Stolen OC

Pick any fandom artist. Video-makers work best. Take note of how many views their new material gets compared to their old material. Unless you picked DWK, you will notice that the difference in views far exceeds what you would expect to observe from older content simply having repeat-views. If you don't see the decline of this fandom your are in denial. You might wanna stay there though. Reality hurts.

In this hypothetical snap-fingers-to-retcon scenario, if I choose to delete a consequential episode, do I also undo all of it's consequences? Could I get rid of Cadence by deleting A Canterlot Wedding? Or would that be too radical of a modification?

If we're talking about Breezies than I think there would be a pretty bloody conclusion to the story. Have you seen ferrets? They might be adorable and soft, but they're killers.

@King Sejong Fair points, but were MLP's episodes ever really directly related? Did the show ever really "take risks?" If so than not more than it does now, I think.

It's rare that I get to talk to a former fan, so I've gotta ask: could you go into more detail about what made you lose interest, and what (if anything) could possibly excite you again?

Yeah this is a good idea. If you like MLP you will almost certainly like Star vs. The Forces of Evil and Steven Universe, and you might also like Adventure Time and We Bare Bears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPjt-J0hh9o&list=LLZUJjPFJwlWvjPyjzUib5Kg&index=56

A pegasister, huh? You're a rarity. Not in being female but in wanting to be called a pegasister. Last time I saw it polled, only about 20% of female fans took the title of pegasister. 1) As others have replied ("I watch it for the plot"), but it's actually not just an MLP thing. I'm not sure if it was around before MLP, or whether MLP started it, but it's definitely used in other fandoms now. 2) People are morons: it's because they have a similar mane and a similar coat color, and because they like to imagine ponies making babies. 3) Anthropology is a genesis fanfiction. One of the first; one of the best; one of the most-read. You should read it. Anthropology was really what sold me on the fandom overall. Also people associate Lyra with humans because it can be pretty darn funny. Lyra can be used as a brony surrogate, or as a crazy cryptozoologist. I've laughed at both interpretations. 4) People are morons. (although there was one official comic where Discord dreamed about "Fluttershy and the kids")

Well that's an optimistic way of looking at it. Personally I would guess that the drop-off at <1 year is because it's less than one year so it's gonna have less than a year's worth of respondents, and also because some people probably got confused and/or rounded up.

'No reason you can't pretend it's 2012: Go to EqD's archives and start enjoying them.

You have three threads on this topic so I'm just going to reply to this one: We can gripe and hypothesize, or we can use SCIENCE! Take a look at this graph (if you didn't participate in the BronyStudy, you're a bad brony): So, if the amount of incoming fans was consistent, you would expect the curve to be flat, with the same number of people joining one year ago as five years ago. But we don't see that here. In a healthy fandom, you might expect there to be more recent converts than old fans, because we expect people get bored and drop out over time. Instead we see the opposite: there is a fairly linear decline in new members since season 2. So in a certain sense, the fandom is dying. But in another sense, it isn't: this graph only represents people joining the fandom. People leaving the fandom is an unknowable quantity because ex-bronies don't participate in polls. So it is possible that the number of people in the fandom has actually remained somewhat static. This is what I see: compared to 2013, we have fewer fanfics, fewer people wearing MLP t-shirts, fewer ask-blogs, and WAY fewer animations. But illustrations and music have hardly declined at all. As an ass-pull statistic, I think that overall the number hardcore MLP-fans has declined by maybe 30%, partially because if boredom and partially because of show mismanagement. I think that the number of show watchers (not fans) has declined somewhat more than that, because there was a fad element to MLP back in 2013. I think the decline in parody we see is because artists get overworked and stop. We all can think of great artists which stopped producing some years ago. Go look them up: many did not move on to new fandoms or interests. They just stopped producing. MLP was a unique experience for them, but eventually they got burned out. The greatest artist also tend to get cease-and-desisted. So I'd say that you shouldn't feel too bad. There's still so much stuff being created that I can barely keep up with it. And yeah, adult fans of MLP may no longer be shocking enough to warrant documentaries, but I still get raised eyebrows when I tell people I'm a fan. Also there's a chance that some attention will once again be shone upon the community when the movie comes out, so we can hope for that. Finally, as a wise man once said: be the change you want to see in the world. You want the fandom to be more active? Get active! Write a fanfic, learn to draw, tell your friends, etc. Anything but wallow in self-pity.

Looks about right to me. Keep in mind that searches represent people trying to find out more about the show/season, so a decline in searches doesn't necessarily indicate a decline in the size of the fandom, just a decline in public interest or new members. I have literally four threads on fandom decline open right now, so I'm just gonna put the same thing in each one: Take a look at this graph (if you didn't participate in the BronyStudy, you're a bad brony): So, if the amount of incoming fans was consistent, you would expect the curve to be flat, with the same number of people joining one year ago as five years ago. But we don't see that here. In a healthy fandom, you might expect there to be more recent converts than old fans, because we expect people get bored and drop out over time. Instead we see the opposite: there is a fairly linear decline in new members since season 2. So in a certain sense, the fandom is dying. But in another sense, it isn't: this graph only represents people joining the fandom. People leaving the fandom is an unknowable quantity because ex-bronies don't participate in polls. So it is possible that the number of people in the fandom has actually remained somewhat static. This is what I see: compared to 2013, we have fewer fanfics, fewer people wearing MLP t-shirts, fewer ask-blogs, and WAY fewer animations. But illustrations and music have hardly declined at all. As an ass-pull statistic, I think that overall the number hardcore MLP-fans has declined by maybe 30%, partially because if boredom and partially because of show mismanagement. I think that the number of show watchers (not fans) has declined somewhat more than that, because there was a fad element to MLP back in 2013. I think the decline in parody we see is because artists get overworked and stop. We all can think of great artists which stopped producing some years ago. Go look them up: many did not move on to new fandoms or interests. They just stopped producing. MLP was a unique experience for them, but eventually they got burned out. The greatest artist also tend to get cease-and-desisted.

I mean, I just don't think that that would be much of a show. In the unlikely event that the writers managed to make it interesting, I'd still watch it. Most likely though, I would stop watching, not because of any kind of angry 'backlash' but rather because the show just wouldn't be worth watching. This show has taken so many wrong turns, at this point I'm not sure if there's any direction it could go which would make me immediately jump-ship. I suppose if show hard-integrated with EqG that might do it. Otherwise I'd at least give it a try before leaving the fandom.

"Cattle are people too." "We should name our foal Killing Spree and see what happens." "What are we paying Fluttershy for, again?" "We should name our foal Evening Glow / Dusk Glitter / Nightfall Shine / Moonrise Twinkle and see what happens." "Twilight's castle is ugly, and if there were a toy version available I certainly would not want to buy one."