If you are bored and have pony opinions, send a soapbox in! We are low on them again for the first time in a while. 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:
- Unreal Expectations for the New Pony Game
- 4chan and It's Influence on the Fandom
- Fan Perception of the Show Vs. the Show Itself
By: Pescor Potillina
I've seen a lot of people say that the upcoming pony game is something it really isn't. Someone over on Instagram was lauding it as the new Super Mario bros. I really think we need to temper our expectations on what exactly this is.
Not to downplay the company or anything, but they really aren't the producers of super high quality AAA titles. These are kids games, meant to be simple enough for a kid to pick up with pretty graphics but very basic systems. You will run around jumping off things and collecting stuff, but don't expect a whole lot more than that. It's not the next Super Mario Galaxy or anything. It's just a simple, lower budget game that ties into a brand.
Now for what it is, you might have fun with your kid friends. But going in with expectations of a AAA game player you will most likely be very disappointed. So please don't trash the game or the company for it. It's not a big budget game, they don't make those.
By: Rochester
A few weeks ago I watched the Friendship is Witchcraft Jenny documentary and was really surprised at what it contained. I'm relatively new to the fandom having only joined in 2017, and I had no idea that the roota were so heavily built on 4chan and it's weird culture. It definitely explains why so much fan content leans toward NSFW, one thing I never understood since I don't find ponies attractive at all that way.
Anyway I wanted to do a short soapbox on what 4chan's culture actually is. I've always felt like it was the counter-culture of the 21st century. Where people rebel against the norms just for the sake of rebelling, not even because they like it. This can be extremely dangerous for the perception of anything tied to such a movement, as it immediately labels all of them as deviants. IE "cloppers" in the brony fandom. Or people that are so obsessed with ponies that they've tied their entire sexual identity to it. I've seen a lot of people say stuff like "mare is all that matters" on Twitter and I think we should consider tempering this back as it only makes us look even more weird than we already are. We are a diverse fandom filled with different types of fans, and this is a side we definitely should not be putting forward if we want any kind of acceptance in what we are into.
Of course that might not matter at all for most of you. I think a good chunk of the fandom has already resigned itself to being deviant or weird, and almost holds it up as a badge of honor. In fact I think a lot of people on the internet fall into this mindset. Hopefully it's not too damaging in the long run, but not being able to show friends or family the fandom I'm involved in has always been a struggle for me.
In other words, please don't 4chan in public. It's fine if you celebrate it in private, but that is very easy to take out of context and mark the entire fandom as.
By: Peace Petal
Does anyone else get the sense that we missed the point?
I certainly felt that way when I learned that the fan reaction to “Fame and Misfortune” was predominantly negative. (I joined the fandom in 2020, for context.) The writers of the show basically turned to the fandom and said, “You're missing the point.” And the fandom stared them in the eyes and said, “How dare you?”
I think a clear illustration of the problem I’m getting at is the ubiquitous fan opinion that the show’s intro song is bad or does not fit the show. The show’s intro was written... for the show. If you have a problem with it, maybe your perception of the show is skewed. What I think happened is that over-analysis of a few episodes (“The Return of Harmony” and “Twilight's Kingdom” come to mind) led to a feedback loop of ove-rhype where bronies got so excited about the show that they started to see what they wanted to see instead of what was really there. Bronies started thinking of Friendship as Magic as this epic fantasy disguised as a kids’ cartoon. But it’s not a disguise. Friendship is Magic IS a kids’ cartoon. And that’s okay.
Friendship is Magic was made to sell pony toys to little girls, just like previous iterations of the franchise. The difference is that this time, Hasbro did not underestimate the intelligence of those little girls. They figured the best way to get them to want to buy pony toys was to make complex characters and an appealing fantasy world. And they were right. But the thing about that logic, it works on more than just little girls. Turns out, anyone will buy your toys if you make characters as sincere as the Mane 6. But a lot of bronies choose to forget that the middle 22 episodes of any given season consist of preteen fillies causing shenanigans while young mares throw tea parties and try on dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala. Because they do not face this truth, they are uncomfortable with the theme song, offended by “Fame and Misfortune,” and blind to the reality that they are outsiders in a children’s franchise. Instead they argue that the show was supposed to be this epic fantasy with a grand vision that got corrupted and commercialized by Hasbro executives and visionless writers.
I don’t mean to rag on bronies or fault anyone. Hindsight is 20/20, and I wasn’t there to get swept up in the hype. I just think bronies have this idealized version of what the show should be, which explains why they were so upset every time anything changed in the show. If they just manned up and admitted that they like a little girls’ toy commercial, they could enjoy the show more. I’m not asking anyone to lower their standards. I’m just asking some people to stop complaining that the orange is too sweet when it’s actually an apple.
Friendship is Magic Miniseries Sunset Shimmer
By Double C
For this miniseries we will talk about Sunset Shimmer.
It was sad that Equestria Girls didn’t get the proper ending like FIM did especially for Sunset. It was a joy to see her go from being an antagonist to being a redeemed hero. We can agree that the third season would have been exiting since it would answer the question have been asking about what happen to Sunset’s human counterpart. If you all want something close than I recommend you should watch What if Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria by KC Awesome Animated studio. So I believe she did return to Equestria but her status is perhaps left to be determined by fans but to be she did return.
If there was at least one job that she can do is working at the Magical School. I think Twilight would offer her a job either as a teacher or as her assistance. This way Spike won’t have so much workload and cause stress between him and Twilight. What she can do is not only teach magic but also about empathy. She doesn’t want to see others to end up like she did so that’s why she wants to be a teacher. I also can see her give lectures at the School of Friendship about how Twilight saved her and to show empathy to others. It would have been interesting of what the Young 6 would have thought about her.
A story that would be good is for Sunset to deal with her family issues. It was reveled in Equestria Girls comic story Happy Holidays, she mentions that they are aloof and not committed to her life. She also says that they never celebrated Hearts Warming Eve with her which shows why she is sad. It’s unknown why neither the Equestria Girl specials nor the IDW comics explored more about them like their class and personality. But her attitude in her early years perhaps shows they didn’t do a good job. In my opinion she must have the worst parents in FIM right next to Diamond Tiara’s mother Spoiled Rich. I don’t think she will ever forgive them or give them a second chance for not treating her with the same love as her friends parents do for them. But she will move on and help others who may have a chance to fix their relationships with their parents like Spike. I can imagine Sunset helping Spike connect with his adopted parents by advising him, Night Light, and Twilight Velvet to spend more time together. This way Spike won’t end up like Sunset and Twilight would tanked her for it.
When it comes to shipping, Sunset is pretty hard since she has always been shipped with human Flash. Even though her return would have botched it but human Flash could ended up with either the human Sunset or Sci-Twi. While there are many of the ships that are good, the best one in my opinion is Fire Streak. SunsetStreak could work out since they both are teachers that can help each other teach their students of empathy and teamwork. If you have your own Sunset ship let me know in the commentary.
