Meme's Recap of Daring Don't · 4:55pm Dec 7th, 2013
WOW, this episode had a lot of plotholes.
Yeah, I’m sure that I’m not the only one that noticed that. But I’m not going to name mistake after mistake the writers made; that’s not what I came here for. Instead, I’m going to try to contain myself and break this episode down bit by bit.
Let’s do this.
First off, the writers got fangirling (or in our case, fanboying) down to a T. You can actually tell what’s going on in Rainbow Dash’s and Twilight’s heads. Thank god, since it’s actually a centric part of the episode.
In fact, I think the creators were inspired to write this episode by meeting all the eccentric bronies at cons. In fact, I think that we can all relate to Dash repeatedly counting the months and days until Season 4 the next Daring Do book comes out. It almost borders on creepy, and that's in more ways than one.
But enough generalizations, let’s get down to the actual premise of the episode. Here’s what I thought it was going to be.
*A.K. Yearling has become cynical over the years, and has shut down the production of Daring Do books. It’s up to Rainbow Dash’s wide-eyed idealism to bring a sense of adventure into the old mare.
OR
*A.K. Yearling needed the Mane Six to go into her latest book in order to help Daring Do win the day, and by the end of the day, the book is about Daring Do and her sidekick Rainbow Dash.
Here’s what the episode is actually about:
*HOLY FUCKING SHIT. A.K. YEARLING IS DARING DO. HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT WORRRK??
Okay, okay. Let’s just break this down rationally: Daring Do thinks that the ancient and powerful artifacts are too dangerous for to be put into a museum...
SHATTUP!
...so, she makes the public believe that all of her adventures are works of fiction.
BUUUUT…
Why would she make an effort to publish the books in the first place?? Does she want the money off of them? Does she want ponies to recognize her for her actions in some way? Besides, what’s stopping the villains just going out on Main Street and saying this:
Hey, I’m real. Yeah, you heard me. Cower in fear like ponies always do!
Oh wait, while you’re at it; Daring Do is real, too. Here’s her address. Come over and make her your waifu.
*deep breath.*
Okay, that last one was a little harsh. My bad. In fact, the bad guys might get arrested if they did that. (By the way, what exactly is stopping all of Daring’s fights and adventures from making the papers?)
So anyway, I’m going to take this opportunity to list a few things that liked the episode, despite all the plotholes:
*Pinkie’s silly hat party. (Applejack wins silliest hat.)
*Dat map-traveling sequence.
*The Mane Six standing in the window, watching Daring Do fight all on her own.
*Dash and Twilight bouncing off exposition; their conversation resembling a couple of bronies on a chat forum.
*Daring Do acting like Batman. (A grizzled old badass, claiming to work alone while NOT working alone.)
*The various ways ponies can carry a golden hoola-hoop.
*Ahuizotl wanting to take over Celestia’s job and wanting to bring (was it 50,000 years?) of eternal sunburn.
*The lesson of the episode. (Which I think is a good statement to the fandom’s content creators. You guys are just as awesome as the producers!)
But anyway, let’s just skip to the ending of the episode and say,
“HOW IN THE HELL DID REMOVING THE RING CRUMBLE THE WHOLE DAMN TEMPLE??”
Well, at least it's not surviving a nuke in a refrigerator.
In the end, I think it’s about time that you should know… I’m actually Dusk Shine! (Not really.)
I think that's the whole 'remote' part -- Equestria probably doesn't figure as a factor to most of her enemies. She's in a completely different cartoon, er, I mean, part of the world?
Dat typewriter.
You missed the biggest plot hole of all: Daring breaking the ring at the end. She couldn't have done that the moment she got her hooves on it? (Possibly not. Perhaps all the rings needed to be removed from the altar. But they never said that.)
1581190
So far away that "Mesoamerican" has supplanted "horse pun" as the local naming theme!
that entire episode was a huge indiana jones reference board
1581207 she broke the biggest ring not the one they were fighting over
I kind of hoped Daring knew something about the keys. It seemed like a good window of opportunity, but not much was done, in terms of the story arc around the chest. I'll have to settle with what I got.
1581263
Still, breaking the one from earlier in the episode would've worked just as well.
Also, if the rings are/appear to be solid gold, how the hell did that one shatter, instead of just dent?
Since most of the episode is basically a "we love/hate our fans/bronies" maybe they didn't care about the plot holes or bigger plot since some of the fantiction (and comics) is similar in that regard.
Kind of like a "here is our semi-official, semi-canon, fanfiction episode."
If I'm not mistaken, I think I saw a Batman figurine in Do's house. Seriously.
*Reads last line*
1581290
Wouldn't it be hilarious that once Rainbow reads the book she notices how bad of a portrail she is on the book?
Come on, that is Templing 101, removing the all important idol/central point/magic macguffin always cause the whole thing to fall apart.
1581689
It's simple: Ahuizotl is a load-bearing boss.
Wasn't Daring Do's leg supposed to be broken? She did put a splint on it prior to leaving her house.
Also I feel that this episode made The Sisters Doo much more likely to happen.
Also why didn't any of those ponies (Daring Do in particular) recognize PRINCESS Twilight? What an alicorn has to wear the crown jewels in order to be recognized as a princess? You'd think that Ahuizotl would be more cautious to attack Twilight since it could incur the wraith of Celestia/Royal Guard/Equestria/etc.
1581929
Ditto on the princess thing. Should've happened back when A.K. Yearling appeared onscreen.
Sadly, I don't think that this is the last we'll see of this plothole.
Yep, agree with the plotholes you listed.
Also, how exactly was Ahuizotl hoping to wrestle the control over the sun from Celestia? With that ring? I think that if such a thing existed, Celestia herself would have known about it and tried to secure it ages ago.
And if he succeeded, it would have been awesome to see Celestia actually swooping down to kick Ahuizotl's ass and get her sun back under her control.
Nah, only 800. Weaksauce!
But enough of that, let's talk about Dash's cloud mansion!
I'm just happy that Ahuizotl tried to be different by doing 800 years of 'evil' instead of the normal 1000 years
How did you see it?
Personally I loved the facial expressions. Highlight being this one.
i.imgur.com/T5WFzky.png
1582743
Yeah, right.
pbs.twimg.com/media/Ba6Aa0lCMAA6ewz.png:large
1581190>>1581195>>1581207>>1581221>>1581263>>1581266>>1581298>>1581304>>1581459>>1581517>>1581548>>1581689>>1581865>>1581929>>1582112>>1582118>>1582143>>1582355>>1582743
Hey, does anyone get the title "Daring Don't?" Like, it is it there a meaning behind it? All I can figure out is that Daring kept isisting "Don't help me!" (paraphrasing, of course.)
1582866
I think it's just a matter of being the opposite of "Daring Do." Though there may be a hint not doing what Donny Don't does...
It's not like many episode titles have any great, deep meaning.
1582884
The funny thing is that isn't the first time I've heard the phrase "Daring Don't."
i.imgur.com/MFkEl.jpg
(source)
1582743 Oh god that face made me burst out laughing.
1582743
Not too crazy about that pose. It reminds me of another character that I'm not particularly fond of.
animationsource.org/sites_content/lady_the_tramp/img_site/vlcsnap-2010-07-28-17h17m43s115.jpg
1582844
I. Seriously knew that was comming.
I don't think you understand what a plot hole is.
Plot Hole - a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot, sometimes even contradicting itself.
There actually weren't any plot holes in this episode, only bad (not even actually bad) writing that leads to questioning among the viewer. How does Daring Doo's antics not get into the papers? Well, they DO happen in remote locations around the world. Do you now everything that's happening in the Amazon or Middle East right now? How Daring Doo herself is possibly able to stay out of the papers by following Bruce Wayne logic combined with the the above explanation; Daring Doo is always away from other ponies (she never trusts anyone, not even with her identity) and no one even suspects the author of being the hero (Bruce Wayne/J.K. Yearling isnt Batman/Daring Doo, are you crazy?)
The only real question that can't really be answered is why the mass population doesnt know of the existence of Ahuizotl, a obvious terrorist/dictator/conqueror. I mean, the guy tried to create "800 years of endless heat" and was apparently even the leader of some great nation at one point. That's like someone, in this day of age, not knowing who Hitler or Osama Bin Laden is.
In conclusion, there weren't any plot holes, just new questions.
1582866 You got me, good sir
Personally, I thought it was just an attempt at a funny title
I wonder if we'll see more of her, what with the mystery box and the keys involved...
derpicdn.net/img/2013/12/5/490285/tall.png
1582866
I thought that was it as well. And maybe a mix of what Fan said.
i thought the say thing dude. there is no way that removing all of those rings should equal the destruction of a temple, let alone why the pedestal suddenly turned into sand before the temple killed itself.
Hehe... RD got derpy eyes...
1582866
Right, because that answers my question.
1581207>>1581298
I'd say the temple originally had a different purpose (maybe connected to how originally unicorns raised the sun and moon) and knowing that the magic on the temple and rings could be subverted or copied they enchanted them so that they had a simple kill switch for the temple (removing the rings) but made sure it couldn't be stopped by one dissedent (make the rings to heavy for a pegasi to carry alone, no matter how much individual wingpower they had, and made removing the bottom ring a prerequisite for destroying the other rings and it.)
Scattering the rings instead of having them initially be destroyed could have originally been a safety measure to prevent an invading force from gaining the rings, while still leaving them available and intact for use by the civilization.
That being said, I realize that the authors likely didn't even consider those reasons,but isn't making up conspiracy theories one of the best parts of fanfiction?
1583986
Yes. Yes it is.
>“HOW IN THE HELL DID REMOVING THE RING CRUMBLE THE WHOLE DAMN TEMPLE??”
paperspencils.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1311763417814.jpg
I will never forgive the stupidity of the characters in this episode, I mean, the plotholes bothered me a tad, all combined making me not care much for the 'plot', but the incompetence was the final nail that put this episode in my least favorite pony episodes.
She obviously sells the books so she can make the bits to buy gold rings off of strangers in the middle of a forest.
If you were Dusk Shine, I'd be willing to bet there'd be a lot of people willing to "help" you with your problem
1582112 Unless she works on behalf of Celestia much like Indy does for the US government some of the time. An unofficial, self-reliant agent like Daring would be useful to her, as her duties as the Sovereign keep her pinned to Canterlot almost indefinately and sending in the troops would seem a smidge imperialistic.
1582743
That face is the best face to end all faces.