Toy company makes grown men rage; film at eleven.
Hasbro’s robust My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic franchise is doing something that a lot of girl-aimed television franchises have done: it’s spawning a semi-canonical tie-in movie.

The film, entitled “Equestria Girls,” is about Twilight Sparkle getting sucked into the human world, turning into a human, and winding up in what appears to be a technicolor version of Mean Girls. As you can imagine, the Brony fandom is absolutely delighted that the production team is making such a drastic change to their beloved formula and... oh wait, no, they're pitching a fit about it.

Knowing Brony fandom's reputation for grade-A unfunny, I have done my best to sift through the wank and bring you only the funny bits! (Though if you click any of the links, be warned — you're going into no-man's land.)

First off, there's some minor wanking on this April article on Equestria Daily, where some poor souls are still holding out hope that it’s not real:

gunner1425
I'm still going to think of it as an error... MLP may be bigger than anyone expected, but it's not so big that it warrants a spinoff movie being shown in theaters. If it was legit, we probably would've seen some kind of promo material by now other than that one promotional image. Especially if the premiere is as close as it says...

Though if it is legit, I will be very surprised. Though I imagine even then it would be a very limited release.

Cloud_Kicker
I am hoping beyond hope you are right...

RaunchyOpp
Well think about it this way, we're pretty much the only ones who know this is a thing. Kids don't know about Equestria Girls, and they're the ones who'd care about it. If it was meant as a big thing for theaters there'd be ads out the ass. Even beyond that if a popular show was going to have a movie in theaters, it wouldn't suddenly be a spinoff, haha.

And elsewhere:

@Obiwan456
I'm just gonna assume this is all one big misunderstanding until something if officially announced. Because I can not believe that there would be a theatrical MLP movie that in not about, you know, ponies. Equestria Girls might be real, it might be a movie, but if it is, it's a tv movie. It has to be.

Aczumel makes a terrible analogy:

@aczumel
oh boy more equestria girls bashing before it's even released. Seriosuly guys it's just a minor spin off. DO you see transformers fans complaining about the rescue bots spin off aimed at the younger transformer audience? no you don't. I seriously think that this fandom nowadays just purposely wants to find stuff about the series to complain about. Seriously guys do you really have 0 faith in the writers, animators, musicians, etc?

Dude, you have clearly never met Transformers fandom. They complain about ALL THE THINGS.

DerekWMCook peers into his fannish crystal ball and makes an astute prediction:

@DerekWMCook
History of the interwebs

Pre-MLP:FiM release: "Uh, this show is awful. Can't believe Luaren Faust is ruining her career for this"
Post-MLP:Release: "OMG BEST SHOW EVERS!!!"

Pre-FiM Comic release: "Ug, have you seen these cover images. What a blatanth cash grab by hasbro. This show is ruined"
Post-FiM Comic release: "OMG BEST COMIC EVERS!!!"

Pre-EQ Girls release: "Ew, these concept images are trash. Hasbro's ruining this series! "
Post-EQ Girls release: .....?

Mirage Seraph
All of my this.
Oh, and you forgot "Cadance". Things were fairly similar about her, being a new pink Alicorn and all.

But oh well, you know what Pinkie Pie says, sometimes, it's just fun to be scared.

Some people are beating us wankas to the punch:

Hyperdudeman
All the crying here is delicious.

And some people are... uh.....

@Atomizer41
PLEASE be at least 18!

0_________0

Anyway!

However, the wanking really gets going with the release of a trailer.

There is capslock o’ rage and harsh language!

@zorinlynx
Okay, let me be the first one to ask... If they were going to make a pony movie, why not just use the AWESOME PONIES WE ALREADY HAVE??

We already have these awesome ponies and they made a movie based on these mutations. It makes me want to BREAK SHIT!!!

I dunno, mutant ponies sounds like a winning idea, but most of these Bronies don’t seem to agree:

moonlightavenge
I don't know what to say.
Seriously?

Lauren Faust gave them something beautiful, and that's what they did with it?
Yes... High school opens way for different ideas. STUPID ideas. The mane six are ponies living in this magical land called Equestria. They live their lives and they fight evil creatures. They are not mutant girls in a school.

I hope we can see a REAL MLP:FIM movie after this abomination. Honestly, I'll be happy if I can get a decent season 4 after Season 3's ending.

URGH!

There is vast overestimation of Brony fandom’s importance:

nuke1007
i thought about that too, what i hope is that the next time Hasbro goes onto equestria daily they see how pissed we all are.and cancel/ change the movie

SukhoiPilot21
Unfortunately, that won't matter to them. As long as their pockets are filled, they'll keep on going. It's how all these corporate businesses are.

whitespaceonly
Easy fix: don't fill their pockets. I look at this with utter disinterest and will continue to do so unless it comes out and turns out to be actually good (as in, very good).

And again:

derangedberger
Equestria Girls isn't out of dislike for us, it's because of Hasbro's money fetish.

Lt_Nesbro
Companies intended to make money to maintain standing in a market oriented around money want...money? GASP.

I can kinda see where you're coming from, but if they HAD to do this, they could have at least given it more of a spin towards our demogrpahic (maybe even a little yknow, actual QUALITY?). arguably, bronies probably add more to the IP than the actual girls, therefore more return, and therefore, more money.

of course, as they say in a rap song i haven't even listened to, "Mo money, mo problems."

Yes, please tell us more about your myopic world-view:

@redwings13400
So, I think I know why I'm upset with this.
Hasbro actually thinks this is going to get a ton of money, and when it doesn't, when bronies and girls alike don't come out in droves to see this in theaters, they'll think that this relative flop will be proof that targeting alternate demographics and making a solid show doesn't work in getting money, and they won't risk giving MLP another movie, which it deserves. Hasbro is actually going all out on something that just won't work, and their reaction when it doesn't work is what scares me, because they just won't know what went wrong!
Also, if I'm wrong and it does pay dividends, then it will be seen as proof that targeting major movies to their core demographic does work, and we're going to see more stuff like this in the future, and more pandering to little girls, which the love story/high school drama in here at least really is (well, I could be wrong, maybe the guy is a changeling).
Also, while some of the trailer looks decent, I can't say I'm a huge fan of the animation or the love story element to it. That's completely unnecessary in my opinion, and is just designed to sell for girls.

@Deskairn
In other words, if it works, it's bad for the bronies. If it doesn't work, it's bad for the bronies. Sounds about right.

Some people think Hasbro should respect the Bronies more:

Dark Qiviut
The fact that EQG doesn't target periphery demographics is no excuse for poor quality products and hooks on the professional level. To make a factually good quality product, target your main audience as well as respect the periphery demographic.

Btw, if somebody figures out what the phrase “factually good” means, lemme know, because this guy uses it a lot.

Somebody breaks out the “B” word: BETRAYAL!

Mist
For me, Meghan McCarthy and the VAs in this make it worse, not better.

timberwolfgeo
I know. I am actually disappointed to learn any of them were complicit with this trash.

marshallhuffman
It's like a some kind of betrayal, as though you came home after a long absence and found your family had sold your belongings and rented your room to a wino. Or in this case, a dimension-hopping anthro freak wino.

HighsandLows
A betrayal? Fuck outta here LMAO!

Ganondox
Looks like you're a traitor as well...

Some people think the anthro-ed ponies look too much like their pony selves. Because changing things is bad, but not changing things enough is also bad:

PinkamenaDianePie
If these people wanted to make them look like humans, they should actually have feet, not abnormally-colored skin, not have wings, and not have a freaking cheek tattoo on all of them. Not to mention the horse ears.

Doctor Derps
Horse ears? Thats it I'm out. Fuck it all.

And elsewhere:

TwilightIsMagic
I still disapprove of the character designs, however. The fan MLH we've just had earlier does a better job of it than this. You know, we don't need cutie marks on faces and their coat colour preserved to know who is who. And we don't need hoof-imitating giant boots, either.

RookeeAlding shares what I imagine must be a very unpopular opinion:

I want to like the plot.... but I don't want to encourage this kind of fan-fiction type story stuff, (at least if they aren't willing to use the really cool and better looking fan fic art that goes with it.)

Funny, after the “Derpy” debacle, I was under the impression that the bronies did want the showrunners to canonize their fanfic.

Twilightisbest suggests a protest!

Twilightisbest
I propose Bronies do a "walkout" once the human part begins in theaters.

Mist
This is a really powerful idea! Imaging the parents taking little girls to the movies, and at the door there are a lot of 20 year old guys cosplaying the ponies complaining about the film. They will run for they lives! Hasbro would be so ashamed they would cancel the exhibition.
Sadly, they could change FiM in retaliation :/

People debate whether this is a demographic-driven thing:

Millstone
Reminder: We are not the target demographic.

Not with the show.

Not with the books.

Not with the c... Okay, the comics are by bronies for bronies.

Not with this movie either.

Dark Qiviut
The second you use the demographics as an excuse for the product, you're calling the product weak. Factually good products don't discriminate demographics regardless of target audience. Not being the target audience is no excuse for poor quality professional work.

Princess_Luna
A bunch of bronies who don't like a show concept makes it "poor quality professional work"?
You so funny.

People debate exactly how much Hasbro has sold out by making this film:

TheEarthSheep
This could be okay everyone! Remember back to your first reaction to Friendship is Magic! If you were like me, you probably thought it was a shameless cash-in to sell toys to little girls. It wasn't! There's no reason that this should be any different!

I plan to drive a hundred miles to see it in theaters, personally.

TexasUberAlles
Friendship Is Magic wasn't any kind of "cash-in", it was just a generational reboot/update of an existing franchise that had gone stale in the marketplace; I doubt I'm the only one who didn't automatically think it was worthless, because Lauren Faust. Equestria Girls, on the other hand, is objectively (and obviously) a shameless cash-in to sell toys to little tween girls. It doesn't matter how many folks from the real show they have working on it, they can't fix it. It's still gross.

TheEarthSheep
Wow! Calm down, friend. First of all, I never said Friendship is Magic was a cash-in, I said that it really seems like one, at least on the surface, to people who weren't particularly well versed in Western animation, who might not have even recognized the name "Lauren Faust" before FiM - who, coincidentally, make up the large majority of Bronies, if I'm not mistaken.

Second, Equestria Girls isn't "objectively" a cash-in, because we're having this discussion, and I don't think either of us are idiots. In addition, I think that a lot of people who haven't seen Friendship is Magic would say that My Little Pony is "objectively (and obviously) a shameless cash-in to sell toys". I think that you are reacting in the same knee-jerk way you're probably sick of seeing YouTube flame wars start from.

Raptor
They said this was meant to take advantage of the monster high and bratz tween/teen market.

TheEarthSheep
Who is "they", if you don't mind my asking?

TexasUberAlles
"They" as in Hasbro. "Cash-in" isn't speculation, it is right there in the mission statement for EQG. They made this because they want to move into the tween fashion doll market that Mattel currently has sewn up with Barbie and Monster High, and they made it MLP because Ponies are their biggest franchise right now and they wanted to give this new puch as much momentum as possible.

And those two keep at it for quite a while on page 1 of this article.

There is talk of CENSORSHIP and the FIRST AMENDMENT!

HighsandLows
Lol at all the idiots dancing for Hasbro in the comments for the trailers. Hasbro is playing them like puppets. They are on Hasbro's strings. :)

Wertyla
Does anyone else find it a bit odd that the Youtube comments are mostly positive, but the majority of the comments here on Equestria Daily are negative?

bekindsorewind
Hasbro set comment approval on the Youtube video, so that's why most of the comments are positive.

Classic censorship.

Zuche
Yes, how dare they require comment approval on a site infamous for users with no impulse control?

bekindsorewind
Censorship is still censorship. Last time I checked everybody has the right to say whatever the heck they wanted in this country, regardless of impulse. It isn't fair to somebody that wants to share their opinion since it won't look good in selling their product. If I want to say something sucks, I should have the right to do so. It's just as fair as somebody praising the product.

@TotalCapital
Youtube is not restricted to the USA

bekindsorewind
LOL what is your point here? Please elaborate off this point as to what this has to do with HASBRO censoring comments.

Doctorwho2012
Their video, their rules. Simple as that.

bekindsorewind
Just because one is able to do something doesn't mean it is necessarily right to do. If I want to express my opinion on something but can't that is not right as it goes against the first Natural Right.

Simple as that.

Doctorwho2012
Nobody said you can't. You just can't post it on that particular video.

Naturally, there are conspiracy theories:

Dyxid
Welp, I had a feeling that Twilight Sparkle: The Movie was going to be a bomb, looks like this is confirmation.

If the fandom implodes and dies because of this, I won't blame it or be surprised one bit, as this was probably the biggest "GTFO bronies" that Hasbro and McCarthy has dished out yet.

Knight_Mare
You are retarded

Dyxid
And you're naive if you don't see how this is yet another example of Hasbro twisting the show back to its G1-G3 days. Which suits McCarthy just fine, she's never cared as much about bronies as Faust did, and I'm sure she loves how FIM is being made to revolve around Twilight which is her favorite of the mane 1+some other ponies.

Doctorwho2012
Sure, go right ahead and believe the conspiracy theories. I'll just laugh.

Dyxid
Considering that McCarthy already lied before about the existence of Sunset Shimmer, Spike the Dog, and Twilight having a romantic interest in the high school setting... to say nothing of how she's the one that made Twilicorn happen, pitched the idea of making the movie center on Twilight even before the main story was hammered out, and the only thing she wants to tell us about season 4 is "OMGMOARTWILY"...

Yeah, I guess you can go right ahead and keep wearing those blinders. I'll just shake my head.

@King_Sombrero
Yeah, I guess you can go right ahead and keep on crying about how that mean old writer is destroying the precious little vision of the show you created in your mind. I'll shake my head.

Dyxid
It's more like I'm disappointed that some Twilight fangirl is undoing Faust's progress with the franchise. So much for her leaving it in trusted hands, eh?

Unless you're one of those poor sods who actually thinks she planned Twilicorn from the beginning, in which case now it's *my* turn to laugh because now you're buying into visions of your own, as well as McCarthy's revisions.

Some people are worried that the movie might be blighted by the heinous scourge known only as... [scare chord] ...the ROMANCE SUBPLOT!

Deltamelon
They can shove whatever crap they like in there, but for the love of God I hope they don't make any gushy boy-liking crap. One of the reasons I love MLP so much is because there is ZERO relationship business (sans Shining Armor and Cadance, of course). No matter the show or cartoon, I simply can't "get into" relationship turmoils and things like "oh my which boy do I like more," even when the role is switched and it's boys lamenting over girls I simply DON'T CARE. For so long I've kinda viewed Twilight and her friends (at least canonically) as asexual, and I loved it that way because sexual tension is completely unnecessary in a kid's show. If they start pushing this relationship crap, I'm going to flip a table.

And based on that trailer, I think I'd better get my table ready...

I agree, it’s revolting when girls express an interest in dating boys who aren’t Bronies.

Cyberlight_Dawn
Oh god... is twilight going to get a love interest?
This is looking bad, from my perspective anyway...
It looks alright overall, im just not that comfortable with twilight suddenly getting a potential boyfriend so soon...

Bronies: like overprotective dads in a way.

Lightning_Dust_
I'm fine with the spin-off so long as that male character doesn't make any advances on the girls. Skulls are going to be cracked if he does...

VERY overprotective dads.

TwilightIsMagic
My biggest wish is that there'd be no shipping of any sort there. Just... no. Don't go there, Hasbro. With any humanized pony, at all. Don't poke the hornets' nest.

Eh, s/he’s got a point, shipwars are too much trouble. We should just ban romance from fiction entirely. Blue balls for everyone!

A rare “guy who likes ponies” responds:

Guy who likes ponies
Yeah, actually the image header here is totally inaccurate now. There's no Cutie mark face tattoos and their hair isn't ankle-length. Not to mention that they have proper ears and no additional appendages.

And Yeah there better not be a romance sub-plot, or at least if there is, have it be like, a guy crushing on Twilight until She uses "the power of friendship!" aka the friend-zone on him.

I should note that this is far from being the only comment hoping that Twilight’s love interest runs afoul of the fabled “friend-zone.” Such delicious irony to hear Bronies, aka the sort of people especially likely to whine about the existence of said “friend-zone,” now wishing it on a fellow dude. Where’s the bro-solidarity, guys?

Some doubt the existence of said romance subplot because hugging =/= romance, dammit! They’re just friends!

HalflingPony
I also have yet to see anything that convinces me they are trying for any kind of romantic relationship between him and Twilight. There's nothing unusual about guys and girls being platonic friends and expressing completely non-romantic affection via hugs. I've hugged plenty of girls over the decades who didn't have the slightest bit of interest in me "that way".

Some people are seriously wondering if Twilight’s movie love interest is her brother, Shining Armor. (Not unless CLAMP ghost-wrote it, is all I have to say about that theory.)

Wubber1218
The guy that Twilight hugged in the trailer. Which pony is that supposed to be?
TIME TO SET SAIL, SHIPPERS.

AppleElle
I just hope it isn't Shining Armor like a lot of people are saying... O.O

Toonicorn
Hasbro wouldn't do that.

FirestormDDash
You must be new here

@ByarruM
Pffft, they won't even let Elita One and OP be together because somehow being rebulit by the same bot makes them "sister" and "brother"
So no, they wouldn't do that
Sadly

Wait, “sadly”? Uh............ okay moving right along!

There was this thread, which quickly went in several different directions of stupid/lulz:

Kyle
"We are responding to the desire by our fans". Suuure.

@torch621
Why would they? The apparently hate our guts.

derangedberger
No, they don't. Everything Hasbro has done that looks to be out of disdain for us is not so, often they were forced by American copyright law.

CMDR_Brony
American Copyright Law forced them to make anthro ponies in high school? Geez, we really need some reform to these laws.

Lt_Nesbro
I greatly recall the DMCA I received that forced me to draw equine furry art, myself.

Some people are getting a tad melodramatic:

Mist
Watched the trailer, all this crap is cannon, in your face rationalization fools.

@torch621
Oh I hope it isn't. MLP really will be destroyed if it is. We might as well all jump ship and ignore it.

Mist
"It’s new but still an extension of our mythology.” said by Meghan McCarthy. It doesn't get more cannon even if Lauren shouts it at your ear.

It is really sad, the amount of potential bronies who will look at this and think FiM is like it. And that's if it FiM is not complete replaced.

doublepinkiepie
It's not being completely replaced, Rarity would be shocked at your over dramatic response. If it's bad we treat it as batman fans treat Batman and Robin or starwars fans treat most of the prequels.

@MeandSamBFFL
The Prequels were badass, don't you even start on that.

Mist
I didn't mean that, I mean Hasbro could cancel FiM and bet at all the money to EG, that would accomplish the alleged goal of getting rid of the bronies.

doublepinkiepie
Who the hell said that? that is completely paranoid lol.

No, I'm sorry, that’s not melodramatic enough. We need to lay it on thicker.

@torch621
It's over. FiM is really dead now, and the stench of the corpse is starting to waft into the air. It's getting close to the time to pack it in and quit. Give up. Stop trying. The dream is over and its' back to cruel reality. All of our efforts have been wasted. The show is slowly being destroyed, and the brony fandom will die an ingnomious death.

RIP MLP FiM
2010-2013

EquesGeneral
You're kidding, right?

@torch621
Give me a good reason to remain optimistic

Yes yes go on.

TurboJUK
I didn't believe in M.A. Larson, I have no reason to believe in this.
Fandom's ending guys, and Hasbro wanted to give us a big middle finger before showing us the door.

Doctorwho2012
So you're leaving? Bye, see you next week!

...Seriously?

TurboJUK
Where did I say anything about leaving? Don't put words in my mouth.

Yes, excellent.

Doctorwho2012
What part of "this isn't replacing the parent show" does this fandom not understand?

@torch621
We've been lied to before...

doublepinkiepie
no not really that's kind of what your entire argument is based off of and it isn't true.

Doctorwho2012
...so that automatically means we're being lied to now?

*facepalm*

Surely you can't be serious.

Come on, moar melodrama! MOOOOOOAAAAAR

ninonybox
This had better not cause the end of FIM.

@torch621
It will. All hope is lost.

Knight_Mare
It won't. I mean hell we still have season 4 to go through

@torch621
Season 4 of what? EQG shoutouts? I'd puke my intestines.

Okay good, puking intestines is good. Now quick, more paranoia and/or unwarranted self-importance!

Swiftest Shadow
"Desires of our fan"? I'm sorry, are they trying to make us look like creepy people?

In any case... I may be being unfair right now, after all, Meghan McCarthy's writing this and she has a good track record, but still...
"strategic initiative" they call it? More like a massive gamble.

I will be very impressed if they pull this off well.

James_Rye
I´m pretty sure when they spoke of fans they meant "anybody but those bronies who thinks the world rotates around them". Or in other words, little girls and teen girls.

Swiftest Shadow
Hm... what you described sounds more like "target demographics", which isn't to say they aren't fans, but in most media nowadays, when you refer to "fans of MLP" you either think "Brony" or "little girls". Simply because "little girls being fan of MLP is not newsworthy." Know what I'm saying here?

Then again... it would make more sense with your interpretation, cause based on the comments I'm seeing here, not too many people desired it.

Okay, we’ve already hit “betrayal” so now it’s time to go for “disgusting” on the “words with which to overreact” bingo card:

bekindsorewind
It's unbelievable people are still neutral about this. It's disgusting. It's insulting. It's a disgrace. It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool.

This is everything Faust didn't want FiM to be combined into one abomination. With some extra pieces of garbage added to the mix. It is literally just a generic high school drama show for dumb tweens with MLP characters- no. MLP character's NAMES added into a generic high school drama show for dumb tweens. It's depressing, aggravating, and sickening. It is astonishing at just how awful this feels.

I see your “sickening” and raise you an “abomination”:

Led Zeppelin
Typical high school teen bullshit, i wouldn't be caught dead watching this. I really hope this isn't canon but either way this is just MLP going back into it's dark ages, or it's darkest days yet.

FiM gave so much hope that MLP had moved on from stereotypical rubbish then Hasbro make this abomination.

hifibrony
Indeed, Lauren must be cringing or tearing her hair out. This sums up everything she didn't want FiM to be.

SukhoiPilot21
Money my friend. It's what fueled this abomination. Hasbro's greediness really pisses me off sometimes...

Such a shame to see a nice wholesome toy corporation like Hasbro acting materialistic.

And how about we top it off with some poop analogies:

Plumpmrtoad
First Hasbro gave us the shit that was called Alicorn Twilight but they weren't done going to the bathroom yet! This movie is Hasbro taking the biggest, nastiest, diarrhea dump on our faces!

And of course there’s complaining about the complaining:

@RhysSouthall
God, some of the comments here make me wanna just pull out a violin and play them a song. That and just laugh out loud. Seriously, some of you need to take a freaking pill.

MLP was never meant for us, it was meant for younger girls and that is who it will always be primarily aimed at. Deal with it. I can. I watched the trailer and yeah, while I'm not that enthralled, it has the potential to at least be something okay.

Every time something big happens, it's the same old crap here on the message boards, ranging from the "Wah wah, fandom is dead" to the level-headed and cautiously optimistic.

Look, we mostly liked Canterlot Wedding, we (eventually) accepted Alicorn Twilight, do you all REALLY think we won't get over or even maybe Like this? And even if it's not great, it could at least be "Meh", and I can deal with that.

At least just try to suck it up, give it a watch when it comes out, and if it sucks, THEN feel free to bitch and moan. But just give it the benefit of the doubt, even just the slightest, that's all I ask.

But at least this guy has his priorities in order:

Derpendable
The cmc have boobs..

(CMC = Cutie Mark Crusaders = Applejack's kid sister and her two little pals)

Dark Qiviut seems to be repeating himself a lot:

lumiunako
How arrogant of you to assume that "bronies" are the fans. Newsflash: no matter how much you bronies like to think you're "so super important", you're still by far not numerous enough to be the target demographic of MLP. EVER.

Dark Qiviut
The fact that post-adolescent bronies aren't the target audience doesn't excuse poor quality work. You publish professional work, you're requesting people to judge the quality of the product, especially when its hook (being the graphic design and compressed trailer) and quality control (so many character design concepts revealed in a short span when they should've been contained) aren't up to snuff.

lumiunako
Yes, because clearly you are in any position to judge the quality of this work, having seen the finished, full movie, after all. Oh, wait, you haven't. Fancy that! Even so, poor quality or not still doesn't excuse the arrogance of you bronies who assume this film was made for you.

But DQ seems like a pretty talented guy. For instance, he can judge the quality of a film before it’s even been released to audiences!

@ponichaeism
I don't quite think we're the "fans" he was talking about.

Dark Qiviut
Target audience doesn't excuse poor quality products or their hooks on the professional level.

@ponichaeism
Oh, so you've seen it then? Care to tell me where I can see it so I can judge its quality for myself?

Dark Qiviut
When you publish your work, you're requesting people to judge it. You don't need to see a product firsthand to know if the quality's good in quality. The poor quality of the character design plus lack of good quality control are huge indicators to the overall care of the final product.

(I've never played Sonic '06 or watched Games Ponies Play. But I KNOW they're both bad just by looking at second material.

Sonic '06 has very poor in-game animation, flat graphics, and lanky character design. Combined with YouTube clips of broken gameplay, the game is bad.

I only looked at the transcript for Games Ponies Play, but the script is so stupid that I didn't need to watch the episode.)

I've seen hooks with very poor graphic design, inconsistent previewing, and bad quality control; if the product's anything less than stupidly terrible, it's a godsend. Likewise, previews with good design and good quality control rarely go bad. Previews like ads, design, and trailers tell consumers, "This is the best we can do." Hasbro and DHX are responsible for delivering high quality hooks, because they tell the consumer what kind of quality the final product will be.

FIM's high quality was self-evident before the consumer got the chance to see the product, which is one key reason why the fandom is big. EQG's self-evident quality is very shaky.

@ponichaeism
Right away your blanket statement about quality falls apart, because Games Ponies Play was one of my favorite episodes of season 3. Likewise, I don't see any major problems with the trailer that aren't caused by fandom biases, like shipping aversion or the high school setting. The character design, that's something you could criticize, but I don't have much of a problem with it either.

So, in short, you may think the trailer sucks (and BTW, you should probably explain "hooks" before you use it with someone else, because I totally didn't get what you were talking about) but I don't. It's not anything particularly special, but I don't hate it.

Dark Qiviut
Right away your blanket statement about quality falls apart, because Games Ponies Play was one of my favorite episodes of season 3.
Wrong, because you pulled that fallacy that's killed many arguments. Just because it's one of your favorites of something doesn't mean it's a good quality product. If that's true, then Shadow the Hedgehog is a better game than Sonic 3 & Knuckles because ShtH is one of my most favorite Sonic games and S3&K is one of my least. But S3&K is a better quality video game with a better story, better gameplay, better level design, better graphics and atmosphere, and better overall package. Shadow's story, in-game graphics, and gameplay are all bad mechanically and technically.

For me, Magic Duel is my most favorite episode of season three, but it's hyperbole to call it the best episode that season. Sleepless in Ponyville is easily the best one because the characterization, story, and pace are all top notch and much more solid.

What makes Games Ponies Play a bad episode is the bad characterization and logic. They all behaved like they had no clue what they were doing nor used logical brain power to solve things. When you have the characters act stupid when they're very intelligent, then your plot becomes immediately bad. The poor logic in GPP makes it worse.

Likewise, I don't see any major problems with the trailer that aren't caused by fandom biases, like shipping aversion or the high school setting.
Once more, a strawman argument. What makes this trailer bad is because in ninety seconds, so much information of the movie, most if not all, is crammed in. There's WAY too much information in there. When you shove that much info in such compacted space, you're telling the audience, "I have no faith in my product, so I'm spilling the whole story." The trailer shows a lack of trust Hasbro has towards the viewers. Good trailers use that space to its advantage and keep it simple, to the point, and not reveal important plot points. Trailers need to communicate trust, and EQG didn't do that at all.

The character design in the trailer is the first design that was leaked a few months ago. Of the several we've seen, they're the best ones because the hair designs are evident enough to identify each human. However, besides the hair design, the Mane Six are dressed with nearly the exact same clothing design with the details used to make them appear different as an illusion. But cross out all the details and leave solid designs and layer them on top of each other. The boots and shirts stack almost perfectly. It's completely to that of Monster High (which I directly linked to you in "The Magic of Friendship Never Changes" blog post), whose characters have varying design.

@ponichaeism
Saying an episode is one of my favorites is not actually a fallacy, just so you know. And the lapses in intelligence in the episode are not only highly debatable, but plot logic is just one element of an episode. Humor is quite another, and a funny episode does not necessarily need a strong plot to be funny. That said, the episode made perfectly clear to me that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were expecting the games inspector to be playing mind games with them (the titular "games"), and all of their actions resulted from them trying to outwit a pony who wasn't actually trying to outwit them in the first place. They didn't ask the games instructor for her name or question her about her behavior because they thought that would be a sign of disorganization and cost them the games.

As for the trailer issue, since when have trailers been about trust, exactly? They're marketing gimmicks. A bad trailer does not necessarily equal a bad show, just a bad trailer. For the longest time, I thought the trailers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer made it look awful (coincidentally, another show set in high school), with a lame wisecracking "too cool for school" heroine and stock nerd sidekicks. Then I actually watched the damn show, and realized it was one of the smartest, most character-driven, and all-around funniest shows on television.

And about the reused character designs....it's made in Flash. Did you expect them not to use the big advantage Flash has over regular animation and reuse the shit out of assets? Aestheticwise, I can see some issues, but that has no bearing on the actual scripting, the acting, et cetera. I'm not judging it until I have the complete picture in front of me.

DQ continues the teal deer herd in another reply to Ponichaeism’s third comment:

Dark Qiviut
As for "hooks," I wrote this to you not long ago in the EQD blog, "The Magic of Friendship Never Changes."

[omitted: seven paragraphs of waffle about Pepsi and cars and graphic design which he knows about because of his learnings]

Princess_Luna
You are making the mistake of thinking that your taste in art is the same as that of everyone else.

Dark Qiviut
You're pulling a huge ad hominem here. It's not about taste. It's about quality, and both aren't interchangeable. You can like something and know it's bad, while you can hate something and know it's good (if not way better than the design you like).

If you still haven’t gotten enough of DQ’s pompous speechifying, you’re in luck! He wrote a whole essay on the MLP forums in which he decried the film’s plot as “hideously shallow,” “way too simple, cliché with no effort to really twist it up, and predictable,” and the character designs as “factually, obnoxiously hideous.” He declares that “Anyone with an ounce of common sense or sound judgment for good quality graphic design should feel absolutely REPULSED by the current updated garbage!” Well then.

And he concludes with this:

If Equestria Girls demonstrated effort in its hook and overall presentation, then maybe I wouldn't scrutinize or slam its concept so much. But slapping My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic on the front is lazy. The presentation is intellectually insulting, and I don't tolerate having my intelligence being insulted. Combined with the rest of the "effort" in it thus far, I see no necessity to watch it. Good quality hooks and products don't discriminate demographics regardless of target audience. Here, the target audience is only being targeted with the periphery being disregarded.

Oh and there’s also this:

Equestria Girls is currently reinforcing this revolting stereotype of My Little Pony being exclusive for girls, something that plagued the franchise for almost two decades.

......... LOL.

Okay, enough of that windbag. Back in the May ED posts, Blackstar033 wants the option to expunge all hints of the movie from the Equestria Daily site:

@blackstar033
Is it possible to include a No Equestria Girls Mode on EQD?

Calpain
That would require tagging everything that isn't Equestria Girls with a "Not Equestria Girls" tag.

@Supmandude
Why not just tag all the one's about Equestria Girls with "Equestria Girls" and make it so the tag is completely excluded? Is that not possible?

whitespaceonly
'fraid not, at least, not without switching to a different blogging website software. If it were possible, then that would be how "no fanfiction" mode would work.

Ganondox
Couldn't you like make a macro to tag everything not tagged with Equestria Girls?

And another reply to Blackstar033’s comment:

AidanofVT
I would say that this is a good idea, but it is important to know one's enemy.

Well it’s good to know they’re staying mature about all this.

And to top it all off, the CEO of another toy company makes a cameo:

Novem_Vulpes
Ooh boy all this hate is giving me the bronchitis. How come it is so easy to rile up the internets with a CHILDREN'S CARD GA-- I MEAN TELEVISION SERIES?

inDerpxar
SCREW THE RULES I HAVE PONIES

Seto Kaiba
don't make me send my lawyers

David_Ker
Mr Kaiba, I have a question: in your world, are court cases resolved through card games?

THE END (until the actual film comes out)

Edit: I am sososo sorry about the html fuckup. orz