G1 through g3 fandom becoming extinct?

[Mana Minori]

I'm sorry you don't like my topics, but I do have a right to express my fears and concerns.   Do I not?

Of course you do, but you need to remember, so do I. So do all of us. And if you open a discussion like this, you invite responses. Some of those will disagree with you. Some of those will challenge you. And you also need to think about what you said, and how those things might make other people feel.

I dislike disharmony between generation collectors. I also despise comparisons. Comparisons imply that something is superior and something is inferior. In a collecting sense, or a fandom sense, that can only ever end badly. I don't want competition with the FIM community. I am not interested in their digital media or fan output, because that's not my community. If I wanted to be there, I would be. But I'm not. I'm here. And I think that is true for a lot of us. It doesn't matter what another community puts out, because the people in this community are here for a reason. And if we are here, we're here because we love this fandom and this product...even if our way of doing so isn't the same as theirs.

That is pretty much what I said in my original post, only paraphrased to try and make it easier to understand.

Because I dislike disharmony between generation collectors, it bothers me when someone comes up with the kind of post that is essentially derogatory to this community in some way. I don't think it was unreasonable to ask about the motivation behind it, because two posts in a few days by someone who principally posts in the FIM sections is going to get anyone a little bit on edge. I don't want the rivalry that was there in the past to flare up into something nasty again. I like that our different communities can do what we like without being forced into comparison with each other. I don't like that the FIM community should be made to like G1-2-3 if they don't want to, and I don't like people coming here with a view of the G4 community and saying we don't match up. Whatever your motivation, that can't possibly end well. And instead of taking it as a personal insult, I'd just like you to stop and think about what you are asking, and how much you actually do know about the community you say you are worried about. It seems to me like you are trying to see it through the G4 way of doing things, but G4 didn't even exist when this community came into being, and so obviously isn't going to be the same. Nor does it need to be.

Your information is also lacking; the Arena is not the only G1-2-3-4 pony forum.

The thing is that FIM is and has been from the start a different kind of generation. It is driven by the cartoon, not the toys. That lends itself to way more fanfiction and digital media. Also what others have said about generation probably applies. I wrote MLP fanfic as a kid and as a teen, but I don't do it now. You can't expect all G1 fans, for example, to act the same way they maybe did when G1 was out or had just disappeared. That doesn't mean this community is in decline. As someone who has been here to observe it over two decades, I know the different stages it has been through in its evolution. People all have different reasons for loving MLP, and this community welcomes all of them. I think overall it has become a stronger place for cross-generational fandom, because people get into a newer generation but often end up then collecting others as well.

For that reason, I find the aspersions cast on our fandom's creativity and community both 'hurtful' and 'rude', to use your own language. This community was here before FIM. It will be here after FIM. I really hope that when FIM ends, we might one day end up with one whole community, rather than separate strands - but even if not, it won't be until FIM ends that we see how that fandom really is. I think at this point this fandom is the stronger, because it has self-perpetuated without any help from Hasbro or Hasbro products over a long period of time. So if you genuinely are worried, there's really no need to be. But even if you are, you also have to accept that your premise itself is an offensive one - telling people that the community they love and belong to is inferior and dying, and not accepting it when they disagree.

again- I didn't make these topics to cause division between the fandoms, nor did I intend to compare. I like all gens of ponies, and as I said, I have my concerns. I call things like I see them, and what I see on my end is the older fandoms not being nearly as active as the newer. Admittedly, I MAY be looking in the wrong places, Google search results give communities that are dead, dA communities seems to have slowed to a crawl, but if I don't post about it expressing those concerns, then how on earth am I supposed to know? I have no rl pony fan friends of any generation to discuss pony things about, so where else can I get the info but here, which seems to be the most active?
I want to be a part of both communities- old and new- and all this topic boils down to is getting my concerns across. If you say that the fandom of g1, g2, and g3 is still around, then point it out to me, other than this site. I don't WANT to be worried. I don't WANT to cause division. I just want confirmation. And I wasn't telling ANYONE that their fandom was dying. Nor did I say it was inferior. I was simply asking. You said yourself that I had every right to express my fears and concerns, but that end statement makes it seems like I can't.

[Leave a Whisper]

That's true and I know your not trying to create division Nightmare Muffin, but like we've said, you have to think about this community, which spans 4 generations and 30+ years, through a pre-internet lens. A lot of communities have existed, thrived and survived for decades beforehand. They'll do fine for years to come. The net is just a different, faster way for fans to connect.

A good example of this would be DC fans. They've been kickin around for a very long time, comics collected and carefully preserved, passing a love of it onto their kids, pulling in new fans with each re-iteration, movies and toys and merchandising all without needing websites about it.

[ponycake]

My opinion would be that it's diminishing too. I used to not worry about resale value of my MOC collection, now I kinda do.

I don't know why but the post seems to have a lot of bad aura? over a simple view stated by the OP.

[Leave a Whisper]

My opinion would be that it's diminishing too. I used to not worry about resale value of my MOC collection, now I kinda do.

I don't know why but the post seems to have a lot of bad aura? over a simple view stated by the OP.

Nothing lasts forever. Not even twinkies.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Yeah I posted in the other thread about the pre-Internet days and fandom.  There aren't that many pre-internet fandoms preserved online historically, but they DID exist!  DC, Marvel, science fiction in general, Star Trek, Star Wars (yeah where DO you think the Christmas Special was traded around for decades? ) Disney fans, I could go on ....

http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,386561.15.html

But I will re-post in case the mods delete .

"weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell...  here is another perspective.... 

According to Internet Legend, in 1981, Bill Gates was attributed as saying, "'640K of memory should be enough for anybody.'"

Now, he did not actually say this, but it is very indicative of computers and their users during the 80's-90's.  Pretty much until Windows 95, MOST home users did not have machines capable of video-editing.  Or fan mp3 music.  Or anything like that.  My home computer in high school, it did not have the memory to be able to PLAY an MP3 file!!!!, let alone EDIT one!  LOL 

Sure, sure we had a huge Apple lab stocked with Macs and some PC homebuild stuff, but that was school and the district invested in our tech education.  MOST kids at home didn't even have a computer yet and if they did, it was either Dad's work one, or it was filled with family learning software for your younger siblings.

So it wasn't that people weren't making massive gigabyte files' worth of fanvideo ... it's just that people were more likely using off-line options to create, and technology just wasn't around to digitize it.

on the MLPTP, one of the most popular activities was Spooky's Photo Hunt!  People would use their FILM cameras to develop photos.  As in, you took the film canisters to a store, you waited a week, and then you got a little folder of printed-out photos.  And you had to scan them and upload them to a hosting site to share them.  Not just "whip out your iPhone, do a little Snapchat, run it through an Instagram photo filter, push two buttons and cross-publish across your Flickr/Tumblr/Facebook/IG/Twitter/Google+ !!!"

 I have cassette tapes packed away that contain my voiceovers and radio plays - I don't have the paper scripts anymore but I have the tapes.  But do you think I'm going to find a cassette tape player that can help me transfer to a MP3 file? Not without special equipment!!! And you must remember, this equipment did NOT exist for home use back then - you were super lucky if the adults in your life had professional reasons to have this hardware, and that is IF they even let you use it (supervised or NOT)! And certainly you weren't uploading it to the web.... first off where???? NO website building site had the ability to allow you to upload massive files like that!!!! And who would have the capacity to download it or play it?

I have note books filled with fanfiction and art.... but that would require weeks of scanning,and then uploading.  And many of these papers are barely readable and they are super brittle, paper is quite degradable.  And why would anyone care what my MLP drawings  looked like from when I was five?  What's the point?  Do you have all your childhood art, you know, all your stick figures and marker scribbles, is it all scanned and viewable on your DA account?  Did your parents send you a big .zip file of it all? 


It's a very similar situation for many of us who grew up with MLP....  I think you are not clearly seeing the G1 and G2 eras through the proper historical lens, as it were..."

[cloud_weaver]

Yes pretty much without the older members said. We're still here, we may not be fans with same way that younger generations are, but we aren't going anywhere. Lol also consider, g3 fans are still teenagers, and will cycle around to be collectors again once they grow up into adults and want to rekindle childhood memories. :-)

[Eternia]

We collectors are definitely still here, but the medium that we use for connecting has changed.
The arena has totally died off. I remember when I first joined this was THE place to talk ponies (along with the TP) and dream valley was still kicking around and there were dozens of pony dedicated websites that I would visit. Now most of those sites are gone or have much less traffic.
The era of the forum/website is done. Now we are seeing a lot more collector activity on social media sites like facebook and instagram. I can talk ponies with my friends on IG and its a much more convenient way to share photos- though I will say I do miss the discussions of the forums.
Collecting, to me, feels like it's less discussing and more content sharing these days.

[Taffeta]

I want to be a part of both communities- old and new- and all this topic boils down to is getting my concerns across.

First of all, thank you for posting your position more clearly. That post was much better in that it explained your position and your rationale. I do think, though, that you are looking at this from a very "new" angle. What LBS says is true for a lot of us. Platforms have changed radically from the middle 1990s, and that probably also impacts on what stuff is available in the fandom.

I used to be a moderator in an anime fandom for a manga/anime that was hugely successful and popular, more so than FIM has been on a global scale. And yet the moment that anime disappeared, the fandom basically died. Although a ton of digital content was produced for and by that fandom, it could not survive the death of the series because there was no new input coming into it and so people drifted away.

We don't know yet if that will or won't be the fate for the FIM community. But it is just strange to my mind to try and compare the fandom of a current TV show and toy line with the fandom of something that was withdrawn more than 20 years ago.

To sum up, fandoms are communities of people with a shared interest, not a mountain of media production. Media production is one way of expressing that fandom. But it not the only nor the most valid way to do it.

And, if I may say so, if you are concerned, then maybe it would be a good thing for you to set up a media hub for older generation digital work. The community survives because people add to it and create new things to take stuff forward. The sites and people now are not all the same as they were in 1997, but that doesn't matter. If you are worried, it's a perfect opportunity for you to add and create something to give to the community and help it in the long run. I am sure nobody here would object to you doing that.

[Carrehz]

To sum up, fandoms are communities of people with a shared interest, not a mountain of media production. Media production is one way of expressing that fandom. But it not the only nor the most valid way to do it.

This is such a good way of putting it. I like a lot of things. I draw fanart sometimes but I tend to keep it to myself for various reasons. I only write fanfic once in a blue moon. I don't have the talent/ability to do fananimations or music or anything like that. But that doesn't mean I don't like those things! There's various ways of showing your love for a fandom.

[Baby Sugarberry]

this is but one wesite, though. It may be active here, but what of other old gen Facebok pages, forums, dA communities, and the like? They're not so active, and that worries me. I don't want he legacy of the first 3 generations to be forgotten.

G1 fandom has been around longer than all the places you've just listed.  Seriously, we're as old as the internet just about.  Older than Google. Older than Chrome, heck, older than internet search services.  Back in the day there were human maintained listings and webrings and that was about it as far as navigation went.  Compared to most of the other toy lines of the era, MLP is doing very well. 

G4 is the soup du jour.  Yes it's big and bright right now, but it remains to be seen if it'll stick around after the show ends.  I sort of doubt it.  Most G4 fans are the type attracted to the Cult of the New, and will move on to the Next Big Thing.  That's the life cycle of most fandoms.

[Taffeta]

Just to add to what others are saying and what I said above, there is a theory that this generation (I mean globally not specifically MLP) will leave very little history behind for future generations because of changing media platforms and the risk to digital data of being completely lost or corrupted. I don't know if that is or is not the case, but I think that there is something tangible and real to my experience of the MLP community. I mean, I've been to pony meets. I've made custom ponies. I've met ponypeople in real life and some of those I've known for years. I've still got my old story cassettes, and my handwritten stuff like LBS mentioned. And my ponies. A lot of FIM fans don't buy the toys or collect the merchandise.

I feel like if the whole digital era changed and disappeared, the tangible elements of my experiences in this community would still be there. That would mean the fandom was still here, even though the internet wasn't. We'd be more likely to start getting in touch in other ways, too, because we used to have to find interesting ways to do things. I mean, we had no paypal, so it was cash in fakies time. When you put it like Baby Sugarberry has, we outdate a lot of the internet as a whole. That's pretty amazing, really. O.o

My chief memory of the old community is that we mostly communicated through mailing lists and we mostly found websites through webrings. Those two things aren't used any more, and as Eternia said, mediums are still changing. We've tended to change with those mediums, though, I think...just in different ways.

I think before you can worry about this community, you have to understand how crazy and resourceful we have been over the years to get from individuals in their homes with pony hordes to a group of people around the world who can communicate with each other from their homes about the colour of a particular pony's eye or symbol.  I think that's why the comparison with a new shiny community that has had all the advantages from the start of easy internet access and options is a bit of a strange one and not very productive. As others have said, there are older communities. My Dad collects puppets from the 1950s and he used to belong to a postal mailing list relating to it.

We are the community, basically. So long as we are here, it is. We don't need to upload tons of pictures to prove that.

[cloud_weaver]

Yes!!!  Webring!!! Sigh...  <3 side note, when did Dreamvalley go down? tried to access it today for accessory ID.  Taffeta, do you remember the hot pink and black MLPTP??? Or am I really showing my age.?

Anyway, it should be noted - MLP G1's values continues to climb...  so no worries about collectors falling off the face of the earth.  We're out there.  If just looks different to the younger generation.  I mean...I don't have a Facebook account, twitter, Snapchat, etc...  I find them too invasive.  But I have been collecting online since '96/97ish.  And I can vouch for a lot of other faces around here too.

[Taffeta]

Yes!!!  Webring!!! Sigh...  <3 side note, when did Dreamvalley go down? tried to access it today for accessory ID.  Taffeta, do you remember the hot pink and black MLPTP??? Or am I really showing my age.?

I do!  I remember that when I first found it back in Summer 1997 (dial up internet at the library, LOL!) I didn't even have an email address so I sent an email via the library email to Jenn with my phone number in it! In the UK! And of course I didn't expect to get phoned but I did, and that was my first trade partner (in the US). There's something nostalgic about the memory of the old TP, somehow.

There was a thread about DV when it went down - I think it was at the end of last year. I think it was because Kim decided to stop paying for the server.

[Leave a Whisper]

Yes!!!  Webring!!! Sigh...  <3 side note, when did Dreamvalley go down? tried to access it today for accessory ID.  Taffeta, do you remember the hot pink and black MLPTP??? Or am I really showing my age.?

Anyway, it should be noted - MLP G1's values continues to climb...  so no worries about collectors falling off the face of the earth.  We're out there.  If just looks different to the younger generation.  I mean...I don't have a Facebook account, twitter, Snapchat, etc...  I find them too invasive.  But I have been collecting online since '96/97ish.  And I can vouch for a lot of other faces around here too.

I don't have them either, for the same reasons.

[cloud_weaver]

Oh sad..I LOVED DV. :'( I wish I would have known, I would have donated to keep it running.  She had so much awesome info on there.  I used to sit for hours going through her site and plan out my collection goals.