Filly Funtasia

This article is about the 2019 television series. For the franchise, see Filly (toy).

Filly Funtasia
Also known as	Filly Funtasia: Magic, Spells & Fun
Genre	Fantasy Adventure Comedy Coming-of-age
Created by	Jacob Andersen Henrik Andersen
Based on	Filly by Jacob and Henrik Andersen
Developed by	Tine S. Norbøll
Written by	Carlos Bleycher Sean Catherine Derek John Gatehouse Johnny Hartmann Jymn Magon Expand Steve Middleton Armin Prediger Dean Stefan Laura Tey Noelle Wright Phil Harnage
Directed by	Jacob Andersen (season 1) Henrik Andersen (season 1) Conan Hu (season 2)
Opening theme	"Magical World"
Ending theme	"From Now Until Forever"
Composers	Giles Packham John McPhillips Klaus Derendorf (song producer)
Country of origin	Hong Kong Spain China
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Jacob Andersen Henrik Andersen
Producers	Zhong Lin Haichuan Shen Conan Hu Liang Li Dirk Hampel
Running time	24 minutes
Production companies	Dracco Brands (2012–19) BRB Internacional (2012–16) Studio 21 (2012–16) Black Dragon Entertainment (2012–16) Guangzhou Huamai Animation Studios (2018–present) B-Water Animation Studios (2018–present) Zhaolong Culture (2019–present)
Original release
Network	iQiyi
Release	November 28, 2019 (2019-11-28) – present

Filly Funtasia is a computer-animated fantasy television series created by Jacob and Henrik Andersen for Dracco. The series follows filly Rose and her friends as they attend a magical academy in the royal kingdom of Funtasia. It is based on the Filly toy franchise. The series was originally produced by Dracco Brands, BRB Internacional, Screen 21, and Black Dragon Entertainment, but the latter three companies dropped out of producing the series around 2016, and the former dropped out in 2019. Guangzhou Huamai Animation Studios and B-Water Animation Studios joined production much later and managed to complete what the other studios left behind. By season two, Dracco Brands was replaced by Zhaolong Culture.

After five years of development hell starting from 2014 when Filly Funtasia was originally supposed to premiere, the series finally premiered on March 11, 2019 on Frisbee in Italy. The series also premiered on November 28, 2019 on iQiyi in China.

The show was renewed for a second season that was released on iQiyi on December 25, 2020. In early 2021, the series started streaming in English on the KidsFlix app.

Plot

Filly Funtasia is about the adventures of Rose, a unicorn filly who attends the Royal Magic Academy in the kingdom of Funtasia. Her best friends – Bella, an elf filly, Lynn, a witchy filly, Will, a fairy filly, and Cedric, a royale filly, accompany her as they go to the extraordinary school to improve their magical skills, be it mixing unpredictable potions or casting spells. Rose also has to deal with everyday teenage school life while learning about the magical world around her.

Inside the basement of the academy lives Wranglum, an evil tree-like wizard creature who is trapped inside a "dark mirror", or a crystal prison. Battiwigs, a bat who is Will and Cedric's dorm pet, secretly works for Wranglum as his bumbling minion and carries his master around. Wranglum and Battiwigs plot various schemes to try and steal any crystals from the academy they can so that they can use their magic to rule over Funtasia.

Characters

The main characters. From left to right: Will, Bella, Rose (in center), Cedric, Lynn, and Battiwigs (on top).

Main

• Rose is the main protagonist and a caring, young unicorn who tries to be good at everything she does.
• Bella, short for Isabella is a talented elf who loves nature and finds beauty in everyone.
• Lynn is a high-spirited witch from the Witchy Kingdom.
• Will, short for Willow is a daring fairy who likes to play pranks, and is friends with Lynn.
• Cedric is an intelligent prince, and an inventor.

The villains

• Wranglum is the main villain of the series. He is a tree-like wizard creature who is trapped inside a crystal prison that takes the form of a mirror. He is determined to rule Funtasia by any means necessary.
• Battiwigs is a bat serving as both Will and Cedric's dorm pet, and undercover as Wranglum's minion.

Recurring

• Miss Sparkle is the headmistress of the academy.
• Twilight is a fairy filly. She is one of the teachers and Zack's boss.
• Zack is the top student of the academy and Twilight's intern. Rose has a crush on him.
• Fabian is a new student at the academy. He is a lover of geology, and is often clumsy.
• Bijou the owl is the dorm pet of Rose.
• Zam and Zamie are two elf twins in the academy. They are normally seen causing trouble, especially for Will.

Production

Filly Funtasia was created by Danish brothers, Jacob and Henrik Ranis Stokholm Andersen, who also founded the Filly franchise around 2006, and serve as the directors of the series. Development began during the summer of 2012, and Tine S. Norbøll, the developer of the franchise, wrote the story bible for series. She was also an art director for the show, though her work is uncredited. BRB Internacional and their animation studio Studio 21 originally did the animation work, with some outsourcing from Black Dragon Entertainment in China.

A concept art of a scene in what was previously known as episode 4 (likely "The Crush") by one of BRB's staff, Stevepeig.

Some notable BRB staff who worked on the show include Stevepeig, who designed some of the concept art and how scenes would act out, and Dani Canovas, who designed some of the main characters such as Rose and Will, and did the color script for some scenes, as well as the backgrounds.

On October 12, 2012, plans for an animated TV series based on the Filly franchise were announced, with the working title of "Filly", and the series was set to premiere worldwide in 2014. A teaser for the show was presented at MIPTV in April 2013. On May 29, 2013, the show was renamed to Filly Funtasia, and some of the writers for the show were revealed; Dean Stefan, Noelle Wright, Jymn Magon, Johnny Hartmann, and Sean Derek. BRB Internacional was to distribute the show internationally, except in Germany where Dracco would handle it.

A trailer for the show was uploaded officially by BRB to YouTube on October 15, 2013. Another trailer was released to Twitter on April 11, 2014, featuring clips synced to the show's ending theme, "From Now Until Forever". A third one was released on October 13, 2014 by Funtasia Daily, for BRB offered them the chance to release it to reach a wider audience. A fourth trailer for the show was presented at MIPCOM 2015 and was released on October 6, 2015, featuring clips from the show synced to the show's opening theme, "Magical World".

Two 75-minute specials of the show were announced April 4, 2016 at the MIPTV Media Market titled "Filly Stars" and "Filly Butterfly". Originally produced by BRB's 3D movie division, Apolo Films, no news has surfaced about the current state of the specials and whether they have been cancelled or not as of late. They were meant to be released before the show in order to explain the characters and the world, which explains why Filly Funtasia starts off with no proper introduction.

Later in 2016, BRB and Screen 21 stopped working on the show, and stopped publicly associating with it. It can be assumed that around this time, Black Dragon also quit too. Around 2018, Spanish company B-Water Animation Studios and Cantonese company Guangzhou Huamai Animation Studios joined the production of the series, and worked to complete what the previous studios had left behind. A fifth trailer for the show, which would be the first Filly Funtasia material in a few years, would be released to Vimeo on March 23, 2018 by B-Water. It would also be the last trailer of the show to be released before its premiere one year later.

Filly Funtasia has gone through development hell five years prior to its release, and was delayed many times before it finally premiered in 2019. While the reasons for the delay remain unclear, it likely includes financial problems the Andersen brothers were facing, BRB and Screen 21 suddenly ceasing production of the series on their part, and Dracco initiating legal action against Simba Dickie Group. In the final version of both the English and Chinese credits, nobody from either BRB and Screen 21 or Black Dragon have been credited since those companies backed out of their involvement with the series.

On January 17, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season that was released to iQiyi on December 25, 2020. A trailer for it was released on November 2, 2020 on the show's official Weibo account. By season two, Dracco Brands dropped out of the show, to be replaced by Zhaolong Culture in 2019. Zhaolong would fund the production of seasons 1 and 2, and share the merchandising rights worldwide. The series is distributed by Imira Entertainment, which is owned by Toonz Media Group.

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	13		November 28, 2019 (2019-11-28)	December 10, 2019 (2019-12-10)
2	13		December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)

Season 1 (2019)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"The Cupcake Mystery" "Liar, Liar, Prance on Fire"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Jymn Magon	November 28, 2019 (2019-11-28)
When Bella accidentally messes up the cupcakes that she promised to keep safe for Will and the teachers, Rose covers up for her by lying that they were stolen.
2	"The Blue Rainbow" "The Missing Student"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Johnny Hartmann	November 29, 2019 (2019-11-29)
A blue rainbow appears with an important crystal, so Rose and her crush Zach and the academy's top student are sent to bring it back to the academy.
3	"Wranglum in Disguise" "Wranglum Goes Fillying"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	November 30, 2019 (2019-11-30)
Battiwigs finds a crystal that manages to free Wranglum in the form of a female filly, Petunia. It gives him the opportunity to sneak into Miss Sparkle's office for an actual spell before the spell wears off.
4	"Alone at Last"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Jymn Magon	December 1, 2019 (2019-12-01)
When Lynn tries to find a place to spend time by herself after Rose starts driving her crazy, she heads to the forest and gets lost.
5	"The Evil Garden"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 2, 2019 (2019-12-02)
Will and the other students are given an assignment to clean an area from a new garden, but Battiwigs secretly plants magic seeds that quickly grow into a lively plant.
6	"Dream of Doom"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 3, 2019 (2019-12-03)
Cedric fears that Rose might make a fool of herself in an audition, so he tries to stall her so she'll miss her participation.
7	"Bijou on the Loose"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Johnny Hartmann	December 4, 2019 (2019-12-04)
Rose wants her dorm pet Bijou to look her best for the Annual Pet Parade, but accidentally makes her disappear after attempting a forbidden spell using a mysterious crystal she found.
8	"The Magical Maze"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 5, 2019 (2019-12-05)
Rose, Will, Lynn and Fabian end up lost in the maze while being persuaded by Wranglum's troll forms.
9	"Teacher for a Day" "Will in Charge"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 6, 2019 (2019-12-06)
In order to avoid detention, Will is made a teacher for the day, while Battiwigs tries to steal a crystal from Miss Sparkle's office.
10	"Hide and Seek"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Armin Prediger	December 7, 2019 (2019-12-07)
After Will and Lynn steal the crystal that can teleport anyone holding it for hide and seek, they accidentally release Wranglum.
11	"The Lost Mermaid" "The Lost Filly Mermaid"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Carlos Bleycher	December 8, 2019 (2019-12-08)
Rose befriends a mermaid filly named Glitterina and travels in the sea.
12	"The Star Crystal"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 9, 2019 (2019-12-09)
Rose and her friends travel to the caves to find a crystal that fell from the sky.
13	"Farina, the Fire Dragon"	Jacob and Henrik Andersen	Unknown	December 10, 2019 (2019-12-10)
Rose and her friends are sent to collect a crystal from a dragon named Farina.

Season 2 (2020)

The second season of the series was released on December 25, 2020. The worldwide premiere for the season was on iQiyi, and unlike the previous season, all episodes were released on the same day.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
14	1	"The Freshmen"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
15	2	"The Treasure Hunt"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
16	3	"Feathers Appear When Angels Are Near"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
17	4	"Art of Magic"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
18	5	"A Royal Wedding"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
19	6	"缤纷仙境节"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
20	7	"金蹄球杯大赛"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
21	8	"有朋自远方来"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
22	9	"毕业生的婚礼"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
23	10	"奇幻的教训"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
24	11	"你真敢"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
25	12	"图书馆惊魂夜"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)
26	13	"暗黑水晶之战"	Conan Hu	Unknown	December 25, 2020 (2020-12-25)

Broadcast

Filly Funtasia was originally planned to be released in early 2014, but was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2014. On March 30, 2014, the release date of the show was delayed again to 2015. It was announced that the show would air on Clan in Spain, and later on V-me in the US. The show was delayed again on January 19, 2015 for a 2016 release. On March 10, 2015, it was announced that Filly Funtasia would air on K2 in Italy. On January 16, 2018, the Andersen brothers discussed in an interview that the series was postponed once again for a 2019 release.

The series eventually premiered worldwide in Italian on March 11, 2019 on Frisbee in Italy. In China, the series was officially released with a Mandarin Chinese dub onto iQiyi, with the title The Colorful Wonderland of the Little Fillys, on November 28, 2019. The show had reached more than 2800 viewers in under 24 hours. Later, the series would have its TV premiere on Hunan TV Golden Eagle Cartoon on January 20, 2020. Each of the 13 episodes are split into two 12 to 13-minute episodes, unlike how the show would be broadcast elsewhere.

In Ukraine, the series premiered on November 30, 2019 on PLUSPLUS with a Ukrainian dub. Filly Funtasia premiered on September 5, 2020 on Minimax in Hungary, the 7th in Romania and Moldova, the 16th in the Czech Republic, and October 3 in Serbia and Slovenia. The series premiered on Arutz HaYeladim in Israel in November. On February 15, 2021, the series premiered on La Tele Tuya in Venezuela with a Latin American Spanish dub. In early 2021, three English episodes ("Hide and Seek", "The Lost Mermaid", and "Farina, the Fire Dragon") were made available on the KidsFlix app, which is owned by Toonz Media Group. These episodes are also available to stream on the Airtel Xstream service in India.

Songs

Filly Funtasia has many songs used throughout the series. Nearly all of them have served as background music at some point, playing through certain scenes, but a few of them have been sung by the characters in-universe. All of the songs are produced by Klaus Derendorf. It is unknown who sang most of them as all the singers were uncredited, but Windy Wagner helped write some of them.

Title	Performer(s)	Episode
"Magical World"	—	All episodes (opening credits), "The Evil Garden", "Dream of Doom"
"From Now Until Forever"	—	All episodes (ending credits)
"Una soluzione troveremo"	—	"The Cupcake Mystery", "The Evil Garden", "Dream of Doom"
"Together with You"	—	"The Blue Rainbow", "The Lost Mermaid", "The Star Crystal"
"Transformation"	—	"Wranglum in Disguise", "Alone at Last"
"In the Storm"	—	"Alone at Last", "The Magical Maze"
"Sweet Temptation"	—	"Dream of Doom", "Teacher for a Day", "Hide and Seek", "Farina, the Fire Dragon"
"Can't Catch Me Now"	—	"Bijou on the Loose", "Teacher for a Day", "Farina, the Fire Dragon"
"Suspicion"	—	"The Magical Maze", "Hide and Seek", "The Star Crystal"
"I Can Do Anything"	—	"The Lost Mermaid", "The Star Crystal"
"I Am Who I Am"	—	"Farina, the Fire Dragon"

Reception

Accolades

On August 23, 2018, the episode "The Blue Rainbow" (at the time known as "The Missing Student") was nominated in the Best Animation category in the 58th Asia-Pacific Film Festival, before the series premiered. It lost to Fundamental.

Controversy

In China, mostly on Weibo where the show has an official verified account there, reception of the show has been mixed since its release there. While some have been praising it, many articles have came out claiming that the show plagiarized My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, as both center on colorful equines, and that it's not a real domestic Chinese cartoon due to being a co-production and being released first in Italy. They also point out that the Chinese title of the show is one character off from Friendship Is Magic's.

Internet popularity

On October 16, 2013, one day after BRB Internacional had released the first trailer for Filly Funtasia on YouTube, Shaun Scotellaro of Equestria Daily had reported on the show's existence, calling Filly a "copycat brand". What resulted after were a lot of mixed reactions to the show, with many disregarding it as a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic rip-off before it premiered, and others claiming that it reminded them of the third generation ("G3") of My Little Pony (which wasn't typically regarded as good by bronies at that time). An intern at BRB responded calmly to a lot of the YouTube comments on the trailer that arouse from the situation before the video was privated, then unlisted with comments disabled. The show was also reported on the site in 2014 and 2015 due to the new trailers that were being released.

In the midst of the brony fandom becoming aware of the show, Funtasia Daily was created by Skundi on October 24, 2013. The intention of the site is to report on all Filly related news, much like Equestria Daily does for Friendship Is Magic. Some articles are also written by Zejgar. As a response to the 4chan and Ponychan threads on the show dying, Skundi also created Fillychan on January 24, 2015. The show would gain a minimal fanbase of its own, with some taking an ironic interest in the show. Memes about the show were prevalent at the peak of its popularity, including the frequent joke that the show was the next generation ("G5") of My Little Pony.

Tine was interviewed by Skundi of Funtasia Daily in June 2015, using questions that were asked by the community. Notably, Tine noticed the Filly Funtasia fandom and acknowledged the term "Funtasian", which would be the equivalent of bronies.

After a long period of silence, Equestria Daily would report on the show's comeback in 2019, and the reception to the show was notably more positive than it was before. One of the earliest reuploads of the first trailer of the show has over 1 million views as of February 2020. The show currently sits at a 5.2 out of 10 rating on IMDb.

External links

• Filly Funtasia at IMDb
• Filly Funtasia on iQiyi
• Filly Funtasia on B-Water Animation Studios