What happened to the fandom creatives and blank slate ponies?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

It seems no one gives a flying Pigasus about any background pony other than "the secondary six"- Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Derpy, Dr Whooves, Lyra, and Bon Bon. There's literally hundreds of unique looking background characters, now- Blue Bobbin, Charity Kindheart, Hoofer Steps, Ms. Peachbottom, Orange Slice, Wrangler, Clear Skies, Crafty Crate, Lucy Packard, Spearhead, Spring Step, Cinnamon Chai, Fashion Plate, Hoofdini, Amethyst Star, and a slew of various creatures (Dragon Lord Scintilla, Sergio, Mina, Parrot Pirates Lix Spittle, Boyle, Mullet, King Aspen, Mori, Haven Bay- all needing to be further fleshed out by the fandom, and yet....no one seems to care. Why is this? Could there be more branching out for the fandom, to develop these underappreciated characters? What underappreciated pony (or  creature) have you guys wanted to see get more love and fandom development by the fandom?

 

 

 

 

[TBD 17,254]

They're called "background" for a reason.  

[ManaMinori 4,145]

4 minutes ago, TBD said:

They're called "background" for a reason.  

once upon a time, the fandom took those background ponies and gave them personality. Hence, the reason why a certain 6 background ponies are so danged prevalent now. That didn't have to stop.

[TBD 17,254]

7 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

once upon a time, the fandom took those background ponies and gave them personality. Hence, the reason why a certain 6 background ponies are so danged prevalent now. That didn't have to stop.

Were you asking me for my opinions or debunking it?

Of course everyone loves these secondary/background ponies as much as I do. But like I said, the people have no time to express so much characters in so little time. S9 is coming and they'd  rather wants to focus on wrapping everything up for the main casts than on developmenting secondary characters. 

Although, I  think IDW should do more on the secondary characters and give them more of their own story. Since they seems to have plenty of time and I don't think the comic will stop. I would vouch for that instead.

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

The fandom's shrunk and calmed down quite a lot since those early season days, and the show's done the opposite, it's grown immensely, with 8 seasons, a movie, a big spin-off series, comics, etc. There's so many more characters now than there ever was before and new ones being introduced all the time, how can they all be given attention? Especially when there's so many more characters in the show now who already have at least some degree of personality and backstory to work with. If people are writing for new characters, it's probably for more important ones these days, like the Pillars, or the Student Six, or any of the new movie characters, or other slightly more developed ones.

Between the fandom being smaller, and the series having a lot more new characters to potentially write about, it's not surprising most new background ponies don't get nearly the amount of attention they used to. People either write about their old favorites, or the new characters that do more than just stand in the background already.

[Gainsborough 50]

More Cherry Jubilee. 

[SharpWit 2,647]

It'd be fun to see these background ponies explored but I think part of the problem is that there wasn't a whole lot of diversity back in the day. I may be wrong but I think there's a scene with 3 "Colgates/Minuettes" present, and she like the other more beloved background ponies stood out compared to the others. They had just enough difference where we could assign roles. Derpy was a complete accident afterall. Nowadays they have more room for unique designs and if everyone is unique then no one is really.

It's be funny if they addressed all of the similar mane styles with something like having a mane stylist who only knows a few cuts shown briefly in a later episode.

[Ganondorf8 11,298]

Some characters are more marketable than others so Hasbro might demand certain background characters be given top priority over others so as to increase toy sales thus earning them more money. Also, it doesn't help that they keep on creating more characters thus others get regulated to being non-existent.

[Oleks 1,993]

Back in the early days there were fewer characters in MLP, so the fans explored background ponies (who were much less diverse in terms of design back then). They would pick the BG ponies with an unusual sitting pose (Lyra), many voices (Bon Bon), appealing design (Octavia), etc. and develop personalities for them.

Now, even though there are so many great BG ponies and other creatures, fans have no time for them as there are way more main and secondary characters in FiM after 8 seasons. Also, the fandom is now smaller. Sad, but true.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

10 minutes ago, Oleks said:

Back in the early days there were fewer characters in MLP, so the fans explored background ponies (who were much less diverse in terms of design back then). They would pick the BG ponies with an unusual sitting pose (Lyra), many voices (Bon Bon), appealing design (Octavia), etc. and develop personalities for them.

Now, even though there are so many great BG ponies and other creatures, fans have no time for them as there are way more main and secondary characters in FiM after 8 seasons. Also, the fandom is now smaller. Sad, but true.

The fandom Being smaller shouldn't be an excuse for less creativity and exploration. Shame on you.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

Has it really not been done, or is it just a lot harder to find the accepted FANON these days?

[Dabmanz 2,139]

23 minutes ago, bornAgainEquestrian said:

Has it really not been done, or is it just a lot harder to find the accepted FANON these days?

I would say if you look hard enough you may find art for every character if not it could be a good project for some artists to focus on these background characters.

[Oleks 1,993]

2 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

The fandom Being smaller shouldn't be an excuse for less creativity and exploration. Shame on you.

It's not an excuse, it's an unfortunate fact. I don't like it too, I'm actually one of the few people who care about modern background ponies. Not being a creator myself, I at least try to collect the fanart that is created nowadays, and spot interesting BG characters in the episodes. Sadly, not many people are interested in this. See for yourself.

[Dreambiscuit 9,691]

Slice of Life did try to focus on background ponies, but it didn't work all that well in my opinion. It seemed too forced. But if it was done properly I'd love to see more of Carrot Top/Golden Harvest, Nurse Redheart, Twist and Essence, just to name a few. 

[SweetieDreams 84]

I was disappointed when I found out that the goth stallion from Fake It Til You Make It hasn't gotten more love from the fandom. I was really hoping that somepony would ship him with Fluttershy, but so far I haven't found any art of them as a couple (as a matter of fact, he's barely gotten any fanart at all). I could easily make my own if I wanted to, but I guess I just wanted more people to jump on this ship with me. 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by TokyoAbsinthe
Image size was too big, resized it to make it smaller.

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

I dunno why this happened, but could be a mix for not being as limited with assets as they used to be, having less and less copy-pasted ponies as time went on, and having their wish fulfilled with Slice of Life   

But yeah, I’m mixed on this. On one side, it was a fun part of the fandom, but the other is that they sometimes made unpleasant interpretations just because  

Edited September 17, 2018 by Steve Piranha

[starrymiss 114]

I love Eclair Creme. She's so cute 

[RDDash 19,172]

I don't know how true the fandom version of the background pony to the cannon version but some  of them got to shine when Larson was on the crew. And some of them got major roles in later seasons. I really wish that Octavia could return, and maybe single episode with Lyra

[EpicEnergy 23,218]

I don't know why many bronies only care about the secondary six background ponies and not the other background ponies.

[Splashee 28,563]

There is always the mane background ponies, and they are as popular as the mane 6. I guess it is how the fandom works.

[Landi 600]

I also like the new background ponies we get. As someone who likes the original background ponies a lot, I must admit that the newer ones are much more unique. In fact, tend to find myself more interested in the newer ones than the older ones these days. Their designs really spark my interest in them, so I decide to see what personalities and stories the fandom has written on them. What do I find? Nothing much. It's actually kinda sad since their designs are so great, but oh well.

The reason may have to do with the attachment to the older background ponies. They became such a symbol for the fandom that people didn't really care about the new ones being added. Along with that, the fandom is a fraction of what it used to be. It's sad, but true. My guess is that many of the fans who gave life to background ponies, left, and that the newer fans don't tend to be as interested in background ponies in general. Maybe that the show is over, the fandom will get bored and decide to actually give these ponies some character. There's always a chance.

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

I used to go through the wiki and look up hidden background ponies to use in my crossovers so I wouldn’t have to make an OC (it feels more “authentic” if all the characters are canon)