My Little Repeats 192: "The Washouts"

The facial expressions are great in this ep: strong without being overdone

S8E20: "The Washouts"

8 Sep 2018

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.2

The one with the limited edition half-eaten tomato sandwich

Thoughts: Nick Confalone is usually a decent choice for a Cutie Mark Crusaders episode, in this case a Scootaloo special, and so it proves here. We have a clearly "rebellious teen" Scoots here, and it largely works. She's no longer obsessed with Rainbow Dash, and that's leaving Dash herself confused and somewhat bereft – obvious analogy of course, but again it largely works. Lightning Dust's part was apparently spoiled in 2018, but you could guess it was coming. It makes no sense that Scoot didn't know about Dusty, though, given "Parental Glideance". Mind you, Scootaloo was superbly animated in her "caught in the middle" role during Dash and Lightning's argument. And, of course, her "I... can't fly!" which was quite something for us fans at the time. Dusty's sidekicks, the Aussie (why?) Rolling Thunder and the well-named Short Fuse, are... mildly fun. Spitfire's rant was inspired by this SNL sketch, and SNL isn't an "everyone will get this" reference in the UK. Twilight, where's the, well, loyalty to Rainbow? And why are you waiting until Scootaloo is potentially going to die before acting? Sod personal responsibility for teenagers at that point. the episode again looks fantastic, with heaps of inventiveness in the stunt setups. A fun episode, but there are enough irritations that four stars was too high. One of those is being cut.

Choice quote: Rainbow Dash, to Twilight: "Please tell me you got that stuff so you could rip it up and throw it off a cliff."

New rating:★★★

Another decent score, and though not without its flaws this episode was enjoyable enough for me to feel good about having watched it again. Next up is "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place", an ep which may have a bit more to do. I'm not that interested in the Pillars on the whole

My Little Repeats 185: Rollercoaster of Friendship

Look, just be grateful I resisted the temptation to use a pic where they're gazing into each other's eyes!

Rollercoaster of Friendship

6 Jul 2018

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.7

The one with Megan Williams

Thoughts: This just got a three-star score from me first time out. It's where we encounter villain/antagonist Vignette Valencia, who by chance got a look-in last Ponyfic Roundup. Amazingly, a seven-year-old cartoon's social media stuff doesn't come across as unbearably prehistoric now; nice work, Nick Confalone. Valencia's zapping phone thing is silly, but that's okay. The solution to the "white room" problem, though, is idiotically stupid and a significant mark against the special. Vignette reforms much too quickly and easily, but the end song is okay if not amazing. Mostly, though, Rollercoaster of Friendship is remembered for the RariJack shipteasing, of which there is plenty almost from the word go. Just a little FlutterDashing on the side, too. Other notes: (some) Americans pronouncing "caramel" as two syllables always gets me. Vignette's dog being called "Yas Queen" is... strange. The ponying up late on is pointless, but apparently Hasbro demanded it, so... I think my overall view is the same: not quite as good as Forgotten Friendship, but though bitty and imperfect it is still quite fun – and so it maintains its rating as a low-end three.

Choice quote: Sunset: "It's not about the parakeet!"

New rating: ★★★

Unlike in 2018, I don't now have to wait ages for the next Friendship is Magic episode, which is nice. As I said last time, in strict release order the next ep would be "Yakity-Sax" – but although I did watch it early back then, pretty much everyone places it at E18 nowadays. That being so, I will have to put off the misery experience for another time. "A Matter of Principles" will be next on this blog.

My Little Repeats 181: "The Break Up Break Down"

Aw, even matching wrapping paper!

S8E10: "The Break Up Break Down"

19 May 2018

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with cool leanings

Thoughts: This was a much-needed tonic after the mess of the last episode. I'm usually not a huge fan of romance being brought to the fore in Friendship is Magic, but this story is very enjoyable. You do have to accept one or two clichés, not least Big Mac and Sugar Belle repeatedly managing to miss the simple explanation, but that aside it's fun. The Guys Night stuff is entertaining and it's always nice for Peter New to get to talk a bit. The pacing is without the long saggy periods that some episodes suffer. There's some nice dialogue, especially between Discord and Spike; and the animators managed to sneak a few same-sex couples into the celebrations (one of them especially prominent!) without US TV bursting into flames. The CMC subplot was a little more ordinary, and it's a slight stretch that nopony thought of the other "Belle" given the setup. But hay, we got a Derpy cameo! It's possibly a tad over-generous to give this a four, but I smiled a lot, so it's keeping that rating.

Choice quote: Discord: "Please! Can't you see that that holiday is a commercialised ruse pushed on you by the greeting card industry?"

New rating: ★★★★

Well, that was quite an improvement on "Non-Compete Clause"! Next time, it'll be "Molt Down", which apart from annoying my spellchecker (and me) because of the title's US spelling isn't an episode I dislike much. I can't remember much beyond the very broad-brush details, though.

My Little Repeats 176: Forgotten Friendship

For my original review of Forgotten Friendship, I saw the 44-minute TV edit since that's all that existed at the time! This time around, I watched the slightly extended version Hasbro uploaded to YouTube,¹ which can be a pain to find since it's listed under the alternative title Most Likely To Be Forgotten. Since almost nobody in the fandom ever uses that name to refer to either version, I'm sticking with Forgotten Friendship here.
¹ Albeit only in 720p...

"Review? What, like a behaviour review?"

Forgotten Friendship

17 Feb 2018 (original 44-minute TV edit)

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.3

The one with edible sunscreen

Thoughts: Well, like most Brits I don't care about high school yearbooks, but this special mostly overcomes that. Wallflower Blush isn't the most thrilling antagonist (though she does rather grow on me as time goes alone) and the Memory Stone being in CHS-world in the first place is a tad convenient, but get past that and the slightly tedious beach/photo stuff and the story clips along. Sunset Shimmer's meeting with Celestia – in Equestria, which was A Big Deal when this special came out – is memorable. She also has the toughest time, being treated after the memory spell as though her reformation didn't happen. Meanwhile Trixie surely revels in her enormously enjoyable role, and Sunset and her work nearly as well together as Trixie and Starlight do in Friendship is Magic. Convenient discovery of Clover's last page is convenient. "Invisible" is the better of the two songs, but neither are out-and-out smashes. I enjoyed this, though in truth a four is a little too generous. Nudging this down to a high three – which, let's not forget, is still a comfortably above-average score. Nick Confalone done good.

Choice quote: Sunset: "Princess Celestia has a sense of humour? Looks like I'm not the only one who's changed."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, it'll be back to Friendship is Magic and an episode that's held a place as one of my favourites from S8 ever since I first saw it: "Surf and/or Turf". I'm fairly confident I'll still like it, but I can't be absolutely sure until I actually re-view and review!

My Little Repeats 174: "Fake It 'Til You Make It"

"Call us that again and you'll be finding out just what carnivora means!"

S8E04: "Fake It 'Til You Make It"

7 Apr 2018

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 7.1

The one with thread counting

Thoughts: This was Josh Hamilton's fourth and last Friendship is Magic writing credit. Back then I was rather irritated by it, since it didn't give me the Fluttershy/Rarity friendshipping episode I really wanted. But on its own merits? Well, it has its pluses. There is some F/R stuff early on that's very nice, and Flutters' personas are quite amusing even if the joke is stretched out for too long and eventually makes her quite dislikeable. The episode looks really nice, as they usually do by this point in the show's run. The team had pretty much tamed Flash by S8, it seems. Most notably of all, Andrea Libman gives us an absolute masterclass in voice acting. Now, this is still a long way from being a really fantastic episode. Some of the setup is shaky – it's been canon since "Suited for Success" that 'Shy does know her fashion – and not even mentioning Coco felt bizarre in this setting. Also, the usual School of Friendship issue: how come the other Manes can just zip over to Manehattan at the drop of a hat? So, it's got some good things, quite a few in fact, but it doesn't quite hang together well. As such, while I'm nudging this up to the top of the two-star band, I don't think it quite has enough smoothness to get over the line to a three.

Choice quote: Customer: "This store is a desperate wasteland of nothingness. Do you have anything in black?"

New rating: ★★

Next up, "Grannies Gone Wild". Other than some slightly tedious sniggering about its title, I can't remember a lot about this one. I seemed to quite like it six years ago, though, so here's hoping I like it again!

My Little Repeats 173: "The Maud Couple"

"Technically, that's not your mane."

S8E03: "The Maud Couple"

31 Mar 2018

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.0

The one with the vision board

Thoughts: And finally, My Little Repeats is back! I do get just a little bit tired of the well-worn cliché wherein someone (Maud in this case) repeatedly tries to say something, another someone (Pinkie) cuts her off, but instead of just yelling she lets it go and allows the whole thing to drag on. I did like the sisterly bonding between the Pies in this episode, especially the nice scene at the rock farm, and although it was a stupid joke I still laughed at Opposite Twilight's "I never learned to read." Part of my problem with this episode was that Mudbriar just isn't very likeable. That early scene in the shop just makes him look like a prat. He's better in a future episode, but that doesn't help this one. Mudbriar irritated me almost as much as he did Pinkie on occasion, although Pinkie herself was annoying at times, especially early on. The episode did look very appealing, with rich backgrounds of a sort that wouldn't have been there a few seasons earlier. The ending with the surprise party Maud didn't have to go to was a nice touch, too. On the whole, though, I didn't really find it all that funny. I think a top-end two is closer to my current feelings than the low-end three I gave this last time.

Choice quote: Maud: "How was my... timing?"

New rating: ★★

Next up, "Fake It 'Til You Make It", which wasn't exactly my favourite Fluttershy episode of all time. Let's see whether I've softened my opinion in the last six years.

My Little Repeats 147: "Rock Solid Friendship"

"And I know that my harp will go on..."

S7E04: "Rock Solid Friendship"

29 Apr 2017

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.2

The one with "Land of Hope and Glory" (well, ish)

Thoughts: In 2017 I enjoyed this episode, especially the Maud/Starlight scenes, and as you'd expect from a Nick Confalone episode there was some funny dialogue too. However, Pinkie's portrayal really grated. Not much has changed this time around. I still like the chemistry between Maud and Starlight, and I'm a bit sad that didn't really go anywhere; I suppose Trixie took up all Glimmy's time. The backstory about Our Town is still a "whoa" moment. Pinkie is, yes, still really irritating and my least favourite part of the episode. That massive cavern is still pretty stupid. You know, some of these thoughts have been getting long recently, but this one? Not so much. Little has changed. Still a top-end three.

Choice quote: Maud: "It's a rock-based decision."

New rating: ★★★

Next on the list is "Fluttershy Leans In". I don't always get on with late-series Fluttershy episodes, and this was decidedly not a favourite the first time around. I'll be surprised if it makes a big jump upwards.

My Little Repeats 134: "Dungeons & Discords"

This whole scene is packed with fun references

S6E17: "Dungeons & Discords"

27 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.0

The one with Josephine Baker pone

Thoughts: Guys' Night, eh? In a female-dominated society like Equestria, this seems a fair counterpart to Earthly "Girls' Night" events. It's quite a fun watch, and one of Discord's better late-series appearances. The pre-credits scene with Fluttershy is good fun, "Opposite" and otherwise. Actually, the whole episode is good fun, aided by Nick Confalone's really amusing dialogue, the usual excellent voice acting and some really funny visual gags. "Ogres & Oubliettes" both sends up and pays tribute to Dungeons & Dragons – possibly some overly serious D&D players got irritated, but I'd consider that a plus. The segment where Discord brings the game to life is also great (if a little scary) viewing. All in all, a massive improvement on Discord's last big episode ("What About Discord?") and a really entertaining ep all round. It's not perfect – the "electric shock" scene is a little too Looney Tunes and feels mean-spirited for this show even from Discord. But we have a good Discord episode and a good Spike episode and a fun Fluttershy support act and parsnips. This time I'm pushing an episode's rating up a star. It gets a four now.

Choice quote: Discord: "Fun with sidekicks?"

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Buckball Season". I had a lot of affection for it last time round, and I'm really hoping that's still the case now.

My Little Repeats 126: "The Saddle Row Review"

"What do they mean, 'Final Demand'?"

S6E09: "The Saddle Row Review"

21 May 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.7

The one with glow-in-the-dark teeth

Thoughts: Back to a non-musical episode, but a very popular one and deservedly so. Arguably Nick Confalone's peak for MLP writing, though some might make a case for Forgotten Friendship, "The Saddle Row Review" is a lot of fun despite being set in Manehattan, which by this time was getting too much attention for my liking. Very much a Mane Six ep (no Starlight or Spike), it's full of great dialogue and is one of the most amusing episodes of this era of the show. It even has a rare example of "Here is a meme for you" actually working, with the fandom producing a variety of remixes of Twilight's "Sweep" song. Plaid Stripes is less irritating to me than she was first time around, but her "I am Foreign-Accented Dodgy Landlord" father is more so; I guess they cancel out. Saying "DJ Pon-3" out in full three times is annoying as all hay, though, and the raccoons aren't as interesting as the episode thinks they are. Nor will I ever think "Miss Pommel" sounds right, and I'm sure DHX hated to have to lose "Coco". Still, there are so many fun bits: the Pinkie clone, Pinkie (again) pushing the bill over, "You're not writing this down, are you?", the J. Jonah Jameson guy, "NO SPOILERS!", and so on and so on. The unusual structure works, and all in all this is a very entertaining episode. I'm very happy for it to keep its (strong) four-star rating.

Choice quote: Plaid Stripes: "All our clothes will be made of spoons!"

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, it'll be "Applejack's 'Day' Off", a much less popular episode than this one overall, though it does have its fans. I wasn't really one of them in 2016. Let's see if I've warmed to it.

My Little Repeats 123: "No Second Prances"

Glimmy gets points from me for this one

S6E06: "No Second Prances"

30 Apr 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.8

The one with great and powerful cutlery

Thoughts: This is an odd one, in that I was surprised to discover I'd rated this four stars in 2016. It's had a rather mixed reputation since then, and I'd got it into my head that I felt like that first time round. Turns out I didn't – but in many ways, I do now! Trixie is back for the first time since S3, while this is also the episode that created the "Starlight tries to do everything with magic" meme. The two bond quickly, and it's fun to see the seeds of the partnership they'd have built by the time of "Road to Friendship" two seasons later. The scenes with these two are the ep's best. Unfortunately Twilight is frankly a pain until near the end. She lets her past antagonism with Trixie get the better of her to the extent of trying to undermine Starlight's friend-making – not very becoming of the Princess of Friendship. Celestia's presence at the awkward dinner party is somewhat pointless too, though maybe worth it for Cranky's closing question. But despite being a fun episode with an exciting if morally pretty iffy stage stunt to end up with, this has a few too many flaws for me to let it keep its four, so it's going down a notch this time. It's a highish three still, though.

Choice quote: Starlight: "Great. Thanks for asking in a completely not creepy way."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, it'll be "Newbie Dash", an episode which has a somewhat poor reputation, but which (again) I gave four stars to in 2016. Was I being too generous? We'll soon see!

My Little Repeats 111: "Hearthbreakers"

On the day of rockening, it's who dares wins

S5E20: "Hearthbreakers"

24 Oct 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with Chancellor Puddinghead puddings

Thoughts: The debuts of Limestone and Marble Pie, not to mention the untouchable (kind of) Holder's Boulder. It's very much a Christmas episode, despite going out in October. The story is quite simple, and in some ways Applejack's faux pas in trying to push her traditions on the Pies might sit better earlier in her FiM career. Still, there's a good deal of warmth here, and even if MarbleMac was brought to quite a harsh end down the line, it's a cute quiet pairing here. (Why a few fans found it uncomfortable beats me. They're about fourth cousins at closest.) It's a really pretty decent episode for Pinkie Pie, which rarely hurts an ep, and Maud's friendship with Apple Bloom is nice. Actually that's something I wish we'd seen a but more of over the series. One or two nice bits of round-the-edges world-building, and this is another episode with custom end credits music. I wish that aspect hadn't been dropped later in the show's run. "Hearthbreakers" isn't a spectacular episode by any means, but the characters are appealing (yes, even you, Limestone) and I think it does what a festive ep needs to. I'm comfortable letting it keep its three-star rating.

Choice quote: Maud: "We have rock soup."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Scare Master", which I think has aged reasonably well. Of course, I reserve the right to change my opinion entirely once the rewatch article goes up!

assy's "Everypony loves royalty!"

S5E14: "Canterlot Boutique"

12 Sep 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with strawberry cinnamon cilantro cupcakes

Thoughts: After the first of FiM's irritating mid-season hiatuses, we did at least have the stalwart Amy Keating Rogers in the writing saddle for the show's return. It's a good episode, too, albeit perhaps the least of the run from "Amending Fences" to "Rarity Investigates!" We see Rarity in her fashion designing mode more centrally than since "Suited for Success", and personally I prefer Canterlot as the big target for her than Manehattan as happened later in the series. Sassy Saddles (voiced by Kelly Sheridan, incidentally) is a decent sidekick, albeit not one with enough sass to be truly memorable. A hint of a troubled past career ("another failed boutique"?) but she was neither unpleasant enough to be a "love to hate" pony or sympathetic enough for the redemption to really click. I still don't like the very last joke, which is a bit too close to "let's make fun of the weird-looking pony" for comfort, though it wasn't AKR's fault. A couple of the other shop customers were fun, though, especially the gothy Moonlight Raven. One small criticism of Rarity: the customer who complained her Princess Dress wasn't what she ordered was correct, yet she was portrayed almost as the bad guy for saying so. Still, overall the episode's core plot of "creative job made into a chore" was fine and appropriate. It was executed pretty well, there's a nice song by Jona Lewie and even though it's not an outstandingly memorable episode it is good. I think it's perfectly worthy of a very solid three. No change to this ep's star rating!

Choice quote: Rarity to Twilight: "In every poll Sassy Saddles took, you were the most popular princess!"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is another Rarity-centric episode, "Rarity Investigates!" – it's widely seen as an excellent ep. Certainly in 2015 I agreed with that consensus. I hope I shall have at least as much fun with it this time around!

My Little Repeats 102: "Party Pooped"

I'm still amused that "George" has a jelly babies cutie mark

S5E11: "Party Pooped"

27 Jun 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.5

The one with sheep on the line

Thoughts: For the second week running, a new writer, but this one was destined to have a rather more successful MLP career than Neal Dusedau: "Party Pooped" was Nick Confalone's Pony debut. And it's better than the previous episode, too, although still no classic. Part of this is that I find the first act pretty tiresome, with the "YAKS HATE IF NOT PERFECT" stuff really going on too long. Later, Pinkie's journey to Yakyakistan is quite fun, if all a bit thrown-together, and her Party Bunker is an amusing little touch even if I don't think we ever see it again. I'm still not sure why Yakyakistan wasn't called simply Yakistan, which is (to my mind, at least) a much better pun. Mind you, I still don't see any obvious inspiration for Rutherford's name, either. Meanwhile, Twilight is having the kind of freak-out more reminiscent of her earlier days. Again, it's fairly amusing to start with but does go on a bit too long. All these things considered, I'm going to nudge my rating down from a low three to a high two. While this is clearly more fun than "Princess Spike" was, it's still not that great an episode. Happily Confalone would go on to write several very good eps, but he didn't quite hit the ground running and "Party Pooped" was a bit of a mish-mash.

Choice quote: Rainbow Dash: "It's sort of panic themed."

New rating: ★★

Next up is "Amending Fences", and frankly I think we all know already how that one is going to go down. :D

Nick Confalone's never-realised plans for the EqG S2 finale

Click this pic to see the text at full size

(Via EqD.) Some fascinating but frustrating news from Nick Confalone, one of the main writers on Equestria Girls. He recently posted some quite detailed notes about his plans for the S2 finale that would have set things up for S3. Except, of course, that EqG was cancelled, and so we never got either S3 or the S2 finale. Which, on the evidence of the above, is rather a shame.

Now, I know EqG's specials haven't always lived up to their promise. The most obvious example of that is Spring Breakdown, where we all got really excited about the prospect of the girls heading into Equestria... and then spent what felt like about four hours watching them having a cruise. Okay, okay, followed by a few minutes of a few characters in Equestria. But still.

Even so, I really wish this special had been made. "What happened to human Sunset?" is a question that's only ever been answered by fanfic writers, and it would have been really interesting to get a canon answer. What Confalone writes also puts pretty much the entire sub-franchise, from the very first film onwards, into new context. It could have done an awful lot.

What we don't know from Confalone's notes is what actually did happen to human Sunset. Indeed, it's not clear whether back in October 2017 even he had a definite answer to that question. It does look as though this will remain in the realms of Fimfiction – but even this limited reveal does prompt some fascinating questions about what might have been.

Episode review: S9E18: "She Talks to Angel"

Remember when 'Shy couldn't control the Stare? Now she can take it across species!

It's episode review time once again, and this one was special. This one was a Fluttershy episode. Not only that, but it promised to give a substantial role to Angel, who I've always liked rather more than much of the fandom. The writer this time was Nick Confalone, mostly seen on Equestria Girls of late but the second-longest-standing writer on Friendship is Magic today, having begun in mid-S5. His last writing credit on this show was for "The Washouts" nearly a year ago. Read on to discover how I feel he did with this one.

EqG Mini-review: "Sunset's Backstage Pass"

"If I can just get this bike up to 88 mph..."

If Nick Confalone's understanding of the position of Equestria Girls is indeed Hasbro's as well, then the days of anything beyond a few more shorts in that universe are now at an end. According to Confalone, there were plans for a Season 2 finale, as well as a third season, but those have not been taken up. I suppose Boulder might be making them, but there seems no indication of that either. So, "Sunset's Backstage Pass" (written by Whitney Ralls, not Confalone – thanks, Zack Wanzer in the comments :) ) represents the end of an era. Possibly. Let's have a brief look at how it did.

Equestria Girls: Nearly Over and Nearly Out

With the US broadcast of "Sunset's Backstage Pass" (which yes, I'll try to get at least a mini-review of up this week), it appears that we're almost at the end of the road as far as the Equestria Girls sub-franchise is concerned. According to Nick Confalone, there will be no more specials – a season finale was planned but has been set aside, and there doesn't seem any real hope for a third season either. There are more shorts to come, but that would appear to be all.

Also in HumanHorseWorld, news of another background same-sex couple. It would be much better if these things could be right out in the open, of course, and it's right that people keep pressing for that. But I think it is progress to get to this point. Not enough progress, but progress nevertheless. Even so... I wonder whether G5 might finally take the plunge and give us some explicitly LGBT characters. If Arthur can do it, then so can My Little Pony.

EqG Mini-review: "Spring Breakdown"

"The Discovery what app?"

Yesterday we got our latest Equestria Girls special, "Spring Breakdown", which saw our favourite humanised seven off on a cruise. This was by way of being a warm-up for Friendship is Magic S9 for me, but I know plenty of people really enjoy EqG, so here's my three-para review of Nick Confalone's latest effort. Spoilers ahoy after the break!

Episode review: S8E20: "The Washouts"

"What do you mean, bacon?"

Apologies for the delay in getting to this episode review. I hope to get the Text Review Roundup posted tomorrow, then I should be more or less back on the normal schedule next week. Anyway, "The Washouts" was an episode I'd been looking forward to, as it promised to be one about the relationship between unofficially-adoptive-sisters Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Nick Confalone had one okay-I-suppose episode this season ("The Maud Couple") and one very entertaining one ("The Break Up Breakdown") – which category would "The Washouts" fall into?

Special mini-review: "Rollercoaster of Friendship"

Megan is now G4 canon! (In EqG, at least.)

Apologies for the lack of a full-length review for "Rollercoaster of Friendship", but with FiM apparently returning today it was either a mini-review now or a much longer delay. Anyway, Nick Confalone returned for a special that, though entertaining enough for the most part, fell a bit short of his earlier "Forgotten Friendship". It wasn't a disaster by any means, and most of the girls had at least the occasional good line or scene, but it didn't feel as enjoyable or important as the earlier special had.

There was certainly plenty for the RariJack shippers to enjoy, and AJ's reaction to Rarity getting an (apparently) plum job when she was rejected made good viewing. Mind you, much of the rest seemed a little by-the-numbers. Vignette made a decent and suitably unlikeable villain, despite her inevitable near-instant reformation at the end, though the "white room" reveal was just plain silly. The song ("Photo Booth") was not one of EqG's best, being rather generic and forgettable. The special itself was better than that, but even its best scenes lacked the emotional power of Sunset's return to Equestria in "FF".

Oh, and the ponying up at the end seemed a little pointless, but apparently this is Hasbro-mandated for financial reasons. A bit like Rainbow Power, I suppose. I went back and forth between a top-end two-star rating and a bare three a number of times while I was thinking about this review. In the end, it just about scrapes into the higher bracket, partly down to an amusing Rainbow/Fluttershy subplot involving a rather scary rollercoaster – and partly due to that little Megan Williams cameo! ★★★

Episode review: S8E10: "The Break Up Break Down"

Not often we see those stable-style split doors used in MLP these days!

I have a sore shoulder I'd rather not aggravate, so today's review isn't all that long. We were back with a veteran writer this time in Nick Confalone; I didn't like his last episode ("The Maud Couple") all that much, but he had produced some fine stuff in the past. As such, I was cautiously optimistic, although I've rarely been a huge fan of romance-themed episodes in Friendship is Magic. After the break, a briefish assessment.