Otherwise

Right! In short answer to a few of the above posts I hadn't addressed - others I'll get to later possibly after taking time to watch more bits of the show - I'm getting the impression that MiF is more appealing when the general froo-froo is not the center of attention. It's there, and it's still grating, but there's better stuff going on. The pilot two-parter got me thinking that, with a plot and despite the simplistic handling of conflict, there might be something to the series. The backslide into half-hour funtime lessons in the next episode was disappointing, and when in the next those lessons came in juvenile packages ( are they really arguing about who gets to go to a party urrghARGH) it marked the end of my willingness to experiment with the average episode. So it's been awhile and I've had a chance to both take a break from the idea of FiM and to watch what might possibly be what is simultaneously its most redeeming and depressing portion, we'll have to see. There are probably spoilers of varying degrees, and because I don't really want to try to take the time and read people's brains as to what has and hasn't commonly been watched, it's all under a tag. It probably comes as no surprise that I refer to the Discord debut two-parter at the beginning of season 2 and it is rare that a character manages to both please and disappoint me so much at the same time. Right. Finished "Keep Calm and Flutter On", and despite the irritating manner in which things were simplified and condensed into a happy little half-hour kid-friendly package - and how apparently none of the "Mane 6" had enough of a brain to question what was important enough to risk such an undertaking, thus robbing the whole affair of any solid notion of what the point was - I can't complain about the route it took. Except how there's apparently little to dissuade the sneaky side lesson that having friends requires that you change who you are. More on that later maybe. Arrivederci!

Thereisnospoon303: The simple answer to your questions regarding my intentions is "yes". Bronies I know personally rarely provided any discussion material beyond "It makes me feel good" when I asked them about this sort of thing, and their recommended viewings largely failed to do anything but rub me the wrong way. I decided I'd rather approach a larger group of involved people about it rather than simply go "Nope, not for me." It's as much finding out why you guys like the show as it is seeing if there are bits I'd find worth looking into. Good writing is a must for me. I can't claim to be anything close to a literary critic but an engaging story with reasonable progression and witty dialogue mean a whole lot more than music and animation. Relateable characters? Not such a big deal. Environments that make me happy don't mean much to me. Comprehensive, painstakingly-built fantasy worlds? That I can get behind, though from the sound of it that sort of material is more forthcoming than present. It might be worth keeping an eye out for. Pop-cultural references are a bit of a different category. To me there's a pretty distinct difference between "pop-culture reference" and "pop-culture inferral". "Doctor Hooves", I understand, is a name that fans created after they saw similarities to the British sci-fi and not his given name. It's possible to draw references from pretty much anything anywhere, but in my opinion only those intended in the scripts could be categorized as qualities of the show. Other people might see differently. Nighmawe Woon: Wha'eva! Wha'eva! I doowat I want! Freedan: Your bringing up morals and ethics seems an interesting point. To me, a devotion to morals and ethics, particularly the latter, is mostly brought into the spotlight when it is put to the test. Basically a moral or ethical standard stands out when, without it, people are inclined to act against it. Equestrian society doesn't strike me as the kind of example where this is the case - in a world painted as ideally as people here have thus far led me to believe, doing the "right thing" morally seems less of a choice than a given, and moral or ethical dilemmas unlikely or impossible. Thoughts? Fhaolan: PMVs - "Pony Music Videos", whether or not music's actually involved - in particular have struck me as being every bit as unusual as the community that spawns them. Biggest reason, I'd say, is that this is the first series I've encountered whose fan-made material averages as being far more entertaining than its original content or, for that matter, its average counterparts from other genres. Part if this is probably due to the amount of aptly-termed "fru fru" being removed as a result of the material changing hands and the sort of wry humor that often goes into such mini-productions, but you don't generally find the same degree of quality in similar videos made from other movies or television shows. AMVs - "Anime Music Videos" - are especially bad; although there are stellar exceptions, the majority of anime-based fan creations are repetitive, boring things with little apparent effort or thought involved that very often revolve around a universal theme: "Kickass song plus kickass fight scene means DOUBLE KICKASS!" Actual reasons behind this apparent trend I don't have, whether they involve comparisons in average age groups of followers or merely a difference in fan base size. It would be interesting to see how FiM's numbers compare to, say, Shonen Jump's "Big Three" - One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a bit of extra discussion material, and since Zygen conveniently if briefly broached the topic, I'll be posting a video link to one guy's brief thoughts on Bronies and masculinity. A brony friend of mine showed it to me yesterday saying that he plays it for people who ask about his preferences for FiM. According to him it gets them to stop asking, but he admit that it wasn't really related to why he or anyone he knew was fond of the show; to me, it seems more like a possible symptom of larger cultural changes or something Bronies might point to if they can't pin down a specific reason for their passion for themselves. I'm aware I'm getting dangerously close to opening a whole new can of worms but given responses so far I think we'd be able to keep ourselves reasonably on topic and I'd like to hear your opinions. Are Bronies Changing the Definition of Masculinity?

~HistoricallyInaccurate~: To that, I'd ask if there comes a point where - later in the series - she's forced to make a choice between her friends and her "career" - studies, if applicable - and she's able to make that decision on her own based on her previous experiences. Early on it looks as though such things are resolved for her in the form of "calm down, it's not the end of the world already" by any number of multiple people. Sky Chaser: I know. I'm trying to narrow down the most significant appeal for people. I know how easy it is, in the presence of limitless multiple choice options, to just go "I LOVE EVERYTHING!" Eightbithoof: I'd like to think I didn't gloss over anything. Elaborating on the idea of whether or not my post was trying to create an "objective facade" was me attempting to clarify, albeit perhaps poorly, that any perceived veiled insults were in relation to my impressions of the show and not directed towards anyone who might be replying here.

Went ahead and added a poll with more common responses for the sake of people unwilling to spend more time here, and because it's going to be more difficult to reply to everything. To my ( extremely limited ) knowledge this kind of topic is still relatively unique enough to warrant existence but we'll try to keep things from becoming too mundane. Argumedies, Eightbithoof: I'm never going to be objective because I've already formed initial opinions regarding the show, so there's no point in trying to think this discussion will be either. There's also nothing wrong with that, as far as I know. True objectivity would require a much more extensive knowledge of art, cultural development, and philosophy than I will ever possess. Similarly, there is no one answer to my question but it is a question everyone can answer because all of you were positively impacted by the show in some way. It's because I've not discounted the possibility that some of those answers may coincide with what I find valuable in entertainment that I'm here. ~HistoricallyInaccurate~: In a nutshell, I enjoy anime because it's as close to a visual representation of living abroad as I will probably get. I'm well aware that life in Japan is not like living in an anime but at the same time the way characters think, interact, and go about their lives ( depending on the individual selection, obviously ) gives glimpses into the way the Japanese do so as well. Because it's so widely available and designed for leisure time it conveys parts of culture that lectures, books, and travel programs likely never could. For me personally this kind of indirect exposure, in conjunction with other reading, helped me gain a surprising perspective regarding historical events, one very different from what I learned in school. For those unafraid of spoilers: it also presented me with some of the most powerful stories I've come across in the form of Clannad: Afterstory, which follows the life of a recent highschool graduate Naturally such a description is very watered down to its basics, but it illustrates the kind of character growth that I hear described and can neither see nor imagine existing in FiM very well.

Interesting start. I'll take the chance to elaborate that terms like "girly crap" on my part are frank reactions because, well, that's how it came across. "It's a democratic country, we're allowed to like what we want": Thank you for illustrating what I called a "non-answer". Relevancy of democracy aside anyone is certainly allowed their likes and dislikes - to a certain degree - but though valid in and of itself it fails to address anything beyond "I like it because I like it". "Why bother asking?", "Why do you care?", etc: Pure curiosity. If I find a reason to care about the show I'm no stranger to a "Nope, it's crap...except for that one thing. They did good there" sort of view - Highschool of the Dead currently being the foremost example of this. "It makes me feel happy", "It's innocent and light-hearted", "It promotes good morals": Happiness is to be expected from a decent production whose purpose is to entertain, and naturally everyone likes feeling happy, but you have to admit that a magical land of talking ponies somewhat inundated with traditionally feminine characteristics is an unusual choice of outlet for an adult male. Regarding the other ideas here, there are any number of programs dedicated to teaching good morals in a light-hearted manner - as a rule adults tolerate them only somewhat willingly apart from a sense of nostalgia. What makes FiM so drastically different? "No-one even needs a 'good reason' to like any form of entertainment. There should be no need for anyone to justify their tastes in TV shows, movies, or whatever.": No one is asking you to justify anything; justification implies the presence of accusation or condemnation. That being said, is there a problem with asking why? Certainly anyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes, but without specifics and particulars discussions of such media would be very dull indeed. "What about it do you like? What do you dislike?" are fair questions and not necessarily demanding inquiries. To illustrate my answers to these questions, I am fond of anime. If asked I can, with admittedly a bit of difficulty at times, provide examples of titles I like and dislike. If confronted with the idea that anime is for children or some such I can provide reasons why I, as an adult male, like and dislike those titles - usually beyond the simpler notions of attractive animation or catchy music, and naturally besides the point that obviously not all anime is for children. EDIT - "I like it for the fandom", fan-based productions: Thank you both for bringing that up. The question of Pony fan productions seems to be an area entirely its own, as it is practically another subject completely. Fan productions are of such widely varied material that it's nearly impossible to compare them to the original content, apart from visually. It's safe to say that the pony craze has spawned a disturbingly large amount of creativity - easy exchange of media and formation of communities via the internet are probably to blame. The video that Circadian provided pre-edit is a good example: it was well assembled, well edited, and well presented. This says little for FiM itself, however, and more to the credit of the two artists unassociated with the show whose efforts replaced nearly all but the fancy animation of the show proper.

Interesting interpretation, I suppose. I assumed that since I was directly talking about the show it would fit nicely enough in the show's forum, but hopefully this should work. I'll endeavor to be more observant of forum mechanics in the future.

Hello, hello! Visiting passer-througher here. You're my first stop, and here's the question: Why do you bother watching this show? Now this is an honest question, and a fair one, I think, and not one based from a perspective that assumes FiM is garbage because it's aimed at little girls. Extremities aside, it's watched a significant number of presumably level-headed people - of both genders, though as you may expect males are the more curious - apparently find and extoll in this show virtues that would make leading television writers jealous. I'm just not seeing it. Admittedly I've only watched a little of the series, mostly from shows of good faith, and I find none of the incredible qualities so generously bestowed upon it by its more avid watchers. Every indication I've been able to find shows that...well, to be blunt, it's meant for the entertainment of little girls with a bit of life lessons thrown in. Frankly, the cover matches the book in this case. And yet the apparent level-headedness of its watchers remains - I remain on friendly terms with those who began such - thus so too does my curiosity. Bronies, and more accurately the brony craze, are a mystery to me. I've yet to receive a satisfying answer as to why FiM is deserving of words like "great" or "awesome" and the like. Much of the time answers come in the form of such things as "Because I like it", "It feels cheery", "The animation is great", and "Other cartoons are crap nowadays". These, while individually valid and cannot be objectionably negated, also are not answers. They are non-answers: they do not address the question why and also, I think, are not sufficient in themselves to explain the sudden brony stampede. I see that here, to provide a starting point, character depth is the specific subject being explored. Hearing about the older MLP series, I have to ask - again, in all fairness - are you not exaggerating the characters' personalities and qualities beyond their merits simply because personalities are present in this iteration? Character growth, at its basest level, requires that individuals learn from past experiences. Here's a simple example: when Pinkie Pie finds out that none of her friends want to attend her party, she has a depressive-psychotic episode and rather literally has a pity party, only to find out later that her friends were turning her down in favor of throwing a party for her. Putting aside the question of whether a character with something like actual depth might have simply learned that not every day is a party, she has presumably gained understanding that her friends' actions should not be met with extreme reactions and paranoiac distrust - certainly a word to the wise - but is there growth? Does FiM give her an opportunity to remember past events and avoid previous mistakes? If Thunder Dash's description of everyone abandoning Twilight Sparkle sometime later is any indication, the initial answer is "apparently not". Other examples provided to me continue to say, to me at least, that FiM is at an intellectual and thought-provoking level slightly above that of Sesame Street - possibly less, since the latter is seemingly tackling some more controversial topics recently. They continue to make me think that bronies tend to make an automatic leap from "personality exists" to "personalities deep and rich in character". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, again, this is an honest assessment. I'd ask that you forgive the length - and this is only a part of problems I have with this topic - but it's only fair to show the same degree of fair consideration that I am asking in reply. I've failed to see FiM as anything but a show for little girls and continue to wonder about reasons to the contrary that so many apparently are able to see. Please, enlighten me. This is just a starting point, really. In short I have been and am still a skeptic seeking to satisfy his curiosity about what makes Bronies tick. Rule 34, sexual deviation, comparisons to furries are all out the window here: it's no difficulty for me to assume you are all level-headed, mature individuals - more or less, anyway, this is the internet after all - and therefore are capable of reaching specific conclusions as to why FiM suits your fancy. A specific request, on the side: what 2 to 3 episodes exhibit FiM's redeeming qualities at their best? Convince me. Individual opinions are welcome - detailed explanations even more so. Spoil away un/important information, after previous attempts I really don't have the stomach to search for background tidbits on my own. Oh, and by all means answer honestly. This is not intended to be a flame war but insults, negligence, thread-closings and the like are also interesting feedback.