Forums / General

Well said. I feel like I need to explain why I think best this pony is superior my favorite.

Ah, good to see that Pony General is slowly being turned in its entirety to follow our glorious fabulous and wonderful immensely wonderful leader, Rarity.

Jackal hit the nail on the head with why Rarity is the best pony. He also mentioned a reason why a lot of people, myself included, voiced disappointment with Rarity’s appearances in s3. She didn’t really do anything noticeable, compared to others, for one, and she didn’t seem to express the depth she usually does. RD got to show her tender side (twice), Fluttershy got to show how she’s not just Yellowquiet and isn’t a gullible idiot. Applejack got to show how she’s not a background pony (LOOK AT DAT SCREEN TIME!). And Pinkie Pie got to show how she deals with self-worth problems, and how she forever stands at the brink of depression if her friends so much as hint that they might not appreciate Pinkie Pie’s efforts to brighten their day, due to the crushing void in her heart that yearns to be filled with the love received from being-

Okay, so you get the point. Rarity didn’t get enough love in season 3. Which is simply a travesty, as we can all agree. Just like we can all agree Rarity is best pony.

Besides RandomMan because he’s a retarded manchild that likes Pinkie because HAHAHA THAT GUY GOT HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A COCONUT!

Now to revive old topics:

@Headcanon on Humanized Races:

Eskimos.

All of them.

@Shipping:

RDXTheKitchenSink

Dat chrome

Now to show my actual list…

I wrote all of that.

And I didn’t continue because those are just the ships I think are feasible.

ponyspin.com

Click for hot ponu action.

Ah, good to see that Pony General is slowly being turned in its entirety to follow our glorious fabulous and wonderful immensely wonderful leader, Rarity.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that too (not that I’m complaining! :P). What’s with that? The whole reason I started that character-centric essay was due to the fact that I felt she was a bit under appreciated. But it feels like right after I mentioned that, we had a Rarity page get that lasted a page and a half!

When Fluttershy first took my number one spot a while back, I noticed a similar shift then too. But that was shortly after Tabitha St. Germaine mentioned the Flutterdragon episode. I liked the idea behind the episode, and the announcement kind of made me want to watch more Fluttershy episodes, which in turn made me like her more. I thought maybe others had experienced the same. I was wondering if there was a similar event recently that may have caused a rise in Rarity’s popularity? There’s nothing I can really think of.

Then again, maybe neither of them ever got more popular, but pony general just started having more discussions involving one specific character every time I started talking due to the fact that I seem to be getting more obsessive over my favorite pony every time it changes and I don’t stop talking about them no matter how many times people attempt to change the subject?

@Explosive Lasers

Say what you will about Random Man, but leave Trixie out of this you devious cur!

Look what you did. Now kiss and make up. I SAID KISS!

EDIT:

OH MAH GAWD!

AMY IS BACK!

Lasers said:

Ah, good to see that Pony General is slowly being turned in its entirety to follow our glorious fabulous and wonderful immensely wonderful leader, Rarity.

So yeah, I might as well just come out and say it: I’m not the biggest fan of Rarity.

Ah!
Hold on! Let me qualify that!
I do still like Rarity (as I do not actually dislike any character on the show), but she is definitely my least favorite of the main six even though I do agree with all of the positive points that Jackal made.
I can’t really put my finger on exactly why she rubs me the wrong way, but I think I have a general bias against ‘high society’ and ‘culture’ of the kinds that she so embodies.
I just basically dislike the concept of knowing the ‘right people’ as a path to success, despite how true it often is in the real world, and characters determined to ‘climb the social ladder’ directly embody that notion.
The fact that she is accomplishing this through the medium of fashion doesn’t help either.
I’m very much an Applejack when it comes to fashion and crap like it: I want comfortable and functional. ‘Style’ can take a hike.
I also really dislike manipulative personalities which she has displayed on a few occasions, Putting Your Hoof Down being the most notable.
I will say, as I have always said, that Tabitha St. Germaine is the best voice actress on the show and really throws herself into the character in a way that I love.
I guess it comes down to this: I typically can’t stand the ‘fashionista’ types of characters at all, so the fact that I don’t hate Rarity is a pretty big achievement in itself.
She is absolutely the best possible example of a character archetype that I dislike.

(I am prepared for the onslaught of Rarity defense that is surely headed my way now…)

Really, all of you people need to ask yourselves one simple question:

Even Equestria’s most evil being agrees: Scootaloo rules!

Now, after alienating half the population of this particular thread, I come seeking assistance!
Or really just constructive criticism, I guess!
Over on DeviantArt, there is a little contest going on revolving around showing Scootaloo getting an ‘improbable cutie mark’ and, after a full week and a half of work, I finally finished my entry!
Scootaloo’s Cutie Mark
Enjoy, and if you see anything that looks especially broken, let me know so I can fix it before I submit it.
Thanks!

@DeadParrot

Woah, a comic now! And it’s even animated! Great job man, that must’ve taken a while. You’re really moving up over there dude. Hey, did you know you can actually animate using Inkscape itself? I have no idea how though, you’ll have to ask Mister Aibo how he does it. He’s really quite good.

@DeadParrot222
It looks good, but Scoot’s eyes bother me a little. They look twitchy with the automatic position reset.

@DeadParrot

Maybe I have low standards, but I love the comic, personally. This coming from a person that doesn’t love the Dash and Scoots dynamic in the show or fandom. I’m a person that generally enjoys the concept and execution in a comic more than the art objectively though, so I wouldn’t take my opinion to the bank.
 
As for Rarity, it’s hard to overwhelm you with rebuttal when you have good points. It gets harder when I should try to go back to sleep. (I’ll get to the Reaction Image gallery thread later.)

I just basically dislike the concept of knowing the ‘right people’ as a path to success, despite how true it often is in the real world, and characters determined to ‘climb the social ladder’ directly embody that notion.

I hate doing it myself, although I certainly do. If I don’t, well, then I’m a broke guy with few connections prior to academia. I’d have to pay off loans before I’d get a job to pay them off with. But yes, it’s often unfair to those who are innately introverted and people who aren’t naturally charming, and biased towards those who already have connections they didn’t even have to work to make.

However, as long as a person doesn’t neglect others to to make those connections or enhance those networking opportunities, then I can’t blame anyone at all for using them. I don’t think (as she has shown) that Rarity would betray her friends in a moment of truth in order to save her reputation.

The fact that she is accomplishing this through the medium of fashion doesn’t help either.

I’m very much an Applejack when it comes to fashion and crap like it: I want comfortable and functional. ‘Style’ can take a hike.

I’m not very formal in dress either. I do understand being fashionable in order to show respect though.

It’s very easy to meet someone and be cordial. It doesn’t require a lot of effort for most people. It’s a matter of copying speech and mannerisms. But to get dressed up in nice clothes, put on body lotion, brush or comb your hair, and don a nice dress or suit and shoes is a way of showing respect to another person. “I think enough of your presence that I made myself look as nice as possible in order to express my respect for you or my happiness that you’re making my company.”

We do it for dates and stuff. I think it’s great to do it when there’s no expectation of sex.

It’s also a way of showing others that you respect yourself. Now this is a bit more difficult to do in behavior and speech, but showing that you respect yourself and are a confident person isn’t always something you can pull off properly when first meeting someone.
 
And, of course beyond rationalizing her pomp, Rarity obviously has her own issues with appearing less than fabulous at any occasion. Perhaps it’s very important to her to look like and act like the glamorous actresses she saw in older movies while growing up or the well-to-do unicorns from Canterlot, because she took a shine to it. Heck, the fact that I admired news and sports anchors ever since I can literally remember is probably why I don’t have much of a southern accent despite living the first 22 years of my life in the Deep South.

You don’t want Rarity to be upset, do you?

Of course not. You’re no monster.

I also really dislike manipulative personalities which she has displayed on a few occasions, Putting Your Hoof Down being the most notable.

Nothing can be said about that. You’re missing out on a signature aspect of Rarity if you don’t think she’s manipulative. However, I see it as being a neutral attribute of a character who’s really aware of her own objectives (which often selfish but are rarely if ever malevolent,) her associates’ attributes, and her own attributes.

She’s certainly used her charms on Spike before and more than once. Not cool. That dragon is a baby.

Then again, I can turn that same ill-used manipulation on Fluttershutter in Just for Sidekicks.

Being a caretaker of animals (even disliking dragons on the whole, she can still work with them better than the average pony,) she should be fully aware of Spike’s tendency to get a bit greedy when it comes to food, especially gems.

In the social sciences, we call offering a massive emerald in exchange for dealing with freakin’ Angel Bunny of all things “coercive compensation.” Even without that cake, I doubt Spike could have easily turned down that emerald. With the cake? Spike would have done just about anything and he did.

The show’s presentation made it seem that Fluttershy didn’t know she was manipulating Spike, but I don’t think Yellow Shush is a dummy. I think she knew that by implicitly threatening to not give Spike the emerald without taking care of Angel, Spike was going to do it.

And who can turn down Fluttershy hair snuggles. Gosh darn it. that was cute…

This is still Best Fluttershy Image.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Twilight Sparkle is going to become a tyrant probably I think.

Verbose wrote:

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Twilight Sparkle is going to become a tyrant probably I think.

@Deadparrot’s comic

Eh, I don’t like that comic if you want me to be honest. It reminds me of those weird Scootaloo/Terry comics where they just took the generic poses of the characters and copy/pasted them in. Maybe that’s just me.

As far as the content of comic itself is concerned, I thought it needed more setup. If I were you, I’d add two additional frames at the beginning.

Frame 1:

RBD is walking by the clubhouse and looking at it smiling. Word bubbles coming out of the clubhouse say this:

-Oh my Celestia look! Scootaloo, you’ve got your cutiemark!
-Really?!? Lemme see lemme see! Is it an awesome motorcycle, or a katana or…

Frame 2:

RBD is now looking at the clubhouse with alarm on her face. Word bubble from the clubhouse says this:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKK!

Show don’t tell is especially important when your medium is visual. It is stronger to actually “show” RBD encountering that screaming. Also, this expands on the time that the reader is intrigued and wondering what is wrong. This intrigue and the final discovery will add a lot to the comic I think.

@Rarity discussion

You know, it’s funny. If someone told me a year ago that I would be a fan of the loudmouth sports fanatic while meanwhile the artist character would have been one of my least favorites, I wouldn’t have believed it. So, why is it that RBD is my favorite pone while Rarity is saved from the worst pony position only by the presence of the loathsome yellowquiet?

The chief difference, I think, that makes RD best pony and Rarity second worst is that whereas Rainbow Dash is all substance and no pollish, Rarity is all pollish and no substance. She just seems to come across as really disingenuine sometimes, using flatteries and empty smiles to cover up a gaping void inside. With Dash, you see what you get, and I see. I think one of my favorite moments with the character is when she sides with the buffalo for no other reason than she sees what is happening to them as being fundamentally unjust, and fuck injustice.

Contrast this to the moment when Rarity uses her looks to manipulate that nerd pony out of his asparagus. She coldly and knowingly manipulates some pony out of what is rightfully is, and the worst part is that she thought this was perfectly okay! She was trying to teach Fluttershy how to act in the marketplace, signifying that this was just common everyday behavior for her. She’s not just ignoring an inner sense of justice, she doesn’t appear to have one. This behavior is borderline sociopathic. It also makes me really uncomfortable with the way she treats Spike.

I still like Rarity mind, but she just has some moments that really bug me. I do love listening to her voice work along with all the other ponies Tabitha voices.

Marry me Tabitha <3

Ahhaha! No pony is as 1337 as me!

Verbose:

And who can turn down Fluttershy hair snuggles. Gosh darn it. that was cute…

Disregard mares, acquire gems? Oh Spike, you have it all wrong…

Twilight as a tyrant? Well, you know what they say: all toasters toast toast absolute power corrupts absolutely. Although, I’ve gotta say that Trixie is still the best tyrant.

Looks like there’s a chance that Games Ponies Play will have a Rarity theme to it.

How the show can become better:

First of all, I know probably none of you people at Hasbro are reading this, but incase you are, PLEASE take this into consideration.

This show needs more emotion to it. The episodes recently have been way too… normal. What I mean is, the average episode now is just a few jokes, maybe a song, and then the message. We want more than that. MUCH more.

We want you to make every episode of the show as much like S2: Episode 25-26 as possible. We need more action. More excitement. More anger. More sadness. More emotion. More unsettling stuff. More story. More of everything that compels somebody, more of everything that makes you look at the screen and go “Wow.” Less… normal.

We want the show to take risks, to make us feel things. We WANT to feel sad, or scared, or excited. I love Pinkie Pie’s fourth wall jokes as much as anybody, but the show should be MORE than that.

Please think about this.

>Requests a show targeted at young children develop more depth and emotion.

@Mrwens:

No. We don’t. I don’t want more action. If I want high-stakes action and stuff like that, I can go to Avatar and shows like that. I don’t watch MLP because of the action. Honestly, it doesn’t do action too well, though I do think it uses the occasional bit of action well. I disliked Wonderbolt Academy because it was almost pure action. It wasn’t funny, which is the main thing I look for in MLP. I agree that the show should make us feel stuff, but not by throwing action or random grimdark at us. Hell, not even by throwing random hordes of sad. The show is supposed to be light-hearted. Making it a feel-fest set to depress audiences would ruin that, in my opinion. And, as far as I’m concerned, it would ruin the show’s appeal to me more than Twilicorn.

You can speak for yourself, but not for the community as a whole. And for that matter, why try in a random forum on a random site? You’d be better off e-mailing Hasbro or tweeting them. Something to that degree.

@DeadParrot

I typically can’t stand the ‘fashionista’ types of characters at all, so the fact that I don’t hate Rarity is a pretty big achievement in itself. She is absolutely the best possible example of a character archetype that I dislike.

Yeah, I used to say the same thing back when Dash was my favorite of the mane six and Scoot was my favorite CMC. Just give it time. :P

But seriously, you actually do bring up some pretty good points. Not much I can add that Verbose hasn’t already stated, but…

I just basically dislike the concept of knowing the ‘right people’ as a path to success, despite how true it often is in the real world, and characters determined to ‘climb the social ladder’ directly embody that notion.

No argument here. As far as I am concerned, success should be a product of hard work, not social links. Granted, Rarity is a very hard worker, so it doesn’t bother me too bad in her case.

The fact that she is accomplishing this through the medium of fashion doesn’t help either. I’m very much an Applejack when it comes to fashion and crap like it: I want comfortable and functional. ‘Style’ can take a hike.

The way I see it, there’s also a difference between ‘not trying to be stylish’ and ‘lazy and disrespectful.’ Rarity doesn’t wear fancy dresses all the time, and likewise, doesn’t insult her friends for not constantly dressing up, except for Applejack, but this is a pony who thinks going to a fancy dinner party in her farm hand clothes is a good idea.

To put things into perspective, you wouldn’t put on a suit and tie just to go outside for five seconds to check your mail. But you’re not going to be too lazy to change into something decent before going out in public either, right? Right? Oh god, don’t tell me you’re one of those people… the kind who hang out at Wal-Marts in their pajamas…

I also really dislike manipulative personalities which she has displayed on a few occasions, Putting Your Hoof Down being the most notable.

In A Dog and Pony Show, I found it to be quite humorous and endearing. It was a nice display of her using her wit and charm rather than than just being a bitch, as it wasn’t being used on anyone who wasn’t an abducting, sociopathic, fartknocker. That being said, I can’t really deny the fact that she can be manipulative. My main quibble with this is the way she uses this talent to get things from people; granted, that’s more because I think it is OoC because she’s the Element of Generosity. That scene didn’t sit right with me either, but this IS Putting Your Hoof Down we’re talking about. Not exactly known for its grand characterization. Just ask Millennial Dan!:P

Scootaloo’s Cutie Mark

The artwork is very good. I also like the fact that you took the time to animate it. Very nice! However, I felt there was a bit of a conveyance issue. I had to reread it once or twice before I really got what was going on. I agree with Fifths on the matter; I believe more setup was needed.

@Verbose

Nice image.

@Crazy☾

Looks like there’s a chance that Games Ponies Play will have a Rarity theme to it.

MEGHAN MCCARTHY DIDN’T LIE TO US!

But now I have to resist the crushing urge to watch the teasers.

@Mrwens

While I DO want more emotive episodes, I would say more like Sisterhooves Social, Hurricane Fluttershy, or A Friend in Deed. I wouldn’t be against more awesome stuff like A Canterlot Wedding, but I would not say it’s more emotive by any means. It just has more action. The “Normal” of the episodes is what I like. It’s what makes the characters feeling more sad, scared, or excited relatable to me. And I like jokes and songs. Jokes and songs are badass meng, don’t diss. Also, no one from Hasbro is going to be here. Just sayin’. Listen to Explosive Lasers in that regard.

Yeah, I used to say the same thing back when Dash was my favorite of the mane six and Scoot was my favorite CMC. Just give it time. :P

… Not sure why one would change favorites if one knows what one likes in others and one’s self.

Me? I prefer an Active girl with a fair bit of Fighting Spirit, and some heroism. And isn’t bothering to hide it behind some “Classy Girl” image mind you. Unless by classy, you mean the kind of classy a Knight has.

And Rainbow Dash makes undoubtedly the best Knight in any interpretation of “Knight”. At being a Knight, you can’t beat her…

…She’s simply the best there is.

(Okay, sounds like I’ve been Reading too much Homestuck again, Let’s pull this joke back a bit.)

In all seriousness though, you probably already liked the things you liked about Rarity, but only after a certain point did you notice the things you like about her being part of her… If that makes sense.

Still, I have to admit Rarity does grow on you, And while not everyone can find her their favorite, she’s still a pretty good pony.

I’d probably place her higher on my usual list of best ponies if it weren’t for the fact that I’m already finding it hard to knock my top three down any, and Rarity is already tied for 4th Place on best Mane 6 against Applejack.

It’s kinda close though, the only reason Rarity is 4th at this point is cause Pinkie at 3rd is as impossible to make sense of as I am. And I kinda like that. though It feels like an incredibly close cut.

No, I’m not going to move Twilight bellow Second either.

While I DO want more emotive episodes, I would say more like Sisterhooves Social, Hurricane Fluttershy, or A Friend in Deed.

Hurricane Fluttershy is probably the main reason I came to like Fluttershy more than Rainbow Dash, and A Friend in Deed did a grand job of showing off how much Pinkie wants everyone to be happy without making her a party-obsessed comic relief only.
 
As for the the briskby image, the artist sorta reminds me of Tess (but Tess is a little “shorted…” if you ask me.) I found it adorable. (I was looking for the color-corected image, because that one is usually easier to find than the original, but I came up lacOh, found it…)

I generally agree with Explosive Muffins. I don’t really care for the action episodes. I feel like the show is best when you’re able to laugh (more often than not, just smile like a goober throughout the episode,) and occasionally when you’re able to feel something heartwarming. In the midst of such a lighthearted show, feel-inducing moments and episodes mean more when they aren’t a dime-a-dozen.
I don’t mind Mrwens having his own preferences.
And I’ve always said that Hasbro probably has an intern whose job is the lurk any long-standing Pony thread to understand what reasonable bronies want from the show, even if it doesn’t influence the show or the toys.
I don’t actually think Hasbro has an intern doing that.
It’s a running gag of mine.
BUT MAYBE IT DOES AFFECT THE DVD SALES.

But I simply and categorically differ in preferences.

Not why I came by though:

An not often seen shipping, and I have no feelings toward this (or any) shipping pair.

But once you see it…it follows that this is a feasible prelude.

Im saying they need to do what they did in The Canterlot Wedding. Make it have more substance to it.

You suggest getting rid of what drew everyone to this show (The show didn’t get the way you want it to be until the very end of season 2)?

I really don’t know what to say about that.

One reason I like the show is because not every episode is full of action/anger/sadness/etc. The more “normal” episodes are a nice break from all that. I mean, the epic action-packed episodes like the S2 Finale are incredible for special occasions, but I think the show would lose something if every episode were like that.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy episodes with a lot of action in them simply because it’s so unexpected. A show about ponies? How about a show about ponies that FIGHT EACHOTHER!!! Bam. But if every episode were at that same level… I dunno. I just think it would make the big two-parters a little less cool.

So take a look at that. This is in regards to the brony documentary that John de Lancie, Tara Strong, and Lauren Faust (I believe) were heading.

Well, it’s the Internet. Pirating was bound to happen, and it’s hard to say how much pirating occurred. I’d have to imagine that most of it occurred within the community. I don’t think enough trolls exist to get a hand on the documentary and perpetuate it simply to undermine the project.

But the whole “disillusioned” and “disappointed” lines are bothersome to me. Regardless of the content of the documentary, you have to wonder how that affects his and other actors/actresses opinions of bronies, not because we’re adult fans of the show but because the majority of us are a product of a culture of anonymity and lack of accountability or responsibility.

Why would de Lancie go to bat for a group of people who often said that pirating a project that took up a lot of his time, voice acting efforts, and his own money wasn’t that big of a deal (or pirated it for whatever reason.)

And considering that Hasbro will pay Tara Strong’s paycheck regardless of how much she interacts with bronies, she doesn’t really have to go to cons or anything.

And especially considering that Lauren Faust is no longer officially a part of the show (and no one is a part of the fandom,) it’s a bit embarrassing to see the project undermined (regardless of how inevitable it was.)

@Pirating tweets
Ah, I feared that this would be the result of the Bronydoc being made… I haven’t actually seen it myself simply because I didn’t feel right pirating it. I guess this whole ordeal does sort of paint the fandom in a bit of a negative way. A shame.

Jackal Lantern wrote:

In A Dog and Pony Show, I found it to be quite humorous and endearing. It was a nice display of her using her wit and charm rather than than just being a bitch, as it wasn’t being used on anyone who wasn’t an abducting, sociopathic, fartknocker.

A Dog and Pony show is the episode that made me realize how great of a character Rarity really is. Before this episode, I was pretty “Meh” about her for pretty much the whole time. But when I watched that episode, I was practically rolling on the floor laughing when I saw Rarity taking none of the Diamond Dogs’ crap and actually making them work for her instead. It also proved to me that Rarity was truly a strong character that could take care of herself in a dangerous situation. Not only that, she handled the situation using her words and her wit. You don’t see that all that often from kidnapped damsels. Basically that one episode made me internally argue over whether Pinkie, Fluttershy, or Rarity were best pony. That aside, I will agree that it made me uncomfortable seeing Rarity in Putting Your Hoof Down manipulate the nerdy asparagus pony into giving her his asparagus and treating it as normal, but I will agree with Jackal that it felt more like OoC writing than anything (although Putting Your Hoof Down is one of my favorite episodes). I don’t necessarily see the way Rarity treats Spike as manipulative, though. I see it more as Rarity friendzoning him. I mean, we see that Rarity does actually care about Spike in Secret of my Excess and in several other episodes. When it comes to whether or not Rarity knows about Spike’s crush, I can’t really make a decision either way all I know is that I don’t necessarily find it “manipulative”. As far as Rarity’s fashionista side goes, I actually have a soft spot for fashion, and I was happy to see a well written fashionista pony come out of this show. A lot of people seem to find her fashion side as somewhat of a downside or something they don’t care too much either way about, but I really do find it to be one of my favorite things about her. All that said, I can tell that Rarity is a hard character to write (as opposed to the action packed Rainbow Dash and the shy and quiet Fluttershy) and I can definitely tell the writers haven’t been having a great time with it seeing as the only times we’ve seen her this season she acts greedy and/or shallow as a throwaway gag. I don’t care if Twilight becomes an alicorn, I don’t care that the next season will have 26 episodes, I don’t care if the whole mane 6 become alicorns, I just want to see Rarity have a good episode in season 4.

@Pirating documentary: I personally could not bring myself to pirate the pony documentary. I just knew that there was so much love and hard work put into this thing and the whole thing was made mostly for us, I just couldn’t bring myself to steal it. That being said, I am not willing to pay $11 to have it either so I guess I’m just gonna be stuck in limbo here. I generally am not one to shame a person for pirating (hell, I’ve pirated a good amount of movies) and I am not surprised that a lot of people are pirating the brony documentary, but it just does not sit well with me that there were people that spent a lot of time and made something that they had no obligation to do for the sake of a small group of people and some people are thanking them by stealing it instead of paying the money the people who worked on the project deserved.

Well… I’ve done it, ladies and gentlemen. Somehow I’ve managed to make it to 19 years of age, I don’t know how. Whoop-dee-doo, hooray for me.

Did I get anything good? Well… yes, actually. I got some cash from grandparents (might buy a Welovefine shirt or something), got my subscription to Wired mag renewed, but the best one isn’t actually here yet…

My parents preordered at least one of the new figures for me.

The thing is, I don’t know which one. They haven’t told me, I didn’t give a preference, and they don’t come out for two or three more weeks. I guess I’ll find out when I get the package. I gave them the discount codes that EQD had, though, so if I’m lucky they got both of them…

Happy Birthday Twilitlord!

Jackal Lantern wrote:

My main quibble with this is the way she uses this talent to get things from people; granted, that’s more because I think it is OoC because she’s the Element of Generosity. That scene didn’t sit right with me either, but this IS Putting Your Hoof Down we’re talking about. Not exactly known for its grand characterization. Just ask Millennial Dan! :P

Yeah, not a fan.

But you know, I’ve always liked Rarity. I appreciate the fact that she’s a stylish gal who isn’t an antagonist.

Fluttershy’s still best pony forever though.

@Brony Documentary

I haven’t seen it yet either, since I was waiting for a good time to purchase it. Maybe there are quite a few of us saying that.

Edit: There’s a situation update at Equestria Daily.

I must say, some people are pretty devoted jerks. One commenter said this:

I know this is one of the issues where piracy was the cause simply because I read comments from people saying stuff like: “post this on youtube so this crap can’t make anymore money.”

I can attest to this, and it’s a bit sad. So much for live and let live, sheesh.

@Brony Documentary
I had a really long, drawn out response to this (some 6000 characters). It had curses, facepalm moments, and everything. I hated every single word of it, so I deleted the whole thing.

For the documentary: Someone on Derpibooru commented when asked why they didn’t like it,

It was Con, then animation, then more Con.

Well what the fuck did you expect out of a documentary? It obviously wasn’t going to be Discord-level antics and a whole extra episode of pony.

The piracy was a given. People who didn’t donate before obviously weren’t going to buy after the thing had been produced. Many fans have an issue. I hate to use this word. It has worse feelings around it that its meaning should imply.. but many fans feel entitlement. His mistake probably came from doing a digital release. He should have done DVD/Blu-Ray preorders, did the delivery, and then allowed digital downloads once deliveries were out.

Best thing I can recommend to de Lancie is to go out, buy a good bottle of scotch, and drink away while letting it go. Not every investment works out, and there will be more to come. Brony or non-Brony.

Brony Documentary Pirating:

For starters, I have to question DeLancie, Strong, and other creators about their reason for making that documentary. Because what DeLancie’s tweet is implying here, they made it so they could get some great sells on it. In other words, in it for the money.

That’s just plain wrong motivation, and certainly a reason that bothers me for shutting down the production of a documentary about a fandom by a fandom. Why did DeLancie and others spend so much time on it (as said in his tweet)? Because they like the fandom, because the fandom is able to reach them, because they wanted to give that fandom something back. Not for the cash.

Now don’t misunderstand me, as I understand they hate to see the documentary get pirated. It’s a shitty thing to happen and they have the right to dislike it. But look at it from another way. The documentary reached people, it made people want to watch it, it made people want to watch it so badly that they went looking for torrents on the internet. The project itself was even started because of donations by bronies who wanted to see it happen, bronies who paid money for a project they didn’t even know the end result of yet.

Paid or pirated, the sole fact that a brony wants to watch your documentary is an achievement by itself.

This documentary isn’t a market product, it has no market value. This documentary is a fandom product, for the fandom by the fandom, and it’s value to a person is something that has no price tag.

Does that make pirating the documentary “not so big of a deal”? No, of course not. At its core, pirating is still an illegal activity, and doing so for a fandom product is still a sign of disrespect towards that fandom and the creators of the documentary. But does that make their reply of shutting down production reasonable? No, it does not. They made that documentary to reach the fans. If they made it solely for the money, their motivation for making that documentary was bad from the very beginning.

Random ponei:

@RandomMan

I hear what you’re saying, but the impression I got was not so much that it was being done for money; maybe I’m simply making an effort to think the best of the film’s creators, but it seemed to me that they simply expected the fan community to be more respectful of their wishes regarding piracy. There have been quite a few people justifying their pirating of the doc in various ways on fans sites like EqD in the comments and such, and it really does start to make quite a few people start to sound like spoiled children.

Neither side is truly in their right, why neither side is being entirely wrong either.

Piracy sucks, they have the right to be mad about it, and I wish those with bad reasons you explain here would have some more respect for those who spend time and effort into its creation, instead of thinking of stupid reasons to making disrespecting them legit.

I doubt the money issue I pointed out before is the case, as a lot of its creators have said many times they want to show the fandom “the right way” instead of how bronies are portrayed by the mainstream media. But stopping production because the film is pirated does leave an impression they’re in it for the money. I don’t blame them for their anger, but the reply is a bit overkill imo.

But now also consider the following party. The party that doesn’t care about the documentary. There were bronies who used the argument of “I never asked for it” against the documentary when the kickstarter first launched. Because although a neat accomplishment, do you really think it will reach people outside of the MLP fandom? Truth be told, it most likely won’t, and those that end up buying the documentary are most likely bronies who want to watch a documentary about their fandom out of personal interest, and who would’ve bought it in the first place.

Yet this number of pirated movies shows that those that didn’t like the idea in the first place, were able to change their opinion about it based on what they read about it. And instead of ignoring it, they decided to give it a chance. And that shows the creators were able to reach a much greater audience than was initially to be expected. A great accomplishment if I say so. Even if just one of those “don’t care” bronies ends up buying the documentary, the sales have already outmatched the expectations.

I will agree with RandomMan that the response from DeLancie left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I am going to give the benefit of the doubt though and say that they stopped production either because the team felt they are not getting enough funds or the fact that the pirating is so large that it made the team feel a little disenchanted about how bronies really are. I suspect that if enough people ask/give support/donate then production will pick up again.

@Rarity
Let’s start off with some fun:

Now, to the WORDS!

I hate doing it myself, although I certainly do. If I don’t, well, then I’m a broke guy with few connections prior to academia. I’d have to pay off loans before I’d get a job to pay them off with. But yes, it’s often unfair to those who are innately introverted and people who aren’t naturally charming, and biased towards those who already have connections they didn’t even have to work to make.

However, as long as a person doesn’t neglect others to to make those connections or enhance those networking opportunities, then I can’t blame anyone at all for using them. I don’t think (as she has shown) that Rarity would betray her friends in a moment of truth in order to save her reputation.

Chalk me up for ‘innately introverted’ here, but yes, I certainly understand needing to make contact with people to further your career goals, but it is the general attitude of the people that she is trying to ingratiate herself with that only adds to my annoyance.
Someone on the last page mentioned Rarity’s dilemma in Sweet and Elite where one pony said that her party would be a failure if Rarity didn’t attend and equated that to a ‘generosity of time.’
Ehhhh… I sort of agree to an extent (though I think it worked much better with AJ overworking herself in Applebuck Season), but the thing is this: To me, that kind of party crosses a line at the point that it is defined by what celebrities are attending.
It seemed pretty clear that they wanted Rarity not because they wanted to establish a business relationship or because she was fun to be around but because she had star power and a connection to Fancy Pants, who they all seem to adore.
They were pretty blatantly attempting to exploit her popularity to raise their own statuses by association and Rarity was perfectly fine with playing along with that.
Hell, she sang a whole song about how everyone should know her because… they should.
(I do realize that this was the attitude that was meant to be corrected in the episode, but still… that is the clb she’s trying her hardest to break into.)
Networking is one thing, but Rarity has, at times, been to into the type of culture that seems to be more interested in social status for its own sake.
My general distaste for those kinds of people would make me want to work around that system rather than through it, even if it meant that the going would be tougher.

To put things into perspective, you wouldn’t put on a suit and tie just to go outside for five seconds to check your mail. But you’re not going to be too lazy to change into something decent before going out in public either, right? Right? Oh god, don’t tell me you’re one of those people… the kind who hang out at Wal-Marts in their pajamas…

I was going to make a ‘You discovered my secret’ kind of joke here with an appropriate image, but I just can’t bring myself to forcibly subject any of you to such horrors.
Just go look up ‘Walmart People’ on a Google image search if you really want to hurt yourself.

Anyway, to the point, no.
I am definitely not one who goes out shopping in ratty pajamas or anything like that.
I’m all for basic levels of hygiene and decency before going out in public, but that’s not really what i tend to equate with ‘fashion.’
If I had my way, I’d wear shorts and a t-shirt every day.
Verbs mentioned that it is easy to be cordial in conversation, but really, that is surprisingly uncommon in today’s society, at least in my experience.
I’ve seen way too many examples of a well-dressed jackass for a suit or dress to automatically impress me.
In fact, I’m almost at the point where someone who is dressed up seems more suspicious to me.
It always feels like someone in a suit is either wanting to sell you something or simply wants to make themselves look important, whether or not they actually are.

… I feel like I went on a tangent here.
In summary: While a complete disregard for one’s appearance is bad and shows a lack of respect for others, an obsession with it, in my eyes, often accomplishes a similar result, with the lack of respect coming from a feeling of superiority over the slovenly masses.

I feel that I must state again that I do genuinely like Rarity as she deftly avoids a lot of the worst traits that are commonly associated with characters of her type and adds many great ones (I still love that she, of all ponies, was the first one to kick that manticore right in the face).
She just skirts the border more than any of the others.

@Documentary
Ugh…
I almost posted that tweet myself when I found it last night but it (and the conversation that occured in the Deroibooru comments) pissed me off too much to figure out how to write something down.
I’m glad I waited now too, because the official statement that they released cleared up a lot of the confusion and incorrect assumptions that came from de Lancie’s words.
Dan linked to it, but here are their words:

Here is the latest

Production Shut-Down
You may have heard that we are shutting down production. For clarification, this refers to canceling plans to invest more time and money into releasing a disc with additional material and segments that have already been shot but didn’t make it into the film. We have many great stories that just didn’t fit into the flow of what we were creating with the film but thought the Brony community would really enjoy seeing. Because the piracy within the Brony community is rampant and pervasive we’ve come to the conclusion that investing any more time and energy would be not be worthwhile.

Unlike those of you who actually contributed to the creation of the film, there are those who feel the tremendous support we received was simply a financial bonanza and don’t understand that we used the money to create the best possible film. They clearly don’t understand, appreciate or respect the work and feel that since in their view, you the supporters paid for it, they are entitled to get it for free.

Lesson learned, we are moving on and focusing on distribution to the mainstream public.

The main thing I saw from people was this expectation that because the Kickstarter had raised so much beyond its original goal, that the movie should be freely available to everyone and that any attempt to ‘squeeze more money out of bronies’ was just greed on the producers’ parts.
A lot of them seem to have forgotten (or simply don’t care) that the original $60,000 was meant to supply a single camera crew to go around BronyCon for that one weekend, plus the money for editing and distribution.
When more was raised, those plans expanded in kind.
They ended up with, I believe, four or five camera crews at the main con as well as sending cameras to the English and German cons and a number of brony’s houses including a trip to Israel to cover The Living Tombstone.
They pumped all that cash right back into the production.
As the producer said when it was first released, some of the producers (He and de Lancie for sure, I don’t know about Tara and Lauren) deferred their payments until the movie turned a profit meaning that because the piracy was so high and the sales so low, these guys are essentially getting very little in return for their almost nine month investment.
I can understand their irritation when their only real ‘crime’ was naivety.

The upshot is that ‘shutting down production’ is not as fatalist as it sounds.
DVDs are still being produced and plans are still moving forward for film festival/Netflix distribution, it is just the extra concept of a ’director’s cut’ type of bonus disc that has been scraped for now.
I’m pretty sure that they were expecting to use some of the money from sales of the core movie to fund the production of the bonus materials and now that money simply isn’t there.
I do hope that they find something to do with all that footage though, even if they just end up releasing it as a lump of unedited video simply because I’d hate to see it all go to waste, but we will have to see how things play out.
Already some of the people over on the Kickstarter page have suggested starting up a new drive to raise the money specifically for these extra bits so it could be revived after all.

@Random
I have to disagree a bit about your argument that few people outside of the fandom were ever going to watch it and how that essentially makes their financial loss minimal.
They specifically said that they were planning on getting it to wider audiences through festivals, Netflix and other mediums, but that those efforts to sell their work become quite a bit harder when it is so easily available online.
In a way, those bronies had a very self-defeating attitude.
Pirating the movie because ‘no one who isn’t a brony will ever see it’ is directly contributing to making the movie more difficult to sell and thus more unlikely to be seen by non-bronies.

Oh, and those people who were deliberately trying to sabotage the whole thing out of some vindictive hatred of the project can go to hell.
I can understand being uninterested.
I can even understand actively disliking it.
But crossing the line from complaining to directly attempting to destroy their work is just assholery of the highest order.

@Documentary

So you’re telling me that after these people went out of their way to make a documentary defending and praising the virtues of their adult fans, to show that we’re not just a bunch of loathsome cunts, and then said adult fans scrupulously pirated the shit out of it? That’s an irony to break your heart on. This was our chance to finally put our money where our mouths were, to directly thank the creators for all the joys they’ve brought us, and look what we did with that opprotunity.

You know what irks me the most? I know there are some motherfuckers out there who pirated the dvd AND have had the audacity to complain about Hasbro not caring about bronies and destroying the artistic integrity of the show for money. Those people can go fuck themselves on Twilicorn’s phallic purple horn. (Please no appropriate pictures Deadparrot.)

@Fifths

@Doc I didn’t download the Documentary (yet) but wasn’t there a message from John DeLancie himself basically pleading with everyone to not pirate it so they can have the chance to bring it to film festivals and all that shit because a film festival won’t show a movie (that people will pay for) when it’s available for free everywhere else on the internet?

I think that’s what John is so disappointed about, not because he won’t make money (in his defense would YOU want to put so much time and money into something that’s not exactly community service or anything and walk away without pay and have everyone go behind your back? I sure as hell know I wouldn’t like that) but now because he won’t be able to show the world that we’re not the people that were described on Fox News because let’s face it people. No one outside of the fandom is going to buy this willingly.

Hey everyone. A lot of the Save Derpy videos have been deleted. Anyone know where to find them?
kthxbai!

Ponies, Hasbro may have dropped the biggest surprise in the past couple of weeks

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/toy-fair-38/tfw2005-coverage-of-hasbro-new-york-toy-fair-2013-investor-event-176829/

Key notes on ponies: Whoa! Mr. Frascotti acknowledged “Bronies”; thanked them for being great fans. My Little Pony TV Movie announced. He also mentioned that there will be a New IP for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. This new IP is for Older Girls; Teenage and above. The name of the IP will be revealed at a special “Pink Carpet Event” at San Diego Comic Con 2013. My best guess is that this is the rumored “Equestria Girls” trademark.

Ahem PONY MOVIE?

Oh jeez. My mind just spun out of control imagining all the ways MLP: Equestria Girls can go wrong. Some stupid dating sitcom maybe? Or how about a cheesy crime/evil villain-fighting team, a la Kim Possible, Wynx club, W.I.T.C.H, something like that? The prospects are truly frightening.

As for the movie, we were already pretty sure that was coming anyway. Many have said that it might be what actually resolves all this ali-Twi stuff.

Holy shit! Going through those slides and saw this:

“What does it mean?”

Also:

Pegasisters…

Also, (last time I promise) here is the actual Hasbro website with the webcast. Seeing as how the previous article was a TFW (Transformers World) review, I bet the say something important about pony in the actual webcast that TFW would have left out in their review.

Edit: I don’t have audio, so I can’t listen to it to verify this atm.

@Pony movie

“Pink Carpet Event” is really close to “Red Carpet Event”

So I guess those suspension are founded, but those silly fillies at Equestria Daily are just egging on the masses with this.

I redact my previous statement.

“Rainbow, sit down!”
“But it’s my first time being in a real MOVIE! No way am I missing this!”
“But if you’re in the way, how will everypony else see your awesomeness?”
“Oooookay… but only so they can bask in my cinematic glory, too…”

Anyway, knowing that a movie is coming isn’t exactly a surprise since all of the other generations have had them, but it’s still awesome to see it confirmed!
Wonder when we’ll be seeing it!

@Equestria Girls
Who knows what they are planning here?
“New IP in MLP” is pretty broad and there isn’t even any indication that it will even be called Equestira Girls other than the fact that Hasbro took down the website of the same name, presumably so they could use it for their own purposes.
I do recall Faust originally pitching the CMC getting their own spin-off series, but that was supposed to be aimed at even younger kids, not the teens that this release is implying.
Sounds like 2013 is going to be a big year for pony!

She has parents!
Or parent at least!
Gah, too damn cute!

PDF Presentation

I haven’t listened to the audio version yet (if I even can), but it seems that with the sheer number of ponies placed throughout the document that it’s unlikely Hasbro will be killing off the regular pony show any time soon. As for the new IP, there’s not a whole lot said about it. It might be the Equestria Girls brand, but I won’t jump to any conclusions on the matter.

For the movie, let me ask one question:

Did ANYONE not expect a movie to be made sometime soon?

Quick Notes from Webcast (It’s two and a half hours long, I’m not listening to all that)

- Double Digit growth globally for MLP
- Biggest Hasbro growth in Brazil and Russia includes MLP for 2007-2011
- The buzzwords, oh my the buzzwords
- Emphasis on MLP success.
- They seem.. happy to have us around? (26:00~ minutes in), though they only mention girls.
- CONSUME My Little Pony? Only if it’s cake.
- Princess Coronation is primarily a big brand focus (duh).


Outside of that, little was said. I didn’t listen to the asked questions at the end, so someone else can take care of that.

@Crazy I figured with the DHX 66min thing that it was some type of a 3 part-er episode, but a “Made for TV movie” works too. Most of the Season openers could’ve worked as (and they basically were) “Made for TV movies” too. So maybe they are actually doing just that for season 4?

Sorry, wanted to put this up.


Dammit. I can’t get the fucking spoiler tags to work with YouTube’s shitty embedding.
Here’s a new clip. Kinda spoiler-y, so don’t watch if you don’t want to know.

Neither the clip or my comments are all that spoiler-y, but someone felt butthurt, so whatever.

Umm… Does a Made for TV movie count as one of those things that spells the end of the series?

I was under the impression it only counted when you have to see it in theaters. Because a TV movie is essentially just four episodes tied together into a massive Fest that may as well be part of the normal Show continuity. It’s the kinda thing you see when they’re celebrating having a fair amount still left to go, but want to do something big for their loyal fans anyways.

While a Cinema Movie on the other hand… That would be a sign they would just be throwing everything left of the franchise at it to make sure they burn out rather than Fade away.

Guys, What do you think? Worry or don’t worry?