Power Ponies

Power Ponies
Story: Spike and the main 6 are sucked into a comic book, transformed into superheroes, and must save the city from an insane villain with a plan to -you guessed it- take over the world. The big question I had to ask myself in ranking this story is whether or not the concept is believable, with the main 6 and Spike being sucked into a comic book world. And the answer I came up with was: eh, kinda. Don't get me wrong, this kind of concept is incredibly stupid, and would only work in a dream (though that would make the episode more cliched). However, it's not the first time we've seen an alternate universe in Equestria. I mean, they made an entire movie about it. So in a sense, if there can be a magic mirror that leads to a human world, I see no reason why there can't be alternate worlds inside comic books. Other than that, the rest of the story was okay, considering what they were going for. It's not perfect, but it is deserving of a 4.

Characters: First, let's talk about the main 6. Personally, my one problem with them was the way they treated Spike in the beginning by not letting him help clean up Celestia's old castle. It just seemed kinda mean and unnecessary. And yes, their superhero-selves have problems. But, I can forgive those problems ONLY because I have a bias towards liking comic heroes. Plus, their actions scenes were pretty cool. However, the big deciding factor with the characters is Spike, and I think he works in this episode because his performance is realistic. Even if you know your worth, sometimes you can forget how valuable you are to others. And even though the writers don't treat his performance with subtlety, it is pretty nice to see him remember how important he is. Oh, and the villain is pretty cool too. The characters may not be 100% perfect, but they at least deserve a 4.5.

Ending Moral: Spike learns that he's still valuable even if he isn't needed. Honestly, if the moral hadn't been so blatant throughout the episode, it would have gotten a perfect score. But unfortunately, it earns a 4.

Final thoughts: Let's be honest: Power Ponies is by no means a perfect episode. It's one of those 'either you love it or hate it' kinds of episodes, and for me, I like it but acknowledge that it has problems. The story, while awesome, would have worked better as a cliched dream, the characters pulled off the references nicely despite not knowing how to use their powers, and the lack of subtlety in the moral does kind of work when you consider that this is a superhero homage. All in all, it may not be my favorite, but I'll take it over Putting Your Hoof Down any day. But please, never show me Hulk/Fluttershy again. That thing'll probably give me nightmares for the next 2 weeks. Final score - 12.5/15