My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Awesome



""This is a pony; a baby horse girl toy! Why is it so awesome?!""

- Screw Attack's Death Battle: Rainbow Dash vs. Starscream

For music both official & fanmade, please go to the Awesome Music page.

Don't put fan works on this page. They have been moved to this link.

Mare in the Moon

 * The entire episode, if for no other reason than this is the episode that proved that this incarnation will not be like prior incarnations.
 * That especially goes for the title sequence. It's begins with the typical facile cutesie lyrical style of the franchise, and suddenly changes a fast paced rock song leaving you no doubt that this franchise is under a bold new management.
 * Rainbow Dash really does clear the sky in ten seconds flat.

Elements of Harmony

 * Twilight Sparkle has been suddenly abducted by Nightmare Moon while trying to activate the Elements of Harmony, and is now trapped alone with the dark goddess of Eternal Night gloating at her from across the room, while the only artifacts in the world that might possibly be able to stop her are firmly in the villainess's clutches. What does she do? Put her horn down and charge.
 * The best part is that it isn't even a Leeroy Jenkins style gesture of defiance. By charging, Twilight Sparkle lured Nightmare Moon down off the podium and away from the Elements of Harmony to meet her charge... and then used her teleport-dodge to skip right past Nightmare Moon at the last instant, leaving her on top of the podium with the Elements while Nightmare Moon is stuck running in the exact opposite direction of where she needs to be. Badass Bookworm and Batman Gambit, all in one move.
 * This is followed by the arrival of Twilight's new friends and them demonstrating the Magic of Friendship to Nightmare Moon by forcing her to taste the Rainbow of Light. The page image should give you a rough idea why this is so awesome.
 * The out-of-universe example with the audience. This was the revival of a two-decade-old franchise based on a toy that only girls liked, with shows that were largely seen as a joke. The generation that came before this, 3.5, was probably the worst of the adaptations, and it did not help things. Then this two-parter aired. Various boys in the audience fell silent, then exploded in pure happiness at how good everything about this show was. It became a sensation over-night. The best part is that compared to what comes later on, the two-parter may be seen as one of the corniest and most trite of the bunch. It still left G3.5 in the dirt.
 * Rarity being the first to fight the manticore, and kicking it straight in the face. Two episodes in, and she's already showing her Badass Damsel tendencies.

Applebuck Season

 * Applejack, even though it was something she shouldn't have done, earned one by harvesting half the farm's apple trees by herself. Sweet Apple Acres is really big (there's a reason it's called Sweet Apple Acres), so it's likely not an easy feat to harvest half the apples in the entire area within the span of a couple days. Yet Applejack still managed it.
 * And don't forget that she, in the words of Mayor Mare, single-hoofedly saved Ponyville from a stampede of panicked cows.
 * Twilight clearing 31 trees at once it pretty awesome.

Griffin The Brush Off

 * In one of her first Pet the Dog moments, Rainbow Dash is not happy at all when Gilda tears into her friends. Special points for the usually aggressive pony pwning Gilda solely with stern words.
 * Pinkie deciding to deal with Gilda once and for all after the griffon bullies Fluttershy. Of course, her method of "dealing with" her turns out to be a party and not a series of pranks as we're led to think, but it's rare to see Pinkie deciding to take on a problem so directly and decisively.

Boast Busters

 * Twilight's use of magic against the Ursa. To elaborate: she conjures a breeze to pass through reeds to make music to calm the Ursa. While doing that, she empties a water tower and carries it through a barn, while simultaneously milking cows to replace the water. While all that is going on, she levitates the Ursa itself and gives it the water tower-turned-bottle, and levitates it all the way back to its cave home. And is only momentarily winded after she is finished.
 * Trixie still beat them, but something must be said about Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack's tricks, which were pretty dang cool.
 * Applejack's lasso jumps were a lot more impressive than what Trixie did in return, which was just make a rope wiggle. Any unicorn could have done that. She didn't do anything that matched up to what Rainbow Dash did either, she just made her feel dizzy. And Rarity made a dress out of a curtain in about three seconds- Trixie just messed up her hair out of spite. She didn't really beat them, she just immaturely showed them up because she couldn't do better.
 * Trixie herself gets a small one when she tries to fight the Ursa. Yes, it was completely ineffectual, but the fact remains that she knew she was outclassed, but still made the effort.
 * Look at how big the lightning bolt she hit the Ursa with was. It might've only lightly singed the huge Eldritch Abomination, but anything smaller likely would've been fried.

Dragonshy
"How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?"
 * Fluttershy at the end. She made a dragon cry. A really, really big dragon, when the entire episode had been about how she's terrified of dragons.:


 * Equestria would've been covered in the dragon's smoke for 100 years if Fluttershy hadn't stepped up. That mare saved the entire country.
 * Rainbow Dash going up against the dragon beforehand. "GET. OUT!!" Her "Hell yes I did" nod when the dragon complained about her kicking him counts as awesome and hilarious.

Look Before You Sleep

 * Twilight deserves some credit for telling a Ghost Story scary enough to cause Applejack and Rarity to Security Cling.
 * The pillow fight between Rarity and Applejack is funny and awesome.

Bridle Gossip

 * What gains my eternal respect for Apple Bloom is when, after realizing just how ridiculous everypony's been acting around Zecora, she plants her older sister Applejack on a leaf and leaves her there to go set the record straight. As mentioned on the show's funny page, Applejack could do little more than throw a temper tantrum.

Swarm of the Century

 * Pinkie's one-pony band.
 * Rainbow Dash shows that she can create tornadoes, which likely would have solved the problem had Pinkie Pie not showed up with those cymbals.

Winter Wrap-Up

 * After an episode-long Humiliation Conga at not being able to properly help with the traditionally non-magic winter clearing activities, Twilight sees how disorganized the process is, and is quickly able to earn her own place in the tradition by getting everyone organized to efficiently clear up every trace of winter without getting in each other's way. And is then presented with her own vest, with a combination of all the other teams' colors. Accompanied by the instrumental of the episode song throughout, no less.

Call of the Cutie

 * It's a little understated, but it was pretty brave of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to call out Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for making fun of Apple Bloom at the risk of getting made fun of themselves. And they did so for a pony they didn't even know.

Fall Weather Friends

 * Twilight Sparkle's decision to compete in the race causes hilarity to Dash and Applejack. And why shouldn't it? She's a bookworm, one of the least athletic ponies in the town, has never been in a race and only knows about running from books. Race begins. Twilight is just quietly trotting at the back of the race, looking around, enjoying the scenery, commenting on Applejack and Rainbow Dash's nonsense. She is among the first to arrive, because she was not just looking at the scenery, she was pacing her efforts, contrarily to the others, and once everypony was exhausted, she sprinted her way to the finish line. Needless to say, this is a tactic she learned of in her books. Let that sink in: one of the weakest ponies in the town took fifth place, after consistently being way behind everypony else, presumably without using magic.
 * Applejack kicked a high striker hard enough to not only break it, but also sent its bell shooting off into the atmosphere. Especially impressive when you realize that she only had to use one of her legs accomplish this, while her opponent Rainbow Dash had to use both of her hind legs to even ring the bell.
 * All of ways either pony wins the challenges are pretty awesome, even if Rainbow Dash gets sneaky and starts using her wings later on. Granted she holds to Applejack's demand and keeps up with her using only her feet during the race.

Suited for Success

 * The second fashion show on two counts:
 * For Rarity. It's easy to forget that the completely awesome special effects as well as the dresses were produced by her. Before this, the only real things she used her magic for was telekinesis and not really anything else. Who knew she had that kind of magic in her?
 * For the creators in a meta sense. It's a fashion show, and it's not at all ironic like the first one, but it's still awesome, even if you think fashion is completely frivolous. It's a perfect example of how they can make something great out of ideas that don't sound promising at all.
 * Fluttershy suddenly speaking up and pouring a ton of fashion critique when Rarity pesters her.

Feeling Pinkie Keen

 * Twilight pulling a You Shall Not Pass on a Hydra. For reference, the Hydra is several hundred times her size, has been actively trying to eat the group, and is one of the few monsters in the series where Talking the Monster to Death is not an option. She manages to hold it off long enough for Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike to get to safety. The fact that the entire episode until that moment had been one long Humiliation Conga for Twilight only serves to emphasize how awesome this moment was.

Sonic Rainboom

 * Dash's A feat considered impossible in-universe.
 * Not to mention that somepony did the math, calculating that Rainbow Dash was pulling 1600+ g-forces at the time. If you use the graphics shown in the episode, she's not just flying at supersonic speeds, they're hypersonic. That's right, little Dashie can fly at five times the speed of sound, which means, if this video is correct and the sonic Rainboom doubles Rainbow's speeds for the duration, that she is pulling that turn at ten times the speed of sound, or 3397.5 meters per second. If we follow the math formulas from the before example that gives us 166405.15 g-forces.
 * Fluttershy in that scene, who was cheering in her very own extra-shy way at the beginning of the episode, suddenly burst out in hysteric cheers while Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie look on in awe. Just awesome.

The Stare Master

 * Fluttershy again. To put it in perspective Twilight Sparkle, the most powerful unicorn in Ponyville, could not stand up to the cockatrice and ended up as a statue. Fluttershy marched up to the monster and stared right into its eyes while telling it off and threatening to tell its mother about it. While being slowly turned into stone. It backs down.
 * Also, what she says to the Crusaders right before she does it: after spending the entire episode unable to get them to heed or obey her, she just shouts (well, shouts by Fluttershy standards), "Girls! Behind me now!" You realize in that moment that she has resolved to save the fillies in her charge or die trying. The final scene shows that she now doesn't even have to raise her voice to instantly get their attention.

The Show Stoppers

 * Scootaloo's full-on epic scooter scene just after the theme song. Jumping off her scooter mid-ride, over a branch too low to scoot under, in slow motion with birds flying about, landing on the other side, and continuing to ride. The way she dismounts and pulls her helmet off is nothing short of awesome.
 * Even with how bad the Crusaders' act turns out, you have to admire the sheer amount of effort and ambition they put into it, with complex choreography and special effects. And the way they actually get through the whole song without missing a beat even as the chaos unfolds around them.

A Dog and Pony Show
""Whoo, doggies! If you think you can take this bull by the horns, you better bet ready for a ride! YEEEEEEEEHAAAAWW!" *cue five-pony rodeo*"
 * Rarity gets captured by a group of dogs who want her to find gems for them. This, of course, includes living in labyrinthine tunnels, hand (or hoof?) digging them up and pulling the cart they go in. She complains a good amount, messing with the dogs' heads and setting them up to be insecure and defensive, but it really takes off when they tell her to stop whining. Thirty of the most hilariously satisfying seconds later, she's sitting on a throne with an army of dogs digging up jewels, giving them to her, and begging the "rescue party" to take her with them just to shut her up.
 * Even before she starts her climactic whining act, she gets a notable moment when she tricks several dogs into collapsing a pillar on themselves.
 * Spike also takes a level in badass in this episode. Not only does he lead the charge to rescue Rarity, but he takes on three Diamond Dogs at once and actually does a formidable job.
 * A group of Diamond Dogs ambush, mount, and rope the ponies in the "rescue party," with one Dog shouting "More workhorses!" Applejack responds:

Over a Barrel

 * During the pie fight in "Over A Barrel", background pony Carrot Top jumps out of the second story of a building, lands on a buffalo, and rides him rodeo style. The whole time she has a huge grin on her face like she's having fun.

Cutie Mark Chronicles
"Celestia: Twilight Sparkle, I have never come across a unicorn with your raw ability."
 * In what could be the crowning moment of the season, Rainbow Dash perform her first Sonic Rainboom as a young filly, earning her Cutie Mark in the process, and in doing so
 * Filly Twilight's sudden power-up that caused her to not only hatch Spike (which, presumably, was what the test was for), but to cause her examiners to float in the air, turn her parents into plants, and enlarge baby Spike enough to break a hole in the tower ceiling and attract Celestia's attention. It was awesome to see just how powerful her magic is even at such a young and untrained age. Like Celestia says:


 * Faust stated that the dragon egg test was something akin to an Unwinnable Training Simulation; the fact that Twilight actually hatched the egg forced Celestia to learn how to raise and train Spike on her own to later give to Twilight as her assistant.

Owl's Well That Ends Well

 * Owlowiscious physically taking on a full-grown dragon, then flying point to lead Twilight and Spike out of the forest with that thing chasing them every step of the way.

Party of One

 * Angry Pinkie Pie getting her own pink blur as she keeps up with Rainbow Dash is both Badass and slightly scary.
 * The entire chase scene. You don't mess around with a character with such a command on cartoon physics, no matter how nice or carefree they may usually seem.
 * Rainbow Dash literally dragging Pinkie Pie out of her depression and halfway across town.

The Best Night Ever

 * Rarity spends much of "Best Night Ever" trying to woo Prince Blueblood,
 * The clincher?

The Return of Harmony, Part 1

 * Fluttershy gets one in the first episode. When Discord tries to corrupt her like the others by telling her she's helpless and her friends don't like her, she responds with her usual sweet and kind self and says she's lucky to have such great friends and appreciates them thinking she can do better. Discord can't corrupt her the usual way, and just manually corrupts her instead. She's the one who makes Discord break his facade. When his manipulations fail, he snaps and gets enraged for the first and only time so far.
 * How well Rarity also resists Discord's temptations, and still manages to walk away from the diamonds in the rock after she's revealed to have Mind Control Eyes. Even Fluttershy fell immediately after her brute force brainwashing.
 * Discord himself gets quite a few in the first episode. He manipulates the ponies under his rules, and orchestrates their loss like a pro. Dash's corruption in particular is extremely cunning, appropriate considering it ‘wins’ him the game.
 * Also managing to steal the elements when they were guarded by a spell only Celestia could break.
 * An offscreen CMOA is from none other than Princesses Celestia and Luna, who were able to stop Discord's reign of chaos with the newly-discovered Elements of Harmony a thousand years ago. Now imagine that story with the climax from episode 2, with the royal sisters in the place of the Mane Six and Discord in Nightmare Moon's place, turned to stone by the stark opposite of his own existence.
 * An onscreen CMOA for Princess Celestia in the Canterlot Tower scene. Listen to Discord's monologue to her. He's trying to push the princess' buttons and get inside her head. Celestia responds to his teasing with a Shut UP, Hannibal and in another one orders him to quit screwing around and answer her original question. Discord begrudgingly answers with a cryptic riddle and then vanishes before Celestia could demand a straight answer.
 * Seeing the girls working together to get rid of the cotton-candy rain clouds is pretty impressive.
 * It took Rainbow Dash ten seconds to clear the clouds.

The Return of Harmony, Part 2
"Rarity: Oh Fluttershy, could you be a dear and fly faster, please? Fluttershy: (Sobbing) I-I can't... Twilight: If you can't catch her, Discord wins!
 * The entire chase scene after Rainbow Dash is completely epic. Fluttershy, pulling Twilight's Twinkling Balloon, tries to catch up to the corrupted Rainbow Dash, but she's still too fast for her even with Rarity and Pinkie Pie weighing her down. That is until this exchange:

Fluttershy: That BIG. DUMB. MEANIE!"

"Discord: Will you ever learn? Twilight Sparkle: I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord! We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!"
 * She then proceeds to outpace Rainbow Dash. This is Fluttershy we're talking about. The one who has repeatedly been stated to be a rather poor flyer. By comparison, Rainbow Dash is capable of shattering the visible light spectrum.
 * Twilight's Kirk Summation/Shut UP, Hannibal deserves special mention for the fact it's probably one of the most Badass ways of stating the Aesop of an episode ever.
 * Twilight's Kirk Summation/Shut UP, Hannibal deserves special mention for the fact it's probably one of the most Badass ways of stating the Aesop of an episode ever.


 * What's more Badass is she just told off what amounts to the God of Chaos. The girl has serious guts. On top of that, she delivered that speech just after teleporting to her friends and protecting them from Discord's telekinesis with a magical barrier. That bears repeating - she actually stood up to, and invalidated Discord's magic with her own.
 * Then right after... double rainbow all the way across Ponyville! It was intense, and reverts Discord's reign of chaos back to normal.
 * Celestia gets one by
 * Twilight being the only one to overcome the depths of despair and chaos without assistance from magic. Then going about saving her mates. Which included having to tie up and probably chase Fluttershy, who we see can be a competent flyer when she isn't scared.
 * Twilight and Spike fighting and successfully retrieving the book containing the Elements of Harmony from the corrupted ponies. Notably, Twilight takes on Pinkie and Applejack at the same time, without resorting to magic.
 * Even though it ultimately fails, there's Twilight deciding that she has taken enough crap from the Discorded ponies and taking charge of the situation after discovering the Elements, successfully persuading the others into getting out of the library to confront Discord.
 * For its sheer Crazy Awesome factor, Discord producing a glass of chocolate milk, drinking the glass, and tossing the (still glass-shaped milk) over his shoulder to explode.

Lesson Zero
"Big Macintosh: Nnnope."
 * Fluttershy wrestles a bear. Actually, she was being a chiropractor for the bear. Still, the initial scene was badass. Fluttershy having the courage to help a bear in pain is great in itself, following on from the Manticore in the pilot.
 * You've seen the Sonic Rainboom, right? How about a Sonic RainNUKE?
 * Beforehand, Rainbow Dash kicking through walls and biting through ceiling beams.
 * Clearly, Rainbow Dash is too awesome to be contained by the show's world. Here's hoping she doesn't get fourth-wall lessons from Pinkie.
 * Big Macintosh casually punting a massive pile of ponies off of him (some of which ended up flying over the horizon).


 * Spike finally getting fed up with Twilight's issues and yelling at her to "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
 * Spike gets another one by
 * Princess Celestia's clearly angry demeanor towards Twilight when she arrived and the magic she uses to cancel Twilight's spell is a reminder why she is the Princess of Equestria.
 * Also the way she easily cancelled Twilight's spell over everypony. It's not often we get to see the princess unleash her power that way.

Luna Eclipsed
""BE STILL!""
 * Luna makes her long awaited return by arriving in a beam of moonlight riding a demonic chariot pulled by a pair of pegasi that look like soldiers right out of Pony Hell with Luna herself dressed like a Sith Lord, all set to Nightmare Moon's theme from Season 1 and Dramatic Thunder. It doesn't help improve her "public image", but it sure was a badass entrance.
 * The part where she descends from her chariot and her black cloak turns into bats that fly away as she unfolds her massive alicorn wings.
 * Pretty much any time she pulls the Dramatic Thunder, even in the most mundane contexts, is awesome. The fantastic animation and great use of light(n)ing certainly help.
 * As if her appearance here wasn't awesome enough, Zecora's story-telling is just amazing. She really has a flair for the dramatic, and the way she makes use of her own special brand of magic makes it even cooler, with just enough creepiness to be scary at the same time.
 * Luna stopped a panicked stampede of townsponies with the over the top Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, essentially bringing everypony within earshot to their knees (even Twilight).


 * The fans were very worried about this episode, as giving Luna a canon personality would invalidate a year's worth of fanwork speculation that had become very popular. That her canon personality has actually mostly been accepted by those fans seems almost as unlikely as the show itself earning such devotion.
 * Rainbow Dash dressing as a Shadowbolt.

The Sisterhooves Social

 * . May not seem like much, but then you realize: this is . And it includes the likes of launching Sweetie Belle over an entire climbing hazard with one leg, bucking a barrelful of grapes in one kick, and launching a bench full of apples. There's some Hidden Depths for you.
 * The final slide toward the finish line. Any baseball player will tell you this is a risky move, in terms of both its effectiveness and the potential for injury. Rarity's willingness to go for it without even thinking says quite a bit about her.
 * Applejack is able to, just to help Rarity and Sweetie Belle make up. This applies to as well, perhaps even more so. Think about it:
 * "As Celestia is my witness, I will never go sisterless again!"
 * Rarity was able to keep herself under control with all of Sweetie Belle's messes. Considering how frequently Sanity Slippage happens in this show, the fact she had enough self control to not snap under the pressure is a feat in and of itself.

The Cutie Pox

 * After being bullied by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in Call of the Cutie, Apple Bloom finally gets to show them up with style.
 * Sure, Cutie Pox is serious, but there's no doubt some of the feats Apple Bloom is able to perform are awesome. Toward the end of episode she's able to sculpt a statue, tame a pack of lions, carry a heavy barbell (reading 1000) with just her tail, and put up a fight with a fencer all in quick succession while still being able to keep the two plates and loopty hoop spinning.
 * Zecora successfully guessing what Apple Bloom's injury is as she sets up her rhyme.
 * Her sudden disappearance at the end of the episode. Leaving in style.

May the Best Pet Win!

 * Most of the animals get at least one during the course of Rainbow Dash's test. Not much of a surprise since one of Rainbow Dash's qualifications for a pet is "awesomeness".
 * Tank
 * The bat fighting its way out of an eel's mouth.
 * Also, the bat performing the show's theme tune on water glasses before neatly disintegrating them. Even Rainbow thinks it's awesome.
 * The butterfly hypnotizing Opal.
 * And if that hadn't worked, Tank was about to drop Opal's cathouse on her. At the end of the episode, he successfully steals her toy.
 * The entire canyon race, until Rainbow's accident, is one major crowning moment of awesome. They even went so far as to use Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". At one point, Dash briefly whistles along with it.
 * How Rainbow Dash started the avalanche. Those weren't loose boulders or anything. She cracked solid rock just by smacking into it. Clearly the Ghastly Gorge just isn't tough enough to have Rainbow Dash in it.
 * Tank's helicopter shell attachment thingy.

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

 * The Mysterious Mare Do Well using her incredible agility and reflexes to effortlessly dodge the falling debris and save the construction workers.
 * Pulling each piece of the dam perfectly back into place in ten seconds flat while holding back megatons of water from pouring through.
 * Stopping a runaway carriage from careening off a cliff using only her hind hooves.
 * The flight scene after the dam incident.
 * For all her ego, Rainbow Dash does actually rescue a filly from the bottom of a well, saves a baby carriage from tumbling off a cliff(Same cliff as above. They should really put up some guardrails or something), and catches an entire balcony of senior citizens. If she wasn't such a braggart she'd make a heck of a super hero.
 * Incidentally, during the building rescue she successfully manages to dodge a ton of debris almost falling onto her -- the same way she wasn't quite able to the previous episode.
 * Though an in-Universe case of What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?, it is sort of impressive that Rainbow Dash was able to mow the whole lawn in five seconds flat.
 * Mare Do Well's theme music, particularly during the final chase scene, is a Suspiciously Similar Song version of the theme from Batman: The Animated Series.

Sweet and Elite

 * Fancy Pants' entire character. A fashionable, aristocratic pony who's actually an open-minded good sport, and not a snooty, pretentious jerk like the other Canterlot elite? Is it any wonder that he's a trendsetter, while the other ponies are merely Yes Mares? The show's subverted the "high society is evil and filled with haughty bullies" before with other celebronies who turn out to be reasonable people, but Fancy Pants' character--and in direct opposite to the more typical Jerkass high society ponies, who are noticeably less important than he is--is the most blatant yet.
 * Pinkie Pie has a party cannon.
 * "Yes, yes I do know them. They may not be as sophisticated as you Canterlot ponies, but they are my very best friends, and they are, without a doubt, the most important ponies I know."

Secret Of My Excess
"Pinkie: I'm not giving him cake! I'm assaulting him with cake!!"
 * One of the Wonderbolts' wing slices through Spike's spikes. Since dragonskin is tough, that's really impressive.
 * The Wonderbolts are apparently the Equestrian Air Force.
 * It may be counterproductive, but Pinkie Pie defending the bakery the only way she can from a giant dragon she doesn't know is Spike was pretty darn brave.


 * Rarity losing the Damsel in Distress attitude and talking down Giant!Spike (even though she has no idea it's him), knowing full well he's a rampaging beast who's easily twenty times bigger than her.
 * Regarding a couple scenes later,
 * Applejack staring after Spike (with a mustache of leaves, no less), uttering nothing but a simple: "Twilight, get my rope."
 * Despite the soft purple and green colour scheme, giant Spike still looks pretty badass. He also has the potential to completely curbstomp everyone in the show (including Equestia's air force and its more potent magic users).
 * Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash saving Spike and Rarity's lives. Even more impressive on Fluttershy's part because, once again, she keeps pace with Rainbow Dash to protect her friends.
 * Scootaloo manages to keep her grip on her scooter despite being opposed by a dragon easily twice her size. Also, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle anchoring Scootaloo so she doesn't get dragged off. Who'd have thought that the CMC had that much strength between them?

Family Appreciation Day

 * Granny Smith wowing Apple Bloom's class with the story of The story includes
 * Back when there wasn't a proper Ponyville settlement to retreat to, the young Granny Smith braved the dangerous Everfree Forest in the middle of the night and completely alone, all to find food for her family. She didn't even have any idea of what to look for beyond "something edible" (and even that's hoping that ponies and wild Everfree denizens can eat the same stuff).
 * Silver Spoon, of all ponies, gets a small one when she is the very first to start clapping at the end of Granny Smith's story.

Baby Cakes

 * Pound Cake having the strength to drag the full-grown Pinkie Pie around the whole house, and Pinkie hanging on through the whole thing.
 * Pumpkin Cake demonstrating unicorn magic that's never been seen before: levitating herself, and walking through walls.
 * Pound can fly and Pumpkin can use magic when they're just one month old. The fact that some fillies, like Twilight, had to wait until Rainbow Dash formed the first Sonic Rainboom to see her magic abilities and Scootaloo still not able to fly, is actually a pretty awesome accomplishment. Rarity and Rainbow Dash's comments about baby unicorns and pegasi respectively suggested that foals don't have much control over their skills, which the twins did.
 * Carrot Cake changing diapers lightning-fast. With his mouth. Guy just earned his Dad Card.
 * Pinkie's response to Twilight telling her that she just doesn't have it in her to be a caregiver. She shoves her out, slams the door in her face, goes back to the twins, and ultimately manages to pull it all off. Crowning Moment of Politeness, no. But awesome all the same.
 * She didn't need to be polite in that situation. Twilight DOES have a tendency to be unintentionally condescending, and while a very likable character, it is nice to see when she's called out on this flaw (for another, if smaller example, there's Spike's little irritated cry of "MY lectures!?" in "It's About Time"). Pinkie deserved to get this moment.
 * Pinkie took a page out of Fluttershy's book by staring them into submission. Granted, not as awesome as Fluttershy's uses, but still, the fun-loving Pinkie Pie scolding the kids is pretty awesome.

Hearth's Warming Eve

 * Clover the Clever's Avatar State magic being able to fend off the Windigos, a magic that previously had never been done before that involved setting the Windigos on fire.
 * It must be mentioned that not only did this act save the world, it also was without the Elements Of Harmony or anything else. It was pure Power of Friendship with nothing powering it up.
 * The three tribes warming up to each other on their own.
 * It's not as obvious, but give the mane cast credit, they put on the biggest play in Equestria and did very well. Especially true for Fluttershy, who was pretty much scared to death of performing but did excellently all the same.

The Last Roundup

 * Applejack's impressive rodeo moves in the cold opener.
 * Two words: Derpy speaks and is addressed by name. Just take a look at the reaction from the streams during that moment.
 * Even though she didn't win any blue ribbons at the rodeo, Applejack still did very well considering this was a national competition. Jubilee's comment implies that not only did she compete in more events than anypony else, but that she also managed to get in the top five for all of them.
 * Fluttershy once again proving that she can keep the pace with Rainbow Dash. Not to mention she's the one who rams AJ's transportation.
 * For that matter, her and Rainbow Dash managing to fly over a train while pulling a wagon with Twilight in it.
 * While Rainbow Dash isn't really known for being the voice of reason, she does a decent job trying to pry the truth from Applejack (usually the more responsible of the ponies) and getting her out of her stubborn self exile (eg. utilising Pinkie Pie's Motor Mouth as method of torture, chasing down and finally catching her in a chase out of town). Like the other ponies she plays her part in getting AJ out of her Heroic BSOD as well.
 * Pinkie's Motor Mouth being weaponized, and her seemingly Unstoppable Rage at broken Pinkie Promises. Fortunately for Applejack, she turns out to be fairly easy to appease.

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
"Rainbow Dash: I oughta press you into jerk cider!"
 * Applejack becomes the first character to actually not need to learn a lesson, as she'd spent the whole episode already knowing it.
 * Twilight gathering the rest of the mane cast to help out the Apple Family with Twilight choosing the appropriate pony for each job. With their help, they end up turning out five cider barrels to the Flim Flam brothers' three, forcing them to forgo quality control for the sake of quantity.
 * All of the mane cast while helping the Apples. Rainbow Dash keeping up with Big Mac on the treadmill, Pinkie Pie's backwards-somersault mid-air apple catch, Twilight simultaneously barreling the cider and calculating both teams' production rates, and Fluttershy speeding from tree to tree, knocking down apples as fast as--or faster than--Applejack, who's been doing this her entire life.
 * Rainbow Dash's reaction to the Flim Flam Brothers' Kick the Dog moment, even if Applejack stopped her before she could beat the tar out of them:


 * It's clear that the entire town is visibly upset by their Kick the Dog moment and that the Apples just lost everything. They didn't just chase the Flim Flam Brothers out of town for rotten cider, but for how rotten of ponies they were to some of their own, giving the entire town one of these.
 * Applejack refusing to rise to the brothers' bait of trying to make her upset and holding true to her word. She could have easily let Rainbow Dash mess them up, but she refused to fall to their level.
 * Applejack lassoing the Flim Flam brothers' cider barrel in the blink of an eye when they try to take over the local cider business.

Read It and Weep

 * Rainbow Dash as Indiana Jones. That is all.
 * The gauntlet that Daring Do, the Indiana Jones Expy that Rainbow imagines herself as, runs through upon first entering the temple. And showing the benefits of owning a Nice Hat.
 * Another one for the writer for mixing three different aesops into one episode and doing it very cohesively.
 * That the show included an Ahuizotl, a mythological creature most of the fans wouldn't even know what it was. The writers really did their homework on this one!

Hearts and Hooves Day

 * Big Mac is able to drag two bulls carrying a cartful of anvils and even an entire house by a rope just to get to Cheerilee. Note that he's happily doing the Pepe Le Pew bounce through most of it. The house is the only one that gives him any trouble.
 * Michelle Creber gets an entire song to herself, switching effortlessly between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's voices.
 * Cheerilee smashes through the blockade Sweetie Belle set up for her in her attempt to reunite with Big Mac. She also destroys the front doors of both Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique, wiping out most of the latter building's front wall for good measure.
 * The Cutie Mark Crusaders actually managing to keep Big Mac and Cheerilee long enough to undo the effects of the poison.

A Friend in Deed

 * It may be a bit mundane, but Pinkie managing to remember even the smallest details about everypony is pretty impressive, especially since she does it in order to make people smile and be happy.
 * The whole "Smile" sequence, and not just for the music.
 * When Pinkie Pie achieves her goal she blasts off into the sky like a firecracker.
 * When he's trying to get away from Pinkie Pie, Cranky performs some impressive athletic feats considering his age.

Putting Your Hoof Down

 * It was cool to see Fluttershy finally standing up to those pushing her around, for a while, at least.
 * She tipped two giant carts over with a kick. This is coming from a pony who formerly couldn't even knock over a vase when angry.
 * And then she stood up to Iron Will in the end.
 * Pinkie Pie's Duck Season! Rabbit Season! on the tomato seller, and Iron Will. To give Will some credit, he did eventually see through it when Pinkie tried it on him.
 * Fluttershy using The Stare to put Angel back in his place.
 * Iron Will himself, given that he did things like stretch a fence as if it were the ropes of a wrestling ring when frustrated, riled up an entire crowd of ponies with his Hogan-esque Showmanship, and made Fluttershy a bully with nothing but a few pamphlets and catchy slogans. Did we mention he's also a Minotaur?
 * And one for the writers for not taking the easy way out and making Iron Will an all out villain, instead opting to make his antagonistic nature mainly one of values, or rather, methods of upholding them. Iron Will does not at any point do anything truly malicious just for the sake of being a villain, and though Pinkie and Rarity do blame his teachings for what happens to Fluttershy, the episode itself makes it clear that the flaw is mostly in Iron Will's teaching METHODS and Fluttershy getting it wrong in the first place. Iron Will backs off AND keeps his deal when it's brought up, and even when at his "meanest" (tearing off door barricades to get to Fluttershy), he actually mentions that she was overdue for payment in the first place. All he did was his job the way he figured it should be done, and try to get paid for it.
 * While heartwarming as well as awesome, Rarity and Pinkie Pie standing up to Iron Will, a minotaur several times the size of either of them, to try to protect Fluttershy from his demands. Turns out that they were wrong about his intentions (he respectably backed down after Fluttershy stood up to him), but they had no idea that would happen. Bonus points for Pinkie, who not only put herself between Iron Will and Fluttershy's door multiple times, but got "in his face" a couple of times as well to try to put him off.
 * When defending Rarity, Pinkie Pie still brings her own unique flair to the argument, complete with rhymes and poses.

It's About Time

 * Fluttershy managing to tame  by treating it like a real dog is a mix of this, CMoH, and CMoF.
 * Even better, right before that, Twilight just saunters up to  like it's no big deal as her horn starts glowing as if she's preparing to cast a spell. Too bad it didn't take.

Dragon Quest
"Rarity: Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion, BUT I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES IF YOU TOUCH ONE SCALE ON HIS CUTE LITTLE HEAD!"
 * The Mane Three head off after Spike on the dragon raid, setting us up to think they'll show up just in time to talk Spike out of smashing the egg. Instead, he has his epiphany completely on his own, and tells the other dragons off.
 * The two phoenixes saving their kids, showing what a bird made of fire can really do.
 * Even though they ran away afterwards, the three willing to go Mama Bear on the teen dragons. Especially Rarity.


 * Spike finally being accepted into the dragons' group. He even wins the "King of the Horde" competition momentarily under his own power.
 * Right in the beginning, it's clear that Fluttershy still has her new assertive attitude. When Rainbow Dash pulls her through the door to see the dragons, Fluttershy bounces back, knocking back Dash before hopping off her ribcage and racing for the window...
 * ...which she very gently opens before flying away.

Hurricane Fluttershy
"Rainbow Dash: No! One more time! I gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!"
 * Upon learning that the present pegasi might not be able to create a strong tornado to bring the water up to Cloudsdale much less break the wingpower record, Rainbow Dash decides to go through with it anyway, saying that while they won't be able to break the record, Cloudsdale still needs that water. Expect no less from the Element of Loyalty.
 * When the tornado fails, Twilight urges Rainbow Dash to give up since somepony could get hurt if they fail to make another strong tornado. Her response:


 * Fluttershy sucks an about-to-fall tear right back up into her eye.
 * Fluttershy managing to motivate herself at all and start her own training regimen to increase her wing power. She may not have seen it as much of an improvement, but numbers don't lie: she managed to increase her wing power by 360% entirely on her own. And she did it either in less then a day to a few days tops. Rather impressive for a non-athlete like Fluttershy.
 * Fluttershy managing to motivate herself at all and start her own training regimen to increase her wing power. She may not have seen it as much of an improvement, but numbers don't lie: she managed to increase her wing power by 360% entirely on her own. And she did it either in less then a day to a few days tops. Rather impressive for a non-athlete like Fluttershy.

Ponyville Confidential

 * Big Mac giving the CMC a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. It proves that when pushed enough, Big Macintosh is definitely not a pony you should mess with.
 * It's very cathartic to see Diamond Tiara getting her karmic retribution at the end of the episode.
 * Twilight making a force field around the whole library. The next Nightmare Moon or Discord is going to have a much tougher fight on their hands with magic like that.
 * Watch Rarity's shadow when she goes into Sweetie Belle's room to confront her about being Gabby Gums. She kung fu kicks the door open.

MMMystery on the Friendship Express

 * Seeing parodies of Dick Dastardly, James Bond, and a ninja movie was pretty awesome to see, and it all came out of Pinkie's mind.
 * Twilight solved the mystery, almost completely on her own,, in five minutes tops.
 * Topped by Pinkie figuring out the secondary mystery in just seconds, once she has a better idea of how to look for clues.

A Canterlot Wedding Part 1

 * Remember when Twilight erected a force field around the library? Shining Armor did same thing for all of Canterlot. Apparently, incredible magic potential runs in their family.
 * Luna flying through Canterlot's force field and landing on a balcony near Celestia. "Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the night". Truly the royal pony sisters as they were meant to be.

A Canterlot Wedding Part 2
"Princess Celestia: No. You won't. You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!'"
 * The entire episode for everyone involved at Studio B. When you have fans saying that the two parter was comparable to Disney Renaissance era films, you know they really hit one out of the park this time.
 * One for Meghan McCarthy for penning this gem. This was her last episode for the show, so she decided to make it perfectly clear that if she was going, she was taking what was left of the original franchise with her!
 * The incredible Beam-O-War between Princess Celestia and the Queen Chrysalis.
 * What Princess Celestia says before she starts fighting Queen Chrysalis, that shows that Celestia would be damned if Chrysalis were to succeed in her plan..

"Rainbow Dash: Best wedding ever!"
 * Want to know something even more awesome?
 * Cadance  gets a minor one when she and Twilight face off
 * And again when
 * The Mane Six's all-out brawl against the Changelings ending with a Powerpuff Girls-style beatdown montage.
 * Pinkie using Twilight as a gatling gun and weaponizing her party cannon deserve a special mention.
 * Also, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash using trickery and deception against the changelings, and Fluttershy emerging from the battle apparently untouched, despite not having raised a hoof against an opponent.
 * Rarity continues to be an oddly effective fighter, laying a changeling out with a solid right hook and actually handling herself better than Applejack.
 * Rainbow Shoryuken's one of her clones when she saves Fluttershy.
 * Twilight pinning down one of her clones and then blasting it point blank with her magic beam.
 * They may have been horrifying, but try to argue that the designs for the Changelings (especially the Queen Changeling) weren't absolutely incredible.
 * Hell, Chrysalis in general is a Crowning Moment in character writing. Seriously, when you have bronies explicitly comparing her to Judge Claude Frollo himself, you must be doing something right.
 * When.
 * It's hard to argue against how bold Queen Chrysalis' plan was. As she says in her Villain Song, she had fooled everypony, even Celestia.
 * Let's not forget the ending in which Rainbow Dash pulls off a Sonic Rainboom at a moment's notice, against gravity.
 * Let's not forget the ending in which Rainbow Dash pulls off a Sonic Rainboom at a moment's notice, against gravity.

"Princess Celestia: Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you... Twilight Sparkle: STOP!
 * Real!Cadance and Twilight crashing the wedding.

Changeling!Cadance: (talking about Twilight while sobbing dramatically) Why does she have to ruin my special day?

Real!Cadance: Because it's not your special day! It's mine!"


 * Perhaps a minor one for Cadance, but when she is trapped in the crystal cave with Twilight they are running trying to find a way out they see a light that's far away and Twilight stops in despair but Cadance doesn't even stop and tries to push a heavy mining cart with everything she can because she knows she needs to find someway to save Shining Armor even if it is hopeless. Of course, Twilight steps in to help her and Cadance remembers that she has her world's version of a battle hardened warrior mage at her side, for whom nothing is impossible!
 * When the minecart goes flying and Cadence and Twilight are left floating in the air, Twilight grabs her, not sure of what will happen. Then Cadence's wings flare out. Keep in mind that she's probably been in in the caves for several days with no food or water and still manages this!
 * After trapping Twilight in the underground cave, Changeling!Cadance begins gloating about having her brother wrapped around her finger. Twilight instantly goes from cowering terror to Unstoppable Rage, zapping any showing of the Princess. You do not threaten her big brother. Not to mention that it's always been assumed that Twilight was capable of powerful offensive magic like that, but this is the first time we actually get to see it onscreen.

Misc.
""Honestly?? I feel that people who call them that are ignorant a-holes. That's how I feel. I didn't create this show for little girls, I created it for little girls and their parents -- including male parents. It only stands to reason that adult animation fans without children may like it, too. The belief that boys shouldn't be interested in girl things is the main reason there's hardly anything decent for girls in animation -- or almost any media, for that matter. It's a backwards, sexist, outdated attitude.""
 * The show's Periphery Demographic that got the franchise Rescued From the Scrappy Heap is a Crowning Moment of Awesome in and of itself.
 * Another out-of-universe example: Lauren auctioned off a series of sketches for charity. The sketches were of Derpy, pegasus Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Twilight. All together, the sketches raised $15,451.
 * In an out-of-show example, show creator Lauren Faust disowns an ignorant user on deviantArt who dismisses the show's Periphery Demographic as "manchildren" and defends the show's appeal (You go girl.):


 * The best part? The original user is a brony.
 * She did it again.
 * Lauren Faust refuting claims of a Know-Nothing Know-It-All woman who claimed that Rainbow Dash was a "tomboyish lesbian", the fact that Celestia was white and good and Luna being a near-black color and bad was racist, that the show was implying that smarts wouldn't help you in life, and that you need authority figures to tell you what to do with your life. Her response can be seen here. The various people that commented on the KNKIA woman's blog post defending the show also get one.
 * This ad for the show, a parody of "California Girls".
 * The extended version which includes a Shout-Out to the Hub's "favorite Pony fans" and canonized the Fan Nickname DJ P0N-3.
 * Bill Clinton was asked questions about the show during an interview with NPR, answering questions about Rarity, cutie marks, and Nightmare Moon. Granted it was multiple-choice with gag answers to shove you in the right direction, but still.
 * Lauren Faust's response on her Deviant ART page makes it even better: If I were still in charge, I would soooooo fight to have Krastos the Glue Maker a real villain! But oh well.
 * This iPhone parody promo. Yes, there's a pony for Equestria Daily. And Derp-Zam.
 * The official Comic Con poster includes almost every single significant, speaking, and/or popular character from show (at the time). And Rainbow Day.
 * Hasbro's reaction to the many parody videos on YouTube. While most companies would file a copyright claim on the videos to get them deleted, Hasbro allows the videos to stay, and actually embraces them. They understand how big the Brony community is and how much they enjoy the show.
 * August 1, 2011, Stephen Colbert opened The Colbert Report with a shout out to "all [his] bronies who may be watching."
 * He gave a second shoutout on April 9, 2012.
 * Then he retracted everything he said about bronies on April 18, 2012.
 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic's new executive producer Jayson Thiessen proves that he is a Celestia-tier troll. .bp.blogspot.com/-v3dohU3XE04/TjhzwyYvh_I/AAAAAAAAJrs/zwEc-SrmL8Y/s1600/yfsiv.jpg the very first screenshot of Season 2] (it's just Twilight reading a book, nothing out of the ordinary). This was naturally posted on Equestria Daily, and people noticed that on the second computer screen was the blog itself. Some fans said how it would have been funny if the Equestria Daily screen was of the actual article regarding the Season 2 tease, and then Jayson tweeted a second photo of just that. Well played, Mr. Thiessen.
 * As far as voice acting goes, a lot of fans were quite happy that Discord was voiced by John de Lancie, aka Q. Even Lauren Faust was quite excited, saying "I crapped my pants when we got him. I'm a gigantic Star Trek geek and I adore Q!"
 * And John de Lancie is experiencing the joy of being part of the MLP fandom. From his twitter: 'Roddenberry warned me that I had no idea what I was getting into with Star Trek. Someone should have warned me about My Little Pony! Egads!'
 * Let's just say every brony or pegasister who is ballzy enough to do a public presentation about this show (being outside the target demographic and all that).
 * One brony known only as Max Paradise went the extra mile, incorporating, at the request of his school, the show into his high schools graduation speech
 * The Most Badass Car Ever.
 * The Brony Commentaries recount the story of a college student who had the show so much on his mind that he began a paper with "Dear Princess Celestia," not realizing it until after he'd turned it in. When the paper was graded, the professor's comments began with "My faithful student."
 * Ballad of the Brony, a documentary-styled presentation that explains the brony fanbase by starting from G1 and ending with My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, along with a detailed discussion about how bronies and pegasisters are positively deviant.
 * In the November 5th issue of the Wall Street Journal, an article was on the front page detailing the rise of the Brony fandom. Contrary to the above examples, the article takes a neutral stance, explaining how the show gained its momentum, even getting a statement from Hasbro about their response to the Bronies. They even did the research, going so far as to mention the Pegasisters and taking time to explain that being a brony doesn't automatically make you gay.
 * There's a Humble Indie Bundle going around. Guess which group donated the most money.
 * Notch got second, which is significant because of the story behind it. Notch claimed on Twitter that he was a brony, but later said "I'm not actually a brony, but I've seen clips of the show and want to see it". A random brony then made a deal with Notch - if the bronies could out-donate Notch, then Notch would have to watch MLP:FiM. If Notch won, then all the bronies who donated would buy Minecraft. The bronies won, bringing Notch into the herd in the process.
 * Hasbro in general has been awesome to the fandom, taking a light-hearted stance on uploading the episodes to Youtube, the various fan-works, and trying to honestly answer questions the fans have about upcoming products. Part of this is because the company has never seen anything like this before.
 * On Wednesday January 11, 2012, Equestria Daily reported its 100,000,000th pageview, and the ticker is still climbing. That's how awesome ponies have become, in just under a year-and-a-half.
 * And only weeks later, they reached 150,000,000
 * A major Fan Run Convention, BronyCon Winter 2012, which is held in New York, had a massive turnout this January because 3 major voice actors were there: Andrea Libman, Nicole Oliver, and Ashleigh Ball. The CMOA is that, this summer, the first announced guests are Lauren Faust and John De Lancie. That's right, the creator herself and Discord are coming to BronyCon, and they had to move it to the Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey for more space. Check out Equestria Daily for more information about the news and BronyCon.org for more information about the convention.
 * The guest list has grown since then, in both senses. Tara Strong, Andrea Libman, Nicole Oliver, Cathy Weseluck, Lee Tockar, Peter New, and Amy Keating Rogers have been announced as guests of honor, and the number of attendees has topped 2,000.
 * On February 11, 2012, Hasbro announced that they would be releasing toys of fan-favorite characters Trixie, DJ PON-3, Zecora and Nightmare Moon, along with a more show-accurate Celestia. Taking a look at the reactions from the fans, it's clear that most of them consider this a CMOA for Hasbro.
 * Step 1: play Mari0, the Super Mario Bros./Portal crossover. Step 2: beat the game to enable cheats, specifically the Sonic Rainboom cheat. Step 3: Hit terminal velocity again and again for instant awesome.
 * The Series could be considered a Moment of Awesome for the Flash software.
 * Gabe Newell watches My Little Pony.
 * And Notch too.
 * And Commander Shepard.
 * Lauren Faust put up a second batch of sketches to raise money for medical purposes. Firefly, Medley, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Princess Celestia were auctioned off. They raised $18,041 altogether, with the Twilight sketch raising $9100 on its own.
 * Two words: Daring Do. One book was a framing device for one episode (and another made a cameo two episodes later). How awesome was this? Daring Do now not only has 16 story titles, dozens of characters, and her own Awesome, Heartwarming, and Funny Moment entries all made from scratch; but on top of all that, there are fans of the Daring Do article who are attempting to defictionalize the entire thing, based entirely on that article! Think about that for a second: not only can bronies turn a simple plot device into an entire metafictional spinoff series; they can will said series into existence.
 * One for the brony fanbase as a whole, if only for the sheer troll potential. Seth uncovered a poll on the Hub's website asking what the station's fan's favorite show was. Cue bronies flooding the poll with MLP votes, and then, when they moved it to another website, they did it again.
 * This tends to happen every time a poll is put on Equestria Daily. A particularly amazing moment was a poll in Facebook where they asked who had the best fanbase, and The Hunger Games had a 1k lead on Fim. And then it got linked to Equestria Daily. Cue 4k votes for ponies in about two hours.
 * This commercial aired on Pinkie Pie's birthday (75 days after the airing of A Friend In Deed), and was, according to The Hub's Facebook page, made to celebrate that day, which is something only the true fans would recognize. Furthermore, the commercial itself seemed to hint that a video game could possibly be in the works. Bronies rejoiced.
 * John de Lancie announced that he is helping to create a documentary about the Brony phenomenon to counteract the media's general reaction to it. Its Kickstarter page goal is a whopping $60,000... which received over $30,000 in pledges on its first day alone, and reached its goal by the end of the Third.
 * And it's only gotten better. Lauren Faust and Tara Strong are now on board as producers, the total pledges are close to $150,000 (not counting any money in through Pay Pal), and the target was increased to $200,000 by June 10. Various incentives are also being offered for different pledge levels, running from a thank-you in the documentary credits all the way up to a dinner with John, Lauren, and Tara.
 * The $200,000 goal was reached with nearly a week to spare. It was raised to $270,000 in order to allow the crew to travel to conventions in England and Germany; as of June 7, 2012, that total has also been met.

"/)^3^(\"