A thread to discuss My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the tie-in media.
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Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM
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Because petty bullying is more personal and less abstract than "I'm going to take over Canterlot/Equestria".
I read a good blog post on the matter, but I can't remember who wrote it.
edited 21st Dec '13 7:20:30 PM by CleverPun
"The only way to truly waste an idea is to shove it where it doesn't belong."Well, I suppose one factor is that Nightmare Moon, and eventually Discord, did get (a measure of, in Discord's case) development.
Trixie, as well, if we're going down to the "jerk" spectrum.
To go back to Chrysalis for comparison? She does less damage, overall, than cosmic-level threats like Discord. But she is, interestingly, more evil than him.
edited 21st Dec '13 7:24:27 PM by Enlong
I have a message from another time...But there wasn't. It doesn't matter what "could have been" anything "could" all that matters is what IS! And, as long as there is at least a plausible explanation for it all, it all makes sense and works consistently to the best of ou knowledge, you can't really claim anything is a plot hole, or something wrong, just because "Oh hey this would have been coll" when there is a damn good, in story reason it would not have been possible.
As to DT and Gilds, as the rest said, their rather petty stuff, is a lot more personal, it's shit we've really dealt with, we KNOW people like that and hate them. Bigger, "take over the world" threat are more abstract, not as personal. Also, for the most part, they come as weak and two dimensional characters, just there to be 'bullies' with no real character past that.
@CDRW: BS. We're not that organized.
@Ms CC: Here's my take on it. Characters like Gilda and Diamond Tiara are more disliked because they're basically guaranteed to resemble someone that you know that's treated you in a similar fashion. Just about everyone knows somebody who was a colossal dick to them, so when we see a similar character on screen we go "I hate that" because we know exactly what it's like to deal with that kind of antagonist. On the flipside, none of us have ever had to deal with a supervillain style person like Nightmare Moon, so we don't respond personally to it. We have no frame of reference; we know that they're bad because of what their actions are, but we've never experienced the result, so we have to experience their evilness vicariously through the heroes of the story. Where as Gilda or Diamond Tiara make it very easy to project personal experience onto them.
In general, the more personal an act of villainy is, the more hatred you'll get for it. It's why bullying someone is going to earn tons of hatred, while trying to bring about eternal night results in a fanbase.
edited 21st Dec '13 7:33:46 PM by JapaneseTeeth
Reaction Image Repository@ Mio but if it's one that HAS a real, in verse reason why it's impossible, then.. whats the point in saying "Oh if things were completely different and altered at a fundamental level, things would be better."
really the ONLY thing I really would have wanted to see changed or altered in that ep was a better explanation of the source and reason for the 'threat' who exactly made it and why.
@Luminosity On this very website, all the time. Trust me, I dislike Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's guts because they do remind me of my bullies, but I do think labeling her as a Complete Monster is too far. I understand Jerk with a Heart of Jerk because she's shown to not have that many redeeeming qualities anyway. I have gotten over Gilda anyway, even though I'm a Fluttershy fan, because she only showed up once. She's a bully, but she got less screentime than DT & SS, which is why I dislike the duo more and I feel they are worse than Gilda.
@darkabomination It's not Haruhi. I dislike that show with a passion and I find it boring.
@Japaneese Teeth You're completely right, which may be the reason why I hate characters like Connie and the Griffin family (except Stewie, Meg, and Brian) from Family Guy, because I dealt with people like them in middle school-high school. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are bitches no doubt, but these characters are worse in my opinion.
edited 21st Dec '13 7:41:19 PM by MsCC93
Well if it were up for me, I'd want a Thinker power, or failing that, Tinker. But with personality based powers, I'd probably get something stupid like invisibility.
Also, the pegasi really slipped up here in Kentucky. The rain is so hard you can barely see even with windshield wipers. It's a good thing we managed to find a hotel when we did.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayShe did throw horseshoearangs, much like Batman.
She'll have to be careful or she'll accidently get sent to The Birdcage for stupid reasons.
Don't forget that one hair villian from Captain Underpants.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayHave you read Worm yet? If not, you should.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayAgain the issue is, there is a real, plausible reason for it not to happen. And when is "more" ever a bad thing? but counting what randomly 'could have been' against an episode, when again reasons for that not existing in 'verse are solid, I don't get that.
Something like dragon Quest, where there's really no good in story reason for us not to have gotten something better then just a bunch of stereotypical over the top jerks and no actual insight into Spike's past. Yeah that's a good reason. but when it's actions, that again, HAVE in story reasons against them.....
As to the Complete Monster thing, yeah they are. no way in hell are they even close to Jerk with a Heart of Gold. that requires, HAVING something to you beside being an utter despicable jerk, something none of them show. They are just plain, falt, bullies, with nothing beyond that. no reason for it beyond they like being mean, cruel and sadistic.
Ones like Crysy, Discord, NMM, you can sympathize with, understand, see there is more to them. They aren't just doing things because they like inflicting pain. DT and SS, there is no reason beyond them wanting to cause as much psychological pain to others as possible, for no damn reason.
Yeah, I think Complete Monster is vastly overstating it. They're bitches, yes, but their bullying is so pitifully superficial that they couldn't be considered worse than an Alpha Bitch. A Complete Monster is a character who's so far past the Moral Event Horizon that any form of redemption would make you go "No way". DT and SS aren't even close. They're jerks, but they're not irredeemable by any stretch. It's entirely possible that they could grow out of it. I've seen that happen in real life; I've known several people who were utter jackholes as kids but mellowed out a bit as they got older and turned into pretty cool guys.
Reaction Image RepositoryAdmittedly the show is often a bit more Anvilicious and black and white about bully characters than others. Many cartoons have them as colossal dickheads, but Gilda and Diamond Tiara are almost so much revolved around their jerkassery they're more a prop. After Flight To The Finish, DT is bordering in Card Carrying territory with how she goes about it, and not even in the cartoony 'Ow, my bullying hand' sort of way. I always thought Gilda seemed a bit inconsistent too, she starts off a jerk but aloof about it, then when the party comes she's an Attention Whore. It just seemed like the only thing that stays about her is she's a jerk.
Basically you can tell which characters the writers don't want you to like, because the nastiness of their character seems to be the only thing they bother with.
edited 21st Dec '13 8:01:21 PM by Psi001

I'm sorry to ruin the flow of this conversation, and know I probably asked a similar question before, but how come fans treat the antagonists like Gilda and Diamond Tiara as Complete Monsters who did a lot of damage, and ignore the fact that they caused less damage than the major villains? Trust me, I love Nightmare Moon and the other villains because they are interesting and their schemes are cool.
Also, I dislike Diamond Tiara ,and I don't care for Gilda, but I just wanted to ask because I do like a character from another show that is treated the same way by the fandom (She has a Never Live It Down moment, fans ignore her character development and act like she's an irredeemable monster, despite her doing less damage than most of the characters and her mellowing out and becoming a much more likable character. She's not a bully character, but still).