SanityNotIncluded

Reading back through my posts, I don't know why I replied to this, but... Oh well xD. As others have said, it's pretty much impossible to define the sexuality of any of the mane 6. That said though, these are my 'gut feelings' based on what we've seen. Twilight Sparkle: I'd imagine she'd probably be unsure of herself, so I'm going to go with bi-curious. Given that she spends so much of her time either researching or interacting with friends, it's unlikely that she's ever really gotten a chance to explore herself in that way. So even though she had her interactions with Chief Waifu Stealer, that doesn't really preclude her from having "other" interests. Rarity: Obviously, it's possible for Rarity to be bisexual, but I'd have to say that if one member of the cast was bona-fide straight... it's probably going to be her. We've seen her have full blown fixations on both Blueblood and Trenderhoof which is something you can't say about any of the other characters. Rainbow Dash: You know what, just scrap what I previously wrote. More a consequence of me having a dirty mind. Fluttershy: Again, this will be something of an unpopular choice, but I really could see Flutters being a closet lesbian. If you think about it, it would actually make perfect sense: Generally speaking, people tend to make the most friends within their own gender. So, if you were attracted to your own gender, it could make a lot of interaction awkward if you were in the closet and fancied people. In other words, if she was a lesbian, it could partially explain her shyness. Pinkie Pie: To me, she'll either be one of two extremes. She'll either be completely asexual, or so damned crazy and all over the place that her sexuality defies all attempts to tie it down with a definition. Applejack: She's really the only one where I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. The only evidence we have as is her rejection of Trent, but... he was being kinda creepy in the first place so that doesn't really mean anything.

Before I begin addressing the article, I'd like to point out a few things. The first is to bear in mind that this was written in 2012, and that the show has changed considerably since then. The other is that I do believe the author is vaguely skirting around a legitimate point - namely, that the lack of decent male characters in MLP leaves it largely unable to directly address problems exclusive to boys. Despite all that, I disagree strongly with the way the author approaches the issue. This quote has a lot of points, so I'll address each one seperately: Spike cannot be a main character because he is a baby dragon: While Spike is indeed called a "baby" dragon, it's generally understood that dragon biology is very different to pony biology. So despite being a "baby", his behaviour/intellect in practice seems to be very similar to the CMC. Like the CMC, most of his storylines involve some form of self-discovery and he is often shown to have something of a child-like immaturity (e.g his whole plan in Owl's Well that Ends Well). Spike is too "minor" to be a major character: I disagree for a number of reasons. Firstly, even when the article was written, Spike appears in nearly every episode alongside the Mane 6. I don't see how such a character could be considered "minor". Secondly, Spike plays a key role in a number of stories following season 2 - most notably The Crystal Empire and Power Ponies off the top of my head. In both of these episodes, if Spike had not been there, the Mane 6 would've been basically done for - something which one wouldn't really say about a "minor" character. On Spike's Development and Misandry: The way the author has worded this point seems to suggest that Spike's "male-ness" is the cause of all the problems in Secret of my Excess. In a nutshell, the problem is that dragons (as opposed to male dragons specifically) age by being greedy - and that greed and the person it makes Spike become is the source of the conflict. Based on what we've been told, this situation would logically play out in the same way if Spike were female. Infantalising Spike: I disagree that the episode infantilises Spike. While he's transformed back into a child on a literal level, like I said, dragon biology is different to regular biology. While he may have grown up on a purely physical level, I think most people would regard "growing up" to be something far more than just physical changes. To have a go at articulating that expanded definition, I would say that growing up is the attainment of adult responsibilities and freedoms. Indeed, despite some people technically being "adults", we will often deny their adulthood if they are perceived as neglecting said responsibilities. Following this leads me to two points: Firstly, to say that Spike is infantalised would be to suggest that his maturity acquired through adulthood has been taken away. This is impossible because evidently he never possessed it to begin with. Secondly, while Spike certainly isn't an adult by the end of the episode, I would argue the lesson he learns is pushing him in the right direction of adult maturity. Specifically, he learnt from his past mistakes that part of being a responsible member of society is to not be greedy. As for the comment about Spike's growth being treated like a disease, it isn't because he is a male growing up. Rather, Spike is rushed about from doctor to vet because Twilight doesn't understand is happening to him. While one could put this down to Twilight being stupid, it isn't borne out of a desire to stop Spike (as a male) from growing up and gaining maturity. Feminism and Symbolism: As I said previously, the episode is about Spike's greed, not the Mane 6 stopping Spike from expressing or acting for himself. Generally speaking, just because one sees a message in a piece of media doesn't mean it is there. I agree with this insofar as that Big Mac is basically nothing other than a running joke and would be better as a more expanded character. However, the overarching tone of the article would seem to imply that this is the fault of Lauren Faust (and by extension, Feminism). However, based on what Faust herself has said, we know that this wasn't her intention. In fact, Faust wanted to do an episode where the Mane 6 take Big Mac's permissiveness for granted ending with them having to acknowledge their mistakes and apologise to him. However, this idea ended up being rejected - but not by Lauren Faust acting as a Feminist. Source: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/cancelled-big-mac-episode-idea.html From the way Shining is portrayed in A Canterlot Wedding, I could actually see an argument that it reinforces negative stereotypes about men. Specifically, one could make the argument that Shining being controlled by Chrysallis reinforces the stereotype that men exist primarily as blind sexual beings. However, that doesn't mean I agree with the claim put forth by the author. Despite being controlled, Shining Armour is not a throwaway character for someone else's backstory. In A Canterlot Wedding, both Cadence and Shining Armour have to combine their luvey-duvey magic to defeat Chrysalis. Though he is sidelined more than I would've liked in this episode, if Shining hadn't been there to throw Cadence, she wouldn't have been able to save Spike. Finally, he has an active role in both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. In the former he served as Captain of the Guard and was pretty much solely responsible for creating the shields around Canterlot. In the latter, he was shown leading the Athletics. He isn't only there so Cadence can have a backstory - in fact, he's played a vital role in several stories. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. In all seriousness though, I think the author misunderstands the Feminist argument for greater gender inclusivity in films and whatnot. While I don't agree with everything that necessarily stems from this train of thought, it essentially goes like this: It's not so much that there aren't any women in films/TV, but rather that said women tend to be portrayed in ways which limit the agency of the characters. If people already possess similar ideas about women's agency, then the perpetuation of said stereotypes in media will only reinforce those ideas. Assuming that it's correct, this situation would harm both men and women, in a nutshell because it would cause one to be prejudiced about what a person of either gender is capable of/should do before they have tried to do it. I addressed this in my discussion of Spike and Shining Armour. From what we know of it, I would agree. However, given that MLP is marketed to little girls, I suspect the overabundance of female characters is more the result of overly Conservative marketing rather than any sort of conspiracy. Of course, I'm not saying I think this is a good thing - just that it isn't being done because the creators or the show hate men. Shining Armour is shown to be both Captain of the Guard and is shown to have responsibilities as a prince of the Crystal Empire. Both are very powerful positions. Another example is Fancy Pants. Through wealth, he has considerable power, yet he is from memory portrayed more sympathetically than his stuck up rich friends. Also, it's worth pointing out that most of the major villains (male or not) have aimed to gain power. While MLP doesn't show men in leadership positions that often, there's a big difference between showing lots of females in power and actively saying that men having power is wrong. One could argue Prince Blueblood, but apart from that this is true. What the author says of these two characters is true, however that doesn't mean that the show doesn't have an abundance of nasty female villains, with the ones she mentions next notwithstanding - The Maneiac, Trixie and Gilda to name a few. As for... I disagree with parts of this analysis. While Nightmare Moon was indeed Luna and given pardon by Celestia, that has nothing to do with what motivated her to become evil (what the author's claim is based on). In fact, Luna was motivated by jealousy, so I don't see how that makes her makes her any better than Discord and Sombra as far as having pure motivations is concerned. As for Queen Chrysalis, I agree with the author's assessment of her character. However, given that the show itself does not show her any sympathy at all or draw attention to this, I don't think this constitutes the show sending a message that male villains are worse than female ones. This view also leaves out other female villains who certainly didn't have pure intentions either - for instance Gilda was motivated by insecurity and Trixie was motivated by boastfulness and a major superiority complex. In a nutshell, most FiM villains don't have sincere motivations regardless of gender - hence why they are villains. Most of this, I've already commented on at some point, but I'd like to clarify a few things. I apologise for being a little more flippant from this point forwards but I'm getting a little tired now (it's getting late here). Males are seen as a threat: Nope, as I've already explained, despite having a lack of male characters, there are plenty of males who are seen in a positive light. They deserve no pardon: I probably would've given the author this back in 2012, but given that a major part of Keep Calm and Flutter On/Twilight's Kingdom was to forgive Discord despite how much he'd messed things up, I don't think it really applies anymore (if it ever really applied at all) They cannot be heard: I agree that male voices tend to be less often heard in MLP than female ones, but as I said, this is much more likely to be the result of Conservative marketing than any real conspiracy. Again, like I said, it doesn't mean this isn't a problem - just that I think the author is getting at the wrong issue here. Ruining a Perfect Matriarchal Society: It was never perfect to begin with - if it was perfect, it would be a pretty boring show! I could write another paragraph addressing this, but I'm honestly too tired and lazy right now. So I'll use this image to sum up my reaction: For the record, I don't mean any disrespect to the author by doing this - I just feel it's always good to break these discussions up with a little offhand humour. It can make discussing someting controversial a lot less antagonsing and intense. Well, with that I'm finally done! How I spent my Saturday night writing this, I really have no idea... I suppose I need to get out more really.

I certainly like some of the Brony analysts. It's pretty hard to annoy me generally, but two traits which most certainly do are anger and pretentiousness. I can actually really enjoy reviews that I don't agree with so long as they don't contain either of those two things. So to that end, from what I remember of him anyway, I really couldn't stand The Voice of Reason. As much as I'm not usually provocative, the fact that someone would even put something like that in their name speaks volumes about their own pretentiousness. I don't really dislike any other reviewers persay, but I do have minor complaints with one or two: Digibrony can occasionally be pretentious/angry, though I don't personally think he's anywhere near as bad as this thread is making him out to be. Tommy Oliver is similar to Digi in this regard, although he tends to err more on the side of rage than pretentiousness for me (from memory, see his Daring Don't review for a good example of the rage aspect). I actually really like Dr Wolf's content, but I'm not a huge fan of his delivery - it sounds somewhat dry and almost deadpan to me. I actually laughed out loud when I found out he worked in accounting since he fulfills the stereotype pretty well.

Megaphoric is awesome. For people who like slower music, so is PonyPhonic and 4everfreebrony.

I once had a dream that I was ice skating with Rainbow Dash.

I'm sure some people are probably thinking... Marry: Twilight Cuddle: Twilight Kill: Flash Sentry

I've personally been to two. The first was a massive BBQ thingo which had around 25 odd people turn up, and it was freaking awesome. Seriously, there was enough food there to feed an army. The second one was a much smaller meetup at a coffee shop where a group of us played Cards Against Humanity and went to Timezone (an arcade) afterwards. While most seemed to be a lot more into stuff like Magic the Gathering than myself, they were still pretty fun nonetheless.

Yeah, that's generally my observation as well. I do know of one guy who supposedly got very angry and defensive over his Waifu, however he's quite well known in the fandom and not really representative of your average Brony - even the "weirder" ones.

Well.. given what a Sonic Rainboom did to Applejack's barn, I probably wouldn't have a window... and I'd be lying on the ground pelted with shards of glass and other debris.

Hey folks, I apologise if this is the wrong subforum. I initially thought about using the music section, but it only seems to be used for posting finished works... so hopefully I picked the right one . I enjoy a lot of the music this fandom puts out, however I'd really like to find some more slow, sentimental pony songs. Does anyone here know of any good ones? For reference, here's a list of the sort of stuff I'm referring to (and songs I quite enjoy): Non-Pony: (*shuffles nervously, looking slightly embarassed*) -My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion) -I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston) -Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley) -The Rose (Westlife - can't remember who sung the original) -In the Arms of an Angel (Sarah McLaughlin) -A Thousand Years (Christina Perry) (I kinda puked when I found out the movie it was associated with) -A New Chapter (Anthony Callea) -Two Beds and a Coffee Machine (Savage Garden) A Few Pony Ones I Know of: -Lullaby for a Princess (Ponyphonic) -Emerald Eyes (4everfreebrony) (not really a slow song, but it's still a nice sentimental song) -Song of the Night (mandopony) Thankyou!

That was... terrifying... in so many ways.