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.
Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM
@Ike: Activate the Windows Boot Menu by hitting F8 (or Shift+F5) immediately after the BIOS finishes the initial warmup, or just trick Windows into doing it for you by force-rebooting during startup.
The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!"We like it because it's funny and the characters are endearing. Why is that so hard to understand?"
Because any show can be like that. The thing is, MLP is one of the most popular shows on the planet right now, it makes it special somehow. Not in the show's case, but moreso what the fandom thinks.
"And while we're at it, why on earth are you relying on secondhand information for things as subjective as the depth of writing and generic-ness of the humor?"
Those are actually objective elements. Whether or not you like it or not is, however, subjective.
edited 21st Jun '14 9:56:40 PM by TheLemsterPju
I like MLP because the characters are relatable (I see a lot of myself in Twilight for example), not to mention adorable, most of the jokes are funny to me personally, the animation gets better every season (compare the season 1 opener to season 4 and you'll see what I mean), the creators of the show clearly care about our segment of the fanbase even though we aren't the intended audience, etc. All the little good things about the show just come together to make it a great one.
Also- no, humor is very subjective. Whether something is intended to be a joke or not, is fairly objective. But whether it's funny depends on a lot of factors such as where you grew up, your past experiences, whether you prefer visual or audial humor, etc.
Don't feed the troll. If you're going to disagree with him, at least try to make an argument rather than insulting his.
edited 21st Jun '14 10:07:09 PM by IkeAndMike
http://h0useb0und.tumblr.com/@ Ike: I did not complain about your attitude. I made an observation that you have a lot of stressful days.
If you want me to complain about your attitude, I'd be glad to oblige you.
I put my friend in a coconut! He lives in my hat! Hey, come hang out!The show's popularity isn't really something I can explain, it just kind of happened. If you'd asked me three years ago what I'd think of a new My Little Pony series, I wouldn't care one bit. But after actually seeing it, it just clicked with me.
Syd- I'll just take your word for it. My apologies for being passive-aggressive.
edited 21st Jun '14 10:12:06 PM by IkeAndMike
http://h0useb0und.tumblr.com/I really don't think he's trolling guys. He seems more genuinely curious. If he was a troll, he probably would have been all "OMG U FAGS LIEK A GURLZ SHOW 111!!!" instead of asking a not-mean spirited question.
As for me, I like the show mainly because I find the characters entertaining and interesting, the animation is really good, and a lot of the humor works really well. As for why it seems more popular then a lot of other shows, I think that's mainly because of how much of a shock the whole situation is: Prior to FIM, almost everyone saw MLP as just another crappy girls show {And to be fair, G3 and especially G3.5 didn't help with that}, but then suddenly this show comes out and shows that Girls shows can be entertaining for everyone, not just the target audience.
edited 21st Jun '14 10:23:01 PM by marston
IT could be argued that humour is generic because jokes are frequently done, or used elsewhere. Depth, however, is pretty much completely subjective. If I wanted to, I could easily read Catcher in the Rye completely flat, and take everything at face value. It's clear that wasn't the intention, but what the writer meant is irrelevant. Literature is as deep as we want it to be.
But regarding the humour, as with all things it's important to recognize that nothing is truly new, it's just a matter of how it's done, or displayed. 'Generic' humour would be humour that goes exactly the way you expect it to, and for that reason generic humour is usually not - that is to say, it isn't funny. Humour is subversive, which MLP is usually pretty good about. In fact one of the thing that's so impressive about MLP is that it has a history of taking pretty tried-and-true plots, and playing them in kind of unexpected ways.
Let's take, for example, May the Best Pet win. On the surface, it's a pretty standard Tortoise and the Hare story. Indeed, the underdog of the plot(The plot, for the record, is several animals competing for the honour of being the pet of one of the characters, which is a kind of odd plot in and of itself, but I digress), is literally a tortoise.
Dash's main criteria for a pet is something that can keep up with her legendarily, impossibly fast pace. In order to test this she puts the pet potentials through ever more grueling tests. The obvious expectation, of course, is that all of the other competitors will get cocky and be knocked out, or just plain old give up because of the conditions, but... no. Noone gives up. The tortoise does win, yes, but it's actually, in a way, because he lost. It's Dash who winds up in trouble because of her recklessness, and while the other pets leave her behind in their eagerness to win, but the tortoise stays behind to be with her and help her out. Thus, she picks it because of it's loyalty.
Which, for what it's worth, is something else interesting to point out about the show, and it's relative depth. The characters are always consistent in their motivations, unless they're learning and internalizing lessons(Which they almost always do; there's a real, marked growth in character throughout the seasons of the show), and most importantly, oftentimes the characters themselves don't seem to be aware of those motivations. They have strong character, and clear desires, but more importantly they have their hangups and neuroses, their various mental hitches that make them who they are. While at first glance they may seem like broad archetypes, they're anything but. All of them are unique, and often have surprising hidden depths, in many cases quite counter to what their archetypes might suggest. The Jock is a huge nerd when given the chance, and is pretty insecure about perceived mental failures. The extroverted party girl has very clear insecurities about how others perceive her(Likely brought on by coming from a family of stoic introverts, and thus not really being able to judge how others feel normally). The pretty girl, who might otherwise be Spoiled Sweet at best, is relatively humble and generous, and displays some pretty damn sharp edges when pushed.
But, well, that's all subjective as I said. You might not see those things there, or not see how they could be. It's always possible that things just won't click for some people. Honestly? A lot of the reason the show got so big is because nobody expected it to be anything at all. For it to be even tolerable is a pleasant surprise after the previous gen of pony cartoons, and for it to be good is astounding.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.Hey guys, what's a good name for a gadgeteer genius hero who uses a flight suit? (Wings, not rockets)
Currently I'm going with "egghead" but that isn't exactly fitting.
http://h0useb0und.tumblr.com/The show's popularity is kind of a weird mix of several different factors that just happened to combine at the right time to make a movement. There was the existing fandom from the previous MLP generations, and the low expectations that everyone outside that fandom had (so the fact that the show was actually good stuck out even more), and the existing fandom for Lauren Faust herself, and the countercultural aspect of being a dude and liking something that's clearly marketed for girls...
Also, FIM manages to be optimistic without being completely pollyanna, and it doesn't have a whole lot of competitors in that regard.
This comic is relevant.
Or maybe it isn't.
@Lemster:
- The animation is top quality, the character and world designs are appealing, and the show is very colorful. Every visual aspect of the show is a pleasure to watch.
- The voice acting is likewise top notching, with a cast of veteran voice actors who clearly really enjoy their roles and bring a ton of personality to them even when the script doesn't.
- The primary cast is widely varied in their interests, backgrounds, and personalities, making it easy to find at least one or two a viewer is likely to relate to even before really getting into the show.
- Further, while grounded in familiar archetypes like the bookworm, jock, introvert, etc., the characters grow beyond those pigeonholes very quickly. This makes the cast feel comfortably familiar without feeling "the same" as a hundred other characters the viewer has seen before.
- The secondary cast is likewise widely varied in all respects, grounded in archetypes, but grown beyond them, and the show isn't afraid to let members of the main cast take a backseat to secondary cast members when the occasion calls for it.
- Additionally, the archetypal nature of characterization in the show makes it easy for fans to build organic-feeling fanon around primary, secondary and even background characters (the latter also aided by the show's character design being highly expressive of personality).
- The writing is far above average for a children's show, especially ones aimed at young girls.
- Although the morals are generally basic, they're still good morals, and sometimes even adults need to be reminded of such things, especially given how determined the media actually aimed at our demographics seem to be to curbstomp morality and leave it in a ditch.
- The emphasis on different interpersonal relationships in particular is extremely refreshing in a mediascape that greatly prefers to ignore anything other than romance, revenge, and Vitriolic Best Buds (the latter of which is only there for comedy relief).
- The show's setting allows for a wide variety of plots and situations ranging from slice of life to high fantasy (which aren't even mutually exclusive) and generally avoids stereotypically girly plots like sleepovers and romance.
- Even on the rare occasion that the show does tackle such stereotypical plots, its emphasis on character over plot means that the episodes are not about the sleepovers or romances, but about the characters, which actually makes the plots much more enjoyable. "Look Before You Sleep," for example, isn't about a slumber party; it's about two people who can't stand each other being stuck in close proximity while trying to keep their animosity from affecting a mutual friend.
- The show is bright, cheerful, and optimistic, which is extremely refreshing when the vast majority of media being aimed at our demographic is set in varying degrees of Crapsack World, ranging from Grey-and-Gray Morality to Black-and-Gray Morality, with emphasis on Darker and Edgier and shock deaths so commonplace as to be boring. MLP isn't popular because it's escapism; all media is escapism. MLP is popular because it's different in an increasingly homogenous mediascape. You can see the exact same phenomenon in video games right now, whenever players complain about the over-saturation of grizzled white guys starring is visually-indistinguishable first person shooters and turn around to talk about how hyped they are for the next first party Nintendo title.
Only 19005 pages. I'm guessing you meant 80k posts.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayWoona, that feeling is mutual :3
I wonder what would have happened if there weren't a prior history of My Little Pony, and FIM was just this completely new show they decided to make up.
I'd like to think it would have gotten pretty notable all the same, but at a slower pace. I mean, since there's hypothetically no hype train to immediately draw everyone's attention to it.
This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...IT definitely would have been a sleeper hit. The big question is whether it would have gotten big soon enough for Hasbro to give notice. I can't remember, was it ever confirmed or denied that the original plan was to go for the standard Disney 65 episodes and then going to syndication? I'm not sure if that'd have been a time for us to have made a difference.
Though, I doubt it would have really affected much otherwise. Like, for all people cried pandering during season 3 and late season 2... there really wasn't any more than the odd tip of a hat.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.Derpy's whole schtick in The Last Roundup is the only really large incident of pandering that I can recall.
FE: New Mystery Only Feet 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Umamusume Haru Arima 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshiThere's still a chance. There was that one neighponese pony in previous generations.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.

edited 21st Jun '14 9:38:17 PM by CDRW