Differences Between Cartoon and Comic Book Personalities

[Ponyfan]

I was amazed when I was first introduced to the world of U.K. pony lore. 

Me too. I was surprised to find out how much of a role Majesty played in the comics when we didn't see her at all in the US at all in the cartoons. Also that Applejack is considered to be a very clumsy pony although it was sort of hinted at in Rescue at Midnight Castle and My Little Pony Adventure Book. I still have a lot of the comics left to read but it seems the UK got more G1 lore than the US did.  It's also interesting that the Princess Pearl could cry wishing pearls.


Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

I was amazed when I was first introduced to the world of U.K. pony lore. 

it seems the UK got more G1 lore than the US did.

We did and it's amazing. It's absolutely hands down the reason why I would not sacrifice growing up with MLP in the UK, even though it meant we missed out on some truly awesome ponies.

I wonder if Majesty as the key character in all of this relates to the fact we still have a monarchy. I've always wondered about that, and the fact the Princesses here have much more solid characters. That would also fit for some of Europe, where there are also still some monarchies in place.

[LadyMoondancer]

I dunno, 'princess dolls' are very very popular in the US too.  There's a Disney Princess line, not a Disney Democracy line or Disney Congresswoman line, lol. I think there's almost more of an attraction to them for US kids because we don't have a monarchy, so royalty is very much associated with fantasy and magic, not 'real life'.  Thus we can pretend that princesses are always young and beautiful and graceful and sing ballads with woodland creatures and probably have magic too.

I remember in the 80s the US was obsessed with Princess Di, and I think it's because she fit a lot of the "fairy tale princess" tropes, or at least close enough.  (Young, beautiful, generous, etc.)

I think the cartoon Princess ponies were selfish to invert the usual trope of Princesses being generous and perfect.

[Al-1701]

Princess ponies were also only afforded a single 40 minute story in the show.  The comic was able to give them more stories as individuals rather than being a set.

I would have loved to see Majesty of the ponies' answer to Optimus Prime.  However, someone decided pushing Megan was a better idea.  Such is life I guess.

[northstar3184]

Princess ponies were also only afforded a single 40 minute story in the show.  The comic was able to give them more stories as individuals rather than being a set.

I would have loved to see Majesty of the ponies' answer to Optimus Prime.  However, someone decided pushing Megan was a better idea.  Such is life I guess.

That would have been something. An MLP and Transformers crossover. I like it!

[LadyMoondancer]

Oddly, I think the MLP & Friends show bible did have a throwaway line about Majesty.  But presumably didn't have an actual personality profile for her.  I don't think Dream Castle was still being sold at that point, and Hasbro wouldn't have wanted to 'waste time' advertising a pony that kids couldn't buy.  (Spike was offered as a mail order around the time of the movie (cartoon-eyes Spike), so I guess that's why he made it into the show.)

To me it seems stranger that Majesty isn't in RaMC or EfC, because the castle WAS being sold around then.  Time constraints, maybe?

[Taffeta]

I guess it's no surprise to anyone that Dream Castle was out here in the UK for a very long time.

It also didn't bother Hasbro UK though if they wasted time promoting ponies they weren't going to sell. Yes, I'm being bitter about the year 2 and 3 unicorns and pegasus ponies/year 3 rainbow ponies again. Don't mind me. This is a scar of my childhood that I will never fully forgive

Majesty is also in (or at least on the cover?) of one of the US books. I think I used to have it but I am sure I no longer do as I downsized my merchandise.

I guess the animation wanted to mary-sue Megan instead.

The Picnic at the PE US tape does make her older than all the ponies, even the ones with babies, so draw your own conclusions about that.

I am glad Megan was largely irrelevant here. Majesty might have been a touch sadistic from time to time, but infinitely preferable as a character.

[Al-1701]

I've always pictured her being much older than the others, actually.  Like my work assumes ponies have an average life expectancy of more than two centuries and she is 153 (don't ask how I came up with the specific number).  The rest of the G1 ponies range from their late teens to early thirties.

[Taffeta]

I've always pictured her being much older than the others, actually.  Like my work assumes ponies have an average life expectancy of more than two centuries and she is 153 (don't ask how I came up with the specific number).  The rest of the G1 ponies range from their late teens to early thirties.

I meant Megan, not Majesty. The tape states that Megan is the oldest there.

[Al-1701]

I've always pictured her being much older than the others, actually.  Like my work assumes ponies have an average life expectancy of more than two centuries and she is 153 (don't ask how I came up with the specific number).  The rest of the G1 ponies range from their late teens to early thirties.

I meant Megan, not Majesty. The tape states that Megan is the oldest there.

Now that's just pathetic.

[Taffeta]

I've always pictured her being much older than the others, actually.  Like my work assumes ponies have an average life expectancy of more than two centuries and she is 153 (don't ask how I came up with the specific number).  The rest of the G1 ponies range from their late teens to early thirties.

I meant Megan, not Majesty. The tape states that Megan is the oldest there.

Now that's just pathetic.

I would say concerning, as Sundance has Baby Sundance there, yet a girl of approximately ten or eleven is apparently older than her. I think Hasbro went a bit too much for the horse age realism and completely missed the boat on what they were actually saying...

[Al-1701]

That's my best guess.

I don't know why the U.S. put Megan on such a high pedestal.  Spike and company were valuable allies to the Autobots for sure, but they were allies, not bossing them around and taking charge of the situation.  If anything, the Autobots tried to keep them out of harm's way as much possible, them having to act directly being a sign of absolute desperation.

Really, I would have done that with the ponies.  Make the Rainbow Bridge a responsibility for them.  They must protect Megan's world from the dangers of their world.  They literally stand on the bridge, and no one may pass.

And they would have to protect Megan.  She does not know their world, and ignorance can get you in a lot of trouble.

[Leave a Whisper]

Did we ever get to see where the sea ponies lived? Like do they have their own underwater kingdom or are they just free roamers?

Post Merge: June 24, 2017, 09:23:23 AM

I dunno, 'princess dolls' are very very popular in the US too.  There's a Disney Princess line, not a Disney Democracy line or Disney Congresswoman line, lol. I think there's almost more of an attraction to them for US kids because we don't have a monarchy, so royalty is very much associated with fantasy and magic, not 'real life'.  Thus we can pretend that princesses are always young and beautiful and graceful and sing ballads with woodland creatures and probably have magic too.

I remember in the 80s the US was obsessed with Princess Di, and I think it's because she fit a lot of the "fairy tale princess" tropes, or at least close enough.  (Young, beautiful, generous, etc.)

I think the cartoon Princess ponies were selfish to invert the usual trope of Princesses being generous and perfect.

I sort of see the US princesses as a nod to the popular rich kid crowd.  Ya know, stuck up, expensive clothes, beautiful car and house, daddy buys me everything?  At least they had character growth and learned to stop being selfish brats.

Which is more then I can say for Pizzazz, though in her defense she busted her butt to make The Misfits a popular band, despite Daddy's Money.

[Taffeta]

I'm going to put my Misfit comment in spoiler tags as it's technically off topic xD.

On the subject of the sea ponies, sort of. There was King Neptune and Miranda the Mermaid. Also Kelpie, who was some kind of water sprite I think, drawing on some local mythology I believe. The adult sea ponies didn't much appear in comics but there were books with the ones we had here in - Surfdancer and the Little Mermaid was a talking book (the only one for which I can't currently find the tape, grr) and they also appeared in either the Man in the Moon or the Stolen Shadow (though they are not named right in every edition). Seaspray weirdly had a boat. I don't know why or how that makes sense, but she did.

The baby sea ponies had more of an innings as they timed better with the comic being out. They all had distinct characters, especially the originals. Tiny Bubbles was something of a leader, Splasher couldn't actually swim or didn't like actually swimming but splashed around everywhere (they had the floats because they were all learning to swim but Backstroke was supposedly an excellent swimmer already). Sea Shimmer was the naughty girl always getting herself into some kind of trouble or adventure. I can't remember with Surf Rider. The pearlies appeared less but I remember Water Lily was a dancer and performed water ballets. I know Ripple and Sunshower did have characters as well but even though they were my childhood ponies I can't remember :/

Spoiler

Pizzazz and the Misfits:
Pizzazz is not a 'princess' type nor really comparable to the princess trope. She's not really spoiled so much as she has everything material and nothing emotional from her father. You see that especially in Father's Day where she can't believe Clash's father really loves her and then is kind of destroyed by Harvey showing Kimber more attention than he does her. I think Pizzazz just wants to be acknowledged by her father. It's not the same as the spoiled brat princesses who just want attention without any deep dark reason why they behave that way. The Misfits in general are very human flawed individuals driven to extremes by circumstances. I think Jem herself is a better candidate for the rich kid princess character. More so than Jerrica, because she has the real world hassle, but when she's Jem, there's a sense of irresponsibility about some of her actions (like taking off with Riot on a sea trip and leaving everyone else in the lurch). Even Jerrica doesn't understand the issues of the runaways until some of hers run away in Music Awards. Pizzazz also isn't a snob. Jem and the Holograms are really mean to some of the regular folk in the show (they criticise the gondola driver in Venice for not wanting to give them a free ride, they are also negative about a rough-around-the-edges nightclub and they are flat out mean to the poor slow guy at the garage in whichever episode takes them there...Stolen Album possibly). Pizzazz goes to all these places, irrespective of the fact she's rich. (Plus she spends most of her time with Roxy and Jetta, neither of whom come from that rich vein of society. Jem and Jerrica do not mix with those people unless they are "helping" them (see the horror that is telling people who can't read to read without actually teaching them to read). That's a little different from the Princess Ponies.

In my opinion Pizzazz has much more character depth and development than the Princess Ponies do in their episode, and so the two things are entirely not comparable.

But I am a Misfit fan

[Leave a Whisper]

Why do sea ponies need a boat? 

I will hafta track down some of the comics with sea ponies in them, because I've always wished  they could have been explored more. Thanks Taffeta.

Why do adult sea ponies always get the shaft?

And yes I do agree with you a lot on Pizzazz, and I understand that she was acting out in order to get attention, but she had that bullying, manipulative, rich girl way with her dad and her bandmates and she had no qualms spending daddy's money.That episode was painful. I felt so bad for her.