Sfdebris.net

A book is trying to sell itself. A movie usually tries to do the same. A TV or radio show might try and sell itself or it might try and sell a product - that's how product placements were born. Cartoons like MLP: FIM, they are in a league of their own though. They are the result of toy manufacturers realizing that they can just make their own IP's and don't need to lease the image of popular characters from other companies for their toys. That's how shows like He-Man got started in the first place. Now here's the thing, I'm not saying this show is bad, but this is an advert. It's made to try and establish characters so as to facilitate children engaging in narrative play with their dolls/action figures. Unlike the original MLP toy line or the original transforming robots Hasbro licensed from Japan where the child playing had to create a narrative from scratch, now they have shows to base the narratives they use while playing on. Once they had to make up a narrative, now they're just "going on an adventure" with Twilight Sparkle or Optimus Prime. Its this last reason that makes it impossible for me to look deeper and with a critical eye at shows like this. Even when they're at their best and are award winning, they are still vehicles meant to move toys off shelves - at which point I don't care if something comes down from on high or was the doing of the writers, it ends up serving the exact same purpose, and as such I don't see a real reason to critique it as if it were any other piece of media. IT's a toy commercial and should not be in the same category as say, Over the Garden Wall or The Last Unicorn.

Good lord you're cynical and shallow.

Sir Will wrote:Good lord you're cynical and shallow.

I prefer the term realist.

Meanwhile, you write all that, and I'm just sitting here like, :shrug: "so?"

AlucardNoir wrote: When we are talking about works such as MLP:FIM I think it's important we always remember that at the end of the day we are talking about a 22 minute toy commercial and that we can't take anything at face value when it comes to it's plot, characters or development.

There is a difference between not only taking it at face value and not even taking it at face value. I see no reason to do the latter even for commercials that are just 30 second ad spots much less 22 minute productions. I think most see the value in acknowledging and considering the commercial motives in a production, to not only take such a production at face value. What people are disagreeing with you about is that you seem to think it is required that we only consider the commercial motives once some arbitrary line is passed, but that is really reductive and seems to rather lead to simplistic and limited interpretations of media rather than any deeper insight into it either for asking why we enjoy it or what manipulations are implicit in the production or what consequences the production has and so on. It seems naive rather than sophisticated...

alucard have you ever seen chucks 3 part video series on the history of the transformers

AllanO - Life is short, at some point I just have to say: you know what, this isn't worth the effort - shows specifically designed to sell toys are one such point. Yes, it's reductive, and yes it's simplistic but it's fairer then wasting time trying to parse what's a corporate mandate in a show like MLP and what's the writers actual intention. Mainly because - and here I go again - the whole show is technically a corporate mandate.

aceina - I have, and it hasn't done anything to change my opinion. While I like to troll about how much I loved Beast Wars and the Unicron trilogy, the truth of the matter is I just don't get angry over these particular shows - I liked them for what they were but I'm not a kid, I know they were there to sell toys so there's only that much of a damn I'm willing to give about a toy commercial, even a good one on in the case of the Unicron trilogy one I liked. The same way I don't actually care if the Transformers movie franchise is a success or not. I saw the first one, realized it wasn't for me and stopped watching. Saw some scenes of the second on TV and yep, still not for me. Would I rather resources be spent on something I personally would enjoy? sure. Am I going to yell and demand we get a "good" transformers movie? no.

Note: If anyone is wondering, why am I watching SFDebris if I'm so cut and dry with the media I watch. Two reasons: Chuck is entertaining and he sometimes reviews things I've never heard of before and that I might like to watch in the future; and because while MLP and Transformers are toy commercials, they are far from the only toy commercials that have ever caught my imagination. I doubt I'm the first person that has ever seen a commercial on TV and thought: that was beautifully shot or that was clever and here we've been talking about the merits of a show not a mere 30 second commercial.

This whole thread is hilarious to me, because I've been puttering in my spare time with a fiction project about a writer who struggles with the creative angst he has over a toy tie-in project when he has higher aspirations. Basically, everything I've written has shown up here by SOMEONE! XD

Well you have made us laugh plenty of times Chuck so glad to be able to return the favor.

I didn't enjoy this review as much as Chuck's previous Pony reviews. I didn't think he did a bad job reviewing, in fact I liked that he basically said that Twilight had to go through change in season 4. However, I think he should've reviewed the other episodes where the Mane 6 were tested because they tied in with the finale. But that's not the main reason.

It's because he started off reviewing the season 4 opener, which I'm not fond of. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just not very fond of it. The same goes for the finale. Again, I'm not saying it was bad, I'm just not fond of it. OK, this post isn't exactly helpful, it's just season 4's opener and ender wasn't my thing. I'm not saying it was a write-off, because the people in charge did a good job setting up an arc of Twilight and her friends needing to find a way to open the mysterious box. The opener and ender just weren't my thing.