Has anyone noticed how different Fluttershy's behaviour is in this video?
I'd like to point this out and review it a bit if you'll let me.
I'd also like some screencappers to cap Fluttershy's expressions from the video and upscale them in HD.
Fluttershy's expressions, dialogue+adlibbing and voice sounds very similar to S1 rather than S2-S7.
She no longer sounds anxious, in fact she sounds less autistic than her S1 version.
Sadly Pinkie Pie's behaviour is still just as retarded and awful as in S2-S7.
The MLP theme song starts playing like it used to do back in S1.
Her wings stay upright, most of her poses are taken from S1, but her expressions are also from S1. Notice her eyelids coming up, notice her tiny mouth, her little head gestures, her reactions and her body poses, but especially her eyes. Notice how her eyes actually follow the target without blinking.
The pupils and iris cover the entirety of her eye sockets, compared to Pinkie's ugly eye expressions which always expose too much sclera. The enlarged pupils also serve to make the ponies look cuter.
What I was impressed by was the voice actor doing a good job at acting with natural emotion.
A little birdy told me *today is very special* (pause) !!because it's your birthday!!"
She actually changes the pitch of her voice and tries to act.
Unlike her attempt with Pinkie Pie where she just screeches and exaggerates everything in an uncouth arrogant manner.
Meanwhile Fluttershy reacts like an adult this time. Lines such as "This might take a while", "Oh Pinkie" show off a different behaviour than her usual meek anxious self.
Another thing I love pointing out is the logic behind Fluttershy's animation. For example at 0:13-0:15 with the ease-out, ease-in guideline.
The animator only slightly edits her pose out and makes her body follow a direction in order to maintain the smoothness of animation and the pose. That way he doesn't overanimate complicated actions like Pinkie Pie's which would look weird (even with a high budget) and in return we get a smooth ease-in, ease-out animation without abusing cheap robotic tween animations.
Example of recycled animation cycles from S1 are the hopping, leaning and turning animations for both Pinkie and Fluttershy. But a few of the animations like at 1:11 seem original. The majority of Pinkie Pie's animations when she's acting retarded seem taken straight out of S2-S7.