Re: S05E07: Make New Friends But Keep Discord


Fizzbuzz wrote:I don't think so. Why would Sweetie Belle's cutie mark be a poison joke flower?

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The DoctorTurner of all things timey wimey
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Fizzbuzz wrote:I don't think so. Why would Sweetie Belle's cutie mark be a poison joke flower?
Headless Horse wrote:That front 3/4 view of Celestia is something they've only started using since S3, and I'm not too sure how I feel about it either. It seems like her snout is too wide.
Fizzbuzz wrote:
It's pretty clearly poison joke.
Headless Horse wrote:So I guess I'll be the one to say it...
If we're looking for something "groundbreaking" in this episode, how about what it did—quite matter-of-factly—with gender roles?
It's pointed out to us front-and-center that the ponies with the invitations are taking their "plus ones" as dates. Maybe it's a turn of phrase, maybe whatever—but the end result is that every couple we see at the Gala, or at least every one we spend any time with, is a same-sex pair. Sure, every one we see also has a reason we should treat it as something other than a date date (the CMCs are going with their big sisters as kind of a sympathetic joke, like the way you'd take your mom to the prom, and Fluttershy and Tree Hugger are obviously just buddies); but the pervasiveness of the way the couples are presented leaves you feeling that something important has been established about this world.
Whether it's saying that the Gala isn't the kind of event you'd take a romantic date to, or that romance is a completely tangential concept to the way you'd approach taking a "plus one" to a fancy dress party, or that dating in Equestria isn't even visibly a heteronormative thing, it's quite a departure from how this sort of idea would ever have been handled in a previous era.
Fizzbuzz wrote:Honestly, for the other five it feels coincidental more than anything else. Keep in mind that they all brought family members (counting Scootaloo as Rainbow Dash's "sister" and assuming Spike was invited via Twilight). Maybe the show would've avoided the "date" phrasing in another era.
In the case of Tree Hugger, it seems like she could've just as easily been a stallion with no effect on the story, so maybe the decision to make her be a mare in this context is the show's way of wanting to not be vanilla straight. I do think the people making this show would like to have more LGBT representation in children's media, but not only is it difficult to put romance into FiM, but the show still has to be sellable to distributors in Russia and other third-world countries that love to oppress anything that's the least bit queer. As such, I think DHX is stuck with only the most roundabout and plausibly deniable opportunities for that, such as Fluttershy and Tree Hugger here or the Lyrabon piano thing in EqG.
Fizzbuzz wrote:Lyrabon piano thing in EqG.
The Ghost Of Ember wrote:Spikes +1 was the diamond cupcake
Headless Horse wrote:My favorite thing in the episode, by the way, was this shit:
So that's what "Ommm"-ing in horse world looks like, is it.That "eee-ee-eee-ee-ee-ee-eeee" whinnying thing had me doubled over, and they kept on doing it and it kept getting funnier
Thank you for at least putting some thought back into this.Headless Horse wrote:It's telling us that some people just need more work to be understood; and it also retroactively makes the point that Fluttershy wasn't wrong for seeing that Discord was still a worthwhile person underneath his fuck-everything exterior. She can really see the deep-down values that people have, where someone else might just write them off.
PaulloDEC wrote:I'm up to three Spike sightings, and he's got food in his claws in each of them:
Jill wrote:I'm beginning to feel like I'm the only person who understood KCFO right away.It's an amazing episode on its own that by far makes the most important statement of any. There is nothing clumsy about the way it's written and there is no reason any further development should need to justify it to anyone, but I guess that just underlines how profound of a statement it is to some people.
Rainbow Dash: You see Discord's behind all this, right?
Fluttershy: Oh, of course I do! Do you all think I'm a silly, gullible fool?
Rarity: Only in the sense of being silly and gullible...
Pinkie Pie: [simultaneously] Um, well...
Applejack: [simultaneously] Uh... uh, no, not exactly...
Fluttershy: I've just been trying to gain his friendship any way I can, so he'd come to trust and listen to me!
PaulloDEC wrote:The trouble with KCaFO for me is pretty simple.
1) I don't believe for a second that the Discord we saw in Return of Harmony could be reformed in the way this episode suggests, or even at all
2) As a result of this, Fluttershy looks astonishingly reckless for giving him so much rope
Wayoshi wrote:It was hard to fully buy Discord's reformation at the time with that ambiguous ending KCaFO had, also. Along with the complete change in tone from the largely loved Return of Harmony, and there was ample reason for many to believe that Discord's character was ruined.
No matter how much better KCaFO may look now from a narrative standpoint, the first impression for some was pretty bad, and that will stick.
PictishBeast wrote:I don't get the title. The phrase is usually "make new friends but keep the old" but "the old" doesn't even remotely sound like "discord" so it doesn't work as a pun unless I'm missing something.
Perrydotto wrote:people thinking she's some sad snowflake who hasn't developed enough in 3 seasons to know that Discord is an asshole.
Highbrow Dash wrote:I don't care if he's a jerk, I don't think Fluttershy is oblivious to him or anything, I just feel this whole arc wasn't handled well. Since he's an omnipotent god they had to tone him down a lot to make him part of the cast and frankly he's boring these days. Other than his song I can't remember a single good moment he's had since RoH
It's subjective and I still liked this episode, but I'd rather see new characters or say, a Celestia or Luna episode rather than more Discord
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