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G4 Fluttershy theory

T

theponytheoristMM

Teeny Tiny Baby Pony
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For a long time now, I have pondered if there was more to g4’s Fluttershy than meets the eye. This little pony holds so much intrigue and potential that I think was just never really touched upon. For instance, I like to think that she was the daughter of Queen Rosedust- which would explain their similar appearance. I know Fluttershy was based off of Posey, but let’s just entertain the idea for a moment, shall we? Like the Flutterponies, Fluttershy herself is shy and reclusive at the beginning. Her name also could be a reference to this.

If Fluttershy was in fact the daughter of Queen Rosedust, then this would obviously make her a Princess. (And isn’t Fluttershy a lot like a Disney Princess already? Looking at you, Snow White!) Now, I’d imagine that Rosedust would see that her daughter was born a Pegasus- but also having a mixture of Flutterpony genes as well- would reluctantly have given her up to a foster family- ideally in Cloudsdale. The Shy Family.

Like the Flutterponies she could’ve had mixed genetic with, Fluttershy is not the strongest flier, but can somehow bend the most destructive enemies to her will and lessen their threat- as the Flutterponies promptly dispatched the Smooze as it destroyed all of the valley, so Fluttershy also put the lord of Chaos, Discord, in his rightful place.

What do you guys think about Fluttershy being a Flutterpony hybrid?
 
I always thought she was based off flutterbye. Never thought posey. Huh
 
Draco said:
I always thought she was based off flutterbye. Never thought posey. Huh
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Here's a tweet where Lauren Faust says Posey was the inspo (plus a cute look at some of her childhood collection!):

https://twitter.com/x/status/406582513839005696
Screenshot 2024-08-24 095941.png


And here's the original Posey art she did. I think this might even have been from before Hasbro asked her to come on and help with the show.

Lauren_Faust_Posey.jpg


IIRC she was dead set on having Pinkie Pie be a pegasus and Fluttershy be an earth pony for the longest time, but Hasbro made her switch them for some reason. And I think they wanted her to use the name Fluttershy because it was a more recent trademark, but that might just be a theory, don't quote me on that.
 
Interesting. I always assumed the breezies just fit in the niche Flutterponies had ( being a sort of equivalent to a fairy pony)
 
iirc the reason Fluttershy is too scared to fly in "Dragonshy" is that the episode was written when she was conceptualized as an earth pony (like Posey). So after she was pegasus-fied they needed to think of a reason why she couldn't just soar over ravines etc. :)
 
NanoRuby said:
Here's a tweet where Lauren Faust says Posey was the inspo (plus a cute look at some of her childhood collection!):

https://twitter.com/x/status/406582513839005696
View attachment 97943

And here's the original Posey art she did. I think this might even have been from before Hasbro asked her to come on and help with the show.

Lauren_Faust_Posey.jpg


IIRC she was dead set on having Pinkie Pie be a pegasus and Fluttershy be an earth pony for the longest time, but Hasbro made her switch them for some reason. And I think they wanted her to use the name Fluttershy because it was a more recent trademark, but that might just be a theory, don't quote me on that.
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To my understanding, they made her switch because they no longer owned the rights to Posey and therefore could not re-release her.
It was that way for several ponies. One of the only early ponies that they still held the rights to was Applejack - that’s why there’s so many official versions of her throughout the different generations.
 
ParadiseDreams said:
To my understanding, they made her switch because they no longer owned the rights to Posey and therefore could not re-release her.
It was that way for several ponies. One of the only early ponies that they still held the rights to was Applejack - that’s why there’s so many official versions of her throughout the different generations.
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That is something I don't understand, how can they not own the right to a design/character they made?
 
LadyMoondancer said:
iirc the reason Fluttershy is too scared to fly in "Dragonshy" is that the episode was written when she was conceptualized as an earth pony (like Posey). So after she was pegasus-fied they needed to think of a reason why she couldn't just soar over ravines etc. :)
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That's so interesting! I never knew that.
Star Of The Sea said:
That is something I don't understand, how can they not own the right to a design/character they made?
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From what I understand, trademarks do expire over time, and it looks like Hasbro didn’t renew some of theirs, which meant they lost the rights to certain properties. Renewing a trademark costs money, and it seems Hasbro probably figured they wouldn’t use some of those characters again, so they just let them expire.
 
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March Meadow said:
That's so interesting! I never knew that.

From what I understand, trademarks do expire over time, and it looks like Hasbro didn’t renew some of theirs, which meant they lost the rights to certain properties. Renewing a trademark costs money, and it seems Hasbro probably figured they wouldn’t use some of those characters again, so they just let them expire.
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Ahhh I guess trademarks have less time than copyrights (ALOT less time!!!). It's weird though, I checked the database and I only found a toy called Baby Posey from the UK. So I wonder if it's in some other listing as opposed to like 1000 different trademarks OR if I looked in the wrong place.
 
Hasbro still has the rights to Posey and all the other G1 ponies. They literally licensed out her likeness to Basic Fun to make retro G1 Posey and she also appears on G1 retro merch.

They probably wanted names that were easier to trademark than the G1 names. A lot of G1 names were short "real" words: Firefly, Glory, Posey. Which makes them harder to "protect" in court. But if another company names a toy "Pinkie Pie", "Rainbow Dash", or "Fluttershy" . . . it is easy to prove that they are infringing on Hasbro. (And in case you're wondering Rarity's full trademark is "Rarity the Unicorn", lol. They do something similar with some Transformers, like Ratchet's full name is "Autobot Ratchet.")

In 2005 Hasbro tried to sue a company that was making a doll house called "Cotton Candy Cloud Castle"; Hasbro argued they were infringing on G1 Cotton Candy. (Not sure why they didn't bring up G3 Cotton Candy . . . Maybe she hadn't been released yet or maybe they thought G1 Cotton Candy was a stronger case b/c she'd been in a TV special. Which, yes, they did bring up in court.) They lost that case, and I imagine was the catalyst for G3 onward having names like Tink-a-Tink-a-Too and Wishawhirl.
 
LadyMoondancer said:
Hasbro still has the rights to Posey and all the other G1 ponies. They literally licensed out her likeness to Basic Fun to make retro G1 Posey and she also appears on G1 retro merch.

They probably wanted names that were easier to trademark than the G1 names. A lot of G1 names were short "real" words: Firefly, Glory, Posey. Which makes them harder to "protect" in court. But if another company names a toy "Pinkie Pie", "Rainbow Dash", or "Fluttershy" . . . it is easy to prove that they are infringing on Hasbro. (And in case you're wondering Rarity's full trademark is "Rarity the Unicorn", lol. They do something similar with some Transformers, like Ratchet's full name is "Autobot Ratchet.")

In 2005 Hasbro tried to sue a company that was making a doll house called "Cotton Candy Cloud Castle"; Hasbro argued they were infringing on G1 Cotton Candy. (Not sure why they didn't bring up G3 Cotton Candy . . . Maybe she hadn't been released yet or maybe they thought G1 Cotton Candy was a stronger case b/c she'd been in a TV special. Which, yes, they did bring up in court.) They lost that case, and I imagine was the catalyst for G3 onward having names like Tink-a-Tink-a-Too and Wishawhirl.
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That makes a lot more sense, thank you for clearing that up - I did keep thinking about the Basic Fun ponies when I was incorrectly learning about the loss of of the copyright.
Maybe that's why they still had Applejack's trademark still as well - it's a compound word that really only Hasbro used.
 
ParadiseDreams said:
That makes a lot more sense, thank you for clearing that up - I did keep thinking about the Basic Fun ponies when I was incorrectly learning about the loss of of the copyright.
Maybe that's why they still had Applejack's trademark still as well - it's a compound word that really only Hasbro used.
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My grandfather's handle (idk if that was what it was called back in the 60's, no idea) for those old CB radios was Applejack! I never heard the term anywhere else but him and MLP. I always drew him AJ xD
 
@ParadiseDreams No problem! :)

Applejack actually does have another meaning, which is pretty funny when you consider it's a MLP name. (And the name of Apple Jacks cereal.) It's a kind of hard liquor, lol. It was most popular during colonial times.

The name applejack derives from the traditional method of producing the drink, jacking, which is the process of freezing fermented cider and then removing the ice, increasing the alcohol content. Cider produced after the fall harvest was left outside during the winter. Periodically the frozen chunks of ice which had formed were removed, thus concentrating the unfrozen alcohol in the remaining liquid. An alternative method involved placing a cask of hard cider in snow, allowing ice to form on the inside of the cask as the contents began to freeze, and then tapping the cask and pouring off the still-liquid portion of the contents. Starting with the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than ten percent, the concentrated result can contain 25–40% alcohol.
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Star Of The Sea said:
My grandfather's handle (idk if that was what it was called back in the 60's, no idea) for those old CB radios was Applejack! I never heard the term anywhere else but him and MLP. I always drew him AJ xD
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Awww, that is so sweet!
 
LadyMoondancer said:
@ParadiseDreams No problem! :)

Applejack actually does have another meaning, which is pretty funny when you consider it's a MLP name. (And the name of Apple Jacks cereal.) It's a kind of hard liquor, lol. It was most popular during colonial times.





Awww, that is so sweet!
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Omg that's right Applejack's exist!!! So that's three things :rofl:

I never heard of the liquor. I don't remember the meaning behind his name, unfortunately he passed away in 2016 so I regretfully can't ask him about it (I don't remember if I knew once). I can probably ask my dad and his sisters, they just know the full story!
 
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