Next up on Pony History of the Day is the Rainbow Dash Presents, Mentally Advanced and DinkySharkFighter series by FiMFlamFilosophy! Years ago, when the fandom was still in the Golden Age of 2011, two abridged series made their debut on the pony scene: Friendship is Witchcraft (which we have spotlit already) and the Mentally Advanced Series. While several abridged series would soon follow, these two are arguably the most popular and remain so to this day.
While the Friendship is Witchcraft universe is mainly centered around the abridged series proper and the songs that were created for it, Mentally Advanced grew from its roots of retelling episodes in FiM to a number of spinoff series: Rainbow Dash Presents and the short lived DinkySharkFighter.
Even though Mentally Advanced and Rainbow Dash Presents have not yet ended, their history is as deep as the fandom itself and is a perfect example of the evolution of a long running series, much like how FiM itself has evolved over the years.
So come on a journey with me to the early days and check out the history of FiMFlamFilosophy and Petirep after the break!
Before we start though, I want to thank those of you who suggested this entry! Make sure to leave your suggestions in the comments.
The Mentally Advanced Series
Starting back in May 2011, The Mentally Advanced Series came to life after a falling out between FiMFlam and a team he was part of that was trying to create an abridged series. Starting from scratch he introduced the world to a neurotic version of the FiM cast with each episode tackling an episode from show and twisting it humorously through redubs while staying pretty true to the original story of a particular episode.
Things were going smoothly for the series until it was taken down suddenly on Youtube back in 2013 due to copyright claims. Afterwards the series was hosted on FiMFlam and Petirep's website It's Always Dawn Somewhere, maintaining the redubbed screenshot style the series was known for up through episode episode 22 in September 2014 with an unreleased episode 23 being shown at BABSCon in April 2015.
Starting in September 2014 the series took a turn as FiMFlam started animating the series himself and returned it to Youtube with Mentally Advanced Episode 0. While according to FiMFlam reception for the character models was somewhat mixed he stuck with it and has since improved greatly in his ability to draw and animate, incorporating movement, detailed background scenes and more!
While I can't embed the original series from their website you can check out the originals here. As for the newly animated series check the playlist below.
Rainbow Dash Presents
While Mentally Advanced parodied the show FiMFlam decided to take things to another level by creating Rainbow Dash Presents, a series dedicated to creating humorous renditions of popular fanfiction. Working with Petirep for animation and original artwork the series quickly began to grow as both FiMFlam and Petirep got better and better at their craft.
Eventually the series expanded on the Mentally Advanced universe, introducing a number of original characters and quite a few catchy songs like Sinking Ships and Tubby Wubby Pony Waifu.
While the series has enjoyed many spotlights on Equestria Daily that wasn't always the case. Originally believing the series to be audio readings of various stories the episodes were relegated to Roundups, continuing for several episodes till the release of 'Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla' named as such to get our attention and show they weren't just an audio reading series. The ploy worked and we've been joking about calling EqD the Trixie Variety Show ever since.
Even though a new episode in the series has been not been released in nearly two years, and that Equestria Primates was supposed to be the end of the series, word has gotten around that Petirep is working with FiMFlam on a new episode based on the story 'The Star in Yellow'.
Check on below for the full playlist of Rainbow Dash Presents!
DinkySharkFighter
Last but not least on FiMFlam's list of projects is the short lived DinkySharkFighter series created by FiMFlam with the help of Petirep. Starring Dinky Hooves the series showed much promise as it was both well animated, cute as hell, and was an accurate depiction of many vlogs out there on Youtube.
While only lasting for three episodes the short series was an adorable edition to the universe FiMFlam had created. Find them all below!
Twitter: Calpain
