This is an interesting review because, as you probably already know, there was no two-parter this season, but two standalone episodes.Newbie Dash review · 7:20pm May 7th, 2016
Another episode another review. This time we see Rainbow complete her lifelong dream of joining the Wonderbolts, and it goes wrong. Firstly, Rainbow Dash is my favorite character in the entire series. I love how her character is usually very brash and full of herself but that there are times when she lets that down and shows a truer part of herself. Last season had a lot of these moments such as in Rarity Investigates and Tanks for the Memories. We also saw this dropping of her facade in season four with Testing, Testing, 1 2 3, which is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, primarily because it deals with a major problem for a lot of people, myself included, test anxiety. Without further ado, my thoughts on Newbie Dash.
As I said earlier, I love the episodes that showcase Rainbow's fears and anxieties, this is mostly because it makes her out to be a more rounded character. When she first found out, it was fun to see Scootaloo be the squealing fan girl and for Rainbow to be in a state of shock. It calls to mind when she got a perfect score on the Wonderbolts test. She becomes so ecstatic that I can't help smiling along with her.
Another good thing about this episode was we got to see how the first use of Rainbows hated nickname, 'Crash' came to be, which of course features filly Rainbow, who has to be the cutest filly in Equestria. We first heard it back in season 1 with the flight school bullies and now we know how she got it. One issue I do have is that the Wonderbolts should have explained to her that they all have embarrassing nicknames and that it comes with the territory. It is a nice way of making sure their heads don't get to big (something, I admit, Rainbow could use) but they should have made a point of referring to each other by the nicknames.
The moments when Rainbow tries acting like her friends shows a pretty good moral, that you should (in the words of Robin Williams) beeeeee yourself. The fact that the Wonderbolts were wondering 'what is going on with Crash?' whenever Rainbow would imitate one of her friends (to hilarious results, "Reading Rainbow" in particular) is the moment that really highlights this message that you should act normal and if people don't like you for who you are then that's not your fault and you shouldn't try to change yourself for them. That's about all I've got to say about Newbie Dash. Next week, it Hearths Warming time (maybe this will inspire me to finish Krampus). Until next week.
