I'm gonna come out and say it...I'm Brony.
Now I'm sure your asking, what's a brony? A brony is fan (usually male, but refers to the whole fandom) of the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic which premiered in the 2010-2011 season on the channel The Hub. The latest series about pastel colored equines used to sell toys(think transformers except not robots),
The show revolves around a mane cast(get it) of six ponies. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The show mixes elements such adventure and slice of life story telling with out seeming like a whiplash effect mood wise. The show is also spectacularly animated considering that is done on Flash, coupled with excellent voice talents such as Tara Strong all the characters and their world are well thought out and feel tangible in understanding. Its also very well written and is truly comedic with several clever jokes, witty-pun, Loony Toon-esque physical comedy and obscure or old pop-culture references, which is very impressive considering that we in a time where kid shows rely heavily on just plain absurdness to get them to laugh.
The show became a surprise mega hit thanks to the internet culture. There are thousands of well written fanfics, millions of people flock to the official fansite Equestria Daily and the sheer amount of fan art, videos, mini-conventions(or meet-ups) is beyond surprising considering that first its a supposed girls cartoon and second that it all sort of started this year. The fandom fell into full swing this summer, me starting to watch the show at the start of may, and has become one of the largest and fastest growing online communities in history. Now you may seem on the fence on the show, but I think this will sway you in.
Welcome to the Herd Bronies! And now with the Highly Anticipated Second Season premiering tomorrow, after the Break I will countdown the Top 13 episodes of season one/
Warning Spoilers for Season 1 Beyond This Point, Beware, Beware!
Number 13: Mare in the Moon.
Being the pilot of a series is always difficult. You have to be able to sell the concept, characters, themes and ideas in a usually short amount of time. The first part, of two, of the pilot, does all this and more. It establishes all the mane characters, their traits, characteristics, homes, hobbies and other stuff while also threading the plot and inserting very funny gags that do not hamper the world building and in some ways are used in that manner. The plot, involving the return of titular pony, is built up well and the ending reveal is effective and gives a sense of genuine excitement for its conclusion. If I had one complaint it would be the in the voice acting. As stated above they are all talented, but in this first episode they don't necessary match with later episodes (YMMV) but I chock that up to first time jitters as they started to develop the characters. Some maybe worried that the first episode is last on this list but its actually a good sign that the series as a whole is better than its initial outing showing the growth of the show and that its quality was more than a mistake. A solid premier perfect for initiates, the episode aimed our expectations only for us to land among the stars.
Number 12: Fall Weather Friends
Otherwise known as the birth place of AppleDash shipping. The episode follows the exploits of Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they compete in first an Olympic style IronPony competition, followed by a race during the annual Running of the Leaves festival. The concept was well throughout and worked with both their personalities. Applejack is stubborn and strong and Rainbow Dash though skilled is ultimately a glory hound who's fear of losing drives her to less than appropriate manners of winning. The lesson of the episode is about good sportMAREship and it works well in the narrative. The jokes are funny and use of clever animation tricks give the entire episode a real sense of speed during the race scenes.But the entire episode was stolen by Spike and Pinkie Pie. Spike is a baby dragon and essentially the butt monkey of the show being used and abused for our entertainment, while Pinkie Pie...is just Random. They take on the task of being the announces at the events. Their commentary is hilarious and the way they work off each other was almost more entertaining than the event their talking about. Funny and well done.
Number 11: The Elements of Harmony
The second part of the Pilot, could seem very different to the first and the rest of the series. Where in those we have an Aesop comedy slice of life style show, we are then thrust into the plot involving the return of Nightmare Moon as she tries to envelop Equestria in an endless night, while our heroes seek out the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare. The show becomes a magical girl, sailor moon-esque, adventure series, which awesome. The voice acting is much improved with them getting into the characters and giving them individuality that will remain into the series. It also really shows off the animation quality with great action scenes. The light comedic tones still shine through even with the seriousness of the story. The show is stolen by Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna who plays double duty as the frightening and threatening Nightmare and the adorable and repentant Luna (we better see more of her in S2) Great character moments not only show us exactly what kind of ponies they but also what they contribute to the friendship that grows in this episode. The pilot was great, part one was the appetizer but this is a well deserved mane(i'm on fire) course.
Number 10: Winter Wrap Up
Easily one the best episodes because of three reasons. First its a Twilight based episode, Two the introduction of background ponies and three the Song. If you've scene the series then you know, Winter Wrap Up by heart and can't ever get it out of your head. It's truly a fun and memorable song. The episode focuses on the annual Ponyville tradition of Winter Wrap Up where in all the ponies manually change the winter weather for the coming spring. Twilight wishes to be part of the festivities but doesn't know her place. Through several comedic missteps she finds her place and all is good. The musical number is excellent full of life and fun and the singers really show the individual characters vocal ranges effectively. The comedy was great, Twilight's naivete work well off of Spikes snark creating a good comedic duo. It makes you wish spring was here so you wrap up winter.
Number 9: Suited for Success
Or how I learned to stop worry and watch Project Runway. Joke aside this is very good episode. Its a Rarity specific episode, that also ties into the Grand Galloping Gala story arc. Rarity is a the fashion pony, but not in the lets go the mall and dress hip and modern fashion, no Rarity creates fashion she's a designer and as such offers to design custom dresses for the mane cast, while singing yet another song that will never leave your ears, to their specification...hi-Rarity ensues (on fire with puns). In all honesty this episode is great. The jokes are spot on, each of the mane six are great in terms of voice acting, Rarity in particular as she goes from happy to overworked, disappointed, ecstatic and awesome. But this is not the best Rarity episode of the season that honor belongs too...
Number 8: Green Isn't your Color
This is a great episode. As the season grew on we got episodes that focused on the relationship between two of the mane cast, like number 12 above. This one deals with Rarity and Fluttershy (or if you prefer Flootershy) who was revealed in number 9 to sew as a hobby. In the episode Fluttershy is thrust onto the fashion world after a high profile modeling agent finds Fluttershy trying on some of Rarity's dresses. While Fluttershy is corralled into the fashion world, Rarity feels disappointed that she is not the one getting recognition. The episode works on many layers. The relationship between Rarity and Fluttershy is fully on display with both of them having a very deep and connected friendship. The second layer being the subplot involving Twilight attempting to keep secrets while Pinkie Pie stalks her through down and popping out of buckets, doors and a mirror...if you think this is the crazies Pinkie Pie gets you'd be wrong. But the best part of the episode is the introduction of Photo Finish. You will instantly find her and her personal background music to be one of the most awesome part of the series. Funny, well made and Photo Finish puts this at the number eight spot.
Number 7: A Bird in the Hoof
Segueing from number eight, we now get a Twilight and Fluttershy episode. The story is as follow. The Princess is in town but her bird, Philomena, is gravely ill. Taking it upon herself, Fluttershy steals the bird in hopes of curing it...Hilarity ensues. The episode is amazing, I won't spoil the ending but trust me its awesome. The jokes are on full here and the comedic chemistry between Twilight's illogical solutions and Fluttershy's well shyness works really well and most of the episode is just them. It was fun and entertaining.
Number 6: Stare Master
Guess what another Fluttershy episode. Well not entirely true...its A Cutie Mark Crusader and Fluttershy episode. If you at all know how Cute the Crusaders and Fluttershy are on their own, then witness cuteness at its maximum level. Here everypony works overtime in terms of quality. The crusaders are essentially the three stooges of the story playing off of Fluttershy who maintains her quiet demeanor compared to the bombastic fillies. Easily one of the most fun episodes, even has yet another good song.
Number 5: Party of One
The Pinkie Pie episode. There are at least two or three episodes that could be considered a Pinkie Pie starring episode. But this is the episode that cemented Pinkie's identity in the series as if it were written in response to the fans thoughts on the excessively random party pony. I'm not going to say more because the
episode speaks for itself...Qui that is correct, ma'dam.
Number 4: The Cutie Mark Chronicles
Cuteness Levels go off the chart. The Cutie Mark chronicles is essentially the origins of the mane cast told to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after yet another failure to get their own mark. Each of the them tell the story resulting in us see them as fillies, its adorable beyond all measure. My favorites would have to go to Twilight and Applejack but all of them are solid fun and most of all the cutest thing you will ever watch...forever.
Number 3: The Sonic Rainboom
This is the episode that makes you a Rainbow Dash fan. Now I wasn't a fan of her early in the show. Found her loud mouth and show off attitude made me not hate her but not someone that I would enjoy watching a full episode about. This changed it by introducing the many sides of Rainbow. We see that she is nervous of disappointing, vulnerable to her oldest friend, Fluttershy and her over confidence to hide these supposed weaknesses. The episode worked both in the slice of life comedy and character development portions and in subtle ways confirmed as of then unspoken but assumed laws on how equestria works. If any thing to not like it would be Rarity but the solidness of the episode as whole makes up for it.
Number 2: Dragonshy
YAY! More Fluttershy. If you haven't guessed it by now, Fluttershy is my second favorite pony and this is the episode that confirmed to everybody that Fluttershy and this show is awesome. It mixes the two elements from the pilot, slice-of-life and fantasy adventure, perfectly in a blend that is just right. Though Fluttershy is the central character all six are fully involved and make the episode work excellently. The jokes are rich and witty, an A-Team homage is awesome and Fluttershy has her Crowning Moment of Awesome...she makes a Dragon Cry. All arguments are invalid.
Number 1: Applebuck Season
This personally is my favorite episode mane-ly(roll on snare drum) because my favorite pony is Applejack, maybe its because I'm from Texas and have met people who remind me of her or that accent is mighty funny, but she's the favorite. But favoritism aside this is the funniest episode of the series. The jokes work perfectly, voice acting and animation quality and variety are on full desplay, the introduction of Big Macintosh (he's awesome, Eeyup) and the most adorable stampede in the history of ever are just parts of this here amazing episode.
And those are my top thirteen favorite episodes. I don't mean to imply that I didn't like the other episodes. There is one that I wasn't a huge fan of, but over all the entire series is great and I recommend people give it chance. This is merely my favorites. Tomorrow is the premier so I'm signing off. Well, see everypony in Brighter Days as we go into Season 2 of Friendship is Magic...review coming soon.
Now I'm sure your asking, what's a brony? A brony is fan (usually male, but refers to the whole fandom) of the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic which premiered in the 2010-2011 season on the channel The Hub. The latest series about pastel colored equines used to sell toys(think transformers except not robots),
The show revolves around a mane cast(get it) of six ponies. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The show mixes elements such adventure and slice of life story telling with out seeming like a whiplash effect mood wise. The show is also spectacularly animated considering that is done on Flash, coupled with excellent voice talents such as Tara Strong all the characters and their world are well thought out and feel tangible in understanding. Its also very well written and is truly comedic with several clever jokes, witty-pun, Loony Toon-esque physical comedy and obscure or old pop-culture references, which is very impressive considering that we in a time where kid shows rely heavily on just plain absurdness to get them to laugh.
The show became a surprise mega hit thanks to the internet culture. There are thousands of well written fanfics, millions of people flock to the official fansite Equestria Daily and the sheer amount of fan art, videos, mini-conventions(or meet-ups) is beyond surprising considering that first its a supposed girls cartoon and second that it all sort of started this year. The fandom fell into full swing this summer, me starting to watch the show at the start of may, and has become one of the largest and fastest growing online communities in history. Now you may seem on the fence on the show, but I think this will sway you in.
Welcome to the Herd Bronies! And now with the Highly Anticipated Second Season premiering tomorrow, after the Break I will countdown the Top 13 episodes of season one/
Warning Spoilers for Season 1 Beyond This Point, Beware, Beware!
Number 13: Mare in the Moon.
Being the pilot of a series is always difficult. You have to be able to sell the concept, characters, themes and ideas in a usually short amount of time. The first part, of two, of the pilot, does all this and more. It establishes all the mane characters, their traits, characteristics, homes, hobbies and other stuff while also threading the plot and inserting very funny gags that do not hamper the world building and in some ways are used in that manner. The plot, involving the return of titular pony, is built up well and the ending reveal is effective and gives a sense of genuine excitement for its conclusion. If I had one complaint it would be the in the voice acting. As stated above they are all talented, but in this first episode they don't necessary match with later episodes (YMMV) but I chock that up to first time jitters as they started to develop the characters. Some maybe worried that the first episode is last on this list but its actually a good sign that the series as a whole is better than its initial outing showing the growth of the show and that its quality was more than a mistake. A solid premier perfect for initiates, the episode aimed our expectations only for us to land among the stars.
Number 12: Fall Weather Friends
Otherwise known as the birth place of AppleDash shipping. The episode follows the exploits of Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they compete in first an Olympic style IronPony competition, followed by a race during the annual Running of the Leaves festival. The concept was well throughout and worked with both their personalities. Applejack is stubborn and strong and Rainbow Dash though skilled is ultimately a glory hound who's fear of losing drives her to less than appropriate manners of winning. The lesson of the episode is about good sportMAREship and it works well in the narrative. The jokes are funny and use of clever animation tricks give the entire episode a real sense of speed during the race scenes.But the entire episode was stolen by Spike and Pinkie Pie. Spike is a baby dragon and essentially the butt monkey of the show being used and abused for our entertainment, while Pinkie Pie...is just Random. They take on the task of being the announces at the events. Their commentary is hilarious and the way they work off each other was almost more entertaining than the event their talking about. Funny and well done.
Number 11: The Elements of Harmony
The second part of the Pilot, could seem very different to the first and the rest of the series. Where in those we have an Aesop comedy slice of life style show, we are then thrust into the plot involving the return of Nightmare Moon as she tries to envelop Equestria in an endless night, while our heroes seek out the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare. The show becomes a magical girl, sailor moon-esque, adventure series, which awesome. The voice acting is much improved with them getting into the characters and giving them individuality that will remain into the series. It also really shows off the animation quality with great action scenes. The light comedic tones still shine through even with the seriousness of the story. The show is stolen by Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna who plays double duty as the frightening and threatening Nightmare and the adorable and repentant Luna (we better see more of her in S2) Great character moments not only show us exactly what kind of ponies they but also what they contribute to the friendship that grows in this episode. The pilot was great, part one was the appetizer but this is a well deserved mane(i'm on fire) course.
Number 10: Winter Wrap Up
Easily one the best episodes because of three reasons. First its a Twilight based episode, Two the introduction of background ponies and three the Song. If you've scene the series then you know, Winter Wrap Up by heart and can't ever get it out of your head. It's truly a fun and memorable song. The episode focuses on the annual Ponyville tradition of Winter Wrap Up where in all the ponies manually change the winter weather for the coming spring. Twilight wishes to be part of the festivities but doesn't know her place. Through several comedic missteps she finds her place and all is good. The musical number is excellent full of life and fun and the singers really show the individual characters vocal ranges effectively. The comedy was great, Twilight's naivete work well off of Spikes snark creating a good comedic duo. It makes you wish spring was here so you wrap up winter.
Number 9: Suited for Success
Or how I learned to stop worry and watch Project Runway. Joke aside this is very good episode. Its a Rarity specific episode, that also ties into the Grand Galloping Gala story arc. Rarity is a the fashion pony, but not in the lets go the mall and dress hip and modern fashion, no Rarity creates fashion she's a designer and as such offers to design custom dresses for the mane cast, while singing yet another song that will never leave your ears, to their specification...hi-Rarity ensues (on fire with puns). In all honesty this episode is great. The jokes are spot on, each of the mane six are great in terms of voice acting, Rarity in particular as she goes from happy to overworked, disappointed, ecstatic and awesome. But this is not the best Rarity episode of the season that honor belongs too...
Number 8: Green Isn't your Color
This is a great episode. As the season grew on we got episodes that focused on the relationship between two of the mane cast, like number 12 above. This one deals with Rarity and Fluttershy (or if you prefer Flootershy) who was revealed in number 9 to sew as a hobby. In the episode Fluttershy is thrust onto the fashion world after a high profile modeling agent finds Fluttershy trying on some of Rarity's dresses. While Fluttershy is corralled into the fashion world, Rarity feels disappointed that she is not the one getting recognition. The episode works on many layers. The relationship between Rarity and Fluttershy is fully on display with both of them having a very deep and connected friendship. The second layer being the subplot involving Twilight attempting to keep secrets while Pinkie Pie stalks her through down and popping out of buckets, doors and a mirror...if you think this is the crazies Pinkie Pie gets you'd be wrong. But the best part of the episode is the introduction of Photo Finish. You will instantly find her and her personal background music to be one of the most awesome part of the series. Funny, well made and Photo Finish puts this at the number eight spot.
Number 7: A Bird in the Hoof
Segueing from number eight, we now get a Twilight and Fluttershy episode. The story is as follow. The Princess is in town but her bird, Philomena, is gravely ill. Taking it upon herself, Fluttershy steals the bird in hopes of curing it...Hilarity ensues. The episode is amazing, I won't spoil the ending but trust me its awesome. The jokes are on full here and the comedic chemistry between Twilight's illogical solutions and Fluttershy's well shyness works really well and most of the episode is just them. It was fun and entertaining.
Number 6: Stare Master
Guess what another Fluttershy episode. Well not entirely true...its A Cutie Mark Crusader and Fluttershy episode. If you at all know how Cute the Crusaders and Fluttershy are on their own, then witness cuteness at its maximum level. Here everypony works overtime in terms of quality. The crusaders are essentially the three stooges of the story playing off of Fluttershy who maintains her quiet demeanor compared to the bombastic fillies. Easily one of the most fun episodes, even has yet another good song.
Number 5: Party of One
The Pinkie Pie episode. There are at least two or three episodes that could be considered a Pinkie Pie starring episode. But this is the episode that cemented Pinkie's identity in the series as if it were written in response to the fans thoughts on the excessively random party pony. I'm not going to say more because the
episode speaks for itself...Qui that is correct, ma'dam.
Number 4: The Cutie Mark Chronicles
Cuteness Levels go off the chart. The Cutie Mark chronicles is essentially the origins of the mane cast told to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after yet another failure to get their own mark. Each of the them tell the story resulting in us see them as fillies, its adorable beyond all measure. My favorites would have to go to Twilight and Applejack but all of them are solid fun and most of all the cutest thing you will ever watch...forever.
Number 3: The Sonic Rainboom
This is the episode that makes you a Rainbow Dash fan. Now I wasn't a fan of her early in the show. Found her loud mouth and show off attitude made me not hate her but not someone that I would enjoy watching a full episode about. This changed it by introducing the many sides of Rainbow. We see that she is nervous of disappointing, vulnerable to her oldest friend, Fluttershy and her over confidence to hide these supposed weaknesses. The episode worked both in the slice of life comedy and character development portions and in subtle ways confirmed as of then unspoken but assumed laws on how equestria works. If any thing to not like it would be Rarity but the solidness of the episode as whole makes up for it.
Number 2: Dragonshy
YAY! More Fluttershy. If you haven't guessed it by now, Fluttershy is my second favorite pony and this is the episode that confirmed to everybody that Fluttershy and this show is awesome. It mixes the two elements from the pilot, slice-of-life and fantasy adventure, perfectly in a blend that is just right. Though Fluttershy is the central character all six are fully involved and make the episode work excellently. The jokes are rich and witty, an A-Team homage is awesome and Fluttershy has her Crowning Moment of Awesome...she makes a Dragon Cry. All arguments are invalid.
Number 1: Applebuck Season
This personally is my favorite episode mane-ly(roll on snare drum) because my favorite pony is Applejack, maybe its because I'm from Texas and have met people who remind me of her or that accent is mighty funny, but she's the favorite. But favoritism aside this is the funniest episode of the series. The jokes work perfectly, voice acting and animation quality and variety are on full desplay, the introduction of Big Macintosh (he's awesome, Eeyup) and the most adorable stampede in the history of ever are just parts of this here amazing episode.
And those are my top thirteen favorite episodes. I don't mean to imply that I didn't like the other episodes. There is one that I wasn't a huge fan of, but over all the entire series is great and I recommend people give it chance. This is merely my favorites. Tomorrow is the premier so I'm signing off. Well, see everypony in Brighter Days as we go into Season 2 of Friendship is Magic...review coming soon.
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