Anachronda · 10:01pm Apr 9th, 2021
We've received a new bit of information regarding G5. Below the break, said datum and my response thereunto. Naturally, don't look if you're trying to avoid spoilers.
Yes, that appears to be a phone.
No, I'm not upset.
Remember, this is set decades if not centuries after that last sunset at the end of "The Last Problem." Some degree of technological progress is to be expected. Heck, we saw a digital clock in Sunny Starscout's bedroom. (The readout's mostly behind her tail.) And the universe next door never stopped being a thing, nor did the mad scientist analogue of the Princess of Friendship. Besides, Equestria's had its share of elaborate electronics in the past, including telephones. This is an unexpected development, yes, but I'll take it over eternal medieval stasis.
Heck, given what we've seen in our own world, we may have an answer for what insidious force undermined Twilight's efforts and drove the tribes apart. They may have foregone the parable and gone directly after toxic misinformation on social media. That seems to fall squarely in the camp of "Some anvils need to be dropped."
So yeah, this isn't where I thought they'd go, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. My attitude is still best expressed by Messr. Domino.
I’m neutral with technology being more of a thing but still salty over magic disappearing.
They should have made it a Pipbuck.
I know they can't. For multiple reasons.
But they should have.
[Edit: I love that song!]
Very well said. I'm fine with tech making its way into Equestria. Besides, if Hasbro wants to make the new world relatable to its target demographic at all they need to be 'realistic' to the times, I guess. *shrug*
Anytime someone wants to complain about technology in Equestria, I just laugh. The show has NEVER had a consistent level of technology nor a consistent explanation of how it works. In the first five episodes alone, we have electric lights, electical appliances, photo booths, and numerous household items that imply the ponies have metal forging, plastics manufacturing, and mass production facilities. Season 2 gave us film projectors, a hydro-electric dam, DJ-Pon3, print magazines, and a hydro-electric dam.
As you say, the idea of technology advancing makes sense, but also, just going with "they have most of the technology we do" solves a lot more problems than keep Equestria in medieval stasis until an episode draws attention to a piece of advanced technology.
A sane response. Thank you.
Need a break from the dumpster fire that is my twitter timeline.
For the record: I'm more than fine with technological progress in Equestria (everything Equestria is 1000 year intervals anyway). But the hoof-indent on the back of that phone? That's just peak adorable. No contest.
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I maintain that Equetria is more like a Kardeshev I with a pastoral aesthetic than a low tech civilization. They can do anything they want, they just choose to have a low level of industrialization and a relatively small population.
Like, seriously, they can time travel and teleport, they can travel to the moon, even earth pony life spans seem to be extremely long let alone the functionally immortal alicorns. they can build cities hanging off of the sides of mountains, there's little visible poverty or sickness. What can't they do?
[Edit: Still, all that being said, a smart phone's ergonomics are all wrong for a pony. Why not have, oh, something the can strap to their foreleg and... well, you know.]
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Don't forget the hydro-electric dam
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Vote.
Just gonna leave this here because it seems relevant.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/451875/progress
There have always been arguments about whether or not technology belonged in Equestria in the first place, most of which were on a meta level. Faust wanted a more fantasy oriented show, Hasbro wanted a train they could sell toys of, and over the course of the series things just got weirder with each new addition. I would have honestly preferred if FiM had been a bit more leaning on the low technology aesthetic, but that's because I'm bothered by its inconsistencies rather than by the technology itself. And given it is what it is, I actually think G5 pushing things forward a notch to have a stable base to work with is actually the best approach.
All that said, whenever someone comes yelling about how any form of technological advancement should be kept far and away from the horses I just like to remind them of the fact that one of the main characters has plastic balloons stamped on her ass. The show was never going to adhere to a purely high fantasy look.
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...I mentioned it.
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Twice, which I think is what hawthorn was building a joke on.
I approve. I just hope they actually keep it in the plots. I'm always annoyed when there's a lame misfunction excuse or everyone just has amnesia over it.
the only thing worth complaining about is that they haven't even tried to create something that makes sense for the creatures that are supposed to be using it
they just copy-pasted reality onto fantasy :/ whatever
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*ahem*!
1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDJbiGkexbU/YDeqiRhD1SI/AAAAAAADcWM/gSQhcDkV2N4BkrjBp8aAPuq857l1Ew2yACLcBGAsYHQ/s950/analyze%2Bg5%2Bmy%2Blittle%2Bpony%2Bmovie%2B2.jpg
Notice the big giant hoof-friendly button for her lamp.
I dunno, a show set in the age of social media with an activist main character, dictated by a company that's run by a bunch of out of touch old people seems like a recipe for disaster to me. I'll take a big pass on that.
And yes, the inclusion of smartphones was mandated by corporate higher ups according to the very person who designed said phones, so clearly the old executives are going to be dictating as old executives are one to do.
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Okay but... how does a non-unicorn pony manipulate and use a device only barely large enough for her flat hoof to touch? Yeah, the G4 ponies gripped all kinds of things they should have been able to, but I can't recall them ever doing fine manipulation like it would take to type, especially on a device, again, that her entire hoof takes up. And granted, if this IS the same Equestria we know, then they've been around long enough that alicorns who canonically live for thousands of years to not be around anymore, so who knows? Maybe it's telepathy or something... but she appears to be using her hoof.
Legit though, it doesn't bother me too much. As stated, Equestria's tech tree is a dumpster fire. I'm still hung up on them forgetting harmony and friendship and: A) undoing everything our girls worked for, and B) not getting iced by Windegos, which was a major plot point in the second to last episode of the show.
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She taps the screen to wake it up and then it's all voice commands.
I’d argue that those are sound-powered local networks, but of course YMMV. They’re certainly not in wide-spread usage in the show.
And honestly, the tech in MLP G4 is all over the map; as an author I tend to focus on what’s common, what tech era on Earth that most closely duplicates (and that varied by location as well), figure some of it is symbolism that the intended audience would understand but doesn’t have to be exactly like that for worldbuilding purposes, and just handwave away some stuff for consistency. Like people get all up in arms about some little technical detail, but at the same time we’re to believe that ponies can get firewood by flying into trees backwards? If that’s so, why did they invent axes?
Very true. My grandfather remembered the end of WWI, saw biplanes and blimps patrolling the Norfolk Naval Station, drove a mule team in the ROTC (well, its precursor), saw Civil War vets marching in parades, and lived long enough to see smartphones and a black man elected president . . . and he didn’t even live a full century. It’s crazy to think about.
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Without magic, touch lamps (that you touch a metal part to activate) have existed here on Earth for over sixty years, and that technology may be older than that. If ponies normally wear conductive shoes, they would be even easier to design.
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They have done some stuff like that before. Remember the Foal Free Press's typewriters with just two hoof-scaled keys and a spacebar? Besides, this phone actually looks pretty well suited to pony use. It has that massive hoof slot grip on the back, and touch screens are perfect for a species with no digits. Presumably one has to sit down to use it unless you can fly, but that's hardly such a massive inconvenience that it would be a deal-breaker for the whole device. It might be somewhat more practical with a wrist strap than a grip like that, but maybe the grip is normally only used by pegasi who can fly while using the phone, or maybe the manufacturer has convinced everyone that they need to buy a separate device with mostly the same functionality but with a wrist strap- not like anyone's ever done THAT in real life.
Eh, if it works in the narrative, I'm ambivalent.
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The show has never had a consistent anything. Do I need to link Oliver yet again, or are we all agreed on this?
It seems almost the entire freaking fandom is completely missing the point of this. Some nitwits are even angry at the artist who designed the phone!
It's not just a phone, it's a weathervane. (And not the good kind, thank you very much, Luna!)
At least they didn't turn the ponies into human teenagers... so far as we know.
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what g4 writers have or haven't done is completely irrelevant to g5 :B
Yeah, I mean, how could anybody get into a show that has people using medieval terminology, social constructs, and weapons alongside modern or even futuristic devices?
i2.wp.com/thefwoosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/wind-raider-duncan-and-heman.jpg?resize=740%2C612
Technological anachronisms just throw out believability, I tell ya!
I'm just remembering the part from Epic Wub Time where Vinyl tries to use a phone, ends up pressing all the buttons with her hooves a couple times, wondering why she even has the thing, then chucking it into the fireplace.
Has anyone said 'Filly did it' yet? Because Filly Funtasia did this already, pretty much. Magic mirror smartphones that act as cameras, magic wands, as well as Bags of Holding. Pretty neat and tidy solution to some obvious problems, as well as nice toy ideas. The designs on some of the boys' mirrors is cool, too.
Still not seeing the hook for G5, still waiting.
"Some degree of technological progress is to be expected."
Well, I do disagree that it's necessarily to be expected, particularly given some of the other details we've gotten. But I wouldn't call new technologies being developed impossible either, particular given, and this keeps coming to mind when I see people getting upset about X aspect of revealed!G5, how little context we actually still have.
"Heck, given what we've seen in our own world, we may have an answer for what insidious force undermined Twilight's efforts and drove the tribes apart. They may have foregone the parable and gone directly after toxic misinformation on social media. That seems to fall squarely in the camp of "Some anvils need to be dropped.""
Hah! Interesting idea! :D
And aye, likewise, I'm also still waiting to see, my cautious optimism perhaps slightly damaged but still present.
(Oh, and can I say that, from what I've been hearing secondhand, I'm once again finding reason to be glad I'm not on Twitter? If this does turn out to be related to the hypothesis quoted above... well, I'm not sure exactly what the term for that sort of meta relationship would be, but surely something.)
5494100 There are limits to how alien you can make a device before the audience no longer can connect with it on a cultural level.
And those limits are much more stringent for a pre-teen target audience.
And I don't know about you, but I haven't been a pre-teen since Reagan was still munching jellybeans at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I was expecting to like the designs more when I saw them in action, and motion and and lighting of her flying animation looks smooth.
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Equestria did indeed have a lot elements from the industrial age. At the latest, I'd have put in the 1950's (except there were no motorized vehicles). Ponyville is kind of a town in the boonies. When we go into the Information Age though? That changes so many ways people live, socialize, and go about problem solving. Which isn't to say it can't work with as an amalgamation with Fantasy. Owl House pulls it off great.
I think it would be funny if Pipp was the only one in the main cast that could actually use that thing, since none of the others can figure out how to work it with hooves.
Nice, very nice. I'm with you in the camp that some anvils need to be dropped, and social media misinformation and toxicity seems like a great topic to address in a show where the protagonist is described as "an activist."
And now my wait begins.
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I feel like part of the joke there was that Vinyl is a unicorn who probably could use tiny buttons.
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Likewise, Izzy... is probably enough of a ditz to get away with forgetting about that, even without the fact that magic won't be returned to the world until at least the end of the movie.