Are we sure it's not just a clothing line?

I would say it's rather unfortunate that the pure white cast is the safest route and how that's racist. . .but like you I'm more amazed at the lack of creativity then anything else.

I also wonder if with the Brony backlash Hasbro has decided "screw it, if they don't want it we'll market more aggressively to those who will".

edited 30th Aug '13 11:59:44 AM by Mio

Well, is it bad exactly? Incredibly narmtastic?

I think there's a greater chance of screwing up a teenage-aimed product than a child's. With teenagers you can't make it too in your face and cool-sounding, and put some effort into it. They're at the age when they start seeing quality for what it is. Tread carefully Hasbro, tread carefully.

...the hell did I just watch.

See, shit like this is why I don't want to encourage things like EQG. The latter can at least be pulled up to watchable mediocrity by an amazing studio to the point that you don't entirely want the last hour of your life back. But then the execs completely miss why it was watchably mediocre and just see see dollar signs, and then we go right down the tasteless Disney pop star track.

edited 30th Aug '13 12:21:13 PM by Pykrete

It was a no-win situation, really. It was either "do diverse casting and risk pissing off fanbase via perceived Race Lift" or "just make them all white and get in trouble for the lack of diversity". There are going to be Unfortunate Implications either way. I mean, the alternative is to either cast the characters at random and risk storms of people going "why is (X) (nationality)?" or attempt to match the races to their personalities, which is even more risky. They just went the route that will PO the fewest people. And arguably makes the most sense, as pony culture generally appears to be pretty European and all the characters are voiced by (and sound like) Caucasians anyway.

Basically, no matter what casting decision they made, someone was going to get mad about it, so they just went with the least risky option. Of course that begs the question of why they made it in the first place, knowing that someone would raise a stink.

edited 30th Aug '13 12:22:00 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Because Disney.

They're not getting that their success so far has largely been due to not acting like Disney. Or at least not the recent flavor of it — the show feels a lot more like 90's and previous Disney, which was at least something worth emulating.

Like, their success is specifically because kids relate more to well-characterized magical cartoon horses — well-characterized anything — than they do to factory-made Disney celebrities getting into popstar drama.

edited 30th Aug '13 12:42:02 PM by Pykrete

Seems more American to me.

@J Teeth: How can there be Race Lift when ponies don't conform to human phenotypes? Eh, your probably right, and even though the fact that that was the safest option has all sorts of Unfortunate Implications I'm really not bothered by it.

Though I still find it strange for their one Token minority they settled on east asian rather then black.

American with some Medieval European Fantasy trappings.

edited 30th Aug '13 12:34:05 PM by Mio

Structurally, it's about as European as it gets — royalty plus noble caste. Culturally, it's pretty American — sparse rural areas, wide spreads of open land, and nearly 1/3 of the population rooted in agriculture.

Don't forget the prescence of American Football.

It may be a case of working with what they could get. I mean, who are those kids? Is there a phone number you can call in Hollywood and say "Hello? Extras casting agency? I need a group of culturally diverse pre-teen girls for a music video to promote a made-for-TV movie to promote a doll line!"? Who answers the call to have their kids involved in something like this, especially since it mostly amounted to just dancing in a cafeteria?

I'll admit I did laugh a little when the Sunset girl was being all grumpy looking, and then the Twilight girl took her by the hand and then YAY FRIENDSHIP DANCING! If only Twilight actually did that in the movie

I'm actually sure there are several numbers in Hollywood where you can ask for exactly that. Actors have got to start somewhere.

That actually sounds a little cute.

Wait, isn't the show Canadian?

Well it's animated in Canada, written in California, and voice acted in both.

"THIS IS WHAT THE REFRANCE"◊

Actually, isn't some of it animated in the Philippines?

Is it? I actually don't know.

Maybe as a JD-style Pinkie fantasy.

That's the other thing the execs aren't getting. The show's strength isn't playing the cliches as textbook as possible. It's in lampooning them first, then rebuilding them into something believable.

I wonder if they still think that EQG appeals to bronies or if they're explicitly just targeting the teen girl demographic.

Oh I'm positive they're explicitly targeting the teen girl demographic over bronies — I mean really, we're just a bonus (and the comics are pretty much pointed squarely at us anyway).

The problem isn't targeting teen girls, it's targeting teen girls with something that doesn't learn from the core appeal and arguably the whole conceptual point of the show itself — namely, that girls can be entertained without resorting to shallow crap.

I mean hell, we have a character◊ who's rooted in pretty much every shallow-crap cliche out there, and then spends all her screen time either parodying them, subverting them, or playing them with unexpected depth.

edited 30th Aug '13 1:42:55 PM by Pykrete

Apperently you just watched EG. Which is not as terribly mundane as I thought it would be.

@Mio: Hence why I said "percieved" Race Lift.

But yeah, the execs still don't seem to get the point that the show was hit because the people who made it were concerned more with making a good product than with trying to be popular.

They marketed it specifically to older girls(8-11), but noticed that if it wasn't for the fanbase, the movie would not even be that big a deal. Since Bronies dominate more than half the demographic, they decided to add fan-favorite references galore.

I wonder how the comic is going to change as time goes. Give it a few years and it may be almost unrecognizable to the show.