Comment on Twilight Sparkle by moondragonwings
Personally, I tend to think of cartoon style MLP ponies as being somewhat like our version of anime. If Equestria actually existed, the cartoon versions we see would bear little actual resemblance to what the ponies really look like. Rather, they are highly stylized version of the ponies.
I really like the realistic depictions of ponies. And actually, I tend to think that if ponies saw our cartoon versions of them, they'd probably consider it an uncanny valley.
I really like the realistic depictions of ponies. And actually, I tend to think that if ponies saw our cartoon versions of them, they'd probably consider it an uncanny valley.
There is a difference between a realistic portrayal of an equestrian pony and a basal horse. It would be like taking a picture of a shaved chimp and saying it was Sylvester Stalone. While chimps and humans share an ancestor you would have a hard time passing one off as the other.
Again, my argument is that the Equestrian ponies, in reality, would not look anything like they do in the cartoon. And that the cartoon versions are very highly stylized depictions of them, similar to anime depictions of humans. Keep in mind the style of the artist who originally created them. MLP ponies are done very much in the style of Power Puff Girls, which Lauren Faust was heavily involved in. And like MLP ponies, Power Puff girls, although vaguely human in appearance, bear little actual resemblance to what real humans look like. I tend to feel that MLP ponies are the same way.
The fact that I'm an evolutionary biologist by education also plays a role in why I think that way about it. There are too many evolutionary problems with the canon ponies. For example, no creature that lived above ground would evolve eyes that large, unless they were completely nocturnal. They wouldn't be able to see anything during the day because their eyes would gather too much light. That's just one of the evolutionary problems with the cartoon style ponies given the environment they live in.
Call me cynical, but personally I think the main reason some MLP fans (mostly in the teenage / early 20's male demographic) have problems with realistic depictions of the ponies is because so many MLP fans in this demographic view the ponies as not much more than sex objects. And realistic depictions of the ponies tend to make them feel a little bit too dirty about that.
In fact, that's one of the primary reasons my own art depicts them in a realistic style. To make people stop and think about what it really is they love about the ponies. Is it just the fact that they see them as sex objects? Or is it something more meaningful? Like their personalities, their moral values, and their friendly natures?
The fact that I'm an evolutionary biologist by education also plays a role in why I think that way about it. There are too many evolutionary problems with the canon ponies. For example, no creature that lived above ground would evolve eyes that large, unless they were completely nocturnal. They wouldn't be able to see anything during the day because their eyes would gather too much light. That's just one of the evolutionary problems with the cartoon style ponies given the environment they live in.
Call me cynical, but personally I think the main reason some MLP fans (mostly in the teenage / early 20's male demographic) have problems with realistic depictions of the ponies is because so many MLP fans in this demographic view the ponies as not much more than sex objects. And realistic depictions of the ponies tend to make them feel a little bit too dirty about that.
In fact, that's one of the primary reasons my own art depicts them in a realistic style. To make people stop and think about what it really is they love about the ponies. Is it just the fact that they see them as sex objects? Or is it something more meaningful? Like their personalities, their moral values, and their friendly natures?
The problem is that even from a purely biological standpoint depicting them as normal horses is the same as depicting a human as a chimp. As an "Evolutionary Biologist" you should see the problem with that. They have a common ancestor with horses. They have a larger head to body ratio because they are a sophont species. They have a more flexible spine than a modern equine. The eyes are more forward than a true horse giving them better bifocal vision because unlike true horses they are tool users. They seem to have added dexterity between the frog and hoof letting them manually manipulate objects about as well as a human wearing mittens. Like humans the ponies have some natal throwbacks so having large eyes in proportion to their head would make evolutionary sense especially since the ponies have full color vision and depend more on sight than true horses.
All in all using a recolored true horse as a realistic mlp pony is lazy.
As to the Powerpuff girls they were freaks even in the series. Their eyes were large compared to the humans in the series and if they had noses they were small and camouflaged with the rest of their face. They didn't actually have hands either... just stumps that projected a field of energy that let them grasp objects. This was also addressed in the series since at one point they traded bodies with humans and couldn't figure out how the fingers worked. Making the Powerpuff Girls look human is also lazy because in canon they look nothing like a human. A realistic depiction would be unsettling. They are monstrous creatures really but their personality makes up for it
All in all using a recolored true horse as a realistic mlp pony is lazy.
As to the Powerpuff girls they were freaks even in the series. Their eyes were large compared to the humans in the series and if they had noses they were small and camouflaged with the rest of their face. They didn't actually have hands either... just stumps that projected a field of energy that let them grasp objects. This was also addressed in the series since at one point they traded bodies with humans and couldn't figure out how the fingers worked. Making the Powerpuff Girls look human is also lazy because in canon they look nothing like a human. A realistic depiction would be unsettling. They are monstrous creatures really but their personality makes up for it