On Nostalgia and Ponies
For the past few weeks (weeks? Really?) My friend and I have been absolutely gorging on the cartoon Friendship is Magic, the newest entry in the My Little Pony-verse. And It is AWESOME! I love the humor, the style, and the stories are actually fun to watch.
I'm relatively new to My Little Pony. Back when i was a sprite, I had My Little Pony: The Movie, and I watched over and over and over and over.
Lets just say i watched it a lot. But since I was raised by the television, i watched everything a lot. (sometimes I have difficulty deciphering precisely WHICH cartoon I'm remembering. "Remember that show with the swamp or that one with the fuzzy bouncy guy." That's how vague these memories are. So I have no special memories associated with MLP and, for the first time, I'm free from any sort of Nostalgia Filter. This has been a learning experience for me.
It took me a long time to get used to Transformers: Animated because of how different it was from the cartoons I grew up on. Once i got used to it, though, I loved it and absorbed it and other additions to the franchise like a sponge. Despite this hesitance, i didn't go into a berserker fury over my dislike for the cartoon.
I can't say that for Adventures in Care-a-Lot, the new Care Bears. Everytime i see those toys, i go into a rage. I rant about the design choice, I bitch about Funshine's inexplicable gender change. (There are too few female care bears, what was the point of recasting Funshine into a boy? ) and I scream about the lack of cousins. Now, however, I'm starting to see how much of a loon I must of looked.
Today i was looking at the amazon listing for "Princess Celestia" (the ruler of the Principality of Equestria and some sort of pony demi-deity) And I was contemplating buying it. and I looked down and saw this review, posted today, about how much the Princess SUCKED and how much Friendship is Magic SUCKS and how no one should buy the toys. All because the older ponies were better.
"This is one of the most disturbing new My Little Pony's. Hasbro ruined the original, adorable, sweet, loveable, old style My Little Pony (circa 2003-2009) that we all (many of us) fell in love with their beauty and sweet innocence and warm expressions. Is this some type of new japanese anime that is in style now? Maybe I am too old but my god this is one ugly, freaky looking toy." --- From a review of the Friendship is Magic Princess Celestia Toy on Amazon.com
Do I look like this much of an bitch when I whine about these things? I hope not.
This isn't the meanest rant, or even the longest. She doesn't swear, or yell in caps lock and I've seen longer rants devoted to stupider subjects with far less validity. I'm actually spending more time thinking about it than she did writing it. But for some reason, this "review" really bothered me. A lot.
Maybe It's because I really am this much of a whiny baby when it comes to my own nostalgia. Or maybe I'm upset because I'm worse?