My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

[Kiddington]

I can't bring myself to actually go into a store, and buy MLP toys. I just... can't. For one thing, the figures kinda suck; they don't look very authentic to the new series at all, and just feel very outdated when I look at them. Of course, my other reasons (the main ones) for not buying them should be pretty obvious, I'd say. 

The series is great, and will unabashedly admit to all of my non-believer friends that I watch it, and love it. But the toys? Erm... no thanks. I'll stick to that Season 1 DVD set, whenever we get it.

[Eddy]

I'll admit, I did buy myself a Fluttershy and Rarity and have them sitting on my computer desk right now. They really blend in with my BioShock and Resident Evil figurines. I found buying the toys surprisingly easy. I think most clerks just assume you're buying them for a little sister or something.

But yeah, I really wish the toys were more show accurate or I'd have an easier time buying them. Plus, I hate trying to style the hair. As much as I love the show I still have some dignity left in my manhood and styling pony hair is going a little too far.

[Juniper]

My buddy and I spent a couple days at our friend's house. She and her boyfriend (the ones we were staying with) already like ponies but my friend had refused to ever watch the show. Whether he liked it or not, one of the things we planned on doing while visiting was watching some pony. Maybe I could get him to see what it is about the show that makes it so good?

Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. 

We watched a handful of different episodes: "Friendship is Magic - Part 1 and 2", "Applebuck Season", "Dragonshy", "Winter Wrap-Up", "Swarm of the Century", "Bridle Gossip", etc.

He seemed to have already decided that he didn't like the show before even watching it. He couldn't, or didn't want to, open his mind to the idea that a cartoon based on My Little Pony could be good and most of the time he wasn't even paying attention to the show because he was busy fiddling away on his iPhone. I heard him laugh at a couple parts (Fluttershy's introduction, "Choooocoooolate chiiiiiips!", etc.) but overall he didn't seem interested at all. I understand this show isn't for everyone, but he didn't seem to even want to give it a chance. And this is a guy who likes Spongebob, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Ed Edd n Eddy, and plenty of other cartoons. I really think if he opened his mind and gave it a fair shot he would really enjoy it. The friend I was staying with agreed, this was the problem. He wasn't even trying to enjoy it.

I hate to say it, but I think he might not be comfortable with the feminine nature of the show. 

Well, at least we planted ponies in his head. Maybe we'll see what happens from there.

ANYWAY, it's great to hear season two is basically right around the corner. Can't wait! 

sup ponygoons buddy 

[Eddy]

Hey there! 

[Dr. Insomniac]

Oh God, they got Gabe.

[Daxdiv]

Not even the WWE is safe from making references at the Pony phenomenon

[Kiddington]

...was kinda hoping it was coming from Vince McMahon, but, uh... eh, still cool anyway.

[Avaitor]

I went to Target last night, and saw that there's a MLP subsection there now. There's a lot more merch for the show now, which is good. Some of it looks a lot better than the toys, too, at least for girls in the show's main demographic.

There's even a Twilight Sparkle pillow pet. I shit you not.

It seems like they want TS to be the breakout character, which I don't think will really turn out well. I know she's the lead, but she's not as relatable as Fluttershy, admirable as Rarity, or as cute as Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. I dunno.

[Kiddington]

There's even a Twilight Sparkle pillow pet. I shit you not.

In all seriousness, though... yeah, I agree; I'm not sure if Twilight is the marketing route I'd take either. She's... I dunno, she's alright, but all things considered, she's kinda boring in comparison to the rest of the cast (yes yes, this is coming from the same guy who likes Applejack; sue me).

Honestly, I'd go with Fluttershy myself. There's great marketing potential in her quirkiness, and she's already had a dozen or so "stand-out" moments in the series that they could play off of.

[Avaitor]

I'd go with either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie myself. Fluttershy for her all-around adorableness, and Pinkie to appeal to the PINK IS LOVE crowd with younger girls. Rainbow Dash could stand a chance as well, for big rainbow fans.

Twilight just doesn't seem like the most desirable character to own everything of. She isn't really much of a character to begin with.

[Rynnec]

I'd much rather have a Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy pillow pet.

Twilight is a rather boring character unless she's A)Snarking, or B)Panicing.

[chdr]

My buddy and I spent a couple days at our friend's house. She and her boyfriend (the ones we were staying with) already like ponies but my friend had refused to ever watch the show. Whether he liked it or not, one of the things we planned on doing while visiting was watching some pony. Maybe I could get him to see what it is about the show that makes it so good?

Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. 

We watched a handful of different episodes: "Friendship is Magic - Part 1 and 2", "Applebuck Season", "Dragonshy", "Winter Wrap-Up", "Swarm of the Century", "Bridle Gossip", etc.

He seemed to have already decided that he didn't like the show before even watching it. He couldn't, or didn't want to, open his mind to the idea that a cartoon based on My Little Pony could be good and most of the time he wasn't even paying attention to the show because he was busy fiddling away on his iPhone. I heard him laugh at a couple parts (Fluttershy's introduction, "Choooocoooolate chiiiiiips!", etc.) but overall he didn't seem interested at all. I understand this show isn't for everyone, but he didn't seem to even want to give it a chance. And this is a guy who likes Spongebob, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Ed Edd n Eddy, and plenty of other cartoons. I really think if he opened his mind and gave it a fair shot he would really enjoy it. The friend I was staying with agreed, this was the problem. He wasn't even trying to enjoy it.

I hate to say it, but I think he might not be comfortable with the feminine nature of the show. 

Well, at least we planted ponies in his head. Maybe we'll see what happens from there.

ANYWAY, it's great to hear season two is basically right around the corner. Can't wait! 

I know this kind of late to quote, but that was my experience watching the show, more or less. The reason why your friend probably hated it probably wasn't because "it was too feminine" or "he wanted to hate it", but rather "it wasn't funny".

A couple people gave me a few episodes to watch and I didn't laugh once. Except for a smile once or twice, I was pretty much stone-faced ( not  ) the whole time.

It's like an above-average moe show (with actual story structure); your entire enjoyment of the show depends on whether you think cute girls doing cute things are funny. It's competently made for what it is, but when you take it outside of its niche, it gets blown to shit by shows that do things (animation, art, humor, characters, you name it) much better than it. I didn't even hate the show; it was just such a boring and disappointing experience for me that I eventually stopped bothering watching the show and waiting for things to "click".

Or at least, that's my opinion.

[Daxdiv]

If it wasn't for Toonzone having dibs on chdr, I think AR could have had a writer for that K-On! vs MLP:FiM thing I threw out.

[Eddy]

I know this kind of late to quote, but that was my experience watching the show, more or less. The reason why your friend probably hated it probably wasn't because "it was too feminine" or "he wanted to hate it", but rather "it wasn't funny".

A couple people gave me a few episodes to watch and I didn't laugh once. Except for a smile once or twice, I was pretty much stone-faced ( not  ) the whole time.

It's like an above-average moe show (with actual story structure); your entire enjoyment of the show depends on whether you think cute girls doing cute things are funny. It's competently made for what it is, but when you take it outside of its niche, it gets blown to shit by shows that do things (animation, art, humor, characters, you name it) much better than it. I didn't even hate the show; it was just such a boring and disappointing experience for me that I eventually stopped bothering watching the show and waiting for things to "click".

Or at least, that's my opinion.

I just want to say that I respect your opinion but I must humbly disagree with it.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I really don't care for "moe shows" and wouldn't really compare FiM with the likes of them. As for the animation, art, humor, and characters being blown away by plenty of other shows, I also disagree. I'm not going to say FiM has the best animation I've ever seen, but it's helped me realize that just because a show is done in Flash doesn't mean it has to look like shit. I can't think of any cartoon series done in Flash that has better animation than FiM, except for Superjail!, seeing how that is all hand drawn and then traced in Flash.

The art and humor gives me a real 90s Cartoon Network vibe that you just don't see in too many cartoons today. It's a show for kids, yeah, but it doesn't talk down to the audience and manages to make it humorous and enjoyable no matter what your age group. As for the characters, I find them to be surprisingly deep. Sure, at first they seem like one-note stereotypes (the shy one, the crazy one, the fashion one, etc.) but you watch enough episodes and you realize that there's more to these characters than meets the eye. Episodes like Suited For Success, Stare Master, A Dog and Pony Show, and Party of One really show that.

My brother actually took a bit to warm up to the show but he eventually told me that "it's a damn good show that I think everyone should give a chance and they should watch a good amount of episodes before passing judgment on it". But it is perfectly fine if the show just isn't your thing.

But, trust me, my friend really was not even trying to enjoy it. The majority of the time he wasn't even paying attention to it. He spent most of the time fiddling on his iPhone and looking up Street Fighter videos.

[chdr]

I know this kind of late to quote, but that was my experience watching the show, more or less. The reason why your friend probably hated it probably wasn't because "it was too feminine" or "he wanted to hate it", but rather "it wasn't funny".

A couple people gave me a few episodes to watch and I didn't laugh once. Except for a smile once or twice, I was pretty much stone-faced ( not  ) the whole time.

It's like an above-average moe show (with actual story structure); your entire enjoyment of the show depends on whether you think cute girls doing cute things are funny. It's competently made for what it is, but when you take it outside of its niche, it gets blown to shit by shows that do things (animation, art, humor, characters, you name it) much better than it. I didn't even hate the show; it was just such a boring and disappointing experience for me that I eventually stopped bothering watching the show and waiting for things to "click".

Or at least, that's my opinion.

I just want to say that I respect your opinion but I must humbly disagree with it.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I really don't care for "moe shows" and wouldn't really compare FiM with the likes of them. As for the animation, art, humor, and characters being blown away by plenty of other shows, I also disagree. I'm not going to say FiM has the best animation I've ever seen, but it's helped me realize that just because a show is done in Flash doesn't mean it has to look like shit. I can't think of any cartoon series done in Flash that has better animation than FiM, except for Superjail!, seeing how that is all hand drawn and then traced in Flash.

The art and humor gives me a real 90s Cartoon Network vibe that you just don't see in too many cartoons today. It's a show for kids, yeah, but it doesn't talk down to the audience and manages to make it humorous and enjoyable no matter what your age group. As for the characters, I find them to be surprisingly deep. Sure, at first they seem like one-note stereotypes (the shy one, the crazy one, the fashion one, etc.) but you watch enough episodes and you realize that there's more to these characters than meets the eye. Episodes like Suited For Success, Stare Master, A Dog and Pony Show, and Party of One really show that.

On the topic of animation, I think you could have had a point ten years ago when Flash was still a fledgling art-form, but I would say that MLP's animation is now the norm and should be expected of all Flash shows (other examples of shows with the same or higher level of Flash animation: Metalocalypse, Jimmy Two-Shoes, Ugly Americans, Harvey Birdman, a lot of webtoons). MLP as a franchise improved, but I still wouldn't say it's that great IMO. It just became on par with most shows out there.

(And I'm gonna have to agree to disagree with you on the humor. I walked in expecting that 90's Cartoon Network feel, but the episodes I watched mostly played it annoyingly safe, humor-wise)