New and Latest Episode Thread

[ph00tbag]

The drama between Twilight and Rainbow Dash felt very unnatural. Why would Rainbow Dash blame Twilight for not being able to teach her efficiently? I see they've come a long way as friends...

This is in Rainbow Dash's nature. She's confrontational and inconsiderate, and when stressed, averse to accountability. See: Mysterious Mare Do Well, Boast Busters, Fall Weather Friends, Read it and Weep, etc.

A lot of what the characters do just makes no sense whatsoever anyway. Why is Rainbow Dash totally relaxed not knowing the history of the Wonderbolts although the test is coming up and then after realizing she doesn't know shit she's totally baffled? That is asinine.

Again, this felt totally natural for Rainbow Dash to me. She's just the type to procrastinate on this sort of thing. See: Mare in the Moon. She hadn't given thought to the depth of how fucked she was until it dawned on her that her that she might not get to follow her dream.

Who the hell uses...clothing to teach stuff?

Rarity. Rarity does.

Did Rainbow Dash seriously expect to pass Twilight's test with the answers she gave?

She didn't care. Practice Tests hold no meaning for her, because the lecture/study/test loop doesn't educate Rainbow. That's the point of the whole episode. While that loop may work for Twilight, Dash is more of an observe/orient/decide/act loop type of learner. None of Twilight's questions had anything to do with that process.

As I see it, the opposite is your problem. You either excelled within the lecture/study/test loop, or adapted your learning style to work within that loop fairly seamlessly. I know I fall in the latter camp. I usually absorb and retain information and apply it. I struggled with the lecture and study aspects of the industrial education system, but because application closely resembles testing, I excelled at school because I could work with the only part of the loop they evaluated.

But with the knowledge that Rainbow Dash simply doesn't learn the same way, maybe you can try her horseshoes on for a bit. Take your frustration with her, and imagine feeling that same frustration with Twilight's teaching methods. You want to punch Rainbow Dash in the face? Well, now you know why Rainbow Dash was shooting spitballs at Twilight.

Why does Pinkie rap? I don't get it. Why didn't they just use a "normal song" instead of faking a music video that's not even there. Why do Owlowiscious and Spike join Rainbow Dash in fooling around during class? That seems out of character to me.

Because it's funny?

And most importantly of all: Why the hell is Rainbow Dash such a bitch shooting spitwads at Twilight!?

I like to see a lot of this as Rainbow Dash reverting to her antics back in school. I know this is more headcanon, but I imagine she struggled in school, and probably sought attention through misbehavior since she couldn't get it through academic excellence. Since she always achieved her goals with acting up, this is how she's learned to cope with the stress of learning.

[Callenby]

I like your theories, ph00t. You think a lot more deeply about this than I do.

[Jokeblue]

The people arguing over the episode kinda put me off the episode.

Watched the episode.

I really like this episode :3 I thought it was really good through and through. I don't agree with Gnarrkhaz' opinion at all. I'd go into deeper detail but its late and im tired and I don't feel like watching the episode again

[Gnarrkhaz]

Watched the episode again:

The "Whoa, whoa, what?"-comment by RD is kind of funny.

Again, i like how the ponies make faces but it happens a bit often.

Overall i still stand by what i said. I don't care how RD's behaviour fits her and how much sense it all actually makes. It doesn't change the fact that it's depicted in an extreme way resulting in her being unbearable. I could nitpick some more stuff but what's the point. What frustrates me even more is how i should be able to relate to her very much so.

[Gnarrkhaz]

Practice Tests hold no meaning for her, because the lecture/study/test loop doesn't educate Rainbow. That's the point of the whole episode. While that loop may work for Twilight, Dash is more of an observe/orient/decide/act loop type of learner. None of Twilight's questions had anything to do with that process.

This doesn't make sense to me. Why should Twilight's questions have to do anything with RD's learning process? Twilight was just quizzing RD on what she actually knows, doesn't matter how she learned it. Those were probably the same questions that were asked in the actual test. In fact Twilight said: "If you had taken the official test today..." And, after all, RD passed that one.

Again, i see no explanation for why she would actually believe her answers are correct. It's pretty dumb.

But with the knowledge that Rainbow Dash simply doesn't learn the same way, maybe you can try her horseshoes on for a bit. Take your frustration with her, and imagine feeling that same frustration with Twilight's teaching methods. You want to punch Rainbow Dash in the face? Well, now you know why Rainbow Dash was shooting spitballs at Twilight.

Yes. I did in fact understand the episode. The problem isn't that i don't understand her motivations, it's that she over reacted, in that case not unrealistically so but definitely in a way that makes her seem like a bitch.

[Gnarrkhaz]

@eery: I know what you're saying but i still can't take her confidence in giving the answers seriously. Not only are they silly (although that's minor because after all they live in a not quite as much yet still pretty silly world) but she should have known that Twilight's methods clearly didn't work so there's no reason to believe she was ready for the test.

[Gnarrkhaz]

What are you saying, twilight dont know the right answers? She couldnt teach dash that way cuz she didn't respond to that sort of lecture, this doesnt mean the answers were wrong.

No, of course the information Twilight gave RD was correct but her methods didn't work. I didn't say anything else. We actually agree on this.

Maybe i should repeat the original question: Why did RD believe the answers she gave in the quiz with Twilight were correct?

With that premise maybe reread what i wrote before your last post.

[ph00tbag]

Yes. I did in fact understand the episode. The problem isn't that i don't understand her motivations, it's that she over reacted, in that case not unrealistically so but definitely in a way that makes her seem like a bitch.

Well, again, not exactly out of character for Rainbow Dash. She's highly inconsiderate, not necessarily because she doesn't care about others, but because she projects her own toughness onto others, and can't imagine them being offended by things she considers innocuous, and even inclusive.

Maybe i should repeat the original question: Why did RD believe the answers she gave in the quiz with Twilight were correct?

She didn't. She just had so little concern for the value of the quiz that she considered her answers to be of equal value to the correct answers. In particular, I interpreted her shock at the final score to be more at Twilight actually intending for Dash to take the test seriously, not that the answers themselves were wrong.

[Stuntddude]

I don't think i even need to explain to you why your reasoning here is invalid.

Well, for starters you could at least try to put forth something instead of being generally a lazy dickbag. But I digress. Some people can't stand to simply admit, "I don't feel up to defending my opinions now and/or don't think it's worth my/your time" and be done with it, it seems. Oh well.

[Stuntddude]

<justification of the current education system>

Sure, but that's not really a good justification, because being forced to take classes on things you earnestly despise does nothing to prepare you for a potential change of heart about your career choice, and it's basically a blatant "fuck you" to any and all students who have even the slightest certainty about the career paths they want to go into. People should be trained in the basics of all subjects, for sure - but that's what elementary and middle schools ought to be for. It's just incredibly weak reasoning to say, "well, people may change their minds, so we'd better deliberately stop them from pursuing their interests and try to impose a completely one-size-fits all education system on everyone!"

[itroitnyah]

Well, yeah, but you still get to pick out some of the classes. You need to take classes that will be beneficial in some ares (such as math classes), classes on modern day politics so you know about that, classes about science so that you understand the world around you a bit better, english classes so that you don't have just plain 6th grade english, and a lifes issues class so that you know how to do shit you don't learn in other classes. That leaves you some independence with whatever other classes you may want. My dad went from wanting to be a lawyer to wanting to do math the rest of his life. If there's a better way to set up our education system so that people can take the classes they want, but also not need to go back to school for a really long time should they change their minds, go ahead and suggest it to the government. Or here. Lel.

[ganondox]

I wasn't a huge fan of this episode, but now that I've taken this time to analyze it for you, I think I enjoy it a bit more. My own learning style is closest to Applejack's "You mean you don't already know?" -style. Pay attention in class and do the homework and you'll be fine. Try to cram everything into your brain the night before, and I really don't have any advice to give.

I'm also an Applejack, people would probably think I'm a Twilight Sparkle, but I hate studying as much as Rainbow. However, I just found it hilarious how Rainbow Dash reduced Applejack's learning style to apples.

Like everything else in this series this storyline is stagnating. There's no story development. It's not that kind of series, however it appears it wants to be and that annoys me. Unless the creators change something drastically for future seasons which they should have done for season 4 already *coughprincesscough* this series is going to die a slow and painful death. I'm not exactly looking forward to season 5.

This is the one point I agree with you with, and the biggest problem I have with Twilicorn. It just doesn't go anywhere, when it's clear it's supposed to. People said Twilight was going to be the same after the change so it wasn't bad; actually, that's the problem with the change. It's completely superficial. Twilight is a princess now, and......so what? While I liked much of Season 4, the series has really extended past it's run, and it's really do for if not series finale, then a major change. Slapping wings on a character is not a major change, it's a waste of a potential major change.

[Gnarrkhaz]

I don't think i even need to explain to you why your reasoning here is invalid.

Well, for starters you could at least try to put forth something instead of being generally a lazy dickbag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYkODsWfngE

All the stuff you mentioned either had really obvious answers/explanations, or are thinks that are 100% subjective and not even anything wrong with the episode.

That was your original quote and to me it sounds like you're saying that subjective reasons to like or dislike something are invalid. Different people can obviously like and dislike the same thing and both be correct as long as they can put forward valid arguments.

[itroitnyah]

I enjoyed this episode.

But I gotta say, watching it in fullscreen on youtube then going over to the other tabs I have open just felt weird. Because, it feels like everything's compressed together.

[Coloriot]

In this week's episode, we learned about the evils of capitalism!

[ph00tbag]

Pinkie Pie was super annoying this episode.

Rest of it was pretty good, though. I really liked Rarity and Applejack's interactions.

[ExoBassTix]

I FINALLY caught up with my friend. Watched ep. 14 u/i 22 I believe.
That episode in which Twilight learned that someone can have an entirely different way to learn things was, to me, instantly the best episode yet of the whole series. Kinda because I have a way of learning that I yet have to develop (as in, good luck getting me to pass a test on history without making me a hollow shell or destroying me) (all I know is that music is the key).
Loved it so much.

I also loved the Sweetie Belle and CMC episode. Because from now on I like Sweetie Belle so much more. Seriously though, why have I not seen it before? She's like super duper awesome or something.

That episode in which AJ was continuously watching over Applebloom made me itch. I very much dislike it because if it was me in Applebloom's place, I would've completely lost it. AJ you bitch.

There is one thing though that still bothers me in almost every episode. They do a lot of things (talking, walking, petting animals etc.) having their eyes closed for so friggen long!!!
That's one of the things I really dislike xD

EDIT - how could I forget this. My friend laughed pretty hard when at that best episode that dude who gave Rainbow Dash the test stamped the test with a star saying "100%", asking me if I could make a .gif in which the star is replaced with that "you tried" star.
Made me laugh pretty hard. If someone can make this happen, I'll love you forever.

[itroitnyah]

Spike is such an idiot, haha. Owlicious is great though. best pet award twenty-forever.

But nah, this episode was actually pretty awesome. I loved it.

Also, some things about the episode:

Spoiler Rarity sucks at designing carts:

[Gnarrkhaz]

Rarity sucks at designing carts

But at least i have plenty o' rooooom for mah puppets!

One thing: How do owls fly on one spot like hummingbirds? But then again apparently Pegasi can do that too.

[CitricAcid]

Rarity has worked in the fashion business for so long, you'd think she would already be accustomed to her customers not always being satisfied. If that's how she takes criticism, no matter how unreasonable it may have been, she won't last long. Not that I know anything about fashion, but music is the same deal. Someone asks you make music that sounds a certain way, you do it, they tell you it's wrong, you fix it. You cannot get attached to your first work. An important lesson.

[itroitnyah]

Oh lawdy another episode about Dash being a greedy cunt and sports. Dis gun b good.

In this episode: fan pandering. And spike pandering, huehue

Anyways, I can't say I expected Spike to be an asshat to the people who were pandering them. I sorta half expected him to be like "nah guys, it's cool." But nevertheless, the episode took a complete turn away from what I thought it would be about. Then of course he goes about embarrassing himself. I actually had to pause the video for a minute when he was singing the cloudsdale anthem.

They had Katniss from Hunger Games in the final competition for the sports though, I'm fairly certain.

The moment where spike turns into the hero is a little far fetched. But overall the episode was a great episode. Season 4 is turning out to be a pretty great season, even if it isn't done by Lauren anymore.

[ph00tbag]

I literally skipped the part where Spike sang the Cloudsdale Anthem. I absolutely can't stand that kind of humor.

The rest of the episode was quite good. Best Spike episode of the whole series hands down.

Pinkie Pie was funny, Rainbow Dash was awesome/adorable, the interaction was all nuanced and fun. There were all sorts of cool little animation details. I really quite liked it, it was just kinda ruined by the whole Cloudsdale Anthem.

[Jokeblue]

Here is vidya. Spork great song of Ponyville for make benefit glorious nation of Crystal Empire... stan

[Freewave]

We've been building up the EQ games ALL season long and it was completely overshadowed by a badly written Spike episode. If he's afraid of crowds he shouldn't have wanted to go up there a second time. The back and forth between cocky and confident and scared Spike made little sense. If a dangerous frozen cloud was threatening the crowd then the princesses (the most powerful ponies in equestria) and other ponies should have stepped in. It frankly really ruined what should have been an important episode. We saw very LITTLE of the EQ games and of Twilight's role in a princess position. Instead we got yet another Spike episode that made little sense, wasn't enjoyable, and yet again the show suffered for it. Most Spike focused episodes aren't very good and this especially isn't an exception.

I guess some people have spelled out that they "capped" all the unicorns magic as part of the security measures when they entered the stadium over concern for cheating. However,

[Gnarrkhaz]

I literally skipped the part where Spike sang the Cloudsdale Anthem. I absolutely can't stand that kind of humor.

I think that was hilarious. It was 100% vicarious embarrassment though for sure. I was cringing hard.

Yeah, taking away the alicorn magic was probably bullshit but i think the episode was fine. Had a mature lesson as well. I sure as hell can relate to it. I actually liked how the episode didn't focus on the games themselves but still showed enough of them to make it feel like something special is going on. But that's just me being completely bored of most types of sports in general.