Canter Girls

Hey, hey, and hello to y’all! It’s pony time, or it would be pony time if this had actual ponies in it! No ponies here, as we explore this brand new world where humans are the dominant species, as they walk around with actual clothes and all, and perhaps even take the time to go outside away from the tentacular clutches of internet porn and complaining in forums.

We go from My Little Pony, past Equestria Girls, into MegaSweet’s domain: towards Canter Girls, tally ho!

See, I’ve always been fond of fanworks that go past your traditional written fanfiction. It’s the bred Touhou fan in me, mayhaps… always on the lookout for fanmade content that range from remixes to fan-made animation. I do like a bit of story in it, and so it becomes that much sweeter when I encounter some art to go along with the exposition, dialogue, and the occasional fart joke.

I also dig alternate universes in these kinds of derivatives. New rules and whatnot, with pieces that can remind one of the original settings. A breath of fresh air, that sort of thing. Considering how huge MLP is, there’s so much to choose, and I suppose it’s a stroke of luck that I happen to find this comic online during a brisk search for something completely different (read: porn). (not really… okay, maybe really, probably)

Ahem. So we have the MLP universe, and all it’s fanart. I wonder if there’s a rule about anthropomorphic or animal characters having a humanized form, sooner or later. Pokemon certainly has it, and for a while now My Little Pony has it as well. I dig the human designs… yes, probably even the ones in Equestria Girls… eventually. Not just the physical transition, but the personality traits that help design those details that remind you of what they originally look like.

Anyway, I digress. All these talk about things and not enough words for the topic at hand. So, we arrive in Canter Girls, enter scene. Human Pinkie Pie, just like her pony self, has a certain grasp on the forth wall. A dream of ponies, or horses, and how everyone she knew was one. A nice little handwave to transition the change in universes. A few panels is enough for a quick run through, a basic reintroduction of the cast.

I’ll take this time to praise the MegaSweet’s design. I don’t wanna do some technical babble, doesn’t really fit the tone, but the art is like a mixture of lighthearted anime with a dash (Rainbow) of cartoonish expression. Pinkie does the job best, no doubt about that.  

So, in a couple of pages we have 5 of the Mane Six. And so we meet our probably main heroine, Twilight Sparkle, walking across the neighborhood with her pet lizard, Spike. Somewhere deep in my psyche perhaps a voice celebrates the prevention of a Sparity. I dunno, I try to not listen to that weirdo, though I’m sure he’s burning a Spike figure in there. Anyway, it’s glasses-wearing Twilight Sparkle, ready for FRIDAY and jam times! I admit, a slight deviation on how I’d expect the “egghead” from the canon series.

Just another day to start the weekend for her. Of course, as with any story, there’s always that speedbump that forces a change in plan. In this case, it’s a bar permanently closed due to mutant dirt and fake soap. Not that severe, but you get the point. Twilight Sparkle has a guitar, but no stage to play it. Alas. At this point, I’m guessing that the main cast would be around college age. Probably freshmen, or perhaps high school seniors. It would be interesting to see what the cast does during work hours, or something.

Back to the five, we see that Rainbow Dash and company are doing their band stuff, and finding themselves lacking a bit on certain departments. Translation: they suck at vocals. If text could be converted to sound, I’d wager that it would be worse drunks trying to out-ham each other during karaoke night (maybe not that bad, but why waste comparisons by not adding a bit of hyperbole)..?

Of course, their path is now clear. All the little gears in a story begin to click together, as the plot starts to drive forward. It’s time for them to get a new member! Heaven or Hell, let them rock! And so the chapter ends with the feeling of a promise of more chapters to come.

And that’s the first chapter. A few glances at MegaSweet’s Tumblr blog show signs of the next chapter shaping up. In there, you can also take a peek at some of the designs of other humanized MLP characters. A sign of things to come, mayhaps, and so far it’s so far so good.

Now, one thing that did make me do a bit of a lag was the change in names. It would be weird to have the original names on the world of this comic. Unless of course they were born during the hippie generation, but I doubt that. The names are a minor change, but I guess they help shape this brand new stage for the characters. In time, perhaps it could branch off into a different kind of plot that separates itself from other fan-made works, as well as the original itself.

Of course, I can’t help but be reminded of K-On as I read through this. It’s the band thing, but it’s not a bad thing. The cast themselves have so far a different dynamic from Houkago Tea Time. I doubt that the group would go all Detroit Metal City on us, but their personalities of the Mane Six alone should provide a different source of entertainment. It’s just the first chapter, after all. For all we know, there could be something more than jamming later on.

There’s no end of the world fracas. No Nightmare Moon, or at least not right now, but it’s an interesting slice of life that could provide the fandom and others with some lighthearted plot and humor, and perhaps even more than that.

Linkeez!

http://megasweet.deviantart.com/ – To check out a handful of MegaSweet’s stuff. NSFW Warning, by the way!

http://cantergirls.tumblr.com/ – The Canter Girls Tumblr, to get updates on the story and whatnot.

http://megasweetspot.tumblr.com/post/36271265220/track-1-is-all-set-and-ready-to-roll-the – Where you can download the first entry of Canter Girls, for free. Check it out! Site also has some non-MLP fanart for you to enjoy.

Don’t leave just yet! We still got a little something-something for your reading pleasures. Adding an extra serving to spice up this entry, we have MegaSweet on the house to answer some questions for us – adding some extra insight on CG.

2.) You’ve mentioned in your Tumblr that a certain anime about a light music club influenced certain aspects of Canter Girls. Aside from them, is there any other series involving music that inspired you to make the girls form a band? Or let’s just say what are the things that inspired you in the creation of this comic.

I grew up watching reruns of a lot of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. So things like Scooby-Doo, Jabberjaw, Josey and the Pussycats, Speed Buggy and shows of that nature are things that I pulled from when brainstorming this concept. I have a good number of Scooby references and parodies planned for later updates, so keep an eye out for those!

3.) Let’s say that there’s a scale of rock and metal hardness for animated series dealing with music and being a band. If Alvin and the Chipmunks would be around the very bottom in the scale at 1, with Dethklok and Detroit Metal City at the top at 10, where would you place your Canter Girls band in that scale? What fictional band would be close to their style?

I’m honestly still sort of feeling that out right now. They aren’t a light rock band, nor are they hardcore death metal. I would put them at a general middle ground. So we’ll say a 5 or 6. This story is meant to be fun and light-hearted, so I don’t want to drag the mood down with songs about dying and curse words. Nor do I want it to be an “eye-roll fest” of cheesiness haha. So there’s going to be an equilibrium present in the way the music is treated.4.) I’ve seen some of your drawings of Trixie and Gilda. Are they going to have their own bands to challenge the six?

 Yes indeed! I don’t want to spoil the details though. Let’s just say there’s more to Trixie and Gilda than we might first expect.

5.) Whew, my apologies for all the music related questions. Bear with me, please, haha. Anyway, since they are a band, are you going to have to make your own lyrics as the story moves forward?
In a perfect world, I’d have access to 6 lovely ladies who could sing and record music for me to supplement the comic haha, but sadly I don’t have such advantages. However, I do in fact have a music pal of mine who has been composing instrumental tracks for me. He goes by the name of “That” Technique! and he’s an amazing talent. I’ll post the tracks as they become relevant to certain story arcs and/or characters.

6.) By the way, while the plot is puts the characters of MLP in a new spin, would the elements of harmony come into play here? For one, it seems like a pretty snazzy name for a band.
The elements definitely play an important role in the story, but I can’t reveal the details of that just yet!

7.) Changing their names was a bit of a surprise. Did you have a hard time choosing a name for the cast?
Some choices were definitely harder than others. Some names are based on FiM canon names, while others are inspired by people I know personally. Twilight for example was based on the fact that I chose her ethnicity to be Chinese. Her last name (“Wu”) was actually influenced by a Steely Dan song I was listening to on my mp3 player haha.

8.)  OCs. You’ve had a couple of ’em in the first chapter. Any clues if there would be more to play significant roles later on?

Some original characters might make reappearances later on, but for the most part, they’re created simply to push the story further, rather than take attention away from the characters we recognize from FiM.

9.) Looking at your Canter Girls Tumblr, it seems that there’s another plot brewing in town. Will that plot and the whole band business come head to head later? Will there be significant amounts of rocking out?

The overall story will focus on two main plot lines. One following Jenny/Twilight and the Canter Girls, and the other following Twilight’s brother Shining Armor and his own secretive government group. As Twilight makes friends and discovers new things about her role in the future, Shining Armor will slowly uncover shady events developing within Pawneeville. And what he uncovers will spill over into Twilight’s story too.

10.) Moving away from the comic a bit… Aside from Canter Girls, do you have any other projects you’re working on, anything you’d like to talk about?
My usual projects are less work safe than Canter Girls haha, so it would be best not to go into too much detail about those. Aside from that, my plan is to continue my other Tumblr “Ask Smarty Belle” at some point in the near future. For those of you familiar with Smarty, expect her to make a comeback in an unexpected way!

11.) All right, last question. If the girls could do a cover of a famous song, what would be the one they will unanimously go with?
Actually, since I don’t have access to any songwriters, I intend for most of the music in the comic to be covers of songs readers would be familiar with. But to answer your question, I think that the girls would unanimously agree that a Queen song would be most excellent to cover.

12.) And that’s about it. Any last words you wanna say to the readers?
I’d just like to thank all the readers for taking interest in the story, and I hope you all like what I have in store!

And that’s it. Thank you and good-night, FAN! Don’t forget to check out the links posted before the interview! Cheers!