S08:E04 - Fake It 'Til You Make It

[MalekPony 36]

On 4/8/2018 at 2:05 PM, Dark Qiviut said:

Your reasoning falls very flat, because they're fictional characters for a TV show, not real people. In real life, people do regress or become out of character, because as @Jeric pointed out, RL personalities are dynamic. But writers can manipulate what fictional characters are capable of and choose to go forward with it or not. In fictional, character-driven shows like this one, the audience expects them to stay true to their characterization and stick to what they learned, especially when they're role models, like the Mane 8.

Fluttershy is out of character in this episode, because she abused her friends and especially her animal friends. It was Fluttershy who convinced Rarity to not only let Smokey et al to stay in the shop, but help serve them, too. An IC Flutttershy understands they can be trusted and will defend them regardless of any mistakes they make, especially if a Manehattanite spits on their faces. Here, FS yelled at them, directly insulted them, and threatened to evict them if they blunder a third time. Rarity also became out of character for insulting her customers, implicating she opened Rarity for You for self-serving purposes.

You know, as bad as Fluttershy's behavior was in this episode, I would NEVER EVER have the audacity to send any death threats to the episode's writer over Fluttershy being out of character.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

24 minutes ago, MalekPony said:

You know, as bad as Fluttershy's behavior was in this episode, I would NEVER EVER have the audacity to send any death threats to the episode's writer over Fluttershy being out of character.

I think Fluttershy was out of character, but specifically she was out of character because she was acting in "roles" that were deliberately not like her normal character - and that's ok.  It was in character for her to try and hide behind a persona, and it builds on the theatrical side of her we saw with the Ponytones.

It was also cringeworthy to watch though; this is the second episode in succession that had a "bad american sitcom" vibe to it, although I couldn't point to a specific american abomination this was based on (unlike the SheldonPony)

Edited April 15, 2018 by CoffeeHoof

[MalekPony 36]

5 hours ago, CoffeeHoof said:

I think Fluttershy was out of character, but specifically she was out of character because she was acting in "roles" that were deliberately not like her normal character - and that's ok.  It was in character for her to try and hide behind a persona, and it builds on the theatrical side of her we saw with the Ponytones.

It was also cringeworthy to watch though; this is the second episode in succession that had a "bad american sitcom" vibe to it, although I couldn't point to a specific american abomination this was based on (unlike the SheldonPony)

Well, based on what you have said just now, I have estimated the reason why Fluttershy was being out of character in this episode: I think she had tried to cover up who she really was in an attempt to blend in with the customers.

[CypherHoof 26,482]

37 minutes ago, MalekPony said:

Well, based on what you have said just now, I have estimated the reason why Fluttershy was being out of character in this episode: I think she had tried to cover up who she really was in an attempt to blend in with the customers.

Well, was trying to act like the rest of the salesponies in saddle row. Although that said, her final snark at a fashion pony while wearing her gold dress was uncharacteristically aggressive - the "new fluttershy" from iron hoof's training rather than the post-training fluttershy who could be firm without being aggressive or nasty.

Edited April 15, 2018 by CoffeeHoof

[Baykush 328]

There is just plenty to dislike about this one: Fluttershy becoming so mean for no reason, shoe-horning the rest of the mane 6 into the problem, the fact that these ponies can somehow travel now from city to city like it's nothing, etc.... However, Fluttershy's alter egos are pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life, and they only keep getting funnier the more I watch them, so much that I can't say this episode is bad or even mediocre. It could've been a great episode with a couple of re-writes, but even if it turned out to be a hot mess it's still worth it getting through the bad parts, so I'll give it that. Also this scene is pure gold, I love how no friendship speech was needed to turn FS back to normal:

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Baykush

[Laurel Crown 112]

Possibly the weakest episode of the season so far [as I'm writing after E05] both in story and graphic.

The story rehashes the Fluttershy dynamic from "Put Your Hoof Down" by adding the three shop pony personalities, thus giving some fresh air to boot, but it comes off as predictable and too much forgiving for the protagonist to learn her lesson. Something quite similar with Parental Glide-ance. It seems as Josh Hamilton cannot make a reasonable transition from guilt into a moral. Other than "Fluttershy is a jerk" problem, at least it can give some good laughs, like Fluttershy getting terminated or the mare's scream at the sight of tea spot on Flutters' hoof, and some continuity like the raccoon family from Saddle Row Review, the assistants and Sassy Saddles.

Even the animation looked too shoddy for a S8 episode. Recycling Berry Punch and Carrot Top design with unconvincing recolors when previous episodes already demonstrated an improvement in that aspect.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Laurel Crown

[J.J 922]

Beyond "out of character", breaking character and insulting her "in the moment decision making", there was no subtle nod to rarity, ushering them out of the store, but what really contradicts this episode is suited for success and slightly green is not your colour, you would imagine that she would be the FIRST one to ask.

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Watching Episode 4 finally and facepalmed at that knitting joke at the start of the episode. I mean come on Season one she was great at sewing, she helped make Rarity gala dress. Oh I know Rarity had no ther chorice but to ask Fluttershy but, really fluttershy knows next to nothing about fashion, it like the new writers never watched the previous seasons at all. i mean , for example oh, her short lived modeling career.

 

Made worse is that every single costumer make me want ot punch them in the face. Like my god, just shut up!

On 4/7/2018 at 10:54 PM, Truffles said:

True. I guess it felt extra egregious this time because it was a group of non-talking raccoons instead of ponies, lol.

Dam fast traveling ruins everything

Edited April 21, 2018 by BlinkZ

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

deleted

Edited May 1, 2018 by Buttonmash1973

[cuteycindyhoney 13,306]

Did anyone else think it kind of funny that Rarity had a pocket watch, but no pocket? I was scared that Christopher Walken would drop by to explain that!

(Think about it)

 

Personally, I loved the episode. Fluttergoth is a new favorite character of mine. I agreed with the writing. At first Fluttershy was doing great. She made the mistake of thinking going even farther in her characterizations would make things even better. Too much of a good thing can be a disaster though. 

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

I just watched DWK's totally legit recap of this episode, and wow,

 

Those outfits were alien symbiotes like Venom and Carnage!

Spoiler

Now the episode doesn't have to suck!  It can be awesome!

[JCKane 345]

Well, I don't usually do this when watching a show... ok I have stopped after watching a few shows and talked about them or parts of them.  But I'm going to go ahead and give my thoughts on this episode.

So first thing I wanted to comment on was the 'asking others for help' flashback.  If it's in order of who she asked, I have to say, why'd she ask Rainbow Dash first?  I mean you'd think Twilight would be her first choice, given how organized and reliable in 'managing' she can be. And she obviously knows a bit more about fashion considering well, she arranged those outfits in that fancy way in the episode this boutique was getting started.  Rainbow Dash claimed to not even know anything about fabric

Rarety: "You've gotten over shyness problem so many times"

Uh... it's not really a shyness problem here.  Fluttershy is in an area that's she's not as familiar with.  Granted she's got that 'strange sowing knowledge' but doesn't mean she's familiar with fashion to assist a customer like that.

Fluttershy: "I'm afraid I don't know enough about fashion to satisfy these customers"

See, even Fluttershy realizes my point

The rest of the episode wasn't half bad, though I thought the 'I'm fluttershy again and now for the apology' felt a bit... random.  Feels more like she didn't fully feel like she did anything wrong since she was 'in character' :/  and the apology was more because she felt she should than actually meaning it.  But That's just my opinion.

[Here No Longer 5,276]

Rarity made the same mistake again. You know like when she caused the conflict in "Honest Apple" by telling APPLEJACK to judge CLOTHES? This is a rehash of the exact same thing except Fluttershy ACTUALLY went COMPLETELY out of character, and it actually got so far as to make me stop watching around minute 10 because Fluttershy was getting under my nerves. Oh and also because it wasn't 100% Rarity's fault. On the positive side... Wait there is none. (Well, aside from Fluttergoth. That was interesting).

 

Everypony she asked aside from Fluttershy LIES straight to Rarity's face in the most brazenly aggravating way about being busy to try to avoid her request, Fluttershy somehow gets more out of character than she did in the Season 2 premiere (where she was literally the OPPOSITE of herself. In this case it didn't work like it did there either. In fact, this is probably the worst episode about an OOC character there has been, since it's like she suddenly got Multiple Personalities...), Rarity causes a conflict by asking unqualified ponies to try to do her job because she can't just say her store is closed for some fashion event in Canterlot (seriously, why couldn't she just have done THAT?), not even to mention how she treated the customers so rudely half of the time...

 

Worst episode of the season so far, in fact...  Worst of the entire show. Worse than "Hard to Say Anything" and worse than "Magical Mystery Cure." I give this episode a 2.5/10. That's it. This season, so far from what I've watched, is going downhill REALLY fast. I really hope the next one isn't another one of the worst in the show's entire run.

 

 

 

[Allen 1,387]

Fluttershy could have been depressed by giving up for customers with the clothes they want, so the new fashion clothing for Inner Strength is strong enough to make it better that way. She showed off the real deal who's the warrior of Inner Strength in satisfaction with Rarity.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Allen

[Senko 459]

On 4/10/2018 at 1:33 AM, AlexanderThrond said:

That makes sense as well, but I wonder if she could have done a better job of training Fluttershy. 

Yeah, cartoon logic does dictate that even if we can't make perfect vegan jello, maybe they can. Doesn't even have to be with a plant which actually exists. 

Considering they have in canon a plant that turns ponies exposed to its spores INTO it, another one that play's "jokes" which include changing someones voice/making them shaggy/turning bones floppy/altering their size and who know's what else a plant that can make jelo isn't a stretch.

As for the episode the lack of knowledge on sewing bugged me a bit too but I loved Rarity having to fire all of Fluttershy's characters and being startled each time one showed up. Interesting CPR with the Racoon's apparently they make an oxygen kit for them. This also adds fuel to my suspicion the difference between animal and non-animal is a mix of whether the critter can talk and how good they are at getting others to take care of them since a lot of "animals" have shown themselves to be just as smart and adaptable as the "non-animals".

The problem with dismissing someone in a store for not knowing their stuff is that in a lot of cases they're like Fluttershy here and are a training learning that stuff on the job so of course they're going to mess up a bit at first.

[Harii Moxxiie 185]

This Is my favourite episode so far!! I was almost in tears! Fluttershy is me to a tee and I've had a bad week. So I needed a good flutters episode

P.s goth fluttershy is the best fluttershy! 

On 7/2/2018 at 12:40 AM, Senko said:

The problem with dismissing someone in a store for not knowing their stuff is that in a lot of cases they're like Fluttershy here and are a training learning that stuff on the job so of course they're going to mess up a bit at first.

I really related to this episode for this exact reason. (I got a job at a hair salon and my experience wasn't what they expected 😥) 

[TBD 17,254]

Another fluttershy episode where she gets to go scott free and doesn't have to learn a damn thing, by using her "innocent" to fool her friends. I mean should we be worrying about fluttershy??

Edited July 10, 2018 by TBD

[MangoFoalix 24,944]

Oh right, it's this episode. It's been awhile since I've seen. I can say I actually really did enjoy this. Fluttershy with a split-personality disorder

[bigbertha 414]

I think the biggest problem with the episode is that it completely changes focus halfway through. It goes from Fluttershy's journey trying to take care of Rarity's shop to the rest of the mane six trying to stop her. When the episode changes focus, Fluttershy's story stagnates. It gets boring because the episode goes from a Fluttershy episode to a mane six episode. I think the episode would've been much stronger if the focus stayed in Manehattan with Fluttershy. Maybe the raccoons could've tried ways to stop Fluttershy on their own and Fluttershy calling them rodents could've been saved for the end, with that prompting the raccoons to break down and for Fluttershy to realize her mistake.

That said, the first half is a ton of fun. While Fluttershy's personas do get old later on, they still contribute a lot of funny jokes in the first half like selling one of the ponies a random object in the store.

Score: 7/10

Edited August 1, 2018 by bigbertha

[Sunlight Glisten 368]

So did the show forget about fluttershys "freaky knowledge of sewing" from season one with 'art of the dress' making raritys dress for the grand galloping gala? 

I did not like this episode. No character growth, no friendship lesson learned. Just "oh I'm being stupid."

[Varrack 1,080]

I liked it. Good moral about not having to fake your personality in order to be charismatic/likeable. Don't believe taht your personality is so static that it can't be compatible with others' -- we're all different and that diversity is a strength rather than a weakness.

[Cash In 22,214]

Eh, it was okay. We've had the same song and dance with Fluttershy before and the only thing here that really stood out were the different personas. The moral was also kind of muddied, which I wasn't a fan of.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Cash_In

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I liked this episode, the moral of staying true to yourself and not changing who you are was well explained, I liked seeing Fluttershy run Rarity's store and get too carried away doing so, Fluttershy's raccoon friends were adorable and I loved Fluttershy's multiple personalities. 9/10!

[Larrydog 320]

The episode didn't make much of an impression on me however I did really like gothic fluttershy lol

[PacificGreen 1,163]

As I've said before, this really is an OK episode, but I think there were two small moments that especially ruined the episode.

 

One is Rarity saying "I'd never trust some horrible Saddle Row Pony to look after my shop" or something.

Did Rarity seriously just insult her clientele? Like I get that some ponies are jerks, and no one's perfect, but that was just mean, Rarity. Not to mention painting people with a broad brush.

 

The other is shortly after that, with Fluttershy's little tirade against that one pony who just makes an off-handed remark about Rarity and the contest.

Quote

Have you considered the possibility that the Royal Fashion Show is trying to undercut Rarity's by continuing on in Canterlot and not moving the whole affair here?! Hmm?! Have you?! Hmmm?!

That...really didn't make any sense.

Edited November 12, 2018 by PacificGreen