Why Fame & Misfortune Is The WORST Episode Of MLP

[YoungJustice12334 51]

On 5/7/2020 at 9:41 AM, Super Splashee said:

I don't know, but at one point MA Larson talked about getting a lot of hate from the fans, probably over Twitter, for giving Twilight wings. Like he was to blame for it, and especially giving Twilight immortality to outlive her friends. It was just too much.

When you work for a big company, you cannot just start attacking the fans of that company. That will get you fired. That's why you don't get Twitter arguments between show staff and fans. It is a one way fight. And you can lay sleepless at night for those!

You are taking the fandoms point of view for this episode. That is obvious. You have the right to do so. But for me, that have been part of so many fandoms in the past, I have been too angry at things to the point where I just hurt myself. Last time I hurt myself was when Twilight got wings. That was a long time ago (2013). When I later saw "Fame and Misfortune" (in 2017), I just laughed at everything. It was a wake up call for me. I needed to see myself from a different view point.

 

I cannot fully agree with you, sadly. I think the episode made an impact. And every time FIM makes an impact, it is good for us as Bronies. We have more to prove to the world than just saying we like colorful cartoon horses.

I respect your opinion, but I'll explain further on why I hated the episode:

I know the episode was supposed to be A commentary-type of episode, but it failed terribly at it. Firstly, I noticed the journal was written to show the events of Season 4-5 and Not before or after. So any arguments made about the mane six at the time in the episode don't really apply anymore. Maybe people didn't like Rarity at the time, but I don't think she's that hated now. The guy talking about how Twilight would've been more interesting if she stayed in Canterlot makes no sense since the journal starts after Twilight became an Alicorn. And that also invalidates the "Twilight was better before she got wings".

Yeah, people complained that Fluttershy learned the same thing over again, but the writers fixed the problem. That fact makes how the show treats the argument very confusing now that I think about it. The writers themselves recognized this as a problem and made Fluttershy more aggressive. That'd be like if season 4 had an episode calling out Twilight giving out every lesson. Not only would that be outdated, but it'd have been a problem that the writers themselves recognized and fixed. 

Secondly, there are times where the arguments are just plain wrong and downright stupid. This mostly just applies for Rarity's backlash. The only reason given is that Rarity apparently stated that she think she did all the work in Simple Ways when that's not true. She said she put in a lot of work and that it was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she didn't say she did all the work. The only other argument is that they don't think Rarity has learned any of her lessons. 1. How would they know? and 2. They could say that for any of the mane six. It honestly makes me think the writers couldn't think of a good reason for things to go wrong for Rarity so they just made stuff up.

Thirdly, the friendship journal has a different purpose than the TV show. The journal is obviously a metaphor for the TV show, but that doesn't work because the purpose of the journal is solely as an educational tool while the TV show is also to entertain. All of the talk about the mane six like characters don't work because the journal is not entertainment. Any criticisms against the mane six made from the book are automatically bullshit because the journal only documents the lessons made at the end of each episode. The journal does not set out of make characters and tell stories. It's autobiographical and is made to share lessons.

The TV show on the other hand is fiction. It does set out to tell stories and create characters. A fair comparison for the journal would be if the TV show was just the friendship lessons from seasons 4-5. Not the rest of the episodes. Just the lessons. If that was true, this episode shouldn't have been made because there'd be no fan criticism to base it on. You can't criticize something like that unless it gives a rancid moral. But that's not one of the criticisms that the episode goes for. Only the stuff that makes no sense in universe.

So yeah. As a commentary on the fanbase, it came across as insulting and just terrible. When Ponyville argued that the mane six aren't real characters, It doesn't work when complaining about the criticisms of this show.  It brings up arguments that make no sense in the show's universe and expects the audience to take the episode seriously when it takes the arguments down. By the end, the episode gives such little of a shit about justifying these arguments in universe that they are literally using words like "character".

I never liked the episode One Bit because The way Ponyville acted was Just awful. Another reason why I found the Fame & Misfortune episode to be absolutely awful because Not only was it horribly written, it also made Ponyville, The LITERAL Hometown The Mane 6 protected since the beginning of the show, into complete Idiotic and heartless morons. I get it, they aren't the way you would want them to be, but that still doesn't give them the right to act like that, especially considering how much they have done to protect Equestria.

The way Ponyville treated The Mane 6 after what they've done to protect Equestria it came across to me as petty and incredibly immature, which are the two traits that describe the writers for making this episode. The writers were pretty stupid to go like "Yeah, let's dedicate an entire episode towards taking shit about the fandom that made your show go far beyond typical "Kid's Show" syndication" I am not saying the fandom was the sole reason but my points are still valid.

I’m not that much of A fan of M.A. Larson's work, but he did NOT deserve to get screwed over here, and the fact that he was forced to write the episode makes me question Hasbro a lot. I also found the episode to be a staple of the pride and hubris of the later show-runners. There are a lot of Bad MLP Episodes, but the episode Fame & Misfortune took the title with ease.

It also felt like A stupid Teen Titans Go! episode trying to make its critics look like idiots. The episode was basically saying “Screw the adult fans,the kid fans are way better and smarter” and I found it to be very insulting. We never needed the episode to be honest, and the Mane 6 never deserved the terrible treatment they received from Ponyville, I mean come on, They saved Equestria multiple times throughout the show, and that's the way Ponyville repays them?! 

On 4/9/2020 at 4:15 PM, Megas said:

It’s not even the worst episode of S7, especially when Fluttershy Leans In, Honest Apple, Daring Done, Triple Threat, and Hard To Say Anything exists 

I respect your opinion, but I'll explain further on why I hated the episode:

I know the episode was supposed to be A commentary-type of episode, but it failed terribly at it. Firstly, I noticed the journal was written to show the events of Season 4-5 and Not before or after. So any arguments made about the mane six at the time in the episode don't really apply anymore. Maybe people didn't like Rarity at the time, but I don't think she's that hated now. The guy talking about how Twilight would've been more interesting if she stayed in Canterlot makes no sense since the journal starts after Twilight became an Alicorn. And that also invalidates the "Twilight was better before she got wings".

Yeah, people complained that Fluttershy learned the same thing over again, but the writers fixed the problem. That fact makes how the show treats the argument very confusing now that I think about it. The writers themselves recognized this as a problem and made Fluttershy more aggressive. That'd be like if season 4 had an episode calling out Twilight giving out every lesson. Not only would that be outdated, but it'd have been a problem that the writers themselves recognized and fixed. 

Secondly, there are times where the arguments are just plain wrong and downright stupid. This mostly just applies for Rarity's backlash. The only reason given is that Rarity apparently stated that she think she did all the work in Simple Ways when that's not true. She said she put in a lot of work and that it was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she didn't say she did all the work. The only other argument is that they don't think Rarity has learned any of her lessons. 1. How would they know? and 2. They could say that for any of the mane six. It honestly makes me think the writers couldn't think of a good reason for things to go wrong for Rarity so they just made stuff up.

Thirdly, the friendship journal has a different purpose than the TV show. The journal is obviously a metaphor for the TV show, but that doesn't work because the purpose of the journal is solely as an educational tool while the TV show is also to entertain. All of the talk about the mane six like characters don't work because the journal is not entertainment. Any criticisms against the mane six made from the book are automatically bullshit because the journal only documents the lessons made at the end of each episode. The journal does not set out of make characters and tell stories. It's autobiographical and is made to share lessons.

The TV show on the other hand is fiction. It does set out to tell stories and create characters. A fair comparison for the journal would be if the TV show was just the friendship lessons from seasons 4-5. Not the rest of the episodes. Just the lessons. If that was true, this episode shouldn't have been made because there'd be no fan criticism to base it on. You can't criticize something like that unless it gives a rancid moral. But that's not one of the criticisms that the episode goes for. Only the stuff that makes no sense in universe.

So yeah. As a commentary on the fanbase, it came across as insulting and just terrible. When Ponyville argued that the mane six aren't real characters, It doesn't work when complaining about the criticisms of this show.  It brings up arguments that make no sense in the show's universe and expects the audience to take the episode seriously when it takes the arguments down. By the end, the episode gives such little of a shit about justifying these arguments in universe that they are literally using words like "character".

I never liked the episode One Bit because The way Ponyville acted was Just awful. Another reason why I found the Fame & Misfortune episode to be absolutely awful because Not only was it horribly written, it also made Ponyville, The LITERAL Hometown The Mane 6 protected since the beginning of the show, into complete Idiotic and heartless morons. I get it, they aren't the way you would want them to be, but that still doesn't give them the right to act like that, especially considering how much they have done to protect Equestria.

The way Ponyville treated The Mane 6 after what they've done to protect Equestria it came across to me as petty and incredibly immature, which are the two traits that describe the writers for making this episode. The writers were pretty stupid to go like "Yeah, let's dedicate an entire episode towards taking shit about the fandom that made your show go far beyond typical "Kid's Show" syndication" I am not saying the fandom was the sole reason but my points are still valid.

I’m not that much of A fan of M.A. Larson's work, but he did NOT deserve to get screwed over here, and the fact that he was forced to write the episode makes me question Hasbro a lot. I also found the episode to be a staple of the pride and hubris of the later show-runners. There are a lot of Bad MLP Episodes, but the episode Fame & Misfortune took the title with ease.

It also felt like A stupid Teen Titans Go! episode trying to make its critics look like idiots. The episode was basically saying “Screw the adult fans,the kid fans are way better and smarter” and I found it to be very insulting. We never needed the episode to be honest, and the Mane 6 never deserved the terrible treatment they received from Ponyville, I mean come on, They saved Equestria multiple times throughout the show, and that's the way Ponyville repays them?! .

[Splashee 28,537]

I don't think I can discuss this any further, as clearly seen, you have duplicated your same arguments 5 places in 4 replies:

Spoiler

https://mlpforums.com/topic/190332-why-fame-misfortune-is-the-worst-episode-of-mlp/?do=findComment&comment=5808330
https://mlpforums.com/topic/190332-why-fame-misfortune-is-the-worst-episode-of-mlp/?do=findComment&comment=5808371
https://mlpforums.com/topic/190332-why-fame-misfortune-is-the-worst-episode-of-mlp/?do=findComment&comment=5808544
https://mlpforums.com/topic/190332-why-fame-misfortune-is-the-worst-episode-of-mlp/?do=findComment&comment=5808985

 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

Locking this thread. Please do not just post your same response over and over in a discussion like this. Not only can it be considered spam it's also quite rude.

Thank you.