Hello and welcome to my new series! I know, me and my terrible names. Most people come here from my Quizzical review so welcome back. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you read it and Quizzical by JMac. As the title suggests, this series is not friendly to those of you who hate spoilers. In my review, I said Quizzical had an incredible cast with a perfect combination of Quizzical and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. You might also remember that I said Quizzical harbored weak characters as well. Let’s get our Spoiler-licious-ness on and answer one simple question: Are the Diamond Dogs the Sombra of Quizzical?
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Spoiler-licious-ness
Episode 1: Are the Diamond Dogs the Sombra of Quizzical?
Hosted by Admujica
Featuring Quizzical by JMac
Presented by
The Journals Network
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Let me start out by saying that Quizzical is possibly the most lovable original character that I have ever seen! I haven’t enjoyed an original character so much since Fallout: Equestria’s very own Little Pip. Not too mention she partially out-Twilighted Twilight. Poor Twi has met her match. The reason Quizzical is such a well founded character is because the story really takes its time to establish her through her relationships and so on. We have to remember this is exactly what Friendship is Magic forgot to do with Sombra. Sombra looks and sounds evil but in the end of the day, that’s all he is. Thank Celestia the premiere was more so focused on Twilight’s “test” than it was on him or else we have an episode focused on a character lacking depth.
How does this involve Quizzical? It’s actually pretty simple. In the seventh chapter, Quizzical does a one-eighty by throwing Quizzical into the caverns of the Diamond Dogs. For the sake of the people not up to date on their MLP, the Diamond Dogs are seen in Episode 19 of the First Season: A Dog and Pony Show; in which they capture Rarity and force her to use her magic ability to look for precious gems. Although simple and not very deep, the Diamond Dogs still have a reason for being the antagonists unlike Sombra. This is not the case for Quizzical though. The Diamond Dogs could be the Sombra of Quizzical for being the protagonists.
Now before you say “what” aloud, one of the Diamond Dogs is made a protagonist. For most of the latter part of Quizzical, Indy gets a lot of screen time helping Quizzical get through her time in the caverns but never has any depth to his character. His motivation to help Quiz is never really explained. Now writers, I am not saying to go out and say “My alicorn OC feels sad because of laddy flippin da.”
In the end, Indy is there to help Quizzical get from point a to point b. Does this make him a side character? Yes. Does that make him a bad character? Not exactly. Indy puts an important spotlight on Quiz. He is instrumental in highlighting Quiz’s value just as Sombra was in the premiere. They’re both help to move along the story’s plot. So yes, Indy is like Sombra in that respect. However, this is not a bad thing. Both characters are side characters who just so happen to have important roles but lack depth. What do you think? Leave your thoughts and other painful luggage in the comments! I’ve been Admujica. Have a great weekend everypony!
FiM Fiction Review - Quizzical can be found here.
Read Quizzical by JMac here!
[JMac comments:]
ReplyDeleteI'll confess, Indy began as just someone for Quiz to talk to. I try to avoid Quiz's point of view and I never ever write internal monologue for her - it's helped to keep her from becoming too much of a Sue. All you learn about Quiz you learn from other character's reactions too her. So while she was down in the Warrens I needed an Indy for her.
Indy was already much more than that before I finished the outline. He had a personality; he's a nice guy, he's as observant as Quiz, and he's smarter than the average diamond dog. I like him. I'm not alone in this, many readers were worried about what I'd done to him at the end of Chapter 10. But his motives are never explored.
That's because in my head-canon I don't see Indy as having any deep reasons for his motives. He's good to Quiz because he's a good guy, that's all. I actually find that interesting.
It shows that diamond dogs aren't one trick ponies, they aren't all alike. They range from villains to good guys, from Bowser to Indy.
Does Indy not having a deeper motive cost him depth? Maybe. But I think I make up for this by giving him a few chapters of personality development. I thought the readers would come to know Indy well enough to agree - he's nice to Quiz because that's the sort of thing he would do. Not everyone got that. Oh, well.
Interesting. I agree that Quizzical is better when with others because the whole story revolves around her relationships. Quizzical is far from a Mary Sue because of it. I definitely like the idea of a good diamond dog such as Indy but personality doesn't always add depth. Take Applejack for example. She's loving, honest, and family-orientated but she doesn't have a goal or motive. Applejack works on the farm and is most likely going to stay there. Compare that to Rainbow Dash. She's competitive and overly-self-centered (didn't say loyal because the two properties stated are the most predominant), but her overall goal is to join the Wonderbolts. It's the driving force behind her character and therefore adds depth. Note that her motive isn't exactly deep either. However, is Applejack a bad character? Is she a deep character? No and no. Indy's chemistry with Quiz works well. Just like Applejack and Rainbow's.
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