New G4 pony toy designs

[Leave a Whisper]

It was an outright lie and I hate to be that person but Girls properties get enough flak, her lying butt didn't need to add to it. If she hadn't watched them then she shoulda kept her big fat flap shut.

I'm like 99.9% sure Lauren is not out to bash girls' cartoons as a whole. As I understand it her point was that there are generally less stakes in girls' cartoons, as well as less care, effort and funding put into them. This holds true (we just discussed the same thing in regards to toys), and a handful of well-made girls' cartoons existing does not disprove a general trend. Lauren's worked within the industry too, so she should know a bit about the discussions that lead to certain cartoons being greenlit or dismissed. Maybe she didn't chose her words too carefully, but I find it better to be charitable than to interpret her words in the worst way possible.

More info on the line, which is called Reveal the Magic:
https://www.mlpmerch.com/2019/11/my-little-pony-2020-line-is-called.html

Very cool! I'm still not so sold on the faces, but their eyes are really nice. Bodies are ok, but not very interesting in any way except for the hooves. Hope there'll be more than two poses.

So she makes cheap flash toons and has the gall to generalize girls toons  as nothing but poorly made tea parties? Still a lie and still needlessly bashing. If she's not going to be charitable to her fellow cartoon creators and their fans, then I have no prob being uncharitable. Especially when many girls cartoons and girls in cartoons had hand drawn animation for better and worse and had adventures alongside their male counterparts. Most girls cartoons were not vapid nonsense.

Even in boys and gender neutral cartoons the likes of Linka, Gi, Roll, Princess Lana, Arcee and Carly were pulling their weight evenly.


Back OT: I don't care much for Trixie.

[SaraMari]

I feel what Lauren said is the equivalent of "I'm not other girls" throwing other women, girls, items associated with feminine things etc under the bus to make yourself look better is inherently misogynistic and immature. Probably why a lot of people have reacted negatively to it.

I just have to say I really don't like the visible seam lines on these, especially across the top of the front leg. It's bad enough they look so badly sculpted, they also look cheap

[Leave a Whisper]

I do like the white with purple stripe on Rarity. It looks good. I wonder if they can be headswapped?

[caseysealia]

Twilight is actually cute!! If she had more hair she'd be way better. Guess I'll have to find her and give her a hair do. Who is Potion Nova? Is she random? Important? Ugh why is Trixie back??

[Zapper]

I feel what Lauren said is the equivalent of "I'm not other girls" throwing other women, girls, items associated with feminine things etc under the bus to make yourself look better is inherently misogynistic and immature. Probably why a lot of people have reacted negatively to it.

Girls media often is stuck in a corset of likeability and cuteness.
No flawed characters allowed, no real conflict allowed. All look the same, all peddle fake beauty (make-up, insanely long hair, impossibly tiny bodies and impossibly big eyes). A lot of items targeted at grown women are literally useless.
Just like a lot of boys media is mimicking war and encouraging boys to fight each other. There is nothing wrong in pointing that out.

There is also nothing wrong in not being like the other girls. Especially when you are young and other girls are bullying you for not following beauty trends and gender norms.

The problem with this infamous Lauren Faust quote, imo, is how many FiM fans latched onto it to shame older fans - especially the male ones a.k.a. "autistic and gay" and women with kids a.k.a. "fat housewives" - and bash the older gens as "stupid because it was for girls". This turned into bashing girls in general.

I highly doubt that Faust intended to bash girls and compare herself to them as "cool".
Then there is her husband, who had an entire episode in Powerpuff Girls dedicated to anti-feminist messages and villainizing women who use the Venus symbol... I actually remember anti-Faust fans making her responsible for this episode and harassing her for it until she apologized in her husband's name.

So yeah, people on both sides like to project their politics onto Lauren. They blame her for sexist bronies and call her "cool girl" and act like the previous MLP wasn't written by men.

Faust said a lot of stuff I disagree with. I also don't hold up season 1 or 2 as creme de la creme of FiM. But claiming she is a misogynist is taking it too far.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I'd love for Potion Nova to just...be! Brushable only characters are great for kids to project themselves and create new characters. Y'all ever watch any of the videos kids make with their pony toys? We needed some ponies to use as the bully of the school.

[MJNSEIFER]

I don't think it was a lie whatever was said, just poor wording or bad research.  I can't remember if this ever went public, but I remember either writing, or planning to write a defence for G4 and/or bronies which would have included something like "This one has good verses evil, which the old ones didn't have." this is most definitely not true, as G1 definitely had it as well (which I knew, but forgot) - this was not a lie, it was just me not knowing what I was saying, due to poor research.

The one time I saw her say this about girl's cartoons (which I agree get too much flak) the wording made it debatable to me, whether she was talking about My Little Pony as well, or whether that was the exception - it is likely it's the former, as she preferred the toys, but it's worded in a way that it could mean either (though I realise, I could just want it to mean that.)

She was also talking about when she was younger when she said that, so for all we know (unless she still sticks by this), she could have literally been talking about when she was younger.

I certainly wouldn't call her flash cartoons cheap - at least not this one (no animation is cheap unless it's really obvious that it is, in my opinion - all animation is beautiful when done right.)  My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic may not have the beauty of G3, but it is definitely a cartoon that had a lot of work involved, and actually showed me that flash doesn't have to be the easy option.

[Lilja]

Girls media often is stuck in a corset of likeability and cuteness.
No flawed characters allowed, no real conflict allowed. All look the same, all peddle fake beauty (make-up, insanely long hair, impossibly tiny bodies and impossibly big eyes). A lot of items targeted at grown women are literally useless.
Just like a lot of boys media is mimicking war and encouraging boys to fight each other. There is nothing wrong in pointing that out.

There is also nothing wrong in not being like the other girls. Especially when you are young and other girls are bullying you for not following beauty trends and gender norms.

The problem with this infamous Lauren Faust quote, imo, is how many FiM fans latched onto it to shame older fans - especially the male ones a.k.a. "autistic and gay" and women with kids a.k.a. "fat housewives" - and bash the older gens as "stupid because it was for girls". This turned into bashing girls in general.

I highly doubt that Faust intended to bash girls and compare herself to them as "cool".
Then there is her husband, who had an entire episode in Powerpuff Girls dedicated to anti-feminist messages and villainizing women who use the Venus symbol... I actually remember anti-Faust fans making her responsible for this episode and harassing her for it until she apologized in her husband's name.

So yeah, people on both sides like to project their politics onto Lauren. They blame her for sexist bronies and call her "cool girl" and act like the previous MLP wasn't written by men.

Faust said a lot of stuff I disagree with. I also don't hold up season 1 or 2 as creme de la creme of FiM. But claiming she is a misogynist is taking it too far.

Agree with everything said here! Nice summarization of thoughts I myself had difficulty putting into words. 

[SaraMari]

Zapper I believe you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I did not call her a misogynist. However saying something like "old girls cartoons only had tea parties and silly giggling, mine will be elevated/inclusive (?) because it will not" has misogynistic undertones to it.  Maybe that's not exactly what she said/meant it's just been repeated so many times. Of course she can't be responsible for how people will use her words, I wasn't addressing that.

I did not mean to offend you, I apologize

[Leave a Whisper]

That too is a fallacy. Girls toons have conflicts and imperfect characters more often then not and so do girls in non-girl toons.

Look at characters like Shrieky, Jerrica/Jem, Harley Quinn and Truly.

They're certainly not perfect.

Shrieky fulfills the roles of spoiled brat and the abusive,  bumbling sidekick.

Jerrica/Jem was overworked, responsible and compassionate, but she played games, got POed at her boyfriend cheating on her with herself, flirted with Riot and had mental breakdowns.

Newer people think she and Joker are relationship goals, but Harley is actually a sufferer of an abusive codependent relationship.

Truly is a rude snob who doesn't like to listen to anyone. Her saving grace is that she's willing to apologize.

[sd_dreamcrystal]

On another note... Potion Nova's coloring reminds me of Star Catcher

[Leave a Whisper]

On another note... Potion Nova's coloring reminds me of Star Catcher

A little bit yeah. I was thinking more of Precious Gem since she's got the lavender.

AJ looks like she's on happy pills.

[prancingstag]

I kinda like these little guys. Pinkie and Fluttershy’s eye shapes are a little weird, but the posing appeals to me. I think Twilight is very cute. When I look at them I’m like that’s not Twilight, and that’s not a pony as I know it, but whatever it is seems to be cute. The pointy ears, upright posture and spindly legs almost remind me of a fox or deer, moreso than the rounded mousey curves of G4/4.5 ever did. Spoilers for Pokemon Sword/Shield:

Spoiler

I’m getting Nicket and Thievul vibes from these guys, with maybe a dash of Dragapult head shape!

It remains to be seen what kind of media they’ll feature in, but I think these designs make dynamic little toy figures and I’d be very interested to see how a cartoon in this style would animate, it looks like it would lend itself well to weird facial expressions and squish/stretch gags.

[Carrehz]

Then there is her husband, who had an entire episode in Powerpuff Girls dedicated to anti-feminist messages and villainizing women who use the Venus symbol... I actually remember anti-Faust fans making her responsible for this episode and harassing her for it until she apologized in her husband's name.

Sorry to nitpick, but Lauren Faust actually did write/storyboard that PPG ep ("Equal Fights").

[Taffeta]

Twilight would be really cute if she wasn't meant to be Twilight and was indeed meant to be some kind of fox or cat friend of the ponies...

Kitsune maybe.

Customs anyone...?