YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S8 E1 "School Daze – Part 1"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Does Neighsay really believe other non-pony creatures are dangerous out of hate, or fear? Is he afraid of familiarizing himself with their customs? The latter would make sense, he and the rest EEA sit in a dark room all day and don't notice the outside world changing, where "dangerous" creatures aren't so dangerous.
  • The EEA itself: Is it an overbearing bureaucratic institution whose attitudes do more harm than good, or a legitimate organization that really does have the best interests of Equestrian students at heart but just so happens to have a speciesist overseeing Twilight's school? The way everyone talks about Neighsay's decisions as "The EEA" makes it seem like the former, but the fact that Celestia actually allows her own schools to be held under their standards (and continues to do so even after the events of "School Daze") makes it seem like the latter. The fact that Earlier Episodes show that Gilda (a Griffon) once attended the Junior Speedsters flight camp (in the Pegasus city of Cloudsdale) also seems to imply the latter.
• Broken Base:
  • The treatment of the movie's continuity has been a divisive topic for many fans. Some don't have issues with its overall placement within the show, and are happy that it was directly acknowledged and not left in the air like the Equestria Girls series or the comics. Others dislike the fact that the episode chose to ignore certain plot elements from the movie just so they can rush to the main plot of the episode. Then there are those who don't like the movie altogether and wish it was ignored.
  • The decision to have the Mane Six start up the School of Friendship. Was it a unique way to expand on the shows previously established creatures and mythos, or a shallow excuse for the higher ups to sell more toys before G4's eventual end? There's also a third camp that the Mane Six helping the other kingdoms learn friendship was a fantastic way for the series to go, but just don't think that a school, of all possible ways in a world filled with much more unique ideas, was really the best way to do it.
  • The Mane Six being teachers at the School of Friendship. Is it a perfect choice for teaching an abstract concept like friendship to the world or is it a Plot Tumor due to it practically replacing their other commitments as the show went on?
  • The rather blunt attack against the educational system. Is it a bold and mature move, or is the show trying too hard to tackle such a mature topic and stumbles hard?
• Common Knowledge: A common criticism of the School of Friendship is it violates the series premiers claim that friendship cannot be learned in class or books. That wasn't actually stated.◊ Twilight's not learning friendship was portrayed as her not caring to do so prior as opposed to it being impossible to do though school.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Some fans claim that Neighsay's concern that he views non-pony races as dangerous is understandable — Equestria just got invaded and enslaved by an unknown enemy race. They also claim that non-ponies have histories of poor to mediocre diplomatic relations with Equestria ^note Griffins are jerks almost to a rule (although they are generally accepted in Equestrian Society), many dragons see ponies as puny and weak, changelings invaded Equestria twice, yaks nearly declared war in "Party Pooped", and the hippogriff queen refused to aid Equestria when the Storm King invaded. We even see in the next episode that the Student Six almost accidentally cause an international incident when they go missing and the leaders of the other races start accusing each other of being behind it. This ignores that the past few seasons have shown members of other races and ponies getting along better, and having made peace with Equestria.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Gallus, Ocellus, Sandbar, Silverstream, Smolder and Yona are now called the "Student Six" or the "Young Six" as their education on friendship and possible mentoring by the Mane Six will be a focal point in the progression of the series.
  • Does that logo really belong to the Equestria Education Association... or does it belong to the Ultramarines◊ chapter?
  • The EEA Rulebook is now considered an in-universe equivalent of the Codex Astartes.
• Genius Bonus: During the latter half of the song, on Fluttershy's blackboard is a diagram that is similar to the circular Tree of Life diagrams that catalog all known species based on their common ancestry and genetic complexity.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • When fans started crossovers with Warhammer 40,000, which was as early as 2011, it was obvious that Twilight Sparkle would be grouped in with the Ultramarines since they created the Codex Astartes and abide by it as much as possible. And then there's also this picture from 2014.
  • The Equestria Girls spin-off franchise was initially controversial for its High School AU premise, but now a school in the main pony universe has become a primary focus. Interestingly, the Mane Six are students in the human universe, but teachers in the pony universe.
  • A character who is a natural swimmer who's name is Silverstream. Ring any bells?
• Narm: The cast stumbling over their use of "everypony" with so many non-pony races around, correcting themselves to "everycreature." Aside from the fact that "creature" isn't the nicest-sounded term one could use to refer to non-pony races, the writers seem to have forgotten that "everybody" and "everyone" have been casually used throughout the show. This would keep happening for the rest of the show, too.
• Strawman Has a Point: Chancellor Neighsay is the antagonist of the premiere because he seeks to shut down Twilight's School of Friendship. But one of the reasons he cites for shutting it down are not meeting EEA standards, namely that Twilight's friends are unqualified teachers and students are skipping classes. He is correct on both counts, and Twilight lied to him and tried to cover up that the Student Six were playing hooky and she didn't know where they were.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: We were never told about what was the resolution of Capper and the pirates. Especially for the latter since when taking the prequel comics into account, the pirates just lost their primary source of income since they only rob the Storm King's ships.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Several viewers were confused as to what Smolder the dragon's gender is. She has a deep, tomboyish voice, but also has visible eyelashes similar to Ember's (not to mention that her being male would have made the group a balanced three male and three female characters, a pattern even found in groups like the Pillars of Equestria). A tweet from Jim Miller finally confirmed that she is in fact female.

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