"Newbie Dash" - My thoughts...

Comments

[Dalek Saxon]

Keep in mind I have not seen the latest episode but from what I heard it's almost like the new Mare-Do-Well. Rainbow's character is severely hurt, other characters are painfully OOC, and the overall morale is rather bad. If that's true then wow...Newbie Dash accomplished something.

"Wonderbolts? More like WonderASSES!"

Also, apparently, Spitfire is now in the running for "Worst Pony." Kind of a shame because I actually really like her overall design and how she acted in Hurricane Fluttershy and even Wonderbolts Academy. Oh well...what are you going to do when bad writing ruins things....besides obviously complaining on the internet.

[Troublesome Beast]

3927497 The major split appears to be whether or not you view hazing rituals as being justified, from what I can tell.

My major problem, and one that has me retroactively a bit grumpy about certain parts of the episodes I did like, is that it appears to be a part of a pattern. I've heard that the writing team has been more or less completely replaced, or that the major showrunners have left and direction/leadership been turned over to relative newcomers. I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but it does seem to fit the pattern I see, which is: History? What history?

The last episode ignored Twilight's growth as a person and the fact that she'd been a teacher before with relatively good results. Gauntlet of Fire (which I had liked) ignored the fact that Twilight is supposed to be a powerful mage, and she and Rarity both have been showing increased respect for Spike. Gift for Maud Pie mostly seemed intact, but I half wonder at this point whether or not Pinkified Rarity wasn't (as I originally thought) meant to be Rarity getting too far into her own stresses and Pinkie's mind, but because somewhere out there Rarity = Freaks Out has been settled into someone's mine.

In short, it feels like the writers are technically good for themselves, but are either writing from just a series bible/episode summaries, or have decided to disregard the past and character development in favor of making their own marks regardless of where the show is going. And that worries me. I know the show isn't "mine" in the sense that I'm neither the target audience nor a direct stakeholder, but I was really hooked on S1-4, and liked S5 with qualifications, and I'd started out liking S6. But I think my qualifications about S5 are starting to alarm me for S6, too, so. *shrugs* I feel more like writing into my AU and drawing only broad strokes from current episodes.

[Dalek Saxon]

3927594

Honestly, I think this show might be starting to hit the "Been on too long syndrome." Which usually happens when things get boring/tedious or the old staff is gone and replaced with a new staff that doesn't really have the same kind of quality that the previous ones had. Examples in my mind that automatically jump out include those horrendously long animes like One Piece and Naruto that I feel are just staying on for the sake of fans. Other examples include X-Files or Star Trek Voyager. The biggest example I can proudly point to is Doctor Who where new writers took over after like Season 4/5 and then I hated the show. It inevitably will happen with anything that has over 100+ episodes in my opinion.

Also, let's not kid ourselves here...perfect continuity within the show is nowhere near the top of the show's priorities. The biggest priority with this show and admittedly most other shows is one thing: Sell Merch. As long as the show does that then things like the character incongruities between episodes and timeline discrepancies doesn't really matter. They still try, bless their hearts, which is more than what you can say for a lot of other shows out there and we should be at least thankful for that. So stuff like that you just have to accept and more or less focus on how everything was portrayed this time around and take it episode to episode. And apparently from what I've read and heard, this episode did it poorly.

As for the Hazing Ritual...no...no...I don't like it or the concept. Especially when it goes down a negative/bullying path. I don't mind like silly initiations or rituals. I mean I have one where if someone in real life wants to be a close friend with me, then my best friend and I will do what we call the "Star Was Cantina Reenactment" where my friend makes some grumbling noises and I go "My friend doesn't like you!" and they have to be Luke Skywalker and say "Well I'm sorry" or something like that and then I reply "I don't like you either!" and etc...it's silly and stupid and if they mess up we don't call them a failure or make fun of them or whatever because it's wrong in my mind. So yeah if I did watch this episode I probably really wouldn't like it.

[Troublesome Beast]

3927669 I wasn't too fond of it. Can you tell? One of the huge problems with hazing rituals in the world is that people associate the overall sensations of a tight group with every part of it-- including the ones that actually work against group coherency. There's a similar attitude about making things accessible in MMOs -- I enjoyed X game back in the day. Everyone had to deal with Y, therefore Y is a necessary part of X; if Y is removed or trivialized, regardless of whether or not this makes the game more fun for anyone else, it's a terrible thing.

I don't agree that long show runs are doomed; I think you're right that the merch focus means there will be challenges, but 100+ ep runs can do fine... if effort is made to _both_ make the ideas live and grow, become fresh, and keep up the investments in prior work. It's not easy; I think that here's we're seeing the result of the former being a higher priority than the latter. *shrugs* I'll be continuing to watch; I'm at the grumble grumble stage, not the throw things away and freeze my headcanon a season or two back stage yet. :)

[Nines]

3927669 ....Oh, you're posting again?

[rainbowdarth]

Only episode I have found to be hard to watch.
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[Nines]

3927700

I've had a few that were hard to watch, even in past seasons. My empathy with characters is pretty high, so when they start screwing up, I can't help but wince. This episode was probably the worst case of that for me. I literally turned my face away. I was embarrassed FOR Rainbow...

And seriously, what was that weird nod to the RD/Soarin pairing about?

[Dalek Saxon]

3927695

Yes, after getting out of the hospital a few days ago and being put on some meds (checking the bottle it says Lexapro)...that I'll probably ditch in a week or so. But I'm back, though in more or less in a very subdued and minor way. I'm more mellow now than before and shouldn't be hyper critical and wanting to see the bad things in everything thanks to my depression and what's been going on in my life...or at least I'll try to be and keep all that in check. It should all go horribly wrong though and in like a month or so again I'll vanish again for like a few weeks...that's usually my luck.

And if anyone asks...it was Batman v. Superman's fault...that film was so bad it hospitalized me...then I got out (thankfully) and saw Captain America: Civil War and all the pain vanished...so yay.

Sorry if that upsets you and I'll leave you alone if you want.

[Nines]

3927717 no it's fine. I get it. Stuff happens. Your appearance was just a bit sudden.

And from what I'm hearing about B. vs S., I can totally see why someone would be hospitalized for it.

[Dalek Saxon]

3927753

I think any post anywhere would've seen sudden given my ...errrr..."Sudden Leave" for ...almost a month actually. I don't remember when I left...I just knew I was in such a bad state of mind that I had to leave to not do anything else I would regret later. I know exactly when I entered the hospital...but...enough about that...that's personal stuff obviously.

Anyways I thought this blog was a better one to make a comment since it's MLP related and it's over an episode that's possibly the new Mare-Do-Well. It's always good to come together and collectively pan the hell out of a poorly made episode. ...though I still need to watch the episode but after hearing things about it from SoarinDash, to like Rainbow Dash trying to act like Fluttershy, and stupid hazing rituals...I really don't want to now.

The only question I have now is...is this WORSE than Mare-Do-Well or near it's level of infamous...ness. I'm being serious now because that's an episode I think the fandom all agrees never happened and I'm curious to see if this episode, in your opinion at least, joins its ranks.

P.S. Batman v. Superman is truly awful...it's possibly the worst Superhero movie I've ever seen...and that's a FREAKING ACCOMPLISHMENT...if it doesn't win a Razzie award or at least isn't a contender for worst film of the year...then I'm done...I'm just done.

[Evowizard25]

3927594 Okay, I'm sorry for this, but I can't let that slide. The show still has a strong sense of continuity in many respects.

No Second Prances: Twilight is and has always been kind of controlling and she goes nuts when Celestia's involved. Her character was believable and still rather likable, even if she was going overboard in some respects.

Gauntlet of Fire: The show's always done that. Twilight's power level isn't really used except on rare occasions. I can point to Dragon Quest and a number of other episodes, so that's nothing new. Also, I didn't see any moments where they didn't show Spike respect.

Although, I have to say, season 5 still holds the absolute candle of favorite season. I don't think I disliked an episode there really. Well, apart from Appaloosa's Most Wanted, but that still was better then some of the lows of the first 3 seasons.

Just had to say it.

[Troublesome Beast]

3927967 You may have to say it, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. What you're referring to isn't continuity, but a lazy reversion to origin; in many ways, it's the opposite of continuity, discarding character growth, not merely in the silly disregarding of character capability in order to create drama (the dragon episodes being a shining example of that), but also in the far more worrying loss of story-driven character arcs.

Twilight is obsessed with Celestia, it's true, and everyone has their own interpretations of what that means. However, the expression of that obsession has changed. In Lesson Zero, she goes berserk over a single possible non-required tardy; in A Canterlot Wedding, she confronts and functionally defies Celestia with a bout of depression in the middle. In The Crystal Empire, she's downgraded enough to just get a Heartsong and functionally be willing to throw away her future with Celestia rather than betray their shared principles and the people they're responsible for-- as opposed to using mind control magic of a fairly dangerous sort and knowingly ("I'll MAKE one!") endanger others for her obsession.

She continues that growth throughout S3 and S4, especially S4 (which is my current favorite). In Twilight's Kingdom, again, we see her still eager and puppyish, but prepared to take her own steps as an adult to research and deal with the problem; she even accepts help from someone she mistrusts and doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater when Discord betrays them. She's mature and responsible, if still eager and cheerful for personal social interactions.

S5 was a mixed bag for me; some good episodes, but some near Mare Do Wells, especially with the problem of sacrificing development for drama. I don't mind that; I was inclined to dislike the Starlight Glimmer episodes for those reasons for a while, and then remembered - it's a kid's show. They're going to make sacrifices for drama. The problem is that being a kid's show doesn't mean they have to take the easy way out, and that was the problem with both this one and No Second Prances, which seemed to be two episodes (and a short where the queenly mask shatters on Celestia, take that as you will)-- one good episode, when Starlight Glimmer deals with Trixie and Ponyville, and one terrible episode, where S1 Twilight possesses S6 Twilicorn.

Similarly, for this episode, I don't feel like we were seeing Spitfire et al; I felt like we were seeing "conveniently similar people wearing Wonderbolts costumes" Rainbow Dash's personal arc is important, and I think it's a good cap of growth from a hotshot talent/danger zone local leadership into a national/global personality... but the way it falls down feels like they decided Rainbow Falls was default, not aberration. Or, again, didn't really care for the details so much as the outlines, and squished those to fit.

[Evowizard25]

3928037 Hmmm, I have to agree that this wasn't the best episode for Dash. IT felt like a season 1-2 episode with how it was written. Had some good moments but was just aggravating in some other respects, which is what I felt for a lot of those episodes.

I would have to disagree as I found the Starlight episodes to be, and still are, the best I felt the show has done. I never felt at all that they sacrificed development in season 5 as I honestly found that to be Twilight's strongest season. I didn't find Twilight.... really at all likable in most of the first two seasons.

Didn't like A Canterlot Wedding mainly for Twilight {and Chrysalis}.

[Troublesome Beast]

3928047 Everyone has their own favorites, that's fine; and I can understand some aspects of not liking S1/2 Twilight (though I read it a different way, clearly), but I think what you and I can agree on is that there is a schizophrenic feel here, like they're mashing two different styles together and that's what's causing some of the receptive friction in the adult fandom. Good writing ABILITY, imo, just not directed/gelled well.

*grins* As for Starlight, she's grown on me; in my 'verse, she's Twilicorn's Archmage, her major advisor and most trusted subordinate outside of Barb (R63 Spike), and Trixie is another alicorn's archmage (minor spoilers) so I had a lot of hopes for the episode, and I think I'll be culling the bits to integrate into my fanonverse from the non-Twilight scenes.

I've come up with a new theory from another blog, and in short, it's this: Dash's personality problems (parallel to younger/EqG Dash's personality problems without her growing up time in FiM) are made worse by her idolizing the wonderbolts. Her egomaniac moments, her placing of brand above ethics, and even the pranking would fit a fangirl seeing some aspects of her personality in those whom she sees as the paragons of modern pegasi... and those modern pegasi are -jerks-.

Yes, I am blaming the Wonderbolts for Mare Do Well. :)

[Evowizard25]

3928065 Yeah, it did feel like two different styles and I honestly think it was a bad decision to give this type of episode to a new writer. I've been surprised before by new writers of this show, but for this? Not the best decision.

As for Twilight, she grew on me, but I honestly didn't feel like she started to really develop, or at least I started to like her more, until The Crystal Empire {Which is my second favorite premier behind THe Cutie Map.} Perhaps that's just me, but I liked her growth since then and I haven't had any real problems afterwards.

Hmm, interesting part of The Wonderbolts and Mare-Do-Well. Could work.
Although, I'm going to have to say, I just loved Spitfire in this episode. She didn't feel like she was being rather mean to Rainbow and that she was just growing tired of Rainbow's antics. Just... loved her here.

[QueenMoriarty]

I know we were all skeptical that RD joining the Wonderbolts would be a good thing, but you couldn't have asked for a worse anticlimax to her personal journey. Seriously, permanently rejecting the Wonderbolts would have been better, and I love the Wonderbolts.

[sneakpeak321]

I just saw the episode. I can't tell just how many time I puke, it was a lot.

Oh god was it awful. They can't do that to Rainbow Dash, oh god they can't!