Girl crap

You're 43 and you have peers who watched Steven Universe?

Yes. It was very popular among 30-something millennials at the time. Same with Adventure Time and Regular Show. When some stuff is well written, adults like it too.

SU came out 13 years ago.

I mean I'm 35 and clearly an adult cartoon fan so I know but that still seems a little odd to me. I knew girls who watched SU, they were all the same girls I knew who watched MLP. I don't really know anyone who watches Jem but that's because I wasn't alive when it aired and it wasn't reran ever until the 2010s on Hub.

In any case, yes I would say MLP lead a revolution, it and Adventure Time are the only reason things like Star, SU, etc etc got made. You can deny it but those two shows spawned the whole decades obsession with girly, pastel, magic themed cartoons. And to anyone who doesn't remember how big MLP was, remember it needed it's own board that still exists on this site, remember it had it's own conventions for a decade despite pretty much being entirely based on one show in the franchise and its popularity with mostly teens-twenty somethings, unlike it's male equivalent of Transformers conventions, which have been building on generations of fandom

Adventure Time most certainly gave way to SU, but I don't think MLP had as much influence as you're giving it. The fanbase was so fucking toxic at the time that a lot of people distanced themselves from it pretty hard. Kinda the Roblox of the 2010's.

No animation studios care about the internet drama of fan communities anon, they care about what's popular. And MLP's fandom definitely was bigger than that of AT, and more lucrative, which is all suits care about.

Remember they even tried to create a social media buzz about the then new Care Bears saying that the fans were "belly bros" which got mocked, and then they tried to actually make a MLP-Like reboot of Carebears again like five years later, they tried the same thing with Rainbow Brite too, which suprise suprise was basically like a more generic Star Vs. Which just goes to show the span of that shows influence.

AT also had one foot in the pastel fairy tale world, and the other in another lane, ironic hipster toons, that and it wasn't explicitly girly either, while Star Vs. and SU definitely were about magic pseudo 80s aesthetic girl heroes

I recently met a woman named after Jem's alter ego. She was the first person I've met named after a fictional character who wasn't Logan.

I can attest. I am currently 42 and I was all about Cartoon Network originals and Adult Swim in the 2010s. I recently watched Gravity Falls with a fella older than me and a guy younger than me who were watching it for the first time. If a show is good, it is good and people who like good shit will find it.

I'm surprised Hasbro didn't try some kind of revival when The Hub was around (that $4 movie didn't count). That was the same-era you had music tie-in shows like Hannah Montana and Big Time Rush doing well. Basically, make a more merchandisable Aquabats show for girls.

Autistic Family Guy fans tracked it down because they didn't get why Adam West said "Jem, you are outrageous! Truly, truly outrageous!" That's seriously all it takes for a kid to find something, one reference they don't get in a show they like.

You know why there isn't a long running Barbie series even though it's one of the longest lasting toy franchises? Because when a little girl plays with Barbie, she doesn't give a fuck about Barbie lore. She's Barbie! Barbie does the shit she wants to do. That's how girls play with toys and understand them.

That's why little girls were so meh about Horse Show Friendship is Barney but grown men loved it: they got the jokes and they liked the characters. Girls just want the fucking horse. At most, they'll find the horse most like them and make it their favorite. You don't get little girls with cartoons because ultimately, it's a medium that is inherently disinteresting to them. There are women who like cartoons but there are also women who aren't that feminine. (The irony being is that I'm implying men who like cartoons are masculine but we all know that's not real.)

At that time Habro wasn't really doing much, kinda like they aren't now. They just were resting on the laurels of Transformers doing ok with the target demo. They didn't start making big moves until the 07 Transformers movie proved it could make money, then they gave the MLP license to Lauren Faust, made new LPS and GI Joe cartoons and films, etc etc

In that era, they attempted to reboot Jem with an adult geared comic book, and a tween live action movie, neither did well. The reason they didn't try to make a new cartoon/toyline was because they made a MLP fashion doll line/musical cartoon instead, which was Equestria Girls. I liked that shit, but part of me really sees it as a missed opportunity to bring back Jem in a real way, with toys and cartoons, but who knows if it would have succeeded when they could keep riding the success of G4 ponies

I mean MLP FIM lasted for 9 seasons and essentially a whole decade, including theatrically released movie (even if it came too late) and multiple spinoff series and long running comics.

You can't do this purely on adult male fandom, it's because of merch, this is why Star Vs couldn't last that long. Hell, I go to the stores all the time because I doordash with my girlfriend when I'm not busy, and they STILL sell MLP G4 merch everywhere......and not old leftover shit, new merch, coloring books....juice drinks with G4 character head tops, etc, this is all like what five years after it was cancelled and rebooted with new series?

I was at a local fair the other week too, they had all kinds of shit for kids including new internet cartoon meme shit I assume cause I had no idea what it was, but what was also there? A bunch of MLP, G4 specifically. It's kinda crazy to me how years after being replaced with two other different series, it's still the mainstream face of the brand.

My 7yo daughter fucking LOVES MLP and Barbie. The fuck are you talking about?

You know why there isn't a long running Barbie series even though it's one of the longest lasting toy franchises?

Probably more because Barbie has no concept, it's literally just a woman who you dress up in various outfits. If you want a cartoon, you need a story basis.

as janky as cheap asian slave labor

Literally 99% of all western tv animation is asian slave labor. It was true back then and it is true now as well. The shows looks good because a lot of the episodes were animated by Toei, a japanese studio which is also responsible for some of the most iconic magical girls show of all time.

I thought today it was all animated in Canadia

as janky as cheap asian slave labor produced 80s animation could be, this show still has more soul than anything like star vs. or steven universe,

Well yeah Jem wasn't written by millennials the dumbest generation

I'm not too sure about that, anon.

I think what anon means is that, no matter how absurd the circumstances maybe, the characters treat it as real and important and there’s no mugging for the camera about the absurdity of the situation.

You might be getting your timeline screwy, hub was after the 07 movie, and around the era of Hannah Montana, and Hasbro trying to expand into entertainment.
They just have been pretty shoddy at it.

What anon means is she may like Barbie or a pony toy, but has no interest in whatever canon imposed by the company, the toys are a vehicle for the kid’s imagination.
He didn’t say they don’t like the toy, just that they tend not to care about the fiction. You may want to to work on your reading comprehension

Not for lack of trying though. Mattel has had moments of trying to establish a Barbie universe and set character relationships.. and it tends to go nowhere because that’s not important to their audience.
The Barbie movie even reflects on that whole idea.

That is pretty much exactly what I mean, it's such a melodramatic, soapy show, but the shit going on is totally ridiculous. I'm immediately reminded of the obligatory "drugs are bad" episode with a girl taking like acid trip pills and trying to jump out of a window, or Roxy revealing that she's illiterate and it being this sad heartfelt moment

No that's what I meant, I was talking about that era. During the time Hannah Montana was on, Hasbro wasn't doing much at all, or revitalizing any brands, they pretty much relied on Transformers just doing it's thing before Bayformers

I was talking about Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures and the whole litany of Barbie direct-to-home-video movies that have been coming out since the early 00s.
I was also talking about the newest runs of the MLP stuff, like Equestria Girls and A New Generation.
She's seven and she loves them. She can even spout some lore. So can some of her friends. You guys are pulling this shit out of your asses.

I mean girl cartoons were notoriously low effort in prior decades, which was kind of the mission statement of Lauren Fausts MLP but that's an aside.

Still, even if you tried really hard to make a Barbie cartoon, what do you really have to work with to make it entertaining? Something as simple as Monster High works fine, they're monsters, and it's in high school. Barbie has no premise other than "dress her up", I guess if you got creative you could do something like make her go on globe trotting adventures or trying different careers every episode, but that's still pretty bland, even girl cartoons need some escapism usually

SoL girl shit, tends to rely on comedy, like As Told By Ginger or Pepper Anne, and has a big cast of characters to play around with so it isn't strictly girl appeal, that'd be hard to do with Barbie, she's supposed to be a "perfect" epitome of attractiveness woman, not a vehicle for gags. Humor requires flaws, self deprication, etc, it's why something like Tyra Banks hosting a talk show trying to be funny fell flat as shit, you can't be the super model and also the relatable funny girl

she's supposed to be a "perfect" epitome of attractiveness woman

Jesus. That's one hell of a male-centric view of Barbie and it's insanely wrong. She's meant to be the everywoman, with all jobs, and all ethnicities and backgrounds. She's meant to give girls inspiration to be more than just a hot piece of ass. You're so full of shit.

She's meant to be the everywoman

Then why does she look like a supermodel and not some working class mom lol

Hasbro had been trying to relaunch GI Joe too since the early 2000s, and they did have the 2000s small horse reboot that seemed to do well enough. Hannah Montana only came out a year before the 07 movie, which started Hasbro’s interest in being a media company and start pushing for making movies of their properties( even Battleship.)
Jen was just something they didn’t seem to bother with reviving

Go look at the history of Barbie's body. They had to reduce her breast size and hip ratio because it was way too unrealistic and gave girls a bad example of what a healthy body could look like. About a decade ago they dropped Curvy Barbie. There was also a pregnant barbie at one point.
In the movie they explicitly give her cellulite and there's a whole scene about how female bodies are judged under patriarchal standards.

janky

I mean no matter what, a skinny blonde bombshell or Margot Robbie isn't really an everywoman lol, like people always make fun of how Peter Parker is supposed to be a "literally me" character but is a ripped superhero with a supermodel girlfriend, but at least they give him glasses and the personality of a nerd. It's just kind of funny.

And yeah we know the reasoning here too, attractiveness is attractive, a little girl wouldn't wanna play with less attractive doll no more than a little boy would rather play with a doughy superhero than a ripped one.

I think you're conflating being a fashionista with being a supermodel. Barbie was never meant to be a model. She was meant to be a doll girls could dress up with different outfits.

Yeah, both were created around the same time, and both have gotten severe makeovers as times changed. The weird vestige of that ideal body is still there, but the makers have really tried to distance themselves from that over time. Hell, they even revamped Parker's look for the Spiderverse movies. I think they nailed it pretty well, too.

Girls like cartoons too anon. And they can be visually appealing if they're given enough time. Gotta remember they were the ones who mixed paint for the cartoonists. So they have a place in the industry.

Gotta remember they were the ones who mixed paint for the cartoonists.

Dropping some serious Disney history there. Lemme help by giving the thread some names to look up.
Retta Scott, Mary Blair, Sylvia Holland, and Ruthie Tompson