My Problem With: My Little Pony
I remember when My Little Pony was starting to become big, but more so when it finally became big. I wouldn't say I was a first-wave Brony, but I would say I was a second-wave Brony. Definitely a third wave at the very least. But since the then and now I've fallen out of love with MLP and would no longer consider myself a Brony, and it's the events of what happened between then and now I want to talk about.
But before I go into all that I what to talk about the positives MLP and in extension Brony community has done. Most notable its arguably massive impact on toxic masculinity, the idea that individuals deemed male must hold up certain ideals or be seen as inferior men as well as inferior people in general. To like something that relates to colorfulness and femininity in general is so against the very foundation of toxic masculinity that to even entertain the idea that a male, and an adult male at that, could enjoy such a candy color and feminized show was enough to challenge an individual's very personhood along with their manliness status, and Bronies did not give a flying fiddler's fuck about that salty sailor’s shit, and the result of that attitude was awesome!
Yeah sure the majority of the pushback was done by trolls, the irl equivalent of Futurama mutants, but their relentless pushing of MLP spread awareness of the show and sparked the most influential feelings of all, curiosity. As more and more men watched the show and more and more of them decided that the show was good enough to at least troll over a sincere liking of the show started to be knitted together and eventually the Brony community officially started, although I don't think you would a date to it.
With this community built around the sincere enjoyment of magical ponies literally solving all their problems with friendship the rock hard idea of what men are were allowed to enjoyed was starting to cracked. The hyper masculine,or hymas, of the Internet tried to keep the foundation intact with accusations of weakness, homosexuality, and of course pedophilia. This is painfully common to any group that enjoys media outside of the accepted range of normality that hymas hold up(which liking a show for little girls was definitely considered out of range), and Bronies pushed back hard. Military Brony were a major part of that being that they were… well, ya know… part of the military. The toughest tough club there is.
General attitude of Bronies was that of acceptance and broadening of the ideas masculinity. Now the proper merit of such an attitude is debatable since one could argue that it would be better to dissolve the lines between masculinity and femininity, but regardless the Brony Attitude went a long way to take down the wall of hymas and the effects of tomas(Toxic Masculinity), and I loved it.
By the end of Season 1 I was definitely a Brony and watched every episode of Season 2 on the day it came out, via a DVR. I was a hardcore supporter of “Star Swirl is Discord" theory and pushed it whenever possible. I challenged anyone and everyone who expressed ideas that Bronies were less manly, gay, or worse, and laughed anytime someone put on something and hymas declared “No, now it's ruined!”(that never got old). I made an OC who was a Pegasus that studied magic and had a crush on Rarity, but sadly he never made a move because he knew that they both would never have time for love while they pursued their dreams. So yeah, I was really into the whole, of course this didn't last forever, which it obvious because I openness declared I lost interest in MLP in the very first paragraph, and is the time we get to that part of the story. Which started with the announcement of Season 3.
When season 3 was announced the whole community collectively when "Huh?" as the announcement declared that season 3 would have only 13 episode where 1 and 2 both had 26. It was quickly spectacled that the reason why the third season was cut down to half was because Hasbro wanted to started international sells of the show, namely to China, and such sells are usually done in set 65 episodes(26 plus 26 plus 13 equals 65), and this dear reader was the first sign. A sign I ignored, but was still there all the same. The breaking of first seal. (Was that too pretentious? I don't think so.) As the season progress the sign just got worse and worse, but "Apple Family Reunion" was the one that finally got me shooked up. There were dozens of little things up that, but that episode was just too 'off'. The first oddity was the reunion itself. Why were they having a reunion when the last one was like a year or two ago? Three at max. Why was Applejack being so crazy? Why did openly allude to Granny Smith's death? WTF! When that episode ended something was different about the show. Not just season 3, but whole series was retroactively effected. I could watch the show, or even watch others talk about the show anymore without this odd feeling coming over me. Then *it* happened. The finale of season 3.
When Twilight came out of the magic realm she was in and spread her new wings for all to see, and Celestia descended from a high and declared her to be "Princess Twilight" is was over. The illusion was shattered. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was not a work of storytelling crafted by a group of people to truly loved the concept they worked with and wanted to make brilliant art. It was an IP. Own and controlled by rich bastards who cared about nothing but profit and they, and they alone, had the power to decide what the show was and was not. The creators were not in the masters of what they created, they were merely allowed to create what they did because profit was good, and I just couldn't watch something like that.
I tried to watch Season 4 and even some of 5, and dropped in to watch the episode with the olde guard of ponies or something fight a shadow, but all it had that feeling of "This is all for the money!" in every moment. Even worse is that retroactive feeling when I watched older episodes. Like the way they portray Spike. Suddenly it was clear why he was how he was, because that was what they wanted to market. You couldn't have Spike grow and develop as a person, or pony, or dragon, because that would change the marketing. Same with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and everypony else who fans complained weren't flushed out or had to "learn the same lesson over and over", because the marketing department had more control over these character than any one else, and that's just a damn shame.
So the show is still running I think and they're starting season 9 or ending season 8; somewhere around there. They had like this season quest for a bunch of items of that belonged to the Olde Guard of Equestrian which was lend by Star Swirl which was weird because I thought Star Swirl didn't have friends oh wait marketing that's right and now there's school where Twilight is the Head Master and others are teachers maybe I don't know because holy fuck this is literally the number one trope in like everything seriously it's like the marketing department googled what's popular and school where kids and teenagers learn magic something was the top result and they sent a memo to the writers and they had to go along with it or lose their jobs. Like I said I don't really keep up with the show anymore.
I know what the worse part of all of this is? The fact I would have loved all of this crap if only Hasbro didn't blow it with Season 3. If only they didn't blantly push "Princess Twilight Sparkle" out there at the end of season fucking 3! all would have been well. Yeah, nothing would have changed. The marketing department would still be in control, but then at least I could have the illusion. The illusion I fell in love. The "Awesome comes in every color, even pink" attitude would still be strong and growing, but atlas many Bronies like myself have simply dropped of the bandwagon, and I have no ill will to those who remained on the wagon though out the years. I merely can't watch something that is so blantly wanting nothing more that to say "BUY OUR TOYS" with a megaphone. Seriously though, "Princess Twilight" should have been held back until the very last episode. Would have been f*cking amazing.
-Well thanks for reading all, maybe three, of you. As always feel free to tell your own opinions. Any topics you want me to take a look at? Going to be doing an anime soon be sure to tell your local weeb.
