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Chained Prometheus · May 14, 2017

UberTag said:
Honest Apple

I had no idea having Rarity thrash metal on a guitar was something I needed in my life.
She's just chock full of hidden talents.

Yuuuuuup. Best part of the episode by far for me. lmao

I'd definitely be game to see Rarity metal things up again down the line, be it in MLP or in EQG.

SigmasonicX · May 14, 2017

The first Equestria Girls special, "Dance Magic", has aired in Poland. People are working on an English sub, but it isn't out yet.

Dance Magic
When Rarity finds out about a music video competition, she's eager to convince her friends at Canterlot High to enter the contest. The girls soon learn that Crystal Prep Academy are also interested in participating in the contest. The students at CPA have many more resources and are better dancers! Will they be able to pull together and make a winning music video?

No US air date has been revealed yet, but the DVD release date is August 8th, so it's certainly coming out before then.

However, there's a song in the episode, and it's one that was already on the Friendship Games soundtrack, so someone just synched the English version over it, and it fits (EDIT: SONG SPOILS THE END OF THE SPECIAL). From what I hear, since I haven't actually watched it yet >_>.

ShinySylvee · May 14, 2017

So first up we got the new (Canadian) episode Honest Apple. We have another new writer, Kevin Lappin, who is certainly the most unusual new writer we've gotten this season. His previous work are as Script Coordinator on The Exes, Production staff on Gary Unmarried, and most recently as a writer on Mike & Molly. So yeah, this is only his second show he's written for and his first one that isn't live-action. Watching through the episode I was getting some sitcom vibes from it but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The episode has a chill and laid-back feel somewhat similar to episodes like Castle Mane-ia, Pinkie Apple Pie, and Saddle Row Review, and I really like those episodes. Nothing earth shattering here, no major emotional scenes. But I had a lot of fun with it, and that's all I can really ask. For the most part I thought the characterization made sense and worked well. I liked all the continuity nods that it had which is pretty impressive for someone that just started writing for the show. Lappin definitely knows the show, which is promising. There's a couple minor issues with it but they didn't bother me all that much. Overall I had a fun time with it and it's definitely one of my more liked episodes this season.

A lot of people appear to be taking issue with AJ even being a judge in the first place but I feel like the episode explains it well so it was never an issue for me. AJ has a completely different perspective when it comes to clothing and it's one that was shown in the episode to be one that was often lost by the fashionistas. Cool looking clothing is nice, but it also needs to be something that you can actually wear, and disco ball clothing isn't really something that anyone would actually use. I do feel like the episode itself could have shown off why this perspective was needed better by having some payoff of her improving the clothing designs by making them more usable after realizing her mistake and being more constructive with her criticism. Also while it was nice seeing Photo Finish and Hoity Toity I wish they had more of a role in the episode besides essentially being there to react to what AJ is saying.

Secondly the first EQG special Dance Magic was released today in Poland. (Sigma posted while I was typing this lol) There's upload with the episode fully subtitled in English as well. I won't link them myself because I'm not sure if I really should be linking full episodes (I'm pretty sure not lol) but I will say you can easily find it on Equestria Daily. The episode itself is written by G.M. Berrow and apparently it's pretty good from what little I've read of opinions about it on the internet. I'll probably be posting a more thorough opinion piece about it later on in the day.

EDIT: Just watched it. For now all I will say is that the song that Sigma linked basically spoils the ending for the episode, so although the ending is fairly obvious if you care about that sort of thing I would highly recommend NOT watching it until you see the episode. For what its worth the Polish version with English subtitles that is uploaded on EQD uses the same edited version that Sigma linked in his post.

Chained Prometheus · May 14, 2017

ShinySylvee said:
So first up we got the new (Canadian) episode Honest Apple. We have another new writer, Kevin Lappin, who is certainly the most unusual new writer we've gotten this season. His previous work are as Script Coordinator on The Exes, Production staff on Gary Unmarried, and most recently as a writer on Mike & Molly. So yeah, this is only his second show he's written for and his first one that isn't live-action. Watching through the episode I was getting some sitcom vibes from it but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The episode has a chill and laid-back feel somewhat similar to episodes like Castle Mane-ia, Pinkie Apple Pie, and Saddle Row Review, and I really like those episodes. Nothing earth shattering here, no major emotional scenes. But I had a lot of fun with it, and that's all I can really ask. For the most part I thought the characterization made sense and worked well. I liked all the continuity nods that it had which is pretty impressive for someone that just started writing for the show. Lappin definitely knows the show, which is promising. There's a couple minor issues with it but they didn't bother me all that much. Overall I had a fun time with it and it's definitely one of my more liked episodes this season.

A lot of people appear to be taking issue with AJ even being a judge in the first place but I feel like the episode explains it well so it was never an issue for me. AJ has a completely different perspective when it comes to clothing and it's one that was shown in the episode to be one that was often lost by the fashionistas. Cool looking clothing is nice, but it also needs to be something that you can actually wear, and disco ball clothing isn't really something that anyone would actually use. I do feel like the episode itself could have shown off why this perspective was needed better by having some payoff of her improving the clothing designs by making them more usable after realizing her mistake and being more constructive with her criticism. Also while it was nice seeing Photo Finish and Hoity Toity I wish they had more of a role in the episode besides essentially being there to react to what AJ is saying.

Secondly the first EQG special Dance Magic was released today in Poland. (Sigma posted while I was typing this lol) There's upload with the episode fully subtitled in English as well. I won't link them myself because I'm not sure if I really should be linking full episodes (I'm pretty sure not lol) but I will say you can easily find it on Equestria Daily. The episode itself is written by G.M. Berrow and apparently it's pretty good from what little I've read of opinions about it on the internet. I'll probably be posting a more thorough opinion piece about it later on in the day.

EDIT: Just watched it. For now all I will say is that the song that Sigma linked basically spoils the ending for the episode, so although the ending is fairly obvious if you care about that sort of thing I would highly recommend NOT watching it until you see the episode. For what its worth the Polish version with English subtitles that is uploaded on EQD uses the same edited version that Sigma linked in his post.

Actually, I have a feeling that version of the song at the end of the EQG short is a new one and that the short just happens to have the song in English.

There's some added lyrics in reference to the Crystal Prep girls, which I'm pretty sure weren't there in the OG version of the song from the Friendship Games OST. Plus the short "intro song" used to introduce the short is in English too.

ShinySylvee · May 14, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
Actually, I have a feeling that version of the song at the end of the EQG short is a new one and that the short just happens to have the song in English.

There's some added lyrics in reference to the Crystal Prep girls, which I'm pretty sure weren't there in the OG version of the song from the Friendship Games OST. Plus the short "intro song" used to introduce the short is in English too.

The other uploads of the episode I found that didn't have English subs had the song in Polish. The only English part of the episode appears to be them saying "Equestria Girls" during the title sequence for some reason. Also

the original version did have all the references to the Crystal Prep girls surprisingly. It appears that the whole episode was built around making this song make sense in context.

Here's the original English version. I couldn't find a Polish version of the Friendship Games soundtrack but I imagine that their version of Dance Magic probably sounds exactly the same as the one used in the unedited Polish version of the episode.

Chained Prometheus · May 15, 2017

ShinySylvee said:
The other uploads of the episode I found that didn't have English subs had the song in Polish. The only English part of the episode appears to be them saying "Equestria Girls" during the title sequence for some reason. Also

the original version did have all the references to the Crystal Prep girls surprisingly. It appears that the whole episode was built around making this song make sense in context.

Here's the original English version. I couldn't find a Polish version of the Friendship Games soundtrack but I imagine that their version of Dance Magic probably sounds exactly the same as the one used in the unedited Polish version of the episode.

Huh.

Welp, guess I'm totally wrong on that then! My bad!

UberTag · May 15, 2017

Dance Magic

This was a lot of fun... and while it boasted a single core premise and dilemma, it brought with it nuance and logical progression to reach the resolution of both schools collaborating to work together. It was a refreshing change of pace from many of this season's Friendship is Magic episodes which have hung their hat on a single character acting dense until the inevitable outcome where they realize they're in the wrong. I especially enjoyed the wardrobe changes as Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie suggested their alternate outlandish music video concepts.

Sugarcoat - just like in the Friendship Games movie - was a standout. I appreciate her bluntness. It's a tropey character no doubt but one that doesn't really exist in Friendship is Magic outside of when Applejack is being a pill as she was in Honest Apple - and AJ almost always comes off insufferable when she does this. Whereas Sugarcoat's bluntness comes off as endearing. Plus, I love the irony of a character named Sugarcoat who does the polar opposite of sugarcoating the truth. We need a non-Dougverse equivalent for her.

I have to wonder if the simultaneous focus on both the movie and the Equestria Girls shorts is the predominant reason why we've seen so little music in Season 7 thus far. It's been rather sparse outside of the montage number in All Bottled Up.

ShinySylvee · May 15, 2017

Alright, there's a lot I want to mention and hopefully I'll remember to talk about everything. I had speculated earlier that the 3 EQG episodes that they're releasing this year were a test-drive for a fully fledged spin-off series and watching Dance Magic all but confirms it. There's an opening theme (only like 15 seconds long though) and even an episode-specific title card after it. The episode itself is a standard Slice-of-Life story that the show itself is known for. I was previously worried that the episode might struggle to be interesting as in the movies the Mane 7 minus Sunset were often portrayed as being less interesting versions of their pony counterparts and was skeptical that they could keep things fresh given that the mainline show itself seems to be slightly moving away from the mane 6. I'll get into specifics later but one thing I will say is that pretty much all my previous grievances with the setup have been quashed and that this episode really sold me on the concept.

Gillian M. Berrow (Writer of many of the MLP novels, The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows, and Fluttershy Leans In) was the writer of this episode. Before Season 7 I hyped her hardcore as being a terrific writer and was legitimately excited to see what she would come up with in Season 7, which put me in an awkward position as she then proceeded to write what I consider to be the least interesting episode of the season so far. I will say that I feel totally vindicated now as this episode really allows her to play to her strengths as a writer in a scenario where the audience can actually get invested in the conflict. Berrow might just be the best writer when it comes to characterization that the show has ever had. All too often in episodes that feature the full mane 6 (or 7 in this case) you see the characters boiled down to their basic traits: Rarity likes fashion, Rainbow says "awesome" a lot, Pinkie is random. In this episode everyone still feels like themselves but for the most part they have a lot more depth then just those surface-level traits. Rainbow is shown frequently here to be a bit more reckless and confident in the group's abilities. SciTwi often offers a more logical perspective on things but still is fairly unsure of herself. With the slight exception of Fluttershy (Expected since she's usually a fairly passive character) and Sunset I feel like all of the main cast had a couple of good interactions.

This is where I'll start talking about actual specifics of the episode, so I'll go ahead and spoiler it since I imagine most of you haven't seen it.

However the character that definitely comes off the best is Rarity, who pretty much solo carries the whole episode. It's a full-on Rarity episode, and dare I say might be my favorite one ever. She shows off all of her personality quirks in this episode. She's obsessed with fashion, she has a dedicated vision and strives to achieve it, she's melodramatic, but most of all she's extremely passionate and creative. One emotion that we don't often see from her is anger, and it's used to great effect here. It's established that a lot is riding on her being able to put together a music video that wins their competition, and when things start not going well she gets upset, but not in a self-destructive way. She tries to reassure the group that they can figure out the dance moves even though none are making any real progress, she calls out the Shadowbolts for stealing their dance routine, and she gets frustrated when the group's brainstorming session for a new video idea ends up with nothing usable. She might occasionally need some consoling but she never backs down from a challenge and it's this tenacious attitude towards achieving her goals that makes me love her as a character so much.

However she's not the only person that I enjoyed greatly in this episode. Berrow has succeeded in making me very invested in several characters that I previously had little interest in before. Most surprisingly is the Shadowbolts, sans Indigo Zap who I can only assume has been written out of the show since she is not mentioned once despite being voiced by Kelly Sheridan who normally voices Starlight Glimmer who is appearing in the 3rd EQG episode so it's clearly not a "we couldn't get the VA" deal. I actually support the decision as I felt like there were too many of them anyway and they were too transparently "bad foils of the mane 6" and I think that allowing them to exist as their own thing will only be beneficial. And Indigo Zap I feel was too similar to Rainbow to the point where I feel like it would have been a struggle to differentiate the two. Sunny Flare (The one that I think was supposed to be the Rarity parallel) still has almost no personality but the other 3 were vastly improved for me. Lemon Zest (The one with the headphones) didn't have too many lines but she at least seems a bit more innocent then the rest of them and just seems to be looking to have a good time. Sour Sweet (The insincere one) was presented as the leader and seeing her going from pretending to like talking to Rarity to legitimately talking to her as a friend by the end was a nice development. And Sugarcoat (The blunt one) definitely came off the best. All of her lines were very funny. If they do end up following through and making EQG a full show then I hope to see more from these characters as I think the ground work is set for them to be pretty enjoyable and I think having episodes that take place at Crystal Prep could be interesting.

The last big character that I was sold in in this episode was SciTwi. In this show she isn't juggling being the leader of the group and one of the rulers of the world and so she's free to be the adorkable geek that we love 100% of the time. I loved this dialogue she had with Rarity when they went to Crystal Prep to yell at the Shadowbolts for stealing their idea:

Rarity: "Okay, where's the Ballroom?"
Twilight: "They have a Ballroom?"
Rarity: "You were in that school!"
Twilight: "I can show you a Library..."

Characters aside the progression through the plot was great. Everyone's motivations were believable, no one is acting stupid to progress the plot forward, and the resolution made logical sense and didn't feel contrived at all. The payoff of the music video at the end was awesome too. And can I just say how beautiful this episode was? All the costumes that the different characters wore looked great. (I especially loved the Daring Do ones that they wore) Rarity's room looked amazing. And Twilight fluffing up her wings when she says "DJ give me more" is the most adorable thing ever. I didn't think it was possible but DHX and Top Draw have once again completely outdone themselves in terms of visuals. I can't wait to see what the movie ends up looking like.

All in all 10/10 Rarity is best human.

Chained Prometheus · May 15, 2017

ShinySylvee said:
Alright, there's a lot I want to mention and hopefully I'll remember to talk about everything. I had speculated earlier that the 3 EQG episodes that they're releasing this year were a test-drive for a fully fledged spin-off series and watching Dance Magic all but confirms it. There's an opening theme (only like 15 seconds long though) and even an episode-specific title card after it. The episode itself is a standard Slice-of-Life story that the show itself is known for. I was previously worried that the episode might struggle to be interesting as in the movies the Mane 7 minus Sunset were often portrayed as being less interesting versions of their pony counterparts and was skeptical that they could keep things fresh given that the mainline show itself seems to be slightly moving away from the mane 6. I'll get into specifics later but one thing I will say is that pretty much all my previous grievances with the setup have been quashed and that this episode really sold me on the concept.

Gillian M. Berrow (Writer of many of the MLP novels, The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows, and Fluttershy Leans In) was the writer of this episode. Before Season 7 I hyped her hardcore as being a terrific writer and was legitimately excited to see what she would come up with in Season 7, which put me in an awkward position as she then proceeded to write what I consider to be the least interesting episode of the season so far. I will say that I feel totally vindicated now as this episode really allows her to play to her strengths as a writer in a scenario where the audience can actually get invested in the conflict. Berrow might just be the best writer when it comes to characterization that the show has ever had. All too often in episodes that feature the full mane 6 (or 7 in this case) you see the characters boiled down to their basic traits: Rarity likes fashion, Rainbow says "awesome" a lot, Pinkie is random. In this episode everyone still feels like themselves but for the most part they have a lot more depth then just those surface-level traits. Rainbow is shown frequently here to be a bit more reckless and confident in the group's abilities. SciTwi often offers a more logical perspective on things but still is fairly unsure of herself. With the slight exception of Fluttershy (Expected since she's usually a fairly passive character) and Sunset I feel like all of the main cast had a couple of good interactions.

This is where I'll start talking about actual specifics of the episode, so I'll go ahead and spoiler it since I imagine most of you haven't seen it.

However the character that definitely comes off the best is Rarity, who pretty much solo carries the whole episode. It's a full-on Rarity episode, and dare I say might be my favorite one ever. She shows off all of her personality quirks in this episode. She's obsessed with fashion, she has a dedicated vision and strives to achieve it, she's melodramatic, but most of all she's extremely passionate and creative. One emotion that we don't often see from her is anger, and it's used to great effect here. It's established that a lot is riding on her being able to put together a music video that wins their competition, and when things start not going well she gets upset, but not in a self-destructive way. She tries to reassure the group that they can figure out the dance moves even though none are making any real progress, she calls out the Shadowbolts for stealing their dance routine, and she gets frustrated when the group's brainstorming session for a new video idea ends up with nothing usable. She might occasionally need some consoling but she never backs down from a challenge and it's this tenacious attitude towards achieving her goals that makes me love her as a character so much.

However she's not the only person that I enjoyed greatly in this episode. Berrow has succeeded in making me very invested in several characters that I previously had little interest in before. Most surprisingly is the Shadowbolts, sans Indigo Zap who I can only assume has been written out of the show since she is not mentioned once despite being voiced by Kelly Sheridan who normally voices Starlight Glimmer who is appearing in the 3rd EQG episode so it's clearly not a "we couldn't get the VA" deal. I actually support the decision as I felt like there were too many of them anyway and they were too transparently "bad foils of the mane 6" and I think that allowing them to exist as their own thing will only be beneficial. And Indigo Zap I feel was too similar to Rainbow to the point where I feel like it would have been a struggle to differentiate the two. Sunny Flare (The one that I think was supposed to be the Rarity parallel) still has almost no personality but the other 3 were vastly improved for me. Lemon Zest (The one with the headphones) didn't have too many lines but she at least seems a bit more innocent then the rest of them and just seems to be looking to have a good time. Sour Sweet (The insincere one) was presented as the leader and seeing her going from pretending to like talking to Rarity to legitimately talking to her as a friend by the end was a nice development. And Sugarcoat (The blunt one) definitely came off the best. All of her lines were very funny. If they do end up following through and making EQG a full show then I hope to see more from these characters as I think the ground work is set for them to be pretty enjoyable and I think having episodes that take place at Crystal Prep could be interesting.

The last big character that I was sold in in this episode was SciTwi. In this show she isn't juggling being the leader of the group and one of the rulers of the world and so she's free to be the adorkable geek that we love 100% of the time. I loved this dialogue she had with Rarity when they went to Crystal Prep to yell at the Shadowbolts for stealing their idea:

Rarity: "Okay, where's the Ballroom?"
Twilight: "They have a Ballroom?"
Rarity: "You were in that school!"
Twilight: "I can show you a Library..."

Characters aside the progression through the plot was great. Everyone's motivations were believable, no one is acting stupid to progress the plot forward, and the resolution made logical sense and didn't feel contrived at all. The payoff of the music video at the end was awesome too. And can I just say how beautiful this episode was? All the costumes that the different characters wore looked great. (I especially loved the Daring Do ones that they wore) Rarity's room looked amazing. And Twilight fluffing up her wings when she says "DJ give me more" is the most adorable thing ever. I didn't think it was possible but DHX and Top Draw have once again completely outdone themselves in terms of visuals. I can't wait to see what the movie ends up looking like.

All in all 10/10 Rarity is best human.

Yeah, I agree that Dance Magic feels like a test drive from Hasbro on making EQG an outright spinoff tv-show. Might be that the game plan is to have FiM start focusing more and more on Starlight and a group of her friends (i.e. Trixie, Maud, Sugar Belle (?), etc), while keeping the Mane 6 more present in audience minds via their HuMane counterparts with a EQG show and also finally throw a bone to the Sunset Shimmer fans by giving them a full-on show for her to be present in throughout the year, rather than just appearing once a year with a movie.

Also, I really dug the animation style change they did with Pinkie Pie's music video pitch. Reminded me a lot of the animation style they used in "Maud Pie" when Pinkie first told the others about growing up with Maud.

SigmasonicX · May 15, 2017

Given what you guys have said, it does seem likely that they're experimenting with a TV series for Equestria Girls, but I highly doubt they are also going to move away from the Main Six in the main show, especially by focusing more on Starlight and her friends. The focus on Starlight making friends feels more like a method to build a Simpsons style supporting cast, not to replace the existing one.

UberTag, concerning the idea that the songs in the Equestria Girls specials contribute to the lack of songs in season 7 (yes, I read a spoiler block, since I'm not worried about being spoiled about EQG), I doubt this special contributed to that, at least for the song itself. It was already made years ago, since it was on the Friendship Games soundtrack. They obviously did have to make new animation for the song, though, so I'm not sure how that influenced things. In any case, the low number of songs in season 7 is almost surely because there are a large number of songs in the movie.

Also, added a warning to my song link that it spoils the end of the special.

Anyway, episode followup.

Looking at the fan content for "Forever Filly", there is once again less than you'd expect given the fact that it's been available for a week, and unlike "Fluttershy Leans In", there is a lot to draw. It's hard to say for sure that there is less art overall than there would be if there weren't episodes airing early, but it seems like it to me.

PREVIOUS EPISODES
Still one more "Rock Solid Friendship" comic.
Another Friend

Gina Giraffe
Long tongue
Duck Duck Rabbit
Pinkie Giraffe

Pointy Ponies - Fluttershy Leans In

"Fluttershy Leans In" comics
Vet Got Your Tongue
Welcome Home
Discord Tries to Help

NOTES
There are a few size comparisons that have popped up. It's hard to say for sure if the Sweetie Belle size comparisons actually mean anything, but the dog has definitely gotten bigger.
Sweetie comparison 1
Sweetie comparison 2

Puppo

Also, Sweetie Belle mentioned being interested in experimental black box theater. That's actually a thing. It refers to plays performed with little to no props on a black stage. This has the benefit of being very cheap and having few requirements for the venue, making it popular for college productions. The Wikipedia article doesn't mention experimental theater, but it seems like the perfect conduit for it, especially with the article's mention of how the black set allows for a sense of "anyplace", allowing flexibility in the setting.

SCREENCAPS
Cameo from Fancypants, Fleur-de-lis, Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Moonlight Raven
Messy Canterlot Boutique
Rarity's dress design
The nostalgic picture - Note that you can just barely see Sweetie's cutie mark. While it isn't too strange that Rarity would be nostalgic of a picture this recent, it does diminish the meaning a bit. However, I get the feeling that we weren't actually meant to see the cutie mark, given how much the rope covers it up and that we don't see it in any of the other old pictures. Perhaps it was a rendering error, and the intention was that Sweetie didn't have her cutie mark in the picture.
Sledding
Other old pictures
Mountain that magically appeared in Ponyville
Someone add a Jojo's Bizzare Adventure "To be continued" to this - I also like ED's comment that this was almost Chipcutter's tombstone.
CMC statue
Wall of clients
Puppet show crowd - It's the same guy from "Inspiration Manifestation", using the same stand that Rarity made for him. Given that Twilight had to manually change back everything the IM spell made, perhaps she just missed this. Also, if Rarity and Sweetie used to go to his shows all the time, that explains why Rarity got so upset when he didn't like her first stand she made for him.
Ice cream parlor - Note the delicious looking chandelier.

And screw it, just embedding all of these.
Shepard and lamb
Chicken and egg
Butterfly and caterpillar - Yes, those are the same wings from "Sonic Rainboom".
Frog and tadpole
Flower and sprout

YouTube captions.
I can see Sassy saying this
Phrasing, Sweetie Belle
Rarity, not in front of Sweetie
Episode summary

GIFS
Getting an afro
Reversed GIF - Sweetie slamming the door on Zippoorwhill
Petting Sweetie Belle
Sitting on stools
Petting Scootaloo (embedded)
Endless posing
Top 10 Saddest Anime Rejections (embedded)
Flower Rarity up to no good
Rarity licking the sundae - I'll avoid jokes about this.

FAN CONTENT
Cater Belle
Sweetie Belle Sheep - Made a week ago.
Sweetie and Arizona (Them's Fightin' Herds)
Sisters

Dog Show - Made a week ago.
Butterfly Rarity
Dia de Hermanas foto - Made a week ago.
Budding Flower

Comics/image with a lot of text
FlowerStalk
Crisis
Cats in the Cradle - Made a week ago.

I expect much more to come as the week goes on. Some big artists that make an image for every episode, like Assasinmonkey and Luminaura, haven't made any yet, for instance.

Fat4all · May 15, 2017

AAAAAAAAGING

When's the first on-screen death, season 11?

UberTag · May 15, 2017

UberTag said:
Honest Apple

I had no idea having Rarity thrash metal on a guitar was something I needed in my life.
She's just chock full of hidden talents.

Chained Prometheus said:
Yuuuuuup. Best part of the episode by far for me. lmao

I'd definitely be game to see Rarity metal things up again down the line, be it in MLP or in EQG.

Incidentally, this wasn't the first time we've seen Rarity instantly take to an instrument bestowed upon her by Pinkie Pie and thrash. This was somewhat of a callback to Rainbow Rocks.

PaulloDEC · May 15, 2017

Honest Apple

Premise didn't work for me. I just can't see Rarity being foolish enough to choose Applejack to judge a fashion contest. And to be clear, that's what it is; fashion, not clothing. Clothing needs to be practical, but fashion is as much art as it is anything else. Practicality really doesn't enter into it, and Rarity would've known that. On top of that she knows Applejack, and nobody should've been shocked when AJ delivered exactly what was asked of her.

The lesson AJ learns about tact is a good one, but you don't hire someone for their practicality and honesty and then bitch later that they were too practical and honest.

Rarity on guitar was a strange choice too. Actually, the whole running gag with Pinkie and the guitar was. Funny at times, though.

SigmasonicX · May 15, 2017

UberTag, you should know that even if you put images under spoiler bars, they're visible on mobile. Instead use links labeled "Image 1" and such, since links are also visible under spoiler bars.

UberTag · May 15, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
UberTag, you should know that even if you put images under spoiler bars, they're visible on mobile. Instead use links labeled "Image 1" and such, since links are also visible under spoiler bars.

Silly mobile site. Able to spoil text but not images.

DrForester · May 15, 2017

You know why we should all be following the Canadian schedule? It allows jokes like this...

You know the real reason Rarity had Applejack judge the fashion show?

It was mothers day and she knew AJ would be free.

Chained Prometheus · May 15, 2017

DrForester said:
You know why we should all be following the Canadian schedule? It allows jokes like this...

You know the real reason Rarity had Applejack judge the fashion show?

It was mothers day and she knew AJ would be free.

You monster!!!

In all seriousness, aren't we getting an episode about AJ's parents sometime this season? I can't remember for sure.

DemWalls · May 15, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
You monster!!!

In all seriousness, aren't we getting an episode about AJ's parents sometime this season? I can't remember for sure.

Yes, and it shouldn't even take that long, if the Canadian schedule keeps up. I expect it to be the musical episode of the season.

Chained Prometheus · May 15, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
Given what you guys have said, it does seem likely that they're experimenting with a TV series for Equestria Girls, but I highly doubt they are also going to move away from the Main Six in the main show, especially by focusing more on Starlight and her friends. The focus on Starlight making friends feels more like a method to build a Simpsons style supporting cast, not to replace the existing one.

Eh, it's just the vibe I'm getting. I don't think that the Mane 6 will get ousted entirely, but I can definitely see Hasbro potentially making a transition from them being the central focus to being important secondary characters over a period of the next season or two. Especially if they are actually aiming for a full-on EQG tv series to happen too.

DemWalls said:
Yes, and it shouldn't even take that long, if the Canadian schedule keeps up. I expect it to be the musical episode of the season.

Huh. That seems like an odd episode to be the musical episode of the season to me. I could maybe see a song or two, but full-on musical seems a bit much to me. But I could definitely be wrong on that.

SigmasonicX · May 15, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
Eh, it's just the vibe I'm getting. I don't think that the Mane 6 will get ousted entirely, but I can definitely see Hasbro potentially making a transition from them being the central focus to being important secondary characters over a period of the next season or two. Especially if they are actually aiming for a full-on EQG tv series to happen too.

From a marketing perspective, it doesn't make sense to move away from Main Six ponies. The toys still place them first and foremost, and let's not forget that they are the focus of the movie. It's more likely that a potential EQG series will be the one to focus more on other characters and leave the Humane Five as important side characters, which is precisely what the movies have been doing. An EQG series would place more focus on the characters unique to it: Sunset, SciTwi, the Shadowbolts, etc.

Huh. That seems like an odd episode to be the musical episode of the season to me. I could maybe see a song or two, but full-on musical seems a bit much to me. But I could definitely be wrong on that.

Assuming you guys are talking about "The Perfect Pear", we know for a fact that there is at least one song, which was previewed at a convention. We also know there are five songs total in the season, and one has already appeared. Previous musical episodes have had at least five songs, including reprises, so using up four songs in that episode would be odd. I don't think they'll use up all four remaining songs, but I imagine it will use more than one. It also depends on how they count reprises.

DemWalls · May 15, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
Huh. That seems like an odd episode to be the musical episode of the season to me. I could maybe see a song or two, but full-on musical seems a bit much to me. But I could definitely be wrong on that.

I thought that simply because I remember reading that the episode will be a Romeo & Juliet kind of story, which lends itself well to a musical (how many have there been?), and musical episodes have been a tradition since season 3. However, I was completely oblivious to what Sigma said above, so I guess there won't be that kind of episode this season.

Infinite Justice · May 15, 2017

Yea i doubt they are gonna replace the Mane 6 anytime soon or Equestira girls having any reason to affect the series on a whole but hey.

This Equestria girls push seems more like getting it to be an actual series since they have those fans and i guess Hasbro feels like its now worth a shot.

I thought Legend of EverFree initially gave off that "series" vibe until it was confirmed to be another movie so maybe it was a plan they had already.

Finally i'm all in for a Equestria Girls series as that would mean more Sunset and Alternate Twilight.

Chained Prometheus · May 15, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
From a marketing perspective, it doesn't make sense to move away from Main Six ponies. The toys still place them first and foremost, and let's not forget that they are the focus of the movie. It's more likely that a potential EQG series will be the one to focus more on other characters and leave the Humane Five as important side characters, which is precisely what the movies have been doing. An EQG series would place more focus on the characters unique to it: Sunset, SciTwi, the Shadowbolts, etc.

That's exactly why I think the Mane 6 are gonna get a shift in focus from FiM to EQG. The timing of the movie, the content of certain episodes so far in S6/7 and the whole vibe of these EQG specials feeling like a test drive for a full-on show just seems to point in that direction to me.

Think about it- what's really left for the Mane 6 to do as primary character arcs at this point? Rainbow's a Wonderbolt now, Rarity's a top boutique owner with stores in several cities, Fluttershy's become far more confident in herself, Twilight's a Princess. There's some stuff that could be done with AJ and Pinkie, I guess, but how much gas is left in the tank for them creatively in contrast to their HuMane counterparts, who are less developed as characters right now?

Again, I'm not saying they're all just going to up and vanish. I think they'll still be quite present. But I think it makes sense if Hasbro is trying to give the Mane 6 one last big Hurrah with the movie and then we'll see them start to play somewhat smaller roles in the show than before.

As for focusing on the EQG special characters like Sunset, SciTwi and the Shadowbolts, without giving away any serious spoilers, I think Dance Magic is a good glimpse at how that would work in coordination with giving a HuMane 5 character central focus.

Assuming you guys are talking about "The Perfect Pear", we know for a fact that there is at least one song, which was previewed at a convention. We also know there are five songs total in the season, and one has already appeared. Previous musical episodes have had at least five songs, including reprises, so using up four songs in that episode would be odd. I don't think they'll use up all four remaining songs, but I imagine it will use more than one. It also depends on how they count reprises.

Ah, cool!

SigmasonicX · May 15, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
That's exactly why I think the Mane 6 are gonna get a shift in focus from FiM to EQG. The timing of the movie, the content of certain episodes so far in S6/7 and the whole vibe of these EQG specials feeling like a test drive for a full-on show just seems to point in that direction to me.

Think about it- what's really left for the Mane 6 to do as primary character arcs at this point? Rainbow's a Wonderbolt now, Rarity's a top boutique owner with stores in several cities, Fluttershy's become far more confident in herself, Twilight's a Princess. There's some stuff that could be done with AJ and Pinkie, I guess, but how much gas is left in the tank for them creatively in contrast to their HuMane counterparts, who are less developed as characters right now?

Again, I'm not saying they're all just going to up and vanish. I think they'll still be quite present. But I think it makes sense if Hasbro is trying to give the Mane 6 one last big Hurrah with the movie and then we'll see them start to play somewhat smaller roles in the show than before.

As for focusing on the EQG special characters like Sunset, SciTwi and the Shadowbolts, without giving away any serious spoilers, I think Dance Magic is a good glimpse at how that would work in coordination with giving a HuMane 5 character central focus.

The idea of giving so much focus to the Main Six in the movies just to diminish their role in the show significantly doesn't make sense. To be cynical, the primary purpose of the movie is to make children and parents more familiar with the characters so they can then buy toys and merchandise with them. And the logical thing to do with the main show would be to further emphasize the Main Six, using them to tell viewers about other fun characters they can get toys of.

It would be strange for them to go, "You want more Pinkie Pie? Go watch Equestria Girls, where the characters don't look like they do in the movie! The pony show is about Starlight Glimmer and Trixie, who are barely in the movie."

I feel like the assumption that the movie is meant to send off the Main Six is largely based on the original Transformers animated movie, which killed off Optimus and many others. However, the purpose of doing that was to instead focus on the new characters introduced in the movie, which really doesn't seem like the case in the MLP movie. Plus, I believe Hasbro considers that to have been a mistake. They made sure Duke survived in the animated GI Joe movie, and they haven't tried to push new characters like that since. The closest thing is the second live action GI Joe movie, which did kill off a ton of characters at the start, but no one was particularly attached to those characters in the first, and they kept the ones people liked.

They are going to deemphasize the Main Six in the show if and only if they start losing popularity, and thus value as marketable leads. Equestria Girls is one step removed from all this, and will thus be an easier place to experiment with the main cast.

A big problem with an Equestria Girls series is still simply coming up with stories that don't repeat what the main show has already done--after Fluttershy has finally definitively developed past being a doormat, do you really want to see that again in Dougworld? An EQG series is what would benefit more from focusing on other characters, and Humane Five stories in that series would then be defined more by having them interact with the unique characters. Rarity getting everyone ready for a dance competition? Could be done in the main show, and it would be conceptually similar to "Rarity Takes Manehattan" or "Suited For Success", depending on how it goes. She has to compete with the Shadowbolts? Could only be done in Equestria Girls.

Jawmuncher · May 15, 2017

I hope closer to October they start pumping up the advertising for the movie.

Infinite Justice · May 16, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
The idea of giving so much focus to the Main Six in the movies just to diminish their role in the show significantly doesn't make sense. To be cynical, the primary purpose of the movie is to make children and parents more familiar with the characters so they can then buy toys and merchandise with them. And the logical thing to do with the main show would be to further emphasize the Main Six, using them to tell viewers about other fun characters they can get toys of.

It would be strange for them to go, "You want more Pinkie Pie? Go watch Equestria Girls, where the characters don't look like they do in the movie! The pony show is about Starlight Glimmer and Trixie, who are barely in the movie."

I feel like the assumption that the movie is meant to send off the Main Six is largely based on the original Transformers animated movie, which killed off Optimus and many others. However, the purpose of doing that was to instead focus on the new characters introduced in the movie, which really doesn't seem like the case in the MLP movie. Plus, I believe Hasbro considers that to have been a mistake. They made sure Duke survived in the animated GI Joe movie, and they haven't tried to push new characters like that since. The closest thing is the second live action GI Joe movie, which did kill off a ton of characters at the start, but no one was particularly attached to those characters in the first, and they kept the ones people liked.

They are going to deemphasize the Main Six in the show if and only if they start losing popularity, and thus value as marketable leads. Equestria Girls is one step removed from all this, and will thus be an easier place to experiment with the main cast.

A big problem with an Equestria Girls series is still simply coming up with stories that don't repeat what the main show has already done--after Fluttershy has finally definitively developed past being a doormat, do you really want to see that again in Dougworld? An EQG series is what would benefit more from focusing on other characters, and Humane Five stories in that series would then be defined more by having them interact with the unique characters. Rarity getting everyone ready for a dance competition? Could be done in the main show, and it would be conceptually similar to "Rarity Takes Manehattan" or "Suited For Success", depending on how it goes. She has to compete with the Shadowbolts? Could only be done in Equestria Girls.

I agree with all of this and can't see Hasbro thinking something like that would be ok (and i'm a Equestria girls fan) but hey i've seen dumber stunts

Also Optimus eventually came back from the dead some months after due to the negative reception and iirc Duke surviving in the GI Joe movie was a late adjustment because of the negative backlash the Transformer's movie received .

SigmasonicX · May 17, 2017

Infinite Justice said:
I agree with all of this and can't see Hasbro thinking something like that would be ok (and i'm a Equestria girls fan) but hey i've seen dumber stunts

Also Optimus eventually came back from the dead some months after due to the negative reception and iirc Duke surviving in the GI Joe movie was a late adjustment because of the negative backlash the Transformer's movie received .

I actually was meaning to mention that in my post, but I got distracted from that when I remembered that the second live action GI Joe did kill off a bunch of characters and wrote to address that, haha.

MLP reference in Injustice 2 when Mr. Freeze fights Harley Quinn. Video link, at 5m08s.
Harley: Can you make me a pony?
Mr. Freeze: It will make the twilight sparkle.
Harley: Ha ha ha ha, I was hoping you'd say that!

Astonishingly, more G1 style pony toys are coming out. Perhaps they are going to re-release the original movie to tie into the new one?

And a new episode synopsis.
16. Campfire Tales - Canadian airdate - June 10, 2017
When their sister camping trip is ruined by Fly-ders, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash tell Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo the stories of their favorite legends; inspired by the tales, the girls make the most out of their new situation.

Fly-ders? Equestria is officially hell now.

It looks like this story may be the source of some Legends of Magic characters, such as Rockhoof.

Rhomega Beta · May 17, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
Fly-ders? Equestria is officially hell now.

It's already been hell when Ponyville and Canterlot are invaded every so while by creatures that could very well end civilization. I honestly wonder how the ponies of Canterlot sleep at night considering Discord, Changelings, Tirek, and soon the Storm King.

Ogodei · May 17, 2017

Feel like it's taken half a decade for them to even start talking about making Equestria Girls as a separate series. In 2012 when they cut season 3 in half so that they could make the first spinoff movie, it felt like the spinoff series was imminent.

ShinySylvee · May 17, 2017

Ogodei said:
Feel like it's taken half a decade for them to even start talking about making Equestria Girls as a separate series. In 2012 when they cut season 3 in half so that they could make the first spinoff movie, it felt like the spinoff series was imminent.

I was under the impression that the reason why Season 3 was only half as big was because you need 65 episodes of a show to be able to syndicate it to other networks and a 13 episode season would have brought it up to 65. Could be wrong though.

Moving on, there's some new info about upcoming episodes released. At this point there's only 4 episodes we don't have much info on. Daring Don't and episodes 24-26.

"A Health of Information": When helping Fluttershy gather supplies, Zecora comes down with a terrible disease called Swamp Fever; even though a cure has not been discovered, Fluttershy makes it her mission to heal Zecora no matter what it takes. (It's nice seeing Zecora in a situation where she's not just showing up to explain the plot, although the synopsis sounds like A Bird in the Hoof 2 which isn't super exciting to me)

"To Change a Changeling": Starlight Glimmer and Trixie try to get Thorax's brother Pharynx to accept the new way by sharing love and transforming so he doesn't undermine Thorax's leadership, and that the hive will ultimately accept him. (Another Starlight Trixie episode? Not complaining too much but it would be nice to see them interact with other characters too. Also as expected it wasn't a Chrysalis episode)

"It Isn't the Mane Thing About You": When Rarity's shampoo is accidentally switched with Zecora's magical remover potion, she does everything she can to fix her devastated mane in time for an upcoming photo shoot. (I'm willing to bet money this will be a Kevin Lappin or one of the new Nickelodeon writer's episode. Definitely not a deep premise but with good writing it could be pretty funny)

"Once Upon a Zeppelin": Twilight is torn when she discovers the cruise she and her family are on is a themed vacation experience in which ponies have paid for the privilege of spending time with her, and she must please both her family and the cruise attendees. (Nice to see Twilight's family finally, but the premise of this episode weirds me out. Twilight is one of the last people that I feel would be down with the idea of people charging money for others to spend time with her)

"Marks and Recreation": Wanting to help as many blank flanks as possible, the CMCs start a Cutie Mark Day Camp, but are surprised when one of the their campers doesn't want a cutie mark. (Ehhhhhh I can already name like 5 things wrong with that premise)

"Secrets and Pies": When Pinkie Pie thinks she sees Rainbow Dash throw away one of her pies, she suspects the worst - that Rainbow Dash secretly hates her pies; Pinkie Pie attempts to catch Rainbow Dash in her web of lies. (Seems fun enough. Very reminiscent of Party of One and that was one of the best season 1 episodes)

Also I guess there's just not going to be map episodes this season?

SigmasonicX · May 17, 2017

Rhomega Beta said:
It's already been hell when Ponyville and Canterlot are invaded every so while by creatures that could very well end civilization. I honestly wonder how the ponies of Canterlot sleep at night considering Discord, Changelings, Tirek, and soon the Storm King.

Oh please, villains are nothing. Flying spiders are GAF's greatest fears realized.

Ogodei said:
Feel like it's taken half a decade for them to even start talking about making Equestria Girls as a separate series. In 2012 when they cut season 3 in half so that they could make the first spinoff movie, it felt like the spinoff series was imminent.

Though we still don't have the full story as to what was actually going on with season 3's production, I highly doubt the first Equestria Girls movie had much to do with the small episode count. It's more likely that they just wanted to reach 65 episodes and were planning on ending the series then, but then stuff happened.

We know for sure that when they had allotted only one episode for the season finale, they didn't think it was the end of the series, then when they proposed the entire Princess Twilight thing, they thought it was going to be the final episode. But then later, I believe after Larson's first draft that had Twilight solve a problem that Celestia couldn't, they learned it wouldn't be the final episode after all, and thus removed that aspect of the episode to save for a later time.

Given that timeline, it only makes sense that Equestria Girls was developed after all the behind the scenes drama with season 3. We also know the first movie was made on a very tight schedule, equivalent to that of three episodes, despite having to come up with new designs and settings. Besides, we've had EQG stuff every year now, despite full seasons.

So I doubt there's much of a connection between season 3 being short and the creation of Equestria Girls.

As for the rest of what you said, I remember when Equestria Girls was first revealed, that people thought for sure a TV series was coming, and people feared that the main show was ending to make room for it. Years later, and it's honestly really weird that they haven't just come out and made a series yet. There was nothing after Rainbow Rocks, then nothing after Friendship Games, and now just specials after Legend of Everfree. One would think these specials would lead into a show, but people at that convention where they were shown movie clips also claim they were told that a fifth Equestria Girls movie was coming. I personally still doubt that a 26-episode season could be made out of Equestria Girls without seriously brushing up against what was done in FiM or getting into really cliche high school stories, but I'd be down for more specials. I really think that makes more sense than having a big epic movie every year.

FAKE EDIT: I had this post open for a while. I'll respond to the episodes later.

Rhomega Beta · May 17, 2017

EDIT: Apologies. Missed it.

SigmasonicX · May 18, 2017

Rhomega, I'm guessing you saw my big post and assumed no one posted the episode descriptions since I wasn't talking about them?

Anyway, now to talk about the episode descriptions.

"A Health of Information" doesn't sound too interesting as a general premise, but Fluttershy and Zecora is something we haven't really seen outside of that one comic, and even that didn't actually have them share many scenes. Maybe I'll actually get to check off my "We learn more about Zecora" bingo space!

"To Change a Changeling" addresses a common point of discussion regarding the changelings change: what of the changelings who liked how they were before? It's interesting to see the show address that, though I'm surprised Spike apparently isn't involved. Out of the characters in "To Where and Back Again", I feel like the one who had the least interaction with the other characters was Thorax, so it's still nice that Starlight and Trixie will talk with him more. Plus, more Trixie! Given the way the episode is set up, I imagine they'll conclude that it's fine for Pharynx to stay the way he is.

"It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" sounds really weird for a full episode. There has to be more to it, unless it's another "Applejack's "Day" Off" style dragged out fare. Still, a second episode that involves Zecora!

"Once Upon a Zeppelin" sounds really interesting. We get more Twilight having to deal with being a princess, and we finally, finally, get an episode about her parents! Granted, I imagine we won't see as much of them as I would like, but it's something.

"Marks and Recreation" sounds eh. I have to imagine there's more to it than what the synopsis says, otherwise all sorts of questions pop up. Plus, it sounds conceptually similar to "To Change a Changeling".

"Secrets and Pies" also sounds really weird for a full episode. Not sure what to think of it.

It is interesting that nothing really screams out "map episode", but we wouldn't have been able to tell from "Spice Up Your Life"'s first synopsis, so who knows.

ShinySylvee · May 18, 2017

SigmasonicX said:
Rhomega, I'm guessing you saw my big post and assumed no one posted the episode descriptions since I wasn't talking about them?

Bro you didn't have to do him dirty like that

Anyway even more info on the 3 upcoming (and in one case already aired in another language) EQG specials coming out some time this year. It's very similar to a previous info dump on the episodes but there's a little bit more info, some of which massively changes the context of it:

Dance Magic: With the Camp Everfree fundraising deadline looming, the Equestria Girls realize they need a new plan to raise more money and are ready to try new things. Rarity finds out about a music video competition, with a huge cash prize, and shes eager to convince her friends at Canterlot High to enter the contest. However, the girls soon learn that Crystal Prep Academy is also interested in participating in the contest. The students at CPA have many more resources and are better dancers! The girls learn that sometimes coming together instead of competing is the best plan of all! (That last sentence is the big new thing here and coming from someone that has already watched it they should have left it out)

Movie Magic: The Equestria Girls have been specially invited by A.K. Yearling to go on the set of the upcoming Daring Do movie and they are overjoyed. For super-fan Rainbow Dash, watching behind the scenes as her favorite heroine comes to life is a dream come true. However, when a rare and important prop from the set goes missing, putting the movie on hold, Rainbow Dashs dream becomes a nightmare. The Equestria Girls take it upon themselves to track down the missing prop and end up trotting into a real-life Daring Do adventure!

So it sound's like a EQG version of Daring Don't where they find out that Daring Do is an actual adventurer and is writing stories based on her own adventures. Pretty simple concept but could work. Given how strong the visuals were in Dance Magic I'm looking forward to seeing all the cool Indiana-Jones style stuff they put in this episode.

Mirror Magic: As the pages in her journal run out, theres only one thing for Sunset Shimmer to do: return to Equestria as a pony to get a new journal! There, she meets new pony Starlight Glimmer and agrees to bring her back through the mirror portal to experience life as a human girl at Canterlot High. However, while Sunset Shimmer is away, a revenge‐seeking Juniper Montage finds a beautiful hand mirror enchanted with Equestrian magic. Not only can it provide a window into another land, but if you push the right button, It can also make things disappear into limbo, trapped between the two realms! Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer return to find the Mane 6 missing and Juniper Montage acting extremely suspicious. Will Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer save the girls, or are the Mane 6 lost in limbo for good?

Big bombshell here is that it looks like they're just going to be writing the Mane 6 out of the story entirely rather then pretending they're useful while Sunset/Starlight solve the problem. Although I'm sure that it feels like a massively missed opportunity (And I'm sure some will take issue with the Mane 6 getting completely sidelined) I do think narratively speaking it's kind of necessary for this kind of story to fit into a 22 minute episode. I said it before but I feel like this whole premise was far too ambitious for just 22 minutes and frankly could have easily been a two-parter or even another TV movie. So if you were hoping to see Sunset have a meaningful trip back to Equestria, or see Starlight have any significant interactions with any of the Humane 7 besides Sunset, or see Starlight really interact with the new world she's visiting in any significant way then I I think you're probably going to be disappointed. It's kind of a shame that such a cool episode concept doesn't really have the time dedicated to what I think it deserves. It also sort of begs the question of if they do end up making this into a full series will Starlight be a recurring character in this series as well as the mainline one? If she does end up making recurring appearances is she going to get her own bling that gives her superpowers? Are we going to see cross-over episodes where people from EQG show up in the mainline show.? (Like, say Sunset or SciTwi?) I just feel like a lot of people are going to have expectations going into this episode (Myself totally included there) and I hope that people will be able to enjoy it for what it is rather then what it could have been.

Rhomega Beta · May 18, 2017

ShinySylvee said:
Bro you didn't have to do him dirty like that

Well it's my responsibility to pay attention.

SigmasonicX · May 18, 2017

Rhomega Beta said:
Well it's my responsibility to pay attention.

Nah, it was more a comment about myself, since I had that post open for a while and didn't post it until after it was reasonable, which led to an unnatural flow in the discussion, haha.

Forever Filly CENSORED - Oh hey, that annoying intro is gone! This is shorter than the last one and doesn't include as many forced parts, so it works better.

And July comic solicitations!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #57
Thom Zahler (w & ric) Tony Fleecs (a & mc) Heather Breckel (c) Sara Richard (sc)

What happens when Pinkie Pie gets trapped in Discord's dimension? And will she ever want to leave?
* MLP zaniness at its finest!
* Ties into MLP Season 7!

My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #5
Jeremy Whitley (w) Brenda Hickey (a & mc) Heather Breckel (c) Zachery Sterling (sc) Mike Vasquez (ric)

Can the legendary Somnambula find a way to remove a curse on a giant snake before it eats an entire village? To do so, Somnambula will have to travel to the last place she will want to look the belly of the beast!
* An epic tale of heroism that reveals hidden secrets of Equestria!

My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel #3
Ted Anderson (w) Andy Price (a & mc) Heather Breckel (c) Tony Fleecs (sc) Kaori Matsuo (ric)

A mischievous new character is an expert at getting into troubleand making daring get-aways! Learn more about the enigmatic rouge who the Ponies' fate will depend on!
* If you're a MLP fan, you can't miss the upcoming movie and you can't miss this Prequel!
* Dont get left behind when My Little Pony: The Movie comes to theatres this October! Get a head start by reading the prequel comic that leads directly into the film!
* PLUSNEW CHARACTERS! Here for the first time!

It looks like FiM #57 ties into "Discordant Harmony", and it could be pretty good. In Legends of Magic #5, I like Somnambula's design, and the story seems fun. In Movie #3, it's probably about Capper. The Main Six art in the main cover seems familiar, where has it popped up before?

Ogodei · May 20, 2017

Parental Glideance (watched early because i actually have to do stuff today)

Brilliant. Good laughs and feels throughout, the show continues to be subtle about the hardships Scootaloo has had to overcome, similar to the subtle nods to Applejack's parents being dead. Great return to form after Forever Filly.

SigmasonicX · May 20, 2017

Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight: Better Half

Today's episodes are:

In the US
7. Parental Glideance
When Rainbow Dash's parents discover she's a Wonderbolt, they show up at every event to cheer her on. However, their unabashed enthusiasm proves to be rather embarrassing and pushes Rainbow Dash to the brink.

In Canada
10. A Royal Problem
Starlight Glimmer is sent to solve a friendship problem between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna; when it's clear that the problem is that the royal sisters don't appreciate one another, Starlight impulsively switches their cutie marks!

Episodes that can be discussed freely
1. Celestial Advice - Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmers future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor Princess Celestia.
2. All Bottled Up - While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkles friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map.
3. A Flurry of Emotions - After planning a jam-packed day, Twilight Sparkle also agrees to babysit her niece, Flurry Heart. But with Flurry Heart along for the ride, Twilight Sparkle struggles to maintain her title as 'The Best Aunt Ever' while keeping Flurry Heart out of trouble!
4. Rock Solid Friendship - When Pinkie Pie learns that Maud might move to Ponyville, she does everything she can to make sure her sister sees that it has more to offer than just rocks.
5. Fluttershy Leans In - Fluttershy is determined to make her career dreams come true with the help of some very special ponies. But when her true vision is not being executed properly, she must find a way to stand up and fight for her ideas.
6. Forever Filly - When Rarity surprises Sweetie Belle with a special day together filled with all of her favorite activities, she quickly learns that her little sister is no longer the little foal she used to be.
And "Parental Glideance" in about an hour.

So in the US we have an episode that I notice has gotten a lot of discussion here and seems to have a positive reception. And in Canada, we have DrForester's Bane. It should be interesting on both ends!

DrForester · May 20, 2017

Well, that sucked.

UberTag · May 20, 2017

DrForester said:
Well, that sucked.

Not surprised at all by that reaction. At least you're predictable.

Fun detail from Parental Glideance that's easy to miss on initial viewing... the evolution of Derpy.

1430972__safe_derpy%252Bhooves_fleetfoot_lightning%252Bdust_spitfire_parental%252Bglideance_spoiler-colon-s07e07_animated.gif

A Royal Problem

This was about as good as could be expected given the premise. We got a good ole-fashioned Freaky Friday send-up, more socially awkward Luna (that nightmare with her teeth falling out was downright unsettling) and some amusing shtick with Twilight freaking out over not being able to help. It was a typically strong Lewis and Songco episode. The only part I wasn't so thrilled about were the constant insinuations that Starlight was "crazy". I understand being left out sucks but I would have appreciated seeing Twilight have a little more faith in both her pupil and the Cutie Map's judgment. Spike was probably needed as a voice of reason but Twilight's ballerina incognito spell didn't factor him in.

Chained Prometheus · May 20, 2017

DrForester said:
Well, that sucked.

Ehhhhhhhhhhh, I liked it a lot personally.

DrForester · May 20, 2017

Monkeys Paw: The Episode

This episode would have worked so much better with a simple change of having Celestia and Luna recognize their problem, and call Starlight to perform the spell, knowing she can do spells with Cutie Marks. Would have shown Celestia and Luna as competent leaders, able to recognize a problem and come up with a creative solutions. And it would have allowed Starlight's magic to, for once, be used in a productive way that doesn't totally disregard the ponies she's casting it on.

Another is that it once again shows Starlight being totally incapable of dealing with others and forcing magic upon them to try and make things conform to what SHE wants. She's a psychopath with little regard for anyone that isn't doing exactly what she wants. And once again facing no consequences for her actions.

Still would have gotten the silly antics. Still would have gotten the "trot a mile in anther's horseshoes" story. But it would have allowed for all the characters to come out better.

Need a Bingo card ruling.
Celestia and Luna episode. Does it nullify my "no Celestia episode" square, and mark the "Luna episode square" or does it not count as a Celestia or Luna episode since it wasn't a focus episode on either specifically? I'm leaning towards the latter.

UberTag · May 20, 2017

That's about as extreme as divergent takes on an episode gets.

DrForester considers Starlight to be a reckless psychopath who sees no consequences for her actions and I see her precise talent and boldness being the reason why the Cutie Map chose her, feel she spent half the episode being tormented in her nightmares and I'm disappointed with Twilight's lack of faith in her. Hell, that lack of faith is what fueled the self-doubt which led to Starlight having those nightmares in the first place.

As for the sisters not making that call themselves, I view the map as a manifestation of a "higher power" than even the royal princesses.

Chained Prometheus · May 20, 2017

Yeah, I have to side with UberTag on this one.

The premise itself is the big question mark, but all things aside, I like how it was executed. Personally I prefer the idea that the Royal Sisters are flawed individuals and are susceptible to having problems they don't outright recognize.

Honestly I agree with Uber that Twilight is probably the weakest part of the episode. I get why she was nervous at every turn and there was humor at some of her freakouts, but I think they laid it on too thick.

UberTag · May 20, 2017

Chained Prometheus said:
Honestly I agree with Uber that Twilight is probably the weakest part of the episode. I get why she was nervous at every turn and there was humor at some of her freakouts, but I think they laid it on too thick.

I'm semi-conflicted on Twilight in that I didn't like how over the top her distrust is and yet I adored Tara's voice acting in those scenes.

I do think this episode would have worked a LOT better had it been included last season prior to Starlight's big redemption arc in the finale as Twilight's lack of faith would have felt more justified. The cutie mark swapping would have come off more naturally as well.

Showing Celestia and Luna have flaws outside of their respective "duty bubbles" is perfectly fine in my books. It gives them depth. I know DrForester is apprehensive about them coming off as incompetent as a result, but if anything, this episode highlighted the competence of the royal sisters a hell of a lot more than a lot of other episodes. The citizens of Canterlot clearly came off as being somewhat lost having Luna perform Celestia's duties and the sisters clearly showed they would be lost without each other.

If there is an infallible being in the Ponyverse, it should ideally be someone like Starswirl (or whomever is behind the Cutie Map) and not characters we've known since Day 1.

DrForester · May 20, 2017

I think my biggest disappointment is that this episode pretty much ruins that touching reunion in the pilot. Because the two learned absolutely squat about dealing with each other.

One more issue, and it's not solely tied to this episode, so I won't put this behind spoilers. I really don't care for a character's destiny and power being totally tied to their ass and not the person they are inside.

ShinySylvee · May 20, 2017

DrForester said:
Monkeys Paw: The Episode

This episode would have worked so much better with a simple change of having Celestia and Luna recognize their problem, and call Starlight to perform the spell, knowing she can do spells with Cutie Marks. Would have shown Celestia and Luna as competent leaders, able to recognize a problem and come up with a creative solutions. And it would have allowed Starlight's magic to, for once, be used in a productive way that doesn't totally disregard the ponies she's casting it on.

Another is that it once again shows Starlight being totally incapable of dealing with others and forcing magic upon them to try and make things conform to what SHE wants. She's a psychopath with little regard for anyone that isn't doing exactly what she wants. And once again facing no consequences for her actions.

Still would have gotten the silly antics. Still would have gotten the "trot a mile in anther's horseshoes" story. But it would have allowed for all the characters to come out better.

I feel like you aren't capable of handling Celestia and Luna being portrayed as anything other then perfect and because of this would have been mad at anything that showed them being remotely at fault for the problem at hand or needing any assistance at all in fixing it.

Your suggestion is kinda evidence of that and would have pretty much cleared them of any wrongdoing. If they both agreed that swapping marks was a good idea on their own then they could have just learned a spell that did it rather then needing Starlight to help. And if they were able to talk out their issues like that then why would they have that fight 1000 years ago? The two have always had issues talking things out and the episode makes the parallel that proves this point so I don't even have to reach here.

And what? There's so much wrong with your paragraph about Starlight it's hard to digest. Starlight swaps their cutie marks because she was dealing with a major, potentially world-threatening issue and she's trying to come up with an active solution to the problem and up until that point just talking about it was proving to only make the situation worse. She didn't swap them because she was triggered that they weren't behaving the way she wanted them to. If there's one thing that Twilight's interactions with her in this episode showed it's that Starlight's approach to solving problems was really needed here as someone like Twilight would have never done something so "bold" and potentially reckless as swapping their marks. Twilight would have been too passive and wouldn't have taken the actions necessary to get the job done. And if I were Starlight I would have been a lot more confident in trusting my gut reaction to things as the Map specifically called on me to solve the issue. And I can't understand any rationale as to why you think Starlight needs to be reprimanded for what she did. First off, despite everyone's initial reaction to what she did her decision to swap marks ended up being EXACTLY what needed to be done to solve the problem. The only real fault I can find in what she did is that she didn't discuss what she was doing with Celestia and Luna before doing it. However I think it's fine both because I think that's something that she would reasonably do and also because Starlight's fear that she had screwed things up and made the situation even worse is what causes her to have the nightmare later in the episode and that reaction wouldn't have made much sense if she had done her due diligence and hadn't done anything remotely wrong. Although I think that the episode would have benefited from a line of dialogue indicating that Starlight should have discussed what she was doing to Celestia and Luna first (That dialogue happening after the nightmare scene) at the same time I don't think it's a particularly massive issue. Largely because Starlight already is shown to be completely aware of how dangerous what she did was.

Not saying the episode is perfect or anything but your issues don't make any sense to me and just come off as whining that your favorite characters aren't shown to be flawless. Also your issues with Starlight don't begin to make sense to me. You either don't seem to understand the reason for why she swapped their marks (which is really fucking obvious in the context of the actual episode don't understand why you would need it explained to you) or you're deliberately ignoring it to push your narrative that she's a horrible person that needs to be punished.

EDIT:

DrForester said:
I think my biggest disappointment is that this episode pretty much ruins that touching reunion in the pilot. Because the two learned absolutely squat about dealing with each other.

Said it once before but

a lot of the issues that caused them to fight in the first place are still present in their current arrangement. And both due to how sensitive Luna might be about inferring that she might be at risk of turning into Nightmare Moon again and that they might just not be good at talking to eachother about their problems I feel like it makes perfect sense that they still fight.

Inb4 you reply by completely ignoring what points I made and just rephrasing your previous complaints.

DrForester · May 20, 2017

Wanting the two to be portrayed as competent once in a while does not mean I want them to be portrayed as perfect.

Wanting them to be shown as actually learning something from their previous problems is not wanting them to be flawless.

Wanting them to show some fucking sense now and then is not wanting them to be flawless.

Millennia old beings shouldn't need the overpowered writer's pet to tell them there's a problem.

Show has done a brilliant job of showing them to not be perfect. The problem is they've gone so far over the edge that now they're portrayed as incompetent. Take the end of this episode. Celestia, the pony that protected the country for a thousand years, can't do a fucking thing without a pep-talk

Orcastar · May 20, 2017

Royal Problems

Best episode of the season, easily. I feel like I've slowly been losing interest in the show for a while now, but this episode was amazing.

I kinda see where DrForester is coming from, but personally I've long since stopped caring about the consistency of the show's lore, since it seems to me that the current show staff aren't all that bothered either. I enjoyed the episode a lot, can't be arsed to analyse it further than that.

SigmasonicX · May 20, 2017

*glances at above conversation*

Parental Glideance
I knew that Scootaloo played a major role in this episode, but I didn't expect her to be the instigator of Rainbow Parents learning about Dash being in the Wonderbolts. Her deciding to use a slingshot to get to Cloudsdale was a wonderful moment of cartoon logic, but I did think her immediately running into Rainbow Parents was too convenient. I liked seeing both obsess over Rainbow Dash and how intentionally creepy they were being. It was odd seeing another gag with awestruck music turning out to come from an in-universe source.

Though they still haven't outright said it, I guess there's really no going around it. Scootaloo is an orphan. I liked her simply not understanding why Dash wouldn't like her parents suffocating her so much, because she never experienced that. Even though it was probably due to some weird internal issue with not allowing orphans to be mentioned, I did like that no one said, "Oh right, you're an orphan!" or anything. It felt more natural that way.

If the episode was just about Rainbow Parents obsessing over Dash and her getting embarrassed, it probably wouldn't have been that great, but getting Scootaloo's perspective was definitely the right move.

It looks like Spitfire and Rainbow Dash are closer in age than many generally assumed, though Dash specifically said she was entering those competitions at a younger age than usual. It's a bit odd that Spitfire never acknowledged that she knew Dash as a kid, but not too odd, I suppose. They didn't start talking until after "Sonic Rainboom", which would have stuck out in her memory more, and they probably didn't interact outside of the races themselves.

I liked the gag that Scootaloo didn't actually do well on her report because it was mostly pictures and a moldy sandwich.

Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable episode. And I suppose I should check off "emotional episode" on my bingo card.

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