@Kegi:Even if I end up not liking it, I've read far worse, so I should be fine.

Uff. I'm back from all the online classwork and whatnot. What all did I miss?

Me posting ZZ Top, for one :P

Mind me checking it out as well? I'm curious to see how you handled it.

edited 4th Sep '13 2:53:42 PM by darkabomination

-cringes-

I worry I handled the subject matter horribly, since I was mainly basing it on assumptions and watching a few people(For some reason, there were actually a fair amount of blind people around my apartment when I lived in Vancouver), but by all means. In fact it's probably better you do if I handled it poorly, since, you know. Always good to have the stupid knocked out of you.

edited 4th Sep '13 2:58:34 PM by kegisak

Well, this didn't take very long. Then again it's easy to come up with stuff for a controversial episode like this.

Mysterious Mare Do Well

There is probably no episode that has generated the kind of backlash and counter-backlash in this series (save Magical Mystery Cure) then this episode, and it’s really not hard to see why when you look at the behavior of the characters in the episode. That being said, unless someone ask me about I’m not going to focus on characterization and character behavior in this review. This partially because it is a subject that has been discussed at such length that I doubt I could contribute anything new or interesting on that subject, but also because I’ve seen many who say that with a slight adjustment of the characters and their interaction that things will be fine. After considering some of the other common complaints that I original thought insignificant (technology, disaster prone Ponyville, feeling like you’re watching a completely different show) I think that the problems run much deeper and can pinned on the other big selling point of the episode, the superhero parody/pastiche.

Now from a meta perspective doing a superhero parody it seems pretty obvious. Rainbow Dash starts acting like a superhero and the fame goes to her head when a mysterious new hero comes to town. The story seems to practically write itself, however if you give it some thought you would realize that Ponyville, the main setting of our story, is not exactly conducive to a superhero story, for reasons I’ll get into later. On top of that, this was not something the show normally did. Regardless of how comedic it was it would need some strong action and an understanding of the genre. This is something that would require careful planning and an experienced writer to make work, so of course the story is written by the one on the team who is probably least qualified to write it. Now I know that sounds like a jab at the much maligned writer of the episode Merriwether Williams but believe me it’s not, in fact I’m for more inclined to blame the season two showrunner Jayson Thiessen or whoever was in charge of giving out the writing assignments for overlooking the fact that they probably have half the writing staff of Powerpuff Girls and other superhero shows working for them, and decided to hand it down to the new writer whose previous writing credits were Spongebob, Camp Lazlo, and Adventure Time. So with the combination of a writer who was probably more than a little out of her depth and a concept that was ill-conceived to begin with, it should come as no surprise that the superhero aspect was weak and the whole episode suffered as a result.

Now, as for why I would consider the superhero aspect weak I have to go back to my point about how the setting of Ponyville was not conducive to a superhero hero story. What I mean is that a lot of superhero stories take place in urban areas where a lot of crime happens, accidents are more common and have greater stakes, and just generally a lot of the things that superheroes generally deal with. Ponyville on the other hand is an idyllic fantasy village (I’ll be it a rather large one) that while there are certainly accidents that happen they are relatively rare and crime is almost non-existent. So then we get the question of what exactly is going to happen in Ponyville that will prompt the usual super-heroism. Well Merriwether decided to go with Rainbow Dash and eventually Mare Do Well recuing other ponies from accidents. To be fair, this was one of the best options as far as still having events happen that would fit into how Ponyville was previously established. Unfortunately it still caused some rather strange changes to the landscape of the setting (the hydro-electric, the mechanical crane, and the high-rises) and even worse; she picked the aspect of super-heroic activities that are generally the least interesting. It is rare that a super-hero story focuses on some accident or manmade disaster, even if it was on a larger scale. Sure it’s part of the job description but if you have that be the center piece of your superhero parody episode I hope you have some pretty stuff to back that up. So what was the back up? Well there was some humor that was rather inconsistent and lackluster in my opinion. There was the character conflict between Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Mane Six which I’m not going to talk about. Hell, the parody aspect wasn’t even that prominent with only a few jokes and references committed to it. It’s rare for me to say this about a Friendship is Magic episode, but I think it could have benefitted from being more over the top then it was.

Now I’ve been saying how the tepid nature of the superhero part of the episode weakened, however even with what I had said about the difficulties of framing a superhero story in Ponyville without radically changing it, I don’t think it’s impossible. When you look at the things heroes are most known for combating its stuff like criminals, gangs, varies shades of super villain, and monsters. While most of the other ones were unlikely, the last one would be almost trivially easy here. After all, it was established in the first episode that there was an untamed forest full of beast big and small; it would be trivial to have some event happen that caused some monster to come into Ponyville. It would add some variety to the superhero action and jokes, and allow for the story to go in different directions. I think that with the greater stakes it would have allowed for Rainbow Dash’s character to more organically learn about how selfish she was to put her own desire for fame above the safety of others and learn from what Mare Do Well was doing. Admittedly, when you consider the episodes lesson and plot, having the big headed Rainbow Dash confront a big monster at the climax would have made it very similar to the climax of Boast Busters, but frankly it would be better then what the climax ultimately was.

This is going to be fun.

Goodnight folks.

Here's the story and it's sequel/second chapter as well, by the by.

Night Apple.

edited 4th Sep '13 3:19:02 PM by kegisak

The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville (and its prequels and sequels) also deals with a blind Vinyl Scratch.

Of course, even though Vinyl is the main character, there's a million other plot points and themes getting tossed around. The author seems to have taken every idea he had and thrown them into a blender, and this AU came out.

Dusky day 20.

You're calling accidents in Ponyville "relatively rare"? What kind of disaster town do you live in!?

It is a lot, just not in fiction.

@Sereg: I'd say compared to other cities you see in superhero stories accidents are relatively rare in Ponyville pre-MMDW.

Those are usually cities though. How many small towns have disasters happen that regularly?

Makin' me some pasta.

Zombies love pasta.

Well, your heart's in the right place and you gave it a good effort. But it still comes off as a bit stereotypical.

The nudging bit is odd. I'm not sure if that's just something she does out of habit, but blind people tend to be aware of other people's space pretty keenly so we try not to touch other people if we can help it.

The acoustic comment is a bit puzzling. It's true that echo location is a very handy guide, but it's far from the only one. And because it's so tough getting used to a new area, we have to look for any landmarks or guides from sound, to smell, to the feel of the ground under your feet so places tend to be memorized therroughly.

“I can’t see a damn thing with all these lights!” She shouted, her tenor filling the hall, “Pound your hooves so I know where you are!”

Had to cringe there. It's a joke sure and some might say something like that, but it still comes off a little painful. I think it's the fact that it's the only joke like that, so it sounds forced. If she does indulge in some self-deprication, then some more humour is fine.

I think she could do with more detail. Make her vision impairment more a part of her character. Maybe she has a more careful step, a bit extra concentration in her movements, etc. Travel takes a lot of concentration and given how casual she is, Vinyl sounds like she should be bumping into things or getting lost.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is it's a balance between acting as a normal person and acknowelgeing the differences that come with it. Don't be afraid to dive into that aspect and show her struggling or making mistakes, it comes with the territory.

Hope this is making some sense.

edited 4th Sep '13 4:14:21 PM by darkabomination

The thing that bothered me the most out of the entire Mare Do Well episode was RD winking at the camera at the end. I could let everything else slide, but that's where it crosses the line for me. Only Pinkie gets to break the fourth wall, dammit!

Also, day 20.

edited 4th Sep '13 4:12:23 PM by Wryte

Okay, more news on the kittens. We were able to get the mommy and the other FOUR kitties on the back porch! they're still there, the first kitty is still inside and we've been warned not to reintroduce her to the family in case the mom doesn't like the people smell on her and kills her. we also have to make sure she doesn't see OUR cat and feel threatened by her and kill the other kittens as a result.

Saving cats is hard.

How was it jossed? All we know is that she has magenta eyes, but that doesn't mean she isn't blind.

P.S looks like Crowlover gave up on the fanfic. Who wants to write chapter 4?

Yeah, isolating the cat is important. You never introduce two stranger cats with out constant supervision, they are very territorial.

@Dark: It does, actually. It's admittedly unlikely I'll use a blind character - not so much out of aversion as that, retroactively Scratch being blind felt like a bit of a gimmick and I didn't want to do that with a disability, which I suppose has lead to reluctance now - although I'll admit hearing your critique of it kinda makes me want to give it another go. In a different context because I severely dislike those stories, heh.

But yeah, it hadn't actually occured to me how much a blind person might rely on other senses, at leas aside from sound. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by the 'acoustic comment', but scent would make sense for horses(Fun fact: Horses will snort on something new as a way of identifying if it's safe or not. Because they have a blind spot directly in front of them, this is their only real way of figuring out what's in front of their face). Adding more details is also a good idea, and something I'd pay a lot more attention to now - after writing The Colour You Bleed I've become a lot more focused on body language, since one of the main characters was so stoic minute body language was really the only way to get his emotions across.

I get what you mean about striking a balance. I didn't want to make it her entire character, in the same way I hate it when media makes being gay the entirety of someone's character, but I guess you kinda have to. If I ever find myself writing another blind character, I'll definitely take your advice into Account Dark. I appreciate it! And I'm glad it wasn't too bad at least.

what do you mean " who wants to write chapter four"?

@Story: Well, maybe the S2 finale didn't joss it, but the S3 finale definatly did, as Vinyl can clearly see and is annoyed by Fluttershy's visual attempts at being funny.

Ike, [1]

Can i do it? My grammar is getting better.

edited 4th Sep '13 4:36:48 PM by spyro4