YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S8 E12 "Marks for Effort"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: While the Aesop shown is “Honesty is the best policy”, Some people have also seen “Don’t assume the worst out of people in a situation, especially if you know them well.” after seeing Twilight accusing the CMC of sabotage and expelling them.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Was Twilight jumping to conclusions by assuming the CMC caused Cozy Glow to fail on purpose (as "A Canterlot Wedding" and "What About Discord?" has had Twilight accuse people of wrongdoing with no evidence to back it up, so it's not the first time she assumed the worst about somebody), or did she make a reasonable assumption based on their previous attempts to get into the school and had nothing with which to back up their innocence?
  • Did Cozy Glow's plan to get the Crusaders into Twilight's school really end up as Springtime for Hitler, was she playing a longer Batman Gambit knowing that Twilight and Starlight would take them on as tutors, or was she playing a Xanatos Gambit where every possible outcome would end with the Crusaders in Twilight's school?
• Genius Bonus: When accusing the Crusaders of being sabotutors, Twilight points at them with the elbow of her wing. This is similar to an obscure Ivy League practice of using the elbow as a slightly more civilized alternative of Giving Someone the Pointer Finger, which is considered rude.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Cozy Glow's "I guess I still have a lot to learn about friendship" line becomes this after her true intentions are revealed in the Season 8 finale.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The face Starlight makes◊ when counseling Cozy Glow caught on very quickly.
  • The same applies to Rarity calling Sweetie Belle "Repeatie Belle".
  • Cozy Glow answering the question "Who is the Princess of Friendship?" on her test with Your Mom has also caught on.
  • Starlight's "I'm listening" prompted lots of comparisons to Frasier.
• Ron the Death Eater: The controversial scene of Twilight accusing the Cutie Mark Crusaders of (supposedly) making Cozy Glow fail her test, then banning them from the School of Friendship created a slew of Accusation Fics about her being a Horrible Judge of Character and allegedly not listening to their side of the story. This ignores the CMC having been pulling such tricks earlier this episode, Twilight punishing them only after they couldn't explain what happened, her facial expression implying she regretted her act, and unbanning them as soon as she learned the truth.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Considering how we haven’t seen them since season 5 outside of background cameos, having Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wanting to be accepted to the friendship school with the CMC helping them out would have been a great way to have their redemptions come to a proper conclusion.

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