S04:E06 - Power Ponies

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Another thing to note why do I feel there's gonna be shirts from this episode

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

True enough. Were I to analyse this relatively (compared to other funny episodes) and not comprehensively, it would still be much the same to me, however. In the past, even purely humour-centered episodes have had good plot and character development, or at least show some understanding of the characters. Castle Mane-ia for example, was a romp, just as this was supposed to be. But it still had continuity, and still showed a deep understanding of the characters. And the moral, while shoe-horned, was still unique to that episode. In this case the moral was a complete repeat, for the umpteenth time, that Spike has value to his friends.

 

Spike really needs something new to be added to his character, because the underappreciated Spike thing is just getting insanely old. Perhaps go a little deeper, and point out some deeper issue of self-worth, which is why this keeps cropping up. I took points off of development primarily because the focus character had no development which we haven't already seen on multiple occasions. The focus should always get some development.

 

Regarding the villain- honestly? Her motive was to give everypony a bad hair day? I get the idea about a silly villain trying to get laughs by being so over-the-top, but the Mane-iac overshot silly humour and went into the territory of sheer absurdity.

 

And as I mentioned before, aside from Flutterhulk and Pinkie's antics, very few laughs were extracted from me, meaning it failed to entertain even in its own category as a humour episode. So, even completely forgetting the points I made above, it would still be in between "blegh" and "meh." It might end up getting an upgrade to 4 or 4.5 out of 10 if I could forget all of my other points, and just look at the humour.

I color coded this, because whatever

 

Yes, but these weren't the ponies in Mane 6 form; it was some alter-egos from an alternate world, and I doubt either world or alter egos will ever resurface Not much development was needed for this reason alone. That's why, even though development and portrayal are always the #1 things of how I judge an episode, I had to give the latter of those 2 things much more weight than the former when judging this. As for portrayal, barring Twilight and, to an extent, Applejack, they were all done excellently; even if I don't enjoy watching Fluttershy's minor flaws played up for laughs (or anypony's, for that matter) I still chuckled to myself a bit when she went berserk in the end. They were portrayed well, and, in an episode where they're under a different alias and/or in a different universe such as this one, you have to weigh portrayal more heavily than development in my philosophy of analyzing episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

 

As for the part in pink, this wasn't a serious villain by any measure Put Mane-iac up there with QC, Sombra, Discord, and NMM and compare and contrast, and tell me that she's on their level She isn't, and I'd bet my next 4 paychecks she's a one-off, as is the case with the Power Ponies.

 

This is essentially my whole philosophy when judging episodes; the plot is always predictable to me, but I fell in love with the characters in the show. So I judge development and portrayal more heavily. I love the show for the ponies in it, you know?  

 

Unbolded, I either agree on our consider this valid and just.

Edited December 21, 2013 by ~Sadistic ghostfk39~

[NightOwl 912]

Good episode. I loved seeing the mother/son type relationship between Spike and Twilight develop a bit and Pinkie Pie was pretty hilarious too 7/10

Edited December 21, 2013 by NightOwl

[FlutterDash4072 189]

I liked this episode even more than I thought I would. Much better than the last two we've had!

 

Although there wasn't anyone else to fill the role, it was nice to see Spike as the one who knew exactly what was going on. I also like how the mane six had some trial and error with their powers, and I like how it took Twilight the longest to get used to them. Sometimes that girl is a little too good.   Heck, I think Rarity was the most useful of the bunch, and seeing Applejack getting stuff done is nice. She's had a fairly good season so far.

 

However, there were a couple of disappointing things. There's no reason to consider Mane-iac an actual villain, but her master plan could have been better. Making everyone's manes grow uncontrollably? Really?

 

And the Flutterhulk scene was a really big let down. Her reason for losing it was pretty stupid, and her actual time in Hulk mode was pretty lame.

[ZomBrony 347]

Just watched it on Steam (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ThePOF#announcements is where I watched it, I think that should be viewable by Non-Steam Members but I'm sorry if it isn't.), and it was AWESOME!

One of my favourite parts, as usual, has to be that little nod to the fandom. I don't even know if you'd all consider it the same as I did, but Rarity calling him Spikey-Boo? What else could that mean? x3
I also really liked that they had to work to discover their powers.

And I'm sorry if this was TMI but I tried to avoid spoiling as much as I could.

Oh shoot, I also have to add on that I liked how it.. kind of followed a storyline. The comic part, obviously was very random but I was wondering how else they would pull that off and as I said, it /did/ kind of follow the story of Castle Mane-ia with returning to the castle. I just found that really cool. Nice to see.

[BalanceBrony 259]

I color coded this, because whatever

 

Yes, but these weren't the ponies in Mane 6 form; it was some alter-egos from an alternate world, and I doubt either world or alter egos will ever resurface Not much development was needed for this reason alone. That's why, even though development and portrayal are always the #1 things of how I judge an episode, I had to give the latter of those 2 things much more weight than the former when judging this. As for portrayal, barring Twilight and, to an extent, Applejack, they were all done excellently; even if I don't enjoy watching Fluttershy's minor flaws played up for laughs (or anypony's, for that matter) I still chuckled to myself a bit when she went berserk in the end. They were portrayed well, and, in an episode where they're under a different alias and/or in a different universe such as this one, you have to weigh portrayal more heavily than development in my philosophy of analyzing episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

 

As for the part in pink, this wasn't a serious villain by any measure Put Mane-iac up there with QC, Sombra, Discord, and NMM and compare and contrast, and tell me that she's on their level She isn't, and I'd bet my next 4 paychecks she's a one-off, as is the case with the Power Ponies.

 

This is essentially my whole philosophy when judging episodes; the plot is always predictable to me, but I fell in love with the characters in the show. So I judge development and portrayal more heavily. I love the show for the ponies in it, you know?  

 

Unbolded, I either agree on our consider this valid and just.

I disagree. This isn't a dream. The Mane Six were actually in the comic. The physical Mane Six that we have gotten to know. It would be one thing if this were a dream or something, so the depiction would rest on Spike's perception of the others. But this actually occurred. Meaning that these should be the same ponies we know. While their portrayal was in-character for them, and I'll give you that (save AJ, who had almost no characterisation), their abilities should have been reflected too.

 

There is no reason Twilight shouldn't have been able to use magic, or AJ should fail with a lasso, magical or not. You could write off the others, and even Twilight as having different physics in the comic world, but a rope is a rope. Further, having to imagine a difference in physics shouldn't be necessary to justify a sudden failure in skill or ability. This was a contrivance to clear the way for Spike, and you know it.

 

As I said, the development point was mainly regarding Spike, because he regressed to feeling underappreciated for the millionth time before doing a prompt 180 thanks to the same encouraging words he heard before.

 

Regarding the Mane-iac- I understand her purpose was to be a silly villain. But she overshot it in my opinion.

 

That being said, I wonder if we are just debating aimlessly here. For the most part, these are our opinions, so really, there's no argument to be had. It's really just us explaining why we personally liked or disliked the episode at this point.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I disagree. This isn't a dream. The Mane Six were actually in the comic. The physical Mane Six that we have gotten to know. It would be one thing if this were a dream or something, so the depiction would rest on Spike's perception of the others. But this actually occurred. Meaning that these should be the same ponies we know. While their portrayal was in-character for them, and I'll give you that (save AJ, who had almost no characterisation), their abilities should have been reflected too.

 

There is no reason Twilight shouldn't have been able to use magic, or AJ should fail with a lasso, magical or not. You could write off the others, and even Twilight as having different physics in the comic world, but a rope is a rope. Further, having to imagine a difference in physics shouldn't be necessary to justify a sudden failure in skill or ability. This was a contrivance to clear the way for Spike, and you know it.

 

As I said, the development point was mainly regarding Spike, because he regressed to feeling underappreciated for the millionth time before doing a prompt 180 thanks to the same encouraging words he heard before.

 

Regarding the Mane-iac- I understand her purpose was to be a silly villain. But she overshot it in my opinion.

 

That being said, I wonder if we are just debating aimlessly here. For the most part, these are our opinions, so really, there's no argument to be had. It's really just us explaining why we personally liked or disliked the episode at this point.

Whoa whoa whoa, dude, I never said this was a dream.

 

They were sucked into the comics, which is an alternate universe, and were Super-heroines/Sidekick, which are alter egos

 

As for that other part, this is what the beautiful thing about show discussion is I'm not trying to make you think my way, dude. It's a sharing of opinions and views about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

 

I didn't even think of this as an argument. More of a discussion, and, as with politics, religion, etc., getting many different viewpoints opens up your mind to new possibilities and an expansion of your knowledge regarding a certain area

 

I mean, if you don't want to continue this, that's cool. I'm just saying this isn't a fight, it's a discussion, so please don't feel like I'm attacking you

Edited December 21, 2013 by ~Sadistic ghostfk39~

[Twinhead B 482]

Another great episode! Season 4 is well on it's way to being my favorite thus far.

 

Did the episode have superior writing? Probably not, and I'm sure there were plotholes a plenty, but it was a well-made episode that capture my attention wholeheartedly. Alot of nostalgia too considering how Faust had worked on The Powerpuff Girls way back when ( of which this episode reminded me of quite a bit). The moral of the story was a bit meh, and while I'm very quickly growing tired of the whole "Spike feels unimportant" niche the writers are falling into, the episode was enjoyable enough in content to make me not really care.

 

All in all: I enjoyed the episode quite a bit, even if it didn't do much for story or character development. It's just some good ole' fashioned cartoon silliness, which is a nice change of pace from the rather serious over-arching story the show has been setting up since Season 3. No world-ending threat, no deus ex machina, just 30-minutes worth of superhero themed pony goodness.

[Mr. Critical 434]

The geek culture, the action, the... frack is a spray can of doom. Oh well, i found it quite enjoyable. And from one fifth wheel to anther Spike, i say to thee... I know.

[FlutterFerret 39]

I... I overslept... and I missed it...

[null123456 759]

I liked this episode! It was a pretty badass and kind episode. I gotta say I did like how Spike came through in the end and I hope that the Mane 6 don't treat Spike like a ragdoll after this. (IMO, of course)

[FNGRpony 658]

Downer moments?

spike.  LIke this should been the episode he had the most fun in, like seriously his ultimate dream kinda ends up being camp miserable.

I can't even call it a small nitt pick, it's center stage,

 

I think spike could stand to have some of pinkies oblivious nature.

 

Pro?
Rarity and pinkie really worked this episode.  They made their super powers be them.  They felt like them selves while embracing everything different.

I'd call it the best pinkie episode of season 4.

Rarity has another strong showing, like in castlemania (who would thunk, rarity hitting a home run with titles based around hair)

I give this one more credit, because rarity didn't have alot competition to shine in castlemania.

 

Rarity and apple jack had one brain cell between them that magically disappeared when they got together.

Here rainbow dash kinda felt awkerd (i mean that was the point) she rolled with it only out done by pinkie and rarity,

i guess she can't hit a home run everytime lol.

 

twilight.... heh wow she got NERFED this episode bad.

Um she doesn't have to be the star in every episode but i mean showing her being frustrated with failing would been interesting,

but yeah there just wasn't time to go into a deep twilight inner moment of "I can't get anything right."

she could had that useless feeling and empathized with spike's normal self this episode.

I'd say this is twilight's weakest episode as well.

 

There's alot hit and alot miss.  I love hate this one.

And i know i said i wanted a hammy villian, but DAMN,

she was only really on when she was hackeling spike.

I liked this episode for some reasons and I didn't like it for others.

 

Liked:

-Animation

-Music

- The moral

 

didn't like:

 

- Dialogue

-Pacing (parts seemed rushed)

 

It's a comic, be glad it didn't drag.  I don't even need an example.  you either know what i'm talking about or don't lol.

I've kinda giving up on pacing in mlp.

I know when it's wrong but i can't exactly point out how they could done it better most of the time.

[Oblivion 20,266]

So glad that is actually happened and wans't just a dream or some crap! I was actually very pleased with this episode!

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

This episode is going to spawn so much R34 and flutterhulk images  I'm terrified because at some point I believe they will combine.... overall this was my least favorite episode, never cared much for super heros. It's cool spike got some screentime aside from being a mailbox though

Edited December 21, 2013 by ~SadisticCakebandit~

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

This is easily my favorite Season 4 episode so far. Everything about it was awesome. From the crazy Joker-like villain, to the Hulked out Fluttershy. I really enjoyed this episode. Hell, this may be one of my favorite MLP episodes ever.

[BalanceBrony 259]

Ahhh, Power Ponies. The hype was strong for this one. Was it worth it? Personally, I don’t think so. In fact, in my opinion, this episode was, well, not good. But it seems like everypony else liked it. Why not me? Well, there’s a few reasons. For starters, we will discuss the humour, because that was pretty much the purpose of this episode. It was a fun romp, just like Castle Mane-ia. Or at least it was supposed to be.

 

This episode was not very funny in my opinion. The laughs I emitted were mostly from the usual Pinkie antics, so I don’t give much props for that. Because who can’t laugh at Pinkie Pie? But other than that, and the silliness of Flutterhulk, there wasn’t much going for humour here. There were some cheesy puns, probably to maintain the trope of the ridiculously un-punny catch phrases from comics, but like their inspiration, they failed to illicit more than a slight snicker at the cheesiness. The episode resolutely lacked good hearty belly-laughs. Humour failed here, meaning in its own right, the episode failed to serve its purpose.

 

But humour is not the only area which falls short. The whole plot of the episode was predictable. It went beyond the predictability of Castle Mane-ia, where you figured it was Pinkie later on, because she wasn’t in the group as they were walking together. No. I was able to call pretty much the whole episode from the beginning. Oh look, Spike is the useless one. Spike thinks he’s useless. Something happens to put the ponies out of commission, and Spike saves the day, before being told for the millionth time that he does have value. I was so annoyed as each event unfolded, I forgot to pay attention to what happened specifically, because it was just too much that I knew the whole plot from the beginning.

 

Even the moral was easy to guess, because we’ve seen it before. I don’t know how many times we’ve seen Spike depicted as underappreciated. Honestly, unless you are going to go a little deeper and examine why he feels the way he does, repetition does neither the moral nor Spike’s development any good.

 

In fact, it is pretty much getting to the point of “Where is Spike’s development?” Honestly, two episodes about greed and two about feeling underappreciated, all of which seem to have never happened once we see the next Spike episode? When can we see his development solidified?  I am not saying they are bad episodes, just freaking repetitive. I want to see that Spike actually learned something, and if the same thing is taught multiple times, every successive depiction is just irritating.

 

Spike’s character isn’t the only one that irritated me in this episode. For the most part, the other ponies were pretty much true to their character. Fluttershy was cutesy and quiet, with a bit of a tough streak if you mess with innocent animals (FLUTTERHULK SMASH!), Twilight was a good leader (I love how her character is peaked to allow others to grow), Dash was reckless (LEEEEEROY JENNNKKINS!), Pinkie was Pinkie (always a hoot), Rarity was fabulous but awesome (I loved how nonchalant Rarity was), and AJ was- I don’t know. I saw no characterisation on AJ’s part really. I thought we were trying to stop her from being a background pony? Their depictions in terms of personality were pretty good (ASIDE FROM AJ, GOD DANGIT). They weren’t as deep as I would like, but they weren’t the focus, so it’s understandable that such was the case.

 

But something that did displease me about the characterisation was in the abilities. Their powers suited them. (Wait, what?) But how would that displease me you may ask? Because their powers suited them, it doesn’t make sense that they would not be able to use them right away (aside from Fluttershy). And yet, Dash fails to control her storm, Twi can’t use her magic properly, and AJ the rodeo star doesn’t know how to lasso. Given their natural abilities, they should have had no trouble. I have seen the argument that “It’s a different universe, so there.” But I would respond that such an argument is only a justification for the contrivance which was the Mane Six failing to use their powers, solely so that Spike could be useful. It shouldn’t be necessary to argue on grounds of different physics.

 

A character who completely bombed was the Mane-iac. Seriously? She wants to give everypony bad hair? Ridiculous. I understand that the intent was to go over-the-top to get some laughs, but she went to far, and overshot funny into the territory of just plain dumb.

 

Geez BalanceBrony! Is their any saving this episode for you? There were actually a couple of saving graces, though they are precious- two. I loved the little dialogue between Spike and Twilight at the beginning. The “two minutes” thing is exactly the kind of banter I would expect between a mother and a foal. I feel this brief seen really gives credence to the notion that Twilight and Spike have a deep familial relationship, and that Spike is not her slave or pet. So, now all I have to say is this: STAHP SPILIGHT PEOPLES! It’s just wrong.

 

The other thing which interested me in this episode was the return of the ruined castle. Why does it keep coming up? Will it have some kind of significance later? Potential continuity foalks! *squee*

 

So what is my final diagnosis of this episode? The plot was predictable, the humour was nothing special, the moral was redundant, the characterisation was lackluster, the villain was ridiculous, and the lack of development was infuriating. The only good things were the depiction of Twilight and Spike’s relationship, the potential continuity, and some aspects of portrayal. But overall this episode failed pretty hardcore to entertain me. It didn’t disgust me, but it was just boring and un-entertaining. My impression is meh, but my rating leans towards bad, at 3.5/10 stars. Impression is what I feel, rating is my point-by-point analysis.

 

Let me know what you guys think. Do you want more reviews in the future? What did you think of Power Ponies?

 

I hope to hear from you all!

[Oblivion 20,266]

As much as I like this episode, I have one question I think should be addressed;

 

What was up with the comic book disappearing at the end?

Kind of an intresting question, although I doubt we will see more of those "enchanted comic books". I am guessing it just dissapeared because the story was completed so therefore the magic wore off, who knows, maybe all these events actually turn out to be some kind of test by Celestia to test their friendship or something along those lines!

This episode is going to spawn so much R34 and flutterhulk images  I'm terrified because at some point I believe they will combine.... overall this was my least favorite episode, never cared much for super heros. It's cool spike got some screentime aside from being a mailbox though

And CakeBandit strikes again, this was actually one of my personale favoright episodes IMO. Had everthing, action, comedy, no overly serious or dramtic message or anything like that, just a very fun awesome episode!(IMO)

[Scootalove 10,689]

I do want more reviews from you in the future. As for Power Ponies, I enjoyed the episode because of Spike and Twilight's dialogue with each other, the humor alongside the conflict. The villain reminded me of Medusa and the out of control hair villain from the Powerpuff Girls show, other than that I had nothing bad to say about the episode. Except the villain wouldn't shut up, it took a while for them to get used to their powers.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Scootalove

[hawkflame 3,310]

Man, I couldn't disagree with you more.  I loved the meta commentary on superhero comics, I loved the villain, who was *supposed* to be a stock superhero villain, and all the powers themselves powers themselves perfectly suited the characters.  But at the same time it made sense that they didn't have complete control, because while they matched their abilities, they still weren't used to using them in *that way*.  For instance while AJ has always been great with a lasso, she's never had a telekinetic connection to one. 

 

I think you're taking the episode a little too seriously.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

And CakeBandit strikes again, this was actually one of my personale favoright episodes IMO. Had everthing, action, comedy, no overly serious or dramtic message or anything like that, just a very fun awesome episode!(IMO)

what do you mean again xD I rarely show up in these places

something I did like about the episode was them fixing up the old castle, does that mean Twilight's getting a nice fancy new place to stay? :3

[FNGRpony 658]

Yeah i thought sedusa sucked (come on we all wanna call her that).

 

i give it about a 7 out of 10.

it's not as good as it could been, but it could been alot worse.

 

Could you imagine if mary weather got her mits on this episode?

PInkie and rarity had a good episode in season 4, and it was over do.

 

Aj i got nothing to really ad,

twilight was weak, but hay she shouldn't have to be awesome all the time,

and i've said my peace about flutter shy else where.

 

It's a shame spike spent so much time in the dumps when he was the one who should had the most fun.

but why did dash have to stop using her normal powers lol.  that's just a nit pick.

Edited December 21, 2013 by FNGRpony

[Malinter 3,064]

This episode is going to spawn so much R34 and flutterhulk images  I'm terrified because at some point I believe they will combine.... overall this was my least favorite episode, never cared much for super heros. It's cool spike got some screentime aside from being a mailbox though

 

Yeah. me and Retarded Wizard are talking bets on how long it is until it appears on the net.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I think I countered this effectively enough in the official show topic as to not have to do it again

 

As well founded as your opinions are, and as much as I can respect them, I think you're leaving a major variable out of this analysis, dude.

 

This episode wasn't supposed to be taken as seriously as the ones before it 

 

Now, I'm all for show analysis, I love it; yet, there's a certain weight you've got to identify with each episode, you know, dude? Such as last week's episode; it was supposed to be much more serious than Power Ponies, in case that wasn't obvious; Power Ponies wasn't supposed to provide too much development as well, in contrast with Daring Don't, last week's episode, etc. This was much more of a fun episode as to important, something leisurely and lighthearted.

 

Ergo, it should be weighted as less important on aspects such as what you brought up, such as character development and the villain's motive being silly or not; had this been a much more serious and dark atmosphere, such as the ones found in other episodes, it should be weighted more heavily and taken more seriously.

 

What I've bolded are things I'm talking about; the rest of the points you've brought up are either completely reasonable opinions or agreeable, in my line of thought 

 

I color coded this, because whatever 

 

Yes, but these weren't the ponies in Mane 6 form; it was some alter-egos from an alternate world, and I doubt either world or alter egos will ever resurface  Not much development was needed for this reason alone. That's why, even though development and portrayal are always the #1 things of how I judge an episode, I had to give the latter of those 2 things much more weight than the former when judging this. As for portrayal, barring Twilight and, to an extent, Applejack, they were all done excellently; even if I don't enjoy watching Fluttershy's minor flaws played up for laughs (or anypony's, for that matter) I still chuckled to myself a bit when she went berserk in the end. They were portrayed well, and, in an episode where they're under a different alias and/or in a different universe such as this one, you have to weigh portrayal more heavily than development in my philosophy of analyzing episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 

 

As for the part in pink, this wasn't a serious villain by any measure  Put Mane-iac up there with QC, Sombra, Discord, and NMM and compare and contrast, and tell me that she's on their level She isn't, and I'd bet my next 4 paychecks she's a one-off, as is the case with the Power Ponies.

 

This is essentially my whole philosophy when judging episodes; the plot is always predictable to me, but I fell in love with the characters in the show. So I judge development and portrayal more heavily. I love the show for the ponies in it, you know? 

 

Unbolded, I either agree on our consider this valid and just. 

 

So, yeahh...it appears that, unfortunately, you don't seem too open to new ideas about this particular episode You said almost the exact same things I countered in the other, official, episode thread, without throwing any new perspective or ideas in there,  or re-thinking your stance to see if it you were truly correct about how bad it was, because, had you done that, your argument would've changed. Maybe not your perspective in of itself, but I think you need to be more open minded about certain aspects of the show.

[Cakebandit :3 1,064]

Yeah. me and Retarded Wizard are talking bets on how long it is until it appears on the net.

hasn't showed up yet as far as I know, Lunatic would of linked them to me already if they did -_-

 

honestly i'm surprised 

[FNGRpony 658]

I understand it wasn't suppose to be not taken seriously.

 

Look i was prepared for adam west level boofenary.

I felt the Maniac went past that.  I mean i gave her alot rope (extensions LOL).

Alot, alot and still managed to over ham it.