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S03 E11 - "Just For Sidekicks"


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This is the official thread for information and chatting about the eleventh episode of season 3 - "Just For Sidekicks"! Looks like Spike is up for another episode, so that is now two for Spike and zero for Rarity this season? :scream: Looks like Spike will be in charge of all the pets when the gals Have to be away; what could possibly go wrong? The episode airs at (9:30am Central/10:30am Eastern on January 19th).

This thread will not be locked and thus commenting is open as soon as you see this; remember though, there are spoilers in the comments section so read at your own risk if you haven't seen the episode! :smug:

Some would view this as an attempt at trolling

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They would be right

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Anyone else quickly annoyed with Owlowiscious?

Why are the Biskit twins idiots? Oh... just commercial. >_>

So... Twilight called Spikes claws "hands." Dragons have hands now?

"A bunny babysitting Cutie Mark..." Spike, you devil.

Hey look, it's the crazy barking pony!

Also, Zecora.

...yep, that looks like all I have for this episode.

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It was an OK episode, better than the previous Spike one to me. However, it felt lacking, especially since we weren't shown Spike taking responsibility for his actions.

I did like the return of the secondary/BG ponies. It feels like FOREVER since we've seen them.

Also, Peewee got retcon'd. :?:

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Good episode. Spike at Your Service was maybe a little more entertaining overall, but this was a second solid Spike episode on the season. Very Nice.

Love how Rarity and Dash are hanging out at the well together. That was perfect. The way Rarity swoons as she sees Dash and Tank together and the blush that that affects in Dash... It was a small thing, but after a lack of RariDash scenes for a while now it was great. ;)

I also love the Crusaders. Planning the sky diving attempts for when Applejack is out of town, are we Apple Bloom? How devious. Spike couldnt' have possibly thought leaving the pets with them would be a good idea. I have to wonder where they bought that giant industrial sized hair dryer from though... :shock:

I think my biggest problem with this episode was the lack of focus on Opalescence. She did nothing memorable. Opal has just as much personality and can be just as fussy and difficult as Angel. Why nothing but curtain scratching the whole time? When Rarity was around at least a few cute jokes were made at the cat's expense, but she was strangely quiet this episode. Even Winnona had more memorable bits. *sigh* Even Rarity's pet gets ignored this season... She can't win... :sleep:

Aside from that, this was pretty cool though. I like how it's clearly a frame episode for whatever we have next week. Makes me excited to see that. Also glad to see the Crystal Empire again. This was Corey Powell's second episode after Sleepless in Ponyville, and I'd say I'm definitely encouraged by what I see her bringing to the show so far. It was fun. :)

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Peewee: we hardly knew thee. :(

Other than that, not much to say about this episode other than that I'd give it a 4 out of 5. Zecora did pull a jerk move though by taking one of Spike's crystals; doesn't she know that dragons need them for sustenance?

PS: Has the rupee from the LOZ games become the new currency of the realm now?

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Good episode! I got quite a few laugh out loud moments (always a good sign for an episode) and a few d'aaawwww moments (especially with RD and Tank).

Spike time is best time.

Zecora: Give me a gem, and I'll teach you the secret.

Spike: Okay

Zecora: LOL, you're so greedy! *gives away gem*.

Huh. I mean, I guess if she knew about dragon greed she was just looking out for him, but it seems a bit mean. Oh well, I'm sure the filly scouts will put it to good use.

Darn it Hub, I was hoping the crystal ball in the previews would be important!

So... Twilight called Spikes claws "hands." Dragons have hands now?

Claws and hands are not mutually exclusive. His claws are on the ends of his fingers, which in turn are attached to his hands.

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So Golden Harvest has a special somepony now?

Big Mac and Cherilee walking around together?

RD doing cute stuff?

SweetieBell Super Ultra Freak Out over the snowglobe.

Over all i feel like this was teh best episode this season. For me it felt complete. It wasn't rushed in the least but i would have like to have seen some more crystal pony action. I dunno, this one just felt right.

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This episode wasn't my favorite. I'm not a big fan of Spike, so it's more bias on my end than something to do episode writing, pacing, or anything else. As Phil pointed out, I liked the foreshadowing for the next episode. Continuity is good. I think it was probably a derp to not include Peewee in some way. That would have added interest, but maybe Spike's pet was left out to give real focus to the established pets of the Mane Six. I enjoyed the Pinkie scene (of course!) and the fact that there is more involvement with the Crystal Empire. It's nice to see it revisited this week, as well as next week. Perhaps it will tie up some loose ends with the first episode of season 4, or introduce new ones.

I didn't like how Spike hid from the girls on the train and basically got away with ripping them off, even if he had several natural consequences as a result of his choices. I'm sure Ginger will have lots to say about this in due time.

Mmm...7/10.

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whos peewee? btw

oh edit: spikes phoenix wasn't it ?

PeeWee is the phoenix hatching Spike rescued in Dragon Quest. There is a series of pictures of the two of them in the start of the episode with the final image showing Peewee back with his parents.

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Overall this was a good ok episode. It was fun to see the pets interacting but as most could tell this served mostly to fit into next weeks episode. I can see a lot of people being dissatisfied with the ending but I think they were aiming more for a "here we go again" ending.

Just a couple stray observations:

I see Big Mac and Cherilee together *possible hint for the future* ;)

Rainbow Dash blushing is definitely a highlight. :)

What Zecora did was kind of cruel. :!:

Just how much are gems worth? :-|

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Enjoyed it a-plenty, didn't feel cheap, even being preceded by a discord episode...

M'a dogs are a-barking... :kissy: One of the funniest moments of season 3

The element of generosity provided spike of the smaller gem. Even Spike forfeited it in first place...

Angel somehow redeemed himself, Tank's copter beanie comfirmed to be magic powered, Opal is 24/7 rotten.

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hi hi

Aww come on! You're gonna make me feel bad about liking an episode that nobody else does now, eh?

This was probably the first Spike episode that I actually liked. It had an element of fantasy adventure to it, in the grand tradition of all those movies where kids outwit the grown-ups. Maybe it would have been a good episode for a letter to Celestia to summarize the message, but from what I can gather the message it had was nice. "People don't always earn what they get, but you should try to earn what you do." Not only that, but the lead up to the part where Spike realizes his mistake is gradual and sensible too. Each time he messes up, he gets more and more concerned about the pets and less and less concerned about the gems until he finds himself literally going to the ends of the Earth for Angel Bunny and admitting his mistake. (It was the little things, like Spike dismissing Rainbow Dash's concerns about getting a helmet, but eventually he ends up taking her advice and wearing one.)

The character interactions were also nice, if you ask me, even if it was mostly just Spike and the pets. In some of the other episodes in Season 3, there have been some awkward moments where something big/crazy/striking happens, and nobody even blinks, but this episode had all sorts of little reactions and expression helping to tell the story without needing dialogue.

Spike is always getting left out of different events (remember Twilight's birthday party in Sweet and Elite?) and this time around we actually get to see how he feels about it, and Fluttershy being there to empathize with him was really sweet. It felt like a kind of conversation that I could imagine real friends having.

I also liked how Twilight had (and voiced) legitimate concerns about Spike's readiness for the task, proving that she isn't actually a total idiot, but was willing to give Spike the chance to prove himself anyways.

Also, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash seem to know exactly what Spike is up to at the very beginning, considering that he wasn't being at all subtle, and it shows that they have some level of empathy for him. This is important, because the message of the episode isn't that getting rewarded is a bad thing, its that shirking your responsibilities is. There was nothing wrong with Spike having a big pile of gems that he had carefully saved up in the beginning, but it was a problem that he wasted them without thinking, and then didn't pay attention to the pets.

On the topic of Spike giving the baby phoenix back: A lot of people took issue with the ending of Dragon Quest. I recall a few people accusing Spike of kidnapping, so I gather that without a good explanation for why he couldn't give the little guy back, they went ahead and did. I'm perfectly ok with that, actually.

I liked the parts where Spike is talking with Owlouisciuos and how myself as a member of the audience is actually able to infer what the silly owl is saying. I didn't like Owlouiscious in his debut episode, but I actually liked him this time.

"Has anyone seen tank's head?" :D

Opalescence did sort of get left out of a lot of scenes, but she did have some good moments, like when she batted Tank on the nose, and decided she approved when he didn't respond. (And then later, she is cuddling with him, and she pushes him out of the way of danger.) And I think they did a lot with what little they had to work with, as far as giving each pet its own personality.

Winona rushing to stand in line and tracking down Angel Bunny made her stand out, but it also reflected on the qualities of her owner. You can expect that Applejack is a dependable owner, Angel Bunny shows how lenient Fluttershy is. (and tells a minor lesson about not setting boundaries for children)

Spike finishing Owlouiscious's sentences was awesome and witty. "Who..." "Is it?"

Spike's random singing. :)

Rainbow Dash proves that she and Tank are a good matchup through pure, unrestrained adorableness. *nuzzle nuzzle*

Winona howling along with Spike's "whyyyy!?" I don't know if anyone else has heard dogs howl along with fire truck sirens, but its hilarious. :D

The Cutie Mark Crusaders honestly surprised the heck out of me. They didn't even show up until halfway through the episode, and I thought for sure that they were going to get left behind as soon as they played their part, so when they ended up coming along for the ride, it was kinda neat.

They also did a good job of showing how you can be interested in two things at the same time and still make it work. The Cutie Mark Crusaders did take on the responsibility of watching the pets so they could get their cutie marks which was selfish, but they also actually tried to take good care of them at the same time. If they were more experienced with pet care-taking and didn't mess up all of their cutie mark attempts, I suspect they could have pulled it off. (Which again, helps clarify the message of the episode, in that wanting something isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

Of course it was not without its flaws entirely. Honestly, the inclusion of the Crystal Empire bit was the weakest part for me. (You've always wanted to see it Scootaloo, even though nobody knew it even existed until recently? Really?) They go all the way to the frozen north and back in less than a day? It made the mane six's trip seem like something out of time and space all together. (They hardly seemed like they were gone for much more than a few minutes) And overall I felt that it lessened the seriousness of Spike's responsibility, seeing as they could return at a moments notice.

Zecora did have some rather obtuse rhymes in todays episode, but I still though overall she played a good part. She gave Spike a taste of his own medicine and set a good example at the same time, which is kind of freaky brilliant. (Usually you can only do one or the other.)

Also, Pinkie Pie's "No I love you more," kind of freaked me out, I'm not going to lie.

Anyways... overall, this is -for me- one of the good episodes from this season. It wasn't epic like Sleepless in Ponyville, or Wonderbolt Academy, but it was nice, it was fun, it had smooth pacing, and there weren't any parts where I felt like cringing. Would watch again without reservations.

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[colour=#000000]To quote my GetGlue post earlier this morning:[/colour]

[colour=#000000]"(Sings) Spike is the best dragon ever, there’s more to him than guarding treasure……"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]This episode was a fun one to watch, and provided a bit of a breakaway from the "big" episodes so far in this season by adding a bit of humour here and there. One of the moments in the episode for me was when [/colour][colour=#000000]was trying to bake a cake and him singing also added a bit of a "kick" and a few aww moments to the episode. [/colour]

[colour=#000000]Speaking of Spike though, he has come a along way since his debut in the first season and has really evolved from a background character that the fans hated with a passion at the start to a all round fan favourite in the last two seasons, and the last few episodes have shown Spike in a new light that I can't put my finger on. [/colour]

[colour=#000000]Overall, a great episode all round.[/colour]

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