What Is With Spitfire Being So Out Of Character In Rainbow Falls Episode?

[Nuke87654 1,849]

My problem with Spitfire in the episode 'Rainbow Falls' was of how unnecessarily vicious she was. She was trying to sabotoge the Ponyville relay team's chances at qualifying for the Equestria Games by removing their best player and adding her to a team that at least only needed to find a decent third wingman to an already elite flying group that is representing the home city of the pegasus ponies of Equestria. Also by doing so, she backstabbed Soarin, who only needed at most a couple of days stay at the hospital bed if what the episode said was true. She didn't even bothered to ask if he would make it for the trials, she just went straight for Rainbow Dash as soon as he was carried away.

 

I find her actions in the episode extremely hypocritical as she booted Lightning Dust for being too reckless because she wanted to win above all else. Here in this episode, she's committing possibly even worse actions to win at any cost herself, and her reasoning was even worse because at least Lightning Dust did those actions because she wanted to be part of the Wonderbolts, an elite flying group, while all the Wonderbolts at Rainbow Falls were trying to win was to qualify for the Equestrian games which they easily did with Soarin at hand anyway.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Nuke87654

[Legacy Dash 439]

It seems alot of fanfics see Spitfire with that sort of personality, maybe the writers have read some fanfics in their free time and been influenced.

 

Just a theory.

[deadprofile 1,123]

I can't really see her being "out of character" at all....She doesn't have an established character personality outside just "being" a Wonderbolt and her actions/words in Wonderbolt Academy, where her role was meant to be a take off of classic drill sergeants.  Acting like that does not make that character HER character....As far as her other appearances adding up, she's just a pony focused on her job first and foremost, not friends.  However, as we've seen multiple times now, she's a mature character, capable of not only admitting her faults, but also setting things straight ASAP. Despite what makes her a professional, she admits when she's wrong, publicly.  That takes a great deal of personal strength and confidence in her self.  But, being mature does not mean she knows what being more than just a 'team' (in the sense of sports, where more often than not, you aren't buddies off court/field/out of the societal focus but are for the sake of the team during your work within the team), she obviously has flaws that show that she could learn a thing or two about proper friendship. 

Proper friendship in the way of knowing what strengths it can add to "just a team" not only in her work life, but also just as is out of the spotlight.  I mean, for the Americans (I do not partake in most modern entertainment so I could care less about Hollywood and the going-on's regarding celebrity lives, but I'm sure that publicity is present all over the world with localized entertainment), put yourself in any celebrity's shoes......think about it, it's not likely you are going to have much in the way of REAL friends. All relationships in the celebrity world, even parent to child, is all for the sake of popularity, money, fame, a name in every household. Look at any of those stupid celeb magazines at a checkout counter, no one has a private life, a breath of fresh air, and a chance to truely be themselves without a bunch of googly eyed fans/critics watching their every move. Honestly, that's no way any sane/decent person should live.  Best examples of this really messing with people is just look at any of the most popular child actors/stars and their late teen/early 20's onward.

 

edit: so yeah, what are you talking about with Spitfire's character?

Edited January 20, 2014 by Treble Bolt

[Shanks 10,816]

I do think that on some level, everyone (including me) was making assumptions about Spitfire before we really got to know her.

Maybe but those assumptions did have some basis in truth, it of course dosen't mean Spitfire is perfect by any means we clearly saw in Wonderbolt Academy that she is indeed not. What made her seem so out of character in Rainbow Falls was that it seemed like they just arbitrarily slapped on the personality traits of Lightning Dust and put them into Spitfire which made it seem like they wanted to put Lightning Dust in this episode without really putting Lightning Dust in this episode effectively making Spitfire a Lightning Dust clone. And we have also not seen anything to indicate that would stoop so low as to betray one of her teammates but that is exactly what she did in Rainbow Falls. This is forgiveable with Fleetfoot because until now we haven't really seen any character development from her, but not Spitfire. What made her behavior believable in Wonderbolt Academy is probably because there was something about Lightning Dust that reminded her of herself and seeing that may have clouded her own judgement.

 

 

 

writers don't always cross check with other scripts to make sure personalities are consistent across every episode

If that is the case than maybe they should start doing that from now on.

[Guest90210 3,569]

As much as I loved Bulk Biceps (I prefer to call him Macho Pony though) and Derpy (especially Derpy) one thing that really got under my skin in the episode Rainbow Falls which just how pathetically out of character Spitfire was. Soarin was his mellow self and since we haven't had any character development for Fleetfoot until then why she acted that way is forgiveable but Spitefire seemed to do a complete 180 in this episode. In all of her other appearances Spitefire was fairly harsh yet fair, a large professional ego but one that is measured. Bascially what I see in Spitfire is a more mature and level headed Rainbow Dash but what I saw in Rainbow Falls was a lying manipulative bitch. She had Soarin fake an injury to get who she thought was a better flier to join her team so she would have a better chance of winning. This is in stark contrast especially to her role in Wonderbolt Academy which while she did indeed have a lapse in judgment by letting LIghtning Dust get away with way too much until Rainbow Dash called her on it she did own up to her and said that Wonderbolts are "not just about pushing yourself hard but about pushing yourself in the right direction."

 

Except she wasn't out of character.

 

Here's a comment I saw on YouTube regarding the matter:

 

"Spitfire, was, being, Competitive.

 

Remember when we first saw Spitfire at the Gala, and Dash thought this was her chance to finally hang out with them? Well, it obviously wasn't because they weren't really there to hang out. There Equestria's fastest flyer's and used that time to more likely gain sponsor's and mingle with people who can actually offer them something. If it was the other way around, we would have seen her talking with more Friend's And Dash more often.

 

Now, remember how in Wonderbolt's Academy when we thought her personalty took a 180? Well, it really didn't. She was a Drill Sergent. It was her job to keep everyone on equal level of discipline and teach them everything they needed And make sure they had the ability to be Wonderbolt's.

 

In this episode, she's competing in the Equestria Game's. This mean's there Title, and everything the Wonderbolt's stand for is on the line. If there was ever a time to seize an opportunity to get a better competitor who you Know is going to either perform at the same level or Better than another, they Have to take it. If you don't believe that, you should really be keeping a better eye on the sport's world, because that's where this drama and idea comes from in the first place.

 

The entirety of this episode has her Completely in character, but people are so easy to jump on them just because she's being Harsh. Not even taking into consideration everything they Could lose if they don't keep there Status and Title. Does that make them Right? Well, that's entirely debatable. But to me, they were just being and doing what they thought was for the Greater Good of the Wonderbolt's. And it wasn't based on a "We need to take these guy's down" situation, which was very refreshing."

[Jangocoolguy 433]

It would've been more practical to let Fleetfoot be the schemer trying to trick Dash, Soarin AND Spitfireand then learn a lesson instead of making Spitfire into a skank.

 

Dash, you might want to rethink your goals...

Edited January 21, 2014 by Jangobadass

[Motion Spark 7,807]

I sooooooooo agree with the OP, even tho Rainbow Falls was absolutelly AMAZING! I felt that Spitfire wasn't being herself, or at least how we saw her in previous opportunities, Soarin' seemed too weak and too much of a pushover for being a much bigger stallion than Rainbow Dash, maybe he is that way, but that bothered me too.

 

I would have liked if they made only Fleetfoot the antagonist without Spitfire knowing it, and her finding out about Fleetfoot's betrayal at the end of the episode.

[Thrashy 2,800]

The issue I take with arguing that a character like Spitfire is "out of character" is that, in this case, we're talking about a character who's only ever had one, count 'em, one episode in the past with any kind of characterization. While "Wonderbolt Academy" more-or-less gave us a summary of her character, it'd be incredibly naive to assume that we know everything about her nature based on nothing more than a single episode.

 

Fact of life: people are multi-faceted. In WA, Spitfire acted according to her professional environment. But here, it's kind of clear that she's checked her drill sergeant nature at the door since, from the looks of it, her involvement in representing Cloudsdale for the Equestria Games has no direct impact on her role as a Wonderbolt, or vice versa.

 

In sum, it would seem this is how she acts "off the clock", and considering a great many people have completely different personae for their professional vs. personal lives, I can't in all good conscience say that Spitfire's behavior in "Rainbow Falls" was wildly out of character...especially because we haven't seen enough of her character to really have an accurate assessment of who she is as a person.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Lowline Champ

[dekutree64 713]

I didn't like it at first either, but after watching it again, here's some possible justification.

 

Dash got stuck with two of Ponyville's slower fliers, because the others were taken for other events, and she could make up the time since it's a team event. Spitfire got Fleetfoot, who is said to be the fastest Wonderbolt in Sweet & Elite. So maybe Soarin is the slowest, and she got stuck with him because they could make up the time. Spitfire was getting impatient with him before his accident, so the replacement scheme didn't come out of nowhere.

 

And secondly, top athletes don't typically have very long careers, so if Spitfire and/or Fleetfoot have been on the team since Dash was little, this could be their last Equestria Games at top performance. And here they have the opportunity to get one of the fastest fliers in history and set a world record that will last who knows how long.

 

So... it was still a lousy thing to do to Soarin, but there was reason to be tempted. And we don't really know how close of friends they are outside of work, so it might not be as bad as if the mane 6 did similar things to eachother.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

It is perhaps not too difficult to conclusively determine whether Spitfire was acting strangely during the events of "Rainbow Falls". Without knowing for certain, I would say that it is easily within her character to behave as she did. It wouldn't come as a surprise since she (either willingly or not) was not able to see Lightning Dust's excesses before. I am saying that it is very possible that if it is part of her personality then it is a personality that emphasizes rudeness and extreme levels of introversion.

 

We must look at the events of the episode clearly. She abandoned a teammate (if not a friend) for her own selfish goals. This wasn't the games themselves but the mere qualifying match. They could have easily won even if they had Fluttershy on the team. Besides, who are the really representing? Cloudsdale or themselves? Is this one big boastful spectacle for Spitfire? If so then her push to exceed reason in her quest to have the best team at all costs would make sense. She is the pony that would take advantage of others. The exact opposite of loyalty. Then, what about her speech at the Wonderbolts Academy? Well, if she is manipulative then she could have just said that to keep Rainbow Dash there to make her Academy look good. She could have been lying.

 

But different writers produces different results so it might be better to judge that she wasn't the same character (the 'drill sergeant' vs the hyper over competitor). I might consider that we can take her arrival in 'Secret of my Excess" as an act of brashness that got her whole team in trouble as they just rushed in without taking the entire scene into account. It would add to her past arrogance and inability to see others around her as being significant enough to pay attention to. Even the fact that she didn't think Equestria itself was important enough to her to try and help the Pegasus ponies in "Hurricane Fluttershy" may add to this. I think that despite the specific attitudes of Spitfire we see in her two major episodes, she was not inspired with humility in mind. She is meant to be a counterbalance to Rainbow Dash. It is perhaps why we had the Shadow Bolts in the Season 1 premiere, "Friendship is Magic". The idea of that team and Spitfire in particular is meant to be subversive to loyalty. So that would mean it's part of her character and always was. Whether she can or should overcome it is yet to be determined.

Edited January 20, 2014 by broniesvote4Twiley

[Guest90210 3,569]

I felt that Spitfire wasn't being herself, or at least how we saw her in previous opportunities,

 

She was in character as I mentioned above

 

 

 Soarin' seemed too weak and too much of a pushover for being a much bigger stallion than Rainbow Dash, maybe he is that way, but that bothered me too.

 

He didn't really seem weak to me, he seems more clumsy and gets distracted easily. He probably understands to some extent the Wonderbolt's reasoning behind their actions.

 

 

I would have liked if they made only Fleetfoot the antagonist without Spitfire knowing it, and her finding out about Fleetfoot's betrayal at the end of the episode.

 

It would've been more practical to let Fleetfoot be the scheming trying to trick Dash, Soarin AND Spitfireand then learn a lesson instead of making Spitfire into a skank.

 

I like it the way they put it. It shows that your heroes aren't always the perfect people you may make them out to be.

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

Ok which episode were you guys watching where we got to see a big side of Spitfire's personality. In season one she got a few lines and that's about it. Then we got Wonderbolt Academy which showed a harsher in command Spitfire, which makes sense as we had never seen her interactions on duty before. At that point we could start making some statements about her. One was that her personality off duty was different than her personality on duty. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise as many of us have to dawn a bit of a different personality at our occupations. This was also shown in this episode as she did seem more soft spoken and casual.  We can also say that she is competitive in spirit and promotes that spirit in Wonderbolts Academy. She promotes it so heavily and gets so caught up in it and what's good for the Wonderbolts that she fails to see extremely reckless behavior. She can only see the performance of Lightning and Rainbow Dash calling it an excessive but effective tactic. Rainbow has to point out that it was reckless before Spitfire realizes it and concedes the point later. The same is the case here. Spitfire gets caught up in the heat of the competition and makes a bad judgment call. She's so caught up in representing Cloudsdale and doing the best for her team that she doesn't realize what she's doing is wrong. Again Rainbow has to point it out and again She concedes that she was wrong. Her character seems fairly consistent to me.

 

Me thinks fans have been enjoying the Fanfiction and fan-art that depicts her as a sweetie or a fun pony that they totally forgot about the fact that IN SHOW she has rarely had any actual screen time except for the  moments you stated. I think they are letting their love for her fancannon override their views on her actual self

[Motion Spark 7,807]

@, I'm still not buying your explanation. In Wonderbolts Academy after Spitfire learned a lesson from Rainbow Dash about not being reckless to be the best of the bests, I could not understand why did she had to be manipulative, cruel, mean and a liar in order to achieve their goals.

So that means that after how 'mature' she was in Wonderbolts Academy, I have to accept that she was 'in' character for how sneaky and fake she was?

No thank you, I'm not buying that. I offered my solution already, to use Fleetfoot for that purpose, because we haven't seen her personality in the series. 

[Guest90210 3,569]

@, I'm still not buying your explanation. In Wonderbolts Academy after Spitfire learned a lesson from Rainbow Dash about not being reckless to be the best of the bests, I could not understand why did she had to be manipulative, cruel, mean and a liar in order to achieve their goals. 

 

Anyone who is into the sports world realizes how important competition is, especially the biggest sporting event on the entire planet (The Equestria Games, MLP's version of the Olympics obviously). Those at the top will do anything to get the winning edge, and what better way to do that than to take arguably the best flyer in Equestria from one team and put it on yours while at the same time dropping "the weak link"? I could definitely see someone like Spitfire doing this and thinking in this way.

 

 

@,

No thank you, I'm not buying that. I offered my solution already, to use Fleetfoot for that purpose, because we haven't seen her personality in the series. 

 

Meh, that doesn't sound as interesting to me. As I said Spitfire being an antagonist is done to point out that your heroes aren't as perfect as you make them out to be.

[Castle Bleck 19,390]

@Motion Spark,

 

S3!Spitfire = Rewards effort/skill and punishes carelessness/selfishness.

 

S4!Spitfire = The ends justify the means.

 

I don't even really care that Spitfire was an antagonist, but do you see the blatant and rapid 180 in personality?

[Motion Spark 7,807]

 

 

Anyone who is into the sports world realizes how important competition is, especially the biggest sporting event on the entire planet (The Equestria Games, MLP's version of the Olympics obviously). Those at the top will do anything to get the winning edge, and what better way to do that than to take arguably the best flyer in Equestria from one team and put it on yours while at the same time dropping "the weak link"? I could definitely see someone like Spitfire doing this and thinking in this way.

 

it's pretty obvious that you don't get it. I couldn't care less about Spitfire being a 'non-perfect hero' because the ponies that I admire are the main characters and they've shown that they're not perfect and have breakdowns. Going back to Spitfire, she's the captain of the best flyiers in Equestria, she's at charge and responsible for a whole Academy, that means that she has a reputation to protect, ans she's responsible of giving the example of how things are really done, she displayed a lot of that in Wonderbolts Academy even if she didn't made the right choice about picking Lighting Dust.

 

Are you trying to tell me that in RL life is okay to lie and play mindgames with people to get the best teams? right? this is where the discussion has no point.

Ok, let's say Spitfire always wanted Rainbow Dash in the team, this is how I predict she would act. She would confront Soarin and tell him straight into his face that she wants Rainbow Dash to replace him and then tell that same thing to her, into her face. I'm not saying this because I want to but because that's what fit her characterization in previous episodes. 

[Fire Bomb 121]

lets not forget the fact that this is only the second time spitfire has had an episode where her character is shown, just like with the mane 6 in the first season, the writers aren't entirely sure about here character and are trying to define it. This kind of thing is bound to happen eventually with usually background characters who have a big part in an episode.

[Anadu Kune 668]

DiscordAnarchy (quote function not working for me)

Yeah that's defiantly a possibility. especially regarding the reaction to Wonderbolts Academy where we really had next to nothing to actually place her character.


Anti-Villain   Well actually S3 Spitfire was shown to reward Careless and selfish behavior. She praised lightning's reckless and selfish tornado stunt(a stunt which nearly killed 5 ponies) calling it an excessive but effective tactic. Spitfire didn't punish anyone until Rainbow told her it was wrong. After which Spitfire agreed. This is consistent with what we saw in Rainbow Falls. Spitfire wanting the best for the team which is representing both Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts sees a potential to strengthen the team and takes it. She doesn't see that what she is doing is wrong until again Rainbow points it out to her. Again after which Spitfire openly agrees. What I see in Spitfire is a flaw that Rainbow demonstrated in S1 in the Running of the Leaves. When put in a competitive atmosphere Rainbow took to dubious tactics. It took Twilight to point out that her behavior was wrong for her to realize it. In short Spitfire is blinded when it comes to representing what's best for the Wonderbolts and in this case Cloudsdale, but when shown that her actions are wrong she readily realizes her mistakes and acts accordingly.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Anadu Kune

[Dsanders 5,748]

Yeah I noticed that her behavior here was a complete 180 to how she was in Wonderbolts Academy. It was really annoying how manipulative and deceitful she was here.  -_-

 

Now as for whether or not she was out of character. I would say so. Though there's always the possibility she only behaved like this due to the competitive atmosphere. Who knows really. We can only truly know if she will introduced further in the upcoming episodes of this season.

 

But I've heard that Powell wrote this? Well that explains a whole lot as well.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Spitfire may be suffering from writer inconsistency. Much like Fluttershy, I think some of the writers can decide where they want to go with Spitfire's character.

 

Some want to maker her a cool and mature character. Others want to make her slightly antagonistic to make her look like a jerk in some situations. Rainbow Falls is a good example of a time where Spitfire's character needed to be slightly changed to be somewhat different from her usual appearances for it to fit.

 

She needed to be taught the lesson of Loyalty from Dash but I personally think that could've been a bit more directed towards Fleetfoot since she was egging on Rainbow Dash more than Spitfire was. Perhaps if she stayed neutral?

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Spitfire is an " anything , win at all costs attitude." She was far from OOC.

[BalanceBrony 259]

@@Motion Spark, @@Dsanders, @, Once again, I think we are having "similar moral syndrome here." People are seeing similarities in lessons learned when they are actually completely different. In Wonderbolts Academy, the lesson was a question of safety. The lesson was that people shouldn't be put at physical risk for the sake of efficiency. It was a lesson against recklessness, not a lesson about loyalty.

 

In Rainbow Falls, Spitfire wasn't putting anypony's safety at risk, and she wasn't being reckless. She was in fact being very calculating, which in fact emphasizes the lesson she learned in WA. And since that is the only lesson she has learned in canon (not headcanon, and not fanon: canon) there is no reason for us to believe she wouldn't have acted the way she did. There is no evidence ever to suggest that Spitfire would understand loyalty, or act in a loyal way. I think people are disappointed because they have an idea of the way Spitfire should act, and when she went against that preconception (in order institute a very masterful storyline, I might add), all hell broke loose.

 

People need to separate their ideas of how Spitifire should act versus how she would act.

[WarriorShy 48]

Because its important for the plot of the episode to be like that ooooooor FleetFlot is a bad influence and makes her act like a villain

[Planty 1,053]

That is one of the problems I had with Rainbow Falls, they basically did a complete 180 with Spitfire's character and had her out of character by having her lie to not only Rainbow Dash but Soarin as well just to replace him with a better flier so that her team can qualify for the Equestria Games. Not cool, Corey Powell.

I think it's fits very well with the character though.

 

A lot of people are like this, on the surface nice and yet if your not part of them getting to the best place or "the winners circle" they just drop you. I know people when I was young I used to wanted to play with the best footballers and not the rubbish ones, I wanted to win.

 

It suits her character, and I don't feel like it's even 180.

 

It also let Rainbow teach her something.

 

It also allowed the writers to address something important. Friendship before winning/perceived personal gain (something which in today's society I feel is lost).

 

Althought it wasn't the best episode of the series so far, it's definatly a great episode and I feel more that it's from spitfire not fitting in with head cannon then anything else.

 

It also reminds me of the whole, don't meet your heroes because they might not be as amazing and flawless as you first thought, thing!

Edited January 20, 2014 by Happy Plant

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think it's fits very well with the character though.

 

A lot of people are like this, on the surface nice and yet if your not part of them getting to the best place or "the winners circle" they just drop you. I know people when I was young I used to wanted to play with the best footballers and not the rubbish ones, I wanted to win.

 

It suits her character, and I don't feel like it's even 180.

 

It also let Rainbow teach her something.

 

It also allowed the writers to address something important. Friendship before winning (something which in today's society I feel is lost).

 

Althought it wasn't the best episode of the series so far, it's definatly a great episode and I feel more that it's from spitfire not fitting in with head cannon then anything else.

 

It also reminds me of the whole, don't meet your heroes because they might not be as amazing and flawless as you first thought, thing!

I'll give you a lot of points for that.

 

I know Spitfire doing what she did taught Rainbow Dash a lesson was something that helped me give the episode a chance, but the way Twilight told Rainbow Dash to make her decision wasn't executed the right way if you ask me.

 

I guess you're right.