Classic Brony Videos--Let's Have 'Em! · 3:33am Jul 4th, 2016
"Th... the memories!"
Today, I did something I haven't in a long time: gone on an all-day pony fan video binge. Specifically, I was (surprise, surprise) looking for classics. As my brain gradually heals, more memory fragments slowly come back, and it grows easier to find my way back to Memory Lane.
A good thing about the Web 2.0 era is that once a piece of work is on YouTube or Gdocs or, heck, even Fimfiction, it stays there for who-knows-how-long unless someone (or a bot) removes it. So if I remember just enough details about a thing, I can usually find it again.
What always puzzle and distress me are the cases where people did remove their work, and no one thought to back it up. There are thankfully music archives that preserve the work of guys like NRGForce and IBringDaLulz, but some fan videos have simply vanished into the aether.
Two examples come to mind. The first is "The Real Side of Twilight Sparkle," in which Twi was redubbed with vocal clips from Tara Strong's foul-mouthed role in another show, Drawn Together. In retrospect, it's not much of a loss.
The real loss was the ProjectFailSing YouTube account. You may recall a video series, hosted by a guy who sounded a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger, humorously profiling individual ponies. Now all that's left of his work is a bit from the Pony Swag megamix, starting at 12:40. Seriously, what happened?
But again, the good news is that most of the old stuff is still out there. So I would like to see what videos by and about the pony fandom are in some way special to you. They need not be the fandom's best work; they may even be guilty pleasures. Here are a few examples of my own old favorites.
"What Do Guys See in My Little Pony?" (language warning)
This and its two sequels not only capture the tongue-in-cheek zeitgeist of the early fandom, but also the Internet itself at the time. I don't know what a latecomer might think of them now, but I get the sense you had to be there.
"Ponies With Hats" (violence warning)
What with all the differing fan content out there, eventually there must be at least one thing an individual hater will like. This was perfect for my pony-hating roomie, who I caught quoting it on occasion for a few weeks after I showed it to him. He rationalized this by saying, "I'd like it more if it wasn't ponies!"
"Equestria Girls"
Remember when "Equestria Girls" was just a catchy pop tune with a shout-out to the older fans? Sweet Apple Acres remembers.
"We 'Don't Like' Ponies"
The phenomenon of accidentally discovering that someone else is secretly a fellow fan is apparently common enough to warrant spoofing, with this performance by two hilariously hammy redneck characters.
"Pony Physics Presentation"
By rights, this should have been a cringe-fest. But it had just the right combination of humor, real science, and amateur earnestness to go viral in a good way. Turns out that Earth Ponies are made of dark matter. Explains a lot, no?
I could list dozens more, but I would very much like to see your favorites. Sharing is caring, so let's have 'em!
Cheers,
HV
"I'd like it [ponies with hats] more if it wasn't ponies!"
This one has got to be one of the earliest pony videos I ever saw.
Good times.
Man, you dumped me down memory lane.
Friendship is Manly is a good one, as are the Count of Monte Cristo animatics from Inkpotts. The Pony Anthologies are all fine works, but they might be a bit dated in terms of references.
Two of my all time favorites. They were never super popular, I think but I always made me smile
4066680 those were enjoyable.
Timeless.
The animation isn't the best, and the audio quality is awful, but this makes me laugh like an idiot every time.
Alligator Tub Productions in general, really, but I felt it was best to begin at the beginning.
Have the video that got me into the show.
Not one of the most famous PMVs around, and being from 2011 the quality isn't great, but I'd hate to have missed out on it:
4066650
Same here. It seems to come up a lot in these sorts of discussions. I'm honestly surprised no one has remade it in high definition. I'd do it, but I'd have to learn a whole new skill from the ground up.
4066655
I just looked those up, and holy cow--they never stopped making them! Between this and Turnabout Storm, I'll certainly never run out of pony video.
4066965
Confession time. I didn't understand this one back in the day, and I still don't understand it.
4067300
Aww yeah!
It will come as no surprise that those guys have been my favorite band for a decade now.
4066676 4066680 4066774 4066905 4066908
My fans and I seem to have similar taste in fan videos. Seems I haven't missed any. Thanks, guys.
4066905 oh yeah, This one is great. The sequel is weird and kind of sad.
And this is the first Brony music I ran into:
4068235
There's little to understand beyond "it's a ponification of this:"