I guess my concern over that video, despite completely agreeing with it, is that it just stirs up some of the people who aren’t willing to look at themselves and say “I’m a grown-ass man watching My Little Pony” and laugh at that a bit.

Some of the fandom is just on such a hair trigger some days, it feels like I can’t even make a joke, or tell someone off for being rude without getting cries of “hater!”

You don’t need to defend yourself so adamantly sometimes. If people are upset with what you like, that’s a problem on their end, not yours.

I talk when I probably shouldn’t - Alicorn OCs.

One thing that has always rubbed me the wrong way is the inherent “badness” the MLP fandom seems to proclaim upon Alicorn OCs, just because they are Alicorns.

First of all, the term “Alicorn” is a bit of a misnomer anyway. In official merchandise, and from the show’s staff, they’re labeled as “Winged Unicorns”, which I feel kinda helps take the shine off of them. 

Note that it is also never said that Royalty are the only ponies with such magical appendages.

While it’s certainly common for characters of such caliber to be the overpowered, overwrought, Sue-ish creations we’ve come to lambaste them as, I have a feeling that not all such characters are inherently terrible Mary Sues.

I think that what you do with a pony OC is more important then the superficial physical traits you give them.

For example, if you have a Winged Unicorn OC who lives in Canterlot, and was such way from birth, and he/she leads a normal life as a baker, then I don’t really see the problem.

If your OC is a Gold and Green Winged Unicorn, who controls the mythic green sun of an alternate Equestria, the lost brother of Princess Celestia, and Fluttershy’s husband, then I start to worry about the character a bit. (and the person behind it)

These are rather egregious examples.

Finally, if the creator of said OC is not trying to expressly make them fit in with the world of Equestria, this all goes out the window. For example, an android pony, or some other machination. If it’s not intented to fit in with the canon-universe, then I worry a LOT less about things like that.

But trying to fit very absurd characters into an established universe makes it rather… dicey, in my book.

Either way, “Alicorn” OCs are not, by their Alicorn nature, bad. What often makes them bad is they way they are characterized. So give them a chance, and don’t always assume they are god-like, immortal beings.

Even if they often are.

I talk when I probably shouldn’t.

I finally came up with a good name for these late night posts.

Anyway, something that’s bothered me for a really long time is the debate over drawing humanized versions of non-human characters, specifically in regards to body size, and skin color. Yes, this certainly has a MLP undertone.

To me, I’m not sure why there is a debate. I feel like if an artist wants to interpret a character a certain way, that’s fine. If you want to draw Twilight with a darker skin tone, or Pinkie with some extra weight, or whatever, then you’re free to interpret it that way.

I think it’s silly when artists get attacked for choices like this, just because it doesn’t match up with someone’s individual opinions. That’s what makes fandoms great, is the different ways we interpret characters. If all fanfiction writers interpreted every character the exact same way, that’d be pretty dull after a while.

It’s just odd to me, you know? You’ll see characters drawn a certain way, and then people will attack them on both fronts. One because “You drew them THAT way” and one because “you didn’t draw them THIS way”.

If you’re so wrapped up in this that you can’t accept the way someone draws something, then you probably need to back up, and think about it for a bit.

Everyone has different ways of seeing things. And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. YOU may not like it, but the artists, and hundreds of others may love it. So don’t fight with an artist based on THEIR interpretation of a character. If something is bothering you so much, just move on.

It’s just a waste of time attacking people for reasons like this.

What makes a “good” person? People say “Oh so-and-so is a good person”. But what is that. What definition of “good” are we using, and what do you mean by good?

Does good mean that they’ve never killed someone? That they donate to charity? That they are kind and considerate of others? What is “good”?

“Good” is so arbitrary. I’m don’t want to be “good” or “great”, and I know I’m not “perfect”, so, what am I? Well I hate myself, but I’d like to be a “kind” person. At least that is moderately specific.

You could probably say “Oh, this person donated to charity, they are a good person.” But what if they got that money illegally? I’m not saying they did, and it’s great that they gave to charity, but what definition of “good” do you go with?

Is “good” some idealized notion? Is a person “good” for doing one thing society would call “good”? Are they good for living and upstanding life, and always caring for people?

I think good people exist. Good, kind, generous, giving people. But I hate that label. “Good”.

We throw it around at so many people, it’s just not as meaningful as it could be.

Same thing for “bad”. What constitutes a “bad” person? One bad thing, or a whole life of horribleness?

I guess just don’t judge people.

Not available for resale: Bronies...

roughdrafted:

I find the idea that all bronies are about love and tolerance ridiculous. It might be fair to say that some of them (I guess us?) are. But the rest of us are just as mean and spiteful as the rest of whatever internet subculture we’re a part of this week are.

I’ve seen this fandom be…

This was… the first brony related post I made on tumblr. It was in July. Since then, I’ve tried to look at things pretty objectively, with all the insane drama we’ve had in four short months. I won’t list them all off, since I’m just as tired of them all as anyone else. I’ve also become pretty outspoken about the phrase “Love and Tolerate” since then.

Having been in the brony fandom since about three quarters of the way through season one, I have to say that this last summer has been pretty nasty in terms of things going on. As much as I can’t support it in anyway, and still try to point it out, I want to make one other thing clear.

I still really love this fandom, on the whole. There is just so very much amazing stuff that has been done. So much amazing art, music, and fanfiction. The projects that people have worked on, come together to make amazing things just astounds me. The animations, the art collabs, the games. It’s incredible. There are tons of really nice, great, amazing people I’ve met.

I’m not dissuading that there’s been some pretty screwed up stuff. I don’t want to demean that, or hide it. But I just want to say that despite all that, it’s a fandom I don’t really regret being in, despite all the bad stuff.

There are plenty of less desirable fans and things being made. There’s some pretty genuinely terrible stuff just below the surface. That’s true about any group. But still, I’m happy to be here. I look forward to seeing what fans can come up with next.

So, yeah. For all it’s problems, the hatred  the violence, the accusations, the terrible things that have happened, I don’t really regret getting into this at all.

I’ll be here for a while still.

As a final thought

If you didn’t want this to happen, you could have done something.

You could have been there. You could have called me, or returned my calls.

You didn’t have to leave.

You didn’t have to miss nearly all of my childhood.

You didn’t have to avoid me when I moved back.

You didn’t have to miss my graduation.

You didn’t have to make excuses every time.

You were never there for me, so I don’t know why you are suddenly so concerned.

And despite my flaws, I’m sometimes pretty cool. So your loss. Not mine.

Okay:

To be very clear: this isn’t directed at anyone at all. It’s just something I’ve seen a LOT of lately, and I just felt like putting a dime in the meter on it.

What happened to “Brony” being a word that meant “Male (or female, just outside of the target demo) fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, usually between the ages of 13-35”?

Now it’s become this huge divider over who is a “brony” and who isn’t. It’s dumb. I like the show, and I liked the name back when it meant that thing up a paragraph.

I mean.

That word has caused as much drama as a certain other word that I don’t need to get into. 

It doesn’t pineappling matter! I don’t get it! At all!

What’s wrong with people liking a thing a different way that you do? You don’t see Chocolate and Vanilla fans in pitched batt- okay bad example.

The point is that if you’re telling someone they don’t belong, you are missing the entire point of the damn show.

I mean, friendship is about finding common ground, and liking someone for who they are, despite their differences. I mean, I don’t particularly like sports, or racing, or much like that. I tend to read more. A lot more. I have a great friend who is really big on both those things. We both however, are quite fond of a certain show.

For different reasons.

Sound familiar?

The point is that people enjoy things for certain reasons. Don’t ruin other people’s fun just because you don’t like one thing they do. Avoid them, or better yet, find common ground. 

Like a CERTAIN STUPID SHOW YOU ALL CLAIM TO LIKE.

Off topic: Music?

I don’t get the way some people talk about being a “fan” of music, or more specifically a musician. There seems to be this odd prevailing idea that I’m not a fan of someone’s music if I don’t like every single darn piece they’ve ever done.

This is dumb.

Let’s use a real example. I really like a lot of songs by Billy Joel. Quite a few actually.

-instantly 5 people unfollow me-

Anyway, I like most of what he’s done, and I think he’s a talented artist. On the other hand, I really hate “Uptown Girl”. I think it’s whiny, pretentious, and boring. It’s in a lousy key.

I literally can’t think of a single musician where I like every single one of their works.

It’s just dumb. You can like someone and not like every single thing they’ve done.

You can also dislike someone and say they had some good ideas.

Ugh.

We have met the enemy.

Had an interesting discussion over dinner. As it turns out, I have two friends who I haven’t seen in a year, and the three of us independently became fans of a certain show.

You know the one.

Anyway, we’re very much the same type of person. Generally pretty quiet, non-confrontational, fabulous, odd, quirky, usually thoughtful people. One of us is a girl, and she’s a bit put off by some stuff she’s seen.

So of course, we discussed the fandom. More specifically, the lack of civility a certain majority tends to have.

Also, get a tumblr you jerks.

I’ll post pictures of my necklace later… I didn’t actually expect to get questions about it!

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