Jan
31st
2019
Progress status · 7:33pm Jan 31st, 2019
I finished over 4k for the next chapter, then decided it was shit and crossed out the first half. The second half needs tweaking as well.
I'm finally introducing the Mane 6. I haven't seen an episode in forever. Can anyone remind me what the general fandom liked about their characters? I COULD watch episodes again, but a second opinion would be valuable in this particular matter. Do fans just like how childishly eager they are to make mistakes and learn, with the addition of childish magic ponyland shenanigans, or do fans like them for some other reason I might've lost touch with?
Well, there are two answers to your question, the useful one about seasons 1 and 2 before things went to shit, and the current depressing answer now that the shit has piled up to the point that I've heard an episode described as a worse version of the episode that was so bad it killed the actual show for me.
For the useful answer, in seasons 1 and 2 the reason was excellent writing. The characters were amazing and felt like real people so it was easy to develop deep emotional connections to them, and that more than made up for the show's other shortcomings. If you want to get real value out of including them, this is the rout you're going to have to take which in turn probably means spending some time watching season 1/2 episodes to get a feel for them again, although you could also get the same effect out of reading good stories written during or shortly after that time frame.
For the current answer, it's generally emotional investment blinding people to the show's problems or simple stubbornness/inertia. Many people were genuinely helped by the show back when it was good and deeply incorporated it into their identity as a result. That generates the same kind of emotional dependence you commonly see with other tribal identities like strong religious beliefs or modern politics, so they treat any criticism of the show as a personal attack just like those other tribes do with criticism of their tribe. There are a couple of technical terms associated with this kind of behavior, but the most visible is cognitive dissonance, the irrational and disproportionate anger directed against criticism which I'm sure you've seen. I could go on for quite a while about specific failings and why you should avoid the newer material, but you asked about why people liked the show and characters, not the problems or how they have infected this site over the years, so I'll end this comment here.
Personally I don't care about MLP becuase its all happy sunshine and ponies. I like it and it's fandom because there is a diverse set of characters in not just personality, but also species, ability and compatability. Theres a steady supply of advanture and the occasional disaster, but by making use of specific combinations of compatability the characters have with each other they generally sol e the problem with a happy ending. Not that I don't enjoy the occasional sad ending if done properly. You brought up that you haven't seen any of the recent episodes in a while, too that I can only cringe. The whole point of righting a fanfiction or any story really, is to put YOUR opinions and thoughts into words for others. You don't need to see or add the new episodes into the story when you could choose for yourself what adventure will unfold. The only thing that should remain set in stone are the attitudes of your characters, for instance Twilight will forever be a compulsive, Celestia obsessed, bookworm who cherishes her friends (Even when sometimes she forgets that.) and babies Spike like the servant he is (Pretty dark and sad for a kids show honestly, he's a baby dragon yet they make him clean entire buildings top to bottom on his own, make him their personal message boy, task him with administrative paperwork that of which most adults wouldn't even touch, and quite possibly malnurish). Just make sure that you have an idea what direction you want to go and then just wander towards it glancing at the sights as you go, diverting your path to whatever branches from that path that interests YOU as the inspired artist. Even if you watch episodes again to refresh your knowledge on how each character acts, you could just pick 2-3 episodes at random that include that character, get a feel for how they act, then evolve that personality towards your own path. Afterall our personalities define us, so it would only be fair that our actions and reactions define our personalities wether influenced through others or our environments.
Don't forget you've got a lot of leeway with that Alt. Universe tag. So as long as you try to be faithful to the source material to a certain point and don't completely botch the characters personalities into a bad character, you'll be fine. You can even turn the characters we know into entirely new ones so long as you do it carefully and with planning and a reason behind it.
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I suppose since I decided to flip off most of what happens post Sombra's fall, I might as well enjoy my freedom. Aside for Tirek, there isn't much else I'm keeping.