MLP Liveblog Chat Thingy: "Equestria Games"

How to participate in the liveblog chat:

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 Captcha and hit Connect! We'll be watching the episode and commenting there starting at 3:00 p.m. EST. Afterwards, I will update this post with the chatlog.

Note: I will not be able to do a liveblog next week, because I am going to a season finale party. Is anyone willing/able to do a liveblog and post it in comments, like last week? If so, I'll make a thread for it next Saturday.

Liveblog below the cut! Sorry for vanishing right after asking for final thoughts, I was abruptly disconnected from the chat server by forces unknown. (I don't *think* it was on my end, but I'm not sure.)

[14:58] <@Sylocat> So, today, we're finally seeing the "Equestria Games" that have been built up over the season, kind of like the gala

[14:59] <Froborr> Yeah. I'm not enthused, given how awful Games Ponies Play was.

[14:59] <@Sylocat> Polsky's gotten much better this season though

[14:59] <Froborr> Plus I've heard rumors this is a Spike episode, and I'm as ready to call a moratorium on those as I was on Apple family eps last season.

[14:59] <Froborr> Less than one minute

[14:59] <@Sylocat> Yep

[15:00] <Froborr> Start

[15:00] <@Sylocat> Click

[15:00] <@Sylocat> One-wing push-ups

[15:00] <Froborr> Pleasedon'tbeaSpikeepisodePleasedon'tbeaSpikeepisodePleasedon'tbeaSpikeepisodePleasedon'tbeaSpikeepisode

[15:00] <Froborr> I could go for an ensemble ep or an RD ep.

[15:01] <@Sylocat> Well, I think that's at least a decent B plot

[15:01] <Froborr> This is going to be an Archer and the Fish episode, isn't it?

[15:01] <@Sylocat> Ahahah... a joke about trophies just for showing up, inverted

[15:01] <Froborr> "Let's try to win lots of stuff too, okay?" lol

[15:01] <@Sylocat> (remind me to ask you what Archer and the Fish is after the episode is over)

[15:02] <Froborr> Sure.

[15:02] <@Sylocat> Of course Rainbow Dash had to be Rainbow Dash

[15:02] <mere_oblivion> Froborr, what's Archer & the Fish?

[15:02] <@Sylocat> Great minds think alike

[15:02] <Froborr> Credits ended, I'll explain after the ep.

[15:02] <Froborr> No don't focus on Spike NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[15:02] <@Sylocat> To be fair, the Spike/Celestia comic was the best issue of the Friends Forever series

[15:03] <Froborr> Yes, arrest him for sucking!

[15:03] <Froborr> Sadly, he is probably being honored or crap.

[15:03] <Froborr> Ugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[15:03] <Froborr> No, his ego needs no help!

[15:03] <@Sylocat> Oh yikes, what have they got him doing?

[15:03] <Froborr> I like how the crystal heart was spinning.

[15:04] <Froborr> ...Oh, right, nobody knows that the REAL last time he was there he was desperately trying to salvage a massive scam gone south.

[15:04] <@Sylocat> Oh noooooooo

[15:04] <mere_oblivion> "A Tpwn Called Spike"?

[15:04] <mere_oblivion> Or "Town," maybe?

[15:04] <Froborr> Okay, yes, the Firefly reference could be awesome.

[15:05] <Froborr> I like how the Prince of the Crystal Empire is just a glorified announcer/coach.

[15:05] <@Sylocat> Oh boy, Harshwhinny again

[15:05] <Froborr> Okay, I like Harshwinny. HOpefully she'll smack some sense into Spike.

[15:05] <@Sylocat> "Mr. The Dragon!"

[15:05] <Froborr> Stage fright ep? Didn't we already have that with RD and Rarity?

[15:05] <Froborr> Okay, yes, lol for "Mr. the Dragon."

[15:06] <@Sylocat> "Yay" callback

[15:06] <Froborr> Still no talking for Ms. Hooves.

[15:06] <@Sylocat> Oh, she's never gonna talk again

[15:06] <Froborr> Good.

[15:06] <@Sylocat> One thing I've noticed this season is that they've been ostensibly repeating morals from past seasons, as a "platform" to have new ones in the B plot

[15:07] <Froborr> Point.

[15:07] <@Sylocat> Okay, this is less stage fright and more Gene Starwind in the first few episodes of Outlaw Star

[15:07] <Froborr> "Equestria, we have a problem" was clumsily shoehorned in.

[15:08] <@Sylocat> Oh yikes, a lighter click

[15:08] <Froborr> So it's more performance anxiety than stage fright. And I DO like the gag of Spike the flick lighter.

[15:08] <@Sylocat> Like in (the original story of) The Nutcracker

[15:08] <Froborr> Biro, that's what those are called! Knew it wasn't Spiro.

[15:08] <Froborr> Haha Spike, you're a failure.

[15:09] <Froborr> I really like the new sister relationship Scoots and RD have.

[15:09] <Froborr> I am a sucker for found families.

[15:09] <@Sylocat> Eeyup

[15:09] <Froborr> Sunglasses=instant laugh.

[15:09] <@Sylocat> "Sup"

[15:09] <@Sylocat> Stored in hammerspace, awesome

[15:09] <Froborr> *facepalm*

[15:10] <@Sylocat> Oh yikes

[15:10] <@Sylocat> Well, we've all had that happen, even with stuff we could actually DO

[15:11] <@Sylocat> What? She just TELLS him?

[15:11] <@Sylocat> ...Wow

[15:11] <Froborr> Wow, that shortcircuited that plot.

[15:11] <@Sylocat> ...Wait, that voice does not match that character model

[15:11] <@Sylocat> (or maybe that's the point)

[15:11] <Froborr> Okay, so we seem to now be shifting into "it's okay to be imperfect"

[15:12] <Froborr> Omigod its Pony TSA again.

[15:12] <@Sylocat> So maybe it is an ensemble piece, like "The Best Night Ever," which had also been built up to all season

[15:12] <@Sylocat> I thought the TSA was just one of Discord's creations for his musical number

[15:12] <Froborr> SO DID I!

[15:12] <Froborr> Apparently not.

[15:12] <Froborr> Or they were, but he never bother to unmake them.

[15:13] <Froborr> NO SPIKE DO NOT PUT ON A CONCERT

[15:13] <@Sylocat> Oh yikes, "rock concert," foreshadowing for Rainbow Rocks... oh crud, he's actually going to do it

[15:14] <Froborr> Watch this actually be right.

[15:14] <Froborr> ....or not.

[15:14] <mere_oblivion> If only most anthems weren't actually this terrible.

[15:14] <Froborr> Of course Pinkie likes it.

[15:15] <Froborr> Okay, this is starting to get actually funny because it just keeps going.

[15:15] <@Sylocat> And I've heard much worse renditions of national anthems before sporting events

[15:15] <Froborr> Interestingly, my normal antipathy toward cringe comedy isn't triggering. I apparently have no empathy for Spike left.

[15:16] <Froborr> Okay, so are the games pegasus only?

[15:16] <@Sylocat> Well, Unicorns aren't allowed

[15:16] <@Sylocat> So there's already a racial elements

[15:16] <Froborr> ...They could have, like, telekinetic weightlifting or something.

[15:17] <@Sylocat> Good point

[15:17] <Froborr> I mean, it makes sense with the whole Greco-Roman theme the pegasi have going, but then this isn't really an Equestian event, it's a pegasus event.

[15:17] <@Sylocat> Oh no... what is she going to get him for?

[15:17] <Froborr> Ice Archery is apparently a speed event?

[15:17] <Froborr> Interesting.

[15:17] <@Sylocat> Wait, I saw one Earth pony in the archery lineup

[15:18] <@Sylocat> See? The brown one

[15:18] <Froborr> Huh, you're right.

[15:18] <@Sylocat> Oh yikes, he's wearing That Outfit

[15:18] <Froborr> I want to know about when Twilight let everybody down.

[15:18] <Froborr> ....Um.

[15:18] <Froborr> Wow, that is one potent arrow.

[15:18] <@Sylocat> Maybe she's talking about Lesson Zero? Or maybe she's exaggerating her own OH MY GOD WHAT'S GOING ON

[15:18] <Froborr> And the princesses do nothing.

[15:18] <Froborr> Oh yeah--good point, Lesson Zero.

[15:19] <@Sylocat> Well what can they do, since their magic is sealed too

[15:19] <Froborr> Is it?

[15:19] <Froborr> That's pretty absurdly powerful and dangerous, sealing the powers of the princesses.

[15:19] <@Sylocat> We saw Twilight walk through that device too, right?

[15:19] <Froborr> ...I don't recall that?

[15:19] <@Sylocat> Huh

[15:19] <@Sylocat> Oh, so THAT'S the moral here

[15:20] <Froborr> I'll have to go back after the show and see.

[15:20] <Froborr> Twilight technically can turn back time.

[15:20] <Froborr> It just doesn't accomplish anything.

[15:20] <@Sylocat> ...Okay, this one really, really hits home for me

[15:20] <Froborr> Yeah, "it's okay to be imperfect and you have to learn to forgive yourself."

[15:21] <@Sylocat> Only second place, though

[15:21] <@Sylocat> Well... I liked it

[15:21] <Froborr> They apparently were doign straight medal count instead of the level of medal?

[15:22] <@Sylocat> I'll have to look again

[15:22] <Froborr> Yeah, that was actually pretty good. Spike wasn't a jerk, wasn't rewarded for being a jerk, and had a legitimate problem that wasn't his own fault.

[15:23] <Froborr> Nope, Lyra and Rarity.

[15:23] <Froborr> Those are the only unicorns we see go through.

[15:23] <@Sylocat> Huh. I coulda sworn... oh well

[15:23] <@Sylocat> Oh yes, what's Archer and the Fish?

[15:23] <Froborr> Anyway, it was not an Archer ad the Fish episode.

[15:23] <Froborr> Heh, great minds again.

[15:24] <Froborr> The Archer and the Fish is a folktale. There was an archery contest between the three greatest archers in the land.

[15:24] <@Sylocat> indeed indeed

[15:24] <@Sylocat> Huh... never heard that one

[15:24] <Froborr> A tiny wooden fish was hung in a tree deep in the forest, and the archers had to hit it from the fringes of the forest.

[15:25] <Froborr> The first archer missed. The second hit the tree it was hanging in. The third hit the fish's tail, and won.

[15:25] <Froborr> Afterwards they all went for a drink (on the third archer, since they were all good sports and had agreed to that beforehand--and besides, he just won a purse of gold). And the conversation naturally turned to them asking the third archer how he did.

[15:26] <Froborr> "Well," he asked in return, "what were you aiming for?"

[15:26] <Froborr> "The fish, of course!" said the first archer.

[15:26] <Froborr> "The fish's head," said the second.

[15:26] <Froborr> "Ah," said the third archer dryly. "I was aiming for its eye."

[15:27] <Froborr> You can't do better than you strive for, basically.

[15:27] <@Sylocat> Ah, I see

[15:27] <Froborr> Anyway, I'm going to copy this up.

[15:28] <Froborr> For a Spike episode in the setting and with the subject matter and guest star of "Games Ponies Play," that was really good!

[15:28] <Froborr> Anybody else have a final thought they want to throw in?

[15:28] <@Sylocat> Hmm

[15:29] <@Sylocat> I'll probably think of something witty and insightful later and have to post it in the blog comments

[15:29] <mere_oblivion> Today I learned that even a Spike episode can be kinda cool.