Whitehawke

Gotta go with Party of One and Suited for Success. Sorry Winter Wrap-Up.

I voted Derpy because I think that Ditzy is a different pony, although I'm fine with any of the name combinations.

Confirmed stuff for Season 2: -Twilight still reads books -Twilight still spends time in her library -Spike is still Twilight's assistant What shocking developments!

One of the animators got lazy...

Violet. A pretty common victim of copy-paste in that episode.Anyway, here's another screencap.

I voted Applebuck Season for it's shenanigans and Green isn't your color because of "Flootershy! I have been looking for you everywhere! We have the thing at the place!"

1. The main reaction was to "My Little Pony". Originally, I thought the idea of a My Little Pony show being good was strange. I knew most people consider the franchise to be very merchandise driven (To be honest, it kinda still is) and therefore I felt that, as a rule, I should expect the worst out of it. But the thing is, I never really was exposed to the franchise in anyway, so I was not comfortable to judge this new show without watching it, regardless of the popular notion (at the time) that it's "supposed" to be only designed for young girls. Luckily, episodes were regularly uploaded on Youtube, so it was easy to watch it, without having to deal with the hassle of TV channels and time slots. I still think that online episodes is one of the main reasons for the show's massive online fanbase right now. The subtitle "Friendship is Magic" hardly meant anything to me considering this was my first real exposure to the franchise. 2. Unlike many young kids' television programs, the show is reasonably paced, with a well-established world along with a great balanced cast. Plot outlines are varied and work reasonably well within the rules established about the show. While we're at it, the characters are reasonably capable of acting according to their ages: most shows fall into the trap of making a character unreasonably stupid or crazy in order to create humour, but this creates a fallacy since then comes a question like "How does this character survive every day in his world?". The show either has to bend around this character's personality by making him survive every problem he comes across, or they simply casually ignore his mistakes and have him back up to status quo by the next scene. This can work, but it's incredibly overdone and works better with small casts, like the Roadrunner or most early Looney Tunes show. By contrast, Friendship is Magic has all 6 main characters with jobs, hobbies and interests, and manages to create a lot of humour without resorting to out of character behaviors. Mistakes/conflicts generally happen because characters are not being forthcoming with their personal flaws, which is, in my opinion, a much appreciated change of pace of today's programs. Characters acting irrationally tend to have the age for it - the Cutie Mark Crusaders generally get into trouble because they're young and don't know any better. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg of why My Little Pony has become incredibly popular: ease of access to episodes online helps introduce and attract newcomers easily. Fan production is also incredible, with an absolutely massive influx of art, games, music remixes, plushies and more being created every day. But the main reason has to be the show's surprising quality: appealing designs, good animation, interesting lore and the studio fully acknowledging the periphery demographic...it's a perfect storm. 3. a) Animation and appealing designs. Most Flash shows tend to have very "flat" characters, because they only have a "front" and "back" shot being flipped accordingly. Their poses tend to be in 3/4 view, except their design almost always ends up making it look like a profile pose instead, creating a very unappealing "look". But the ponies of Friendship is Magic are different: for one, they have 5 general poses: a 3/4 front, 3/4 back, a profile pose, a behind pose and a dead-on facing-the-screen pose. However, it doesn't stop there, the ponies are also given new poses for certain scenes in episodes, such as a bird's eye view shot. This, combined with very simple round shapes used for the ponies, creates a very 3-dimensional view. The ponies are not flat against the invisible walls, they actually look like they're facing a certain direction in 3-dimensional space. On top of that, there is excellent use of stretch and squash within the show, along with many of the other animation principles being used every scene. It's incredibly appealing to watch, as a result. Most flash-based shows don't achieve a fraction of this appeal. 3. Although the animation is great, the backgrounds are a tad weak at times. What comes to mind is the Sweet Apple Acres: the apple trees tend to look like 10-second MSpaint jobs, with their "apples" looking nothing like one. Moreover, the show occasionally has difficulty coming up with a proper moral at the end of an episode. 4. a) This is a tricky question. For one, I wouldn't like this show nearly a much if it's cast was not so balanced. Most shows feature a set of 5 "main" characters, except 1 tends to have far more spotlight than s/he needs and another(or several) are treated like simple recurring secondary characters. In this show's case, Twilight could be determined as the main character because she has a 100% rate of showing up, but in quite a few episodes she is very much a practical secondary character, while the focal character(s) of the current episode are in the spotlight. There are also episodes where all of the main characters are playing important roles. Of course, it also helps that secondary and background characters make good-use of their short time to showcase their personality. This is generally done well. As a result, I admire nearly all of the cast. 4. Owlowiscious, Twilight's pet owl from episode 24, Owl's Well That Ends Well. His range of personality is unacceptably low compared to the rest of the cast, including background characters. His design also leaves much to be desired. Season 2 may redeem him but he's definitely my least favorite pet and character in the show due to his (lack of?)attitude. 5. a) The show hasn't changed my personality, but it did change my priorities. I'm far more focused into equine drawings than before, and a good portion of my youtube videos are from the show itself. I've also been far more involved in this community than any other before. 5. I've told a few friends/family members about my enthusiasm of the show, but most reactions have been quite dry, although positive. I haven't shared my obsession any further since season 1 ended. 6. a) Part of the appeal, or gimmick, is that this is a rare instance of a complete female cast working out very well for both genders. The closest to a male main character so far is Spike, Twilight's dragon assistant, who's been occasionally compared to being her pet. Most shows struggle to create a good variety of female characters because of gender expectations and general hesitation of giving them unusual personalities, but Friendship is Magic overcomes this by making females the main gender of it's world, allowing a far greater array of expression. Male representation has admittedly suffered because of this, but males are so varied and over-represented in other media, that it's difficult to see them as a "secondary" gender, even in a world where they are outnumbered 25 to 1. I think I would still watch the show if the main cast was male, so long as the quality was the same, but I most likely would not have been exposed to it as quickly as I did. 6. It's hard to say where the show would be if it had a male lead character now, or ever before. As I typed a while ago, part of the "gimmick" is that a children's show (known to be merchandise driven) with a complete cast of 6 females turned out to be great. Another part of the reason Friendship Is Magic's current popularity is huge is that it largely stems from a blog's message about merchandise driven animation taking over television networks all over, with original content from great directors being left to fry. It is from this blog's post that the popularity of the show started (for the most part). Perhaps I'm over-blowing the requirement of the 6 main characters being female though. It's just that the opposite of My Little Pony in Merchandise Driven Shows is...Transformers, which received far more care and love over the last 20 years, including receiving highly popular TV-series with cutting-edge technology at disposal (at their respective times). At it's current stage, Transformers had a theater-release trilogy created for it, and has a 3d animated show being aired. Would Transformers have received just as much care and love with an all-"female" cast? It is my belief that robots have been given more personality and care than rainbow-colored ponies simply because the robots could pass off as males easier, regardless of what the directors at the time may have said about the robots not having a gender, and therefore appeal to males easier. My Little Pony got considerably worse over time compared to it's initial tv specials and movie, losing it's feel of adventure for unusually human settings (but with ponies). Combined with a lack of effort, we got, well, a pretty terrible bunch of shows. It feels as though the only difference now is that this time, My Little Pony got someone who cared to make the show good. Lauren Faust and the studios working on it have given it far more love than it ever got before, and fortunately for them, a perfect storm brewed and their work has not gone unnoticed. The franchise now feels just as prominent as Transformers despite the massive difference in marketing and allotted resources. And it did it without resorting to a single lead male character. Right now, a male lead would probably not hurt the show at all, provided the character is as equally interesting as the current characters, but had the show been ordered to HAVE male leads from the start, would Lauren Faust have cared to make the show as good as it currently is? Would she have joined at all? Would she have still made it as an example of how female leads in television shows can work? Food for thought. My post is stupid huge at this point and I think I'm presuming too much stuff, so I'll cut it off here. Hope this helps.

LAYERING GONE WRONG.

Actually, while I'm at it, let me express my feelings on the other episodes up there. Griffon The Brush-Off: A pretty good episode, if only with a rather underdeveloped antagonist. Gilda comes off as too much of a one-timer, because A. She's the only Griffon we've ever seen on the show. B. Episode 23 was a great opportunity to make her show up again, but she didn't (then again the episode was pretty ambitious for what it was, so there may have just not been enough time or resources to make it happen). She's kinda like a "monster-of-the-week", except with a variation. Still, I liked the humour of the episode. The Show Stoppers: This episode. I'll admit, 2 episodes with the cutie mark crusaders was...agonizing, in a way. Specifically because they're written in a way that would make people scream at the TV for the ineptitude shown to handle a situation properly. "B-but they're kids, kids are like that!" No, and even if they were it doesn't make for good television. Of course, this is Friendship is Magic, so the crusaders aren't that bad. And they're so adorable at times, especially Sweetie Belle. Still this episode's problem was that it came directly after an episode focusing on the same characters with the same...issue, which usually elicits a feeling of staleness when it happens in too many doses. You could say the same problem happened with Green isn't your Color happening right after A Dog And Pony Show(Both focus on Rarity), except those have a completely different dynamic, and therefore aren't weighted down by staleness as much. A Bird In the Hoof: This shouldn't be here dagnabbit! Even the characters that don't play an important role are well represented here, except maybe Rarity. Philomena is hilarious and the antics shown are some of the best of the season. But apparently that's just me. Feeling Pinkie Keen: If Pinkie's words near the end (You have to take a leap of faith!) had just been slightly altered, the episode would leave less of an aftertaste of not-so-subtle religious beliefs overcoming rational thought and more of a subtle recommendation that clingling to hope is not a bad thing. Actually, no, that episode was pretty much screwed when it came to the lesson. But at least the antics were funny. And the return of Derpy was very much a moment of awesome.

It didn't get enough votes in the best episode polling. Yes, I'm just surprised it got so little love. Reminds me of the time Applejack and Rarity got less votes than Trixie and Luna in a Equestria Daily Poll. That stung.

Picked Owl's Well That Ends Well. I put up my feelings about that episode months ago in this topic. What's A Bird In the Hoof doing here though? That's one of my favorite episodes.

"Rainbow Mash-Up" "Pet The Dragon" "A Passion Statement" "The Cake is a Pie" "Sparkle Of Genius" "Red Among The Orange" "Letters to a Princess" "Pies, Apples and Muffins"

Can you name all 72 characters in this image? It's pretty forgiving for most names, but it expects you to know some of the more semi-popular background ponies. Here's the image used (unedited) in case anyone wants it.

I make videos. Right now, I'm making a video about nearly every single animation/continuity mistake in season 1, which is quite time-consuming. Once I'm done with it, I'll continue my alternate endings videos and maybe start an expy of my Bloopers series (probably a Trivia series). I'm trying to jump in with fan-art as well, but I haven't had the chance to do so yet (I've done a bit of fan art, just not on the level that I want).

Lauren Faust, executive producer of Season 1, already confirmed that babies are born the normal mammalian way.

Phew, I've been meaning to post this for a while now, since it already convinced me of it's quality some time ago, but I have a rule about posting fanfics that aren't complete... But crisis averted, this one's finished: It's Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door! Really well written fic, the chapters are long, but keep you intrigued for more. The scale of adventure is great. There is also a good focus on under-used ponies Rarity and Applejack (Rainbow Dash too, but at least she's not being shipped for the 9001th time). The fic is clearly inspired by Lord of the Rings, although it should be noted that for the most part there are no wars or fighting with the exception of a few chapters, so don't think about action in that sense. Focus between the relation of the 3 ponies is well-done as well, as it can be read that the 3 of them get progressively closer as the adventure goes on. Overall an excellent 19 chapters to read. Again, chapters are long but full of tidbits. I recommend reading 1-2 a day for a good pace, otherwise you might end up feeling like skipping too much.

Note: this could be fake. Not exactly on topic, but IMDb just revealed the title of episode 19 of season 2: Putting your hoof down What could this mean? Perhaps one of the mane 6(Fluttershy) needs to learn when to say no? Speculation ahoy!

I'm busy making the final blooper video, and I came across a rather silly mistake. When you see it...

My Little Pony FiM: Story of the Blanks This game is both substantial and insubstantial at the same time: on one hoof, it's made completely from the ground up and doesn't follow the arcadey-grinding-for-points feel most FiM fan-(heck, even official)games have; on the other hoof, it's really short, lasting 15 minutes at best. Applebloom is the main character. Twilight and Zecora also make appearances. The rest are OC characters. The game largely takes place in the everfree forest. It uses an 8-bit graphical style, in fact, the author says s/he tried to make it as a game that would be playable on an 8-bit system. There is little gameplay involved, being closer to an immersion/adventure game, so the first play-through is going to be your best. I recommend any fan to play this: it's really good despite it's length. Don't click below if you don't want to get spoiled! Also, one more thing... Don't play if you plan to sleep soon.

Images in signatures can only be 150 pixels high. The image you're attempting to use is bigger than that, so you have to edit it a bit if you want to use it. I did some editing with the image. I tested these, and they worked for me.

How well do you know the show? Questions are only about FiM, but beware; you'll need to know how to write some names exactly to get them right.

IPS download in description. For those wondering what this hack changes: No gameplay changes as far as I know. Only sprite changes. Fluttershy is the main character except for the space zone where she is replaced by Luna. Pinkie Pie also replaces Fluttershy during underground segments, I believe. I'm not sure. Bosses: Tree Zone Gilda Pumpkin Zone Possessed Zecora Macro Zone Snips Space Zone Robo-Celestia Final Boss Trixie The other two bosses (Octopus and three pigs) haven't changed. There is a bubble enemy that got edited as well and the Mario Zone got changed into a Trixie Look-alike (I think)

Someone pointed that out for me - actually, most of them were pointed out. I think the only one I found for myself was Twilight using magic while her horn is supposed to be cursed, and I'm kinda iffy on that one.

Ohnonononono. THAT is NOT mine. It's a horrifying non-textured 3d anthromofied model of Fluttershy (Hint:It's Nsfw). The actual artist put up a picture of it on Deviantart and when I noticed it I was unbelievably terrified at the sight of it. I actually saw the final product, and it's not better: when I think Fluttershy, I think "cute" - and his model is anything but CUTE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7wB2cAsy4 Time for some more mistakes!