S02E23: Ponyville Confidential

[DragongemPONY DIALS THE PHONE NUMBER]

ALL the ponies' ways of dealing with the CMCs were just spectacularly funny.

I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see what Pinkie did with their spurious accusation of party addiction.

She had an intervention party!

[Huitzil]

I hope Fatkid appears more often. That is all.

And gets a non-shitty name. (Seriously? "Truffle Shuffle"?)

Truffle Shuffle is a perfect name for a fat kid pony .

[odmv7...]

He will forever be Fatkid. In my heart.

[Mr. BigBrush is mightier than pen.]

I propose we name him Chowder.

"I'M NOT YOUR SPECIAL SOMEPONY!"

[All Out Of Nickelshow would one go about putting a bloom on a apple...Its horrendous...]

I propose we name him Chowder.

"I'M NOT YOUR SPECIAL SOMEPONY!"

And he will be under the guidance of Pinke Pie in a MOOOSTAAACE to carry out pastries orders to become the greatest chef he can be...
Or something along those lines.

[VaultAggie"Shawty, you the best"]

I finally got around to seeing this episode and I'm really wishing I hadn't. This episode was really boring, and a giant let down, especially after the phenomenal episode of last week.There was no stand out gags, no great characterization moments or any noteworthy animation. The entire episode was predictable as hell and it seemed as if everyone was in idiot mode. When Apple Bloom was lamenting about not getting their cutie marks after making a tabloid devoted to gossip, I rolled my eyes so hard. Also, why would Cherilee make that little twat Featherweight editor after he was the jerk photographing everyone embarrassing moments. This is the only episode, besides Cutie Pox, that I've actually checked to see how much episode was left. Bleh,

[Wayoshi]

^ Mmm... one thing I made sure to make clear to myself was that there was no way this could beat Hurricane Fluttershy (perhaps the best 22 minute episode to come out of the first 52 - no offense to Mmmystery coming up, but you have a lot to do buddy ).

Applejack & Big Mac role reversal counts as a gag for the seasoned watchers... there were plenty 'o' gags.

You do have a point on Featherweight, though... that shot during DT's blackmailing really goes unexplained, and it's kinda nagging.

[Herr Generalfabulous]

You do have a point on Featherweight, though... that shot during DT's blackmailing really goes unexplained, and it's kinda nagging.

Not really. She told him to "photograph everything", so he did. And he had the good heart to stop DT's tyranny over the CMC by reporting it to Cheerilee (or he saw an opportunity for himself. Ambitious little pony, you gonna go far.)

[Highbrow DashAJ, Rarity! What's happening?]

And he had the good heart to stop DT's tyranny over the CMC by reporting it to Cheerilee (or he saw an opportunity for himself. Ambitious little pony, you gonna go far.)

Why does everyone keep saying there's a missing scene where he goes tell Cheerilee? It's completely unnecessary.

He showed up and took a picture because that's a more visual way of explaining things than just going "oh yeah featherweight took pictures of you"

[Sobana]

I really like this episode, it catch me by surprise. Unlike most other shows who did this, the characters weren't oblivious that they were hurting people and were worried they were doing the right thing. I loved the ending the most, I thought for sure they were going to put an embarrassing photo of DT in the newspaper, have everypony laugh at her and totally forget what CMC did to them. But no, they acted mature and apologized, not seeking petty revenge, but trying to make amends. This is the life lessons we should be teaching our young ones! =D

[Headless Horse]

Not only that, the CMCs were the ones who came to an honorable conclusion long before the situation even came to a head and took self-sacrificing steps to make good on it, but all the adult ponies were just hilariously immature about it.


By the way:



This right here is a perfect example of the kind of above-and-beyond stuff the people on this show do. Look at the acting on Sweetie Belle in this little scene, where she flails in the air to get Cheerilee's attention, asks her question, and then does this ridiculously adorable thing. Why? Why would they bother doing this? All they had to do was have a throwaway line come from the class somewhere—"What's an editor-in-chief?"—to help the exposition along. How many other shows would do that without so much as a joke or meaningful characterization? Can't you just hear Cartman or Milhouse asking that question in a totally flat, offhand, in-passing kind of way?

But not here. Whoever animated this scene took the opportunity to just slather on the acting with a heaping trowel. Every little gesture and movement adds to SB's character. Just because they had her there.

That's what this show's just so bewilderingly good at. Not only do they routinely go this kind of distance for no apparent reason other than that they love doing it, they make it look easy, even par for the course. Other shows in the pipeline have got to be shaking their heads in disbelief at where the bar is set now apparently.

[All Out Of Nickelshow would one go about putting a bloom on a apple...Its horrendous...]

But not here. Whoever animated this scene took the opportunity to just slather on the acting with a heaping trowel. Every little gesture and movement adds to SB's character. Just because they had her there.

You meam storyboarded because they keep they're animators from having an opinion with money and baseball bats to the shins.

And whenever I see stuff in the show it feels it not just a guy doing a job he hates just to make ends meet but a guy who appreciates that they get to contribute to the show.

[Venusy]

You meam storyboarded because they keep they're animators from having an opinion with money and baseball bats to the shins.

Not necessarily (and no, they don't). A lot of the show's purely visual touches aren't storyboarded, but are added by the animation team later. For starters, Derpy in Feeling Pinkie Keen, the background pony costumes in Luna Eclipsed (or Berry Punch as Daring-Do, at least)... of course, without actually seeing the storyboards* or someone from the show commenting, it's impossible to say at which stage of the process those flourishes were added.
---
I went in to this episode with pretty low expectations, the synopsis left me kind of . However, something about it really clicked with my sense of humour, and I was pretty much -ing through most of it (unsure how it'd fare on a rewatch though). I do have to agree with what was said earlier about these kind of episodes not being what drew me to the show in the first place though; I find a lot of shows and cartoons funny, but don't post on forums dedicated to them. I still like them as episodes, I just think the balance is a bit off compared to other ones.

*Off topic: could someone upload the few S1 storyboards we got to the 'booru? I can't seem to find them, though maybe I'm just not searching for the right tags or just missed them while skimming through. Wonder if we'll get more of those (and some new evolution of a scene videos) over the summer gap...

[PhoolCatKeep on Trottin']

Now I've rewatched it, I loved it all except...

• Cheerilee is the real villain of this piece. She let it all go on for far too long, probably watching and laughing from the sidelines...
• Fluttershy wailing & flailing her legs about like some sort of starfish fountain was at best unimpressive and at worst eyerollingly bad following last week's heartrendings.
  
• The AJ/BM reversal was totally epic, but Mac should really have been yelling in AB's face, not SB's

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

SB just happened to be in the middle. Mac's "Yell Attack" is a cone effect that, if he had aimed it at AB, it would have missed Scoots.

[ArtificerGoes well with All Natural Milk Naturally Flavored with Natural Flavors.]

SB just happened to be in the middle. Mac's "Yell Attack" is a cone effect that, if he had aimed it at AB, it would have missed Scoots.

All the CMC took 3d6 heart damage from that...

[DragongemPONY DIALS THE PHONE NUMBER]

All the CMC took 3d6 heart damage from that...

If only they had made their will saves

[Pink Himalayan Saltsee this watch? i got it by Crying. my car? crying. my beautiful wife? Crying. My perfect teeth? Crying. now get the fuck out of my office]

Cheerilee is the real villain of this piece. She let it all go on for far too long, probably watching and laughing from the sidelines...

I like to think she normally doesn't need to do anything since the students were fairly reasonable. Mainly because I love the mental image of her expression when she found out what was going on.

Fluttershy wailing & flailing her legs about like some sort of starfish fountain was at best unimpressive and at worst eyerollingly bad following last week's heartrendings.

It was supposed to be funny.

[Coyote]

ALL the ponies' ways of dealing with the CMCs were just spectacularly funny.

I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see what Pinkie did with their spurious accusation of party addiction.

after that she went to rehab

[numsOic]

It was supposed to be funny.

The problem is that this is a scene where they're being rejected by all their friends, so it's probably not the best moment to do that. This is the reason why the Big Mac thing didn't come off to me as a joke. I recognized that they intended it as one, but it fell completely flat on its face for me and I don't get why people think it's funny that Big Mac is, essentially, yelling at the CMC to fuck off for being insensitive assholes.

[MetalSonicHello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?]

While this episode wasn´t the top of the bar, I think it was a pretty solid episode. The characterization was for me on spot, even for DT.
I know there is an issue with the "would children act that way", but I think since it hasn´t been done too excessively till now, it can be forgiven. But it is existent.
But I certainly hope for more Featherweight in S3 or even S4. He seems to be a character worth diving in.

[Gruekinda magical]

*Off topic: could someone upload the few S1 storyboards we got to the 'booru? I can't seem to find them, though maybe I'm just not searching for the right tags or just missed them while skimming through. Wonder if we'll get more of those (and some new evolution of a scene videos) over the summer gap...

Yeah, they haven't been tagged "storyboard" while things that aren't even technically storyboards are tagged "storyboard". The confusion is understandable. I fixed that though: http://bronibooru.mlponies.com/post?tag ... mit=Search

[Headless Horse]

The problem is that this is a scene where they're being rejected by all their friends, so it's probably not the best moment to do that. This is the reason why the Big Mac thing didn't come off to me as a joke. I recognized that they intended it as one, but it fell completely flat on its face for me and I don't get why people think it's funny that Big Mac is, essentially, yelling at the CMC to fuck off for being insensitive assholes.

I thought it was one of the funniest overall sequences I've ever seen, and I think it's because of the cognitive dissonance it sets up. You've got:

- The CMCs trying so hard to do the right, mature thing
- The somber music
- The futility of what they're doing, stuck without any good options
- Against all that, the adult ponies acting completely over-the-top and childish in their rejection of the CMCs' overtures

In other words, they could have played it as straight drama and it would have been a super-heavy scene. But they peppered it with so many of these great, theatrical, character-driven gags that not only are the individual scenes funny because of things like Twilight's force field and Big Mac's voice-turn (which would have made good jokes on their own), the whole situation is also funny in a meta way because it's so transparently and so deliberately fucking with the heaviness of that part of the narrative. You get the pathos of the CMCs holding up the newspaper both to shield themselves from RD's rain-stomping and to show her the headline; and against that you get the hilarity of her just being so comic-villainishly vindictive as to take the time to repeatedly soak some kids with rainwater whenever she sees them. The contrast of those competing emotional poles being on screen at the same time is the biggest joke of all.

[RagnarThe fact that there is quite definitely nothing at all out there, yet it is visiting anyway, is of some distress to those who care about such things.]

I think that part absolutely had to be nonstop jokes, because it'd be pretty brutal if it weren't as funny as it is. Did you ever get in so much trouble when you were a kid that every adult you knew was so mad at you that most of them wouldn't even talk to you? And the one person who has anything real to say to you is someone like Big Mac? Man, I grew up with a few Big Macintosh equivalents around. They're stoic, quiet, physically powerful guys with mild personalities, and they have nothing to prove. They're as stand-up as anyone can possibly be, never lying, never going back on their word, and trusting everyone else to do the same. Then, when you fuck up bad enough, if a Big Macintosh decides to set you straight, he'll look you in the eye and tell you exactly what you did wrong and that day is the worst day of your life, because you can't help but respect Big Mac, and, since he talks so little, you're used to listening to everything he says and putting as much thought into his opinions as he does.
Also: making Fluttershy cry. Anyone every make a grownup cry? Even seeing an adult cry was scary as hell.

[Scuderia FerrarityWhy?Because Twilight Sparkle. That's why.-- Twilight Sparkle]

I skip around on re-watches so, I hadn't noticed this at the beginning:


EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!

Lunch is a drag!

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!








"Just the facts, Ma'am."


And here's an even weirder stretched out duckface.

[Daionus The 23rd:3]

The latest "Ask Smarty Belle" got its inspiration from this episode.

Suck it, Spider-Man.

[Pocketis she just gonna go booty booty]

I wonder what's going to happen with Big MacIntosh now. Whether the writers meant for his "Silent Bob" moment to be the punchline to a very long joke that is now over, or just a one-off gag.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

If only they had made their will saves

They did. Big Mac Dressing Down is an epic feat, so there's no damage reduction unless you're a high-level monk or alicorn. They were just lucky they weren't paralyzed for 2d6 rounds, or had a critical failure roll for 1d4 negative levels.

[numsOic]

I wonder what's going to happen with Big MacIntosh now. Whether the writers meant for his "Silent Bob" moment to be the punchline to a very long joke that is now over, or just a one-off gag.

Big Mac already spoke in complete sentences way back in Applebuck Season, so the increasing emphasis* on having him merely confirming and denying everything comes off to me as more of a reduction of Big Mac as a character to a gimmick than anything else.

* which started in season 1, make no mistake, but season 2 seems to have played out to extremes

[PhoolCatKeep on Trottin']

I don't see it as a reduction at all, if anything it's a deepening from country bumpkin to strong, silent type who doesn't waste words - i.e. only speaks more than Eeyup or Nope when he feels strongly enough SMOOCHY-POO!!

[Headless Horse]

Hey, whaddya know: "goody-two-horseshoes" isn't really new. Ticket Master had "goody-four-shoes".

This has been Roseanne, your guide to the world of facts.

[MLPMan]

I finally got around to seeing this episode and I'm really wishing I hadn't. This episode was really boring, and a giant let down, especially after the phenomenal episode of last week.There was no stand out gags, no great characterization moments or any noteworthy animation. The entire episode was predictable as hell and it seemed as if everyone was in idiot mode. When Apple Bloom was lamenting about not getting their cutie marks after making a tabloid devoted to gossip, I rolled my eyes so hard. Also, why would Cherilee make that little twat Featherweight editor after he was the jerk photographing everyone embarrassing moments. This is the only episode, besides Cutie Pox, that I've actually checked to see how much episode was left. Bleh,

I sadly have to agree with this entire post... I really don't think I have to make my points anymore XD...

I do have one more point though that might seem silly to others, but it was a huge negative for me.

When they were discussing the newspaper thing in the very beginning. I felt like I was re-watching one of the shows I used to watch as a kid and got a rush of "nostalgia." Now normally this would be a good thing, but not when it's a new show. Which in a sense made this episode feel incredibly kiddy/immature to me, unlike past episodes (except for the two part pilot). Again, I know some people will feel like this is a stupid negative point, but it was one of many things that turned me off for this episode.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I think this might be the worst CMC episode for me. I know everyone wasn't a fan of of them last season and this one is their favorite. I just thought of them as cute innocent little ponies who were misguided. I knew they would do anything to get a cutie mark (and I get that), but doing something so evil is wrong in my books. I know they felt shame and guilt, but my opinion on all three of them has dropped after watching them this episode.

Again I respect their remorse and the apology at the end, but they shouldn't have done this in the first place (especially for some stupid cutie marks that they will get eventually >_>).

[ArtificerGoes well with All Natural Milk Naturally Flavored with Natural Flavors.]

Well, kids do stupid things to get things they think they want, precisely because they are kids. They'll learn. That's what childhood is about! Learning important lessons!

I liked this episode a lot, regardless.

[PersonatorCool Pony]

So Diamond Tiara hypnotized them into making fake columns about people.

[PictishBeast]

I don't recall this coming up in conversation previously and I'm too lazy to reread the whole thread, but it's interesting how they casually worked the concept of divorce into the pony universe ("The Cakes are splitting up!" "We are?") without making it into a Very Special Episode.

[Applepie]

This is on my top 10 of best S2 episodes.

So many highlights lke Scootaloo unable to fly and DT.

[MasterOfKnees]

Rewatched this earlier today, by far the best CMC episode that actually revolves around them trying to get their cutie marks. I like how it places the CMC in a very tight situation when their own reputation is at risk, it goes away from the cutie mark idea through the halfway and uses the embarassing photos to make them keep going instead. The Mane 6's reactions to the gossip is priceless, and in general it's just a very good episode.

[BackgroundPony“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”― C.S. Lewis]

This is on my top 10 of best S2 episodes.

So many highlights lke Scootaloo unable to fly and DT.

I wonder if/when they're going to do the Scoots learns to fly episode. I mean Pound Cake was flying at one month old, although he may be some kind of prodigy. It would be the perfect DAWWWWWWW episode with her substitute big sis Dash.

[MirAbsolutely nothing could go wrong.]

Okay, looks like another CMC episode. Somehow it feels like it's been a while since I've seen these three...

Who's Featherweight? Huh. I guess they had to come up with more new ponies just so they could show up the crusaders.

We get a cute little montage out of it, but I find it amusing that Sweetie and Scoots didn't seem like they actually tried reading the paper before jumping to arts and crafts.

Of course, Diamond Tiara. Because it makes perfect sense for her to be in charge...

heheh... Namby Pamby. Think I might have seen that joke referenced somewhere, but the delivery is still great.

Aww... Scoots still can't fly...

How does a pony use a typewriter?

Actually, I changed my mind, DT makes an awesome editor.
Ugh... I remember getting gum in my hair. Can't imaging what it must me like with a fur coat.

So I can't help but notice that all the little ponies in line there are blank flanks. I guess they're from a different class or something?

DT actually complimenting them? What world is this?

Poor S&S... their 15 minutes of fame are over.

Really, Rarity? Gum on their bum? That's quite the sophisticated sense of humor you've got there...
Heh, the way Sweetie flicked Rarity's horn? Perfect. Seriously. It's the sort of thing that you'd never think of, but something that fits perfect into a world filled with unicorns that also happen to be siblings.

Heheh, I just noticed the typewritters only have two buttons. What's going on with that printing press?

Spike, that was kinda gross.
Woah... Twilight... are those stripes in your mane dyed?
I don't know what to believe anymore...
Heh. I like that look on Celestia's face.
Ha. Speaking of mane dyeing... Kinda sad though. Pretty sure that's a reference to blonds who dye their hair to get taken more seriously at work...


Sensing an anti-gossip moral building here...


Hahaha, Big Mac still has the Smartypants doll.
Ooooh... Poor Fluttershy...
heheh... Pinkie..

Ouch... a published diary.

Blackmail... That's closer to the DT I know.

Let that be a lesson, girls. Never tick off someone that can control the weather...
Fluttershy literally crying a river.
Gee, was the force field really needed, Twi?
damn. Getting chewed out by big Mac. Now you know you've crossed the line. Dude didn't even yell at them when they drugged him and dropped him in a pit.

You just know the writter was waiting this entire episode to work a "Stop the presses" line in there somehow...

heh... you know, the ponies' reations were a little extreme, but at least they're just as quick to forgive when they get an apology.

And karma steps in once again to punish Diamond Tiara.

I liked this one. Quite a bit, actually. There were a lot of great character moments, a lot of funny gags, they managed to slip in a huge cast, and yet the whole thing flowwed really well. There have been themed episodes before, like Mare-do-well, where you can tell they wanted to slip a certain different type of story into the show and sometimes it feels a little gimicky or a little like a different show. The reporter gags and storyline are as old as those hats they had the CMC wearing, and yet I think it pulled it off. It was clearly an "insert idea B, but now with ponies" Episode, but it felt fresh because they made it their own, and to me it still felt like it fit the show.

[Twilight]

Mir, I just want you to know that I read all of these reactions in Apple Blooms voice because of your avatar

You're the only member of this forum I vocalize for (and I don't even know why).

=========

heh... you know, the ponies' reations were a little extreme, but at least they're just as quick to forgive when they get an apology.

I always saw, at least Twilight, only doing it because she wanted them to learn a lesson. She wasn't actually all that mad, since she comes out with a big smile on her face (IIRC).