Why was MLP so terrible prior to Friendship Is Magic?

[Inky Milk 78]

Whenever I hear people bitch and moan about how terrible the artwork was on the original ponies, all I can do is roll my eyes and write them off as a kid. The original artwork for the ponies, is NOT terrible for the time it was being made. Go look at any 80's cartoon-Care Bears, He-Man, Jem, and you'll see that this was just the art style of the days, what was common, expected and able to be done. It doesn't make it terrible. It makes it fitting for the times. Just as I also roll my eyes when people say the old MLP was too girly and childish...right, because devilish centaurs, youth-sucking witches and heartless rock dogs that turn living things into stone are SO much girlier and innocent than baby-sitting adventures, fashion show mishaps and Valentine Day love troubles (*ahem* all episodes from FiM). Get over yourselves bronies, FiM may have some awesome badassery, but don't pretend that a majority of the episodes aren't actually still aimed for a toddler audience and the animation isn't just like every other simplistic flat cartoon out there.

 

Edit: And to those who keep quoting My Little Pony Tales as G2...stop. Just stop. There was no G2 cartoon, only a couple video games and a toy line that didn't do too particularly well because the pony design was so different from the previous style. MLPT is still G1.

Edited June 23, 2012 by Thunder's Magic

[Veiled Enigma 389]

I've watched some G1 and it didn't seem all that terrible. The villains were pretty cool in my opinion.

 

But I have to admit, there's no excuse for this.

 

Kill it with fire!

http://youtu.be/zGlaR_BtS90

 

Edited June 23, 2012 by Veiled Enigma

[Literally Snails 2,307]

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...

 

but.. G3 was in the 2000's

[hironakamura 126]

Not all the past gens were terrible. G1 was pretty good for a cartoon of its era. In fact, G1 was pretty dark and serious compared to G4 because the ponies were constantly in life threatening situations. It was more of an adventure cartoon than a show for girls, really.

[FruitRiver 355]

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.

 

 

Why does everybody hate G1 and MLP tales? Maybe they arent as good as Friendship is Magic, but they arent bad. Sure, if your a older guy brony chances are you wont like it, but it really isnt bad compaired to some other cartoons.

Not to mention Lauren Faust tried to make it more like G1, which she liked!

(also G1 dosent seem very girly to me)

 

G3 though....cant say much in defence for that...

 

 

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSh4zWYFeoLw8LpotYg31GiGVaUywpOQwozpz6I9dJVb1vjTXp7

 

Yeah, soo girly... Ponies fighting monsters and dragons...

Edited June 25, 2012 by pinkie

[Arctic Night 884]

I've watched the first episode of G1 and it was actually pretty good. I don't see how the older versions are so "terrible."

[Twilight Circuits 603]

SImply cause i was not ready, and had not found my way.

[Fractured 2,684]

I've watched the first episode of G1 and it was actually pretty good. I don't see how the older versions are so "terrible."

Seconded. I just picked it up last week, and it has strong characters, and really good storyline. Why does everyone seem to think G1 is girly?

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I'm over halfway through G1, and am actually enjoying it. By the way, even though Sparkler looks like Rarity, I think Heartthrob is more like her personality wise. Wind Whistler may be more like Twilight Sparkle in terms of personality too. I agree that Firefly is a lot like Rainbowdash though. I have yet to see later series, but I've heard horror stories about them, and have seen footage of G3 Rainbowdash, which is just beyond strange for someone who's used to her G4 counterpart. I'm not sure why MLP wasn't all that(according to those who have seen it) prior to FiM.

 

I think the original 80s series is ok. I mean, it's not perfect by any means, but you'd think later series would build on that, since the franchise had a solid enough start IMHO. I mean, before it has recurring characters, it's hard to get too invested in any of them, since they're pretty much written out of the story before anyone can get attached to them. The series eventually fixes that though, and it has some neat concepts, some of which are obvious building blocks that were re-used in FiM. From what people have said, later series are a big departure from the original, and that must be the case. Apparently Faust drew a lot from G1 in particular, as well as finding the best aspects of other gens and their respective series, minus G2, which didn't have a series(though given the horror stories I've heard, that may not be a bad thing).

[Pastel 7,630]

It wasn't terrible, but it was really for little girls.

[Starlight Fan 538]

Though there were huge gender stereotypes in the previous generations (especially G3 and 3.5, the show was girlier than the average female toddler) I've got to ask that without the original, how would the MLP we love today be around? Lauren Faust was inspired by the girly cartoon to make the epic awesomeness of MLP:FIM, so we've got to give some love to the previous generations for existing.