YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S8 E18 "Yakity-Sax"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • During her interaction with the Mane 6, Maud is considerably more Literal-Minded than usual. Is this because of her continuing relationship with Mud, or is she being more passive-aggressive out of anger over how the Mane 6 treated her sister?
  • Similarly, the exact reason why Pinkie obsesses over the yovidaphone is never really explored. Is it because of its close ties to her Yak friends? To vent frustration over her sister spending less time with her? The stress from working at a bakery and teaching at a school simultaneously? A mixture of above, or something completely different?
• Broken Aesop: The episode states that you should be supportive of your friends hobbies and interests even if they're not good at it. But besides Pinkie's yovidaphone playing causing tangible harm and annoyance, her friends were portrayed as wrong even when they were supportive by sugarcoating it as she wasn't good as opposed to the harm she caused. This might have worked if it was about their not fining a way for her to do so without harm, but their doing so came after nor was part of the stated moral.
• Don't Shoot the Message: Many fans like the Aesop of being supportive of friends hobbies even if you don't enjoy them. But they disparage the episode's handling of it by making Pinkie's hobby being unhealthily obsessive, and causing tangible annoyance/harm to the point they would be completely justified in making her stop, and their wrongness in stopping her being due to ignoring numerous alternatives (which would've invalidated the message) and just saying she was bad.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Fans give this episode this treatment, citing Pinkie’s Unintentionally Unsympathetic behavior and for the very fractured Aesop that’s presented.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Maud appears briefly to pick up Pinkie's things, but still manages to utterly decimate the Mane 6 with her snarkiness.
  • Admit it, considering how Yaks generally treat any form of delicate culture, you are just as surprised as the Mane 6 were during the yovidaphone playing by the Yak musician.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Maud has plenty of experience in obsessing over a single topic (rocks), much like how Pinkie does with the yovidaphone. Seeing how she’d talk to Pinkie about managing her hobby with her friends could’ve been interesting, but her single scene involves her only coming to pick up Pinkie’s things and to tell the Mane 6 where Pinkie is.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: As a fellow Yak, Yona not being consulted regarding the yovidaphone seems to be a wasted opportunity.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The episode paints Pinkie Pie as a mare who’s unfairly denied her one hobby by her friends, just because she’s not good at it. However, she was beyond bad with it and just obnoxious, blasting away while the others are trying to work or even sleep. The fact that she’s also willing to abandon all of them without warning over a musical instrument made her appear less like she was going through a Despair Event Horizon and more like she was self-centered.
• Wangst: Pinkie’s depression over stopping her yovidaphone playing is this for some viewers. Given how the last time she was like this was when she thought her friends hated her parties (a legitimately big aspect of her character, and a genuine misunderstanding because her friends had been planning a Surprise Party for her and were trying to keep it a surprise), seeing her mope this deeply over an instrument she only had for a few weeks seemed like weaksauce compared to what she had been through.

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