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I got a question bronies.

Let's go back to 2010. Remember how that fad started. One guy writing an essay on the end of creator-driven animation. What would happen if that essay never happened?

Would 4chan still discover the cartoon and the exact events repeated?
Would 4chan end up discovering it later, perhaps after episode 1?
Would the cartoon be a success to their target demographics?
Would the cartoon get cancelled after 26 episodes?
Would season 2 just have been 13 episodes?

What do you all think?

First of all, this is not a fad. Check your privilege.

Second, if we spent all day analyzing every butterfly-effect instance in the world, things would stop getting done. Maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe it would. The important thing is that it happened, and for better or worse we're all here talking about it.

Hard to say.
That article certainly attracted a lot of attention to the show, but it's definitely possible that MLP could have taken off without it.
The 4chan guys probably would have still found it and I'm sure some would use it just to get on people's nerves.
Lots of people got into ponies first because of the art style: they just looked good and interesting and it made people want to find out more.
That element could easily have survived without the article and led to a kind of fanbase, though how it would compare to the one we have now is impossible to predict.

I can say that your other questions do have more definitive answers.
Yes, the show would be successful in their target demographic, because it is now.
Little girls were not at all effected by that article or 4chan's musings so why would that have changed?

The production team confirmed that season two was largely scripted even before season one had aired, so a second, 26 episode season was already guaranteed, as well.
Cartoons are expensive to get off the ground so The Hub ordering two seasons right off the bat is not out of the ordinary at all.

Although that article was the spark that resulted in early interest, posts about the show were already made on 4chan before that article. 4chan and other places of the internet were already aware of the show before the creator of that article. Even though it might've taken longer in the beginning without that article, I'd say it would still give the same result. Gravity Falls was a new show, they didn't got an article. But although not as big, they still got themselves a fandom.

@Bioware

Mad props.

"Rather than become hostile and turn against the community, we have a better suggestion: Create something better. Instead of raving about what you don't like, show us an example of what appeals to you."

I am going to remember that one. People that complain about the content generated by bronies could also ask other communities and fandoms to deliver more and better, instead of bashing those that are capable of it, perhaps create it themselves even if they are capable of it.

@Favorite Ponies

>2012
>Not having the same opinion as me on best pony.

Time for a pony riddle I think.

Once upon a time when I was still young
'fore Luna raised the moon or Tia raised the sun
I loved to travel from ocean to ocean
And I could make the trip without even making a motion

I've gone to Baltimare and lived there for awhile
I've gone to Canterlot, full of splendor and style
I've been to Manehatten where the buildings are tall
But never to Cloudsdale, for from the clouds would I fall

Who am I?

You're rain.

The tectonic plate upon which Equestria sits.

@Pony riddle

Windigo got it, but badsitrep gets an honorable mention for a clever solution.

Here's a pony riddle-

Changeling drones are curious things, their small hive-minds are incapable of telling the truth in any fashion yet they still manage to accomplish difficult objectives in the name of their queen.
The seven council members of Equestria are a different matter entirely, they swore an unbreakable oath to never tell a lie.

Lately, suspicion has been aroused that changelings have infiltrated the council and replaced some of the members. So Celestia sends you to investigate.

Here are the "council member's" responces.

Paradox Trots: We are all changelings!
Puzzle Muzzle: I can tell you for a fact more than one of us are still council members.
Late Tone: More than two of us are the real deal, council members through and through.
Riddle Brittle: At least three of us are still true council members. Thank goodness.
Pop Quiz: Four, without a doubt, four of us are council members.
Sure Lock: Unfortunately, less than five of us are true council members.
Smart Aleck: I have no idea what you’re talking about. We are all council members!

How many council members? What are their names?

gyah, fandom…that's what you're looking for, eh?

@Pony Logic puzzle

Paradox Trots: Changeling
Smart Aleck: Changeling
Sure Lock: Council member
Pop Quiz: Changeling
Riddle Brittle: Changeling
Late Tone: Changeling
Puzzle Muzzle: Council member

Here's my reasoning for anyone interested.

Paradox Trots: Changeling
Smart Aleck: Changeling

If Paradox Trots' statement is true, he must be a council member because council members tell the truth. He must also be a changeling since his statement logically entails it. Therefore Paradox Trots is lieing and a changeling.

This renders Smart Aleck's statement that all members are still council members false, making him a changeling as well.

The only way Sure Lock's statement can be false is if all the remaining members were true council members, including Sure Lock, making Sure Lock simultaneously a changeling and a true council member. Therefore what Sure Lock says must be true

Pop Quiz: Changeling

If Pop Quiz's statement is true that means all but one of the remaining members are true council members and one is a changeling. This means that either Riddle Brittle or Late Tone MUST be a council member. The problem is that these two are making a logically equivilent statement, so either both are council members or both are changelings. This means that the changeling would have to be Puzzle Muzzle, but Puzzle Muzzle's statement is logically entailed by Riddle Brittle's/Poptones. Therefore this scenario is impossible and Pop Quiz must be lying.

Riddle Brittle: Changeling
Late Tone: Changeling

If Riddle Brittle/Late Tone's Statement that three or more are council members is true, that would logically entail that Riddle Brittle, Late Tone, and Puzzle muzzle are all council members, which in addition to Sure Lock knocks their number up to exactly four. This would make Pop Quiz's statement true, and we've already established that he is a changeling. Therefore Riddle Brittle and Late Tone must be changelings.

Puzzle Muzzle: Council Member

This is the interesting one. He was the last one I came to and for awhile I thought the puzzle had rendered itself unsolvable. If Puzzle Muzzle is a council member, then he has spoken the truth that there is more than one council member. If he is changeling, then he has lied that there is more than one council member. Neither statement entails a contradiction, therefore there is no way to logically derive whether or not it is true or false.

Then I looked more closely at the wording of the sentence “I can tell you for a fact more than one of us are still council members.” He is stating that he can TELL us something. Well of course it’s true that he can tell us something, he’s doing it right now!

Therefore Puzzle Muzzle told the truth and is a council member.

What you just said makes absolutely no sense to me.

So, who would like to learn the musical reasons why this song

Is addicting as crack? Well let me tell you. Music is all about creating anticipation in the mind of the listener and then fulfilling that anticipation. Pleasure from listening to music is derived from the human brain's obsession with correctly identifying repeating patterns.

Now you might not realize this, but your brain has been conditioned from all the music you've listened to since birth to expect certain chords to follow each other in a given progression. The most powerful of these progressions which you've been trained to expect is called the IV-V-I progression. Don't worry about what these symbols mean, just realize that everytime you hear the V chord, your brain wants to hear the I chord following soon after. Your brain really REALLY wants to hear the I chord come after it has heard the IV chord followed by the V chord.

So here's what's happening in the BBBFF song.

0:00-0:23-Right now Ingram is just establishing the tonality and getting your ear used to the key. We change chords a few times, but not in any really powerful progression. Every other chord is the I chord, and all the other ones are closely related to it, so there's no real sense of progression. Right now, Ingram is just hammering home where the musical center of gravity is to your ear.

0:23-0:27-Now Ingram plays a quick succession of four chords. These are I-V-vi-IV. Your brain has heard the V chord in there, so now it's anxiously expecting to hear the I chord come back.

0:28-0:29-Ingram swiftly plays the chords IV-V and then gives us a second of silence. Hearing these chords makes your pattern addicted brain subconiously think "OH JESUS, I KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT! IT'S THE I CHORD ISN'T IT! TELL ME IT'S THE I CHORD" that tiny second of silence before the music resumes is genius because it lets your anticipation build just enough before…

0:30-0:52-The music crescendos, the I chord sounds, and your brain has a fucking orgasm. This helps to add a whole dimension of extra power to the chorus. Following this, Ingram keeps repeating the progression I-V-vi-IV which is a nice simple way to keep the energy of the music at a steady roll.

0:53-0:58-Oh God, the music is getting quiet like it's about to build up to something. Oh shit, Daniel played the IV-V again, that means…

0:59 onwards-You: YOUR BIG BROTHER, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!!! (Brain: I chord!!! I knew it!!! FUUUUUCK YES!)

So ya, I hope you found that enlightening. And that was just the harmonic aspect of the music, there are all kinds of rhythmic and melodic tricks going on as well to help insure that you'll be humming this tune for years. The reason why Daniel Ingram's music is so addicting is because he is a musical craftsman who knows just how to play to your brain's obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I wonder if this is Pyro.

Is that you Pyro? I see you got a Luna combat suit as well.

@maplejet
It started in /co/ before going to /b/ but yes it still would have become what it is today. Most bronies were never a part of 4chan and yet it exploded all over the internet. you can't say that because one stupid essay it became what it is, it was the people who corrupted something as innocent as a lil girls cartoon that made it what it is today. From those first macros came people who actually watched and loved the show. The show would still have be made with or without the brony hype. Just remember it was 4chan that made it explode and they wouldn't have done it any other way than to make foul mouthed ponies, reaction images, etc.

WHOSOEVER HOLDS THIS HAMMER, IF HE BE WORTHY, WIELDS THE POWER OF BAN

Also, here's a Thor pony I just found for thread relevance.

@Maplejet:

I'd say the essay was the just a spur, nothing more. The brony community would have arisen by themselves, but the essay just gave it a bit more attention and a bit more spark to hurry it along, nothing more. We would be a large community still, though maybe not born as fast or as early. There was interest in the show before the essay, and it would have received attention due to the very nature of the internet.

@Riddles:

I got one for ya.

What's right behind you?

Ze Spy!

@Fifths:

And here I thought I liked the song because it was about ponies! Further proof that I'm unedumacated.

@Ric:

Looks more like a member of Umbrella Corp., judging by the patch on his shoulder. Which means zombies.

Fuq

@Anti-pony comments on Bioware's Facebook

mfw seeing "I'm sellan all mah bioware gaems because they posted one thing I don't like! Bioware confirmed for gayest!" And then seeing how other people were chiming in about how immature WE are and how WE need to grow up

Oh and guess who appears in a game on hasbro's site

Played it myself to make sure it's legit. I saw him to! :O

@Fifths

Motherfucking music mang…

That is actually really interesting, I never really noticed but it makes a lot of sense.
I noticed the crescendo moments, the pauses in the song before the end of a pattern, and that was always like my favorite part of songs.

Thanks for showing us this Fifths, BBBFF was my favorite song from the finale and probably all of season 2 and it is awesome to hear anything about how mlp music, or actually any music is made.

I surrender!

XD

Ahhhh, it's the Satan pony again. I'm telling you guys, he's the motherfucking devil pony.

@Parrott: The ME3 endings were a confusing mess, which had zero closure and an implied galactic holocaust. Of course, I was expecting sacrifices to be made, but not for the series to end in a style reserved for Gainax Studio anime.

@Changeling game; …
As far as I know, Smart Aleck is a Changeling.
I don't know anything else. So I'd just flashbang the lot of them, and shoot the ones that turn into Changelings.
Unless they have some kind of reverse Changeling made by ponies that morphs into a Changeling on reflex…

@Sparty
Have you checked out the extended endings yet? I felt cheated by them in the original forms, but extended added enough that it's an acceptable end, now, and really takes some of the fridge horror out of the mass relay situation. I think they could have done better to start with, but I can live with them now.

Hello everyone!

I've had this account since January, but I haven't used it much and I'm tired of lurking.

@maplejet

There was a forum (which I can't remember) where someone posted screencaps of the very first hours of the fandom on 4chan, in /co/ to be specific. Unfortunately they were discussing the possibilities of r34 even then.

@fifths

That's amazing! I knew there was a reason why the music from the show is so addicting.

Anyways, I hope I'll be posting here more often. I'm tired of the comment section, it's an eternal loop of the same topics: the image gallery and the occasional troll. Or a troll in the image gallery.

Welcome, Aeth! You'll do well here. Please refer here, here and here if you have questions. I would recommend to introduce yourself here so that non-brony members can meet you. Speaking of which, don't just talk in Pony General, you'll only see the same brony members in here.

Regardless…

The KYM Forums herd, that is.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/26328/4/Lunar-Dawn/Part-IV%3A-Sacrifice

PM me for any reactions; hope readers like it

@Fifth's Puzzle solving skills
Wow… Color me impressed.

Have another:
The CMC were digging through Twi's library to earn a cutie mark in "bookworming."
Scootaloo grabbed the first book she saw without reading the title. It described a battle between the light and dark forces of two rulers. The battle was raged until one of the rulers was forced to surrender. But all was not well, all the warriors, both defeated and victorious, put into the same container. Regardless of rank, regardless of weather or not the were alive.
Oddly enough, the commanders of both sides shook hands and were spared from being put in the box.
"Wow! I wonder what the cutie mark of one the commanders might be?" Scootaloo said.
"Aye think aye know!" Applebloom said triumphantly.

What might the cutie marks of the above mentioned commanders be considering their special talent was related to the above story?

@Windigo:

A toy. They're children playing with dolls action figures.

@Popper:

Sorry, man, but I've dug myself a hole that I can't escape from. I stopped reading fan-fics and can't motivate myself to read any, to be honest.

@Aethel:

Welcome and all that. The only thing really important about the forums is 'Don't be a bag of male genitalia'. That about covers most of the rules.

@Solaire
Good guess, just a little more specific, I assure you- there's enough information to pin it down.

@Windigo
Ha!
Gotcha!

That was quite enlightening indeed. I remember learning about the IV-V-I chord progression, as well as others, in a music theory class I took a few years back, but I completely forgot about it until you brought it up again.

Incidentally, did you know (obviously not Fifths, the rest of you guise) that your brain is hard-wired to liking pop music from birth? This is beacuse the predictable chord progressions and catchy tunes activate the pleasure center of your brain, regardless of the actual quality or content of the song itself. Not liking pop music is simply a matter of going against such impulses and actively suppressing your enjoyment levels. Screw what you think, and what you think you think, as far as your brain is concerned, pop is 100% gold. We've been had. The record industry is playing us all like violins.

Mind doing an analysis for "The Flim Flam Brothers" and "This Day Aria" as well? Because those are my favourite songs from the show, ones that I randomly hum/sing all the time, and it would be interesting to see an in-depth analysis on why they are so awesome.

Now if you'll excuse me, I gave my word to Deadparrot222 that I was going to stay away from Poni General until I read Tiny Wings, a promise I intend to keep.

@Deadparrot

Oh fuck you, I figured out his riddle and was hunting down THAT EXACT GIF when I saw you already had it up there. Man, you ALWAYS manage to pull this shit on me, and the worst part is you do it without even trying.

Although in all honestly, I think I might have heard that one somewhere before, it felt more like I was remembering something than figuring it out.

@Twins

She's entirely right about the pop music. Ingram and whoever writes the songs for pop musicians to sing are not artists, they're craftsmen. They're pulling out all the oldest tricks in the books to create simple and immediately catchy brain crack on demand.

I wish people would learn the difference between when a piece of music is genuinely artistic and when it's just something designed to turn the lights in your brain on.

As far as the Flim Flam brothers and This day song go, they use a more complicated structure than BBBFF and it'll take me a little more time to give them a complete analysis. I'll get around to it though.

I did notice this much though. Most of the Flim Flam brothers song is in the key of F major, but towards the veeeery end (The last "We're saying you've got opprotunity") Ingram switches keys to F sharp major. F and F sharp major might sound like they're similar, but harmonically speaking, they're about as different as two keys can get. (Their respective scales have only two notes in common, which is literally the minimum number of notes two keys can share)

The effect that this radical key change has in the music is that it makes it feel extremely tense and excited, aka EXACTLY the kind of bang you want to end with on a big musical number like that.

Chowzburgerz said:

Ahhhh, it’s the Satan pony again. I’m telling you guys, he’s the motherfucking devil pony.

How many times have you said that now? You have a nasty habit of repeating yourself.

Windigo said:

Good guess, just a little more specific, I assure you- there’s enough information to pin it down.

The moon and the sun. The light and dark forces are Princess Celestia and Luna/Nightmare Moon.

Chowzburgerz said:

Ahhhh, it’s the Satan pony again. I’m telling you guys, he’s the motherfucking devil pony.

How many times have you said that now? You have a nasty habit of repeating yourself.

@Fifths
Man, whenever I finally get around to finishing a song, remind me to show it to you so you can tell me why it sucks so I can fix it. Great analysis, man! Can't wait to hear the others.

This is why I don't use facebook. If calling something gay is the best insult you can come up with, then that just proves how immature you really are.

It has been confirmed: Twilight is a shitty Librarian

Well, yeah. That was easy to figure out when Daring Doo wasn't even in order.

It's a cosplay of Hunk from Resident Evil. The Umbrella symbol gives it away:

@Random

I went like the entire 1st season up until the season 2 pilot (Intro, w/e you want to call it) not even realizing that Twilight was the librarian.

I thought she just owned a shit-ton of books.

Like the only ponies who come get books are her best friends and their little sisters so I thought she was just loaning them out to ponies she trusted.

What if they're the only ones who get books because everypony else realizes how bad her librarian skills are, and they feel bad and go get books so she doesn't notice no pony comes to her library?

@Twi

That would be really sad.
I mean she has a pretty cushy job in Ponyville, she gets allowance just for learning about society and basic psychology, but you guys see how hard she tries.

She's so neurotic and OCD about the books and organization… if ponies didn't appreciate her for it she would probably explode.
Like literally explode and then explode again, she came close when she caught on fire that one time.

I know. I'm just making insane theories for plot necessary actions.

I would assume that the other ponies visit the library, but they just don't show it onscreen.

Oh those Facebook posters, and then you have the guy posting on the actual picture saying that he agrees with them and that Bioware is scum for posting the picture.

The irony in all of this is that haters call us the butthurt ones….yeah.

Also, I'm a Changling…You mad?

@Sketch

Although I agree with everything you just said….

I cannot allow a changeling scum monger to live
IT IS COWARD KILLING TIME!

Goddamn you, Hasbro.

Why must you make employ such swagmasters to make shows for your best selling toys?

I just watched Transformers Prime for 2 hours straight and I am currently waiting for youtube to load episode 5.

Now I have ANOTHER show to worry about watching.

Thanks alot, Hub.

You've ruined my misery.

@Twilit: Yes. It saddens me they had to put the effort in afterwards, but at least we have somewhat good endings now. You can still get the old one (low EMS, pick Destroy) but at least now it quite clearly acknowledges the galaxy's FUBAR.

@Aethel: Welcome to the thread.

@Sketch: Don't impersonate me and I won't spycheck you to death.

Cuddles. All of them. To you.
Hopefully enough of you die of diabeetus proximity that I'll be able to come up with a good idea for next post. Or something.

@Sparty

I keep a box of Insulin next to my computer monitor just for this occasion.

Anyway, what Fanfics are you guys reading?
Right now i'm reading FOE:PH and IDTGOYD, those two are incredible.

I think I've pretty much read everything popular right now.
Past Sins
The original Fallout Equestria
Silent Ponyville
Bunch of shipping fics, I usually like shipping as long as it's not like… that kind of shipping, usually friend-shipping is the best.
My Little Dashie
Dreaming with Ponies
Black and White (that one was like the first one I read)

So yeah, if you haven't read any of those, I recommend them.

That was hilarious and informative!

Guess it just goes to show you that in the same way that loving to eat doesn't neccesarily make you a great chef, loving to read doesn't neccesarily make you a great librarian.

51 pages? last time i got here it was on page 31.

….impressive

Wait, did someone here actually think Twilight was a good librarian?
She's not a librarian as much as she's a pony living in a library.
She's continually making messes and can't seem to find anything she's looking for when she actually needs it.
Hell, Spike seems to know far more about how to find any given book than she does, and he's a baby.

Then again, she has no experience as a librarian, she just really likes books.
It's the equivalent of letting a little kid run a toy store.
They're just going to spend all of their time playing with the inventory themselves, so of course they're going to be bad at the job.
I think it would be kind of funny if they had an episode based around Twilight learning to take her responsibility as librarian seriously for once.

That wouldn't be bad, that wouldn't be bad at all. Have a Scootaloo as your reward for this idea.