Definitely liked this intro to the season. Very well done. Incredible jump in quality between this season and the previous one. The past of how Celestia and Luna defeated Discord was really fun to watch and interesting to see. And also Discord himself was great to watch.
Holy shit. Hoooly shit. It's absolutely fucking amazing. This episode is so weird to love. There's not much character development, the lesson's alright and it's a lot of deus ex machina BUT MY GOD it's such a fun episode. This is a really really fun episode. Rainbow Dash x Applejack was shown in its full display here and they work SOOOO WELL! Fluttershy and Rarity worked great too! And Twilight being a complete opposite in a way that makes sense (since she's a bookworm) was amazing. Very funny as well. Love this episode.
It's an alright episode. I miss the letters to Celestia. Dash was just gushing over an author the entire episode and it felt very unreal that the whole book series was true. I'd have preferred that Dash learns to respect the author's time in making a book but apparently an adventure was more flashy.
One of the better CMC episodes. I liked Scootaloo's development and the song was banging "WE GOT HEARTS! AS STRONG AS HORSES!" got that pony energy bro. Still, I don't really like CMC so the max is a 6. sorry guys
Spike episode. Haaaaaaa... next. There’s no way I’m gonna watch more Spike episodes.
Original review: I skipped this one because I heard "Bats!" was one of the worst episodes in the entirety of MLP (not including Spike episodes). Also I listened to the song and it isn't great. I might come back to it because it's a kinda-applejack episode
New review (15/01/24) The song is actually quite good and I’m dumb. I do think Applejack’s original idea was good and Fluttershy’s... not so great. Though I do like how Fluttershy’s solution was actually pretty good in the end. I don’t really have a problem with Fluttershy’s solution but the way they painted AJ’s solution to be short-sighted is just... not right. It’s not short-sighted, it’s just a different solution. AJ is best pony as well so she gets my support.
Actually one of the best Rarity episodes! I really liked this one because of the scene change, Rarity's low points leading to her forcing her friends to help her (against their wishes when they want to watch a show instead). Not sure how popular this is but hey, really good!
An Applejack (kinda) and Pinkie episode. It's alright. I liked it but idk it kinda feels boring.
Loved this episode. Rainbow Dash went a bit to the darker side in this episode and almost forgot what having friends were like (she literally was like "yeah, I'll train behind my [useless] friends' backs with you epic winners") and I really liked how it turned from just "training with the wonderbolts" to "join the wonderbolts' entry team, rainbow." and the difficulty in decision. It also explored how Rainbow tried to just dodge the whole thing by faking injuries while Twilight with a *very* keen eye sees right through her and tells Rainbow not to leave it to indecision. Great!! Finally the show explores indecision and the implications of it and that's not even mentioning the quality of the production. It's a really good episode. Maybe I'll give it a 9.
I know some people don't like this episode that much due to Rainbow's "off-character"-ness and the lack of context on why Rainbow chose Fluttershy and muscly man instead of, say, Derpy Hooves and anyone else in Ponyville (there's a lot of pegasi shown on "Hurricane Fluttershy"). Firstly, Rainbow isn't off-character. Her values go directly against her wishes sometimes and this is one of those moments which is why it's such a good episode. Secondly, in my opinion, it feels like they're asking why Celestia sent Twilight went to Ponyville instead of anywhere else. Sure, it might be important since Ponyville is not necessarily the best place in Equestria but it doesn't detract from the plot and it doesn't matter to the overall moral of the story. The point is, it doesn't matter!
A discord episode. It's alright. Twilight was great here. Upfront twilight is best twilight. Can discord ask for one more teeny tiny little favour? NO! But other than that, this episode felt a bit pointless and boring
I liked Pinkie's depressive part but I like how she stood up for herself as well. Previously, she needed someone else to help her up. This time, she got up herself. But it wasn't rewarded kindly as she ended up messing RD's party. It's a good episode but not that good.
Not an episode with much value but still really fun to watch nonetheless! Loved the part where Applejack kinda implied that she was a lesbian.
A Fluttershy episode where she overcomes some of her anxiety. I understand why people say that Fluttershy re-learns the same lessons over and over again (Jenny Nicholson says this too) but I strongly disagree. She has anxiety and that can't be solved like 1-2-3. Of course she's gonna learn this multiple times. Like Fluttershy said herself, baby steps. And yeah, this episode also featured how she grew as a pony. Did you see how she acted when Rarity asked Fluttershy to join in the beginning of the episode? She said a very simple and straightforward "No". Fluttershy wouldn't have been able to do that if Rarity asked during, say, season 2 and instead would've said a very afraid "okay" while make excuses to not attend later on (see "Hurricane Fluttershy", she did that there). And oh man I love Pinkie in this episode, she was hilarious. Overally, fantastic episode.
Actually, about Pinkie for a second, in the first to second season, she was annoying as hell. My older reviews of Pinkie was critical at how annoying she is, almost like Chika from Kaguya-sama. But she’s gotten a lot less annoying over the episodes and here is a fantastic example of Pinkie shining not despite but because of who she is. She isn’t as annoying anymore, she feels a lot more genuine and fun to watch.
Pretty boring and mid episode with the CMCs
I really really liked the moral of sometimes having to be unkind to be kind aka kindness can also be destructive. However, I feel like they didn't execute it very well and it just made the breezies look like a bunch of demanding assholes. Maybe that’s how they wanted it to make it but it just kinda rubs off in the wrong way. Still an important lesson for Fluttershy though.
I felt the moral in this episode was a little lackluster and where tf is the friendship journal?? I wish it highlighted Applejack's overprotectiveness a little more because it almost felt like both were learning something new when, in fact, this situation was 100% AJ's fault and only she should learn something new. It would be a lot simpler if they had the friendship journal but ig not.
This part is just my thoughts on season 4 up till episode 17. The last 3 episodes was kinda mid but I’m not surprised. The whole of MLP:FIM feels like a sea of mediocre episodes (don’t get me wrong, they’re still fun to watch) with a bunch of fantastic floating... barrels that are above and beyond the rest of the sea. Based on that, I actually think season 4 is the best season so far, next to season 2. It’s probably recency bias but the increased production value really makes it amazing. It’s difficult to describe.
The introduction of Maud Pie, Pinkie’s sister. She likes rocks. I think this episode was pretty good but the ending was a bit unsatisfactory in an undescribable way.
It’s a good episode but I just don’t like CMC and especially sweetie bell. She’s the 2nd worst CMC. Poor rarity, she didn’t even do anything wrong. At the very least, Luna got some great screentime.
NICE! Basically Applejack is teaching the world of the dangers of a placebo. It also clearly shows the importance of government intervention in the economy; to prevent things like this. Hear that Milei? I liked this episode but granny smith went over to AJ’s side a liiiiiiittle too fast. Also, AJ lied! Not a bad thing, it just shows that AJ is still a flawed character which I also like.
Oh man this is a great episode. I feel like Rainbow’s method of learning doesn’t make much sense (and the fact that she’s multi-tasking is a bad moral to learn in the first place), her dynamic with Twilight was just PERFECT! I missed Twilight and Rainbow, they work so well together just like Rainbow and AJ.
Going on a great streak so far. I wasn’t that interested in Fluttershy and Rainbow’s thing of going around trading thing after thing but Pinkie Pie being a great salespony and AJ x Rarity fighting is what sold the episode. Man everyday I’m getting closer and closer to the end of season 4. I’m not even halfway but it feels like I’m getting closer and closer to doom. Maybe at the end of season 4 I’ll rewatch (parts of) season 1 and 2 to make reviews of them so it’s complete. I have a lot of episodes I wanna discuss about those ones.
Spike episode. Because of that, I’ll give it a 2-3/10. But because it was enjoyable seeing rarity go crazy + twilight’s terrible end getup, I’ll give it a 5/10.
Have I said how much I didn’t like Spike? This episode could’ve been a lot better if it didn’t focus on Spike and more on Rainbow, AJ, the Equestria Games, and Twilight’s role.
Wow. That was amazing. Actually one of the best episodes I’ve seen in season 4. It started with Twilight questioning her true role as a princess using one of the best songs in the entire series “You’ll Play Your Part” and FINALLY we get to hear Luna sing, plus some great Cadence and Celestia vocals. The song itself doesn’t actually resolve anything, it’s a bit of a nothingburger on that regard but it is banging and highlights Twilight’s problem.
We also got plenty of discord and his subtle ways of helping the ponies in finding a way to defeat Tirek, a new villain. I’m getting a bit tired of Twilight vs villain trope they’ve been using but this episode was just so captivating.
I do like it when plans don’t go according to plan so when, in the second episode, Celestia, Luna and Cadence give their powers to Twilight, and it all turned out to be kinda useless (we did have an epic battle scene though), it felt really... real ig? Idk it was good. The animators really captured just how immensely powerful Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are with the scene when they transferred their magic (amazingly awesome). Discord learning how important friendship is was also great. And yes of course they defeat Tirek using the magic of friendship. Friendship is Magic after all!
One thing I dislike about this episode is Twilight’s castle at the end of the episodes. Why is it a stone cold ice castle? Why isn’t it a giant oak tree? I don’t understand why it’s crystal and it gives off a very negative vibe. One of the few things I dislike about this episode.
Season 4 is now over. I will watch some FiW, take a little break of MLP:FIM and start watching it less and less. I’ve been powering through this season (and season 3) and I took the liberty to press the right-arrow key a lot of times. Shouldn’t be doing that otherwise I’ll be done with the entire series by the beginning of January 2024. I want to take it a lot slower. As such, I’ll start watching Season 5 in a week or two.
Oh! Instead I’ll start rewatching bits and pieces of seasons 1 & 2 so I can complete this review up till season 4.