It’s a very easy thing to be a brony. Come to think of it, and looking at it from a completely objective perspective, being a Brony is as harmless and easy as being a Trekkie. You can wear a pony t-shirt and have a pony toy on your work desk and people will just shrug it off. Few times you will find yourself confronted with a person who will take your possessions bully-style and trash them into a blender. What I’m trying to say with this is, within the brony fandom, it’s not easy to be a Rainbow Dash fan. It’s not so much because of how (obviously) overrated she is, but because every time you bring the rainbow designed t-shirts and the rainbow pins and the rainbow apparel, people think you are gay. There was a time when rainbows represented peace, you twats! I am saying all this because it’s relevant for this episode, as it’s all about how being a shallow person (pony) will get you nowhere.
But first, I give you this handy TL;DR that I always do. It’s the episode worth watching? Yes. If you are a Rainbow Dash fan will you enjoy this? Yes too. Is this the best Rainbow Dash episode? No. That is still “Sonic Rainboom”, and if you hang around for longer than five minutes I will gladly tell you why.
This episode is amongst the elite of MLPFiM episodes that like to start on a high note, like “The Cutie Pox”, “Over a Barrel”, “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, “Gryphon the Brush Off” or “The Return of Harmony Part 2”. Each of these episodes is a great example of having the intro as the best part of the entire episode. Those first thirty seconds where Rainbow Dash is having a freakish nightmare where all of her friends’ pets transform into a Dali mutant is just priceless. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I like to see this show still has some surprise value left. Later on, after we are introduced to Rainbow Dash’ motivation to get her hooves on a pet, we are given our second treat. I am really happy for it as well, so we can finally shut down all those complainers begging for a song. “May the Best Pet Win!” is a wonderful song that combines really seamlessly spoken lines and sang lines that lasts for almost five minutes. It’s also the most Fluttershy-dedicated song we have had since “So Many Wonders” in Season 1. I don’t think I’m alone here when I say this is the closest G4 has gotten to G1 song wise. If you close your eyes you can imagine this entire musical number with the visuals and rhythm of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. It’s a very cool old school treat.
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| Just like Dashie herself, TRON refference and everything. |
But then, as it usually happens with most of these episodes that start up so well, we fall into the droning middle part. Rainbow Dash is presented with a lot of choices and she decides to organize a series of trials to help her decide which one will end up being her pet. As much funny moments as we have (the bat’s philharmonic of glass, the failed attempts of the tortoise, Rainbow Dash telling Twilight she will never qualify as her pet) the entire thing makes Rainbow Dash look kind of…well…douchey. I still love Dash, she is best pony and I will ride the rainbow fifty thousand times around the World, but if you are trying to have people like her DO NOT use this episode for it. She appears as an absolute prick, picking and nitpicking each one of the pets and ditching the poor tortoise every time it fails. Also, the fact that she keeps rating the performances going “Could be cooler”, “Not too cool” or “Pretty cool” amongst others, gets grating real soon real fast. I don’t know about you, but I find it deliciously ironic that the pony that was accused to be a lesbian by people and critics, happens to be shallow as well. That is a side of Rainbow Dash none of us knew. She can be unfathomably shallow-minded, and that ends up biting her on the wings.
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| Or smashing them, that works too. |
The final part of the episode is when things get up to the pace of a true Rainbow Dash episode, with a race between her and the four finalists that made the cut, through a Canyon filled with earth eels, whirly tunnels and forests of thorns, all this presented by a literal “Dun, Dun, Dunn!” and the “Ride of the Valkyries” that “Apocalypse Now” made famous. Needless to say, this part is really cool, especially when it ends with an avalanche and Rainbow Dash getting trampled by a rock, one of her wings trapped under it. And right when she starts tearing up and throwing a Rarity fit into her tantrum, the Tortoise appears and saves her life. The fact that the tortoise not only stopped to help Rainbow Dash, but also that they crossed the line together, grants it to become the Pegasus’ new pet! But, as Fluttershy puts it, how can Rainbow Dash take care of a land animal when she lives in a cloud house? Easy; you just have to make it twenty percent more awesome and augment it with a propeller and some goggles. I wish I could make it up. And things only get better when her official name is “Tank”. So yes, My Little Pony now has a rainbow colored Pegasus named Rainbow Dash who has a pet turtle called Tank that flies around with a propeller and goggles. I just realized how bizarre this show is.
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| Very, very bizarre. |
So that’s the entire episode. How does it fair up respect the other episodes of this season? Well, it’s not the greatest, but it’s definitely fun. It has a lot of great ideas that are really well executed and the actual moral works really well since it’s something we had yet to explore. You shouldn’t try and find your friends according to what you want. Besides, real friends are those who stay loyal to you. Being Dashie the embodiment of Loyalty this makes a whole lot of sense. So in the scale of Friendship is Magic this episode is just good; not great, not awful, just good. Of course, compared to other shows (ahemTransformersPrimeahem) it’s fantastic. But we stopped judging MLPFiM compared to other shows a long time ago, right?
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| Except Rainbow Dash. She keeps comparing it to the G1 show. |
Defining Moment: That nightmare fuel inducing nightmare, completed with a mutant alligator, bunny, dog that spits cats bodies that claw at you. Why isn’t there more fanart of that thing!?
Moral: Don’t be as shallow and superfluous as to judge your friends (and your pets) on mere physical characteristics. Sometimes the most loyal and true friends are those who never give up on you.
yup, agree with just about everything here.. fun read
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