My little pony Equestria Girls

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, or simply known as Equestria Girls, is an Americanproduct line of fashion dolls and media franchise launched in 2013 by Hasbro, as a spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the My Little Pony franchise. Equestria Girls features humanized versions of My Little Pony characters from Friendship Is Magic. It includes various doll lines and media tie-ins (including four films, music albums, a mobile app, three half-hour TV specials, sixteen "Summertime" animated shorts, a web series on YouTube, four one-hour TV specials, and one Christmas special).

The Equestria Girls fictional universe is established as a parallel counterpart to the main world of the 2010 incarnation of My Little Pony, populated with humanoid versions of the characters from the franchise; the Hasbro website described them as "full-time students and part-time magical pony girls".[1]

### Overview

Setting

Equestria Girls takes place in an alternate version of Equestria resembling modern-day Earth, whose population consists of humans with skins colored other than the usual human skin colors, with most being similar to their equine counterparts in terms of appearance and personality. Several locales in the parallel world serve as counterparts to the main cities and establishments in Equestria, such as Canterlot High School, a high school run by Celestia and her sister, Vice Principal Luna; and Crystal Prep Academy, an elite private school which used to be ran by Principal Abacus Cinch and now it is run by Dean Cadence who is now Principal Cadence.

Premise

Equestria Girls follows Princess Twilight Sparkle in the parallel world, which is accessed through a magic mirror. Together, with the counterparts of her pony friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, along with her assistant Spike, Twilight will have to deal with the various magical happenings in Canterlot High that originate from the mirror portal.

Later films introduce two additional main characters serving as substitutes for Twilight: Sunset Shimmer, a former student of Princess Celestia; and Twilight "Sci-Twi" Sparkle, the parallel world counterpart of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

## = Development and release

The earliest known official use of the "Equestria Girls" name occurred during 2011, when the American television channel The Hub (a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro; now known as Discovery Family) released a promotional commercial for Allspark Animation's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic television series which featured a modified version of Katy Perry's "California Gurls";[2] however, the commercial has nothing to do with the later-launched franchise.

In late 2012, Hasbro registered trademark for the name "Equestria Girls" at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[3] The franchise was briefly mentioned in the media earlier in February and March 2013.[4][5] In an interview in the February/March 2013 issue of the Kidscreen magazine, Hasbro's senior vice president of international distribution and development, Finn Arnesen, called My Little Pony a "top-priority" brand for the company; the film was described as "a new companion series" that would "[send] the pony heroes on a mission to a new world where they take on human form".[4] Equestria Girls was announced in May 2013 with a film and other media strategy,[6] and it was included in Hasbro's licensing program for My Little Pony announced in June 2013,[7] which began at the 2013 Licensing International Expo along with the company's other properties.[8] The spin-off was to be a part of the 30th anniversary of the My Little Pony brand.[6]

Along with the toys, Hasbro planned to produce related merchandise and media including films, apparel, and accessories. Hasbro's chief marketing officer, John A. Frascotti, called the franchise a "major strategic initiative" for the company.[6] The human-based toys were developed to appeal to girls in their teens as a means to extend the My Little Pony brand.[9] In addition, Hasbro will continue its licensing deals with book publisher Little, Brown and Company and comic book publisher IDW Publishing to publish related works.[7]

In the audio commentary included in the Rainbow Rocks home media, Meghan McCarthy commented that Equestria Girls was initially not intended to become an ongoing franchise, and the thought of a sequel did not cross her mind.[10]

### Receipton

There have been criticism over the anthropomorphism approach of the toy line, as well as the franchise overall. Prior to the Equestria Girls film's release, several mothers spoke to the New York Daily News stating concerns about the humanized characters, describing them as "too sexy", "anorexic", "going back to the original Barbie" or "looking like Bratz dolls", and several feared allowing their children to be influenced by the looks.[49]However, some considered it reasonable with other current media such as The Little Mermaid, with one parent stating she felt that it isn't "any worse than Ariel in a bikini top for two hours".[49] Slate's Amanda Marcotte considered that the characters' change to human form was to popularize Equestria Girls with the adult fanbase of Friendship Is Magic, who she claims "have expressed a strong interest in seeing the Ponies in sexy, humanized forms".[50] However, many of these adult fans expressed disappointment in the announcement of the franchise and the characters, considering Equestria Girls to be trying to pander to this older audience, and that the approach "goes against everything that Pony was trying to prove".[51] Craig McCracken, speaking for his wife Lauren Faust, Friendship Is Magic's creative showrunner for the first two seasons before stepping down, stated that McCracken felt she "wasn't the biggest fan" of Equestria Girls, opining that the approach of turning the pony characters into humans would have gone against the way she wanted to take the television series.[52]

The reception for the films and specials has generally been mixed to positive for retaining the quality of the original series, but has also included criticism for being commercialized, having much tie-in merchandise. When reviewing the Friendship Games film, Mike Cahill of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "craven commercialism", but adding that "it's not unattractively designed, and its peppy collegiate spirit trumps the sappiness of Disney's Tinkerbell spin-offs".[53]