Text Review Roundup "The Railfan Brony" special, part 1 of 3

I have now seen "The Hearth's Warming Club", so expect my review of that episode before the end of the week.

In a comment the other day, The Railfan Brony mentioned that he'd added reviews of S7 and early S8 episodes* to his blog, and wondered whether I'd be willing to add them to Text Review Roundup. I felt that retroactively adding them to the earlier TRR posts would be a bit unsatisfactory, but that I'd like to give them a place. To keep post length in check, I'm going to pull a Julius Caesar and divide the reviews into three parts, which I'll post over the next couple of weeks. Today, the first half of S7.

* Except the S8 premiere, which was in video format so doesn't qualify for a TRR spot.

Railfan had a pretty good time overall with S7A, awarding a 9 or 10 to no fewer than nine of the 13 episodes. He's kinder towards a few episodes than the fandom as a whole was, most notably in his admiration for "Fluttershy Leans In", the episode which came dead last in the UK of Equestria S7 poll. I'm afraid yak fans will be disappointed, though!

701: "Celestial Advice" – very positive (rated 9/10; "I really hope Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco stay for the foreseeable future.")

702: "All Bottled Up" – rather negative (rated 3/10; "Trixie was a nuisance in the first two acts, and the B-plot feels like [padding]. However, it did feel like the first step for Starlight to get some character development")

703: "A Flurry of Emotions" – very positive (rated 10/10; "This episode, I thought, did do Flurry justice [...] but can't we have visual consistency with the [Cake Twins]?")

704: "Rock Solid Friendship" – broadly positive (rated 7/10; "I've got problems with Pinkie's IQ in this episode [but it] does provide a very strong lesson")

705: "Fluttershy Leans In" – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "the themes are amongst the best of the show, and Fluttershy's character is at her peak [...] a fantastic Fluttershy episode.")

706: "Forever Filly" – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "beautiful and heartwarming from beginning to end [with] some of the most mature themes in a kids' show.")

707: "Parental Glideance" – mixed (rated 6/10; "I liked Scootaloo's role [but the flashback's continuity feels off] it has a good idea [...] but the end result comes off as weird at best.")

708: "Hard to Say Anything" – very positive (rated 9/10; "Despite a couple of issues I have, I still enjoyed it, and would gladly take this over Legend of Everfree [which Railfan detested] any day of the week.")

709: "Honest Apple" – very positive (rated 9/10; "The pacing is quite possibly the strongest aspect [...] emotions are also handled brilliantly [though] the Applejack/Rarity dynamic feels extremely overused")

710: "A Royal Problem" – wildly positive (rated 10/10; "possibly my favorite episode of the [entire] series, hooves down [...] perhaps [Starlight's] best overall [...] The themes alone in this episode are brilliant ... Daybreaker [is] a great addition")

711: "Not Asking for Trouble" – very negative (rated 1/10; "painfully sluggish [...] the episode's biggest downfall is the moral [...] boring")

712: "Discordant Harmony" – very positive (rated 9/10; "Fluttershy is the standout character [...] I've got some issues with the "be yourself" moral being overdone, but it makes sense for Discord to learn it.")

713: "The Perfect Pear" – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "I dare you to go watch this episode and say you weren't close to crying [...] in my [all-time] top 5"

And that's all for today! At some point in the next few days I'll put up the second instalment of this mini-series. Part 2 will of course kick off with S7's most divisive episode, "Fame and Misfortune". Exciting, isn't it? :P