S04E24: Equestria Games

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Re: S04E24: Equestria Games

Postby Minty (?) » Sat May 03, 2014 11:55 pm

I just thought it was adorable, and hilarious that Pinkie actually liked it.
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Postby Aramek (?) » Sat May 03, 2014 11:57 pm

Everyone knew how bad it was.

But not Pinkie.

Pinkie is as dumb as a bag of hammers so she thought it was good because she's never heard the real song before.

God bless Pinkie Pie.

:ponydrugs:
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sat May 03, 2014 11:59 pm

Fizzbuzz wrote:But that's the thing, I don't think he really realizes it.

That's a bold & severe to say, IMO, that isn't really supported by the show, if only because it's way too wildly inconsistent with him.
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Postby Angel Beat (?) » Sat May 03, 2014 11:59 pm

Ice archery looked incredibly badass.
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Postby Aramek (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:02 am

This week's comic even had a part where Luna was all like "So, did you see that some of the Earth Pony guards tried to take up archery? Wasn't pretty."

Was funny.
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Postby Angel Beat (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:03 am

Well, they have to start somewhere. :v:
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Postby MochaBean (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:03 am

I liked how pony archery is apparently quantity over quality. :gotcha:
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Postby Peregrine (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:17 am

On the archery note, it must suck to be an Olympic athlete who trips up, fires an arrow straight into the air causing an accident which could very nearly have killed some ponies. My Little Pony Theme of the Week: Embarrassment.
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Postby LardLad3545 (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:18 am

Yaaaay, got to watch it finally. Enjoyable enough episode. I highly expect I'll enjoy it more upon rewatch tonight. A lot of my time was spent kind of disappointed that we were only getting one episode to this thing that's been building up for a while now. But now that I can accept that, I'll be able to focus on the actual episode content more now.

Cons: Only one episode dedicated to the Equestrian Games. No Luna or Celestia lines. Thought the mind fire thing was slightly silly. Ponyville winning in number of medals was kind of silly. Needed some sort of elaboration that they won in medal count, not number of golds or anything like that. Granted, maybe they did win in number of golds. But if that's true, then it's even sillier. NOT ENOUGH GRIFFONS

Pros: They nailed the feeling of a big event. Loved the atmosphere. Thought the animation of Spike and just in general was above and beyond. The show is just so gorgeous to look at now. Waaaaah. Loved Twilight. Thought Spike's role was well thought out. Good use of ensemble cast while still being a character focus. The TSA jab. Also, Spike's song would've been extraordinarily cringe-worthy if it hadn't been so goddamned funny. I got a real real good laugh from that. "I kinda wish this was o-ver 'cause it is... sn't... yet... over... now..." That there is comedic gold.

Looking forward to my rewatch now that I'll be focused on the actual episode and not on hoping that the games will last longer. Whooooo. :v:
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Postby PonyHag714 (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:21 am

Imagine if one of them misfired and it hit the throne one of the princesses was sitting on and covered her in ice. :twonk:

:-/ Spike, we could use your help right about now.
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Postby Just Scuds (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:26 am

MochaBean wrote:With the horn deactivation spell, they missed a golden opportunity to have a throwaway gag where either Rarity or some other unicorn is struggling without their telekinesis. I've always kind of wanted to see that. :smirk:

:ohboy: "It's easy, sis -- you're just spoiled!"


Rarity is the kind of gal that eats popcorn with a pair of chopsticks.
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Peregrine wrote:On the archery note, it must suck to be an Olympic athlete who trips up, fires an arrow straight into the air causing an accident which could very nearly have killed some ponies. My Little Pony Theme of the Week: Embarrassment.


:allright: We're learning as we go along, last year it was a unicorn that had money riding on the winner of the relay race and decided to 'help' his pick along.
:allright: This year it was a wayward arrow. Who knows what surprises will happen next year?
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Postby ShieldedDiamond (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:27 am

Did anyone else notice that throughout the episode, Twilight's open wing design kept changing? Sometimes it would be the pegasus wing, other times it would be the normal alicorn wings. I hope that they're considering changing the design to the smaller pegasus ones, because I feel that the open alicorn wings are too big on her.
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Postby Perpetual Lurker (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:52 am

Even if Spike doesn't suffer from depression, this episode was pretty much a microcosm of a large chunk of the depression experience, or at least my experience.

You start off being praised for things constantly, but choke when it comes time to do something big. Then, with your self esteem in the toilet, you try to make up for it by rushing into something you weren't prepared for,making an even bigger fool of yourself. At that point you're completely wrecked. You stay inside, refuse to go out and do things, and make excuses to avoid other people. Spike even says that he's not ready to face crowds just yet, and asks Twilight if he could watch the games in a secluded place. Then, you manage to do something huge and praiseworthy and everyone praises you for it, but to you, it just feels like another random thing, and doesn't make up for your failures.

It's so close to what I've gone through that I don't think I can give any sort of objective rating to the episode otherwise. Consider me forever biased. :flutterunsmith:
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 12:53 am

ShieldedDiamond wrote:Did anyone else notice that throughout the episode, Twilight's open wing design kept changing? Sometimes it would be the pegasus wing, other times it would be the normal alicorn wings. I hope that they're considering changing the design to the smaller pegasus ones, because I feel that the open alicorn wings are too big on her.

Given how much Hasbro has plastered Twilight's huge wings all over her clipart (or just stuck them to her butt, much of the time), I definitely don't think she would suddenly go back to having the normal wings that pegasi have. That usage in this episode was likely just an animation error, possibly an intentional one depending on how much time they had.
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Postby ShieldedDiamond (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 1:02 am

Fizzbuzz wrote:Given how much Hasbro has plastered Twilight's huge wings all over her clipart (or just stuck them to her butt, much of the time), I definitely don't think she would suddenly go back to having the normal wings that pegasi have. That usage in this episode was likely just an animation error, possibly an intentional one depending on how much time they had.


I thought it was an animation error too, but the fact that it happened more than once, and I didn't notice it, made me think if the animators saw the issue of Twilight's wings being big. And I was thinking about this, added to the fact that Hasbro is returning Twilight to the "normal" pony doll size.

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I could just be over-thinking though. :pinkieshrug:
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Postby Minty (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 1:24 am

Season 5 will just be a big sea of purple that is Twilight's wings.
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Postby Just Scuds (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 1:28 am

She'll have butterfly wings. :iiaia:


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Postby Jyu (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 1:52 am

Man, that anthem scene was hard to watch, I had to step out from the room a couple of times during it. :cry: I can't stand to watch a character make a fool of themselves, especially when it's a character I like and care for. It was a relief after the scene was over they didn't have some character go and poke fun at Spike about how embarrassing the whole thing was. That would have been too much.

The mind fire bit was also a little cringe-worthy to watch, but not to the extent of the anthem scene, so I was able to make it through that part without stepping out of the room. Slice those parts out and I would consider this the best Polsky episode yet. It's an excellent episode, by all means. It hits all the right notes and is a great Spike episode

The Equestria Games was well handled. It would have be great to see more unique sports like the ice archery but I guess Spike being the focus of the story had to take priority. :pinkieshrug: I don't really care about how Ponyville won the medal count. Does that imply they're a big town? Maybe, but you can't take that as definite evidence. Ponyville has never been describe as a small town, if I recall correctly so either way it's not that big of an issue. I'm mostly just glad they didn't all win gold medals.

Polsky did a damn fine job with the writing. I usually find his dialogue to be drawn out, slow and lacking that snap to it, but here the dialogue flowed and was to the point while also keeping a touch of realism which is what Polsky is good at. I also loved the magic disabling. It made perfect sense for the games, which is why I didn't think twice it would play any more significance than that. That made the climax really well done.

Again, great episode. Next week is the final two episodes of the season. Can't believe we so close to the end now. It's been a great season, y'all. :twasnothin:
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Postby Brunellus (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 2:17 am

Chiming in for the awkward reaction to the anthem. I think it took me an hour to watch that part. I really liked the lesson though. I suspect it resonated so significantly due to my own issues with insecurity/worrying about letting people down.
Did anyone else notice Luna's reaction the the torch lighting?
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Postby Rainbow Crash (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 2:22 am

This episode was great :allright:. The moral hit pretty close to home and I never really acknowledged it was happening until today.

Spike was a certified badass when he melted that ice cloud. He certainly deserves the praise.

By the way, how did Ponyville win the medal count? Did they just cancel the ice archery finals? There were only 4 ponies in the finals with 2 of them from Cloudsdale, so at least one of them had to have medaled to tie with Ponyville.
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Postby Heather Breckel (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 2:24 am

Perpetual Lurker wrote:Even if Spike doesn't suffer from depression, this episode was pretty much a microcosm of a large chunk of the depression experience, or at least my experience.

You start off being praised for things constantly, but choke when it comes time to do something big. Then, with your self esteem in the toilet, you try to make up for it by rushing into something you weren't prepared for,making an even bigger fool of yourself. At that point you're completely wrecked. You stay inside, refuse to go out and do things, and make excuses to avoid other people. Spike even says that he's not ready to face crowds just yet, and asks Twilight if he could watch the games in a secluded place. Then, you manage to do something huge and praiseworthy and everyone praises you for it, but to you, it just feels like another random thing, and doesn't make up for your failures.

It's so close to what I've gone through that I don't think I can give any sort of objective rating to the episode otherwise. Consider me forever biased. :flutterunsmith:


Agreed! It was a very good representation of what it's like to deal with depression.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 3:52 am

The anthem scene:

Star Platinum wrote:Holy shit that was one of the funniest things in the entire series :lol:


This. Dead serious. Perfect.





So what struck me about this episode was that it's one of those very "grown-up" ones that stand out from the rest by daring to tackle a kind of mental difficulty that adults will find just as relatable as kids do, and perhaps more so. And what's more, this ep really underscored that focus by being directed in a very "grown-up" way. What with the generally downplayed humor and the intense focus on Spike's psychological state, and what with all the short scene intercuts (I'm thinking of that whole bit through Act 2 where Twilight is trying to coax Spike out of the dressing room, and the scene keeps cutting back and forth from there to the relay race and other stuff going on in the stadium), it felt less like a kids' TV cartoon and more like a feature film. I don't think I remember any other Pony episode going nearly so far down that path—not even stuff like Suited For Success, which took advantage of its strong plot to make comedic hay rather than to show off how "movie-like" its presentation could be.

I mean, god, that one cut that begins on the feather that Spike is blowing up into the air? Inventive and intriguing and just damn good. Someone was really earning their paycheck that day.

I'm really just pretty blown away by this one. This wasn't "good for a kids' cartoon", this was "good TV" across the board. I'm not sure what it means that it takes a Spike-centric episode to tackle the subject matter and the stylistic details this maturely. But I love that the show still has this kind of variety in it.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:00 am

Celestia and Luna were going in to help.

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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:03 am

Headless Horse wrote:So what struck me about this episode was that it's one of those very "grown-up" ones that stand out from the rest by daring to tackle a kind of mental difficulty that adults will find just as relatable as kids do, and perhaps more so. And what's more, this ep really underscored that focus by being directed in a very "grown-up" way. What with the generally downplayed humor and the intense focus on Spike's psychological state, and what with all the short scene intercuts (I'm thinking of that whole bit through Act 2 where Twilight is trying to coax Spike out of the dressing room, and the scene keeps cutting back and forth from there to the relay race and other stuff going on in the stadium), it felt less like a kids' TV cartoon and more like a feature film. I don't think I remember any other Pony episode going nearly so far down that path—not even stuff like Suited For Success, which took advantage of its strong plot to make comedic hay rather than to show off how "movie-like" its presentation could be.

I mean, god, that one cut that begins on the feather that Spike is blowing up into the air? Inventive and intriguing and just damn good. Someone was really earning their paycheck that day.

I'm really just pretty blown away by this one. This wasn't "good for a kids' cartoon", this was "good TV" across the board. I'm not sure what it means that it takes a Spike-centric episode to tackle the subject matter and the stylistic details this maturely. But I love that the show still has this kind of variety in it.


Yeah, the timing and pacing, as well as staging, were great here.

The board artists for this episode was Sherann Johnson and David Wiebe. Let's give them a hand :party:
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Postby Stuff (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:11 am

We've always said "this show man" and, jeez, this still holds true today. :allears:

also, like Aramek, I just laughed at the Spike scene. I did have that "oh-jeez-glad-that's-not-me!" feeling a bit later. :v:

Is there a remix out yet or what
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:21 am

I vacillated between laughing and clawing my face off there. In the end, though, the pain of awkwardness from that and from Spike trying to burn things with his mind made the resolution that much sweeter.
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Postby Mechanical Ape (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:22 am

SlateSlabrock wrote:So, what are we supposed to make of these guests of honor?

...

The last one is clearly important because of his giant hat.


That's General Ponies. :v:
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Postby ShieldedDiamond (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:25 am

I think Mayor Mare wandered into that shot and pretended to be important. I still maintain the headcanon that she has no real roll in Equestria Government, but pretends to be important. :-I
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Postby Just Scuds (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:30 am

Fluttershy suffering along with Spike while Rainbow stares on in compete incredulity.
Is this a put on? Nope.
Maybe he's taking the piss? Here, of all places? That isn't the case, either.
Then what horrid chain of improbable events could possibly have spawned this? No idea.

Mothers are covering the ears of their children. Image
And the song plays on...
Dignified men are hiding under their own hats! :ohgawd:

And the song plays on ...

When it finally ends there is nothing but silence except for the open throated sobs of some pony somewhere and
"Nailed it!" :party:

:rainbert: There aren't even any trees in Cloudsdale! C'mon!

I like the last bits where he's guessing at where exactly this song is going to end. I wish he would go out on a high note like
:no: And the song is over Noooooowwww!

And then for the music to keep playing for another ten seconds. :shepspike:
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Postby SoundMonkey44 (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:41 am

I enjoyed this episode. :)
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Postby Angel Beat (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:44 am

Peregrine wrote:On the archery note, it must suck to be an Olympic athlete who trips up, fires an arrow straight into the air causing an accident which could very nearly have killed some ponies. My Little Pony Theme of the Week: Embarrassment.

It wasn't at the Olympics, but I recall someone getting impaled during a spear throwing event several years ago. :nnngh:
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:47 am

The Doctor wrote:Celestia and Luna were going in to help.

[image]

So that confirms that Polsky implied that alicorns also got TSA'd, which is a bit dumb. :-P
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Postby Strangest Letter (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:51 am

Wayoshi wrote:So that confirms that Polsky implied that alicorns also got TSA'd, which is a bit dumb. :-P


Or that they're really slow compared to Pegasi and tiny dragons.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:51 am

Wayoshi wrote:So that confirms that Polsky implied that alicorns also got TSA'd, which is a bit dumb. :-P


I don't think it gives an answer one way or another. They could have been flying in to blast it. In the end, I think wondering if the Pony TSA got the alicorns is irrelevant.

Not to mention, Celestia and Luna would have none of that crap and it would never work on them. :twiright:
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Postby Westy543 (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:54 am

Twilight is learning the role of a princess: to offload your problem to others when major threats present themselves. :wingsright:

This was probably my favorite ep of the season, as someone who also is learning how to deal with depression (much like Spike in this ep), it rocked.
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Postby Durandal (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 4:58 am

The funniest gag in the whole episode for me was this:

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Twilight seriously contemplating the pros and cons of using time travel to solve Spike's problems :lol:


But seriously, I'm Nth-ing all this love for the episode's moral. For me it wasn't so much about depression as it was about self-esteem, though obviously there's a lot of overlap between those two. It makes the most sense to me when I explain it like this: Do you remember that time you embarassed yourself horribly? You know, the thing that was so bad that you're getting embarassed again right now, just thinking of it? People think that they're alone in experiencing that kind of embarrassment and failure. Guess what - everyone has a memory like this. It only seems like a big deal because you're the only one who remembers it, or cares.

Just get over it. It wasn't that bad. Let it go, and you'll be immediately happier and more confident.

And that's a Good Moral®
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Postby SlateSlabrock (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 5:05 am

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Postby Mechanical Ape (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 5:19 am

The real fault lies with the pegasi who neglectfully allowed a cloud to float overhead during the ice archery event. :rainbert:
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 5:28 am



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:gotcha: Mother of Dragons, take Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserion, and Spike.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun May 04, 2014 5:34 am

Image


Image Whoever keeps putting those two together, you are awesome.
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