Sherclop Pones, You Are A Genius! (Really. I mean it. Pinkie Promise.)
Hi! I'm Matthais the Critic! I review stuff because I want to!
For those of you who know me well, you probably know that I really hated Sherclop Pones and their MLP:FiM abridged series "Friendship is Witchcraft." My hatred, anger, and rage was fierce, ferocious, and ugly. I said some really bad things, and I really did go overboard. But now that I've stepped away from the Brony fandom for a while and thought things through, I realized something.
Sherclop Pones and Friendship is Witchcraft is actually a lot smarter that I gave it credit for. In fact, I'm willing to say that it's actually GOOD.
Why my sudden turn around? I'm actually not really sure. I was just thinking about it and POOF! It all suddenly made sense to me.
Now, I could go a hundred ways with this and end up going in circles, so how about this. I'm gonna embed my video review of "Hold Matripony" in this blog. Go ahead and watch it if you want. After that, I am going to give you my new take on the abridged episode and point out how wrong I truly was.
Oh boy, that was one of my worst moments. I didn't even know that Sherclop Pones was more than one person. Okay, now onto explain why I've suddenly had a change of heart.
First we have Sherclop Pones' running gag of Spike always getting abused. This really bothered me because I LOVE dragons, and I really like Spike's character, so seeing Spike's abhorrent treatment at the hooves of Evil!Twilight made my blood boil. However, now I see what Sherclop Pones was trying to get across:
THE WRITERS OF THE ACTUAL SHOW ABUSE SPIKE TOO!
Sherclop Pones exaggerated Spike's abuse in the abridged series in order to make a point. Yes, Spike does have some really great moments in the show . . . IN SEASON ONE (and Lesson Zero)! But then we have Spike eating ice cream until he's sick, Spike getting constantly beat up in "Princess Twilight Sparkle" Parts 1 and 2, Spike conforming to pony society because "all dragons are evil," Spike turning into a klutzy moron in "Spike at Your Service," Spike not getting invited to social events (Twilight's birthday, Maud Pie, Ms Harshwhinny, Daring Don't), Spike being a whimp in "Inspiration Manifestation", and of course, The Two Towers of Spike Torture Porns: "Just For Side Kicks" and "Equestria Games." My hatred for those two episodes knows no bounds.
So in the end, Sherclop was just trying to tell us how abused Spike really is.
Second is the incest storyline. This is something that got me really angry the first time around. So, how can I be okay with an incest storyline?
Well, here's the thing.
. . . .
There is none.
There is no incest in this story, at least, it's not in the way you think.
In abridged series, the creator will sometimes change the back-stories or events in order to tell a slightly different story. The viewers have to be aware of those changes in order to enjoy the abridged version fully.
In Friendship is Witchcraft, Shining Armor was ADOPTED by Twilight's parents. Twilight was old enough to understand this, and also old enough to form a crush. However, since her parent adopted this colt, this made it nearly impossible for Twilight to be his girlfriend, even though she had a genuine crush on him. In other words, Sherclop Pones took this ego-maniacal mare who abused Spike and deceived Luna (or Molestia in FiW world), and made her a TRAGIC HERO that you could technically feel bad for.
What I'm getting at here is that if Sherclop Pones were all evil people like I said, they would have done what hundreds of fanfic writers did and just made Twilight incestuous. But Sherclop actually made the effort to constantly remind the viewers that "they're not biologically related." The "I insist/incest" joke was just that: a bad joke. No one's perfect.
Anyway, with this new mindset, you can listen to the song "It'll Be Okay" and actually feel kinda sad for Twilight. If some other family had adopted Shinning Armor, then thing would've been a whole lot happier . . . maybe.
And if you still hate the song, well then, think of it as a parody of the "BBBFF" song from "A Royal Canterlot Wedding." That song came out of nowhere and it was kinda sappy and silly and a poor way to introduce a character we never met before! So Twilight suddenly has an older brother out of nowhere? Really?
Now, before we move on, you're probably wondering: Do I think Twilight's actions and feelings are okay? Well, no, she should still let Shinning Armor be with Not Evil Good Pony, and her obsession with Shinning Armor is pretty bad. Sherclop Pones knows this too, which is why after the song, Applejack says, "That's the creepiest thing I've ever heard." See, stuff like that makes it okay.
Third is the total ineptness of the mane five. Applejack saying "Princess" over and over again, Rainbow Dash saying "whoa, what are these weird thingies on my back," and everyone including Celestia nad Luna going "huh? uh? wha? uh?" I thought it was just Sherclop Pones insulting our intelligence, but then I asked myself a question, a question that I am gonna ask all of YOU.
What did Celestia, Luna, and the mane five actually DO in "A Royal Canterlot Wedding"?
So, by making everyone kind of stupid, worthless, and pathetic, Sherclop Pones is parodying how they didn't do anything in the source material.
Fourth is the Sockem Boppers joke. I didn't like it because it was parodying the GAK Meme from "The Crystal Empire," the wrong episode. But then I realized, maybe Sherclop Pones is just never going to parody "The Crystal Empire." Also, "Foaly Matripony" came out when the GAK Meme was popular. They had to strike when the iron was hot. And lastly, what else could they have done? Dub over the interviews? Who wants to see human beings? Also, wouldn't that be insulting the celebrities? The Sockem Boppers joke was funny, end of story.
Fifth is the pointless moments. Sherclop Pones likes to but pointless moments in the abridged episode. In this episode, it's Twilight drinking noisily from a straw. Is that as bad as I made it out to be? It's a waste of time, yes. It's annoying, yes. But it's not terrible. It's kind of like how Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey spends whole scenes on a ship floating in space. Maybe it's just a new style that's ahead of it's time? Maybe Twilight sitting there sucking on a straw is supposed to mean something about her character?
Sixth is how Cadence was SO good and Twilight couldn't see it. Okay, I felt that making Cadence not be a Changeling and Twilight being the evil one was too obvious and predictable of an abridged series. And yes, that is true, but there's something else going on here. In "A Canterlot Wedding," we could see what Twilight was seeing: the truth of Cadence being evil. But let's suppose we didn't see it from Twilight's perspective. We'd assume Twilight is being over protective and possessive of her brother and is making poor Cadence miserable because of it. So, by making Cadence a "Not Evil Good Pony" surrounded by incompetence and an ego-manaical Twilight Sparkle, we can see the flawed and crazed Twilight we would have seen if Cadence hadn't been replaced by Queen Chrysalis.
And last is Twilight murdering Cadence and marrying Shinning Armor. Yes, I hate this ending. I don't like it when the villain wins. Unfortunately, Twilight is a the villain protagonist of this abridged series, so she kinda has to win. Also, all these characters are parodies and spoof of the real ones, so why does it really matter who wins and who looses? Yes, Cadence is the only "Good" character on this show (okay, Sweetie Bot and Spike are "Good" too), but she didn't have much of a character (both abridged and cannon). Her death was dark, but it was done only because it was an abridged series and it needed to have shock value. It was also a way of calling out how Cadence just disappeared for a while after the wedding and only appeared in The Crystal Empire and then only made a come back after Twilight became an Alicorn, which was long after this abridged episode was made.
So, in the end, I respect Sherclop Pones for making a good SATIRE of Friendship is Magic. They're not evil or immoral, they just have a slightly different sense of humor. I might review some other Friendship is Witchcraft episodes later on, but for now, I think I've had enough. Watch the abridged series yourself and make your own conclusions.
Oh yeah, and as for Voice of Reason's negative review on this abridged series . . . sorry Voice, but it looks like you're once again the only Brony who dislikes it. Again, sorry.
