My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Analysis

[Quiver he/him]

For an explanation of this thread check out http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5970-you-know-thats-for-x-right/

So, after a couple of days, I kept my promise and watched an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Not the first one; I just watched the first episode I could find, which turned out to be a season 3 episode, Too Many Pinkie Pies. I want to think it was providence in some way, considering the boy who inspired this was a Pinkie Pie fan, because in case you didn't know, boy does this episode have a lot of Pinkie Pie.

For anyone who hasn't seen the episode: Pinkie Pie becomes distressed because she realises that she can't spend time with all of her friends. After failing to solve the problem, she remembers a legend about a magical pool which clones any pony who uses it. She clones herself, multiple times to cover all the 'fun spots' in Ponyville, but the clones are completely out of control. The mane six find a way to get rid of the clones, and administer a test to find the real Pinkie. The clones are dispelled, and Pinkie learns a lesson.

So, as someone wholly unassociated with pony fandom, what did I think?

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised.

To start at the beginning, the animation is gorgeous. It's not at the standard of Korra, perhaps, but this is a different show, for a different audience. The simple, bold colours make it stand out. Do they also make it a little childish? Maybe at first glance, but I was surprised at the amount of detail added to the backgrounds, or incidental details.

The mane six character designs are also simple. Just looking at them is enough to tell something about their personality. They are all visually distinct from each other, with the possible exception of a Twilight and Rarity; for some reason I found myself a little confused with those two. Even so, details like Twilights horn or Rarity's lidded eyes helps tell them apart, and in subsequent episodes I've had no trouble identifying them.

The theme song was... interesting. I saw enough commercials growing up for the 'My little pony, my lit-tle po-ny' jingle to get stuck in my head. I like that they incorporated it into the theme; it reminds me of how Transformers Animated theme was just an update of the 80s tune. The song has an exciting tempo to it, but I don't like the lyrics; they seem a bit too cheesy for my liking, and they contribute to the perception it's for girls, but hey, different strokes. It's more effective than the new TMNT opening.

The episode itself was surprisingly funny. Pinkie Pie is the sort of character who could be very annoying,mI think, but this episode handled her well. She has a superficial trait that gets blown out of proportion -"FUN!"- but her reaction by the end of the episode, her depression, her fears for her own identity, and her determination not to lose make her more rounded than I would have expected from a children's show. By the same token, the Pinkie clones were hilarious. Their bouncing was enough to make me laugh, especially coupled with their incessant refrain.

The ending of the episode was somewhat convenient, though. After finding no answers, the group discovers a book that... has the answers. Why it has them, or why it was locked behind an Omega shaped horseshoe isn't explained; perhaps it's part of a plot arch. But given no one mentions it, is seemed overly convenient.

The test, watching paint dry, was another pretty funny moment, but it was coupled with what I thought was extreme body horror for a kids show. The Pinkies get picked off one by one as their attention turns away from the paint.none of them blows on her hand and makes fingers come out of her hooves. Another rearranges her face so that she looks like a traditional horse. Those attempts to amuse themselves result in them being banished- which involves them swelling like balloons and exploding. I can see how that might be funny for kids, but I have to admit, body horror was not what I expected.

Still, it was a surprisingly good show. I'm planning on watching more, to see if this was a stand out episode or it'd he show has a consistent quality, but I liked it.

[Peng the Just he/him]

TRIPLE EDIT: A new record for me.

And I've just decided curse word it. Watching something and then hiding it isn't really any better than not doing it, so... after I watch it, I'm going to start a thread here and announce my thoughts on it. I'm putting this here, in writing, as leverage so that, when I chicken out, someone can point back to this as my promise.

your promise has been kept. your soul will not be taken by the shades.

All I watched was the first season, as part of an agreement with a co-worker. I didn't continue watching after that, not because I didn't like it, but because, well, there are other things I would rather do with my time. Like read, or play magic, or read, or watch, Dr. who, or read.(or talk about books on 17s.)

RANDOM THOUGHT: could we use hemalurgy to make a spiked Spike?

[FeatherWriter she/her]

I've seen the first three seasons, and I agree with your analysis Quiver! MLP is really great at taking complex story elements (fears over identity/self-doubt/things like that) and working them into an easily understandable, but still accurate presentation. I love the animation, like you've said. It's just very easy on the eyes and engaging to watch.

 

((I feel like Sylvie could learn a lesson from watching this episode. Who would have thought that making a bunch of copies of yourself would turn out badly, huh?))

 

I"m interested to see if you keep with it!

[Quiver he/him]

Well, I don't know the season it's from, but I finished a second episode earlier. It was a Fluttershy-centric episode called 'Putting your hoof down', and I thought I'd wait a bit before posting my opinion. I'm glad I did, since I have flip-flopped on it a few times. I was going to say that I prefered Too many Pinkie Pies but that I thought this episode had more meat to it. Now, while I think I still enjoyed Pinkie more for the comedy aspect, I'm not quite so sure.

 

Summary: After her friends point out that her shyness makes her "a doormat", Fluttershy signs up for an assertiveness seminar, taught by a minotaur named Iron Will. She takes his lessons to heart, and starts putting them into practice over the next number of days, becoming increasingly nasty as she does so. Things come to a head when, in responding to Pinkie Pie and Rarity's criticisms about her behaviour by deriding the things they enjoy as worthless, Fluttershy realises how bad she's become. She locks herself in her house, and refuses to leave, for fear she's going to become "nasty Fluttershy" again. Iron Will arrives to collect payment for his seminar and, after unsuccessful stalling tactics by Pinkie Pie and Rarity, confronts Fluttershy. Fluttershy responds by citing his Satisfaction guaranteed clause and refusing to pay. Iron Will is sent off without his money (but a new catchphrase), and Fluttershy learns about assertiveness.

 

To start with, a confession: I emphasise with Fluttershy and her attempts to stand up for herself far more than I'm comfortable with. I used to be (and in many ways, still am) dreadfully shy, and whenever I try to course-correct and "fix" myself, I tend to over-compensate. Most people who have had to deal with me are probably familiar with that, and it's exactly the problem Fluttershy has here.

 

Because assertiveness, in itself, isn't a bad thing to have. It's important, and it's a good idea to teach those values, to not let people do whatever they want to you. Fluttershy's problem is that she overcompensates. I think it's the problem with any sort of advice. It's satirised here in the form of Iron Will's rhyming mantras, but it's something I've always been a little concious of. Whenever you're aware of something, I think there is a tendency to overreact in response to it.

In this episode, it's Fluttershy following the letter of Iron Wills advice, rather than the spirit of it.

To use a personal example, when I was at school I made an effort to be more talkative and outgoing, and it ended up getting me into trouble. Rather than being the quiet kid at the back of the class, I became a punchline.

But back to My Little Pony:

 

It's actually strange, but two episodes in, I don't think I've yet seen a villain in this show. There wasn't one in Too Many Pinkie Pies, and there isn't one here, because, as Fluttershy points out repeatedly, Iron Will is not a monster "he's a Minotaur!". I admit, whenever we saw Iron Will's set up, the lights, the way his eyes turned to coins (bits?) when he saw Fluttershy, I expected him to be an over the top villain. I thought the goats had a look about them which was unseemly; the only word I could find to describe them was skeevy. But, by the end of the episode... well, Iron Will is an antagonist, but he's certainly not a villain. He plays up the role, tearing the boards off Fluttershy's home, bouncing off the fence like it's a ring rope, getting right up in her face... but he doesn't become violent to her. By the end, I was expecting him to reveal that this was his training seminar, getting her to stand up to him, but it wasn't. I also sort of expected him to be revealed to be the complete opposite of what he appeared to be, a weak coward who gets by on his appearance, which, again, he wasn't.  When he's confronted by her, he discusses with his crew, tries to negotiate with her as "reasonable creatures", and eventually leaves without being paid. He's grumpy about it -you would be too!- but the fact he honours his agreement is surprisingly admirable.

 

He even leaves with a new catchphrase for his seminar, the words Fluttershy told him: "No means no."

 

That's the part I kind of have an issue with.

 

Yes, assertiveness is an important trait to have. I agree with Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Iron Will on that one. Throughout the episode, Fluttershy is exposed to different ways of being assertive. Rarity's example is to approach a very obviously nerdy looking pony and flatter him to get what she wants. Pinkie Pie takes her negotiations to comedic extremes, utilising the old "Duck Season, Rabbit Season, Rabbit Season, Duck Season" routine. Iron Will is loud. Whenever Fluttershy tries to imitate them, she misses the mark. When she tries flirting with a shopkeeper, it comes out wrong, and her attempt at Pinkie-style results in her upping the amount she has to pay. Trying to follow Iron Will's advice makes her, in her own words, the monster of the story.

 

The thing is that these approaches... well, whether their wrong or not is up to personal interpretation, and how much you want to separate the fictional reality of the show with reality. In reality, for instance, Pinkie's bargaining tactics would fail horribly, and Rarity? She outright used a guy by pretending to be interested to get what she wanted. Those aren't good role models, but in the realms of a cartoon universe, the visual gag of the spinning bowtie or Pinkie outwitting an unfair shopkeeper make them palatable.

 

At the end of the story, Fluttershy narrates a letter to Princess Celestia, explaining how she's learned how important it is to stand up for herself, and I feel a little bothered, because that isn't the lesson I got from this. The lesson I got out of it was, much like the Pinkie episode, about individuality, and being yourself; what works for someone else might not work for you. Fluttershy's mantra, that "no means no" is different from Iron Will, Pinkie Pie and Rarity's- and that's a good thing. Whenever she tried to be them, she failed miserably.

 

I'm not sure if I like that the episode didn't spell that out. On the one hand, it is kind of important for kids to know, and frankly, I'm getting used to stopping just before the letter starts because it feels tacked on. On the other, maybe not mentioning it is more powerful, and I'm not giving children enough credit as thinkers.

 

 

Personally, I think we should spike Luna.

WE DECREE THAT THERE SHALL BE  TRADITIONAL ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICES FOR ALL.

If your interested in chatting about Who, give me a message sometime. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the latest seasons (I just don't want to steal Dr Whooves thunder).

 

damnation it, Feather, now I want a fan fiction involving Pinkie piVe.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Ah, you're reminding me how much I really liked this show, Quiver! Fluttershy is probably my favorite, and the one that I empathized with the most. I share a lot of my philosophy with her in how to interact with other people, and I share a lot of her flaws -- especially being willing to let other people hurt me for fear of being mean in return to them. As such, her episodes tend to be my favorite.

 

If you're looking for a more "epic" scope story with actual villians, I'd recommend the season openers and finales. (Some of them, at least.) I think Lauren Faust wanted a more adventure-style show, with the Mane 6 off fighting evil with the power of friendship and the Elements of Harmony (which may or may not have been mentioned in those two episodes.) Each of the Mane 6 is linked to one of the Elements and they're pretty powerful magical artifacts.

 

The beginnings and ends of seasons tend to try to recapture this more adventurous genre, rather than the slice-of-life style of the other episodes. Season one's two-part opener has the girls facing off against Nightmare Moon, Season Two's opener brings in Discord, an emissary of the power of Chaos itself. Season 3 introduces Queen Chrysalis, who attempts to take over one of the northern kingdoms. 

 

Luna is adorable and WE VERY MUCH ENJOY EPISODES WITH HER IN THEM! Woooooonnaaaaaa. 

 

(Ehehe, don't tell Gavin. Ze's a major Pinkie Pie fan. I'm pretty sure Pinkie piVe would be too much!)

[PeterAhlstrom he/him]

I am a brony, but I haven't finished the second season yet. Right now my girls and I are spending our Saturday TV time watching Sailor Moon and Pokemon, two episodes each.

 

The girls' favorite episodes in the first season are Swarm of the Century and Feeling Pinkie Keen. My favorite moment of the first season is the Don Music reference. I busted out laughing and didn't stop for about ten minutes. It just came out of nowhere and was so perfect.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Peter, you just get more and more awesome. Works with Brandon? Linguistics degree? FMA fan? Likes Frozen? And now MLP too? I just don't think I can handle all of this! (But no seriously, you're super cool and I kinda want to be you when I grow up, oops, awkward confession time.)

[Quiver he/him]

I remember watching some Sailor Moon. It was when I was younger, and anime (at least, anime on television, for kids) was starting to become a big thing. Actually, considering that I vividly remember watching and enjoying Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors and Escaflowne, three shows that are sort of feminine (even though edits made them more action boy oreinted), maybe I shouldn't be so surprised I'm enjoying My Little Pony.

 

Anyway, Dragon Quest.

 

Spike becomes tired of the other ponies teasing him for being cute and cuddly, their little "spikey-wikey" instead of being fierce and fearsome, like other dragons. He follows the Great Dragon Migration in an attempt to find out where he comes from and what he is, followed by Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. After proving himself to a group of teenage dragons, Spike is taken on a raid to steal and eat eggs stolen from a Phoenix nest. Caught between the dragons and his friends, Spike finally announces proudly that he's a pony. At the end of the episode, one of the eggs hatches into a baby Phoenix that Spike names Peewee, promising to teach him "everything there is about being a pony".

 

First of all, this episode takes place in the second season, after Fluttershy's encounter with Iron Will. I mention that because, in the pre-credits teaser, Fluttershy is featured refusing to do something, eventually screaming "NO" and running away. It's a funny moment out of context ("Look at the shy one shouting!") but in connection with Putting your Hoof down it surprised me. I expected the lessons Fluttershy learned at the end to be forgotten, and for the character to revert to being passive. Seeing that character development carry on, in a children's show, was a pleasant surprise.

 

Honestly, I'm still trying to work out my feelings for this episode. Maybe I ought to wait until I have a clearer picture, but since I'm conflicted, I thought I'd best use that.

 

I get the message of this episode. Again, it's an important one; more than that, it's an oddly appropriate one. I mentioned that this analysis was inspired because of the story about an eleven year old boy who was bullied by his schoolmates because he liked MLP. And that's exactly what the story here is. Spike is abused by the other dragons for being a 'Pony'. The Dragons that bully him are fairly stereotypical male teenagers, and the rites they make Spike endure are rough-and-tumble games and rude actions usually associated with men, like burping the loudest or king of the hill hoard. If Spike can't do those things, the logic goes, that he isn't one of them- and since all the Dragons are male, and the pony's are female, if Spike isn't a dragon, then he has to be a girl.

 

That logic is enforced at the beginning of the episode as well, when his appearance is wearing an apron and baking cupcakes for the mane 6. Neither are traits traditionally associated with "male" identities. But then, the Pony's don't help the situation either; Rainbow Dash laughs at him for it, and Rarity undermines whatever confidence he has in his identity by calling him cute, even after he expresses how much he doesn't like it.

At the end of the episode, Spike writes a letter to Princess Celestia, explaining how he's learned that who you are isn't as important as what you are.

 

People who have been speaking to me in PM's, or reading my reviews of Sydney Scroungers (READ FEATHERWRITERS TUMBLR GUYS, SERIOUSLY) might know that I've been trying to expand my knowledge about gender roles lately. I was raised thinking there was a strong delineation between men and women, with homo-, hetero- and bisexuality as the only options. It's only really since speaking to people here that I've been disabused by that notion, and it makes me look at this episode in a different light.

 

I'm sure I'm reading too much into this, but is Spike's decision at the end, his resolve to teach how another lost soul like him how to be a pony, indicative of a nongender binary character in a children's show? Spike calls himself a Dragon (male) at the start, and a Pony(female) at the end, and the lesson would seem to be that you don't have to adhere to stereotypes to be one or the other as long as you're happy. Spike enjoyed the party with the Dragons; it was their antics, the theories and beliefs that underlie their attitude towards the Ponies he takes issue with.

And, while the Pony's make fun of him, at least two of them (Fluttershy and Rarity) have itnerests and pursuits in things which are particularly feminine.

 

Which also makes me think of the team that actually follows Spike. It consists of Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Whenever I was younger, I used to have some identity issues because, like Twilight, I enjoy reading; the problem was that, until I was about twelve years old, I never knew another guy who shared those interests. I watched Sailor Moon, or Cardcaptors, or Digimon/Pokemon, but I was always afraid to tell people in case they thought it was girlish, or babyish. 

Now, when I was in my teens, I met some guys who shared similar interests, but I still partly think of reading as a feminine thing, whereas competition and sports are masculine. In fact, of the three who go with Spike, Rainbow Dash is the one I would say is the most traditionally masculine. She can be a bit mocking, is more physical than the others, has the stupid-brave trope going for her...

 

I'm not saying that those qualities aren't present in Girls, or that Rainbow Dash identifies as male. It's a kids show; I don't expect it to deal with stuff like that. But I am impressed that it seems to be advocating a message that it's possible to pick and mix societal identity traits, and to not be ashamed of who you are or what you like doing, even if other people try to make you.

[FeatherWriter she/her]

reading my reviews of Sydney Scroungers (READ FEATHERWRITERS TUMBLR GUYS, SERIOUSLY)

 

*much blushing* 

 

I like this interpretation as well. I think it's a very apt analysis, talking about societal perceptions of what a person should be and showing that that's nowhere near as important as what the individual wants to be. That can certainly be applied to gender roles and I like the dynamic that you've picked out here.

 

I'd say that you're probably right in that Rainbow Dash is the most tomboyish of the Mane 6, (though I think a good argument could be made for Applejack as well.) I like that both she and Rarity (who is perhaps the most overtly feminine of the group) are two of the ones who go with him, as well as Twilight, who of course is closest to him, having known him the longest. It's a good group to have followed him out, and I think it helps reinforce the message that you're trying to defend here. I like it a lot.

 

I've never seen Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura or Escaflowne. Then again, there's a lot of childhood staples that I missed out on, whoops!

[Quiver he/him]

I haven’t been reviewing for the past few days, not because I stopped watching, but because of the vagaries of life and the alignment of the stars. Now that that’s been sorted (for the most part), it means you get a double-helping of my little analysis of My Little Pony.

 

A Friend In Deed

Summary: Ponyville has a new resident, Cranky Doodle Donkey, a long-time traveller of Equestria. He’s been from Manehatten to Fillydelphia looking for a “special friend”, but he’s retiring to Ponyville to rest in peace and quiet. He should have gone somewhere else; from the moment he arrives, he’s bothered by Pinkie Pie, who refuses to accept his rebuffs because “I’m friends with everypony”. In her attempts to endear herself to him, however, she ends up destroying his personal property, including an important book. She recognises someone from the book though, and introduces him to Matilda, another donkey living in Ponville and the reason for Cranky’s travels.

 

So… yeah. This has been one of the reasons I’ve been held up in reviews, because I’m not quite sure what to say about this. I don’t think it has the same depth to it that previous episodes have had. It’s more of a slapstick comedy, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a kids show. It does leave me struggling what to say though.

 

Well, for one, I like the different animation styles that appear through the episode. It breaks it up and adds to the mania of it. 

 

And I find Cranky to be a very sympathetic character; even though the whole episode is told from Pinkie’s POV, she comes across as somewhat obnoxious. It’s intentional, given that the moral of the story according to her is about the different types of friends one can have, but it still makes it very, very easy to sympathise with Cranky when he finally snaps.

 

(And as a side-note, did anyone else who’s seen this episode find themselves reminded of Up? Cranky is rather like the old man in that film, and the black-and-white sequence of him and Matilda –while not as touching- does call up similar comparisions.)

 

The Wonderbolt Academy

 

My Little Pony does Top Gun!

 

Rainbow Dash gets the chance to fulfil her dream and join the Wonderbolts. She leaves to spend a week at the academy in training, during which she becomes friends (and rivals) with another Pegasus named Lightning Dash. After showing off during the training sessions, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust are put together in a team- with Lightning Dust as the leader and Rainbow Dash as wingpony. In Ponyville, Pinkie Pie becomes anxious about Rainbow Dash forgetting about them and convinces the mane 6 that they should bring her a care package. Meanwhile, the Wonderbolt Training intensifies. Lightning Dust pushes herself and Rainbow Dash to prove they’re the best, resulting in Rainbow Dash becoming injured. When an attempt at showing off creates a  tornado that almost kills the Mane 6, Rainbow Dash resigns from the Academy. Before she leaves however her training instructor commends her for her attitude; being the best doesn’t mean being reckless. As such, Lightning Dust is expelled from the Academy, with Rainbow Dash instated as Leadpony of the recruits.

 

Again. Top Gun: MLP Edition. Alsol; Spitfire is an awesome name. MLP is far from the first franchise to use that as a name for a pilot-character (I think there’s, like, three of them in comics) but it’s still an awesome name.

 

Alongisde Spitfire though, I liked what I thought were the riffings on traditional/stereotypical military clichés, particularly the buzz-cut male pony with the tiny wings. I’m just not sure where I fall down on the message being shown here.

 

Again, teaching kids that they need to be responsible to achieve their goals is a good thing, and in that regard it’s probably good that they show the message using Rainbow Dash (maybe the most impulsive and reckless of the mane 6) to prove it. The fact that, at the end, Dash gets exactly what she wants by being the Leadpony is a glowing endorsement to viewers- you don’t have to break the rules to get recognised.

 

But…

 

Okay. I get that Rainbow Dash is one of the leads of the series. She’s the hero of the episode, and we want her to succeed. But right up until she was inducted as Leadpony, I was hoping that Spitfire was going to give her a lecture about why being Wingpony isn’t the same as failing. Rainbow Dash seems to think that she only “wins” if she gets to be the hero, the leader. At the end of the episode, whenever she succeeds, how is that success shown? By all of her fellow recruits wearing the Wingpony medals and surrounding her. She’s literally the centre of attention. And I’m torn, because while it is a good moment for Dash, an affirmation that playing by the rules… well…

 

Well, I wish Spitfire had drummed her out of the Academy too.

 

In life, not everyone is a leader. Just because of how a hierarchy works, there has to be a leader involved in some situations, I just dislike how this episode seems to suggest that only the lead position is important. Aside from Rainbow Dash, all the other Wingpony’s (and the Leadpony’s) are comic relief characters, incpabale ofbeating up a cloud. It’s not hard to see Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dashes points of view in calling themselves better than them; they are better than them. At the end of the episode, Dash has a realisation that that doesn’t mean they should be causing trouble for the other recruits just because they can, but I was hoping Spitfire was going to point that out to her.

 

In the episode, Spitefire says she teamed those two together because she felt they could be a great team. She goes on to say she made Lightning Dust leadpony because she pushes herself harder than Rainbow Dash does. At the end of the episode, whenever going along with Lightning’s plan resulted in a twister, I expected Spitfire to want to know why Rainbow Dash didn’t try to reel her in.

 

I can’t help thinking that would have been a better message to present; just because you aren’t the best, or number one, or in charge, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a role and it doesn’t mean that you should just do what other people tell you. Just supporting someone isn’t “just” supporting them; it means helping them to cover their weaknesses, challenging them, working together.

 

Of course, that episode probably would have been a bit of a downer with Dash screwing up her chance at being a Wonderbolt, but it would have been an important lesson, and maybe could have been involved in a re-entry attempt at the academy. Still, while it wasn't a great episode, it was still a “good enough” one, so I can’t hold it too much against it.

[Quiver he/him]

Holy topic revival, Batman! Yes, I've still been watching MLP:FiM. As a matter of fact, I haven't posted any analysis because I've not just been watching the episodes- I've turned into a full-on Brony, reading fan fiction, analysis and other things connected to the series. If not for the fact that it goes with the name (and builds my brand recognition), I'd probably have changed my profile picture by now.

Heck, I still might do that once I hit a certain number of posts and replace Green Arrow with Best Pony,

Anyway, because it's so long overdue, I figured I'd add another text analysis. This isn't my first impressions of the episode, since I saw it weeks ago and have watched it a few times since then, but is still a fairly accurate representation of my thoughts on the episode in question: Return of Harmony.

(And even though it's a two parter, I'm going to treat it as a single, longer-than-average episode, because that's how I watch it.)

Summary After a school trip is disrupted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, an old enemy of Celestias is released. He is Discord (voiced by John DeLancie), and the danger he poses is sufficient that Celestia summons the mane six to turn the Elements of Harmony upon him. Unfortunately, Discord has already stolen the Elements and hidden them. He challenges the six to find them, during the course of which he corrupts them. Finally, upon being reminded of the power of friendship, the girls reunite, combine their power, and leave Discord stoned.

Brief summary? Yeah. BECAUSE I LOVE THIS EPISODE.

Look, the plot? It's simple and straightforward. But that's good in this case because the episode is so much fun that it doesn't need a dense! Machiavellian plot. Arguably, that 's part of the point. Discord is simple; he's Chaos personified. So the plot of the episode is correspondingly simple.

As for reviews, starting with the elephant in the room; John DeLancie. His character is often described as an MLP equivalent of Q, but that's a comparison I don't agree with. For a start, TNG is one of my least-favourite Trek series. Secondly, while the characters both have that 'chaps trickster god' aspect to them, and the ability to warp reality, they don't have that much else in common.

For a start, Q appears as a human to the crew of the Enterprise; his meta plot is that he is judging humanity, seeing of they should be made extinct or not. Because of his appearance, he's implicitly a hint towards the future of what humans could be; godlike, all powerful, but with no sense of morality. Picard has to temper that and, arguably, by his last appearance Q (and the entirety of the Continuum) have mellowed.

Discord is nothing like the ponies of Equestria. His species has a vaguely similar name, but that's it. He's a mishmash of different animals, put in a blender and stitched back together. He is antithetical to the Pony way of life; when Nightmare Moon or Sombra returned, she was cool and calm. With Discord? She flips out worse than Kaladin at seeing a light eyes. It isn't the exasperation or irritation that Picard had for Q; it's outright contempt.

And that contempt works because of how DeLancie voices his character. Discord is, at once, more simple and more malevolent than Q. When he's being playful or exuberant, he sounds cheerful, but when he's malevolent -such as the riddle-scene- his voice is somewhat terrifying. I'd compare deLancies Doscord to Mark Hamils Joker; they can both flip on a dime.

The strong vocal work extends to the rest of the cast, as well. Hearing and seeing an angry Celestia fleshes her character out a bit, but the main attraction is the Discorded Mane Six. I'm a big fan of mirror-verse type episodes, so seeing these characters act out the reverse of their virtues was lots of fun. Liarjack and Fluttercruel stood out in particular; maybe it was because of the lines, but those two sounded completely different, whereas the others sounded like a variation on their normal voice.

Honestly, the episode was comedic gold, and it's one of the ones I keep a copy of for when I'm depressed. It's full of funny moments, like Discord moonwalking on Twilight's head. Despite the comedy of Discord, Twilight is the humour catalyst for the episode. Her interaction with the Discorded!Five is hilarious, particularly in regards to Tom, and I found her description of the elements funny as well. She's the straight man to to cast and, in something like this when the joke is how crazy everything else is, their usually the funniest.

The episode also cleared up something that had been bothering me; how magic fit into the Elements. The other five are qualities of friendship, but magic seemed rather forced. This episode made me realise that 'magic' meant being able to see and appreciate things around you since, when Twilight finally turns, she holds her head down, speaks quietly and doesn't seem aware of anything around her. She doesn't have a plan; she just wants away. It's a interesting mix of cynicism and depression, and it made her moment of realisation, regaining her colour while she remembered the good times, all the more emotionally fulfilling. As someone who very easily gets discouraged or upset, I found it emotionally cathartic when Twilight dragged herself out of her emotional spiral.

Restoring the remaining elements was...perhaps a bit convenient. Again, it led to some funny moments, like Liarjacks version of what happened when they challenged Discord or the chase to catch Traitordash, but it wasn't as rousing as Twilight's moment was, and the victory over Discord at the end was somewhat rote.

That said though, I still loved this episode, it has such a different look to the rest of the series, with the chaos capital of the world, that it is, in some way, just more appealing. It was emotionally satisfying, funny, and I enjoyed it, and since this is my thread, I suppose my word goes, doesn't it? ; )