My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** I'm guessing they lost the rights. Still, there's no reason they can't introduce some kind of hippocampi.

***** ^ I am 20 years old and the Sea Ponies from the above video freaked me out. It's like they decided to see if they could put other animals besides humans in the [[Uncanny Valley]].

** I think they need another "No means No" aesop...because [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped]] and it seems to have missed its target.

*** [[Uncanny Valley]] is subjective.

** Actually Rainbow Dash saying "nopony" to Discord doesn't count as an error since it was mentioned that while Discord's body was made up of all different sorts of creatures, his head was still that of a pony. So he still qualifies as being at least related to the other ponies.

** Logistics. Strong lives & works in California. The rest of the cast is based (and records) in Canada. The songs tend to be ensemble efforts and work better with all the main voices in the same room. Guess they just figured it was easier to get a double that sounded close enough than to fly her out each time they needed to record a musical number.

** Yes. Speaking as a non-brony here, we start to get creeped out when people start talking about ponies. Think of it this way - what do you do when you see a [[Star Trek]] fan speaking klingon? Yeah. It's kind of like that.

** My nephews and nieces all ''hate'' the show, and when someone came to promote ''[[My Little Pony]]'' in the book fair, they were met with rampant booing. No, they're not high-school age...these are kids in between the ages of five and eleven.

* Doesn't really fit in with the tone of this page, but I'm curious as how Hasbro lost the rights to every character BUT Applejack and Spike. The new ponies are a lot better, but even so.

** Hmm, that explains plot of coming episode.

*** Yes it's a meme, but this troper always thought it was an interesting interpretation of some of the things she's done, as already mentioned above, but the memes are more for humor and not what people actually think. Clearly, the princess doesn't go around being a cruel despot, but it's still funny to imagine her that way.

* Am I the only one bothered by the lack of good recurring MALE characters? I mean, sure, you could argue that more female characters=more relatable to the show's target demographic, but (as of Episode 19, which is what I've watched to) we have:

** Spike, whose competence varies between episodes.

** and that's pretty much it. Just...what the hell? I'm not asking for the characters to talk about boys all the time, because I'm well aware that would ruin the show--but a good male character who gets more than just a few good scenes wouldn't be a bad thing either. Or hell, more than one.

**** All the same, he's still a different species from the rest of the cast, and is a baby on top of that-- he's clearly not on equal standing with his peers. I think what the original poster wanted (which I happen to agree with wholeheartedly) is a recurring male who's ''not'': A.) a Jerkass and/or antagonist (Dash's bullies, Diamond Dogs, Prince Blueblood), B.) an "annoying little brother"-type (eg., Spike), C.) a quiet or silent piece of movable scenery (Big Mac, the Doctor), or D.) an utter waste of space (Snips and Snails). I'd call it a legitimate concern, not just in the sense of feeling alienated by the lack of notable males (what with ''being'' one, and all that), but also because the current ratio may undermine Ms. Faust's original plan for the show to have a progressive spin on gender relations. As it is now, there's a possibility that the show could end up reinforcing the notion of "boys are icky!" for the target audience.

*** Do you mean males?

**** Two wrongs don't make a right, but there's no wrong in making a show focusing on females. There's also no wrong in making a show focusing on males--but there is wrong in making ALL THE SHOWS focus on males, just as it would be wrong if every show on TV was about females. FIM is merely helping to correct the balance. There's room along the whole female-oriented side of the spectrum for more shows with differing gender balances, and FIM doesn't have to cover it all by itself.

*** Except that reaction to them would be much ''much'' different. If Rarity were male, he'd be seen as a flaming homosexual and [[Moral Guardians]] would scream about a gay character in a show targeted at kids. If Fluttershy were male, he wouldn't be "Cute", he'd be seen as annoying and bratty. And likewise, Applejack as a male would be seen as a "Walking Stereotype", even though Applejack is a Walking Stereotype enough as is. Rainbow Dash as a male would be seen as a musclehead, and Pinkie Pie would have been seen as annoying or like Rarity, a flaming homosexual.

*** Those are G1 designs. They reused the G1 designs for Sparkler and Posey. All they did was change Sparkler to white and remove her highlight, and they changed Posey's Cutie Mark.

** Basically, the toys don't really have to do with the show, the toy designers just take a glance (very very short glance) at the early character designs and trust the popularity of the name is enough to sell it, even if the toys will not resemble the characters from the show.

* Why's Ditzy so often depicted as being... Eh... Mentally challenged, so to speak. Or at least having a speech problem. I'm fine with the depiction, especially in [[Dark Fic]]'s, but it seems a bit odd. I've pictured her as being eccentric and [[The Ditz]], but I don't get the speech thing. Where'd it originate from?

*** No they are not Scrappies, most of fandom is OK with them, they have many fans and they have vocal haters.

* Similar to a question I asked above. why do some people accuse the Cutie Mark Crusaders of being a [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]? they only had four episodes out of twenty-six devoted to them. plus, "Call of the Cutie" was focused on Apple Bloom specifically, the spotlight was shared with Fluttershy in "Stare Master" and they where pretty much just a framing device in "the Cutie Mark Chronicles".

*** Exactly my point.

****** Lauren Faust has [http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ spoken out] against stereotyping Rainbow Dash as a lesbian. Not that people will give up [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|Lesbian!]]Dash anyways.

* Talking about Rainbow Dash, why is it that seemingly in every other fanfic or fan art she shows up in she's losing her wings, or being mutilated for life, or going insane and murdering Pinkie Pie or Scootaloo? Heck, on Equestria Daily someone even wrote a fanfic about it in which they had Dash ''herself'' complain about it to Twilight! ''"Why do they hate me, Twi? Am I simply not awesome enough for them?"'' Why the ferocious rainbow pegasus hate?

** There's probably also some capital-D Destiny at work regarding pony names. Most ponies end up with names that match their (yet unknown) cutie marks, after all! Consider the marriage of Carrot (Mr.) Cake and Cup (Mrs.) Cake, or the Oranges of Manehattan. Assuming there's not an uncomfortable amount of cousin-marrying going on, it seems clear that couples with allied cutie marks tend to be given matching names.

**** That actually seems to make the most sense. After marriage, one of the newlywed ponies changes their surname to whatever sounds better. Also, it can be that Sweetie Belle's first name is just 'Sweetie' (a perfectly appropriate pony name), which would make Rarity's full name 'Rarity Belle'. But since she wants to be a famous designer, she decided to go with the being only known by one name thing like Madonna or Prince. This would make Rainbow Dash's surname 'Dash'. Applejack would be Applejack Smith or Applejack Apple if Granny Smith's progeny changed their name after marriage. Apple Bloom could be Apple Bloom Smith, since ponies can have three names, or Applebloom Smith if her first name was just both words together. The only one we don't know the last name of would be Fluttershy, but it would probably be something she doesn't care for since it is very un-fluttershy, like Charger or Rampager.

** Expanding a bit on the above the formal and more elaborate naming conventions really only came about in humans when populations expanded to the point that confusion could arise regarding who was being refereed too. Most indications are the pony population is significantly lower then our own so there's likely a much lesser need for complex systems to differentiate individuals in many places. It might be that only in a few large centers of population are more complex naming systems common. In more rural areas single given names may still be common, but as migration and continued population expansion have continued this has been blurring, as people leave cites but keep using the naming schemes born of them, so you're starting to end up with seemingly schizophrenic conventions in certain locales (such as the seemingly highly integrated Ponyville). If you want to get overly meta about it they seem to have recently perfected steam power and so maybe on the verge of an industrial revolution, or in the early stages of one and the social upheaval and change that would entail.

* Why is it that Twilight is always addressed as her most loyal and faithful student? Twilight seems to teach herself, really. In fact, Twilight is reporting back to Celestia about the nature of friendship as magic. Surely Celestia is already well-acquainted with friendship and its magical properties...

* Moreover, notice how ponies' cutie marks are not just indicative of their behavior, but form a limit on what they can do? As Twilight and Spike divulged during a bit of exposition, most ponies aren't magical beyond the abilities implied by their cutie mark. Only ponies like Twilight, who specialize in magic itself, can gain any varied spells.

** So, you're complaining about the fact that some ponies are basically more naturally talented at given tasks than others? How is that any different than how it works in real life?

*** Well, it's a little of both. For example, Pinkie Pie's name has very little to do with her love of parties or her skill at cooking, and maybe a little to do with her [[Genki Girl]]-ness. On the other hand, there's no way Rainbow Dash's parents could have known that she's naturally good at flying, but she's had her very noticeable multi-colored hair for her entire life. Applejack, however, is a very clear case of the self-fulfilling prophecy. She says herself in "Call Of The Cutie" that she was born to inherit the family apple orchards and "the cutie mark sealed the deal", so in a way, she literally was born to continue the Apple family tradition. As for the other ponies, it's, as I said before, a little of both.

**** In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2 E12 Baby Cakes|Baby Cakes]] Mr. Cake introduces his newborn foals, Pound Cake Pumpkin Cake.

** I personally think it's less that they run ''everything'' then that they nudge parts of it to their own ends. Frankly the population clearly just isn't large enough to manage all aspects of nature even if they dedicated there entire lives to the task (they clearly don't). Once you accept that and stop to think a bit allot of what they do isn't really different that what we do just with magic instead of tech. We plow away snow even though it would melt on it's own, we have people whose entire job is watching the woods to make sure the ecosystem is 'in balance' (according to us), and we modify the weather as much as we're able with things like air conditioning, green houses, etc. Instead it's not so much being maintained as co-opted and managed by them for their own use. It has however been like this for a very long time now though and is considered the norm, and thus ironically raw unconstrained nature is now considered 'unnatural'. Kind of puts a new spin on things when you pause to think about it. The ponies have effectively conquered their environment as we have only utilizing magic instead of technology, but to the same ends more or less. They just try to spin it with more mysticism and new age philosophy, but funny how their are no large predators roaming around, the weather it controlled to be best for ''them'', and areas outside pony influence are consider strange and wild.

* Princess Celestia is... interesting. If she's the ruler, why is she princess and not queen? What happened to her sister after the second episode? Surely she would be around some of the time, right? Maybe she was disappeared. If Celestia was the original wielder of the Elements of Harmony, how could she have forgotten about such an elementary and simple thing as friendship?

** Yeah... but since she can move the sun, she must have some Titanic pools of magic, not to mention that she is a Millenary old sorceress if you want to go down in the "not-god" camp. That alone would make her a fearsome adversary, regardless of how much a "pacifist" she may be. Also a [[Captain Obvious|God]]. Take for example Twilight, who have a ridiculous minimal fraction of magical pools and nothing of knowledge compared to her and what she can do. Also, raising the sun is not important, is ''bloody beyond absolute'' for the continuation of Life in all of Equestria. As put in "Time and Terror", a being that can stop the rotation of a planet (or a star) with a thought must have some serious power.

** Once again, a [[Physical God|God]]. People attacking a god don't tend to last very long, regardless of numbers. If that is the matter, I prefer the fan theory that she had guards because Celestia fighting is ''very bad news''. As in [[Walking Disaster Area|miles radius colateral damage]] bad news. I mean, lets say she is one trick ponie. Sure, that means she had absolute control of a 1.9891×10(30) kg/ near infinite source of power. She could command a pinpoint Solar flare to [[Thirty Hs|kill the fuck out of her enemies]] if necessary, but that would be kind of bad for Equestria. It could be that the Guards act as a power limiter, because there [[Forgotten Realms|is always an Idiot who would try]]. For this troper, is because Celestia want to stay close to her little ponies, so she follows the charade of nobility (Reason why she is a Princess-a power to be- instead of a Queen -an absolute power that is-) for this allow her subdites to approach her in a more personal manner instead of worship her blindy (which she seems unconfortable) and by "limiting" her power and reach, [[Trickster Mentor|force her little ponies to be more independent and responsable, instead of only asking her to solver her problems]] while making sure to be at hand and influence when things go south.

** Celestia has the cosmic level power to move entire planets. Unicorns are shown to have serious transformational magic and telekinesis. Pegasi are shown to be able to control atmospheric conditions, inertia, and possibly gravity. Celestia and Luna have that times a factor of 1000+ since they can both control the orbit and rotation of the planet while making sure nothing flies off if they stop it from turning. If Celestia decides to battle a regular pony assassin, it would be like trying to swat a fly with an entire nuclear arsenal. Even if she could limit her powers to prevent multiple extinction level events, she has the option of banishing them out of orbit or popping them like a blood-filled soap bubble. Niether are great to subdue the assialent and interregate them as to their reasons/who sent them.

** Either (a) Celestia is less powerful than you originally assumed, perhaps because her powers are sun-specific etc., or (b) Celestia really is super-powerful, but she lets the mane cast have adventures on her behalf anyway so they can learn lessons about friendship etc., and thus if there were any real danger Celestia would just teleport in and fix everything immediately.

** One very real possibility: The guards aren't for HER. They're to get everyone else out of the way when she stars throwing around her Celestial Princess magic at the dragon or whatever else she's fighting, or to handle crowd control (like at the Cake's party), or so on. She's powerful but can't do everything at once. Heck, it could even be seen as a favor to anyone who attacks her, better guards than being hit by magic of that level, right? As for chariots, she does need to sleep too, so becoming tired is possible, hence rides, even though she can do without.

**** They're also not only strong but much stronger than horses in our world and probably stronger than male pegasi or unicorns. Remember that only four of them were pulling the train in Over a Barrel. The snowplows they were using probably couldn't be pulled by anyone else.

** In natural populations of species that don't have sex determination locked in at birth, [[Truth in Television|females are often more common, due to breeding constraints]]. Male and female populations are fairly equal in humans and horses alike because of [[wikipedia:Fisherchr(27)s principle|Fisher's principle]] - basically, if the kids get equal genes from a female and a male, and the genes have to bet one way or the other at fertilization, then they'll pick male and female about equally. However, the pressures on horses are such that they ''would'' have a ratio like we see on-screen, with no bachelor herds, if not for using a birth-lock-in system. [[Epileptic Trees|So maybe the ponies don't lock in a sex until it's clear who'd be in a herd with the ladies and who'd be in a bachelor herd]]? That would also explain why the males are usually so buff: if they aren't buff as babies, they won't turn out male. This requires that Snails's weediness came at a later age, though.

*** Of course. Can you really tell if any of the characters are male unless they start talking with an obvious-male voice or are referenced to as "male"?

*** More like eating unwashed, sometimes-bug-carcass-filled berries right from the bushes.

*** Clearly the above troper needs to find better bushes, because berrying is mostly glorious.

*** Spike did order "hay fries" at a restaurant in "The Ticket Master". As far as we can tell, they eat in a human fashion, but without meat and with more things a horse would eat.

*** All ponies seem to have tactile telekineses via hooves and teeth. That lets them do things such as play stringed instruments or speak clearly while holding something in their mouth.

* Why does everyone always assume that most of the ponies are illiterate? It seems to be based entirely on the fact that everything is labeled with pictures rather than words, but given who the show is targeted at, it really isn't that surprising that they'd want the labels to be as simple as possible.

** We never do see her as a foal, and the mane cast seem to be young adults. It's perfectly possible for her to be older than they are -- or just a young mother.

*** Few moments earlier we see many Derpys in scene, so it don't need to mean anything.

** Pegasai seem to control inertia and the atmosphere (aerokinetic). The princesses seem to have that cranked up past 9000. So, they have either enough power to control the planet's spin and rotation while making sure the atmosphere doesn't fly off if they put on the brakes, or can control the sun's gravity and momentum enough to get it to orbit the planet. [[Fridge Logic]] then states that if it is the latter case and something happened to both the princesses at once, the sun and planet would slingshot away from each other... or possibly into each other.

* How old is Spike meant to be? I can't tell by his voice, but it seems around the ten - eleven range. His behavior and relation to everyone is more of the seven - eight range though. Also, how quickly does he age?

*** I meant if he were a human. What would his age be? In theory, he should be around the eight - ten year old age if Twilight was around ten or so.

* Is it me or is this series more [[Retro Universe]] then the typical ''[[My Little Pony]]''. The series has always mixed old and new, but this show is just all over the place. Medieval times, 1800s, early 1900s, modern day..

**** Ahem. "Suited for Success," the Letter to Celestia. Twilight uses the phrase "don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Ponder the implications of this idiom existing in the Equestrian lexicon for a moment.

** According to "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2 E23 Ponyville Confidential|Ponyville Confidential]]" cutie marks are all on the fur. Somehow

*** Eggs are often considered Vegetarian.

* Is it just me or does Pinkie Pie have a ''lot'' of free time?

** If you had Pinkie Pie for an employee, would ''you'' task her with something requiring a lot of care and attention? If she's going to wander off and stalk her friends to make sure they keep secrets ''anyway'', you might as well give her a job that she can do when she ''isn't'' emerging from bowls of sponges with a fierce expression.

*** This seems likely. Her habit of pawing at and digging into the ground is most specifically associated with mountain zebras in real life, as well.

** Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that Twilight, the more-or-less adult pony in the situation, would only be doing it to prove a point to Apple Bloom? In reality whether or not Twilight could make a permanent cutie mark seems irrelevant, as she nows Apple Bloom needs to earn her mark honestly, and wouldn't make her a permanent cutie mark anyway.

*** Definitely both. Remember what the party was called? a "Cuteceañera". This comes straight from the Spanish traditions of a "Quinceañera" (15th birth year), which is a gigantic celebration of upcoming womanhood.

** True, but she doesn't really need to be frightened from where I stand, too. If anything, Twilight Sparkle is one of the closest people in Princess Celestia's inner circle as her apprentice, and would probably know the most about her before having come to Ponyville.

*** Rainbow Dash doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would enjoy celebrity. She loves showing off and impressing people, but the things that come with it (expectation, lack of privacy, people telling her what to do, too many rules, not enough nap time) would drive her up the wall in the end. Her fame was likely dimmed by the fact that after Sonic Rainboom she just fled right back to Ponyville and continued doing odd jobs in what is pretty much the equivalent of Nowhereville, North Dakota, which is likely exactly what she wanted. Her desire to join the wonderbolts is pretty much so she can hang out with some awesome ponies and pull off sweet tricks, not fame persay. As for saving Equestria, I wonder if that wasn't entirely attributed to Twilight (who does seem rather well known), along with the actual details being mostly unknown to anyone who wasn't directly involved.

** Spike may be a wingless dragon, in Twilight flashback in CMC we see picture of adult dragon of Spike race, it looked same as other dragons but no wings.

*** Applejack is loyal, maybe even more so than Rainbow Dash, but the opposite is not true. What's the alternative? That AJ becomes Loyalty, and RD becomes Honesty, which definitely does not suit her. Besides, she claimed her loyalty was to the princess, not her friends. As much as the current setting seems flawed, it's also the best, because the alternative doesn't make sense either. RD's loyal, blindly so at times, but that's.... really all she has when it comes to friendship. Recent episodes have shown facets of her personality that would make previous antagonists jealous by comparison.

** I'd agree that it's firmly in [[Rule of Funny]] [[Schizo-Tech]]. At first, things seem to be a pony- and magic-filled version of, say, 18th or 19th century (Western) life. Then you have Twilight's EKG, Pinkie's pedal-powered helicopter, Rarity's non-pedal-powered sewing machine and hairdryers, the Crusaders talking about cannon and power tools ...

** Out-of-universe: [[Word of God]] has stated that writers should avoid using "modern" technology though it is not forbidden to include to make a story or joke work, as well as to establish some sense of familiarity to the younger viewer: hence why we have elements like flashlights. However, writers shouldn't be lazy to include, say, a washing machine when non-powered tech (a washboard) works for the same joke/story element. Lauren's also stated that if there ''is'' something electrical, just think of it that a unicorn mechanic put a whole bunch of magic into it in the past.

** In-universe: steam power seems completely likely: we have the steam engine train in the S2 opening, there's the spa, there's Fluttershy's radiator, Spike uses up all the hot water for his shower, etc. Perhaps Ponyville, situated where it is near a large mountain range, sits on a geothermal pocket, which would make steam-driven mechanical generators to drive things like basic plumbing, hot water, and heat. Also a good source of wind energy (the windmill). All that could be made that, where appropriate, each home and building has a simple electricity generator running off steam for lights and other equipment. Not efficient if you translated it to a real world technology, but its not like Ponyville's suffering from global warming yet...

* Going with the above info, does Spike consider Twilight's parents as his own? "Cutie Mark Chronicles" shows that Twilight was charged with raising him, however we can assume her parents did most of the work as she was only a filly.

* How old are the main cast ponies? Because the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" seem to be somewhere between 7 and 9 and they're called fillies by the main girls. Still, the main ponies themselves don't seem to be that old. I'd have to guess that they're upper teens (18-20), but it's really hard to tell.

** Twilight hatched Spike from an egg and has presumably raised him from infancy by herself. Their relationship seems to be that of an adoptive mother and her adopted son. As close as they are, and as much as they love each other, they are not friends; they are family.

* How come Rarity will basically drag in strangers off the street just to dress up and restyle them, will lecture friends about etiquette..... but has almost indifference towards her own sister on such issues? Like in Stare Master when she doesn't even bat an eyelid when a sizeable chunk of Sweetie Belle's hair is cut off by the cat (remember how badly she reacted to Twilight's messed up hair in the first episode) or that she's perfectly fine with all the rough and tumble antics she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders get up to. I would have thought being Rarity's little sister would be like being somebody's [[Barbie]] doll half the time.... but in fact she seems like a perfectly normal older sister, which, while nice, is still inconsistent with her character.

* why are the other main characters friends with Pinkie Pie if they find her so annoying?

** They find this one thing about her annoying. Are your friends all perfect?

** I think that Twilight just gives him a lot of chores to do. And it's just increased after Hearth's Warming Eve, making him very busy. So, his busy lifestyle is probably what's preventing him from spending a lot of time with his friends. Much to his dismay.

**** Even if the writers go with Lauren's idea, he and Twilight still share a brother-sister relationship. So there really doesn't seem to be an excuse not to add him to "Sweet and Elite." They could've probably visited the Princess after Twilight's birthday, seeing as they were staying at the castle where she ''lives.'' Besides, I don't think anything would keep him from his sister and Rarity. Spike sees Celestia a lot. Especially since in, "Look Before you Sleep," it's shown that sometimes he's away on business in canterlot for the princess. So there's probably time to see her. Besides, he's still just a kid. Celestia wouldn't constantly have him go from Ponyville to Canterlot to do work while everpony else doesn't seem to. And as for "The Last Roundup," I think he should've at least appeared for the welcome home party, so we could see that he cared for Applejack. They also could've added a scene where he agrees to stay behind to watch the library, and see if Applejack comes back. That way we at least know where he is. As for "Baby Cakes," I agree with the above statement, that he really didn't know the cakes much. And besides, what kid would really want to spend a whole morning in a hospital looking at babies? It's not too exciting from a kid's perspective. But other than that, episodes like "Sweet and Elite," or the,"The Last Roundup," didn't really HAVE to give him major roles, just add him to the background and give him small lines, to show that he is spending ''some'' time with girls. It just seems a bit weak on the writers part, to not even address why he's not with his friends. Especially for events that friends usually go to with each other. There's the chance that he has male friends he hangs out with, but they're never mentioned, or even seen. He's usually with Twilight. Also, when he's not with them, he's at the library. Does he spend all his time there? What does he do? Sometimes, like in Episode 2 of Season 2 he was shown sleeping, but holding a mop, so it's implied that he was doing chores, and tires himself out. But that can't just be ALL he does. He may be Twilight's #1 assistant, and he likes his job. But he's also a kid. And we never really see him do any kid things, like play with fillies or colts his age, or even go to school. So it can be assumed that he is just a busy guy.

** Yeah. They seemed like they were acquainted. But we never really see them hang out in the background, or have Spike ever mention hanging out with Lickety Split, after he appeared in that ''one'' episode. Maybe later on he'll appear more though.