My Little Pony's Justice 2 - Official MLP Thread v2

[Dr. Mechano]

Today marks the ending of the Month of Rarity, and we're going out with a Rarity and Applejack episode!

Like the previous map adventure, "Legend of the Griffonstone," today's conflict wasn't between our two leads, but rather among the populace of the place they were summoned to. In this case, Manehattan's park is in utter decay, and no one in town can be bothered to help with it, due to the task being so daunting. The simple message presented here, of course, is that it's important to do what you're capable of, and in so doing, help however you can. If everyone adopts such a mindset, then we can all get a lot more done. Short, sweet, and simple.

It's always great to see Rarity and Applejack interact, and episodes like this one show just how far they've come as friends, especially compared to their less-than-stellar relationship back in season one. The two played off each other very well here, and their contrasting attitudes provided some great laughs.

In any event, Rarity's had three amazing episodes in a row, and I couldn't be happier. Looks like we're getting Friendship Games tonight, though, so the fun's not over yet! 

[YoshiAngemon]

Today marks the ending of the Month of Rarity, and we're going out with a Rarity and Applejack episode!

Like the previous map adventure, "Legend of the Griffonstone," today's conflict wasn't between our two leads, but rather among the populace of the place they were summoned to. In this case, Manehattan's park is in utter decay, and no one in town can be bothered to help with it, due to the task being so daunting. The simple message presented here, of course, is that it's important to do what you're capable of, and in so doing, help however you can. If everyone adopts such a mindset, then we can all get a lot more done. Short, sweet, and simple.

It's always great to see Rarity and Applejack interact, and episodes like this one show just how far they've come as friends, especially compared to their less-than-stellar relationship back in season one. The two played off each other very well here, and their contrasting attitudes provided some great laughs.

In any event, Rarity's had three amazing episodes in a row, and I couldn't be happier. Looks like we're getting Friendship Games tonight, though, so the fun's not over yet! 

And just like last time, Twilight ends up not summoned by the map! I think there's two things: Either Twilight's Problem has yet to come in the form of Starlight Glimmer in the Season Finale, OR Twilight's Friendship Problem is not fully solved, yet. I think Twilight needs a reminder in the form of a reprise of "You'll Play Your Part."

Have this SFM Remake of this song.

Edited September 26, 2015 by YoshiAngemon

[Dr. Mechano]

Hopefully Twilight and Fluttershy get to solve a problem together, them being the only two left. The two of them haven't interacted that much as a pair lately, so that could definitely be fun.

[Your Vest Friend]

So just saw Friendship Games.

It was okay. The climax felt like a reverse version of the first one, although this time Sunset Shimmer becomes an angelic mirror basically.

Also right at the end, MLP Twilight does appear out the portal. She says that she was late because she'd been caught in a time travel loop...which does line up with the animatic that was shown at SDCC with Starlight Glimmer...

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

And Sunny has come full circle.

Also, they didn't show the full credits sequence again like with the initial Rainbow Rocks airing. Always nice to have a little something to look forward to the Blu-ray for. XD

[Nix]

Friendship Games was great.  Cinch is a bitch and I really felt bad for Twilight and her situation at Crystal Prep... fucking awful that she had to deal with all of that.  I'm really glad it worked out for her in the end though.  I'll probably go into more detail on why I liked it when I get my hands on the Blu-ray.

Sunset is still the best and the Bacon + Pancake ship is at full sail.  Is Sunset a fucking alicorn yet?  Because it feels like they super want her to be one.

Princess Twilight popping up at the end had me in stitches.  Probably spoiled Season 5's finale, but whatever.

I'm really starting to like the Equestria Girls series a lot, here's hoping for a 4th movie or maybe a new show because that'd be cool too.

The soundtrack is also available for purchase on iTunes and such if you all are interested.  It has all the songs from those musical shorts too like "Friendship Through The Ages" and "My Past Is Not Today".  As for the movie's soundtrack; it's not as good as Rainbow Rocks (but music was RR's theme so that's pretty much a given), but it's still pretty decent.  My favorite song from the movie is probably "Acadeca", but "Friendship Through The Ages" is still probably the best from the selection you can purchase.  "Unleash the Magic" is probably next in line; it was kind of unsettling but it was a perfect build-up for what happened next.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Nix

[AdventChild]

We’re finally on the last leg of Rarity month with an episode that seems more focused on AJ. Honestly, I feel that this episode felt kinda mediocre esp. compared to last week’s.

I did like some of the background pony stuff, Charlie Brown reference, and bored Twilight.

The pacing problem appears once again with it taking nearly 1/3 of the episode to find the friendship problem as it dragged a bit along with the whole play scene near the end.

Another problem is the Cutie Map MacGuffin. I didn’t think the stakes of the plot were high enough for it to trigger the plot esp. compared to Lost Treasure of Griffonstone which seemed to make more sense there than it does here. Not to mention just having Coco sending a letter to Rarity for help would have gotten the two quickly to the matter at hoof and could have gotten passed some of the fluff. Speaking of Coco, she felt underutilized here and didn’t do much except for laying down exposition, compared to how much Gilda did in Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.

Also, Twilight? Even though the Cutie Map didn’t call you, what is stopping you from joining them and just observe how they solve the problem? Not to mention you’re a princess and could just say you’re going on vacation too.

Another issue is the whole ‘fear of big city/fast pace crowds’ that AJ seemed to have gotten out of nowhere in the beginning but seemed to have dropped half way through the episode. And you think she would know or expect something like this ever since she had lived there with her Orange relatives since she was a filly in Cutie Mark Chronicles. We also could have gotten some more AJ backstory to expand on that but nope, more wasted potential. Not to mention she had been there before since Rarity Takes Manehattan and didn’t have that kind of problem.

Also, the writing and humor fell kinda flat in this one even compared to last week’s as some jokes were very flat and again the play scene at the end dragged on a bit longer than needed.

I chalk this one up as one of the season’s weakest episodes.

Oh, EG3? Yeah, not interested in watching it. Despite being an improvement over the first movie, RR didn’t really do much for me and I prefer mystical and magical lands filled with pastel ponies than generic bland high school setting #2057. Not to mention hearing that Friendship Games not being as good as the second one so yeah.

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by AdventChild

[Strickerx5]

Oh wow, yesterday was certainly packed with content. First we had another entry in the month of Rarity which... I actually don't have a lot to talk about with. I mean don't get me wrong, it was a fine episode that I don't have that many problems with but it was pretty by the books. I can easily relate to stage and theater work as I am really into backstage work so I kind of knew where the plot was going half way through. Of course they weren't going to be able to pull off a huge play like that in that little amount of time and hoofs. They were going to have to downsize and hope for the best and that's exactly what happened. Just didn't seem too eventful for me. It was nice seeing Coco again and all the various new background characters though. Plus, I will say that I immensely enjoyed that Charlie Brown reference.

I wouldn't call this one a bad episode (I did enjoy my time with it) but it really didn't do all that much in the long run. I don't know, maybe it could just be that this month of Rarity thing is starting to get to me. There's only so many times I can listen to Rarity freaking out about fashion in a month I guess. XD Good thing next week seems to be the last of it for a while.

 

EQG3 though was a whole other story for me. Simply put, I loved it. Definitely took some turns I didn't expect it to. I was really out of the loop when it came to news for this one so I was really going in with a blank slate here. Sunset continued to shine and I really wish they would bring her into the actual show. Everyone of the main cast was on character and had their fair share of great moments. Not to mention it being really neat to see more characters like Cadence and Shining make the transition to human (though something really doesn't sit right with me with Cadence's model).

I was actually really surprised at how they didn't bring in pony Twilight this time around...

outside of that last scene though which was probably just their for gags... even if it was some great foreshadowing for the season 5 finale if what I hear is true :3

Didn't think they'd be able to pull that off and I'm extremely happy they did. Made for a much more interesting plot as we got a new Twilight who we basically knew nothing about.

In terms of music, I will say it was enjoyable to listen to while I was watching (especially for that intro). I don't really know if I would consider it better or on the same level as the last movie since I haven't sat down to listen to it separately yet but I can't say anything bad about it at least. I've been growing numb to the music in the series for a while now so I'm really going to have to take a listen to some of these songs at some point and see what I'm missing.

As for Flash, well he was... there. No really, they did next to nothing with him this time around and I found that absolutely hilarious. You can almost see the writers erasing lines when they saw how much hate he was getting form the fandom XD. Couldn't completely take him out of the series but they can demote him to background status. I guess it's safe to say he's not going to get that character development anytime soon. I mean really, Luna got more lines than him this time around (speaking of which, fuck yeeeaaaaaaah LUNA!!!!! almost makes up for that shit they pulled last week. yeah, don't think I didn't notice sun butt being at that NIGHT event and not Luna... AGAIN).

Add in the great background humor and DHX topping themselves again with the animation and I can easily say that EQG3 is a good watch. Gotta say I love seeing how much this side series has advanced. I just can't help but to think back to when the first movie was announced and how everyone thought it would be the end of everything. It may still not be what people have come to expect when compared to the show but it is very enjoyable none the less. I'm even to the point now where I wouldn't even mind a 4th one. I think that they could easily just leave it here as the ending did seem conclusive but I can imagine them finding more things to do with it in the future.

[Kevin]

My thoughts on this week's episode and Equestria Girls 3:

 

Episode:
While it wasn't as good as the last two Rarity-centered episodes, it wasn't bad either. I have to feel sorry for twilight though being left out and all.

Applejack and Rarity still continue their strong interaction off one another. Applejack's various expressions were hilarious and that Peanuts reference gave me a good laugh. It was nice to see a callback to the Sisterhooves Social as well.

It was nice to see Coco again still adorable as always. I do have to agree with those who've said that the problem got solved way too fast. It felt like they rushed things going towards the end of the episode.

 

EG3:
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as Rainbow Rocks. The movie's biggest weakness were the villains and their motives. Not only were they weak and forgettable, but their motives were weak as well.

On the other hand, the climax involving SciTwilght was pretty unexpected. The animation has gotten better by leaps and bounds since the last movie and is at its best yet.

One thing I want to say is that EG is definitely Sunset Shimmer focused instead of the other characters. I do like the lesson she gave to SciTwi and her additional character development. I was really really hope she'd go through the portal and back to Equestrian, but alas that did not happen. Curse you, writers teasing us. Personally I hope she makes an appearance in the regular series in the near future.

With all this being said, it's hard to imagine where EG is going to go next. It felt like the ending completed an arc and everything has come full circle.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Kevin

[Dr. Mechano]

Friendship Games was pretty alright. Better than the first movie, but not as good as the second, in my opinion.

Human Twilight is an interesting character, and I really like that she isn't a carbon copy of her pony counterpart. Her circumstances are different, and those circumstances have definitely shaped her personality in a unique way.

So much so that she ends up becoming the film's big bad after charging herself up with magic. That was unexpected.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and hope we see some more of the EQG universe in the future,, be it another movie or side-series. It just has so much potential for more interesting stories, and I feel it would be a waste to cut it off here.

[Strickerx5]

So um, wow... apparently Netflix just gave out the rest of the synopsis(es? idk) for season 5.

Of course, click this link at your own risk of spoilers. I will say that the rest of the season does seem to be pretty interesting. Plus, dat finale. Talk about potential.

Seems like the rumors were true. Seriously though, they can do A LOT with this idea. I know they probably won't go too far but this is really fair game for anything. Then again, time travel plots have always been rather hard to pull off (06 anyone) so I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this one pans out.

Also, seems like we're not getting another Luna episode this season... what? I'm not crying... though in all seriousness I knew it was a crap shot after that mid season finale XD

[gato]

The first of the friendship games' deleted scenes has been posted on the tubes.

 

WOW, it almost feels like Bacon's side of the movie (being homesick and more parallels with SciTwi) got kinda deleted in the making of this 

. -.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[Nix]

How the fuck dare they cheat Bacon out of that great song?

Fuck I'm mad now. 

Despite that though, I can understand why they cut out Sunset's homesick subplot.  The movie is packed enough as it is (seriously, they had like 20 different characters for a movie that ran little over an hour).  If the movie was longer, then they probably could've gotten away with it just fine, but they already had so much ground to cover with SciTwi alone it'd be hard to fit that in with it.  Sunset still got enough screen time to justify her position as a main character though, and I feel the parallels they draw between her and Twilight are still strong enough to drive the point home, even if they got cheated out of a great duet song.  I'm assuming that they'll tackle that issue on the next movie, and maybe Sunset can finally buck up and apologize to Celestia.  I don't see her ever leaving her new home permanently, be she really needs to go back to Equestria at some point in time.

[Nix]

what am I feeling  *draws in notebook furiously*

The episode was actually kind of boring to me.  I like how everyone just sort of played along with Big Macs shenanigans, but for the most part they just went down the checklist for "guy in drag" jokes, and it wasn't really all that interesting.

The resolution to the episode was great though, but the journey there was kind of ehhhhhhh. 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Nix

[Kuzu]

I feel like its one of those "good premise, meh execution" type of deals. The ending definitely saved it tho.

[Celestia]

Sorry but, I'm just gonna skip on this episode. First time I've ever felt the urge to do that with this show, but uh...yeah. Doesn't sound like it was that great anyway, and even if it was, I'm really bored of crossdressing gags in cartoons, and from the previews / screenshots I've seen this...really doesn't look like it handles the concept well, at all. A whole episode of that? No thanks.

Can't wait to see how bronies handle this, yup

On a lighter note, I noticed I haven't posted much in this topic lately about my thoughts on episodes. Been enjoying Season 5B a lot; the (unofficial) #MonthofRarity was pretty fun. I liked Friendship Games too--not quite as much as Rainbow Rocks, but I liked it more than the first EQG at least. I wonder where they're gonna go from here with Equestria Girls though...for some reason I'm not really expecting another movie, but then again it's probably way too early to tell.

Edited October 3, 2015 by Celestia

[Dr. Mechano]

"Brotherhooves Social" was a pretty bad episode that somehow had a really heartwarming ending. 

The bulk of the episode is tired old crossdressing jokes and lackluster slapstick. Some of the discomfort expressed at Big Mac's crossdressing felt a little too real, and reminded me a bit too much of how negatively people act toward actual crossdressers or even transgender people. I'm sure that wasn't the staff's intent, given the progressive views of most of the people involved, but it was still kind of uncomfortable.

The last three minutes, though? Beautiful. Big Mac and Apple Bloom have a real, heartfelt conversation, and I definitely found this part genuinely moving. It's a shame that the rest of the episode was such a mess, because the ending really was handled well.

[Your Vest Friend]

I wonder where they're gonna go from here with Equestria Girls though...for some reason I'm not really expecting another movie, but then again it's probably way too early to tell.

In the last hour a fourth EQG film has been confirmed to be in the works, so you were like a minute early.

[Celestia]

In the last hour a fourth EQG film has been confirmed to be in the works, so you were like a minute early.

Well, there you go!

So, I wonder what's next for the human not-horses? Battle of the bands -> sports -> ?????

[gato]

Well, there you go!

So, I wonder what's next for the human not-horses? Battle of the bands -> sports -> ?????

Camp trip if I were to guess.

 

Also, about this episode, I just want to point about how on the Luna episode (name too long :u) we got to see Big Mac dreaming about being a princess, and while it's pretty easy to associate it with the drag jokes I want to point more towards the ending (because really, only that and the beginning is whats worth talking about).

In this universe princesses are subjects of adoration, admiration, they are heroes that are respected and loved by everyone. Now look back at this episode and see the motivation behind Mac's actions. I'd normally say coincidence but considering how tight the continuity has been this season... Well... It's a neat thing to think about.

He wants to be a hero too, he wants to be respected by his sisters.

 

I'd also like to post about Raratember but alas, my essays are needed somewhere else right now (as in, I need to stop procrastinating and actually write an essay right now.... whooops!).

Edited October 3, 2015 by Velvet Reindeer

[Kevin]

This episode was both strange, hilarious, and absolutely adorable!

First they give us not one, but two character bonding moments and on top of that development the relationship both of them! I especially loved the interaction between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash!

Now let's get to Big Mac pretending to be Woman. Not only was it strange and seemling out of character for him, it was absolutely hilarious!

On a note of the sisterhooves social, it was nice to see it make a return albet some changes here and there.

But let's get to the ending. Oh man, I have to admit seeing Big Mac open up about his feelings on wanting to spend more time with Applebloom and and having her look up to him as a hero not only gave me some feels, but it was one of most adorable and heartwarming moments in the show. I'm really happy to see him speak his mind instead of the usual "Eeyup" and "Nope".

[Kuzu]

Welp, this is gonna be one of those mixed episodes, but I'm gonna say I loved it, not so much for the content but for its message. 

I really kinda empathized with Big Mac, because its pretty damn hard when two other siblings grow closer and seemingly leave you out, especially when one of them is younger. 

The whole episode was pretty good for laughs at the very least and I do like how nobody actually had a problem with Big Mac crossdressing despite being uncomfortable about it. Hell, he didn't even lose because he was crossdressing, but because of his unsportsmanlike conduct in trying to win Apple Bloom's approval. It wasn't a great episode, but I do love the message and that ending really is fucking good and saved the entire thing. Probably one of the few episodes I've enjoyed for a while. 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Slightly off topic, but:

In regards to Princess Luna from FiM, I've seen stuff that said that prior to her proper reveal in Season 2, everyone portrayed her in fanfiction/ thought of her as basically Fluttershy 2.0. Is it true, and how many people actually thought she would be different before Luna Eclipsed/unintentionally predicted her eventual personality?

 

[DaBatGuy]

Slightly off topic, but:

In regards to Princess Luna from FiM, I've seen stuff that said that prior to her proper reveal in Season 2, everyone portrayed her in fanfiction/ thought of her as basically Fluttershy 2.0. Is it true, and how many people actually thought she would be different before Luna Eclipsed/unintentionally predicted her eventual personality?

 

Yep, remember that until Luna Eclipsed the only characterization we had for Luna herself was one line in the second episode  "I'm so sorry. I missed you so much big sister." Of course developing a character entirely around their lowest and most emotionally vulnerably moment is going to lead to a heavily skewed personality, which is exactly what the fandom did. It doesn't help that most of nerd culture has a fetish for sheltered woobie female characters. There was actually quite a bit of controversy when that episode aired because Luna wasn't has meek and mild as she appeared in their fan-fiction episode 2.

 

As for the recent episode I really enjoyed it, although I can understand people being annoyed that it wasn't "PC" enough with gender representation. I think this is the first episode outside of a season premier/finale that has character acknowledge the fact that the mane 6 have literally saved the world at least half a dozen times now and deserve some degree of adulation and respect for their accomplishments. Also seeing how the girls' status as pseudo-superheroes affected their usual lives is something I've wanted show to explore for years, as well as an episode that further explored big Mac as a character and his relationship with AppleBloom. That last scene was gorgeous, definitely the most emotional and adorable moment since the conclusion of Sleepless in Ponyville. Speaking of Which Dash and Scoots while while not having a big role were great in this episode, their relationship having developed almost as much as Bloom and Jacks' has..

[AdventChild]

You know what the sad thing is? This is one of the episodes I actually anticipated and wanted to like because of how it is giving Big Mac the spotlight.

But…*sigh…even though I like it better than last week’s, it still doesn’t say much with some problems. Well, technically one huge problem, but we’ll get to it.

I like that Big Mac gets more lines (even though not in the way I hope) esp. at the end, RD and Scootaloo bonding, everypony knowing that it was Big Mac all along and the ending itself.

Well, minor complaint is that I was pretty upset when at first hearing about the episode that I expected Shining Armor to play some kind of part and maybe develop his character more, but nope, wasted potential. Also, Applebloom seems a tad annoying in this.

The writing/humor and the premise execution is probably what brought this episode down for me. It was basically one huge cross dressing joke that dragged on too long littered with most of the usual clichés that go with the Guy in Drag concept which felt really overwhelming, cringe worthy, and overall meh. Not to mention taking up a huge chunk of the episode.

What makes me sad about the ending is ironically not the ending itself, but how it felt juxtaposed to the rest of the episode. It is a good and decent ending that should be put in a better episode with a better premise that has brotherly and sisterly bonding.

So a mess of an episode that has a nice ending, but heavily relied on a bunch of cross-dressing jokes just to get there.