Will the franchise ever be how it was, again?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I did not have the exposure to the G1 TV show as a child.  We simply didn't own a TV.  Actually I still don't pay for TV channel access so I really have not seen too much G4.

So yes I understand what Lauren Faust is saying about how she played with her ponies as a child and how that shaped her ideas about their character design.  But she cannot and should not speak for everyone in the G1 era, which the show creators either realized, and didn't want to get into the nuances, or didn't ask any questions of the panelists that hinted at what the other interviewees might have said.  both are plausible!

[Leave a Whisper]

I did grow up with both n Friends and Tales and I had some from the show. Gusty, Fizzy, Moondancer, Dazzle Glow, Shady, Salty, Sweet Stuff, Lickety-split, Princess Tiffany and Whizzer, they retained their characters, but I was just as happy with my ponies that were toy-only too. I loved the world of Dream Valley and it did influence some of my play.

I remember daydreaming about the Tales ponies too, about which toys I'd choose.

As an adult, it baffles me even more that we got the Glow n Shows and Rock n Beats here in the states, but never the actual Tales cast.

So for some of us yes, the cartoons did have an influence to some extent.

My daughter started with G3 and we thought it was all toys and merch, because there wasn't any toons I could find, so she did develop her pony play completely independent of its cartoon.

[Taffeta]

Glowing Magic (GnS) and Rockin' Beats predate MLP Tales. They were older lines that got dragged into MLPT for some reason, I guess because they had a use at the time.

It was a bit weird here because you had the original comic incarnations of these ponies and then when Tales happened the Rockin Beats got reinvented. I don't think the Glowing Magic ponies ever appeared in the comics for MLPT, just in that animated episode with Patch (under the UK set name, more or less).

[Leave a Whisper]

Glowing Magic (GnS) and Rockin' Beats predate MLP Tales. They were older lines that got dragged into MLPT for some reason, I guess because they had a use at the time.

It was a bit weird here because you had the original comic incarnations of these ponies and then when Tales happened the Rockin Beats got reinvented. I don't think the Glowing Magic ponies ever appeared in the comics for MLPT, just in that animated episode with Patch (under the UK set name, more or less).

I didn't know that. Interesting bit of history.

But in the 90s Tales is how I was introduced to the GnS and was thrilled when they started showing up in stores. Yet there were no Tales girls. Really wanted Clover, Patch, Bon Bon and Sweetheart, I was certain they'd be so pretty as toys. I'm still baffled that we never got the boys either. 

Everyone's childhood experience is a bit different. Some of us saw the shows. Some of us grew up in places where there were comics. Some of us had a Earth Pony Gingerbread and some of us grew up with a Unicorn Gingerbread.  It was all valid because it was what we had as individuals and depending on our country of residence.

Just as my daughter started getting into pony by playing with her ponies and coloring in her coloring books, while another kid was playing and watching the cartoon that we didn't even know about.

[Nightbow]

We did get the Flutter ponies, though. Did you not have Rosedust over there?

I honestly don't know. I would have been too young to remember seeing them, and I never saw a flutter pony IRL 'til I was an adult collector.

I think I recall using that kind of weird logic with some of my own non-MLP toys as a child. If they were molded in a permanent sitting position I couldn't make it look like they were walking around and that bothered me, so I would come up with an explanation that they couldn't walk. Usually also give them some super-powered vehicle to cruise around in too. It just gets weird when you start presenting your bizarre childhood ideas in documentaries like TTMU.

I watched it and that is how I interpreted it too. Some poses were just not good for play, no matter how cute on display. I remember having this chap mei fakie baby that got to stay in the toybox, because her head was turned backwards. I love the idea of super-powered pony vehicles, LOL.

I think what the people in TTMU were saying was, we all played differently. We made up our own worlds and our own ponies' personalities. For me growing up in the early nineties that is especially true for G2, which I developed an expansive world for through play. Like Faust, they climbed my bed as a mountain, and the mat was a meadow, and so on. So I think Faust is misinterpreted by both retro pony fans and bronies? Her word isn't law, she just used her own childhood play sessions to build a pony world for TV. I honestly can't think of a better way to make a MLP TV show. What bothers me is Hasbro stopped Faust from using ideas that would have been a sweet throwback to G1, but as soon as Faust abandoned ship brony pandering started to run rampant.

Not that I'm trying to defend Faust like she was the best thing to ever happen to MLP. Living in cupcakes? What was that all about?

ETA: What disappointed me the most was the G1 fan they interviewed, mentioning that the ponies lived in Ponyville. It bothers me that a supposed retro fan wouldn't know that G1 ponies live in Dream Valley, and Ponyville wasn't a thing until G3.

[Taffeta]

G1 ponies lived in Ponyland over here. Not Dream Valley

But yeah, that is a detail.

I don't know if it's misinterpreted or if it's the army of brony has made so much of it the two mesh together, but I can't watch the TTMU interview without feeling like the show handled that interview as a showpiece with her idea of G1 = G1 and there wasn't a lot of exploration about what G1 was outside of how Faust saw it except "there was no canon". I loved all the stuff about the toy history and so on, but the show hit a brick wall when it realised there wasn't a FIM canon, and then went to the creator of the FIM canon to patch up the holes.

I think it's also though that as yet I've not seen her say anything that gives me faith she based any of FIM on G1. I think it came out of her imagination - which is entirely fine, don't get me wrong, that's where it should come from - but then it got tied to G1 in a far bigger way than was actually the case.

It's not that I think Faust is a bad thing to happen for MLP, either. I just agree with whoever said she shouldn't be interviewed on G1 as any kind of authority. She should be interviewed about G4. If you want actual fans of mLP, they should've interviewed the people whose collections they showed in the titles. Their diverse views of it would've been much more accurate and refreshing an image of G1's world than the FIM creator.

[Leave a Whisper]

G1 ponies lived in Ponyland over here. Not Dream Valley

But yeah, that is a detail.

I don't know if it's misinterpreted or if it's the army of brony has made so much of it the two mesh together, but I can't watch the TTMU interview without feeling like the show handled that interview as a showpiece with her idea of G1 = G1 and there wasn't a lot of exploration about what G1 was outside of how Faust saw it except "there was no canon". I loved all the stuff about the toy history and so on, but the show hit a brick wall when it realised there wasn't a FIM canon, and then went to the creator of the FIM canon to patch up the holes.

I think it's also though that as yet I've not seen her say anything that gives me faith she based any of FIM on G1. I think it came out of her imagination - which is entirely fine, don't get me wrong, that's where it should come from - but then it got tied to G1 in a far bigger way than was actually the case.

It's not that I think Faust is a bad thing to happen for MLP, either. I just agree with whoever said she shouldn't be interviewed on G1 as any kind of authority. She should be interviewed about G4. If you want actual fans of mLP, they should've interviewed the people whose collections they showed in the titles. Their diverse views of it would've been much more accurate and refreshing an image of G1's world than the FIM creator.

You'd think they'd have interviewed the people who wrote it, instead of a person who didn't.

[Carrehz]

I thought it was Dream Valley which was a part of Ponyland? Except for that one weird UK video tape that got the wrong end of the stick and said they lived in "Dreamland"

Still haven't seen the TTMU ep - didn't they interview any of the MLP and Friends writers??? What the... I mean, I get it, Faust's probably easier to get a hold of, but still... I agree, I'd rather they interviewed some fans, instead (assuming they couldn't get a hold of anyone actually involved with G1, I mean). I mean, if you were making a FiM documentary, you wouldn't interview some of the G1 writers for it, right?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I thought it was Dream Valley which was a part of Ponyland? Except for that one weird UK video tape that got the wrong end of the stick and said they lived in "Dreamland"

Yeah, Dream Valley isn't the name of the whole realm, just the region where Dream Castle, the Lullabye Nursery, and Paradise Estate are. But I believe it's a name exclusive to the cartoon, while Ponyland is used in both the cartoon and the UK comics.

[Taffeta]

I thought it was Dream Valley which was a part of Ponyland? Except for that one weird UK video tape that got the wrong end of the stick and said they lived in "Dreamland"

Yeah, Dream Valley isn't the name of the whole realm, just the region where Dream Castle, the Lullabye Nursery, and Paradise Estate are. But I believe it's a name exclusive to the cartoon, while Ponyland is used in both the cartoon and the UK comics.

Yep, I think that's about correct. I don't remember DV appearing in the comic but it might. A lot of other regions appear in the comic, but all within 'Ponyland' so it makes sense to think of DV as being in Ponyland. I'm not sure that's ever stated though...

Also my post above shouldve said about G1 not having a canon. I have no brain sometimes.

They interviewed Faust and Summer. And Summer was IMO either asked bad questions or badly spliced.

There are no other people interviewed as far as I remember as 'G1' fans. Even though they used collections in the closing titles, they didn't speak to the collectors. Faust is not a collector. Summer is, but yeah, her contributions seem mangled to me. 

I can't remember, do they talk to the writers of RAMC? They mention it at least. They don't talk to the writers of any of the others. I am trying to remember whether Christy Marx had a writing credit on that (she's very active in the Jem fandom as the creator of Jem's bible). Ditto Roger Slifer who also worked on Jem (but he has sadly passed away). There were also a lot of crossover voice artists. Some of those have also passed away, but there are some who have also been involved with Jem things  so could have been talked to about the MLP show (if they wanted to go down the line of someone who actually was involved in it).

Faust has two lots of airtime - as a fan of G1 and as a writer of FIM and (to me personally) comes over as a bit 'pleased with herself' about her version of G1 world. But that also could be bad splicing/questions. It's hard to tell and I am generally biased against her speaking about G1 since she clearly has no idea what G1 actually contained outside of her own interpretation.

Again, no issue with her version, as a fan, growing up. Just with having it imposed on everyone as 'how G1 was' when that misses the point of G1 being individual to each person.

[Carrehz]

George Arthur Bloom wrote RaMC - I just checked and neither Christy Marx nor Roger Slifer are credited for that one.

I can't remember if Dream Valley appears anywhere outside of the cartoon... I want to say it does, but it's entirely possible I'm just misremembering/mixing up continuities. :x

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

If they were going to interview someone about G1, it should have been Bonnie Zacherle. I mean, really, who better than the franchise's original creator?

[LadyMoondancer]

Well, TTTMU is specifically a show about toys.  Not media, movies, or cartoons.  Generally they only talk about cartoons if it adds some context or explanation to the toyline. 

"Transformers was a very popular show, which fueled the success of the TF toyline."  That's relevant to the toys.  "The reason Optimus was killed in the 1986 movie was to clear the shelves for new toy characters."  That's relevant to the toys. 

"MLP & Friends was a show, but MLP was already the #1 selling girls toy before RaMC was even released, and also a lot of non-show ponies are pretty much as popular if not more as the actual show characters."  (Was any kid going to cry because they got Sugarberry instead of BBE Baby Shady?  TAF ponies forever, just saying.)  "Also there was a second show that aired in the US after the MLP toyline was completely dead there."  Okay, so . . . that's not really deserving of a lot of screentime.  It doesn't add any additional insight into why the toys became so popular or show a specific way that the show drove sales.  It's like having a segment devoted to MLP party hats.  Yeah, they existed and, yeah, they were a sign of MLP being popular.  But they weren't why it was popular.

Interestingly, I was talking to one of my nerdy but non-MLP friends (who does collect toys, just not MLP) what he didn't like was . . . Bonnie Zacherle.  I guess he didn't really care about the "who originally created MLP?" aspect, plus she left near the beginning of the line, plus she wanted the ponies to be natural colors, and all this added up to his opinion of "she shouldn't have had so much screentime." 

@ZeldaTheSwordsman   They . . . did?  She got a ton of screentime.  (And personally I was happy to see her even if my friend wasn't, lol.)  Did you not watch the episode?

Or did you mean they should have interviewed her about G1 as a whole?  But why would she know anything that happened with the toyline after she left?  Which was right at the start of G1.  The only ponies she personally designed were the Collector ponies.  We did get some interesting insights into them, though.  Like learning that one of them (Blossom) was named after her cat.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

No, I did not watch the episode. I don't watch TTTMU. And all the complaining about the Lauren Faust interview with little mention of anyone else made it sound as if she was almost the sole interviewee.

[Taffeta]

No, I did not watch the episode. I don't watch TTTMU. And all the complaining about the Lauren Faust interview with little mention of anyone else made it sound as if she was almost the sole interviewee.

I think you can just read it as that was the annoying part of an otherwise generalised but reasonable episode

G1 should be about the toys, and I agree that's the focus of TTMU. Which is another reason Faust doesn't belong there.

(Personally my favourite trivia was the Dream Castle guy and Spike!)