MLP: FiM Episode Review: Make New Friends But Keep Discord

Salutations! The episode starts off with Fluttershy visiting with Discord, and she mentions her new friend Tree Hugger, whom she invited to the Gross Gruesome Gala. Discord tries to see if the others have guests to bring, and they do. When Discord goes to his crazy home, he finds he does have a ticket for the Gala, so he invites the Smooze. At the Gala, he tries to act out and get Fluttershy’s attention. He gets more desperate as he tries being a stand-up comedian, but he gets laughed at, and Maud makes a joke about him. Then the Smooze blobs into the room, and everypony gets stuck in it. Maud also makes a great boat. Tree Hugger calms the Smooze down in her groovy way, which still irritates Discord still. He finally tries to banish Tree Hugger, Fluttershy gets into an argument with Discord, in which he learns that having a new friend does not mean leaving out old friends. I think the fact that the CMC are showing up quite a bit so far means something significant. Their roles may not have been large here, but they are indeed around more. I loved their “Best Night Ever” reference. And when they made Discord cover his ears, I wanted to too. The CMC sure looked cute in their dresses, especially Apple Bloom. AJ will cry happy tears for her little sister growing up, yet not outwardly cry for Dash. It’s understandable for sure, it’s just interesting. Tree Hugger…has eyebrows that bother me. It shouldn’t be a huge deal, though. I do like hippie-types, but she seems…out of it. I do want to see more of her in the future. Somehow Twilight was less bothered at being in the same spot she was last time she was at the Gala. Maybe it’s because of her princesshood. She got busted on by Discord and Celestia laughed from that. Ha. He even made a “Rodney Dangerfield” expression. I loved Celestia’s dress. Celestia commented on not having this much fun  at the Gala in years…does the last one not count? Oh, wait, no it doesn’t: Discord wasn’t in it. I’ve never seen Celestia act like that. The Smooze looks like a giant booger…or mutant slime. But he seems rather friendly at first, as he has a heart of…blob. He…kissed Discord. The blob could be pals with Tree Hugger. He already hit it off with Pinkie. I guess he’s really an “it” here. And Smoozinator likes jewelry as a snack. Smooze likes fancy things, I guess. Tree Hugger made some weird goat-like sounds to calm Smooze, and wanted me “We like each other,” –Quotes for the Fluttercord shipper.  Daw, Discord implied he wants a nickname. He has abandonment issues. And aaw, he tried to give her a flower as apology. Something I’d like to think about, though, is how the concept of having other friends is this new to Discord. After all, the Mane 6 are friends with each other, and technically this extends to Discord. They are not just friends with one, but with all of the others in the group. But…perhaps it is a deal for Discord due to having Fluttershy as his one true friend that trusts him and spends time with him, as the others had not in the past. I have been anticipating this episode for a long time. This is in the top 3 of best episodes for me of the series. I give this episode a 10 out of 10.

I also absolutely loved this episode.  There are just so many things to love about it.  I love Discord’s home.  I love all the awesome characters that the episode focuses on (Discord, Fluttershy, Maud, Tree Hugger, Smooze), I love the comedy, I love the way Discord’s antagonism is written as understandable and, in the end, redeemed, I love the way Celestia has returned to her fun-seeking ways, I love this episode.

Cuddleheart wanted me to mention this thing I noticed- that Tree Hugger’s color scheme consists of the colors of cannabis: green, purple, and reddish-pink.

I like mentioning a favorite joke and a favorite part, but the problem with that here is that the episode is so good that I can’t choose.  I’ve watched the episode seven times today, and, while I am getting some desire for variation, there are so many jokes and so many parts that always seem to hit for me.

I, Ledger, 100% agree with Cuddleheart’s 10 out of 10 and give the episode my own 10 out of 10.

Generations 1 through 4

Rarity?!

Salutations!

I am aware of the Smooze in this next episode, and he is not exactly a new face, so posting this right before that episode works.

Let’s start by displaying a picture of each Generation of MLP.

Generation 1: It started with a movie, and it became a series, airing in 1984, and the series in 1986. The ponies live in a place called Ponyland. They have not just Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns there. They also have Flutter Ponies, who have small clear wings and magic, but are shy beings; sea ponies that inhabit the seas; bushwoolies that are fuzzy little guys; furbobs are related to the bushwoolies; and weird enemies, such as grundles, who are a race of their own, and stonebacks, which are armadillo things. They even have a Spike! And…some creature that stands on its hind legs, and they aren’t bright and colorful. What are those things?? They’re called “humans,” but what are those? The Unicorns have different abilities: they can teleport with a special process of winking, but they are limited, and cannot teleport when there’s a solid object like a wall in the way.

Generation 1 included 65 episodes and 3 movies, although 2 of those movies were rehashed into 4 of those episodes.  In addition to that, it included a 26-episode series called “My Little Pony Tales”.  The television series (the 65-episode one) started out with… get this… a ten-parter!  Yeah.  Our two-parter premiere pales significantly in comparison.  To be fair, these episodes only lasted for half of their half-hour time slot, so a ten-parter would be the equivalent of a five-parter in G4 terms.  (The remaining half of the half-hour time slot was taken by episodes of three rotating different shows, one about glowbugs, one about potatoes, and one about dream mailers.)

Generation 3: They did have a Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Cheerilee, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle. In this generation, the setting is in Ponyville. They were in Generation 3.5 as well.

Generation 3 consisted of a couple handfuls of small animations that were released straight to home copies.  There was no My Little Pony show for Gen 3, just 12 animated features and 1 live musical.  For reference, those 12 animated features are A Charming Birthday, Pinkie Pie and the Ladybug Jamboree, Friends are Never Far Away, Dancing in the Clouds, Greetings From Unicornia, Meet the Ponies, Waiting for the Winter Wishes Festival, A Very Minty Christmas, The Princess Promenade, Crystal Princess: The Runaway Rainbow, A Very Pony Place, and Twinkle Wish Adventure.  And that live musical was called “The World’s Biggest Tea Party”.  My favorite pony from this gen is Zipzee, a breezy with allergies who is voiced by Andrea Libman.  However, this favoritizing is based solely upon the Runaway Rainbow video game for GBA.

Generation 4 (current generation): The style has obviously really changed from the other previous generations. Some things stay the same, however. That includes voice actors from previous generations. Just think, Cathy Weseluck went from being Rarity to Spike!

There was also My Little Pony Tales, but they aren’t the focus. Maybe they will be the focus in another blog post or something. They are ponies that aired on Disney Channel.

Things shared with the current MLP generation are: in the first series, there are plot similarities, such as Spike in search of his roots and not enjoying the dragon bullies, and when the furniture comes to life in the Estate, they go against the ponies. The latter makes me believe Keep Calm and Flutter On used that reference rather than from Beauty and the Beast. Later, some of the character names crossed over into this generation. Each generation remains a colorful variation, the hooves and cutie mark-ness and pony races remain the same.

Some things that differed from generation 4 and even as time went by with the others: the general appearance of the ponies, no “human” thingies, characters have changed somewhat, we have yet to see some of the creatures from Generation 1, cutie marks do not cover the entire leg and they do not have hearts on their hooves nowadays, nor do they have bows on their tails.

Unfortunately, I never really watched the earlier series, as far as I can remember, growing up. Maybe that’s why I don’t have as much to say on this as I wanted to or could. I remember having a Minty pony from McDonald’s–I think it came from there. But I did watch a little of Generation 3 or 3.5 or whichever it was, and some of MLP Tales.

I never watched the earlier series either.  I did have some exposure to G3 since my sister liked the figures and also had some cardboard mini-books, and, as mentioned, I’ve played the Runaway Rainbow video game and watched “A Charming Birthday”, but that’s all I’ve seen of G3.  Of G1, I’ve watched “Rescue at Midnight Castle”, “Escape from Catrina”, “The Movie”, and the 10-parter premiere “The End of Flutter Valley”, but that’s it.

There are MLP specials, like “Rescue at Midnight Castle,” “Escape from Catrina”–a magical cat sounds almost awesome if only she weren’t..y’know…evil, “Princess Promenade,” “The Runaway Rainbow,” to name a few. I probably don’t have them all listed, but like I said, I didn’t get into the earlier MLP, so I am less informed as I’d like to be.

For good measure, let’s discuss the Smooze a little. The Smooze is meant to be a villainous pile of goop. He appears to find personal enjoyment of causing torment to others. He’s a destroyer and whoever alive is victim to him, is caused to behave negatively. He is regarded as very powerful. This guy’s bad news.

The Smooze appeared in “The Movie”.  He is notable for defeating the Rainbow of Light that had previously defeated Tirek.  However, he doesn’t seem to be totally villainous in the upcoming episode.  Only time will tell, I suppose.

Pony Personality: Celestia

“Screw you, Twilight. This is my party!”

Classical Temperament- Sanguine

Okay, you know what?  I’ve noticed something.  These cut-and-paste personality entries that I’ve been making are…. pretty boring.  And they don’t work very well for everypony.  Like Spike (hard to give examples of his reaction time and duration time) and Fluttershy (being very Enneagram 9 without really manifesting the basic fear of Enneagram 9) for the past two Pony Personalities.  So I’m going to try to move away from the cut-and-paste format and into a more conversational (and fun) description.

Finding Celestia’s temperament is very… interesting.  She feels fairly balanced between Choleric and Phlegmatic.  She’s a leader and a doer, but still laid-back, not pushing for completion and work all the time, and eager for fun.  Actually, that would be Sanguine.  A good Sanguine would have a people-centered way of focusing on the external world.  Even when Celestia gets down to business, she’s still in the business of people, so that makes her feel much less choleric.

Jungian- TeSi (ESTJ)

LeGasp!  I’m not putting Celestia as an N?  …Well, yeah, I’m not.  Her time orientation is nowhere near the future bent of an Ni-user.  She is focused on the task looming straight before her, and her solutions are by no means long term.  For instance, she takes the Elements from the Tree of Harmony to combat the current threat of Discord, even though that causes problems down the road, and she banishes her sister to the moon, which is also a temporary fix.  I do think there are N users in My Little Pony (Discord, definitely, Cadence, possibly, maybe some others), but we’ll get to them eventually.

But yeah, Celestia is generally task-oriented, and this is her Te coming into view.  She is organized and tries to apply objective logic to her surrounding world.  She generally attempts to work with familiar means to solve problems.  (Si, if the Elements of Harmony ain’t broke, don’t fix ’em.)

I feel a little bad about saying that Celestia’s inferior, repressed function is Fi.  She’s a very sweet pony, after all.  Always thinking about the safety of her subjects.  But therein lies the proof.  She does repress her feelings, because, after all, her feelings conflict with themselves.  The major example here would be the banishment of Luna.  Of course that event would be traumatic for her, but she represses it because she feels she needs to.

Salutations! There’s not much left for me to add. Celestia is a wise and caring leader, putting the welfare of others before herself for the most part, excluding the Gross Gruesome Gala. She is the Queen of Convenient Timing. She acts as a guide and mentor for Twilight, but has become less so as time has passed. Her subjects adore her, and even use her name for certain terms, such as “Sweet Celestia!”  Celestia is not above having a different side to her: a fun, pranky side, which she has shown us a few times already.

Different Psychotherapies For Different Ponies

We’re going to be talking about this picture, so make sure you look at it!

Hi there!

Today, we are going to be talking about what psychotherapy types would be best accepted by different ponies.

But first, we’re going to talk about the above image and all the things Twilight is doing wrong in it, simply for my own sick delight.  In this image, Rainbow Dash is lying down on a bench.  This position is distinctive of psychodynamic therapy, which implies that Twilight is intending to use a psychodynamic approach with Rainbow.  But Twilight is already doing two things wrong just from that.  Firstly, and more importantly, she’s doing psychodynamic therapy wrong, because the therapist is supposed to be hidden from the patient’s view, which is the entire point of the couch/bench.  This is intended to help the patient more freely associate the therapist with whatever figure in the patient’s life the patient needs to address.  Secondly, it’s weird that Twilight is jumping straight for the psychodynamic approach.  The psychodynamic approach is rarely favored, and is generally only used in special cases.  For some patients, the psychodynamic approach just…. works where other psychotherapies don’t.

The last thing Twilight is doing wrong, though it has nothing to do with psychodynamic therapy, is patting Rainbow’s head.  It’s demeaning, which is bad for the therapist-client relationship, and this relationship is crucial for multiple different types of psychotherapy.  It’s also just plain unprofessional.

“Professionalism, Miss Sparkle. Pro-fess-ionalism…”

Anyway, my sick pleasure of berating Twilight to the side, today we’re talking about how well the ponies would respond to different types of therapy.  Normally, the therapy is chosen based on whatever problem the pony is experiencing, but since only one pony decidedly has any type of psychological abnormality whatsoever (Fluttershy), we will be imagining some unknown abnormality that the ponies develop and choose therapy type based on pony type.

Twilight, lover of logic that she is, will likely respond very well to Cognitive Therapy.  The theory of cognitive therapy is that problems arise when a pony holds maladaptive and illogical thoughts.  The therapy targets those illogical thoughts and seeks to expose them as illogical and replace them with more functional thoughts.  Cognitive Therapy, when blended with some techniques from Behavioral Therapy, becomes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, which is in general one of the most effective psychotherapies we have, generally only a little bit less effective than medication. Sounds logical. And as far as her therapeutic techniques go, she definitely doesn’t have a doctorate or any professional training for psychology.

Rarity, I see as being responsive to Client-Centered Therapy mixed with Expressive Therapy.  Rarity has a driving need to be valued by others, and the unconditional acceptance of Client-Centered Therapy seems to me to be the most wonderful way of tending to that need.  I also think that Expressive Therapy should be mixed in.  Expressive Therapy would help Rarity focus on her art instead of her problems.   Seems right.

Applejack’s style of therapy would probably be the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, which was mentioned above.  Applejack does value things “making sense” to her, so there’s the cognitive part, and she’s so much of a doer that she would likely respond great to the Behavioral techniques as well. Makes sense.

Pinkie Pie, I see responding well to Gestalt Therapy.  This is because Gestalt Therapy is… kind of weird.  Just like Pinkie.  Gestalt Therapy is about being aware of the present moment and taking responsibility of yourself.  It involves some techniques that may seem counterintuitive to most.  For instance, a client who is wanting to be more assertive could be asked to give a little talk about how one should never be assertive.  (Of course, in this talk, the client is assertively enforcing his/her opinion, which is the beauty of it.)  There’s also a technique known as the “empty chair technique”, in which a client talks to an empty chair.  Yeah.  I can totally see Pinkie doing this. Why not. She’s talked to a sack of flour before.

Rainbow, like Applejack, would best respond to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, for the same reasons as Applejack. As opposed to the “therapy” Twilight tried to give in the picture above.

Fluttershy would best respond to Client-Centered Therapy mixed with Animal-assisted Therapy.  Fluttershy, being an extremely timid pony, would need the welcoming and warm Client-Centered approach to feel anywhere near comfortable with opening up.  Also, since she is the animal lover that she is, some animals can also help her.  She’s used self-applied Animal-assisted Therapy in the past (namely, in Hurricane Fluttershy), and that worked, so it can work again. “She loves critters,” -older Andy from Toy Story 3. While I would have said at first thought that in an animal-assisted therapy session, she would have focused on the cute little animal, Hurricane Fluttershy is a marvelous example of it not being the case.

Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, being early in their development, would most likely be responsive to Play Therapy, since Play Therapy is specifically designed to cater to the needs of babies, colts, and fillies.  Play Therapy involves a colt or filly acting out their issues through play, and it places a strong emphasis on the therapist-client relationship. Spike is the only one I’ve seen of the young ones to actually play with a toy in the show, which was for Canterlot Wedding with the cake topper couple figurines, but yes, play therapy is centered on little ones, and they are all still youths.

Type A, B, or C

Salutations!

So, even though these Types could be placed as a Wednesday topic, it is going to be a Friday topic, partially because another topic I had planned to post won’t be until next week, when the next new episode airs. I happened to realize the topic of the 4 Types when going into Rainbow Dash’s personality, and then I got to thinking about the other ponies’ types. The meaning of these 4 types is in the ways we handle stress. We have Types A, B, and lesser-known C and D.

We’ll start with the pony that made the idea of this topic: Rainbow Dash. Obviously she will be categorized as a Type A. She is always pressed for time, achievement-oriented, can handle multitasking, aggressive, and highly competitive. She’d much rather have freedom than a daily routine. As a Type A, she is very goal-driven, independent, and motivated. Yep, Rainbow is pretty stereotypically A.

Fluttershy can be classified as a Type D. Type D’s take the slow approach to life. She would be just fine performing repetitive tasks. Type D’s are pony pleasers, and are in need of reassurance. Fluttershy does often need reassurance. She is also compassionate, patient, and supportive. She is the one that has been more taken advantage of, but whatever is non-confrontative. This type is also that of a worrier that is not so willing to take risks. Sadly, yes, sweet Flutters is distressed.

Twilight is likely a Type C. This type is detail-oriented, logical, and enjoys stability. She determines to get the job done, and she tries to follow the rules to a T. She is cautious, and wants to know exactly what she is supposed to do/the expectancies of her. She thinks before making a decision. Type C can be a little less social than, say, Type B. Yet another one who fits in without a second thought.  Twilight is Type C.

AJ can be thought of as a Type B. She is not a fully accurate Type B, but she matches this type more so than the others. She is fairly outgoing and generally friendly. She doesn’t particularly hide her true feelings. She’s a bit easygoing, and she doesn’t like to let other ponies down. She is also enthusiastic and relatively impatient. However, she is not so short of attention span that she cannot get her work done, though the type is more likely to possess short attention span. While Type A’s are competitive and time-driven, as AJ can be, she is happy with a routine, unlike that of a Type A. Applejack is less clear.  I would actually type her as a type A.  This typing is more about how you act under stress, and, when under stress, Applejack’s calm gloves come off, and she’s all work, work, work.  She was definitely not Type B when responding to the threat of, say, having to buck down the whole orchard with Big Mac being out-of-commission or of when the Flim Flam Brothers threatened to shut down her farm. Yeah, that’s true…

Rarity could be a Type C. Like Twilight, Rarity likes stability. And while she is more emotional, she is capable of logicality and must make decisions, especially when it concerns her designs. While she is far more laid-back in this type as opposed to Twilight, Rarity sets out to complete her work, especially when she is expected certain things. I actually think Type A is a better fit for Rarity.  Rarity is very much aggressive and competitive.  She keeps busy with her fashion projects.  She is more insistent on her own way than the non-assertive, go-with-the-flow Twilight.  When I think about it, you’re right, Ledger. I had typed her as C due to her type being less obvious than the others. But yes, A does fit.

Lastly, Pinkie is likely a Type B. A typical type B is a more easy-going type, yet the outgoing one that loves attention and is energetic. They make friends easy and they are likeable. They’re enthusiastic, are considered dreamers, spontaneous, and they don’t hide their feelings all that well. Type B does have a shorter attention span. But the type is quite patient and are more laid-back. Pinkie as Type B sounds good to me.

So there you have it. These are the types and how each deal with stress. We have quite a few type A’s in the bunch: 3 of the ponies. Then we have one Type B, one Type C, and one Type D.

The most psychologically healthy type was only found once through the Mane Six, and it was found in the least psychologically normal (…okay, second-least…) of them.  That’s kinda sad.  But… they do need conflicts, so…  Well, at least if you agree with me.  If you agree with Cuddleheart, then Applejack is also in the most psychologically healthy type.

Pony Personality: Spike

Oh, sure, Spike. It’s easy when you’re a dragon and have a reptilian tongue…

Classical Temperament- Sanguine

Associated with the element of air, Spike is most himself when he is lively, carefree, pleasure-seeking, and optimistic.  His reaction time is fast, and his duration time is short.

Jungian- SeTi (ESTP)

Spike’s dominant function is Extraverted Sensing.  He lives in the moment and springs into action when given the chance.  He enjoys very much the pleasure of napping, jewels/sweets, and other physical pleasures.  His inferior function is Introverted Intuition, and that is something that barely surfaces, if at all.

His auxiliary function is Introverted Thinking.  I am saying this more because he shows underdeveloped Extraverted Feeling than because of him showing Introverted Thinking.  He feels a need to belong to a group (Fe), but can’t really do that naturally (overpowering Ti).

Salutations!

I believe Spike to be a typical little boy: laughing at another’s expense, big appetite, his huge crush, loves games, loves sleep, and mannerisms/expressions (“Is it…zombies??”). Yet in spite of all this, we do not know so much about Spike. He is a loyal assistant, he does feel deeply but is very logical, especially when it comes to Twilight. He has a blurred history as far as where he came from. He can be selfish at times.

I will go further into details on my own Friday subject when the topic arises.

MLP: FiM Episode Review- Appleoosa’s Most Wanted

Salutations!

So, the CMC are in Appleoosa. In the beginning of the episode, Sweetie Belle was concerned about doing something too dangerous. Sweetie Belle, you’re just now questioning how dangerous something is? The CMC have been doing extreme things for ages.

Poor Braeburn. You know, I really like him. He just couldn’t get a break in this episode as far as getting hurt. He seemed ok enough to point out the falling haystack.

So, Troubleshoes Clyde was not the villain as was initially expected. I’m glad for that! I thought the big ol’ guy was adorable. He reminded me a lot of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh (or should I say Whinny the Pooh?) He’s the first I’ve seen with the muzzle shape that he has, and he’s the largest I’ve ever seen. Even Big Mac would be little compared to him. I found it interesting that he got his cutie mark, yet he didn’t understand…well, he misunderstood, at least…the meaning of it. Just as interesting is that the CMC were the ones that understood his true talent. This just further encourages my belief that the CMC should help other ponies with their cutie marks (whether they have a cutie mark to begin with or not), even after they get their own. I’d have liked to see them perform in the show like they had wanted to. I don’t imagine it’d earn them their cutie marks, though. Back to Clyde: he is clumsy, for sure, but when you’re trying to perform well like the other ponies and you mess up horribly, what can you expect but that only bad things happen, so that’s your destiny? I actually interpreted the judges’ laughter as laughing at him rather than enjoying the show, but now that I think about it, I guess they could have really thought he was doing clumsy things on purpose, in which case would change things. And here I thought cutie marks came when one understands what they’re meant to do. But, then again, the CMC themselves did point out that he had wanted to be a part of the rodeo in spite of trying to avoid it. I suppose he knew he wanted to be a performer, but didn’t realize his clumsiness was part of what he was meant to do.

I thought it’d have been a perfect gag for Dash to spring in at the mention of hot cider when Clyde offered some to the CMC.

Overall, I give this an 8 out of 10. I burst out laughing in the end when AJ said “Nope” in a Big Mac tone. Somehow, I thought this episode was going to be much worse, hearing about an outlaw and the CMC going after him, and I was not excited about it, but it was not what I expected, and that’s what I like. Clyde was simply adorable.

Hi!

Well, this episode is just kind of unremarkable for me.  It’s nice.  It’s “aight”.  But that’s about it.

Something I very much want to mention is the humor.  This is a Polsky episode, and humor is rather largely recognized as Polsky’s strong suit.  But in this episode, the humor is very hit-or-miss.  I watch each episode five times on the air date, and the jokes were… of varied effect.  A joke will “hit” on one viewing, then “miss” on the next.  Another joke would “miss” on one viewing and then “hit” on the next.  So the humor in this episode is very, very weird.

On the good side, though, the topic of a misinterpreted cutie mark is a very interesting one.  And I’m glad it was touched upon.

Ledger’s score for this episode is 6/10.

MLP Villains

Salutations! There have been quite a few villains introduced in MLP, and some more beloved than others. And even funnier that I happen to post Friday topics around the time that coincides with a new MLP episode (I started and saved this topic as a draft and just so happened to pick it as this week’s Friday topic before realizing that a new bad guy will appear in the new episode Saturday).

The new bad guy isn’t on the same caliber as most of the villains here, but it still feels sorta associable.

Nightmare Moon was the one to start it all. When we are introduced to Twilight, she is investigating the tale of Nightmare Night’s planned return. Besides Discord, Nightmare Moon is the most popular villain. Princess Luna felt inferior to her sister, where ponies enjoyed the day and not her night, this the darkness overcame Luna. It gave her a physical transformation: her eyes narrowed, teeth grew razor sharp, wing shape change, body color goes black, a harness thing, her cutie mark actually changes, and she gains a helmet. She plays upon Luna’s feelings of inferiority, and determines to keep it night forever, without thinking of the risks that come with it. She uses tricks on the Mane 6 to test them. But by the power of friendship and magic stones, Nightmare Moon became Luna once again. There is a holiday in honor of her: Nightmare Night, which is the equivalent to Halloween. Nightmare Moon is continuously popular, and has even been worked on with Rarity, though not in the show.

Nightmare Moon is the second most popular villain?  That’s news to me!  I would have expected Chrysalis.  Anyway, yes, the original villain, Nightmare Moon.  I don’t have much to say about her, other than that I hope the whole “Nightmare Corruption” thing gets a little more use in the show.

Season 2 introduced Discord. He is a beloved villain-turned-good, kooky, and my favorite of the villains. You never know what he’ll do next. He as a draconiqus, is unique in his design, as he possesses different body parts of different creatures: a fang that hangs out, a snakey tail, goat beard and horn, gazelle antler, a reptilian leg, a deer leg, eagle talon for an arm, lion arm for the other arm, a pegasus wing, and a bat wing. He has been given some air time, and he has developed as a character. Even with the “switch” to being good, he could still be the silly mischievous Discord he was before his reformation. His abilities include manipulation, hypnotism, shape-shifting, make ridiculous things happen, maneuvering, and can make things. Basically, he can do anything. When he was an actual villain in season 2, he was freed from his prison of stone, and caused chaos, what he does best, and in a goofy imaginative way. He is able to manipulate the Mane 6, and takes away from them their horns and wings. He’s eventually defeated, but it’s not the end when Celestia calls on a reformation for Discord. He knows about it, and laughs about the whole thing, thinking he was in control, until he realized he never had a friend before, and he was at risk for losing the one pony who offered him friendship and the benefit of a doubt. In the season 4 finale, he did betray his pony friends for Tirek, but he did have a slight strike on conscious, and essentially went through betrayal of his own to learn true friendship.

I’m pretty sure Discord is my favorite villain too.  I’ve read that his design is based on a qilin, but I don’t know how much I believe that.  I can sort of see where that idea is coming from, and Discord does look sort of qilin-ish, but… at the same time, he looks as much like a qilin as he does like a bull.  If there were some official statement that said that Discord was designed based off of the qilin, that’s one thing, but I haven’t seen it.  Anyway, Discord is a great villain who serves for so much humor.  He’s funny and likable.  For Discord, my hopes are that the rest of the Mane Six beyond Fluttershy will be more accepting of him.

And we have Sombra, the body-less villain. The Headless Horse can find its head right there! Or somewhere his body is looking for it, remembering the words his mother used to say: “you’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached.” I want to poke fun at him because he is by far my least favorite villain in MLP so far. He ruled as a dictator over the Crystal Empire, putting his subjects under a curse before he was defeated ultimately by Spike. He was depicted as a unicorn, yet he was a king. There’s no way he was married, so who’s not to say the missing body had wings, making him an alicorn? I dislike Sombra for having such a bad character development.

Yeah, Sombra was very poorly developed.  I understand that the point was for him to be a looming and threatening force, and he does that well, but he was still poorly developed.  Sauron may have been the same way in Lord of the Rings, but… The Silmarillion exists, and even though I haven’t read that one, I’m pretty sure Sauron was fleshed out a little more there.  I’m pretty sure Sombra is dead, so the only chance of him getting more fleshed out is a flashback episode of some sort.

Chrysalis was/is a queen, the first time we see one of those. She depicts what fairy tales try to tell/sell to girls: princesses are good, queens are bad. Yet her motivations are not just for herself; what she did, she did for her bug-like subjects. I think some of the fan fascination with her was the way she looked; she is different from ponies, yet is a pony. Maybe like a horse fly! And she does look like Swiss cheese or as if she got impaled. What Chrysalis does is feed off of another’s love and will use trickery to get that. Her obvious power is the power of transformation, as she did in Canterlot Wedding.

Chrysalis is the villain I have the most hopes of being reused (after Starlight, of course).  She wasn’t killed off or reformed.  She was expelled (…by the same force that she eats… yeah….).  So she could come back.  (She did get reused in the comics, but we don’t really count those.)  I find Changelings to be a fairly interesting being, with all their bugginess.  And I have certainly seen the fandom love for Chryssie.

We did have a lesser villain from Spike’s comic, the Mane-iac. She was so much that stereotypical villain. So glad she was only a one-time villain. But, it was pretty fun to have a super hero comic book type of episode. I’m more surprised Rarity didn’t know to handle this villain and wasn’t a key victor, since she’s all about appearances and mane styles and controlling them.

I guess Rarity has had one too few bad mane days…

Tirek was one intimidating guy. Even in earlier times, he was such. He looks pretty similar to his original G1 state, and is a centaur, but there were a few changes, as there will always be. I learned from the Generation 1 Tirek version, there was Applejack, who was also captured by Tirek. I also learned Scorpan was a prince that “worked” for Tirek in that one, rather than being his brother. G1 Tirek had a source of power: the Rainbow of Darkness. There’s an oxymoron/paradox/contradiction for you. I think the new Tirek was the closest to scary to me, even though I’ve watched the season 4 finale plenty of times and know the bad guy never wins. He poses the highest threat, not to one area, but to all of Equestria. He was able to easily manipulate Discord into helping him obtain pony magic, and making Discord agree with him on friendship being a restraint.

Tirek was surely powerful.  Though, I wonder what his neutral form is like.  What sort of power level did he originally start with?  I’m not totally convinced that his shriveled-up form in the beginning of “Twilight’s Kingdom” is what he was like when he began his original conquest.  He pretty explicitly became weaker than normal during his time in Tartarus, and he pretty clearly became stronger than in his previous conquest after draining all the Alicorn Magic.  He could be reused, but I don’t see it.  I feel his time has come to a close, and I feel content with him being left in Tartarus.

Finally, we have Starlight Glimmer. She’s the newest and no doubt will show up again. She is unlike the other villains we have seen so far. She extracts cutie marks with her own magic, and she emphasizes equality, even though she has not rid her own, meaning she did not want to make herself “equal” to them. And she’d also be unable to extract the cutie marks of others if she did extract her own. She’s powerful, but she uses it in a different way than that of the other villains. She has far different ideals, even when the town is against her she holds to those beliefs. So far she’s the only one to shut Twilight up during a friendship lecture. And while Twilight is hopeful she has taken their words to heart when Starlight makes her escape, it is highly doubtful, and a confrontation is surely due later, likely as the finale. So, hey, a continued villain, not just Discord. While I don’t find her likeable in the slightest, at least she’s not a forgotten one-time villain. There will be more threats and menaces as time goes on in the series. And as I said, a new one just so happens to be appearing in the next episode of MLP.

I think Starlight is an acquired taste.  After the sheer power of Tirek, it’s hard to out-do him with a new villain.  So the show took a turn for the different.  Starlight is… a different sort of flavor, so it takes a little to get used to her.  But I’ve started to rather like her, to be honest.  I’ve said before that I think she was mistreated in her past by cutie-marked snobs.  Maybe she was a long-term blank flank.  Maybe she is a dark foil to Apple Bloom, who Apple Bloom could become if nudged in the wrong way.  She’s more easily accepted as a dark foil to Twilight, though, for pretty obvious reasons.  I do really think she sincerely believes her philosophy and is just a hypocrite rather than solely seeking power.

MLP: FiM Episode Review- Tanks for the Memories

Hi!  This episode is about Tank dying going to sleep for a few months.  It is something that Rainbow refuses to have happen, so she tries to stop winter from coming.  She ends up trying to sabotage the weather factory, but this backfires, and she ends up bringing winter even sooner than it was supposed to come.  She wallows in depression until she can accept the fact that Tank needs to hibernate.  And then Tank goes into hibernation.

Salutations!

Ah, the love between a pony and her turtle. Seriously, I really like her comradery with Tank. To me, I think it’s so sweet. And it’s an episode dedicated to that special bond.

You know, Dash went through as if going through the stages of grief. She was 1. in denial, where she wanted a second opinion after animal-expert Fluttershy’s answer was not enough, and Dash even wasn’t satisfied with Tank’s twin brother from another species (aka Spike); 2. anger, when she took it out on her friends for saying the word hiberna…..; 3. Bargain, with the decision to stall winter; 4. depression, when she realized she would have to let Tank hibernate and would not leave her room or Tank’s side; 5. and acceptance, when she did come to terms with his need for hibernation.

So, Dash reminded me of the Grinch in this episode with her wide mischievous evil look. “I must stop winter from coming!” would be her Grinch line. While I do feel it is really sweet she wanted more time with him, I also feel it was a little selfish, even after her denial, to keep Tank from his hibernation. She didn’t notice he was asleep the entire time she sang her little number. Speaking of the song, nice beak, Dash. Poor geese, I bet they were cold when they turned around. The Running of the Leaves happens right before it snows–literally. Didn’t know it came that soon! Those pegasi with the speaking roles were something else, weren’t they? When Dash broke into Cloudsdale, there was a closet with what looked a lot like her cutie mark on it. It sure was shocking to her. Ok, so it was just a closet with lightning symbol, but it does resemble her cutie mark minus the rainbow.

I was a little surprised by Dash’s outburst of tears in the end there. And the fact that the others cried more for Fluttershy when she cried was funny, but I would have to agree with them on that! I was in all honesty pretty pleased Fluttershy knew Dash had to cry it all out by being tough. But when the friends cried together, it was a comfort for Dash. And when Tank comforted her, it also helped her to get through and know it’ll be alright. It was a perfect ending where Dash was reading to Tank. I give the episode an overall 8 out of 10, I suppose.

This is a nice episode.  It breaks the timeline a little bit, since “May The Best Pet Win!” aired before “Hearth’s Warming Eve”, but…

This is kinda like a pet death episode, but without the pet actually dying.  (It’d be stupid if Tank actually died.  There’s a reason he’s called “Tank”.  It really shouldn’t be surprising if Tank outlives Rainbow.)  It’s really nice to see the strong bond between Rainbow and Tank.  The reason of this being a pet death episode without the pet actually dying seems to have made some people dislike the episode.  I actually want to do some episode defending later on…

The funniest part of the episode (in my opinion) is Rainbow’s denial when visiting Spike.  I kind of wish the funniest moment was the “Who’s On First?” reference, but no.  It’s Rainbow being in denial.  The most heartwarming part of the episode was the crying fest.  (Also, the Rainbow slippers on Tank and the Tank slippers on Rainbow were totally adorable.)

The only thing I really didn’t like about the episode was that little timeline break.

Ledger also gives the episode an 8 out of 10.

Now to play episode defense!  The first reason people didn’t like the episode was mentioned above.  Pet death episodes without the actual death of a pet make the characters seem like they’re blowing things out of proportion, reacting way beyond what they need to be.  But…. it’s Rainbow Dash, so that idea doesn’t apply here.  Rainbow Dash is very, very emotionally expressive (and how I wish people would get that already… Daring Don’t and now this).  Also, Rainbow Dash is not great at putting herself mentally in the future.  She can’t really foresee the time that she’ll eventually get back together with Tank because a few months is just too much time for a pony who can’t stand to have an injured wing for a mere few days.  Hyperexpressive plus pretty impulsive plus plans for an awesome winter with her close companion being ruined at the spur of the moment equals… Rainbow Dash as perfectly in-character for this episode, and no clue why anyone would think anything different.

I didn’t see this episode as a pet death episode until after reading someone else suggest that, and I still found Rainbow perfectly believable here.

The second reason is that Rainbow doesn’t get punished for sabotaging the weather factory.  My response to that- This is Equestria, not America.  We Equestrians are not so big on punishment.  Fluttershy got away with stealing Philomena and Twilight got away with inflicting doll-love on a town of ponies, and this is because, in the end, no harm is done, and the pony in question is expressive of genuine remorse.  We Equestrians are a very forgiving people.  It’s fine that Rainbow trashed the factory.  We don’t need it at the moment, since winter is already here, and we’ve got a few months to fix the relatively minor huge mess that she made, so… it’s all good.  I’m sure Rainbow will be helping with the repairs anyway.  She is a weather pony herself, after all, and the sabotage was, for the entire event, something she would rather not have done.

Pony Personality: Fluttershy

Classical Temperament- Phlegmatic

Associated with the element of water, Fluttershy is most herself when she is private, caring, quiet-seeking, and steady in her ways.  Her reaction time is slow.  She is content to leave things as they are and not at all the first to rush into things.  Her duration time is short.  She backs down at the first sign of conflict and cannot be expected to stick to something perilous without really pushing herself.

Jungian- FiSe (ISFP)

Fluttershy’s dominant function is Introverted Feeling.  She lives by her own personal moral worldview.  She does not allow the morals of others to be pushed upon her.  For example, in “Bats!”, though she does eventually compromise and use The Stare, she refuses to allow the bats to be run out of the orchard, even though her friends are all very unsympathetic toward the bats.  Her inferior function would be Extraverted Thinking.  She pretty much never uses that.  Fluttershy is not really the logical sort.

Fluttershy’s auxiliary function is Extraverted Sensing.  This manifests in a way similar to Rarity’s.  She has an eye for beauty, and she focuses on the beauty of nature.  This is, after all, what entranced her with the ground when she first fell to it.

Two last notes… One is that Cuddleheart, though she has her doubts from time to time, is also an ISFP.  The second, if you remember that I am fond of the Rarishy shipping and that Rarity is an ESFP, this would mean that Rarishy is ESFP X ISFP, which I think works really well as a couple.  Same first two functions, but in a different order.

Enneagram- 9w1

Fluttershy’s basic fear is loss.  (…I guess…  I REALLY don’t care for Enneagram, finding it one of the least logical personality systems…  But Fluttershy matches the whole of 9 better than any other number, so her basic fear must be loss… somehow…)  Basically, Fluttershy is all about peace and calm, so she’s a 9.

She has a 1 wing.  I’m saying this because she’s closer to a 1 than to an 8.

I do believe I’ve lost my patience with Enneagram.  I don’t think I’ll be talking about it in future personality posts.

Salutations!

Fluttershy is most widely known in the show as a scaredy-pony, and a lot of her struggles are concerning her fears and shyness. However, she has really come a long way and has progressed more than any of the other ponies. She is said to be the weakest, and she has claimed to be weak herself, yet she has shown to be much stronger than anypony else thinks.

Fluttershy’s body color reflects her: soft colors. Not flashy, not over-the-top. Just beautiful, delicate, and light. Her cutie mark is the same way.

As far as me and ISFP, I agree, but I just call it “ISFP with ISFJ” tendencies, because of my preference for planning ahead. That would make it more a J rather than a P, which is why I have had doubts, in spite of ISFP making a lot of sense for me. I have found I get pretty upset if something is planned at the last second or plans change not so far in advance. I do love making lists and planning, really. I even have lists made of things to do per week. But at the same time, it’s somewhat nice to not have to have plans. ISFPs can work under pressure, which I cannot. Fluttershy, however, has shown that she can. When she’s really pressured by others, or even when she sees urgency, she has shone. Fluttershy is a true ISFP. She’s very in tune with nature and thrives in it. She’s obviously super-introverted, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like to be with her friends. She is not worried about the future, taking it one day at a time. She’s ok with not planning things ahead of schedule. She strongly stays true to her values, but she has to waver if something she is expected to do is potentially harmful to others, the prime example being “Bats!” She did not want to do her Stare on the vampire fruit bats, but when she had to face the choice of staying with her beliefs or risk the economy–and cider–she felt she didn’t have much choice, as long as the process wouldn’t harm the bats. While Fluttershy is logical behind her thoughts and actions, she is more feelings-based. She will prefer calm and quiet, but she can show another side to her, one that is more aggressive, and when something is seriously wrong, she will go virtually Saddle Rager (which is too bad, seeing that S.R. is essentially the Hulk, my least favorite hero, who I do not even consider a hero; S.R. had justification for anger and was protective over the little injured bug). But overall, she is not a Saddle Rager. She has been pushed around and stepped on because of her soft-spokenness. However, when she had tried to learn the art of assertiveness, she overdid it and when she realized how mean-spirited she had become, she felt like a monster and refused to come out of her cottage. She has shown some sass, and not just when Discord turned her into Fluttersass. When Pinkie asked her to have her birds stop popping balloons, Fluttershy didn’t reply with an apology, which she would have done in season 1.