#BehindTheVignette · 11:36pm Sep 4th, 2022
Blog Number 188: Valencia Edition
I wrote a fic about Vignette Valencia. Why did I write a fic about Vignette Valencia!? She's a shallow, self-absorbed, slick-tongued, number-chasing social media glory hound with a bad case of perfectionism.
I... kinda identify with that. 
"S.N.S.! Sorry not sorry!"
To give my own take: Rollercoaster of Friendship is, at best, a pretty inoffensive yet unremarkable experience. There are interesting details, to be sure, but they're either underdeveloped or not terribly exciting. The whole feels less than the sum of its parts.
Apart from the suggested romantic subtext between Rarity and Applejack, and even that feels like a stock lovers' spat, it's mainly a confusing bit of worldbuilding (Equestria is an in-universe trade gimmick now?) interspersed with theme park comedy sketches.
Oh, and a very unsubtle parody of social media personalities. Namely, Valencia.
Very unsubtle. She even has a corgi called "Yas Queen", for Pete's sake.
Unlike most people, I don't actually mind Vignette Valencia as such. As in, I don't outright dislike her. Somewhere between her car-selling fast talk and the obsessively over-the-top acronym abuse, for me she crosses the line from "one-note and unfunny" to "enjoyably ridiculous caricature of a caricature". She's simply impossible to take seriously, which means no prizes for guessing I find her rushed redemption way too perfunctory and out-of-nowhere, even by this show's standards.
This is kind of a shame, because a couple of ingredients are there for creating a much deeper antagonist.
Firstly, the social media personality obsession. You know, because we're on social media right now.
#GettingTooReal? #OrNotRealEnough?
Stopping and thinking about it, that kinda hits hard for me personally - not hard hard, but hard enough to make me pause and reflect further. Perfectionism alone has been a constant thorn in my side, pretending to be an ally when it's really one of the main reasons I tend to get overambitious and stressed and eventually give up out of sheer nerves, only to come back for more. And apparently I'm not alone: perfectionism is a recognized pattern of thought in psychology and psychiatry. So we can tick off "a bad case of perfectionism".
And that leads to the other crimes on the charge sheet.
"Number-chasing"... jeez, I've been there. It was only a few years back I was getting hissy over follower counts or views or likes. "Glory hound"... well, posting in public is an act of drawing attention to yourself, so it's very easy to start slipping into bombast and other crowd-pleasing behaviours just to keep them.
"Slick-tongued"... trust me, however articulate I look in a blog post, I am very aware a lot of it is a weird kind of acting, or at least that's how it feels to me compared to more spontaneous speech. "Self-absorbed"... BIG worry for me personally: no one wants to think of themselves as vain or greedy or self-important, but isn't the very act of worrying about it an example of it?
And "shallow"... I dread being shallow. I don't mind giving chunks of my time to this site, but one of the reasons I've often disappeared for long stretches is because I grew panicky about the idea of somehow becoming nothing more than some kind of flat screen.
The salad was a lie. So was the cake. Jeez, do we get ANY food between those two options?
In short, Vignette Valencia is one of those people who I really, really don't want to turn into. And in a similar way to how Zephyr Breeze's mooching laziness and hidden inferiority complex kinda get too close for comfort, Vignette's bad behaviour feels like it taps into something close to home. Something I worry about and know all too well. 
Secondly, the friendless background. Valencia's whole existence seems to consist of little beyond promotion. Promoting herself, promoting the park, promoting the Rainbooms, ultimately promoting for the sake of promoting.
Keep in mind that she's apparently been like this since middle school, according to an offhand mention in the special as to when she started her first company. Or to put it another way: at a very vulnerable age (11 to 13, likely), she was already entering a world that even full-grown adults find stressful and taxing.
Rarity shows us how it's done.
This raises some really awkward questions regarding cause and effect. Was Valencia already friendless, and so went into social media and business promotion in the desperate hope of seeking a connection with people? Was she a normal child who - whether because of innocent curiosity or deliberate outside interests - went down a path that corrupted her attitude and ultimately drove any former friends away? Or was there some kind of vicious cycle going on throughout her life between her social health and her use of platforms?
If this was due to outside forces, then that seems like a very questionable call from whomever looked after her. If it was her own initiative, then that seems like a very naive misjudgement.
Maybe I'm just oversensitive to the horror stories around child stars, but it seems to me there's a lot of potential for a very frightening, even tragic, backstory for Vignette, for her to have ended up in a position where she's friendless and just that desperate for things to be perfect. The special doesn't delve into it except by proxy, as Rarity succumbs to the same stressors, so it seemed to me there was an opportunity to look into that and get an idea of what went wrong for Valencia specifically.
"FUN ALERT! Excess Tragic Backstorying! That's a Class 2 Offunsive Frownification unless counterbalanced or caused to be counterbalanced by a subsection concerning things fans unironically enjoy!"
All right, how about Fic Gimmicks and Family Headcanons?
"I would also have accepted Trash Talk."
Well, lastly, as for the fic itself: I gather the format's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. That's putting it mildly. I know I'm essentially gambling: I just wanted to try something different.
It made a certain sense for a fic about Valencia to use this kind of "hashtag tweet" epistolary style. A short fic, mind: it'd probably drive me and you crazy in the long run. So long as no one looks at me and thinks "oh dear, Impossible Numbers forgot how to spell". 
Also, it turned out a "Valencia" was a type of orange, so I'd already had an idea at the back of my mind that Aunt and Uncle Orange could be relatives. Add in the Manehattan connection, Babs Seed and her comic-book sister Sunflower (not named in the show, but mentioned), and the struggles of fitting in and lording it over others, and - cliche as it is - the fic started writing itself from there!
And yes, writing something for Equestria Girls recently did incline my thoughts in that direction again. Not least because I first encountered "Forgotten Friendship" and "Rollercoaster of Friendship" so close to each other. Thoughts nudge other thoughts, and so on.
Wait, did I forget to talk about Wallflower when I released the last fic and its accompanying blog post?
...eh, she's used to it. Moving on!
Anyway, I hope that gives you some background as to this most recent fic of mine.
True, I doubt I'll try that very specific epistolary style again (it's hard to keep up for long, to say nothing of lightning not striking twice), but I am taking it as a hopeful sign that my old writing mojo's coming back to me. Probably not that fast, but more fics are (I hope) on the way.
Hopefully.
Well, um, that's it for now. Impossible Numbers, out!
Or a teenage spat. Either way, it's incredibly convoluted in it's inclusion.
At least Sunset and Pinkie Pie as friends with some shared interests was built up over time.
Even Sunset and human Twilight (overated as they are) have some onscreen chemistry as the story goes on.
Here's it's "Rarity tries out for a sticky, messy, hot summer job, taking her away from her own sowing career, in direct contrast to just about everything we know about her, solely to be with Applejack".
Someone who she's argued with constantly, and with who she barely had any meaningful interaction with before this.
Yeah they ramp up the interactions after this, but it's a terrible idea to have a previously non existent desire be the crux of your entire special.
I honestly found Rarity's anguish over her career far more compelling.
Heck I found VV herself more compelling then that entire drama.
Still more believable than Discord.
At least her actions are consistent with someone who genuinely wants attention, which is a much better springboard to affection than say "I'm going to screw your head up now. Savy?"
At least we were given a lot of stuff on her starting out as a character, and unlike some, she never really changed over the course of her run of one special and one short.
Plus I find her to be rather on point in regards to accuracy. Not to mention "Inclement Leather's" inclusion of her is just low key hilarious.
This reference makes me feel old!
She is so underated and underappreciated.
Ouch.
When you aren't even more important than the outro.
Rest assured, you strike me as far deeper and more thoughtful than Vignette. Heck, the fact that you're worried about it speaks volumes in your favor.
In any case, fascinating insight into the thought process for this story. And yeah, a lot of later Gen 4, pony and human, is more useful as a toolbox of usable ideas than as a foundation for the story. (I honestly hadn't noticed the Horace Horsecollar-esque character on the map of Equestria Land until now. That simultaneously answers some questions and raises others.)
Because I have a few additional thoughts.
There's a story on this site which insinuates that the entire mirror world is basically one giant magical simulation. I resisted the idea at first, but it would explain a few things.
Welp we know which dog Spike is destined to date!
I'm not a fan of how Spike was handled in EQG, but even I have to admit it's occasionally funny.
Boy can I relate. It's one of many reasons I don't bother writing.
See, I wouldn't nessicarly have put that together that they might be related. That's a great catch.
That too really. I would never have thought to associate Babs with the Oranges, even though in hindsight it does make sense.
Thanks for doing these! It's nice to see EQG get some love after all this time. I'm looking forward to future instalments.
That's some thorough research. Well done.
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It's odd because, if anything, the Sunset-Pinkie focus in "Sunset's Backstage Pass" feels like the one that should come out of nowhere, yet that special does a better job of grounding it than this one does with a more obvious pair-up. I think it's because there, the special as a standalone does a good job of showing how these two relate to each other and has more idiosyncratic flaws to work through, whereas with "Rollercoaster of Friendship" it's a taken-for-granted premise that feels like it could've been any pair-up.
I think it's also a recurring problem with Equestria Girls, that it coasts too much on the goodwill copied from the main pony series (where I think Rarity and Applejack would make more sense, as it's at least been developed more, but I digress...).
Plus, "Sunset's Backstage Pass" wasn't bogged down with random Main Six sketches, so there's that.
As much as I quite like having Discord around in Seasons Four up to Seven, boy oh boy is there a reason "Keep Calm and Flutter On" is arguably my least favourite Season Three ep (and that's saying something: Season Three as a whole is a rough patch in my experience). It feels somehow too much like a retcon and not enough like a retcon at the same time, all reworking the mind-manipulating, cruel antithesis of friendship into a redeemable imp.
No, I was referring more to how Vignette's redemption felt tacked on and undeveloped, rather than the distance between where she started and where she ended up. It's similar to Wallflower, in that I'd have liked to see another ep or special properly giving their turnaround room to breathe.
Some references never die.
🤔 How interesting. Thank you for the link.
Spike being a dog has never sat well with me. It's like an already-terrible joke gone wrong. Even a half-concussed non-fan or outright hater of the show would have at least given him the dignity of a human form. It really is one of those monumentally idiotic decisions that makes EQG a harder sell than it needed to be, and that's before we point out the Diamond Dogs got human forms regardless of whatever sense that makes.
One of the few nice things about my hiatus is that it has given me the bloodymindedness to fight this bastard. Perfectionism isn't going to stop me that easily. 🔥👿🔥
Babs being an Orange relative wasn't an original idea: I've seen it done before, so it was simply a matter of following the logic. Valencia was more of a surprise for me personally, but when I noticed it I had to pounce on it. You'd be surprised what you can find if you do something as basic as look stuff up somewhere.
For instance, did you know that "Babs", short for "Barbara", therefore shares a root with "Barbarian" in the form of the Ancient Greek word "Barbarus", meaning "foreigner, outsider, exotic"? Which is oddly appropriate for Babs, given her "barbarian" bullying and her feeling like an outsider to the CMCs during much of her debut.
Don't know if that's just a coincidence or if Cindy Morrow put it in deliberately, but I thought it was appropriate either way.
Well, we'll see. I'm not done with EQG yet, not by a long shot, but a lot of this is me just going with the flow, so who knows what'll turn up in the current next?
Oh, and: You're welcome.
Nice to hear from you again.
5684106
Well... it's terribly kind of you to say so, but I think it's still worth keeping an eye on what I'm doing in the meantime. Complacency is where errors creep in.
My thoughts exactly, at least where it comes to EQG. After the first three or four movies, I get the impression the EQG staff were meandering a bit (the first few movies felt more like they had an overarching point or development to them, I think).
Neither did I. It freaked me out when I spotted it, not least because it throws a wrench into some headcanon I was quietly building up.
Also, I'm now imagining some black-and-white AU where Twilight and co look like they stepped out of Steamboat Willie. I'm still not sure how horrifying that is.
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Thanks!
I generally prefer to try something different or interesting with each of my fics, and that usually starts with looking for connections and seeing what threads twitch when I yank 'em. You can find all sorts of strange things out there to work with.
5684596
Entirely fair. There are few things more dangerous than believing your own hype.
Going by these, I'd give it a 5 out of 10 at worst.
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i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/14/7d/9f147d61173242d57a4d1f14619461f9.jpg
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I mean, they've been building it since Rainbow Rocks, so that's probably why.
The first one to invite Sunset Shimmer to come over to the Canterlot Five, in a crowded auditorium of people who hate her, is Pinkie Pie.
Following that up is the short where she paints Sunset and gives her glowing praise.
In Legend of Everfree she offers Sunset a free peak at her memories.
Mirror Magic has her be the ice breaker for a despondent moment involving Sunset not once, but twice.
Not to mention she's the only one who wasn't worried about Sunset bringing Starlight Glimmer to the mirror world.
Then there's the short where she makes a set out of balloons to help Sunset.
Finally Backstage Pass itself, which is honestly among my least favorite interactions for them in comparison, since Pinkie Pie feels so much dumber than usual.
The churro thing wasn't built up to the same extent that Rainbow Dash's restlessness was before Spring Breakdown, so it's much harder to accept it as a excuse for Pinkie Pie's OOC behavior.
Still they have a great dynamic when the writers aren't trying to stroke drama between them.
Follow up that with the holiday short, where Sunset Shimmer helps Pinkie Pie deliver a souffle to Rarity.
So you have plenty of Pinkie and Sunset moments to borrow from in contrast to Rarijack, and they're spread fairly consistently through out the series.
I mean I didn't really like them in the main pony series either, until much later in the show, so it probably wouldn't have changed my mind overwhelmingly.
They just both feel so OC whenever they get together. One of the things I love about Rarity is how whip smart and composed she in the face of adversity. Yeah she'll have fits of emotion, but not in front of her enemies.
So when I see her dropping the ball because Applejack said something to get under her skin, I just feel ticked off on her behalf.
A: it's not something I want to see out of her character and B: it's a bit too relatable.
Likewise, I like Applejack best when she's looking out for others, or doing something impactful.
So watching her standing around for hours (essentially) telling Rarity that her career is utterly useless, and she needs to go suck lemons, is not my idea of a interesting time.
Plus it feels so contrived just how little it takes to get Applejack going sometimes.
With Rainbow at least it would have made sense.
Rainbow Dash looks good as a model, so Rarity would seek her aid for references, which she does throughout the first season.
Rainbow Dash is also crass enough to make her displeasure know at everything, and she hates standing around doing nothing.
I could see a toxic cycle developing where Rainbow Dash gives Rarity crap for taking advantage of their friendship, and Rarity gives her crap for not being as supportive as she should be.
With Applejack I feel they're just banging the 'I have to give my opinion on everything because I am a cow girl Yee Haw!' drum despite that not really being Applejack's orginal character.
Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer work because they're both outgoing geniuses, with their own way of doing things.
Pinkie Pie's spontaneity breaks Sunset out of ruts in her thinking and Sunset's grounding additude keeps Pinkie Pie on track.
Applejack by contrast never challenges Rarity on the stuff she should be challenged on (Rarity always works through that on her own) and Rarity (outside of one or two episodes) never really gives Applejack any kind of fresh perspective.
Yeah they got better in seasons five through six, but a massively bad relationship is still a bad relationship.
It doesn't help that they aren't even very clever or charming in their arguments. At least characters like Discord or Cozy Glow had that going for them.
Yeah. I was baffled by how much stuff they fit in that was completely unrelated to the plot. I liked the clips, just not while they were eating into the episode.
The writers must have caught on however, because the comedy afterwards was either kept separate, or in service to the plot (even if some of those plots were mediocre at best).
Yes! That exactly!
Plus they swapped the personalities of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
They turned the protector of innocent life into a free roaming party girl, and vice versa, stunting both characters and their relationships as a result.
Neither of them felt very genuine after that episode, with a few standalone exceptions.
It feels very unearned is the problem.
People give Juniper Montage and Starlight Glimmer hate for how rushed their redemptions were, but at least they came to those conclusions somewhat on their own.
No gun pointed at them promising a friendship blasting if they didn't change their ways.
Wallflower and Vignette's redemption only happens after their magic macguffin is destroyed. Of course they're going to be reasonable now.
Problem is I'm not sure how you fix that exactly. People would complain if every reformation was the same. At this point some would complain if certain people weren't given redemption.
At this point I guess it's basically a matter of picking your poison.
I wouldn't nessicarly have reformed either of them, but I do get why they went that route.
To be clear I actually like and relate to Wallflower in some aspects. (Namely her shyness and blunt cynicism.)
I just don't really buy her turnaround as completely as I'm meant to.
Now how will Hasbro market dress up Spike and Smolder dolls!
But jokes aside, it always rubbed me the wrong way. The whole talking dog thing makes no sense, and feels like such a terrible step in the process of creating a comprehensive, consistent world.
It's such a cringy thing to do that I'm honestly baffled by how good the show turned out in spite of it.
It also does rather feel like they shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to making up new merchandise.
There's only so far you can stretch the dog gimmick after all.
Huh. I did not know the root word for Barbara before. That's useful to know. I always just associated it with brute.
Kind of funny. I was trying to figure out a super powered ego for Babs and the term Barbarian popped up.
It's really nice to have clarification on the actual word now.