Official Discussion Thread - S04E24 Equestria Games

[brianblackberry]

It is that time of the week again when we all huddle around our computers and televisions and watch adorable ponies do adorable pony things. In this week's episode, we finally see the long awaited Equestria Games, talked about since the third season. How will team Ponyville do? Will Derpy come home with the gold? How much griffin fan art will be inspired by the episode? Fine out in a few hours! Please discuss the episode, but remember to keep the spoilers in the spoilers bracket. Episode airs Saturday 10:30 AM EST on May 3rd.

It is just like that fanfic Spike wrote with the character that totally was not him!

[Rosewind]

First half of the episode: 3/10. Second half (after the anthem scene): 7/10. It was another Spike episode. We've done this before. Many times. Last week, in fact.

It had a lot of background character appearances, but that does not an episode make. I hope the finale will be a rocking one.

[YourLittleBrony]

I gotta say, as one who has been looking forward to the Equestrian Games since last season, this really didnt do it for me. I guess I was expecting more of the games, seeing more events and whatnot, rather than it just being touched on. I guess I assumed that there would be some fiasco before the lighting of the torch, fiasco resolved, torch lit, games begin, end episode. Then later we see the full extent of the games run its course. I guess they wanted the Games over and done with before the season finale, which to me made the episode rushed. Im surprised that this didnt make my list of favorite episodes for season 4. Im a little disappointed.

Would like to know where the other dignitaries are from though...couple new faces had interesting designs.

[RarityDash]

This one wasn't amazing. That this is what the Equestria Games plot thread amounts to is kind of a disappointment.

It wasn't terrible by any stretch, just kind of underwhelming. The most interesting parts of it had nothing to do do with the episode itself. It was built on so many references to earlier episodes and there were so many cool things in the background that was where most of the interesting things happened. The core plot on the other hand was kind of weak. It was a typical Spike plot that was slow to build to anything substantial. There were some good moments toward the end though. Compared to last week, it wasn't very interesting though.

The references to previous episodes were handled well. I like how, this being Spike's first trip to the Crystal Empire (where he is noticed, at least), he is recognized by the ponies there as a hero. References to other Equestria Games episodes were also quite seamless. Pretty much any background pony we'd want to see was there (took a while for me to get my Cloudchaser though). There was some interesting new designs as well, chiefly the two unrecognized royal ponies in the royal box with princesses.Saddle Arabia ponies and Blueblood. Also good to actually see Celestia this season, though it was too bad she didn't have any lines...

Spike's "anthem" was probably the most amusing thing. Really though, it just didn't do quite enough for me to call it a really good episode. Middling good for a Spike episode, I suppose, but that's the best I can think of.

Oh, and ice archery is really cool. Makes me really wish we could have seen more of the actual games...

[FrankT]

This was actually starting to get depressing until Spike saved the day again. Or - I say - I'd forgotten that the Imperial Crystals hailed him a hero!

[kunio18]

i face hoofed so hard when spike tried singing cloudsdale anthem, who else did. ?

[Cadabra]

While I was extremely disappointed by the weak ending to the Equestria Games story arc, I have to admit that Miss Harshwiney stole the show for me. I got a smile and a laugh every time she was on screen, especially when she referred to Spike as Mr. The Dragon.

[rjrgmc28]

♫ We want to share the centuries gone. A golden age will reign. Where the spirit of competition, burns so bright, in the eternal flame.... ♫

I never, ever felt so excited and yet anxious for a new episode in my years in the fandom. What I saw last night however was an episode that exceeded my expectations.

"Spike overcame his fears and yet again, he shone! An outstanding episode!"

As always, the thoughts on the episode are spoilered below:

While I didn't pay much attention to the writing quality or story, this episode brought back a lot of memories of not only my Paralympic torch relay experience but also those magical 16 days in Sydney 14 years ago.

I knew Spike was going to have some nerves and anxiety when he tried to light the cauldron and that reflected my experience when I had the torch go out on me twice in front of thousands of people at the Moss Vale Showgrounds when I tried to light it to begin my relay run. So I knew how he felt, minus the large crowd number.

The Aerial Relay gold medal race was another part of the episode that I really got into despite the BronyState stream deciding to crash at a crucial part of the episode. The race itself lived up to it's name with tension at every corner and the lead changing many times.

While Team Ponyville tried their best and came out with the silver medal, I had thoughts running through my mind about whether the local media would do what the Australian media does where if you fail to win gold. I won't mention what I thought about here, but I had genuine feelings that they were going to bag out Dash and the team for not coming up with the goods and pushing her to the edge of tears.

But in the end, it was a hoof bump between Dash and Spitfire and they accepted their medals, despite Spike's bad singing of the Cloudsdale anthem. Personally, I would have preferred if they played the Hymn de l'Avenir, aka the Paralympic anthem, but we instead got Spike trying his best to make up for the cauldron lighting mess.

"In the words of the late Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Crystal Empire has put on the best Equestria Games ever!"

In the end, was the Equestria Games worth it? Yes it was.

For many people like myself, the episode brought back some memories and for the show to cover an event like this was no easy challenge in it's self.

The only complaint that I have about the episode is, well I'll let my tweet sum it up:

"Oops! Almost forgot. One last bit to share. Don't forget the Equestria Paralympic Games comes after the Equestria Games."

While I enjoyed the episode, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't show many ponies in the Paralympic arena.

I know I am going to cop a lot of heat for this, but there is much more to the Equestria Games than the able bodied competition and it's Paralympic counterpart, even if it would be in the form of a animated short on it's own or even an episode of it's very own would have been a great addition as a nod to the Paralympic movement.

I also have written my full thoughts on the episode itself on my blog, which can be viewed here.

[Bellosh]

Yeah, I also really wished the writers didn't waste the entire Equestria Games by making the final payoff a Spike episode. At least with the Grand Galloping Gala, the entire Mane 6 had important roles in that affair. <_<

[Sailu]

i felt like they could have done quite a bit more with this EP in terms of spike failing to make it hit harder and i think twi could have been quite more concerned for him and stayed with him the whole time and talked with him about why and how everything that happened happened and give her apology as a more deep and heart felt one but other then that i REALLY liked this EP two really REALLY good spike episodes and now has jumped up quite a few points in my book from first not really even caring for him to giving him respect and seeing him in an awesome like

this EP is 7.5 out of 10

[arrowghost]

Oh dear, first to start, Spike isn't exactly sure when being the true hero of the Empire, that is something every first timer would experience when there's an audience. And Fluttershy ain't the only one that has the stage fright, or much worse for Spike, it's a Stadium Fright. Houston, we have a problem!

Don't want to admit now makes it to become a major embarrassment, this is something will go down in history and very hard to forgive. Overconfidence, is always a major disaster, or in this case by taking advantage of your own fame. Spike should have asked how it happened in the first place rather than to boast his "mind-blowing" fire when the torch is lit, and it got even worse with the anthem. This is one in a million shot when I remember one girl used to sing the US anthem onstage in one of the Super Bowl events back in more than 10 years ago and she did it without fear, which I remember based on an episode in the gameshow, Figure It Out.

And of course, desperate times calls for desperate measures, gladly it's all about damage control till that cloud melts to rain. But gladly that painful memories he have done is already over when he saves the day. Gladly the situation is contained before the crush from the heavy cloud hits and possibly deadly ice shrapnels explode all over when it crashes.

I gotta admit, every TV shows and their episodes need to have their ups and downs, for this downside, that really will make anyone feel uneasy and not to mention to all Cloudsdale citizens. So anyway, since I can't always give my personal ratings based on episode as a whole, I decide to separate it like Rosewind did, so I say :

Start : 4 Star, lighting up the torch, falls to 2.5 Star. Later back to 3 Star for Spike pretend he can conjure fire out of thin air and then later 1.5 Star for that crappy anthem. And finally rising up to 4 Star for the remaining of the episode. As a whole, it may not impress everybody, but I accept this episode, just I don't want to watch the negative scenes again as I rather enjoy only the good stuff.

At least this wasn't so bad compare to the last time it reminds me Suited for Success, Rarity's embarrassing dresses are just as horrible as Spike's singing. Anyway, sure it was a fun episode. I too looking forward to the finale, a nice teaser which I got the feeling there's Tirek inside there, or maybe not due to the rights Hasbro cannot recover except AJ & Spike's names.

[elsporko]

I guess it would have been hard to cover the entire games in one episode and make a satisfying story so instead we get "The Awkward Cringy Spike Show" with a special guest appearance by an interesting scenario. I think we have enough episodes about Spike failing at everything that from now on out they can just be skipped. Seems like that will add at least two episodes a season for anything else.

Next week is the last episode of the season. I predict Twilight and the others discover what is inside the box, but more importantly it turns out Spike is not very good at roller skating and ruins the roller skating birthday bash but then realizes its not as bad as he thought.

[Therainbowtroll]

I am disapointed that they more or less but the equestrian games on the back burner. BUT I was very happy that they made a GOOD spile episode. The lession is spot on and it isent covered in much meida much less childrens media. And this issue of loving yourself its becoming more and more of a challenge for kids and adults alike.

I am happy with this episode.