I think favorite episode ever is a bit of an understatement for this one. 
I’ll wait until it’s out for a few days before we have serious discussions.
I just saw it. It was great! 
I am really looking forward to part 2!
There was a glitch at the Pinkie Theatre for me, so I jumped to justin.tv at the last minute. 
Here’s my review of the season opener I wrote on Tumblr. There will be SPOILERS, unless you already watched it, of course.
~ Discord: The Biggest Troll of All. ~
I’ve been a Brony since I started watching this wonderful animated series in March, so it is with great anticipation that I finally saw the first episode of the new season about an hour ago. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you check it out on Youtube or a rerun on Hub first. There will be SPOILERS ahead.
The episode starts off nicely with the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a field trip to Celestia’s garden maze. Unwittingly, the trio will be responsible for unleashing a great terror upon Equestria, in the form of a mystical Frankenstein pastiche-of-creatures monster aptly named Discord. After a series of freak natural disasters involving chocolate rain (Probably an unintended reference to an infamous Internet meme), popcorn, and bunnies with stilt-legs, the Main Cast is summoned to Princess Celestia’s Canterlot castle for an emergency meeting.
Here, she gives the ponies and the viewer some background info of her history with Discord, and how they are to stop this diabolical villain. Unfortunately, Discord has removed their only means of defeating him (leading some Livestream viewers to remark “Trollestia just got trolled”). After a great introductory sequence and much taunting of our protagonists, he invites them to play a game. No points for guessing that he will eventually lead each pony into a trap and ultimately triumph in time for a cliffhanger ending.
This episode has definitely taken a darker turn, and it remains to be seen if this tone will be kept throughout the rest of the series (although since this is a children’s show, I highly doubt it). But it is one kicker of a season debut - Discord is a much better antagonist than Nightmare Moon, because although he makes the rules, he doesn’t follow them. Whereas N.M. passively sets up a series of (relatively) easy challenges to test our heroes, Discord proactively and systematically breaks each pony’s spirit and inner strength. There is a mood of despair throughout, and it is chillingly played out with surrealistic Dali-esque landscapes and the MC Escher-like labyrinth.
There were a few unbelievable moments - Pinkie being casually flippant about the gravity of the situation (“Eternal darkness… but chocolate rain!”), Applejack and Rarity giving in so easily, and of course, the untouchable and ever-lovely Fluttershy still cracking under Discord’s powers (He essentially ‘cheated’). Perhaps this is what so terrifying about this series’ opening antagonist - that he doesn’t play by the rules so much as ignores them. I sometimes felt he was too good a villain; he basically has unlimited power - from removing the ponies’ wings and horns, to mind-control, to even changing the weather. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to beat him. His nihilistic streak reminds me a lot of the Joker from The Dark Knight (right down to his pranks and attempts at sadistic humour, although not as violent). Speaking of Batman, Discord is voiced with sardonic relish by John de Lancie of ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Stargate’ fame.
This season opener is a game-changer. For once, Twilight will have to face her foe alone and without the help of her friends. I’m pretty sure she will triumph in Part 2… unless they want Discord to be a permanent feature, in which case he will probably escape with an “I’ll get you later, Twilliiiight!” But I’m really excited to see how she gets out of this jam. A job well done, and here’s to an amazing new season of one of the best all-ages show around.
NOTE: It was an interesting experience watching the premiere on a Livestream and seeing fans on the Internet’s reactions to the live broadcast. There’s the typical complaints about Hub’s ads (“This is whiiiniiing…”), but there were some very funny remarks that I wish I wrote down, and it was great to be a part of the event. Even more curiously, some of the ads were even appropriate to the show - such as Tru Moo’s chocolate milk and Applejack Cereal. What beautiful occurrences of unexpected serendipity.
[spoiler]
I actually really liked that aspect of it. Pinkie isn’t one actually to generally be serious (though her friends and how they view her was an actual sore point in her main episode which played out pretty well I think, if done show in a short amount of time when she was ‘broken’)
and it’s an actual flaw in her character I can get behind. Sometimes, the situation means you have to be serious. Sometimes you need someone to make sure you don’t get too dour but still extremes and moderation and all that.
Though I’ll admiit Rarity did crumble a bit quickly to my liking- granted he had five characters to try and ‘break’ and there were time constraints I suppose to fit it into one episode. Though I do wish he hadn’t simply automatically controlled fluttershy and instead had a better try.
I mean fluttershy HAS been shown to be angry before- she’s rather overly proud in an odd way of her cutie mark on the basis of how good she is with animals and overshoots her abilities now and then (as shown with the cutie mark crusaders and the grand galloping gala where she went insane. For laughs obviously but still.) Honestly if there’d been more time or they’d decided to go that dark, him trying to show her kindness was for ‘suckers’ and just let you get hurt unless ‘you strike first’ could have been a way. (I mean let’s say her being kind to someone resulted in someone else or herself getting hurt). Though perhaps I’m thinking too much on that. (I mean there’s also the problem then of rechonciling it with Dragonshy then- she CAN stand up for her friends when it comes to the crunch). I guess Fluttershy overall is pretty difficult to ‘break’ in the natural sense. Though I guess it could have been interesting to see how. Disturbing, though interesting. Plus Flutershy’s fanboys would probably be crying for Discord’sblood if they’d gone THAT dark.
And I’d have winced and wanted to hug fluttershy. But there you go. 
–
There’s also Rainbow Dash’s exit.
Rainbow Dash’s exit was questionable, though I saw it less of the fact she was being disloyal in any way but simply a way to get her to break the rules. If she’s ‘faded’ in colour next time we see her, I’d be surprised in a way.
Though in my view it could be a dark way of showing… loyalty can be turned against you. There’s always too much of a good thing after all- and too much loyalty is to be blindly devoted I suppose. She was loyal to Cloudsdale as her old home town however. Which is still… loyalty. A conflict of loyalty. But there’s the old saying of how you can’t serve two masters (though in the bible it was about god and money I believe), and while that doesn’t apply at all in my case (I serve neither) and the bible usually sets up things in black-or-white ways and RD’s would have been more… grey
I guess it could be seen as that?
But it’s even more complicated in her case.
He made her believe a natural disaster was happening that only SHE could stop- fact is, I’d have possibly done the same if someone had convinced me of that. I mean it would be saving lives really. Though I guess I’d be conflicted in the sense that if I DIDN’T find the elements even MORE lives are possibly lost- but playing by ‘greater good’ stakes is also disturbing in a sense as well. (Whose lives are worth more?) I don’t think RD showed a lack of loyalty myself precisely. Making anyone believe in such a thing is not really a good test of loyalty- or in any case it could show the dangers of blind faith or how conflicts in loyalty can arise- and it would have been REALLY dark if she’d honestly believed it and still refused to go. It’s not the same really as being offered glory and turning it sdown like with Nightmare moon- that was a more clear cut idea.
And yeah, Discord killing even more people was more of a maybe- he’d make lives miserable pretty much for sure but it’s kind of up in the air. Me thinks Discord prefers his victims alive to mess with. Death just isn’t FUN. It means an END to the fun. He could break his ‘toys’ but not destroy them. Not right away.
It means an end to the game. (Plus of course, little kids show. They’re not going to kill people in reality! But even if they did I don’t think he’d want to kill them. At least not as easily as he could if he put his mind to it in any case. Which would be easy- he has mind control powers!)
Rainbow’s was complicated in a way (granted this is probably me overhtinking it as usual)
- though if they’d made it thirty minutes long they could have stretched out Rarity’s a bit I suppose as well as the others. Just yeah, time contraints. Overall though I really enjoyed this episode!
In any case Discord is really powerful and I’m not quite sure how they’ll beat him. (Though the scene that Applejack saw will no doubt play out before then.
I can’t wait until next week!
(I hope Luna turns up in this season)[/spoiler]
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thought that.
And yes, Discord’s reaction to Fluttershy was the funniest part of the episode. Then the “Meh, whatever” approach he took next was very shocking as a viewer. I had certainly underestimated him up until that point. Who cares if it’s My Little Pony, a cartoon, or a TV show; Discord is a wonderful villain. Very Pixarian if I do say so myself.
Omgggg Season 2, finally! I haven’t watched the first episode yet, but I definitely plan on it. I tried not to spoil myself with anything and scrolled through this thread really fast. xD I’m going to take your word for it and assume it was really good! 
(well I was doubtful of the show from the beginning, and I ended up really enjoying it, so I shouldn’t have any doubts for this one!)
little chef
I recorded it, but can’t watch until tomorrow, because my dad’s watching foot ball. Can’t wait!!
Bronystate screwed up about 5 minutes before the episode aired, so I desperately hunted for another live stream, which, thankfully, I managed to find in time.
I loved this episode. Loved, loved, loved it. The chocolate milk and Applejacks ads were hilarious, and I can see quite a few memes coming out of the 30-minutes or so of both show and advertisement (Churro!). I was expecting Pinkie to go full Pinkamena Diane Pie when Discord drained her colour, although that would have been pretty obvious to Twilight (Seriously, how didn’t she notice they were all unsaturated?).
The best looking Discorded pony was by far Rarity, but the best one overall was definitely Fluttershy. I LOVE HER SARCASM. I’m still not sure what name the fanon will grace this version of her with, we’ve already had Flutterrage, Flutterguy and Fillyshy. The two most common I’ve seen are Flutterhate and Flutterb*tch.
Applejack’s face when she told a lie was hilarious, that’s going to the top of my “best pony expressions” list after Derpy’s scrunchy face and Pinkamena’s crazy-eyes.
The episode did seem quite rushed, although they did have a lot to fit in in just 22 minutes. The scene at Sweet Apple Acres seemed a little forced (The corn started popping and about 20 seconds later Rarity appears in full raincoat and umbrella saying “I came as soon as I heard!”; Twilight randomly runs up screaming “I JUST LEARNED A SPELL THAT CAN FIX THIS!”)
Chocolate rain Pinkie re-affirmed why she’s my favourite pony. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been swaying more towards Rarity, but after watching her at Sweet Apple Acres (“You and me both, sister!”) and in Canterlot (“If anyone needs me, I’ll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swizzle straw!”) she’s definitely my favourite.
I thought the CMC’s unknowingly letting Discord loose was hilarious. It was nice to see the other supporting filly and colt characters, even if they didn’t have speaking roles. I feel sorry for Twist though, Applebloom kind of deserted her for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Snails’ expression when the CMC’s were fighting was priceless also. If they added Dinky Hooves to the class, I think I would’ve died of happiness.
It was nice to see the return of Trollestia, also. Here’s a couple of Advice Dog-style pictures I’ve found so far. 
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
Anyway, to sum things up, I can’t wait for next week. Whether I brave the live stream again or just wait until Sunday for the download links to be up, I’m not sure about. I am definitely looking forward to episode 3, which is technically the first episode of season 2. The Discord 2-parter was supposed to episodes 27 and 28 of season 1, but for some reason they pushed them back. I’m mostly excited for Derpy Hooves becoming a scripted character rather than just a randomly generated background pony, Luna coming back and the remastered opening theme music. I’m hoping that they’ve changed the opening video also, just to add in some fanon ponies like Bon-Bon and Lyra standing together, and Derpy flying upside down or something.
Discord is amazing! I was impressed by the decidedly “gloomy” tone of this episode; I wouldn’t say it’s unhappy, but I am quite interested in seeing its completion next week.
Ah, this episode was great! Better than Elements of Harmony in my opinion. I can feel more, shall we say, tension? Conflict? As said before, the obstacles they had to overcome in EoH were fairly easy, but now they’re dealing with a practically sociopathic villain that has huge amounts of power and just uses it for fun. They can’t defeat him with magic, can’t bribe him, doesn’t seem to have a “good version” they can appeal to (so far. It would be lame if he did) and as he seems quite clever, can’t outwit him. For some reason I love those types of villains; they possess the power to conquer the world, but have no real other motivations outside of the sick enjoyment of screwing with people, as opposed to MONEY or POWER.
He’s quite funny, too, and a creative design.
The girls? Eh, Twi is still my favorite. Sure, its a little weird that she didn’t stop and think “Uh, something’s up with my friends” sooner, but other than that she seemed to be on the ball most of the time. Fluttershy also has some great moments, specifically when she riles up Discord just by being too comfortable with herself.
[spoiler]Was anyone else little creeped out by this?
[/spoiler]
That was funny as heck. I thought he was going to lick her or something. 
That would be pretty creepy actually.
I was really trying to avoid spoilers, but you know. Like 80% of my DeviantART friends are Bronies so they had already revealed the villain to me. While he looks pretty cool, I can’t help but wonder…
[spoil]Just WHAT is he supposed to be?[/spoil]
Sorry about that, things happen. 
I can assure you that knowing who he is before seeing the episode won’t make it any less enjoyable.
He’s supposed to be a chimera. The fact they didn’t explain to the audience what a chimera is is something I applaud Studio B for. My Greek-mythology loving side of my childhood is glowing with joy right now.
Oh yes, of course, now that you mention it, I can see that. Awesome.
That is indeed pretty cool of them, because I still found it egregious that during the G3.5 line, they made mermaid-ponies rather than the already-established sea ponies because apparently little kids didn’t know what sea horses were. I was all like, dude, what?
Cheerilee calls him a “Draconequus” when she’s taking the school group on a tour of the statue garden.
Although she also says he has the head of a pony when it’s clearly a goat, so I wouldn’t trust her too much.
[quote="Badger":jmnnwfqe]Oh yes, of course, now that you mention it, I can see that. Awesome.
That is indeed pretty cool of them, because I still found it egregious that during the G3.5 line, they made mermaid-ponies rather than the already-established sea ponies because apparently little kids didn’t know what sea horses were. I was all like, dude, what? [/quote:jmnnwfqe]
I thought the same exact thing! Not only is it dumb, it looked kind of creepy.
Well, I finally caved. I went to Target today and came back with 5 ponies! The only store I could find them in was Target, and they were $9 each for the very basic brushable versions. BUT, there’s some exclusive pony sets or something that were supposed to only be available in Europe but for some reason I found that had 2 ponies for $7. So anyway, I picked up a single-set Applejack and the two exclusive sets which had Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and two other ponies named Rainbow Flash and Daisy Dreams.
I felt totally stupid walking around the store holding an armful of ponies so went to the birthday card section and picked up the cheapest, pinkest card with an enormous “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” on it, a technique that I’ve used way too often last year when I went Toy Story-shopping.
Anyway, their hair was a mess, like an absolute rats’-nest, so I styled and cut it all! If someone told me a year ago that I would one day be standing over a sink brushing hot water onto a My Little Pony toy, I would have kicked them or something.
Applejack was the first pony I cut and styled, the ponytails were pretty easy to set up. I was a bit hesitant about pouring boiling water over the plastic hair in case it melted or something, but a quick pour followed by a dunk in ice water and a blow-dry made it nice and straight so I could work with it. The fringe still needs a little work; the main problem is that the more hair you cut off, the less weight the hair has in it so it sticks up rather than flows down. Some hair spray or gel should do the trick.
Rainbow Dash was relatively easy as well, I sharpie’d the back half of her mane the proper colour which kind of acted as hairspray, the mane’s all styled and I didn’t even have to drown it in water. The front of the mane is way too short, now she’s got a Zecora-mohawk. 
Fluttershy’s mane was, to quote a certain fabulous sea serpent, simply horrid! There is an enormous amount of hair gel sitting in that mane to make it sit right, and even then the right side is sticking out too much. I haven’t even bothered starting on the tail until I can get this mane right.
Now, on to the next 3 ponies! I’m not entirely sure what to do with Rainbow Flash and Daisy Dreams, I’m considering modifying them into other ponies (my first though was Lyra and Bon Bon), but they seem to sell at insane prices on eBay so I might put them up there for $7 each or something. Which is practically nothing compared to the $60-or-so Rainbow Flash/Rainbow Dash set I saw on eBay.
Yeah, I’m a member over at the MLPArena (I’ve been so for about four years now!) and there’s definitely some people ready to pay big bucks for unusual ponies.
But anyway, congrats! I’ve been dyin’ to get me a Fluttershy, but alas, no success as of now. And if I go to eBay, my dad starts complaining that my MLP craze was three years ago… sigh.
Anyone think Hasbro should make a Derpy Hooves toy? Sure, the little kids will go all ‘what’s wrong with its eyeees’ but the mass of bronies would totally buy it. Including me. And I haven’t even seen her in-show yet. 
I’ve been playing around with this for a while, it’s the greatest thing ever.
I’m a 28 year old black man and I felt no shame in walking around Target with my ponies! When people see them, they ask me if I feel any shame. I tell them of course not!