S08:E18 - Yakity-Sax

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,826]

Looking back at this episode, it really goes to show what happens when people approach something with the wrong attitude. Sure Pinkie loved playing the Yovidiphone, even though she wasn't the best at it. That did not give Twilight and her friends the right to tell her that she was not good at it and she should stop. That's basically smothering someone's passion. Because who knows, maybe with practice, Pinkie could become the best Yovidiphone player that ever lived! Our words sadly have the power to crush someone's dreams and take the life out what they love the most. We're not perfect, but we can strive to be the best we can. We must be mindful of what we say, because we can never undo what has been said. 

[Gale Wind 83]

I have to agree with Tom. They shoulda tried to find a way for her to practice without disturbing anypony so both sides were happy. 

[Smart Heart 45]

It’s one of the worst, ponies. One. Of. The. WORST. Episodes I’ve ever had to sit through. I know many like to pull the "It’s Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it." card when it comes to her quirkiness, but this episode doesn’t deserve that free pass! Pinkie is flanderized to the point of being inconsiderate of her friends’ personal lives and jobs just because she got a musical gift from the yaks she isn’t even good at playing. And for that matter, SHE’S A LITERAL ONE PONY BAND!!! She played a multitude of musical instruments to lure the parasprites out of Ponyville a la the Pied Piper in season one, so not even I could buy her going through a depressed state because she wasn’t allowed to play one particular instrument anymore.

On the other side of the coin, her friends used the wrong method of telling her to stop playing her yovidaphone. What they should’ve done is tell her to appreciate the gift, but only play it in Yakyakistan, if not get lessons there. But instead, we’ve got another episode where Pinkie Pie is selfish and inconsiderate and the others are terrible at giving good advice just to keep the plot moving. Definitely one episode to avoid at all costs. At least I certainly will.

[MalekPony 36]

For those who just want to see Fluttershy sleeping in this episode, here's a gif of it:

Edited March 29 by MalekPony

[MalekPony 36]

Here's a beautiful shot of Fluttershy's animals sleeping. Don't they look just so cute and adorable when they snooze like this?

[TheTrueMelissa 71]

Hmm. This is one of those episodes where I have to bear in mind that the real audience is small children. For a small child, playing badly for enjoyment is a fine path. However, it's more of a preschool attitude. Age 7-10 is getting a bit old for it. Kids that age are old enough to learn to think of others, hence the friendship lessons.

The presentation had her doing actual harm (exploding apples, for instance). I think I would have liked it better if Pinky had learned that she should learn the instrument first, and only then expect others to enjoy listening. I also disliked that the yaks enjoyed her obviously terrible playing -- she's not playing music her friends dislike, she's flailing ineptly. The show acts as if Pinky only had to find the right audience, but in fact she doesn't know what she's doing and shouldn't be on a stage.

There were a lot of better ways this episode could have gone. One obvious one would have been if Pinky had gone to Yakyakistan to learn to play instead of, essentially, to run away from not being good without practice.

[Night Sky 1,119]

My issue is not with the Yovidaphone itself.

We do not have an instrument quite that epic and awesome here in the human world. 

And while I could listen to her play it all day, all of Ponyville couldn't.

For the purpose of pushing the idea of being a supportive friend, this episode goes a Bridge Too Far.

Some people who have no musical talent can't realize that gracefully. 

Some musicians always wanted to play a given instrument but never could.

But for goodness sake, if everyone agrees that a musician isn't good, don't put them in front of a crowd you know is tough.

It won't end like this. 

I guess this episode struck a nerve. 

I've seen musician friends and relatives really go through some hard times.

This episode is actually not one of FIM's deeper exercises in honesty and supportiveness, this was kind of a Diet Coke.

And there are things about the realities of being a musician that this episode either ignores or gets wrong, imao.

All this having been said, let's see if I don't play Yovidaphone music over the PA at work today. 

 

 

[Pentium100 2,334]

39 minutes ago, Night Sky said:

But for goodness sake, if everyone agrees that a musician isn't good, don't put them in front of a crowd you know is tough.

It won't end like this. 

Real life example:

I assume the girls have parents and friends. Yet, it seems like everybody told them they were great until they got to the show and the judges said the truth. 

[Night Sky 1,119]

11 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

Real life example:

I assume the girls have parents and friends. Yet, it seems like everybody told them they were great until they got to the show and the judges said the truth. 

Exactly. This. Real life audiences are even tougher than Yaks. I feel really bad for these two young ladies. There's no good reason for them to have ever made it near that stage with their level of ability. Ugh. Reality tv = public humiliation for our delight. No thanks.

But often times the person up on that stage really thought, however misguidedly that they had a chance...what comes after isn't shown and there's a reason. 

Something like this can take years for a person to get over.

Edited August 19 by Night Sky

[Nook Cranny 201]

I think the main reason I personally dislike this episode so much is because I truly understand what Pinkie is going through. It never feels good to be told to give up on something you love and enjoy doing even more so when it is your own loved ones telling you this.

I myself have been told on previous rp forums that I should give up on writing and roleplaying because they said I sucked at it. Even though it hurt and angered me (mainly because the way they told me that and they told me some other stuff too that really upset me that I won't get into on here) I tried to understand their pov. I asked them to be more specific; like why they thought I sucked at rping and what I could do to possibly improve. But they never elaborated. Instead they just blocked me and deleted everything they previously posted in my threads. Hard to take anyone seriously when they don't explain themselves and instead resort to hiding. But I don't want to quit roleplaying because I love writing too much to just quit. Besides, how else am I supposed to improve if I just give up? How's anybody supposed to improve on what they love doing if they just quit for that matter? Many famous authors weren't accepted right away. Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, Joanne Katheleen Rowling; the list goes on...

[Pentium100 2,334]

12 hours ago, Night Sky said:

Real life audiences are even tougher than Yaks. I feel really bad for these two young ladies.

Yeah, especially when you go on a national TV show in another country no less. 

7 hours ago, Nook Cranny said:

I asked them to be more specific; like why they thought I sucked at rping and what I could do to possibly improve.

I do not know about your role playing or role playing in general, so this is not about you. However, sometimes someone sucks so much, there is nowhere to start explaining. I mean, take the video I posted about the two singers. I am sure a vocal teacher wuld be able to explain to them in detail how they suck and how to improve, but a regular person would just say "you suck" and move on. 

I have read some threads (not here) where someone was asking for help with a problem with electronics, but what he writes is such nonsense, I dont even know where to start answering and I do not want to type a full electronics course in a forum thread. 

7 hours ago, Nook Cranny said:

Besides, how else am I supposed to improve if I just give up? How's anybody supposed to improve on what they love doing if they just quit for that matter?

Don't give up, but maybe find a teacher. A teacher would be more able to help you improve than random people on the internet. 

[Nook Cranny 201]

10 hours ago, Pentium100 said:

Yeah, especially when you go on a national TV show in another country no less. 

I do not know about your role playing or role playing in general, so this is not about you. However, sometimes someone sucks so much, there is nowhere to start explaining. I mean, take the video I posted about the two singers. I am sure a vocal teacher wuld be able to explain to them in detail how they suck and how to improve, but a regular person would just say "you suck" and move on. 

I have read some threads (not here) where someone was asking for help with a problem with electronics, but what he writes is such nonsense, I dont even know where to start answering and I do not want to type a full electronics course in a forum thread. 

Don't give up, but maybe find a teacher. A teacher would be more able to help you improve than random people on the internet. 

 

Well, this particular incident happened several years ago, so I probably improved a lot since then. I hope so anyway. Even before joining that forum I had roleplayed elsewhere for a couple of years, so even then I was not totally new at it. The only time I did stuff like one liners was during chat plays. But I mainly do paragraph role-plays especially when I have a lot of material to work with and am passionate about the character I'm playing. I always try to give my partners enough to work with. But anyways, the person from this one forum was pretty rude with what they said about my writing to the point of being downright insulting. They made fun of me and my posts. This one post I had written in particular they and their friends constantly mocked. I don't like being made to feel worthless, but that's how they made me feel. Writing is pretty much my only hobby, so to be told that I'm not even good at that made me feel pretty useless. Even if my post was bad they didn't have to put me down like that. Roleplaying is meant to be fun nothing serious after all.

Thanks to those people though the forum that I originally loved and had so much fun on no longer was fun and became toxic, so I left. I couldn't find anybody wanting to rp with me there anymore anyway, so no point staying. I have no proof, but I have suspected that those rude people were telling other members not to rp with me. It was so weird because I originally had tons of threads there and a lot of people did want to rp with me. I was even involved in several plots with several members. It was the strangest thing, not long after the rude group started making fun of me my rp partners told me they were no longer interested in our plots. I asked them why, but they wouldn't say. One or two rp partners losing interest. Okay. It happens. But all of them at once. Too weird to be a mere coincidence! Apologies for the rant, but yeah I just wanted to give you a little context.

If you want to see a sample of a role-play post I made not too long ago let me know and I can send you one. But I don't have any from that forum I was talking about. The computer I had used at the time had died and sadly all of my files disappeared. I saved them on an usb, but it broke, so yeah those old posts are all gone sadly. I only have some from newer forums I've been on.

As for a teacher I don't have time to take any classes right now. Really busy with my job. But right now I'm just writing to have fun, so don't really need a teacher for that. One day though I really would love to try to publish something. It's kind of my dream to be a published author even if I don't ever become famous. Just being published would be awesome!

[Pentium100 2,334]

8 hours ago, Nook Cranny said:

Even if my post was bad they didn't have to put me down like that. Roleplaying is meant to be fun nothing serious after all.

I agree, but sometimes people become elitist and forget that they were beginners as well.

I suck at roleplaying, I tried a few DnD sessions with my friends and found out it was not for me. My friends tried to encourage me to continue, but it was not for me. 

As for writing, again, I would completely suk at it, writing assignments in school were among the most difficult for me. Have you tried writing any fanfics? There are quite a few talented people writing them. I do not know if the fanfics I like would be considered good by some literature critic, but I like them and they are quite popular. One I found recently is A Quiet Rune Scribe if you have not read it. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/550684/a-quiet-rune-scribe

It is extremely long, but you can see the author improve over time. The first chapters are hard to read, but over time it gets better and better. 

[Nook Cranny 201]

12 minutes ago, Pentium100 said:

I agree, but sometimes people become elitist and forget that they were beginners as well.

I suck at roleplaying, I tried a few DnD sessions with my friends and found out it was not for me. My friends tried to encourage me to continue, but it was not for me. 

As for writing, again, I would completely suk at it, writing assignments in school were among the most difficult for me. Have you tried writing any fanfics? There are quite a few talented people writing them. I do not know if the fanfics I like would be considered good by some literature critic, but I like them and they are quite popular. One I found recently is A Quiet Rune Scribe if you have not read it. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/550684/a-quiet-rune-scribe

It is extremely long, but you can see the author improve over time. The first chapters are hard to read, but over time it gets better and better. 

 

I have not read much fanfic to be honest. Not because I'm not interested, but just because I don't have a whole lot of time. But sure maybe I'll give it a read. As for writing any fanfics myself? Not really. I have ideas for some, but haven't had the chance to write any of them down. After rewatching Make Your Mark I really want to write a Sprout fanfic because I feel kind of bad that the show kind of forgot about him and unlike Misty he didn't get an actual redemption arc. I'd like to rectify that if I can through a fan fiction. And it would be fun to do.

I'm also probably as much as a horror fan as I am an animation fan and one of my favorite horror franchises is Final Destination. Prior to Bloodlines release I had this idea for a fanfic involving Bludworth because I love the character and his actor so, but because of the newest movie my idea no longer makes sense. But I'd still like to write it because I thought my idea cool. Bloodlines is definitely a good movie though if you're into horror and slasher movies.

Speaking of, I wish someone would make a horror cartoon in the vein of Courage the Cowardly Dog (one of my favorite cartoons), but for adults. It would be so cool! I don't know if you've seen it, but they finally made a crossover movie where Scooby and the gang meets Courage. As soon as I saw the DVD at my local Target I bought it haha and it was awesome! I had a similar idea before the movie in my head involving those two meeting, so it was awesome to see the movie's existence. Out of all of the Scooby Doo crossovers to me the Courage one made the most sense.

[Pentium100 2,334]

9 minutes ago, Nook Cranny said:

It would be so cool! I don't know if you've seen it, but they finally made a crossover movie where Scooby and the gang meets Courage.

I haven't seen it, then again, I don't really watch either of those cartoons. I saw them on TV a long time ago, but they were not as interesting to me.

16 minutes ago, Nook Cranny said:

As for writing any fanfics myself? Not really.

I just suggested it becasue you said you wanted to write something. As I said, I suck at writing, but it seems to me like writing a fanfic is the easier way to start as there is an established setting and the fans of the original story may be interested in giving a fanfic a try instead of reading a completely original story. I may be completely wrong here though.

[Dawnshine Wonder 3,819]

I don't know how I feel about this episode, from what I remember of it, seems that Pinkie Pie was very inconsiderate toward both her friends and her neighbors with the whole play the Yovidiphone or whatever that instrument is called, causing them sleep deprivation and that interfering with their important day to day duties, and poor Fluttershy fell asleep in the daytime because of this.

and look, I don't like criticizing the actions of characters in the show, but for honesty sake, sometimes I feel obliged to bring it up. This whole situation feels awkward, me being one of the fans who daydream and wish they could be in Equestria as our OCs, that's the reason I started my fanfic, not because I am a good writer, I probably suck at writing regardless, with not being an academic and all, but even with that issue brushed aside, I have personality flaws of my own, and I've caused people hurt before, wished I could have done otherwise, and it was too late, all I can do is learn and listen to others.

It hurts, to have to say this about fictional characters I admire so much, but the truth is, Pinkie Pie was out of line in this episode. Pinkie Pie is still a fun loving character who has helped save Equestria from villains who tried to rob their citizens of their freedom, so she deserved a chance to be made to listen to concerns of others, about the impact her obsession with her musical instrument was having on others, however at the same time she earned bad marks for this one and probably should have received some sort of disciplinary action from Twilight Sparkle, what her punishment should have been, I cannot say, nothing extreme like exile or a loss of friendship, more like, Twilight Sparkle to give Pinkie Pie a stern talking to and a warning about it, but it is clear that what Pinkie Pie did was wrong, expressing her passion for music is not the issue, the issue came in when she disturbed her friends with it.