Civil War was AWESOME. Also, MLP and Morals · 11:07pm May 12th, 2016
So, just got back from seeing Captain America: Civil War. And it was amazing. I remember reading Marvel's original Civil War event. It was one of the first major comic events I read (having just got into comics) and ... yeah, it wasn't that good. Kinda the opposite. Partly because the pro-Registration side was, as Linkara observed, demonized throughout the series and most of the tie-ins, and in the end they were the winners and--according to remarks by the writers--were meant to be the right side all along! Even leaving aside the fact that the Superhuman Registration stuff was undone later. So yeah, Marvel can take a crappy comic and turn it into a great movie while DC can take several great comics and turn them into a crappy movie (and I say this as someone who generally prefers DC to Marvel).
What's the relevance to MLP? Well, it got me thinking: a big part of MLP episodes is that they often have messages or morals. Which isn't a bad thing, in and of itself. True, sometimes it makes things a bit formulaic and the plots easily predictable. Again, that doesn't make for a bad episode or a bad series. Heck, I got into My Little Pony in the summer of 2011 and I've been hooked ever since. It's the only show I watch on TV and I am head over heels in love with it. That doesn't mean I'm going to be pull any punches when I find an episode is lacking, quite the opposite, in fact.
Now, to tie my disparate thoughts together, most of the episodes of MLP that don't work (for me at least) tend to fail because of a failure of the moral. This can take several forms. Sometimes they present a moral or lesson that is at odds with what was shown throughout the episode. Say, by having the characters who are supposed to be in the right, the ones teaching the lesson, act so unlikeable that it deprives them of their moral high ground. Sometimes the different messages they're trying to convey trip over each other and become a mess. Sometimes the moral itself really isn't a good one, or requires more nuance than they were able to get across. Sometimes ... it just makes no flipping sense.
So I put it to you, the readers. What do you think were the biggest moral misfires (as I like to call them) in MLP? Can be any season, old or new. What moral/lesson episodes failed to get their message across? What morals worked, but were messed up in the execution? What morals themselves just didn't work? What episodes left you scratching your heads in confusion or slapping your faces in annoyance?
Mysterious Mare-Do-Well and Boast Busters.
Wherein the Mane 6/5 do their best to deflate the ego of A) An actual life-saving hero who is one of their best friends, and B) a performer, who was performing.
Well, off the top of my head...
1. Glad to hear Civil War was awesome. That seems to be the general consensus I've heard. :D I see it next Thursday.
2. Screwed-up morals? Mare-Do-Well, for one. "If your friend is acting as boastful as she's previously been, don't talk to her about it. Upstage her in the most hypocritical, asinine and confusing manner possible!"
A Friend In Deed for another. "Bother people, destroy their cherished possessions, then say you'll leave them alone, but instead hound them like a stalker and get in the clear with the most asspully of asspulls!
Keep Calm and Flutter On irks me because that moral is so toxic it requires a hazmat suit. "The willingly-evil chaos god who tormented you and your friends for shits and giggles? He just needs a hug!"
I have to say it. Mysterious Mare Do Well. Almost everyone says it, but I just have to again. Honestly, I think that the moral in Feeling Pinkie Keen was a little botched if not outright . . . not good. To just accept something if you can't explain it feels kind of off to me, but maybe that's just my inner scholar. What About Discord wasn't my favorite. Canterlot Wedding's moral (if it truly was one) felt kind of . . . incomplete to me.
That's really all I can think of, I guess.
3940843 To counter act the Mare-Do-Well one it isn't that they didn't talk to her about it. You just stated that they talked to her before about it and she didn't listen so they needed to use Mare-Do-Well because that's the only way Rainbow would listen to them. The rest of that I agree with.
3940841 So taking aside they more then likely never saw a live show before so they didn't know how to take what was going on. Mare-Do-Well? Rainbow would NEVER have listened to her friends and thus would ignore them telling her 'hey chill out on the ego trip'. She understands COMPETITION however so that's what they used to teach her the lesson.
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MDW tops a lot of people's lists for worst moral/moral delivery, and worst episode in general. And I am right there in the forefront of that group. It's connected to a big reason why I didn't like Newbie Dash and several other episodes that try to deal with issues of pride and ego: who gets to decide that someone elses' behavior is arrogant or egotistical? Isn't it arrogant to take it upon yourself to be the personality police for someone else? Moreover, the problems that come with arrogance--over-confidence, sloppiness, etc.--are never explored. We don't get a reason WHY being arrogant is a bad thing. We're just told that being arrogant is bad and anyone being arrogant needs to be taken down a peg--just because!
Arrogance, in and of itself, is just a feeling or emotion. It's everything that comes with being arrogant that's the problem; being arrogant can lead to making mistakes or alienating people. And even then, being arrogant is annoying, but you're under no obligation to associate with people being arrogant. In MDW, Rainbow's friends provide no reason for why they did what they did beyond the simplistic idea that heroes don't brag. It wasn't because they thought Rainbow's ego might risk lives. It wasn't because they were afraid her attitude might alienate people--the only ones AT ALL who had an issue with it were the five of them. So it really boiled down to. 'I don't like your attitude.' Well, if that's the case, why not orchestrate something to deal with Fluttershy's cowardly behavior in "Scare Master?" Or AJ's own ego and stubbornness in several episodes?
So MDW was, well, a mean-spirited steaming pile of an episode.
Here's one that still confuses the heck out of me. "MMMystery on the Friendship Express." What the hay was even the moral there?
3940952 Yes because Rainbow was so going to listen to her friends had they told her to cool off. You know Dash and she would have ignored them ESPECIALLY if she was being at the forefront of praises for even MINOR heroics. What happened that episode was her finding someone that was actually her BETTER because they did everything they wanted to and didn't do it FOR praises. They did it because it was the right thing to do rather then Rainbow doing it for the praise which she was doing. I think the main problem is that they didn't show the Mane 5 trying to reach her and thus her brushing them off, which again would've more then likely happened, which would make them realize they needed to give her a rival for her to realize how a real hero acts. Oh and as for the parade that Mare-Do-Well showed up? Superman shows up for a Superman parade but he doesn't necessarily like it though he likes the sentiment and love that was put into it. That's why Mare-Do-Well showed up at the festival towards the end. If they didn't show up that would undermine what they were doing. So there.
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A couple of problems with that: I didn't even bring up the whole "friends not talking to her." Even if they had talked to RD and she blew them off, her friends actions with MDW were still 100% wrong. I'm sorry, but who says that doing something for praise and credit (which, by the way, was not why Rainbow Dash started saving ponies) makes it wrong? If a fireman or a rescue worker welcomes praise given them for saving lives, are you going to quibble with them? If someone saves my life, I don't care if they spend the rest of theirs bragging about it. The idea that being humble is automatically a good thing is just as wrong as assuming that being self-confident is always bad.
And as for the festival, yes, showing up DID undermine the moral. More to the point? Them talking about how awesome Mare Do Well was in front of Rainbow Dash and LAUGHING at her for being upset? It was one of nastiest thing ever done in this series. And it most assuredly was them patting themselves on the back, no less than if Bruce Wayne went on and on about how great Batman was (or vice versa).
3940916 I get that, I guess. But remember, they made her feel very alone and alienated. I'm particularly reminded of that scene on the storm cloud where RD states how she hates being alone. Friends don't do that to friends. Maybe talking wouldn't have helped but there are certainly kinder ways to express the same message.
3940843 As a total introvert who isn't into making friends, A Friend In Deed kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I like the idea that you choose your friends, not the other way around. Maybe that's why I'm not a fan of Pinkie in general. Not all people get it, but sometimes you're happy with just a friend or two. You don't need to be friends with everyone.
3940994 Oh you're right. She started doing to get more recognition and show she was better then Mare-Do-Well which would then lead back to praise. Do you see the problem with that sentence yet? Humbling isn't always a good thing and Self-Confidence isn't either. But overly self confident which is what Rainbow was is a bad thing. She was so full of herself that you could've made a hot balloon expand and fly. And notice she wasn't even LOOKING at the pony that was in the hot air balloon that was falling. She was more focused on the ponies watching her. She was more concerned about the fans then the life she was trying to save. The parade thing.... so you're saying NOT showing up when you've been ASKED to show up is somehow morally better? Wow that's just..... wow.
Okay the talking about them and praising them thing? Okay so are you saying then if Clark Kent praises Superman for doing something like stopping a train or saving a cat from a tree that we should call him an asshole and a bastard? They did that because ANY hero would do that but they did it among THEMSELVES and Rainbow who was needing to see just how irritating being told praises that you more then likely have heard over and over again are dull. Now I can see why that gets hate but the rest of the episode did NOT undermine the moral that you should be a hero not for praise but for a actual good reason.
3941022 Not with someone like Rainbow Dash.
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The hot balloon thing--besides being character assassination of Rainbow Dash--occurred AFTER her friends started to put the MDW plan into action, so that wasn't their motivating factor. They weren't trying to save lives ... they were just trying to take Rainbow Dash down a peg. If they wanted to actually save lives, they wouldn't need to bother with the costume. Your argument is that being a hero means you shouldn't expect or want praise for your actions. But, Rainbow's friends all became heroes, not with the goal of helping ponies in trouble, but with the agenda of teaching Rainbow a lesson. To me, that's no better and might actually be worse.
My argument re: Batman is that Rainbow's friends were openly patting themselves on the back, the same thing Rainbow Dash was being criticized for--the only difference is that Rainbow Dash wanted that affirmation from others. So as far as the humble, bragging moral went, it made her friends look like hypocritical jerks. And they were, ostensibly, trying to say how great MDW was as a hero BECAUSE she didn't brag ... as they were bragging about how great they were as MDW! So, yeah. That scene was an epic fail. And the moral, again, has NO weight or anything backing it up. A hero doesn't brag? Why? Because we said so! That's what it boiled down to.
Well in the comics, they had to have a continuing story involving what would happen to not just super heroes, but ANYONE with powers being snatched up by the government (like they had been doing with the X-Men for years). And the only logical answer to that is to weaponize them since having people who could control the weather or make plants grow to end world hunger just wouldn't be as to a government that doesn't need to make stuff like that happen. So they turned a girl who only wanted to fly around on clouds into a sniper that generates her own cover. Which becomes a pretty much impossible moral sell, since it comes down to "those with talents that can be used to kill people have to join the military and shoot other people" while the whole idea behind super heroes is that its the choice of the person to do good for their community. Nobody actually makes Spider-man suit up to save people, but Cloud 9 gets kill orders that she can't disobey.
And even in the movie, the pro-registration was still pretty bad since it was really Tony projecting his own guilt about everything onto everybody else before he went and...you know.
But on the MLP thing, I gotta say that Somepony to Watch Over me was the worst in terms of moral to children as it essentially goes "When adults tell you to do something that you don't like, put yourself in danger to prove them wrong."
And Appleoosa's most wanted of "talk to the creepy adult that everyone else in town wants you to stay away from" is a close second.
Yeah, Mare-do-Well was bad in so far as completely jacked everything, but as far as morals for the audience MLP is aimed at, when they outright tell the kids to disregard authority figures and put themselves in danger, I gotta call BS.
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Yeah, "Somepony to Watch Over Me" was the absolute dumbest. With some other episodes I realized the implications on the rewatch. This one, I felt my jaw drop when I first heard AJ praising Apple Bloom for dragging the cart out to the fire swamp. Applejack ... did you leave your brains in your other hat? Oy.
Mare Do Well is the one that comes to mind as the one that bothered me the most, although it didn't kill my desire to watch the show the way the long chain of stupidity that started later did so I'm not entirely sure what the most correct response here is.
That shitty episode last season that had Discord vs Twilight after she started becoming suspicious of him after that weekend she spend indoors while her friends hung out with him, then they shoved said hang out session into her face over and over and made her out to be the fucking bad guy? Almost ruined the season for me. What was the moral supposed to be there? Never suspect your friends' friend because it just makes you look like a over-possessive freak??
(My summary might just be a little off, according to the official one she had just returned from Canterlot. Main point still stands though. WTF?)
...Just looked up the episode list, and it's "What About Discord?". I couldn't even be bothered to remember the title.
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I am right there with you, 100%. I thought it was the worst episode of Season 5 and one of the top five worst in the series over all. I mean, Applejack's line "What kinda fertilizer have you been sniffing?" was so horrible and nasty that it made me want to just punch her in the face. And wouldn't you know? Twilight was RIGHT. Discord was messing with her friends to get to her, only instead of using magic, he used head games. This was horrible on several levels: it dumped all over Twilight, made her friends look like insensitive, nasty and above all clueless and it made me honestly hate Discord and make me wish he stayed in stone. This was abyssmmal.
Best Morals:
Amending Fences
It ain't Easy Being Breezies
The Last Round Up
Feeling Pinkie Keen
Flight to the Finish
Worst Morals:
Somepony to Watch Over Me (worst episode ever)
Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?
A Canterlot Wedding
Good Morals Handled Poorly:
One Bad Apple
Mare Do Well
Rarity Takes Manehatten
Morals that relate to me personally and thus i like them more:
Hurricane Fluttershy
Suited for Success
Newbie Dash
The Cutie Map
Note: with the exception of Magic Sheep, a bad moral won't ruin a good episode and, conversely, a good moral won't salvage and ok episode like Breezies.
My own opinions on episodes depends on the morals, characters, and overall presentation. To me the ones that fall short are:
-Any Spike Episode (Inspiration Manifestation, Gauntlet of Fire, and another are an exception).
-MMDW (EXTREMELY bad writing, and a moral back hand. This episode actually makes me think its the main reason Rainbow didn't listen to Twilight in the S2 finale).
-What About Discord? (Suddenly Discord went back to his S2 Premiere self due to the writing, and what was the moral suppose to even be?)
-Boast Busters (...Season 1 precursor to MMDW. Moral is okay, but how this episode makes Trixie out to be a scapegoat for the ones who caused the incident just annoys me.)
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Is it just me, or after Twilight's end of season speech as to why Equestria sucked without the six girls becoming friends, does Discord still seem pretty damn evil?
Think about it for a second. Ever since his reformation, what has he done?
In ever single appearance since the end of that Season (and the one episode he showed up in before that) he has attacked a friendship. He's gone after the Twilight-Cadance bond, the Fluttershy-Tree Huger friendship, and then tried to sour the relationship between Twilight and all of her friends.
At first, he was just a douche that they needed to kick to the curb, but after Twilight stated that Equestria's prosperity and magic DEPENDS on friendship, Discord's actions are cast in a whole different light.