Community soapbox time, where opinions from around the fandom are dropped down below for you all to discuss and debate! Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM MST And now Saturday at 2:00 PM MST. To submit your own, see this post. Note: These soapboxes do not at all reflect the ideas of EQD. They are an open forum for anyone to post whatever crazy theory they want.
Headlines for the week:
- Politics are Magic
- We have technology
- Crediting Your Fellow Ponies
- Enjoy G4 MLP For Now
- MLP Addressing more mature topics
And get your soapboxes below!
Politics are Magic
By: Nightmare Muffin
It’s all too easy to forget that among the cutsey slice of life and cool adventure episodes, that this series hits its audience over the head hard with politics, right from the start. Twilight was being groomed in politics and peace negotiations for her country in the shadow of the nation’s leader since episode 1. She rubbed shoulders with the influential bigwigs of Canterlot all her life, and it was only after her ascension and coronation that she got her official government job and title. Her first task after acquiring the Elements of Harmony was, in fact, diffusing political tensions and attempted coup and assassination of Equestria’s Princess by another Princess who had gone rogue.
But its not just Twilight who is a political figure trained in peace negotiations and rainbow reform warfare- by extension, the Remane 5 and Spike, the ambassador of friendship in foreign city states, are, too. Never before has a generation of pony been so heavy-hooved on pushing politics.
We have technology
By Hoploo
The claim that this show has seen an advance in technology since the first season is a plague with little to back it up. The show was never in a renaissance high fantasy setting, and that can be proven by looking at the technologies in the first Season alone. You have Party Balloons (1824), jackhammers (1848), electric sewing machines (1889), Anglepoise lamps (1932), Liquid Soap (1865), Turntables (Somewhere around 1950), Laser lighting (1970), Common Tap Water (Early 20th century), Kick Scooters (Early 20th century), and Steam Locomotives (1910).
That's off the top of my head, and not even going into the concept of the more modern materials for fabric and construction, designs for furniture, decor and housing, medical equipment, and the weird machines that Twilight uses from time to time. Not to mention, a wealth of differences in culture, through things like fashion, lingo, preference, and various other things, of which did not exist in the renaissance or medieval eras that people like to claim the show had taken place in.
So I don't exactly buy into the concept of the show somehow becoming more "modern". The show has always been in a 19 and 20th century style of technology. They aren't toting smart phones and laptops around and they likely never will be. All that has changed is that they're showing these technologies (of which are still very consistent with the world) more and more often.
Crediting Your Fellow Ponies
By: Solarshine5
There are so many crazily artists in this fandom, it's astonishing! These artists pour their hearts and souls out to create and bring us all wonderful pieces of pony related pieces. Many content creators incorporate such work into their content, however, sometimes credit to the original artist is lacked. Credit would count as a link back to the original artist/art piece or an accurate mention of the artist's name (and not just "Credit to the artist, as it is not crediting the artist in any kind of way).
"Oh, but it takes forever to find the source!" many people are probably protesting right now. Guess what? It took the artist even longer to make the piece of work, so if you cannot find the source, simply do not use it. This applies to vectors made from show images too.
Just cutting the edge of the legalities, an artist has to be okay with the use of their work in others' content (which is usually stated on artists' account pages). If the artist is okay with such, credit must be provided. It's a simple trade: the artist is visually improving your work, you're giving them exposure in return.
Enjoy G4 MLP For Now
By: Soothing Stone
Ever since the massive G5 leak went down, I've noticed people are obsessed with it. Not that I blame them, given it means FIM will likely end next year, but I almost get the sense that some fans are talking more about G5 than G4. Here's the thing to consider, though: There's still two more season to go. That means we still have 39 or 52 episodes of pony left to go, depending on how long season 9 is. There's a Hearth's Warming Eve special later this year, and we just had Forgotten Friendship.
And think about how long G4 has been going on for. It will end with AT LEAST 200 episodes by the end of its run, which will make it one of the longest lasting Western shows of all time, let alone cartoons. That's not to mention the four EQG movies, specials, shorts, and the Forgotten Friendship special. Oh, and that big theatrical movie a few months ago. Don't you think the Young Justice and Firefly fandoms would LOVE to have a run like that?
Am I happy that G4 is ending? No. They could make an entire season of FIM just by exploring all the lore they built up, and that's on top of the ideas they could still explore like Celestia and Luna's parents. But as someone who joined the fandom in 2011, this show reached heights I never thought possible, and given the show was supposed to end around season 3, Hasbro didn't think this would last as long as it did. We should appreciate it for the remaining two seasons we have with it, and be thankful it had such a great run in the first place.
MLP Addressing more mature topics
by: Pony of Shadows
Season 7 brought us some episodes that only older people outside the “target audience” would be able to relate to- like “Celestial Advice” and a teacher having to decide on what’s best for their student; or “A Health of Information” that reminds us to take care of ourselves once in a while, before we burn out, and “Once Upon a Zeppelin” being about the reminder to enjoy ourselves when we have the opportunity, and not focus all out time on pleasing other people while neglecting ourselves. However, there are many adults who are in the position of having to take care of aging parents- with or without Alzheimer's, or are in unfavorable circumstances with relatives who are hoarders, that can have ill effects on both parties that can be touched on in future episodes as well.
