EG Designs in motion and our view of them.

[Anadu Kune 668]

As many of you know and perhaps experienced some were either displeased or had mixed feelings about the Equestria Girls designs. However when actually seeing them in motion many felt much better about them. I was pondering about why that was and why many were feeling iffy about the designs. Here's what I think and my perspective.

better with motion?

I was iffy about the designs at first I didn't hate them, but I didn't love them either. However after seeing them in motion I was surprised at how much I liked them. At times they seemed as cute to me as their pony counterparts. I think its largely because of the personality of the characters. I saw it a lot of it in Pinkie Pie, her bouncy fun personality I loved shined through. She looked different but was the same great character. Same with all the others. It answered a question asked of me before. If the cast were not ponies would you still have liked the show? The answer is yes. The pony designs are adorable and a big part of why I like the show but not why I was compelled to keep watching and still do. Its the characters that I love most the core feeling and message of the show the the great way those are presented.

Why the mixed feelings?

I was thinking about why I was feeling a bit iffy about the designs. With the pony designs we had always had them. We started with them. With the human designs we had had two years or more of numerous, diverse fan designs. Really no matter what we got we probably would have winced a bit. In the reaction I had heard them described as overly sexualized monsters. That's not what I see in design nor in characterization. 

[LittleRawr 679]

They're okay for me, but I wish that each of the characters had gotten a slightly different design. Maybe an hourglass figure for Rarity, and things like that. But yeah, seeing the characters move did make me feel better about the design itself. 

 

So, I mostly agree with you. 

 

 

Fluttershy is still adorable, even as a human... :3

[~Squishy Skies~ 756]

I still think they look really odd, regardless of being stationary or not, but they're not bad. They could have been better, though.

 

I will say this though, I like some of the fan human models MUCH more than the EG models. 

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

The only thing I didn't like was the first teaser image that was released for the movie with all the highlights and shadows used on the characters features. It completely over complicated the designs but I knew they wouldn't have kept that style in the movie because of how time consuming it would be to animate them. The clothes and hair styles didn't change at all. To me Highlights and shadows in simple animations like mlp don't work at all unless they're used very subtly or slightly stylised.

 

 

 

 

[Zygen 6,066]

I thought they where odd at first, but I got use to them.

 

I think its partly the personality of them, but I also think its because of all the facial expressions and how good the creators do animation and stuff overall.

 

Without that they are kinda dead. in a way.

 

Plus its a new thing, and new things take getting use to.

[Blique 211]

I personally didn't like the character designs at first because of how stick-like their limbs were. Aside from the whole "it's a bad message of beauty for younger girls" argument, it's just not as easy to animate interestingly. Pony limbs are thick and have no noticable joints, so it's easier to get away with any animation that would otherwise look weird on these straight, thin, immovable sticks of arm segments.

 

That aside, the animation still really got me impressed. Just look at those dance sections in the "Help Twilight Win the Crown"! I think part of that is due to their sweaters bulking up their arms, but the animation itself is really lovely. In addition, I was very happy to notice that the humans have the same variety of facial expressions as the ponies.

 

The trailers just didn't showcase the great animation enough, which might be a reason most people had low expectations going into the movie.

[ReverseFaller 2,484]

Initially I didn't have too high of expectations for this movie. That was due to the first trailer. The second trailer, which was really just the first one but longer got me excited for the movie. Knowing Spike talked helped a lot in that. Anyways, about the animation, I personally like it. It could have been a lot worse. I just wish the mane 6 designs were more personal to each character. Every one of them wearing leg warmers and some skirt variant? No thanks. I know it's easier to animate that way, and easier to make the toys but still. Oh well, they weren't too bad. The humans weren't too bad nonetheless. I was actually really surprised at how different all of the background humans were. They all had nice facial expressions too. In the end, I think seeing the character models in motion really did help. As stated earlier by other people in this thread, the "help twilight win her crown" had really good dance animations. Motion helped a lot, for me anyways to appreciate the character models/designs more.

Edited July 12, 2013 by ReverseFaller

[kirbyboi 588]

Well, when I saw the first-released images, I was kinda eh on the designs. But I told myself maybe they just looked like that on the cover. 

 

And I was right. I mean once I saw the actual movie, the designs grew on me and were actually pretty cute! :3 I think once you see the actual real-show designs and see them in motion it looks way better. I remember someone here posting something similar, saying  the cover designs aren't usally the most accurate/best, such as this:

 

 

I mean Rarity for example looks way better/different in the show, right? So I think the same goes for the EG designs. Once I saw the actual movie I started liking the designs and they grew on me.  

[Dark Horn 430]

I thought the human designs were really, really strange in a show called My Little Pony, but I got used to them after a little while.