S4 Episode 4 - Daring Don't

[Formis_Fluttergod]

So, the 4th episode... It wasn't bad, even if the lesson learned was kinda questionable. Mainly I felt it would've been better with at least 40 minutes long episode instead of 20. It didn't feel rushed, more like they skipped the middle of it and made only the start and the finish. Once she revealed herself and the adventure started... Well, it barelly started and it was already ending.

As for the reveal itself, who would've expected that the author of the books might be the heroine herself.  
But predictability aside, I would've thought that if all those adventures of hers were for real, someone would've noticed by now.

Also, Pinkie Pie drawing the red line.  

[CamoBadger]

Links? Anyone got links? Having a hard time finding it this week.

[Downloaded Skill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXx1hdseXGk&feature=youtu.be

Don't know how long this one will last.

[Formis_Fluttergod]

Yeah, that's the one I've been watching, it's been there whole day, it should last a while.
Though you're right the episode is kinda hard to find this week.

[CamoBadger]

This season continues to fail me.

At least Luna and Zecora have been deemed enough of a character to show up in the theme song like such major players as Twister, Royal Guard 1, Royal Guard 2, and Rain Drops.

Spoiler:

All together I only enjoyed the episode for the first 5 minutes, and the last 10 seconds + however long I spent laughing.

[Guest]

I think the lesson was less about "RD ur so awesome" and more about not putting your heroes on a pedestal. I don't rememeber how she worded it but that's what I got from it.

[Rusty Hooves]

Beside the lesson (if they are still trying to do lessons) This episode was freaking awesome!  I loved RD and Twi fan gossiping while the rest of the gang just sit off to the side with confused expressions.  I agree that Rarity, AJ, Pinkie, and honestly Twilight were pretty much useless.
I am sure bronies all over the world are either throwing their fan fictions into a fire with this season so far.  I expect a whole new level of shipping though with RD and Daring Do.  Its like the staff is trying to give the older audience heart attacks with all the new stuff this season.
Oh and Pinkie's line was hilarious.

[Moodyman90]

To paraphrase as best I remember "You put her on such high a pedestal you forgot how awesome you are."

Which I guess "don't forget how awesome you are" kinda works for Rainbow Dash since she's all about being awesome and she's helped saved Equestria/ the world and what not. 

I don't think the episode was suppose to a direct jab at the fandom as it was at all fandoms in general. Thought the back and forth between Twilight and Rainbow about what happened in the plot of the books.

And of course they got the most country of the Mane Six and one who hasn't read the books to try to pronouns the bad guys name and fail.

And while I understand most of your problem with how Twilight was used Camo, I just go with a lifetime of being a unicorn  and being an alicorn for less than... whatever the hell the time scale is, she just doesn't think about using her wings.

Still, the fact that apparently all the Daring Do books are true and then there's the alicorn amulet from last season, means there's magical artifacts nobody is keeping track of and could wreck the world in the wrong hands.
And there's Tartarus apparently filled with a bunch of evil as well...

I've lost my train of thought, what now? Oh yeah, the episode was alright. Not the best in my opinion but decent, had some laughs, and at least one lesson to be taken from it is "It's okay to accept help from others" if you don't like the other ones presented.

[Somber]

I sort of think of it as most of Dave Polanski's episodes... keep it in its own container, enjoy what you can, and then move on from there.  I like to think of the entire Episode as being one big fanfic writen by Rainbow Dash.  It explains everything to me.

[Downloaded Skill]

I honestly really didn't like this episode. Most of the characters are wasted, as well as lampshading that they should be doing SOMETHING and not just watching, and the plot makes no sense once you consider it in the larger scheme of things. If every Daring Do book is real that means Equestria was in danger a lot more than what was shown. Why don't the princesses do anything to help her? Why does no one know about this? This is background stuff so there is no reason for the Princesses to be worthless in this regard for the sake of plot and screen time. Daring Do worked before because it made fun of those old pulp stories by being over the top and contrived. Its funny when its a book within a show, but now it just feels wrong.

This episode could have worked much better elsewhere to give us a better insight into Dash's character. Why not with Spitfire in the Wonderbolt Academy? That would have also been a great opportunity to explore the Wonderbolts as people and as an organization in more depth.

I also feel like this episode depends on characters forgetting their previous lessons. Twilight needed help from the very beginning of the show, but is for Daring Do going in alone? There were too many quick reversals of opinion in this episode for my tastes.

Twilight also gets no respect from Daring Do despite being a princess now. This just makes the change feel even more like a shallow marketing thing. This episode would have been completely the same if she was still a unicorn. They did stuff with the princess aspect in the opener, why not now? That could have changed the episode to be more interesting.

The only things I really liked in this episode were the meta aspects, some of the fight sequences, and the lesson. I like the idea that you shouldn't put people on a pedestal and disregard your own talents, it is something that can happen to people all the time (Believe in yourself Somber!). Everything else in the episode though just causes me to hate it. So far it seems like the only good part of this season was the opening, but I hope it doesn't remain that way.

[Formis_Fluttergod]

 

There are no words...:

[Somber]

Um... one... two... three... four... five?!  O.o

At least I hope that's a leg....

[Kippershy]

No Somber, it's your dream date. A futa Rainbowdash recolour

[Guest]

Rainbowdash recolour

This was one of the things that I was disappointed with. Originally I thought Daring Do looked like RD because that's how RD imagined she looked. While if Twilight had been reading Daring would have looked different. But no, Daring does in fact look like RD.

[OneMoreDaySK]

First impressions:
*sighs*

So many  things in this episode frustrated me. Strange how Daring didn't recognize the EoHarmony. Annoying that they didn't do anything to help at the beginning, especially Twilight friggin' Sparkle with her alicornness. alleviated only by Fluttershy lampshading. Annoying that she didn't just destroy the ring right then and there instead of hiding it, nor did she immediately pay off the thugs. Annoyed that Twilight didn't just fly after Dash, what with her new wings and all, or at least Flash Step follow her. A lot of other things bugged me, but I can't recall right now. Letting it soak in a bit more

[Meleagridis]

When the red line kept zig-zagging across the map, I expected someone to say, "Pinkie! Stop drawing all over the map!"
"Sorry..."

Yeah, they didn't help out in the house fight. But given the way the episode was going, they only would have gotten Daring hurt (more) if they tried to help. Sometimes you have to give an expert their space.

I really, really liked that they covered both sides of a very important thing to learn, even if it wasn't Today's Lesson.
A) Respect people's privacy
B) For the love of god help people who need it, even if they want you to piss off.

"Twilight, you can teleport and fly! Why weren't you all here sooner?"
"What, and rob you of a valuable lesson in the importance of self worth and the dangers of idol worship? What kind of friend do you think I am?"

Also, this.

Eh, I liked this one alright. Still waiting for one I can really 100% say I enjoyed, though.

[CamoBadger]

B) For the love of god help people who need it, even if they want you to piss off.

This only works for some people. Some people will insult you in every way possible just to make you stop helping, or even go as far as to injure you to make you stop. If they don't want your help even a little tiny bit, they're not going to give you a chance to help.

[Meleagridis]

This only works for some people. Some people will insult you in every way possible just to make you stop helping, or even go as far as to injure you to make you stop. If they don't want your help even a little tiny bit, they're not going to give you a chance to help.

Well, yeah. Hence the other half of the lesson, Respect People's Privacy. It's important to give a bloke some room. But it's also a decent thing to help them when they need it. Problems compound upon themselves, and the people with the most practice turning help away often need it more than any.

Honestly, this dual-representation is probably what's keeping this episode out of the grump dumpster for me, even if it's handled inexpertly. At least there's an attempt at handling.

[Somber]

I'm pretty sure both messages could have been done better.  I would have rather Raindown found the author swarmed by fans constantly harrassing her.  Rainbow gets them to leave, but then SHE tried to 'help' the author every way she can, and when the author snaps at her, Rainbow's feelings are hurt.  Finally, when she stops trying to force and hurry the story to completion, she talks and asks the author what she needs, and the author admits she's stuck and doesn't know how to get Darring Do out of this super special death trap because she works alone.  She's always done it alone.  She's never needed any help.  Really, she's done so many death traps that they just feel dull.  And Rainbow suggests maybe Darring should accept it when its offered to her.  Then, for the finale, we see Derring Do rescued by Spectra and beat ahuizotl.  Then, at the end, the author thanks Rainbow and says this opens up whole new ideas for a story.  And Rainbow appologizes for being so annoying and not respecting her privacy.  Finish with her getting the book, and end on the cover.

I dunno.  That's just how I would have tackled it.

[OneMoreDaySK]

When the red line kept zig-zagging across the map, I expected someone to say, "Pinkie! Stop drawing all over the map!"
"Sorry..."

Yeah, they didn't help out in the house fight. But given the way the episode was going, they only would have gotten Daring hurt (more) if they tried to help. Sometimes you have to give an expert their space.

I really, really liked that they covered both sides of a very important thing to learn, even if it wasn't Today's Lesson.
A) Respect people's privacy
B) For the love of god help people who need it, even if they want you to piss off.

"Twilight, you can teleport and fly! Why weren't you all here sooner?"
"What, and rob you of a valuable lesson in the importance of self worth and the dangers of idol worship? What kind of friend do you think I am?"

Also, this.

Eh, I liked this one alright. Still waiting for one I can really 100% say I enjoyed, though.

On the first point:       True, but I was expecting her to do a mass hold on them like she did the last episode. No one would get hurt if she did that, right?
On the second point:   Great, now she's turning into Celestia-tier lesson teaching. I kid, I kid. That, and also Daring apparently held of on destroying the artifact to make an adventure. Sounds much more interesting tracking down the thugs and fighting Ahuizotl than "And then she crushed the ring then and there, preventing doom across the land, the end."

[Moodyman90]

Could always be that she believes in preserving artifacts like that until it's really necessary to destroy them.

Also, destroy it right off the bat and there's no plot. Unless you go with "I destroyed the real one ages ago, but made a fake to replace it" which some would consider smart but also a cop-out cause it would render all the tension beforehand as pointless.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@Moody
I'll give you that on preserving artifacts. But how would this object work in terms of opposing the one character who has been moving the sun around for at least a thousand years?

So I guess Daring can't imagine her own story, instead having to rely on supplimented adventures? Reminds me of the fanfic the Sisters Doo. More like too busy to sit down and write the stories down, what with having to save the world and such. Maybe Mrs. T. Velvet is the editor? XD

[Moodyman90]

Hell if I know, the magic would make it like there's a magnifying glass lens forever hovering over that area in a way that would maximize the heat from the Sun? Or maybe it's based in older world magics like the Elements. Can be used by others but vastly more powerful.

I have to rewatch the episode, did it say 4000 or so years of never ending sunlight or that the sun would just be unbearably hot while it was out for however long?

[Moodyman90]

Could always go with that the magic the rings possessed prevented them from being destroyed as well.

[Moodyman90]

I could try to pull another answer out of my ass about how the magic was used up or whatever since the ritual was activated anyways but it's almost 2 AM and I wouldn't be able to argue that coherently if I was fully awake anyways.

[Meleagridis]

Hey, headcanoneers! Here is a thing that pulls out some of the nerd-talk RD and Twilight had. It concludes that there might have been an evil snake god in Equestria's past.

Spoiler:

...Welp, now I'm grumpy with the episode.

Could always be that she believes in preserving artifacts like that until it's really necessary to destroy them.

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

Seriously, I can't believe they never said that.

[CamoBadger]

Hey, headcanoneers! Here is a thing that pulls out some of the nerd-talk RD and Twilight had. It concludes that there might have been an evil snake god in Equestria's past.

Spoiler:

...Welp, now I'm grumpy with the episode.

Could always be that she believes in preserving artifacts like that until it's really necessary to destroy them.

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

Seriously, I can't believe they never said that.

I just wish they included TOP. MEN.

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