[Aotrs Commander]

Thread responses: unless otherwise noted, episode spoilers.

Originally Posted by Balmas

S3:

Spoiler

I have to say, I love this episode. Not only does it highlight all of the antics of Pinkie Pie at her finest, but it's one where Pinkie Pie actually learns something.

Throughout the series, Pinkie has been more of a narrative force than an actual character for me. This is due to a simple fact; she's almost never wrong. To me, a character needs to have flaws, to make mistakes, to grow. The only time we've ever seen Pinkie be flat out wrong is Party of One and now, this episode.

Spoiler

I dunno, I thought she had some development in Baby Cakes, where she actually started to show some responscibility. But yeah, I like that she's not a one-dimensional Looney Tunes caricature, as she was when she started. A lot of the fandom play that up too much, and it just feels wrong to me.

Originally Posted by Deadly

S3E3 - First thoughts (on the full episode)
This was a fun episode, I quite enjoyed it.

Spoiler

I am a little concerned that apparently Pinkie's antics are now real phenomena that the other ponies acknowledge as real, as opposed to comedy effects that only we see, or things that are only in the minds of other ponies. Unless only the clones, being magical creations, can actually do some of these things? I never liked the idea that Pinkie actually does break the fourth wall and defies the pony laws of physics/magic, I always prefered to think she's just a silly pony but still a perfectly ordinary pony with no strange abilities (aside from her Pinkie Sense, which my headcanon says is just Pinkie being secretly a super genius able to correlate the tiniest of clues and hints subconsciously in order to make predictions), and that all her fourth-wall-breaking and stuff is only on screen, only for us, and not how the other ponies actually see it.

That this episode seems to suggest it's real bothers me, but at this point I'm thinking there's the show and then there's what Equestria and the ponies ought to be like in a more realistic/serious

Spoiler

Like I say, it's easily explained as her simply being (unconsciously) psionic, without magic-psionics transparency being enabled. Pinkie just knows she can do stuff, she doesn't really twig she's subconsciously using telekinesis, translocation or summoning - not too mention her limited precognition - and because Equestria is a place where real magic is so strong and so obvious, because her powers don't create a lot of light and show like magic does (and doesn't register on the magic detection systems), the ponies don't recognise it for what it is. (Heck, it's possible Pinkie may be the first (or one of very, very few) a phenominon so rare that even Celestia hasn't realised that it is a phenominon, not just some eccentricites (and to be fair, she's not been around Pinkie enough to perhaps realise what she can do.)

Originally Posted by t209

When I see the new episode about Pinkie Pie,

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It showed the positive side of having a flaw as a balance and deconstructing flanderization. If it wasn't for Pinkie Pie's "other" side, she would be sent to the pond accidentally.
P.S- Thumbs up if you are smiling to see G3 Pinkie Pie getting zapped.

Spoiler

Yeah, that's sort of what I meant earlier. Exaggerting Pinkie to the point she's just 100% all the time makes her less of a character and more of a plot device (which, prior to the penultimate episode of season one, there were a fair few accusations of.) Which is why I like the fact that she has limitations (like last week when she said even she couldn't keep partying forever), because it keeps her grounded to being a character.

To be fair to the fandom fics writers, though, keeping the right balance is extremely difficult.