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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is an American-Canadian television series and media franchise that served as the primary incarnation of the My Little Pony brand from 2010 to 2019. Created by Lauren Faust with contributions from hundreds of talented individuals, Friendship is Magic was one of the most successful western animated series and toylines in all of history, easily securing the series as Hasbro's second biggest toyline. With its distinctive animation style and highly defined cast of characters, Friendship is Magic follows the adventures of Twilight Sparkle and her many friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike and more as they navigate their lives in the fantastical world of Equestria, a land full of beauty and danger.
Episodes, seasons and films
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Development
Friendship is Magic began development sometime around 2008, with the production bible being completed in 2009.
Early history
Production
Music
The end
Cast and characters
Main cast
- Twilight Sparkle: (voiced by Tara Strong) A naïve, socially awkward bookish unicorn (later an alicorn) with a brave, adventurous and compassionate personality. She is sweet and highly intelligent, but often over-extends herself by trying to help too much and is sometimes insecure about her abilities and status. She is the sole daughter of the Sparkle family. She represents the Element of Magic.
- Singers: Rebecca Shoichet
- Alternative actors: Kira Buckland, Miyuki Sawashiro
- Rarity: (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) A unicorn. Rarity works as a fashion designer and lives at her business, Carousel Boutique. A caring artist, Rarity is the most mature of her friends but also sometimes the most naïve, often expecting strangers to be as compassionate as herself. Though exceptionally caring and hard-working, Rarity can also be aggressive, dramatic defeatist and self-centered. She represents the Element of Generosity
- Rainbow Dash: (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) A pegasus. Rainbow Dash is a pony with many contradicting qualities, both being hard-working and lazy, confidant and insecure, loyal yet sometimes focusing on herself above others. Though she is perhaps the most aggressive, judgmental and brash of the Mane Six, she is none-the-less heroic. For a time, it was shown that Rainbow Dash not only holds grudges against those who wronged her, but take out her frustrations with their entire species, though has since learned that this was wrong. She represents the Element of Loyalty.
- Fluttershy: (voiced by Andrea Libman) A pegasus. Fluttershy is gentle and loving but also timid and meek. Throughout the early portions of the series, she suffered greatly from a crippling social awkwardness that made it difficult for her to leave her home, though thanks to her friends, she eventually learned how to not only socialize but stand up for herself. She has an extreme fondness for animals and eventually runs an animal shelter. She represents the Element of Kindness.
- Pinkie Pie: (voiced by Andrea Libman)
- Applejack: (voiced by Ashleigh Ball)
- Spike: (voiced by Cathy Weseluck) A dragon. He is Twilight Sparkle's assistant, sometimes depicted as being something to her surrogate younger brother or even son. Spike is helpful and kind, but sometimes selfish, vain, insecure or lazy. Spike is often characterized as a nerd with interests in comics and role-playing games. He has a crush on Rarity and is good friends with Big McIntosh, Discord and Ember, among others.
Recurring cast
Villains
Setting
Kingdoms and species
The primary setting of Friendship is Magic is the land of Equestria, which has been varyingly referred to as a kingdom[citation needed], continent[citation needed] or even entire the entire planet.[sources 1][1] The dominant species throughout Equestria and indeed, much of the franchise are ponies, who come in three main varieties, such as the Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns. Earth Ponies are hardy individuals with strong bodies and equally strong hearts. Likely due to their lack of special powers, they're often depicted as being innovators and inventors of technology. Pegasi are winged-ponies with the power to fly and control the weather itself. Notably, pegasi are responsible for creating or diverting storms and the changing of seasons. Unicorns are typically mountain-dwelling ponies who have the power of magic. Usually depicted as more 'refined' and educated, unicorns have spread out across Equestria to aid communities with their gifts. Throughout the franchise, many lesser-populated 'kinds' of ponies have appeared, such as the Alicorns, Thracians and Bat Ponies.
Of course, other countries exist, often populated by different species. Most notably are the Dragon Lands, populated by Dragons, Griffonstone, populated by Griffons, Changeling Hive, populated by Changelings, Yakyakistan, populated by the Yaks and the Hippogriff Kingdom/Seaquestria nations, populated by the Hippogriffs. There are also smaller, less explored kingdoms such as Abyssinia, populated by the cats and the two Diamond Dog kingdoms of Diamondia and Caninia. Equestria itself also houses a number of minority groups or even minor kingdoms within its borders, such as the Buffalo Village, Dragon Town and the deer kingdom of Thicket. Beyond even those, there appear to be kingdoms for apes, giraffes, minotaurs and a variety of other creatures who have only been briefly alluded to.
Other equines such as Zebra and Arabian Ponies have their own lands.
Politics, settlements and organization
Equestria as the nation is a monarchy primarily ruled by the Equestrian royal family, which itself primarily consists of the 'four princesses', Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight, who each represent the sun, moon, love and friendship respectively. It's unclear if Equestria is split into sub-domains, though a few regions have been alluded to such as Coltifornia, which appears to indicate some sort of provincial system. Each settlement, is lead by a mayor and represented by a delegate. Though the government is typically functional and transparent, corruption exists. Wealthy ponies such as Fancy Pants have been known to buy favors among governmental organizations and the infamous Equestrian Educational Association was at lead by a xenophobe by the name of Chancellor Neighsay, though he ultimately did learn the error of his ways. Corruption is known to occur among the police too.[2][3]
Culture and science
According to Jayson Thiessen, the level of technology of Equestria is 'strictly' depicted from roughly the Edwardian era to the early 20th century.[4] This of course has influenced many of the shows' internal culture, with much of the entertainment the ponies enjoy are stage-theaters, concerts and literature. Trains and sometimes ships are used as the primary form of transit in long distances, with all major land vehicles often being pulled by other ponies, or sometimes other creatures. At times, it can even be argued that the show has a retro-futuristic, even steampunk aesthetic with airships and the machinery Twilight Sparkle developed, especially in the shows' early days. Despite this 'strict' consistency, slip ups have been made, usually in the tie-in material. Comics for example have alluded to or depicted concepts such as the internet, automobiles and even time machines.
Literature appears to be one of Equestria's most thriving industries, with a number of libraries and bookshops located throughout the country. The most popular book series appears to be the Daring Do franchise, written by A.K. Yearling, which has a number of notable fans.
Merchandise and tie-in media
Publications
Books
Comics
Magazines
Toys
Home media releases
Fandom
Origins
Fansites and fanfiction
Conventions, fanon and official
International success
Criticism
References
Bibliography
- ↑ My Little Pony: The Role-Playing Game, Published by Renegade Games.
Citations
- ↑ My Little Pony: The Role-Playing Game, pg. ??
- ↑ Friends Forever #14
- ↑ Friendship is Magic #21
- ↑ My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria, pg. 9
