Thoughts on "Molt Down" · 4:13am Jun 2nd, 2018
Well, here we are, the eve before the next episode because I procrastinated putting my thoughts up on last week's episode. To be fair, when I wasn't doing real life stuff, I was busy churning out the next chapter of Brotherly Bonding Time, which only turned out to be, oh, over 11,000 words long!
Geez, never thought I'd write a chapter that long. Remember back in the days of The Rock Farmer's Daughters where the chapters were an average of just over 2,000 words, with the longest chapter being about 5.5 thousand? I kind of miss writing shorter chapters, and I wonder if I should've saved Part 2 of the BBT chapter's fight for a following chapter. Oh, well.
But, enough of that, we have to talk about dragon puberty!
Growing up is just awkward; just ask Marshmallow Wings, fifteen years old and grumpy that she has to have braces (welcome to the Braces Club, sis). I don't think my teen years were that bad (except for a weird nausea and belching problem)--in fact, my adult body is much crueler to me than what was happening during adolescence.
So, it's interesting--and less awkward than I thought--to see Spike going through some changes very similar to what we humans go through. And he has every right to be embarrassed, because those symptoms of his are very loud and clear, especially that uncontrollable volume and the fire belching (I relate to the belching more than anything tbh). It's also nice that it doesn't focus too much on the gross "stone scales", and just have them be red and itchy diamonds to show how much of a problem they are for him.
The scene with Smolder explaining what was happening was really nice--she really comes off as sort of like a teasing older sister without going overboard into bullying, and at least she's trying to be a little helpful. I wish we had more scenes of Smolder and Spike together in this episode (or in others, for that matter).
And it's nice seeing Zecora again, being as helpful as always.
I do think it's odd that Spike only went through all of that in just one day. Not to mention, I keep feeling like there's something missing from this episode, but I can't put a finger on what. And that part with Rarity being deaf because of phoenix feathers honestly feels forced so that she couldn't hear Spike when she otherwise would have, or that she got caught more easily by the Roc.
Speaking of the Roc, every time I hear that, Dwayne Johnson pops into my mind. Has anybody made that joke yet?
And of course, I gotta mention the big thing... Spike has wings! Yeah, I've seen a lot of fandom stuff with an older Spike with wings, but I didn't think that he'd actually get them. I always thought that he was just some variant of wingless dragon, but nope! I never really put much stock in that thought, so I don't mind being proven wrong, and I have to say, it's really cool to see him flying (even if it's weird that after a few minutes, he's flying circles around that big bird). I wonder what Rainbow Dash thinks.
But, all in all, it's a good episode. I look forward to more flying Spike.
Some things I liked about the episode:
(1) Spike finally gets wings,
(2) It's only by a little, but Spike is now larger,
(3) Spike is more powerful, and
(4) Spike got to for real, unequivocally, save Rarity. And she knows exactly what he did.
In connection with "4,"the ep was full of shipping between Spike and Rarity, in general.
In my own mind, yes, but I don't think I've heard anyone make it out loud. Which is honestly kind of surprising.
But yeah, dragon biology is freaking weird. I can understand a lot of the symptoms, but the volume shifts are truly bizarre. (And I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone make Skyrim jokes there. A dragon is literally shouting.)