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"Flutter Brutter" Quick Review


Dark Qiviut

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Finally done with the episode. It was a complete chore to sit through. Fluttershy and Dash were great. Twilight, Spike, Opal, and Rarity were good in their limited roles. The moral itself about how to stand and confront your fear of failure is very admirable, and I appreciate its mature tone it was trying to relay.

 

But it screwed up a ton on three major points: Zephyr, the moral, and the "freeloader" implications.

  1. Zephyr is a colossal asshole. Stereotypes are one of the show's biggest flaws. Often, when DHX uses them, they're at their own disadvantage, and they RUIN the story, not help it. The only time season six handled a stereotype well was when cartoon shenanigans made a mockery out of Garble; the jokes worked because he deserved them. The stereotypes killed the episode here. Zephyr is a combination of two classic stereotypes: the diva and the freeloader. A diva because he was flamboyant to the point of over-the-top, selfish, and manipulative. As the episode progressed, Zephyr became more and more insufferable. Him not shutting up is a problem already. But when he knowingly destroyed his parents' cloud collection and flowers and not even give a damn, Zeph turned into one of the most hateable characters of the show. I don't give one shit how he "made up" at the end. You don't have the right to destroy anyone's property, prized or not! If he truly cared about his family, he wouldn't dare attempt this garbage!
     

    But in Act 2, he gets worse. When assigned jobs by Fluttershy and her friends, does Zephyr even bother trying to get any work done? No. And keep in mind, these jobs are very simple in Equestrian standards; any competent pony can accomplish these goals. Zephyr is completely capable of cleaning the windows, dying the cloth, and kicking the clouds. Instead, what does he do? Weasel his lazy ass into duping others to do his work while he watches. When he was threatened if he tried to weasel his way out, he quit! And the episode's telling me he feels completely incapable of doing them? Give me a break!
  2. The moral is fantastic and is something all of us feel and experience. One of our biggest fears, if not the biggest, is failure. No one wants to fail. And it can be very devastating when we fail. I don't wish it upon anyone.
     

    But FB executes the fear of failure so poorly, because everything that happens up to this point completely contradicts it. Zephyr behaved so terribly to his family, periodically returns to his house to freeload, intentionally destroyed his parents' sentimental possessions, and didn't bother trying to work on the simplests of tasks. He claimed that he was struggling in mane therapy because he feared he'll fail, but given his lackadaisical arrogance throughout the first two acts, then that's not fear of failure. That's laziness.
     
    So when the episode rushes in the idea that by trying and succeeds in the face of his fears, his triumph lacks any satisfaction. Instead, it gives me the impression that I'm watching two separate ideas merged into one. Rather than flowing through, the story is a mess.
  3. There are serious implications in the conflict's delivery, which @@PuppyKit pointed out here. Fluttershy mandates that he can stay until he finds a job. But because Zephyr's a freeloader stereotype, the episode paints a false impression that everyone who lives with their parents, friends, or roommates is lazy and and takes everything from their parents because they can. It's a complete lie. Were in an economy where living alone has become more and more expensive. Not everyone can live on their own. Parents and adult kids live together all the time, and in cities where rent can cost so much, sometimes they have to. When the child is disabled, then sometimes they have to live with their parents or live off them, for they can't make a living on their own. One of my closest friends is intellectually disabled and relies on his mom to help him.


To echo @Wind Chaser, if Flutter Brutter didn't pull off such offensive stereotypes and treat the conflict with genuine respect, then Zephyr's fear of failure would feel more genuine. Let's say we see him try and fail and isn't narcissistic. With the efforts, he fails, but each time he fails, it becomes worse to the point where he feels like doing nothing will be more helpful than not helping at all. That way, when he tries and succeeds, then it's rewarding. The TUGS episode handles the fear of failure way better than FB.

 


It has some highlights, but the bad outweighs the good. Out of all the episodes in this show, Flutter Brutter is personally the most difficult to watch, because I hate Zephyr so damn much. He represents everything I hate about a character and amplifies it. Not even Princess Spike was this difficult.

 

FIM's supposed to deliver likable characters who we're supposed to root for. Fluttershy is the Mane Eight character here, but this is a Zephyr episode, not Fluttershy episode. How am I supposed to root for him when he's more hateable than villain!Sunset (yet not as hateable as Radiant Hope from IDW's Siege of The Crystal Empire) and doesn't give me any good reason to root for him? In short, a terrible episode.

 


 

Source: S06:E11 - Flutter Brutter

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I strongly disagree about Radiant Hope, but can't help but largely agree about Zephyr (though he did upgrade to "somewhat tolerable" status near the end, IMO).

  • Brohoof 1
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Point 3 was my absolute favorite here and this was the most negative thing I saw in the episode, it really paints a horrible light. Zephyr being used as the example of this is even more horrible. I really, really am on the fence with this episode. By that I mean I can't tell if I want to call it 'meh' or just say that I really don't like it. Or even hate it.

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I liked today's episode, mainly because it was about Fluttershy helping another pony overcome their fears. That being said, Zeph was a royal pain in the ass and I can understand why sitting through this episode would be a chore for you.

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The writers need to give us some indication that a focus character is worth redemption, and I think they failed in that where Zephyr is concerned. He comes across as irredeemable, so redeeming him rings hollow.

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