Insecurities?

[NotRamjet97]

What insecurities do the Tales characters have? I've seen some FiM mane 6 insecurities, and I was wondering your opinions on Tales characters' insecurities.

[bobdude]

Bon Bon's obviously got insecurities about her weight/physical appearance in comparison to the (presumably thin) models in her fashion magazines, as well as the old "middle child" syndrome. Personally, I have Bon BOn being conflicted about her weight in her teen years, before embracing her size and appetite as a young adult.

Clover, between her kluzyness, her superstitious behavior, her fluctuating luckiness, and Big Sister complex with Meadowlark, has a whole host of insecurities.

Sweetheart I don't think would have that many insecurities, given her strong sense of will and high level maturity.

Melody, I could see has having a G4 Dash effect, ie she's confident on the outside but insecure about her personal musical abilities (as oppose to working in a band like the Rockin' Beats). "What if they say I'm no good? What if they say 'Get out of here kid, ya got now future!'? I just don't think I could take that kinda of rejection." Something along those lines.

Patch, depending on where her eccentricies and interests take her, could be insecure about a number of things. For example, my headcanon Patch grows up with a preference for wearing guy clothes, not because it's any sort of a 'kink' thing, but because it's just something that makes her feel comfortable. So she'd be a bit sensitive about that sort of thing. "It's not a kink, I just like the feel of guy clothes better is all, okay?" (not that Tales Ponies wear clothes that often)

Starlight, being the level headed leader of the group, might have most of her insecures focused on Ace, depending on how that love triangle gets resolved as young adults.

Bright Eyes... Dunno, something about her not going enough for the environment or something reatled to Lancer I guess? (not that I'm trying to make the girls' lives revolve solely around the boys)

[NotRamjet97]

Oct 19, 2014 15:07:10 GMT -5 bobdude said:

Bon Bon's obviously got insecurities about her weight/physical appearance in comparison to the (presumably thin) models in her fashion magazines, as well as the old "middle child" syndrome. Personally, I have Bon BOn being conflicted about her weight in her teen years, before embracing her size and appetite as a young adult.

Clover, between her kluzyness, her superstitious behavior, her fluctuating luckiness, and Big Sister complex with Meadowlark, has a whole host of insecurities.

Sweetheart I don't think would have that many insecurities, given her strong sense of will and high level maturity.

Melody, I could see has having a G4 Dash effect, ie she's confident on the outside but insecure about her personal musical abilities (as oppose to working in a band like the Rockin' Beats). "What if they say I'm no good? What if they say 'Get out of here kid, ya got now future!'? I just don't think I could take that kinda of rejection." Something along those lines.

Patch, depending on where her eccentricies and interests take her, could be insecure about a number of things. For example, my headcanon Patch grows up with a preference for wearing guy clothes, not because it's any sort of a 'kink' thing, but because it's just something that makes her feel comfortable. So she'd be a bit sensitive about that sort of thing. "It's not a kink, I just like the feel of guy clothes better is all, okay?" (not that Tales Ponies wear clothes that often)

Starlight, being the level headed leader of the group, might have most of her insecures focused on Ace, depending on how that love triangle gets resolved as young adults.

Bright Eyes... Dunno, something about her not going enough for the environment or something reatled to Lancer I guess? (not that I'm trying to make the girls' lives revolve solely around the boys)

One thing I'd always thought of for Bright Eyes was that she might have anxieties about her grades in school, especially during her High School years and getting ready for college.

[Notes]

*makes fist* Yes, a great thread to respond to! I can so deal with this.

As you guys know, I think about this stuff a whole load more than I should. As such, the insecurities for my versions of the characters are very much thought-through. And what’s a better way to share my thoughts than by going through in theme song order like everyone does?

Without further adieu…!

Starlight Starlight is a very… interesting case. She, at first glance, has no flaws at all. As a matter of fact, she’s got confidence among her list of strengths. That is an extensive list of strengths, too: obviously confidence, optimism, wisdom, and friendliness, all under her supreme strength of leadership.

People might say that she has the insecurity with Ace, and yeah… that is a point that could get her really down in the dumps. The comics make it canon in my eyes that she has insecurity with the whole Ace thing. Bob-dude’s Bons between the Stars just solidifies that for me. I mean, between Starlight’s breakdown in Just for Kicks and certain comics (I especially mean “Starlight’s Secret”) I can’t see anything else.

But she does indeed have one significant insecurity that comes out at me upon the rewatching of An Apple for Starlight. And it comes from her greatest strength: her leadership. She says to her mirror self, “I don’t want everyone to hate me, but Miss Hackney trusted me to help her out,” or something of that nature. She is a leader… but she, at the same time, struggles leading her class in that episode. It was really interesting to see her greatest strength backfire on her in that episode, but this scene shows her insecurity. She wants to be a leader, but she doesn’t want to stifle her friends or make them dislike her. It’s actually very interesting!

Sweetheart Sweetheart, I can agree, has got the makings to be a very secure little pony, like Bob-dude said. More of her conflicts come externally, usually involving Teddy.

Melody Again, I can agree with Bob-dude that Melody has some doubt about her career. However, I think of it in a markedly different way: she doesn’t doubt herself. She’s very confident, with her only rival being Starlight, and she’s also got an ego. However, I do think that at times she’d be very nervous in the fairness that she was being judged in.

I mean, Melody has very clear confidence about her ability. But, she thinks, it doesn’t matter how good she is if the judge is just looking for flaws so she can have her career destroyed, after all. She still has the insecurity in her career’s future, but for utterly different reasons.

If I’m really set on writing Melody angst, I look to her past. Her father is out of the picture and she cares a lot about her family. I personally take the stance that he isn’t dead - he is actually abusive, and could come back. In Princess Problems, she is visibly upset by the idea of leaving her mother, and Patch interestingly asks how she would feel losing her mother rather than her parents.

Bright Eyes Bright Eyes, insecure? I laugh at the concept, personally. I see Bright Eyes as having a definite arrogance to her. She said that she thought she knew everything in Happy Birthday Sweetheart, and however much I disagree with that facet of characterization, it sticks with me. She knows that she’s smart, a genius really, and has no doubts whatsoever about how successful she’ll be.

I think that, even around Lancer (who she had a crush on in Roll Around the Clocks), she is confident and not reduced to a stuttering mess. By the end of the episode she’s really well-adjusted without stammering or worrying about dancing with Lancer.

Bright Eyes, for me, finds more conflict in her arrogance and in other ponies around her than she does in any insecurity of any kind.

Patch Oh boy, Patch. I would normally say that she didn’t have any insecurities, but I’ve seen certain things that really accentuate another interesting one for her.

Bon Bon’s Diary brought about the Secrets song, wherein everyone shared secrets of theirs. Some were less scandalous than others (Clover broke a vase, Bright Eyes got stuck in a library) but Patch’s seemed to have the deeper meaning. She says that she “wasn’t as courageous as she was painted” because she “saw a mouse last week and almost fainted.”

I’m very surprised that I’m the only one who seems to theorize this. People seem to think that she’s afraid of mice, diddly-doo. But, though she does get squeamish about mice, I think that his has a deeper meaning. She says that she isn’t as courageous as she is painted to be. Do others expect a lot from her there? Does she make herself out that way?

Does this, perhaps, relate to the “Up, Up, and Away” hot air balloon incident where she was likely very scared in those last few seconds before she saw the Magical Ponies? Does she hate herself when she’s scared, berate herself for it? A whole host of possibilities.

Her voice has a quiet shame to it as she finishes singing her verse. It’s evident to me that it isn’t just being startled by a mouse that she’s talking about, at least.

Another potential insecurity she has is insecurity over others not believing her and even thinking she was crazy. I think that this is more of a frustration she has than an insecurity.

Patch is interesting, though. She can be an insecure mess or the confident kid who makes others insecure messes, depending on the situation.

Normally her issues are more external. She gets in a lot of trouble, annoys her friends, faces mortal peril during some adventures… stuff like that.

Clover Clover is, as we all know, loaded down with insecurities. The insecurities about not being as good as Meadowlark, her “I can’t do anything right” attitude at times, her anxiety with her constantly-shifting luck (particularly when she has bad luck), her being as sensitive as she is, and all the rest are a big part of her character. She’s somewhat happy in the show, but the insecurities and anxieties break her down to a sobbing mess. Remember Sister of the Bride?

All of her anxiety is just exponentially increased when you consider the fact that her mom treats her the way she does in Bride. It was excusable because it was her firstborn’s wedding, but it still got Clover down, and if Clover’s anxieties are anything to go by, her mom hasn’t exactly been supportive with that stuff.

Bon Bon Bon Bon is also loaded with insecurities. Self-worth issues, problems with not being as pretty as the fashion models in her magazine, delusions that her friends do not like her and might abandon her, her sexuality, indeed her size, her intelligence…

A twist that makes it even worse for our favorite eater is that she actually causes her own problems at times, and fuels them so they are blown way out of proportion.

I guess that a much more viable discussion for Bon Bon wouldn’t be what she’s insecure about, but why she feels that way. What causes her to think the way she does? If she’s around such a supportive group, how does she find the place to be insecure about everything in the first place? Clover isn’t so difficult: her sister is there and always outshines her, and her mom does nothing to help that.

But BB has a great support system. Her friends haven’t said one mean thing to her in the entire series, not even Teddy.

Speaking of…

Teddy is interesting. There are blurred lines where his cookiness with everyone becomes actual insecurity. Of course we know that he has a problem with not being considered tough, and a lot of what he does is to seem tougher for others. The teddy bear especially affects him. Why he wants to be considered tough, or how he came to think that way, is a very interesting question, too.

It seems like he would have social insecurities: he wants to have friends, but being mean is the only way he knows how to get anyone’s attention. He’s definitely a loner at the beginning of the series, but at the end, he wants friends desperately, trying to sabotage the swim meet in Happy Birthday Sweetheart as a funny joke for everyone to laugh about. He even opens up to Bon Bon about his apparent feelings in Bon Bon's Diary.

Ace Guys, Ace doesn’t seem insecure at all. He’s a brat when he loses, but he has complete confidence and pride in himself. He probably doesn't even have a lot of conflict, except potentially with his parents. He can get whatever he want with his manipulation and good looks, and he probably gets pretty good grades. Let's talk about a different horsey.

Lancer Lancer’s lonely, and he wants friends like Teddy, but he’s worried that nobody could like him, rather than not knowing how to make friends. He has a strong sense of justice that seems to land him in the bad books of the others at times. Lancer also doesn’t have a very high opinion of himself, either.

Yet, he also has his parents being gone, which much put some toll on him emotionally. He might also be insecure about richness. I know I would be, if the media all around me characterized rich people as snobs and featured the destitute at the forefront.

He has a perfect mix of external and internal conflicts, Lancer does.

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I am SO LATE with this, guys! But I just had to write it.

[bobdude]

Good stuff to chew on in thought Notes, keep up the good work.

[Notes]

Thanks!