Thoughts On Fluttershy · 3:27pm Oct 22nd, 2016
So, I was watching a video recently:
The producer in question made some excellent points about Fluttershy's skill sets, how she has earthpony-like abilities (talking to animals) magical abilities (The stare, which is a form of domination) and pegasi abilities. He opined that the best example of her talent there was when she is in Flutterbat form.
But Fluttershy has been exhibiting very unusual performance for a pegasus for far longer than she was a meme. She says she's weak and helpless (I think any of my readers of Green know how I feel about that) but even in canon she shows far more ability than she would have us believe, but only at times of need, or other very special circumstances.
Dash has said in Top Bolt that "Flying is, like, 30% skill and 70% confidence" Now many of you might be saying "Well, I guess it's the physical part that screws her over." but Fluttershy, despite not showing it often, is very much in shape. This girl was only winded by running alongside Dash for however many miles it took to catch up with AJ, she can bodyslam a bear, so that's not the problem.
The problem is, of course, bad writing, but her in-character problem is a lack of any self-confidence. Even when falling to her death, she can't seem to have any real faith in herself. Dash has tried several times to motivate her, but the problem is that you can't really instill confidence with mere words (if you could, Scoots would be flying all over the place). Even somepony as full of it as Dash (meant both ways) can have a crisis of confidence and ruin their own performance as a result.
What Fluttershy does have is a well of inner strength that she draws on, but it's not something that just kicks off at anything. She won't use it to protect herself, though she has been seen to draw on it whenever anypony she cares about is in mortal danger (dragonshy, secret of my excess), or when there is literally nopony else that can save the day (hurricane fluttershy). During those times, something very much like confidence fills her. In that respect, she has similar motivations to that of Rainbow's; if you really, really need her, she can and does perform.
She can also do great feats when doing something she truly loves. Watch her fly sometime in any episode with her singing or being with her animals. She soars with no effort. It's only when she starts thinking about it that her horrible self-doubts cripple her again.
Those are my thoughts on the matter. I'd love to hear yours.
Yeah, no, that sounds about right. I mean, that's pretty much what the entirety of Buckball Season was about.
I entirely concur. Fluttershy is an interesting character, and frankly, with all of her abilities, it's really only her crippling social anxiety that stops her from being a Mary Sue. But being able to have watch her steadily grow and gain confidence as the series progressed has been wonderful.
All in all, she's a fairly rounded character and one of my personal top two of the main 6.