This is a thread for you sorts with ideas for new worlds of ponies.  Are they extensions of the current generation, reboots or expansions of past generations, or completely new continuities all together.  Bring them here and discuss.  Feedback and discussion are highly recommended here.  Also, posting links to literature and artwork (as long as they are not from sites on the black list) is encouraged.  Even if you don't have a fan generation, your input and feedback are welcome.

So, have fun.  I'll get around to posting my stuff later.

There has always been this stigma attached to My Little Pony as being a shining example of "girly = bad".  I've seen people use it as a negative comparison to other things.  Interest in MLP is shown as a sign of a problem in boys and something girls have to get over.  Needless to say, MLP has been the butt of many a cruel joke.  Even Lauren Faust, the supposed Matron Saint of Ponies, lumped the original cartoon (which she barely watched btw) on the heap of "tea parties and beating the villain by crying" despite that never happening.

The question is, why?  Why is it My Little Pony that gets the bad rap?  It wasn't the girliest thing out there and there's nothing wrong with being the girliest thing out there.  The television show was short-lived and not the best animated but that was because it was produced on a shoestring budget and while other shows made for Hasbro (that got the lion's share of their production budget) were imploding.  I found the Transformers movie more unwatchable than the My Little Pony movie because I could at least tell what was going on in the MLP movie even if I didn't like it.

The answer I can think of is My Little Pony was successful.  It stayed on American store shelves for a decade and even longer in Europe.  It's a brand as instantly recognizable as Barbie, and got there through the jungle of the 1980's.  That made it an easy target because it had the profile but not the history.  Many other brands are probably more guilty of the things My Little Pony is accused of, but too obscure to get people to notice.

So, why do you think My Little Pony has been stuck with this stigma?

Those with Discovery Family take note.  After the Season 5 premier, they're premiering the 1986 My Little Pony movie at Noon as part of Pony Day.

I wonder if at least the MLP side of My Little Pony and Friends will start airing too.

I know there was a thread about the fonts they used in G1 My Little Pony years ago.  However, most of the links in them are dead.  Does anyone have the fonts?

I've been looking at the rise of "retro" pony stuff over the past couple of years and wondered.  Would little girls buy G1 ponies made in the G4 molds?

Let's take Wind Whistler, not just because she's my favorite, but because she would be easy.  They already have the plastic and hair colors for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy respectively, her name fits the G4 naming convention of two words together, and she has a significant case of the pink (hair, eye color, and cutie mark).

So, Hasbro remakes Wind Whistler as a G4 mold brushable pony, put her in a package with a recolored vector of Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash on it, and ship it to the stores.  Do you think a little girl would see her and want her parent to buy her?  Do you think enough little girls will see her and want their parent to buy her to justify it?

Seeing as how Equestria Girls seems to be taking over My Little Pony.  I thought of something Hasbro could do with G5.  Take My Little Pony in the same direction as Transformers...sort of.

The ponies backstory is they've come to Earth and have the ability to transform between their normal pony state and human disguises at will.  Transforming into humans robs them of their magic, but allows them to be out in public without being noticed.  They've come to Earth because their homeland has been destroyed and their enemy is pursuing them.  They lead a secret battle to protect their adopted home so it doesn't befall the same fate as their old home.

The pony and human dolls would be sold together.  There would also be additional outfits, accessories, and playsets like an MLP generation.  I was thinking the ponies' enemy could be harpies and could be sold as toys as well.

What do you people think.  I'm thinking human versions of ponies are here to stay, so they might as well do it right.

I'm currently reviewing the My Little Pony series, and while it's still a few months away, Sonambula is waiting for me as the penultimate review in the series.  This means I will have to come to grips with the fact I don't like how Hasbro handled introducing male ponies.  I like the concept for having a few males in the predominately female cast, but I don't like the execution for a number of reasons.

1.  I don't like that they waited until Year 5 to do it.
2.  I don't like that made them a theme set.
3.  I don't like that they're all earth ponies.
4.  I don't like the term "Big Brother."
5.  Sonambula was a bad way to introduce male ponies.

I don't like they came out in Year 5 because of that point in history regarding Hasbro's use of media.  After 1986 blew up in their face, Hasbro decided to pull the plug on animation as an advertising tool in this year.  That meant the Big Brothers would show up at the tail end of the series and probably only get one episode in a truncated season with a lot to cram into it.  So, there being male ponies would barely tap the publicity the show brought.

I don't like that they're all earth ponies (and every male pony in G1 was an earth pony) because it doesn't seem fair that you can't have male unicorns and pegasi too.  It's just never sat well with me.

And as for them being a theme set and called Big Brother ponies, I really don't like it.  What I call theme sets are sets with a theme to the names and symbols.  Sea ponies have an ocean theme, first year flutter ponies have flower theme, and the Princess ponies (at least in the UK) were named after birthstones.  However, that's because these sets were special.  The sea and flutter ponies were exotic species or ponies and the princesses were princesses.  What makes the Big Brothers special?  They're male?  Are you saying being a different gender means they have to have separated from the mares who are the same species and status.  It's also the reason I don't like the term "Big Brother" as it implies the mares are "Little Sisters" which creates a divide between them.  Why not call them "Stallions" which would descriptive that creates no added divide?

Then there's the episode.  David Wise, why do you do this to us?

If I had been on the MLP development team in the 80's I would have suggested introducing males in Year 4 and included them in the So Soft and Twinkle Eyes lines to take full advantage of the media.  I'd use the feather fetlocks as a means of telling them apart from the mares, but they would just be a part of those sets.  And then, the clone I made to write at Sunbow and Marvel would find a way to include them into the media that didn't make the female cast seem weaker in comparison.  If Care Bears could do it, so could MLP.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the Big Brothers.

After attending this year's My Little Pony Fair listening to the fair organizers reading the prepared statements of Hasbro since they couldn't spare anyone, I have this statement as a response.  I don't know if I'd actually send it, but it's here for you to read and comment on.

Dear Hasbro,

I attended the My Little Pony Fair this year in Indianapolis and looked forward to the panel where you would answer the questions of fans.  I was disappointed you couldn't spare anyone to answer our questions in person, but I can understand that you're stretched thin at the moment.  The answers to our questions at the My Little Pony Fair raise concerns for me in regards to your respect for this franchise and interest in its long-term vitality.  You seem to be making the same mistakes with the Friendship is Magic era that you did with the Core 7 in generation three.  Many of your responses convey your desire to concentrate on the main characters of Friendship is Magic due to current media popularity despite the fact the main blocks of your actual customers (collectors and parents) are less inclined to buy their tenth Twilight Sparkle even if she's now an alicorn princess.  My Little Pony rose to success in the 80's based on diversity with new and imaginative lines coming out each year.  The Friendship is Magic era has been marked by selling the same small group of characters over and over with different accessories.

The responses at the Fair in fact suggest an unwillingness to branch out.  If anything, you seem more willing to expand Friendship is Magic with Equestria Girls.  It makes me very worried that you have decided Friendship is Magic is the franchise you want to take forward with My Little Pony just being a subset of it instead of the other way around.  The current popularity of Friendship is Magic will fade in the relatively near future as the show winds down and catering to the brony craze while ignoring the fans who will remain after the novelty wears off is a recipe for disaster in the long term.

Speaking of Equestria Girls, I don't believe this is a good direction to take My Little Pony in.  "Celebrating" 30 years of My Little Pony by making them not ponies is an insult to the fans who have been loyal to you for decades.  It is also a business strategy based on a gross misunderstanding of the target demographic and lack of faith in your own product.  The type of customer Equestria Girls seems to be aimed toward doesn't exist.  The girls who only care about high school and watch high school dramas tend to not buy dolls period.  The Equestria Girls "movie" is also a very poor use of the potential of the concept and what I've seen of the dolls is disappointing.  If you think this is your ticket into the teen and tween girl market, I'm afraid you're in for a rude surprise.

If you want this brand to appeal to a wider audience, you need to show it more respect than you have.  Again, you seem to respect the Friendship is Magic side more than the My Little Pony side.  The respect can start with where everything started.  Get your copyright ducks in a row with G1 and release the uncut versions of the pilot of Escape from Catrina on Blu-Ray.  Make Friendship is Magic era versions of the more well known G1 ponies like Faust's original picks for Friendship is Magic's main characters or the primary characters from the 1986 film.  Show that you respect and honor the entire franchise instead of promoting a generational gap where you only care about the new and the old is dead to you.  You do it for Transformers, you can do it for My Little Pony.

You can also show respect to the current franchise by saying Friendship is Magic isn't the be all and end all of the franchise.  Currently all media is focused on the main characters of the television show from the show itself to the toys to the IDW comic to books.  Even things outside of the main characters center on characters popular with the brony crowd.  We need more media focused on more ponies.

Finally, the toys need to be made with better quality.  The fact Friendship is Magic era toys are showing problems that G1 ponies ten times their age aren't is a disgrace.  I know times are hard and costs have to be kept under control, but people joke about the corners you cut.  Do you like people making fun of one of your franchises?

To conclude, I hope that you will reevaluate your priorities in regards to My Little Pony in the near future.  I think your current direction is the wrong one for long term survival.

Yours truly,
David A. Youngquist