MLP: FiM discussion thread

Ivan

UPSLynx

@RahnalH102 I'll keep this brief because I don't want to push this thread off topic, but it's sort of related and I'm curious.

Are you studying animation specifically? If so, traditional or computer?

I ask out of curiosity. I'm a hobbyist animator and I work in the computer graphics industry. I adore animation. Obsessed is probably a more appropriate word.

Someone made the point that there wasn't really any character development or real depthy stuff to this episode, and while there's one significant point in this episode that pushes out the second one, this is one of the few episodes that actually messing about with character development really ISN'T necessary.

Agreed. "Fun" episodes are just as important as big depth episodes. Development can get to heavy, too serious. It's why films have comic relief, even when they are super serious stories.

I felt that Dash had an AWESOME role in this one. She made me laugh way more than usual (especially that scene where they empty the final barrel into the mug, and the camera does a focus pull from the mug in the foreground all the way back to the tiny dot at the back of the line that is Dash. She jumps up and starts yelling.)

RahnalH102

Indeed this would be better suited for the draw thread or something like that. So I'll try and wrap it up here.

I'm a hobbyist animator and I work in the computer graphics industry. I adore animation.

That pretty much sums it up for me. As my college would have me say it, I'm a Graphic Arts major with an emphasis in animation. Being that I just started, they're teaching me the basics in both traditional and computer. I'm more inclined to the computer though since I've grown up with it and have already had a graphic publishing job before hand. ( I created ads for my local TV station and put them on the broadcast to boot.)

UPSLynx

Awesome dude. Stick with it, it's a riot.

Every animator will tell you - mastering the basics of drawing, anatomy, and traditional animation will make you an incredible CG animator. They're essential. Work hard, make contacts, and draw draw draw. You'll make it just fine if you stick to it.

If you ever have questions or want to talk shop, just shoot me a message. I've been in the thick of it for a few years now. I love it.

RahnalH102

I've inferred a lot of that from the somewhat background character I've been.

I've pondered "my purpose" a LOT compared to what I guess is typical for people my age, and I know this is in the direction of what I want to do. The experience of it in the work place helps.

As for contacts, I'm getting there. I'll probably have a few questions and whatnot alter on but that's another story. I may have a pretty dang HUGE contact soon as well, but for now it's just a grain of salt.

Anyway, since the current topic has pretty much derailed from the threads intent, allow me to re-rail(?) it.

The flora and fauna (mostly fauna) of Equestria are pretty diverse and not what I would expect. Even before the show was aware of it's older fanbase. Manticores, Sea-Serpents (in a river?), true-to-myth (surprised they went that far) Ursa Majors and Minors, Cockatrices, and Quarry Eels. Makes me wonder what else they'll throw into the episodes later on. More actual mythological or more like the Quarry Eels?

I'd also mention dragons in there but dragons are so popular you could probably through one into just about anything and it could work.

So what do you think? Discuss!

UPSLynx

Awesome dude.

I love the diverse creatures shown in the MLP universe, and I want more. Lots more. Thing is, much of season 2 has been frustrating in the fact that they're missing this stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love season 2 and it holds some of my favorite episodes. Thing is, almost all of the episodes are "slice of life" type stuff, with the ponies dealing with everyday problems in ponyville.

I want the writers to start taking the characters out on adventures again. Ponville is great, but get them out in the open where things become massively interesting again. It's one of the reasons I was so excited about "The Last Roundup". They finally went out on an adventure again, and it was awesome.

RahnalH102

[insert pony themed "ADVENTURE!!" meme]
Actually saw one but they didn't actually say ADVENTURE!!! so it doesn't exactly work here.

Ilriyas

I really enjoy all the creatures displayed in the show, by far however my favourite creature they've had in the show so far have got to be the dragons. Not only did they keep them close to the European mythos (Da best) but they actually changed them slightly by having them eat gems rather than simply hoard them and use them to armour their underbellies. (I wonder what an emerald tastes like)

Also the adventure episodes are by far my favourite, now I love season 2 (for the most part) but like Lynx I miss some of the places they visited in the first season (Cloudsdale was epic definitely and I would like to see more of it)

Now to add another piece of discussion. (Which I will place in spoilers for those who haven't seen the latest ep yet)

Spoiler:

What are your guys thoughts on Flim and Flam? Personally I quite liked them as characters and although they did start producing sub-par quality cider by the end of the competition in order to win they didn't actually cheat and they did look genuinely surprised when the Ponyville ponies said that the cider tasted awful. On that note I don't think they were treated fairly by the town's residents I mean yes their final product was awful but all in all they did win fairly and, when producing properly their cider is at least on par with what the Apple family makes.

I mean yes I'm happy that the Apples get to keep the farm but looking back on the episode I've got to say I didn't enjoy the ending, perhaps if Flim and Flam had legitimately cheated it would've worked better?

UPSLynx

Ok eff it, this needs to be discussed:

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/02/small-update-on-derpy-overall.html

This is the winter of our discontent.

Annes

I guess I'm the only one who hated Derpy in the episode. In fact, I was mildly insulted.

RahnalH102

When I first saw it I had thought they messed up with the voice, and Tabitha admitted that she thought she was voicing a male character so that didn't help, however I brushed those qualms aside because it was still a gift to the community form the animators. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." I believe is the term, and oh does it fit the situation.

Voice plays a big role for animations, so if they were wanting to redo the voice to make it more feminine and not enunciate so ... slow, that could probably explain a few things.

Annes

The whole Derpy scene made me think that they were making fun of the mentally disabled. It was not cool.

Ilriyas

Wait what the fuck? All this over the portrayal of a fan made character?

Jesus Christ what is the world coming to where people take offense to a fan based character who is A GIFT by the show's owners. Furthermore what I don't fucking get is why there's such a massive shit storm about it YES the VA thought they were voicing a male but seriously are we just going to make it disappear and say 'whoops sorry about that' because 1 FUCKING PERCENT is offended about it.

It's not like they went ahead and said 'Hey lets make fun of the disabled' its not like that AT ALL, it's a simple fucking mistake and people are blowing it WAY out of proportion.

Canti

@Ilriyas It seems to me you're the only one having a "massive shit storm" about any of this. Calm down and cut back on the fucks man.

Ilriyas

@Canti Yes, I am the other 'extreme' where some got angry about Derpy's portrayal as a whole (and I've seen some of the hatemail, a good deal of it is a lot worse than what I've written above) I'm angry that it's being made an issue of in the first place. A little too angry? Very likely but I don't watch the show so that I can rip it apart down to its essence and criticize everything. I watch the show because it's fun and relaxing sure I've had one or two problems with the occasional episode sure but I'll watch them all the same.

One of the things I've realized about why I love the show is that it is separated from all the crap going on in the real world and that while I'm watching it I don't need to think about it. Yes, once again I'm overreacting but I'm pissed because people are trying to pull it away from the amazing fantasy world that it is and drag it into real world politics.

Maybe I'm just ignorant but there are some things that should just be left well enough alone.

Annes

Oh, @ilriyas, you haven't been here long - everyone here will tell you that I am not one to be easily offended, nor am I the sort of person who looks for things to get upset about. I'm OK with Derpy being in the show and being incredibly clumsy and goofy. What I'm not OK with is the VA making the character sound like they have some developmental disability. Even if the VA is claiming they thought it was "for a male" doesn't make it OK, nor does it sound like they're trying for a male voice.

I'm not calling for a boycott of the show. Just offering an opinion. I can't imagine why you're so angry about it.

Ilriyas

@Annes Please don't think I was directing that at you, what I was talking about was the hatemail and everything that had been created about it. I in no way meant to offend anyone here

Sometimes I fail to clarify things and for that I offer my sincerest apologies I didn't want to yell at anyone here I was trying to point out that I was upset with the way it was being handled at large(Such as the episode being pulled from iTunes or again the hatemail.)

EDIT: Ugh I feel physically ill when I read my first post on this topic.

UPSLynx

@Ilriyas It seems to me you're the only one having a "massive shit storm" about any of this. Calm down and cut back on the fucks man.

No, it's not just him. Everyone is freaking out about this. This is but a harbinger of what we can expect. I've been telling everyone that this crazy honeymoon of sorts with Hasbro cannot be sustained. They're a company, they want to make money, and no amount of bronies are going to stop that. People shouldn't be surprised that this is happening, but here we are.

Here's the deal. People are pissed at the character of Derpy and saying that they felt it makes fun of people with mental handicaps. Not only is that a complete fallacy, but it pisses me off that NOW that is being brought up, when we've had over two decades of characters that act "derpy" in ways greater than that of Derpy Hooves, and yet no one has said ANYTHING about it until now. And I'm not talking about you, Anne, I'm talking about the people that got the ball rolling in the first place:

http://yamino.tumblr.com/tagged/Derpy-Hooves
http://fromonesurvivortoanother.tumblr.com/

Suddenly, this becomes an argument of feminism. These two bloggers are responsible for escalating the issue with Hasbro to reach the point is has gotten to now. Sure, we can go years and accept that male 'derpys' are fine in children's programming, but as soon as it was insinuated that Derpy was female, these people freaked the hell out. No one ever cared to raise point when Sponge Bob's Patrick, who is mentally handicapped down to his core characteristics, when his hijinks made everyone laugh at him. There are a list of characters like him. No one has ever cared. And now everything is falling apart.

This is stupid. All of it is stupid. Derpy Hooves is not making fun of any type of people. Her voice does not imply one thing or the other. If that was the case, why did everyone wait until JUST NOW to cause a ruckus? Should everyone be complaining that the rich pony characters in "sweet and elite" imply that females sound like rich, egotistical beings who only care about money and status, and that males only care about the trophy wives? Ridiculous.

Hasbro did us all a favor, and in return we flung mud at them. They'll never do us another favor or shoutout, they're just going to bring it all down.

BHHammy

For the record, this isn't Yamino's first beef with FiM. She's also been projecting issues onto the show as early as "Over a Barrel", where she went on a Brony talk show and went on a huge tirade about how the buffalo were "incredibly insensetive/damaging/demeaning to native americans". No, I am totally fucking serious.

Honestly, I didn't think I could dislike her any more than that moment, as I switched the broadcast off. Apparently I was wrong. (And by the way, I don't think the writer and artist behind fucking SISTER CLAIRE has much say in what should/shouldn't be in a kid's cartoon anyway).

Also, there's a reason why I started to post something about this whole mess, and then deleted it shortly thereafter- understand that the ONLY THING CONFIRMED was that WeLoveFine was being leaned on to change/take down some of the Derpy merch, and that currently "The Last Roundup" is missing from iTunes. Other than that, all we have beyond that are dubious sources that can't be confirmed, and honestly I am kind of pissed-off at EqD for being completely unprofessional and posting up stuff that essentially amounts to rumor. At this current point and time, they've admitted that even THEY don't know what the hell is going on (the Derpy merch on WLF is currently mostly restored, so that issue's done with), and there's still been NO OFFICIAL WORD from -anyone- directly working with the show or Hasbro on the issue.

This doesn't mean that there's absolutely no cause for alarm, of course. But right now there's no -direct threats- that we're aware of, only that stuff MAY BE happening behind the curtain.

So everyone calm your tits for now til we know more. Trust me, I did more than enough freaking out last night for everyone on Icrontic (part of the reason why I left the stream early- that and seeing anything related to Derpy was honestly starting to get me down).

Insofar as this whole fandom is concerned as a whole, by the way, let's not go the Goony-grandstanding route and start assuming all bronies outside of our group suck. Remember that the majority response was extremely positive (that day the ep aired was a complete celebration, even with the minority whargarbling), that there was a minority that thought otherwise, and that this whole thing with the letters was done by a number of folks you can count on one hand.

Annes, I will respect your opinion if you still somehow believe there's something amiss here (admittedly, I would love to see Tabitha at least do a re-dub with a more female voice). It's ok to have an opinion, we all have 'em. The only time such a thing becomes a problem is if someone pulls the crap Yamino and her crew did and take it apon themselves to project their shit onto the writers and creators and make it EVERYONE'S problem.

By the way- for the record, Amy Keating Rogers (the writer of the episode) -has- a child who is mentally handicapped, and was quite shocked and sad to receive those letters. If so many people hadn't found out about it and banded together to completely drown those letters out with FAR many more letters of support from the majority POSITIVE side of the fandom, things would've been much worse.

Annes

Derpy Hooves is not making fun of any type of people. Her voice does not imply one thing or the other. If that was the case, why did everyone wait until JUST NOW to cause a ruckus? Should everyone be complaining that the rich pony characters in "sweet and elite" imply that females sound like rich, egotistical beings who only care about money and status, and that males only care about the trophy wives? Ridiculous.

I waited until you brought it up to talk about it. And your comparison between the rich ponies and the presentation of Derpy is just silly. What a logical jump. I would say the best comparison to this particular thing is Skids and Mudflaps in Transformers 2. Also so incredibly blatant that it made me feel squicky.

EDIT: I don't think I'll be responding anymore on this particular topic. No one is going to change their opinion due to this discussion, which apparently has way, way more fuel than I thought. Yikes.

cola

http://griffsnuff.deviantart.com/art/Derpy-Hooves-269500401

Ilriyas

^That is just great.

Now to take this discussion thread to a more friendly, less rage inducing topic.

The new episode CANNOT wait they've got Indiana Jones references up the wazoo if it plays out like I think it will this may be one of the best episodes of season 2

RahnalH102

Makes me wonder what else they'll throw into the episodes later on.

They just keep coming. Even more curious as to what they'll throw in next.

UPSLynx

A funny thing happened to me the other day.

I was walking to the grocery store next door. It was late, around 8PM. Decided to take a beer in my wooden mug for the walk.

As I was going through my apartment complex sipping my beer, this young dude falls in behind me. For sake of this story, I shall call him "Bill".

I hear him call out to me

BIll- "Yo buddy. Hey man, hey!"
I casually turn around to face him while taking a pull at my beer
Me- "Sup?"
Bill- "Yo man, you got a cigarette?"
Me- "Naw man, I don't smoke."
I take another drink
Bill- "Aight, aight, that's cool man. Have a nice day"
Me- "You too, man."

I turn to walk away, he happens to be going to same direction as I am. He speaks up again.

Bill- "Hey man, do you get the paper?"
Me- "No, man."
Bill- "You want to get it? I got the paper man, I can hook it up. Sunday edition and all. Hell, I'll give it to you for free cuz I like your swag."



SWAG. DEAL WITH IT.

cola

http://bookishdelight.deviantart.com/art/Fireball-1-of-5-281909441

A fanfic I started today, thoughts?

Ilriyas

^Bookmarked, will read once I've gotten through all of my RD and Trixie FFs.