'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' often did such a good job with presenting true to life morals, scenarios and storylines that so many people can relate to and making its characters and the way they interact with each other interesting, entertaining and identifiable. There were episodes that didn't do as good a job and botched characters and wasted good concepts, but most of the time the morals, storylines and characterisation were major strengths.
Other 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' episodes before and since did better at all of this than one of Season 4's more middle of the road episodes in "Trade Ya". The premise is not the most appealing and is not a unique one to put it lightly, but those responsible for writing "Trade Ya" did do what they could with this premise and while it is a flawed episode a lot of things are done very well. There are far better episodes of Season 4 and of the show, but there are far worse too on both counts.
"Trade Ya" has a good deal to recommend it. Once again the animation is great, loved the vibrant colours and how rich and varied the detail in the backgrounds was and in terms of settings this is one of the richest ones of the season. It's another episode too where the facial expressions make a big impression. The music has both energy and atmosphere, the theme song is not for all. Personally like it a good deal as it's catchy, but the show has always done better with the songs written for the respective episodes. The voice acting is typically on point from all.
Also felt that the characters on the whole were very well done with one exception. There was some amusing humour and the character interaction felt very genuine, especially Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Some of the drama was well done too, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash making sacrifices that were both heart-warming and touching. Most of the characters were handled really well, especially Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The moral is nothing new but is always worth addressing and is not executed too heavily.
Did feel on the other hand, to me the pacing was rather too manic too often and it does get over-complicated towards the end. Most of the Mane 6 were underused and made fleeting in and out appearances that were sometimes like quick shots. While Pinkie Pie is neither likeable or amusing, more annoying, and really didn't buy how Twilight didn't intervene when Pinkie Pie terrorised the filly.
Not all the dialogue works, some of it early on was too heavy in exposition. The story has amusing and touching moments, but is very predictable and can be too manic.
In short, decent but not great. 6/10
Other 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' episodes before and since did better at all of this than one of Season 4's more middle of the road episodes in "Trade Ya". The premise is not the most appealing and is not a unique one to put it lightly, but those responsible for writing "Trade Ya" did do what they could with this premise and while it is a flawed episode a lot of things are done very well. There are far better episodes of Season 4 and of the show, but there are far worse too on both counts.
"Trade Ya" has a good deal to recommend it. Once again the animation is great, loved the vibrant colours and how rich and varied the detail in the backgrounds was and in terms of settings this is one of the richest ones of the season. It's another episode too where the facial expressions make a big impression. The music has both energy and atmosphere, the theme song is not for all. Personally like it a good deal as it's catchy, but the show has always done better with the songs written for the respective episodes. The voice acting is typically on point from all.
Also felt that the characters on the whole were very well done with one exception. There was some amusing humour and the character interaction felt very genuine, especially Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Some of the drama was well done too, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash making sacrifices that were both heart-warming and touching. Most of the characters were handled really well, especially Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The moral is nothing new but is always worth addressing and is not executed too heavily.
Did feel on the other hand, to me the pacing was rather too manic too often and it does get over-complicated towards the end. Most of the Mane 6 were underused and made fleeting in and out appearances that were sometimes like quick shots. While Pinkie Pie is neither likeable or amusing, more annoying, and really didn't buy how Twilight didn't intervene when Pinkie Pie terrorised the filly.
Not all the dialogue works, some of it early on was too heavy in exposition. The story has amusing and touching moments, but is very predictable and can be too manic.
In short, decent but not great. 6/10
