That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Look, if you've known me any length of time then that won't surprise you! But what I mean is that the ponyfic part of the fandom, at least, nowadays sometimes seems to me to consist substantially of: A) people who just take everything lightly and take the view of: whatever, because hay, colourful talking ponies; and B) people who are really, really invested and will post highly researched deep dives about Rarity's character evolution or whatever, sometimes running to thousands of words. There is of course nothing wrong with either of these positions. But neither of them are mine.
I mean, obviously the very fact that I've had a blog going for almost a decade and written over 400 Ponyfic Roundups excludes me from Group A above. Clearly all that, not to mention my episode reviews (next FiM rewatch coming this weekend, honest!) means I couldn't really fit into that box. But I'm clearly not in Group B either. Every so often I'll read a blog that goes to enormous lengths to list every single continuity error in the show or something, and I have to admit that my immediate reaction will be: "You know what? I'm not sure I honestly care enough to worry about every tiny note there."
So I'm in Group C. That's made up of people for whom yes, reasonable levels of consistency in writing and characterisation and continuity and so on are important, and so for example suddenly having the internet or something in a canon-universe fic will in all probability make the ride bumpy, as will that bloody bunyip in "P.P.O.V." But on the other hoof, I can let sometimes things slide if they're entertaining. And here's the thing: I know I'm doing it, but I'm not inclined to care so much about it that it undermines the enjoyment I'm already getting.
Post-reformation Starlight Glimmer is a good example. Sure, she unbalances the, er, balance of the Mane Six¹ (as indeed did Twilight's ascension years before). Sure, she was arguably more interesting as a villain. But although I don't always like Reformed!Starlight, I am very firmly in the camp that enjoys her appearances more often than not. Right up to late Season 9, yes. And that's Group C in a nutshell: we're not blind to problems and inconsistencies and sometimes they annoy us, but we quite often feel that Pony being fun is actually more important. I'm quite comfortable with where I sit on this.
¹ Though in one way she rebalances it, as the seven central ponies again include two of each main tribe (plus one alicorn)
So you're a little from column A, a little from column B then. As it were.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, while I'm definitely far more B than A, I wouldn't consider myself an extreme B. I can perfectly accept writing in the show contradicting small throwaway lines from prior seasons (would I have written Fluttershy's awful knitting at the start of Fake It 'Til You Make It, given her freaky knowledge of such seven seasons and almost one-hundred-and-sixty episode prior in Suited for Success? No, but I can look past that. Just… not the rest of the episode), meaning I live with small continuity errors of no consequence fine now. And, there are many episodes people find ruined experiences due to one thing, whereas I don't let override the positives (Pinkie's behaviour in Filly Vanilli kills that episode for some folks, but not me). That may sound hard to believe, given my stance on 95% of Pony content from 2018-on being a waste of time, but it's true, and just highlights the difference between a few things gone wrong and most things/everything having done so.
I do also often remind myself that many things that we would critique here would be accepted as positives in other cartoons, and while tonal displacement is the main reason for that, sometimes it's just us being pedantic. Sometimes. Not for nothing did Bronies earn a reputation for taking analysing the show way too far, even as much as we also gained a reputation for overpraising FiM.
Bit of a random set of thoughts, but then again, this was a bit of a random post of yours, so it fits. Sort of. Besides which, it's important to stick to one's principles, and when that means being entertained is the primary judgment, hard to argue with it.
Indeed, I'd think of you as being a fair bit further towards B than me, especially when it comes to the last couple of seasons of FiM, but certainly not all the way there.
DeleteEr... is this in response to anything specific that happened recently, or is it meant as a general affirmation? It feels like the sort of statement users put out when a controversy is doing the rounds, but I haven't noticed anything unusual in my feed.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's just something that I was idly musing about. No particular spark for it, and as far as I know no relevant controversy either.
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