Official Discussion Thread - S04E10 Rainbow Falls

[SteelEagle]

It is that time of the week again when we all huddle around our computers and televisions and watch adorable ponies do adorable pony things. In this week's episode, rainbow pegasus has a deep emotional problem where she must choose between friendly loving dirt pony town and still probably pretty loving but way more competitive and elite flying horse city. Will she choose to pal about and neigh with the farmers or fly around with total abandon with other flying horses? Find out in just a few hours! Please discuss the episode, but remember to keep the spoilers in the spoilers bracket. Episode airs Saturday 10 AM EST on January 18th. :pathfinder: :pathfinder: :pathfinder:

After much digging I found an end image from the next episode, enlarged for Ashton's pleasure:

To Rose and Brian:

[CaptainMcDerp]

I know one thing, I am pretty excited for this episode after seeing (teaser warning!) this and this from EQD.

[brianblackberry]

Sorry about that Steel and Rose, I got terribly ill last night and went to bed really early. Woke up and got on to do this and found you beat me to it.

[SongHeart]

Watching the new episode

[Rosewind]

I think they tried too hard with Bulk Biceps. First half of the episode was kinda weak and expected. Also RD's idols acting that way just seemed to step on Rainbow's canon, though they did clear stuff up with that at the end.

Everything from Derpy's appearance onward was amazing.

The rainbow wigs and cheer from her friends was great. There was also a touching moment of Raridash when she tied a purple bow on Rainbow's hoof. That made me grin like crazy, and I'm sure Raridash was doing so as well. Also the ending with the pin. More subplot!

I like Twilight's message: avoiding both choices isn't making a choice at all. First half of the episode: 3 out of 10. Second half: 8 out of 10.

[YourLittleBrony]

Another fine episode! Now Im realy looking forward to the Equestrian Games more than ever. Just some thoughts on the episode:

For starters, I just knew that rainbow aura thingy would be important! Looks like every member of the Mane 6 will be experiencing it, perhaps when they make some critical realization within themselves? First the spool from "Rarity in Manehatten," and now the Wonderbolt pin. I wonder...

~Wonderbolts acting rather jerky surprised me, but then again didnt surprise me at the same time. A high end team thinking very highly of themselves and willing to forsake their own team member and lie to them for someone else stronger was kinda a jerk move. At least they redeemed themselves in the end, though I have to wonder if Rainbow Dash still wants to be part of them in the future.

~Derpy! Glad to see her finally show up! ^-^

~P is for Pinkie Pie is best cheerleader! Those rainbow wigs are so nifty. Let loose the cheerleader Pinkie Pie cosplays!

~Leave it to Twilight to be the voice of reason. Good moral we can all apply in our daily lives. Cant avoid making serious decisions like that.

[RarityDash]

I watched it twice, and I gotta say I agree almost entirely with Rose on this episode. It started out really weak, but recovered nicely toward the end. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a fave of the season, but it wasn't terrible either.

It wasn't just Bulk either, everything in the front half seemed kind of forced. Pinkie Pie was written in that way where she was obnoxious rather than funny, Applejack was stripped of anything interesting to do but literally throw apple treats at people, and even Rarity seemed off. Seriously, Rarity, you can do better than that with the uniforms.I know you know more about making things cool and stylish than that. As for Bulk, yes, this is definitely a character best taken in slightly smaller doses, though he did at least provide some amusement in his awkwardness. I dunno. Almost everything seemed really flat for much of the first half.

Things turned around when the conflict came more into the center. Twilight's role in this episode really brought me back to season one. Since she wrote all the letters, she often ended up in an intermediary role like this back then. It's been a while since we've seen her at the in a similar position, and I liked it. Twi is good as a mediator for her friends, especially now that she's learned so much. After their little talk, the episode started to get better. The fake injury sequence was handled nicely, and I did indeed especially enjoy the little Raridash moment with the ribbon. Then Derpy showed up and it absolutely floored me. Seriously, I kind of expected Derpy to feature in the episode after reading that muffin tweet from Meghan Mccarthy yesterday, but watching the episode I didn't expect it. That single moment, Derpy getting presented as Dash's replacement, got the biggest laugh out of me of anything in pony in a while. And yeah, after that the rest was solid enough. It recovered nicely.

Beyond that, this was an interesting episode for the setting and background characters. I'm kind of curious about this Rainbow Falls place. Is it at the foot of Cloudsdale? Looks like a nice little place. I was absolutely delighted to see that among the teams there competing was a trio of new griffon designs; love that. Team Aquellia is going to crush it at the Equestria Games! The new cheerleader background ponies were pretty cute too. Was mildly disappointed we didn't get to see more Cloudchaser and Flitter in this episode; wonder what event their participating in? Speaking of which, why exactly did Bulk sign up for the relay? Surely there are several events in the competition where he would not only be more suited but actually excell. I know the answer is rule of funny, but come on. Doesn't make sense. Also, just what other events are there? Is AJ gonna compete? Gotta say I'm kind of curious where the Equestria Games subplot goes from here.

It was also good to see more of the Wonderbolts. Does make me wonder just what happened at the Wonderbolt Academy though. Spitfire is left thinking Dash is so good, good enough to lie and take her over Soarin', but she never became a Wonderbolt or anything. Makes me curious. Speaking of which, I gotta say I was kind of surprised Spitifre would be in on a deceptive act like that. Her previous portrayals showed her to be more cool than that. This Fleetfoot seems like a manipulative sort, so maybe she just got pressured; maybe she's just more cutthroat than we've seen before when it comes to winning. Hard to say, but it was still interesting to see the Wonderbolts like that.

And yeah, more Rainbow Power. Two down now, four to go. Looking forward to seeing where it comes from for the rest.

[Rabukurafuto]

That was fun. This is one of those episodes I can rewatch over and over for its cuteness.

[Sailu]

all in all this was a good episode and i agree with the above with Rose and Rarity

[FrankT]

• So it's clear that the eventual goal in this season in the Equestrian Games, much like it was the Grand Galloping Gala in season 1.
  
• Yay! Big D gets larger an appearance than ever!
  
• Has Dr. Whooves had a regeneration? I dunno, the timekeeper is kind of... Doctor-y.
  
• The badge is a key too! This whole thing was surely engineered!
  

[Lux]

Loved the episode!

• Yeah the first half seemed slow but I still liked it.
  
• Really liked this Rainbow Falls area. Can we say new canon town?
  
• Derpy! Glad to see her back in a prominent role.
  
• Bulk Biceps. I don't know what it is, but I kind of like that character. Maybe because he reminds me of Ren and Stimpy.
  
• Griffon team.
  
• New Cheerleader ponies.
  
• Interesting advice from Twilight of how not choosing isn't a good choice. I like how she is being more of a moderator to her friends again.
  
• I like the lesson of this story of choosing what's right, especially for everyone who faces decisions under pressure.
  
• You know the Wonderbolts are strange. At first I saw them as this great team but more and more it looks like the show is trying to show that they are far from perfect how there is deceit among the members. I wonder if Rainbow Dash is truly interested in being a Wonderbolt of if she's shying away from her once big dream?
  
• The Rainbow again! Looks like we have key #2. Interesting that this goes beyond what i thought where the ponies would be traveling the kingdom looking for actual keys. I like how each "key" represents each pony and how they are not keys either. Still don't know what's in the Mystery Box, but I can sense that'll be a cliffhanger for season 5 or a season 4 ending.

[Bellosh]

• Is it just me, or perhaps this Rainbow Falls place is the area below the Wonderbolts Academy?
  
• Don't really see what's so wrong with the Wonderbolts keeping Soarin' in the hospital. It's probably SOP for the group for their regular shows: when a team member gets injured, they drag out a reserve member rather than risking even more hurt to that injured flier.
  
• Liked seeing one of my cast ponies doing things again.
  

This episode gets a 3.5 out of 5 due to a weak beginning.

[MetalBronyATL]

Favorite episode of Season 4 so far. LOVED it.

[SteelEagle]

It was okay. One of my least favorite of the season but not bad or anything. The first half was really not very good at all, second half saved it a fair bit.

[rjrgmc28]

Whew! Finally got around to doing this after the events of the last couple of days with my grandma passing away and having to house sit.

With that out of the road, let's get to it shall we?

To quote from my tweet this morning:

"What an episode! What a moment! What a miracle! It's a dream come true! We will see you at the Crystal Empire soon!"

What can I say?, I am pretty much lost for words after watching the episode live this morning. To quote the words from the words of Bruce McAvaney......it was special.

Now for those who haven't seen the episode just yet, I have spoilered my thoughts on the episode below out of respect:

Rainbow Dash's loyalty was put to the test during this episode. For those who aren't in the loop, she was born in Cloudsdale, but migrated to Ponyville to work on the weather team.

Seeing her having to make a choice to either push through with the Ponyville team and her best friend Fluttershy or defect to her home town of Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts really brought out the best in her and showed a new side of the character that we haven't seen before. Normally she would be showing off her "too cool" and raspy style, but for this episode that all went out the window as she was left with a choice that had to be made on her own.

The qualifying race itself was a heart stopping, on the edge of your seat feeling right from the start. It had a Olympic (or in my case Paralympic) final feeling to it and while I was trying not to make the entire house up as I cheered on Ponyville to a qualification spot, the team went for broke and made the qualifying time with only a millisecond to spare.

Apart from that, there isn't much left for me to talk about for this episode. The Equestria Games story arc is starting to pick up in a big way and the next couple of episodes will be interesting to watch as the season progresses to the half way point.

I also have written my full thoughts on the episode itself on my blog, which can be viewed here.

[starswirlthebearded]

After seeing far too many spoilers I went into this with low expectations... and I have to say it was slightly worse than I had feared.

Surprisingly NOT for the reasons I thought. What killed it was the over use of Bulk Biceps and the fact that the entire plot felt forced and contrived. I suppose I couldn't tell that from spoilers but just wow... This was almost as bad as MMDW for me.

I will say this though. Great moral. It is at best a 5/10 (painfully average) (probably less if I compare it to Rarity Takes Manehattan, compared to that I'd give it a 3/10), and really that is only because I liked the moral and the ending was nice (last third).

After the last two episodes I just wasn't prepared for such a let down, even psyching myself DOWN this was a hit to me.

[brianblackberry]

What I did like about the episode is all the beloved background character cameos. Sure we had the obvious one in Derpy, which made me happy. In addition to the return of some fan favorites with dialog (Soarin', Thunderland), we also had Flitter, Cloudchaser, Lyra, Bon Bon (the latter two sitting together on a bench), Colgate, and Carrot Top, to name a few. Also Berry Punch as a pegasus, I better see some "Red Bull Gives You Wings" pictures with her! Hmmm... Should draw that.

Also happy they uped the variety on the griffins:

The episode itself was a mixed one for me. It started off pretty weak but ended strong. The moral was an excellent one and Dash overall has shown to be a more mature character; it was also nice to have the episode center on loyalty. I worried the Wonderbolts were just going to be jerks, but they turned out decent as well. Bulk Biceps was way overused and should have sounded like Mr. Horse from Ren & Stimpy. At least they had a good explanation to why Dash's team was made up of such weak flyers.

[Sparkleheart]

Some of my random thoughts on it:

*I'm a little disappointed they went with the name "Bulk Biceps" instead of "Snowflake", but there's probably some sort of copyright reason for that. (Like why Rarity's cat couldn't be named Ruby.)

*I seem to recall Bulk being able to fly decently in the Wonderbolts Academy episode, but now he's barely able to get off the ground. I mean, it makes sense with his tiny wings and all, but that sort of inconsistency sticks out a bit.

*And considering that, wouldn't they just have gone with Derpy instead of him in the first place?

*I was expecting Rainbow Dash to be a bit more conflicted, considering that she's *from* Cloudsdale, and we already saw her being all heartbroken when they didn't get to host the Equestria Games when she was a filly. So it could be argued that choosing Ponyville amounted to her betraying Cloudsdale. But nope, didn't seem to feel conflicted about that aspect at all.

*Seriously, Applejack was turned into a cartoon of herself for this one.

[kunio18]

after expecting the unexpected, i fell off my chair an broke my pc desktop slide thingy in shock awe !

[tacobob]

I enjoyed this episode! Not my favorite of the season (That would be 'Flight To The Finish), but I still liked this one..

Was that Firefly at the start?

I liked Fluttershy and Bulk’s flirting...Yeah, he was trying a bit too hard to impress her, but considering she was once a supermodel, I’m sure any other stallion would be the same.

Nice to see more griffons.

Nice to see Fleetfoot. She was only mentioned in the toon before, but she had a lot of ‘screen time’ in the comic.

Derpy is back! And cuter than ever.

I like how they answered my first question right away. I couldn’t figure out why Rainbow would have Bulk and Flutter on her team. They’re not known for being good flyers. How about Thunderlane and Cloudchaser? They were also in the training camp, and boom! They pop in two seconds later to explain why they couldn’t be there. Thanks.

Both Pinkie and Twilight were wearing skirts from the ‘Lollipop Chainsaw’ game.

What I didn’t care for.

Yeah, it was a slow start.

Spitfire. Geez. So cold. Maybe she was just annoyed at Soarin for eyeballing those cheerleaders.

[Bellosh]

Upon further thought, I'm bumping my score down to 2.75 out of 5. There simply was no way that either Fluttershy or Bulk Biceps should have been competing in that relay event they were in. Bulk is a more obvious fit for a weight-lifting competition, and Flutters doing sports is simply OOC for her. Was it really that hard for DHX to choose background ponies who actually were logical fits instead?

And to think Corey Powell wrote this episode too. Pity, especially after he wrote "Sleepless in Ponyville."

[brianblackberry]

Upon further thought, I'm bumping my score down to 2.75 out of 5. There simply was no way that either Fluttershy or Bulk Biceps should have been competing in that relay event they were in. Bulk is a more obvious fit for a weight-lifting competition, and Flutters doing sports is simply OOC for her. Was it really that hard for DHX to choose background ponies who actually were logical fits instead?

And to think Corey Powell wrote this episode too. Pity, especially after he wrote "Sleepless in Ponyville."

I think they explained that well when Thunderlane explained that individual pegasai were allowed to participate in one qualifying sport only. This explains why he, Flitter, and Cloudchaser (among others) weren't on Dash's team. It could be originally there were no pegasai left among the interested for her relay race team so she just grabbed who she could. In this scenario, asking Fluttershy makes sense. Fluttershy is one of her closest friends and Dash has shown even more desire than others in building up Fluttershy's confidence. Biceps though may be more problematic.

There may be no weight lifting competition for the pegasus sports; it may be an earth pony sport, or a general one that is open to all ponies (where he may also be a competition since it isn't a "pegasai" sport), provided of course if it exists at all.

[CaptainMcDerp]

Kind of a disappointment. Certainly my second least favorite, Daring Don't being the first. This season's still going strong though in my opinion. I hope next week's episode makes up for this week.

And to think Corey Powell wrote this episode too. Pity, especially after he wrote "Sleepless in Ponyville."

Corey Powell wrote Sleepless in Ponyville? I would have never guessed.

[Kirby Krackle]

Offbeat, but still on topic. Thanks to this episode, I made an Apple Brown Betty. But it's a layered pastry made of hunks of bread, apple, butter and brown sugar. Delicious, but an absolute mess on the plate. That being said, what the [buysomeapples] was Applejack giving out that managed to just... sit in the hoof, solid like bread or cake? There is no binder in this! No eggs or flour or anything. I don't know what AJ had, but it wasn't a Brown Betty.

But you know what? That's a lot like this episode. We're presented with something structureless and, while initially disappointed, the more you dig into it, it's still sweet and satisfying.

And now for a headcanon: I don't think we're getting rainbow eyes because the Mane 6 learn something. I think we get it when they teach something. Think about it. Coco learns about generosity from Rarity, who then gives her a token as thanks. In this episode, it's Spitfire that learns about loyalty and the same thing happens! Perhaps this pattern will continue! Who knows? The future does! Booweeeooooo weeeeooooOOOOO...

[starswirlthebearded]

Upon further thought, I'm bumping my score down to 2.75 out of 5. There simply was no way that either Fluttershy or Bulk Biceps should have been competing in that relay event they were in. Bulk is a more obvious fit for a weight-lifting competition, and Flutters doing sports is simply OOC for her. Was it really that hard for DHX to choose background ponies who actually were logical fits instead?

And to think Corey Powell wrote this episode too. Pity, especially after he wrote "Sleepless in Ponyville."

They easily could have made two other characters too. They had a lot of options. But they basically forced a situation that would place Dash into a conflict instead of doing something creative to do the same thing.

The bigger issue is that we know that Bulk Biceps was at least a decent flyer able to do obstacle courses in Wonderbolt Academy. So I'm really questioning this entire episode from setup to pretty much the last third. But the problem is the last third could have been stronger if they hadn't done it in the way they did. The only one who felt even a bit natural was Twilight. Dash is in second since she is insecure, but that's about it. Everyone else felt off... I've watched this episode twice now, and I still can't watch it all the way through...

I just... I know I'm in the minority, but seriously I can't find many redeeming qualities of this episode. If the set up is weak I just can't enjoy the episode, even if the last 1/3 was awesome. I'm the same way with books and movies. I just keep thinking of why they are in the situation and it cheapens everything. I even overlooked the awkward Derpy entry because I understood their motivation (not wanting to stir controversy). And I even enjoyed the subtly of the jokes with Derpy...But there were so many things I questioned I just... can't...