What's the appeal of MLP?

Thought I'd bump this since it came up in another thread.
Anyone else here enjoying S3 so far?
The Magic Duel was funny.
Especially the ending it had.

No hating me for bringing this back, it is an interest of mine so if you have a problem with it, then GTFO!
At least I'm not spreading "WATCH MLP NOW OR DIE!!!" propaganda like most other bronies do...

 

I was disappointed with S3 Episode 1 and 2 (I liked opening of Season 2 way better) and the other episodes are decent enough. I liked Too many pinkie pies and The magic dual.

I didn't watch one bad apple yet.

 

Well, since this is the first time I've seen this thread, I thought I'd offer my thoughts. To answer OP's question, I find the appeal of MLP to be primarily the humor and the quality animation. The characters have quite strong personalities too, so that makes it a little better too.

OP also mentioned that they watched the first two episodes and didn't get it. Personally, it took me more like SEVEN episodes before I came around. At first, I watched the first episode, didn't really like it and left it at that. I then had some friends who said that I'd only watched one part of a two part episode, so I tried the second episode. I felt it was a little better, but not much. Then, a few months later, I was bored and decided to try a few more episodes. Suddenly, I was watching an episode every day and I'd soon caught up to the most recent episode.

And my story doesn't seem to be unique, it seems most people who like the show now didn't like it in the beginning. And to be honest, the first few episodes are kinda weak. Do I think it's the greatest show ever like some fans think. No. Do I think it's the greatest children's animation series ever? Nope, Animanics, Pinky and The Brain and Daria are much better. But it's certainly a well-made, funny show with a lot of soul, and really, you shouldn't be put off by either it's concept or the show's.... *ahem* "passionate" fanbase.

*EDIT* reading back in the thread, there seems to have been a debate on the intended audience for FiM. Obviously, it's primary audience is young girls (duh), but the creators of the show have stated multiple times that they wanted to make a show that young girls, as well as their parents could enjoy, in stark contrast to the previous incarnations of the franchise. This shows in the show's many movie references/parodies as well as the occasional "parent joke", such as the time Spike falls asleep in a punch bowl, which prompts Pinkie to crack a joke about the punch being "spiked" Or the time Pinkie uses Twilight as a Gatling Gun:

There was an episode where Pinkie clones herself and takes a jab at the horrible art style of the previous MLP series. You tell me

 

I'm enjoying it quite a bit, mostly for the precedent they've set. Episodes 1 and 2 may have been a let down in that the villain got less screen time than the beavers in Magic Duel, but a few crucial bits of information were revealed to us:

#1. The presence of true dark magic, and the fact that not only can Celestia cast it, but it can be learned by Twilight and possibly others.

#2. Cadence is now ruler over the Crystal Empire. Is the Empire a separate political entity from Equestria? And then later on we hear about Saddle Arabia. We are starting to see other political autonomies in the world.

#3. At the end, when King Lamebra is destroyed, you notice his horn flying off in the explosion. Well, we see earlier in the episode that when a portion of his horn is cut off (in this case by Cadence's barrier) it can still spread corruption, so how would this case be any different, he likely survived.

#4. Celestia and Luna being shifty about something relating to Twlights "next level of studies". The fact that there was so much foreshadowing in this episode truly shows an evolution of the writing style. Before, aside from the two-parters referencing each other, there has really been no foreshadowing about potential future events in any episodes (unless you count Ticket Master as predicting The Best Night Ever). Maybe I am overanalyzing a kids show, but their writing has definitely taken a different turn this season, and I'm not talking about the copious fan shout-outs, those were a given. I'm talking about the fact that every episode so far (excluding One Bad Apple) has had some hint of darkness to it, whether it be Sombre, The Mirror Pool, or The Alicorn Amulet. It would seem that the story is converging on some trial of Twilight Sparkle's abilities and all throughout so far hints at arcane magic and darkness have been sprinkled in. Sombre's potential survival, the reality-bending abilitys of The Mirror Pool, and the corrupting power of the Alicorn Amulet (and who knows what other artifacts) may converge on a story point leading to a huge exposition of one or more sources of true evil on this planet. Call me a stupid theorist if you will, but after seeing the direction the writers of Adventure Time have gone in, linking the present to events that happened 1000 years in the past, I have a feeling that these writers may have a similar trick up their sleves. I mean, we are even shown that 1000 years ago was the convergence point for a lot of the backstory's elements. Discord and Sombre are defeated, but Luna is somehow corrputed and then banished to the moon. The Crystal Empire vanishes and Celestia is left alone to pick up the pieces of this broken world. Sound like another popular cartoon?

 

Seems this show will be going for quite a while yet. Hasbro has already gotten license for 10 more seasons excluding current one. I hope that with the hints being dropped about Twilight here and there leads to an epic conclusion at the series finale should it come.

 

I'm just hoping for a movie (would explain the episode count this season and the fact that there's been so much foreshadowing). Also, I'd like to make note that Zap2It, EqD, and Wikipedia all lack any entries for episode 8. I mean, I'm not ruling out the possibility of a server hiccup somewhere, but if they are keeping the episode under wraps I wonder what it's all about....

 

I've noticed that too. If it is like any other show, they may be planning a Christmas special. After all, #9 is scheduled for the 22nd and #10 the 29th. They probably throw #8 in between them as a Christmas special.

 

I've yet to watch the show (far too many things to watch) but is this the same My Little Pony from the 80's? Or does it now have a more mature bad ass story line?

 

I'm only vaguely familiar with the 80s version, but I'm going to assume that FiM's tone is quite different. Season 2 and 3 of FiM have had a number of "dark" storylines with some great villains, such as Discord, who wanted nothing more than to spread chaos and disorder and to play mind games with the ponies (think The Joker from Batman), which resulted in the entire cast hating one another. There's also a good number of action scenes and fights in FiM, such as the GIF I posted above where the "mane six" (horse pun, geddit? ) fight a race of creatures who can take on the form of other ponies.

It's not exactly Adam West's Batman vs Christopher Nolan's Batman, but I'd say FiM's tone does veer more on the darker side than the original versions of the franchise. But really, no one gave a buck (more horse puns about the previous franchise, but everyone's all excited about this new one, that's gotta tell you something!

You might be interested to hear your fellow countryman's thoughts on MLP, they've got Japanese fansubbed versions of the show over at NicoNico with commentary by the viewers, so you could give them a look.

 

Thanks for the input on this new My Little Pony. All I know is that the old one was in the same light as stuff such as Care Bears (Which I did watch as a kid) yet the stories I've read here seemed nothing like what I knew.

 

That is the typical response (hell, it was mine too!):
"Wait? My Little Pony? That show from the 80s with the happy, magical talking horses that was a giant advertisement for a bunch of toys? You like that show?"

Actually, speaking of old MLP vs FiM, one thing I love about the latter is the way the show's cute art style suddenly becomes really funny when something angers the characters. Here's a few examples, you can tell the animators had a lot of fun drawing them

​

 

This stuff is NOT anything like the '80s version.

Due to the brony community and our support of the show, there are plenty of more adult references in the show. My favorite is the recreation of the bowling ally scene from "The Big Lebowski" complete with the style and clothing of the actors from the show. See here:

 

Dude! You're forgetting the biggest shout-out! Officially adopting Derpy's fan name and giving her a speaking role!



Fun fact: This episode ended up being removed and edited due to people finding Derpy offensive. You heard right, a My Little Pony episode was removed due to offensive content

 

They just changed that scene around to get rid of the derp eyes, Raindow Dash saying her name, and derp voice in favor of more "normal" sounding one.

 

Indeed, but the episode was unavailable until they brought it back with those changes. To be honest, when I heard the voice, I was surprised. It sounded very stereotypically retarded, I had a feeling there might be trouble.

 

Episode 6 out in the morning!!!

YAAAAA!!!!!

(No trolling please.)

 

ugh, is all I can say.

Really not surprised that this is enjoyed by people with names like SonicDude along with a picture of their favourite sonic character.

XxXSoNiCDuDeXxX

 

Sonicdude is a pretty knowledgeable and chill guy...

 

GTFO of my thread if you're going to make bad comments!

This thread is to discuss what we like.

Would you like it if I made bad comments about YOUR interests?

Thank you dude.

+1 rep for that.