Episode Re-Review: Stranger Than Fanfiction · 7:24pm May 25th, 2021
Now it was time for Season 6 to bring in a guest star, and they opted to go for comedian and occasional voice actor Patton Oswalt. Interestingly, Patton had a daughter (Alice) who was a big fan of the show. But that's more of a story behind Quibble Pants' return in Season 9. For Season 6, Patton was coming in during a season that had been through a lot of ups and downs, and had seemed to settle for a quality of good but not necessarily envelope pushing. Josh Haber and Michael Vogel were teaming up on this one, the first time they would ever work together (but certainly not the last). Were these two able to turn out a hit? Well, let's find out.
The episode begins with Daring Do on an undisclosed adventure somewhere far away, but Twilight interrupts as it's revealed to be a story she's reading. Rainbow Dash is going to a Daring Do convention somewhere (it's not specified where) but Twilight has some important royal duties she has to take care of and won't be able to attend. Fortunately, Rainbow finds another fan at the convention in the form of Quibble Pants who really admires the convention's attention to detail. Heck, he's even amused by a body pillow showing Daring all tied up even though Rainbow reacts with concern.
Then, while we see a carrot dog stand in the background, Rainbow Dash mentions to Quibble that they haven't done anything from the later books. But that's because Quibble doesn't care about anything outside of the original trilogy, he regards everything from book four onwards as unrealistic and impossible. I guess that explains how he's never heard of Rainbow Dash despite her appearing on the cover of one of the books.
Rainbow insists that everything that happens in the books is in fact real, but Quibble isn't convinced and the two go their separate ways. Rainbow Dash then insists on getting A. K. Yearling to tell Quibble Pants straight (Quibble mentioned coming to the convention to ask Yearling why she "Sold out" and "Dumbed down" the later books), before A. K. pulls Rainbow away to show off something she picked up from that undisclosed adventure: The Amulet of Culican, which Dr. Caballeron wants. However, the amulet itself is only a key that opens a special chest. So why has Daring brought it to this convention? Well, she mentions it "crawling with security" before also insisting that she can just blend in with the cosplayers and no one will notice. She really is a regular Clark Kent in disguise.
Unfortunately, while Rainbow Dash is looking for Caballeron and his men (who have tracked Daring Do to the convention), she bumps into Quibble Pants again. But she doesn't want to put up with him and swats him with her tail, and Quibble reacts with surprise to this. Of course, he's still primarily focused on rubbing in his beliefs about what Daring Do couldn't possibly have done in real time. And when Rainbow spots Caballeron, Quibble assumes the doctor is just yet another cosplayer right before he and Rainbow Dash get jumped and kidnapped. Dr. Caballeron ties them up, thinking that Daring must've told them something and intends to use them as bait to get her to give up the amulet. The whole time, Quibble thinks this is just some official fan made experience for those who want to "Live the Daring Do experience". Rainbow opts to humor him, convincing him that the only way to get back to the convention is to play along.
Despite Quibble's attitude, Rainbow Dash puts up with him as best she can and leads him through the jungle until they come to, what else, a rope bridge. And Quibble just can't stop tempting fate (and the expression he makes when Rainbow grabs him by the tail looks so wrong), causing the bridge to collapse. Even he can't believe the miraculous nature by which Rainbow Dash saves him, with her rightfully pointing out how if it was in a book it might seem "unrealistic". I guess it's true what The Genie said in The Return of Jafar "You'd be surprised what you can live through."
And by a stroke of bad luck, they two have led Caballeron right to the temple he was trying to find. Quibble Pants still thinks this is all just an experience, now claiming that it's being run by ponies who have no regard for safety because they're so cheap. Surprised he doesn't think they're the kind to make up a monster to scare ponies away as part of the "experience".
It isn't until Quibble steps on a tile and releases some alligator like monster that he realizes that this is all very much real. Fortunately, Daring Do finally shows up to rescue him and Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash can't resist briefly adopting a smug "I told you so" look when Quibble Pants learns that Daring Do is in fact real. Fortunately, he proves his worth by helping her to solve a puzzle that's deceptively easy (could also be that she's not so great far sighted since the tiles in her first book were right in front of her whereas the doors here are a ways back). Then it's time to get out of the temple that's flooding with quick sand, but there's a problem since Quibble is an earth pony so he can't fly.
Fortunately, with the use of reeds Quibble Pants is able to be towed along by Rainbow Dash and Daring Do, and despite a miscommunication they're able to make it out in time.
Then, Daring Do manages to sic the monster alligator onto Caballeron and his men, driving them away. She then states that she's going to get the artifact she obtained to a museum while suggesting that Rainbow and Quibble head back to the convention (she couldn't, I don't know, escort them back there herself?). And given what we see in "Common Ground" Quibble Pants' coat color is not part of some Daring Do cosplay. So he's pretty much what Daring Do would be like if she were a stallion, at least in physical appearances. Seriously, are we sure she isn't related to Quibble or to Rainbow at all? If I were her I would seriously be looking into a parenting test.
After all of this, Quibble Pants still dislikes the later Daring Do stories but he tells Rainbow Dash that he can respect her appreciation for them, agreeing to disagree. Then the two walk off towards the setting sun as we get what was later confirmed to be an entirely ad-libbed credits sequence by Patton Oswalt done in-character. Basically, Quibble is the kind of guy who writes fanfiction and has his own ideas about to "improve" the series.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it's another case of "Brotherhooves Social" in that it could've easily taken the low road. It could've easily been a jab at fans and their criticisms, implying that fans are ungrateful and should just appreciate stuff for what it is. It would've been so easy to make Quibble Pants a strawman, especially when Daring Do mentions "Dissatisfied fan ponies" while rolling her eyes in annoyance. Heck, they could've made Rainbow Dash so insistent on proving a point that she would care about nothing else. But they wisely took the high road instead, opting for the moral that it's okay to agree to disagree and to not like something. It treats fans with respect and their criticisms as valid, regardless of what they may believe. Some may say that Quibble Pants is done a little too well in regard to his obsession with "realism", but Patton Oswalt's performance is so great that I don't mind it. I mean, Patton has said it himself that he's a pretty big Star Wars fan, so I imagine a lot of what Quibble Pants does is similar to what he's encountered within the Star Wars fandom (and this would've been before the hotly contested sequels). It's not like Rainbow Dash and Daring Do are dumbed down or made horribly OOC to make Quibble Pants look good either, and even Dr. Caballeron still feels like a genuine threat. In fact, his time in the spotlight here helps him to stand out as something other than just a middle man for Ahuizotl. So I'm happy to give this episode an A+, putting it right up alongside "Gauntlet of Fire" as Season 6's best.
But just as Season 6 was showing signs of improvement from one episode to the next, along came something that would bring that improving quality to a screeching halt and throw Season 6 into an abrupt rough patch for a few episodes, beginning with "The Cart Before The Ponies" which was an episode bad enough to get even me to do an accusation fic.
This is a pretty fun and wild episode
Three things I wanna say regarding this episode:
1. My older brother has actually gotten to meet Patton Oswalt a few times.
2. Before Daring Doubt came along and ruined the Daring Do Saga for him, this was Voice of Reason's favorite episode of the entire series.
3. This is the first episode of Season 6 in which Rarity is completely absent. Now I know what you're thinking: "Wait a minute, Rarity didn't appear in On Your Marks." True, but she was mentioned twice by Sweetie Belle ("I don't think Rarity would let me travel to the far reaches of Equestria looking for cutie mark problems." and "Horrible! But it was so much fun! Rarity showed me how, even though she says (imitates Rarity) "Crochet is knitting's poorer cousin", (normal) but I loved it!"). This episode, on the other hand, not only has Rarity not appear at any point, but she isn't mentioned once throughout the whole thing. I guess someone finally decided to put their foot down and tell Josh Haber that he needed to give Rarity a break from being involved in every episode.