S09:E07 - She's All Yak

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

It was an okay episode. Nothing ground-breaking or anything and a trope which has been done to death so many times now that it can be seen a mile away. I did appreciate the song for what it was and Yona's accent change was handled really well. Were there some missed opportunities? Of course, but considering we only have 22 minutes per episode, some things couldn't be included.

Scales n' Tail... One of Spike's better ideas right there. The only thing left for me to say is expect fanartists to do their thing and provide us additional takes of Yona both in her outfit and as a pony. Maybe we'll get both together given how creative some artists are. I'll give this episode a 70%.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Ganondorf8
Fixed the post.

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

It really is fascinating how quickly Yona worked her way up from being hardly recognized, to being a fan favorite, and now to being a writer’s favorite. They didn’t even try to kill her in this one. She keeps showing that she has more to her character than just being a musclehead, she had a great song, she even got shipped with Sandbar. I’m impressed that they actually subtly tied in her saving him in Uprooted here. I’m also stunned that they brought up Sombra again for a great out-of-nowhere joke, it’s like some kind of game they’re trying to play with his fans who want him back.  Yeah, everyone knew from the start that the moral could only be a variant of “Just be yourself.”, but it’s much less frustrating when you see the moral done with a character who is no longer bland and developed from pruning.

[Oleks 1,983]

So, this episode is about three things I really dislike: dancing, traditions and fitting in. But it is centered around Best Yak, so I’m OK with it. The teaching sequence was fun, and Yona’s sad song was just gold.
But is it weird that the thing I liked the most in this episode was ponified Yona? 

[Mirage 24,135]

33 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

Yona wasn't making "Harmless compromises" to be more in harmony with her surroundings, she completely changed everything about herself. She changed the way she talked, the way she dressed, the kind of things she said. Learning more about pony culture and how the dance works is all fine, Sandbar even seemed kind of excited that she knew how to do the dances, she could have learned more about the dance traditions and how to participate without totally removing her individuality for it. Yona already fits in just fine being Yona as she already is, there's no reason for her to change that, other than she felt she had to, to be a good partner for Sandbar.

 She wasn't having trouble getting along with others or "Fitting in" in the first place.

Right - digging deeper we see that the show attempted to portray that conforming is a disaster. That trying to fit in is counter-personal. That's just not true. She went way overboard to impress and was too naive to see the outcome of how pretentious it was.  By the end we see the ponies change the name of the event, change the prize and change their traditions to make her happy (that's what I meant by the wishful thinking). On the surface, it's sweet, but really it's over-the-top patronizing that could easily upset most people if put in a similar situation.

Yona doesn't fit in. Part of her character and humor is that she is soooo not like ponies. And that's okay. She's still beautiful and she does make tremendous efforts to be in harmony with the ponies, and that is a healthy testament of love. She shouldn't divorce her Yak heritage, but embrace it, so much that she feels no threat in conforming a bit to be respectful of others. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Totally Mirage

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

6 minutes ago, Totally Mirage said:

Right - digging deeper we see that the show attempted to portray that conforming is a disaster. That trying to fit in is counter-personal. That's just not true. She went way overboard to impress and was too naive to see the outcome of how pretentious it was.  By the end we see the ponies change the name of the event, change the prize and change their traditions to make her happy (that's what I meant by the wishful thinking). On the surface, it's sweet, but really it's over-the-top patronizing that could easily upset most people if put in a similar situation.

Yona doesn't fit in. Part of her character and humor is that she is soooo not like ponies. And that's okay. She's still beautiful and she does make tremendous efforts to be in harmony with the ponies, and that is a healthy testament of love. She shouldn't divorce her Yak heritage, but embrace it, so much that she feels no threat in conforming a bit to be respectful of others. 

I'd just like to point out, it wasn't the actual tradition. The tradition itself is a Ponyville thing, this was the school's own version and was basically a separate thing from the actual event, so it's not like they changed the actual original tradition itself, just the school's own new event that was based on it, which I think is actually a good idea, as the new changed version fits the school better in this case.

 I think she does fit in? You don't have to be totally conforming to "Fit in", yeah she's so not like the ponies, but neither are any of the other non-pony students, that doesn't mean they don't fit in.

[Sonic5421 423]

Our next episode regarding the Student Six, and it is focused on Yona, and I enjoyed it. Yona was worried about how Sandbar would react to her showing up to the dance and embarrassing herself with her yak nature, so she asked Rarity for help, along with the other Mane Six, sans Twilight, and together, they are able to get her better accustomed to how to behave at the dance, and while she initially makes a good first impression while with Sandbar, she ends up humiliating herself anyway when she ends up blinded by her wig and ruins the whole dance. Humiliated, she retreats to the Treehouse of Harmony, where Sandbar is able to convince her to come back and just be herself. Once Yona does that, everyone joins her in performing one of her favorite traditional yak dances with Spike being the MC.

Great episode, so I'll give it a 9, maybe a 9.5/10.

[Mirage 24,135]

22 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

I'd just like to point out, it wasn't the actual tradition. The tradition itself is a Ponyville thing, this was the school's own version and was basically a separate thing from the actual event, so it's not like they changed the actual original tradition itself, just the school's own new event that was based on it, which I think is actually a good idea, as the new changed version fits the school better in this case.

 I think she does fit in? You don't have to be totally conforming to "Fit in", yeah she's so not like the ponies, but neither are any of the other non-pony students, that doesn't mean they don't fit in.

It's much to do about perception. Yona gets too hard on herself for not being 'like ponies'. She is a sweetheart. But the ponies still accept her. Sometimes acceptance is not enough. Sometimes we want to fit in even more - it's a strong desire to be not only accepted but also admired and looked up to. That's not really healthy. So we see that problem collapse. But then the patronizing is what got me. There was enough wisdom in seeing her desire to impress fail - they didn't have to change everything just to make her feel better.

Consider the lesson - Yona tries to fit in and conform to impress, it fails, she feels tremendous shame, so then everyone dismisses that unhealthy desire and changes everything to suit her bad choice. That's what I talking about.

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

18 minutes ago, Totally Mirage said:

It's much to do about perception. Yona gets too hard on herself for not being 'like ponies'. She is a sweetheart. But the ponies still accept her. Sometimes acceptance is not enough. Sometimes we want to fit in even more - it's a strong desire to be not only accepted but also admired and looked up to. That's not really healthy. So we see that problem collapse. But then the patronizing is what got me. There was enough wisdom in seeing her desire to impress fail - they didn't have to change everything just to make her feel better.

Consider the lesson - Yona tries to fit in and conform to impress, it fails, she feels tremendous shame, so then everyone dismisses that unhealthy desire and changes everything to suit her bad choice. That's what I talking about.

I know what wanting to "Fit in" is like. I've pretty much spent my whole life simultaneously wanting to fit in and also wanting to be unique and am basically a socially anxious wreck with no outward personality anymore because of it.

 Anyway, I can see your point about it being potentially patronizing, seeming like they've changed everything just for Yona. I suppose the way I see it though is that the changes they made to the event overall seem like good changes. It's based on the Ponyville tradition, sure, but it's something more unique for the school which contains more than just ponies and is meant to teach friendship to all creatures. It's not the kind of environment where you want to make others feel like they have to be like ponies to fit in. If they'd changed Ponyville itself's traditions, I think it'd have been worse.

[Mirage 24,135]

14 hours ago, BastementSparkle said:

I know what wanting to "Fit in" is like. I've pretty much spent my whole life simultaneously wanting to fit in and also wanting to be unique and am basically a socially anxious wreck with no outward personality anymore because of it.

 Anyway, I can see your point about it being potentially patronizing, seeming like they've changed everything just for Yona. I suppose the way I see it though is that the changes they made to the event overall seem like good changes. It's based on the Ponyville tradition, sure, but it's something more unique for the school which contains more than just ponies and is meant to teach friendship to all creatures. It's not the kind of environment where you want to make others feel like they have to be like ponies to fit in. If they'd changed Ponyville itself's traditions, I think it'd have been worse.

I never fit in either. I'm a misfit. And I did as Yona did and made a fool of myself more than once. So I make compromises, and sometimes genuine faults are exposes that I need to change, but some things are genuinely 'me' and I care less and less about what other people think about them. It was a healthy lesson to learn because it made me more happy - just be strong and know what defines you and what doesn't.

Please don't misunderstand, you made good points. I'm not opposing your perception, really, just clarifying mine.

Edited May 12, 2019 by Totally Mirage

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

6 minutes ago, Totally Mirage said:

I never fit in either. I'm a misfit. And I did as Yona did and made a fool of myself more than once. So I make compromises, and sometimes genuine faults are exposes that I need to change, but some things are genuinely 'me' and I care less and less about what other people think about them. It was a healthy lesson to learn because it made me more happy - just be strong and know what defines you and what does.

Please don't misunderstand, you made good points. I'm not opposing your perception, really, just clarifying mine.

It's alright, you made some good points too. I don't think it was particularly patronizing, but I can see how it might come across that way to someone. 

[Ganondox 899]

I liked this episode, though the moral of "be yourself" has been done to death, and I find that it was shoehorned into this episode. There is a big difference between conforming to please someone and wanting to learn how to perform local customs (the latter is something I personally relate with as someone who has lived as an expatriate for a significant part of their life), and this episode straddled the line between the two. The one thing here I found really interesting was it's emphasis on Ponyville's non-inclusive language and how the non-ponies felt excluded, not just Yona. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Ganondox

[JCKane 345]

Ok, just seen the episode and... it was 'meh'.  Like some things I could see was interesting but then it was the same concept that I'm pretty sure we've learned before.  Even in the very last episode.  Ok, slightly different but it was still "Be yourself".  Which tbh, I feel they could have done a different message here.  Like more of a 'blending of traditions' vs just a "Be yourself" type message.  Granted there was a bit of that at the end but eh, it was still more about that 'be yourself' message.

It almost feels like it's slightly saying it was wrong of Yona to learn those dances, which there was nothing wrong with that. Admittedly, the 'speech pattern' and 'super fancy dress' was a bit much, more so because literally none of the other ponies even worse a dress and wasn't Sandbar the only other one there that even wore anything extra? (Ok, Rarity did too but then again she's Rarity so her NOT wearing a dress to any kind of dance would be odd XD ). Though, while I think that particular dress didn't exactly match well with Yona, I don't think not wearing a dress at all would have been terrible (minus that fact she would have been the only one wearing one aside for Rarity )

Either way, I feel the episode could have benefited more about focusing more on 'blending' traditions.  Granted they touched on it super lightly, but as I mentioned it was just another "If you don't be yourself, you'll make a fool of yourself" episodes.  Perhaps the episode could have been the Young 6 were tasked with coming up with their own 'traditions' to try and add to the dance and Yona struggling with that.  Perhaps she tries to find out more about the Pony traditions to figure out how to add "Yak Traditions" to the dance and her struggles comes with the 'destructive' capacity of their culture and maybe she's a bit afraid that ponies wouldn't appreciate that, or perhaps the Mane 6 try to help her reduce the 'destructive' side of the tradition which Yona gets the hang of (or whatnot).  Then once the dance begins, they get to Yona's traditional dance but then she gets a bit too into it and thus causes the mess she made in the episode.  She gets upset at that and runs away and all that.  Sandbar goes to talk to her like he does (but with the adjusted dialog) and when she gets back like currently, the Ponies are eager to learn the 'new dance' which relieves Yona's fears (and all that).

Admittedly, part of the episode was about the whole "Sandbar/Yona" thing and Yona thinking she needed to change to be the best "PonyPal" she could be.  Which you can still add that into it.  Perhaps towards the beginning when they're asked to bring their 'traditions' to the dance, Yona shows off her thing and perhaps one of the teachers catches it and offers to help her tone it down.  or maybe her demonstration causes a mess of some kind and she sees the look in her friends' eyes or something and she begins to think she needs help with it or that Ponies wouldn't be ok with it or something like that.  As in, she gets help with 'toning down' her Yak traditional Dance because she believes that other Ponies would not like it.

Anyways, that's kind of how I would of like to see the episode have gone.  Granted, there were a few fun little moments, like the Twilight wig   But it was 'meh' and just a theme sort of over done (and techincally didn't they also do this same theme during one of the galloping galla episodes?)

Side Note: Dang, I'm really glad the forums save responses in the quick editor thing.  Dunno what happened but I was nearly done and suddenly the page refreshed.  I was like "NO I don't want to have to type that all out again :O " .  But, *whew* thank goodness for that feature.  So super Kudos to the one(s) who added it  

39 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

I liked this episode, though the moral of "be yourself" has been done to death, and I find that it was shoehorned into this episode. There is a big difference between conforming to please someone and wanting to learn how to perform local customs (the latter is something I personally relate with as someone who has lived as an expatriate for a significant part of their life), and this episode straddled the line between the two. The one thing here I found really interesting was it's emphasis on Ponyville's non-inclusive language and how the non-ponies felt excluded, not just Yona. 

My thoughts exactly!!

[Dynamo Pad 10,777]

I just finished the episode and I really liked it a lot. It was interesting to see Twilight bringing a tradition from Ponyville to the school. When they mentioned a dance, I was thinking they would have mentioned the Grand Galloping Gala. It is nice to see other traditions being brought up. As it helped give Ponyville more world building like Appaloosa. It's nice to see Yona getting a character focused episode. I do wonder if we'll be getting a character focused episode from each of the student 6. I liked the song and it was nice to see how the rest of the mane 6 tried to help Yona getting ready for the dance. It was disheartening to see things weren't working out for Yona when it was time for the dance. I liked how Yona had gone to the tree house as I hoped the tree house would be used at certain times. I liked how Sandbar went to check on Yona and make sure she was okay. It was nice that the rest of the mane 6 learned a lesson too and realized it was better to learn the traditions, while still being yourself. I liked the moral, but I felt the moral was somewhat of a repeat to last week's episode. The comedy and random moments were pretty funny and I liked the episode overall.  

[Partialgeek514 4,920]

I thought it was a pretty good episode. I kind of predicted the ending, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe Sandbar x Yona will stay a thing! 

[Thrond 3,257]

I know I like to overthink this show but this might be one of the first times where I really want to ignore what I think this episode is trying to say. On the surface it's just the show's millionth version of a "be yourself" moral, which is especially annoying because we literally just got one of those last week. I really like Yona as a character, and her romance with Sandbar is adorable, but I don't think this is that creative outside of her lovable personality, and the main thing distinguishing this version is that I'm pretty sure the writers want this to be about racism/xenophobia. And once again I just do not believe that the show is capable of taking on such heavy topics. It inevitably dumbs them down for the target audience, and it inevitably wastes time on the same formula beats about someone doing something embarrassing. And I really, really do not want to think about the mane six's unexamined prejudices. That makes me uncomfortable and spoils a lot of the show's charm. I'm not entirely unwilling to hear about the racist underbelly of Equestria, but if the show's gonna have the characters I care about literally tell Yona that the way she's talking is wrong, that adds a lot of baggage that I think is inappropriate for a show like this. This is not a story about the ponies confronting their own prejudices, and maybe it shouldn't be, but without that it's just a relatively weak version of a story this show seems to tell every year. I don't think I'm reading too much into that, but even if I am, I'm just sick of this show repeating this moral. I liked the emotional scene at the end, though, and a lot of the little moments are cute and funny; Yona saves it, mostly. 

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

Alright we have officially passed season six and reached absurd levels of Starlight sidelining here. The first two appearances she had this season, the writers use the school, (which has no teachers, and probably no students since it wasn’t in session) as a means to write Starlight out of the narrative.

And now, now that the school is in full session, with all the teachers and students, and a big school run event that everyone else has attended, she doesn’t even make a background appearance.

What the actual fuck is going on with Starlight and the school? The writers are the ones who want us to believe that Starlight taking over the school after Twilight is a good ending to her story, that it’s where she belongs. Yet at every turn the only way they use her role with the school so far is to keep her away from the real story. And then, when the school, and everyone else who works or attends there is present, she’s completely missing.

The writers need to sell the ideas they present, they can’t just introduce them and then do nothing with them. There’s no excuse for her to have not appeared in this episode in any from.

[gingerninja666 487]

8 minutes ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Alright we have officially passed season six and reached absurd levels of Starlight sidelining here. The first two appearances she had this season, the writers use the school, (which has no teachers, and probably no students since it wasn’t in session) as a means to write Starlight out of the narrative.

And now, now that the school is in full session, with all the teachers and students, and a big school run event that everyone else has attended, she doesn’t even make a background appearance.

What the actual fuck is going on with Starlight and the school? The writers are the ones who want us to believe that Starlight taking over the school after Twilight is a good ending to her story, that it’s where she belongs. Yet at every turn the only way they use her role with the school so far is to keep her away from the real story. And then, when the school, and everyone else who works or attends there is present, she’s completely missing.

The writers need to sell the ideas they present, they can’t just introduce them and then do nothing with them. There’s no excuse for her to have not appeared in this episode in any from.

It's frustrating because I really loved the first real scene she got in this season. Even though it's brief.

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

1 hour ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Alright we have officially passed season six and reached absurd levels of Starlight sidelining here.

Not even close.

In Season 6, Starlight was brand new to the cast, having already been reformed. DHX had to convince us that she belongs to the show. At the time, she completely changed the status quo and underwent a major redemption arc, one of the most important of the entire series.

Today, her arc has all but completed. She’s much more sure of herself now and already has a prominent position of Guidance Counselor (and headmare when Twilight et al are out). Whereas she tried to find her footing in S6, she knows her role now. Thanks to Beginning of the End, we all but know her outcome (and just about every other teacher now).

52 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

It's frustrating because I really loved the first real scene she got in this season. Even though it's brief.

1 hour ago, ShootingStar159 said:

she doesn’t even make a background appearance.

Indeed, trying to guide Twilight in BotE was very awesome and a sneaky highlight of S9 overall to boot. Perhaps I too would like to see a little background role here, but that’s a nitpick, like not seeing her in Rockhoof and a Hard Place. Nevertheless, there’s currently no point for her to be involved at all, foreground, middle, or back.

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

13 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Not even close.

In Season 6, Starlight was brand new to the cast, having already been reformed. DHX had to convince us that she belongs to the show. At the time, she completely changed the status quo and underwent a major redemption arc, one of the most important of the entire series.

Today, her arc has all but completed. She’s much more sure of herself now and already has a prominent position of Guidance Counselor (and headmare when Twilight et al are out). Whereas she tried to find her footing in S6, she knows her role now. Thanks to Beginning of the End, we all but know her outcome (and just about every other teacher now).

Yeah, trying to guide Twilight in BotE was awesome. Perhaps I would like to see a little background role here, but that’s a nitpick, like not seeing her in Rockhoof and a Hard Place. Right now, there’s no point for her to be involved at all, foreground, middle, or back.

Except there were places in Season Six that Starlight could have been included but wasn’t. That is entirely different from this, a place that Starlight should have been included, but wasn’t. Starlight should have been present at a school run event that she’s a staff member of.

And you might have had a point about her arc being completed at the end of season eight, or hell, even season seven. At the end 9f season seven, her goal was to be a good friend and student. She proved herself in that role, and proved it was something she was happy with, even good at. She proved that she was good counselor in season eight, and it was clear that she enjoyed it.

But now that they’ve introduced an entirely new goal for her character, headmare. And since they’ve introduced it, they’ve done nothing of value to prove that she ready for it, preparing for it, or even just is happy to have the job. Every other character has a clear, not just chosen, but developed ending to their character. Twilight’s a teacher and a princess, Spike’s her assistant, Rainbow’s a Wonderbolt, Rarity's a fashion designer, etc, etc, etc.

Starlight’s role as a headmare has had no development this season. The students don’t bring their problems to her, she’s missing from important events, and the only episode we know she’s getting is about her job as a counselor, not headmare. If they wanted to leave her as just a Guidance councilor, they were in a pretty good spot to do so. By introducing a new end for her character, they put it upon themselves to make that end satisfying, and they have done nothing so far to prove they will.

[Loyal Defender 4,111]

 

Anyone notice Silverstream's disconnected arm? And she thinks YONA'S look is weird? HAH.

(also, that face! XD)

"B*tch please!"

 

Seriously, this episode had SO MANY glorious expressions!

WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THESE FACES?!

 

(And meme material!)

Edited May 12, 2019 by Loyal Defender

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

1 hour ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Except there were places in Season Six that Starlight could have been included but wasn’t.

In Season 6, Starlight’s arc was at the height of its importance. DHX brought her into the central cast with the RM7, Discord, and the CMCs. She was included into that circle, and it was up to them to make it matter. Instead, after an early rush of episodes, Starlight was barely included in between Tail and Every Little Thing. At the time, plenty justifiably questioned whether she belonged or not. With how vulnerable her reputation was, S6 had to make a powerful statement and didn’t. They couldn’t get away with not including her, and not doing so was a gigantic mistake, which hindered To Where’s credibility as a whole. She came of S6 looking worse than before, and it took at least one season (and very smart roles for her) to fix it.

Since then, that changed. Today her rep as a character is much improved, and canonically, she showed her worth in both the series and the school. We know what her status is and will be. Neither BotE nor Sparkle’s Seven needed to use her so much. So far, aside from maybe a background cameo here, DHX doesn’t need to include her at all.

1 hour ago, ShootingStar159 said:

But now that they’ve introduced an entirely new goal for her character, headmare.

A role that Starlight was introduced to last season on an interim basis, thanks to Discord’s mind games. Despite understandably losing her temper, she handled herself decently at the end and, apparently, held her own again while the others scavenged in Canterlot to breach SA’s security.

1 hour ago, ShootingStar159 said:

Starlight’s role as a headmare has had no development this season.

Nor have the RM7’s. Starlight’s role as guidance counselor and the others’ won’t likely be impacted until Episode 11 and mid-season finale, respectively. So far, the Young Six take over most of the spotlight, and given how new they are, that’s necessary.

[Odyssey 5,713]

8 hours ago, RaphLuna said:

Its just a recycle of the last lesson.

Stop being something your not and just be yourself.

To me its just shows they are really running out of ideas.

I don't know why some people believe that repeating morals is necessarily a bad thing. People have different ways or situations of learning the same moral. And what matters more than anything else is the execution, not if it's already been done.

[Will Guide 21,325]

1 minute ago, Odyssey said:

I don't know why some people believe that repeating morals is necessarily a bad thing. People have different ways or situations of learning the same moral. And what matters more than anything else is the execution, not if it's already been done.

I agree with you. Like Fluttershy said in Fame and Misfortune, you can't really expect to learn the lesson right away all the time. Some people learn at their own pace and it has to be at their own pace because everyone is different.

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

9 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

I don't know why some people believe that repeating morals is necessarily a bad thing. People have different ways or situations of learning the same moral. And what matters more than anything else is the execution, not if it's already been done.

To be blunt, calling it a “be yourself” moral shortchanges the actual lesson Yona and the ReMane 5 learned. Today’s lesson is how you shouldn’t have to believe that to grow and mature is to erase your own identity and be trained to another’s under the belief that they’re “more civilized” than yours. It’s an anti-assimilation message above all else.

[Thrond 3,257]

42 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

I don't know why some people believe that repeating morals is necessarily a bad thing. People have different ways or situations of learning the same moral. And what matters more than anything else is the execution, not if it's already been done.

Sure, but this particular episode mostly just follows the formula of: person tries to fit in -> others encourage them to fit in -> person embarrasses themself -> person is told they should just be themselves. Only difference is that this version has a vague racial charge that the episode doesn't actually explore in much detail. I feel that it makes the world more depressing without offering enough in return.