S04E19: Trade Ya!

Episode, movie, and comic book discussion threads are kept here once they have been released.

Moderators: Perrydotto, Dexanth, Venusy, Wayoshi

Re: S04E19: Trade Ya!

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:56 am

A part of me can't believe that Rainbow Dash would have sold her friends for a book, but another part of me sees it totally in character for her.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:23 am

ROBOT B9 wrote:A part of me can't believe that Rainbow Dash would have sold her friends for a book, but another part of me sees it totally in character for her.


It's in character for her to get caught up in the moment, but I don't think she even heard the lady say Fluttershy has to come with her. Right after getting the book, Rainbow Dash wants to share the moment with Fluttershy only to realize she's leaving and immediately wants to fix the situation.
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:24 am

Frosthawk wrote:I also don't like the accusations of Fluttershy being too much of a "pushover" in this episode, as it suggests her actions were done out of fear of being yelled at or something than out of genuine friendship, which was the whole damn point.

Look, I certainly don't want to say it either. But I did find it somewhat unexplainable for Fluts to just accept everything at the end when R.D. entirely goes unreasonable.

Fluttershy: Of course. It's just a bear call. There's nothing I could have traded it for that's more valuable to me than you.
...
Fluttershy: Gosh, training an Orthros takes a long time. I'll probably be gone from Ponyville for... I don't even know how many moons! But... if that is what you really want...

It may have been more the sappy dialogue bothering me than anything. :pinkieshrug:

EDIT: Reading Frosty's quote more closely... it's not any fear here. As stupid as the situation was, look at it seriously: it's one thing to forget the bear call for R.D., and entirely another to go very far away for a long time in a stranger's house. Fluts should be a proper friend and tell R.D. off right there for getting too absorbed, because she should know R.D. would back off once thinking it through a bit.

I'll say it again, I think this entire conclusion was done just to get Twi to do something lawful at the Exchange (because that's basically a Chekhov's Gun from the start of the ep), leading right to her closing it. Entirely for the plot. I would have preferred it better if all three characters involved in that bad trade came to their senses before actually agreeing to such stupidity, is all. :-/ You can have the same lines to conclude it too without the trade actually going through.

Perhaps "pushover" was a poorly thought out default word on my part, but there was certainly some shallow characterization there.
Wayoshi
User avatar
Paper Fluttershy
Stare Masters
Joined: Oct 26, 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male

Postby Frosthawk (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:10 am

Getting into a little bit of theorizing here, but I sincerely doubt that Fluttershy was entering into indentured servitude here, and she probably would have been paid. Something like going far away to work with creatures is probably not too far out of the ordinary for someone in Fluttershy's line of work - remember the Breezies? - it was just initiated under really convoluted and weird circumstances. And naturally we're inclined to see it as something unreasonable - and let's be clear, it is - but from her perspective it's probably not unlike getting contracted out for a friend and probably not like being sold into pony trafficking.

You also have to remember here that, by this point, they had both done a hell of a lot to get the damn book, and Fluttershy was probably willing to do anything she could to make that happen rather than seeing her friend crushed. This is kind of what I'm getting at here.
ImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImage
Frosthawk
User avatar
ABOUT ME:
1.) Gay
2.) Sullen Pizza Addict
3.) Gay Sullen Pizza Addict
Maud Squad
Joined: Jul 14, 2011
Location: Who can even keep track nowadays
Gender: Male

Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:19 am

Even granting those assumptions... I guess I just don't see Fluts willing to have such a sudden change in her life even for that book. :pinkieshrug:
Wayoshi
User avatar
Paper Fluttershy
Stare Masters
Joined: Oct 26, 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male

Postby Frosthawk (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:20 am

Really, the entire motive cycles right back to the beginning of the episode where she tells Rainbow she'd "hate to see her disappointed", which carries all of the following sequences.
ImageImageImage
ImageImageImageImage
Frosthawk
User avatar
ABOUT ME:
1.) Gay
2.) Sullen Pizza Addict
3.) Gay Sullen Pizza Addict
Maud Squad
Joined: Jul 14, 2011
Location: Who can even keep track nowadays
Gender: Male

Postby Wayoshi (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:31 am

This is basically coming down to how we perceive Fluts' weighted value of kindness vs. super serious life change. I would like to think that most rational beings would get selfish / show common sense when the latter gets in the way of the former in the way it did there. In my opinion, despite the taking care of an animal aspect, Fluts is not outgoing enough to embrace such a sudden change. :pinkieshrug:

And now, sleep. :v:
Wayoshi
User avatar
Paper Fluttershy
Stare Masters
Joined: Oct 26, 2011
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male

Postby Higsby (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:00 am

So I just finished watching the episode a few minutes ago, because you know, 5am is a perfectly good time for ponies!

Overall I thought it was a good episode. I have been to many video game swap meets, and while at a real swap meet most things can be bought with money rather than needing to be traded for, there have been many times where I have tried to work out even trades for video games or consoles and I can appreciate how difficult and tiresome of a task it can be.

So how do those shenanigans translate into the pony universe? Firstly, I thought it was really bizarre how suddenly every character was freaking about Twilight being a Princess, considering that she was just at Gravity Rainbow Falls a few episodes ago and nopony cared.

The main premise of Rainbow Dash's part of the episode also puzzled me. She's on the cover of a Daring Do book now, shouldn't that give her the ability to have pretty much anything she wants signed by Daring Do? I guess they needed something for Rainbow Dash to want and that was just the best thing they could think of to go with.

I disagree with pretty much everything that Pinkie Pie did here. Twilight wanted the books to have a good home and to allow others to enjoy them, therefore if she wanted to trade them for something that she didn't really need then that's her choice. She does run a library after all, where the books would have been lent out for free anyway. So I didn't really find what Pinkie Pie did funny and rather it just left me with a feeling of :-/ .

And no matter how much I want a super rare video game, I don't think I would ever go nuts enough to trade away a friend for it. :v:
Higsby
User avatar
Faithful Students
Joined: Aug 14, 2013
Location: Canada
Gender: Male

Postby !saak (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:02 am

Huh, not feeling this episode :ponder: It's kind of... inconsequential? Which is funny considering how much of the canon it incorporates, but all that seems to be... decorative instead of it being the core of the story?
I don't know, will watch again.

I loved pretty much everything that happened in the background though, they really made the market seem like an actual flea market with something happening on every corner. Also Beast Master Pony was the beeeeest :awesomedash:
!saak
User avatar
♫ joie de vivre ♫
Semper Pie
Joined: Aug 25, 2011
Location: The Nether

Postby Gnot Syndrome (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:31 am

Oh man, I didn't think it would happen again, but it did. MLP taught me about another mythical creature. :awesomedash:

And oh hey, Twilight's sentimentality speech is going to create a whole new generation of kids who, like me, had no closet space because of the crates of old junk they were holding on to.
Gnot Syndrome
User avatar
Faithful Students
Joined: May 29, 2011

Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:43 am

Gnot Syndrome wrote:And oh hey, Twilight's sentimentality speech is going to create a whole new generation of kids who, like me, had no closet space because of the crates of old junk they were holding on to.

At least the show kind of balanced this out with Goldie Delicious. Remember how full her house was? And not just with cats, either.
Image
Fizzbuzz
User avatar
Stare Masters
Joined: Mar 02, 2013
Location: TN
Gender: Male

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:44 am

Oh yeah, that character definitely shows the negative side of that aspect.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby Discord (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:45 am

I really can't see the flak that Pinkie is getting here. She was looking out for a friend to try to ensure that she got a good deal for her things, in her own way. Twilight wasn't too interested in trading, but Pinkie Pie was just trying to make sure that Twilight left satisfied with the deal and have no regrets. Pinkie saw some value in the her friends books, even if Twilight herself did not. And they did have more value, though not really for the reasons Pinkie was advertising (and Pinkie was a bit self-conscious about that).

So all in all, I didn't find Pinkie unreasonable. Even if misguided, she was still looking out for a friend in a way that made some sense, overstepping her bounds slightly but not in a way that was really obnoxious or out of character.
Discord
User avatar
Agents of Chaos
Joined: Dec 11, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:47 am

I have to agree there, Pinkie's actions seemed very in character and her attempts at selling the books was in order to help Twilight obtain a fair valve.

Also, I really liked her auctioneering.
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:48 am

Pinkie Pie's actions here were kind of the same as what she was doing back in Filli Vanilli. That is to say, both here and there she was getting on the nerves of the show's two introverts, but that's what I expect out of her. Pinkie just hasn't learned that her own way of doing things isn't always the right way.
Image
Fizzbuzz
User avatar
Stare Masters
Joined: Mar 02, 2013
Location: TN
Gender: Male

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:52 am

You know what else Pinkie reminded me of here? Green Isn't Your Color. The whole "I'm gonna suddenly flip out about trust and keeping secrets even though it's painfully obvious that Spike's crush on Rarity is no secret at all".

It was funnier in GIYC and led to funnier places, but I felt it came from the same place.
Headless Horse
User avatar
The yoke is strictly ornamental
Faithful Students
Joined: May 23, 2011

Postby Weird Autumn (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:00 pm

Wayoshi wrote:This is basically coming down to how we perceive Fluts' weighted value of kindness vs. super serious life change. I would like to think that most rational beings would get selfish / show common sense when the latter gets in the way of the former in the way it did there. In my opinion, despite the taking care of an animal aspect, Fluts is not outgoing enough to embrace such a sudden change. :pinkieshrug:

Fluttershy doesn't embrace it, but she's willing to accept it for the sake of her friend, which is kind of what the whole episode is about-- self-sacrifice in the name of friendship. Now, is that an unreasonable and unfair thing for Dash to make her do in the name of a book? Yes, of course it is, and Dash realizes that all of fifteen seconds later, but Fluttershy's pretty much always been self-sacrificing to the point where it's unhealthy. Speaking up because she didn't want to do it would cause a fuss, and Fluttershy hates causing fusses.
Weird Autumn
User avatar
Better beware
(she's a real mad operator)
Try not to stare
(at the fault line indicator)
Pretend you care
(about a gamma ray generator)
Brace yourself, she might be anywhere.
Faithful Students
Joined: Feb 14, 2011
Location: Philadelphia
Gender: Female

Postby Discord (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:13 pm

Fizzbuzz wrote:Pinkie Pie's actions here were kind of the same as what she was doing back in Filli Vanilli. That is to say, both here and there she was getting on the nerves of the show's two introverts, but that's what I expect out of her. Pinkie just hasn't learned that her own way of doing things isn't always the right way.


But there's a key difference in that Pinkie's behaviour here has an internal logic to it. She wants to make sure her friend gets a good deal, and she's self-conscious of her actions. In Filli Vanilli, she was freaking out Fluttershy because...she's good at being ridiculous? :pinkieshrug: She doesn`t have her friend`s interests at heart in Filli Vanilli as opposed to this one, which is why I think the former was so much more off-putting.
Discord
User avatar
Agents of Chaos
Joined: Dec 11, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby Pingcode (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:41 pm

Discord wrote:
But there's a key difference in that Pinkie's behaviour here has an internal logic to it. She wants to make sure her friend gets a good deal, and she's self-conscious of her actions. In Filli Vanilli, she was freaking out Fluttershy because...she's good at being ridiculous? :pinkieshrug: She doesn`t have her friend`s interests at heart in Filli Vanilli as opposed to this one, which is why I think the former was so much more off-putting.


Actually, I think you're on to something here but you're a little misaimed. It's not Filli Vanilli Pinkie here - it's Putting Your Hoof Down Pinkie. Picture this: Pinkie's bouncing along, checking out all the stalls, when GASP! Twilight's trading away all her super valuable books for a broken pen? Twilight can do better than a broken pen! She just needs to show her a little salesponyship, so Twi can get something she really wants!

Fantastic episode overall, though, and I do enjoy a lot of the things that they stirred in! I can even see why they kicked this back, in light of Testing 1 2 3 - this episode had to be after Testing 1 2 3 because RD's actions near the end after trading away her best friend only make sense with information fresh from Testing 1 2 3.

Basically, RD's finally gotten to the end of her great big trading chain, and the first edition book is a word away from her hooves! It's there! Fluts sealed the deal, the vendor is ready to trade now! All she has to do is say... YES! And now it's hers! Isn't that great, Fluttershy? ...Fluttershy? Wait, why is Fluttershy walking away with the vendor? Rewind rewind "If she comes and stays with us in Manehattan until it's trained" fuck

Incidentally, they leverage RD's Black Box big time for the resolution - watch carefully, RD is in flight both when Fluts mentions she wanted to trade her bear call for a bird whistle and when she drops and abandons the bear whistle (it's actually RD pulling in flight that causes Fluts to drop the whistle).
Pingcode
User avatar
All honor to the noble horse—
The friendly horse, the faithful horse!
Her saddle is Dominion's seat—
They say in France she's good to eat.
I'll back her — yea, I will indorse!
Applejack Aces
Joined: Jun 30, 2011
Gender: Female

Postby ROBOT B9 (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:53 pm

Yeah, I have to agree with you on that front. Speaking of Putting Your Hoof Down, I would really like to see some more Pinkie and Rarity moments in the show although I love her relationship with Twilight!
:plonk: Image :)
ROBOT B9
User avatar
Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows :pinkietoot:
Semper Pie
Joined: Mar 27, 2012
Location: Albir, Spain
Gender: Male

Postby Wonkadoo (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:42 pm

Frosthawk wrote:Getting into a little bit of theorizing here, but I sincerely doubt that Fluttershy was entering into indentured servitude here, and she probably would have been paid.


Her services were in exchange for the book; she's already been paid.

Nonetheless, I want to stop the indentured servitude aka Twelve Weeks a Flutterslave meme before it gets traction here. Fluttershy is not offering a general contract for her services, but the completion of a specific task. She is not obliged to do anything other than have the creature trained within a reasonable time. The only reason she is moving to Manehattan is that it is not practical to work from Ponyville. This makes her an independent contractor, not an indentured servant.
Wonkadoo
User avatar
There are these ponies.
And they do stuff ponies
don't normally do.
And they all make this face:
:thatsright: :dreamworks:
Joined: Mar 02, 2012
Gender: Male

Postby Minty (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:31 pm

Rainbow Dash was pretty insensitive. I'm surprised she didn't try to give away Spike as an exotic pet.
Minty
User avatar
Joined: Jul 20, 2013
Gender: Genderless

Postby acksed (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:47 pm

Minty wrote:Rainbow Dash was pretty insensitive. I'm surprised she didn't try to give away Spike as an exotic pet.

Now I want to see that:

:saddash: Can't we work something out?
:thatsright: Oh Spiiiike...
:glare: Rainbow, NO.
:rainbert: "Rarity, you look ridiculous."
:vogue: "I'm going to ignore that comment out of a desire to help you."
acksed
User avatar
I'm mad, I'm mad, I'm reallyreallyreally mad
Joined: Nov 25, 2013
Gender: Male

Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:51 pm

Pingcode wrote:
Basically, RD's finally gotten to the end of her great big trading chain, and the first edition book is a word away from her hooves! It's there! Fluts sealed the deal, the vendor is ready to trade now! All she has to do is say... YES! And now it's hers! Isn't that great, Fluttershy? ...Fluttershy? Wait, why is Fluttershy walking away with the vendor? Rewind rewind "If she comes and stays with us in Manehattan until it's trained" fuck



This is an important point. I don't think Dash even heard her say anything about Fluttershy. She was just way to focused on the goal. Jerk? Maybe, but she went to correct the situation as soon as she realized what happened.
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby Doctor Wheeze (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:49 pm

Minty wrote:Rainbow Dash was pretty insensitive. I'm surprised she didn't try to give away Spike as an exotic pet.

Headless Horse's bit from the first page of the spoiler thread wasn't too far off :smirk:
Headless Horse wrote: :v: How much for this Daring Do figurine?

:crack: 550 bits, or that orange thing behind you.

:awesomedash: Sold!

:nngh: Hey!
ImageImageImageImageImage
..... :hatte:
:dreamworks:
Doctor Wheeze
User avatar
:backaway: :flutterunsmith:
Stare Masters
Joined: Jul 25, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby PictishBeast (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:33 pm

When I was in, like, second or third grade, my elementary school held a school-wide swap meet where everybody would bring in something from home. We basically did this episode, but in the gymnasium.

At the start of the day I remember seeing some kid in the hall -- he was younger than me, and not in my class -- who was in tears and saying to himself, "no one's going to want to trade for this." What he'd brought from home was an oversized puzzle piece (not even a whole puzzle) with the Flintstones on it.

Rather than go talk to him, or seek him out at the swap meet so I could trade with him, I recognized that this kid was social poison and rushed past him as quickly as I could. I don't remember seeing him at the swap meet and therefore I don't know what happened to him as he sat there, next to all the other kids who brought cool stuff, his fucking Flintstones puzzle piece on the floor in front of him as he watched the clock tick by and hoped the earth would swallow him whole.

So I hope you'll know where I'm coming from when I say WHO BRINGS A BROKEN QUILL TO A SWAP MEET? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU LET TWILIGHT TRADE HER FOR IT, PINKIE? NOBODY ELSE IS GOING TO WANT IT, PINKIE! SHE'S GOING TO HAVE TO SPEND THE REST OF THE DAY CARRYING THAT FUCKING BROKEN QUILL IN HER MOUTH UNTIL THE FINAL GAVEL AND THEN SHE'LL HAVE TO BRING IT BACK HOME WHERE IT WILL BECOME A SYMBOL OF HER BROKEN LIFE AND OH WHY PINKIE WHY :gonkity:

Image

what a world, what a world... :fluttersmith:
PictishBeast
User avatar
Character Select: Winter Nickel
Abilities: Cynicism lv1, Ennui lv1
Inventory: Turnip
Diamond Dusters
Joined: Aug 12, 2012
Gender: Male

Postby The Doctor (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:38 pm

:allears: That little filly will learn the magic of reading, become a great Princess and find a cure for cancer.

:fluttersmith: Or she would have if Pinkie Pie hadn't ruined it.
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby AlliterativeAxolotl (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:44 pm

Her cutie mark will be a broken quill, you just wait :fluttersmith:

She will then become a world-famous librarian wrestler :yay:

It's up to you if this profession means that she will be a wrestling librarian or a wrestler who fights librarians :ponder:
AlliterativeAxolotl
User avatar
hiiiiiiii
Celestia's Champions
Joined: Aug 01, 2012

Postby die Fledermaus (?) » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:43 pm

AlliterativeAxolotl wrote:Her cutie mark will be a broken quill, you just wait :fluttersmith:

She will then become a world-famous librarian wrestler :yay:

It's up to you if this profession means that she will be a wrestling librarian or a wrestler who fights librarians :ponder:


That day I learned my special talent. Beating the shit out of ponies who butt into conversations.
ImageImageImageImage
3DS code: 4811-8169-5683
die Fledermaus
User avatar
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, crashing through your door.
Diamond Dusters
Joined: Feb 14, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby ScionVyse (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:02 am

I didn't like this episode. I just couldn't find anything to really enjoy here. :-/

Twilight's plot was basically a "Sorry we screwed this up the entire season guys, we really do know she's a princess."

AJ & Rarity's plot was dumb, didn't do anything worthwhile the entire episode.

Pinkie Pie was almost funny, but wasn't really around enough to have any lasting effect.

Rainbow Dash is an asshole who sold Fluttershy into slavery. Loyalty everyone! :amazing:

Spike was probably the most interesting thing about the episode, and he spent the majority of the episode in the background. :pinkieshrug:
Image
Teru wrote:...Scion... holy crap, you are a freaking god...
ScionVyse
User avatar
So zetta slow!
Joined: Dec 14, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby Highbrow Dash (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:05 am

That was simple, and enjoyable. As someone mentioned, I would have liked it more if they took the chance to have some non-obvious interactions (since Look Before You Sleep, Dash with Fluts, and Pinkie Being Pinkie have been done to death :-P).

But it was good fun :allears:
Image
Highbrow Dash
User avatar
but why would you post such a thing??
Rarity's Roughnecks
Joined: Oct 15, 2011
Location: Spain
Gender: Male

Postby The Doctor (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:13 am

ScionVyse wrote:I didn't like this episode. I just couldn't find anything to really enjoy here. :-/

Twilight's plot was basically a "Sorry we screwed this up the entire season guys, we really do know she's a princess."

AJ & Rarity's plot was dumb, didn't do anything worthwhile the entire episode.

Pinkie Pie was almost funny, but wasn't really around enough to have any lasting effect.

Rainbow Dash is an asshole who sold Fluttershy into slavery. Loyalty everyone! :amazing:

Spike was probably the most interesting thing about the episode, and he spent the majority of the episode in the background. :pinkieshrug:


:rainbert: This is getting old. Her wanting to share her book with Fluttershy right after and seeing what happened should prove that she never even heard the lady say Fluttershy had to go with her.
The Doctor
User avatar
Turner of all things timey wimey
Celestia's Champions
Joined: May 05, 2011
Location: Time & Space
Gender: Male

Postby Weird Autumn (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:21 am

ScionVyse wrote:Twilight's plot was basically a "Sorry we screwed this up the entire season guys, we really do know she's a princess."

The way they're handling the whole princess thing feels very deliberate to me. I think they've been specifically avoiding a lot of the most obvious "woaaaaah Twilight has to deal with princess-dom!" plot points, maybe because they want to keep that stuff for the two-parters or possibly just because they thought it'd be lazy to make a bunch of "Everybody thinks Twilight thinks she's better than them! Twilight can't walk down the street without everybody stopping to bow! PAPERWORK!" episodes. Whatever the case, all that stuff certainly beyond a doubt occurred to the writers, and the fact that every episode that seems like it's going to address the whole princess thing ends up skirting the issue or focusing on something and someone else entirely is pretty clearly a conscious decision they made.
The Doctor wrote: :rainbert: This is getting old. Her wanting to share her book with Fluttershy right after and seeing what happened should prove that she never even heard the lady say Fluttershy had to go with her.

Well, she heard it, it just didn't register for her until after she blindly agreed to the deal. Either way, she literally stops and says "oh no what have I done" all of ten seconds after making the trade, so it's pretty unambiguously a case of "I made a bad decision without thinking about it in the heat of the moment" and if Dash had actually taken the time to consider what she was doing before she did it she wouldn't have gone through with the deal.
Weird Autumn
User avatar
Better beware
(she's a real mad operator)
Try not to stare
(at the fault line indicator)
Pretend you care
(about a gamma ray generator)
Brace yourself, she might be anywhere.
Faithful Students
Joined: Feb 14, 2011
Location: Philadelphia
Gender: Female

Postby ScionVyse (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:31 am

The Doctor wrote:
:rainbert: This is getting old. Her wanting to share her book with Fluttershy right after and seeing what happened should prove that she never even heard the lady say Fluttershy had to go with her.


As Opposing Farce said, she clearly did hear that Fluttershy would be part of the deal, but didn't bother to use her brain for a millisecond. I wouldn't have even brought it up if RD didn't actually know it was part of the deal. The situation was clearly that RD got excited and didn't care about the consequences.

Opposing Farce wrote:The way they're handling the whole princess thing feels very deliberate to me. I think they've been specifically avoiding a lot of the most obvious "woaaaaah Twilight has to deal with princess-dom!" plot points, maybe because they want to keep that stuff for the two-parters or possibly just because they thought it'd be lazy to make a bunch of "Everybody thinks Twilight thinks she's better than them! Twilight can't walk down the street without everybody stopping to bow! PAPERWORK!" episodes. Whatever the case, all that stuff certainly beyond a doubt occurred to the writers, and the fact that every episode that seems like it's going to address the whole princess thing ends up skirting the issue or focusing on something and someone else entirely is pretty clearly a conscious decision they made.

Conscious decision or not, the result is several episodes where numerous ponies ignore a monarch. It is a nitpick for sure, but it gets jarring after a while. :pinkieshrug:
Image
Teru wrote:...Scion... holy crap, you are a freaking god...
ScionVyse
User avatar
So zetta slow!
Joined: Dec 14, 2011
Gender: Male

Postby HuffyTheMagicDragon (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:35 am

The Doctor wrote:
:rainbert: This is getting old. Her wanting to share her book with Fluttershy right after and seeing what happened should prove that she never even heard the lady say Fluttershy had to go with her.


Yes, and it's also pretty ridiculous that people use the word 'slavery.' I assume most of them are joking, but seriously, Fluttershy willingly and voluntarily entering into a period of service in exchange for an item of presumably high value is not exactly slavery.

The situation reminds me of the joke in "Spike At Your Service" when Spike tells Twilight he is leaving, but she's too engrossed in her books to listen. Some fans said "Twilight was OOC and mean" because she just responded "uh-huh" to everything Spike said. They didn't seem to get that she was responding reflexively because she wasn't even listening. Whereas I could sympathize, because I do this to people all the time when I'm preoccupied. Same here with Rainbow Dash being too excited about the book to realize what really happened until afterward.

And in both cases it was pretty funny, IMO. :-P
Image
HuffyTheMagicDragon
User avatar
Nature is so fascinating! :allears:
Applejack Aces
Joined: May 01, 2011

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:47 am

Every week I consciously try to forget that Pony is even a thing. I try to wipe from my mind any idea that this show is something I've been following religiously through four seasons, and a TV series that's entrenched in my consciousness such that I have certain expectations for it, from characterization to storytelling to animation. I try to put myself back in the mindset where "My Little Pony" to me is some cheaply animated Saturday Morning 80s cartoon that I dimly remember as a thinly disguised toy commercial selling plastic dolls to impressionable girls.

It's not easy, and it's not something everyone would even want to do. Certainly I don't think many people try. But the effect for me is that by that set of standards anything the show does is an " :-D omfg what" moment.

It's against that bar that even if Rainbow Dash had unambiguously sold Fluttershy into slavery, I would still love it. Because it would have been funny! And unexpected! And poignant! And ballsy! And a whole bunch of other adjectives that I would never have used to describe a My Little Pony show before now! Holy shit this one pony is such an asshole and this other one is such a pushover! Ha ha, what great characterization! And aaww, the way they fixed the situation actually felt like how real people might deal with it! Rather touchingly at that!

I'm not trying to rip on old-gen pony here. Nor am I trying to set the bar so artificially low that I blind myself to FiM's faults. What I'm doing is reminding myself of that state of ignorance in which I existed up until early 2011. Full disclosure in the interest of complete honesty, I still think the bulk of old pony is—to put it kindly—not worth my time. But it's useful to me as a tool and a way to keep that feeling of new discovery alive—that feeling that continues to make new FiM episodes amazing experiences for me.

Long story short (too late), I'm not looking for things not to like about Pony. Those things abound. They've abounded since the beginning. But that was the standard state of affairs; it was what I expected. It's a kids' cartoon and I'm a 38-year-old man for pete's sake. What makes Pony a net addition to my life is the unexpected joys, the little discoveries, the sheer sense of fun and care that come through from the creative staff in every second of animation—the things that make the flaws and shortcomings meaningless to me.
Headless Horse
User avatar
The yoke is strictly ornamental
Faithful Students
Joined: May 23, 2011

Postby TheNegaverser (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:15 am

Headless, please don't ever stop being awesome. :allears:
ImageImage
"Even the smallest pony can change the course of the future." :vogue: :wingsright: :awesomedash: :party: :twasnothin: :allears:
TheNegaverser
User avatar
3sp00ky5me
Joined: Jan 15, 2014
Location: Aztec, New Mexico
Gender: Male

Postby Veradox (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:37 am

When I first watched this episode I really enjoyed it. However, going back, I can't really find any real redeeming factors about this episode. 4/10.
Veradox
User avatar
Joined: Feb 04, 2014
Gender: Male

Postby Snow Drift (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:42 am

Overall I thought the episode was decent. My only real take away is that apparently being a Creature Catcher is a legitimate profession and not something the CMC pulled out of thin air back in Stare Master.
ImageImageImageImage
Snow Drift
User avatar
The Most Humblest of Alicorns
The Great and Powerful Trixsters
Joined: Dec 01, 2012
Location: Alaska
Gender: Male

Postby Chaos Sonic (?) » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:21 am

Headless Horse wrote:Every week I consciously try to forget that Pony is even a thing. I try to wipe from my mind any idea that this show is something I've been following religiously through four seasons, and a TV series that's entrenched in my consciousness such that I have certain expectations for it, from characterization to storytelling to animation. I try to put myself back in the mindset where "My Little Pony" to me is some cheaply animated Saturday Morning 80s cartoon that I dimly remember as a thinly disguised toy commercial selling plastic dolls to impressionable girls.

So how do you do that when you go all the way to Chicago to watch it? :v:
Image :flattered: Image
3DS FC: 4570-7176-3195 NNID: Chaosonic
Kitty Kate wrote:As long as you believe in yourself, darling, every pizza is a personal pizza
Chaos Sonic
User avatar
[Screaming. Just Endless Screaming]
Faithful Students
Joined: Sep 15, 2011
Location: Bit west of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Gender: Male

Previous Next

Return to Pony Media Release Threads

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests