FloppyfluffyEars

Not spiral but ROCKET into insanity ;-)

So a while back I was thinking about all the content that I've seen on the internet that involves MLP FIM. I always hate it when content creators delete stuff online as all the history associated with that is wiped away. I started watching in 2013-2014 and I remember learning about fandom events that occurred before I joined and having to play detective to understand what happened. Like, I'd stumble on random videos and not know the context. Anyway, thinking about this made me wonder what it would be like to join the fandom right now. I suppose it would feel the same as joining at any other date, but knowing that the G5 era is behind you would feel a little dour because you missed out on all that activity. For me at least, I think it would feel an awful lot like a being an archaeology digging deep into internet history. This all made me wonder, if someone became a brony today and made it their goal to view everything (or everything noteworthy) online that was related to FIM would they actually be able to do it? In other words, assuming the internet/world froze and nothing else was created FIM related could slouch their way through everything available online and essentially catch up? Just eyeballing it, I think that it would sort of be possible--at least in essence. I think the thing that is absolutely doable is watching all FIM property released by Hasbro THAT IS CANON. So this is the main series (1-9), EQ girls, Pony Life, and all the specials. Then there is everything officially released by Hasbro which includes shorts, the comics, books, games, and things like Pinkie's talk show and that stop motion series. A lot of this content is available to look at on web since its video based. So I would say that assuming you have all the time in the world it might take you two weeks to consume absolutely everything. So in terms of canon based material it definitely is possible. The next challenge would be a fan made content and this is where I think its necessary to define "EVERYTHING". I think that that there are a few hundred videos online that ever brony would consider "required" viewing (things like Lullaby for a Princess) which if you managed to get through all of them you could in a sense say you watched EVERYTHING worth your time. The same thing with fan fiction. So If you just did everything that was created and released by Hasbro, and every noteworthy FanFIc and Every noteworthy video then you probably have gotten the general idea of what the fandom and MLP is all about. In that sense, I think viewing "everything" is absolutely feasible . That being said, hypothetically speaking, how long would it take you to get through everything? Now for argument's sake I think it is ridiculous to define EVERYTHING as every comment that was posted on a youtube or everything forum post that has something to do with FIM/ G5. At the level you're talking about thousands of comments per video that who really cares about reading at the end of the day. So everything in this scenario wouldn't include things like random forum posts (like this one). However, visiting the homepage of this website ONCE might be regarded as a visiting the ENTIRE website. I think it is also important to not define what "view" means or "consume". My definition does mean you have to process/understand everything you see. So for example, let's say you wanted to get through every fanfic. If you click on it, have it on your screen, and click through the fic at record speed I would include that as viewing the entire book. Basically, a view means your eyes or your ears have to physically take in every frame, graphic, or sound of whatever you have on the screen. You can put it on hyper-speed if you want to. With those rules you would still have to get through: Every Animation, watch every reaction video, all the analysis videos, listen to every song, "read" every fanfic, listen to every audio drama, see every fan artwork, every random MLP video. Do you think someone could do it? P.S. Just out of curiosity, how long do you think it would take a person to view every post on EQD?

Thank you. This is what I was looking for. Makes me feel better.

So this has been on my mind since first learning that MLP FIM was going to end. I joined The Herd around 2014 (wow, that seems like a long time ago), and I remember really getting into the fandom by watching Brony Blind Commentaries. The first commentator that I watched eventually left the fandom and deleted most of his content expect for an obscure Dailymotion account. Anyway, over the years there have been a lot of Brony youtubers who have done similar things to the point that no trace of their work is available on the web. There is a ton of history that has happened as well. I remember reading some of the "Brony History" articles from Equestria Daily and it was amazing to hear about stuff that anyone who were to join the fandom now would probably never know about unless they really went digging. But even then, it would be hard to find out about because there has been so much content generated and they wouldn't even know where to start. Anyway, I know that it is virtually impossible to save everything, but I feel like there are a lot of things that can and should be saved about Brony fandom. You might think it is silly, but I really feel blessed to have joined when I did. It wasn't the Golden Age but so many Fandom-defining things happened ( both good and bad). Twili-corn, The Journey for the Spark anamatic trailer, the first few BlackGryphon's albums, the Controversy with ILoveKimPossible, some of the obscure Brony Commentaries. I mean, I can't imagine this ever being lost to time but just imagine if something like the original Lullaby for a Princess was ever deleted! The point I am trying to get to is I think it would be really cool to go out and start a crowd-sourced project like WayBack, where we compile copies of very important articles of Brony History. Youtube videos, famous music and artwork, famous and infameous events that happened in the past. To some extent Equestia Daily has done this as I believe they keep records of everything posted since they Day One. But it would be so cool to have a more easily accessible and navigable version of this. What are your thoughts on this idea? Also, there is a Brony Commentator called Alex Side, who has been offline for I believe two years now. I really would like to saved his content as he was a big personality back in the day and I'd hate to have it deleted or forgotten about someday. That is actually what got be initially thinking about this database idea.

Something like the WayBack Machine or Wikipedia? I just think that the Brony fandom is so rich in history that it would be shame to lose any of it. I know that this site will be here for ages, and I know that Equestria Daily has every article they've posted since when they've started. However, I was just thinking that with other media--like Youtube, often when it is deleted, there is no backup so it ends up being lost to time. . It would be neat if there was a place where you could see the old videos, the old forum posts, articles, artwork and music from across the years all in one place.

I know we had "Tanks for the Memories" but that was allegorical. I mean, even Frozen addressed death head on, I think that MLP could have, at the very least, made and episode talking about the death of Bright Mac. and Pear Butter. They kind of danced around the fact that they died in the Perfect Pear. I mean, if the show can say that the entire world of Equestria was decimated in one of the alternate timelines that Starlight created, or that Princess Luna was psychologically torturing herself with the Tantibus, it seems strange that they couldn't say outright on the show that the two Apple parents had passed away and have one of the characters explain how it happened. What are your thoughts?

I started watching him back in 2015, IIRC. He was and still is my favorite Youtube brony reactor. Since I've been watching him for such a long time I know that he's been going through a bunch of life stuff. He's had his channel C&D , he's been criticized by other Youtubers, had issues in his personal life, and even has had issues branching out into other non-MLP content. Anyway, I know he stopped being a brony a while back and transitioned to other material. However, his last video was like two years ago now and no body knows what happened to him. To be totally honest, I really would like to reach out to him. He really was a big part of my life growing up and was the person, I'd say, got me into the MLP fandom. It would mean the world to me if I was able to send a message to him thanking him for all he's done for me. If anyone has any idea where I might be able to contact him that would be great! LINK TO HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMF-w4_xTeuqK3Vd5jKS1Tg

Coco Pommel. She is cute.

You might disagree with this, but I think that season 3 actually carried on this same idea. While I do not think that it evolved from the proceeding season in the same way that S2 did from S1, I do think that the third season kept the same "organic" interactions between the characters and the same meta humor of the other seasons. It has the sense of innocence and whimsical but there was a definite maturity about the world that kept allowed for deeper topics. I mean, as an audience I think to know that the show could go into serious and more emotionally deep issues was peculiar feeling. It is very much like real life. RL in not all dark and moody or serious, but it is also not all fun and whimsical. I think the fantasy elements added to MLP allowed for people to enjoy it as an escape from the pains of life, but the "groundedness" of the early seasons made it so the content watched didn't feel so out there that we didn't care about the characters or the situation. I think that since because S3 didn't build hugely on what came before but rehashed a bunch the old concepts from the previous seasons (other than alicorn Twilight), the season was looked upon poorly. However as you mentioned, a few writers still retained the vision that Faust had, and I think that season 4, while having a different flavor than the previous seasons, did feel like a evolution for the show. The show might not have explored the characters in detail as S1 and 2 did, it did put them in new situations and allowed for other side characters to be introduced and developed.This seems to be the the spirit of the show; character driven, the interactions between the characters, and the creative drama and scenario. It seems like we agree that one aspect of the show-- the focus on the main characters--- has probably diminished over time The first two seasons really delved into the motivations, the personal history, and psychology of the characters. The third was derived much of it's spirit from the spirit of the first two seasons and the fourth, to me at least, felt like expanding on the first two and added some different features (e.g. the lack of the elements, the journal instead of the letters, guest stars, more drama and emotion and the introduction of a season long arch).

What do you mean by "Season 8 does have a strong sense of post MLP universe."???

I joined the fandom in 2014 ish so I was active after the "peak" in 2012, however the way I remember seeing things and from everything that I have read about the fandom's early days, I feel that you could say that MLP definitely was a significant part of this decade. When I think back to that time a recall there being a lot of similar themed media and tv shows started after MLP was created. I do not know if MLP had anything to do with that but there certainly was several huge productions that subverted the status quo. Steven Universe was one such show. It certainly showed that high art quality, deep storytelling could be done in a "children" show. Although SU went far beyond the "children" show title and is definitely up there, no doubt, as one of the best show sever created. Gravity Falls also had a huge following and was similar to MLP in that it made immense use of a very simple animation style. Another cultural icon of the 2010s was Frozen, which presented well developed female characters who could be strong yet sensitive. I can't help but see Elsa and Anna as mirroring Celestia and Luna. Many people in the fandom made a similar connection. MLP was certainly a show that presented female characters that were neither defined by clothes and accessories, or defined by violence or over-sexuality. MLP wasn't the only show up to that point that had good female characters, but I see a trend where after MLP several shows, several movies, and several franchises built on what MLP established and created characters who were complex and were not defined solely by their sex or by a single emotion. For example, Pearl from Steven Universe is a highly sensitive character yet she is a topline fighter and a good leader. Twilight is similar to this in that she is highly intelligent and an extremely productive leader yet she also had a weakness with anxiety and can be overly sensitive to criticism. It's not revolutionary, of course, but it is still pretty neat that Hasbro/the Hub/Discovery Family, didn't paint the ponies as being monolithic. They could easily have made Twilight extremely competent and tough which would have made sense given that there is such a push now to promote "strong" female characters. However, they choose to show her defined in many ways by her incompetence and weaknesses when it comes to stressfull situation. And on the flipside they could have presented her as culturally feminine yet they choose to make her overflow in traits that were for many years traditionally masculine; that is her aptitude in science, mathematics, and history. Even Rarity who, arguably is the most traditionally "girly" of the main six was shown to be willing to fight to the bone to protect the individuals that she loves--yet she is an overly dramatic and emotionally charged character. Another good example is Pinkie who is joyful and fun yet she harbors a fear of abandonment which is seen in Party of One. Of all the main six, Pinkie could have easily been a monolithic character yet she exhibits fears and has a grumpy/depressed/dark side to her bubbly personality. Finally, MLP and bronies countered many of the stereotypes that people had a men. When it first came out there a backlash people people found it ridiculous that grown men could watch My Little Pony unironically. Since 2010, many developments have been made culturally which have stretched out conception of gender. I will not get into them here since I don't want to misrepresent and offend others, however, I think that we have grown(at least in the United States) as a society and MLP certainly was a one of the wicks which burned during the fire of change. I am probably saying much that people already know, and maybe getting too deep; but these are my thoughts on this. I cam curious if you think MLP has been significant during this decade and if you do in what ways do you think it has? Thank you for allowing me to share. Happy New Year

In your opinion, what would you say made FIM so "strong"/ made it so good in its early days? I actually agree with you but I am curious what specific things made it successful as an animated TV shows when it first started?

It's been an awesome adventure!!! Till the next time though.... XD