Friendship is Card Games: Daring Doubt · 11:30am Sep 22nd, 2019
Anyone else get the feeling that there weren’t more Daring Do episodes because they only had so many ways to play with the name?
Fluttershy’s excitement about the series makes me wonder who else among the Mane Six has read Daring Do. Twilight and Dash are clearly the most dedicated fans among the girls and we know Rarity doesn’t care for the series from “The End in Friend,” but Pinkie…
Yeah, I can’t help but wonder what kind of defenses the party cave may possess… 
Daring Do and the Sphinx’s Realm? Huh. So that’s what happened to her after Somnambula won her challenge.
Gosh, I wonder who could be behind an attempt to defame Daring Do written from Caballeron’s perspective. It’s so mysterious. 
The book’s been out for a week; you’d think Daring would have heard about it already (though with her lifestyle, she might not have even been in the country prior to that book signing.) Of course, there’s also the question of why people believe the alleged exposé to begin with… but now we’re veering dangerously close to an examination of cancel culture, and I’d rather leave that hornets’ nest undisturbed.
Also, I have to wonder how Caballeron got this past the editors. Sure, another publisher might have leapt at the chance to undermine the Daring Do series, but then we get into questions of who owns the rights to Daring and… Darn it, I said I was going to avoid hornets’ nests.
Also, Caballeron does have a degree… according to himself, anyway.
I am still surprised by how readily ponies willing to invest in Daring Do cosplay will condemn their hero. I’d expect an excessive, reactionary defense or an absolutely blistering schism in the fandom. Of course, then we’d have a very different story.
You know, I appreciate how “Common Ground” was basically Patton Oswalt’s tribute to his late wife, but this feels like a much more appropriate episode for Quibble Pants.
I’m also surprised by how A. K. Yearling doesn’t even try to deny even the most ludicrous allegations… though going by the single instance of puppy kicking, it appears that Caballeron exaggerated her missteps rather than inventing entirely imaginary misdeeds.
Also, really, Daring? Even if you can’t read the tropes, who’s tried this exact tactic on you in the past?
So… where are these bookstores? Those buildings definitely don’t look like Ponyville. Could be Manehattan, but I could easily see it being Fillydelphia.
I admit, I didn’t realize who Groom Q. Q. Martingale was meant to be based on until I saw the hat and beard.
Speaking of which, Dash. Pull the beard. Miracle on 34th Street the guy.
Getting both sides of the story is one thing, but when one side is a known slanderer with a clear motive to be dishonest, you can’t expect them to argue in good faith. And indeed, Caballeron deploys a classic slippery slope fallacy with the “if she got the flowers wrong, what else is she lying about?” argument.
On the other hand, we have empathy strong enough to give Discord a chance. I can’t be that surprised that Fluttershy’s willing to listen… though at least she didn’t think Discord was being sincere.
Heh. Fluttershy, an adventurer? Why, the very idea!
I do like Daring’s motive for getting into writing. She wanted to share the stories of what had been, the same goal as archeology itself.
Today’s Mesoamerican mythology reference is Tonatiuh, an Aztec sun deity, which is a job with a lot more turnover than you might think. He wasn’t especially honest, but sometimes the needs of the plot and alliteration outweigh such concerns. (Plus, I can’t help but wonder if the Truth Talisman was created as a sort of imitation Element of Honest gone horribly wrong.)
So many lost temples in the Tenochtitlan Basin. What civilization lived here?
I do love the little housecat’s brief casual pose as the cats pounce.
When I heard one of Caballeron’s henchponies was named “Biff,” I’d hoped the others would also be named after comic book sound effects. Sadly, they’re Withers and Rogue. Ah well.
Also, flyders thrive in a surprisingly high variety of environments. I wonder if they migrate. And now I wonder if I can ever forget the resulting mental image.
Did Ahuizotl sound off to anyone else? He’s still vocied by Brian Drummond, but something felt different about him to me.
Ah yes. We can’t have a trilogy of archeological adventures without at least one homage to the Staff of Ra.
Nice touch with Caballeron casually brushing a cobweb aside after vilifying Daring for doing so.
Huh. I think this is the first time I’ve seen magical countermeasures mentioned on FiM when there wasn’t a convenient overpowered unicorn in the room. Nice to know they don’t just crop up to keep Skylight Lightverb from instantly solving the conflict.
After Discord, Fluttershy can reform pretty much anyone. Whether she should… Well, we’ll get to that.
Pretty sure we knew about Mareapor from the G. M. Berrow books, but this may be the first we’ve heard of Flankladesh.
Bright light repetrifies the gargoyles. No word on whether they’ll turn back if the temple rises above the clouds.
I know he said he wanted to be an opera star, but now I find myself hoping Rogue writes Daring Do: the Musical.
I do like the idea of Dash treating herself to a deluxe spa treatment after adventures. Seems like a very good way to destress after mortal peril.
Putting aside the whole “Rings of Scorchero” incident—it is a simple matter to guard the region if you rule over it like a tyrant and render it inhospitable to any would-be treasure hunters, and I imagine that Ahuizotl knows the talisman well enough to skirt its restrictions with technical truths—I find myself wondering about Ahuizotl’s role. Who are his fellow guardian beasts, and where do they live? What is the nature of the one who commands them? Did Ahuizotl even exist before he began this duty, or is getting fired a euphemism for being dismissed from reality?
Don’t get me wrong, this is the clumsiest attempt at a villain reformation retcon since they introduced Spoiled Rich, but it does hint at a very intriguing angle to pursue.
Of course, Ahuizotl’s writing career rather undercuts that. Though now I want to see him demand the return of his homeland’s cultural heritage. Which could very well pit him against Twilight, not on the battlefield but at the bargaining table.
In all… Yeah, the reforms definitely went too far here. Too neat, too fast, and way too much swept under the rug. Compare Garble in “Sweet and Smoky.” Yes, the beat poetry came out of nowhere, but it did a believable job of recontextualizing some of his behavior as overcompensation, and furthermore, his personality was still recognizably Garblish by the end. He was still a jerk, just a jerk more comfortable with paying his bongoes in public. (Whether that’s a good thing is left as an exercise for the reader.)
I can appreciate the staff wanting to tie up loose ends, but this didn’t need to be one of them. There are certainly some interesting angles to explore here. It’s not even the end of the Daring Do series, just an evolution of it. But the execution is sorely lacking, even if a lot of people could use a lesson in listening to the other side these days.
Let’s hope the cards turn out better:
Pegasus Preservationist 1W
Creature — Pegasus Citizen
Flying
“Take only pictures. Leave only turbulence.”
1/3
Warding Wings 1W
Instant — Adventure
Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)
Noonlight Vault 2W
Artifact
1W, T: Put an hour counter on Noonlight Vault. You gain 2 life.
At the beginning of each upkeep, put an hour counter on Noonlight Vaut.
When the twelfth hour counter is put on Noonlight Vault, return any number of target artifact and/or enchantment cards with total converted mana cost 12 or less from your graveyard to your hand. Exile Noonlight Vaut.
Flankladesh Expedition 1U
Enchantment
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, put a quest counter on Flankladesh Expedition.
Remove three quest counters from Flankladesh Expedition and sacrifice it: Create a 3/3 colorless Gargoyle artifact creature token with flying.
Temple Map 1U
Artifact
You and creatures you control have protection from Traps. (You and they can’t be damaged or targeted by anything that’s a Trap.)
U, T: Scry 1.
The best defense is never crossing the offense’s path.
Abandon the Doomed 1B
Instant
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain indestructible until end of turn.
“He knew what he was getting into.”
—Doctor Caballeron
Slippery Slope 1B
Instant
Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Then if that creature’s toughness is 0, copy this spell and you may choose a new target for the copy.
“Every fall to wickedness begins with the words ‘Just this once.’”
—Princess Luna
Unpleasable Fanbase 2B
Creature — Pony Rogue
Whenever you cast a spell, you lose 1 life.
“I’ll happily take a thousand of Caballeron’s schemes over a single nitpicking reader.”
—Daring Do
5/4
Dubious Researcher 3B
Creature — Pony Rogue
Whenever one or more opponents lose life for the first time each turn, you draw a card and lose 1 life. (Damage causes loss of life.)
“The university and I have very different ideas about acceptable data sources.”
3/2
Ecological Disruption 3BB
Sorcery
Target player sacrifices two creatures. If that player sacrificed fewer than two creatures this way, they sacrifice lands equal to the difference.
God-kings, mad guardians, relic hunters, all have left their mark on Tenochtitlan.
Trailblazer Machete 2R
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+1.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, each player sacrifices a land.
Equip 2
When all you have is a blade, every problem looks like a shrub.
Operatic Henchpony 3R
Creature — Pony Minion
Trample
Whenever Operatic Henchpony deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target enchantment that player controls until end of turn. You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate that enchantment’s abilities this turn.
3/3
Lavaburst Trap 5RR
Instant — Trap
If an opponent created two or more tokens this turn, you may pay 1RR rather than pay this spell’s mana cost.
Lavaburst Trap deals 3 damage to each of up to three targets.
No one builds a temple into a volcano by accident.
Fangthorn Flower 1G
Creature — Plant
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Fangthorn Flower gains deathtouch until end of turn.
“New wonders to discover also mean new hazards to avoid.”
—Daring Do
2/2
Bargain Hunters 3G
Creature — Pony Citizen
If another player cast a spell without spending mana this turn, you may cast Bargain Hunters without paying its mana cost and as though it had flash.
Nothing attracts attention like the promise of a free giveaway.
4/3
Vine Lash 3GG
Instant
Destroy up to two target artifacts, enchantments, and/or creatures with flying.
Tenochtitlan is a land that time forgot, and it intends to stay that way.
Lapis Lux Diamond 3
Artifact
3, T: Tap target creature.
2WW, T, Sacrifice Lapis Lux Diamond: Tap all creatures target player controls.
“In theory, refracting light through enough of them could provide infinite energy. In practice, they explode first.”
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Teetering Idol 4
Artifact
T: Add CC.
4, T, Sacrifice Teetering Idol: Teetering Idol deals 4 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
A few centuries without maintenance began the work. Daring’s kick finished it.
Temple Gargoyle 4
Artifact Creature — Gargoyle
Defender
4: Temple Gargoyle loses defender and gains flying until end of turn. This ability costs 3 less to activate if an opponent controls a permanent you own.
Intruders are unwelcome, no matter how many degrees they have.
4/4
The Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh 4
Legendary Artifact
The Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh enters the battlefield under the control of an opponent of your choice.
Play with your hand revealed.
You can’t cast spells during your opponents’ turns.
3: Target player other than The Truth Talisman’s owner gains control of it. Activate this ability only during your turn.
Swaying Kindness 1WB
Instant
Choose target creature card in a graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn. Return it to the battlefield under your control.
“Fluttershy can warp your perception of the world in ways I can’t even imagine.”
—Discord
Enticing Manchineel 1BG
Creature — Plant
Defender
When Enticing Manchineel enters the battlefield, create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”)
Whenever you sacrifice a Food, target player gets a poison counter.
1/3
Author of Atrocities 2UB
Creature — Pony Citizen
When Author of Atrocities dies, draw a card for each creature that died this turn.
“Never be afraid to kill your darlings. Heroes die as easily as everypony else.”
2/3
Cloud of Flyders 2BG
Sorcery
Create two 1/1 black and green Spider creature tokens with flying, deathtouch, and “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, create a token that’s a copy of this creature and that’s tapped.”
“Don’t run. Crawl. Carefully.”
—Fluttershy, Bearer of Kindness
Sphinx’s Realm 3WU
Legendary Enchantment
As Sphinx’s Realm enters the battlefield, choose odd or even. (Zero is even.)
Each creature with converted mana cost of the chosen value can’t attack you or planeswalkers you control.
3WU: Exile Sphinx’s Realm, then it return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
Ahuizotl, the Guardian 4GW
Legendary Creature — Hound
When Ahuizotl, the Guardian enters the battlefield, gain control of all permanents you own.
As long as Ahuizotl is untapped, noncreature artifacts you control have hexproof and indestructible and other players can’t gain control of them.
4/6
The stupid idea is to end the story at all costs so we're going to get "We kissed and made up" and 'like' it. Reason? Corporate thinks that the target audience is stupid....that's why they're still kids! (Cue Ralph Wiggum weeping openly.)
I mean, they interfered by yelling "QUEENS ARE EVIL!!!' way back when so they're not going to let a loose end dangle. They gone cut that sucker off, no matter how ugly the end result is.
Nice Guardian Beast update.
And he is certainly an Author of Atrocities.
Overly Sarcastic Productions link. Nice. I approve.
Now, here's the thing. I've been waiting for Ahuizol backstory and explanation since we figured out he actually existed, which... oh for the love of potatoes it's been YEARS. And we finally, finally get something on him, and well...
...eh, maybe I'm just too wishy-washy, but while I'm not exactly thrilled I prefer it to having nothing. The idea of a guardian beast society can be spun and we can now look at him in a new light with actual motivation, even if it is... eh. (Maybe the Sphinx is one of them?) That said, while I was complaining as watching the episode, the MOMENT I saw him write the book I laughed - Ahuizotl the author. I don't know why but that makes this whole thing worth it.
-GM, master of AHUIZOTL. AHUIZOTL.
Pretty sure there's too many for it to be just the one. Heck, the real-world basis is three civilizations thrown into a blender.
For those playing at home, the intention is to be stealing Songs with this. You can steal other stuff, but both the flavor and second sentence lean that way (all Songs can sacrifice themselves for colored mana).
Second ability flavorfully seems like it should sacrifice itself in the process.
Yes, actually. I have to assume it was because he wasn't shouting ultimatums at Daring. Hence my problem.
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Nice review!
----
Typo?
Element of Honest > Element of Honesty [?]
As with every episode where Daring Do is actually on-screen, I'm going to call this another self-insert fanfic outing by Rainbow Dash, only this time she's trying to prove Twilight that she so can write about important themes too.
Honestly, I thought this episode was great. Lots of on point humor, a good message, some decent tension, etc. Yes, Ahuizotl's redemption makes little sense and came out of nowhere, but Caballeron's was perfectly believable. We saw throughout the episode how Fluttershy's action's touched him, and he was never really 'evil' to being with. He's closer in character to Lightning Dust than any actual villain, and only resorted to more unscrupulous practices to fund his floundering archeology business and compete with Daring, who outclassed him in his profession even by her lonesome while ALSO spending time writing. The stallion was desperate.
Right? If they were going to bring back Quibble Pants, it would have made much more sense to bring him back in the final Daring Do episode.
Anyway, the only Daring Do episode that I really liked was "Stranger Than Fanfiction," so I went into this episode with low expectations and found myself enjoying it. Fluttershy's kindness and empathy brought a lot to the episode, and I thought Dr. Caballeron's reformation was handled well. He was never really evil so much as selfish and dishonest.
That being said, the episode wasn't without its flaws. It really does feel like they had to retcon Ahuizotl in order to make his reformation work in such a short run time. Or was Ahuizotl's ritual to bring about "800 years of sweltering heat" in "Daring Don't" just part of his job as guardian of the temples?
Also, (slightly spoilery speculation ahead), this episode gives me a strong feeling that the writers are telegraphing the redemption of Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. The only villain who might remain unrepentant at the end is Grogar, but I'm not even sure about him.
This ending feels almost as forced as Game of Thrones final season
I was hoping you would bring up Ahuiztol's interesting 180. Heck i wasnt even watching the episode at the time it aired it was weeks after and my bro was the one skimming through episodes till he found that specific one and watched it the whole way through. I was just lucky I happened to pass by when I heard Ahuiztol's voice and confession that I decided to make the bro rewind it all just so I could see what the blue blazes the writers had decided to do for a finale with the Daring Do series.
Needless to say I found myself interested more so than I thought I would. The very concept Ahuizotl was some kind of guardian at all really just threw dirt in the whole image they painted him out to be throughout the whole series.
That and he's not really good at his job if so many can steal from him that easily.
I actually found myself curious who or what all these other creatures were that were guardians, and sorta hoped that there would have been some kinda hint to it in the end of that episode but I wasn't surprised there wasn't anything of the sort.
That was probably the only golden nugget, to me, I found in that episode.
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Actually I really love that detail. That he used to feel confident to the point of ultra-ham egotism (like Rainbow Dash as a villain), but defeat after defeat has just worn him down. Even though I don’t think he was in the role of a ‘good guy,’ I see him as having a motivation. The change in direction for his voice actor feels like a progression, not a retcon. And we still got some shouting.
5125105
Of course:
Some of us had some of these ideas five years ago...
Mike
- MLP: FiM
- Slice of Life
Ahuizotl threatens to sue A. K. Yearling for libel unless she stops writing the Daring Do books. She makes him a counter-offer.If Jerry Springer: the Opera can exist, why not?
No one's going to point out that for the beginning of this episode to work, we have to ignore Fame and Misfortune? The published Friendship Journal (which was read by many, many ponies) revealed that Daring Do is, in fact, real (as we see when the pegasus filly bugs Rainbow Dash to tell the kids about it again). So why is it this shocking revelation that some other book has exposed Daring Do's existence? Why does Rainbow Dash say it's supposed to be a secret?
(Yes, they can still be outraged that Caballeron is saying that Daring Do is the real enemy. But that doesn't seem to be the biggest problem until the scenes at the bookstores.)
Most of the Daring Do episodes haven't done anything for me, so it's no surprise that I wasn't engrossed in this one, either. I did appreciate that at least they didn't try to make it a big mystery who Groom Q. Q. Martingale was, getting that reveal out of the way during the first act. But I agree that not every villain needs to be reformed before the end of the series, and this redemption was unnecessary.
The moral of the story: barging into other people's land to take their cultural artifacts and shuttle them off to museums and private collections halfway around the globe is a pretty shady thing to do, and you really shouldn't do that.
It's as if some no-name author came out of left field with a book about how Harry Potter is real and Voldemort was the real good guy and everybody immediately took it at face value as the unvarnished truth.
I knew ponies were sheep, but geez.
Perhaps the cipactli? Unless Ahuizotl's claim to be the guardian of the jungle covers the cipactli's temple as well, which might imply the latter to be under Ahuizotl's own employ like the guardiangoyles are... in which case I wonder if the other guardian beasts might be further afield and watching over the ruins of other civilizations entirely.
I definitely find these concepts fascinating. At the very least, Ahuizotl's speech requires enough guardian beasts in close enough contact for some form of community to exist, and the presence of some group or individual who could dismiss him from his job.
5125253
If I had to guess? Because the series has spent half its run pretending that Daring Do's secret identity is a great and closely kept secret regardless of how little sense that has ever made and damn if it's going to stop now.
I love bits that illustrate the bizarre hate-boners super fans have for the things that form the basis of their identity.
Besides the fact that I know jack about the process of printing physical books, this is further proof to me that Equestria has a flimsy concept of licenses. That's how Flim & Flam could sell bogus medicine without any labels or disclosed ingredients, why anypony can just take up the job of school counselor, and now, a lack of trademark.
A pretty good evolution of the plan that resolves the the issue from Stranger Than Fanfiction, when Caballeron and his crew FOUND OUT about the whole franchise.
Awesome, you thought it was an onomatopoeia reference too?! He even has the punchy word balloons as his mark!
Also, it's kind of a bummer that we're at the end game and someone finally came up with a generic term for Super-Awesome Magic Pony: "Skylight Lightverb."
5125253
Undefined, that's a really good catch. I had forgotten all about that.
At the time, it seemed like an oddly douchebag move by the Mane 6 to publish all their entries about people without editing anything, spilling anyone's secrets. So I actually chose to view just THIS scene as non-canonical.
5125285
I feel like the writer(s) sat down and went "OK, let's try to straighten this thing out, so it can at least make sense by Equestrian standards." That's why in the first 90 seconds they blow open 'conspiracy' of Daring Do is real, and resolve the issue from Stranger Than Fanfiction of Caballeron and his crew FINDING OUT that they're actually part of a popular franchise.
But I think the biggest accomplishment of the episode is the moral victory they achieved. Even if the nature of Daring Do herself has changed drastically since Read it and Weep, it's always been a sendup and tribute to the adventure stories their generation grew up with, including my parents, and probably the writers for Friendship is Magic. Now the final outing with Daring is commentary on how older serialized entertainment didn't go beyond black and white.
I'm really happy with how Ahuizotl gets to be a real character, and I also found his conflict pretty touching. I grew up with Indiana Jones, and while I can enjoy classic treasure-hunting, pith helmet adventure stories, I can admit that there can be unfortunate connotations to it. Even in the most fantastical franchises that I'm a huge fan of:
The entire "exotic treasure hunter" sub-genre grew from the centuries-old view of "archaeological adventure" as defiling holy sites and literal graves, pocketing the artifacts, and shipping them off for display in OTHER countries. And because those sites were made 'holy' by 'wrong' people. Daring Do isn't a colonialist, and Ahuizotl isn't one of the Na'vi, but by making a story about these two factions having a dialogue about how to best treat the artifacts, I feel like they're owning up to the complicated real-world history involved.
I really do buy the idea of Ahuizotl being misjudged as flatly evil by Daring and other ponies. Partly for his appearance, which we know that ponies aren't above doing to other species, and his design is definitely one the strangest in the show. But then again, Daring and Cabbellaron had a perfectly reasonable response to what could be seen as homicidal rage. Then again, AGAIN, homicidal rage is sort of an understandable reaction to someone coming in from another country to steal your expensive shit. He's not a 'good guy,' but there's still a motivation there. He's Shrek mixed with the Hovitos.
You know, you'd really think that, sooner or later, someone on the staff would think "Hey, maybe the process of going from unabashed, unrepentant villain to redeemed, upright good guy should take more that twenty minutes. Or at least need a lot of effort to do so in those twenty minutes."
But nope, instead they go "People are saying these redemptions are too quick, contrived and whitewashing? Hold my beer! I'mma do two at once!"
A lost civilization evidently.
Rather appropriate.
5125512
Again, it has to be multiple, to have this many ruins without just stacking them on top of each other (which also happens in some places, this just doesn't appear to be one of them)
None of Daring Do's fans seemed to have a problem when she was kicking a kitten!
I think there's a grammar error in "Cloud of Flyders": "create a token that’s a copy of this creature and that’s tapped.”
I'm not sure if "and that's tapped" is incorrect or not, but it feels off to me. I was thinking "it enters the battlefield tapped" works better.
Just did a quick look and the phrasing used on Gatherer is "create a tapped token..."
5135015
I based the syntax on Flamerush Rider and Gyrus. Granted, those both make attacking tokens, but it's not clear how the other phrasing works with token copies.
5135131
All of the ones on the Gatherer that create tapped tokens are apparently Black. The first one I found that isn't just errata'd into the phrasing is Overseer of the Damned.
I'd say the proper phrasing would thusly be "create a tapped token that's a copy of this creature."
5125152
Going back to read old speculation is always good for a laugh or two. Like here, where someone gets everything completely wrong.