Sharing the G1 Love · 3:57am Sep 20th, 2014
I ran across this while ego-surfing on the Internet and had to share it. This is from one of those goofy "fan secret" websites:
Since I normally find myself around the G4 crowd, it was interesting to read some of the comments posted under this image. Here's a sample:
I'd love for Megan to be added to the show, if only to piss off the entitled 18-35 year old male bronies who act like MLP is their personal show.
Yes. I would say I would bathe in their tears, but they're tears are probably as gross as they are.
I'm so ambivalent on this. On one side, whatever could bring Bronies pain and make this clusterfuck of a show better is a Good Thing. On the other hand... god, I loved the classic generations and FIM is so beyond redemption I just want to believe it's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THING THAT'S NOT EVEN MADE BY THE SAME PEOPLE.
I dislike FIM. I don't think my opinion is Gospel Truth, but I've had to sit by my little sister's side while she watches and I was taken aback on how dull the plots are, how simplistic was everything, and how the characters were so... /)_- I'm sorry, it's 5 am, I can't English now. But you get it. I swear I'm not RadFem!Anon, chronically against everything pink and femme, but how it screams so loudly "THIS IS A GIRLY SHOW FOR LITTLE GIRLS" squicks me. (Though, the way bronies think so indisputably it's a show for THEM squicks me way more.)
This intrigues me simply because I find myself hanging around the G4 crowd more than the G1 crowd. Although Bronies appear from where I am sitting to have largely gotten over their emasculation-compensating hatred for the previous generations, the opinion that G4 swept away everything previous and spun gold out of unpromising material is still a common one. To see the opposite point of view, that G1 roolz and G4 droolz, is . . . well, I daresay it's refreshing, simply because it's different.
Myself, I think there are good points and bad points in both G1 and G4. (About G3 I admittedly know very little and have no strong opinion.) I also think My Little Pony as a concept has storytelling potential that nobody, Faust included, has tapped, and that I think probably nobody will. I have always thought that My Little Pony had hidden depths and that it somehow tapped something deep in the human soul, something difficult to define. That is why the original series had me glued to the screen even though I was a small boy and it was a yucky girl show.
(Also, I had a crush on Megan.)
Gratuitous picture of Megan.
Part of the reason I always thought Applejack was best pone
was because she seemed to me to be basically a quadruped Megan.
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You make an extremely good point -- G4 Applejack's personality is a lot like Megan's. Caring, cool in a crisis, cunning and country.
Man, you should just move to the midwest. Tons of girls that dress like Meghan. Go to a ranch and live out your fantasy.
Huh. It's like reading comments from Bizarro World.
2468730 And extremely focused on taking care of younger siblings...
2468741 It's the internet, maybe he already has? (Dude does know a LOT about horses).
2468730
I think Megan´s personlity is a mix between AJ and Celestia ("my little ponies").
It's always refreshing to step out of one's personal Internet echo chamber and see what it's like in another. Unfortunately, because this is coming from an Internet echo chamber, where one's opinions bounce about and are never, ever questioned*, none of the commentators feel the need to support their arguments. I would like to know why they feel G4 is "beyond redemption."
*Or so I assume. For all I know, there is a downright pyroclastic flame war going on in those comments.
Man, now I'm really curious on what those potentials are that nobody's tapped or will tap.
Off the top of my head the only thing I can think of is the fact it gives an exploration into what could be the mindset of a prey species...which is actually very interesting.
I watched G1 and loved it. I'm currently watching My Little Pony Tales and...
Well, all I can think is that its inclusion in "G1" has dragged the original show's name through the mud. :B
Megan is mentioned in the comics. Both on a book in equestria and as a student at canterlot high school in equestria girls.
Megan = Awsome.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/6/1/642535__safe_meme_exploitable+meme_g1_lord+tirek_tirek+vs+everyone+meme_megan_tirek+is+doomed_megan+williams.jpg
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I think the problem is Friendship is Magic has been overhyped and bronies have become so overbearing a force in the general community. The people running Friendship is Magic listen to them, not the people who have been fans of this brand for decades. And it's frankly started to show with a certain animation error becoming more visible and acknowedged and internet memes becoming more common. If you had said when I watched the pilot almost four years ago this series would have a Slenderman reference on screen, I would have laughed in your face. That might contribute to some people's disdain for Friendship is Magic.
I personally prefer the world of G1 because it seems so much more open. With the ponies only being a small enclave, the world is basically a blank canvas. Anything can happen and anyone could live there. The ponies have a sprawling nation and the main setting being right smack dab in the middle of it inhibits that. Also, everything ties into the ponies in Friendship is Magic while G1 gave us a sense the ponies had little impact on their world as a whole.
I would like to see a My Little Pony series that brought the relationship between the ponies and their world back. The slice of life is getting a tad boring.
2469372 my little pony tails is G2 not G1 as my little pony tails was sponsored and aired on Disney channel. G3 and G3.5 are worse they where so bad not even Disney or Nickelodeon would touch it so it was on disk only with the toys at the time.
2469545 no No NO! Tales is G1. The toys sold in Europe based on them used the G1 molds. G1 ended 1995. G2 was a completely different design that never had a television presence. Get it right!
2469573
I'm rather confused.
What was G3 then?
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G1 1982-1995 (ended 1992 in the U.S.)
G2 1997- 2002 (ended 1998 in the U.S.)
G3 2003-2009
G4 2010 to present
I wonder Deej ran across these posts. I hang out on the Arena where older fans are, but I've never seen posts this hostile to FiM.
I haven't seen much of G1 -- just The Movie and that one episode, Rescue from Midnight Castle -- but that's enough to illustrate my point.
From what I've seen, G1 had a kick-ass setting. A full Century of dragons under command of an evil wizard, those goblin-thingies from a long-lost empire, the giant spider thingy, the old good-guy wizard propped up by his assistant--who's a rabbit, everything involved in the smooze (love that one musical number), the Bushwoollies... The Bushwoollies were awesome, just sayin'.
Know where I loose it? The ponies. (Go ahead, grump at me.) The pony individual "Shady" has a cluster of sunglasses on her butt. Yes, seriously. And this seems to be representative of the intelligence level of the ponies, nor have I seen signs of the humans being much better.
(The humans are confusing. On the one hand, sure, humans, okay. On the other hand, but ponies. The humans seem to be there to do stuff the ponies can't or won't (or can't or won't think of), but they seem super-ineffective. And if that's all they're there for, why not use something else from the setting? Not having the humans would force the entire rest of the 'verse to be somewhat stronger. I dunno, I'm ambivalent. Episode recs would be appreciated.)
Maybe it's better in other parts of G1. As I said, I've only seen the two. But I'm not sure how much better it could be.
2469643 I would suggest The Magic Coins, Mish Mash Melee, and Crunch the Rockdog. They feature Wind Whistler heavily who was probably the best characterized of the ponies.
I've already made my opinion of Megan clear. It should have been the ponies looking after her in their world instead of the other way around.
2469573 I watched them air not going by toys my little pony/ My little pony and friends witch was season 2 title change. Are G1
My little pony tails was all earth ponies in school and was 3 or 4 years later and is G2
G3 and 3.5 is the only one that was strait to DVD as G1 and G2 where both on vhs. G3 and 3.5 are the freaky looking ones that had a DVD episodes some to tell little girls what they should want and sucked horrorabiliy.
2469676 You do realize this is a TOY brand, don't you? The cartoons are simply extended advertisements (in the case of Tales a failed teaser trailer). The definitions of generations were formed by the collectors and did so based on the changes in toy style. The shows are just shows with no impact on the generations.
2469715 no there are a difference there are 4 generation of show. There are 6 of the toys so the shows and toys have a separate gen counter.
2469545
2469573 is right. MLPT is technically season 3 of G1. It's even got some of the same people working on staff. G2 ponies are very different looking from G1 and the only media hey had was a computer game.
2469643
If you're interested, I watched and reviewed all the G1 episodes (minus the movie) here. I am still a G4 fan first and foremost, so be warned, but the show turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I anticipated.
2469737 There's no difference in design from the first 5 years of G1 (the time of the original cartoon continuity) and Year 11 (Tales). The 7 character ponies were even made in the exact same mold as earth ponies from 8-7 years earlier. The toys were continuous and so was the comic released on the U.K. In fact, the comic suggested Tales was an alternate universe to the Dream Valley one. Are we going to say Equestria Girls is G5?
Also, I have a more extensive review of the original cartoon on Youtube. I'm actually planning on redoing it with the new DVD's coming out.
2469783 I never read the comics or got the toys. I just watched the show. And no Equestria girls are cannon movies. Just like the 2 movies in G1 are cannon. I think season 5 will show them coming together more.
I'm in the middle of the two. G1 had it's flaws I won't deny that, but there's a lot of places it went that G4 won't, or is just starting to consider. The fact is that Dream Valley was a lot more dark and dangerous than Equestria. Monster and villain attacks are common, there's tons of other races competing with them for land and resources, and contrasted with G4 where Equestria has been repurposed so much that the ponies control everything down to the weather, G1 had the ponies as just one race of many and pretty over all unimportant. Heck there's multiple hints and said outright that the ponies are a recent development and evil races ruled supreme. There's even an episode where they have to reseal a water monster from flooding their valley and reinstating his old rule.
Getting back on the topic at hand, I think that hidden depths was because the ponies are very different from Hasbro's other shows. Civilization is less defined. The ponies are alone.
I remember someone described the ponies position in the original cartoon chillingly. Imagine you are part of a small, close knit community standing alone against so much wishing to do you harm. There's no military, no police, no reinforcements, nowhere to even run. Just you, your neighbors, whatever you have at your disposal, and your wits against just about everything. It makes the moments of peace all the more precious when you can actually live and you relish those fleeting moments.
That's sadly something that has been lost as Hasbro has decided My Little Pony should be a slice of life brand.
2469288
I am of the opinion, and apparently have been for all my life, that disarmingly cute cartoon characters are the best protagonists for epic adventures, a la Jeff Smith's Bone or Avatar: The Last Airbender or Duck Tales. When I found out about the new My Little Pony series and its popularity, that's what I thought I was getting into and was rather disappointed to find it was a slice-of-life show, albeit an entertaining one.
The original series had some respectable workmanlike writers who knew how to churn out amusing TV scripts on time, but it did not have writers with the chops to produce long epics. In fact, the series' one epic-sized plotline is also one of its worst.
The current series is not set up for an epic-sized plot, even if it wanted to have one. The art style, in particular, is all wrong for it, and Hasbro wanted a series that could be syndicated in any episode order.
I do not mean, of course, that I would like to see My Little Pony laden with sex or excessive violence, the things that the unimaginative believe make a story "deeper" or "better." But I would have liked to see the stories more involved and the environmental designs more lush. Avatar in particular, which might be the greatest kids' cartoon of all time, shows how to do epics that have involved storylines and well-developed characters, but are fun, funny, and family-friendly.
Except for the twelve-year-old kid with the older girlfriend. That part's creepy.
2470623 Well, he's technically 112.
I get what you're saying. I think Michael Reaves came the closest to capturing that potential. The Magic Coins gave us a glimpse of just what this world was and could have in store. However, he would never get enough episodes for a story to write an epic.
I would like to see a series maybe geared towards a slightly older audience that is less slice-of-life and more adventure and exploration. With Netflix and other online sources out there to get a series to the people, syndication and the ability to watch any episode isn't as important. Some countries like Japan might also be more attracted to a series with an overarching plot since it is more to their tastes.
And the obvious benefit of this to Hasbro is more pony characters to sell. Perhaps more playsets designed after ponies' main base of operation or other notable locales.
2469943
A lot of the difference between G1 and FIM is about thirty years.
What was considered appropriate for children cartoons in the 80's is almost taboo in today's cartoons. The producers of children's cartoons today are more conservative and only interested in playing it safe. The 80's where campy/cheesy but they could do things to tell a good story.
Studio exec's need to grow up and take some chances. The kids will be fine, and when it comes to FIM their target demographic has aged four years. If their still fans of the show, i'm sure they would love to see the show grow (even a little) with them.
Also FIM should spend some time exploring the rest of their world, not just their country. Lets see how the zebras or griffons live. What about where Tirek came from? Or Saddle Arabia, where is it located?
Or this would be an interesting story idea. What do the other countries/races think about the sun and moon being controlled by a nation of ponies and how does this affect their relationships with each other.
2470773
I have heard this claim made before, and I've decided I don't buy it. Take a look at the aforementioned Avatar: is there anything that show is lacking that they might have done in the Eighties? It is a fully developed world and has a fully developed story. The only evidence that it's aimed specifically at young children is its absurdly low body count, which it would have also had in the Eighties, the decade of the bloodless G.I. Joe.
I think about the only things I've seen in old children's cartoons that I don't see anymore are smoking and drinking, but those were also gone from children's cartoons by the Eighties, the decade when winners didn't use drugs.
If anyone wanted to make My Little Pony an epic, it isn't censors or watchdogs who would stop them. Other children's cartoons, including recent ones, have had more involved storytelling. My Little Pony looks the way it does because that's the kind of show Hasbro wanted.
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I loved Avatar. Korra is'nt to bad either, but not quite the same. And yes epic story telling. The difference between a show like Avatar and FIM that I see. Is continuity. In a show like Avatar every episode impacts the following episode. FIM doesnt do this or only so so, which I think really hurts the shows development and that really more then anything I think limits its ability to do a good epic storyline.
Maybe I remember the 80's differently. Totally possible considering my memories of my memories of that time are inconsistent.
Never watched much of GI Joe. I was more into ThunderCats, Transformers, Voltron, He-Man, Exo-Squad and the like.
Ive found very little in cartoons of late to be worth watching.
I dont know, I tend to think their are story ideas Hasbro wont explore, but would have been in the 80's.
You know it just occurred to me that the stuff out of the 90's was a lot darker then things from the 80's.
My comment is all over the place, thoughts and ideas coming at random moments.
Hasbro might be more open to an epic now. Friendship is Magic was made when My Little Pony had hit rock bottom in terms of media where a fan could make a more convincing animation with Super Nintendo sprites than their flash animators were putting out. Hasbro was tepid about doing anything ambitious with MLP.
However, My Little Pony is now popular and Friendship is Magic has made the brand synonymous with quality children's entertainment (whether it's true or hype is up to you).
Also, online video sources like Netflix and Hulu are becoming a significant resource for syndication, and an overarching story is more desirable for them. Their advantage is you have the entire series at your disposal, and a series where you have to watch just about every episode in order means your going to use their service more than if it's a bunch of loosely connected episodes.
The only question is will Hasbro see this.
Every time I hear Megan Williams' name in the radio I get in a giggling fit.