Trade Ya! review. · 12:48am Apr 25th, 2014
I actually had the good luck to see this at BABSCon, as they were showing it for the attendees before the events on Saturday. And yet it's still late. blame it on School and getting caught up in The Secret Life of Rarity after BronyWriter's GrimDark panel.
Our opener actually has something to talk about: Twilight being acknowledged as a princess. After not getting a cab in Manehatten and everything, blah blah. I put it down to Ponyville being used to her and Manehatten just having New York's weirdness censor.
In the actual episode, we get some obvious exposition, Spike being written out of the episode, and Twilight hiding herself in her wings in the most adorable way. Then we get our conflict: Rainbow Dash wants a first edition signed Daring Do book, and Fluttershy will help her. Our B plots are introduced next. Both Rarity and Applejack go looking for vintage items, and agree to pool their items if something expensive enough comes along, while Twilight tries selling her old books with Pinkie's "help". I'm going to talk about these one at a time.
Chain of deal episodes are nothing new. Ed, Edd, n' Eddy did one, as did Two Stupid Dogs. It's a very basic plot, but that can be where the best humor comes from. Here it's done mostly well, but not as good as the last episode. First, the pony selling the book wants an Orthros. I'm not sure what the pony who's selling the thing has for a backstory, but I want to know it. He needs a lamp, and there's a stand that sells... Discord lamps. Also an interesting story.
The pony running this stand is a good example of worldbuilding done right. How wheelchairs work in the show's world has never been established. This detail isn't given much fanfare, it's just there. Adventure Time is good at this kind of thing. I know it was put in because of the VA, but it was still a nice touch.
Stellar Eclipse wants a antique chicken, and I swear the pony running that stand sounds so familiar... but he wants a chalice. They get the chalice... and it breaks. Since they apparently can't argue for a new one since the first was obviously faulty, they put it back together. They give it to the chicken pony, who breaks it to finish the already complete looking mosaic he's making.
They fly off to ask Stellar what kind of statue he wants. They get his answer, get the statue and fly back, and even though he knew they were coming with the statue, he's left his post for lunch. A filler scene fixes that, and after the next trade, they find themselves behind a large crowd they can't fly over for some reason. A bear call ends that hilariously, and naturally, the first vendor doesn't want the Orthros anymore... unless Fluttershy moves in with her to train it. Rainbow Dash agrees without listening, which she immediately regrets. There's a typical heartwarming speech and the vendor agrees to call the deal off.
The subplots aren't much. Rarity and Applejack predictably want items the other doesn't want, and eventually get each other something the other wants. Pinkie puts up a sales pitch so effective that nopony thinks they can afford Twilight's books, but it's okay because Twilight decides she's a hoarder.
All in all... it was okay. I think I enjoyed it more seeing it with a crowd. Someone should start a webseries like Mystery Science Theater 3000, with bronies making those kinds of comments. I give it a B-.
Okay, which VA is that? Veterans Affairs? Voice Actors? Verified Asshole?
2043800 Voice Actor
2043805 And this VA came from the Make A Wish Foundation. So this was the wish of a dying boy, to be a voice actor in what might be the greatest cartoon of his time.
Well, there was that one in "Feeling Pinkie Keen," but this model seems to work a lot better for those with functioning forelimbs.
2043863 I believe there was one in Leap of Faith too, but done more crudely.
That was actually my thought on that scene. Granted, she had a reason for keeping them, but attaching emotional importance to inanimate objects is a good way to make sure you never, ever get rid of anything.
I know someone who's a bit of a hoarder, and that's exactly why she can't get rid of anything. Everything is too important to sell/give away/toss in the garbage. It struck me as kind of a sad way to live, where you can't even walk easily through your own house. So of course I used it in a story.
2044060
Ah, yes, the mare people thought was a double amputee. Because moe.
2044103 Still not as bad as Estee. *sniff* That poor piano.
I'm honestly surprised that the whole 'indenturing another for a book' deal was legal in the first place and even more surprised that I haven't seen much mention of it.
2044214
Poor, poor piano.
2044214
I was just thinking about that fic the other day. Are you a mind reader?!
Yeah, the other two plot-lines are forgetable at the best. And the resolution of the main line... IDK, at one second the mare with the books looked like she wasn't taking that bu
it, but at the next second it's "the sweetest thing [she has] ever heard". What? Why have the first reaction when she was gonna call the deal off anyway?
Also, the way Spike was writed out? he spent a whole episode trading a comicbook for another... that's it. At the beginning of the episode, he went directly to the comic stand and he only closed the deal at the end of the episode. WT
writers?!
2045263 Of course. How do you think I get all of my good ideas?
Right now I see a response fic, titled "Requium for the Fallen" where Twilight and her friends go to Canterlot for the funeral of a family member, attended by all of Twilight's relatives as they gather around the coffin of their poor piano, cut down in the prime of its life. I don't know who's thinking it, but it might be Estee, seeking forgiveness for the destruction wrought upon the innocent instrument...