Agreeing that these would look better if the eyes were placed just a liiiiittle differently (crossover/pseudo-retro ponies deja vu, anyone?), but it doesn’t bother me too much. That edit really perfects the placement, though.

I don’t want to rehash all my thoughts from the design thread, so I’m just going to say that I’m very happy overall with these. The necks are a little long, and the heads are a little too human for my taste, but most of the G4 qualities I disliked are gone. No bellbottom legs, no Powerpuff Girls eyes, no beak-shaped noses... I’m content.

I’m a little sad that they’re still making the male characters look different from the females, but only G2 ever avoided that. Horses have basically zero sexual dimorphism, so it just seems silly to me. That’s a really minor gripe, though.

They have very human hairlines as opposed to manes, but I don’t mind it. It opens the door for more hairstyles and hairplay, which is probably a smart move toywise.

The one thing bothering me... We have nothing to determine the SCALE of these toys. Plus, I want to see what brushables are going to look like for Izzy and the pink pegasus (has she been named?).

Also, just for the customizers sake, I hope the rooted head is a squishy doll head and not a hard plastic dome like G4.5. With a new face-up they could have potential to look G2ish.

Whatever they make them from, I just want the head and body to be the same material. I can’t go through the head/body mismatch nightmare of early G4 again. I just can’t.

Oh wow, so much to talk about! I’m really happy overall.

The toys are cute and fresh. It doesn’t feel like a remix of G4, and that in itself has me overjoyed. The G4 “Powerpuff Ponies” look got old very quickly for me, although it was cute/novel for the first few years. These feel like a more familiar incarnation of MLP, and a return to form. The heads are very G3.5 in shape and hairline, but less chibi and cartoonish. I would have preferred a longer muzzle and less anthropomorphism, but I’m fine with them. The necks are also a bit on the long side. Everything else I LOVE. The feathered hooves, the more proportionate bodies, the G2-esque shape... I’m very excited for these!

The animation is really beautiful, and I find myself looking forward to an MLP show for the first time in years. I really, reeeaaally hope the series is as pretty. I’m warming to the eyebrows after seeing clips of the ponies in motion... They do add a lot to the expressions.

Finally, as to the plot and tone... I like it. It feels like Tales, and that sounds like a refreshing change of pace. I’m really loving Sunny in particular, since she has one of my favorite color combos. So exciting to see that she’s the lead! All of the characters shown have had really nice designs, IMO. The more human names were a bit jarring initially, but they also remind me pleasantly of Tales.

All in all, I’m really looking forward to this! My last reservation is just... I hope they don’t settle into the Mane 6 formula with the merchandise. I understand the need to keep popular characters on the shelf, but there needs to be more diversity than with FiM. I hope they bring back collectability as a key component of marketing, and release more unique ponies.

Anything that drives away creepy men who want to make the ponies their waifus is welcome!

I want to bold, highlight, and CAPS this statement. At this point, this is my number one priority for MLP. If they animated it like Peppa Pig and the ponies taught numbers and ABCs, I would accept it with open arms because at least it would scare away the weirdos who want pony waifus. <_<;

As for our mutual dream of an 80s-esque, dark fantasy MLP in the vein of RaMC... Looks like it won’t be this time. Ah well, I loved Tales as a kiddo, and this is indeed giving me really strong Tales vibes.

Funko is making POPs of the old Candyland characters from the 80s/90s, which is awesome. My complaint: Why is there no “Retro!” edition of the board game itself available for sale? The new Candyland boards are hideous. 

These look so legit, you could have fooled me into thinking they were leaked designs! Really gorgeous work! Up Up and Away and Sugarberry are two of my all-time favorite ponies. <3

The sheen and uniformity of the paint is honestly awe-inspiring. What brand of paints/sealer do you use?

I mean at least the message seems to be "wow some of you fans out there are really creepy" not " yay pony body pillows are cool!" like I had assumed when people got upset. But maybe the show itself wasn't the best place to express their disapproval. Probably should have kept it to twitter.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was indeed the intent: to criticize the creepier side of the fandom. Which in itself is good... But casually tossing something like that into a show marketed to preschoolers was really crossing a line, IMO. I agree they should have kept it to Twitter or similar outlets. (For anyone curious, the episode in question was “Stranger Than Fan Fiction”—which is actually an otherwise good ep, oddly enough. Just searching that episode’s title immediately brings up the scene in question, though... because it’s THAT notorious. :/)

While that scene was by itself shocking, it sort of serves as a cautionary tale about letting a fandom influence a franchise too much. By that point in the show, the fandom references had gone from “Look! There’s Doctor Whooves in the background!” to “Let’s make a half-hour episode that’s nothing but MEMES!”.

...Which is why I’m feeling pretty warmly towards these new, Disney Junior/Playskool-esque designs. Please Hasbro... PLEASE just make it a straightforward kids’ show again, instead of trying to get edgy and pander to memey fandoms. It’s My Little Pony, not Animaniacs.

Quote from: Ponyfan on February 23, 2021, 06:22:33 AM

I like these better than pony life but there's something off to me about them.   Something about their faces isn't quite right.  I do like the feathered hooves though.


Ponyfan

Yeah, too round and human like. No lower jaw. Be this Hasbro or some other company, it makes what might have been cute, ugly and creepy.

Post Merge: February 23, 2021, 07:38:42 AM

Quote from: Nemesis on February 22, 2021, 05:49:15 PM

Quote from: gemini_pony on February 22, 2021, 05:19:53 PM

Quote from: PrismaHeart on February 22, 2021, 10:58:01 AM

I know one of my hopes for G5 is that it goes back to how it use to be. Super targeted to girls and less controlled by the fandom. I feel like this is a step in that direction.

Being influenced by the fandom is what made G4 good.  I hope this doesn't end my like of the series.

That’s a very divided opinion. For me, G4 started going downhill when every single episode started pandering and giving winks/nods to the adult fans. Finally, we ended up with the infamous Daring Do body pillow scene.  Not everything fan-influenced was bad—we saw favorite characters like Nightmare Moon being spotlighted, and we certainly got some cool merch aimed at older viewers—but the shameless pandering became increasingly unbearable to me as the series wore on.

I’d rather see it returned to its roots as a show aimed at children, that some adults happen to enjoy for its innocence and magic (and nostalgia, of course).

That's disgusting! Why would they think that's ok?

I... legitimately... have no idea. If you haven’t seen the episode, it was about Rainbow Dash attending a Daring Do convention. While she’s touring around the booths and exhibits with another fan, they see body pillows for sale featuring an image of Daring Do tied up. They both give it a weirded-out look and move on.

The whole scene gave me the feeling that one of the writers or staff had gone to an actual con and seen some icky fan-made merch. They were probably creeped out by it or found it funny, and decided to reference it in the show itself... which was a wildly inappropriate decision. I don’t know how it ever got greenlit, other than no one was paying attention or understood the reference. :/

He’s new to me and on my wishlist now, lol. I like the music theme and the warm, earthy colors.