(Spoiler) How the First Few Minutes of the New MLP Movie Changed My View of Friendship is Magic · 5:44am Sep 26th, 2021
Dear Bronies and Pegasisters,
So, just to give everyone a fair warning, I'm going to share my thoughts about one particular moment in the new My Little Pony movie. And while I know that some of you may not have gotten the chance to see it, I do feel compelled to talk about what I think has changed how I view Generation 4. Yet, if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled by what I have to say, I completely understand why you would skip over this. But keep in mind, my fixation will be only in one particular scene in the new movie and not so much as a whole. If you have seen the movie or don't mind about what I'm about to let out, you may read on.
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Okay, so in the movie, it starts with a call back to the previous generation of showing how a typical day with the main six with Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie are hanging out when out of nowhere, Rarity suddenly turns evil in declaring that she's going to melt their brains. It then suddenly cuts directly to Sunny and her friends just playing around with a bunch of dolls that happen to be the main six.
Now, I know what you're thinking, that seems to be a very specific thing to focus on - and from an outsider's perspective, you'd be right. However, I think this scene is more brilliant than it appears to be. Because not only is it to establish that the three tribes have separated and distrust one another, but this one moment revolutionizes how the previous generation is framed in my opinion.
And, as a disclaimer, I know what I'm about to spew out is just a crack theory. I get that. At this point in time that I'm writing this, I have no solid evidence about it, nor is it that this is what the new writers intended. However, if (and I realize this is a big fat if) I'm right, then this would explain pretty much everything about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is not just how, but why is it the way it is.
Because here's the thing, ever since the day I came across the show and started watching its episodes, something about it just felt... off to me. And no, I'm not talking about how brightly colorful it is, nor is it about that it has talking ponies, and nor is it that it's pushing forward toy placement. But even back then, I had this nagging thought that: "If all of this is supposed to be taken place Once Upon a Time, it certainly doesn't feel like it's taking place a long time ago."
Think about this, if this show was supposed to be taken as a once upon a time, like probably centuries before, how come things like electricity, modern medical establishments, machines, trains, etc... exist in a supposed fairy-tale setting? If it really is supposed to be taken place years ago, why isn't more closely reminiscing that of the Medieval period?
And more than that, how come things in this show seemed to be inconsistent? You Bronies know exactly what I'm talking about. Things like Twilight's crystal castle in the middle of town that sticks out like a sore thumb. Villians getting reformed left and right. The School of Friendship making a major plot point when in previous seasons didn't exactly seem needed. And not to mention the episodes where a majority of fans find confusing, contradictory, or down-right dumb.
It wasn't until very recently that I came to an epiphany about all of this in which helped explained... well, pretty much everything. And again, this is just a crack theory as chances are, I might be proven wrong on this. So if you don't buy into this, I completely get it.
So, what is this theory and what does it have anything to do with the first few minutes of the movie?
Simply put: What if all of Friendship is Magic - is just Sunny playing with her toys?
And before you shot me down with the "But how can that be? Equestria's past was mentioned in the movie! Sunny's father was studying about what the past was really like, so how can you say that everything we've seen and grown a strong attachment to is just made up?"
Note that I didn't say it was made up - just her playing with her toys. Has it ever occurred to anyone that the toys these ponies played with resembled our beloved characters a little too closely? That the scene clearly shows that she has a specific cannon in how these characters are supposed to behave? That she gets most of this viewpoint from her father who disagrees that the unicorns and pegasi have always been pure evil? And that to other ponies, much of Twilight's reign is considered on the same level as a fairytale?
I would argue that none of this is an accident. If anything, that playtime scene was in there for a good reason - it shows us fans what the magical world of Equestria really is. Just a little filly playing with her dolls.
Now, I get how some would look at this theory and go off feeling betrayed as these characters from FIM are so likable that they felt they were real, we want them to be real, we wish they were real. Yet, that's not what I'm going at. It's more nuanced than that. I would argue that once you look at all nine seasons, even to a degree including the Equestria Girls and (heavy sigh) yes, even Pony Life - suddenly, everything makes perfect sense if you conclude that it's all just a little filly playing with her toys.
In a way, it explains a lot. How come these fairytale characters have the railroad, the hospital, and other modern devices? Why are that ugly-looking crystal castle and the unnecessary use of the school of friendship included in the show? Why is this or that character acting so... not themselves? The answer could very well be because of a filly that's just mixing and matching her toys while filling in the story by using her imagination.
Not only that, but even the episodes suddenly make perfect sense. Look back at the episodes where it showed prejudice, bullying, be hostile to others, not looking from the other's point of view, or having an authority figure that uses fear and mistrust of other creatures... does any of that sound familiar in the movie? If you look at FIM as Sunny playing with her dolls, you could make the strong case that everything we've seen is just her trying to make sense of her world through a fantasy of hers.
One more thing, if I'm right on this, this theory is also revolutionizing in another way - if it's just Sunny playing with her toys and what we're seeing is her imagination constructing these stories. Then technically... every interpretation of FIM is technically canon. After all, if it's just Sunny's imagination but many others who play with these similar dolls in toy stores, who's to say that they haven't come up with a wide range of interpretations in how they play with these toys? One foal could pretend that there's a sentient race inside Princess Luna's mane - that's canon. Another could play out a story of how a colt has mistaken Scootaloo as a colt - yep! That's canon too! Even the weird one that pretends that their room is a post-apocalyptic wasteland and their dolls are trying to get by - why not? That makes it canon too.
What I'm saying is that while I don't know how much water this theory holds, it does explain how and why this show turned out the way it did. To me, this doesn't at all take away what we love about FIM, but it may add on to the new generation as it probably shows that there's much more to it than meets the eye.
So... am I crazy about this? Am I completely off? Maybe. But even if that might be the case, I do believe that it is still worth talking about. Especially where these new colorful talking ponies might go from here on out.
Signed,
Your Fellow writer,
- CrackedInkWell
Interesting Hypothesis.
It sounds very much like what we do with historical figures today. We are told their bio & historically recorded facts and then we fill in our own stories around those facts. Similar to what happened to Mozart or Queen Elizabeth, even Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.
Considering it was based on how Lauren Faust played with her MLP toys when she was a member of the target audience, this checks out better than it probably should.
I think it's a really cool theory
.... That is..... a really interesting idea.....
I'm really interested in this idea, it's pretty good.
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Oh shit, Argyle is Hasbro and Sunny is Faust, they even have similar hair colors!
Jokes aside this theory is interesting, I joked about the movie being a prequel in a weird way but in this line of thought makes that theory possible.
P.S. I don't care what the cannon ends up being, nerding out about the what ifs is fun no matter what XD
Chalked up the Once Upon a Time weird mix of tech up to the squads of different writers over the years having different visions of what is what. Rule of cool and all that. Still, this theory of yours is awesome and dangerous for the retcon type of tooling that could be used to explain the story form of G4.