If you could make an episode non-canon, which would it be?

[Skylight Scintillate 1,851]

I'm sure we all have some episodes that we really didn't like, whether we think the plot wasn't that well thought out, or it portrayed a character in a way that didn't seem to match their personality, so if you could make an episode non-canon, which would it be (and why)?

[Props Valroa 26,038]

Definitely the final episode itself. I do not like the way Twilight looks when she grew up, nor do I like anything with the Student 6. 

[Megas 27,063]

Newbie Dash can go straight to hell. Actively laughs at it's audience while wasting 5 years of build up on an treating RD and her character arc like garbage for 20 minutes capping it off with a garbage moral straight up justifying bullying and hazing. The kicker however is that they knew the episode was awful but they didn’t care.

So you know what? RD becomes a WB off screen instead, which they actually managed to make more preferable to this atrocity 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Megas

[Castle Bleck 19,166]

The Beginning Of The End.

The most-controversial arc would be time-paradoxed away, and my ex-favorite villain would revert to my favorite (let-alone recognizable).

Edited January 29, 2023 by Castle Bleck

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

I don't like considering episodes non-canon just because I didn't agree with a decision they made for the show's canon, but I may as well go with the predictable choice of The Beginning of the End, since it just might have its canon contradicted by G5 anyway. After that, I'd go with The Last Problem, another favorite for considering non-canon for the same reason. Even though they're building off that ending in the comics, there's still probably going to come a point where they want to overwrite something. 

[Sparklefan1234 161,857]

I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT consider "The Last Problem" from season 9 to be canon! 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[Skylight Scintillate 1,851]

6 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT consider "The Last Problem" from season 9 to be canon! 

Intriguing. Why?

[Sparklefan1234 161,857]

4 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

Intriguing. Why?

 

It feels like a "fan theory" for what the writers wanted to happen, IMO.
 

I know that's what episodes are anyway but this episode felt like a fanfiction. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[The Nth Doctor 652]

I mean, rendering School Daze non-canon removes the vast chunk of seasons 8 and 9

If you want to be absolutely sure, remove the movie

[cmarston1 5,951]

If I had to chose just one I would probably go with The Cutie Re-Mark to prevent Starlight Glimmer's redemption from ever happening.  While sure eventually she became a character I liked, that doesn't change the fact that her redemption "arc" if you can even call it one was rushed and sloppy.  And that's not even getting into how her role in the show felt superfluous given that there were multiple characters that filled at least one aspect of it.  Sunset Shimmer was the main antagonist who became part of the main cast, Spike was Twilight's confidant, and Tempest Shadow was the antagonist with a tragic childhood backstory.   And thus nothing really much would have been lost if it never happened in the first place.

Edited September 8, 2022 by cmarston1

[Props Valroa 26,038]

@cmarston1

If it was up to me, Starlight would have never been reformed and been a re-occurring villain throughout the entire series with a backstory that made actual sense.

[Denim&Venöm 16,503]

*Cracks knuckles* 

 

The Mean Six. This episode didn't matter at all.

• The Mane Six never met their evil counterparts, denying the set up for an epic showdown.
• No pony realized that it was an evil ploy by Chrysalis, furthering the tension and her menace as a villain, rather than some comical foil.
• All of the issues caused by the Mean Six were resolved by a stock friendship speech from Twi. I know it was supposed to be like, friendship overcomes all. But it came across Twi not knowing her friends all that well after so many seasons.
• The Mean Six themselves were Deus Ex Machina'd by The Tree of Harmony. No agency for the Mane Seven to figure things out and be dynamic. Things just happen and they get dragged from scene to scene until the problem is solved for them.
• Starlight Glimmer, the only pony not to be cloned by Chrysalis, didn't factor at all. Didn't help sort through the friendship problems. Didn't figure things out with her arcane knowledge. Didn't even deliver the friendship speech. Just got victimized until Twi and the ToH sorted things out.
• Complete waste of Queen Chrysalis. First villain not to be killed or redeemed upon their return. What does the cunning enemy of the state who managed to take a nations capitol and defeat it's god do? Work with magic she can't control, argue with her constructs, have no plan B and leave empty hoofed. 
• Nothing that happened in The Mean Six is ever referenced again. The Mane Seven probably still don't know what actually happened.
• Even the 'Mane Six, but evil' trope was done better in Return To Harmony.

There was a lot of potential here, but this just felt like an obligation the writers had to trudge through. Make an evil doppelgangers episode. Tick all the boxes. Cram it into 22 minutes. Move on.

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,358]

"Daring Doubt", being the evil motivation change to the villain  

Edited September 11, 2022 by ZiggWheelsManning

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

The Crystaling.  I'd like to remove Flurry Heart from the timeline altogether.  I really wish that little snot didn't exist.

[Jeric 46,834]

Mean Six, possibly. The only purpose of this was to remind the audience that Cheeselegs was still out there. She came across as mostly comedic and non-threatening. I like the concept of the episode. 
 

The one episode that needed to be redone is Newbie Dash. This was a badly executed “dream achieved”. The two characters that had very defined dreams were Rarity and Dash, but Rarity was a little more nuanced and handled with appropriate build up and resolution. The slowly built RD up and had a handful of excellent Wonderbolt episodes … and her arc concluded at the beginning of this episode with little fanfare. 

[Sparklefan1234 161,857]

2 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Mean Six, possibly. The only purpose of this was to remind the audience that Cheeselegs was still out there. She came across as mostly comedic and non-threatening. I like the concept of the episode. 

 

On 2022-09-09 at 6:58 PM, Denim&Venöm said:

The Mean Six. This episode didn't matter at all.

 

My main reason for enjoying this episode was because I'd wanted to see what mean Twilight Sparkle would be like.

 

---

I wish "Keep Calm and Flutter On" wasn't canon because I would have prefered if Discord stayed FiM's number one villian like,

The Shredder with TMNT or Dr. Robotnik with Sonic the Hedgehog. 

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

Double header from me. I have two episodes I want to completely remove from my memory.

"Flutter Brutter" and "Applejack's day Off"

In Flutter Brutter, I detest, hate, and despise Zephyr. I wanted to see Rainbow throw hooves and break the creeper's face!

In Applejack's Day Off, I refuse to believe that Applejack is so profoundly STUPID!

 

[Splashee 28,537]

On 2022-09-10 at 3:58 AM, Denim&Venöm said:

*Cracks knuckles* 

 

The Mean Six. This episode didn't matter at all.

• The Mane Six never met their evil counterparts, denying the set up for an epic showdown.
• No pony realized that it was an evil ploy by Chrysalis, furthering the tension and her menace as a villain, rather than some comical foil.
• All of the issues caused by the Mean Six were resolved by a stock friendship speech from Twi. I know it was supposed to be like, friendship overcomes all. But it came across Twi not knowing her friends all that well after so many seasons.
• The Mean Six themselves were Deus Ex Machina'd by The Tree of Harmony. No agency for the Mane Seven to figure things out and be dynamic. Things just happen and they get dragged from scene to scene until the problem is solved for them.
• Starlight Glimmer, the only pony not to be cloned by Chrysalis, didn't factor at all. Didn't help sort through the friendship problems. Didn't figure things out with her arcane knowledge. Didn't even deliver the friendship speech. Just got victimized until Twi and the ToH sorted things out.
• Complete waste of Queen Chrysalis. First villain not to be killed or redeemed upon their return. What does the cunning enemy of the state who managed to take a nations capitol and defeat it's god do? Work with magic she can't control, argue with her constructs, have no plan B and leave empty hoofed. 
• Nothing that happened in The Mean Six is ever referenced again. The Mane Seven probably still don't know what actually happened.
• Even the 'Mane Six, but evil' trope was done better in Return To Harmony.

There was a lot of potential here, but this just felt like an obligation the writers had to trudge through. Make an evil doppelgangers episode. Tick all the boxes. Cram it into 22 minutes. Move on.

Lol, “stock friendship speech”.

Okay, so Season 8 is so broken. It had these good episodes that seemed like the old days, combined with The Movie advertising and School of Friendship plot (save Yona from being killed, or be amazed by the evil Cozy Glow until she got thrown in jail). And then, randomly, an episode about kirin with an amazing song.

 

But Queen Chrysalis got a chance in Season 9, so she wasn’t wasted.

 

 

For me, it will always be Magical Mystery Cure. It was rushed to wrap up the main story to start a new one: Equestria Girls. But it halted the main story for FIM while also cutting the season in half.
Most people love the episode today because of its songs. The songs could just be spread over the remaining 13 episodes that were cancelled, so no big thing.
Twilight became a pseudo Princess: During the shows lifetime, she got coronated twice (Season 3 and Season 9) which shows how broken the main story was. She was completely normal Twilight throughout most of Season 4 with wings pasted on, having no authority or growth as a character, with the low point being part of the team bullying Fluttershy in the Bats episode.
Magical Mystery Cure combined with Las Vegas Unicon and the Brony Documentary saw the end of the Bronies and FIM as an internet phenomena. If Season 3 had kept going, the fandom would have continued a little bit longer, and Twilight would have had a chance to grow into a real Princess one day.

 

 

 

 

[Sparklefan1234 161,857]

6 hours ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

Double header from me. I have two episodes I want to completely remove from my memory.

"Flutter Brutter" and "Applejack's day Off"

In Flutter Brutter, I detest, hate, and despise Zephyr. I wanted to see Rainbow throw hooves and break the creeper's face!

In Applejack's Day Off, I refuse to believe that Applejack is so profoundly STUPID!

 

I have done so for both episodes.

I'd also like to add "What About Discord?" due to how mean-spirited Discord was to Twilight Sparkle by purposfully leaving her out of the

group activities.  

Edited September 13, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

"Hard to Say Anything"

I'm happy that Big Mac & Sugar Belle linked up (Marble can join too!), but gawd damn that episode was hard to sit through. Between the awful cringe fest of the CMC trying too hard to link them up and that borderline sexual assault bit, it just...ugh. Season 7 is my fav season, but this episode was just "pit of hell" awful.

Add in the various "Applejack is stubbornly stupid" eps in the later seasons, but none of them compare to this.

[Sparklefan1234 161,857]

22 hours ago, Ashen Pathfinder-Geo said:

"Hard to Say Anything"

I'm happy that Big Mac & Sugar Belle linked up (Marble can join too!), but gawd damn that episode was hard to sit through. Between the awful cringe fest of the CMC trying too hard to link them up and that borderline sexual assault bit, it just...ugh. Season 7 is my fav season, but this episode was just "pit of hell" awful.

Add in the various "Applejack is stubbornly stupid" eps in the later seasons, but none of them compare to this.

 

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF THE CMC!

I would also like to include "Ponyville Confidental" (My least favorite EVER!) because of how mean-spirited that episode was, too.

I get the reason why but the Mane 6 being SUPER mad/mean to those kids felt like a little too much, didn't Rainbow Dash rain on them? 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[J.J 918]

Think the future writers cleaned up one of FAUSTS biggest messes in "Secret to My Excess", think we just canonically accept that dragon hoarding won't do that.. but that's probably one of her worst works, that episode is a STINKER, she has a few, that's why I tell ppl yeah there are timeless classics in s1 & 2 but also some literal garbage... If that logic were Canon and some bronies think only Faust's writing was actual Canon, than it makes dragons my least favorite race in Equestria... They should be in some never ending war of battle/thievery trying to keep one upping and being the most powerful dragon... It just doesn't make sense and that episode sucks, only OVERALL episode I think is worse is 28 pranks later

[Sweet Sweet Dreams 49]

"The Ending of the End" NO QUESTION

Mainly cause it just made the journey not feel worth it. "The Magic of Friendship Grows" itself thankfully saved the ending of the series enough for me, but just overall, I like to pretend that we never had that, but it then again is referenced a few times in "The Last Problem" so....

*Sigh* Just a waste and burden of an episode

[EpicEnergy 22,074]

Nearly any episode with Diamond Tiara playing a major role in it. I hate bullying, and Diamond Tiara is a character that I despise because of that. Her reformed self is more tolerable, but that doesn't make her old self any better.

Specific episodes that I would exclude are the one with Babs Seed and the one where Diamond Tiara targets Scootaloo for her disability.

[Gale Wind 79]

The publishing the friendship journal one-I hate when executive meddling forces changes like in this case. Let’s have the original instead. Toola Roola and Coconut Cream were the only good part.

28 Pranks Later-I didn’t like the Aesop amnesia with RD

Newbie Dash-I hate how they resolved the bullying problem 

Parental Glideance-RD’s parents are overbearing and she’s the one apologizing? Eesh.

Last Problem-just because I’m less sure about my feelings on the whole Twilight ruling thing and wish she’d ruled in her castle and not Canterlot. I can still have PinkieCheese headcanon even without the confirmation. 

Daring Doubt-too many dang retcons to really like it.

Honestly I wish season 9 could get a rewrite. I’m not a huge fan of Cozy Glow being just a filly. And the real Grogar woulda been better and spared us Twilight freaking out yet again.  I also wasn’t happy with the Elements of Harmony being destroyed since it was Lauren’s creation. Plus a few disliked eps. (Also looking at 246 Great)

Not a big fan of Secret of my Excess either. 

I also see why “Hard to Say Anything” is kinda bad now.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Gale Wind