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

[AdventChild]

Spoiler

 

This week’s episode Marks for Effort features the CMC trying to get into the friendship school but with new character and villain Cozy Glow being introduced how does it fair?

Eh, this episode felt dull to be honest.

Nothing about the writing here stuck with me with some poor pacing. The CMC felt annoying in the first half with them trying to get in that I kinda skipped parts, almost backwards in characterization for them like during their CM crusading shtick and I just didn’t care much for their tutoring. As for Starlight, it felt like they centered the plot around her a bit just to give her something to do and justify it, like Twilight’s earlier days as princess. Speaking of which, Twilight felt off or reduced in character too with her behavior to the CMC after Cozy purposefully flunked her test and didn’t even apologized to them in the end, brushing it off as it never happened.

As for Cozy Glow even with showing some small evil tidbits, I feel rather indifferent as there doesn’t seem much to her yet. Is it bad that I’m more interested into seeing Sombra revived next season than her as a villain? Though there have been instances with the cutesy-wootsy villain character works in the past, most notably Darla Dimple from Cats Don’t Dance who is manipulative too but comes across as charismatic and enjoyably over-the-top. Another good one is Baby Doll from BTAS who has an effectively tragic backstory of a down and out child actress who couldn’t be taken seriously because of her medical condition and one that is sympathetic. It would be an interesting twist it this applied to Cozy as well that she is much older despite her looks.

I do think she might be related to Neighsayer in a way and might be a spy/saboteur on the inside, which kinda make sense for him to the true “Brain” (hint hint) of the operations as with the season centering around the school and him being the antagonist of the premiere to have it full circle. Though what can ruin Cozy Glow however is if she gets called out for her façade after is reduced to some nasty bully stereotype that pretty much Diamond Tiara/Bully Babs 2.0 but “meaner” and basically saying “Friendship is 4 Suckers like U lolz!”, plus bonus negative points for weak backstory for her wounding up that way i.e. Starlight and Temptest which is par for the course and reformation.

Of course, too early to tell, but keeping a cautious eye out for it.

Kinda went off a tangent on Cozy, but still the episode is just meh for me.

 

Spoilers for leak related stuff.

[Strickerx5]

I actually don't have too much to say regarding this episode. Which is probably becoming the norm with me and cmc episodes.

I thought the plot was pretty well done as it kept me guessing throughout. Also loved Starlight's role as a counselor. You can tell she's very much new to the idea but she's still pretty good at it since she can understand others in a way the other six probably can't (as in she can see the good in actions that may sound way off to others).

As far as downsides, I found two. One was Cozy's voice which was surprisingly poor considering the high standard this show usually operates at. Not to mention the character herself being a bit of a marry sue (even while I thought she was going to be a jerk given some of her lines). The next is Twilight herself. Her just automatically assuming the cmcs set Cozy up to fail without doing further research just seems a bit mean spirited and even a bit out of character imo. You'd think she'd know the cmcs well enough not to jump to conclusions like that.

Anyways, overall I found this one to be pretty good. Not anywhere near some of the other high points of the season so far but with how much it kept me guessing, not bad.

[RedFox99]

 

[DabigRG]

So, Marks for Effort was a surprisingly above decent episode for how mundane and local it was.

Boy, we're just handing out the major recurring cast promotions, aren't we?

I love how Starlight's scenes acknowledge the fridge logic of her being a Guidance Counselor at a School of Friendship. Though I couldn't help but notice she somewhat dwarfs Cheerilee, perspective be damned.

Somebody get a freeze frame of the Crusaders after Starlight comes to get them. It's kinda uncanny.

Twilight swiveling in her seat gave me Cinch vibes.

Btw, anyone else think Cozy Glow was gonna be an antagonist going in? And, what's with the weird pastel matches these newer characters tend to have?

TVtropes raises another interesting point: Where the hell are Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon these days? Even Snips and Snails have been making more cameos lately.

Also, watch out Pearl

 

.

On 6/2/2018 at 12:35 PM, Kevin said:

Oh Glimglam, you and your meme-able facial expressions! That was truly the highlight of this week's episode!

Speaking of which "That's devious!" was such a classic line! I love how the writers give her that tiny bit of villainy within her. 

The episode's biggest strength was that it wasn't easy to predict what was going to happen and that made it all the more fun!

I'm not sure how to feel about  Cozy Glow. On one hand, she's adorable, but I don't know how to feel about her as a character.

1. Where does that nickname come from?
2. Honestly, it kinda reminds me of my initial (positive) thoughts about her role before Season 6.
3. Yeah, that definitely factored into the viewing experience. I even assumed Starlight's first appearance was just a quick lampshady joke and a partial bone to the people who didn't like her earlier tendency to somewhat hijack things.
4. Her voice acting and a few select moments are a tad inconclusive.

On 6/2/2018 at 4:42 PM, AdventChild said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This week’s episode Marks for Effort features the CMC trying to get into the friendship school but with new character and villain Cozy Glow being introduced how does it fair?

Eh, this episode felt dull to be honest.

Nothing about the writing here stuck with me with some poor pacing. The CMC felt annoying in the first half with them trying to get in that I kinda skipped parts, almost backwards in characterization for them like during their CM crusading shtick and I just didn’t care much for their tutoring. As for Starlight, it felt like they centered the plot around her a bit just to give her something to do and justify it, like Twilight’s earlier days as princess. Speaking of which, Twilight felt off or reduced in character too with her behavior to the CMC after Cozy purposefully flunked her test and didn’t even apologized to them in the end, brushing it off as it never happened.

As for Cozy Glow even with showing some small evil tidbits, I feel rather indifferent as there doesn’t seem much to her yet. Is it bad that I’m more interested into seeing Sombra revived next season than her as a villain? Though there have been instances with the cutesy-wootsy villain character works in the past, most notably Darla Dimple from Cats Don’t Dance who is manipulative too but comes across as charismatic and enjoyably over-the-top. Another good one is Baby Doll from BTAS who has an effectively tragic backstory of a down and out child actress who couldn’t be taken seriously because of her medical condition and one that is sympathetic. It would be an interesting twist it this applied to Cozy as well that she is much older despite her looks.

I do think she might be related to Neighsayer in a way and might be a spy/saboteur on the inside, which kinda make sense for him to the true “Brain” (hint hint) of the operations as with the season centering around the school and him being the antagonist of the premiere to have it full circle. Though what can ruin Cozy Glow however is if she gets called out for her façade after is reduced to some nasty bully stereotype that pretty much Diamond Tiara/Bully Babs 2.0 but “meaner” and basically saying “Friendship is 4 Suckers like U lolz!”, plus bonus negative points for weak backstory for her wounding up that way i.e. Starlight and Temptest which is par for the course and reformation.

Of course, too early to tell, but keeping a cautious eye out for it.

Kinda went off a tangent on Cozy, but still the episode is just meh for me.

 

Spoilers for leak related stuff.

I was gonna comment on you not watching much of the episode, but I ended up looking ahead and skimming what you're referring to before replying.

On 6/3/2018 at 5:35 AM, Strickerx5 said:

 Also loved Starlight's role as a counselor. You can tell she's very much new to the idea but she's still pretty good at it since she can understand others in a way the other six probably can't (as in she can see the good in actions that may sound way off to others).

One was Cozy's voice which was surprisingly poor considering the high standard this show usually operates at.

Not to mention the character herself being a bit of a marry sue (even while I thought she was going to be a jerk given some of her lines).

The next is Twilight herself. Her just automatically assuming the cmcs set Cozy up to fail without doing further research just seems a bit mean spirited and even a bit out of character imo. You'd think she'd know the cmcs well enough not to jump to conclusions like that.

 

1. I really appreciate the show acknowledging little things that in positive ways while also freeing her up to just BE.
2. Yeah, that really was part of the reason she seemed "off" to me.
3. How so?
4. To be somewhat fair, they didn't exactly do anything to dissuade that train of thought. 

 

[RedFox99]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

Yeah, that definitely factored into the viewing experience. I even assumed Starlight's first appearance was just a quick lampshady joke and a partial bone to the people who didn't like her earlier tendency to somewhat hijack things.

How did the joke go?

[DabigRG]

8 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

How did the joke go?

Basically, she's wandering through the halls when the CMC get Twilight to step of class for sec and basically goes "Oh! Someone who could use my help!" When Twilight lets her know that she's available to handle it, Starlight responds that that's alright--that means she has time to dust her office AGAIN and just starts walking away backwards, for some reason.

[Strickerx5]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

 

1. I really appreciate the show acknowledging little things that in positive ways while also freeing her up to just BE.
2. Yeah, that really was part of the reason she seemed "off" to me.
3. How so?
4. To be somewhat fair, they didn't exactly do anything to dissuade that train of thought. 

 

3. Looking back, maybe "marry sue" wasn't the right definition of her. Maybe a more proper term would be... amazingly helpless? I don't know, something about her character just rubs me the wrong way. It could be the little hints the episode drops that she might turn out to have devious intentions throwing me off here but she really did rely on the cmcs an awful lot for basic things. Then she goes off and fails just to test to try and get them in the school (without telling them) and I just can't help but wonder how this character even operates.

4. Eh, I disagree. Ever since they got their cutie marks (and even before then) the cmcs have been nothing but helpful others. Twilight never second guessing the idea of them purposely setting someone up for failure sort of implies that she doesn't know a lot about them which we know (based off the last cmc episode from this very seasons) isn't true. I mean, maybe it's less out of character for her considering that this is far from the first time she's had these poor, quick reactions to something but it all just seemed a bit harsh ya know? Especially coming from the "princess of friendship" and what not.

[DabigRG]

25 minutes ago, Strickerx5 said:

3. Looking back, maybe "marry sue" wasn't the right definition of her. Maybe a more proper term would be... amazingly helpless? I don't know, something about her character just rubs me the wrong way. It could be the little hints the episode drops that she might turn out to have devious intentions throwing me off here but she really did rely on the cmcs an awful lot for basic things. Then she goes off and fails just to test to try and get them in the school (without telling them) and I just can't help but wonder how this character even operates.

 

Hm, okay. I can sorta see that.

25 minutes ago, Strickerx5 said:

 

4. Eh, I disagree. Ever since they got their cutie marks (and even before then) the cmcs have been nothing but helpful others. Twilight never second guessing the idea of them purposely setting someone up for failure sort of implies that she doesn't know a lot about them which we know (based off the last cmc episode from this very seasons) isn't true. I mean, maybe it's less out of character for her considering that this is far from the first time she's had these poor, quick reactions to something but it all just seemed a bit harsh ya know? Especially coming from the "princess of friendship" and what not.

Is it bad that I honestly had to look up a guide to know which one you meant? Even with that episode being kinda neat.

I suppose I see what you're getting at. But then again, I can definitely see hearing that a student who's supposedly been struggling already (assuming that wasn't a "good" lie here) ends up failing despite getting help from people who you wouldn't let in your school (for, unbeknownst to them, overqualified reasons) can make one somewhat willing to buy it at face value.

So maybe it's just one of those things that make sense on mostly circumstantial lengths compared to more broader, experience-based ones.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

9 hours ago, DabigRG said:

So maybe it's just one of those things that make sense on mostly circumstantial lengths compared to more broader, experience-based ones.

Okay, going somewhat off topic here, but I feel like I've been getting serious deja vu with this line, specifically in this forum. Have you guys just been saying a lot of the same thing recently?

[DabigRG]

9 hours ago, SenEDDtor Missile said:

Okay, going somewhat off topic here, but I feel like I've been getting serious deja vu with this line, specifically in this forum. Have you guys just been saying a lot of the same thing recently?

I don't think so. I kinda struggled coming up with a way to phrase that.

But I suppose it's possible.

[DabigRG]

So, Trixie has a mom now, even more out of the blue.

Which, incidentally, was accompanied with a confusing/contradicted "retcon" by Hasbro.

[pastelspectre]

its been a while, sorry..ive been quite busy. but i just wanted to say ive enjoyed all these episodes so far except for the one with applejack and rainbow dash, it just annoyed me. but.. every other episode i enjoyed very much!! i look forward to the new episode today that i haven't seen yet.

[DabigRG]

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about this episode--The Mean Six.

 

[AdventChild]

The midseason hiatus starts with The Mean 6 with the return of Chrysalis creating Discorded-er ‘evil’ clones of the Mane 6. You know, other than probably try to rebuild another hive from the ground up, maybe even starting one by kidnapping/tricking ponies into becoming Changelings or even show more world building by having her getting help from a queen from another hive.

The episode felt underwhelming for the most part.

Other than some character interactions like with Mean AJ, this one felt boring.

As much as I like Chrysalis, design-wise and for refusing to reform, her character feels mostly revenge fueled without much to it and she had little screen time. Like previously mentioned, the clones were basically the Discorded manes with some Ponies of Dark Water thrown in from the comics and the whole confusion/shenanigans trope with manes was more miss than hit. Not really something we haven’t seen before but not that well executed either with much of the presented writing. Also, the ending felt rushed and accomplished next to nothing, rather disappointing for such buildup.

Oh and Glimmer? She felt tacked on or shoehorned into this episode and removing her wouldn’t change much.

Again, it’s an underwhelming episode.

[Strickerx5]

41 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about this episode--The Mean Six.

 

Yeah, I'm honestly in the exact same boat right now.

 

While I think this week's episode had a lot going for it, everything just felt off. The entire episode felt rushed and confusing, up until the end which I'm still not sure about.

To start with the good stuff, I loved seeing Chrysalis again (though without that voice effect on her which was weird). She continues to be one of the strongest villains in the series. I also enjoyed the return of the disharmony six as it was a nice callback to the season two opener. Have to give a special shout-out to that evil Twilight who's snark was a definite highlight of the episode.

Also have to say that I enjoyed seeing how the mane six worked through their issues at the end by simply talking it out. A good lesson for sure.

Though, that's just about where my pros end for this episode. This one is simply confusing. The jumps between pairings of both the mane six and their clones just felt jarring and them never once running into their counterparts throughout the entire thing is some grade A bs.

For a plot that was made for defeating Starlight especially, there's very little Starlight in this. She feels glued on and really doesn't add anything to this episode. Also, Chrysalis herself was incredibly downplayed too. She doesn't get nearly enough screen time for how good she is in this.

Lastly, that ending was just... I have no words for it. A lot seemed to happen during it yet I don't think anything actually did. Was it simply the tree rejecting the impostors or was it disconnecting the elements entirely which is going to lead into another episode? We know that's possible since it supposedly happened to Celestia and Luna but absolutely nothing was explained here. Like, going off of the leaked episode list...

Spoiler

... this seems to be it for Chrysalis this season but this episode feels heavily like a part one of two.

What is Chrysalis going to do now? Are the elements ok? What was with that amazingly disturbing death scene for the clones?!

This entire thing felt rushed, the likes of which I haven't seen with this show since season 3. There are so many questions raised here and I'm honestly not sure when (if ever) we'll get answers. It all honestly brings the episode down a fair bit for me.

So yeah, overall I honestly don't know what to say about this one. Hopefully something comes along that explains what the hell happened here and strengthens it but until then, this one gets a solid meh from me. If it weren't for the crazy facial expressions and some funny lines, it'd probably be leaning more towards the bad end honestly.

 

And with that, we're halfway through 8 and have another hiatus in front of us for a bit. So far, I have to say that I've enjoyed this season. We've certainly had a couple of misses, but the good episodes here have been phenomenal imo. Here's hoping that the break doesn't last too long and that the second half is even stronger than the first.

Also, we need more Luna. Like... A LOT more.

[RedFox99]

Overall, he seems to find a lot parts of the episode hilarious, but felt more could've been done in it and he did state how infruiating it was to see the Mane 6 not pick up on the redflags regarding the Mean Six.

[Kevin]

On 6/10/2018 at 7:27 AM, RedFox99 said:

Overall, he seems to find a lot parts of the episode hilarious, but felt more could've been done in it and he did state how infruiating it was to see the Mane 6 not pick up on the redflags regarding the Mean Six.

He does raise some interesting points regarding that episode (and is so right about the fanfic potential coming out of it). Despite its issues, all in all, it was a great episode and it was nice to see Chrysalis return again (whom we haven’t seen the last of).

[DabigRG]

Sorry it took me this long to do a proper detailed response to the episode. I've been having issues finding the dedicating to posting/doing much recently for whatever reason, but I finally got a second wind of creativity again and think I can afford to do so.

So, The Mean Six.

Honestly, this episode brought a number of thoughts, observations, and feelings of missed opportunity to mind in a number of ways:

• This strikes me as one of those episodes where you could've gotten two or three separate plots for episodes out of it.
  • Applejack taking Starlight(oh, and uh, maybe Maud* and/or another Apple) camping [for the first time] is the big one for a couple of reasons.
  • If 86(or "67", considering one is still Applejack )% of the Mean Six themselves weren't so one-note, this could've been a villain episode dedicated solely to Chrysalis exploring the Everfree Forest with them in search of the Tree of Harmony
  • Or, on a more arc-loyal basis, it could've just been a episode about the Mane Six and Starlight's retreat, where they reflect on how things have change and how dealings within the school have been going.
• As is**, it also reminded me of certain Steven Universe episodes in way, where a relatively simple and fun premise eventually spans out into something bigger and often darker in the latter portion of the episode. 
  • The Mane Six and Starlight arriving at the Campsite only to find it being ruined by Chrysalis and the Mean Six before they find the tree could've made for a "surprise" battle between the two groups for the episode's climax.
  • Alternatively, the Mean Six somehow acquiring corrupted versions of the Elements/Rainbow power could've been a foreboding setup for Chrysalis's return later in the Season.
    • Also, Chrysalis taking the Harmony-reverted wood itself(which is notably color-coded afterwards) with her probably could've been enough of a hook.
  • Oh, and one more tiny attention to detail I just remembered: perhaps Chrysalis could've halfheartedly snapped a hair from Starlight when Pinkie gets her a picture to and the hook for the episode's ending being that she never bothers to use it and thus actually have the ability to create another Starlight as a begrudging backup plan down the road.
• Mean!Twilight was a highlight in the episode. For as much as this series has attempted to create antagonistic foils of The Princess of Friendship(with varying levels of execution, depth, and longevity), it was interesting to see just how pragmatic and, as Snively once put it, enterprising an in-universe Knockoff was. Granted, you could also chalk that up to having a more flexible character than most of the others, but still.

* Which would be the first real(or second) episode to include her without being a Pinkie episode.

**

Spoiler

(pretending I didn't skim the Episode Guide the week this came out)

 

[DabigRG]

On 6/10/2018 at 7:27 AM, RedFox99 said:

Overall, he seems to find a lot parts of the episode hilarious, but felt more could've been done in it and he did state how infruiating it was to see the Mane 6 not pick up on the redflags regarding the Mean Six.

The elements potentially being tainted is something I didn't really consider and find a tad unlikely, but it's an interesting thought nonetheless.

[RedFox99]

He seems to think that it's a nice special, but it had a lot of wasted potential. 

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, RedFox99 said:

He seems to think that it's a nice special, but it had a lot of wasted potential. 

I wasn't aware there was another Equestria Grils thing. Boy, they're really churning these out recently, huh?

[DabigRG]

So in the time since RedFox's post, I went to watch Rollercoaster of Friendship. It was a little more than decently watchable.

Spoilers except not really

Spoiler

 

The entire thing just felt like a super snarky/gaggy set of random events in an amusement park. They just consistently remembered to keep the wit and winks going throughout, even in scenes that try to be "serious/dramatic."

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash got some pretty good scenes in there, with what is actually the namesake of the special, though Sunset and even SciTwi come close.

I couldn't help but be amused at how the villainess(Vignette Valencia) is essentially a female Mark Beaks, with a constant sense of being overly trendy/"relevant." To the point that they don't even bother pretending she's anything but some vapid chick with a Snapchat/Neogaf account.

https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/7/7/1774917__safe_screencap_applejack_vignette+valencia_equestria+girls_rollercoaster+of+friendship_spoiler-colon-eqg+series_animated_biting_cellphone_disc.webm  

Shame they still didn't use that to fit any other significant characters, whether they are recurring(Flash, Trixie, Snips&Snails,)  or one-shot(Gloriosa, Indigo, Wallflower), in for a scene or three like they did with the Flim Flam Bros and Micro Chips of all people.

Also, while I suppose people who actually like Applejack and/or "ship" her with Rarity will love the main plot being around them, I was honestly indifferent.

 

 

[ShadowSJG]

Plot was ok but it was really funny

[RedFox99]

45 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Also, while I suppose people who actually like Applejack and/or "ship" her with Rarity will love the main plot being around them, I was honestly indifferent.

While it is nice that special tried to focus on character not named Twilight or Sunset, it sounds like there another forced argument amongst the Mane 6/7 that MLP is often guilty.

[DabigRG]

32 minutes ago, RedFox99 said:

While it is nice that special tried to focus on character not named Twilight or Sunset, it sounds like there another forced argument amongst the Mane 6/7 that MLP is often guilty.

Eh, something like that.

I'm not sure about those other times, but I found Rarity to be kinda dumb here.