Come together, fans!

[Notes]

Thanks, bobdude! 8) I can't smile when I think of that video, but I am trying my best to do Tales justice. l8)

[Notes]

Also, lancewing, where you been? -motions casually to the several members of the Schoolhouse-

[StarSwirl05]

I wonder if the comics were what we would've gotten to see in the show later on.

[Notes]

(!!!)

[Notes]

I normally respect Lumpy Brown Hat; I really truly do. But his MLP Tales is the Anti-Fim is the worst thing I've ever seen.



If you haven't ever seen it, don't go to the trouble. Its basic message is to label Tales as an awful cartoon with no morals whilst comparing it to Friendship is Magic, which he calls a 'Beacon of Hope."



Though I made note on many things I disliked in the video (coming to 48) I will be refuting the jerk. To refute is to argue against. That's why I won't be bashing anyone, so everyone is happy, and instead just going against his opinion with my own in a non-militant, peaceable way. Heavens forbid they find this, because we're peaceful without them. (3



One problem I have with this video was that it was just shortsighted. A bunch of his friends and him watched five of the episodes, and from his comments and mlptfan's past episode order, I'd be willing to guess that Shop Talk, The Play's the Thing, Blue Ribbon Blues, Roll Around the Clock and either Princess Problems or Out of Luck (going by the order mlptfan had the episodes published in).



If a bunch of guys want to get drunk while watching an old incarnation of My Little Pony, then don't take it seriously and just enjoy the horridness, if you want to hate it so much.



But no. Mr. Oliver decides to compare it with FiM based on five strategically chosen episodes.



The second fallacy in judgement made by Mr. Oliver is that he is comparing two very different shows in an apples-to-oranges type way. This is a problem because, obviously, he places Equestria on a pedestal whilst he belittles Tales, a show he watched for the sake of bashing. Very unwise move if you're reviewing anything.



But off of these lapses of logic, I shall begin discussing the points themselves. Point number one of his was that the Tales ponies were morally unsound.



If the only episode of My Little Pony Tales was Shop Talk, then I would agree wholeheartedly here. but Shop Talk is only one in twenty six episodes. The characters in Tales are, generally, in their preteens (what with Sweetheart having her tenth birthday.) That would denote their relative immaturity, such as in this episode. Anyone who watches more than five episodes of Tales would know that the characters have morals, some of which are very strong (Sweetheart and Lancer come to mind).



However, being the young ones they are, they make a mistake. A catastrophic mistake, but just a mishap that they will eventually forget about.



This is the reason that Shop Talk is one of my least favorite episodes. The Tales ponies (except for, to some extent, Patch) are twisted versions of themselves. My personal gripe with this episode isn't the grave mistake of blackmailing Teddy for the girls, it is the blatant mischaracterization.



In Mr. Oliver's sacred Friendship is Magic show, the ponies' characters are scrambled more often then he'd have you believe. Putting Your Hoof Down, Spike at your Service, Too Many Pinkie Pies, and Keep Calm and Flutter On are some examples that come to mind, though more exist. As a matter of fact, the idea of the Tales ponies being morally questionable based on one mischaracterized episode and a mishap is just plain ludicrous.



Compare this. In a recent episode of FiM (I am aware that this video is older than it) Rainbow Dash sells Fluttershy into slavery at the end. This was Trade Ya! That's the serious way of saying it, and honestly, it's true. Rainbow Dash literally trades her friend to a stranger to help her train her new dog in Manehattan for a limited edition Daring Do book she'd already read. That and the statement that Bright Eyes and Melody "used their sex appeal to trick the boys into dressing up like babies and then proceeded to blackmail them" are comparable.



But Mr. Oliver is truthfully overstating this. Bee and Mel are both ten years old, and as such don't have sex appeal. They also force them into it, not using feminine wiles or any other ridiculous thing of the sort. There is really no trickery at work there.



Sweetheart was so out of character in this episode I want to cringe. Sweetheart has supposedly strong morals that keep her from hating Teddy in the first place, and that is her desire to do right by her friends. Lancer and Ace are her friends too, and yet she does not do anything of the sort to accommodate for them, therefore negating the 'him or us' thing that is popular in later episodes (like Happy Birthday Sweetheart).



Another point that Tommy Oliver wanted to make was that nine times out of then, the boys start the problems. Firstly, from the estimated episodes seen, eight out of ten have anything to do with the opposite gender at all; only six out of ten prominently. Even then, the episodes were rigged.



He also tried to say the boys were the main antagonists of the series. Actually, no, they aren't. Any analyst or writer... heck, anyone who had Grade 7 Language Arts... would know that there are five different types of conflicts: pony/pony, pony/supernatural, pony/nature, pony/society and pony/self. While episodes with the boys tended to have pony/pony (Great Lemonade Stand Wars, Shop Talk, Stand By Me) many of the girls episodes covered different conflicts.



Think about it. The Masquerade and Send in the Clown, two of my favorites, were pony/self. There were no supernaturals in this show, and yet Out of Luck suits this category perfectly with Clover fighting her luck. But pony/nature was preeminent in Birds of a Feather. Pony/society is always rare, but Masquerade partially tackles it. But most episodes are combinations, like Up Up and Away
, And the Winner Is..., An Apple for Starlight and Princess Problems. This makes them multifaceted and therefore more complex.

Just the sound of nine tenths is illogical without the mathematics. Twelve, which is almost half, had any one of them in any role not restricted to the background. Most of these are Teddy episodes. Then, when you narrow it down to crush episodes (two) or conflict episodes (five) you still have only less than a third. Pathetic.

Another point Mr. Oliver tired to make was the point that Tales was the 'guardian of the status quo.' ...Erm, seriously?

The very existence of it is ground-breaking, as it was one of the first slice-of-life shows. It has character development, and change. Everyone knows that Patch grew up after Impractical Joker, but Bon Bon became more secure with her friends, Clover came to appreciate herself more for her talents, Teddy got to be kinder, and Ace (depending on the interpretation of Just for Kicks) came to be nicer at the very end of the episode.

Mr. Oliver says that matters are 'rarely solved in a reasonable or ethical manner' in Tales, which is also shortsighted. Just Shop Talk and Blue Ribbon Blues out of the ones he watched. The kids have a different moral code than adults, you know. They can pick on each other and laugh about it the next day. They're resilient and don't dwell on things. "Gender roles and stereotypes" are not present with the exception of the implications of Sweetheart and Teddy's relationship and Bon Bon's own parents (where the mother still has a voice and the dad still has a hoof in raising the kids).

The ponies aren't even greedier than FiM ponies most the time.

One despicable point he makes (in my opinion), and the main one in the whole review, was that Tales was "the anti FiM." He said that FiM was a beacon of hope and an example of what our society could become if we adopted the morals of the characters. A utopia, though not perfect. He says that Tales is all about the "persuasion of lust" and that it makes no attempt to be original, just showing how terrible our own world supposedly is.

I actually think the opposite about Tales and FiM: don't have different principles, but they have the same principles that are executed in almost entirely different ways. Friendship is Magic is about six pony friends and their dragon friend who learn lessons about friendship through the conflicts they find themselves in. Tales is about seven pony friends as they learn life lessons throughout their normal days while learning life lessons from their situations.

With Tales, often it is characters' weaknesses causing problems, like with Melody's pride in her episode, Clover and Bon Bon's various insecurities, and Patch's occasional inconsiderate behavior. In FiM, the writers opted to make the characters' strengths be problems, like with Twilight's hyper organization in Lesson Zero, Pinkie Pie's love for her friends in Party of One, and the whole group's attempts to have fun at the gala in Best Night Ever.

The characters in FiM are also way more exaggerated and everywhere on the spectrum than the Tales characters, and both are nice at times. Heck, one of them relies on science whereas the other is based on magic.

Of course, that is my opinion.

I would also say that the writing of the boys and girls in some parts were sloppy, and sometimes even questionable. But people must understand these things.

Thanks for reading,

Notes

[bobdude]

While I disagree on the whole "Fluttershy slavery" thing and see that as just overblowing things out of proportion, I have to say that otherwise I think you're spot on Notes.

[Notes]

Yeah, I got kind of emotional there. (,3( I love FiM but hate hypocrisy.

[Notes]

I just did a bit of posting on the MLP Lexicon; namely on your thread bobdude... Be prepared to welcome others. 8Y

[bobdude]

So, anyone else want to take a crack at "Refute that jerk!"?

[Notes]

I've already had my go, but if nobody else wants to get in on the Refuting action, I'm working on Big Meaty Review Three.

Edit: Yip, I'm a Tales fan.

[acehoneycomb]

Well, I'm here too. Looks like the Tales fandom is on its highest since 2011.

[Notes]

Agreed, my friend! Right now I'm reeling from how much you're posting. Don't stop, but it'll take me a while to get to replying to everything.

[Notes]

Dear guests, you never cease to amaze me. 21 of you?!

Gotta go right now, but stay awesome.

[bobdude]

Don't you mean classy Notes? ;D www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgGCIZi1UjY

[Notes]

Eh... no. I didn't get the reference, though that seemed like quite the kind gentleman.