Gen 3 books or episodes/movies. Which was 'canon'?

[Flutterfan]

Which is more canon to you, G3 fans, the 12 episodes and movies and shorts that were produced by Wang Film Productions or the 16 books published by HarperCollins Publishers. Also, do the books mention Dash's love of riding rainbows or Sparkle using her imagination or other stuff from the backcards?

[BlushingBlue]

To answer your second question first: yes, the early G3 characterizations were sometimes used in the books, although more often in the board books and not necessarily the softcover ones for older readers. Rainbow Dash was adventurous, Sunny Daze invented new games, Kimono was the wise historian, Pinkie Pie was a bit shy and naive, Sweetberry liked to create desserts, etc.

In my own opinion, it's all "canon". Other entertainment franchises, comic books especially, have had numerous changes to characterization and alternate universes that can all exist simultaneously, so I don't see why MLP can't be the same. G3 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil and C7 Rainbow Dash can be a fashionista and G4 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil again and it's all good.

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. Would being a Lego collector mean that The Lego Movie was your Lego Canon? I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

[Flutterfan]

"To answer your second question first: yes, the early G3 characterizations were sometimes used in the books, although more often in the board books and not necessarily the softcover ones for older readers. Rainbow Dash was adventurous, Sunny Daze invented new games, Kimono was the wise historian, Pinkie Pie was a bit shy and naive, Sweetberry liked to create desserts, etc."

That's weird that they used the personalities for the hard books rather than the softcover ones like 'Fashion Fun', 'Butterfly Hunt', and 'Mystery Monster'.

"G3 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil and C7 Rainbow Dash can be a fashionista and G4 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil again and it's all good."

There is still the problem that Fashionista Dash still remembers stuff from the days before the Core 7. Even Pinkie Pie remembers stuff that the adventurous RD did. It is so weird, but not impossible to believe, that these 2 Rainbows are the same Rainbow, besides the new voice. Rainbow dash used to be a darling who liked rainbows with a Mid Atlantic accent. Later she was a dress maker with a higher, IMO better, more relatable voice. Besides the voice change, I don't see anything wrong with Rainbow deciding to be a dressmaker. To see somewhat of a point, see her outrageous scene in Runaway Rainbow where she is pulling along SIX suitcases on an adventure to bring Rarity home.

"Would being a Lego collector mean that The Lego Movie was your Lego Canon?"

Absolutely not.

[LadyMoondancer]

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. . . I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

You really hit the nail on the head.

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

[Sunset]

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. . . I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

You really hit the nail on the head.

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

I agree with this and would even go so far as to say that this even applies to MLP all the way back to G1 to a certain extent.  The shows and comics in G1 were vastly different, also.   It's only with FiM that you have a larger number of people concerned with canon.

[Koudoawaia]

I honestly don't know much about the G3 books but my opinion is that if it's official merchandise then it's all canon.

[LadyMoondancer]

I agree with this and would even go so far as to say that this even applies to MLP all the way back to G1 to a certain extent.  The shows and comics in G1 were vastly different, also.   It's only with FiM that you have a larger number of people concerned with canon.

Very true.  G1 MLP became popular as a toy before there was ever a show, and it was always more like "Hey, this popular toyline has a show!" than "Hey, this show has a toyline!"  I know I only saw two partial episodes of "MLP & Friends" as a kid, despite being crazy about MLP in general.  I really had no idea what went on in the show.

[Violet CLM]

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

which is weird because it doesn't show up in any of her appearances but one

[ringwraith10]

To answer your second question first: yes, the early G3 characterizations were sometimes used in the books, although more often in the board books and not necessarily the softcover ones for older readers. Rainbow Dash was adventurous, Sunny Daze invented new games, Kimono was the wise historian, Pinkie Pie was a bit shy and naive, Sweetberry liked to create desserts, etc.

In my own opinion, it's all "canon". Other entertainment franchises, comic books especially, have had numerous changes to characterization and alternate universes that can all exist simultaneously, so I don't see why MLP can't be the same. G3 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil and C7 Rainbow Dash can be a fashionista and G4 Rainbow Dash can be a dare-devil again and it's all good.

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. Would being a Lego collector mean that The Lego Movie was your Lego Canon? I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

Yep. Best answer was the first answer.

I have some of the books, and I have actually read them! But I have never really stopped to think about whether the books tie in together. Honestly, I barely watched the G3 shows, and what I did see I didn't love, so I didn't give them much thought. They seemed to be aimed at an extremely young audience (younger than the toys are intended for). The only thing I would think about was whether the characterization in the books fit the description on the backs of the pony toy boxes.

[Ponykit]

I think all of it is canon, although maybe set in different worlds? I dunno, I like alternate universes. (I made up my own canon for G3, at least most of it.)

[LadyMoondancer]

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

which is weird because it doesn't show up in any of her appearances but one

It was already a popular idea with collectors by the time it was in the show.  Originally it was on Minty's backcard. 

[Carrehz]

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. Would being a Lego collector mean that The Lego Movie was your Lego Canon? I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

You nailed it

[Flutterfan]

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

which is weird because it doesn't show up in any of her appearances but one

It gets mentioned in Come Back, Lily Lightly.

[hathorcat]

Or on the other hand, maybe none of the G3 stuff can really be considered a "canon". You have to keep in mind that people who are/were "G3 fans" are toy collectors with perhaps a passing interest in the cartoons/books, so the concept of even having a canon for G3 is kind of a non-starter. . . I think the response of most G3 collectors to the idea of nailing down a G3 canon would mostly be a noncommittal shrug.

You really hit the nail on the head.

I think the only thing about G3 that has been widely accepted as canon is that Minty likes socks.

I would echo this as well. The very concept of "canon" has come to the MLP community with G4. As mentioned here, MLP is a toyline with some "media merch" (including its cartoons/shorts/movies) which are essentially fancy adverts. The cartoons having any relevance to the toys only started when the cartoon became bigger than the toys, as has happened with this new generation.

I think the closest "canon" you may get most collectors to ascribe to is perhaps what is on a backcard rather than what is in a cartoon episode or book.

[Violet CLM]

It gets mentioned in Come Back, Lily Lightly.

Oh, so it does! I concede my confusion.