New and Latest Episode Thread

[Tsyolin]

I was thoroughly pleased.

[Injustrial]

I liked them a lot. Yes, the problem was fixed very quickly at the end, but the buildup and pacing before was pretty darn good. And the questions raised and the overarching plotline that's been sketched out is VERY interesting to. I'm looking forward to this season a lot more than I did season three, and I was hyped as hell for S3!

*Rubs hands*

[ph00tbag]

Actually, I don't think it was particularly rushed. In fact, aside from some fits and starts at the beginning, it was paced pretty well. They even bothered to explain where Twilight got her sudden epiphany about placing the Elements back in the Tree--something that quite frustratingly was absent from MMC.

Also, the racism when Rainbow Dash mentioned Discords cloven hoof. I was rolling.

[itroitnyah]

I sorta feel it was rushed because it's like "Oh, ask Zecora. Oh, would you look at that, she has a potion that just magically allows twilight to visit the past. Twilight's being attacked by these evil fly trap things? Within a few seconds the rest of the mane 6 show up and destroy the plants". Overall though, we'll see how the rest of the season goes. Pretty excited to see what they come up with.

[Gray Ham]

The whole "let's split up with Twilight again because that has always worked well in a crisis" felt like filler, but I thought the pacing was much better than last season.

[ArisingFlame]

lol. I actually did and I have to agree with you on most everything. Especially

Spoiler Spoilers cos obviously there may be spoilers:

- Pinkie is still pinkie. Hurray.
- Flutters is still totes adorbs
- I love the light effects :3
- TWILIGHT'S HORN LOOKS LONGER. IS IT LONGER? IT LOOKS LONGER.
- Rarity! Stop trying to be best pony! I can only change my mind so often!
- I'm actually really enjoying the fact that Twi is an Alicorn now. It feels right.
- OMG THIS LUNA SCENE. So glad to be gettin more Luna. After seeing that little storyboard animation teaser thing a while ago I was really worried that the nightmare moon thing would be during the present timeline. I didnt want Luna to go evil again. It seemed like a very possible story arc though, and I reckon it would have been tough to handle well as you have the three princess dynamic, Elements of harmony being moved to main 6, and, Celestia already having banished her and forgiven her already once (and im pretty sure really regretting it, too) it would have been really hard on Celestia to have to do that again. Not that i'd rather it be a flashback. Flashbacks are kinda cheap. It would have been a risky but also awe striking and emotional way to start the series if it were taking place real time.
- The thought that Luna was also (potentially) going for kill shots on her own sister in the flashback is pretty dark. Really takes away from the whole kid side of the show when you see one sister try to kill the other.
- NO NO NO THEY CANT DO THAT NO. The battle between Celestia and Luna was so short! That screws with the headcanon that the fight should have lasted for much longer and Luna have done so much worse for Celestia to banish her for a thousand years! A thousand years isn't worth that! Banishment that drastic should have been a last resort in case the constant night started screwing with natures order and affected ponies drastically, as well as if Luna had been causing widespread chaos and destruction. Grrr... It doesnt seem right to me. I know they have a time limit to fit and theres only so much they can show in a certain time frame, but grrr.....
- Hah! A 'Rockodile' :3
- Discord is best pony.
- Rarity! Stop! No! Stop being best pony! AGH!
- Yeah, you guys are right. The separation and then togetherness thing was too quick. Would have been better if you saw the others rushing into save her, and getting there just in the nick of time, rather than suddenly appearing from nowhere.
- Applejack is really getting a lot of spotlight in this...
- Say goodbye to yo bling, foo's.
- Celestia speaks too much as if her voice actor is reading it straight from a piece of paper, rather than in a kind of flowing, natural way. I dunno. just doesn't sound normal or fitting for the scene.
- More Flashback. Discord induced though! Ok, so what im getting from this is, Discord planted the Everfree forest, and it grew up around where Celestia and Luna's old Castle was. Which I assume would have been the capitol before Luna was banished. After Luna was banished, maybe there was extensive destruction to the area, the everfree was taking over, and Celestia couldnt deal with being in the same place after what had happened, so they moved the capitol? Headcanon accepted.
- Discord, you're too good.
- YAY LYRA!
- Oh, and twilightboom. WAIT WHAT.
- WHAT.
- WHAAAAT?!
- TWI GET'S HER OWN FORM OF RAINBOOM AFTER SUCKING AT FLYING FOR THE WHOLE EPISODE? This is like when she could suddenly spiral out of canterlot in the season 3 finale. Nope. not accepting.
- Also, that's kind of... selfish? I get that she's a new princess and it's important and all for the three of them to do princess stuff, but the celebration went from being about and for Luna, to being about HEY LOOK TWILIGHT JUST DID SOME AWESOME SHIT RIGHT IN FRONT OF EVERYONE WOO HELL YEAH AWESOME WOOO MAIN CHARACTER REPRESENT ._.

Spoiler Spoiler inducing spoiler tags:

Really though. WTT is with the Twi-Boom? Out of the entire episode, this bothered me the most.
I was really glad to see it taking somewhat of a darker turn, to be honest. Also, Twilight realizing that she is no longer Twilight but Princess Twilight and that duty scares her. I like that. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all are like "Yeah I'm royalty, what of it?" but Twilight is going into this really humble, BUT when she has to, (Like in the episode) weather she likes it or not, she steps up. I really like that.
Also RARITY STOP TRYING TO TAKE MY ATTENTION AWAY FROM RAINBOW DASH DAMMIT. I FEEL LIKE I'M CHEATING HERE.

[simonli2575]

Spoiler Spoilers cos obviously there may be spoilers:

- TWILIGHT'S HORN LOOKS LONGER. IS IT LONGER? IT LOOKS LONGER.

Heheh...

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I really liked that Celestia And Luna's personalities were fleshed out some more. It always bothered me how little we'd get to see exhibited about their personalities.

[CaptainFluffatun]

'Was okay.

[ph00tbag]

One thing about Rarity's role in the premier is that she kind of doesn't let go of the whole Princess Twilight thing and is always the one excitedly reminding everyone that "omg twi's an alicorn princess eeee!". Though, all that's kind of understandable considering she was probably the kind of girl who'd always dream about being a princess.

I think the last sentence is why even that felt totally natural. Rarity was definitely projecting her own fantasies onto everypony else when she was talking about every filly's dream being to be a princess. And y'know what, it totally makes sense that Rarity's fillyhood fantasies would have involved princesses and alicorn wings, and magic castles. She would certainly also subconsciously be inclined to live out those fantasies vicariously through Twilight.

Incidentally, that's a potential for a Rarity plot device. Not necessarily so specific, but just reminding Rarity that she must take pride in her own accomplishments, rather than push others to accomplish things they don't want to do, because in the latter case, neither party will end up with much to be proud of themselves.

[itroitnyah]

Aaaaand episode 3 is live!

...Well, Leaked.

Spoiler my opinion of the episode:

Filled with cliches, although the type of cliches that are like "Wow, they hit another trap", and not like "Oh, here comes the floor fall". The cliches were there but well placed so that the only part you could really guess was the ending when they found pinkie playing the organ. Everything else you could have guessed but the guesses would have been really broad. The episode wasn't rushed either! Woo! Or, not enough for me to really notice.

Also, Dash kissed AJ lel totl pruf of shiping canon.

Which reminds me, quite a few people apparently believe that the show writers and animators are starting to appeal to cloppers. In the season premiere there are parts that can be taken suggestively if you have a dirty mind, I suppose. There are also a few in this episode that can be taken suggestively if you have a dirty mind (such as the image above. And there are more scenes too, such as this scene and this scene. Frankly, I don't know. But it's possible that they're adding small scenes to appeal to an adult audience.

[simonli2575]

Episode 3's leaked?
EPISODE 3 CONFIRMED.
Runs off to watch episode 3

[ExoBassTix]

They did use the wilhelm scream AGAIN, and another scream that I dunno the name of (if it has one).
I found that annoying as all hell. But once again, that was the worst. Rest was all awesome I guess.

My friend who I watched it with was like "Merlij. Hey Merlijn. Don't be so analytic :U"
I lol'd

[Gray Ham]

I want to make love to that episode.

EDIT: Y'know, being a Rarity fan.
And although Pinkie was easy to guess, her explaining the story while playing the organ was hilarious.

[ExoBassTix]

They did use the wilhelm scream AGAIN, and another scream that I dunno the name of (if it has one).
I found that annoying as all hell. But once again, that was the worst. Rest was all awesome I guess.

Its a joke like how you use the airhorn. go away.

Pardon? Let me have my own likes and dislikes and you keep yours please? My god.

[Wisp]

I thought episode 3 was pretty good. While it didn't go very far with the characters or storyline, I just love how they are doing this season long story arc thing. I feel like we've already seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash fight about who the toughest pony is, so that wasn't anything new. It was fun to see Fluttershy and Rarity get to do more stuff together. Nothing really interesting happened with Twilight and Spike, which was a bit of a let down for me. To be honest, it was kind of predictable that Pinkie was the one playing the organ, since she was the only one of the mane six not with them. Overall, I enjoyed it and now I'm really curious to see who/what that thing in the shadows is.
Back to episode 1 & 2, though. I think those episodes were my second favorite MLP episodes ever, after sleepless in ponyville. While other people say it was rushed, I honestly felt like it kept a good pacing the whole time. There was no time where I was like "wait wait slow down". The flashbacks were amazing, particularly the nightmare moon one. Great story and pretty good humor. Overall, I just felt like this episode was extremely well done.
I love this season so far and I can't wait to see where they go with this story arc! :D

[Wisp]

I disagree on the pacing on the first one or two or whatever. I felt the end, when twilights friends was like "no, we see you as a princess, not as a person now" moment, where she goes like back, I felt that was rushed. Like it was like go back to ponyville, talk to discord, go back. It felt like a moment they didnt really put much into, compared to what they could have done.

I may have to go back watch the episode for a third time, but I didn't feel like this scene was particularly rushed. Sure, they probably could have done a lot more with it, but I'm glad they put that time into other more important scenes in the episode instead.

[ph00tbag]

Actually, in retrospect, it would have been really neat to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity paired with AJ and Flutters in the other pair, because those pairs never seem to ever interact on the show outside of incidentals. And if they could have gotten to spend time together, it would have done a lot more to flesh out how they relate to each other.

Oh well, maybe there's more in store down the road.

[Navron]

I haven't been around to experience all the hype surrounding season 4. I had absolutely no synopsis, rumors, nor leaked episodes to hype me up. Kind of comes with being on deployment I guess.

Anyway, last night I went into season 4 completely blind, and I thought it was absolutely amazing.

The animators keep getting better with each season, although unlike season 3 which featured a more technical improvement with shadowing that was easy to pick out, season 4 features some subtle improvements, such as more accurate Depth of Field effects, color correction, and maybe even manually created color bleeding effects in certain scenes. I'm also catching more subtle animations such as follow-through.

The scenes where Twilight views the past were pretty cool.
- Drink a sip of potion.
- See crazy s***.
- Friends see you crying and whimpering.
Yup, Twilight basically drank LSD.

I have a good feeling Season 4 may end up being even better than Season 2.

[Gray Ham]

Overall, I enjoyed it and now I'm really curious to see who/what that thing in the shadows is.

I'm interested in why I keep hearing this, most of the time when things like this happen in other cartoons and such they're just jokes. Why are some people thinking otherwise for this case?

[simonli2575]

Overall, I enjoyed it and now I'm really curious to see who/what that thing in the shadows is.

I'm interested in why I keep hearing this, most of the time when things like this happen in other cartoons and such they're just jokes. Why are some people thinking otherwise for this case?

Nobody knows whatever's going to happen next, someday it might be related to this very shadow, but until then, people are going to have discussions about everything they see in each episode.

[ph00tbag]

I'm interested in why I keep hearing this, most of the time when things like this happen in other cartoons and such they're just jokes. Why are some people thinking otherwise for this case?

People have come to expect a little bit more continuity from MLP. All of the scripts are contained within the world, rather than each script containing a version of the story. As such, no story element in any given episode is separable from the world as a whole. If a shadowy figure shows up at one point in the episode, with no explanation offered, it suggests that an explanation exists within the world, but outside the bounds of the episode.

The episode-external setting is part of what has made MLP so popular. More than interesting characters following an engaging plotline, the creation of a detailed and unique world draws people in, because it invites them to join the fantasy. Hence OCs.

[Gray Ham]

^: Also concerning that, the episode was full of cliches so I'm expecting that was just another one.


Now, after episode 4, I want to disembowel myself with a wooden spoon.

[ClaviSound]

Spoiler S4E04 thoughts:

The real lesson of S4E04: If you bother your idol enough, eventually she'll like you and insert you into her creative works, so you should totally keep trying to get in her good graces because your friends tell you to.

Oh god the shipping

Animation continues to go above and beyond; Ahuizotl was awesomely done. Also, Daring Do just kept on piling the references to Indiana Jones and wouldn't stop; first it was the fact that she dressed up as a school professor, then she used a whip, then she was a real grumpypants... I can't handle all this Indiana Jones expy

No seriously though the shipping

Ahuizotl is so terribly incompetent. You don't just yell out "stop them," you tell your minions "just incapacitate all of them so that they can't pass the ring around any more." Chalk it up to villains in MLP just getting more petty as time goes on. ("First I'll collapse the cliff they're standing on! Then, I'll force them to face down a Manticore! Then, I'll make the trees super-scary! Then, I'll shave off a sea serpent's moustache! And then, finally, I'll try to pull away the pegasus trying to fix the bridge, conveniently forgetting there's another pegasus in the group! It just gets eviller and eviller! Mwahahahahaaaa!")

The shippinggggggggggggg

Also, why didn't Rainbow Dash totally sue A.K. Yearling over using her likeness without permission or compensation? At least she could have asked first!

SHIPPING

What, no "let's paint Rainbow Dash to look like Daring Do so she can distract Ahuizotl's minions"? I was totally ready for that to be a plot device.

My feelings on this episode overall were lukewarm. On one hand, Daring Do is awesomesauce. On the other, what Rainbow Dash "learned" was kind of a mixed bag.

Oh well. It's ultimately (as far as I know) inconsequential to the S4 arc, so I'll give them one episode for a breather before they start moving towards those keys. Gotta find six keys still, and there's only 22 episodes left in Season 4!

Final note: it's moar poni, that's the extent of what I got from this episode.

[Navron]

Another episode without a song. What are you guys doing to pass the time?





I liked this episode, but dear god, the shipping fallout that's about to happen.