My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? More Like My Little Hasbro:Sponsorship Is Tragic!

[spectralbovine]

I was curious enough about this Internet phenomenon that when it became available on Netflix Instant, I figured, what the hoof, let's see why this show is so incredibly popular.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic takes place in the fantasy land of Equestria, which is amusingly populated with mythical creatures from cockatrices to minotaurs. Also

Comments

[zenkitty_714]

Are you fucking kidding me, you've made me want to watch My Little Pony. I have to turn in my cynicism card now.

Why is there an older male audience for this show, though? And by "older", do you mean, like, early 20s, or what? I mean, obviously YOU like it because it's decent storytelling, but I got the sense that when you talked about the show's "older male fanbase" you were talking about grown-ass men combing toy ponies' hair. I'm missing something here.

[ext_1479392]

Oh, you've missed quite a bit. Not long after the series started airing, males in their late teens to early twenties (though there are plenty of fans outside that range and gender) started to watch the show. As far as I can tell they initially started watching after an article on Cartoon Brew decried it, saying the fact that Lauren Faust was working on a show for a toy franchise was a sign that the "Creator driven era of cartoons" was over. The only problem was...the show hadn't actually aired

[spectralbovine]

Ooooh, thanks for the origin story! I had no idea why the bronies started watching the show in the first place.

[spadada]

Whoa.

[shamoogity]

Ooh, you should start Adventure Time or Gravity Falls next--they're both really fun kids' shows that I've been watching, and I'm really curious what you'd think. Neither of them is at Avatar levels, but they both have really great world-building combined with some fun silly humor.

[spectralbovine]

I AM STARTING ADVENTURE TIME NEXT.

[shamoogity]

YAY! I actually want to go back and watch the early episodes, because I only started about halfway through its run, and apparently the most recent episodes have had a lot of callbacks that are going right over my head.

[cran]

Rainbow Dash is best pony.

This article about the bronies is pretty interesting! A lot of my friends watch the show, although they're mostly female artists who also enjoy drawing the ponies.

[spectralbovine]

Rainbow Dash is worst pony! She gets on my nerves sometimes. But she has her moments. I don't actually dislike any of the ponies.

I really like the art style. I can never stop looking at the bold, thick lines that outline each character and contrast with the lighter color of their skin/fur. They do seem like they would be fun to draw.

[spadada]

My 9 year old niece is OBSESSED with this show and I loved the original as a kid so I don't hate watching it with her. I agree that the wit is sometimes surprisingly sharp. Fluttershy is my favorite.

[loopychew]

I was wondering when you'd get around to this. :-) Netflix helps with everything! (If you live in the US.)

I do think the whole brony thing is a little crazy; I've enjoyed the show muchly and probably wouldn't have been piqued if it weren't for the brony phenomenon, but at the same time it's an enjoyable show that ranks in the top ten (Batman and Avatar still being my two favorites, particularly if you include LoK under "Avatar") animated series.

[spectralbovine]

I don't know, I could probably come up with ten better animated series. I mean, just throw in all the DCAU. And Gargoyles. And The Simpsons. And X-Men: The Animated Series. I enjoy the show, but it doesn't blow me away.

[loopychew]

It's entirely possible; I haven't watched enough DCAU (or even Gargoyles when it was on) to really make that call. I just don't remember them nearly as vividly as I do B:TAS. (Except for the X-Men theme.)