S04:E06 - Power Ponies

[Octavia's Melody 128]

Didn't read the thread, so forgive me if this question was already answered.

 

Obviously all the characters are based on established comic book heroes. As far as I can tell:

Pinkie - Flash

Dash - Storm

AJ - The lasso acts like Wonderwomans whip, but that's the only comic similarity I can see

Fluttershy - Hulk (laughed hard at this)

Rarity - Green Lantern

Spike - lolRobin

Mane-iac - Joker with hair power (and there's some obscure Marvel hero with hair control... I think she's like Black Bolt's grandmother, and Black Bolt is pretty obscure himself )

 

But... who is Twilight supposed to be? I mean, there are plenty of people who've used ice, but Spike said she could do other things too (although I don't remember her actually using anything other than ice). Can't think of anybody like that off the top of my head, except maybe Dr. Strange. I don't remember Strange having a preference for ice over other things, though.

Here's the list of characters the Mane 6 are supposed to be:

[Hawk McAdam 12]

Anybody think that Fluttershy is a Browncoat, reacting as she did to how (the) Firefly went down?

[Moon Rat 4,772]

I saw this episode twice now (might watch it a third and forth time, who knows ) and I gotta say that I absolutely LOVED IT

 

The Mane-iac is now one of my favorite villains of all time :3 (I kinda have a crush on her I'm sorry Luna, please don't be mad )

 

And I loved how Pinkie just pulled out a random plate of cupcakes from the comic at the end

And how she explained it was even funnier xD

 

All in all, I would go as far as to say it's the best episode of MLP I've seen thus far

9/10

Oh, and dat "Enchanted Comic Book Store".

I MUST get all my comic books from that store

[FNGRpony 655]

And here we go

 

your uncle no good covers monotization, digi broney, and power ponies.  And yes the bulk of the review is on the last one.

[Koelath 444]

To any saying the show is more "boyish": Stop it. It's a cartoon, period. Gender has nothing at all to do with it.

 

As for the episode...It's not great but not as awful as people are saying. It's a comic book parody. Enjoy it. It's a fun what-if take on a pony cartoon. Seriously, you people expect too much.

 

As for the new villain...It's a comic villain. Don't expect another Chrysalis. Her tentacle hair seemed pretty Doc Ock-ish...

 

Though the part I enjoyed most was Mane-iac's origin story referencing the Joker and Catwoman. Two of my favorite characters!

[Koelath 444]

Also, Fluttershy as the Hulk was amazing and yet I hope they never do something so horrific ever again.

[Persona22 205]

Hm, I don't know... I'm surprised that everyone doesn't like Dragon Quest actually, probably the best Spike episode besides this one imo.

 

I, personally, didn't like Dragon Quest because it presented a lousy message. If you sit down and analyze it, you will notice that the show was all about: Ponies = girls and Dragons = boys. And that being "boyish" was bad and wrong, and Spike should not try to be like that.

Now, I'm all in about the whole gender equality, but portraying an entire gender as "evil" isn't a good message, especially in a show that is, in its core, aimed for young children audiences. (regardless of how many in said audience is a grown up, of course)

 

If the episode has something like, at the end, an adult Dragon explaining to Spike that the other Dragons were young and reckless, and that being a Dragon was not about just tail wrestling and stealing eggs, or something like that, then I would be more inclined to like it.

 

The other thing that I really didn't like was a line of Applejack at the start of the episode, where Spike says that he doesn't act like other dragons, and Applejack replies with "why would you want to act like other Dragons?" I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY!?

 

Let me put it this way: Try saying to a black person that does not act like the stereotypical image that society has about black people that "he doesn't act like a black person, and why would he want to?" and see how he would react? Or an asian, or Latin-American, or any minority? Yeah? No way you'll do that, right? Didn't think so.

[BlueEyedPegasus 59]

This episode's moral and its heartfelt delivery aside, I gotta say that, in my opinion, the Mane-iac is FAR more evil than Chrysalis, Discord, King Sombra, and even Nightmare Moon combined, with her Hairspray Ray Of Doom which freezes ponies in place and renders superpowers useless! THAT MONSTER!!!!!

 

If anything at all, I think this should be the Mane-iac's theme music:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-51ZvV6ISD4

Edited December 23, 2013 by BlueEyedPegasus

[BoopMan 2,404]

Watched it today. Very awesome episode. Maneiac looks like Luna a bit lol.

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

I, personally, didn't like Dragon Quest because it presented a lousy message. If you sit down and analyze it, you will notice that the show was all about: Ponies = girls and Dragons = boys. And that being "boyish" was bad and wrong, and Spike should not try to be like that.

Now, I'm all in about the whole gender equality, but portraying an entire gender as "evil" isn't a good message, especially in a show that is, in its core, aimed for young children audiences. (regardless of how many in said audience is a grown up, of course)

 

If the episode has something like, at the end, an adult Dragon explaining to Spike that the other Dragons were young and reckless, and that being a Dragon was not about just tail wrestling and stealing eggs, or something like that, then I would be more inclined to like it.

 

The other thing that I really didn't like was a line of Applejack at the start of the episode, where Spike says that he doesn't act like other dragons, and Applejack replies with "why would you want to act like other Dragons?" I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY!?

 

Let me put it this way: Try saying to a black person that does not act like the stereotypical image that society has about black people that "he doesn't act like a black person, and why would he want to?" and see how he would react? Or an asian, or Latin-American, or any minority? Yeah? No way you'll do that, right? Didn't think so.

 

 

Dragons's are jerks. It's not just in this show but like 85% of portrayal of dragons. They murder, they devour, they kill, they horde, they slaughter they cannibalise...

 

Has nothing to do with "Boys are bad, girls are good". It has everything to do with the fact that all throughout space and time and in a majority of every myth Dragons are bastards.

 

[Persona22 205]

Dragons's are jerks. It's not just in this show but like 85% of portrayal of dragons. They murder, they devour, they kill, they horde, they slaughter they cannibalise...

 

Has nothing to do with "Boys are bad, girls are good". It has everything to do with the fact that all throughout space and time and in a majority of every myth Dragons are bastards.

 

 

And My Little Pony is supposed to be for little girls, yet here we are.

 

"Dragons have always been jerks" is not an excuse. In fact is the opposite. Using "Dragon have always been jerks" as an excuse in fact denies everything that the Brony and Pegasister fandom is all about: Breaking the stereotype that only little girls can watch and enjoy My Little Pony.

 

And lately I've been seeing more portrayals of dragons in a more positive light, like in World of Warcraft for example.

Edited December 23, 2013 by lucasliso

[Dr. Zerkagon 92]

When Flutters got angry as hell and then turned into the flutterhulk, that's when it went from "I love this." to "I REALLY LOVE THIS."

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

And My Little Pony is supposed to be for little girls, yet here we are.

 

"Dragons have always been jerks" is not an excuse. In fact is the opposite. Using "Dragon have always been jerks" as an excuse in fact denies everything that the Brony and Pegasister fandom is all about: Breaking the stereotype that only little girls can watch and enjoy My Little Pony.

 

And lately I've been seeing more portrayals of dragons in a more positive light, like in World of Warcraft for example.

 

 

The Brony/Pegasister/Discorded fandom has nothing to do with how the episodes are made or portrayed. The fact is that historically and through a majority of mythology dragons are not good creatures. There are exceptions to the rule but Dragons are Predators, they are killers, and they are conquerors.

 

 

http://youtu.be/MAwm-dRRv6M

 

It has nothing to do with "Boys are bad". There are plenty of male characters in the show who are good guys.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

And My Little Pony is supposed to be for little girls, yet here we are.

 

"Dragons have always been jerks" is not an excuse. In fact is the opposite. Using "Dragon have always been jerks" as an excuse in fact denies everything that the Brony and Pegasister fandom is all about: Breaking the stereotype that only little girls can watch and enjoy My Little Pony.

 

And lately I've been seeing more portrayals of dragons in a more positive light, like in World of Warcraft for example.

 

 

 

I don't see how hes saying anything along the lines of boys are bad I believe hes just trying to say almost 90% of the time all dragons are destructive creatures or not nice in some form even spike goes kinda bad at some point

 

 

 

P.S. In world of warcraft most dragons still want to kill you or destroy the world there are only 5 dragon aspects and only 4 are good the other already basically screwed the planet over

Edited December 23, 2013 by Cakebandit :3

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

I don't see how hes saying anything along the lines of boys are bad I believe hes just trying to say almost 90% of the time all dragons are destructive creatures or not nice in some form even spike goes kinda bad at some point

 

 

 

P.S. In world of warcraft most dragons still want to kill you or destroy the world there are only 5 dragon aspects and only 4 are good the other already basically screwed the planet over

 

Spike is bad. He's greedy, selfish, self-absorbed, pouty, whiny, endangers his friends' pets, and gets them sucked into comic books.

 

He is like every other dragon. just small and cute.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

Spike is bad. He's greedy, selfish, self-absorbed, pouty, whiny, endangers his friends' pets, and gets them sucked into comic books.

 

He is like every other dragon. just small and cute.

To be fair, he only got them sucked into a comic book once

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

To be fair, he only got them sucked into a comic book once

 

That we know of!! Who knows what other dangers he can get them into. I mean, what if he gets a comic-book version of 50 Shades of Discord?

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

That we know of!! Who knows what other dangers he can get them into. I mean, what if he gets a comic-book version of 50 Shades of Discord?

I would not be surprised if such a thing existed in Equestria but I don't think Discord would be the type to write such a thing

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

I would not be surprised if such a thing existed in Equestria but I don't think Discord would be the type to write such a thing

 

I put faith in the idea that Chrysalis would write it so that she can feast off the love and lust that ponies would get from Discord :3

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

I put faith in the idea that Chrysalis would write it so that she can feast off the love and lust that ponies would get from Discord :3

You're a horrible person for thinking such a creepy idea XD

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

Absolutely fantastic episode! I can't think of a bad thing to say about it. They did a much better job merging canon with fantasy than 'Daring Don't' and lived up to my expectations more than 'Flight to the Finish'. And if I can throw a few more comparisons out there, it was the best Spike episode since 'Secret of My Excess' and the ponies haven't been this physical since 'A Canterlot Wedding'.

 

The super-pony powers were all so awesome. My favorite is Fili-Second because she had the best costume and Pinkie knew how to use her powers right away. Rarity made the best use of her powers throughout the episode, though. Mane-iac was a really funny villain and Ellen Kennedy did a great job voicing her. The writing was very solid--better than the last few episodes, but you would expect that with Meghan and Charlotte involved. Nothing really changed with Spike's character at the end of the day, except he realizes he's not useless after all, and I guess that counts for something. (But wouldn't he already know that after King Sombra?)

 

I love this one and I will be going back to it again. 

[Comrade Courage 653]

I thought this episode was ok, happy for spike getting episode

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

After rewatching parts of the new episode and seeing random feedback, I must ask.

 

Is it possible for MLP to make a good Spike episode that isn't a mixed bag for a lot of fans?

Maybe not. After all, Spike himself is a mixed big for a lot of fans.  But I think they used him pretty well here.

 

I agree with ~Sadistic Luna~, Pinkie Pie is definitely best super-pony. She jumped into the book voluntarily and she got used to her powers right away. Hooray for Fili-Second!

[MrHaru 217]

I know we give Spike gripe but..he is a kid literally compared to the others so it's not unfathomable he still has more to develop.

 

I loved it for the mix of Marvel/DC references within....gotta hand it to Hasbro for pulling some tribute to The Joker's origin for how they made Mane-iac: goons and all too.

[Forlong 1,725]

That we know of!! Who knows what other dangers he can get them into. I mean, what if he gets a comic-book version of 50 Shades of Discord?

Actually, it was never stated that injuries in the comic would transfer to the real world matrix-style.  It wasn't clear if the experience was "real" or an illusion.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Forlong