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S09:E20 - A Horse Shoe In


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A Hose Shoe-In   

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  1. 1. Was this .... a good Pony?

    • Starlight DEFCON 5 ( Hated it )
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    • RIP Phylis (Not a fan)
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    • Needed moar time chair! (Okay)
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    • A Great and Powerful Moral (Liked it)
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    • STARLIGHT WINS .... FATALITY! (Loved it!)
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I didn't really find Trixie funny here, and I don't like when this show randomly introduces something dangerous in a slice-of-life story, but this was a nice, well-written episode. I liked seeing Trixie learn from her mistakes and try to take Starlight's advice, and I liked how Starlight made mistakes without doing anything egregiously wrong. Here she's a bit too Twilight-esque, but this is how I wish the show would write Twilight more often. And I liked the way the moral was phrased; Trixie's first and third mistake reflect badly enough on her that I almost can't blame Starlight, but it's true that Starlight shouldn't have led her on. Trixie shouting at the griffon "parent" makes up for a lot, as well; I expected her to be doing something dumb, but instead there she is, standing up for an orphan. I also liked the explanation about why Sunburst moved to become Vice Headmare (is that still the title?), because it was so much cleaner than any of the mane six's roles in the school were. I'm happy they're getting people who can commit full-time without exhausting themselves. Even the stuff about Twilight's coronation was kinda charming, but I still don't care and honestly would rather not hear about it in the next few episodes. And I'm bummed that they've gone all in on bringing Boring Twilight back, because part of why I liked her in seasons 7-8 was because she wasn't just nagging people anymore. But I figure I enjoyed this about as much as I'll enjoy any episode for the rest of the season, and at a time that I'm very pessimistic about the show, it was nice to be reminded of all the little things that have improved about it. 

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2 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

 I liked seeing Trixie learn from her mistakes and try to take Starlight's advice

I'm glad you pointed this out because that's the biggest reason I can get behind Trixie still being a staff of the school as their counselor.  While she may still have a big ego that could rear it's ugly head when talking with the students, she never fails to listen to others' criticisms of her actions.  I say all it would take is a couple test runs with each student individually, maybe with Starlight sitting in to give feedback to her behavior, and she would have no problem adjusting.  Trixie has also shown her sensitive side before albeit reluctantly and in a counselor position with confidentiality she can comfortably display it in the privacy of her office.  Plus she can provide confidence to those with low self esteem, has her own stories of failure to fall back on as experience, and at least in the episode will devote her time and feelings for the student she's with.  Also she can actually give naps if she wants, because that can be a huge stress reliever for students! :wau:  

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3 hours ago, KH7672 said:

I'm glad you pointed this out because that's the biggest reason I can get behind Trixie still being a staff of the school as their counselor.  While she may still have a big ego that could rear it's ugly head when talking with the students, she never fails to listen to others' criticisms of her actions.  I say all it would take is a couple test runs with each student individually, maybe with Starlight sitting in to give feedback to her behavior, and she would have no problem adjusting.  Trixie has also shown her sensitive side before albeit reluctantly and in a counselor position with confidentiality she can comfortably display it in the privacy of her office.  Plus she can provide confidence to those with low self esteem, has her own stories of failure to fall back on as experience, and at least in the episode will devote her time and feelings for the student she's with.  Also she can actually give naps if she wants, because that can be a huge stress reliever for students! :wau:  

I thought this episode did a really good job of building that part up. It was really smart to emphasize Trixie's good qualities even when she was making ridiculous mistakes. 

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So just watched it and my thoughts . . .

1) Twilight’s planning to move to Canterlot . . . so the castle of friendships just going vacant to Starlight? If she has to move to be the princess of Equestria what about the other members of the mane 6? Dash can probably manage it and Rarity but Flutershy has her sanctuary, Applejack has the farm, Pinkie lives with the cakes. No, this just gives me more reason to dislike the Twilight takes over plot of this season.

2) As part of above if Twilight who grew up as Celestia's protege is still getting Origami napkin lessons how is she ready to take over? How does her inability here make sense with her proper silverware lessons to Starlight way back in season 6?

3) Starlight talking to Phyllis was cute.

4) I too get a girlfriend vibe from Trixie and Starlight's interaction rather than a girlfriend vibe. They do make a good couple though.

6) The vice headmare candidates seemed a bit random to me especially two of them then pulled out because it would take too much time away from their other job/interest.

7) Rainbow's expression in response to Spoiled's lesson on loyalty was amusing particularly given the way she's been getting presented in recent episodes.

8) If the mane 6 are meant to be sort of co-rulers and Twilight is having to step down from her school (REALLY don't like the plot of her taking over) has Starlight considered she will probably need an entire new staff? Big Mac for example taking over from Rarity as fashion advisor.

9) I'm a little surprised Big Mac had so much trouble communicating in the parent teacher meeting considering we have seen he can speak and even sing when he feels like it in prior episodes. Pony tones, sisters have a special bond, his emotional talk with AppleBloom, his asking to learn more about his parents. Honestly, I rather expected him to get the role till he pulled out in the second task though what that would mean for the Apple farm is worrying.

9) Poor Trixie getting bawled out like that really had to hurt her feelings especially since it was obvious that "Wink" aside she really was shown to be trying her best (kind of lends support to my theory every pony over a certain age has some form of mental damage/trauma/disability as a result of Luna not being there to guard their dreams). It seems most people have missed her "I found the perfect little spot of bog to teleport into the school". Doesn't seem like much but think about it she took the time to wade through the bog looking for the perfect spot for her fieldtrip. Considering it has flash bee's nesting in it she may have gone into a dangerous area to find something the students can learn from in the safety of the school. Then again, I'm also convinced she's not arrogant she's overcompensating for her own insecurities and while that appears as arrogance its more likely the belief, she can't rely on anyone but herself and a desperate desire to be admired and acknowledged as a great and powerful unicorn. Still that's a debate for another topic.

10) Speaking of danger, I'm kind of surprised one of the headmare's important tests wasn't dealing with danger considering what happens in Ponyville on a regular basis.

11) Is it just me or is Twilight getting larger these days?

12) Some nice call-backs with the love flowers and Octavia/DJPon3 playing music together.

All in all, I generally enjoyed the episode but I didn't like the fact its caused by Twilight taking over from Celestia as I really don't like that plot.

Edited by Senko
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I liked this episode. Yet another surprisingly mature moral. The cast of ponies was unexpected, and for a moment it really seemed like Octavia was going to get the role. One thing though is the resolution was still kinda nepotism, it was just for more appropriate roles. One thing I did notice is that in the second phase Trixie really wasn't doing bad, the issue was just who she was paired with. Glad to see they acknowledged that at the end. 

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I do like the choice of Sunburst though; While this isn't the school for gifted unicorns (which presumably Twi will also take over?) so doesn't need a magical theory teacher, surely the best place for those who know but can't do is to teach?

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A friend of mine brought up a really cool little tidbit.

One of Starlight's first focus episodes ever involved her forcing Big Mac to speak against his will. Her last focus episode includes a scene of her talking amicably to Big Mac about his voice, and being understanding about how he just isn't comfortable speaking around others.

Just a nice little thing showing how far she's come.

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I really liked the episode! Trixie is perfect  accidental antagonist for this kind of friendship exploration since she's got a long way to be more conscious of her surroundings. And I'm so glad that Sunburst is now in the school :)

The only thing that I wished was different, and that is because I'm a very nerdy and weird changeling, is that I wished Ocellus didn't had explicit parents because bugs work different and that's the cool thing about them. It could have been that a group of changelings came to the parents meeting, like they all are their family because hive. But I mean, that's my unpopular opinion.

Trixie standing off for Gallus was great! Poor Gallus. But yeah maybe she maybe took it too far.

dr hooves was hilarious because he's just so nerdy for science that I can actually see him like too passionate about it that he's disconnected from everyone else's experience with the theme. 

and poor Phillis! We will always remember.

 

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3 hours ago, Ittoni said:

I really liked the episode! Trixie is perfect  accidental antagonist for this kind of friendship exploration since she's got a long way to be more conscious of her surroundings. And I'm so glad that Sunburst is now in the school :)

The only thing that I wished was different, and that is because I'm a very nerdy and weird changeling, is that I wished Ocellus didn't had explicit parents because bugs work different and that's the cool thing about them. It could have been that a group of changelings came to the parents meeting, like they all are their family because hive. But I mean, that's my unpopular opinion.

Trixie standing off for Gallus was great! Poor Gallus. But yeah maybe she maybe took it too far.

dr hooves was hilarious because he's just so nerdy for science that I can actually see him like too passionate about it that he's disconnected from everyone else's experience with the theme. 

and poor Phillis! We will always remember.

 

For me that scene reminded me of the changelings singing carols. That is someone has explained to them about families and they are trying to replicate that as part of their new culture. Gotten the message but missed the meaning.

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Note: Credits go to I_Am_Number_6 on EQD, @Jerica, and @gingerninja666 for this review.


Starlight Glimmer had one of the biggest arcs of the whole series. Debuting in The Cutie Map as Season 5’s top villain, Twilight successful convinced her to reform and change her ways. Rather than condemn her to Tartarus or exile, Twi elected to proactively teach her the Magic of Friendship. Even though she learned all the lessons academically in between To Where and Celestial Advice, she realized she wasn’t ready to lead once more. Throughout Season 7, confidence exuded out of her, showing more comfort in her opinions and ideals once again; Shadow Play and its creative genius helped Starlight show her intellectual bravery at its best, leading to her next chapter of her journey that began in Season 8.

With A Horse Shoe-In, today’s chapter continues to near its final destination, and SG has (once again) a fantastic appearance. At the very beginning, viewers are reminded that she will become the next head of the School of Friendship once Twilight moves to Canterlot and replaces the Royal Sisters. However, Twilight’s reminder carries more in-verse weight than in Beginning.

  1. Spike issued Starlight’s promotion to Headmare via Royal Decree. As Princess of Friendship, she has the authority to announce it, especially to those she’s close to.
  2. More importantly, Twilight exercised this decree with a clear head. Back in BotE, Twilight was in the middle of a massive meltdown, so when she told her the news, she wasn’t prepared for what came next. Now she is. By telling her with a clear conscience, she put in a lot more thought into who’ll succeed her and (like before) trusts Starlight into making the right decisions.

Ain't this heartwarming and cute?!

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Her trust for Starlight is reaffirmed in two other moments.

  1. In Act 1, Trixie reminded her that Twilight never did anything alone, including running the School of Friendship. As one of six teachers, they all took care of the students together. Because she had close friends helping her, Starlight told Twilight about her new idea: hiring a Vice Headmare to help alleviate the work. What does Twilight say?
    Quote

    “I trust you the run the school any way you want, and if that means hiring a Vice Headmare, I think it’s a great idea.”

  2. After blowing up in Trixie’s face, she and Twilight share a heart to heart in her classroom. During the interviewing process, Starlight really wanted someone she knew well to be Vice Headmare, but because Trixie didn’t take it so seriously the first two tries and then took it so seriously the last that she accidentally put her students in danger, she let her frustrations take over, yelled at Trixie over it, and angrily told her that she would never be VH. Twilight reminded her that, yes, she has friends to help her, but not every friend is right for the job you offer, and that she has to tell them immediately before it gets out of control.

    Now, is Starlight right to be upset with Trixie? Absolutely. Is Trixie a capable VH? Not at all. But Starlight isn’t fully innocent, either, as she ignored the signs from earlier, insulted her, belittled her worth, and put her friendship with Trixie at risk. Apologizing to her was the right move.

As for Trixie herself, she showed aplenty to prove she wasn’t qualified beyond a blind flash beehive transfer. In Twilight’s classroom, she skipped a completely important history lecture on friendship, napped with everyone (with helpful tips from Gallus :laugh: ), and didn't feel ashamed of it. Afterwards, she shouted at Grandpa Gruff and expelled him from the School of Friendship. Both of these showed extreme opposites of what she looked for. On one hand, she didn't care for the subject the students are learning. On the other, when push comes to shove, she cared maybe a little too much, rightfully defending a student’s reputation to a surrogate who gave little about him and losing her own temper rather than constructively using her anger to maintain her rep as substitute.

That said, despite her neglect for studies, extreme measures, and lack of thought, Trixie's certainty she'll be hired is merited. What inspired Starlight to create this permanent position? Trixie’s reminder of Twilight’s friends helping her run the school. Rather than go away and wait for lunch, she followed Starlight, overheard the whole conversation, and assumed that Starlight will hire friends to help them like Princess Twilight. As a result, this whole interviewing process felt like a game to test her meddle, and she won't bite. Read this exchange from Act 2:

Quote

Starlight Glimmer: Trixie, that's not exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. You can't get into a shouting match with parents or guardians. For the final stage of the interview process, you'll each have to put together a field trip. And if you really do want the job, I need yours to be exceptional. Because if I had to pick a vice headmare right now, it wouldn't be you.

Trixie: Oh, I see what you're doing! Obviously you're not going to give the job to somepony else, but you want to see my best. Well, message received! *winks* Wink.

In Starlight's mind, she wanted Trixie to really show she can lead a school and help the students learn, but she was way behind compared to Hooves and Octavia. However, Trixie assumes Starlight just wants to test her with one final step before letting the rest of the "competition," and the language from both of them is loose enough so you see where they come from while being unable to break through that communication barrier. And it was that barrier that caused Trixie to not take Starlight's anger seriously the first time, followed by confusion, and then hurt once she realized what Starlight wanted and after SG made her feel worthless.

In addition to helping complete another chapter to the overall arc of Season 9, the episode carries a message of how nepotism can cause a system to become corrupt if left unchecked. Because she did so poorly, SG almost DQ'd her once and then told her very softly in their second interview she wouldn't hire her. But as a result of Trixie setting the expectation of being hired (and thus placing herself above Octavia, Hooves, Big Mac, and Spoiled), Starlight was caught in a major dilemma. How can she tell Trixie she's not qualified for the job? Regardless of her own temperament, how well will Trixie handle the disappointment? What if she finds out through someone else that she will lose the opportunity? Conversing with "Phyllis" (and protecting her from Trixie) and holding off the truth only added to her dilemma and increased her frustration. Fortunately, when the problems became too big to ignore, she put her foot down, and Twilight's "motherly" advice helped her even more.

In addition to how your friends may not always be the best fit for a job, a nice, subtle secondary moral floated in the background, which @Jerica caught and told me about in my Discord convo with her. Out of the five interviewees, Octavia Melody was easily the most qualified.

  1. During the substitution, she easily had the most fun while taking part in Laughter class. As she instructed her students to play their instruments, Pinkie Pie suddenly played the yovidaphone loudly behind them. Did anyone get upset? Nope. They continued playing and had a blast playing their favorite instruments no matter how good they were. And, yes, they all laughed. Hard. :laugh:
  2. In her one-on-one interview with Ocellus's parents, she understood her knowledge of music, praised her student for quickly improving in her work, and got along incredibly well.
  3. While in the same Bridleway Theatre as the special playing of Hinny of the Hills back in Season 4, her students sat in their seats as Octavia prepared. Initially, Gallus was bored as hell. Then the lights went out. Out came Vinyl. And they began to play an exciting remix of classical music to everycreature's delight (great callback to their remix and friendship from Slice of Life ;) ). Octavia understands that not everyone's tastes are the same, but she knew how to loosen her hair and create joy to those who wish for it.

Yet at the end, she turned down the job. Why? Fear she'll lose her time for music. Even though she's so good in those interviews, music's her passion, and she doesn't want to give it up. Sadly, you sometimes have to choose, which isn't easy. Bittersweet it may be, watching her tell Starlight she would love to accept the offer but decline would add a major gut-punch to the episode and add some real, down-to-earth weight to this episode.

What would also add weight would be to see Gallus tell Trixie how much he appreciated her passionate defense of him to Grandpa Gruff. Most ponies won't have the guts to tell off the temperamental griffon like that, including Starlight. No matter how narcissistic Trixie can be, she knows her limits and cares for at least her students' psychological health. Apathy for his guardian's growth and openly belittling him while he was already down were massive signs of disrespect towards her and her students, and she showed Gruff he hasn't earned her respect in return. If there's a scene showing Gallus thanking Trixie for defending him, it'll show both some chemistry between them and how her presence matters. Containing it off-screen softens the impact, but his off-screen gratitude meant she has some a place in the school after all. With the changing of the guard approaching, the School Counselor spot needed to be filled, and Trixie more than showed she qualifies.

As clichéd as this sequence can be this season, adding a montage would really help Sunburst show his credentials. In the climax, she hired him after Trixie contacted him via scroll, a passionate interview, and admission of not having to take much care of Flurry Heart anymore. If we see him have a world of fun teaching his students in one of his classes, conversing pleasantly with the students' parents, and then go on a very fun field trip together (maybe to The Crystal Empire to greet Mistmane, Cadance, and Flurry Heart), then you can really sell his passion for teaching. Having her hire him in a quick, expository flash-forward makes the resolution feel a little rushed. Nothing close to ruining it, but makes his hiring as Vice Headmare tough to sell.

To end this review on a high note:

  1. This episode does a fantastic job reintroducing the Vice Headmare occupation without contradicting continuity, a point brought up by I_Am_Number_6 on EQD. Back in A Matter of Principals, she hires Discord for the same position after she lost her temper and ruined the buckball field, but he loses his job instantly after the RM6 returned from their "friendship quest." Here, she went through the process with a lot more care and thought, especially since Twilight's soon leaving for Canterlot.
  2. In addition to in-episode growth, Starlight shows continual growth, too. Back in No Second Prances (her first self-contained episode post reformation), she forces Big Mac to talk against his will. Here, she understands not everyone's so comfortable to talk and won't force him to do a job he feels he can't. Thank @gingerninja666 and his friend for pointing it out.
  3. Also…
    Quote

    Dr. Hooves: I am referring to time travel!

    Starlight: *cringes*

    :laugh: BAD idea, Whooves!

What a big, pleasant surprise to see a brand-new writer take on FIM this late in its running! Ariel Shepherd-Oppenhein did a splendid job in her Pony debut and executed a very solid, very good episode, one that may be Starlight's last once it's all finished.

Edited by Dark Qiviut
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5 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

What a big, pleasant surprise to see a brand-new writer take on FIM this late in its running! Ariel Shepherd-Oppenhein did a splendid job in her Pony debut and executed a very solid, very good episode, one that may be Starlight's last once it's all finished.

I actually wrote something like this when I saw the early release:

Quote

For a new writer on the show so late, I think they avoided falling into the "new writer writes old character terrible" trap

 

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1 hour ago, Senko said:

For me that scene reminded me of the changelings singing carols. That is someone has explained to them about families and they are trying to replicate that as part of their new culture. Gotten the message but missed the meaning.

sounds good enough for me :mlp_wink:

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Oh my Celestia! The Vice-Headmare definitely did not go as planned, but it all worked out in the end. But why Trixie? Starlight, we all know your friend is a bad choice for the job, but what the hay? It happened and the episode was pretty good. Too bad the show's ending.  Honestly, I'm pretty sad. This show is my life. I just don't know what I'll do without MLP

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There isn't enough chamomile tea in the world the quell the rage in my heart over this Twilight ruler arc.

*Closes eyes.  Takes slow, long, loud, deep breath to try to calm down.*

What's poning, ponles?

I hate everything about this Twilight-taking-over-Equestria thing, so naturally I am filled with dread every time there's an episode about it.  I don't know how I'm ever going to survive the finale.  I think that being headmare of the school is the perfect fit for Twilight.  It was her ideal endgame, a project that she spearheaded, a vision that was uniquely her, and suited her perfectly.  She's not a f*cking royal diplomat.  She's a scholarly nerd at heart, and she belongs at the school.  Forcing her out the school is the worst decision they've ever made on the show.  Well... perhaps the second worst...

Spoiler

 

But seriously, it's horrible.  It would be like if Professor X had founded his school for mutants, and then just a couple of years later, left to be president of the United States.  "Move to Canterlot", Twilight says??  "MOVE TO CANTERLOT"??!  Is she not going to live in the Castle of Friendship anymore?!  Is she not going to live in Ponyville?!  Why don't they just grind up the show in into little, teeny, tiny pieces and then take a big, steaming dump on it?  F*ck this sh*t, man.

If Twilight truly is immortal now (which I'm agnostic about), then I wouldn't object to this ruler thing someday.  Like, many years from now, when her friends are old and grey.  Or dead.  But not right now.  This sucks, dude.

But what's done is done.  There's no way out of this chicken sh*t outfit.  The moving finger has writ, the die has been cast, Hannibal has crossed the Alps.  They're now making the best of a really crappy, crappy, crappy situation.  This episode was actually really good.  I honestly think that Starlight is well qualified to run the school at this point.  I didn't really think about it until it was pointed out, but she has indeed been in charge many times when the others were away, often with zero warning.  She even handled a rampaging Discord while running the school by herself.  If that's not tough enough, I don't know what is.  And I think Trixie will make a fine guidance counselor (though she could use a bit more seasoning).  And having Sunburst be vice headmare is brilliant.  Are they really going to call him vice headmare?  Lol.  That's hilarious.  :laugh:  Sunburst is a perfect choice, and I absolutely love that he and Starlight will be able to spend more time together, rekindle their friendship, get to know each other in a whole new way, and most likely grow closer than ever before.  Although, being an authority figure of sorts now, he really should think about running a Celestia-damned comb through his mane one in awhile.

Seeing Big Mac and the other unexpected background ponies apply for the job was interesting.  The ending with Phyllis was pretty great.  Starlight's line about the mane six being "competent" was hilarious.  Starlight is showing lots of maturity, which I always like.  It was well done.  They're handling this train wreck in best possible way.  I mean, it's still a train wreck, no doubt, but the characterizations have been pretty good.  It's as if all of the plane's engines just died in the series premiere, and now everyone is just scrambling to get the plane on the ground safely.  I mean, it's still going to crash, but at least there might be some survivors.

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I didn't hate this episode, but didn't like it that much either. At least the episode has some substance and I understand why many people have positive reactions to this one. But for me, this episode is one of the typical late season episode's that doesn't work for me personally.

One thing is that I don't get anything from fanservices. And to be honest, it turns me off a little bit because of the reasons why those fanservices were decided to be there in the first place. It breaks the momentum like Wilhelm scream. The best they can do for me is to put extra effort to polish those fanservices and put it in the episode to work out smoothly within the context, and it's always less than not putting it in. In other words, make it invisible. But being invisible isn't for fanservices, they are meant to stand out and to be noticed regardless of the episode itself. Starlight-Trixie episodes became fanservice episodes, and lacks legitimacy unlike any other two character episodes. I don't crap my pants whenever Octavia and Vinyl or Dr. Who pony shows up. It's about what matters that they do, instead of doing it for the sake of doing it.

Another thing is, I don't get Starlight's character. This has been a problem for me since her introduction, but I waited until the show defines her and refines her, develops her, which they didn't. I don't get her like I get Big Mac, Trixie, Discord, Sunburst or even Mudbriar. This opinion can sound a lot biased, but I don't think people have a collective systematic, consistent, reliable perception of the character. In other words, people don't have the same or similar idea of who she is, and I can't enjoy when she is in the episode because I don't have a clear picture of her. Because of this and also beside this, she's a boring character to me. Let aside that I doubt the legitimacy and morality of her and her being in such position.

Another thing. It was obvious from the beginning that who's right and who's wrong, and it's not good for a story about two friends' conflict. It would have been more interesting or made sense if it was about cronyism (like how Twilight Time was about taking advantage of the fame and Ponyville Confidential was about the morality of the press), but apologizing about not being upfront and being angry? It was a legit point at the moment, but not that interesting as a story.

The good thing is, at least the episode looks like they tried to do something. Not done great for me, but that's that. And it wasn't cluelessly boring.

Edited by Sepul-Coloratura
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On 9/17/2019 at 7:58 AM, Justin_Case001 said:

But seriously, it's horrible.  It would be like if Professor X had founded his school for mutants, and then just a couple of years later, left to be president of the United States.  "Move to Canterlot", Twilight says??  "MOVE TO CANTERLOT"??!  Is she not going to live in the Castle of Friendship anymore?!  Is she not going to live in Ponyville?!  Why don't they just grind up the show in into little, teeny, tiny pieces and then take a big, steaming dump on it?  F*ck this sh*t, man.

Oh I didn't even process the "move to Canterlot" line. Do they not hear themselves when they write this? Do they legitimately not realize that it looks like her entire life has been uprooted for a job she doesn't even want? Why is this supposed to be satisfying?!

Honestly, it kinda feels like the current writers are repeating all of the same mistakes from when Twilight first became a princess. 

On 9/17/2019 at 1:39 PM, Sepul-Coloratura said:

I don't think people have a collective systematic, consistent, reliable perception of the character.

Oh absolutely. I alone don't have a systematic, consistent, or reliable perception of the character. But there are certain modes she slides into that I enjoy. 
 

Edited by AlexanderThrond
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4 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Oh absolutely. I alone don't have a systematic, consistent, or reliable perception of the character. But there are certain modes she slides into that I enjoy. 

But wouldn't it mean that the character is more likely to be whatever the writer wants her to be in the moment, and it means the character has no identity, and as a person Starlight Glimmer vaguely exist, and it makes the story weaker while using the character as the main role?

I didn't get what you mean by her modes. Do you mean something like bold Fluttershy or nervous Twilight or sad Pinkie?

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1 hour ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

But wouldn't it mean that the character is more likely to be whatever the writer wants her to be in the moment, and it means the character has no identity, and as a person Starlight Glimmer vaguely exist, and it makes the story weaker while using the character as the main role?

I didn't get what you mean by her modes. Do you mean something like bold Fluttershy or nervous Twilight or sad Pinkie?

I wouldn't say she's "whatever the plot needs", because to me that implies there's NO recurring traits for her, which is flat out incorrect in my opinion. Although I'm a big fan of hers so I'm obviously going to be biased. She does have different modes she tends to cycle between though.

 

She's impulsive when her emotions are running high, with a great tendency to overdo things, but consiously she's lacking in personal self-esteem and is very prone to nervousness, moping and getting melancholic, beating herself up. She gets really hung up on the relationships she has with her friends. She's needy. She has a lot of respect for Twilight, and is deeply grateful to her, wanting to do her proud. Even if that means trying to right Twilight when she veers from Starlight's perception of what Twi should be (like in Shadow Play and School Daze)

 

Generally, if she's not the focus of an episode, she's snarky, observant, sweet, and is able to help out with things. When she is the focus of an episode, she's more self flaggelating, and impulsive. Which never felt like that much of a discrepancy to me, because Starlight's issues seem to be mostly internal. She can give good advice and help other people, but she can't apply that stuff inward. So she struggles when she's at the epicentre of a problem. She misses the point.

Edited by gingerninja666
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5 hours ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

But wouldn't it mean that the character is more likely to be whatever the writer wants her to be in the moment, and it means the character has no identity, and as a person Starlight Glimmer vaguely exist, and it makes the story weaker while using the character as the main role?

I didn't get what you mean by her modes. Do you mean something like bold Fluttershy or nervous Twilight or sad Pinkie?

Yes, and because of that she will never be one of my favourite characters, but this will do for now. To be honest, I think she’s become dramatically more consistent these past two seasons; in season 7, especially, she would switch wildly between self-pity, bad judgment, and straightforward heroism in a way that never made sense to me. Now, she’s basically either Weird Twilight or Twilight 2.0, and I enjoy both versions of her even though I don’t think she stands out enough from the other characters.

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Overall, I would say this is a basically okay episode. Starlight's wanting to find someone to act as vice headmare and assist her with running the school seems like a reasonable thing to do, and I don't take any significant issue with how the plot of the episode unfolds. Trixie is generally obnoxious, but she's almost always been that way to me, so that's kind of expected for me at this point. I'm not necessarily specifically excited about Octavia, Dr. Whooves, or Spoiled Rich, but their appearances in this episode are fine enough (and I wonder why we don't see Octavia, Dr. Whooves, or even Big Mac being considered to be teachers). And the selection of Sunburst to help Starlight with running the school seems like a good decision, although I'm not so convinced about having Trixie be the new student counselor, as I'll elaborate below.

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To start off, I'll just talk a bit about the qualifications and fitness for candidates to help run or teach at the School of Friendship. I've said before that I don't think any of the Mane Eight are particularly qualified to be running a school, and that's been shown in the haphazard, and sometimes downright dangerous, way that the School of Friendship has been run so far. So Equestria seems to have different standards for qualification and fitness for a job like that, as compared to what we would probably have. But, by show standards, Sunburst is probably a pretty good choice to be vice headstallion. I wouldn't say that his knowing a lot about magic or whatever in itself means that he's qualified, but he seems generally competent, and might be able to rein in or calm down Starlight when necessary. I'm also surprised that Octavia, Dr. Whooves, and/or Big Mac aren't considered as teachers for the school (at least not on-screen). My impression is that the Mane Seven will be co-ruling Equestria, or will be assisting Twilight in ruling Equestria, so I would think that the School of Friendship is going to need new teachers. From what we see, Octavia seems like a perfectly fine music teacher/band director; Dr. Whooves is a little eccentric and/or absentminded, but probably could be a good, or at least passable, science teacher; and if Big Mac were willing to talk more, he probably wouldn't be a bad teacher, either, if he wanted to be.

However, I'm a lot less convinced of Trixie's qualifications to be the new student counselor, and whether those overcome her personality issues, poor judgment, lack of experience, not taking the job seriously, etc. Starlight says that Trixie (supposedly) cares about the students, and that Trixie stands by the ponies she cares about. The primary demonstration of this in the episode is that Trixie stuck up for Gallus to Grampa Gruff. But, for one thing, as I mention below, did Trixie really teach Gallus and get to know enough about him to stick up for him as a student? And Trixie mostly was yelling at Grampa Gruff to care more and be more involved in Gallus's life. That could be seen as something good to do (and perhaps something that needed to be done), but how often are situations like that going to come up? How often do student counselors need to "stick up for" students, and to whom? Their parents? The teachers/staff? Other students? Even if that might happen occasionally, that doesn't seem like a major role for a student counselor.

Another thing Starlight says is that Trixie helped Starlight talk through her problem, and Trixie "really did give good advice". But Trixie had just gotten done saying that she gave good advice when she didn't mean to. Shouldn't we want a student counselor who gives good advice intentionally and on purpose, not just when she doesn't mean to? And Trixie's happening to help Starlight talk through one problem doesn't necessarily mean that Trixie will be able to talk students through their problems, day-in, day-out, as a full-time job. Trixie also didn't seem to care about the subject matter being taught at the school, which would be a problem when the student counselor probably needs to help many students figure out what courses to take, what their paths to graduation will be, etc. For one final point, in the episode "Marks for Effort", Starlight offers the CMCs new jobs as tutors for the school, which seemed to imply that Starlight as the school's counselor was making staffing/hiring decisions. So does that mean that Trixie would be making staffing/hiring decisions for the school under headmare Starlight?

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I don't really have any other big-picture observations, so here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

Starlight says that if Twilight is going to talk to her about leaving early yesterday, she didn't have any students on her schedule. So I suppose this confirms that Starlight doesn't have open-door office hours anymore, or at least not at the end of the day.

When Twilight tells Starlight "I can't think of anypony who'd be better for the job" of taking over the school, what exactly that means is a function of Twilight's knowledge and how much she thought about it. If Twilight doesn't actually know very many people (particularly school administrator types), or didn't think very hard about who would be good for the job, then that statement wouldn't necessarily mean much.

So Celestia and Luna are actually teaching Twilight at least some things before handing off the rulership of Equestria. At least they apparently are no longer just saying that the friendship journal written by Twilight & friends "is a better guide than any we could provide", and leaving Twilight & friends to figure everything out, although we'll have to see if the lessons like these end up being helpful or have any significant impact.

And Twilight almost seems to be denigrating the royal etiquette lesson, but, for example, if Twilight will have to deal with other societies like the yaks, who might get offended at improper etiquette and retaliate (in whatever way) as a result, then knowing proper etiquette would be important.

Doesn't "hiring" a vice headmare imply, you know, getting paid? This just raises the never-answered question of where funds for the school come from, and how transparent these hiring and spending decisions are to whomever is providing these funds.

Also, Starlight tells Spoiled Rich that fundraising is "not the primary responsibility of the vice headmare". So is fundraising a responsibility, just not a "primary" one? Starlight doesn't outright say that the School of Friendship doesn't do fundraising.

Starlight's tacked-on "...but anypony is welcome to apply!" makes me think: Is Starlight required to follow non-discrimination laws or the like in deciding whom to hire for a position? If Starlight rejected Spoiled Rich as a candidate without "due consideration", could Spoiled file a discrimination lawsuit against Starlight and/or the school?

Is it really a good idea to have band practice in a room that doesn't even look to have doors? Is it possible that the band might disturb people in other parts of the school nearby?

Every other vice principal candidate was teaching a class under the watch of one of the Mane Six (Big Mac with Rarity, Spoiled with Rainbow, Octavia with Pinkie, and Dr. Whooves with Fluttershy), so who's watching Trixie? Whose class is Trixie supposed to be teaching, and why doesn't the original teacher seem to be there?

I thought the idea behind parent-teacher conferences is that the teacher has been teaching the students for weeks or months, and therefore, the teacher knows about, and can tell students' parents about, how well their kids have been performing, what and how they can improve, etc. We've only seen these vice principal candidates each teach one class, so how would they know and be able to tell parents (with any specificity) how well their kids are doing? Are we meant to assume that these candidates have been teaching classes off-screen for weeks or months? Or is all of this just an exercise in how well the candidates can flatter students' parents without actually knowing or saying anything substantive?

How much should we read into Trixie's suggestion that "maybe we should find a different representative from Griffonstone to be Gallus's guardian"? Does Trixie know that Gallus doesn't have a permanent guardian?

Seriously, Silverstream's father doesn't know what "exuberant" and "enthusiastic" mean? These aren't particularly exotic words, and they're in a library - just go get a dictionary.

Throughout this episode, the job that Starlight is looking to fill is always referred to as "vice headmare", even when speaking to male candidates. Even when Starlight is talking to Big Mac in her office, she tells him "And if you aren't comfortable with that, vice headmare probably isn't the job for you". Is "headmare" supposed to be a gender-neutral term? Is the word "headstallion" not used? Could they not just use the terms "principal" or "headmaster"?

Is Octavia's cello-playing at the concert being amplified at all? I don't see any microphones or anything around her, and I might think that her playing would be drowned out by whatever's playing through the mega-speakers.

I can at least kind of see how Octavia's and Dr. Whooves's field trips might be used as a learning experience for the subjects that they teach. But Trixie was supposed to teach history, and I'm not really seeing how teleporting a (seemingly random) chunk of Froggy Bottom Bog into the classroom would really be a learning experience for a history class.

Trixie's teleporting a big piece of the bog, and even casting a magic bubble around herself as she teleports it in, does seem like pretty impressive magic for Trixie to be doing, since she hasn't seemed to be a powerful unicorn in the past.

Finally, Twilight does say near the beginning of the episode that she'll be moving to Canterlot, and assuming Spike moves with her, then Starlight would presumably have the castle to herself. But then, if Sunburst moves to Ponyville, will he be moving into the castle with Starlight? That seems like more shipping fuel. Also, it's too bad that the Tree of Harmony didn't know that Twilight would be moving to Canterlot and taking over the ruling of Equestria just a couple of years or so after the events of "Twilight's Kingdom"; otherwise, the Tree could have saved the effort of creating this whole new crystal castle in Ponyville.

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This was an excellent Starlight, Trixie and Phyllis focus episode. Sure, Trixie was one of the worst possible candidates for headmare, save for Spoiled who has no friendship qualities, but I don't blame her for calling out Grandpa Gruff. He's a terrible guardian and Gallus deserves better. I believe that if Trixie had conferenced with one of the other families, she may have passed Stage 2 on her merit since conferencing is similar to counselling. Her "great and powerfulness" would make her a great match for dragons.

I enjoyed Starlight scolding Trixie after the flash bees since everything she said was justified which is often the case when Trixie goes too far with her magic. However, Starlight doubted Trixie's competency from the start so she should have been straight with her as Twilight points out. Hiring a vice headmare was inspired by Trixie so it makes sense that she would assume Starlight made the position for her.

Every interaction between Starlight and Phyllis was great comedy! Imagine if Trixie threw Boulder in the trash can. She wouldn't be a headmare, since Maud would make her.... a deadmare! BTW, Maud should totally be a teacher, she has a rocktorate. Fortunately, Starlight repaired Phyllis' vase once already, so she can do it again.

Overall, a humorous episode with an important moral about making unbiased judgements.

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