Rating:
I’ll trade ya Scott Sonneborn, Natasha Levinger, and
Merriwether Williams for M.A. Larson.
Sound fair? Obviously not, but I
hope to god that’s the plan. Sonneborn’s
Trade Ya finds our ponies attending a swap meet because…well I really don’t
know why. They sort of trade their junk
for more junk, and then everyone can forget this ever occurred. While not as painful as other bad episodes,
Trade Ya is nevertheless fairly dull.
Nothing really happens, and it’s impossible to find anything good to say
about the outing. These kind of filler half-hours
are apparently always going to exist in 26-episode seasons, but that doesn’t
stop them from being disappointing. I’d
rather have less if so, but better writers can elevate bad premises into
something at least decent. Sonneborn has
not shown that ability, although this one was tougher than usual. Still, Trade Ya does nothing to justify
Sonneborn remaining on the staff, and like Twilight and her books, there are
clearly too many and someone has to go.
Pinkie Pie starts with some exposition regarding how excited
she is to be attending the Rainbow Falls Traders’ Exchange with her friends,
which later turns out to be amusing because she didn’t bring anything
along. Twilight is forced to show up
because a princess must adjudicate disputed trades, and her appearance again
brings unwanted attention. But this
aspect is mostly dropped after the first few minutes. The mane six soon pair off in their quest to
obtain totally awesome goods.
Rainbow Dash drags Fluttershy along on her attempt to secure
a first edition of the first Daring Do book she read. Of course, nobody will take her “lucky” old
rusty horseshoe she brought with to trade.
The pony who owns the book desires an orthros (two-headed dog), his
owner needs a new lamp, etc. As a joke,
they finally find a pony who does desire Dash’s horseshoe, so the race is on to
get everything back to the ones that want it.
In order to pad the episode further, now the book pony
doesn’t want an orthros anymore. Fluttershy
works her pet magic, so the deal is back on if she agrees to train the
creature. Despite Fluttershy accepting
the terms, Dash soon gets buyer’s remorse.
She begs Twilight to overturn the deal, which finally happens following
another touching speech about friendship.
After the market is closed, Dash somehow trades the orthros for a bird
call to replace the bear call Fluttershy lost a few steps from the book pony’s
booth. Twilight also pitches in a
paperback copy of the Daring Do book, because that’s totally the same thing.
Twilight had spent the day trying to get rid of some books,
but it wasn’t going well because nobody reads anymore. She’s about to offload all of them for a
broken feather some pony probably found on the ground when Pinkie Pie steps
in. The mustachioed pony uses her
marketing skills to drive up bidding because of Twilight’s status as a
princess, but then refuses to accept any deals.
At this point, Twilight decides to just keep the books since a couple of
them have some memories.
Best buds Rarity and Applejack agree to pool their crappy
resources so at least one of them gets what they want. They find two stupid objects (a rusty pan and
a brooch Rarity already has) that inexplicably each cost all of their items. After unsuccessfully fighting it out, they
settle on trading for a different rusty pan and another brooch Rarity
owns. Such good friends. Spike also swaps his mint condition Power
Ponies comic book (the one that disappeared) for a different comic book.
So the final tally now: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy dealt a
horseshoe and a bear call for a bird call, Rarity and Applejack traded a host
of things for a pan and brooch, Spike exchanged a comic book for a comic book,
while Twilight and Pinkie Pie did nothing.
Whoopee. Sonneborn tries to throw
in a lesson about how friends are more valuable than objects, but most of the
episode is only concerned with trading.
Dash kind of already came to the same realization in Rainbow Falls (vs.
winning), so this is basically a repeat.
That means Trade Ya has no point, no lesson, and it’s not
even a good trading episode. The mane
six get fleeced on every deal, and don’t actually end up with anything they
want. Despite decent characterization, our
ponies fail to produce any good moments.
The Rarity and Applejack sections bring back bad memories from Look
Before You Sleep, and they again don’t seem like friends. Their half-hearted attempts at comedy fall
flat, which is typical of the whole show.
Too many scenes like these are what prevent a higher
rating. The continuity errors, moments
of stupidity (Fluttershy really can’t walk over there and pick up her stupid
bear call?), and unfunny comedy all drag Trade Ya down. Unless it’s the kids who grow up to be GMs
someday, there’s really nothing to learn for just about anyone. And did the trades all have to be so
terrible? What about the guy from Pete
and Pete who swapped a Fluffernutter sandwich for a Honus Wagner baseball
card? Why couldn’t we have something
like that? Sonneborn took all the fun
out of his episode and went with a humorless mess. The “main” filler plot needed to be filled
out with other even worse stories. Maybe
the negatives don’t deserve such a low rating, but Trade Ya has no positives at
all, and few episodes of My Little Pony
can boast that accomplishment.
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