Is the g4 fandom unappreciative of MLP's legacy?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Time and time again, I have seen many g4 fans show ignorance, disrespect, and unappreciative for older generations of My Little pony, though the past gens are the roots of the franchise as a whole, and many g4 characters have been pulled straight out of g1 and g3. I can understand that these people might be exclusive fans of FiM, and not the other gens, which can lend to ignorance about MLP's rich history, but that does not give reason to mock, trash, and disrespect the roots on which FiM was founded. It truly saddens me that each generation of pony fans cannot find common ground and get along, and find things to appreciate about the animation in its history (or its present, for g1-3 fans, though this topic is geared more to g4 fans, so they get a pass).

How do you guys, as fellow g4 fans feel about this? Are you one of these people? Have you met such people who are unappreciative/ ignorant/ haters/ flamers of pony's past gens?

[Mirage 24,747]

In all honesty, the previous generations were not very well done. The ideas were good, execution, not so good. The earlier generations specifically targeted a young female audience as well, and I will dare to say the very reason why Bronies have so much trouble in society is strictly because the previous generation shows and ads pretty much popularized 'lame girly show'.

But, I do remember the My Little Pony: The Movie when I was a kid. I watched it with my brother and sister and I remember it being okay. Other than that - I stayed far, far away from My Little Pony stuff growing up.

It wasn't until much later in life, like this year, that I saw G4 and was pleasantly shocked and awed. G4 is an incredible show. Previous generations - not for me.

[Ganondorf8 11,288]

Many in the fandom didn't appreciate MLP until the current generation because of how it defied gender stereotypes and provided an engaging story with memorable characters that people could easily relate to. Because of that, they feel the previous generations were terrible though they do have a valid point with regards to generations two and three. Those two--especially generation three due to what else it got--weren't handled really well and definitely took the gender stereotype the wrong way. Generation one shouldn't be bundled together with the other two as it's a pure nostalgia trip that started everything. Granted, generation one hasn't aged very well yet it still retains that nostalgia. If anything, the current fans could stand to acknowledge the original incarnation as without it, the rest would never have happened.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

3 minutes ago, Mirage77 said:

In all honesty, the previous generations were not very well done. The ideas were good, execution, not so good. The earlier generations specifically targeted a young female audience as well, and I will dare to say the very reason why Bronies have so much trouble in society is strictly because the previous generation shows and ads pretty much popularized 'lame girly show'.

But, I do remember the My Little Pony: The Movie when I was a kid. I watched it with my brother and sister and I remember it being okay. Other than that - I stayed far, far away from My Little Pony stuff growing up.

It wasn't until much later in life, like this year, that I saw G4 and was pleasantly shocked and awed. G4 is an incredible show. Previous generations - not for me.

the early gens were meant to target a specific audience- just like  G.I. Joe and Transformers were meant to target a specific audience- yet I see no flame wars there. It was always little girls- so says the gospel of Bonnie Zacherle- who wanted to have a pony. Thatwas the norm back in the 80's and 90's. Fans of g4 are simple too harsh and tear the past gens apart unnecessarily, for exactly what they were meant to be- product placement for little girls of a certain age demographic. Just as it is today, whether that choose to believe otherwise or now. Hence why Hasbro, only up until recently (with the introduction of the Guardians of Harmony action figures) has always had little girls in the advertisements enjoying their product. Not boys- not grown adult men or women, but little girls, who are their primary targeted audience.

[Tacodidra 61,083]

I never liked the previous generations. To be honest, I didn't even give them a real chance when I was a kid. I watched and enjoyed much worse shows, as they didn't have the "girly stigma". Today, I don't hate the older generations. I'm still not interested in them (besides occasionally watching a few clips), but I give them credit for laying the groundwork for FIM.

It should be mentioned that MLP is far from the only fandom where many reject the original version. It's bound to happen when a series or franchise has been around for years or decades, and many fans have joined later. One such series I can think of is South Park. While the series has never been rebooted like MLP, it has changed a lot over the years (becoming more serious and topical), and many people who have started watching later absolutely hate the first few seasons. And some people will think the original is always better. I have actually seen a few people writing about how "the classic MLP" has been ruined...

[Megas 27,569]

Most people got into MLP through FiM and lets be honest, a few people here are fans of FiM only and don't care about past gens in the slightest due to the MLP stigma

That said, there are noticeable amounts of people who are vocal about their appreciation towards G1 at least

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

Long before I was a fan of Friendship is Magic, I did get into the series with the original cartoon, and the movie.  I still hold the original series in some regard(I even have it all on DVD), and it had three different cartoons to go with it: Glofriends, Potato Head Kids and Moondreamers.  Apparently, I was a fan of the Glo Friends back then.

[Mirage 24,747]

3 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

the early gens were meant to target a specific audience- just like  G.I. Joe and Transformers were meant to target a specific audience- yet I see no flame wars there. It was always little girls- so says the gospel of Bonnie Zacherle- who wanted to have a pony. Thatwas the norm back in the 80's and 90's. Fans of g4 are simple too harsh and tear the past gens apart unnecessarily, for exactly what they were meant to be- product placement for little girls of a certain age demographic. Just as it is today, whether that choose to believe otherwise or now. Hence why Hasbro, only up until recently (with the introduction of the Guardians of Harmony action figures) has always had little girls in the advertisements enjoying their product. Not boys- not grown adult men or women, but little girls, who are their primary targeted audience.

That is fair. But to be fair for the sake of argument, you are trying to prove a perception as universal fact. That is, because G1 was rather innocently created for young girls due to their desire for a pony companion, then that should be respected and honored, no matter what society has ultimately twisted it into (lame girly shit). There isn't anything any of us can do about the marketing was done for the past 30 years.

I can't comment on these flame wars you bring up because I'm unaware of them. Suffice to say, because I don't personally feel drawn to earlier generations doesn't mean I'd ever make fun of someone who is. So I think that is a different topic altogether.

As for G4 'carrying the baton' to market to girls now just makes good sense - but G4's quality and subject matter transcend anything the previous generations did. You must admit that. So here I am - I started watching the show with my daughter and it hit me. Hit me hard bro.

So couldn't we concede to the point that the concept evolved and become more established and more acceptable to a wider audience through dedicated creative actions in spite of its marketing? That's the real miracle, if you ask me.

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

I don't see the need to dedicate time to worship previous generations, but I don't agree on the incessant mockery they are often subjected to. True, they've targeted to little girls. True, the first G1 show was from it's time. True, the second G1 show (MLP Tales) was bad. True, G3 went overboard with the girly stuff and no effort to make good shows. But it's true they all deserve respect where is due. Mistakes where made, but that's part of MLP history, that led to what it is now. Plus we got many ponies taken mostly from G3, but some way back from G1 

 

[Jeric 46,850]

People like what they like and dislike what they dislike.

I see no benefit, outside of humor perhaps, in spending an inordinate about of time hating on the prior generations. Conversely, I see nothing worthwhile gained from being fixated on a particular lack of regard as if it is tantamount to a personal attack on one's character. I think both are profound wastes of time and energy. 

 

[Tilgoreth 1,915]

Yeah but bronies only happend because of g4. There's a reason it hadn't attracted this level of attention before.

[Powderpuff 390]

I think the main problem is that the two communities have completely different focuses. You can see it in this thread. Up until FiM, when someone would talk about G1/G2/G3 MLP, almost everyone would assume you were talking about the toys, not the show. These terms were created with the toyline in mind. It's a completely different perspective. An example that illustrates this is MLP Tales. Bronies often assume it was G2, because well it's different from MLP & Friends, so it must be G2 right? But it's actually part of G1, because came out while G1 toys were still on the shelves. Toys determine the generation, not tv show.

Bronies judge prior generations based on the shows, which honestly isn't fair. Because the media has never been the point of MLP until now. I can see most bronies not caring about past generations because they're not interested in toys, and I think that's totally fine. No one should be forced to like something just because they're obligated to 'respect' it's history. But there's no need to drag the prior gen's shows through the mud, because dang...they were never the focus anyway...

[Hierok 11,831]

I don't pay much attention to the past generations, but there is no reason to hate it. For that time it was good and you got to respect that.

[Leave a Whisper 703]

Alot of them are yes.

[EightBit 284]

They do, but a lot of aspects of the previous generations were very poorly done and are often used to cast the current generation in a bad light. It's understandable.