Afterthoughts: Flutter Brutter · 8:21pm Jun 5th, 2016
art by AssasinMonkey
We’re back! 
After one episode that I felt was rather weak, Season Six has returned to form with one of the strongest episodes of a solid season, and perhaps the best Fluttershy episode in a long time.
This episode is a serious progression of Fluttershy’s character arc, comparable even to Rainbow Dash finally becoming a Wonderbolt. The Fluttershy of this episode is a Fluttershy who has been through her previous feature episodes, and she has taken those lessons to heart. She has learned not to be a doormat, how to be assertive without being aggressive or a bully, and that sometimes kindness requires knowing when not to be.
Compare Fluttershy now to the girl we met back in the first episode. She still carries the core elements of her character. She is still shy, meek and admirably kind. But she has an inner strength she didn’t start with. She has the ability to face the world. She no longer hides from it behind her own mane. The transformation has been so gradual, and fraught with setbacks, that we may not have recognized how much she has changed… until this episode gently reminded us in the scene below of how she used to be.
(I noticed that the episode did several nice things like that. Pinkie Pie’s wallet included a picture of Iron Will, again reminding us of Fluttershy’s journey.)
Watching Fluttershy this episode was amazing. Assertive, mature Fluttershy was on full display from the moment her brother tossed down his luggage. (Really, there is nothing quite like family to bring character traits to the surface.) Much like her friend Twilight Sparkle, with this episode Fluttershy has taken on the role of a teacher, helping others learn what she has had to learn herself.
vector by DashieSparkle
Okay, wow. I have talked before about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic tackling increasingly mature morals and themes. “Flutter Brutter” took it to a new level. The episode focused on someone who refused to try because they were afraid of failure, a very real and common fear. But the episode wasn’t about facing our fears and taking that first step – that was the message to Zephyr Breeze, not to us.
At its heart, this episode was about doing what it takes to help someone who needs help but doesn’t want it. It was about how friends and family are there to give you the strength and the push you need to improve. And while these are lessons that apply to children as well as adults, they were wrapped in the package of a brother who was still living at home and taking advantage of his parents… a scenario that is distinctly applicable to adults.
“Flutter Brutter” is an episode that I expect to get mixed and even angry reviews for all the right reasons. The episode does not play gentle, and some people will feel triggered when it shines a light on issues in their own life that are uncomfortable to acknowledge, much less deal with. If it feels like the episode is making fun of you, chances are, there is something in your life that you need to address.
But even for everyone else, “Flutter Brutter” likely strikes a chord of familiarity. Who amongst us doesn’t know one or more people who share at least a few of their less pleasant character traits or habits with Zephyr Breeze? I can certainly think of a few. Allow me to illustrate three examples from personal experience:
Even though kicking her brother out of the house was the right thing to do, it was hard for Fluttershy. I can understand why she felt bad doing it, having had to kick a friend out of my own home. The situation was very different: he was employed and even contributed a token sum to the rent. My friend had fallen into a very abusive, mutually-destructive relationship. When he finally realized he needed to break away, I offered my home as a place to stay. So when he gave up, returning to the relationship that was destroying his life, that generosity ended. I wanted to help him; I wasn’t going to be an enabler.
For the second time in as many Afterthoughts, I find myself referencing my place of employment. In the previous eight years, we have had over six new managers. Our latest manager is uncomfortably like Zephyr Breeze: she shrinks away from doing work, pawns off everything she can on innocent woodland creatures her employees, and indulges in a sense of persecution that absolves her of any responsibility for everything that is going wrong. (To be fair, the last is somewhat justified. The owners are extremely nasty and difficult to work for, to the point that we suffer from severe management turn-over.) Of course, this is not a situation where I can act on the moral of the episode. Trying tough love with your employer is never going to end well.
The final example is me. I don’t have the fear of failure that crippled Zephyr Breeze. (In contrast to him, I couldn’t wait to get out on my own.) But as I have grown older, I have developed a fear of change. Zephyr Breeze doesn’t try to succeed, and even sabotages himself, because he is afraid of failure. Me, I reject opportunities because I find change and uncertainty stressful. I do see parallels in myself.
Within the show, we can draw an interesting parallel between Zephyr Breeze and one of the other brothers we’ve seen: Big Macintosh. While the two may seem nothing alike, they are both facing the same struggle: they are both living in the shadow of their sisters’ accomplishments.
Big Macintosh handles it by buckling down and doing what he can, while silently bearing the weight of not being the one people look up to or cherish. There is a bitterness there, but one he recognizes as unbecoming – that he is ashamed of and keeps from ruling his actions. Still, in “Brotherhooves Social”, we have seen the desperation within spill out. Zephyr Breeze, alternatively, sees his sister as the epitome of success, and has allowed that perception to feed his own feelings of inadequacy to a self-destructive extent.
The writers were wise to end the episode with Zephyr proving he is growing into a better pony, but still has a long way to go and the potential to backslide. The problems he is struggling to overcome are long established habits and deeply rooted character flaws. Overcoming them isn’t something that happens in the course of an episode. It takes time and it take work. Usually, a somewhat daunting amount of both.
art by NCMares
In addition to such a progression for Fluttershy’s character, and the extremely pointed and recognizable character of Zephyr Breeze, this episode brought us a ton of delightful bits.
Perhaps the most fun part was the interplay between Zephyr and Rainbow Dash. This was an entirely one-sided infatuation that Zephyr tried to play off by projecting in the most obnoxious yet hilarious way. Rainbow Dash chose to handle Zephyr by passively not handling him, which really did her no favors. If she had been assertive, she could have shut him down. (On the other hoof, had she been assertive, any continued antics would have strayed into the uncomfortable realm of harassment, and that would not have been amusing at all.)
Fortunately for us, we instead got to see a character interplay that was both funny and fascinating. Rainbow Dash’s nap hypocrisy let us know that he got under her skin in the way only a frenemy can. Zephyr’s admitting he is “into this look” with Rarity’s rainbow-tailed cat betrayed his infatuation.
Possibly the funniest line in the whole episode was Mrs. Shy’s “Thank you, dear, for not giving up on Zephyr. After all these years of pining for him, it must be so satisfying to see him on the right track.” Even the Shys have bought tickets on the ship. Poor Rainbow.
Speaking of the Shys, this is a family who really loves family and self portraits, from Zephyr’s photobombing the family portrait to Fluttershy’s picture of herself in the studio. (What an expression, Fluttershy!) I thought it was a really nice touch that at his lowest, Zephyr had a picture of his big sister hanging on a tree.
I loved Mr. Shy’s cloud collection. The story behind it was so sweet. The collection itself was really cool, especially since they took the time to animate it when it was in the background. Zephyr’s treatment of his father’s collection was his worst character moment. I severely disliked him for that.
Other tidbits: Link pony! Rainbow Dash was reading the Daring Do book co-starring herself. Angel and the garden bunny were a cute touch. Genetics are not only canon, but something ponies reference casually. “Peeved” was hilarious, especially with how shocked Rainbow Dash was at Fluttershy’s outburst. I also really admired the design of the Shy house. Look at that up there!
art by dennyvixen
Easily my most favorite Fluttershy episode.
I never really found myself rooting for or booing Zephyr. I was rooting for his family. Fluttershy was her best this episode, which was really sweet, since it was for family.
Yea, I noticed that, Shy was had shown that she changed over the years and that this episode just encompass all the lessons learned in over the episode that she stared in.
LOVE that last pic of 'Shy. And i really like that episode. The pacing was very nice, jokes scatter through out, and a solid moral lesson.
Thanks for the review Kkat.
It was at that moment that I realized that Zepher needed to be brohoofed...
in the head...
repeatedly...
by Bulk Biceps...
with a folding steel chair...
dipped in flaming napalm.
Then again, there is always the Fallout solution: "Mini nukes for every annoying previously unknown brother! Yay!"
Wow this was fast.
Yeah this was a great ep. Don't know if I'd call best of the season.. Still gotta give that to A Hearth's Warming Tail. At least as far as being an episode I can watch over and over and over again and still get shills, and loads of feels from. But yes a great ep, and yes people upset over it likely are reading to much into it, or dealing with their own personal issues related to it.
Though on the whole it seems to have gone over good. And Zephyr is a lot more liked then I thought, in the "If I had to deal with him IRL I would punch his face in, but love watching others deal with him" type, which is very hard to pull off, so kudos there writers. But yes, Fluttershy stole this one by being so, utterly perfect. The perfect balance of firm, yet caring. Assertiveness and compassion. Just... yeah this is years of character growth all showing at once and making clear just how far she has come, and it was glorious.
Eh, that never really come off that way, he doesn't seem to really care what 'people' think, or that 'people' see AJ as a hero. (And no not using it as a "Ponies not People" deal). The only one he seemed concerned about having look up to him was Applebloom.
4001540
Me, too. Specifically, Big Boy. That gun is amazing. Two mini-nukes for the price of one? Yes, and yes!
4001540 I renamed my Fat Man, "Big Mac's Dick"
What lvl you at? I'm at 46 right now. (just recently got the game)
Question, does 3, 4, and NV take place around the same time? I was thinking of doing a PoE Fallout crossover at some point.
Wow, this was fast, the chapter must have left an impression. Agree with you. I'm a cold bastard toward my own family, but not because I don't like them or something like that. It's just that I am in the middle in the conflict, being the take care of my grand mother and my sister dissapairng often and leaving the job to take care of my mother, she lives with my mother and I with my grandmother... it's complicated. But anyway, I can't stand that kind of people, so I kind of hate Fluttlershy's brother.
Link has rupies, wiiiiiii
Zephyr did remind me a bit of myself. But even though I'm living with my parents I have a job. I just regret that job is not what I went to college to do so I feel like my life isn't going anywhere.
I flipped when I saw Link Pony!
And damn, you have a good eye for spotting that Daring Do cover. I just said "yep, Daring Do" and didn't look any closer.
That one image is broken, sadly.
I could tell this was going to be an interesting episode and I was hyped for it. What I was not expecting was how much of a cord this episode hit me with. I have a friend who can't seem to hold a job, always returning home even though he continues to say he will never return, and even the bit of an ego. I was suddenly looking back, and wondering if I should have been more assertive with him earlier. Its only just recently he seems to finally be on the right track. But my gosh, with how much reminiscence this episode has brought on, this is going to become my personal favorite of the season, just like Amending Fences from last season. This show never ceases to amaze me.
[ Kkat disliked that. ]
Same
I was cheering on for Fluttershy putting her hoof down. She was "cracking the whip" not only for her own livelihood but for her family as well. Kindness should not be taken for granted. Also that Link pony in the blink-and-you'll-miss it background was a great reference. T'was a good episode, and next comes Spice Up Your Life before the mid-season June 11th hiatus starts.
I can say from experience that the act of trying to give help to those who need it, but don't want it is a difficult task, especially if you can be uncertain if the help you give is the "right" kind of help.
It took me a while to learn that kindness is a gift not to be squandered, and just because you want to be helpful doesn't mean you need to be a doormat, especially when there are some that take advantage of your altruism.
Sometimes, the kindest thing you can do to help another, is to say "no".
Me and my roommate had the same thoughts on how to fix Zeph's 'problems': BOOT CAMP!
Nothing helps flatten individualism coated in failure like being dragged through the ringer of military training. I say we send him to a few weeks of the Royal Guard's Recruit Training, and then we give him some armor and a spear and ship him off to Yakyakistan for some peacekeeping duties. At the very least, it'll allow someone to shave off that mane-bun he has. That's the most important part of this plan.
Because War; War never changes.
Rainbow Dash was extremely uncomfortable with Zephyr, and though he never allowed her to actually say it, it doesn't make it any better that she was forced to endure that treatment. Yes, Rainbow Dash visited their house all the time, but it wasn't for Zephyr, it was for Fluttershy. The parents mistook her hanging around Fluttershy for "pining" for Zephyr, when it couldn't be farther from the truth. More FlutterDash fuel for the romance pyre.
i wonder what fluttershys job is, i don't so pose its taking care of Forrest creatures because their is no point
4003876 quite helpful. Thank you.
Sadly, it seems that New Vegas is not available for the Xbone
This episode was one I hated, not because it was bad but because I recognized myself so heavily in Zephyr...except the getting better part. Folks I know have even tried the "tough love" approach, and all I've done since is just panic and despair more, rather than improve.
4003876
That is quite fun to do. I hardly use Big Boy anymore, as I've finished this character off.
4004733 I hope so. Best way to learn about games you wanna write about is to play them lol.
That is what I'm doing with Destiny. Gonna place Flash Sentry in that world. The tentative name for the fic: Destiny of a Royal Guardian.
Huh, there's a lot of subtle stuff I missed when i first watched it...
Guess it's time to go again! (Like I need an excuse!)
4002372
What did that poor drill sargeant ever do to deserve Zeephyr!
4001823 really. "A Hearth's Warming Tail" the best episode of this season. it was a rather weak episode for me, "A Christmas Carol" has been retold over a million times. the worst part was that they really didn't do anything new and unique with it. at least the songs were good and we got a Snape pony
4017009 And the matters in the slightest why? Keep hearing people say this and yet not once has anyone actually given a reason for "It's been done before" mattering. So what? All that matters is this story in and of itself, and it was simply amazing at what it was doing.
4017127 i wouldn't exactly call "A Christmas Carol" an Amazing story, it's very short and simple, nothing mindblowing "holy shit! this is awesome" about it. for stories like that, "Lord of the Rings", "Berserk", "Avatar: The Last Airebender", "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann" and "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" fits more into the Amazing category
4018313 When did I say it was? I was talking about the episode.