As revealed a while ago, soapboxes will now happen once we get enough submissions for it. Send them whenever, but also expect them whenever!
If you'd like to submit one, hit this post up.
This time around, your headlines include:
- Viva La Fandom!
- What Happened to the CMCs during The Ending of the End?
- Self-Contradictory Message of “Honest Apple”
- Two Face Scorpan?
Get the articles below!
Viva La Fandom!
By: Ephrom Josine
So, did you guys hear the brony fandom is dead? I know, I was surprised as well, at least, surprised that these claims are still being taken seriously.
I've been in the fandom in one form or another since 2013, and I've heard the claim that "the fandom is dead" basically ever since I joined. Mind you, I joined during Season Three, where many people were leaving the fandom because they felt that season was of such poor quality. Yet, the fandom bounced back and a few seasons later we got Slice Of Life, an entire episode dedicated to the fanbase that I thought was dead.
I would like to switch gears and talk about another fandom everyone thought was dead: Star Trek. Star Trek: The Original Series ended in 1969, the first movie did not come out for another decade, and it took another three years for an actual good movie to come out. As Minty Root pointed out in 2017, the The Coleco Adam fanbase, the fandom of a PC that sold poorly and was discontinued in 1985, hold conventions to this day.
Sure, Bronycon went away, the show has ended, and maybe one or two of your favorite brony YouTubers have gone on to something else. However, what other fandom has ever allowed that to be their death? The death of Mystery Science Theater 3000 did not end its own fandom, let alone the fandom of old science fiction B-movies. Throughout the rest of television history, there has been no other case where the fandom of a product suddenly disappeared after it stopped airing.
Even after shows like I Love Lucy were cancelled and taken off the air, the show still had people who identified as fans. That was before the era of even VHS tapes, let alone the entire internet.
That's the other point I want to make, with how much the brony fandom has done, to the point where we've become basically the same as online cartoon fandoms in the mind of the general public. That's not going to change because the show ended, nor is it going to change regardless of what year it is. The way I see it, that alone will get the brony fandom a place in history, and that alone is going to attract people even a decade from now. Most of us joined this fandom basically by accident, finding out the brony fandom exists and then getting curious what could cause such a reaction.
To put it simply, why should I assume this won't be the case for the bronies of the future?
What Happened to the CMCs during The Ending of the End?
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
So there has been something bothering me ever since I first watched The Ending of the End, in that the CMCs don’t help rally everypony together and basically stay with their groups and don’t speak up. Instead, we got Sandbar, (Although he is important because he is a member of the Young 6) as well as a random unicorn filly and pegasus colt, urging the Earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies to come together.
Now I know some of you are going to say that like for example Apple Bloom’s family wanted her to stay with them, same for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. However than again the CMCs are mostly shown to be by themselves, even sometimes during hard times and well have run off multiple times to do crusading and to even stick together like how The Last Crusade has shown.
And well… I don’t think they would follow along with the seeds of distrust that the villain trio have been planting into the heads of most other ponies. But wait a minute… What if that was the case? I very much imagine the CMCs would go to their treehouse and stay there until they figured it would be time to help out. The fact remains that the three are separated from each other and hence… It is likely they have fallen to the tricks by the villain trio, putting their kind above their friendship.
However, even if that was the case, they, along with the Young 6, would than be in a perfect position to finally snap out of it and rally everypony to the aid of Twilight and her friends. The fact that didn’t happen really disappoints me, because the CMCs are a very instrumental part of the show and should have been the ones to finally get everypony back on track, you know instead of some random colt and filly!
But you know I could be very wrong about this and there is no reason at all why they didn’t step up! But what is your opinion on the CMCs during The Ending of the End?
Self-Contradictory Message of “Honest Apple”
By: EnergeticRider
Friendship lessons are an important part of the FiM show. They mean that the episodes not only present compelling and funny stories to viewers but actually tell something about the real world. Each plot making a case for certain ideas and lines of action that improve our relations to people and thus improve the society at large. Or at least they supposed to.
The thing is, however, that in some episodes the moral of the story is articulated rather poorly. And sometimes, especially in later seasons, ‘friendship lessons’ become quite questionable. One of such episodes being ‘Honest Apple’.
What is it exactly about? Applejack insulting everypony with her honest opinion? Ok. It kinda makes sense on the surface, especially for those of us who make content on the Internet. And on the Internet there are lots of people, who just drop ‘You suck!’ or ‘Your work is crap!’ opinions without any constructive criticism.
Except, when criticizing fashion contestants Applejack HAD an argument – their designs were impractical. Of course, practicality never was a major concern for high-fashion clothes design. So AJ asserting that contestants’ designs should be practical was unwarranted. Obviously, when someone asks you about the design of the character or idea for the fanfic, you shouldn’t just point at some spelling mistakes or rag on the author about some unrelated question.
Except Rarity actually WANTED Applejack to judge clothes design for its practicality. She literally said so when offering her the position among the judges and brushing off any of the AJ’s concerns if she is the right pony for the job. And when contestants (along with judges) took offense at AJ’s opinion, AJ had to apologize and make up to Rarity by gathering them again. Because Rarity did nothing wrong, right?
The insanity reaches it’s peak when Applejack herself demands Strawberry Sunrise to apologize for simply not liking apples! Granted her wording was bad as she stated that apples are bad for no other reason than not being strawberries. But then again, she WAS ASKED what she thinks and gave an answer. If you don’t want another person’s answer why do you ask that person in the first place? I mean, in this case, Rarity just wanted to piss off AJ and thus it’s she who should have to apologize. Not AJ, and definitely not a pony to whose house you came and whom you drag out to answer YOUR question.
Honestly, this soapbox entry took longer than it should, but the episode message is actually a very important one. Or at least should have been. While there are indeed too many trolls and bullies around today who don’t offer anything but derogatory remarks, there are also too many creators who take offense to any criticism and attack everyone whom they disagree with. Neither are people who act in good faith. And 'Honest Apple', while justly denouncing toxic audience, shouldn't side with toxic creators who ask people for their honest opinion but then demand an apology if they didn't like what they hear.
Two Face Scorpan?
By: Toad256
Let’s take a look at Scorpan. A known betrayer for the greater good, so to speak. Shall we have a look back into Twilight’s Kingdom? I say we shall.
In the layout of events, Tirek and Scorpan came to Equestria with the intent of stealing the magic. But something changed with Scorpan. He appreciated the Equestrian ways, made friends with Starswirl, and tried to encourage Tirek to abandon the plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan went to the princesses and the princesses locked Tirek in Tartarus and Scorpan went back to the badlands. It seems Scorpan’s motive was doing the right thing. But this is from Equestria’s view of it. This isn’t Scorpan only appearance and if we go deeper into Tirek’s Fiendship issue. We might find a different motive.
In the issue, we have a deeper look into the badlands and we’re introduced to the parents of the brothers. King Vorak and Queen Haydon. One thing is not sure is if the two married for love or it was a political marriage. So Tirek and Scorpan might be step brothers. We're also shown that Tirek was first in line of succession. Back to the main point of Scorpan. Scorpan in the issue was a bit of a wus. A push over. Tirek thought him as a weakling. Even going so far of using magic to shut him up. You can say Scorpan took a lot of abuse from Tirek.
Now onto Scorpan’s motive. All the bossing around, treating him as an underling. It developed into anger towards Tirek. And during the trek towards Equestria to steal magic. Scorpan planned for revenge on Tirek and stealing his kingship. He admired and enjoyed the Equestrian customs and making friends. He probably made a little or no attempt of convincing Tirek of abandoning plans. Then he went to the princesses to get Tirek banished to Tartarus. Tirek now trapped, Scorpan can now claim as the solo ruler of Tirek’s kingdom.
What do you think? You think Scorpan was doing the right thing or was it just a revenge plan on Tirek.
