Season 9 Discussion Thread [NO SPOILERS, DF airings only]

 
Ha, that one line completely validates Sunburst being in the episode, period.

Goofballs who are still smart are the best kind.

If you compare S9 Starlight to S6 Starlight, she’s almost unrecognizable. She actively tries to be responsible now, and it took active intervention from Trixie to convince her to take it easy on that front.
 
The fact that some people were speculating from the synopsis that this might involve brainwashing is laughable at best.
 
It’s like how Rainbow Dash is significantly different from the pony who had an aversion to reading books, to being shocked that Wind Sprint didn’t like Daring Do (which to be fair, might’ve been Quibble’s fault, regarding how he presented it).
 
As for Silverstream, has she really had personal development on the “tell the others about what you’re up to” front before? I can’t recall if she has.

@AC97  
It comes from blowing every little thing she does out of proportion.

@Vivace
 
Yep, she does something once or twice, and people will still act like every little thing she does will be related to brainwashing, or something.
 
;)

@AC97  
It’s called character development

@ILoveMyoozik
 
Exactly. Some people pretend it never happened though, it seems, is my point.

The fact that glue is canon in MLP disturbed me.

@rdibp  
The idea that she is covered in it is even more disturbing. (also, glue appeard ealier in the show)  
>>2060752p (merged)  
You know? For kids!

@rdibp  
There is such a thing as glue not made from horse parts.

@ILoveMyoozik  
Shush!  
No there isnt!  
:P

Yeah, PVA glue has been around for decades and is completely synthetic.
 
Still funny though.

@rdibp  

“Try new and improved Soylent Glue… it sticks to you like family! Another fine product from Noquestionsplease Industries!”

@rdibp
 
I’m pretty sure glue has been canon ever since Hearts and Hooves Day back in season 2 (the CMC were using it on their card for Cheerilee).

I never understood the relation between glue and horses.

@E-123  
Some of the proteins found usually in horse hooves and bones were used in the making of glue prior to plastic versions being able to be created
 
Here’s an article on it
 
Add a - at the end of the address to get it to work. For some reason the linking thing is cutting that part off of the address

@EotD  
Well, this is embarrassing …  
The page I was looking for can’t be found.
 
Done
 
But damn, is that recent? I thought “horses working in glue factories” were a joke trope or something.

@E-123  
Well I mean the article is about 10 years old and says it goes all the way back to Greece, so probably no on both counts. Though most modern household glues are 100% synthetic

So I just saw Student Counsel and it was great.
 
I woke up really not in the mood to write a review or even watch an episode, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. There’s a subtlety to the episode that makes it really satisfying to watch. Like how in the opening scene, there are easily-missed glimpses of the armband, before it’s properly established. It’s good presentation; you immediately understand how it works before they explain it. Or how for while Starlight was away solving a problem, Trixie walked over, sat down, poured two cups of tea, put a sandwich on a plate, blew on the tea, then took a sip. Or the way Trixie emotes by levitating her spoon. Or how the variety in camera angles makes the scene feel more personal. Or how one shot focuses to Trixie eating, then Starlight pops back in and takes up the majority of the shot. This is an episode that makes me want to analyze all the presentation details.
 
Like how the flashes on the armband are in sync with the knocks on the door. And how the episode will occasionally just let a moment breathe for a second or two, like when Starlight teleports into the bookshelf, teleports away, and they hold on it for a second so the books can fall over. There’s really good continuity after the establishing shot in Ponyville.
 
The character growth in the episode is also very satisfying. Even though Trixie is annoyed at Starlight, she still stands up for her. Mudbriar has more social awareness than he did a season ago.
 
Maud and Mudbriar were excellent comic relief. It turns out jokes can still be funny even you can see the punchline coming a mile away. Take notes, Common Ground. Speaking of which, where that episode felt longer than 22 minutes in a bad way, this felt longer than 22 minutes in a good way.
 
The episode does a good job oh highlighting one of Starlight’s flaws, which is her tendency to overlook straightforward solutions.
 
Overall, I might actually like this one more than Frenemies. It’s one of the only episodes I watched twice before reviewing.

@DerpyFast  
It’s amazing how 2 people can have such diffrent views on the same 2 episodes ^^

I really didn’t wanted to bring up “stupid things” in this episode, but gag was slightly too much:  

@AWGear  
I thought they were gonna have that stick when I saw it, given what happened to Tempest. Then he was fine, and it felt like a wasted joke.
 
“My magic doesn’t work anymore!”  
“It never worked in the first place.”

@AWGear
 
Speaking of that part, Starlight showed some decent reflexes right after that.

@AC97  
yup, that was the good part.
 
@GenericArchangel  
I think that with characters like Tempest, we shouldn’t make jokes like that. It kinda makes the continuity error on “how hard it is to break the horn” and if it’s possible to heal it. It just makes stuff inconsistent for a joke that wasn’t even funny to beguin with.

@AWGear
 
Starlight seems like she’s at the very least a decent fighter, so her having good reflexes and dodging skills seems natural.