My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 7

There's still no end in sight for MLP, with a movie just out and the show continuing into its 7th season. 

In many ways, the show's character arcs have reached their endgame, which is quite nice to see - it forces the characters to grow and develop further from there, and means the show can't just endlessly freeze itself in the same cycle of character ambitions and dreams. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have their Cutie Marks, and now set out to help others. Rainbow Dash is a wonderbolt, and has issues as part of the team rather than as a rookie. Twilight is used to being a princess now, even if still a neurotic one, and mostly imparts lessons to others. 

Trying to make Sunset Glimmer a major character isn't working that well. The show doesn't seem all that convinced of her, not even making a place for her in the intro (which still revolve around the friendship lessons that haven't had much of a place in the show for a long while). Some of her interactions with Trixie are fun, and she's at least a welcome voice of cynicism sometimes, but she's just not interesting or likeable enough to carry episodes, and there's already a large cast of characters who can lead episodes and learn the same things she does. 

On the other hand, surprisingly it's the show starting to plumb deeper depths of its lore that keeps this season interesting amongst several dud episodes about Rarity's fashion boutique or being more friendly with the dragons. Having more of an examination of Starswirl the Bearded made for a compelling cliffhanger into the finale, even if it's very awkward writing that allows Twilight not to see the obvious consequence of her spell from the beginning. 

I also loved the episode where Rumble became the focus. He was an extremely minor colt with just one speaking line before, but there was something very cute about him and how he was one of very few boy ponies to be given the same face shape as the fillies. I always liked him in fandom and with his brother Thunderlane getting featured more, it made sense for him to have an episode. He had a bad attitude and his voice evidently dropped, but he got a great song, I liked the underlying issues his attitude was copying and generally I'd enjoy seeing him featured again, questioning the things blindly accepted by pony society. 

The show also let darker elements of Scootaloo's backstory come through some more, while not being explicitly tackled. Absent parents, abandonment issues and disability make her a potentially extremely interesting character for such a light show. Because it's so light we can't count on much more than hints of an underlying sadness, but those notes are sweet when they're hit, just like finding out more about Applejack and Applebloom's parents. 

But I still have my doubts about stretching this show out too much more. With most character arcs completed, episodes with just the 'Mane 6' hold the attention less and less, and they can't keep relying on new characters or fleshing out previously minor background ponies without a feeling of scraping the barrel. I don't mind another season or two but they really need to take on a bigger scope and work towards something bigger than how well a shop runs or whether or not your friend genuinely likes the cakes you make her. If the show continues much longer, I'd like to see it try to get more serious. 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - season 6

The show that so quickly spawned a subculture continues to prove itself just another show. And that’s fine. It’s not redefining kids’ shows, it’s not deviating from established formulae and it’s not broaching surprisingly tough topics for a colourful show for smaller kids as many hoped at the start – but it is still enjoyable, easy viewing.

There are a few signs of the malaise that affects so many shows towards the end of extended runs. One is that old cliché, a new main character. The ‘Mane 6’ still have their adventures and lessons to learn, but they’re starting to achieve their goals. Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolts reservist, thus essentially has fulfilled her life’s goal. Twilight Sparkle is princess of friendship, wings and all. Rarity has her boutique, and the others are pretty well-established and content with their lots in life now. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders have actually completed their mission and transcended the ‘blank flank’ subplot, which is the biggest flag for the show ending soon yet – though they continue to have little adventures helping others get cutie marks, which is just a little forced.

But yes, a large part of the focus now turns to Starlight Glimmer, once an antagonist whose episode was actually a very interesting analogy for libertarianism, as she ran a village where individuality and rising above the rest was forbidden, so no pony could feel inadequate or ashamed – only for the heroes to prove, of course, that being unique and special in your own distinct way is extremely important.

In this season, she is reformed, and Twilight takes her on as a student. The little pony taken under the wing of a princess now becomes a teacher in her own right, which is quite a nice progression but another end-of-character-arc flag. As for Sunset Glimmer herself, she’s really not a very interesting character. She’s given centre-stage in both the opening two-parter and the season closer and manages to just about be likeable without actually being interesting. Her angst about her past isn’t a good hook for her character and she just needs more personality quirks in a group that not only has had five seasons of development, but had most of their key moments in the first handful of episodes. It’s a little bizarre when a random juvenile from a previous season’s antagonist race is more interesting than your new major character – though Thorax’s story’s conclusion was a little too cheesy.

Otherwise, the show plumbs the depths of classic derivative cartoon plots. Rainbow Dash makes dumb mistakes in her new position, or helps out other trainees who are in a pickle. Rarity’s new boutique has problems with its opening day and difficult staff members. Delicious home-cooking eventually wins over the hearts and minds of a society that mindlessly follows critics. It’s nothing original, though sometimes it’s very well-done – I rather enjoyed the Rashomon episode.

In the end, I’m left feeling unmoved by this Pony season. It’s not exciting, new, fresh or different any more. If they had gone the Fawlty Towers route and ended this show in its prime, it would probably have endured, but this fading into mediocrity is painful – doubly so when the writers are so keenly aware of it they make an episode bitching about fans who only like the oldest instalments of a franchise. Really, they make a character – Quibble Pants – who has this as his defining characteristic…and then he sees the error of his ways not by being shown later instalments are just as high-quality as the rest, but only by finding out what he thinks is fiction is actually reality, with a tacked-on random speech later about how old and new episode have different focuses, thus different pros and cons. It was horribly transparent, insecure writing that really got on my nerves.

Yet still I will watch on, until the end. But I’m not sure how much steam is left in this one. 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, season 5

I got a certain gratification from the deflation of hype that came with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4. It became very clear that this cartoon was really nothing that remarkable, one in a long line that sat alongside all the other animation I watch in a fairly normal way. The fandom started to fizzle out and it seems people are forgetting being a ‘Brony’ was ever a thing. Can’t say that’s something I’m sad about. I watch so much animation that having to disassociate myself from a subculture just for watching this as well was a little tedious.

But season 5 also lost me a little. I grew tired of it, stopped watching for a long period of time, and just decided to finish the season and start the next this past week. Trying very, very hard to keep their fandom alive with an episode full of in-jokes that the wider audience must have been baffled by in ‘Slice of Life’ rubbed me the wrong way, and after the mid-season break I just didn’t continue with the show for almost a year.

There’s a real feeling of a show running out of steam here. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are finally given a pay-off moment, which honestly I thought would be saved until the last five or six episodes of the show, and was of course pretty anticlimactic. Continued episodes with them in season 6 can only be more so. Discord episodes become less of a treat and more flogging a dead horse, and bringing yaks into the equation just came over as very patronising.

The flow of the season seemed very odd. Barely any rarity in the first half, but then way too much of her in the second, which is too much Rarara for any but her staunchest fans. Pinkie is as annoying as ever, and while I liked the writing of the episode where Applejack meets her friend who is now famous, direct Lady Gaga references are going to get very dated very quickly, and were already hardly up-to-the-minute.

It’s now very clear that Friendship is Magic is not revolutionary, is not going to break boundaries and is not going to provide entertainment that’s far more epic than expected. But I have to say, the variety of alternate universes glimpsed in the season finale, including several where the familiar characters are in a tough post-apocalyptic warrior setting, were a pleasant glimpse of that. I’d love to see those angles developed more, but sadly I know that’s not going to happen. Because this is no longer a show that has the capacity to surprise or redefine cartoons for girls. I’d like to say a new Powerpuff Girls would be more likely to accomplish that…but honestly, I don’t think we’ll see anything but the same old safe formulae there either.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – season 4

Possibly because the third season was too short for the effect to happen, the fourth season of MLP:FiM feels like the point at which the fandom finally snaps out of its apparently-newsworthy fever and realised that this is, after all, just another cartoon. A nice, colourful, fun one – but still just a cartoon, with the same limitations as any other. It is not going to unveil some epic overarching storyline that Lauren Faust kicked off before she departed. It is not going to push the boundaries, deal with being disabled through a flightless young pegasus or tackle dead parents head-on. For all the lessons that the characters have learned, they are not going to stick, because this kind of sitcom set-up requires characters who don’t change. In short, season 4 makes it clear that the show is not that special. Which of course isn’t to say it is not good.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing another Bronies documentary. This was a fandom that peaked and is now on its way down. The fan works will also dwindle, I feel sure. Which actually suits me rather well, because I stopped being fascinated by the rabid, often twisted fandom and watch this like any other cartoon. It’s a little bizarre, too, to have any attempt to say that I like My Little Pony because I like animation in general, and watch literally hundreds and hundreds of animated shows/films, yet to get the response that no, liking My Little Pony means that fandom must outstrip all others and I must be a brony.

Accordingly, this season has some episodes that feel like the barrel of ideas is running a bit low. The transformation of Twilight into a princess changed very little except for a few episodes exploring the tension between ‘I have a public role and want to feel adequate’ and ‘I am still a normal person (pony) and don’t want people treating me differently’, though these are usually only sideline – for example, Twilight might find it awkward to be presiding over a glorified car boot sale.

There are some episodes that I’m sure had some of the fandom screaming about the worst episode ever. In one, the ponies are sucked into Spike’s comic book and take on the identities of the superheroes there, which is as cheesy as it gets. In another, Rarity has to compete for a stallion’s affections when he falls for Applejack, and ends up imitating her in the most cringe-inducing ways. Then there are the times Fluttershy becomes a vampire fruit-bat, and the unlikely concept that Rainbow Dash has an incredible memory for things she perceives peripherally while flying. 

All the characters can be positively nor negatively exaggerated to fit plot moments or jokes – Twilight can be smart and responsible or an obsessive bore; Rainbow Dash can be a leader figure who cares deeply for her friends or an insensitive, brash halfwit, though remains the one I find the most likeable no matter how unfashionable that opinion; Rarity can be a thoughtful, elegant beauty or a superficial drama queen; Applejack can be the voice of reason or a stubborn, short-sighted idiot; Fluttershy can be a caring, loving sweetheart or a doormat; and Pinkie can be hilarious or incredibly annoying, and is often downright creepy. Rarely do they sit comfortably between the two poles. Yet that is how stories are written, and I don’t mind it at all – even if the perception of mistakes leading to growth never really leads to any lasting changes. That’s how cartoon sitcoms work.

The series introduces some new ideas, including funny little pixie things called ‘Breezies’, the Olympics-derived ‘Equestria Games’, and the evil centaur-minotaur thing Tirek, who is the bad guy in an amusingly Dragonball-ish season finale, involving much flying about and shooting of giant laser beams. But more than that, it seems to seek to repeat the (apparent) success of last season’s returning to old character Trixie, bringing back The Flim Flam Brothers, ‘Flutterguy’, as much Discord as possible and an unashamedly foregrounded Derpy – no longer deemed offensive, it seems. Thankfully.

This season very much felt ordinary. Some episodes I didn’t care for, mostly the ones where Rarity or Pinkie became neurotic, as they are the most annoying in this state – even when Weird Al is making a cameo – and the Cutie Mark Crusaders episodes were all a little more superficial and unlikely than they have been in prior seasons, especially when it came to Scootaloo, in spite of one episode where she desperately tries to prove she’s a worthy pegasus by flying.

Perhaps oddly, given the old impression that the series would get epic and episodic, it was the more low-key episodes I tended to enjoy. Fluttershy dealing with stagefright but yearning to perform, the kids’ ‘Twilight Time’ getting out of control, Sweetie Belle getting jealous of her sister getting all the attention – though the latter was much less affecting than Scootaloo’s dream episode last time. Rainbow Dash preferring to compete with friends on her team rather than abandoning them to win more easily. Simple, cute stories about characters, with a touch of magic. I usually applaud attempts to experiment, but the more this season tried to branch out to comic books and Indiana Jones-style adventures, the weaker it seemed. The season opener, involving flashbacks to the past, had some much-needed fleshing-out of authority figures, but it also lacked anything much to drive the plot along, whereas the finale, while brainless, was at least high-energy.

Nothing about season 4 of My Little Pony went drastically wrong. Nothing was a big risk. And sure, this may be upsetting for those militant fans who want this cartoon to be more than it is. For me, it’s actually refreshing. Because it fits with my view of MLP – something nice, pleasant to watch, but far from life-changing, or a particular stand-out in the animation world.

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

So on the back of the stratospheric success of MLP:FiM comes the first feature film, released theatrically in the US so that bewildered parents can look at the multitudes of [insert your own stereotyping adjectives] bronies sharing the cinema with their families with great concern, and likely have their kiddies get disapproving looks right back, what with the presence of the target audience being an unfortunate distraction.

The Equestria Girls project has had little approval in fandom – set in an alternate universe, it has the ponies represented as teenaged schoolgirls attending ‘Canterlot High School’. Not, as I had expected, a completely alternate-universe setting, it is in fact not only within the timeline of the show but directly follows on from the end of season 3, with Twilight newly alicorn-ified and quite sweetly having difficulty adjusting, with a sweet scene of her unable to get comfortable in bed with the new limbs that sprouted from her back. The other world is much like our own…only with nobody at all alarmed by blue, orange or violet skin – anything as long as it isn’t a dark shade, slightly worryingly. Just look at Luna!

After her sparkly princess crown is stolen by a mysterious former protégé of Celestia’s by the name of Sunset Shimmer – clearly she selects student with light-phenomena-at-times-of-the-day themes – Twilight has to follow the ne’er-do-well through a magic mirror to another world, with only her loyal dragon Spike as company. On the other side of the portal, Spike has turned into a dog, and Twilight into something weirder – a human teenager. After some obvious culture shock, she makes her way into the ‘castle’ – actually a high school – and finds that not only do all her friends and acquaintances have counterparts here, but the crown was picked up by this world’s Fluttershy and given to Principal Celestia. Unable to talk her way into getting the crown back as her property in an inelegant scene that would have been much clearer if they stressed that Twilight’s crown looked just the one that was to be given to the prom queen that year, Twilight of course resolves to be that year’s prom queen – but will have to become popular first to win the hearts of the student populace!

Like most in the fandom, my reaction to initial leaks of the ‘Equestria Girls’ concept was scepticism. Much of the appeal of the ponies was – to me at least – their distinctive, stylised design, bright colours and despite all that clopping business, rather abstract, non-sexualised forms and simple world without the baggage of real American high schools. And of course, like just about all media based on life in American high schools, it focuses on issues of popularity, that weird and quintessentially American need to be very tribal, and the rife bullying that I’m sure is partly just a media representation but is clearly a big part of life there. You see, Sunset Shimmer has made her place in that world, established herself as the dominant bully of the school and always gets her way – because she’s a terrible bully. With Twilight having such quirky behaviour, she is of course an easy target for ridicule and the film has a chance to explore overcoming bullying…but sadly cops out with Twilight reuniting her best friends’ counterparts in this world after Sunset set them at odds with easily-undone tricks, they do a deeply embarrassing flashmob-style dance in the cafeteria in furry ears and tails, and suddenly Twilight doesn’t have to deal with the ridicule any more. It just…never gets mentioned again and she’s abruptly popular. And because her friends all belong to the different cliques (except Applejack, who hangs out with her little sister and the CMC, apparently either much older than they look and act or child prodigies accepted to high school at about  ~11 years old), there are some throwaway lines about uniting all these disparate peoples.  

Unlike many, I actually quite like the humanised designs – except Rainbow Dash, who looks kinda like some weird alien, and Vinyl Scratch who looks like a zombie. They’re skinny and idealised, but I expect that anything else would result in board members worried that dolls wouldn’t sell. Twilight’s human form is very sweet and there’s something less annoying about Rarity when she’s a teenager. I guess I kinda picture her as mutton dressed as lamb in the series, for some reason.

The problem here is really that the project clearly isn’t big enough in scale for a feature film. Even South Park and Beavis and Butthead knew that if they made the transition to the big screen, they couldn’t just churn out the animation of their series for the entire running time, but that’s what happens here. In fact, at the end, where it ought to get all epic and the animation stops pulled out, there’s a noticeable drop, with lazy transformation sequences (yes, really), and an altered Sunset Shimmer who looks a lot like the rather clunky early attempts at a Dofus animation. In story terms, it is also unsatisfying, with the aforementioned skirting of issues of popularity, the easy-out of the power of friendship, and the way Twilight relies on it so much despite, y’know, this super-magical friendship being based on a group of girls knowing her for a couple of days, and the way that while her pony friends are fretting to the point of tears about her back home and suffering terrible anxiety, she has a party and flirts with a dishy human boy (who has a pony counterpart, oh the drama!).

But we all know this is dished out for the monstrous fandom. I can almost see /mlp/ frothing at the mouth at all the ‘pandering’. Look, there’s Derpy dancing with a muffin, and there’s Scootaloo doing a chicken dance, and totally unneeded cameos for Trixie just because of her popularity with a leading news site. They must hate it. Yet…well, doing this humanised thing wasn’t really what the fandom wanted. It was much more what the little girls probably wanted. And beyond the thin plot, it takes the Pony concept somewhere a bit different, and I rather like that. Plus it comes a step closer to defining the characters’ ages and introduces a bit of romance beyond puppy crushes and secondary characters getting married. I don’t have as great a connection to the franchise as some and don’t care if it goes in new directions, so I quite enjoyed this for what it was – flimsy, light-hearted entertainment about some cute girls doing cute things.

And there’s a darker question here. I wondered what happened to Twilight’s counterpart, which was answered by Pinkie mentioning her being in ‘the city’. So where is Sunset Shimmer’s counterpart? Just what did she do to her to take her place?

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (season 3)

 As I wrote in my impressions of the Bronies documentary, season 3 was where I got a more involved with the fandom and all its extreme oddness (and fundamental similarity to the much-mocked Sonic the Hedgehog fandom). Indeed, writing about that there rather than having to take the space to talk about it here is partly why I wrote about the documentary at all. But I quite enjoy that I’ve seen a fandom as its bubble bursts, and this season has certainly been divisive.

Season 3 has forced its fandom to reign in its more extreme rhetoric – no horsey pun intended. Just about every disappointed fan has been one who forgot that this is just one of many, many cartoons. That the writing is still for cartoons. That even if Lauren Faust wanted sprawling Avatar-like adventures, by season 2 they were out of the question and she’s no longer even involved. This is just one strong cartoon amongst numerous others, with good characterisation and visuals that remarkably manage to pull off the bubblegum-coloured flash world and not look plain obnoxious – at least in the context of cartoons in general. That the season was only 13 episodes rather than the 26 of its two predecessors was a clear sign of that – the cartoon is fitting the syndication pattern, where episodes can largely be rerun in any old order with only minor continuity contradictions. Character development is largely stunted and if they learn some important lessons, they will be back to their old sitcom selves next episode – because the episodes are written by different people side-by-side. Pets, villains-turned-good and new friends will have gone without a trace in the next episode, though may show up again soon – and honestly, I think it’s only because the writers know how much scrutiny the fans put this show under that we had a little photo-montage of what happened to the little phoenix hatchling Spike rescued last season.

One element that changes the minimal continuity is the big finale, which will have to bring with it a very visual change to season 4 (more or less confirmed, first by a payment – though arguably that could be for heavily-rumoured humanized spin-off Equestria Girls – and then by a writer saying the first two episodes of s4 will follow on from the s3 ending). Yes, Twilight has upgraded to immortal princess status, in a rather bizarre half-episode with a whole lot of singing that will amusingly bring with it a whole lot of theorizing that she died and everything from now on is her idealized afterlife. It was leaked months early through posters, new toys and sticker sets, and really is at the core of what is so ‘divisive’ here. It’s amazing how many fans think it a step too far, how it will change the dynamic from now on and ruin the show, and so on and so on. Again, I feel far less invested than these people, but I personally am interested to see where it will take the next season but largely see it as inconsequential, as it’s not like writers can’t come up with exactly the same stories, only Twilight has wings and more respect.

Otherwise, while accepting it’s been very uneven, I’ve greatly enjoyed this season. The opening two-parter, very much following on from the two-parter closing s2, was a bit shaky, with a daft non-character as a baddie and a saggy middle part, but the second episode picked up with the main ponies being very entertaining trying to distract a crowd, adorable scenes of Twilight and Spike having to face their fears, and a very daft spectacle to end it. The episodes that followed were largely throwaway, as befits a character-based comedy cartoon, and if they had a uniting fault, it was poor pacing, with a lot of rushed endings that often became the focus of the excessive scrutiny of the crowds. They loved taking things too seriously – clones of Pinkie Pie were sent back to a magical pool in apparent pain, so some idiots thought it acceptable to spam the show writers’ Twitters claiming children were being shown a mass slaughter of sapient beings. Trixie enslaves a whole city, but her apology is heartfelt so that is all that’s needed. An inspector is shunned but makes an unexpected decision based on some stranger’s word. Discord is the embodiment of Chaos and has been imprisoned in stone for a millennium, but realizing he might lose his one friend (of a day or two) makes him completely change his nature, with naught but a short ‘most of the time’ aside to hint that he can’t reverse his personality quite so easily – and no further hint (yet) of what Celestia had planned for him.

I can’t say I enjoyed every episode. ‘Apple Family Reunion’ I found decidedly dull, ‘Wonderbolts Academy’ rang false for me as I couldn’t believe Spitfire was such a poor manager or that a drill sergeant would just roll over like that, and ‘Spike at your Service’ saw Spike randomly totally useless – almost as if it had been planned as a Derpy episode but in the wake of some ridiculous campaigning that claimed Derpy was politically incorrect (as if most of classic Warner Bros or Disney aren’t) was changed without it really managing to fit. Derpy herself was never seen clearly until the very last episode.

But season 3 brought with it some favourite episodes of mine. I enjoyed seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders fleshed out from annoying kids to loveable multifaceted individuals, with Scootaloo in particular endearing herself to me forever in ‘Sleepless in Ponyville’ – though I already liked her enough that she was key to bringing me into the fandom looking for speculation about that episode. I liked the idea of the pony Olympics, and while the episode about the pony inspector wasn’t at all clever, I liked the sidekicks episode and the way it ran concurrently. For all their flaws, the Trixie, Discord and alicorn Twilight episodes had me smiling throughout. And they are definitely making efforts to make the show look more and more impressive.

The lesson is simple: relax and treat this as any other show and you will enjoy it. Take it too seriously and treat it like it’s life-changing and every little change or experiment will ruin it, and you are going to have a bad time. Simple as. 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 2

And so unlikely but undeniable Internet hit My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic got through its second season. Not without those typical second-season bumps and hiccups - particularly as head creative honcho Lauren Faust took a back seat and served only in a supervisory role - but overall with enough of its idiosyncratic charm to entertain, amuse and guarantee itself another season, and probably several more. As well as keeping most of its bloated, bizarre fandom on-board.

And never have I seen a show so influenced by its fandom. Sure, Avatar had scenes and whole episodes noticeably affected by the writers discovering online fandom and shipping debates, and Lucky Star’s director even got dismissed as a result of fan pressure in Japan, but MLP has been a whole new level. The most obvious example is Derpy Hooves, a fan-character based on a cross-eyed animation error, actually getting a speaking role and characterisation in this season, but more than that, it was the way staff members actually involved with the production would respond directly to the fans – including one animator expressing disappointment that the fandom detested an episode he liked.

And with that sort of powerful fandom has come analysis just about no other cartoon comes up against. Each individual writer is given a great deal of attention: Meghan McCarthy and M.A. Larson emerged as favourites (something I’d agree with), while a new writer named Merriwether Williams – whose previous work had been on SpongeBob Squarepants and Angry Beavers – got totally savaged after one episode the fandom hated.

I didn’t think the hate was justified, but I fear my emotional response to My Little Pony isn’t as ardent as that of some fandom members (and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way); I was willing to imagine an off-camera scene that made the episode work, but which the writers really ought to have included. With the much-hated episode ‘The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well’, for example, most of the more vitriolic complaints could have been solved with one scene where the gang actually try to talk to Rainbow Dash about her going too far. Similarly, ‘MMMystery on the Friendship Express’ would be vastly improved with a single scene showing the Cakes were actually pleased with the outcome, because it felt like a significant omission, and while at least the falcon got a moment of acknowledgement in ‘May the Best Pet Win!’, I wouldn’t have minded a line showing why Rainbow Dash couldn’t have had two pets, after that much hard work.

But, despite what the fandom may wish for, this isn’t a show that cares much about continuity or consistency. Last season, trains were pulled by stallions; now they’re steam-powered. It’s not quite clear why ponies thought the Sonic Rainboom was a myth when it was seen by so many the first time it happened. Indeed, there’s an amusing image showing that every single story told by the main characters in the season 1 story ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ contradicts something else established in another episode. Continuity is just not that important, and if a joke works on a reference to something in the real world that probably doesn’t exist in magical pony land – or if a reference to James Bond or I Love Lucy will be funny – they’ll include it. 

However, characterisation is. In this sort of sitcom – for it is indeed a cartoon sitcom – that is paramount. I don’t mean that characters ought not to have their foibles exaggerated: that’s to be expected, and very much in-keeping with the first season’s writing, in which the ponies tended to obsess over a problem to the point of having mental breakdowns. That continues very nicely here, most obviously in the hilarious ‘Lesson Zero’, in which Twilight wholly loses the plot and pulls some of the scariest faces you’re likely to see in a cutesy animation. But it’s the little issues that bugged me – and totally ruined the show for others. Would Fluttershy really go behind her friend’s back, ruin something another person worked hard on because it seemed tasty, then deceive her friend? Would Pinkie really bug a stranger who wants to be left alone so much that she is loathed, only able to fix the problem because she just so happened to know the right people? And while I can totally accept that Rainbow Dash could go on an ego trip that makes her lose touch with what’s important, that doesn’t mean she’s some kind of stroppy stereotyped jock: before, she was insensitive, even cruel, but it was balanced by gentleness, kindness and a desire to see her friends improve themselves. Here, most writers got it (see ‘Hurricane Fluttershy’), but Williams definitely didn’t. 

The two-part specials that bookended this season were highlights, although both felt a little disconnected from the larger season. The first two, centred on mischievous god Discord, voiced with aplomb by John de Lancie essentially repeating his role as Q in Star Trek, were very entertaining but with their randomness and fast-paced action seemed rather different from the usual character-based situations, while ‘A Canterlot Wedding’ suddenly introduced two very important characters to Twilight who it seemed ought to have been mentioned before. In itself, that is no bad thing, but for all its awesome payoffs and satisfying conclusion, it felt a bit poorly thought-through: trying to imagine the baddie’s plot makes her seem not to have thought through the best way to accomplish her aims at all.

On the other hand, the songs in those last two episodes were great, and indeed, songs have been a strong point this entire season. Though they moved away from the Sondheim reworkings of the first season and were generally simpler and more pop-based, they were also catchy, charming and adorable.

Season 2 has had its faults and difficulties, but it was still remarkably strong and it remains entirely comprehensible to me why so many adult males would without irony express love and admiration for this show.

Season 3: link

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Season 1)

There is no question that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has become an unexpected smash hit and a part of internet culture. Given that the property has always been one considered only for small girls and that even the title suggests horrible, cloying tweeness, how has the show secured a broad and rabid fanbase, especially on image boards commonly associated with anarchy and cruel humour? Surely being hiply ironic cannot account for such widespread and sincere adulation?

In fact, irony has very little to do with it. The fans who like the show by and large seem to like it in a very straightforward, often very determined way. And there are to my mind three reasons it works so well. First, it centres on strong, character-based humour, working with broad, obvious personality types that as episodes roll on have layers of subtlety added. Second, it was clearly written with adults in mind as well as children: witness, for example, an exchange using stock lines for a drunk man demanding more booze from a barkeeper, only with donuts instead. And third, most importantly, is series creator Lauren Faust’s distinctive quirkiness and humour, which often centres on something bothering a character becoming an obsession that sends them more or less insane: even without her husband and creative partner Craig McCracken, and even more so than their Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, this feels like the spiritual successor to The Powerpuff Girls. It is less postmodern and zany – you won’t get episodes here based on Beatles song titles or direct Monty Python quotes – but it is similar in the way it takes an idea and runs with it to extremes, even if it makes its characters look neurotic.

The premise is a cute and simple one: in Equestria, the noble Princess Celestia has a promising young student called Twilight Sparkle. While she excels as a student and a mage, however, Twilight has no idea how to make friends. Sensing this in her, Celestia sends her young charge from the capital, Canterlot, to the smaller community of Ponyville, requesting that she discover the nature of friendship. In Ponyville, Twilight meets the tomboyish Rainbow Dash, the hardworking Applejack, the glamorous Rarity, the sweet-natured Fluttershy and the somewhat unhinged Pinkie Pie. At first she finds the idea of friendship bothersome and inconvenient, but she soon learns its value, and it just might save the entire kingdom when disaster falls.

It’s worth noting – since at least one critic has taken issue with it – that Twilight is not forced to consider a dichotomy: it’s not ‘study’ or ‘have friends’. She’s supposed to learn to balance the two, and even when the five other ponies become her best friends (along with her little dragon assistant), she never stops being bookish and smart. She just opens up.

The characters are extremely well-written so that there’s very likely to be at least one every viewer identifies with and finds likeable – though I liked them all and few people seemed to dislike more than one. Part of the series’ strength is that it does not make a point of having an almost exclusively female cast: the characters are diverse and interesting in their own right, so there is no need to push gender as defining the series or making a didactic point. Visually it is simple and bold, with smooth but repetitive flash animation and the expected bright colours, but is also playful and slips in little silly bits and pieces for fans.

The structure of the show is generally episodic: a character will usually find themselves having a problem, which is resolved with help from friends, and Twilight learns another lesson, like ‘don’t force yourself to be someone you’re not’ or ‘trust those close to you’. It may sound mawkish, but the ways these morals are reached tend to be very eccentric and often involve something of a mental breakdown, played for laughs, and often hilariously over-the-top cameo characters like the fashionista photographer Photo Finish. There is a general progression throughout the series, with references to earlier events, but sometimes things don’t carry over to other episodes: Twilight’s new assistant Owlowicious was never seen again, for example.

There are good reasons to stay out of the fandom for the show – as any show – because there are always people trying to gross others out and those who don’t find such things gross at all, but MLP:FiM, for all it might be dismissed for being ostensibly so childish and girly, had some of the smartest writing in animation for a long time. I look forward to season 2.