The thing about saying that her flaws disappeared after SSCS6000 is that The Last Roundup was the very next episode. Kinda renders the point moot. Plus, every cast needs a grounded character. They can't all be out of their minds.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:23:23 PM by PerpetualLurker

SSCS6000 came after Last Roundup.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:27:39 PM by PurpleDalek

The Last Roundup came before SSCS 6 K not after.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that while not all of her flaws may have been resolved post SSCS 6 K, she is pretty much treated as though they were.

And AJ doesn't need to be out of her mind. I'm just pointing out that there are other things they could have done with her.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:29:46 PM by Mio

In regards to AJ, here's this intreasting little comment I found {Which I've posted here before, but it's still relevent to the subject if you ask me}.

http://ravishingdiamonds.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-little-something-new.html?showComment=1345304777694#c5297009218725907854

Reposting this◊.

Any feedback welcome.

@ JT

Yeah that's a good idea for AJ. I still hope they can further develop her just by thinking outside of the box. At the moment, Mio's pretty much right.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:32:11 PM by ApplelightLimited

That looks excellent. Gotta say you've progressed quite a bit.

@Mio Ok, my mistake. Still, what flaws have disappeared outside of the "I have to do things alone" issue? Her one focus episode since Season 2 definitely involved her flaws. It even focused on a new aspect of them. There simply isn't enough of a sample to say that she's suddenly become perfect.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:34:39 PM by PerpetualLurker

A way to make AJ more interesting would be to play up her Team Mum traits.

It shouldn't matter that she doesn't have any major flaws. It seems like the show has pretty much scrapped the letters to Celestia.

@marston: I have read that before and I do agree with it to an extent.

Personally I think it would be interesting to return to some of her interactions with Rarity and RD (even in the early days a lot of her best stuff was with others) and explore them again. I actually think that in the long term Rarity and AJ would become closer friends and she and RD less so. In fact I think despite their mutual casual interest a few miss placed words could probably cause serious damage to RD and AJ's friendship.

@Perpetual: It's not so much that her flaws are gone, it's that the showsriters keep going back to the same "Applejack works too hard for something" well every time they try to build an episode around her flaws. Applebuck Season, Last Roundup, and Apple Family Reunion all focus on it. Even Spike At Your Service had some overtones of it in that her main gripe with Spike was that she didn't want or need his help because she could do it herself.

We need more stuff like Look Before You Sleep that focuses more on her distaste for frilly stuff. Like maybe her apple cider wins an award or something and she has to go to some fancy banquet to accept it or something.

Seconded. While I like the fact that she and Rarity seem to have come to a mutual understanding, I'd like to see them butt heads a bit more.

@Applelight: Looks pretty good, except for two things:

1. His head and neck look a bit big compared to his body (although the show itself does that, so it's not a big deal)

2. You shouldn't make the background the same color as his coat.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:42:59 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Thank you Lopiny.

@ Mio

A prank too far could probably put them at odds.

@ JT

They should get her back to Manehatten.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:42:39 PM by ApplelightLimited

I really like the AJ/Rarity interactions. It's probably why I like Look Before You Sleep so much.

Seriously, there needs to be a whole episode callback to that episode, with a plot that focuses with Rarity and AJ butting heads over something. Only this time somepony else should be caught in the middle.

I still think we need an episode where AJ needs to be all prim and proper for whatever reason and Rarity tries way too hard to teach her etiquette, but AJ is already really good at it because of her time with the Oranges.

I'd also like an episode that focuses more one her and Big Mac. Most of her family interactions are with Applebloom and Granny Smith, and Big Mac is just sort of there.

@ JT

1. Yeah, totally agree. Mucked that up big time. Trying to balance grace with bulk if that makes sense.

2. Yeah I...rushed this aspect. I'll stop doing this from now on.

Did that in between classes. I'm pretty happy with him now...just have to practice to get the design nice and neat.

Rarity and AJ get marooned on a desert island and slowly drive each other crazy.

Make it happen.

Also in Apple Family Reunion, the best she managed to do ws mildly inconvience everypony. She can't even cause a conflict properly when she's the focus any more.

Was thinking today... it made my head hurt.

Do you guys think it could be possible for a pony to have 2 cutie marks... one on each flank?

What if a Pony had multiple personalities... do you think their CM would change based on personality in control?

And here's a Cranky pony I drew...◊

@J Teeth: If they do both end up in an episode again I would much rather a reversal of the typical Slobs Versus Snobs thing they usually do in this show. Have Rarity show her that there are benefits and nice things about her lifestyle.

edited 8th Mar '13 1:53:23 PM by Mio

I don't think I've ever seen cutie marks represented this way on humanized ponies before.

I think those are just the Elements they're wearing.

on a completely unrelated note, this is by far the catchiest song in season 3:

edited 8th Mar '13 2:01:36 PM by crimsonstorm15

Eeeyep!

I wasn't talking about those, look at their eyes...

Holy crap, I did not notice that. Looking closer at their eyes, though, they still look more like the Elements than their cutie marks.