Shouldn't we have gotten bat ponies by now?

[Steve Piranha 28,779]

Ok, we got breezies, hippogriffs/seaponies, middle eastern ponies, and now dragon ponies. Don't you think we are overdue with a non background  bat pony considering the show will probably  be ending next year?

[ManaMinori 4,143]

perhaps. But I think the fandom has since come to accept that we'll never see them front and center. That's fine by me, as it allows for more headcanon.

[SharpWit 2,472]

Yes,,, 

And they had the perfect opportunity when they went to Hollow Shades in "Shadow Play" but NOPE!

[ManaMinori 4,143]

5 minutes ago, SharpWit said:

Yes,,, 

And they had the perfect opportunity when they went to Hollow Shades in "Shadow Play" but NOPE!

to be fair, there was already a LOT of lore and continuity being force-fed during Shadow play. The long-awaited reveal of of Star swirl, origins on the Tree of Harmony, a new villain, semi-lore on the pillars' artifacts.

Edited September 30, 2018 by Nightmare Muffin

[Sparklefan1234 161,867]

Wasn't Flutterbat technically a batpony? 

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

So we need an adorable one like this?

 

 

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

Considering the only time we've seen "Batponies" was with the guards pulling Luna's chariot, I think they might not even be a real race, and they were just special guards for Luna, possibly with a spell or something to make them look like that, or just wearing a costume along with their armor, maybe they were even just for Nightmare Night.

The only other instance of a batpony was Flutterbat, but that was caused by a big spell mistake and she became all animalistic and unintelligent, nopony ever even mentioned more intelligent bat ponies at any point. Which just makes me think again, that they aren't real and only exist as the result of spells, or perhaps costumes, Shy did dress up as Flutterbat once too.

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

We've seen them twice. In Luna Eclipsed and Cutie Remark Part 2. But not since.

i don't think it's gonna happen. With so much investment into new creatures for S8, I don't think Hasbro want to deal with the very fan oriented race of Thestrals. 

[Goat-kun 2,498]

If I say "Yes" would that change anything? H-Bro is H-Bro. In fact, it's better this way so that evil no-good forumgoers like me can have an easier time dominating the community with their own bat pony fanon. Without lore to booster their defenses, there is no hope left of the fanboys. Now watch helplessly as the gates of true Tartarus open in earnest!

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

I agree that we should have an episode about bat ponies before the show wraps up, especially since Flutterbat is just a loose end waiting to be tied. If we were able to finally get to see the Pony of Shadows after he was foreshadowed in a cliffhanger, I don't see why we shouldn't get to see Flutterbat again alongside a whole onslaught of bat ponies.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

25 minutes ago, BasementSparkle said:

Considering the only time we've seen "Batponies" was with the guards pulling Luna's chariot, I think they might not even be a real race, and they were just special guards for Luna, possibly with a spell or something to make them look like that, or just wearing a costume along with their armor, maybe they were even just for Nightmare Night.

The Batponies were Lauren's idea from what I remember, and they allegedly lived deep within mountain caves, so were adapted to life in near total darkness.

Edited September 30, 2018 by bornAgainEquestrian

[Sazama Ichida 2,352]

And I'd love from vamponies to be a thing as well. Too bad that won't happen. It would be doable. They would just need to use tomato juice or fruit juice in place of blood.

[Steve Piranha 28,779]

1 hour ago, Denim&Venom said:

We've seen them twice. In Luna Eclipsed and Cutie Remark Part 2. But not since.

i don't think it's gonna happen. With so much investment into new creatures for S8, I don't think Hasbro want to deal with the very fan oriented race of Thestrals. 

We still got the quirin yesterday tho

1 hour ago, BasementSparkle said:

Considering the only time we've seen "Batponies" was with the guards pulling Luna's chariot, I think they might not even be a real race, and they were just special guards for Luna, possibly with a spell or something to make them look like that, or just wearing a costume along with their armor, maybe they were even just for Nightmare Night.

The only other instance of a batpony was Flutterbat, but that was caused by a big spell mistake and she became all animalistic and unintelligent, nopony ever even mentioned more intelligent bat ponies at any point. Which just makes me think again, that they aren't real and only exist as the result of spells, or perhaps costumes, Shy did dress up as Flutterbat once too.

Not quite, as it's pretty likely that Nightmare Moon's guard, other than Dashie, where bats as well if we judge by the tips of their ears (which have extra fur, something Dashie lacks, even with the helmet on). Not to mention it's a perfect example for this trope in play

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CadreOfForeignBodyguards

You can see that Starlight owned a bat alicorn plushie in The Parent Map as well

57 minutes ago, bornAgainEquestrian said:

The Batponies were Lauren's idea from what I remember, and they allegedly lived deep within mountain caves, so were adapted to life in near total darkness.

And apparently, they are all also from a foreign land, even Luna's guards, who she rescued from a dragon and they've sworn service since according to a book

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

Just now, Steve Piranha said:

We still got the quirin yesterday tho

Kirin aren't exactly as popular among the community as Thestrals, and even then they don't really look anything like the fan interpretations. 

Kinda how they got away with Hippogriffs. 

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

8 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Not quite, as it's pretty likely that Nightmare Moon's guard, other than Dashie, where bats as well if we judge by the tips of their ears (which have extra fur, something Dashie lacks, even with the helmet on). Not to mention it's a perfect example for this trope in play

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CadreOfForeignBodyguards

You can see that Starlight owned a bat alicorn plushie in The Parent Map as well

Okay, forgot about the alternate timeline having bat ponies too. The bat Alicorn plushie doesn't mean much, we have plenty of plushies of things that don't actually exist, but the alternate timeline is good evidence, if it was just a spell or something, then Rainbow would probably have it as well. At this point though, there's still so little known about them in the show that almost everything about them is basically headcanon, besides how they look and seemingly being Luna/Nightmare Moon's guard of choice.

 Hopefully we get a season 9 episode to clear things up then.

 

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

It'd be cool if they'd played with the idea that it was a race Luna brought back with her from the Moon. The earliest "moon hoax" story by a tabloid newspaper depicted the dominant species being some kind of bat-winged humanoid. Not linking the pics here because there's nudity in those old drawings.

I always wonder what it was like up there. Does the lunar surface look just like Earth's moon? Or is it something far more interesting and just still happens to be that same drab gray?

Edited September 30, 2018 by bornAgainEquestrian

[Steve Piranha 28,779]

35 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

Kirin aren't exactly as popular among the community as Thestrals, and even then they don't really look anything like the fan interpretations. 

Kinda how they got away with Hippogriffs. 

But they still were a mildly popular fanon before being official, so were hippogriffs, and we got both of them. How come that the oldest and most popular alt race of ponies aren't further explored at this point ?

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

5 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

But they still were a mildly popular fanon before being official, so were hippogriffs, and we got both of them. How come that the oldest and most popular alt race of ponies aren't further explored at this point ?

Princely that. They are the oldest and most popular, and thus Hasbro don't want to upset the fandom with their differing interpretation. 

That and maybe they're cheapskates and don't want to make entirely new molds for bat pony toys. 

[SharpWit 2,472]

2 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

to be fair, there was already a LOT of lore and continuity being force-fed during Shadow play. The long-awaited reveal of of Star swirl, origins on the Tree of Harmony, a new villain, semi-lore on the pillars' artifacts.

I don't know what you mean by long awaited reveal. I assumed the grand wizard was dead up until that point and everything else came up rather unexpectedly.

Relating to further discussion down this topic, I used to think batponies were just spells or costumes as well until I saw the tweet where someone asked  M.A. Larson about them and he considered them to be a different race, as did Lauren Faust prior to either of them leaving.

Also as awesome as Flutterbat was, that's very different from a batpony.

21 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

Princely that. They are the oldest and most popular, and thus Hasbro don't want to upset the fandom with their differing interpretation. 

The episode wouldn't even have to focus on them, just an appearance, a chance to see them having adjusted to doing more than just serving Luna.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

28 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

Princely that. They are the oldest and most popular, and thus Hasbro don't want to upset the fandom with their differing interpretation.

Ehh, you mean like Starswirl after a nearly infinite amount of speculation about him?

[Denim&Venöm 16,510]

3 minutes ago, bornAgainEquestrian said:

Ehh, you mean like Starswirl after a nearly infinite amount of speculation about him?

That's one individual. Who has been repeatedly referenced in show and in comics. He's kinda been a part of the show, without being a part of the show. 

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

We have bat ponies technically. They are in the lunar guard.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

4 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

That's one individual. Who has been repeatedly referenced in show and in comics. He's kinda been a part of the show, without being a part of the show. 

Still, after so many head-CANON's building around him, there was no way they were going to bring him in as a character without taking a huge risk. Same goes for a lot of the BG ponies, really, and they weren't worried about making Slice of Life.

3 minutes ago, TwilySparky said:

We have bat ponies technically. They are in the lunar guard.

Yeah... those are the bat ponies, but there's been no official explanation about where they come from or why we never see them outside of that role.

Edited September 30, 2018 by bornAgainEquestrian

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

Just now, bornAgainEquestrian said:

Yeah... those are the bat ponies, but there's been no official explanation about where they come from or why we never see them outside of that role.

The show still has a bit of life left in it, so there could possibly be more about it in the future.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

What can be told about these bat ponies?

Which main character(s) would interact with them?

Other than fan pandering, what can be gained from their introduction instead of the expansion of an already introduced species?

I think that introducing bat ponies could be good, but I would rather have an expansion on changelings, kirins or gryphons (which seem to keep being a distrustful society), than another "new" species.