G1 fans and G4 fans- comparisons, contrast and possible confrontations.

[kittybethy]

This is a friendly note:

 Since this topic has come up SO MANY times, I'm sure you all know to keep the discussion friendly.

 You know the drill!

[Starbright]

I don't see a problem at all. I had the G1s as a kid and they have nostalgia value for me. The newer gens are just adorable and the show is fun, and I like them too. It's all good no matter which generation you prefer. I certainly won't get upset if the newer fans prefer G4s, leaving more G1s for me. Actually I'm just grateful the line was revived, I was worried the way things were going at the end of the G3 run.

[kmlv23]

I didn't mean any of that as an insult to G4 fans, as I tried to explain its not a problem to us older fans, its more a problem that we are here and having an opinion at all to other fans. I don't know, its all too confusing for me.

If people that got into ponies through G4 are still here in 12 months time, I will believe then it wasn't a fad for them, I just find it hard to believe when we had such a huge influx, plus all the media attention when previously there was very little to no media attention. I am not saying "oh all the G4 fans are just here because ponies are the in thing at the moment" but you can't deny that there is alot of attention out there about it.

Oh I'm not. That would be silly of me! And yes, many of the people claiming brony status are chasing, shall we say, popularity. But I feel like someone who would have joined this site and seriously gotten into collecting, as I have, wouldn't fit that heading. Like I said, maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I don't like being pigeon-holed.

[fingerpaints]

I didn't mean any of that as an insult to G4 fans, as I tried to explain its not a problem to us older fans, its more a problem that we are here and having an opinion at all to other fans. I don't know, its all too confusing for me.

If people that got into ponies through G4 are still here in 12 months time, I will believe then it wasn't a fad for them, I just find it hard to believe when we had such a huge influx, plus all the media attention when previously there was very little to no media attention. I am not saying "oh all the G4 fans are just here because ponies are the in thing at the moment" but you can't deny that there is alot of attention out there about it.

Oh I'm not. That would be silly of me! And yes, many of the people claiming brony status are chasing, shall we say, popularity. But I feel like someone who would have joined this site and seriously gotten into collecting, as I have, wouldn't fit that heading. Like I said, maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I don't like being pigeon-holed.

I don't think that if you are doing your best to fit in that you will be pigeon holed, but, we were ALL new at one stage, and that comes with the territory. You can't walk into an established club that is 10+ years old and expect to be treated the same as established members immediately. You need to earn respect as all of us have, and learn the etiquette of the forum or place.

I understand where you are coming from, but having quiet a few trolls & boistrous members making the established members feel uncomfortable for some time, unfortunately it makes people wary. I have made friends with quiet a few newer members however, and ive been here for over 4 years, so its not really a "your new therefore you will never fit in" type thing. You need to remember, you have been a member since december last year, a bit over a month or so, give it time

[Firehooves]

Most bronies are very, VERY nice, as I said my best friends are Bronies... and there are also bad G1 fans, too. And no I don't think G4 is a fad.

[DoctorMowinckel]

If people that got into ponies through G4 are still here in 12 months time, I will believe then it wasn't a fad for them, I just find it hard to believe when we had such a huge influx, plus all the media attention when previously there was very little to no media attention. I am not saying "oh all the G4 fans are just here because ponies are the in thing at the moment" but you can't deny that there is alot of attention out there about it.

I'm going to disagree with that.

The G4 community is very self contained. If you poke around the internet, as I commonly do, I post on some photography forums, hockey forums, and motorsports forums, all of those communities have an off-topic board, and a media board, and My Little Pony never comes up. On all of those forums, I can count the number of pony avatars I've seen on one hand. I've yet to see anyone wearing any pony paraphernalia in my town, anywhere. At stores, music venues, or the gym. On this series of tubes we all know and love, the FiM buzz is very contained. They stick to Reddit, another site and Tumblr. There's a smattering of forums out there, but I've yet to see any G4 or FiM forums that are as big as the Arena.

We, as pony folk, are always looking for ponies. Prior to the G4 craze, seeing ponies anywhere was a huge anomaly, it was a moment that was like 'Ah ha! Look everyone, did you see it? There was a pony, MY HOBBY IS RELEVANT!'. Now that they're starting to show up an iota more, we're all noticing it. Since we're looking for it, we're not a good control. We're always looking for ponies, so of course we're going to notice them, and when it pops up an iota more than it did, it's going to seem like a lot more.

The 'brony' thing isn't nearly as big as the FiM community would like to think. When you immerse yourself in a sub culture, of course it's going to be everywhere, 'cause you're in it, so you're going to be seeing it everywhere. To the rest of the world, people who aren't Redditors, or aren't in the community, it's this blip on the cultural radar. It's this small thing that people regard as 'Oh, huh, that's weird', and they pay no mind to it.

Friendship is Magic isn't Lost, it's not Glee, it's not even Spongebob Squarepants, or Cars. The FiM community is miniscule compared to the fanbase for any of those shows. It's not as popular as the 'bronies' like to think.

[kmlv23]

I didn't mean any of that as an insult to G4 fans, as I tried to explain its not a problem to us older fans, its more a problem that we are here and having an opinion at all to other fans. I don't know, its all too confusing for me.

If people that got into ponies through G4 are still here in 12 months time, I will believe then it wasn't a fad for them, I just find it hard to believe when we had such a huge influx, plus all the media attention when previously there was very little to no media attention. I am not saying "oh all the G4 fans are just here because ponies are the in thing at the moment" but you can't deny that there is alot of attention out there about it.

Oh I'm not. That would be silly of me! And yes, many of the people claiming brony status are chasing, shall we say, popularity. But I feel like someone who would have joined this site and seriously gotten into collecting, as I have, wouldn't fit that heading. Like I said, maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I don't like being pigeon-holed.

I don't think that if you are doing your best to fit in that you will be pigeon holed, but, we were ALL new at one stage, and that comes with the territory. You can't walk into an established club that is 10+ years old and expect to be treated the same as established members immediately. You need to earn respect as all of us have, and learn the etiquette of the forum or place.

I understand where you are coming from, but having quiet a few trolls & boistrous members making the established members feel uncomfortable for some time, unfortunately it makes people wary. I have made friends with quiet a few newer members however, and ive been here for over 4 years, so its not really a "your new therefore you will never fit in" type thing. You need to remember, you have been a member since december last year, a bit over a month or so, give it time

Fair enough. Thank you for the encouraging words. I too have been burned by fandom in the past, and have been wary of getting into a new one since...so MLP is a bit of a gamble for me.    I've just been hoping my own wariness isn't translating as being offensive or...for lack of a better term....strange.

[ZennaBug]

I hope that you don't think we hate Gen 4, because that's not true at all!  I think most of us like the new ponies.  The show is excellent, the toys are cute, and it's rejuvenated MLP quite a bit after the disaster of G3.5    I only collected G1s before, but I have several G4s and blind bag ponies on my shelf.

We all work very hard to keep the conflict away from the Arena.  We are always thrilled to have new pony collectors joining the community.  But the amount of growth we experienced was enormous and it really shook things up in the pony community.  The tension started primarily when a small (but extremely vocal) group of trolls who call themselves bronies started calling names, tearing down earlier gens, targeting specific members with threats, and churning out disgusting fics and artwork.  It gave many of us a bad impression of bronies as a whole and it took a while for that dust to settle.  But slowly, those who jumped on the bandwagon for popularity are moving onto other things and life has calmed down a lot.  We understand that the majority of our new members are wonderful pony folk.  Anyone who loves ponies is welcome here and hateful comments are not allowed.  Ever.

Personally, I'm just ready for ponies to be dorky again 

Edit:  Don't stress about fitting in.  We were all new once and it can take a little time to become well-known in the community.  I started off with a zero post count like everyone else.  I remember the first time someone mentioned me in a post (it was a "who's persona do you like?" thread), I was sooooo ridiculously excited that people knew who I was!    I think I'd been here a few months at that point.  If you are respectful and kind, then we will like you    We aren't really a fandom here, we're a close community.  And we look out for one another.  It's a dynamic that you don't often find on the internet, which is why so many of us love it here.

[kmlv23]

I hope that you don't think we hate Gen 4, because that's not true at all!  I think most of us like the new ponies.  The show is excellent, the toys are cute, and it's rejuvenated MLP quite a bit after the disaster of G3.5    I only collected G1s before, but I have several G4s and blind bag ponies on my shelf.

We all work very hard to keep the conflict away from the Arena.  We are always thrilled to have new pony collectors joining the community.  But the amount of growth we experienced was enormous and it really shook things up in the pony community.  The tension started primarily when a small (but extremely vocal) group of trolls who call themselves bronies started calling names, tearing down earlier gens, targeting specific members with threats, and churning out disgusting fics and artwork.  It gave many of us a bad impression of bronies as a whole and it took a while for that dust to settle.  But slowly, those who jumped on the bandwagon for popularity are moving onto other things and life has calmed down a lot.  We understand that the majority of our new members are wonderful pony folk.  Anyone who loves ponies is welcome here and hateful comments are not allowed.  Ever.

Personally, I'm just ready for ponies to be dorky again 

I'll be happy when the trolls buzz off, but tbh, I like it the way it is currently.

[kittybethy]

Since this topic has been hashed and rehashed to DEATH, I'm locking this topic.