S06:E13 - Stranger Than Fan Fiction

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

*cringe* Quibble Pants is an idiot. It takes him a long time to figure out that everything was real that it's impossible for me to take him seriously.

[Dynamo Pad 11,306]

This episode was absolutely awesome. It's awesome that there are conventions and merchandise you would see at a convention. It was cool seeing other ponies cosplaying as some of the Daring Do characters. It was also great seeing more anime stuff at the convention. Quibble Pants was an interesting character and the interaction between Rainbow and Quibble was well done. It was funny how Quibble didn't think the adventure he and Rainbow were on was real until he realized it. It was surprising not seeing Ahuizotl in the episode, but it was still really neat seeing that giant alligator in the temple. Quibble talking to Rainbow during the end credits was really awesome and hilarious as well. I loved the moral for the episode that shows everyone likes something in their perspective. While others may have their differences, we can all be brought together to love something for what it is. All in all this episode was amazing and a great return from the hiatus. I'm looking forward to what the rest of the season has to offer. 

Edited July 30, 2016 by Dynamo Pad

[Luminance 2,186]

I just figure out that the VA of Quibble Pants is Remy from Ratatouille! No wonder he sounds so familiar and it just made this episode better.

[Thrond 3,263]

So Quibble Pants might be my new favourite secondary character. Willing to believe that he'll be this season's Sassy Saddles for me. He's not a strawman so much as he's just someone who views Daring Do differently from Dash, and at the end they're both wrong for going at each other so much over it. Putting him in a "real" Daring Do story is nothing short of comedic gold. Plus, this is the Rainbow Dash character showcase I've been waiting for. Makes up for all the wasted potential in "Newbie Dash." Reviewed at my blog here. 

 

I am loving season 6 so far. 

[ph00tbag 108]

I getcha. I would say that both are entitled to their opinions but, at least earlier on in the episode, it was Quibble and not Rainbow who was insistently following around the pony he disagreed with, making jabs, and generally harassing her. Maybe his lesson in the end was to let it go and respect others but I wonder if that's really true or not. I mean, consider that he was trying to get a "I'm wrong you're right" out of Rainbow. Later in the episode, circumstances lead Rainbow to literally say "he's usually right." So did he really learn or change at all or was that just fluff at the end he gave because he had already gotten what he wanted? 

I definitely noticed this on my second watch-through. Quibble actually expresses a couple common micro-aggressions that one often sees in interactions between male and female fans of a thing. He cuts her off, harasses her, mansplains, and becomes shockingly aggressive when challenged. But the show doesn't try to defend these actions; in fact, they are used to make him seem like an insufferable ass for the entirety of the second act. So we really have a subtle take-down of misogyny in nerd culture, in addition to an unpacking of negativity in fandom. It's not really clear that Quibble is entirely disabused of his male privilege tropes by the end of the episode. Indeed, when he's right about the seven doors, he's a complete son-of-a-gun about it, and although he's clearly capable of admitting when he's wrong about distracting Caballeron and his henchmen, he still apparently needs to deflect his praise (except when he's praising Rainbow Dash, and she's aww-shucks-ing, and it's adorable). Hell, even his failure to shut-up during the end credits speaks to a sense of dominating the conversation. But for what it's worth, he is more respectful by the end of the episode, and the lesson, that we don't need to come at each other with bared teeth over a disagreement, does come from him.

 

There's room for him to explicitly grow, and that's great. That means we have reason to see more of him.

 

 

 

HILARIOUS food vendor who took way too much joy in Rainbow Dash and Quibble Pants' original spat in the background (seriously, watch for her in that scene, she is HILARIOUS!!!).

 

I saw this, too, on my second watch-through. She's actually at that stand from the beginning of the episode, and apparently doesn't really have a great appreciation for Daring Do. My guess is, she was the last employee of the contractor to submit her time-off request, and was stuck serving drinks to annoying, smelly nerds for a whole weekend. The schadenfreude of watching friendships disintegrate in real time is one of the few joys she has left.

Edited July 30, 2016 by ph00tbag

[Batbrony 16,054]

I saw this, too, on my second watch-through. She's actually at that stand from the beginning of the episode, and apparently doesn't really have a great appreciation for Daring Do. My guess is, she was the last employee of the contractor to submit her time-off request, and was stuck serving drinks to annoying, smelly nerds for a whole weekend. The schadenfreude of watching friendships disintegrate in real time is one of the few joys she has left.

 

I don't know if I read THAT much into it, but having been to a con now, I can attest that there are tons of food vendors at these things, and most likely for many of them it's just a job, not like they're there because they love the cons or anything.  So I can imagine that something like that would entertain in a hilarious sort of way, and it was just another hilarious part of the massive meta commentary in the whole episode.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

I loved it, great restart of the season.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Oh man! Where do I even start with this episode. Completely reflects with some fanbases of today. You can't hate fans of shows you like for disliking an aspect of said show. Loved Rainbow's development here, a complete make-up of what happened in Newbie Dash...

[ShadowSJG 62]

Did anyone else notice Ranma pony?

[ImpctR 155]

And there it is, after the break MLP is making a smashing return with this episode! Without even seeing whose episode it was going to be, I was thinking about RD as an intuition I guess, and since some time had passed from last month, I was just thinking how much I like RD. She was so awesome in this episode I can't describe enough! I looked through the episodes and since even the first two-parter was not so special, I can say this is for me the BEST episode of the season so far!

 

When Quibble Pants mentioned how he liked the first books but then did not like, he even hated how the story developed, I chuckled a little because I recalled some who say here they like the first Seasons with less events and more about friendship, these types of episodes more. I am not like that, for me every season got better and better, I like the newer things. I dont know if they depicted these bronies or they depicted the typical old schoolers who always liked everything from the past and hate everything new - from games, movies, books, anything. I am old-schooler myself for many things but started getting used to liking newer things even more, afterall we need to evolve, Im getting bored of the old repetitive things. I never understood this endless nostalgia about something you watched in the past not liking anything newer, I know sometimes movies and such are made worse but in many cases newers imo are better. I am not fan of this kind of negativity, 'the endless critics' and Quibble Pants seemed to be this kind of annoying personality. But I chuckle again because this was like a message to those who take it seriously and criticize episodes to the smallest detail,   :-P

 

I like episodes in which some interesting story happens, im not saying this episode has so many things we didn't see but the episode had development imo and I found hilarious the reactions of Quibble Pants when he just calls everyone some bad actor and thinks this is all a stage part of the Daring Do convention. Certainly, I cannot find anything about Q-Pants to like.

 

 

RD on the other hand was adorable once again! The hiatus made me forget that,

 

 

and look at the look of the pony at the bar 'Meh like im supposed to listen to the row of these two'

 

 

Daring Do was also looking nice, also cute.

 

In the second half. Quibble Pants shows he's a douche after even being saved:

 

 

And Dashie being tied up    quite untypical for the episode but I loved the adventure. The part with the 'gator's first 'knock knock' gaze at Quibble Pants was also funny.

 

Sorry for spoil, but you know you can expect it in this thread, I do it with pics for episodes that I like especially much, this one is Rainbowlishous!

 

(I'm wondering is RD and Daring DO flying together 20% cooler, 40% or 20% squared?)

 

[Rosetta Spring 21]

I must be the only person that won't ship RD with Quibble she would never date a pony that can't fly. Besides she already got a pony that can fly and likes Daring Do.

 

 

 

Anyway episode was good not great but it had it moments Daring Do was awesome.

Edited July 30, 2016 by Rosetta Spring

[ImpctR 155]

 

 

I must be the only person that won't ship RD with Quibble she would never date a pony that can't fly.

 

RD and QP - my take on that is - never! I mean RD is too cute to have someone like him, like I said in my post. Make that 3.

[MovieLord101 140]

LOVED this episode. Patton Oswalt's snarkiness was HILARIOUS! I've seen actual geek arguments go exactly the same way. ESPECIALLY on this board. I think the writers are listening to our posts......

 

Also, I caught that Last Crusade nod towards the end with the "don't fly over him/fly over him, are you crazy?" bit.

Edited July 30, 2016 by MovieLord101

[FrozenTear7 40]

Amazing episode ^^ Just finished watching and whoa. The story was amazing and they showed the characters emotions really well. Hilarious episode with nice gripping action. Nothing more I need for a good episode.

[Thrond 3,263]

A few extra thoughts:

 

What strikes me most about Quibble is that, while he's generally depicted as kinda obnoxious and overbearing, he's also depicted surprisingly sympathetically. I feared a fan-critic strawman; I got an actual character. 

 

I would say that I'm in Quibble's camp regarding this show, thinking that later seasons have not had as much of what I like about the show, but season 6 has been doing a pretty good job so far of bringing it back. Am I really the only person here who thinks that sesaon 6 is way better than seasons 4 and 5? 

 

Did not think about Quibble as the "obnoxious dude fan" archetype until reading this thread, but I can definitely see it - more so than a lot of other things read into recent MLP episodes, at the very least. Still, the thing that makes Quibble (and Zephyr Breeze, for that matter) stand out is that he has not only obvious room to grow but clear momentum in growing as well. There is potential for future appearances in a way that I feel, say, Coloratura doesn't really have. 

[Melon Blitz 423]

BODY PILLOWS woooooooooo \ o /

[Thrond 3,263]

BODY PILLOWS woooooooooo \ o /

Body pillows of a tied up Daring Do. My god, that's kinky. 

[PacificGreen 1,163]

I thought it was an okay episode...I found it kinda odd that Quibble was so worked up over a supposedly fictional series being so unrealistic though.

[ph00tbag 108]

I must be the only person that won't ship RD with Quibble she would never date a pony that can't fly. 

 

Didn't she also say she would never keep a pet that can't fly?

 

[Rosetta Spring 21]

Didn't she also say she would never keep a pet that can't fly?

 

Last I checked he dose fly.

[WubBeast 49]

That was an awesome episode from everybody here in a conversation what did you thought of it it was amazing thrill ride for me including this new character I like it especially this idea and concept they use for this episode that reflects on real life it was amazing

[Professional Horse 94]

Quibble Pants is a dumb and completely unrealistic character, who somehow doesn't realize that he's not on some fake adventure. Just another example of how the show is constantly being dumbed down! Heck, all the new characters and plots are stupid and impossible. Why can't it be like the first three seasons? Back then, the show was great! The first season is smart and cool and an amazing nod to old classic western animation, that somehow manages to be self-reflective and ironic, while at the same time, celebrating the art form without a hint of cynicism.

 

Wait a second, I think I'm having one of those "deja vu"-moments for some reason...

Edited July 30, 2016 by Professional Horse

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I thought it was an okay episode...I found it kinda odd that Quibble was so worked up over a supposedly fictional series being so unrealistic though.

 

 

That's not too far out there. Back in 1998 when the first American remake of Godzilla was released most people I knew praised it for being a more realistic depiction of such a monster. Heck, I was somewhat mocked by others for my defense of classic Goji. XD

[ph00tbag 108]

Last I checked he dose fly.

 

Well, then maybe Quibble can borrow Tank's beanie.

[NeonCobalt 256]

This was an excellent episode in my opinion. I'm glad that we got to see A.K Yearling/Daring Do again. I was a bit concerned that after Daring Don't we would only hear about her in the context of being a character again, so it's nice to see her in person again. Quibble Pants was.... well he was annoying. But he was enjoyably annoying, by which I mean he was at least entertaining/humorous, for me anyway. I really like the moral this episode has. As someone who spends time in multiple fandoms, I see more and more tribalism. People are seemingly becoming unwilling to interact with fans who disagree on major, or even minor, aspects of whatever the fandom is for. This saddens me because to me, fandoms are about enjoying things TOGETHER. This episode shows that you can both be fans of something while disagreeing on aspects of it, and still enjoy it together/be friends with whatever it is you are both a fan of being a common interest. Anyways, great episode, 9.5/10.