In Defense of... Fluttershy

If you have any sort of love for any one particular pony, it would be a good idea NOT to read any fan forms or watch review videos, cause as sure as I'm sitting here, someone is going to be a total dick and say something mean about your favorite pony. So, as an attempt to combat the doucheness of someponies, I'm starting this "In Defense of" series to highlight the best of all the ponies. I'm starting with Fluttershy because she is my favorite and because I feel a lot about her personality is horribly misunderstood.

In all the lists of why people dislike Flutters, the term Mary Sue always seems to come up. I had to look it up because I had no clue what anyone was talking about. Once I read up on it, I knew people were wrong. How is Flutters perfect? I would think a crippling fear of any kind would make her the complete opposite of perfect. And as for lacking in realism, I can tell you she's not. Let me explain. I have been super shy my whole life. I have a hard time making new friends and talking to new people. People can say my quietness is me being a snob, which just ends up making me feel really horrible. I found out the shyness went beyond that. See, I have social anxiety and agoraphobia which makes doing things that I want to do hard, not to mention the stuff I don't want to do. Due to this, I end up spending quite a lot of time hanging with my animals. I also have horrible stage freight, but am better when I'm just one in a crowd and can blend into the background. Generally, I don't like to cause arguments because I don't want to draw attention to myself, but I don't have as much of a problem with that when I'm with my friends. If you think about it, I just described Flutters, so there goes the argument against realism.

Now a lot of people like to call her names (like cheesy gordita) and their reasoning is that she's just a boring character. "It's always the same story line." Well, speaking as a person with anxiety, it may seem stupid and boring to some, but any sort of improvement is big and getting out of your shell is a really hard task. (I've been in therapy for six years and STILL have a super hard time.) Also, you can't really blame the character for a lack of imagination from the writers. There is a lot more they could do with Flutters that they seem to be unwilling to try. They could explore Fluttershy's temper (which we have seen on more than one occasion) or the complexity of her job (have you ever tried feeding all those animals before). If the writers looked at her from a different angle, they would see she has a bunch of untapped potential.

Also, I know she can come off as being a doormat, but that's not true either. Everypony just needs to try to look at this from a different angle. Have you ever done anything for a friend even when you didn't want to because you knew they would be hurt if you didn't do it? That's Fluttershy! She is just kind (and sometimes too kind, as she has admitted). I suppose in this day and age it would come off as doormatish to think about someone else's feelings before doing something, but that's what she is. Pinkie Pie wants to make everyone smile and Fluttershy doesn't want to make anyone sad, which is a lot harder a task.

Lastly, it's wrong to be harsh on a character because of a bunch of guys. The idea that Fluttershy gets all the brony love because she's quiet and cute is a total guy thing. I like her because despite being shy and "afraid of her own shadow" she is never too afraid when her friends are really in need. Think about it. To do what the other pony's do, she has to push herself ten times harder. I'm not saying you have to love her, but how about cutting her a little slack. It's a bit harder for her and she needs a little help. So yeah, maybe she isn't as complex on the surface as someponies are... doesn't mean she doesn't have depth of character. It just means it's buried a little deeper and you have to look for it.