White Lightning Productions

A good adventure episode. Points for the focus on Luna and a decent plot (*sigh* no, as in storyline). Could have done with a little less fan service, though. Also...does Big Mac dream about being a pretty princess or a male alicorn?

It appears the second half of Season 5 is on hiatus for an as of yet undisclosed length of time. Great. That's all we need after that between seasons pony famine: a mid season pony famine.

Probably a consequence of the Friendship Games. Blah.

It appears September 13th is when the rest of Season 5 will resume. I guess that wasn't too bad of a wait. I still maintain that they'd get the episodes out quicker if they dropped this Equestria Girls bollocks but that's obviously not gonna happen.

...What the?

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/08/f ... -alls.html

I finally got around to watching the trailers and promo vids for Friendship Games. Double you tee eff is going on here?

From what little I can comprehend it seems like it's based on yet another silly competition just like the first two, only this time with Canterlot High Wondercolts against the Shadowbolts from ...whatever this world's version of The Crystal Empire is called. It's getting harder and harder to understand the point of all this. The Lyra and Bon Bon promo is random as hell and the Photo Finish one literally explains nothing.

Seriously, why is this EG stuff continuing? They're not funny, original, or even good. The only purpose they seem to serve is to humanize every last character and revisit every joke and meme that's already been done, only poorly.

I think I may need to give this one a miss. That or have plenty of rum handy.

Canterlot Boutique

I'm not sure what the friendship lesson was supposed to be. Do what you find fun, not just what's most profitable? Do what your boss tells you? Refuse business to fatties?

Nonetheless I liked it. Rarity is well on her way towards becoming the rich debutante of the Mane 6. I also like the design of Sassy Saddles. Though I do wonder what it is about Canterlot that causes most of the population to be unicorns.

Normally, I like Rarity-centric episodes, but I'm kinda lukewarm on this one. I think the musician Voltaire did a better job conveying this theme/lesson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRce8HzHuoM

Rarity Investigates!

Really? Two Rarity episodes in a row? Well I guess it's okay since the plots were rather different. I liked it for the cheesy black and white film noir quality, and for how Rarity was sometimes caught thinking out loud to herself. I don't think we've really had much Raridash interaction before. It was like a Battle of the Hams. Oh, and bonus points for Spitfire's mom, or 'mum' according to Rarity.

THIS is the kind of Rarity episode I like. And noir MLP? 'Nough said! I was smiling and laughing throughout nearly the entirety of this episode. 8.5/10!

More evidence that Rarity is the best pony.

Canterlot Boutique: nice idea, but really lousy execution. The story as written depends on Rarity hiring someone to manage her boutique not only sight unseen, but with ZERO COMMUNICATION BEFORE THE OPENING. And then, despite it being blatantly obvious that her manager isn't on the same wavelength, she lets her continue destroying her dream. There could have been a great episode built around, "Don't let someone else hijack your dream and ruin it," but this definitely wasn't it.

Rarity Investigates, on the other hand, was excellent- a laugh riot from beginning to end. My only complaint is that the voice acting for Spitfire was really, really terrible- painful to hear.

Extra bonus points for NON-IDENTICAL-TWIN ROYAL GUARDS!

Someone needs to draw/write a parody of Rarity as from Blazing Saddles.

Better yet, as from The Producers.

When you got it, flaunt it.

Well, really, didn't Pinkie Pie do Filly Von Shtupp in the first season?

The last episode was so bland and forgettable I'm not even going to bother posting about it...

...wait a minute.

Just watched it and yeah, kind of agree with Happygun on this one. It was just so straight laced and in-character. So much of the writing was so redundant that the whole episode felt like filler.

Watching Equestria Girls: Friendship Games right now. I might pen a full review later on, but for now I'll just make a single observation/criticism.

Verisimilitude.

MLP:FiM has more verisimilitude than the Friendship Games.

Yes. A world of flying magical ponies who control the weather and raise the sun has more verisimilitude than this, if only because it makes sense in its own consistent narrative frame. AND the characters behave and react in a logical, intelligent, realistic way*. Equestria Girls is somehow more Sunnydale than Sunnydale. Oh, magic, Tuesdays, bleh. Oh wait, magic isn't real here and it's a genuinely amazing, world-changing phenomenon. Oh wait, no big deal, the wonder has worn off after thirty seconds. I'm probably a minority in disliking the movie(s) for this but dear G'HOD it sticks in my craw.**

The climax was awesome, though.

*Comparatively speaking.
*Seriously, reality-defying magic that could make the school/region world famous and the evil principle barely reacts beyond saying it's unfair and convincing Twilight to use it to get an advantage in the games? Disney villains are better than her!

Here's something a little more exciting and interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiTKQLgk8Xo

The Mane6 are back, baby! And they are awesome!

Brotherhooves Social

All I can really say at the moment is that I was really hoping it would turn out that cousin Orchard Blossom was real and that Big Mac was still gonna wander in later.

Holy balls! They went there! They brought back cartoon characters in ridiculous drag! And it worked. I couldn't sit through the whole thing...kept laughing my ass off.

And the ending...awesomely emotional.

I just came to the sudden, slightly uncomfortable realization that Pinkie Pie is a Mormon.