Has Friendship is Magic impacted you in any way?

[Mana Minori]

I know a lot of the past gen community doesn’t focus on the tv show of MLP, and that’s fine. This is a discussion to talk about the tv show about Friendship is Magic, but all that it encompasses- the toyline, the comics, the books, the fandom, their content. I want to know from you guys if the existence of FiM has impacted you in any way- small or large.

Personally, I wouldn’t have come into My Little Pony as a whole without FiM. I got into FiM through seeing clips and memes flooding YouTube shortly after the great migration from some other site, where artists and such were expanding to different social media platforms. It seemed to be everywhere at the time, and I got curious enough about it to start watching the show to see what it was all about. Time skip forward a few years and I had very quickly developed an attachment to the creative side of the fandom. The music, the animations, the fanfics. I was a creative type long before the discovery of MLP, as I had dived deep into anime and manga and my own comics, and made fanfics and my own oc’s and my own AU’s and original universes as far back as middle school. So the FIM creative community was a perfect fit for me. Somewhere along the line, I started looking into other past generations of pony to see what they offered, and continued falling in love. I explored them all, and while I held admiration for gens 1- 3, I felt I really fell into a death trap with a super niche and obscure part of the toyline of g1 branch called Takara ponies. They were unique. They were from Japan! Their roundness made them even cuter! Their gimmick of fashion also pushed me toward finding a creative side into another fandom (but that’s a story for another day).  I also found myself starting with collecting g4 toys early on as I was getting into the show and the fandom- Starting with Rarity because she spoke to my long dead dream of wanting to be a fashion designer, and Pinkie Pie because she was just plain cute. Them my collection exploded from there and I was buying anything Pony I could get my hands on. Once I started discovering past gens, the collection then spilled into g3, with my first purchase being Toola Roola, then to finding them in the wild, followed by g1 and 2. I have tried to quit collecting for many years, but it has become an insatiable addiction that for some reason, I just can’t quit.

Long story long, I became a fan of everything My Little Pony through the existence of g4. Tell me how g4 has impacted you guys- positively or negatively.

[Taffeta]

For reasons of balance I'll give a positive and a negative.

The positive is that it provided a bridge of communication between me and some of the students when I was working at the college, as we were pony fans from different generations. Which is honestly the nice side of G4, even if the show itself is not my personal taste.

The negative...it made me feel unwelcome in my own community, and I took a step back for some years while the unpleasantness happened. And now I feel like being a pony collector will always be linked somehow to G4, and I hate that the longer history of MLP, which is more than FIM and a TV show, is not always recognised. Especially since there are still news articles about bronies doing subversive things which really doesn't help.

I feel like in a way FIM sustained and perpetuated MLP's place in the world, while systematically eroding all the things that made it MLP prior to FIM at the same time. But I feel like if G5 were to completely let go of G4 and go it's own way, in time I would probably be more positive than negative about G4.

I never hated G2, but the stuff that went on around it I did hate and that also made me pull away from the community for a while. However now there isn't a problem. So that is my hope going forward - that the wider world forget FIM and it ends up the product of the fandom, rather than dictating how the fandom is seen.

[Mana Minori]

For reasons of balance I'll give a positive and a negative.

The positive is that it provided a bridge of communication between me and some of the students when I was working at the college, as we were pony fans from different generations. Which is honestly the nice side of G4, even if the show itself is not my personal taste.

The negative...it made me feel unwelcome in my own community, and I took a step back for some years while the unpleasantness happened. And now I feel like being a pony collector will always be linked somehow to G4, and I hate that the longer history of MLP, which is more than FIM and a TV show, is not always recognised. Especially since there are still news articles about bronies doing subversive things which really doesn't help.

I feel like in a way FIM sustained and perpetuated MLP's place in the world, while systematically eroding all the things that made it MLP prior to FIM at the same time. But I feel like if G5 were to completely let go of G4 and go it's own way, in time I would probably be more positive than negative about G4.

I never hated G2, but the stuff that went on around it I did hate and that also made me pull away from the community for a while. However now there isn't a problem. So that is my hope going forward - that the wider world forget FIM and it ends up the product of the fandom, rather than dictating how the fandom is seen.

Balance is good. I’ll take the good and the bad experiences because I DID ask for them.

I’m sorry that any g4 fans made not just you but anyone of the past gen communities feel that way. As a fan of all gens, it irks and annoys me that g4 fans show such disrespect to the earlier gens, and I personally try to educate them and defend the older gens on other boards. Someone can dislike something without dragging it through the mud and getting off on mocking it, but many (not all) g4 fans are guilty of that. Again, I am sorry and that is definitely NOT how it should be. We’re all fans of pony here and that behavior is truly unacceptable. Though admittedly, I have also seen some past gen fans and collectors tend to lump every g4 fan as these kinds of people. Definitely not as many people from the older communities, though.

I hope that whatever fandom that comes with g5 is one that accepts every gen of pony universally, without trashing, bashing, And mockery.

[Taffeta]

Well, thus far there have been issues on the even number gens but there were none on the odd number gen 3...so 5 maybe ok?

I think the reason it seems like they're lumped together is that on this side of the fence "brony" is a synonym for the bad side, whereas over there there are probably bronies who are fine and not the kind of people we're thinking of. But that term has kind of absorbed all the negativity because it was so boldly shoved out there.

[SpacePinto]

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

[Wardah]

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

Do you always have to be so negative about G4? It's really getting tiring.

[Zapper]

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

Do you always have to be so negative about G4? It's really getting tiring.

Tell me how g4 has impacted you guys- positively or negatively.

[Taffeta]

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

Do you always have to be so negative about G4? It's really getting tiring.

Glass houses. Stones.

[Mana Minori]

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

Do you always have to be so negative about G4? It's really getting tiring.

to be fair, I did ask for positive and negative experiences how FiM impacted people, as I realize that FIM may not have struck a positive chord with many. So let’s not discourage sharing.

Post Merge: October 11, 2020, 12:37:27 AM

While some people will probably hate me for saying that, to me FiM is what ruined MLP as a franchise and it's the reason why I prefer to completely ignore everything that happened after G3.

i think anyone who feels the need to hate someone for their opinion and views needs to step back and away from the internet and evaluate themselves.

Also, I’m sure you might’ve explained in the past as to why the franchise is ruined, thanks to FiM, but could you jog my memory?

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

FiM got me into ponies! Though I of course do have many issues with G4 (much more so on Hasbro's side with the toyline rather than FiM), it still is what got me into the franchise, which is awesome! Even if my favorites are G1 and G3 now. And it got me into toy collecting as a whole. I've liked toys my entire life, but I don't think I considered myself to be a "collector" until I began collecting MLP.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

FiM got me into ponies! Though I of course do have many issues with G4 (much more so on Hasbro's side with the toyline rather than FiM), it still is what got me into the franchise, which is awesome! Even if my favorites are G1 and G3 now. And it got me into toy collecting as a whole. I've liked toys my entire life, but I don't think I considered myself to be a "collector" until I began collecting MLP.

I think this is pretty much my experience as well! 
FiM also very much interested me artistically. Perhaps a negative would be I can only draw equines...but I really only want to draw them anyway.

[lonewolf]

FiM got me into ponies more than at any other time in the past. I never tried any pony art and fanfics until it came along, and really gave me an outlet for my creativity. Plus it introduced me to conventions where I could be myself without anyone judging me (only 2 family members and 1 close friend know I like ponies), and led to me traveling out of state alone for the first time. I'm glad I was a part of those 9 years.

[Ponybookworm]

At first, when the FIM show came out, I thought, great, finally, Ponies having adventures & fighting baddies like in G1, but with a better script & deeper ponyalities.

When the toys came out I didn't like their smaller size but still bought because NEW PONIES!!!

Unfortunately, the show has deteriorated, while the toyline has repeated the Mane 6 ad nauseum, with more unique characters few & far between.

I won't talk of the community itself as many know that community better than me

[Spectrum]

Positively, I guess? It’s what attracted me to MLP and lead me to learn how fascinating of a toy line it is. I jumped ship on the show when the episodes became routinely subpar, and late-G4 toyline is also pretty bad, but I like the early brushables.

In the end I think it was a fun ride and positive for MLP as a whole given how many new people it attracted to the collecting scene, even with its decline. I don’t really understand the absolute ire some people have for it.

[Mrs. Prospector]

I discovered FIM in January/February 2014, when I was in 7th grade, and it actually had a huge influence on me. For one, I got back into ponies again, which I had stopped playing with years before, and got me into discovering the older generations. I also started drawing ponies and got into improving my art and taking it more seriously. The MLP fandom was the first fandom I was really part of, so it really got me into fandom culture online. Most importantly, FIM and ponies in general gave me something to be happy about and obsessed with during my middle and high school years, which were a difficult time for me, and helped me connect with other people who were also in the MLP fandom.
So while I agree that the toyline wasn't that great and the show overstayed a few seasons longer than it should have, I'm ultimately glad FIM happened.