...Hey, don't look at me like that! The show is actually really good. I invite you to watch a personal favorite:
If you're still not quite convinced, here's a few more reasons why you should give this a chance:
-The creator of the show, Lauren Faust, is well-known for her work on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
-The show has a large adult male following; many viewers come from /co/, whose pony-related postings have surpassed over 6,000 per day.
-Nick and More pronounced the series "Best New Show of 2010" from viewer voting.
(ripped shamelessly from the show's Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_Friendship_Is_Magic )
Faust's own opinion of girl's cartoons seems to have greatly influenced the development of the show for the better:
I was extremely skeptical at first about taking the job. Shows based on girls' toys always left a bad taste in my mouth, even when I was a child. They did not reflect the way I played with my toys. I assigned my ponies and my Strawberry Shortcake dolls distinctive personalities and sent them on epic adventures to save the world. On TV, though, I couldn't tell one girl character from another and they just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying–which miraculously inspired the villain to turn nice. Even to my 7-year-old self, these shows made no sense and couldn't keep my interest. No wonder the boys at school laughed at my Rainbow Unicorn Trapper Keeper.
From what I've seen since I've grown up, little has changed. To look at the quality of most girls' cartoons, it would seem that not one artist really cared about them. Not one designer, not one background painter, not one animator. Some of the more well-meaning, more expensive animated productions for girl audiences may look better, but the female characters have been so homogenized with old-fashioned “niceness” that they have no flaws and are unrelatable. They are so pretty, polite and perfect; there is no legitimate conflict and nothing exciting ever happens. In short, animated shows for little girls come across as boring. Stupid. Lame.
This perception, more than anything, is what I am trying to change with My Little Pony.
So? Are there any suprise bronies here? Have I gotten anyone interested in the show? Have I completely obliterated any chance of ever being considered straight on this site again?
Originally Posted by Sketchy I really hate this animation style - hand-drawn is always better
Again, you're making a statement without considering that it depends what it's for. I use Flash to animate with at work, and it suits the intended purpose far better than hand drawn would. The characters themselves are well animated, though I don't care for their actual designs. Some of the background art is quite nice too.
@ Adam:
Obviously Flash has advantages - it's quicker and easier, and therefore cheaper; and an animation can be very small (in terms of filesize) so it's ideal for the internet.
But in terms of the end result, hand-drawn is just plain better.
It's not bad, a bit overrated. I think it's about the same level as the other good modern cartoons.
I really like Faust's way of giving all of them a personality, that's exactly what made the classic cartoons fun.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Sorry, I have no light gun for the second phase. Therefore I declare that this show stinks. What a time wasting pile of guts-ooze. This show sucks.
(Well, not actually... Because I can buy a light gun and shoot more spinning cans so I won't get a game over... Don't you think it's a fucking miss out of Nintendo to supply the Famicom and it's light gun separately? I was craving to play duck hunt and co but had no light gun always getting a game over or the dog laughing at me while actually I couldn't shoot anything. Damn you humans! You could do me a spare and supply me extra booze & cha-chings! *Coughsmoke*)
Originally Posted by NastyMan Sorry, I have no light gun for the second phase. Therefore I declare that this show stinks. What a time wasting pile of guts-ooze. This show sucks.
(Well, not actually... Because I can buy a light gun and shoot more spinning cans so I won't get a game over... Don't you think it's a fucking miss out of Nintendo to supply the Famicom and it's light gun separately? I was craving to play duck hunt and co but had no light gun always getting a game over or the dog laughing at me while actually I couldn't shoot anything. Damn you humans! You could do me a spare and supply me extra booze & cha-chings! *Coughsmoke*)
Originally Posted by Sketchy @ Adam:
Obviously Flash has advantages - it's quicker and easier, and therefore cheaper; and an animation can be very small (in terms of filesize) so it's ideal for the internet.
But in terms of the end result, hand-drawn is just plain better.
I must agree with Sketchy here. For me early Tom & Jerry cartoons are true art masterpieces. So much detail yet beutifully and fluidly animated.
Where as My Little Pony, Dexters Lab et al are less appealing
That said I quite liked Dexter's Lab and Johnny Bravo when I was younger, I just think that art wise it is a LOT LOT cheaper and quicker to produce (and looks a lot more ugly IMO).
Jenswa, I drew similar quality art to what Dexters Lab has on an optional module at uni during my first year. Myself and all my mates chose Design and Graphics due to the belief of there being more women in it, rather than engineering and maths! The first year of bachelors degree is worth nothing anyway .
Anyway I could never do art to a level to match the old Tom and Jerry cartoons (let alone animate such art).
That aside my art lecturer asked why I was doing engineering...