Poll MLP:FIM S7E14 - "Fame and Misfortune" Grading & Discussion

[Amaris]

Episode Title: "Fame and Misfortune"
Air Date: August 12th, 2017, 11:30 AM Eastern Time (3:30 PM GMT/UTC)

Summary: "Twilight Sparkle's publishing of the friendship journal has unintended consequences when ponies start to argue over who wrote the best lessons."

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REMEMBER: NO OPEN SPOILERS UNTIL 4 PM EST (8 PM UTC/GMT) the day the episode airs.
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Ruminations:
Strife between the Mane Six (possibly Seven)?! Here comes a neat little slice of life episode. As always, I love the slice of life episodes, and look forward to them every time one crops up. I'm curious how this will play out, because it doesn't specify which ponies and which lessons, which is something we'll learn in the episode, I guess. Also, Twilight's publishing books now. Yay!

 

[Gepard]

Back when I was passionate about this show, some friends and I kicked around hypothetical episode ideas and this is remarkably similar to one of them. We had the idea that a biographer would want to come and write about the mane 6, which would of course go horribly wrong once the book was published.

I might check this one out, see what the pros do with the idea.

 

[Amaris]

Back when I was passionate about this show, some friends and I kicked around hypothetical episode ideas and this is remarkably similar to one of them. We had the idea that a biographer would want to come and write about the mane 6, which would of course go horribly wrong once the book was published.

I might check this one out, see what the pros do with the idea.

They did touch very lightly on the idea with season 6's "Saddle Row Review," (or "Saddle Row & Rec" as I continue to insist on calling it) but yeah, I am curious to see what they'll do when it's clear the end results aren't as glowing as they were in that newspaper article.

 

[Kemaiku]

Back when I was passionate about this show, some friends and I kicked around hypothetical episode ideas and this is remarkably similar to one of them. We had the idea that a biographer would want to come and write about the mane 6, which would of course go horribly wrong once the book was published.

I might check this one out, see what the pros do with the idea.

Larson wrote this episode years ago, for some reason, the studio only decided to make it now.

 

[Gepard]

Larson wrote this episode years ago, for some reason, the studio only decided to make it now.

Huh.

New M.A. Larson episode. I can dig it.

 

[Kemaiku]

Huh.

New M.A. Larson episode. I can dig it.

Eh, kind of. He wrote the pitch and they shelved it. Whoever wrote the final script will have made plenty of their own modifications.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

A for me! I can give a bigger review later!

 

[Amaris]

"Fame and Misfortune," or as I like to call it "Meta Brony Fandom Episode."
(Some minor spoilers)

So Twilight discovers the old friendship journal where she and the others in the Mane Six would write their lessons on friendship. Seeing it in such disrepair, Twilight enlists the help of Starlight Glimmer to help her make it new again, by creating perfect copies for the others. Of course, Twilight's idea is to share that journal with the other ponies of Equestria, and so the book is published for all to read. It is a smashing success, and it seems as if Twilight has managed to impart the lessons of friendship to everypony far and wide.

Unfortunately, as with all good intentions, there are terrible side effects. Instead of learning the lessons of the journal, ponies treat is as an entertaining story, taking sides, and choosing favorite "characters" from the book. Some openly criticize the actions of the Mane Six, while others pick their favorite ponies and slag off on the rest. There are ponies merely collecting the journals instead of actually reading them, other ponies complaining about events in the book, saying they are unbelievable, or unrealistic. There's even a remark aimed *squarely* at the fandom when one pony remarks that Twilight was better before she got her wings.

This episode is about our fandom, probably even fandoms in general, and I think it's brilliant. It points out that so many of us have become so involved in the minutiae, that we're missing the whole point of the story in the first place: lessons in friendship.

The writer of this episode, M.A. Larson, once again manages to hit the nail square on the head, and gives ever insightful commentary into what happens when people miss the forest for the trees, and the unfortunate fallout that occurs in even the most well-intentioned fandoms.

This episode even has a song, and it's a good one. For that, and the terrific lesson here, I'm giving this one an A+, and I think it may be my favorite of the season so far.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

And then there are the ponies that took shots at Fluttershy. They took a lot of hits at the fandom in this one, and I think it was done well. Coloratura, you said what I would've said.

 

[Gepard]

Goddamn, that was savage. I mean, I enjoyed it tremendously, but the show staff really are getting sick of us aren't they?

As they should.

We haven't had a good mane 6 meltdown in a long time, at least not up to the point where I quit watching the show regularly. So it was very satisfying to see the cast freak out again. I loved Rarity as always but I think my favorite gag was Applejack being popular and treating that like a disaster. (People more in the know than I am say this may be a reference to Japanese bronies, as they love all things Applejack.)

It's very, very strange to realize the show has been around long enough to start reflecting on itself as a cultural artifact. How times have changed from the days when it was an unassuming little show that presented a fantasy universe completely divorced from our reality, and that had the opportunity to build its fanbase largely on merit.

Rumor has it that this was a reworking of a leftover Larson script from before he left the show. Supposedly he confirmed that he didn't have anything to do with the aired episode though I can't find any tweets about it. It makes sense, though -- he's not back in any other capacity and the prerelease synopsis isn't accurate to the finished episode. Strange that he got sole writing credit.

 

[Amaris]

And then there are the ponies that took shots at Fluttershy. They took a lot of hits at the fandom in this one, and I think it was done well. Coloratura, you said what I would've said.

Poor, sweet Flutters. ♥
That said, she had a terrific response to them about growth and change not happening because of a single lesson.

Goddamn, that was savage. I mean, I enjoyed it tremendously, but the show staff really are getting sick of us aren't they?

As they should.

We haven't had a good mane 6 meltdown in a long time, at least not up to the point where I quit watching the show regularly. So it was very satisfying to see the cast freak out again. I loved Rarity as always but I think my favorite gag was Applejack being popular and treating that like a disaster. (People more in the know than I am say this may be a reference to Japanese bronies, as they love all things Applejack.)

It's very, very strange to realize the show has been around long enough to start reflecting on itself as a cultural artifact. How times have changed from the days when it was an unassuming little show that presented a fantasy universe completely divorced from our reality, and that had the opportunity to build its fanbase largely on merit.

Rumor has it that this was a reworking of a leftover Larson script from before he left the show. Supposedly he confirmed that he didn't have anything to do with the aired episode though I can't find any tweets about it. It makes sense, though -- he's not back in any other capacity and the prerelease synopsis isn't accurate to the finished episode. Strange that he got sole writing credit.

Agreed. It's probably why my favorite season is still the first one, when a sweet little show just wanted to talk about friendship. I have no doubt that this skewering was done out of both love, and more than a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun. The fanbase takes itself way, way too seriously. I have seen one and two hour analyses on show episodes, where it is rant after rant, and all I can think is "dude, do you even friendship?"

This was a needed shot in the arm, and I loved it.

 

[Gepard]

Larson himself didn't seem to like it much. There's now -deleted tweets where he called the episode "mean" and said the final version "wasn't my idea."

 

[Amaris]

Larson himself didn't seem to like it much. There's now -deleted tweets where he called the episode "mean" and said the final version "wasn't my idea."

He may feel that way, but it doesn't make the criticisms any less true.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I think it worked. And Starlight being involved was brilliant. She's seeing the effects, past and present, of those friendship lessons and she can see how everypony can get bogged down in minutiae. I was laughing about how she mentioned copying her manifesto.