My Little Pony: Cinco de Mayo Show

[Darth Wedgius]

I wish Hurricane Fluttershy had ended differently but I enjoyed the episode overall.

I really liked the foreshadowing in Testing, Testing, 1 2 3. I wasn't looking for it and it blindsided me. In a good way.

[MerelyAFan]

One thing I don't understand about these things is how everyone seems to treat the main cast as basically nobodies, maybe Twilight gets a little attention from being Celestia's apprentice, but:

First episode, so everyone is living under the reign of the god-empress Celestia who has an evil sister that is almost as powerful, said evil sister escapes from her prison and threatens everyone ...

The main characters then proceed to defeat and purify said evil god-like threat and now the realm has lost it's apocalyptical threat and has gained another benevolent god-like empress.

This is the first episode, and the for the rest of the show Rainbow Dash is obsessing over how she can prove she is a good pick for some fancy elite unit ???

She should be fighting off every commander in their army who is trying to ply one of the greatest heroines of the age with instant ranks and honors to get her under their banner !!!

Same for the other girls Rarity should be swamped by noble princes who want her hand in marriage etc

It does feel like one of those odd consequences of doing big adventure stories in the premiere and finale, with slice of life episodes in between. While Twilight has made advancements as a result of her big world saving accomplishments and the others are in fields (animal care, party throwing, fashion, farming) where their acts are appreciated but not necessarily career beneficial, Rainbow's idolization of the Wonderbolts and status as a rookie is a bit harder to square.

Granted the latter group are largely performers, not outright military, so Dash still idolizing them and essentially learning form when joining does make some sense; it just leaves more of the audience a bit less inclined to see what the big deal is about them given what Rainbow's already accomplished. Its the same issue the first episode with Daring Do has where we see her rejecting RD's offer of help, in spite of the fact the audience knows the latter's literally helped save Equestria 4-5 times by then.

[Trinary]

Fluttershy eventually dug deep and mustered up the 5 wingpower that Ponyville needed. Rainbow Dash suggested that the average hick-town Ponyville Pegasus should be able to manage 10. Rainbow Dash herself could do 60.5.

Chuck actually misspoke. According to the episode transcript, Twilight said Rainbow scored 16.5 not 60.5--though granted, considering her incredible speed, I'd have sooner believed she could score something on the order of 60.5, especially since if she's only 16.5, that means she's just maybe 50% faster than the average pegasi we saw this episode, which does not fit.

Then again, the numbers in this episode are ridiculous. They need 800 wingpower minimum to form a tornado. Rainbow Dash wants every pegasus in town to hit at least 10.0 wingpower so they can get to 1,000. And Spike says that even without Fluttershy, they have enough to reach that goal. Then because eight pegasi are out sick with the feather-flu, not only can they not get to 1,000, they can't even get to 800? Uh, for that all to be right, those eight pegasi would each need a wingspeed power of something on the order of 25. And again, Rainbow Dash's score is only 16.5.

I know, it's a minor nitpick--but much like Chuck has said about Trek when they do something like mention how a nebula puts out X amount of energy, which actually happens to be bigger than the total energy produced in the whole of the galaxy the nebula is located in...

"...like saying a loaf of bread costs $50 and a new car costs $200. Your numbers call attention to themselves by being so obviously, absurdly wrong and you don’t even need numbers in the scene—so why do you have them in there?

It’s like listening to a character who’s an historian suddenly claiming they’re an expert because of their published dissertation on Franklin Roosevelt’s 1946 presidential race against Dwight Eisenhower—when FDR never ran against Ike, 1946 wasn’t an election year, and at the time, FDR was dead. Everything you just said undermine the point you were making by getting into details that you clearly know nothing about, so why did you include them?"
-VOY: Revulsion review

[Trinary]

You would not believe the amount of Lightning Dust apologists I argued with. @_@

Honestly these episodes made me start to think that the Wonderbolts are a corrupt organization.

Lightning Dust wasn't the problem in that episode, Spitfire was. Lightning Dust just recognized the Wonderbolts for what they truly were...Spitfire would rather watch an illness-ridden Ponyville crash into absolute failure (with whatever real-world consequences come with that) than step up and disqualify the clearly-failed team by setting down her judge's clipboard and helping them across the finish line.

I agree with both points. While Lightning Dust was insanely out of control, she was encouraged and abetted at every step by Spitfire and the Wonderbolt trainers--or, best case scenario, they weren't really paying close enough attention which, you know, is kinda their job. So yeah, I'm more annoyed at Spitfire than at Lightning Dust and do think it's a bit abrupt that Dust was kicked out without ever having a chance to adjust herself to the new standards.

Odd thing? In the script there was originally a scene at the end where Lightning Dust was Rainbow's wingpony, and Lightning Dust expressed her agreement with the decision and her willingness to follow Rainbow's lead. It got cut, I guess for time, but the episode reference guide (https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Harmony ... way&sr=8-1) actually has that included in the description of the episode. So maybe that was cannon? At least until "The Washouts" aired...weird.

[Trinary]

If Chuck had more time I would have suggested also possibly adding the episode where Dash actually does become a Wonderbolt, but maybe that's being saved for something later down the line.

I wouldn't pay money to review that episode. Heck, you couldn't pay me money to watch it again.

[Trinary]

I really enjoyed this episode bloc. Three of these four episodes are among my favorites (Rainbow Falls being the odd one out), with great funny moments and even some nice emotional and character bits.

Hurricane Fluttershy is a great episode both for Fluttershy and for Rainbow Dash. Too often shows elevate one character by diminishing another, or having one be at fault and the other fixes things. I liked the moral, I liked Fluttershy's struggle and Rainbow being supportive.

Wonderbolt Academy is a classic and I love seeing all the tropes they avoid with Rainbow Dash, as well as seeing her be willing to walk away from her life-long dream.

Rainbow Falls ... I don't much care for, though admittedly it has some good moments. A few. I thought it was an unneccessary reversal of Rainbow's defining loyalty moment from the show's premiere. Then I gained a new appreciation for it after reading this comic: http://dashacademycomic.com/comic/view/1058 It made me realize, 'oh yeah, athletes train their wholes lives for events like these; some of them have careers riding on these events. So maybe treating it like a weekend scrimmage, the way Rainbow's friends were, isn't necessarily a good thing and it's understandable why Dash would think about competing for Cloudsdale.'

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 I really appreciate since I went to special ed classes when I was younger and now I work with special needs kids in public school. So the moral hits close to home for me.

So yeah, thanks again Chuck! I really appreciated it!

[Edvarius]

If Chuck had more time I would have suggested also possibly adding the episode where Dash actually does become a Wonderbolt, but maybe that's being saved for something later down the line.

I wouldn't pay money to review that episode. Heck, you couldn't pay me money to watch it again.

Trying to recall... was that the episode with her being bothered by her new nickname? Cause that one was so bad I couldn't even watch it all the way through. There's only so much cringe "comedy" a guy can take. It was even worse than Spike trying to sing the Cloudsdale anthem.

[G-Man]

You know, I haven't watched MLP:FiM since 2011 (moved and stopped getting the Hub), so hearing about the episode with the Wonderbolts my biggest thought was:

"OH! So that's who the really fast enemy in Canterlot Siege 2 is."

[RobbyB1982]

"...like saying a loaf of bread costs $50 and a new car costs $200. Your numbers call attention to themselves by being so obviously, absurdly wrong and you don’t even need numbers in the scene—so why do you have them in there?

Don't ever look too closely at the money system in Harry Potter. That is ridiculously broken, Rowling really gave it no thought at all, and it is loaded with things at exactly that kind of stupid scale.

A muggle with even basic sense of conversion rates could make billions in silver trading and bankrupt all wizarding banks in a couple weeks.

[Darth Wedgius]

If Chuck had more time I would have suggested also possibly adding the episode where Dash actually does become a Wonderbolt, but maybe that's being saved for something later down the line.

I wouldn't pay money to review that episode. Heck, you couldn't pay me money to watch it again.

Trying to recall... was that the episode with her being bothered by her new nickname? Cause that one was so bad I couldn't even watch it all the way through. There's only so much cringe "comedy" a guy can take. It was even worse than Spike trying to sing the Cloudsdale anthem.

I think that was "Newbie Dash."