Unpopular opinion time

@Tiger beetle
Me too. It was more fun when Rainbow Dash imagined her. Trying to defend that back in 2014 was incredibly hard because many fans bought the concept of the writer being Daring Do too fast to even logically discuss the topic.

Also because of the hype culture I personally dislike.

What’s even more surreal is that people didn’t mind having many Daring Do episodes with the same narrative structure, the same conflicts, the same treasures, the same villains, the same characters and the same ending. By the point of watching them again in season 9, the very first thought I had was “I hope the people who bought this idea so early loved this episode as well as the rest of the chunck of Daring Do episodes”, because it was so absurd I couldn’t believe it.

@Ring Team
The plot twist on Ahuizotl or?

@Tiger beetle
She sort of has a fictional counterpart roaming free for a while.

@Phoenixflambe
Hm?

Not really. I’ve always heard bronies rank it as one of the worst episodes of that season.

@Ring Team
Daring Do episodes always seemed to focus more on the meta of Daring Do’s adventures rather than the adventures themselves. Which kind of dissapointed me. I would have liked a more straightfoward Daring Do advebture.

Well that’s surprising, cause I liked Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep. In a season where Scare Master, What About Discord? and fucking Princess Spike exists, this one isn’t all that bad.

Ahuizotl being a poorly-communicating guardian of the jungle would’ve been cool if Daring Do depicted her stories with SOME alterations - unreliable narrator, biases, etc. But no, we see in Daring Don’t, he was gearing up to scorch a valley. Now, is it like some forests where a fire is needed to help new plants grow? We don’t and we should if you wanna sell us on Ahuizotl being good all along. The part about Daring and Caballeron being wrong to steal treasure I can buy with ease, because…yeah.
As for her design - I wish she were more like Moondancer, where the design is reminiscent of another character to drive a point home, but still distinct enough. (like with Moondancer, having permanent, thick eyebrows, a slightly thicker eyelash design and no bottom lashes, and of course, her wearing the signature thick-rimmed glasses. Her mane was nearly identical to Twilight’s in flashbacks, again, to depict their similarities. And if that photo of MD longigly looking at Twilight is any indication, perhaps to show Moondancer was trying to emulate her in an attempt to connect. Once she drifts away from Twilight she starts tying her hair up, but still keeps the rest the same. It’s like she wants to ditch those similarities out of the sheer hurt she experienced that day, but cannot truly let go of it, and Twilight’s influence).
All of the elements mentioned keep her similar, yet different, and visually tell Moondancer’s story.
Daring Do being a recolor makes sense in RD’s self-insert fantasy (and we can let the cover slide as a small storytelling shortcut.), but they could’ve made her similar looking to RD, just ever-so slighty off.
Also….I guess the charade is up, right? Cuz Ahuizotl is straight up telling his side of the story to the public, and he wears no disquise and uses no alternate names.

G5 should have had the same animation as G4 or maybe the animation from the beginning of the G5 movie.

@angryprogrockbrony
I think it’s epitome of you love it or hate it there is no in between.

I’d say that is Season 5 in a nutshell. I think both sides agree though it’s an ambitious episode with an interesting atmosphere capable of being funny and genuinely scary at different points.

It’s definitely not a forgettable episode.

@Hali the Emoji girl
Seeing that flash animation is slowly getting phased out in favor of ToonBoom and CGI, it would’ve made the show look behind the times if it did stick with FIM’s animation

@Mr.Myoozik
GASP

Scare Master was a masterpiece!

@Cosmas-the-Explorer
If that was the case, I would understand one episode, which is the one from season 4. Unfortunately, the G4 writers loved repetition.

@Mr.Myoozik
What about Discord was a good episode. Scare Master was boring and very uneventful in a moment where season 5 needed a meaningful episode. Princess Spike wasn’t a good episode, but it wasn’t the worst episode. I think it’s just one of those easy targets to say just to get validated.

@Just Wayne
I’ll have to agree there. I think it’s the last shy Fluttershy episode and she started to get more confidence from there on.

@Mr.Myoozik
Back in 2008 when the show was being developed, flash was probably the most advanced thing out there. Not anymore.

I also think CGI these days is more associated with more “serious” animations eg Disney or Pixar. 2d I think is seen as somwhat lesser these days ever since the turn of the century. And that probably explains why ANG or Make Your Mark is CGI.

I do wonder how G5 would look with toonboom whatever that is.

@Just Wayne
Of course you’d say that you Fluttershy lover ;P

It wasn’t a bad idea of a plot of a character having a fear of a holiday and having her friends help her overcome it, but Fluttershy’s whining throughout began to grate on me. I didn’t find it cute or funny, just annoying with all her absurd claims about Nightmare Night. The scene with all the manga cutouts was good though, I enjoyed that scene. Unlike other episodes where she tries to overcome something like Dragonshy, Hurricane Fluttershy, Filli Vanilli or even Putting Your Hoof Down where I felt for her, this one was too much for me.

Season 5 is my favorite season, I love almost all of the episodes it offered, ending with my favorite season finale.
I like What About Discord?
Scare Master might be my favorite “Fluttershy and her fears” episode, as the Nightmare Night setting was perfect for that kind of plot, and the moral of “we do a lot of fun things together, but this is just not gonna be one of them” impressed me.
The Hooffields and The McColts is a ton of fun, and an interesting examination of revenge and grudges.
Princess Spike is kinda eh, because what screws over Spike in the end is not the selfish uses of Twilight’s title…it was the ones he perfomed to help her!

Magic Sheep was a fun episode

@Tiger beetle
Glad to see someone else like The Hooffields & McColts, that episode was funny.

Yeah, The Hooffields & McColts was decent.

@Mr.Myoozik
Yeah, I don’t think this show had an episode I truly disliked…and then season 8 barged in kek
In all seriousness, I still find things to like in the episodes I consider the worst, so I don’t truly hate an episode of MLP

@Tiger beetle
Me too. Or at the very least, if she became real instead of turning out to be.

@Mr.Myoozik
Yeah, being serious, even I felt her fear factor was cranked too high up just to force a situation. That’s just one little scene though. I still like the episode as a whole. The scary maze sequence and the fact that Fluttershy decides to enjoy something particular in her own way instead of being pressured into conformity make me love this episode so much.

The Hooffields & McColts was awesome too. I didn’t even know nto many people liked that episode. It’s pretty underrated if so.

Here’s a weird one - I kinda like Spoiled Rich for how unapologetically awful she is. No Freudian excuses (except maybe her parents naming her Spoiled Milk, cuz yikes my dudes.), her talent is literally gold digging. She just apparently found a kindhearted entrepeneur who’s ready to indulge her abusive tendencies. And she’s lived terribly ever since. Oh, and they’re not even subtle about her getting a nose job, that’s really funny to me.
Side note - but people talk about Troubleshoes and how awful his cutie mark is for him. Imagine your special talent is to find a rich partner and sink your claws into them. Like you could argue “oh, maybe the ring means she’s knowledgable about jewelry” but the gold digging is the only interpretation we got so far. Then again, cutie marks can mean multiple things, so eh.

And here is a sad sidenote to a sidenote - Crusaders of the Lost Mark is Diamond Tiara’s last speaking appearance. Spoiled Rich’s last line is in S9. And it’s not that they couldn’t get DT’s voice actress - they’re both voiced by Chantal Strand.

Also, the three McColt triplet sisters were fine and sexy, damn

I liked the first half of Season 5, before the hiatus, but not the second half so much. (Scare Master was an exception though.)

@Tiger beetle
I only developed some sympathy for her after learning her “maiden” name. Someone’s parents didn’t love her much…