Option 1: Whenever you watch the episode, comment on this post as you watch with whatever responses you feel like posting!
Option 2: Go to http://webchat.freenode.net/. Enter a nickname, then for the Channels field enter ##rabbitcube, and finally fill in the Capcha and hit Connect! We'll be watching the episode and commenting there starting at just before 2:00 p.m. EST. After the chat, I will update this post with a log of the conversation.
Chatlog:
<@Sylocat> It's time
<DecoyOctopus> clicked
<Froborr> Yep. Go!
<@Sylocat> Play
<Froborr> Why is Applejack happy it's applebucking day?
<Froborr> Doesn't she remember the last one?
<DecoyOctopus> ...is it just me, or is the animation quality way better?
<Froborr> Yeah, it's been noticeably improved this season.
<@Sylocat> Well, she remembers the last one turned out okay
<@Sylocat> Yeah, their budget got reinflated
<@Sylocat> (it was cut to shreds for S3)
<Froborr> Yeah, a lot of their money got yanked away to make a mediocre movie.
<DecoyOctopus> wait it was?
<DecoyOctopus> ohh
<Froborr> Vampires that target fruit!
<@Sylocat> WHOA
<Froborr> Best thing ever!
<@Sylocat> Like Bunnicula!
<Froborr> Yes!
<Froborr> "The Celery Stalks at Midnight" is one of the best titles any book has ever had.
<Froborr> YES FLUTTERSHY EPISODE
<DecoyOctopus> the incredibly deep language of bats
<DecoyOctopus> oh god a song
<@Sylocat> She needs that thing from Bale!Batman's shoe
<@Sylocat> Ooh, a Gothic orchestra number... how appropriate
<DecoyOctopus> adorable bats are the best
<Froborr> I have been waiting for Territorial Applejack vs. Hippy Fluttershy since season 1, this is beautiful.
<@Sylocat> This is creepy
<DecoyOctopus> pinkie is way too amused compared to everyone else
<Froborr> Oh, I was not expecting EVERYONE to oppose Fluttershy, I thought it would be 3 vs 3.
<Froborr> This is WAY better.
<DecoyOctopus> yeah I was about to say it was exactly what you expected but then it wasn't
<Froborr> Did... Pinkie just sing "Fruitbat Roundup" to the tune of "Winter Wrapup?" That's beautiful.
<@Sylocat> Ah, a cycle-of-life moral!
<DecoyOctopus> the great apple depression
<DecoyOctopus> ah cripes my video stopped buffering
<Froborr> Dash needs her cider!
<@Sylocat> Oh, Rainbow Dash
<DecoyOctopus> nvm, it's fixed
<Froborr> Oh, Rainbow Dash, your alcoholism is hilarious to me.
<@Sylocat> Hi, my name is Rainbow Dash, and I'm a ciderholic
<DecoyOctopus> "hi rainbow daash"
<@Sylocat> (sorry)
<Froborr> So this is going to be a peer pressure episode, huh?
<Froborr> Fluttershy advocates responsible use of mind contol powers!
<Froborr> Fluttershy > Dumbledore
<DecoyOctopus> "am I the only one who cares about the bees?!"
<@Sylocat> She's an antisocial animal lover. What do you think, Twilight?
<@Sylocat> Carmen Miranda!
<@Sylocat> A biohazard cutie mark on her suit
<Froborr> That's the funniest Rarity scene in a long time.
<DecoyOctopus> they did that before
<DecoyOctopus> with the cutie pox episode
<Froborr> That's... not actually that many bats.
<DecoyOctopus> so presumably there's just a company that manufactures radiation suits
<Froborr> So, does this make the fruit bats want to eat everythign, or just cause them to starve?
<Froborr> *everything but fruit I should say
<@Sylocat> Because changing the Parasprites' dietary habits worked out so well
<@Sylocat> ...Uh, Spike?
<DecoyOctopus> twilight never learns anythi-wait what
<Froborr> Oh no, did it transfer the hunger for juice to Fluttershy?
<DecoyOctopus> ...you definitely could've phrased that better, froborr
<@Sylocat> What is it reading?
<Froborr> My guess? The Angel comic.
<DecoyOctopus> it looked like it had a glass of lemonade on it
<Froborr> Fruit Juice Afficionados Monthly?
<@Sylocat> HAHAH
<@Sylocat> It did!
<@Sylocat> You were right!
<@Sylocat> A Batmare reference!
<Froborr> This is not the story I was expecting.
<DecoyOctopus> yeah same here
<@Sylocat> "I have a bad feeling about this."
<Froborr> So Fluttershy is a vampire pony that only drains fruit?
<@Sylocat> They should have started the season before Halloween
<Froborr> That is *almost* as good as vampire watermelons.
<DecoyOctopus> vampony
<@Sylocat> This should have been a Halloween special
<DecoyOctopus> wikipedia why
<@Sylocat> AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
<Froborr> Flutterbat?
<Froborr> Rarity is HILARIOUS this episode.
<@Sylocat> Vampershy?
<Froborr> Vampershy is better.
<@Sylocat> Lasso her!
<@Sylocat> Whoa, Pinkie Pie can dig!
<Froborr> Um, vampire bats actually do bite horses?
<@Sylocat> Wait, that's how Luna's batpony guards are made!
<DecoyOctopus> yes
<@Sylocat> Mission briefing!
<Froborr> Twilight has an exposition diagram hologram spell!
<Froborr> That is the BEST
<@Sylocat> This should be a loading screen!
<DecoyOctopus> wait how does
<@Sylocat> Oh wow, this is creepy
<Froborr> Seriously, anyone who still hates Merriwether Williams at this point is OBJECTIVELY WRONG
<DecoyOctopus> but froborr ranbo dadsh isn't fully in-character
<Froborr> Creepy AND hilarious, one of my favorite combinations!
<@Sylocat> She got off on the wrong foot, but she's picked up since then
<Froborr> lol DO
<@Sylocat> LASSO HER!
<DecoyOctopus> Ranbo: First Blood Part II
<Froborr> Wait, mirrors don't work on vampires!
<@Sylocat> Wait, she can see herself in the mirror?
<DecoyOctopus> well she's a vampire /bat/ not just a vampire
<Froborr> True.
<@Sylocat> Did she give the hunger back to the bats, or absorb it herself?
<DecoyOctopus> alternatively, magic
<@Sylocat> A Green Aesop!
<Froborr>
I think this is the first time Rarity has been the comic relief for an
episode without being Fussy McFussypants? I heartily approve.
<Froborr> YES
<@Sylocat> Ooh, a double Aesop!
<Froborr> SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SAY NO TO YOUR FRIENDS
<DecoyOctopus> you win, froborr
<Froborr> Duhn duhn duhn
<@Sylocat> One about peer pressure, and another about short term solutions at the expense of long-term ones
<Froborr> *cue happy music*
<@Sylocat> (a micro one, and a macro one)
<@Sylocat> Oh wow
<Froborr> Which latter is basically a green thing
<DecoyOctopus> dun dun duuuuun
<@Sylocat> THAT END SHOT
<@Sylocat> Wow, this was an awesome one
<Froborr> Fluttershy hungers for juice!
<DecoyOctopus> watch it never come up again
<Froborr> Eh, it'll probably show up in background gags.
<Froborr> Maybe in next season's opening credits, Fluttershy will snatch the apple from Angel and drink its juice.
<DecoyOctopus> so yeah. good episode, or good episode?
<Froborr> GREAT EPISODE
<DecoyOctopus> yes good
<Froborr> Man, this season has been pretty much on fire so far.
<DecoyOctopus> except the daring do episode
<Froborr> There's been one episode that left me pretty flat, the Daring Do one.
<Froborr> Yeah.
<Froborr> But otherwise? Really solid stuff.
<Froborr> Like, Season 2-calibre.
People never believe me about that watermelon thing. Was I the one that got you to notice, or did you discover it independently? Cause I have a tendency to bring it up to show just how weird superstitions can sound to modern thinking.
ReplyDeleteNope, I learned about them from Ursula Vernon's (amazing) webcomic Digger, which was heavily influenced by her studies in anthropology. It's also where I learned about that creepy religion (a hybrid of Catholicism and the Bloody Mary urban legend) Miami street kids made up.
DeleteIn keeping with this season's decidedly darker tone, how could we fail to have an episode pretty directly slagging on certain types of bronies? One could argue that the series starts properly with Applebuck Season (in terms of what episodes are actually like, not usually with everyone ganging up on Twilight, or the main character being magical girls fighting evil Moon magicians); its start here is aborted by the fruit bats. In an episode with multiple continuity references designed to be the sort of thing they'll catch none the less (Rainbow Dash's obsession with cider, revisiting "The Stare," "Fruit bat Round-up," Twilight changing pestilential animals' food preferences)...
ReplyDeleteProvided they kept themselves secluded on the Western orchard and away from the kids, the fruit bats were tolerable, but now that they're really out in the open? Complaining about season 3 and making the target audience upset? Being weird at the movies where parents taking their kids have to see them? They must be destroyed.
But then again, that's not quite fair, is it? How could we avoid mentioning Rainbow Dash literally battering a Strawman? Or Fluttershy pointing out that many of them have children of their own, and share their works with their friends, creating the seeds from which new creative ventures spring?
And so, of it course it is Fluttershy -- the bronies' most beloved character out of all the mane six -- who gets in with the fruit bat crowd, tries to defend them, and ends up becoming one of them. We've all seen it, or at least read about it. The person who insists that their dark fic is the "true meaning" of MLP. Who is completely unsatisfied with any episode that doesn't grapple with complex themes and instead tries to be an amusing diversion. Who insist that they are the true arbiters of everything good and right about the show. And in the end it takes a long, hard, unflinching look in the mirror to see what you've become to realize that maybe sucking the life blood out of a positive and life affirming show isn't what this should be about.
So, the moral of our story is to tag your damn dark and clop fic and fan art so kids don't accidentally bump into them! Stay on the reservation and spit your G rated seeds over the fence like we agreed, alright? Because seriously, they think they're going to see a cute video about Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie making Cupcakes, and instead end up watching something that'll stay with them for a long, long time... None of us missed that fang at the end, did we?
Very good work, I must say!
Congrats, Froborr! You got your episode - and it was pretty darn good!
ReplyDelete