Random Stuff III

[Kestrel she/her]

I mean

You're not wrong.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

I mean

You're not wrong.

No. I'm Silverblade5

[Kestrel she/her]

Hi Silverblade5 I'm dad

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Hi Silverblade5 I'm dad

 

THE DAD JOKES BEGIN

 

[The Honor Spren she/her]

THE DAD JOKES BEGIN

LET THEM Edited October 12, 2015 by The Honor Spren

[Kestrel she/her]

Gotta love them dad jokes

[The Honor Spren she/her]

Gotta love them dad jokes

Of course you do. Dad makes sure you like them, whether you like them or not.

[Kestrel she/her]

my cat though.. needs.. an adult..

she starts crying downstairs. so i grab her and bring her up with me. She stays for a bit then goes back downstairs and cries again

What do you want

[The Honor Spren she/her]

my cat though.. needs.. an adult..

she starts crying downstairs. so i grab her and bring her up with me. She stays for a bit then goes back downstairs and cries again

What do you want

Cats move in mysterious ways, unknown to us mere mortals.

Edit: this will probably seem way more immature in the morning. Right now, I'm laughing my head off. I need to sleep, at this rate I'll only get 5 hours . . .

Edited October 12, 2015 by The Honor Spren

[Mistrunner]

Of course you do. Dad makes sure you like them, whether you like them or not.

My family though.

Whenever we pass cows, one of two cow jokes must be made. Either a variation on the above, or:

Cheesy-joke-making family member #1: Hey, I wonder what these boots are made of.

Cheesy-joke-making family member #2: Cow hide.

1: What?

2: Cow hide!

1: WHAT?

2: HIDE! HIDE! THE COW'S OUTSIDE!

1: Well, I'm not gonna hide, I ain't afraid of no cow.

[general hilarity ensues]

[Quiver he/him]

I'd argue that Diamond Tiara isn't the primary antagonist of CMC stories at all--she's only the voice of the true antagonists, which are the fears and demons that plague the CMCs.

 

Apple Bloom is the most cerebral of the bunch, and she fears for her destiny. When Diamond Tiara haunts her dreams in "Bloom and Gloom," it isn't the teasing itself that gets to Apple Bloom--it's the fact that she's right, and that being a pest pony is legitimately a pretty terrible destiny.

 

Scootaloo seems to have issues with thinking she isn't "good enough" in various ways. She fears that Rainbow Dash would reject her if she shows fear in "Sleepless in Ponyville," and she's constantly insecure about her flight capabilities. (Or lack thereof.) Scootaloo is a tough little filly, and we never see her overreact to Diamond Tiara's cruelty except when that cruelty touches a personal nerve in "Flight to the Finish." Again, Scootaloo doesn't care what Diamond Tiara thinks, but she reminds her of an internal demon that actually means something to her.

 

Sweetie Belle's harder to pin down, but I think it's safe to say that like her sister, she cares a lot about what society as a whole sees in her. In "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils," her worst nightmare appears to be being overshadowed, being brushed aside like nothing. Diamond Tiara is only a representation of that fear, with her constant "blank flanks" taunting.

 

Diamond Tiara as a pony means nothing to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The true conclusion of the CMCs' arc should have been when each of them had finally, totally overcome their worst fears and become better ponies as a result of it, and the CMCs' fears weren't even mentioned in this episode.

 

In summary: triumphing over Diamond Tiara means nothing. Diamond Tiara has never been anything but a plot device to force the CMCs into forcing their real antagonists: their own shadows, as Princess Luna would put it.

 

Well. here's all my thoughts on the episode, albeit it in a messy jumble, so, er... sorry?

 

I do think you have some good poitns, but... well. Liek I said, this is... more or less the summation of my opinions?

(And minor spoilers for the first half of Gravity Falls season two? Just in case anyone is reading this)

 

 

Overall, I liked it. It has a very Magical Mystery Cure vibe to it, which I think it intentional; after all, both stories deal with the ending of characters story arcs (Twilicorn, Cutie Marked Crusaders), so they share a lot of similar elements. The musical numbers are the most obvious example of the comparision , but I also think the way that the CMC recieved their cutie marks is a deliberate call back. After all, we've seen ponies get their cutie marks before, and it has never involved them floating into the air and descending back to the earth Twilicorn style.

 

However, I do have a problem with the episode, namely: Diamond Tiara's redemption.

 

Now, I've said in the Random Stuff thread that I believe Diamond's redemption and the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks are perfect thematic points, that should be worked together. After all, it was Diamond Tiara's bullying that (indirectly) put the CMC together in the first place. Kobold makes a good point that Diamond isn't really the villain of the CMC arc, that it's more about what she represents, which... yeah, that's true. After all, last season Silver Spoon pointed out that the the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't really care about Diamond and her anymore in 'Flight to the Finish', in that they refuse to even rise to the bait of being called blank flanks anymore.

 

I still feel that Diamond Tiara is a thing that needed to be addressed, however. She's been a secondary character of the show for five years now... and frankly, as enjoyable as I found her antics in season two, she was in desperate need of characterisation. Especially after her actions last year where she made fun of Scootaloo for (if you subscribe to the theory) being disabled.

 

(Seriously. Flight to the Finish made me hate Diamond Tiara. Not in a 'love to hate' kind of way, but straight up 'Go Die' way.)

 

I like Kobold's point that Diamond Tiara is just the voice of the real enemies of the CMC -their insecurities, fears and worries abut the future. But I feel like this episode did a great job of tying that role into the character herself, and giving her actual development in the process... because it did so by finally addressing what it is that Diamond's cutie mark means.

 

For a character who set's so much stock on cutie marks, it's strange that we never hear her boasting about what her's means. I'm sure I've read at least one story where people joke that (since it matches the one on her head) it stands for accessorizing. The show more-or-less confirms that it represents Diamond' talent at Leadership (a theory I've followed for a looong time now) ... but this is the first time that Diamond herself has realized it. Her moment in the treeehouse is pretty blunt: she got her cutie mark, and has no idea what it actually means. 

 

(Which definitely fits as an allegory for growing up too soon, but that's a discussion for another day).

 

Diamond realizing what her cutie mark dovetails pretty nicely with the finale, I think. After all, what do the CMC say right before they get their cutie marks? 

 

 

 

I don't care if we never get our cutie marks!

 

It's a thing they've been building too for a while; after all, they made nominal comments to the effect of being Cutie Mark Crusader Bounty Hunters in the Troubleshoe's episode, but the CMC haven't had an episode where they pursued their cutie marks since season Two. This season had just been the final push of maturity for them to get past it... which might be why we had an episode with them confronting their shadow's early in the year, but this is the first time we've had them confront Diamond. Their journey was already more-or-less over. This wasn't the climax of their story; it was their Scouring of the Shire.

 

Now, I'm not saying that this episode was perfect, because it wasn't. Frankly, there is one major flaw with the episode.

 

For a story which the fandom (myself included) are calling the Diamond Tiara Redemption Episode... Diamond Tiara isn't redeemed.

 

I feel this, more than anything, is the big problem with the episode; the introduction of Spoilt Rich. 

 

As I've said, after Flight to the Finish, I hated Diamond Tiara. She was, very solidly, an atagonist... and very obviously her own antagonist. We can certainly work backwards and see Spoilt Rich's influence in previous episodes -she comes across like one of those women you see on shows like Dance Moms, pushing their children to ridiculous extremes... but that changes those episodes. In fact, Spoilt's existence changes Diamond Tiara's dynamic so fundamentally that she isn't Diamond Tiara anymore.

 

In the past, everything that Diamond did seemed to come from her. We got glimpses of her home life, after all. Remember the Zap Apple episode? Remember Filthy Rich?

I've always thought that episode did a great job of exploring the 'don't judge by apperances' thing. Yes, it's obvious with Granny Smith... but Filthy Rich plays into that theme as well. When we first see him, he's a slick businessman, father to one of the episodes antagonists, and insists on being called "Mr Rich" rather than Filthy. He comes across as... well, kind of a jerk.

And the episode ends with him forcing Diamond to play with the other kids. In fact, throughout the episode, he expresses nothing but the utmost respect for Granny Smith and the Apples. When I first watched it, I expected him to be a villain... and at the end, I realized that he wasn't. In fact, he seem's like a decent guy. Which means that Diamond didn't get her attitude from him.

 

I liked that. And now we find out that she got the attitude from her mom.

 

That... is annoying. Because it means that Diamond changes from an antagonist to the more stereotypical "bully who bullies because they have a bad home life". That's... frustrating. I don't doubt that there are many -many- examples of it in the real world; look at the cycle of abusive families, for instance. However -aside from being a tired out trope by this point- it has a few corrolary effects I dislike.

 

For one, it re-enforces the "bad people have bad stuff going on in their lives" thing. As well as a stereotype... well, sometimes, that's just not true. Sometimes, people are just jerks. Giving someone a tragic backstory doesn't necessarily make them any deeper, it's just a short cut.

 

More troubling, though, is that it fundamentally alters Diamond's story arc, for the show and for this episode. Her previous actions set her up as an antagonist for the CMC; a redemption story would then be "how do we turn an enemy into a friend". however, because of Diamond's home life, we don't actually get a redemption story. We get a story about a bullied kid standing up to a bully.

 

The family life angle is a stereotype, but it's one that can work; I point to Pacifica Northwest as an example of it. Her story arc in season two is all about overcoming familial pressures and expectations. But Pacifica's first episode was all about her social standing in Gravity Falls (on a personal level), while her second appearance was all about the standing of her family within the town. They were elements of the character from the beginning.

 

By contrast, everythign Diamond Tiara has done has always seemed to be directed by, come from, and bring direct benefit to, Diamond Tiara. The glimpse we got of her home life before this episode simply did not support the "my family puts pressure on me to succeed", because it seemed as if Diamond was the only member of her family who actually cared about the social standing of Ponyville.

 

Introducing Spoilt Rich, then, feels artifical, an attempt for them to back build logic for Diamon'd actions... but it also, in a way, absolves her of them. It wasn't Diamonds fault; it was her families. She had a bad upbringing... and if Diamond doesn't have to make up for her past deeds - if they weren't really her fault- how can she be blamed for them? If she isn't blamed for them, then how does one achieve redemption?

 

Simple. Diamond hasn't been redeemed, because this isn't a Diamond Tiara redemption story. And that's frustrating, because a genuine redemption arc for her would be fascinating. 

 

We've seen Diamond lose to the CMC before; the big difference this time was that Silver Spoon didn't stick with her. Instead of having Diamond walk away in a mope, why not have her break down, the way Rainbow did for Tank? That was one of the strongest moments this year, because it was an expression of pure, rage tragedy. Why not have Diamond do that instead? It would add a lot more weight to the CMC's "Is it weird I feel bad for her" line, and set up why they want to befriend her now.

 

Now... overall, did I like the episode? Yes. I do feel that Diamond and the CMC's arcs make sense in context of one another. But I feel like Spoilt Rich really does drag the story down.

 

...Oh, and the Cutie Marks? They're okay. They are a little small -it's hard to make out the details on them- but that might be, in part, because the character models for the CMC are pretty small. My only real comabout them is tat the solid purple is a pretty boring colour scheme; I think I'd have prefered them if the central image of each -the apple, the music note and the wing- had been picked out in a different color. It would have made them pop a bit more and look more visually distinctive.

 

Still, I don't hate this episode or anything.

 

Unrelated to MLP:

 

I decided to look up "You have failed this city" and found this.

 

 

And now I just have this mental image of Oliver telling people they have failed this city in different languages, for no reason, just to confuse the hell out of them. It's awesome.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Quiver

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Well. here's all my thoughts on the episode, albeit it in a messy jumble, so, er... sorry?

I do think you have some good poitns, but... well. Liek I said, this is... more or less the summation of my opinions?

(And minor spoilers for the first half of Gravity Falls season two? Just in case anyone is reading this)

Overall, I liked it. It has a very Magical Mystery Cure vibe to it, which I think it intentional; after all, both stories deal with the ending of characters story arcs (Twilicorn, Cutie Marked Crusaders), so they share a lot of similar elements. The musical numbers are the most obvious example of the comparision , but I also think the way that the CMC recieved their cutie marks is a deliberate call back. After all, we've seen ponies get their cutie marks before, and it has never involved them floating into the air and descending back to the earth Twilicorn style.

However, I do have a problem with the episode, namely: Diamond Tiara's redemption.

Now, I've said in the Random Stuff thread that I believe Diamond's redemption and the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks are perfect thematic points, that should be worked together. After all, it was Diamond Tiara's bullying that (indirectly) put the CMC together in the first place. Kobold makes a good point that Diamond isn't really the villain of the CMC arc, that it's more about what she represents, which... yeah, that's true. After all, last season Silver Spoon pointed out that the the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't really care about Diamond and her anymore in 'Flight to the Finish', in that they refuse to even rise to the bait of being called blank flanks anymore.

I still feel that Diamond Tiara is a thing that needed to be addressed, however. She's been a secondary character of the show for five years now... and frankly, as enjoyable as I found her antics in season two, she was in desperate need of characterisation. Especially after her actions last year where she made fun of Scootaloo for (if you subscribe to the theory) being disabled.

(Seriously. Flight to the Finish made me hate Diamond Tiara. Not in a 'love to hate' kind of way, but straight up 'Go Die' way.)

I like Kobold's point that Diamond Tiara is just the voice of the real enemies of the CMC -their insecurities, fears and worries abut the future. But I feel like this episode did a great job of tying that role into the character herself, and giving her actual development in the process... because it did so by finally addressing what it is that Diamond's cutie mark means.

For a character who set's so much stock on cutie marks, it's strange that we never hear her boasting about what her's means. I'm sure I've read at least one story where people joke that (since it matches the one on her head) it stands for accessorizing. The show more-or-less confirms that it represents Diamond' talent at Leadership (a theory I've followed for a looong time now) ... but this is the first time that Diamond herself has realized it. Her moment in the treeehouse is pretty blunt: she got her cutie mark, and has no idea what it actually means.

(Which definitely fits as an allegory for growing up too soon, but that's a discussion for another day).

Diamond realizing what her cutie mark dovetails pretty nicely with the finale, I think. After all, what do the CMC say right before they get their cutie marks?

It's a thing they've been building too for a while; after all, they made nominal comments to the effect of being Cutie Mark Crusader Bounty Hunters in the Troubleshoe's episode, but the CMC haven't had an episode where they pursued their cutie marks since season Two. This season had just been the final push of maturity for them to get past it... which might be why we had an episode with them confronting their shadow's early in the year, but this is the first time we've had them confront Diamond. Their journey was already more-or-less over. This wasn't the climax of their story; it was their Scouring of the Shire.

Now, I'm not saying that this episode was perfect, because it wasn't. Frankly, there is one major flaw with the episode.

For a story which the fandom (myself included) are calling the Diamond Tiara Redemption Episode... Diamond Tiara isn't redeemed.

I feel this, more than anything, is the big problem with the episode; the introduction of Spoilt Rich.

As I've said, after Flight to the Finish, I hated Diamond Tiara. She was, very solidly, an atagonist... and very obviously her own antagonist. We can certainly work backwards and see Spoilt Rich's influence in previous episodes -she comes across like one of those women you see on shows like Dance Moms, pushing their children to ridiculous extremes... but that changes those episodes. In fact, Spoilt's existence changes Diamond Tiara's dynamic so fundamentally that she isn't Diamond Tiara anymore.

In the past, everything that Diamond did seemed to come from her. We got glimpses of her home life, after all. Remember the Zap Apple episode? Remember Filthy Rich?

I've always thought that episode did a great job of exploring the 'don't judge by apperances' thing. Yes, it's obvious with Granny Smith... but Filthy Rich plays into that theme as well. When we first see him, he's a slick businessman, father to one of the episodes antagonists, and insists on being called "Mr Rich" rather than Filthy. He comes across as... well, kind of a jerk.

And the episode ends with him forcing Diamond to play with the other kids. In fact, throughout the episode, he expresses nothing but the utmost respect for Granny Smith and the Apples. When I first watched it, I expected him to be a villain... and at the end, I realized that he wasn't. In fact, he seem's like a decent guy. Which means that Diamond didn't get her attitude from him.

I liked that. And now we find out that she got the attitude from her mom.

That... is annoying. Because it means that Diamond changes from an antagonist to the more stereotypical "bully who bullies because they have a bad home life". That's... frustrating. I don't doubt that there are many -many- examples of it in the real world; look at the cycle of abusive families, for instance. However -aside from being a tired out trope by this point- it has a few corrolary effects I dislike.

For one, it re-enforces the "bad people have bad stuff going on in their lives" thing. As well as a stereotype... well, sometimes, that's just not true. Sometimes, people are just jerks. Giving someone a tragic backstory doesn't necessarily make them any deeper, it's just a short cut.

More troubling, though, is that it fundamentally alters Diamond's story arc, for the show and for this episode. Her previous actions set her up as an antagonist for the CMC; a redemption story would then be "how do we turn an enemy into a friend". however, because of Diamond's home life, we don't actually get a redemption story. We get a story about a bullied kid standing up to a bully.

The family life angle is a stereotype, but it's one that can work; I point to Pacifica Northwest as an example of it. Her story arc in season two is all about overcoming familial pressures and expectations. But Pacifica's first episode was all about her social standing in Gravity Falls (on a personal level), while her second appearance was all about the standing of her family within the town. They were elements of the character from the beginning.

By contrast, everythign Diamond Tiara has done has always seemed to be directed by, come from, and bring direct benefit to, Diamond Tiara. The glimpse we got of her home life before this episode simply did not support the "my family puts pressure on me to succeed", because it seemed as if Diamond was the only member of her family who actually cared about the social standing of Ponyville.

Introducing Spoilt Rich, then, feels artifical, an attempt for them to back build logic for Diamon'd actions... but it also, in a way, absolves her of them. It wasn't Diamonds fault; it was her families. She had a bad upbringing... and if Diamond doesn't have to make up for her past deeds - if they weren't really her fault- how can she be blamed for them? If she isn't blamed for them, then how does one achieve redemption?

Simple. Diamond hasn't been redeemed, because this isn't a Diamond Tiara redemption story. And that's frustrating, because a genuine redemption arc for her would be fascinating.

We've seen Diamond lose to the CMC before; the big difference this time was that Silver Spoon didn't stick with her. Instead of having Diamond walk away in a mope, why not have her break down, the way Rainbow did for Tank? That was one of the strongest moments this year, because it was an expression of pure, rage tragedy. Why not have Diamond do that instead? It would add a lot more weight to the CMC's "Is it weird I feel bad for her" line, and set up why they want to befriend her now.

Now... overall, did I like the episode? Yes. I do feel that Diamond and the CMC's arcs make sense in context of one another. But I feel like Spoilt Rich really does drag the story down.

...Oh, and the Cutie Marks? They're okay. They are a little small -it's hard to make out the details on them- but that might be, in part, because the character models for the CMC are pretty small. My only real comabout them is tat the solid purple is a pretty boring colour scheme; I think I'd have prefered them if the central image of each -the apple, the music note and the wing- had been picked out in a different color. It would have made them pop a bit more and look more visually distinctive.

Still, I don't hate this episode or anything.

Part of what made Pacifica's redemption work is that the writers didn't use the abuse as an attempt to absolve her of her actions. If anything, she's trying to make amends; she begins that episode by giving Mabel and her friends free tickets to her family's annual gala, knowing that everyone in town wants to attend. It doesn't hurt that by this point, her primary victim, Mabel, had already moved on, deciding that "being silly is awesome" and that Pacifica's bullying was nothing to internalize. And when the parental abuse is revealed, it places her bullying into the context of that: It isn't an excuse for what she did, but what she did is portrayed as part of the ugly cycle. She has no power at home, so she bullies others to take the power back. This in no way attempts to excuse her behavior, and we're not expected to pity her for bullying Mabel. We are invited to sympathize with her because of the abuse she has suffered, but not because of the abuse she has dished out on others.

Diamond Tiara, on the other hand, is a bully, and we are allowed to believe she does it because she can. She makes fun of Scootaloo, basically the in-world equivalent of a physically disabled child, and she never tries to make amends. Scootaloo does seem to decide her bullying is nothing to internalize, much as Mabel does, but it is the CMCs who reach out to DT and not the other way around. While this could definitely work, it's jarring to see DT as the recipient of kindness when she has spent five seasons refusing to bestow any sort of kindness on others.

When her abuse is revealed, it feels like an attempt to absolve her of guilt. "See?" the writers seem to say. "She only does it because her mom is mean. Pity her!" We are invited to see her bullying as a symptom of problems at home, and to pity her for the bullying she dishes out as much as the bullying she receives. This is messed up for a number of reasons, though I'll just share one: It reminds me of the time in middle school when, after being the victim of a cruel prank by the girl who had victimized me all year, I approached an aide in tears. This aide wound up getting the bully to share how her mom had died of cancer three years prior. I felt sorry for her--so sorry, in fact, that i felt guilty for ratting her out. Rather than increase empathy between a bully and her victim, this aide made the victim feel guilty for requesting justice.

That was the effect of making DT an abuse victim: It tacitly shamed anyone who wanted her to face justice and make amends for her bullying. I'm all for DT being redeemed, but I'd rather it was done in such a way that affirmed the suffering of those she'd abused, and pushed her toward making amends. Not a way that screamed "It's not her fault!"

Edit: Argh, don't know why spoiler tags aren't working.

Edited October 12, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Orlion Blight he/him]

my cat though.. needs.. an adult..

she starts crying downstairs. so i grab her and bring her up with me. She stays for a bit then goes back downstairs and cries again

What do you want

 

I just assume my cat is singing the song of his people... though most of the time, he just wants to pounce on something... like my leg...

[Kestrel she/her]

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Lightsong's monkey, the Bringer of Upvotes, has smiled upon you.

[Kestrel she/her]

I guess that one makes sense.

 

So anyway, I'm thinking about starting sharder movie nights? Maybe every Saturday? Thoughts? We'd probably be doing it through netflix and I can set up a chatzy chatroom for us all.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

I guess that one makes sense.

 

So anyway, I'm thinking about starting sharder movie nights? Maybe every Saturday? Thoughts? We'd probably be doing it through netflix and I can set up a chatzy chatroom for us all.

Sounds interesting to me. I'm not sure how often I could do it, though.

[Kestrel she/her]

same, with band contests all this month. and then playoff games start and a lot of those are saturday games too.

but still, i think its doable, even if i'm not here.

and there's a lot to watch on netflix (at least for now) and a lot of people have it

the only true issue i see is people outside the us not having netflix.

Edited October 12, 2015 by LarkoftheRiver

[The Honor Spren she/her]

I guess that one makes sense.

 

So anyway, I'm thinking about starting sharder movie nights? Maybe every Saturday? Thoughts? We'd probably be doing it through netflix and I can set up a chatzy chatroom for us all.

How would this wonderful idea work? 0.0

[Kestrel she/her]

well, we could all decide on a time, maybe 8pm est or something, and we all get on using the chatroom (as to not overload the thread) and pull up the movie at the same time. watch it together, chat while doing it.

[Mistrunner]

well, we could all decide on a time, maybe 8pm est or something, and we all get on using the chatroom (as to not overload the thread) and pull up the movie at the same time. watch it together, chat while doing it.

Not sure how often I could do it, but I like this idea.

[Kaymyth she/her]

You...you want to set up a Sharder movie night?  On Saturdays? 

 

While Doctor Who is on?

 

You might want to adjust that timeslot a bit. 

 

Part of what made Pacifica's redemption work is that the writers didn't use the abuse as an attempt to absolve her of her actions. If anything, she's trying to make amends; she begins that episode by giving Mabel and her friends free tickets to her family's annual gala, knowing that everyone in town wants to attend. It doesn't hurt that by this point, her primary victim, Mabel, had already moved on, deciding that "being silly is awesome" and that Pacifica's bullying was nothing to internalize. And when the parental abuse is revealed, it places her bullying into the context of that: It isn't an excuse for what she did, but what she did is portrayed as part of the ugly cycle. She has no power at home, so she bullies others to take the power back. This in no way attempts to excuse her behavior, and we're not expected to pity her for bullying Mabel. We are invited to sympathize with her because of the abuse she has suffered, but not because of the abuse she has dished out on others.

Diamond Tiara, on the other hand, is a bully, and we are allowed to believe she does it because she can. She makes fun of Scootaloo, basically the in-world equivalent of a physically disabled child, and she never tries to make amends. Scootaloo does seem to decide her bullying is nothing to internalize, much as Mabel does, but it is the CMCs who reach out to DT and not the other way around. While this could definitely work, it's jarring to see DT as the recipient of kindness when she has spent five seasons refusing to bestow any sort of kindness on others.

When her abuse is revealed, it feels like an attempt to absolve her of guilt. "See?" the writers seem to say. "She only does it because her mom is mean. Pity her!" We are invited to see her bullying as a symptom of problems at home, and to pity her for the bullying she dishes out as much as the bullying she receives. This is messed up for a number of reasons, though I'll just share one: It reminds me of the time in middle school when, after being the victim of a cruel prank by the girl who had victimized me all year, I approached an aide in tears. This aide wound up getting the bully to share how her mom had died of cancer three years prior. I felt sorry for her--so sorry, in fact, that i felt guilty for ratting her out. Rather than increase empathy between a bully and her victim, this aide made the victim feel guilty for requesting justice.

That was the effect of making DT an abuse victim: It tacitly shamed anyone who wanted her to face justice and make amends for her bullying. I'm all for DT being redeemed, but I'd rather it was done in such a way that affirmed the suffering of those she'd abused, and pushed her toward making amends. Not a way that screamed "It's not her fault!"

Edit: Argh, don't know why spoiler tags aren't working.

 

I see it!  You put the wrong type of slash into your tag closer.

[The Honor Spren she/her]

That movie night would probably work. But the movie must be available on Netflix! I'm trying to remember if there are any Marvel movies on there . . .

 

Say we do this, what movie would you guys want to watch?

Edited October 12, 2015 by The Honor Spren

[Kobold King he/him]

Another random comment I'll make about "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

 

The writers of this episode succumb to the trope that no one is innately terrible, especially not a filly. The blame of Diamond Tiara's sins are placed squarely on the shoulders of her mother.

 

So the question becomes...

 

 

...Who abused Spoiled Rich? The writers didn't explain the origin of Diamond Tiara's wickedness. They just pushed the explanation back a generation. If Diamond Tiara's not inherently evil, and is actually a perfect, ideal little filly from the moment she stands up to her mom, does that mean Spoiled Rich is innately evil?

 

See, as Quiver said, the episode isn't about Diamond Tiara becoming a good pony. The episode, in fact, tries to convince us through songs that Diamond Tiara has been a good pony all along, using Spoiled Rich here as a cop-out to speed the "redemption" along. Was Spoiled Rich ever a good pony? Is she only as terrible as she is because she was abused by her own mother? How many generations back does this go?

 

Why isn't there any room in this narrative for a pony who chose of her own free will to do terrible things, and later on chose to get back on the right path?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Another random comment I'll make about "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

The writers of this episode succumb to the trope that no one is innately terrible, especially not a filly. The blame of Diamond Tiara's sins are placed squarely on the shoulders of her mother.

So the question becomes...

...Who abused Spoiled Rich? The writers didn't explain the origin of Diamond Tiara's wickedness. They just pushed the explanation back a generation. If Diamond Tiara's not inherently evil, and is actually a perfect, ideal little filly from the moment she stands up to her mom, does that mean Spoiled Rich is innately evil?

See, as Quiver said, the episode isn't about Diamond Tiara becoming a good pony. The episode, in fact, tries to convince us through songs that Diamond Tiara has been a good pony all along, using Spoiled Rich here as a cop-out to speed the "redemption" along. Was Spoiled Rich ever a good pony? Is she only as terrible as she is because she was abused by her own mother? How many generations back does this go?

Why isn't there any room in this narrative for a pony who chose of her own free will to do terrible things, and later on chose to get back on the right path?

The writers got one thing right: Abusers are almost always abuse victims themselves. They were taught a wrong definition of love that placed an undue importance on power and maintaining it, and ascribe to this notion unless they consciously choose to break the cycle.

However, they forgot that this means abusers are still abusers. Although they correctly assumed that it would be easier for a child to break the cycle (since the power she had was over her peers and not her children, meaning the added temptation of parental authority is absent) they got breaking the cycle all wrong. To really break it, DT would've had to realize there was something wrong with her situation (which she sort of did, but only in the sense she realized her mother was a bully) how it affected her (she knew her mom walked all over her, but not that it made her bully others) and how to stop it (this was never addressed).

By having Spoiled Rich be easily cowed by her daughter (who depended on her financially, a fact no abusive parent would forget when confronted by their child) the writers robbed us of a moment where an abuse victim finally realizes the cycle they're trapped in. Had SR lashed out, DT could have seen her monstrous self reflected in her mother and decided not to be like her. But no, her moment of empowerment came out of nowhere.