Lemurthon: Boast Busters · 4:57am Feb 10th, 2017
So I almost had my pants fall down while at work today. Guess I can scratch "public wardrobe malfunction" off the bucket list.
Here I am at age thirty-three. Perhaps it's time I embraced my weight gain and stopped ritualistically denying the shrinking polar ice caps my expanding waistline. F'naaaaaaaaaa. Life sucks and then you blow.
What episode is tonight. Oh fuck yeah. It's fucking Boast Busters. Let's fucking do this shit.
Boast Busters
-Oh shit, after all these years I just now got it. It's a fucking play-on "Ghost Busters." Goddammit, Faust
-"Twenty-five different types of tricks and counting!" Whoah there. Be watchful how you quantify shiet, Season One. That might come back to haunt you someday.
-Still, nice to show Twilight's learning curve in a humble light. That's what this episode is all about, dreit?
-It's cute when Twilight Sparkle blushes
-Oh hai, they're touching up on Spike and Rarity again. Hard to believe it's the first time since the pilot
-I love the casually-trotting Lyra in this post-intro opening
-Oh look, exposition.
-"What if you become an alicorn someday, Twilight?!"
-Spike's praise of Twilight is adorable
-Oh look, it's the show's two token colts and they're functioning idiots... eh... I'll give it a rest.
-If the VA of Giltter shell Snails is the same as in later episodes, I feel like it's delivered very very different in this episode. Slightly less Bobcat Goldwaity
-I know that this is early S1 and all, but the background ponies of Ponyville showing up to watch Trixie on stage is the absolute most stagnant and zombified crowd in the history of anything... lulz
-IT BEGINS
-I guess Pinkie and Fluttershy were too agoraphobic to show up today
-NEIGH SAYERS
-Gawd, Trixie's so adorable
-Twilight's mannerisms and Tara Strong's delivery is just so... soft and subdued. Fitting, of course, for the episode... but very much unlike the Twilight I'm used to
-I really digged how the show was willing to pull from astrology for its cryptozoology. Everything about unicorns is stellar and starry. So having an Ursa Major come to life is fantabulous.
-Why is Trixie so likeable? Cue the comments section.
-"How about... YOU?!" (DRAMATIC ORCHESTRATION) Man... these subtle S1 "cliffhangers"
-Spike just called Applejack "AJ." Is that the first time for this show?
-I absolutely LOVE Trixie's eyes when she goes "Watch and be AMAZED." Heeeeeeeeeee. Trixie.
-I'm no show business person... but does a sideshow character actually believe that humiliating villagers in their own town is a means of making a living off of being an entertainer? Seems very self-defeating.
-Rainbow Dash needs a hug
-Rarity's "OH IT IS ON" bit is a beautiful way to display the duality of her character
-Applejack lies when she says Rarity's mutated mane is "gorgeous." Doesn't she?
-Once upon a time, I thought that Carrot Top/Golden Harvest always had green hair. Then I realized it was just an alternatively colored version of her for the "such an awful, awful color!" moment alone
-"Laundry calling!" Ha! Get it?! CUZ NAKED HORSE GIRLS
-WAS THERE EVER ANY DOUBT
-Dat hair brushing. So cute. Not to mention self-referential.
-Spike's remarkably adult and reasonable in this episode. In other words... he's written well. F'naaaaaaaaaaa.
-Spike and Twilight are great when they contrast each other as foils. But just because Twilight's casted as the "smart" egghead doesn't mean that Spike has to be stupid and childish all the time.
-Someone needs to make a counter for all of the instances of "REAL DANGER" that the ponie go through. The Ursa Major might count as one... but barely
-Something adorable about how Spike calls for "TWILIGHT!!!" when the Ursa Major calls... meanwhile Snips and Snails call for Trixie
-I'm no artist, but I remember learning that Trixie has less "highlights" in her eyes when compared to other ponies. It's meant to make her stand out... or something.
-It's nice that they re-use Trixie's... erm... tricks from the sideshow when she confronts the Ursa
-Snails' "Stop goofing around and vanquish it, eh?!" makes me crack up every time. First off, it's so friggin' random. Second, it further fuels my belief that all Equestrians are essentially Canadian.
-wow, that Twilight faec in S1
-Remember when we once thought that Twilight's climactic performance in this episode was Mary Sue-ish?
-Minnesota cows
-So... what about the Ursa Major brought APPLEJACK galloping all the way in from Sweet Apple Acres? Was she staying at another pony's house? Huh???
-I love how Twilight logically explains everything, and that it was an Ursa Minor—not an Ursa Major. It puts her accomplishment into perspective. What she does is still impressive, but it's not improbably epic. There you've got your humble heroism, dreit?
-The first time I saw the Ursa Major reveal, I got a legit jump scare
-I have never... ever been able to understand Twilight's leniency in "punishing" Snips and Snails. Dayum mustaches
-And the story ends back at Golden Oaks with Spike and the mustache. Good bookends.
-Pffft... Spike says "soul patch" at the very very end of the episode. First time catching that.
I know that I'm sounding really harsh in "critiquing" some of these episodes. Part of that, I think, is the fact that we've all been through these episodes so often that it's scraping the bottom of the barrel to find more "poignant" things to say about them. Truth is, I lurve them all... just some more than others.
And this is a really, really lovable one for me... and I suspect it is for a lot of others as well.
It gives us a realistic antagonist. Not a big evil ugly Maleficent wannabe, but a bully. An asshole. A boastful douchebag of a braggart. Trixie does stuff that she can get away with: insults, accusations, hearsay. We know these kinds of people. A lot of us even work for them.
When dealing with this sort of a conflict, the solution is not to vanquish the antagonist, but rather to prove oneself as a competent individual, despite the false comparisons drawn up in public by the bad guy. If Twilight had gone vengeful and done something superficial to embarrass Trixie, it still would not have resolved the conflict. She'd only be making the situation worse. Instead, Twilight had to look within for strength and conviction before proving herself. Even with the obvious support of someone like Spike on her side, Twilight had to address her own talents alone. It makes what she does very mature, realistic, and worthy of emulation. A good scenario with a good lesson, brought to you by good producers of a good show.
But... even if this was a bad episode... I think what makes it so endearing is Trixie herself. Trixie. Trixie Trixie Trixie Trixie. Such a simple character with a totally unsubtle in-your-face larger than life presentation. A great combination of writing and voice acting. There are plenty of reasons why Trixie stuck with us... some more than others.
From the tone of this blargh, it might seem like Trixie is one of my most favorite ponies. And normally I would say she isn't... until I watch an episode like this again. I think the same could be said about my opinion of Daring Do when I go to watch Read It and Weep again. There's just... so much adorableness in Trixie. She's so full of herself... and yet harmless. Her manner of speaking in the third person is stupidly cute. Also she likes to brush her hair. I dunno--just everything about the character is an instant win. I've always wanted to write fics about her... but could never seem to do her justice. It was a running gag for a long while that all attempts to incorporate Trixie would mean a death knell for the fic in question.
But, all in all, I feel that fans totally lurved her... much like fans lurved the early incarnation of S1 Luna. It just stuck out to the brony's mind and became pure fanfiction fodder. When I first scoured Equestria Daily for poni poni poni literature, I immediately looked for shipping fics involving Trixie. I was into Twixie before I was ever into Appledash. It's just... so appealing on so many levels. Maybe it's my exposure to anime. I dunno.
All in all, a dayum good episode--then and now. Strange to think that--once upon a time--Trixie was a one hit wonder. Lo and behold, she came back in S3 for one of the absolute best episodes the producers have ever given us. And as of S6, she's now attached to the hip of Starlight Glimmer.
Gawd, we're spoiled, aren't we?
-SS&E
It really isn't that good of an episode. And most of it has to do with the moral.
"Remember kids, if you ever see an entertainer doing her job by hamming it up for the audience, you should absolutely berate them in front of everyone!"
Trixie wasn't being a bully. She was being a street magician. We get those all the time where I live. Its an ACT. She wasn't forcing anyone to come to her show.
And as much as I love the Mane 6, they kind of had it coming. What kind of asshole just interrupts a show to lecture the performer? And if they tried to 'Show Trixie' by showing off their own abilities, doesn't that make THEM boastful?
It was entertaining, but the moral has aged like milk and the execution was way off.
I give it a solid D.
Twilight was never big on punishing anyone. She made them clean up the mess and gave them a little treat, since they really are just silly kids who want to see awesome magic.
If she really were into paying others back, the show would have several episodes worth of Twilight researching a way to make Discord suffer.
4416332
Actually she WAS being a bully.
There are two types of braggers, those who talk the talk and those who walk the walk. AJ, RD Rarity and Twi can at least walk, and while Trixie being all talk is technically part of her job, she took it too far at several points.
Trixie said "anything you can do I can do better" she was expected to do just that, but she didn't:
1. She challenged ponies to show off their talents
2. Didn't actually attempt to out-do them in anything they do, but instead, attempt to publicly humiliate them.
* AJ shows off roping prowess -> ropes apple.
* Trixie ties her up, stuffs apple in mouth.
Not doing AJ's trick better.
* Dash shows off flying, creating a rainbow.
* Trixie attacks her with the rainbow.
Again, not actually doing it better
* Rarity clothes herself
* Trixie turns her mane into a sewer rat’s nest.
Again, that's not doing it better, that's just cheating to embarrassing them off the stage and back out of her own challenge. If she really wanted to turn their own talents against him she'd lasso more apples than AJ, actually use RD's Rainbow and have it mimic her stunts while adding a little flair to them via fireworks or something, if she really wanted to do better than Rarity she would've simply used a spell on her own cape to give it more flair or simply made her dress prettier then it already was, but instead she just cheated to back out of her own challenge.
So yes, she is a bully.
4416332 Trixie actually is an asshole, which is itself an odd choice because we, the audience, would assume that she is doing this as a performance.
I feel like this ep could at least work a bit better if the Mane 6 waited to call her out for when she did something that was obviously not just an act. Otherwise the entire moral would have to be reconstructed to deal with Trixie being a performer. Or Trixe would have to be something other than a street performer with a persona.
That said, poor plot choices don't make Trixie any less Trixie, so I'm willing to give it a high C for pure entertainment value.
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4416352
The weird thing is that I didn't like Trixie here, and I didn't like her in the Alicorn Amulet. But in her season 6 episode, she was absolutely delightful.
4416348
Yeah, and she only did that stuff AFTER they called her out on it. Was it nice? Of course not. It wasn't supposed to be. It was supposed to embarrass them for calling out her act. Performers HATE that.
Not saying that what Trixie did didn't cross a line. I'm saying that it was a small line. And that the Mane 6 crossed an equal and opposite line. What she did was in the same vein as a comedian taking the micky out of an audience member. And typically, audience members don't lecture the comedian on proper social form in the MIDDLE OF AN ACT. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing in Trixies place.
4416367 Probably because in Season 6 she was something other than an asshole finally. Honestly, I kind of like her for being a 2-dimensional bitch in season 1 and 3, even though objectively her character has gotten better.
Personal preference is weeeeeiird.
I think that what really sold Trixie was her extremely strong voicing. She has a very recognizable speech pattern (something shared with Gilda and S2 Luna) which really works well in establishing her character voice in our minds. She has a nicely iconic design, and Twilight upstaging her set her up as antagonistic to Twilight even though Twilight wasn't even trying to upstage her, which worked well for the sort of Unknown Rival trope type stuff (i.e. Trixie being super bitter while for Twilight it was Tuesday in light of her later deeds, which was great fanfic fodder).
It also helps that we actually see that she knows she isn't as awesome as she is - she slips into using personal pronouns when she's scared and at a disadvantage, and she is frightened when she is confronted by something big and bad but does her best anyway. It gives her a bit of humanity underlying her villainous surface, and adds an additional (and interesting) dimension to her character, rather than her just being a two-dimensional foe. This makes her much more interesting (and realistic) because she's insecure rather than just being a straight-up narcissist.
One thing I prefer about the earlier seasons is the less in your face cliffhangers. The later seasons seems desperate about keeping those little girls from changing the channel . . . as if they would, lulz.
I've actually heard this episode called a train wreck more often than any other in the first half of season one. I mean, a lot of people like Trixie, but for some that didn't happen until season 3, and for others, they dislike this episode BECAUSE they like Trixie and don't like seeing her run out of town at the end.
Personally, this one's mixed for me. I remember some complaining back in the day about Trixie being annoying, and some still complaining about some of the mane six heckling her, but for me, those two problems kind of cancel each other out. I don't mind Trixie being annoying because the mane six heckle her and I don't mind the mane six heckling Trixie because I find her annoying. Pffft. My problem with the episode is that Trixie manages to "beat" the mane six by stopping the cool feats that they're doing rather than doing something cool herself. That's like going up to a juggler, knocking the balls out of his hands, and then proclaiming yourself a great juggler. Also, this was before the show became aware that Snips and Snails are annoying. Still, I think I like more about this episode than I don't like. I can connect to Twilight's conflict of worrying what her friends will think if she gets involved. It makes sense because she still hadn't known them all that long. She was to learn to embrace her talents. There's something sweet and humble about it. Plus, I find the exposition about talents interesting, and Twilight does some impressive magic. And the Ursa Major reveal is pretty badass. I prefer most of the (edit: other) early season one episodes though.
I sorta agree with 4416332. The mane six's--well, mane three's--behavior in this episode has always rubbed me the wrong way. Trixie was just a traveling performer. Yeah, she was boastful, and she wasn't entirely honest in her claims, but ultimately she was just doing her job. If Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity (and Spike, too, I guess) didn't like it, they didn't have to watch. As far as we can tell, the performance is free. But instead they heckle her. All Trixie does is go a little Bo Burnham on them, meeting hecklers on their own terms, and ends up getting cast as the bad guy. While Trixie has her flaws, I've always kinda felt like she got a raw deal in this episode.
However, in spite of all that, I actually do like the episode in general. Twilight is handled really well, Trixie's a fastastic character, and there are a lot of great, memorable moments.
4416367
While I understand the whole "traveler spreading tall tales" thing being part of her act, she loses sympathy points because of her "anything you can do I can do better" challenge.
Not mention that they called her out since she gloating about something she didn't do. Not to mention she didn't really do anything that spectacular aside from basic magic, which really isn't a big deal in a world where it's a part of everyday life, it's not like she was pulling off Starlight Glimmer level spells or anything.
Yes, they could've just walked away… wait scratch that since Trixie knowingly goaded them into the challenge, not to mention that she technically harassed Twilight first of an attempt to force her onstage.
So Trixie was technically more in the wrong than the Mane three. I'm not saying Trixie deserved to get her home destroyed, but she did need a nice big slice of humble pie.
Bottom Line:
When you boast, it's better to boast about things you can actually accomplish, and when you challenge someone, you don't back out of it by embarrassing said challenger, that doesn't make you better it just makes you look pathetic cheater.
4416396
See, THERE is where I disagree.
Trixie was overly hammy and boastful because it was her job. And she stood up the Mane 3 because they were being assholes.
And then they go and try and pressure Twilight into something she isn't comfortable with. And the thing they want her to do goes directly against their earlier detractions.
A case can be made that Trixie wasn't really in the right, but the Mane 3 were ABSOLUTELY in the wrong.
Episode still gets a D. For bad characterization and a sloppy moral.
Nahhh... She's using it as a pun. That green hair-do makes your gorge rise, so it's gorgeous.
(One's gorge rising is a poetic way of saying, "vomiting," among other meanings.)
If you were cursed to tell the truth, wouldn't you find creative ways to tell the truth?
And Trixie's behavior... An entertainer's job is to entertain the audience. Angering them is not on the menu.
>Raises eyebrows...
>Glances at EoP...
But in all seriousness, Trixie is seriously the cutest. She's that "cute when she's angry" girl that we all know.
Also...
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4416398
Uh, no. Only Spike did, Trixie issued the challenge and tried to pick Twilight out of the crowd and pressure her onstage, then Applejack stepped up instead.
Trixie's actions were uncalled for, she simply cheated and attacked her hecklers instead of owning up to her own challenge. If she can't do that then she's just as in the wrong if not more so.
You've never watched an insult comic perform, I take it? There's an entire genre of stand-up comedy that's EXACTLY this. People pay big bucks to watch an asshole humiliate his audience. The most (in)famous insult comic of all time? Andrew Dice Clay. (And to a certain extent
Andy KaufmanTony Clifton, though that was before people understood insult comedy.)Of course, the dark side to insult comedy is sometimes you end up with one as POTUS...
It's a shame the writers can't remember how to write Spike when they're writing a Spike episode, innit? Well, until recently anyway.
Nightmare Moon, Timberwolves, Ursa Minor, Parasprites, Cutie Pox, Discord, the Bugbear, Changelings, Plundervines, Cragodile, Tirek, Tantabus, enchanted comic book, fire swamp chimera, Flurry Heart...Twilight's Want-It Need-It spell...the Inspiration Manifestation spell...Derpy...
...Twittermites? No wait, those were a dream...
And yeah, I missed a few. Equestria's not a safe place.
Only the ones from Whinnyapolis. And the cows, dontchaknow. (Of course, except for Twilight, they're all voiced by Canadians...)
Ehh...thing is, she does all that to defend herself from some really unwarranted heckling. I mean, it's old ground by now and well-trod, but most of this episode's conflict could've been avoided if certain ponies in the audience hadn't gone off on Trixie the way they did in the first place. Trixie IS egotistical, arrogant, and eccentric, but she didn't start acting like an absolute ass until she was heckled. And really, that's how entertainers are supposed to deal with hecklers. Because if you don't shut them down hard, you lose the crowd. (All of which has been hashed back and forth in the comments already, just adding my two bits in my own words.)
I love writing Trixie, personally. It helps that I picture her as a pony version of Lwaxana Troi. When I approach writing Trixie from that angle, magic happens.
4416460
Don Rickles.
Alright, I'm old, though technically not THAT old?
4416492 You know, I actually completely forgot about Don Rickles.
I'M old.
(Though to be fair, Dice had a certain...notoriety for audience abuse.)
I wish they'd expanded that. I want to see star scorpions. Star lions! Flying star whales!
But yeah, a great episode with a character so memorable that our adoration propelled her beyond her one-off origins. Trixie is to bit players what Derpy is to background ponies.
4416398
4416460
4416434
Actually, that 'just defending herself against hecklers' thing becomes a little less clear if you remember how the episode is structured. What Trixie did to defend herself against Rainbow's heckling was telling her lie about the Ursa Major. She only started calling ponies on stage to humiliate when her audience—her entire audience—didn't give her a standing ovation after she claimed to be the "best in Ponyville", only Snips and Snails praising her.
That looks like a small difference, but I believe it's important. Like with the people saying Blueblood treated Rarity like crap because he wanted to shake a gold digger seems less likely when one keeps in mind that he approached her for introductions.
I hated Trixie up until the Equestria Girls movies. Later it was "No Second Prances" and "To Where and Back Again" where I legit laughed and got invested.
Hey, I'm not complaining about more Trixie... Although I do wish a certain person who shall not be named would stop treating her as a living god. If you're going to worship a pony, worship Luna or Celestia please. ...Actually no, don't do that, it'd get old after a time as well.
Paleo, bro. Paleo.
Ho. Lee. Shit. Are you fucking kidding me? Dammit.
Damn straight.
Heeeeeeeeeee indeed.
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I can't stop laughing at this. Probably because I'm drunk.
Doesn't have to be poignant. I'm going through these episode with you. It's been a while for me, too.
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Dammit. Suddenly, nightmares.
Actually, Tara Strong's originally from Toronto. She's lived in L.A. for so long, though, it's forgivable to think she's American by birth.
I didn't see what all the hoopla was about Trixie until she came back in S3, and subsequently in the EqG movies. She's a fun, snotty spoil these days, and she's a good recurring character.
I liked how Spike acted as Twilight's biggest defender in this episode. He's constantly nudging her to live up to her potential, which is quite large.
Somehow, this eppy also speaks to me about why I, and so many others, had issues with Starlight Glimmer. Sparks shows why she's a master level magic user nearly on par with the princesses, and why that's such a rare occurrence. It felt like the writers nerfed Twilight to create an unicorn antagonist capable of posing a real threat to her. This probably wasn't a conscious decision by the writers, but that's what it felt like.
The episode itself...isn't really that strong in retrospect as 4416332 says. Kathleen Barr and her incredibly VA skills and hamming it up as Trixie saves the episode, along with the Ursa Minor plot. If it weren't for that, this episode would have fallen pretty flat.
Of course, what always strikes me about something lots of people overlook is Trixie at the end of the episode. She runs away from the Ursa for a bit, but she doesn't flee altogether. She turns around and tries to fight it. Some might say it's sheer narcissism, but having watched it several times, I think she realises she's unlikely to win but gives it her best anyways. She wasn't going to just run away.
Fluttershy was in the crowd. She just didn't speak. I can't recall if Pinkie was there, but I know she was in the episode.
Less eye shines compared to other mares. Her violet irises had one solid ring compared to most mares' two, and one 'eye shine' compared to most mares' two, a relic of the fact she was originally designed as a stallion, who have less eye things than mares do. Curiously enough, even after she was gone from the show for 3.5 years, they kept it in her design for No Second Prances, but then normalise it for the Season 6 finale. See this group topic