Some of my random thoughts of the show mixed up together

[Sepul-Coloratura 765]

(Skip the number if you aren't interested)

① The reason why Sunset Shimmer is a success and Starlight Glimmer is a failure

A : I can trust Sunset but can't trust Starlight. Let's say I need my baby taken care of or someone to look after my property or something, I would definitely not choose Starlight. Even if Sunset makes mistakes and sometimes fails, I know she would try her best with good intentions (and for practical reasons, not so likely to f*** things up). But even when Starlight gets the mission done, I have to worry what pony she might have brainwashed during the process. (Look at when they first met and how differently they acted.)

People compare two of them because they think they have similar backgrounds and events and positions, which are not. Their motivations were different, they were basically quite a different beast as a villain, they do not quite have the same position in the show, and most importantly, Starlight actually didn't learned a lesson. And as friends of her, they are not right and honest to just forgive her and constantly misinterpret her irresponsible misbehavior as a mistake or her insecurities, and even worse of us, as a charming personality traits. Starlight is insecure. But what the show and her friends do is instead of acknowledge that Starlight is not a good  person and then try to fix it, the show treats it like a charming thing and an asset for writers to scribble synopses around that. Starlight suffers quite a bit, but that doesn't solve the problem, it's just for us to feel pity for her. And she says she has changed, but the honest and brutal truth is, she isn't. There are something wrong and unsolved about her to become a friend of the cast (the good), but it isn't done yet and they just went along with it. All the time they had her as a main character, I think they are done with that.

B : There are no much more things to do with Starlight in the show while Sunset is still an active driving force of narrative and basically the only hope of the show. Now Starlight is a trouble. Season 8 finale proved it. They made a magically powerful character to solve problems quickly, but now they don't know what to do with her. Do you think Discord was a mistake to make him OP? Or all the Alicorn princesses? Well, at least Discord is fun. Starlight isn't fun so she has to be paired with Maud, Discord, Trixie, etc. Let's say you are a writer of MLP. She would be convenient when used as a powerful magician who solves practical problems. But there are not much interesting going inside. That's a problem. And you don't quite know how she would react to certain things. That's why she isn't a good established character. You don't know what she would do.

And they had opportunities to actually build more character to her. She could have dealt with her past - the villagers of her town. She could have learned about responsibilities along the way. She could have been reminded how important her friends actually are through crisis. None of those happened. All of her episodes are better when she is replaced with different characters like Twilight, Applejack, Spike, etc. Meanwhile, Sunset is the most developed character in EQG. Might be the only one of two actual characters (Sunset and Twilight) in the show. So she's the only hope of the show.

② Early seasons were successful because of the archetype.

Season 1,2,3 used archetypal stories. It's a hero's journey. The characters are also archetypes. But after the journey was over (the coronation of Twilight Sparkle), then what? And they lived happily ever after, The end. That's why Disney sequels suck. They already made a complete story based off an archetype and tries to make more stories after the story is actually over.

After the show used all archetypes, they started using chechés. And mostly chechés are weaker than archetypes. And as soon as they stopped using archetypes, the moral became more vague, slowly lost the charm.

③ Why MLP fans are mistaken

The reason MLP fans were widely mistaken is because it provokes the idea of manchildren, pedophiles, and homosexuality. I know. It's bulls**t. Reasonable people don't have any problems with grown men watching MLP. That means only idiots have problems. I think the reasons for them are those. Because it's a grown up person watching a kids show. And it's also a fantasy utopian land of escapism with no pain (or filtered pain). That's seemed for the manchildren who can't deal with the real world.

Then the pedophile part is, 'a manchild would have a sexual interest that meets the same age of the underdeveloped mind'. Which means, 'if you watch a cartoon for 9 year olds, that means you are basically a 9 year old, and just like how 9 year old boys have interest in their fellow girls, you would too'.

The homosexual part is even weirder. It's mostly a bigoted misconception of homosexuality, I presume. Being gay is mistaken with being feminine. For example, look at Bill Burr's stand-up comedy when he talks about men constantly teasing each other about being 'gay' when they remotely show feelings or just wearing an umbrella or put fruits on pancakes or something. It's two things. You either are the toughest bastard on earth that has no weaknesses, or you are gay. Watching My Little Pony? You are definitely gay. To even delve it deeper, some might think the only possible way for a man to love a man is to become a woman inside or resign his masculinity. 'It's a girl's show, so a man watching it would be a woman inside, thus he will have interest in men, thus makes him gay'. I don't know what the hell is that, but that's my understanding of the whole misconception happening in their minds.

④ Why the fandom exploded

The whole fandom exploded because of it's minoritary nature. It was an unlikely thing, and so un-metal, so to speak. They didn't have any shows that have fairies and unicorns and love and happiness etc. You can say you genuinely liked the show, which I also did, but most of us started to watch the show out of curiosity and some for ironic reasons. We were also so tired of being 'Metal'. We kinda needed a My Little Pony of our generation and we exactly got it. We watched the show and took pride of that by disobeying the expected stereotype of a male. And ironically, that was the most 'Metal' thing possible.

⑤ Why explicit fanarts

All the grim dark fan arts of Pinkie, gore dripping violent fanfics, sexual jokes, tyrant Celestia, probably some clop materials are the consequence of us trying to cope with the show. We are not very used to watch fluffy cartoons, we try to counteract that with something not very like it (and familiar).

Sadly, but reasonably, most of the widely spread dark depictions of MLP are very easy to think and one-dimensional. Celestia is nice? Well, that's impossible. She might be evil in the inside. Most rulers are corrupt. Monarchy? That's tyranny. Cheerilee is so nice. Well, maybe she is hiding humongous anger inside. She actually hates children. Pinkie Pie? She is mental. She has a personality disorder. She is promiscuous because she is 'friends' with everybody. It can go on and on.

⑥ When EQG works best

FiM and EQG both works better when it's about daily sitcom centered around the character. When it's about epic battles between good and evil, FiM kinda works better (because there is a concept of divinity there). In EQG, the best moments are when Sci-Twi first appeared, or when Sunset met Starlight and Celestia, bloopers when Pinkie meets herself and Rainbow Dash riding her pony self. And mostly the shorts. The best parts of Rainbow Rocks are not even in the movie. It's when Rainbow Dash forms a band. And it's the first time I ever cared about EQG. It's centered around the characters and also a sitcom. Sadly it falls miserably when it is supposed to be the most interesting part : when they face the main villainess (all four EQG movies and three big specials).

EQG is about taking familiar ponies we know and put them into new surroundings. That's the premise of the show. The best asset they have are the characters. And they should go ways that emphasizes the different surroundings the most, which are sitcom and shorts.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Sepul-Coloratura