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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Live Reactions & Discussion)

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A thread to discuss My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the tie-in media.

All of the usual forum rules apply. In addition, please remember that the thread is discussing a kids' show, and it's primarily focused on the work itself, not the fanfic — in particular, we don't want to see lewdness creeping in.

     Original OP text 
I don't know WHAT the Hell happened (I blame shenanigans) but we're going to start from scratch. Post your feels for this awesome show again! Naow!

Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM

Filip04 Since: Nov, 2023
#207251: Sep 29th 2024 at 12:49:46 PM

This screenshot from Gameloft game is actually a good idea for a fanfic where Trixe accidentaly turns Mane Six into fillies.

Also something for those who are fans of both Hasbro giants in the wake of premiere of Transformers One - I personally think that in this fanart Fluttershy should be replaced with Pinkie given that B in the movie fits Pinkie's characterization more than Fluttershy's (although the reason for Fluttershy being here is the fact that both B and she are yellow).

Filip04 Since: Nov, 2023
#207252: Sep 30th 2024 at 1:18:39 PM

Do you guys know where I can find YMMV page On This Very Wiki that talks about how Spike wrote all IDW comics but how this is logically impossible since Spike romantized a warlod like Sombra (that's what I remember from reading that page)? I am desperate to find it but do to not being able to find it I lost fate that I will not find it. Can you help me?

Edit: Nevermind, it's a comic book section of the Voodoo Shark.

Edited by Filip04 on Sep 30th 2024 at 10:24:16 AM

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#207253: Sep 30th 2024 at 2:11:49 PM

Not Badass Enough for Fans:

Discussion argues this is misuse as the meme is lack of screentime/presence (she's disproportionately excluded from merch apparently because the target audience don't care for farming), not badassery.

Is this a better fit for Memetic Loser? Does Not Badass Enough for Fans apply to Applejack or anyone else (G5 maybe)?

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#207254: Sep 30th 2024 at 4:05:26 PM

I always thought the issue there was more that there just wasn't much wrong with her character, so there wasn't all that much for a "lesson of the week" show to latch on to for episodes.

It's not like she is the only one either in that regard; Pinkie gets comparatively few focus episodes as well.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Antiyonder (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#207255: Sep 30th 2024 at 6:40:33 PM

As an aside, I think Pinkie's quirkiness is expected when one is fully aware that themselves, friends, family and such are the product of fantasy.

Oh and Chancellor Neighsay, I think this is where his future takes him:

And retirement on fishsticks, peas and wine. Wine that he will make disappear.

Rytex Your Friend on the Other Side from Here, There, Everywhere (Ancient one) Relationship Status: Married to the music
Your Friend on the Other Side
#207256: Sep 30th 2024 at 7:25:28 PM

AJ was a background pony because she had one focus episode through all of Season 2 (and she did got overshadowed by the Derpmeister). However, that joke refuses to die because even though Rarity went from 2011 to 2014 without a focus episode, the fandom continues to cling to its S2 memes.

The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Demetrios Lucky Seven from Des Plaines, Illinois (unfortunately) Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Lucky Seven
#207257: Sep 30th 2024 at 7:28:07 PM

"Applebuck Season" is great. XD

Although where was Apple Bloom in all of that? Considering how much she loves and respects her big sister, you'd think she'd gladly help out. :S

Come on! Let's bless them all until we get fershnickered!
Shoobedobah Anon Zilla from Guess Since: Apr, 2020 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#207258: Sep 30th 2024 at 7:29:30 PM

[up][up] Someone actually made a whole video about AJ being a background pony. It goes a bit deeper than just her absence in the show proper. She's also missing from a ton of merchandise and the early versions of G5 were planning on making her AJ in name only.

Edited by Shoobedobah on Sep 30th 2024 at 10:29:41 AM

SpongeGuy11 Since: Jun, 2018
#207259: Sep 30th 2024 at 8:55:07 PM

Doesn't really help that Applejack's flaws aren't quite as noticeable to make comedy out of compared to Twilight's neurotic and OCD tendencies, Pinkie's wackiness, Fluttershy's timidness and animal loving (plus the occasional joke when she does act assertive), Rainbow Dash's egotism, and Rarity's overdramatic tendencies.

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#207260: Oct 1st 2024 at 9:27:31 AM

[up][up]Do we have a source for the In Name Only plans for G5 Applejack other than the leaks (which this wiki disallowed as unverifiable and legal issues)?

If so we'd have enough material to call AJ a Creator's Pest, not to the show /writers but to the toyline/higher ups who thought she wasn't as marketable.

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Oct 1st 2024 at 9:28:53 AM

GlitterCat Since: Mar, 2018 Relationship Status: The Skitty to my Wailord
#207261: Oct 1st 2024 at 9:37:27 AM

I miss the stubborn and sometimes arrogant Applejack we got in applebuck season and bridle gossip.

see my completed Tangled (Varian) fanfic collection! https://archiveofourown.org/works/24467056/chapters/59049532
Filip04 Since: Nov, 2023
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#207263: Oct 1st 2024 at 7:10:47 PM

[up][up]&[up]On that, how many of the cast became more interesting/entertaining after Character Development/the series progressed as opposed to losing/diminishing such? (Now that I think about it, that Sunset Shimmer is the only widely accepted example that comes to mind...)

SpongeGuy11 Since: Jun, 2018
#207264: Oct 1st 2024 at 7:41:41 PM

[up]I've seen people still like Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash post-Character Development. Spike episodes from season 6 onward are also better liked over the ones from seasons 1-5.

Celestia sometimes gets this in later seasons when they begin giving her focus episodes outside The Mentor role.

Discord's also pretty well liked too post-redemption.

Rytex Your Friend on the Other Side from Here, There, Everywhere (Ancient one) Relationship Status: Married to the music
Your Friend on the Other Side
#207265: Oct 2nd 2024 at 8:02:48 AM

I mean, when you compare that Discord really only had two total stories pre-redemption and one of them was his redemption...

The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#207266: Oct 2nd 2024 at 8:43:18 AM

I think that Fluttershy's character evolution in particular worked fairly well. She works past her frankly debilitating anxiety, but keeps her other traits like her love of animals and nature. Late-seasons Fluttershy is still visibly the same character with the same interests as early-seasons Fluttershy, just more confident overall.

Rarity is in a similar boat. She mostly just becomes more successful at what she does, her interests and focus issues stay more or less the same, and she keeps her more entertaining traits like her overdramatic responses to things.

I'm not... overly fond of Twilight's developement, mostly because a lot of her own traits ended up kind of being lost along the way — her snark and sometimes superior attitude drop off pretty early, her obsession with studying and also, and by the end of it she's not even show as being all that much into books and reading. She does end up just being the friendship pony at the cost of the other things she used to be.

Discord's interesting because, strictly speaking, his combination of personality traits and powers are more suited for a sort of trickster character than either a tyrant or a helpful ally. He works fine as a one-off villain but would be difficult to reuse in any regular fashion, and as an ally you need to keep explaining why he isn't on hand to solve problems. I feel that he works best when he's just this sort of Great Gazoo figure that's just sort of... there, doing his thing, invested in specific personal relationships but not really all that interested in wider society around him, and who can be either a help or a hindrance depending on situational factors.

He did end up getting written as kind of monomaniacally focused on Fluttershy in particular, which raised a variety of awkward issues, but I did quite like the late episodes where he's show interacting with Big Mac and Spike — it was a good way to show that he'd matured enough to actually seek out, enjoy, and work to maintain personal relationships instead of just being obsessed with This One Person, and also of just expanding the idea of friendship networks outside of just being a thing centered on the one group.

Edited by Theriocephalus on Oct 2nd 2024 at 10:48:02 AM

Filip04 Since: Nov, 2023
#207267: Oct 2nd 2024 at 11:47:05 AM

[up] Looking at how you described Twilight, I can say that the writers did her dirty. How dare they!

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#207268: Oct 2nd 2024 at 11:55:07 AM

I'd say less the writers did her dirty and more Twilight's character development was sticking. For example, she used to freak out at the possibility of things going wrong or not according to plan, but in later seasons she was doing her best to try and make sure that she wouldn't flip out at minor things anymore.

Edited by theLibrarian on Oct 2nd 2024 at 11:55:27 AM

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#207269: Oct 2nd 2024 at 12:11:54 PM

I mean, sure, but I don't know that the absence of her interest in reading and magic study, both of which are also in no particular evidence by the last few seasons, are really the fruit of her character development.

Like, consider how in the early seasons, Twilight sort of default thing to do when plot isn't happening is to be reading, studying a new subject, researching magic, or practicing spells. That's not a character flaw, obviously, it's just an interest. How often is she seen doing any of those things in like, Season 8 or 9? She does magic when a problem needs to be solved by magic, sure, but often is she seen studying or practicing it for its own sake?

In the early run, Twilight is the show's friendship character, magic character, studious character, and anxious character. By the end of the show, she is only the friendship character.

Note that episodes where the story requires someone who is studious, studying magic, or practicing a spell still occur aplenty — it's just those roles end up being filled by either Starlight, Trixie, or Sunburst rather than Twilight, who is instead chiefly used for roles where someone teaching friendship. Those were roles that she also filled much earlier, of course, it's just that they end up being the only major ones that she's used for later.

Edited by Theriocephalus on Oct 2nd 2024 at 2:14:17 PM

SpongeGuy11 Since: Jun, 2018
#207270: Oct 2nd 2024 at 2:32:54 PM

[up](x5) Wouldn't Sunset be in that same boat as Discord then since she only really had one story where she was an antagonist before reforming for the remainder of her screentime?

I guess it is hard to try to keep Twilight fresh as a character without either leading to character regression or only putting her in a mentor role (in hindsight, maybe that's why later seasons give her more mentor roles like to Starlight in season 6 and the Student Six in seasons 8-9).

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#207271: Oct 3rd 2024 at 8:30:55 PM

Wonder if there was a way to keep Twilight's entertaining flaws with the leadership direction they took her, thoughts?

Anyway, I found this under Interclass Friendship:

  • Twilight Sparkle is a mare of a fairly upper-class Canterlot family and protege of Princess Celestia, and her friends from Ponyville, a small rural community. Though the significance is entirely lost on Twilight herself, episodes like Sweet and Elite have made it quite clear the majority of the Canterlot upper-class view Ponyville residents as uncultured boorish hicks. I don't believe we've seen enough of her families living arrangements before becoming royalty to say they're more than middle class. They don't have any of the traits/mannerism of Canterlot's upper class nor interacted before they got their hero status.
  • Rarity is a posh fashion designer and owns two boutiques whose best friend is Applejack, a tomboy country girl who works at an apple farm. They originally started off as not really liking each other and having a rather nasty feud in Look Before You Sleep but character development in later seasons made them very close friends. One thing they also share is that they're the only two ponies in the main cast who run their own businesses. Valid as written, but...
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls has Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi. Sci-Twi lives in a Big Fancy House, while Sunset lives in a studio apartment in the middle of the city. The house is impressive, but is it an example as the series never touched upon the economic class differences? Also, how to the other EG girls compare class-wise?
From Characters.Friendship Is Magic Applejack:
  • Interclass Friendship: Applejack is a working class farm pony whose family is implied to be somewhat poor (even with their business deal with Filthy Rich), who is friends with the upper class Rarity and the royal Twilight Sparkle. Rarity's parents are bumpkins of unclear wealth (was the opening of "Sisterhooves Social" at Rarity's house or her parents?), Rarity works at home which is just one store, she's only starting to network with the upper class/expand over the series. And the elite still considered her below them such she had to fake it at first. Rarity's upper class mannerisms were her trying to climb the social latter rather than her actual status. So is it fair to says she's more middle class? If so how do the other Mane Six compare?

Sorry for the big thing, this was just a surprising rabbit hole. I wonder if the series really had thought out/established the socio-economics enough for class differences between the Mane Sit to allow for this trope (at least to the extent implied)?

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#207272: Oct 3rd 2024 at 8:59:07 PM

I don't believe we've seen enough of her families living arrangements before becoming royalty to say they're more than middle class. They don't have any of the traits/mannerism of Canterlot's upper class nor interacted before they got their hero status.

Agreed. We haven't seen enough of her family's living conditions, the show's upper class have very specific mannerisms that Twilight's parents don't, and Twilight has no interactions with the upper class worth naming in any case.

Rarity's parents are bumpkins of unclear wealth

Yeah, they're very clearly written as regular Ponyville bumpkin sorts.

was the opening of "Sisterhooves Social" at Rarity's house or her parents?

Rarity's.

Rarity works at home which is just one store, she's only starting to network with the upper class/expand over the series. And the elite still considered her below them such she had to fake it at first. Rarity's upper class mannerisms were her trying to climb the social latter rather than her actual status.

Yes, the fact that Rarity is several rungs lower on the social ladder than she'd like to be is a pretty major part of her general character progression.

Rarity's very much of the same social class than the rest of the Ponyville group, she just affects higher-class mannerisms because she wants to enter the urban social circle. She climbs in social esteem over the course of the series, granted, but they all do.

I've never watched EG so I can't comment there.

Honestly, I think that this is largely a result of the "unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies are distinct social classes" fanon that a lot of the fandom has taken for canon.

Edited by Theriocephalus on Oct 3rd 2024 at 11:01:49 AM

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#207273: Oct 4th 2024 at 2:23:42 AM

Well, not all of them climb the social ladder. Flutters, Pinkie and Applejack seem perfectly content to stay right where they are. Dash climbs in the sports/military ranks but doesn't otherwise really change her social status. Only Rarity and Sparkles clearly do so.

And while Ponyville may be populated by middle class bumpkins, the place still seems somewhat favoured in society due to its close proximity to the capital. Depending on the episode, Canterlot is just a short journey away. It always seems like the first stop off the mountain, in any case.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Amateur Veteran
#207274: Oct 4th 2024 at 8:19:36 AM

Well, granted insofar as that goes, but the primary point — that there isn't direct evidence in-show of Twilight or especially Rarity being from a distinct social class as the rest of the main characters — still stands. They're not examples of Interclass Friendships in any useful sense, is the main thing.

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#207275: Oct 5th 2024 at 8:37:24 AM

He did end up getting written as kind of monomaniacally focused on Fluttershy in particular, which raised a variety of awkward issues,

My headcanon is that that was cope. Discord didn't want to crush his manly pride by admitting that he was helping ponies, so he used "I'm just doing it for Fluttershy" as an excuse.

Also yeah, it really was disappointing how Twilight got a lobotomy along with her wings.

Edited by storyyeller on Oct 5th 2024 at 11:37:50 AM

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