S03:E03 - Too Many Pinkie Pies

[TBB Symphonia 39]

Pinkie Pie has always been my favorite pony, and this episode made me love her even more. Pinkie Pie is naturally random and funny, but this episode really brought that out since it was focused atound her duplicatng herself.

 

The staring at paint dry contes made the whole episode. Between the g3 Pinkie Pie or her growing fingers, I could not find anything that I disliked about the episode.

 

Hope everypony enjoyed my thoughts on the ep.

[jeh517 8]

Too Many Pinkie Pies is the episode that started me loving MLP FIM when I watched the episode on Youtube a couple of months ago.

[Ma252 2]

Absolutely Loved It, 10/10
my opinion is pretty Biased though, as ive been a pinkie pie fan for about 2 years now...but it still counts right?
Everyone loved the episode.

[Starlight Song 43]

Yet another one about Pinkie and her depths.

There NEEDS to be a emoticon of Pinkie Pie going, "Betcha can't make a face crazier than - THIS!" 

[True Rarity 1,240]

This was probably the funniest episode of ALL the episodes EVER!

I couldn't stop laughing!

I loved the end a lot, too.

 

Rainbow Dash: OHHHH, I can't take it any more! Look, somepony's making balloon animals!

Fake Pinkie Pie: Really? Where? (disappears)

[TheLuigiLightning 65]

This episode was really good.  It really shows that you can't have everything in the world, and also explores a problem that I generally have; making choices.  But I've never seen Pinkie Pie so pumped up, and why does she suddenly think that missing out on fun is like getting shot?  This is a stretch even for Pinkie!

[Sony 106]

that was a good episode even though pinkie is my third favorite earth pony on any episode but it was a good episode that i seen

[DashieLives 20]

Watched this episode over 10 times. Still one of my favorites episode of Season 3. Especially the Pinkie Pie 3rd generation face. Really Lol'd on that one.

[wildpaw 45]

This was one of my favorite episodes. I've seen it 5 times already and it still surprises me everytime  Just the thought of that many pinkies in one place is... AWESOME!

[WishingtotheStars 15]

I actually liked this episode because Pinkie Pie hadn't really a episode to herself in awhile. Hopefully later on she gets more episodes.

[Dark Horn 430]

This episode, in my opinion, was sort of a yawn, but still, Pinkie Pie clones herself and her clones clone themselves. How bad can it be?

 

It's better than some episodes I can think of, for sure.

[Xanatos 162]

Oh, THIS episode...I was amused but then I love the "clones run amok" plotline wherever it shows up. And, of course, there was that one scene...

 

Interesting (brain-numbing) note: I found people legitimately arguing that Twilight was guilty of genocide in this episode for terminating all the Pinkie clones.

[TheInsaneShane 359]

Though there are very few of them, I love the episodes centered on Pinkie Pie, I mean seriously, Season 3 was brilliance for me, every word out of that pony's mouth was pure comedic gold. I love this episode, because its one of the few we get so much Pinkie screen time. Though my favorite Pinkie episode is, "A Party of One", its also one of my favorite of all episodes!!!

[PinkiePieFan777 28]

Judging by the premise, I thought I was gonna love this episode. I expected it to become my all-time favorite. But, it didn't become my favorite. In fact, it kind of played it on the safe side. There was so much they could have done with this episode, yet they did very little. Don't get me wrong, they did quite alot, but I felt like it wasn't enough. Instead of being satisfied at the end of it like I usually am, I just wanted more. Pinkie Pie is my favorite character for a reason, and that's because of her energy and her sense of humour. I actually thought that this episode was lacking a bit in that department. Pinkie Pie didn't really feel like Pinkie Pie to me, at least in the last half of the episode. It's still a pretty good episode, but I really expected more out of a Pinkie Pie episode, although it's still pretty funny.

Edited July 21, 2013 by PinkiePieFan777

[--Thunder Bolt-- 534]

Here is a terrific comment on this episode by "The Ghost of Ember" at Round Stable:

 

This is the point where you're reading too much into it. Now watch as I read too much into it.

People who are wondering about the sentience or nonsentience of the clones are missing the point of the episode, which is ultimately a defense of the Pinkie character. Twilight stands in for the audience and the critics, those who see the character as a one dimensional gag producer. Pinkie does a lot of gags, but she does so for a reason, she has motives and thoughts and intentions, and even consideration for others feelings.

She just doesn't want to have fun for herself, she wants to make her friends time more enjoyable. When having fun contradicts with her friends wishes, she puts her friends wishes above her own. When Rainbow Dash wants to take a nap rather than splash and play, Pinkie plays in a more quiet way to accomidate her. The clones, which exist as the popular perception of Pinkie, have no such compunction. They seek fun and make gags because that's all they are, cardboard cutout gag machines.

Twilight doesn't notice Pinkie having verifiable emotions because she is, for the moment, being used to parable the wrong attitude and ideas about Pinkie. She sees Pinkie as the audience sometimes sees her: a gag machine. Of course such a creature would be indistinguishable from these fun-house mirror images. Meanwhile, Pinkie herself has real moods and emotions and is dealing with the fact that she can so easily be replaced by such an empty perception of herself.

As he does so often, Spike seems to be the foil to Twilight's foolishness and the only one that picks up on the fact that the real Pinkie is right there in front of them. Ultimately though, the test is the right kind of test, because it doesn't test impatience, it tests selfishness. Pinkie is essentially a selfless character. She wants to make others happy, she just doesn't always do it the right way. The Pinkie clones, which are the misinterpretation of Pinkie's character, are selfish, and only want to have fun for themselves.

A selfless character will go through any unpleasantness to be there for her friends. A selfish character would only sit still for their own self-preservation, and if they have no substance of character behind that sense of self preservation, its only a matter of time before they have to do a sight gag to stay relevant.

 

 

This.  Show.  It's so freaking deep for a 22 minute cartoon for small children!!!

 

This bit is an especially heartbreaking thought:
 

 

Twilight doesn't notice Pinkie having verifiable emotions because she is, for the moment, being used to parable the wrong attitude and ideas about Pinkie. She sees Pinkie as the audience sometimes sees her: a gag machine. Of course such a creature would be indistinguishable from these fun-house mirror images. Meanwhile, Pinkie herself has real moods and emotions and is dealing with the fact that she can so easily be replaced by such an empty perception of herself.

 

It puts the scene where Rainbow Dash dumps her unceremoniously among them in an especially poignant light.  Now I hope they will revisit this in S4, and have Pinkie's friends realize the error they're making when they see her as "a gag machine."

 

Also, thank you Ghost of Ember for a pretty good rebuttal to some of my comments in this thread about the "killing Pinkie clones" thing.

 

Edit: I just had another thought: in "Return of Harmony," Discord "turns" Pinkie by convincing her that her friends are laughing at her, not with her, that the shared joy she wants to create isn't really there.  Now I'm wondering if there might not be a grain of truth to Discord's tricks.  Rarity's greed: check.  Fluttershy's suppressed anger/cruelty: check; we see it come out with Iron Will.  Rainbow Dash: I'm not quite seeing it here, because his trick is to convince her that Cloudsdale is in danger, and loyalty to one's civilization is at least on a par with loyalty to one's friends.  OTOH, once shes sure that (her delusion of) Cloudsdale is safe, she just hangs out there and doesn't think of going back to her friends.  Applejack: She does have difficulty facing uncomfortable truths, like in the episode (the name eludes me) where she all but abandoned her family and friends because she couldn't bear to face them with the truth of her failure to win the rodeo.  Twilight: maybe a bit of a stretch, but her story arc has always been that she's looking at Ponyville and her friends' lives there from the outside, e.g. Winter Wrap-Up, so Discord defeats her by reinforcing her feelings of being an outsider and not really having friends.

Edited July 25, 2013 by InvisiblePinkUnicorn

[smokebomb 9]

We got to see Pinkie in all her glory- even if it wasn't the actual Pinkie Pie. And the animation technique used for the Mirror Pool? Most excellent. Easily one of my all time favorite episodes. The paint watching test was hilarious.

[EasternWinds 21]

I thought this episode was quite scary. The story seemed solid but it just gave me huge cases of fridge horror. 

 

List of horrible implications:

1) This mirror pool could have been used multiple times before Pinkie Pie's attempt. It's not like it was incredibly difficult for Pinkie to find and the legend sounds like it's pretty common knowledge. How many times has this pool been used and are the duplicates still alive? Do the duplicates still live in Ponyville or other areas in Equestria?

 

2) The mirror pool makes immortality possible, in a cloning sense. Ponies and their duplicates can make copies of themselves in case one of them dies or gets incapacitated. Clone can then replace said pony and carry on without others really knowing about it.

 

3) Pinkie Pie herself. No, I'm not talking about the weird horse face one of her duplicates make. I'm referring to their behavior during paint watching. If Pinkie's duplicates are exactly like her, then it means that she has no sense of self-preservation. Her duplicates literally see each of them slowly get shot out of existence (due to Twilight's magic) and don't bat an eye to that, instead they continue getting distracted and die in what I would imagine a horrible death. Makes you really re-consider Pinkie's giggle at the ghosties scene and really wonder whether Pinkie laughs because she's courageous or that she's completely ignorant.

 

4) What would happen to Ponyville if all the Pinkies lapsed into depressive, sociopaths? *shudders*

 

5) With that much paint drying in an enclosed space, wouldn't all the ponies inside be inhaling paint fumes? I'd imagine all of them or at least Twilight, who is standing closest to the paint wall, would be suffering from dizziness, eye irritation, cardiovascular problems, headaches.

 

I've got plenty more on my list, but these are the ones that freaked me out the most.

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

I thought this episode was quite scary. The story seemed solid but it just gave me huge cases of fridge horror. 

 

List of horrible implications:

1) This mirror pool could have been used multiple times before Pinkie Pie's attempt. It's not like it was incredibly difficult for Pinkie to find and the legend sounds like it's pretty common knowledge. How many times has this pool been used and are the duplicates still alive? Do the duplicates still live in Ponyville or other areas in Equestria?

 

2) The mirror pool makes immortality possible, in a cloning sense. Ponies and their duplicates can make copies of themselves in case one of them dies or gets incapacitated. Clone can then replace said pony and carry on without others really knowing about it.

 

3) Pinkie Pie herself. No, I'm not talking about the weird horse face one of her duplicates make. I'm referring to their behavior during paint watching. If Pinkie's duplicates are exactly like her, then it means that she has no sense of self-preservation. Her duplicates literally see each of them slowly get shot out of existence (due to Twilight's magic) and don't bat an eye to that, instead they continue getting distracted and die in what I would imagine a horrible death. Makes you really re-consider Pinkie's giggle at the ghosties scene and really wonder whether Pinkie laughs because she's courageous or that she's completely ignorant.

 

4) What would happen to Ponyville if all the Pinkies lapsed into depressive, sociopaths? *shudders*

 

5) With that much paint drying in an enclosed space, wouldn't all the ponies inside be inhaling paint fumes? I'd imagine all of them or at least Twilight, who is standing closest to the paint wall, would be suffering from dizziness, eye irritation, cardiovascular problems, headaches.

 

I've got plenty more on my list, but these are the ones that freaked me out the most.

Well, some of those are certainly legitimate concerns. For some of them, though, I feel it's not as bad as implied.

 

1. The Mirror Pool isn't common knowledge. Twilight, despite being very well read, had never heard of it, and Pinkie reveals when talking to herself that she only heard about it from one of her family members. The only book that did have info about it was hidden in an alcove that clearly had not been opened for many years.

 

2. It's pretty clear that the duplicates do not gain the memories of the pony they are copied from. They would find it impossible to impersonate the pony without a great deal of effort on the part of the original to teach them the necessary knowledge to pull off a convincing impersonation. Plus, if the pony is injured, the copy would probably be too. If they duplicated themselves just in case something happened to them, where would the other pony wait until it did happen? I find the impersonation scenario unlikely, especially since the Changeling Invasion of Canterlot, which probably put ponies on their guard a little more.

 

3. It's not necessarily true that Pinkie has no sense of self-preservation. She could just really want to be back with her friends, giving her enough focus to block out even something like her duplicates being zapped.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread what you meant here. Another good point. 

 

4. Well for here... no, I agree, that would really be freaking scary.

 

5. Quick drying paint. Twilight lied about the test being "watching paint dry", since it dried immediately anyway. Yeah, no, okay, I guess this one is a genuine puzzler.

 

I hope I have eased your fears somewhat.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Full Spectrum

[EasternWinds 21]

@, True, but for Pinkie Pie to know that means that this legend has been circulating for some time. I doubt that her family member would only tell her and then never mention it again. Some ponies would have been curious enough to have sought it out, assuming that these rumors were passed onto a significant population of ponies (say 1 out of 100 ponies decide to follow up with this rumor). What happened to them? What if some of the ponies weren't unicorns like Pinkie. Did they try to kill their duplicate once they found out that the mirror actually works? Oh Celestia, the horror! 

 

As for the duplication replacement idea, yeah it seems farfetch that the duplicate would actively replace you. If you think about it though, say the mane 6 missed a single duplicate (isn't hard to consider since Pinkie has abilities that allows her to teleport to the weirdest locations such as fruit stands and loofah baskets). Said duplicate decides that Ponyville isn't for her and moves elsewhere in Equestria, where nopony knows her, in search of fun. Years later, if duplicate Pinkie dies wouldn't it be freaky to discover in the newspaper that elemental bearer Pinkie Pie is dead only to see her alive and still hanging around Ponyville? I'd probably be scared knowing a copy of myself, bearing the exact identity, existed and did things without my knowledge only to discover "I" apparently made friends or worse, enemies with ponies I don't even know.

 

This episode was fun if you took it at face value, but it did scare me once I realized the implications as I got a drink of water 4 hours later. I watched the episode again to see if I was just reading too deep into it and it just frightened me even more.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

Apparently I have never commented on this thread.  Well that is just crazy.  When this episode first came out, I remember telling people that it was my favorite.  Not just my favorite episode of the show, but my favorite anything ever.  And I still pretty much feel the same way now.

[smokebomb 9]

From a none-hardcore Brony standpoint, I thought the episode was great (actually it's one of my most favorite episodes). The concept of multi-Pinkie was a godsend for an onslaught of slapstick comedy, the animation effect used for the mirror pool was amazing (until the animators got lazy after the third time lol), and who can say no to hundreds of Pinkies rampaging through Ponyville?  

[unil 14]

Oh, this series is so cool. How cute is that Pinkie, for all its ostentatious folly, so much going through the results of her actions and her friends. And the fact that she was always driven only good motives, or at least not bad.
So, it was a lot of FUN FUN FUN.

[Mr. Critical 434]

The pink... the pink is every where. *paint scene.* Pinkie clone- "bet you can't make a face crazier than... this." *G3 pony* AAAAH! AAAAH! AH! AH! AAAAAaaaahhhh!

[the musty book 156]

I loved the part where Pinkie was telling Rainbow Dash that she was halfway to Applejack's, and Rainbow Dash was sooooooooo confused. It was hilarious!

[DerpyHoovesMuffins 8]

MORE PINKIE PIES EVERYONE RUN AND HIDE AND HIDE YOU'RE FOOD AND BALLOONS YOUR COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES AND WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T FEED HER ANY BALLOONS