Why was MLP so terrible prior to Friendship Is Magic?

[About 20% Cooler 0]

First off; I absolutely ADORE Friendship Is Magic, but I looked at the onder My Little Pony cartoons... It's a disgrace to cartoons everywhere. The art style is hideous and it's just plain stupid.

 

MLP is a perfect example of something that starts terrible, but makes its way to the top on the awesome scale.

[Isobel 279]

I think because at that time when it was made, the creators thought young girls needed their cartoons to be as girly as possible. Lauren Faust stopped this, because she wanted young girls to experience cartoons that isn't all 'tea parties and makeovers'. And I'm really glad she did.

[Lunalicious 223]

Yeah it was probably due to the generation of little girls back then, with dolls, tea parties and such.

[About 20% Cooler 0]

Well that explains it, Lauren Faust is my hero

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Shitty voice acting, terrible characters, zero plot (no... not the slang.), almost no conflict whatsoever, and the entire thing was based around tea parties and other stereotypically "girly" junk.

[Finesthour 7,287]

They created MLP to sell toys.

 

Now they create it to be a good show.

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

Newborn Cuties had about 20 people working on it. For EVERYTHING. That speaks volumes.

[NeverNeverland 1,940]

Because of genericism of the 80's/90's. Now that the 2000's have a bit more of a different approach to how characters can be viewed, this whole revamp of MLP (major credit to the genius you refer to as Lauren) had gotten a major boost to commoditate the new way of viewing cartoons.

 

OR something along those lines...

[Starshine 16,333]

Anyone here ever tried to watch the G1 yet?

 

Some of the episodes got the nastiest villain, while some was overly retarded with mindless conversations repeated over and over. While it was not the best show, you can't really say it was the worst.

 

G3 on the other hand, was pure brainwash material.

[Deeмo 100]

I think because at that time when it was made, the creators thought young girls needed their cartoons to be as girly as possible. Lauren Faust stopped this, because she wanted young girls to experience cartoons that isn't all 'tea parties and makeovers'. And I'm really glad she did.

 

That's true.

 

Lauren Faust wanted to challenge the girly nature to the show by giving MLP more depth with the characters, adventurous storylines, the animation and the morals. She brought life to a gloomy franchise and expand it to a phenomenon for everybody to enjoy, regardless of gender.

[Dr.RedundantPh.D 60]

They created MLP to sell toys.

 

Now they create it to be a good show.

 

He's right. The episodes were pretty much 30 minute commercials.

[agigantorllama 258]

The voices and the animation. Both were garbage.

But everything else was fine. I can't stand watching it, though.

 

I'll be honest. I originally thought Friendship Is Magic was gonna be like the older generations. Then I watched it.

[Glaceon 793]

FiM is a huge improvement. Tried watching a G3..... It wasent the animation that stopped me from watching it was the characters...

Edited June 19, 2012 by Mal (Starbolt)

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

Obviously, FiM did something right.

 

I hate EVERYTHING feminine with a fiery passion, yet I like MLP:FiM.

[Comet Tail 808]

I don't want to be hating on the older gens, I do know there are some folks out there who legitimately like them...

 

And remember, folks, G4 characters were based off of older gen characters. So if you hate them... You're hating the mane 6 a little, too.

 

Check it out:

(Can't take credit for the picture, originally saw it on TvTropes, googled it again and had to download and re-attach it 'cause the forums weren't letting me post the original image format.)

 

(I have to say, I do like all of the designs. And if you notice, they gave Twilight's mom Twilight's original design. I like it, I wonder what it'd be like if she kept it instead of going purple...)

 

I don't know much about the others, but I've heard that Rainbow Dash IS Firefly, with pretty much no change. And, btw, Lauren's favorite from G1.

 

Yeah, Lauren liked G1. Though as a child she imagined them with different personalities, and didn't care much for girliness of the shows.

 

 

But as far as quality goes, they were quiet awful. G3 and G3.5 anyways.

 

Never seen G1 and G2. Sounded bad, but not too horrible. I think G3 just gave the whole series a horrible reputation among the common people, so now "My Little Pony" carries a gag response.

 

There's a great fan-based documentary on all of it. Check it out:

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybXXSHDRE4

 

 

The first part focuses on older generations:

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQRFkwTGqRA

 

 

Newborn Cuties had about 20 people working on it. For EVERYTHING. That speaks volumes.

 

I've seen 3 minutes of that. About. 3 minutes I'll never get back...

 

It was part of some troll video, IIRC...

 

But here's what bothers me.

 

SINGLE people have made videos better than that. And 20 couldn't do nearly as good?

 

I think FiM is an example of what happens when people really care about doing a good job, and the earlier generations are just people doing their job to get paid.

 

The voices and the animation. Both were garbage.

But everything else was fine. I can't stand watching it, though.

 

I'll be honest. I originally thought Friendship Is Magic was gonna be like the older generations. Then I watched it.

 

The story of every brony, I believe

 

PS,

 

I also find the old animation style to be really creepy looking...

Edited June 19, 2012 by EASA - Matt

[Whiteshade 1,426]

Obviously, FiM did something right.

 

I hate EVERYTHING feminine with a fiery passion, yet I like MLP:FiM.

 

Decency is not gender restricted

[ThePwnyBrony 23]

Here I have a comparason picture:

 

Then and Now: Rainbow Dash

 

Then:

 

Now:

 

You all can tell which is better...

[Comet Tail 808]

Here I have a comparason picture:

 

Then and Now: Rainbow Dash

 

Then:

 

Now:

 

You all can tell which is better...

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5vmXFhOARI

 

The voice sounds more like Rarity.

 

Though she is, as I said earlier, or at least I've heard, pretty much entirely based off of Fyrefly's personality.

 

 

Though, once again, I really can't stand that old animation style. Looks... Eh. Creepy, kinda.

 

Much better!

Credit: http://durpy.deviant... is magic&qo=10

 

Lauren has a Deviantart, and it's named after Firefly. http://fyre-flye.deviantart.com/

 

You'll have to get past Lauren before hating on previous gens

 

Though she'd probably agree their quality and plot was awful.

 

Btw, I found this image is copyrighted to Lauren Faust, I dunno if she did it or not, but I thought I'd post it anyways just in case:

Edited June 19, 2012 by EASA - Matt

[Nas 2,873]

Basically:

 

G1: Not so girly, kinda dark

G2: (rarely any animated content) More focused on toys, so kinda girlier

G3: And as a result of that, ultimate girliness.

G3.5: ....do I even need to say it?

G4: Led by Faust, finally the perfect combination of a high-quality well-rounded cartoon fresh from the 90's, and the content of the My Little Pony Franchise, and a much better influence that really makes the previous ones looks horrible. Like, more horrible than they are alone.

 

In words, they "gilrliness" just went up and just got worse over time, which still attracted and audience, but it was really really bland. FiM does the opposite, and attracts the massive amount of people watching it today, just like you and me. Basically, they knew what they were doing, and, while didn't really save the Hasbro franchise from certain disaster, but really led it into something that no other franchise could ever evolve into. And that's just the way I like it.

[Cadence Sparkle 102]

I liked the VERY FIRST SEASON but the rest rest was most likely targeted tward female audience. That being said I did enjoy a few elier seasons.

[moneyshredderofdeath 414]

FiM is more or less the only one (certainly compared to 3/3.5) that feels like it could exist even if there was no MLP toy line in existence. There's actual substance and it feels like more than just a walking toy advertisement. Shows that are soullessly made only to advertise and no effort into quality end up like...

 

 

This.

[spas-ticShotty 3,584]

FiM is a huge improvement. Tried watching a G3..... It wasent the animation that stopped me from watching it was the characters...

 

I saw one G3 episode that Rarity in it, but she looked like a pink Rainbow Dash.....it was freaky

 

I should also mention that the same episode had a firefly who had an extremely sqeaky voice. It wasn't like Mr. Hankey, where you could tolerate his squeaky voice, this one was just utter shit -_-.

 

Not to mention the horrible songs that SAME EPISODE. I can't even remember it, and I never want to see a G3 episode again (Unless someone is commentating over it )

Edited June 19, 2012 by F2Kimbo

[ZoidbergBestPony 30]

Well truthfully, Up till G3, They actually weren't bad, and you can even say g1 was pretty cool. Even today there are hardcore fans of the earlier generations, Laura Faust being one of them.

 

People have a bad name for MLP because of G3 and the horrific G3.5 which is sadly what most people think of when they hear MLP.

 

This video goes over it pretty well imho.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybXXSHDRE4

Edited June 19, 2012 by ZoidbergBestPony

[Raiyny Day 71]

Well truthfully, Up till G3, They actually weren't bad, and you can even say g1 was pretty cool. Even today there are hardcore fans of the earlier generations, Laura Faust being one of them.

 

People have a bad name for MLP because of G3 and the horrific G3.5 which is sadly what most people think of when they hear MLP.

 

I agree with this. I, in all honestly, like/love all 4 generations in a certain way, whether it be JUST the toy line (all gens, iffy on gen 3.5) to the actual show (parts of gen 1 and gen 4).

 

Back on subject, MLP was originally targeted for little girls, and at that time meant 'pink, feminine things such as dolls, tea parties, makeup!!' for girls only (which I don't agree with), so that is most likely why older people like ourselves dislike these generations because we have different interests than those. G4 on the other hand, was thrown at a different perspective as 'hey, this can be feminine and for a younger audience, but let's add some action to this and stuff that parents (which was the original idea) would like too so then they'll like watching it too', which would explain how yes, a show like this is intended for kids, but also an older audience.

[Comet Tail 808]

Well truthfully, Up till G3, They actually weren't bad, and you can even say g1 was pretty cool. Even today there are hardcore fans of the earlier generations, Laura Faust being one of them.

 

People have a bad name for MLP because of G3 and the horrific G3.5 which is sadly what most people think of when they hear MLP.

 

This video goes over it pretty well imho.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybXXSHDRE4

 

I quoted this earlier in the thread, and even a video that just has the part where the documentary reviews the earlier gens. But thanks anyways, really builds the credibility of the documentary -

 

See this readers? It's been linked twice now. Watch it.

 

I know it's in hour long. Stop whining, get some popcorn, it's good stuff

 

FiM is more or less the only one (certainly compared to 3/3.5) that feels like it could exist even if there was no MLP toy line in existence. There's actual substance and it feels like more than just a walking toy advertisement. Shows that are soullessly made only to advertise and no effort into quality end up like...

 

 

This.

 

Oh, what cannot be unseen...