My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Tropes H to P: Difference between revisions

 

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* [[Hard Light]]: Rainbows are a liquid. It's safely edible, but painfully spicy. It's also sticky enough to be used as war paint.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Almost [[Once Per Episode]]. All of the main ponies get one in the first season, ranging from mild nervous breakdowns to freaky psychosis, and Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle continue to get more in the second. Each time, the reasons are intimately related to the character's personality, strengths and weaknesses. See specific episodes or the [[Heroic BSOD/Western Animation|relevant Heroic BSOD example page]] for more details; appears in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E04 Applebuck Season|"Applebuck Season"]] (Applejack), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E10 Swarm of the Century|"Swarm of the Century"]] (Twilight), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E14 Suited for Success|"Suited for Success"]] (Rarity), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E16 Sonic Rainboom|"Sonic Rainboom"]] (Rainbow Dash), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E25 Party of One|"Party of One"]] (Pinkie Pie), and [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E26 The Best Night Ever|"The Best Night Ever"]] (Fluttershy); and [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E02 The Return of Harmony Part 2|"The Return of Harmony"]] (Twilight), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E03 Lesson Zero|"Lesson Zero"]] (Twilight), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E19 Putting Your Hoof Down|"Putting Your Hoof Down"]] (Fluttershy), [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E22 Hurricane Fluttershy|"Hurricane Fluttershy"]] (Fluttershy) and [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E25 A Canterlot Wedding Part 1|"A Canterlot Wedding"]] (Twilight).

* [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]: Too many examples to list. Spread all over this article.

** (Usually) replacing "body" with "pony", such as "everypony" and "somepony."

** In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E19 A Dog and Pony Show|A Dog and Pony Show]]", the ponies worry about Rarity in the clutches of the Diamond Dogs, and Spike imagines himself [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue|charging in and saving her single-handedly]].

*** As a muscular dragon knight in shining armor, no less. When Spike has a hopeless fantasy, he clearly doesn't do it by halves!

* [[Fundamentally Female Cast]]: With a few exceptions, almost all recurring characters are female.

** Even the extras are predominantly female.

== M ==

* [[Made of Good]]: The Elements of Harmony are made of positive qualities of friends, while the Fire of Friendship is made of friendship.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: Curses or hexes "artificially" conjured by potions and incantations don't work and aren't real magic, at least according to someone who should know. Real magic is inborn, as in the case of unicorn magic, and by extrapolation perhaps other things such as the pegasus ability to walk on clouds, the process that creates Cutie Marks, the ability of certain plants to cause bizarre and rather extreme physical effects and of others to cure them, and/or Pinkie Sense. Still, magic is studied, and unicorns at least sometimes need spells, which can be read from a book, implying they involve some kind of procedure to be performed, which would have to be mental since they indeed involve no external incantations or acts.

** Pinkie Sense is ''supposed'' to be an aversion, and Twilight Sparkle insists it doesn't make sense (partly because it doesn't work like unicorn magic at all), but it's got its own simple logic: Pinkie Pie gets bodily reaction A, predicting an event of type X will happen soon. And as stated above, it would fit with the "inborn powers" rule.

*** Fluttershy for being able to fly<ref>[http://fyre-flye.deviantart.com/journal/39270057/ Although not originally--in G3, she was originally a ''shutterfly'' and came with a camera]</ref> and for being... well... [[Shrinking Violet|shy]].

*** This new Rainbow Dash, who has rainbow hair but can also fly really fast.

*** Pinkie Pie, [[Captain Obvious|who is pink]] and has an affinity for sweets and desserts.

*** Rarity has an affinity for precious gems and jewelry.

** Scootaloo, who is a demon on her scooter.

** Princess Celestia, who controls the sun, and her sister Luna, who oversees the moon.

** Hoity Toity, who ... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|is.]]

** Snips and Snails, two immature young colts who are named after the "what are little boys made of?" rhyme.

** Train travel was rare in Season 1, and the trains were pulled by ponies. By Season 2, trains are self-powered and ubiquitous.

** In Season 1, the only medical facility seen was "Ponyville Emergency Care", which seemed to be just a big tent. In Season 2, Ponyville had a two-story hospital.

* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Naturally, but this show deserves special mention for showing how this can have an upside (assuming tons of merchandise for fans to buy doesn't already count as one): The Hub has been really lax about keeping episodes off [[YouTube]] and public download sites, since the show itself isn't where the real money is anyway. The full episodes are also posted to their own site six days after airing, though they don't stay up very long.

** The episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E07 May the Best Pet Win|May the Best Pet Win!]]" seems to include elements from four different Rainbow Dash toys:

*** The first basic ''[http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=BD9B4F66-5056-900B-104C-F1DAE68E28B8 Rainbow Dash]'' toy is accompanied by a squirrel. In the episode, a (flying) squirrel gets several seconds of screen time as Fluttershy shows it off to her...and Rainbow isn't interested.

*** Rainbow Dash's photo shoot may have been intended to promote the ''[http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=A2D0156A-5056-900B-10A8-F4951DB17628 Fashion Style Rainbow Dash]'' toy.

** The trope is also somewhat inverted; the show's older fanbase has often wished for ''more'' show-accurate and age-appropriate merchandise for them, instead of the toy line's intended audience. Hot Topic and several online sites have granted this wish with brony T-shirts and posters which can be seen at cons everywhere during the show's run!

** A toy set scheduled for release in August 2012 features Shining Armor and Princess Cadance of "A Canterlot Wedding".

** Also in "Hearts and Hooves Day", when Big Macintosh is not only capable of towing an entire house behind him with ease, ''he doesn't even notice it. [[It Makes Sense in Context|And he was]] '''''[[It Makes Sense in Context|hopping]]''''' ''[[It Makes Sense in Context|as he did.]]''

* [[Multiple Endings]]:

** Two episodes so far have had online polls prior to their premieres, each listing three endings to the episode and inviting the reader to guess which one is [[Canon]]:

* [[Mundane Utility]]: The unicorns use their magic horns for picking up books, straightening papers, and eating sandwiches. Basically, unicorn magic counts as having an extra pair of "hands", which is particularly useful when you don't ''have'' hands in the first place.

** Rarity even ''tailors and sews'' with her magic horn.

** What happens to {{spoiler|the three Windigoes when they get consumed by the flame and are never seen again}} in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E13 Hearth's Warming Eve|Hearth's Warming Eve]]"? {{spoiler|Sure, we hear one at the end of the episode, but it could just be another of their species}}.

** In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E17 Hearts and Hooves Day|Hearts and Hooves Day]]" the Cutie Mark Crusaders have a song sequence in which they criticize various stallions on why they can't be paired with Cheerilee. The point out an elderly pony as being too old. What was this old pony doing? He's a pastor ''giving the eulogy at a funeral.'' There's a closed casket clearly next to him.

* [[Nice Hat]]: During "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E15 Feeling Pinkie Keen|Feeling Pinkie Keen]]", Twilight briefly wears a pith helmet, to go with the naturalist theme.

** Trixie's hat also counts.

* [[Novelization]]:

** The ''[http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=D0F8485D-19B9-F369-10D7-A98580E3C94D Friendship is Magic gift set]'' includes a book based on "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E01 Mare in the Moon|Friendship is Magic, part 1]]" and "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E02 Elements of Harmony|Friendship is Magic, part 2]]".

** The ''Applebuck Season Storybook'', ''The Magic of Friendship Storybook'', ''The Cutie Mark Crusaders Storybook'', and ''Pinkie Pie's Parties Storybook'' are likely based on episodes.

** At least one of the German magazine stories is based on "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E03 The Ticket Master|The Ticket Master]]".

* [[Odd-Shaped Panel]]: Everywhere in the [[Expanded Universe]] comics.

* [[Off-Model]]:

** Some official art for the series leans towards this, such as a [[Irony|wingless Fluttershy]] and Twilight Sparkle with a distended forehead (which Hasbro has also recolored to be [[God-Created Canon Foreigner|Beachberry]], a [[Palette Swap]] of Twilight).

** From the [[Expanded Universe]], the ''Sparkle World'' [[Tie-in Novel|stories]] ''Rain, Rain Go Away!'' and ''Spooky Slumber Party!''

** The green dragon that appeared in the episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E24 Owl's Well That Ends Well|Owl's Well That Ends Well]]" is a palette swap of the red dragon in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E07 Dragon Shy|Dragonshy]]".

*** This dragon's character design was used once again multiple times in the episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E21 Dragon Quest|Dragon Quest]]".

** The multicolored parasprite swarm all share the same character design.

* [[Pals with Jesus]]: Twilight Sparkle is the personal student of Princess Celestia and is one of the few ponies who can call herself a friend of Princess Luna, both of whom are [[Physical God|Physical Goddesses]].

** More like an Older-Fandom Bonus, a brilliant move given that G1 collectors are now old enough to watch the show with their children. There are dozens upon dozens of references to the G1 cartoon throughout.

*** Additionally, some fans have already argued that the core cast of Ponies are rough [[Expy|Expys]] of the core cast from the G1 cartoon. To wit, Twilight Sparkle is like a combination of Magic Star and Paradise; Applejack, herself a G1 pony, is similar to Gusty with Wind Whistler's [[Team Mom]] tendencies; Rainbow Dash could be Firefly's daughter; Pinkie Pie reminds us an awful lot of Fizzie and Surprise; Rarity is essentially a toned-down Heart-throb; and Fluttershy is almost sweeter than Sweet Stuff.

*** Twilight Sparkle's mom looks a lot like G1 Twilight.

** "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E16 Sonic Rainboom|Sonic Rainboom]]" references the stereotype of construction workers making catcalls at female passersby when a group of construction worker pegasi gawk at Rarity's temporary gossamer butterfly wings.

** "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E21 Over a Barrel|Over a Barrel]]" had a scene where an old, worn out (and blatantly alcoholic) pony is kicked out from Appleloosa's equivalent of a canteen.

** Fluttershy's hummingbird friend, [[Ernest Hemingway|Hummingway]].

** The opening chase scene of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E05 Griffon the Brush Off|Griffon The Brush Off]]'' would easily seem [[Pepe Le Pew|very familiar]] to older audiences.

** There's also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p50-oWY1pFE a commercial from The Hub] that parodies Apple's There's An App For That ad for the iPhone, with tons of [[Freeze-Frame Bonus|Freeze Frame Bonuses]], including a nod to [http://www.equestriadaily.com Equestria Daily].

* [[Peek-a-Bangs]]: The bully boys at [[Floating Continent|Cloudsdale]] to some degree and young Fluttershy to the max. Even grown up Fluttershy still does it from time to time when she is especially shy.

* [[Pegasus]]

** Las Pegasus = Las Vegas + "Pegasus"

** Baltimare = Baltimore + "Mare"

** Froggy Bottom Bog is a play on Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood within [[Washington DC]].

** Twilight's owl friend introduced in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1/E24 Owl's Well That Ends Well|Owl's Well That Ends Well]]" is named Owloysius (a play on the name "Aloysius").

 

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[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]