Newbie Dash Review (Warning!: Major Anger Issues Ahead!) · 6:00pm May 7th, 2016
Yeah, I'm not going to sugarcoat anything here, I really didn't like this episode. The writers have no excuse for this kind of mistake after they managed to avoid rehashes of "Princess Spike" and "What About Discord"? David Rapp, who only previously wrote for FBI drama live action television shows penned this episode with help from Dave Polsky, and it seems Polsky may have gone back to his old comedic ways again. If my above opinion is a gamebreaker for any of you, it's not going to get better, so I suggest you click the link above. If you choose to stay, strap yourselves in because it's going to a bumpy ride. I wish it didn't have to be this way.
The episode begins harmlessly enough, and rather strong, with Scootaloo being present with Rainbow Dash when she learns she's now a full fledged Wonderbolt. Scootaloo and just about everyone who isn't Rainbow Dash or The Wonderbolts is handled well here (we'll get to the one exception when we get to it).
It doesn't take long for a major problem to show up though, in the form of Starlight's Glimmer's absence. I don't care that she doesn't know about The Wonderbolts (which just smells like a plot hole to me), she should be present with everyone else to celebrate her friend's great achivement. Pinkie Pie starts to get the clingy treatment she had in "Wonderbolt Academy", but I'm sorry to say that's not all there is to her potrayal or at least her performance here would be alright. Rainbow Dash shows up to Wonderbolt Academy and quickly makes a fool of herself when she forgets Spitfire's advice to look both ways before crossing the street. She tumbles into a trash can, and ends up getting called "Rainbow Crash" by everyone, including Soarin. And yet Rainbow Dash never bothers to tell any of The Wonderbolts why she hates that nickname, even though we already saw what childhood bullying if left unaddressed can do to you as an adult.
The mane six pick up on what's wrong right away (after Applejack puts her hoof in Pinkie's mouth), and Twilight gives Rainbow Dash advice about how each of the mane six stand out as individuals despite being part of a team, however Starlight isn't included during the next scene where Rainbow Dash styles her mane like each of the mane six and acts like them in what is esentially a cringe comedy scene done poorly, and it only serves to grind the plot to a halt.
So the day of Rainbow Dash's debut comes up, and she's determined to make herself stand out so she'll never be called "Rainbow Crash" again, because The Wonderbolts all have nicknames they stitch onto the suit. Pinkie Pie is handled extremly poorly here with a really unfunny joke about cotton candy that harpers back to her Season 3 potrayls, when the writers thought inserting Pinkie Pie into a scene magically made it funny, despite evidence to the contrary.
Rainbow Dash enlists Scootaloo's help to stand out, but ultimately crashes and burns, and the episode calls her out for showboating, but then it tries to justify The Wonderbolts behavior by saying they all had embarassing nicknames they were called by. But two wrongs don't make a right, not one of The Wonderbolts has an excuse to do the same to Rainbow Dash if they didn't like it when it happened to them. Soarin is the worst offender though that completely destroys the logic behind this attempted justifcation, he got his nickname when he clipped his wing. So let me get this straight, The Wonderbolts saw one of their teammates badly injure himself and probably have to go to the hospital, yet they thought it was perfectly okay to make fun of him for it? That's like laughing at someone who fell and broke their leg through no fault of their own! I'm sure Soarin felt like this the whole time!
The episode ends with Spitfire showing Rainbow Dash favoritism, and saying she gets to stay on The Wonderbolts even though other ponies have been expelled for lesser offenses. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash is just going to go through the same experience all the time, and The Wonderbolts will keep doing this to all new recruits until someone finally tells them off and walks out on them, exposing them for the a-holes they are!
And that's the story, I don't think I need to explain anymore why this is my new least favorite episode. It started off okay, but quickly took a nosedive into flames and never pulled back out. Name calling is fine if it's done lightly in good fun for a day or two, or even a week, but constantly teasing someone and calling them a bad or insulting nickname just because you think it's funny is wrong. And if someone else makes fun of you even after it stops being funny, you have no right to do the same to someone else just to make yourself feel better. The behavior shown by The Wonderbolts here makes me fear they'll end up like a flanderized Mr. Krabs from Seasons 4-9 of Spongebob Squarepants, and considering how low Krabs sank there (he tried to drive Plankton to suicide and fired Spongebob over a nickel), this does not bode well if The Wonderbolts remain on this "One step forward, two steps backward" path of writing. In the end, I give this episode an F+, and it offically beats "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" for new worst episode of the show! Edit: On looking back, I've overreacted a little. This episode isn't the worst episode of the show, but it's still bottom ten material. The middle part was completely unnecessary and the justifcation for The Wonderbolts' nickname calling isn't justified when they explain Soarin's nickname. But Rainbow Dash was the one holding the idiot ball here, the bolts aren't completely a-holes here.
Hopefully, next week things will be back to normal with "A Hearth's Warming Tail", in which Twilight tries to cheer up Starlight by reading her favorite Hearth's Warming story. Let's hope it potrays their teacher/student relationship in a good light.
I personally really loved this episode.
3927633 Well, good for you. I wish I could say the same.
3927637 Someone on EQD just explained why I enjoy this episode perfectly, so I'm just going to put their exact words here:
"Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt -- in the sense that she is their most inexperienced flyer and has become the butt of their jokes for the foreseeable future. She still has a lot to learn about the group and herself before her character arch can really be considered complete.
I thought the Ending was the best part. Even though Dash had been completely humiliated in front of her friends and heroes she didn't just up and attempt to quit. That shows how much her character has grown since Wonderbolts Academy where she was willing to leave at the first sign of trouble.
Likewise, I appreciated that they took the time to explain that the Wonderbolts were not necessarily being mean to Rainbow Dash by giving her a nickname. It's actually pretty common in many team based professions (police, the military, sport teams, ect.). Rainbow Dash will eventually grow out of her nickname but that's something she's going to have to earn with time. Here she was punished because she demanded instant respect and gratification when she didn't earn either with her actions.
This is also one of the first times a a member of the Mane 6 not named Twilight Sparkle has been acknowledged as a special pony who has saved the world ten times over. That actually made me feel very happy."
I was really hoping Soarin, or somepony, would've stood up for Dashie instead of just letting her be called Crash. We'll have to see what next week's ep will bring.
Actually, I don't mind this episode as groups like the military do this to recruits so they never forget mistakes and learn from them. Also, Rainbow just didn't give up on trying to earn respect, (Which I personally think she already had from the Bolts long before) which shows she's really matured.
I saw it...the trend of good episodes has come to an end.
First of all...why did Soarin not stand up for Rainbow, after what they've went through during Rarity Investigates?
Secondly, why does the writing team have to constantly demonise the Wonderbolts when they already got slandered for it back at Rainbow Falls?
Thirdly, like you said, where was Starlight Glimmer, she should've been involved and perhaps she could've provided something for Rainbow to have made the plot a little more tolerable.
The writing team have no excuses for this...it's the first episode for David Rapp, but already I can't see him having a good run with this Season.
I guess I feel like saying what everyone else has already said in adding my two thoughts.
Yes the Wonderbolts have a tendency to come off as jerks sometimes, though Rainbow compounds it by being really insecure.
Anyone who's ever played on a sports team or joined a group of some kind is familiar with the name calling/clean the compound sort of hazing that Rainbow had to go through, what bothered me about he episode was Rainbow being unwilling to tolerate even the slightest criticism, as though the other Wonderbolts were somehow not as good as she was.
I loved the first training montage where Rainbow had trouble keeping up with the other members, because just maybe the Wonder bolts are the best flyers in Equestria and even someone as talented as Rainbow Dash would need some practice to keep up.
The Rainbow impersonates everpony scene was cringe worthy.
And of course everything ends up fine in the end and I guess Rainbow is a full fledged Wonderbolt now., if nothing else it's nice to be able to move forward with that story line.
I would have liked more Scoots.
I was part of a fraternity of college and certain aspects of what Rainbow Dash went through with the Wonderbolts reminded me of pledging. She'll truly become one of them someday.
I wonder what Spitfire's demeaning nickname was... something not kid-friendly, I bet.
3927666 See, the thing is, they continuously called her by that name and tried to justify it simply by saying they were called nicknames at some point. But the justification for it doesn't work when we learn about Soarin's, there is NOTHING funny about clipping your wing. Maybe if they hadn't done that, the justification would've worked.
Honestly, I thought this episode was way better than "No Second Prances." God, did I hate that episode! This episode isn't my favorite Rainbow Dash episode, but I still enjoyed it. Easily the funniest part of this episode was Pinkie Pie saying, "Well, at least they didn't call you Rainbow Trash." This is hilarious if you've watched "Turnabout Storm" and recall that this was the name that Trixie kept calling Rainbow Dash.