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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
- Thread starter Boss Doggie
- Start date
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D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Quoting because it's awesomemeltingparappa said:Sorry for going nuts on the fanart posts guys, but I can't help myself.
I would have burst out laughing if I saw that in a store.DeadPhoenix
Member
Seriously considering an avatar change right now...
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Ultimoo said:If you didn't like the first three episodes (the first two were just intro/sailor-moony) and the Ticket Master (decent episode for introducing the character's personalities), then I'd recommend Swarm of the Century as the final episode you should try. If you don't like that episode, I just don't think ponies are for you then. Either way, the fact that you've watched episodes before judging the show means you're okay in my book. Even if you don't enjoy the show.
Just watched it, I think this show is awful now. And sorry guys but I'll always think of it as a little girls show. And I'm off, thanks for the help.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Like I said before, it's a sexism thing more than a "it's a children's show" thing. You don't see any negativity when people talk about children's shows focused on boys like Transformers or GI Joe for instance, no matter how shallow they are.
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Ookami-kun said:
They are terrible and any grown man watching those shows should turn in his man card. As much as you want it to be about sexism to vindicate yourself, it isn't.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
KaotikMind said:
Sadly it's there though.
Especially evident when we have stuff like people preferring nostalgic shit versions over higher quality versions (see: G1 over Beast Wars, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers over Power Rangers RPM, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 80's over 2003 version, etc.)
I'd much rather be a mature man who can enjoy all kinds of entertainment, and can accept both their merits and shortcomings. Take my man card if you must. If lost to something so meaningless and trivial, it only goes to show how meaningless and trivial it was to begin with.
Also, the very notion of a man card in itself is just as sexist as telling a woman to get back in the kitchen.
Also, the very notion of a man card in itself is just as sexist as telling a woman to get back in the kitchen.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Eh, I thought the "man card" was more of a man = grown up (i.e. not a kid) rather than man = gender.
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Ookami-kun said:
I tend to prefer old shows myself mostly cause i still enjoy them objectively, I like newer shows like Sensational Spiderman and such that were good too. But I find most newer versions of shows to be vapid.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I wondered if WITCH had a similar reaction. Then again WITCH wasn't too big.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Also, W.I.T.C.H. had crappy animation, bland voice acting, stories not to speak of and unnoticeable stock music. Also, it was pretty bad.Ookami-kun said:
Edit wait, I think I've confused WITCH and Winx Club here. Are my points still valid?
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Bufbaf said:
You confused WITCH from Winx Club. Winx Club is shit, WITCH ain't.
DeadPhoenix
Member
I feel bad for skipping out on WITCH because I thought it was a crappy sailor moon rip-off(or something of that nature), only giving it a chance once I found out Greg Wiesman worked on the second season, turned out to be an actually decent show.Ookami-kun said:
Speaking of Greg Wiesman...
Its Spectacular Spider Man.KaotikMind said:
Myke Greywolf
Ambassador of Goodwill
Articalys said:
Well, I've got a theory. I hope that people here won't think of it as just rambling, and this may come out as obvious to some of you, but here it goes:
This whole thing started in 4chan's /co/. We all know that 4chan is the main lode for Internet memes, and the ones that involved MLP were no exception.
Now, the main thing that we have to consider regarding the creation of MLP fan content is its dual nature. On one side, there are the memes, contents reproducing a single, simple idea: a sentence, a joke, whatever. On the other side, there is the legitimate fanart, the items (be them illustrations, video, music, literature, programming, or whatever) that have actual original content and ideas and that stem from legitimate appreciation of the source material.
In the case of MLP:FiM, I believe that the meme nature preceded the fanart nature, and that the main idea being propagated initially was the whole cognitively dissonant idea of a MLP show actually being able to be visually interesting and charming, and having the qualities described in this thread's OP, instead of immediately revolting any grown people watching it, like the old shows did. The whole concept was vehicled through screenshots and small animations that showcased the amazing expressiveness and personality infused into the show's characters. This whole idea was perceived as extremely ironic, and we all know that irony is a big thing on the Internet. Thus, these meme-propagating pieces became extremely popular in /co/, where they were met with enthusiastic reception, that led to more people joining the memetic bandwagon. This initial explosion had some interesting consequences:
- It motivated many people to scrutinize intensively the source material (if not for finding more food for the meme), and eventually actually consider and appreciate it in a non-ironic light.
- From the above, the seed was planted for the appearance of the first pieces of fanart. /co/ is an anonymous hangout place for many people involved professionally in the animation industry, and so MLP:FiM had the luck to have some very high quality early fanart.
- The meme spread out from /co/'s borders, and started invading /b/ and the Something Awful forums, another notorious meme nursery.
If you don't know about /b/ and SA, they are capably of producing some of the most amusing stuff in the web. However, they are also home to many of the most obnoxious, nasty and venomous people who ever laid their mouse cursors on a web browser, all of them covered up by the amplifying veil of anoymity. To these people, the "lulz" associated with the fact that this was a show targeted at little girls being appreciated by grown men, thus deviating grossly from accepted social norm, trumped every facet of irony that could be extracted from the early MLP:FiM memes. These people started targeting the creators of the MLP:FiM memes, making them respond in true troll fashion by posting even more ponies, and eventually the conflict escalated to a point that became known as the Great 4chan Pony War. Both in 4chan and SA, moderators and administrators were called to action, with the following consequences:
- In Something Awful, all pony posting was banned altogether - the admins simply didn't want to have anything to do with it, since it was so divisive.
- In 4chan, pony posting was banned for a period of 1-2 weeks, I don't remember exactly how long this stayed in place. Eventually, it was permitted again, but restricted to /co/.
By now, many of the meme makers were already legitimate fans, as a result of their constant exposition and intense scrutiny of the show. There was also a big community sense (the "brony" movement), born out of solidarity over being specifically targeted for banning from their usual posting places. Bronies, disgusted by the intolerance and hate shown to them by 4chan and SA dwellers, took a page out of the show itself and decided to guide themselves according to a code of friendship: loyalty, kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty - and above all, the tolerance that they had been refused. Many wanted to distance themselves from the environment of vileness and rudeness they had came from, and in the process they ended up finding a way to motivate themselves into becoming better people - and all because of ponies.
They took off and created their own social dwellings on the Internet, like Ponychan, Equestria Daily, Ponygoons, Ponibooru, etc., and started using these to freely post their fan creations. By now, the "irony" aspect had become only a backthought to the fan creators, who were expected to genuinely appreciate what the show had to offer. Thus, the fanart type content became much more prominent, which is a positive. The memetic content started focusing on mashing up with other popular memes, and became the domain of the less artistically inclined fans. Meanwhile, the whole ruckus around this whole pony business called in many people to check what this pony thing was all about. Many of them "got it" and eventually became fans, starting to produce their own fan contents. This proliferation ended up bringing the average quality of the creations down. In also came the perverts, because there are fetishes for everything and there's no shortage of people unable to separate feeling appreciation for something from lusting over that thing. That's the price to pay for the expansion of the fandom, and in that, it's no different from any other fandom.
OK, that's enough history - the real question here is, "why have fans created so much stuff?". And, as an answer and a conclusion to all that I've stated above, I think that it is because the above-mentioned "code of friendship" motivates the target viewers of any given fan creation to respond with polite, enthusiastic feedback with emphasis on the positive aspects of the piece. This, in turn, has a motivating effect on the creation of more fan contents, with the expectation of receiving the same kind of feedback; This applies both to old and new creators, and it's likely to keep up as long as the fans remember to uphold their friendship mantra and the quality of the fan creations makes it possible to say positive things about them.
The fandom "intensity" that you mention, I believe is also a product of all this process, and born out of the need of validation of a fan's appreciation of the show, over the background noise of the inevitable "neighsaying" crowd.
TL;DR: It's because fans are all patting each other on the back over almost every fan creation, and loving it.
This also applies to me. WITCH caught my eye because of Alessandro Barbucci's designs, but I ended up not catching it because it didn't air on any channel or time that I was likely to catch it, and I didn't bother to go look for it.DeadPhoenix said:
Winx is an italian rip-off of WITCH that starts off mediocre, story-wise, and gets worse with each season. The character designs are atrocious, though. I ended up following it because the repeats are on the channel my son likes to watch, at a time that I'm at home.
Could you please tell us about some older shows that you like?KaotikMind said:
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Ultimoo said:
There's a difference between enjoying shows for how terrible they are(The b-movie thing) and claiming something is legitimately good.
Oh and yeah it is spectacular spider-man, my bad.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I'm kinda saddened that Winx got more airtime while WITCH was canceled after season 2. There's more to the story, if the Italian comics were to be followed (which was actually published here in our country in English)!
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Myke Greywolf said:
How old?
Myke Greywolf
Ambassador of Goodwill
Well, I don't know how old you are, but let's say, from 1985-2000.KaotikMind said:
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsh1W4X43kQ&feature=related
1 hour nonstop loop of Equestria girls, with a really nice transition in between the loops
1 hour nonstop loop of Equestria girls, with a really nice transition in between the loops
Why did no-one suggest Dragonshy to KaotikMind? I am disappointed in all of you.
If you can't resize it, just let me know the resolution and I'd be more than happy to do it for you.
Today I have looked into the eye of the abyss, and it is Pandaman's pony folder.Pandaman said:
This poll has now exonerated Equestria Daily of any wrongdoings for me.ChuckNoLuck said:
2th said:
If you can't resize it, just let me know the resolution and I'd be more than happy to do it for you.
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Myke Greywolf said:
Batman TAS and pretty much all the Bruce Timm and Paul Dinni DC Universe cartoons, Dexters Lab, Samurai Jack, PowerPuff Girls, Nicktoons from the 90's like Doug, X-Men and Spider-man. I also love the Looney Tunes and Old Disney cartoons, plus Hanna Barbara even if they weren't that good.
Myke Greywolf
Ambassador of Goodwill
Those are some great shows, you have great taste. Congratulations.KaotikMind said:
I guess the main question resides in this one of your points:
If you've seen 4 episodes, you should have noticed that the lack of cynicism does not imply the lack of conflict - I agree that some kind of conflict or challenge is a crucial point in making most kinds of stories entertaining. As I stated on the OP, this is a genuinely good-natured show, in tone and character. Don't think for an instant that the fans are not aware of the nature of the real world - I'm sure that many of us deal with some pretty vile, annoying, rude, soul-crushing shit almost every day. Many of the people who do so, can probably see the value of having some form of escapism that allow us to set us apart from that daily grind while still being able to enjoy great humor that is not humiliating or demeaning to those involved (this might be the reason why Feeling Pinkie Keen is one of my least liked episodes, actually) or tries too hard to reference the pop culture trend du jour.KaotikMind said:
To some of us, the package is just simultaneously soothing and entertaining, and that is worth gold, in these days.
if there is one thing you people are good, it's being extremely unfunny
like seriously, unfunny
all mlp macros are eye-rolling pieces of shit, and any and all references are contaminated by the mere touch of ponies
you people are so good at being unfunny and killing all humor, i must admit, it takes skill
kudos bronies, you are the death of happiness incarnate
like seriously, unfunny
all mlp macros are eye-rolling pieces of shit, and any and all references are contaminated by the mere touch of ponies
you people are so good at being unfunny and killing all humor, i must admit, it takes skill
kudos bronies, you are the death of happiness incarnate
WrathOfOtaibah
Banned
Myke Greywolf said:
Thank you.
I guess I just find the show to be awful cause i don't relate to it, and don't like much if at all anything about it. Ah well I'm outta here, you guys enjoy your show, I still think its for little girls but I'll stay out of your hair.
Azure Dream
Member
ahoyhoy said:
http://keepvid.com/ still works for me.
I even have a bookmarklet for downloading, so when I watch a video I like, I just click it and it takes me right to the download options:
Code:
javascript:(a%20=%20(b%20=%20document).createElement('script')).src%20=%20'http://keepvid.com/js/bm.js',%20b.body.appendChild(a);void(0);I think that should do it, if you stick that in a bookmark. The site does ask you to run Java I think, but I've never had it try anything malicious.
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