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4 March 2012

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "Putting your Hoof Down" REVIEW


I am having a lot of trouble writing down the intro for this review. Is not that I have no clear ideas about this episode already (I have them, lots of them), it's more like I always start these reviews with a seemingly unrelated subject and then I segue into the review of the episode in the most seamless way possible. Sometimes it works great, other times not so much. I was making sure I wouldn't make any reference to what the fandom has been through as of late, since that whole business is pretty much wearing off and we are leaving it behind us. But in the end all this fandom is about is the exact same thing: Colourful happy ponies being happy and cute. Except for this episode which turned out quite verbally assaulting. Huh, look at that, an intro popped up over my review. Lets get down to it and do it.

I pity those who don't read my TL; DR's and then go below them to find massive walls of text all over the place and then complain about it! If you know what you're doing, you should always check the TL;DR that I put here in case you don't want to read the whole review! Let's put it simple. Is the episode good in Friendship is Magic standards? My non-existing biceps are outraged that you dare asking such question when the answer is YES! Is this the best episode of the season? Of course not, but that's not my fault at all! Keep reading if you really want to find out why!

Iron Will mode OFF.
So the episode starts in the house of our protagonist for the next twenty two minutes as we see her setting up the food time for her critters. I never realised she has that many animals living with her, so she either adopted many more or Studio B and DHX media put more budget into the "Fluttershy Critter Hoard" department. Sadly for her she is not that much of an authority figure to them. They steal the food from her and she just shrugs it off because she's Fluttershy I guess. And then we get to the part of the episode that get many people out there which is Angel's abusive boyfriend behaviour. Well okay, he's not her boyfriend and he's a cartoon character so everything he does is justified by the rule of funny, but I can't disagree with those people complaining. He acts like a complete douche. He throws Fluttershy's food aside and then slaps her demanding a very specific dish, which forces Fluttershy to go out shopping into town. All of a sudden I feel like I'm at home. I'm the Fluttershy of my house in more way than one, trust me.

Minus the möe looks. And the pink hair. And the wings-Maybe I'm not like her at all.
So Fluttershy goes to Ponyville to get some food for Angel's dish, but sadly everypony acts like a bully towards her. They sneak in on the line, try to charge her extra for what's she's going to buy and basically acting nothing like what we've seen them act in previous episodes. I saw some other people complaining about it but for me it makes perfect sense. We saw the background ponies acting with the mane six in different ways. For example, everypony in Ponyville is Pinkie Pie's friend because she is nice to them; or everypony in Ponyville demands extra from the Apple Family because they are the sole providers of cider in the town. So with such a pushover (there's no other way to put Flutter-fans, deal with it) like she is, it's no surprise they treat Fluttershy like you would treat George McFly. Rarity and Pinkie Pie show up (together, for the fourth time in this season (are you trying to get some sort of message out there guys or what=)) and they try to teach Fluttershy how to be more assertive with seductive and tricky ways. Rarity mellows her way with Professor Frink pony to get back Fluttershy's asparagus, and Pinkie Pie tricks the tomato seller with the old Looney Tunes "You want it / I don't / You don't want it /I do!" trick. Of course when Fluttershy tries these out she fails at it, which causes her to not finish Angel's dish the way he wants, which causes it to fly out the window. Trying to get the salad bowl back Fluttershy stumbles upon the next plot point: A flier announcing the arrival of a certain Iron Will, a self-help guru who's coming to Ponyville.

Coming to Ponyville is turning...
...Into a running theme.
So Fluttershy goes to Iron Will's seminary which takes place inside a maze (Oh guys at Studio B, you are so delightfully intelligent) and we find out that he is probably the best one-shot character this show has ever had. Don't get me wrong, I love Trixie, I really like Gilda, and I'm starting to get why people enjoyed the Flim Flam brothers so much, but Iron Will is just freaking hilarious. Every time he's on the screen I snigger and cackle like a maniac, he is awesome. He is a buffed up ultra confident minotaur who is one quarter Mr. T and three quarters Terry Crews. I was expecting him to go "Pah-Pah-Pah-Pah-Pah-Pah-POWER!" and then explode through the stage. Well he doesn't do that but he says "I pity the foo' who doesn't take my advice!" and that's enough for me! He is so full of confidence actually that he takes on the challenge of showing how his program will turn anypony from a doormat into an assertiveness machine. How does he do it? Well the American way of course; with catchphrases and using the innocent mind of a pony. So he grabs Fluttershy and shows everyone in the audience how his program works and for all we know it actually does. After one lesson Fluttershy shows up to be assertive enough and so she takes on Iron Will's program to become more confident. What follows then is equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious.

Apparently this program does have a catchphrase for every situation Fluttershy needs to pony up and stand her ground, so she goes out to put it on practise. Things seem to start pretty okay for what the program is worth as she takes on those who actually are stepping on her terrain. She calls out to the old pony who over-waters her petunias with splashy results, dunks a pile of trash over two ponies who were blocking the only bridge that connects Ponyville to her cottage (kind of weird when she could've just flown over them) and pushes away the one pony who sneaks in front of her in line. So it looks like the program works really okay, right? Well not really, no. She starts enjoying way too much being over confident and begins to take over those who simply annoy her even if it's not their fault. She dunks a bowl of punch over Pinkie Pie just because she was laughing (she didn't know if she was laughing at her or not), stuffs the mail pony into a mail box for getting the wrong address due to his poor eye sight, and bucks away a tourist because he made her drop a letter on a puddle of water. Rarity and Pinkie Pie see this display and try to settle her down only to have Fluttershy verbally assault them in the meanest way ever. This is the part of the episode that was the hardest for me to watch, to tell you the truth. Fluttershy isn't just mean, she is bitter and hurtful, as she emotionally destroys them calling them banal and superfluous, and declaring their work pointless and useless being something nopony cares for. Now this is really interesting because Fluttershy insults that one thing many fans use to declare that Pinkie Pie and Rarity are worst ponies. Even to this day, with their personalities fully flexed and still getting expanded upon (with Rarity being a fashion elite in Canterlot and Pinkie Pie being the most popular pony in Ponyville), both of them are considered by the fans as some of the most shallow and flat characters in the show. Usually these complains use their interests in fashion and parties as ammunition to open holes in their personalities, which is why I find it so funny that Fluttershy, for that short period of time, channels the rage of some of the most picky fans. And then she almost drops the F word.

Next time I will use the "C" word. That's right, I will say "Canteen"!
Nah, she doesn't, but in my head she almost did! It was one of those moments where any adult fan would stop his or her brain right before the letter "F" as the muscles of their bodies lock in place due to pure reflex. Of course she just goes and says "Feather" making the released laughter from the joke sound incredibly nervous and even awkward, but don't tell me you didn't go for just one second "Wait, what!? Did she just said what!?". It makes me think on the many outtakes Andrea Libman must have needed when recording that line. I hope we never find out for the love of Luna. Besides, it doesn't really matter because this display of meanness upsets Rarity and Pinkie Pie so much they run away crying their eyes out. Fluttershy looks at her distorted image in a puddle and realises she has become something she's not, so she locks herself into her cottage to never come out. However Rarity and Pinkie Pie show up again as they are still worried for her, right when Iron Will presents himself to collect his money. Which is kind of weird, didn't he say that the program was free? Oh no, wait, he said the first lesson was free. Fluttershy has taken the whole program, now that makes sense. I haven't seen many people complaining about Iron Will's attitude, and I'm happy to join them for the following reason. Iron Will is presented as a fairly reasonable individual. He is not there to claim the money just because he's evil or mean, he is there because it's his business and according to him it went pretty well. Fluttershy is more assertive after his program and so he goes get his payment for it, fair and square. Even after tearing the boards off of the door he knocks politely on the door, that was a nice touch. Rarity and Pinkie Pie try to stop him but it's useless as their seductive or tricky ways don't work on Iron's badassery.

Seriously guys, he could only be more badass if he was on fire.
But then Fluttershy comes out and confronts Iron Will saying that she is not satisfied with the results. And because she's not satisfied she is not going to pay one bit for the course. Iron Wills blows his nose, charges at her, agrees with defeat and departs from her cottage. That whole part was perfect. Not only it portrayed Fluttershy as a more confident pony who can measure how assertive she can be, but it also portrayed Iron Will as the most reasonable antagonist this series has had. He admits his defeat. He doesn't get angry, he doesn't rage, he doesn't run away cursing or shaking his fist. He just shrugs and says "Yeah you're right. I'll be going now". Brilliant! That was really good. After that, Rarity and Pinkie go to Fluttershy and she apologises to them for being so mean. They tearfully hug and stay friends, isn't that sweet? Fluttershy then writes to Princess Celestia telling her that one pony shouldn't change the way they act in order to hold their ground and be confident. She also manages to get Angel to finish his salad with the help of The Stare.

No, not this Stare. This one only works on Bronies.
So that was "Putting your Hoof Down". How was it for me? Well, I really liked it. I thought it is good and I'd put it in the same level as "A Bird in the Hoof". For an episode revolving around Fluttershy there was also a lot of Rarity and Pinkie Pie going around. Despite it lacks half of the mane cast I really didn't miss their presence. I'm pretty sure that was an effect of focusing more on those ponies whose personalities contrast more with Fluttershy's. Pinkie is all out going and cheerful, and Rarity is sociable and, well, eye-fluttering. So it does get to me when Fluttershy grows oh so confident and downright bullies her friends, since it's something that hits me very, very, very close. You see, I am like her in many ways, and many times I do get tired of people bossing me around; or sneaking in the market line before me; or taking that one thing I wanted; or just being downright mean to me for no other reason than being mean to me. So many times I do react the wrong way and I act like a meany head, which is something that hurts both me and that person, because I am not like that. So I was sold on Fluttershy's dilemma right away. Just for how much I can relate to the characters I am giving a big seal of approval to the story. It's a subjective way to approach it I know, but when something hooks you up it hooks you up. I will say though that this is the first time we have an episode where the story is by one writer and the writing is from the other, and to tell you the truth it shows. It does feel like a Charlotte Fullerton story written by Merriwhether Williams, but that's not a bad thing, at least for me. I love both writers, hell I might be in the minority when I say that I enjoyed "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" episode. I just point it out for those who might not enjoy it the same way I do, even if it's just for all the Batman refferences.

Who got them!? Who did this!? Where's Scarecrow!?
What else did I enjoy? I love Iron Will. I really love this guy and I am sad to realise he might be a one shot character that will never show up again. He was funny, he had charisma, and he had depth. He wasn't the typical asshole who wants to take you down, he actually comes across as a reasonable guy, likable even, and that's hard to get right. As I mentioned in the comments below, I think we can all agree with the fact that he is, in no way, the villain of the piece. He is a business, uhm, minotaur who wants to get paid for succeeding at his job. If there is any villain here that's Fluttershy!  There also seems to be a running theme in the show to have the mythological creatures (gryphons, cockatrices, dragons, minotaurs) to be the antagonists and mostly be there for her to "vanquish". I also enjoyed seeing Pinkie Pie and Rarity hanging out together. I joked about it but it does seem like Studio B likes to pair them quite often. I think they do so because Pinkie and Rarity make for a great contrast and in the end the best types of friendships are those where the friends are the most different between each other, am I right? Think about it carefully. Having no song in this episode allowed me to enjoy that direct recreation of the "Eye of the Tiger" they gave to Iron Will when he first shows up, even if the rest of the music feels a bit forgettable. It was gleefully surprising to see Derpy wearing a saddle with a muffin clasp, great wink to us guys of Studio B! Fluttershy going insane and over confident brought back Psycho-Shy and Flutter-Bully and threw them together in a blender, that was cool too. And even though I know I should hate his guts I still love to hate Angel Bunny. I mean he does act like an ass in this episode, but he does because Fluttershy never stands her ground against him, but when she does he learns sometimes it's beneficial to do what she orders. Even the pets have character arcs in this series, how weird is that?

If I try to think on the bad stuff I could have a really hard time doing so, because the more I think about it the more I realised this episode didn't have any really major flaws, at least right away. There is a moment however that is really hard to watch for me, and that's when Fluttershy insults her friends (I said it's funny yeah, but I also said it was heartbreaking) making them run away in tears. I am the first one to enjoy seeing characters I love suffer that much, but this is getting downright saddistic guys. The crying counter is on the edge of blowing up this season! I bet you not we are going to have an episode which will be just twenty two minutes of ponies walking around and crying their eyes out for no reason. Without thinking too much about it (and why would you) this was a very straight forward episode that aimed to give Fluttershy an influx of personality. I guess we can call the success card on that one guys, because it worked really well. Now don't take so long for another Fluttershy episode, will you?

Oh, okay, never mind.

- Defining Moment: The dialogue between Fluttershy and Iron Will at the end of the episode which pretty much sums up into this.

Iron Will:

"Give me my money!"

Fluttershy:

"No."

Iron Will:

"Okay."

- Moral: Just because one is assertive and has a lot of confidence that doesn't need to change who he or she is, and it's definitely not an excuse to be mean to everyone. This is something I should apply more often, sometimes I get unbearable when I am over-confident.


52 comments:

  1. This is a really well written review. Good work!

    >>I don't usually comment on blogs, but when I do, it's for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic :P

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    1. Thank you very much man/woman/human/person <3!

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    2. You're quite welcome! :3

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  2. It was only after reading your review that I got the Labyrinth-Minotaur association. For me being a person that deems himself quite educated in classical mythology and history, that is a bit sad.

    Oh well. Excellent episode, great review.

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    1. Thank you!

      I'm very happy I got to remind you about the association between the Minotaur and the Labyrinth. It's surprsing to find these mythological refferences in a show about pastel colored ponies, even if they were very mean in this episode. I mean, very, very mean.

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  3. I would say that this review sums up everything in the episode quite nicely.

    For some reason I love seeing the characters of MLP being put out of their comfort zone. It brings out some of the interesting traits of their character.

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    1. It's a very interesting literally resource to use, if it's done properly. Taking the character out of his or her comfort zone in order to discover new aspects of their personality.

      I just hope they keep Fluttershy being more confident the same way they kept Dash reading books or Pinkie Pie taking care of the baby Cakes.

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  4. Awesome review as usual. I had to do a double take myself when she said "I don't give a flying feather." =P

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    1. I watched the episode when Xyro released it on YouTube, I actually re-winded to hear it again. I love when they find substitutes for swear words in kids cartoons.

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  5. Great post, and I have to agree: Iron Will is best villain. Though, there is another thing I'd like to add, and it's that this episode is a shining example of why My Little Pony stands out as a fantastic show made for kids in a sea of crappy sappy shows: The moral given.

    In a lot of kids shows, they tend to paint the world in a saccharine, unrealistic manner, and usually have unrealistic morals that would make you naive and easily taken advantage of in the real world. My Little Pony, on the other hand, acknowledges that people are going to be dicks, and that while it's a very admirable trait to be kind and nice to others, you should not let yourself be a doormat. That last detail is one that a lot of kids shows tend to miss, and it's part of what makes them overly sappy.

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    1. It's a great moral that can actually be applied to the internet. There are people who's going to act in an asshole way towards us, but we don't need to lower ourselves to their level in order to confront them. I also liked how real the whole situation felt, at least for me.

      It is indeed a great moral that everyone can apply to the real world, I totally agree with you that this is one of the reasons why this show stands out.

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  6. Wow that's all kinds of in depth, but I liked your review and I agree with you that it was a good episode, and don't worry I also didn't hate 'Mysterious Mare Do Well' and one of the reasons was the Batman references

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    1. Heeey awesome! Another MMDW fan! Bro Hoof! /)*(\

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  7. I agree with almost everything said. My heart was crushed when Fluttershy insulted Pinkie and Rarity. I didn't find it funny even a little. I'll never forgive Fluttershy. I just won't. I literally closed the computer depressed after watching the episode.

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    1. Yeah, it crushed me too, but in the end she apologizes and they make up. That's what good friends do. If anything this whole mess only made their friendship stronger, and I must say I find it really adorable the circle of friends between Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

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  8. Excellent review.

    Iron Will was pure awesomeness, a very enjoyable character.

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    1. Thank you!

      Iron Will is all shades of awesome and badass. I really hope he returns.

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  9. Well...I've already typed my thoughts on the episode, on a forum...and I don't feel like retyping.

    http://ponyvilleforums.com/topic/474-episode-45-putting-your-hoof-down-discussion/page__st__80

    But I guess I can quote for convenience's sake:

    After waiting so long for a Fluttershy episode I can't honestly say I enjoyed this one. The episode spent a lot of time in the beginning reinforcing what we already know (and is frankly obvious) about Fluttershy. She's TIMID. Watching a bunch of jerks and valley girls walk all over her doesn't really add anything to the episode.

    Then enter a mysterious delivery-goat and Iron Will. He seems cool. I love his theme song. Hope it gets a remix. Check off one more mythological creature for the Equestrian Bestiary. I liked the entire scene with him trying to train Fluttershy to be more aggressive.

    Then we settle right back into the suck. I thought we were done with Flutterbitch when Discord left. I didn't like her then and I didn't like her now. But her change in behavior DID contribute to the episode and her escalating antics were the meat of it. So I forgive them. What I really didn't like about the second half was the Pinkie & Rarity (they do like to put those two together don't they?) peanut gallery. Their one-liner comments on Fluttershy's behavior weren't funny, they didn't act like themselves really, and they just...annoyed me.

    MLP isn't supposed to annoy me. That's BAD. Fluttershy's little 'no means no' tirade at the end almost made up for it. But only almost.

    /end quote

    More specific to your review. I definitely missed the other half of the mane 6. I thought for sure it would be Pinkie and Rarity that screws things up and the others come in to save the day. Rarity and Pinkie were downright awful in this episode. They didn't have any chemistry together and they gave terrible, underhanded advice to Flutters. Boo I say. Boo.

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    1. Well the problems you had with the episode seem to be directly related to the writing, which is something we are still trying to pin point coming from Merriwether Williams. Her biggest flaw, apparently, seems to be doing OOC characters, as many (not just you) agree that she doesn't get the ponies' personalities.

      I personally didn't mind it, I find Rarity and Pinkie Pie to work well together and I like to see them forming a circle of friends with Fluttershy. But that's just my opinion of course, and I completely respect yours.

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    2. I don't usually pay attention to the writer on any particular episode. But you may be right on this one. Looking back at the episodes she's written (thanks Wikipedia) it's pretty clear that there's a correlation between my dislike of an episode and her participation.

      I didn't object to their Rarity and Pinkie's inclusion in this episode. But the way they were portrayed was...well, it made Fluttershy's rude comments seem almost justified. A real lack of nuance to their pesonalities.

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    3. There you go, maybe she just needs some more time. She is a new commer to the team, we should allow her a few more episodes before judging. It takes a while getting used to all the quirks that other people wrote for these characters (trust me I know, I write fanfiction and my editors always tell me to fix OOC stuff).

      I see what you mean now with their behavior. Yeah, it actually makes Fluttershy's anger seem justified, but her bitterness is not. However I also find out that Rarity flawnting over that nerd pony was quite awkward, though I see her as the type of character who would do that.

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  10. I'd like to add something as well. Many of the commenters on this episode missed this but Iron Will actually got something out of this at the end. Not in bits, but in a potential new catchphrase from Fluttershy when she told him, "No, means no."

    So there you go! Possibly the first antagonist to leave with a little something other than nothing. NOW BRING TRIXIE BACK. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!

    Oh, and why can Iron Will walk around with a dainty little white shopping basket? Because he can, fool.

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    1. That is correct, Iron Will did learn something in the end, even if it only served him for new catchphrases. I'm not american, but I heard there are people like him everywhere in radio stations and TV channels.

      Iron Will can make anything look manly, even holding a pink pony ;D

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  11. About what you say, being a man, that you are like Fluttershy, let me tell you. Welcome to my herd, I also consider myself like Fluttershy and I am quite proud of the fact. I uaually don't like to stand up by myself. The fact that Rarity and Pinkie Pie are trying to teach her how to be assertive reminds me a little the way my friends try to make more assertive, and those ways are a little lame, like being flirtatious or just being wacky.
    The meltdown Fluttershy suffers by being so cold hearted with her friends, like everypony have said, is pretty heartbreaking, even though her declarations are a little justified. What I do when I see those kind of scenes is to go back for similar references and in this case I found a similar scene in The Simpsons when Ned Flanders in his meltdown began to belittle and shout at everyone around him and for the first time ever insults Homer justifiably for being the worst neighbor ever; but that still paled considerably comparing it with Fluttershy's meltdown.

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    1. My famly tries to make me be assertive by acting rude and insulting with people. I want to atribute that to the fact that we are spaniards.

      Her breakdown and the breakdown she causes in Rarity and Pinkie Pie break my heart. It's really hard to watch. I remember that scene in The Simpsons, there seems to be a trope going on about shy characters who suddenly break and start spouting their bitterness all over the place because, like everyone else, they need to vent.

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    2. Yeah, you are right about the need to vent. About Iron Will, he was the best "antagonist" in MLP: FIM, I think he was even better than the Flim Flam brothers, especially in being business savvy. The voice was just excellent, is the voice i really want even though I could freak everyone with that voice. By the way I am Mexican and from my country I always being fascinated with the Spaniard accent and the insults the Spaniards say I found them spicy and not of bad taste as here in Mexico. Such as "Guilipollas", "a la mierda", "cojones". But you are right when you say Spaniards can be a little arrogant and rude. I hope this doesn't insult you.

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    3. Oooh it doesn't insult me man XD WE are rude, and we are very arrogant, it must be coded in our DNA.

      I think Iron Will is the best antagonist of the show, and I personally couldn't stand the Flim Flam brothers. I'm sorry but they made Applejack and Twilight cry. That is unforgiveable XD

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  12. I agree with this review. Honestly the only thing I disagree with is Iron Will being villain when I don't think he is. I believe the true villain of the piece is Fluttershy herself.

    I can see why people are annoyed with angel but as a cat owner I sympathize because I know how finicky my fuzzies get when the food isn't to their standards.

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    1. I call Iron Will a villain but then I retract myself and start using the word antagonist, but even that is not good enough for him. He is a bussiness, uhm, minotaur? Whatever, he is a very interesting character, I'm sad to realize that he might not return again.

      I have two cats, and if the food isn't fresh from the store they won't want it XD

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    2. My granpa had a saying 'leave the food down long enough and they'll eat it'.

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  13. Well this is the first review I've ever read for pretty much anything.
    I will say I DEFINITELY enjoyed it, and will be reading more in the future!

    :)

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    1. Thanks a bunch! :D

      I will look forward to your comments <3

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  14. Yup, a pretty good review. I wrote a wall of text of my own on Ponychan, feel free to check it if you feel like it, link here. Please note that the thread is pretty big, so it might take a while to load on slower machines...(If it doesn't automatically go to the right post, ctrl+F for 36237276. It continues in the post after that one, too.)

    Anyways, I pretty much agree with your review even though there are some things I disagree with. For example I don't think you can say it's no surprise ponies in Ponyville treat Flutters the way they did because she is a pushover. Even if one can take advantage of someone it doesn't mean they should or that it's acceptable to do so.

    The other thing I disagree with is calling Iron Will a villain or even the antagonist. You did clarify in the comments that you think they might not be fitting words, though. I think the antagonist here is New Fluttershy. She is the villain of the piece, Iron Will was just something that pushed her towards that without no ill intent. How I saw Iron Will, he was just doing his business and thought it helped ponies, which it probably did. Flutters just took it too literally and went too far. He did sound surprised when somepony said his program wasn't satisfactory which makes it seem to me that he has had lots of satisfied customers before.

    Also, about MWW. This episode does show some of the same problems that were present in MMDW, namely changing the setting to fit the story. Note that I'm not saying either MMDW or this episode were bad, no. I liked this episode and MMDW was okay-good for me despite it's issues. You addressed my biggest problem with this episode in your review already, the ponies seemingly being jerks to Fluttershy, which is a big change from the Ponyville we've seen before. To me it looks like they were changed to fit the story but it might be just me.

    Anyways, you did a good review as always, looking forward to the next one next week!

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    1. Hey there! I checked your "Wall of text" as you call it. It's unfair calling our reviews "Walls of text". A wall is usually something that says nothing and gives you nothing, reviews aren't that XD

      I guess I worded it the wrong way. However I bet they were going for a more comedic take on the whole thing and so they amped the cartooniness of their personalities, so that's why every pony was a jerk to her.

      Yeah, I shouldn't have used villain or antagonist. Like you said Fluttershy is a bigger baddy than he is.

      We are a lenient fandom though, and we saw MWW can do good episodes (Hearths Warming Eve was really good), so we can keep forgiving her mistakes until she polishes them.

      Thanks for checking my reviews <3 I really appreciate your feedback!

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    2. I meant nothing special with wall of text, only that it really was a long one. Didn't know it had negative connotations. Thank you for plowing through mine. :)

      Yeah, the comedy part was mentioned in Ponychan, too. I do see why it was done the way it was and it did work fine. I just think it could have been done better.

      Lenient... Yeah, more or less. There are issues with the fandom but we should be able to forgive still. Forgiving doesn't mean we can't point the mistakes out, though. :D She can indeed write good episodes, she just has her problems she needs to polish, just like you said.

      Thank you for answering, I'll try to give some good feedback next week. :)

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  15. What? No Hulk reference? Funny when the characters become what they are afraid to be, they immediately think of hiding from the problem will solve it.

    Twilight hides her use of magic against Trixie, Rarity wanting to go into exile, Pinkie hiding behind imaginary friends, Applejack runs off to be a cherry picker, Rainbow hides behind a brave face, and Fluttershy tied to a chair afraid to unleash her rage. All scared to face the truth at first.

    Love the review. As a Pinkie Pie fan, I didn't really notice other people saw Pinkie's love for parties as a major flaw for her character. I thought her extreme random crazy nature was her flaw.

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    1. I didn't catch the refference, maybe because it was subtle enough to pass under my radar. I also think it's a very human emotion present in quite a lot of people who are insecure. It happens with me, as soon as I see something changing in me I need to isolate myself from the rest of the world so I don't hurt anybody.

      As for Pinkie's love for parties is not a flaw of her, not at all, but some fans did mention it's her way to hide all her insecurity, and that in the end it comes across as shallow and flat. Of course that's fans being meany heads, like Fluttershy during this episode.

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  16. As always, I thoroughly enjoyed both the content and the effort you put into making this review. Thanks, and keep up the good work.

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    1. Thank you! :D I will keep it up until the end of the season!

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  17. To start, I'll just copypaste something I wrote for another review (note all agreements/disagreements are directed at that review, not yours), as it says most of what I want to say:

    "I personally adore Fluttershy; she's tied with Rainbow Dash for my favorite pony, and I have to disagree that she's taken out of character so much. In fact, the way you put it, it sounds like you're overlooking a facet of her character, but I digress.

    I would agree that she is OOC in this episode though. I find this episode's quality only middling at best, and I think I can identify the reason: Merriwhether Williams tends to write the characters by taking one of their traits to the absolute extreme, and trying to play humor off of that. However, it just falls flat. I'm saddened by this because I was hoping for a great Fluttershy episode. It's painfully obvious that this writer wrote for Spongebob, and I do not mean that in a good way.

    This episode does have its saving grace in Iron Will however. I really enjoyed his character, and I totally agree with you that he was given poor treatment. He actually came off as the nicest guy in the episode, and I can't think he was actually the antagonist. He was simply a supporting character to help drive the plot; it was Fluttershy herself who was the antagonist as well as the protagonist.

    All of that said, I enjoyed all of the references, and I especially enjoyed all of the shout-outs the animators gave us."

    Now, you've noted already that MW does not write the characters as in-character as would be ideal, and I believe it's probably due to the writing style she used for Spongebob, as that type of humor worked for that show. However, it doesn't work so well here. I did enjoy to some extent both this episode and MMDW, but both have more than one scene that are downright cringeworthy.

    Now, as for Hearth's Warming Eve, I think the fact that she technically did not do much writing for the mane 6 and was instead writing for characters the mane 6 were simply surrogates for made that problem much less apparent. While I hate to say it, that episode does not convince me that MW is capable of writing truly fantastic episodes, as while she's good at writing NEW characters (Iron Will being my new favorite one-off character being testament to that), she simply does not have a grasp on writing the mane 6 properly.

    As always though, I enjoyed your review.

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    1. You are absolutely correct on Merriwhether Williams' biggest flaw. Rainbow Dash was ultra brass and cocky in "The Mysterious Mare-do-Well" and Fluttershy was over timid (and then over meany) in this one. Thanks for clearing that one out ^_^

      I am going to add an addendum to the review right after writing this explaining that I shouldn't have called Iron Will an antagonist ^_^;

      I do think Merriwether Williams should give the stories and allow other writers to write them. I wondered what would have been of the MMDW episode if it had been written by M.A. Larson.

      Thanks for checking out my review!

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    2. Yeah, I would love to see another writer's take on MMDW.

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  18. Huh. I marvel at the fact that this episode seems to split the fandom right down the middle - but then I marveled at the seemingly unanimous adoration that "A Friend in Deed" got, until I realized that even with the number of sites I visit, I will always see only a fraction of the opinions going round (for starters, does anyone except The Hub actually bother to record the opinions of the main target audience?).

    Me, personally? I loved this episode, though I can't bring myself to call it great. Good, certainly; great, no. And I think the commenters have already put the finger on the main problem: the overdrawn, near-caricature characters (Iron Will garners a pass here, because he wouldn't have worked any other way, and he was great as he was).

    Also, this episode does share a problem with its immediate predecessor: do we need character-establishing stuff like this two thirds of the way into season 2? The entire first third of this episode was superfluous; everything we got from it we got better from "Dragonshy". This kind of material is fine when it breaks new ground (as has happened quite a lot this season for the Apple family), but repeating things we know about the characters without adding to them? Not necessary at this point. The personalities are in place, people; now do something interesting with them (which, admittedly, this episode did in its later stages; Fluttershy's assertiveness at the end is definitely a character trait I'd like to see more of).

    General verdict: 3/4 stars. Good, with some lovely character work, but also some very subtle-as-a-brick-to-the-face bits.

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    1. Whoops. The above comment was written by me - note to self: learn the difference between "Anonymous" and "Name/URL"! ;)

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    2. Thank you for checking out my review!

      I absolutely see your complain about including character development stuff this late into the series that doesn't add more to what we already know. But you have to understand the dinamic of this cartoon. Each episode must be watchable by itself. You can perfectly watch this episode without needing to watch other episodes about Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie or Rarity, because we are told a lot about each character. That's one of the good things about Friendship is Magic, being able to watch the episode out of order.

      But yes, I totally see your point and I will back you up for it. There's too much shy Fluttershy in this episode. Maybe cutting a couple of minutes of it would've make things flow better.

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  19. If you dont like people cutting lines, come to britain

    everyone loves queueing, its like our national pastime

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    1. Oh man, Spain loves its lines too. Anywhere you go, there is a line. It's guaranteed.

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  20. just found your reviews and gotta say been enjoying each and every one of them.Its nice to have some in depth level headed analysis that isn't biased in some way or another. keep up the awesome work!

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    1. Thank you!

      I try to keep them level headed mostly because I can't have any other kind of approach when talking about colorful ponies ^_^;

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  21. Great review.

    One of my Fluttershy focused episodes.

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