My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

[Avaitor]

That was one hell of a finale. Everyone had great stuff, especially Pinkie and Fluttershy. The wait for season 2 will be painful.

[Kiddington]

Bad news: Lauren Faust is "leaving" the show, as of today:

http://fyre-flye.deviantart.com/journal/40428056/

I know she's technically not walking away from the whole thing altogether (I guess she'll still work on a few of the scrips and what not), but still; I just... wow. I don't even know what to say here. I didn't see this coming at all (really, who could have?), and I almost fear for the future of this series without her manning the ship.

There are some pretty talented people working on it, outisde of Lauren (naturally, lot of former PPG staff involved; IE Chris Savino, Rob Renzetti, etc.), but I'm still a little worried. The fact that we have to wait all the way until December for Season 2 (to see just exactly how this does without her involvement) certainly doesn't help matters, either.

[Avaitor]

This doesn't really bode too well for the show. Lauren was a big reason it turned out so well, and without her being so hands-on, it won't be the same. At the same time though, it's too early to call it out right now, since the wait for season 2 is so long, and the staff is very talented themselves.

I have a feeling the show might be affected somewhat by Lauren stepping down, but hopefully not too much.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, she apparently did work on planning season 2 and about 7 eps are already done, so hopefully the rest of the staff can still pull it together.

It's disheartening to hear, but I still hope they can make a good follow up season. At the very least if Hasbro doesn't force too many changes in there.

[Daxdiv]

Well, this sucks major donkey balls. Excuse me, I'm going into a corner. I'm just hoping that Hasbro doesn't fuck it up, considering that they were reason that certain ponies got an aspect on the show, like the CMC, Cheerilee (She the teacher at that school and the one pony that managed to get a McDonald's Happy Meal toy besides the mane cast and Celestia.) I wonder if this means we'll see the Mermaid/Sea Ponies now, considering that Lauren said that she wanted to focus on the Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn ponies and nothing more. I think Hasbro still has the rights to use the Sea Ponies because they do have a toy from the previous toyline.

[Spark Of Spirit]

From all I can gather, season two is already basically in the can, as she has overseen all the scripts, already had story meetings to plan it out and apparently waited until they were done to leave. So season 2 will most likely still be mostly untouched for the most part, I think. It's beyond season 2 we'd have to worry about, so lets hope we can at least get a good second season from the original staff.

It's still a shame, though. 

[Commode]

Well, I guess it's my turn to take a look at this and see what the hubbub is all about.  I don't really know why I've held out on this for so long, but after completing my download of season three of The Simpsons(gots to have priorities man), I started up my download of the show.

And I'm not really going into this wondering what I should expect, I've kind of already heard all the spiel about how once you get past the surface of the ponies there's some really good writing, characterization, and storytelling.  So here we go, onward with the My Little Pony.  As soon as the download is done.  In approx. one and a half hours.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just make sure you don't quit after the two part premiere. The show gets much better after that point.

[Sketch]

Considerably better but also the first two episodes are very different from the rest of the series.

[Katie Holt]

Considerably better but also the first two episodes are very different from the rest of the series.

True; the two-part pilot is really only meant to introduce the characters.

[Commode]

Oh yeah, I finished watching this.  It's pretty good, I'll admit, and I can definitely see why it's being compared to PPG, but I still don't get all the noise surrounding the show.  True fans of the series don't bother me, but all the others that seem to be forming some sort of cult out of this annoy me.  Hopefully the internet finds something new to latch onto soon, it always does eventually.
 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, for a lot of people it's the whole irony thing of it being a MLP show.

For a lot of other people it's a real breath of fresh air in a currently pretty stale animation environment. The characters aren't obnoxious, the jokes are well written, and it's just plain fun. It also helps that the show seemed to get much better as it went along.

Personally if the next season has more episodes like Dragonshy and Over A Barrel (with character eps like A Dog & Pony Show) then it could very well be a great. It has the potential.

[Katie Holt]

Well, I myself (and all of the fans I've encountered online) like it for all the reasons Desen mentions. Heck, some have even been fans of MLP since G1 and like what Lauren Faust did to it.

No irony, I really do enjoy it, despite SOME executive meddling (the Cutie Mark Crusaders were not in Lauren's original plans - only Apple Bloom would have been, but she ended up liking what that turned out to be).

I've had plans on an opinion piece on why I personally watch it, but haven't really had much time to work on lately.

[Avaitor]

I think it's a quality show with a lot of laughs and a big heart, and deserves a lot of the praise it gets. The show reminds me of the Cartoon Cartoons a lot in terms of nature and timing, and not just PPG in that regard. I think that's what brings a lot of older viewers in, since they grew up watching those shows and this keeps in tune to them without added shock value, cruelty, or unneeded pop culture references like other popular cartoons from today like to add in.

On that note, I think the reason I'm not as big on it as some fans is that I've rewatched a lot of those shows on and off for over the past few years, so the charm runs off for me a little. It's still a damn good show, but I might just take Dexter and Powerpuff and Eds and Courage over MLP on most days of the week.

[Eddy]

I just wanted to chime in and say that adore this show. I can't remember the last time I got this much into a cartoon series where I would go out of my way to watch the latest episode or join discussions online about it. It definitely has the feeling of a 90s Cartoon Network cartoon, which I think is a reason behind a lot of its charm. It's a cartoon that, on the surface, is for little girls but it doesn't dumb itself down for the audience like so many other children's shows today. And despite being done in Flash (something I've grown to hate) it doesn't feel like a crutch or an easy way out and they actually take the time to animate it well.

The characters also have depth and personality. They aren't one-note stereotypes. At first glance, Fluttershy may seem like the typical "shy" character, but she tries to teach herself to be more assertive and overcome her phobia of socializing (and when pushed too far she will fight back!). Pinkie Pie may come off as just another random silly character, but she's no idiot. Pinkie has a rhyme and reason for what she does and lives to make everyone she can smile and be happy. Rarity is quite possibly the most surprising character on the show. In any other cartoon, Rarity would be the run-of-the-mill shallow "bitch" character with nothing on her mind but fashion. But Rarity is so much more--she's an artist. She cares about her friends more than anything and puts their needs before her own. And these are characters aren't perfect. They have flaws and they need to learn how to deal with those flaws.

There are always going to be people who just don't get it. And I can't say I blame them, I mean, this IS My Little Pony. Since its creation in the 80s My Little Pony has always been for little girls and was far from quality entertainment. That's one of the things that makes Friendship is Magic so amazing: they were able to take one of the most asinine franchises of all time and turn it into a high quality, entertaining cartoon series.

I was a upset upon hearing about Lauren Faust's departure but I don't think this means the show is doomed. Lauren may have had the vision and gave birth to this wonderful show, but she hasn't been working on it alone. She's had an amazing staff of artists and writers working with her throughout season one so I'm certain season two is going to be nothing but golden.

But please, if there's a season three, for the love of God don't let Chris Savino take over. We all saw what he did to Dexter's Lab.

Oh right, and Fluttershy is the best pony. And Rarity is the second best.