Top Ten Worst MLP:FiM Episodes

As much as I am in love with Friendship is Magic, I feel that even in my previous reviews of episodes, I’ve become very critical to many episodes, calling them bad to worse, and focusing a lot on the negative side of the show. However now, I’m going to be doing a top ten best list to compliment this list and balance out the hate with some compliments. I’m also going to be including the movies as “episodes”, and counting two-part episodes as a single episode. Now as of the reasoning behind my choices, I’m going to be weighing things a bit differently, talking more about morals, pacing, enjoy ability and character handling and less about animation, songs, or plot. Also, since everyone has their own opinions on what they like and what they don’t, not everything on this list will apply to you, seeing as a few points including enjoy ability will be a bit biased on the Top Ten Best List as well as this one. Either way lets tick off the entire fandom and dive right into this!

Tenth Place: Dragon Quest

Kicking off our list is a poorly played re-make of a G1 episode in which Spike decides to go off and learn what it’s like to be a “Real Dragon” and ends up learning that dragons are, as a collective, just a bunch of mean, dishonest, violent bullies who want to peer pressure Spike into becoming a bully like them. Already this is bringing up a bunch of issues, such as making a sweeping generalization about a group of beings, implementing in peoples minds that just because a few members of a certain race are a certain way, you should reject that race, even and especially if it is your own. This is the same issue I had with Gilda and the swooping generalization presented in The Lost Treasure of Griffin Stone that in order for a certain race to prevail, it would likely need intervention from the master race: the ponies. This is not exactly the best lesson to be implementing into kids minds, especially with current political events causing more and more people to turn against an entire race and make swooping generalizations about it, simply because a small group is stirring up violence. Dragon Quest is trying to teach Spike to reject the temptation to bully and step away from peer pressure, but it was executed poorly and decided to say instead: “This is how your entire race acts, be grateful you were raised by ponies and not dragons, because dragons are bad.” This episode could’ve been much better if it was only a small group of dragons who were being reckless bullies, or if there was a kindly dragon figure implemented somewhere in the episode. Instead we are stuck with the thought that all dragons are jerks and would like to assimilate Spike into a cruel way of actions, and that doesn’t sit well with me. This episode had a very poor execution of its moral, and could have been made much better if the ideas implemented about peer pressure and harmful behavior were counter acted with, perhaps, the gang of bully dragons trying to make friends with Spike but the kindness of other dragons was at least shown briefly to make sure people know that not all members of a certain race can be judged by the actions of a few members. Ninth Place: Girls: Friendship Games

As big of a fan I was of Rainbow Rocks, and as much I at first liked this movie, after several re-watches I have begun to spy it’s very prominent flaws. As cool as it was to watch, the fact that it was simply a repeat of the first movie was even directly stated in the film itself. It lacked several aspects of originality, and the handling of Twilight’s counterpart was somewhat sloppy. Making her a Crystal Prep student made practically no sense, seeing as Crystal Prep is supposed to be the other worldly version of , and according to the Equestrian dimension, and looking at the events in Cutie Re-Mark, should that not be currently under the rule of King Sombra? Heck, I feel like that entire movie would have been so much cooler if the school was instead run by the iron fist of Principal Sombra, who abuses his power and wants to show off against Principal Celestia. The idea of making the movie about a competition of sports was a neat idea, I just feel like it could have been made far better. However the biggest problem I had with the movie was that there was just simply too much for a movie that only had an hour and ten minuet run time, excluding the credits and intro. They establish the Shadow Bolts team with seemingly the intention to make them a major part of the movie, but they get absolutely no development whatsoever. They just became flavorless background ponies made purely for the sake of marketing. I feel as though the entire movie was made for the sake of marketing all of these new toys, and when that occurs, it commonly leaves me disappointed in the writing aspect of the whole thing. Also, am I the only one who found Principal Cinch a real buzz kill? She was just such a bland villain, with not much to offer in the first place, and leaving the entire movie with fairly low stakes. Over all, with a bland villain and very little character development, and the entire movie practically being on fast forwards the entire time and abusing its ability to have a longer run time, I feel like the entire movie could have been much better if they had spent a longer time developing some of the characters, and rounding them out or making them more interesting. Eighth Place: Testing, Testing 123

As far as enjoying an episode, I want the episode to be fun, and reflect the character I’ve known before the episode came around. As far as Testing, Testing 123 goes, I found this episode to be painfully boring with no real respect paid to the previous development of Rainbow Dash’s character. It just didn’t make any sense, and broke character a lot from what we’ve seen in the past. Rainbow Dash is allegedly the Wonder Bolt’s biggest fan, yet she is having issues studying for the Wonder Bolt’s Academy Entrance Exam because she doesn’t know the history of the Wonder Bolts? Sure, maybe that part is believable enough, but every single one of the Mane Six knowing the Wonder Bolt’s history better than her? No, just no. I really don’t think the writers were putting in nearly enough thought into this episode when they developed it. This is the problem that commonly pops up when you make an episode purely to teach a lesson, and the lesson this episode was trying to teach was that there are different ways of learning and studying for an exam, you just have to find one that suits you. However, this level of ADD in Rainbow Dash swoops in out of nowhere, breaks her character, and is never seen again after this episode. They ignored the set structure of Rainbow’s characters in order to make the lesson work, and didn’t do anything to pay respect to her development up until this point. Not to mention that the episode was painfully boring to have to sit through, and one that I really don’t want to go back and watch again. It was a very un-enjoyable episode, and therefore it has earned itself a spot on this list.

Seventh Place: Filli Vanilli

Tumblr is a deep, dark place, and one that teaches lessons that should never really be taught, establishing an attitude that serious mental illnesses can be completely abolished by simply brief encouragement, seeing the bright side, and then getting the person who is suffering to change their mindset. This, however, doesn’t work out, and the more this attitude is encouraged, the less people are going to try to seek out medical and psychiatric care. In fact, I happened to have been told over and over that the reason I have been suffering through anxiety attacks lately is because I stress too much over things, and that I should simply start seeing the bright side of things. After sympathizing with Fluttershy and her constant displays of Social Anxiety Disorder, or Generalized Anxiety Disorder, it makes me very uncomfortable to see that she is shown to be cured by a simple, “There, there, I know that you are driven to the brink of insanity when you are placed under the view of more than four sets of eyes, but just look at the bright side! Look at the good things! Boom, you’re cured!” Please, if you suffer from panic attacks or have serious anxiety, simply changing your mindset is not going to cure you, and I advise you to at least consider seeking mental help. Showing a character with this level of stress and anxiety as a main character, but then never showing them seeking any help at all sets a very bad example for kids, teens, and adults alike who are all watching this show, and implements the Tumblr logic of hugs and cuddles will make all your problems go away. Yes, friendship is a very good part to recovering, but should the rest of the mane six be encouraging Fluttershy to change her mindset? Or should they be encouraging her to seek professional help for her obvious mental illness? A sign of being a good friend is not to give temporary solutions that are commonly unobtainable, but instead to bring the friend who is suffering to a long-term solution such as therapy. One other thing that bothers me in generalized media is the fact that serious mental illnesses are treated as personality quirks, and not established outside of their brief appearances in the character. This sets a very bad example and teaches a very bad message to people watching the shows that the problems that either they or their friends are suffering through can be cured by a simply stroke of encouragement, and pushing people into high-anxiety situations in an attempt to “Cure Them” or ever worse, get them used to feeling this way so that they may even reject the idea of seeking psychiatric help, simply because they can go on in the state they are in because they are “used to it”. This isn’t healthy, and the fact that this episode is encouraging this kind of behavior is a huge red flag. So I will say it now: If you or someone you know has a serious mental illness, please take action to seek professional help. That is what psychiatrists are there for, and I promise you, they will do their job.

Sixth Place: Magical Mystery Cure

When a major event occurs in a series, you want the episode of the reveal to be something incredible, building up to the major surprise, much like how Twilight’s Kingdom did a beautiful job of bringing in high stakes, beautiful music, an epic finale, and establishing Twilight as an official princess with her new castle. This episode is a prime example of how not to execute a major event in your story. So Magical Mystery Cure was an incredibly underwhelming episode, and introduced the idea of a “Fully Musical” episode, where the vast majority of the episode’s runtime is spent on the musical numbers. However, the only one of these episodes that has actually worked out has been “Pinkie Pride”, because it was supposed to be a goofy, upbeat episode. This episode was anything but that. After a while, the music just became annoying, and made the entire thing feel like it was moving on fast-forward, not to mention how low the stakes were made for such a dramatic sequence. The pacing in this episode felt really weird, and the constant musical numbers didn’t help in the slightest. However, the worst part about the episode is actually not the fault of the episode at all, but the fault of the Pro-Mos, and this was the fact that the episode was spoiled! The entire episode is made as one big build up to when Twilight gains her wings and becomes a princess, yet because this was spoiled, it left the audience simply watching the episode only to see that occur, causing the entire thing to be so much less exciting than it should have been. The episode was supposed to be this amazing event that would change the course of the series, but instead we are stuck with an underwhelming showcase of poorly paced musical numbers leading up to a spoiled event, making the episode all the more disappointing. I’m actually quite upset that this episode turned out so poorly, for there are actually quite a few interesting scenes, musical numbers, and Easter Eggs that sadly, went to waste.

Fifth Place: Equestria Girls

Of course, no worst-of list would ever be complete without the mistake that is Equestria Girls. Like many other entries on this list, I could spend hours ranting about how badly they screwed up, so I’ll just cover the main points about this movie, and what definitely could have been improved on. First, the music. I told you I wouldn’t weigh things too much based on the music, but the fact that a lot of the musical numbers were stuffed in the movie as marketing, and to replace significant scenes such as “Helping Twilight Win The Crown” instead of perhaps a montage of Twilight being a good citizen and winning the love and trust of the students, or “This is Our Big Night” being plopped in there for no reason whatsoever. And the music isn’t even that good! I mean, some of it is kind of catchy, but there is barley any effort put into any of the songs, and a lot of them could’ve been replaced with far better scenes. Next comes the issue of the pacing, where the writers make the mistake of trying to make us sit through the introductions to each of the new characters, for they believe that the movie should have to serve the double duty of introducing the characters alongside this new world, and telling a story. Of course I gave the episode Friendship is Magic a break for this, since it is the first episode of the series and would have to do that anyways. Equestria Girls on the other hand spends too much time trying to introduce us to characters that we already know, instead of spending more time on a more tangible and interesting plot. Next comes the elephant in the room: Sunset Shimmer. The stakes in this movie are high, very high, and we all know that. However, the way Sunset is set up, it seems as though the writers were trying to downgrade everything, and it made the whole situation feel so much less tense. Remember how I said Principal Cinch was a bland villain? Well it’s about to get tasteless. Characters and character development are very important to me, and Sunset shimmer is simply built as the biggest cliché you will ever find in writing, downplaying her threat, and making her have no real appearance in the movie other than being a bratty, power-hungry teenager. Of course, you may have already guessed that Rainbow Rocks is to be on my “Best of List”, mainly because of their treatment of Sunset Shimmer’s reformation, and how much better her character is handled there. Sometimes it’s nice to have a simple character, but to have one this poorly executed and clichéd can break an entire movie. Writers, I am disappoint.

Fourth Place: Feeling Pinkie Keen

On the topic of toxic morals comes Feeling Pinkie Keen, an episode centralized around attempting to peer pressure Twilight, using all of the odds stacked up against her, into believing in Arcane Superstition. Once again, this is already raising many red flags for me, and doesn’t sit well when I realize that it’s episodes like this that are getting published to young kids who’s worldviews are being affected by what they see, and even the teenage Bronies up to the adults who are using little things like this to shape their worldview. It is a moral not quite as toxic as Filli Vanilli’s, but still toxic enough that it deserves a spot on this list. The fact that the episode as a whole was fairly enjoyable saves it from being in the worst three of this list. As far as character handling, it certainly wasn’t the worst episode, I just found that it isn’t an episode that I would watch over and over again. That, along with its message causes me to lose my respect towards this episode. Now, people can argue all day and night on whether or not kids are influenced by what they see in the media at a young age, but one way or another, some may be and some may not be. We simply want to protect the kids that do get influenced by these things, and watching the main character of an innocent kid’s show succumb to peer pressure because of many odds stacked up against her to make her believe in a form of superstition may not be a lesson parents want their kids taking home.

Third Place: What about Discord

If you have read my previous analysis about Character Destruction vs. Redemption, you’ll know all about how that discussion was centered on What About Discord. I hear a lot of people criticizing Putting your Hoof Down and Mysterious Mare Do Well because they change a character throughout the bulk of the episode only to re-set them how they used to be, only what they were changed into had destroyed their character. Now imagine all that manifested into one of the most unshakable characters in the series, only they don’t hit the re-set button at the end of the episode. Honestly, it wasn’t even Discord that was changed, it was the rest of the Mane Six in their interactions with Discord, and the fact that we didn’t get to see any of this change occur leaves me disappointed and very confused as to how this came to be. Sadly, instead of stealing character from the others, this comes at the expense of Discord’s character, one of the best characters in the show (in my opinion, at least). Character development takes time, and seeing a character change so suddenly in as poor of execution as this can be categorized as breaking character. Even Sunset Shimmer got an entire movie to work her way into being a protagonist after her sudden reformation in the first movie, simply because it takes a long time and a lot of character development to change someone’s opinion of a character, and sends the brilliance of Discord’s execution as an ambiguous, neutral party, anti-hero to a screeching halt. I feel like this episode would have been so much more interesting and so much more believable if it spent more time on Discord’s interactions with the rest of the Mane 6, showing what actually occurred instead of showing the result of it. It’s a good thing this episode had some slightly enjoyable parts to it, because now we’re about to dive head first into nothing but cynicism.

Second Place: Cutie Re-Mark

Hate is a strong word, but I’m not afraid to use it on this finale. There is so much I could say about this episode, but first, let me start with discussing dry villains. So far in the show, there have been only two painfully dry villains, and that would be Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer. The only issue is that post reformation, we are now dealing with best pony vs. worst pony (Once again, simply my opinion, you don’t have to agree). First of all, her motives are very sloppy and her backstory unbelievable. She has practically no right to be a villain, and even less right to be instantly transformed into a protagonist. In fact, the entire episode was spent showing the audience how cool the episode would have been if it featured any of the other villains in any of the other settings that were established, which is one of the reasons I think Starlight falls so flat. She is, on her own, a poorly constructed character as established in the Cutie Map, and wasn’t one I wanted to see return. However, in this episode she is put up in comparison to Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Even Flim and Flam, and she falls horribly short of these well developed and well rounded characters. Not to mention the pacing of the episode, especially in the second half was really weird. Is it just me, or did the constantly rushing through things set the pacing way off? It became difficult to keep track of, and even though they had some interesting parts in there, the poor reformation of a bland character and the badly handled pacing of the whole thing far out shadow them.

(Dis)Honorable Mentions:

Hooffeilds and McColts: (A fairly bland and unentertaining episode with a very unbelievable moral and solution.) Crusaders of the Lost Mark: (Has the exact same issue as both Magical Mystery Cure and What About Discord.) Princess Spike: (Poor treatment of Spike’s Character and a fairly unentertaining episode.) Lost Treasure of Griffin Stone: (The same issues as Dragon Quest)

First Place: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep

No. No they do not dream of magic sheep, they dream of controversy. I would say that I hate this episode, but that would be the understatement of the flipping millennia. I apologize if this critique becomes savage, but hopefully you can see why it is. Remember what I was talking about with Filli Vanilli? Well, lets dive right into Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep. So one thing I've always hated about MLP:FiM and many other TV shows in general is the way they treat very serious and very dangerous mental illnesses as "cute personality quirks", with FiM, the most prominent one being Fluttershy's horrible handling of Social Anxiety. I feel like the writers were looking towards Fluttershy being quiet and shy, introverted to say the least, however, episodes such as Filli Vanilli make it to this worst-of list due to the fact that they are just brushing it off as something that a little encouragement and hugs and cuddles will completely eradicate, even though Fluttershy as a character is set up as someone in desperate need of professional help. One of the reasons I love "Make New Friends but Keep Discord" is because it is living proof that the authors have addressed this and are trying to change it by making Fluttershy simply introverted—preferring to be alone, yet still fully compatible in group activities and interactions—and to that I must give the writers a round of applause. However, before this change was made, I could tell the writers were brushing it off as simply, "Oh, the little kids won't understand it, it's all okay!" That is what really set me off. However, season five had really been working to correct these mistakes. And then came Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep, and that was the tipping point for me. What is the difference between Filli Vanilli and Magic Sheep? The amount of immediate danger each of the disorders pose. While Fluttershy has been shown struggling with social anxiety, that is nothing compared to the controversial issues of extreme depression and self harm that Luna is putting herself through, and once again, the writers brush this off as some sort of cute little quirk that can simply be cured by hugs and cuddles. And I see that a lot in the media as well, especially Tumblr, where self harm is seen as "Poetic" and "Beautiful". The fact of the matter is that MLP has, without any contradiction, glorified self-harm as something poetic that can be cured by a change in mindset, showing that Luna can overcome depression because she chooses to. This is disgusting! If one of my friends tells me they suffer from depression, I'll advise them to seek help with a counselor. If one of my friends admits to self-harming, I will drag their behinds into a psychiatric ward! Self- harm is nothing that should ever be treated lightly or glorified at all! And yes, the creators might argue that the kids wouldn't understand the severity of the misused lesson, but let me remind you that your main demographic is no longer little kids! Seriously, Hasbro! What about the adults watching who can fully understand the gross misuse of this episode? Heck, what about the emotionally unstable teenagers who are going through rough spots in their lives and actually have to deal with this kind of stuff!? What about the literally thousands of people who claim that MLP has aided as an escape from a stressful life filled with these kind of mental disorders? This is like "All About that Bass", where instead of a good lesson delivered poorly, this is a terrible lesson delivered in a way that people think it's good until they actually realize what is being said. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep is by far the worst episode of MLP:FiM ever created, simply because it is encouraging that people suffering through depression and self harm should believe that with enough reassurance from your friends, all of your problems will disappear! No! It is this kind of writing that gets people killed! One more issue is that this episode was well on its way to being the best episode! In fact, if Luna hadn’t created the Tantibus, then the episode would have acted as a beautiful metaphor for depression, and fighting it by seeking actual professional help, but instead they threw the opportunity out the window, and transformed it into the most toxic episode of a kid’s show I’ve ever seen. Princess Luna's case of self harm is far different than Fluttershy's case of Social Anxiety, and even so, none of these things should ever be glorified or treated lightly, like all you need is your friends and a change in mindset to come out of this kind of crap. Not true! You need psychiatric intervention! And if one of the most popular cartoons, watched by many emotionally unstable people, currently on air is telling people that you don’t need this stuff, then I say, take these episodes off the air.

And that’s about it for this worst of list. Now excuse me, I need to rinse my eyes out with a very large hacksaw.

Until next time,

~thetruewizardkitty

(DISCLAIMER: All Screenshots © Hasbro and the MLP:FiM Wiki/)