Keeping MLP innocent.

[Argumedies 1,748]

I don't have any issues with "risky content" as long as it holds three things:

 

Maturity

Respect

And Tact

 

All of which the show handles nicely enough.

 

Everything else is a balancing act on the individual of which I wish they would pick a side of the damned boat

[Adachi 772]

I do not agree....Adult content has their place in any fandom...and to stop that is kinda hypocritical (hope I'm using it right this time) 

While i do  not like R34 images,i think it's sick despite how talented the art is (I've seen it don't judge)

I like some the grimdark...MOST

and it's kinda the Parent's job to either use Parental control programs or monitor their use of the internet and i roll my eyes everytime a mother or father complains that their son/daughter saw something they should've

I agree, although I wish that people could control themselves so that parental control programs wouldn't be necessary in the first place. Do you realize how much good, positive stuff they actually end up blocking? K9 Web Protection even blocks flash games (although I guess that's to disable stuff like Jeff the Killer, not sure). I'm just sick of how some groups have turned the internet into their own cesspool, like how adults have made many city playgrounds unsafe and polluted.

 

Also, what solutions are there for grown people like me who don't want the purity of the show lessened for ourselves, but still want to be able to post comments on Youtube videos? If I turn Safesearch on, it turns on Safeguard on Youtube.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Pegasus

[EmeraldRarity 102]

I agree, although I wish that people could control themselves so that parental control programs wouldn't be necessary in the first place. Do you realize how much good, positive stuff they actually end up blocking? K9 Web Protection even blocks flash games (although I guess that's to disable stuff like Jeff the Killer, not sure). I'm just sick of how some groups have turned the internet into their own cesspool, like how adults have made many city playgrounds unsafe and polluted.

Yeah,I know but there's some really good ones...no come to mind. But still if you aren't able to manually monitor your child's behavior online,don't let them online at all...even when i was 17 i was checked on,Parents don't care untill something bad happens...PREVENT it before it's even a problem...my parents have a list of sites my younger sibs can visit and if they want to visit something new they have to ask,and Windows 8 can do the monitoring for you when you cant... 

[Adachi 772]

Yeah,I know but there's some really good ones...no come to mind. But still if you aren't able to manually monitor your child's behavior online,don't let them online at all...even when i was 17 i was checked on,Parents don't care untill something bad happens...PREVENT it before it's even a problem...my parents have a list of sites my younger sibs can visit and if they want to visit something new they have to ask,and Windows 8 can do the monitoring for you when you cant... 

Yeah, that's true, but I still feel like accepting clop/grimdark/gore is violating MY rights, because I shouldn't have to see that stuff when looking up innocent things while looking for pics. I can turn on Safesearch, but I shouldn't be responsible for turning it on and off whenever I want to comment on Youtube videos. I feel that the stuff has it's place, but anything that uses common tags like character names or the title of the show should be taken down until they change the titles. Instead of Pinkie Pie tag for Pinkamena for example, it can be changed to Pinkie Pie (Pinkamena). So those who are specifically looking up Pinkamena will find her, while those who want good ol Pinkie Pie will get nothing but the sweet adorable pink party pony we know and love

 

It's not that I can't handle these images, but I just feel a little sick looking at them. I do not want negativity in my life, and those pics bring me negativity.

[EmeraldRarity 102]

Yeah, that's true, but I still feel like accepting clop/grimdark/gore is violating MY rights, because I shouldn't have to see that stuff when looking up innocent things while looking for pics. I can turn on Safesearch, but I shouldn't be responsible for turning it on and off whenever I want to comment on Youtube videos. I feel that the stuff has it's place, but anything that uses common tags like character names or the title of the show should be taken down until they change the titles. Instead of Pinkie Pie tag for Pinkamena for example, it can be changed to Pinkie Pie (Pinkamena). So those who are specifically looking up Pinkamena will find her, while those who want good ol Pinkie Pie will get nothing but the sweet adorable pink party pony we know and love

 

It's not that I can't handle these images, but I just feel a little sick looking at them. I do not want negativity in my life, and those pics bring me negativity.

And that's your thing, I hate clop...I really do. But,I'm a little sick cause i love sad/grimdark things no matter the subject matter...That's about all i pervert it to,but shrugs

[Paladin Butters 163]

It's a marketing technique if they don't add simple things to let older audiences in this case "US" to laugh about then we possibly wouldn't like it that much.. and they'd lose money.. to all extent anyone that ever refers MLP to heaven one more time I'll start blocking you, and then eventually leave the fandom I'm getting sick of people acting Immature and just plain stupid..

[EmeraldRarity 102]

It's a marketing technique if they don't add simple things to let older audiences in this case "US" to laugh about then we possibly wouldn't like it that much.. and they'd lose money.. to all extent anyone that ever refers MLP to heaven one more time I'll start blocking you, and then eventually leave the fandom I'm getting sick of people acting Immature and just plain stupid..

I know the feeling. It's not the best show ever,I've never seen a Perfect show...I've removed people from my online life due to the Immaturity 

[Paladin Butters 163]

I know the feeling. It's not the best show ever,I've never seen a Perfect show...I've removed people from my online life due to the Immaturity 

It's okay if someone wants to like something I understand that.. I just hate I HATE IT when someone obsesses over it.. I want to be apart of the fandom but if I get on here and just see shit being posted.. I hate being rude.. I do.. but they push my opinion out from crap like these topics.

[Adachi 772]

It's a marketing technique if they don't add simple things to let older audiences in this case "US" to laugh about then we possibly wouldn't like it that much.. and they'd lose money.. to all extent anyone that ever refers MLP to heaven one more time I'll start blocking you, and then eventually leave the fandom I'm getting sick of people acting Immature and just plain stupid..

I'm not even talking about adult humor that's in the show. I love that they added that, it's stuff that adults can understand and appreciate, but it's cartoonish stuff, so there's no harm to kids by adding it. What I'm talking about is FAN content that has gore/clop/grimdark. It's a tricky situation, because everyone's creative rights should be protected, but not at the cost of others. If I don't want to see bloody pics while looking up MLP related stuff, I shouldn't have to see that stuff without turning on my safety filter like I'm a kid or something.

 

I get that it's not only the MLP fandom that does this, but Pokemon (Silent Joy, Lavender Town, White Hand, Buried Alive), Spongebob (Squidward's Suicide, Spengbab), The Simpsons (Dead Bart), etc. I actually think that Bronies have done a much better job of protecting the younger/more sensitive members of the shows from the darker elements of the fandom, and I've even seen parents commending Bronies on taking so many steps to clean up the fandom.

 

The one point I'm trying to make is that myself, and many others, want Pinkie Pie to be Pinkie Pie, and not some psycho murderer. And most of the people who dislike the darker elements are adults ourselves. I know how to protect kids from seeing that stuff, but where are OUR rights? I feel that Google's system is too limited, I should be able to filter out specific things like blood, entrails, r34, etc while still having full access to everything that I enjoy. I don't know why one simply can't just filter out explicit results while still being able to post Youtube comments, but apparently, Google thinks that only little kids are bothered by those pics =/

[Paladin Butters 163]

I'm not even talking about adult humor that's in the show. I love that they added that, it's stuff that adults can understand and appreciate, but it's cartoonish stuff, so there's no harm to kids by adding it. What I'm talking about is FAN content that has gore/clop/grimdark. It's a tricky situation, because everyone's creative rights should be protected, but not at the cost of others. If I don't want to see bloody pics while looking up MLP related stuff, I shouldn't have to see that stuff without turning on my safety filter like I'm a kid or something.

 

I get that it's not only the MLP fandom that does this, but Pokemon (Silent Joy, Lavender Town, White Hand, Buried Alive), Spongebob (Squidward's Suicide, Spengbab), The Simpsons (Dead Bart), etc. I actually think that Bronies have done a much better job of protecting the younger/more sensitive members of the shows from the darker elements of the fandom, and I've even seen parents commending Bronies on taking so many steps to clean up the fandom.

 

The one point I'm trying to make is that myself, and many others, want Pinkie Pie to be Pinkie Pie, and not some psycho murderer. And most of the people who dislike the darker elements are adults ourselves. I know how to protect kids from seeing that stuff, but where are OUR rights? I feel that Google's system is too limited, I should be able to filter out specific things like blood, entrails, r34, etc while still having full access to everything that I enjoy. I don't know why one simply can't just filter out explicit results while still being able to post Youtube comments, but apparently, Google thinks that only little kids are bothered by those pics =/

 

I talked to my father when I was 17 asking him about these images and why people created them ECT... My dad responded "Because gore is kinda cool" there are some sick and twisted people out there that one way or another if they like it or not will create such things..

 

 

on another note:

I was referring to other people aswell the ones who compare MLP as a religion which I think is over the top pathetic and frankly quiet stupid.. I hate to be blunt; but to any extent some teens/adults need to see a doctor or get out more and make friends instead of creating hugbox's there's three types of health, mentally physically and socially. If they're not social or don't have enough physical health the mental side which allows them to think such things is wack.. and I've tried to tell people get outside cause all they do on this site is complain.. I've gotten only negative responses and once they give me that kind of response it just shows they put themselves into lonely situations just cause they want to feel bad, and then apparently will complain about it.

 

^ I know that's alot of text and I don't know if it will make sense but I just hope someone will read that and understand what I'm saying..

[Adachi 772]

I talked to my father when I was 17 asking him about these images and why people created them ECT... My dad responded "Because gore is kinda cool" there are some sick and twisted people out there that one way or another if they like it or not will create such things..

 

 

on another note:

I was referring to other people aswell the ones who compare MLP as a religion which I think is over the top pathetic and frankly quiet stupid.. I hate to be blunt; but to any extent some teens/adults need to see a doctor or get out more and make friends instead of creating hugbox's there's three types of health, mentally physically and socially. If they're not social or don't have enough physical health the mental side which allows them to think such things is wack.. and I've tried to tell people get outside cause all they do on this site is complain.. I've gotten only negative responses and once they give me that kind of response it just shows they put themselves into lonely situations just cause they want to feel bad, and then apparently will complain about it.

 

^ I know that's alot of text and I don't know if it will make sense but I just hope someone will read that and understand what I'm saying..

To be technical, there's just as much evidence of the existence of egregores as there is of any of the Gods from the mainstream religions. So it's not so farfetched, and in the end, it's still the same thing. Whose invisible man is more believable. (which is why I'm glad I'm Gnostic, my beliefs are based on facts and experience, not blind faith).

 

Anyway, there's no harm in being a little escapist. Some people are just naturally more shy, or become that way due to massive bullying. That's nothing that can't be cured by introducing them to people around their age who are positive (in most cases anyway). It's when people start acting like their fantasy world can replace all social interactions when it's really a problem. Just because one is happier in their fantasy world isn't an excuse to run away from the problems of the real world. If someone wants to nonstop daydream without doing anything, then why be born at all?

[Jennabun 1,579]

This is a complicated topic for me, because at heart I am very sex-positive person, as in being "do whatever you want to do in your adult lives as long as all parties are enjoying themsleves and being respectful." Because of this, my main response to clop is, "Eh, I think it's kinda strange, but do whatever you like." I also think it may be natural to ship ponies together (or with yourself) and imagine the ponies' sexual habits considering the ponies are humanized in the show. Sure, they look like ponies, but they act and speak and exist as if they are people. It's pretty much the same thing as finding an animated human character attractive, which happens to a lot of people, me included.

 

On the other hand, even though the ponies are technically young adults in the show, to me it kind of feels like clop is sexualizing children sometimes. Since the show is so innocent and the characters are presented as these pure, childlike beings, sexualizing them reads as kind of statutory-rapey/child-fetishy to me. Now, I understand that this is just MY perspective, and that there a mulitude of other perspectives on this, and that this is not a black-and-white/cut-and-dry issue, so please don't attack me. I'm merely saying that I percieve clop this way, and therefore I avoid it. I also am saying that I completely understand where the OP is coming from, and I'm sure other people feel the same way. It's not some crazy, out-there perception.

 

As long as there are people out there that feel weird about clop, I think it's worth creating a dialogue about it. It is important to start threads like this every now and then to check in with ourselves and make sure we have fully explored the issue. It's an issue worth some analysis and questioning on the part of the cloppers and the non-cloppers alike. For example, whenever I stumple upon clop that upsets me, I always ask myself "Why did it upset me?" I check in with myself constantly to make sure I'm not making snap judgements simply based on my personal preferences. Likewise, whenever cloppers are turned on by clop, it's probably important to ask yourself, "Why does this turn me on so much?" It's good to check in with yourself to make sure your intentions are positive and not degrading to anyone or harmful in any way.

 

I know that people will do what they want, and I'm too upset by it. Like all groups, cloppers can't be pigeon-holed: I'm sure most cloppers are simply wonderful people with a niche sexual fetish, and a just small percentage of cloppers have the negative intentions I discussed earlier. I'm not going to riot in the streets all like "STOP THE CLOP! SAVE THE CHILDREN!" nor am I going to say anything further about it on this forum probably.  I merely wanted to say that all the people rolling their eyes and being like "Ugh why are we even talking about this?" are not giving the fandom any favors. To keep the fandom healthy, it's good to discuss issues like this.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Jennabun

[Zhortac 1,474]

Hmm, that might explain it. Back when I was morbidly fascinated with grimdark, I used to look up "Zalgo Pinkie" and similar things quite often. Is there any way to reset them, outside of making a new account?

 

Nope. You'd have to either get a new account, or reset and change your IP or use another machine, it depends on how deep Google kept track. I doubt they are going off a MAC address, so probably get a different IP or use a proxy.

[DragonFlyer 329]

I don't mind some violence or "dark" stories/art, in fact sometimes I quite enjoy them if they're done right! That being said some people take things to extremes -- and don't get me started on the cesspool of "adult" stuff out there. But fans are gonna do what they want and as long as they're not hurting anyone we can just choose to ignore it. Most of the time. I say this because the only thing that disturbs and upsets me is when content I'd really rather not see shows up despite safe search or whatever other precautions I take. It worries me that kids could stumble onto it (I'm sure they have) and there is some truth to the old saying "what has been seen cannot be unseen".

[Inazuma 53]

If you ask me MLP was never innocent and never will be innocent. It is like a person it starts off fine but then it grows up. While it may not appear in the show the fact of the matter is we the fans gave it more maturity. Plus if you look back Gen 1 MLP was the darkest out of all MLP

[Zygen 6,066]

I understand where you are coming from, and I too understand that many(Myself included really.) enjoy the innocent nature of the show. 

 

That said, it's literally impossible to just remove and keep things innocent, i'm sure you probably realize this in the end anyways, but I just figured i'd state it. 

 

Even if we somehow got this entire forum to stop posting such content it wouldn't be even close to going away. There are many bronies who do this who are not a part of these forums.

 

And honestly even if it were possible, I don't think its necessary. I don't find that the fact there are things that aren't innocent or paint the show in a non innocent light as such the show is usually portrayed to affect how I feel about the show. The show is one thing, and the fandom created things are another.

 

Personally I don't enjoy most of the really mature stuff, but I won't not read or watch something just because it contains something that isn't totally innocent. (However I don't really care for 99% of the stuff that involves things of a sexual nature, but that's just me personally.) 

 

I again understand what your trying to say, and that you probably just wanted to vent your concerns and thoughts and all, but I don't believe that stopping the production of content that isn't 100% innocent is really necessarily, nor possible really. 

 

In the end, really all you have to do is just try and avoid the mature content if you really don't want to see it. Or just watch the show only, and not involve yourself in the fandom created stuff.

 

That's just my thoughts about it. As long as the mature stuff stays in its place and isn't just scattered everywhere that has to do with ponies, so to the point where those who don't enjoy that type of stuff can't even go to places like this, then I am totally ok with it existing. 

 

Again, just my opinion.

[Adachi 772]

If you ask me MLP was never innocent and never will be innocent. It is like a person it starts off fine but then it grows up. While it may not appear in the show the fact of the matter is we the fans gave it more maturity. Plus if you look back Gen 1 MLP was the darkest out of all MLP

Being more mature doesn't mean it's lost it's innocence. Something can be both mature and innocent. A spiritual person can be very mature, and there is no doubting that they can also be very innocent. If you mean the fake type of maturity, then no, the creators of gen 4 didn't add anything like bikinis, alcohol (closest thing you'll get is the Spiked punch joke), guns, etc. Being actually watchable (not that gen 1 was bad, it's just that the difference between gen 1 and gen 4 is HUGE) doesn't mean that it's not still innocent. Most of the episodes are still slice of life episodes that teach a moral, the characters are all very likable and lovable, and everyone still lives in an ideal society, with some occasional conficts.

 

One could argue that there are villains, and the fact that there are villains means that the show can't be innocent, but the villains are pretty much plot devices to show the power of friendship, and half the villains have been reformed. The darkest possible part of FiM is King Sombra, and he appeared for 1, maybe 2 episodes, before the EoH destroyed him. I guess one could say that that isn't so innocent, since a character actually got killed. But that is the only part of the series where anyone actually dies, and it was someone who was pure evil who died. Digimon had plenty of death (or at least destruction and misery) during the Dark Digimon Masters arc, but that show is also pretty innocent. I heard that even Rainbow Brite sometimes killed enemies (never watched a full episode myself, just remember the show from my childhood). The key is how they handle death.

 

As for the fandom content, Hasbro and DHX cannot be faulted for what someone draws/animates in their spare time. Although Hasbro has gone after projects, but instead of shutting down innocent family friendly projects like Buttons Adventures, they should be going after the stuff that gives people the wrong image of the show. As much as I hate to admit it, they did good by having Fighting is Magic shut down, since they don't want their pony characters depicted as street fighters. And because of Hasbro's actions, we got the best possible compromise, a game with an even better engine with characters provided by Lauren Faust herself

[Argumedies 1,748]

Ya I can tell a lot of y'all weren't around in the 70's n 80's there was a LOT of things that people could do back then and nobody cared. Now all we do is scream bloody murder on everything and even that has to be politically correct.

 

Yes, this stuff is out there but wrapping yourselves and these kids in bubble wrap and tossing them under rocks isn't right, but nor is handing them an unguarded internet and telling them to figure life's natures for themselves isn't the answer either

 

Its a balancing act for sure but the key is in how we teach about it.

 

Look at it this way

 

Adult content/internet hoopla should be handled like a high voltage line. Treat it with some responsibility, know what it is and what it does and when handled properly it won't hurt you.

 

I for one was happy to see these grey area's because you'll only find walls if you run around with blinders on and afraid of the dark

[Looking Glass 197]

> So now I finally come to my point. I it makes me so sad to see pony related things out there that shatter that image of innocence.

 

Then don't look at them. 

 

/thread

 

Quite agreed. For me, the mature content doesn't in the slightest affect my enjoyment of the show, and my brain tunes everything else out when i watch it. even so, i do enjoy some of the mature work for mlp, and the mature works of some of the other things i enjoy.

[rarity1 461]

I like both the innocence, and the brutality.  It doesn't bother me when I see some gore.

[SparklingSquirrels 21,347]

I'm sure some others have said this already, but I'm going to state my opinion as well. I don't mind that kinda stuff unless it's thrown in my face, which fortunately it's easy for me to stay away from it. If people really want to make that sort of art, then it's up to them and I don't want to get involved.

[WunderWaffen_ 165]

To be honest, there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to sit back and enjoy the magic. If some content does become a little, rather risky, then just ignore it! People all have different ways of thinking. Someone might quite like the idea of a giant blood covered sword, with the head of somepony next to it, Some will find that repulsive. Creativity is a two sided coin, one good, one bad. My Little Pony will never be "Innocent" because of its un-innocent following.

[Freewave 1,145]

I like that the cannon show is sweet and innocent.  I like that the majority of the fanworks (art+music) carry a lot of that vibe. I also appreciate that the fans (who are older) give a lot more of a mature feel fo the show. So seeing shipping, mature themes in fimfics is important to keepign me interested in it. Even rule 34 and grimdark isn't a big deal as I sectionalize these as different parts of the fandom and people seek them out when they want them (and they should be secluded enough otherwise). MLP maybe a safe haven but it's not a bubble to keep humanity and our interests out. It's an exchange between the two.

 

To see some fan content as destructive to the fandom i think is limiting that creative spark we have and letting those who criticize our community hold the mic. Some of those may very well be bronies and not haters, but I'm getting tired of people constantly wanting to split up the community into good/bad parts or saying it needs to change. If you appreciate diversity in the community (gays, transgenders, different sexual orientations) but reject adult themes (again shipping, rule 34, and grimdark) then its not really unified or tolerated. Just let the community be one giant happy dysfunctional family where people don't always get along, have the same interests, or see eye to eye, but in the end we all belong here. 

Edited June 6, 2014 by Freewave

[Commissar Alexer 763]

There is no such thing as innocence, only varying degrees of guilt.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Commissar Alexer

[Shanks 10,816]

I have to say this is the first such topic about the "innocence" of the show that actually isn't a self righteous, judgmental rant and I have to give the OP some major credit for that even though I don't agree with a lot of his points. Even though I have admitted a million times over that I clop and I have enjoyed the occasional gore fic like Cupcakes for example I can still appreciate and understand why someone would not want to see that stuff. It sucks that google "safe search" isn't as safe as it should be but there are places like derpibooru, deviantart and fimfiction that have very good mature filters so people who want to see that stuff can and those that don't can filter them out. It also sucks that people use that to attack and hate on bronies but that is the nature of rule 34 "if it exists there is porn of it" and in many cases there may also be gore of it (I wonder if there is an internet rule for that?) and I think bronies would still get hate even if this stuff never existed.

 

If you ask me MLP was never innocent and never will be innocent. It is like a person it starts off fine but then it grows up. While it may not appear in the show the fact of the matter is we the fans gave it more maturity. Plus if you look back Gen 1 MLP was the darkest out of all MLP

It will never be completely, if it was it would be a very very boring show full of bland Mary Sues that would talk down to its audience ie G3 but compared to a lot of shows it can be. Equestria is presented as although not perfect as we have seen with the show delving into issues like racism, bullying, it does present a somewhat idealized society where the problems we face today while they exist are implied to not be quite as serious as they are in our world. With that said I think that things like sex and violence likely do exist in Equestria even though they do not appear in the show, it did confirm in the episode Baby Cakes that ponies do in fact give birth and confirmed in many other episodes that they do have romantic relationships so it is reasonable to assume that they do in fact have sex even if they don't show or even address it in the actual show.