PSA: So What Did Filly Funtasia Turn Out To Be? · 1:42pm Mar 16th, 2019
First off: noticing some plateau-ing in my follower count. People leaving, new people joining. Mixed feelings about that, but one can only assume I'm not catering to people as much as I should.
So, let's cater to those curious about Filly Funtasia. This is my first post on the matter post-release and will be my only post. I don't think Filly Funtasia needs to blow up like the brony fandom did, I certainly don't want the undesirables of this fandom to migrate to this other one. You know who you are 
. So I won't be advertising the show here much at all. Still not sure how much I'll be branching out, but that's a topic for another time.
After five thousand years of fillybustering, what did we get, then? What, exactly, is Filly Funtasia like, five episodes in? Good or bad?
Well, depends on what you're looking for. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but then I wouldn't recommend MLP or OPM or any of the shows I watch without some background or context. So I'll split it up into three: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The Good is the decisions I approve of and the positive consequences thereof. The Bad is the negative consequences of those good decisions, things that you kinda have to take with the good. The Ugly is just plain bad decisions that I would change or try to change.
The Good.
-The setting is awesome. It's basically a magic school running its ICT tools through magic. Students get a magic mirror that acts as a wand, a Bag of Holding, as well as a phone. Dorm rooms have large mirrors that the teachers can use to call students or make announcements. In case of emergency, teachers will contact students through the mirrors, and the camera function can give them an idea of how big an emergency it is. There's a sense of genuineness to the Academy, it has a lot of 'Oh yeah, you would do it like that' vibes to it. Not only that, but the Academy grounds are huge. We get to see the chef, the observatories, and those floating island thingies are apparently a good place to put students in time-out. Very interesting for a boarding school to have.
-The stories are decent. A lot of people dreaded Filly Funtasia having scripts that were reminiscent of older cartoons: lots of randomness, unrealistically sugary morals, characters not having much in ways of solid motivation. We didn't get that, thankfully. The cupcake incident has its logical progression: Will bombed his history test, he goes and buys cupcakes to bribe his teacher, Bella ends up eating a few (only four, not all of them) because she missed breakfast and she's starving... characters get a modicum of reason for doing what they're doing (mostly). This continues to be a trend throughout the other four episodes: there's enough depth to the mains to have their behaviour make sense in context. While it's not excellent writing by any means, it's got heart to it and it follows logic, it is not a regression by any means. Also, surprisingly good male representation in a girls' show, right from the getgo, even better than I'd anticipated.
-There are some stunning visuals, especially for being a show. The character models look great doing their unnatural poses: on their hind legs, raising hooves, writing... As you might know, I've struggled for years trying to do similar things, it is a major accomplishment as far as I'm concerned. In terms of visuals and especially backgrounds, it's on par with Miraculous Ladybug. 
That is, some of the time.
The Bad.
-Despite how handy the mirrors are, they don't appear to have a GPS system. Maybe that'll be added later, maybe it's just something they can't do. More problematically, the main MacGuffin in this show are magic crystals, which as of episode 5 are defined relatively poorly. There are crystals that can open a portal, but get spent in the process, then there are crystals that infuse ground with evil energy, then there's a crystal that lets you take control of an evil creature... Crystals are also fuel for spells, but some spells can be done with any type of crystal while others require a specific crystal? The villain breaks out of his mirror using a specific type of powerful crystal, but it seems he can get put back in with the exact same spell using a tiny, less powerful crystal, for example. Maybe that got lost in translation. It's harder to know when to worry for our protagonists when there's such a range of things that can lead to disaster or minor inconvenience, without the audience knowing which or why.
-The stories are Slice of Life. The show itself is a sitcom with fantasy elements in a high school setting, basically. That's not bad in and of itself, but it limits the possible settings and scenery we can see. The plot would need to get bent a little for the students to ever see the Mermaid Filly kingdom, for instance. It lets the creators get the most out of the assets they have, but it risks burning the audience out on over-exposure to those assets.
-While the models look good doing their unnatural poses, they fall a little flat for the natural movement. Scenes where the Fillys have to walk or run can be very hit-and-miss: the big galloping gaits are passable, but simple walks and such can get awkward.
The Ugly.
-Inconsistent visuals: static version. The show looks great when it's indoor shots. Outdoor shots, notsomuch. For outdoor scenes, the compositing can be very prominent, making the green screen effect really visible. It ends up looking like Alpha and Omega at times.
-Inconsistent visuals: animated. Some of the faster motions are simply poorly animated, not given enough acceleration or not using poses properly. The latest episode, the garden one, has a particularly egregious example when our two resident jerks are getting tossed up and down. It looks floaty and unnatural, the motions aren't right at a fundamental level.
-Repetitive music. Don't get me wrong, it's good music. Catchy tunes, probably easy to sing along with in English, but they get miss-used and/or over-used at times. It's not a show you want to marathon, as a result. In fact, you'll sometimes hear the same track sung more than once in the same episode. The garden episode is, again, the most egregious offender out of the five episodes so far.
Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone looking for something light and fluffy, with good feels and an interesting setting. Anyone who enjoys seeing good CG and doesn't get put off by a dip in quality in some other shots. Also anyone looking for a show aimed that girls that still portrays the boys as being competent, likeable, and relatable.
I'd tell you to give it a pass if you're looking for an epic adventure in a non-generic fantasy setting. The setting is non-generic, sure, but the adventure so far is non-epic, too. I'd also tell you to pass it up if you can't take a little slapstick and if your tastebuds for animation, CG or otherwise, have evolved to the point of snobbishness. Overall it's still good, but there are bad moments and they are bad enough to probably snap such a viewer out of the experience.
So, yeah, check it out if you are interested, leave it be if you are not. The differences with MLP in its current form are legion, there's no reason the two franchises can't co-exist as things stand right now. They cater to a different periphery demographic, I guess is the term.
And with that PSA out of the way, Cracker out. Song completely unrelated, I promise 
Nice write-up.
I've been meaning to have a look at Filly Funtasia.
I'll see how my thoughts compare to yours.
5028749
I should also add: the villain is a mixed bag from episode to episode. His overall design is cool enough (Sauron meets Treeguard), but he's a pure comic relief in the first episode while later on he's... honestly a zero f*cks given, bales to the face bad guy. His imprisonment is a serious handicap, but he still manages to get bursts of power when enraged, and he's not afraid to risk exposure when he thinks he can win. He also almost dies, knowingly, very early on.
But yeah, mileage may vary
Sold.