PictishBeast wrote:I was just thinking on the earlier discussion of how refreshing it is that, when presented with the opportunity to do an episode featuring a musical group, they went with doo-wop/barbershop and not something more contemporary and obvious like pop-rock which would probably test better with girls age 6-10 and allow Hasbro to sell playsets and accessories like microphones and electric guitars and thank god the people associated with this show aren't being influenced by all the profit-margin shit like that.
And then I remembered Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks, so

It's cool if they keep it hived off like that though. I'm down with EQG2 as a delivery vehicle for outrageous camp, but if it helps keep a little of the shoe-horning out of MLP proper then all the better. Its success is probably a driving factor behind the continuance of the show too, as creating two revenue streams for it probably helps to justify the continued outlay for animation.
No idea if EQG is definitely helping FiM to continue to exist, but the fact that they got top doll by sales in December (fucking...
how? is another question. I'm figuring some really creative reading of metrics, but who knows?) can't have hurt Hasbro's perception of the original magical horse anime concept.
But either way, I agree, the barbershop quartet angle was the right one. I'd really hoped it would turn out that way, since Ponytones is such a lame glee club name, but MLP is such a lame glee club
show that Ponytones could have been the name of Equestria's version of Impaled Nazarene or whatever.
But the song was great, and Danny Ingram deserves a ticker tape parade, and Rarity proudly rocking a music club dork jumper and bowtie warmed my heart in ways and dimensions I can't even articulate
That's the
real character development in this episode, ladies and gentlemen
Another thing that I really dug was the fact that the second female vocalist in the Ponytones had a cutie mark with a hat with a card stuck in the ribbon, which I guess means she's a journalist. These people aren't professional musicians, they're just hobbyists who meet up after work sometimes because they like singing.
That's way better than Fluttershy having to stand in for The Hottest Pop Band in Equestria, or whatever, it keeps the stakes nice and low.
I've come round to your perspective on Mr OC Pony Dude though, because first time I watched it, he appeared and he was so immediately significant that I figured he might be a snarky local critic, kind of Ponyville's version of Jim DeRogatis, who'd be the antagonist who ended up unmasking Fluttershy. And that's a lot of immediate assumption to make based on the fact that the character is so obviously someone who's going to appear in a sec.
I don't think it's that big a
deal - people actually saying "Flutterguy" was much more immersion-breaking for me - but I agree that it's maybe best to not. Or if animators are livening things up for themselves by adding versions of people they know, to do it more so the scene backgrounds are less "two Lyras, three Carrot Tops, and THAT ONE DUDE WITH A BLACK SWEATER AND THICK-RIMMED GLASSES AND A SIDE-PARTING".
I loved Zipporwhill though, she was cute as the dickens and can come back on the show whenever she feels like it, goddammit
But anyways, I feel like this was the most direct Fluttershy and Rarity episode since Green Isn't Your Colour, and Rarity was so amazing playing back-up. She was immediately understanding when Flutters said no, was hugely supportive when Fluttershy came on board, and agreed to all those shows when she realised how much Fluttershy loved performing, without ever making her feel embarrassed by bringing it up. Their friendship is my favourite thing in the show, and it drove the whole episode.
(incidentally, my For Your Consideration ballot for the Rarity noises showreel this ep: "Isn't it wonderful when a plan comes together without any
draaaaaah-maaa" and then the little noise she makes when they nuzzle each other. Tabitha was pretty restrained this ep (in a good way), but the phrasing on that line was pure Mae West

)