MLP:FiM S4 E3 - "Castle Mane-ia" Grade & Discuss

Good point about Pinkie. What pony in their right mind would let her ring the school bell for a week?

Rarity's efforts to restore the tapestries are awesome, as we get to see her really apply herself to making Equestria's history come alive. I love that aspect of her, and as always, Tabitha St. Germain plays her to perfection (the scene where she's dripping wet with a tapestry on her head had me in tears). I just love that we get to see her hanging around Fluttershy, doing things other than going to the spa.

 

Grab this HD version while you can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st9NbTRqLRM

 

Yes SIR! Grabbing SIR!

 

A+ Loved it. Everypony was great and fun to watch.

 

I think this is our first episode with "A"s across the board since "The Last Roundup."

 

Yep. Until "Princess Twilight Sparkle," "The Last Roundup" was my favorite pony episode across the board. This one is right up there with it in terms of fun and adventure.

 

Loved it! I give it an S rank, which for all of those who don't play a lot of Japanese video games translates roughly to A+.

Right off the bat, we got another one of those amazing Twilight "Uuuuhhh!" frustration sounds, followed by a great visual gag with the book pasting Spike's feather duster.

Twilight was in top adorkable form, Spike had some great "Oh, great" moments, and the shenanigans with the four "exploring" the castle had me laughing throughout. I especially love how both RD and AJ nervously proclaim "So hey, if you left, I win right?" independently of each other after losing track of one another.

And Rarity's dejected - yet perfectly logical - "She's with me." response to Rainbow asking Fluttershy what she's dong there, while dripping wet and covered in tapestry and delivered in that signature fashion that only Tabitha St. Germain is capable of, had me in stitches.

That the organist was Pinkie I figured out a bit before they revealed it, but only like a minute or two before. When Twilight manages to calm everyone down, I noticed that the current roster of present characters was the mane five + Spike, and then it occurred to me that surely, Pinkie + ringing a bell wouldn't last long, if anypony else in the vicinity of said bell had anything to say about it. "OKAY THANK YOU THE BELL SOUNDS WONDERFUL NO MORE TESTING NEEDED BYE." So at that point, I thought ok, I bet the "Shadow Pony" is really just her. I didn't mind it, really - I don't see what happened in this ep as her being "stupid" exactly, anymore than she was before. Just more random. That said, it would be good to see them do something with her other than just pure wall-bounce kookiness.

Lastly, it was just cool to see them use that castle again. The lore in this world is actually pretty interesting, and I really like the fact that - if what we've seen so far is any indication - season 4 is going to be heavy with it. I don't have a favored theory about who the glowy-eyed shadow at the end was. I think it would be amazingly cool if it DID turn out to be Starswirl (or some kind of projection of him or something), but I'm not sure.

Oh, and as for Castlevania references - that I spotted, there weren't any specific references per se, i.e. a particular moment in the ep that was a callback to a particular moment in one of the games. More just the general atmosphere of the castle, the pipe organ music, the trap doors and hidden passages everywhere, etc.

So far, season 4 has been ace. Can't wait for next week!

 

By the way, did anyone else start itching themselves when the spiders were crawling around Spike? I know I did. A lot.

 

Gha! Yes! I'm terrible with spiders so I hate scenes like that.

 

I remember watching the HD version a few hours ago, only to say to myself, "Oh, hey, great! Now I can really see their multiple beady little eyes in high definition."

 

Okay. Who voted "F?"

 

I have a good guess.

 

I do long for the day when Pinkie Pie is 'The Villain Of The Story'.

 

Well, to move aside the unpleasantness of the oddly out of place "F", I present to you a thoroughly exasperated Rarity under an old, sodden tapestry:



(that took me far too long to put together, by the way. Damned codecs and their not wanting to listen so I can razafrazahootendogvarmintconsarnrazzafrazza.)

 

Wasn't me.

 

We all know who

Anyway yes I was not fond of the spider moment but then I have issues with spiders in anything, always makes me uncomfortable.

Grabbed the 720, but I know where I might find a 1080 by about Tuesday if they're good for it.

Another solid A

 

Loved it! I want more like this. Like you all said, it felt just like a season 1 episode.

 

I'll repeat myself. I didn't vote in the poll. For proof, here's a screen-shot of the poll from my POV.

LINK 1

Further, I went ahead and voted in the poll (something you can only do once under board software after which point you're provided the poll results.)

LINK 2 (note: The italicized "A.")

So it wasn't me who voted "F" in the poll. Maybe, just maybe, other people don't like the show and vote-trolled? Or maybe someone didn't like the episode and voted no? Or maybe there are people out there who just like to vote the lowest choice in the polls? Just a guess but, go ahead, jump to conclusions.