Fillychan

Expect something new? Bitch, I'm *making* something new based on it.

Seriously, though, I would expect more in the near future, for several reasons. One, hooves are a lot easier to animate than hands, it's cheaper. Two, and this going into some obscure territory, there's the Reinaert aspect.

I'll try and get an article up on DA sometime to explain it in more detail, but the short version is: you can get away with a lot more when you use animals. There's a whole subclass of people nowadays who get offended by design at every single casting call, saying diversity isn't being enforced. With talking animals, you bypass this entirely. Which pony is supposed to be the black pony? They're ponies. They didn't have slavery; it wasn't in their history, not if the writer doesn't want them to. There's no such thing as a black pony, not unless the writers want to add one. Core principles that people get offended over simply do not exist in animal-based stories.

Thirdly, and related, you can consciously omit things to make people think about situations. Create a conflict that would never happen in the human world, but vaguely resembles a human conflict, only without the parameters we usually associate with it. Discrimination towards unicorns? Racism! Except... no, it's technically able-ism or mage-ism if the prejudice is based on their magic use. If other creatures had the same magic, the same prejudice would occur. Humans don't have an equivalent to that. It can make you think about the limits of morality and outrage. Or something like that, it's hard to explain.

As for MLP, I don't know, as I haven't kept up with the Season yet. It'll end when it ends, and so far there have only been three episodes I cannot stand to watch, which is pretty good for a show that's passed the three-digit mark.

Me, I intend to go my own way with my creations. MLP treaded new ground, it's charted its path and will continue to do so. I'm sure other creators will follow their own paths.

>>730
>There's a whole subclass of people nowadays who get offended by design at every single casting call, saying diversity isn't being enforced.

This thing in US produced stuff is really slipping out of control today. I think my sensibility is different becouse I'm Italian, but I don't see how some cosmetical choises could bring some good if these have no impact in the story. When I was kid I remember that a lot of American stuff dealt better with the issue, with more sensibility than I see nowday from them.

>Thirdly, and related, you can consciously omit things to make people think about situations.

Talking animals are neutral, disconnected from human questions; instead they depends from traditions from fairytales, legends and popular culture; but is true that you can be more selective about what theme bringing up without unforeseen effect. But also another thing.

A reason why FiM got a high male following even if is a "girl show", paradoxically, is not only becouse Lauren wanted to do a good cartoon as main cause, there is also the characters "aren't human". The characters are female teenagers, but we don't see young women, but horses. And we can't distinguish their age clearly: they are teenagers, around 20 old, or older?
That helped, becouse the impression FiM gave was not to watch a story for girls, but a general fantasy and sit-com, with a female cast "as coincidence". There is a stigma around western female-aimed products that pushes us males far from then, born for good and bad reason: if FiM was with an human cast instead, or better, if was Equestria Girls from start, I'm not sure how many males would had developed a strong interest toward it.

>As for MLP, I don't know, as I haven't kept up with the Season yet. It'll end when it ends, and so far there have only been three episodes I cannot stand to watch, which is pretty good for a show that's passed the three-digit mark.

I see there is disappointing around for how the things are managed today, and reasons could be good or bad.
For what concern me, I find it missed the opportunity to do something of particular into talking animals genre. The world lacked of the complexity of Filly, and the relationships aren't deep as showed between Melowy characters, and with that I mean, not just joke around the drama-queen Rarity or Dash that escalate the problem in the effort to avoid it. The girls in Melowy shares a lot of things, and have learned to share, even if they have many differences. You see them spend a lot of time togheter, sometimes taking part of same activities, other times having really need of their friends to face a problem. Many plots involves that the girls stick togheter, in a way or another. FiM still have some episodes that I like, but their relationship is less refined, maybe they are all focus on the main problem of a single characters instead to spend time to show the characters to really share something togheter, for example Rarity and Fluttershy at the SPA in "Green isn't your color".
But I'm not sure how much is the fault of the writer here, Hasbro did a lot of questionable decisions over the course of time, that even a good willed writer would had gave up at a certain point.
I think is time that another story rises up and do what is not happened yet, for talking animals.

>>743
Since they have a world with magic, there could be any sort of communication-able entities forming societies. But if we question why is it that ponies of MLP, able to do a lot with magic, don't tend to turn into other species or take bizarre forms - it seems to be a good decision for them that they stay animal, and pony at that. Makes things more simple and convenient. In another types of environments than Equestrian plains, that might be different (dragons living in the mountain regions, for example)

>>747
Since they have a world with magic, there could be any sort of communication-able entities forming societies. But if we question why is it that ponies of MLP, able to do a lot with magic, don't tend to turn into other species or take bizarre forms - it seems to be a good decision for them that they stay animal, and pony at that. Makes things more simple and convenient. In another types of environments than Equestrian plains, that might be different (dragons living in the mountain regions, for example)

FiM has a fantasy frame very swallow, but a couple of other cartoons played around the thing. In Princess Starla the unicorns don't speak, but comunicate though telepaty. Curiously they did the same the Gravity Falls episode The Last Mabelcorn, where they do he same. :)

The reason why they don't change forms, I think they dislike do that. They are born horse-like, and I think is natural that many of them are confortable in their original form, while a transformation would be a temporary "awesome" thing maybe, but not something of definitive. Like Rainbow Dash in breezies episodes, that was asking Twilight to change her in a Dragon or Griffin, becouse these are cool and Dash loves being cool; but I'm not sure if Dash would really like remain stucked in a griffin form forever.