Fluttershy all of the sudden had her fear of dragons disappear. It’s been extremely severe in past seasons to the point of freezing up and violent escape.
And in the very first episode of the entire show, Fluttershy went from debilitating, couldn’t even tell a stranger her name levels of shyness to talking at length with one when she saw that Twilight had a baby dragon with her.
In other words, they established day one that her love for baby dragons (and probably baby animals in general) can be powerful enough to overcome her other fears. And with the plot of “Sweet and Smoky” being all about going to help them, it makes perfect sense for her to have no issues with going too.
Even confronting the dragons is in character. In “Dragonshy” (again, season one) they showed that one of the things that can get her over her fear of dragons is when they are picking on her friends. So it makes perfect sense that she wouldn’t be bothered by confronting the ones picking on Spike.
Besides, she’s been working on her fears for nine seasons now. I think it is acceptable at this point to assume that she has gotten better, especially when we’ve seen her do better with her other fears before (particularly when she also has friends with her, which she does here as well).
Dragon culture is overall extremely nasty and harsh for personal survival. Suddenly out of no where Garble is Smolder’s brother looking nothing alike and despite being smaller she’s a cool one. The coincidence is a bit extreme.
Is them looking like each other really an issue? Twilight doesn’t look like Shining Armor. Fluttershy doesn’t look like Zephyr. Applejack and Big Mac don’t really look alike. Pinkie stands out from her family like a sore thumb. I think the show has established well enough by now that characters can be siblings without much or any sort of resemblance.
Also despite being a ‘softy type’ on the inside and lonely, Garble had been a cool dragon, a leader and bully. But he won’t connect with Spike? It makes a little sense, but where’d bongo rhyming come from? And why is Smolder ok with it?
Don’t you Smolder’s holiday story? Dragon culture has traditionally not looked kindly upon any sort of soft, emotional stuff. It’s the sort of situation that has already been so well established from other episodes that Garble never, ever letting his softer side out makes perfect sense. His environment, the attitudes of other dragons, all of that forces him to play the part of tough bully to fit in. Heck, you could even argue that it’s a bit of obvious overcompensation. He’s not like that inside, so he acts more extreme than others to cover for it.
As for why Smolder is ok with it, don’t forget, she too is hiding a softer side. One so well hidden, it took a manifestation from the avatar of harmony itself to force out of her.
And as for the bongo drums… I have no idea. Maybe he thought it was a compromise. He has a sensitive side, but still gets to beat something expressing it.
Smolder was the one sent to Twilight’s School of Friendship presumably needing it but her past with Garble puts that into question.
I don’t believe ‘why’ was was ever specified beyond her having been ordered to go.
Smolder: “But dragons are better than this! Why am I here?” Ember: “Because as Dragon Lord, I’m ordering you to be here!”
-~~“School Daze ~~ Part 1”
But maybe Garble is just better at hiding it than Smolder was. Or maybe she was closer to the age Twilight discussed with Ember for students. There could be any number of reasons Ember sent her, but nothing about her being the one to attend really factors into the situation with her brother as far as I can tell.
Dragon eggs not hatching and her father a legacy of dragons isn’t helping the future of dragon-kind.
Well she does state that her father hadn’t really shared any of the details, since the job is kind of a “burn or be burned” trial by (possibly literal) fire. But it’s important to bear in mind that, under normal circumstances, there wouldn’t actually have been any reason to tell her about the egg situation. She already knew they needed heat, and had a general idea of the time needed for the babies to emerge. Had the younger dragons not accidentally drained some of the lava lake heating the nests, a situation neither her nor her father would have been able to anticipate, the eggs would undoubtedly have hatched exactly as they were supposed to.
Where’d all the gigantic dragons disappear off too?
They’re off sleeping, more than likely. “Dragonshy” made it clear that it’s not usual for one of the big ones to nap for one hundred years, and the migration in “Dragon Quest”, one of the few other times we’ve seen the big ones (minus Ember’s dad), was described as a once in a generation event. It’s not too hard or improbable to assume that the biggest, oldest dragons only rarely get together (possibly to produce offspring, which could explain the eggs in this episode and why none of them are Ember’s) before leaving to resume their sleep.
Where did blue dragon fire laughter come from all of the sudden?
The writers. The same place the tree that only dragons are allergic to came from. I mean, seriously, it’s not like every single thing about dragons is so set in stone by this point that adding something new, like the aforementioned Dragonsneeze trees, is a deal breaker, is it?
But if you have to have a reason, I’m sure there are ways to think one up. Is dragon fire magical? It certainly seems like it can be, since Spike sometimes sends mail using his. And given that pony magic is affected by emotions, why couldn’t a dragon’s fire be affected too? Or heck, maybe they need the sulfur (and other chemical) rich environment of the Dragonlands to produce fire laughter. There are options to make this work, is what I’m getting at here.
I think the episode’s focus could’ve still worked, just the approach taken is hardly believable.
1. Make it a friendship mission forcing Fluttershy to the dragon lands.
I don’t know why it wasn’t deemed a friendship mission to begin with. She would have to be there to overcome her fear. She and Spike are called; Smolder goes along to help identify the problem.
2. Fluttershy is ok with Ember and Smolder, but terrified of everyone else.
So she spends much of the episode sneaking around while trying to be with the eggs. Spike finds out that it’s Garble who has the problem and Garble hasn’t been hanging out and doing dragon stuff with his friends. His usual dominance with the other teen dragons keeping them in-line isn’t there, making the lava flow and the eggs go cold.
3. In Spike’s presence, Garble cracks insults at Spike and bullies him as usual, when Smolder finds out what’s going on and he retreats.
3. While sneaking around, Fluttershy runs into Garble doing an embarrassing comedy skit while he’s also sneaking around.
Fluttershy and Garble warm up to each other and ‘encourage’ each other to face their fears.
4. Fluttershy (with Spike) faces her fears and finds out why the eggs aren’t hatching. Garble in turn faces his fear, and makes the dragons laugh with his comedy routine and joke-cracking.
Ember thinks his comedy routine is hilarious and makes him an official entertainer. He can establish his dominance in the dragon lands with friendly banter without being overly hurtful. Fluttershy finds a soft side to a few dragons. Mission success, return to Ponyville, compile notes for Twilight on renewed dragon culture.
@Chopsticks
Character development is discontinuity?
Interesting viewpoint, but you do you.
Fluttershy all of the sudden had her fear of dragons disappear. It’s been extremely severe in past seasons to the point of freezing up and violent escape.
Dragon culture is overall extremely nasty and harsh for personal survival. Suddenly out of no where Garble is Smolder’s brother looking nothing alike and despite being smaller she’s a cool one. The coincidence is a bit extreme.
Also despite being a ‘softy type’ on the inside and lonely, Garble had been a cool dragon, a leader and bully. But he won’t connect with Spike? It makes a little sense, but where’d bongo rhyming come from? And why is Smolder ok with it?
Smolder was the one sent to Twilight’s School of Friendship presumably needing it but her past with Garble puts that into question.
Dragon eggs not hatching and her father a legacy of dragons isn’t helping the future of dragon-kind.
Where’d all the gigantic dragons disappear off too?
Where did blue dragon fire laughter come from all of the sudden?
None of these questions and problems are opinion. They’re factually breaking and made the episode awkward and hardly believable. IOW my statement isn’t an opinion.
@PurpleSmart2
Yeah, that blatant ignoring of just how hot lava has to be in order to run anything close to water was exceedingly casually ignored here. I mean, you can assume a unicorn is using some spell, but fluttershy is a pegasus.
To be fair, that was exactly what I was thinking during that scene. Garble and the others were throwing lava at Spike and Fluttershy was just standing there a few feet away.
your current filter.In other words, they established day one that her love for baby dragons (and probably baby animals in general) can be powerful enough to overcome her other fears. And with the plot of “Sweet and Smoky” being all about going to help them, it makes perfect sense for her to have no issues with going too.
Even confronting the dragons is in character. In “Dragonshy” (again, season one) they showed that one of the things that can get her over her fear of dragons is when they are picking on her friends. So it makes perfect sense that she wouldn’t be bothered by confronting the ones picking on Spike.
Besides, she’s been working on her fears for nine seasons now. I think it is acceptable at this point to assume that she has gotten better, especially when we’ve seen her do better with her other fears before (particularly when she also has friends with her, which she does here as well).
@Chopsticks
@Chopsticks
As for why Smolder is ok with it, don’t forget, she too is hiding a softer side. One so well hidden, it took a manifestation from the avatar of harmony itself to force out of her.
your current filter.And as for the bongo drums… I have no idea. Maybe he thought it was a compromise. He has a sensitive side, but still gets to beat something expressing it.
@Chopsticks
@Chopsticks
@Chopsticks
@Chopsticks
But if you have to have a reason, I’m sure there are ways to think one up. Is dragon fire magical? It certainly seems like it can be, since Spike sometimes sends mail using his. And given that pony magic is affected by emotions, why couldn’t a dragon’s fire be affected too? Or heck, maybe they need the sulfur (and other chemical) rich environment of the Dragonlands to produce fire laughter. There are options to make this work, is what I’m getting at here.
Amazing how easy it was to come up with that.
But yes, I think the most absurd thing is Why was this not a friendship problem causing spike and fluttershy to be called by the map?
Exactly. All of that is what is known as “Character development”
(Good) characters grow and change over time, not remain static, and this was a very good episode in that regard
Dragons aren’t as nasty as they used to because of events in Gauntlet of Fire, ?
1. Make it a friendship mission forcing Fluttershy to the dragon lands.
I don’t know why it wasn’t deemed a friendship mission to begin with. She would have to be there to overcome her fear. She and Spike are called; Smolder goes along to help identify the problem.
2. Fluttershy is ok with Ember and Smolder, but terrified of everyone else.
So she spends much of the episode sneaking around while trying to be with the eggs. Spike finds out that it’s Garble who has the problem and Garble hasn’t been hanging out and doing dragon stuff with his friends. His usual dominance with the other teen dragons keeping them in-line isn’t there, making the lava flow and the eggs go cold.
3. In Spike’s presence, Garble cracks insults at Spike and bullies him as usual, when Smolder finds out what’s going on and he retreats.
3. While sneaking around, Fluttershy runs into Garble doing an embarrassing comedy skit while he’s also sneaking around.
Fluttershy and Garble warm up to each other and ‘encourage’ each other to face their fears.
4. Fluttershy (with Spike) faces her fears and finds out why the eggs aren’t hatching. Garble in turn faces his fear, and makes the dragons laugh with his comedy routine and joke-cracking.
Ember thinks his comedy routine is hilarious and makes him an official entertainer. He can establish his dominance in the dragon lands with friendly banter without being overly hurtful. Fluttershy finds a soft side to a few dragons. Mission success, return to Ponyville, compile notes for Twilight on renewed dragon culture.
Correct on everything here.
Dragonsneeze trees being dropped in en mass would have been a great idea and been silly as well.
Fluttershy all of the sudden had her fear of dragons disappear. It’s been extremely severe in past seasons to the point of freezing up and violent escape.
Dragon culture is overall extremely nasty and harsh for personal survival. Suddenly out of no where Garble is Smolder’s brother looking nothing alike and despite being smaller she’s a cool one. The coincidence is a bit extreme.
Also despite being a ‘softy type’ on the inside and lonely, Garble had been a cool dragon, a leader and bully. But he won’t connect with Spike? It makes a little sense, but where’d bongo rhyming come from? And why is Smolder ok with it?
Smolder was the one sent to Twilight’s School of Friendship presumably needing it but her past with Garble puts that into question.
Dragon eggs not hatching and her father a legacy of dragons isn’t helping the future of dragon-kind.
Where’d all the gigantic dragons disappear off too?
Where did blue dragon fire laughter come from all of the sudden?
Edited
Character development is discontinuity?
Interesting viewpoint, but you do you.
Yeah, that blatant ignoring of just how hot lava has to be in order to run anything close to water was exceedingly casually ignored here. I mean, you can assume a unicorn is using some spell, but fluttershy is a pegasus.