How do you think "Fame and Misfortune" would have avoided its drama?

I think by going and fucking yourself, basically.
 
you may not like that answer, but I’d say it’s the most truth you’ll hear in any. Episode was fine, people liked it, some people didn’t. How can we change that to make it so everyone would’ve loved the premise? A couple ways, I guess, but it’s not as if of the people that didn’t like it, everyone hated it because of the same reason, which is not something that should even be said in a topic called, “how do you think the drama of this episode could’ve been averted?”, or is it? I guess it is, after reading some comments already jumping the wagon of being Right and being Wrong.
 
 
this is my favorite kind of thread btw, but also the only real kind of discussion threads in here. for the most part that is. There’s always that insidious and pesky little (DTK) type user over there that keeps making some things peaking curiosity, like a smart little shoulder devil telling you, “what if I told you this instead?”.. You son of a bitch.. You know what you did, don’t act like you don’t know! I’ll bet you even did it on purpose, didn’t you??

@DanielTepesKraus  
Im not lashing out  
Proceed to do exactly that  
0/10

@Background Pony #41D1  
I dunno why you’d say what you said about DTK, when you have my comment as a better example of what you’re saying, but sure, let’s say he was.
 
here’s how it looked too, the instrument of torture he was using.
 

I honestly don’t think it could, if there is anything I have learned in these long six years of being a part of the fandom it’s that everything is going to create drama sooner or later.

@Background Pony #3D9C  
That wasnt even close to “mean-spirited” no matter how you turn it.

But fine,if you want me to rephrase that in a way that make you feel less bad.You wanted the largely escapist MLP to be more genre-savy /4th wall breaking/meta like the Simpsons or Animaniacs of yesteryear,dont act surprised if they do the same thing those shows did when fans overstepped the boundaries  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNJ6dFwh8a4  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfy-DSuc_Kk  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0uLQvYgdC0  
(I acknowledge that i am 3D6C,i just use my account to post the links above, not to be a sockpuppet)

@toxicitzi  
i don’t think there’s a way to make an episode that keeps everyone happy. hell, even the most overall well-received episodes (the perfect pear, amending fences) have people that hate them, and the most overall disliked episodes (princess spike, mysterious mare do well) have fans. it’s why i like to draw parallels. if person two can understand why person one hates, for example, rarity, by having it compared to their own dislike of, say, pinkie pie, then there’s understanding between the two.
 
@Background Pony #41D1  
@toxicitzi  
prime example of the “two people disagreeing must be fighting” mindset that i don’t like.

@DanielTepesKraus  
“ lmao, you honestly think i was lashing out, or that my statement was aimed at ferroter? nah, i was hoping someone would come along later and lash out at people so i could smugly reply to their comment and say “ladies and gentlemen, exhibit a”.  
You’re not above the rest

@DanielTepesKraus  
I’m still telling you… you’re the reason I don’t stop completely coming here..
 
and yeah, I’ve become a bit of asshole lately. Thing is, despite talking sense and being reasonable, I still see you struggling to try and hold a conversation around here and it sucks just seeing it, but I’ll fuck off if I’m being a hindrance, lord knows the world’s never short of other things I could be wasting my time on instead.
 
 
@Background Pony #3D9C  
you should probably just follow my advice and quit wasting your time here, trying to look for a fight.

@Background Pony #3D9C  
so… you’re upset that i preemptively made a jab at a perfect stranger who i didn’t even know would post, and you’re now whiteknighting for said perfect stranger who didn’t even care that i did in the first place? why you gotta be a hater when you can be a congratulator?
 
@toxicitzi  
nah don’t worry about it brah. i edited that part of my post out because, honestly, yeah it’s fine.

@Background Pony #3D9C  
Maybe you should step back from this thread for a while, before you say something that will get you banned.

Another thing about Fame and Misfortune. I ultimately saw it as having kind of a positive ending in a way. The idea is that the people who really dislike the book and are that wound up will ultimately move on to other things they enjoy more and get more out of, but the positive impacts the book has made will endure for those it speaks to.

@gingerninja666  
really good point. you know, that’s the thing. i feel like the meta side of this episode was actually quite strong. i just feel that the things that string it together as an actual episode were pretty weak. like with the yaks, they may or may not be a jab at fans who are never satisfied, and it doesn’t matter at all if they are or not because even 100% without it, the episode still stands on it’s own. this one really suffers in that if you aren’t familiar with the meta angle of it, the episode would be a nonsensical mess i think. i’m honestly really curious what someone who wasn’t familiar with the fandom side of things would think of this episode.
 
and true, you could just as easily rebuff me with “the whole point of the episode was you need to be familiar with the fandom side of things”, and yes that’s a valid point, but i still personally feel episodes like this that tackle real-life aspects need to be entirely self-contained within their own canon to work, in that you could go in with zero knowledge of what it was trying to discuss and still fully enjoy the episode. animal farm, for example, was all about communism, but someone with zero knowledge and interest of such things could go in and still enjoy a fully grounded, sensible storyline.

@DanielTepesKraus
 
I think if you don’t know the meta angle, then the episode is more a straightforward tale about someone getting famous and the public reading them in a completely unfair and untrue way, or otherwise the fame getting in the way of their daily lives.
 
In a way, you could argue certain elements are less problematic without the meta angle. With the meta stuff, you could read the fluttershy scene as the writers telling off the audience for complaining about Shy’s episodes. Without the meta stuff, that scene is a cut and clear demonstration of Fluttershy’s character development, where she stands up for herself against a bunch of people complaining about a written version of her that isn’t representative her current self.

@gingerninja666  
it’s just so hard for us to say because we all do know the meta angle of it. because, to me, without the meta-ness tying it together it comes off as a random compilation of spontaneous events tied together by no real narrative or conclusion like a clip show, basically. say, with shy snapping at those other people. it doesn’t tie into the story, nor does it have any lasting effect. compare any of the other numerous times she had to learn to nut up, where her doing so concluded the narrative in dragonshy, started the narrative of putting your hoof down, and led to a “you did your best and that’s what counts” moral of hurricane fluttershy. it wasn’t like a random sight gag or a joke where the point was to score a laugh either. there are just so many parts of that episode like that, which could be removed entirely from the episode without having any discernible effect on it.
 
in fact, i feel as if someone with no knowledge of the meta aspect of the episode would get angry at such parts. “oh, they had time for this random fluttershy stands up for herself part, but not enough time for a conclusion?” and i say this because i remember that being one of the non-alicorn complaints about mmc at the time: people felt the overabundance of songs choked out the plot. also, that was one of my countless complaints about princess spike: how so much of the episode was just random parts that really had nothing to do with it’s near non-existent plot. seriously, you could cut out about 10 minutes of it without even remotely affecting the plot.

@DanielTepesKraus
 
I do still think it would’ve been funny if one of the Mane Six said at the end that the townsponies would probably all forget about it in a week or so.

@HorsesandMuchMOAR  
Showing both the good and bad sides of the fanbase. There may have been some intent to do that at the end with those two fillies, but they seem more like stand-ins for the target audience, with the message being “as long as they love and learn from it, who cares if the fans ruin everything?” Having adult fans who were pleasant and respectful would have helped a lot. As it is, it’s a very one-sided take, as compared to, say, the portrayal of fans in the same seasons “Once Upon A Zeppelin”>

Well for starters, maybe don’t make an episode where the townsponies make the Mane 6 miserable (not even Fluttershy, basically most of the fandom’s cuddly bear, was safe)

@Megalobronia
Tbf, i kinda doubt it, considering there’s a few bad apples in the fandom that unfortunately overshadow the brony fandom.
Adding on that, it probably caused some strain between Hasbro and DHX.