SVCL

That's odd. I thought I replied on this thread, but now that I saw it by accident, there's no reply. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to reply to a post that's almost a year old. Again - why not? Yeah, we had that Smile Song, but it's questionable whether it even took place in reality. Plus it didn't even have the whole town in it. I can see absolutely no reason why some ponies wouldn't act like jerks. That likeability and warmth show up in the end where Fluttershy's friends come to forgive her, and she's ready to apologize. The rest of the episode isn't about warmth, it's about learning to stand up to others, and that theme requires a fair amount of drama. Oh come on! Twilight's Kingdom, for one, is impossible to watch without throwing around headcanon (otherwise half of the character's actions just don't make sene), but everyone drools over it. Throwing around headcanon when analizing episodes has become a routine in the fandom, because you very obviously can't squeeze everything into 20 minutes. I think the narrative blames them both (I'll explain later). And I hate it when people say that Iron Will shouldn't be blamed. He is basically a personal training consultant, and that job's fairness is questionable to begin with, because you basically make people pay you money for telling them how awesome they are and how they're gonna be the best, which may help them, but also may turn out really bad for them once reality steps in. You should know at least something in psychology, because no real life personal training consulant would ever do what Iron Will did without knowing if their client is psychologically stable (which Fluttershy was not), because that may turn out bad for the consultant himself later (just what happened to Iron Will). He only thought about the money he could get from Fluttershy and acted irresponsibly. As for Fluttershy... How is it marginalized? She tied herself to a chair and sat there for God knows how much time. She could've starved herself to death if Pinkie Pie and Rarity didn't come (plus she apologizes at the end). I guess that's not enough? It didn't feel forced to me, because judging by previous MLP episodes, Fluttershy did have sociophobia and it wasn't impossible for her to become so aggressive under right circumstances. You kinda contradict youself. What happened in the flashback in HF was after all initiated by everyone around Fluttershy, so I don't think that conflict was that different from PYHD. In HF we see people being jerks to Fluttershy in the past, and her suffering from remembering it, while in PYHD we see people being jerks to Fluttershy in the present, and her suffering from having to put up with it. So I wouldn't go as far as separating these episodes' conflicts. Well that's something you can't guarantee. People have different personalities, and what would break a friendship for some wouldn't for the others. PP and Rarity did what should have been done: instead of taking the offence and distancing themselves from the friend that for some reason started acting cruel, they treid to get to the reason why their friend was acting cruel. Also, can't see anything intolerable in sarcasm.

I actually think PYHD is the best episode of the series with ohe of the most vital morales the series ever delivered, and has some great character development. Let's look at the flaws you're pointing at. >but also write Ponyville (a very happy town to a fault) out of character. We didn't see that all of Ponyville is happy. We didn't see that the market is actually in Ponyville, either. And, as you've already said, we haven't seen any of those characters before (okay, we've seen Bonbon, but she was a jerk even back in Call of the Cutie), that means we can't really judge. I suppose Ponyville is a usual small town and not an utopia where everyone is nice to everyone. Folks can act nice, folks can act bad. >He never suggested any of the advice Fluttershy skewed, but the ending acted like it was something Iron Will planned throughout. Now you're just making things up. The ending showed us that Iron Will was actually a guy doing his own business when he accepted Fluttershy's refusal. The only one who called him monster was Pinkie, and that was because she was just trying to forgive Fluttershy >There was no proper buildup. We don't need one, because we have logic. We know that Fluttershy was pretty much abused for most of her childhood, and that couldn't come without doing any harm. There are actual people in real life who have deep inner demons that just wait to be released. Iron Will was a catalyst that helped to release Fluttershy's ones. >Despite intentionally treating Fluttershy’s actions as wrong, the episode still excuses her. It sympathizes with Fluttershy and cuts several corners to make the audience feel sorry for her. As a Fluttershy brony, why — the hell — should I? And that's my favourite part about the critics of the episode - they never realize that the stuff Fluttershy have done was needed to create a conflict. She couldn't just make some small mistake and suddenly realize everything - she needed to make something awful that would make her understand that her actions are wrong. But, okay, I guess I'll be more representative with the actual example. You know that Spider-Man fella from comic books, right? I guess you know his origin, too. Acting all juvenile and irresponsible, he let his uncle to be killed. And, following you logic, this suddenly makes him unlikable. It doesn't matter that after that he realized the true meaning of responsibility and became the real hero, no, he dared to MAKE A MISTAKE! We should forget about his development as a character, because the creators dared to sympathize with that bustard who let his uncle to be killed! We shouldn't forgive him after that! Is that what you're trying to say, huh? That characters shouldn't make big mistakes that help them to improve themselves?