The soapboxes cvontinue! As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
Have some headlines:
- Why the Ponies are the Bad Guys! (From a Certain Point of View)
- The Hate of Flash Sentry
- Should G5 Have Been Built Off of G4’s Lore?
- Starlight Glimmer and Borderline Personality Disorder
And go read them below!
Why the Ponies are the Bad Guys! (From a Certain Point of View)
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
So yeah that’s a rather long title isn’t it? Anyway…
Why do I say that the ponies are the bad guys from a certain point of view? Well the simple answer is friendship and I don’t mean the concept of friendship itself, but the way it’s being delivered around the world of FiM by the ponies.
You see Equestria is very much like an empire of sorts to the rest of the world, every empire in history, the Persians, Romans, British, etc., has placed their ideals and influence upon other cultures, people, and nations, having a lasting effect for the rest of time. Equestria has done the same to other lands, not so much by military conquest as real empires have repeatedly done, but by other means like diplomacy and branding. (Much like how America has done with things like Coke Coca and McDonalds)
Lets see an example, shall we?
The Changelings and their kingdom and how they were transformed by friendship. Before the Changelings reformed, they were a hive, having to obey a queen who has repeatedly tried to take over Equestria and feed on its love for all her drones, they were basically devoid of any sort of friendship until the Season 6 finale. There Chrysalis was overthrown and replaced by Thorax (Which I will remind you that Celestia herself declared Thorax the new ruler without any other opinion necessary) and it was up to Thorax and Equestria to help the Changelings adapt.
And we have seen that the Changelings not only have accepted friendship, but are adapting the pony way of life. I mean Twilight herself showed the Changelings the tradition of Hearth’s Warming, a little different, but the concept is still the same. And we saw in To Change a Changeling, they have activities like craft time, swing dancing, theater and heck even a feelings forum! Now yes, it is a good change and all, but the Changelings have still done away with their old life style and have adapted a new one very different from before because of pony influence.
And I guess a main culprit would be the Tree of Harmony and the map table in Twilight’s castle. I mean the map table is basically sending ponies to not only places in Equestria, but other kingdoms as well, to fix problems that involve friendship. I mean look no further than Pinkie and Rainbow’s trip to Griffonstone, there they arrived in a place with the opposite of the definition of friendship. Pinkie and Rainbow were acting like diplomats in this case, encouraging one griffon, Glida, to begin the process of spreading the ideals of friendship to Griffonstone and making it a more friendly place.
And speaking of which, the School of Friendship itself is yet another means for the ponies to input the lessons of friendship to not just ponies, but everycreature, the Young 6 in this case, to spread friendship throughout the world. Going back to Chrysalis, she said it best in Frenemies, “The Magic of Friendship is like a disease! An infection that spreads to those around you!” And you know what… Chrysalis isn’t wrong!
Yes, the ponies spreading friendship to other lands isn’t wrong at all and is a good thing, however, they are still placing their ideals upon others who might not even necessarily agree or have rejected it before and in some cases have even completely changed their way of life for another.
However that’s just my opinion on why I think the ponies are actually the bad guys, (Again, from a certain point of view!) what do you think about this head scratching topic!?
The Hate of Flash Sentry
By Anonymous
Back in 2013, a character appeared in the first Equestria Girls movie. He was shown to be nice towards Twilight. And of course, Twilight had a crush on him. When Twilight returns home to Equestria, she bumps into the pony version of Flash.
When I first saw this movie, I thought this was nice. Having a new character in the show and see more of his character grow. However, as I continue to watch the show, he doesn’t appear again after season 4 (this was before I watched the last episode when it came out), and I wondered why. When I joined the fandom once I caught up to everything... I was honestly disappointed that this fandom hated this guy.
This guy didn’t do anything wrong. Some people have said that he was “cliche” because he was nice and lacked personality. And this was when the movie came out. The movie was only 72 minutes long. Of course his personality wasn’t going to be shown much. And then, I find most people saying why they hated Flash. Because he stole their “Waifu.” Honestly, that’s not a very good reason to hate Flash. You can still ship yourself with Twilight even if it did became canon. Take CheesePie for instance. It’s canon. But I still see people ship themselves with Pinkie.
And then we have Rainbow Rocks. Where Flash would be hated more because he made Twilight cry. It wasn’t his fault. He was under the Sirens spell and fans didn’t stop to think for a second, they just wanted to jump on the guy.
You’re probably saying, “oh, but they should have showed more of him then to make more personality for Flash.” Back when Three’s a Crowd premiered, a lot of fans were so mad that he appeared, and that made them send threats to the staff and crew. He didn’t even say a word in that episode. Why are you making a big deal out of it? And then we have Twilight’s Kingdom, where people were upset that he appeared and they complained about this stuff to the director. Every time Flash appeared in an episode, people get so mad that they attack the crew over a fictional character.
He could’ve been given a chance to develop his character if people didn’t complain a lot and just leave him be. I know you guys didn’t like it that he was a love interest when he was first introduced. But if he was developed over time, I think the fandom would’ve liked him.
I’ll repeat this again. He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just a character that could’ve had more development over time. If he ever does have a role in the season 10 IDW Comics. Please, give him a chance and stop criticizing the poor character. That’s all I’m asking. :(
P.S. This is my first time doing soapboxes.
Should G5 Have Been Built Off of G4’s Lore?
This is a topic that I haven’t really seen many try to tackle- and yes I know it is still rather early to be criticizing or debating such a thing I think it’s a rather humongous area that even the staff working on this have needed to address, that fans may also need to talk abut. The rather large and obvious elephant in the room that I speak of is the central element that is the worldbuilding that will build off of g4’s- not only being set in the same world, but building off of established (and new) lore within it. Now, this is a dangerous territory in many aspects, I think. Doing this, first of all, immediately feels like g5 is piggybacking and ridding on the coattails of g4’s successes. Now, there may be some who are saying that there is nothing inherently wrong with that, but I think there is. You see, I think that beginning a new generation should allow that gen to stand on its own- starting from the ground up, as other generations of MLP before it did. The other downside to taking a new gen and having it be more or less a sequel gen that picks up in the future of where the last gen left off – or even as a prequel- is that you immediately risk losing fans who might not have been a part of the last generation, and years upon years of lore from the prior gen to unpack and dive into.
Yet another problem that I see who having a new gen be tied to the former with its world and lore is that there could be a very slippery slope that writers could fall off of. By this, I mean, when you’re borrowing the lore from a previous gen and trying to build off of it, rather than creating something completely brand new, in a setting all its own, you run the risk of very obvious retcons- which g4 also showed that it was prey to, in its own generation. Retons, of course, not only confuse, but anger and divide the fans in heated debates- and so not not only would the g4 Brony community who may be invested in g5 fall subject to these arguments and confusions, but also, a whole new generation of pony fans who may get drawn into the g5 lore.
Additionally, while this may not apply to as many people in this fanbase, I do know of a few- myself being one- who are a fan of My Little Pony generations that exist before g5 and 4. And while I can only speak for myself on this sensitive subject, I have to say that it concerns me greatly that we have a known g4 artist, Imalou, being so influential – meaning that they were hired by Hasbro to design and rig the ponies of g5. I know many fans of g4 see this as a good thing- it was, after all, a previously existing pony fan by the name of Lauren Faust, came to work on g4, and incorporate elements from her admiration and childhood growing up with g1 into it, to create a very popular pony series….
But…..
One thing I think a lot of people in the g4 and potentially g5 fanbase will forget is that….the series is not what defines the generation. Rather, it is the toyline that the brand centers itself around. The series in and of itself, is no more than a 22 minute long commercial to sell and promote the toyline. So when I saw the very bold statement from the execs at Hasbro that the g5 series will be focusing on continuing the lore of g4, I had to sit and wonder what that would also mean for the toyline. G4 was never really great with allowing us to have the many diverse varieties of other creatures that the lore in the series exposed us to heck, it wasn’t even great at giving us ponies beyond the mane 6 fan favorite background 6, and Princesses, beyond 2011. So I can immediately see this diverse lore of g5 being snipped out of the toyline, and I that I say- it would be a massive letdown if that were the case. Because the series exists to promote the toyline, no matter how much lore in the show we maybe given- what good would it be if it was left out on the marketing room floor, never making it to store shelves?
The generations 1, 2, and 3 fandom of MLP continue to exist and thrive still because of the ongoing interest of the MLP toys, because they were never about the show in and centrally of itself. While shows- a focused commercial to promote a brand’s toy, usually- inevitably end, the toyline and memories of those characters still continues to thrive long after the children who played with them have grown up. So where does the toyline fit in with this established and new lore that g5 will bring? Will it be given as much attention as it deserves, if the show exists to promote the toys? I would hate to see another generation divided on only following the show and seem to completely neglect the toyline, which is the brand’s main priority. The show would not exist without the toys, so it is a huge of concern that this stated lore that g5 will bring to the table may not be allowed to be passed on into the toys, through beautiful and fun playsets and characters- or to have the fan following of g5 not invested in that area of the franchise.
I can only hope that my fears are proven wrong in due time. But I’ll remain guarded until I have seen this proven otherwise.
Starlight Glimmer and Borderline Personality Disorder
By: Starscout
Speaking as someone who has been professionally diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), I don't think the writers INTENDED for Starlight Glimmer to have BPD, but I personally am able to see many of the symptoms I experience in her behavior and actions. BPD is already pretty stigmatized by people who are aware it exists, so I was unsure about connecting it to a character who was once evil, but allow me to explain.
Some of the key symptoms of BPD include impulsivity, personality changes, paranoia, fear of abandonment, feeling worthless or inferior, obsession with one's favorite person, self-sabotage, severe emotional instability, outbursts, engaging in extreme behaviors just to feel adrenaline, and a wide range of struggles when it comes to relationships of any kind.
A lot of people think Starlight was overreacting when she took control of ponies just because she lost her best friend. But when you have BPD, your entire life and happiness revolves around your favorite person. Losing them is quite literally the worst possible thing that could happen to you. Why didn't she just write to Starburst? Well, when they're gone, they're gone; you've already decided they've abandoned and betrayed you and are convinced they no longer care about you--If Starburst did care, he would have been the one to write first, at least in Starlight's eyes.
Starlight must have been suffering with unbearable feelings of abandonment and worthlessness after what happened, and then she created the village so nobody would ever leave her again and she wouldn't have to feel inferior to anyone. What she did was terrible of course, but when everything she worked for was undone thanks to Twilight and her friends, and she lost everyone in her village, that must have destroyed her even further.
Borderlines can go to extreme measures to deal with their emotions. When someone hurts me emotionally, I feel an urge to hurt THEM emotionally just as much as they hurt me. This correlates with Starlight dedicating herself to getting revenge on Twilight. In addition to that, a borderline's outlook and personality are constantly changing. Some people think Starlight becoming good was unrealistic too, but it seems plausible to me. My entire attitude abruptly changes every so often. Even my opinions can change each day.
After her redemption, there are still plenty of examples of Starlight behaving like a BPD individual. She can be highly impulsive with her decisions, such as when she switched Luna and Celestia's cutie marks, or when she led the Maulwurf back to the Changeling hive so Pharynx could protect Thorax. She also seemed to struggle with feelings of inferiority when Starburst got along with Twilight, Trixie, and Maud in Uncommon Bond. Additionally, she is shown to have sudden outbursts throughout her appearances the show, both before and after redemption.
Well, that's all I have space for. I hope you found this interesting!
