Coming in slightly late due to Youtube videos about tornados making me lose track of time, we have your pony soapbox!
Expect these posts every Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST (3:00 EQD Time). To submit your own, see this post.
This week we dive into the following:
- Why Lyra and Other Background Ponies Deserve More Love in Fan Made Creations
- Expanding Friendship Horizons
- Is the Fandom's Music Quality Considered Better Than Today’s Mainstream Music?
- The CMC Growing Up and the New CMC
- Furries vs. Bronies: Why all the hate?
And get your soapboxes below!
Furries vs. Bronies: Why all the hate?
By Soundwave
I consider myself to be both a brony and a furry, and I’m proud of both. The unfortunate thing is that when I am browsing the internet, I see a lot of arguments between these two fandoms. I don’t get why they would dislike each other! While they do have differences, they both have similarities, too! Both fandoms get a lot of hate, which makes me really sad. I don’t get why they argue and insult each other! I see several furries saying rude stuff about the bronies, saying the show is “childish” and “girly”. I also see bronies telling furries that they are “freaks” and telling them that fursuits are “weird”. I must admit that both of these fandoms are a bit weird, but I’m proud to be a part of them both!
The CMC Growing Up and the New CMC
By: Dan
I think that when the show started the CMC were at about the age of 10. But what about season 6? Well i believe they should be around 13 or 14 now. I actually went and compared them for size in season 1 and 6 and sure enough they were a bit bigger in S6. I think that is wonderful news and also an indicator that if the show will go on, then we will see the CMC grown up as adults and i would actually be happy if it happened. But why? You may ask. The CMC are an important trio and they will be surely missed if they are not kids anymore. Well true but it has to happen at some point AND there is actually a solution to that. The new CMC: Flurry Heart, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. At the same time as the CMC grow up these little fellows will be old enough to replace the CMC that we met in S1. But how will they form a team if they are so far apart?. There are a few ways and here is one that already happened in the show: Flurry Heart gets sent to live with her aunt Twilight and learn magic(just as Twilight did with Celestia).
Expanding Friendship Horizons
By: MegaSean45
One of the great things to see in this show is how different characters interact! After six seasons and almost going to season 7, it would be really nice to see characters who barely or never interact to interact! Like Shining Armor and Cadance interacting with the Cakes the first time in S5E19, or Spike, Big Mac, and Discord sharing an episode together in Dungeons and Discords! Or even Starlight's team in To Where and Back Again!
Don't any of you get tired of seeing the CMCs interact with their sisterly counter-parts non-stop without a break, or Spike only developing a close bond with just the same two ponies, or even AJ and Rarity being the two Mane Six ponies to share episode CONSTANTLY!?
There are so many other friendships that should be explored more in the series, like Discord and Trixie, the Cakes with Twilight, Shining and Big Mac, Spike with pretty much every character that's not Twilight or Rarity! XD I'd like to see him explore a deeper bond with characters like Starlight, Fluttershy, Thorax, Ember, and if possible, Scorpan! Maybe a random choice of unlikely characters like, oh I dunno, Big Mac and Sugar Belle? ;)
Why Lyra and Other Background Ponies Deserve More Love in Fan Made Creations
by: Sponeoupartan
My Little Pony has a wide selection of characters at its disposal, ranging from the ever-popular mane six down to lowly background ponies like Lyra and Minuette. Many fans support most of the main characters in their fan made creations, using the characters with the most development as a basis to create some neat concepts.
But what about the background characters? When fans are using these main characters from the show they end up limiting the scope of what they are able to create. Everyone already has expectations for what Twilight or Rainbow Dash are supposed to act like, and straying from their normal character development is frowned upon by many who dislike new concepts. Whenever people want to branch out with new concepts they usually go for their favorite characters, rather than what would work best for their type of creation.
So why not use background ponies instead? Background ponies allow for creators to venture in to unknown territories without hazarding accidentally setting of an OOC landmine. Creators have free range of topics they can cover because these ponies have very little in the way of actual canon development, and this applies to all forms of creations. Fiction, art, animations, everything that people make can be improved by adding originality and background ponies.
Now some may argue that the same could be said for OCs. However, when creators use OCs it usually results in less people actually being interested in what you are presenting. It makes their creation more self-focused instead of being able to be applied to the mass majority of MLP fans. Background ponies are still canon are and applicable directly to the show as they already exist in the universe of MLP.
So for the newly aspiring and the long running content creators, I suggest that you reach out with your pony selection and include some background ponies in what you make. Your creations will only benefit from the variety and originality that background ponies will introduce, and you will avoid the harsh criticism of the hardcore main character fans when you are trying out new ideas.
And you’ll make some ignored ponies very happy you did so.
Is the Fandom's Music Quality Considered Better Than Today’s Mainstream Music?
by: Flutterlights
Being a fan of both the fandom’s music and today’s popular music, it could be believed that the quality of the music here better than music played on the radio today.
First, there is the lyrical subject matter. If you look at the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, it is very likely that at least 7 out of 10 of those songs are about drugs, crime, or sexual relations, which could be viewed as being really shallow or repetitive in today’s culture. In the fandom, most of the songs contain more emotional content in its lyrics about character progression, conflicts, or having a certain or different outlook on life, whether it would give a negative or positive connotation. A few examples are “Alone” by Hirosashii and “Faster Than You Know” by Blackgryph0n and Baasik.
Each genre of music has their own personal style that makes their sound unique. As an example, for the electronic type, which is a fast growing genre in the music industry, the fandom’s use of synths having their own melody and the use of cut-up vocals stand out beyond popular music (an example being “Peppermint” by DJT). It is a shame that pop culture does not pick up on the amazing work that the music artists here do.
