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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

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OMG Aero

Member
Mechanical Snowman said:
Relative to what? Can you compare GAF to other online communities?

And it might have something to do with GAF members in general being tolerant and open minded. That and a lot of sparking interest and curiosity through avatars, a lot of people have reported in saying they checked out the thread and, subsequently FiM episodes because they started seeing pony avatars everywhere. I don't think I've seen members of any other forum use their avatars like members of GAF do, in that various groups adopt certain avatars to identify the clique that they're a part of (sports-gaf, creepy-gaf, kpop-gaf etc).
It isn't exclusive to GAF. When it was still allowed on Something Awful, loads of people had pony avatars and changed them regularly. I think someone in the thread worked out that pony avatars and banners alone raised hundreds of dollars for SA.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
Mechanical Snowman said:
Pinkie doesn't live with her parents, we've never seen her house or her parents. And I don't think Twilight's home in Canterlot was her parent's home, I imagine that it was student accommodation for ponies studying under the Princess.
I can swear that I saw something about her parents being bakers.

Maybe I just imagined it?
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
ivedoneyourmom said:
The CMC are probably around 11 or so.

Younger than that. I'd put them in the 6-8 range.

Mechanical Snowman said:
Applejack: 22
Rarity: 21
Fluttershy: 20
Twilight:19
Pinkie Pie: 19

Rarity runs her own business essentially by herself. 21 seems young for her, honestly.
 
Shanadeus said:
I can swear that I saw something about her parents being bakers.

Maybe I just imagined it?
That's Mr and Mrs Cake, they own the bakery where Pinkie works. So it's not her house, it's her work place, and those old ponies are her employers.

Edit: Just realised that you're my Cape buddy :lol. I think we were the only two left watching in the end.
 

jogarrr

Member
Mechanical Snowman said:
And we know Fluttershy is ~1 year older than Pinkie.

Wait, I forget.. How do we know that Fluttershy is ~1 year older than Pinkie?

Also, I agree that they all seem to be young adults. They live on their own and have their own jobs/businesses.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
jogarrr said:
Wait, I forget.. How do we know that Fluttershy is ~1 year older than Pinkie?

Also, I agree that they all seem to be young adults. They live on their own and have their own jobs/businesses.
She said it in one episode, I guess it was Griffon the Brush-Off ^^
 
ZealousD said:
Rarity runs her own business essentially by herself. 21 seems young for her, honestly.
Perhaps, but that's only relevant to a human economy. Ponies are automatically gifted at something specific so it might be more natural for them to pursue their career choice at an earlier age and with a skill set relevant to it.

And I was kind of juggling between her running a business and her friendship with the other ponies, I think it would be weird if the age range was too wide. I see Rarity as a half-wannabe posh totty and half semi-successful business owner, so IMO most of her really mature, posh characteristics are just for show.

jogarrr said:
Wait, I forget.. How do we know that Fluttershy is ~1 year older than Pinkie?

Also, I agree that they all seem to be young adults. They live on their own and have their own jobs/businesses.
She says it in retort to Pinkie under her breath in one of the earlier episodes, I think when Pinkie refers to herself as 'Aunti Pinkie Pie' or something.

mr. puppy said:
wtf is going on in this thread
Serious and magical pony debating.
 

jogarrr

Member
Bufbaf said:
She said it in one episode, I guess it was Griffon the Brush-Off ^^
Mechanical Snowman said:
She says it in retort to Pinkie under her breath in one of the earlier episodes, I think when Pinkie refers to herself as 'Aunti Pinkie Pie' or something.

Ah, ok. Thanks. I vaguely remember that.. Almost time for a series rewatch I guess.
 

CHEEZMO™

Obsidian fan
Finally realised who Rainbow Dash* reminds me of:

r2_f.jpg


*
She's clearly the best. Doesn't get enough love in here.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
ZealousD said:
Rarity runs her own business essentially by herself. 21 seems young for her, honestly.
That's what I was thinking.

She's, to me, at leas 2-3 older than the second oldest in the gang.

Mechanical Snowman said:
That's Mr and Mrs Cake, they own the bakery where Pinkie works. So it's not her house, it's her work place, and those old ponies are her employers.

Edit: Just realised that you're my Cape buddy :lol. I think we were the only two left watching in the end.
R.I.P the Cape.

Well, if that's the case then I could see PP as 18+.
 

Myke Greywolf

Ambassador of Goodwill
BY2K said:
Trixie is a bitch.

That is all.
She's a douchebag, alright. But an interesting and adorable one, and (hopefully) totally redeemable.

mr. puppy said:
wtf is going on in this thread
Friendship and magic. They seem to be one and the same.

CHEEZMO™ said:
*
She's clearly the best. Doesn't get enough love in here.
Too much of an arrogant jerk for my taste. But she has redeeming traits, so I can't really hate her.
 
Bufbaf said:
This scene pretty much sums up the entire CMC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Ofler1b0Y

I LOVE them :D

Yeah same here, I winced at how awful their show in SHow Stoppers was, but other than that, they're just adorable.

Speaking of little ponies. I skimmed through one of the OLD MLP episodes just for kicks the other day and THOSE had some crappy ass "child" characters. I seriously couldn't watch it for than about 15 seconds. It's really no wonder people have such a hard time believing a MLP series can be good when this crap was made. Screeching music, AWFUL voice acting (though, it's kinda neat to hear Charlie Adler as Spike) ATROCIOUS dialog. Yuck.
 

KtSlime

Member
ZealousD said:
Younger than that. I'd put them in the 6-8 range.

Pffft, not if they are learning physics in Ms. Cheerilee's class…

Anyway horses age comparative to human age slides from 6 to 2.5 starting at 2…
1=8
2=13
3=17
4=20
etc.

They are most likely older than 6 because that would put them at the age of weaning.
They all seem like they have been somewhat independent of their mothers for a while. I would say the youngest they could be is 8, and I'd put it higher due to, analogous coming of age waiting that humans may endure...
 

G-Fex

Member
jogarrr said:
Eww.. Spike is hideous.

Watching a few seconds of that will give me nightmares. It's so hideous.

But I do remember watching some, I watched every cartoon even if it was girls when I was about 4 or 5. Earliest memories I remember seeing some sort of barbie cartoon. I remember Jem. I remember Strawberry Shortcake.

I remember this one show about these teens from beverly hills or something and they were just doing stupid teen girl stuff.
 
G-Fex said:
I watched a clip, this means derpy works for the united Pony Postal Service?
Yeah supposedly her backstory, career and all that was made up by the fandom and Faust made it canon as a tribute to the fans. Not sure how accurate that is though.
 
Mechanical Snowman said:
Yeah supposedly her backstory, career and all that was made up by the fandom and Faust made it canon as a tribute to the fans. Not sure how accurate that is though.

I don't think her whole "background" has been made canon into the show but her name and eyes have. I think Faust even said if they wanted to give Derpy more of an official presence fans should write to Hasbro.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
Choppasmith said:
Speaking of little ponies. I skimmed through one of the OLD MLP episodes just for kicks the other day and THOSE had some crappy ass "child" characters. I seriously couldn't watch it for than about 15 seconds. It's really no wonder people have such a hard time believing a MLP series can be good when this crap was made. Screeching music, AWFUL voice acting (though, it's kinda neat to hear Charlie Adler as Spike) ATROCIOUS dialog. Yuck.
Now this is something no one should be allowed to watch, little girls included.
 

Myke Greywolf

Ambassador of Goodwill
ivedoneyourmom said:
Anyway horses age comparative to human age slides from 6 to 2.5 starting at 2…
1=8
2=13
3=17
4=20
etc.

They are most likely older than 6 because that would put them at the age of weaning.
They all seem like they have been somewhat independent of their mothers for a while. I would say the youngest they could be is 8, and I'd put it higher due to, analogous coming of age waiting that humans may endure...

I don't think that the way MLP's ponies age can be compared accurately with the way real horses age. They're a sentient race, and that by itself is associated with a longer infant/juvenile stage. With similar levels of intelligence and social interaction to human society, it would be impossible to reach such a mental maturity level at only 8 years old, I think.
 

KtSlime

Member
Myke Greywolf said:
I don't think that the way MLP's ponies age can be compared accurately with the way real horses age. They're a sentient race, and that by itself is associated with a longer infant/juvenile stage. With similar levels of intelligence and social interaction to human society, it would be impossible to reach such a mental maturity level at only 8 years old, I think.

Yeah, hence why I think the CMC is older than people are giving them credit for. Apple Blossom is 10 or 11. She's smart, but still needs much guidance.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
Myke Greywolf said:
I don't think that the way MLP's ponies age can be compared accurately with the way real horses age. They're a sentient race, and that by itself is associated with a longer infant/juvenile stage. With similar levels of intelligence and social interaction to human society, it would be impossible to reach such a mental maturity level at only 8 years old, I think.
Well, it's a magical world so it's not as if their rate of development couldn't have been sped up somehow.

It seems like there are either youngsters or "grown up" ponies (physically speaking, mentally it's a whole different issue) which makes the presence of some sort of accelerated development between the two shown stages a possibility.

When they show up baby ponies then I bet they too will be distinctly different and all share the same characteristics with there being no in-between forms between baby and youngster developmental stages.

The only outliers are those retard male ponies but they might just be the pony equivalent of down's syndrome.
 

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
ZealousD said:
Younger than that. I'd put them in the 6-8 range.

Rarity runs her own business essentially by herself. 21 seems young for her, honestly.

Yeah, I'd have given her around 24-25.

My List

Applejack: 24-25
Runs her own business with the Apple farm

Rarity: 26-30
Runs her own business at a very professional level, and is used to tight deadlines. Could be even older the way she handles things.
"I've put on enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it"


Fluttershy: 24-25
She is a wildlife warden. The chief one. Pretty responsible role.

Twilight: 22-23
Sound like a senior college student, though is under personal tutoring. Given that her studies in magic are quite advanced, I'd just put here there.

Pinkie Pie: 23-24
Well, since she is 1 year younger than Fluttershy :p

Rainbow Dash: 21-23

Works in the weather business, probably at least 2 years on the job. Youngest one? Seems to have had problems with flight schoolwhich I'd rank like college. Has been pursuing an athletic carreer for a long time.
 
Speaking of the Male Ponies, why are they pretty much always a foil/jerks in the show?
I know it's a show meant for girls and all, but re-enforcing the "Boys are dumb ass holes" stereotype is a bit odd.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
CHEEZMO™ said:
I think you guys might be reading too much into this.
No...

...we're not reading enough into this!

Someone need to study the relationship between body size, age and mental development in those species that we know possess advanced cognitive ability.
 

Ikael

Member
Actually, Azumanga was always intended for a male audience (it's even classified as shonen) and it's hard to compare the sketch comedy style to full-length episodes, so I'm not sure if I'd make that kind of connection.

The connection came from how both series "works": a group of cute characters doing cute (and fun) things is appealing to a male demographic. Azumanga was intended for a mainly male audience since its inception while MLP was aimed to girls first and foremost, but that was more due to a cultural difference: Japanese are very aware than cuteness and "moe" as they call it is appealing to males, in the same way that the French thought that Amelie (yet another movie that revolves around a cute character doing cute things) is a movie with a universal appeal, rather than female - targeted. American producers automatically assumed that these qualities makes the show appealing to girls while excluding boys. Surprisingly enough, even if both series had a different demographic on mind when they were created they ended up attracting the same demographic group because they resorted to the same strenghts. So yes, even if they are quite different from a structural point of view (Azumanga following a strip pattern while MLP being a more traditional, closed history arch type of show), I do think that the comparation holds still.

And yes, that deadpan singing scene is a good example of how it all works together.

Yup, lurv it ^^ other great high points were Sonicboom and the whole "Fluttershy being
assertive". Pitching two of the best voice talents of the show + the chemistry between them made the scene freaking awesome.

Great post, thank you for that! Also: Love the "Frens" picture :)

Yay! :D Also, obligatory:

Fluttershy - So cute is going to give me diabetes. And one of the best character evolutions, I reckon. Oh, and best voice acting. And best everything too."yay!".
Twilight - A main character done right, enough down to earth to act as the "audience's eyes", yet quirky enough to be funny and non generic."I will do a slumber party by the book and therefore it will be tons of fun".
Pinkie - She cracks me up, always. She manages to be something quite difficult to pull off: a comic character that it is genuinely comic. "But she's an evil enchantress and will put you in trances!"
MCM - I concur with Faust, they should get their own spin - off. They do have potential as full flegded characters."Hammer? Hammer!".
Rainbow Dash- She rarely shines, but when she does, holy crap does she rules or what."But the rainbow one kicked me!".
Rarity - She has her moments, but she is still a bit tad "meh" by her own, albeit the diamond dogs episode started to show her potential. "But I thought you wanted whiiiiinnneeeiiiiinggggg!!!!".
Applejack - Sorry, but it is the one with the least character of the bunch, me thinks :/
 

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
Choppasmith said:
Speaking of little ponies. I skimmed through one of the OLD MLP episodes just for kicks the other day and THOSE had some crappy ass "child" characters. I seriously couldn't watch it for than about 15 seconds. It's really no wonder people have such a hard time believing a MLP series can be good when this crap was made. Screeching music, AWFUL voice acting (though, it's kinda neat to hear Charlie Adler as Spike) ATROCIOUS dialog. Yuck.

Pfft, wimp. So you even missed the "Newborn twins" song.
Pretty surprised there was singing in that show.

So, the plot is almost there, the dutchess was an insult and the Ponies had no character. The voice acting is terribad too, which not even one really distincetive voice. The animation is baed 80s, but at least it won't hurt you, it even had a nice monster design in the song. Actually, I'd say more love went into the monster than any of the Ponies.
Even as a group, the ponies did basically nothing and the enemies were laughable failures.
And the resolution was completely retarded.
At the end of the episode I somehow felt a little bit more stupid.
 

KtSlime

Member
Mirimar said:
Just thought it strange all those ages happened to be above 18 =/

They are all out of school except for Twilight, which is doing advanced studies under Princess Celestia. It'd be strange if they *weren't* above the age of 18.
 

Uchip

Banned
I agree with the other guy who said you're reading too much into it
there ARE other things to watch while you wait for the next episode
 

tiff

Banned
ivedoneyourmom said:
They are all out of school except for Twilight, which is doing advanced studies under Princess Celestia. It'd be strange if they *weren't* above the age of 18.
What if pony school doesn't last as long as human school, huh?
 
Are there even actual schools?
I mean, why would you do that, when their society is based on each pony having their own unique talent that they are born with.
They'd be more like apprenticeships.
 
FoxSpirit said:
Pfft, wimp. So you even missed the "Newborn twins" song.
Pretty surprised there was singing in that show.

So, the plot is almost there, the dutchess was an insult and the Ponies had no character. The voice acting is terribad too, which not even one really distincetive voice. The animation is baed 80s, but at least it won't hurt you, it even had a nice monster design in the song. Actually, I'd say more love went into the monster than any of the Ponies.
Even as a group, the ponies did basically nothing and the enemies were laughable failures.
And the resolution was completely retarded.
At the end of the episode I somehow felt a little bit more stupid.

I said I skimmed through the episode, I just couldn't stand to watch more than about 15 seconds at a time =P Completely agreed though.
 

KtSlime

Member
tiff said:
What if pony school doesn't last as long as human school, huh?

It doesn't matter, we are using a relativistic scale to equate the ponies age to human age. Even if pony age is a direct parallel to real world equine age, a 4 year old pony would be the equivalent of a 20 year old human.

I don't know how long pony school lasts, and I don't think we will find out, but all signs point to the ponies being young adults, so I'm willing to place them at around 18 if not slightly older. =P

AceBandage: The CMC going to school being taught by Cheerilee should be evidence enough that school exists. However my guess is it is more like French schools, and there are options to move into more technical schools early on.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
ivedoneyourmom said:
However my guess is it is more like French schools, and there are options to move into more technical schools early on.

I doubt that Faust has thought that far ahead.
 

Articalys

Member
Ikael said:
The connection came from how both series "works": a group of cute characters doing cute (and fun) things is appealing to a male demographic. Azumanga was intended for a mainly male audience since its inception while MLP was aimed to girls first and foremost, but that was more due to a cultural difference: Japanese are very aware than cuteness and "moe" as they call it is appealing to males, in the same way that the French thought that Amelie (yet another movie that revolves around a cute character doing cute things) is a movie with a universal appeal, rather than female - targeted. American producers automatically assumed that these qualities makes the show appealing to girls while excluding boys. Surprisingly enough, even if both series had a different demographic on mind when they were created they ended up attracting the same demographic group because they resorted to the same strenghts. So yes, even if they are quite different from a structural point of view (Azumanga following a strip pattern while MLP being a more traditional, closed history arch type of show), I do think that the comparation holds still.
Hmm, I'd base the comparison on something like Lucky Star or K-On going by that reasoning. But I digress, I'll end my theorizing here, I don't mean to get into a longer argument; just interested in what would really be considered an "equivalent" show.
 

KtSlime

Member
ZealousD said:
I doubt that Faust has thought that far ahead.

Oh, I'm quite certain she hasn't, but that doesn't mean speculation isn't fun.

I'm an anthropologist, if I can't speculate as to what would make a magical pony society work, what CAN I do? :lol

Articalys: K-On is probably the most apt analog, however it is likely less known than Azumanga Daiou, and there is quite the anti K-On movement, so I think that's why it doesn't get the comparison.

I think it is safe to call MLP:FiM a slice of life show.

AceBandage: They have a currency, however I am not sure what material is used or how how relative prices in their free market work. It seems that bartering and price negotiations are also common.
 
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