Joined: Nov 12, 2011 Posts: 6775 Location: Living in Faulkner's nightmare
Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 8:16 pm Post subject: What is it with My Little Pony?
I've never seen it, and I'm certainly not putting it down (everybody has their favorite tv shows) but it seems that MLP has a lot of adult followers among those on the spectrum. Why is that? What is it about the show that interests so many adults?
I'm seriously just asking, not putting the show or it's fans down. I've never seen it at all, but I have bought a whole bunch of the ponies for my youngest daughter when she was little. _________________ Frances
What if Jessie's girl was Stacy's mom and her number was 867-5309?
I liked watching the cartoon because I liked the art style, the characters and the fact that on the internet, it is a cartoon that's socially acceptable to be obsessed with as an adult.
My obsession with the cartoon has since died down, but I'm still very much into collecting the toys - and not just from the g4 generation either - I will collect ponies from any and all generations.
Joined: May 26, 2010 Posts: 2107 Location: third rock from one of many suns
Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 9:22 pm Post subject:
The writing is, for a kids' cartoon, quite sophisticated at times--it doesn't "talk down" to its audience.
Along those same lines, the characters have real depth, including flaws that have been explored quite thoroughly (there's probably still uncharted territory there, though).
I watched G1 growing up and loved it, btw. _________________ The existence of the leader who is wise
is barely known to those he leads.
He acts without unnecessary speech,
so that the people say,
'It happened of its own accord.' -Tao Te Ching, Verse 17
It's packed with references. Horror movies to Tolkien to movies no one in the intended age bracket should even be thinking of watching.
Jokes with double meanings. They can appeal to kids in a simple way, but you think about them a little... there's an entire different layer there. Sometimes they're much more blunt.
The logical implications of some of the actions and characters. The sheer amount of fridge horror when you think about Celestia for example... the poor thing has seen everyone she's ever cared about except her sister die, and she had to put her sister in the MOON for a millennium.
The community. I'm on a bit of a fanfic kick, and MAN some of these people can write. I read one story in particular, The Immortal Game, which is one hell of an awesome story. It's not even finished yet. Equestria: Total War (I tend to gravitate toward the darker side of things) is much the same.
And, like conondrum said, it never talks down to the audience. The writers don't put something as simply as possible, they leave things open to the imagination.
edit:
Oh... the songs. They range from happy (Smile Smile Smile) to downright soul crushing (for me anyway). _________________ A shot gun blast into the face of deceit
You'll gain your just reward.
We'll not rest until the purge is complete
You will reap what you've sown.
Joined: May 26, 2010 Posts: 2107 Location: third rock from one of many suns
Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:50 am Post subject:
abacacus wrote:
It's packed with references. Horror movies to Tolkien to movies no one in the intended age bracket should even be thinking of watching.
Example:
_________________ The existence of the leader who is wise
is barely known to those he leads.
He acts without unnecessary speech,
so that the people say,
'It happened of its own accord.' -Tao Te Ching, Verse 17
Joined: Oct 08, 2011 Age: 16 Posts: 3597 Location: Indonesia
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject:
If you are interested in why aspies in particular like it, just watch the first episode, you should see how some of the main characters are expecially relatable right after the intro, and again near the end. _________________ Cinnamon and sugary
Softly Spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes
Joined: Nov 12, 2011 Posts: 6775 Location: Living in Faulkner's nightmare
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 5:14 pm Post subject:
What makes someone watch a child's cartoon in the first place? I can see liking it once you have seen it, but why would you turn it on to begin with? Did you start watching it with your kids or a younger sibling, or were you just flipping through the channels and nothing else was on, or had you read here that lots of people liked it and you wanted to see for yourself what was up with it?
Honestly, because I've had to watch cartoons for years and years when mine were little, I'm pretty sick of cartoons in general. South Park, Family Guy and King Of The Hill are the only ones I watch. There were some kids shows that I enjoyed back when my kids were watching them (Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island, Rocket Power, Hey Arnold!, Doug, and a few others) but I've never watched them since they grew out of it. _________________ Frances
What if Jessie's girl was Stacy's mom and her number was 867-5309?
A friend of mine got me in to it. Linked me to the episode The Last Roundup. Then I started cruising a brony meme site for a while. Then not long ago, I got bored and switched on the pilot. In the next couple of days, I had watched both seasons and found myself eagerly awaiting the next season as I moved on to fanfics. _________________ A shot gun blast into the face of deceit
You'll gain your just reward.
We'll not rest until the purge is complete
You will reap what you've sown.
What makes someone watch a child's cartoon in the first place? I can see liking it once you have seen it, but why would you turn it on to begin with? Did you start watching it with your kids or a younger sibling, or were you just flipping through the channels and nothing else was on, or had you read here that lots of people liked it and you wanted to see for yourself what was up with it?
Honestly, because I've had to watch cartoons for years and years when mine were little, I'm pretty sick of cartoons in general. South Park, Family Guy and King Of The Hill are the only ones I watch. There were some kids shows that I enjoyed back when my kids were watching them (Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island, Rocket Power, Hey Arnold!, Doug, and a few others) but I've never watched them since they grew out of it.
People are different and like things for different reasons. Personally I think the style of the show is very cute and I like the animation but I just can't get into it like other fellow nerds/aspies. I don't view with bronies with mass disdain like a lot of the internet though. Some people like cartoons because of the animation or maybe it just relaxes them because its chocked full of violence, sexual innuendo and other stuff that has been known to make certain people uncomfortable.
Joined: May 26, 2010 Posts: 2107 Location: third rock from one of many suns
Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 11:08 pm Post subject:
A fellow WPer mentioned it to me and I got curious. Selected an episode on YouTube ("The Return of Harmony", I think) and that was it. _________________ The existence of the leader who is wise
is barely known to those he leads.
He acts without unnecessary speech,
so that the people say,
'It happened of its own accord.' -Tao Te Ching, Verse 17
Joined: Oct 08, 2011 Age: 16 Posts: 3597 Location: Indonesia
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 7:18 am Post subject:
OliveOilMom wrote:
What makes someone watch a child's cartoon in the first place? I can see liking it once you have seen it, but why would you turn it on to begin with? Did you start watching it with your kids or a younger sibling, or were you just flipping through the channels and nothing else was on, or had you read here that lots of people liked it and you wanted to see for yourself what was up with it?
Honestly, because I've had to watch cartoons for years and years when mine were little, I'm pretty sick of cartoons in general. South Park, Family Guy and King Of The Hill are the only ones I watch. There were some kids shows that I enjoyed back when my kids were watching them (Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island, Rocket Power, Hey Arnold!, Doug, and a few others) but I've never watched them since they grew out of it.
Some of my uncles showed it to me. At first I was not interest, but gradually my interest waxed. _________________ Cinnamon and sugary
Softly Spoken lies
You never know just how you look
Through other people's eyes
Joined: Aug 27, 2005 Age: 28 Posts: 746 Location: Central NJ, USA
Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 6:45 pm Post subject:
Speaking for myself, I'm very much like a big kid at times when it comes to my tastes in movies, TV, and such. Though I'm mostly fixated on the stuff I grew up with, like 90's Nickelodeon cartoons and sitcoms, PBS shows from the 70's-early 90's, Disney movies, and the Muppets. Honestly, some of it probably is nostalgia and the comforting familiarity of these shows, but I still think that the kids' stuff I still like to watch is of good quality, and better than a lot of what passes as "adult" entertainment these days.
I haven't seen this new My Little Pony show, but based on what I've heard about it, it might be worth checking out. Even if I didn't like it, I certainly wouldn't judge people for being into it. I know that a lot of my interests are commonly seen as childish or otherwise unusual, so why should I judge other people's tastes?
My take on the matter is this, I may get flamed slightly for my opinion, but yeah.
Basically, guys have their girly side, too. For me, this is expressed in a lot of things I do. A vast majority of the music I listen to is girly pop music, ie, eurobeat, happy hardcore, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUwIv3fuZ0g Like that. I'm guessing my reasoning for liking it is my emotional maturity is probably quite low, and I'm quite alexithymic, I usually don't know how I feel at most times. But songs like that for some reason, I feel I can "connect" much better to.
So with MLP, it's not really a bad show by any means, it's done by the same lady who made the Powerpuff Girls, it's funny at times. But I myself really don't see the big deal. If I watched TV and it was on, I'd not turn it off, but it's not something I'd specifically seek out and watch.
But, what I think it is, it gives guys who wouldn't otherwise have an outlet for their "girly" side an appropriate outlet. How it got appropriate is, probably a few guys who legitimately liked it started posting it on 4chan, Reddit, whatever sites those hip young kids (lololol) post on nowadays, and then out of curiosity, other people watched it, and followed them, got on the bandwagon if you would. So now, many guys who have inclination to watch such things as MLP, but wouldn't because of peer pressure to not do it, now have peers that watch it, so there's solidarity in their group.
That's what I think. _________________ Too kawaii to live...
Too sugoi to die!
Its on Netflix if you are interested in watching it. I have yet to sit down and watch a whole episode but my daughter likes it a lot and has a basket full of MLP stuff that will prob make some fanboys jealous heh. _________________ AQ test =36: SQ test = 110: EQ test =8
Aspire quiz: Aspire score = 162; Neurotypical =42
RAADS=173 Total: Language= 10: social relatedness= 92: Sensory/motor= 37: Circumscribed interests=34
