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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

edvedd Darling. from At the boutique, dear. Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: We finish each other's sandwiches
Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
Blissey1 insert title here from a random Pokècenter Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: I know
insert title here
#36078: Jan 7th 2014 at 6:52:03 AM

strictly speaking, I think that touhou still beats us out when it comes to fan content, but then again Touhou is a really odd case that you really can't directly compare to other fandoms.

I'll agree that we're certainly the fastest growing, though.

edited 7th Jan '14 6:52:22 AM by Blissey1

XP granted for befriending a giant magical spider!
storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
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#36079: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:01:00 AM

Post of the Day #614

@Perpetual: That's kind of how I see it as well. She can only pull that stuff when it doesn't have any ramifications on the outcome. Sereg's idea of it is very similar, but even then I find it really hard to believe that she wouldn't use it on occasions where it would be really important. I mean, yes, Pinkie has been shown being in two places at once, but I'm pretty sure that if it actually happened in an episode for a non-gag purpose without proper explanation most people would call BS.

Although admittedly part of it is the fact that I find Pinkie much more amusing when her quirks are more limited to her personality and the weird way her brain works. Like the "I have balls and eyepatches stashed all over Ponyville" gag; I find it much more amusing to think that Pinkie is Crazy-Prepared and sets up her gags ahead of time rather that just spontaneously breaking the laws of physics. It's funnier for me to imagine that all of her seemingly spur-of-the-moment weirdness was actually prepared ahead of time because she's nuts like that.

Also this Hammerspace isn't a Pinkie-specific ability. I know for a fact Twilight has seemingly pulled stuff out of her ass at least once, and I'm pretty sure other ponies have revealed themselves to have items that they logically couldn't have been carrying. While I'm all for Watsonian interpretation, I do think it hits point where you have to accept that the animators obviously didn't animate every little thing exactly as it happened, and that visual shorthand gets used that isn't meant to be taken literally.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#36080: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:01:47 AM

I'll agree that we're certainly the fastest growing, though.
Mental image: MLP being discussed at some kind of cross between a board meeting and a secret society council.

"Fandom growth has stalled at 1.3% for the past three weeks. Who's responsible for that? Simon? Fire him and give the job to Angela. Now where's that damn cider I asked for half an hour ago?"

edited 7th Jan '14 7:02:35 AM by KylerThatch

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
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#36081: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:03:15 AM

Who knows? Maybe something similar has happened at Hasbro.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
JapaneseTeeth Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing from Meinong's jungle Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
#36082: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:11:49 AM

Yeah, Touhou is really sort of it's own thing at this point. FIM might get there eventually, but I think for the most part it's too tied to the show.

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Rainbow Pomeranian Lover from Central Illinois (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Pomeranian Lover
#36083: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:12:38 AM

About the issue of the importance of the Earth ponies vs. the other two tribes having flashier abilities, there's one thing I would like to point out. And that's that Rainbow Dash and Twilight can't be taken as being the average for their respective pony races; they're both shown to probably be the more powerful outliers, especially Twilight who is stated to have magic abilities that most unicorns don't as early as Boast Busters. Unfortunately, since they're both major characters, it can probably skew the perception of what the average probably is, especially since Earth pony feats don't get shown until later than Danny has watched yet (like in season 2).

What's interesting to me is that this issue of power levels and "which pony race is more powerful" seems to be much more important to the fans of the show rather than being an issue the ponies themselves have, outside of the episode Fall Weather Friends, and even then, it wasn't like Applejack wanted to have wings herself, she just wanted Rainbow Dash to not use hers. Notably, Applejack is pretty much the only pony who ever brings up an issue of "don't use your wings or magic" to other ponies, although in the case of Winter Wrap-Up, it was because using spells to change the weather was against the Ponyville tradition, plus Twilight's spell caused trouble rather than helping, so we don't know what Applejack's reaction would have been if the spell had done what it was supposed to. However, outside of those two specific instances, Applejack doesn't seem to normally have problems with pegasi or unicorns. Plus those two instances were probably cases of her wanting to have a fair match with Rainbow Dash (although there is the question of whether or not it's fair to make Rainbow Dash avoid using her own abilities even if Applejack doesn't have them) and I'm not quite sure why weather spells were against the rules in Winter Wrap Up outside of "it's tradition" unless weather spells have a tendency to backfire if done incorrectly and the townsponies got annoyed at that happening too many times (as in, Twilight wasn't the first unicorn in Ponyville to try using spells to help with the work).

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not sure how much those two episodes are outliers for pony thinking about the different races but it seems to be an issue that the fans have more than the ponies themselves do (or the fans imagine that the ponies would have an issue with it more than they are shown to have in the actual show).

edited 7th Jan '14 7:24:19 AM by Rainbow

KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#36084: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:15:39 AM

Yeah, Touhou is really sort of it's own thing at this point. FIM might get there eventually, but I think for the most part it's too tied to the show.
Too tied to the show? Are you saying Touhou fanworks aren't (or, not to the same extent)? Explain?

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
Rainbow Pomeranian Lover from Central Illinois (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Pomeranian Lover
#36085: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:24:02 AM

I thought of something else about the "why don't the ponies care about their races?" question. Danny hasn't gotten there yet, but considering that the last time the three races fought, they were almost all frozen to death by the Windigos, pony society might have a taboo against being hateful towards the other pony races. Or on a more positive side of things, their world shows pretty obvious benefits from being kind and accepting (like the fact that they can outright weaponize the power of friendship against evil) so perhaps it doesn't occur to them to be cruel to other ponies based on their race most of the time because their culture would emphasize that "we're all ponies" over "I can fly/do magic and you can't!".

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
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#36086: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:27:55 AM

Too tied to the show? Are you saying Touhou fanworks aren't (or, not to the same extent)? Explain?

Apparently many Touhou fans have never even played the games.

Anyway, I think the reason there's not much grumbling is that earth ponies never seem to be hampered in practice.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
JapaneseTeeth Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing from Meinong's jungle Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
#36087: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:30:35 AM

@Rainbow: That's exactly how I see it. RD and Twilight are both explicitly near the top of the capabilities for their respective races. Pinkie and AJ just never demonstrate exactly what they're capable of, so we don't know how they compare. Although Pinkie is a lousy point of reference anyway.

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Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#36088: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:32:18 AM

Apparently many Touhou fans have never even played the games.

Even if they did, all they'd get about the characters is like a couple of completely random dialogue for each. It's safe to say Touhou fans make their fanworks out of pretty much nothing.

nomuru2d Gamer-turning-maker from Port Saint Lucie, FL Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Longing for Dulcinea
Gamer-turning-maker
#36089: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:34:26 AM

... I'm honestly amazed there isn't more crossover material with Asura's Wrath than there already is.

Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987
Rainbow Pomeranian Lover from Central Illinois (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Pomeranian Lover
#36090: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:39:08 AM

@Japanese Teeth: Exactly! On thinking about pony competitiveness, there seems to be more intra-racial competitiveness rather than inter-racial. As in, the average pegasus wouldn't mock a unicorn or Earth pony for not being able to fly, but they might mock a fellow pegasus who can't fly. Although the pegasi seem to be the only ones who get mocked for not being able to fly vs. unicorns not being able to do magic, but maybe that's because being able to fly is essential for living in certain pegasus-only cities such as Cloudsdale where if they couldn't fly, they would crash to the ground and even if they survived that, they wouldn't be able to get back home.

MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#36091: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:40:29 AM

Even if they did, all they'd get about the characters is like a couple of completely random dialogue for each. It's safe to say Touhou fans make their fanworks out of pretty much nothing.
So if I understand correctly: recall the pony fans' work in pulling characterization out of thin air for background ponies like Derpy, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia. Then imagine that the fans had to do that for every character in the show. And that's what the Touhou fandom is like.

Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#36092: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:45:51 AM

[up] Yup. You got that exactly right.

KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#36093: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:52:15 AM

Well, more like one-liner ponies like Photo Finish, Hoity-Toity, or Coco. Most Touhou characters actually have dialogue in the games, save for a handful of the midbosses.

But yeah, pretty much.

edited 7th Jan '14 7:52:37 AM by KylerThatch

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
crimsonstorm15 shine on from A parallel universe Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#36095: Jan 7th 2014 at 7:58:35 AM

[up][up] Well, if you wanna be that specific, then one-scene ponies, like, well, Derpy. All the Touhou characters get in the games is a short pre boss-battle dialogue.

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
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#36096: Jan 7th 2014 at 8:10:47 AM

Back when I first enocuntered the Touhou fandom, I assumed that Cirno was one of the main characters due to her popularity. But apparently, she was just a random midboss.

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Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#36097: Jan 7th 2014 at 8:14:12 AM

[up] Second boss of the game I played.

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
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#36098: Jan 7th 2014 at 8:27:11 AM

Embodiement of Scarlet Devil?

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
JapaneseTeeth Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing from Meinong's jungle Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
#36099: Jan 7th 2014 at 8:28:24 AM

Yeah, second boss, has very little canon characterization other than not being very bright.

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crimsonstorm15 shine on from A parallel universe Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]

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