Some thoughts on the newest episode/how it affects Kindred Spirits. · 10:13am Mar 18th, 2012
So the newest episode. I don't know what to make of it. Let me clear up on some things first.
1. One of my most hated tropes is "this race is 'x' personality". It drives me insane. So apparently all dragons are assholes or something. Didn't like that. Shouldn't be bothered by it, but I am.
2. Spike x Rarity. I see a lot of people arguing about this due to this episode. He's friendzoned, he's not, he's adoring him, she's treating him like a baby, blah blah blah. Don't know what to think.
3. This episode had the 'Gilda' problem. We begin to see from the antagonists' point of view the longer it goes on. She's a friend who wants some private time with her best friend she hasn't seen in awhile / They're a bunch of teenage dragons giving their new gang-buddy a hard time. Hell, with that friendly little acceptance-noogie the red dragon gave Spike, I was all for him leaving the ponies right then and there.
Then the writers realize we need to hate these antagonists. Show them stealing, yelling at Fluttershy (lol), pulling pranks (wait...) / show them murdering young unhatched phoenixes. Bam. They're bad guys and we rush to the ending.
4. This episode was creepy for me. REALLY creepy. I'm all for women's rights, but the 'extreme feminism' reeked in this episode. Didn't hurt that all the dragons were male. Could we have had at least ONE female? Guess not.
The ending where Spike basically promotes ponies as a master race and reassures his newly stolen pet that he will teach him how to be a pony is probably some of the weirdest cringe inducing schlock I have ever heard.
I wonder if griffons are all born assholes too? Maybe it's something in their brains...
Is that all? I guess so. I'm not going to be an idiot and talk about every minute detail Rainbow Dash does (lol Ponychan).
Now. For Kindred Spirits.
This episode did the exact opposite what I thought it would. It completely went along with my fic. The fact that all dragons have wings is basically all but confirmed, dragons are mysterious and feared by pony kind, blah blah blah the list goes on.
But now there's something else.
I really, REALLY want to write a fic about a young female pony raised by dragons. After much worry and soul-searching from her, her dragon guardian manages to (don't ask how) snag her a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. That's the main pony thing right? So they dress her up and send her in and she tags along with a group of pompous-ass-always-had-everything-handed-to-them-on-a-silver-platter pony teenagers.They take her in with much amusement, laughing hysterically at her wild, ruthless antics.
Eventually some sort of climax happens where the teenage ponies push it too far. Maybe they tell her that dancing is actually some sort of weird wrestling and let her loose on the dance floor where she makes a show of herself? Maybe they have a dinner planned with the princess herself and invite her along, knowing full well her table manners will be horrid?
Oh! Better yet, have it happen outside, like on a balcony. Then the dragon guardian can swoop in at her worst hour, much like in Dragon Quest. Of course everypony freaks out, but he takes her away, back to wherever dragons live or some cave or whatever.
"Dear Guardian,
Today blah blah blah it doesn't matter if I'm a pony, they're all pompous assholes, blah blah blah, I'm glad to be a part of the dragon master race."
Woops. Forgot the part where she manages to whisk away a baby manticore and reassure it that she will teach it how to be a proper dragon.
There. I had to vent that. If you read everything, thank you. If not, wonderful. I'll get back to writing now.
Thank you all for your patience.
LOL!! I have to ask, how do the get the ticket?
any way I was rather disappointed with this EP as well. and I do agree 100% about " this race is 'x' personality" That is BS , its just dumb to think that. at least the wild Phoenix did not act like philomena they shown different tarts, so there is that. but I would like to have seen one nice dragon that was not related to "Crackle"... you know I can see "Crackle" being the new Drep.
35367 Crackle is Best Dragon.
Race=personality
I agree that this is a massively overused trope, but it has some foundation in anthropomorphization. Of course you could cast them differently with equal logic, but that's why I put so little stock in the show's plotlines.
Spikity
I believe this follows well from "Excess". Rarity knows Spike has deep feelings for her and appreciates them. However she treats them for what they are, the adorable crush of a boy half her age. I wouldn't go calling "friendzone" since there is little else they could actually be at this stage. At least she doesn't reject his feelings nor is freaked out by them.
The antagonists
I agree. This is exactly why I don't care about the show's storylines. Characters, voices, visuals, humor are all great. Story is so stupid most of the time. Mare-Do-Well is the most hated episode because of the story's poor presentation of is moral and motivations. Otherwise? One of the most kick ass epic episodes ever. The reason I read so much fanfiction is because the authors actually put significantly more care into the integrity and concept of their plotlines since they do not have the audiovisual medium's charms to fall back on. It's also why I am often critical with story authors. Not like I can get my story fix from the show after all.
female dragons
Maybe the females establish permanent roosts/nests and the males migrate?
femenism
I do see where you are coming from with this... but there is another angle that you can take on it.
Predator species / prey species.
The feminist / brute dynamic is IMO a tame analogy for herbivore / carnivore.
Pony Master Race
Analogy time.
If I am Chinese, but I was born and raised in rural Spain with little of my racial cultural identity taken into account. Then I go to China. I have a bad experience. I move back to Spain where I am happier. I adopt a Filipino child. Am I going to raise said child as Filipino, Chinese, or Spanish? Just cause I have little knowledge of other cultures and prefer the familiarity of my own, doesn't mean I consider mine to be a "master race".
race reversal fic
Most intelligent people will get that it's all subjective.
That story idea smacks too much of Somber's overreaction story response to Mare-Do-Well. Could be amusing, but kinda unnecessary.
I choose to believe that the dragons Spike was hanging out with were acting out like they did because they're supposed to represent teenagers, who are supposed to be unpleasant and brutish - this can be seen in so many shows it's not funny. And it seems plausible they're not often around others of their kind since the ones we've seen seem solitary. Therefore it is necessary to establish dominance, which they do by seeing who can be the biggest jerk for no reason. This is a sign of their lack of interaction with other dragons - they usually live alone with their parents so they don't know how to...
*Sigh* I think by now everyone knows i'm just making excuses. Though I didn't even notice the gender thing. I support 35450 on that, though.
I didn't like it either, and the teenage dagons annoyed me a lot.
I guess in the end, the most ironic thing is that Generation 1 did this aesop ten times better, avoiding all of this weird 'speciest' crap while basically still keeping the same story.
Also, no need to worry. I'm not making that fic. I'm getting back to work on Kindred after a whole week's worth of test.
I'm watching you now because of this post.
I've seen you hovering around, menacing Somber, admiring that, or at least wondering if, you, too, have played Tides of Time.
But this post sealed it.
I will read Kindred when I've completed the next chapter of my thing. I've been meaning to do it for a while, but never got around to it.