Was G1 really that dark?

[ideaguy1998 15]

Some people label MLP G1 as darker and scarier than MLP:FIM because of things like Grogar and the Smooze and that FIM's villains are less well-written and cruel and more incompetent. That makes me feel uncomfortable because I think the more well-developed and written series should be allowed to be darker than its 80's counterpart.  But was G1 even really that scary? Did everypony really cling on to the feelings they first had when they saw MLP:G1?  Would anyone like to offer proof against that?  And plus, would you be more sacred by the Cutie Map than anything from MLP: G1?

[Sintanan 151]

Slavery, kidnapping, body mutilation, and straight up murder.  This was from one comic short.

 

So, yeah, I'd say the G1 ponies are a touch more hardcore once you look under the cutesy coating.

[Fractured 2,683]

The very first episode, escape from Midnight Castle, involves Tirek forcibly corrupting ponies with dark magic, turning them into dragons/ demons and forcing them to fight their own friends. Also features Tirek being brutally vaporized on-screen.

 

Gets worse from there. Crunch the Rock Dog revolves mostly around the main characters being chased down and slowly petrified by said Crunch and his pack of disturbing sentient boulders.

 

The Glass Princess involves the villain Porcina (a pig) turning the entirety of Paradise Estate (including its residents) to glass (also features on-screen deaths). Then there's the episode Baby, it's Cold Outside, which involves the main protagonist (a penguin) building a machine in order to freeze the world, his reasons being that those who can't survive in the cold don't deserve to live anyways. Hitler penguin.

 

And those are just some of the episodes, and the things that would jump out at you immediately. 

Slavery, kidnapping, body mutilation, and straight up murder.  This was from one comic short.

 

So, yeah, I'd say the G1 ponies are a touch more hardcore once you look under the cutesy coating.

I feel the need to ask whether or not you're talking about the Applejack comic.

[The Awesome One 1,314]

It was F-ed up and dark by today's standards. It was fine though in my opinion.

[Sintanan 151]

I feel the need to ask whether or not you're talking about the Applejack comic.

 

Actually, I was talking about the origin comic that accompanied the sparkle eye/gemstone eye ponies.

 

An evil wizard kidnaps ponies to spend the rest of their lives mining gems.  Some of the 'main ponies' stumble upon the cave, get captured by the evil wizard, and go to free the slave ponies and themselves only to find the slave ponies are blind.  The main ponies confront the evil wizard and buck him into a ravine, free the blind slave ponies, and lead them all safely outside.

 

Turns out the eyes of the slaves that were mutilated and blinded by the gemstone dust actually glint in the sunlight allowing them to see and giving them sparkly eyes.  Yay happy endings!

[Fractured 2,683]

Actually, I was talking about the origin comic that accompanied the sparkle eye/gemstone eye ponies.

 

An evil wizard kidnaps ponies to spend the rest of their lives mining gems.  Some of the 'main ponies' stumble upon the cave, get captured by the evil wizard, and go to free the slave ponies and themselves only to find the slave ponies are blind.  The main ponies confront the evil wizard and buck him into a ravine, free the blind slave ponies, and lead them all safely outside.

 

Turns out the eyes of the slaves that were mutilated and blinded by the gemstone dust actually glint in the sunlight allowing them to see and giving them sparkly eyes.  Yay happy endings!

Yep, main character was Applejack. This is the comic you're talking about:

http://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/27216636085

[Sintanan 151]

Yep, main character was Applejack. This is the comic you're talking about:

http://heckyeahponyscans.tumblr.com/post/27216636085

Ah, my bad.  I thought it was other ponies.  Can't blame me, though... it's been a good couple decades since I've seen these comics...

 

Also... they're online?  I know where my Friday is going~

[Positively Pinkie 109]

  The main ponies confront the evil wizard and buck him into a ravine, free the blind slave ponies, and lead them all safely outside.

To be fair, it was just AppleJack and she didn't really buck the wizard in the ravine as much as she just accidentally ran into him because she's such a klutz.

 

It was funny.

[Sintanan 151]

To be fair, it was just AppleJack and she didn't really buck the wizard in the ravine as much as she just accidentally ran into him because she's such a klutz.

Okay, okay... it wasn't murder...  The comic just had body mutilation, slavery, kidnapping, accidental property damage, and involuntary manslaughter.  

Edited May 15, 2015 by Sintanan

[Brainstorm 4,092]

Mlp g1 doesn't seem dark to me.

[Shanks 10,811]

I present to you all the character that made me a G1 fan, Tirek and all the scenes involving his G1 version. He turns the ponies into dragons to pull his flying chariot with his Rainbow of Darkness, threatens to decapitate Spike and bring about the "night that never ends". G1 Tirek is Nightmare Moon on steroids.

 

[Jackie Snack 1,498]

G1 Tirek made g4 Tirek look like a puppy that accidentally got hold of a gun.

 

Also, am I the only one who thinks Tirek's Rainbow of Darkness looks an awful lot like the 'Nightmare' from Little Nemo?

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIweiW20eE4

Edited May 15, 2015 by x0jackie0x

[Shikilicious 69]

Ah, back then when villains had to do some really villanous things to be called alike.

 

It's perfectly reflecting how the world has changed in the past decades.

 

Good ol' times...

[ideaguy1998 15]

It looks as if FIM, the superior, newer series is forever going to live in the shame of being less hardcore than its 80's predecessor and not even being allowed to.  But in all fairness, if you go by the interpretation that Queen Chyrsalis was a moron, then G1 Tirek was actually more incompetent than G4 Tirek for the following reasons:

1. G1 Tirek overlooked any hidden/potential threats.  This is especially jarring considering

a) He had a whole army of minions that could spare all that work for him or at least make new minions better suited for scouting and spying.

Even if the ponies kept the Rainbow of Light hidden, the fact that Tirek in the absolute least had to bypass another territory's defense to abduct Scorpan should give him suspicions that his targets of choice could have tricks up their sleeves.

2. G1 Tirek didn't keep Scorpan supervised 24/7, thus giving Scorpan the chance to turn the tables against him in secrecy, which he did when he saved Megan.  And instead of threatening to kill Spike, Why couldn't G1 Tirek have just brainwashed Scorpan?  That way, it's guaranteed that Scorpan won't turn against Tirek.

And you do got to admit, G4 Tirek sucking that unicorn's magic up in that alley does look disturbing.  And the fact that he didn't need an army actually makes him more badass as well.  Sure, G4 Tirek didn't imprison or kill the Mane Six and only did so to the Princesses, but if we were to go by the interpretation that G4 Tirek was that powerful, then imprisoning anypony wouldn't be actually necessary and stashing Luna, Celestia, and Cadence must've just been a sign of victory. Plus, you should realize that G4 Tirek's plan would render everypony unable to carry out the systems required to keep the world go round, thus ending the world.

I do hate any guts the fans have or at Hasbro that state that FIM can't be just as dark or even darker than G1, but Rescue at Midnight Castle actually sounds less scary when you view that way.

[Fractured 2,683]

It looks as if FIM, the superior, newer series is forever going to live in the shame of being less hardcore than its 80's predecessor and not even being allowed to.  But in all fairness, if you go by the interpretation that Queen Chyrsalis was a moron, then G1 Tirek was actually more incompetent than G4 Tirek for the following reasons:

1. G1 Tirek overlooked any hidden/potential threats.  This is especially jarring considering

a) He had a whole army of minions that could spare all that work for him or at least make new minions better suited for scouting and spying.

Even if the ponies kept the Rainbow of Light hidden, the fact that Tirek in the absolute least had to bypass another territory's defense to abduct Scorpan should give him suspicions that his targets of choice could have tricks up their sleeves.

2. G1 Tirek didn't keep Scorpan supervised 24/7, thus giving Scorpan the chance to turn the tables against him in secrecy, which he did when he saved Megan.  And instead of threatening to kill Spike, Why couldn't G1 Tirek have just brainwashed Scorpan?  That way, it's guaranteed that Scorpan won't turn against Tirek.

And you do got to admit, G4 Tirek sucking that unicorn's magic up in that alley does look disturbing.  And the fact that he didn't need an army actually makes him more badass as well.  Sure, G4 Tirek didn't imprison or kill the Mane Six and only did so to the Princesses, but if we were to go by the interpretation that G4 Tirek was that powerful, then imprisoning anypony wouldn't be actually necessary and stashing Luna, Celestia, and Cadence must've just been a sign of victory. Plus, you should realize that G4 Tirek's plan would render everypony unable to carry out the systems required to keep the world go round, thus ending the world.

I do hate any guts the fans have or at Hasbro that state that FIM can't be just as dark or even darker than G1, but Rescue at Midnight Castle actually sounds less scary when you view that way.

There was an episode of G1 named Bright Lights where:

 

The plot revolved around the Mane Cast stopping a shadow-eating cloud demon ("shadows" essentially being souls, since eating one leaves in a near-death state), They only find out he existed after they three of their children are attacked, and they capture the Zebra responsible.

 

Then it gets worse, as they later find out that the same Zebra has been helping the demon for years, starting off with sacrificing his town and his own mother and leaving entire cities full of what are essentially zombies. They eventually do reverse it, but...I don't think it matters by this point.

 

[ideaguy1998 15]

There was an episode of G1 named Bright Lights where:

 

The plot revolved around the Mane Cast stopping a shadow-eating cloud demon ("shadows" essentially being souls, since eating one leaves in a near-death state), They only find out he existed after they three of their children are attacked, and they capture the Zebra responsible.

 

Then it gets worse, as they later find out that the same Zebra has been helping the demon for years, starting off with sacrificing his town and his own mother and leaving entire cities full of what are essentially zombies. They eventually do reverse it, but...I don't think it matters by this point.

 

But does Rescue at Midnight Castle come as less dark when you think about it that way?

[ideaguy1998 15]

Ah, back then when villains had to do some really villanous things to be called alike.

 

It's perfectly reflecting how the world has changed in the past decades.

 

Good ol' times...

Do you think the 80's would have let this fly in a children's cartoon?

Preston Northwest: A classist, pompous jackass who manipulates people into doing his dirty work, rather let his party guests be turned to wood and burned alive than to let poor people in his house, trains his daughter like a dog and have her respond to the ringing of a bell, sees his wife as more of a trophy than a spouse, secretly takes pride in his family's history of villainy, and planned to cannibalize his butler when he and his family went into a bunker to wait out a ghost attack.

There was an episode of G1 named Bright Lights where:

 

The plot revolved around the Mane Cast stopping a shadow-eating cloud demon ("shadows" essentially being souls, since eating one leaves in a near-death state), They only find out he existed after they three of their children are attacked, and they capture the Zebra responsible.

 

Then it gets worse, as they later find out that the same Zebra has been helping the demon for years, starting off with sacrificing his town and his own mother and leaving entire cities full of what are essentially zombies. They eventually do reverse it, but...I don't think it matters by this point.

 

I watched Bright Lights to see how "dark" it really was. And I have one question for you: Did you care to re-watch the episode? In fact, did you even watch the episode at all? It was a popstar named Knightshade, whom Arabus bribed and threatened, that the ponies captured. Zeb, the zebra you mentioned, was Arabus's default assistant and the guy who held the satchel that took everypony's shadows while Knightshade distracted them.

And I notice that Arabus was somewhat of a fool also, at least if we go by the logic that Chrysalis was a fool as well.

Tactical Error 1: Arabus did not give Knightshade any bodyguards or stay with him. This left Knightshade vulnerable to any intruders that managed to bypass the rodents that were scouting the are for any and even gave him the chance to turn the tables against Arabus when nopony was looking. This came to bite Arabus in the ass when the ponies and Megan caught Knightshade, learned about him and his plane, and even talked Knightshade to their side. Arabus didn't give himself and Zeb bodyguards or any method of defense either, causing the ponies to knock the satchel out of Zeb's hands at times.

Tactical Error 2: When Megan and the ponies tried to obtain the satchel from Zeb, Arabus did the chasing himself instead of sending his rodent minions. This not only made Arabus fall victim to his weakness, but also gave Megan an idea of how to defeat him.

Tactical Error 3: Even if he did manage to get back to normal, Arabus did not take the risk of starving seriously and install a prison into his headquarters that he could feed from in the advent he does weaken.

And besides, Arabus looked more cartoony than threatening and serious. He even had that goofy song to balance him out.

Edited June 14, 2015 by ideaguy1998

[cider float 2,535]

Animation looks more gritty like older Disney movies and the music used back then is more ominous so it gives a darker feeling. G4 has a more simple clean art so it looks more innocent. Plus G4 tends to insert humor every now and then breaking any dark feelings.

[ideaguy1998 15]

Animation looks more gritty like older Disney movies and the music used back then is more ominous so it gives a darker feeling. G4 has a more simple clean art so it looks more innocent. Plus G4 tends to insert humor every now and then breaking any dark feelings.

True, but G4 did have its disturbing moments like when G4 Tirek sucked up that magic from that unicorn in the alley and when Fake Cadence sent Twilight down to that prison. Plus, alot of G1 villains had somewhat cartoony design.  And you do remember that G1 had a lot of goofy musical numbers.

[Emiko Gale 199]

I present to you all the character that made me a G1 fan, Tirek and all the scenes involving his G1 version. He turns the ponies into dragons to pull his flying chariot with his Rainbow of Darkness, threatens to decapitate Spike and bring about the "night that never ends". G1 Tirek is Nightmare Moon on steroids.

 

 

*holds on to my plushies and shivers* Eep!

[Leave a Whisper 703]

Well Dark is subjective. If you think about villains with an adult mind, some of them could be considered Dark.

 

The Smooze is a magic, semi-sentient, disaster that wiped out a kingdom. One person compared to a Shogoroth? I think that's how you spell it. It wiped out a whole kingdom, leaving five or six survivors. Think of a tidal wave or an avalanche with eyes, faces and hands that can devestate entire forests, chase it's victims, swallow you whole and harden instantly and you've got the Smooze.

 

Somnambula is a witch who drained your youth and made you old in the space of hours so she could be young and powerful.

 

King Charlatan was a penguin king creating an Arctic environment all over the world and froze his young son's best friend right in front of him. Declaring that any creature too weak to survive didn't deserve to.

 

Alot of it was cut down with cutesy songs and silly humor moments.

 

Cartoons nowadays can't get away with half the stuff they did then, but kids didn't think of it like that. I mean Tom n Jerry explored attempts at suicide where a duckling thought he was ugly and tried to get Tom to eat him.

 

I wouldn't put MLP n Friends under the category of scary dark though like The Dark Crystal, or mature and intelligent dark like the Bloodbending episode in ATLA.

 

It's more typical fantasy, fairytale dark.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Leave a Whisper

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

No, by any means, is isnt THAT Dark.

 

I think some Bronys mean by " Surprisingly Dark " or " More Dark then expected " simply, that for such an old Cartoon with mostly the young girls as the target audience, it has some uncommon Dark elements to it.

But thats mostly just in the first short Movie.

The rest of the serious isnt that dark.

 

I just remember the heart in the Bag from the first Movie...yeah, for a My Little Pony Show, that was pretty weird. 

Also Tirek looked actually pretty frightening.

Thats mostly it.

[FlutteringDweamz 2,086]

I saw a bit of the g1 movie and it was too dark for me. I loved how cute the ponies were, and i love cute things, but there was something unsettling about that film. I haven't seen any eps of the actual cartoon, though. It was way before my time.

[Whirlwind 1,048]

I somewhat like those "old school" animation styles the show was back in the day

 

I would consider it "semi-dark"
 

[Lil Pip 775]

PinkuRiku, on 01 May 2016 - 12:32 PM, said:

I saw a bit of the g1 movie and it was too dark for me. I loved how cute the ponies were, and i love cute things, but there was something unsettling about that film. I haven't seen any eps of the actual cartoon, though. It was way before my time.

I didn't see any of it myself but what part was too dark?