I don't know a single person who loves this character. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, sure. I even know people who like Scooby-Dumb. Hell, I'm a big fan of Vincent Price's character in 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (less to do with the show, more to do with the fact it's Vincent Price).
But man, Scrappy-Doo.
It's a little known fact that, if it hadn't been for this character, odds are there would be no more Scooby-Doo cartoons at all. Viewership was slumping, the studios were debating pulling the plug, but at close to the last minute the show decided to add Scrappy to the cast, and kids loved the little rascal. He got to be every child watching the show who knew that it wasn't a real ghost...but as people got older, the character simply got more annoying.
He would pick fights against creatures much bigger than him. He would literally carry Shaggy and Scooby into dangerous situations without thought of what might happen. He got drunk once in Tahoe and hit on Daphne before throwing up in the Mystery Machine.
Okay, maybe not that last one, but it couldn't make people hate him any more if it did.
How bad did it get? Well, besides the fact that Scrappy-Doo turned out to be the (spoiler alert) villain of the first Scooby-Doo movie, trying to actually kill the main cast and steal their souls for no reason...unless you count the fact that they deserted him on the side of a road with a good chance he'd die...
There's also the fact that recent re-releases of series and movies that used to feature him prominently have been edited to reduce the number of scenes he appears in.
I mean, seriously, were there any MORE annoying characters that appeared in the Scooby-Doo franchi-
...well played.
So, we've established that it's not easy to bring in a relative to an established character, much less have them be popular.
So, let's take a look at Apple Bloom, Applejack's sister on My Little Pony.
The twelfth episode starts at the school for young ponies (foals? fillies?) learning about cutie marks (a topic I'm going to address further in another column), and we get one brief terrifying moment where we experience what happens when 80s fashions enter this universe.
We learn, through exposition by the most nasally-voiced, nerdy young pony I hope we ever have to suffer through, that a cutie mark appears when a pony realizes what it is that makes them special. Apple Bloom, tragically (I guess) is one of the only kids in her class who doesn't have one yet, which makes her a target of ridicule amongst the other young ponies.
You remember Apple Bloom, right? She was the kid who went off on her own to figure out what Zecora's deal was back when we covered zebra racism.
Anyway, Apple Bloom (and other "blank flank" nerd girl) is invited to a big party celebrating a classmate getting her mark, and she immediately goes home to complain to her older sister about how unfair life is. Apple Jack tries to explain that she was the last one in her class to get a cutie mark, as was Big Macintosh and Granny Smith (you see how names work in this family?), which just depresses Apple Bloom further since it's apparently hereditary, like baldness or liking ugly cars.
Hope springs, however, when she realizes that everybody in her family has a talent involving apples, so if she helps out more maybe she can rush the discovery of her own mark.
Cut ahead to the next day when Apple Bloom is earnestly trying to help her sister sell apples at what I can only presume is the farmer's market in town. Things go awr-
Oh, right, I need to mention this guy. This is Time Turner whose sole job in town is apparently to turn over hourglasses. However, because of a push by the fandom, Hasbro actually went and changed his name. To what, you might ask?
So yeah, all of you Dr. Who fans out there, it appears we have a "canon" time lord in My Little Pony. His description in the mobile game even states he deals with the "timey wimey stuff." Don't think of it as simply the show being silly, think of it as a gateway show to get kids interested in the live action stuff.
And who knows, maybe we'll get an episode where Dr. Hooves actually gets to time travel and save the world. Or maybe it'll just happen in the comic book, but I think those are supposed to be in continuity as well, s-
Okay, I'm wandering off track, where were we? Oh, right.
Apple Bloom, in true "younger sibling" mode, manages to make a mess of things and causes Applejack to have to give away most of her apples just to make people happy. She gets sent along to invite her ultra-nerdy friend to go to the party with her, sort of a "no cutie mark" group only to find that in the space of 24 hours, super-nerd got a cutie mark.
I'm not italicizing that just for effect. The show actually reveals the new cutie mark with a dramatic tone, as if it was showing a hockey mask and Freddy Kreuger sweater instead of just two peppermint sticks shaped like a heart.
So Apple Bloom winds up in the care of Rainbow Dash, who comes up with the brilliant idea of "making" the cutie mark appear by trying "as many things as possible as fast as possible" to locate that special talent.
In a rapid montage (one that's only missing a voice exclaiming Apple Bloom is "the best around and nothing's ever going to keep her down") we get to see Apple Bloom's attempts at: juggling, hang gliding, karate, kite flying, roller derby...
...wait. Equestria has roller derby?
...I know I say this a lot, but this reality these characters exist in is insane.
So yeah, that doesn't pan out. Nor does Pinkie Pie's attempts to help Apple Bloom earn a mark in "cupcake making," or Twilight's attempts at magically "forcing" one to appear.
Apple Bloom (through a transition I don't really understand) winds up at the party despite deciding it would be best to not show up, She attempts a sneaky escape just to be foiled at the exit by the arrival of Applejack. An attempt to bluff having a cutie mark is ruined, and right when we're about to get some harsh teasing from her classmates (girls can be so cruel)...
Two more "blank flanks" appear! And who are these two, you might ask! Well, on the left is Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister, and on the right is Scootaloo (I have no idea what that name comes from), who is...um... well, she hangs out with Rainbow Dash, but... ....y'know, I don't think they've introduced a single family member for her yet. ...that's kinda dark, actually.
There's a brief speech about how not having a cutie mark doesn't mean you're no longer special. Instead, it simply means that not having a mark shows that there's nothing but potential from any pony, and that they could grow up to be a farmer, a tailor, or a mayor of a city. The same mark that proves the uniqueness and individuality of a character also limits the character in that they probably won't be able to suddenly change their mind and quit being a banker once they hit their midlife crisis and suddenly become a scuba diver. Once you have your mark, that's it. You're done.
...okay, I'm getting into my analysis of marks that I'm saving for another episode, so let's cut back to what's happening.
The three kids decide to become best friends and thus we have born the "Cutie Mark Crusaders," and we'll be seeing more of them later.
So.
Does Apple Bloom fall under the category of our other, more hated character mentioned in this article? Does she, in fact, fall under the category of "The Scrappy" as presented by TV Tropes?
Honestly, I don't think so.
See, what ticked me off about Scrappy the most when I watched him was that there were never any repercussions for his actions. Whether he got Shaggy and Scooby into trouble, tried to pick a fight with anything from an alligator to a bull to a "monster," he never learned anything. He stayed constant, without growth, and unchanging. Some things, like his love and faith in his "Uncle Scooby" were touching, but so much was wrong and something that another character really needed to sit down and talk to him about that it made me loathe what he was stuck as.
This show, however, is all about change and character growth. Apple Bloom starts the show convinced that she's an outsider because she didn't have something that made her unique (which, ironically enough, did make her unique), just to realize that what separated her from a lot of other characters connected her to ones she never knew. Apple Bloom does learn important lessons from her actions, and while some things will stay constant (the desperate hunt for a mark), she develops in other ways.
So, let's break it down, something I didn't do last time after my big focus on music.
The Good:
Apple Bloom really is a fun character, and while I can't think of many children who would plant apples in someone's bag and "hint" that they "didn't just magically show up there" before demanding payment isn't something many children would do, there's enough to the character that lets you realize this is a "young" character besides design. Her deep breaths before explaining how her world is coming to an end because of a cutie mark, her single-minded focus on getting what she wants, broken up only be the mention of cupcakes, reminds me of a lot of children I knew growing up. I approve of this character.
Plus, as we all know by now, I find anything that breaks down the rules of how this universe works to be fascinating, so the introductory lecture about how "cutie marks" happen in the first place was like sitting in a college lecture course. Some notes might have been taken for future reference, just in case there's a quiz.
The Bad:
Some of the transitions on the show need work. The fact that Apple Bloom, without moving, is suddenly in the middle of a party after talking to someone in another room is very poorly explained (I mean, sure, she was just in the next room, but we never see her leave the room). I also rather lost track of just how much time passed between the start of the episode and the end of the episode, since at one point someone mentions trying to achieve a mark "in an afternoon" but I was convinced that at least a day went by.
Also, we'll get into this later, but I'm going to put it out right now: Who the heck are Scootaloo's parents, and where are they?
Oh, and we also had one brief showing of Snails. I wish the show had forgotten he exists.
While I do enjoy learning about the world, some things just left me with more questions. One unicorn with a safety pin for a mark spent time doing nothing but popping balloons. So, having a sharp horn makes him really unique? That's it? Or is he supposed to be the greatest there is at changing diapers in a hurry, or something?
Overall:
A solid episode, not my favorite, but not one I think needed a lot of work. It helped flesh out multiple characters, some of whom we've seen before in background shots, others of whom are brand new, and even a couple who had speaking parts in other episodes. Our usual main characters really took a back seat in this one to let issues around the rest of the village rise.
Plus, how can anyone not like an episode that establishes that horses don roller skates and beat the tar out of each other? That's just brilliant, right there.
I like Scrappy.
ReplyDeleteNow you've met someone who does.