April Fools is just about over here in blog-time, and I really wish I had time to hit a few more categories for Brony Appreciation Day. I'm going to nail some that I missed that really did deserve a compilation, but I underestimated how much time these posts would take to make. I really love the history we have here as a community, and didn't want to half-ass them. Maybe I'll do an extension some time!
I apologize to anyone out there that wanted our usual silly April Fools shenanigans, but with COVID-19 being a nightmare and the show over, I really felt like this would be a good excuse to just dedicate a day to us. We've been through a lot. A decade is a 3rd of my life, and even more for many of you. Sometimes it's nice to just reflect and appreciate what we've all built.
Below, get some final shout-outs. Even the lurkers here deserve some love!
A Shoutout to Everyone Else!
CONVENTIONS!
To all the convention organizers and volunteers, you're all champions. I don't think people realize how much work these events take. How much potential risk a venture like that involves. To corral up thousands of people in a single place and keep them entertained for an entire weekend is a feat that few could pull off. Your press releases may flood us sometimes 2-3 an hour, but I'll happily keep posting them if you keep on sacrificing your sanity to throw massive brony parties every year!
ANALYZERS!
We butt head sometimes, but I'm still glad you are all out there delving deep into all the things Friendship is Magic has introduced to us. I've never been the type that over-analyzes things personally, but so many people find your opinions valuable for their own mental construction of the show. Your expansion on characters that would otherwise be forgotten helps fuel fanons and ideas that spark creation on other areas of the fandom, and that can only ever be a good thing.
GAME DESIGNERS!
"I...is it another platformer..?" I used to say during the middle years when the GAME appeared in the inbox, but the truth is, I've spent an unhealthy amount of time delving into some of these projects you all produce. From our very own pony MMORPG in Legends of Equestria to the countless one-dev mini-games that have sucked many of us into hours of trying to beat our high scores, it's a part of the fandom that has entertained millions of people.
There have been some disappointments in major, multi-year projects disbanding, but that's just nature of how these work. It's such a monumental task to create a good, engaging game. I talked a lot about how much work goes into animating earlier, but coding, designing, and building a functioning game is on another level entirely. We really do appreciate what you all make every year!
CHARITY!
I asked Gameleon earlier if he still knew someone that was tracking how much overall money the brony fandom has donated to charity over the years. Unfortunately we couldn't find the final tally, but anecdotally, the number is probably staggering. From the many conventions that run charity auctions that continue, time and time again, to top each-other, to the massive projects building schools and other amazing things over in developing nations, we've done some damn good stuff for the world.
I still remember how fun it was to help lead one of our pre-readers here in running a project to take over the top 5 slots of the Humble Bundle back in the day. We get a lot of crap for liking cartoon horses, but the good we do can't be ignored!
COMIC ARTISTS!
Since there is so much crossover with the art section in general here, I kinda merged the two together earlier. Comic artists probably do deserve their own section though. It has always been one of the more popular categories here on EQD, with hundreds of ongoing mega-stories combined with hilarious, cute, and general interesting one-shots littered throughout. Drawing is one thing, but drawing and being funny or a good storyteller is another entirely. I can't fathom having a fandom without our huge comic backing. If I ever get fast enough as an artist some day, I hope to join in with you all. Spotlight Splash still hasn't gotten her series we wanted to do years ago!
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS!
We haven't had a wallpaper post in ages, and it saddens me that these submissions have largely dried up over the years, but in their prime you could decorate your desktop in just about anything you wished with how many people were grinding out super-high-res imagery for everyone to dominate their digital devices with! Thank you for keeping our play-places pony!
VECTOR ARTISTS!
In my opinion, it's one of the less appreciated parts of the fandom for how much work they do due to the stigma of tracing, but the reality is, they make it super easy for all of us to create other things due to their super-accurate re-creation of models and poses straight from the show. From PMV makers needing a pony for a motion graphic, to the banners right here on EQD, the world of vector artists is something that really does separate us from other fandoms.
I once tried to make an anime banner for someone else's site and was amazed that there really just weren't any good vectors of the shows he wanted characters from. Meanwhile, ponyland has 5-6 vectors the day after a new character appears. It's always amazing! Thank you vector artists!
CODERS!
How robust is our pony infrastructure? With such a tech-oriented fandom, we've got some of the best coders out there creating and propping up our silly pony sites with the backing to actually help serve you all cartoon horses even better!
I'm sure you've all been spammed by EQDBot enough at this point, and of course Knighty from Fimfiction designed the entire template here on the site. That EQD app a bunch of you have installed on your phone? All created by Gameleon (who regularly tweets funny things)! As someone who's mathematic side barely functions, these people have helped tremendously in bringing this site, and loads of other projects online around the fandom.
MODERATORS
I'll freely admit, the old 4channer side of me automatically rejects the authority of interrupting my sometimes wildly meandering thoughts with.... rules, but the reality is, even the most friendly and welcoming fandom can sometimes turn into a bit of a train wreck without a few brave individuals to hop on the tracks and block the brunt of it. When your job is literally put an end to people's most passionate positions, it naturally makes you the bad guy sometimes. You get a lot of crap for being a moderator, and we don't do nearly enough to understand the hell they have to put up with sometimes. So, thank you moderators for dealing with the sometimes overly enthusiastic members of our community. Your work is appreciated, even if we, and especially I, suck at showing it.
LURKERS!
That's the rest of you! You might not create anything. You might not comment, like, upvote, downvote, share, or do anything at all to show that you exist at all, but you are still visible to all the creators out there that watch their pageview counters tick up. As an artist and writer myself, it's always nice to see so many people check out work you put a ton of time into, even if for every 1000 views it gets one comment. We know you are out there. Everyone does. Thanks for being there.
And better yet if you evolve some day into commenters! Just a simple "it's gud" is all some of us look for in regards to feedback.
Everyone!
I know I'm going to go to bed tonight and the second my head hits the pillow remember five different parts of the fandom I completely forgot to hit with these posts today. If I forgot you, I apologize! There are so many amazing people in this fandom that do so much to make it better for everyone, that it's impossible to mention all of them.
Even here on EQD, we've got pre-readers, editorial writers, researchers, swarms of submitters that keep us on point, and of course patreon supporters that help keep this place running like clockwork. Just keep on being awesome and hopefully we can keep this train rolling long enough to survive until Generation 5! Who knows, maybe Pony Life will be the greatest thing ever?
And of course...
We can't forget the most important thing....
KIRINPOSTING NEVER DIES
