Which is funnier, good or evil? (review of Scootertrix the Abridged) · 2:53pm Dec 8th, 2018

The newest episode of Scootertrix the Abridged is just brilliant, and I wish I could talk with someone about its narrative. But I don't know any friends who even watch it!

I seriously think it's one of the most interesting storytelling works to come out of the fandom. I mean we have a mountain of fanfics right here, and there's also hundreds of pony comics/blogs, but in the realm of fan animation/video there's hardly anything focusing on strong writing.

Except maybe Rainbow Dash Presents. Which of course is another parody series, rather than trying to be "original", hrmm.

And similar to RDP, Scootertrix manages to have a lot of heart while still being very funny. Like in Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla where Dash is extremely upset about her job in the rainbow factory and tries to weasel out of doing it in every way possible. Whether you like or dislike the horror fic it's based on, her reaction is relatable and funny at the same time.

Scootertrix does something like that. It's an abridged parody series with great comedy timing and editing, but at the same time it develops a bizarrely serious story arc. It's also weirdly self-aware, and this is one of very few times where I think "meta" is done for great effect, rather than to show off. (I like meta but I'm way too hard to please)

Analysing humor is boring, and spoiling humor is even worse, so.... just watch it? (whole playlist here) It starts off kinda rough, but give it a chance.

(still no spoilers here)

Instead of analysing the humor, I wanted to figure out something about the story. How does it manage to turn a comedy into something dramatic, while making both still work? It's something really easy to mess up by making it awkward and dissonant, (like Loss.jpg...)

Like Jackie Chan combining comedy and action into a unified style, how do you create drama is also funny? Without feeling like two different styles glued together?

In just about every abridged series I've seen, MLP and Anime, the characters are exaggerated caricatures, based on how the fans jokingly view them. They become crazy sociopaths who bounce off each other. If the original story calls for character growth and lessons, the parody version will set that up so it can pull out the rug from under it.

At the time of writing this, the latest episode of Team Four Star's FF7: Machinabridged did just that, with these selfish characters having a tearful heart-to-heart moment and bonding like a big family, even though they're mostly mean to each other all the time. Of course it's not convincing, it's meant to be ironic. I do like that series a lot, I'm just laying this out as a common pattern. Often, character growth is the joke itself, because you know they didn't actually learn anything.

The comedic sociopath tradition kinda goes back to court jesters, though lately it seems common to make every single character the sociopath. Like how everyone on Arrested Development is selfish and terrible, except for the one straight-man trying to hold everything together.

Or how about Family Guy, where maybe one character (Brian the dog) is reasonable, while everyone else is crazy and hates each other. The episodes focus mostly on gags. And compare that to American Dad, where only one character (Roger the alien) is a sociopath causing trouble. The rest of the family is dysfunctional and flawed, yet handled sympathetically. The episodes focus on lessons and growth, because it finds humor in these characters begrudgingly learning to tolerate their differences. Except for Roger.

I think that might be the key difference here, especially when it comes to parody. Treat the characters seriously, as believable personalities who act in relatable ways. The surrounding situation can be the silly joke that we laugh at. If you enjoy Edgar Wright's comedies, you probably know this quite well. Shaun of the Dead pretends to be a spoof of zombie movies, but it actually has the arc of a romantic comedy. It wants you to empathize with the characters, and laugh at the self-aware context surrounding them. The character growth itself becomes funny, because it's sprouting in such a ridiculous context.

This goes back to what I think RDP was doing. Parody a fanfic, but let the characters do their own thing within that world, and see where it leads! The tangents are some of the best parts, like the Jokermort story. At least to me, those parodies felt uplifting rather than cynical.

This is why I think Scootertrix pulls off something marvelous. It sets up these parody versions of the pony characters, each with awkward quirks and gimmicks. They interact in awkward ways which cause friction, but they're not trying to be jerks. Twilight always seems exasperated, but it's because it's part of her logical & cynical character, not because she's playing the straight-mare role. As the series goes on, the characters and relationships get development, and their gimmicks are fleshed out into backstories, and somehow it feels believable. They're ridiculous people, but ones that could possibly exist. They're not court jesters, just broken people trapped in a surreal situation they don't fully understand.

The only sociopath is Princess Celestia (as the old fandom interpretation of Trollestia ) who never grows or develops because she is already perfect and is always right. She sets all the parody events into motion.

Luna: I can't understand why Equestria hasn't gone to hell yet, with you in charge.
Celestia: Luna, let me ask you a question. If there was a princess who did bad things, but they always resulted in good things happening, would that princess be good?
Luna: Wha? No! She would be evil. That pretty much defines evil. That IS evil!
Celestia: Then let's say there was a princess who always tried to do good, but it always seemed to result in evil. Would she be evil?
Luna: No, because at least she TRIES to do the right thing.
Celestia: Last question. Which one do you want ruling the kingdom?

I mean I could just say it's character-based writing, much like FiM itself, but I never remember what that means in practical terms. Everyone defines it differently. So I avoid saying it, ever.

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