Generation One MLP Cartoon Roundup

@Sobana
 
Given that there were fewer ponies in the entire G1 cast with an ounce of common sense than you’d need a hand to count, Megan is pretty much the go-to character when the ponies need a sensible plan.

@Kazapsky
 
Kinda like the Blythe’s function in LPS.

@Sobana  
There’s some strange undercurrent of unsaid importance going on, especially with Firefly and Megan being so crucial somehow. It’s like reading an old legend that has the ‘why’ of the main heroes shrouded entirely in mystery.
 
@Kazapsky  
In a later episode, the intuitive unicorn Galaxy declares that it ‘makes sense’ that a loss of their shadows is the reason why some mouse kids are feeling weak and ill.
 
I’d agree that some of the ponies can make stupid choices or hesitate too long at times, but in a world full of extreme magic and a wide variety of bizarre life, I’m not sure I can really call any choice or decision they’ve made as ‘common sense’, because little seems common or logical.
 
We also shouldn’t count any foolishness of the baby ponies, they are just little kids after all.
 
Megan is their go-to for most decisions because she is a good strategist, which is something they really need with their few numbers (there’s only about 30 or so of them in their small commune) and their many adversaries.
 
Other ponies can lead and guide the others just as well: Gusty, Magic Star, and Paradise come to mind. Especially Magic Star.

I think that for this they could have ask the moochick to move to midnight castle himself.
 
But beside Megan’s utility, the ponies always had a tendency to go seek help without thinking of their utility. I speak for later in the show, but sometime they have gathered far more creatures on their side than what they needed to win.

@boz  
It is called ‘My Little Pony ‘n Friends’, after all… ;)  
I think turning to others often is cautious and wise on their part. There is no shame in seeking aid against dire threats to your life and existence. The Moochick DOES seem to get annoyed with them coming to him for help sometimes though, haha!
 
They’ve built up quite a powerful alliance of what few nice and good creatures exist in the area too, and they themselves have a strong reputation as stewards of Dream Valley. The ponies have also defended themselves and fought off creatures without others’ help sometimes too, usually when they have no choice or time is short. Yes, even without Megan.

@Amethyst_Crystal  
I wasn’t saying it was bad. It explain why they took Megan, they wasn’t looking for a savior in particular, they just took anyone willing to help them.

@boz  
They also seem to be very friendly and optimistic and nice towards any new creatures they meet who aren’t trying to kill or eat them. No wonder they have so many allies.  
A few villains, especially later in the series when their reputation for crushing evil has grown, do take advantage of this inherent hospitality through deception, though that doesn’t stop the ponies from staying hospitable by default. Two of these deceitful villains were dealt with by the ponies themselves, too.

@Amethyst_Crystal  
We should keep this for the end of flutter valley, where they push this up to eleven.
 
To come back on a midnight castle subject, I think we could say that the potential danger of dream valley is represented by the ponies living in a castle, a fortification, when, after tirek defeat, they agree to live in the more simple estate provided by moochick. Maybe he was indeed the main threat of the area and its disappearance made it possible for them lower their defense a little.

@boz  
Heh heh heh ha… HA ha ha HA HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
 
Yeah, no. Given all the dangers lurking in the area, I don’t think that anyone could claim to be the prime danger of Dream Valley at the beginning of the the series. Dream Castle wouldn’t have provided that much defense against a number of their adversaries. They needed Paradise Estate because Dream Castle had been destroyed. Well, rendered uninhabitable.
 
Given that the older generation of ponies is seemingly dead by the start of the series, I don’t think that any of them know why they had a castle in the first place.

@Sjogre  
They gave dream castle to the grundle, it was covered in smooze but like every others smoozed object it was recovered at the end.

@boz  
Yes. They didn’t move into Paradise Estate because the threat level was lower, but because they were homeless at the time.

@Sjogre  
Interesting… then the ponies are the invaders, and Nightmare Valley being full of those dragons the ponies turned into was its original form. Perhaps Tirek was the last hope of the inhabitants to restore everything to normal.
 
Heck, he wasn’t even all that evil… except from the perspective of the ponies. I’m reminded of the true end of Eversion.
 
…Although, whence prince Scorpan, then?

@Align  
Given that a lot of the former and even current inhabitants of Dream Valley are one flavor of bastard or another, I wouldn’t consider defeating them a bad thing. Keep in mind, Tirac was threatening Spike with death to keep Scorpan in line, and kidnapped and transformed Scorpan in the first place. He’s a bad guy even without going into his plan to cover the world in darkness.
 
Prior to the arrival of the ponies, it was something of a haven for evil, and the ponies have not completely cleared it out.
 
…Although, whence prince Scorpan, then?  
A kingdom outside of Dream Valley. There are humans in the pony world, but they don’t seem to live nearby.
 
The fact that Scorpan just left Spike behind still strikes me as odd. Sure, the ponies are friendly to anyone that isn’t a clear and present danger, and are often willing to talk even then, but Scorpan was something of a father to the kid and just walked away.

@Align
 
There are a quite a number of good creatures trying to survive there too, some powerful and able to hold their own, others not as brave or organized or determined as the ponies. Unless of course they only started moving in after the ponies did.
 
Dream Valley is what the ponies call their territory, though most other creatures, especially enemies, tend to just call it literally Pony Land. Ponies call it that too when speaking with some outsiders.

@Amethyst_Crystal  
You call Megan a good strategist but that comes into question a lot in future episodes. Really, they didn’t pick Megan because she was good at something, they picked her because she was the first human they found and decided to stick with it…

So when dose the discussion about “escape from Katrina” starts?

@ender1200  
Right Now.
 
Pony World Danger Tally  
Darkness worshiping demon and his armies.
 
 
^{Catrina desperately needs more artwork on this site.}
 
Next up in the viewing schedule is Escape from Catrina. It has Megan’s first return to Dream Valley, and shows here start to become something of a mother figure to her. It has an oppressed labor force rebel against their cruel masters. It’s the tale of how addiction can be a toll on your loved ones as well as yourself, and the lows that you will fall to in order to continue to feed the habit.
 
It also shows that drugs are totally awesome.
 
It’s another George Arthur Bloom story. I’ll post my writeup either tonight or tomorrow, so take this time to record you own blind impressions, set up a livestream, or overdub Catrina’s dialogue with quotes from stoner movies.

@Sjogre  
Maybe that’s why Sombra enslaved all those ponies. He needed them to mine Witchcrystal, which he ground up and snorted for magic power.

Ah yes, Catrina. The first of many villains in the MLP franchise to get off the hook with little to no punishment, no matter how long the rap sheet.

@Trickquestion  
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sombra had some kind of addiction, magical or otherwise.
 
@Kazapsky  
Except she was very nearly allowed to fall and drown and die, pressured into agreeing to destroy her witch-weed producing magic machine if they help her.
 
She then has the chance to attack them all with that one last bit of witchweed power, and she could win just like that… but she chose to explode the witchweed machine instead, so she can’t even have more of her magic drug even if she wanted to, not anytime soon.
 
I think that shows she meant it when agreeing to her bf’s demands of reform and rehab. She’s also done a lot less damage than most villains, though abusing her boyfriend and enslaving an entire tribe of creatures for who knows how long and attempting to drown creatures who disobey her, and attempting to enslave yet another herd of creatures is pretty bad.
 
Okay maybe she’s done a ‘medium’ amount of damage on the G1 magical adventure villain scale.
 
Unless you also happen to really hate bushwoolies ( I don’t ).

It was reb who save her at the end and from him, it is no surprise. He might even have been bluffing when he asked her to destroy the machine.
 
I think that when she said it took forever to build, she implied that she built the machine so maybe she would have been able to build it back, take weed herself to fuel it one time and cause havoc taking her revenge if they had asked for reparations or try to impose consequences.

anyone have any eps of the Tales series?
 
I seem to remember one with Sweetheart or something and her Jerk with a heart of brozium boyfriend.

@Shadow Star  
On youtube you can find them all here. There is a whole lot of mlp n friend before this thread get there but they might as well have their links now too if that can help you.

I get the feeling that the writers (at least by this point) have a better idea of what to do with the villains than the ponies. After all the ponies so far where pretty much blank slates that when left to their own accord only play and frolic. Maybe the writers had a lot more creative freedom with the villains?
 
I could make the case that in this special Katrina was the protagonist and not Megan or the ponies. She is the one who overgoes a character arc and the only Character who brings an inner conflict to the story. The funny part is that this is the main reason i like this special! by writing a story about the villain instead of the heroes the writers could get away with a plot that would not be accepted otherwise.
 
Now i wonder, how many other cartoons used to stick a more mature plot through the villains while the heroes were happy sugary and safe?

@ender1200  
That is something G4 enormously improved on. The pony protagonists are totally bland and almost completely totally interchangeable, and the human characters aren’t much better. It’s probably a really good thing this incarnation featured adventures with interesting villains frequently, for if they tried G4’s slice of life style with their completely uninteresting ponies, the thing would be unwatchable.