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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 7 |OT| Is this still a fad?

EDIT: Removed the "+ MOVIE" from the title, after "Season 7", but leaving the header image as is due to laziness. Movie discussion has been split off into its own thread.

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Movie OT
Trailer thread
Trailer 1
Teaser trailer
Release date: October 6, 2017

Guest stars:
Emily Blunt - Tempest Shadow
Zoe Saldana - Captain Celaeno
Michael Peña - Grubber
Liev Schreiber - The Storm King
Kristin Chenoweth - Princess Skystar
Uzo Aduba - Queen Novo
Taye Diggs - Capper
Sia - Songbird Serenade

In order to stop a threat to the town of Ponyville, the "Mane Six" – Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity – must leave their home kingdom of Equestria, meeting new friends and overcoming challenges in the process.
My Little Pony the Movie is finally here! Well, in six months as of thread creation. This movie is based on the Friendship is Magic TV series, and every character from there will have the same voice actor as in the show. Oh, but there's still plenty to look forward to before that. For one thing, season 7! This thread will mainly focus on that, but it will also include movie discussion once it comes out.

To be clear, there have been four direct to video movies that tie into Friendship is Magic, the Equestria Girls series, which had limited runs in theaters, but this is the first wide release My Little Pony film since the one in the 80s. There's probably no Smooze (though a cameo is possible), but in exchange, we'll have our favorite dwarf horses and the animated return of seaponies!

Unusually, season 7 will not start with a multi-parter, but rather with two stand-alone episodes. We know little about the general direction of the season, but there will likely be something leading into the movie, and the comics imply that big things are coming.

Besides all that, three half-hour Equestria Girls TV specials will release this year, first on Netflix then on Discovery Family. IDW is continuing the main Friendship is Magic comic series with issues that supposedly tie into season 7. They have dropped the Friends Forever series, but are starting Legends of Magic to take its place, which tells stories about Equestria's past, and are releasing a movie prequel miniseries.

GETTING STARTED
There probably isn't too much danger is just starting the series from the newest episode, but if you're uncomfortable with that, then good news, we made an episode guide, now updated for 2017! The image version isn't ready yet, but we've provided a text version for now, with links to completed image sections. If you don't want to watch over 156 episodes, or have fallen behind and want to quickly catch up, watch the episodes we've recommended. Note that in the interest of keeping the number of recommended episodes down, there are several good episodes that have been left off. If you like a character, just look for episodes tagged with that character and watch them regardless of if they're recommended or not. As an update from last year, we also included notes about what you'd like or dislike about every episode.

Introduction
Season 1
Season 2
What is Equestria Girls?
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Online Shorts

Also of note are the Equestria Girls movies, described in the above guide, and the comics published by IDW. The comics are a mixed bag, but there's a lot to like.

PREVIOUSLY ON MY LITTLE PONY

Season 6 recap
Look back: Season 6

After turning the evil Starlight Glimmer to the side of good, Twilight Sparkle took her under her wing as a student, teaching her the magic of friendship, though both learned from the process. During this, Princess Cadance gave birth to Flurry Heart, destroyer of worlds; and Starlight made a new friend. In the Crystal Empire, Spike befriended a changeling named Thorax, who then discovered that by being openly friendly to others, he no longer had to feed on love.

In the season finale, Starlight and Trixie visited the village the former used to rule over, but she was overwhelmed by anxiety when she was asked to help plan an event, and ran back to Ponyville. There, she discovered that all of her friends were replaced by changelings, and she formed a team made up of her, Trixie, Thorax, and Discord to confront Queen Chrysalis in her hive. They managed to overcome the power of her throne, which counters all non-changeling magic (including Discord's) when Thorax released all the love energy he had built up. By willingly giving love, Thorax transformed into a colorful and hole-free changeling king, and the other changelings followed his lead to become their true selves. Queen Chrysalis, however, chose to remain the way she was and fled. In the end, Starlight got over her anxiety over being a leader.

Other things that happened include:
* The sins of season 2's "Dragon Quest" were purged by "Gauntlet of Fire" introducing female dragons, making dragon society more complex, and actually being a good Spike episode. Plus, it had a tsundere dragon princess.
* Rainbow Dash is officially a Wonderbolt! And what a great one she is!
* Rarity opened a new shop in Manehattan, and a new dance craze was started.
* Fluttershy has a sudden brother. In a twist, he's a younger brother yet still an adult. He's something.
* Oh, and it looks like Trixie is finally a regular character now!


AND NOW
Following Starlight's success at leading her group to defeat Chrysalis, Twilight believes that she no longer has to be her student. She turns to Celestia for advice about what to do next. After that... ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The season premiere isn't even a multi-parter (a first for this series), and thus far, we don't have a clear idea what the season will bring. Comics have been announced that tie into season 7, which point toward the history of Equestria being a major theme, and there will be likely something that sets up the movie, but we know little for certain. We don't even know if Starlight stays in Twilight's castle. And the toy tie-ins are all focused on the movie, so no clues there. It's actually pretty refreshing.

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New episodes air at 11:30 AM EDT on Saturdays on Discovery Family, and are usually put up on iTunes the next day. Seasons 1-6 can be found on iTunes and US Netflix. Episode descriptions for new episodes are taken from Zap2It and press releases.

1. Celestial Advice - April 15
Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer's future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia.

2. All Bottled Up - April 15
While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle's 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 - April 22
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 - April 29
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.

"Fluttershy Leans In" early discussion
5. Fluttershy Leans In - May 6 (Canada - April 30)
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.

"Forever Filly" early discussion
"Parental Glideance" early discussion
"Hard to Say Anything" early discussion
6. Forever Filly - May 13 (Canada - May 6)
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.

"Honest Apple" early discussion
Equestria Girls special - "Dance Magic" early discussion
7. Parental Glideance - May 20 (Canada - May 7)
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.

"A Royal Problem" early discussion
"Not Asking For Trouble" early discussion
Equestria Girls special - "Movie Magic" early discussion
8. Hard to Say Anything - May 27 (Canada - May 13)
When the Cutie Mark Crusaders discover that Big Mac has his first crush, they vow to help him win Sugar Belle's heart before Feather Bangs does it first.

Equestria Girls special - "Mirror Magic" early discussion
9. Honest Apple - June 3 (Canada - May 14)
When Rarity asks Applejack to be a judge in a fashion show, Applejack learns that an opinion, however honest, can still be hurtful.

10. A Royal Problem - June 10 (Canada - May 20)
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!

11. Not Asking for Trouble - June 17 (Canada - May 21)
Pinkie Pie visits Prince Rutherford and the Yaks. While there an avalanche falls on the entire rustic village of Yakyakistan. Pinkie Pie suggests that she go to get the other ponies to help but the proud Prince and Yaks refuse.

"Discordant Harmony" early discussion
"The Perfect Pear" early discussion
Equestria Girls special - Dance Magic - June 24 (Poland - May 14)
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?

Equestria Girls special - Movie Magic - July 1 (Poland - May 21)
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. But when a rare and important prop from the set goes missing, putting the movie on hold, Rainbow Dash's dream becomes a nightmare.

Equestria Girls special - Mirror Magic - July 8 (Poland - May 28)
As the pages in her journal run out, there's only one thing for Sunset Shimmer to do: return to Equestria to get a new journal! There, she meets Starlight Glimmer and agrees to bring her back to experience life at Canterlot High. But while Sunset Shimmer was 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!

12. Discordant Harmony (note: "The Perfect Pear" is discussed earlier than this) - August 5 (Australia - June 20)
When Discord invites Fluttershy to his realm for tea, he worries she won't be comfortable there and begins to change it and himself with disastrous results.

13. The Perfect Pear - August 5 (Australia - June 21)
The Apple Siblings learn about their parent's love story and find out that they're half Pear.

14. Fame and Misfortune - August 12
Twilight Sparkle's publishing of the friendship journal has unintended consequences when ponies start to argue over who wrote the best lessons.

15. Triple Threat - August 19
Spike accidentally invites Ember and Thorax to Ponyville on the same day. He's sure the two new leaders are not going to get along so he does all he can to keep them apart and cover the fact that the other is there.

16. Campfire Tales - August 26
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.

17. To Change a Changeling - September 2
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.

"Daring Done" early discussion
18. Daring Done - September 9 (leak - September 3)
When Rainbow Dash's favorite author, A.K. Yearling, announces her retirement, Dash convinces Pinkie Pie to go on a quest to find out if the book on Daring Do really will be closed forever.

19. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You - September 16
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.

"A Health of Information" early discussion
20. A Health of Information - September 23 (Russia - September 18)
While 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.

21. Marks and Recreation - September 30
Wanting to help as many blank flanks as possible, the CMCs start a Cutie Mark Day Camp, but are surprised when one of their campers doesn't want a cutie mark.

MOVIE premiere - October 6

22. Once Upon a Zeppelin - October 7
Twilight is torn when she discovers the cruise she and her family are on is actually a themed vacation experience in which ponies have paid for the privilege of spending time with her. Will she be able to please both her family and the cruise attendees?

Season 7 full leak early discussion
23. Secrets and Pies - October 14
When Pinkie Pie thinks she sees Rainbow Dash throw away one of her pies, she suspects the worst. Pinkie Pie attempts to catch Rainbow Dash in her web of lies... using pies.

24. Uncommon Bond - October 21
When Starlight gets a visit from Sunburst, she discovers that he has tons in common with her friends and starts to wonder if he still has anything in common with her.

25-26. Shadow Play - October 28
When Sunburst discovers the lost journal of Starswirl the Bearded, Twilight becomes obsessed with saving her magical idol from a thousand-year-old prison.

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This thread is for the discussion of all official media content, including Equestria Girls and the IDW comics, along with news and speculation. For general fandom discussion, including fan-made episodes, you can go to the Community thread.
* Episode titles and official synopses can be freely discussed, along with things tweeted by show crew and such.
* If an episode or movie information is leaked or made available early (some episodes have been put on iTunes early), discussion of it should be behind spoiler bars until after it normally airs, and you should state that you are discussing that episode early instead of just having a blacked out post.
* Fan works (art, music) are fine to post, but it's preferred if you only post works related to the most recent episodes. General fanworks or works based on earlier episodes should go to the Community thread.
* Something a few posters (including myself) have done is create bingo cards for the season. So the thread doesn't get clogged up by them, only embed the images if you get a bingo. Otherwise, just link them.

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Season 1 Thread
Season 2 Thread
Season 3 Thread
Season 4 Thread
Season 5 Thread
Season 6 Thread
Community Thread
Movie Announcement Thread
Movie Trailer Thread

Fan community links
Equestria Daily - The most active fan blog dedicated to MLP:FiM. It can be a bit hasty in posting rumors, but it is the best place to find news and fanworks at the same time. Like any big blog, avoid the comments.
Derpibooru - The biggest collection of MLP:FiM related images online. They block NSFW images, but sometimes things slip through, so it is unlinked. Avoid the comments.
The Round Stable - The best dedicated forum for MLP:FiM discussion, founded by those who left Something Awful when MLP discussion became a bannable offense there. There is a main page, but it's dead now. It also runs Bronibooru, a site similar to Derpibooru, but dedicated to only uploading family-friendly images.
MLP:FiM Wikia - The better source for pure information on the show and its characters.
We have a Discord! Quote to see:

Credit to Fat4all and DrForester for custom images
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I bailed from the pony thing at the end of season 4. Seemed like a good place to stop.

The changelings came back? The CMC got their marks?? Interesting, any good songs I missed?
 

Fat4all

Banned
I bailed from the pony thing at the end of season 4. Seemed like a good place to stop.

The changelings came back? The CMC got their marks?? Interesting, any good songs I missed?

a lot of shit has changed since season 4, fo sho.

lots of good music along the way, some of my favorites from season 5 follow the CMC.

oh, season 5 also has episode 100, which is packed full of fan head cannon-ish bullshit, it's great.

couple good battles and Revelaitons as well.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
I bailed from the pony thing at the end of season 4. Seemed like a good place to stop.

The changelings came back? The CMC got their marks?? Interesting, any good songs I missed?

If you're thinking about jumping back in, Season 5 is considered by many to be either as good as or better than any previous season. Well worth checking out.

As for songs, here's a few of my recent favourites:

The Rules of Rarity
The Pony I Want To Be
The Magic Inside
I Can Do It On My Own

And I'm not going to link individual examples, but if you have any interest at all in music from MLP you have to watch (S06E08) A Hearths Warming Tail, because it's wall-to-wall fantastic songs. That's also kinda true of (S05E18) Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
 
a lot of shit has changed since season 4, fo sho.

lots of good music along the way, some of my favorites from season 5 follow the CMC.

oh, season 5 also has episode 100, which is packed full of fan head cannon-ish bullshit, it's great.

couple good battles and Revelaitons as well.

Took the time to watch the episode. All the memes and fan-canons I thought I'd forgotten came flooding back. Holy shit that was great, especially seeing Steven Magnet again.

I'm definitely going to check out a few more.
 
Since we had an anti-Starlight post, I suppose I'll have to be the one to come out in favor of her. At the very least, she's great with Trixie, with their forbidden love friendship.
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Took the time to watch the episode. All the memes and fan-canons I thought I'd forgotten came flooding back. Holy shit that was great, especially seeing Steven Magnet again.

I'm definitely going to check out a few more.

Another surprisingly fan-heavy episode is "Amending Fences", also in season 5. In fact, for season 5, just look at our guide, though note that a bunch of good episodes were left out in order to keep the number of recommended episodes down. Other episodes that people particularly liked were "Tanks for the Memories" (Rainbow Dash dealing with pet death hibernation), "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" (Luna drama + more fan stuff), "Scare Master" (Fluttershy + Nightmare Night), "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" (Pinkie slapstick), and "The Mane Attraction" (great singing).

We didn't actually make a guide for season 6 yet. I'll just plug the episodes I voted to be included in the guide.
Anyway, my list, with the important episodes underlined and recommended episodes in bold.

1-2. The Crystalling
3. The Gift Of Maud Pie
4. On Your Marks
5. Gauntlet of Fire
6. No Second Prances
7. Newbie Dash
8. A Hearth's Warming Tail
9. The Saddle Row Review
10. Applejack's "Day'' Off
11. Flutter Brutter
12. Spice Up Your Life
13. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
14. The Cart Before the Ponies
15. 28 Pranks Later
16. The Times They Are a Changeling
17. Dungeons and Discord
18. Buckball Season
19. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
20. Viva Las Pegasus
21. Every Little Thing She Does
22. P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)
23. Where the Apple Lies
24. Top Bolt
25-26. To Where and Back Again

Even after my season overall post back in the OT thread, I was surprised to see there were choices I had to leave out to remain at 10 non-two-parter episodes. Specifically, "Every Little Thing She Does".

As for good songs, for both seasons 5 and 6, the musical episodes had a ton of great songs, while the songs in the rest of the seasons aren't as great. Definitely check out "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" and "A Hearth's Warming Tail". Paullo's list of other songs is good, though I wasn't a big fan of "I Can Do It On My Own". From season 6, I liked "It's Gonna Work" and "Derby Racers", though they aren't as good as the "A Hearth's Warming Tail" songs.

Oh, and my bingo card. (full size)
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For those who want one quickly, here's a random generator.
 
This kinda sneaked up on me. I didn't even realize season 7 was upon us until a few days ago. To be honest, my interest in the series is on life support at this point, but I'll continue watching nonetheless. My closest friends are still into it, and goddamn it I've come this far.

Rarity is still best pony.
 

DemWalls

Member
So it begins.
Really curious to know what writers, old and especially new, are on board this time, besides those we already know about of course. Speaking of which, I hope the Fox Brothers improved. A LOT.
 

McNum

Member
Oh my, time for ponies again? I almost forgot.

I hope season 7 is a bit more consistent than S6. Some of those episodes were a bit swingy. Still... let the pony begin!
 
Alrighty, I come bearing some bingo card I threw together in like 3 seconds. Finding ways of making it look good is clearly for scrubs. It's a combination of actual predictions and "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older and we didn't have to wait so long?" Given how the positions ended up I doubt I'll get one but we shall see. My prediction is that the top row will be completed besides Iron Will coming back. It was kinda hard given that we already know the plot synopsis of like 1/4th of the season so far.

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See you guys when the episodes actually start airing. Starlight's already got the popcorn ready so I should be good to go

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PaulloDEC

Member
My occasional mission to trace the lineage of the PonyGAF top-twenty posters continues!


Users who appeared in the top 20 for the first time get STARS, users who are appear in one top 20 but not the next get crossed out.

Hope to see many new and returning faces this time around!
 

McNum

Member
Aw, I didn't make it into the top 20 this time? I guess that's what happens when you fall behind and have to frantically catch up on Netflix before the next season starts.
 
Today's episodes! I'll probably start making posts like this, since it makes it easier to determine where discussion of a new episode starts when revisiting the thread.

1. Celestial Advice - April 15
Twilight Sparkle agonizes over Starlight Glimmer’s future and receives some much-needed advice from her very own mentor – Princess Celestia.

2. All Bottled Up - April 15
While the Mane 6 are on a friendship retreat, Starlight Glimmer loses Twilight Sparkle’s friendship map. Afraid her anger might get out of control, Starlight Glimmer casts a calming spell while the ponies search for the lost map.

Last teaser for the season premiere, saying that it's one day away, which surprisingly seems to use new footage with dubbed in dialogue.

Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight: Excited - For those unfamiliar, Silver Quill has been releasing one of these comics before every episode premiere (taking over for the last guy), featuring Pinkie hyping up the new episode, usually by talking with a guest.

And lastly and unrelated, an interview with Jeremy Whitley and Brenda Hickey about the Legends of Magic series. They once again emphasize that these stories are based on characters introduced during season 7, but it seems like it might just be brief mentions, like how Starswirl was originally introduced in "Luna Eclipsed".
 

UberTag

Member
Just want to chime in and say that I adore the interplay between Discord and Trixie in the Season 6 finale.
Shame about that abrupt ending but I can still appreciate the positives.

Rarity is still best pony.
She'll always be best pony. This will never change.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
If I missed the entirety of season 6, which episodes are a must-have to recap before I'd jump into 7?

Now I wonder if I actually finished season 5.
 
Just want to chime in and say that I adore the interplay between Discord and Trixie in the Season 6 finale.
Shame about that abrupt ending but I can still appreciate the positives.
Yeah, they turned out to be a stunningly good duo. I don't think fanworks ever had them interact, except for probably one of those early "Trixie is a powerful magic rival to Twilight" stories which likely also invoked the "Discord is basically Satan" theme that was common before he turned good. Certainly not as friends. Season 6 in general greatly improved Trixie's appeal as a recurring characters; before then, I honestly wasn't all that keen on her.

She'll always be best pony. This will never change.
Twilight's still the one for me. But Rarity's fine at second best.
That's why I ship them
.

If I missed the entirety of season 6, which episodes are a must-have to recap before I'd jump into 7?

Now I wonder if I actually finished season 5.

Reposting:
We didn't actually make a guide for season 6 yet. I'll just plug the episodes I voted to be included in the guide.
Anyway, my list, with the important episodes underlined and recommended episodes in bold.

1-2. The Crystalling
3. The Gift Of Maud Pie
4. On Your Marks
5. Gauntlet of Fire
6. No Second Prances
7. Newbie Dash
8. A Hearth's Warming Tail
9. The Saddle Row Review
10. Applejack's "Day'' Off
11. Flutter Brutter
12. Spice Up Your Life
13. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
14. The Cart Before the Ponies
15. 28 Pranks Later
16. The Times They Are a Changeling
17. Dungeons and Discord
18. Buckball Season
19. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
20. Viva Las Pegasus
21. Every Little Thing She Does
22. P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)
23. Where the Apple Lies
24. Top Bolt
25-26. To Where and Back Again

Even after my season overall post back in the OT thread, I was surprised to see there were choices I had to leave out to remain at 10 non-two-parter episodes. Specifically, "Every Little Thing She Does".

The underlined episodes are the ones that must be watched to understand the season finale fully, but note that "The Times They are a Changeling" was on the weaker end. The bolded episodes are the ones I thought were particularly good (and also "Every Little Thing She Does"), but some of my choices are controversial. The episodes I didn't highlight aren't necessarily bad, and I even enjoyed many of them.
 

UberTag

Member
I have to imagine DrForester is enjoying this episode. Celestia's had some really good one-liners.
Any episode where Twilight works herself into a tizzy is almost always a delight.
 

UberTag

Member
Season 6 in general greatly improved Trixie's appeal as a recurring characters; before then, I honestly wasn't all that keen on her.
I wasn't either... and now she's in my Top 5. That's what we call an impressive character rehabilitation. TEACUP!
 
My bingo's already off to a good start. There was 2 minor changes to the opening theme. Starlight's previous unsure pose has been replaced with a more confident and normal one. Also as predicted they changed the logo at the end to reflect the new one they've been using.

Some really cozy dialogue so far. It feels nice having a fairly low-key episode after a major one in terms of the story as it allows the characters to actually digest and react to the major things that have happened rather then immediately sending them off on some other major event. It kinda sucks not having a major story but I think it's for the better here.

Man that was an extremely rushed ending. I thought the episode was going super well until that point too. Basically everything the episode was building up to was completely undone in like 2 lines of dialogue. Starlight doesn't even explain why she doesn't want to leave and Twilight doesn't even ask why.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Episode with Celestia in the title has her standing around until after the last commercial break then crams in some character development.



that's honestly the best I could have expected...
 

Ogodei

Member
It is the most Celestia development we've had since like Season 2. I'll take it.

I feel like these two episodes could have been fused together, and that Starlight's specialty leans towards conflict resolution after dealing with a larger version of the hate plague she let loose.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
The underlined episodes are the ones that must be watched to understand the season finale fully, but note that "The Times They are a Changeling" was on the weaker end. The bolded episodes are the ones I thought were particularly good (and also "Every Little Thing She Does"), but some of my choices are controversial. The episodes I didn't highlight aren't necessarily bad, and I even enjoyed many of them.

That's fine, I'll trust your selection. Thanks!
 

DemWalls

Member
Man, I kinda hoped Starlight's bottled up anger would take physical form and cause a disaster, Majin Buu style. There you have it, new villain for season 7.


That's fine, I'll trust your selection. Thanks!

I'd still recommend to watch Dungeons & Discord. It's not an "important" episode, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless. Can't wait to see what Confalone wrote for this season.
 
Second episode was more of a mixed bag. There were some really great moments but I definitely feel like it was written by one of the weaker season 6 writers or one of the new ones. Trixie was really close to being insufferable although the episode expects you to think that way so it's a little better. There were some solid ideas but I feel like the dialogue wasn't as good as it could have been. Also I feel like the room escape stuff was just a massive waste of time and it feels like it was in there because the writer really likes room escapes. It's nice seeing Trixie in a more normalized episode and I hope that they eventually focus on helping her improve as a person as well. She's a fun character and I hope we get to see her learn lessons like the Mane 6 did. Once again her chemistry with Starlight is really strong but I hope that she doesn't just change from being only a foil for Twilight to only being Starlight's bestie. She has always been a character with a lot of potential and I hope that she's given room to show that rather then shackling her to Starlight.


Also can I just say that Spike was awesome in both episodes? Looks like the writers are continuing their stellar writing of him from season 6. He does such a great job being the voice of reason when Twilight and Starlight are freaking out.

I'll probably have more thoughts later, for now though I'll say that Season 7 is off to a fairly decent start. Both episodes have their issues but I had a lot of fun with both of them.
 

UberTag

Member
Once again her chemistry with Starlight is really strong but I hope that she doesn't just change from being only a foil for Twilight to only being Starlight's bestie. She has always been a character with a lot of potential and I hope that she's given room to show that rather then shackling her to Starlight.
Better to have her shackled to Starlight than shackled to Snips and Snails.
I'd say it's telling that none of Twilight's imagined "fantasies" involved Trixie. Bodes well for her being a fixture with Starlight going forward.
That said, I would like to see BOTH of them have more interaction with the Mane 6 and others in Ponyville as opposed to being sidelined in bottle episodes.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I actually liked the second episode. Reminded me a lot of No Second Prances, the only other Starlight episode I've enjoyed. Just need to team those two up.
 
Haven't seen the new episodes yet, but it's interesting to see the Friends Forever line ending. They were, on the whole, not very good, but that Discord & Luna one from 2016 was fantastic and one of the better MLP comics to come out.


Hopefully Legends of Magic is good. First issue was okay.
 

LuffyZoro

Member
My occasional mission to trace the lineage of the PonyGAF top-twenty posters continues!



Users who appeared in the top 20 for the first time get STARS, users who are appear in one top 20 but not the next get crossed out.

Hope to see many new and returning faces this time around!

Wow, it's crazy that I had way more posts in OT2 than all of OT4 combined.
 
I didn't like how in Celestia's flashback, she mentioned a "special group of ponies" and the "Mane 5" were already hanging out together.

Season 1 gave the impression through episodes like Griffon the Brush Off and Read it and Sleep Look Before You Sleep that the Mane 6 were a group brought together by their new common friend, and that logically some of them had no reason to be friends before because they are different and had to strengthen their friendships among each other as much as with Twilight.
 
Better to have her shackled to Starlight than shackled to Snips and Snails.
I'd say it's telling that none of Twilight's imagined "fantasies" involved Trixie. Bodes well for her being a fixture with Starlight going forward.
That said, I would like to see BOTH of them have more interaction with the Mane 6 and others in Ponyville as opposed to being sidelined in bottle episodes.

We're pretty much in agreement. Her relationship with Starlight is pretty much the best thing that's happened to her but I hope that the show does more with her then that. I really want to see how she plays off the rest of the mane 6.

And yeah I feel like the two major issues that Starlight had in season 6 was not really showing off her personality besides being a former villain and having major anxiety issues, and integrating her with the rest of the main cast because up until this point she hasn't really had much time to interact with them. Her episodes so far have been really good but at the moment she still doesn't really fit in with the rest of the group and if she is going to be staying in Ponyville they need to establish how she fits in with them. All Bottled Up kinda helped with the former issue but she needs more appearances where she plays a supporting role in an episode because at least in season 6 she was generally either the star of the show or was completely absent.


Also apparently Lewis and Songco wrote both episodes I believe. (They definitely wrote All Bottled Up) Swing and a miss for me.

And I feel like the first episode could have been much better with just a couple changes. First it's really weird that Celestia extremely heavily implies that letting Starlight go and do her own thing is the correct choice but then she ends up staying anyway. Secondly there really wasn't any discussion for what was a pretty major decision. I think that it would have been better if Twilight picked up on that Starlight didn't seem very happy about the prospect of moving away and had a one-on-one conversation about why. From there Starlight could explain her reasons for being apprehensive about leaving (The situation reminds her of her experience with Sunburst as a child, she's fearful of leaving the person that essentially changed her entire life, she's afraid that she might revert to her old self without Twilight and friends keeping her in check, there's no shortage of reasons why she wouldn't want to leave) and from there they could discuss that she isn't ready yet to move on. Lastly the episode completely dodges the main issue that it should have solved: What exactly is their big plan for Starlight? The episode itself points out that there's a lot of really cool goals that she could be working towards but instead just re-establishes the status quo. At this point it almost feels like the writers are Twilight in this episode, still totally unsure of what their big plans for her are despite that being something the should already have planned out. My theory is that they're either A: Still gauging public opinion on her before deciding to either increase or decrease her role in the show or B: Keeping her character in a holding pattern until after the movie airs (Which is going to feature the mane 6 but not her) because they don't want to fully establish her as one of the gang and then have her be AWOL in the movie. (And I fully support their decision to not feature her in the movie. Her character is a lot more complicated and requires a lot of knowledge to "get" compared to the mane 6 who are fairly easy to figure out for newcomers to the brand) Once the movie airs and the audience has gotten more used to her existing they could look to expand the mane 6 into the mane 7 or something else like that.
 

DemWalls

Member
Second episode was more of a mixed bag. There were some really great moments but I definitely feel like it was written by one of the weaker season 6 writers or one of the new ones.

Well, it was written by Lewis and Songco (which are confirmed to be the story editors, by the way). So they're certainly not new. Weaker? That's subjective. I think their episodes til now have been good, but nothing outstanding.

EDIT: Just in time, huh :p
 
Well, it was written by Lewis and Songco (which are confirmed to be the story editors, by the way). So they're certainly not new. Weaker? That's subjective. I think their episodes til now have been good, but nothing outstanding.

EDIT: Just in time, huh :p

Yup, definitely eating crow on that one. ;)

For the record I have really liked all their episodes so far. Rarity Investigates and Gauntlet of Fire are both in my top 30 episodes. I think I'll probably enjoy All Bottled Up more on the second viewing as I often like these episodes a lot more when I know all the issues with the episode. It allows me to see past those things and enjoy the good stuff. The anger cloud was extremely corny and distracting the first time watching the episode and I'll probably deal with it better the second time watching it knowing to expect it.

I'm kinda surprised that reception on All Bottled Up has appeared to be so positive and the reception of Celestial Advice has been so negative though from what I've seen. Celestial Advice I felt was a more solid episode with a couple of major issues, whereas All Bottled Up had a good chunk of minor problems but nothing that is an episode-ruiner.
 

DemWalls

Member
Anyway, it's good to finally see Spike showing an actually likable character, although I understand if others don't feel the same. It only took 6 seasons or so.
 
Thoughts as I go through the episodes:

-So why don't the Mane Six have medals? Or knighthood? They've saved Equestria several times over.
-Ponyville Chronicle? I thought the local paper was the Ponyville Express.
-Twilight assumes the worst about everything. That's perfectly natural.
-You can just get pulled into Tartarus? Now I wonder if there's anything you can do about that.
-Letting Starlight go where she wants is the best idea, really.
-Fine episode, ties the two seasons together.

-Trixie should have studied Transfiguration at Hogwarts
-Anger management, ahoy!
-I've heard of these escape rooms before.
-Literally bottling up your anger? This won't end well.
-I love the "red eye" effect.
-Of course there's a song.
-Kids show, I know, but I don't like how Trixie's attitude suddenly became so innocent while she was so cocky.

Both are good starts to the season.
 
I just watched the first episode. It was really sweet what they did with Celestia without having to have an episode focused on her entirely which they so clearly aren't interested. She had some good moments, like "I didn't realize I was part of an expression." Nonetheless, I did think the scenes of Twilight's fantasies could've been sped up a bit.

Thoughts as I go through the episodes:

-So why don't the Mane Six have medals? Or knighthood? They've saved Equestria several times over.
-Ponyville Chronicle? I thought the local paper was the Ponyville Express.

Stained glass windows > medals
 
I think both Celestial Advice and All Bottled Up had their ups and downs.

The biggest problem for Celestial Advice, imo, is that it felt rather rushed. It could have benefited greatly by being a two-parter. The scene where Twilight "realizes" she has to let Starlight go, for instance, feels like it skipped over a good thirty seconds to a minute's worth of additional dialogue between Twilight and Celestia. Celestia's reaction shot when Twilight has her epiphany, for example, feels like it came right out of nowhere- especially since she'd been so warm and playful about the subject until that point.

Likewise I think having Celestial Advice be a two-parter would have allowed more room to see Starlight's own feelings and insecurities on the matter of leaving Ponyville, so that her confession of not feeling ready yet would feel more built up to.

All of that said, Celestia's flashback scenes were awesome in this episode. Loved the whole "Doting/Panicked Mother" vibe she had there.

I feel like All Bottled Up had less issues than Celestial Advice imo, but its biggest problem was still pretty bad- Trixie is pretty unlikeable for a vast portion of the episode and the episode reeeeaaaaalllllllllllyyyyy lays it on thick with her disregard towards Starlight in the process. I think they could have written it in a way that still would have fueled Starlight's building anger and shown Trixie's disregard for the problem at hand without being that blunt about it.

However as everyone else has said, Starlight and Trixie have great chemistry together and the latter does come around by the climax of the episode.

And as everyone else has been saying, Spike's been pretty fun in both episodes too. I do wonder though how Spike didn't freak out and seemed to already know about the table vanishing when Starlight went to go talk to him in the kitchen. Writer's slip-up, perhaps?
 
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