I'm thinking of jumping ship · 9:39pm Sep 7th, 2015
I was always a little awkward in this fandom. At the point when I arrived, Game of Thrones was a spreading dark spot on the cultural landscape, and cute cartoon ponies felt like my only option if I didn't want fiction where life sucked and everyone died. Idealism was such a powerful tonic for me that I was willing to ignore everything else that bothered me, both in canon and in fandom.
I've never been comfortable with series that equate power with wisdom, and Friendship is Magic has made me feel very uncomfortable indeed. Monarchy as an acceptable system, gods that provably exist and clearly know more than us puny mortals, absolutely everything about Twilicorn . . . It crept into the fandom, even in stuff that tried to reject it, and fanon took twisted paths canon would never follow. When reading FIM fics, my number one reason for staring at the screen in horror has been stories that condone and legitimize abusing the power you've been granted and treating people who're weaker than you like tools. Whether it's power of gods over mortals, power of "superior" races over "inferior" races, power of men over women, or even power of soldiers over civilians, participating in this fandom has made me feel dirty at times.
I guess I thought I was being whiny. I thought I should just shut up and accept the show as it was, with all the good parts as well as all the bad. But I've been watching Steven Universe, and it feels so egalitarian. It doesn't matter if this character is thousands of years old or just twelve, they're flawed and make mistakes, because that's a part of being alive. You can't always trust their judgment, but that doesn't mean your own judgment is perfectly sound, and the most important thing is to be able to forgive both them and yourself.
I haven't kept up with anything that's happened in FIM since Tirek lost. (I think there was something about yaks?) I sometimes felt like I should look stuff up, at least so I could keep up with fic, but I've been caring less and less lately, and the urge completely dissipated after I started watching Steven Universe.
I'd like to come back at some point to finish the stuff I've started, but I don't feel any urgency about it anymore. I'm having fun in a fandom I feel good about, and I guess that's what matters.
If you're happy where you are, then I'm happy for you. That said, I think you may enjoy the last pony episode before the current hiatus, "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"
You do whatever makes you comfortable. As for the things you say bother you in fimfics, I'd say you're just looking in the wrong places. There's plenty of fics that show, for example, Celestia and Luna, despite being so old and wise, can make mistakes like their subjects. Hell, the show itself just recently showed that the royal sisters bicker with each other in Ep 100, so they're still relatable.
I don't watch Steven universe, but I do know that its fandom has its own share of problems. All fandoms do. But as great as that show is, it'll never get as big as MLP:FiM, but that's just how the dice rolls and it's not a bad thing at all. If you wanna jump ship, by all means do so, s'long as you're happy.
It's always sad when your interest in something fades away, and it's always sad when idealism runs up against the reality of human fallibility. Steven Universe is a delightful show, though I haven't encountered the fandom at all, and I'm glad you're enjoying it.
There have been a couple of episodes in season 5 that I think are wonderful (episode 5: Tanks for the Memories and episode 12: Amending Fences especially), but I have had a hard time feeling the excitement like I did just last season
I'll be sorry to see you go. You wrote some real gems. But if you're losing interest you're losing interest, and no amount of fighting will bring it back. I hope you have a good time.
Nooo I just found you D:
3393093 There are still two things I absolutely want to do at some point. One is to finish Chitin, and the other is to write a sequel to How Equestria Was Made. After that, I've got ideas, but no clear vision of how to implement them.
3394250
That sounds good, at least. :O
Steven Universe is a pretty good show. I don't know if it's better than MLP, but its lows certainly aren't as low as MLP's lows. It has actual character development.
But I'm not in the fandom for the show, I'm in the fandom for the fandom. Actually I'm just in the writing part of the fandom, for the writing.
Where would you go for Steven Universe fanfiction?
3455670 I don't even know. Beach City Bugle spotlights good fics sometimes, but I haven't found nearly as much great stuff as I have on FIMFiction.
3455886 That site is Equestria Daily with a different feed. Is it run by the same people? Does Seth have a different website for each show now?
3455915 I don't know. The primary poster is someone called Emerald with a blank "about me."
3455921 A little clicking shows it's by Calpain. So, yes, EQD people.
I don't think the princesses are necessarily gods. Powerful, sure. But unless "crazy powerful" is the only requirement to qualify as a god I'm not seeing how they count. The only worship they get is the same kind celebrities deal with.