Fight Scenes in FiM - Yay or Nay?

[Eloquence 2,076]

How do you feel about Friendship is Magic including fight scenes like the famous/infamous (depending on who you talk to) battle between Twilight and Tirek? Are they fun and exciting? Daring and empowering? Or do they send a bad message to children about dealing with their problems?

 

As the OP, I guess I'll go ahead and give my thoughts first. I am a very peaceful person, and to this day I have never so much as thrown a punch at anyone, which I pride myself on. That said, I am 100% pro fighting in FiM, and my stance has nothing to do with cool laser effects. 

 

With a few notable examples, such as Steven Universe and Sailor Moon, action and fighting are largely reserved for male characters in media. Men are nearly always portrayed as the physically strong ones, while women can only be strong using cunning or intellect or worst of all, emotional support to their men (gags). The message throughout media is that women are incapable of besting men physically in any situation ever, and that message reflects society too. Believe it or not, we live in a world where women are often told that if a man assaults them, and they can't get away, then they should just let him do what he wants with them because trying to fight back will "just make him angry".

 

Watching Twilight shoot massive deadly laser blasts at Tirek felt like concentrated blasts of feminism, like the most hardcore visual affirmation that femininity does not equate to weakness and masculinity does not equate to strength. I certainly wouldn't want to see it all the time, but I think that these scenes serve to show all the little girls watching that no part of them is limited by their sex or their gender, not even physical strength. That is why I am pro-pony gals kicking tail.

 

I realize this is a lot of opinion to start with, but I am hopeful that it will just serve to give others more to discuss. Also, I guess I had more opinion than I thought I did on this topic, and I don't really do abridged versions of my thoughts 

 

 

[1Bit 1,531]

I've always liked the balance between the action and the slice-of-life in FiM. It definitely livens up the show to have these premiere's and finales with a lot more fighting than mid-season, alongside the lighter episodes 

[Princess Oceangem 61]

I'm pro for the same reasons as you are, as well as these little fight scenes look epic and can be used as ammo when someone says MLP is for babies(which happens a lot at my school)

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Well anypony who knows me, including the OP, won't be surprised at where I sit on the topic. I'm all for it, maybe not for the same reason but I do like the presence of fight scenes.

 

They're not over saturated for one thing, I mean the Changeling bout was two seasons ago and the fight with the dragons had Spike represent Equestria's honor by proclaiming:

 

"And you know what us ponies do when we're up against three dragons? We . . . . RUUUUN!"

 

Most of the time it's mundande issues and even when things do get dangerous, the Mane Six try to find a way around the threat. Less so because they are morally opposed to fighting and more that they need to figure out how to beat the particular menace at hoof. 

 

So I think the amount they have right now is pretty good.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

I love them; personally. I honestly never understood why people had a problem with them.

 

I mean I loved the battle between Tirek & Twilight for a variety of reasons; among those of the animation itself, but it also showed that Twilight wasn't afraid to fight for what she believed in. If Tirek was willing to outright destroy everything; she had to put a stop to it.

 

Overall though I agree with my good friend @Eloquence. ^^

[RarityFan01 2,444]

Fight scenes here and there are fine, but I hate shows with frequent fight scenes. My Little Pony so far has very few fighting scenes, and I want to keep it that way. 

 

If there were no fight scenes, I probably wouldn't love this show as much. But if there were too many, I would definitely be turned off by the show.  

[Toaster Bot 183]

I'm all for fight scenes, though I have to admit I don't like them for any sort of deeper meaning or imagery they may carry. Lasers and exploding things are cool, and MLP is quite liberal with lasers and exploding things.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

It depends. It totally depends. 

 

I liked the Changeling fight and Applejack's fight with the chimera, but I detest Twilight vs. Tirek. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I'm very split on the topic. On the one hand I love me a good fight scene. Dragon Ball Z was on constantly when I was in grade school and I like that they are taking the threats seriously and showing that they aren't pushovers.  But on the other MLP is a show about the friendship and slice of life moments at it's heart.  I find it very hard to try to make jealously over your friend doing well in something just as griping as blasting magical laser beams in order to defend your home, family and friends, and your way of life, whereas shows like The Legend of Korra and Gurren Lagann made fighting a more central focus of their shows.  And secondly you run into DBZ's problem, the ever increasing power gap. Basically you need to keep making your opponents more and more powerful in order to keep a sense of threat to the villain but at this point Twilight is the only one with any combat fighting skills, which kind of goes against the whole "friendship is magic" part of the title since the other have no real chance of catching up to her power level (Unless Discord gives Fluttershy the entirely of the chaos magic spectrum and we get her going SSJ2 like Gohan did against Cell [bTW I would love to see that!   Seriously writers Season 5 finale right there! ]) and are just there waiting until they active whatever Elements of Harmony replacement they have going on for the season.

 

tl:dr I'm meh to the idea of it. I don't think they are a part of the general tone of the show, but I'm not going to say no to them or that they can't be done right. 

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

Let me be honest the Tirek Twilight fight scene wasn't even close to my favorite parts of the entire show. It was a good diversion but I still prefer less tension as it makes my experience more relaxed. I don't want there to be too many fight scenes and since this show is rated TV-Y I don't expect that many. And I prefered the fight scene in the 15th Pokémon movie because it had more inspirational messages and more emotion. I'm glad though there are a few fight scenes instead of too much or none at all or it would be more like G3.

[Twilight Frost 271]

I haven't seen much of mlp just yet. So once I saw I some of your post I decided to not read the rest. But I think the show is just fine without fighting from what I seen so far. It is what makes it so great is that it is so wonderful and wholesome without all the cartoon violance and hatred and killing that so many other cartoons like Family guy has. I think it can do with as little fighting as possible. 

[Probably Lee 197]

I'm pro for the same reasons as you are, as well as these little fight scenes look epic and can be used as ammo when someone says MLP is for babies(which happens a lot at my school)

I just tell them that chuck norris, or john cena is a brony, and it shuts them up :3

[Felix 1,363]

The fight scenes are epic as anything and I totally agree with everyone else. It's a very nice balance in how the show is structured.

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

Yes for sure. The season finale of season 4 was awesome.

[Justin_Case001 4,857]

I'm pro.

 

I agree with everything @Eloquence said.  Well put.

 

I'll add that I think FIM have proven that girls don't want G3 and that they can like fight scenes just as much as males.  Everything I've heard is that most young girls loved Twi vs Tirek,  My mom also loved that scene, and the whole episode, and she's in her late fifties and has never typically liked action movies or fighting just for fighting's sake.  But she loved that scene because she thought the story was so well done.  Just wanted to point that out.

 

I do agree with the majority as well, here, that the balance is good.  I certainly wouldn't want this to become My Little Dragonball: Ka-me-ha-me-ha Waves Are Magic.

[Pastel 7,627]

I agree that seeing female characters in fight scenes is original (not sure to understand what it has to do with feminism though)

 

I like fight scenes in MLP:FiM but I don't want too much of them...

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

As much as I do love the action scenes in FiM, I will reiterate what others have said. The flavor that has made FiM so great has more to do with its SoL episodes with the sprinkling of the action/adventure variety.

 

Balance is going to be the important thing. I'd rather not see the innocent SoL feel of the show sacrificed for more action, HOWEVER I'm not saying that I don't want "Twilight's Kingdom." Both play an important role in what makes FiM so special to all of us.

[chirox the pony 1,334]

I think it's a good thing to have, outside of the things everyone else has listed I think it's a good breakup from the usual calmer nature of the show, I'm also hoping for a pretty cool showdown between Twilight and Starlight. 

[Megachangeling12 109]

I'm pro fight scene . As long is its not to frequent then fight scenes can be totally awesome !

[ArcheoPony 76]

The Tirek one kinda of bothered me....I'd rather something like that using Celestia and/or Luna. The most I really want from this show in terms of fight action is what we got in "A Canterlot Wedding". That was fun and didn't go over the top.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

 

 

I'm also hoping for a pretty cool showdown between Twilight and Starlight. 

 

Might I ask what should the mane five will be doing during their showdown? Should they be captured or incapacitated, reduced to helpless damsels requiring Twilight to save them? Or should they just be relegated to cheerleaders, accepting their utter uselessness in the face of danger while the show once again forsakes its theme of "friendship solves all" and gives Twilight yet another solo moment of heroism that she doesn't have to share with those sidekicks she calls her friends. 

 

Which one sounds better to you? 

[chirox the pony 1,334]

Might I ask what should the mane five will be doing during their showdown? Should they be captured or incapacitated, reduced to helpless damsels requiring Twilight to save them? Or should they just be relegated to cheerleaders, accepting their utter uselessness in the face of danger while the show once again forsakes its theme of "friendship solves all" and gives Twilight yet another solo moment of heroism that she doesn't have to share with those sidekicks she calls her friends. 

 

Which one sounds better to you? 

I must admit beating people up as friends definitely goes with the friendship theme .

[Prince Firemane 309]

I really liked the Tirek vs. Twilight fight scene, not just because of pretty colors, but because of the narrative impact it had. Twilight was used to going up against villains who came at her indirectly. Nightmare Moon set up various roadblocks that indirectly allowed the mane six discover which Element of Harmony they represent. She came up against Twilight head-on later, true, but most of that time was either a charge or repetitive monologues. Discord was indirect by splitting them up in the maze and later throwing Ponyville into a casserole of nonsense. Chrysalis never really went up against Twilight, she imprisoned and taunted her when she got in the way. Even though Twilight and friends fought against her underlings, it was Cadance and Shining Armor who defeated Chrysalis in the end. Sombra... well, his entire MO was indirect. By the time he had a direct point, Twilight was imprisoned and it was Cadance and Spike who defeated him.

 

Tirek was different because he actively went after his goal with single-minded resolve. By the time he found out Twilight's existence, his single-minded resolved shifted towards Twilight and obtaining her Alicorn magic by any means he deemed necessary. At this point in time, Twilight's only option was to have a DBZ duel with him, doing anything else would've meant her death. Not to mention she was fueled with absolute hate and rage at that moment. Tirek destroying her library was the last straw, it was the moment where Twilight realized that Tirek was going after her and her alone and would do anything to get her magic.

[Venomous 18,813]

I'm all for the fight scenes!

[10InTheTardis 509]

I don't find them too entertaining, but I think the amount that mlp has is just right for me.

Edited March 26, 2015 by 10InTheTardis