YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S4 E12 "Pinkie Pride"

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • "You know that with Cheese Sandwich you'll be partying all night!"
  • "Hey good lookin'! Want some mayonnaise?"
  • It's their inflection and facial expressions that really sell it:
    Pinkie: Or are you boneless?
    Cheese Sandwich: Nopony calls me boneless!
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Considering how trippy the graphics become during the songs, there is little doubt what kind of cheese this is about. That would make the Aesop something like “Drugs: don't make a habit of them and keep harm reduction in mind, but once in a while to liven up a party they can be fun.”
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The sudden Art Shift for Boneless and Gummy — a real rubber chicken dancing in front of a curtain and then, even more strangely, a real-life toothless alligator staring blankly.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Only to those not familiar with Weird Al's parody slow tunes ("You Don't Love Me Anymore," anyone?) and voice-acting gigs, including in Transformers: Animated. (His already-existing contract with Hasbro is part of what made the whole episode possible.)
  • Once again, Andrea Libman shows that despite her characters often being relegated to a comedy role, she can not only pull off some serious drama when given the chance, but also sing quite well in Pinkie-mode, as she did during the polka goof-off.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Suddenly, all those Pony/Weird Al fan videos take on a whole new meaning.
  • Cheese Sandwich's design is (very likely coincidentally) similar to the fandom's Rule 63 version of Pinkie Pie, Bubble Berry.
  • Weird Al had an appearance as himself in an episode of Back at the Barnyard, where in the end he's revealed to actually be a horse in a human costume.
  • One of the more infamous fanfics related to the series has Pinkie Pie making cupcakes with Rainbow Dash. Any reference to this is most likely unintentional, given the creators' standard claim of a self-imposed fanfic embargo, but even knowing the basic plot of "Cupcakes" adds a level of Black Comedy to the scenes where Pinkie offers a rainbow-frosted cupcake to a surgeon and sculpts a Rainbow Dash cupcake.
  • The episode opens with a Pinkie-led crowd number reminiscent of "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. Shannon Chan-Kent (Pinkie's singing voice in the number) would later go on to portray Belle in the Arts Club Theatre Company's 2017-18 production of the stage musical adaptation.
• Inferred Holocaust: During Pinkie Pie's montage of trying jobs other than planning parties, she stuffs a mailbox with confetti that explodes in the face of the pony who opens the mailbox, but said pony is shown perfectly fine (if annoyed) immediately thereafter. However, we don't know for sure that the patient under her care (when she gave the surgeon a cupcake instead of whatever was needed) survived after what she did, and when she causes a collapse at a construction site, only one of the other ponies is shown (sending Pinkie on her way).
• Moe:
  • Colt Cheese Sandwich is just adorable. The glasses add to it, somehow.
  • The little filly versions of everyone's favorite background ponies Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops, sporting some thick glasses, Lyra Heartstrings, Colgate, wearing braces, and Derpy.
  • And filly Flitter and Cloudchaser (who are dancing just like Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo did in their debut episode.)
• Narm Charm: "I put away my party cannon/I deflated all my balloons." It's impressive how they made a line like that into a tearjerker.
• Nightmare Retardant: Boneless' live-action chicken dance comes from out of nowhere. Gummy's on the other hand...
• Shipping: People were shipping Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie even before the episode came out. The episode itself has a bit of a Ship Tease moment in regards to Cheese's past; it turns out he used to be a shy pony who became inspired by a young Pinkie Pie at one of her parties. His Companion Cube Boneless is one of the rubber chickens Pinkie dropped during a juggling act that he kept as a memento. Plus, choosing the Portmanteau Couple Name for them is going to be pretty fun. Cheesy Pie? Sandwich Pie? Pinkie Sandwich? Pink Cheese? The ship eventually became official at the end of the series, and they had a foal.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • "Pinkie the Party Planner" sounds very similar to "Belle (Little Town)" from Beauty and the Beast, particularly with the talking mid-song and the crowd singing segments. This was intentional.
  • Amy Keating Rogers had written the lyrics to "A Super Party Pony" with "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in mind.
  • The first half of "Pinkie's Lament" has a very similar tone as "Reflection" from Mulan and even has very similar visuals of Pinkie looking at her reflection from a bridge. It's not the first time Daniel Ingram has borrowed from this film. Amy Keating Rogers said her inspiration was the song "Argentina" from Evita.
  • At least one fan has observed a thematic similarity between "Pinkie's Lament" and "Let it Go" from Frozen, with the slow, sad opening, the morale boosting realization and the ending scene on the balcony. More of Hilarious in Hindsight, though, given Production Lead Time.
  • "Pinkie's Lament" starts out sad but ends with her glad just like "Poor Old Jack" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
  • When writing the lyrics for "Make A Wish", Amy Keating Rogers was listening to Raise Your Glass in her head.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • A whole ep could be made from Pinkie's shenanigans while doing other jobs alone.
  • Another episode could be made from Cheese's revelation that his backstory is similar to Pinkie's. It sounds like he and Pinkie are about to broach this, but Rainbow Dash puts a stop to it so they can plan her party and wrap up the episode.
• The Woobie:
  • You can't help but feel sorry for Pinkie Pie when she feels she's not needed and appreciated anymore.
  • Young Cheese Sandwich. The second you see him, you'll want to give him a hug.

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