Hasbro is on a real 80s / G1 kick on Facebook this year, anyone noticed?

[Bebopgroove]

*grabs psychology hat and glasses*

I guess my question is... Why do hateful bronies actually hate the past gens? Why did they actually latch onto FiM like they did... I mean how is it a show for little girls draws in a bunch of young masculine dudes? :/

[banditpony]

*grabs psychology hat and glasses*

I guess my question is... Why do hateful bronies actually hate the past gens?

It's just immaturity.

I mean. A lot of younger people "hate" something when they love something else. Like I dunno, dubs vs subs for anime people is an example. (But it happens on a smaller personal scale too, I "hated" certain videos as a kid because of their dvd/vhs cover-- and didn't have a clue really what it was about).

[SaraMari]

I kinda feel like why a bunch of dudes like it is FiM is horses for weeaboos

[Carrehz]

I think Lauren Faust being the showrunner got a lot of people interested in the beginning? Since they were fans of other stuff she'd worked on. I could be wrong, of course.

[Taffeta]

*grabs psychology hat and glasses*

I guess my question is... Why do hateful bronies actually hate the past gens?

It's just immaturity.

I mean. A lot of younger people "hate" something when they love something else. Like I dunno, dubs vs subs for anime people is an example. (But it happens on a smaller personal scale too, I "hated" certain videos as a kid because of their dvd/vhs cover-- and didn't have a clue really what it was about).

It is true that these days it feels like a fandom isn't a fandom unless it's hating on another fandom. I may be just being old and cranky again, but I don't really get it. I am completely fine with other people disliking the things I like. I'm kind of used to that, it's pretty much the way life is, and it doesn't mean you can't get along with that other person. But when it becomes a heat seeking missile intent on destroying someone else because they like something different or don't share your views, it bothers me. I joke about it a lot but I see it at my university with much bigger and more serious divide issues than just who likes what plastic pony, and the inability of either side in these debates to stop and discuss opinions rather than just sending out inflammatory hate material against anyone who disagrees with them is concerning. Some of the junk that enters my mailbox from my student union is frankly horrifying.

In any case, I really just see it as insecurity. The way I see it is this. If you're threatened by someone else's love for something you don't like, you have a problem. If you are feeling threatened by the way someone behaves towards you because of something you/they don't like, they have a problem. Ponies are lovely but they are plastic objects. They are not worth hurting human beings over.

That said, I think there's a lot to the argument that this relates to insecurity, immaturity and hormones as well. Not that all young people are immature or crazy, but I remember the fighting over G2 and I remember the graphic G1-killing-G2 pony art and the fact people were hounded out of the community on both sides for either liking or disliking the G2s. Alll of which is pretty ridiculous. I also remember being attacked, stalked, threatened and other unpleasantness because I had my own ID site and didn't agree with Dream Valley...because there were some people so fixated on DV that anything that questioned it had to be eradicated from the community. Those ideas and these ones are not that different, really. They all stem out of that inability to accept other points of view or that someone else's perspective may actually lead to learning something.

So the positive of that is that those pony folk from FIM who stay around after the brand ends will also probably grow up and learn from those issues as well. I don't pretend to have been an innocent bystander in the G2 argument, I stood up and shouted as loudly as anyone else in defence of the G2s when people were posting hate stuff. But in hindsight I recognise that ultimately all of us were idiots...that it really doesn't matter if someone else likes or dislikes a different gen of ponies. However, that knowledge only really came into its own because other generations happened and we got used to the idea of multiple versions of MLP. The FIM crowd came in with G4 and don't really want to acknowledge what came before...they still see it as a 'threat' to what they love, as opposed to just a distant relation that they can ignore if they like.

[banditpony]

*grabs psychology hat and glasses*

I guess my question is... Why do hateful bronies actually hate the past gens?

It's just immaturity.

I mean. A lot of younger people "hate" something when they love something else. Like I dunno, dubs vs subs for anime people is an example. (But it happens on a smaller personal scale too, I "hated" certain videos as a kid because of their dvd/vhs cover-- and didn't have a clue really what it was about).

That said, I think there's a lot to the argument that this relates to insecurity, immaturity and hormones as well. Not that all young people are immature or crazy, but I remember the fighting over G2

All of those things.

Also G2.

I only vaguely remember getting to see G1s in the stores. But I clearly remember a G2... I went to the store, hoping for a G1-- and I saw a G2.

My dad told me "It's a my little pony"
And I said "No, No it's not"
He pointed out the logo...
and I don't remember what I said. I said something VERY bratty. Like those are NOT ponies because I was so upset about the style change. And I hated them, because they were different, like the little bratty child I was. ; I remember getting in trouble for it... and it was probably the only time I acted out at a store.

Eh. Totally glad I wasn't a part of the pony community then. heh.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I think Lauren Faust being the showrunner got a lot of people interested in the beginning? Since they were fans of other stuff she'd worked on. I could be wrong, of course.

Yes.  Also a fair number of these fans already thrived on negativity on the internet in general.  So them suddenly being fans of a typically-marketed-to-little-girls-fandom had to come with a hefty defense mechanism...    I was in animation school during the hey-day of Powerpuff Girls - the negativity was definitely a Thing.  We would get together and critique the episodes and make fun of animation that was clearly meant for kids' consumption of toys, versus animation we were expected to produce in our own classes.  When we talk about the CalArts effect on this forum with various other TV shows' reboots.... yeah.  It's a Very Real Thing.  Don't ask me how Transformers was still viewed with a nostalgic lens...    

hahaha banditpony, I totally had the same response to G2 when I saw them in-store.  But I was too young to understand how reboots and generations in toylines actually functioned.  I might have just bought them and kept them MIB/MOC just for the sake of them also being "pony".  All I knew was that they looked completely different and unhealthy as far as my personal definition of what a pony should look like.  I felt like Flutter Ponies were marketed appropriately as "fairy ponies" and I sure did not like the SHS pose, so....  G2 didn't appeal to me until it was much too late. 

[Zapper]

I kinda feel like why a bunch of dudes like it is FiM is horses for weeaboos

  I used to bring up this argument, that FiM looks and feels decidedly more anime-ish, particularly drawing from Sailor Moon (EqG is even more inspired by SM down to ripping off a villain arc/scene).
The ponies look like anime heads on a vaguely equine body, of course it would bring in dudes who are... enticed by this look. But whenever I brought it up here some people said FiM does not look like anime at all. Despite all the constant references.

Anyways, I think they are doing this in part to hype people for the Toys That Made Us episode. And then because 80s throwbacks are popular rn (also evidenced in their subpar SDCC exclusive this year). So I enjoy it.
They could do even more for my tastes. If they really released a steel lunchbox with the rainbow quartett, that would be cool. They are my favorite pony group.

[Firehooves]

G4 fans try to make themselves feel superior, by putting down generations from before what they like. Even bronies who respect G1 can be condescending.

[Snapdragon]

This is also happening on their IG! And they had lots of G1 stuff at the SDCC booth this year, apparently? Pins and buttons! I wish they offered those online later, I would love some more G1 buttons and things!! I hope they keep it up!

[Taffeta]

This is also happening on their IG! And they had lots of G1 stuff at the SDCC booth this year, apparently? Pins and buttons! I wish they offered those online later, I would love some more G1 buttons and things!! I hope they keep it up!

It is kind of odd. I mean, it's lovely, but odd. Is it just designed to snare in a generation they assume now has disposable income to buy it, or is it something else? 35 is a really awkward anniversary to celebrate with SO MUCH stuff...they didn't go to half these lengths with 25 (albeit this time they farmed out the most of this stuff to other companies under licence, so maybe that's it). I am absolutely not complaining about more G1 stuff, but I can't help but wonder why now?

[LadyMoondancer]

It could be that they hired a new social media director and they happen to love G1.  If The Toys That Made Us has taught me anything, it's that a lot of corporate decisions come down to personal whims.    ("If the tiger's as big as a horse PUT A SADDLE ON IT."  )

[Taffeta]

It could be that they hired a new social media director and they happen to love G1.  If The Toys That Made Us has taught me anything, it's that a lot of corporate decisions come down to personal whims.    ("If the tiger's as big as a horse PUT A SADDLE ON IT."  )

And then send for HeMan *nods*.

Well, long may it continue...

[banditpony]

If The Toys That Made Us has taught me anything, it's that a lot of corporate decisions come down to personal whims.    ("If the tiger's as big as a horse PUT A SADDLE ON IT."  )

Yessss....
I see that in the creative corporate place I work at. It's funny how things change once someone retires o.o

I also think now is still a time where people who grew up with G1s are more likely to have disposable income AND kids. And I think marketing is more favorable toward girly toys then it was previously.

[Leave a Whisper]

If The Toys That Made Us has taught me anything, it's that a lot of corporate decisions come down to personal whims.    ("If the tiger's as big as a horse PUT A SADDLE ON IT."  )

Yessss....
I see that in the creative corporate place I work at. It's funny how things change once someone retires o.o

I also think now is still a time where people who grew up with G1s are more likely to have disposable income AND kids. And I think marketing is more favorable toward girly toys then it was previously.

Well in terms of accessory variety and playsets girls toys tend to blow boys lines out of the water.

Boys get base, castle, weapons, slime, vehicles.

Girls get dollhouses, house stuff, pools, ice cream stands, castles, cars, clothes, color changing stuff, pets, food, fountains, stores, schools, furniture, and so on and so forth.


I'm not a doll person, but Barbie, Shopkins, Calico Critters and MH have some seriously cool stuff.