History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E6PowerPonies

* BerserkButton: Don't hurt animals in front of Fluttershy, especially when her power is HulkingOut.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: The Mane-iac sucessfully steals the Electro-Orb and uses it to power her doomsday weapon.

* SlouchOfVillainy: The Mane-iac does this at one point when watching the Mane Six bungle with their new superpowers at first. She even [[MundaneUtility uses her own mane as a lounge chair]]

* TheLoad: Discussed when Spike describes Humdrum to Twilight, whom he says is not only a totally useless comic relief character, but also [[TheMillstone helped further the Mane-iac's EvilPlan totally by mistake]]. It's deconstructed and eventually averted with Spike himself, however; he merely ''thinks'' he's this, but the Mane Six clearly don't, and in fact wouldn't even be able to master their powers without his assistance.

* {{Mook}}s: The Maneiac has an army of them. They're also mostly identical, right down to repeating Cutie Marks.

* MundaneUtility: Upon learning she has SuperSpeed, the first thing Pinkie does is run off to grab some cupcakes. [[BookEnds It's also the last thing she does before the cast is sent back to Ponyville]].

%%* AlliterativeTitle

%%* AnimalSuperheroes: By definition.%%ZCE

* SuperSpeed: The {{Stock Super Power|s}} that Pinkie Pie gains as Fili-Second (the name, a pun on "millisecond," should be a tipoff).

* StockShoutOut: The word "Power" as a superhero name has a long and storied tradition: [[ComicBook/LukeCage Power Man]], ComicBook/PowerGirl, ComicBook/PowerPack, Franchise/PowerRangers, [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Powerpuff]]... Well, you get the idea.

* StockShoutOut: The word "Power" as a superhero name has a long and storied tradition: [[ComicBook/LukeCageHeroForHire Power Man]], ComicBook/PowerGirl, ComicBook/PowerPack, Franchise/PowerRangers, [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Powerpuff]]... Well, you get the idea.

** Mane-iac tells Spike that it would be "pointless" to bother incapacitating him.

* PrehensileHair: The Mane-iac's mane and tail act like multiple [[CombatTentacles tentacle-like limbs]], a power very likely inspired by Franchise/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s Medusa of ComicBook/FantasticFour and ComicBook/TheInhumans, who takes her cues from Medusa in Myth/ClassicalMythology.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Twilight, as the Masked Matter-Horn, counters the Mane-iac's belittling of Humdrum with a BadassNormal variant about how Spike/Humdrum always comes through when his friends need him.

** Rarity/Radiance's power to create "attack constructs" from her jewelry is equivalent to that of Franchise/GreenLantern.

** Applejack/Mistress Mare-velous wields a lasso (which glows when in use), a nod to Franchise/WonderWoman and a hint of Franchise/{{Batman}} with a pair of horseshoes she throws around the ankles of a charging mook to stop him.

** The catchphrase became HilariousInHindsight after ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]''.

** Twilight as Masked Matter-Horn has the power to fire various kinds of beams from her form, mainly manifesting as [[AnIcePerson ice]] and (briefly) [[FrickinLaserBeams laser]] magic.

** EllenKennedy played Daffidazey, a stylist, in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3''. (Naturally, that's what the Mane-iac was before her StartOfDarkness. Sadly, her previous form doesn't really look like Daffidazey.)

* RageBreakingPoint: With an heavy emphasis on "rage"! Fluttershy is unable to unleash her Saddle Rager persona until the near end of the episode, [[spoiler: when she sees The Mane-iac swatting away a random firefly. Being a lover of all things animals, Fluttershy is reasonably upset, to put it mildly, and finally [[HulkingOut hulks out]] complete with RantInducingSlight.

->'''Spike:''' [[Series/{{Batman}} Holy new personas, ponies!]]

* DutchAngle: Several of the action shots use the off-tilt camera view, a common element of the original ''Series/{{Batman}}'' series.

** Spike/Humdrum's sidekick status (comic relief that makes bad puns and exposition) is based on Burt Ward's [[Series/{{Batman}} Robin]].

** When Spike sees the Mane Six in their Power Ponies costumes, he says, "Holy new personas, ponies!" in a parody of "Holy X, Batman!" from the 1960s live-action ''Series/{{Batman}}'' series.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The hairspray completely paralyzes ponies and takes away their powers, but only lasts a couple minutes. Mane-iac compensates by assigning one of her henchmen to give another dose when it's about to wear off. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny He uses an egg timer.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Power Ponies in all their glory. Humdrum/Spike isn't in this pic, but so what? [[TemptingFate He's useless anyway]].[[labelnote:note]]In the comic universe, from left to right: Saddle Rager, the Masked Matter-horn, Mistress Mare-valous, Radiance, and Fili-Second. Top: Zapp.[[/labelnote]]]]

** Among the Power Ponies is Mistress Marevelous, who's essentially a Franchise/{{Batman}}-esque hero except for the lasso that can be controlled by thought.

** Applejack/Mistress Marevelous wields a lasso (which glows when in use), a nod to Franchise/WonderWoman and a hint of Franchise/{{Batman}} with a pair of horseshoes she throws around the ankles of a charging mook to stop him.

* OneOfUs: InUniverse. Spike's a comic book geek.

* BeautifulVoid: Aside from the Mane Six[=/=]Power Ponies, the Mane-iac, and the Mane-iac's henchponies, the city of Maretropolis is completely deserted.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Power Ponies in all their glory. Humdrum/Spike isn't in this pic, but so what? [[TemptingFate He's useless anyway]].[[labelnote:note]]In the comic universe, from left to right: Saddle Rager, The Masked Matter-horn, Mistress Mare-valous, Radiance, and Fili-Second. Top: Zapp.[[/labelnote]]]]

* AlliterativeTitle

* AnimalSuperheroes: By definition.

--->'''Fluttershy:''' Are you kidding me?! I mean... I know you're evil and everything, but you'd hurt a teensy, little harmless firefly?! REALLY?! Well, you're just a [[PunctuatedForEmphasis great! Big! MEANIE!]]

* LiteralMetaphor: After they've left the book, Rainbow Dash comments on how she was "raining down a storm of justice."

** EllenKennedy played Daffidazey, a stylist, in MyLittlePonyG3. (Naturally, that's what the Mane-iac was before her StartOfDarkness. Sadly, her previous form doesn't really look like Daffidazey.)

** The Mane-iac is a combination of a number of different supervillains: SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker (origin, green hair, and insanity), [[Franchise/SpiderMan Doctor Octopus]] (mad scientist behavior and the distinctive way that he moves around with super-powered appendages), and [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Sedusa]] (PrehensileHair and overall hair theme).

** The Mane-iac's origin story bears a strong similarity to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's -- in fact, [[http://www.kidzworld.com/article/29087-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-and-equestria-girls-top-10-easter-eggs confirmed by Mike Vogel]] as specifically to ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''. Her personality is also close enough, seeing as she has a tendency to [[LaughingMad laugh a lot]] and make very bad puns. Not to mention that her EvilPlan to mess up everypony's hair sounds more like a practical joke than a doomsday device, again a common element of the campy '60s Batman show and Cesar Romaro's version of the Joker. Even having themed henchponies (the four unique ones and the regular mooks, all with hair and cutie marks suggesting hair styling) is a staple of that program.

* AttackReflector: The beam from the Mane-iac's superweapon just bounces back of Saddle Rager once Hulked Out, hitting the Mane-iac herself and making her prehensile hair go wild.

** Reversed with Rarity, who has no demonstrated experience or aptitude with anything beyond what's considered standard magic for a unicorn. She flubs her new power exactly ''once'' and then pretty much becomes Radiance incarnate.