Pony Venting Thread

@LeoNero
 
The writers hate Applejack.
 
Wait, no.
 
The writers ran out of ideas with what to do with Applejack since season 2.
 
There we go.
 
Her character arc “decay”, this point where writers start to run out of stuff to do with a character and just starts blowing holes into their personality to try and find some scraps to use has been going on for a long, long time. It very rapidly stopped being “How can we add to this character”? and became “How can we introduce a new flaw to her so that she’s less stale?”. It certainly didn’t help that her entire personality is based off stability and spitting in the face of learning something new, instead embracing stagnation and outright refusal to change.
 
How do you advance a character like that? Why, by making them seem bigoted, ignorant, obsolete and intolerant! By adding in deep-seated flaws that surfaces and becomes problematic all overnight (the main indicator that a character is in it’s “decay” state) and by undoing them from within.
 
The entire mane 6 eventually reached that point, but AJ? AJs been essentially living with a deteriorating brain disease close to the start of the series, and hasn’t gotten any better since.

@ILoveMyoozik  
Yeah, it would have, especially since it would give something to her.

@Poison Trail  
I think you’re being too harsh there

@ILoveMyoozik
 
When is he ever NOT?

Since the topic of silver sppoon came up, what do you guys think she would be as an adult, aside from trophy wife socialiate? What kind of job would she have?
 
This may or not go on my vector to-do list.
 
Back to Steven Universe movie I go…

@cheezedoodle  
I’d imagine she’s be a cook or a taste tester.

@cheezedoodle  
Either a cook or an antiques collector of fine silverware

@cheezedoodle
 
I figured she’d be a silversmith.

@cheezedoodle  
Those people were the reason I had to watch the finale and epilogue right away. Fuck em.
 
@ILoveMyoozik  
And that can’t be a big concern to some people because?….
 
@LeoNero  
Why hasn’t YouTube invented an option to hide certain channels from showing up in our recommendations?

@Red-Supernova  

 
Because it would be too abusable.

@Red-Supernova  
It’s not a healthy mindset at all and I worry if that’s how they act in real life.

@Red-Supernova  
There’s a chrome extension that blocks channels.

@Wiimeiser  
How would it be abusable?
 
@ILoveMyoozik  
Guess you won’t like one of my friends then.
 
@cheezedoodle  
Thanks!

@cheezedoodle
 
What do you think of my idea of Silver Spoon being a silversmith?

@Red-Supernova  
I probably won’t

@Jarkes  
It’s creative, but it’s more of a leap than chef/baker, which was about the only thing she was ever shown to be doing aside from being a rich kid and DT’s lackey.

@Poison Trail  
Applejack’s character decay coud have been avoided by making her the team’s mom and voice of reason (who, as a running gag, is never listened) and lampshading the fact she’s a boring mare, so her friends would try to find ways to make her less boring, with the predictable backfiring because AJ was already fine the way she was.

@Anonycat
 
Wasn’t that episode about the Golden Horseshoe Gals bringing up that AJ’s so boring that even trying to imagine how she’d think turns one into a complete killjoy? “AJ is boring” hasn’t been brought up all that much, but it certainly had potential… until it was shut down in favor of character deconstruction/demolition instead.
 
The very origin of “AJ is a background pony” came from how episodes that didn’t feature her portrayed her way better than otherwise. Her IQ quite literally burned under the spotlight.

@cheezedoodle  

Given that her cutie mark and name are a reference to someone who has unearned prosperity due to inheritance, it’s kind of hard to say. We don’t even know what she even has a talent for, really. Still, assuming she doesn’t turn out like some of our idle rich and go the “famous for being famous” route, maybe she’ll devote herself and her family money to a worthy cause. She could be a charity organizer, or something along those lines.
 
Barring that… I don’t know. One of the many other things people with too much money and time do. Make her own line of cosmetics or luxury products. Write books on how to be successful. Buy an acting or singing career.
 
And if all that fails, there’s always politics.

@Poison Trail  
Plus, seeing how many people gushes and squee over Maud, who’s entire character is just being boring, the idea about Applejack becoming so practical and grounded at the point of becoming boring wouldn’t have been such a bad idea.  
Especially if they had gone with the running gag of nobody ever listening to her warnings.

@Anonycat  
@Poison Trail  
I like Applejack just fine the way she is. She can’t always be rational, or always the grounded one. Even people like that IRL have occasional flaws, outbursts, or ignorance, as well, so it’s really not that out of left field. She’s had a li’l development too over the course of the series, and has gotten more open-minded, and less stubborn about asking for help, and such.
 
As for Maud, I think her deadpan personality is amusing, but I understand it can get old for some fans, so Maud is a character better off in smaller doses, like she has been. She got a li’l development when she moved, befriended Starlight, and got a BF. (Well, kinda BF.) So she’s really not that boring.

Let’s be honest. The majority people who complain about “characterization” as well as Character Progress/Development/Growth/etc do not care about any of that.
 
No one really knows what they want and I believe that includes themselves.
 
Whenever they touch upon old traits and flaws people complain about that i.e. Fluttershy.
 
Create new flaws to advance the character in new ways? Complain about that i.e. Applejack.
 
New characters if we’re not allowed to touch old ones? Nope.
 
You’d think they’d want to skip straight to the end result and/or have episodes where they just brownnose the characters but even that turns out boring (Fluttershy Leans In) or people get upset about it (Sunset Shimmer).
 
Proper Characterization is just translation of “emphasize nothing but the character is a positive light”. Because even if you take the characters negative aspect but keep it consistent with the actual character people will swear its wrong.

I think we need a new thread for venting about things that are currently in leak status.

@Beau Skunky  
Even though I also like AJ, I think the problem is that they decided to make her the team mom/straight man of the group, which is definitely needed if you have a cast of wacky and zany characters to really relate to, but it’s at the expense of making her characterization rather bland and underwhelming. With all that, I do think that she’s rather changed throughout the series.

@Red-Supernova  
Just use the season 9 spoilers thread, nobody there will care if you’re venting.
 
@ILoveMyoozik
 
I identify with AJ a lot, probably more than any other character in the show. I appreciate that she is written in an understated manner. Extremely patient, stubborn, reluctant to inconvenience anyone, proud of her work, appreciative of her family, no-nonsense, helpful, firm in her beliefs.
 
She’s a good role model.