S08:E20 - The Washouts

[Megas 27,624]

49 minutes ago, Compeador said:

Don't you think Scootaloo is even way too rude to RD in this episode? Do you really think she'll grievously insult the Wonderbolts? 

Well, she’s meant to represent a rebellious teenager who’s found someone even cooler who makes the Wonderbolts look like wimps in comparison. It’s like seeing a young wrestling fan who’s just started watching ECW for the first time, suddenly WWE/WCW/TNA/etc., look lame in comparison 

[gingerninja666 487]

1 hour ago, This Whomps said:

Well, she’s meant to represent a rebellious teenager who’s found someone even cooler who makes the Wonderbolts look like wimps in comparison. It’s like seeing a young wrestling fan who’s just started watching ECW for the first time, suddenly WWE/WCW/TNA/etc., look lame in comparison 

This plus the fact that they can appeal to her in a way the Bolts just can't. She likes the Bolts mostly because she loves Rainbow Dash. But we've seen that she loves stunts, and that's more of what the Washouts do. Plus they give her hope despite her disability.

Edited August 22, 2018 by gingerninja666

[Compeador 101]

20 hours ago, This Whomps said:

Well, she’s meant to represent a rebellious teenager who’s found someone even cooler who makes the Wonderbolts look like wimps in comparison. It’s like seeing a young wrestling fan who’s just started watching ECW for the first time, suddenly WWE/WCW/TNA/etc., look lame in comparison 

Yeah, that's true also makes me feel the story writing is pretty lame at the same time, Scootaloo just looks so weird this time (except in the ending)

[Truffles 2,033]

On 8/21/2018 at 12:23 AM, Will Guide said:

I argue that clubhouse eavesdroping is more a callback to S4's Daring Don't. Not S5's Cutie Re-Mark. Besides the timeline with Twilight acting werid around Young Dashie was overwritten by Twilight convincing Starlight to stop, not once interacting with Dashie, so no. Sorry to disagree, but your conclusion is wrong. Not a bad thing, but not what the show runners intended.

Wow, good eye! I knew they reused facial expressions from time to time, but I didn't think they copied every part of a face entirely. I wonder if that means Starlight meme face will return in a future episode? XD

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

3 hours ago, Truffles said:

Wow, good eye! I knew they reused facial expressions from time to time, but I didn't think they copied every part of a face entirely. I wonder if that means Starlight meme face will return in a future episode? XD

Which meme face are you referring to?

[Truffles 2,033]

1 hour ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

Which meme face are you referring to?

Hmm, come to think of it, she does have a few. But I'm referring to this one specifically:

That's the face that launched a thousand memes.

[NavelColt 22,880]

Lightning Dust's very abrupt defeat via Dash knowing the rope was about to catch her hoof, and Scootaloo's seemingly prepared apology to her seconds later felt a little rushed, but that's the only complaint I have with this episode. This episode lightly touched on Scootaloo's apparent crippled wings, brought back a villain we haven't seen for almost five seasons, had a very relatable and important lesson, had Spitfire acting like a hilarious drill sergeant again, and had the very, I repeat very best part of S8 so far.

All in all we got a well-written Scootaloo episode with sisterly love, really good humor and a returning villain. With each new scene I actively thought how this was definitely shaping up to be one of my personal favorites of this season. I was not wrong.

[Senko 459]

Just a few quick comments before i move on (so much to do, so little time I never even got back to watching this episode yesterday or was it the day before?).

1) It seemed a bit weird with the meeting in the way scootaloo just rushed through the rainbow dash meeting to start her new one. Even if she's idolizing a new club wouldn't she look for more members or step back from the dash one?

2) I saw lightning dust coming as soon as the show started.

3) Spitfire is really bad at dealing with kids as I believe she said in top gun.

4)  Nice bit of teenage rebellion there from Scootaloo.

5) More evidence pony's take responsibility for their lives a lot sooner than humans as Scootaloo is now doing risky stunts as a teenager and both her surrogate sister + ? family do nothing to stop her.

6) I loved the scootaloo nose boop with sound effects.

7) The scootaloo fan club was cute and i like dash's parents in there bit odd seeing Bon bon but not lyra

8) Pardon the caps but WHERE WERE SWEETIE BELLE AND APPLE BLOOM? Seriously they're together for nearly everything but don't show up for scoot's taking their sisters to the show, her stunt or the scootaloo fanclub?

9) Sad to see it confirmed Scootaloo really is dealing with a disability preventing her flying.

10) Nice the way dash stepped back but kept watching to save her if needed and that sisterly hug.

11) On a purely personal note this episode amused me because it reminded me of a fanfic I read where Twilight told Dash to be a good rolemodel to scootaloo and take responsability for her so Dash threw her off a cliff to teach her to fly. Then both of them came back to golden oak library because they needed a first aid kit although scootaloo was still going on how awesome it was. Author did a nice little job with twilight walking off smugly only to realize exactly what dash had said about how she was teaching sccootaloo to fly.

12) I did like the first show with dash's pah, boring, rip off of us, THUNK as her jaw drops (and cute little scene of twilight closing it), sooooo coool.

13) Applejack seems to have something against banana's and her sister possibly liking them wonder if there's another family the apple's are feuding with.
 

Edited August 29, 2018 by Senko

[NavelColt 22,880]

This was the second most brilliant part of the episode. Young padawans may not get the joke but it's basically referencing an old Saturday Night Live skit.

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

Quote

I can't wait until everyone else gets to view this amazing episode!

[MangoFoalix 24,956]

20 hours ago, Theanimationfanatic said:

Quote

I can't wait until everyone else gets to view this amazing episode!

Well, there has been an episode link up for weeks now so it's not really hiding from anyone.

https://sendvid.com/ul9fwrhe

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

4 minutes ago, TheTaZe said:

Well, there has been an episode link up for weeks now so it's not really hiding from anyone.

https://sendvid.com/ul9fwrhe

Yes, but I was referring to everyone who will be seeing the episode for the first time 2 hours from now.

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Spitfire goes full on Chris Farley on Scootaloo!

[YoshiAngemon 223]

On 8/29/2018 at 3:47 AM, Senko said:

Just a few quick comments before i move on (so much to do, so little time I never even got back to watching this episode yesterday or was it the day before?).

1) It seemed a bit weird with the meeting in the way scootaloo just rushed through the rainbow dash meeting to start her new one. Even if she's idolizing a new club wouldn't she look for more members or step back from the dash one?

2) I saw lightning dust coming as soon as the show started.

3) Spitfire is really bad at dealing with kids as I believe she said in top gun.

4)  Nice bit of teenage rebellion there from Scootaloo.

5) More evidence pony's take responsibility for their lives a lot sooner than humans as Scootaloo is now doing risky stunts as a teenager and both her surrogate sister + ? family do nothing to stop her.

6) I loved the scootaloo nose boop with sound effects.

7) The scootaloo fan club was cute and i like dash's parents in there bit odd seeing Bon bon but not lyra

8) Pardon the caps but WHERE WERE SWEETIE BELLE AND APPLE BLOOM? Seriously they're together for nearly everything but don't show up for scoot's taking their sisters to the show, her stunt or the scootaloo fanclub?

9) Sad to see it confirmed Scootaloo really is dealing with a disability preventing her flying.

10) Nice the way dash stepped back but kept watching to save her if needed and that sisterly hug.

11) On a purely personal note this episode amused me because it reminded me of a fanfic I read where Twilight told Dash to be a good rolemodel to scootaloo and take responsability for her so Dash threw her off a cliff to teach her to fly. Then both of them came back to golden oak library because they needed a first aid kit although scootaloo was still going on how awesome it was. Author did a nice little job with twilight walking off smugly only to realize exactly what dash had said about how she was teaching sccootaloo to fly.

12) I did like the first show with dash's pah, boring, rip off of us, THUNK as her jaw drops (and cute little scene of twilight closing it), sooooo coool.

13) Applejack seems to have something against banana's and her sister possibly liking them wonder if there's another family the apple's are feuding with.
 

My guess is that there is a Banana Family that make money off bananas for banana splits. I mean, when was the last time you saw APPLES as a part of some ice cream delicacy? You only put a scoop of ice cream on top of apple crisp!

[ggg-2 3,553]

How can Lightning Dust be an ex-Wonderbolt if she got expelled from the Academy before she even graduated?

[cmarston1 5,959]

Alright this was one of the episodes of the season going into it that I was rather looking forward to as it sounded interesting.  After watching it I can say that it definitely was worth waiting for.  And honestly everyone was right about how great this episode was.  I really enjoyed it a lot and it might be one of my new favorites.

I really enjoyed seeing Lightning Dust again, and this episode did a good job at developing Scootaloo's and Rainbow Dash's relationship, and just like Flight to the Finish  it is always interesting to see the show tackle Scootaloo's inability to fly.

[ChB 18,550]

My only issue with the episode is the way Rainbow Dash and Spitfire tried to convince Scootaloo to stay out. There are plenty of better ways to get her concerned about her safety without yelling or bragging. Other than that, I loved the episode! Scootaloo was well-written here, and the Washouts were interesting antagonists.

 

Some random thoughts:
 

Spoiler

 

Scootaloo's stunt reminded me of the Simpson's episode, "Bart the Daredevil"  

My thoughts when Lightning Dust got carried away by the "rocket scooter": "Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!"  

 

 

[Senko 459]

33 minutes ago, YoshiAngemon said:

My guess is that there is a Banana Family that make money off bananas for banana splits. I mean, when was the last time you saw APPLES as a part of some ice cream delicacy? You only put a scoop of ice cream on top of apple crisp!

Obviously you've never been to an Apple family dinner.

6 minutes ago, ChB said:

My only issue with the episode is the way Rainbow Dash and Spitfire tried to convince Scootaloo to stay out. There are plenty of better ways to get her concerned about her safety without yelling or bragging. Other than that, I loved the episode! Scootaloo was well-written here, and the Washouts were interesting antagonists.

 

Some random thoughts:
 

  Hide contents

 

Scootaloo's stunt reminded me of the Simpson's episode, "Bart the Daredevil"  

My thoughts when Lightning Dust got carried away by the "rocket scooter": "Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!"  

 

 

True but Rainbow Dash handled it fairly well in the end.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

So here's my more full thoughts on this episode now that it has aired in the U.S. I liked how this one featured Lighting Dust and focused on RD and Scootaloo. I love that Scootaloo remains flightless and therefore disabled. I think certain scenes in this episode and Scootaloo's story as a whole are deeper more complex examples of disability representation than in most media because MLP brings up the permanent nature of Scoots not being able to fly and yet make her motivated and interested in things not related to flight like cutie marks. While Scootaloo was not using good judgement in this episode she does seem to accept she does not fly. I do find it interesting that Scootaloo still seems to think being like Rainbow Dash means she would have to fly. This is very realistic for a certain type of disabled person who thinks non disabled people expect them to be able to do something they can't. We have known since season 4 that Rainbow Dash has never wanted Scootaloo to fly to prove she is whole yet Scootaloo still has that insecurity. Rainbow Dash's part to the story is equally fascinating because RD has to ask herself if her dilemma is really about Scootaloo or really about herself and that's really complex. I think Spitfire must have ended up in a full body cast when she was a rookie and has some issues over it. Perhaps if Spitfire  ended up in a full body cast it is related to how she got her own Wonderbolt nickname LOL. I adored that RD made a club for Scootaloo!

Edited September 8, 2018 by StitchandMLPlover

[Truffles 2,033]

After seeing the official US airing my opinion hasn't changed much - I liked it, but I still felt it could have been better. Scootaloo is still the best part of the episode. Also I was wrong about Rainbow Dash not ripping up Scootaloo's Washouts posters - she did in fact rip one of them up into tiny pieces just like she threatened to. Still, knowing what Lightning Dust does at the end of the episode, I still can't feel anger towards Rainbow Dash, even though it was kind of a jerky thing to do.

See my post here for the rest of my original comments.

Some additional comments:

What is it about Nick Confalone and eavesdropping, lol? He wrote a joke about how it "sounds worse than it is" in "The Breakup, Breakdown" when Big Mac admitted to eavesdropping on Sugar Belle, and Rainbow Dash effectively admits the same thing to Scootaloo.

I guess Spike has had enough of air shows after what happened to him in "Newbie Dash."  But it could just as easily be he and Starlight were back at the school helping run things while the Mane 6 went to the show. I suppose the same thing could be said for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, though their absence at all the other times in the episode they should have been there to guide Scootaloo is still pretty glaring.

I saw "Wonderbolt Academy" for the first time in quite a while on DFC recently, and I have to take back a bit of what I said about Spitfire in my previous comments. She actually does act in that motivational speaker way during the first scenes of that episode. So her doing that routine here isn't out-of-the-ordinary after all. It did seem over-the-top, but since it was an homage to an SNL skit, I guess that was the point..

Is there a continuity/animation error in this episode? Rolling Thunder is the pony who is supposedly injured in "The Crushinator," but during the finale, it's clearly Lightning Dust who gets crushed due to the green wings and orange hair poking through the flight suit. Did the animators goof and put the wrong pony in? Or am I missing something?

 

1 hour ago, ggg-2 said:

How can Lightning Dust be an ex-Wonderbolt if she got expelled from the Academy before she even graduated?

I think any pony who becomes part of the Wonderbolts at any level (including trainees) can be considered an ex-Wonderbolt if they are cut from the team. Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder were also trainees from (I believe) "Top Bolt". They apparently couldn't cut being in the academy, either, though they probably washed out for just not keeping up with the rest of the recruits and not being reckless like Lightning Dust.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Truffles

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,594]

Came back to watch it a third time, and yep, it's still awesome. It may have actually eclipsed "Parental Glideance" and "Top Bolt" as my favorite Rainbow Dash centric episode.

[gingerninja666 487]

7 minutes ago, Truffles said:

After seeing the official US airing my opinion hasn't changed much - I liked it, but I still felt it could have been better. Scootaloo is still the best part of the episode. Also I was wrong about Rainbow Dash not ripping up Scootaloo's Washouts posters - she did in fact rip one of them up into tiny pieces just like she threatened to. Still, knowing what Lightning Dust does at the end of the episode, I still can't feel anger towards Rainbow Dash, even though it was kind of a jerky thing to do.

See my post here for the rest of my original comments.

Some additional comments:

What is it about Nick Confalone and eavesdropping, lol? He wrote a joke about how it "sounds worse than it is" in "The Breakup, Breakdown" when Big Mac admitted to eavesdropping on Sugar Belle, and Rainbow Dash effectively admits the same thing to Scootaloo.

I guess Spike has had enough of air shows after what happened to him in "Newbie Dash."  But it could just as easily be he and Starlight were back at the school helping run things while the Mane 6 went to the show. I suppose the same thing could be said for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, though their absence at all the other times in the episode they should have been there to guide Scootaloo is still pretty glaring.

Is there a continuity/animation error in this episode? Rolling Thunder is the pony who is supposedly injured in "The Crushinator," but during the finale, it's clearly Lightning Dust who gets crushed due to the green wings and orange hair poking through the flight suit. Did the animators goof and put the wrong pony in? Or am I missing something?

 

I think any pony who becomes part of the Wonderbolts at any level (including trainees) can be considered an ex-Wonderbolt if they are cut from the team. Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder were also trainees from (I believe) "Top Bolt". They apparently couldn't cut being in the academy, either, though they probably washed out for just not keeping up with the rest of the recruits and not being reckless like Lightning Dust.

I thought they explained why they washed out. Rolling Thunder was something like "flagrant disregard for dangerous weather" when she was barrel rolling through a thunderstorm. And Short Fuse had anger issues.

[cosmo22477 13]

loved seeing lightning dust, and this ep was well worth wating for.

[colt .45 259]

On 8/19/2018 at 7:22 PM, shyabetes3939 said:

... One thing though - did Lightning Dust actually die at the end? I mean, she got pulled away by the rocket, and then she disappeared and there was an explosion in the sky. 

No, Lighting Dust didn't die. It is likely that she ended up in a full body, wing, and hoof cast, eating through a straw though.

[Truffles 2,033]

17 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

I thought they explained why they washed out. Rolling Thunder was something like "flagrant disregard for dangerous weather" when she was barrel rolling through a thunderstorm. And Short Fuse had anger issues.

Thanks, I missed that bit of dialogue! In fact, I did a cursory review of both "Wonderbolt Academy" and "Top Bolt" and Rolling Thunder is in neither of those episodes. Whenever her recklessness occurred, it wasn't something shown as far as I can tell.