Is the animation really that good?

[Jokuc 8,172]

I'm not surprised if this topic already exists but I couldn't find another one.

 

So I was thinking, MLP FiM is a wonderful cartoon that I really enjoy a lot to watch. However, when I hear other bronies on interviews and such, many of them says that the show has great animation. You can hear it everywhere. I would say that at least 80% of the bronies who talks about the show, mentions that the animation quality is very good. Now this got me thinking.. Personally, I think the animation is decent. To me, it has average quality of a regular cartoon show and it is not significantly better than many other shows out there. The animation technique is pretty basic. The show looks good, it does! But it you compare to a lot of other shows, those have better quality. Now the next thing isn't really something that should matter, all shows has it, but FiM has a lot of animation errors. It's quite easy to notice them if you have seen an episode a lot of times. The animation quality can't be compared to anime shows of course, since they have completely different animation techniques, but without having any particular ones in mind, I do know that I have seen shows with better quality and similar animation style. Now the show's animation quality has been improved since season 3 started, but I still think that people exaggerates.

 

So for the questions,

 

• Is the animation really that good?
• If it is, why do you think so?
• If not, why are people saying this? Is it because the show has gotten so much attention that people are overrating it without even noticing themselves? Blind quality control..? Either way, I want to hear your opinions. And again, don't worry I <3 the show. It's awesome (but I watch it because it's fun, cute and enjoyable. Not because of the animation quality). S4 GOOOOOOOOOOO

 

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TL;DR I like the animation a lot but I think it's overrated. What do you think?

Edited November 25, 2013 by Jokuc

[Shanks 10,811]

I think the reason why alot of people say the animation is good is because even though it is simple it an example of simple done right. The colors are vibrant and complement the theme of the show and the characters quite well and there are a few scenes in the show which really stand out. And as I have watch older episodes I noticed that the quality has gone up which often happens in shows that are successful.

[Sugar Pea 2,681]

I think the animation has gotten better, if that's what your asking. I think there's something about it that's just, i'm not sure, unique.

 

I think it is, because if you compare previous seasons with the new ones, you'll start to notice a change and quality in the animation. It happens in every show.

 

The animation will always progress. :3

Edited November 25, 2013 by Nature Of Fluttershy

[Emperor Posh 360]

@Jokuc, I think it is more of an excuse, but that's my take on it. I don't watch the show for the animation as it's not as amazing as others say it is. I watch it for the story telling and the lessons it teaches. We have all these cartoons out there, they usually consist of conflict and bad writing, though their are some other good cartoons out there. MLP has good writing and does not just consist of conflict. The show goes into friendship and how it can help you accomplish and achieve things in life.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Emperor Posh

[Satsuki Kiryuin 1,154]

I agree. I don't see any distinctive quality to the animation compared to a show like, "Adventure Time", or "Gravity Falls". To me, all of these shows have the same animation quality. There's nothing really special about MLP FiM's animation, but I do appreciate how they try to improve the animation, and the hard work they've put into it. I find that people think that the animation is the best thing out there because it's MLP FiM. It's like any other bias. For example, I love Lady Gaga. This has created a large bias of my opinion of her. I find that she is the most talented Pop artist out there, right now, and one of the best (That is fact, though.). In other words, the more you like a show/artist/song/picture/character/etc., the more likely you'll find it to be significantly better than the rest. I don't think that MLP FiM is the best thing since sliced bread, but I appreciate the effort put into it, as well as the plots, character development, and soundtracks.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I don't know.  I think it's good for what it is.  The S4 premier really boosted my opinion on the animation and how it is actually really good.  The animation in that is really good compared to S1.  it's not the only reason I watch the show though.  I'm not sure I'd watch it if it was just for the animation style.   People do go overboard on the animation aspect, but sometimes it really is a joy to watch a scene because of how awesome the animation is.  The NMM flashback scene is beautifully done.  Even if I wasn't a fan of the show I'd still think it was an awesome scene.  

Edited November 25, 2013 by Dusty Soul

[Jokuc 8,172]

I think the reason why alot of people say the animation is good is because even though it is simple it an example of simple done right.

I do know that, however, to me the animation in the show looks less solid and more like copy-pasted parts. It is very easy to notice, especially in the animation errors such as layer displacements.

 

 

^- Jokuc you're sounding like you're hating on the show... Bad pony! >:C

Edited November 25, 2013 by Jokuc

[DND 2,354]

I was thinking the same thing, but they all have some significant errors, as of the poor quality of lip-syncing for anime, even for their native language. Sometimes they don't have characters move their mouth at all. As for fim, it shows noticeable vector errors, as well as lack of fluid movements in certain scenes. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it has, at best, marginal animation. For cartoon vectors, i'd say this show is one of the best. My non-brony older brother was really surprised at the flash quality. I can agree. They capture feeling and alien movements such as flowing manes, flying, and expressions perfectly. I'd say overall this show did a pretty darn good job for a cartoon.

 

 

VS.

 

[Misty Shadow 7,080]

Naw, I like the animation, but I wouldn't go so far to call it spectacular. I think the reason that it's so lauded is because most people get stuck thinking of reasons to praise the show. I'm one of the people who watches the show more for the stories rather than the art.

[RainbowGlitter 13]

I am not the biggest fan of the animation honestly but its not bad, if definitely took me some time to get used to. I wouldn't say its amazing but its decent and it does its job.

[Onylex 2,836]

I dont know about when other people talk about animation being great but, when I talk about it I don't mean the very basses of animation, like movement or smoothness.

 

What I mean when I say that the animation quality is really good are things like how they are able to capture emotion, facial expression, and body language of a character(s). Things like mood help as well.

 

Of corse I dont think that its significantly better than some other cartoon shows Iv seen but, I do think its one of the cartoons with good animation in it.   

[caramba2654 601]

Yes. Simply yes.

 

Haven't you noticed this?

 

 

Applejack is in a well-lit room. So what did the animators do? They added shading and light highlights.

 

DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO MAKE STUFF LIKE THAT?

 

I mean, look at the shading in this scene:

 

[Derpaholic 1,155]

I don't think the animation is all that outstanding, to be honest. Sure, it's great for flash, but that's about it.
I think the whole "The animation is great"  line has always reeked of a cop-out to me.
I think it's an excuse people use, either because they don't actually know why they like the show, or because there are some other reasons for liking the show that they're are too embarrassed to talk about.

Then again, what the hell do I know.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Bron-Yr-Aur

[Radiance64 7,051]

Well, my personal favorite part of the show's animation is in the facial animation- there's such a range of funny, adorable, serious, and downright disturbing expressions it's ridiculous. The effects are also pretty amazing most of the time, I believe they have improved a lot anyway, and make most scenes look beautiful. The show as a whole could probably be animated a bit better though, as things like the pony's manes being mirrored depending on which way they're facing and the amount of errors in general. Overall though, it usually looks fine to me.

[789456123 23]

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Edited September 26, 2018 by Infrared
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[Grumpy Enchantress 586]

Nah, it's not that great. I think it's pretty well done for puppet animation but, I vastly prefer traditional animation where nearly every frame is a new drawing.

 

 

DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO MAKE STUFF LIKE THAT?

Do you? Those are just simple gradients and even though it looks nice and were well used, it's very cheap and pretty easy to put them on Flash and they already own Flash so it costed them absolutely nothing. Obviously they have to pay their animators but, it costs them absolutely nothing to make it.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Grumpy Enchantress

[Dark Qiviut 22,172]

 

• Is the animation really that good?

Objectively so, absolutely; and calling it overrated is wrong. While it'll never top the tediousness traditional animators delivered in the cartoons and even the movies, it really stands out in its own right. Flash has a really unfair reputation for being a program for teams to cut corners. If you want a good example of this, compare the traditional animation from the early seasons of Dexter's Lab and then watch episodes that use Flash. The quality is much more different and made it scream cheap.

 

In Friendship Is Magic, the animation quality is up there, even in its first season. The errors may be obvious and sometimes consequential (and the flipping in season one was a gripe), but it's a very complicated program that only became greatly sophisticated a few years ago. Each season, DHX really stepped it up by making the transitions smoother (check out this video dissecting the snappy walk cycle and then the subtle camera move in "Putting Your Hoof Down"), creating better depth perception and flowing of the hair, and adding special lighting/shadowing effects. In traditional animation, those little things would've cost a ton of money, but Flash allows DHX to animate the characters as fluently as traditional animation withOUT spending a fortune.

 

When it comes to episodic animation, FIM is one of the first to professionally show Flash's true potential. Instead of cutting corners like past shows, they treat Flash as a tool to create great animation. It started off well in Season 1, and it only got better since then. FIM gives Flash the respect it rightfully deserves.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Dark Qiviut

[Shanks 10,811]

It is very easy to notice, especially in the animation errors such as layer displacements.

For you maybe, but for most people watching it is not in most cases. And it was an animation error that gave birth to Derpy who is best background pony so they are not always a bad thing.

[Koelath 444]

Well, yes and no. Strictly speaking, it's the same animation as a lot of other stuff. It's Flash-heavy, cheap, nothing too exceptional. The praise comes from the fact that they just do a lot more with it.

 

Johnny Test is animated the same way as MLP, but its animators are lazy so it sucks. Whereas it just does the minimum to avoid the show looking like a Powerpoint, MLP squeezes every ounce of quality it can out of it.

 

It's like a steak from the store versus a steak from a top chef. They're the same stuff, and the store steak is probably at least decent, but the chef does a lot more with it so it comes out better.

[Stellafera 3,835]

Look in the background shots of most shows. Are other character's eyes moving and are they reacting even when that isn't the focus of the shot? Not usually. In MLP, there is a lot of care put into that. Just watch the ponies that aren't speaking sometimes! 

 

The bounces and wobbles of things are all very smooth, in later seasons you see plenty of dynamic camera angles and shading, and the art style serves it all very well. 

 

I value a nice aesthetic when watching shows, and MLP has it. I mean, there are some with better animation (my impression when editing footage from The Legend of Korra was "It's like a movie!"), but it's good. 

[Forlong 1,725]

Of course it is.  You saw the latest episode, did you not?  The animation speaks for itself.  If you can't see that obvious fact, trying to explain it to you would be a waste of time.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Forlong

[Techite Sparkle 354]

Well. Its so colorfull...

And I flatout love variations of colors.

Its really acttractive in my opinion honestly.

And with 3D conversion and 720 refresh rate on the new samsung tv I got it looks plain sexy. So colorful ^-^

[Declen 118]

I believe, I've become a fan of MLP:FiM because of how it looks. Some points I'm able to reflect.

1. One simple but brilliant idea of Lauren Faust, that makes it look way better than previous generations - manes and tails.

Those of ponies from before differ only in colour, but have the same fashion.

What Lauren Faust did was to give her characters totally different stiles of their manes and tales. Which visually reflect their personalities more than anything else.

2. Perfection of movement. It alvays amases me how smooth and flexible all characters move (at least most of the time). Even in the intro, when Twilight jumps out of her baloon and then a wight pegasis flies by - it looks perfect to me. Every. Frakin. Time.

3. Their faces look somehow perfect, too. For example, their big eyes. Big eyes are often associated with anime, which is wrong. In fact, cartoon characters have big eyes almost as long as cartoons themselves exist. So, this trick has to look done to death. But, surprisingly, it doesn't! I don't know why is it: is it their shape, or placing, or anything else, but they look much more expressive, than of any other cartoon character with big eyes.

 

I don't see any distinctive quality to the animation compared to a show like, "Adventure Time"

No way.

You see, the stile of character's portrayal is the part of animation (and its quality), too.

So, forgive me, but characters in "Adventure Time" look just sloppy. Like their creators didn't even try to draw something decent. And what Lauren Faust did looks like she new exactly what she wanted and how to get it.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2013 by Declen

[Gay Bird 420]

In the more recent seasons they've been doing some new stuff and improving the animation, but compared to shows like adventure time, it's relatively simple. It's probably the simplicity in the animation that pleases the eye.

[Grumpy Enchantress 586]

 

VS.

 

I don't get this comparison at all. They're not even remotely the same type of shot and it doesn't make sense to compare them

 

DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO MAKE STUFF LIKE THAT?

Not at all. How much someone might charge for it is one thing but, to just make it while you have all the sources they already had for the show? They literally don't have to pay an extra cent.