@Background Pony #B17A  
Wait, what? They didn’t push him anywhere, that’s totally ridiculous. If you think threats and intimidation to get money you think is owed to you is justified, Al Capone sends his regards.
 
@CronoM  
I’m with you on that danged playset, but I don’t see how anyone was really acting out of character.

I don’t have any strong feelings either way on how much Iron Will was in the wrong originally. He was easily swayed at the end, so it didn’t really give a solid read on him. He was only somewhat of a brute, and the easily fooled kind of guys are mostly harmless on their own.
 
I just personally felt this comic was all kinds of badly written. It felt rushed and it had a ton of OOC behavior. Pure amateur work compared to most comics. While the original concept was interesting, the execution felt similar in quality to the Spike comic with his weird little pets.
 
I guess the giant gaudy castle at the very beginning of the comic was a big hint to ‘abandon all hope, ye who read this Hasbro mandated comic’

@Background Pony #6F31
 
 
“As I said before, he had to back off when he did in the past. He didn’t have any choice in the matter. And as I also pointed out already, he actually threatened violence in the past, and showed that he wasn’t above manhandling people. They had every right to take on a defensive posture like this.”
 
Except they pretty much pushed him to those extremes in the episode, and already considered him a monster before anything(learned a lot from Bridle Gossip, I see).

@martianmister  
As I said before, he had to back off when he did in the past. He didn’t have any choice in the matter. And as I also pointed out already, he actually threatened violence in the past, and showed that he wasn’t above manhandling people. They had every right to take on a defensive posture like this.

@Background Pony #6F31  
In the comic mane 6 act like he’s some kind of criminal who’s gonna hurt Fluttershy, even though he leaved her in peaceful terms at the last time.

@martianmister  
No one here is suggesting that he is or was a “criminal”. He was a jerk and a bit of a bully, who taught a how-to-be-a-jerk class. This was very clearly demonstrated in PYHD.
 
Honestly, I don’t know why people are so eager to defend him. He was never a great guy, and the writers didn’t intend to convey him that way from the start. It seems like half the people talking about this just don’t remember the episode very well.

@SpacePaladin  
I can agree with that. Comic’s plot doesn’t make sense and inconsistent with what happened at the episode. Iron Will is not a criminal or monster. Plot-wise and art-wise it’s the worst MLP comic.

@martianmister
 
Fair enough.
 
Still, I do think the characters in this are being too hard on him given they’ve dealt with people who have tried to bring about the apocalypse, especially since Iron Will has demonstrated a willingness to respect other people’s decisions when they don’t align with his goals when they put their foot down.

@SpacePaladin
 
“Never apologize, when you can criticize.”  
“Maybes are for babies!”  
“You apologize, I penalize!”

@martianmister
 
In a sense yes, but the disconnect happened when Fluttershy was acting on things that she only thought was happening, as opposed to what was actually happening. Otherwise, you might as well blame lawmakers in case a paranoid delusional kills someone because the laws allows provisions in the case of self defense.

@SpacePaladin  
It’s consistent with what Iron Will teached her.

@martianmister
 
Fluttershy went too far when she started attacking ponies for every perceived insult, like when she dropped her mail into the mud to answer some tourist’s question. That’s when it went from Fluttershy standing up for herself to Fluttershy using any excuse to crap on people.

I just noticed: this comic’s artist can’t draw.  
@Background Pony #6F31  
It still doesn’t explain their reactions. It’s not like he’s criminakky dangerous toward Fluttershy.  
@SpikeSpiegel  
Where is this “Iron Will was teaching her to be assertive, but Fluttershy took it too far and became a jerk” thing coming from? Fluttershy’s actions were consistent with IW’s teachings.

@SpikeSpiegel  
This.

@Background Pony #6F31
 
You clearly have some issues to work out. You really come off like a Soccer Mom here - Iron Will was teaching her to be assertive, but Fluttershy took it too far and became a jerk. With the way she was acting, Iron Will concluded that his attitude adjustment training had worked and went to take what was owed.
 
However, when it was made apparent and assured that Fluttershy was not satisfied as he had thought, he backed off and left. The worst he did was dropping Rarity from Fluttershy’s doorstep, which we’ve seen the rest of the township do worse to other ponies. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

@SpikeSpiegel  
He wasn’t “gracious” at all—he actually threatened Fluttershy, and this after tearing her door apart and tossing her friends out of the way. Physical force, shouting, intimidation, he did it all. In the end, he had no way to legally press his case though, so he had to back off. It sure wasn’t because he was such a reasonable guy.
 
His suggestions, rather than helping people, actually make them worse off. He was greedy, aggressive, and generally, a total jerk. This comic doesn’t miss the mark one bit when it suggests that he is entirely to blame for his child’s behavioral problems.

@Background Pony #6F31  

 
Really? He was quite gracious when Fluttershy pointed out that she was not “satisfied” as per his words and backed off when she made clear that indeed, she wasn’t, over and over again. Then he just nodded, scratched his chin and the goats and the man himself left.
 
As far as I’m concerned he was assertive to a slightly excessive degree, but not so much that he was an asshole or a jerkwad.

You guys must have been watching something else, Iron Will was a total jerk.

why do people keep forgetting how that episode ended  
even writers can’t keep it straight

Twilight, Fluttershy helped Discord despite his repeated attempts to bring about the friggin’ apocalypse.
 
Are the writers self-aware of the hugely misplaced sense priorities this series seems to promote?

Keep in mind - only Pinkie (the cuckooclucklander) and Rarity (the drama queen) witnessed the interactions Iron Will.
 
But that said, while he wasn’t a jerk at the end of the episode, he still yelled at her, etc. And when you consider what the point of this story was - that IW does not know when to stop yelling in his family life - this is pretty fair and consistent.

Obviously Fluttershy has to be the most innocent and perfect pony ever.

I guess they watched the wrong episode?

I think they all just drank imported Manehattan water.

With a willingness to compromise and a real sense of fairness?
 
I’m stumped too, OP.