Is the fantasy of FiM becoming extinct? Has FiM become My Little Pony Tales

[ManaMinori 4,144]

Personally, I think it seems like it has. Sure, we get the occasional mythic creature, but mkst epsodes are less adventure, and more slice of life-y, so FiM really feels more like My Little Pony Tales (gen 1.5), rather than My Little Pony n'Friends (Gen1).

 

A person by the name od AI-1701 on another pony forum (which shan't be named, because I dunno if I'm allowed to) made a post stating :

 

One thing I've noticed about Friendship is Magic is the fantasy elements are marginalized, isolated, and cast in an undesirable light. Aside from the inhabitants being ponies who control everything including the weather and even the sun and moon, Equestria is pretty much a normal world. The only place abnormal is the Everfree forest which ponies avoid like the plague. The fantastical animals are all vicious and the fantastical plants are all hazardous. It's almost like the overarching theme of Friendship is Magic is normal is good and fantastic is bad.

 

G1's world was the opposite. We had one spit of land that was normal surrounded by a world of fantastic landscapes. There were all kinds of strange creatures that were good, bad, and neutral. The world of G1 just seems richer and more imaginative.

 

PirateCat comes to the same conclusion.

 

I don't know about the rest of the world being too small, it's just that we never really see the rest of the world. In G1, they'd go on adventures elsewhere. There was the finding the treasures for the giant in Magic Coins, the whole frozen ice land of the penguins in Baby, It's Cold Outside, the land of Tambelion (which wasn't really elsewhere, but a different dimension and coming to their dimension), the bee land in End of Flutter Valley, the pig's castle in Glass Princess, and so on. The only real pony places were Dream Valley and Flutter Valley. Meanwhile, the only places we've seen in FiM are pony places. And we usually don't even get out of the main village. I think it's telling that we saw griffons in the first season and still haven't seen their places.

 

And a user by the name of Metemponychosis says the same thing.

 

I think that the world they inhabit is becoming more and more bland, losing it's personality and it's magic, both literally and figuratively, but I still like it. I don't like the idea of a modern looking city like Manehattan in Equestria, as it appears in "Rarity Takes Manehattan". I don't like the idea of electronics in this cartoon... I feel like Equestria is in danger of turning into Cartoon US 2.0. It's not that I think this is objectively bad, it's just... C'mon... There is a fantastic Minas Tirith in the top of a mountain! This is a fantasy! Let's see imagination! Like Rainbow Falls! The Crystal Empire looks it's overcompensating (and totally useless), but that looks like magic.

 

I think that with a little more common sense and imagination, a little more caring and less pop culture and pandering, this cartoon can keep it's status of what I think still is the best cartoon for all ages way after it ends.

But feel free to post your own opinions and tell me whether you folks see FiM as too slice of life-y, like Pony Tales, with just fantasy elements bookending as series premeires and finales, or is it more aventure/ fanasy themed, like Mlp n'Friends?

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@@Nightmare Muffin,

 

It's balance of slice of life and adventure fantasy is exactly why I've watched it as long as I have. It kept things interesting and from getting stale.

 

Need I remind that this Season Finale had time travel, alternate timelines, visible magic wars, and an immortal fighting a witch over the continuity of their entire existence!

[ManaMinori 4,144]

@@Nightmare Muffin,

 

It's balance of slice of life and adventure fantasy is exactly why I've watched it as long as I have. It kept things interesting and from getting stale.

 

Need I remind that this Season Finale had time travel, alternate timelines, visible magic wars, and an immortal fighting a witch over the continuity of their entire existence!

need I remind you ghat the season finale is a bookend, where most fantasy takes place, as I mentioned already in the op? So 4 episodes of fantasy, and that's being generous, is both 2 parters of each premire and finale in every season are fantasy based, compared to 26- ish episodes of SoL squished between. Yeah, seems balanced

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

Lauren Faust has even brought up this issue before when she was still working on the show. She wanted it to be more adventure and some slice of life, but hasbro wanted more character based episodes, thinking that girls would not like adventure centric episodes as much.

 

Personally, I could love it either way. All adventure, all slice of life or anywhere in between. In my mind, either way exposes me more to the Equestrian universe, just in a different way.

[Megas 27,087]

The show has always been mostly slice of life with some adventure thrown in, with the premiers and finales being heavily adventure(along with a few thrown in between), but a good majority of the time the show is slice of life, and I don't really care because, honestly, slice of life is where the show really shines. Sure adventure episodes can be cool and fun, and not all slice of life episodes are great(Made in Manehattan, Appleoosa's Most Wanted, Hoofields and the McColts, for example), but a majority of the time I find slice of life much more memorable

Edited January 12, 2016 by Megas75

[ManaMinori 4,144]

Lauren Faust has even brought up this issue before when she was still working on the show. She wanted it to be more adventure and some slice of life, but hasbro wanted more character based episodes, thinking that girls would not like adventure centric episodes as much.

 

Personally, I could love it either way. All adventure, all slice of life or anywhere in between. In my mind, either way exposes me more to the Equestrian universe, just in a different way.

odd, since Mlp n'friends (gen 1) was packed with more fantasy, than SoL, and apparently successful enough for its audience, to spawn 3 later gens

 

Contrary much, Hasbro?

Edited January 12, 2016 by Nightmare Muffin

[Castle Bleck 19,174]

If it was, then why would we all still be here?

Edited January 12, 2016 by A.V.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

need I remind you ghat the season finale is a bookend, where most fantasy takes place, as I mentioned already in the op? So 4 episodes of fantasy, and that's being generous, is both 2 parters of each premire and finale in every season are fantasy based, compared to 26- ish episodes of SoL squished between. Yeah, seems balanced

 

Yes it does, I reject your irony and sarcasm, (and your trademarked negativity). The slice of life episodes are good times spend with characters I can enjoy just seeing interact with each other. Let us also not forget that said interaction heavy episodes sometimes have a large fantasy component to them.

 

"Tanks for the Memories" had heavy emphasis on Rainbow Dash trying to thwart the magical weather system.

 

"The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" was more or less catching up with Gilda and fixing a social problem but had elements of ancient mystic treasure and monstrous cyclops in the flashback.

 

"Bloom and Gloom" Inception with ponies.

 

"Rarity Investigates!" no explosions or magic beams but it pools detective fiction.

 

"Made in Manehattan" AJ and Rarity were summoned to Manehatten by the map, making it a social friendship problem but a magically appointed task.

 

"The Hooffields and McColts" same as above.

 

Overall, no, the show has not lost its fantasy element and whether you "count" the finales or not arbitrarily, they are there and often heavily based on action or high magical powers.

[Metemponychosis 1,238]

Hum... I think that we don't necessarily need an adventure to see the magical component of their world. In fact, I think that some of the best examples actually are in Slice of Life episodes.

 

The first episodes that introduces the idea that they move celestial bodies is a mixture, but we also have Sonic Rainboom, Fall Weather Friends, Winter Wrap Up, any episode involving cutie marks, A Bird in the Hoof (some would say), Hurricane Fluttershy, the episodes where Luna is doing dream counseling, Magic Mystery Cure (I think it can be called SoL), Bats!, It Aint Easy Being Breezies, Tanks for the Memories. And there are probably others that I'm forgetting.

 

All those episodes, in one way or another, more than adventure episodes, showcase the magical nature of Equestria. Not that they are necessarily the focus, but they do present or reinforce these elements.

 

So, yeah...My point is that while adventure episodes can, and do introduce this sort of thing, an adventure is not necessary. In fact, I think that we desperately need one with Celestia that shows what is so magical about her, when I know that Cadance has her love thingy, Luna does the dream thingy and Twilight the friendship one.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Fantasy like episodes in s5

 

Cutie map 1 +2

Bloom and Gloom

Make new friends but keep Discord

Griffonstone

Party Pooped

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?

Cutie Remark 1+2

 

so 9 episodes

 

GG wrong

[Jeric 46,835]

This topic reminds me of a former classmate who once made the argument that Stranger in a Strange Land was not Science Fiction due to the larger emphasis of sociology and politics. In response our professor laughed at him in a manner that would have made Jabba the Hutt proud.

 

 

Any context in which one has magical wielding and/or flying equines, no matter how mundane it is to some, is definitionally fantasy. Though I suppose I can forgive the oversimplification of considering fantasy and slice of life mutually exclusive, as I have seen far greater sins on the internet that uses extreme frames of reference to define fantasy.

 

The best fantasy, like science fiction, explores the human condition to create a relatable experience. I suspect that Season 6, like Season 5, will be 100% fantasy. Albeit presented with varying degrees or relatability.

[Metemponychosis 1,238]

I think it should be mentioned here that different people may have a different opinion on what is "magical Equestria". Meaning... I like how the magic makes their world different from ours, and that is what I was saying in that quote up there. Because it requires imagination and has a tendency of introducing new worldbuilding. And I am leaving out of my point things like flying and magic as a personal ability of a specific character, because I was focusing on the world itself and how those characters relate to this world. 

 

The reason I do this is because Twilight blasting stuff with magic lasers is not creative. But ponies running so that the leaves in a tree will fall kinda is. A town ornate with rainbow waterfalls is something that I think is creative, while a Manehattan with very modern looking buildings isn't.

[HereComesTom 2,234]

I love worldbuilding, and the show may not have as much of it in Season 5 as in previous seasons, but TBH, I agree with other posters who've said you don't necessarily need an adventure episode in order to have worldbuilding.

 

One thing I like about having modern-looking cities like Manehattan with magical unicorns in the show is that it helps make the world more relatable:  sure, there are dragons and hydras and other such creatures in that world, but they also have a society in it that likes stability and profit, and that can and does build up its own economy and cities in much the same ways we do.

[Metemponychosis 1,238]

 

 

One thing I like about having modern-looking cities like Manehattan with magical unicorns in the show is that it helps make the world more relatable:  sure, there are dragons and hydras and other such creatures in that world, but they also have a society in it that likes stability and profit, and that can and does build up its own economy and cities in much the same ways we do.

 

 

I think this makes sense. A lot of the fans like relatability in the world of FIM. A lot of people think that Equestria has it's own version of electricity. A magical electricity, like a "mana flow" that works like electricity... A sort of steampunk thing. And others prefer to think that Equestria is capable of generating electricity like us... With that dam in season two. And maybe burning coal and whatnot.

 

I like the idea of "magical electricity" because it's closer to the original renaissance/Victorian feel I got from the cartoon in the beginning. But I don't think that modern cities and "magical electricity" are mutually exclusive (other than the aesthetic presentation). You?

[CastletonSnob 3,026]

The show has a big world that's going to waste. I really wanna see more information on dragons and zebras, relations between different species (as in relations between countries, not as in sex), new locations, etc.

Edited January 13, 2016 by VG_Addict

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

The show is like 75% Slice Of Life 25% adventure... the same as it's always been basically. some episodes blend the two together a bit aswell.

[SolyWack 482]

Hmm. You and me are one in the same Nightmare Muffin. I do O' so enjoy your topics.

 

I'll admit I came in here ready to argue you were wrong, but those are some very good points. Other then the ponies and telekinesis, the world is largely like our own. On it's own, gen4 seems very fantasy, but Juxtapose it next to earlier generations, and it does become very obvious that the show is lacking the fantasy element.

 

Although adventure isn't a requirement for high fantasy, it definitely helps. Unfortunately many bronies seem to prefer the current way Slice of Life episodes are handled, and the writer's are being objectively wise and sticking to a status quo.

 

I think Metemponychosis said my personal thoughts best. Equestria is becoming, or perhaps was always, just a modern, industrial  world like our own with some magic, rather than a medieval-esque fantasy world that some might have liked.

 

That's of course, not to say I don't enjoy the current formula. But I certainly wouldn't argue if some changes were made.

[Discordian 6,013]

@@Nightmare Muffin,

 

It's balance of slice of life and adventure fantasy is exactly why I've watched it as long as I have. It kept things interesting and from getting stale.

 

Need I remind that this Season Finale had time travel, alternate timelines, visible magic wars, and an immortal fighting a witch over the continuity of their entire existence!

I haven't watched any of season 5 yet. Maybe I should get around to doing that. That sounds amazing. LOL

[Steel Accord 6,658]

I haven't watched any of season 5 yet. Maybe I should get around to doing that. That sounds amazing. LOL

 

Oh it was God damn amazing! They just keep topping themselves with these finales.

[Discordian 6,013]

Oh it was God damn amazing! They just keep topping themselves with these finales.

Damn right. Season 4's finale blew my mind in a lot of ways. Season 5's sounds even better. This show can't possibly get any better, can it? ...CAN IT!? O_O

[Aladdin Mane 17]

It's always been this way. The finales are fantastic adventure. The rest are mundane misadventure and hijinks. Always.

[AlbaTross 1,581]

Pony Tales has a lot of fantasy in it? I'd rewatch that series to see if that's the case since I remember it being more slice of life with one or two episodes that had fantasy elements, but that would involve rewatching Pony Tales, which I don't know if I want to do. Personally, I like the mix of fantasy and slice of life episodes, and for me it's more about quality than a ratio of slice of life to fantasy episodes, meaning how good the fantasy episodes are and how good the slice of life episodes are as a good slice of life episode is worth more to me than a bad fantasy episode even though fantasy has the coolness factor to it. Also, I don't think the categories in this thread are mutually exclusive as plenty of slice of life episodes have world building and fantasy elements.

 

Now whether or not the show's selection of episodes and their nature appeals to everyone is another thing entirely, for which I will use the hackneyed phrases "to each their own" and "haters gonna hate". That may be a detriment to some, but not to others, and regardless of which camp one belongs to, there is no judgement; at least not on my part. FiM is a multifaceted series with various elements that might appeal to fans of different strokes, so I think it's great that we're having a discussion about whether or not the series is skewed in favour of a certain aspect. To the OP: if you think there isn't enough fantasy in FiM, then perhaps you should make your voice known by sending a fan letter or email, or possibly attending a con and asking one of the show's staff directly. There's no guarantee your opinion will be taken into account but it can't hurt.

[cider float 2,536]

If MLP was just one big adventure with the mane six going to different locations, I would of watched that and in that kind of show, the introduction of new characters but all for plot reasons would of made sense, because hey you go on one big journey you will encounter new people and problems after all. You know kind of like Avatar the Last Airbender.

 

This kind of MLP is okay though, even though it's more like My Little Pony Tales in it's plot standard, it's still leagues more interesting. 

[Steve Piranha 28,877]

Now that you mention it, S1 had a noticeable amount of adventure and fantasy compared to later seasons, which were heavily focused on SoL and keeping the fantasy in said settings. Adventure is now mostly kept for premieres and finales. I wouldn't say it affecting negatively the show, in fact, I believe most of SoL episodes these seasons are superior to the ones in precious ones. 

From what I know of MLP Tales, which are horses in a middle school setting without magic (as far as I know), I think is silly comparing it to FiM, as magic and fantasy is adapted to the SoL setting 

[cider float 2,536]

I feel like after seasons 1 and 2, everything began to feel so boxed in like there isn't much more to see of it. Maybe it's because the animation and characters were began to wear out on me. I used to love these characters now they're meh.