Move Over Stephanie Meyer. There’s a new Twilight in town.

Seem familiar?

Are unicorns the new vampires? They could be with the Brony craze that’s sweeping the nation. Or at least sweeping the internet portion of it. That craze surrounds Lauren Faust and Hasbro’s re-imagining of the 80’s classic My Little Pony. This recent incarnation or g4 (generation 4) is called My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.

The question is, why is there such a craze? Is the show just that good? Is it because of creator and producer Lauren Faust? (who recently stepped down and took a more advisory role with the show, but more on that another time). Or is it just that we are that nostalgic for the 80’s and 90’s toons of our youth and this is a pretty faithful re-boot. Compared to other abominations of re-boots. (Smurfs and Michael Bay’s Transformers, yes I am looking at you).

Perhaps it is a perfect storm of all these factors which created this show and the fandom surrounding it.

One of the mane (hah hah puns) reasons I think it succeeds is because it is a show for girls that is unique in that it can be enjoyed by both genders. For the most part it doesn’t pander to its audience of try to hard to be extra politically correct or extremely pink and fluffy like many of its girly show predecessors. It takes into account both its young girl audience as well as the adult audience of the show and it caters to both in a way that is refreshing among the animated shows of today.

Firefly

G4 Re-imagined Firefly

Rainbow Dash Herself

Part of the reason for this is the way the pony protagonists are handled. Fans of the original 80s cartoon will be happy to point out that Faust based the personalities of the mane cast on the personalities she gave her own ponies as a child. Anyone who played with My Little Ponies as a child will tell you that they made up personalities and stories about their ponies that were perhaps inspired by the old cartoon but mostly a product of their own imagination. The old cartoons were good but except where Pegasus pony Firefly was concerned, fell rather short in the personality department. Faust even stated that when she created the characters she basically put Firefly’s brain into Rainbow Dash’s body.

             

Bright Eyes

As a kid, I was also a fan of the early 90s rendition of MLP called My Little PonyTales which featured a set group of 7 main characters who went to high school and lived in a town together. While this was a bit of a stretch of the imagination and most of the storylines dealt with boy problems, going to concerts and getting makeovers to get said boy ponies to like you, the protagonists at least gained personalities that the G1 ponies lacked. In particular there was the light blue and red-haired pony named Bright Eyes, studious in school, her cutie mark was a pen and notebook and she was awkward around the nice boy-pony she liked. Essentially here was a pony I could relate to. What does this have to do with MLP Friendship is Magic?

Twilight Sparkle

When I first heard of the show I was skeptical. But as soon as I watched it I was hooked. Why? Because of Twilight Sparkle. Here was a pony that was a combination of my two most favorite ponies growing up. My sparkly toy unicorn pony and Bright Eyes from the MLP-Tales show. Here was a real protagonist, a slightly awkward but intelligent, scholarly and bookish pony who was also a magic-wielding unicorn. Yes. Even as an adult, I found my relatable character that got me hooked and kept me watching.

But I stayed watching for more than just Twilight Sparkle. Each of the other pony characters were equally well-developed, funny, and interesting. (And bringing back little dragon Spike as an adorable Flounder-esque character. Awesome). Each of them reminded me of both my pony characters growing up as well as many of my personal friends. And the target kid audience responds well to the cute factor and the personalities of the ponies. My young cousins told me their favorite ponies which correspond perfectly to their personalities.

In addition to the characters, the mythological world created of Equestria and Ponyville is both fascinating and refreshing. The ponies live in a world of manticores, dragons, gryphons and other mythological beasts fit to please any fantasy enthusiast. Not to mention Princess Celestia the Pegasus-Unicorn is the pony enthusiast's dream come true! The flash animation is also beautiful in its simplicity.

Furthermore, the show’s acknowledgement of its adult audience with shout-outs and homages to other works is clever. It is almost like the writers are sitting there thinking, “Hey, adult nerds watch this.” The most blatant recent example was from end of the second season opener, with a straight up homage to the end of Star Wars : A New Hope.

I hope this pony resurgence continues to pave the way for new kinds of fantasy or at least create a niche market. I am tired of seeing the “Paranormal Teen Romance” section of the bookstore. So shows like this as well as books like Zombies vs. Unicorns, entice me and give me hope. As a unicorn fan and someone who has a novel about unicorns I’d like to market and sell, if Bronies will read it, than props to them.  

Shameless Plugs

So I caved and got a tumblr.com account. You can follow it here: http://theartsywriter.tumblr.com/
I'm hoping it will be a good place for quick and easy updates. But you can still follow me here at Starlight and Flickerfeet for my more in-depth posts which I am hoping to get back into doing more regularly. I have a serious of posts coming up regarding my opinion on some of the new Fall tv shows. Or potentially this whole Brony craze that is sweeping the internet. Suggestions for what you all want to see more of are great though!

Nerdy Unicorn pony protagonist? Check.

New Looney Tunes: Yay or Nay?

Bugs Bunny is one of my childhood heroes. He's who I strive to be in life. No not really, but really I'm sure we'd all like to be as clever, confident and sarcastic as he is. So when I heard that he was coming back in an all new show re-vamped for modern audiences on Cartoon Network I was both skeptical and ecstatic. There are some who believe this is taking the show on a very bad left turn at Albuquerque. However, the new designs alone looked new and quirky and yet retro at the same time. The plot intrigues me as well, Bugs and Daffy as roommates in suburbia. I know this is more like a sitcom than the slapstick cartoon style, but honestly I think if you really want that you can go watch the old cartoons. And as my youngest brother says, if kids these days want slapstick they can watch Spongebob. The new premise seems a bit more along the lines of past cartoon network revamps of old cartoons like the Brak Show. It's funny precisely because you are putting these characters into a different scenario and basically seeing how they will work/act in that situation. I think it can still be in the vein of old Looney Tunes. Even the Animaniacs showed the Warner sibs going about their daily lives or in different situations and that worked brilliantly.

That is still true to the old cartoons which would place the characters in bank heists, Arabia, and the antarctic, granted that was mainly because of wrong turns at Albuquerque. But that is the beauty of having such solid well-developed characters. You can put them into different situations and see how they behave. As a writer I can see how this would be very enjoyable to write and think about. Having characters you know so well, you can figure out how they will act and behave in different scenarios is golden. Just one of the many reasons Looney Tunes is such a brilliant show. I can't say much since the show hasn't aired yet, except that the few clips I have seen so far seem great. It's taking the characters in a new direction, but from what I can see is without total re-writes or flanderization. (Unlike some other unmentionable re-imaginings of the toons in the 90's and 00's). We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out when it airs May 3 at 8pm. I'm hoping for the best. Even though I don't really need another cartoon to be addicted to watching all the time. So until it premieres: That's all folks!

Yeah. I love this rabbit a lot.

Ireland Inspired Poem.

Hello folks!
Well I feel I should update. I did go to Ireland. Over Spring Break. Which is definitely update worthy, but this, my last semester is getting crazy so that post will have to wait. For now, enjoy this poem!

Icon of Sorrow

Woman.

Your hands outstretched

to the world

to salt-sea-water

to men, to women,

to those who leave.

Your head tilted in sorrow,

in utmost melancholy.

Your hands reach out

in anguish.You know 

your people must leave

the green, green, shores

of home.

But perhaps a day may come

in the far off dying years

you will be gone.

But your image shall

remain. A reminder

of sorrows past.

Mournful enough

to touch the spirit

of a young colleen,

a descendant

returned

on the Long Journey Home. 

Sibling Revelry and Christmas 2k10: Reflections on Break

Crazy siblings on Christmas Eve

Well, it’s a new year, and the new semester has been underway for four weeks now. Which is crazy because it’s my last semester of undergrad. But besides that, I’ve been reflecting on the past year and on this past break which has been the best Christmas/holiday/between semesters break ever! I’m not even kidding. I say that a lot about various breaks, but this one has been exceptionally good. It’s been pretty crazy busy and it’s made me realize how wonderful my family, siblings, and friends are.

Rudolph!

First off, I have the best brothers ever and I love all our crazy weird sibling traditions. We decorated the tree together as per usual, listening to our amazing Christmas music mix of obscure and popular 90’s bands, Elvis Costello, the Chieftains, Relient K, Ben Gibbard and other Indie stuff. (On a side note, this song I discovered by Slow Club is probably my new favorite version of that Christmas song. Their regular non-Christmas stuff is pretty good too). Nothing like some good old 90’s pop renditions of your favorite songs mixed with rowdy Christmas Irish music while you’re decorating the tree with all those beloved ornaments you made in 1^st grade, the old wooden ones, and to the prettier nicer ones. I had my ceremonial placing of my favorite wooden Rudolph ornament on the tree first, front, and center. And for some reason, sibling decorating is still fun as an adult, albeit much different than when we were kids; for one thing it doesn’t take as long.

Cheesy tree decorating poses

The goal is to look like you're on a JCPenney Commercial

Then there’s our Christmas Eve tradition of me working like a Donna Reed fiend in the kitchen, doing woman work in an apron like I should. (And that was meant in good taste). Followed by watching it’s a Wonderful Life on TV before going to Midnight Mass. The Aged P’s had opted for the early morning Shepherd’s Mass, so we snapped some pics of us in our Christmas duds to surprise them in the morning. I guess what sums up sibling revelry the most was while watching Elf until 4am and those deep discussions we tend to have late at night, my brother Conor said: “When we’re all married with kids and stuff, we’ll still all get together like this and it’ll be like Parenthood!” And we all agreed, although I hope with certainly much less drama. It has been a lot of change over the past few years with all of us getting older, and now I’m getting ready to finish college, and my brothers are in their third year of college and high school respectively. But I think we’ve all grown to appreciate each other even more as we’re all nearly grown up. In a way, we’ve grown closer, and even though I’m excited about being back at school for my last semester, I will miss our sibling revelry.

Doing his best Kenny from South Park impersonation

Jamming around the Christmas Tree

Sometimes this holiday season is jokingly known among my family as the season of hard feelings and blame, which ironically is a Kelly Rippa quote. Because you know, everyone always seems to dread having to deal with family and :shudder: people you knew from high school! Really, I’ve learned that it’s not so bad. There are only so many times a year you get to catch up with all these people. Over break I was able to spend some time hanging out with old friends from high school again, which is always fun. Because break would not be complete without chilling at B-dubs, a thrifting trip to the Salvation Army, or gallivanting through downtown Royal Oak. Similar to how sibling relationships continue to grow as you do, it’s the same with my best friends from back then. You picked your best friends in high school for a reason, and it is often for those same reasons that they remain solid friends even after that. They were the friends you picked not based on popularity or the status it gave you, but because they were the people you could relate to on a more complex level than that, based more on common interests, ideas, and beliefs. And even now that we’ve all moved on with our lives and gone on to do awesome stuff, there is still a part of us that’s essentially the same and that’s why the friendship still remains intact. I guess I’m being all nostalgic and gooshy, but I am graduating soon, so I’m allowed. That's another thing I came to terms with over break, I am 22 now. My birthday was this month (January). At first I was like eek I'm getting old, but really life goes on, and I enjoy being an adult and making adult decisions, like watching Phineas and Ferb at 10:30pm while drinking a beer!


So while this was late in coming, (hey so were the Wise men), I'm hoping I can be a tad more timely with my next few posts. Wishing all of you a Merry and Happy new year in 2011!