Confound These My Little Ponies! They Drive Me To Write Notes!
Ok, ok, I know what exactly you're thinking: "FUCK DUDE WHY ARE YOU SO GAY?" I'm not. And neither is the show. Seriously, what is up with this show? It's clearly aimed for a younger audience yet the majority of the viewers are aged 18-24. Males even! It's just crazy! Hell, I'm listening to one of its songs right now (yes, 3AM in the morning). Now, why am I making a note? Because I'm clearly bored. Why about MLP? Because it's just so surprisingly good and awesome it's worth wasting time on.
Now before anything, I wasn't forced to watch this show. Someone just posted a link to one of the show's songs in a Kotaku article and I decided to listen to it. It was funny and I thought of it nothing more than a joke. A few days passed and a thread titled "Ponies" was posted in a forum I frequently visit. This forum being mostly random stuff, I decided to ignore it. It wasn't until that thread was moved into a more serious sub-forum that my curiosity kicked in. Reading the first few pages, it looked like a harmless cartoon (and meme, sorta) but there was obviously a glaring problem: most of the forumites on this forum are older than me, that and the topic had a whopping 100+ replies in less than a week (small community so that's pretty fast). So why all the commotion for such a show? Well, I took the plunge after one of the forumites started linking episodes, just to see how bad it was. I watched the first episode, then the second, then the third, and before I knew it, I was hooked. The first episode was pretty much OK. It had all the characters introduced and a cliffhanger ending. Nothing more. The second one was where it just took off. The characters have been given their unique attitudes and emotion, the art just looked fantastic and it pretty much paved the way for the rest of the show. I was just completely awestruck at how it was that good. I'm sorry, but a show named My Little Pony does not deserve to be THAT awesome. But it just is!
If I have piqued your interest by this point, go ahead on YouTube and search for the show. If I haven't, here's some reasons why MLP should be watched.
The creator of the show is Lauren Faust. As you may not know, Lauren Faust also co-created stellar cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls and award-winning Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. No argument that those two shows are awesome. Let's go deeper.
The story editor is Rob Renzetti. Not only is this guy the creator of My Life as a Teenage Robot, but he was also involved in most (if not all) of Genndy Tartakovsky's cartoons. This list includes: Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, 2 Stupid Dogs and once again, the Powerpuff Girls. These two names should already hook you in but let's go further.
The characters. Just a quick round-up. Twilight Sparkle's the OC bookworm, Fluttershy is the shy and timid girl, Rainbow Dash is the competitive and cool tomboy, Applejack's the hardworking country girl, Rarity's the witty prima donna and Pinkie Pie's randomly hyperactive. All of which are unique, interesting and, oddly enough, compliment each other. Contrary to the show's theme, they aren't at all girly. I mean sure they're ponies and one of them has a freaking rainbow mane, but they're perfectly human. Albeit, relatable (except Pinkie Pie [hopefully]). They're all great characters and they've all been greatly developed that you will eventually have an attachment to one of them. Or probably all of them. Well, maybe not an attachment, but you'll have a certain feeling for them that you'll start caring about what happens to them.
The art. One cannot count how many times I've raved about the art style of this show. It's just gorgeous. As I've said before, it's a mix of Samurai Jack's art style and just oozes with the Powerpuff Girls' atmosphere. There's just so much eye-candy that it's hard to look away.
The music. This includes songs, obviously. They're just incredibly catchy and professional (the serious ones anyway). I've had Winter Wrap-Up in replay since I wrote this note. Not all of them are good, but the ones that are just stand out like a diamond in the rough.
The story. Don't get me wrong, there are some cookie-cutter episodes here but there's a certain twist to them that keeps them interesting. Add to that some humor that knows its place and you got yourself a funny and intriguing plot that anyone can enjoy.
Speaking of which, the humor. Sure there are cheap laughs here and there, but let's not forget that this is aimed at children. Surprisingly though, there is some humor here that only adults would understand. There's one episode wherein these creatures called Parasprites were just plain kinky and decided to dress Rainbow Dash up using themselves. Then there's this lyric in the song "Art of the Dress" where Applejack says "Even though we fudge it up." I am not kidding, that really happened, and then there's the whole scene with Spike creating a frame-up, complete with "blood." But the one that truly brings the humor is Pinkie Pie. Which brings us to...
Pinkie Pie. Yes. She herself is a REASON to watch this show. She breaks the 4th wall, she's randomly chaotic, she's genuinely hilarious, she's undeniably adorable and most of all, she's just SO random. She's like a Patrick Star, only she actually has a brain and uses it and as a result, she has more character (and is generally more likeable).
I think I'll stop there. I don't really care if you ignore the note, I just had a really great urge to post something about the show. To close the note, here's something really appropriate:
