(all asks by its-homerj)

Ask #1: I’ll admit that Pinkie’s behavior in the Filli Vanilli episode did bug me at first, but the more I thought about it, I felt it was in line with Pinkie’s character. Because it’s been made clear that she’s not that good at handling situations involving what the other characters are going through, see Mmmystery on the Friendship Express, Super Cider Squeezy 6000, and Over A Barrel. Wouldn’t you agree with this?

Ask #2: How could you say that Pinkie’s behavior in Filli Vanilli is stupid and out-of-character? Haven’t you seen what Josh Scorcher had wrote about it on his tumblr blog The Fiery Joker?

Ask #3: I feel that Pinkie’s behavior in Filli Vanilli is just another sign that she’s a 3-dimensional character who’s not perfect and has her flaws, and not a caricature of only making others smile. Do you agree with this?

1. Yes, Pinkie being a bit insensitive to other character’s feelings is a flaw of hers and it’s plain as day. It’s why I concede that she wasn’t exactly out of character in Filli Vanilli. My problem was they took it a little too far. I don’t think the Pinkie in Griffon the Brush-Off or Pinkie Pride would of even considered doing what she did to Fluttershy in the episode. You can’t tell me the Pinkie who called bullshit on when Gilda made Fluttershy cry is fine with herself making Fluttershy cry. It’s not too out-of-character on paper, but the way they portrayed it in the episode was too mean-spirited for me to believe Pinkie could do such a thing.

2. I went over to see that. While it’s a viewpoint that might be considerable enough for people to cling to if they want to still like how Pinkie was done in the episode. But I just… don’t agree with Josh Scorcher’s thinking. I also never said she was out-of-character. Again, I know one of Pinkie’s flaws she’s shown throughout the series is sometimes she isn’t aware of other people’s feelings like Luna’s in Luna Eclipsed, or Rainbow in Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. But at least in the case of Luna Eclipsed she had a reason: it’s Nightmare Night/Halloween, the time where being scared is part of the fun. In Filli Vanilli? She bothers Fluttershy (One of her best friends) to the point of tears twice and not once shows remorse for it, the others tell her to knock it off in-episode but Pinkie did this for no particular clear reason.

3. I honestly can’t see why Pinkie stressing out Fluttershy twice makes her a stronger character. The only thing it adds if it does at all is make Pinkie look like a complete jerk. It’s true Pinkie doesn’t always have to hold up to the ideal of what the Smile song and most of Pinkie Pride shows. There are episodes where I enjoyed Pinkie where she was generally there for her jokes which sometimes came at the expense of other ponies. (Examples: Applebuck Season, Green Isn’t Your Color, and The Last Roundup) Episodes where her schtick isn’t making ponies smile, but when she’s not trying to make ponies happy like in most of her episodes where she’s the star of the episode. She’s supposed to make the people watching her from the TV/Computer screen (I don’t mean by breaking the 4th wall, I mean by actually being funny) smile and laugh in it’s place. Now humor can sometimes be as subjective as music, some humor doesn’t work as well for others. Like maybe you found her in Filli Vanilli funny and one of the examples I brought up you may think she was not funny in that episode. There is such thing as overdoing a character flaw though, and like I said about Twilight in Lesson Zero. That alone isn’t a bad thing, when it comes off as mean-spirited behavior that I and others like me think that the character should be incapable of doing however. Let’s just say I’ll never agree that this kind of behavior actually enhances a character.

P.S. My view on this episode is just about in line with The Mysterious Mr. Enter’s review on the episode. This episode is good even with Pinkie’s behavior. But if they changed it or even removed Pinkie’s parts of the episode altogether. The episode could of been even better.