What Was The Newest Episode When You Started Watching The Show?

Over a barrel.

Magical Mystery Cure.

Every Little Thing She Does

Mine was Return of Harmony part 1, which i watched on September 12th, 2011. :)
 
God, that’s already 6 and a half years ago. I am old.

I can’t remember the exact episode, but I do remember it was into the second half Season 5 (either late August or early September of 2015). I want to say it was either Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep? of Canterlot Boutique

@Megalobronia
ah a Luna episode, would be a great one to get started on!

@RainbowDash69
For the record, that wasn’t the very first episode I watched.

The one where the CMC became friends, but there something was off in my memory.

Castle Mane-ia had just aired when I really started looking into the fandom. I watched mostly chronologically though for months after that, and I think Trade Ya or Inspiration Manifestation was the first I was able to see live and all caught up.

The show was long done when I started to get into it, I regret not getting into the show earlier to some extent.
It would’ve made some moments even more emotional for me, especially in the context of waiting for an episode instead of binging it, but that didn’t stop me from loving the show and having some emotional moments from time to time.

I’m not sure where G5 is at tho.

Ok, since you got into the show after it had finished airing, I have to ask: what’s your opinion on what the fandom considers controversial episodes? Things like Mysterious Mare-do-Well or A Canterlot Wedding or Magical Mystery Cure or The Cutie Remark?

As someone who bore firsthand witness to those controversies, I’d like to know what someone lacking that context thought of said episodes.

Wait.. those episodes had controversy? Even at the “worst” episodes of MLP I most just thought “whatever” and moved on.

But if you want my thoughts sure I’ll be to oblige.:

I didn’t think much of this episode, but I liked the batman like concept behind the Mare-do-Well’s design and that was about it. It was just another episode of teaching Rainbow Dash to be humble.
I get it was a bit over the top how everyone in Ponyville immediately ignored him after Mare-do-Well showed up but thats about it.

Huh… I actually liked this episode or finale for the most part; it had one of my favorite songs in the series being ‘This Day’. The first part was probably way weaker than the 2nd but even then I still enjoyed it. I liked Queen Chrysalis’ design and concept as a villain along with his minions the changelings as a race.
The conflict was pretty simple at the start being the old imposter trope. Is the controversy the bit where everyone immediately shunned Twilight near the end of the first episode despite her being right about Queen Chrysalis being an imposter, but I guess that’s not a good lesson for both sides, your gut feeling isn’t always going to be right about everything and you shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but that’s it, i enjoyed the episode nonetheless.

Well for most of the episode I found it forgettable but at the end I loved the twist of Twilight becoming an Alicorn and a princess, felt like a natural progression for her since the start. Whats the controversy behind this?

Hmm now this episode I could see controversy of because of Starlight’s existence.
I loved her as a villain she was cold, calculating and sadistic, but I also didn’t like how Starlight was portrayed to be even with Twilight power wise despite her being an Alicorn and the literal embodiment of magic. Not to mention she became an Alicorn finishing one of Starswirl’s spells and you’re telling me Starlight did the same thing? Like???
And to top it all off she gets redeemed by the second part of the finale and is welcomed with opened arms immediately.
I find it a bit ridiculous how the next episode after the finale it portrays it like how she’s known the Mane 6 for years now, like they always been friends. It was a bad decision to instantly reform Starlight, especially when the other reformed villains are still learning and adjusting like Discord and Luna when Starlight arguably did more harm than either of them.
The multiple cons aside there were a lot of positives in the episodes seeing all those alternate timelines or universes.
The bit with King Sombra was honestly my favorite one seeing how everyone including the mane 6 contributed to the war against him. There was also a kickass scene of Maud and Pinkie saving their… I think general Rainbow Dash from a giant boulder by working together to crush it. And for some reason he had a mecha wing which was also cool.
The other alternate realities where cool as well, Nightmare Moon ruling Equestria and sealing her sister in the moon as revenge, Queen Chrysalis taking over and Zecora being the leader of the refugees implying mass death which was metal, though I wish they used their knowledge of that special mud for the changelings when they make their appearances later on, would’ve been nice continuity or a neat detail.
Also Discord’s bad reality where he wins is just throwing tomatoes at Luna and Celestia which was hilarious.

Then we got back to Starlight again and after Twilight confronts her and shows the indirect damage shes doing Starlight continues to try and torment her despite all that (of course she gets talk no jutsu’d later on but still).
After that we get revealed to one of the worst backstories I have ever seen in a show.
Her childhood friend leaves her so her way of coping with that is to blame cutie marks then enslave a village for years on end manipulating the locals into thinking the same mindset???

Heres an episode I don’t like for the most part:

Basically it makes Rainbow Dash into a dick and disregards all the development shes been through, it feels like an episode that belonged in season 1 or 2 but they put it in season 9 which made it a lot worse. I feel like there are a significant amount of episodes that follow this trend in season 9 - it had some of the best and worst episodes I feel.

But those are my thoughts on the episodes you asked me and at the top of my head.

Thanks for that. I bring it up because there are controversies to me in the vein of you where I don’t really get the controversy, except in abstraction, because I wasn’t there for them. Like I iterated earlier in the thread, I started watching when The Best Night Ever was the latest episode, thus the [comparatively minor in comparison to those that came later] controversies surrounding Feeling Pinkie Keen and Over A Barrel come across as a whole heap of nothingburger to me.

As for the controversies in the episodes I asked you about, this is what they are respectively:

Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: Considered at the time to be the first quantifiably bad episode, mostly due to the characterisation of the Mane Six and how they treated Rainbow Dash. The fact it was written by a new writer made people very leery of any future episodes written by her*. Even as late as season 5, if you asked anyone what was one of the worst episodes, a lot of people would generally point to this one.

A Canterlot Wedding: While the episode itself was well-received after it aired, there was a lot of controversy both about an announced brother to Twilight Sparkle, and especially another alicorn princess, which was argued to “go against Lauren’s vision for the show where there were only supposed to be two alicorn princesses.”

Magical Mystery Cure: This was the big one. The controversy that set the fandom alight for years. Twilight becoming an alicorn while not a big deal now, was an immense deal at the time, mostly due to people who clung to Lauren’s vision for the show. Nowadays me and a lot of other people are quite warm to both Magical Mystery Cure and season 3 as a whole, but at the time it was considered by a lot of people (not me, mind you) to be the end of the show as anything worthwhile.

Some people will argue that the events of the next entry was a bigger controversy, but they are wrong. For all the bitching about Starlight’s redemption, it doesn’t match the bitching about Twilight becoming an alicorn.

The Cutie Remark: Starlight’s redemption, mainly, since it didn’t feel earned. Worse is that for a lot of people, it felt like we were getting a lame version of Sunset Shimmer with Starlight, especially after how good both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games were. After Twilicorn and Equestria Girls, this was the third biggest controversy within the, and as mentioned before, while the people invested in it argue that it was as big, if not bigger than Twilicorn, they are completely wrong, because nothing would supersede Twilicorn in the intensity of the controversy.

*_{(Funnily enough all the other episodes written by said writer have been very well-received)}

No problem, I found it interesting seeing another perspective, I had no idea these controversies were such a big deal in the fandom at the time.

Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: Huh I guess Rainbow Dash’s treatment was pretty out of character for them. I guess that being the first episode from a new writer would get me concerned for the future too, not to the degree that people reacted though…

A Canterlot Wedding: Well I don’t really care about unannounced brother, there are lot’s of character introductions like that in the show. In the specific complaint about Candance being an alicorn I can maybe see, she just doesn’t have that same type of presence that Luna and Celestia do, she honestly just could’ve been a regular pony and the story wouldn’t change much.
I also had no idea that there were originally supposed to be only 2 alicorns.

Magical Mystery Cure: Huh again with Lauren’s vision, just how important is it to the fandom? Cause you brought it up multiple times and heavily emphasized that point. Did the fact that they weren’t being faithful to her vision really make that much of an uproar in the fandom? How does Lauren herself feel about there being more than 2 alicorns?
I know things like this are easier to say in hindsight but I couldn’t imagine making that much of a fit about Twilight being an alicorn even if I was growing up and or closely following the show just because they went against the creator a couple of times.

The Cutie Remark: Yeah after watching Equestria Girls Starlight does kinda feel like diet Sunset Shimmer or Sunset Shimmer at home. It’s very clear where her inspiration for her character was. It doesn’t help how her arcs and execution aren’t nearly delivered as well as Sunset’s.
I can see Twilicorn controversy being much bigger at the time but nowadays I see much more complaints on the Starlight side for a multitude of things about her, granted I contributed a little to it but I try not to make a big deal about it since you know, it isn’t that deep.

Thanks for breaking it down for me, again really interesting perspectives.

Shadow Play

I remember it was Excess of My Secret.

It’s funny. I’ve been around long enough to remember Twilight having a sibling rivalry being controversial, and to remember Twilight having a sibling in the first place being controversial.

I got into the show before S2 came out, so probably Best Night Ever

I still consider that one the best season finale

@Kiryu-Chan
I think season 2 finale is the best. I will never forget Chrysalis’ reveal.

Rock Solid Friendship I first watched it when it premiered

Tanks for the Memories. Also the first I saw.