Why was MLP so terrible prior to Friendship Is Magic?

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

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.

 

"The Tesseract was the jewel of Hasbro's treasure room..."

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

Decency is not gender restricted

 

If you look at previous MLP gens, the opposite seemed to have been true.

[Lostwanderer 367]

Everythign changes with each generation really. That's basicly all there is to it.

[Tom 891]

The older generations were made for the purpose of advertising the toys, there fore focus was not on the storyline or character development. That's why they're of inferior quality.

[Tdroid 234]

Why was it terrible? Depend on the generation as far as I have understood it.

 

G1: Supposedly not that bad, but lacked compelling characters to draw the audience further in

G2: Same as G1, but also it lacked the fantassy setting and was about boy problems and the like. Apparently it was not that bad either.

G3: Overly girly with no respect for human intelligence and no conflict.

 

I think that summarize the arguments i have heard about it. Honeslty, I cannot confirm of deny any of those, but that is the impression I have from PaleoSteno's video on why FiM is good.

 

Link here is you haven't seen it. It is actually very entertaining, at least IMO.

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

.

 

 

This.

 

That is every level of suck that exists.

[zzuxon 16]

The earlier shows were contrived, corny, poorly animated, and appealed to stereotypes. FiM does none of this.

[RoadtoEquestria 59]

The characters were just not good and the "plots" were God-awful.

 

What makes MLP: FiM so good is the great writing and even greater characters.

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

The characters were just not good and the "plots" were God-awful.

 

What makes MLP: FiM so good is the great writing and even greater characters.

 

Saying G3 had plot in any loose definition of the word is a slap in the face to writers everywhere.

[Crystal Sparkle 344]

I would say that the previous one displayed the stereotypes that most girl cartoons have

 

FIM broke that stereotype!

[Nah 3,182]

I watched one episode of G3 and this was my reaction:

 

 

 

True story: I mocked MLP before becoming a Brony. :3

 

(rant time, kids at school think I watch G3)

[RoadtoEquestria 59]

Saying G3 had plot in any loose definition of the word is a slap in the face to writers everywhere.

 

Damn straight.

 

It was just a horrible, horrible nightmare....

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

Damn straight.

 

It was just a horrible, horrible nightmare....

 

Yet they found a way to make it worse with G3.5, and even worse with Newborn Cuties. And those got worse every episode. FOUR animators, really people?

[Espionage 113]

Because it was a show for little girls and a show for little girls immediately conjures up images of tea parties, hearts, rainbows, and such. G1 delivered on that but it was actually far darker (not saying much) than one might first expect. Especially in the movies. It was still light hearted and happy most of the time though.

 

G2 was definitely a marketing idea gone wrong. G2 focused more on teenager problems and it makes sense. Most girls who were fans of MLP in the '80s were teenagers. Though it was just about boys and girl problems. I get enough of that crap on Facebook.

 

G3 was transition. G3.5...the fires of hell hath no fury like mine

 

G4 not only had a brilliant animator, Lauren Faust, on board but also had a very eye catching art style. It's like Powerpuff Girls if it were made in 2012. I think part of My Little Pony FiM's success is the concentration of crappy cartoons everywhere. Hasbro probably didn't think of this but for a show with one of the greatest animators of the 21st century and a great team of people to be released is past 2010.

 

In conclusion, MLP in the beginning did what it set out to do. Appease to little girls. G2 was trying to appeal to the same demographic of little girls and it may seem like a sound idea but it was too heavy on the drama aspect. Saved by the Bell did it better...and I hated that show. G3 was again, transition. Personally, I don't count it as anything other than transition. Important but not something one remembers. G3.5...

 

[Tupin86 195]

Honestly, when it comes to the G1 cartoon, it's not horrible. It had a few catchy songs, and unique character design. I've never seen G2. G3 was pretty bad, but the brand was running low by that point. The traditionally animated shows are poorly done, and the Flash animated ones are even worse.

 

Hasbro put a lot behind the reboot. Part of the reason why G3 was so sloppy compared even to G1 is that they had much smaller budgets. It's amazing what you can do in Flash if you just give people enough time and money.

[The Awesome One 1,315]

It was terrible because:

[NavelColt 22,881]

A severe lack of Faust.

 

/thread

Edited June 20, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[MVC NVMXD JVRXD 2,406]

Why?

The world may never know.

[windy_prance 114]

First gen was awesome in my book. Never watched the second gen to give an opinion but the third gen...put less effort into the work then the writers for the Land Before Time sequels...that's pretty bad!

[MincedMassacre 14]

Terrible animating and unbearable "girlishness".

[Spartia 18]

I think its more that they didn't care. Now and then, there is this mentality that a 'girl' show means bad and full of 'girl' things. And a show can only be considered 'good' if its intended for a broader audience, or boys. Luckily there ARE people out there who understand that is very much not true. Girly doesn't need to mean bad. And Lauren and the writers on the show prove that time and time again. But in hollywood there is this thought that things made for kids and things made for girls dont need to be good or make sense, and I find that to be ridiculous. And while people who think like that wont ever change, I hope that the show inspires others to do better by their shows ^^

[FedoraMemes 582]

Because at the time, all the writers thought 'hurr durr, girls should only be allowed to watch stereotypical girls shows because it will give us more money for salsa', but then Lauren Faust came and went 'AWW HEEEL NO' and made the show 20% cooler.

[Storm Spark 115]

Mostly because of the artwork.

Which I thought was horrible

[Jeporauta 22]

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.

 

This. although i just rewatched look before you sleep and i was ok with that.

[Mersander 55]

Gen 3 was made for little girls and thats how they created it. The animation was terrible. I coudnt understand the plot half of the time. It was probably the worst show I have ever watched in my entire life D:. g1 and g2 on the other hand were suprisingly.... not that bad. I mean... I get that they were meant for little girls and all, but some of it had dragons and stuff. But... It's far from being as amazing as Gen 4.

 

So the reason why Gen 4 rules over all is because our god lauren faust came into our earth and created the best thing in the world.