an old guy is sad about the pony show

[Ishmael 42]

Since posting my other thread, I decided to go beyond just rewatching a few favorite episodes out of the series. I started from the beginning, the long-lost era of 2010 and the first season. I'm glad I did, even though my motivation for doing so was to delay watching the entire series for a little longer, because I knew that would make me sad. Maybe this is absurd for a guy in his 50s, but I don't recall having such warm feelings for a show--not even as a kid watching the original Star Trek. 

I've finished rewatching season 7, rewatched a Youtube clip version of the 2017 movie (first saw it on Bluray from the library), and just started season 8. Each 22 minutes is a respite from being older, from realizing my 40s are over, from all the horrible things going on in the world I'm powerless to do anything about, but I feel the moral injury just the same. 

But it does sadden me a little to realize that I'll soon come to the end of the show. There won't be anything new to look forward to, though I suppose I could try to find the comics. (My partner's son bought me one of the Twilight combination issues as a joke. The art is a little underwhelming, but the writing is in keeping with the show.) I suppose I'm a little like some people I remember from high school, and later college--those people who hung on to childhood or school for as long as they could, knowing once that door closed, you could never really go back. The first time only happens once. Or, as my AA friends say, the clock only ticks forward. 

I don't have anything to say, or ask for. I suppose it's more comfortable to post about this to online strangers than talk to my (understanding) therapist. Things have to end, and I suppose this is a reflection on how I've come to this place. Rewatching the first seasons, I remember watching some episodes in 2011-2013, when I was freshly divorced and coming into my own in a way I don't think I ever really had before. When I had the idea to start watching the show again about a year ago, I'm not sure what exactly spurred it, but I was still recovering from my stroke, and it's easy to understand wanting something bright, innocent and positive. Now I'm 15 months since then, and aside from some lingering stiffness in my feet I can't ever quite fully stretch out, I'm recovered. My only real problem is intractable insomnia that is at last coming under control (the CPAP is as life-changing as advertised), and just...wishing I'd been the writer I'm trying to be now sooner.

I'm glad I found this place, and this show. 

[Fluttershutter 3,251]

2010, jeez it doesn't seem that long ago. 

[Ishmael 42]

Yeah, no kidding. Where did fifteen years go?

[FallCake 30]

15 years since it all started... Makes me feel old. 

[ExplosionMare 25,755]

I miss the show, too, but I try to keep ponies in my heart through my friendships here and my OCs. The show may have died out, but the fandom lives on! 

[Ishmael 42]

I just started rewatching season 8, and I only watched a little of season 9, so I still have new things to anticipate. But after that, I think that's it. Are there any specials or one-offs I should look for?

[Ishmael 42]

Well, season 8 is behind me. The holiday special awaits rewatching--I thought it was charming and hilarious the first time, the balance of sentimentality and zaniness perfect--and then it's season 9. I only watched a few season 9 episodes before realizing this was it: the end. It stunned me to realize this little show would be over, and how sad that made me. Now that I've rewatched the entire series (and several episodes more than once) I can't deny it.

From the g5 discussion, looks like I'll only be disappointed with what follows. Naivete would have me say that Hasbro had managed to bottle lightning, and then inexplicably dropped the bottle. But after life of working in big corporations, dropping the bottle is not only inevitable, but often deliberate.

It's fitting that with summer over and the clouds coming back that I devote my full attention to what's left. Just wanted to share. If anyone's interested in a watch party, let me know.