S06:E11 - Flutter Brutter

[Thrond 3,257]

THANK YOU! That's the other pony I was thinking of who has had a fear of failure as a lesson for the viewer. Twilight, Diamond, Sunburst, and now Zephyr.

To be honest, I think that a fear of failure is, to some extent, at the core of every character in this show. Perhaps it's why Fluttershy saying she still tries despite her fear of failing worked so well - because we've seen each of the mane six deal with that. 

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

I really liked that Fluttershy was the one helping another pony overcome their fears. It was a refreshing change of pace for her.

[Jeric 46,834]

THANK YOU! That's the other pony I was thinking of who has had a fear of failure as a lesson for the viewer. Twilight, Diamond, Sunburst, and now Zephyr.

Ooooh. That is really interesting as each had a slightly different conflict driving that fear. Sunburst not living up to his potential creating a depressed state, Twilight feeling the burden of self expectation, Diamond Tiara and her family expectation, and ignoring responsible living to prevent failure due to a prior struggle mixed with an extrovert being raised by introverts.

 

Don't forget Dashie and Testing Testing 1,2,3's conflict! That was the best presentation of fear of failure on the show due to the fact that Dash tends to prize being kick ass ... and realizing you may not only lose but lose hard is crippling.

[Luminance 2,181]

I like this episode! In that Zephyr has to overcome his fear of failure and who to help him is Fluttershy. Fluttershy shows some initiative in helping her brother and that truly paid off.

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

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.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

i liked how you stater your reasons about this episode's failure. i dont find that episode well written ever since the slack brother of fluttershy was unlikable and unrelatable throughout the episode

[Truffles 2,033]

To be honest, I think that a fear of failure is, to some extent, at the core of every character in this show. Perhaps it's why Fluttershy saying she still tries despite her fear of failing worked so well - because we've seen each of the mane six deal with that. 

Ooooh. That is really interesting as each had a slightly different conflict driving that fear. Sunburst not living up to his potential creating a depressed state, Twilight feeling the burden of self expectation, Diamond Tiara and her family expectation, and ignoring responsible living to prevent failure due to a prior struggle mixed with an extrovert being raised by introverts.

 

Don't forget Dashie and Lesson 1,2,3's conflict! That was the best presentation of fear of failure on the show due to the fact that Dash tends to prize being kick ass ... and realizing you may not only lose but lose hard is crippling.

 

Thanks to both of you for noticing that! It's true that all of the characters have had a fear of failure at some point: Baby Cakes/Pinkie Pride, Hurricane Fluttershy, Rarity Takes Manehatten, Applebucking Season, Testing Testing 1,2,3 (as you pointed out - thanks!) and pretty much every Spike-centered episode before "Gauntlet of Fire".

 

I think I picked out those four characters in particular because it wasn't just a fear of failure for an episode, but a fear of failure that has been a major driving force in how they've lived their entire lives up to the point of the episode (or in the case of Twilight - episodeS) where they learn to not let it lead to a negative character trait.

 

 

Now, for some other observations:

 

We see the following ponies in Pinkie's wallet: Mayor Mare, Moondancer, Iron Will, Cranky Doodle, A.K. Yearling, Snails, Cheese Sandwich, and I think(?) Marble Pie. And of course Pinkie mentions Ms. Harshwhinny by name, even though we don't see her.

 

Also Rarity - wash that bedding, please:

You don't need to be putting your face around where his unclothed nethers have been... =P

Edited June 5, 2016 by Truffles

[heavens-champion 1,893]

Who would have thought Fluttershy would be the bossy one of her family?

Zephyr's crush on Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash not returning the same feelings is amusing.

[Glaive9Gko 82]

Huh, well that was interesting.

++ Flutters and RD were on point here!

+ RD getting hit on was actually pretty funny

+ Families!

+ RD actually zapping Zephyr was pretty funny!

-/+ Now correct me if I'm wrong, but in order for a character overcoming a challenge to have dramatic weight, the audience needs to want the character in question to succeed, yes? Now in order for us to want said character to succeed, we'd need to like them in some capacity, yes? Now I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this....if Zephyr overcoming his fear of failure was supposed to have dramatic weight, then why was he written as a hate sink? It leads me to believe that we don't want to seem him succeed so that he can be happy, but so that his fam can be. So like, less of a "good job dude you did it!" and more of a "Don't worry, Flutters. The bullshit is over". Not sure how to feel about that.

 

So yeah, some fun bits here and there, but the plot leaves me confused and not really knowing how to feel. Guess I'll give it a MyFrend'sGotaBrotherAndSheHatesThatDick / 10

[Libarty Justice 18]

Huh, well that was interesting.

++ Flutters and RD were on point here!

+ RD getting hit on was actually pretty funny

+ Families!

+ RD actually zapping Zephyr was pretty funny!

-/+ Now correct me if I'm wrong, but in order for a character overcoming a challenge to have dramatic weight, the audience needs to want the character in question to succeed, yes? Now in order for us to want said character to succeed, we'd need to like them in some capacity, yes? Now I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this....if Zephyr overcoming his fear of failure was supposed to have dramatic weight, then why was he written as a hate sink? It leads me to believe that we don't want to seem him succeed so that he can be happy, but so that his fam can be. So like, less of a "good job dude you did it!" and more of a "Don't worry, Flutters. The bullshit is over". Not sure how to feel about that.

 

So yeah, some fun bits here and there, but the plot leaves me confused and not really knowing how to feel. Guess I'll give it a MyFrend'sGotaBrotherAndSheHatesThatDick / 10

 

 

I'd say that's fair. I have high hopes for Zephyr to get chractar development to make him more likable but he could have started out better.

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,024]

You know what? I heard a lot of bad press about this episode but damn I liked this one a lot very good episode 

 

My review as per usual. 

 

[Allen 1,371]

That's Fluttershy's parents at the beginning of this episode, including her brother Zephyr Breeze, so I say that's familiar. I'm sure Zephyr Breeze do what he can to be a success than a failure. Also, the song in this episode is revealed by the near end of the episode!
 

Is it just me, or is this episode bad?

So far it's a fantastic episode for me!

[Libarty Justice 18]

this episode seems veyr love it or hate it.

[gamecubeguy214 2,511]

I loved the episode! How annoying Zephyr acted and how Fluttershy reacted to it is relatable as heck to me. Except, I never had to live witht that kind of person, but I do have a friend to comes to my house quite frequently and acts like Zephyr did until about halfway through the episode.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

This is ridiculous, literally the first time Fluttershy has had ANY DIRECTION to her character in YEARS and people just bitch and moan about a character who's MEANT to not be likable... isn't likable. No this is literally the first time Fluttershy's been handled well in one of her episodes since like season 2 or so, I don't give a single shit about Zephyr, I don't care if he's likable or not, I just want writers to remember THIS FLUTTERSHY in future episodes so she can FINALLY, FINALLY FINALLY get out of the hole she's been in for so goddamn long. This is literally the first time I have cared about Fluttershy at ALL in YEARS. 

No, seriously this reception is idiotic, this episode blew every single Fluttershy episode between Hurricane Fluttershy and this one out of the water simply because it actually DID SOMETHING with her beyond "O I AM SO SCARED AND SHY, LOOK AT ME BE SCARED AND SHY".

Edited June 5, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[JH24 385]

After re-watching I have to give my compliments to Zephyr's voice actor. He really did such a great job in portraying this character. It fits perfectly. When I got over Zephyr's attitude, I really enjoyed his voice.

 

Zephyr seems like someone who has been pampered too much by his parents and turned, despite their good intentions, into a spoiled brat. That, combined with him probably never really having to do anything led to him being afraid of failure, which in turn led to him creating a personality or facade to hide his lack of self-confidence. Not a good combination for anyone. 

 

I liked how in the end Zephyr wasn't entirely "reformed." He still has a way to go, both with his confidence and his character but I don't think he's a bad pony underneath. 

 

The scenes with Zephyr and Rainbow Dash were hilarious. Rainbow Dash was quite patient with Zephyr's antics but she doesn't seem to dislike him though. The season 1/2 RD would likely have smacked him or yelled at him. In a way it shows how RD has matured over the seasons as she seems more considerate, kinder and patient toward others. 

 

The song at the end was great. And I loved seeing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash interacting together.

Edited June 6, 2016 by JH24

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

This is ridiculous, literally the first time Fluttershy has had ANY DIRECTION to her character in YEARS and people just bitch and moan about a character who's MEANT to not be likable... isn't likable. No this is literally the first time Fluttershy's been handled well in one of her episodes since like season 2 or so, I don't give a single shit about Zephyr, I don't care if he's likable or not, I just want writers to remember THIS FLUTTERSHY in future episodes so she can FINALLY, FINALLY FINALLY get out of the hole she's been in for so goddamn long. This is literally the first time I have cared about Fluttershy at ALL in YEARS.

 

No, seriously this reception is idiotic, this episode blew every single Fluttershy episode between Hurricane Fluttershy and this one out of the water simply because it actually DID SOMETHING with her beyond "O I AM SO SCARED AND SHY, LOOK AT ME BE SCARED AND SHY".

This episode was focused more on Zephyr. The moral referred to his subplot and the plot revolved around his actions. Fluttershy was good in this episode but mainly went through the same in the "Breezies" episode.

 

If the writers meant Zephyr to be unlikeable, why did they suddenly try to get us on his side at the end?

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

I'd like to apologize in advance, but I'm extremely angry.  I've already expressed my outrage at the decision to invent this brother out of nowhere, ad nauseam, elsewhere.  I have no choice but to express it again.  In my opinion, the only scenarios that would have made Zephyr's existence tolerable would have been estrangement from Fluttershy, or if she didn't know he existed.  (E.g. long lost half brother.)  When they decided not to go that route, I was hoping that they would at least make some half-assed attempt to explain why she doesn't talk about him much, or rather at all, ever.  But they couldn't even give us the slightest concession.  They couldn't even have a cold open in which Fluttershy mentions her brother, and her friends say something to the effect of, "I didn't know you had a brother!  How come you've never mentioned him before?"  To which she could reply, "Oh, I just don't like to talk about him because yadda yadda."  Instead, they literally Total Rickalled Zephry.  It was just....insulting, really.  This was the biggest spit in the face the writers could have done.  I'm sorry for being so passionate about this, but it's just how I feel.  I gather that perhaps what the writers were going for by having Rainbow and AJ casually mention Zephyr's past shenanigans was to turn back time and insert him into the lore, thereby trying to make his existence more plausible.  Perhaps they thought this was a better solution than openly acknowledging that nopony has ever mentioned him.  I think it takes a big steaming dump on the universe they've created.  Bullsh*t.  Utter and complete f*cking bullsh*t.

 

As for the actual episode itself, disregarding the continuity of the universe being down the toilet, I'll simply direct your attention to the review by the good Mr. @Dark Qiviut, seen here.  I wholeheartedly agree, especially with his points on the fact that the stereotypical depiction of Zephyr is potentially insulting to people who have to, or, for logical reasons, choose to live with their parents (e.g. yours truly)  There's not much for me to reiterate here.  Great Fluttershy and RD, garbage episode with a fantastic moral that was executed like a witch in Salem.  (i.e. horribly, in case anyone didn't get that.)

 

 

You know, I love the world of Equestria, the characters, the friendships, the colors, and the voices so much.  I obviously have a strong, emotional attachment to this show, probably to an unhealthy level, which is why I get so whirled up.  I find it extremely distressing that the show can hit such lofty heights only to fall so low....literally, like, episode to episode.  The show has proven that it can be so good, and still has lots of life left, and then they go and pull sh*t like this.  I know; a lot of people loved the episode; opinions can be controversial.  I just really wish that the writers would show a little more care for lore and continuity, given that they created such a rich universe that can support so much of it.

 

Also, thank you very F*CKING MUCH, DAVE RAPP, for permanently giving me a terrible association with one of my very favorite frames!

 

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by Justin_Case001

[Midnight Seashell 206]

Did anyone else see Link carrying a troly of gems?

[Thaliel 116]

I enjoyed this so much. Fluttershy's faces (some animator was having way too much fun there) and her "I won't take any more of your sh*t" behaviour were simply gold

[myzz7 73]

i may be cynical for this thought, but

zephyr breeze felt like a stereotype of bronies that the animators used as a self-insert to make an episode about

> he is directly related to fluttershy which many bronies adore and obsess over
> teases a relationship with rainbow dash which the fandom ships the most
> has the new age hipster personality and look and pretends to be suave (you see this most at brony cons)
> free loading off his parents, doesn't like to work, is annoying without noticing it or extremely downplays it once noticed
> insecure and doesn't finish anything

[ph00tbag 108]

All and all an enjoyable episode. As a creative personality, myself, I found Zephyr's struggle to be quite relatable. The fear of failure can be incredibly daunting, and can ultimately stifle any pursuit, but once you get past that first step, and commit to finishing, each next attempt gets that much easier. I do kind of wish that they had also referenced the adage that the most successful people have simply failed more than anyone else, that failure is okay, because it's how you learn, and how you get better. But they hit the nail on the head with the other point, so that's fine by me.

 

Things I liked:

There was a certain Schadenfreude in watching Rainbow's reactions to Zephyr and Fluttershy's parents suggesting she has feelings for him, despite her clear disinterest.

The background was active and engaging without being distracting this episode. Kudos to the layout artists.

Peeved as strong language to be using around foals is amusing.

Geez, just as Angel warms up to the garden gnome-bunny, Zephyr takes it away. Rude.

Plants can grow in Cloudsdale.

So many expressions!

 

Things I didn't like quite so much:

The Parents were rather uncompelling. What did I really expect, though?

Although I found much entertainment from Dash's reactions, I do wish she had dropped the hammer a little more explicitly here or there. A lot of what Zephyr was doing edge toward the line of harassment, and seeing a role model like Dash just fidget uncomfortably when a dude creeps on her doesn't really set a great example. Granted, Dash kinda sucks at expressing herself verbally, but she can do incoherent anger pretty well. Just have yell at him to leave her alone or something.

[Lya 16]

I was alright about this episode. I'm always in a huge dilemma about the mlp-FiM episodes, because they get a bit stupid and too simple.

but this time the message was right, the voice actor was right, the only think I didn't like at all Fluttershy's dad character design. I mean the colors and a hair style I still can't belive this.

Edited June 5, 2016 by Lya

[Weird Thing 10]

I think that Fluttershy was way too cruel. She literally forced her own brother to be homeless in a forest. She should been slightly more helpful and a lot kinder. I don't mean that she should just let him live with her and do nothing but she could have tried to understand more about him and seem to care about him. She was talking in a mean voice to him for almost the whole episode.

 

However, maybe Fluttershy is just gradually getting meaner and meaner and will one day be extremely evil and everything will go mad and stuff. That would be quite interesting.

[ggg-2 3,550]

As much as i don't like Angel (and i mean i REALLY don't like Angel) i would have loved to see him make Zephyr MISERABLE. And why no Discord? He would've given this guy some real torture.

[SoulHarmony 43]

I thought the episode was OK at best and I have to put all the blame on that to Zephyr Breeze.
If the episode was about teaching someone it is better to try and fail than you just never try at all then they should have created a character who the fans probably didn't want to see fail all the time :/ 

 

The Episode did have some good moments like the "Peeved" scene and you got to see a new aspect of Fluttershy which is always a good thing but then you feel bad for her because you know she is related to "Him" so in a way its 2 steps forward and 1 step back for her.

 

It is kind of sad really to think that Fluttershy now has 2 characters related to her that the fans don't like (The Other being that Angel)