Thoughts on S6 E7 · 11:52am May 8th, 2016
S6 E67 and a lot of scenes of the full M6
evil episode confirmed averted
All right, so I was all ready to jump on the hate train after reading a few blog posts. And yeah, the plot's pretty eeh, but that part where Rainbow Dash mimicked everypony was 10/10*. Flexible hair. Fluttershy impression. Rarity coiffure. Hilarious broad strokes of what her friends are to her, which makes sense considering the character archetype Rainbow is. Somehow Rainbow did a more convincing imitation of AJ than Flutters, because at the end she almost sounded exactly like her. Also every shipper ever using Rainbow Dash, regardless of the ship, now has a key point to play with in their arsenal, for better or worse.
That much being said, it's always a bit of a bummer you can accurately summarize the episode in one picture.
Full thoughts below the break.
Speaking of voice acting, while I'm all for husky love, Spitfire sounded a lot like Roz from Monsters Inc. Are they the same voice actor or something? I dunno.
Okay, so I will clarify: I wasn't really that invested in Rainbow Dash's dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. Wasn't she basically one at the end of [insert correct episode]? So there wasn't much expectations on my side of seeing awesome going in; in fact, what expectations I had were met: it's an episode about her getting what she wants, only realizing there's more to it than she thought.
This seems to be one of the key criticisms: it was supposed to be more, this milestone of a key dream being fulfilled, second only to the CMC getting their cutie marks. And while I see the point, I don't mind that they chose to temper Rainbow's expectations instead, and at the end it shows that Rainbow is still as psyched to be a Wonderbolt as she was before. We'll look at this more later.
It's an important lesson, that dreams never truly reflect reality. So is the one about not showboating or thinking only about your status when ponies have only just woken up. The Wonderbolts weren't being assholes. They were just being regular ponies. Regular ponies get annoyed and sad and frustrated at plenty of things: think Mr. and Mrs. Cake, especially the latter from Second Prances, even frikken Celestia though we've talked enough about that.
The conflict is not the most solid. For it to hold, she had to be absolutely triggered by the name calling instead of taking it on with the bravado she puts out. Yes, there's proof of her secretly being insecure, and yes, name-calling is probably a much worse offence in kid-show Equestria. The emotional issue that drives the conflict had to be suppressed or just allowed to fester for years, even decades, until it resurfaces... doesn't this sound familiar?
"My abandonment issues drove me to enslave villages!" "My, uh, tragic past made me mimic my friends."
If they were more balanced ponies (and Rainbow isn't even a unicorn, who have historically higher tendencies to flip the frick out) this wouldn't be a problem for them, and the basis of the episode wouldn't stand.
Additionally, all this ego up... it's like she got her dial twisted up a couple of notches and then was let loose to drive the plot. I mean, it's like that, but upon thinking I don't think it's out of character. Bear with me here.
We know Rainbow Dash idolizes the Wonderbolts. She sees them through a certain lens of awesome; Rainbow Dash, as evidenced many times, has this broad-strokes approach to understanding the world and the ponies around her. So everything about them is supposed to be super awesome. "Why aren't they excited? They should be excited!" Which is why she tries to then keep up with this self-sustained vision, self-imposed pace, butting in to Spitfire's lines, showing off her knowledge, even showing off her enthusiasm. Rainbow Dash gushes about awesome things and sees this gushing as also awesome - she resonates with it, like when Spitfire and her both had a moment with the Wonderbolts mantra motto thing.
Where am I going with this? The point is that, no she wasn't being all full of herself. That lesson's past a long time ago. I think she was actually trying to fit in. Not with the actual Wonderbolts, but her idea of the Wonderbolts. She hypes herself up and pushes out all this "I'm a part of you guys" in accordance to what she thinks they are. What she should be registering - their tired looks and yawns - she filters out.
This isn't inconsistent with how she is. Rainbow's force of personality works on an expectation that yes, you would like extreme flying or pranks, or ugh, being slow sucks. We know that Rainbow seeks validation, and I don't like to lump it in with ego, but prefer to see it as more of a psychological need. Most of the clashes she gets into is because she thinks of other ponies being kindred souls to her, and often needs them to be to feel good.
"Ugh, why do we have to dress up? (Am I right guys? Please resonate with me. So that we can avoid the not-awesome together.)"
"Because some of us like to attend in style, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, well... (She's saying the not-awesome is awesome. She's saying I'm wrong! But I am awesome! I must deny what she says because my understanding is correct!) Up yours!"
tl;dr Rainbow being weird is, while weird, not OOC, because it's just the way she acts upon her conceptions, which are shaped by her personality.
Blah. Okay, what's next?
Oh, right. The stormcloud.
Pictured: (weekly) quality decision making
I mean, really? If anything, I feel that that was the weakest part of the episode, completely tacked on just to have Rainbow crash again in a more serious fashion. Why didn't Rainbow commit to the plan that she had felt so confident about? Why did she just go, "Uh, nvm lol" -> cue scene for teaser clip? She rode a stormcloud for Nightmare Night and blew one up to prank Derpy IIRC. But... ugh, whatever.
Back to reality oh there goes gravity oh there goes Rabbit he choke he's so mad but he won't / give up that easy no -
Back to reality, Rainbow Dash comes to face the consequences of her actions. Being shocked by lightning has made her realize, "Wow, maybe I am trying a bit too hard", and she admits that she was triggered af, then the Wonderbolts reveal that "hey, yeah, you have been trying too hard, it's annoying. Also lol y u heff to be mad" and it's revealed that hey, name-calling isn't the worst thing to happen in the world.
I think a key point here that needs mentioning, and is probably one of the intended morals, is that a little bit of crap is okay between people you've been through stuff with. Keep it real, y'know? Poking a bit of fun is fine when you've been through worse (together). There's room in social norms to be a bit offensive, even, if (and only when) you're with the right group of people. "Rainbow Crash" now becomes a bonding point instead of a humiliating memory, because Spitfire has [unmentionable] and Soarin had clipped his wing and ee tee cee.
And you know, I'd have been fine.
But then they have to go and inflate Rainbow Dash's ego all over again by gushing about how awesome she is, and how they've been yearning to have her on the team. GRAH. Why do you have to renegade on your development moment? Why? This could have been so real!
Anyhow, the end comes and Rainbow Dash must clean like there's no tomorrow. But she's still happy. And I think this is a strong note, because even after she went through all that crap of feeling like crap, and acting like crap, and having her world view being challenged and realizing the Wonderbolts lurve her, she still knows what she wants, and she knows that she has it. True satisfaction, true bliss that doesn't come from ignorance - that is an ideal in itself, and it was great to see Rainbow find it, because her personality, while not the nicest, comes with a very big plus: when she's happy, she's truly happy, and really embraces the good things as being awesome. A kind of charisma that you want to resonate with.
I won't say the episode was bad. I will say that I understand why I lot of people feel it is, and I can accept it, because the execution - again, flimsy plot - was lacking. The episode could have been so, so much better, but that isn't enough for me to call it bad. And there are some gems buried real deep in there. It is what it is, just like a majority of the pony episodes, and I watched it fine and got something out of it.
Namely:
Indisputable proof of Twarity, just look at that steaming jealous stare
Coming to you soon on the cover of every TwiShy fic to come ever because screw you
This has been your episode review with Casca.
Tell me what you think in the comments. I'm honestly curious and would love to hear your thoughts. I mean, you probably don't need to be told that, but hey, just saying.
*I am aware that some people found it cringe... I dunno, I thought it was funny. .__.
I agree with the characterization analysis. This is a believable direction for Dash. I suppose the biggest disappointment for me was that after so much buildup, Spitfire just swooping down and saying "You're in. Grats." before the opening theme felt anticlimactic. Still, it's nice to see the Wonderbolts being professionals instead of lying, cheating, or condoning reckless endangerment.
Also, Imgur hates Fimfiction; you're going to want to find a different host if you want people to actually see those images.
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I was hoping that it'd work this time... I've swapped them out for Photobucket, so crossing my fingers.
Do you know why Imgur derps up on here by any chance?
Actually, I think this image sums up the episode best. :B
Thank you for putting what If felt this succinctly. I liked the episode, though they did fluff a few of the key points, pretty much because it tried to explore this idea.
Personal opinion: I reckon kids will understand it a lot more easily than we do. At least if my niece is anything to go by.
media.giphy.com/media/1Z02vuppxP1Pa/giphy.gif
)
(I especially liked how the most character-accurate imitations were AJ's and Pinkie's
3929497 imgur is deliberately blocking images when it detects the download is coming from a user opening a fimfiction.net page. As a workaround, you can either right-click on the broken image, copy its location and open it in a new tab/window*, or right-click, choose "view image" (ctrl+left click or middle-click opens a new tab), and reload the image again (selecting the URL bar and pressing enter).
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Thank you. Also, that double link loop. Ouch.
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I actually read somewhere, or had some training about this - that children can't conceptualize "others". Sharing, taking things personally, a lack of empathy towards other children, all stem from this at least partially. Tackling the root of the issue - trying to teach perspective - is, as exhibited, not the simplest task, but I take it as a positive thing that parents can now say "Remember when Rainbow Dash tried to make the Wonderbolts like the same things as her? Yeah, sometimes they might not even if you do". Or something like that.
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:V
I agree that this isn't RD's best episode, nor the best of the season.
However, i will say that I consider it to be one of RD's better ones, and even if it ends up being one of the weakest of the season, that's only because most of the other episodes are just slightly better.
However, I will defend RD bailing out on her plan. She didn't go through with it because something went wrong. What it was, we're not sure of, and the episode doesn't make it clear. The only thing that matters is that it did go wrong, and she ended up in that spectacular crash.
In regards to hype and expectation, my strategy is this:
Hope for the best, but don't expect the best, regardless of what the synopsis of the episode is.
And that strategy works out pretty well, since so far, there hasn't been a single episode that I could personally say was disappointing.
Also, this is actually episode 7 of the season. You skipped "No Second Prances".
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Yep, definitely no qualms there. Fair enough, I can't remember Rainbow's episodes as being particularly interesting, but this one had a solid moment worth capitalizing on and what I still take to be a good resolution of "reaching your dreams".
And thanks for the catch with the numbering, fixed!
3943987 Rainbow's episodes tend to be the more interesting ones for me.