Let's be honest, is FiM a preschool show?

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

If it were preschool, we'd be seeing ponies teaching the audience pretty basic stuff and stopping awkwardly for 5 seconds for every answer  

[Odd Ball 231]

I'd say most of Season 1 was aimed for pre-schoolers. The show went from having ponies being frightened by lifeless trees with scary faces to having one of them fight a giant magic stealing monster in a Dragon Ball Z style battle.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Da King

[user1342342 143]

Nah. The show isn't that condescending, it doesn't treat you like a mindless little twerp. Most of the time.

[cider float 2,538]

I'd say most of Season 1 was aimed for pre-schoolers. The show went from having ponies being frightened by lifeless trees with scary faces to having one of them fight a giant magic stealing monster in a Dragon Ball Z style battle.

Season 1 seemed to be very innovative and set itself apart from all the typical Cartoon Network crap. Recent seasons like 5 and 6 seems to be more like the typical Saturday morning Cartoon Network crap.

[Luminance 2,186]

Season one did had the "educational" and "informative" standard that the show aimed it to be, otherwise the rest of the seasons/episodes partakes on a more casual theme. It's not like Tirek can scare any preschoolers with the fight with Twilight, right?

[EverEverOn 346]

I see it as more of a family show, not a preschool show. The themes are a tad bit too dark sometimes (Twilight's battle with Tirek, for example) for a 2 year old to watch.

Then again, my 2 year old niece enjoys MLP and stares intensely at the screen whenever I have it on.

[PiratePony 8,475]

From a parent who dredged through a lot of preschool programming, some good, some awful, FIM is a family show aimed towards elementary aged children and not preschoolers in the slightest. Not even close.

 

The themes are too mature, too dark at times and the friendship lessons are way more complex than a preschool show.

 

Go watch Dora and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for five minutes and you'll see what a preschool show is. Even those aimed for older like Sofia The First and Sherrif Callie's Wild West don't hold a candle to FIM.

 

The closest feeling that I can think of being similar are the old Disney Afternoon shows of the 90s when I was a kid. That's the part of me that lights up when I watch ponies. I don't have that feeling while watching preschool programming.

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

I don't think MLP is for only that demographic. I has things in it that are on the level of the little girls watching it, but sometimes they slip by a couple sex jokes to appeal to older audiences. When Dash got a wingboner during Pinkie's ''You Gotta Share, You Gotta Care'' performance? When Fluttershy was blushing after Dash pulled off her covers? Things like that make it go over the heads of children, but older audiences get the jokes resulting in enjoying the show more and the whole family being into it.

[Pulse Wave 44]

As of G3.5, ​MLP used to have a target audience aged 4 to 7.

​

​When Lauren Faust came and took over (and she did take over), she changed this to 5 to 12. So no, this isn't a pre-school show.

​

​Unfortunately, German TV execs don't know about that because nobody in Germany except for the bronies (probably not even Nickelodeon) knew that there was a new generation, let alone that this was a revolutionarily new generation or even about the bronies who actually already existed in Germany at that point. So the first three seasons were aired in a program block right after Dora the Explorer.

[SteveMorison 404]

Do many pre-school shows have a season opener where it's main characters are kidnapped by a cult leader?

[Bizarre Wizard 5,003]

Definitely. And it makes phenomenon so unique )

[Starflite527 24]

No, I don't think so. As you said, the target audience was never just preschoolers, it was girls in general. Preschool shows, in my opinion, are shows like Sesame Street and Dora, which try and teach kids colours and stuff, and while there may have been a bit of that at the beginning with the whole "friendship lessons" thing, it was never that "which is the blue pony? You're right!" kind of show. Besides, the show has been adjusted a little bit to cater to bronies. In a preschool show, you won't see monsters like the timberwolves, or some of the more complex themes that would not be there if this was a preschool show. I think that while the technical target age for MLP is young girls, the show has expanded to be so much more than that.

[Vocal Analyst 665]

Knowing the tone, pace and occasional complexity FIM puts out, to hear it be called a 'Pre-School' show is quite frankly insulting.

 

I hated going into my local HMV and finding the MLP stuff in the pre-school section. Just because it airs on Tiny POP here in the UK doesn't mean it is a pre-school show. Thankfully as the reputation of the show has increased, they've moved it to the family section.

 

The show fits into its age range perfectly and thanks to its reputation has expanded to include much more, further away from any demographic Hasbro originally noted for it.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Vocal Analyst

[Lightning Pixel 34]

Hell no, it's more adult like. Hasbro made it adult like btw XD

[Dec Browne 20]

On 2014-11-10 at 8:44 AM, The Mint Pone said:

No I dont think so. My 2 year old brother watches things like Thomas the tank engine and that is a preschool show! FIM has a lot more to it than the 2-dimensional characters (not literally) or the extremely simple plot (if you can call trains taking cargo from A to B plot!) of preschool shows I've seen.

You’ve got to see some of the early Thomas seasons, they’re amazing. There are even two episodes where one train saves another from scrap.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Dec Browne

[Sir Hugsalot 9,348]

It has values that will certainly be beneficial for preschool audience in their development, but I believe it is a show for everyone despite what its target audience was. 

There are values for adults, for children, for any demographic, to make it short. Characters have great depth, the world is interesting and all that is done while still ensuring that show's message remains consistent, wholesome and positive. It's simply incredibly fun with very varied content, rich with themes and adventures of all kinds.

I don't think there's any kind of demographic that couldn't learn anything from watching ponies, honestly. 

[Megas 27,630]

If it was S1, an argument could be made, they had that E/I logo for a reason

Everything else though, no, it's definitely an all ages show

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

I think it's a show for those who are older than that. Pre-school shows would be like Dora the Explorer.

[RDDash 19,181]

if it was preschool show then it would be slowly brainwashing your kids because parents are too busy to parent themselves

[FlitterFlutter 1,583]

I don't know if preschool is right especially if we are talking about season 4 and onward. Those seasons have some rather intense scenes and themes for small children. Even if you are talking about early seasons when the show was more kid ordered I believe Preschool was never really the intended audience. 

The reason that I believe this is the even the early seasons have they plots that extend through the season no preschooler can understand and keep up with that. I Believe the reason the people get confused is because MLP is a family show meaning it is okay for preschoolers, it is really made for all ages.

Edited September 24 by FlitterFlutter

[Snow 7,036]

This question is old and already answered many times over but even still I'll say hardly, MLP FIM was originally presented as having a main targeted audience of girls aged 6-11 thought it must be said that the preschool age group of 3-6 years old was listed as being the secondary intended audience.

Its very clear that from the beginning FIM was meant to have a mass appeal and not be the sort of jingling keys show to excite only the exceptionally young, Lauren Faust's show bible even mentions an appeal to young boys and more interestingly mothers, particularly mothers who had watched the original My Little Pony as kids and now who's daughters would make up the bulk of the intended audience, FIM was meant to appeal to them in terms of nostalgia and also being something a gown up could enjoy watching with their kids, as we know, a number of shows made for toddlers and pre-schoolers are just rubbish in the eyes of us grownups.

The ponies themselves are also suggested as having an emotional maturity of 10-15 which I imagine to be a bit high for the enjoyment of the preschool age group, make no mistake FIM is indeed a show for kids and some preschool kids would no doubt enjoy it but that is not the only audience the show was made to appeal to.

[Antiyonder 1,153]

Though to be fair, some of that category have gone a bit higher like Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor.