Unpopular Pony Opinions

[invaderhorizongreen]

I would like replica small things, if they are in colors that did not exist for gen 1 and so on to distinguish them form the real deal. 

[Ragamuffin]

WOAH!!!! Bad opinion alert!!!

I think flutter ponies are overhyped. They're alright. They're very plain. The later flutters like Cloud Puff are pretty, but Rose Dust and them are underwhelming. The breakable wings don't help matters. Windy Wings are the better "fairy" pony race... more colourful and more interesting symbols.

I also think the early years of G1 are boring. The designs are plain but a big factor of my disinterest is the saturation of it. A lot of the retro merch is the Rainbows, Collectors, Applejack, Firefly, Glory, etc. It's tiring. That's why I'm SO excited for the Year 3 Rainbow repros! They're something NEW! But anyways, I think 1985 onward is the best the generation has to offer. They did every gimmick in the book, they gave the ponies tons of colours in their hair, they gave them fun symbols, it's great.

"Still playing with the pure purple pony with the flowers on her butt I see, may I interest you in these ponies dressed in outrageous 80s fashion that violently vibrate while swishing their tails?"

[Shaz]

I would like replica small things, if they are in colors that did not exist for gen 1 and so on to distinguish them form the real deal.

Same here, sometimes the prices for the original accessories are just too much for me. Affordable replicas that are easy to distinguish from the originals would make me happy.

 

"Still playing with the pure purple pony with the flowers on her butt I see, may I interest you in these ponies dressed in outrageous 80s fashion that violently vibrate while swishing their tails?"

I do love the simple early ponies but the later ponies with lots of colour and weird gimmicks are just so much fun! Dance n Prance ponies were an ingenious idea.

[Broken Irishwoman]

I also think the early years of G1 are boring. The designs are plain but a big factor of my disinterest is the saturation of it. A lot of the retro merch is the Rainbows, Collectors, Applejack, Firefly, Glory, etc. It's tiring. That's why I'm SO excited for the Year 3 Rainbow repros! They're something NEW! But anyways, I think 1985 onward is the best the generation has to offer. They did every gimmick in the book, they gave the ponies tons of colours in their hair, they gave them fun symbols, it's great.

YES! I couldn't agree more! I think I've mentioned this before, but at the big annual fleamarket I often find earlier ponies (and never the ones I actually WANT), and then I'm always a bit bummed. Yes, super ungrateful, I know. So when I finally find a later pony I am beyond happy, it really feels like a found a rare gem.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I also tend to prefer mid to late G1 ponies over the earlier ones. There are some earlier ones I love a lot, but most of my favorites are from Year Four onward. I love all ponies though, but just have a preference for those ones.

[Taffeta]

I think 1987 and 1988 are probably the pinnacle of MLP in terms of design etc (I take it to 1988 because some of the US 1987 line got bumped back to 1988 here). But my loyalty is to the earlier ponies from 1983-6 that were in the UK stories but not in stores. That gave them kind of mythical status for me and I will always treasure them for that. I actually find it sad (and this can be my unpopular opinion if you like) that the US market was so saturated with those ponies that the value/joy of them seems somewhat dulled. It's like they're taken for granted. I don't know whether there's an equivalent going the other way. People here are still caught up in Mountain Boys the same as the US, and there aren't many ponies sold in the UK that appeared in US stories (only the tales ones I think? Which are not common either, so not taken for granted here).

It's unpopular but I want Basic Fun to produce the year 2 and 3 sets the UK didn't have. THe ones in the stories but not in the stores. I genuinely love a lot of later ponies, both ones the UK had and didn't have, but I don't really care about seeing them in stores. It's a different kind of thing for me I think. Basic Fun are going to produce the US line, for obvious reasons, but I have a different kind of feeling for US ponies not in UK stories vs those which were. And that mythical status trumps everything for me...

Maybe in a way I benefited from the fact they were here but not here as a kid. It means I've never got tired of them. I think I'd be really sad if I ever started thinking of Glory or Medley as boring...

If Basic Fun produce SS ponies, or any other set the US had that we didn't, it will be interesting. I might buy them. But the only ones I care about seeing in store are the year 2 and 3 uni and pegasus ponies, year 3 rainbows, and maybe the early baby ponies. Otherwise *shrug*.

[Pinkie21]

I believe that even with all its animation errors, the original G1 cartoon still looked way better than the new flash series.

This.  I enjoy FiM somewhat, but the characters still look boring and more like deer-mice than ponies. 
Tales, TBH, was probably my favorite in terms of animation design.  It was corny, for sure.  But I loved those really massive snouts LOL.
Also, I like that there weren’t as many non-ponies.  We had non-ponies, sure (Bushwoolies, etc).  But not to the ridiculous extent of FiM, where it’s used for forced and contrived lessons in “diversity”.

[Taffeta]

I believe that even with all its animation errors, the original G1 cartoon still looked way better than the new flash series.

 where it’s used for forced and contrived lessons in“diversity”.

Diversity is fine with me when it's actually about diversity. FIM usually comes over as the ponies forcing their idea of friendship on other cultures, which to me is more an apologetics of colonialism. I am not sure they mean it that way, but it's awkward and comes over like that. In G1 I feel like there wasn't that kind of motif from the ponies towards other species. Not in the explicit "we have come to enlighten your people" sense.

 There were other species and lands but in many cases (esp in the comic) they were living in their own lands and sometimes the ponies went and visited them or they visited or festivals were had...there wasn't a sense that the ponies needed to enlighten the other creatures. And diversity existed through different species of pony as well, with the sea ponies having their own domain and relationships with Miranda the mermaid, Kelpie and King Neptune which was entirely different to the Dream Valley ponies and their direct link to Majesty. And Flutter Valley had its own Queen other than Majesty, while other ponies came to live in Ponyland from other places, suggesting other pony countries and lands beyond that were never really explored.

I think that was a more natural kind of diversity :/ Some ponies that look the same but come from different lands. Some ponies that look different but come from the same land. And some peoples of different species completely who may live in ponyland or outside and be integrated into the society through their friendships with other characters (Question Mark, Junk It, Weather Witch, etc).

[Shaz]

I think that was a more natural kind of diversity :/ Some ponies that look the same but come from different lands. Some ponies that look different but come from the same land. And some peoples of different species completely who may live in ponyland or outside and be integrated into the society through their friendships with other characters (Question Mark, Junk It, Weather Witch, etc).

I love how big the G1 world seems in the cartoon and comics. There's always somewhere new to be explored, and different kinds of creatures. I think it would be more fun to make up your own stories set in the G1 world as well, because anything goes: magic, talking inanimate objects, pixies, whatever! All the 'world-building' that people get so excited about in G4 is actually quite restrictive in a way, a sort of storytelling equivalent of releasing the Mane 6 repeatedly.

And I just HATE the whole theme of teaching friendship to everybody. It makes all non-ponies look like idiots, for a start. G1 had one episode about friendship being great (The Magic Coins). G4 has had eight seasons and it's getting ridiculous. Friendship is nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all of existence. (I'm an unsociable introvert, if I lived in Equestria I would be so annoyed having friendship pushed at me all the time!)

If I was a kid with no prior interest in ponies and saw the G1 cartoon/comic/storybooks, I would probably get into ponies. If I saw G4, I would probably think it was not for me. I think actually if I had seen G4 when I was little I would have dismissed it as too girly because of all the fashion shows, parties, spa days, talking about feelings/friendship etc. Nothing wrong with that sort of thing, but as a kid I would have dismissed it in favour of adventure and magic.

[Taffeta]

I think that was a more natural kind of diversity :/ Some ponies that look the same but come from different lands. Some ponies that look different but come from the same land. And some peoples of different species completely who may live in ponyland or outside and be integrated into the society through their friendships with other characters (Question Mark, Junk It, Weather Witch, etc).

I love how big the G1 world seems in the cartoon and comics. There's always somewhere new to be explored, and different kinds of creatures. I think it would be more fun to make up your own stories set in the G1 world as well, because anything goes: magic, talking inanimate objects, pixies, whatever! All the 'world-building' that people get so excited about in G4 is actually quite restrictive in a way, a sort of storytelling equivalent of releasing the Mane 6 repeatedly.

And I just HATE the whole theme of teaching friendship to everybody. It makes all non-ponies look like idiots, for a start. G1 had one episode about friendship being great (The Magic Coins). G4 has had eight seasons and it's getting ridiculous. Friendship is nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all of existence. (I'm an unsociable introvert, if I lived in Equestria I would be so annoyed having friendship pushed at me all the time!)

If I was a kid with no prior interest in ponies and saw the G1 cartoon/comic/storybooks, I would probably get into ponies. If I saw G4, I would probably think it was not for me. I think actually if I had seen G4 when I was little I would have dismissed it as too girly because of all the fashion shows, parties, spa days, talking about feelings/friendship etc. Nothing wrong with that sort of thing, but as a kid I would have dismissed it in favour of adventure and magic.

I don't think FIM caters to people who don't fit the mainstream. And I imagine a lot of kids end up feeling frustrated or lonely or left out because of that fact. And yeah. G4 is really girly. That's my unpopular opinion. G4 is way way way more girly and gendered than G1 is. Which is fine, but it annoys me when people describe G1 as being all about parties and stuff, when that's clearly what G4 is about. And even when you have Rarity with her capable business brain, there's still that superficial stereotype that she has to be obsessed with fashion, jewellery, hair...daarling.

[MJNSEIFER]

Yeah, G4 is girly.  It has guys interested in it, and does more than what would be stereotypically seen as "for girls" (in fact, all generations do this), but that will never make it "not girly".  You won't find this brony using the cool stuff as proof that "the show isn't for little girls", because it is, and it annoys me when bronies do that - the point should be that little girl's cartoons can be entertaining for all, and that guys can like girly stuff.

In my mind, we (myself and other bronies) should embrace the fact it's girly, not try to prove it isn't. 

[Taffeta]

Yeah, G4 is girly.  It has guys interested in it, and does more than what would be stereotypically seen as "for girls" (in fact, all generations do this), but that will never make it "not girly".  You won't find this brony using the cool stuff as proof that "the show isn't for little girls", because it is, and it annoys me when bronies do that - the point should be that little girl's cartoons can be entertaining for all, and that guys can like girly stuff.

In my mind, we (myself and other bronies) should embrace the fact it's girly, not try to prove it isn't. 

Well said.

[Ponyfan]

I like to think that the part of Dream valley we’ve seen in the cartoons and comics is only a small part of it and there are many creatures living there that the ponies didn’t meet in the cartoons and comics.

FIM has always been hit or miss for me and one of my least favorite episodes is the one about the Yaks where the moral seemed to be “don’t try to make your friends comfortable when the come  to visit because they really want to learn about your fantastic city.”

I also don’t like FIM’s method of redeeming every villain/antagonist. I though having Diamond Tiara being a bully was realistic and showed kids that everyone isn’t going to your friend.

Ponyfan

[SpacePinto]

And yeah. G4 is really girly.

I have only watched a few G4 episodes (thankfully) and from what I've seen, it is WAY girlier than G1. For all the bashing old MLP has always gotten from everyone for supposedly being all tea parties and dressups, I can only recall a handful of times when the G1 cartoons featured anything stereotypically girly (like the costume ball at the end of the second special), other than that, when ponies were not busy saving their world from doom, they would usually just spend their time playing sports, landscape exploring or chilling by the pool. Meanwhile, I remember one G4 episode that was all focused on everyone going to a big ball, trying on their outfits and all, and in another there was a whole song where pony pricesses were singing to the newest princess about what a great pony princess she will be, and it felt REALLY sappy. If you ask me, despite Lauren Faust patting herself so much on the back for challening girly stereotypes in cartoons, G1 did way better job with that.

[Ragamuffin]

And yeah. G4 is really girly.

I have only watched a few G4 episodes (thankfully) and from what I've seen, it is WAY girlier than G1. For all the bashing old MLP has always gotten from everyone for supposedly being all tea parties and dressups, I can only recall a handful of times when the G1 cartoons featured anything stereotypically girly (like the costume ball at the end of the second special), other than that, when ponies were not busy saving their world from doom, they would usually just spend their time playing sports, landscape exploring or chilling by the pool. Meanwhile, I remember one G4 episode that was all focused on everyone going to a big ball, trying on their outfits and all, and in another there was a whole song where pony pricesses were singing to the newest princess about what a great pony princess she will be, and it felt REALLY sappy. If you ask me, despite Lauren Faust patting herself so much on the back for challening girly stereotypes in cartoons, G1 did way better job with that.

G4 also has a song dedicated to baking cupcakes, and an episode about sleepovers in the first season.