Why doesn’t anybody on the Internet talk about mlp as much as they used to in the past?

[phantompone1148 126]

I remember back in the day mlp was everywhere on the Internet. You couldn’t even escape it no matter where you went. Nowadays, it’s just not talked about as much as it used to be. Why is that?

Edited February 1, 2022 by phantompone1148

[Sparklefan1234 167,513]

1 minute ago, phantompone1148 said:

I remember back in the day friendship is magic was everywhere on the Internet. You couldn’t even escape it no matter where you went. Nowadays, it’s just not talked about as much as it used to be. Why is that?

 

I think it's because Friendship is Magic has been over for a couple of years and a lot of the fandom is getting excited for something new. 

[Megas 27,470]

It was a lot bigger back then, sometime between S3 and S5 things died down considerably

doesn’t help that the last few seasons weren’t very good either 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Megas

[AveryGamerDude 4,640]

I’d wager because the show is over.

[Misty Shadow 7,648]

It's been well over ten years since MLP was at the peak of its popularity. A lot changes in ten years, things come and go, and many have understandably moved on to talking about other stuff in the past decade. I especially understand why not so many people are talking about it now with our last new bit of big official content being the G5 premiere movie, but things should pick up again once we get more G5 media. 

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

Many people have jumped wagon, or simply moved onto new things. In part because the brony phenomenon stopped being a novelty. Also, responsibilities, priorities and interests shift over time. What may have been received well in the past, may not be so in the future. Or vice versa.

With G4 being over, there is not an ongoing stream of content to keep the interest around MLP. Other than the movie introducing G5. Which still remains to be seen whether it will capture the lightning like FiM.
It is very rare to achieve something like this twice in a row. But the possibility is always there, no matter how small it may seem. With the right intention, it is even possible to surpass G4. Still, even rarer. But not impossible. The will is the way of the magician. Timing is key in the co-creative process, and so is allowing yourself to flow with the current, in order to be taken where you need to go. To find home. Or even better. To be "home" wherever you go.

[SharpWit 2,562]

"It's not a phase mom!" But it was.

I'm the only person, in-person, in my life, that is a part of this Fandom. There were few to begin with, and they've all moved on to other things.

I won't leave the Fandom, but I also haven't formed any close relationships through it. Meanwhile, I can talk about Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Fallout, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, ect, with pretty much anyone at this point. Ponies require a different level of investment, with arguably very little payoff.

Technically I've distanced myself through procrastination of finishing the series and seeing the new movie. I'd be even more so if I could figure out how to translate the uniqueness of interactions between multiple sentient species as a story telling element that doesn't feel like it should be in traditional space opera or medieval fantasy, but the show has provided so much inspiration in that regard.

[HawkbitAlpha 46]

I'll put it a different way from the others: it's Radiator Springs. Most people have shinier new things to look at.

 

 

[Tom Gallagher 33,568]

I still see it around a fair amount but not to the extent it was a decade ago. The show's over and a lot of outsiders have kind of accepted the phase. I will still always act like it's at its peak.

[Prospekt 11,008]

That's just the nature of something popular. It peaks at a certain point and then people start moving on to other things. Those of us who were more dedicated or were lucky enough to discover the show later on have been the exception, but even so, people are bound to want something new. People's interests change over time. And the show has been over for a couple years now, so the new content has been limited while we wait for the proper G5 show to premiere. The only brony stuff I've seen get any significant attention on the internet over the past few years has been the MordeTwi meme on social media.

[JMTV99 1,352]

It's simple: it's just a passing fad. Things comes and go. People's interests has changed. As time goes on, they moved on to do other things. With Friendship is Magic already finished a couple of years ago, the kids (the target demographic) who watched FiM when it first came out are now in their late teens or early 20's.

Even with the G5 movie became very popular on Netflix for a while, I still don't think there's gonna be a huge resurgence of popularity like it was back in the day. 2011-2012 internet is a completely different world than we are in right now.

I don't know, things could change when the G5 specials and the series comes out, but other than that, I strongly doubt it.

[North Star 4,829]

I still can't get over how much people talk about MLP on the internet  

But anyway, as @Sparklefan1234 has said, FiM connected with a broad audience, some of whom got all excited and made sparkly pony content all over the net, in part because they were already familiar with the brand and couldn't believe they were being drawn into it.

But it's not as if bronies/MLP-fans have no net presence - the fandom is known and therefore new people keep getting drawn into its orbit, and then there's the enduring pony brand which had a pre-existing fanbase which feeds in too

[WildChildMirai 48]

I'd argue it isn't the passing fad like everyone says but rather the show is over, and people moving on the other new stuff to talk about, but i'm fairly confident that they still would talk about MLP if they wanted to.

[Justin_Case001 4,873]

Throughout my time here, I've seen so many people expressing grave concern about the state of the fandom.  Some worry about the future, some long for the glory days of the past, and some panic about apparent Pony fandom decline.  Frankly, I've never understood why anyone cares so much about that kind of thing.  I just don't see why it should worry or bother anyone.  What does it matter if others' interests shift to other things?  What difference does it make to your own enjoyment of something?  All the fan-made content is still there online for your consuming pleasure.  It hasn't gone anywhere.  Sure, production of that content will slow down and eventually taper off, and people won't talk about it quite so much, but that's to be expected with anything.  After all these years, what's left to say?  The show's been over for awhile, and for better or worse every inch of it's been analyzed to death.  Of course people's interests will move to other things, but that's nothing to fret over.  It doesn't mean that it was some frivolous, passing fad that's now left for dead in ditch.  Fans still love the show, but that doesn't mean everyone's gonna continue to immerse themselves in it 24-7-365, and that's okay.

I like to make comparisons to other shows or movies when it comes to this issue.  Think about other wildly popular shows, movies, and franchises.  I like to use something like Lord of the Rings as a go to example.  I think it's the perfect example.  The books have been out for like 100 years or whatever, the live action movies have been finished for... what is it, like, 15 years now?  Of course it's not going to stay at peak popularity forever.  Everyone has seen it/read it and moved on, but that doesn't mean it's dead and forgotten.  It's still the greatest fantasy epic of all time, and everyone loves it!  We don't need to talk about it every day for that to stay true.  But the difference is that I don't see people fretting and panicking about a declining LOTR fandom.  Well, maybe they are for all I know.  I'm not a member of any LOTR forums.  But I really doubt anyone is losing sleep over it.  Why should Pony be any different?  Other people, and what they're doing, not doing, talking about or not talking about, need not have any affect on your enjoyment of something.  So, everyone just chill out and stop worrying about this stuff.

[sourheartz 38]

i'd guess its because since the series ended a lot of the people who were so into it before kinda fell off or got older and stopped caring? its hard to really know why but i do kinda miss how massive the fandom was a bit

[Scarlet02 493]

I would assume it's just long-time fans getting tired of the fandom which happened to me once but that was because my ex was influencing my decisions a lot. Now I choose to stay a part of the fandom even though I don't watch the show anymore since I find the MLP community, or at the community on this forum, very positive and welcoming to everyone.

[Stancet 683]

I know exactly what you're talking about, but there is another angle that nobody has mentioned.

From 2010 to 2014 the interest was huge because we Bronies thought we were going to change the world (I know because I lived it). We believed the message of friendship and love would fix the world's problems. Somewhere along the way we had a rude awaking and realized it wasn't going to work. I've suspected it was sometime after the Los Pegasus Unicon disaster of 2013.

I'm not saying our intentions were bad. I don't even know what I'm trying to say but ponies just couldn't be our whole lives anymore after a certain point.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Stancet

[JMTV99 1,352]

3 hours ago, Stancet said:

I've suspected it was sometime after the Los Pegasus Unicon disaster of 2013.

Don't forget Twilicorn.

[North Star 4,829]

 

8 hours ago, Stancet said:

I know exactly what you're talking about, but there is another angle that nobody has mentioned.

From 2010 to 2014 the interest was huge because we Bronies thought we were going to change the world (I know because I lived it). We believed the message of friendship and love would fix the world's problems. Somewhere along the way we had a rude awaking and realized it wasn't going to work. I've suspected it was sometime after the Los Pegasus Unicon disaster of 2013.

I'm not saying our intentions were bad. I don't even know what I'm trying to say but ponies just couldn't be our whole lives anymore after a certain point.

like hay we didn't change the world

 

ok maybe 'the world' is more a perception thing, but putting a smile on anyone's face can mean the world  

[Splashee 28,558]

11 hours ago, Stancet said:

I've suspected it was sometime after the Los Pegasus Unicon disaster of 2013.

I forgot that incident.

It seems a lot of people were scammed, believing of a righteous cause. There were daily charity donation trains going on as well. Eventually, people do run out of money. I think the whole "we are going to change the world" was a big factor of this, since even John de Lancie knew where to be at the right time, to cash in on the phenomena that was Bronies (see Jenny's video, https://youtu.be/4fVOF2PiHnc?t=2437)

[Stancet 683]

8 hours ago, Splashee said:

I forgot that incident.

It seems a lot of people were scammed, believing of a righteous cause. There were daily charity donation trains going on as well. Eventually, people do run out of money. I think the whole "we are going to change the world" was a big factor of this, since even John de Lancie knew where to be at the right time, to cash in on the phenomena that was Bronies (see Jenny's video, https://youtu.be/4fVOF2PiHnc?t=2437)

Since I'm a lot older and wiser than I was back in those days I choose not to be cynical. We were trying to promote a cause with genuinely good intentions. And yes, some people inside the fandom did think of the phenomena as a cash grab (and what movement doesn't have such people when opportunity arrives). 

Actually, I believe that when G5 goes into serious production we'll see more Brony activity if the new series is good.

[Will Guide 21,357]

On 2022-02-02 at 6:30 AM, Stancet said:

Los Pegasus Unicon disaster of 2013.

 

12 hours ago, Splashee said:

I forgot that incident.

It seems a lot of people were scammed, believing of a righteous cause.

What are you two talking about with those?

Personally I joined the fandom officially on April 2013 right in between Twilight becoming an Alicorn and the first Equestria Girls film. And ironically I heard about the show not because of what I heard Bronies or Twicorn or anything like that on the internet but because it was referenced in a satire of MAD episode on Cartoon Network around 2011

You see one episode made it look like it was mocking the movie Cowboys and Aliens from around 2011. First by making it look like it's crossing over Cowboys and Aliens with Ben 10 Alien Force by having the main character wearing Ben 10's Omnitrix called "Cowboys and Aliens Force" but then in place of the original aliens, a swarm of ponies showed up and then they changed the title to "Cowboys and Equestrians". "Wait didn't we do the title card already?" Then at one point when the main character had silly bands on the title appeared once more saying "Cowboys and Silly Bands" with the characters lampshade that they did the title card already! Eventually the parody ended by revealing the lead lady was Applejack in disguise (I'm assuming in the original cowboy and alien movie the female lead turned out to be an alien) and both the cowboy lead and Applejack were then kidnapped by the real "aliens" which turned out to be the director of the Cowboys and Alien movie looking for the perfect writer to make his Western sci-fi crossover story a reality and the cowboy lead kind said "it's a mashup of two genre they do on MAD all the time" the title card appeared one last time when the director found the perfect writer in MAD's mascot Alfred E Newman. The final line is the cowboy lead hope they forget this and the movie seems to ultimately be called "Cowboys And Alfred's"

TL;DR I was first made aware of Friendship is Magic through a MAD parody satire that half of the time doesn't know what they're satirizing; just going off with what little information they know. And in the summer 2012 I at least took a look at the first two episodes but didn't actually binge watch the show and tell April of 2013 and the rest is history. Back in 2011 the FiM show was still popular and relatively new enough to satirize but nowadays it's not really a big deal anymore

[Stancet 683]

1 hour ago, Will Guide said:

 

What are you two talking about with those?

Personally I joined the fandom officially on April 2013 right in between Twilight becoming an Alicorn and the first Equestria Girls film. And ironically I heard about the show not because of what I heard Bronies or Twicorn or anything like that on the internet but because it was referenced in a satire of MAD episode on Cartoon Network around 2011

You see one episode made it look like it was mocking the movie Cowboys and Aliens from around 2011. First by making it look like it's crossing over Cowboys and Aliens with Ben 10 Alien Force by having the main character wearing Ben 10's Omnitrix called "Cowboys and Aliens Force" but then in place of the original aliens, a swarm of ponies showed up and then they changed the title to "Cowboys and Equestrians". "Wait didn't we do the title card already?" Then at one point when the main character had silly bands on the title appeared once more saying "Cowboys and Silly Bands" with the characters lampshade that they did the title card already! Eventually the parody ended by revealing the lead lady was Applejack in disguise (I'm assuming in the original cowboy and alien movie the female lead turned out to be an alien) and both the cowboy lead and Applejack were then kidnapped by the real "aliens" which turned out to be the director of the Cowboys and Alien movie looking for the perfect writer to make his Western sci-fi crossover story a reality and the cowboy lead kind said "it's a mashup of two genre they do on MAD all the time" the title card appeared one last time when the director found the perfect writer in MAD's mascot Alfred E Newman. The final line is the cowboy lead hope they forget this and the movie seems to ultimately be called "Cowboys And Alfred's"

TL;DR I was first made aware of Friendship is Magic through a MAD parody satire that half of the time doesn't know what they're satirizing; just going off with what little information they know. And in the summer 2012 I at least took a look at the first two episodes but didn't actually binge watch the show and tell April of 2013 and the rest is history. Back in 2011 the FiM show was still popular and relatively new enough to satirize but nowadays it's not really a big deal anymore

I'm not sure about all that.

Back in 2013, Twilight transforming into an alicorn was very controversial amongst the Bronies (for various reason). I personally didn't mind, but the following Equestria Girls movie also caught the fandom at a bad time because nobody wanted a My Little Pony movie about teenage girls instead of ponies. And then there was Los Pegasus Unicon which suffered mismanagement (at its best) and money scamming (at its worst). 

To make a long story short, I believe that's when Bronies realized they had internal problems that needed to be fixed. A true historian would probably know the details better but that is how I interpreted the signs when I was living during those years.

[Scarlet02 493]

14 hours ago, Splashee said:

I forgot that incident.

It seems a lot of people were scammed, believing of a righteous cause. There were daily charity donation trains going on as well. Eventually, people do run out of money. I think the whole "we are going to change the world" was a big factor of this, since even John de Lancie knew where to be at the right time, to cash in on the phenomena that was Bronies (see Jenny's video, https://youtu.be/4fVOF2PiHnc?t=2437)

Yikes! Don't mean to reply randomly but when you said scamming people, I couldn't help myself. I knew there was some shady stuff happening during that time period but I didn't now the details so I didn't wanna jump to conclusions too hastily at the time. I was never a part of the actual fandom at that time and since I was really young, I was more interested in the show itself more than anything so I didn't even know this sort of stuff happened but I'm glad it's not happening anymore. I hate people who use charity as a way to scam people since if it were in the hands of people wanting to do some good, it could of actually helped some organizations who use the money to make a difference in the world. Well it's all in the past now but jeez, that's crazy. 

[Stancet 683]

1 hour ago, Scarlet02 said:

Yikes! Don't mean to reply randomly but when you said scamming people, I couldn't help myself. I knew there was some shady stuff happening during that time period but I didn't now the details so I didn't wanna jump to conclusions too hastily at the time. I was never a part of the actual fandom at that time and since I was really young, I was more interested in the show itself more than anything so I didn't even know this sort of stuff happened but I'm glad it's not happening anymore. I hate people who use charity as a way to scam people since if it were in the hands of people wanting to do some good, it could of actually helped some organizations who use the money to make a difference in the world. Well it's all in the past now but jeez, that's crazy. 

I remember several of the celebrity guests were feeling really sorry for the first-time convention goers. It's true, there was shady business going on and I don't know if we completely understand what happened but we have enough of the puzzle pieces.