S02:E08 - The Mysterious Mare Do Well

[Godot 15]

Very mixed feelings on this one, from me, and the community too. 1/10 it's okay. (i know i've used that pun somewhere before...)

[Luna_tic 120]

I liked this episode better than most Rainbow-centric episodes.  I was disappointed when I went from one Rainbow Dash episode straight into another.  I feel that it was perhaps a 5 out of 10 when compared to the entirety of MLP up to this point.

[Officer Strike 152]

This is some wicked episode man

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

another forgettable episode. rainbow dash should do her job just fine without those nagging lessons 

[twiia 1,843]

Great lesson, and really funny. Yay

[Teavvi 627]

I didn't really like it but I have one thing to say:

BURN RAINBOW CRASH!!

[Thrond 3,263]

Yeah, I'm not the one to say that everyone's wrong about "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well." This is an episode which goes out of its way to humiliate its protagonist. The dam bursting? The goddamn peanut butter scene? It comes across as mean-spirited, and the blatant hypocrisy of the mane six doesn't make it feel any less so. Sure, Rainbow Dash ain't perfect, but she's not this bad. This is just unpleasant. 

[darknessrising24 56]

I greatly dislike this episode.

 

Now I’m not so much of an RD fanboy that I believe she can absolutely never be in the wrong or need to be taught a lesson herself. I’ve come to terms with my stance on the episode:

(Who was in the wrong?)

Looking back on it, I acknowledge that RD was in the wrong,there were points in the episode where lives were at risk and her showboating could’ve been saved for later. And while I understand that she kind of needed to be taken down a peg when lives were in danger, but the mane five were also in the wrong, and the way they conveyed their message was very poor and came off as VERY mean-spirited and hypocritical!

Not mention that Fluttershy didn’t even DO anything in the grand scheme of things aside from said flyby when RD expressed the joy that flying was the one thing she was the best at. So what? RD wasn’t allowed to be proud that she could fly?? That is NOT humbling someone, that’s just pouring salt in the wound.

(The Hypocrisy)

Let's see, aside from the fact that RD has bragged before, the Mane Five bragging about their own accomplishments behind her back and then laughing at her is just downright cruel. You don't just do the exact same thing you're trying to teach your friend NOT to do, if you're gonna teach her to be humble then that involves being humble yourselves and actually complimenting the others work instead.

Also, how can they call her out on bragging and saying she should be humble if they showed up at the parade? That comes off as more hypocritical since the episode practically begins with her enjoying the fact that she has a fan club and the Mane five get on her case about her huge ego while she’s at a gathering of said fans at Sugarcube Corner, which was technically after her heroics. And yet it was ok for Mare Do Well to attend her own parade under the same circumstances?

They both technically EARNED that praise.

Not to mention that with episodes like Applebuck Season, The Last Roundup, Bats, Sonic Rainboom, and Sweet and Elite(which takes place AFTER this one!) under their belts, AJ and Rarity are the LAST characters I want teaching someone about humbleness!

(If they did try talking to her, would she have listened?)

No, she probably wouldn’t listen, but it would’ve been a nice gesture of faith if we saw that her friends trusted her enough to at least TRY that first! Just jumping into the Caped Crusader scheme shows a lack of respect towards their friend; they were basically saying "Why bother?" instead of "We have to try!", and that just isn't the way they roll. Even the BRIEFEST attempt to talk Dash down (even if it failed utterly) would have PROFOUNDLY changed the feel of this episode.

What would the others have said if Dash had asked "Why did you do all this? Why didn't you just TELL me I was being a jerk?" What COULD they have said that wouldn't have gravely damaged their friendship?

"Well, gee, Dash... we assumed you wouldn't listen, because you're a cocky jerk. So we didn't bother!”

Another one of the biggest problems I have with the episode was the aspect of "SHOW DON’T TELL" being ignored. "28 Pranks Later" worked better with that reason because of that solitary aspect. We actually SEE them SIT HER DOWN AND TALK WITH HER. And when that fails they have Pinkie confront her one on one. It’s one of the reasons why I was able to genuinely enjoy "28 Pranks Later" despite having a similar premise. For me, if we had seen the two scenes where they talk it out with her and she didn’t listen in place of the flyby and Sugarcube Corner scenes then it would’ve worked a lot better in my opinion. That way it doesn’t feel like they all just jumped in on the plan without thinking of other options, but instead the gang DIDN'T talk to her, then messed with her behind her back, then praised THEMSELVES (instead of Twilight praising the runaway vehicle save, AJ praising the Dam rescue, etc) in front of her. Even if she was too stubborn to listen, why can't they at least make the ATTEMPT? Then, if Dash rebuffs them, they are JUSTIFIED in their actions!

But no, her friends made it clear to her that believe she's too thickheaded and stupid to even TRY to reason with, and they duped the entire town into worshiping a made-up Pony who promptly vanished forever.

Twilight and the others contradict themselves by saying bragging is bad when they've clearly done it more than a few times in the past. Even Twilight tried to talk to Applejack when she was doing the harvest by herself in Applebuck Season. But Twilight and the others never did that when it came to Rainbow's bragging. If they'd acted this way in Applebuck Season, they would have snuck around taping apples back up on branches and letting AJ keep working and working and working until she woke up in the hospital... and THEN given her the aesop. But instead Twilight spoke with her immediately.

Why doesn't Dash deserve the same respect?

AJ is stubborn. Everypony KNOWS she is stubborn. Later on, she nearly abandons here entire LIFE in The Last Roundup because she's stubborn. But TS still TRIES to talk to her in Applebuck Season. Even if it doesn't work for several attempts, she actually TRIES.

So Twilight can repeatedly try to talk with AJ during Applebuck Season even though her antics were causing trouble throughout the entire town and yet RD’s completely unreasonable to the point where instead of trusting and talking with her, her friends talked behind her back and formulated a conspiracy whose sole purpose was taking her down a peg?!

FUCKING BULL.

(Not much would've changed)

Many people like to point out that she put many lives at the list due to her bragging. With the hot air balloon I can understand, if RD stopped signing autographs she could have saved the mare before MDW popped up.
 

But with the rest? Even if she had been super-modest and humble, nothing would've been different at all! For example:

Runaway carriage - Nothing more RD could have done with this one than she did. RD did not have the strength to even slow it down at all. She even hurt herself trying to stop it. AJ would've had to step in anyway.

The construction site- Nothing more RD could have done with this one than she did. She barely saved one of workers and only got out unhurt due to his help. Again, Pinkie would've had to step in.

The dam- If the theme is so fragile that simply leaning against it too hard caused it to give away, it was definitely gonna collapse anyway.

 

Being modest before then wouldn't have altered a thing. We never see Rainbow's over-confidence directly leading her to making a mistake. The times she wasn't able to save ponies in the second half of the episode (the construction workers, the runaway carriage, the dam) wasn't because she was overconfident. The way they set those up, she couldn't have handled those on her own regardless of whether she went in humble or bragging. So that doesn't support the lesson they were (allegedly) trying to teach..

 

(Mare Do Well’s creation was well-meaning, but selfish and pointless)

More crucial are the issues that the Mane Five conceived of this plan -before- the balloon incident or anything like it occurred and most importantly, that was NOT their motivation for it. Their motivation was that "heroes don't brag."

If you want to argue that Rainbow's intention outweighs the fact that she was saving ponies, what does that say about her friends then? They didn't do a single thing to help until after they became annoyed with Rainbow's attitude. If their priority was saving lives, they wouldn't have bothered with the costumes and the charade. They would've just went out and helped, period. Instead, they put teaching Rainbow Dash a lesson over saving lives. How is that any better than what Rainbow did?

If anything, it's worse.

 

The episode never established why arrogance or over-confidence was bad beyond the fact that the attitude that came along with it was abrasive and unpleasant, and even then, it was only her friends who took issue with said attitude, no one else did. The reason why we generally consider arrogance and ego as flaws isn't because of the attitude in and of itself: it's because over-confidence leads to making mistakes that could've been prevented. The connection between bragging and getting over-confident was never made in the episode, so the only conclusion a viewer can take away was: her friends didn't like her attitude. That was it.

The argument since Rainbow Dash's ego could've risked lives, therefore what her friends did was correct, fails because her friends NEVER said a word about trying to prevent Rainbow from making mistakes or pointing to how over-confidence can lead to messing up. The ONLY justification they gave in-show was 'heroes don't brag.' As far as rationales go, this is far from convincing.

Why did her friends bother with costumes at all? That was done SOLELY so Rainbow Dash wouldn't know who they were. It served no other purpose and I'm sure took time and energy that could've gone to helping ponies sooner. But they prioritized teaching a "lesson" over saving lives. This isn't like super-heroes safeguarding their identities in DC or Marvel. They had no secrets or love ones to protect. They only bothered with them for the purposes of messing with Rainbow Dash. So she was not out of bounds in trying to unmask them.

If you're saying that “Rainbow should've just been content with ponies being saved”, then her friends should've been just as content and have NO objections to Rainbow Dash's attitude so long as she was saving lives. Which. She. Was. The rest of the Mane characters showed absolutely zero interest in helping Rainbow Dash out, or saving lives on their own--they ONLY got involved because they objected to Rainbow's attitude. If Rainbow's attitude hadn't rubbed them the wrong way, they would've sat on their plots the entire time. An endless parade of implausibly close-together disasters still doesn't validate shattering a friend's self-esteem and driving them into depression without even TRYING to talk to her.

I'm not saying they shouldn't have leaped to the rescue. I'm saying they should have sat Dash down before any of that, as a group -- maybe even with some of the pestered townsfolk tagging along -- and given her a firm but gentle talking-to. The exact one they gave AFTER emotionally torturing her. Tell her that it's okay to be proud, but not to rub others' faces in it. Tell her somepony is going to get hurt while she brags, and then NOPONY will cheer. All that stuff. Maybe even mention how bad Shimmer-Wing-Rarity made HER feel back in Cloudsdale.

(Final Thoughts)

So yeah, bottom line, with everything that's been pointed out, I can safely and confidently say that MMDW is a bad episode. It may have had a well-meaning moral, but that moral falls flat when the one on the receiving end is turned into a victim and the ones giving it come off as hypocrites.

That being said, I don’t hate it like the majority of the fandom, I just think it could’ve been done differently to help the message flow better. I may dislike the episode, but I am not opposed to MDW coming back in the future… but only as long as she's not just an unbeatable rival for RD.Maybe have RD don the mantle herself for some superhero antics or something?

I don't hate mare Do-Well as a concept, but her debut episode was just BAD.

Edited February 12, 2017 by darknessrising24

[bluseymoe 258]

I didn't really like it but I have one thing to say:

BURN RAINBOW CRASH!!

Rainbow Dash did nothing wrong.

[Neo_Shiron 56]

I think someone casted a stupid spell on the mane six (except Dash) because all Rainbow did was a little bragging. The other mane six had been the villains in this episode and went behind Dash's back to humiliate her.

The fanfic "Friendship is Empathy" shows my feelings toward that episode

[blackstarraven 142]

1 out of 5...

Ugg. Look almost no one likes this episode. And this is almost like Luna Eclipsed in that I feel like some of the characters just got the Idiot ball....

This episode makes most of the cast look bad...

 

 

Actually... This episode feels like a crappy fanfic....

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I liked this Episode, because Rainbow Dash finally learned, that she can be a douchebag sometimes and every Episode that is against my two disliked Ponies, is already one of my favorites. XD

[darknessrising24 56]

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

I liked this Episode, because Rainbow Dash finally learned, that she can be a douchebag sometimes and every Episode that is against my two disliked Ponies, is already one of my favorites. XD

That is a very Petty and self-centered reason for liking this episode, mainly because it makes absolutely no sense. She wasn't being a douchebag, she just caught a little caught up in her own hype.

 

This episode was a bad example of how to teach a lesson, I refer you to my above quote as to why.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

1 hour ago, darknessrising24 said:

That is a very Petty and self-centered reason for liking this episode, mainly because it makes absolutely no sense. She wasn't being a douchebag, she just caught a little caught up in her own hype.

 

This episode was a bad example of how to teach a lesson, I refer you to my above quote as to why.

Yeah, it is self centered, because i watch something, to entertain myself. If i wouldnt like it, i wouldnt watch it. Why else would i watch something, if it isnt for myself? And if i dislike Characters, i feel better if they get called out for their flaws, because it shares my Opinions. Why should i not like something, if it shows something i like?

Should i feel bad for Rainbowdash? Who laughed about Twilight and made fun of her, while she was trying to participate in a race? She is a douchebag. A bragging, egoistical Douchebag, who risks Peoples life in this Episode, because she wants to sign some Autographs and didnt even noticed that a few more People were in danger, as the Building collapsed. She just assumed she saved everyone, because she was so full of herself, that she is the best. If it wouldnt be for her Friends, someone might have even died.

Sorry, but i cant feel sympathetic for Rainbow Dash, she is, what i would call in real life, an as*****. Even when Mare do Well shows up to save her, she is still full of herself. If Superman would have her Character, i would instantly abandon the entire Franchise. She saves People sometimes only for fame and specially looks after Situations, in which People see her, so that they can applaud here, that is not what a hero is. And when another Hero comes in, she sabotages her Parade and trys to steel her mask, putting the new hero in danger, just because she is jealous, that she doesnt get the attention. Sorry, but i dont like her. She deserved this Lesson in my Opinion.

And yes, i did read your entire Post above, but i simply see the Episode a bit different.

[darknessrising24 56]

4 hours ago, Luna Moon said:

Should i feel bad for Rainbowdash? Who laughed about Twilight and made fun of her, while she was trying to participate in a race? She is a douchebag. A bragging, egoistical Douchebag, who risks Peoples life in this Episode, because she wants to sign some Autographs and didnt even noticed that a few more People were in danger, as the Building collapsed. She just assumed she saved everyone, because she was so full of herself, that she is the best. If it wouldnt be for her Friends, someone might have even died.

 

 

No, she isn't.

Just because she laughed doesn't automatically make her a douchebag, that was more of a casual jab than an actual mocking laugh, and I noticed you conveniently left out the fact that Applejack laugh along with her, sounds like you only want an excuse to cherry-pick and negative aspects just for the sake of saying she deserve to be treated like crap, which is not the case.

As for the disasters, aside from the balloon, Rainbow Dash would have needed their help anyway even if she wasn't gloating for being egotistical.

Think about it, the runaway cart? She tried to stop it but it was all downhill and she didn't have enough strength to stop it on her own. AJ would have had to jump in anyway.

The construction site? She still would have had to dodge and maneuver through tons of falling rubble and even then she would have only been able to save a few ponies at most. Pinkie would have had to step in too.

The Dam? If the structure is so weak that simply LEANING ON IT TOO HARD would cause the entire thing to collapse, then it would have broken down eventually even without her help. Twilight would have had to step in any way.

The events of the situation wouldn't have changed even if he came in humble instead of bragging.

4 hours ago, Luna Moon said:

She saves People sometimes only for fame and specially looks after Situations, in which People see her, so that they can applaud here, that is not what a hero is. And when another Hero comes in, she sabotages her Parade and trys to steel her mask, putting the new hero in danger, just because she is jealous, that she doesnt get the attention. Sorry, but i dont like her. She deserved this Lesson in my Opinion.

Aside from trying to unmask her, this parade wasn't sabotaged in any way shape or form, it was still going on even after they left (also, quite the hypocritical message to send, it's wrong of her to have her own fan club and yet it's okay for MDW to have her own parade?). She didn't put the hero in danger or risk her life at all, she didn't have any arch nemesis looking to hurt her loved ones or anything silly like that, the costume itself was completely pointless ( especially Fluttershy's part, which amounted to nothing). If they really wanted to show her how a real hero did things they would have just gone and done what they had to do without any costume whatsoever. Or at the very least assist her and show her that even a hero needs help sometimes.

You say that she's looked out only for herself, yet in the series where she went out of her way to help her friends and didn't need to be guilted into it, whether it be Rarity getting kidnapped by Diamond Dogs, saving Twilight from Falling Rocks during their Trek up the mountain, standing up to Gilda for the way she treated Pinky and even going as far as to admit that most of the pranks that went off for one she set up, helping the Apple family during the Cider competition, joining her friends on the journey to make sure Spike was okay, saving Scootaloo's life, taking her under her wing, and motivating her to participate in the games, again, not by guilt-tripping her, but by pep talking her and helping her work through her depression over her inability to fly, saving her friends lives after the tornado cause them to go out of control, owning up to her mistake and even coming close to resigning from her dream job over it, owning up to the fact that she was on two teams at once and willingly apologizing for being selfish, I can go on and on, but in the end her positive traits outweigh her negatives by miles. You on the other hand are treating her as if her flaws are all she has and all she ever will have.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

21 hours ago, darknessrising24 said:

No, she isn't.

Just because she laughed doesn't automatically make her a douchebag, that was more of a casual jab than an actual mocking laugh, and I noticed you conveniently left out the fact that Applejack laugh along with her, sounds like you only want an excuse to cherry-pick and negative aspects just for the sake of saying she deserve to be treated like crap, which is not the case.

As for the disasters, aside from the balloon, Rainbow Dash would have needed their help anyway even if she wasn't gloating for being egotistical.

Think about it, the runaway cart? She tried to stop it but it was all downhill and she didn't have enough strength to stop it on her own. AJ would have had to jump in anyway.

The construction site? She still would have had to dodge and maneuver through tons of falling rubble and even then she would have only been able to save a few ponies at most. Pinkie would have had to step in too.

The Dam? If the structure is so weak that simply LEANING ON IT TOO HARD would cause the entire thing to collapse, then it would have broken down eventually even without her help. Twilight would have had to step in any way.

The events of the situation wouldn't have changed even if he came in humble instead of bragging.

Aside from trying to unmask her, this parade wasn't sabotaged in any way shape or form, it was still going on even after they left (also, quite the hypocritical message to send, it's wrong of her to have her own fan club and yet it's okay for MDW to have her own parade?). She didn't put the hero in danger or risk her life at all, she didn't have any arch nemesis looking to hurt her loved ones or anything silly like that, the costume itself was completely pointless ( especially Fluttershy's part, which amounted to nothing). If they really wanted to show her how a real hero did things they would have just gone and done what they had to do without any costume whatsoever. Or at the very least assist her and show her that even a hero needs help sometimes.

You say that she's looked out only for herself, yet in the series where she went out of her way to help her friends and didn't need to be guilted into it, whether it be Rarity getting kidnapped by Diamond Dogs, saving Twilight from Falling Rocks during their Trek up the mountain, standing up to Gilda for the way she treated Pinky and even going as far as to admit that most of the pranks that went off for one she set up, helping the Apple family during the Cider competition, joining her friends on the journey to make sure Spike was okay, saving Scootaloo's life, taking her under her wing, and motivating her to participate in the games, again, not by guilt-tripping her, but by pep talking her and helping her work through her depression over her inability to fly, saving her friends lives after the tornado cause them to go out of control, owning up to her mistake and even coming close to resigning from her dream job over it, owning up to the fact that she was on two teams at once and willingly apologizing for being selfish, I can go on and on, but in the end her positive traits outweigh her negatives by miles. You on the other hand are treating her as if her flaws are all she has and all she ever will have.

Oh god, i dont know how to cut quotes in tiny pieces...thats a problem...but okay.

First : Yes, Applejack did laugh to, but im pretty sure Rainbow Dash started it and Applejack went along. Yes, Applejack laughed to, but that fact is a little bit unimportant to my post, just because 2 Ponys laughed, doesnt make it any less bad for Rainbow Dash.

Second : I never said, she should be threaten like crap, i said she deserved what happened in the Episode and i dont feel like she was threatened as crap, she was simply told a lesson.

Okay, now your list : The Runaway Cart : If she would have been less egoistical, she might asked for the help of another Pony. But sure, she simply might not have known, that she couldnt do it, but that was not one of my Examples.

The Construction Side : It isnt the fact that she coudnt save all the Ponys anyway, its simply the fact, that she just assumed she saved everyone, without even looking for another Pony, since she was way to busy, with feeling proud of herself. She didnt even noticed the other ones and didnt even look back or anything, that was what i meant, she is not concerned at all, because of her ego.

The Dam : Yeah, sure. But i was talking about the fact, that she was still douchebaggy , even after she called for help and Mare do well showed up. Some of this Events wouldnt have changed,like with the dam, but if she would actually look around and would not constantly think, that she can do it all by herself, she could have called for more help and a few of this Situations would have changed, if she wouldnt want to do it all alone, just for fame.

Okay, now the first wall of Text : I dont think it is about Fan Clubs and admiration, because then nobody should bow before the princess, i think it was more meant, that someone should not get to egoistical with the admiration that they get. Rainbow Dash most of the time says, that she is the best, while Mare do well just attends her Parade. Without being to full of herself. But i mean, thats just how i see it. How was Rainbow supposed to know, that Mare do well wouldnt get in danger, if her face is shown? Its not the fact, that Mare do well wasnt in danger, its the fact that Rainbow Dash, out of jealously, didnt even considered that, she could have an arch nemesis, Rainbow doesnt know that. Fluttershys posing was a bit ego and useless, because she pretty much was just their, to annoy Rainbow a bit more, so i agree. What Fluttershy did was posing and pretty much pointless to the problem at hand, youre right. I dont think it would have done much, if the Mane 5 just showed Rainbow, that they needed help with things, because the other ones already had Problems with things and needed help and that didnt stop Rainbow Dash with the way she acts in this Episode, they needed an Icon, someone who would steal her Show, someone who seemingly can do everything better than her, because they needed to do that with all their Powers, some of them alone wouldnt have worked. They kinda needed a new Hero, to show Rainbow her place. Apart from Fluttershy, i thought that the rest just told her a good lesson.

Okay, the second wall of text : I never said that Rainbowdash does everything wrong, except for one example from another Episode and i mostly talked about the things, that she does in this particular Episode. But i can see, how it sounded, like i would dislike her in general, so i apologize for that. She is the second worst Pony to me, sure, but that just means that i dont like her as much as most of the Main 6, i didnt mean it in General. Sorry that it sounded like that. She is still a good character and friend of course and they can be happy to have her. Also if i would dislike her so much, why would i have an Avatar of Rainbow Dash on my Profile, in which she is seen, with her outfit, that she designed, to show how awesome she is? I dont dislike her entirely, she can be awesome sometimes, but i liked that she was called out, at a moment, where she was specially douchebaggy. So that she can work on that and become more someone, that i like. Of course she can be a good friend and i also apologize for calling her an a**, not sure where that came from, that was uncalled for.

But i can understand, that it sounded like i dislike her entirely, i have written my previous post weakly. I just disliked her a lot in this Episode. Thats all.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Luna Moon

[darknessrising24 56]

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

First : Yes, Applejack did laugh to, but im pretty sure Rainbow Dash started it and Applejack went along. Yes, Applejack laughed to, but that fact is a little bit unimportant to my post, just because 2 Ponys laughed, doesnt make it any less bad for Rainbow Dash.

Doesn't make it it doesn't make it any more bad for her either, they both laughed, one does not share more blame than the other.

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

Second : I never said, she should be threaten like crap, i said she deserved what happened in the Episode and i dont feel like she was threatened as crap, she was simply told a lesson.

This episode taught her a lesson in all the WRONG ways, the Mane Five bragging about their own accomplishments behind her back and then laughing at her is just downright cruel. You don't just do the exact same thing you're trying to teach your friend NOT to do, if you're gonna teach her to be humble then that involves being humble yourselves.

Not to mention that with episodes like Applebuck Season, The Last Roundup, Bats, Sonic Rainboom, and Sweet and Elite(which takes place AFTER this one!) under their belts, AJ and Rarity are the LAST characters I want teaching someone about humbleness.

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

Okay, now your list : The Runaway Cart : If she would have been less egoistical, she might asked for the help of another Pony. But sure, she simply might not have known, that she couldnt do it, but that was not one of my Examples.

The Construction Side : It isnt the fact that she coudnt save all the Ponys anyway, its simply the fact, that she just assumed she saved everyone, without even looking for another Pony, since she was way to busy, with feeling proud of herself. She didnt even noticed the other ones and didnt even look back or anything, that was what i meant, she is not concerned at all, because of her ego.

The Dam : Yeah, sure. But i was talking about the fact, that she was still douchebaggy , even after she called for help and Mare do well showed up. Some of this Events wouldnt have changed,like with the dam, but if she would actually look around and would not constantly think, that she can do it all by herself, she could have called for more help and a few of this Situations would have changed, if she wouldnt want to do it all alone, just for fame.

The runaway cart: that one right there proves you didn't really pay attention to the episode. The cart was already careening down hill while she was trying to stop it, and yet nobody else came in to try to help her. Not only that but she had absolutely no time to suddenly ask anyone for help in that situation.

The construction site: once again, it all comes down to being able to outmaneuver all the falling debris and get the ponies to safety, mainly because she only had enough time to save one of them. And unlike Pinkie she doesn't have a sixth sense but this kind of thing.

The dam: again, absolutely nothing would have changed. The damn would have broken anyway so that argument is null and void.

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

Okay, now the first wall of Text : I dont think it is about Fan Clubs and admiration, because then nobody should bow before the princess, i think it was more meant, that someone should not get to egoistical with the admiration that they get. Rainbow Dash most of the time says, that she is the best, while Mare do well just attends her Parade. Without being to full of herself. But i mean, thats just how i see it.

The problem is that that's not the way it is,t theepisode practically begins with her enjoying the fact that she has a fan club and the Mane five get on her case about her huge ego while she’s at a gathering of said fans at Sugarcube Corner, which was technically after her heroics. And yet it was ok for Mare Do Well to attend her own parade under the same circumstances?

As I stated before, they both technically EARNED that praise.

Not to mention the fact that while Rainbow Dash celebrates the fact that she's the best, she actually has the talent to back up her claims in a heartbeat and never once made any hollow promises that she couldn't keep, she isn't Trixie.

There were a number of times she went too far, got called on it, and backed off in seasons 1 and 2, so that argument is null and void. Furthermore, since the rest of the town seemed perfectly fine with it and Rainbow was genuinely doing good work which she was justified in being proud of regardless of weather she went too far or not, the actions of the rest of the girls really come off as petty jealousy and tall poppy syndrome rather than anything substantial about boasting, especially since they turn around and brag about their part of Mare Do Well later in the episode. That said, ultimately that argument is completely irrelevant because no matter what she would or would not have done, they should have talked to her about it because that's what friends do, not stab each other in the back the instant they do something you don't like.

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

How was Rainbow supposed to know, that Mare do well wouldnt get in danger, if her face is shown? Its not the fact, that Mare do well wasnt in danger, its the fact that Rainbow Dash, out of jealously, didnt even considered that, she could have an arch nemesis, Rainbow doesnt know that. Fluttershys posing was a bit ego and useless, because she pretty much was just their, to annoy Rainbow a bit more, so i agree. What Fluttershy did was posing and pretty much pointless to the problem at hand, youre right. I dont think it would have done much, if the Mane 5 just showed Rainbow, that they needed help with things, because the other ones already had Problems with things and needed help and that didnt stop Rainbow Dash with the way she acts in this Episode, they needed an Icon, someone who would steal her Show, someone who seemingly can do everything better than her, because they needed to do that with all their Powers, some of them alone wouldnt have worked. They kinda needed a new Hero, to show Rainbow her place. Apart from Fluttershy, i thought that the rest just told her a good lesson.

Why should she have? There was literally no reason for there to be a mask in the first place.

That was done SOLELY so Rainbow Dash wouldn't know who they were. It served no other purpose and I'm sure took time and energy that could've gone to helping ponies sooner. But they prioritized teaching a "lesson" over saving lives. This isn't like super-heroes safeguarding their identities in DC or Marvel. They had no secrets or love ones to protect. They only bothered with them for the purposes of messing with Rainbow Dash. So she was not out of bounds in trying to unmask them.

Go watch the episode again, they never talked to her about anything. If they had taken a minute for a scene with her brushing off the others concerns things would have been much better, but as is what happens is they see Rainbow showing off to her adoring fans and the next thing we know they are one-upping her left and right.  The other big problem is that they do not seem to care about how badly they hurt Rainbow at all in the final confrontation, and the fact that they rub it in after they one-up her makes things even worse.

The rest of the Mane characters showed absolutely zero interest in helping Rainbow Dash out, or saving lives on their own--they ONLY got involved because they objected to Rainbow's attitude. Plus, it's not as if Rarity didn't brag about her skills, or Applejack hadn't been stubborn and prideful a few times (like when she didn't want to accept help despite her getting tired and overworked) so Rainbow's attitude was just a minor problem. If Rainbow's attitude hadn't rubbed them the wrong way, they would've sat on their plots the entire time.

I once again bring up the parade, they could have just sent a note that says this:

"While I appreciate your efforts, I do not wish to be thrust into the spotlight, the honor of protecting this town is more than enough of a reward for me."

Tell me, wouldn't that have showcased more humidity than them just showing up?

So no, they weren't attempting to be an icon, they were just being hypocritical.

Also, what place? Under the bootheel the everyone else just because she got a little too egotistical? That just makes it worse!

It was NOT a good lesson, it was a manipulative and downright CRUEL thing to do to her, the negative aspects and escalation from the competition between RD and MDW could have been at least downplayed if it was RD's friends showing her up, rather than some shadowy entity that she has no previous good interactions with. After all, at the end of the episode, we see that RD is quickly able to swallow her pride when she finds it's her friends 'out-heroing' her. Even the scene at Sugarcube Corner would have seemed more of a nudge than hypocritical if it were the Mane Five joking about something RD knew about.

Not to mention that this is the Element of Loyalty we're talking about here-to her, this is a pretty awful bit of backstabbing, in Sonic Rainboom how fragile her self-esteem can be, and Rarity's arrival and showboating only compounded the problem, to the point Dash suffers a mild nervous breakdown. So what would the Mane Six have done if she suffered a similar breakdown here?

If you have to resort to tricking someone into learning a lesson, you do NOT have the moral high ground.

Their stock response to Rainbow doing something they don't like seems to be humiliation. I don't know about how you lot see it, but that would make me think long and hard about who I called my friends.

1 hour ago, Luna Moon said:

 

That said, ultimately that argument is completely irrelevant because no matter what she would or would not have done, they should have talked to her about it because that's what friends do, not stab each other in the back the instant they do something you don't like.

Even if she didn't listen, it would’ve been a nice gesture of faith if we saw that her friends trusted her enough to at least TRY that first! Just jumping into the Caped Crusader scheme shows a lack of respect towards their friend; they were basically saying "Why bother?" instead of "We have to try!", and that just isn't the way they roll. Even the BRIEFEST attempt to talk Dash down (even if it failed utterly) would have PROFOUNDLY changed the feel of this episode.

What would the others have said if Dash had asked "Why did you do all this? Why didn't you just TELL me I was being a jerk?" What COULD they have said that wouldn't have gravely damaged their friendship?

"Well, gee, Dash... we assumed you wouldn't listen, because you're a cocky jerk. So we didn't bother!”

Another one of the biggest problems I have with the episode was the aspect of "SHOW DON’T TELL" being ignored. "28 Pranks Later" worked better with that reason because of that solitary aspect. We actually SEE them SIT HER DOWN AND TALK WITH HER. And when that fails they have Pinkie confront her one on one. It’s one of the reasons why I was able to genuinely enjoy "28 Pranks Later" despite having a similar premise. For me, if we had seen the two scenes where they talk it out with her and she didn’t listen in place of the flyby and Sugarcube Corner scenes then it would’ve worked a lot better in my opinion. That way it doesn’t feel like they all just jumped in on the plan without thinking of other options, but instead the gang DIDN'T talk to her, then messed with her behind her back, then praised THEMSELVES (instead of Twilight praising the runaway vehicle save, AJ praising the Dam rescue, etc) in front of her. Even if she was too stubborn to listen, why can't they at least make the ATTEMPT? Then, if Dash rebuffs them, THEN they are JUSTIFIED in their actions!

But no, her friends made it clear to her that believe she's too thickheaded and stupid to even TRY to reason with, and they duped the entire town into worshiping a made-up Pony who promptly vanished forever.

Twilight and the others contradict themselves by saying bragging is bad when they've clearly done it more than a few times in the past. Even Twilight tried to talk to Applejack when she was doing the harvest by herself in Applebuck Season. But Twilight and the others never did that when it came to Rainbow's bragging. If they'd acted this way in Applebuck Season, they would have snuck around taping apples back up on branches and letting AJ keep working and working and working until she woke up in the hospital... and THEN given her the aesop. But instead Twilight spoke with her immediately.

Why doesn't Dash deserve the same respect?

AJ is stubborn. Everypony KNOWS she is stubborn. Later on, she nearly abandons here entire LIFE in The Last Roundup because she's stubborn. But TS still TRIES to talk to her in Applebuck Season. Even if it doesn't work for several attempts, she actually TRIES.

So Twilight can repeatedly try to talk with AJ during Applebuck Season even though her antics were causing trouble throughout the entire town and yet RD’s completely unreasonable to the point where instead of trusting and talking with her, her friends talked behind her back and formulated a conspiracy whose sole purpose was taking her down a peg?!

Unlike the above episode, where AJ's refusal to accept help leads to rather disastrous results for all of Ponyville, RD's bragging rights simply make her insufferable to her friends - there's no real harm to the town that she directly causes, just that she's annoying. But they never approach her directly on this, nor are we shown that when they are alone away from RD's fanclub, that RD is impossible to be around.

I'm saying they should have sat Dash down before any of that, as a group -- maybe even with some of the pestered townsfolk tagging along -- and given her a firm but gentle talking-to. The exact one they gave AFTER emotionally torturing her. Tell her that it's okay to be proud, but not to rub others' faces in it. Tell her somepony is going to get hurt while she brags, and then NOPONY will cheer. All that stuff. Maybe even mention how bad Shimmer-Wing-Rarity made HER feel back in Cloudsdale.

There is no way Rainbow could've possibly gotten the "right" message from Mare Do Well. Her reaction (which the others should've known) would be to either try to outdo her, or to quit and retreat into self-pity and doubt. When other characters make mistakes (like Rarity in Sisterhooves Social) she's given the chance to realize that she made a mistake on her own and THEN let her friends help set her straight. Here Rainbow Dash wasn't, so the whole episode comes off as just dumping on her.

How could she get that message? "Wow, MDW doesn't sign autographs and ponies like her. I guess I should..." there's no logical way to draw a proper conclusion. And her friends laughing at her didn't help, especially since she went into depression soon afterwards.

Sure, Dash has an ego and occasionally she trips on it. However she also has a paralyzing fear of screwing up and being humiliated in public (as seen in Sonic Rainboom"), and her friends KNOW this! They could've showed up as themselves to do heroic actions and pointed out how Dash is better off with allies, or called her out on the autograph sessions since that could have got somepony killed. It's not like RD would've said “hey! Stop saving Ponies when I'm the hero!” She's not an asshole!

Instead, they play on her insecurities, and then gloat about how awesome they are in what's an inside joke to them, but a jerkass ploy to Dash, who's not in on the joke.

Think about it, she only reacted negatively towards MDW but when she was faced with her friends, she actually swallowed her pride and acknowledged her faults. So in hindsight: MDW’s creation was POINTLESS.

[Thrond 3,263]

Honestly, it's the pacing which kills this. All the buildup is in the first quarter, and then it spends literally the rest of the episode just dwelling on Rainbow's obnoxiousness, then spending multiple scenes humiliating her. Get on with it! If you're gonna spend so much time on her, ,then come up with a reason for us to care! Why should we care when nearly everything she does is terrible? Why show us all of that instead of maybe giving us some more buildup, like the mane six trying to talk to Rainbow, or maybe Rainbow having a slower and more reasonable descent into egotism. That's why this feels so mean-spirited to me: it seems specifically engineered to humiliate Rainbow, with almost no interests beyond that. To think that this is from the same writer as "Wonderbolts Academy," easily the best Rainbow Dash episode! 

And has anyone noticed that Rainbow only started failing when Mare-Do-Well hurt her ego? They just made things worse!

And I might have been able to buy the mane six's boasting as an attempt to teach Rainbow something, except every single one of them praises their own part. "Humble?" Yeah right! I mean, is the moral of humbleness bad? No, but it's hard to take when it's so clearly hypocritical. 

I'm not always on the side of the consensus with this show, but this one very much warrants its rock-bottom reputation. There are some funny jokes early on, but just... ugh. 

Score: 

Entertainment: 2/10

Characters: 1/10

Themes: 5/10

Story: 1/10

Overall: 23/100

[NathanW200 306]

the good thing about this episode is it teaches Rainbow Dash a lessens about Bragging and shoving it in other ponies faces

[darknessrising24 56]

1 hour ago, NathanW200 said:

the good thing about this episode is it teaches Rainbow Dash a lessens about Bragging and shoving it in other ponies faces

The problem is that they didn't teach the lesson well. All they did was basically devalue her actions and mock her behind her back.

 

For further details I refer you to my previous comments:

 

On 1/9/2018 at 8:41 AM, darknessrising24 said:

Doesn't make it it doesn't make it any more bad for her either, they both laughed, one does not share more blame than the other.

This episode taught her a lesson in all the WRONG ways, the Mane Five bragging about their own accomplishments behind her back and then laughing at her is just downright cruel. You don't just do the exact same thing you're trying to teach your friend NOT to do, if you're gonna teach her to be humble then that involves being humble yourselves.

Not to mention that with episodes like Applebuck Season, The Last Roundup, Bats, Sonic Rainboom, and Sweet and Elite(which takes place AFTER this one!) under their belts, AJ and Rarity are the LAST characters I want teaching someone about humbleness.

The runaway cart: that one right there proves you didn't really pay attention to the episode. The cart was already careening down hill while she was trying to stop it, and yet nobody else came in to try to help her. Not only that but she had absolutely no time to suddenly ask anyone for help in that situation.

The construction site: once again, it all comes down to being able to outmaneuver all the falling debris and get the ponies to safety, mainly because she only had enough time to save one of them. And unlike Pinkie she doesn't have a sixth sense but this kind of thing.

The dam: again, absolutely nothing would have changed. The damn would have broken anyway so that argument is null and void.

The problem is that that's not the way it is,t theepisode practically begins with her enjoying the fact that she has a fan club and the Mane five get on her case about her huge ego while she’s at a gathering of said fans at Sugarcube Corner, which was technically after her heroics. And yet it was ok for Mare Do Well to attend her own parade under the same circumstances?

As I stated before, they both technically EARNED that praise.

Not to mention the fact that while Rainbow Dash celebrates the fact that she's the best, she actually has the talent to back up her claims in a heartbeat and never once made any hollow promises that she couldn't keep, she isn't Trixie.

There were a number of times she went too far, got called on it, and backed off in seasons 1 and 2, so that argument is null and void. Furthermore, since the rest of the town seemed perfectly fine with it and Rainbow was genuinely doing good work which she was justified in being proud of regardless of weather she went too far or not, the actions of the rest of the girls really come off as petty jealousy and tall poppy syndrome rather than anything substantial about boasting, especially since they turn around and brag about their part of Mare Do Well later in the episode. That said, ultimately that argument is completely irrelevant because no matter what she would or would not have done, they should have talked to her about it because that's what friends do, not stab each other in the back the instant they do something you don't like.

Why should she have? There was literally no reason for there to be a mask in the first place.

That was done SOLELY so Rainbow Dash wouldn't know who they were. It served no other purpose and I'm sure took time and energy that could've gone to helping ponies sooner. But they prioritized teaching a "lesson" over saving lives. This isn't like super-heroes safeguarding their identities in DC or Marvel. They had no secrets or love ones to protect. They only bothered with them for the purposes of messing with Rainbow Dash. So she was not out of bounds in trying to unmask them.

Go watch the episode again, they never talked to her about anything. If they had taken a minute for a scene with her brushing off the others concerns things would have been much better, but as is what happens is they see Rainbow showing off to her adoring fans and the next thing we know they are one-upping her left and right.  The other big problem is that they do not seem to care about how badly they hurt Rainbow at all in the final confrontation, and the fact that they rub it in after they one-up her makes things even worse.

The rest of the Mane characters showed absolutely zero interest in helping Rainbow Dash out, or saving lives on their own--they ONLY got involved because they objected to Rainbow's attitude. Plus, it's not as if Rarity didn't brag about her skills, or Applejack hadn't been stubborn and prideful a few times (like when she didn't want to accept help despite her getting tired and overworked) so Rainbow's attitude was just a minor problem. If Rainbow's attitude hadn't rubbed them the wrong way, they would've sat on their plots the entire time.

I once again bring up the parade, they could have just sent a note that says this:

"While I appreciate your efforts, I do not wish to be thrust into the spotlight, the honor of protecting this town is more than enough of a reward for me."

Tell me, wouldn't that have showcased more humidity than them just showing up?

So no, they weren't attempting to be an icon, they were just being hypocritical.

Also, what place? Under the bootheel the everyone else just because she got a little too egotistical? That just makes it worse!

It was NOT a good lesson, it was a manipulative and downright CRUEL thing to do to her, the negative aspects and escalation from the competition between RD and MDW could have been at least downplayed if it was RD's friends showing her up, rather than some shadowy entity that she has no previous good interactions with. After all, at the end of the episode, we see that RD is quickly able to swallow her pride when she finds it's her friends 'out-heroing' her. Even the scene at Sugarcube Corner would have seemed more of a nudge than hypocritical if it were the Mane Five joking about something RD knew about.

Not to mention that this is the Element of Loyalty we're talking about here-to her, this is a pretty awful bit of backstabbing, in Sonic Rainboom how fragile her self-esteem can be, and Rarity's arrival and showboating only compounded the problem, to the point Dash suffers a mild nervous breakdown. So what would the Mane Six have done if she suffered a similar breakdown here?

If you have to resort to tricking someone into learning a lesson, you do NOT have the moral high ground.

Their stock response to Rainbow doing something they don't like seems to be humiliation. I don't know about how you lot see it, but that would make me think long and hard about who I called my friends.

That said, ultimately that argument is completely irrelevant because no matter what she would or would not have done, they should have talked to her about it because that's what friends do, not stab each other in the back the instant they do something you don't like.

Even if she didn't listen, it would’ve been a nice gesture of faith if we saw that her friends trusted her enough to at least TRY that first! Just jumping into the Caped Crusader scheme shows a lack of respect towards their friend; they were basically saying "Why bother?" instead of "We have to try!", and that just isn't the way they roll. Even the BRIEFEST attempt to talk Dash down (even if it failed utterly) would have PROFOUNDLY changed the feel of this episode.

What would the others have said if Dash had asked "Why did you do all this? Why didn't you just TELL me I was being a jerk?" What COULD they have said that wouldn't have gravely damaged their friendship?

"Well, gee, Dash... we assumed you wouldn't listen, because you're a cocky jerk. So we didn't bother!”

Another one of the biggest problems I have with the episode was the aspect of "SHOW DON’T TELL" being ignored. "28 Pranks Later" worked better with that reason because of that solitary aspect. We actually SEE them SIT HER DOWN AND TALK WITH HER. And when that fails they have Pinkie confront her one on one. It’s one of the reasons why I was able to genuinely enjoy "28 Pranks Later" despite having a similar premise. For me, if we had seen the two scenes where they talk it out with her and she didn’t listen in place of the flyby and Sugarcube Corner scenes then it would’ve worked a lot better in my opinion. That way it doesn’t feel like they all just jumped in on the plan without thinking of other options, but instead the gang DIDN'T talk to her, then messed with her behind her back, then praised THEMSELVES (instead of Twilight praising the runaway vehicle save, AJ praising the Dam rescue, etc) in front of her. Even if she was too stubborn to listen, why can't they at least make the ATTEMPT? Then, if Dash rebuffs them, THEN they are JUSTIFIED in their actions!

But no, her friends made it clear to her that believe she's too thickheaded and stupid to even TRY to reason with, and they duped the entire town into worshiping a made-up Pony who promptly vanished forever.

Twilight and the others contradict themselves by saying bragging is bad when they've clearly done it more than a few times in the past. Even Twilight tried to talk to Applejack when she was doing the harvest by herself in Applebuck Season. But Twilight and the others never did that when it came to Rainbow's bragging. If they'd acted this way in Applebuck Season, they would have snuck around taping apples back up on branches and letting AJ keep working and working and working until she woke up in the hospital... and THEN given her the aesop. But instead Twilight spoke with her immediately.

Why doesn't Dash deserve the same respect?

AJ is stubborn. Everypony KNOWS she is stubborn. Later on, she nearly abandons here entire LIFE in The Last Roundup because she's stubborn. But TS still TRIES to talk to her in Applebuck Season. Even if it doesn't work for several attempts, she actually TRIES.

So Twilight can repeatedly try to talk with AJ during Applebuck Season even though her antics were causing trouble throughout the entire town and yet RD’s completely unreasonable to the point where instead of trusting and talking with her, her friends talked behind her back and formulated a conspiracy whose sole purpose was taking her down a peg?!

Unlike the above episode, where AJ's refusal to accept help leads to rather disastrous results for all of Ponyville, RD's bragging rights simply make her insufferable to her friends - there's no real harm to the town that she directly causes, just that she's annoying. But they never approach her directly on this, nor are we shown that when they are alone away from RD's fanclub, that RD is impossible to be around.

I'm saying they should have sat Dash down before any of that, as a group -- maybe even with some of the pestered townsfolk tagging along -- and given her a firm but gentle talking-to. The exact one they gave AFTER emotionally torturing her. Tell her that it's okay to be proud, but not to rub others' faces in it. Tell her somepony is going to get hurt while she brags, and then NOPONY will cheer. All that stuff. Maybe even mention how bad Shimmer-Wing-Rarity made HER feel back in Cloudsdale.

There is no way Rainbow could've possibly gotten the "right" message from Mare Do Well. Her reaction (which the others should've known) would be to either try to outdo her, or to quit and retreat into self-pity and doubt. When other characters make mistakes (like Rarity in Sisterhooves Social) she's given the chance to realize that she made a mistake on her own and THEN let her friends help set her straight. Here Rainbow Dash wasn't, so the whole episode comes off as just dumping on her.

How could she get that message? "Wow, MDW doesn't sign autographs and ponies like her. I guess I should..." there's no logical way to draw a proper conclusion. And her friends laughing at her didn't help, especially since she went into depression soon afterwards.

Sure, Dash has an ego and occasionally she trips on it. However she also has a paralyzing fear of screwing up and being humiliated in public (as seen in Sonic Rainboom"), and her friends KNOW this! They could've showed up as themselves to do heroic actions and pointed out how Dash is better off with allies, or called her out on the autograph sessions since that could have got somepony killed. It's not like RD would've said “hey! Stop saving Ponies when I'm the hero!” She's not an asshole!

Instead, they play on her insecurities, and then gloat about how awesome they are in what's an inside joke to them, but a jerkass ploy to Dash, who's not in on the joke.

Think about it, she only reacted negatively towards MDW but when she was faced with her friends, she actually swallowed her pride and acknowledged her faults. So in hindsight: MDW’s creation was POINTLESS.

 

[Dark Qiviut 22,386]

On 1/8/2018 at 6:41 PM, darknessrising24 said:

Another one of the biggest problems I have with the episode was the aspect of "SHOW DON’T TELL" being ignored. "28 Pranks Later" worked better with that reason because of that solitary aspect. We actually SEE them SIT HER DOWN AND TALK WITH HER. And when that fails they have Pinkie confront her one on one. It’s one of the reasons why I was able to genuinely enjoy "28 Pranks Later" despite having a similar premise. For me, if we had seen the two scenes where they talk it out with her and she didn’t listen in place of the flyby and Sugarcube Corner scenes then it would’ve worked a lot better in my opinion. That way it doesn’t feel like they all just jumped in on the plan without thinking of other options, but instead the gang DIDN'T talk to her, then messed with her behind her back, then praised THEMSELVES (instead of Twilight praising the runaway vehicle save, AJ praising the Dam rescue, etc) in front of her. Even if she was too stubborn to listen, why can't they at least make the ATTEMPT? Then, if Dash rebuffs them, THEN they are JUSTIFIED in their actions!

The conversation scene was awful and contributed to what makes 28PL so atrocious. They called out Dash for calling FS an easy prank target, not because she's a friend who hated to be pranked, and told her to actually put more effort into her pranks. So, when Dash put forth the effort, they all got pissed and pinned all the blame on her rather than blame themselves for delivering her horrendous advice.

[Nyactis Mewcis Catlum 672]

What's strange about The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is it has an example of a better moral within the episode. It seems like the moral is to not brag at all, but bragging in itself isn't inherently bad. Maybe a little obnoxious, but that's not an objective measurement, especially if you're not putting other people down in the process.

No, what would've made the episode better is if it acknowledged the nuance and the actual escalation that made the bragging so bad: letting the fame get to her head to the point that it was beginning to put other ponies in jeopardy. Specifically, she ignored a hot air balloon falling because she was so overly consumed with signing an autograph, and she also repeatedly humiliated herself and disrupted other ponies in an attempt to win their attention back.

Rather than focusing on that, though, the episode ends with a focus instead on how heroes don't brag. Which...is funny, because heroes in media actually brag often. And make sarcastic quips and comments to villains.

They even acknowledge the issue that it was "getting to her head" earlier in the episode. What on earth happened?

 

Also, TMMDW has a really cool defining moment for Rainbow in the episode and it's probably the only reason I would come back to it. It's really interesting seeing Rainbow whenever her ego is popped. I don't like seeing her suffer, for sure, and it really sucks that the Mane 5 inflicted it on her (but in their defense, they might not have known that would be the effect it'd have on her), but seeing her at her most vulnerable is what makes Rainbow grounded in reality. It's why people like Sonic Rainboom so much, besides the spectacle; we got to see the vulnerable side to a character that previously would have come off as insensitive. Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 has something like this as well.

It shows what Rainbow's true motivation is. She's not just this boastful, ego-driven pony who does nothing else. She boasts so much, and makes herself so flashy, because Rainbow thrives off of the attention of other people.

In other words, this episode made it clear to us one really, really important character trait of Rainbow's: She's the definition of an extrovert. Not the kind that the media makes out, as someone who's outgoing, although she's certainly that, too. No, as in, her existence lives and dies off of other people being around her. She gets her energy, her motivation, from others, and she doesn't do so well in isolation.

 

I shouldn't be fueling grimdark fanfic writers like this, but unlike introverts, who could probably manage fine on their own for a while, Rainbow would go absolutely mad if she was unable to have contact with other ponies, and have them look upon her with admiration. Isolation would actually be a super effective form of torture on her.

 

It's also why she holds herself in such high standards. If she's not the best, she's not good enough. This insecurity stems from the fact that what she has is not real confidence, but instead a bravado she puts on because she thinks that will best earn her the attention she desires. And I don't think this is a character trait she'll ever fully get rid of, either. She'll definitely tone it down, but there will still be a part of her that craves to be the one everyone cheers for.

It explains why she escalated as the attention got to her more and more, why she seemed so modest in the beginning.

 

It's why athletes in real life will take steroids, or go to extremes in order to make themselves better than their competition, because it's everything to them, and it's kind of incredible MLP: FiM could make this relatable to people who aren't used to having that kind of motivation. And that the show doesn't make out that the desire to have attention is bad, merely the overabundance of bragging over it.

Still think the moral is kind of bad in the end and the episode had a better one that it could use, and this episode is still a hot mess, but damn if it doesn't give stuff to talk about.

[bwrosas 252]

Here I give my overall thoughts on this Season 2 Episode and share some of my opinions on how they could have handeled the story

Comments are Welcomed

[Meushell 52]

On 12/15/2011 at 1:32 PM, SBaby said:

It still makes you wonder, with all those problems happening in one day. After Mare-Do-Well 'left', that rash of accidents suddenly stopped. Did they sabotage some things to cause those problems? It did seem convenient that they were always there right when they needed to be.

This would make a lot of sense, and we have seen Twilight can get crazy enough to do this.

 

On 1/28/2015 at 10:07 AM, SteveMorison said:

This episode in a nutshell:

 

LOL. Pretty much. 

On 3/21/2017 at 10:31 AM, Neo_Shiron said:

I think someone casted a stupid spell on the mane six (except Dash) because all Rainbow did was a little bragging. The other mane six had been the villains in this episode and went behind Dash's back to humiliate her.

The fanfic "Friendship is Empathy" shows my feelings toward that episode

I’m curious to see this fan fiction now. I’ll check it out.

Rainbow is my favorite pony, but she’s arrogant enough for this lesson. The episode took it too far, such as patting herself on the back or delaying to save people. It’s like Rarity’s over the top vanity when she had wings or Pinkie and Twilight going crazy. A Flanderized character is bad for the episode. It’s worse with Rainbow because she’s arrogant enough already that it wasn’t even necessary. 

[bigbertha 414]

I really like this episode, but it does have two major problems. One, there's supposed to be a time skip near the beginning implying that Rainbow Dash has been boasting about her accomplishments for a long time, but there no indication of it. Two, the townsponies move on to Mare Do Well way too quickly. Rainbow Dash had been saving tons of ponies, but Mare Do Well saves one and the town immediately shuns Rainbow Dash? What?

Aside from those two problems, I think this episode is great. I like that it pushes Rainbow Dash to her lowest point to give her more depth. The comedy, while more mean-spirited, still worked for me. And the Batman: The Animated Series homages were great. Especially when Rainbow is chasing Mare Do Well at the end and you can hear something similar to that show's theme song.

Also, during the scene where the baby carriage is rolling down the hill, one of Rarity's screams is reused and it's incredibly obvious.

Score: 8/10