By all accounts, I should hate the new My Little Pony series. For one, it’s flash animated, and I’m a huge fan of the classical cell-style animation, having studied it myself. For another, it’s not the series I grew up with and obsessed over when I was five, and remakes of such iconic childhood favorites almost universally disappoint.
But I can’t bring myself to hate this show, for some bizarre reason. It’s twee, but it’s hilariously twee. It’s flash animation, but it’s actually quite fluid flash animation. And it makes me grin like a goddamn idiot every time I watch the MLP/Dr. Horrible mashup that started my obsession with this show. (Watch it! It may break your mind, but it is worth it!!!)
So. Yeah…. Today’s comic…
I don’t know what came over me! It was a fit of madness!! RAINBOW COLORED MADNESS!!
This was actually originally going to be just a sketch update, but I got a little carried away and it turned into a full comic, sans color. Enjoy! I’m now going to collapse and dream of silly multi-colored ponies!!!
KenderBryant Says:
Despite the fact that I don’t like MLP, I thought that drawing the group as Ponies was hilarious. I think you captured each one perfectly. I’m surprised by Dustin’s reaction though. I didn’t have him pegged as a pony-person.
Madelen Says:
Fluffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Zooooooe Says:
Poing!
Best word ever.
I forget what those words are called that sound like what they are, that are used so much in comics. But ‘Poing’ is king among them.
Kaspi Says:
To be honest, Dustin creeps me out too.
ranthoron Says:
Is that a button?
Bobcat Says:
*brohoof*
Jordan Says:
Have you seen the crossover-fan art out there? Star Wars, Star Trek, A-Team, Portal, Warhammer 40k,Leverage, Gurren Lagan, and the list goes on.
Sintanan Says:
Welcome to the herd my fellow pony brethren.
Cagliostro Says:
So … when do we see the Wereponies – Spin-off?
William McDuff Says:
OK, I’m scared.
Sabine Says:
1) any chance of a coloured desktop background based on this?
2) Poster?
Just the main panel, please. With a nice artsy fartsy rainbowy background.
KenjiE20 Says:
MLP:FiM .. Best. Fanbase. Ever.
*brohoof*
ThatGuy Says:
OMGPonies? More like pwnies, amrite?
Bumble Toes Says:
I swear my reaction to this the same as Abbie’s
Clinton O Says:
Dustin’s reaction scares me as well. Good job!
Dru Says:
Dustin’s reaction made me LOL IRL ^_^
Shaded Spriter Says:
YAY! Another of the webcomic Artists who have been consumed into the Pony insanity – Last episode of season 1 is on in about 4 hours time. going to be watching it live with my fellow bronies.
I am so addicted to the Ponies that I have even started a Podcast about it.
Ascension Says:
Pony!Joel may be the most wonderful thing I’ve seen all week.
As for your reaction, Friendship is Magic has that effect on *everyone.* Just ask the growing army of Bronies. It is irresistible.
Hmm… Lauren *Faust.* One wonders if the show’s uncanny abilities might be the result of a deal with infernal powers. Must investigate further.
Sparkus-Clark Says:
Okay so, maybe my eyes are blind from finals, but what are Sarah and Mark’d symbols?
Taxil Necrobane Says:
ADMIT IT! you have become a “Bronie” in the end and have joined the herd.
man i do so love today’s strip…
General Tekno Says:
The new cartoon is indeed awesome; I will agree with you there.
However, is it actually Flash Animated? It looks TOO WELL ANIMATED to be Flash, after all. If the models were more static, sure I’d agree, but the animation quality is just too superb in terms of the dynamic poses they get out of those ponies (especially Pinkie Pie, of course)
Thudthwacker Says:
I imagine you’d be peppered with little cease-and-desist post-its if you tried, but man, you could make *one meelyun dollars* at a con just by doing MLP caricatures for, like, $5 each.
Dexam Says:
Abbie and Pinkie Pie are clearly kindred spirits; and I’m not surprised in the least that Dustin is a brony. Though Joel would have been better drawn as a Griffon: “Lame-o’s! You’re all a bunch of lame-o’s!”
Sabine Says:
@Sparkus-Clark
Sarah’s is an open book – nothing novel.
As for Mark’s – no idea. It seems vaguely familiar, though. Like some sort oft game piece.
Anonymous Says:
“It’s flash animation, but it’s actually quite fluid flash animation.”
There is no reason why anything animated in Flash should be less fluid or more fluid than any other method of animation, be it done on cells or digitally. Fluidity comes from spending more time drawing frames. Using the medium used to animate a TV series as an argument for disliking it is of such level of short-sightedness that one has to wonder whether you actually know what you are talking about. Nostalgia is in the same way a reason of no depth whatsoever.
Personally I’d rather see less people going so utterly crazy over the show. The fandom is reaching levels similar to other fandoms usually declared to be annoying by the majority of the internet. Chillax internet. While I don’t care about the show myself, I can see that it’s well made. The creative staff is well experienced and known to do well, the animation is of the same quality as most US cartoons, the voice talent is good with only 5 main actors, the songs are well made and it’s all together just your average ALL AGES television show. But please, stop filling every nook and cranny of the internet with ponies.
Thank you.
P.S. I apologize for the small rant to appear here.
Rebecca Hicks Says:
Why were you worried? Best strip EVAR!
Hornet Says:
Dustin just lost his last 10 masculinity points!
Elizabeth Says:
This just makes me incredibly happy, and I have no idea why. (I haven’t even seen either the old show or the new show.) And for some reason I’m having this strange urge to print the comic out and color it…? There are some college girls who apparently still like coloring in coloring books for fun, but I am most definitely not one of them. WHAT IS IT ABOUT PONIES??
Also, I’ve seen Doctor Who My Little Ponies. (And I rather like them. Is that bad…?)
Chakat Firepaw Says:
@General Tekno:
Yep, it’s Flash. Admittedly flash with a whole bunch of custom add-ons, (which is why they’re a couple of versions behind).
We know that because a number of the creators are quite willing to talk with the fans online, including one of the animators and Lauren Faust herself.
@Elizabeth:
ITYM Doctor Whoof, who often appears multiple times in a single shot and has been both a pegasus and an earth pony.
General Tekno Says:
Re: this Flash animation question… thinking about it more, I think the reason for the term is that most Flash animation is cheap/badly done animation, and thus the term has been associated with that sort of lazy production.
However, MLP is in the top tier in that everything seems to be keyframed, and it appears more like they’re using Flash as a tool to do gorgeous animation instead of using it as a crutch to motion tween a few objects and call it “animation” (which is what most of it tends to be, sadly).
Myself, I’m mystified exactly what it is I love about the show, but I think it’s a combination of the writing/voice acting/character designs/animation style/characters, and most importantly, not talking down to the audience. Lauren Faust’s gone on the record as saying one of her goals with the series was to make a MLP cartoon that wasn’t just “yet another girl cartoon”; to make something that all audiences could enjoy – and she definitely succeeded.
Calbeck Says:
Oh God, I’m laughing right now -XD
“Look at me. Now at your hands. They’re hooves. Now back at me. I’M A UNICORN.”
Ellemerr Says:
I’ve only seen a bit of the show and didn’t quite understand what the big deal is, but eh, it’s not terrible, so why not? I liked Nightmare Moon. :3 But I still prefer the old show. Ah, the nostalgia…
The best part about this, though, is Dustin as a pony. Squee~! If I were a MLPony, firstly I’d be a mix of Abbie and Sarah (long hair, winged, horned and book-paged, but utterly crazy, noisy and bouncy), but secondly I’d have a total crush on the Dustin-pony. I haven’t collected ponies for ages, but gods askew, I want that Dustin pony bad…
Also, what is Mark-pony’s symbol? I think it kind of looks like a Lucia-day (which might be a scandinavian phenomenon) bun/roll, but that’s… probably not it. >.> Help, anyone?
bob! Says:
There’s a couple Weird Al my little pony videos on youtube
General Tekno Says:
Also, when it comes to MLP fanvideos, Topless Robot generally posts at least one a week as well. There’s so many great edits out there.
Bookwyrm Says:
Dustin’s reaction is just too precious! LOL! Shirt Woot had a “MLP of the Apocalypse” design a few months ago. You would have loved it.
KenderBryant Says:
You should make a TV series out of this comic. It’d be funtastic! I can see Tara Strong as Abby, Alan Rickman as Joel, Daniel Radcliffe as Mark, Emma Watson or Evanna Lynch as Sara, and James Broadbent as Dustin.
Roger Says:
@Zooooooe Onomatopaeia, though I’m not sure I spelt it right LOL.
Funniest/most sensible cross over fic I ever read was The Pretender joining SG-1 to hide out. Perfect guy to have on your team
stuffedSprite Says:
The general consensus on the internet about MLP:FiM is that it rocks and you should watch it. I probably should too.
Metblondchen Says:
not possible that you, by any chance, are reading http://www.mahoushounenfight.com/?p=200 , too?
Dardrei G. Says:
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Welcome to the herd!!!
DGofS Says:
so much squee on my part. Love ponies, love your stuff. all around good times.
Samaliel Says:
Ok, I give up. I’m watching the new Doctor Who episodes and then I’m picking up MLP:FiM.
Congratulations: you made me a bronie.
daed4 Says:
I would advise you to consult your Guardsman’s Uplifting Primer, lest the Inquisition need get involved.
From the Warriors Prayer of Battle;
I offer my life to the Emprah
I pray that He accepts
I offer my body on the altar of battle
I pray He grants me a noble death
I pray for His protection
As I offer all that I can.
The God-Emprah sacrifices in life so that you need only sacrifice in death, a death spent bringing he wrath unto the enemies of Mankind
*makes sign of the Aquila*
NOW CHARGE!!!!
*pulls out his chain sword and charges agains the heretical ponies*
*a carnage later*
Sorry guys it happens to me every time i saw ponies.
Nova Says:
Mark’s is an SNES controller’s buttons
Ascension Says:
Pretty sure Mark’s got paired dice rolls, by the way. Two sets of matching dice (I’d say d6s, but they look more roundy than that. d10s? I don’t know of any game that has a 2d12 roll, and the only 2d20 roll I can vaguely remember was in… something I don’t think anyone here would be playing.), circled, as they’re sometimes depicted. Does Shadowrun count matches? I don’t think any of the other games they’ve played in-comic have…
Lord Bounty Says:
I thought Mark’s was supposed to be a sushi roll, but that was just by process of elimination.
Tangentsreviews Says:
Ah, but the question is… did you ever see the Ponycraft video? =^-^=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJbAT1wzS8U
Dierna Says:
I honestly never really got into My Little Pony’s as a kid. I think I saw maybe 1 or 2 eps of the original series and bits and pieces of the film (the one that introduced Spike). I had a couple of the action figs but I was more into Gummi Bears, Wuzzles, and Care Bears back then.
But Friendship is Magic….OMG….the awesomeness of it all. It’s an alternate earth!! Im trying to figure out where exactly Ponyville is. It’s either in New Jersey or upstate New York as Applejack could almost see it from MANEhattan plus Princess Celestia once mentioned Fillydelphia (oh the puns! The puns!). The series appears to be set in the mid/late 1800s from both the fashions of Manehattan and the ep set in the old west (they got to this old west town by train). The Native Americans (Buffalo! I love it! Native Americans depicted as Buffalo!) in that ep weren’t too happy with the white man (the pony’s) putting an apple orchard on their herding grounds. Dunno if there was slavery but maybe not. Cuz the only decidedly African character is a Zebra (complete with the accent) and everyone was scared of her at first.
But anyways. MLP FIM is awesome. I’ve already gotten figs of the main characters. I just want figs of the rest of the Apple family darnit and Spike (he only comes in sets and I don’t want the sets…hrm).
Lurker From Beyond Says:
Is Mark’s symbol Pizza?
Mang Says:
*Blink blink*
Hang on… I was on this page 3hours ago. So that’s how I ended up watching my little pony and buying Dr. Horrible’s sing along blog.
*Blink*
MerchManDan Says:
So far, I’ve resisted the siren song of My Little Pony. But how long can I hold out? My desire to be a part of something larger than myself is fighting with my desire to not jump on any trend that comes along. Also, I’m a 32-year-old male and it’s….My Little Pony.
Joi Says:
I’ve become addicted to the crazy mashup videos. I think my favorites are the Pony Polka (mashup with one of Weird Al’s polka mixes), MPL/Inglorious Basterds mashup (so very wrong) or the P For Pinketta (MLP/V For Vendetta mashup). Very disturbing, and I can’t stop watching them!!
KiWi Says:
I think it’s kinda crazy that as i’m reading this update i’m loading MLP:FIM on youtube……. welcome to the herd
Avery Says:
@Nova – You’re totally right! They are SNES buttons!
Reutan Says:
Oh Pinkie Pie, you’re so random…
Btw, go listen to “Call on Me”, or should I say “Pooonnyyyy, pooonny!” (You can’t unhear it now bwaahahahah)