Another week, another post to celebrate free blabbering of whatever you choose! It's Pony Community Soapbox. Every Tuesday at 3:00 PM Pacific, we will post up a bunch of opinions from around the fandom, written by you! This week we cover:
- Rainbow Dash; A Closer Look
- Bringing Back the Classics of MLP
- Do Hanna-Barbera and FiM have anything in common?
- Aren't We Forgetting Someone?
- Fluttershy and Tolkien's Hobbits
Go get them below! And hit the submit button at the top of the page for infos on sending yours.
Do Hanna-Barbera and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic have anything in Common?
By: Sleepysteve
I often wonder whether or not the studio that gave us The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls had any influence on the creation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
I found some, though not a lot, of parallels between the style of Hanna-Barbera cartoons with MLP: FiM. Take, for instance, the reliance of pop culture references (specifically H-B cartoons from the 90’s) and the reliance on a particular formula. In some cases, the only thing that moves is the characters’ mouths, and often there are scenes that reuse animation from prior episodes (Pinkie Pie crying in “Baby Cakes,” anyone?). The main difference is that the animation isn’t as choppy as, say, a Yogi Bear short from 1958 (his first cartoon, “Yogi Bear’s Big Break,” made me sick).
Besides those similarities, I’m not to sure Hanna-Barbera had that much impact on MLP: FiM. If there’s anything similar between the two, it’s that it tries to be like Disney whilst maintaining a budget, the latter practice of which H-B mastered at. MLP, however, did a much better job than Hanna-Barbera ever did. I wonder if there are other H-B influences in MLP that I am missing.
Bringing Back the Classics of MLP
by Booksmart
Lauren Faust is truly a modern-day Renaissance artist when she was given the task to revitalize My Little Pony. She took the high fantasy and action-adventure elements of the 1980's My Little Pony, the slice of life and pop culture elements of My Little Pony Tales from 1990's and the adorability. love, and friendliness of G3 My Little Pony and combine them to create the modern and well-loved if not popular show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic! There are many Easter eggs and tips of MLP from the revitalized intro theme song to Rarity's beauteous butterfly wings in the season one episode "Sonic Rainboom" ( an homage to the Flutterponies from the 1980's My Little Pony) all the way with dealing with foes such as Lord Tirek and The Smooze from Rescue at Midnight Castle and the 1986 MLP film, respectively. So many characters were revitalized into G4: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Night Glider, Moondancer, Spike, Applejack, and even new mare on the block Starlight Glimmer are just a few examples. Who knows what else the show can bring back? They could bring back Wind Whistler, a smart, erudite , and friendly Pegasus mare to Lavan, a malevolent power-hungry lava monster. The possibities are endless!
Rainbow Dash; A Closer Look
By: Matthew
Rainbow Dash, has a bit of an ego problem. I would actually classify her as suffering from narcissism to be more accurate as the word “ego” simply means “I”. There are several reasons an individual can become a narcissist, though the most often and readily available reasons are:
- Permissive parents who give excessive praise
- Overindulgence and spoiling by parents
- Failing to impose adequate discipline
Seems rather straightforward. But there is a darker side, one which I doubt the show would touch with a ten-meter cattle prod:
- Strict parents who give little to no praise
- Neglect
- Excessive discipline bordering on abuse
Messed up stuff. And there is still a third option, which while it clears the parents of any harmful actions, is no less tragic:
- Traumatic personal loss
I have only a minor in psychology, so I'm speaking from limited experience. But from that limited experience, people who are narcissistic to the extent Rainbow Dash is, tend to put on a fake smile in order to cover the fact that they're crying on the inside. Twilight's smarter than me (I'm guessing) and I wouldn't doubt that she notices this as well, which is one of the reasons why she's so forgiving of Rainbow. I realize that I'm just trying to defend my favorite pony, but the most damaged characters are usually the ones I like the most. Next time Rainbow does something incredibly stupid (and she will), there might be a reason behind it.
Aren't We Forgetting Someone?
By: Phonic Boom
By: Phonic Boom
I noticed something during the finale that I've yet to see any discussion on: the agents she sent to replace Equestria's royals *were not at the hive when she was defeated.* That means she has at least twelve (Mane Six plus Spike in Ponyville; the Sisters in Canterlot; Shining, Cadance, and Flurry at the Crystal Empire) operatives who have no idea what happened. So tell me, artists and authors, what happens to them?
Does Thorax, who looks like an entirely different species now, contact them and awkwardly try to convince them from afar to share love and return to his new kingdom?
Or does Chrysalis get to them first, convince them that their brethren have been brainwashed by ponies, and gather them up to plot against Starlight in hiding? And how much more formidable could these twelve become when they have their queen's undivided attention without the rest of the Hive to train, and an even stronger thirst for revenge?
I'd like to see everyone's input on this not-so-little detail you may have missed.
Fluttershy and Tolkien's Hobbits
by: Fluttershypegasus
Being a modern fantasy, MLP is full of allusions to Tolkien's book series The Lord of The Rings, and the cleverest one is found in the character of Fluttershy and her similarity to hobbits.
Hobbits seem to be simple people. They enjoy peaceful lives in homes under hills and rarely go on adventures. But once pushed into danger, hobbits prove themselves to be highly resilient to evil-when Samwise was tempted by the One Ring, which gave him a vision of having total power over the Earth if only he claimed the Ring for himself, he rejected it. Sam did not desire this power-his humility meant that he was perfectly content caring for his own, small garden.
Fluttershy's nature is similar to a hobbit-she desires peace, and when faced with adventure, would much rather stay at home. When Discord tries to corrupt her and turn her against her friends by trying to convince her they think she's weak, she is humble and bears no anger towards her friends making her impossible for Discord to corrupt, much like how Sam wasn't corrupted by the Ring. Even Fluttershy's cottage resembles a hobbit home!
