Also, finally got around to watching Utena

As some of you may know, I'm a big My Little Pony fan - I have the show on DVD, I collected a bunch of generation 3 ponies when they came out because I'd lost all mine in Hurricane Andrew except for a sea pony and one of the boy ponies, all that jazz. I guess you could say I was robbed of my childhood too soon.

I didn't watch the new show despite seeing all the LJ icons for it because I didn't really like the direction Hasbro had taken with them (yeah yeah, shut up!) so I assumed it would be as cloyingly saccharine as the toys had been around the time I left the fandom-- until my buddy Crysi told me about how MLP broke Something Awful. That, I had to see.

I found out it's made by Lauren Faust, who is awesome, who is also married to Craig McCracken, which sounded awfully familiar, and when I looked him up I realized it was because his name is in the opening credits of several of my favorite cartoons (particularly Dexter's Lab, I may have every episode memorized at this point).

You wanna know how awesome Lauren Faust is? She unabashedly calls herself a feminist and talks about many issues near and dear to my heart as a grown-up cartoon fan who was once a little girl cartoon fan who didn't get to see enough awesome girl stuff. And I was lucky, I came of age in a kind of "girl power" sweet spot where there were lots of shows aimed at girls that, while hokey, weren't necessarily as noxious as what came immediately before or after, and shows with awesome women in general. For example: Tula from Pirates of Dark Water and Charlie from Biker Mice From Mars, both shows ostensibly about dudes, but Tula and Charlie were the characters that stuck with me in that formative period of my life. I have no idea if they stack up now and I'm not sure if I want to find out, but they were what I needed as a kid.

So I read her article and, aside from me not being involved in cartoon creation, felt like that could have been me she was describing, and my dream story she was writing. I had to go read the article she was responding to. While I can't decide if it's satirical or not, the matter of Rainbow Dash being a lesbian (because she's a rainbow haired tomboy) gave me pause, and I had to discuss this with friends:

me: but also... Rainbow Dash is a bulldyke because she's sporty? I saw her and was like "yeah, every kid's show needs the punky one." Are you punky? am I punky? Is Rainbow Dash a better lesbian than us?

Pocket Healer: well, obviously.
brb, going to become a magical talking horse that flies in order to be a more believable lesbian.

Crysi: And she can fly. She's a better lesbian than everyone. Except Utena.

Me: No way, RD is my lesbian hero.

Crysi: That's true, she's less of a jerk than Utena.
...what about Juri?

Me: she has bad taste in women.

Crysi: True.

Me: also: cannot fly.

Crysi: Oh, I forgot the flying. ...yeah, I think a flying rainbow lesbian horse really is the best.