How Accurately Do the Opinions of the Fandom as We See It Reflect the Views of the General Consensus on MLP Shows/Episodes?

[Misty Shadow 7,866]

I made a post fairly recently about how Tell Your Tale is bringing in new MLP fans with its immense popularity, they're just not joining sites like this. After I said that, I started looking over some stuff and wondering to myself, "How much of what we write on sites like this, Equestria Daily, and Derpibooru legitimately reflects the views of the general consensus of MLP fans who don't use these kinds of sites?". It's always been easy for me to readily ask, "When are the critics wrong?", when watching fan reviews of MLP shows and episodes on YouTube, but I've never really thought much about exactly how accurately the views of what we generally perceive as the fandom reflect the views of people watching MLP as a whole until now. I just kind of assumed that the fans besides us are "the kids", "MLP's target audience", but what if there are far more older fans watching MLP than we thought that are just not joining sites like this, thus leading us to get the wrong idea of what the general consensus on MLP shows and episodes of the shows actually is?

Season 6 of Friendship is Magic is commonly regarded as the show's downhill point, yet an upload of Flutter Brutter, one of the most controversial episodes of both that season and the show, is the most viewed month-old upload on Hasbro's official MLP channel by far. Pony Life has never been held in high regard by the fandom, yet it was able to get a second season despite Hasbro only expecting it to last a single season. TYT, I believe needs no introduction. I've already talked about Sparky's Sick, what many say to be the worst episode of the show, being a very popular episode with almost two million views on the official channel for TYT. I have been told that this is just a case of how "kids will watch anything"...but this is where things get interesting. You know how the two most recent TYT episodes, Hall-O-Marers and Tiny Trot, have been getting hit by a wave of negativity while the three episodes that preceded them were mostly met with high praise?

The numbers here seem to indicate that it's actually the opposite for the general consensus. Most viewers seem to not only actually really enjoy the last two episodes, they also seem to not look at the Pipp and Posey episode or the two latest Misty episodes as that much better than the average TYT episode. Given the fluctuating views, I don't think this is just a case of how "kids will watch anything", especially when the views of Buried in a Good Book and Written in the Starscouts do seem to line up with what we'd expect from an only reasonably good episode and one of the show's finest episodes respectively. Do you think there are more fans of MLP outside of its target demographic than we think who are just not coming to where we expect them to come to?

[Starlight Serenade 3,209]

I don't think MLPForums, Derpibooru, and Equestria Daily truly reflect the general consensus. They also shouldn't be relied upon for news, as I've seen multiple instances of misinformation on these sites in the past, but that's a topic for another time. When we consider the user numbers on these platforms, such as the forums with around 40K users (many of whom are inactive), only a small portion discusses G5 content daily. Initially, there was a mix of valid criticism and negativity, but lately, the staff seems to have made efforts to improve the situation, which is a welcome change.

While I agree that there are many and possibly more adult viewers of MLP than we think, the primary audience is composed of children. Based on what I've seen on the two official YouTube channels and what my little cousins have shown me on other social media platforms, it's clear that more children than adults are watching. My cousins showed me TikTok challenges and other G5 content geared towards kids. The previously mentioned sites seem to cater more to older viewers like teens and adults. Although there are some children on these websites, the number pales in comparison to the presence of children on social media. It's such a stark difference that it almost feels like a different fandom altogether when I saw it.

I've heard the argument that "kids will watch anything" as well, but the higher view counts and likes of better-received episodes suggest that kids can recognize quality as well. For instance, the TYT episode "A Swing and a Misty" has 99K views and 1.8K likes, whereas "Written in the Starscouts" has 1.1M views but only 6.7K likes. Then the "Sparky's Sick" episode has almost 2M views and only 717 likes, which is quite telling. This could indicate that some viewers might not favor characters like Pipp and Posey but enjoy others like Sparky, as seen in the examples. If an episode focuses on characters they don’t like, they probably won’t watch it—something I remember doing as a kid.

Another factor to consider for adults is conventions. The pandemic a few years ago significantly impacted attendance, and many conventions have either closed down or downsized due to generally low attendance nowadays. Conventions used to be a major gathering point for adult fans, providing a space to celebrate and discuss the show. There are many factors at play here too. There could be more adults watching the show than we realize, but they might assume that all the platforms are dominated by minors. With fewer conventions and reduced attendance, the adult fan community might seem less visible.

 

[Megas 27,624]

Opinions of the fandom absolutely do not reflect those of the general audience. General audiences do not take a lot of things on the show as seriously as the fandom, and no this doesn't mean the general audiences are stupid, it just means that a lot of things fans make a big deal out of just aren't as important to them