There must be something in the water

Equestria Girls, they're kind of tragical

...but I doubt it's very palatable. What you see above is an official promotional picture for Equestria Girls, the spin-off of MLP:FiM that Hasbro will be launching some time this year. It's fair to say that in my earlier post about this, I was less than whelmed, and if anything I've become even more uncertain after seeing this picture. What it looks like on this evidence is pseudo-anime, and I am not an anime fan at the best of times.

Specific problems, you ask? Well, the cutie-mark facial tattoos look borderline gruesome, while the characters seem more cookie-cutter than their associated ponies, despite the latter being depicted with those vectors we've all seen a billion times by now. Also, how come Twilight gets to keep her wings but neither she nor Rarity gets a horn? I've warmed towards Rarity a bit recently, and this seems rather unfair on her!

Of course, the Equestria Girls, er, girls do vary in their level of awfulness. Fluttershy isn't appalling, and Pinkie Pie looks relatively normal (something not right there, surely), but Rarity has definitely drawn the short straw. She looks distinctly unhealthy. To say the least. Actually, let's not mince any words here: she looks like a feminised ghoul from a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. A pony that colour looks okay. A human(ish) girl that colour doesn't.

Now, I know very well that if you went back three years, many of us would have said similar things about what became Friendship is Magic. I will concede that it's possible that the perfect mix of writing, voice acting and animation will come together again to produce another piece of cartoon brilliance. If that happens, then doubtless I'll make a post saying so. Let's face it, though: it's not looking very likely at the moment, is it?