Everything Wrong with the MLP Comics in One Block
So, I was browsing through Derpibooru, per usual, trying to find some good Rarity pictures to look at. I find their filter system to make finding the fanart that you personally want to see much easier than other mediums of fanart, such as DeviantArt, but I digress. What's important about me browsing through Derpibooru is that sometimes I find strips from the comics and whatnot that were recently released.
Sometimes I find these amusing, but the majority of the time I find them to be on-par with what I've grown to expect from the comics. That's not a good thing, mind you, as that means I find them to be just plain stupid and leaving me to question as to why I took the time out of my day to read the comic block that I was presented with.
When I was browsing today, however, I found the epitome of what I've grown to expect from the MLP comics. Naturally it had to do with Rarity otherwise it likely wouldn't have grabbed my attention, but it just summed everything up perfectly:
I don't view myself as an analyst or a critic, to be honest. If I review something or share an opinion, I generally do it for fun. I do enjoy the majority of the television series, but I don't like everything it puts it out, of course. It's an unreasonable expectation to enjoy everything a medium of entertainment puts out, especially when one is as cynical as I am. I do find myself to grow attached with the characters that the show portrays, however. They have many redeeming and relatable qualities and the mane cast of characters I've grown to love and cherish is the main reason I tune into the show for every new episode to see what happens next. Perhaps it's my attachment to the characters that the TV show set up that drives me to dislike the comics, but if that's the case than I certainly can't find it within myself to view that as a bad thing.
My main issue with this scene is the context. Rarity liking shopping wouldn't be surprising and I don't expect perfection. However, the context of this scene is what's so agitating, as I researched it a bit and found out that Ponyville had just been torn to pieces by the main villain of this particular comic. Families are now displaced and homeless, and the town they had not only lived in, but had grown to cherish, was now just a pile of debris and rubble.
Someone stated that the scene of Ponyville crumbling was actually intense and very well executed. After that, however, it went downhill. RD initially just wanted to concede defeat and award victory to the villain, which is a start to where sardonic thoughts of "Oh yeahh, she totally would do that" begin seeping into my mind. Applejack mentions something about how the villain would just destroy the forests if they tried to use those to rebuild Ponyville, and then some things happen (I hope) that lead Rarity to get this airhead look on her face and spurt out the most cliche line for a girly character to spout out ever.
Now, call me a cotton headed ninny muggins, but I'm pretty sure that one of the big reasons Rarity was created was to spit in the face of the cliche girly character. Not to brag, but I do know quite a bit about Rarity's character.
Rarity wasn't really ever created to be the main sell, like Pinkie Pie or so - not by Faust, at least. Hasbro wanted a character that was obsessed with fashion, and Lauren was already wanting to create a show that defied the norm for a show that featured little girls as the target demographic due to her disdain for the shows targeted at the age group that she grew up with. Thus, instead of creating an airhead shopoholic like Hasbro wanted, she created Rarity - a girl who did not consume trends, but rather created them. A girl who did not rely on the support of others, but took care of herself and showed enough strength to manage her own successful business with no help whatsoever. A girl who was willing to put forth a lifetime of effort into being who she wanted to be, and wouldn't let anything change her when it came down to it.
Thus, Rarity wasn't made to be a main sell in Faust's eyes - she was made to appeal to a niche audience, actually. The little girls who liked fashion and other "girly" things to prove that just because you're feminine doesn't mean you can't show strength, perseverance, and dedication. Rarity herself was also meant to prove that just because you associate yourself with stereotypically girly things doesn't mean you have to be like this:
This is essentially a giant middle finger to everything that Rarity stands for. While it isn't really much to lose sleep over regardless, it's like this with all of the characters in the comic series from my experience. Rarity, who is symbolic of generosity and compassion in the show, has just witnessed the town she's lived in for the majority of her life crumble down around her. She has just witnessed the people she knew and loved become homeless and displaced. Pretty sure her own home and business is located in Ponyville, so that's probably just a pile of rubble and nothing as well.
The only way she can respond in this moment, apparantly, is to get a stupid look on her face and say the most cliched dumb shopping girl line ever uttered. Even Spike thinks this is stupid, look at him. I bet he's rolling his eyes at whoever wrote this.
This isn't just a problem with Rarity, though - it seems to stretch for all the characters, actually. Just a little bit before this scene, RD just wanted to give up. Give up, the bad guy had beaten them. That's it, it's all over. I don't really know about you, but I don't think I can see RD really ever...saying that. All apologies, as I don't understand RD as well as I do Rarity, but I'd like to think I understand her enough to know that she wouldn't give up before really even trying to defeat the villain. Or Twilight in the wild west arc, who apparently is more than willing to sit back and let her friends get their asses kicked by a group of criminals and not do anything because she doesn't want to use magic against citizens of equestria. This is a problem with all of the mane 6 throughout the comics, and I think, at least as a Rarity fan, that this particular block is just the pinnacle of the issues with the comics.
Now, this all traces back to the point that I brought up earlier - I like the show for the characters. I am big on characterization for this reason, and unless they absolutely butcher characterization than I'm more than likely going to enjoy the episode. The comics have a brutal inconsistency in terms of characterization seen in the show and quite frankly it isn't for the better. It often dumbs down the characters to an extreme or will have them do things that they usually stand on the complete opposite side of the spectrum on in terms of personal viewpoints just for a cheap laugh, such as this scene right here. Most of the time I personally don't even find them funny, myself, but I don't want to delve into the subject of humor too much as it is far too subjective to form a concrete opinion on.
I just see this and I think of how bad the comics screw up in this area, and it just bothers me to the point where I needed to rant about it for a bit. Say what you will about that, but I find this to be a serious problem with the comics and the main reason I can't find a lot of enjoyment in them
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