My Little Pony Friendship is Magic

[Milo Thatch]

In MMC, everyone (not saying the other word) got their marks switched and they got each other's talents. However, Rarity did not get Rainbow Dash's talent, which is going fast. Now she is assigned the job of controlling clouds. Um, isn't that a job for all pegasuses, not just Rainbow Dash.

That's just a small detail, though. Season 3 as a whole wasn't that good, and it's the reason I haven't seen an episode since.

Although I do plan on seeing the Weird Al episode. Heard that was good.

Yes, you should see Pinkie Pride. That episode was great. Also, which episodes of Season 3 did you dislike? Also, do you guys like my theme?

 

[SonicMario]

Season 3 is underrated really. I think the real reason it got the flack it did was for it's short length compared to the other seasons. (I know there were also some fandom-splitting controversies but disappointment started turning up as soon as it was announced the season was only 13 episodes long) If you split Seasons 1 & 2 into 2 13-episode seasons. I think Season 3 actually would stand on it's own against them. Cause pretty much any stretch of 13 episodes in the show has their good or their more lackluster episodes.

Speaking of which the true worst stretch of 13 episodes to me is the first half of Season 1. The show wasn't secure in what it was yet. It may have had some classic episodes like Applebuck Season, Dragonshy, and Winter Wrap-Up. The other episodes though were either average that future episodes of the show looked far better in comparison or some I'd count of the below average ones (Ex: Boast Busters and Look Before You Sleep especially)

In MMC, everyone (not saying the other word) got their marks switched and they got each other's talents. However, Rarity did not get Rainbow Dash's talent, which is going fast. Now she is assigned the job of controlling clouds. Um, isn't that a job for all pegasuses, not just Rainbow Dash.

That's just a small detail, though. Season 3 as a whole wasn't that good, and it's the reason I haven't seen an episode since.

Although I do plan on seeing the Weird Al episode. Heard that was good.

Rarity I think would have difficulty with "going fast" considering she's a Unicorn. It's not like it'd make much sense if Rarity was suddenly fast on the ground as that's not Rainbow's talent either. Rainbow's is more "flying fast". And Rarity trying to design the clouds like they were clothing is to illustrate what's wrong with the switch.

And yes, go see Pinkie Pride. One of the best of the series for sure.

 

[Milo Thatch]

Season 3 is underrated really. I think the real reason it got the flack it did was for it's short length compared to the other seasons. Which I think is stupid, because, you know what they say, quality over quantity. (I know there were also some fandom-splitting controversies I actually liked Discord becoming a good guy and Alicorn Twilight but disappointment started turning up as soon as it was announced the season was only 13 episodes long) If you split Seasons 1 & 2 into 2 13-episode seasons. I think Season 3 actually would stand on it's own against them. 10 out of 13 good episodes are accepted by the fandom, so that's good. Cause pretty much any stretch of 13 episodes in the show has their good or their more lackluster episodes.

Speaking of which the true worst stretch of 13 episodes to me is the first half of Season 1. The show wasn't secure in what it was yet. It may have had some classic episodes like Applebuck Season, Dragonshy, and Winter Wrap-Up. The other episodes though were either average that future episodes of the show looked far better in comparison or some I'd count of the below average ones (Ex: Boast Busters This episode is, at the very least, better than people say it is. Doesn't make it good, though and Look Before You Sleep I have no idea why people like this episode, or at least not hate it especially) The Ticket Master and Bridle Gossip are pretty bad, too. I'd say Griffon The Brush-Off was also bad, but it's grown on me, especially because of The Lost Treasure Of Griffonstone.

 

[SonicMario]

Another thing I gotta say about Season 3 is say what you will about how good or bad it was at a season, but surely it led up to some great stuff in the following seasons. I think for the most part they did with Princess Twilight what I suspected would happen after the season was over (Just a little more slowly then we thought. I called Twilight being the Princess of Friendship/Magic a long while ago and even her getting a castle instead of that ol' Treebrary she had. I didn't think it'd be destroyed like it did but either way that fit too)

And pretty much every episode involving Discord since has been entertaining as heck.

The only thing Season 3 started that kinda led to disappointment was the Equestria Games arc where the only real notable episode from it was Flight to the Finish and the whole arc's finale ended up focusing on Spike more so then the actual games. Which while it was probably good for Spike episode standards, if you were expecting them to show more of the actual games you were going to be disappointed. Maybe EQG3: Friendship Games will somewhat make up for that.

And there's some things in Season 3 that still have yet to be resolved. Such as how Rainbow's doing on her mission to become a Wonderbolt after Wonderbolt Academy. Where the next episode of that kind of thing didn't come til' Late Season 4 with Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3. (Maybe Rainbow Falls too but I'd associate that more so to the Equestria Games and... you already know my thoughts on that episode I think. It's really the only Season 4 episode I really dislike)

It also started off all the Luna + CMC episodes and started to give Scootaloo more depth.

Season 3 might of been short, but it's impact on the series future arguably affected things more them most of Season 1 and Season 2. There are many great Season 4 and Season 5 episodes that wouldn't have been possible without what Season 3 brought. Even if it's true because of it's shortness that it's the worst season of the show, it was a necessary drop because it rose to even greater heights afterward.

 

[Magikrazy]

In MMC, everyone (not saying the other word) got their marks switched and they got each other's talents. However, Rarity did not get Rainbow Dash's talent, which is going fast. Now she is assigned the job of controlling clouds. Um, isn't that a job for all pegasuses, not just Rainbow Dash.

That's just a small detail, though. Season 3 as a whole wasn't that good, and it's the reason I haven't seen an episode since.

Although I do plan on seeing the Weird Al episode. Heard that was good.

Yes, you should see Pinkie Pride. That episode was great. Also, which episodes of Season 3 did you dislike? Also, do you guys like my theme?

None really stood out to me as great or even good besides Too Many Pinkie Pies, which I liked a lot.

 

[SonicMario]

For me Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, Wonderbolt Academy, and Magical Mystery Cure were all great episodes. The worst one was Spike at your Service. And everything else ranged from Meh, Average, or just Good.

 

[princessofalicorns]

my worst episode is three's a crowd.

just no.

 

[SonicMario]

Eh, my only issue with Three's a Crowd was how Pinkie was distracted by a balloon twice

If Pinkie acted like that in Too Many Pinkie Pies, she would of been zapped like the mirror clones were.

Otherwise I thought it was ok for Discord to troll the Mane 6, Twilight, and Cadence like that. Discord wasn't really 100% good yet until he felt the pure betrayal from Tirek in the S4 Finale.

 

[Magikrazy]

My least favorite from Season 3 is probably One Bad Seed.

 

[Milo Thatch]

For me Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, Wonderbolt Academy, and Magical Mystery Cure were all great episodes. The worst one was Spike at your Service. And everything else ranged from Meh, Average, or just Good.

I'm surprised you liked One Bad Apple. It's considered to be the worst episode of the show besides Boast Busters, The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, and Putting Your Hoof Down.

Eh, my only issue with Three's a Crowd was how Pinkie was distracted by a balloon twice

If Pinkie acted like that in Too Many Pinkie Pies, she would of been zapped like the mirror clones were.

Otherwise I thought it was ok for Discord to troll the Mane 6, Twilight, and Cadence like that. Discord wasn't really 100% good yet until he felt the pure betrayal from Tirek in the S4 Finale.

I thought the story was also a bit lackluster, but it's made up for by every single second with Discord in it being great.

My least favorite from Season 3 is probably One Bad Seed.

Uh, it's called One Bad Apple.

Also, I just wanted to leave this here. This is a compilation of the best YTPs of MLP for Season 1 and 2. I've found some pretty funny stuff here. Just a warning that it has mature content, however.

 

[SonicMario]

For me Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, Wonderbolt Academy, and Magical Mystery Cure were all great episodes. The worst one was Spike at your Service. And everything else ranged from Meh, Average, or just Good.

I'm surprised you liked One Bad Apple. It's considered to be the worst episode of the show besides Boast Busters, The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, and Putting Your Hoof Down.

It's not a good episode much at all, but I don't think it's quite one of the worst. It'd definitely one of the lower tiers of the CMC episodes though. I think at the very least I'd rather watch One Bad Apple again then Stare Master from Season 1. At least the former has a catchy song in the middle of all of it. Besides the scene where Fluttershy's stare down a cockatrice and when Sweetie went all gospel with her own rendition of Hush Now Quiet Now, it was pretty dull.

Spike at your Service bothers me much more. As much as people rag on how nearly all Spike episodes are almost never all that good. Spike at your Service is at the absolute bottom of the barrel of them.

 

[Milo Thatch]

I think Spike At Your Service was at least very funny, so it's not the worst Spike episode. That would go to Owl's Well That Ends Well for being extremely mean-spirited. Seriously, it felt like it was written by a bad writer like Charlotte Fullerton or Merriweather Williams and not the writer of Hurricane Fluttershy.

 

[SonicMario]

I think Spike At Your Service was at least very funny, so it's not the worst Spike episode. That would go to Owl's Well That Ends Well for being extremely mean-spirited. Seriously, it felt like it was written by a bad writer like Charlotte Fullerton or Merriweather Williams and not the writer of Hurricane Fluttershy.

It was funny on a level that some of the other characters had some good jokes. But just Spike-wise, it made him seem incompetent when he has assisted with chores many times before for Twilight. You could say it's because it was farm-work instead of just sorting books. But Spike even cooks terribly when he was shown being able to cook just fine before. (I forgot which episode he cooked but he didn't mess up the kitchen like in Spike at your Service)

And he just drops his relation with Twilight because AJ saved his life just once when Twilight's technically done that multiple times and more.

As for Owl's Well that Ends Well I'll agree that the whole jealously thing was something overdone and not just fun to watch. But my personal saving grace of the episode is the ending. Which had to be one of the sweetest moments between Twilight and Spike and the first glimpses of how I view Spike and Twilight's relationship in the show. Which is a big deal to me actually more then some other fans of the show. Cause I like to believe they have an unbreakable bond that started when she hatched Spike out from the egg in her flashback in Cutie Mark Chronicles (Which was the episode that aired only one week before this one). I'd even dare say from Owl's Well That Ends Well and onward Twilight's been like Spike's surrogate mother being protective and/or worried about him in episodes like Secret of my Excess & Dragon Quest. Then of course there's my favorite scene in the Season 3 opener (The Crystal Empire). The fear door scene, what ends up being Spike's greatest fear? Being abandoned by Twilight.

Now, I know the more popular opinion is that Spike and Twilight are more like siblings then mother-and-son. And I perfectly understand why that is and respect that train of thought. But if feels less and less like just siblings when the younger of the two's bigger fear is being driven out of their home by the older. That's something you'd associate a younger child afraid that their mother doesn't want them around anymore rather then siblings.

And that is why Spike at your Service bothers me so. If his greatest fear is being abandoned by Twilight, why is he so quick to abandon her himself at the drop of a hat when somepony else saves his life? That feels like to me some child wanting to live with a police officer or firefighter who saved their life, instead of their mother who's taken perfectly good care of them.

 

[Milo Thatch]

I'll give the ending that it kept the episode from being any worse. Also, I guess Spike At Your Service is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sort of like how some people like Feeling Pinkie Keen, although in my opinion, the only bad thing about it was the moral and how it applied to the story.

 

[SonicMario]

I'll give the ending that it kept the episode from being any worse. Also, I guess Spike At Your Service is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sort of like how some people like Feeling Pinkie Keen, although in my opinion, the only bad thing about it was the moral and how it applied to the story.

Yeah Guilty Pleasure episodes are fine. I think I say I have one for each season except maybe Season 3 (The closest I would say to a guilty pleasure might be Keep Calm and Flutter On but with how split opinion that is and how split I even am about the episode I'm not sure it'd count. Though I'm leaning towards the positive side of things considering I've liked pretty much every Discord reappearence afterward). And I don't think I have one for Season 5 really either so far. Cause there's both the fact I don't think there's been an episode considered not that good that I personally enjoyed and it's all too new to judge opinions. I've seen some strong criticism on Party Pooped sometimes so maybe that will be it, but eh personally I enjoyed it enough that I don't think it counts as I think there are legitmately enjoyable things about it (To me its part of how Season 5 Pinkie has definitely improved over how she was in Season 4)

Guilty Pleasure Episodes for each Season (Except 3 and 5)
Season 1: Show Stoppers
Season 2: Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Season 4: Somepony to Watch Over Me

 

[princessofalicorns]

my least favourite episode ever was that sleepover one, i forgot what it was called it was so bad.

 

[Milo Thatch]

my least favourite episode ever was that sleepover one, i forgot what it was called it was so bad.

Look Before You Sleep is definitely a bad episode. Probably the bottom 3 of season 1. But I thought you said you disliked Three's A Crowd the most.

 

[SonicMario]

Now Look Before You Sleep is an episode I can get behind disliking. It always felt jarring to me when Twilight who wasn't so much into friends at first during the pilot and her many sarcastic moments previously suddenly went as naive and stupid as she was in the episode.

Some people who disliked Lesson Zero say her freakouts were out of character, but to me LBYS Twilight was far worse then that. I'd almost say LBYS Twilight would be the result if you had Twilight visit the Mirror Pool from Too Many Pinkie Pies. Her clones would be pretty much like LBYS Twilight.

Rarity and Applejack's conflict wasn't very interesting either to be honest.

 

[princessofalicorns]

my least favourite episode ever was that sleepover one, i forgot what it was called it was so bad.

Look Before You Sleep is definitely a bad episode. Probably the bottom 3 of season 1. But I thought you said you disliked Three's A Crowd the most.

i watched three's a crowd again and it's actually ok. i just didn't like how discord was basically evil again. look before you sleep is actually much, much worse.

 

[SonicMario]

my least favourite episode ever was that sleepover one, i forgot what it was called it was so bad.

Look Before You Sleep is definitely a bad episode. Probably the bottom 3 of season 1. But I thought you said you disliked Three's A Crowd the most.

i watched three's a crowd again and it's actually ok. i just didn't like how discord was basically evil again. look before you sleep is actually much, much worse.

I wouldn't say he was evil per se in Three's a Crowd. Just a jerk/troll. It should only be natural Discord isn't completely good at this time. He's still trying to learn friendship, but at the same time old habits die hard and he starts using friendship to his personal advantage to mess with other ponies.

Heck, even after Twilight's Kingdom where he learns how not to take friendship for granted he still has some things he needed to work on. Like when his jealousy of Tree Hugger got the better of him in Make New Friends, but Keep Discord.

I like this more natural way of getting Discord to friendship. I always felt the end of Keep Calm and Flutter On kinda rushed it. So I'm glad they took a slower approach at this kind of thing.

 

[Milo Thatch]

My problem with Keep Calm and Flutter On was that Fluttershy was manipulative, and while it's a great idea to get Discord to learn friendship, it felt like it was unnatural. Thankfully, Twilight's Kingdom fixed this by giving Discord a legitimate reason to be friends with the Mane 6.

Also, Twilight is my favorite pony, and this was the only episode I didn't like her in.

 

[Magikrazy]

Why did they leave Fluttershy alone to deal with Discord?

All Discord had to do was turn Fluttershy into a coat or a pear or something and the elements would be useless. Discord would be free to wreak havoc.

 

[SonicMario]

Why did they leave Fluttershy alone to deal with Discord?

All Discord had to do was turn Fluttershy into a coat or a pear or something and the elements would be useless. Discord would be free to wreak havoc.

Well that's just kinda the similar to if you ask why a villain didn't just kill the hero in their sleep and/or if they managed to capture them. There's not really a story other then Discord got free, Fluttershy's an inanimate object now and there's nothing that can be done to stop him. It's kinda the problem of having a character as powerful as magic as he is. But at the same time you could say Discord still wanted to amuse himself by going along with this plan to mess with Fluttershy and the other ponies even more.

He underestimates Fluttershy's willingness to befriend him and ends up realizing Fluttershy's tried her hardest to reform him in a way that's not as forceful as what the other ponies were going to try (The mind control stuff, which as what Shadow Prince said has some horrible implications. And you can't say Discord didn't know, he ate the pages with them.). Fluttershy actually offered genuine kindness and friendship with her actions in the episode. Granted it could of used a little more time to establish that as in the episode it feels a little rushed, but otherwise that's the point of the episode pretty much. Discord's never had something stand up for him like that. And he realizes he actually liked Fluttershy's kindness towards him.

Granted, he's still a bit of a jerk to everypony else that's not Fluttershy in later episodes. But again it's a baby step for a creature trying to understand friendship.

 

[Magikrazy]

I didn't ask why Discord didn't turn Fluttershy into a coat, just why didn't they foresee him doing something like that?

 

[Milo Thatch]

Because it puts Rainbow Falls to shame with it's plotholes.


Also, I hear that Equestria Girls: Friendship Games is coming out September 26 (I have no idea how Season 5 will finish by then) and it's going to be written by Josh Haber. On a more opinionated note, I don't think that's a good idea, because Josh Haber definitely isn't as good of a writer as Meghan McCarthy, who wrote the first two movies.