Unpopular opinion time

Brass Beau

Howdy from Shimmer Pope
@Latecomer  
True, it would have shifted attention but I think it would have been good to see the Manes in dynamics different from what they had with each other. It’d let us see different aspects of their personalities that we wouldn’t see otherwise. Rainbow’s arrogance seemed more endearing when she’s trying to encourage Scootaloo and Sassy Fluttershy is an absolute gem. Applejack going overboard when family is involved is hilarious and the fact the Pinkie doesn’t act that differently around her family actually says a lot about her.
Brass Beau

Howdy from Shimmer Pope
@Latecomer  
That’s probably why episodes like the pub trivia one fall flat for me. It’s rehashing something we’ve seen before instead of something interesting. Imagine if Twilight was teamed up with Dash and RD had to try and rein in Twilight’s overly competitive behavior.  
Speaking of the comics, though, the one where Iron Will’s wife kicked him out of the house because he was too aggressive and needed to learn to chill out from Fluttershy is still a favorite of mine.
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
@Latecomer
 
Yeah in all honesty I feel she earned the title of princess of friendship a bit too soon since she was still learning a whole lot, and had basically no friends outside the main cast, then you got stuff like the movie (Canon states between s7 and 8) where she made a few moves that makes me seriously question if she had as good a grasp on the concept yet as the show wanted us to believe
 
I get that friendship is a process one is always learning and can’t fully ‘complete’ but being the princess of said concept brings a higher level of responsibility I dunno if she had when she was bestowed it
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
@Brass Beau
 
She’d learned enough by that point to take a pupil under her wing so that’s pretty fair. Definitely had a few things to learn but enough to probably earn the title as opposed to back in S3
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
@Latecomer
 
Yeah that’s pretty much the way I have to look at it, being given the role to grow up into it instead of being something she got when she ‘graduated’ more or less
Algebroot Neogears
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Sci-fi & Dragons
I still feel like the cold open to Magical Mystery Cure felt more like what you’d see in a cliffhanger ending for a part one. Because the cause of the conflict is not really explained in enough detail and the ending treated the spell like a big deal even though it could have been just some random failed spell (which I believe is still never explained what it’s supposed to do even after the episode).
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
I can’t believe they crammed the extremely significant events of MMC into a single episode. Could we not just take out Spike At Your Service and make it a two-parter to give it time to not feel incredibly rushed?
 
Fun thing about SAYS… as I understand it was meant originally to be a Spike/Rarity episode to finally give us that interaction that’d been asked for, but they gave the ep to Meriwether Williams, who somehow managed to fuck up so badly that she decided to change it into an AJ/Spike episode for god knows why, and that’s why Rarity didn’t have an episode for an insanely long time. As with many of the issues of S2/3, we can perhaps place the blame on a specific writer
Latecomer

@Algebroot Neogears  
But what would the first part be about?
 
If anything, it’s the whole ascension/coronation thing that’s tacked on at the end.
 
 
@EquusStorm  
Maybe have Twilight feel kind of overwhelmed and distrustful of Celestia after being deceived like that, and set the stage for a more open and adult relationship between them?… Yeah, probably just a dream.
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
@Latecomer
 
I mean I think there’s enough content to have, say, the first ep being the spell screw-up and fixing it, and the second ep being the actual ascention instead of HERE WINGS OK BYE, but I feel like that would have nixed the musical aspects of the episode which was the best part to me. So it’s kinda a lose/lose on perfecting it.
Kiryu-Chan
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World's Okayest User
@EquusStorm  
The episode’s story was by Dave Polsky and the final product was done by Williams. They decided to change it when they decided Rarity was too mean, I think the blame was more on Polsky rather than Williams
 
I actually liked SAYS
Background Pony #7FAB
Never mind, I figured it out.
 
I actually liked the episode too, though I wasn’t a big fan of Spike suddenly becoming incompetent at things we’ve seen him be good at in previous episodes. Maybe they could’ve changed it to Applejack “arguing” with Spike each time over the chores, leading to the disasters (which were funny IMO), than Spike just being really incompetent.
EquusStorm
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Flop it to the princess
The show was brutally unfair to Spike so many times, making him incompetent when it fit the narrative and allowing many of his episodes to be pretty bad in comparison to others. He deserved better than that imo. Though just off the top of my head Power Ponies, Secret of my Excess, and Dragon Quest were great.
 
All the debating got me to watching several episodes today, which is more than I’ve watched since the show ended. Kinda falling back in love with the show now. The ride indeed ceases to end no matter how hard we pull the brake lever…
Brass Beau

Howdy from Shimmer Pope
@EquusStorm  
Spike’s competency (which is something I think was actually discussed on this board before) aside, I felt the problem with SAYS was the predictable plot. I may already have shared my thoughts on alternative plots while maintaining the set up as well.  
Overall, the episode is one that’s either enjoyed for its gags or loathed because Spike doesn’t have very many episodes focusing on him and showing him being triumphant. Gauntlet of Fire is the only one I can think of that does.
Background Pony #D58C
Tbh I initially didn’t like SAYS but recently watching it made me think we weren’t supposed to laugh at Spike’s expense, but rather at the others’ expense.
Spinny
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@EquusStorm
 
SAYS was legit my least favorite episode of the show for a while. And Power Ponies seemed deliberately intended to walk back its message.
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