G5 fan content?

[Leave a Whisper]

Every Pony gen has the fans making the staple art of it- fan drawings, fanfiction. But with g4, we saw a whole flood of different forms of pony art- from original fan made music and remixes of the official music, to PMV’s, custom sculpts and crafts, to fan made fracking animations!

To be honest, I find plenty of G4 fan works to be pretty cringeworthy.

um...care to elaborate on that?

Post Merge: June 08, 2020, 11:15:34 AM

Other then fanmade animation none of what you mention is new to any franchise that lends itself to creative endeavors. I don't know why anyone thinks sculpting, writing, customs, songs, crafts and stuffed toys got their start with FiM fans?  Sorry, but if some of them actually think that, they are full of themselves.

I remember my friend drawing and writing stories about new characters, because it was her dream to work at Disney's animation department some day.

I've seen handmade crafts at swapmeets with popular characters before and during the time when the internet was what it is today.

 When I started going online to research G3s and look up my old G1s, I saw lots of pony customs and fan crafts. I've even commissioned a few.

 The only difference is that it can be widely shared. Why would it be some recent thing when lots of people have tried their hand at it even as kids?

And people have been making up lyrics to songs for ages, often parodies belted out on the playground. Or Weird Al.

As for G5, I've seen a few pics but with it only an announcement, Hasbro wildly see-sawing between two different styles and no further official information in sight, people can only speculate, and there will be little of it till further notice.

ok, didn’t mean to offend, and I know these mediums of art existed before g4, but I was saying that I haven’t personally come across any, so either I’m looking in the wrong places, or they are rare and few and far between. I asked for a correction if I was wrong and there are some out there. And I appreciate you bringing this to light. I would also like you to point me in the direction of these earlier gen forms of art, if you please.

Post Merge: June 08, 2020, 11:18:03 AM

Previous to G4, we didn't  have as much tech to have a platform to share fanwork. 

Well, yes you can upload images of your plushies to a website, but having web platforms like Youtube, DeviantArt, and Imgur and Flickr really helped.  plus all the social media sites!

yeah, SnS has been a huge help to finding and discovering people’s Pony works for sure! And there are so many now that it’s hard to compile them all in one space. I know that Takara pony crafts and crochet plushies exist out there, for sure! (I actually forgot about those when I was writing the op).

Well yes. Once again its because people didn't have a widespread means to go Hey! Look what I made isn't it neat? But that doesn't mean it didn't exist or that it was rare. To imply otherwise is feeding into certain mindsets of ignorant arrogance.

And again, even before G4 was a thought in Hasbro's head during the G3 era, pony fans were creating stuff and posting it on deviantart and etsy and toy forums.

Anime fans were posting comics, crafts, drawings and fan art.


And the list goes on.

[banditpony]

Well yes. Once again its because people didn't have a widespread means to go Hey! Look what I made isn't it neat? But that doesn't mean it didn't exist or that it was rare. To imply otherwise is feeding into certain mindsets of ignorant arrogance.

I feel like you are being unnecessarily aggressive on this.

I'm more familiar with anime fandoms then early pony stuff. In the early-mid 90s fans were making music videos (AMV) for anime and showed them at local clubs, or conventions. And we are talking a handful of people who had access to being able to do that in the early-mid 90s. NOW people can easily put those things together, and one little phrase on youtube gets me 1000s of hits.

Its not to say people didn't make things... but more people are doing it now then ever. And I think that's across ALL fandoms, pony stuff included...

[SaraMari]

Like others have said the volume comes with technology. Anyone can make these now whereas in the past less people had the equipment and knowledge to put them together. Apps can do so much now, things you would've need to know how to program or create by hand in the past.

Oh and it came up briefly, also the fact you can more easily monetize these things now. It's more motivating to do them if you know you can get some ad revenue, or if you know it's a popular/trending topic that will get you lots of clicks

[Taffeta]

It's just my guess but I suspect LAW is annoyed because she remembers the thread posted by this user a couple of years back which intimated G1 didn't have a fan presence online and needed to ape G4's in order to survive. Sadly that thread got removed but this one:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,386564.15.html
On similar lines didn't, and also carries similar undertones in it.

I remember those discussions and I'm sure LAW does as well. And with that context, it's easy to be ruffled by the OP's questions, comparisons, and pretence that she isn't aware of G1 fan media.

But eh, perhaps lockdown has torched the OP's memory.

In any case, a sincere request from me.

Can we maybe have some discussions that don't require comparing fandoms? I think discussing fan media for G5 is valid and interesting, but this thread doesn't really seem to be about that so much as discussing whether G1 or G4 had media or whatever. But we're talking about G5, right?

And the thing is, who knows where we will be going forward with tech in 10 years? So trying to imagine what might be possible then is an interesting exercise. I really expect 3D printing will play a bigger role than it does now, given that it's got very sophisticated even since the birth of G4 and G5 would be a perfect opportunity for it to evolve further.

[Carrehz]

People were making pony fanart, fanfics, etc, as long as the 'net's been around. But the wider internet didn't care because MLP wasn't "popular" or "cool" at the time.

also yes as SaraMari said, fan content is more saleable now. Have you seen the amount of cash some people'll pay out for a high-quality MLP custom plushie?! Used to be maybe someone'd sell a print of their art on deviantART, or they'd open commissions or whatever, nowadays it seems like every other pic I see has a link to the artist's Redbubble or whatever it's called. (Not that that's a bad thing, I'm just saying.)

edit - aaa I posted at the same time as you again Taffeta! Yes, I was thinking about that thread, too.

Personally I wasn't trying to compare to previous gens, so much as I'm trying to compare to ALL fandoms. Yes FiM has wide variety of types of fan content, but so do lots of others... FiM isn't anything special in that regard, so the question seemed kind of weird to me to begin with.

but yeah, I think as long as G5 has a fandom (and of course it will - even if it doesn't reach the levels that FiM did, there'll be people watching, people discussing, drawing, writing, etc), there'll be fan content, and I suspect that fan content *in general*, across all newer fandoms, will continue to become more advanced as technology does and the ways to deliver it do.

(also hopefully this is at least halfway coherent. I'm very tired.)

[Taffeta]

@ Carrehz.

[Carrehz]

@ Carrehz.

*munches* thanks

Wasn't going to reply again but I thought of another way to put it, so I figured I might as well come back and write it to get it out of my mind - I think a big reason why FiM got all this fan content, is that it came about at the exact right time. All the pieces fell into place - it became very popular at a time that allowed these fanworks to be shared. Same thing happened with Homestuck, I think.

[Shadowperla]

Few of my guy friends who watched FIM became stupider, really, so I think it had some sort of 25th frame brain thing in it, that's it.*

*not being serious

[Wardah]

but yeah, I think as long as G5 has a fandom (and of course it will - even if it doesn't reach the levels that FiM did, there'll be people watching, people discussing, drawing, writing, etc), there'll be fan content, and I suspect that fan content *in general*, across all newer fandoms, will continue to become more advanced as technology does and the ways to deliver it do.

(also hopefully this is at least halfway coherent. I'm very tired.)

That's the question. Not every kids cartoon has a "fandom". Some cartoons exist just being enjoyed by the target demographic and maybe an occasional teen/adult fan that is a kid at heart.

[Carrehz]

but then that's still a fandom, surely? Why is there this "need" to have a "fandom"? You can't control or predict what will/won't be a hit.

I'm sure at least some of us will still be around for G5, isn't that enough of a fandom?

[SpacePinto]

Every Pony gen has the fans making the staple art of it- fan drawings, fanfiction. But with g4, we saw a whole flood of different forms of pony art- from original fan made music and remixes of the official music, to PMV’s, custom sculpts and crafts, to fan made fracking animations!

To be honest, I find plenty of G4 fan works to be pretty cringeworthy.

um...care to elaborate on that?

You know, like those epic 400k word dark fics where Pinkie Pie dies murdered by a pony drug cartel and Rainbow Dash is coping with the loss (with dozens of dramatic readings by sobbing bronies on YouTube), or those cheap dubstep songs about how much the author likes Rarity, or all those edgy self-insert OCs, or those videos that are just copies of non-pony videos with vectors traced straight from the cartoon (I once saw one that ripped off a Touhou fan video), or all those memes and comics about wanting to go to Equestria, or all that questionable fanart I won't even talk about here Yeah I know it's not all like that, but there's been quite a lot of it, especially in early to mid 2010s.

[Taffeta]

but then that's still a fandom, surely? Why is there this "need" to have a "fandom"? You can't control or predict what will/won't be a hit.

I'm sure at least some of us will still be around for G5, isn't that enough of a fandom?

This is why the subject of comparison is so vexed - people trying to impose their interpretation of 'fandom' based on modern criteria, rather than interpreting it more broadly based on on what the word means. It's that which conveys this (false) idea that only modern 'fandoms' with modern 'content' are valid.

This is why I hate the forced comparison. It's always used to undermine older fandoms as not meeting modern criteria, whether purposefully or otherwise, and it's simply irrelevant without taking into consideration wider context. Newer =/= better.

Moving away from MLP for a moment but I know a couple of anime fandoms where something becomes out of date almost as fast as it's been posted.

Anime fandoms (speaking as someone with broad experience of them) are also problematic because there are things that belong in those fan spaces that get transferred out to other lines or whatever. Anime can be quite adult in places. Ship fics and so on make sense in anime fandoms. Do they make sense in MLP ones? Some people will say yes, some will say no. It's a controversial question that probably has no answer.

This completely omits the small percentage of crazy people in anime fandoms who spend all their time applying anime tropes to REAL LIFE people, spew random Japanese words into all their sentences, refer to themselves as x-chan and think everything should be remade in a Japanese style/chibi/whatever. I mean some level of that may be fine, but there's a limit to how much you can do that. Those people who take it over the top are embarrassing in their *own* fandom. They're a menace when they infiltrate others.

Although based on what happened with FIM, the modern context of fandom was not just positive content but a lot of negative and seedy material as well...given that, and given MLP's demographic, it would probably be nice if G5 went back to a more muted sense of appreciation, where people contributed, but didn't feel the need to mutate it into something more adult than it is meant to be.

Edit - SpacePinto basically beat me but made the same point about the seedier side of the 'fandom'.

[Leave a Whisper]

Taffeta hit it on the head. That first thread immediately came to mind. I got annoyed with the wording, it came out as self-absorbed arrogance.

I came into this thread thinking that it would be about G5 fanart, including some actual fanart and instead see a long post about how FiM fans somehow  "think" that they are one of the first and main generators of fan created content and what do we think of it. And then there's a blurb about G5 fanart tacked on as an afterthought. Perhaps its petty of me, but I felt the need to say something about the erroneous belief and superior tone.  It felt both clickbaity and deliberately designed to agitate.

Back on topic: I'm sure we'll see a lot once Hasbro shows off the next toyline. If you look at some of the multi-gen mlp groups on deviantart, you'll see some g5 speculation art and some art based on the leaks.

Post Merge: June 09, 2020, 08:46:34 AM

but then that's still a fandom, surely? Why is there this "need" to have a "fandom"? You can't control or predict what will/won't be a hit.

I'm sure at least some of us will still be around for G5, isn't that enough of a fandom?

This is why the subject of comparison is so vexed - people trying to impose their interpretation of 'fandom' based on modern criteria, rather than interpreting it more broadly based on on what the word means. It's that which conveys this (false) idea that only modern 'fandoms' with modern 'content' are valid.

This is why I hate the forced comparison. It's always used to undermine older fandoms as not meeting modern criteria, whether purposefully or otherwise, and it's simply irrelevant without taking into consideration wider context. Newer =/= better.

Moving away from MLP for a moment but I know a couple of anime fandoms where something becomes out of date almost as fast as it's been posted.

Anime fandoms (speaking as someone with broad experience of them) are also problematic because there are things that belong in those fan spaces that get transferred out to other lines or whatever. Anime can be quite adult in places. Ship fics and so on make sense in anime fandoms. Do they make sense in MLP ones? Some people will say yes, some will say no. It's a controversial question that probably has no answer.

This completely omits the small percentage of crazy people in anime fandoms who spend all their time applying anime tropes to REAL LIFE people, spew random Japanese words into all their sentences, refer to themselves as x-chan and think everything should be remade in a Japanese style/chibi/whatever. I mean some level of that may be fine, but there's a limit to how much you can do that. Those people who take it over the top are embarrassing in their *own* fandom. They're a menace when they infiltrate others.

Although based on what happened with FIM, the modern context of fandom was not just positive content but a lot of negative and seedy material as well...given that, and given MLP's demographic, it would probably be nice if G5 went back to a more muted sense of appreciation, where people contributed, but didn't feel the need to mutate it into something more adult than it is meant to be.

Edit - SpacePinto basically beat me but made the same point about the seedier side of the 'fandom'.

Agreed. Fans do not strictly encompass modern internet only. They are not restricted to "it needs to do such-and-such, and create such-and-such, or be of a certain age. Otherwise you don't count." That's elitism and gatekeeping.

If a person generally enjoys something, be it a band, sport, toy, book, tv show or game they are a fan. If a group of people enjoy it, it becomes a fanbase/fans/fandom whatever. Generational conflicts are inevitable as are iterational conflicts. But at the end of the day they're still fans. Furthermore you cannot dictate how every fan is supposed to act, due to generation and the fact that each form of entertainment has their own unique way of enjoyment and discussion.

[Taffeta]

LAW.

I read the same, not just in this thread but in several recently. I've mostly bitten my lip on them to give the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not gonna stand back and watch someone pretend ignorance of a subject they incited two years ago. We know what the OP thinks of older gen fandoms, thus any comment the OP makes comparing older fandoms to G4 is always going to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Good rule of thumb is to assume Arena people have longer memories than the average social media account.

Also that the Arena has a search function.

The last thing you said about fandoms is on the nail. It's elitist and it's wrong to take the attitude that you can only be a fandom if you meet modern standards. A school playground club where you make your own badges and swap toys or cards is a fandom, even if it's run by eight year olds. And honestly, those are probably the best ones :/

So going back to that subject about G5 and potentially G5 fanart - I wonder if there is anything we can draw from what leaked regarding what Hasbro think G5 will be and how that might inspire creators going forwards? It's interesting that some DA artists are already exploring this as a possibility.

[Mana Minori]

It's just my guess but I suspect LAW is annoyed because she remembers the thread posted by this user a couple of years back which intimated G1 didn't have a fan presence online and needed to ape G4's in order to survive. Sadly that thread got removed but this one:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,386564.15.html
On similar lines didn't, and also carries similar undertones in it.

I remember those discussions and I'm sure LAW does as well. And with that context, it's easy to be ruffled by the OP's questions, comparisons, and pretence that she isn't aware of G1 fan media.

But eh, perhaps lockdown has torched the OP's memory.

In any case, a sincere request from me.

Can we maybe have some discussions that don't require comparing fandoms? I think discussing fan media for G5 is valid and interesting, but this thread doesn't really seem to be about that so much as discussing whether G1 or G4 had media or whatever. But we're talking about G5, right?

And the thing is, who knows where we will be going forward with tech in 10 years? So trying to imagine what might be possible then is an interesting exercise. I really expect 3D printing will play a bigger role than it does now, given that it's got very sophisticated even since the birth of G4 and G5 would be a perfect opportunity for it to evolve further.

i don’t make these topics with the intention of getting anyone hit and bothered, and I’m sorry that it has. The point of this wasn’t to compare fandoms of older gens and g4, but discuss the possibilities that the fandom that comes with g5 will bring to the table. I apologize to LaW especially if this had upset them. Again- that was far from my intent.
Also, since I make many topics here, I am not always aware of which topics that I make years back or similar undertones that people perceive in every topic.
Again, I apologize to anyone who I might have caused offense to, unknowingly. And I just wish for honest, healthy discussion without topics being derailed or vilified. I hope we can all get along.