@drumpowa  
Huh. Good point about the resentment. Neato.  
I still want to see Rarity get even at some point. Or just straight up deliver a verbal beatdown on someone.

@drumpowa  
Clever. I don’t accept it as my headcanon, but I find it amusing.

@Bullet Surge  
Also small headcanon: Pinkie didn’t truly forgive Fluttershy…she got even: see Filli Vanilli.

@Bullet Surge  
Considering that Flutters is so anti-social and so repressed, I had some feeling that she has some resentment considering that Pinkie and Rarity are highly sociable and their jobs/talents allow them to be as such as well as creative while Fluttershy has a crippling fear that she can’t get past so easily.
 
As for her quick flip of the “assertive” switch, I feel she’s a character isn’t that good at alot of things, but when she feels she she has one thing good to improve on, she goes all out. She thought her “assertiveness” was helping her, but when Pinkie and Rarity essentially want her to stop or curtail it, she took it as them trying to stamp out her one thing to shine. Mix that with her resentment and it’s a concoction of ripping your friends a new one. And I see her diatribe 75% true feelings and 25% going for the jugular.

@Background Pony #2957  
I get what you’re saying. It still hurt though, seeing Fluttershy, of all ponies, verbally massacre two of her best friends for showing concern over her sudden shift in personality. Had it been anyone else, I doubt she’d be as easily forgiven as she was in the episode.

@Background Pony #9E48  
That’s one of the things I liked about the episode; friends do forgive each other for major failings like that, and showing Rarity and Pinkie forgiving Fluttershy so readily was, I thought, a terrific example.
 
@Bullet Surge  
I could understand that scene myself because, at that point, Fluttershy had finally developed the “assertiveness” that her friends had talked her into, and now, from her point of view, they were attacking who she had become and asking her to return to being the meek doormat she had been. Yes, she overreacted, and yes, it was wrong of her, but it was only natural for her to respond with her new-found “assertiveness” and to carry it to the same extremes she had shown all during the preceding act; it’s also natural that, upon seeing the pain she caused her friends, that she would finally realize what she was doing was wrong and would deeply regret the hurt she caused. This is not to say that you have to accept it as well; I just want to explain why I could understand it and not hold it against Fluttershy.
 
@Background Pony Number 17  
I’d say it was more an exaggeration of her own opinions that her “assertiveness” drew out of her, but again, that’s how I view it and not how I feel everyone must view it. And the fact that there was at least some truth behind it is what made the scene all the more painful, and all the more effective.

@Background Pony #9E48  
Yeah, Fluttershy’s “no gives a flying feather about your silly obsessions” speech was pretty brutal. In fact, I’d say that was the harshest treatment any of the ponies have ever given another. And what made it harsh is when you realize that’s not Iron Will’s assertiveness training talking–that was Flutteshy’s honest opinion of Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Too honest, as she realized too late.
 
I think what led Rarity and Pinkie Pie to forgive Fluttershy so quickly was Fluttershy’s reaction to her self-realization. It was a nice touch, showing the trees around her cottage dying just from being in proximity to her depression.

I’m still surprised Rarity and Pinkie were so quick to forgive her again. I mean I know they mostly blame Iron Will, but that was way more personal than any “assertiveness training” could’ve done.

I didn’t think much of the epiosde, up until Fluttershy gave Rarity and Pinkie Pie that brutal “Reason You Suck” speech…Flutters lost a lot of points as one of my favorite characters from that point on.

Iron Will is a pretty cool guy, he reminds me of spaghetti.

@Dashu  
On a purely rational level, I can understand your explanation; how long it’ll take to sink in so that I truly accept it, and have Fluttershy’s arc in this episode not seem so jarringly abrupt, I can’t say, but I expect it will in time.

Trying to remember the complaints about the episode at the time… (warning: incoming teal deer)
 
Some people likened Angel’s behavior in the cold open to domestic abuse. The slap didn’t bother me (it’s a bunny’s paw, it’s not going to hurt), but I thought Fluttershy being thrown out of her house was going overboard, both in terms of stretching credibility and in terms of how harsh it was. It only hurt the episode slightly IMO, but I can understand those who were put off by it.
 
There were a lot of complaints about Rarity wheedling the asparagus from the nerdy pony, and some complaints about Pinkie’s negotiating technique. (I’m surprised the former hasn’t been brought up in these comments yet, actually.) Personally, I saw their actions as morally neutral, so I was just able to enjoy them as humorous scenes that also helped set up the plot.
 
Quite a few people complained about how many jerks Fluttershy ran into during the course of the episode. Unless you think of Equestria (or, I suppose, Ponyville) as a Utopia, though, you’ve got to concede the existence of jerks and of otherwise-nice ponies being jerks because of a bad day, and I can tell you from experience that some days the jerks just all seem to be drawn to my vicinity.
 
Some people complained that Fluttershy chewing out her friends was OOC for her; personally, given the rest of the episode, I thought it fit the characters and the moment, and was the strongest (and most painfully honest) scene of the episode.
 
A few people complained that Iron Will was made a scapegoat, and that he did nothing wrong; I always thought the episode characterized him well, keeping him in the grey area between “assertive” and “genuine jerk”, and showing him capable of learning and admitting when he’s wrong.
 
The story was by Merriwether Williams. I don’t think this merits any further discussion, except to say I disagree with the common opinion that all her episodes are awful.
 
Aside from the preposterous “Angel bouncing Fluttershy” bit, the only things that bothered me about the episode were how thoroughly contemporary Iron Will was, and (as pointed out by @Evowizard25) how quickly Fluttershy went from doormat to mildly assertive to full-on yayhole. But I genuinely, ardently hate those latter two points, so I have very conflicted feelings about this episode, more so than any others except “The Crystal Empire” and (maybe) “Trade Ya!” Especially since, as several people have pointed out, it had an excellent moral.
 
And on the other objection raised by @Evowizard25: The first time Pinkie Pie called Iron Will a “monster”, I interpreted it as a simple, humorous confusion with the word “minotaur”, not as an intended slur against Iron Will, so it didn’t bother me. Later references to him as a “monster” were obviously as a result of Pinkie and Rarity blaming him for what Fluttershy had become, which I thought was an understandable overreaction.

@Evowizard25  
There is no need for much transition. When someone, who isn’t very good with people and has low social confidence, tries to become more assertive and confident, this can become pretty awry. It’s very easy to go overboard and become a jerk without even really meaning to (even if it’s obvious to everyone else), just because it seems like the only way to be more confident.
 
I actually went through something similar for a while, where I tried to be more outgoing and sociable… and ended up being rude and insulting. I just meant to be light-hearted and playful, but that people would take it more seriously than I meant to isn’t something that entered my mind.
 
In Fluttershy’s case, it’s especially bad, since Iron Will’s instructions hardly left any other conclusion than that being a jerk was the right way to go on about it. And aside from him, the best example of an assertive and confident person for her is probably Rainbow Dash, who is pretty much a jerk herself.
 
It’s exaggerated (which is normal in a cartoon like that), but it’s far from unbelievable (as many seem to think). It feels way too familiar to me to find it that.

I honestly love this episode….except for two problems.
 
The first issue was how quick Pinkie and Rarity were to call Iron Will a monster. They don’t even know him, besides that he’s a minotaur, so it always stuck me as speciesist. It’s why the ‘berating’ scene didn’t phase me. I mean, all through this, the two say that Fluttershy’s attitude is Iron Will’s fault, not Fluttershy’s when it clearly was. It was so bad in that episode that a lot of people have put Iron Will in villain groups, when he was in no way an antagonist. {If you want an antagonist, go look at Rarity in Sonic Rainboom.} They deserved to be at least called out on it. {Besides, the berating scene was a good way to show how far Fluttershy took her lessons, making her see the monster she was.}
 
 
The second and more glaring issue was Fluttershy’s transition to jerk…There wasn’t any. She pretty much decided to bully everyone without the slightest bit of remorse. There was no escalation, no down hill spiral. It was just, ‘I’m a jerk because that’s the only way to be assertive’. That really kicked this episode for me into where I can’t consider it a fave, not matter how much I want to.
 
The episode humor was top notch, Iron Will was great and I wished he appeared again. {At least we got a comic about him…sigh.} It was trying to tell a good lesson that really needed to be adressed, especially with Fluttershy. Overall, a 7/10. If they cleaned those two complaints up, it easily could have been one of the best episodes of season 2.

@Deon Miller  
Yeah, I think the episode did a good job with it’s “be more assertive, but don’t be a jerk” message. Fluttershy overdoing it wasn’t completely OOC, and everyone IRL has had a moment in their life when they went overboard with something. So it’s really not that unusual.
 
Plus, “Flutterbitch” was a fun meme.
 
@And Brother I Hurt People  
I wasn’t even aware it was “hated,” as I liked it, and surprisingly Fluttershy’s character development kinda stuck a bit, as future episodes had her become a slight bit more “assertive.” Heck when the show began she could hardly even say her own name.
 
@PonyPon  
I thought Iron Will was kinda cool, (I liked how he was kinda a mix of Mr. T., and other “tough/cool” character types) and he wasn’t really a “villain.” He even gracefully, stuck to his satisfaction guarantee.
 
@SentryBronyPlatinum  
I think this ep’ did raise some hatred for Angel. (Some took him slapping Fluttershy, and somehow throwing her out the door, because his salad wasn’t perfect a li’l more seriously. Though both parts were meant to be comical/silly overall.)  
Though, he did kinda redeem himself in episodes afterwords where he helped Fluttershy, (Hurricane Fluttershy) and showed he was angry at the CMC for making her cry, (Ponyville Confidential) showing he does care about Flutters.

This episode is the reason why I love Fluttershy for who she is, because it’s that development of a character that has that moment to stand up for herself when she needed to, and I don’t thnk this scene is just making her evil, she’s just fed up with being in her own shadow. I, myself feel the same way, but never once I stood up for myself. Why don’t I? Well, itself better than getting beaten to a pulp, or worse…….killed. Trust me, there’s no point of standing up for yourself nowadays.

The only bad moments from Putting Your Hoof Down were with Angel, but Angel ended up eating his salad anyways, because of “The Stare”. The episode not my least favorite episode, but it’s not one of my most favorites either.

@Background Pony #E07C  
I think it was because she got so ‘out-of-character’ so easily, and the ongoing establishment that it actually isn’t that OOC, coupled with trying to heap the blame on Iron Will both during and long afterwards that make some less inclined to enjoy it.
 
I have a love-hate relationship with it because of those factors.

I like PYHD too. I never really understood the criticism about it anyway. Was it about Fluttershy getting a bit out of character and making Rarity and Pinkie cry?

Putting Your Hand Down?

I like that episode, because it hits quite a bit close to home.

@And Brother I Hurt People  
I for one really liked that episode, mainly for your same reasons and i wish we could have something similiar in the future for Fluttershy.
 
That aside, those are some pretty awesome expressions

@And Brother I Hurt People  
I thought it was a pretty good episode myself.

Y’know, I know that people hate this episode, but I really love seeing Fluttershy standing up for herself - even with all of the plot’s flaws.