Since I've been playing a lot of RPGs lately, it only made sense when I decided to pick up one of the entries in the Dragon Quest series. After all, Square Enix has some skills at making RPGs and the DQ series is a long standing one known for its quality! Plus, slimes!
...wait, wait, no, this is about the MLP episode that's called Dragon Quest. Never mind.
Spoilers lie within, so be wary traveler.
The Great Dragon Migration is happening, and the Mane Six are psyched to watch! After all, said migration is rare, only happening once in a generation. The context of the Migration ends up making Spike feel bad due to concerns about him not really acting like a dragon, and so he goes on a quest to partake in the Migration and learn what it means to be a dragon! Meanwhile, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity follow him to make sure he doesn't get in over his head. Spoilers: he inevitably gets in over his head.
Okay, so first and foremost lets talk about the general premise. It's not at all a bad one and it leads to a very good lesson. Better, the lesson is one that could be really beneficial to parts of MLP's audience, such as kids that might be adopted. One of the reasons the lesson is so good, however, is because it's tried-and-true: the general plot is very generic, and after reading my little summary paragraph above you can almost certainly guess the basics of everything that happens.
On one hand, generic plots in MLP aren't uncommon, with the magic being in how they're used. On the other... well, this episode felt more generic than even the usual. There were some twists in the beginning and the end, but besides that... well, the entire middle feels awfully cut-and-dry.
One of the biggest issues I had with the middle is the dragons Spike interacts with. They're stereotypical teenagers in every way, with very little to set them apart as antagonists. Sure, they're only there to move the plot along, but I still wish they had had more original characters than, say, Trixie.
However, the episode isn't a bad one in spite of some generic tendencies. There's some fun world-building, some genuinely great character development from Spike, and overall a lot of fun sequences that stand out in their own right. The end stands out to me especially: though at its core it's the typical finale with Spike realizing that what the dragons are doing is wrong and that they're not good friends, it's great even outside of that. The incorporation of phoenixes is awesome, and the action is great fun to watch. I only wish Twilight and company had actually taken the dragons on in a fight... but I suppose that wouldn't be the best thing to show the kiddies. Sssssigh...
And while the scenario seems a little... immoral in a way, I love the out-of-nowhere incorporation of Peewee the phoenix in the very end. Not only does it do a great job of driving home Spike's development throughout the episode, but it's just downright awesome that Twilight's little family has a phoenix now! Let's just hope he shows up more often than Owlowiscious.
So... I'll be honest, I was expecting to like this episode a lot, but overall it didn't do a lot for me. It had some shining points and was fun, but all the same it felt awfully generic and pretty bland. It's a shame, to, since Spike is actually amazing throughout the episode, but the dragons that share in his spotlight kill the idea a tad bit.
I'll give it a...
6.5/10
Pros:
-World-building!
-Great development from Spike
-The ending sequence (the phoenix raid onward) is great
Cons:
-Very generic plotwise
-Very generic antagonists
-The middle drags on a bit and is, well, generic
---
How is it that Spike is such a cool character and yet I don't really like any of his episodes? Go figure. I guess part of it is that how the writers are establishing dragons outside of Spike is a little lame. I mean, are all dragons besides Spike total jerks? Are there any female dragons? Do dragons grow wings after a while or is Spike a rare case of a wingless dragon? Meh, I suppose that's fanfic's foray!
See you next week for FLUTTERSHY! Yays.
~C.O
Three episodes left until Pink Alicorn Aponyocalypse.
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