The Issue I Have With the Big Brother Ponies

[Al-1701]

I'm currently reviewing the My Little Pony series, and while it's still a few months away, Sonambula is waiting for me as the penultimate review in the series.  This means I will have to come to grips with the fact I don't like how Hasbro handled introducing male ponies.  I like the concept for having a few males in the predominately female cast, but I don't like the execution for a number of reasons.

1.  I don't like that they waited until Year 5 to do it.
2.  I don't like that made them a theme set.
3.  I don't like that they're all earth ponies.
4.  I don't like the term "Big Brother."
5.  Sonambula was a bad way to introduce male ponies.

I don't like they came out in Year 5 because of that point in history regarding Hasbro's use of media.  After 1986 blew up in their face, Hasbro decided to pull the plug on animation as an advertising tool in this year.  That meant the Big Brothers would show up at the tail end of the series and probably only get one episode in a truncated season with a lot to cram into it.  So, there being male ponies would barely tap the publicity the show brought.

I don't like that they're all earth ponies (and every male pony in G1 was an earth pony) because it doesn't seem fair that you can't have male unicorns and pegasi too.  It's just never sat well with me.

And as for them being a theme set and called Big Brother ponies, I really don't like it.  What I call theme sets are sets with a theme to the names and symbols.  Sea ponies have an ocean theme, first year flutter ponies have flower theme, and the Princess ponies (at least in the UK) were named after birthstones.  However, that's because these sets were special.  The sea and flutter ponies were exotic species or ponies and the princesses were princesses.  What makes the Big Brothers special?  They're male?  Are you saying being a different gender means they have to have separated from the mares who are the same species and status.  It's also the reason I don't like the term "Big Brother" as it implies the mares are "Little Sisters" which creates a divide between them.  Why not call them "Stallions" which would descriptive that creates no added divide?

Then there's the episode.  David Wise, why do you do this to us?

If I had been on the MLP development team in the 80's I would have suggested introducing males in Year 4 and included them in the So Soft and Twinkle Eyes lines to take full advantage of the media.  I'd use the feather fetlocks as a means of telling them apart from the mares, but they would just be a part of those sets.  And then, the clone I made to write at Sunbow and Marvel would find a way to include them into the media that didn't make the female cast seem weaker in comparison.  If Care Bears could do it, so could MLP.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the Big Brothers.

[spottedslug]

So... you don't like the name or that they are separate from the other ponies?

Remember that this was a toy line aimed at little girls. They were probably just trying to make the name appealing and assumed they wouldn't sell well to the target market.

[Dragonflitter]

Yeah, you have to look at it from a marketer's point of view. Not a collector.

1.) Calling them "stallions" is a bit too sexual. (Handsome men are called stallions.) That's not something Hasbro wants to promote in a line for little girls.

2.) As you said, by Year 5 Hasbro was trying to cut back. The fact that the Big Brothers were all Earth ponies was probably because they didn't want to invest in a lot of different molds.

I think the Sonamula episode was one of the best in the series. The personalities of the ponies really shown in that ep, and the songs were catchy. I also liked the voices they got for the Big Brothers!

[MANIMAL!]

. . .  this was a toy line aimed at little girls. They were probably just trying to make the name appealing and assumed they wouldn't sell well to the target market.

I remember being so excited, thinking that they were finally making ponies for boys :'(

[Elisto]

What makes the Big Brothers special?  They're male?  Are you saying being a different gender means they have to have separated from the mares who are the same species and status.

I kind of appreciate it since it's so rare to see what is basically a reversal of the "Smurfette Principle" (of course, with a set rather than an individual). I kind of hope more people are aware of the parallel and it's existance (even though not likely intentional) can help them can think about why that's problematic, particularly when it becomes a trend, rather than a one-time thing, like here. I'm not sure what you mean about "status" though. Also, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're refering to with their species, but if the female ponies are all one species like you seem to be saying, despite being unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies, then the males are also part of that species, but just with less physical diversity (which is in fact a real thing in biology, for example, in certain butterflies).

I also have to wonder, since the toys came first, if they were testing out how well boy characters sold before making more diverse molds for them. After all, the original (female) ponies were only Earth Ponies.

I don't see how "Big Brother" is any more divisive that stallion/mare. Both are gendered, so there's that. I guess the age implication is what you're referring to? I don't understand why that's a problem. I would agree that it's a little weird to use sibling terms when there's clearly at least a little romantic interest between some of them and the girls, but I also assume the name was applied to the toys first, and the series did what it could with it.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Eh, many of these points don't really bug me too much. The episode that they were introduced in was the real problem IMHO.

So, the girls have always solved problems, right? Fight bad guys, and ya know, do things like that. But the second the Big Brother ponies come to town,
they're immediately shoehorned into the "damsel in distress" trope. As a feminist, that bugs me. Why couldn't the girls AND boys stop Sonambula together? Huh?

sigh.

[Elisto]

Yeah, that bugged me a bit too.

[Al-1701]

So, the girls have always solved problems, right? Fight bad guys, and ya know, do things like that. But the second the Big Brother ponies come to town,
they're immediately shoehorned into the "damsel in distress" trope. As a feminist, that bugs me. Why couldn't the girls AND boys stop Sonambula together? Huh?

sigh.

It really bugged me as well.  And the problem is the episode does such a good job of rendering the girls helpless.  Why can't they fight back?  They're hypnotized from a distance.  Why can't they put up much of a fight well they're released from the spell?  Their youth had been sucked out of them.  From a narrative standpoint Wise did a good job setting up the situation, but that doesn't stop the situation itself from being chauvinistic.

And I think it's the "Big" part of the name that gets me the most.  It suggests superiority which is a sticky issue with a toyline for girls.

[elish2]

Eh, many of these points don't really bug me too much. The episode that they were introduced in was the real problem IMHO.

So, the girls have always solved problems, right? Fight bad guys, and ya know, do things like that. But the second the Big Brother ponies come to town,
they're immediately shoehorned into the "damsel in distress" trope. As a feminist, that bugs me. Why couldn't the girls AND boys stop Sonambula together? Huh?

sigh.

I guess to me I figured they were focusing on the male ponies having their own episode as they were just being introduced. Just like when they introduced the Bushwollies, most of the episode had them in it. All the ponies were influenced by the magical singing of Kiri the bird. In fact early in the episode the baby ponies saved the Big Brothers from the spell too. Once the ponies were freed from the spell they helped the big brothers in fighting the illusions that were made real by Sonambula. A couple of the Brothers went to rescue the unicorns, but the majority of the fighting was happening between the ponies and the magical creatures from Sonambula.

[Whippycorn]

...in fact early in the episode the baby ponies saved the Big Brothers from the spell too.

Yup, the little girls saved the day really! 

My only two problems with big brothers are:

1. I wanted more, including pegs and unicorns!
2. They did have stereotypically male jobs, while the only girls with jobs were nurses and cooks etc. I would have like more diversity there, big brother nurse or teacher etc.

That being said, I still love my boys! 

[Strawberry Swirl]

So, the girls have always solved problems, right? Fight bad guys, and ya know, do things like that. But the second the Big Brother ponies come to town,
they're immediately shoehorned into the "damsel in distress" trope. As a feminist, that bugs me. Why couldn't the girls AND boys stop Sonambula together? Huh?

sigh.

It really bugged me as well.  And the problem is the episode does such a good job of rendering the girls helpless.  Why can't they fight back?  They're hypnotized from a distance.  Why can't they put up much of a fight well they're released from the spell?  Their youth had been sucked out of them.  From a narrative standpoint Wise did a good job setting up the situation, but that doesn't stop the situation itself from being chauvinistic.

And I think it's the "Big" part of the name that gets me the most.  It suggests superiority which is a sticky issue with a toyline for girls.

That's what I thought. It's kind of a lame thing to fall back on. And I definitely see how "big" brother ponies can suggest superiority.
Somebody said the name "stallion" was too sexualized to be a name instead, but I don't agree. A stallion is literally what you call a male horse. These are male horses.

Post Merge: December 10, 2013, 01:37:55 AM

Eh, many of these points don't really bug me too much. The episode that they were introduced in was the real problem IMHO.

So, the girls have always solved problems, right? Fight bad guys, and ya know, do things like that. But the second the Big Brother ponies come to town,
they're immediately shoehorned into the "damsel in distress" trope. As a feminist, that bugs me. Why couldn't the girls AND boys stop Sonambula together? Huh?

sigh.

I guess to me I figured they were focusing on the male ponies having their own episode as they were just being introduced. Just like when they introduced the Bushwollies, most of the episode had them in it. All the ponies were influenced by the magical singing of Kiri the bird. In fact early in the episode the baby ponies saved the Big Brothers from the spell too. Once the ponies were freed from the spell they helped the big brothers in fighting the illusions that were made real by Sonambula. A couple of the Brothers went to rescue the unicorns, but the majority of the fighting was happening between the ponies and the magical creatures from Sonambula.

I can see how that would be, too. I still think it's a bit sexist to go to the Damsel in Distress trope, but I can see why they did it. :>

[Galactica]

I do wish that they had had boy unicorns and pegs- although I guess it would take some big wings to get those Clydesdale brothers off the ground

We (my sister and I) had always had lots of male characters in our herd, we weren't allowed to watch TV so they all had the genders and personalities that we assigned them.  I recall that Bow Tie and Minty were male characters, and Twilight too 

I don't have a problem with "big brother" ponies- they were big I guess   There were lots of sexist generalizations/stereotypes in the cartoon of course.  It was an advertising cartoon in the 80s.  Pretty hard to escape that stuff.

And I guess "Stallion" does probably generate imagery that isn't super fitting with MLP-  and of course we couldn't call them geldings right? 

[gabumon]

I don't mind the name or how they released them... I'm just happy to have them at all!! (here's looking at you G3-G4  <_< )  Speaking of which... I need to start  hunting for Tex...

[Galactica]

I know they are so cute aren't they?  Clydesdales have always been one of my favorite horses of all times and I always thought they looked a lot like Clydesdales  ...

[Kaeldre]

I have no problems with the Big Brothers at all.  I'm just happy that they made boy ponies.