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My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:34 pm
by Fizzbuzz
April 7 update: It's out now! :sweetielarm:
April 7: Sisters Take Flight / A Home to Share / Zipp's Flight School / Nightmare Roommate
April 14: Mane Melody
April 21: The Unboxing of Izzy
April 28: Clip Trot
May 5: Foal Me Once
May 12: It's T.U.E.S. Day
May 19: Sunny-Day Dinners
May 26: Maretime Bay Day 2.0
June 2: The Game is Ahoof
June 9: Dumpster Diving
June 16: Alicorn Issues
June 23: Making a Foal of Me
June 30: Neighfever
July 7: Queens for a Day
July 14: On Your Cutie Marks
July 21: Lost in Translation
July 28: One Trick Pony
August 4: My Bananas
August 11: Zipp's Yes Day
August 18: Another Pony's Trash
August 25: Starscout Code
September 1: Puphunt
September 8: Pony Partay
September 15: All That Jazz
September 22: Pippsqueaks Forever


Image
From here:
My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale will launch April 7 for free on the My Little Pony YouTube channel, with a new five-minute episode released each week. The series introduces My Little Pony‘s beloved next-generation characters in a sprightly 2D animation style and features upbeat, comedic stories that kids of all ages can enjoy. The slice-of-life series will showcase new sides of the Mane 5 and expand their universe in exciting new directions. The series is produced by Lil Critter Workshop, with Gretchen Mallorie serving as head writer/story editor and David Flack as creative producer.
This looks like it'll be the Pony Life of G5, though IMO it's already got much more heart than Pony Life just from the animation style alone. And it'll be going directly to YouTube instead of the janky TV release Pony Life got, so it should actually be far more accessible to folks in general.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:55 pm
by Durandal
Interesting...

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 6:51 pm
by SlateSlabrock
It doesn't really look like my cup of tea, but we'll see soon enough how it turns out.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 2:00 am
by Adiwan
It looks substantially better than Pony Life.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 1:21 pm
by Fizzbuzz


This is a clip from an investor conference that Hasbro recently held, hyping up Tell Your Tale while also explaining how it's "specifically crafted to work the YouTube algorithm." It sounds ridiculous when written out like that, but I still feel better about this than I did about Pony Life.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:40 am
by SlateSlabrock
If Pipp's there, does this make it a streamer house?

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 2:47 pm
by Fizzbuzz
SlateSlabrock wrote:
Sat Mar 26, 2022 12:40 am
If Pipp's there, does this make it a streamer house?
Going by this trailer, that's kind of what the vibe feels like. Which kind of makes it go well with being released on YouTube, come to think of it.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:45 am
by Fizzbuzz
The first four episodes are up. Going by Pony Life's reception, I doubt these will be worthy of individual threads, but I'll put links in the OP going forward.





Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:14 am
by Fizzbuzz


So far I think I've been impressed with this series, actually. Unlike how Pony Life turned everyone's wackiness and drama up to 11 and had almost no room to breathe otherwise, Tell Your Tale actually feels like it's trying to matter at least a little. Though there's not quite room for big stories, I feel like it still has a lot of character, at least.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 1:10 pm
by Fizzbuzz


I felt like I was smiling through this whole one, especially after Izzy's face got painted on the box.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:32 pm
by SigmasonicX
Ah, I've been forgetting to post here.

I've enjoyed these a lot more than I expected, though the animation itself is a weak point.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:18 am
by Fizzbuzz

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:25 am
by Fizzbuzz
SigmasonicX wrote:
Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:32 pm
Ah, I've been forgetting to post here.

I've enjoyed these a lot more than I expected, though the animation itself is a weak point.
Maybe I'm too fixated on "better than Pony Life," but I've liked Tell Your Tale's art style well enough. I've gone into it figuring it's generally trying to be a little goofier than FiM generally was (and likely moreso than what Make Your Mark will be), so that's likely affected my expectations.

When it comes to actually animating it all, though, it does feel like the show could do with at least a couple more passes of tweening and making it less snappy overall. But at least it's not like Johnny Test and how that show tried to make the cheap, snappy animation seem intentional via lots of whipcracks.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 7:12 am
by Fizzbuzz


Tell Your Tale has officially become disgustingly adorable. :allears:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Fri May 06, 2022 3:21 am
by SigmasonicX
Didn't think Tree Hugger of all ponies would have art of her survive to the present day (I'm pretty sure they just reused art from FiM episodes). Still, whatever the intentions are, this gives fans a bit more to chew on for lore.

Anyway, the episode itself was pretty cute. I'm surprised the episode didn't end with Hitch making the animals deputies; I thought the constant mentions were leading up to that. The arrest gag was good, though.
Fizzbuzz wrote:
Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:25 am
Maybe I'm too fixated on "better than Pony Life," but I've liked Tell Your Tale's art style well enough.
I find Pony Life's art style much better than Tell Your Tale's, actually. The backgrounds especially are great, and its art choices feel deliberate in a way that TYT's doesn't.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Fri May 06, 2022 11:36 am
by Fizzbuzz
I suppose the way I felt about Pony Life was that it was "what if FiM, but waaaaaacky" in its character art and animation, and had to lean completely on that one aspect to distinguish itself from its predecessor. In contrast, I feel like the art direction here has more room to do its own thing, since this is the only 2D pony animation (so far?) for G5. Tell Your Tale's look certainly still feels at least a bit wackier than the movie and what I expect of Make Your Mark, but the last couple of episodes in particular give me hope that the series will be able to stand on its own, both visually and in writing.

Pony Life's background and environment art definitely felt more uniquely inspired vs. how this show is treating the places established in the movie, though.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 10:03 am
by Fizzbuzz


When some piece of G5 media eventually reveals (or at least hints at) just how long it's been since the end of FiM, I bet we'll work ourselves into a tizzy trying to figure out how much per-race culture like this reasonably could've been developed in that timeframe. :-I

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 12:54 pm
by Fizzbuzz


Even as a mocking rhyme, "earth ponies don't clean their underwear" raises more questions than it answers. :wat:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 3:05 am
by SigmasonicX
It was a cute short, though the Izzy randomly being racist then correcting herself was an odd way to end it

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu May 26, 2022 8:41 am
by Fizzbuzz


I recommend watching this one after the first episode of Make Your Mark.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Tue May 31, 2022 1:22 pm
by SigmasonicX
It's interesting to see them time the shorts as well as they did. Watching this right after the special also seemed to clearly indicate more comfort from the VAs with their roles, which makes me strongly suspect that the Make Your Mark special was recorded before these.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:43 am
by Fizzbuzz
This all kind of makes me feel like Hasbro is trying for a more united story across this whole generation. Whereas FiM's comics felt like they didn't get to reference the show until after the writers actually saw an episode air, EqG was constantly kept at arm's length from FiM, and of course Pony Life was Pony Life, here we see Tell Your Tale and the comics at least more clearly referencing events from Make Your Mark as they happen. I hope Hasbro can keep this up, as coordinating the story across three different series can't be so easy.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (Pony Life-like, April 7)

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:14 am
by Fizzbuzz


I need to go back and check, but didn't we see Zipp's visor in one of the lighthouse interior backgrounds in Make Your Mark? Either I'm imagining things, or I may have to somewhat take back my comment from 30 minutes ago about Hasbro trying to keep story elements in sync. :-I

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:17 pm
by SigmasonicX
That was a fun short. I especially liked the chase sequence. Funny that they have a literal cop in the group, but Zipp is doing the detective work.

Also note that the thumbnails for all the shorts have been updated with numbers, which seem to indicate chronological order. Also some titles were changed, with "Clip Trot Becomes The Next Big Thing!" being a mouthful now (it was formerly just "Clip Trot").

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 7:23 am
by Fizzbuzz

I know I've made the comparison that Izzy Moonbow feels like a fusion of Rarity and Pinkie Pie, but I feel like this episode really lays that out. Izzy's wacky attitude is impossible to miss, but beneath that I think there's a genuine desire to create something new even just for its own sake. Rarity was like that too, vs. how everything Pinkie Pie made and did seemed like it came from her compulsion that she had to make others happy first and foremost.
SigmasonicX wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:17 pm
Also note that the thumbnails for all the shorts have been updated with numbers, which seem to indicate chronological order.
If these are meant to be in chronological order then Hasbro's YouTube intern really whiffed on this one, because this episode shows Izzy uni-cycling Sunny's old lantern and probably should've aired a few weeks ago, before the first Make Your Mark episode. This is starting to feel like splitting hairs over Fall Weather Friends airing two weeks after Winter Wrap Up, though. :v:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:59 pm
by Fizzbuzz

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 7:47 am
by Fizzbuzz


I remember how FiM implied that even in old Equestria, magical anti-aging never really had much popular demand. Perhaps this is why! :v:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:43 pm
by SigmasonicX
This was another fun one and had some surprising continuity, so I'll use spoiler tags.
Oh dang, I didn't expect Sunny's glitter to matter in another episode like this. Who knew that sight gag of Izzy keeping a jar of it would actually be important. Now I really hope they cleaned up that beach.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:24 am
by Fizzbuzz


Did you ever want an episode that gets into both magic's effects on the Equestrian economy and Izzy's enjoyment of sneezing? Well, here you are!

My dumb joking aside, I feel like this was a particularly good one, enough that this could've easily been a full 22-minute Make Your Mark episode once those start up in a few months.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 7:19 am
by Fizzbuzz


Image
Pipp is so short that this photo of Zipp clearly had to be stretched way out just so they'd look about the same height. :gotcha:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 12:51 am
by SigmasonicX
That was a cute Mother's Day short. Also, honestly surprised the pony in the thumbnail wasn't Hitch.

As for last week's short, nice to see that earth ponies can wreak havoc too.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:49 am
by Fizzbuzz


While I know that Tell Your Tale shies away perhaps the most of the G5 media from direct callbacks to FiM, I wonder if things might've gone better had Sunny tried to revive buckball. There's no way she and her dad wouldn't have heard historical accounts of it, considering what a big deal it became in the Twilight era, but I suppose explaining both the game and its historical significance would've taken too long for the back half of a five-minute episode.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:00 am
by SigmasonicX
Kind of sad this wasn't a full episode; it combines multiple FiM stories
Also compare this to that sad animation of Zipp flying from the initial previews; the animation got way better.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:59 am
by Fizzbuzz


At first I wasn't sure about this episode translating the critter-speak as Hitch hears it (vs. how FiM never really did so for Fluttershy), but seeing Sunny's confused look later on was beautiful.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 11:58 am
by Fizzbuzz


At least the tradition of using magic to perform fake magic has found new life in modern Equestria.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 8:06 pm
by SigmasonicX
Given the subject of this story, I'm surprised they didn't reference Trixie herself. Fun short, though I don't really get what lesson they were going for lol. It's also pretty similar conceptually to the earlier short, "Neighfever", complete with the ??? lesson.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 9:47 pm
by Fizzbuzz
I thought about bringing up Trixie at first, but I figure that she's at best a footnote in Equestrian history, possibly known for how she accompanied Thorax on his way to become king of the changelings. Still, that wouldn't necessarily prevent the show from making a joke in reference to her, though these five-minute runtimes mean they have to keep jokes and references really tight so that there's still time for the story. With that in mind, and without much guarantee that kids watching this will have seen any of FiM, I'm not surprised that Tell Your Tale is generally avoiding this sort of thing save for background details.

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:17 am
by Fizzbuzz


Sunny Starscout, savior of Equestrian magic? Nah.

Sunny Starscout, the best smoothie vendor on Maretime Bay's waterfront? Not quite.

Sunny Starscout, online sensation? Now we're getting somewhere! :ohboy:

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:29 am
by Fizzbuzz

Re: My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:32 am
by Fizzbuzz


But where does it all go in the end? :ponder: