Recently my video games of interest have been Asura’s Wrath (more of an interactive anime but a mind blowing anime at that), Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights (Professor Layton puzzles + Legend of Zelda stealth sections + Pokémon battles + Sherlock Holmes personality protagonist + Indiana Jones adventuring) and Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (Despite being my favourite series I had regrettably never played this or its sequel) and what would you know, I found something interesting a while back. You see, in Asura’s Wrath Asura and his former master Argus are about to fight but because Argus does not want anyone to interrupt them he and Asura go on over to have their battle on the moon. Being a brony I immediately thought how funny it would be if Luna was watching their battle on the moon, and then I came across ‘Asura's Wrath: The Final Lesson...with Luna.’ By Tom2rules, a fanfic of the exact thing I thought of. A well written and neat read though it is neither the longest nor most eventful but I suggest people to have a looksee, may interest you in the game itself.
‘Magnetism’, chapter 1, is complete. It will need some editing before I upload it in late August but at over 7000 words the first chapter of my roughly 8 chaptered FlutterDash fanfic is complete. Work on the second chapter has also been going well with the first scene being almost complete, I just need to iron out some details in the Angel Bunny charade scene due to the removal and addition of differing minor details (although one minor detail I had in chapter 2 is actually becoming a larger detail that is important for both the back-story and for the conclusion of the fanfic). The rest of chapter 2 will be a little rougher, my plans for the rest of the chapter aren’t quite so polished and as Angel Bunny is becoming a more important character than he was previously in ‘Magnetism’ I need to think of more ways to involve him in already planned scenes (at a later point I will post a rough full summary of ‘Magnetism’ and my change in Angel Bunny’s screen time will become clear). Working on ‘Magnetism’ is great fun at the moment, what isn’t is that my brain is going into overdrive with story ideas. Playing Kirby’s Dreamland 2 has got this one one-shot story stuck in my head (non-pony related), and looking up Applejack’s truck jokes and comics keeps on making me think of a comedy one-shot revolving around Applejack having a cardboard cut-out of Twilight. Most prominent currently are RariPie ideas, one where Pinkie Pie, knowing Rarity is straight, disguises herself as a rich and posh stallion (complete with a bushy moustache and a monocle) and another based off the Youtube video ‘PMV ℛariᕈie - The nicest thing I've ever seen’ by MartaPD2 because the song that goes with it truly feels like it is being sung by Pinkie (I guess that would mean I’m basing it more off the song thus making it a song fanfic…never thought I would feel the urge to write one of those). I’m trying my hardest to stick with ‘Magnetism’ because I want to actually be able to upload it according to my schedule but gosh, these ideas haunt my dreams. Moving on from that today is the first day of the Week of Negatives wherein I shall talk of my ten least favourite things of certain things from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this week being my ten least favourite episodes.
10) S2E24: MMMystery on the Friendship Express – This episode was a last minute addition to the roster for you see, there was another episode I was considering for this spot but upon trying to write out negatives I realised the weak points to it were all rather weak themselves and I overall liked the episode (provided I ignore the obsessive fandom around one of the characters). So instead I chose MMMystery on the Friendship Express possibly the most bizarre case of all the episodes on this list. As the case of this episode is so bizarre, for this one only, I will talk of its redeeming values first and then go onto its negatives (just to be clear, with 9-1 I will talk about what I disliked first and then say what can or tries to redeem its negatives).
The opening is brilliant, involves each of the Mane 6, looks lovely, and has absolutely brilliant humour, particularly from Mr Cake (a character high up on my favourites list). Then it continues to keep the ball rolling with a moustached griffin, the return of Pony-I mean Doughnut Joe, and a tribute to the mystery novel the episode is based off in the form of Mulia Miles. Proceeding from that there is Pinkie flavoured humour and the cutest sleeping position ever, which is then followed up by one of the funniest and all-round greatest moments in the entire series, Pinkie's imagination sequences.
Now you're probably thinking, why is this episode on your bottom ten list, it sounds fantastic? Well after the imagination sequences the episode is like a cricket game wherein after half time they replace the cricket ball with a football, the bats with katana's, relocated the pitch to Atlantis, and every time you hit the football Cthulu pops out and shoots the players kneecaps with a banana bomb...to put it simply the rest of the episode goes horribly. The humour dries up with exception to one scene involving Rarity, three of the character act (dare I say it) out of character, Applejack disappears from existence, and the mystery is just boring. Half this episode is so good that if it kept up the quality I would consider it for my top ten, but the other half is just such a let-down that it ends up being balanced out into an Average episode. I do not consider this a Poor episode, only the bottom four do I consider that, but it is an Average one (though I do recommend watching it for the amazing first half alone).
9) S1E23: The Cutie Mark Chronicles – This episode is an oddity for I am not able to define that which I disliked to a truly clear degree. I found the episode to be rather boring, the least boring of the three episodes I have found boring, but boring all the same. I never felt fully engaged with the episode, but my biggest gripe with this episode is the moral and connecting back-story. The whole thing comes across as a concept of fate and destiny, being linked to your friends before you met them makes it seem like your friendships are predetermined, and I hate concepts such as destiny, prophesies and the like, it undervalues freedom, free will and choice.
Redeeming values include the opening (Spike zip-lines in his free time, that is just awesome), Rainbow Dash defending Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash being the cutest filly, and Rarity’s entire flashback.
8) S1E26: The Best Night Ever - Now I shall make people ha-tolerate me, by actually giving a negative opinion to the season 1 finale. I am not a fan of this episode, Twilight feels left out and underused through the entire episode (that’s Spike’s job), it all feels rather disjointed, and ‘At The Gala’ is one of the few songs I dislike (I find the only worthwhile part to be Rainbow’s moment). I also hate how Celestia set them up to go there so they could ruin it for everyone else so she could get entertainment from it. Some people find formal, posh parties fun, they don’t all have to be loud and energetic.
To redeem this episode nearly all the moments before the song were entertaining, ‘Pony Pokey’ does a good job of trying to make up for ‘At The Gala,’ Fluttershy setting up her traps are my favourite parts, and this had the one and only interaction between Applejack and Soarin’ which lead me to ship SoarJack
7) S2E11: Family Appreciation Day – This here I find to be the second most boring episode, and while my overall rating of this episode is Average, and it is not ranked poor, I believe that if I did not like the Cutie Mark Crusaders so much I would probably rank it even lower. The negatives stand at it not being very entertaining and being rather weak in humour.
Redeeming factors however are almost entirely Cutie Mark Crusaders base, I love their interactions and Scootaloo in particular has some memorable moments (calling Apple Bloom a dictionary, hitting the light bulb with her head, telegram). The other thing I liked was the Timber Wolves, one of my favourite creatures in the show.
6) S1E5: Griffon the Brush Off – Being honest, the only reason this episode is below Family Appreciation Day is because it lacks the entertaining interactions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders which said episode had. As for why I find myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as others…I’m not too sure, I can’t exactly define a particular moment.
Overall I feel the episode is weak, the prank based humour was not nearly as funny as the comedy in the episodes before it and after it, though they had Pinkie doubt herself they already made Gilda obviously mean (so the idea that Pinkie was simply jealous, while neat, felt wasted), and I just don’t find the episode as immersive as others. I also dislike the awkward vibes that can be felt upon Gilda’s outburst, it’s good that the mood of the scene is conveyed so well, but also makes it hard to watch.
Redeeming values would be one or two truly funny moments (such as when Gilda says she’ll be watching Pinkie like a hawk and then Pinkie asks why Gilda can’t watch her like a griffon), and the introduction of Gilda. She’s the first antagonist character outside of Nightmare Moon, is the first ‘intelligent’ non-pony outside of Spike and that one mule, and has a back-story that links her up with Rainbow Dash (and possibly Fluttershy as well). There is so much to this character that there is too explore, and in my hopes for a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash filly episode, I’m hoping it will explain how Rainbow Dash and Gilda became friends. I guess that this here would be another criticism; there was a lot of wasted potential involving Gilda that could have been explored in the episode.
5) S2E8: The Mysterious Mare Do Well – Ah, this here is a famous episode, known mostly for being the most disliked episode in the brony community, hated to the point where half the livestreams don’t include it in their line up for fear of bringing up arguments. While not considering it the worst episode I did at one point consider it poor, but now I consider it average, just managing to escape from the ranks of the four episodes I dislike. The reason for this change in opinion is due to later episodes proving me wrong in my interpretation of this episode, as I originally considered the characters in the episode to be coming across as jerks until I saw a later episode where the characters really did act like jerks and I gave this episode a more favourable interpretation, the characters did not act like jerks but like idiots.
First off, most of the characters come across as idiots, they mean well but their way of getting Rainbow Dash to learn the lesson is incredibly convoluted and it would have made more sense if they had tried to tell her she was being too much of a show off first. Second, the moral is a weaker version of Boast Busters, weaker in the fact that Boast Busters also presented how pride can also be a good thing, this is a purely negative interpretation and one that I have seen so many times it is irritating. Third, Rainbow Dash had every reason to be allowed to act the way she did because she was saving people’s lives, if a doctor or a fireman/woman or a lifeguard bragged about their accomplishments I wouldn’t stop them, they have earned the right. In fact, I would actually prefer it if, like how Rainbow Dash was getting all the media attention in the episode, if such people also got such media attention instead of the thousands of celebrities who are not nearly as worthy at being brought to attention. Finally, and the reason I originally thought several of the characters to come across as jerks, is how much Rainbow Dash suffers in this episode. The pain she is shown to go through is far more than she, or pretty much anyone deserves, and though the episode tries to cast Dash in the wrong, ultimately it makes her more sympathetic.
Redeeming values do exist, the episode is not nearly as bad as three others that follow, I love super heroes and comic books so the jokes and references had me grinning, and Scootaloo made what I believe is her first and only non-crusader appearance. Also, while also noted as a negative, there is the case of Rainbow Dash’s suffering. When Rainbow Dash stated that she hated being all alone I was not teary eyed like I was in Sisterhooves Social…I cried, just a tear, but that scene is the only moment in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to make me cry to any extent, and is to me, the saddest, most miserable scene in the show. It’s placed as a positive because of how well such emotion is conveyed.
4) S2E19: Putting Your Hoof Down – Now we finally get onto the episodes I consider poor, the episodes to which I truly dislike. The first of these, Putting Your Hoof Down, I struggle to pinpoint my exact reason for disliking it as it’s more a culmination of things and a lack of positives.
For negatives, well first, several characters act like jerks (no this is not the episode I was referring to when talking about The Mysterious Mare Do Well, that comes later). I mean, that is sort of Angel Bunny’s role but even he seems to take it a little too far, but if it was just him I’d be okay but the entire town. I know that someponies would take advantage of Fluttershy’s timid and kind nature but I didn’t think they would be so cruel about it, literally throwing her out of their way and such. The humour was rather weak with one or two exceptions that I will mention later, and the whole thing feels confusing. Iron Will, simply through motivational speaking, not only manages to make Fluttershy crueller than Discord managed to through hypnotism, but also makes her possibly the nastiest character in the entire show. The things she says to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, short of Discord’s hypnotism and Chrysalis starting a war, is the most evil deed in the show. I would probably dislike it if I wasn’t too puzzled by how little of it makes sense.
The best redeeming quality comes in the form of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, the two funniest characters in the show, and also the funniest interactions in the show. While most of the humour was bland, when these two interacted, laughs ensued. I found the new Fluttershy, old Fluttershy joke to be amusing, and the some of the animation in this episode is simply astounding.
3) S2E16: Read it and Weep – Some things we dislike because of the negative emotions they invoke in us, others because of the lack of emotions they invoke in us. I find Read it and Weep to be the later, as I find it the most boring episode of the series and if it invokes any emotion from me it is disappointment. To be fair, I had different expectations of this episode, I was hoping for a Rugrats styled, imagination episode where in Rainbow proceeds to imagine herself and her friends in the roles, preferably of multiple and differing books she was reading, but no, we got an Indiana Jones parody that can’t compare to the very same thing parodied before in Rugrats (I think I should stop trying to compare FiM to what I consider the greatest cartoon in all of existence, it’s only lead to disappointment so far).
Other than finding the entire thing boring, which I blame on half the episode focusing on the bland Daring Doo who I cannot invest any interest in, and the other half focusing on a moral that has been done before in tons of shows, and one I dislike. If people don’t like to read, nothing wrong with that, same if people don’t like to do sports, nothing wrong with that.
There is also little I see that can redeem this episode with only a few comical moments such as “Rainbow Dash! What in the world is going on? Why are you stealing slippers?” and the cliché death traps occur simultaneously, as well as cute moments such as Rainbow’s expressions and Fluttershy and Twilight speaking at the same time trying to make up for it. They are few though and often missed as I have usually fallen asleep before I can see them.
2) S1E24: Owl’s Well That Ends Well – Hooray! Spike receives his first, fully focused episode…and it casts him in a horrible light. Not hooray. There are few funny jokes here, Spike comes across terribly for his first fully focused episode, you really do feel sorry for him, and Owloyuis feels like a mere plot device.
This poor episode has a few neat moments, some Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash interaction, a joke I’m amazed they got in the episode, and Spike with an evil villain get-up. Otherwise this is a poor episode, was the first episode I ever disliked, and the only season 1 episode I rank as poor.
1) S2E23: Ponyville Confidential – Now we move onto my least favourite episode, the one to which I wish to never watch again, and the one I mentioned earlier as having the characters act like jerks. This episode makes me seethe with rage, and is the only time watching this show that I have ever wanted to hurt a character within it.
Like with The Mysterious Mare Do Well I end up sympathising more with the characters who we are supposed to consider to be in the wrong, in this case, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which is done by showing that the Cutie Mark Crusaders know what they are doing is wrong and consider stopping only to continue because they know how much the ponies are liking their articles. Furthermore, while in The Mysterious Mare Do Well the characters were unintentionally causing Rainbow Dash great emotional agony, this time round the character purposely inflicts it, and at that they are inflicting it on children. If a child does something wrong you do not lash out at them, you sit them down and calmly talk through with them what they did and why it was wrong of them to do so. How the ponies reacted to the crusaders had me boiling but Big Mac’s little rant got me so angry that for hours afterwards the only thing I wanted to do was grab a crowbar, find a way to Equestria and pummel the guy in until all four of his legs were broken. The humour was generally weak with only a few exceptions and the secrets were dull, the most interesting one being Fluttershy having tail extensions and that’s if it is even true.
To redeem this episode there are two characters who come out well. The first is Rarity, who not only recognises her hypocrisy but is the only one who does the right thing, she sits Sweetie Belle down and explains to her what she did wrong and why it is wrong, even using an example that she could relate to. The second oddly enough is Diamond Tiara, who goes from simply being bitchy to outright evil and you know what, I like it. I like the idea of their being an antagonist towards the crusaders but even more so an openly sinister and downright evil antagonist. Why is it okay for Diamond Tiara to be cruel to the crusaders but not the Mane 6, Spike, or Big Mac? Because Diamond Tiara is an antagonist, her role in the show is to be antagonistic, while the other characters are the good guys that you expect to know better and to treat the crusaders better. In the end, while the redeeming qualities increased my liking of two characters it did not help this episode much, my least favourite episode.
There is little that cannot be found enjoyable in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, though like I have shown, there will always be the odd moment or episode that you can disapprove of. So my readers, what episodes do you not like, which ones do you tolerate but hope secretly you never have to watch again? You don't have to list a bottom ten, heck, six of these on this list are not even episodes I consider poor thus meaning this list should be a mere bottom four list, but I would like to know your views and I would like to discuss your views. Are there any episodes that you disagree with on this list or believe you can point out more redeeming values too? Who knows, maybe you'll be able to change my mind on some, it's been done before. Next week is another time of negatives, I shall reveal to you my bottom ten songs (and upon doing so I will be murdered horrifically by the brony community) but cheerio until then.
No comments:
Post a Comment