S01:E06 - Boast Busters

[JMTV99 1,352]

I don't hate this episode either. Sure, it has it flaws like Snips and Snails being completely annoying, AJ, Dashie, and Rarity had no business showing off their talent to Trixie, and Trixie herself, but it's not as horrible as people are making it out to be.

I don't really hate Trixie as a character from the beginning as she can be pretty entertaining at times. It has some genuinely funny moments like Twilight's door gag, Rarity's green mane, and Snails can have some funny one-liners once in awhile.

Plus, the design of Ursa Minor was pretty cool. I really like it.

Also, I'll cut Twilight some slack in this episode since she's just got into Ponyville earlier on in the show and she never had faced an incident in Ponyville until the Ursa Minor came along.

Overall, it's okay. Not great, but not horrible either.

[Astralshy 26,345]

I also don't hate this episode. Trixie can annoy something out of me, and I like her much more when she is bound by Starlight in the later seasons. But there are definitely some nice things here. For once seeing to Twi is capable of and how she's despite her worries still accepted. I think this is indeed a really good lesson.

There are also some humor here and I'm not speaking about Snips and Snails here. I still agree Spike is deserving number 25!

So, I think it's a good episode

[Steve Piranha 29,413]

I’ve just realized Snails ended a sentence with “eh?” . Considering where it was dubbed …

[Evil Pink One 13,505]

first appearance of trixie... at first this bored me... I think it was around here where I stopped watching the show for 9 years? it was on and off.

but my second and third run, I loved it because trixie is here... love trixie.

but eventually the 5th and 7th run.... myeah I noticed that season 1 IS really targeted for children. I don't get the faustist on season 1 supremacy..... I think the reason why I tried mlp again because I saw a meme where there's a burning building on the back ground and guess what pony was there....

it was this exact face aswell.....

[FloppyPony 1]

EPISODE SUMMARY

A new pony who calls her herself the great and powerful Trixie has rolled into town to show off her magic to Ponyville. everyone is skeptical of her boasting claims so the main six challenge her one by one and fail. Spike begs Twilight to best her with her magic skill but Twilight doesn't want to seem boastful to her friends.

 

Eventually, 2 boy fillies called snips and snails go to find an user major (a big dangerous magic bear) to prove Trixie is as powerful as she says she is. they lead it into town and Trixie confesses it was all lies. leaving twilight to deal with the problem. Twilight thinks her friends will hate her for showing off but instead they are proud of her. Twilight says its ok to be proud of what you are good at and show off sometimes, especially if its to stick up for your friends. Pinkie is for some reason completely absent in this episode except for a brief appearance at the beginning. Same for Fluttershy. weird.

 

MY THOUGHTS

Not much to say. A solid episode all around and Pinkie isn't here at all which is a bonus for me. I like how this doesn't go with the easy route of showing twilight boasting and then being told by her friends to stop but instead she is afraid of doing something wrong which causes her not to do it in a rare situation where it is actually needed. This is a bit of an odd moral but a good one. Spike is a bit irritating in this episode.

 

Sorry but hot take I don't like Spike either. Honestly, I don't hate him or anything, I just don't like the style of jokes they use with him and the cartoon tropes he follows so its more of a personal thing. At least you can understand where he coming from here so it isn't too annoying to have him around. Snips and Snails on the other hand are just the typical carbon cut out cartoon trope dumb sidekick characters and they do nothing else so they suck. The best thing that came out of them was the awesome snails trans fanfics and comics.

 

The only small problem I DO have with the episode other than obviously snips and snails is how they point out the obvious that Rainbow has this exact boasting issue but they don't really point out how hers is different to Trixie or at least not well. This makes the story conflict with the character which kinda sucks but overall it doesn't distract from the episode too much since it is good in a lot of other ways which make up for it and rainbow isn't over used in the episode either.

 

So overall a solid episode with a good twist on the boasting moral which makes it interesting although I don't find it funny, I can see how it is a good episode for most.

[Bronymian Rhapsody 7]

I'm 100% convinced there was a first draft of this episode where Trixie was not a stage magician but a beast tamer or pest control, then someone from Hasbro's marketing told the writers beast taming is a taboo subject that might affect doll sales, and changes were made to the script without updating the parts of the story dependent on beast taming. The weird story about a stage pony who is far more concerned with bragging about pummeling big blue bears than she is stage tricks makes a lot more sense that way.

 

Back when I was younger and more passionate and argumentative, I was a vehement Trixie accuser. Basically, whatever the Trixie apologists were for, I was against. Nowadays thou, I feel Trixie was kind of a jerk for responding to criticism with aggression and confrontation, but I also feel really bad for her white lie exploding into what it became. Still have no idea how no stopping a ura major/minor ruins a magician's career. That'd be like failing to stop a forest fire ruining a painter's career.

[Cash In 22,180]

I liked it. Trixie is as one dimensional of an antagonist as Gilda was, but I always found her more memorable and interesting. Her personality and abilities struck me as intriguing, even though they really didn't do much with them.

I do think it was interesting to see the Mane cast go up against a character who isn't necessarily evil, but one who is just rather obnoxious in general and needs to learn a lesson. I think that was executed quite well.

My only real issue with this episode is that Twilight's struggle felt like it lacked substance. It's acceptable at the beginning, but it felt quite repetitive after that. I'll actually say that Spike was the best character here, mostly because he was the voice of reason. Of course, Snips and Snails are idiots, but everyone knows that, so that never bothered me that much.

As a whole, I liked this episode. I enjoyed all the jokes and I liked the idea behind it. I also liked Trixie, but I couldn't really tell you if that's in hindsight or rather my opinion of her in this specific episode.

I'll give this episode a 7/10.

Edited February 26 by Cash In
Updated thoughts

[A mysterious air dancer 4,227]

This episode is one of the few that stands out to me from the whole show. I think theres a lot of interesting perspectives and interactions in this episode along with 2 very interesting questions that Twilight asks at the beginning of the episode, "What if a unicorn's special talent is magic?" and "There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" Those two questions togehter are incredibly interesting to think about considering magic is literally commonplace across Equestria, while in our world it's for anything that seems "impossible" or "unexplainable" (mostly just illusions and parlor tricks). Now, mix unicorn magic with parlor tricks. What can make it special than just "regular unicorn magic"? Well, you gotta make a good show out of it for others, which Trixie is honestly able to do. (And a free show at that, though does she have a permit?) 

The questions also kind of are meant to be for Twilight herself, since her element is "Magic". She's talented at Magic! But, that's a question that sits in the back of your head (and I'm sure hers too) throughout the rest of the show. Like, in a world where everyone regularly experiences magic, what makes it more special than others? Only being able to perform advanced spells? 

Analysis time now, because I got curious at the "jerk" label others have gave on some of the characters for this episode.

Twilight:

• Despite her growing knowledge and skill of magic, she downplays all of it to the same level as everyone else. (I also doubt she was raised to show it off anyways.)
• She sees her friends get upset at Trixie because she's being loud and boastful. (Trixie is on Trixie's stage, mind you.)
• She is very hesitant on using her magic (showing it off) against Trixie which causes Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity to get uno reverse card'd by her. It's a dilemma: "I want Trixie to be humbled but if I show off my own magic skills against her I might lose my friends because they just explicitly stated that they don't like show-offs." She also experiences being poked at by Trixie but she runs away to avoid any conflict between them.
• Remember, she just moved to Ponyville and made some close friends which their company is appreciated by her. It's clear it would make her quite upset if she lost their friendship.
• Later, when the "Ursa Major" (actually Ursa Minor) comes to Ponyville (because Snips and Snails) and Trixie obviously isn't able to "vanquish" it, Twilight reluctantly steps up and keeps both the Ursa Minor and Ponyville safe. Everyone, including Trixie, is impressed and shocked by it.
• She learns her friends won't leave her if her magic is used in front of everybody for specific situations (like saving people from getting hurt).

She took Trixie's on-stage acting and her friends reaction to it at face value and completely misinterprets it. At least she understood at the end that it's fine to show off to others when it's appropriate, just be humble and don't be annoying about it. And, the only ponies she's mad at are Snips and Snails. She's not even mad at Trixie. Of course not a jerk, she actively avoided conflict the whole time! 

Spike:

• He looks up to Twilight and has known and seen her magic abilities basically all his life, so the best unicorn to him is Twilight. He actively tries to both encourage Twilight to show off the cool stuff he's seen (and experienced, as her personal lab rat) and tell others that she's the real deal.
• When he runs into Snips and Snails after the show, he tries to get them to stop sucking up to Trixie and to stop believing everything she says. He doesn't expect them to somehow find an "Ursa Major" though. I don't think anyone would.
• He tries to give her a reason to show off her magic: to stand up for her friends after they were humiliated in front of everyone, but Twilight doesn't want to. That's still in character for Spike as he's quite naive and doesn't see the full picture a lot of the time. And, before he runs into a terrified Snips and Snails, he's disappointed in Twilight because he's saying to himself, "I KNOW she can do magic very well."
• He's very happy that Twilight is stopping the unnecessary terror in a peaceful way in front of everyone, so NOW everyone knows how skilled she is.

Yes, he's a bit annoying but he's also young and really does look up to Twilight. All he wants is for everyone to see her the same way he does. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's also very in-character of him too. He does that a lot throughout every season. I don't see him being a jerk here.

Trixie:

• She's a traveling entertainer. Ponyville happens to be her next stop. Her whole act on stage is to be loud (well, she's on stage after all), be a braggart of tall tales (like the "Ursa Major vanquishing") and perform parlor tricks in over the top and entertaining ways in front of others.
• There's a bit of improv in her act when 3 of the Mane 6 disapprove of her. She picks Twilight first who is reluctant to go against her so she goes after AJ instead, then Rainbow and Rarity. She successfully humiliates them and tries to really get under Twilight's skin, but Twilight runs off. She takes that as a win for her and continues with her show.
• Show's over and now she's just having some alone time... well kinda. Snips and Snails are worshipping her and she's taking some advantage of it (that hay drink), but she also wants them to leave her alone as well (by demanding that they don't come back until the next morning).
• She's literally about to sleep when she gets FBI banging noises from Snips and Snails, so she's irritated of course. Then she sees the "Ursa Major" and drops her boastful persona for a bit. Ignoring the obvious terror in her voice, she hops back and forth between "On-stage Trixie" and "Off-stage Trixie" with her interactions between Snips, Snails and Twilight. For a moment she tries to make Snips and Snails believe she can "vanquish" the Ursa Minor but of course her attempt fails.
• She lets Snips, Snails and Twilight know that she really can't do it. She admits to making it up and it's probably the only time where "Off-stage Trixie" is quite obvious.
• After everything is dealt with by Twilight, Trixie announces to everyone her departure from Ponyville (after looking around a bit and throwing a smoke bomb).

The only time Trixie was truly a jerk was on-stage when Twilight clearly did not want to go against her. Fine, go after the audience members who want to show up to you but don't go after the person who has no intention of showing you up! She kept poking at her and I didn't like the way she faced her back and rubbed her ego after Twilight ran off. Seriously, I felt that mean energy and I REALLY didn't like it.   Other than that, I don't see how Trixie is a villain like the show tries to paint her (or a "reformed villain" later on). She's as much of a villain as Cheese Sandwich is (which is coincidentally a similar situation concerning Pinkie Pie though not as mean). Antagonist for sure, but... mehh. Most of the other times she's just mildly annoyed at Snips and Snails. Its also kinda funny to hear her talk about herself in the 3rd person. Like, yeah... "The Great and Powerful Trixie"... or "G. and P. T." lol...

Applejack/Rarity/Rainbow Dash:

• Concerning AJ: It feels very out of character for her to act the way she did. She bad mouthed Trixie so suddenly, like I was expecting her to eventually bad mouth but you really have to be persistent with her for that to happen. Kinda a jerk.
• Concerning RD: Not surprised that she, of course, thinks she's better than Trixie and wants to show off to her. Why she gets a pass for being a jerk to everyone I will never get because she makes it VERY clear how "awesome" or "cool" or whatever else she is to everyone she meets. Oddly enough, I'm a bit glad that she was thrown for a loop. Literally. Jerk, though expected. At least she doesn't belittle others, just says "I'm better" and nothing else.
• Concerning Rarity: She misunderstands who Spike, RD and AJ are talking about. Gets hit personally when her mane is called disgusting, no surprise there. She's the least disrespectful towards Trixie out of these 3. Definitely not a jerk.

Fluttershy is in the background but doesn't engage with Trixie and Pinkie Pie is straight up not even there. 

Snips and Snails: These two are just really annoying and naive throughout the whole episode. Not gonna pin it too hard on them since, just like Spike, they're young. No idea how they ran into Trixie but it's very clear they idolized her after she told them the definitely real and extravagant things she's done, which they took at face value. After Spike told them they shouldn't believe her without seeing it, they literally took it as "We NEED to FIND a URSA MAJOR and WATCH her VANQUISH IT!" I have no idea how they even found the den of an Ursa Major and Minor but whatever, gotta move the plot along. I didn't see them as being jerks (just being naive kids), unless you count them accidentally waking up an Ursa Minor and then bringing it to town just to see it get "vanquished" as being jerks. 

 

I think the episode is definitely overlooked for what it should be beyond Trixie and not as bad as some people have made it out to be. The two questions at the start of the episode about Magic (also above) really set the tone for Twilight's own meaning and not just the perfect timing for Trixie to answer it for an episode. Though, if I were on storyboard/writing duty, I would've only made three drastic changes: add Pinkie Pie bits watching Trixie's show (pull up a foldable chair out of nowhere and "Ooooh" and "Aahhhh" and random laughter while mouth is full with popcorn or whatever else and when Trixie is wanting to against people have her say "ME ME PICK ME" and have a bit where she unintentionally humbles Trixie and is unaware that she did so... it's innocent comic relief), remove the really mean part of Trixie poking Twilight's buttons like a bully even though Twilight is very clear she doesn't want to go against her (fill that time with Pinkie Pie bits mentioned above instead), and have an interaction with Trixie and Twilight at the end where Trixie is 100% open with Twilight about how she runs her show (it's an act) and compliments her for peacefully getting the Ursa Minor back to its home (and then announcing her leave smoke bomb style). That way, everyone is on good terms and there are 2 lessons to learn rather than just 1! 

 

[StarHeart333 1,763]

Trixie is hilarious in this episode hands fown

[Hadrien 950]

Trixie, trixie, trixie. I never understood the reasoning behind having a stage magician pony inside a society of magic ponies. Like yeah stage magic, but 1/3 of the population can do actual magic, so what's the point ? I kind of would've liked to see her as an Earth Pony, not being able to do magic so doing stage tricks instead. Would've been more interesting. Twilight wouldve liked to know how she did the tricks, she woukdve refused, Twilight wouldve set her sight on analysing everything and figuring it out, at the expense of Trixie's show. Which would have pushed her into doing more extreme tricks, like with the Ursa Minor.

That's my own little remake of the character and the episode.

Overall, 6.5/10. Trixies still great and powerful, but not as much as Twilight.

[TechnoZ 1,185]

I hate Trixie. Ego is higher than a Skyscraper :T

 

Other than that, its a Good Episode.

[Antiyonder 844]

YouTube upload of the episode: