Do You Want MLP to Address More Serious Issues? Which? How?

[Betez 1,734]

Honestly, no. I like mlp because it's innocent, for the most part. I feel like if the show wentvdark, it would lost it's fundamental purpose, and not really appeal to children anymore.

[TheMarkz0ne 962]

You mean "dark" as in "bad thing happen for a good dramatic reason" and not "I wanna see some ponies squirm" kind of dark, right?

 

In this case, I think it would be ok.

I just want to see the cartoon grow some balls, just for a little bit. I mean have the movie(if there ever will be one) be dark. It would be good for the brony community. I mean some guy showed me a clip from Sesame Street involving death. If that show can do why not MLP. The 80s cartoon was darker than the current gen. I love the show for being cheery and light hearted. But I want to see a balance between the two. It also makes things a bit more realistic. These are animals, humans are animals too. We experience tragedy and loss. The ponies in MLP should experience the same. In the spongebob movie. Spongebob and Patrick die but are brought back to life. 

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

I just want to see the cartoon grow some balls, just for a little bit. I mean have the movie(if there ever will be one) be dark. It would be good for the brony community. I mean some guy showed me a clip from Sesame Street involving death. If that show can do why not MLP. The 80s cartoon was darker than the current gen. I love the show for being cheery and light hearted. But I want to see a balance between the two. It also makes things a bit more realistic. These are animals, humans are animals too. We experience tragedy and loss. The ponies in MLP should experience the same. In the spongebob movie. Spongebob and Patrick die but are brought back to life. 

I agree. It would be good for the show. Since it started with the idea of teaching, of bringing down preconceptions, they might, just as well teach children that people die, it's natural, and has to be faced.

yeah. That'd be interesting.

[himanuts 165]

I wouldn't mind seeing it go as dark as the Lion King.

 

Though I'd personally would love to see something as dark as All Dogs go To Heaven as someone mentioned. I think that's a bit much considering how idiotic parent's nowadays seem to be. 

[Pexaro 51]

I know going in this direction would bring amazing things to the show and be pure fanservice, but I feel like we all love the show how it is, in its cute, fun, innocent form. While I love movies/TV with dark tones, it wouldn't work for MLP, and I wouldn't like to see it like that. It's already great how it is, and changing it would be unnecessary.

[force26 2]

I would echo the opinion of those who like the innocence of the show as it is.  For me, there are plenty of morally ambiguous shows and movies with darker, mature themes that I watch already.  One reason I like MLP so much is the fact that it is happy and innocent with a happy ending to the episodes.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

If the show were darker, it would ruin one of the main reasons I like the show, the purity and innocence of it. So no, I don't want the show to go in a darker direction.

[Nothing&NoOne 695]

 

pass down her leadership to Cadence or Twilight.

 

D: What about Luna? :c

 

I'd love to see a darker turn. A Luna oriented darker turn.

 

The return of Nightmare Moon kind of darker turn.

[Veylon 255]

I'm in favor of "Don Bluth" dark, though that would likely be a bridge too far.

 

I actually think killing off Celestia would be (bizarre as it sounds) too easy. It's a clean and simple excision that - however tragic - leaves everyone else in the clear. There's no mentor-pupil wrangling, no looking over shoulders on the part of the new rulers that Celestia might come back, no nothing.

 

You get a lot more narrative mileage out of a incapacitated Celestia. What if the Sun Princess lost her powers? Or disgraced herself somehow and lost her legitimacy? Or her mind? Or suffered a coma? Or was simply missing? Whoever's making the decisions can't sit comfortably knowing that now they are in charge. There's always going to be an awkward presence - literal or figurative - in the background, waiting and watching.

[Loriem 639]

Now, I think it would be interesting if it had underlying darkness. Such as hints and such to dark backstories that make you think.

 

I don't think My Little Pony should go all out dark, but it could include mystery into certain aspects variously hidden, and even sometimes reference something dark in real life without being in your face. This would allow more in depth veiwers to have more to think about, and young children watching it to just bask in the colours without fear of Giygas's and such.

 

Although if this guy appeared in a mirror or something for a second, I would laugh.

 

Just imagine, just seeing him in a window of Sugarcube corner while Twilight discusses problems with the flower population.

[Snowdream 221]

Hmmm... I suppose i have mixed feelings about this, in some ways, yes a darker episode or two would be nice (haha not NICE nice but you know what i mean(I hope...)) but we have to remember that this is a show intended for younger audiences, which means death and blood and guts and (okay you get the point) aren't allowed.

[Just some guy 1,070]

If you mean darker and more mature themes,then yes,I would enjoy such episodes every once in a while,since it can also help teach the harder lessons about morality for kids.But if they were to add blood,guts,death,and all that kinda jazz,then I would definitely not watch the show.If you want grimdark,then go read some fanfics.Otherwise,more mature themes to help teach viewers about morality and such would be a huge plus for me.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Death is not the kind of darkness I'd want in MLP, though if executed well enough it would be quite dramatic.  I would like to see darker themes in the show though.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

Yes and no. That's a tricky one. Changing the tone of a series is something that can go badly wrong very easily. Especially with going dark. It's far too easy drop into needless melodrama and pain and suffering for it's own sake.

 

I've always felt that if dark elements are necessary to tell a story, that's fine. But when the darkness is a goal in and of itself, it's rare for the story to be any good anymore. More effort is being put into 'proving a point' than telling a story, and the story suffers accordingly.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I just want to see the cartoon grow some balls, just for a little bit. I mean have the movie(if there ever will be one) be dark. It would be good for the brony community. I mean some guy showed me a clip from Sesame Street involving death. If that show can do why not MLP. The 80s cartoon was darker than the current gen. I love the show for being cheery and light hearted. But I want to see a balance between the two. It also makes things a bit more realistic. These are animals, humans are animals too. We experience tragedy and loss. The ponies in MLP should experience the same. In the spongebob movie. Spongebob and Patrick die but are brought back to life. 

 

First of all, "Rescue at Midnight Caslte" was darker, not G1 on the whole.  And even that didn't include any actual death. 

 

Killing off a major character in a series that otherwise doesn't fit that tone would be too much.  Hasbro saw what happened when they killed of Optimus Prime in G1 Transformers- a lot of kids were really upset by that.  If you want the show to explore darker material similar to, say, Return of Harmony parts 1 and 2, I'm down with that.  But killing off an existing, beloved character *just* to teach a lesson about loss seems a bit harsh.  In the case of Sesame Street, they dealt with the death because the actor who played the character actually died himself.  They took an existing tough situation and tried to make something good out of it.

 

And you want the show to be more realistic... just like the oh-so-realistic Spongebob movie?

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

Ok so Bronies are dark depressing people. *the more you know* I jest of course. Depends on how dark it goes. A little morbidity would be nice so i dont feel embarrassed when showing the show to my non brony friends. Like more physical harm on the ponies and blood from injuries. I want to say Granny Apples dying but i fear that would make Bronies every where cry. 

[Phoenix237 353]

Ah I remember when characters could die, go to the afterlife and come back. Good times

 

Anyways, no I don't think they will pull of a death episode. You have to remember this is a show for little girls. Plus parents will make sure something like death doesn't happen.

 

Now I would like the show to get more serious from time to time. One idea I always had, is an episode where a villain actual wins. He/She wins, the mane six try to ind a way to get back their kingdom, they go through challenges, they win somehow.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Ah I remember when characters could die, go to the afterlife and come back. Good times

 

Anyways, no I don't think they will pull of a death episode. You have to remember this is a show for little girls. Plus parents will make sure something like death doesn't happen.

 

Now I would like the show to get more serious from time to time. One idea I always had, is an episode where a villain actual wins. He/She wins, the mane six try to ind a way to get back their kingdom, they go through challenges, they win somehow.

 

Didn't this happen to some degree in Return of Harmony and Magic Duel?  True, no one left the kingdom in RoH, but Discord defeated the Elements and turned all of the Mane Six gray. 

[Zygen 6,066]

Eh, I don't really want the show to become totally dark, I mean I'd be ok with the ocational darkish story, but only a light dark episode, not something super dark just because. And I don't want it to become consistantly dark, I still love the childish happy feel the show has and having it avoid some things is part of the reason its enjoyable I think.

 

However there are a few things I wouldn't mind be covered in an episode, such as Aj's parent's death. Or Scootaloo and his parents. Things like that.

 

However I don't think I'd want to have Friendship is magic turn into Friendship is drama, If you know what I mean. I like the show for alot of the childish aspects of it, so I don't really want much dark concepts and stuff to be added in the show if any, and they have to be very relevant and not just there for the sake of it, like Celestia dieing would be sorta unnecessary in my eyes, but explaining AJ's parents death could be relevant.

 

I don't want it to be something thats like mature content basically, if any I just want a small dash of dark to the show, and again only in small portions and with total relevance.

 

However it most likely won't happen seeing as anything to dark would push them from their content zone, They've already pushed it actually quite alot in my opinion.

 

I never want FIM to lose its almost childlike charm to it, thats part of the magic for me, and even if it'll probably never happen I wouldn't mind a slight bit of darkness here and there. To much would ruin part of the show for me though. It would lose some of its magic. Its hard to explain, hopefully that makes sense though.

[Smilodon 18]

Like, when you say darker, you mean like as dark as something like The Lion King? Right?

 

No, I would not mind that at all. I think it's a good idea in fact. However I think killing of Celestia would be a bit predictable, maybe kill off a character that's not going to be as predicable. Like Zecora, I do love Zecora and I would probably be bawling by the end of the episode, but hey, that's not a bad thing, right? Or Luna. Again, I also like Luna quite a lot. Maybe Candace or Shining Armor, I don't know. 

Anyways, it has to be a character that we like; so her/his death scene is sad, but not a character that's very very important (like one of the Mane Six). 

[pinkiefan1287 610]

If you want something that is dark that involves My Little Pony, than try reading the comic book. In volume 3 it gets really dark. 

 

As for the show, I would not mind that. 

Edited February 6, 2013 by pinkiefan1287

[Bardock 139]

As long as the show is still good, then I don't mind.

 

I'm not really picky when it comes to entertainment. If something entertains me, regardless of how it does it, then I'm satisfied.

[Java Jive 440]

Ever since dark magic was introduced in the season opener i have wished for an episode where Twilight would feel the effects of it's corruption by using it more and more to make things easier for herself and getting addicted to its power even when she may have good intentions. Maybe not only her but i think it could be used more in the show in many ways. That and the start of "Magic Duel" had a somewhat more serious touch to it than usual. I personally wouldn't mind the show becoming a bit darker, not entirely ofcourse, but a few episodes in that direction would do.

[Twinhead B 482]

A show does not need to kill off characters to be dark. So, no, I don't think any main character should be killed. Maybe at the very most they hint at a lost loved one or something, but they should never explicitly say that a character has died. MLP is a sanctuary for most; a 22-minute paradise where everything in their life is fine, and their only care in the world is ponies. Why muck that up by putting doom and gloom into it?

[poniesforfun 716]

I think more suspense and drama wouldn't hurt. Anything with Fluttershy seemed to have some of this. Hurricane Fluttershy, Keep Calm and Flutter On, Dragonshy, and Stare Master Well. Fluttershy was real hardcore eye fighting that cockatrice while slowly turning into stone.