Thoughts on Stranger Than Fan Fiction

This episode is an interesting one. I think I will focus on what makes a fandom strong, which is being able to disagree with each other. So, to start, the main plot of this episode is that Rainbow Dash meets another fan of Daring Do at a fan convention named Quibble Pants, who is a cynical earth pony who loves the first trilogy of the book series and isn't a fan of the newer stuff because he thinks it's too "unrealistic." Meanwhile, they get caught up in an actual Daring Do adventure as Quibble Pants is in disbelief that this is real and is staged. I liked how, in the end, despite their misgivings with each other, Quible comes to the realization that they can be fans of the same thing but have different opinions on what makes the Daring Do books good.

My biggest problem with fandoms is how toxic the discourse can get with people not being able to take criticism or get overly defensive. I think it's understandable, especially if the media you enjoy holds a special place in your heart or has a connection to you. But the problem is it seems we fall into echo chambers and only want to have our preconceived notions justified. We can be overly critical of media when there could be reasons for leaping in logic to make a story like Quibble. But we can try justifying plot holes or bad ideas and not be open to certain criticism like Rainbow Dash. I think that you have to meet in the middle to be open-minded and be able to compromise to have conversations and not be so judgemental. I think I fell off with the Star Wars fandom because the discourse over the sequel trilogy became toxic and hard to talk about without getting into a massive argument. I, for one, have problems with G5, but I will not actively hate on it or try to disparage others from liking it and think we can still be bronies and talk about our likes and dislikes with maturity.

Back to the episode itself, I mostly enjoyed this one because of Quibble Pants and how supercritical he is throughout the episode. And how Rainbow Dash made it her mission to shoe that the adventures of Daring Do are real and now made up. But as the two get caught into a adventure he reamins in disbekief and thinks he's on some fanmade adventure the entire time. I enjoyed the humor and laughed a lot through this episode due to Quibble Pants' antics. It's honestly a shame he isn't a reoccurring character, as his overcritical mind would be fun to have just to have him around in some episodes. Overall, this was a great episode and definitely deserves a rewatch.