank Check of "Blank Reacts" on YouTube, Noticed a tease of Fluttershy/Spike Ship towards the end of the episode, with their talk on Sibs. Did anyone else get that vibe as well or no?

[DubWolf 17,247]

Hmm things I liked

-Lul Space Pinkeh! Also piñata Pinkeh. Always being ridiculous.

-AJ’s humility as always. Was she lying or not tho?

-Spike and Luna’s inside job. Lul Luna and the goose.

 

Dislikes:

-Freaking GEESE !!! Destroy them all !!!

Actually I thought their involvement was funny as guards.

[Truffles 2,033]

Starlight thinks both Twilight and Spike have gone off the deep end:

Also, +1 for more silly expressions.

[Senko 459]

Ignore this post it's in the wrong thread.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Senko

[Here No Longer 5,276]

I don't have time to go into depth, but this was a fantastic episode. I would say a solid 9/10 episode.

 

 

[FattPat 13]

Absolutely fantastic episode. It makes me glad I stuck with this show all the way through, because this is an episode I will be revisiting. It also makes me sad that the show is ending, because it can still produce episodes like this that I love.

I appreciate that we got a sibling related plot that didn't involve the Apple family. Remember back in season 1 when she was the only one with siblings? That was a long time ago. It feels like there is still a lot of unexplored potential with characters like Shining Armor, Luna, and Zephyr, so it's great to see them get a last hurrah before the show ends.

The only thing I'm not sure about with this episode is the retcon that Twilight and Shining were constantly competing when they were younger. Considering we saw the apple and kite scene from the BBBFF song, it feels like there was some trolling going on from the writers.

[bigbertha 414]

I really like the idea of this episode. I like the idea of a heist episode and I like how the show is able to make a heist story fit naturally with these characters. And the episode is entertaining. I wasn't bored and I was having fun watching the situation play out. The issue is that I feel like the episode should've gone further. Most of the jokes aren't great (because a lot of them are just meme faces) and the emotional core is underdeveloped. All the stuff with Spike isn't brought up very often leading to it being a lot less impactful in the end. And no. The flashback in the beginning doesn't count because it didn't show Spike being left out that much. He was enjoying himself and Twilight and Shining Armor didn't completely ignore him. 

I think this episode should've fully committed one way or the other. Either fill up the episode with crazy and fun jokes and go all out or fully develop the emotional core and make it a really impactful episode. As is, it tries to do both and neither are very impactful. Both are done fine, but neither are done really well. I honestly prefer the 100th episode because it was more focused. 

Score: 7/10