My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2 E16 Read It and Weep/YMMV


 * Aluminum Christmas Trees: See Genius Bonus below.
 * Broken Base: Either it's a fun romp with a great meta moral for the Periphery Demographic, or a waste of time that spends way too much time on a dull Stock Parody.
 * Fanfic Fuel: Unsurprisingly, Daring-Do fics began popping up within hours of the episode's airing.
 * We here on This Wiki are having a field day with this trope.
 * Fandom Nod: Unconfirmed, but Dash's ninja suit is effectively a hoodie (the drawstrings are shown several times), which itself is an art fad among MLPFIM artists.
 * Two of the episodes main Aesops could be seen as nods to the fandom, "Don't knock it till you've tried it" and "Don't be ashamed of what you like"
 * Fridge Horror: One of the things on Rainbow Dash's plate at the hospital is a cube of jello. Um, gelatin is made from... what... again?
 * Hypromellose.
 * Genius Bonus: Ahuizotl isn't just some random name the creators pulled out of their plots; it's an actual creature from Mesoamerican tradition, and it usually looks like... well, like a weird-ass scary dog-thing with a hand on its tail. Now, how many little kids - heck, how many ADULTS - do you think would know what that is?
 * Rainbow Dash's confusion over the character might not just be his sudden appearance, but a lampshade hanging of this fact.
 * Despite being uttered by Rainbow Dash who tends to Buffy-Speak, "unputdownable" is not only in the dictionary, it is often used to refer to books.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Not to be confused with the episode "Read it and Sleep" from Friendship Is Witchcraft.
 * Or "Rainbow Dash Presents" from My Little Pony the Mentally Advanced Series.
 * The episode focusing on reading stars Rainbow Dash. Does anyone else hear a synthesizer?
 * This Ask a Pony blog did "Rainbow Dash as Indiana Jones" first. The first post was made about a week before the preview clip aired.
 * Many fans compare the premise of this episode to when they first became bronies.
 * Nightmare Fuel: When Ahuizotl is first introduced, the fact that his eyes are close to his snout is pretty disturbing. And then it spoke like Pinkie Pie. Although the latter was because Pinkie Pie was calling out for Rainbow Dash.
 * Random factoid: Ahuizomeh were supposedly able to imitate children's voices. And he first spoke as Pinkie Pie, the most childish of the Mane 6.
 * Snoring Rainbow Dash may well beat out the FAIC here.
 * The death trap, which combines multiple phobias (walls closing in, bugs, snakes and drowning) in one evil package, is extremely scary and nasty compared to similar perilous situations in other kids' shows.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Ahuizotl.
 * The mad barking pony.
 * Paranoia Fuel: ...ceiling crocodiles?! No one is safe!!!
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: An episode about Dashie breaking her wing? That's an amazing idea! Think of the drama she would go through, wondering when she would fly again, being forced to live the life of an Earth pony until it heals...or it could be about her getting addicted to reading. Uh, sure, that might work too, I guess.
 * If they wanted to do a "Reading Is Cool" Aesop, why didn't they make the book a parody of an actual book instead of a movie?
 * Actually, it's pretty clear that while the character is inspired by Indiana Jones, the series itself with its numerous books, broad appeal across ages, and serious content is meant to be a reference to Harry Potter.
 * Some fans do like the episode as is.
 * Viewers Are Geniuses: Daring Do had to figure out which animal was different than the others in order to outsmart the trap. The different one was a rat because it was not a predator. Not the most obvious difference to spot at first, as compared to a lone bird or reptile among mammals, for example. But perhaps the predator/prey distinction is more significant to small, tasty ponies.