What I Thought About "Boast Busters" · 12:21am Jun 21st, 2015
Episode Review
Oh boy, here we go. The very first appearance of the (in)famously popular Trixie, a mare who seems to provoke both limitless adoration and revulsion in viewers. Where does The Slick and Powerful Bootsy stand? Bootsy likes her a little more everytime he thinks about her, but she's seriously obnoxious, especially how she refers to herself in the third person. Bootsy forgot about just how annoying her voice was before rewatching this episode.
Boots shall keep this short. Due to Trixie's popularity, this episode has been analyzed to death already. Boots could go on and on about how Rainbow, Rarity, and AJ were the antagonists and how Trixie was just an entertainer playing a part and didn't deserve any of it. Bootsy could babble about how awful Snips and Snails are and how broken the episode is overall, but it's all been said before by folks far more eloquent than Boots. Instead, Boots will talk about other stuff.
You know, when Boots was first watching this episode, he thought that Trixie was gonna turn out to not actually be a unicorn. We couldn't see her horn for quite a while, and Boots figured she didn't really have one. Then the hat came off, and that theory died. Well, sorta. Bootsy is sure it lives on in headcanons that she's a total fraud with no real power and just makes illusions and has no talent whatsoev—
Okay, deep breaths, Boots. Don't flip out. It's only headcanon. Headcanon that makes no sense, but it doesn't hurt you. Chill.
Alright, where was Boots? Oh, right, Trixie has some real power. You know, creating a lightning-shooting stormcloud out of nowhere is pretty impressive, given the magic we usually see in the show. So is the transformation she made to Rarity's mane and putting rats in it. And Trixie wrapped Dash in a rainbow. And teleported a bouquet of flowers. She really does have talent. More than most unicorns, by the look of things.
And you know, Trixie didn't just run away when told to defeat the Ursa. She actually tried to fight it, despite appearing pretty terrified. Was it just to save face, or was it something more?
Hey, Boots just noticed that Snips and Snails have no irises. Weird. And those engine sounds when Snails was trying to light his horn were a nice touch. And given the way that they were ogling her, Bootsy would bet that Trixie is pretty hot. For a pony, that is.
Yeah, so, there's really nothing for Boots to say, here. It's all been said. Bootsy doesn't hate this episode, if only because it gave us a character that he's grown to like. He certainly doesn't like it, though. Bootsy gives it a 4/10. Not utterly terrible, but not a good episode. Heavily flawed for reasons everybody already knows about and Boots briefly touched on. That is all.
Dissatisfied with Bootsy's less-than-thorough review? Bother him enough, and he might go into further depth.
This is actually one of my favorite season 1 episodes, mainly because of Trixie herself (who is now my 11th favorite character thanks to Slice of Life making Derpy an actual character again).
In fact, she actually keeps it from being just an okay episode for me.
As for Snips and Snails, I actually don't hate their pony versions. They're just naive, but well meaning.
/me bothers.
We're going to be seeing this format again in, how many more reviews?
Mystery on Friendship Express
Mysterious Mare-Do-Well
Bridle Gossip
One Bad Apple
Swarm of the Century
At least five. I just see countless reviews tearing these episodes up, and I think everyone gets the gist of where they fall apart. Especially the second and third. Well, Phoenix supposes he will see.
3167106
Bootsy will probably only skimp on rare occasions when he has absolutely nothing new to say and can't get past the Meh Factor to care about the episode enough. Out of what you just listed, he would likely only skimp on Swarm.