S04:E22 - Trade Ya

[Wingnut 6,990]

OK, I just watched Trade Ya. It had the usual mix of good points with a few not so good points. The fact that Rainbow Dash was almost willing to sell Fluttershy into slavery for a book rubbed me and a lot of other people the wrong way. Once again, we see the tendency for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to be Flanderized unless they are the main character of the story. On the other hand, I liked the dynamics of TwiPie, FlutterDash, and Rarijack. It was fun to see the chemistry these pairings had. But unlike some, I didn't feel they were overly shippy or fanservicey. And I should have known Twilight wouldn't have been able to part with those old books after all.

[RainbowDash24 71]

Slavery? Seriously? -__-; I don't talk much on forums or anything, me being shy and all, but I feel like I have to defend Rainbow Dash here. 

 

I really wish Rainbow Dash would stop getting so much hate for what happened at the end. She was just so focused on the book that she probably didn't fully hear or understand what the salespony said until it was too late. Also Fluttershy agreed to it so that Dash could have the book she wanted. It's no different than doing volunteer work, and she loves animals, so it's not like she was forced into it. You also have to understand that Rainbow Dash had spent all day going all over the place trading things for more things just to get the book she wanted. And when it came time to finally get it, the mare didn't want the Orthros anymore. So, one can imagine how stressed out Dash already was after a long day, I mean, she looked like she was about to crack for a minute there. And then she fainted. (Rarity's not the only drama queen in the group. Where's the fainting couch when you need it? )

 

But, Rainbow immediately had things fixed once she realized her MISTAKE. Yes, MISTAKE, something that everypony is allowed to make from time to time. She also apologized and admitted that she was wrong. And she even made up for it by trading her Orthros for the bird whistle that Fluttershy had wanted. (At the beginning of the episode, Fluttershy said, "I did want to trade this bear caller for a bird whistle..." in case anyone missed that line.) Meaning, Rainbow left the Trade Exchange empty-hoofed so that Fluttershy could have what she originally wanted. I'd say that was a pretty awesome thing for her to do on her part.

 

But, no, Rainbow Dash is "worst pony/friend" and is a "total jerk" and she isn't allowed to EVER EVER EVER EVER make mistakes without fans jumping down her throat for it! 

 

I have to wonder if it were one of the other Mane Six characters, if they would've gotten the same reaction, or maybe people are only reacting this way because it was Fluttershy. I wonder if it was Rainbow Dash who had to temporarily stay in another town for whatever service she had to do so that Fluttershy could have what she wanted, if people would've gotten mad at Fluttershy for "trading Dash into slavery." >.> I can see the reactions, "oh poor Fluttershy, she accidentally traded her friend's services away and she must feel soooo bad. She needs a hug!" I hope that wouldn't be true, but I'd be really sad if it was.

 

It just seems like Rainbow Dash has become the most hated pony or something, and anytime she makes ONE mistake or ONE bad judgment, or when she doesn't live up to her Element, she gets totally hated for it. I'm sick of it! >.< For goodness sake, all of the girls have lapsed on their Element, but I don't see them get hate for it (and I don't want them to), but Heaven forbid Rainbow Dash to lapse on hers. 

 

I love all of the Mane Six, Rainbow Dash is my favorite, and Rarity is my second favorite, but I could NEVER hate any of the characters. There is no such thing as "worst pony" for me, and I wish it didn't exist at all. Disliking a pony or not liking a character as much as another one is one thing, but outright HATING a character just seems silly to me. 

 

Sorry for the rant, I just hate seeing a character get bashed for making a mistake and having flaws, and I just had to get all that out of my system. ^.^;

[caramba2654 602]

Turns out you were right http://www.equestriadaily.com/2014/04/trade-yah-story-behind-wheel-chair-pony.html.

 

Yeah, I just saw the link too. I'm so happy that he got his wish granted!

[PrymeStriker 408]

I thought "Trade Ya" was really good, actually. Didn't have high hopes for it at first, but I ended up enjoying it. My only complaint is that Rainbow Dash was nearly willing to trade Fluttershy for a book. The better writing in this case would have been for Rainbow Dash to turn down the trade on the spot instead of making the deal and having to correct the mistake, since the whole "ceremony" scene was utterly useless. 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

That bit with the pony wagging her tail and wanting Twilight's autograph was so adorable, OMG, it's almost like Scootaloo being around Rainbow Dash and acting all gaga.

[Lord Bradley 1,319]

Finally Twilight gets recognized as a princess!

[Budding Night 1,043]

I was watching this while talking to a friend, heres a transcipt:
 

 

 

Budding Night (BD) : (Oh my god Pinkie Pie is inpersonating Flam)
Budding Night's Friend (BDF): (....................wut.)

BD: (AHH THERES A CRYSTAL PONY)
BD: (CRYSTALLY)
BD: (OUTSIDE THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE)
BDF: (..........*cricket chirp*)
BD: (Thank you for the clarifaction Hasbro. Though this if a little.. Eh..)
BD: (Feels like someone said 'MAKE THIS SUPER DUPER CLEAR OK KTHXBYE)

BD: (F****** so typical stupid cliche episode)
BDF: Heh
BD: (With the tiniest)
BD: (Most microscopic)
BD: (F****** baby twist)
BD: (Ever)
BD: ITS SO F****** STUPID GAH
BD: SO STUPID EVEN FOR KIDS
BD: WHAT THE F****** HELL DO YO- *sigh*
BD: Fluttershy is a doormat -.-
BDF: Heh
BD: More one than me

 

(He joins me)

 

BD: WHAT A F****** STUPID EPISODE
BD: FOR F*** SAKE NO
BD: FLUTTER SHY STOP
BD: F****** STOP
BD: NO
BD: RAINBOW
BD: GAH
BDF: YOU STUPID PEGISUSSY!
BD: -________________________________________________________________________-
BD: Stupid f****** Pinkie
BD: Look at her
BDF: ....
BDF: wut
BD: FLAM
BD: PINKIE PIE X FLAM
BDF: I DONT WANT TO BUT I AM!
BDF: GOD NO!
BDF: EVERYONES GOING TO DO THAT NOW!
BDF: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
BD: TWILIGHT YOU'RE TOO F****** YOUNG FOR THIS
BD: Aww.
BD: Thats sweet
 

 

 

 
So yeah,
I didn't like this episode.

Do excuse my raging too

 

EDIT: Oh, and my mate paused at the perfect time

 

Edited April 21, 2014 by Budding Night

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

For a rrather uneventful episodee,,iit was rather fun to see some rarijack, and know that you can trade ponys for books.

[Truffles 2,033]

I definitely liked all the one off gags like the Discord lamp and RD/Fluttershy constantly appearing in the background of AJ and Rarity's bickering;

THIS ^^^ This was my favorite moment from an overall amusing episode: First we see Flutters heading to the Discord Lamp booth, then back to the Chicken Booth, then we finally see both Rainbow and Flutters flying by with an Antique Chicken. There were lots of lots of visual gags going on with the cameo appearances of various salesponies and other characters from the past seasons.

 

Because of Pinkie. I miss the old Pinkie that would do her best to make everypony happy. In this episode, she just hurt everypony! She made the filly cry and the crowd angry and guess what? She was HAPPY about it.

I noticed this a while back about Pinkie, which is why she's also at the bottom of my list for favorite Mane 6. (But I still like her, even if she is bipolar. ) She wants everypony to smile, but yikes; she's got a dark streak that would make Sombra proud. Most notable episodes for her being a poor winner or mean are in "Super Squeezy 6K" where she hogs the cider and in "Filli Vanilli" where she gleeful over Big Mac losing his voice during the Turkey Call contest.

 

It is probably no coincidence that she pretty much takes on the likeness of Flim and Flam here, and then immediately tries to scam everypony for their most valuable possessions they brought with them....

 

Anyway, my suspicion is the subcontext of this episode is a possible What-If-The-Mane-6-Really-Shipped-With-One-another episode - this is how they'd act with one another if they were really dating. The only ship I really like out of the 3 they featured is FlutterDash. (I swear when RD grabs FS and pulls her in really tight when they first take off to do their trading was like fodder for FlutterDash fanfics for the next 2 years. ) It's kind of funny that my other RD ship I like, SoarinDash, also took place at Rainbow Falls!

 

I don't blame RD for almost selling Flutters into slavery; I don't think RD heard Fluttershy say how long it was going to actually take to train the Orthros (she can be pretty quiet). And RD immediately tried to fix it once she was able to stop focusing on her new acquisition.

 

But I think Flutters was OOC here; she immediately agreed to going without even considering the care and feeding of all her animals, even Angel. I don't believe she would ever put RD's wish for a comic ahead of them. (Unless she has some kind of super-secret crush on RD that is sooo powerful it makes her not care about animals anymore. )

 

Stellar was pretty cool and smoothly blended into the episode (I like the details they put into his contraption!) I always thought on a show like this a more diverse display of characters would make for good publicity and more vibrant world, as long as it doesn't feel forced.

 

And as others said, kudos for finally having some adult ponies care about having Princess Twilight in their midst. And kudos for keeping her in character and still not wanting the attention!

Edited April 21, 2014 by TruffleShuffle

[Pastel 7,630]

Finally Twilight gets recognized as a princess!

She already got some recognition in Twilight Time.

[Singe 2,111]

AJ: Your load is mighty lite. I thought you didn't trade any of your books?

TS: That's because Pinkie Pie got very angry and burned all the books. *Looks at Pinkie with scorn.*

PP: That's what you get for wasting my time, princess.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Singe

[Skullbuster 1,906]

is it just me? or do these recent episodes seem a little plotless? last episode with rainbow dash, was a little like that, but it was more like ticket master, but this one had no central story, not really, it was just characters doing their own stuff, im not saying its bad, its just different

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

I really enjoyed this episode overall!  I've always liked episodes that focus on the entire Mane 6 instead of just one or two, and the concept of this episode was surprisingly fun.  There were also a lot of things going on in the background that were fun to notice.  For the most part, I found all of the characters to be in character (with maybe the exception of Pinkie Pie).  If I were to complain about anything, it would probably be that the ending felt rushed, but that's not really surprising because the episodes are only 22 minutes, blah blah yadda yadda (you've heard all of this before).  In the end, I found it to be a fun episode that was quite enjoyable!

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

It was overally good. But a lot of it was really meh. The argument between Rarity and Applejack was pretty funny. It had one of the best lessons in the ENTIRE SERIES!!!

[Lord Bradley 1,319]

She already got some recognition in Twilight Time.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. But I focused a bit more on the adult ponies recognizing her than the fillies and colts

[Carolina 212]

I liked it, but I kind of hope that they focus on some different groupings in the future. Much as I like the dynamic between Rarity and Applejack, we've seen them together three times now, not counting Saturday's episode ("Look Before you Sleep," "Sisterhooves Social" and "Simple Ways.") Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have had a lot of screen time together, too ("Hurricane Fluttershy" being the most prominant) and so have Twilight and Pinkie Pie ("It's About Time," "Feeling Pinkie Keen.") I think it would have been interesting to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity, since they hardly seem to interact one on one. The same is true for Applejack and Fluttershy. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie could have been a nice contrast, too.

 

Other than that, it was a nice episode. It kind of reminds me of most "dramadies" in that it cut between several plotlines. I personally wouldn't mind seeing more eps set up that way in the future.

[FlutterSpike 30]

This episode wasn't bad. My favorite part was Pinkie trying to get ponies to trade for Twilight's books. 

I have to admit that I was ticked off at Rainbow Dash when she traded Fluttershy! Yeah, she made up for it in the end, but still, I wanted to scream at her. 

[Persona22 205]

Dude that pony is an OC of a kid who is dying from an illness...he voiced it and everything apparently. 

Okay, I did some research on that.

His name is Sylvain Portelance, and made it through the Make a Wish foundation. But I still stand by the statement that his voice acting was not good.

I did not like the fact that he was clearly not ready, or nervous, or did not rehearse enough for voicing the character. He had three lines, and I could barely understand what he was saying in each one.

 

There are plenty of actors that have some sort of disability, even guys that had a career in voice acting like James Earl Jones, that has a stuttering problem and practices double for each line he has to say.

Silvester Stallone also had problems. Complications his mother suffered during labor forced her doctors to use two pairs of forceps during his birth; misuse of these accidentally severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of Stallone's face. As a result, the lower left side of his face is paralyzed, including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin, an accident which has given Stallone his snarling look and slightly slurred speech. This didn't keep him from working twice as hard and finally accomplishing his goals as a world class actor.

 

Being disabled is not a nice thing, believe me. My brother is deaf and I need to use sign language to have a conversation with him. My mother has dementia and she doesn't recognize me half of the time, I have deformity on my feet and need to use special soles in my shoes. But let me tell you something, people still expect you to step up and do the job you set yourself to do, they don't make it easier for you because you have some sort of disability.

Sylvain Portelance was given the chance of being a voice actor, and they allowed him to blow it by allowing him to just mumble away his lines in a totally unprofessional manner, instead of encouraging him to rehearse and perform as best as he could.

[Winger7632 124]

 

Okay, I did some research on that.

His name is Sylvain Portelance, and made it through the Make a Wish foundation. But I still stand by the statement that his voice acting was not good.

I did not like the fact that he was clearly not ready, or nervous, or did not rehearse enough for voicing the character. He had three lines, and I could barely understand what he was saying in each one.

 

There are plenty of actors that have some sort of disability, even guys that had a career in voice acting like James Earl Jones, that has a stuttering problem and practices double for each line he has to say.

Silvester Stallone also had problems. Complications his mother suffered during labor forced her doctors to use two pairs of forceps during his birth; misuse of these accidentally severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of Stallone's face. As a result, the lower left side of his face is paralyzed, including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin, an accident which has given Stallone his snarling look and slightly slurred speech. This didn't keep him from working twice as hard and finally accomplishing his goals as a world class actor.

 

Being disabled is not a nice thing, believe me. My brother is deaf and I need to use sign language to have a conversation with him. My mother has dementia and she doesn't recognize me half of the time, I have deformity on my feet and need to use special soles in my shoes. But let me tell you something, people still expect you to step up and do the job you set yourself to do, they don't make it easier for you because you have some sort of disability.

Sylvain Portelance was given the chance of being a voice actor, and they allowed him to blow it by allowing him to just mumble away his lines in a totally unprofessional manner, instead of encouraging him to rehearse and perform as best as he could.

 

...dude its just a kid living a dream through make a wish. Not a professional voice actor, also its a childrens TV show and i think they're allowed one badly voiced character for the exception of an awesome episode, charity action, and a few lines. 

[Persona22 205]

...dude its just a kid living a dream through make a wish. Not a professional voice actor, also its a childrens TV show and i think they're allowed one badly voiced character for the exception of an awesome episode, charity action, and a few lines. 

You have your opinion, and I have mine. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, I just disagree with it.

[Celestial Wish 349]

I honestly did not really care for the episode at all until I saw... this... part...

 

 

 

 

The fact that they made a Bioshock reference blew me out of the water. I gave it 5 stars then.

 

Edit*** Oh and that make-a-wish OC... totally hot and I'm sending all my positive thoughts to the kid. Hope there's a miracle for him. <3

Edited April 22, 2014 by Celestial Wish

[Singe 2,111]

Fluttershy has to watch what she was saying, since it pretty much sounded like she was offering her services to train the Orthos.

 

I'm doubtful this was feared slave labor or indentured servitude, Fluttershy would still have to be compensated in some way since it would make no sense for her to pay out of pocket for her living expenses to stay in the city to work a free job.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Overall, this episode was pretty average - not terrible, but not particularly engaging or compelling, either. All the various plot lines - Rarity and Applejack arguing, Pinkie talking up Twilight's books to trade them, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash doing a Zelda-style trading sequence - were only mildly interesting, at best, and often seemed to drag. Consequently, there's comparatively fewer aspects of the episode to write about.

 

I'll admit that some aspects of the Exchange don't really make sense, but I suppose they can be chalked up to "tradition". I suppose it's tradition (or maybe it's supposed to be part of the "fun") that everyone there only exchanges goods for other goods and not money (bits), even though exchanging money for goods would be the simpler thing to do. And I suppose it's tradition that a princess must be present at the exchange, and the princess must arbitrate disputes over whether a trade is "fair", i.e., whether both ponies get what they want, even though this could be covered by a simple rule of "no coerced trades", i.e., no trades where either party is forced to trade against their will.

 

Twilight talks about how Princess Celestia has been sending her more books to read than ever, and that the library is overflowing, so she's trading some books away to make room. Is Twilight trading away books she personally owns, or books from the library itself, which are publicly owned? If the former, how big is Twilight's personal collection, such that it along with the books Celestia's sending have caused the library to overflow with books? If the latter, then is everyone supposed to take it on faith that Twilight will try to get as good a trade for the publicly-owned books as possible? In this case, will the things Twilight trades the books for be put to public use or sold with the proceeds going to public library maintenance or something like that? Given the way that Twilight acts about the books through the episode, and how she talks about a couple of the books at the end of the episode, it seems more likely that the books are Twilight's personal books, though.

 

Why is Twilight so willing to trade all the books she brought to a little kid for a broken pen? With how little value she's getting from the trade, Twilight may as well have just thrown the books out. Even if Twilight wanted the books to be put to good use, what did she think a little kid would do with all of her books, many (if not all) of which are presumably not grade-school level? Believe it or not, I actually agree with Pinkie that that was not a good trade for Twilight to make.

 

Applejack's interest in a rusty vintage pie tin is a little baffling. Applejack says the tin will help cook pies up to five seconds faster, but since the typical baking time for an apple pie is 45 minutes or longer, this time savings is less than 0.2% of the total baking time. So, unless the Apple family runs a brutally efficient pie-making process, the time savings by the tin seems insignificant. And this is not to mention that the rust on the tin could have some effect on the cooking and/or taste of pies made in it. Given all of this, it seems that Applejack has a lot less room to criticize Rarity's desire to get an older, but otherwise identical, brooch. Applejack may be right that, from a purely practical perspective, an old brooch does the same job as the one she currently owns, but age is often a significant factor in the value of aesthetic goods (whether that seems practical or not), so if anything, Rarity might have a slightly better case for getting her desired item. Of course, they could both forego their picks, also, since both of their picks don't seem particularly worth trading for.

 

I think the reactions of horror at Rainbow Dash "selling Fluttershy into slavery" are a little overblown. One big consideration is that Fluttershy seems to agree, albeit reluctantly, to the arrangement of staying with the Daring Do book trader in Manehattan until the Orthros is trained. This arrangement also has Fluttershy doing one specific thing - training the Orthros - which, although Fluttershy says it will take many moons, is a fairly well-defined and finite job, not an open-ended agreement to be the Daring Do book trader's slave in perpetuity. Of course, that's not to say that this arrangement is ideal, or that Rainbow Dash isn't wrong to agree so readily to this arrangement without thinking of the predicament it puts Fluttershy in. In fact, I think there are other better arrangements that Rainbow Dash could have tried to work out, rather than giving up on the trade entirely. For example, maybe Rainbow Dash could have suggested (after talking it over with Fluttershy) that Fluttershy could train the Orthros at her house (or elsewhere) and given the Orthros to the Daring Do book trader when it was ready, with Rainbow Dash compensating Fluttershy for the time, effort, and inconvenience of training the Orthros. Besides that, are there any ponies other than Fluttershy who are knowledgeable and could be paid to train the Orthros, so that Fluttershy doesn't have to?

 

Now for a few final miscellany:

 

How is the signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue at the Exchange the only one in all of Equestria? Do no others exist at all, or is this just the only one Rainbow Dash found available on the market (that is, others who own such a book are not interested in selling)?

 

The crystal chalice is fine when the trader sets it in front of Rainbow Dash, but it breaks into pieces when Rainbow Dash tries to pick it up. Does Rainbow Dash really manhandle the chalice so much that it would break?

 

Rainbow Dash only realizes that the lamp trader didn't specify which chicken statue he wanted when she brings the chalice to the chicken statue dealer later in the episode. Why didn't Rainbow Dash realize this when she first came to the chicken statue stand and the dealer was rattling off the names to her?

 

It seems a bit surprising (and perhaps dubious) that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have all the know-how to make the oat burgers and run the oat burger stand much quicker than the pony actually working there, and furthermore, that the pony operating the stand just meekly stands by and lets them take over.

 

When Rainbow Dash sees the Daring Do book trader closing up shop, couldn't she or Fluttershy fly over there and ask the trader to wait while the other one brings the Orthros? This would also prevent Fluttershy from losing her bear call.

 

Why are there so many spectators at the "trial" to void Rainbow Dash's trade, and why do they cheer when the trade is voided? Why do all of them care so much about this particular trade, and what stake do any of them have in it? Are they just there to see Princess Twilight in action and/or because they have nothing better to do before they leave for the day?

 

Finally, Rainbow Dash must trade her Orthros for the bird whistle after the Exchange is declared over, since Twilight declares it over immediately after the trial. Spike also trades his comic book after the Exchange has been declared over, although possibly he and the trader do it quickly so as not to attract attention. I wouldn't bother pointing this out (since after all, I would think that ponies can trade whenever they want without having to do it at a particular time and place) except that Rainbow Dash made a big deal about the fact that the Exchange ends at sundown and that they had to do the trade before then. Is there some kind of rule at the Exchange that forbids trades after the Exchange is declared over? How would such a rule be enforced?

[Celestial Wish 349]

On a serious note... it just felt like another filler episode. I know we're waiting for Twilight Kingdom, but at least make a filler episode that isn't absolutely ridiculous.... This was nuts. There were things I liked but overall it was just too... crazy..

[roptiriolg 49]

Woops, I forgot to comment on that episode, watched it 2 days ago.

 

I really like the look of Rainbow Falls, and while being in the minority that likes the episode Rainbow Falls, it was nice to see that place again.

 

The whole trading thing was funny, especially Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, totally like the combination of them two and their quest for trading, Pinkie Pie and Twilight was also funny, also nice to see Rarity and AJ bonding together..

 

Overall, I liked it, not loved it, as in not from the super-duper episodes, it was funny during the mid, felt a little sad until Rainbow Dash undid her choice as I love Fluttershy. Btw I love Rainbow Dash too, no way I would hate her just cause of her choice, plus we all know this would be too big of a change to happen as a main event in the MLP plot - Fluttershy to leave, so ofc this could be predicted would not stay like that.