Equestria Girls: Better Than Expected, but Still Crap (To Me)

I have now seen the Equestria Girls movie, thanks to a "copy" on YouTube.

And I have to say, I still didn't really like it. Now, it wasn't horrific, but it still was a failure, and I could feel how much Hasbro rushed to get it out, believing that MLP:FiM is merely a fad.

Now, there are some things that I didn't like about the movie; first, this random character, Princess Celestia's former student Sunset Shimmer, comes out of nowhere, and steals Twilight Sparkle's crown, which keeps Twilight's Element of Harmony. Now, if her student was anything like Twilight Sparkle, everyone in all of Equestria would know about said student, and she would have had some sort of mentioning before.  Now, Twilight has to go alone to this alternate universe (one of few, as it's implied by Sunset Shimmer), as to not throw off the balance. We never hear what happens to the real Twilight Sparkle; Pinkie Pie implies that there's another Twilight, living in the city, however, she doesn't seem to go to school with the other students.

Another HUGE problem that I had with the movie was that they made all the characters pastel. Like seriously, each character was as pale as all hell, and Rarity just looked sick, being as white as paper. They even made Princess Luna, in all her midnight blue glory, sky blue. It was just not cool.

Besides the fact that they made them pale (and they made Celestia seem like a bitch), they put all of the students in the same school, although they clearly refer to the school as "high". Besides the fact that the school is at least middle school and up, it seemed really moronic that Twilight didn't recognize the building as a school, or read more books about the general rules of their world and anatomy, to the internet. To me, it took too long for her to realize what was going on, which is another bad point of the screenplay. I know they had to make the movie a certain length, or whatever, but this just reinforced the happy high school, everyone-will-become-friends again stereotype that disappoints so many.

Then there's Sunset Shimmer. She just doesn't have any depth, and that sucks very, very hard. I like a villain that has a real reason, not just revenge against Celestia. Another thing about her, I don't understand why everyone is afraid of this fucking idiot, there's nothing that she has or does (besides moronic intimidation and stupid little ways of breaking up friendships) really makes me want to fear her. Was everyone in this school lily-livered.

Also... the school is Canterlot High, but almost all of the characters are from Ponyville. Now, if it was a college, it would make sense that students from a small town are in the capital of Equestria. But no, it's high school, and they have all the students being... typical.

There were so many moronic plot devices, something that they should have already thought of. It would have just been a much better movie if they expanded on the world of Equestria. Apparently, Lauren Faust said that the ruined castle in the Everfree Forest was the childhood home of Celestia and Luna. Now that back story would have been an awesome movie, or maybe having further exploration into Equestria, or the rest of the Equine-sentient world.

I know there are people that really liked the movie, but I still think that it's stupid, and was a waste of a brilliant opportunity.

Equestria Girls- Yes, Another MLP Related Rant

I didn't think that I would write again about My Little Pony, at least not until the new season returns. However, after doing a bit of searching about my former favorite Western animated show, I've found something else that makes me -_-.

Now, before people say that this show is "for little girls" and that there is no reason for me to write anything about it because I'm not its target audience, I'd beg to differ. Being a 21 year old female means that I'm actually it's second target audience. I'm still young enough to watch cartoons enthusiastically, but I've just reached the cusp of having disposable income, income that I'd like to assume Hasbro would like me to spend on their creations.

I have seen wonderfully beautiful fan art of humanized ponies, and then I've seen some... not my style fan art. This Equestria girls fuckery falls into the latter category.

Hasbro has managed to take the characters, and give them all the same long, skinny, big-foot, fake anime style look that is running rampant in cartoons. And it seems the setting is high school. High school. Even as I'm writing this, I can't stand what I'm typing.

Hasbro obviously has no insight into their viewership or fans, or high school. For the majority of people, high school was not the happiest time of their lives, nor do they get into shenanigans like those always shown in shows. It's full of lessons, tests, and if you're lucky, friends that make it easier. Regressing the Mane Six to such a level is not wise.

Not only that, the character design is flawed. Rather than having to deal with the issue of making the characters from different ethnic backgrounds, the company has bleached out their fur colors to give them a pastel M&M flesh tone. Then, they have all of the main characters in skirts, with hair down to their asses that looks like a mane and tail, horse ears, cutie marks on their face, and the pegasi (and Twilight) have their wings.

I'd post a picture of it to my blog, but I'd rather just put a link.

All of these things just prove that Hasbro is a cash cow that doesn't understand that it's alienating the majority of their core audience. MLP, in its current incarnation, has the ability to go strong for at least a decade, hell even longer if steered in the right direction. With all the choices being made by the creative team, all these wrong choices, it's going to burn this bright only temporarily, before backs are turned about it.

It's such a shame that they're wasting such beautiful character designs and near limitless writing directions sucking it dry.

I think I will stick to my My Little Pony Game for Kindle. Besides the ridiculous prices, it'll satisfy my pony need.

My Little Pony, From a Writer's Perspectve

I've just watched the season finale of My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic.

For anyone that is a fan, and hasn't seen this, and doesn't want to know what we all know happened, don't read on.

This isn't going to be a critique of the show from the point of view of a fan, this is a critique for the point of view of a writer.

The writer of the episode, M. A Larson, has just bumped up what us fans knew was inevitable. But should it have been done at this point in the story? As a writer, I find that this is entirely the wrong thing on the part of the company and on the part of the series.

My first reason for being against this, is that it throws of the balance of the series. No matter how many times they say that nothing changes, everything changes. They took six perfect characters, at least one that anyone can identify with, and just gave one of them demigod status. Now it's the mane six, including a princess.

The second anti-alicorn point is that it's far too soon into the series to do something like this. I watch a lot of anime, but with anime, you know from jump street that it's going to be a full story. Only rare series like InuYasha seem to go on indefinitely, even then, I knew that they were going to eventually have the facedown with Naraku and get the entire jewel. Most shows have arcs that consist of a few episodes, and each arc leads towards the end. With American shows, they seem to go on indefinitely. People don't feel that their shows will end because the plot continues to go. A lot of shows in the west end in ways that really don't resolve anything, or make you feel as if you've been told an entire story; for me the show leads up to Twilight reaching her destiny. This season finale feels like the end of the story.

Who in their right mind would make a choice like this is an idiot that obviously doesn't listen to their demographic. Granted, I'm a bit out of the age bracket, but I'm still part of the majority that watches the show.

Hasbro is not doing justice to the characters at this point. Last season, they also released the Littlest Pet Shop, as if it's going to make the same money, especially when they have repeating color schemes. In a race to make money in the short run, they're losing in the long run. I know now for damn sure, I'd never buy a Hasbro pony toy; I'll take a custom artist piece over their shitty versions any day.

Although I'm being urged by my friend to watch the next season, I'm incredibly disappointed.  I really thought that Lauren Faust leaving wouldn't leave that much of a difference. I don't think this would have happened under her watch. She said that she had ideas for Twilight, but that they don't matter at this point, because, well, she's not in charge anymore.

I really hope that Lauren Faust's Galaxy Girls becomes a show because I'm losing faith in American animation and writing styles.

I've never thought about show writing, or screenplays, but I've always read that you have to "be the change you want to see in the world".