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Generation of Ideas: Third times the charm?


Fhaolan

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Generation 3 had less stuff in it for worldbuilding than even G1.5’s My Little Pony Tales. This is at the same time very easy to summarize, and yet very hard to find anything useful.

 

The ponies are separated into four different tribes, one of which is more a different race than a tribe. The Earth Ponies live in Ponyville again, this time a village primarily built with late Victorian architecture plus several ‘mock’ buildings that are made to resemble household objects. The village is built around a castle that resembles the gatehouse of the Kasteel de Haar of the Netherlands primarily of the 16th century, missing the main building itself. The surrounding terrain is relatively flat, with minimal hills and no mountains within a day’s travel. The climate is definitely temperate, on the warm side where snow rarely covers all the ground during the winter solstice.

 

Pegasi live on Butterfly Island, with more of the ‘mock’ buildings. Unfortunately very little else was seen of the Island, other than its Tropical plant-life. There are several places in real life with the name ‘Butterfly Island’, as it’s not a very uncommon name. The pegasi are extremely shy as a rule, and have difficulty with leaving their Island. They do not appear to have an official ruler, keeping mostly to themselves.

 

Unicorns live in Unicornia, a mountainous area with yet more ‘mock’ buildings, but otherwise a more Bavarian architecture including another castle. The Unicorns are responsible for the creation of Rainbows and other magical phenomena’s, and must do these tasks on a strict schedule or the phenomena will cease entirely for at least a year.

 

The final ‘Tribe’ is the Breezies, which appear to be a degenerate or possible predecessor race, to the Flutterponies of prior generations.

 

There are seven known castles, each representing a single ‘topic’. Happiness, Friendship, Family, Kindness, Music, Laughter, Rainbows. The castle of Unicornia is the castle of Rainbows. It is not known which castle is in Ponyville, but it is likely Happiness, Friendship, or Laughter, given the behavior of the ponies there.

 

Magic is global, and is not restricted to any particular breed of pony. Strange and bizarre events are not even remarked upon as the world is so magical that random outbursts of unusual powers are expected.

Like with prior generations, the term ‘princess’ appears to apply to one who is elected by various means to care for a magical artifact, or to lead special ceremonies, and the terms of selection are connected to the artifact or ceremony themselves. For example in the case of the Unicornia princesses of the Rainbow Wands, the individuals must be color-coded appropriately. Once an individual is elected, it is difficult to replace them in short notice. The political leader of the various tribes is independent of the ‘princess’ title, as they are each led by ponies valued for their resources and knowledge, with no immediate election process.

 

There is a lot more emphasis on ritual in this generation, with a long list of ceremonies, festivals, and the like. Even down to small, personal rituals like the 'catch a kite, catch a wish' phrases. This reaches the point that it seems like every day is some kind of festival, ceremony or whatnot.

 

There is a minor shift with Core 7, mostly with characterization. The only cultural change appears to be with shift to even more ‘mock’ architecture. We do get to see more interiors to the houses, with designs that range from the 50’s to the 90’s.

 

Generation 3.5 is technically the same setting as Generation 3, however there is one significant shift, and a few minor ones. Pegasi and Breezies disappear and are replaced with full-sized Flutterponies. Ponyville is led by a mayor, who we can assume is elected. And it is indicated that Ponyville is in an area with few evergreen trees. So no conifers, gymnosperms, or angiosperms, reinforcing the idea of a warm temperate region, but not a subtropical one.

 

There is also references to France, which is awfully confusing as there is no other evidence of contact with the human world.

In the entirety of Generation 3.x, the only male entity encountered was Spike the dragon. Absolutely no male ponies are present in any of the tribes, with no explanation or reference. However, female ponies of a variety of ages are present, indicating that males do exist. They simply do not appear.

 


 

What can we do with this:

 

Overall, this is in a way a very clear follow-on to G1.5’s My Little Pony Tales, with it's strange segregation of genders. But it does involve the rediscovery of the various other tribes of pony in a more official capacity, which is a good thing and make stuff easier.

 

Unicornia is interesting, and is referenced in G4. This is possibly the only solid link between G3.x and G4, so it bears some examination. In this context, the Unicorns aren’t explicitly raising the sun and moon, but are providing Rainbows and possibly other phenomena. This could be mythological interpretation drift. Or Unicorns from another castle are manipulating stellar bodies, since there are five other castles mentioned, but not seen.

 

Pegasi coming from Butterfly Island is also interesting, and ties into the Fanfic I mentioned in a previous blog entry with Fluttershy being a second-generation pony from a Polynesian-type society. Her attitudes and behavior does seem to more closely map to that of the G3 pegasi.

 

It’s what happens to the pegasi in 3.5 that is confusing. Since Cheerilee changes tribes, from Unicorn to Earth Pony in the transition from 3 to 3.5, having Starsong also change tribes isn't that weird, but she shifts from Pegasi to Flutterpony, a tribe not otherwise seen in G3. With no pegasi seen in 3.5, it’s all a bit odd. I checked the toy line, and even the G3.5 toys had Starsong as a Pegasus. This is something that happened only in the G3.5 animations, unless the various G3.5 books (which I've not dealt with due to the sheer volume of volumes ;) ) also show this odd conversion.

 

There appears to either be contact with the human world, or knowledge of it at least, as they are familiar with France. Unless there just happens to be a place in this pony world with the same name.

 

Next week, let’s see if we can bring it all together.

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