Tell Your Tale Discussion Thread-Salute Our Shorts

[CoffeeHorse]

Spoiler

Where did Hitch get the robot arm that's holding his map? Did Izzy build that?

My guess would be Zipp. That seems more her thing

Spoiler

Yeah, okay, Hitch is bored.

It's been clear since the beginning. He's this generation's Patch (Tales). He's a hero in a tamed world.

Spoiler

Yeah...someone please explain what happened to the animals in the last 100 years?

COMPLETELY UNFOUNDED HEADCANON TIME.

You can't really get rid of magic. When ponies lost it, critters got a boost, and they've been quietly plotting their takeover this whole time. They may have been thwarted just in time, though this episode may have put them back on schedule.

This is why I don't get to write cartoons.

Spoiler

The wild animals...like to bake?

I can see it. My blue jays refuse to eat peanuts that aren't roasted.

It is trivially simple to build a primitive oven, and they are surprisingly effective. These critters should be able to handle that if they're at the level of building catapults.

 

[blueskyscribe]

Tell Your Tale "One Trick Pony"

Spoiler

I liked this one a lot. This is the first Izzy spotlight that's really done her justice imo.

Rufus is the pony who was in jail in Nightmare Roommate, and at the time I wondered how he ended up there. But after seeing his magic trick with Queen Haven's crown . . . I get it. Rufus, please read the room.

We also learn some new pony names! Onyx (in the credits) is probably the rhyming beatnik unicorn. And also we learn another of the Filly Trio's names . . . GLORY! Based on G1 Glory or Baby Glory.

They switched her to a pegasus, though, and gave her a blue coat (which some Glory toys do have, like pearlized Baby Glory there, but the "usual" coat color is white), probably so she wouldn't look confusingly similar to Rarity.

This is very intriguing, as the purple baby pony is based on G1 Seashell, so does this mean the third baby is also a G1 homage? And if so, who?

The most obvious answer would be G1 Applejack, presumably with a new name. She has multicolored hair and G4 Applejack ended up with Rainbow Dash so, idk, maybe the Cloning Mirror gave them a baby to call their own way back when. Who then went on to marry a unicorn.

She could also be a very liberal interpretation of Peachy, if her symbol is a peach.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Spoiler

I miss Trixie.

Kids are savvy.

"And then they all die."

Izzy's specialty is giving things a second chance. They really are going to have her be the one who rehabilitates Sprout.

The name Rufus will never be the same to me after Deponia. Never.

Sometimes you need to hold your phone a certain way to get a signal. I know the struggle.

How does anyone collide in the air? You have the entire sky. Move.

G5 is treating earth pony magic the way G1 treated unicorn magic. I'm all here for it.

Uh, this is not at all an improvement over the production values of Pipp's Zephyr Heights shows.



Meh. I just didn't really care for this week's new friend. The main attraction here is that Izzy finally didn't feel off. This was optimistic unicycling Izzy, not gross chaos Izzy. And her line delivery was very good.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Spoiler

Well, at least Hoofdini has some decent entrance music. Very 80s.

"It's Mare-aculous!"...Did they intend on that pun? I feel like they did.

Another casualty of magic returning...stage magicians! This is...probably a lateral move. I mean, he can probably work plant-magic into his act, right?

...Rufus doesn't have magic? Just like Dahlia? What's going on here? Why do some of the Earth Ponies not have magic right away like others? I know we need plots, but this just raises further questions.

Oh, thank goodness, Hitch is here. Surely, he won't let Izzy go completely overboard and...*Rufus swallows the jail keys instantly*...okay, maybe it's not Izzy I should be worried about this time around.

Also, why is Rufus's cutie mark the Gemini symbol? Is he a twin? Are there 11 other Zodiac ponies I should be on the lookout for?

*Hoofdini makes the crown jewels disappear* Rufus has a promising career as a thief, at least.

And, wait a second, did they replace the Pegasus crown jewels since the Pegasus Crystal is now powering magic in the Brighthouse?

Gloomy Sonata gets LINES!

*Teacups! Teacups!* ...Trixie's legacy lives on!

*Little filly would risk her life for her phone* ...Yeah, this is accurate.

"Nothing belongs on the garbage dump...UNICYCLE!" Aww, this was kind of a sweet ending. And Izzy was actually really good in this one!

We also learn some new pony names! Onyx (in the credits) is probably the rhyming beatnik unicorn.

Oh, I guess Gloomy got a official name. That works, too.

 

[blueskyscribe]

And, wait a second, did they replace the Pegasus crown jewels since the Pegasus Crystal is now powering magic in the Brighthouse?

Yeah, the centerpiece of the new crown is purple, whereas the real pegasus crystal is blue. Queen Haven also had the purple gem in Make Your Mark. (I was kind of hoping she would keep Izzy's pasta and glitter creation because that would've been funny . . . Anyway, I still headcanon Izzy making the purple crystal.)

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Not too bad.

Spoiler

It worked for Izzy >_> Who really ARE you Izzy!?

Uh, can I get a banana smoothie withOUT the peels? I guess if you were a Pony that wouldn't matter?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I kinda hated this one.

Spoiler

This is definitely an episode for the kids. This one is stupid, but kids are growing up in a stupid world where every embarrassing moment in their lives has a credible chance of being caught on camera by somebody, and the videos are trivially easy to circulate. This is a way more realistic risk for them than anything we were told about when we were kids.

My problem with it is that the characters come across way younger than G5 is otherwise going for. I can put my cane down and respect the premise, but the characters are G5's strongest point so seeing them messed with hurts.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Spoiler

Dahlia's getting 3 Banana-Berry Blasts. She either has friends, employees, or a problem.

Okay, Posey's the first one to laugh, but...eh...this was fair game. Banana-based humor is a classic.

Okay, slipping on bananas making the news seems like overkill. This must be a VERY slow news day.

*Izzy's little banana...song?* In a way, I feel like she's trying to help, here. Sometimes leaning into the joke is better than trying to fight it.

They made Sunny sad...*gets the torches ready*

1. She should not be looking at EVERY piece of media that's mocking her for HOURS. 2. It's kind of impressive that her legs can even bend that way, getting a closer look at the pose.

*"Sunny-side DOWN, am I right" "Time for a banana-SPLAT"* Curse you are your clever puns, Dazzle!

Posey wins a gameshow. Bento boxes are a thing. Even the Queen is getting in on this.

*Sunny goes FULL despair-burrito* Her smile must be protected...*sharpens pitchforks*

*Hitch trying to arrest a baby racoonicorn* To be fair, it DOES look like he's trying to make off with several thousands bits worth of gems. And we've seen that racoonicorns are intelligent enough to MacGyver machines out of just about anything laying around. That baby probably SHOULD be in critter-juvie.

Also, Racooni-Cop sounds like a solid super-hero name for Hitch. Trademark that!

"Or just wear a disguise and start a new life...WORKED FOR ME!"...Izzy kind of did completely start a new life, coming to Maretime Bay....hmm...is that even a real charm-bracelet, Izzy?

Pipps Fails Compilation has 13 BILLION views? Either the pony population is MUCH larger than we think, or EVERYONE is watching this non-stop. And keep in mind, all the other races have probably only had cellphones for a couple of months. Pegasi are the only ones who developed that technology, as far as we know.

These ponies have a VERY efficient merchandise-making factory, somewhere.

"I want 18 smoothies!" Okay, Dahlia has a problem. She needs help. Someone please help this pony.

Okay, Sunny's happy again...I can put away the angry mob supplies...FOR NOW. I'm watching you, MLP writers!

Also...a LITTLE odd that they're willing to make fun of the only living Demi-Goddess living amongst them, but...I guess they never grew up with alicorns, so they just don't respect them as much?

 

[blueskyscribe]

This episode really highlights why they wanted a modernized setting for G5: so they could have episodes about the online problems kids grapple with. It's easier to be like "she went viral on the internet" than to construct a tortured metaphor for internet virality in a non-internet world. And also kids love and aspire to be streamers.

Anyway, this was a pretty good episode. I related to Sunny doomscrolling.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Spoiler

She should not be looking at EVERY piece of media that's mocking her for HOURS.

That is unhealthy, but also some of the most believable behavior in the whole episode.

 

[blueskyscribe]

Yeah, I remember someone on artist Twitter who made a pretty innocuous statement that she got dragged for. (IIRC she said something like, "sometimes your art isn't there yet, so keep practicing." ) She talked about how she couldn't stop reading the dumb messages that were like "So you're saying my art, mine personally, IS BAD???". Like if she read them and knew what people were saying, it would somehow give her control of the situation.

I hope the internet is less stressful in the fictional pony world.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I do appreciate that the writers don't just automatically give any phone-related plotline to Pipp. She's already a pro when we meet her. She doesn't need an episode where she learns this lesson. Sunny was the right choice here.

Also, it occurs to me that Sunny used to be the town weirdo and troublemaker, and since then she's only done the hero thing a couple times. She may be a sorta-alicorn now but on a normal day that manifests in accidentally knocking over her own smoothie cart. The town ridiculously overreacts in this episode, but I can kinda see how her public image could be a bit fragile.

 

[blueskyscribe]

Zipp's Yes Day

Spoiler

I get what they were going for--it's good to be open to new experiences--but I don't really like the way it was framed. Zipp seemed perfectly happy doing her own thing and it's fine to say no if you know your own mind. Also her friends manipulating her seemed iffy.

The way I would've reworked it would be: Zipp is in a grumpy mood so she says no to everything (with way less chill than in this episode). The next day her friends do the manipulation thing. Things proceed like they do in the episode, but at the end Zipp reveals she knew they were trying to trick her and is like, "I just didn't feel like doing that stuff yesterday. I like doing stuff with you but sometimes people need their space. Just ask next time." And then everyone reiterates that they care about each other and have a group hug because it's My Little Pony.

Either that or switch the "no pony" to Izzy and have a situation where she WANTS to say yes, but they're activities where she's worried about looking like a weirdo to her friends if she's "herself" too much, so she keeps saying no, but looking on sadly while her friends do fun things. Like maybe at the very beginning of the episode mean-girl Posey gets irritated with her and says something unkind, which would be the start of Izzy's self-doubt.

Anyway, I'll tell you what I DID like and it was a reference to sea ponies and the phrase "ponyfeathers", which is from the very first G1 MLP special. (Based on the real life phrase "horse feathers.")

I wonder if these ponies even know sea ponies were real. Maybe they think of them the way we think of mermaids, purely mythological.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Spoiler

Oh yes. I too have the brain freeze! XD

I love Izzy in this episode.

And I don't mind how they went about this at all. Zipp was fine doing her own thing sure, BUT she was opting out of doing ANYTHING with her friends at all and ONLY doing her own thing. The point was you should at least TRY to do things with friends, and like the episode shown at the end. You might find you had fun. Now if Zipp said something like "I'm not really into that stuff" and her friends peer pressured her into them, that's another story. Clearly though Zipp just thought she wouldn't enjoy it, only to discover, hey some of this is pretty fun.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I haven't clicked play yet but this one is already promising.

Spoiler

Pipp wins easily. I bet this is a social media challenge, which gives her an automatic bonus to her rolls.

Posey's rage is justified. And she just storms off this time. She's really trying.

That is an extremely delayed brain freeze, but I don't really know if that's wrong. Can it be delayed like that?

And Izzy just goes along with it. The TYT writers are not good at writing Izzy, but this is right.

This is an extremely extended brain freeze.

Posey's rage is justified. There is nowhere she can stand. The smoothies will find her.

... I actually thought Zip was going to crash. That would have made her actions annoying. The TYT writers may have gotten some wrong early draft of Izzy's character notes but otherwise they seem to know what they're doing.

Pip's flailing legs.

I expect there to be some genuine reason why Zipp doesn't want to do anything, and it'll make sense.

Their rear hooves are sticky too.

Glowing cutie marks? Are they even still cutie marks or are they back to being symbols?

Zipp is a high flying acrobat and finds Izzy's driving terrifying.

Don't do it, Zipp. You'll be finding that glitter in your coat for the rest of your life.

A smoothie that size probably has a week's worth of sugar but okay.

Where's Posey? I know one of these smoothies is going to find her somehow.

Does Pipp keep gigantic speakers stashed all over Equestria in case of situations like this?

Okay they didn't give a reason why Zipp never wants to do anything. She just doesn't wanna. That's believable.


I don't know. This setup works for me. I like that they didn't come up with a convoluted reason why Zipp doesn't want to do anything, or make too much of a show of teaching her a lesson about it. It's not following the normal rules of cartoon writing, but I'm glad. There doesn't always need to be a reason. People can just be people.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Spoiler

I'm not sure this is teaching kids good habits, but...CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!

Are they PAYING for these smoothies, or is everyone just bored?

Pipp gave herself the hiccups, but she won. She's done this before. A streamer's life has prepared her for this.

And Izzy cheats. Poorly. Izzy is a cheat count: 1.

*Posey gets Izzy's smoothie in the face* Posey's rage is justified count: 1.

Aww...Izzy wants to be included in their horrible brain-freeze pain.

*Posey gets even MORE smoothies dumped on her* Posey's rage is justified count: 2. I get the feeling this won't be a good episode for her.

*Pipp reusing the song from Clip Trot* It's been five minutes, shouldn't this song be old news by now?

Zipp has the ability to...DENY a musical number? She must be the most POWERFUL being in this world! Even villains succumb to the beat!

Izzy is munching on a cookie...I just thought that was cute.

How did they manage to bury themselves?

Again, they KNOW about Seaponies! It's just weird they aren't looking for them or anything.

Is that a fashion/beauty magazine that Zipp's looking at? That seems out of character, but she DOES like to keep her hair expertly coiffed.

It DOES seem like Zipp says no to a lot of stuff...but maybe they just need to take a interest in some of HER activities instead of...yeah, already too late.

Izzy caught on! Eventually! And then pointlessly upped the stakes to a ridiculous degree.

Hey, a David Bowie refernce! I'm sure all the kids still know...who that is...right?

Is...that ALL Sunny's alicorn glitter? The same alicorn glitter that has magical properties? Swimming in it seems like a REALLY bad idea. And, again, unsanitary. Izzy even says it's warm. It probably SHOULDN'T be warm!

Aww...Zipp learned that having fun with her friends is...fun. Okay, that should be a no-brainer, but I guess it's still a lesson some people need.

That is an extremely delayed brain freeze, but I don't really know if that's wrong. Can it be delayed like that?
This is an extremely extended brain freeze.

I want to say I've had brain freezes like this before. But, it's been a LONG time.


As for the lesson...meh. I think it's fine. Some people need a push to get out of their own heads and comfort zones once in a while. And she had fun doing all the things, so...meh. It's fine with me.

 

[Videomaster21XX]

Spoiler

Okay Posey actually being outside the window doing the rant was great.

Why are you selling megaphones!?

Also I don't think selfie sticks are really a thing anymore. When was the last time you saw anyone use one in real life?

THERE'S NO TOMORROW!? AHHHHHHH!

XD I kinda wonder what happened to that pony.

Clean up festival? I'm not sure how excited people would actually get for that.

All in all that wasn't too bad!

 

[Shadewing]

Spoiler

Okay Posey actually being outside the window doing the rant was great.

THERE'S NO TOMORROW!? AHHHHHHH!

Those were probably my favorite parts of the episode.

Overall, this episode feels like it needed to come earlier due to its topic, but other then that this was a rather nice episode.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Spoiler

I am immediately having a good time. That must have been a fun line to record.

I am concerned by how sticky this newspaper is.

Visitor numbers cause chaos.

Even when Posey isn't onscreen she's having a bad time. There is nowhere she can hide.

Eye twitch. It's happening.

These newspapers are doing it on purpose now.

This plan is not working at all. As usual.

And then suddenly it works. Thanks, Pipp.

Once again, G5 is not treating Posey as a designated villain. She just wants her life to be calm again. On the occasion that's what our heroes are working towards, she's perfectly willing to be on the same team.

This plan isn't going perfectly either, but good enough.

It's almost as easy to trigger this alicorn power as it is to make the crystals fail.

They're planning to do this once a year? They're going to discover a problem with this plan pretty soon.


What an odd plot, for a cartoon anyway. G5 is picking up on something I really enjoyed about G4, that these characters are adults with adult problems, but G5 is taking it a step further.

Let's recap. Restoring magic completely upended some ponies' jobs, and that's still getting sorted out. Now we find out the tourism boom in Maretime Bay is causing all sorts of mundane chaos. I live in an area that has to deal with tourism induced chaos, and this was believable. These aren't fantasy consequences. These are mundane, natural consequences. If we put on our nerd hats and have an unnecessarily serious discussion about an ending's unintended ripple effects like we used to do for G4, we'd be doing it right.

G5 also respects its characters. Cartoons love to have the complainer always be wrong. Posey isn't wrong. G5 is consistently treating Posey's complaints as legitimate, and she has no attitude about working with our heroes when they happen to be on the same page with her on something.

I wasn't expecting to like this show so much, but the writing keeps being good.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Spoiler

Do I want to know why that newspaper was so sticky?

Posey! Helping the community! By pointing out EVERYTHING wrong with it! Constantly! Right in your home! Eh...it's fair game, since the Mane 5 keep showing up and messing up HER house.

"Unicorns SMELL!" ...To be fair, as we've discussed, Unicorns have a...unique view on trash and it's role in cuisine.

"Oh, Pony-baloney" That's a cute phrase, I just wanted to point this out.

Okay, so Maretime Bay isn't used to being a tourist spot for ALL the tribes, fine, trash is building up faster than expected...but where ARE the garbage-ponies on all this? Please don't tell me CanterLogic was responsible for that TOO?

I'm not sure how the selfie-sticks tie in with the "trash" theme here, but it is distracting everypony, so...eh?

That carriage pony was totally wiling to run over that little foal. She wasn't even distracted by a phone or anything, there was a smile on her face as she was running him down. This pony has been...driven insane *Sunglass YEEEAH*

"Critters...just stay adorable" That shouldn't be hard, in those cute little hats and shades.

Wait, Posey is...HELPING?! I...just...my heart...I never thought. They even make it seem like SHE'S the one who gathered everyone together since she was at the head of the stampede. Okay...Posey is a good egg count:..*snff*...1! I'm SO proud of you!

"There's NO tomorrow? WAAAHHH!" To be fair, this world does experience a apocalypse-level event every year or so. They're just ahead of the curve.

"Today is a wonderous day!" "Tuesday?" It would have been funnier if he said Thursday...since that's when the show comes out and all.

Yeah...I don't know how long it's been in-show, but if they only do this once a year, there's still going to be a problem. It seems like this problem ballooned after just a week! They need to hire more garbage ponies! This episode probably would have made more sense if it took place RIGHT after Maretime Bay Day, since that would have been a big holiday with a lot of people.

Again, this one feels like another "season" finale, to me. Especially, with Posey's "redemption". Out of the 70 episodes, we still have 47 to go! I guess every 11 or 12 episodes might be structured as a "season"?