Clearing Up/Opinions/FAQs · 8:01pm Jul 6th, 2013
Chapter 30 Information
Apologies for the slightly impromptu author's note yesterday. Due to my haste if trying to do so many things at once, I totally forgot to mention in the blog that I had expanded the chapter by a good three pages with details and descriptions. Impressive considering I had to remove a few choice word counts from that lovely torture scene in the middle in order to maintain a T rating. It was significantly... worse before. I didn't think that one page however, with no direct link to the storyline, qualified for an uncensored chapter in the other story. Given that I have a lot more time to work with today, at least I'm able to better explain things. Heh.
Equestria Girls Statement (Skip if Required)
It was also mentioned at least three times to me, discussing not only me watching the movie but incorporating aspects of it into the story. Just to cover all my bases, I'll publicly announce it here and now. Nothing to do with Equestria Girls in the slightest will ever be considered canon by me, or included in any way, shape, or form in the story. Even if they tie it into season four, I WILL retcon it if needed. There are many reasons for this decision, obviously. I'll explain some of them with the utmost civility in mind.
The first thing about the movie I do not approve of is a simple thing. Their choice of character designs. Similar to the Bratz series and Disney Princess designs, they all are modeled after the same body base. Rail-thin twig like bodies that, on any sort of real human, would lead to malnutrition and rapid death. For a company that's supposed to be a role model for little girls, and indeed, in light of Lauren Faust's original message for the intent of the show, I feel that this was a very poor design choice. Body image issues are rampant enough without this movie also expanding upon them.
“I was also so passionate about making quality entertainment for girls, and I didn’t want to be responsible for adding to the pile of entertainment garbage that’s so often targeted toward them.” - Lauren Faust, Equestria Daily Interview
I agreed with and applauded her statement. Which is why the initial release statement for the movie concerned me in the first place.
“Learn all about the magical parallel universe with high schools instead of castles, where six pony friends become real girls with a love for fun and fashion.” - Hasbro Official Announcement
My initial concerns are highlighted there. Not only does that send the message that, in order to be 'real' girls you have to have a love of fun and fashion, but that inversely implies that you can't be a 'real' girl with just your imagination and colorful ponies. Even if only implied, the message that you HAVE to love fun and fashion in order to be a girl seems DANGEROUSLY opposite of the original intent for the show that we all fell in love with. Well, minus that loving fun part. That's fairly universal. Still, this scares me for the direction Hasbro intends to take the series with the new season. Is it salvageable? Of course. I have faith in the original writers of the series. Is it at risk of falling away from the original message the show delivered so well? Sadly yes.
High schools is highlighted for a different reason, that's more personal taste than the prior. I'll just get the main opinion out of the way right off the top. I don't like human ponies. There, I said it. Seeing drawings of them as humans is cute from time to time, and I can stomach anthro variants of them. HiE fics are workable for me only if they're written well. Capturing the 'fish out of water' feel of a single human amidst a sea of colorful ponies can be quite fun to read, and I enjoy watching the interaction with cultural barriers being shown. Turning any of the ponies at all human? That's when I hit my back button.
MLP:FiM is a world of fantasy. It has human influence because it was written from the perspective of a human, yes, but it doesn't 'need' that influence in order to be successful. The ponies captured my interest with their flavorful adventures and mystical magic. I delight in the weirdness and fantastical setting and the messages conveyed within. All that being said, adding attachment to 'humanity' in general does little except detract from that image. The show doesn't need basis in the 'real' world for me. So shoving the canon character into what clearly is a human reality not only feels empty and rather hollow, but detracts from the image I fell in love with from the start. I don't watch My Little Pony to see human interactions. That's one of the reasons I chose to NOT make Moon Mender a human originally. I could pull off a totally new type of interaction that didn't require that human element. It's not needed in my opinion, and basing an entire movie around it only seems gimmicky to me. Almost as if Hasbro were only attempting to expand its fan base for the show and make more money.
Obvious corporate reality aside, I don't like humanized ponies, so I'll never sit down to watch the movie in the first place as it doesn't appeal to me. That's above and beyond the negative body image reaction, the worry over the changes they're making to the inner message, and even the rather insulting aspect of turning the only leading male role in the show into a DOG! Yeah, that irked me too. If you were going to go all the way and turn everypony into humans, why couldn't you at least let Spike be one too? He's the strongest male role that's in almost every episode. Isn't that sending its own special message when you turn him into a dog instead? Hmm.
So yes. Overall, I'm not going to be touching the movie with a ten foot pole while wearing a full environmental suit. It's purely for personal opinion and I believe that the movie is gimmicky, unneeded, a detraction from resources that could have better been spent elsewhere, poorly construed and thought out, riddled with inconsistencies from the original message of the show, and frankly, should never have existed. The writing in it may be superb and the best the staff has ever done (Yes, I've read the entire plot of the movie.), but that doesn't save it from what it is underneath. It will never have a place in canon for me, or in my heart. That being said, it will also never be in my story.
Alicorn Twilight Statement (Skip if Required)
Might as well cover this while I'm here too! Heh. Again, I'll just throw my overarching opinion out there first, then explain it as needed. I don't mind Alicorn Twilight. There, I said that too. I've faith in the writing staff that, given a full season to explore its attributes, they can deal with her transformation gracefully. I've no idea if it was from the writers themselves to make the change or if corporate manipulation was at play, but that doesn't really matter all that much to me. If Twilight retains her original personality, that's what's important to me. I actually see workable potential, both in character interactions and the main plot of the story with the change. If they're clever, which the writers most definitely are, they'll make full use of the new Twilight.
That being said, I've no concerns about incorporating the change into my story. I see potential in it for interesting interactions with the other characters, including Mender. That's honestly what's important to me in character development. That covered, I will point out that I'll need to see the rest of the 'introduction' to her new self before I can add it to my written work. I've a steep dislike for doubling back and changing what I've already written due to a shift in canon material, so writing something based off guesses and conjecture is simply out of the question. I've got a bit more storyline to go before I get to the part I'd planned on potentially introducing the change in however, so I'll just keep plugging away until I run out of material to write or they reveal more canon information.
Equestria Daily Statement (Skip if Required) (Is Copy/Pasting At This Point)
Eh, why not. I've gotten these messages in and out of public comments and PMs at least a dozen times. No, I will not be submitting any further stories to Equestria Daily, now or in the near future. This very much includes anything in the 'Pending' series. The first chapter of Memory Pending did have bad description problems. I'm a better writer now than I was back then and I openly admit to that and would have willingly tried to fix it had they asked. Unfortunately, they also turned the story down for my choice of first pony perspective not agreeing with the prereader who reviewed my work, and incorporating an original character with potential romantic involvement with one of the mane six. There is literally nothing I can and would do to 'fix' either of those two 'problems' with my story, so I know it would not pass moderation even if I submitted it a thousand times. So I'll not further waste their time and mine.
This lovely experience being relayed, I've lost a bit of faith in what EqD submits as supposedly the 'best' of the fandom. I should have noticed sooner frankly, given that they had a button at that time displayed right across their main page to turn off specifically fanfiction from being reported. Kinda set their opinion on what they thought of the written aspects of the fandom right from the start, but I was oblivious to that fact at first. Meh. Kinda sad that none of the other media categories they host on the site receive anywhere near the moderation or censorship attempts there. At this point in time, I see they've backed off the censoring attempts at fanfiction a little, but have no idea if they moderate it to the same extent as before. Unless they have/will seriously change(d) their moderation of fanfiction, I won't be attempting to submit any further works. Even if mine did get through and posted on their site, I can't help but wonder how many other deserving fics didn't just because somepony was having a bad day or tried to read a fic that wasn't meant for them. I don't think I want my story supporting a site that operates like that. These are simply my observations of course.
Feel free to obviously respond to any/all of these topics. Everything above has been my sole opinion, and is not the opinion of any of my 'staff' for the Memory/Forgiveness/Censorship Pending universe. My only request is that the discussion of them is limited to this blog rather than more PMs or story comments, unless there's something you feel must be spoken privately. Hope everypony is having a good day!
I can't stand humanized ponies, either. Whether that means a humanized universe from the start, or turning a pony into a human. Especially when it ties into romance: that killed the fic "A Different Viewpoint of Equestria" for me.
I just saw the last minutes of EqG, but it had me cringing every minute of it.
Oh, and I was a fan of Alicorn Twilight from the start, before season 3. I'd definitely welcome seeing her in the Pending series.
Keep up the good work, I love your stories!
Well now I feel bad for sending you that story I thought you'd get a kick out of because of the influence Baldur's Gate had in inspiring it,
In regards to the Hasbro Announcement about EqG:
You know, that whole thing reminds me of when Alicorn Twilight was announced, and Hasbro's big selling point was something along the lines of "Every little girl wants to be a princess!" I found that to be very insulting.
...It's weird.
I almost want to convince you to give EqG a chance and that it's decent compared to the rest of MLP:FiM, but you have perfectly legit reasons for not wanting to look into it. Maybe it's because I respect you and your work so much that I hate to see someone I see like that be against something I honestly enjoyed and would defend, but a reasoned excuse should be fine to me (and is, I guess). Anyone can like or dislike or skip EqG just as anyone can do the same for FiM. I enjoyed it and its okay that you won't experience it.
sigh
Another note is Alicorn Twi and diverting. I never expected Alicorn Twilight to show up in your story (unless Mender-magic giving her non-real wings for a short time) and your story is an alternate path from the show that doesn't have a specific diversion point, but will you be focusing on certain things that happen in-show to be incorporated? The main example that comes to mind is Scootaloo and RD getting officially close... No, no, actually, I'll ask what elements have already happened after the story began being written that you have incorporated? Luna and dreams is all I can remember like that.
And nothing specific to say about EqD except Mender is a rare OC that I really, really like. Honestly, I like him better than 2, maybe 3, of the Mane 6. Just hard to be recognized when a lot of mediocre floods that label.
Equestria Girls characters make me think of satyrs. I thought Spike as a dog wasn't actually that bad. It made it somewhat humorous with Rarity. Flash Sentry seems like a very bad idea to me, rather ominous for what season 4 could contain. I'm very 50/50 on Equestria Girls. The "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" song wasn't too bad and the strange almost cosplay stuff somewhat funny. Near the end I was thinking "Raise the friendship shield Scotty!". So convenient those friendship shields.
If I predict anything about MLP it has to be: Luna won't have her own song and continue to disappoint.
Hopefully I am wrong given Luna is one of the more interesting characters.
Also, alicorn Fluttershy? I have a sneaking suspicion it's just a really bad idea from my lack of sleep but I like it anyway.
No flames here. Haven't watched EqG (yet?), but from what I have seen, I largely agree with you on all of the above.
If I'm not mistaken it was Faust herself that intended for Twilight to become a Princess, and she was supposed to be Celestia's successor eventually.
I actually liked EqG. I didn't mind the art style and basically watched it like it was a fanfiction.
You know, I've never understood what was so special about being featured on Equestria Daily. They seem to make writers go to such lengths to fit into their idea of what is acceptable that by the end the story is no longer what it originally was supposed to be. What's so great about a site that is so heavily judgmental?
I'm pretty much with you on humanized ponies. Equestria without ponies is basically Equestria in name only. At best I find humanized/anthro fics to be closer to original fiction with cribbed names and character archetypes (i.e. in name only), and at worst they are complete trash. Though, I probably will watch EqG eventually simply out of morbid curiosity more than anything else. I certainly don't hold high hopes of it being any good.
As for EqD, I've come to the conclusion that they're not worth the effort. I've heard too many horror stories of good authors with good fics getting rejected because the prereader didn't like their narrative style, or the author didn't follow the prereader's preferred style manual to the letter. There's just no consistency to their standards. To top it all off, most of what does get through is uninspired drivel like Generic Shipfic #92394.
1192133 - cvvvrt
I've read the entire plot and wasn't all that impressed. The individual scenes might be good, but the overall plot seems highly contrived. Like they decided they wanted to do humans, then tried to make the plot work around it instead of the other way around.
I'm glad you don't mind Alicorn Twi though. I just have a lot of ideas that could work with her.
1192206 - MrAskAPirate
Plus, if they're inserting human ponies for a THEME, I suppose it's not as bad as just inserting them for the human-ness. I DO enjoy Baldur's Gate. 
I've gone two weeks without looking at my PMs now. Ug. I should really get on that.
1192450 - JZG
I think Hasbro's problem largely revolves around a seriously outdated view on genders. Like, thirty years outdated...
1192486 - J4mie
I've nothing against the writers of it, and I know several of them have done amazing jobs before with their episodes. It smells more like corporate meddling to me, by far. That said, it's the message that EqG sends to the more impressionable audience that I dislike the most. Again, negative body imagery, stereotyping girl hobbies, and sending negative messages about male role models is not something a cartoon aimed at young females should do. I wish Hasbro would take responsibility for the future of the series and the path it's taking, rather than just worrying about all the dollar signs here and now.
Oh, and so far, this takes place after the start of season three. At least after episode three, I can safely say. I haven't fully decided where I'm going to 'weave' the story back through canon at to 'catch up' with the plot. As a mild, vague spoiler, the mirror pond is written in already.
Wow. Hmm. I never expected the story to get so popular, or Mender himself to be so well liked when I wrote him up. I like him too for the most part. He has some serious flaws, but he also has a few attributes I wish I myself had, like his ability to roll with the punches. 
I fully respect your opinion to like EqG.
At some point I imagine, my story will have to break off. I have several good ideas for Alicorn Twilight however that could really apply to the story.
You like Mender that much?
1192592 - Chii-chan
Also, Fluttershy? Uh, I said Twilight. 
It's the message I don't like. It was very ill-thought out.
1192605 - Zontargs
Julia plans on watching it eventually, but I'll pass. It was a very... poor choice on their part I believe. It sends all the wrong messages.
1192627 - Guardian Talon
I wish she was still on the show.
Nay. She refused to comment on that either way. She said that her plans for Twilight are 'irrelevant now' and that she doesn't want to 'undermine' the current writers.
1192777 - Mr. Yoke
Hum. Why did you like it?
I wish it WAS fanfiction.
1192842 - Unwitting Brony
But now I'm not so sure it's the kind of publicity I wanted in the first place. I've heard more 'private' opinions of what a lot of ponies seem to think about EqD and I've shied away from the idea.
It was never about prestige. At least not for me. EqD, at the time of my attempt (No clue now.), had a huge amount of hits, and I was hoping to get advertising for the story to widen my amount of readers.
1192960 - Eratosthenes
I can't speak for her, but that amused me. Human ponies just don't appeal to me. But that's not why I dislike EqG, primarily. That's why I'm not going to bother even watching it. Because I don't like human ponies, AND because it's sending tons of bad messages to the fans.
Heh, that's almost exactly what Julia said.
Same. They're not so much representing the 'best' fanfiction as much as the 'favorite' fanfiction of an extremely limited selection of individuals picked specifically by them. At this point, I view it more as a private club than anything. It's not what I originally thought it was. Hum.
1193509
Actually, now that I think about it, I know one that doesn't involve humans at all that you might like even better: The Sword Coast
1193509
Yeah the message, I agree with you there.
And yeah, Twilight not Fluttershy makes sense.
I believe we had this conversation some time back Kiro.
That is one of the many reasons I don't agree with EqD; too many bad personal experiences and their bad publicity overshadows anything good really.
as far as EqG goes, I rather enjoyed the movie. Was it the best? No. Do I consider anything form the Human world canon? Outside of Twilight having visited there, no. While the humanized characters are similar, they are in fact not our colorful little ponies; so anything learned about them should be disregarded from pony character canon.
I've never had a problem with alicorn Twilight, and had faith in the writers form the beginning of her announcement. SO far they have not let me down, so I see no reason to worry about it in season 4. I do consider her being an alicorn canon beyond a certain point in time. Prior to that time, she is just normal twilight, beyond that point, she is Princess Twilight Sparkle.
1193509 I liked it because even if the characters were in different forms, they were virtually the same as their equestrian counterparts. The writers didn't change their personalities and that's the part that counted for me. I didn't have too much to say about the art style except the faces kinda looked dumb, but after 10 minutes into the movie I stopped paying attention to that. For me though, I liked how the writers threw so many references to the actual series. That part was probably the most fun to look for. Even if the plot wasn't so great, it was nice to see Vinyl get more screentime and see the CMC dance to their own song on youtube. Stuff like that was what made the movie good for me. The music was nice too. I heard some people had issues with it, mainly that it wasn't on par with other songs in the regular season, but I enjoyed it.
I guess the entire movie was fun and enjoyable because I went there and watched the movie without a super critical view. I went to see a fun and enjoyable movie. That's what I expected and that's what I got. If I had instead went to nitpick every individual scene, I would have had a lot less fun. I guess I just watched it with a "blank slate."
**Some Spoilers for Equestria Girls**
I saw the whole movie and while I'll admit that some scenes with Pinkie Pie had me laughing the rest of the movie made me cringe. The fact that everything happens in like two days made the whole thing more ridiculous. Another thing that made me lose interest is that they don't even turn the ponies into humans actually. The only ones to go through the portal is Twilight and Spike. The others are just the human counterparts of that universe of the other mane 6, which made me think "where is that universes Twilight and Spike?" Heh. I think it would have been funny if she showed up at some point in the movie.eh. The fact that the other mane 6 weren't even technically themselves. They were just that universes versions of them and that made me lose most of my interest in them. Plus seeing as how the whole movie could have been over if Twilight simply asked for the crown back that kinda made the rest of it pointless.
**Spoilers End**
I actually hope Alicorn Twilight is included in this story. It's not something I mind, I just didn't like how they did it in the show. Might have gone over better if they split it into two episodes, but I'm just waiting for the next season to see what they do with this development. As to Alicorn Twilight in your story I would like and hope to see how to bring about her change. I have faith that you would handle this change much better than the show did seeing as how you aren't restricted by time restraints and you don't have a corporation breathing down your neck when it comes to how and what you do in your story.
~Have a good one.
Any other opinions aside, I might have paid more attention to EqG if they had made the characters real humans rather than anthro ponies with skins colors to match their fur colors and pony ears, (wings for Twilight) etc. They should have made them humans, with totally human features and little resemblance to the ponies besides the hair, personalities, and maybe the clothing. Tattoos might have been interesting, but would be outside of the scope of early teenager appropriate things and would have next to no context unless they were on their butts (also not within the show rating).
1194490
That's weird. So in that context shouldn't "Human" Twilight and Spike have been sent to Equestria or be trapped somewhere? I mean an alternate universe in this context ought to have equivalent people for everyone, barring some kind of vastly different history, their equivalent having died or something, or not having existed in the first place . All of those reasons except the first would present plot problems I would think. Besides, the other "mane 6" then aren't really Twilight's friends and thus have no relationship to her.
NOTE: I haven't seen EqG myself and don't intend to.