tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post527103538022331171..comments2024-03-04T02:09:30.979-06:00Comments on One Man's Pony Ramblings: Episode Talk: S7E11, Not Asking for TroubleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-63340105948044259072021-11-17T12:30:16.902-06:002021-11-17T12:30:16.902-06:00Lovedd reading this thank youLovedd reading this thank youCooking with Alexhttps://www.cookingwithalex.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-68847929848211167402017-06-21T20:15:26.136-05:002017-06-21T20:15:26.136-05:00I don't wanna review A Royal Problem, though! ...I don't wanna review <i>A Royal Problem</i>, though! It was terrible, and contrary to popular belief, I don't particularly enjoy bitching about things for no benefit.<br /><br />And the reason Yakyakistan is "like twelve guys" is the same reason that the griffon nation has, like, fifteen buildings total :P<br /><br />Seriously though, based on the giant gates, I interpreted the town Pinkie was in as being a glorified guardpost. Presumably, there's an actual yak <i>population</i> somewhere further into Yakyakistan.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11581572699330155065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-63161677883279521062017-06-19T21:22:17.337-05:002017-06-19T21:22:17.337-05:00In some ways, Pinkie was right for the episode, an...In some ways, Pinkie was right for the episode, and I'll agree that she was in better form than is often the case. However, despite her prior connection with the yaks, I don't think that she's a good fit to deliver a--or at least <i>this</i> message on cross-cultural understanding and communication (at least for me). Fact is, for me the defining Pinkie episode is "A Friend in Deed"--and that's a bad thing. It solidified in my mind Pinkie as extremely intrusive and unreasonably unwilling to take no for an answer: she didn't respect others' desires or right to not have her inflict herself on them. To me, one of the better points of the episode was that she was showing growth in that area by refraining from aggressive unwanted dogooderism. As I recall, she made some offers, was told no, and she at least kind of and for a while respected what she was told. <br /><br />Also, there are two sides to the cultural divide, and yaks expecting Pinkie to pick up on mores that undermine what they are using specific direct speech to tell her is a problem on their part as well. <br /><br />Building on what DannyJ had to say, I also found it distasteful that the yaks were shown to be incompetent and ineffective at living in their own home, not just on an absolute scale but compared to the ponies as well. It's a bad look, and bearing in mind the other foreign example I can think of is Griffonstone... not a great pattern.<br /><br />Lastly, this is somewhat filtered through thoughts about not only interpersonal relations, but international. I'd be less inclined to look as poorly upon ignoring the plain sense of Prince Rutherford's rejection if it weren't for the fact that Pinkie was made an agent of the Equestrian state for the purpose of that mission, in addition to her general affiliation via the Elements of Harmony/Rainbow Power/Friendship Map, and if it didn't involve bringing one of Equestria's heads of state into foreign lands against the express wishes of the local government to do activities that government had said it didn't want happening.Icy Shakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00490981784760484964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-6245398014109677422017-06-19T18:42:42.569-05:002017-06-19T18:42:42.569-05:00Though the one thing it doesn't explain, re: D...Though the one thing it doesn't explain, re: DannyJ below, is why the entire of the yak nation is one shitty village with like twelve guys. :BPresent Perfecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16195959811544391904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-62649008173640401602017-06-19T15:19:41.738-05:002017-06-19T15:19:41.738-05:00I really liked the episode, so you aren't alon...<i>I</i> really liked the episode, so you aren't alone. The jokes landed and Pinkie was her best Pinkie self. I was thoroughly entertained.xjuggernaughtxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12286896058684660654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-26867591703921562112017-06-19T14:51:44.053-05:002017-06-19T14:51:44.053-05:00Gotta go with PP on this, though I suspect that th...Gotta go with PP on this, though I suspect that these short and (necessarily) shallow episodes are more akin to Rorschach tests than solid narratives lending themselves to analysis. :/<br /><br />I also second the recommendation of Daedalus Aegle's blog on the episode. It elevates the yaks a fair ways in my estimation.iisawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454386148259666080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-1998204556646912582017-06-19T13:49:20.176-05:002017-06-19T13:49:20.176-05:00Seconding demand for Royal Problem review, but mos...Seconding demand for <i>Royal Problem</i> review, but mostly because I want to see Chris rip it apart.DannyJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13273313206696087395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-91812871574453711202017-06-19T13:47:00.223-05:002017-06-19T13:47:00.223-05:00Ehh... it was okay, I guess? I actually do like th...Ehh... it was okay, I guess? I actually do like the yaks, or at least I did in their first appearance, but this episode... I dunno. I kind of don't like what they did with them. I know they were always joke characters, and that was fine for the SMASHING stuff, but in this episode, they're just generally pathetic.<br /><br />A culture that dwells in a snowy, mountainous region should not be this ignorant of how avalanches work, and they definitely shouldn't be so inept at recovering from one. The fact that the ponies can clear up their mess in a single night and the yaks can't is just embarassing. And I also really don't like how the entire yak nation that we were led to believe exists is boiled down to a single village where like twelve yaks live.<br /><br />Again, I know the yaks were already joke characters, but that just makes it even more unnecessary to do this. They're already idiots, so why make them even stupider? Just for empthasis? Unless the writers are intentionally trying to portray ponies as the master race, I don't get it. All this does is devalue the world-building that was already done with them. This plot could have easily been written without sacrificing versimilitude.<br /><br />All this isn't to say that the episode was terrible. There were bits I enjoyed. It's just that the bad points bring down the overall score for me. And that's been season seven in a nutshell, really. I think there's been good stuff in all the new episodes so far, but in my opinion, most of them have been mediocre at best, because they still have major flaws weighing them down.<br />DannyJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13273313206696087395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-52508683478405391852017-06-19T11:33:30.844-05:002017-06-19T11:33:30.844-05:00Yaks very complicated society.Yaks very complicated society.Georg Felishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03550333227450728733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184562969471581744.post-5185211203141174052017-06-19T06:57:00.588-05:002017-06-19T06:57:00.588-05:00Dammit, Chris, you need to talk about A Royal Prob...Dammit, Chris, you need to talk about A Royal Problem, because THAT was the best season 7 episode thus far and this one was hot garbage, or at least tedious as hell because the yaks remain a terrible one-note culture and a bad idea overall. c.c<br /><br />That said, Daedalus Aegle just last night posted a journal that posits a very believable explanation for their behavior, as well as a fitting moniker for them.Present Perfecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16195959811544391904noreply@blogger.com