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chirox the pony

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Everything posted by chirox the pony

  1. Thus far I just find it boring. The film left me unimpressed and disappointed. The pilot special is frankly even worse. It all comes down to one problem. The characters. They are not interesting. They are rather dull and not distinct from one another. G5 seems to harken back to G1 of all things. Instead of taking what was established in G4, Hasbro seems to have learned nothing from the last decade. It harkens back to G1 in so far as it reminds me of 80s animation. In the 80s cartoons were just 20 minute advertisements and were primarily plot based. Can any of you reading remember the distinct personality traits of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus? I thought not. The only show I can think of with distinct characters in the 80s is TMNT. Character didn't matter back then. In the 90s however the animation industry went through a revolution which changed the industry for the better. Characters were made distinct and entertainment came first. FIM understood this fact because Faust was a part of said revolution. The people who make this programme seem to be stuck in that 80s mindset. In fact the film itself follows the MCU formula of being more like a theme park ride than an actual story. There are multiple scenes and bits of dialogue in the special with really nothing to it other than to be meme material or just to entertain regardless of bearing on the plot. I very much resonate with the point about the visuals. In fact it's been shown that the more processed an image is the less a person cares about it. G4 understood simplicity and used it to its' advantage. Not only that but it was much more visually interesting in general. Ponyville and Canterlot give you a lot to look at whereas Maretime Bay does not. Maretime Bay is colourless and too spread out. So far it's not looking good. I'll see what the series does but I don't have high expectations.
  2. Oh wow. I completely forgot I made this. I still can't remember why I posted this but I think it had something to do with a breakdown between me and my then long time childhood friend. And man do I have some experiences to post since. I won't go into detail for the sake of privacy but around late 2015 I made a new group of friends who I thought were the best thing ever. I have since cut contact with all of them. Only one remains. Some of the things those guys did were outright illegal and could have gotten them time. They were nasty, passive aggressive, and generally unpleasant human beings. And I was one of them. I removed what was my closest friend of six years due to a variety of issues. I won't go into full details but issues ranged from trying to grow up to his extremely abusive behaviour. I'll leave anyone reading with this. If you ever find a perfect friend. Somebody who happens to agree with you on literally everything with no sign of conflict whatsoever, run. That person is not real and is manipulating you.
  3. Honestly what I wouldn't give to have it all back. As time goes on I really begin to miss the fanbase of 2012. It truly was something special. But really, I miss this. 

    1. Gone Airbourne

      Gone Airbourne

      I do to I miss those years alot had a lot of good times throughout those years. I hear you on that one.

  4. I will preface this with a spoiler alert. If you do not wish to be spoiled as to the events of the film, then do not read this post. Coming into this film I had a mix of feelings towards it. Something of disappointment due to the drastic changes seen during its production from its' initial pitch as the programme Lauren Faust always wanted to make, and somewhat interested due to its' unique set up and world. Having seen the film I come out on the more disappointed end of the spectrum. When considering my opinion towards this film one should note that my opinions of FIM are that it was only good during seasons 1 through 4. Everything MLP related before and after those four seasons is really not to my interest. And to add to that I am generally on the side of Martin Scorsese when he said Marvel films are not cinema. I have noticed this trend since the early 2010s and my opinions towards the state of the film industry, the animated film industry in particular, have not budged. The animation is fairly well done and has a very illumination feel to it. Very fluid although cheap. I liked the angry mob song for its' catchy beat. And that's really the end of my praise for this film. This film to me shows many signs of a very troubled production process. The awkward pacing and rushed payoff all seem to me to be prime examples of this. Somewhere out there is likely a cut of this film that is much longer. It has a very slow start followed by a very quick middle and ending act. The whole thing can be at times hard to follow as a result which is an especially bad thing when you consider the demographic this film is aimed at. Exposition and action sequences are strictly divided and as such creates a very ebb and flow feel for the film. In fact I would argue a lot of the scenes from this film could be cut and it would not have any impact on the final outcome. The whole thing feels to me like it could have been done in well.... 44 minutes. It's very clear to me that the people making this are television writers and producers who are clearly not that good at cinema. Which is a very common problem with films of this type. Many sequences to me feel like they were added with the sole intention of padding out the film. Many of the song sequences do not seem to advance the plot and seem to be there just to extend the length of the film. Most notably the whole Pipp song sequence feels to me like it was meant to do this. I could go on about the actual structure of the film but I think you get the point. The world that's been built is not very interesting. Initially I was somewhat interested in the move to a more urban setting but the main problem is that there just isn't much to set the locations apart. Maretime bay and Zephyr heights are only really separated in the way a town and city are but do not provide much of a sense of difference in terms of culture. Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal empire may have been in the same world but had enough clearly distinctive landmarks and aesthetics to make them interesting. Zephyr Heights to Maretime Bay on the other hand does not feature this. And Bridlewood just feels underdeveloped. It really has no landmarks and is basically just a park with a few huts and a tavern. Not a lot of imagination seemed to be going into that place. This makes for a very bland and forgettable world. There just isn't enough creativity to make it work. But I think the main problem with this film is the characters themselves. Sunny Starscout particuarly. My main gripe with her being that she's a Mary Sue. I know saying that will get people's backs up but that is unfortunately all I can see in the character. A Mary Sue is at its' core a character who is not challenged by the narrative of whatever story they are in. As far as I;m concerned this matches Sunny to a T. She starts out a borderline messianic child who is in effect the the exact same person as an adult. She is immediately loved by all the main characters in the film. The only ones who don't like her are all villains. When she is imprisoned she is given a seven star hotel style set up and is near immediately released due to how much Zipp instantly likes her. And to top it off, she does not develop as a character. The only time she is remotely challenged during the story is when the crystal fails to bring back magic, and even then the reason behind that is due to the lack of friendship among the other ponies. In other words she is an already perfect character and remains so throughout the film. Compare that to Twilight Sparkle who is at first a highly dismissive and anti-social character who is very much challenged throughout the first episode of FIM and throughout the next few seasons. She was a real character with real flaws. Sunny on the other hand is pure perfection from the get go. I don't know any other phrase to describe that besides Mary Sue. Izzy Moonbow is just a watered down version of Pinkie Pie without the characteristics that made Pinkie Pie a grounded character despite her literally bouncing off the walls in FIM. Pinkie was shown as somewhat insensitive at times, and could indeed fall prey to overly panicked behaviour as well as happy to a detriment. Izzy on the other hand removes all of that in favour of another unchallenged character without any real flaws outside of maybe being a bit of a clutz. Zipp and Pipp are in effect secondary characters and barely have any time on screen. There just isn't enough going for them to even comment on. All I will say is that I expect to have Pipp's social media use challenged at some point in the series. And Hitch is just.... confusing. His motivations throughout the film are unclear. At first showing empathy to Sunny, then hating her, then siding with her later in the story. Hitch's motivations are shown as pure and yet he seems to take an almost pleasure in the thought of arresting what you think is his friend. He's a very underdeveloped character. Sprout and his Mum are just generic, slightly comedic villains and I don't feel I have anything to say on them. There are other problems such as the blatant cop out of Hitch saying Mayonnaise in order to get out of a fight with the unicorns but I'll leave it there for now. These are the major problems with G5 as it stands and my hopes have certainly been diminished. That being said I won't close the book on this yet. I will give the actual series a chance and decide a final opinion of it from there.
  5. I mean I think it could have worked out better due to wider exposure than on netflix. Netflix tailors itself to a person's tastes whereas the cinema is a much more neutral distribution method that can pull in wider audiences. This is one of the major issues I have with streaming platforms as a concept.
  6. This looks pretty decent to be honest. I was afraid that it would be your typical 2010s CGI animated film fare (thanks illumination studios) but it looks like it's trying to be its' own thing. One thing I was worried about was that they would pull a Rey with Sunny but it seems her personality is going to be a lot more believeable (initially scared of Izzy like the rest of them). Not only that, the city is actually pretty well thought out. It shows a lot of the same motiffs as the G4 ponyville. It makes it much more believeable. I still have some concerns regarding the film but my impressions are definitely very positive right now. I just feel sorry for the producers as this film was clearly meant to be a cinematic release but is now confined to netflix.
  7. This is much more in line with the 2017 leaks than I initially thought it would be. It seems they just scrapped the use of the six characters from G4. Also it seems that hasbro are still sticking to the plan of CGI film and 2D animated series as there has been official 2D artwork of these characters leaked (I won't post it here but it's not hard to find). The characters are noticeably less cutesy than what was seen in G4. This seems to line up with Hasbro's intention to market this to an older audience. We also see some new naming conventions. With two of the characters' names being "Sunny" and "Izzy" respectively. These names come off as something you'd see in the real world rather than "Twilight" or "Rainbow". I would have preferred it if they had just come up with more original names that only exist within their world but these will do. The design features more horse-like proportions and features. Although the nose is in a mid way position between Gen 4 and an actual pony. It certainly gives off the impression that more people than young girls can enjoy this. Not only that but the colours in the 2D artwork are more muted. It doesn't have that sharp and bright colouring of much of 2010s animation and overall I like it. It's a nice change of pace after a decade of bright colouring. My only concern is what Equestria itself looks like. In the screenshot of the film we can see more textured and realistic looking objects rather than the more fantasy feel of G4. Something I'm not a big fan as I generally only enjoy stories which feel disconnected from our own world. The storyline actually sounds really good. It certainly removes my doubts over the diversity and inclusion line included in the press release. It seems to suggest that it may have been more of a marketing ploy less than something we'll actually get in the film. The idea of a now disconnected world seems to help with them going for a more serious tone whilst not going into full on middle-earth territory. Overall I feel like this could be the show Lauren Faust originally wanted to make. Certainly much closer to it. In other words exactly what I and so many other former fans of G4 wanted. Will definitely watch come September.
  8. Overall I'm not happy with this. The early leaks for gen 5 left me very optimistic. It felt like they were going to make the series Faust originally wanted to make. But as we all know things can change drastically during production. And this seems to be one of those cases. The character change may be pleasing to some but from a marketing perspective it's rather baffling. For example look at transformers. Every generation features Optimus prime, Megatron, Starscream, etc. Why? Because they're highly iconic. Ask any random person on the street and they can probably name at least a few of the transformers without ever having seen any transformers media. Contrast that to my little pony. Prior to generation 4 MLP was nothing more than the butt of a joke. The only people it really had value for was young girls. If you asked an average bystander prior to 2012 to name any of the ponies they probably couldn't answer you. Post 2012 however (when the franchise gained respect among the public) people can probably name Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle. Switching over to a whole new cast of characters like that seems like a bad move considering the fact that it won't conjure up the same feeling among the many of us who were formerly big fans of it. In fact connecting it to the generation 4 universe seems like a bad idea in general. It's alienating to newer and even older audiences. Do they really expect people to catch up on over 200 episodes of generation four to get some references? I think they're expecting a bit too much (and that's putting it lightly). Plus it also poses the threat of making the universe too convoluted. A problem suffered notably by the bionicle franchise. Unless you were into bionicle prior to 2005 it required a lot of dedication to understand the basic story. They're towing a fine line by connecting it to generation 4. They should have just started from scratch in order to bring in the maximum number of both old and new fans. Then there is of course the "diversity and inclusion" line. This is once again a recipe for disaster. Who exactly they're trying to appeal to with this is a mystery to me. The social activist is not the type of person who is going to consume this product. Most older fans do not fall into that category and neither will the younger fans. This comes off to me as an attempt to stir up controversy. The people making this know that it will get attention from the backlash they will inevitably generate and (by extension) the backlash to the backlash. Not only that but doing this is also a gamble. If you think that the current online culture war is going to last forever then I think you're very naive. People do move on from things and eventually, at some point, the current paradigm will dissipate. Possibly due to people just getting bored or a wider cultural shift in opposition to social media. By pinning themselves to this they're effectively gambling with their property on something that could easily disappear. And when that happens they'll be left with nothing. The article overall indicates a very cold and calculated approach to this new iteration. This is in stark contrast to Faust who was given relative freedom to craft something on her own. With lines like “Generation Alpha has a higher emotional intelligence, and they expect a lot more from their entertainment. We know it’s important to Gen Alpha that they see their peer groups represented in their entertainment, and that shaped how we built our core cast.” (these people are children?) it shows that hasbro based this entire franchise off of marketing surveys. This is the worst possible thing they could do. Instead of being its own thing Hasbro has decided that they need to adapt MLP to what they think it's audience likes. As we all know (see G3) that usually never makes for good, memorable content that can hold the interest of its target demographic. Overall this has shattered any optimism I had in this series. I'll most likely still watch the film but my expectations have been drastically lowered.
  9. The possibility of such a thing happening is already out there. The leaks for gen 5 hinted that they might well go in this direction. Now that was early in development and thus it may well have changed by now. Overall my interest would be highly dependent on how overt the messaging is. If it's just having a bit more representation then I'm fine with that. If we're talking about direct messaging and themes then it will be a very different case and it would require very good writing on top of the propaganda in order to maintain my interest. Either way we won't know until 2021 (possibly 2022) and until then I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic for G5.
  10. This is simply a cheap means to maintain interest in MLP. Now that G4 is far past its heyday and G5 has been seemingly delayed it makes sense Hasbro would do something like this. Lego made that unikitty series to keep the Lego movie IP in the public eye and Hasbro are doing the same. This series will go on for two seasons maximum before being phased out as generation five launches.
  11. I'd say they should move it over to streaming services. Hasbro already seem to be planning on copying the Dreamworks strategy of CGI film and then 2D animated series. Dreamworks usually puts its cartoons on streaming services. Other toy companies such as Lego have also shown a preference for streaming services. Hasbro has also put hanazuki up online as well so I think this is actually fairly likely.
  12. I'm not dead folks. Just patiently waiting for G5 and hoping it's all good from there.

  13. Hey I'm not the one starting these topics talking about the current state of the fanbase. You ask this sort of question and I'm gonna be honest about my opinion on this whole issue. For me and nearly every other person I knew I/we lost interest after season 4. And I wouldn't consider myself a total downer. I myself am really anticipating G5 and feel it has real potential. So I come back here periodically in the hopes some new info comes out about it.
  14. I got into this show in late 2012 during the middle of season 3. I stopped watching this show when season 5 ended. I saw the direction the show was headed and I wanted no part in it. Now I have returned to the fanbase (not the show itself) to patiently wait for the premier of G5. What I have returned to is a fandom in grieving over what used to be. And I don't blame a single one of you. In answer to the question. yes. this show's magic is long gone. What used to be this charming show about 6 (well 12 if you count Spike, CMC, and the princesses) characters having these personalities which bounced well off of each other turned into something very different. It was around season 5 that I could see the show was switching focus to other characters who simply could not compare. Whilst great if you were one of those people who obsessed over secondary characters I do not believe this was enough for the average fan at the time who liked the mane 6 themselves to stick around. Thus the show lost it's charm.
  15. From the info obtained in the leaked emails, yes. It mainly consists of returning writers from the earlier seasons (seasons 1 and 2 specifically come to mind). However depending on how far into production the series is that may change. All I can say is that it seems the later writing staff are not involved. Something I can say I am very happy about.
  16. chirox the pony

    general media Forced Diversity

    The problem with term "forced diversity" is that it's what we call "loaded". In that the framing of the question automatically has negative connotations. If I was to go up to you and say "I want forced diversity in films" I'd sound like some crazy control freak who wants to control all art forms. Thus making the term inherently difficult to debate. It also doesn't help that it was largely coined by internet pundits where it's difficult to get a consensus on what the term even means. Thus I would use the more mainstream and academic term which has a much clearer definition which would be "tokenism". That is having minorities there for the sake of having minorities and then using that as a means to make yourself morally superior when it is dishonest. In that sense I think you'll find that not that many people (with the exception of a very small online social media users) really fall for it. Nobody likes these completely bland characters with nothing going for them other than "oh look a black man". Not many people really fall for that and it shows in the box office performance of a lot of these films. In fact I'd question what the point even is. There have been plenty of films with minority characters over the past few decades. I guess gender was kind of neglected until recently and LGBTQ characters are only now coming on screen and that's fantastic that that's happening. But why can't they make it more like say.... Lando. He's black, and it's never talked about. It's just there. Why can't we get the same with say two women casually kissing on screen. Just slip that in there and don't draw attention to it. Doing it like that makes it seem normal, Because it is normal. I actually have quite a few black friends who I've talked to about this and they don't like it either. When they talk about racial issues they talk about police brutality and job opportunities and educational problems. They never complain about the fact that there weren't enough black people in some big hollywood blockbuster because they have actual worries in life. And I think that's what people hate the most. Of course there are actual far-right people who hate minorities and they are a problem. But a lot of people hate this attitude from the industry because of just how privileged you have to be to sit there and worry about characters in movies all day. That's what I feel is the main crux of the issue is. It's not the fact that some people out there have it so good that there main "political" concerns is that "oh this doesn't have a gay character in it, I'm gonna protest on twitter all day". It's that attitude I cannot stand. In a world where there are serious problems going on that so many people could do something about that are just being ignored in favour of how "woke" you can make a film. I dream of de-politicising entertainment again. Just have women and minorities in there and have it be treated as a normal thing.
  17. I'm not talking about this forum specifically (if even 10% of the people who were into MLP at it's peak in the early 2010s were to join this forum the servers would crash instantly) but I'm talking about other, more mainstream platforms such as facebook, twitter, and especially youtube. From those sites I am not seeing much attention being given to this. I was hoping for something similar to when the game club penguin was closed down. The whole internet got together and said goodbye to the game and I feel like MLP should be getting similar treatment. Again it's still very early days and we could see people start to mourn it later on in the year (I hope we do).
  18. I certainly hope so. I'd hate to see something like this be swept under the rug and forgotten about. Especially considering just how big this thing was.
  19. What upsets me the most about this isn't the fact it's ending (I myself haven't kept up with this show since season 5). It's the lack of response. This was a huge thing on the internet in the not so distant past. It's peak popularity was in 2013. That was only 6 years ago now. Yet only the people who stuck around have shown up to mourn. This was a uniting force for people around the web to express themselves, to create, to question. Sure it wasn't the answer to any problems in the world but it was so comforting for so many people. All the people who were into during it's peak are still alive and still online. Yet none of them have shown up to at the very least acknowledge it. Now maybe it's because of a lack of reporting from news news outlets. I contacted saberspark in the hopes that he will make a video about it. I plan to make one for release around the time of the end of S9. But my point still stands that... where are all the millions of people who were into this to at least acknowledge that they were into it. It kinda feels sad knowing how little of an impact something that big had on public perceptions when it feels like most of the people who were into it are too ashamed to come out of the woodwork and say they loved it.
  20. I would agree with the majority when I'd say the kind of popularity seen in the early 2010s is likely to never occur again. That is the media frenzy that surrounded it. However I do think it is very possible that a lot of the former fans (people who were into the show during the early 2010s) may actually return. One possible reason I believe it could happen is because the animation industry seems to be entering another dark age. A lot of the renaissance cartoons of the 2010s are ending soon with not much to really engage the western animation community in their place. Except for (maybe) MLP G5. G5 is meant to be more action/adventure oriented as well as having greater focus on lore and world building. I think this is a really smart move as it is responding to the demands of the western animation community. Many have been unhappy with the state of western animation due to it's focus on comedic and less animation intensive cartoons over the past few years. I think due to these conditions it's very possible that a lot of the same people who were into MLP G4 (as well as completely new fans) may embrace G5. I also think it's emphasis on greater lore will allow for heavy support from youtubers. For example theorist channels could potentially have a field day with it. Them having a TV show that actually does have a deep lore for them to speculate on is actually really good for engaging a large online community. Of course I could be completely wrong and MLP will just sink further into irrelevancy but having weighed up all the factors I think 2020 may see a resurgence in the MLP fanbase.
  21. I find it quite surprising that these conversations come up at all in this day and age. I got into MLP at age 13 in 2012. Back during the prime of the brony scene. From what I saw online this was far from uncommon and there were a lot of MLP fans around that age. I'd say I handled the situation pretty well. I got teased but never a punch thrown at me. It's amazing what simple confidence can do.
  22. I first saw Mr Enter back when he started out in 2013. He felt somewhat tamer in those reviews but the editing was horrible. At least from what I remember. Anyway he's probably the single most hated person in the animation community so I assure you that plenty of other people think he's overrated as well.
  23. I would have to say seasons 1-4. They simply had this charm to them that you can't get with season 5 and onward. Because they were so limited in their scope it allowed for focus on the characters which is what pulled me in. The fact that this was also during the time of it's peak popularity suggests I am far from alone in thinking this.
  24. I'd say it's highly likely given the environment G5 is supposed to take place in. It's supposed to have much richer lore so it makes sense for discord to be included.
  25. Yeah I'm afraid I see my video being half an hour at most. It would be cool to have another documentary to send out FIM but I don't think the funding is there like it used to be. Although I do have a feeling that when the official announcement of cancellation comes it'll be pretty big news that might get people interested again.
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