Politics have no business in animation discussion.

We get woke politics in animation, and I know that. I loved gen 4 and cannot like Gen 5 because they’re trying too hard to be like the original mane 6, and it just doesn’t work. It’s not like they’re being subtle here; each member of the new mane 6 could easily mirror the older ones. But that’s beside the point. They have this woke mentality and think this will get them ratings for their shows. Sadly, it honestly will, and Hasbro knows this.

We have this in just about every show, sitcom, and movie. But that’s not why I loved Gen 4. I loved Gen 4 for two reasons: first, they do their best to avoid our politics, and I like that. And second, their simple art style and character personalities held that nostalgic charm that drew me into the show, even when I suffered from depression; this show helped to dull that pain.

Friendship is Magic was something I could connect to; it was relatable. The mane six weren’t perfect, which is exactly how I liked them. I watched Gen 4 to escape politics, not ram into it head-first. And, of course, the movie starts it all off with racism right off the bat. Gen 4 implied this, but it wasn’t how the first episode had begun. The first episode was a classic for me; Twilight met her friends and defeated the villain. good, all-around amusement.

Meanwhile, the first movie was about the division of the three races and the unicorns losing their magic. The ideas are just not likable to me. Maybe I’m the only one who feels like that. But that’s how I feel.

Okay G4 purist

woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke woke

Define what you actually mean by politics, because this shit here is really giving off a terrible first impression since “Woke” is just another way of whining that a work acknowledges the existence of a minority

Oh, look here. Another right-wing grievance post.

Sorry that the sight of a gay couple hurts your butt so much.

But seriously though, Why should I like them? What’s their reasoning for the division? Yes, they eventually work things out, albeit after a lot of work from the new crew. But the new series really started rough. I’d have more respect for the new crew if they tried to be unique rather than being essential copy and pastes of the Gen 4 crew. Hasbro didn’t even try with the new ponies on this one. Why does everyone else like them? I’m asking very straightforward and understandable questions.

Okay, Gen 4 tried this in season 9, true, but that was caused by the villainous trio working in the background. So at least it was explained how that happened. That didn’t just come out of nowhere from the very start. That’s not great writing for a story. Like villains, what’s their motivation? Why should they be stopped? What would happen if they won?

@Kiryu-Chan
So, because I dislike politics in general for my amusement, that automatically makes me a homophobe? What’s next, the racist card? I’m just waiting for it at this point. It’s not like these kinds of assumptions don’t happen all the time or anything.

Fun fact: I’m actually bisexual and have two black friends, one I’ve known for over eight years and the other for nearly sixteen years. So, I’m afraid that I must fail you for turning in an incomplete assignment on me.

@Background Pony #961B
From what I have gathered, woke media is obsessed with race, gender, and appearance. All of which are completely unnecessary for the amusement industry. Like the classical villain versus the hero trope, friends making friends for that nicer twist, and even on some occasions, the villain is reforming and genuinely doing better. That’s amusement.

That’s why I liked Naruto Villains over Dragon Ball; at least in Naruto, there was a pivotal point in their lives that made them snap; there was a genuine reason for them to do what they did juxtapose to Dragon Ball, where most of them are evil because why not?

@xombiekilla
Take the massive chip off your shoulder. No one called you a “homophobe”.

G4 was created by a company and a person who are outspokenly pro-diversity, and that is reflected not only in their products but also in their mission statements and their requirements for licensees and partners. G5 is just another in a long line of similar products, the only difference being that it is more global now than ever before.

So like the poster you are replying to suggested, define “politics”.

What is the “politics” that are triggering you so hard.

@Ciaran
I mean, saying that the sight of a gay couple hurting my butt so much wouldn’t really do much to me, considering that I already mentioned that I’m bisexual.

Like, the way they designed Zipp is a good example; I know they were going for the Rainbow Dash approach; I mean, that’s kind of obvious. Both are females, both are tomboys, and both are pegasi. As I said, they’re not even trying to make them different. But Zipp looks a bit too male-like that I almost confused her for a dude when I first saw her.

Now, for people who have not watched this show, like me. I saw small tidbits of it, not really enough to really know it. You would honestly make that same mistake, and I wouldn’t blame you for it. If you don’t watch it, you’d never know that she was straight.

Rainbow is a tomboy, plain and simple, but you can easily tell she’s a female without even trying. With Zipp, it took me a little while to identify that. Then, they start things off with what can be considered as racism in Equestria in the first movie, and even a little bit in the show without even much direction as to who caused what, only because some mare (I don’t remember her name) was jealous that they could use magic? That’s not a good argument point. Like The Villainous Trio did it better, and Rainbow Dash did it better.

@xombiekilla
“Bridle Gossip” was in Season 1 of G4.

Wasn’t that focusing on racism and bigotry in the same way that G5 has been?

How is Zipp a good example of the show being “woke”? How is that character in any way “political”?

@xombiekilla
What does that have to do with you being a G4 purist? Lmao. Also you seem like someone who really enjoys The Quartering

@Ciaran
Zipp can be seen as the butch type. Woke media is about gender identification race and appearance that can be classified as stereotypes that are not necessary for entertainment. Birdie Gossip was primarily based upon assumptions without knowing anything. But, how they handled it was better and generally better written to me. Otherwise, not much different, no.

@Ciaran
Easy. I’m not a purist, as you like to put it. I prefer the term objective. If I see the same thing in so many shows, it gets really banal to the point of not wanting to watch TV, period. If everybody else wants to do that, that’s their prerogative, but why should I find such cliches amusing?

@xombiekilla
But by your own admission you haven’t even watched the show.

Just don’t watch it. Problem solved.

No one is making you watch a show with “butch cartoon girl horses” in it.

I never called you a purist. I don’t member ever calling anyone that - I just can’t figure out what “politics” you are so triggered about.

If you don’t like that Zipp isn’t “girlie” then don’t watch it. But that’s not “politics”.

@Ciaran
Having the appearance of being butch was part of my point. My next question is simple. Why? Why do so many people love it? Why is everybody obsessed with something mostly unoriginal and dabbles into questionably political grounds? It’s like comparing the original Pinocchio with this new 2022 reboot; there is no comparison, as the original was a classic. Guess which one is which?

@xombiekilla
What. Questionable. Politics.

With Racism and division. Politics is all about that nowadays. It’s honestly less about public affairs and more about shaming other people and keeping them divided. Even so much as having an opinion can be considered politics as opinions create arguments.

Compared to most you probably deal with. I’m a bit tamer because I prefer to be more civilized in a standard conversation, never digging in too deeply on someone in particular. Doing so is simply not necessary.

@xombiekilla
Because people can like what they like? Simple as 1 2 3, not everyone needs to have some deep philosophical answer rooted in “facts” and “logic” as to why they like a particular work. Same for the other side of the coin where you don’t need to have intrinsic reasons why something sucks like you’re writing an editorial or something.

I try to understand humans, and I can’t. I genuinely tried. With Hasbro, originality costs nothing; wasn’t that the whole point of this new generation? So they could try something new? I would probably be more interested in it then.

Like in the Pinocchio reboot, they censored the children turning into donkeys, took away the cigars, and turned the beer into root beer. But one small problem was that they entirely missed the whole point of Pleasure Island; it was designed with temptation in mind.

And the rest of humans for being quick to hop onto it, not because it’s good, but only because it’s new, which feels very impulsive to me.

It’s like the reason why Broly in Dragon Ball wanted to kill Goku was that when they were babies, he cried in his sleep, which disturbed him and “traumatized” him, which is extremely shallow reasoning. What else would you expect from a baby other than crying? They haven’t learned how to speak yet.

And so just because it’s new, they jump onto it? Why? I guess I’m too logical of a guy. I can’t help but put thought into things.

The differences between the pony races - the racism and division - has been laid pretty deeply in the lore by G4.

The message of the show has always been clear though.

Granted, Ponyville and many of Equestria’s institutions were pretty consistently and openly shit to strangers, traveling performers, and any species that isn’t clearly “pony” throughout the whole run. So it’s not a lesson ponies seem to be able to learn.

I think that was why they turned so hard toward the school storyline near the end.

I still don’t see how anything in G5, including Zipp’s haircut, are in any way “too political”, or somehow more “woke” than G4 was.

Either way, good luck with your game and thank you for moving this to the forums.

@Ciaran
I suppose you’re right. It’s hard to tell as everything is like that now. But it was just better written in G4 to me. I don’t know how to explain it. It was just handed better. Maybe for the simple fact that it wasn’t shoved in my face in the very beginning. I was eased into it until they got to that episode. Whereas in the movie, it was like that from the word go.

moving to generals? Wait, what… that was you that did that? Well, I’ll admit that I never saw that punchline coming.

@xombiekilla
It didn’t have a multinational division of a mega company hanging on its revenue stream. G4 took MLP global - the very concept of having the toys even look like the show wasn’t “a thing” even until G4.

G4 had a broom closet with some white boards that Lauren bought at Target. The shows were written by the closest thing to an actual writing staff devoted to a single show Hasbro had ever seen, and animated on a product that had effectively been discontinued, and most of it went straight into the Toys R Us black hole which spat out a continual stream of money back into the corporate coffers with no regard for the content of the shows themselves so long as they included whatever the new play set for Christmas was going to be.

G4 was free and wild and burnt with the hot fires of people meeting in coffee shops and hiding in unused conference rooms, making something wonderful together with very little adult supervision.

G5 has global directors of development. It has regionally specific numbers to hit. Distributors and entire channels of licensees and downstream consumers.

G5 has, for lack of a better term, “adult supervision”. Lots of it. It is not going to be the same show.

Still, I find most of it pretty enjoyable. It’s not the halcyon days of Twilight Sparkle chasing Philomena in a hallway gag without an actual hallway with Benny Hill yackity sax playing in the background, or Fluttershy giving an actual horse whinny when she’s startled.

The days of “we don’t actually wear clothes” is probably in the past.

But this is still Hasbro, and they’ve been pretty clear what their expectations for the show is.

Hasbro is a company very devoted to equality and diversity. The friendship they promote in their products, and the messages in their ads and their toys, is sincere. And MLP has grown from being a back burner product that rarely got mentioned at the annual meeting to one of the company’s flagship properties.

Some see that as political. But to me it just seems like being nice to others.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

@Ciaran
With the whole punishment and comment removal thing. What you said had implied that you knew where I was before I made this post.

@xombiekilla
Punishment?

If you mean your off topic comments about “woke politics” or promoting your game being deleted from fan art of G5, yes - thank you for moving that to the forums. But I have no idea what punishment you’re talking about.