"Fake It Til You Make It" is Bad Advice as shown in My Little Pony 

I feel like Fluttershy in this episode is mirroring what she sees in other ponies to fit in, just like how alot of us tend to mirror so others like us. This is an amazing lesson on being yourself and not changing yourself for others😊

Fake it til you make it has been good advice for me when it comes to confidence. If you pretend to be proud of yourself and talk positively about yourself, eventually you might start believing it. This episode shows Fluttershy taking it way too far and I really appreciate how it's laid out

This reminds me of what us autistic people call "masking" where we pretend to be someone we are not just to fit in and not be abused.

I believe the writers were conscious that "Fake it til you make it" is a bad advice and just play it for laughs, and Rarity precisely said at the end of the episode that Fluttershy should find the balance between her kind self and the assertive self she make up for herself, an advice I took into my job. "Be Yourself" is neither a great advice because unfortunately society in general have low tolerance for that as much as they say otherwise.

I find this to be one of Fluttershy's more interesting episodes. Sure the title is bad advice and the lesson of the episode is a bit cliche, But it was still entertaining to find out how Fluttershy would do in a scenario where she's put in charge of managing a store. Hell the fact that she could change into those outfits so fast amazes me, I mean it's like she's a quick change artist or something and she absolutely nailed the personalities of her shop pony characters in fact Andrea Libman herself said that she had fun voicing Fluttershy for this episode!

The phrase "fake it til you make it" is a double edge sword and I feel like you talked about it very well here. Let's hope copyright doesn't effect this video

Something that I just noticed is Fluttershy has a tendency to not really know who she’s supposed to be, and oftentimes in a state of panic when feeling like the way she is isn’t “right” by other ponies’ standards she has to completely change herself to be the way those other ponies want her to be and oftentimes takes it too far in order to try to impress people but ultimately they end up hating her instead. Like in the episode with Iron Will, she heard she had to be more assertive but in her attempts at becoming more assertive she took Iron Will’s advice too far and became someone she wasn’t and she recognized the way she was acting was wrong but felt like she couldn’t change due to how she was “too far gone”, but her friends convinced her that she was fine before and her being “nice Fluttershy” was enough. While this one and the Iron Will episode are the most obvious examples of Fluttershy feeling like she has to be somepony else in order to be “right”, there’s other examples too. Hurricane Fluttershy is another good one. She felt like she was a horrible flyer due to how much pressure was being put onto her to be able to make the powerful hurricane that she ended up shutting herself out due to fear of being mocked. When she was being mocked she felt it was even worse than it actually was, hearing slight giggles made her feel like the whole world was making fun of her. So she tried to force herself to be a great flyer in order to impress everyone, it took a lot of work but she ended up becoming an excellent flyer and managed to single-hoofedly (wingedly?) make the hurricane strong enough to make it bring up enough water to Cloudsdale. Fluttershy seems to be so insecure about who she is that when she is in certain situations she feels like she HAS to change herself completely to “fit in” or else she won’t be accepted and will be mocked for the way she is, but ultimately that just makes things worse and the moral in the end is she was fine the way she is but she slowly learns to accept herself for who she is and become a better pony. Fluttershy is incredibly relatable with this fear of hers, it’s something that I and definitely many others have and maybe still do struggle with, the fear of being “wrong” and having to be someone you really aren’t. Fortunately after many years of people reassuring Fluttershy of who she is, she has become much more accepting of herself and she has her animal friends to help her feel safe where she is. In fact, in most episodes it’s the animal friends who end up helping her just as much as her pony friends do. Now that I think about it Fluttershy really IS incredibly autistic coded, I somehow didn’t realize that until now. Her and Maud Pie are both autism icons 👌

I honestly identified with fluttershy SO much this episode. There was a time in my life where I put on a lot of different personas for different people. I never had many friends so I thought that if I tried acting like the people I wanted to befriend, they'd want to hang out with me. There were so many different personalities that I just started getting tired and being contradicting. At that point I didn't even know who I was anymore, I was just a shell for other people's needs. Fluttershy is truly my role model, I want to be as strong as her someday.

Seeing fluttershy change herself almost exactly mirrors me in my retail job. I wear clothes that aren't me and often make me uncomfortable, and my personality is both forced and incredibly different to what I'm really like. You'd think it wouldn't affect me, yknow its just with customers, I can go home and be fine. But it exhausted me, as you said with your own experience with streaming. It also gives others a false perception of me, I have a coworker who oversteps my boundaries and thinks we're closer than we are and has led to me having a full blown breakdown over things hes said to me thinking I was cool with it because I couldn't break this act to show my discomfort. (Makes it worse i was quite literally triggered in the true mental health sense of the word and was reliving something i didn't want to relive) Retail really is hell for the sensitive and shy. Customers can be extremely cruel, and always push the blame onto you specifically even if they'll lie and say they mean the company, in the moment all they care about is getting what they want out of you as an individual and most customers will trample you to get it lol

I 100% agree. The phrase "Fake it till you make it" has always bothered me. It's much better to just be yourself. Anything that's gained from "faking it" is probably going to cause more problems, in the long run, and at the very least is a very disingenuous way to get there.

Let's be honest, Fluttershy would make a great changeling. I'm glad you said 'sometimes' because I guess the bad part comes from when you linger in the fake after you already made it.

Lmao I've only ever heard "fake it till you make it" in orchestra; essentially, if by the concert you couldn't play a part, PRETEND to play it to trick the audience LOL

I feel like “Fake it til you make it” is a very neutral term. On one hand, it’s extremely helpful for getting out situations where you may not have the confidence to be in. I feel like the good application if when you need to put up a front of reliability. As discussed in previous episodes, Fluttershy does have decent knowledge on things like thread counts, stitching types, and needles threads but she needed that boost to make her feel reliable. After all, a customer who thinks you’re a doormat will be 80% more likely to turn Karen mode than those who see a experienced worker. But “Fake it til you make it” has a extreme and like all things, its very easy to get out of hand. She was trying to fully embody the personality when in reality, it should only be her front for a few moments or events at most and then taken off when she doesnt need it anymore. Its a fake persona, not her real one and the danger of pushing it as a real one is what drove the episodes’s main conflict. It was also a laugh riot all things considered when she was clearly making words up to “sound” like the ponies and somehow they ate it up.

When it comes to RU-vid we tend to get a few egotistical and yet arrogant folks trying to be overconfident and overboard. For my advice, just be happy with what you’re doing and stay true to yourself.

I actually a lot of issues with depersonalisation Than I saw this episode and it kind of became clear to me that I often tried to play a role As it made it easier to deal with social anxiety. Because it felt like it wasn’t my true self that would be judged so I was able to manage it better. This episode really helped me to stop that behaviour and I eventually got out of that bad feeling. Really one of my favourite episodes as I feel it has a lot of impact!

Tell that to my freaking THERAPIST. That's what she told me to do. I don't see her anymore.

I have always HATED, and I use that term to its full effect, I exaggerate none with my usage of that term, any ‘advice’ which recommends you fake something. I’ve always been rather introverted and to myself, I’m not a super outgoing person. I can hold a conversation just fine, but you won’t see my faking that huge smile and optimistic energy, I’ll be professional and respectful, just not super high-energy and smiley. All my life I’ve been ordered to smile, I’ve been ordered to ‘Just be happy.’ as if telling someone to be happy actually works. I realized that I was hiding misery, I was hiding my true self behind that fake smile. But then I learned that I don’t always have to smile, and if anything, it lets me truly be myself, which seems to be a more pleasant persona to others than me trying to fake high energy and smiles.

I love how you use MLP FIM to even reflect on your own experiences. I'm very glad you're focusing on what speaks to you, rather than trying to make it big as a content creator. Because, quite frankly, I'm really enjoying these videos. Being your authentic self is more important than being what the rest of the world expects you to be

Aside from Fluttershy being this different characters for a while…I think it’s better for her to be herself. Fake it til you make it is honestly a good episode in my opinion.

Another episode that has a be true to yourself message is Simple Ways. That episode shows that some people may not like you for who you are, but that's OK. Because changing yourself for someone else is futile. I really appreciate the content you're making. MLP has been somewhat of a guide to me in multiple senses. It has words to live by and character arcs that are relatable to me and the world around me. I've always seen MLP this way and it's nice that you've taken the time to slow down and analyze these episodes. I struggle a lot in a fandom setting because of the fan-created content that in general doesn't even have the same themes as the original material. And these videos are a great way for me to engage with MLP besides just watching it and viewing and making fanart. TL;DR I like these videos and you've earned a new subscriber.

"Fake it 'til you make it" being good or bad depends on what you're faking. I'm a virtue ethicist. One of the core tenants of the philosophy is that one isn't told what is and isn't virtuous. You learn it through experience, reflection, practicing until you make it habit. Virtue isn't bestowed, it's forged through habit. So how do you get there if it's not something you already do? Well, not the phrase any philosopher would use but "fake it 'til you make it" is a pretty good description. It's not that the advice is necessarily bad. It's about how you use it.

the only time faking it till i made it worked well for me was in 7th grade i joined orchestra for the first time and knew nothing about violin, but just by having to pretend i know at least the basics i slowly began to actually learn the basics, and in 2y im now fairly good. but everything else it doesnt really work. its like those sketchy mobile game ads. sometimes they actually go as advertised, but mostly its just scam.

I believe that this episode may also be a take on how actors try to see situations from their characters personalities and perspectives. It also makes good use of the old troop of one character dressing up to convince another to get them to do something that the dressed-up character wants. Plus it also points-out how an actor can get lost in the role and lastly it’s while adults can enjoy the show, don’t forget. It’s aimed at kids between ages three to ten. And kids love role playing-playing pretend as it allows them to explore future roles that they might have and to act-out what they know and see about the world.

i've just watched all your mlp videos, its very interesting! I stopped watching it bc of my family saying i was too old for that. Hoping to see more of mlp videos! I really loved it all!

Fake it till you make it means adapt and overcome.

I'm glad you made this video. I'm a teenager in 10th grade and I lovee performing. I couldnt live without it. However, it's very hard to get a performing arts career so i'd basically given up on that and am trying to choose between Doctor or Phycologist. all the college on the stuff would kill me though, as the only thing I've stayed interested in my whole life is performing arts. but you've inspired me to keep trying. thx.

Without looking it up, I wonder which one came out first, Equestria girls rollercoaster of friendship or Friendship is magic fake it till you make it.

As a trans person, I know how terrible it is to be someone I'm not... for 19 whole years!

I always found the notion of "being something you're not" an interesting psychological construct. In order to understand who you're not, you need to understand who you are. As a person. But that's complicated in itself as we change as people over the course of our lives. I'm 30 years old now but 10 years ago, my 20 year old self was a very different person and probably wouldn't think I'd be the person I am now back then. So could it be that discovering who we are is a result of changing as time goes on? What really is someone we aren't? Also I found this episode hilarious in that cartoonish way where disguises are vague enough to still be recognised as the same person to the audience yet the in show characters are utterly clueless. Like imagine if someone you knew just came up to you wearing different clothing claiming to be someone else

The title reminds me of this one Lego Monkie Kid scene : Sun Wukong : "The only way to get self confidence is~?" MK : "Fake it 'till I make it?" Sun Wukong : "NO! Practice!! You think I took shortcuts? No. It took me centuries of training and fighting and just beating up demon, just- soo many demons. A- anyway, nothing worth anything comes for free. Akhem."

That was hilarious how Fluttershy just evolves from snooty to telling rarity the her clothes are too good to sell

Always be yourself you’ll always find an audience. They may be niche, but you’ll find one no matter who you are or what you like. Same goes with friends. if you be true at yourself, you’ll find friends who actually like you for who you are and you like your friends who are, because you guys like similar things.

Season 8 is considered the worst season And I agree

With the amount of quality and entertainment in this video I thought you were a huge RU-vidr, but then I looked at your subscriber count, you deserve so much more! Good job, very good analysis and commentary! ❤

I like what you say about faking it till you make it, It rsanated with me as an autistic girl who often has to mask her quirks

It gave us a very cute Fluttershy with cute expressions

I don't fully disagree with you're analysis except for ONE distinction: You're failing to separate "fake it till you make it" from "fake it till you ARE it". Fluttershy went into the "are it" territory, which is why Rarity had to fire her four times. The difference between the two is that "fake it till you make it" requires you to be anchored in who you originally or truly are, whereas "fake it till you are it" causes you to lose who you really are. In the episode, they just sped it up for time reasons, and because it's a kid's show and kids wouldn't know about the difference. Either way, you are not entirely wrong about people needing to be themselves and not try to be someone else.

Oh I understand you the eternal samurai In being shy I’m an introvert as a 10 year old

the lesson, to me, was not to pretend to be someone you're not, but you should meet people where they're at and use their language

Heheh welcome to ponies! We're glad to have another among our numbers

I’ve done the same thing as you have in my recent videos (putting on a front) so you’re giving a good message to me that I don’t have to do that. 😊

I find this Episode pretty Interesting but would make so much more sense if Coco Pommel would Work with FlutterShy within the Conflict which could have made her character so much Cooler after her Cameo from season 6 to see how much she has grown in Manehatten.

love your avatar! very creative!

I think...if you don't have that cheeky confidence, just don't do it. I do it because I don't care what other people think of me, I'm a narcissist. Plus, if you don't know what you're doing, when you fake it, you don't realize your ego takes over and you screw yourself up. Pls make sure u know what u doing before u faking it.

Good times.

Fake it till you make it is good advice for confidence, or building up a specific trait you actually WANT to embody, not for putting up a fake persona to satisfy others (algorithm, customers, etc). Fake it till you make it has helped me improve my self-image

Since you just changed your channel’s content, I really want to say to keep up the good work making these types of informative analysis videos! It will help to spread MLP’s positive themes and messages to people of this low-attention-span generation, or those who would dismiss the series as “just a little girls show.”

When you are putting mask on yourself and turning yourself into someone else, you are slowly losing real yourself. Also when you are doing something that you will not do as yourself, you are lying to yourself and this may cause depression...

excuse my rambling but this is one of those episodes i can personally relate to a little as an autistic guy, like i see so much in Fluttershy here with her "masking" to function in society, literally being someone else just blend in with everyone else. but just like with autistic people in real life, that façade's gonna have to break one day. Fluttershy's a character i HC as being autistic herself because of how whenever she's shown a bit of advice like this, she tends to go overboard and doesn't realise it until she accidentally goes too far, and to me it shows that Fluttershy just can't handle being someone else because she's Fluttershy and i can relate to that. Flutters is probably the most relatable out of the mane six gonna be honest

Putting a mask on my face has been my identity since I was young. I have lots of brain issues and mental illness. That’s been me. And I’m not afraid to say I’m inot my own person.. im a ton of different things. I forget and relive stories and movies and shows. I forget movies I used to love and either like it or hate it. At party’s I’m either dancing a fool or in a corner crying because I’m so scared of everyone thinking of how I look awful. I don’t know how to be normal so I try and copy the closest human by me. I try because I’m not always so self aware and realize that. And need to work on that when my mind forgets I’m not self aware I’m obnoxious and unfiltered and inappropriate. Shielding others of my desire to end myself and faking it can be helpful to others even if it’s not benefiting me in a good way.. I’m never trying to hurt anyone but people make mistakes and I especially forget and make tons of annoying mistakes that I hate when I remember them later in the day. It’s one reason I truly hate myself. I’m trying to improve all aspects of who I am because I hate it.. but the next day it’s forgotten.. so I’m really not who I am right now. It’s like a dementia I feel sometimes. You don’t forget to eat or brush your teeth right people? Masking also really helps with self esteem and confidence and doing things normally I’d cry about. I’m a big cry baby and cry about everything. Like thinking about taxes and I don’t even work..

What is that background song again? The first one

I felt like this episode was... fine? But it's another "Fluttershy is shy" episode. In Season 8. I get it, some lessons are hard to learn, but this is almost the ONLY lesson she learns. It's either "Be more assertive" or stage fright. Sweetie Belle had stage fright, supposedly, why didn't she get an episode dedicated to it? That would've been a million times more interesting considering she has a gift for performing, and seems to be kinda interested in it. But no... they all go to Fluttershy. Oh, and of course, her friends have to be super patient and supportive despite the fact that Fluttershy basically chased all of her customers and staff out because she had to learn the lesson they ALL learned when Rarity for You first opened! Without all of that context? It's fine, I guess. Not great or anything. With the context? I don't like it. It's another situation where if it were anyone else, they'd be berated, but since it's Fluttershy, she doesn't even get a slap on the wrist because she conveniently knows when to apologize.

Great advice !

I don't tend to act like this in real life. But there have been times where I've taken on different personas on the internet. I've tried to be laidback, immature, flamboyant (when talking to folks who are a little more energetic in their manner of speech) and even blunt. A lot of the time, those personalities seemed to work, but a lot of those personalities have also backfired and caused me to face issues from people who've called me a creep for going too far with my immaturity, or I've been called a jerk for being too blunt, or disingenuous when I'm being too laidback. My issue is that I worry about whether other people will like me or not, and that can sometimes lead to me having mental breakdowns or even getting cross with others, very aggressively, in fact. I've lost relationships over my anger and friendships have collapsed and relapsed because of it too. I struggle socially, even if I am slowly becoming better at asking for things and trying to connect with people, even when I don't know them personally, like when I'm shopping or buying a drink at a café, for example. It's all about confidence, communication and consideration. The three C's of Successful Conversation.

Nice Video :)

I'm so glad you are a brony

The advice "Fake it 'till you make it" isn't "Become a fake person that's not you until you become successful." The advice means more to behave as though you are already successful, so be yourself, but a version of your true real self that happens to be successful in what you are trying to do. Like, say you are starting a new job. Instead of being that nervous version of yourself that's second guessing everything, you accept what you do know and address what you don't know, making your work more efficient and your questions more helpful. If what you want is to make new friends, instead of hiding yourself and laughing awkwardly at everything someone says, you give you walk up to people, give a genuine smile, actually listen, and actively participate in conversations, not worrying about "what if I say something stupid". What this accomplishes is that all those obstacles we put in our own way when we act based on our doubts aren't there anymore. After all, since you are acting as though you are a successful version of yourself, you aren't taking the time to set obstacles for yourself. After being this successful version of yourself for long enough, you'll get used to not getting in your own way, and you'll have the experience and results to (hopefully) full admit that you are in fact successful and good at what you do. I say "hopefully" because some people refuse to accept any good about themselves despite any mountain of evidence that you might present them, sadly.

Good job

As a salesman myself I have to admit, that ya partwise need to play a role as ya serve very different kinds of characters even in a small shop. For sure ya should not fake ya whole persona, at least just as much as ya feel comfortable with, but there are characters out there, who needs to be handled lil different than others to feel comfortable shoppin at yar store. We're open for every type of customer and wants them all to have a nice time here. So, as we can't select our guests just as we do our friends, we need a stretchy appearence. That's deftly not easy all the time as I can say so myself, but that's part of the job after all. Allthough really challengin customers aren't the main amount here - but as long as they act in a respectable way, I serve with passion 😊

Interesting video 🤔

"Fake It Til You Make It" is bad advice in general. I can't stand that saying along with "everything happens for a reason." Because both are not always good.

Great video! This encapsulates exactly what I feel about those "patrick bateman alpha male" communities and the like- as well as a lot of new age communities, self help communities... well, a lot more that i wont take time to list. I totally agree, hustle culture is starting to turn sour and it can absolutely make you lose yourself. Definitely something people need to learn as that mindset (or "grindset" as they call it) is becoming more popular. Earned a sub!

As someone who's autistic and working retail this episode is really relatable! I always seen myself as a lil cameleon mimicking other people's behaviors to appease them but like you said it's ok if it stays genuine and true to you! Sometimes "faking it" made me realize I could be more assertive than I thought and that can be a wonderful thing :D just can't let it get to your head!

Ok tbh fake it til you make it advice is a natural occurrence for me because i have BPD 💀 i put on personas to make sure i can survive a situation and it's true it's a negative; lots of trust issues, identity problems and dissociation so I can't really be myself cause I got no idea who I am no more 😍✋ for people like me, it's just not easy to be yourself when it's a defensive response your brain automated to supposedly 'protect yourself'

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