Yeah, there's a bunch of versions of that song on youtube, pony and non-pony. Applejack has the best one.

 

Episode 14 1080p.

Great episode! One of the best yet. Lots of fanservice for the bronies too.

Spoiler

Derpy is canon and talks. The fandom exploded.

Pinkie Pie gets right back on the funny horse after the last episode.

Some pretty great Rainbow Dash moments too.

 

I think that more than made up for the last episode. /co/ is of course frothing at the mouth that Derpy is... pretty much exactly how they always thought she was.

I've always preferred the Ditzy Doo name, because "Derpy" always makes me think of Reddit and 9gag and the like with their retarded memes, but whatever.

I think this episode also showed for certain that Pinkie works best when interacting with others. She was far better in this episode than in her standalone. Hopefully the writers will keep that in mind for the future.

On the other hand, she might have overshadowed the rest of the cast.

And holy shit, do NOT break a Pinkie Promise.

 

Haha, yeah, that was a pretty great moment. Pretty much all her moments were great though.

Episode 18 is said to be another Pinkie Pie episode, so I'm a bit between hope and fear for that one, seeing as I agree with your analysis.

 

Yeah, pretty good episode. Am still loving the pony puns like Wildbuck Hickock.

Agree with the thoughts on Pinkie Pie.

 

Another vote for Pinkie being at her most hilarious. Honestly, it is a bit of a shame that, while this was an Applejack-centric episode, Derpy and Pinkie really wound up overshadowing her. Then again, for a lot of the fans nothing AJ could possibly have done would outweigh Derpy becoming canon.

Well, next episode is also supposed to be another AJ-centered one, so hopefully she'll have a bit more time to shine.

Edit: New avatar is 20% Derpier.

 

So apparently some fans are angered by the fact that Derpy had about a fifteen to twenty second scene. Apparently, Studio B is now pandering to the fans. Personally, I'm of the opinion that this was another wink at the fandom, so to speak. Just like that episode where Derpy had dropped a bunch of boxes and furniture from a moving cart.

As for the episode, it was sort of meh for me. I can understand Applejack being embarrassed about not making first place, but we're talking about the pony who represents the Element Of Honesty. To mislead her friends like that, even if out of embarrassment, just felt off to me. I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into the show and I should just accept the fact that it's a cartoon.

Also, I agree with Chengar. Pinkie did outshine Applejack here, and the same goes for Derpy. As was said a few pages back, however, it's not that hard to outshine Applejack when for the most part she's the most level-headed of the group, so she just sort of fades into the background.

 

Applejack being less than completely honest didn't really bug me; she might be the Element of Honesty, but she isn't perfect. We've seen her outright lie before, and she was still really bad at it in this episode.

Plus, we've seen in the past that she has a competitive streak and "Applebuck Season" was all about how she would rather run herself ragged than let other ponies down. Her reacting badly to the double-whammy of losing and letting down all the people who were expecting her to win (and need the prize money from a first-place finish) seems consistent with her previous behavior.

To expand a bit more on that idea, I think part of Applejack's issue with being outshone is the role she ends up taking in the group. Baby Cakes showed that Pinkie is at her best when she has other characters to bounce off of. Applejack is somewhat the same way, except that she's more of a catalyst; instead of being better by bouncing off other characters, she makes other characters better by being there for them to bounce off of.

The Straight Man is an important role, but does tend to be a bit underappreciated

 

Speaking of Straight Men, have you ever watched Inside The Actor's Studio? Especially when there's people like Robin Williams or Conan O'Brian there. My god, James Lipton has to be the world's greatest straight man.

OT: I agree with you, to a certain extent. However, at the same time, I thought that Applejack learned from "Applebuck Season" that her friends wouldn't think any less of her if she asked for help?

Then again, winning the Ponyville Blue Ribbons was a point of pride for her, and then to go on to Canterlot and be beaten after the send-off she got probably was embarrassing. So, I just convinced myself that you're right.

Seeing Applebloom reminded me of the fact that while the CMC as characters are decent for humor, I don't like them as central to an episode. Also, when are they going to realize their talents? I mean, it's shown plain as day in the one episode with the talent show, but it's like they're ignorant of the fact that the things they're skilled at is more than the ordinary.

Oh, and can anybody explain to me why Lyra, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch have such a huge fan following? I can, to a certain extent, understand Dr. Whooves, but at the same time, these are background ponies. Then again, Derpy was a background pony.

 

If I had to guess, it's that the background ponies that really take off with the fans generally have some sort of striking visual design and/or an interesting character trait, while also remaining open-ended enough to allow the fans to have some fun bringing in their own ideas. Most fandoms will take an interest in a character who's attention-grabbing and has a rough character outline, while still leaving plenty of room for creativity/interpretation.

What's interesting about the MLP:FiM fandom is that it can crank out and come to a rough consensus on Fanon at an impressive rate, so a lot of the background ponies actually end up getting a lot of fanon character traits and even have a rough fanon consensus on what they think of the other various ponies (try to find a work featuring Lyra and Bon Bon that doesn't have them as close friends/ships them).

 

Someone want to tell me why this episode isn't going to be called "Reading Rainbow?" Because that would be the perfect title.

 

Probably would've caused legal complications, since according to a Wiki-check the TV show by that name was cranking out new episodes until a couple years ago, is still showing re-runs, and there's apparently plans in the works to bring it back.

Which is a pity, because that would be the perfect title. Have to admit, I like the idea behind that episode too, but that might just be down to the fact that I'm a huge reading-junkie.

 

EDIT: This is apparently the Italian opening for MLP. It's pretty awesome.
EDIT 2: Replaced the Derpy picture with a less-sad one.

 

Beat me to it.

Edit: as a replacement. multi-language openings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ2PjfL_ZX8&feature=related

 

I tried watching an episode in Dutch once.

Once.

I really don't get why so many countries decided to trade in excellent voice actors for sounding fucking weird. Aparantly a southern accent translates to talking with rocks in your throat in many languages.

 

Couple fun youtube vids:

Rainbow Dash Presents: Cupcakes. Turning Cupcakes from dark gory horror to utterly hilarious.

Turnabout Storm. Here's an oddball; it was originally going to be a fanfic, but then they made a fan-movie out of it instead. Only two parts out of four are done though, and part two ends on a cliffhanger.

 

This is a good one, saw it a couple days ago. Never actually played a Phoenix Wright game, though the judge seems familiar. Anyways - funny; definitely recommend it.

 

Holy Shit an Epic Meal Time parody with ponies to steal from Friendship is Witchcraft it's so rainbow. Also if you haven't already read it Fallout: Equestria is and excellent fanfic and is highly recommended.

 

New episode (low quality, but the high quality version isn't up yet).

I thought the beginning and the end were funny, but the middle was fairly predictable and didn't have very much to draw me in. The song was... meh. Not very memorable at all. I didn't have high hopes for this episode in the first place, so I'm not all that disappointed. Hopefully next week's will be good though, I like the premise for it.