YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S7 E7 "Parental Glideance"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
  • Sometimes, people keep themselves distant from their parents for good reason.
  • If someone's behavior is bothering you and you don't want to hurt them, don't wait until it pushes you too far and let it all out in a bad way. Find a civil and productive way to let them know how you feel so no one's feelings get hurt.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Fleetfoot really being sincere when she complimented Bow Hothoof for raising a great flier in Rainbow Dash, or did she do so because she knew it would set off his Tears of Joy again, thus embarrassing Dash even further?
• Anvilicious: A particularly heavy-handed message for the adult fans, in that if you haven't spoken with your parents in a while, call them now. They miss you.
• Broken Base: While this episode was broadly well-received, there was a noticeable split in whether fans thought it was really good or really bad.
  • On the one hand, many fans thought the episode did an excellent job delivering its moral and that it was one of the Wonderbolts' most genuinely likable portrayals so far, and found Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof lovable, interesting characters and genuinely felt for them when Rainbow snapped at them. Many were also of the opinion that this episode did an excellent job of expanding on Scootaloo’s characterization and using her relationship with Rainbow and her parents to highlight the need for supportive people in one’s life.
  • On the other hand, other fans thought that Rainbow’s parents’ behavior — such as their loudness and attention-grabbing visibly getting in the way of others enjoying the Wonderbolt show or getting autographs and at the end in the way of Cheerilee actually teaching her class, and also their shooting live fireworks at an air show — was disruptive and socially inappropriate, and thought that their encouragement was overbearing and suitable for encouraging a young child, not a professional athlete. As such, they thought that Rainbow had genuine reasons to be angry and they were upset the ending glossed over these things. In short the extremes her parents went to got in the way of the moral. ^note  It doesn't help that rival cartoon show Steven Universe actually had a similar episode about over-enthusiastic parents where it was portrayed as a bad trait that got in the way of the kid being able to enjoy what they were doing.
  • There is a third camp. That while Bow and Windy had good intentions and were just trying to be supportive, they took it too far. And while Rainbow's reaction (basically just holding in all of the stress it was causing until she exploded at them) was understandable, it was also wrong. Basically everyone was wrong, and it was a great example of Poor Communication Kills. If she had taken them aside and just calmly talked to them about it before they started causing problems, the whole situation could've been avoided rather than her basically exploding at them.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Scootaloo says that she wishes she had parents as supportive as Rainbow Dash's, and says that she never received any encouragement growing up. The fandom has always been full of theories about Scootaloo's family life, and this line is the closest the show has ever come to referencing Scootaloo's family. Her words can be taken in two main ways: either she has no parents at all (meaning she was orphaned or given up and never adopted, a very popular theory already); or her parents are so uninvolved in her life that she may as well not have parents (comments from the writers seem to support the latter). For her to claim that she had no one to encourage or support her growing up goes way beyond having parents that are simply busy, especially considering the disability Scootaloo has to deal with.
  • While Derpy is initially shown to be the winner of the races in Rainbow Dash's flashbacks, over time she lowers in standing. What's notable here is that her eyes are normal, but each time she's shown at a lower rank they're slightly more crossed, and are in their familiar "derped" position in the last scene. What exactly happened to her to cause either or both of these problems for her? Couple this with the shot of a more teenaged Derpy getting an eye operation in "Where the Apple Lies", and there's a rather good possible story line here.
  • Lightning Dust, Spitfire, and/or Rainbow Dash may have known each other as fillies.
  • Rainbow Dash's fillyhood experiences, between the time she didn't place in the senior flapper's competitive circuit up to the day she moved out to Ponyville without looking back on the overbearing support of her parents, would make for an interesting story.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Scootaloo justifies siding with Rainbow Dash's Amazingly Embarrassing Parents by stating that she wishes she had parents as supportive as them. "The Last Crusade" established that her parents are rarely home (spending most of their time off on various adventures), leaving her in the care of her aunts. Except her aunts also don't live in Ponyville, leaving Scootaloo to be mostly raised by a revolving door of babysitters. Which would readily explain her comment here - Rainbow Dash was pretty much the only adult who spent enough time with her to get meaningfully involved in her life.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: With Scootaloo's comments about her own parental situation, a lot of her desire to have Dash as a big sister figure makes a lot more sense in both this and a Harsher in Hindsight way. Try not to hear Rainbow's first line of the We'll Make Our Mark reprise ("I'm so proud of you, little buddy.") which was already heartwarming then and not get a sense of just how much more that meant to Scoots then we knew.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The episode "Dragon Baby Gone" of Friendship is Witchcraft has Rainbow Dash boast "I have a great relationship with both my parents because they love me." While it's clear that canon Rainbow Dash's parents love her, the embarrassing displays of public support severely strain their relationship.
• Informed Wrongness: Rainbow Dash is meant to be unappreciative for being angry at her parents who embarrass her by cheering her on all the time. But it's shown their cheering alienated ponies from Rainbow in her childhood and was interfering with her job a present, their showing up at Wonderbolt HQ to cheer unannounced was stated to have risk getting Rainbow in trouble with her superiors, and their shooting fireworks during Rainbow's air show could have resulted in someone getting hurt.
• Nausea Fuel: Some of the "trophies" in Rainbow's parent's house include an apple from when she got her first tooth, and a diaper she wore when she spoke her first word. Scootaloo then takes a picture of the diaper, and puts it in her scrapbook report.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: After the Wonderbolts' questionable actions and behavior in "Rainbow Falls", "Rarity Investigates!", and "Newbie Dash", this episode finally has them act likable. They don't make fun of Rainbow Dash or get mad at her for her parents' disruptive cheering, they help her out with her apology show, and Fleetfoot even tells Rainbow's dad that he raised an excellent flyer.
• Special Effects Failure: The transition of a filly Spitfire and Derpy switching places on the victory pedestal has a small yet noticeable error as Spitfire's model fades out and changes her expression before the switch is made◊.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Scootaloo dressing down Rainbow Dash for being so embarrassed of her parents' overbearing support would have been a great opportunity for Scootaloo to say anything about her own family situation, but the only thing she reveals about her family is that she didn't get the encouragement Rainbow Dash got when she was younger.
  • The potential for a middle ground between Rainbow and her parents could have been easily accomplished; her parents said they found her apology performance embarrassing, so Rainbow could have easily pointed out that that's how they made her feel. She could have even made a deal with them that they could give her all the praise they wanted behind closed doors as long as they toned it down in public. Then everyone would have learned a lesson instead of it being portrayed as black and white.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Rainbow Dash's parents come off as this to some fans. While Rainbow Dash was wrong to yell at her parents, Bow and Windy play the victim & refuse to take responsibility for their actions.
  • Scootaloo also comes off as this. While her usual admiration of Rainbow Dash as her hero is typically portrayed as heartwarming and adorable, her admiration for Rainbow Dash in this episode comes off as acting like a clingy and obsessive Fangirl who's obsession for Rainbow Dash comes off as uncomfortable and creepy, particularly the scene where she puts a picture of Rainbow Dash's used diaper from when she spoke her first word in her scrapbook. Also, the viewers are supposed to sympathize with her after Rainbow Dash lashes out at her parents for their overbearing support. While it's understandable that Scootaloo's family issues makes her wish that she had support from her family like Rainbow Dash does, she doesn't even try to see the conflict from Rainbow Dash's perspective, let alone understand how unhealthy the support Rainbow Dash gets from her parents really is. Not to mention, she actually even joined in on making Rainbow Dash feel uncomfortable from the overbearing support Rainbow Dash was getting from her parents.

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