Thoughts on the Antagonists: Prince Blueblood · 7:00am Oct 23rd, 2012
Well, I’m bored and frustrated with BUB, so here’s some other crap I pulled out of absolutely nowhere. Let’s take a look at Prince Blueblood.
…What? At least it’s relevant, unlike Trixie.
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Prince Blueblood was introduced to us all the way back in the third episode, although he wasn’t given a name until the season finale. He was the object of Rarity’s dreams, the pony she couldn’t help but wish to meet and marry like something out of a discount fairy tale. When she finally met him at the Gala, however, she soon learned that her “Prince Charming” was little more than a blowhard with an ego capable of swallowing whole countries. Despite this rather large setback, she kept trying to put up with him, but when he used her as a shield after the Gala started going to Tartarus, she finally could take no more and viciously chewed him out.
And then Season 2…relegated him to a brief background appearance, where he stood alongside Rarity while she was christening an airship in “Sweet and Elite.” Given his popularity, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Season 3 appearance.
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As a character in and of itself, Blueblood is probably the most basic, flat antagonist ever used on the show. Because he had to share the episode’s running time with several other subplots, there was never any time to actually build him as a character, nor was there even a desire. His entire purpose for existing is to serve as a plot device to ruin Rarity’s best night ever. As such, he behaves like a complete flankhole the entire night. Among his crimes are ripping Rarity’s dress to cover a spill, forcing her to open the door, making her pay for food (and then spitting it out when he realizes it’s of peasant origins), and most infamously, using her as a pony shield so that he wouldn’t get cake on him. Much like with the other “jerk” antagonists, we were never meant to like or sympathize with Blueblood; we just had to learn to not act like him.
Blueblood is interesting, though, in just how much he’s absolutely reviled amongst the fans. Just to put it into perspective, this is a fandom where every antagonist, regardless of how outright evil they may be during the episode, will get entire series dedicated to how they were just misguided and needed a hug or something. Not Blueblood. Perhaps it was because he was a jerk to Rarity. Perhaps it was because he was in the last episode before the first drought and thus stuck in our memories better. But for whatever reason, he quickly became the most outright hated character in the entire series, a position he holds to this day.
Generally, Blueblood is most often used as a general antagonist, albeit often an incompetent one. Very rarely is he the final villain of a piece, and when he is used that way, he’s usually dealt with very quickly after losing all his minions. More charitable stories will play him up as a political manipulator, using his vast network of connections and wealth to bring down his enemies. More comical stories will just work with his snobby demeanor and make him out to be a shallow idiot whose only claim to fame is looking pretty. No matter what, though, these tales will only rarely end with Blueblood even being offered redemption, and if he is, it will usually result in a great deal of pain and suffering.
There are, however, also some redemption stories. Generally, a Blueblood redemption fic requires one to address his monstrous ego and sense of entitlement, usually through several gracious servings of humble pie. For example, the very best Blueblood redemption story, “The Best Night Ever,” utilized the plot of Groundhog Day, thus giving him the eternity needed to change and be a better pony. Others will have him try to win over Rarity again, only to learn from Ponyville just what he needs to be a better stallion. What truly makes redeeming Blueblood different from, say, Trixie or Chrysalis, however, is that he is almost never given any sort of sympathetic or tragic backstory. He’s just a natural jerk through and through, while all those other characters are just tragic woobies who need the power of friendship. And to be honest…it kind of stinks of a double standard at times. Heck, a significant subplot of the second season of “The Vinyl Scratch Tapes” was devoted to exploring how the main character could get away with being a sociopath simply because she was the main character, while the rest of Equestria wants Blueblood dead and are quick to remind him of it every waking moment of the day.
Two other aspects of Blueblood’s character are the nature of his title and his relationship with Celestia. Originally, Blueblood was meant to be a Duke (which would have eliminated the problem right then and there), but the Hasbro executives were afraid kids wouldn’t get what a Duke was since the title very rarely appears in juvenile fiction. As such, he was suddenly promoted to Prince, which is a bit of a problem when you have a country ruled by two Princesses. If his title ever comes up, he’ll either be portrayed as simply being a typical lazy noble, or he’ll lament that his position really doesn’t matter that much compared to his Aunt Celestia.
And that leads us to the big question: just how is Blueblood related to Celestia and Luna? Lauren Faust’s explanation is that he’s related through their mother’s side, but so far we’ve had no definite proof either way. Some say that Blueblood is somehow a descendant of Luna, while others speculate about a third sister. Still others talk about his “blood relation” being a total sham, or that he’s adopted. No matter what, though, Celestia is almost always shown as being very disappointed in how her nephew turned out, sometimes to the point of disowning him entirely.
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When it comes to shipping, one of the obvious choices for Blueblood is Rarity. Despite the disaster at the Gala, some fans figure that Blueblood just needed to learn what love truly is so he could win the mare of his dreams. Naturally, this is used as the endpoint for a redemption fic, since Blueblood has to change in order for the relationship to work. Rarity herself also wavers between being a pure saint to being just as bad as Blueblood, only in different ways.
Another popular pairing is the Prince with Trixie. After all, both are egotistical, self-centered, and utterly humiliated by the Mane 6, so they should be a perfect pair, right? Actually, this one makes less sense to me than even Blueblood and Rarity. Have you ever put two people with colossally big egos in the same room together? It doesn’t last long.
Beyond that, Blueblood rarely has any sort of positive relationship, although there was a brief spurt of fics having him interact with Big Macintosh in some way.
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Overall, does Prince Blueblood deserve the hate he gets? I’m honestly a bit torn. He’s a jerk, sure, but the way the fandom treats him you’d think he garroted Santa Claus in front of a kindergarten classroom or something. He’s still the fandom’s most acceptable target, and I think that’s where he’ll stay, but a few more fics with a more nuanced view on him would still be nice. After all, if hundreds of stories can make Discord, a God of Chaos who enjoys mind raping ponies and screwing with reality for his own sick amusement, into a tragic monster who just wanted Celestia to love him, then why should Blueblood be treated any differently?
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Well, this will go over well…
I can tell you how my fic's gonna be portraying Blueblood VERY differently. First off, not only is he not an incompetent buffoon, he is actually a bona fide badass. His social appearance of being a witless Rich Jerkass With No Day Job is simply a veneer, a facade, to keep public attention off his true self. Amongst the noble courts, he is immaculately mannered, cool as ice, and completely unflappable with a complete dedication to the upholding of the laws of Equestria.
Not only that, he serves as one of THE captains of the Royal Guard (of which he and Shining Armor are two captains out of thirteen), commanding an entire division by himself, and was the one who contested Shining Armor's entry into the Royal Guard's ranks of captains, duelling Twilight's elder brother in an evaluation test and fighting him to a standstill.
And best of all, his bankai is Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.
Yes, my take on Blueblood is based on Byakuya Kuchiki. Umadbro?
Yiu know, BB redemption fics are some of my favorite fics to read (although since im following u, u probably could have guessed). I think its precisely because he usually doesnt get a sob backstory. This makes his actions wholely his fault and makes his transformation, while not completely changing who he is, all that more interesting. As a villian i dont find him all that threatening, but as representative of our own selfish and rude (intentionally or unintentional) tendencies, i think thats when his character truelly shines.
Well, I somewhat like this guy. Yes, he is snobish and all, but he don't looks stupid, more like self-centered. That don't make him villian, more like... some persons I know personaly.
About fanfics part. I would disagree with "Blueblood is most often used as a general antagonist". Almost all fanfics I read so far was kinda nice to him: "The Best Night Ever" You mention, "Flight of the Alicorn" (best Blueblood IMO), "Platinum Crown", "The Strange Destiny of Prince Blueblood" (it's not very good, but still), "The Prince and the Workhorse" and "To Be a Better Stallion". Maybe I was just lucky. :)
PS Almost forgot "Substitute Harmony" - interesting role for Blueblood.
I ran into a comment on Deviantart the other day, when Dash Academy updated. Someone had concluded he was a cold blooded sociopath, due to a mistaken belief that Blueblood referred to cold blood. This was an honest mistake on this person's part, and was corrected, but it shows how people will assume the absolute worst about him (*cough* like burning down a village *cough*), despite his only real crime being bad manners.
There is also a fic floating around, I can't remember the title, but it involves an airship and deliberately cracky pairings, that has a Blueblood (paired with Fluttershy of all ponies, but that is kinda the point.) that is more or less quite pleasant. He helps Fluttershy by preventing her from being swindled, and the go scuba diving (this being his passion, and exploring in general.) Interestingly, he explains his unpleasant behavior at the gala as him being fed up with ponies trying to court him for his status, and not actually getting to know [i[him. Which makes it only the second story I have read that addresses Rarity's behavior there, though not in a direct way.
I can see where people get the woobie angle for Trixie, and Gilda for that manner, when it happens, but not Chrysalis. When all is said and done, she was pretty nasty. I maintain she was deliberately trying to goad Twilight into killing Cadance. So why DOES she get sympathy before even Blueblood. Must be her character design.
Holy crap, you're right....
Blublood's just a douche, not actually evil!
However, again it's got a bit to do with ability to grow. We didn't have much of a charachter beyond: jerk, so as a result, we don't have anything good to go with. Trixie, on the other hand is more of a: she wasn't jerk through and through, and Chrysalis is portrayed as someone who takes her responibilities very seriously, yet behaves like an evil Celestia.
I've read a few pretty good Blueblood stories, but you're right in that just about all of them start out with him being a total jackass. Unlike other antagonists who just get "aw sad backstory boohoo", he actually has to earn his redemption.
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Eros Dreaming, by Capn Chryssalid, same guy who wrote the aforementioned "The Best Night Ever."
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YES, that was it.
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Chrysalis' main reason for the attack was to feed her changelings (although one fic pointed out the logical flaw of such a plan, ie, how much love can you get from a conquered people.) But she took very obvious enjoyment out of being straight up vicious. So did Discord.
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Which is kinda what I was saying... bah, never mind.
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You can always count on me to uselessly elaborate on someone else's point.
That and winding up with my foot in my mouth.
You're not wrong about Blueblood getting the short end of the stick, which does indeed seem odd for a fandom obsessed with redemtifying all the other villains (Chrysalis had her fist such fic like what, 12 hours after the wedding premiered). Personally I choose to take it as proof that Rarity is BESTEST BEST PONY EVER!!!
Plunge all of Equestria into eternal chaos or lead an invasion of shapeshifting emotivores, yeah those are ~forgivable~ crimes, but screw with Rarity personally and be damned to pony-hell for all time. Okay, sure Discord did mind rape Rarity and Trixie messed with her mane, but both were temporary, what Blueblood did was irrevocably crush her dreams.
...
Anyway, more seriously, Blueblood pretty much represents the generic self-entitled rich snob, a stereotypical social class that people are pretty inclined to resenting even on the best of days. He's also a complete and total uncharismatic bore. Trixie is a jerk, and Chrysalis and especially Discord are pure monsters, but all of them had the one thing Blueblood lacks, style and panache. We might not approve of what they do but we still love watching them do it. This is why they can all get the DracoIn Leather Pants treatment, while Blueblood is seemingly forever relegated to always being the Butt Monkey.
Well it's always possible that Equestria only has a singular title for designating members of royalty, making Prince/Princess equivalent to the more generic Lord/Lady.
However, there is a specific variant of the princess rank that can be just as high as King/Queen (Princess Consort). So my head canon is that Celestia married into the royal family, but of course being immortal, she long out lived her husband the former King. Blueblood's relationship to her is that he's a descendant of one of that ancient King's brothers/sisters/cousins, thus she techninclay would be his aunt after a fashion, just with more 'greats' and possibly a few 'removeds' than would be worth counting
442387 Discord wasn't outright vicious. Malevolent, yes... God yes. But if he wanted to he could have popped off some pony's head and used it for a soccer ball. He could have gotten rid of a pony's skin and let their organs plop out of their bodies... Should I go on? He preferred to play with ponies minds. If they weren't strong enough to endure it, oh well there's always more. I will agree with the Chrysalis assessment. She wasn't just doing it for the loves, then again maybe she just likes playing with her food... Nah she's a spiteful one.
My assessment of Discord's thought process? "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye, then it's hilarious!"
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And B. He prefers his torture to be primarily mental, not physical. And mental torture can be just as vicious, if not more so than physical torture. DIscord is the most straight up evil bastard in MLP: FiM canon. and I have no doubt he would do exactly as you describe if he thought it would be funny.
I got the impression that: A. He was just getting warmed up. He wanted the only thing that could defeat him completely removed as a threat before he got to the not safe for woona bits. The screams of agony during Celestia's description of his reign supports this.
Wasn't this blog about Blueblood?
442485 I don't have much to say on Blueblood... Besides IAH established my headcanon for BB
Also Discord is by far the most interesting baddy to discuss.
IAH I hereby request your next blog post be on Discord
One thing that hasn't been brought up in the discussion, and one that I think has quite a bit of relevance, is that Blueblood is male. Most of the villains fall on the female side (Discord and Flim and Flam being exceptions). Why is this important? Because female characters are cute, even Chrysalis. A fandom will bend over backwards to redeem a cute female character, no matter how despicable they have been portrayed.
A perfect example of this from another fandom is Nabiki Tendo from Ranma 1/2. This character is bad news straight to the bone, and the creator outright depicts Nabiki as a devil at some points. What does the fandom do? Give her a tragic but noble backstory, outright cleansing her of any wrongdoing. Once that's taken care of, pairings ahoy!
Fanfiction authors love to ship and cute female ponies smooching each other make it even cuter. The males? Buck 'em! They ain't cute!
That's my contribution to the discussion. Looking forward to more of your thoughts!
Blueblood is actually one of my favorite characters, in the fanon at least, largely because of the already mentioned stories (Flight of the Alicorn being my favorite pony-fic to date, and I have read a lot of them to compare against).
My headcanon for Blueblood at the moment has him having come to some sort of understanding with Rarity based on their brief appearances together in Sweet and Elite. Hell, if I had to guess, I'd bet Pinkie has been responsible for covering Rarity in cake much more often than Blueblood ever has.
I would agree with the guess that he probably won't get many more show appearances, especially now that we have a few other prominent Canterlot stallions in the picture to work with, namely Fancypants and Shining Armor. This has probably already started considering that he didn't even get a cameo in the Royal Wedding episodes, which is a little odd if he really is a Prince.
I agree with you i mean if she treated NMM and Discord different then what about BlueBlood
Does Blueblood deserve the hate he gets? Not really, he's a jackass for sure in canon but an antagonist and villain? Nope there are character far more villainous than he, which unfortunately are always seem to be redeemed by fans while the heroes are vilified. *takes a breath before going on a pro-Celestia rant*
How I characterize Blueblood is that yes he is a twit in regards to his personal life but professionally he is damn good at his job as Inspector-General for the Equestrian Government. Privately it's also a different story, he is a much a proper gentlestallion as Fancy Pants is. The only ones to have seen how he really is are his aunts, members of Celestia's Cabinet, family, and members of the Inspectorate.
As for his connection to the Princesses? Simple, Blueblood is descendent of the line of Platinum and to the last Queen of the Unicorns (Platinum's mother). Celestia and Luna are descendent of Platinum's disenfranchised older brother Rhodium who left the family when he married an Earth Pony.
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Even if they are portrayed as egotistical and willing to A) Destroy the ecological balance of the world (Nightmare Moon) or B) Enslave all of Equestria (Chrysalis)?
And in addition to Ranma 1/2, don't forget Akane who is bastardized even more that Celestia is here.
Oh ye of noble blood, I beseech thee, shed thy jackass facade, be the bigger stallion in turning away prestige-seeking gold-diggers as Rarity was for that night. Doth not use that mare as a sheild for a cake or be disgusted by the wonder that is the apple fritter. You doth have fans of your lack of character, whom choose to look from all angles instead of being offended by the wronging toward the bearer of Generosity who doth not exactly reflect said Element. Be strong, ye fair and prissy Prince of Noble Blood.
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And a lovely headcanon it is, Paladin.
I heard he just acted that way so he didn't get a mare that only wanted his money and good looks, in order to shove her away.
Blueblood Returns
Blueblood's Redemption
The Blueblood Conspiracy
A series of three fics that explore Blueblood, his personality, his backstory, and even makes a well-written ship with Trixie, with a Sherlock Holmes/Batman trollfic thrown into the mix of the last story for good measure. Really great imo.
442387 I came up with a perfect answer to that question. While those who revealed themselves sure won't get any love, fear is a motivator to be with those you care about, or at least ponies that look like those you care about. Sure you might suspect, but if it seems like all the changelings are out in the open you might not, also there is desperation to consider. In my headcannon everything, or near enough, went according to plan. Yes, even the love powered spell, though maybe it had a little more kick to it then planned. Overall my take on Chrysalis is she and the changelings are dangerous and selfish, but unlike Discord and nightmare moon, reasonable. If they're on your side and you can keep them that way even useful.
As to Blueblood, I just have him as really out of touch, but smart and capable. He just literally doesn't understand peasant thinking. Including why calling it peasant thinking is a bad idea.
Why he gets it so much worse is because we trust Dash. There is some reason she was loyal to Gilda, so she has to have a redeeming feature. As has already been said if Discord was willing to kill he would have. Nightmare Moon is just Luna calling herself a different name because of mental ilness so obviously she's redeemable. Flim Flam brothers didn't technically do anything illegal, and were pleasant enough in general. Trixe's ego is bad, but really much worse than Dash. Blueblood we saw not a single redeeming feature or hint he actually has any. That's why it's so much easier to revile him, because there isn't even a hint he can be anything else.
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For Gilda, there is the very real possibility RD was Gilda's ONLY friend in flight camp. As for Trixie, that kind of ego is often a front for strong personal insecurities. (just look at RD in Sonic Rainboom and Mare Do Well. Or at least Sonic Rainboom.) Flim and Flam got a villian song, and a really catchy one at that, and they were pretty affable in general. (Sadly, with those two, if they had just been more reasonable, both them and the Apples would have walked away rich, and the town soaked cider.) Iron Will can barely be called an antagonist. And he has that totally rad little basket. Blueblood was a harmless ponce-
And I just had a thought. What makes Blueblood different from other antagonists? He is not just an asshole (flankhole is a pet peeve of mine, I hate that term.), he is a RICH asshole. During an economic slump. That HAS to account for some of the hate.
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Lol wut...
Trixie barely qualifies as an antagonist, had a genuinely good scene with fighting the Ursa and was just trying to put on a show. By all appearances Gilda had a deep friendship with Dash and Pinkie was being annoying, which makes the scene in the market almost seem like an ass pull. The FlimFlam Brothers... had a workable machine.
Blueblood has none of this. He's a flat jerk and that's about it.
I see
I'm gonna say it now. I wish this guy returns for an episode. Hell maybe even a two parter. But not to redeem (due to visible lack of evilness), but to expand. We have plenty of jerkass comedic characters in media (like Looney tunes and American Dad), why waste a perfectly good candidate for the role. Given the right lines and a visible morality, this guy can be one of the funniest characters on the show. Comedic sociopathy required. Hell, being vitrolic best buds with somepony like Shining would also be funny. Or make a Pony A-Team (Along with Cranky, Big Mac, and Soarin). And what about his profession. He's got a compass on his butt, that's gotta be something. C'mon production/writers, give the underdog a chance to shine. Then you will get my fullest respect.
Old blog, I know, but... well, best place for this comment, I think, so sorry... Really.
I dunno why, but... well... Blueblood and Gilda are two of my fave characters in MLP: FiM...
... Wait, scratch that, I do know why. Fanon... or rather, how a character can be interpretted in Fanon. Canon sparked the interest, but... well... it just sparked it, not provide the fuel. Blueblood, on-screen, has been shown as vain and self-centered, without any positive traits to balance him out... unlike Rarity, whom can be vain and self-centered, but has more often than not shown her caring, generous side. However, if one overthinks his cameo in "Sweet and Elite" like I did, it does show that he's likely used to being around ponies as snobbish, if not worse, than he is, and thus... his environment can be blamed. He could be a fellow with hidden depths or a case of 'see and get'. That's probably my main reason for liking him. It's not that he can be molded to fit a plot, but he can be interpreted.
For example, in "Exit Through Canterlot", somepony I shall not reveal the name of -not a spoiler, but still- defaces public settings in outrage of what happened at the Gala... and Blueblood publically and privately, is the same jackass we know, whilst the public looks to it as 'art'...
... but... in his attitude, still keeping in character, to a degree, he values the city's own honor in that fanfic. He's self-centered, but he still cherishes his home.
... but enough about Blueblood, now that I've done the stupid thing and crossed into looking into fanfics. Let's talk about Gilda... hoping to see that review of her eventually, but I'm guessing -just guessing- you feel her situation with fandom is similar to Blueblood moreso than Trixie. Usually a villain, and not all that often 'redeemed' or expanded upon... to my knowledge. To err is human.
Gilda is... less open to interpretation. She's an all-around jerk, with her big establishing character moment scaring Granny Smith... and then roaring at Fluttershy. But I'm one of those idiots whom likes to interpret a deeper character from nothing -or alas go off the deep-end and talk too much about said character doing something grossly out of character when I'm reading it out of context- so... while her actions are far from justifiable, one could see where she's coming from. She's come to visit a friend, and one pony from this town keeps butting in, at least, that's how she may see it. Pinkie... doesn't exactly leave good first impressions. Gasping at Twilight, making Cranky's first day in Ponyville miserable, etc.
Again, the character has been left open to interpretation. Does she have some redeeming characteristics under a heart of stone and icy glare, or is she just another jerk? Who knows, if DISCORD of all beings gets redeemed, anything is possible. The chaos is overwhelming!
I'm also supporter of a crack pairing that my right mind says would NEVER happen. Gildashy.
Too ridiculous, I know... I know.
Also, I do not mind Alicorn!Twilight one bit. Just putting that out there.
... Darn, that was too long. Sorry.