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Also, does it matter if future generations don't get to share MLP? Looking at where it is now, is that really something we want to share with the future? Is it really okay for it just to be there for the sake of keeping the brand alive, even when the soul has long since been sucked out of it? Personally, I'm okay with it fading into the past. I've never loved the hype G4 brought into the pony collecting world.
I don't think a "knowing your place" idea was really intended...Quote from: Taffeta on January 29, 2024, 11:34:27 AMAlso, does it matter if future generations don't get to share MLP? Looking at where it is now, is that really something we want to share with the future? Is it really okay for it just to be there for the sake of keeping the brand alive, even when the soul has long since been sucked out of it? Personally, I'm okay with it fading into the past. I've never loved the hype G4 brought into the pony collecting world. 1. There's always the chance for the soul to return2. It was the hype from G4 that finally nudged me into actually checking out MLP. And that in turn led to me checking out and falling in love with G1, and meeting the wonderful communities here and on the Trading Post.I feel kinda unwelcome now...
Quote from: ZeldaTheSwordsman on January 29, 2024, 07:27:40 PMI don't think a "knowing your place" idea was really intended...Quote from: Taffeta on January 29, 2024, 11:34:27 AMAlso, does it matter if future generations don't get to share MLP? Looking at where it is now, is that really something we want to share with the future? Is it really okay for it just to be there for the sake of keeping the brand alive, even when the soul has long since been sucked out of it? Personally, I'm okay with it fading into the past. I've never loved the hype G4 brought into the pony collecting world. 1. There's always the chance for the soul to return2. It was the hype from G4 that finally nudged me into actually checking out MLP. And that in turn led to me checking out and falling in love with G1, and meeting the wonderful communities here and on the Trading Post.I feel kinda unwelcome now... Don't be silly. It's pretty obvious that the hype train I'm talking about was the media chaos, the brony explosion, the meme culture and the influx of people whose behaviour damaged the reputation of pony collectors for a long time to come.
Whether you like it or not, G4's fandom became infested with people whose sole purpose in life is to make other people miserable on social media - and Hasbro marketed towards those people, at the expense of their real audience, which was the kids. The moment MLP stopped being about kids first and foremost, it diedHaving seen and experienced the bad side of the G4 fandom, I think I'm entitled to say that I disliked what that hype brought. You would have to be completely oblivious to that impact in order to think my comments were targeting any actual fans, whether they be old or new.
Please don't twist my words into something I didn't say. Nobody is making anyone unwelcome.
Unpopular opinion, too, but I am ok with MLP ending with G5. I feel like we already had 2 generations too many, given the chaos of G4 and then this. MLP doesn't need to be constantly trampled down by repetitive overselling of the same characters. If MLP disappeared completely, well, so what? Those of us who grew up with G1 survived that and we're still surviving it. Will it really make a huge difference if ponies stop being sold? The ones most of us grew up with (G1 or G3 included) haven't been on shelves for years but we're still here for them...
With regards to the other point, does it matter if that was or wasn't the intention when it is the final outcome? Earth ponies do earth pony things. Pegasus ponies do flying things. Unicorn ponies do magicky things. Is that not being categorised into x y and z? It's unfair to quote that one line without the context I gave it, of how the comic and characters were rendered in the UK and why I feel that jolt. The reality is that when you grow up with a 'ponyland' where the pony species had no impact whatsoever on what they could do, it makes it much more noticeable when ponies are pigeonholed into 'species' in other representations.
Going back to that, I think it is interesting that the backcards the US had often informed the UK stories, and that the US often had more detailed backcard stories than the UK (at least early on), but didn't really use them at all. The thing I mentioned about Magic Star being the most magical pony in ponyland comes from the fact file. But I think it's based loosely on Magic Star's card story in the US.
Magic Star doesn't have a backcard story in the UK, because the Movie Star ponies only have a brief one sentence on the backs of their cards for each of them. It's a lovely card but useless for really learning about the ponies. In fact, the one lines there are more in keeping with the actual movie representation.So there's this beautiful irony whereby ponies like Shady and Magic Star have proper backcard stories in the US (albeit they're SS ponies), that story is then disregarded by the US and used in the UK comics. But Hasbro UK, when promoting our versions of those ponies, connects them to the movie, and thus removes those characterisations that the original backcards (and comics) laid out.
All of that probably ought to be on the Hasbro's Baffling Decisions thread, because it is nuts, but it's also pretty interesting that it happened like that. It does give the feeling of multiple different narratives around G1 (backcards, comics, animation) and that they didn't necessarily mesh with what else was going on in the same location.
In the comic and annual stories, Magic Star could grant wishes. Later on, so could Rainbow Magic, a pegasus pony. But even some of the boy ponies had magic skills. I remember Ice Crystal making ice slides in the 1988 annual. I also am pretty sure Lightning could wink in and out like a lightning flash.And Baby Lucky had a lot of happy-go-lucky magic going on, which included the random ability to bring drawings of the newborn twins to life.
Compared to that, the "Unicorns do magic, pegasus ponies fly, earth ponies are just ponies" rhetoric just jars with me. It genuinely feels like 'everyone in their place', because it is decided by a pony's species. In the case of pegasi and weather magic, it also feel generic, not individual. And G4 made that even firmer with the cutie marks and their destined meaning. G5 have also not moved away from the idea...although Sunny does break the mould a bit, it's not the same thing.
The toy fair is normally around the end of February, I think..? Will be interesting to see what, if anything emerges.
Whether you like it or not, G4's fandom became infested with people whose sole purpose in life is to make other people miserable on social media - and Hasbro marketed towards those people, at the expense of their real audience, which was the kids. The moment MLP stopped being about kids first and foremost, it died
Quote from: Taffeta on January 30, 2024, 03:23:23 AMWhether you like it or not, G4's fandom became infested with people whose sole purpose in life is to make other people miserable on social media - and Hasbro marketed towards those people, at the expense of their real audience, which was the kids. The moment MLP stopped being about kids first and foremost, it diedGod, this stopped me in my tracks, and I had to just pluck this little line out of the full response, because it bowls me over with how true it is, and I haven't really seen it summed up so neatly before. But it's true, it was like - the memeification of glorifying cruelty to other people, of bonding over nasty and hateful behavior because it was fun. Like cult behavior, attacking the 'other' when the 'other' was women and children who dared to enjoy MLP 'incorrectly'. I know that's not what everyone in the Brony fandom took from it or enjoyed, but that type seemed to slowly edge more and more people out of public fandom spaces, until it seemed like those were the only people left. I cannot wait until that particular scourge finds a new interest.