It's a business trip. You don't take a child on a business trip.

The only time Spike ever seems bitter about being left out is when he's already in a bad mood due to his gem-cake being self-sabotaged. I mean, look at his mood throughout the scene. He knows that they're going to the Crystal Empire and he's perfectly happy until he screws up the cake, at which point he becomes irritable. Then as soon as he gets the gems back, he's perfectly happy again. Basically, when he has gems he's fine, when he loses them he gets a bad attitude about it, and then when he gets gems he's perfectly content again. This leads me to believe that it's the lack of gems that's really causing his bitterness.

Also, the "he likes to hold down the fort" thing?

That is canon:

edited 9th Feb '13 5:20:25 PM by JapaneseTeeth

When the toy set that includes Derpy is released this summer, I wonder if they will give her a name on the box or not. To someone who doesn't know the brony/internet fandom who sees the box (like a young girl in the target audience), it would probably be very confusing to see a toy set where one of the dolls isn't given a name if all the others have names (and might also annoy the bronies as well, since it would be obvious if she was the only one not given a name). Although they could get around it by not naming anyone on the box, but that still might be kind of confusing since most pony toys have the characters named on them. Or they could just call her something like "bonus pony."

I'm guessing they'd just switch to "Ditzy" given that was the original plan they had for her name.

I think, really, the writers just wanted to experiment with having Synchronous Episodes and decided to split Spike off from the Mane Six. Meghan even pointed out they've never done this before. Maybe they'll do this again in Season 4 and have a better explanation for why X character is split off from the others.

The way you worded that made "gems" sound like a kind of drug.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:24:15 PM by Enlong

@Enlong: Given how Spike sometimes acts, it wouldn't surprise me if they were sort of like a drug to him. He is a stoner after all.

That makes the operation the Diamond Dogs run all the more disturbing.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:26:17 PM by IrishZombie

I personally think that calling her "Ditzy" would be the best move. It's a word most kids (and their parents who might not know the latest slang) are going to understand, and it doesn't have the potential ableist connotations of "derp." While there would probably be many bronies who would be annoyed that they changed her name to Ditzy, that still was a name used for her by many fanartists and fanfic writers, so calling her "Ditzy" would still be calling her a name that the fans used for her at least some of the time, even if it wasn't the most popular name for her. I like both names for her, although I've gotten used to calling her Derpy, but I've also seen the name Ditzy Doo associated with her enough that it wouldn't be too much of a change for me.

And I would personally prefer her to have a name (even if it's not Derpy) rather than have the writers/toymakers always have to dance around not giving her a name on merchandise that features her, like this future doll.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:32:06 PM by Rainbow

The thing that most bothers me about the line-swap in The Last Roundup is that it does't sound as good. Like, even the parts of Rainbow's lines that were exactly the same? They sounded like they were rushed re-dubbings. The quality was lower.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:31:36 PM by Enlong

By the way, the upcoming episode, it makes me happy to know that extree magic can screw up a pony's personality by changing their cutie mark. It makes an idea I had for ome fanart make more sense.

The Nightmare Moon set◊ had the names of the other ponies, it will stand out if one of them didn't have a name. The Comic Con Derpy got away with no name on the box cause it was a Special Edition given out at events, the Funko Derpy got around it with just having "I <3 *Derpy's face*" on it.

I can understand not wanting to keep the Derpy name as canon, and that's fine. I'm sure bronies won't mind (in the long run, anyways) her name being changed to Ditzy Doo or something. They'll probably still call her Derpy anyways... Maybe that's why she's not in Season 3 much, Hasbro wanted to just sit down and think long and hard what they wanted to do with the character. They decided to make more toys of her, apparently.

I preferred Ditzy even before al this. I just liked the idea that she was the one who went in the wrong compass direction for the birds.

Which isn't all that dumb, if you think about it. If northern birds migrate south for the winter, what would southern birds (not to be confused with South Birds) do?

Did anyone notice how destructive the hen pony was when she got going? Ponies really are little power houses.

And when she meet Shinning after hurling Dash away, I was laughing the whole time. Actually, this episode had me laughing through out.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:46:04 PM by ApplelightLimited

As said the whole situation with Spike staying could have been avoided if they, you know, hadn't referenced it to begin with, let alone made Spike mope about it. They've had him left out of loads of other events that he likely would have been offended by, but got through since they kept their mouth shut. Abiding by the episode's page however, Just For Sidekicks thrives on Unintentionally Sympathetic/Unintentionally Unsympathetic. It's MMDW all over.

Oh I forgot to ask before I watch. Was this indeed the token Rarity episode?

edited 9th Feb '13 5:52:16 PM by Psi001

Hey guys, how went the general reception of the episode? I haven't finished it yet, I started, got to the part where they realize they were wrong, and got a long and disruptive phone call. I'll go finish it now, I just wanted to know what the general response was.

I thought it was funny though I am always annoyed by whacky misunderstanding plots and this episode was that in spades. I'm not sure how much of the comedy allows me to forgive the fact it's a plot that angers me to tears.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:52:07 PM by MousaThe14

@Mousa: The prevailing consensus seems to be "good, but not great" mainly for the reasons you said. It's overall solid, but the "wacky misunderstanding" plot drags it down a bit.

Actually not really. Primary focus was on Dash and Twilight.

More or less what J Teeth said.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:55:54 PM by Mio

I once again found it hilarious.

You know what would be very problematic?

An agoraphobic pegasus.

• Seen Kyle?
• NOM NOM NOM

Thanks J Teeth, and Mio.

Oh I thought it was hilarious too, I just have a bad relationship with that particular stock plot. Oh well, can't wait to see the stunning conclusion.

I'm glad no hissie fits were made in the viewing of this episode, though that just means we have the danged finally to worry about, which I can't wait for.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:57:42 PM by MousaThe14

You thought porcupine hair was bad? It could have been a lot worse.

Why exactly would anyone throw a hissie fit? The episode really didn't contain anything controversial.

edited 9th Feb '13 5:59:25 PM by Mio

My sister and I were also somewhat having difficulty parsing the pony's phobia. It's claustrophobia right? Some... weird form of claustrophobia...?

I thought the porcupine hair on Twilight was adorable.

Also, did anyone else see what Candace was teaching Twilight as some sort of "Princess thing"? Like some weird version of foreshadowing?

I know, but at this point, I am basically prepared for any episode to cause some sort of issue regardless of controversy. I would like to be prepared for these things.

edited 9th Feb '13 6:00:47 PM by MousaThe14