Could MLP and VK work in harmony?

[Mana Minori]

I’ve been wanting this for a LONG time. Visual Kei/ J-rock meets My Little Pony, and frankly, If Sanrio- a sweet and fluffy cartoon company with adorable characters can make content like “Aggretsuko” and even have “Yoshikitty”, a character based off of a rl J-rock artist from the band “X-Japan”, then why can’t Hasbro, in their “My Little Pony” franchise do similar things?
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With Hasbro’s recent 80’s throwbacks for their 35th anniversary, this could totally be done, especially since J-rock and Visual Kei had its roots back then.

Additionally, with rumors of Generation 5 being aimed at a more mature audience with a darker theme than the pink friendship fluff that we’ve been getting for the past years, this- again, is possible. Especially since the brand has had its share of collaborations with more adult companies with more expensive merchandise, such as Moschino and ColourPop.
Though Hasbro is a toy company, they have released ponies with a more mature tone that could easily go into a visual kei theme for future prouctions. Case in point being their San Diego Comic Con 2018 and 2013 exclusive from a few years back, a an 80's inspired punk rock pony, a gothy pony, and a toy set called "Ponymania".
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Ideally, I would love to see MLP try to team up with the visual Kei “Moi Dix Mois”’s Mana, to produce a line of Visual Kei/ Elegant Gothic Lolita ponies. (it's possible, since he designed an ELG dress off of Hatsune Miku, a fictional Vocaloid character)
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or perhaps with Kamijo from Versailles for more power metal themed visual kei ponies.
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 It’d be great if new music genres were explored visually through these pony toys/ collectibles other than pop, such as was the case in Rainbow Rocks’ merch.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Yeah the Pony Project had some awesome designs didn't it?  Junko Mizuno did a great design but truly I would probably go all rabid-drool if Mana did a MLP design... 

[LadyMoondancer]

I honestly am not sure what VK is (is it like Japanese punk rock?), but man am I digging that aesthetic.

[Mana Minori]

Yeah the Pony Project had some awesome designs didn't it?  Junko Mizuno did a great design but truly I would probably go all rabid-drool if Mana did a MLP design...

I love the Pony Project. Gothy pony has always been one of my faves!

I really wish the designs had made it out to mainstream collectors.
also- you'd have to fight me for it, if he did.

Post Merge: July 31, 2018, 07:41:39 PM

I honestly am not sure what VK is (is it like Japanese punk rock?), but man am I digging that aesthetic.

no, it's more a visual style that accompanies any genre of Japanese music (rock, pop, metal, etc). So any genre can- if willing- be 'visual kei'. it literally means 'visual style'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_kei

[Taffeta]

I honestly am not sure what VK is (is it like Japanese punk rock?), but man am I digging that aesthetic.

Music boundaries/genres in Japan are much more fluid than they are in the West in a lot of ways, but for the most part the Visual Kei type of artist tends to fit into that category.

So personally, I'm not for this idea. I mean, I love Japan. I spend a lot of my life studying it, I speak the language, I've my fair share of cute things from there and I have a lot of Japanese music, including Visual Kei bands. So you'd think this would be right up my street. But for me MLP is MLP and it doesn't need to crossover with other genres or cultural entities. It's just my opinion of course, but I think that the ponies themselves having a different style is fine...I just don't like the idea of them having to be tied into another genre or franchise or theme. It's the same feeling for me as what I said in the thread about FIM and Kirins...I don't like the current fad to shove Asian stuff into everything because right now stuff from that part of the world is cool. FIM has failed in Japan so there's no real reason to expect any kind of meaningful crossover from that side of the world.

I think it's fine to be a fan of these different things without needing to force them together. But that's just my personal input. I don't want to see MLP try to be a Japanese fan wannabe product instead of being MLP. I kind of find that stuff annoying.

I have no issues with different art designs for the ponies themselves. I just don't like the idea of them being tied to something else, whether it be music, artists, anime, manga, etc.

[Mana Minori]

I honestly am not sure what VK is (is it like Japanese punk rock?), but man am I digging that aesthetic.

Music boundaries/genres in Japan are much more fluid than they are in the West in a lot of ways, but for the most part the Visual Kei type of artist tends to fit into that category.

So personally, I'm not for this idea. I mean, I love Japan. I spend a lot of my life studying it, I speak the language, I've my fair share of cute things from there and I have a lot of Japanese music, including Visual Kei bands. So you'd think this would be right up my street. But for me MLP is MLP and it doesn't need to crossover with other genres or cultural entities. It's just my opinion of course, but I think that the ponies themselves having a different style is fine...I just don't like the idea of them having to be tied into another genre or franchise or theme. It's the same feeling for me as what I said in the thread about FIM and Kirins...I don't like the current fad to shove Asian stuff into everything because right now stuff from that part of the world is cool. FIM has failed in Japan so there's no real reason to expect any kind of meaningful crossover from that side of the world.

I think it's fine to be a fan of these different things without needing to force them together. But that's just my personal input. I don't want to see MLP try to be a Japanese fan wannabe product instead of being MLP. I kind of find that stuff annoying.

I have no issues with different art designs for the ponies themselves. I just don't like the idea of them being tied to something else, whether it be music, artists, anime, manga, etc.

I respect your opinion. However- I'm curious, though, of what your opinions are on Takara ponies and g3 Kimono, if that is the case? MLP g4's animated series steeps itself in heavy-handed Greek culture and references also.....

[Zapper]

I have no issues with different art designs for the ponies themselves. I just don't like the idea of them being tied to something else, whether it be music, artists, anime, manga, etc.

I'm not wild on the pop cultural references in FiM or even Tales, but where do you personally draw the line here?

Considering FiM has had singer Weird Al not just voice a pony, but BE a pony (after they made him into a Transformers character a few years prior). Then we also have the popstar ponies that resemble rl singers like Countess Coloratura who was inspired by Lady Gaga or Songbird Serenade who was Sia's ponysona promoting her music.
Last but not least they love shoving parody goths into the show and that is still a specific cultural subculture to this very day. I was already wondering why they seem to be so fond of that cliché.
Are these things okay with you because they are "Western" or do they fall into the "something else" category? Because to me they kinda do.

Btw, I have to disagree with you on the Kirins. FiM uses so many cultures, often in a mocking way (the Native American buffalos annoy me a lot) so I don't think they used this particular culture because it's "cool". They did because they have a different kind of unicorn and MLP has unicorns and uses ancient cultures to draw from.
At least they didn't speak broken English like the yaks, another cultural parody I dislike.

[Taffeta]

I have no issues with different art designs for the ponies themselves. I just don't like the idea of them being tied to something else, whether it be music, artists, anime, manga, etc.

I'm not wild on the pop cultural references in FiM or even Tales, but where do you personally draw the line here?

I cropped your post, but to clarify, I don't like any of these kinds of associations or pop culture references in MLP. So Lady Gaga, nope. Sia, nope. I hate all of it, personally. I didn't like it with the art ponies in G3 and I hate it in G4.

The only reason the Asian connection annoys me so much is because it's something I generally spend more time around because of what I study. So I maybe notice more when people try to force that into stuff rather than other cultural material. I think it annoys me more than other stuff like Greek or Norse because I know more about the cultural aspects of Japan than I do Greece or Scandinavia and so am more likely to notice something off...that's all.  And as I said in the other thread, it's not the inclusion but the manner of it.

@Nightmaremuffin - I don't watch the G4 animation, it doesn't appeal to me. When I have watched it, there's too much of a superiority complex on the part of the ponies towards other species and that grates with me. It reflects our real world rather too much and not in a good way.

Regarding your other question - I don't like the Takara ponies particularly, but they are different from what you're suggesting. You're talking about connecting a cultural art form from Japan with MLP, whereas the Takara were a Japanese attempt to cash in on 1980s MLP in a format they thought would appeal. I first knew about Takara ponies around 16 years ago but it's only in the last several years that it's become an expensive fad toy to collect...I don't really know why, I guess Takara fans will know better. To me Takara is a Nirvana, and that's where it ends.

As for Kimono, what's your point? I remember there was a discussion a while back about her lanterns being 'Chinese' but I was in Japan at the time, and I saw a lot of lanterns around that matched Kimono's symbol exactly. I don't have an issue with her name or her theme, because again, it's not trying to link her as a pony with some completely unrelated other art form or element of pop culture. It's just a pony with a name that happens to be a Japanese word. Besides, Kimono doesn't bother me because her name and her symbol all make sense within the context of a Japanese matsuri.

There's nothing logical about a pony suddenly becoming intertwined with a Visual Kei act. At least, that is how I feel about it.

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I would probably be turned off of MLP if they did decide to go this route. I'm not a fan of Punk Rock, Goth, or the sort and while I have not hear anything from Japan really that is those genres... the examples posted in the OP are a no for me.

[Mana Minori]

I have no issues with different art designs for the ponies themselves. I just don't like the idea of them being tied to something else, whether it be music, artists, anime, manga, etc.

I'm not wild on the pop cultural references in FiM or even Tales, but where do you personally draw the line here?

I cropped your post, but to clarify, I don't like any of these kinds of associations or pop culture references in MLP. So Lady Gaga, nope. Sia, nope. I hate all of it, personally. I didn't like it with the art ponies in G3 and I hate it in G4.

The only reason the Asian connection annoys me so much is because it's something I generally spend more time around because of what I study. So I maybe notice more when people try to force that into stuff rather than other cultural material. I think it annoys me more than other stuff like Greek or Norse because I know more about the cultural aspects of Japan than I do Greece or Scandinavia and so am more likely to notice something off...that's all.  And as I said in the other thread, it's not the inclusion but the manner of it.

@Nightmaremuffin - I don't watch the G4 animation, it doesn't appeal to me. When I have watched it, there's too much of a superiority complex on the part of the ponies towards other species and that grates with me. It reflects our real world rather too much and not in a good way.

Regarding your other question - I don't like the Takara ponies particularly, but they are different from what you're suggesting. You're talking about connecting a cultural art form from Japan with MLP, whereas the Takara were a Japanese attempt to cash in on 1980s MLP in a format they thought would appeal. I first knew about Takara ponies around 16 years ago but it's only in the last several years that it's become an expensive fad toy to collect...I don't really know why, I guess Takara fans will know better. To me Takara is a Nirvana, and that's where it ends.

As for Kimono, what's your point? I remember there was a discussion a while back about her lanterns being 'Chinese' but I was in Japan at the time, and I saw a lot of lanterns around that matched Kimono's symbol exactly. I don't have an issue with her name or her theme, because again, it's not trying to link her as a pony with some completely unrelated other art form or element of pop culture. It's just a pony with a name that happens to be a Japanese word. Besides, Kimono doesn't bother me because her name and her symbol all make sense within the context of a Japanese matsuri.

There's nothing logical about a pony suddenly becoming intertwined with a Visual Kei act. At least, that is how I feel about it.

I'm truly sorry that you feel that way. While I agree that MLP should be its own world and not so much tied to pop culture (one of the reasons why I don't like the references and especially Discord), it's what MLP has become, so I mean, it's not like we can stop it. Might as well embrace it, right?

So are you saying that, in the case of Kimono, as long as a pony has an official cultural name that it would be ok and can be presented in that way of the culture? If Hasbro ever released a pony named something like "RisingSun Styles", the visual kei theme would be ok?

And personally, as someone who adores Visual Kei and My Little Pony and would love to have the two intertwined to some extent, hoping that it gets done by Hasbro or some other company is pretty much my only option to make it a reality. Customs are expensive and hardly feasible since it's first come first serve, and I'm never the first.

[Taffeta]

Honestly, I think it's one of those things were there isn't a wrong opinion. I mean, it's fine to want it and fine not to, if that makes sense.

Just I'm an old school ponyperson. I don't really even like that there's a Chuck E Cheese pony, so you can guess how I feel about more modern franchise relationships. I am ok with ponies being in pop culture but I am less ok about pop culture influencing ponies because I guess my memory and idea of ponies is without any of that going on. I didn't even really have the TV show, so for me as a kid, ponies were ponies, not advertising tools for some artist or restaurant or whatever (we didn't have Chuck E Cheese in the UK, there's no such restaurant here xD).

I think with Kimono I just generally don't see it as trying to culturally appropriate or link to anything. The name is something Japanese but it's also a word we use in English and most people would recognise it. Yukata might be more accurate for a matsuri but kimono is fine too and I think it's an English word as well now. People have fussed about the lanterns, like I said, but I saw so many lanterns in Japan like the ones on Kimono's symbol that she's not culturally incorrect (if that makes sense)...so for people who want to look at her through that lens, she's basically fairly tame and inoffensive. (Although I will say making her and her friends Disney Princesses? I have some issues with that, see above comments on Chuck E Cheese).

I mention these because I don't want you to think I'm just down on G4 for this. I just really don't like it in general. I agree it is the direction MLP and most toys and stuff these days go in, facilitated by the strength of the TV show - but it's just not for me.

I have a lot of Japanese music, including Visual Kei bands, but I don't personally want them linked up with MLP. I don't mind the artistic experiments like the gothic G4 line, although they don't make much sense contextually. I just have an issue with MLP needing to be tied into something else. It makes it seem (to me) like MLP can no longer stand up on its own, it has to be pushing ten other things just to make people notice it, and in doing so, it loses its own identity.

But I am slightly iffy on current MLP identity anyway, since it's so different in all regards to what I think of as "MLP". It's not wrong that way, it's just the way different people see things.