My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[Kunoichi]

Poorly Drawn?

It's exactly like the cartoon. xD

No, it's really not.  It looks like it is, at first glance, but the pony designs in MLP actually generally follow equine anatomy.  That particular set of pictures attempts to copy the style, but falls short in a few areas, most notably the limbs.

Or at least, that's my opinion, anyway. ^^;

[ulthakptah]

Definitely a fan of a well drawn hock.

[ulthakptah]

Definitely a fan of a well drawn hock.

That isn't a typo by the way. A hock basically the ankle on the hind legs of a digitigrade or unguligrade quadrupedal mammal

[Wolfy]

That isn't a typo by the way. A hock basically the ankle on the hind legs of a digitigrade or unguligrade quadrupedal mammal

[ulthakptah]

I had a weird dream last night involving me as Applejack on a train. I thought it was strange because Applejack wasn't even my favorite pony, and wondered why I would dream something like that. The answer didn't dawn on me until I was sitting down slicing up apples for the pie I was making today. Happy Thanksgiving, I'm going to watch Over a Barrel now.

[Wolfy]

MLP: Fighting is Magic - PreAlpha

I keep throwing money at the screen but it does no good!

[Sabby]

Damn this Futashy Tumblr is adorable x3

[Wolfy]

Umm..Hello, Sabby...Link to said Tumblr @_@

[Sabby]

http://askfutashy.tumblr.com/

[Kunoichi]

So, today's episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic dealt with the subject of bullying.

...Any thoughts?

[ulthakptah]

Well I liked the episode. It was entertaining, and Squeaky Sweetie Belle was extra adorable, but the over all message was somewhat muddled. I had the feeling they were trying to say the best thing to do with a bully would be to tattle on them, but that wasn't how they ended up solving their problem. In the end they were nice to Babs and she stopped being mean. Besides tattling more often makes you even more of a target. Though maybe the lesson to learn here is from the point of Babs. That you shouldn't bully just to prevent yourself from being a target.

[Chris Brady]

Once you become a victim of a bully, often times, it's over.  No matter what you do, you are now a 'target'.  Fight back, and they get more friends to beat you down.  Don't fight, you're seen as weak.  Tattle, you're going to get beaten for being a squealer.  The entire time, you're still getting picked on.  And worse, other bullies will get in on the action because you're a 'target', they 'know' you're one, because some other idiot is after your ass.

And being 'nice' to a bully changes nothing, it's filed under the 'doesn't fight back=weak' category.

[SinXAzgard21]

Once you become a victim of a bully, often times, it's over.  No matter what you do, you are now a 'target'.  Fight back, and they get more friends to beat you down.  Don't fight, you're seen as weak.  Tattle, you're going to get beaten for being a squealer.  The entire time, you're still getting picked on.  And worse, other bullies will get in on the action because you're a 'target', they 'know' you're one, because some other idiot is after your ass.

And being 'nice' to a bully changes nothing, it's filed under the 'doesn't fight back=weak' category.

So basically you are saying is once you are targeted by a bully there is no hope?  If you are speaking from experience I am sorry that you felt that way.  Bullies can be dealt with, it isn't an overnight process but you don't have to sit there and take their harassment nor beatings.

[Kunoichi]

Based on various discussions I've read since the episode aired, the experiences people have had with bullies and the ways that they've dealt with them seem to have been highly dependent on their surroundings and the circumstances in which the bullying was taking place.  Sometimes telling an adult worked.  Sometimes the adults didn't care, so it didn't work.  Sometimes the adults were actually actively covering for the bullies for whatever twisted reason.  Sometimes standing up to the bullies scared them off, sometimes the adults finally stopped being lazy and got involved when it turned into a physical confrontation, sometimes it only escalated things.  Sometimes, the person who stood up to the bullies wound up coming a hairs' breadth away from getting charged with assault themselves.

There really doesn't seem to be a universally right or wrong answer in this situation, and 'tell an adult' is only the solution this episode settled on because that's the currently-accepted solution in modern western society.  That's my take on the matter, anyway.

[Chris Brady]

So basically you are saying is once you are targeted by a bully there is no hope?  If you are speaking from experience I am sorry that you felt that way.  Bullies can be dealt with, it isn't an overnight process but you don't have to sit there and take their harassment nor beatings.

It doesn't matter if you sit and take 'em, or do something about it.  If those kids want you harmed, YOU WILL BE HARMED.  Bullies don't work alone anymore either.

And yes, I am speaking from personal experience.  The only way for bullying to stop is two fold.  Boredom, or one of you moves away far enough to no longer make it matter.

There's a reason why bullying never stops, from school to the workplace to relationships and anywhere else in life.

The average bully is someone so insecure in themselves that they need to valid their 'power' and dominance that they will target the 'weakest' looking target.  You can fight back?  They'll up the ante, and keep upping it until they get satisfaction, or in some cases, something drastic happens, like a severe injury and/or death.  If you're lucky, you'll prove to be too challenging to crack and they'll get bored of trying.  Or you leave schools or whatever.

Yes, bullies suffer from rather hard cases of low self-esteem, and the only way to make themselves feel bigger is picking on someone else.  And nothing anyone can do will stop it.

I'm assuming that you might have caught that YouTube video of a bully who picked on a fat kid, and the fat kid, having had finally enough lifted the bully and dropped him, hard?  And if you remember, when they got the kid on camera asking if he'll stop.  Remember what he said?  He said no, he'll keep doing it.  And if you think that's an uncommon situation, you'd be sadly mistaken.  I happen to live near two schools, read the newspaper and catch odd bits of news, and one thing remains:  Bullying is not easy to deal with.

It's nice that Ponies tried to deal with it, but the problem is there's no way to sanitize what Bullying is for Children's TV.

[SinXAzgard21]

It doesn't matter if you sit and take 'em, or do something about it.  If those kids want you harmed, YOU WILL BE HARMED.  Bullies don't work alone anymore either.

And yes, I am speaking from personal experience.  The only way for bullying to stop is two fold.  Boredom, or one of you moves away far enough to no longer make it matter.

There's a reason why bullying never stops, from school to the workplace to relationships and anywhere else in life.

The average bully is someone so insecure in themselves that they need to valid their 'power' and dominance that they will target the 'weakest' looking target.  You can fight back?  They'll up the ante, and keep upping it until they get satisfaction, or in some cases, something drastic happens, like a severe injury and/or death.  If you're lucky, you'll prove to be too challenging to crack and they'll get bored of trying.  Or you leave schools or whatever.

Yes, bullies suffer from rather hard cases of low self-esteem, and the only way to make themselves feel bigger is picking on someone else.  And nothing anyone can do will stop it.

I'm assuming that you might have caught that YouTube video of a bully who picked on a fat kid, and the fat kid, having had finally enough lifted the bully and dropped him, hard?  And if you remember, when they got the kid on camera asking if he'll stop.  Remember what he said?  He said no, he'll keep doing it.  And if you think that's an uncommon situation, you'd be sadly mistaken.  I happen to live near two schools, read the newspaper and catch odd bits of news, and one thing remains:  Bullying is not easy to deal with.

It's nice that Ponies tried to deal with it, but the problem is there's no way to sanitize what Bullying is for Children's TV.

Well when you have kids I hope they are never bullied with this outlook you have.

[Dhi]

I haven't been able to sit down and watch the last couple of episodes yet. It should be interesting to see what it has to say about bullying, since my partner is well trained in changing bully behaviors.

[Chris Brady]

Well when you have kids I hope they are never bullied with this outlook you have.

My advice is to fight.  Make it HURT to bully you.

[queridoor]

I think what people are forgetting in criticizing the episode is that this is still, above all, a children's show. Bullying is a horrible, heartbreaking thing, and there's no way to 'sanitize' it as someone said. On top of that, the characters are children, and they act how children would.

But how to deal with a bully depends entirely on your situation. SOMETIMES, fighting back works. SOMETIMES, ignoring it works. SOMETIMES, telling an adult works. Sometimes, none of it does. There's no clear-cut solution.

[Chris Brady]

But how to deal with a bully depends entirely on your situation. SOMETIMES, fighting back works. SOMETIMES, ignoring it works. SOMETIMES, telling an adult works. Sometimes, none of it does. There's no clear-cut solution.

Exactly.

[The Golden Touch]

Uh weird debate about the theories in a kid's show aside... Wtf why can't I find a Rarity or Applebloom plushie for M.? She has Twilight Sparkle, Pinky pie and Rainbow Dash. Goddamn Hasbaro... Catch up!

[queridoor]

Those are the only ones they've made. Not sure if they've released Fluttershy yet.

[The Golden Touch]

I know they haven't made them, but its frustrating that they're the last I'm waiting on. They have a couple Fluttershy models. Unfortunately it's usually sold out. -shrug-

[GanonDwarf]

Has anyone read the comic book? The first issue was pretty good, the art is unique and the plot is interesting enough.  With all the references they throw in it, this comic is defiantly made for a brony or pega-sister (Or a fan of the show, if you do not want to be labeled as a brony or pega-sister).

[Kunoichi]

I haven't read the comic yet, though I'm definitely going to look into it, now. ^^ Anyone catch today's episode?  THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE returns, and she's even greater and more powerful than before.