S4:E12 "Pinkie Pride" Review · 12:42am Feb 4th, 2014
Ever since I became a fan of My Little Pony, I dreamed of a day when Weird Al Yankovic would guest star in an episode.
Weird Al is more than an icon of pop culture; he's also a caring father.
So imagine my surprise to learn that the Pinkie Pride episode featured Weird Al providing the voice for the traveling party planner known as Cheese Sandwich. It was a dream come true.
We also get a glimpse into Cheese's past. As a colt, he had big glasses, just like Weird Al when he was younger!
This was a full-fledged musical from beginning to end. We start with the whole town singing about Pinkie Pie's unparalleled party planning prowess. It felt like something out of a Disney movie; specifically, Belle's introduction from Beauty and the Beast.
I really liked the Rainbow Dash banner gag. I realize this is nitpicking, but how was Rainbow Dash able to suspend herself in the air like that without flapping her wings?
Pinkie Pie is willing to go the extra mile to make her parties special. Here she is giving Rainbow Dash a birthday scissoring.
Then we come to the Goof Off song between Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie.
In a word: Awesome. I've dreamed of this moment for three years and now it's finally become a reality.
It was so funny. I was smiling and laughing throughout!
A Weird Al polka duet with Pinkie Pie. I was so overjoyed during the song, I thought "I hope I snuff it right now to preserve this moment forever."
At one point during the song, Pinkie Pie starts singing in Spanish. This is the first time a non-English language has been featured in the show during a song. The words are from a traditional Mexican folksong which involves pinatas.
Can't wait to see a clopfic highlighting the size of Cheese's "Party Cannon."
To say nothing of this infamous line.
Seriously? As if we needed more material to work with. Do the writers have any idea how often mayonnaise is used to "censor" explicit images?
I expect most Cheese Sandwich orgasms in clopfics to be prefaced with him asking "Hey, Good-Lookin'! Want some mayonnaise?"
I see Rainbow Dash's birthday bash comes complete with Mario Party style mini games!
Should I be concerned that Dash looks like she's about to eat a turd?
We see a young Derpy, Lyra and Bon Bon in a flashback! (Note to self. Bon Bon wore glasses as a filly.)
Based on the height chart on the wall, we can get a better idea as to the size differences amongst the characters.
When Pinkie Pie is reviewing her past parties, we see her with her family.
Wait! Pinkie Pie has a third sister? Why didn't we see her in The Cutie Mark Chronicles episode?
The Map of Equestria, which has previously only appeared on a poster, is now canon within the show.
The ending was particularly touching. My favorite part was when Cheese Sandwich gave Pinkie Pie his cock.
Seriously. I would love to see Cheese Sandwich and Boneless 2 make a return in a future episode. In my opinion, this has been the best episode of season four so far. This is how you do a musical episode. Pinkie Pride succeeded where Magical Mystery Cure failed because the latter was never able to properly integrate their songs as a means of moving the narrative forward at a steady pace. Magical Mystery Cure was too rushed, while Pinkie Pride was perfectly paced, even with a plethora of pleasing, earworm-inducing songs. I love My Little Pony and can't wait to see what other surprises season four has in store!
blogs.name.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/objection.jpg
Applebloom spoke french when she got the Cutie-Pox.
God dammit Bronystories!
The mayonnaise joke was a reference to Weird Al's song 'White and Nerdy': "I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise,"
And Pinkie's third sister was apparently referenced before in a storybook.
1793176
Touche. I should've been more specific. I meant to say, "during a song."
1793195
What about nonpareil in the Super Cider Squeezey 6000 song?
I've seen one fan theory that posits that pegasus magic is responsible for lift, while the wings provide thrust. Pegasi are thus dirigibles, only full of magic instead of hydrogen or helium. Scootaloo hasn't inflated yet.
...
I'm not sure if that came out wrong or not.
In any case, best episode of the past two seasons easily. Perhaps even the entire series.
Also: Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie Pie, and Discord in a three-way Goof-Off. This needs to happen at some point.
1793231
I'd call that more of a loan word in that usage, rather than full-blown use of a foreign language, but you're not wrong. :P
The deep connections between Pinkie and Cheesie actually made me wonder if I should continue writing
THAT
story. You know the one.
I mean, I'll still try my hand at finishing it but...
Indeed, I would not hesitate to call this the best episode of the season so far.
I admit, I was a little leery about a musical episode after MMC. However, Pinkie Pride did it so right that I actually had to remind myself that this was a musical episode while watching it, due to how well-integrated everything was and how natural it felt.
And yep, Pinkie has a third sister. But those of us who read the Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party chapter book already knew that. ^_^
1793176
Correction: she spoke Fancy. (Presumably, the language of Fance.)
1793326
Why not make it a Ménage à trois?
Pinkie Pie learns to share her love between her mentor and the party planner she inspired.
you sly SOB did you sneak a black adder reference in there?
1794335
I'm glad you're familiar with the source. Some people wouldn't recognize a subtle reference if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing "Subtle references are here again!"
Re: Cheese Sandwich @ 4.28', Pinkie @ 3.55'--
These measurements are actually up to the characters' heads. A more useful measurement is up to their withers, as a pony's head can move wildly up and down (and these two characters in particular!)
Using the same screenshots for the same scale, I've got Cheese at 190px in the first image (2.9ft) and Pinkie at 104px in the second image (2.04ft). That puts the pair at 8.7 and 6.12 hands high, respectively. Using the same numbers and comparing Pinkie to Big Mac in this picture, I arrive at 8.88hh for Mac.
In the real world, a "pony" is a horse breed which measures less than 14.2hh when fully grown, and more than 8.5-9.5hh. (Less than that is a "miniature horse," but the range is because of differing classification by differing breed registries.) With some margin for error*, that puts the MLP characters on the low end of "pony" height.
Ergo, we have a cartoon full of little ponies.
(Note: A similar exercise yields 12.84hh for Celestia, still firmly in the "pony" range.)
* Sources of error:
1. Finding Cheese's withers in the first image is difficult, since he's facing the camera.
2. Declaring the exact spot to measure from is difficult for an amateur.
3. The withers are actually slightly higher than the rest of a horse's back, but MLP ponies don't have one.
4. Comparing the scale on the wall behind Cheese to Cheese's height pixel-by-pixel is inaccurate, since he is not flush against the wall.
5. The Mane Six may-or-may-not be fully grown. There are certainly adult characters taller than them.
6. The pony-vs-miniature-horse distinction is based on what's normal for the breed, not an individual specimen. Pinkie's measurement above may be under the minimum for "pony," but she might also just be short.
1794068
That... I dunno about.
Writing clopfics about cartoon ponies is one thing, but Cheese Sandwich has the distinction of being based on a real person.
Maybe I can throw him in at the end of the story, wrapping up the whole "old vs. young" theme that permeated the story throughout.
1794514
I was only joshing with the threesome. You've put so much work into crafting the relationship that it would be a shame to cheapen it with an orgy.
That being said, I think it would be good to include Cheese Sandwich in some way. Maybe Pinkie Pie could receive a letter from Cheese Sandwich at the end of the story and share it with her lover.
She could mention how she inspires ponies in a similar fashion to her mentor.
Very fun, and more Derpy-ness made it even better!th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2014/032/6/b/derpy_loves_chocolate_too_by_gigo_pixnchip-d74n67b.png
Oh,
/mlp/Horse News.I'm thrilled by the fact that I had no idea Pinkie was singing in Spanish. And I'm Spanish. Maybe it was unexpected and, inside my head, I pictured her speaking in English, though something DID sound odd. And no, I've never heard that song in my life (Spain and Mexico don't share that much aside from the language, and there are a lot of differences). When I read Bronystories' review here, I said "okay, brain, she's gonna sing in Spanish now, You got this." And I was able to listen to it and get it all.
And yes, Weird Al's job in the episode was outstanding. And I liked the idea of Pinkie being the antagonist of the story.
The whole thing made me glad to be old enough to know who Weird Al even is. It'll fly over the younguns heads, but hey - fun is fun is EPIC.
Kind of weirded out that Al didn't write a single song for it, though I'm sure he had SOME influence on all that polka.
Nice retrospective, Bronystories. Very groovy, if quite heavy on the clop fuel.
Totally unrelated but: It just struck me, and I dunno if it's been brought up but: Why and how do cows even exist in equestria? Thought that might be something for you to ponder on.
Given how unimpressed RD looks in that gif it must be the most lame birthday scissoring she ever got. XD