S04:E06 - Power Ponies

[Thrond 3,262]

I just don't find this very fun. It's neither clever enough nor absurd enough, and the recurring gag of the mane six failing at their superpowers is more irritating than funny. Fluttershy being the Hulk is particularly tedious, just the laziest idea possible for this kind of episode, which is really indicative of the low level of humour on offer here. And the Mane-iac is kind of a generic villain, though her puns are suitably painful. There's some okay jokes, and the final action scene is fun, but the setting isn't really all that interesting. It compares really unfavourably to the Daring Do episode which aired around this same time, which is slightly less coherent but much more imaginative. And those costumes are just the ugliest thing. 

Also, I don't see how this works at all as a story about feeling impotent and useless, because all it really shows is the mane six not having any work for Spike, him proving himself better than a fictional character, and then the mane six reiterating his worth to them. I like that it tries to subvert Spike's usual role in the show, but the episode itself doesn't give us a good enough reason to equate Spike with Hum Drum, so the analogy doesn't really work. I think "Equestria Games" later this season would take on this same topic much more successfully - more on that later. 

Score:
Entertainment: 5/10
Characters: 5/10
Themes: 6/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 48/100

Edited June 7, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[bigbertha 414]

You'd think an episode with the premise of the mane six becoming superheroes would be a lot of fun, but it's actually really boring. You'd expect a lot of fun action, but there isn't that much action. Just a lot of the mane six fumbling around not knowing how to control their powers and being captured. The Mane-iac would've been great if the rest of the episode went the direction of an over the top superhero parody. In this episode, she feels a bit out of place. Spike's conflict is very uninteresting here, especially because we now have an episode that did it a lot better. There are a few fun action scenes, but they're few and far between. For the most part, this episode is a snore.

Score: 5/10

[Meushell 52]

I didn’t really like this episode. I’m not big of super hero movies to begin with.

On 6/6/2018 at 9:50 PM, AlexanderThrond said:

I like that it tries to subvert Spike's usual role in the show, but the episode itself doesn't give us a good enough reason to equate Spike with Hum Drum, so the analogy doesn't really work. 

Given how similar the super heroes happened to be to the Mane 6, I think the the author of the book writing them as super heroes. Hum Drum is how the author sees Spike, so Spike is basically hating a version of himself. I also suspect that Hum Drum isn’t as bad as he says. Spike is like a fan who looks down at the sidekick so much that they only see the bad in said sidekick.

[starrymiss 114]

I'm only halfway through, but there were three things I've really loved so far:

1) the opening where Spike wants to stay up and keep reading his comic. He pretends to sleep then reaches out of his bed for his comic, and Twilight rolls her eyes and is like "two more minutes." SO CUTE

2) the fact the mane 6 are touching up the Princess' castle. I really like that idea somehow.

3) when Spike tells Rarity to use her power bracelet to form something, and instead of something helpful, she creates a teapot and cups, which instantly smash Spike in the face. Like, YOU WOULD RARITY. SO EXTRA

[qwerE 96]

This might not be the best episode ever, but I would give it an A for trying out something new. Because it was new, I didn't find it too boring despite a little lack of action. I'm sure new episodes on superheroes are going to be better!

[bigbertha 414]

I like the idea of this episode. The mane six being stuck in a superhero setting is a fun premise and I do like the design and powers of the Power Ponies. The problem is that the episode is really meh. The mane-iac is fun for a little bit, but she's not pushed far enough to be really fun and nothing else in the episode plays as an over the top parody. The episode takes itself fairly seriously as a superhero story, which doesn't work because it's a very shallow story. The mane six don't know how to use their powers and then learn to use their powers while Spike learns that he's useful. That's all there is to this episode and it doesn't go in depth on either issue.

I think the only reason this episode exists is to sell Power Pony toys, which does explain why the designs and powers of the Power Ponies seem to have the most effort put into them. Everything else is wasted potential.

Score: 5/10

[SunburstRainbow2019 3]

Really interesting episode how Hasbro takes a page out of Marvel's Avengers book. Mane-iac was a very interesting character. That tentacle-looking hair :-p

[dashie2020 86]

Not one of my favourite episodes. The whole comic book thing, while fun, was a little too... not crazy so much, but I wasn't a fan. Something about a comic book sucking characters into its own universe or whatever seemed kinda weird.

 

While I thought that it was funny at first, Flutterhulk was a bit too strange yet very lazily thought out and kinda exaggerated. Just take the kindest, quietest, softest character, and turn her into the Hulk. Still liked it, though.

Mane-iac seemed like a parody of a parodies of generic villains, but she was funny. I barely have anything to say about this episode, TBH. So instead of giving a full-blown review, I will just rate it. Not the worst episode, but far from the best.

Personal Rating: 6.5/10

Objective Rating: 44/100

Edited February 5, 2020 by dashie2020

[PhaseCassandra 13]

I really love it! It does kinda give me marvel and DC vibes though!

[Splashee 28,558]

I really didn't like this episode. Like most Season 4 episodes, I didn't really understand where MLP would go after Twilight got her wings, and this episode was confusing.

[Cloud5001 20]

I feel this episode is very underrated, it's one of those premise's that's hurt the most by this show needing to follow the self contained episode approach and thus only being limited to 22 minutes to work with. But with that I do think this is a pretty fun episode, this is the first episode to really focus on his lack of self worth issues. We saw a glimpse of that in the Crystal empire where he learned his greatest fear was being sent away because Twilight found him useless, that brief moment opened up SO much potential for charachter development and it's why Spike at your service is so infurating. Thankfully season 4 came and addressed this issue, and in more than one episode which I loved. this episode definetly could've used a bit more show don't tell with Spike's feelings, but I do think there's just enough there that I can get invested in it.

 

To keep with the superhero theme Robin is my favorite Dc hero because in a universe with heroes with crazy powers he proves you can still be special even if your a normal human. So it's only fitting that Spike ends up looking like him the most when in the superhero outfit. And the parrallels are more than you'd think at first. Both have a love him or hate him type of relationship with fans, in the hands of poor writers they often get the shaft or treated as incompetent even though their not. Infact as I think of all the ways their similar I kinda want Robin from Teen titans to meet Spike now, but anyways my point is that like Robin Spike has prooven time and again that even though your not a big muscluar adult, you can still do badass heroic things. Such as in this episode when he comes up with a pretty clever way to take out most of the Maneiacs minions.

[North Star 4,840]

the start of this ep is a hilarious spoof of super hero comics  love spike in this ep

[Astralshy 25,839]

The creators tried something different with this one and I think the made a very hilarious hilarious.

It's definitely an exception and something unique of the MLP episodes. So It's not surprising not everybody likes it.  For me it was s very interesting how they projected the common super hero scheme on MLP and fun with it.

This was an experiment I liked. I had the feeling of having a day off the mane six from their normal adventures. I think it's a good episode

[JMTV99 1,352]

I remember this episode being a massive hype when it first came out, but it turns out to be a massive disappointment.

For me, I thought it was disappointing, but I don't hate as everybody else does. It was a good idea, but it didn't execute the way it should've been.

[Cheerilee 26,567]

God I loved this episode. Mane-iac was a cool villain and Fluttershy becoming the hulk was so funny, I loved each of their super hero forms! They should check out more enchanted comics for sure.

[StarHeart333 1,763]

Fili second is the best joke of the whole episode.

[Cheerilee 26,567]

I loved this episode. It was very funny and entertaining - the best part was Flutter-hulk. Mane-iac was interesting and I enjoyed seeing the parts in the comic. The various Mane 6 as the power ponies was very cool and fun for sure. 

[Hadrien 948]

This is the superhero episode, I guess every fictional world has to have superheroes, even one with magical and flying ponies that fight dragons, lords of chaos, love sucking shapshifters and towering magic stealing goat demons. I guess superheroes really are needed in a world like that !

Spike feeling like he doesn't matter and can't do anything is something I relate too a lot. I usually feel like that about myself, that everyone is better, more mature, stronger and overall just better persons than myself, so I'm glad the little guy got to learn to rely more on himself and that his friends do appreciates him for what he is. I also need that kind of reassurance, social connection and validation from the ones that are close to me.

The trope of getting sucked into a fictional world to embody the characters works when the original world isnt all the fantastical. In our case, Equestria is already full of magical and fantastical things, so I'm not sure about the appeal of wanting to go into another world than this.

The Mane Six Power Ponies were great, Fluttershy as the Hulk was particularly on point. Applejack with the lasso made sense, as did Rainbow and the super speed thing. She's already the fastest flyer in Equestria, so it makes sense she'd also be the fastest in Maretropolis.

This episode was good, with a good moral, and some good insert of the superhero genre, even if it wasn't entirely necessary. 7.5/10 !