S09:E07 - She's All Yak

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH, Freenemies is next episode. I’m looking forward to that one 

[YoshiAngemon 223]

3 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH, Freenemies is next episode. I’m looking forward to that one 

I have a feeling that Daimando will want an SFM Model of Grogar made. And that Shadow will be made a part of Team Grogar just for stealing Popcorn from a baby Chao!

Personally, I think Boom Shadow would be a better fit for the SFM Expanded Team Grogar set.

Edited May 13, 2019 by YoshiAngemon

[leimagnus 15]

On 5/11/2019 at 5:21 PM, Zantetsuken said:

And for all of you thinking "well they won the award cause it's My Little Pony and it has to have a happy ending."

To these people I point out the season 2 episode Hurricane Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash had aspirations of not only getting the water up to Cloudsdale but also breaking the previous wing power record. They didn't end up breaking that record, they just got the water up to Cloudsdale and I really REALLY LIKE THAT, it shows you can't get everything you want! I am convinced that if that episode was written today they would have broke the record. Cause it just seems today like if there is an award, trophy or title up for grabs you can accidentally kill 3 ponies and still get it cause why not. 

I was watching Hurricane Fluttershy earlier last week and you pretty much put my thoughts to words.
Aspiration vs Realism is the theme. And the lesson is clearly that you can win without "winning".

Dash didn't break any combined wing-power records - Fluttershy didn't break ANY records. Both of them deservedly felt accomplishment at the end of the episode.

I would also like to mention 'Fall Weather Friends' - If this were made today, Twilight would have won the race, even if she didn't come first.

[Senko 459]

4 minutes ago, leimagnus said:

I was watching Hurricane Fluttershy earlier last week and you pretty much put my thoughts to words.
Aspiration vs Realism is the theme. And the lesson is clearly that you can win without "winning".

Dash didn't break any combined wing-power records - Fluttershy didn't break ANY records. Both of them deservedly felt accomplishment at the end of the episode.

I would also like to mention 'Fall Weather Friends' - If this were made today, Twilight would have won the race, even if she didn't come first.

Same thing in the sisterhooves social where Sweetie and Rarity lost the race but won their sisterhood back having fun just by competing together.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

I have arrived. I put off watching it for a day which I only do when I am confident the episode will suck.

aaaaaaand the episode sucked, had to happen at least once this season, shame it was with such a promising writer.

-Sandbars "crush" is forced as can be and will probably lead nowhere and I hope it doesn't actually, lets forget this one happened
-Yona and the mane 5 are hit with the idiot stick and come off as completely ignorant and unaware of what's happening, Yona has been in Equestria for a while now she should not be acting like a complete outsider
-The mane 5 feel completely forced into roles for this story
-Sandbar and Yona probably have the least buildup as a pair of anyone in the Young 6, so giving them development is fine...but not like this.
-The comedy fell flat with every single joke
-The song was great
-The treehouse scene was okay
-It had cute moments

Final rating: 40/100 Didn't like at all and don't plan on rewatching

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

On 5/11/2019 at 12:21 PM, Zantetsuken said:

And for all of you thinking "well they won the award cause it's My Little Pony and it has to have a happy ending."

To these people I point out the season 2 episode Hurricane Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash had aspirations of not only getting the water up to Cloudsdale but also breaking the previous wing power record. They didn't end up breaking that record, they just got the water up to Cloudsdale and I really REALLY LIKE THAT, it shows you can't get everything you want!

1 hour ago, leimagnus said:

I was watching Hurricane Fluttershy earlier last week and you pretty much put my thoughts to words.
Aspiration vs Realism is the theme. And the lesson is clearly that you can win without "winning".

That type of episode is much, much different than this one. In HF, Dash wanted to actually break a record, but gave it up after several pegasi suddenly became sick. Here, the stakes are far lower; the Pony Pal trophy was to determine who epitomized Ponyville's (or in this case, the school's) community values. Yona was at her worst moment of her life, and Sandbar not only found her, but guided her and supported her all the way. In response to Yona's accident, they epitomized what the School of Friendship's all about. They more than earned that award.

[ChB 18,532]

To me, this is an average slice of life episode, on the level of Green Isn’t Your Color. Not bad, but not very entertaining either.

[Truffles 2,033]

17 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Rarity runs into Yona with a rack full of dresses that Rarity says she's sewing for the dance, and that leads Yona to ask Rarity for help with getting a dress, which leads to helping Yona with other preparations for the Ball.

Heh, I had to go back and rewatch that scene. All this time I thought Rarity said she was selling dresses for the dance. My assumption up till just now was that no one wanted to spend bits on dresses for a first-run dance

17 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

the other four of the Student Six knew that Yona was preparing by learning the traditions of the Amity Ball, but apparently they and the Mane Six kept that a secret from Sandbar, who's totally surprised by Yona's preparation for the Ball. So I guess we're meant to assume that Yona asked all of them to keep it a secret?

I'm not even sure Yona would have even needed to ask them to keep it a secret. By their reaction when Yona arrived it seems like they wanted Sandbar to be surprised all on their own - I got the impression they wanted to be able to rib him over his date going to such lengths to impress him once she arrived. (And they did, lol.) However, since they were also surprised by her outfit and new way of talking, it appears even they didn't know the lengths Yona was going in order to "fit in."

17 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

the real problem doesn't seem to be that Yona "wasn't a good pony" or that she tried to be something she wasn't; rather, it was that, when Yona's wig blocked her vision, she spent close to 30 seconds running around and smashing into things like a proverbial bull in a china shop, even when her friends explicitly tried to get her to stop. So why did that happen? Was that response something that Yona (or anyone else) was aware that she would do? Is that something that Yona could/should be learning not to do? Is that supposed to be some kind of subconscious automatic instinct that she's incapable of stopping?

The bottom line is she simply got flustered and was worried having a wig over her face was making her look silly. But knowing how she reacted to situations in the past and what some of her fears are, it's also possible having her vision blocked may have triggered a fight-or-flight response in an effort to get the wig fixed. I guess it doesn't help that of all the quadrupeds, yaks are the most limited in using their forehooves to manipulate objects due to how large their barrels are.

17 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

When Twilight goes to erect the magic barrier against the flying food, she also drops Spike on his head; I'm not sure if his costume exacerbated or alleviated how much that would have hurt.

Heh, I noticed this too, but its understandable why it happened since she was startled by all the food. I still like that scene before where she went to rescue him from rolling away, so the mistake after doesn't bother me. Hopefully that head was made of soft material and did absorb some of the impact.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

On ‎5‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 11:21 PM, Zantetsuken said:

And for all of you thinking "well they won the award cause it's My Little Pony and it has to have a happy ending."

Some writers play a bit safe nowadays. A clever ending/solution might make up for a very dull episode.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

2 hours ago, ChB said:

To me, this is an average slice of life episode, on the level of Green Isn’t Your Color. Not bad, but not very entertaining either.

Green Isnt Your Color is a classic mlp episode that I can revisit from time to time, She's All Yaks is just fade away after I turn off the screen, that's the difference.

 

8 hours ago, RyanMahaffe said:

shame it was with such a promising writer.

Make him give me more Scootalove like his last episode.

[gingerninja666 487]

I feel weird for basically not forgetting any episode of this show. Even the bad ones have something in them I remember.

[Justin_Case001 4,857]

What's poning, ponles?

Oh look, an entire Yona spotlight...

 

For me, this entire episode can be summed up in one gif:

Spoiler

As much as I'd really, really like to just leave it at that and say no more, you know I'm gonna say more.  So, it wasn't abysmal or anything.  Just... meh.  It was one of those episodes where reading the synopsis is sufficient.  I mean, you knew everything that was gonna happen.

Really, I think that by now, all of the student six would know better than to try to change themselves like that.  They all know by now that they like each other for who and what they are.  Of f*cking course Sandbar didn't want Yona to become a pony, and likes her exactly the way she is, yak and all.  I mean, duh.  But the mane six really should have known better.  They're the f*cking teachers.  This is practically the exact same lesson Rarity herself learned in Simple Ways.  Now, I realize that the mane six said they weren't trying to change her, but they just legitimately thought that she wanted to learn the pony traditions because it would be fun, and that's cool and all, and basically exonerated them, but I think they should have smelled a problem from a mile away.  The only thing that [sort of] salvaged this episode was when Rarity told Yona that she could absolutely wear her normal stuff if she wanted to, and then said she'd help Yona pony up if it's what she really wanted.  I was afraid that Yona was going to tell Rarity that she was going to the pony dance, and then Rarity would exclaim, "Oh but darling!  You can't go to a pony dance like that!  You can't look like a yak!  We must ponify you at once, darling!"  Had that been the case, the episode would have instantly been an F-, since that message would have been the complete antithesis of everything the bloody School of Friendship stands for.  Thank Celestia that wasn't the case, but it was only barely salvaged.  I think the mane six still should have encouraged Yona to just be herself from the get-go.  The frigging professors of friendship are experienced enough to know that Sandbar asked her to the dance because he likes her just the way she is.

Now we know that Yona doesn't have to refer to herself in the third person.  That always annoyed me.  I'm not a big Yona fan, and I realize that her speech style is an integral part of who she is, but me like Yona more better if Yona no talk like cave man.

The song was meh.  All aboard the H.M.S. Yonbar.  Everybody set sail, I guess.  Whatever.

Uhh..... I guess that's it!  It is now my intention to sit down and play video games for several hours.  Bye.

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

I’m not shy in how much I love this episode. With a premise like this, it shouldn’t come out anything other than mediocre or bad. Instead, it’s one of the best episodes of the season at this point.

Well, I wrote a review explaining why it works so well. Check it out below!

 

 

[RDDash 18,866]

Well they are just friends, thank goodness. So there is no ship for me . Unless we ship people just because they invited each other to the dance. 

[CypherHoof 26,479]

32 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

Well they are just friends, thank goodness. So there is no ship for me . Unless we ship people just because they invited each other to the dance. 

Both outcomes are understandable. A dance is a perfect opportunity to invite someone you want as a special somepony to a date (or special someyak, of course), but equally, if you don't have a special somepony and/or crush, inviting a friend is ok too.

Could also be a process of elimination; Assuming that Gallus/Silverstream and Ocellus/Smolder are especailly close (also without shipping being obligatory, of course) that really only leaves Sandbar/Yona without going outside the group (and the two non-fliers, of course)

[bwrosas 252]

12 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

Well they are just friends, thank goodness. So there is no ship for me . Unless we ship people just because they invited each other to the dance. 

Really? Then, what do you call this scene, shooting star in the background is symbolism  (romance stories have known to this):

[RDDash 18,866]

13 minutes ago, bwrosas said:

Really? Then, what do you call this scene, shooting star in the background is symbolism  (romance stories have known to this):

I don't see them kissing.

This is just an awkward  TV-Y hug, extremely awkward because she is holding her leg up in a kissing position, but kiss never happens.

[bwrosas 252]

23 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

I don't see them kissing.

This is just an awkward  TV-Y hug, extremely awkward because she is holding her leg up in a kissing position, but kiss never happens.

they could be saving that

[Senko 459]

12 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

I don't see them kissing.

This is just an awkward  TV-Y hug, extremely awkward because she is holding her leg up in a kissing position, but kiss never happens.

I wouldn't imagine quadropeds would even have that leg lift in response to a kiss pose anyway.

[RDDash 18,866]

15 minutes ago, Senko said:

I wouldn't imagine quadropeds would even have that leg lift in response to a kiss pose anyway.

I am just messing around with the previous post. To me it's just means that her gesture is a nod to social behavior of bipeds watching this show.

Their eyes are closed for both of them, so her flirting gesture is completely wasted on him.

Edited May 16, 2019 by R.D.Dash
++

[JH24 385]

I really enjoyed this episode. I'm usually not that fond of episodes about being someone you're not, but I thought this was done well. Yona was adorable, and her genuinely wanting to fit in with the ponies is such a difference from her original "Yak are best at everything" motto.

What really made it for me was the ending. This episode gave a lot of characterization to both Yona and Sandbar, their scenes together made me smile, and they both grow a lot in my eyes. All of the Student 6 were great, and I loved how the episode portrayed their bond and how natural it feels now. Joking, friendly banter, being there for each other.

The Mane 6 were entertaining too, the songs were catchy and fun, and I was glad they apologized to Yona in the end. The lesson was nice and I loved how in the end the tradition and party was changed to include everyone, and not being pony-only. The other Student 6 feeling left out and awkward during that party before was also a nice touch.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by JH24

[bwrosas 252]

Spoiler

I talk about how this recent epsiode opened/knocked down the door for other interspecices relationships/ships to finally happen, especially if your a RarityxSpike fan/supporter, and here I explain why. Comments are Welcomed #MLPSEASON9 #SandbarxYona #SpikexRarity #4KUHD #4K #UHD #Romance #relationships

 

 

This episode to me, opened the door (more so than ever) for interspecies relationships to occur.in the show. I mean one of the messages (among the two given) was that it shouldn't matter what species (race), ethic, or cultural background you come from, that if you truly care (Love) someone, or in this case , somepony/someyak, for who they really are, then that's all that should matter.

And the symbolism of the shooting star in the background, kind of, if not teases the fact that something "MORE" will happen between these two later on.

This also opens the door for other interspecies relationships to happen, like let's say, Spike and Rarity, which by now (IMO) has been all, but officially confirmed.  Don't believe me, check out "Best Gift Ever" and when Spike sings to Rarity, she gets stars/sparks in her eyes (better ex./compassion, the "Lady and The Tramp spaghetti scene)

So yeah this episode imho opened, if not KNOCKED the door down for this to happen.

Your Thoughts?

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by bwrosas

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Had mixed thoughts going into this one, but I really loved it. Reminds me in the days of middle school and trying to fit in at the risk of learning unnecessary words an all that...

[gingerninja666 487]

The main thing I want to bring up is, well, I didn't really see a problem with Yona and Sandbar winning the Pony Pals trophy. The way some people did.

It's a friendship award at a school of friendship, given out by the presiding principal, and Yona and Sandbar both demonstrated great friendship for one another. Yona went through all that effort just for Sandbar's sake, and when things went badly, Sandbar trekked off to reconcile with her and bring her back.

Who else who was attending that party did anything even remotely comparable? Who would you have given the award to?

[Sh Pie 65]

This was a pretty good episode focused on Best Pony and Best Student, they got a song as well. I'm very glad about this. Looks like Yona/Sandbar is a potential ship now. I never considered them like that but I'm cool with it. High school settings typically have at least 1 love subplot. The song had some humorous parts, especially the Twilight wig. Season 5 episode 14 shows that demand for Rarity's dresses will increase if ponies see Princess Twilight Sparkle wearing them, so it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted to imitate her mane style as well. That pretty much foreshadows the resolution of this plot as well. Rarity wanted ponies to appreciate her work but Canterlot ponies have a bad habit of jumping on the bandwagon. In essence, it's a similar problem here. Sandbar appreciated Yona's yak qualities and didn't want her to become a pony.

It's cool how Yona is willing to learn new things though. Even though it didn't pay off at the Amity Ball, her repertoire has expanded and that cannot be a waste of time. I have to respect her persistence. She sucked at dancing and talking fancy on her first try but she didn't quit and through her effort, she succeeded. I mean, I don't actually care about dancing, I prefer fighting, but I think it's analogous to learning to drive a car in real life. The first attempt is really frustrating and has a crazy learning curve. However, it does get easier, except you can't quit. If you quit something, you probably didn't want it badly enough.

On 5/16/2019 at 7:31 PM, bwrosas said:

  Hide contents

I talk about how this recent epsiode opened/knocked down the door for other interspecices relationships/ships to finally happen, especially if your a RarityxSpike fan/supporter, and here I explain why. Comments are Welcomed #MLPSEASON9 #SandbarxYona #SpikexRarity #4KUHD #4K #UHD #Romance #relationships

 

 

This episode to me, opened the door (more so than ever) for interspecies relationships to occur.in the show. I mean one of the messages (among the two given) was that it shouldn't matter what species (race), ethic, or cultural background you come from, that if you truly care (Love) someone, or in this case , somepony/someyak, for who they really are, then that's all that should matter.

And the symbolism of the shooting star in the background, kind of, if not teases the fact that something "MORE" will happen between these two later on.

This also opens the door for other interspecies relationships to happen, like let's say, Spike and Rarity, which by now (IMO) has been all, but officially confirmed.  Don't believe me, check out "Best Gift Ever" and when Spike sings to Rarity, she gets stars/sparks in her eyes (better ex./compassion, the "Lady and The Tramp spaghetti scene)

So yeah this episode imho opened, if not KNOCKED the door down for this to happen.

Your Thoughts?

 

 

Courtesy of user Rushing Cash bringing the Best Gift Ever Hearths Warming special to my attention, amazing episode BTW, I really enjoyed the emotionally touching scene with Spike and Rarity. I've always been a Rarity/Spike fan and I guess it's cool that another pony/non-pony ship is emerging.