Close Topic Options

Alright, so without ruining any potential future brony's viewing experiences by laying out spoilers, I'm going to keep the main post simple and educational.



Greetings, everypony, and welcome to the official Initial D World Discussion Board's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic thead! This section will cover discussion of Seasons 1 and 2, and future talk of Season 3 which will be airing this October. For those of you who know, feel free to chat about whatever - but PLEASE keep plot-critical and/or revealing comments of character relationships and such in [SPOILER TAGS].

For those of you who don't know, a little backstory:

Forget the eye-popping pink and anime-style technicolor distractionness for a moment and forget the show was originally engineered by Hasbro to be a model to sell toy dolls (which it can't do well, since the dolls... well, suck lol). This work by Lauren Faust is more of a life-story cartoon than the endless stigma that girl's cartoons should be rainbows, arbitrarily giggling over nothing and pink-pastel mushmush. In fact, although everything advertising-wise (and even that opening intro, which is still WAY better than previous generations but overall makes even the most devoted brony cringe slightly) would prove otherwise, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it:

This isn't a run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter girls' cartoon, this is quality entertainment.

The pilot (episodes 1 and 2, Mare in the Moon Pt. I and II, respectively) is... well, most show pilots are never great representations of what to expect but the pilot does give colts and fillies a backstory to draw from.


I personally have tried to watch the show without a bias and I will admit that there are some episodes here and there that they could wo without, but never once did I find an episode to be a total snoozefest. Overall, I give Friendship is Magic a 8 out of 10.


By the way, my favorite pony is Applejack... y'all.

So, yeah! Discuss, rate, and shall somepony in this thread hate, remember to love and tolerate! <3

This post has been edited by Midnight Genesis on Jan 29 2013, 11:00 PM

Dude, you have way too much time on your hands.

This. You also know that a large part of this board has a negative opinion of the MLP/brony/grown adults watching TV shows for 5-year-old girls movement.

My eye, this thread. I get red links at the top of my page, it gets locked and recycled, people involved get little red stickers of friendship and happiness. No questions asked.

This post has been edited by Spaz on Apr 22 2012, 06:36 PM

That's why I asked folks who weren't into this to stay out. I'm simply following the community's request to keep this stuff in a thread of it's own instead of spilling into other threads. Is that wrong of me to do?

I mean, it's no different from a thread for, say, Star Trek... or Doctor Who.

And I have no problem with that. I'm just throwing everything out on the table and advising that this stay drama-free, and stating my reasoning to be that this is a known controversial topic on here.

*nod* Understood.

For those of you who wish to instigate drama to the point that you've already read the subtext and have even gotten this far, I would like to remind you that the primary purpose this thread serves is to keep all pony discussion within ONE THREAD.


In other words, I'm being respectful of YOUR interests. Would you rather have inane technicolor equine babbling elsewhere or within these confines? Yes, I thought so. Thanks for your understanding. Now then, carry on.

It's a pretty nice cartoon, at least from what I watched in episodes 1-2 quite some time ago (though it's not exactly the type I'd fancy). If you remove the pony image and replace them with normal human form, it'll be just like any other Cartoon Network cartoons. It's not that bad.

I guess it's the pony image the biggest problem to reach a wider audience (males).

Dare I ask you, have you watched anything that's been spit out of that bastardized machine of a once-brilliant entertainment vessel in the past 4-5 years?

It's not exactly the most pleasing stuff out there. Actually, I'll be honest. Most of their new stuff sucks. It's redundant, recycled and colorless.

Reason I ask this question is, your statement would have been quite valid in, say, 2004 - but is almost self-contradicting nowadays.

(and yes there are a handful of exceptions, mostly during the Adult Swim block but I'm speaking for the network as a whole)

Ok, I'm sorry. You're not causing any harm to anybody, I've got no right to judge.

But riddle me this, why is it that this show is so damn popular with people FAR outside the intended demographic? I've got (well, friend isn't the right word here, and I'm not entirely sure if this is right either) peers who are seriously into it. Disney, Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and others have been making movies and shows for ages that are made for kids but have enough mature humor to keep adults engaged and even entertained. What makes My Little Pony special? Why is it better than, say, Avatar: The Last Airbender (I'll admit this is a guilty pleasure of mine), or The Goofy Movie? And what is it that puts this on the same level as Star Trek?

Oh my CN time stopped after Hey Arnold days (that's CN I think). So, no. Haha.

Now the only American cartoons I watch are South Park and Spongebob.

The point is, it's not that horrible/gay.

This post has been edited by Saint on Apr 22 2012, 06:59 PM

Both Hey Arnold! and Spongebob are both Nickelodeon shows.

Notable CN stuff from that timeframe would be Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, and Ed, Edd, n Eddy, if you've seen any of those.

Oh then it's during their time. Yeah I've watched them occasionally back then. Lol.

They all look the same to me; it's hard to discern and I'm too lazy to Google it. XD

Edit: I should have rephrased it as American cartoons in general rather than specifically Cartoon Network.

This post has been edited by Saint on Apr 22 2012, 07:24 PM

You being serious brony?

This looks like the same animators from the powerpuff girls(which was a badass show) but these things are ponies...i dont think i could ever get over that seeing as im not 10 anymore.

I think Barbie is worse...

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that this was on the same "level" as Star Trek, I was merely throwing out names that members who frequent this forum can relate with. This being my 'thing', as Star Trek is there.


Honestly, I don't know what the appeal of the show is to others; I mean, I know why it appeals to me (I even explained why in nearly confusing detail in the emo thread, however I wish not to veer off the topic of the show itself so for those who are interested why please see said thread) but as a whole it doesn't have anything strikingly amazing. Like I said earlier, it's an 8 out of 10. A lot of it is GREAT (and the fan-driven stuff, like Derpy Hooves becoming a real character is just awesome) but aside from the Season 2 finale there isn't much that's truly outstanding.

But I digress. Friendship is Magic throws me back to a simpler place in time, and reminds me what pure, honest happiness with no asterisk attached feels like. The fact that such sugary and girly characters face and often struggle to overcome real-world hardships in their lives kind of pulls at a heartstring; I think part of the show's appeal is how it gives you what you're never expecting. It's different. Almost taboo.

And then you get stuff like this from fans that just puts it over the top.

This post has been edited by Demon Boost on Apr 22 2012, 08:10 PM

I enjoyed the Avatar series and still do. One of the better shows Nickelodeon put out. Been following the Legend of Korra when I can.

Somebody told me it the creator of the powerpuff girls that worked on the current MLP series so that would certainly explain the similarities.

Did you know that Twilight Sparkle's voice actress did Bubbles?

I think you answered it yourself within this post. It's a guilty pleasure. We all have them.

Also, why is it strange for guys to like MLP, but not strange for girls to like Gundam (for instance)? The double standard is appalling. Public media is public media. Anybody can watch it regardless of whether or not they're the target demographic. Every show out there has a fanbase that isn't what the showrunners intended, and that's perfectly fine. It just means more money put into the economy from a more varied customer base.

Even crazym4n mentioned Powerpuff Girls as something he enjoyed. Tell me, is it wrong to like Powerpuff Girls even though it's very obviously meant for the young female demographic?

More and more shows are being made that speak to more than just the target market. Yes, the merchandising target is the big one, but networks are getting wise to the ratings they can also get from making things appealing to a broader market.

There's just something about the show, a certain style or flavor, that appeals to me. It's possible that the love/time/effort put into the show and it's characters is the same as some cartoons from the early 90s to early 00s. Or maybe it's just Lauren Faust that's using subliminal brainwashing in all the work she did.
Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, PPG, etc etc. Just as appealing; is MLP FiM.

I kid, but, seriously. Thinking about it, this generation of ponies is just more appealing to me than the first 2. [I didn't watch G3] I had the dolls, I watched the cartoons religiously when I was small, but... this series just has more appeal, the characters have strong personalities, and flaws. It's got a steady storyline, the plot is episode-to-episode for the most part, and did I mention the characters actually have personality?

fucking badass

edit- i think this was a commercial not an actual episode but still..

This post has been edited by crazym4n on Apr 23 2012, 03:51 PM

^ That was indeed an ad.

But let's not get too off topic in the MLP thread.

It's become a bit of a ritual for me to wake up at around 4am every Sunday to download the newest episode off youtube. I mean it WAS; but now that season 2's over, there's not a whole lot to do except browse Ponibooru while I wait for season 3's announcement date.

That being said; I went to a Ponycon hosted by members of my college a while back. There's something to be said about a group of strangers who don't really know each other being able to grin and sing along to the show, and immediately begin to mingle with just ponies to start off with.

My only regret is that I couldn't stay for the Trixie Pinata. I heard tell there was delicious diabetes to be found within her entrails.

MLP. It's a show and I acknowledge that it exists.

^I challenge your claims. CITE YOUR SOURCES!

I think this video is related..lol