Official Discussion Thread - S04E04 Daring Don't

[brianblackberry]

Alright, it is time for the discussion about Daring Don't, the fourth episode of the fourth season! The title gives away the fact we will see Dash's storybook heroine once again, and we will finally meet Daring Do's author, A.K. Yearling. Rainbow Dash, being the fangirl she is, jumps into action and drags her friends along when the latest book of her favorite series is delayed. What will happen? Well, watch and discuss, or if you haven't seen yet, guess and discuss! We just ask that if you want to discuss said spoilers, please use the spoilers tag. For the rest of us, the episode is of course at 9am (CST) December the 7th.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

[LuminousNight]

Dash as fan girl is probably the best Dash, in my opinion. Can't wait to see this, probably going to wait up all nigh-

Luna's crown, I'm a fan boy of a fan girl. The universe isn't about to implode is it?

[Slazer]

Fanception. That's all I have to say.

[SunlightHeart]

Well.

It's all real and there are other immortals(or very long lived creatures) besides Alicorns and the one draconequs

[Rosewind]

My favorite episode of the season so far! There's not really anything for me to complain about. It had intrigue, adventure, the Mane Six in full attendance again, and a twist that I think is a thoroughly welcome addition to the canon of FiM.

10/10 would watch again!

[LuminousNight]

Okay. Awesome episode and all, I agree with Rosewind I'd love to watch it again. But I have some questions:

If... the villian, whose name I'm no better at saying, or spelling, than Applejack, if he's real then shouldn't the Royal Sisters know about him? Hard to imagine they've never once run into each other. And if that's the case, how is Daring Do the only one resisting him.

[SteelEagle]

Okay. Awesome episode and all, I agree with Rosewind I'd love to watch it again. But I have some questions:

If... the villian, whose name I'm no better at saying, or spelling, than Applejack, if he's real then shouldn't the Royal Sisters know about him? Hard to imagine they've never once run into each other. And if that's the case, how is Daring Do the only one resisting him.

Same way that Trixie got an alicorn amulet and took over an Equestria town. Until the villain beats the heroes, the royal sisters do jack all. Off hoof, really.

Episode was great. Pathfinder canon expanded.

[RarityDash]

I think the reason so few would know this stuff is real is because of the remoteness of it all. If it's far from Celestia's eyes, and far from pony civilization, it's possible others might not know.

As for the episode, here goes my full review as always, spoilered for length.

Season four refuses to disappoint. In a lot of ways this is the most exciting and well composed episode yet. It tells a story that manages to feel epic, and despite that doesn't feel so rushed due to the use of perspective. It's a very complete feeling episode, and for that quite gratifying. Dave Polsky, when not doing small scale, screwy comedic episodes like Too Many Pinkie Pies and Feeling Pinkie Keen seems to like somewhat more ambitious adventures. The execution here was better than it was back in season one with Over a Barrel though. Using the Daring Do character, a fun referential episode was able to be crafted quite naturally.

Rainbow Dash was front and center, and she was absolutely hilarious. Seriously, seeing her fangirl so hard was just delightful. Her raw enthusiasm over all things Daring Do made me see shades of another certain fanfilly from our World of Equestria roleplay. Ashleigh Ball really did a great job of making her sound completely ecstatic throughout. The rest of the mane six were there, but kind of took a bit of a backseat. Twilight had the most pronounced role, being the secondary fangirl to get all hyped up about Daring Do, but more probably could have been done with them all. At the same time, it was a Dash episode, so sticking close to Dash was probably for the best.

The "new" characters were where this excited most though, as well as in the lore opportunities. A.K. Yearling/Daring Do was pretty awesome. it was sufficiently easy enough to see why Dashie got all wound up over here. Ahuizotl as a character, seems like a forceful villain type, but he commands not only cats but some kind of tribe of native ponies now. He might be an interesting one for our Canterlot Chronicles game eventually. Dr. Caballeron also seemed interesting. I'm looking forward to looking over the lore opportunities for all this stuff location wise; I imagine it'll go somewhere in our Badlands region to keep it remote.

Really a very good episode, in short. I'm not sure it quite out-stepped the high marks set by the opener for me personally, though it came very close. It slots well into Season Four's theme so far of being awesome. I can hardly imagine all of the episodes will be quite so fun, but at the same time, this leaves me very eager to see what we get next week.

[Kirby Krackle]

I do not have the gumption to properly express why I had so much fun with this episode. That will have to wait until viewing number 2.

[Whitehawke]

While I liked some things about this episode (largely the second half because of the humour and faster pace, and overall the lack of a controversial topic that Polsky tends to bring up in most of his episodes...), there's a few things I didn't enjoy.

Dash's behaviour seems to have been handled in a manner similar to Sonic Rainboom here, except this doesn't work as well due to the fact this is now Season 4 and I'd think Dash would have a bit more control of herself at this point. The over-the-top fangirling was entertaining at some points but I feel it was also regressive in some ways.

What I'm mostly disappointed in is how the finale was handled.

Twilight herself said she was just as big a Daring Do fan as Dash, and the first half spent quite a bit of time showing this. However, the second half is practically spent on DashxDaring Do, with the latter personally thanking Dash for helping her in the end.

I feel it would have been great for Dash to then notice an enthusiastic Twilight wanting to spend a few moments with Daring herself, as she had less opportunity to do so, but instead it simply pans to Dash hugging all her friends equally.

It's one of those moments that really would have improved the episode to me, giving Dash a moment to really shine her development as a character by having her spare an opportunity to give someone else some time with her own hero, much like how in "Hurricane Fluttershy" Dash gave FS a lot of credit in the end.

Admittedly, there was roughly 30 seconds left before the show had to cut to credits, but even something tiny like Twi flying near Daring and Dash with hope in her eyes would have helped things a lot.

Bottom line is I don't like how the episode showed Twi as a Daring fangirl for the first half, then suddenly forgot all about it in the second (likely to focus on 's perspective).

I also don't know how to feel about the fact Daring Do is real, along with everything else connected to the character. It raises a lot of question, and I'm certain NONE will be answered. I was actually fully expecting the ending to pan out to a movie setting with a camera crew, but in retrospect that might have actually been a worse finale.

Finally, "I guess having a little help can be handy sometimes".

Well, overall, a better Polsky episode, but it's still got a lot of things to work on. NOW WHERE ARE THE BG PONIES?

[kunio18]

this episode blew my mind apart in so many levels of awesome it was un real !!!

so many indiana jones references and his my hero of all time !

best ep ever !

[Bellosh]

Is it just me, or did it seem like I was watching self-insert fanfiction the entire episode?

[FrankT]

So, it turns out that the Daring Do books are autobiographical! That ought to turn a few tables!

("A.K. Yearling"???)

[SunlightHeart]

Best thing about S4 so far is that they are acknowledging the world around them. Every season up to this point has pretty much taken place in ponyville or revolved around ponyville in its entirety. Now the writers seem to want to travel Equestria and see just what they can fill the world lore up with. I hope they keep this up!

[rjrgmc28]

Whew! Now that was an action packed episode worth watching!

As always, to quote from my tweet from earlier this morning:

"Well...what can I say. Action packed to the brim! Great episode all round!"

What can I say about this episode? Or in other words, where do I begin on the most important bits that made the episode for me? Let's find out shall we.....

First off, it was nice to see a different side to Rainbow Dash from her usual self. This was especially true during the fangirling parts of the episode and seeing her like this gave me a bit of a laugh and a few chuckles here and there. Also seeing Dash getting the "feels" (but no tears unfortunately) towards the end of the episode and almost giving up entirely got me a little misty eyed.

It is very rarely that we a character like Rainbow Dash get a bit teary or feeling like the world is against her, but that one moment where she was moments away from throwing in the towel and flying home saw a new light shine on her. Meghan was right when she said that there were going to be "feels" moments for Dash this season, and this was the first of many.

Another one of these moments that the episode produced was the reveal of Daring Do. I won't spoil any details to those who haven't yet seen the episode, but I can sum this moment up in one word.....mindblowing.

Apart from that, with an action packed story and tonnes of adventure to boot, this episode ranks pretty high for me for the season so far.

[Bellosh]

Before I forget, I'd give the episode a 4.75 out of 5. Very awesome to see one mystery revealed and other locations on the FiM world. To adventure!

[Hippo]

The entire time I was watching I was expecting an end twist, but it never happened, which made the whole story unbelievable. It was a grand episode, don't get me wrong, but if I'm allowed to be honest about how I felt about the characters, I was a bit confused. We always make fun of facfictions that make no sense whatsoever, stories that randomly pull characters from different universes and collide them with a story line in which all the characters aren't phased at all on the coincidences that happen. But this, even though it qualifies in that same light, is being praised for 'going there'. I don't criticize the writers for their decision to have Daring Do come to life, it's just really strange to say that all this time these characters are actually real in the universe. It makes Daring Do more OP than Twilight in some cases, and changes the fact that the stories are adventurous fiction novels. Instead these are now autobiographies. Strange.

The twist I was expecting was Yearing to at the end of the adventure thank the villains for the story ideas and have everyone go home like they just finished a job. Picture Ahuizotl punching out a clock or complaining to Yearing about how some of the rocks actually hit his head. It would have been a great gag, imo. It would kinda ruin the reality of adventure, but the adventure in this episode was way over the top. I feel like it was intentionally not to be taken seriously anyway. But alas, this plot twist never happened.

I also considered the possibility that Daring Do was a real character that Yearling was writing about, kind of a

thing maybe. But that was smashed early on in the episode.

I think this episode is easily the best so far this season, and it's great to see the series on an upswing, much like how it was at the first half of season 2. But I think I speak for most people, in both positive and negative lights, that the way this episode unfolded was totally unexpected.

[Silentium]

Despite what everyone else is saying, I dislike this episode a lot, and unless if there is something that I'm missing, this is the only episode that I can say I hate. The entire episode just felt awkward and cringeworthy as pretty much everything Rainbowdash did invlving Daring Doo was, well, awkward and cringeworthy, minus the very end. Rainbowdash in this episode was the most hateable and chokable thing that I've seen in a while. Not only was she selfish, but when she wasn't, it was at the worst of times. And even then she wasn't doing it out of altruism! The only real things that I liked from this episode was seeing Daring Doo as a real pony kicking butt, and watching Twilight and Rainbowdash be nerdy for a moment.

[RegalSteel]

I also did not like this episode at all & I was looking forward to it. I was excited to meet the author herself, but as soon as it turned out Daring was real I was dissapointed. The entire thing felt very forced & spoofy & I wasn't feeling it. Before when the Daring-verse was imaginary it was fun & fantastical, now it just feels like a lot of loose ends as far as lore goes. Especially Alizotl, who imo is the most ridiculous & unbelievable thing in the ponyverse.

I'll be honest & say I'm not a RD fan, but Read it & Weep was the 1 RD ep I liked. Now the fantasy feels cheapened.

[Han Valen]

The first quarter of the episode was enjoyable. But it pretty much was destroyed when Daring Do turned out to be real (didn't even need for 'AK Yearling', which was a good pun btw, to take off her clothes to know instantly she was DD in disguise). The nerding back-and-forth between Twilight and RD was the highlight of the episode, and was the only good moment post-DD reveal. But after that, RD's fangasming had me grimacing the whole time (except for her facial reaction to DD's proposal quip to Azzi-what's-his-f***). The pacing was jerky and nearly unintelligable, it was like an animated version of a turrible fan fiction. As some people mentioned, all this reveal of DD's universe being real would normally intefere with the general lore, but since when has MLP ever been about world-building consistency? (In this case I'm glad it's not.) But we're not watching Game of Thrones here, so I wouldn't sweat it. But still, the reveal of all this was just weak and unimaginative as far as the standing for this episode.

Instead of all that poorly executed fan service, I would have instead liked to see the mane six help a genuine AK Yearling in her writing process. It would have been a far better lesson for the little ones other than... whatever they were going for in this one. They probably explained it at the end as usual, but I completely spaced it, even though I watched it literally ten minutes ago. I think that says allot about how effective the 'lesson' was. And helping AK Yearling the-author-that-is-no-way-Daring-Do would have been far more interesting than these thoughtless in-jokes. If they had just stuck with the plan that was presented in the first quarter of the episode, this would have been a much stronger story. Sadly, they didn't, and it fell flat on its face and twitched like a crushed mouse.

I'm gonna have to chalk this one up with other stinker episodes: Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, Dragon Quest... well, almost everything ever written by that Merrieth person. Glad to see they found a replacement on par with her story-making skill.

2/5. Would have gotten a 1 if not for those few saving graces I mentioned.

[arrowghost]

That seems so real, I thought they were only story characters.

But wow, Daring Do is real when her author name based on a parody of the Harry Potter author, interesting move. But if only the author would have named into a parodied and mare version of George Lucas instead, yes, we all know he worked on Star Wars too.

I bet the "Episode Review Analyze" video made by DigibronyMLP is going to criticize on the choice of name including the part he dislike is the Mane 6 could have helped when Daring was in trouble in her own home.

[brianblackberry]

I have very mixed feelings about this episode. Although I felt it was fun and humorous, and I enjoyed the fact that Dash's over-enthusiasm for some of the things she is really into (Daring Do, the Wonderbolts) as a character flaw on her part, which does help make Dash more rounded overall.

What threw me off and what I felt was a mistake was to make Daring Do real, or at least real and contemporary. I think having Yearing once be Daring Do sometime ago in the past as a big reveal would have worked much better. What would have been best is if Daring Do was fictional, as that gives the ponies their own fictional contemporary stories and myths (and help the writer, or the great twist idea Riverhippo had). Having her exist and contemporary does cause all sorts of issues; the first being: How does Dash and especially Twilight not know this? We know Equestria has a media (and even a salacious media based on Green Isn't Your Color) that would have noticed and reported on it by now. I suppose one could argue Daring Do does the whole "Batman/Bruce Wayne" thing, except Dash and Twilight appeared to have believed Daring Do was entirely fictional.

One perspective could be is that the ponies of Equestria look forward to the books as the only means of knowing what the real Daring is up to because she adventures not in Equesrtian lands themselves, but out in the distant lands and (mostly) uncharted wilderness beyond Equestria's borders where no one else could report on what she does. This sole means of recording of Daring's exploits could cause some ponies to dismiss her as fictional, or at least semi-fictional. That would mitigate the unsettling shakeup some (and further expand the world as well). The episode does suggest this but never explicitly states it.

I guess in my canon mind, it works as long as Daring Do is seen as a semi-mythical adventurer working for the good of ponykind (in an unofficial, informal capacity) out in the various foreign lands and wild places of the world.

Other notes:

Some people felt Ahuizotl was planning to make 800 years of endless day, but he really said unrelenting heat, which may have suggested he was really trying to bring an endless summer or warmth to a land that normally as meant to be cold (suggested by the mountainous nature of the area around his temple), or perhaps the world, and there would still be night, just no winter.

Also Dash as Short Round, lol.

[tacobob]

As always, I enjoyed the episode. Not my favorite of the season..But I liked it...I really wish they would have kept Daring as an fictional character..And they really didn't need the entire group in this episode. They probably could have started with Twilight and Rainbow and just spent the rest of the episode with Yearling and Rainbow. The others looked odd just watching most of the excitement..And I have a feeling if Twilight stepped in early, the episode would have been really short. Still, there's a lot of new stuff...Ponies with bows...Thug Ponies..Evil archaeologist ponies, Cult Ponies (The guys who followed Ahuizotl) and ofcourse Ahuizotl himself who is a fun bad guy.

[Bellosh]

Evil archaeologist ponies

Dr. Merlot: accept no substitutes, no matter what the show says.

[tacobob]

Dr. Merlot: accept no substitutes, no matter what the show says.

I'm sure Merlot could be one of his cronies...