Buckball Season S6E18 Review · 8:42pm Sep 3rd, 2016
Time to give one of the most worthless characters on the show something to do at last.
So right off the bat the episode serves to remind us Rainbow and Applejack are the two most badass members of the cast, then immediately reminds us Pinkie and Fluttershy are the two actual most badass members of the cast. They turn out to be amazing buckball players and so are chosen to compete against Appleloosa, but Rainbow and AJ try to fire them up in ways that backfire. Also it turns out Snails is a really good levitator and is chosen as their goalie. Flutters and Pinkie panic, Rainbow and AJ realize how they're acting, get them back on track, and they win the day.
A couple nice things with this episode. First, I was happy that there was no conflict between Rainbow and AJ and Pinkie and Fluttershy. I thought they would want to play even though the other two are better, or convince them not to play. But no, they acknowledge the better players and try to encourage them in their own ways, which they realize is not a way that works for their friends, who had fun playing and weren't into the serious competition aspects.
Next, Snails. Of all ponies to be in this role, would not have picked him as the one the writer would go with. The episode doesn't focus on it and kinda glosses over him, but he does get some funny moments here and there. I overall liked seeing him, the show avoided the obvious pitfall of putting Rarity in this position (she has enough hidden depths and it's cool to expose background characters) and didn't focus on Snails to the detriment of the plot. He was just there being good at the game.
Finally, buckball itself is neat, it's not really a knock-off of any other sport except maybe quidditch, but I'm not a Harry Potter fan so I don't really care. My only criticism would be the final game seemed a bit static, I pictured the unicorns moving their baskets around the arena to line up shots with the earth ponies and the pegasi having to fly around staying with them. But perhaps that's a limit to what the animation team felt like doing.
Overall not an amazing episode, but very enjoyable with a few unexpected things that worked well.
snails flutters and pinks all can ball...this should've been a space jam parody episode...i'd have died laughing...also did anyone else notice the straw hat pony?! ONE PIECE REFERENCE THOUGH?!
Also pinkie looks damn good in pigtails
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Ehm... It was Snails, not Snips. Snips is the tiny one
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4189834 I said Snails.
This episode was enjoyable, but it did seem to ignore "Hurricane Fluttershy" and "Flight To The Finish" in regards to how coach Rainbow Dash would work.
Burn the heretic!