Talk to me, Goose... err, Vapor!! So we once again visit the Wonderbolt Academy and meet a bunch of potential recruits!! Like the first time, I was hearing Kenny Loggins songs in my head the whole time!! A good episode with a solid moral. And onward to the tidbits... We got 2 VERY nice Top Gun references so my squee meter has officially blown its top!! Overall: 8/10 And with that, time to fly on to the finale!!!
No Archer reference? They were definitely in the danger zone. I liked this episode, and better backstory in this episode for side characters than a certain unicorn who shall not be named.
One of the better episodes in recent memory. In my opinion, anyway. It's not often that I get to see a pair of the mane six have that much chemistry. Aside from another matter that I exhausted elsewhere, at the moment my only criticism for this episode lies with Spitfire. I can't believe that she was unable to notice Sky Stinger being aided by Vapor Trail.
My thoughts are in spoilers below as normal. Spoiler I don't think there's much I can say about this one. Not that it's a bad thing. The running gag of Rainbow Dash having to go back to the Wonderbolt Headquarters was actually legitimately funny. To me anyway. Twilight shows off her funny self once again when she gets excited about teaching. Now about the actual episode and the characters. I actually liked Vapor Trail. She was cute. Plus, I can kind of understood her dilemma about being an only child as I am an only child myself. I don't think my parents smothered me with love like Vapor's parents seemed to be doing, but there were certainly moments where they did spoil me at times. Did I take advantage of that? Maybe. Guess it comes with being an only child but I understood her dilemma nonetheless. As for Sky I couldn't understand his dilemma, as, like I said, I was an only child and didn't have any siblings. He was way to cocky for his own good. His ego was way too high. Kind of made me not like him. However Vapor wanting to help him was understandable I suppose. But she helped him too much. This lead to the obvious problem. Vapor just wanted to be with Sky. What is she, his shadow? Well either way the episode where Sky and Vapor were trained by Twilight and Rainbow was actually pretty cool and I liked it. Because it showed that you can accomplish whatever you want if you put your mind to it and actually put the necessary work/training/whatever into it and give it your all. Work hard and you achieve results. I actually kind of liked that moral. Not much else I can say. Looks like Vapor and Sky are on their way to possibly becoming Wonderbolts. Let's just hope they don't become better than Rainbow Dash for their sakes and Rainbow Dash's. Either way this was a pretty 'okay' episode and I enjoyed it. Looks like the finale is next. Oh goodie. IF YOU SCREW UP ONE MORE TIME STARLIGHT... YOU CAN BE REINTRODUCED TO BEING CALLED 'NOT REDEEMED' CHARACTER.
Surprised to find that the general stance on this episode is more positive than I expected. I also liked it, the new characters they brought in were cool. Angel Wings didn't do much though, pretty much the only disappointment to me.
I wonder if a part of the positive response was simply thanks to Twilight Sparkle's strong presence. I mean, aside from this only being her second time (if you don't count the first time, due to dilution) that she got a friendship mission from the map, she has nearly been relegated to background pony status in the fifth and sixth seasons, with very few exceptions. Either most of her roles or contributions are minor or insignificant, or she's not there at all. Add on to that having a more dynamic relationship with Rainbow Dash than Fluttershy, I can see where some of the appeal for the episode could come from.
I've noticed that, too. It's a real shame that the most developed character of the series is consistently taking a backseat to the others. From a Watsonian perspective, it could make sense. As a princess, she's naturally going to have less time for wacky adventures with her friends. From a Doylist perspective, however, it just seems like a clumsy attempt to catch the other main characters up to her level of development.
I don't think the others need to be caught up, though. There's really only a couple of things that we could stand to learn about some of the main cast, or see them accomplish, but a lot of them are the kinds of things that we shouldn't expect to see if they haven't come up already. Then, in the case of Rainbow Dash and Rarity, they've already gone beyond the point of covering what was necessary. Regarding Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack, there just wasn't much to cover or build upon, so they can seem lacking -- especially Applejack. Honestly, I could accept Twilight Sparkle taking a backseat in the last two seasons, especially the sixth, but the writers simply don't give us much in the way of good reasons. The princess excuse is dead in the water because it's usually used as a convenient device to control her presence and the influence she would have over whatever events are happening. Even in that stupid episode with the yaks, where Twilight Sparkle tries to do something "princess-y," she's either sharing the stage with Pinkie Pie or getting outshone by her (depending on how you look at it). And while I would be willing to sacrifice some Twilight time for Starlight time, we lost Twilight time and didn't get enough Starlight time in exchange. I'd even be fine if Twilight Sparkle didn't get a lot of screen time in the next season, but my confidence in the writers is about as low as it can go, so I wouldn't expect them to make her time count all that much.
oh this episode is so bad. "Have applejack make my favorite cider" Shows the female wonderbolt dressing room with ponies dressing in it. being mean to that nice pony telling rainbowdash shes the best pony shesh, was meant to be a kid show.
Late to the party, thoughts in spoilers as always Spoiler: DANGER ZONE Poor Rainbow Dash... she can never catch a break. Ah well, that's the military for ya. This episode wasn't too bad. Rainbow Dash was her usual cute and awesome self, and Twilight was exactly as I would expect her to be. Spitfire had some fun moments, too. The "I love my job" bit in particular got a few chuckles out of me. Vapor Trail was just a cutie, and also had a solid backstory. But then there's Sky Stinger. WHERE DO I BEGIN WITH THIS *yay*HOLE?! Sky is essentially what you get if you take S2 Rainbow Dash, flanderize her, remove all of her redeeming qualities, and swap out her gender. I mean, it was nice that he eventually learned how to fly on his own, but the key word here is "eventually." He pretty much spent his entire life taking advantage of the kindness of others without even knowing it, which really is a douchey thing to do. Also, THOSE TWO NEED TO HURRY UP AND KISS. And now the elephant in the room... Angel Wing. Eh, she was okay, I guess. She had no reason to be there in terms of the narrative, but hey, I'm going to cut the kid dying of cancer or something some slack. Overall, I give this episode an airhorn/10.
I smell a bull*squee!* post. He thought he could fly but it was actually vapor helping him, without his consent. Thats why he flipped out at her. Its like performing a magic trick, and thinking your good when actually your assistant does it all. well that's nice of you
