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| Velcro #1167669 3 months ago |
Here you go, because someone is wrong on the internet! :) |
| Jackarunda #1167675 3 months ago |
This is entirely correct |
| peony #1167686 3 months ago |
Pay attention Hasbro, there may be some sort of lesson here. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167687 3 months ago |
It's the brilliant way the writers showed in that it's not always the product, it's just the sheer greed.
A lot of products corporations makes can be really good. But that's no the issue. The issue is that they are often greedy, push around small businesses at any cost, try to make money at any cost (even at the customers' expense). |
| Yorec #1167688 3 months ago |
As a great man one said, "You're overconfidence is your weakness." |
| SendoRoba #1167691 3 months ago |
Its the same deal how some people think, hust because he lost, Crocodile is weaker than Luffy. He underestimated his opponent and got his ass dropped because of it. But he is still more well trained and, quite probably, a stronger character than Luffy (pre-time skip at least) |
| zralf #1167698 3 months ago |
@peony
THIS ! |
| SoundwaveSuperior #1167699 3 months ago |
Eeeeyup |
| Saufsoldat #1167705 3 months ago |
Probably because they used trickery...? The whole competition was retarded in the first place, the Apple family had nothing to win and everything to lose. |
| Scumbag_Crowley #1167718 3 months ago |
It's correct, but I sometimes wish they were, in fact, more "greasy". Instead of the overly long intro song they did, I would have loved to see some scenes where they, I dunno, slip a few rotten apples into Big Mac's grinder without being caught, and when it makes bad cider thhe Apple family decide to ditch that whole barrel because they believe in quality control. And maybe other antics like stealing fresh apples from Apple Blooms's bucket without her knowing, so they can't make as much cider.
And when they other team persevere and stil make more barrels, then they turn off the quality control in order to win. Heck, it would have been better than the stupidly long song they did. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167723 3 months ago |
>The whole competition was retarded in the first place, the Apple family had nothing to win and everything to lose.
I don't think the competition was bad. It was just 'cartoon exaggerated' + it was Applebloom that just kept ratcheting things too far. |
| Velcro #1167725 3 months ago |
@I_Like_Your_Mane: But they would've had the full cider-selling rights if they kept up as they were, but denied Applejack's friends from joining in. A simple 'no' would've meant their victory.
But they got cocky and didn't expect the sheer speed and competence Applejack's friends brought to their side. With the addition of five ponies, the Apple family's production speed multiplied by five! They tried to compensate for their earlier overconfidence by ramping up the machine's speed, forcing it past its normal limits. Normally, in an industrial setting, if you want to produce more, you run two or more machines in parallel. You don't 'double-power' your single machine. That's one of the things I liked about this episode (it was a pretty good one). They had a mare-versus-machine (tradition vs science) match without any real luddite anti-industrialisation messages; the machine did everything the Flimflam brothers said it would, and it proved superior to the 'traditional' method. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167726 3 months ago |
>the overly long intro song they did
Everybody keeps saying that or how the song was '6 minutes long', but it was a normal sized song.... |
| Velcro #1167745 3 months ago |
@Saufsoldat: Oh, they were unscrupulous in their business practices - they basically bullrushed the Apple family into gambling away their cider-selling rights by using their superior production rate as a financial bludgeon.
But other than that, they were simply the better businessmen. Snappy advertisement, superior production, etc. Of course, I'm now completely overanalyzing a cartoon for young children, so most of this is moot point anyway. |
| Velcro #1167768 3 months ago |
@I_Like_Your_Mane: Oops, forgot to mention: But yes, that was their downside, wasn't it? In their hunger for profit, they had no problem completely stepping on less-capable companies (the Apple family). That makes them villains - but not con-artists. |
| Saufsoldat #1167769 3 months ago |
@745: They were tricksters, nothing more. All it would've taken is for the Apple family to say "we won't give/sell you our apples, period" and that would've been it, no cider for Flim and Flam and they'd have to move to another city hoping to find more stupid people.
They exploit other ponies' hard work by taking their apples to produce inexpensive cider. If they weren't such manipulative assholes, they'd just buy a plot of land somewhere and start their own apple farm. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167770 3 months ago |
That's a good point. They were smarter businessmen, but at the same time, ruthless and unsympathetic and unmoral in how far they pushed the issue. And it's good to see just some good old effort and moral businessmanship win out. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167774 3 months ago |
>#1167769
I think the thing was that Apple Family was shown having problems meeting demand. So it was not like they were perfectly fine. That's the chink in the armor that allowed Flim Flam to dig their business tactics in. |
| Saufsoldat #1167792 3 months ago |
@774: The Apple family still has an apple monopoly in Ponyville. They produce as much cider as they can with their available time and resources. You're still forgetting that it's the Apple family that planted and nurtured those trees and it's they who own the land. Flim and Flam have no right whatsoever to use even a single one of those apples.
They could've struck a fair deal with the Apple family that allows them to use the apples for their cider machine and share profits. When it became apparent that they're incapable of make a decent offer, they instead turned to trickery by manipulating the Apples into accepting a bet in which they had nothing to win and everything to lose. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167794 3 months ago |
Well, if monopolies don't work, then the customers would revolt. Which was what started to happen thanks to a certain hyper-fan in Rainbow Dash.
I do think Flim Flam got really greedy and pushy. But their reasoning to push in does make sense. And it's not like Apple family objected the need for better production. Just the takeover part. |
| Anonymous #1167795 3 months ago |
*cocky; |
| Saufsoldat #1167831 3 months ago |
The produced as much cider as was possible for them. If people have a problem with that, they can produce their own cider, they'll just have to find apples somewhere else.
Cider is a luxury good, society is not harmed in any way by a lack of cider, so the Apple family has no obligation to go out of their way to meet the cider demand. If the Apple family doesn't need the extra profits, then they don't need to produce the extra cider. Their apples, their choice. If I own a farm and people complain that I don't use enough of my wheat to bake pies, then I can tell them to go fuck themselves or buy their pies somewhere else. |
| I_Like_Your_Mane #1167855 3 months ago |
Well, if they can't meet demand, that only means it is more grounds competition has more reason to exist. |
| marioandsonic #1167976 3 months ago |
They sacrificed quality for quantity. |
| Anonymous #1168022 3 months ago |
Actually, while their product was good, their competition methods were dirty. They tried to trick the Apple family into giving up Sweet Apple Acres by making them a bad offer wrapped in golden words. The name "flim flam" even refers to them as conartists.
But this doesn't concern the consumers now, does it? Well, that's not really the case. Why would they want to drive SAA out of business? Why, to dominate the market of course. And why would they want that? So they could sell their product as they want to. They can reduce the quality of the product, make the production limited as they want to to stir up prices and so on. Meanwhile, though SAA is rather conservative in its methods, they have good intentions and honest methods, and a good affordable product, judging from the amount of cider Pinkie bought (and being a baker's assistant, she can hardly earn much). Though I do agree that SAA should have struck a deal with the brothers. That just requires somewhat of a business sense, and only Applejack seems to have a bit of that. Honestly, they should hire Twilight or Rarity for that. |
| Questionmarktarius #1168277 3 months ago |
 |
| PhilSrobeighn #1168414 3 months ago |
Wait wait wait...
Was Yorec just referencing Luke Skywalker? |
| Anonymous #1168572 3 months ago |
PhilSrobeighn - indeed he was.
Which begs the response - "Your faith in your friends is yours." |
| Velcro #1169111 3 months ago |
@Saufsoldat: You forget one thing: The Flimflam brothers mentioned they had an alternative source of apples should the Apple family prove unwilling! Basically, all your arguments about denying them apples are nonsense.
Of course, they basically bullrushed the Apple family and basically set up shop as if the farm was theirs, even if the bet did not include the farm or any part of it. ...and the Apple family let them. |
| Anonymous #1172224 3 months ago |
I know we're having a different conversation now, but according to TV tropes, the fact that they bypassed the quality check when they were falling behind is exactly why they're considered to do things Faster!Cheaper!
But no matter how they're depicted in fandom, they'll always be my favorite Ponies. |
| Anonymous #1181578 3 months ago |
tl;dr |