Enter Lauren Faust, who was just as sick of that kind of thing as I was.  Faust (who had previously worked on the Powerpuff Girls cartoon, which may make some of you sit up and take notice) had been trying for years to get someone to pick up her pet project: a cartoon aimed at young girls that a) didn't look like a pile of barfed-up fairy cakes having a tonic-clonic seizure, and b) had some kind of message other than "cry to get what you want."  Eventually, she ended up working with Hasbro on their new MLP show.

FiM is still a cartoon made to sell toys, of course, so let's not get too excited here; it's still quite simple and a little under-animated.  But the artwork is stylish and individual; the stories zippy and engaging.  It all looks like someone cared about how everything looked and whether you had fun watching the show.  The characters are characters -- not interchangable blobs distinguishable only by their colour scheme and flank markings.  The show is full of in-jokes and nods to popular culture: in one episode the antagonists are the Diamond Dogs; comedy chases are accompanied by Yakkety Sax; and the final story in the first season kicks off with a Sondheim tribute.

The six central ponies are the bookish Twilight Sparkle, soft femme Fluttershy, hard femme Rarity, candy-raver Pinky Pie, athlete Rainbow Dash and -- my personal favourite -- Applejack, a soft butch.  We also meet, inter alia, a baby dragon called Spike (who serves as Twilight's assistant and text messaging service), the wise Princess Celestia, Zecora the Racefail Zebra (of who more later) and various antagonists and walk-ons.


The show has come in for some criticism, most notably in an article published in Ms. magazine's blog: "My Little Homophobic, Racist, Smart-Shaming Pony".  Most of the criticisms in this article don't really stand up, however; it comes off more as mean-spirited nit-picking than anything else.  (You can read Lauren Faust's rebuttal here.)

None of the FiM crew presented as being less interesting, less cool, or less acceptable. They are all shown as fun, likeable, appealing characters; all of them are "proper girls," whether they like conventionally feminine pursuits or not. Twilight's studiousness is presented in nothing but a positive light; she just needs to balance it with some social interaction.  The parties and the dress-up are still there, but given a more thoughtful independant twist.  Pinkie likes parties -- she delights in arranging and throwing them for her friends. Rarity loves fashion and dressing up, but instead of shopping she designs and makes clothes for herself and the other ponies.  Rainbow Dash is a stunt flier who dreams of joining a team of acrobatic Pegasi.  Fluttershy takes an active interest in the plants and animals around her.  Applejack delights in the physical labour required to maintain Sweet Apple Acres, an orchard which seems to serve as the ponies' primary food source.  (Why Kathleen Richter flags Dashie as a token lesbian is unclear; for one thing, the ponies' orientations are not gone into -- only Rarity is actually shown dating anyone -- and for another... dude, AJ). There are tensions between the characters sometimes, but these are always amicably resolved.

I personally would also make an argument for FiM as a show with a positive mixed-ability message, deliberate or not.  Twi, AJ, Pinkie and Rarity can't fly, and that's OK. AJ, Pinkie, Dashie and Fluttershy can't do magic, and that's OK. Everyone has their own strengths and areas where they shine, and nobody looks down on anyone else.

It's not all perfection, of course.  I have to admit that there is a distinct whiff of racefail around the show, which mars an otherwise inclusive message.  You could argue that FiM teaches inclusivity because all of the ponies are different colours, but that would put you on thin ice. Princess Celestia rules all, and she is a white pony.  She's not meant to be Caucasian -- she's a freaking rainbow unicorn pony -- but that does make me wriggle in my seat a little.  Then there's the what-were-you-thinking buffalo episode; the buffalo (roughly representing someone's idea of Native people) want to run through a particular valley, and pony settlers want to put an orchard there.  This is represented as both sides having an equal claim, ignoring the fact that the buffalo were there first and the ponies have a perfectly lovely land of their own to get back to.

Then there's Zecora the Zebra.  Frankly, Zecora is a total magical negress from soup to fucking nuts.  She wears kind of psuedo-African jewellery and lives in a hut in the woods and dispenses wisdom and herbal remedies to the ponies, despite the fact that they were pretty much all being dicks to her until recently.  It looks like someone wanted to tell a perfectly worthy story about not judging people by their appearance but then kind of crapped the bed.  I've read an interview with Lauren Faust where she mentioned wanting to feature Zecora more heavily, but couldn't because Zecora was deemed too spooky.  I'm hoping this means that some character development got missed out on and might happen in future episodes.  Given the generally inclusive vibe of the show, Zecora and the buffalo people stand out rather glaringly.

Despite these criticsms, my overwhelming impression of FiM:MLP has been positive.  Just the fact that someone sat down to make a good show aimed at little girls is heartening; the fact that it got made, and in general has stayed more-or-less true to that original concept, is brilliant.  And then there's the whole brony thing, which is pretty hilarious.

None of which really tells you just how great this show is.  I love this show.  LOVE IT.  I love everything from Pinkie's songs to Dashie's Sonic Rainboom to the stupid horse puns. 

My best pony is Applejack.  Who is your best pony?

OMG A PONY THREAD! I grew up on MLPs, they were my favorite toys and I played with them long after it was socially acceptable to do so. I've only seen a few episodes of the show (so many cartoons, so little time), when I catch up to the next season, I'll have more to contribute to this thread.

Mordant Carnival said: My best pony is Applejack. Who is your best pony?

I can't decide between Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie. I had a G1 Applejack pony when I was a kid; my dog chewed her feet off:( Rainbow Dash shares personality traits with several of my favorite anime characters, and Pinkie Pie just cracks me up.

I might have to see what my daughter makes of this. Hmmm. 

I caught the first episode a while back and it was solid entertainment. The animation and design did exactly what they were supposed to, it was stylish and made the low budget into a virtue in a similar manner to the Powerpuff Girls.

I'm no stranger to cartoons made to market toys, that's pretty much one of the main reasons that there's so much anime around. I don't have a problem with that. I've seen great kids shows (Eureka 7) in which the toy designs came first; I've seen great shows that were turned into toys after they became successful. No reason why a good writer can't spin gold from any old starting point.

MLP has a bit of a mythology behind it, right? The sun pony subduing the moon pony or some such? When I saw the first show it seemed like someone had grafted elements of Sailor Moon onto the Powerpuff Girls. Does the mythology feature much throughout the season?

WOOT PONYTHREAD!

I collected Ponies back in the day but never watched the show. As such, I've only recently become acquainted with the fact that the G1 MLP show actually featured some pretty adventurous derring-do and battles with dark and eeeeeevil forces... the first season looks a lot like the old D&D cartoon, actually, which is not coincidental since they had some animators in common. 

Oh, and I think my best pony is Twilight, though I am also extremely fond of both Applejack and Fluttershy.

It was something to do with how the mythologised intro to the first episode was stylised more than the actual content... it instantly called to mind Revolutionary Girl Utena, with Utena's mythologised backstory becoming a repeating riff throughout the series, a ritual given a slightly different spin every time it played out. So yeah... that kind of thing is indelibly imprinted on my brain, so I guess I saw MLP and instantly thought of Kunihiko Ikuhara.

As a 7-y/o, I think  the faux-mythic, faux-tapestery-ish look of the intro would have been right up my alley, personally.  I know that it did turn some people off -- I was comparing an old G1 vid on Youtube with the first ep of FiM, and got a completely unexpected response from a younger woman who pointed out that as a kid, she'd have found the G1 episode more accessible while the intro from FiM would have been confusing and off-putting. 

(Never really liked the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon much, either... that unicorn annoyed the heck out of me, and the Dungeon Master was a git.)

I think the ep. that won me over wasn't so much the first story but ep 3: The Ticket Master.  Princess Celestia sends Twi a letter containing two tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala.  Her friends all compete for the extra ticket, laying out their reasons for wanting to go.

My best Pony is Discord, despite him not actually being a pony, because he resembles more than one of my deities and the promotional toy, if they do bad-guy toys, will be perfect for my altar.

My favourite thing about MLP is, predictably, the Brony culture and in-jokes that surround it. In particular I like images of Trollestia and the whole Cannibalism/Cupcakes theme (NSFW, maybe).

Incidentally, for those that are interested, I made a knitting pattern for people who want to dress as unicorns. Don't worry, no one could possibly judge you for that. Pattern and unflattering photo within the spoiler.

DISCORD IS NOT A PONY.

I'm cross coz the board ate my post!  Anyway.

Yeah, I love the remix/brony/pegasister culture that's sprung up around the show.  The DJ P0N-3/Vinyl Spin music videos; the fanvids where ponies are superimposed onto dialogue from gangster movies or 300; the Tyrant Celestia/Trollestia stuff and all the other image macro memes. I really like how Lauren Faust and other people on the MLP team have been quite happy to acknowledge the brony phenomenon, even giving an interview to Equestria Daily.  The Derpy Hooves thing in particular is rather sweet.

(you could sew some rainbow gauze to that hat & be Princess Trollestia.)

I found the mythologised intro to the first episode fascinating, but then I couldn't get into the actual show, I just can't get into the groove for some reason.
I'm also hindered by my 2-yr old not liking it, when it's on screen she shouts "NO DADDY, BAD BAD BAD, NO, PEPPA PIG DADDY" etc. but maybe when she's older.
Like everyone though the brony thing is hilarious. I really want to see a macro of a pony in a troll face or a V mask captioned U MAD /b/?

The closest I could find;

U MAD Q?

One thing I like about the series is that the central character, Twilight Sparkle, is focused on studying her books and developing her abilities, rather than the usual occupations of characters in girls' cartoons.  She's portrayed as needing a bit more balance in her life, but there's no assumption that she's boring, or less likeable, or less pretty, for her studiousness.  I remember those stereotypes being quite prevalent when I was a kid.  The "stay in school" message is kind of subverted, too; Twilight's work isn't assigned; she studies independantly, with subjects suggested by her experiences.

Yeah, I like how ultimately it's BOTH her studiousness AND the help of her friends that save the day in the first arc.

I've just noticed that Celestia seems to have an offscreen wind-machine in every scene she's in. As if she's being blown by different winds to the rest of her environment. Sinister.

Also, watching s1e6 right now. The phrase "far too exhausted from performing feats beyond imagination, be gone with you till morning" is now part of my conversation.

Brony memebase has Pony mixed drinks recipes and I really want to post it to the Mixology thread, but I guess that would be crossing the streams.

I had the same thought too.

I've also just played most of Story of the Blanks, which I'd never heard of. It's an 8-bit style MLP story which is so, so, so much more upsetting that I'd expected. Maybe it's the late night. But even knowing the DARQUE plot, it still freaked me out.

Click the link and give it a play. It's no from Hasbro and it not, not, not for young children. Think Silent Hill: Equestria.

Sekhmet said: Brony memebase has Pony mixed drinks recipes and I really want to post it to the Mixology thread, but I guess that would be crossing the streams

All discussion of cocktails always encouraged.

Princess said:
I've also just played most of Story of the Blanks, which I'd never heard of.

That pony game was fun. Weird, I felt all guilty about disobeying Twilight and running off, even though it was the only way to progress to the next level.

There are a variety of MLP cocktail recipes doing the rounds.  (Also Pokemon.)

...damn that game was unsettling.

Most gnostically delicious children's cartoon series ever? Certainly, the most that with ponies and rainbows.

One frequent criticsm of the show -- or maybe it's intended more as a criticsm of the fans -- is that its appeal to older viewers is based largely on nostalgia.  I think that's unfair to the show.  For a start, the bronies are -- well, bros. Most 30-something blokes are unlikely to be nostalging over the days when they played happily with their candy-coloured pony dolls; the 80s just weren't that progressive, dude.  As I've mentioned, I was just violently repulsed by My Little Pony as a kid, and only came slinking guiltily into the MLP fandom on the back of FiM.  Moreover, I actively disliked that whole genre of 80s cartoons and still do; whether aimed at boys or girls, they just left me cold. I prefered classic cartoon shorts like Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry, and homegrown UK shows like Cosgrove Hall's Dangermouse.  Nope, FiM had to fight to win me over and it still won.

I have no nostalgia for MLP. That criticism would be better aimed at a Sylvanian Families revival, if such a wonderful thing would ever happen.

I loved the toys and shows as a kid, but FiM makes me more nostalgic for Powerpuff Girls than Ponies.

(I missed that bit about the G1 toys making you sick, Mordant, or else I would have put G1 Applejack under a spoiler tag to begin with. Issue now rectified.)

I'm over it now.  G1 fans + bronies unite!  EVERYPONY EQUAL EVERYPONY LOVED

ORBITAL FRIENDSHIP CANNON ACTIVATED.

INITIATE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY.

So in eps 1 and 2 we met the ponies, got filled in on some of Equestria's backstory, learned about the Elements of Harmony and so on.  In episode 3, we learned a bit more about what makes the six central characters tick. Episode 4 is, joy of joys, an Applejack-centric episode.

I'm also hindered by my 2-yr old not liking it, when it's on screen she shouts "NO DADDY, BAD BAD BAD, NO, PEPPA PIG DADDY" etc.

To be fair, Peppa Pig is rather brilliant.

Equestria Daily: Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust

Aha! Someone from Samurai Jack WAS involved in the development process - I knew there had to be a connection there somewhere. 

Relevant. BRB, changing my userpic.

And then there is this import from teh Facestab:

High levels of awesomness detected in this sector!

Hoof-biting action overload!

In Episode 5, "Griffon the Brush-Off", we find Rainbow Dash avoiding Pinkie Pie.  Understandable -- dear Pinkamina has a wonderful heart but she can be a bit much if you're not used to her -- but unfortunate, as Pinkie is now hero-worshipping the pegasus after witnessing her stunt flying.

... none of which tells you how lovely it all is.  The initial scence where Pinkie is pursuing the exasperated Dash are full of little visual gags, including having Pinkie emulate Pepe Le Pew's four-footed prance.  The facial expressions on all the characters are great, the timing is spot on.  And the baby dragon gets hiccups.

Just zooming past to tell you about this blank paint your own pony figurine.

Those look like so much fun! I wish they would make them in the FiM style.

I get what you're saying, but in another way I'm sort of glad that Hasbro aren't offering more desirable merch, you know?  One of the things I like about the whole brony thing is that people are creating their own bits and bobs to play around with rather than just buying Hasbro's products.  It's fun to see things like home-made shirts based on popular macros, "baked bads", printable paper pony cut-outs... I have a feeling we might see less creativity if Hasbro was filling the gap more effectively.

And Princess, that is made of joy.  Of course, it's an obvious development; people have been decorating their own ponies for yonks now -- as Regretsy has just discovered.

I have now watched all the available ponies. ALL THE PONIES. Do we have an ETA on s2e4?

It should show up on YouTube sometime tonight...