What were the biggest issues in MLP community in the last 10 years?

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

I’m conducting a personal project related to controversies and commotions in MLP community, what do you think were the biggest issues? (Negatively)

I think of the fandom’s minority complex, inappropriate fan-work, resentment among fandom about the show, bigotry about Bronies, the show’s decline, the fandom’s fear of negativity, polarizing reactions towards EQG.

Can you think of some and elaborate? It doesn’t have to be correct, it just has to capture the stream of collective consciousness of MLP fandom or the other people.

[SharpWit 2,472]

An old friend of mine who was one of the ones that got me into the show once told me about a brony group at a different school that would of all things, bully people for not being into the show themselves.

There was the intensity of the targeting against the Fandom by some of what we'd now call Far/Alt-Right groups, namely over accusations of homosexuality of any participants.

The openess of the Cloppers, sharing their thoughts and images of fantasies at every opportunity. Some may have been trolling, but others just had no shame.

Beef between content creators. Most notable that I recall was creative differences between some involved on Magic is Witchcraft, and especially a rapper known as Yelling At Cats or Twilight the Dictator. I could be wrong, but I believe they cut his mic at a con when he began singing a song that had lyrics threatening another creator present. His music was also filled with colorful and graphic language involving the ponies, and he mistreated his own fans on multiple occasions. I still enjoyed many of his songs though.

There's the still ongoing issue of child characters from the show being sexualized and a sect of the "kindersexual" or whatever they were called, group trying to include themselves when they're just pedophiles. They're better known for trying to associate with the LGBTQ movement.

Personal observances for many would be the shipping wars, but I'd like to add the sect of the Fandom that I'd consider too cutesy wutesy. Basically 0w0 types.

There's also the Far/Alt-Right types who've come around to the Fandom and are serious in their beliefs and don't just make jokes like creating a  pro-confederate Applejack as an example. Also Incels, lol.

That's all I've got for now.

[Megas 27,048]

You got a lot of genuinely terrible people from Nazis to Pedos(REMEMBER TOONKRITIC?)

Also people being too open about being aroused and not at least keeping it to themselves

[King of Canterlot 9,588]

Personally when I think about big issues that the fandom has faced, I think of the whole Twilicorn meltdown that happened after the season three finale aired. It caused a massive rift to form in the fandom over those who liked the new Alicorn Twilight and those who opposed Alicorn Twilight and thought that "she was better before she got wings". This issue caused many to leave the fandom they were so upset by it. In fact there are still some former members of the fandom who refuse to watch MLP to this very day only because of the fact that Twilight has wings now. There are also still people in this fandom who refuse to accept Alicorn Twilight as being cannon, dismissing any seasons after three as being "not cannon". I for one, welcome our purple pony princess overlord   

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

10 hours ago, King of Canterlot said:

Personally when I think about big issues that the fandom has faced, I think of the whole Twilicorn meltdown that happened after the season three finale aired. It caused a massive rift to form in the fandom over those who liked the new Alicorn Twilight and those who opposed Alicorn Twilight and thought that "she was better before she got wings". This issue caused many to leave the fandom they were so upset by it. In fact there are still some former members of the fandom who refuse to watch MLP to this very day only because of the fact that Twilight has wings now. There are also still people in this fandom who refuse to accept Alicorn Twilight as being cannon, dismissing any seasons after three as being "not cannon". I for one, welcome our purple pony princess overlord   

ISNT IT AMAZING NOW I HAVE PRINCESS WINGS

[Cl0udChaser 3,006]

11 hours ago, King of Canterlot said:

Personally when I think about big issues that the fandom has faced, I think of the whole Twilicorn meltdown that happened after the season three finale aired. It caused a massive rift to form in the fandom over those who liked the new Alicorn Twilight and those who opposed Alicorn Twilight and thought that "she was better before she got wings". This issue caused many to leave the fandom they were so upset by it. In fact there are still some former members of the fandom who refuse to watch MLP to this very day only because of the fact that Twilight has wings now. There are also still people in this fandom who refuse to accept Alicorn Twilight as being cannon, dismissing any seasons after three as being "not cannon". I for one, welcome our purple pony princess overlord   

I remember people saying that back then. There are bronies that was known like SaberSpark, ACRacebest, BlackGryph0n, and etc. refuse to stop watching MLP: FiM.

[Ittoni 536]

On 8/10/2020 at 10:02 PM, King of Canterlot said:

Personally when I think about big issues that the fandom has faced, I think of the whole Twilicorn meltdown that happened after the season three finale aired. It caused a massive rift to form in the fandom over those who liked the new Alicorn Twilight and those who opposed Alicorn Twilight and thought that "she was better before she got wings". This issue caused many to leave the fandom they were so upset by it. In fact there are still some former members of the fandom who refuse to watch MLP to this very day only because of the fact that Twilight has wings now. There are also still people in this fandom who refuse to accept Alicorn Twilight as being cannon, dismissing any seasons after three as being "not cannon". I for one, welcome our purple pony princess overlord   

Hey, I understand the backlash twi got because of the wings. Even to this day I think her ascension was too quick and many of the lessons she learned later could have been learned without her being a declared princess (which includes the wings, that's what they represent). In fact, it's evident in the show that she was not prepared and that she had a lot of misteps as THE princess of friendship because she didn't really learned enough to deserve the title yet. 

Also coming from the "this entire 50 episode season happens in about one or two days time in the show" era, yeah personally I'm used to have big character development over years and years expecting that the grand finale will be that moment of realization and permanent growth, because twilight felt like she had a lot to change from borderline misanthrope (misequius? ) to the incarnation of the magic of friendship (also before anyone mentions it, i'm aware that is not an epic show, it's a cartoon for little girls that doesn't follow that narrative, but really? can you really say that about the show that precisely wanted to defy that stereotype?). And yeah, you can have your character still learning after and forgetting and have to relearn some things but twi started to act in a way that made sense with her "arc" until season 8. It's a structural mess. And you can see that in season 4 when in the show the writers don't know what to do with her for quite a while. It feels more as if Celestia is manipulating her into a roll she can't handle for her own benefit, that's why it's a joke that exists (which i mean, i'm not complaining from that side effect because it makes it more hilarious to me to think that the story is not so happy as it seems).

Still. I kept watching the show because I wanted to see what where they would go with it, sane like other people that stayed even with the saltness of it, and they did a couple of good things with her as a princess, but most of the time it feels like she's just there to have the title and smile and wave and act normal with the occasional princess role along the usual save the world, being a princess (incarnation of friendship) is not part of her development for the most part because she doesn't internalize it and keeps failing at it, again, up until season 8. She's a princess, an important one, with a castle and she doesn't even have a staff... It doesn't make sense. Not even Candy was left to the side like that. Unless it was just to sell toys of twilicorn as fast as possible, and it does feel like that, and at the point of the show's higher point seeing that felt like a jab to the heart because the show pointed at something richer but it was cut short because of the higher powers that were at that time finally getting their claws on the franchise's potential. Later seasons became pandering and unfocused.

Anyway I do not condone the bulling or the overblown rage that it spout. That's just ridiculous and childish from the people that got too mad about it to the point of hurting others because of it or send death threats and stupid shit like that. And I would dare say that those that get to that extreme actually need mental help because it's not healthy in any circumstances, it's too much to be a thing that sane people would do. And they were probably few but loud enough to make people sensationalize over them and think it was a reaction to mock over and say "oh I'm better than you because I didn't get mad at all and I even liked the change, look how not mad I am" like some kind of sick game of besting the other. The reaction on every side was terrible.

Aside from that and getting back to topic. I think the most controversy stuff in the fandom would be those things that go outside the fandom into the public like the LGBT shaming, bullying in general, sexualizing stuff, and the pedophilia. Which tbh I don't blame the show or the fans for it at all, it's all because we are human beings, and we as species are very very disappointing no matter the context . There's always going to be that but unfortunately there's places that attract those people more because it is innocent and good and want to do better precisely. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Ittoni

[Ittoni 536]

One incident thought that really caught my attention was the infamous episode "Fame and misfortune" because it's funny that it's the first time I see a show responding and not only that but attacking their own audience for things that, at least for some of the ones referenced in the episode itself, were valid points of criticism that later were properly addressed and tackled but not before the circus that was that.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Ittoni

[Splashee 28,537]

There wasn't really a failure within the community, but the way Hasbro went with the shows direction in Season 3. You know the story already. Short season, wings, Equestria Girls (absolutely not colorful ponies or Lauren Faust ideas).

As for the Bronies, there was that Las Pegasus Unicon thing in 2013 that really messed up the situation as well.

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

7 minutes ago, Splashee® said:

There wasn't really a failure within the community, but the way Hasbro went with the shows direction in Season 3. You know the story already. Short season, wings, Equestria Girls (absolutely not colorful ponies or Lauren Faust ideas).

As for the Bronies, there was that Las Pegasus Unicon thing in 2013 that really messed up the situation as well.

Oh yeah, Las Pegasus Unicon. What a mess. Fun times.

I gotta agree with splashers, season 3 was a huge drama for the fandom. People incist on getting salty at those who jumped off, but as a veteran myself, I admit they were right on many of their arguments. They used to fear for the overall quality of upcomming seasons, and boy where they right. Twilicorn was the end of the golden age. The fall from the zenith. The beginning of decay. The season was eh at best but the finale killed the passion for almost everypony from 2010 and early 2011. And after the damn episode aired, the fandom lost tons of bronies. Not those posers nor hasdrones, but the actual bronies from the early days. The best artists started to flee because the show was not what it once was. And I admit it. The show became less and less enjoyable even if I love season 7. It just kept doing fan pandering to stay afloat. Then the furries that had been bashing at us for 2 years started to join massively and the clop grew terribly fast. Afterwards the lgbt community took over the fandom as some sort of base thanks to Steven Universe's growth and the veterans that remained either joined the newbloods in their PC stepfordsmillerville or isolated themselves back to /mlp/ or simply went to standby and many never came back and forgot about pony.

The game dev scene died away through that transition between FiM and Nu mlp (saw the scene convulse and lots of devs drop projects for good in just a few months) and the musical scene lost many big characters as they grew out of ponies.

The fandom was never the same.

Now, is funny people got so upset on the yelling at cats thing, since the hip hop scene is full of rivalry and dazing. I think it was an insult to cut the mic to a hip hop singer mid daze. But is not like if the musical scene in the fandom wasn't full of douchebags and oversensitive people. The lgbt impulse that reached the musical scene had a negative effect on it. You'd be surprised to know how many dramas happened within the scene due people not agreeing with the most sensitive members, and how many musicians hold grudges against other musicians due either rejection, failed romances or disagreement on gender ideology. There's also the typical envy some people hold on sogreatandpowerful or other known musicians, too. All that toxicity and the rampant power abuse when one holds horsefame has made the musical scene one of the worst parts of the fandom. Honestly, is better to stay away from the famous guys than to hang out with them, with very few exceptions such as princewhateverer and vylet who are really chill. Of course, that's little known because their circlejerking is quite hermetic and most hold their grudges and backstabbing away from the public eye. Many play the chill rockstar role publicly.

So hey, ever heard of that one time BABSCon had a crabs problem? A couple years ago some people at babscon thought it was an amazing idea to have an orgy in one of the best rooms they had access to, but it turned out someone had crabs and sometime after the con one of the participants made a post on tumblr to let the others know they had catched crabs during the orgy. That there is why some veterans still call babscon crabscon.

[Vefka 1,499]

I think rivals between bronies. It almost gone now, but I remember when the community were divided to: paladins, darks, cloppers and "fairys". Paladins couldn't get how darks can mix adult themes with mlp, darks mocked paladins for being too childish, etc

[Splashee 28,537]

I predict things will get rather bad between new and old fans when G5 comes out. Hopefully I am wrong.

[Landi 597]

I think the seed to the issues in the fandom is actually the show itself. It started with twilight getting wings. Many people, including me, realized how rushed and unconventional it was. And it was so early in the show too. Many people left the fandom because of it. Other fought and argued which started this haze of conflict that...never really left.

Then there was Equestria Girls. This abomination is actually what caused me to temporarily leave the fandom. Just like Twilicorn, this caused many others to also leave the fandom and argue. 

Many people dislike season six (I thought s6 was alright; Not the best, not the worst), and that caused people to leave. They felt that the show had lost a lot of its quality. Then there was season eight which truly was a step-down in quality. Again, conflict arose and people left. It's like a pattern.

On top of that is Hasbro. Because they kept shutting content creators down and handing out cease and desist letters, the creative part of the fandom started to dwindle. Hard to create when you have a money-hungry company on your back. Like I said, the fandom has issues, but many of them start with the show itself.

[Splashee 28,537]

22 hours ago, Landi72 said:

On top of that is Hasbro. Because they kept shutting content creators down and handing out cease and desist letters, the creative part of the fandom started to dwindle. Hard to create when you have a money-hungry company on your back. Like I said, the fandom has issues, but many of them start with the show itself.

That was the biggest problem by far. Shutting down the big fan projects. Remember Fighting is Magic? I really mean it, the real Fighting is Magic before it was changed, how much effort was put into it, it was ridiculously good!

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

On 9/4/2020 at 6:04 PM, Splashee® said:

That was the biggest problem by far. Shutting down the big fan projects. Remember Fighting is Magic? I really mean it, the real Fighting is Magic before it was changed, how much effort was put into it, it was ridiculously good!

Great project, no way to forget about it. I have been playing around with their animations, and boy, were they detailed! Just the idle aj takes more than 20 frames of animation. That's a lot, more if you take in consideration they were making the game on fighter maker 2k. And while that one is one of the most known projects, the paranoia infected other devs. You guys remember the Story of the blanks remake and how the devs decided to change a whole lot of stuff due fear of a C&D?

And not only did hasbro hit hard on us devs, but on animators too. Like what happened with imatoonlink (later known as vivareverie). Dude had to drop the pointies because of hasbro's pressure, and then he also took a whole different pony style. Then we also can recall how the Button mash's adventures series died before it could reach the second episode due copyright claims from hasbro. And the story goes.

[AppleButt 8,669]

I remember when there was like a big beef between furries and bronies haha.   Good times. 

[PCutter 127]

On 9/4/2020 at 8:16 AM, Landi72 said:

Many people dislike season six (I thought s6 was alright; Not the best, not the worst), and that caused people to leave. They felt that the show had lost a lot of its quality. Then there was season eight which truly was a step-down in quality. Again, conflict arose and people left. It's like a pattern.

And I was RIGHT THERE during the s6 schism. Don't get me started on the emotional pain.

Edited September 9, 2020 by PCutter

[Petrograd Capital 153]

the show itself, civil strife.