More Like Rainbow Trash [episode spoilers!] · 8:28pm May 7th, 2016
I finally got to read my Starxie fic, but you'll all just have to wait for the review. :V Let me talk about it for a second.
Starburst is a ship I want because I liked Sunburst immediately and I wanted the two of them to rekindle their friendship into something greater, which they could have had all along with the right nudge. Starxie is something I didn't know I wanted until it happened. It's more of a fun ship, with two characters who make sense together getting close and casting considerable bedroom eyes at each other. Ugh, I was going to explain this, but that doesn't make any sense out loud. I like Trixie, is what I'm saying. :V
Anyway, did anyone notice how Starlight's arc in this episode is her getting into trouble via reflexive use of magic? Kind of like how Twilight was worried in Boast Busters that magic would make ponies hate her? <.< Interesting. But seriously, someone needed to make a "too soon" quip at her. (I do love that Angel's the only one who instantly likes her. I think that might be the best joke in the whole episode.)
As for today, hey, I love that part where Captain America fights Iron Man. :D (Civil War was the only good thing I saw for the first time today. :C)
Well, that was a textbook example of how to ruin a perfectly good episode.
Don't get me wrong, I had no expectations coming into this, and I loved, I mean super-loved seeing Rainbow finally get to wear the suit.
But where the first few scenes were great in setting everything up, and finale was, if expected, at least got Spitfire back into my good graces, something went wrong in the middle. The friend I always watch the show with gave up around the time Rainbow started talking like Applejack. (And props to Ashleigh Ball for not just using her AJ voice.)
It is quite one thing to watch an episode and just not enjoy anything in it. It is quite another to start off enjoying something only to have the rug pulled out from under me. This was awful.
Gauntlet of Fire
No Second Prances
The Crystalling
On Your Marks
The Gift of the Maud Pie
Newbie Dash
Out on My Own
Well... are you going to give a reason why you hated it so much? Or just general principle?
I thought it was a great episode. I laughed a lot, cringed but giggled at Ashleigh Ball's impressions of the Mane Six. Having my own embarrassing nickname from Basic, I totally identified with Dash in trying to get a new one. Dash acting like an idiot is believable when she finally achieved her lifelong dream... only to see it's not as perfect as she wants, so she goes to extreme lengths to make it everything she dreamed.
Why so salty?
Yeah, the middle of the episode was super cringey.
I'm sure the Wonderbolts share your sentiment.
For me, the big question is trying to figure out why so many people are salty about the Wonderbolts when all they engaged in was light teasing common in sports teams and military organizations. But as for the episode, it wasn't that good, but it could've been much worse. Hopefully, the next episode is better.
How blind the rest of the fandom is. Truly saddening, I must say.
3927982 Like someone else said, a lot of us are nerds and were bullied when we were younger so we tend to be a bit sensitive about this kind of thing or anything that remotely resembles it.
3927966
I have to agree, it was a thoroughly enjoyable episode, and Dash was the most Dash she's been in a long while. About the only bad thing i can think about it is that cringe humor is not to everyone's taste, but I didn't find it detracted from the plot, it was there because Dash was supposed to be cringingly awkward, which is a normal thing that happens to new people when they try to make an impression not just in sports and military organizations, but also in high level jobs or other positions of authority.
Anyway, I think we've now closed every running thread in the series. CMC's are cutie marked, Rarity is now has boutiques in Canterlot and beyond, Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt, AJ was already where she wanted to be since season 1, Twilight achived godhood, and i guess Pinkie and Flutters never had any explicit life goals.
Unless Spike finally gets it on with Rarity, which is not going to happen, I guess the series can end now.
Definitely an episode that could have been improved on a little.
3927966
I hate watching episodes where it's obvious the only way forward is for the characters to fuck everything up. And yet, the particular way Rainbow fucks everything up and makes herself look like an idiot is far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I could see it coming miles away, and yet somehow everything undercut my expectations horribly. The only saving grace is that her stormcloud gambit only hurt her and no one else. I was anticipating the full Lightning Dust, there.
It was Lesson Zero meets Wonderbolt Academy, and those are two my absolute least favorite episodes.
3927966
Is this because hazing in the military is a thing? Because honestly I hated most of the episode.
3928011 > wonderbolts academy worst episode
WHAT
3928030
Yes. Have you ever wondered why my Skype name is Tweak? Because when I was in BCT, I was skinny, blonde, and freaked out all the time. Just like the kid Tweak from South Park. So... yeah, and I hated it! I tried everything I could to earn a new one, but that stuck with me. To this day, guys I went to BCT with STILL call me Tweak. It's jsut a thing. This was the most accurate display of military culture the show has given. Sorry if that doesn't make for great TV to you, but to me, it hit home.
I expected to hate this episode from just the synopsis and preview. I already know that I find episodes where the protagonist makes a fool of themselves for the entire thing utterly unpleasant to watch. The one positive thing I could say about it is... I didn't hate it as much as I expected, I guess? Namely, I expected Spitfire to be a bigger jerk than she was.
On the other hand, this felt like they only had enough content for an 11 minute episode and had to stretch it to fill the full 22 minutes, so in other aspects it was worse than I thought it'd be.
Your opinions are entirely yours, PresentPerfect, but it is how these opinions reflect that will change your follower count. People who liked this episode will stop following you, while the people who didn't will flock. But to decide who is who is never an easy task.
However, your opinions on this episode, despite them being yours, are entirely devoid of anything really. There is no important point to debate over, no examles of what mistakes were made, and really no structure to it at all. I know that you are site staff, but I am a little surprised as to how you blindly rage over an episode, when we do not even know what makes you so angry.
Watch the episode again and find what you want to debate. Only then will your argument have structure, and people will either agree or disagree...
3928052
Yeah, I found the nicknaming very natural and was expecting the end reveal pretty much from the get-go. The greatest rugby player of all time was nicknamed "Fluffy" with his team.
I found the cringe humor a bit too much for me (though like others have said, mad props to Ashleigh Ball for managing to do Rainbow pretending to sound like AJ). Other than that, though, I liked the episode. (Then again, I'm a big fan of both Lesson Zero and Wonder Bolts Academy, so maybe PP is onto something.)
3928099
I don't think anyone watches me for my episode reviews. <.<
3928052
Honestly, the hazing nickname was far from a bad thing. I more or less assumed that was the case during the episode, and turned out to be right. The Wonderbolts have not had good episodes in recent seasons, but this one actually made me like them more. Or should I say, made me like them again.
It took me hours to watch the episode because the impressions made me cringe.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/5/8/1148907__safe_twilight+sparkle_princess+celestia_screencap_princess+twilight_meme_edit_image+macro_edited+screencap_spoiler-colon-s06e06.png
(I haven't actually seen the episode yet).
3928099
3928276
We've got other people for in depth analysis of bad fanfiction... Wait, sorry, that's the show I'm thinking of again.
PP delves more into the intentional fanfiction that is not actually written by people that hasbro is paying. Which... in a lot of cases, is better than what season six is delivering... huh.
There was too much cringe.
This episode marks the very first time I've ever spoken out loud to my screen during a pony episode. Specifically, when Rainbow started using her "AJ voice", I immediately and out of pure reflex said "Oh, no, Rainbow, don't do that..." in kind of a despairing tone. So, it was pretty cringe-worthy for me as she cycled through each of her friends in turn.
Apart from that, though? I actually really liked the episode. Yeah, I knew that RD was going to keep screwing up and trying too hard to impress the Wonderbolts... but I still enjoyed it. And, this episode slots neatly into some head-canon of mine: specifically, that the qualities that make Dash a really great solo flier can hamper her in a team if she doesn't adjust her expectations—being skilled doesn't automatically make her a good teammate. Which is actually a lesson that I don't think Dash has learned yet, as far as I can recall.
What is "Out On My Own"?
3928900
Yeah, I cringed.
But I actually liked the episode well enough, even if Rainbow Dash was screwing up the whole time.
Yeah, I really don't know what any of you are talking about.
What you're all calling "cringe humor" was about as standard a joke as any cartoon has: a character wildly misinterpreting simple instructions/advice. If watching someone do something socially weird makes you that violently uncomfortable, that's a personal problem, not something the show should've avoided to cater to your--hell, I'll be blunt--oversensitivity. More to the point, it makes sense narratively that during a search for a new identity Dash would latch onto the strong ones her friends have already established. Not that I think critiquing the show on that kind of level has any real merit or point to it, but I figure I'd at least toss out a couple reasons for why I have zero complaints about today's second act.
Speaking as someone with a good deal of experience in a social environment that involved rookie "hazing" and all its associated shenanigans, I absolutely fucking loved this episode. This kind of culture never looks good to people who aren't used to it, but this really is how it works, insulting nicknames and taunting and everything. My group of IRL friends and I never miss a chance to rag on each other, but on the flip side we'd all take a bullet for every man on the team and will probably (get drunk enough to) cry at everyone's weddings. The fact that the show not only displayed that culture in earnest but ultimately portrayed it as a good and positive thing is incredible to me. It's a different kind of friendship, but it's just as valid as what we're used to seeing from FiM. For me at least, that's exactly what I was hoping to see today.
>inb4 all the downvotes
3927966
Also, re: rookie trying to get a new nickname -- that's not how it fucking works, rookie.
3928962
It's the first (and thus far only) song of the season, from the Apple Bloom/CMC episode. PP also rank orders the songs.
(I had the same reaction as you, so I googled it with MLP and then once I'd figured out what it was, I remembered that PP does ordering on them, too.)
3929066
Watching people make socially awkward mistakes always makes me cringe a bit. That doesn't mean it isn't funny - it can be hilarious, and I was amused by Rainbow Dash doing what he did, even as I was shaking my head.
I don't get upset by it, but it can make me physically uncomfortable sometimes as well.
Don't know why.
It doesn't always happen either.
3929066
All the people defending the episode think that all the people who hate it hate the hazing. That is not my reason for hating it. <.< I liked the hazing (though RedSquirrel points out a good reason why it was a bad idea).
But with this episode, I think we all need to realize that, at the end of the day, this show isn't even meant to sell toys, it's meant to fill air. And if you have silly, colorful ponies flapping their mouthparts and making goofy faces and doing wacky shit for 22 minutes, that's all TV execs think kids need to be content vegging in front of the television. And that's what this episode was.
I disliked the episode because of one thing: I like Rainbow Dash and watching her hold a gigantic idiot ball for well over half of it was extremely painful. The situation was fine, but her extreme and brainless response made her look like a pithed frog.
Every Polsky episode I see only makes me more convinced he has no respect for the characters at all.
Still... Shitfire is a hilarious nickname.
3929526
... is it not?
Seriously. It's a cartoon. The entire functional purpose of cartoons is to be silly entertainment for kids. It's certainly a pleasant surprise if one tries to be something more than that, and certainly FiM has done that occasionally, but expecting that level of adult engagement from every episode is patently absurd.
I feel like we get spoiled by fanfics to the point that we think that the canon show should match them in tone. It shouldn't--dear GOD, it shouldn't--and if it ever does I'll be happy to take my proverbial ball and go home. I like FiM for what it is: a silly cartoon that's funny and smartly built enough to be enjoyable for adults as well. It's neither the show's responsibility to live up to any higher expectations than that, nor its fault if/when it doesn't. There are adult shows made for adults and kids shows made for kids, and FiM is a good show made for kids. Goofy faces and wacky shit are its core identity, and somehow believing otherwise is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
The episode sort of redeems itself at the end, when Dash has to pay the consequences of her actions, and she, hopefully, learned something. But the ending feels like damage control, because good gawd the first part was so bad. Less hazing, less ego Dash, and maybe this would've been a good episode.
I think my biggest disappointment with the episode was that it didn't really feel special. Rainbow's achieved her dream that she's had since season 1!
... and it just comes off as a resounding 'meh'. There was a bigger deal made with 'Tanks for the Memories'!
3930013
Yes, exactly. Seeing Dash wearing the fucking uniform came in somewhere between "Rarity has a boutique in Canterlot" and "We got our cutie marks!" in terms of holy shit this is really happening. It was fucking awesome. And then the writers decided to shit all over it.
3930013
3930058
it's kind of always been inevitable, though. The Bolts said as much at the end: they'd been waiting for a while for a spot to open up so they could get Dash in there, because it's pretty much a given at this point that she's immensely talented. I honestly prefer moments of huge accomplishment to be a little low key, because aside from avoiding melodrama, something something journey over destination.
3928276 Have the Wonderbolts ever had a good episode? I think that is the fundamental flaw of this episode. The Wonderbolts have shown more negative qualities than positive qualities. A lesson of “some hazing/teasing is good for you” just doesn’t work with these characters.
3930161
Sonic Rainboom and Best Night Ever were both good and featured them heavily. Wonderbolts Academy really killed my liking of Spitfire especially. It was moreso the "military culture doesn't really fit with the show" than even this episode.
I liked this episode I thought it was pretty good. I may not be military but i do know that callsigns/nicknames are given not chosen by the one who gets it.
I see, I figured it would be the impressions the thing that turned you off.
I cannot stretch enough how much trouble I had getting through those, the difference between you and me here might be that I embraced and enjoyed the very awkwardness of it. I thought it was hysterical (in a chuckle anxiously kinda way). The subtext was evident to me immediately, Rainbow Dash was plainly trying to act like someone other than herself to get others to like her, that's a children show textbook 101 lesson right there, completely fitting, yet the episode graciously didn't feel the need to hold the hands of the audience and explicitly express all the morals to be learned from this episode including that one, leaving us to grab what we may from a story that ranges from so many kinds of scenes, that to me it feels more wholesome and realistic than the average episode.
The story went places, it was not a simple narrative based on an individual lesson; but a journey, an experience incorporating many different morals in the subtext in an original way.
Because the situation and perspective used to portray the story was so complex, it was actually an episode that I found difficult to predict it's outcome. I'm unamused whenever a story starts to just following with the motions, on the other hand with this episode I had no idea where the story would go. I love when a story it's able to do that without actually braking suspension of disbelief.
I think that boils down the main reasons why I had a different experience than you might regarding the episode.
~Leonzilla
3927996 Every season lately seems to be made with the assumption that it could be the last.
Just look at the final episodes of seasons 3,4 and 5.
The staff doesn't want to leave any open loops if the show actually ends suddenly, and they could always come up with more ideas later if they have to.
3928011
Come on, just because that was the way they choose to proceed this time doesn't mean that it was the only possible outcome, Rainbow Dash could have succeeded by merit rather than because her team mates were sensitive and understanding enough to accommodate her and make her feel welcomed as part of the team despite everything.
She could have talked her way into opening up about her feelings to stop the nickname, she could have actually succeeded on her intent of looking awesome only to find out that all her efforts were unnecessary, we could have been presented with a bitter sweet lesson about how respect and admiration has to be earned sometimes or a humbling tail of how one who was always considered to be one of the best find that's that it's a big world out there and not only one might find that one it's not as good as one might have thought but also the rewarding value of having something to aspire and having to work hard in order to get what you want. Those are just a few of many other possible scenarios they could have used, each of them with various results depending on delivery.
Having a character mess up during a part of the story is hard, but what matters is how that part is significant, how does it fit in the overall story and what value, use, or lesson can be extrapolated from it.
You are free to not like it of course likes and dislikes it's a matter of taste and opinion; but do not say it is bad because as far as I'm concerned in terms of quality it's well made.
If you disagree with that last statement, I look forward to having a good classic and civilized discussion about it. Who knows we might even learn something.
~Leonzilla
Man, after all of the slagging I've been hearing around here I was almost afraid to watch the episode. I mean, they've gone actively creepy (Lesson Zero) and actively reprehensible (Mare-Do-Well). And though I'm not sure it was either of those, I actively regret having watched Brotherhood Social. This show has had some epic moments of cringe.
This episode though … just gets a "meh" from me. Yes, her achieving her dream is a complete anticlimax, but that's merely disappointing, not awful. And yes, Dash is a creature of elemental dumb, but that's an awful that the show has long since established — I mean, even in Tanks For The Memories, which I thought was fantastic, she decides to sabotage the whole world's seasonal cycle to keep her pet from hibernating. A pony of foresight she ain't. I really wish the show would use her for purposes other than stupidity to drive plot (like it did in Tanks, giving her a defining moment of growth), but she's sort of become the show's S3/S4 Pinkie Pie, the one-dimensional character who everyone else sort of routes around. As such, her ridiculous plan this episode didn't feel like it was soul-crushing in places that the show hasn't already thoroughly trampled me.
And I do really like that they're starting to get more serious about the show's continuity. Dash's reservist status, her immediate knowledge of history, etc — they're pushing things forward.
What actually concerns me now is what 3927996 notes:
Namely, that they're giving the Mane Six so many outside ties and responsibilities at this point — not to mention them no longer being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony — that it's going to become increasingly harder and harder to get Team Adventure Friendship together in non-artificial ways. The show's domesticating the protagonists.
(In Pinkie and Fluttershy's case, more literally so: Pinkie's settling down with (her employer/family's) kids, and Fluttershy becoming Svaðilfari to Discord's Loki.)
I'm of two minds about this — on one hoof, it's an affirmational underlying message that you don't have to set aside childish things as you grow, and that there's nothing keeping you from simultaneously being a hero and having responsibilities. On the other hoof, it's colliding headlong with the core tone and theme of the show, because these ponies are still very childish … in the sense that, well, Rainbow Dash can run across a problem like "being called by a hated childish nickname" and the solution is the antics we see in this episode rather than her asking to speak privately to Spitfire and saying "Hey, I get that everyone gets a nickname and we don't have any say in the process, but that one genuinely hurts for these reasons," or maybe opening up to her five best friends in the whole world and having them group-hug her until she feels like she can own her past and be proud of everything that brought her to this point. Now there would be a moral for you.
In short, we're seeing the characters develop all of the trappings of adulthood, without any emotional development, and given how the Faust-driven early seasons had the ponies acting surprisingly adult despite the target audience, that more than anything is a knife to the gut.
3929991
3933358
Don't mistake the reality that cartoons are generally meant for kids as an assertion that they can't aspire to being more than that or, regardless of overt maturity, be enjoyed by adults as well. Traditional "Saturday morning" Western animation as a genre--and a large portion of anime as a separate one--is unequivocally child-focused. Recent (and subjectively welcome) expansions and innovations on that trend notwithstanding, the core identity of animation still centers around entertaining children, as it always has and likely will for the foreseeable future barring some (also subjective) catastrophic shift in viewing tastes.
As far as the particular issue here goes, FiM is one of those aforementioned "Saturday morning" cartoons. Our fandom around it, while unprecedented, doesn't or at least ideally shouldn't affect its identity, which is that of a kids show meant for kids. My issue isn't that any of us want something better than just whimsical pandering or whatnot; it's what seems to be a growing sense of entitlement that leads people to expect adult-oriented writing in kid-oriented media, and claim wrongdoing on the part of its creators when they make something meant for their target audience. That's not fair to the genre, and it's likewise not fair to the show's identity.
(Of course, this is mostly all semantic since I don't even think the scene in controversial question counts as pandering to dumb kids, but that's a whole separate scuffle to get into.)
3933674
Fair enough. (I wasn't your downvoter, btw.) It was the "entire functional purpose" which got to me.
I do think that kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, and that drawing a bright line between "children's" entertainment and "adult" entertainment (in the generic non-sexual sense), and consigning kids' shows to a pastel ghetto, does them a disservice. But, as you say, that's another can of worms.