My Little Pony G5

seitora

Well-Known Member
#1
So, the new generation of My Little Pony is out, starting with a currently Netflix-exclusive movie. There will be a TV show out as well. No date announced yet, but I'm guessing in 2022 sometimes.

If you haven't seen movie trailers or clips yet, this is what the animation is like. Presumably the TV series will be the same.



I enjoyed the movie overall. There's a little bit of lore connection to G4 but not a huge amount, just enough to make it a fairly clean split. Definitely the animation style might be a turn-off, as shown above. I was alright with it but when it gets into the action scenes or quick-paced song segments it seems strangely a little too fluid at times, making it obvious CGI. A little choppy pacing at points. Some of the story segments at the end don't really get tied up very neatly, though I imagine that's supposed to segue into a TV series instead of it staying a standalone movie It definitely feels a little...lowkey? Hard to describe, but it feels like the setpieces are very 'regional', like they were going for a more closed world that they would expand outside of in the TV series that should air next year. Even the climax seems to be trying not to be 'epic'.

Some more neat horse puns as well in the movie. I probably missed the big ones, but there was a movie poster 'Judgement Neigh' that is in fact a Terminator parody, and later on, Sunny plays on a Dance Dance Revolution riff machine called Just Prance.

As for the characters...they'll probably have to take a little to grow on me. Sunny seems a little combination of Applejack's responsibility and Twilight's adorkability, and headstrong attitude in later seasons, while Izzy is obviously Pinkie with a horn. Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp feel a lot more like clean breaks.

I will note a little bit of disappointment that they have Sunny's dad, Argyle, pass away in the years between her fillyhood scene and the rest of the movie proper. It felt like he would have definitely made a great male role model in the tv series.
 
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seitora

Well-Known Member
#2
Sounds like the TV show will air sometimes in September, with a special in May of this year.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#3
I used to enjoy the My Little Pony cartoon as a kid. This was the show that was published back in the 90's or early 80's. Brings back a lot of nostalgia thinking about it. Some months ago, I tracked down some videos of it on youtube, but could not muster myself to watch it fully. It makes me sad. i.e. there is some kind of dissonance between my memories and what the show actually was.

Today - seeing, well, hearing that the franchise is doing well enough for them to keep making more seasons brings joy to me. But to actually watch the show? Nope - I value my morphed memories too much to risk losing them. At least, that's what I tell myself.

-chronodekar
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
#4
@chronodekar You're probably thinking of the most original MLP show, commonly referred to as G1 (Generation 1), or maybe G2. The franchise has been through a reboot multiple times with a different cast of characters, setting, and animation each time. Friendship is Magic, the big one that took off last decade, was G4. This is G5, whose planned launch was hit hard by the pandemic. Lot better musical numbers, too!

A sequence I liked from the movie :)

 

seitora

Well-Known Member
#6
Apparently, there is going to be an actual video game console release for G5, at least according to Target

My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure

I assume it's going to be completely meh, bland, and an actual cash-in, but I'm still stunned that Hasbro had the wildly explosively popular G4 and could only be bothered to give us mobile garbage, but G5 already is getting a game?!
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
#7
The first of 4 44-minute specials, Make Your Mark, airs on Netflix tomorrow. This'll lead into a first TV season in September.
 

seitora

Well-Known Member
#8
I finally got around to watching the first On Your Mark special. It was fun, albeit obviously predictable. There was actually some surprising realism in that after the ponies of the realm get magic back after it being gone for centuries, they have to practice a lot to get used to it, and the three tribes still need to work through their tribal schism.

Also, I had an idea long ago for a ponyfic with friendship-based magic, where magic literally derives from friendship, so it can't be used for nefarious purposes. It looks like that's what the system of magic here is gunning for
 
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