How come no one gets mad when Fluttershy throws RD's fears in her face?

[Pastel 7,630]

when Fluttershy has been shown doing the same thing? (see “Sonic Rainboom”. “Fluttershy says “just because you've failed the Sonic Rainboom One-hundred-thousand times in practice doesn't mean you won't be able to do it in front of a stadium full of impatient, super-critical sports fan ponies”)

The way she said it was a bit different from how Pinkie Pie did it to Fluttershy in Fillii Vanilli (she was a lot more aggressive).

Maybe that's one of the reasons.

[KokuraiNoSenshi 3,463]

I think there's quite a few reasons for this, honestly, and I don't think it's because of bias (or at least, I can think of reasons why it shouldn't have to be bias).

 

1: Pinkie Pie has been shown to be more intune with others' emotions than Fluttershy. Fluttershy is not the best socially, we can all accept that quite simply and quickly, I feel. She's an introvert and, while trying her hardest, has plenty of bumps she needs to smooth out. However Pinkie Pie has been shown to be very quick to know who needs what and how to treat others, especially her friends. We've seen her stop Rainbow Dash from pranking Fluttershy for this very reason. However, only a few seasons later, we see her doing the complete opposite not once, not twice, but three times within an episode (which seems to take up only a few days). This means that Pinkie has very conflicting actions, and leads to wondering why. She went from a pony who knew how to make everyone happy, but suddenly turns around and completely changes tune with the one pony she's been shown to be very careful around. I think if, say, Pinkie had done it once in an episode, no one would have gotten upset. Or if she had just been less dramatic about it, more subtle than loud and "FOREVER!!!!" people would have brushed it off as a mistake.

 

2: Going back to the last bit of the 1st comment, Pinkie went really high end with it and dramatized it to a point it was unnecessarily so. Yes, we've seen Flutters hurt Pinkie (and Rarity) before, however when we saw that it was definitely played up to make Flutters' feel like the bad guy. We weren't supposed to find Pinkie and Rarity's tears funny, we weren't supposed to feel like it was all just a joke. After it happened, Flutters' shut herself out and absolutely ripped herself a new one. Whereas when Pinkie did what she did, she never really got retribution. She just got to ham it up and be comic foil for the episode, which turning such a great character into comic foil, even for an episode, is downright horrible. Especially when it comes at the cost of one of the weakest ponies in terms of emotional stability.

 

3: Rainbow Dash is much, much stronger than Fluttershy in terms of emotional and mental abilities. Rainbow Dash lives in the spotlight, she's always getting attention and sometimes it isn't good attention. Whereas Fluttershy is, as I've said multiple times by now, not. She hides away and isn't that strong when taking criticism, to the point she locks herself away when she hurts her friends, as if she is a monster that needs to be locked in a jail. Rainbow Dash has not once acted like this. She always strives to be better, go faster, fly higher. Seeing her suddenly cowering in fear is a huge change of pace, and it is possible that Fluttershy did not realize this. She's always seen Rainbow Dash as her stronger half, the one on the spotlight and always ready to fight the bullies of the world. She most likely has this image of Rainbow that paints her as some sort of immovable rock, especially in comparison to Fluttershy's more timid, quiet self.

 

4: It came at the height of the Pinkie hate. As the seasons have gone on, many people have been liking Pinkie less and less due to them seeing her as a comic foil instead of a character. At first, she was a great character. And she's had good episodes later on. But around the time Filli Vanilli came out, people weren't liking Pinkie Pie. She was seen to be acting out of character, and to be less than her previous self. Filli Vanilli was just more ammunition against her. Whereas Fluttershy's always been in a constant state of love/hate, as people either find her a goddess or overhyped. Fluttershy's actions have always been weird and stilted, whereas Pinkie has, to many, been on a steady decline. Hopefully this changes, and hopefully she gets better episodes, but at the time this episode aired it caused a big nuclear bomb to be headed straight for our Cotton Candy Friend.

 

Yes, I am biased towards Fluttershy. Yes, I do consider her best Mane 6 with Pinkie being lower on the list. However that doesn't mean that we can't think about this as something other than pure bias. Pinkie messed up, yes. But so have the others. Everyone messes up from time to time, and while a little anger and salt is understandable I do feel the subject should be left behind in hopes of a brighter future for Pinkie, Fluttershy, AND Rainbow Dash. They're all wonderful characters, and are a joy to watch. Don't hate one just because of an episode, especially when it wasn't even their episode. Everypony deserves a chance, and while I do think Pinkie Pie went overboard I don't think she truly had bad intentions, she was just being Pinkie Pie. Yes, Fluttershy may be overhyped at times but she isn't always perfect. Yes, Rainbow Dash is a rock but even rocks have cracks. Everyone has ups and downs, and what we are debating here is just another example. I hope this helped people make a bit more sense of what happened, and caused a little less anger between bronies

[VulpineTaco 525]

Because people don't want to admit that their waifus are flawed.

[VitalSpark 1,830]

 

 

Same reason why Queen Krysilis is seen as cute and misunderstood, despite her being a totally heartless b$&@ch who tried to kill literally everyone

 

I don't think Chrysalis had any intention to kill everyone. I suppose she might have killed ponies that she perceived as being threats, though we didn't see her do that. Changelings feed off ponies' emotions; dead ponies are no use to her — she needs them alive.

 

 

Pinkie Pie has been shown to be more intune with others' emotions than Fluttershy.

 

While in general this is true, she is also an over-the-top extrovert most of the time, and such people can have difficulty understanding the behaviour of introverts.

 

I've always interpreted Pinkie's behaviour in Filli Vanilli to be unintentional cruelty. She understands that Fluttershy is upset and nervous, and tries to help by forcing Fluttershy to confront her fears, but badly misjudges things.

[Megachangeling12 109]

I don't think Chrysalis had any intention to kill everyone. I suppose she might have killed ponies that she perceived as being threats, though we didn't see her do that. Changelings feed off ponies' emotions; dead ponies are no use to her — she needs them alive.

yeah honestly it wouldn't make sense for her to kill many of them . Changelings feed of love and they can't love if they're all dead . As for the argument about weather Dash deserved to be upstaged in the mare do well episode . That episode was quite similar to the coon trilogy from South Park a whiny arrogant " hero " is upstaged by a dark mysterious hero figure . The arrogant one freaks out and died something drastic to ensure their rival can't steal their job and they claim to have learned something but it's debatable if they actually don.

[KokuraiNoSenshi 3,463]

While in general this is true, she is also an over-the-top extrovert most of the time, and such people can have difficulty understanding the behaviour of introverts.

 

I've always interpreted Pinkie's behaviour in Filli Vanilli to be unintentional cruelty. She understands that Fluttershy is upset and nervous, and tries to help by forcing Fluttershy to confront her fears, but badly misjudges things.

This is another good point, honestly. I don't think she had any intentions to harm Fluttershy, not even a little. But she did misjudge it, and so has Fluttershy and so has pretty much everyone else. Heck the only time I think a misjudgment turned out for the best was A Canterlot Wedding

[Megachangeling12 109]

I seriously was so angry with Flutters in that episode . I wanted to say " you know Fluttershy you can be assertive but you don't have to be a bitch about it !"

[Mouse 302]

Honestly, I think we need to cut both Fluttershy and Pinkie some slack. One of the great things about this show is that the characters are realistic and 3-dimensional, and these kinds of characters are never going to be perfect. I think we can all agree that both Flutters and Pinkie didn't do these things to intentionally hurt or harass her friends. Fluttershy was trying to comfort Rainbow Dash but ended up stressing her out even more, but that was most likely not her intention. Pinkie Pie got so excited in Filli Vanilli that she most likely didn't notice that what she was saying to Fluttershy was freaking her out. And even if they did do these things on purpose, well... people make mistakes. Now some apology from both of them might have been nice, but really, there's no point in over-analyzing these occurrences because after all they're "only humans". I'm sure all of us have actually (or even purposely) done something similar in our life.

[Felix 1,363]

I don't know. I honestly thought that the thing with Fluttershy is more specifically how she did that. Pinkie Pie almost seemed to intentionally be annoying about it, which made even her fans annoyed, where as Fluttershy, while she did seem to rub in the facts, she wasn't all up in her face about it like Pinkie Pie was. Plus, Pinkie continued to do it. Fluttershy didn't.

 

Both of them made things worse but one just did so a little more than the other.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Felix

[Lyra's Pants 154]

Fluttershy is pretty much the ideal kind of girl for many guys. Shy, submissive, a good cook, beautiful. It's no surprise that she acts as the "waifu" pony for so many bronies. In fact, she may be interpreted as perpetrating the "feminine means more innocent" stereotype, regardless of what she has done over the years. So, in essence, since Fluttershy is often represented as purity, she enforces a double standard for some bronies. For example, if a more masculine, extroverted figure began harassing a docile, feminine figure, then this is often interpreted as unspeakable cruelty, such as Angel Bunny defenestrating Fluttershy over an almost perfect salad. However, when the "fragile flower" treats a relatively manly man like dirt, then it can be seen as harmless slapstick or karma imposed on the man for apparently "corrupting" the "delicate" woman. In many cartoons, we often see women mistreating their husbands, sequences that are played for laughs. A man kicking the crap out of women wouldn't work as comedy apparently as much as a woman beating a man. Otherwise, the feminists would be all over the male-on-female abuse like Fluttershy Hulking out over a firefly (over her friends, way to keep your priorities, Fluts). The bottom line is that Fluttershy is too idealized among many bronies for them to be mad at her.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

Though I will admit that I probably DO have just a bit of bias leaning towards Fluttershy I mean come on let's be honest...She's way too cute and beautiful and sweet to hate...

Sure there were those times at the gala and in putting your hoof down which did not have reasonable catalysts for her anger but Rainbow Dash has done far more bad things than Fluttershy has. And even though she was nervous about that test it was still not a reasonable catalyst for her actions towards Twilight.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Though I will admit that I probably DO have just a bit of bias leaning towards Fluttershy I mean come on let's be honest...She's way too cute and beautiful and sweet to hate...

 

Sure there were those times at the gala and in putting your hoof down which did not have reasonable catalysts for her anger but Rainbow Dash has done far more bad things than Fluttershy has. And even though she was nervous about that test it was still not a reasonable catalyst for her actions towards Twilight.

it's not about who's done more bad than Fluttershy. It's just the case of people ignoring her flaws and idolizing her to such an extent to where they swear that she's perfect in every way, and don't want to take the bad with the good side of her.

 

Hell, it seems like even the show staff do it. Like in "Swarm of the Century". Who do the other ponies blame (even AJ, saying right in front of Pinkie's face that Pinkie's one apple short of a bushel- implying she's not of her right mind). Does Fluttershy get blamed AT ALL for keeping that last parasprite, after her friends rounded all the other ones up, and returned them to the forest? Does Fluttershy get blamed by her friends, or the townsponies, for causing that remaining parasprite to multiply, thus being the one behind the destroyed town? (had she not kept the one and allowed it to multiply, after the others were returned to the forest, then the sprites wouldn't have eaten Ponyville) Does she get blamed for that? Nope.

Neither was she blamed or even called out for scaring Rainbow Dash in "Sonic rainboom".

Not by the fans, and not by the writers.

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

it's not about who's done more bad than Fluttershy. It's just the case of people ignoring her flaws and idolizing her to such an extent to where they swear that she's perfect in every way, and don't want to take the bad with the good side of her.

 

Hell, it seems like even the show staff do it. Like in "Swarm of the Century". Who do the other ponies blame (even AJ, saying right in front of Pinkie's face that Pinkie's one apple short of a bushel- implying she's not of her right mind). Does Fluttershy get blamed AT ALL for keeping that last parasprite, after her friends rounded all the other ones up, and returned them to the forest? Does Fluttershy get blamed by her friends, or the townsponies, for causing that remaining parasprite to multiply, thus being the one behind the destroyed town? (had she not kept the one and allowed it to multiply, after the others were returned to the forest, then the sprites wouldn't have eaten Ponyville) Does she get blamed for that? Nope.

Neither was she blamed or even called out for scaring Rainbow Dash in "Sonic rainboom".

Not by the fans, and not by the writers.

It's not like Fluttershy KNEW that the Parasprites were gonna multiply and destroy Ponyville...

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

it's not about who's done more bad than Fluttershy. It's just the case of people ignoring her flaws and idolizing her to such an extent to where they swear that she's perfect in every way, and don't want to take the bad with the good side of her.

 

Hell, it seems like even the show staff do it. Like in "Swarm of the Century". Who do the other ponies blame (even AJ, saying right in front of Pinkie's face that Pinkie's one apple short of a bushel- implying she's not of her right mind). Does Fluttershy get blamed AT ALL for keeping that last parasprite, after her friends rounded all the other ones up, and returned them to the forest? Does Fluttershy get blamed by her friends, or the townsponies, for causing that remaining parasprite to multiply, thus being the one behind the destroyed town? (had she not kept the one and allowed it to multiply, after the others were returned to the forest, then the sprites wouldn't have eaten Ponyville) Does she get blamed for that? Nope.

Neither was she blamed or even called out for scaring Rainbow Dash in "Sonic rainboom".

Not by the fans, and not by the writers.

He makes a solid point. Fluttershy rarely has to deal with any backlash in the show, and has even been played up as the good guy in situations that she advocates doing things that'd ultimately hurt those around her ("Bats!" - she wanted to literally let the fruit bats eat the apple orchard, which is a huge source of monetary income for her friend Applejack's family as well as a major food supply for all of the denizens of Ponyville. Her reasoning is very destructive to everyone around her barring the parasitic fruit bats, but yet AJ is played up as being in the wrong.)

 

Then there's Putting Your Hoof Down - if people complain about Rarity's actions not receiving backlash in Sweet & Elite, the only backlash Fluttershy got in an episode were she actually did things that were directly hurtful and extremely inconsiderate of two of her closest friends was...nothing? Rarity didn't even do anything very bad in Sweet & Elite - she just offered to make her friend a dress for her birthday and got caught up living her dream, and in the end reconciled for her actions which weren't even bad to begin with. Fluttershy essentially bullied everyone in town as well as her close friends and no one is calling for her to receive any punishment for her misdeeds. Not even the writers, apparantly.

 

I have to agree with the OP here. Fluttershy gets away with too many things from both the fandom's point of view as well as that of the writing staff themselves. 

[Guest90210 3,568]

The reason is because Rainbow Dash, at least up until that point (early Season 1), was seen as impossible to crack. She was seen by viewers (and by the ponies in the show) as emotionally strong willed and could take criticism. Fluttershy was more delicate and would get her feelings hurt easier. That's why there wasn't as much backlash. Fluttershy didn't think that what she was saying would negatively effect Rainbow. I'd also argue that Pinkie didn't realize that she was hurting Fluttershy's feelings either in that one episode, so I don't think the criticism that fans give her is completely fair either, but that's another topic.

 

 

Then there's Putting Your Hoof Down - if people complain about Rarity's actions not receiving backlash in Sweet & Elite, the only backlash Fluttershy got in an episode were she actually did things that were directly hurtful and extremely inconsiderate of two of her closest friends was...nothing? Rarity didn't even do anything very bad in Sweet & Elite - she just offered to make her friend a dress for her birthday and got caught up living her dream, and in the end reconciled for her actions which weren't even bad to begin with. Fluttershy essentially bullied everyone in town as well as her close friends and no one is calling for her to receive any punishment for her misdeeds. Not even the writers, apparantly.

 

The writers ruined the end of that episode by painting Iron Will as the bad guy. Rarity and Pinkie Pie somehow blamed Iron Will for Fluttershy treating them like trash. She definitely should have been called out to some extent. Instead of pushing all the blame on Iron Will, they could have forgiven Fluttershy instead. I could see someone making the case that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were only blaming Iron Will to comfort Fluttershy, but even in private they mentioned how "that monster" caused her to do what she did. Sure, his teachings may have had an influence, but in the end, it was Fluttershy's doing. Though, at least in the end, she realized what she did was wrong and was apologetic.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Rivendare

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

I mentioned this to a friend not too long ago, and I'm kinda glad a topic was made about it.  I think a lot of people conveniently forgot about that Fluttershy moment in season one or simply didn't care so much because it was Rainbow Dash on the receiving end.   I'm sure that those who think poorly enough of Dashie will both willfully ignore her virtues and possibly even relish the times she's being given a hard time.  Flutters did essentially the same thing to RD in "Sonic Rainboom" that Pinkie did to Flutters in season four.  And yet, people let the one thing slide and hold the other in infamy.  Flutters also brutally stomped on Rainbow Dash while seemingly in the throes of a flight-or-fight response before calmly and mindfully pausing to open a window.

 

Do I condemn Flutters for either of these things?  No.  Because I would have to focus entirely on those moments and blind myself to most other interactions between Dashie and Flutters; interactions that make their long-standing friendship and mutual concern for each other apparent.  Also (and even more influentially) if Rainbow doesn't hold these things against Flutters, I'm not going to either.

 

You Flutters fans out there: Forgive Pinkie.  Or hold Flutters accountable for her easily comparable moment from "Sonic Rainboom."  Or simply admit to your hypocrisy; that'll do as well.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Ziggy and Angelbaby

[EpitomeOfTruth 243]

Something that has been baffling me as well, especially since I believe that Pinkie wasn't at all in the wrong in Filli Vanilli.

[Light Diamond 950]

Well, in Sonic Rainboom Fluttershy didn't mean to say what she said it was unintentional and Rainbow Dash has mistreated her in Dragonshy. Pinkie Pie made Fluttershy cry and Fluttershy made Pinkie Pie cry in putting your hoof down.

 

Also i was annoyed with her for what she did in putting your hoof down, some people may blame Iron Will for her actions but i know it was her own doing in the end.

 

In the end all the ponies have there flaws.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Light Diamond

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

In the end all the ponies have there flaws.

I think this is one of the better things that can emerge from this topic.  Perfect is nonexistent, and all interpretations of "perfect" are vulnerable to subjectivity (and therefore, themselves, imperfect and inconsistent).  Flawed is interesting.  I don't mean that everypony has to be an amnesiac with a dark past and an enduring drinking problem.  But flaws ARE character.  Flaws facilitate moments of personal growth and triumphant moments during which obstacles are defeated.  Imaginary perfection is boring and, again, has about eight bazillion different faces.

 

Rainbow Dash isn't perfect.  But, in being flawed, she's perfect the way she is.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Simple: Fluttershy cried when Pinkie did it so you feel sorry for Fluttershy. Whereas when Fluttershy did it to RD the writers wrote it as a gag and made it more obvious that Fluttershy said it on accident. 

[EpitomeOfTruth 243]

Simple: Fluttershy cried when Pinkie did it so you feel sorry for Fluttershy. Whereas when Fluttershy did it to RD the writers wrote it as a gag and made it more obvious that Fluttershy said it on accident.

 

I'd say that the way Pinkie did it was intended to be a gag as well. I sure as hell was laughing. It was also made clear tat Pinkie's comments were accidental. Edited March 8, 2015 by BronyOfJustice

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

I'd say that the way Pinkie did it was intended to be a gag as well. I sure as hell was laughing. It was also made clear tat Pinkie's comments were accidental.

Yeah it was clearly meant to be a gag but people misread it. 

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

I don't get mad at either. In fact I find both situations to be pretty funny.

[KokuraiNoSenshi 3,463]

Does everyone want to just, like, ignore the entire 10 minute speech and 4 reasoning thing I wrote up JUST to explain why people might have issues with this without bias towards the yellow Pegasus?

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Guys, we're getting too emotional over this. Let's calm our jets here.

 

Also, this topic has gone WAY off topic. Remember the OP:

 

 

But when Pinkie Pie does the same to Fluttershy- the same pony who- when need be, can stare down and scare a cockatrice shitless, talk down to a full grown dragon and make it cry, stand fearless in the face of a manticore, literally throw herself at Celestia's private garden animals, and chase them down demanding she be loved by them, throw a Luna-like tantrum over it, charge through Celestia and Luna's Castle, like a rampaging bull, and draw the attention of everypony at a Gala event, while she screams at the top of her lungs, stand up to Iron Will, have the balls to kidnap the Princess of Equestria's pet, literally bucking a Diamond Dog off of her back, talking back to RD's childhood bullies, and be the cause of Parasprites destroying Ponyville (all because she stupidly decided to keep one (and again, Pinkie gets the blame, rather than Fluttershy in that episode)) ect.- people start flipping out over it, and saying that Pinkie went too far, when Fluttershy has been shown doing the same thing? (see “Sonic Rainboom”. “Fluttershy says “just because you've failed the Sonic Rainboom One-hundred-thousand times in practice doesn't mean you won't be able to do it in front of a stadium full of impatient, super-critical sports fan ponies”)

Why does Fluttershy get away with it and Pinkie doesn't?

 

Now, if you want to continue this Rainbow Dash discussion you can create another topic. Until then OT posts in this thread will be hidden.

 

Thanks.