Sympathy for the Devils · 10:31am Apr 11th, 2014
FIM has no shortage of villain and antagonist characters. From Nightmare Moon to Trixie and beyond, the show has done an amazing job of presenting these as characters with there own motivation and drives. Trixie and Gilda both came off as real, believable characters, later joined by Iron Will, Suri, the Flim Flam brothers and Lightning Dust.
With Trixie, I have no problems believing she is an arrogant performer, the climax of Boast Busters shows her backed into a corner, but she tries dammit! Even in her return we see she still is struggling with her own ego. Gilda earned my sympathy from the very beginning of Griffin the Brush Off, I know the struggle of trying to get along with your friends new circle, even if she was a bitch I sympathized with her plight.
I have the seed of a story idea featuring the Flim Flam brothers, or more properly Flim, with Flam is a background supporting role, but Leap of Faith has damaged my previous view of the brothers as well meaning inventors with questionable sales tactics. I want to present Flim in a realistic light, taking into account what we know of him from the show, but I have fallen in love with the idea that the brothers are misunderstood geniuses, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezey actually worked, it was only undermined by the brothers going for quantity over quality.
But Leap of Faith presents a problem. Tbe elixir is a clear scam, reflecting the various wonder cures that charlatans tried to pass off around the turn of the century. The flip side is that it contains neither alcohol or opiates, a hallmark of these types of scams. Is it reasonable to assume one of the brothers invented it as a sort of vitamin drink, but over enthusiastic marketing lead them to sell it as a miracle cure all? Is their behavior forgivable? I firmly hold that they are in fact geniuses, but how far should an apology fic go? How malicious where they?
For the purposes of this fic, they where born to earth pony parents, and Flam (The mustachiod older brother) fell in love with a girl and settled down to live the quiet life of a tinker, his younger twin leaves trying to make a life for himself as a teacher.
Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but is there a way to present the brothers as sympathetic characters?
IMO the Flim Flam Brothers are both true inventive geniuses and con artists. The combination is not entirely unknown in Human history. To achieve true greatness, they will have to learn how to market their inventions more honestly, as the pattern in show seems to be that they drive away their customers by overselling their products.
2000510
That actually does help, thanks.
I actually whole-heartedly agree with you on the Brothers. But, I always saw Flam as being the true good guy of the two. Especially considering Flim was the only one threatening the Apples back in Season 2.
2215449
Mostly I prefer Flim's design. I think that their over zealous tactics were mutual.
2215466 My headcanon is that Flam is the creator of their inventions; the main, important part, hence his cutie mark, and Flim is the small slice, the part that finishes his brother's beginning.
2215497
Fair enough, my own headcannon is that Flam is the engineer, Flim is the chemist. Together they are brilliant inventors.
You know, I really need to start this story.
Stormy, I think your story idea is a really good one! What's more, your headcannon makes a great deal of sense and would be fun to play around with in a story.
Like you, my view of the brothers got considerably dimmer in Leap of Faith. That said, I agree with Jordan179 - that "Flim Flam Brothers are both true inventive geniuses and con artists. The combination is not entirely unknown in Human history. To achieve true greatness, they will have to learn how to market their inventions more honestly..."
I'd add one more item to the mix, perhaps something you can play with in your story: that the brothers are also undone by their misunderstanding of business and their inability to 'read the fine print'.
Of course, the point of the Super Speedy ep was that whiz-bang sales tactics and gimmicks don't trump quality and pride in one's work. Yet I always got the feeling that the brothers folded a little too easily and failed to abide by their own verbal contract - because they actually *won* the contest against the Apple Family!
Remember, the term specified by Flim was: 'Whoever produces the most barrels in one hour wins the exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville.' Mayor Mare reinforced this when she says: 'The teams have one hour to produce as much cider as they can, after which the barrels will be counted and the winner will be named the sole cider provider for all of Ponyville!'
Nowhere in there does it say that the cider has to be drinkable!
Yes, it's true that the stuff they served had rocks and twigs in it, turning off the customers - but recall, they still had several barrels of perfectly good cider they made before they switched off the quality control. That's the stuff they should have opened up for sale.
In any case, it would be fun to see your story idea come to life, perhaps turning on that little contract clause that - in this case - allows them to win, instead of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
- Sparks
2276377
I don't want to rewrite history, AU's are fun, but I want to follow the thread, see where their life choices land them.
Short synopsis, Ten years after Leap of Faith, the brothers have lost everything, even the Super Speedy Cider Squeezey, due to their lack of business savvy. Flam gets domestic, Flim moves on to teach Techno-mancy at Manehatten University, and Apple Bloom is in his class. It's a simple enough of a story, I just need to put the pieces together.