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. Even contrarian opinions everyone would consider bad are welcome as long as they are written with some form of clarity.
Headlines for the week:
Could the original Main 6 be given a role in modern times?
The True Nature of Harmony
The Brony Fandom and the Supression of Creativity
Bronies and Religion
Social Commentaries about FiM that don’t Make Sense: Equestria is a land of matriarchy/feminism
And get your soapboxes below!
Could the original Main 6 be given a role in modern times?
By: Nightmare Muffin
Bonnie Zacherle, creator of the MLP toyline of G1, named the original six ponies: Snuzzle, Butterscotch, Cotton Candy, Bluebell, Minty and Blossom. We've seen these guys come back in a retro release, recently in stores, for the MLP 35th anniversary, and were highly sought after by collectors. Though they are all earth ponies, I have to wonder of Hasbro would ever incorporate these guys into an episode of g4- perhaps saving the mane 6 of g4 from a villain they can’t defeat. It certainly wouldn't be too farfetched, now that we've been seeing numerous shoutoutsand callbacks to g1 in g4, with the likes of Gusty, Tirek, Scorpan, the seaponies, and (Captain) Firefly. Better yet, giving the original six their own spinoff series, or even their own mane 6 status of generation 5. It certainly would be a nice nod to the creator, and the original 6 of the MLP toyline in its early years, which led to the success of the brand today.
The True Nature of Harmony
By: Nephodromus
What is harmony? The Tree of Harmony has great power: it allows the ponies to defeat Tirek, and creates Twilight’s castle out of thin air. Since it controls the Cutie Map, it must be aware of events throughout the whole world and desire to influence them for the better.
Now, the Tree of Harmony grew from the magic of the Pillars of Equestria. Mage Meadowbrook says that the tree has grown “into the living spirit of the land.” To produce a living spirit, their magic must contain either life or the power to create life. In the first case, the Tree of Harmony is the dwelling-place of a pre-existing spirit that was present in the magic of the Pillars. In the second case, the spirit of the tree is the creation of a divine spirit acting in the magic of the Pillars—as creating life is a divine prerogative. Either way, there is a powerful, knowledgeable, and benevolent spirit which is the ultimate source of the power of the Cutie Map, the Tree of Harmony, and the Elements of Harmony. The terminology suggests that this spirit is Harmony, and its attributes suggest that it is God.
The Brony Fandom and the Supression of Creativity
By: Halira
The Brony community has a problem, creativity is not just grown stagnant, it is being suppressed.
Once upon a time in the fandom fans created wonderful works that took inspiration from the show and made there own completely new and original content. But now a days many of these works if released for the first time would be panned upon release, not because they are bad, but because they don't follow a particular ascribed mold.
They now have to have show characters front and center in the story. Stories made primarily of OCs and staring OCs are frowned upon. If a story like Fallout Equestria was released now it might garner some likes, but it would never gain the same following because it deals primarily with OCs out to save the world. Many wouldn't even read the first chapter, they would just see the OC tag and downvote.
People complain that the community is losing its fire and members. A large part of that is because no one is willing to either take risks with creativity or give those who take risks a chance. That is what is killing the community.
Bronies and Religion
By Pudgy
A thought occurred to me. has the lack of religion in our early development lead to our attachment or experiment with the fandom? See religion has become more relevant because of one fundamental question. What determines morality? And in this discussion a particular concept emerges, and that is man-kind has an urge, or instinct if you will, to seek a moral compass or foundation. Many believe religion is an important core to morality or even argue religion is the source of morality itself. Now a consensus I have observed from the fandom is many bronies are atheist or agnostic. (At least early on they were, if this is wrong please inform or update me or if this has changed in recent years). Perhaps implying that maybe a significant number of us did not grow up with a true emphasis on the teaching of morality at school or home. Now I’m not saying that any of you, your parents, or teachers are or were immoral or crappy people, but maybe the shows emphasis on teaching about “friendship” and genuine interest in teaching a younger audience about “morality” is one of the factors that lead to the fandom’s creation in the first place. The term “love and tolerance” comes to mind, and though it has long been deemed incorrect, I believe it was an important first step in the experiment. In short: Do you think the absence of the teaching of a solid moral structure in our early development and the possible human instinct to seek morality has contributed to the fandom’s very creation?
Social Commentaries about FiM that don’t Make Sense: Equestria is a land of matriarchy/feminism
By: EnergeticRider
At least I know where such notion is coming from – Equestria is ruled by two Princesses and most of the high position ponies are mares. However, does it really mean female superiority? Of course not!
There were quite a few ruling queens in human history. Victorian Britain, Egypt under Cleopatra rule are the most well-known examples.But that didn't make those countries feminist or matriarchy. Actually, we don’t even know if there are more mares in Equestria government than colts or we are just shown more female characters. But even if those statistics were true, there are quite a few males in the positions of power, starting from most successful Ponyville businesspony Filthy Rich and Canterlot’s high society lead Fancy Pants, up to the Starswirl, who was a mentor to Royal Sisters themselves.
Many colts were shown not only to be quite capable and resourceful but also recognized for their qualities. Like Wonderbolts have half their team male and Big Mac works on the farm along with Applejack as equal. And no episode indicate that mares have something that colts don’t. The closest one was “Brotherhooves social”, but even there Big Mac was disqualified not much of him being male, but for the lack of finesse.
I won’t argue that FiM makes “empowering message” for girls by showing them different female characters to serve as a role model. That could (roughly) be described as a feminist topic. But a statement that Equestria itself is feminist/matriarchy is simply not true.
