@DanielTepesKraus  
Looking back to seasons 1 and 2 with what little we have seen of the Wonderbolts, the things that could have been…

@Wertyla  
The episode was rushed through like normal. But during the time she was a reservist, she should have started at fairly low and normal rank and have to work up to meet the standard level of performance of a Wonderbolt.  
Like with the Airforce you would start out as a Airman Basic, E1, and you would spend your time learning about the Airforce, your job, and how to conduct yourself as a professional airman.  
Walk, talk and act like everyone else does in the Airforce.  
While you are in the lower ranks, there is no room for individuality.  
Not flying a airplane that costs thousands of dollars willy nilly because you think it will make yourself look better for the sake of a new nickname…

@Meso Echo  
that may be, but that argument would work a lot better if the wonderbolts acted even remotely like a military force. all things considered they’re pretty big assholes these days. which sucks because i used to really think they were cool.

@Wertyla  
That one is great! Me, I don’t have a favourite per se. I have… unfavourites, if you will. But that’s not important right now.
 
Time to go see the episode!

@thps48  
they do, but probably weren’t in the mindset to accept them in this kind of show.

@Starswirl  
Which episode is the BEST? I like “Rarity Investigates”. Hey, that’s another one the Wonderbolts appear in.

@Brony_Conundrum  
Now that’s a little exaggerated, isn’t it? Base breakers are episodes like Mare-Do-Well and Spike-At-Your-Service. I don’t know anyone who minded Pinkie-Apple-Pie.

@Meso Echo  
I’d have thought the civies who like cartoons, i.e. everypony on this site (who is a civie), know what casual settings in the armed forces are like. Ah, well. X3

@Starswirl  
I thought that every episode after season 2 was a base breaker?

@Ping_chan  
If the nickname really hurts her, which it seems it does, it should be dispensed with, but somebody really should make it clear to Rainbow Dash that she isn’t better than the rest of the team and that rules are in place for very important reasons.

Also guys when ever someone new joins a team, like say something similar to how a military shop can function, the people are seasoned in that shop will poke, prod and test the newbie to see how they will hold up in their group.  
There are hazing rituals which can get pretty brutal, but there are also little things like nicknames and teasing which are meant to test how you will get along with team members.  
Kind of like a probation period.  
“You have two months to click with your team mates before we start considering someone else”

I’m going to wait until I saw the episode before judging. It’s going to be interesting, considering how much of a base breaker it appears to be.

@Background Pony #20FE  
I wasn’t in the USMC, though I do have a couple cousins that went. 13 weeks of brutal basic traning, hazing and pain. Nicknames have been a military tradition for decades.  
Like joshscorcher said about it on his twitter, they show love a lot differently.
 
One of my cousins said his nickname in basic and beyond was literally “Herpes” because he had acne on his face at the time. It didn’t phase him because he was out to do a job, nothing more.
 
Civilians just don’t get it, man.

@Background Pony #5611  
I actually think Rainbow Dash has some sort of insecurity issues going on, it seems like on the outside she boasts how hot she is, but on the inside little things seem to get to her and cause her to crumble.

@zerowinger66  
A bit of this. It’s incredible how bad it was. Its why people find the middle Cringy. It lasted way too long with Dash being oblivious.
 
 
I guess it’s the price of being handled by a new writer…

@Background Pony #20FE  
From what I’ve seen the Marines look down at the rest of the military.  
The Marines are really good at going in and killing a bunch of people really fast.  
They are better at it than the Army or the Air Force, and for that their egos are huge and see them as being inferior.  
But the Army and the Air Force are good at things like logistics, global surveillance and cyber warfare and stuff like that.  
Either way I think each branch of the Department of Defense is good at their own little niche.  
Lately they have also been pretty good at getting their budgets cut.  
But eh whatever.

im still curious about what they call Spitfire….though a bit cringy the ep was alright,but this picture pretty much sums it up…though from what ive seen…considering i got an interesting nickname myself while playing football in high school.

@calmwind32  

 
I agree, or even if you can’t laugh at yourself, either ignore it/show them it doesn’t bother you and you’ll get it less.  
That nickname has followed her since her childhood though. I can’t blame her for being sick of it.

I thought this for just about the entire episode.  
It’s the first of S6 I outright dislike.

If the keys to a F-18 like the Blue Angels fly is involved sign me up…

In rainbow falls yes they were god awful and the wonderbolts have been shown to be utterly useless in every fight they have been in but in this episode nah they were fine Dash just needed to stop being a show off and they weren’t insulting her they were just joking they all have weird nicknames.

@zerowinger66  
Sounds like Dash should perfectly fit in, then.

@OverlordScorpion  
Why did they change it anyway? Spitfires’ old voice was awesome.

@IceKitsune  
I agree. The episode seemingly portrays the Wonderbolts as childish bullies and abusive to Dash but once you step back objectively you can see that it’s Dash’s past emotional baggage that is projecting that onto them.
 
If the Wonderbolts had accommodated her then they’d be doing a disservice and she’d go on feeling inadequate and never accepting her flaws.
 
The subject of people allowing their past to colour others is one that doesn’t get dealt with much even in adult media. My favourite example of this is the Stephen King short story “Sometimes They Come Back” which is about a Highschool Teacher who finds his delinquent students are being replaced by the teen greasers who murdered his little brother 30 years ago.
 
This is too long.
 
Cartoon Ponies are srs

@zerowinger66  
Also? Lightning Dust got seriously chewed out for putting other ponies in danger before. Dash put Soarin’ and that other guy in as much danger as herself, though admittedly they could survive that, more likely.