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| 18 | -> ''"Dear Princess Celestia, today we learned to prevent [[DarthWiki/DethroningMomentOfSuck these horrible, awful, and shoddy moments]] from ever happening again."'' |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Even though [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic this show]] is considered to be a surprise CultClassic, there are [[DarthWiki/DethroningMomentOfSuck some episodes]] that even the most hardcore of [[FanCommunityNickname Bronies]] would want locked deep in the pits of Tartarus. Please order entries by episode number. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Keep in mind: |
| 23 | * Sign your entries |
| 24 | * One moment per work to a troper. If multiple entries are signed to the same troper the more recent ones will be cut and/or moved to the discussion page. |
| 25 | * Moments only, no "just everything he said," or "This entire episode," or "This entire series" entries. |
| 26 | * No contesting entries. This is subjective, so the entry is their opinion. |
| 27 | * No natter. As above, anything contesting an entry will be cut, and anything that's just contributing more can be made its own entry. |
| 28 | * Explain ''why'' it's a DarthWiki/DethroningMomentOfSuck. |
| 29 | * Do not remove an entry from the page nor create a Administrivia/JustifyingEdit to defend a moment -- it's an opinion. Caveat: A Moment may be removed if it is blatantly untrue or otherwise breaks the rules. However, if you ''do'' remove an entry, move it to discussion and explain what is wrong (blatantly untrue, multiple entries for the same work, unsigned, etc.). Even if the rules were broken, people should know what they did wrong. |
| 30 | * No RealLife examples, including ExecutiveMeddling. That's just asking for trouble. |
| 31 | * No ALLCAPS, no bold, and no italics unless it's the title of a work. We are not yelling the [=DMoSs=] out loud. |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[folder:Season 1]] |
| 36 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff Griffon the Brush-off]]" |
| 37 | ** Tropers/TimelordMcCarver: There were a lot of things wrong with this episode's aesop. For one, Gilda just suddenly being cruel to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie for no reason other to show that she's a {{Jerkass}} quickly got on my nerves. Rainbow Dash ardently defending her wasn't helping things either. Had they not overly show how and why she's a Jerkass and gave her some CharacterDevelopment, this could have been a great episode. Instead, it's on par with Dragon Quest as my least favorite episode in ''[=MLP:FiM=]''. |
| 38 | ** Savini24: I agree with the spirit of the above troper, though I'll elaborate my own argument. First it establishes Pinkie and Dash's friendship far too quickly after first establishing that it doesn't yet exist, then we move through some incredibly weak pranks before we're introduced to Gilda, then we're shown that she's bad because she's rude, then we get to the ending, where it's contrived by plot that Gilda fall for all of the pranks, get angry, then Dash gets angry, and everyone lives happily ever after. Except Gilda. And me. None of Gilda's actions came over as line-crossing to me. No, not even yelling at Fluttershy. She's being a jerk, but it's not the end of the world, and if it was, then Pinkie Pie should have actually confronted her. The things Gilda did weren't right, but instead of addressing the problems, the episode just expects us to write off Gilda for these missteps and accept that people (or griffons, whatever) like that shouldn't be associated with. Pinkie comes off very Sue-ish for encountering a problem that she doesn't have to solve, and isn't at fault for, especially when the problem is represented poorly and given the wrong solution, and a problem that should have been hers was brushed aside for the much worse solution; contrive a way to make Gilda blow up in front of Rainbow Dash and have them break off relations, after which Rainbow Dash and Twilight reiterate what a great friend Pinkie is. Throughout all of these events, Pinkie's rigidly "quirky" attitude prevents any of her character beats, from wanting to hang out with Dash to thinking Gilda's a jerk to wanting to be friendly to Gilda, from feeling sincere. This is one of the few, perhaps the only FIM episode, that I really hated, until Parental Glideance. |
| 39 | ** Tropers/LightTigerGrandPrix: Whenever I go back to this episode, I'm left confused by the opening in which Rainbow Dash tries to get away from Pinkie Pie. Just a few episodes ago, they worked together flawlessly to save the land from eternal night, and had plenty more moments of getting along, so why is Rainbow Dash suddenly avoiding Pinkie like the plague? She only tries once or twice to tell Pinkie that she's in the middle of something, but we don't see what that something is, so it feels like she's just lying to make Pinkie to go away. Granted, Pinkie should have taken the hint, but straight up trying to get away from her without any explanation is still pretty meanspirited towards a pony who just wanted to have fun with her. |
| 40 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters Boast Busters]]" |
| 41 | ** Tropers/TerminaEst: The Mane Cast's (mainly Applejack and Rarity) reaction to Trixie's stage show. I don't view Trixie as having done anything that was actually wrong, and I personally don't see it as any different from Rainbow Dash's bragging (as awesome as she is). |
| 42 | ** Tropers/RKStrikerJK5: Boast Busters has good, but it also has a lot of bad. Trixie is a showmare, bragging and boasting to get an audience. It's literally part of her job to do so, and before Dash's heckling, nothing she says is mean or demeaning. She's trying to get ponies there to watch her perform, and quite probably get some bits out of it. She even tries ignoring Applejack and Rarity's snide comments, only reacting when Dash outright boos her for no reason approximately forty-nine seconds into her act! Note she says 'neigh-sayers', plural. She heard what they were saying. They were in the first row and not keeping their voices down at all. It's also hypocritical of the three, as Rarity puts on a fashion show in Suited For Success, Applejack hawks apples daily from 'Call of the Cutie' and Dash's forelegs are probably tired from all the times she pats herself on the back! It was only after "Magic, schmagic, boo!" -oh, yeah, great jab considering two of your friends are magic unicorns-that she reacts. After Snips and Snails bring the Ursa to town-on Spike's suggestion, mind you-her wagon is destroyed. And for a town that she holds no ties to, with at least two avenues of escape, she at least tries against it. Ineffectual, yes. But the effort is there. She could've done nothing. The three who heckled her, who have roots and friends here? They did nothing but shake in fear. And after all is said and done, the three flankholes have the audacity to belittle Trixie's genuine efforts against the star bear. This episode is a prime example of ProtagonistCenteredMorality and DisproportionateRetribution. And finally, it's implied that the wreck of her wagon was thrown out, contents and all, by Twilight. ("For starters, you can clean up this mess.") Can you say DesignatedHero? I thought you could! |
| 43 | ** Tropers/{{Mic 1988}}: Trixie is a showmare and magician, right? It's part of her job to boast of her abilities and promise feats unlike anypony has every seen or else no one's going to show any interest in her show or watch her perform. She may have to exaggerate her abilities sometimes, but that's part of the appeal of magicians in real life. And yeah, given all the times the Cast brag about their abilities they've got no right to heckle her onstage while she's trying to perform and make a living. For his sake I hope Harry [[IncrediblyLamePun Hoofdini]] never bothers to go there. And at least she tried to stop The Ursa Minor even though it didn't work. I didn't see the others do anything to try and stop it, talk about your Fair Weather Heroes. |
| 44 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy Dragonshy]]" |
| 45 | ** Tropers/{{Gingerman}} In this episode our six heroes force a sentient dragon out of a cave he has lived in for who-knows-how-long because his smokey snores were threatening to make colorful Equestria all dark and gloomy for a century. I'm not contesting that they were justified in getting him to go, but considering that the Mane 6 are supposed to be united in friendship on account of each having their hearts in the right place at the right times, the execution of it all just... grates. First of all, the dragon was not threatening anyone; he was asleep in his own home, and was not intentionally causing problems, because who can help snoring? He did become mildly aggressive towards the ponies, but only after they walked into his home and in the case of Rarity/Rainbow, tried to steal his treasure hoard/kicked him in the face without provocation respectively. Yeah, great way to introduce yourselves girls. Furthermore, if anything, he looked like he was just trying to scare them off the whole time, not biting at them or breathing actual fire. What would have been a much less uncharacteristically uncaring solution would have been for the ponies to offer the dragon something in return for troubling him, like a valuable treasure, or help him find a better place to live (as it is, they don't even seem to care if he did ever find another home), or even to just give him a little time to take his possessions with him (it's implied he left without his treasure, but frankly that's not a certainty either way). Considering that Spike, another dragon, is supposedly such a good friend to them all I was expecting the ponies to show a little more kindness to the poor guy. Instead, he's wrong, he has to go, it's a victory for the forces of good and of all the ponies it ends up being Miss Tolerance herself, Fluttershy, who uses her gentle persuasion to force him timidly away. The most significant moral of this story? If you don't like your neighbor's snoring, it's totally cool to use violence and intimidation to force them out of their homes, and better yet, you don't gotta care. |
| 46 | ** Tropers/{{KoopaKid17}} While Rarity is my favorite of the Mane Six, her pre-CharacterDevelopment in Season 1 was cringe-worthy. This is best exemplified in "Dragonshy" with her failed attempt to lure the dragon out of the cave. Rarity enters the cave and starts flirting with the dragon, encouraging him to get out there and show off his scales. For a moment, it looks like [[HopeSpot Rarity is going to be the hero]] but as she is doing this, we find out just why she is in the dragon's den in the first place. She clearly wants the [[DragonHoard dragon's treasures]] [[ItsAllAboutMe all to herself and tries some of it on to impress the dragon]]. Of course, her greed causes her downfall when she foolishly tells the dragon that she will [[BerserkButton guard his hoard while he's gone]]. If that isn't bad enough, after she gets chased out of the cave, Rarity curses that she was this close to [[SkewedPriorities obtaining the treasures]]. She then gets a [[NiceJobBreakingItHero well-deserved talking to by Twilight Sparkle]] but she [[AngstWhatAngst shrugs that off as well]]. All this from the Element of Generosity, no less. Thankfully, she wasn't this bad in later seasons. |
| 47 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmoftheCentury Swarm of the Century]]" |
| 48 | ** Tropers/{{Z Squared}} That... ending... I will never forgive them for it. Not only is it incredibly rushed, but it's mean spirited nature is simply inexcusable! Ponyville is in ruins, everyone is miserable, and Pinkie proceeds to shove it in our faces with the wah wah waaaaahhh trumpet! Gah! Am I the only one who has a problem with this?! |
| 49 | ** Tropers/{{Spidersinyoureyes}} [[BrokenAesop And why did Pinkie have to be so vague and unhelpful?]] She knew damn well no one would know what she was talking about, it's like all she wanted to do was feel superior to the other ponies. Instead of the morale being "Listen to your friends!" maybe it should have been "Try explaining yourself to others and they will listen to you!" |
| 50 | ** RAZ: For me, it's the moment where Fluttershy completely ruins the other's work at getting rid of the parasprites by keeping one "because it was too cute!", and this is in spite of the fact that she'd seen first hand how much trouble they can cause and how easily they reproduce. The way the episode greatly decreased her intelligence just to make that stupid little twist work is borderline insulting. |
| 51 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E11WinterWrapUp Winter Wrap Up]]" |
| 52 | ** MrMediaGuy2: The ending of the episode has Spike being left asleep on a piece of ice in the middle of the lake. Instead of, I dunno, helping him, Applejack says Spike's "in for a hog-sized surprise when that there ice melts", and everypony laughs. It would've been cruel enough had the episode ended right there, but then it cuts to Spike wearing a bathrobe and sneezing, clearly having received a cold. This implies that the ponies let Spike fall in, continued to laugh as he thrashed around screaming for help for a few minutes, and then said "Alright, we can help him now". That's right; apparently, the ponies (and writers) think dunking a little boy in cold water and making him sick is the funniest thing ever. What if Spike had drowned or died of hypothermia? Would it have been so funny then, ponies? |
| 53 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie Call Of The Cutie]]" |
| 54 | ** Tropers/{{TotalDramaRox97}} Diamond Tiara insults Applebloom about her blank flank loud enough for everyone to hear, and everypony laughs at her. And what does Cheerilee do? Nothing, just nothing. |
| 55 | ** Tropers/{{Chimanruler15}}: On top of this, Apple Bloom completely forgets about Twist after Twist finally gets her cutie mark. Twist does nothing but treat her like a friend throughout the entire episode, even suggesting that they can still go to Diamond Tiara's party together, yet Apple Bloom shallowly blows her off just because she has a cutie mark. |
| 56 | ** {{Tropers/Dghcrh}}: One thing that has always bothered me about this episode and the show in general is how inconsistent it is in regards to the background fillies' cutie marks (or lack of). I don't mind the idea of Apple Bloom and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders being the only fillies without a cutie mark, but despite being such an [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife important part about their characters]], it's very much an InformedAttribute unless it's important to the plot. This episode deliberately gives every filly and colt who is not Apple Bloom, Twist (until she gets hers later in the episode), Sweetie Bell or Scootaloo a cutie mark despite being shown as blank flanks in previous episodes, but they return to being so for most of their subsequent appearances, including after the Cutie Mark Crusaders officially get their cutie marks. It's certainly satisfactory to have their biggest dream finally accomplished in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", but their motivations would have made more sense if the other fillies stuck with their cutie marks. |
| 57 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E15FeelingPinkieKeen Feeling Pinkie Keen]]" |
| 58 | ** Tropers/BlueChameleon: Brushing over the issue that Twilight has to get brutally punished for being skeptical and investigative, the ending of this episode. The rest of the episode is pretty good fun and I can handle the AmusingInjuries, but one or two things drag it down in my eyes: |
| 59 | ### Fluttershy can talk down a dragon and a manticore and stare down a cockatrice, but her ability to talk to mythological animals suddenly comes up short against a hydra for the sake of the plot. It was a more urgent situation than Dragonshy -- surely her MamaBear instincts would have come to the fore? |
| 60 | ### The real doozy and Twilight's reaction to what the doozy turned out to be. What was wrong with just having the hydra be the doozy? It would have been a great way for Twilight to learn to appreciate Pinkie's ability. Instead, there's a kick in the teeth for logic, (worded badly too), MoodWhiplash, the sudden defeatism of Twilight, and Pinkie just being too oblivious to everything. The real matter was that Twilight was being a {{jerkass}} to Pinkie Pie about it. |
| 61 | ### No further investigations, no questions asked, not even an expansion or application of the Pinkie sense in later episodes (not until MMDW, where it was used pretty well -- lifesaving Pinkie should make a comeback). |
| 62 | ** @/{{Doodler}}: The same episode, for different reasons. Twilight is trying to take a scientific view on the situation, but she does it horribly. She says that the Pinkie Sense is completely random and sets out to prove it wrong. The Pinkie Sense in not random. If Pinkie's tail twitches, then something falls is a valid hypothesis. What Twilight should have done was get a list down of every Pinkie sensation and combo and what it means, attached {{Magitek}} devices to Pinkie to observe her and her predictions for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, and at the end of an extensive study, drawn her conclusion. Maybe even extracted some DNA from Pinkie to have it examined by pony genetics laboratories. Instead, she declares that they don't exist because Pinkie doesn't choose when it happens. You don't choose when your heart beats, but does that mean your heart doesn't beat? It's one thing to try to avoid positive bias by trying to prove yourself wrong, it's another thing to give up the experiment when you can't. |
| 63 | ** @/{{luchog}} The overall episode has a seriously BrokenAesop. It seems to be "Accept whatever your friends tell you, even if it doesn't make any sense, and even if it violates everything you know about how the world works, and don't bother trying to confirm or understand it". The entire episode seems tailor made to promote unquestioning acceptance of pseudoscience and mysticism, attack and invalidate science and skepticism, and portray skeptics as unreasonable or outright idiotic. That's a pretty big wallbanger on it's own; but what makes this truly [[DarthWiki/DethroningMomentofSuck sucktastic]] is that WordOfGod says that they did not actually intend to make that the {{Aesop}}, and admit to the brokenness. |
| 64 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E18TheShowStoppers The Show Stoppers]]" |
| 65 | ** @/OnTheHill: If the episode had centered around the Cutie Mark Crusaders thinking only of their cutie marks and forcing themselves to work at tasks they hate, then alright. That would be one thing. But they're very clearly enthusiastic about the roles they assign themselves -- Scootaloo and Apple Bloom don't want to dance and design sets, respectively, and Sweetie Belle is just flat out afraid to sing in front of a crowd. Even when their lack of natural talents frustrate them, they assist each other and keep on working hard, and in the end they go from a tone-deaf, stumbling, joke of an act to a pretty decent one indeed, stage mishaps aside. Even this wouldn't be so bad if Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, didn't have the stones to walk up to them, cringe when she hears their plans, and begin to ask them if they're "sure" focusing on something other than their innate talents is such a good idea. That she didn't get to finish and possibly crush their enthusiasm is a miracle. Quite frankly, I could go on and on about this one, but the ultimate aesop is "don't ever try new things and don't work to improve yourself. If something doesn't come easily at first, you aren't meant to do it." And that's absolutely sickening. |
| 66 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]" |
| 67 | ** @/DiscoGlacier: That was [[JerkassBall just plain mean]] of the other characters to [[LockedOutOfTheLoop lock Pinkie Pie out of the loop]], seeing [[HeroicBlueScreenOfDeath the emotional distress it was causing her]]. As much as I’d love a good surprise party, the secret should not be so heavily guarded that it convinces the recipient that they are unwanted. The [[HandWave excuse]] “I’d thought she’d be more excited [about the party]” doesn’t really work, as earlier in the episode, the mane cast looked as if they were fearing for their lives when they were defending the secret from an increasingly enraged Pinkie. Worse, [[NoSympathy all of the blame was put on Pinkie for how she felt]], rather than taking into consideration their adamant secret-keeping drove her to this point; a simple “We’re sorry for how you felt” would have worked just fine. If it had one redeeming trait, it did give Pinkie Pie the CharacterDevelopment she needed, but did so in a heart-wrenchingly frustrating way. |
| 68 | ** @/{{Robotnik}}: The same episode, for different reasons. It really calls Pinkie Pie's character into question. No one can be cheerful all the time, but no stable person does... that. She doesn't seem hurt and frustrated as much as downright homicidal; real effort was put into making her look insane, with the music, the disturbing reflection of Applejack in her DeathGlare, and the background changes during her breakdown. To make things worse, it could have had an entirely different, much more appropriate {{Aesop}}; given Pinkie's unintentionally obnoxious behavior at Gummy's party and wanting to throw him another the very next day, the lesson could have been "Sometimes your friends need a break and you need to be a little more considerate. They still like you." |
| 69 | [[/folder]] |
| 70 | |
| 71 | [[folder:Season 2]] |
| 72 | * "The Return of Harmony ([[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 Part 1]] & [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 Part 2]])" |
| 73 | ** @/{{ABRICK}}: I had a lot of complaints about The Return of Harmony two-parter in general, but the one moment that really sucked was when Applejack actually bothered to listen to a bunch of ObviouslyEvil talking apple piles. Note that she wasn't under Discord's control at that point, and she knows that Discord is a master of illusion and deceit powerful enough to take away (or at least create the illusion of taking away) horns and wings from a pony, and yet she does not even consider the talking apples to be untrustworthy or something Discord made. The only way this moment could not be a IdiotBall of ungodly proportions is if Applejack thought Discord wouldn't be stupid enough to make a obvious trap, and even then that's Golden-age Superboy levels of brain fart. |
| 74 | ** @/{{Fantazindy}}: I guess it's pretty mutual around here that the ending was seriously too rushed... and it pretty much shortchanged everybody of what could have been a battle of epic proportions. The only action scene in that episode was really just trying to turn Rainbow Dash back to normal... but other than that, nothing. In fact, the middle showed signs that the whole thing was rushed: they could have made the middle much more emotional, since Twilight losing her 'magic' element would have a rather huge impact to the viewers. Then there was the turning everypony back to normal sequence... which again, was rushed. I can't help but feel relieved this was not the season one finale... it would have shortchanged everybody everywhere from what could have been something exciting and epic. Considering how consistent ''MLP'''s quality is this was a big letdown. |
| 75 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero Lesson Zero]]" |
| 76 | ** Tropers/AimlessMeadering: This one happened in retrospect for me because this whole "Learn a Lesson About Friendship Every Week" thing, we later discover, is supposed to be Celestia's way of getting Twilight ready to be Princess of Friendship. The thing is, Twilight goes insane over it, mind-controls the rest of Ponyville, and causes a ton of problems. Then Celestia shows up, fixes it, and is obviously disapproving... but then Twilight doesn't actually learn why that was wrong thing to do because the rest of her friends rush to blame themselves, and the result is that Celestia makes them do her work for her from now on. So basically, the princess-in-training shows that when she's under pressure from personal responsibility, she will eagerly abuse magic to throw her subjects under the bus if it means a chance of escaping the consequences of her own screwing up, and this never sets her back or requires her to make any kind of amends. She just gets to blame her friends for her failure and make them do her work (which gains them zero credit or benefit except being the friends of somebody important). It's a cute show, but I can't hear any of the ponies talk about friendship (which they do, naturally) without thinking back on this and rolling my eyes so hard they land on boxcars. |
| 77 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Luna Eclipsed]]" |
| 78 | ** @/{{Capsarc}}: What really bugged me about this episode was the fact that Nightmare Night even existed. AlternateCharacterInterpretation aside, Celestia has always been a benevolent, caring ruler, almost to the point of being [[CrystalDragonJesus Crystal Alicorn Jesus]]. The first thing she does when Luna is cured is embrace her, welcome her back to the family and put on a big celebration for her. Then we find out that there's been a holiday that does nothing but turn her sister into a boogeyman who eats children, and for a thousand years Celestia does nothing to try and improve her sister's reputation or preserve her good name. What the hell, Celestia? Sure, you could say that she didn't want to create a revisionist history but there's a difference between a fair treatment of a bad person and outright demonification. |
| 79 | ** {{Tropers/Revelo}}: Pinkie's behavior really got on my nerves in this episode too. Never mind the fact that there had been a celebration in Ponyville to celebrate Luna's redemption ages ago and that everyone bar Twilight and Pinkie seemed to forget that in the meantime. Never mind that Luna surely has had enough time to get used to any changes that happened over a thousand years. The fact that the element of laughter seems to be completely unaware that shes hurting Luna's feelings and having fun at her expensive without coming up to her and explaining just what Nightmare Night is all about just makes it worse, especially that she riles up the children to go along with it becomes hard to swallow when you see how sad Luna is getting at just wanting to fit in, it's insensitive and completely terrible behavior by a pony who is supposed to exist to make others smile. And just when it looks like Twlight is finally going to call her out for that mean behavior she grabs hold of the IdiotBall and declares Pinkie a genius. While scaring can be fun, Twilight would have been completely justified saying to Pinkie "Why didn't you explain that to us at the starting of the celebration?!" It would have made the episode a lot less awkward and made Luna the butt for far less jokes. |
| 80 | ** @/{{Trickymander}}: This is why I hate Pinkie Pie so much. As someone who has been seen as a freak before, I can feel for Luna, and the very fact that Pinkie wanted to scare ponies 'cause of the holiday does not help. Pinkie Pie should have at least some notes that she was hurting Luna; she pretty much scared the whole town, causing them to fear Luna. It reminds me of a rumor spreader that spreads rumors about a new kid, causing him to be lonely. And for what, fun? Uhh, I don't think anyone was having fun but her, so shut up Pinkie Pie. |
| 81 | ** Tropers/{{Blazar}}: The fact that Luna ended up getting the lesson, when the one who really needed it was Pinkie Pie. First of all, it was painfully obvious that Luna had no idea Pinkie's scaremongering was supposed to be all in good fun, and Pinkie's failure to realize just how hurtful she was being went entirely against character given her [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff warning to Rainbow Dash not to prank Fluttershy back in Season 1]], and the implication here is that she either didn't notice how hurt and frustrated Luna was, or she just didn't care. In a way, the fact that Luna managed to have genuine fun joining in later made it worse, since Luna could have been saved a whole lot of hurt if Pinkie had only bothered to tell her the point of Nightmare Night earlier. Given that Pinkie Pie has already had [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury at least]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E15FeelingPinkieKeen two]] missed Aesop about [[PoorCommunicationKills explaining herself]], one would think that the lesson from this episode would be "Don't make fun of someone unless you're sure that she's in on the joke." After tolerating the entire episode, I gave a cheer when it looked like Twilight was finally about to [[WhatTheHellHero deliver it]] -- only to watch in disbelief as she turned around and declared Pinkie a genius, as if the fact that Luna had been hurt didn't matter at all. |
| 82 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E8TheMysteriousMareDoWell The Mysterious Mare Do Well]]" |
| 83 | ** @/McGillicutty: You've gotta love the Aesop, too: if one of your friends isn't living up to your moral standards- or if they're just getting on your nerves- don't talk to them about it; lie to them and attempt to manipulate them into changing their behavior! |
| 84 | ** Tropers/KentuckyTroper1990: Totally concur on this episode. That scene where they sit around, [[ButHeSoundsHandsome rubbing MDW's accomplishments in her face]] to egg her on, was just an exercise in utter dickishness. Real nice friends, they were. |
| 85 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E7MayTheBestPetWin May The Best Pet Win!]]' |
| 86 | ** [[=Nightfurywitch=]]: This is one that seems to have only bothered a handful of people, but I feel like I should comment on it. In this episode Rainbow Dash, seeing that all of the rest of the Mane 6 have pets, wants to get one of her own, so she goes to Fluttershy for help. The two end up holding multiple small talent shows and contests for Rainbow to find the best pet that suits her personality, mainly looking for a flying animal. This all culminates in a big race with the final few pets, during which Rainbow somehow gets her wing pinned under a rock, and a turtle who's been following RD around the whole episode frees her from it. Ignoring the fact that this turtle should NOT be able to push a boulder twice the size of an adult(?) pegasus, Rainbow chooses the turtle as her new pet, naming it Tank. What my personal DMOS is is the scene after the race. The falcon that won is excited to see Rainbow and is super proud, only to sadly slunk away when she chooses Tank. What the Hell writers, why'd you have to make us feel bad for the pet we KNOW RD isn't gonna choose? It's not even like it's their fault, Rainbow was decently far behind them when she got trapped so it's not like any of them could've seen it or even be expected to move the boulder. Plus, even though I don't mind Tank, a falcon would've been such a GREAT pet for RD. Everyone else has pets that fit their personality (AJ has the farm dog Winona, Rarity has pampered Persian cat Opalescense, etc), so I don't see why RD is the one exception. If they made the falcon more huffy and arrogant I wouldn't have minded, but this was an animal doing what you told it to do! |
| 87 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Secret of My Excess]]" |
| 88 | ** @/{{Drgonzo}}: Since no one else here has brought it up, I guess I will: Did anyone else find the premise a little contradictory to Spike's character, especially given the events leading up to the main conflict (Spike extorting presents from people). We open the episode with Spike drooling over a big-ass gem he plans to eat for his birthday, but instead he gives it to Rarity to make her happy. Ok, fair enough, we've established Spike's generous nature. But then he almost immediately turns around and starts demanding presents from everyone in Ponyville. Did Spike hit his head or something in the between giving Rarity the gem and his birthday party? In fairness, I probably would have less of a problem if the scene with the gem had been removed, or rewritten so that Spike told Rarity to fuck off instead of giving her the gem, but it really does seem like Spike becomes a completely different character. |
| 89 | ** Tropers/lilburn2013: Dragons age via greed. What disturbs me about this is that no other sentient species is shown to be so weak to a vice. |
| 90 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes Baby Cakes]]" |
| 91 | ** @/{{Hyperion 5}}: What really annoyed me about this episode is the way in which Pinkie Pie literally threw Twilight out of the shop after Twilight turned up offering to help her with the Cakes. Now, fair enough, Twilight was somewhat condescending to Pinkie, but so what? She clearly didn't mean to, and if I was thrown out (metaphorically) by my friends every time I unintentionally insulted them I'd have pretty much no friends. So basically, Twilight shows up, and volunteers to help Pinkie, something which Pinkie clearly needs, and which Twilight didn't have to do if she hadn't wanted to (remember in the first few episodes of Season 1 when she wanted to do as much as she could on her own without anypony else). And Pinkie's response? To blow an unintentional negative comment out of proportion, and kick Twilight out. If you are offered help when you need it, YOU TAKE IT, rather than trying to go it alone and risking disaster. They even could have put in a lesson about how it's okay to ask for help when you need it (as they did back in Applebuck Season), but no, instead they just made Twilight out to be a jerk, Pinkie out to be irrational, and the whole episode suffered for it. |
| 92 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]" |
| 93 | ** @/PioThePony: There is the plot hole of Equestria's flag when it is first founded. The flag depicts Celestia and Luna circling each other with the moon and the sun. The main problem? At this point, the Princesses may not have even been born or seen Equestria yet. It's implied that they didn't come into power until after they defeated Discord for the first time, either. Perhaps, because it is a play, it's the modern flag, but if that is true, it would be nice to get some kind of confirmation. |
| 94 | ** @/{{Lilfut}}: My main issue with Hearth's Warming Eve was the pacing. It seemed very obvious to me that the writers were rushing for the lesson. In particular, why didn't we get to actually see the peaceful times before the blizzard? Why did they have exactly one summit before deciding to find new frontiers? This was made all the worse by the good elements of the episode -- the [[DeepImmersionGaming Deep Immersion Acting]], the exploring of the {{Verse}}, the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic... Maybe it was ChristmasRushed? |
| 95 | ** @/{{Maniacaldude}}: I really, really despise the historical aspects of this episode, not just because it made no sense whatsoever and doesn't connect to any of the previously established backstories (and I really detested the backstory aspects for "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and "The Return Of Harmony," anyways), and not just because it never bothers to explain how any of this nonsense ties together, but because of the whole idea of the pony races originally having very little tolerance for each other. Basically saying, this felt like a heavy [[FantasticRacism racism undertone]]. In a show targeted towards young kids. The other factors added to my hatred, but since I dislike racism in general, the idea of including the notion of racism in what should be a friendly and funny show about ponies just disgusts me. I might be reading too deep into this, or I might be disappointed about things not going the way I would have wanted them to, but even then, this idea made me lose faith in the people currently running this show. |
| 96 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]]" |
| 97 | ** Tropers/CJCroen1393: I was offended by RD's behavior in the redub. In the original scene, she was noticeably annoyed by Derpy's clumsiness, like we would all expect. In the redub, she's simpering and sympathetic. So Rainbow Dash is allowed to be a jerk to her best friend Pinkie and her good friend Rarity but just because Derpy might have a disability she's exempt? Great job Hasbro. [[BrokenAesop You decided to say that you don't discriminate against disabled people by saying that they need special treatment]]. I have UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome and I honestly don't think Derpy has any mental handicaps (the eyes count as a physical one) but if she did wouldn't be a better Aesop for kids to see that people don't have to get special treatment and always be absolved from blame just because they're different? Honestly, it's this type of thing that causes kids to think that if they pretend to be disabled they'll get to do whatever they want without any consequences. [[AndThatsTerrible And that's just awful.]] |
| 98 | ** @/BrokenShell: For me, it was the sheer absence of effort of the redub! The woman who voiced RD didn't even sound in character! I honestly thought it was a fan dub when I first watched it! I can get over Hasbro erring on the side of caution about the whole Derpy thing, but I can't forgive complete and utter lack of quality. Studio B knew they were screwed either way over this, maybe appearing to give a flying crap about it would've softened the blow? |
| 99 | ** DtheB: I was legitimately pissed off at the revelation that everypony left Rarity and Pinkie Pie to fend for themselves in the desert! That is a move of such profound {{jerkass}}ness that I'm both at a loss for words and wouldn't blame Rarity and Pinkie if they broke off contact with the other four. |
| 100 | ** @/BTIsaac: The pinkie promise. At first Pinkie is genuinely pissed at Applejack, but immediately forgives her after realizing that she didn't [[ExactWords technically]] broke her promise. So what were kids supposed to learn? That it's okay to break a promise as long as you do so via LoopholeAbuse? |
| 101 | ** @/ShiningArmor87: This episode required an ungodly amount of flanderization. One shining example of this was the scene where they use Pinkie as a mean of interrogation to Applejack, a.k.a. she rambles and rambles until Applejack literally begs to confess everything as long as she shuts up. The main problem with this was that it was Rainbow Dash who came up with the idea. The same Rainbow Dash who not only is perfectly unannoyed with Pinkie, but appreciates this aspect of her ("Pinkie Pie, you are so random!" -- RD in Griffon The Brush Off). And later, who was one of the two ponies RD refused to go back to get? Pinkie. And Rarity's last line implied this was deliberate. It required a ton of flanderization to both make RD be so jerky as to do these two things, and to make Pinkie so annoying just so the viewer could see why it drove AJ insane. |
| 102 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]" |
| 103 | ** @/{{RA2}}: So Applejack "didn't learn anything" from the events of this episode? That hardly sounds like something to brag about given what happened today. They claim to value customer relations over getting rich, and yet they let Pinkie Pie buy out a very large portion of their stock. Do the not see the correlation between that and losing the support of the whole town (the Element of Loyalty included)? It's a shame that Applejack abhors "fancy mathematics" so much, because otherwise she would have noticed that the Flim Flam Brothers' offer was actually quite generous. Sure the Apples only keep 25% of profits, but if that machine can more than quadruple their sales (and there's no question it can), they still come out ahead. Not to mention the hundreds of mare-hours that are suddenly freed up. They can go on all day about how machines are evil and all that, but when the alternative is angry customers and barely making ends meet, it's hard to sympathize with their plight. And the economic follies continued in droves, the Flim Flam brothers' threat to compete should not have scared them -- were they not just a second ago bragging about their superior quality? If they're so confident, why not let Ponyville vote with their hooves? Granted it's a dangerous move, but think about it, it makes no sense logistically for the Flim Flams to make good on their threat; between costs of imports and machine maintenance, they'd never be able to undercut the ones who A, can boast "locally grown", B, hold a virtual monopoly on Ponyville's apple supply, and C, are already charging exponentially less than what ponies are willing to pay [[note]]I think it's reasonable to assume that, seeing as demand far exceeds supply, and ponies camp out for days on end to secure a place in line[[/note]]. The only "competition" they can do is to pick up the deadweight loss from the Apple Family. With that in mind, wagering their only leverage is just about the worst move they can make. They almost lost the farm because they foolishly agreed to challenge the Flim Flam brothers on sheer volume rather than quality -- we had already established they couldn't win on that. And the only reason they still own Sweet Apple Acres is because the Flim Flam brothers [[IdiotBall screwed themselves over thrice]], first by not realizing that their lead was probably wide enough that they could still win without sacrificing quality, second by allowing Applejack to change the terms from her family competing to all of Ponyville competing, third by serving the ponies cider from one of the bad barrels made late in production rather than the good barrels made earlier. And her argument about having superior quality is moot, they never actually discredited the machine's quality-control mechanism. How can she be so smug when everything worked out by luck? |
| 104 | ** @/{{Fairfield}}: There is also the issue that her family, the original limits of the competition terms, really didn't win. Only by having her pals join the workforce did Applejack get ahead, and while Flim and Flam were stupid to let Applejack change the terms, Applejack didn't appear much better; the whole thing just seemed selfish of her. At the very least, this episode could have ended with the rather mature Aesop that business competition is good for everyone because it prompts all competitors to try harder, but with Flim and Flam leaving and the Apple Family's monopoly maintained, they will not have such an incentive to overproduce next season and likely be faced with the same shortages. Finally, why are you vilifying industrial consumerist capitalism in a show that wouldn't have existed without it? |
| 105 | ** @/NoTengoDinero: Pinkie Pie. She buys up gallons of cider, all for herself, when she knew that there would likely be a shortage, she then proceeds to rub it in Rainbow Dash's face when she doesn't get any. I know it could be just Pinkie not thinking, but how exactly do you stoop to that level of thoughtlessness towards a friend you've known for such a long time? And this is the pony that's supposed to find joy in making other people happy. |
| 106 | ** @/{{Ogodei}}: I agree. This episode really went out of its way to hate capitalism or the nature of business or something (which means a lot coming from me, who would choose Karl Marx over Ayn Rand any day of the week), but as others on this entry have commented, there was a clear failure on the Apples' part to meet the needs of the market before the Flim Flam Bros came into the picture. The writers went out of their way to make villains of the Flim-Flams in a way that really didn't make sense, playing up the Apples' luddite tendencies in a positive light. It's the Aesop that really hurts the episode, however, with Applejack smugly asserting that she didn't learn a thing, when the episode's real lesson could have been "innovation isn't always a bad thing, but innovation should not be an excuse for greed," because the competitive threat posed by the Flim-Flams forced the Apples to make their system more efficient by hiring outside help, allowing them to meet the demand of the market, but no, StatusQuoIsGod and the Apples' outdated system simply has to be the right way to do things. |
| 107 | ** Shadow200: Honestly, this whole mess could've been avoided if they just limited it to a mug per person as there was still a long list of Ponies who didn't get to any thanks to Pinkamena Diane "Town Drunk" Pie buying up so much and rubbing it in and being smug about it afterwards. WithFriendsLikeThese huh? |
| 108 | ** Arix: So Applejack, you were "right all along"? This comes despite the fact that the machine was clearly producing far more cider in a much faster, more efficient manner than the Apples were - it took the Apples an additional five ponies and having all nine of them working their absolute hardest to even begin to catch up with the machine's capabilities. Which would be okay, if the hoof-made cider was of a noticeably superior quality... which it wasn't. Going by Granny Smith's reaction to trying a cup of the Flim Flam cider during the song, the Flim Flam cider was just as good, if not better, quality (or if it was worse, it was not nearly noticeable enough). The Flim Flam cider only got worse when they had to sacrifice their quality control to keep up the numbers... something that wouldn't happen in a normal business day. So the machine produced more cider, better cider, much more efficiently... and Applejack still believes she was right all along? |
| 109 | ** {{@/jokergirl}}: So, let's count the plot problems here: 1) F&F were never a competition to the Apples, since the Apples were selling out all their stock anyway and still failed to meet demands. 2) Where did F&F's apples come from? The Apple family are the owners of the biggest apple farm in sight. They could have just sold them apples as raw material, or 3) since the F&F cider tasted just as good, they could have made a deal with them to use their technology and share the profits and everyone would be happy. Conclusion: If AJ would have just stopped and considered things for a second instead of going with "They're not us, so they must be evil!!1one!", she could have made a lot of profit from the situation and a valuable ally out of the inventive, hard-working Flim-Flam brothers. |
| 110 | ** {{@/Daethalion}}: For me the moment that broke this episode was the Flim Flam Brothers being handed their DesignatedVillain status by trying to ridiculously shortchange the Apple family with their proposed agreement - I don't care how much of the work the Flim Flams are shouldering to cover production and volume, the simple fact remains that without apples they don't have a product, and it's been clearly demonstrated those apples require a great deal of time and effort to produce at the quality boasted by Sweet Apple Acres. There is no rhyme or reason to demand a 75% take of gross profits except to force the Flim Flams to look like colossal jerks. And if it weren't for such a transparent attempt to abuse a potential business partner, Applejack would have had no ground to stand on for refusing what could have been a fantastic deal for everyone (the Flim Flams, the Apples, and most importantly the ''customers''). This entire episode wouldn't even have happened if the Flim Flams had been written as though they had even a lick of sense. What really makes this tragic, for me at least, is that the Flim Flam Brothers were actually very well designed characters. They had a great song, a neat concept, and a unique flavor, but they had to be one and done because the producers wanted to use them for an unnecessary and badly delivered Aesop. |
| 111 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E18AFriendInDeed A Friend In Deed]]" |
| 112 | ** {{@/animefanboy67}}: I love Pinkie a lot and I think she can do no wrong. I thought everything was great. It had a great song and everything, and then came in Cranky. The things that happened from that point on with her and Cranky really went downhill. She was acting more crazy than normal, trying to get this stranger to like her. Next time, she should take Twilight's advice and leave someone alone. To sum it all up, this is one of the episodes where Pinkie went through {{flanderization}}. |
| 113 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown Putting Your Hoof Down]]" |
| 114 | ** @/PsiBasilisk: There are a lot of problems with this episode, but for brevity I'll focus on the set up. The episode starts off with Angel the bunny slapping Fluttershy in the face because he was unhappy with the salad she gave him. Angel has been impatient before and even bratty at times, but he was never a domestic abuser. Anyways, Fluttershy has to go out and get ingredients to make this insanely complex salad Angel wants. What follows is basically a cringe worthy Humiliation Conga for poor Fluttershy, as literately all the background ponies become jerkasses for no reason and push her around, cut in front of her, jack up prices for ingredients to a ridiculous extreme (10 bits, and later 20 for one cherry!) and insult her. This results in Angel throwing Fluttershy out of her own house because she couldn't make the damn salad perfectly since she couldn't buy the overpriced cherry (please note that everything else about the salad was perfect, it just didn't have a cherry). This horrid scenario was probably done so that Fluttershy would be motivated to go to an assertiveness training class but honestly it seems that the writers forgot what show they were writing. Why is Angel such a violent Jerkass to Fluttershy when he has been protective of her in the past? Why does everyone hate Fluttershy all of a sudden? Fluttershy has never been the most assertive pony but she was never tormented to this extent by so many characters at once. There have been mean characters on the show but they were the exception, not the rule. |
| 115 | ** Tropers/MaroxXIII: What has me writing this entry is the entire scene where [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech she's chewing out Pinkie Pie and Rarity.]] Not just berating them but attacking them verbally where it hurts the most: their lives. Calling their destined pursuits "frivolous?" Telling them they're wasting their lives on something so unimportant that nopony gives a flying [[CurseCutShort fuc]]-oh right, feather about? Excuse me Ms. [[FanNickname Flutterbrute]], but that's how they make a living, [[FridgeLogic compared to being shut-up in a cottage taking care of animals for no profit.]] I know this episode was to show off how bad it is to go overboard with being assertive and whatnot, but the whole scene just feels waayyy out of place for Fluttershy to say. (Seeing Pinkie Pie and Rarity run away with a face full of tears didn't help matters either.) Even though justified through her assertiveness training, she's not the kind of pony to belittle and mentally break her friends. Overall, not only was the scene cringe-inducing, but handled very poorly. This really put FS down on my pony tier list for me, and the episode ultimately leaves a sour taste in my mouth. |
| 116 | ** Tropers/LordDarkcaller: What made me a bit upset was the fact that they made a nerd [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking joke]] in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! I mean, come on! This isn't a Disney/Nickelodeon sitcom! I watch this show to get away from those jokes! That really took me by surprise and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. |
| 117 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest Dragon Quest]]" |
| 118 | ** @/{{Mihotheneko}}: Am I the only one who thinks that the dragons felt like a particularly mean [[TakeThat Take That]] at people who don't like the show? I dunno, watching it, the entire thing just felt like the writer's were going "[[ThisLoserIsYou Here's a group of guys who don't like Ponies.]] [[ChaoticStupid All they do is stupid dares all day.]] If you like ponies they'll make fun of you and ridicule you." |
| 119 | ** @/{{terlwyth}}: This episode could've had sooo much potential, except that only the teenagers noticed Spike, and since there wasn't an authority to claim the traditions, we don't know if those teens were trolling Spike or completely honest, and then the Mane Cast rescue Spike and the whole thing gets forgotten after retrieving the Phoenix egg. |
| 120 | ** @/{{Fossilsdadada}}: Same for me, for both the above, and one other reason: During Spike's scared little ramble with Twilight in the beginning episode about where he came from and who he is, the first thought that came into my head was that we were finally, finally, [[GeneHunting going to meet Spike's parents]], find out how he got into that basket at Celestia's place, and, being a huge dragon fan in general, maybe be given a little more insight on what the culture of the dragons of this show is like. And so, after getting myself more excited than I've been since The Return of Harmony that we were finally going to be given a [[TearJerker tearjerking]]/SugarWiki/{{heartwarming|Moments}} backstory on one of my favorite characters, I was given... an episode about bad influences from teenage, male dragons. I was disappointed. Very. |
| 121 | ** @/{{Edman 24}}: You have to love the FantasticRacism here, too. It was noticeable in this series before, but here it's pretty much hammered hard. One group of Dragons are immature jerks, so that means all dragons are a waste of time with Spike rejecting who he is. There have been several instances of Ponies being obnoxious jackasses (Including the Mane 6), so can we automatically write off ponies as being jackasses? There's ReptilesAreAbhorrent, and then there's just insulting my intelligence. |
| 122 | ** @/{{batmany}}: The ending was the DMOS for me. To make a long story short, Spike "adopts" a baby phoenix (named "Peewee") after refusing to smash the egg said phoenix was in. Oh, did I say "adopt"? The correct term is "kidnap". I know this is supposed to parallel Spike beieng raised by ponies. But, there's one little problem with this. It's explicitly stated that no one knows where Spike came from (which means either his parents are dead, or they abandoned him (most likely by accident). Spike, on the other hand, knows who Peewee's parents are and could've easily given them their offspring back. Hey, Spike? I think you should return Peewee to his parents and write a letter to Celestia on why kidnapping is not a good lesson to teach the kids at home. [[note]]I know the show addresses this in season three, but at the time this was aired, there was no indication such would happen.[[/note]] |
| 123 | ** @/{{Psi 001}}: When Rainbow Dash tries to get Fluttershy to watch the dragon migration, she tramples her, saying "I said NO!" It may have worked better if they hadn't given Rainbow Dash another blatant JerkassHasAPoint moment just beforehand by pointing out Fluttershy had previously dragged her to the Butterfly Migration in a near identical scenario (except RD begrudingly suffered it in silence) and what was supposed to look like RD goading her past breaking point was just her pointing her out as a {{Hypocrite}}. That was the thing that outraged Fluttershy to the point of violence? Really? |
| 124 | ** @/{{WildKatGirl}}: To me, the lesson of this episode seems a bit confused. On one hand, it seems to be saying 'be proud of your background and where you come from, and don't let people disrespect them' as Spike's pony background is mocked by the dragons. However, this can't be the case, as the entire dragon species is written off as being a bunch of cruel [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]], and it is shown Spike should not be proud of being a dragon. On the other hand, it seems to be saying 'your species/family/place you come from doesn't matter at all; you can be anything you want to be despite your background', as Spike is shown that it doesn't matter that he is a dragon, and he can still live as a pony if he prefers. However, this can't be the case either, as again, all dragons apart from Spike are tarred with the same brush, and it is shown that dragons cannot be who they want to be, and must be horrible people unless they completely abandon their species all together. In the end, the moral seems to be 'it doesn't matter who your family is, except it does if you were raised by ponies, as they are the epitome of perfection, while dragons are arseholes. You should defend and protect your pony family from mockery, but not your dragon one, because all dragons bar one (who has abandoned his species) are not worth your love and affection'. Overall, the entire episode comes across as a case of FantasticRacism favouring ponies over dragons. As someone who adores dragons, this treatment upsets me, and seems especially jarring in a programme about friendship and tolerance. |
| 125 | "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E23PonyvilleConfidential Ponyville Confidential]]" |
| 126 | ** @/{{Calamity 2007}}: This episode has a serious problem with it. The episode starts out good enough with the Cutie Mark Crusaders looking for another way to get their cutie marks and deciding to join the newspaper, who is headed by [[JerkAss Diamond Tiara]] who after writing about an embarrassing incident involving Snips and Snails wants them to write gossip stories under the guise Gabby Gums; eventually the townspeople gets upset when the privacy is invaded. This all goes downhill when Rarity finds out the truth about Gabby Gums, and suddenly everyone in Ponyville treats the CMC like outcasts! This goes to ridiculous proportions when Applejack refuses to talk to even her own sister (besides for "yeps" and "nopes") while Big Mac literally tells her to "Go away!" and Rainbow Dash literally putting a raincloud over their heads! It was horrible to see three children go through this stuff and also jarring since earlier the three have shown that they're starting to regret gathering these stories and are mostly because of peer pressure and blackmail. Sure everything ends fine in the end and it didn't ruin me from enjoying the episode but it's still shocking that the "adult" ponies could treat children this way. |
| 127 | ** @/LaundryLaudanum: There is an obvious line between being reasonably upset at someone and acting like a petulant child when you're a full-grown adult. I can understand Rarity's and even Applejack's reasons for their bitterness towards the trio (having your own sister saying such things about you publicly is undoubtedly an awful experience, and reading someone's personal diary is never okay), but to go so far as for every single citizen of Ponyville to completely shun and in some cases verbally lambast them? I don't think they did anything abhorrent enough to deserve such a punishment. Overreaction, much? |
| 128 | ** @/{{Moguera}}: While the reactions of the various ponies don't bother me so much, what does bother me is the Aesop that is missed by all the supposed adults in the series; namely that most of them clearly enjoyed Gabby Gums and passed off the gossip as harmless fun until it was their butts on the firing line. They seemed apparently unable to relate cause and effect and fail to realize that their demand is what caused Gabby Gums to go out of control. And while the episode ends with the CMC learning their lesson and Diamond Tiara getting her comeuppance, there seems to be no lesson learned by the other ponies who essentially encouraged the victimization of their neighbors until it was their turn. Talk about hypocrisy. |
| 129 | ** @/GamePak: "It's okay to gossip, but when you gossip about me, I'll ostracize you, and everyone else should, too!" was the moral of this episode. I seriously consider this episode to be the worst My Little Pony creation in the world. Even G3 was better than this episode. |
| 130 | * "A Canterlot Wedding ([[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 Part 1]] & [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E26ACanterlotWeddingPart2 Part 2]])" |
| 131 | ** @/{{Wiresandstuff}}: I was concerned about how the second season finale would turn out, with it apparently introducing two new Mary Sue-ish characters with [[RememberTheNewGuy shoehorned life-long connections to Twilight]], but I had faith in the production team and hoped for the best. It seemed my fears had been quelled by the mid-point of part 2, with the introduction of a menacing new antagonist complete with villain song, and possibly one of the best action sequences of the whole series. What irked me about this episode, however, was the way in which the conflict was resolved; with Princess Celestia and the mane six captured and changelings running rampant around Canterlot, Cadance and Shining Armour use their love for one another to fuel a shockwave that sends all the changelings flying out of the city (Queen Chrysalis allows them to do this, scoffing at the concept despite using that same love moments ago to defeat Celestia). Now my problem isn't the use of the PowerOfLove in and of itself (as if the PowerOfFriendship as any less sappy), but with the Elements of Harmony, at least we got to see Twilight bond with each of her friends and learn about their virtues. Here, we're given two undeveloped characters, told they love each other because, um, they're both nice, and their love is powerful enough to set off the spell. I think the writers did their best with what they were given to work with, but this just feels like a really lame way to wrap things up. |
| 132 | ** @/{{Allsmileysfly}}: For me, A Canterlot Wedding was the Dethroning Moment because it felt very out of character for Twilight to storm into the wedding rehearsal and accuse Cadance of being evil, considering that in the last episode she solved Pinkie's dessert mystery by not leaping to conclusions! I suppose it might be justified because Shining Armor was her brother and she seemed to be protective of him, but still. |
| 133 | ** @/Umbrage: The worst thing (for me) is that most of the problems could've been avoided if they just didn't involve the other Mane 5 past the opening scene. First of all, they were awkwardly shoehorned into the plot (Cadance didn't have a dress made until a day before the wedding?). The RememberTheNewGuy stuff would've been fine if they actually took the time to give Shining Armor and Cadance some quality screen time and character development. Instead we get scenes from the non-Twilight cast that waste most of the first episode, and for what? So they can act like jerks to Twilight and do a fight scene that while cool, is ultimately useless to the plot. It would've been better if they cut them out and focused on the new characters, maybe give Luna some time in the spotlight too. As great as the fight scene was, I'd gladly trade it to see the royal sisters fighting side by side. |
| 134 | ** @/{{Eyeshield}}: The worst part for me was when the Mane 6 and Celestia abandon Twilight. SA gets a pass because mind control. Maybe Rarity and Fluttershy, because they're generosity and kindness. But Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who are the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty, abandoning Twilight without even asking why she questioned her own foalsitter on her brother's wedding? And then Celestia, fucking Celestia, her mother figure, just dismissing her? No! It would become halfway believable if Chrysalis wasn't an enormous jerk, but she was. I can take Shiny and Cadance. But this moment, regrettably one of the most popular due to the emotions it evokes (I can understand this...), was pretty much the worst of the wedding. |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Season 3]] |
| 138 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E3TooManyPinkiePies Too Many Pinkie Pies]]" |
| 139 | ** Sothalic: It doesn't matter how many times the implications of what happened to the clones hit by Twilight's spell are theorized upon, and what would had happened if the real Pinkie was hit, the fact remains the supposedly well-taught and careful pony fired a dangerous, perhaps even lethal spell with reckless abandon without any safety measures. No secondary test in case the last Pinkie turned out to be braindead and unable to react to anything, no study of the effects of the spell. Twilight assumed the real Pinkie, a friend she is supposed to know isn't known for her willpower and focus would, faced with the threat of banishment/death, act as she told her. Switch the banishment spell for a gun and we've got something that looks like a particularly vicious trap from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series. Twilight wasn't acting anywhere near what she should had, no safeties, no second thoughts at banishing the real one, just fire away, over and over, and expect your friend to "Win" the game. |
| 140 | ** gophergiggles: To me, this episode was downright terrifying. This could have been the premise for a psychological horror. Firstly, it's troubling that they used a test that the real Pinkie Pie stood a very good chance of losing instead of, say, simply questioning them or even studying the behavior of the clones which acted ridiculously different than the real one. Yeah, Pinkie Pie is annoying and energetic at times, but never that bad. Secondly, how Twilight was just so comfortable zapping the clones into oblivion. The episode very clearly established the clones were fully sentient and had a full range of emotions; they simply were [[ReallyWasBornYesterday born only a few hours ago]] and so they hadn't had time to learn what was and wasn't okay and simple right and wrong the way the real Pinkie Pie did. In a show where fantasy creatures are the norm and so much emphasis is put on friendship and acceptance that the bloody spirit of chaos and disharmony gets a chance at redemption, it was downright jarring to see a group of creatures flat-out obliterated just because they weren't "real" and the ponies couldn't be bothered to try to teach them to control themselves. |
| 141 | ** yunatwilight: It becomes even worse when you work in that Pinkie Pie probably can't help being the way she is; she's arguably disabled, showing signs of ADHD at the very least. Considering that the clones were seriously asking questions like "What's Ponyville?" devising a real test for the real Pinkie would have been easy. ("What's your Element?" "Where do you live?" "What's my name?") She even comments that all the Pinkies are identical -- when there's a freaked-out Pinkie right there, crying about how she no longer knows who she is any more, behaving completely differently from all the rest! But she doesn't even try. Instead, Twilight devises a test that won't find the real Pinkie Pie... but will find the least disabled one for sure. Being autistic, I found that idea terrifying. |
| 142 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E4OneBadApple One Bad Apple]]" |
| 143 | ** @/{{AmicidiBeowulf}}: The most frustrating thing is how wrong Bab's FreudianExcuse is handled: she showed to be an even bigger bitch than Gilda, not to mention a DirtyCoward who backstabbed the three who were more than willing to be friends with her (bonus points in vileness for one of them being her relative) out of fear of two bullies... when she and the [=CMCs=] were outnumbering said bullies 2-1. Of course they're pissed at her, but then Applejack [[AssPull ass-pulls]] out a last-minute sob-story and they immediately forgive her for all of the abuse. It fails the aesop because the FreudianExcuse is supposed to explain why a character is a Jerkass or is evil, not to be a moral free-pass. If they were informed earlier and confronted Babs about that, resulting in her having a CharacterDevelopment and apologizing, that would have been a good episode, instead it fails to deliver. |
| 144 | ** @/AnsemPaul: For me the warped Aesop: Kids, if you tell a teacher or your parent all the bullying will instantly cease! Which fridge logic tells you will be immediately broken with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. But it gets better. "Never try to fight back against a bully or that will make you just as bad, even if you've been physically assaulted several times! The adults will handle it, and if they don't... too bad!" I really hope the person who wrote this had been homeschooled or something, because dear gawd, that is a terrible, terrible lesson. |
| 145 | ** @/FatPat: The ending of this episode upsets me more than anything else on the show. We just learned that you shouldn't handle bullies by being a bully yourself. So what do our protagonists do when Diamond and Silver show up? Push them in the mud, which we literately just learned not even five minutes ago is the wrong thing to do. A well written ending would have had the the CMC question why Diamond and Silver are so mean and resolve to find out and try to befriend them. Instead status quo is hung on to, even though it defeats to entire purpose of the whole episode. |
| 146 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel Magic Duel]]" |
| 147 | ** Shmelluloid Studios: Something about this episode just didn't sit well with me. Not the episode as a whole mind you, I liked the idea of Trixie coming back and being a legit threat. But what ended up bothering me was the ending, Twilight's solution to the whole problem. She's angry at Trixie for cheating, wants to defeat her in the name of honor and decency, and what does she do? She cheats to defeat her, using smoke and mirrors, special makeup effects and help from all her friends. And Trixie just suddenly decides to be good because Twilight cheated. Um... hooray? |
| 148 | ** AquamarineGavial: Trixie's "redemption" during the last few seconds of the episode seems to me to be one of the most insincere and pandering moments (in this case towards the DracoInLeatherPants type of Trixie-fan) in the franchise. I don't like the character much to begin with, but at least in Boast Busters, I can see she got a disproportionate punishment, and for the most part she's a decent villain here. But then there's a pointless subplot about how the amulet is actually corrupting her and, almost literally at the last second, we get a blink-and-you'll-miss-it apology scene. We're supposed to consider it consistent that five seconds of the character acting like a decent pony who made a bad decision would fit with: one episode of her being a MilesGloriosus liar and remorseless bully who suddenly fled town when it became obvious she was a SmallNameBigEgo, and; a second episode where she seeks revenge (for an upstaging she herself set up) in the face of warnings with an amulet that - for all the fuss over its MoreThanMindControl properties - essentially did what she wanted it to do anyway. Heck, she was still aggressive even after it was removed and the mind-control eyes went out, by attacking Rainbow Dash with a (weak) AgonyBeam. But even with that minimal setup, the EasilyForgiven scene feels so perfunctory, insubstantial (she does nothing to make amends, for example), and different from what went on before, and was so frankly disposable, that it seems like it was added only to whitewash her character in a highly unsatisfactory way, which is what makes it a dethroning moment for me. |
| 149 | ** TheCastawayPariah: The way this episode treated Pinkie is disgusting. Trixie doesn't return her mouth even though she restored everyone else and no one protests this, and on top of that the episode acts like everything's okay at the end, even though Pinkie STILL hasn't been cured. It spat in the face of both Pinkie and what the show is supposed to be about. Even though Pinkie helped get her sorry flank back into Ponyville, Twilight doesn't care enough to put her mouth back on at the earliest opportunity. [[SarcasmMode Hooray for the magic of friendship!]] The fact that Trixie comes back again later on in the show and is portrayed sympathetically doesn't help either and completely put me off from watching the show any longer. Sorry but you cannot have it that a character's problem is casually swept under the rug and then still [[InformedAttribute pretend that this show promotes good messages about friendship.]] So good-fucking-bye, MLP. I am officially done with you. Time to go watch [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls other]] [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse cartoons]] that had some actual thought put into them. Hope the cheap fourth wall gag was worth it, you shitty hack writers. |
| 150 | ** Tropers/{{AliceTheGorgon}}: While this entire episode is a slap in the face to Trixie with how idiotic and easily manipulable it portrays her to be, the pièce de résistance comes at the end. In the ending of ''Boast Busters'', Trixie runs off into the night, with a cloud of smoke, loudly proclaiming her greatness. Just as bombastic as ever, and completely undeterred by the night's happenings [[note]](or reverting to her stage persona as she struggles to come to grips with the complete destruction of her home and livelihood, depending on your point of view)[[/note]]. In ''Magic Duel'', it takes what was Trixie's crowning moment of stubborn defiance, and as she begins running off it makes her immediately fall flat on her face. Cementing the episode's depiction of Trixie as nothing more than a buffoon to be laughed at. It would be almost poetic if it wasn't so insulting. |
| 151 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E10SpikeAtYourService Spike At Your Service]]" |
| 152 | ** @/NoSpoilersPlz: We get a rather surprisingly decent build up to what we believe will be an epic showdown rivaling that of the one at the beginning of the episode with this huge timberwolf. [[AntiClimaxBoss And then they chuck a pebble down its throat.]] That's literally all that happens. The damn thing isn't even on screen for thirty seconds. It's the kind of wasted potential that makes an episode hard to watch more than once. |
| 153 | ** @/{{Ecthudan}}: What makes this episode even worse is how at the end the [[{{Chickification}} Mane 6 completely panicked when the Timberwolves attacked, even though they have faced much worse threats]]. I'm absolutely sure that if they managed to take out Discord, Nightmare Moon and deal with the various monsters in the Everfree Forest from the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsofHarmony show's pilot]], they should also have been able to deal with the Timberwolves easily. But instead, the Mane 6 become completely helpless [[DamselinDistress damsels in distress]] and it's somehow up to [[DesignatedHero Spike]] to save Applejack, which [[AssPull I just don't buy for even one second]]. |
| 154 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks "Just for Sidekicks"]] |
| 155 | ** @/{{Trickquestion}}: After putting up with all of Angel Bunny's typical bad behavior and learning a lesson about letting greed and gluttony overwhelm him (a lesson rather out of character for the honorable hard worker seen in the last Spike episode) Spike absentmindedly eats his last gem, which he had intended to bake in a gem cake. After he had learned his lesson and gone through the wringer. This kind of cruelty being played for comedy may be at home in shows like ''Ed, Edd and Eddy'', but is completely out of place here and goes against everything Friendship is Magic stands for. |
| 156 | ** Tropers/CaellachTigerEye: For me, it's the fact that for no good (given, at least) reason, he's not invited to the Crystal Empire with the girls. Even though he was critical in saving it from King Sombra last time. Just so we can have two back-to-back episodes (not that I dislike the idea, but we could've had a better reason than... well, what currently stems as no reason). Jeez Cadance, [[SarcasmMode way to show some gratitude]]! Show him a little respect, already -- Spike deserved to come to the Crystal Empire more than any of the Mane Six besides maybe Twilight! |
| 157 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay Games Ponies Play]]" |
| 158 | ** @/{{Alue14}}: This is actually the first time I felt sucked during this ep. After almost a whole season, we get to see Cadance again. You would pretty much think that they finally were going to tell us how she became an alicorn or how her youth was besides the foal sitter of Twilight and stuff like that, but nope: They spend the whole episode with Rarity trying to make her fucking ceremonial headdress! Like we fucking care! I haven't felt this before, but it's becoming clearer and clearer that Cadance's role in the future episodes will contain of nothing more than for her to stand around, be pretty and wave her hooves or hand or whatever! I'm beginning to think that Cadance will be like her two aunts. TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot and FanficFuel indeed! Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, of course... |
| 159 | ** @/{{Kubu}}: And the plot! By the founders, it's the most clichéd drivel to be ever passed off as an episode of Friendship is Magic. It's just another mistaken identity comedy of errors, and it's not even done well. The plot revolves around the Mane 6 failing to realise that the mare they tour around the Empire isn't the mare they're looking for, but it doesn't work for these reasons: One, why would you send people off to collect a VIP and only tell them that they'll be carrying a floral suitcase? That's not exactly an obscure pattern for luggage. You're just asking for them to mix things up. Two; the green-maned pony has a chicken for a cutie mark. The Mane 6 were given plenty of opportunity to make a note of that, so why did they assume a pony with poultry as a special talent would have anything to do with a sports ceremony? Three; when a character who has been established as cold and stuffy is prancing around the town with excitement, you do not assume she is tricking you; you assume you have the wrong mare. And it never occurs to them to just ask their guest until they've wasted the whole day trying to impress her. So, in summary, the entire setup of the episode relies on smart mares acting like total morons. |
| 160 | ** {{Tropers/GenkiMan}}: Something that also bugged me is the mare they mistake for Ms Harshwhinny is she's [[NoNameGiven never given a name]], instead the fandom gave her fan names such as "Ms Peachbottom" or "Chickadee". I wouldn't mind if it were just another background pony, but this is a pony we basically spend the entire episode with. Even when Twilight asks her if she's Ms Harshwhinny, instead of saying "No my name is X" she just tilts her head in confusion. Writers, if you're going to introduce a character and have the episode focus on them, at least give them a name. |
| 161 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]" |
| 162 | ** @/SpaghettiBoy: Honestly, the episode really really made me think "... Seriously Hasbro?" No, it's not because of the whole "Twilight Sparkle is an Alicorn" thing... but I was really unnerved by the singing voices. I know they sometimes have different voices for the voice actors when they sing... but what some other companies (like Disney) understand that Hasbro apparently doesn't is that if it's going to be a musical, the singing voices shouldn't sound like completely different people. Only Pinkie Pie and Celestia seemed to be even somewhat consistent, and even then, it was mostly Pinkie. I know it's not the fault of the voice actors, but come on. |
| 163 | ** @/{{Therizino}}: I was mainly pissed at this episode because, like others think, it was rushed. I know that writers are doing their best, but honestly, my main problem is the way they handled [=AliTwilight=]: they didn't give us enough input. Practically all the marketing was based around it, and they just shoehorn it in at the last few minutes. I'm not objecting to the design and I'm not objecting to Twi becoming a princess, but I am objecting to them making the fandom worried, because we have no clue what her life is gonna be like: is she gonna live in Ponyville still? Is she actually princess of anything? Is her becoming an Alicorn going to affect her life in any way whatsoever? We have no clue, and in my opinion the writers should have taken the time to answer these questions. I know this is just the beginning of a 3-parter, but still. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Season 4]] |
| 167 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E5FlightToTheFinish Flight to the Finish]]": |
| 168 | ** Tropers/SoulfulGinger17: Personally, this was a SoOkItsAverage episode overall, but I'd feel better if I got this off my chest: This would have been a great episode for Scootaloo to earn her Cutie Mark. After all the CharacterDevelopment she's gotten, she's finally earned it, but [[SarcasmMode nope, because then the Spotlight Stealing Squad loses their gimmick.]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Come on, one of the [=CMC=] earns her Mark, and could be a great assistance to helping her friends earn theirs?]] There's no way the viewers would like that! So instead as always in this show, StatusQuoIsGod is invoked. We are now four seasons in, and these girls are still no closer to getting their Cutie Marks than they were when they started. It's like Ash from Pokemon winning a non-filler tournament, I'm getting less and less optimistic about this subplot. Sorry if this is too ranty, but I'm really growing tired of this subplot. |
| 169 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E7Bats Bats!]]" |
| 170 | ** Tropers/{{Ezekiel}}: Not for the first time, this episode features Applejack getting screwed over by her friends and then apologizing for it. Fluttershy is thoroughly wrong in this episode on more than one level and yet the writers choose to use all possible imagery to portray her as being right. She makes multiple claims that neither she nor the audience has any way of knowing are true. Bear in mind, tending apple trees is both Applejack's job and her passion. She has a secondhand account of how disastrous the bats can be from Granny Smith, while Fluttershy admits she has no experience with the creatures. Applejack is not illiterate, so there's no way she wouldn't have studied these pests knowing what a threat they could be. Add to all this, any experts in the audience won't be backing Fluttershy because in real life, fruit bats are extremely destructive and can wipe out an entire orchard, with no long-term benefits to be had. But even allowing the assumption that Fluttershy's statements were true, her advice is still completely impracticable, as she urges Applejack to think of the long-term instead of the short-term. It has been established that the farm depends on all available revenue, to the extent that a modest decrease in profits from cider sales alone would put them under; she can't afford to give up any of her orchard to the bats, and yet that's exactly what she does because apparently putting the farm that keeps an entire town from starving before the comfort disease-ridden tree-killing vermin makes you a bad friend. |
| 171 | ** Tropers/{{Deadpan29}}: Adding to the points raised above, many of the benefits listed by Fluttershy would be benefical only to trees in the wild, not a commercial apple orchard. Trees in an orchard are generally planted in specific locations for specific reasons. Having bats spread seeds randomly would be counter productive. Additionally, trees in a commercial orchard are normally grown fron cuttings, not seeds, to preserve a desired set of characteristics. Growing a tree from a seed is a lot of time and effort for a genetic crapshoot when it comes to the fruit the tree will eventually produce. |
| 172 | ** Toggaf: I found this to be hands down the worst episode in the series. What started out as an excellently well-presented and believable rift between the group of friends and could potentially have become one of the best turmoils to present in a childrens show was subsequently ditched by using magic. And by magic I actually mean they decide to just brainwash the bats instead by taking away the significant part of their being. What follows is an extremely lazy and dull 12 minutes of Fluttershy flying back and forth. But my main emphasis is how despite presenting a balanced argument on how to treat the bats at the beginning of the episode which causes a rift between the group was quickly resolved by resorting to the morally bankrupt decision of brainwashing the helpless animals. |
| 173 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E10RainbowFalls Rainbow Falls]]" |
| 174 | ** ChaosHeart77: For me the worst part was Spitfire and the other Wonderbolt's treatment of Soarin. They didn't bother to check if he would be okay in time for the race, they just blew him aside in favor of a potentially better flier. So they basically prioritized winning the race over their [[WithFriendsLikeThese "friend's"]] feelings. They, Spitfire in particular, did seem to learn their lesson at he end, but because they came up with that little scheme in the first place, I wouldn't blame Dash if Spitfire (and the Wonderbolts as a whole by extension) became a [[BrokenPedestal broken pedestal]] for her after that. |
| 175 | * "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E11ThreesACrowd Three's A Crowd]]" |
| 176 | ** Tropers/{{HeyMama555}}: The problem I had with this episode was that it had all this build up [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot that went absolutely nowhere]]. As soon as [[MadGod Discord]] arrived, I knew he had to have ulterior motives. Then when the [[MacGuffin plant]] was mentioned, I figured that either it would hold some power that Discord wanted, or that there was a specific reason why Discord wanted the two Princesses at the very edge of Equestria. So Twilight and Cadance pull out the plant, have [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome an epic fight with a monster]], bring the plant back to Discord... and then we find out that Discord was faking sick and did everything [[JerkAss just so he could ruin Twilight and Cadance's day together]]. Now granted, Discord is a TricksterGod, so it's not unlike to pull stunts, but in the past, he at least had a reason, whether it be to break the Element Bearers (The Return of Harmony), to set himself free (Keep Calm and Flutter On), or to teach the mane six about [[ThePowerofFriendship The Power of Friendship]] (Princess Twilight Sparkle), but here he did it just so he could be a dick and ruin Twilight's day. Even for the God of Chaos, that seems a little childish and pointless. |
| 177 | ** Tropers/{{Yellow Apelsz}}: I thought the episode was alright, I wasn't the biggest fan of it but I didn't think it was bad. The only thing that really bothered me about the episode was Pinkie Pie. Yes, she's weird. Yes, she's over the top. Yes, she's hyperactive. But a fucking balloon distracts her from talking to Fluttershy. A fucking balloon is how she's written out of the episode, and her parting line is "I wonder where these keep coming from" or something like that when she fucking [[EpicFail saw Discord make it.]] No. Pinkie is a kook, she is strange, she is absentminded at times, but she is NOT stupid. That alone soured my viewing, and I'm sure I actually would've liked the episode a lot more, despite its flaws, but the way Pinkie was handled in this episode just killed it for me. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Season 5]] |
| 181 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E5TanksForTheMemories Tanks For The Memories]] |
| 182 | ** Tropers/{{Arachnos}}: In regards to Dash acting like Tank is dying... it seems like the episode might have been an allegory trying to introduce the concept of "coping with death" to the kids but it was... quite poorly executed, to say the least. |
| 183 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E12AmendingFences Amending Fences]] |
| 184 | ** zoopyDoopy: The real DMOS for me was later on, when Twilight realises it was her turning down going to the party that caused Moondancer to clam up. For me that's a problem because 1. Twilight WAS doing something more important - she went on to stop Nightmare Moon and 2. the episode (in Twilight and Moondancer's reactions) put all the blame for Moondancer shutting down on Twilight. This isn't helped by the fact that Twilight, in all the flashbacks with Moondancer as foals, is never shown as being like her friend, just her classmate. Apart from that one photograph Spike took, Twilight is never shown spending time (or wanting to spend time) with Moondancer outside of class. In these scenes and episode 1, in which Moondancer doesn't even appear (we'll get back to that), Twilight behaves like an acquaintance and not a friend, and her not even being able to remember her supposed 'friends' names says volumes. In other words, the episode makes it seem as though introversion and preferring other hobbies/pursuits to making friends is always wrong, as there will always be that one person who takes it personally and makes their feelings your responsibility even if you were ''always civil'' to them (as Twilight was) and never did anything to give them the false idea that you were interested in friendship. Saying Twilight had a reputation as a bad friend feels unearned - a bad friend would be someone who pretended like they were someone's friend and agreed to go to [insert social event here], only to blow it off. ''Twilight didn't do that''. To make matters worse, this party that was a big deal to Moondancer, that she herself threw? She didn't invite Twilight to it personally, all the other ponies did, which made it seem more like the invite was given in passing, rather than how the episode played it (that Moondancer really wanted Twilight in particular to show up). Not to mention, Moondancer had three other attendees all quite willing to be her friend! For her meltdown to be sympathetic I really needed more in the episode between her and Twilight, because as it is it resembles Starlight Glimmer syndrome in reactions/character writing. The intended aesop is obviously well-intentioned: be considerate of other's feelings, even if it's something you think is no big deal yourself, but it's done to the extent that the series is implying you have to take total responsibility for other's feelings even at the cost of your own personal preferences (lone wolf Twilight, if they'd let her stay that way, obviously preferred her own space and books over a lot of studying, which I think is totally fine in moderation and is something the show has tried to represent before in a Friend Indeed). Introverts are often made the bad guy in shows, or have to change fundamentally, and this was just another example of it in how Twilight's old self is treated. The sole saving grace for me was the other ponies reacting more appropriately to Twilight's apology, and the great character animation in Twilight's expressions that show how much her confidence has grown. |
| 185 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E14CanterlotBoutique Canterlot Boutique]] |
| 186 | ** Tropers/NoodleSuarez: While as an episode itself, it was mostly decent/alright, but the part near the end where they show the heavier set pony as needing clothes for her size and it's PlayedForLaughs. What?!??! Can we PLEASE stop using heavy set people as a prop for a bad joke? That was extremely mean spirited. |
| 187 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark Crusaders Of The Lost Mark]] |
| 188 | ** fanboy95: It's not that the episode was a musical (though admittedly I didn't particularly care for the songs) or that the CMC got their Cutie Marks as it at least means that the writers decided that their conflict dragged on long enough, but the fact that the episode expects us to feel sorry for [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] just because the writers [[AssPull pulled out the]] [[FreudianExcuse "character is bully because she has a mean parent"]] cliché. First of all, they waited until season 5 to reveal this with no buildup whatsoever. Second, Diamond Tiara (and by extension her lackey [[BetaBitch Silver Spoon]]) were shown to be mean towards the CMC entirely of their own volition with no hints of abuse at all, even going so far as to [[KickTheDog openly mock Scootaloo for her inability to fly]]. Third, and most of all, the writers used the exact same excuse they did to [[CallBack absolve Babs Seed of any responsibility for her actions]] and more or less gave only the bare minimum of comeuppance to her as usual despite it being one of her most despised traits. At this point, I can't help but suspect that the writers are getting inspiration from [[FanFic fanfiction]]. |
| 189 | * The Cutie Re-Mark ([[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieReMarkPart1 Part 1]] & [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieReMarkPart2 Part 2]]) |
| 190 | ** Tropers/{{Tempus22}}: For me it's Starlight Glimmer's [[SarcasmMode tragic]] backstory. So her friend got a Cutie Mark and they stopped being friends because of it, which is why she apparently vowed to never make a friend again and became so bitter. Yeah, it's bad, but suddenly losing a friend is something that happens to pretty much every child ever, so Starlight's backstory just looks like a years long petty temper tantrum. Maybe if she'd tried to make friends after it only to get hurt again and again it would've been tolerable, but Starlight's backstory is absurdly weak even by kid show standards. Hell, I've felt worse for Trixie than for her. I don't have an issue with Starlight being EasilyForgiven; turning the other cheek is common in this show and I don't necessarily disagree with that, but knowing how weak her backstory is her redemption just comes across as undeserved. |
| 191 | ** Tropers/{{Ninja857142}}: For me, the real reason I think [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic so many fans dislike Starlight]] is the reason why Starlight stood down: [[ItsAllAboutMe herself]]. Even when faced with the possibility of destroying Equestria, that wasn't enough to convince Starlight to stop. Instead, she just went and appealed to a FreudianExcuse, and then she flat-out denied the apocalypse, [[InsaneTrollLogic claiming that it was just something Twilight "showed" her (whatever else that could have been)]]. Twilight only talks her down by telling her how [[ItsAllAboutMe she]] can make things better for [[ItsAllAboutMe her]] life by making [[ItsAllAboutMe her]] own new friends who will stay with [[ItsAllAboutMe her]]. She comes off as only standing down for purely selfish reasons, as opposed to caring about how she's hurting others, or the risk of destroying Equestria and killing everyone! It doesn't seem like a genuine HeelFaceTurn at all, and it completely distorts the idea and point of friendship. |
| 192 | ** {{@/MightyMewtron}}: What I hate about Starlight's redemption is how it's really just crammed into the one musical number at the end of the episode. Sunset Shimmer needed the entire [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks sequel movie]] to redeem herself after her horrible behavior. Twilight refused to trust Trixie after she terrorized a town. Discord still has ponies distrust him ''five seasons'' after his redemption arc began. So why is Starlight so EasilyForgiven so fast, and is in fact ''rewarded'' for her magical ability by becoming Twilight's student and never punished in any form? The worst part is probably when she returns to her village, and the ponies there welcome her back with open arms, [[AngstWhatAngst without any of them showing any signs of fear or trauma that would be way more accurate to somebody who essentially brainwashed and abused you into repressing your whole personality for years.]] The fact that we're supposed to pity ''her'' in later episodes for expecting the village ponies to hate her is completely unfair, and anybody who admits that the village ponies would be totally justified for that is brushed off! In addition, her personality feels totally warped from this episode on, which sucks because her ability to manipulate ponies into following her ideology was a really interesting and unique villain concept. They threw that to the wayside for a generic "overpowered magical villain who hates friendship," then threw it all away for the remorseful but far too easily liked redeemed villain. |
| 193 | [[/folder]] |
| 194 | |
| 195 | [[folder:Season 6]] |
| 196 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E1TheCrystallingPart1 The Crystalling Part 1]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E2TheCrystallingPart2 Part 2]] |
| 197 | ** Tropers/KatonRyu: My biggest problem with this episode is that nothing of the A plot had to happen. I hated the idea of Flurry Heart even before the episode came out and to my dismay the writers did exactly what I feared they would do with her. They made her responsible for the entire problem in the episode by being a baby with bursts of magic randomly exploding out of her. How hard would it be for Shining Armor, who, may I remind you, is an expert at ''shield magic'' to wrap her in a protective bubble that keeps her power from exploding out? He can shield the whole of Canterlot from attack, but creating a barrier to protect one baby from herself is too hard? If it hadn't been for Starlight's B plot being entertaining this whole episode would've been irredeemable to me. |
| 198 | * To Where And Back Again, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1 Part 1]] & [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E26ToWhereAndBackAgainPart2 Part 2]] |
| 199 | ** {{@/Psyga315}}: With the wounds of ACW mended, it feels sensible to shift to a new DMOS. No, it's not how Celestia and the others were captured to make Starlight look good; they actually introduced her and fleshed her out a bit unlike what they did with [[AssPull Shining Armor and Cadance]]. The problem here is that the heroes simply let Chrysalis go. You're telling me that you imprison (or even kill) villains who enslave Equestria under different means ranging from eternal night/chaos to draining Equestria of all its magic, sometimes twice, and yet for the villain who caused terrorist attacks and multiple kidnappings (and if we're accounting comics as canon, the genocide of an entire nation), you not only offer a hoof of friendship (granted, the one who offered said friendship [[HeelFaceTurn was no saint herself]]) but when she obviously didn't go for it, just let her go despite knowing full well that she'll be back? There's TurnTheOtherCheek and then there's [[TheFarmerAndTheViper letting a known terrorist linger around]]. There's an old saying: [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 Fool me once]], [[YouMonster shame on you]]. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1 Fool me twice]], shame on me. |
| 200 | *** {{@/BobRiddle}}: Chrysalis takes out everypony but Starlight and...is beaten with no effort at all. THIS is how you end a season after the previous two finales at least had epic fight scenes?!? |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Season 7]] |
| 204 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E7ParentalGlideance Parental Glideance]] |
| 205 | ** [=treehugger0369=]: What got me about that is [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot how easily it could have been fixed]]--once Rainbow's parents noted how Rainbow's performance at the end [[HypocriticalHumor was a bit embarrassing]], the opportunity was handed to the writers on a platter: Rainbow could have pointed out, more calmly than before, how embarrassing they were being, and agree to let them praise her all they want behind closed doors as long as they promised to tone it down in public, now that they had an idea of how she felt. It would have added maybe 15 seconds tops to the episode (admittedly, I don't know how strict episode lengths are, but there had to be something they could cut here and there to make this work), and it would have made them making amends feel much more natural and believable since her parents weren't as innocent as the episode tries to make you think by the end of it. It also would have added a realistic layer of ParentsAsPeople--parents aren't perfect and can sometimes learn from their own kids, which I think is a valid lesson. But nope, they just chose to leave that line as a cheap joke and sweep the hypocrisy under the rug for the remainder of the episode. I actually found this aspect of Rainbow's parents more annoying than Zephyr in "Flutter Brutter"--at least Zephyr learned a lesson and got some kind of CharacterDevelopment by the end. |
| 206 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E9HonestApple Honest Apple]] |
| 207 | ** Midna: Coco Pommel (or "Miss Pommel", I guess) gets an offhanded reference as the designer of a hideous outfit that Applejack gets to mock. This is the last time she is ever so much as mentioned in the show, aside from an extremely brief cameo in the finale. ScrewedByTheLawyers or no, that just isn't how you write out a fan-favorite character. |
| 208 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune Fame and Misfortune]] |
| 209 | ** [=SenorCornholio=]: If anyone were to ask me what the worst episode of the entire 9-season series was, it would have to be this one. And no, the "TakeThatAudience" aspect of the episode isn't the reason why; it wouldn't be [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E14StrangerThanFanFiction the first time the show took a jab at its own fanbase]]. And a long-time fan ''can'' get a kick out of the fandom jokes ("Twilight was better before she got wings!" was the only time I really laughed throughout the episode). However, when you take the fandom jokes out of the episode, the plot itself becomes incredibly painful, enraging, and downright uncomfortable to sit through. To recap, the plot involves Twilight and her friends publishing the Friendship Journal for anyone to learn the lessons they've learned. However, instead of taking them to heart, a good chunk of Ponyville uses the journal as an excuse to harass, mock, bully, and outright try to cancel their town heroes. The reason as revealed by one pony in particular? [[CannotTellFictionFromReality Because they completely forgot that the Mane 6 were real ponies, and some didn't even realize that the journal is, for all intents and purposes, an autobiography.]] I'm sorry, but that's not how you make a fandom allegory; that's how you make your townspeople look like [[UngratefulTownsfolk ungrateful flankhats]] who don't deserve saving. The Mane 6 have saved them from threat after threat, villain after villain, learning all sorts of life lessons and are close to kickstarting a new era of peace, and this is the thanks they get? Oh, and they [[KarmaHoudini don't learn their lesson, either]]; they continue bickering at each other outside of Twilight's castle and effectively trap the Mane 6, Starlight, and two fillies inside of her home for what's implied to be quite a while. I could absolutely care less about the fandom jabs; for me, this felt like the anti ''Friendship is Magic'' episode, where friendship doesn't triumph and our heroes get a less than ideal ending. It's the most mean-spirited episode of the series not to its fans, but to its own protagonists, and especially the show's message. It's no wonder that [[CreatorBacklash M.A. Larson hated writing this episode]], and it's best that this one is just [[FanonDiscontinuity forgotten entirely]]. |
| 210 | ** chariset: Whatever this episode was meant to be, it turned into "We don't care what the PeripheryDemographic thinks -- we write this for little girls." It has to go to town on a strawman to do it, too. The argument, "you can't complain about the writing errors in our natural, unscripted lives!" doesn't work when applied to a show which has writers and a script. And while it was funny to hear some of the most common complaints voiced in-universe by ponies ("Fluttershy keeps learning the same lesson over and over!"), it's clear that no one is going to actually address those frustrations. The overall effect is just spiteful and mean-spirited. |
| 211 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E23SecretsAndPies Secrets and Pies]] |
| 212 | ** [=CutieTabootie=]: Season seven might be one of my favorite seasons of the show but this episode just felt cringeworthy from beginning to end. So Pinkie Pie keeps baking Rainbow Dash pies that Rainbow claims she enjoys, but ends up getting rid of them instead of eating them, lying to Pinkie by distracting her every time she gets rid of the pies and then telling her how delicious they were. Pinkie Pie starts to suspect something's up, and finally Rainbow Dash explains to her at the end that she doesn't really like pie, but likes seeing Pinkie happy. Sure, that might sound kind of sweet, but it turns out Rainbow has been lying to Pinkie about it for years. Everything in the episode could've been avoided if Rainbow was straightforward with Pinkie from the beginning on how she didn't really like pies. Even if that could've made Pinkie upset, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad as Rainbow's lie starting to slip after years of lying, making Pinkie extremely paranoid and even more upset than if Rainbow would've just told her from the start. |
| 213 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E25ShadowPlayPart1 Shadow Play, Part 1]] |
| 214 | ** [=Shamrock95=]: Put quite simply, this episode has the most glaring and blatant use of the IdiotBall that I have seen not just in this show, but in any other show. Twilight and her friends discover that Starswirl the Bearded and the other Pillars of Equestria sealed themselves in Limbo a thousand years ago in order to imprison the Pony of Shadows, and that there is a way to bring the Pillars back from Limbo. Now, given how intelligent and analytical Twilight is, you would expect her to pick up on the possibility that they may end up also releasing the Pony of Shadows if they release the Pillars, and at the very least try and set up a failsafe. But no—Twilight is so blinded by her Starswirl fangirl side that she decides to go ahead and release them with no regard for the consequences. [[SarcasmMode Surprise surprise]], the Pony of Shadows is released, because Twilight—who is supposed to be the smart, intelligent, rational member of the Mane 6—was apparently too stupid and shortsighted to see that coming. This was enough to make me turn away from this episode in disgust. I can honestly say that I was immensely disappointed, and now consider this to be the show's nadir. |
| 215 | ** ''Tropers/{{Benthelame}}:'' Going with this episode (both parts) too albeit for differing reasons. The rules leave me unable to address the problem as a whole and restrict us to moments, so I'm just going to go with the moment the Pony Of Shadows got released. Why? It doesn't do anything substantial. It looks better than most villains that the show has had over the years but that's literally its only strength. I shall elaborate further: In this episode, we find out that Starswirl the Bearded, the legendary wizard that has been mentioned since season one, is alive and what's he doing? He's restricting an evil so big, so powerful, so completely and utterly dangerous that the only choice is to seal himself and his buddies in Limbo along with it to make sure it doesn't destroy Equestria. I thought we were getting the MLP FIM equivalent of [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack Aku]] here, but nope. The moment the Pony of Shadows is released it sends a few blasts of dark magic at all present, darkens the sky a little, eventually leaves to recover lost power and our heroines are left relatively undisturbed to rifle through books and figure out how to stop him. Literally, there's no interference from him beyond that. The conclusion they come to? Let's seal it away again. You really needed to go home and rifle through old books to come up with that one? Really? By the time they arrive to do it, Our "villain" hasn't even finished "regaining power" (which apparently consists of [[OrcusOnHisThrone standing around doing absolutely nothing in a musty creepy place.]] At least Tirek had the sense to keep draining magic.) and our ultimate solution involves nothing other than "Pull the pony with the insanely fragile feelings and the pathetic thousand year old grudge out of the black gook." [[SarcasmMode Thanks.]] |
| 216 | [[/folder]] |
| 217 | |
| 218 | [[folder:Season 8]] |
| 219 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E14AMatterofPrincipals A Matter of Principals]] |
| 220 | ** Tropers/ILikeRobots: So, yeah, I get that reformed Discord is supposed to be a LovableRogue and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but his behavior in this episode was just plain insufferable.\ |
| 221 | \ |
| 222 | The worst moment of the entire episode, though, was the ending: Starlight ''apologizes'' to Discord, who has done nothing but be a {{jerkass}} the entire episode, claiming that she should have approached the situation like a guidance counselor, and promises to make him secondary head mare. So what exactly is the moral here? 'If your feelings are hurt or you feel bad about something, feel free to make others suffer until they relent and give you what you want?'\ |
| 223 | \ |
| 224 | Other episodes where Discord's antics have gotten out of hand at least have Discord realizing the error of his ways, other ponies calling him out for it (Fluttershy during the Smooze incident), or Discord himself getting some kind of retribution for his actions (him getting sick at the end of "Three's a Crowd"). This one trying to justify such selfish and bratty behavior just left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't hate Discord, but episodes like this really don't help his case. |
| 225 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E20TheWashouts The Washouts]] |
| 226 | ** Bobg: When Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash see that Lightning Dust is the leader of The Washouts, Scootaloo has no idea who Lightning is, made clear when she says "You two know each other?". This creates a huge PlotHole, as Scootaloo knew all about her and told Rainbow's parents about her in ''Parental Glideance''. This gets even worse at the end when we see that Rainbow's parents have joined the Scootaloo fan club, making it clear the writers remember that episode. How the heck did they miss that detail than? |
| 227 | * [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E24FatherKnowsBeast Father Knows Beast]] |
| 228 | ** Tropers/DrakeClawfang: What might have been merely a bad episode reached the deepest pits of rage I could feel for the show when Spike pulls the "YoureNotMyFather" bit on Twilight. \ |
| 229 | \ |
| 230 | That line transcended the episode and translated to direct anger and disgust for the writer when they assigned Spike that line. Twilight raised Spike, she hatched him, they grew up together, she bathed him, fed him, taught him, disciplined him. She is the '''only''' parental figure he has ever known for his entire life, and they consider each other family, as stated in "Once Upon a Zepplin". \ |
| 231 | \ |
| 232 | Spike's rejection of Twilight as a parental figure in favor of his real father is the cherry on top of an bad episode. It's a slap in the face to everyone who cared about Spike and Twilight's relationship and it spits on the past seven seasons spent exploring it. |
| 233 | * Tropers/JojiMC: Well, since someone already mentioned Rainbow Dash calling out her parents for their [[ManChild childish behavior]] in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E7ParentalGlideance Parental Glideance]], I figured I might as well talk about ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyBestGiftEver''. Now, don't get me wrong: I loved ''Best Gift Ever''. But there's a scene at the start of the episode that just bugged me. During the One More Day song, when the Apples and Pies are getting ready for Hearth's Warming, Big Mac and Sugar Belle kiss UnderTheMistletoe... right in front of Marble Pie, who cringes in heartbreak. Um, what? Look, I'm not a Marble x Big Mac shipper but this scene was too mean even for me. This is one of the many reasons why I don't ship Big Mac with Sugar Belle. [[TheWoobie Poor Marble]]... |
| 234 | [[/folder]] |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[folder:Season 9]] |
| 237 | * The Beginning of the End |
| 238 | ** Tropers/{{Teleport Ted}}: The villain-summons scene, for how it {{Retcon}}s everything about King Sombra: That unique NoNonsenseNemesis ("The Crystal Empire" and "The Cutie Re-Mark")? Now a StupidEvil stereotype. His CharacterDevelopment and that {{Worldbuilding}}[[note]]Chestnut Falls, Radiant Hope, Princess Amore, the Umbrum, etc.[[/note]] (''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic FIENDship Is Magic]]'' and ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue34To37 Siege of the Crystal Empire]]'')? CanonDiscontinuity, so both he and the Empire are back at square one... It's not the only reason this is my least-favorite Season, sadly, but it is the first that comes to mind. |
| 239 | * 2, 4, 6, Greaaat |
| 240 | ** [=DoctorWTF=]: Rainbow Dash being disappointed at being assigned to coach the cheer squad instead of getting to be involved in actual athletics? Understandable. Seeing herself as unqualified despite having prior experience with cheering in "Sonic Rainboom" and "Parental Glideance"? Also justified - none of that was comparable to a cheer squad like what she was asked to coach here. The Element of Loyalty shamelessly abandoning the cheer squad to watch the buckball team practice? Highly questionable at best. Disparaging the concept of cheer squads to the cheer squad itself, being grossly disrespectful to students who also have her as a teacher? [[OutOfCharacterMoment Way out of character]] by any rational standard. Showing zero empathy when Yona and Ocellus run away crying, seeing nothing wrong with her behavior until Smolder spells it out for her? Now that's taking "out of character" up to eleven, throwing out the entire series' worth of character growth and regressing Rainbow Dash to an even worse state than when she was first introduced. It's as if this episode was written by someone whose only exposure to Rainbow Dash was the first five minutes of "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". Seeing her reduced to an utterly unlikable jerkass was absolutely cringe-worthy. |
| 241 | * The Ending of the End |
| 242 | ** AjWargo: Brace yourself for what I consider to be the biggest slap in the face ever, fellow bronies. Let me paraphrase a horrible twist on par with my entry: [[Film/MonsterAGoGo As if a rug had been pulled, as if a trap had been sprung, as if the idiotic writers had made a move eons beyond our comprehension, suddenly… there was no Grogar.]] It was Discord in disguise using the villains to prepare Twilight to be a good ruler. TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter doesn’t even begin to describe this. For one thing, this goes against nearly everything about Discord- why would he be trying to use these villains as pawns if he knows Tirek attacked him before? Also, there wasn’t that many hints that this was the case- Grogar never displayed any semblance of Discord’s personalty, and they even got a different voice actor. At least with ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', fans easily pieced together that Gabriel was Hawk Moth due to them having the same voice actor- so why give Grogar a different one if it's going to come to a fake out? The only hints we get are all an example of a RewatchBonus, and that’s not good foreshadowing if your audience has to know the twist in advance! And, in terms of writing, why would you deny the fans a final battle with one of G1’s best villains? Bronies had been putting Grogar in countless fanfics before Season 9, and all of them put some unique spin on the character. But Dubuc and the other writers? They use him for a pointless twist and don’t even give him much backstory, making every single fanfic featuring Grogar better in execution. And you know what the worst part about this was? According to Miller, this twist was planned ''from the very beginning''. If that’s the case, why not just make another original villain and not use Grogar? They already made multiple original villains and it probably wouldn’t have been too hard to make another! Instead, they use Grogar and, in doing so, ruin his good name, his entire G1 serial, and possibly even the very concept of G1 itself! I am personally angry about this because I am a huge fan of G1 and was looking forward to a proper final battle. This ruined the finale for me and made me fear for the future of this franchise. |
| 243 | ** O_Zone: While the twist does feel like a bit of an AssPull, I actually could have been more forgiving of it if not for one small thing; the way we find out it's Discord. The Bewitching Bell takes Discord's powers away from him...you know the same item that "Grogar" told the trio about back in Frenemies? The same one HE told them to retrieve? So basically, Discord inadvertently set up his own downfall not thinking the Trio would use said bell on HIM...his plan could have ultimately still failed without the bell (they could have turned on him another way), and while this wouldn't have save the eventual twist, I feel it would have made it more palpable. |
| 244 | ** Javertshark13: The worst part about the twist is up until the reveal, I was actually impressed that the writers had managed to flesh out the villains and make them somewhat sympathetic, due to [[BadBoss Grogar's abusive treatment of them]]. Then we find out that Discord was using the villains, including a child, as disposable pawns, and we're expected to sympathize with his motives in doing this. Apparently, we're not supposed to care that Discord showed such callousness towards their lives, and we're actually meant to feel sorry for him because the villains he was abusing turned on him. It's a complete double standard, as until this point, Grogar's treatment of the villains seemed to depict him as [[EvilerThanThou even worse than they were]], but then we're told that since it was actually Discord, it's suddenly forgivable. Even when the heroes call him out, they're only angry that his plan was reckless and put Equestria in danger, with no one mentioning that abusing and manipulating others, regardless of their own crimes, is wrong. It's bad enough on its own, but the fact that he involved Cozy Glow in this makes it come off as the show saying that child abuse is okay, as long as said child is evil, and therefore deserves anything she gets. It makes Discord come off as sociopathic, and is easily the most sickening thing I've seen on the show. |
| 245 | ** [=JMRS=]: While I am quite upset with the twist that Grogar is not real, the thing about it that sickens me most is the fact that Discord put Fluttershy, his closest friend, in danger. Let me repeat that. Discord just put his best friend in a situation where she could have been seriously hurt, or even killed, all so that he could give Twilight a confidence boost! If one of my friends was in need of a confidence boost, I wouldn't lock him in a house with a serial killer! Even though Fluttershy isn't my favorite member of the Mane 6 (That honor goes to Rainbow Dash), I'm still quite ticked off that Discord wound up endangering her life through this stupid plan of his! Oh, and the extra kicker? Fluttershy only survived the events of this finale thanks to the efforts of the Young Six. Had they failed to convince their respective kingdoms to help fight against the Terrible Trio, then Fluttershy, along with the rest of the Mane Six and Spike, would have been killed on the spot, and Discord, whether he intended it or not, would have been responsible for the death of his best friend! |
| 246 | ** Tropers/Ordeaux26: I have had my fair share of issues with the show, but the one that personally annoyed me the most was Cozy Glow's fate. Her fate in the Season 8 finale was already a bit much she was just a child and yet was given a life sentence inside a prison, but in Season 9, it was worse with her being broken out by a disguised Discord and then after all the events of the season she was given the punishment suggested by the person who broke her out of being turned into stone while Discord was allowed to walk free. A bunch of other villains were given second chances despite committing crimes that are just as bad if not worse than Cozy Glow, including the already mentioned Discord, Starlight Glimmer and Luna, the worst one is the Dazzlings who don't even reform but are allowed to walk free for whatever reasons. Also, we aren't given any indication that the petrification will not be permanent, which means that Cozy could be condemned to an eternal FateWorseThanDeath. I am not saying that she should have not been punished at all, what she did is bad, but her punishment was way to KarmicOverkill. |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Equestria Girls]] |
| 250 | * [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls The first film]] |
| 251 | ** Tropers/MagnetMissile: I have to say for the first film, they built up Sunset Shimmer as a powerful villain. Oh, guess what happens after she goes OneWingedAngel on the protagonists? She's defeated in possibly one of the most anticlimactic fights. To go from a powerful villain to being defeated in seconds just seems like a slap in the face. Yeah, she's reformed in the second film but that doesn't change the fact she was an AntiClimaxBoss in the first movie. |
| 252 | [[/folder]] |
| 253 | ---- |
| 254 |
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