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[TheBronzePickle]

I know it's been a while, and those old pics probably had a good count of about everyone, but I think I've found a few that got missed out when I posted the...

Spoiler: ponyblobs (click to show/hide)

[kaijyuu]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Roboboy33]

My little blobs: Blobiness is magic.

[LordBucket]

S2E3 has some very interesting things going on visually.

Does this remind you of anything?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

17m 55s

[Roboboy33]

Oh boy.

[runiq]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think I saw Bon Bon and Lyra fighting about the doll in the background.

[kaijyuu]

Honestly they might be keeping lyra and bon-bon intentionally apart. Sure it's fanon, but if word gets out there's an implied lesbian couple in my little pony.... I'm not sure they want a controversy like that purple teletubby one from years back.

Maybe the world's matured a bit, but I doubt it.


EDIT: Just watched Best Night Ever to remind myself why I like this show so much. Heavy on the character conflict, light on the shoe horned comedy (well except fluttershy; but that's excusable).

Sigh. I really hope Lesson Zero was experimental, not indicative of what's to come. Maybe I should stay cynical so I'm more likely to be pleasantly surprised.

[LordBucket]

So after some thought, I think I've concluded that S2E3 leaves me feeling like the new team doesn't have a firm grip on the personalities of the characters, so they're flanderizing the writing and relying on sight gags rather than the characterization that made the show in the first place.

Celestia
 * Is visibly angry at Twilight to the point of scolding her. Celestia, angry? At Twilight? Since when does Celestia get angry about anything?

Pinkie Pie
 * Is suspiciously scarce in the episode, but in nearly half her scenes she's shown sad or worried. She gets downright pouty and sad towards the end.

Spike
 * Blatantly steals Pinkie's eating style when whirlwind licks up the cupcake frosting. At Pinkie Pie's house, no less.
 * Steals Pinkie's fourth wall and medium awareness antics. For example, when Twilight is hallucinating, Spike visibly reaches his hand into her hallucinations and pokes it to make it go away. Until now, Pinkie Pie is the only character to interact with the medium. Spike does it three times in this episode.

Fluttershy
 * Kungfu Fluttershy? Seriously? Sure, it was played as a joke, but we're now three episodes into season 2, and Fluttershy has seen more out-of-character time than in-character time. Imagine somepony who starts with season 2, sees Flutterbitch in episodes one and two, then kungfu chiropractor in episode three. They'd probably be surprised to realize that she's supposed to be gentle and shy.

Applejack
 * It's difficult to reconcile the Applejack for whom an entire episode was devoted to insisting that she do her own work on the orchard, the Applejack who got angry at Twilight for using magic during Winter Wrap Up...with the Applejack who sat around in a trench while Rainbow Dash dismantled a barn for her.

Rarity
 * In season 1 Rarity was charming, elegant and dignified. In the season premier she cuts off her own tail to give the river dragon a new mustache, and dismisses Twilight's sympathy over the loss. When the CMC destroyed her botique, she remained calm and collected. When Fluttershy gets to be a model, leaving Rarity in the unfortunate position of watching her friend live the life she wanted for herself, she's obviously distressed but goes out of her way to not make a scene. Even when she's kidnapped into slavery by diamond dogs, she remains sufficiently in control of herself that she's able to stare down a dog with a spear and insist that she's a lady and that must treat her as one.  Rarity is consistently portrayed as a pony able to bear hardship and misfortune while maintaining a sense of personal dignity. She's occasionally been shown angry or indignant, but never as she's presented in S2E3, where she's become a helpless, whiny drama queen who literally cries over being unable to find things in plain view in her own house.

Big Mac
 * He's been badly flanderized. When he was introduced in the first season, he was fluently expressing concern over Applejack picking up all his farmwork due to an injury. Now, apparently, his character is defined by saying "eeyup." So much so, that they even make a joke out of him saying "nope" instead. Because apparently it's supposed to come as a surprise that he would say anything other than eeyup.

[LordBucket]

I think I saw Bon Bon and Lyra fighting about the doll in the background.

Yes, briefly. around 17:25, but it's rather innocent looking.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[kaijyuu]

Oh yay, someone making points! I feel I've been spouting negativity all day to no avail.

Celestia
 * Is visibly angry at Twilight to the point of scolding her. Celestia, angry? At Twilight? Since when does Celestia get angry about anything?

I actually felt she was quite in character. She wasn't angry; just being stern, and not without reason. Twilight did single hoofedly screw up most the residents of ponyville, and if Celestia's job isn't to teach Twilight how to responsibly use her powers, I don't know what is. If Twilight's friends hadn't burst in at the end, Celestia probably would've given a light lecture on not worrying so much lest things get far worse than they need to be, and left it at that.

Pinkie Pie
 * Is suspiciously scarce in the episode, but in nearly half her scenes she's shown sad or worried. She gets downright pouty and sad towards the end.

Spike
 * Blatantly steals Pinkie's eating style when whirlwind licks up the cupcake frosting. At Pinkie Pie's house, no less.
 * Steals Pinkie's fourth wall and medium awareness antics. For example, when Twilight is hallucinating, Spike visibly reaches his hand into her hallucinations and pokes it to make it go away. Until now, Pinkie Pie is the only character to interact with the medium. Spike does it three times in this episode.

Agreed, here. Spike HAS had some medium awareness in the past though; it's just been far more subtle.

Fluttershy
 * Kungfu Fluttershy? Seriously? Sure, it was played as a joke, but we're now three episodes into season 2, and Fluttershy has seen more out-of-character time than in-character time. Imagine somepony who starts with season 2, sees Flutterbitch in episodes one and two, then kungfu chiropractor in episode three. They'd probably be surprised to realize that she's supposed to be gentle and shy.

While agreed somewhat, I don't consider this any worse than her actions in Best Night Ever.

Also what's up with every pony learning kung fu? Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy are all apparently blackbelts now.

Applejack
 * It's difficult to reconcile the Applejack for whom an entire episode was devoted to insisting that she do her own work on the orchard, the Applejack who got angry at Twilight for using magic during Winter Wrap Up...with the Applejack who sat around in a trench while Rainbow Dash dismantled a barn for her.

Not sure I really agree here. Applejack's not above asking for help (see Ticket Master); she's just won't let anyone see weakness in her. She probably would've dismantled the barn herself but was using Rainbow Dash to be more efficient. And she's not dumb enough to get in that pony's way when she's slamming into a broad side of a barn at top speed.

What DID bug me was AJ calling Rainbow Dash "RD." Doesn't roll of the tongue like AJ does.

Rarity
 * In season 1 Rarity was charming, elegant and dignified. In the season premier she cuts off her own mane to give the river dragon a new mustache, and dismisses Twilight's sympathy at the loss. When the CMC destroyed her botique, she remained calm and collected. When Fluttershy gets to be a model, leaving Rarity in the unfortunate position of watching her friend live the life she wanted for herself, she puts aside her unhappiness. Even when she's kidnapped into slavery by diamond dogs, she remains sufficiently in control of herself that she's able to stare down a dog with a spear and insist that she's a lady and that must treat her as one.  Rarity is consistently portrayed as a pony able to bear hardship and misfortune while maintaining a sense of personal dignity. She's occasionally been shown angry or indignant, but never as she's presented in S2E3, where she's become a helpless, whiny drama queen who literally cries over being unable to find things in plain view in her own house.

Rarity's always been self centered; she's just not condescending or unsympathetic to others. Some people are calling Rarity out of character in the last three episodes due to being frivolous and such, and I say just go watch Sonic Rainboom or the sleepover episode who's name I can't remember again. She'll drop her frivolity and attitude if the situation requires it... but not if not She's not going to drop her character flaws if an aesop pointed out their weaknesses... Twilight's still going to be rather OCD after this episode too. Good character development (and thus avoidance of flanderization) does not require quick maturation; quite the opposite. Maturation should be slow and steady.

If Rarity is still acting exactly like this in season 3, then I'll jump aboard the flanderization bandwagon for her.

Big Mac
 * He's been badly flanderized. When he was introduced in the first season, he was fluently expressing concern over Applejack picking up all his farmwork due to an injury. Now, apparently, his character is defined by saying "eeyup." So much so, that they even make a joke out of him saying "nope" instead. Because apparently it's supposed to come as a surprise that he would say anything other than eeyup.

I think this is a consequence of him having so few lines. What he DOES speak is going to be indicative of his character, and if he doesn't speak much and rarely, it's going to be largely the same thing. Honestly I think they gave him a bit better characterization because of the doll. Here's hoping he's secretly into cute stuff, real men wear pink and such.

[Lightning4]

Edit: Ninja'd, of course.

Celestia
 * Is visibly angry at Twilight to the point of scolding her. Celestia, angry? At Twilight? Since when does Celestia get angry about anything?

Well, her star pupil did just cause widespread chaos while completely unbalanced. In a move that wouldn't be out of place in Discord's playbook, no less. Naturally she'd want to crack down on that.

Pinkie Pie
 * Is suspiciously scarce in the episode, but in nearly half her scenes she's shown sad or worried. She gets downright pouty and sad towards the end.

Well, I'd imagine being out-crazied would make her kinda sad.

Applejack
 * It's difficult to reconcile the Applejack for whom an entire episode was devoted to insisting that she do her own work on the orchard, the Applejack who got angry at Twilight for using magic during Winter Wrap Up...with the Applejack who sat around in a trench while Rainbow Dash dismantled a barn for her.

Well, the point of that episode was to show that AJ shouldn't be afraid to ask for help when she needs it. Probably would've taken her a while to do so herself, compared to Rainbows... uh... style. Which is also safer to just stay far away from.

There is no "new team", it's the same team as before. Even Lauren was around for the early episodes.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, it seemed like there was quite a bit of flanderization going on on S2E3, along with the movement away from character-driven plots and actual humor to one-off gags and- wait, why do I watch this show again? Oh yes, because of the character driven plots and humor. I'm really, really hoping that either this is just the post-Faust team finding their legs without their massive bastion of awesomeness, or that she'll be brought back if things go downhill. I hate to be pessimistic, but if future episodes follow the pattern that this one set, I may find myself in the camp that disregards all post S1 material as non-canon.

So basically, crossing my fingers, because if they manage to screw up the Luna episode, that might be it for me, and I'll stick to rewatching season 1 and fan-made material. 


But yeah, that scene with the doll was pretty much a copy-pasted scene from your choice of magic/comedy animes involving love potions, with the target replaced with an inanimate object.

[kaijyuu]

I'm going to wait until a lot more episodes have aired before calling jumping the shark. Remember, season 1 had some duds too. You didn't have to wait a week to see the next one, though.

If it's all downhill from here, yes, Lesson Zero's where it jumped the shark, and I'll cut off my person canon at episode 28. If the show recovers (which is quite possible), then today was just a dud episode, and nothing more.

So yeah, hold off on the doomsaying

[runiq]

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised how you people handle this. Over at reddit, or at EqD, 90% of responses were similar to "OMG MEMEFEST AWESOME" -- which is why I liked the episode at first watch, but less and less so the second and third times through. The discussion in the EqD thread got pretty heated, and opposing opinions were put down (or so it seemed to me).

Here, it's people explaining their opinions and staying calm about it.

By the way, how long do I have to spoiler stuff related to the episode?

[Jimmy]

I feel the reason the show didn't have as much character driven plot was due to the efforts to incorporate more internet meme-ness. The episode was about funny, not drama. I don't believe the team have lost their mojo yet; or did everyone forget the Discord saga a few weeks ago? The Discord arc shows the team still has amazing amounts of awesome, and Lesson Zero was just a bit of fun with the older fans.