Wait a few days. Someone's going to make a comic about Flim and Flam scoffing at them, remarking that "the entire royal court of Canterlot couldn't help them now!" Twilight takes note of this and whispers something into Spike's ear. A few minutes later, Princesses Celestia and Luna land, causing Flim and Flam to make Oh, Crap! expressions.
Later, after they've won, Celestia will lean down and quietly tell Twilight that she, shall we say, owes her for this little trip.
I wouldn't have thought of them to ask a favor of the Princesses. The Apples are very stubborn and only look to each other and "their honorary family"
And Twilight would've IMO considered it against her assignment on the magic of friendship to go outside of that and calling the Princesses.
We don't have to be mean. Remember - no matter where you go, there you are. —Buckaroo Banzai
@ SgtFrog1: "Days"?
You underestimate this fandom.
True. This is the same fandom that cooked Cherrychangas within MINUTES of Pinkie mentioning them.
We don't have to be mean. Remember - no matter where you go, there you are. —Buckaroo Banzai
Removed:
- Artistic License – Physics:
- At the beginning of the episode, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly sideways, with their bodies vertical to the ground at high speed towards the Cider Stand, in order to have a conversation on the way. This is due to momentum: Rainbow Dash was pushing Fluttershy through the air until that point (fast enough to make her scream) which means that both have the same velocity. When Rainbow lets go, they should still be travelling at the same speed for a while until air resistance slows them down. They're not so much flying as staying airborne.
- Flim and Flam dance on their hind legs during part of their Villain Song.
Flim and Flam are clearly travelling confidence men. Their machine is equally clearly a legitimate innovation - it can produce more good-quality cider than four ponies using traditional methods (though not more than nine ponies.) Either, I conclude, they are gifted inventors but terrible, immoral businessmen, or, they stole the Cider Squeezy 6000 and incorporated it into their scams. Either way, all they achieved was to give Sweet Apple Acres the competitive drive to work harder and co-operate with their established customers to meet the market's demands. Fascinating outcome, really!
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Actually nothing changed. Once the Flim Flam brothers were run off—- contrary to the technical rules of the contest, I might note—- the implication that Status Quo Is God was pretty evident. Hell, Applejack even BRAGGED that she hadn't learned a darn thing. It's of note that this episode is being used in business and economics classes as an example of BAD business practices. Not the Flim Flam brothers, though; the APPLES. They had a monopoly lock on a limited product in high demand. They refused to upgrade production (even hiring a couple of workers just for cider season would have done the trick), they refused to update their equipment or their production methods, they kept the price too low, resulting in the first wave of customers ALWAYS guzzling up their too-cheap supply and leaving behind hundreds of dissatisfied and thirsty customers like Rainbow Dash (having leftover customers is as bad for business as having leftover barrels of cider....as the Flim Flam brothers demonstrated by yanking her dissatisfied customers right out from under her with just the PROMISE of plentiful cider.)
When Applejack insists to Rainbow Dash that they shouldn't cheat, is it a Call-Back to Fall Weather Friends in any way? It seems a bit odd that RD now accepts AJ's decision now.
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Not particularly odd; this competition is for the Apple family, and if Rainbow Dash were to try and cheat Applejack might kick her off the team. Also, when Applejack accuses Rainbow Dash of cheating in "Fall Weather Friends", Rainbow Dash gets pretty indignant about it, so neither one of them really wants to cheat if they can help it. They only do so in "Fall Weather Friends" because of the hyper-competitive atmosphere and a series of misunderstandings.
Given that this is Dash helping AJ now as opposed to competing directly its a different dynamic.
Trapped in a Human Body
Is there a trope for the bit where, during the brothers' song, Twilight and Spike at first are a bit dubious and doubting of them, but by the end of the song, they're both swept up in the the twins' charismatic performance and the excitement and have started chanting "Cider! Cider! Cider!" with everypony else?
We don't have to be mean. Remember - no matter where you go, there you are. —Buckaroo Banzai Hide / Show Replies
If you want to stretch it a bit, you could argue a case for Villain Recruitment Song. It's not a completely straight example in that the Flim Flam brothers do not appear to be outright evil, and they don't particularly want to recruit ponies to an evil cause, they just want to sell cider to the town. It seems to have similar effects though; by the time the song is over, the whole town is chanting for the brothers' cider. I'm still not sure that's the best trope to describe this scene, and I'm skeptic that a trope even exists as the musical equivalent of doubting Thomas.
Edited by OmniSonic
Why was this moved to YMMV?
- Spoof Aesop:
Applejack: I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Ahem. (happily) I didn't learn anything!
- Granted, the Aesop was that hard work and friendship can overcome any machine, but she knew that all along so there really wasn't anything for her to necessarily learn from this experience.
- Creepy Twins: The Flim Flam brothers appear to be an unintentional example.
- For the Evulz: The Flim Flam Brothers might have succeeded in Ponyville if they weren't so intent on completely shutting out the Apple family. One assumes they could have come to a mutually beneficial agreement with the Apples. They offer a clearly crooked deal from the beginning, but go instantly from having it turned down (as the Apples couldn't survive with onyl 25 percent of the profit, something mentioned in clear view of the Brothers) to "fine, we'll just run you out of business!" and seem to take enjoyment in what they're doing.
I can't speak for the others, but For the Evulz was never 'moved,' I put it in YMMV.
Creepy Twins is entirely subjective, and I personally didn't see the brothers in that way. It belongs in YMMV.
Also, you seem to have merely deleted the examples instead of moving them where you think they should belong.
Edited by theodrixx
For the Spoof Aesop example, it was probably because of the second bullet, Especially considering that it wasn't the aesop (the Man Versus Machine part anyway) It was about taking the time to do things right as opposed to the speed at which you do it
I think spoof aesop was moved because spoof aesop is usually meant for when the aesop itself is a joke and not to be taken seriously, e.g. Dear Princess Celestia today I learned that entire trees don't make good apple cider., or presented in such a way that the creators clearly knew that the aesop was unrelated to the episode, or the characters manages to learn the opposite of what they were supposed to.
Spoof Aesop is for moral messages that are illogical, irrelevant or ultimately nonexistent. The message in this episode is still An Aesop, but as Applejack points out, the values were acted upon from previous experiences and standards rather than learned as the episode progressed. Though I kind of want to see Celestia's reaction to Applejack's letter, if they're still doing the letter thing. (When was the last time we saw a letter being written, by the way?)
Was there anyone besides me who half expected Twilight and/or Spike to call in a princessly favor or two when the twins said they didn't care if all of Canterlot helped? I mean, if Twilight's an honorary Apple family member, then her pseudo-mom must be too!
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