Regarding this week's episode again, It felt like the mane 6 had to be there or the episode wouldn't have worked as well, going to a brand new place seems like a grand adventure with a different feel than any other place in Equesria (like that generic temple from Da-- you know what). And speaking of Manehattan, wow was that an amazing set piece! It's a totally different enviroment than any other place in Equestria, the browns and greys, the blocky buildings, it just felt a lot colder than the rural Ponyville, or the sleek elegance of Canterlot.

The ponies who lived there seemed different too, sure you have the kind ponies like the bellhop and the cab driver, but everypony else seemed too wrapped up with their own lives to care about anypony else. Suri didn't feel that out of place.

Speaking of Suri: Holy Mother of Luna do I love Tabitha St. Germain! Her performance as Rarity was amazing as usual, but she also played Suri (which is symbolic or something, I guess) and, my second favorite character in the episode, the receptoinist/pony that sits at the desk. There's just something about the way that recepionist speaks that I just love, I don't know what it is.

Everybody else does great as well as their respective characters, except for Cathy Weseluck, which leads me to my biggest problem with the episode: Spike is almost pointless. Cathy Weseluck is great as Spike per usual, I'm not acually criticizing her, just the fact that Spike had only two or three lines of dialogue, and has been reduced as the 6's pack mule (and am I the only one who wondered how he got his carrot dog back? Maybe it was just a different one? Also, carrot dog.). His lines could have been said by any of the other six, at least he got to see "Hinnie on the Hill" on brilde-way (gloriously bad puns, yay!) with them. Cathy also did a great job as Cocco the assistant, who I hope returns as Rarity's assistant one day.

The moral was also wonderful, and, to be honest, I found it to be really touching, it's hard to admit, but I got a little misty-eyed when I heard it. Good job MLP, you made me cry. You know what also gave me feels, the song, well the reprise actually (though the first song was still awesome, Daniel Ingram, why do you bless us with such amazing songs), and that tease that they were going to write off Rarity.

Overall this episode felt like MLP again, after Bats! and Power Ponies, which were both ai'ght, and that OTHER episode which was a lot less a'ight, it felt nice to be on track again, and I hope that MLP stays on track. It's not the best Rarity episode (That would be "Sisterhooves Social"), and it had a long way to go to beat my favorite episode of the series (which is also "Sisterhooves Social"), but it's still well written, well, acted, and fun to watch.

"Rarity takes Manehattan" recieves a score of 90/100

Thank you for reading my long-winded review. I hope you enjoyed it.

-Ra_Skai

I love me some Rarity episodes! I was exremely worried when I heard that Dave Polsky (who, to me, is very hit or miss with his episodes) was writing this episode.. But, he certainly proved me wrong today.
This is definately my favorite episode of S4 so far, and not just because I think that Rarity is the best character on the show, this was just a wonderfully written episode. props to you, Polsky. Great characterazation of the Mane 6, especially Rarity, who, I think, is the second hardest to write, right under Pinkie Pie. The villian was fun as well, it feels kind of nice to have a pony who is just a jerk and gets no cumuppance, it just feels a little more real to me. f This is also the first episode, besides the premire, to feature all of the Mane 6 where it fells like none of them were wasted (Spike was wasted, but I'll get to that), like in Polsky's other S4 episode "Daring Don't."
How many of the 6 needed to be in that episode? Rainbow and Twilight as fangirls, and one more as an outsider who had no understanding of the books to serve as comedic foil, the other three were just wasted and weighed down the episode. And why did the episode blow all the continuity with the comics? What happened to Twilight's mom being the writer? And why did it all feel like a bad fanfic? And why was Daring punching that tiny cat awesome? And why did it have to be real? OH MERCIFUL CELESTIA, WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE REAL? WHY-- *somehow clears throat in text* But I digress.

See part 2

Well...this trailer kinda changes things for me. Twilight has a decent reason to compete for the crown, and I think the artwork is fine, and I just noticed, (as I'm writing this I' m watching the trailer again for details) at 1:15 there's human Trixie! Hopefully, she'll have a speaking cameo. Also, the outfits the "not Mane 5" are wearing seem to be cheerleader outfits, weird, especially for "not" Fluttershy, but they're still cute with the ears and tails.

The only real problem I have with the trailer is seeing Photo Finish in the school, even if she isn't a student, I don't think she would be in a public high school. My nitpicky problem: short skirts, I mean, they're anime schoolgirl level in their shortness ( I'll spare you all the rant).

I'm genuinely pleased with the trailer, the story seems a little less generic, and so does the villian, ( I don't want her to be turned good, let her stay bad, but give her a good reason to be) and there were actual kinda funny moments, so good job Equestria Girls, you actually got me to stop hating you. (:D -o *That's a thumbs up*

I've noticed that Fluttershy has a tendancy to a lot of things that she normally wouldn't do when she expresses a strong emotion that she is feeling.
Examples include:
-In "Cutie Mark Chronicles" and in "May the Best Pet Win" she shows her delight for her discovery/Rainbow Dash by singing, later in both episodes she expresses desire to sing again.
-In "Sonic Rainboom" she screams cheers for Rainbow even though she couldn't before.
-During "The Best Night Ever" She gets extremely angry and she... well, she... to put it bluntly, goes f@!%ing insane! Complete with a creepy eye twitch and maniacal laughter
-Feeling resentful and frustrated in "Putting your Hoof Down," she takes Iron Will's teachings to a scary level, leading her to shove a mail pony into a mailbox, hammer throw a tourist, and leave Pinky and Rairity in tears.

When Fluttershy feels sad or frightened, she just cries and is super skiddish. Wow, I just notice, quite a few of the exreme emotional reactions have somthing to do with Rainbow Dash, weird.

I didn't think that Megan McCarthy was forced to write Equestria Girls, I was just saying that Megan's going to get a lot of blame for it. EG was going to happen because Hasbro wanted it, and what Hasbro wants, Hasbro gets, it just gives me a tiny bit of hope that one of the writers is working on Equestria Girls. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I just... don't... know, I,m so torn on this. On the one hand, the art is even WORSE now, the plot (based on the trailer), looks stupidly generic and weird (Meeting deformed humans thatare exactly like her friends? Too. Much. Stupid), and a probable human love interest (this doesn't bother me that much) that ressemles her brother (this does)!

On the other hand, It is being worked on by the same cast and crew, so maybe they can give us a shred of something good. There's also... uh... hmm... maybe the villian... no, she looks super generic. Well how about S-- wait... Spike the dog is stupid too. Oh, nevermind!

I hope that EG is good because I don't want MLP's reputation to be tarnished by Hasbro any more than it already has. If it is bad though, then poor Megan McCcarthy's going to get a lot flak from the fandom that I don't think she deserves. Who else would you get to write something that Hasbro executives force you to make?

I'm just so undecided on EG, I don't want a series to spawn from this, but I could hardly call myself a brony if I didn't give it a fair, and unbiased chance.

Personally, I think that Rarity is the funniest character in the show, with some of the best lines. My favorite is her monologue in "Sisterhooves Social" when she sees Sweetie Belle"s drawing.

"Sweetie Belle, my one and only sister, what have I done? All the time I could have spent with you was wasted complaining, and wishing you were gone! Woe is meeeeee... No! as Celestia as my witness, I will never be sisterless again!"

Tabitha St. Germain's delivery was perfectly over-dramatic, even seeming to channel a little Shatner in the inflections and mini-pauses, and thehe overly-sappy music complimented the scene perfectly. Though the animation is the best part, it's so over-the-top that it make the monologue twice as funny (my favorite part being "...all the time I could have spent with you..." which said to a vase of lavender for some reason).

And that (along with numerous other reasons), is why I think Rarity is the best pony, though only my second favorite.

I got so much enjoyment from that, though I thought that Dash's trainer name was going to be 'Rainbow Ash.'

When I first heard about Equestria Girls, I didn't mind too much, I thought it was just some corporate cash-grab movie, that it'd be strange, but you could get a few pony into human jokes, i.e. finger jokes, and biped jokes etc.. Then I heard that it was a spin-off show, I still didn't mind.

But, like Alicorn Twilight, the more I thought about it, and the more I imagined what direction the show would go, the more I started to despise the very idea it.

At least Alicorn Twilight could lead to a scene where she realizes her immortality and the other five's lack thereof (to be honest, if they introduce the issue of mortality, with a sequence. and Twilight's conflict, this show would go from amazing, to beyond description in my eyes). But with this, I can't find anything redeemable about this.

I personally HATE the artstyle, they're tiny arms and chests are out of proportion with their large skirts and legs. AND WHAT IS WITH THE COLORED SKIN!? If you want to make the Mane Six humans, go all the way, what, are they afraid that MLP fans won't recognize them? They already have the hair and the outfits for that (oh, I'll get to the outfits in a bit).

The setting is stupid as well, I've always picture the Mane Six as being in their early 20's, 19 at least, old enough to live on their own and have businesses, not in high school, high school is full of pointless drama about relationships, homework, and clothes.

Now, I'd be the first to tell you that MLP is not known to have deep, and interesting, stories, that's not the focus, the focus is the characters, the best stories in MLP are character based, examples: Hurricane Fluttershy, Party of One,putting them in high school is a step backwards.

Again, if you want to make them human, GO ALL THE WAY, put them in real life situations, show them that life isn't as easy as Equestria, that would kind of interesting, and character based, but no, we have high school, stupid, stupid high school.

And finally, we have my biggest problem with Equestria Girls: THESE ARE NOT THE CHARACTERS I LIKE!!! They may have similar personalities (if they retain any semblance of personalities) the characters are ponies, PONIES, that's part of their charm. Imagine if they turned the animal Looney Tunes human, it doesn't work, and it's stupid. But there's an even bigger, personal issue that spawns from this: physical fanservice.

I'm going to express this as gently as possible, I hate physical fanservice. I hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, with every fiber of my being, HATE physical fanservice. Just to clarify, physical fanservice is when a character is put in short shorts, mini skirts, and a midriff-revealing tops (or no top for male characters to show off their muscles) for no good reason.

I wouldn't mind that as much, but the worst part is that the animator frames that character in such a way that they're displaying that character as if to say " Now you know what this part of the character looks like, so it's easier to imagine what he/ she looks like naked, go jerk off." Too many of my favorite animated shows, such as Avatar, and Batman, have done this, it's so annoying, especially when it goes against character. Back to ponies.

Just look at the stupid outfits they're wearing, especially those skirts, look how short they are, look how wide they are, they're the same size as their heads, so stupid. I don't know if the animators have the gall to have physical fanservice to attract bronies, but the potential is still there, and I don't want so see any part of the six I don't want to.

I want them to stay ponies, part of the reason that I love this show so much is because the animators can't put them in situations of physical fanservice, because, well their ponies for pete's sake (though that hasn't stopped the fanbase). *shutters*

I don't care if it's a spin-off show, I don't care if it doesn't affect the actual show, the very idea of official human versions of the ponies seems wrong to me, if you disagree with any of my points, that's fine, and if you like the show, that's fine too, I'll watch the show as a blank slate and see if I like it, who knows, maybe I will.

I'm really sorry that this is so long, but I needed to vent all the rage and disgust I have for Equestria girls, and to be honest, this is my first fan rage. it's actually quite fun.

-Ra_Skai

(I have to admit though, it would be great if Lyra became human, just to see her reaction)