I haven't seen the show but I listened to some friends argue about it and one of them said "do you really expect a kids show to have the protagonist curb stomp the evil villain at the end?"
"do you really expect a kids show to have the protagonist curb stomp the evil villain at the end?"
Friendship is Magic, a setting where pastel cartoon horses learn about friendship, once encountered basically Pony Hitler that tried to start a reactionary racist regime based entirely on a Reichstag-fire-like false flag and a fear campaign.
After that, she was sent to Pony Hell. For real. It was called Tartarus, but it was literally Pony Hell. Forgiveness (which she had exploited at the start of her coup attempt) had its limits.
I've only seen a few episodes here and there from when my partner watched the whole series but I generally liked MLP and this only affirms that opinion.
The show definitely has its flaws and some serious ideological problems from time to time (characters receive "cutie marks" which are a bit like a vague determinism, the land is ruled over by a 1000+ year old regime of superbeings with very long indeterminate lifespans and sometimes a mere mortal can be elevated to join their caste if the reigning rulers feel like it, the one major threat to that system was portrayed as a cult leader and a hypocrite), but overall if you like thoughtful kids' shows that have enough wit and cleverness to entertain adults too, worth watching more.
I haven't seen the show but I listened to some friends argue about it and one of them said "do you really expect a kids show to have the protagonist curb stomp the evil villain at the end?"
To which I could only respond
It's only mature if nothing really changes and all the set pieces just go back to their default positions, like in Harry Potter
Friendship is Magic, a setting where pastel cartoon horses learn about friendship, once encountered basically Pony Hitler that tried to start a reactionary racist regime based entirely on a Reichstag-fire-like false flag and a fear campaign.
After that, she was sent to Pony Hell. For real. It was called Tartarus, but it was literally Pony Hell. Forgiveness (which she had exploited at the start of her coup attempt) had its limits.
I've only seen a few episodes here and there from when my partner watched the whole series but I generally liked MLP and this only affirms that opinion.
The show definitely has its flaws and some serious ideological problems from time to time (characters receive "cutie marks" which are a bit like a vague determinism, the land is ruled over by a 1000+ year old regime of superbeings with very long indeterminate lifespans and sometimes a mere mortal can be elevated to join their caste if the reigning rulers feel like it, the one major threat to that system was portrayed as a cult leader and a hypocrite), but overall if you like thoughtful kids' shows that have enough wit and cleverness to entertain adults too, worth watching more.