elsporko

http://family-room.ew.com/2013/07/25/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-4-premiere/

New season begins November 23rd

The comics aren't cannon, not to mention it happened in a dream. Its also not a crossover since it is a reference. The name isn't even spelled right.

I find that acceptable. I really need to watch the movie again to see how well my idea pans out, but really its more interesting in a literary sense then in an entertainment sense

I wonder if they are going to only have action multi issue arcs. I certainly hope there will be some more variety. The action episodes on the show are the minority and it works better that way.

I realize I've made a mistake on being too hard on the film, in light of this ongoing discussion.

You see, some bronies nowadays tend to have this delusion that the show is made specifically for us; and it should serve as a reminder--in the form of Equestria Girls--that it is, in fact, not targeted at us. My Little Pony, the general franchise, not just 'Friendship is Magic,' is targeted at girls between the ages of four and twelve mainly, and the franchise is owned by a multi-billion dollar corporate juggernaut whose absolute sole goal in the totality of its existence is to make a profit; same as any other shadowy entity lurking in a capitalist regime.

I'm taking the earlier advice of arrowghost here in realizing this by standing in the shoes of CEOs and marketing teams.

Equestria Girls was a meditated request from the executives of Hasbro, who really don't give two trots about bronies (they only care about what's in our wallets; I have to say they've not gotten even close to mine). They wanted a fast-food delivered, hyped up film about ponies that aren't ponies. Making the ponies into humans, to attract even more little girls, meanwhile grabbing the attention of bronies who would surely get a rise out of such a notion. This is actually a pretty good marketing scheme. They didn't care whether we liked the film or not, or if little girls liked it for that matter. As long as there was hype over both demographics, they'd get their money. Money from us (not me, I watched a rip on Youtube), from the parents of young girls. They knew we'd see it no matter what, just because most bronies are attached to MLP like leeches to a blood vessel. And girls are just being girls.

They threw in these new tweeny-girl gimmicks while simultaneously throwing in easter eggs for bronies, which of course would be poorly executed and not work in the end. But they didn't care (besides it being a cash cow). We saw it, we'll still watch season 4 (they should be smart enough to leave THAT alone if they don't want to alienate the brony fandom; we're just extra wads of cash compared to the dough they get from the parents of female children). Some bronies liked it, others didn't. And I'm all talked out on the issue at this point. Equestria Girls will just have to go into one of my mental file cabinets marked 'bad' and not be opened again.

I was thinking about the movie recently and I realized its not actually as shallow as it seems.

Aside from the obvious use of Twilight's human body to represent her coming to terms with being an alicorn the movie is also used to show how she has changed in the three seasons. Its a remake of the first two episodes but rather then Twilight needing to be taught the importance of friendship she is able to take everything she has learned to bring others together. In that context I think it makes the movie far more interesting.

I am not prepared to leave my wife

Diamond Tiara goes there.

The episode serves as a nice transition to Twilight becoming a princess with human Twilight filling in as the awkwardness she must feel with becoming a princess. The writing is no worst then an average episode but longer with a bigger build up to the end which is just crazy. I think anybody who nit picks the movie needs to also take some time to nit pick the episodes and realize there are alot of shared criticisms

If you're wondering how he sleeps and eats and other science facts just say to yourself it's a show and just relax.

Sleepless was very good. But it was never about Rainbow dash, it was about Scootaloo, I loved that episode. All the episodes about the CMC members have been great since the end of season 2.

(Hurricane Fluttershy had a very weird feel to me, like they wrote the RD parts for a different character, but then changed it for thematic purposes. We know this sometimes happens, Spike at your service was going to be a Rarity episode at one point)

Hurricane Fluttershy fits in well if you watch Rainbow Dash episodes leading up to it. May the Best Pet Win shows her deciding against the coolest pet to stand with one that was loyal and tried hard. [colour=#000000]The Mysterious Mare Do Well taught Dash humility. Read it and Weep taught Dash that she doesn't have to fit inside a narrow box she has created for herself. The build up for her to Hurricane Fluttershy makes sense. In that episode Dash takes on a drill sergeant type role but her demands are reasonable and she shows a huge amount of sensitivity towards Fluttershy that reflects what she has learned. The episode also builds on Fluttershy's episode earlier in that season in that she doesn't let Rainbow Dash push her around and stands up for her right to not participate. [/colour]

[colour=#000000]A shame in the series is that there are character arcs, but they often are ignored if that character is not a major part of the story. Pinkie Pie especially suffers from this becoming incredibly shallow anytime she is not in the spotlight. [/colour]

I could go if it was a month earlier.

I am very pleasantly surprised in how good that movie is and it obviously is going to be used as a bridge to the next season. It is far more then I ever expected from it

I would suggest watching the Sleepless in Ponyville episode if you already haven't finished it. And even if you have, Rewatch it! That was the VERY specific episode that made me start to like Rainbow Dash. Up until that point she seemed a very one dimensional character with only her skill and show-off-ed-ness going for her. After Sleepless...well...I just liked the episode a lot.

Read it and Weep and Hurricane Fluttershy also have some obvious depth added to her character

I think fans thought it was going to be far different from the show but from what I've seen as more info is released it really isn't. At least not to the extent people thought it would be.

Probably Stare Master and Show Stoppers. I found the CMC annoying in those episodes the first time. They are still annoying but more tolerable once you come to like the characters

This is the only micro series I've gotten so far because none of the other ones were Fluttershy.

While Fancy Pants's acts out of character it was required that there be jerks in order to convey the message Fluttershy needed to learn that what matters is if you are okay with what you do and that friend's opinions are more important the strangers. They probably should have just had new characters instead of using his design.

The feminist in me can't get over the designs. One thing I like about MLP is that it makes it okay for girls to be different and unique regardless of what they look like. You know, be yourself, whatever that means for you.

Well, we're going to make those fun, unique and well-rounded characters and design them to be cookie cutters of one another and give them teeny tiny waists and short skirts and long legs. Like seriously - in that entire trailer was there a single female character wearing jeans? Trackies? Anything? No, not even Rainbow dash - she was given a skirt over a pair of leggings. Still a skirt in my books.

Oh, Hasbro, you were doing so well...

Its probably more to do with making toys out of one mold. Heman wasn't sexist, it was just easier to have most characters be super muscular and wear a fur loincloth

[colour=#282828]Romantic interest (?) being big brother lookalike [/colour]

Its not

Creepy

I think the reason people have focused on the skirts issue is that for Applejack and especially Rainbow Dash is that it doesn't really fit the character. Doing heavy farmwork is better suited for pants then skirts and Rainbow Dash is pretty adamant against doing girly things. And really the fact that they are wearing skirts isn't as much of a problem as the fact that it just looks like lazy designing for the purpose of making toys easier to produce

LOL at Best Pony

Another strategy I thought of, if they accuse you of sneaking around while you watch the show in private turn it back on them and ask what exactly they think you are doing? If they are just meddling and don't think you are on drugs or something it will probably throw them off

She never really struck me as "Handicapped" she's a filly. if you look at the other fillys there wings are about the same side. if its true that she gets an episode where there all like, "yeah... she cant fly... she never will fly, oh well. " that kinda strikes me as odd.

Maybe there will be an episode where all the other pegasus of her age are starting to fly and she can't. I just hope its after she gets a cutie mark because I don't want her to be double inadequate

My one fear is that our fandom will the course of Final Fantasy, or Ultima.

With the former, Directional and tonal changes will slowly change it for the worse, with less and less acceptable things being handed to us, but we will soldier on, telling ourselves out of nostalgia that 'The writers/Hasbro know what they're doing. They're just trying to keep it fresh. Everything's going to be just fine.

With the latter, Hasbro will attempt to milk every possibly bit of coin from the friendship is magic franchise, but will get too greedy. There is already potential of this occuring with Equestria Girls, where that will become the focus, and the ponies will be pushed to one side, rushed, and eventually given up.

Whatever happens, the next few months will give everyone a nice recovery breather, and arguably the most important episodes, season 4 episodes 1 and 2, will ultimately decide the fate of the show and the fandom.

It could end up like a Zelda situation where each new season is hated by fans and then when the next one comes out the new season is the worst ever while the previous one is declared a classic.

We don't know if Twilight will outlive her friends. Celestia is the only Princess who has been around for multiple generations (Luna was Nightmare Moon so who know how that affected her aging) and we know there are aging spells that could be used to keep her at one age so it might not even be natural for her to live so long

I probably won't buy it but it looks good