@Red-Supernova
Nah, it’s not their intent of course. Just that she’s inadvertently done a ton of douchy or outright bad things but is constantly portrayed as a really good character and looked up to. Nothing ruins a character for me more than when a show tells me “this character is so good/great/heroic/likeable” and, after watching them in action, I’m left wondering “why should I think that?” :P
@Badumsquish
So its all because Spitfire was trying to bury her mistakes under the rug. WOW. Someone does need to make a “The Rise and Fall of Spitfire” essay or video.
@Red-Supernova
Go with the episode’s original ending where they didn’t outright kick Lightning Dust out, but instead reprimanded her and gave her another chance. Even if LD was as bad as the episode wanted her to be, she still wasn’t as bad as someone who encouraged and rewarded bad behavior, then decided it was wrong, and then fired the person they were rewarding and encouraging without even giving them a chance to change along with them. Hell, having Spitfire realize she was being a douche and actually taking responsibility for it (instead of just blaming LD) would have actually made her out to be a pretty good person; instead that episode came off as if she was firing LD to shift the blame off herself :/
@Badumsquish
Well what were the writers supposed to do? If Spitfire got in trouble in the end, the writers would have to do the closest thing to killing her off. She was already a prominent character in previous episodes and this was the first time we saw her true side. Having her removed from the show would have pissed off her fans.
There was the alternate better ending that was considered but was scrapped most likely to shoehorn in another “Pinkie wanting a response from Rainbow” joke.
@Red-Supernova
A buddy of mine who’s military described her as a piss-poor drill sergeant at best because she never actually had control of her troops (they basically just did whatever they wanted and she was largely unaware of what they were doing while she “screamed her fool head off trying to sound competent”) and for serious integrity issues: she encouraged bad behavior in Lightning Dust and later acknowledged that encouraging it was wrong, but fired Lightning Dust for it instead of actually taking responsibility for it herself. After hearing that I re-watched that episode and honestly could not refute a single word he said; like, he didn’t even have to mention whether he thought Lightning Dust was guilty or innocent to pretty soundly label Spitfire as the real problem in that episode :/
@Badumsquish
She’s felt like that ever since we got her massive personality whiplash in Wonderbolts Academy. The biggest defense I’ve heard about how she acts is due to how real life drill sergeants in the military act and bronies who have served in the military have proof that Spitfire’s depiction is accurate. Due to a real life experiences I’ve had with previous providers who acted like they were drill sergeants, it just makes me think that all drill sergeants are just plain evil. And I don’t want to see Spitfire as evil.
Rainbow Dash acts like that because of her loyalty towards the team she’s dreamed about joining for years and will do anything to get on the commanding officer’s good side. One guy has told me that Rainbow Dash shouldn’t even bother with the Wonderbolts if she’s proven to be way better than them and if they encourage negativity within their group.
@Red-Supernova
My beef with her is since like the beginning she’s been this massive incompetent asswipe, like not totally a bad person but maybe Suri Polomare or Chancellor Neighsay levels of douchebag, but like the show’s narrative always acted like she was this totally good person and Rainbow Dash just consistently kissed her ass and acted like she was god’s gift to Equestria. I’ll admit they’ve gotten a LOT better with her (I wasn’t even mad about this scene; just poking fun at it), but she just sort of has that taint on her still :P
@Red-Supernova
Huh? I personally like her more and more for each episode she’s in…with the possible exception of Rainbow Falls where she was kinda badly handled, but other than that has she been one of my favourites and don’t really get why people bash on her so much.
@Badumsquish
I’m surprised no one in this fandom has made a video or an essay claiming about how “Spitfire’s popularity has declined with each new appearance starting with Wonderbolts Academy.”
Isn’t violently shaking a child by the throat (or even by the shoulders) far more likely to cause permanent debilitating injury than a dangerous stunt? :P
Being the current leader, Spitfire must have seen lots of accidents that happened due to teammates/students not following the safety rules… which makes her shaky uncontrollably when a young filly is about to repeat the same mistake.