/pone/ - World of Equestria

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I'm FINALLY BACK!

Starting out, once again I am greeted with the prospect of finding little moments from Season 1 that I used to not think much of I now find more charming than I recalled. In the form of Pinkie Pie’s singing telegram invitations. It is not an amazing moment, but it is cute and endearing. It was also kind of nice to see Pinkie Pie actually get tired from doing it she had a different outfit each time, of course she would! My reasoning for liking this will be explained in a moment. 

The party goes on okay. I mildly chuckled Pinkie’s antics. Not even sure it’s worth noting but in the battle between wanting to organize this into some list format and just type freely I am just choosing to type freely today. Anyways, main conflict: Pinkie Pie slowly figuring out her friends are up to something. Of course the first couple don’t phase her much, but after everypony does she gets naturally suspicious, and like any sane person on the way to conspiracy town, there is something that rightly doesn’t add up. Her detecting something off is completely correct even if she is starting run with it. 

I perhaps could make a point about this being almost the inverse of Twilight Sparkle with Pinkie Pie following her friends somewhat covertly but I am not sure the comparison with Feeling Pinkie Keen holds fully. Pinkie Pie isn’t being humiliated and is still, especially with Rainbow Dash, the one being contended with rather than the one being on the receiving end of "punishment". The most I laughed during this episode  was when Rainbow Dash casually said, “Hey Pinkie” when Pinkie Pie was in the hay bale disguise, no doubt used to seeing her in such a get up from their mutual pranking. I had forgotten that detail.

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 >>/12411/
This next scene is very important for Pinkie Pie's character.At least in the sense of illustrating something that is lost on many (including the show latter on to some extent).

I couldn’t help but notice in Pinkie Pie’s interrogation with Spike, while Pinkie Pie is acting with a relative impulsive manner, she isn’t outright stupid. Spike is, understandably clueless, and confesses to his various “sins”, Pinkie Pie gets more frustrated. While Pinkie Pie is a naive and carefree, she isn’t stupid and random. This is one of the things that does set the show apart from others at the time, and even now, Pinkie Pie was a certain archetype but not the stereotype that the silly carefree happy character had turned into even at that time: stupid for stupid’s sake. She isn’t even the most naive one here. Spike doesn’t fully understand that conversation and him taking “taking about his friends” literally is something that would be associated more with Pinkie Pie (even in this season perhaps!). 

The short of everything I just said is, I think Pinkie Pie is a real rounded character here and this is her at her best in this episode, even with her freakout. This is also why I liked the detail of her getting tired with her singing invitations. She is silly, carefree and a little weird but not just stupid and random. 

Speaking of her freakout I do enjoy this scene still, the most famous moment from this episode. Pinkie Pie is in her own imaginary world acting out things. I associate this with more of a soft mental break from betrayal and just a more extreme version of the sort of fantasy a lot of people have after being bullied or hurt, over implying any in universe lee creepy pasta mental illness. Albeit, the theory of when a pony cannot fulfill their cutie mark causing severe mental distress is still one that has appeal to me.  


This episode’s enjoyment level for me was a 7.5/10. This is one that could rise through the ranks on rewatch I feel like. I can’t complain in the slightest!

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Heh, accidentally left board owner on again. Forgot to namefag too. 

 >>/12412/
>  I can’t complain in the slightest!

...except I’m mixed on the lesson. At least the wording.
> Always expect the best from your friends, and never assume the worst. Rest assured that a good friend always has your best interests at heart.

Part of me thinks this is, while not bad in intend, bad phrasing, as kids, especially in this day and age, your friends certainly NOT have your best interests at heart even if you think there your good friends. Yet… how many times have I see (from afar usually) friendships destroyed over stupid assumptions and or buying into some stupid rumor? Plenty! It is either perfect and I am a little too low trust, jaded and calculating or it is something that needs a significant tweaking. Regardless, as I have said I often think that people over scrutinize the phrasing of this lessons and don’t think it’s a major blow but part of me would’ve liked the wording there to have put more emphasis on not jumping to conclusions with limited information.   


Odds and Ends!

Party Music
The party music from the Call of the Cutie is once again reused here at Pinkie’s birthday party. If I can get my act well enough together I will try to track these motifs better. Call of Cutie, The Showstoppers (probably most famous use where it was sometimes a defacto secondary theme for the CMC within the fandom. Someone had even wrote lyrics to it but I have already searched for it before I couldn’t find it). I thought another episode this season I also noticed having this music but I can't recall. 

Hair
Hair! Rarity calls her mane, her hair! Not the first time this season someone has refereed to mane as hair. I look forward to seeing what human terminology still coexisted and what was later ponified in future seasons. 

Streetlight
I spy with my little eye a streetlight, or I guess what maybe more propperly termed street lantern?. I don’t recall noticing these before. They could have easily been in the background and I could’ve missed it. I wonder, magical, oil, gas, or electric? 

Liars
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the best liars of the bunch. They even improvised and Pinkie Pie bought the lie as legit. Applejack was the worst and most hilarious.

Pinkie's Peculiar Party Pals  
I need to check on what other appearances on MLP media they had, if any. I am drawn to obscure secondary characters (if they could be called characters) like this because in a fandom that ran with background appearances and small implications, there is a lot more material for us to work with. My favorite is probably  Madame le Flour followed by Mr Turnip. I just like the voice she does for Madame. For Mr Turnip it is more of his “design” that I like.

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 >>/12370/
>  this episode is where I think things perhaps start to really take a turn for the worse with Pinkie Pie’s characterization: not in terms of within this episode specifically, as such, but for a potential precedent being set. 

Wow! Funny that two people can watch the same thing and come with completely opposite conclusions. That is the fun of talking with others though! 

> I think within this episode the paranoia angle is really about playing out overthinking such a low-stakes problem as comedy, and Pinkie Pie’s repeated use of her reality-bending powers to a more extreme extent than usual also I think goes along with the overall comedic theme of the episode, but these both help establish two things that later become much more core parts of Pinkie’s character, namely her paranoia and her ‘powers

For her powers, I disagree, I think here these things would be more of gags in a season 1 context and not be definitively reality bending    and more of a cartoon "gags". Now keep in mind I do look at things from a similar lens where I try to figure out how cartoon gags work in canon and certainly latter canon did imply more to this. I would aruge that Feeling Pinkie Keen still is what broadly established Pinkie Pie having said powers that they would run with later. 

On paranoia, you have a point there for sure. 

> Furthermore, this kind of paranoid thinking is the kind of thing I’m very used to doing, and it leads me to be more isolated and I was an introvert to begin with, 

You're not the only one.

> I think if it weren’t for the comedy potential of having this situation happen to Pinkie, this would have been a Twilight episode.

100% agreed. 

>  and Pinkie Pie doing all the voices for her imaginary friends. I rate this episode 7.4, solidly enjoyable and funny.

Our ratings are close despite our wildly different takes. This does give me something to think about in future appearances going forward with Pinkie's appearances.

...wow, has it been over a month since I was last in this thread? Goodness, though I know IRL stuff happens to both of us more in a PM sooner or later. I am just happy to be back. Will try to get to some of the other stuff soon!

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 >>/12358/
> is that it's sort of like a short assigned dissertation, examiners deliberately setting new, somewhat random and creative challenges for potential entrants to try and solve. If I'm honest, I also like the idea of this interpretation, I'm biased on it; it would also make Twilight's background with Spike potentially unique and a happy coincidence, which I like as an idea.

As cool as having several dozen dragon assistants would be runing around and as Season 1 kino it would be to have the dragon's own reproduction dependent on the ponies I think I might prefer this as well. Plus or minus my partial temptation of Twilight Sparkle being Spike's mother somehow by creating life in the egg. Though I suppose those could coexist.


 >>/12359/
> how many ponies actually saw Rainbow Dash directly causing the sonic rainboom, and how many saw just the sonic rainboom? 

> but at least theoretically it could either be something which can also occur as a freak accident of nature 

> MAYBE the spectators and even the bullies were for the most part convinced/convinced themselves that it was all a big coincidence. 

Actually, now that I think about it:
> Rainbow Dash does a Sonic Rainboom

 but most don't see her.
> Even among those that do, they may not believe a filly pulled that off.

> Bullies lie to themselves enough to dismiss it.

> Especially if nearly everyone doubted her. 

> Rainbow Dash is a braggart after all. 

Yeah, that might work after all. 

> Whoops, forgot the name field... Old habits die hard, as they say.

Hey, not as bad as:
 >>/12411/
 >>/12412/
I'm the BO anon.
 >>/12413/
Now I'm Bridge.
 >>/12414/
Now I'm just anon (often don't post with JS enabled, which is what got me that time). 


 >>/12361/
> though for my part I think it would be a shame to use any AI at all. I'm interested in what you have to say, not some computer, and even if it's just an editor, editing has a much bigger impact on what's said than many people realize. 

I'll be upfront in saying that I am afraid of AI robbing me of my voice, my skills, and what it means to be human  by the outsourcing of our creativity and all of its messy imperfections and sincerity to a machine that speaks with it's own voice, and style. I don't hate the components themselves; the pursuit of AI art, agentic assistants, and automation of certain tasks is helpful/might be a worthy ends unto themselves but it's all happening too fast and in a bad way (all controlled by a handful of companies with lots of compute.) So, my thoughts on this is less chatGPT and more like running the leanest and somewhat stupid LLM that I can get on the best CPU I have as a glorified spell checker that would catch obvious grammatical mistakes but not change whole sentences (it's "there, not they're").

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And here we are at last, the end of season 1. What we do past here in the thread I imagine will be up for reflection and discussion – whether we need a new thread, whether we keep going or not, etc, but for my part I’d like to keep going into season 2, even if it’s just me and we then just discuss the episodes, although I imagine others will still want to join in. Possibly we could go for more of a pick-and-choose model going forward where people chime in for episodes they’re interested in whilst skipping over others. But for now, I’m going to focus on the actual episode. 

We’ve been waiting for it ever since episode 3, and it’s finally here, the Grand Galloping Gala! The intro sets us up with an allusion to Cinderella, which I think sets the mood for what the Gala is going to be like fairly well: this is a night where our six mares get to feel like princesses – at least in theory! An aspect of this I really like is that in contrast to Cinderella, here a whole group of friends get to be special. Cinderella doesn’t go to the ball along with her sisters, albeit through no fault of her own, and with her magical assistance she’s really the sole beneficiary of all the attention. It also, intentionally or not, gives us a clue as to the outcome of the episode: just as Cinderella loses track of time and so feels she has to flee the ball at midnight, thus ending her evening in disappointment, our Mane Six will also end the night feeling disappointed. The intro also rather skilfully gives most (not all, but that would be a tall order in the tight time window) of the Six something to contribute. Pinkie introduces the scene, Twilight’s magic is the focal point, Fluttershy provides the mice, and Rarity provides the replacement for the mice. We tend to not get all six in one opening, and I think that’s because it’s a hard act to pull off, but it’s done great here and I appreciate it for that – one of my favorite aspects of Cutie Mark Chronicles was how it kept all of the Mane Six in focus for the story, and I think it’s something that I enjoy very much in general. When all of the Mane Six are given relatively equal focus, it reminds me of the first three episodes, as well as Dragonshy, and feels somehow more like the ‘core show’, rather than a spotlight episode – which is not to say I don’t enjoy spotlight episodes, but I’ll confess that I think I slightly prefer the ‘equal focus’ approach, at least in balance (I.e not every episode) and absent other factors of a given episode.

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After the opening is over and Spike is let into the room the Mane Six are preparing in at Carousel Boutique, Spike refers to Canterlot as his and Twilight’s ‘hometown’. I think it would be fair to say, taking off our Season-1-Canon goggles for just a moment, that at some point down the line Spike and Twilight come to see Ponyville as their hometown – I wonder at what point that would be? It’s probably not possible to pinpoint exactly, but it occurred to me as a question. It also, from that, occurred to me that by the end of the show, Twilight has returned to Canterlot, and goes on to rule from there. In the grand scheme of her life, the years in Ponyville would then make up a gap between growing up in Canterlot, and ruling in Canterlot. Anyway, aside over, goggles back on. We cut to Spike as the driver of the carriage in his tuxedo, and he says he wants to show Rarity the crown jewels. Celestia of course wears her crown and her collar (best term I can think of for whatever the gold thing round her neck is), so I think this is suggesting the existence of other, accompanying items. Common ones I know of would be things like an orb, a scepter, and/or a sword. I’d love to know the history of them, I quite like those sort of artifacts – like the Iron Crown of Lombardy, so called because it was said that it contained a nail from the True Cross, and it was won (later to be joined by, I believe, every other nail of the True Cross, in various other artifacts – at least according to legend) by Charlemagne when he came to the aid of the Pope against the King of Lombardy. Later chemical analysis showed the crown didn’t contain any iron, sadly – but the point is, these sort of things always have very cool histories. I’m sure the Elements of Harmony, also, have a fascinating story to tell, even just the crown and necklaces they currently inhabit. 

The song is excellent, and whilst it was going, I was considering all the unique hopes the Six had for the Gala, and how they had been set up in The Ticket Master, an episode that I liked but wasn’t as keen on as others when I looked at it earlier in this thread. However, something I think I didn’t consider at the time was quite how well that episode sets up this one, which is very much a point in it’s favour. On the other hand, I think it also makes a criticism I had surrounding that episode a bit more pertinent too: it might have been better placed just a bit later in the season so that it’s not quite so far removed from the Gala. I think I’d put Boast Busters as episode 3, then Applebuck Season as episode 4, and then put The Ticket Master as episode 5. 

We go through each of the girls starting their nights off not too badly. When Soarin comes along hungry for something, Applejack lists off some of her items and mentions apple fries, so I looked up apple fries out of curiosity. They look really quite good, I might have to make them sometime. I’ve been planning to make apple butter for years now as well, I remember it being one of the first items you’d get on My Lego Network so it’s stuck in my memory from that. Soarin goes for the pie instead, and takes it in it’s tin – so I guess he’s keeping the tin.

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Pinkie presents our first major sign that things are starting to go wrong as she has her big happy spergout and gets the wrong kind of attention from the other guests. Prince Blueblood’s title is intriguing, theoretically it puts him on equal footing with Luna, Celestia and later Cadence, except of course that they’re all female and he’s male – is that the difference? I don’t think this works too badly, despite Faust’s stated wish that Celestia had been a Queen instead of a Princess. However, as I’ve mentioned previously I like the title when I think of it pertaining to a ‘Principality’, or a particular domain of rule, such as the raising and lowering of the sun. However, Celestia is clearly the foremost of all these Princes and Princesses in Equestria – if anything her and Luna act a little bit like President and Vice President. So I propose an additional theory – Queen Victoria, feeling slighted at some of her royal relatives ruling over in Europe styling themselves as Emperors and such, asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to create for her an Imperial title. And so Disraeli had parliament establish the title of Empress (or Emperor) of India. Of course, we all still refer to her as Queen Victoria, and that was common at the time too, since the styling of Emperor felt a little bit tyrannical to the English ear. I suggest that Celestia has something similar, only I imagine she uses the title of Princess willingly, owing to her being rather more humble than Victoria was. So perhaps Celestia, Princess of the Sun, also holds the title of Empress of Equestria, but chooses not to use this latter title as her title of address. This would also make a little more sense out of Cadence, who comes to rule the Crystal EMPIRE yet remains a Princess – of course, if Cadence, as a sort of Equestrian puppet-regime ruler, were to style herself as ‘Empress’, this would raise quite a few eyebrows in Canterlot, so whilst I’m sure she too is humble, she couldn’t really call herself Empress even if she had the right and even if she wanted to. The mane six, faced with disappointment, are determined to make the night special in spite of everything, and of course as their harebrained schemes converge it all results in disaster. We then join Spike in Pony Joe’s having donuts and a hot chocolate. Joe seems to recognise Twilight, so she and Spike may have come here together somewhat regularly back when they lived in Canterlot. Then, after the Mane Six have been sat around discussing their night together for a while, Celestia enters – if she hasn’t been to Joe’s before, I can only imagine he’d want to get a photograph of Celestia at his establishment. And I’d imagine Equestria would have something like the royal seal that gets put on products and shops used by the royal family here in the UK, so maybe he could put the Princess’ crest up above his sign or something. 

The conclusion of this episode is pretty great. All the expectations that were built up were subverted in a way that felt both clever and satisfying, and it illustrates a great lesson that I think many other shows wouldn’t quite be courageous enough to attempt to communicate. Sometimes life is really disappointing, to the point even of your dreams getting crushed. I give it an 8.4 – it’s comparable to Dragonshy, another episode where all the Mane Six get to shine, but I find it slightly less rewatchable than Dragonshy so it’s just a point below it. 

And with that, we’re just about reaching the end of Season 1! It’s been a lot of fun so far, I think it’s taken about a year from start to end of this season. It’s been a consistent presence in my thoughts this year, and I think in future when I look back, it’ll be one of the specific things I recall about 2025.

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 >>/12411/
> I'm FINALLY BACK!
Woo!
> Her detecting something off is completely correct even if she is starting run with it. 
This can be so tricky - intuition can be very good at telling that something's 'off', but then deducing the reason or cause for that 'offness' can get way into the weeds and overcomplicated, as Pinkie finds out. 
> The most I laughed during this episode was when Rainbow Dash casually said, “Hey Pinkie” when Pinkie Pie was in the hay bale disguise, no doubt used to seeing her in such a get up from their mutual pranking.
The casualness of the remark, I agree, comes from their mutual pranking activities - however, another thing I find amusing about this moment is that Pinkie, by wearing a disguise like that, announces to everyone that it's her since she's the only pony in town who would disguise herself like that! Real pony disguises would either be the province of Unicorn magic, or painting over cutie marks and perhaps gluing cosmetic horns onto the forehead.
 >>/12412/
> over implying any in universe lee creepy pasta mental illness.
it's also her cutie mark to focus on friendships and parties, part of which I imagine is having a close friend group. it is a rather sudden onset of her purpose going unfulfilled leading to delusional behaviour, true, but then, Pinkie IS unusual. 
> Albeit, the theory of when a pony cannot fulfill their cutie mark causing severe mental distress is still one that has appeal to me. 
It's clearly something ponies are not at all used to, and the same goes for not having their social needs met in general. I think it makes pony villains particularly interesting in the show, since they're both equals for the abilities of our main cast and are inherently interesting in terms of exploring how villains can emerge even from a utopian society like Equestria.

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 >>/12413/
> Part of me thinks this is, while not bad in intend, bad phrasing
Agreed. As well as not really what the episode is demonstrating. All it really needs is a tweak from a 'do' to a 'don't', though I understand if the show prefers to give positive affirmations rather than advice that can sound like rulegiving: don't assume the worst of your friends and overthink things! However, it does helpfully clarify things by stating that a *good* friend will always have your best interests at heart, which I think can be true, when there's a particularly strong basis of mutual trust. 
> The party music from the Call of the Cutie is once again reused here at Pinkie’s birthday party. If I can get my act well enough together I will try to track these motifs better. Call of Cutie, The Showstoppers (probably most famous use where it was sometimes a defacto secondary theme for the CMC within the fandom.
Personally I primarily remember it as the music that got swapped out for an All Star instrumental in Friendship Is Witchcraft. They kind of hit on something there, there's an interesting similarity of sorts between the two, even if it's perhaps something to do with the synthesizer/production or whatever the music term would be. 
> I spy with my little eye a streetlight, or I guess what maybe more propperly termed street lantern?
Or even streetlamp?
> I wonder, magical, oil, gas, or electric? 
I'm going to immediately suggest gas just because even if another system is available, Equestria is the kind of place where society's priority is placed more on making sure everyone has something relatively unique they can do for society, and lamplighting fits that bill quite nicely. I'm sure there are some parts of Equestria that buck the trend and use a different solution, however.

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 >>/12414/
> For her powers, I disagree, I think here these things would be more of gags in a season 1 context and not be definitively reality bending and more of a cartoon "gags". 
My counterpoint is the scene where Rainbow Dash flees from Pinkie Pie into Applejack's barn: we see Pinkie Pie clearly keeping up with Rainbow Dash and we know Pinkie Pie is close behind because they don't have really any time to prepare for her being there, to come up with a better cover or ruse or such. I would posit that Pinkie's powers are actually meant to straddle the line between cartoon gag and legitimate in-universe ability, a manifestation of hammerspace powers as it were. 
> Now keep in mind I do look at things from a similar lens where I try to figure out how cartoon gags work in canon and certainly latter canon did imply more to this.
Agreed - in this case I'd simply delineate between cases where Pinkie's actions have little direct tangible consequences, which can be safely disregarded as mere gags, and then cases like her managing to keep even pace with Rainbow Dash, where if we try and argue that Pinkie isn't LITERALLY that fast in the scene, the continuity  of the scene all breaks down. 
> ...wow, has it been over a month since I was last in this thread? Goodness, though I know IRL stuff happens to both of us
I think this time of year always gets busy. It always has for me at least, ever since we moved, which happened in autumn of 2009. Not long before this show started, actually. 
 >>/12419/
> Plus or minus my partial temptation of Twilight Sparkle being Spike's mother somehow by creating life in the egg.
The examiners would have had to provide an unfertilized egg then, which if they had done so knowingly would mean they essentially want Twilight to become a parent just to pass an entrance exam? Wet nurses aren't biological mothers and yet there's the tradition of 'milk-kinship' between children reared by the same wet nurse, oftentimes related to neither child and neither child related to eachother - in a similar way Twilight, who was present to hatch the egg and potentially aided curing a late or dormant hatching condition in Spike's egg (which could partially explain his diminutive form compared to other dragons of similar age later on) is Spike's mother in a much more significant and important way than the question of Spike's genetic ancestry, although both remain important to Spike. I prefer Twilight being adoptive, personally. It allows the show to explore those sort of themes and issues. That's not to say that I dislike your idea, rather that on the whole I tend to prefer the show's approach. 
>  So, my thoughts on this is less chatGPT and more like running the leanest and somewhat stupid LLM that I can get on the best CPU I have as a glorified spell checker that would catch obvious grammatical mistakes but not change whole sentences
Perhaps, and I'll admit I find egregious grammar and spelling mistakes hard to swallow when reading something, but by that same token there's a very similar quality to AI-written stuff, an instant sense that I'm reading something written by a marketing department that feels at least as 'off' as something with awful spelling and grammar. If one were to use chatgpt for this purpose I'd make sure to prompt it to make minimal changes, and to split changes into mere suggestions that it lists in a bullet point for you to then apply yourself, and then actual changes it applies to the text that you provide it.

 >>/12429/
sunset goes to the fridge
 >>/12430/
she has acquired food from the fridge
also, darn it I forgot my name for the replies! yet again!

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 >>/12428/
> but then deducing the reason or cause for that 'offness' can get way into the weeds and overcomplicated, as Pinkie finds out. 
100% agree.  

> Real pony disguises would either be the province of Unicorn magic, or painting over cutie marks and perhaps gluing cosmetic horns onto the forehead.
Depending on how one takes Call of the Cutie: >>/11188/ Maybe glue is completely required and no magic can do? A potential avenue for camouflage is something like the Don't-Notice-Me-Field one of the concepts I really liked from the comics. Now I've jumped too far in the past and ahead, lol. 

>  I think it makes pony villains particularly interesting in the show, since they're both equals for the abilities of our main cast and are inherently interesting in terms of exploring how villains can emerge even from a utopian society like Equestria.
An interesting lens that some characters fit comically perfect in (to the point of somewhat stupid, sorry Dolores our bridge of the board.) Nightmare Moon too, some don't fit as well but that is... bleh, a half formed point exists in my head, I want to get back to this later.

 >>/12429/
> positive affirmations rather than advice that can sound like rulegiving: don't assume the worst of your friends and overthink things! 
I think in some cases that is taken too far. Overcompensation for shows talking down to us.

> However, it does helpfully clarify things by stating that a *good* friend will always have your best interests at heart, which I think can be true, when there's a particularly strong basis of mutual trust. 
This is why I am not sure it's just me, looking at this wrong, as an adult. When push comes to shove I don't think this would've even a minor negative impact on anyone even if taken slightly wrong. It wouldn't be solely at fault for a child in a situation being hurt if a friend was bullying/abusive to them. And if taken like you describe here, it has just as high a chance to help. (A real friend wouldn't treat me like this). 

> Rainbow Dash, where if we try and argue that Pinkie isn't LITERALLY that fast in the scene, the continuity of the scene all breaks down. 
I'm debating if the cartoon teleportation would be more irregular for her. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I do understand where you come from. That the continuity of the episode is set with her powers and weirdness being more than a gag. Not sure I would put the dividing line here over say, Feeling Pinkie Keen, where it is outright stated she has powers while here it is still something that is just kinda there. Pinkie being Pinkie, versus Pinkie being more than Pinkie? I think you probably could argue you it both ways, tbh.

> I prefer Twilight being adoptive, personally. It allows the show to explore those sort of themes and issues. That's not to say that I dislike your idea, rather that on the whole I tend to prefer the show's approach. 
I have always thought that some sort of brother/friendship thing fits better with the dynamic, but Twimom has always had a side appeal to me, lol. Though that is a different dynamic. Adoptive versus biological I find the idea of biological to be interesting but from a hard canon perspective, adoptive is better.

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Okay, HOPEFULLY, I'll get my review out next week. I think I will but it depends on how much effort I want to put in. This is the final to Season 1 comfiness and I won't rush /comfy/ regardless of what life throws at me. Thinking I may aim to have the next season thread posted on New Years Day, BUT, with a hiatus/no expectation for us to jump in reviewing depending on life status for us. So it would be a mostly empty thread. What say you? ...and considering this thread is your idea, if you wanted to take the lead and post, whether new years or later, I would welcome in!



 >>/12430/
> Perhaps, and I'll admit I find egregious grammar and spelling mistakes hard to swallow when reading something
I can be torturous at times I bet!

> very similar quality to AI-written stuff, an instant sense that I'm reading something written by a marketing department that feels at least as 'off' as something with awful spelling and grammar. 
It is at the very least the new language of insincerity. I personally fear people offloading too much of there cogitative functions to it and it causing the ability to have a real conversation like this to be difficult. Think what cellphones did to everybody. I don't want to blindly join the anti-AI crowd (even if I count myself a skeptic) or be a doomer though. Nor sully a fun conversation with slightly apocalyptic semi-political musings, lol. 

> I'd make sure to prompt it to make minimal changes, and to split changes into mere suggestions that it lists in a bullet point for you to then apply yourself, and then actual changes it applies to the text that you provide it.
I was thinking of a local LLM and having it point out and tell me mistakes one paragraph at a time. Right now I am stuck using a couple of Chromebooks but when I either get my laptop fix or my plan B assembled I'll see what sort of small thing I can run on there. 

 >>/12431/
Sunset eats meat, even as a pony. Equestria Girls corrupted her in a unique way!

> also, darn it I forgot my name for the replies! yet again!
Will get the hang and norms of it down next thread.

 >>/12433/
> I can be torturous at times I bet!
*welcome it!
*laptop fixed
*New Year's 
Yes.

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 >>/12432/
> I think in some cases that is taken too far. Overcompensation for shows talking down to us.
Even so, it's been true since before cartoons existed that children prefer to imitation to obedience, so where one can set an example it can sometimes achieve better results. I think that was more or less Mr Roger's modus operandi. Whether overreaction or not I don't know, the shows I grew up in the 2000s with certainly didn't tell me dos and do-nots the way some of the preachier 80s cartoons did (Captain Planet and the 'Sonic Sez' segments come to mind) - perhaps in response to a perceived 'overstep' in preceding decades.
> Pinkie being Pinkie, versus Pinkie being more than Pinkie? I think you probably could argue you it both ways, tbh.
I'm a bit of a literalist, so as mentioned in Fall Weather Friends, overly slapstick antics bother me. It directly challenges me whenever it arises in the show with the loud question of "what actually happened here that the animation is exaggerating?" - I'm not particularly interested in dismissing something as 'just a show' or 'just fiction' when it's presented with an otherwise internally consistent world that permits for immersion, 'just a show' and 'just fiction' properly belongs to experimental art and I'd invite people who are overly reductive of immersive art in that manner to go watch something realist or experimental instead if me getting invested in a story bothers them so much. That said, a frame I find useful in my admittedly somewhat extreme literalism is the idea of a non-existent 'source text'. So for instance, any inconsistencies in Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit can be chalked to up to a mere mis-translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, the tome that Bilbo and Frodo penned together from which both books supposedly derive, with Tolkien as their translator. This actually serves to explain why in the original edition of The Hobbit, Gollum amicably gifted Bilbo the Ring, in fact IIRC it's directly addressed somewhere in Lord of the Rings as a lie that Bilbo deliberately wrote in his part of the text. In a similar vein, Star Wars is supposedly adapted from the Journal of the Whills, dictated by R2-D2 to the Keeper of the Whills, a um... Microscopic entity that lives in harmony with the midichlorians, or something to that effect? It doesn't fix Star Wars by any means, but it lets me enjoy the Prequels just a little bit more as I can write off certain inconsistencies and leaps in logic as either exaggeration or situations where R2 was absent and thus cannot accurately report on what happened. MLP *possibly* could be said to have this framing device towards the later seasons, where the journal and letters to Celestia are reminisced on, and there's even a flashback with the last episode which might suggest that the show is the recounted memories of the Mane 6. On the one hand, that's overthinking it a lot, but on the other hand, it makes the part of the show where the letters are being written and then the journal considerably more 'accurate' since they have a written record in-universe. 
> ...and considering this thread is your idea, if you wanted to take the lead and post, whether new years or later, I would welcome in!
I'm perfectly happy to have you make the thread, I don't know what I'd put for the OP for my part. A hiatus might be a good idea, but I'm open to having it posted new year's day, as it would make it a neat clean starting-date for the thread, with season 2 finished ideally by the next new year's. Up to you!

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As I said here: >>/12470/ might impact things, including reviews, will see if I get something out before the New Year. 

 >>/12458/
> A hiatus might be a good idea, but I'm open to having it posted new year's day, as it would make it a neat clean starting-date for the thread, with season 2 finished ideally by the next new year's. Up to you!

Depending on circumstances, I may or may not post the new thread on New Year's Day--with the obvious notation that we won't start just yet. If not a hiatus, no pressure when to kick off. Main thing I want the new thread to do is to explain what this thread is and how it operates for any potential new people.

Posting this here to use my 5050 tag - there's been a bit of a development. I had been using a new distro which I wasn't especially accustomed to on my main thinkpad, and through my own negligence/ignorance accidentally bricked it. Recovering my data isn't impossible, but it is very difficult, and I'd deleted the backup I'd had of the files on the thinkpad before this occurred. There isn't really anything on there that is irreplaceable as far as data goes, so far as I can recall - however, it does mean I can't get into my Twibooru account at the moment. You've got my email, so I can be reached on there still. Apologies for hijacking the thread for other posters.

 >>/12487/
back into Twibooru now. probably just gonna install a new distro on the thinkpad.

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 >>/12487/
 >>/12488/
Noted and noted! 

I haven't been the most organized myself: >>/12470/  My father was all over the place on his plans and... heh, might explain in a PM. Doing better now, just trying to get in the swing of things. 

I've done worse when it comes to distros and configs! and losing accounts!

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PoLS Review 80% done. Will hopefully post tomorrow or next!

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Is the Best Night Ever really the best night ever? This I am uncertain, but I am giddy to dive into this somewhat famous yet I am not sure how relevant in the modern fandom episode. 

Unlike some of the other latter season 1 episodes, this one does have some moments that stuck with me pretty well, though there is a lot I had forgotten. The seen that I often recalled the most is actually this first scene with Twilight Sparkle reading and Pinkie Pie bouncing on the trampoline. I think it was because of seeing it traced over/edited with Lauren Faust's original concepts of characters, such as Pinkie Pie being Surprise. I would for whatever reason, run into it often. Not something I felt strongly about either way, but, it holds a certain secondary nostalgia for me from 2015ish and 2016, much later than the normal early pre-2012 nostalgia this should invoke. 

Twilight Sparkle's attempt to make horses is interesting here as it almost could be implied that horses are just another animal. It wouldn't make sense, considering mules preestablished existence of them. But how would everyone feel if Twilight was turning the mice into ponies? That is why I ask! This has no strong answer for me other than whimsical show being whimsical but I cannot help but try to!

The gala song (At The Gala), was a good song, but not a top fav. I liked Rainbow Dash's part the best as it departed to a more rock style just to show her personality. A nice touch if you ask me. 

The Mane 6 enter the night with hope and I think this is set up splendidly; actually, I was impressed how this episode managed to bounce between all the Mane 6 and not feel rushed/cramped while introducing more than one new character! (Cutie Mark Chronicles might also warrant a mention here!)  I know I felt this a lot in latter seasons. Not sure if it is superior writing or the relative simplicity of the plot. They didn't have to give a lot of heavy handed fanservice or fun moments to characters like Prince Blueblood back then. He was one dimensional gag character but done well. It was just focused on each one of the Mane 6's night getting progressively worse. As far as the night getting, Rainbow Dash was the one whom I related to, in the sense of feeling awkward at such a get together and being unable to break in while others socialize. Minus creating mishaps in an attempt to show off anyways! More on the Mane 6's actions in a bit.

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 >>/12511/
Background ponies and minor characters galore! Prince Blueblood and Pony Joe! Octavia! Again, I am impressed by how much is stuffed into this episode without it feeling stuffed. I feel the urge to make stupid fanfictions out of some minor character here as I believe there is a (few) other background ponies from which this is there first appearance. Actually, though I am uncertain how relevant this episode is directly on everyone's mind's. This episode's influence is certainly on the stronger side for Season 1. First appearances of several ponies at least! The Grand Galloping Gala as a concept certainly is still referenced. I can think of a fair bit of fanfics that were set around this episode or had it as a major plot point.   

It all escalates into Celestia and Twilight walking into the main ballroom and Celestia sums the situation well:
Run
I also quote the princess again, as I think it is a perfect point to close off the main review:
Oh Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful.
I really like this meeting at the table and the lesson of friendship here.This ruion felt actually warm and sweet to me personally. Sometimes when the Mane 6 hug it out or whatever I feel nothing. Not negative, but, it's just the plot moving along. Here I did feel a touch of genuine warmth in my heart. Which did surprise me a little even if I know this show can bring this feeling sometimes. I also liked Princess Celestia here. Her distaste of the Grand Galloping Gala I feel like says a lot about her character and establish things that we could somewhat infer from previous episodes of her being someone who is really laid back and disliking of how fussy and strict everything is but is sort of boxed in by her role as princess. She endures and tries to find fun where she can (perhaps in slightly immoral ways, lol).  

Perfect in execution but uncertain in my enjoyment level. Which was high, but how high? I am going to be conservative right now and rate this an 8.5/10!

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 >>/12511/
 >>/12512/
> More on the Mane 6's actions in a bit.
I, Bridgefag, present to you all today, the Most Unethical At The Grand Galloping Gala awards! Or MUATGGG (or MUatGGG) for short! Come one, come all, for we have a pretty stiff competition between these six fine ponies (or maybe not). 

Pinkie Pie
Was a (frankly mild by her own standards) party animal and impolite, but it was more from ignorance than any impishness. Yes, not even impish, not to mention malice or greed. 

Rarity
Mostly innocent, was actually a better gentleman than the pony she so foolish pined for, and her outburst at the end of her night was completely justified. I don't hold her at fault for inadvertently causing the statue to fall over and the resulting chain reaction from Rainbow Dash's attempt to save the day.

Rainbow Dash
Could have made somepony's night moderately bad (if not at least injured that one pony) and royally embarrassed herself had her little stunts not worked. Did try to save the day at the end, and while I don't consider it bad to do so, it was for the wrong reasons. Still, her actions are only mildly self serving and  her attempt to forestall the statue, even if it blew up in her face, wasn't bad unto itself. I suppose her clumsiness with the columns could've killed somepony... depending on how durable each race is. Regardless she doesn't get the reward of most unethical.  

Twilight Sparkle
Is arguably the most innocent; her desire to spend time with Celestia wasn't born from any selfish desire  or ambition of any sort and she just got the short end of the stick from Celestia's duty as a princess while being a complete bystander to everyone else's shenanigans .

Applejack
I am going to ignore the unlicensed kiosk she set up. Uncertain if Equestria has regulations as restrictive as our world. She still has an element of greed to her desire even if it is in part by an earnest desire to help out her family. She also did trip a pony. Still, doesn't deserve the reward.

Fluttershy
The animal caretaker who is supposed to understand creatures as timid and fickle as animals can be couldn't handle when animals rejected her, and during a busy event when wild animals would be understandably a bit more afraid to make themselves known. Each rejection was like a bullet to her ergo, which is apparently pretty fragile and she needed validation. I can soften it a little bit, this was a night she was hyped for and that hype certainly played a roll, but her chasing of a bunch of wild animals after only a few hours (at most) of being rejected seems to be a terrible performance for someone who should be used to tending to, and befriending, shy and timid creatures. There is one saving grace that prevents her from looking completely bad: the idea that ponies go a bit crazy when they can't fulfill their   cutie mark's purpose, which we have definitely seen with Pinkie Pie this season. I am used to Fluttershy having a bit of a dark side as a partly show, partly fandom driven trait. but, I think Fluttershy's actions due genuinely look kind of bad without that theory. Even with that in mind, I think Fluttershy showed the most disregard for everypony (heh, everycreature might be a more appropriate term for once). Congrats Fluttershy, you get the MUATGGG award!

...but if I look beyond the Mane 6. Would Princess Celestia be a contender if she knew/was hoping for some disaster to occur? I'm not sure if she wanted the night to be ruined like this though. More like, having some level of disruption to the upper crust at their expense. Prince Blueblood is the most horrible person there but he didn't do anything horribly unethical, just ungentlemanly (or gentelstallionly) and self absorbed.

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 >>/12513/
About the only potential line of negative critique I could have at this episode is Fluttershy's characterization. Frankly, I don't care much and I am used to this side of her, but if you wanted me to find something wrong it would be this. I could say that Fluttershy's was out of character. After all, someone who had dealt with animals and is a genital soul, would she really do this when animals reject her? As someone who is shy herself and has no doubt dealt with frightened creatures. The weaker excuse is that she was just so hyped for the night and has an obsessive side/mean side (which is true, but) I think the theory of ponies going crazy when they can't fulfill their cutie marks, Pinkie Pie a few episodes ago being an example. I still can't help but feel she does feel a little out of character but even then, this side of her is a long established character trait by this point, and I am used to it. To contrast, Princess Celestia actually enjoying the chaos is something that already fits her if a bit of an extreme trait from her being laid back and a bit of a subtle prankster that we've already seen. I enjoy this aspect of Celestia a lot, at least this era of her. This episode maybe didn't established Trollestia but it make it canon in a sense! 


I wanted to name MUATGGG something more along the lines of "Most Immoral Award" but isn't the difference between morality and ethics the former is a personal standard while the latter is the specific rules and actions? Bleh, ethics this and ethics that "this is ethical, this is unethical" even in this joking context reminds me of a certain segment of rationalist thought that I somewhat dislike, even if I do find such discussion entertaining in small dosages.

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 >>/12514/
The real one this time. 

The Band
As I said earlier, interesting that this is Octavia's first appearance. Also interesting that the band did go along with Pinkie Pie in playing her music, even if they found her enthusiasm a bit too much. 

Animation notes
One part that stuck out to me was Twilight Sparkle when she first greeted the princess. It's a small moment, video related. Can you see it? Twilight in addition to walking  kind of squashes in and out. I guess to give it a little more movement, but it does look slightly weird. Not that I am complaining. Little rough edges amidst attempts at higher effort is the appeal for the animation and art of this era of the show for me; I like the fact that they were trying. Here though, this is more pure cheap flash effect I suppose (again, I am far from an expert on any of this and could be proven wrong pretty easily, lol, these are just my rough speculations).    

Also, secondarily, compare the At The Gala song to the separate pony rigs used in Suited For Success: >>/11297/ It looks like, despite the perspective changes and overhead shots, they were using their normal animation rigs for the crowd. Compared to the choice in Suited for Success to use a separate (and very simple) pony model for the overhead view. I wonder if that was a constraint they were avoiding or a technical achievement (or just simply putting more effort). The only part where they might be using a simpler or different rig is when the Mane 6 walk in. I still think this could be the normal behind perspective or whatever you call it shrunk down and not having much animation on it because of how far away it is, but I'm not 100% sure.

Tertiary note: is the firework the first time a 3D CGI effect as used in the show? 

Background ponies and minor characters
As I said, I believe a lot of the  ponies here this is there first appearance and most are regulated to background roles in things involving Canterlot and other fancy and high cultured things. Of course, there is some more familiar ones as well. Especially other unicorns like Lyra and Amethyst Star. 

> Pony Joe
I think this little snippet and his warmth and familiarity with Twilight Sparkle are kind of cool, and are, how do I put this? A little glimpse into Twilight Sparkle's life as Celestia's student as opposed to a fan service post-hoc addition later. Note, not necessarily condemning someone like Moondancer yet with that statement.

> Prince Blueblood 
I am trying to remember if he had any speaking roles after this. Regardless, he has endured somewhat better than certain other Season 1 characters chiefly for being an early other male with some character and his value as a antagonist. 
 
> Groundskeeper Pony
Is the groundskeeper pony a blank flank? Also, I am not sure if this is his first appearance. Wanna say I saw him somewhere else. I am mixed on checking Wikis for little factoids like this just because I don't want to spoil myself on stuff for the upcoming season (at least what I don't remember). 

> Octavia
I know this is her first appearance, though at this point I'm just repeating myself. Yeah, she is here, and she still has a larger fandom than a lot of background ponies from this time. Probably for being somewhat distinct.

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 >>/12515/
Painted Glass Planets?
Among the painted windows when Pinkie Pie hops into the main ballroom are painted glass windows of what appear to be several planets with rings. Considering the usage of other painted glass windows in the palace later on to commemorate specific events. I wonder if these are more than just decoration? Though that reaches a bit past Season 1 canon here with that speculation.

Canterlot's Distance from Ponyville.
Horse drawn carriage within a night to Canterlot! No theories of pegasi being faster this time. Even if Canterlot is just a little ways away, that mountain climb looks like it would be tiring for anypony! 


Literalism
 >>/12458/
> so as mentioned in Fall Weather Friends, overly slapstick antics bother me. It directly challenges me whenever it arises in the show with the loud question of "what actually happened here that the animation is exaggerating?"
I think I touched on this earlier in thread but can argue it more succinctly here. In the At The Gala song, what would be canon and what would be events that were part of the show or narrative for us, but not from the point of view of the show and their characters? Like for example, did the crowd really join in with the Mane 6 in singing along and being there background singers? Dis Celestia really jump from one cloud to another above Canterlot shortly before  taking her position welcoming guests to the Grand Galloping Gala? I lean much more literal and I think with their is some evidence for it in other songs (remember in Friendship is Magic Part 2 when Pinkie Pie starts to sing Giggle at the Ghosties and Twilight's annoyance at the song?). They do exist in the narrative but some are harder to reconcile than others with a hardline version of that view. They don't bug me, but when I am trying to think of canon, that is what I get hung up on more than slapstick personally. 


Pew! Finally done. I will admit that even with the time I took this time I still feel a little rushed and I can still see somethings that might have been better ironed out (I mention Octavia first appearance three times for example, with little extra information to justify the separate mentions. I will get to 5050s review and reply to that later.

I am happy and blessed that I am able to finish Season 1. It's kind of haunting that we will be moving to Season 2 soon, but, hey, I cannot complain, considering I wasn't sure I would be able to be here for awhile due to my aforementioned mysterious medical issues. I am earnestly thankful to the Lord and to everyone I've had the privilege of talking to on here in this thread, especially 5050 for obvious reasons. Considering this was his idea! 

I don't have much to say on the future Season thread other than OP will be better in the sense of having a clear purpose on how the thread so we have a better chance of drawing others who might be interested and that I won't start it till 5050 is ready. Right now I still have to reply to this one. 

Goodbye Season 1!

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 >>/12511/
> I liked Rainbow Dash's part the best as it departed to a more rock style just to show her personality.
It's hard not to at least mouth along to that part in the song.
> Not sure if it is superior writing or the relative simplicity of the plot. 
I think it can be, and perhaps is, both! This episode has been written, seemingly from the get-go, to revolve around giving each of the six a bit of the spotlight, all having a unique way to contribute that makes sense for them. The one part where I'd say there's a potential misstep is where I'll concur with you on Fluttershy, which I'll get to later. Keeping things simple allows for this great execution to shine through, whilst there are both simple and complex episodes later on that fail to do the same, which is where I'd say it's both good by design and good by execution, that is, planned to be simple and written well within the solid framework of that planned simplicity. 
> Rainbow Dash was the one whom I related to, in the sense of feeling awkward at such a get together and being unable to break in while others socialize.
My solution for a while now has been to not even try, and to simply withdraw. Worst case scenario is I "miss out", and I don't feel I'm missing out on all that much anyway, and best case scenario I then have the people that actually do want to talk to me coming to find me, and that way we can have a more uninterrupted conversation. How exactly such a 'throng' is meant to be navigated with either ease or enjoyability, even for extroverts, is beyond me, and I have a strong suspicion that it isn't actually something that is enjoyed for it's conversational function at all (rather for the sensation of being in a group).

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 >>/12512/
> The Grand Galloping Gala as a concept certainly is still referenced. 
I wonder how significant exactly it actually is in-universe. It seems relatively analogous to the Royal Garden Parties that the Windsors hold irl, the purpose of which is to recognise and reward public service (which we see Celestia doing here herself) - and of course it is also a significant event for the debuts of debutantes, which is what is essentially happening with the Mane Six in the episode. The caveat would be that rather than being one of several parties organised by a nominal head of state through the Crown Estate, the Grand Galloping Gala is only once every year, and is held within the actual seat of government as a directly state-sponsored event. If anything, in fandom and fanfics and stuff even the event itself should be referenced more, I think.
> I also liked Princess Celestia here. Her distaste of the Grand Galloping Gala I feel like says a lot about her character and establish things that we could somewhat infer from previous episodes of her being someone who is really laid back and disliking of how fussy and strict everything is but is sort of boxed in by her role as princess.
After 1000 years of hosting this annual party, I'm not at all surprised that she's sick of it! 
> Perfect in execution but uncertain in my enjoyment level. Which was high, but how high? I am going to be conservative right now and rate this an 8.5/10!
Very similar score to mine!

More replies on their way: for now I'm getting ready for work again. But once that's done, and once anybody else has chimed in if they wish to, that's more or less /thread, when we get to it. I'm strangely reluctant to finish things, now that it's in sight! But season 2 will be exciting to get to!

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 >>/12513/
> The animal caretaker who is supposed to understand creatures as timid and fickle as animals can be couldn't handle when animals rejected her, and during a busy event when wild animals would be understandably a bit more afraid to make themselves known. 
Here, I think, is where an easy fix could have been made: Fluttershy underestimates the animals in the garden and ends up irritating them with her attempts to befriend them such that they are the ones who chase Fluttershy into the palace, rather than the other way around. It helps keep her more in character and achieves the same result. 
> There is one saving grace that prevents her from looking completely bad: the idea that ponies go a bit crazy when they can't fulfill their cutie mark's purpose, which we have definitely seen with Pinkie Pie this season.
Even so, that occurs after remarkably little stress, relatively speaking. It took the better part of a day to break Pinkie, and that with the apparent rejection of her very best friends. Plus I had sort of figured that Pinkie had a more fragile ego. I don't think Fluttershy has much of an excuse at all, really. 
> I am used to Fluttershy having a bit of a dark side as a partly show, partly fandom driven trait
I don't even feel that we've seen that dark side up until now in this season ('the stare' aside). If anything, I'm tempted to call this the inciting incident of her 'dark side', and it essentially stems from a weird writing quirk, something I'm even tempted to call a writing mistake. Either way, Fluttershy very strongly deserves her MUATGGG trophy!
> Would Princess Celestia be a contender if she knew/was hoping for some disaster to occur?
The way I figure it, she expected for something like a bit of disruption from the other five turning the dance hall into more of a rave, whilst having Twilight by her side would help her with the greeting process for all the attendees. I don't see how Celestia could have been aware of their individual ambitions for the night, except of course for Twilight's, so I take her initial predictions to be less chaotic, and I think I'd even read her saying that the commotion improved the evening as partly intended to soften the blow for the Mane 6. 
 >>/12514/
> I could say that Fluttershy's was out of character. 
The only way I can possibly figure it would be to say that Fluttershy had to come through crowds of people to get to the gardens and that wore her down considerably, to the point where she was desperate for less threatening companionship. It isn't consistent with what we're shown in the episode, but essentially I think Fluttershy would have to already be on the verge of a nervous breakdown to even begin to justify her actions. I'm tempted to go so far as to say that if this reaction was a cutie-mark thing or spurred on by wanting animals to like her, she ought to have snapped a least a little bit like this at Angel Bunny in a few scenes.

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 >>/12515/
> I guess to give it a little more movement, but it does look slightly weird.
I kind of see what you mean. It's tricky when you've got both the walking motion and the neck moving the head as well, I guess it's just a quick trick to convey that for a few seconds. I think there's a similar shot in Best Friends Until The End of Time where the Mane Six walk towards the camera, by then they have a proper model for that rather than what they're doing here with the head seemingly separate. 
> Is the groundskeeper pony a blank flank? Also, I am not sure if this is his first appearance. Wanna say I saw him somewhere else. I am mixed on checking Wikis for little factoids like this just because I don't want to spoil myself on stuff for the upcoming season (at least what I don't remember). 
I checked the wiki, he is a blank flank and he does show up before this episode, so you're right on both counts! 
 >>/12516/
> Among the painted windows when Pinkie Pie hops into the main ballroom are painted glass windows of what appear to be several planets with rings. Considering the usage of other painted glass windows in the palace later on to commemorate specific events. I wonder if these are more than just decoration?
It lines up with Twilight's line about comets in the Owlowicious episode to suggest that space is very similar if not identical to our universe (which might tie into the Equestria-as-future-Earth theories!)
>  They do exist in the narrative but some are harder to reconcile than others with a hardline version of that view. They don't bug me, but when I am trying to think of canon, that is what I get hung up on more than slapstick personally.
Since I already mentioned Best Friends Until The End of Time, that one also has aspects of the scenery not being real, but the song itself be real and occurring in-universe. My answer would be that I think the scenery in this song too is also at least partly imagination, expressing the inner feelings of the Mane Six, but that they do literally sing it. Perhaps it's even taking part in the crowd singing it as part of an annual tradition where ponies sing that song on the way to the GGG. All in all though, I think only Tolkien's elves rival ponies for a penchant to break out into song literally in the middle of things.
> Goodbye Season 1!
Agreed, it was a fun ride! I'd be curious to see how the data of our scores adds up and compares. I'll have to collect up my scores from the thread - I had them all listed neatly at the beginning of my document where I wrote all my posts down, but as I've mentioned to you, I've lost that. It's a fond farewell to season 1, and I imagine it will be for season 2 as well - in a way it feels exciting to still have a lot of good stuff ahead of us. Season 3's farewell, far in the future as it is, if we ever get there, will be more bittersweet, but definitely worth revisiting if and when we get there.

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I threw the scores I gave each episode into a line graph generator. I should have been less lazy and made one myself properly, but this works well enough. My top episode is of course Winter Wrap-Up at 10, and the lowest is Over a Barrel at 4.6, which would give a mid-range of 7.3, and that sounds about right. As a whole though, taken together, I think season 1 manages to be more than the sum of it's parts, the average of the episodes it's made up of. I'm curious as to whether I'll find any 10/10s in season 2, it's possible that out of the whole rest of the show I find Winter Wrap-Up to be the only one I consider perfect, but regardless of that I think it's fair to say that no other season will manage to be as cohesive as season 1 is. I can't quite settle on 9 or 10 - 9 would be because I don't consider season 1 perfect, but 10 would be because I think it's probably the high point of the show. So if I had to give it an overall score, I think I'd rank season 1 as a 9.5. That's my opinion as it stands! And I'm looking forward to seeing how season 2 holds up for me, for Bridge, and for any other anons who wish to join in

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 >>/12525/
I need to sit down and do this! 

Had a rough few days/weeks. Trying to get geared fro the new thread. I know I am over thinking it, but I want to make sure that I make a draft with as clear a mind as possible.

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 >>/12525/
 >>/12526/
Guess who finally sat down and did my ratings? ME! 

Some notes:
1):I initially noted with Fall Weather Friends that 6.8 was an arbitrary number, but, I used 6.8 and 6.9 more than once for things that didn't feel quite like a 7 to me but still liked. 
2):Feeling Pinkie Keen I was divided between 6.1 and 6.5, and for this graph I decided 6.5. I liked the episode well enough.
3):The Snow Stoppers was a provisional 6.5 rating and it still is. Actually, on rewatch there might be a few episodes I like more or less than some others but that is natural with time and my taste.This graph is  accurate enough for right  now.
4):Griffon the Brush Off I still enjoyed, but took issue with the lesson, and I rated the lesson in the Episode a 5/10 even if I rated the episode itself at still a 6.5 when it came to personal enjoyment. 

>  My top episode is of course Winter Wrap-Up at 10, and the lowest is Over a Barrel at 4.6, which would give a mid-range of 7.3, and that sounds about right.
My top is Winter Wrap Up at 9. My lowest is... Griffon the Brush Off for the lesson? IDK, some episodes I enjoyed less than that but I never rated an episode below 6 even if I rated on average more lower than you did.
 
> 10 would be because I think it's probably the high point of the show. So if I had to give it an overall score, I think I'd rank season 1 as a 9.5. 
The struggle between personal enjoyment and trying to rate quality. Something I didn't quite figure out even if I leaned into personal enjoyment more as this thread went on. Weirdly I feel quite confident in rating Season 1, a solid 8/10. I think it was great, but not perfect. 

>  That's my opinion as it stands! And I'm looking forward to seeing how season 2 holds up for me, for Bridge, and for any other anons who wish to join in
Me too! (Finally getting close). I feel like my mind is open, and while I gravitated to Season 2 and Season 4 more than Season 1, I may walk away from this experience being a Seasonwunner (to quote a mild pejorative against early season fans). The feeling of this Season is comfy and haunting, both from my nostalgic memories for those earlier feelings and for the fact that the show had an innocence, untainted by fandom interaction. I still suspect Season 2 or Season 4 might beat it, but it is one I don't say with confidence.

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 >>/12525/
> I threw the scores I gave each episode into a line graph generator. I should have been less lazy and made one myself properly, but this works well enough. 
I used gnuplot and it was my first time using gnuplot and it took me a minuet to figure out, pic related. There is still somethings I could have done a bit better (at least, I wish I had formatted the episode names to not be vertical), but I do think it gets the job done.

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 >>/12573/
> some episodes I enjoyed less than that but I never rated an episode below 6 even if I rated on average more lower than you did.
I might have been too harsh on Over a Barrel, because I don't feel like Season One really dips below a five at any point, but I did have real problems with that episode. We seem to have a similar pattern of sorts for the first ten episodes, a sort of up-down-up-down and then high point at Winter Wrap-Up, followed by some degree of a drop after the first ten for Call of the Cutie. We also both seem to have settled on about four top episodes of the season, with yours being those that rank around halfway or more to 9, and mine being those that rank above 9, which is interesting both in itself and by comparison: mine were Friendship Is Magic, where I sort of cheated by giving the two-parter one overall score in contrast to your separated scores for each part, and then Swarm of The Century and Winter Wrap-Up, which we both share in our top four, then finally The Cutie Mark Chronicles, which for me was a 9.2, whereas for you it was more on par with Boast Busters around 8ish, which is where around where I put Boast Busters as well at exactly 8 (along with Applebuck Season, Look Before You Sleep and A Bird in the Hoof, another four that together I think of as 'The Solid Eight Club', just a group that feel like they pretty much hit the exact same spot to me). Then your four top picks, excluding Swarm of the Century and Winter Wrap-Up where we broadly share similar opinions, include Dragonshy which we actually gave the same score to, and The Best Night Ever, which I rated exactly one decimal point lower than you. I think above all the main pattern that emerges is that you seem to have a more stable (heh) opinion on an episode, where minor issues seem a lot less irksome to you whereas there are huge dips on my graph where things have just really bugged me: a lot of our trend-line would be a much more aligned if it weren't for those big dips. Overall, bigger highs and bigger lows vs a more stable baseline. 
> Something I didn't quite figure out even if I leaned into personal enjoyment more as this thread went on. 
As time goes on I'm going to try and lean even further into personal enjoyment. The way I see it, even if what detractors said about the show was true, that it's essentially just slop for kids, I'd still like it because I like it. Sometimes my taste aligns with quality (like my enjoyment of Wagner's Ring Cycle), and sometimes it doesn't align at all (my adoration of everything Ralph Bakshi, or my paradoxical nostalgic soft spot for Murdoch Murdoch, for instance). Both of those are based on the public perception of quality, sure, but I'm more interested in simply liking what I like than in attempting to demonstrate and prove that I'm justified in liking it because secretly the stuff I like always aligns with actual quality, or something like that. However, that's not to say that quality is not worth discussing, and it might be interesting to have some degree of divergence where some focus more on the quality aspect and others on the enjoyment aspect. Already I think it has been interesting to have your asides on animation, something that largely escapes my notice, except where it breaks my immersion a little like in Fall Weather Friends. It provides a broader base of discussion where different things are brought to the table.

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 >>/12573/
> The feeling of this Season is comfy and haunting, both from my nostalgic memories for those earlier feelings and for the fact that the show had an innocence, untainted by fandom interaction.
I'd agree, although I would say that I find those feelings much stronger in the Friendship Is Magic 2-parter. I've thought of a comparison, bizarre as it might be, to my feeling when watching that episode and getting a glimpse into the world before the show changed it, and that comparison is to The Phantom Menace. Now, I personally rate Star Wars enjoyment-wise a lot lower than MLP, but it was the first media I ever engaged with (aged 3!) so it's something I have a lot of thoughts about even if I'm a lot less attached to that franchise, and what's interesting about The Phantom Menace is that you get these glimpses of the universe before it gets really into the hallmarks that come to define the prequel era, such as the clones not being around yet and instead you have these 'enforcers', like on the red republic cruiser at the beginning of the movie, and like Chancellor Valorum, who is voted out in the movie but had a whole career prior. It's a feeling that is both mysterious and makes the setting feel much more real, alive, immersive, as though there really is something to know about the time immediately before the events of the story, even though if the creators have not filled in the canon of that prior period, there is in fact nothing to know, in spite of how tangible it feels.
>  I still suspect Season 2 or Season 4 might beat it, but it is one I don't say with confidence.
My bias says Season 1 will win out for me, but I am open to being proven wrong!

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Okay, I am finally ready. Crap is still happening but the review is largely finished. I just want your input on the next thread. Twibooru has been having issues.

 >>/12594/
> Friendship Is Magic, where I sort of cheated by giving the two-parter one overall score in contrast to your separated scores for each part, 
I don't count that as cheating. I think both scoring schemes are justified. It is arguably one experience and one story, scoring it as a whole makes sense. THOUGH, also, scoring it as an individual segments also makes sense as each is technically a separate episode. 

>  I've thought of a comparison, bizarre as it might be, to my feeling when watching that episode and getting a glimpse into the world before the show changed it, and that comparison is to The Phantom Menace. Now, I personally rate Star Wars enjoyment-wise a lot lower than MLP, but it was the first media I ever engaged with (aged 3!) 
No, I get that. Actually, not quite the same, but growing up with Star Wars I had an interest the not very well covered inbetween and before period of Episode 1 to Episode 2, the period just before Episode 1, and the 20 years in between Episodes III and IV. Because of both a slight mystery and... uh, a comfy and haunting this of what other people where doing and things not fully in focus. 

> so it's something I have a lot of thoughts about even if I'm a lot less attached to that franchise
Love to here them sometime.

 >>/12632/
> Twibooru has been having issues
Now this board is having issues!
> This message is too long, try a shorter post

 >>/12632/
 >>/12637/
My solution WAS to screenshot what I was going to post and attach as image, but "this board requires post history before you can attach images".

attaching as a file doesn't work either. maybe if I split up my response into multiple posts? I'll try that. maybe I can even figure out the new character limit

 >>/12632/

> I just want your input on the next thread. Twibooru has been having issues.
Well, the thread starter you sent on Twibooru looked perfect to me!
> I don't count that as cheating. I think both scoring schemes are justified. It is arguably one experience and one story, scoring it as a whole makes sense. THOUGH, also, scoring it as an individual segments also makes sense as each is technically a separate episode. 
I think I've scored The Return of Harmony both ways.

 >>/12632/
> Love to here them sometime.
Well, another one that interests me is that George Lucas told someone on the set of Revenge of the Sith that the entire story is what's relayed by R2-D2 to the Whills when they write the Journal of the Whills, so in theory scenes that R2-D2 doesn't directly witness are only canon insofar as R2-D2 or the Whills could reconstruct them after the fact.

Anyways, I think we're both all ready for the new thread!

hmm, about a 500 character limit. that'll be challenging! about two tweets per post, lol

 >>/12642/
Test The pony walks at midnight to stop the blight of the republican party from eating the humans of the Danish Queen's backs. Luna loves potatoes.

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 >>/12643/
I fixed it. There is new anti spam moderation tools for unfamiliar IPs. These might be interesting but considering I imagine we use VPNs and a lot of our regulars here post every once and awhile I have it mostly turned off for now.

 >>/12644/
I think part of the issue was I actually had the VPN turned off for once! Plus unfamiliar machine perhaps. Everything's gone topsy-turvy during moving house

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 >>/12646/
Similar story, albeit I have two machines I keep switching between for my sometimes highly specific set ups for chan based pony posting.

Point is though, it might be useful to set up better, but also a bit of a hindrance!

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testy mc test to see if this will bump.

 >>/12649/
Okay, I *think* I fixed it. Another problem is that there is a limit in place for bumping old threads, not a bad idea, but, the default was 1000 days ago,a lot of are still slow but activeish generals are 6+ years at this point. I think we are good now.