Merriwethering the Storm / Minor S3: E7 spoilers · 8:17pm Dec 15th, 2012
Before I talk about today's episode, Wonderbolt Academy, let's talk about the episode's writer, Merriwether Williams.
Merriwether has helped write five episodes of MLP: FIM, with Wonderbolt Academy being her most recent. Her episodes tend to be very... polarizing, to say the least.
Her first contribution to the series, The Mysterious Mare Do Well, is a prime example of her writing style.
If you're unfamiliar with Chad Rocco's MLP reviews, you should really check them out. Here's his take on the Mare Do Well episode.
I'll just echo CR's sentiments on this one. I think everyone was acting totally out of character this episode. If this was your introduction to the series, you might be inclined to think that MLP:FIM was like high school, where the main characters all all egotistical jerks who create contrived schemes to keep their "friends" from becoming more popular than themselves.
The next one, Hearth's Warming Eve, also had several jerky characters.
I think it's funny that while most countries in the real world glorify their founders, in the MLP universe, they put on an annual play to show how warmongering, stupid and racist their founders were. 
Maybe this pageant was established by Celestia as monarchical propaganda, to show how poorly led the country was before she came to power. Hence why all the warring pony factions unite under her banner at the end.
Merriwether's idea of creating conflict comes from setting up situations which could easily be resolved if the characters used any modicum of common sense. The only way to have drama in her episodes is for everyone to be either a confrontational jerk or an idiot.
I realize that learning how to compromise and work together are good morals to teach, but I would've liked it if the episode had been handled differently. The racist leaders never had to sacrifice their pride to save everypony. Their last moments before they froze were spent throwing racial slurs at each other. Everypony would have frozen to death if it hadn't been for the more level-headed underlings who acted rationally the entire episode, so it's not like they had much of a character arc either.
In spite of its flaws, Hearth's Warming Eve is my favorite out of the current five Merriwether Williams episodes. I love period pieces and feel that this episode opened up so many story possibilities.
Chancellor Puddinghead is awesome. I love dumb characters who think they're smart. It also helps if they have a frustrated, yet brilliant sidekick.
I would watch a whole series focused on Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie.
The next episode, Putting Your Hoof Down, shows us that Ponyville is populated by complete douches. 
A town full of unlikeable assholes? In a Merriwether Williams story? Color me surprised. (Sarcasm)
Again, like with the Mare Do Well episode, it seems as though Merriwether has to change Ponyville to a town populated by jerks if she wants to tell her stories. 
Heck, they should just give her all the CMC episodes. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara haven't had any character development beyond being colossal cunts. As far as bullies go, they're about as one dimensional as it gets, so writing their dialogue should be a walk in the park for Merriwether.
Regarding Putting Your Hoof Down, it's just more of what we've come to expect from Merriwether's writing style.
Angsty drama and confrontation. At least with this episode, Fluttershy feels remorse for treating her friends like garbage, as opposed to the Mare Do Well episode, where shitting on Rainbow Dash was the moral of the story. (Is it bad that writing that last sentence gave me a boner?) But I digress...
Moving on to the next episode, Dragon Quest.
Oh ho, look out. I've been wanting to talk about this episode for a while. Never before has Spike's relationship with Twilight felt like slavery. If Hearth's Warming Eve was pro-Celestia propaganda, then this episode was "Birth of a Nation" for ponies.
Let's start from the beginning. This episode marks the death of the Spike X Rarity pairing. I imagine that Sparity writers throughout the fandom wept when they saw Spike become emasculated and essentially "friend-zoned" by Rarity. She treated him like her baby brother as opposed to a close friend.
The mane six all acted like... (wait for it) jerks towards Spike. Rainbow Dash made fun of his apron and they all laughed at him. Dash also called him a "lame dragon." Excuse me?
You've got the, once again, racist ponies, who fear dragons because they know nothing about them. The mane six practically make Spike feel ashamed for being a dragon. "You're not like other dragons, but why would you want to be?" I'd have an existential crisis too if all my friends were unabashedly prejudiced towards the other members of my species.
You see what I mean about Spike sounding like a slave? He's not like those wild, savage dragons. He's a good "Uncle Tom" house dragon. "Shine ya' hooves for ya, massa, Twilight?"
Really, Twilight? There are no books with detailed information about dragons? Ponies know practically nothing about them? Don't you find that a little suspicious? No? Okay.
I thought this episode had real potential when I saw this scene.
"At last!" I thought, "Maybe we'll get some real depth and character development for Spike!" It didn't quite work out that way, did it? All those deep, searching questions about where he came from never really were answered, were they? What did we get instead?
Oh, look. Teenage dragons. And they're acting like huge dicks. 
Way to keep things new and different, Merriwether. (Sarcasm)
At least we got one cool new dragon out of this episode.
Before Spike can be accepted as a dragon, he must brave the gauntlet of flaming farts.
How do you go from a thought-provoking premise regarding identity to a cautionary tale about the dangers of peer pressure? There are other ways for Spike to find himself without dropping him in the middle of a bunch of jerk off teenage dragons. What is this? Spike: the high school years?
"Y'all should git yerselves a nice massa, like me! Celestia put ponies on dis earf to stop us lazy dragons from becoming so uppity. Twilight's a kind massa. She only beats my scaly hide when I's starts fallin' back into my sinful dragon ways."
After rejecting his dragon heritage, Spike identifies himself as a pony and adopts the culture of his slave owner and her friends.
This is one of the most depressing shots in the entire series.
Are you telling me that Twilight couldn't get her friends together and take a picture with Spike? She could get someone else to take the photo so that Spike could be included as well?
And if you try to say that there's symbolism behind the picture, that just makes it even worse! It symbolizes how dragons will always be inferior to the pony race. The image of Spike is depressingly taped to the photo. It's not behind the protective glass, thus allowing it to rip and tear with the ravages if time, while the rest of the picture is better preserved. The jagged edges of his image, show how rough and unrefined dragons are when compared to the embodied perfection of the equine race.
And we can't forget about Peewee.
Maybe Dragon Quest is actually a cautionary tale about how difficult it is to break the cycle of abuse.
In case you couldn't tell, I hated this episode. Spike felt coerced to turn his back on his heritage to make his friends happy. The moral is: "Change who you are to better fit in with those around you." There's racial undertones with the "all dragons are bad and all ponies are good" mentality. Spike goes to see some dragons. They're a bunch of immature assholes, so he instead decides to be a pony. It's like he chose to disregard his entire species because of one bad experience.
If Merriwether's stories are any indication, there are more jerky ponies than jerky dragons in this world, so maybe Spike should've just stayed a dragon.
That brings us to the latest Merriweather Williams episode, Wonderbolt Academy. The moment I saw these credits...
...I knew we were in trouble.
Spitfire, why do you sound like a G3 pony trying to act tough?
What happened to your sexy voice from the Grand Galloping Gala?
As cute as her original English voice was, it was nowhere near as sexy as Swedish Spitfire.
...or as manly as Polish Spitfire.
Spitfire went from a cool sexpot to a bitchy cliche drill instructor. Why didn't they just get Jane Lynch to do her voice if that's what they were going for?
Oh look. Another self-centered jerk, who puts her own desires above the safety of others.
Keep working your magic, Merriwether. This truly is an appealing universe you're creating. (sarcasm)
At least we got somepony new to pair with Thunderlane.
What do you think, Merriwether? What should Thunderlane do to Rarity on their first date?
You want him to hoof her in the ass? Sounds a little extreme for a first date, don't you think?
When I heard that Rainbow Dash was going into the Wonderbolt Academy, I got excited. This is what I think we all imagined the episode would be like.
But who wants to see an episode where a beloved character achieves her childhood dream. Instead, let's have a story where Rainbow Dash's idol is a short-tempered, cliched bitchy drill sergeant.
In spite of ruining Spitfire's appeal and introducing a new character with almost no redeeming qualities, this episode did have a few high points.
I liked that Rainbow Dash was well-written in this episode. Her own vanity wasn't the main focus for very long. It was good to see Dash act selfless, especially after how she was depicted in the Mare Do Well episode.
And why doesn't Spitfire remember Rainbow Dash saving her life? She remembered it at the gala! Nopony brings this up? Why did it have to be Spitfire? They should've made a new character to be the drill sergeant. You know, somepony who's life hadn't been saved by Rainbow Dash?
I want to stress that Merriwether Williams can write good stories. In spite of all my complaining, I really did like Hearth's Warming Eve. Wonderbolt Academy wasn't that good, but maybe the next episode she writes will be better.
I'm not holding my breath.
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This is a long blog post.
Sleepless in Ponyville is my fave season 3 episode so far
Connections! I can see them now!
615085 Nobody enters and nobody leaves.
I can kinda excuse the Spitfire thing because its supposed to a military academy and she can't play favorites. What really didn't make sense is her letting Lighting Dust act so recklessly and commend her for it.
But what really didn't make sense was suddenly changing her mind and punishing LD for what "YOU TOLD HER WAS GOOD NOT FIVE MINUTES AGO"
If you want to give her warning and say 'okay don't do this anymore' fine. But you can't kick her out based on her doing what you told her do!
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I liked this episode pretty well, and i'm sure that Spitfire remembers Dash she just couldn't really do anything because of her position of power (didn't want to show favoritism towards a recruit) Although i do agree that they probably should have just made a knew character for the role.
I found one small flaw in this analysis: Spitfire does remember being saved by Rainbow, but that doesn't mean she's allowed to give her special treatment. The reason for the drilling sergeant attitude is good, how ever annoying it can be, and that reason is to be able to train them properly. If that is not done, nopony would be able to take the training seriously.
So now, Spitfire is not being mean to Rainbow.
All in all, I liked the episode but it did have its problems. Spitfire did a decent job as Sgt. Hartman but I found it kinda weird it had to be her. It would have more sense if there was another wonderbolt (who may or may not fly with them normally, it could have been a completely new character). Her character wasn't outright ruined by this episode but imo this wasn't what we necessarily needed.
Lightning Dust would have been a decent character but she was pretty much just another Gilda. On the other hand, Dash is not the only character who has the problem of having "friends" that all are always the same. Rarity and Hoity Toity and Fancy Pants (and possibly Photo Finish) are all characters who are very much alike.
yeah not holding my breath either
I'm... I'm just gonna say that there's aren't any episodes that I dislike, and leave it at that. >_>
I...I never noticed that about that Spike episode... I cried a little inside.
But now that you mention it ponies really are a bunch of raciest jerks (at lest in Merriwether episodes). Now I'd like to see someone write a HiE that takes place in Merriwether's head canon.
Part of it is that Pegasi culture has been shown to be fairly regimented and militarised, so turning Spitfire into the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket wasn't that much of a stretch. This is also the first time that we have seen her dealing exclusively with ponies that are under her command, so she does not have to temper herself while dealing with civillians as she would have in Sonic Rainboom or at the Gala.
Lightning Dust was meant to be a mirror for Dash, a look at what she could have been like if she wasn't the element of loyalty, in much the same way as Trixie could represent how Twilight could have turned out if she wasn't taken in by Celestia or didn't make friends - a pony who is arrogantly convinved of her own superiour abilities over anypony else.
What I find interesting is that each memeber of the mane 6 now has a pony or creature that to their mind has a grudge or rivalry with them
Twilight has Trixie (for cheating and showing her up)
Pinkie has Gilda (for humiliating her)
Fluttershy has Iron Will (as she did practically cheat him out of his money)
Applejack has Flim & Flam (for humiliating them)
Rarity has Blueblood (humiliation again)
Rainbow Dash has Lightning Dust (for ruining her dream).
I see fanfic material for the formation of an anti-elements group, ala Captain Planet vs. Captain Pollution
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Calling Spitfire a cliched drill instructor is an insult to cliched drill instructors.
She should have ripped Lightning Dust's head off for being insubordinate, not rewarded her, and what was with letting the cadets just walk around on their first day? Rainbow Dash barges into her office and starts whining about group assignments, and she just sits there? Leaving in the middle of a training exercise (even if it wasn't supposed to be dangerous).
Even if the Wonderbolts are supposed to be based off the USAF (I figured they were a Blue Angels analog), the complete lack of discipline was ridiculous.
On the Spike episode, I'm surprised I haven't seen more people talking about the racist overtones. Although, my first thought was of the Stolen Generations.
If only I weren't too lazy to pay attention to who writes which episodes.
615309 The Stolen Generation, that was a dark chapter in our history. Abducting and indoctrinating aboriginal children in an arrogant belief that european white culture was simply better and that they knew better.
first episode of season 3 that disappointed me. Holy shit do I hate Lightning Dust. I was kinda hoping that she would be like another Applejack or something. (you know, someone to Dashie and her ego in check or something; someone more level-headed than RD)
oh well, what can you do?
I never noticed all that stuff about the spike episode. I leave here with opened eyes.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_rainbowderp_flip.png
Well, I think she's just trying to show people reality. we need to realize that life isn't only sunshine and rainbows; there are going to be assholes, and we need to learn how to deal with them in a rational manner.
"Spitfire went from a cool sexpot to a bitchy cliche drill instructor. Why didn't they just get Jane Lynch to do her voice if that's what they were going for?"
Have you ever been on an ambitious sports team? If you didn't, you need to realize that coaches put on that tough act in order to push players to their limits, and encourage them to play properly. Many players are too stubborn or proud, thus they need to learn some humility. However, the only way to do so is to be strict and forceful. For example, I joined the football team this year. Our coaches used said methods in order to keep our team in control. Now, I've seen these guys around the school, and they're actually pretty decent. But they need to teach our team's players that their unruliness won't be tolerated, and that they either need to get serious, or leave. But they're really concerned for the team as a whole, because at the end of the day, that's exactly what it is; a team. One guy screws up, we all face the consequences.
I agree with you on the change of the voice actor; her voice at the gala sounded a lot nicer. Now it's a little irritating, but I assume the change was to make her seem more intimidating.
I've gotta say, I really enjoyed Wonderbolts Academy, and I appreciated Lightning Dust for what she was (as Fimbulventer pointed out, a mirror of Rainbow Dash, basically, with her vanity cranked up to 11). Though yeah, the ending did seem quite odd to me, but according to Meghan McCarthy, the episode originally had a different ending. Lemme see if I can find the Twitter post. EDIT: Found it. Also, I agree with the other people who have pointed out Spitfire's seeming "personality change" in this episode - I see it as her just getting them motivated; basically what Event Horizon said above me. Just like how she'd be friendly in public (and in real life, perhaps); she is a public figure after all, being Captain of The Wonderbolts and all. And her not pointing out Rainbow Dash as her savior was possibly to avoid charges of favoritism (though why shy didn't when Rainbow Dash and her were speaking in private is kinda strange, but oh well). As for the voice, the voice during the gala was better, perhaps, but I also really liked this one, and thought it fit her personality in this case better.
As for Dragon Quest, I suppose, now that you point it out, I can see the racist undertones, but maybe it's my good nature, or optimism, but something makes me think that's not what Merriwether was going for, even if that's how it turned out (kinda like the botched moral in Feeling Pinkie Keen). I personally think she was more going for something along the lines of "it doesn't matter, your race (or species, I suppose), what matters is you make friends, friends that love you for who you are, not for any preconceptions of what you 'should be'." Just, she went about it in kind of an awkward, forced way.
Also, now that you mention it, I agree with your points on The Mysterious Mare Do Well and Putting Your Hoof Down, even if I did quite enjoy Putting Your Hoof Down. I only wonder if, with how exaggerated everypony's character was in MDW, especially Rainbow Dash's, would she have listened to her friends if they'd tried to approach her?
I suppose it wouldn't have hurt to try, but oh well, such are the constraints of a strict time limit (22 minutes, 17 seconds, and 13 frames, if I'm remembering Jayson Thiessen correctly).
615437 I agree I play on a baseball team. Went were at practice or just talking the coaches are nice and joke around bu when It coems to game time the Coaches will lose all of it to win and they will change the way they act towards you.
What is it with Season 3? It's like they fired the writers with win and awesome and replaced them with a new team that didn't quite understand the MLPFIM universe and don't have quite the same level of storytelling and writing skill.
Hm... this is extremely Merriwether...
Dont worry guys Spike will protest for Dragon Rights.
After watching that "Spitfire's introduction" clip I've got to say... she sounds stilted and unnatural. Those lines really don't fit with that voice and how she acts in the few other settings we've seen her in. They really ought to have made a new character to deliver those lines, one that doesn't have the history with RD and doesn't have a voice that naturally fits with a friendly/easygoing mare.
The real question is why didn't they fuck? But srsly, despite the episode's obvious flaws, looking at Spitfire for 22 minutes was a real treat. The rest doesn't really matter.
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That's a good point. I'll go back later and add to my analysis. I just would've liked for there to have been a scene where Spitfire is watching the recruits train from her office window. One of the other ponies comments about Rainbow Dash saving Spitfire. She responds by saying that she "can't play favorites." It would've added further weight to her character; but they never touched on it.
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The episode didn't "ruin" the character for me, but her increased level of screen time ruined the appeal from her first appearance. She's still a good character, just not as good as her first impression.
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You made me think about something. What if there was an episode where Gilda returns and joins the Wonderbolt Academy?
*cannot use the reply function at all with my IPad*
I see.
Thank you.
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I like it.
The only thing I might change is to have Rover instead of Blueblood for Rarity. I think that stealing all their jewels would harbor more of a grudge than getting messy. In addition, I can't see Blueblood associating with what he would consider riff raff. Other than that though, it looks like a solid list.
As far as Lightning Dust goes though, she's the least interesting of the rivals. Lightning Dust is to rivals what King Sombra is to big villains.
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I wouldn't be surprised if that actually happened but so far the writers have been really careful about not revisit stuff like that. It could happen if we see more Wonderbolt Academy.
And if that happens, somehow Lightning Dust and Gilda have been the best friends ever since they met...
If some of that Dragon Quest wasn't already spoiled for me, I'd a been as devastated as when I saw Rarity friend-zone Spike, and not just FRIEND but more like baby brother... And yeah, the whole episode was pretty morally f'd up. I felt so bad I teared up at the Spike scene, only to see that he learned nothing but hate for his own kind. The ponies are amazingly ignorant of such things, despite Celestia having ties with Dragon country and able to harness Dragon Flames for mail.
I doubt Celestia would forcefully steal an egg. Maybe she called in a favor with one of the ambassadors to be given an egg, who knows, as a way to foster friendship between the two species since 'nothing is known of dragons. Yeah, I know it's grasping at straws but, Dragon Quest, for me was something I was hoping would have some amazing world building, aside from Phoenixes being freaking awesome.
I can't say I hated Mare Do Well, but I did hate the way her 'friends' went about shit. You do NOT do that shit to a friend! That was just wrong Twilight. Just wrong... And AJ of all ponies to agree with that nonsense... Bah.
Today's episode was amazing for Rainbow Dash. I loved it. I also noticed the Lightning Dust as being an antagonist the INSTANT I saw her eyes. She has no shine. Probably fucked her way into getting an acceptance to the academy WHO knows. I exaggerated that last part, she has talent. No fucking heart, but talent. Spitfire was a massive let down. It was somewhat lessened as in my mind I imagined she had to put on a show of Wonderbolts being not easy to join and put on her big mare voice, and funnily enough ended up sounding squeakily adorable in my mind. I miss Soarin. I am starting to have this head-canon where he sort of retired as team Captain and left Spitfire as lead or he got reassigned. IDK.
In short, it was a great episode, but all I could think of was Sonic The Hedgehog during most of RD's flights and saving her friends. And Rarilane is now a thing. I am waiting patiently for a good fic on that. Just because.
615686 VA is growing up, voice is naturally changing slightly.
>Spitfire being a bitchy drill sergeant.
She was being a drill sergeant. That's seriously what her job was in the organization here! They're SUPPOSED to act like hard-asses.
>Her voice being different.
My voice adjusts to situations too. She was at a social gathering at the Gala, so a friendly, pleasant voice came out. She was talking to in-training potential Wonderbolts over whom she was directly in a position of authority, so out came the intense, no-nonsense, all-business voice.
Reaction over, less intense comments begin now.
Always nice to see ol' Roid Rage back onscreen.
I was more focused on the fact that one of the teams was my buddy's OC (see my OC Spotlight blog for Rosalina Dinkle Tart aka Rosy Pie) as lead pony for one of my OCs as wingpony (mine being in disguise via white paint since he's already been through the academy in his backstory and he's midnight blue)
Team pictured center:
puu.sh/1BcbT
I got bored around 3 PM EST today and used H.E.A.R. (Hyper-Extensive Audio Recalibration) to pick up some audio that didn't quite make it to the final production. Have a look.
i.imgur.com/ie6hf.png i.imgur.com/w9zUy.jpg
Clearly, it really is them. "Crystal" is the name of the blue OC in my avatar, the white (really midnight-blue) stallion's sister.
EDIT: In all seriousness, we named the Rosy look-alike "Wildflower" Because she has a sunflower cutie mark and Wildfire's hairdo.
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Really, Spitfire shouldn't have been the instructor. She's the captain of the Wonderbolts, not their trainer.
616130 And as such she needs to personally inspect the new talent.
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Never noticed how lacking Merriwether's episode were. Spitfire would have been sexy if they kept her old voice actress and actually did her job well. Busting Dust's balls every time she steps out of line. And making Dash the leader knowing that she's the level headed one. Dash then would have to learn to deal with having an obnoxious partner. Lesson being you can't chose the people you have in your life. I agree Merriwether's characters feel kind of yucky.
I quite enjoyed Lightning-Dust throughout the former half of the episode. But, like with so many other one time characters, she leads a deceiving air, and reveals herself to what she 'really is inside.'
I wish they would have a character that has flaws, but doesn't get defeated by the six, and be a one-dimensional jerk at the end of the episode.
I still haven't watched this episode... but it sounds and from an image i've seen, looks like i'm going to be gushing over Rainbow Dash some more. She's just so awesome and adorable.... HNNNNNNNNNGHHH!
horse power nuff said
Holy shot merryweather brain the fucked washed my mind!!!
Seriously... I did not see the undertones and her characters acting like assholes... gonna watch those episodes she wrote and review them... I did see the undertones in the Hearth's warming Eve episode but that's history
Found this little gem here over at /mlp/ of all places.
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You've given me so much to think about, made me see things I haven't seen before, and also said things that I think are full of crap. I don't think I'll ever have the chance to express all my thoughts and counterpoints associated with this post, but I'm going to take things a step at a time. First off:
I understand you're going for humor here, but I can't tell if you're actually criticizing the show or not. I think that's a great practice, actually, in contrast with the bias propaganda, or all out lies governments around the world IRL preach. The leaders of the story are put on a pedestal and presented as fools, with the ponies telling the story (and the writers themselves) clearly acknowledging that the world is filled jerks and douchebags in this case. The real heroes are the characters partially hidden by the bombastic, egotistic leaders (like they're covered in snow, get it? Get it?
). That we can glean their personalities from the outset, and their viability to take up the mantle of heroes, is a testament to the skill and subtlety of the storywriter(s) (I have no idea how many hands touched the episode besides Merriwhether's. Do you know how that process might go?).
I wasn't going to make half this post about Hearts Warming Eve. Among other things, I was also going to point out to realism of Spitfire acting like a "bitchy drill sergeant" in a MILITARY SETTING, and what that brings to the twists of the story... but that's been done multiple times already in this column. So I'll end addressing you post of "Memories." Obviously, we're not meant to take that as a literal interpretation of what you expected from the episode, but did you expect RD to make WB in one episode? That would only be viable if the Wonder Bolts had low qualifications and a small timetable, or the show decided to sum up the entire process in a time lapse montage. How would that be challenging for Rainbow? How enjoyable would it be to watch? If the plot were something more along the lines of Rainbow making the grade, it would probably strive to close to Dash dealing with expectation and competition like we've seen before with the Young Fliers Competition. With the course this episode took, we got something that wasn't as predictable and had some twists and turns.
And as a sidenote, one that's strictly my POV, Spitfire's voice didn't bother me. The one from the GGG sounded stilted to me.
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Yeah, this blog post was much longer than I initially intended. In relation to the Hearth's Warming Eve episode, I was being tongue-in-cheek when I said that their winter play is basically condemning the rulers who founded Equestria. It wasn't meant to be a criticism of the show. I just wondered under what circumstances would that be allowed to happen in the real world. I really like the Hearth's Warming Eve episode.
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I got a lot of comments regarding my opinions on drill sergeants. I didn't mean to impugn any military leaders or sport coaches. They do fine work at motivating people.
When the stakes are high, a firm tone is required. I should have gone into more detail with my comments. I'm not saying that drill sergeants can't be entertaining. They can, but for a character to be interesting, we need to understand his or her motivations.
I don't think Spitfire was very well motivated. Some of her actions during this episode would not inspire confidence in her recruits. As Fiddlebottoms pointed out, there was a surprising lack of discipline with her trainees.
The Colonel from Avatar is another example of the poor characterization I'm talking about. He was the big, bad military villain.
I guess the bottom line is, as long as the character has a personality beyond the duties of his or her job, than the character goes from chile to entertaining.
617781 Just finished the episode and I must agree they should have used a separate instructor and made him mean or very strict. plus Spitfire sounded so different.
I get the sense that you don't like Merriwether Williams' writing style...
OH DEAR CELESTIA, BEST EPISODE EVERRRR!!! I LOVED IT!
Rainbow Dash is best pony forever! Sorry, I needed somewhere to say this where I knew that someponies would see it.
Too much Merriwether hate and preconceived notions about how episodes with confrontational characters aren't good in here.