Old Ponies never die, they just lose the animation cels

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

I love My Little Pony. I was a little girl in the '80s and my favorite toys were my Applejack and Firefly. I still have them and I wouldn't trade either of the poor abused things for anything. The first G1 cartoon, My Little Pony & Friends, was a favorite of mine. I still like it despite the TV episodes having dreadfully cheap animation and often disjointed plots. The villains were fun, some of the ponies were fun, and when the writing was bad it was usually entertainingly so. There was conflict and danger, something was always trying to kidnap, enslave, or eat the little ponies, and villains tended to get killed.

I feel squeezed out for liking old pony because it's tarred with the same brush as Newborn Cuties to FiM fans. It seems like any time G1 or something is mentioned someone must get in a slight about everything before FiM being crap. I love Friendship is Magic. It is the best show in the MLP franchise. That doesn't mean everything that came before was worthless. It's very un-pony and I'd like it to stop.

I don't mind if you don't like G1. I'm even happy to discuss it's problems and animation errors and goofball stories with people who can refrain from acting like I'm an idiot for liking it.

So this is my outreach to the community. I hope you find it interesting, even if you're not a toy collector and dislike the old cartoons. I'm going to try to go over the history of the franchise, keeping the toy parts relatively brief and highlighting where elements made it into FiM when I can.

A History of Pony

Pre-History of Pony

The designer most often credited as the "creator" of My Little Pony is Bonnie Zacherle although she was part of a team working at Hasbro. The appearance of G1 ponies is based on her original concept sketches. As conceived the ponies were simply a "pre-school toy" and not specifically a "girl toy." In addition, the idea of marketing a pony toy to little girls was not at all considered a sure thing at the time and was nearly cut from the Hasbro line-up before wide release.

1981 - My Pretty Pony
My Pretty Pony was a 10 inch tall, hollow, hard plastic toy pony with a lever under it's chin that would cause various actions like swishing her tail and twitching her ears. The original one was brown with a white blaze and socks airbrushed on. The packaging was more gender neutral than MLP proper and the accessories were in bright primary colors. Later that same year a pink version was issued with pastel colored accessories and a group of hearts painted on the pony's flank and the marketing turned to focus on just girls.

Dawn of Pony

1983
My Pretty Pony didn't sell that well, but the same design shrunk down to fit comfortably in the hand, cast in softer vinyl, and colored in pastel hues sold like the proverbial hotcakes. My Little Pony was an instant success with young girls (and their parents because they were inexpensive, durable, and didn't have a lot of parts to lose.)


One of this first set was Minty, making her the oldest recurring pony. They all looked like this with colors and symbols varying.

1984 introduced the first unicorns and pegasi, and another set of earth ponies including Applejack.

My Little Pony/Rescue at Midnight Castle/Firefly's Adventure

The first TV special, originallly aired as simply "My Little Pony" but later titled "Rescue at Midnight Castle" and "Firefly's Adventure", was a pilot for the TV series. It featured a lot of the year 2 ponies as characters including Applejack, the brash pegasus Firefly, and unicorn Twilight. The animation was largely fluid and consistent, and the ponies looked more horse-like than some of the later episodes. The songs and some of the dialogue are silly and cheesey, the plot is simple good v. evil, rescue your captured friends stuff.

Synopsis:
The ponies are chilling out in the fields around their castle when a hideous beastman commanding a horde of dragons swoops in and starts kidnapping ponies for his satan-looking master who wants to turn them into dragons to pull his magic chariot of evil. Firefly manages to kidnap Megan, a human from a world that doesn't have talking ponies all over the place, to help them. They fend off another kidnapping raid (Firefly kicks a dragon in the face, Megan tries to punch one), visit the magic mushroom wizard in the swamp to get a magic macguffin he keeps in a rabbit's pants, and get rescued by sea ponies after falling in a river.

Meanwhile, Satan Tirak is still pissed off that Scorpan the beast man has failed to secure the 4 ponies he requires for his chariot. The jillion other dragons he has won't do, it must be 4 transformed ponies so the night will last FOREVER!! Also his evil power is the "Rainbow of Darkness" that he keeps in a bag and pets and talks to like it's a cat and he's Dr. Claw. He turns some ponies into dragons and tells Scorpan he'll cut off Spike's head if Scorpan doesn't pony up that last pony by midnight.

Scorpan has had enough of this bullshit and makes to leave with Spike and baby pony Ember while Pony Rescue Team Alpha is infiltrating the castle with the help of the sea ponies. They kind of suck at stealth though and Applejack gets captured and transformed into the last dragon. Tirak crashes his pimped out ride of eternal night through the roof and a fight ensues when Scorpan, Megan, and the remaining ponies go after his magic bag. After a decent game of keep away he recovers the bag and Megan unleashes the good macguffin, the Rainbow of Light to combat the Rainbow of Darkness.

The tiny Rainbow of Light is eaten by the Rainbow of Darkness, then resurges and takes it over, obliterates Tirak, turns the dragons back into butterflies, the lizard men guards into birds, and the transformed ponies back into ponies.

But the real twist is that Scorpan was the Burger King all along.



Everybody laughs. The End.

A young Lauren Faust falls in love with the magic ponies. Elements such as the thrill seeking pegasus kicking a dragon in the face, the villain who wants to make the night last forever, the characters of Applejack, Spike, Twilight, and Firefly, and a magic rainbow of asskicking would all influence Friendship is Magic.

End Part 1

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

I can't read any of that because I haven't watched Rescue at Midnight Castle yet like I've been meaning to. Question, though. Is firefly as rad as she sounds?

[Whitenoise PosterI am going to eat this entire oak tree because I am a powerful wizard!]

Oh wait was G1 what everyone was arguing about in that other thread? I thought everyone agreed that that owned as much as anything made in the 80's could. Are we gona have to run more "G1 owns" synchtubes to remind everyone of this?

The burger king was so much cooler in his monster form.

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

I can't read any of that because I haven't watched Rescue at Midnight Castle yet like I've been meaning to. Question, though. Is firefly as rad as she sounds?

Firefly is so awesome the wonderbolts want her autograph.

[Headless Horse]

Best OP on the forum.

(Do we discuss Tales and G3 here too?)

[DarkMatter]

Very good post.

I admittedly haven't seen a whole lot of G1 but it was really no worse than Thundercats, Transformers, or any other cheesy 80s toy cartoon. I have watched the pilot in its entirety and honestly thought it was pretty cool. And yes, Firefly is a total badass who lives for danger.

I keep waiting for the series and movie to show up on Netflix because I'd probably give it a shot. Seems like some harmless, cheesy, 80s fun!

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

Best OP on the forum.

(Do we discuss Tales and G3 here too?)

Yes. Absolutely.

The best episode of Tales will always be the one where Bright Eyes is a racist and tries to beat the brown island pony to death with a boat oar.

[MochaBean]

I think that so long as everyone agrees that Wind Whistler is the best pony, we'll all get along just fine.

If you disagree, it doesn't mean that you have a bad opinion, just that you're a bad person.

[Whitenoise PosterI am going to eat this entire oak tree because I am a powerful wizard!]

Yes. Absolutely.

The best episode of Tales will always be the one where Bright Eyes is a racist and tries to beat the brown island pony to death with a boat oar.

Is...is that real? That is actually a thing that happened? That's hilarious

[BattyBovine♪ i got a new way to walk ♪♪ walk walk ♪♪ i got a new way to walk ♪♪ walk walk ♪♪ i got a new way to walk ♪♪ and it shows how good i feel ♪]

I'm so glad someone finally started this thread. I remember asking for this back in like July or August of last year. I almost ended up doing it myself.

My only experience with "classic" ponies thus far is a Tales marathon that I only partly paid attention to, and Gen 3/3.5. The only thing I hated about what I've seen is Newborn Cuties. Everything else is surprisingly tolerable. I actually find myself enjoying some of the Gen 3 movies.

Really looking forward to seeing what this thread brings. Also, you should totally Synchtube all of the Gen 1 ponies you can, because I've only ever seen like one episode.

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

Is...is that real? That is actually a thing that happened? That's hilarious

It's an exaggeration, but not a severe one. Bright Eyes goes to a tropical island named Tropical Island for... some reason, writing about it for school or something I guess. All the ponies that live on the island are fleshtone brown, speak with a goofy accent, and she's terrified of them for no apparent reason and has repeated fantasies of them throwing her into a volcano as a living sacrifice (I think they reused that footage 3 times in one episode, granted it was funny as hell each time but...) She's staying with a family there and when the kids take her out in the canoe the father pops up from the lagoon with some seaweed on his head and Bright Eyes freaks the fuck out and starts waling on him with the boat oar. In the end they take her up to hike on the volcano and it erupts, then they save her and she decides brown people ponies are ok after all.

For me, the best part is that the toys the native ponies are based on are actually bright yellow rather than brown.

I'm trying to find G1 in good quality to upload, a lot of ones on youtube are really fuzzy VHS rips which doesn't help matters any.

http://youtu.be/O-Ll5zaPcIE This seems to be the cleanest uncut copy of Rescue at Midnight Castle.

[Whitenoise PosterI am going to eat this entire oak tree because I am a powerful wizard!]

That sounds like the funniest thing in the world I have to watch old ponies right away.

[Pony Factory Factory]

While I was indoctrinating my mother in G4 ponies, she expressed an interest in seeing some of the 80's ponies. I only barely remembered it from channel-surfing as a kid. So together, we watched Bright Lights, something that aired when I was 9 months old. We both thought it wasn't good.

My mother was fascinated in looking at it, because she grew up when TV was fairly new and children's TV was more universally marketed, if inherently boy-oriented. For her, feminism was a journey, and that pony arc was a story in that journey which, while not particularly well-animated or well-written, was at least relevant and interesting.

I yelled at the TV because the characters constantly did stupid things for stupid reasons, and the gender norms appeared appalling. I mean, for God's sake, they're hero-worshiping the only male pony in the group, who is also the only character to get any character development, but he's a stooge for a guy who wants to STEAL THEIR SHADOWS HOLY CRAP. My mother thought this was hilarious. And if I didn't have such a stick up my ass about smart writing and positive role portrayals (especially in kids' shows), I probably would have thought so, too, in an MST3K way.

Now, I loved a lot of things when I was a kid that I would treat the same way now. And even so, I'm inspired by what I saw in them, and often want to take what I loved and put it into new things. And I'd even call them fun. But you'd never convince me to call them good. That's the tier I'd put G1 pony in.

[Geomancing]

I like G1, at least some of the movies. I mentioned this when we were synchtubing them, but I had seen Rescue at Midnight Castle and Escape from Catrina when I was young, but had mostly forgotten about it. Certain scenes though leaped out at me from my subconscious when we were synching them, namely Catrina sliding down the pit with her claws scoring the bricks. They're pure 80s cheesiness but they're not bad, just old.

Likewise, I find enjoyment in a lot of the G3 stuff just because of how amusing they are. The characters are one-dimensional, their personalities almost non-existent and the entire world is made up of candy and felt, but it's easy to enjoy and just watch along. It's better to watch in a group, though, just to share the laughter.

The MLP Tales, I always seemed to miss out on those synchtubes, but just the fact that it was like a pre-teen soap opera whose characters happened to be ponies kinda turned me off. Not to mention that most of the characters act like stereotypes of athletes, popular girls and the like. I have to give them props for actually including a larger cast of male ponies, which pretty much vanished afterwards until FiM.

G3.5 and Newborn Cuties, it's like they took the saccharine sweetness of G3 and cranked it to 11. Especially in Newborn Cuties, you just got the sense that no one involved with its production actually cared. It just has this lifeless, unenthusiastic feel to it, exemplified by the long pauses, very basic animation (even for Flash standards), unchanging facial expressions. Plus the whole 'crawl on their knees' thing, equines don't work that way.

The stage shows? Hilarious but not for the reason they were intended to be.

[Headless Horse]

While I was indoctrinating my mother in G4 ponies, she expressed an interest in seeing some of the 80's ponies. I only barely remembered it from channel-surfing as a kid. So together, we watched Bright Lights, something that aired when I was 9 months old. We both thought it wasn't good.

Bright Lights is downright unnerving in a lot of places. The hostile village they visit puts me uncomfortably in mind of Story of the Blanks.

There's definitely a wide disparity in quality between the MLP:G1 specials and the series proper, and even among episodes of the series. I couldn't in good conscience call Rescue at Midnight Castle good, but its biggest issues have to do with super-rushed pacing and an incoherent plot rather than basic technical points like 3D perspective and making sure the policeman/heavy/peasant/dude who follows the Mayor around has the same character design from one scene to the next. (Not to mention that if a major plot point is whether the characters have had their shadows stolen or not, it might be useful to draw the characters with shadows).

[kefkafloyd]

I asked Pineapple to make this thread because I thought it would be good for all of us to keep in mind where this came from. Even if we don't like or old ponies doesn't appeal to us, we can learn from it. So please be respectful, all of you, and I think this will wind up being one of the best threads of late.

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

Highlights of Bright Lights for me:

Knightshade is Prince
Zeb the sleazeball zebra
Megan and the ponies walk into a giant mouse trap
OOOOURRRRR BAAAAAY-BIEEEEEEES!!!!
Eerie town full of shadowless ponies singing about how they're gonna get you

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

Since I like to think about meleeing imaginary cartoon ponies (for some unfathomable reason), one thing strikes me watching all the old stuff. It may be because of the more "rounded, smoother" art style, but, these ponies seem a lot less...tough. Like, I think I'd be able to take more of the G1 ponies in some sort of large brawl before they brought me down. However, they look a lot harder to pick up and throw, so I'd have to just rely on fisticuffs.

The zebra in Bright Lights would be the hardest, as not only does he walk on two legs, he seems a lot bigger than the rest of them. As I haven't seen too many earlier episodes, are there any ponies that are even tougher? Like, is there a pony that just lifts weights or something? If so, I'd have to redo my melee strategy.

[Westy543]

G1 owns for an 80s cartoon, especially between Rescue at Midnight Castle and Escape from Catrina (which has a hilarious double meaning 25 years later! ), but various other episodes rock. I love the crabnasties (OPTIMUS CRAB!) and almost made a G4 style vector of them, but got bored and gave up. Firefly's totally my favorite though. I really haven't seen much of Tales but I've been meaning to. I need to pay more attention to synchtubes.

It never hit me though that Scorpan was the Burger King. I don't know why. People who blanket bash past gens clearly have not seen Midnight Castle. Hell, there's practically continuity between G1 and G4. Twilight / Twilight Sparkle's mom, baby Moondancer --> S1E1 "We're going to Moondancer's party?" The connections are everywhere.

And come on, they brought us the joy of seaponies.

[TailspinQueen of the skies]

And come on, they brought us the joy of seaponies.

SHOO BE DOO

I haven't seen anything other then Rescue at Castle Midnight. And judging by that, the G1 cartoon doesn't seem that bad at all. I mean, yeah, the animation and voice acting isn't much, but from what I understand that's the same for most cartoons of the time. As I said once, if I saw MLP as a kid, I'd watch it and give no fucks. And yeah, Firefly rocks.

[FemtoYour hearts desire is to be told your destiny through your cutie mark. The destiny is that there is no destiny.]

I still genuinely like gen1 of MLP, even if I could do without quite so many terrible terrible songs . They're definitely at their best with the adventure-stuff though. I'm going to nth the general sentiment in this thread and say that we need more classic ponytubes, stat! Good (Midnight Castle), Bad (gen 3.5), kind of awkward but still enjoyable (Tales), it's all fun in synchtubes. Plus I always seem to miss Escape from Midnight Castle, so maybe I'll get lucky here.

[IsaakEquus Ludens :3]

Live thoughts while watching Rescue From Midnight Castle, excuse the giant ass list:

- Okay, ponies doing stuff. I'm not sure what they're doing or why, feels like an intro rather than the show itself.
- What's Ember saying, I can't hear what she's... JESUS FUCKING CHRIST DRAGONS. HOLY SHIT.
- Firefly is kinda cool.
- Okay, that is a legitimately evil castle, that is an awesomely dark and ominous design.
- Pacing issues all around!
- It's Dr. Claw! Is that a beating heart in that bag? I'm getting major Pirates of the Carribean vibes here
- Shut up Spike!
- Dialogue is... non-existent. The characters talk, but only for the sake of talking seemingly.
- "Whatever it is, it sure is heavy." is an awful line.
- The extremely dry "Hello." is an excellent line.
- Where did that song come from?
- The imagery is very nice, granted the animation is mostly shoddy, but there are some really great ideas at work here. Inspiring for an idea I had.
- So, the "bring back human to magical place" plot is probably older than this, but is this the first time it was used in animation? I struggle to think of an earlier example.
- That is the most horrible "kick to the face" sound effect I've ever heard.
- Megan! NOOOOO! I was just about to actually care for you!
- "This battle is not yours."? Is he implying war?
- Yeah Megan, kick his ass!
- As a viewer it's hard for me to feel any connection with the characters or their interactions with each other. What's happening is bad, but I find it hard to really care.
- "We'll save our friends, somehow." Your friends, you've known them for two minutes!
- Holy shit, Tirak really is Satan.
- WOW, ENSLAVEMENT.
- "A head will roll... HIS"
- Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man
-...
- SHOO BE DOO, SHOO SHOO BE DOO
- This Mr. Moochick(sp?) guy conveniently knows everything.
- I kinda like the contrast between absolute terror and whimsical silliness. It's like Slayer playing the Spongebob Squarepants themesong.
- Animation and direction are very, very, very disorienting.
- That bunny... Angel?
- Tirak is serious about beheading Spike.
- Wow, that fightscene between Tiran and Storpan
- "Hold on, I'm going for the double loop again!" Firefly, Megan doesn't know about the double loop
- How does Spike know Bowtie's name?! (Bowtie is an awesome name by the way)
- Hehe, that teleporting.
- RAINBOWS

This isn't really that good animation or soundwise, the writing is lazy and the pacing is all over the place. It feels like it was rushed beyond belief.
It's though very dark in places, which was completely and utterly unexpected, and it presents some great potential. It's undeniably and charmingly 80s and from what I remember isn't that different from Transformers and other 80s IPs.

I liked it.

[Blarghalt]

I've always wondered how the G3 stuff got distributed, especially Newborn Cuties. Beyond episodes on youtube, I've never heard of them airing on TV or being sold anywhere, ever.

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

I've always wondered how the G3 stuff got distributed, especially Newborn Cuties. Beyond episodes on youtube, I've never heard of them airing on TV or being sold anywhere, ever.

They were direct-to-video movies and there's a good chance they were just packaged in with the toys, so that's why you never heard of them.

[CapacitorPlagueRari-tea]

I have to concede, watching the synctubes has made me a fan of Tales. Yes, the writing is weak, the songs are worse and there isn't a single character that isn't a complete jerk in one way or another (other than Clover being a complete moron). Still, it is a product of its time and is infinitely better than the human equivalent, Beverly Hills Teens. It's goofy and stupid, but still fun to watch. Even if we are making fun of it.

[Pony Factory Factory]

I still genuinely like gen1 of MLP, even if I could do without quite so many terrible terrible songs . They're definitely at their best with the adventure-stuff though. I'm going to nth the general sentiment in this thread and say that we need more classic ponytubes, stat! Good (Midnight Castle), Bad (gen 3.5), kind of awkward but still enjoyable (Tales), it's all fun in synchtubes. Plus I always seem to miss Escape from Midnight Castle, so maybe I'll get lucky here.

I'd actually be really down with oldpony synchtubes... if people can tolerate me being a sourpuss.

[FemtoYour hearts desire is to be told your destiny through your cutie mark. The destiny is that there is no destiny.]

I'd actually be really down with oldpony synchtubes... if people can tolerate me being a sourpuss.

Sourpusses are an integral part of the synchtube community, they provide moral support through inane segments and heighten the experience of "What the Christ" moments.

And when their heart grows three sizes and they admit they like something, that is the greatest gift of all .

[Headless Horse]

I have to concede, watching the synctubes has made me a fan of Tales. Yes, the writing is weak, the songs are worse and there isn't a single character that isn't a complete jerk in one way or another (other than Clover being a complete moron). Still, it is a product of its time and is infinitely better than the human equivalent, Beverly Hills Teens. It's goofy and stupid, but still fun to watch. Even if we are making fun of it.

Tales could certainly have been a lot worse. I have no objection to it for what it is; and it does have the leg up on G1 on the strength of much more logical writing and a consistent universe in which plausible stuff happens. The animation is better in some ways too, if more cartoony and wacky (I'm comparing it to G1 proper, not the specials or the Movie, which were all comparatively pretty good). It also has an episode called "And The Winner Is..." which is like the template for The Ticket Master.

Where Tales disappoints is in the laziness of the premise. It's just a high-school drama starring kids in pony suits. They walk on hind legs as often as not, use hooves like hands in mittens, etc. There's no reason for the characters to be ponies, other then "hey maybe this will make this flagging franchise hip for the 90s".

No reason not to watch it, though. Just look up the episode titles; YouTube has a lot of them. No need to wait for a synctube.

[Flippity FlopSecretly a sponge]

I've always wondered how the G3 stuff got distributed, especially Newborn Cuties. Beyond episodes on youtube, I've never heard of them airing on TV or being sold anywhere, ever.

G3 stuff went to video in America, and half of them were bundled with "Special Editon" toys - the very first G3 special (can't remember the name atm) and StarCatcher debut special, which were on VHS ( ) and the follow-up, for example. The other half, such as A Very Minty Christmas and that other one with Spike went to DVD and were carried by Big Box Stores (Target, Wal-Mart, and the like.) I recently learned that the G3 specials were broadcast on Toon Disney (!) in some European countries. Dunno about the Newborn Cuties stuff because I generally distanced myself from ponies once that hit, and my sister didn't get into the toys until after that was over.

On the subject of really old ponies: I haven't really seen enough of them to judge their overall quality. I tried watching the very first episode of the 80s series, and it was okay in terms of cheesy goodness, but it didn't keep up my interest so I kind of stopped watching it halfway through.

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

I'm doing a blow-by-blow commentary for Midnight Castle while I finally watch it. For the record, this is my first G1 experience outside of a video of that song about The Schmooze. The reason I'm watching this is because apparently it is, and I quote, "Fucking metal." Off I go.

Yeah, this is pretty Eighties. It's not as ugly as it could have been as of 10 seconds in, so things are looking up.
The song is about what I'd expected.
They have a castle? Why do the ponies have a castle?
The way they laugh is killing me.
That horse leapt straight up, paused in the air, and then fell almost horizontally about 30 feet before landing in a pond.
Gravity is crazy in this.
That one can WISH herself places? Well, okay, G4 Twi can too, but in context it feels OP.
Hell yeah. Danger is Firefly's LIFE. That one really does rule, although her voice is ridiculous.
Hey, it's Applejack.
Applejack sounds like a cross between Gollum and Rabbit.
I swear to god most of these ponies are voiced by The Lollipop Guild.
I can't understand a word Ember says.
Dragons! And an ape dude with wings who is nevertheless too lazy to fly. Fucker's as aristocrat, I can already tell.
Oh, it's Spike. Spike is... hm. Well, I knew going in that I'd like G4 better.
Sauron is massaging a bag.
Firefly flips her tail and the water droplets go up. Then they don't come down. Gravity is the true villain, clearly.
Why does FF know about riding? Is she used to humans? If so, why hasn't Megan heard of talking ponies?
At least the songs are short.
Well it doesn't look like they're dancing on air to me.
Why are the dragons taking Megan? What in the hell do they need Megan for?
See, in G4 this shit wouldn't fly. Dash, Twilight and Applejack would eat these dragon things alive.
Aristocrat Monkeyman is clearly going to switch sides.
Megan knows martial arts. She needs some quality swearwords, though. "You, you, you monster!"
"Our" friends? A little ahead of ourselves, aren't we, Megan?
Yep, that villain guy and Scorpan are basically straight off of some album cover.
Hahahaha, fuck. Turak isn't playing around. Chains people to floors, locks them in bags using the swirly shit from the end of Madoka, loudly threatens underlings with death, takes slaves.
Sea ponies?!
Okay, I need a villain song. Every song so far has made me want to stop watching.
Okay, on the one hand, fuck these sea pony things. On the other hand, I want them in G4.
I hate Moochick.
I really hate Moochick.
What the hell is a rainbow of darkness? I need to see that.
Fuck Moochick. He better not have a song.
I said HE BETTER NOT HAVE A SONG.
God dammit.
Your watch is probably down your pet rabbit's pants too, you creepy little shit.
Firefly: "Oh no! How will we get across?" *can fly*
I really, really need a villain song. You know what old cartoon had the best villain song? The Return of the King. "Where There's a Whip There's a Way." Google it.
"HEADS WILL ROLL!" "The power is MIIIIIINE!" "Behold the power of DAAAARKNESS!" I love Turak.
I FUCKING CALLED IT. SCORPAN IS A DAMN ARISTOCRAT. I'm a genius.
"Aren't you going to turn back into what you were?" "Not me! I've always had this irritating a voice!" "Oh, then you'll fit right in around here."
And it ends with everybody laughing. I wish they weren't still doing this in G4.

Okay, so it's over. The animation was better than it could have been. The villain is boss. In fact, for what it is, I agree that this special is pretty great. I'd rather watch this than Thundercats. That said, this was mostly pretty bad, which is what I expected. I am whelmed.
Metal rating: noticeable but not overpowering (I was secretly hoping for overpowering). In tone I'm thinking Mastodon, 40 Watt Sun, Isis, and especially some geeky symphonic metal band somewhere, like, I don't know, Blind Guardian or something. Something cheezy and unashamed.

[Geomancing]

One thing that bugged me about Megan is that her role has almost always been 'the one with hands'. Usually her entire purpose is to manipulate something like a locket that requires a little bit of dexterity. Oh, and having an understandable voice actor. However, her outfit went from this:


Boots, jeans, a long-sleeved shirt rolled up to the elbows, a vest and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She's ready to kick evil centaur ass.

To this:


Slippers, light blue full-body frilly overalls, and a pink shirt. I got the impression in the first movie that she was supposed to be in the neighborhood of 12 or 13, and now she's dressed like she's six. Poor girl.

[Pineapplebecause I do not]

Fashion related brain damage from hanging out with magic ponies.


But yeah. Megan in Midnight Castle dresses like a tween that rides horses. Then in the show she wears that awful frilly overalls outfit. You can see the difference in the animation there too, Everything is blobbier and frequently off model. The animation in Midnight Castle isn't feature film worthy or anything but it's clean and on-model most of the time.

Megan tends to be the brains and the hands of the outfit, and whatever other deus ex machina may be needed. Deus ex Megana.

[Daionus The 23rd:3]

She looks like what I imagine Applejack would look like as a human.

[shotgunbadgerBeing pressed into labor is fun, as long as the work is peppy!]

Finally an old pony appreciation station

When I was little most all of my friends were girls, and we were a biiiiit too young to have been on the g1 and all train, but one of my friend's slightly older sister loved them, so she had a box of tapes. When we were young there was nothing more fun then a GI Joe/MLP team up to fight COBRA and Skeletor.

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

nothing more fun then a GI Joe/MLP team up to fight COBRA and Skeletor.

That's totally awesome and I think I should draw it, because I can't draw. No scanner though, so

[Scuderia FerrarityThe Corndogs Of Today are the Tacos of Tomorrow]

Oh, it's Spike. Spike is... hm.

The best friend a pony could ever-ever have, etcetera, etcetera? Regardless of any decade?



I can't remember if Firefly appeared in other episodes other than Midnight Castle. Surprise and Posey only appear in one episode each from what I've seen. Then again this is before any idea of a main seven.

[Headless Horse]

"Aren't you going to turn back into what you were?" "Not me! I've always had this irritating a voice!" "Oh, then you'll fit right in around here."

Charlie Adler has always bugged the fuck out of me. Every voice he does is the goddamn same. I couldn't take it coming out of Cow (as in & Chicken), or any other modern cartoon that calls for "wacky cartoony pinchy nasal whine", and yep, there he was doing it back in the 80s for Spike.

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

The best friend a pony could ever-ever have, etcetera, etcetera? Regardless of any decade?

I have some bad news.

I can't remember if Firefly appeared in other episodes other than Midnight Castle. Surprise and Posey only appear in one episode each from what I've seen. Then again this is before any idea of a main seven.

I want to know if she's in anything else because then I'd consider watching that something else.

While I'm watching old stuff, where are Minty and Kimono? Because this
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=807
is unironically good and apparently so is Minty in G3? Sort of?

[ZuzieI just don't know what went wrong]

After finding about FiM, I've gained a new appreciation for older iterations of My Little Pony, even though it was never a part of my childhood (My younger sister was more of a Barbie girl) I've even gained an appreciation for G3 and even G3.5... in a sense, it's clearly not designed for people like me, but I guess it could be good for small girls. (but not those newborn cuties... what the fuck were they thinking?)

What I'm most interested in though is the interaction between the old MLP fandom and the brony fandom. Just what does the older fandom think of this newbie boom? I sorta feel like they've intruded on what was originally a girly-girl haven and now they're being threatened, and driven out by this movement. I really hope we're not being too obnoxious or anything like that

[kefkafloyd]

Charlie Adler has always bugged the fuck out of me. Every voice he does is the goddamn same. I couldn't take it coming out of Cow (as in & Chicken), or any other modern cartoon that calls for "wacky cartoony pinchy nasal whine", and yep, there he was doing it back in the 80s for Spike.

There's nothing particularly wrong with having "the same voice," but to say Charlie doesn't have range is a bit harsh. The voice of Spike/Cow is just one of his things. Did you hear him as Cobra Commander in GI Joe Resolute or Renegades? He's a perfect fit for the late Chris Latta. He was also excellent as Ed Bighead and Buster Bunny. He's done a lot of varied characters through his career.

Now, there are guys with only "one voice," and those are the Jon Benjamins and Don Adamses (rest his soul) of the world, but you basically hire them because that's who you want. Charlie isn't one of those guys.