Newbie Dash! · 11:37pm May 7th, 2016
I watched the latest episode today!
Usually I'm at least a day late with these kinds of things, but since this episode had Dash's name on it, and it's the first Rainbow oriented episode this season, I was pretty excited. So excited, even, that I decided to talk about it! I often give my thoughts on episodes I've watched (which generally range from 'I liked it for these reasons but maybe could have done without X' to 'I liked this for all the reasons') in the Writers' Group episode discussion threads, but today I wanted to go more in-depth about what I thought in this handy blog.
Expect unwieldy tangents and spoilers below!
So, this episode opened with a pretty big change for Rainbow, one which made me more than a little apprehensive (but also excited) about the episode. I think what was going through my head was a sort of list of all the ways Rainbow becoming a Wonderbolt might be handled. It wasn't going to be like with the CMC getting their marks, since that came at the end of an episode and was more like an euphoric reward. Rainbow joining the Wonderteam was placed at the beginning of the episode, and therefore was going to be a source of conflict. My mind immediately went to 'it's not going to live up to her expectations', although I wasn't sure how just yet.
What I didn't expect was for the episode to be quite so savvy with Rainbow's core problems, at least in my opinion. I remember as early as Fall Weather Friends that Rainbow hated being shown up and hated not being the centre of attention. She's consistently wanted to be centre stage and to present herself in a good, impressive manner. She's also excitable and prone to overreacting, both of which are problems that cause her to muck up, both in this episode and others.
What I think made this episode not as great as I wanted it to be (especially from the episode where she joins the Wonderbolts, which is kind-of a big deal) was that it focussed on all of Rainbow's flaws (like, every single one, really) but not so many of her qualities (and she has a few of those, as well, like determination, bravery, enthusiasm, and a considerable level of skill at what she does). We see her crash and make a fool of herself but I'd have really liked to see some cool stuff too. I can't think of any stand-out moment where Rainbow actually looked good, and that's a darn shame in my opinion.
There were elements I thought were really quite good, though. I liked the reappearance of Rainbow 'Crash', for starters, and thought it played a very strong role in heightening Rainbow's insecurities. Remembering being bullied isn't nice, after all, and likely made what would have otherwise been rather mild ribbing feel much worse. Even though Rainbow was still in the wrong, I felt I could see where she was coming from, and didn't want her life's aspiration to be just like school where she got picked on.
On the Wonderbolts side, I could see their frustrations start to get bigger and bigger. There was one who came off as being mean-spirited (the one who named her 'Crash', although I reckon it's something about her voice that ticked me off. It was sort of bloated and unpleasant, and gave off a very unfriendly vibe to me) but for the most part they didn't feel mean-spirited at all. Spitfire even gave Rainbow solid advice and only got unhappy when she seemed to be compromising herself or the team (either by not following a safety protocol, 'look both ways', or by acting out and trying to tweak the routine). I find it very hard to feel there were any actual villains in this episode, no Svengallops or Flims and Flams, no easy heels or scapegoats.
Just an unfortunate coincidence leading to some teasing gone wrong, and Rainbow overreacting, as she is wont to do. Gents have been complaining about both Rainbow and the Wonderbolts, but I honestly don't think either of them were being particularly villainous. I feel some names, not meant with ill intent, are really enough to get gnarly about, especially considering that me and my friends have been far more offensive to one another.
I liked some of the cool little side-things that happened in the episode, though! First to grab my attention was the dihedral wing angle comment Rainbow mentioned. She said that it would increase stability whilst flying. Interestingly, this is correct. Some of my modules are aerospace related (my degree is a generalist engineering one, so I've had levels of education in various engineering and even non-engineering specific fields). What I thought was interesting was that whilst it would provide stability (making he pegasus more bottom-heavy, turning them into a stable system, or more so) I'm not convinced it's actually a good idea for a stunt-pony.
I reckon this would have been way over the writer's heads (but who knows, maybe it wasn't!) but the reason a few fighter planes have their wings on the bottom of the fuselage is so they can turn faster, turning the plane into an unstable system. This means that once they've turned at an angle, the weight of the plane (or in this case, pegasus) helps them turn. The downside is that more effort needs to be applied to right their course.
Now, I'm no pilot (unfortunately, although if I transfer to the Aerospace stream (which I'm considering) I actually get free flying lessons along with my degree) so I'm unconvinced that what I've just mentioned is the beginning and end of it. Fighter planes display a wide variety of wing angles and positioning depending on what they're for and how they're built, and having very little knowledge on how magical flying horses do their thing makes me even more skeptical. I simply think it would have been really interesting and fun that Rainbow would have immediately read about dihedral angles whilst imitating Twilight and instantly thinking it'd be a good idea, even though it might not even work properly. I dunno: I just thought it'd be a cool detail.
Another interesting detail! Rainbow's talent at imitating ponies. Whilst of course she can manage a decent Applejack (how on earth did Ashleigh Ball manage to imitate AJ so?!) and we already saw her imitate Twilight in an earlier season, I was really happy to see this quirk of hers make a reappearance. I quipped in an earlier blog post about pegasi having a talent for imitation, particularly Rainbow Dash. I likened Rainbow and other pegasi to birds more than ponies (for fun, of course) and this was a talent they inherited from parrots.
It was silly and nonsense and I had great fun with it. I also said they swam like ducks, so... it was one of those story concepts.
Lastly, I was interested by an off-hand comment by Twilight (I think, I can't remember if it was her) mentioned that Dash was a resilient enough pony to get over a bad first day.
Why I felt this was interesting is because Rainbow has proven time and time again since as early as season 1 (Fall Weather Friends, again) that she isn't resilient at all. In Sonic Rainboom, she had a breakdown in the wings (and, similarly to her antics in this episode, messed with the event by switching up the numbers). More recently, in Tanks for the Memories, she couldn't take her pet leaving for a bit.
Pictured above: a resilient pony, according to (presumably) Twilight
I was interested in the idea that despite all this, Rainbow still maintains an image of herself that isn't true to her friends and other ponies. I think this is interesting because it means that all those overreactions are likely (in my mind, at least) due to the fact she feels she has to maintain that image, but can't. It's a bit of a vicious cycle that I reckon causes her a lot of grief. It also makes her not being as cool as she wants to be to the Wonderbolts, her friends, and everyone else seeing the event a lot more important to her. If she thinks she has to keep up appearances when all she really wants is to mope around a bit, she's likely to spiral out of control trying to please everyone and her own self-image.
In the end, I feel the episode was very interesting from a 'lets explore Rainbow's brain' kind of way, but wasn't very satisfying for me. All the cool things I mentioned at the end are pretty minor when compared to the episode as a whole. I think the episode shows Rainbow grow and evolve (both in a very major way, in that she's joined the Wonderbolts, and in a less noticeable way in that she's learned to deal with not being the centre of attention) but didn't really show Rainbow do it in a super cool way.
It's very hard for me to dislike anything Rainbow does, because at the end of the day, she acts remarkably similarly to myself, or at least, wants the same things. I also love being the centre of attention, and feel neglected when I'm not. I also didn't have a great time when I was younger, and I also tend to overreact to things and get super-stressed over very little. We have similar attitudes towards being brilliant (because I am, and I know it) but likely also try and oversell ourselves a lot.
I'm glad Rainbow's gone from 'Didn't Deal With It' to 'Deal With It' (pictured below) but I'd have loved to see her actually do more than 'deal'. I'd have loved to see her thrive as well as get knocked around a lot. I mean, I can't remember a single instance of her even flying straight: all the stunts with the Wonderbolts were either interrupted, she messed up somewhere, or she flew into a trash can.
Pictured above: a visual representation of 'Dealing With It' and 'Not Dealing With It'
And when Rainbow's main skill is taken away from her, all her insecurities cause her to be the problem-maker, and she doesn't compensate in any way, it kinda feels like this episode forgot that all the MLP characters are actually cool. Rainbow didn't really feel very cool here, ever, and I think that's rather sad.
I'm hoping for better from Rainbow in the future, though. I think that there's tons of potential for her to shine in the Wonderbolts, so we can see her be proper swish instead of just being an insecure clutz (which she also is, which is one of the reason's why she's my favourite).
That's all from me, in any case. I wasn't displeased by this episode, not by a long shot, but I do feel it missed a few opportunities and despite being about bestpony, it's not my favourite so far.
At least it's better than what happened with Second Prances, though, because some numpties thought it'd be a good idea to spoil that episode over three spoileriffic threads, pretty much murdering my desire to actually watch it. I hear it was dece. I woultn't know.
>: C
Bye!
3928380 I just googled 'Rainbow Dash crying' and then ignored the ones that obviously weren't from the show.
I have a sneaking suspicion it might be Mare Do Well, but I honestly couldn't say. I considered trying to get the crying scene from Tanks for the Memories but thought that might be a bit overkill.
I think the crying scene is from the cider episode.
I agree mostly with your blog, except that I really didn't like the imitation scene. Specially the one of Aj.
Also, while the episode didn't show some of the reasons why Rainbow is so awesome, they finally made the Wonderbolts acknowledge the fact that Rainbow is a national hero and the best flyier ever and that she totally deserved that spot,
Apart for that, you should watch seconds prances. I think is probably the best (or close) of this season this far.
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That's fine! I just enjoyed it, mostly because I took a shine to her imitating Twilight way back when. I'm not sure I quite get why anyone would outright dislike it, but I can certainly understand not enjoying it as much as I did.
I've been reading about the episode all day, but reading this has calmed me down a bit. I still don't like that Rainbow was just walking sudden the street then *poof* she's a Wonderbolt, or that the coolest thing she did all episode was imitate her friends, or that the Wonderbolts were just mean (in my eyes), and especially that Rainbow just accepts 'Crash' just because the other Wonderbolts have embarrassing nicknames. She's more than a Wonderbolt, she's RAINBOW DASH!! Why?!
I agree with you. Every time I see a Rainbow Dash's episode, I end up disappointed. Its always the same, Rainbow being arrogant or saying she's 'awesome' and 'cool', and showing her flaws but not her virtues. When I see an episode of the Mane 5 (like twilight or aj), the writers always put their virtues and their qualities, I'd like that to change. There've been good episodes, though, for example, "Sleepless in Ponyville" showed different things, and I enjoyed it. But now, every episode Rainbow appears its the same. I hope that change in the future. However, this episode was very good. I liked how the emotions played with Rainbow, getting frustrated and insecure with all the 'Rainbow Crash' thing. The ending was incomplete for me and unsatisfying. I was expecting to see Rainbow making a good show and demonstrating her qualities after making a fool of herself, but instead of that, there was a little talk, and then she was a Wonderbolt all of a sudden, without doing something after she messed up the show, I think she could have done more.
Anyway, I liked the episode, but it could have been better, since joining the Wonderbolts was Rainbow Dash's dream, and that means something important.
Good post! :)
3929303 Thank you. I do still love seeing Rainbow's flaws (since they're the ones I identify with the most out of all the main character's) and for the most part, I think the episodes have a nice balance to them, but I think this ep was way too one-sided, especially nearing the end.
I haven't seen this episode -actually, make that this season- yet. But you're review makes me very interested in doing so.
I'm a big fan of the Wonderbolts (shocking, I know), so I've been sort of looking forward, sort of dreading this. Glad to hear they don't come across as awful..
3929529 A lot of people seem to think they do. Over several threads, there have been arguments whether they were being rude or just welcoming RD into the fold.
I find myself in the latter camp, probably because I'm quite abrasive with my own friends and if I felt a nickname was enough to feel proper awful, I wouldn't have any friends left at all.
This is an interesting episode, at least to think and talk about. I'm aware the fandom liked to get divided over little things, but what I found interesting here was that people seemed mostly divided between villainizing either the Wonderbolts or Rainbow, where I believe neither was acting in a vacuum. I certainly think it's worth checking out. Who knows! Maybe you'll disagree with me.
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Eh, I'm already jumping through hoops to justify Fleetfoot's actions in Rainbow Falls as not being villainous; no doubt I can do the same here!
Really glad about the increased focus the 'bolts are getting though. From season 3 to now, there's been a pretty solid through line for the "Wonderdash" plotline.
3929548 I rather like the Wonderbolts as well, but not because they're nice.
I'm pretty competitive IRL and groups that are supposed to represent hight levels of skill have a certain allure to me.