Uncle Ben Syndrome and You: The Simple Fact of Apple Bloom and the Meaning of her Cutie Mark · 4:17pm Apr 9th, 2014
First off, I'm going to straight up say that this blog post is going to be RIFE with spoilers, and I won't be using the spoiler bar.
If you want to avoid spoilers (no matter how obvious they are), then stop right now, go open tumblr or something, and ignore this blog post.
You've been warned.
Okay, I've been having some problems with Captain Equestria as of late, all of them relating to Apple Bloom and the meaning of her cutie mark.
Now, it's probably a bit of It Was His Sled/Forgone Conclusion here, but if you've been keeping track of Marvel Comics for the past ten years or so, or just watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you probably already know that Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier.
If you don't know that, you've probably just been living under a rock since 2006.
Now, in my universe, it's probably rather clear that I am shaping Apple Bloom up to play the role of Bucky Barnes. Now, this leads to a little thing I like to call 'Uncle Ben Syndrome', in which a character is designed and implemented for the sole purpose of dying at a key point in the story, in order to move the greater plot forward. The ultimate example of this is Uncle Ben Parker from Spider-Man, who's death is the number one reason why Peter Parker decided to become Spider-Man in the first place. Another, DC Comics related example, are Bruce Wayne's parents, Thomas and Martha, who we all know full well are never meant to survive Act I, and are forever fated to be offed by some random mugger. Without their death's Bruce Wayne would never become Batman and we wouldn't have a story.
Now, how does this apply to Apple Bloom? Well, from the beginning I planned for Apple Bloom to 'die' and then get picked up, brainwashed and turned into everybody's favorite metal armed assassin of badassery. HOWEVER, this does lead to a key question: Why Apple Bloom?
I mean, asides from the obvious emotional heft that comes from taking AJ's sister and turning her into a brainwashed assassin, I still need an in-universe explanation for why the baddies choose Apple Bloom.
In the films (and comics) they believed that Bucky had been given a variant of the serum, and then they discovered that he did not, so they instead just rolled with it and turned him into the Winter Soldier (lemonade from lemons I guess), using the mad skillz that Bucky already had (such as being a sniper and expert knife fighter) as a jumping off point for his training.
BUT, in my universe, I seem to be setting Apple Bloom up to be a rapair man. Which leads to the question: Why would the baddies want to turn a mechanic into an assassin?
So, long story short, I'm going to change the way Apple Bloom got her cutie mark and it's meaning. Since, when you get right down to it, Apple Bloom is here for the sole purpose of becoming the Winter Filly, and therefore everything she does in Captain Equestria first and foremost must set her up for that part.
Quite simply put, she needs to have a cutie mark in killing ponies. That can either mean she's an expert knife fighter, or that she's got mad sniper skillz. Either way, this means I have to rework the scene where she got her cutie mark, in order to better highlight that she's basically a lean, mean killing machine in the making, and this also means making her cutie mark more obviously violent and militaristic.
This also means having to completely rework the ending scene of the most recently published chapter of Captain Equestria, which means making unviewable until I've finished the modifications. Which should be quick...hopefully.
But yeah, there we go.
Make sense?
Now I just gotta figure out a way to show how damn good Apple Bloom is at killing ponies....maybe she stumbles across a shooting range and, since she's a farm girl, just picks a gun up and gives it a crack.
I say go with the knife cutiemark. Also be on Skype at 7... I need to get something out.
1994652 Wow Will it actually took me a good two minutes to remember who you are since you changed your name and profile pic
But yeah I'll see what I can do.
Also, have you seen The Winter Soldier yet?
Uncle Ben Syndrome sounds like a variation of Fridge Stuffing... yeah, that does seem rather hard to avoid
1994656 No.
1994658 It kinda is yeah, but you could say that Uncle Ben Syndrome is usually less out of the blue then Fridge Stuffing.
Fridge Stuffing usually just comes outta nowhere, and is usually pointlessly cruel and graphic in the manner of which it kills the character. Also, the character usually seems to be someone who had literally nothing to do with the overall plot, and also seems to happen after the hero has become the hero and also usually just there for the 'shock' of finding said character dead.
Uncle Ben Syndrome meanwhile, is usually more along the lines of a 'necessary evil', i.e. a vital thing that must happen in order for the main plot to be set in motion.
1994661 Oh damn son you gotta see it.
IT WAS PERFECTION
Ohmygosh, I remember you!
1994667 So, it's closer to "I Let Gwen Stacy Die", but not really in the case of Batman
1994709 Yeah....like that.
But I'm still broke for how to reconfigure how she got her cutie mark....
I assumed her extreme knowledge of weapons would extend to their use.
Of course a car mechanic would know how to drive and how to make the best out of the car's capacities.
It stands to reason that a weapon expert should know how to use them better and more efficiently than most ponies.
Just sayin'
1994728 Yeah, but building a gun isn't the same as shooting a gun.
You don't ask the mechanic to fly the plane. You ask him to fix it. If you want someone to fly the plane, you get a pilot.
1994784 True. Why not go the other way around, then?
Have her tinker with the guns, and when someone asks her to prove that what she's doing actually works, they go to a shooting range and she excells at it.
1994824
This comes to mind...
1994824 1994831 This pleases my inner Lethal Weapon fanboy.
1994847
Wasn't it told that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a mugger names Joe Chill ?
1995113 yeah, but the main point is that Thomas and Martha exist solely to die, as Apple Bloom exists purely to be turned into the Winter Filly
That is true that in the comics they thought Bucky had got some version of the serum but you are forgetting a good reason why Hydra would capture and train Apple Bloom despite the fact that she is a repair pony, She is Applejack's soon to be Captain Equastria's Sister and besides making her a wonderful bartering chip they could also train/brainwash her to be the assassin that kills Captain Equestria and the members of the various Manehatten Projects.
And on Changing how she got her Cutie Mark unless you are ok with Apple Bloom ether killing somepony or making the Equestrian Military hold an Idiot ball so a psycho soldier could be there to be an acceptable target there really is no way she could get her Cutie Mark there because no one is going to pick a fight with a filly even if said filly is almost a young mare and since she isn't army no one is going to give her a gun for target practice, no would one be just be left out unless the owner of said firearm is a glutton for punishment.
And no I have not seen The Winter Soldier yet hope to see it tonight and sorry for being gone but a friend of mine broke his foot and I've been helping him out.
1995616 I see. No harm done.
And she wouldn't have to kill anyone, she'd just need to demonstrate that she's a crack marksman (i.e. shoot a beer can at 100 paces)
AND I HOPE YOU LIKE THE MOVIE
1995659 My point is how would she get the gun (See glutton for punishment line) with out making the staff of this super important secret fort look like a farce.
1995692 Simple:
She's watching the guy building the gun, and points out a flaw ala Sherlock (by noticing some tiny detail). The guy is skeptical, and does the 'dare you to do better' thing, and she takes it up, tweaking the gun and demonstrating the improvement.
There ya go.
Best way to write it is as if she enters a kinda 'zone' whenever she's repairing/using a weapon, kinda like how one zones out when they play their favorite game or something.
1995788 O.o
Why didn't I think of that.
1994725
She doesn't get her Cutie mark for weapons, she gets her Cutie Mark for infiltrating an army base at the age of 13, with no real training, just to be with her sister.
1995802 Running the action of a gun and actually shooting it are too completely different things and this still sounds like gunsmithing not marksmanship and who in their right mind is gonna give her bullets?
Honestly, I was fine with how she got her cutie mark. Maybe it was just me, but when she was dis/reassembling those guns, I was thinking to myself "maybe it's not about breaking down and putting weapons together that her cutie mark represents, maybe it represents her ability to break down anything combat related."
Now, hear me out on this. You ever see the Sherlock Holmes movies? How Holmes looks at a person, takes in all the info he sees, puts together a plan of action that INCLUDES how his target is going to react and thus how he can react to THEIR reactions? That's what I saw Apple Bloom doing in combat, except taking that a step further in that she can look at a weapon and know certain things. For example, looking at a knife and knowing the best place to block it in order to break the blade while giving herself the smallest injury possible. Things like that, you know?
And if you've ever played Metal Gear Solid 3 and seen The Boss disassemble a guy's gun in the middle of a fight while he's still holding it and firing,.. Yeah, badass moments for Bloom.
1995851
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THANK YOU
1995892
I take it you're fine with keeping the cutie mark as is? Sweet, glad to be of some help!
1995907 YES I AM QUITE HAPPY
1995851
You. Are. Amazing.
1995931
Well, thank you kindly for the praise!
1995927
Well, if it last for more than four hours... lol, joking. Seriously though, man, glad to be of some help.
1994667 It also sounds like Uncle Ben syndrome would also require a character who has little to no purpose other than dying, while Fridge Stuffing can happen to a character who had been around for years with the original writers having no intention of the character dying.
1996274 exactly.
You could also potentially have Apple Bloom get kidnapped and brainwashed to make weapons for the enemy, and then have her learn how to fight/shoot after wearing down the brainwashing and escaping. She could then get recaptured or captured by someone else, and then get used as an assassin. This way she's not destined to become a killer; it's the people around her who cause the problem, making her more heroic.
Also, cool as the Winter Soldier is, I'm pretty sure he's not everyone's " favorite metal armed assassin of badassery;" I'm pretty sure Cable's still got his fair share of fans. wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/comicsalliance.com/files/2011/12/cecable1-1323283667.jpg
1996371 Oh yeah totally forgot Cable.
And the problem with that theory is that it relies on her getting captured multiple times by multiple people, which, simply put just raises too many questions
1996388 Meh, I guess.
You could still work with the original idea.
What if Applebloom is not only an expert at repairing weapons, but has an instant knowledge on how to use them as well?
1997222 well, actually, someone suggested that. I made a blog post about it (you might have already read it)
1997414
Oh.
(Embarrassingly, I actually did read that blog post...)
1996388
Perhaps whatever organization is involved could be in the middle of a civil war. Then she doesn't really change 'hands' that often, she just fails her escape attempt.
I'm all about escapes today.
2028677 That's a possibility.
Thankfully we worked out a way for her to have a less 'violent' cutie mark, but one that could still work in a military context.
2028737
1995851
Apple Bloom almost sounds like a super hero version of Micheal Weston.
2028772 Yeah but less obnoxious.