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Post by kitten on Jun 10, 2011 0:57:51 GMT -5
What I love so much about My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic is that its appeal is absurdly widespread. It is very clearly a feminine show, and the fact that more feminist ideals and entertainment can be enjoyed by such a broad audience without being decried as "girly and stupid" is wonderful, to me. The fact it isn't "girly and stupid" is all the infinitely better (by "girly," I mean the definition that society has harmfully forced upon it, i.e. "of or relating to interests or lifestyles not masculine or cool enough for boys to be allowed to be into). I see Friendship is Magic as a genuinely big step toward gender equality in a world that is still very harmfully sexist, and a huge indicator that progress is really being made to iron out harmful gender roles.
A lot of the ponies on the show are extremely positive feminine role models. Friendship is Magic isn't afraid to be feminine and it does so in such a bold and pleasant way that it both helps dig women out of entrenched stereotypes and helps men feel more comfortable about not having to be "manly." When I first started watching the show, I was borderline offended by the character Rarity, who first came off as the typical "fashion obsessed" character on a little girl show. As the show evolved, she quickly became one of my favorite characters, positively reinforcing that being passionate about "fashion" is not a bad thing, nor something a girl needs to feel forced into doing. Friendship is Magic embraces all sorts of different walks of life with a distinctly feminine charm and grace that I'm very pleased has been so widely accepted.
It's a funny, genuinely well-made and progressive cartoon. I fully understand disliking it for a variety of reasons, but it's made by good people and it's doing good things. Hating that it became a huge internet meme is fine, and hating it for not finding it entertaining is also fine. But... I really, sincerely believe this cartoon is one of the best things to have ever happened to television. I like it a lot, but I like what it's doing even more.
That said, with how defensive all the "bronies" are about the show being good, it shows we do still have a long, long way to go in deconstructing stereotypes. "Manly" and "girly" need to really mean entirely different things than they do to most people.
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Post by TheGunheart on Jun 10, 2011 1:08:43 GMT -5
Another thing about Rarity I love is how her character represents the artistic side of fashion. She's not some vapid Barbie doll obsessing over clothes because some exec thought that's what girls would be interested in, but because she's a fashion designer. It's her job and passion, you gotta love Suited For Success' depiction of what happens when people who have no idea what they're talking about meddle with the artistic process.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2011 10:30:50 GMT -5
I'll have to watch it sometime. As the IRC people know from my pixiv trauma drawings, I'm pretty fucking confident with my sexuality. But I'm also a professionally licensed hater, and I tend to avoid shit that people "squee" about. The fact that /b/tards were the ones initially promoting the meme doesn't help things.
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Post by Ryu the Grappler on Jun 10, 2011 19:53:01 GMT -5
I just saw the two-episode introduction arc on Youtube to see what the fuzz is about and it's actually quite good. I can definitely understand the show's appeal now, although it's not exactly my cup of tea. I'm not much in a hurry to see the remainder of the season (especially when I got other stuff to watch), but I wouldn't mind watching another episode or two. I actually liked it better than Powerpuff and Foster's.
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Post by kitten on Jun 11, 2011 0:31:39 GMT -5
It very sincerely only gets better. The characters seem a bit shallow at first.
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Post by TheGunheart on Jun 11, 2011 1:08:29 GMT -5
The only real problem I have are the obviously executive mandated sequences where Twilight writes about the episode's moral. But they take up such a small amount of the episode's runtime that it's really not worth getting upset about.
And the continuity nods are fun. Be sure to watch the episodes in order, because there are some points about the characterizations that make unexpected returns later.
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Post by Ryu the Grappler on Jun 11, 2011 2:46:13 GMT -5
I always watch any TV series in order whenever I can, but I'll bear that in mind if I decide to continue the series later on (I'm too busy watching old episodes Super Sentai at the moment).
Going back to the thread's original intent, am I the only person in the world who gets annoyed by the overuse of the word "meta"? It's basically a fancier pretentious way of saying that something is self-referential. It's almost as annoying as comic book and sci-fi nerds misusing the word "canon" to the point that it now means "continuity" instead of a really important work.
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Post by muteKi on Jun 11, 2011 9:17:16 GMT -5
And the continuity nods are fun. Be sure to watch the episodes in order, because there are some points about the characterizations that make unexpected returns later. Oh man this show actually has long-term character development? I should probably watch it then. |
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Post by Weasel on Jun 11, 2011 21:33:39 GMT -5
I have only one reason why I'll never watch MLP: I don't set aside much time to just sit and watch anything. I'm the kind of guy that needs to constantly be doing something, whether it's reading a book/forum/IRC channel, twiddling a pencil, twiddling my thumbs, playing a simple at-my-own-pace game like Ataxx or Solitaire, or just eating/drinking something. I don't allot much time to watch things because I tend to run out of things to do that won't take my attention away from the show. This being said, there are a lot of things I intend to watch eventually, and if I ever decide MLP is worth watching for me at some point (so far, I don't feel I am in the show's intended target audience and would likely grow tired of it quickly), it would end up as a low priority below all the noir flicks, detective TV shows, 80's/90's action and martial arts films, or high-rated thrillers and dramas (I eventually hope to watch the entire Godfather trilogy, start to finish).
I guess you could say, then, that the only reason MLP ever actively pisses me off is the same reason things like Twilight, Sonic the Hedgehog, Touhou and DBZ piss me off: regardless of the actual quality of the goods on showcase, the rabid fanbase wastes no time in declaring it the Best Thing Ever in the most flagrantly irritating manner possible. This spreads to all the various forums, IRC channels, and RSS feeds that I check on a daily basis, and I eventually get to the point where I am absolutely sick of hearing about the media in question, nearly guaranteeing that I'll never peruse said media.
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Post by TheGunheart on Jun 20, 2011 0:37:23 GMT -5
The director of Voltron Force is posting on Toonzone, answering some questions from other posters.
...And every single answer is pretty much "it's different for the sake of being different". The original was an anime, so they went with the cheapest American-style character designs they could (while still claiming its awesome). The original had tight, at least mildly believable vehicle-style cockpit, so this one has these massive roomy cockpits that don't look like they could even fit in the Lions.
And of course, there's this smug attitude that the only reason anyone won't like it is because it's "different". That the only reason anyone would take issue is that they're some rabid fan of the original and simply won't accept change. I don't even have much nostalgia for Voltron, but as a Super Robot show, it's just not good.
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Post by Haz on Jun 20, 2011 16:31:46 GMT -5
Yeah, Voltron Force looks terrible.. not only with the character design, which reminds me of a worse Ben 10, but also with the CG for the mecha too. I don't hate CG as much as I did, say, 2-3 years ago, but man, it looks fucking sub-Chinese. Then again, I don't even know why I'm getting so mad about Force. I wasn't even born when it original show aired, and I don't really care much for Voltron (or Golion) at all. The only thing it did different compared to it's contemporaries is the post-apocalyptic setting. I have to say the only reason people here and in some other non-Italy and France countries liked it is because there was like no other Super Robot shows on at the time and televised nationally (despite Jim Terry's best efforts to get us some of the real hits/classics of the era), people ate it up and kinda refused anything else being sent their way (even to where WEP's other production, Saber Rider, doesn't have much fans here.) |
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Post by Warchief Onyx on Jun 20, 2011 19:38:15 GMT -5
I just came to this thread to say Pinkie Pie > all.
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Post by TheGunheart on Jun 21, 2011 1:21:59 GMT -5
I imagine, Haz, that it's because we're both Super Robot fans, and something like this is just plain Serious Business.
Though that said, the character designs make me think of one of those syndicated action cartoons from the 90s. What I find funny is how every attempt at making it look "different" ended up just making it look derivative of other, better cartoons.
Hell, if anything, the show just makes me appreciate Golion more.
On an unrelated note, I just stopped by my first forum after having been gone for a year or two. It's...actually pretty depressing. All the "good" posters have moved on, and all that remain are the ones that post these creepily robotic looking messages.
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Post by TheGunheart on Jul 1, 2011 22:14:14 GMT -5
Sorry to double post, but the impending release of Solatorobo has given me a new one. Namely the people who have this weird kneejerk reaction to the sight of anthropomorphic animals. As if the entire history of animation just vanished in their brains. On a barely related note, just look at this. |
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Post by thethird on Jul 1, 2011 22:52:08 GMT -5
MOSQUITOES!
I went outside today for two minutes to help my dad lift something and I got bit twice on the face. They're everywhere around my part of town. We live close to a sort of swampy river, and I guess the mosquitoes dig that, so in the summer they come out in force. Last year we seemed rather blessed and I thought that maybe it'd continue to this year - nope. It's insane. I was looking at my dog outside and she must have had a swarm of twenty to thirty mosquitoes around her (which didn't seem to actually bother her much, unless they floated in her field of vision in which case she'd try to eat them). The only time it's safe outside is if it's raining and stormy or really windy, and I like to go for walks so this really blows. Even more annoying, all of our weight equipment is out in the garage, which isn't very airtight, so mosquitoes find their way in there, too. I have to do a scan and hunt down any before I start working out. bargh.
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