Is it my imagination, or in this season have the "morals" become more complex and, well, more problems-that-adults (or at least, this adult) face?
This week's episode: Spike deals with performance anxiety. Then, when Twi saves his bacon and he doesn't realize it, he thinks he's magic and gets cocky, and then REALLY screws up. Then he feels awful and like he can't do anything - even after he essentially saves the games by melting a giant iceball that happens when an errant ice-arrow (it's complicated) hits a cloud.
Spike's comment at the end is something like, "Even when other people around you are praising you, it's hard to appreciate it if you don't feel good about yourself inside."
And while I would argue Spike got there by doing something kind of stupid - claiming, on short notice, that he was going to sing "the anthem" (thinking it was Ponyville's, when it was Cloudsdale that got the gold medal) and then blundering through it because he didn't know the words (instead of saying to the crowd, "Uh, sorry. I spoke too fast. I don't know this one")
But yeah, I've been at the "even when others praise you, sometimes you can't feel it" - either because you focus on past screw-ups. Or, in my case, a lot of the time, either you're such a perfectionist that you see the one small thing you didn't do right, when the balance of what you did was good - or even better than good. Or when something else mires you in self-doubt. (See: students who didn't improve their writing skills as much as you had hoped). Even when that thing may not entirely be your fault.
And yeah, I guess I feel a little guilty about not working more on research this spring - I kind of got sidetracked by other things, teaching-related things and stuff like serving on that search committee. Though I probably could have made more time for research if I had really pushed myself.
A couple of other thoughts:
1. Surely I am not the only adult fan who said, "It's okay, Spike, it happens to a lot of guys" when he couldn't get his flame going. (Perhaps there is even a little pill for that, in whatever country dragons come from....)
2. In another sort of Equestria, Cloudsdale would have declared war on Ponyville after Spike dishonored them by disrespecting their anthem. As it is, we will probably never hear any aftereffect of that, though I think that would make an interesting rabbit-hole to go down (perhaps some fanfiction writer will take it up - the behind the scenes negotiations between Ponyville and Cloudsdale to fix the embarrassment)
2a. Every city/region has its own anthem? That's interesting. Does that imply each region within Equestria is more autonomous, more like a city-state than cities or country-regions (states or provinces) in our world?
3. I would have like to have seen more of the actual games (I kind of wish this had been a two-parter). As it was, the story focused more on Spike, which is okay I guess and worked with the moral they wanted to promote. But I really wanted to see the other events than the pegasus relay and the ice archery thing.
4. I really hope we see more griffins in future episodes. Obviously there is a griffin country/town in Equestria because they sent a delegation.
5. ALL the princesses at the games? They don't hide one away in a secret bunker in case of some horrific attack, like the Cabinet Member who allegedly hides out during the State of the Union, just in case? Well, I guess that's a reminder that Equestria is meant to be a nicer world than ours.
6. The disabling spell ("to prevent cheating by unicorns") was a nifty little plot device (because then they couldn't magic away the ice ball, and Spike had to melt it), but it also works in a larger context. (I think of it as being something like those magnetic disk-wipers, only something that's obviously reversible.)
***
Heck, I might as well make this an all-ponies post for now.
At the Target yesterday, there were two lone blind bags (and one that had been opened, and its figure stolen.....I have to think it's especially bad karma to steal a Pony figure; probably the changelings come and get you or something). One of the bags had been torn open and put back. But I peeked in and saw it was a pony I didn't have, so I bought it. Told the checker, "Yeah, I know it's opened, but I still want it."
The other bag was unopened.
As it turns out, it was the pony I wanted MOST OF ALL out of that particular run. (I wonder: maybe it was a tiny bit of good karma that I was willing to buy the opened blindbag? And yeah, karma, if it exists, doesn't work that way, but I tend to think of it in kind of a fairytale way - that if you do something good, something good happens to you)
The unopened bag was Strawberry Sunrise, who has a new and different body mold:
A pegasus standing on all fours. The only other one I've seen like this is the Fluttershy who came in a special set. She's really cute. The other pony - the one in the opened pack - was named Sunshower Raindrops. I know in some fan art (and also, I think in at least one fan story), she's shown as a friend and/or protector of Derpy...so yeah, I kind of wanted her too.
And at the checkout (which I stood in line for forever, because I forgot it was the first Saturday of the month and EVERYONE was out) there were little packs of impulse-buy things. Including some mini brushable ponies. Normally I don't really go for the brushables, but this one appealed to me:
Lyra! For now she's sitting on my piano watching me practice.
And then finally, "Pie Ingredients":
Body color yarn, hair and tail color yarn, and dress fabric for a future Maud Pie amigurumi. (I already have the felt needed for the face).
Now I have to decide: do I do Colgate (or Minuette, as her "official" name is) next, or Maud next?
(I think it's interesting how the adult fandom seems to have taken Maud so much into their hearts. I think it's partly because she's somewhat Daria Morgendorfer in Pony form, but also it may be that her flat affect and lack of emotion is something a lot of the adult fans wish they could experience - to be able to withstand the buffets of life much more calmly and serenely (at least on the surface) than many of us do. I tend very much to be a reactor - I'm actually more Rarity than I am Maud, to be honest - and while I'm also very resilient (I react strongly to stuff but I get over it fast), I do admit that at times I wish I were better at just rising, Buddha-like, above all the stuff of the world.)
2 comments:
Were you able to get the edible glitter you wanted?
I once dreamed I was in a situation almost exactly like Spike's: had to bluff my way through a song I knew very little of. The end result was much the same.
Post a Comment