Discussion MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic / TropesCToD

• Crapsaccharine World: Underneath the idealistic aesthetic in this world filled with adorable marshmallow ponies, Equestria's a pretty dark nation. It is, after all, an absolute monarchy ruled by a quasi-divine Empress. While social mobility does appear to be possible (see Twilight Sparkle's and Cadence's promotions to Princess), it is very much the exception to the overwhelming rule. Only Unicorns can use magic, only Earth Ponies can grow food, and only Pegasi can control the weather; a race-based caste system that is, judging by the Canterlot Unicorns' treatment of Earth Ponies in "Sweet and Elite", enforced through prejudice. Beyond this, as shown in "It's About Time", there's an entrance to Tartarus just a day's gallop away from Ponyville. Note that the ponies are genuinely nice people in general… it is just that their world happens to contain HORRORS that they must fend off.

Let's see.

• It is, after all, an absolute monarchy ruled by a quasi-divine Empress.

You could just as well say that any fairy tale kingdom is an absolute monarchy. (Technically, it is.) Princess Celestia is a benevolent ruler, and is never seen abusing her power (Trollestia jokes aside).

• While social mobility does appear to be possible (see Twilight Sparkle's and Cadence's promotions to Princess), it is very much the exception to the overwhelming rule.

Commoners becoming nobility are rare in real life; in fairy tales as well, except through marriage. MLP gives more opportunity than that: a pony who makes a particularly great achievement may become an alicorn - and an alicorn is a prince(ss) pretty much by definition. (There is also more traditional nobility: Shining Armor is a prince by virtue of marriage to Cadance, and Blueblood is probably a prince by birthright - a distant relative of Princess Celestia.)

As for more general social mobility, there doesn't seem to be any barriers to that - for one, Rarity is a self-made mare.

• Only Unicorns can use magic, only Earth Ponies can grow food, and only Pegasi can control the weather.

Careful! Pegasi's walking on clouds and manipulation of weather, as well as earth ponies' connection with the nature is expressly stated by the makers of the show to be a kind of magic. There are also subversions of this rule of thumb: The Mane 6 help Applejack harvest the farm, Fluttershy is a Friend to All Living Things, Pinkie Pie has quasi-magical abilities that are impossible to classify, Applejack catches Discord's cloud with a lasso, Rarity can control the weather with her magic (though since she is more interested with "weather patterns" than with consistent climate, she is *horrible* at it) ...

• A race-based caste system that is, judging by the Canterlot Unicorns' treatment of Earth Ponies in "Sweet and Elite", enforced through prejudice.

That's not racism; that's the rich inhabitants of the city looking down on poor (okay, more like 'not as rich') countryponies. It was directed at all the five (Mane 6 minus Rarity), regardless of race; and, truth be told, they crashed the garden party and made it a big mess.

• Beyond this, as shown in "It's About Time", there's an entrance to Tartarus just a day's gallop away from Ponyville.

Which is a one-off gag, of course. More generally, there's dangerous Everfree Forest close to Ponyville (plus a couple of supervillains - Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Discord). Which is a necessity - otherwise, there'd be no adventure. (Day in the life stories only go that far.)

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Removed.

Edited by 70.33.253.42 Long live Marxism-Lennonism! Hide / Show Replies

You know which trope just HAS to be here? Deader Than Disco. Might not be the complete trope, but noticing HOW popular the show is, it needs to be on here.

Major nonsensical Thread Mode purged. Someone needs to rewrite it without the natter.

• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Apple Bloom getting her cutie mark is totally not supposed to be a metaphor for puberty. (Any resemblance it may have to the need to find a unique identity or a goal in life is also completely coincidental.)
  • Pinkie Pie and Twilight fighting over Pinkie's "Pinkie sense" is very reminiscent of a science/religion argument —complete with assertions that Twilight won't "believe in anything I cannot explain" and "needs to take a leap of faith". Of course, Fridge Logic renders this more malleable and less applicable, given that the "Pinkie Sense" is a verifiable and repeatable-in-controlled-settings phenomenon, making it more like science vs. religion if the gods made a habit of striking atheists with lightning.
    • Obviously, the episode isn't a straight religion v. science fight. However, the point is that "Pinkie Sense" ISN'T verifiable, or repeatable-in-controlled-settings, as demonstrated when Twilight tries to get Pinkie's sense to repeat in a controlled setting, and fails miserably. The instant Pinkie leaves said controlled setting, her Pinkie Sense starts acting up again.
      • This actually happens in real science. The response isn't "give up", its "repeat experiments with modified version of the variables in the controlled setting to figure out what variable causes the difference between the controlled setting and the field observations". In this case, a proper experiment would be either trying to set up a situation where Pinkie Pie could be appropriately monitored without being informed beforehand (for example, at a sleepover in the library with remote sensing equipment in another room), as it doesn't happen when she's expecting it to, or to set up stimuli to happen on command that the observer knows the schedule of but Pinkie doesn't to try and prompt it, rather than waiting for something external to happen and trigger the phenomenon.
    • Word of God indicates that though they suspected this would be one interpretation it wasn't the intention, and Faust was pretty surprised when fans assumed it was a straight religion vs. science argument.

    • The idea of science vs. religion is understandable, but there's a much better parallel to skeptics vs. psychics. Most notably, Pinkie Sense is basically a silly version of common claims of psychic knowledge. The comparisons get even freakier as the role of skeptic in the real world is often taken by magicians (James Randi being the most famous), whereas in Ponyville, the skeptic is... someone who can do magic.
  • Rarity all but retells the story of Icarus in "Sonic Rainboom".
  • Big Mac taking the Smarty Pants doll is a pretty clear comparison between the male Bronies and the show itself.
  • "Read It and Weep" Anypony?
  • The mane cast is all-female, in fact, most of the population in GENERAL is female; magic - be it functional or theatrical - and flying are incredibly common (especially with some of the most common tasks) and attainable even without a catalyst or wings of sort. Characters have badass moments, but a lot of the times are just Badass Normal. Destroying a powerful enemy is a normal occasion for the main cast by now. The pilot even clearly involves trying to stop an ''Imperishable Night'' from someone who was related to the moon in someway.
    • Even the setting is similar, being set in a concealed land where things that don't exist/not believed in in the outside world are incredibly common-sense.
    • It doesn't help that a lot - and by that I mean A LOT - of characters have similar (though somewhat Flanderized) traits, such as:
      • Twilight's great affinity for magic in itself, (former) hikkikomori status, and purple colour scheme being like Patchouli
      • Derpy's clumsiness and assumed denseness alludes her to be compared to Cirno
      • Pinkie Pie's randomness and love for parties comparing to Suika (or her fourth-wall breaking skills to Yukari)
      • Rainbow Dash's bullheadedness comparing to Marisa or her raw speed when flying to Aya

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer