My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Little Barn Of Horrors

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
This thread is going to give me nightmares the next time I go to sleep.

How, oh how, did I find myself in such a horrible place?

How could you come to a My Little Pony thread and expect anything BUT horror?


Just A Dash

reply to post by TheWalkingFox

Actually, flanderized Rainbow Dash is what I like most about both of these episodes. RD is actually quite entertaining when she's on an ego trip, and her braggartly nature is one of the things a true Dash fan likes the most.

Which is probably why there's so much overlap between Rainbow Dash and Great And Powerful Trixie fans.

Ironically, Twilight Psycho in Ep. 3 really creeped me out. She was actually scary when she snapped, especially when you consider she probably carries around enough magic badassery to casually obliterate Ponyville if she felt like it.

Scary Twilight is scary.

But Conceited Rainbow Dash is still Rainbow Dash, just moreso.

Originally posted by Majic
How could you come to a My Little Pony thread and expect anything BUT horror?

I followed the link in your signature in hopes of finding the answer to the pony madness rampant throughout ATS... only to find more madness.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

Oh it's crazy all right, but I like to think of it as what Jimi Hendrix might call "good craziness".

Your Mileage May Vary, but I'm having fun with it.

It must be a popular series because all the movies at the Library are categorized as 'missing' and the one and only dvd store has two dvds that are always out on loan.

and when I asked to get the series in to buy it... they don't sell that production house line.

poop!

ok well, the only thing left to do is next time I am in the city I will try and get it from there or naughty naughty just download it from the internet. But I want the box set with the pretty pictures.

I am not sure if other people do this but when I enquired at various places, I said "I needed to buy it for a gift" hahah

I didn't admit I was buying it for me.

Separated From The Herd

reply to post by Thurisaz

Alas, despite having a significant adult fan base, MLP is still targeted at selling toys to girls, and so related DVD releases will tend to be focused on single-disc, stocking-stuffer sorts of offerings with a few episodes on them, and maybe some bonuses like minigames and the like.

While I'm hoping there will be full-season box sets someday, a rep who was interviewed on Equestria Daily made it clear that if there will be any, they will probably not be available anytime soon, because DVD producers need to make money, and the money in products aimed at children is in single-disc sales.

Still, at least the episodes are available online, in HD no less. While there has been a spotty track record on YouTube, there are also dedicated archives out there where all the episodes can be downloaded in various formats.

So they are out there, but yeah, if they ever come out with box sets, especially Blu-Ray, I'll be all over that.

Undercover Ponies

As for the "gift" excuse, you are definitely not alone, and certainly not to be blamed. There's still plenty of stigma surrounding the idea of adults liking "kid's shows" such as this one, but perhaps over time that will become less of an issue. For my part, I'm willing to take some heat and carry the torch.

I love this show and make absolutely no apologies for it whatsoever, and think no one should ever have to apologize for enjoying good entertainment, regardless of its presumed target audience.

After all, similar things could be said about liking Bugs Bunny, pretty much any Disney feature ("Bambi", anyone? Snow White?) and a lot of shows that might seem aimed at children simply for being animated, like The Simpsons. Most people won't give adults grief for watching them.

And so I pray it will eventually be for this highly improbable series, which has admirably chosen to buck stereotypes, forgo nauseating "girliness" and instead offer meaningful storytelling and excellent craftsmanship in its production.

Nothing about that to be ashamed of.

Equestria Girls Promotional Video

This actually hit the Hub this past summer, but is something of a classic among the fandom. It is, as far as I know, the first and only official FiM footage that mentions the word "brony", and also refers to DJ P0N-3 (aka Vinyl Scratch), a fan-given name for a disk-spinning unicorn with cool shades.


The clips are from various Season One episodes, while the music and voice talent are provided by the series cast.

The song, a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls music video featuring Snoop Dogg, matches many of the attributes of the original, including smooth voiceovers from a Snoop-like commentator implied, by silhouette, to be Spike.

For some reason, when he says "cutie marks", I find it quite amusing. Probably just how incongruous it sounds for a voice like that to be saying those words. The clouds with eyes at the end are another interesting, if somewhat strange, feature.

Enjoy!

Season Two, Episode Nine: Sweet And Elite

Synopsis: Rarity meets influential new friends at the capitol, so she considers abandoning her old pals, who she fears are unrefined.


Another episode for Rarity fans, and she has gotten quite a bit of airtime already this season.

As with all too many of the other YouTube embeds, this one (in HD, by the way) may only be available for a limited time.

So get your ponies while you can!

Originally posted by Thurisaz
ok well, the only thing left to do is next time I am in the city I will try and get it from there or naughty naughty just download it from the internet. But I want the box set with the pretty pictures.

I am not sure if other people do this but when I enquired at various places, I said "I needed to buy it for a gift" hahah

I didn't admit I was buying it for me.

Heehee! I've done that. Yes, really.

I watch it off the Internet, myself. My taste in shows and hubby's tastes in shows are VERY different, so we don't watch cartoons together (and I don't watch them often.) It's difficult to remember to watch for the updates, though.

Originally posted by Majic
Separated From The Herd

reply to post by Thurisaz

 

Alas, despite having a significant adult fan base, MLP is still targeted at selling toys to girls, and so related DVD releases will tend to be focused on single-disc, stocking-stuffer sorts of offerings with a few episodes on them, and maybe some bonuses like minigames and the like.

Of course, it DOES represent a market for artists like myself to do customized pony pictures (for a few dollars apiece.) I know a couple of artists who make good pocket change on turning these out.

Originally posted by Majic
[color=#FFFF00]Season Two, Episode Four: Luna Eclipsed

Synopsis: It's Nightmare Night and the macabre celebrations are in full swing when Luna herself shows up in Ponyville, determined to change her frightening public image.

...
Princess Luna finally returns to the show after a lengthy, unexplained absence in Season One. Despite only appearing in the first two episodes of the first season, Luna has an unusually large and rabidly devoted fan base -- even by My Little Pony standards.

For all their enthusiasm for the character, I don't think most of her fans quite expected her to be the way she was portrayed in this episode.

Quite a few surprises, indeed.

I was ambivalent about the first episode, but really liked this one, and the one after that ("Sisters") was pleasantly surprising. Pinkie Pie's performance is hilarious -- one of those episodes that is actually even better once you know the whole plot and can appreciate the reasoning behind it.

Sheer Lunacy

Hey, if custom pony pictures are paying, by all means pony up!

As for Princess Luna, the last fans saw of her before Luna Eclipsed was at the end of Season 1 Episode 2, where she looked much smaller and had plain blue hair. In the intervening months, she accumulated a sizable fanbase, massive amounts of fan art and was the subject of countless fan fictions, much of which played on "chibi Luna".

Fig. 1: De-Nightmared Luna puts the "little" in "little sister".

When she later returned much larger (roughly a "teenager" in appearance and maturity) and with her translucent starfield mane flowing like Nightmare Moon's, 'twas a shot heard 'round Equestria for her adoring fans. That she was also loud, pretentious, out of touch with the times and socially awkward only rubbed salt in the wounds of the fanon.

Fig. 2: The subtle elegance of the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice.

With the passage of time, however, "New Luna" has retained much of her previous fanbase and even added new elements. Having essentially asserted herself as on par with Celestia, the fanon is now exploring how Princess Luna may fit in with the politics and workings of the magical land of Equestria -- only to be shot down again when she appears in later episodes, I'm sure.

But in the end, it's all part of the fun.

I've always stayed far away from everything related to My Little Pony because I thought I would hate it, what with all the bright colors and cuteness overload and all.

I read your thread to see what the big deal was, so I watched the first episode of the show and I'm very surprised to say that I... liked it

I'm confused now, I honestly never thought that I could like a show like this! But I do, and I admit it.

Thanks for an interesting thread and for making me realize that not everything pink and sparkly is evil
(Although that very talkative pink pony DOES scare me a bit)

The First Pony's Free

reply to post by Casandra

Believe me, I know that story.

Prior to March of this year, I had never heard of the show and had no idea it even existed, despite the fact it had started airing about five months earlier.

Although I've been an unabashed anime fan for about seven years and consider myself reasonably open-minded when it comes to animated entertainment, the idea of watching a My Little Pony cartoon, even for sarcastic amusement, just wasn't on my radar in any way, shape or form.

I can't stand most "kids shows" (I've tried, I last about five minutes max, and "girls shows" are especially repulsive to me: "the cute, it burns! gahhh!"), tend to think of the genre as far too vapid and commercialized to suit my tastes, and had pretty much written off Western animation in general.

So when a fellow anime fan made the pitch for watching Friendship is Magic, it was a very hard sell. I can handle and appreciate "cute anime" if it's not too sugary, but this was clearly a bridge too far -- or more like several bridges.

Anyone who has grown up in America knows all about the My Little Pony doll franchise, and anyone who watches TV here will have seen commercials for their products, which have always had a strong "girls only" vibe. Until nine months ago, I had seen absolutely nothing whatsoever to interest me in something like that.

Basically, there was flat out no way I was going to bother to watch My Little Pony, not even give it a first look. It was only after my "pony pusher" elaborated and put a great deal of effort into challenging the stereotypes which plague the show, described it in detail and pointed out the already thriving, Internet-driven male fanbase that I decided to indulge him and give it a shot.

I remember my thoughts when I first watched Episode 1 of Friendship is Magic. I had a smug little smirk on my face, was fully prepared to tear the show apart, was of a mind to try to enjoy it for the lulz and keep a barf bag handy. The opening fairytale pretty much reinforced my expectations, although I did think the music was surprisingly good, and found myself unexpectedly getting into the "lore" of a show I was certain to laugh off in the end.

When I heard the opening theme song for the first time -- "My Little Pony, My Little Pony, ahhhh..." in the most gratuitously sweet, unapologetically feminine tones imaginable -- I groaned, rolled my eyes and asked myself what the hell I was doing watching this disgusting girls' toy commercial. But then the beat picked up, the song actually got rather catchy, I resisted the impulse to turn it off then and there, and somehow survived the experience.

I chuckled at the "big adventure" line in the song. Big adventure? Yeah right. "Oh dear, I seem to have misplaced my favorite teapot, and I am ever so distressed. We must search for it at once!"

Seeing Twilight Sparkle ("Twilight Sparkle?" Oh God, kill me now) race into her castle tower made me roll my eyes again. Here we go, everyone's a princess in this magical land of purple and pink, per stereotype. Here come the dilated pupils, forced creepy-cute voices, butterflies and bon-bons and intolerable sugary pandering to the little girls the show is made for.

And then something completely unexpected happened: slapstick.

Twilight slams open the door and flattens that little dragon-looking thingy. What the heck? Violence? I'm shocked. And then Twilight rushes in and is basically a self-centered, insensitive bitch for the next few minutes. HUHHH?

By the time she starts dictating her letter of warning to Princess Celestia ("Princess Celestia?" Oh right. Girls' show. Why, exactly, has God not killed me yet?) and has that clever little back-and-forth with Spike ("Spike?" that's not a very girly name) over spelling, I am completely off-guard.

My sarcastic self was utterly unprepared for what was going on. The animation was so fluid, the dialog so well-done, the background music was gripping, and the story was actually interesting.

I was so dumbstruck that by the end of that first scene in Twilight's tower, I knew it was already over.

I was hooked. On My Little Pony.

Hello, God? Why haven't you struck me down yet?

Ever since, my love and admiration for the show have only continued to grow, and the phenomenon has only continued to appear more and more pathological over time.

I'm not addicted. I can quit anytime. Sure. It's not like I buy the dolls or anything (and I don't). And I only watch the episodes repeatedly for um, research purposes. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I know I'm supposed to feel embarrassed about liking this show, but as time passes I consider the inevitable arched eyebrows and ridicule I receive from "neighsayers" more a badge of honor than a reason for shame.




(And despite all that, I still have more to say...)

Ponies As Metaphor

While Friendship is Magic is certainly not for everyone, and understandably so, there can be no question that most of its detractors have never seen a single episode. That's one of the reasons for my decision to make the ponies my "ATS mascots" and promote the show in this thread and in my signature.

The motto of ATS is "Deny Ignorance".

The "Pony Phenomenon" is an example of the natural human tendency to judge a book by its cover (or a pony by its color, as it were) and dismiss possibilities based on our own prejudices. I've done it plenty myself and, as described at great length above, with this show in particular, so I know quite well how it works.

That symbolizes how many people see ATS. It's a "conspiracy site" or a "UFO site" or an "occult site" or just a place where "weird people" go. Our community is routinely judged not by who we actually are, but by the assumptions people hold about us that aren't based in fact.

So it is with the ponies. Perhaps the metaphor may seem a bit tortured, but I do think it's quite apt, and when I see the various understandably dubious reactions to my "pony fetish" on ATS, I'm always reminded of how the "world at large" tends to think about ATS as well.

Sorry, that's probably more of a multi-post text wall than you or anyone else should be expected to read, but This Business Of Ponies is a lot more subtle and complex than a first glance may reveal, is one of the reasons I love it so, and is one of the reasons why, despite the rather improbable connection, I use the ponies to symbolize the power of open-mindedness.

Originally posted by Majic

Seeing Twilight Sparkle ("Twilight Sparkle?" Oh God, kill me now) race into her castle tower made me roll my eyes again. Here we go, everyone's a princess in this magical land of purple and pink, per stereotype. Here come the dilated pupils, forced creepy-cute voices, butterflies and bon-bons and intolerable sugary pandering to the little girls the show is made for.

It was the same for me. And really... Twilight Sparkle? Seriously? Like we didn't have enough sparkle in Twilight already

I don't know about the toys though, I think I would like one of these:


Source

The Nightmare Moon one is beautiful.

Oh God, I've lost my mind! I'm talking about My Little Pony toys. Curse you, Majic! *shakes fist*

Toying Around

reply to post by Casandra

Hey, it's Christmas! If you can't talk about toys at a time like this, then the End Times are truly upon us.

I'm not a doll collector, but I will admit considering getting a pony figure (one of the new G4-style "Friendship is Magic" models) for a desk item. I haven't been too impressed with the work Hasbro has been contracting out of China, however, so that's been sort of a "maybe someday" kind of thing.

I will say, though, those painted figures look surprisingly good, and it's refreshing to see a Princess Celestia figure that actually has a white coat instead of pink (a subject of ongoing Internet controversy).

Being a Celestia fan (as well as a Dash fan, of course), I wouldn't mind something like that gracing my desk, but I won't hold my breath for figures of that quality becoming commercially available.

Maybe someday.

Hey Majic..

I found you a video...

Revenge Of The Foalin'

reply to post by baddmove

Now let me see... that was about Megan Fox on a bike and, um... something, right?

I hadn't heard of SecretSauce.tv, but had to check out all the Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles videos in the "Pony Command Center", and must say I'm quite amused by the scope of the project. Heck, they even managed to land "the next Angelina Jolie" for the cast.

The "behind the scenes" video was quite hilarious in itself, and it was reassuring to learn that, despite my concerns about "painted ponies", nopony was harmed in the filming of the video. Of course, that didn't apply to the human actors, and from what I understand, PETH (Ponies for the Ethical Treatment of Humans) staged a protest, dressed as humans, outside the SS.tv studios because of that.

Fascinating that this effort was contemporary with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (in which Megan Fox also appeared) and actually took longer to produce (project started in 2007).

The quip about their "prophesy" of President Obama was a clever side note. The crew seems to have had a great time filming this, and their "off-camera" interviews were a treat in themselves. It is also intriguing that the project pre-dated Friendship is Magic's phenomenal debut by over a year. True visionaries, these guys, and I'm sure Michael Bay would be proud.

All in all, quite an entertaining set of trailers, although I will confess that I was rooting for the ponies all along.

reply to post by Gazrok


You revoked his man card so you can give him a new extra manly man card right
?

The Rogue Stallion

reply to post by misterbananas

Some of us are just too damn manly for a man card...



REAL Men Watch Ponies™