What were your pony misconceptions?

[Safflower]

I personally don't mind G4 fans hating G1, providing they are educated enough about G1 to form that opinion. I think what annoys folk is the fact most of the time it's hatred in ignorance. And that's the worst kind of hatred in all walks of life. So it isn't political or important when it's ponies, but if someone can hate something without really understanding it or bothering to find out about it - that can transfer to real life opinions too. So I guess it is serious, deep down because of that?

Yeah. If someone is hating out of ignorance, and it's ponies, its probably more serious than that because it can move to more serious issues.

[Broken Irishwoman]

Yes, the year-on-hoof thing got me too, but I have to say that this was just when I was a child. When I first entered the online pony community as an adult, I learned pretty quickly that I was wrong.

1) As a child, my only point of reference for ponies' identities was the cartoon series, unless I got the ponies new. But about half of my herd was bought second-hand. So, I didn't understand why my "Gusty" had flowers as her symbol and a white streak in her hair, why my "Firefly" had ducks for her symbol, or why my "Posey" had hearts for hers. I just figured Hasbro made the ponies a little different from the cartoon series. I had no idea it was because I owned different ponies.

This so much! When I was young I was so happy when I got Baby Shady, because she was in the cartoon. That she had a yawning sun and a tiny moon for a symbol was just a detail.

[Jocelyn]

I started with G4, but really wanted to find a G1 in the wild. I kind of knew what they looked like; a bit like hippos to me, and had symbols on the butt. Those were my defining factors...So when I found my first one at Goodwill, Rainbow Curl Ringlets, I thought she was a fakie. Because her symbol was weird and not even on her butt! I was disappointed, then pretty confused when I tried to look her up on Dream Valley (defining features? Is she flocked? Uhh...what's that?), but ultimately it came around to being happy, because she was in fact a G1

[ThePoneZone]

I hope this doesn't offend anybody but here it goes.

I'm on the opposite side of the fence. I'm only in my late 20's, but I grew up with hand-me-down G1-3 tapes and toys from my mother/sister. When G4 came out, I thought it looked lazy and flat like every other cheap flash cartoon that's plaguing TV nowadays. My first misconception. Turns out it has more effort in it than most.

Then the fandom interaction came. I had a few old MLP drawings on my DA that suddenly got bombarded with "EW WHY ARE THEY SO FAT AND UGLY!?", "They look like donkeys/hippos" and the ever so popular "Kill it with fire". Most of the hate seemed to stem from Mysterious Mr. Enter's G3 """"reviews"""" and his vitriol for anything pre-G4.

I ended up deleting my old pony art just to stop the hate it was getting. I never had backups so those are gone forever. Oh well, I've made a couple new ones since then. Because of my experience, I labelled bronies as horrible people for a while. 2nd Misconception, 'cause most of my current friends are bronies and are awesome people.

After a while I tuned into some later seasons of G4 recommended to me by some of my brony friends and liked it well enough. It's a good show. I'm not a fan of most of the songs or the designs (i do like chrysalis and the old changelings) but it's a decent show and I'm sorry I backlash-hated it because of the hate the old gens were getting.

[Wardah]

I personally don't mind G4 fans hating G1, providing they are educated enough about G1 to form that opinion. I think what annoys folk is the fact most of the time it's hatred in ignorance. And that's the worst kind of hatred in all walks of life. So it isn't political or important when it's ponies, but if someone can hate something without really understanding it or bothering to find out about it - that can transfer to real life opinions too. So I guess it is serious, deep down because of that?

Yeah. If someone is hating out of ignorance, and it's ponies, its probably more serious than that because it can move to more serious issues.

I don't think someone needs to research G1 in depth to decide they don't like it. If G1 doesn't vibe with a person then that's ok. But for Celestia's sake if you (general you) don't like something and other people do then let them like the thing. It's annoying when people use their dislike of a thing as a way to hold themselves above those that like it.

[Khoufu]

I personally don't mind G4 fans hating G1, providing they are educated enough about G1 to form that opinion. I think what annoys folk is the fact most of the time it's hatred in ignorance. And that's the worst kind of hatred in all walks of life. So it isn't political or important when it's ponies, but if someone can hate something without really understanding it or bothering to find out about it - that can transfer to real life opinions too. So I guess it is serious, deep down because of that?

Yeah. If someone is hating out of ignorance, and it's ponies, its probably more serious than that because it can move to more serious issues.

I don't think someone needs to research G1 in depth to decide they don't like it. If G1 doesn't vibe with a person then that's ok. But for Celestia's sake if you (general you) don't like something and other people do then let them like the thing. It's annoying when people use their dislike of a thing as a way to hold themselves above those that like it.

Disliking is easy. Hate shouldn't be as easy. If you dislike something, you can go ahead and keep disliking it. HATING  something because all you've seen is the art style, though?

Thankfully, when I posted G1 stuff on some other site's mlp board recently, I got a small few positive replies and absolutely no negativity for it. I hope that means that bronies' collective hatred for older gens has died down to a normal amount of dislike or indifference.

[Jocelyn]

I think youth really has to be considered. I understand many Bronies wouldn't have this excuse, but I'm sure a lot of them were under 14. I can see the younger factions being more simpleminded with their opinions. Kids are very likely to decide they don't like it, say, "ew, I hate it", then go on a tirade about how it sucks. Oftentimes it doesn't even matter what the thing they hate is, it's just the fun of hating something. It's stupid, but it's a kid thing, and one most grow out of. Hopefully.

You guys say it yourself, kinda. Wasn't there practically a war in the community when G2 came out, and the community was collectively younger? Over time as you guys got used to it, and as you all grew up and matured, the hatred and mudslinging probably slowed down/stopped.

[Taffeta]

I personally don't mind G4 fans hating G1, providing they are educated enough about G1 to form that opinion. I think what annoys folk is the fact most of the time it's hatred in ignorance. And that's the worst kind of hatred in all walks of life. So it isn't political or important when it's ponies, but if someone can hate something without really understanding it or bothering to find out about it - that can transfer to real life opinions too. So I guess it is serious, deep down because of that?

Yeah. If someone is hating out of ignorance, and it's ponies, its probably more serious than that because it can move to more serious issues.

I don't think someone needs to research G1 in depth to decide they don't like it. If G1 doesn't vibe with a person then that's ok. But for Celestia's sake if you (general you) don't like something and other people do then let them like the thing. It's annoying when people use their dislike of a thing as a way to hold themselves above those that like it.

Disliking is easy. Hate shouldn't be as easy. If you dislike something, you can go ahead and keep disliking it. HATING  something because all you've seen is the art style, though?

Thankfully, when I posted G1 stuff on some other site's mlp board recently, I got a small few positive replies and absolutely no negativity for it. I hope that means that bronies' collective hatred for older gens has died down to a normal amount of dislike or indifference.

This. We were talking about hate. We weren't talking about dislike.

@Jocelyn, yes, there was. It was not pleasant. I was 15 when G2 came out, I was 16 when I was first in the community, and a lot of G1 fans were around my sort of age, a little older in some cases, a few younger ones as well. And as you said, it went ballistic because everyone got passionately attached to one or other faction (pro or anti G2) and there were a lot of arguments and stuff because of it.

I think back on it as really stupid in most respects. I regret that people left the community because of it, on both sides of the fence. But I still think that drawing artwork of G1 ponies killing G2 ponies was in bad taste. And I think if I saw that now, with G4 ponies and G1 ponies, I'd still consider it disgusting. It's fine to dislike something, or even hate it if you know enough about it to be able to hate it - but it's not okay to be hostile about it towards fans of that thing.

I was a mod on an anime forum for some five or six years and seriously, the things people argued about there was insane. And I learned also never get involved in disputes over pairings or which mainstream manga is best, because people are mad about these things.

...In essence I think this probably comes down in part to what Jocelyn said. ALTHOUGH I don't want to blame all younger pony fans for insane behaviour. I worked with kids who were bronies and none of them ever disrespected my being a G1 person. One in particular I had lots of conversations with while helping him with his artwork. He learned about G1, I learned about G4, and it was very amicable.

I think to attack someone else's beliefs or interests requires someone to be insecure about their beliefs and interests. Attacking anyone requires some kind of insecurity in ones self. While it's true that can often be something that affects teenagers, it isn't always the case.

The worst ponypeople I encountered in my time in this community were both adults and older than me. So sometimes it's just that people want to make other people miserable to satisfy their own ego.

I also had the misconception for a while that all bronies were hostile and were destroying the whole MLP thing. Instead of attacking, I just pulled out of the community completely for a bit. I didn't go to ponycon and I didn't post here or anywhere because of the stuff I saw being said. But I do know now that not all fans of G4 are like that. I just think the brony term is probably tainted because of the bad stuff.

[pinkkittywinks]

Starshine is my favorite. We really need this pony! Imagine what she would be like... Bright, rainbow hair colors, bold symbol, classic pose...

I know right? Also the possibility that she may have changed breeds, since Moonstone and Windy are earth ponies.

To irritate things further she is shown on back card art, it is a generic card, so NOTHING matches, but still.

Whhhhhhhyyyyy?

http://mlparena.com/archive/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=473054

@PKW - I'm now waiting for one to be discovered just to blow your mind

I was rather disappointed since there is a Windy and a Moonstone, but I think it is the fact there is a Moonstone which only increases my disappointment (I am rather fond of Moonstone and have a secret army and I enjoy having a Moonstone and Starshine from each country where possible)

Love pkw xxx

[Motion-Paradox]

My CJ and Snowflake often played boy ponies in my herd, though I don't think of them as boys. So I guess that happened in my childhood collection too.

Takarazuka-Pony Edition?

And for me a big one was that G1 Ponies all had movable heads; the first G1 pony I ever owned was Baby Sweet Stuff, I had played with G1 Ponies before but never really paid attention to whether their heads turned and then the first G1 ponies I bought and displayed were a lot where the neck seals had either worn off or been taken off in the case of a partially customised one so I found it a bit odd when I saw some people posting about having trouble getting the heads off or cutting the neckrings in their childhood ones trying to give them movable heads

[Olympus]

I underestimated a G1 ponies' cuteness and appeal.

Friendship is Magic introduced me to the franchise, and up until about two years ago I had exclusively hoarding collecting G4 ponies. I was on the fence about the other gens, and decided to buy a few G1s off eBay one day to see if I'd like them or not.

Needless to say, they won me over pretty quickly. 

[OleGrayMane]

I thought ponies (regardless of the gen) were only about tea parties.
Huh. Guess not.

[Taffeta]

I thought ponies (regardless of the gen) were only about tea parties.
Huh. Guess not.

That's because of the disputed comment allegedly made by Lauren Faust...that said ponies were all about tea parties. I still don't understand where that came from, or if she even said it, because it has no basis in fact but I see a lot of people repeating it even now.

Thanks to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, G4 has a lot more parties and girly fashion elements than G1 ever really went in for. Although there is one tales episode about a tea club I seem to remember...and there is one comic story I remember with Tootsie and an enchanted kettle.

But for the most part G1 ponies were busy rescuing each other from some evil magic force, slavery, spells, or even Majesty's slightly sadistic ruling style. There just wasn't time for tea, especially if Majesty was just going to send you on a long run to run off the calories after...

[LadyMoondancer]

I don't think it's too surprising that people commonly associated G1 with tea parties and frills, because the commercials were 100% tea parties and frills.  I grew up absolutely loving the G1 toys, but not really watching the show (I caught bits of it maybe twice), and as a teen (when I started collecting) I too assumed that the show was about things like "Bow Tie's quest for a comb" before I started buying the VHS tapes off eBay.  The UK comics weren't imported at all, so they didn't have any presence / influence for American kids.

[mewthemew]

I don't think it's too surprising that people commonly associated G1 with tea parties and frills, because the commercials were 100% tea parties and frills.

Heheh, if it helps, my not liking pony at a young age was me having some sort of vendetta against anything and everything 'girlie' and 'pretty' when I was....5...and it carried over until G4 came out and loosened me up a bit. ^u^