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DoctorWTF
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I disliked how the “The Washouts” had Scootaloo find what looked like a satisfying second choice to the Wonderbolts - which would make good use of her signature scooter skills but not require flight - only to give the message that that was a BAD thing. And then there was no further discussion (in this episode or any other) of what she’s supposed to do with her life if the Wonderbolts are off the table and what looked like a respectable alternative is also bad.
Redeeming Lightning Dust could have yielded a lovely lesson in finding something noteworthy to do with one’s life despite a disability.
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Redeeming Lighting Dust despite her previous actions would be like redeeming Starlight in season 5 despite her previous actions. It wouldn’t feel earned and it would have been disjointed, weird, arbitrary and confusing.
Kiryu-Chan
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I disliked how the “The Washouts” had Scootaloo find what looked like a satisfying second choice to the Wonderbolts - which would make good use of her signature scooter skills but not require flight - only to give the message that that was a BAD thing. And then there was no further discussion (in this episode or any other) of what she’s supposed to do with her life if the Wonderbolts are off the table and what looked like a respectable alternative is also bad.
Redeeming Lightning Dust could have yielded a lovely lesson in finding something noteworthy to do with one’s life despite a disability.
Except the episode made it pretty clear that Lightning Dust was a bad influence and was the problem. The problem was never about Scootaloo finding an alternative for her lack of flying, nor does it ever say it was a bad thing. There were somethings I think the episode should have addressed(it was obvious RD was jealous of Scootaloo taking a liking to LD, and halfway it felt like they were leading to it, but never elaborated further). The show ultimately gave her a disappointing end game by having her be a teacher but I blame that more on the writing being incessant forcing the school of friendship being something of value
Not that I don’t think LD reforming can’t work. I mean they tried to reform Garble and Ahuizotl when no one wanted it. Really you don’t have anywhere to go but up
DoctorWTF
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The problem was never about Scootaloo finding an alternative for her lack of flying, nor does it ever say it was a bad thing.
No, in the context of “The Washouts” in and of itself, it wasn’t THE problem. But in the context of Scootaloo’s character arc across the series, it was A problem. Back in “Flight to the Finish”, Rainbow Dash helped her learn that even if she can’t fly, she’s still special in other ways. Then you have her yearning to fly in “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep” and “Surf And/or Turf”. Here, for the one and only time in all of MLP canon, she explores a potential career which would make great use of these aforementioned “other ways”, and it involves a stunt team with a devil-may-care attitude towards safety. After watching her struggle, it’s not hard to find that just a little bit disappointing.
There were somethings I think the episode should have addressed(it was obvious RD was jealous of Scootaloo taking a liking to LD, and halfway it felt like they were leading to it, but never elaborated further).
That and Rainbow heavily implied that she’d been expecting Scootaloo to follow her into the Wonderbolts despite being fully aware of Scootaloo’s wing situation (if Faust’s claim that she “hadn’t figured out yet” was still valid, one would think Rainbow would have taken care of that by then). She does acknowledge that she hadn’t been behaving like a pony worthy of her own fan club, but all she does after that is set up the Scootaloo Fan Club.
The show ultimately gave her a disappointing end game by having her be a teacher but I blame that more on the writing being incessant forcing the school of friendship being something of value
Well, that and possibly time constraints.
Not that I don’t think LD reforming can’t work. I mean they tried to reform Garble and Ahuizotl when no one wanted it. Really you don’t have anywhere to go but up
Actually, almost getting Scootaloo killed could have been a plausible catalyst for Lightning Dust’s reformation. Even accounting for her severely self-centered nature, if somepony were to inform her that having a child die in the middle of her show would tank her career, she just might listen.
For what it’s worth, the first draft of the “Wonderbolts Academy” script ended with Lightning seeing the error of her ways, being demoted to Rainbow’s wingpony, and continuing her academy training.
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DoctorWTF
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@Latecomer
I never meant to suggest that redeeming Lightning Dust was absolutely necessary for Scootaloo to have a quality character arc - just that with other villains getting redeemed after much worse, that was kind of a missed opportunity there.
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As far the Shadowbolts go, I like Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat. I think their gimmicks are fun. The rest are meh. Also, the change of Lightning Dust into Indigo Zap never made sense to me - especially since LD’s VA is voicing Sunny Flare instead.
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@Tiger beetle
I’m sure they’re meant to be separate characters IZ and LD
Indigo Zap was always meant to be Lightning Dust. Even disregarding the character design, they even went as far as to have a prototype toy that was clearly meant to be her

Commentary of the movie also confirmed this
Why they changed it I’ll never understand
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Tiger beetle
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@Kiryu-Chan
Exactly.
My only thought is that they wanted a roster of completely new characters to sell toys of - but I dunno, I feel LD’s a fan favorite, you’d sell more toys if it WAS her.
And the fact that you got human versions of ponies such as Suri, Trenderhoof, Jet Set, Upper Crust, and Fleur De Lis just hanging out in the background makes this make even less sense. You got the VA, you got other recognizable secondary ponies as students at Crystal Prep and yet you decide “nah, change her to a similar character”/
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Spitfire was the first one chosen, but was ultimately replaced with Lightning Dust as the role felt too mean for Spitfire’s character. I never saw the reason they swapped out LD for a new character, but if I had to guess it was because everyone else was new so they just did the same and made Indigo.
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Tiger beetle
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I dunno how unpopular it is, but I think Sci-Twi and Timber Spruce have cute chemistry. Certainly more chemistry than pony Twi and Flash (and I say that as a Flash fan myself)….
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Do you ever wonder if Equestria is really as utopian as we humans make it out to be?
How do we know Equestria doesn’t have problems with drugs (in the form of potions), poverty or trafficking?
It’s just that it’s not the focus of MLP being a kids show to show those grimier parts of Equestria.
I mean even what we are shown, there seems to be classism, racism and bullying (Fluttershy having some of the worst)
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@Cosmas-the-Explorer
I mean, it’s clearly not as utopian. Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Tirek managed to sow discord (hah) fairly easily amongst the three tribes. And some Earth ponies appear to be slightly resentful about having to do most manual things with their hooves or mouths (if Cherilee’s tired expression when she has to re-write a lesson on a board, or Maud’s joke are anything to go by) while the unicorns have TK, and the pegasi have their wings.
Also there seems to be discrimination towards mules lol
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Not exactly, but the way i see it, Equestria’s problems would be of a different cast altogether than the ones we have - poverty, possibly, since it always exists on societies that are sufficiently complex, but the other two are too… modern for the way Equestria seems to be.
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Do you ever wonder if Equestria is really as utopian as we humans make it out to be?
Yeah certainly not besides the constant monster and villain attacks, in the g4 world they had just recently allowed races to go to the same schools. Dragons pillage pony towns etc etc. Outside of Equestria definitely not as we see the poverty criminal like behavior of were capper lives and it sucks that we never see him go back and try to have his new princess friends make that town a better place.
DoctorWTF
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@Tiger beetle
Not to mention how easily CHrysalis (and later Opaline) managed to turn the pony tribes against one another just by going around and spouting propaganda. Apparently, the ponies have the same critical thinking skills as real-life ponies.
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