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MY LITTLE PONY: REVIEWING IS MAGIC

(DISCLAIMER: I go WAY too off-topic at the very beginning of this review. If you wish to skip to the actual review, go to the sixth paragraph of this review.)

Dear Princess Celestia,...

What I learned this week was... that's not how you start a professional review! Excusez-moi...

Okey doeky lokey, now onto the review, allow me to start by saying that THIS is the most adorable, sugar-coated, colorful cartoon I have seen in a long time. And I love every. Single. Frame of it. Why? WHY? Well, lemme give you a little story.

Sometime, around January 2011, I logged into DA only to notice that it was SPAMMED with fanart upon fanart of these fillies (and colts); fanart, plz accounts, avatars, journals- they were EVERYWHERE!. There was no getting away from it. At first pondered... "Where'd they come from?" And then, I went, "From THIS show?" YouTube was also ridden with two-second-long videos of lines- LINES- from the scenes, from the episodes themselves. It was crazy! I wondered "How could a show like this be so popular?". And so, I watched the two-parter opener for the show sometime around June of Summer 2011 and right after that, my life was over.

It was mind-boggling, not only were the first two episodes bearable, but they were actually pretty good. If I were to make a review of this, I could not make a review with just two episodes, so I decided to watch more episodes and somewhere in between The Ticket Master and Winter Wrap Up, I-I was hooked! It was as if, there may have been a subliminal message somewhere that hypnotized me into watching the rest of the show; NO, it wasn't that. It was clever writing, funny jokes, and- to my surprise- the hand of one of my all-time favorite animators, Lauren Faust.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention during the credits or the theme song and missed her name. For those of you that don't know, Lauren Faust is an animator; previous projects of hers include The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, two shows which I am also very fond of. She's had a bit of an influence on these cartoons by making them surprise hits; maybe not so much for Foster's, but PPF drew in doubts from its premise, protagonists and just its cuteness. We were proved wrong about what could have been a generic, girly cartoon if handled by the wrong person, but she turned it into something memorable by making a show with humor and characters that could appeal to all sorts of demographics. She succeeded with both of those shows, and now... she's 3 for 3!

I feel like I may have detracted you guys from the main point of this, but this is something I just had to get out of the way. Before I distract myself once again I'll just go straight to the point , after watching every single episode from Season 1 (the sole exception being Dragonshy) I felt prepared and ready to vent my feelings about this particular cartoon. And here you go:

For those who don't know (if you live deep enough under a rock that it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to have never heard of the toy line) My Little Pony is a Hasbro line of toys that are based on... well, ponies. Hasbro had the brilliant idea of creating a new show based on the toy line. What I mean by "new" is that, there have already been shows and specials based on the toy line, albeit not quite as memorable. Back then, they felt more like commercials than a true cartoon show- they weren't horrible, but they didn't have anything that made them special. Being the reboot that it is, people thought it would be even more advertising. Thankfully, this was very well averted by well-written characters and a self-aware sense of humor that feels like something out of an Edgar Wright movie. The main characters- or "Mane Six" as some people like to call them- have a sympathetic value that makes us, the viewers, care and relate to them. Even for those who I feared were gonna be the stereotypical type of characters that you'd find in this sort of show, like Rarity, are very likeable.

As I've mentioned the series' humor is mainly fulled by self-referential or "Meta" humor, in the same vein of things like Scream, Shaun of the Dead, etc. Character traits, events, happenings will usually get acknowledged in some way or another by the characters much faster than you can say "Appleoosa". The voice acting really adds a little something extra to very otherwise common or mundane lines that I just can't quite describe (Although, it might explain the existence of the 2-second long videos I mentioned a while back). Visual or background gags *cough*Derpy Hooves*cough* also give this show a little bit of a Looney Tune-like vibe on the jokes that meander into slapstick territory. That brings up my next point, references flood the cartoon so much that it'll make your head spin- to the point where I couldn't name half of the stuff they were referring to! Seems as though they took a page from Scott Pilgrim and went with it. That's not to say that most of the references are to anything child-friendly, the Big Lebowski reference in The Cutie Pox is just the tip of the iceberg- there's plenty more where that came from.

That brings me to my next point, the animation. I have to say, for Flash-powered animation, the bright colors and fluid movements are pretty easy on the eyes, not to mention there's always something on-screen whether in the foreground and background, but it's not too overbearing that it'll distract from the focus and for Flash, that's impressive. I feel like I'm having a Total Drama moment in which the animation looks like it's made by Flash, but it's NOT Flash; I don't know if that's true or not, but... I'm departing from the topic again, aren't I? No distractions!

Then we have the characters, every good series needs some memorable characters, and these are surely going to meet the quota for that. As I've said even for the stereotypical "girly" characters, they are given endearing qualities that makes them really stand out as, well, friendly, as I already brought up with Rarity as an example (She's my favorite pony too, BTW). Better still are the one-episode and background characters who seem to leave a lasting impression, even if they don't do much- *cough*Derpy Hooves again!*cough*.

Another thing that's worth mentioning are the morals for each episode and the way they are taught. They come in as natural instead of being phoned in because the characters do fix their flaws and learn from their mistakes, unlike other cartoons which have their message tacked on at the end without leaving any real impact or deeper meaning whatsoever - *cough*Family Guy*cough*. For a true-to-God kids' show, that's really quite an accomplishment. And yes, some of these lessons are pretty cliche- it's bad to lie and keep secrets from your friends, it's important to keep your connections with your family, any problem is a problem no matter how small- you get the idea. But as I said, the characters are caring and willing enough to help a friend no matter what the issue and it come off as natural; I do feel the magic of friendship and therefore friendship is magic! It all makes sense now!*brick'd*

In short, this cartoon has all the cuteness and fluffiness of a pre-schooler's cartoon show mixed in with well-written jokes and engaging characters that are sure to make anyone who watches this show fall in love with it. Just look at where that got me.

Final Mark of Approval:
A+

Dear Princess Celestia,

I learned that review something does not just mean looking and it and studying it just to take it apart and see what's wrong with it. It also means looking at them from a positive perspective and looking at what it does right that gives it that special charm that makes it so... special. Reviewing can be hard to do, but with the right motivation and tools, it can be a pretty fun and enjoyable experience, just as it is right now.

You Faithful Student,
Blu3Danny

Thank you for reading.

My Little Pony © Hasbro
Art ©

Description
MY LITTLE PONY: REVIEWING IS MAGIC

(DISCLAIMER: I go WAY too off-topic at the very beginning of this review. If you wish to skip to the actual review, go to the sixth paragraph of this review.)

Dear Princess Celestia,...

What I learned this week was... that's not how you start a professional review! Excusez-moi...

Okey doeky lokey, now onto the review, allow me to start by saying that THIS is the most adorable, sugar-coated, colorful cartoon I have seen in a long time. And I love every. Single. Frame of it. Why? WHY? Well, lemme give you a little story.

Sometime, around January 2011, I logged into DA only to notice that it was SPAMMED with fanart upon fanart of these fillies (and colts); fanart, plz accounts, avatars, journals- they were EVERYWHERE!. There was no getting away from it. At first pondered... "Where'd they come from?" And then, I went, "From THIS show?" YouTube was also ridden with two-second-long videos of lines- LINES- from the scenes, from the episodes themselves. It was crazy! I wondered "How could a show like this be so popular?". And so, I watched the two-parter opener for the show sometime around June of Summer 2011 and right after that, my life was over.

It was mind-boggling, not only were the first two episodes bearable, but they were actually pretty good. If I were to make a review of this, I could not make a review with just two episodes, so I decided to watch more episodes and somewhere in between The Ticket Master and Winter Wrap Up, I-I was hooked! It was as if, there may have been a subliminal message somewhere that hypnotized me into watching the rest of the show; NO, it wasn't that. It was clever writing, funny jokes, and- to my surprise- the hand of one of my all-time favorite animators, Lauren Faust.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention during the credits or the theme song and missed her name. For those of you that don't know, Lauren Faust is an animator; previous projects of hers include The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, two shows which I am also very fond of. She's had a bit of an influence on these cartoons by making them surprise hits; maybe not so much for Foster's, but PPF drew in doubts from its premise, protagonists and just its cuteness. We were proved wrong about what could have been a generic, girly cartoon if handled by the wrong person, but she turned it into something memorable by making a show with humor and characters that could appeal to all sorts of demographics. She succeeded with both of those shows, and now... she's 3 for 3!

I feel like I may have detracted you guys from the main point of this, but this is something I just had to get out of the way. Before I distract myself once again I'll just go straight to the point , after watching every single episode from Season 1 (the sole exception being Dragonshy) I felt prepared and ready to vent my feelings about this particular cartoon. And here you go:

For those who don't know (if you live deep enough under a rock that it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to have never heard of the toy line) My Little Pony is a Hasbro line of toys that are based on... well, ponies. Hasbro had the brilliant idea of creating a new show based on the toy line. What I mean by "new" is that, there have already been shows and specials based on the toy line, albeit not quite as memorable. Back then, they felt more like commercials than a true cartoon show- they weren't horrible, but they didn't have anything that made them special. Being the reboot that it is, people thought it would be even more advertising. Thankfully, this was very well averted by well-written characters and a self-aware sense of humor that feels like something out of an Edgar Wright movie. The main characters- or "Mane Six" as some people like to call them- have a sympathetic value that makes us, the viewers, care and relate to them. Even for those who I feared were gonna be the stereotypical type of characters that you'd find in this sort of show, like Rarity, are very likeable.

As I've mentioned the series' humor is mainly fulled by self-referential or "Meta" humor, in the same vein of things like Scream, Shaun of the Dead, etc. Character traits, events, happenings will usually get acknowledged in some way or another by the characters much faster than you can say "Appleoosa". The voice acting really adds a little something extra to very otherwise common or mundane lines that I just can't quite describe (Although, it might explain the existence of the 2-second long videos I mentioned a while back). Visual or background gags *cough*Derpy Hooves*cough* also give this show a little bit of a Looney Tune-like vibe on the jokes that meander into slapstick territory. That brings up my next point, references flood the cartoon so much that it'll make your head spin- to the point where I couldn't name half of the stuff they were referring to! Seems as though they took a page from Scott Pilgrim and went with it. That's not to say that most of the references are to anything child-friendly, the Big Lebowski reference in The Cutie Pox is just the tip of the iceberg- there's plenty more where that came from.

That brings me to my next point, the animation. I have to say, for Flash-powered animation, the bright colors and fluid movements are pretty easy on the eyes, not to mention there's always something on-screen whether in the foreground and background, but it's not too overbearing that it'll distract from the focus and for Flash, that's impressive. I feel like I'm having a Total Drama moment in which the animation looks like it's made by Flash, but it's NOT Flash; I don't know if that's true or not, but... I'm departing from the topic again, aren't I? No distractions!

Then we have the characters, every good series needs some memorable characters, and these are surely going to meet the quota for that. As I've said even for the stereotypical "girly" characters, they are given endearing qualities that makes them really stand out as, well, friendly, as I already brought up with Rarity as an example (She's my favorite pony too, BTW). Better still are the one-episode and background characters who seem to leave a lasting impression, even if they don't do much- *cough*Derpy Hooves again!*cough*.

Another thing that's worth mentioning are the morals for each episode and the way they are taught. They come in as natural instead of being phoned in because the characters do fix their flaws and learn from their mistakes, unlike other cartoons which have their message tacked on at the end without leaving any real impact or deeper meaning whatsoever - *cough*Family Guy*cough*. For a true-to-God kids' show, that's really quite an accomplishment. And yes, some of these lessons are pretty cliche- it's bad to lie and keep secrets from your friends, it's important to keep your connections with your family, any problem is a problem no matter how small- you get the idea. But as I said, the characters are caring and willing enough to help a friend no matter what the issue and it come off as natural; I do feel the magic of friendship and therefore friendship is magic! It all makes sense now!*brick'd*

In short, this cartoon has all the cuteness and fluffiness of a pre-schooler's cartoon show mixed in with well-written jokes and engaging characters that are sure to make anyone who watches this show fall in love with it. Just look at where that got me.

Final Mark of Approval:
A+

Dear Princess Celestia,

I learned that review something does not just mean looking and it and studying it just to take it apart and see what's wrong with it. It also means looking at them from a positive perspective and looking at what it does right that gives it that special charm that makes it so... special. Reviewing can be hard to do, but with the right motivation and tools, it can be a pretty fun and enjoyable experience, just as it is right now.

You Faithful Student,
Blu3Danny

Thank you for reading.

My Little Pony © Hasbro
Art ©