Do you wish MLP was made for boys or was gender neutral or do you like it the way it is?

[Cirrus. 1,088]

Speaking in terms of G4, I think it was done very well how it was. If it was changed to be "for boys" I think it would have seemed forced and wouldn't have been nearly as good or successful as it was.

I think the depth/personalities of characters and writing is more important than what gender the show is "made for." Lauren Faust just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be offered the job to reboot it. In interviews, she has mentioned that she had been disappointed in girls' entertainment since being a young girl herself. She liked the pony toys, but not the show. She made up her own characters and stories with her toy ponies instead, which carried over to the G4 series into the Mane 6 we all know.

The thing is too, for a lot of episodes of G4 you could gender swap most characters in it and it wouldn't have affected anything in the story anyway.

Thinking about it though, I really don't know what else could've been done to make it more "boyish/neutral" besides a couple male main cast members and/or slightly shifted color palette. It just wouldn't be the same though.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Cirrus.

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

My feminine and masculine aspects are well balanced. There is no problem with the expression of the show, as long as it is a genuine expression.

[EpicEnergy 22,064]

How do you even make a show centered around ponies for guys? Like, the stereotypical guy doesn't care about that stuff and a considerably high amount of males aren't interested in ponies. Maybe a show about coyboys riding horses might appeal to a good amount of males, but even then that's a show that centers around humans instead of ponies. The point that I'm getting to is that I doubt that MLP's target audience could possibly be boys since it would be a huge and obvious failure. Also, I'm not aware of how a show could be made gender neutral, much less succeed in any way as such.

Disregarding the feasibility of MLP being made for males or being gender neutral and to answer the OP's question, I am perfectly fine with MLP's target audience being young girls instead of young boys or being entirely gender neutral.

[Monsoon 1,648]

If it was altered even slightly there's a chance of it not having that special "magic" about it, therefore not making it what it is today. 

[Winter Storm 206]

I like what they achieved with G4, I think Lauren Faust was 100% correct with her idea that just because the target audience is little girls doesn't mean that it can't appeal to other demographics as well. Yet I fear that idea flew right over Hasbro's head.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

I think it's extremely important to make sure that everyone knows that everything is for everyone.  What I mean is, make sure that everyone, young and old, knows that they can enjoy or participate in anything they want, regardless of who the target demographic is.  In that way, we needn't label things as "girls' shows" and "boys' shows", and "girls' toys" and "boys' toys".  They're just shows and toys--for anyone and everyone.  But that said, I also don't think we need to or should sanitize or homogenize things so that we don't have masculine and feminine things.  There's nothing wrong with having monster trucks over here and flowers and colorful unicorns over there.  The world is richer that way.  I for one adore feminine things, and that's what drew me to Pony.  I would never want it to be any different.  I want a world with both feminine things and masculine things.  We don't need everything to be gender neutral, we just need to make it very clear that everyone is free to enjoy anything and everything, regardless of their sex, and it needs to be absolutely socially acceptable to do so.  We still have a ways to go yet.

[Prospekt 10,984]

I love it the way it is. And it's not quite the overtly "feminine" show one might expect. At least in terms of the stereotypes reinforced by previous generations, among many other cartoons.

[radspeon 16]

As a former member of the show's target audience, I think that it's important for MLP to have been(and continue to be) directed at little girls. MLP is an important franchise for girls and women as a whole, it's been one of the few competent shows to be directed at girls. I don't think that everything should be gender neutral, because of how few animated shows there are that are made by/directed at women. I'd like to remind everyone that adult women get mocked for liking MLP as well. 

It's important to look at both perspectives, and notice that we're ALL 'misfits' in the way that we enjoy this piece of fiction. I'm not saying that the male demographic isn't important, frankly I don't think MLP would have gotten nearly as popular if it weren't for men finding value in the show(though I find it sad that some shows NEED a male demographic to survive.) 

It's a complicated situation, I think. I like the show the way it is, it's valuable to feminine entertainment.

[ToastedScone 378]

I like the show the way it is, but a "male oriented" spinoff might be interesting to see! Would they have ray guns and all look like Bulk Biceps? Would all the female characters be under designed or would they be designed to fit the male gaze? It's a very interesting thing to think about! 

[Splashee 28,537]

MLP for boys. Does that include weapons and battle suits and stuff? Because that's the kind of toy line I would think of.

For the show, I just want it to be Anime-dark, have a little bit more character development.

[Lonstecation 302]

The fact that MLP was made for girls is one of the big reasons why I like MLP. And it's not only because I like girly things. But also, no matter if MLP was made for boys or girls, it will always be a show for young kids. And in my opinion, it's much worse liking a show for young kids of the same gender as you than it is liking a show for young kids of opposite gender.

Tomboyish girls and girly boys are nothing compared to immature teenagers/adults. It's fine to like something that doesn't suit your gender. But liking something that doesn't suit your age just doesn't feel right to me.

But honesty, I'm okay with both cases! It doesn't bother me if MLP was made for a specific gender or for a specific age for its audience. If you like MLP, then you shouldn't worry about your age or gender at all!

[Tacodidra 59,771]

It's good the way it is. A great show will appeal to people regardless of their gender, age etc.

[Splashee 28,537]

If we are talking about FiM (the show), then I think it is reaching guys almost more than girls.

[Skylight Scintillate 1,849]

I love it the way it is. Plus, I don’t think that they should have changed it given how successful it was by being the way it was, so I would argue that G4 already does a good job of appealing to a wide range of people. Plus, people should be able to like what they want to like as long as it doesn’t harm others. Why should everyone else get so worked up about people other than young girls liking My Little Pony?

[Evil Pink One 12,947]

I prefer it to have a well made story.

[Dr_Dinfield14 15]

Not really. After hearing what the writers think of Spike in a female-dominant cast, I'm not sure it'd be the same at all.