Aug
19th
2018
Points of Canon: S8x20 - The Washouts · 3:21pm Aug 19th, 2018
Or does this episode have a different number? I’m confused.
- Chronology markers: The Student Six turn up in the audience of the airshow, requiring this to happen after the start of Season 8, but no obvious intra-season markers are present – neither Spike nor Mudbriar turn up, and I don’t see Cozy Glow either.
- “I hereby call to order this meeting of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club!” This is still a thing. I must remind you that the first time it turned up was in Mare Do Well, and that episode has every chance of having been erased by temporal meddling in It’s About Time. Notably, the meetings are still held in the CMC clubhouse – nobody else wanted to donate the use of space. Why?
- “I’d like to call to order the first ever meeting of the new and most exciting club – of which I am the president, founding, and only member – the Washouts Fan Club!” I’d say it’s a very safe bet Scootaloo did not make most of the merch on display herself, which means there’s a lot of official promo merch for the Washouts out there. Which Rainbow was entirely unaware of.
- “You eavesdrop on every meeting?” Good to know.
- “Only the newest, and greatest, and only stunt troupe in Equestria!” What, only? Really?…
- “Only because my brain feels like it’s strapped to one of those rockets about to explode.” Ponies have rockets which explode. I must remind you that military use of rockets in our world is actually ancient – the first mentions pop up with 1241. It starts getting serious around Napoleonic Wars, so it’s not unlikely Rainbow meant a weapon rather than just a firework – with early rockets, the difference is actually rather minor. With airships, for which recoil can be an issue, the advantages are obvious.
- “But what could the Washouts possibly have that I don’t?!” Pinkie replies with a poster that has very readable Latin letters.
- Bon-Bon, Lyra, Twinkleshine and Minuette are sitting right next to the spots Applejack points at. Lemon Hearts is also there. Guess who gets a hello? Right, nopony.
- “The Wonderbolts have bleachers, too! We practically invented sitting on bleachers!” So that’s what they call these, I would never have guessed. No, seriously. That said, the arena where this happens is the same Ponyville-area arena used in, for example, Newbie Dash, so Rainbow’s really trying too hard.
- Using wings as fingers is very common throughout this episode, once again reiterating that individual feathers are independently mobile, and occasionally prehensile.
- Derpy is not cross-eyed in this episode. Heresy!
- During one of the stunts, the rings are electrified by flipping a knife switch – with very obvious wires attached to either end.
- Short Fuse is using a plastic bottle with a likewise plastic straw. See chemical industry.
- Rolling Thunder has a very interesting scar over her left eye. Just how exactly does one get a scar quite like that without the use of bladed weapons?
“If doing barrel rolls through nine hundred million volts of electricity in a raging thunderstorm is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.”
- She isn’t right in the first place, because nine hundred million volts of electricity would discharge immediately, because it is far in excess of breakdown voltage in air for any reasonable distance. See Paschen’s Law.
- That said, ponies know what electricity is, measure it in volts, and know that lightning is electrical in nature!
- “Only the most reckless ex-Wonderbolt of all time.” Which is actually kind of a strange statement: The Washouts were never actually full-fledged Wonderbolts, being washed out during the Academy training, but still say they “are” ex-Wonderbolts.
“Ah, during the finale, I caught the old hind leg in the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot! Patent pending.”
- Ponies very rarely say “hind leg” for some silly reason.
- Equestria has patent law!
- Rainbow shows off by doing a barrel roll without moving.
- There’s an obvious snap cut as whatever happened for Rainbow to get a hold of Spitfire, and for Spitfire to get up to speed is missing entirely.
- Rainbow managed to hide behind Spitfire and become invisible. I call visual gag.
- “Well, I’m here to tell ya that if ya play that game, you’re gonna find out it’s pretty hard to”stunt tricks" in a FULL BODY WING-AND-HOOF CAST DRINKIN’ THROUGH A STRAW!" Abstract thought: This whole chewing out is rather pointless if Scootaloo is not going to be capable of flight eventually, don’t you think?… Or at least, that’s what Spitfire should think.
Rainbow uses a hair dryer to take a sticker off.
- That’s gotta be powered, and probably, electrical.
- That absolutely requires a synthetic glue: No glues derived from plant or animal matter behave this way.
- For some strange reason, the crow’s nest like structure above the clubhouse is back. We haven’t seen it around ever since Family Appreciation Day.
- “WHAT KIND OF SORRY EXCUSE FOR A TOMATO SANDWICH IS THIS?!” See Sandwich Problem.
- “I’M NOT SIGNING THAT ABOMINATION!” Ponies have the word “abomination,” and I wonder what exactly does it mean to them.
- “I’ll never be the best of the best or a Wonderbolt! Because I! Can’t! Fly! Is that what you wanted to hear?” And once again, not “will never be able to fly.” This dips very heavily towards this, but still stops exactly one last step short of saying it outright. Argh, come on!
- “Like strapping my scooter to a multi-stage liquid-fueled rocket and jumping twenty-two wagons lined up in front of a roaring crowd!” Ponies know what multi-stage liquid fueled rockets are and have at least experimental specimens – because “that’s because this is what she will be doing in the show tonight.” That said, the rocket shown is not actually multi-stage: No stage separation occurs. For these distances, multiple stages would be pointless overkill anyway. Even one stage doesn’t land anywhere near where it was supposed to.
- “Put your hooves together for Half-Pint Dynamite!” See chemical industry: Ponies have at least the first generation of high explosives.
- “Where’s the fun in that?” Duct tape! See chemical industry.
- Short Fuse is using a fire extinguisher, but we’ve seen them in Season 8 already.
- “Great! So you won’t mind how that rope’s about to coil around your hoof.” That rocket is rather lousy, because otherwise, it would have taken that hoof clean off with this rope.
While otherwise mostly inconsequential, this episode has a lot of highly implicative throwaway statements and storyboard features that give a picture of pony engineering very different from what people normally expect. I couldn’t ask for an episode that would underline more points made in RTAC #15 at once, even!
"Looks like all of Ponyville's here." I'd peg this as hyperbole, not meant to be taken literally, despite her element; but how many ponies are present in the audience?
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Far less than the estimated population of Ponyville, (~4000) especially considering its observed growth over the course of the series, and the fact that so bloody many of those ponies are actually known Canterlot residents.
I assume that Lightning Dust is just using the words wrong, because she's not quite as OCD about rocket terminology as Oliver and I. Still, the words need to exist in the first place.
4922460
Precisely my point.
So my headcanon confirmed :).
Oh Oliver, It's mercy enough that they get to exist. Moondancer floating in pony purgatory could only hope for such.
But never worry! Seeing how it took 5 seasons for Lightning Dust to reappear from 3 to 8. They are most definitely saving up a Canterlot friend reunion for Season Ten, naturally.
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Of course there some doubt that season ten even happens :).
Well, at least it was nice to see Lightning Dust again.
Ponies are used to it, the Apple family still lets them do it, no need to change things. I'm more surprised that Scootaloo never invited Rainbow's parents to join.
What was Scootaloo going to do if RD didn't burst in? Was she going to just stand in that empty room talking to herself? That's a lot weirder than eavesdropping on your own fanclub.
In contrast, Rainbow reads off a poster that has no letters or even symbols at all visible to our eyes.
We've seen fencing before I believe. Perhaps she also spent time doing sabre work in Germaneigh?
Also, first ever Oatstralian accent.
I guess technically they were all reserve first.
Also, seems like they missed an opportunity to have Wind Rider coaching the thing.
First off, this sequence is the highlight of the episode, and suggests to me that Spitfire lives in a van... down by the river!
Also, we know from Bulk Biceps that Pegasi wings can look like anything and still function, so Spitfire has no immediate way of knowing that Scootaloo is disabled. It is a bit surprising RD never told her.
I don't think it's missing that step. She says "I'll never." If Scootaloo could fly someday, then she could still be a Wonderbolt. The fact that she will never be able to be a Wonderbolt in context has to mean she'll never fly.
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And that she's doing well for herself and not an alcoholic hobo like I've seen her in fiction.
Oh, and the final scene with the Scootaloo fan club: Appears to be the exact same members of the Rainbow Dash fanclub, plus Rainbow's parents. No Apple Bloom or Sweetie Bell, which I expected. I guess Rainbow went around to the ponies she knows would do this as a favor for her.
Also, I know we know about Scootaloo's Aunts now, but this sure feels like evidence towards orphanloo. She can do whatever she wants without any kind of parent figure intervening, despite still being labelled as a "foal" in this episode.
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Honestly, Lightning Dust would have been a much better Matt Foley than Spitfire. My response was, initially, 'That doesn't sound like R. Lee Ermey. It sounds more like Adam Sandler in Lunch Lady mode.'
I think I would have more enjoyed a story about Scootaloo trying to form a stunt flying troupe, and finding Lightning Dust sleeping in a cart down by the lake. Trying to get the wash-out to dry-out and find her way out of the second act by coaching.
4922586 Dang it Mitch, I was really liking this episode until you just posited a much better one!
Spitfire kind of works well for the role though, Matt Foley is supposed to be an overbearing authority figure who's objectively kind of a shitty person and clearly loves yelling at kids. They did a whole comic once about Spitfire being terrible with children! I'm not sure if the author was aware of that or if it was just a coincidence.
Alright, here we go! First off: Nitpicks aside, this was a fun episode.
Pretty sure Rainbow is very, very blind to the concept that anyone else COULD be cool besides the Wonderbolts. She must have assumed the design was for something uncool. Maybe a new DJ or something.
I... actually liked seeing Dash's insecurity/egotism being portrayed and commented on as a flaw.
Probably just marketing. Although it's also possible that 'stunt troupe' is not a legally recognized term for whatever the Wonderbolts are, and the Washouts are hoping their audience won't notice.
If Pinkie's hair is prehensile and Fluttershy's tail can support Angel's weight, surewhynot.
She tells everyone she got it in a knife fight, but really she accidentally flew into a ceiling fan 😜
Maybe no one told Spitfire about it. Rainbow Dash may have been holding out hope Scootaloo would eventually fly.
Oh hey, somepony is being pulled into the sky by an untested rocket that may bring them too high to breathe or maybe all the way to space! Let's laugh at this instead of rescuing them. Way to be a hero, Dash.
Also as we saw last episode (or whatever), when RD's only fear about a boiling swamp was that she might lose some wing feathers, perhaps pegasi and ponies in general are far physically tougher than humans.
Who is Octavia making bedroom eyes at in the crowd before the last show?
Okay now seriously, WHERE ARE SCOOTALOO'S PARENTS or legal guardian? Scootaloo is a minor even by pony standards, right? Rainbow may not have any say over what she does, but her parents or guardians should! Is what Lightning Dust did child endangerment? Wait a minute, a Princess of Equestria witnessed the whole thing and didn't intervene to stop it either! The more I think about this episode the weirder it gets!
Also, Twilight literally had nothing more important to do than 'eavesdrop' with Scootaloo? She may not be able to fly but she can use a stepladder. Then again, maybe she just wanted to keep an eye on her friend.
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According to Rainbow, she’s her “own foal.” Emancipated minor?
She does, supposedly, have “aunts…”
The more nepotism you see, you mean?
How can she possibly support herself? Although maybe pony society is less worried about that and provides a basic minimum income and housing to everyone.
Then again, even Twilight had to work as a librarian for her house at first... or did she? We never saw the treebrary operating as a library.
Anyway I just wanted to say that another thing I liked about this episode is that in this kid's show we've watched one of the immature main characters who the target audience is supposed to kind of identify with / look up to reach the point where now she is having parent-like concerns about the safety of someone who is an irresponsible teenager.
Also it JUST occurred to me that maybe Twilight was watching with the intent of magically intervening if anything bad started to happen, and/or knew about Dash’s plan to do something. If we’re feeling really charitable, maybe she cast a bunch of safety spells on things and that’s why the rope didn’t dismember LD and no one is worried about her.
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Amen, we did not. There was that idea that it’s a public place in Episode 1, but nothing beyond that, and even that was never spelled out clearly.
Best idea so far. Also, the rope is really long for no observable reason, so it’s probably part of that.
Maybe this is a sort of cartoon resolution, though. Like we never see characters getting their paychecks either. Or... sacks of gold bits, anyway. It makes sense that Fluttershy's effectively a forest ranger, but we don't see her patrolling the Everfree for lost ponies and... whatever else forest rangers do. I suppose it's also possible that Fluttershy is running a kennel to watch people's pets while they're away, and because of her talents doesn't need pens or cages or to keep predators and prey separate. The two things we can be certain of is that she's not the vet, since we've seen the vet, and she doesn't live off the land, because we've seen her go shopping and bits don't grow on trees.
...Right?
...Just how powerful is earth pony magic, I wonder...
An odd point I didn’t notice until the TV Tropes recap of the episode pointed it out: When Lightning Dust first unmasks, Scootaloo’s response seems to imply that she’s completely unaware of the events of “Wonderbolts Academy”.
But, back in “Parental Glideance,” Scoots gave Dash’s parents a recap of “Wonderbolts Academy”, complete with a photo of Dash and Lightning Dust flying side-by-side.
I think the best way to reconcile these is: Scootaloo knew the events of “Wonderbolts Academy” only in broad strokes. Maybe Dash only told Scoots an abbreviated version of the story because she didn’t want to badmouth Spitfire, or didn’t want to let on how close she came to giving up her lifelong dream. So Scootaloo came away thinking Dash just beat Dust in a straightforward athletic competition, with no interpersonal drama, and assumed the two were passing acquaintances at best.
So in this episode, Scootaloo’s reaction to the meeting isn’t from complete ignorance. She’s just surprised and excited that her old idol has real personal connection to her new idol, and blurts out “This is so cool!” before she can remember their shared history isn’t going to be a good one.