Missing the “Glory Days” · 4:48pm Mar 6th, 2023
Pardon me in advance, since this blog post is gonna be more of a rant and/or question of sorts.
Am I wrong for feeling a bit…weird about starting fanfiction so late? I feel like I’ve missed so much history, so much content, and so many people because I only popped up here not even a year ago.
I keep going through stories uploaded from 2012-2014 and seeing the authors long gone, or commenters long gone, and it always kinda bums me out.
I adore this fandom, and I’m glad to see it having a resurgence of sorts recently, but damn do I wish I was here for the good ole days. Being able to write as new episodes came out had to be fucking awesome. It pains me to know I’ll never have that. Pains me a LOT. G5 doesn’t even have a fourth of that energy, and it depresses me. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Would’ve been fun to write back then is all.
Then again, I’m only 21, so I wouldn’t even be able to do smut back then, so maybe it was for the best.
If I could put me, at this time, in the past, I would, but alas that isn’t possible
I still love the community here, and I love and appreciate all of you who support me. I’m gonna be around and writing for as long as I can, and, who knows, maybe we’ll get a sample of some of the peak again one day.
You're not wrong for feeling weird.
I feel weird myself, and I got into the fandom when season 6 was just about to come out.
I wish for the good old days as well. And that's okay.
Good luck with your move!! And I look forward to what you put out next!!
Your not wrong. I wished I had join the fanfiction stage sooner but I was put off. There were some amazing writers that left as quickly as they came. And some that lost their spark for MLP. Like game of pones.
I think most people understand this feeling Ebony and don't beat yourself up about it. I feel the same, honestly, (In fact quite a bit worse) given that I was around in those days, only to leave for other pursuits and then come back a decade later wanting to share in the fun again. As you said though, can't go back and change anything or 're-live' it.
The best we can do, in my opinion, is just keep the 'flame' that we have burning as brightly as we can. I'd like to believe Ponies will make some form of resurgence. Maybe not to the degree it was back in those days, but some kind of G4 reboot or another line of cartoon, like the one we all fell in love with the first time. And if that does happen and all those fans flood back in, we'll be here to show'em that we've been here the entire time since their leave - and our arrival. All the new stories we've written, worlds we've built, the music we've played, and the art we've made. I think they'd appreciate that and want to help!
It's a bit of a pipe dream, I suppose, but it's better to continue with hope than to abandon what we want so dearly. Besides, would it be better for us to leave their legacy, or for us to at least tack ours onto their tapestry? We'll get to look back in 10, 20 or more years going, "Hey, I contributed to this community, however small it was." And no one can take that from you. Just my two cents, I s'pose.
P.S. Good luck with the move! I know those are always a pain, especially inter-state ones.
I think this song sums it up best, for all of us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rShiDT-Pp_A
If it helps, the feeling's familiar to me too. Wishing you the best!
I started writing in 2016 and haven't left, if that makes you feel any better about people leaving 😅
I really love G5, even wrote several fics for it, but the infuriating part to me is that they haven't even announced any plans for Chapter 4, so I have no ideas if it's really going anywhere. So I totally get you on that.
I'm actually glad there's people like you who started later, so that there's fics still coming out long after the show has ended. But I understand wishing to have been part of the hype as it was happening, so no it isn't weird.
When I joined in late 2015 I literally beat myself half to death over the fact that I'd missed the true peak of the fandom at around 2012. I thought I had missed the best parts already by that point.
Fast forward a few years until now, and I can definitely say that while those years I did miss can't be replayed, I had a blast with the years I did spend in the fandom since. Not to mention all the content people made, both fanfics, art and so on.
Fuck I don't even know how long I've been lurking.. must be at least since 2012/2013, even without an account.
ACRacebest's older bronies react videos are sort of time capsules for what the mindset for the fandom was back in the years they were filmed.
Been here a long time, I joined the fandom in 2012, those were good days, a golden era, but there were dark times..
There’s nothing wrong with having turned up lat as far as I’m concerned. I’ve only turned up to the fandom recently as I watched an episode after years of ‘my little pony is a show for little girls’ and frankly I hate myself for it. I missed out on the new episode season for friendship is magic but the fandom is still very much alive if Not from the reboot that destroys everY thing from friendship is magic, then from dedicated writers such as yourself keeping the fandom going. There are no new episodes, but it is still an ongoing show. Not from the reboot but from those who keep it alive by writing fanfics or fantasizing about the show. Whilst yes, fanfics are fanfics, some of them are better than the episodes of the show. We as a community are the ones keeping the fandom alive. So yes, individuals such as you or I missed out on the chance to experience it when it was ‘new’ but we can still experience it, with the added bonus of others who share the same mindset, don’t be let down by what has been, be uplifted by what is : a supportive community who, whilst some come and go, won’t be going anywhere any time soon
its kind of weird to me, i watched mlp passively with my little sister when the first episode with nightmare moon came out and by virtue followed on and off till tirek and stopped watching didn't return till like ? 2019-20ish? when i discovered this site and by then the whole fandom was alive but a rotting skeleton of it once was.
let me tell you finding this website and pretty much seeing most stories deader than a dodo for at least 5 years+ is crazy and seeing stories like bad Mondays which is really good remain dead for 4 years before being updated tells me that many people have just moved on and have mlp as a "hey remember that thing that was popular back in the day" in the deepest part of their brain, only people left are those who are in too deep and just cant separate from mlp.
wish we could have another golden age i could experience but considering todays climate and the unquie blend of shit that cause it to get big in the first place will never happen again. sad life
There are alot of things right now that are strange in the world, just enjoy yourself. 10/10 would read again
This isn't an uncommon reaction for people being "late" into Fandoms or coming back after some sort of hiatus. A decent amount of Fandoms rely on interactions between the individuals within the fanbase and the sub-group they create. In particular to sites like FimFiction, you can go back and see the old stories and old members that haven't been updated/online for years. It is just a general feeling of missed opportunity.
You can see this with other groups, like the Halo Community or the Black Ops/Modern Warfare Community. From Halo to Halo 3 and Reach, a big part of the fun was playing online and this is true for Black Ops(Original) and MW2(Original).
It sucks, but there isn't much you can do about it. Atleast for Fanfiction, we can look back and read a bulk of the old stories. Not a pleasant feeling though, seeing all the dead groups/events in this site.
It is what it is I guess, over time people lose interest or inspiration and end up leaving with one or more half-finished stories.
But hey, as long as new stories keep popping up the fandom will never completely die.
As someone who lurked for years and years, there is definitely a good deal of FOMO -- the level and volume of engagement seemed way higher and as such it seemed like there would've been more places and people to exchange discussion, ideas, and media with that I missed out on. But alas, I was on the younger end too. Nowadays, I don't focus so much on the likes and views or whatever (although they are of course humbling) -- finding value in those maybe smaller but more dedicated communities or one on one discussions has a value on its own. I don't watch a whole lot of G5 but funnily enough there was one episode that ends with wanting to make new memories instead of reliving old ones, and that's a nice conclusion to have, I think!
Been around since episode 1 one FiM and while yes it is a bit sad to see what was once an impressively artistic and amazing community dwindle and see some of my favorite content creators leave for different avenues of life. It’s also a welcome feeling seeing that that community is still here, while not as big, it never did truly die off. Maybe one day it can approach what it was back then but seeing people still make Fics, music, art and such is uplifting to this boomer of a fan.