Present Perfect vs. A Brony Tale · 3:46pm Aug 25th, 2014
aka, "That other Brony documentary, you know, the one with Ashleigh Ball?"
I'll get right to the burning question: Is A Brony Tale better than The Unexpected Fans of My Little Pony?
Unequivocally yes.
Does this mean it's unequivocally good? I dunno. Maybe?
It certainly looks better, more professional. It focuses on the "Bronies are people" aspect of the fandom quite well. Ashleigh Ball is generally uncomfortable and nervous all the way up to, and possibly even past, Bronycon, but at least it doesn't mention clopping. (And it does go into the "people are gonna think guys in the pony aisle are perverts and pedos" thing, but it makes it very clear that this is the opinion of society, and completely without foundation in reality.)
Honestly, the worst part of the whole thing is Final Draft getting the origins of the word "brony" horribly, horribly wrong, as gleefully reported by Horse News. And as low points go, that ain't too bad.
They picked a good cast to represent the fandom. (Say what you will about DustyKatt personally, I think he makes a great spokesperson for the fandom.) You've got MandoPony, Silva Hound, our own ascended-from-the-fandom-before-it-was-cool Cupcakes, Phoe from EQD, and a military brony and artist named Brian. Along with con footage (Canterlot Gardens was in there! I was at the damn thing and I had no idea!), they show meetups at universities, and in SoCal. It's honestly a lot of fun.
That said, my biggest criticism would be that there's a lot of empty space. There is, for instance, a lengthy scene near the beginning showing a lot of old Warner Bros. cartoons while people talk about society and use big, sweeping words about stuff that is a propos to nothing we've seen in the movie up to that point. (Also, there were a lot of gratuitous shots of Ashleigh Ball's ass. :/ I mean, c'mon.)
Which still begs two questions, the first a holdover from the "original" Bronydoc: Who's gonna want to watch this? If you're a brony, it's a nice big pat on the back. And if you're not? I can't see why you'd really give a shit, unless you're just really into documentaries. It might be useful for young bronies trying to convince their parents that going to a brony meetup or convention doesn't mean a weekend spent debauching with child molesters, but again previous interest is a factor.
The other question is, is it worth money? Well, had I paid to see it (after funding the BronyDoc, I sure as hell wasn't about to spend money on another one without having seen it first), I wouldn't feel I'd wasted my money. At least, not in comparison to the BronyDoc. You might want to watch it with friends first to decide for yourself.
What isn't worth the money, I feel I should add as a last note, is the official soundtrack. I finished watching, went, "Shit, I need this soundtrack!" looked it up on Amazon, and realized I'd already listened to it, been disappointed, and forgotten about it. It's just the original instrumental music played during the interview segments, and it's dull and unmemorable. D: I wanted the mix of Hey Ocean!, fandom originals and official music from the show that was sprinkled throughout the entire thing. I mean, they interviewed two musicians, for pete's sake! Stupid.
Anyway, A Brony Tale is a better documentary than the one called "The Brony Documentary", and as media for the fandom goes, I'd say it's pretty top-notch. Granted, we still have it better than the furries, so what are we complaining about, really?
Didn't care about the first; don't care about the second.
Status-quo is maintained.
Carry on.
Funded the first one, don't think I've even unwrapped my copy.
I definitely agree about DustyKatt, though, he really makes for a good public face.
2399906
This is definitely not a bad status quo to maintain, lemme just say that.
This is relevant to journalists doing research. This one isn't as horribly slanted or boring as the last one, so I think it's good that it exists. And speaking as one of those who really is into documentaries, this is the first that cuts the mustard. I would probably have liked it, even if I wasn't personally invested.
2400372
Yeah, I can't say I have a whole lot of experience with documentaries. :B I'll take your word for it.
People complain because life is hard and blaming something makes us feel better about ourselves.
People diss because life is hard and asserting ourselves as superficially better than others makes us feel better about ourselves.
Well, that and it's easy to make fun of the socially awkward, and if there's one thing Bronycon has taught me, there is no limit to how socially awkward bronies can get.