spoiler The Fate of the Fandom

[Jon the VGNerd 894]

Now, I know there has been various threads regarding the show's fate and its fandom and I understand that it'll likely get a lock, though I want to voice my saying regarding the fandom's fate. And if Season 9 (or Season 10) will mark the end of an era for the popular show, then who knows if the fandom will strive on. I've read that BronyCon, and other pony-cons, may close for good as the number of attendees are slowly but surely diminishing, mainly due to expenses becoming increasingly expensive (not just hotel accommodations, but also merchandises and flight tickets, which add up to thousands of dollars). Although, even before the show would've ended beforehand, there are notable events that left a pretty large gash on the fandom itself.

One of them happened to be the once-popular Everfree Network, which was formed in October 2011. It was very amazing and filled with shows and even live music played as well, including Saturday Night Songs with none other than Michelle Creber and the gang, led by FInalDraft, the founder(?) of Everfree Network. There was also a show by DustyKatt, with special guests aired as well too, along with the Cutie Art Crusaders, known for giving each art critique and such (all which were pre-recorded). The other was Elements of Harmony, which is was a live show consisting of remixed songs made by other artists. And OsakaJack as well, who lives in Japan before handing over his show to Dolcetikky and SakuraCheetah, who are both native Japanese, in order to keep said show going.

And things had started to gradually go downhill for the Everfree Network. Saturday Night Songs were no longer aired, most likely due to Michelle's career holding her back, including other real life things. Afterwards, the show ended silently. And as mentioned, OsakaJack was still around for a good while with his shows, but with his schedule being awfully tight (since he lives in Japan), he's handed the show over to the other two natives and after that, just like Saturday Night Songs, that show also ended silently; OsakaJack still tweets MLP stuff from time to time, though as for the show itself, it's long gone. And even other shows had basically stopped altogether and abandoned them entirely (including Elements of Harmony, whilst the Cutie Art Crusaders had soon migrated over to Picarto stream.

Soon after in 2014, Canterlot Hill took over the Everfree Network, and the Everfree Network was as good as discontinued as a form of an "upgrade", or so it seemed, according to FinalDraft himself. Canterlot Hill went off to a bad start, with notable shows being completely left out and pretty much, with Saturday Night Songs having ended altogether, Canterlot Hill was no more. Not only was it a huge shock, it left a huge blow in the fandom; it formed a scar that will never heal, no matter how many years it's passed.

The last show that remained standing was the Cutie Art Crusaders, which aired exclusively in Picarto, until the final episode (known as episode 189 in 2016), which officially marked the end of the last remaining shows aired in the MLP fandom. I loved their shows, as well as the other shows, but the finale left a hard pill to swallow for me. And their updates have long been ceased as of this year. Even though the show itself is still ongoing, it seems many of the popular shows had stopped airing and moved on.

 

So that's that. Even though the show itself is still going, along with the fanbase, I'm deeply reminded that the popular fan-made shows made by dedicated people had stepped down and stopped airing shows altogether as a result of either mismanagement or that they weren't getting much satisfaction despite their amazing effort. Sure the fandom is still going on, but as mentioned, it left a scar that's rather difficult to heal after the unforeseen events that has happened to them, which resulted them to close their livestream site indefinitely.

You are free to opinionate regarding the fandom's current fate, and what its future will hold.

[BastementSparkle 20,335]

I think the fandom's going to survive, it's definitely shrunk in size, and it's probably gonna keep doing that, but this show's had such a huge impact on so many people, I don't see the fandom outright dying or disappearing anytime soon. I think there's gonna be plenty of very loyal fans who stick around anyway for years, or even decades to come, we'll probably keep getting fanfic's and fanart for a long, long time too, even if it won't be quite as much anymore.

 Of course, there's also G5 to consider, but we have yet to see what effect that might have, especially on the G4 part of the fandom. It would hopefully bring a lot of new people in, and some old fans back, but I also hope said fans also take the time to check out G4 and that maybe they'll help to keep the love for this show going too, even as we get far into G5. Whether I end up liking G5 or not, I'd be a little upset if the fandom became all about it.

[Jon the VGNerd 894]

That I'm aware of. However, with Everfree Network/Canterlot Hill, including the Cutie Art Crusaders, no longer being produced, it still felt a pretty big blow, especially since they were very popular livestream shows back then too.

[EpicEnergy 23,254]

I think the fandom will continue to decline, but not die, at least not for a very long time.