Rant on Changeling Design Drama

Stunning artwork by jacquibim, click for their DeviantART page!

So, with S7 coming up on us, and being a sort of an entrepreneur when it comes to spreading love for the new changeling designs, I wanted to make a bit of a blog rant about the state of affairs. Not as a fan of the designs trying to tell non-fans to become fans of it, but more as an extremely meta third party entity who's watching yet another war unfold when he knows what the end result will be.

Put another way, the designs, whether you like them or not, are not going anywhere - no amount of love or hate for them is going to alter the direction the show has decided to take. And I don't mean that as a blunt, 'you're SOL, get over it' statement, but more as a 'take a moment to breathe, and gives things a chance' statement. Because even more important than recognizing that things are what they are, people really should exercise the wisdom and foresight to know by now that big changes become less out of place with more exposure over time.

Anyone remember post-S3? How over half the fandom was in flames over purple waifu sprouting wings? Does anybody see anywhere near that amount of drama, now? That's what I thought.

Just as with Twilicorn, reformed Discord and every other notable series changing decision, there are only two outcomes for those who aren't already fans of or at least neutral about the new changelings.

1: They'll get over it with time and exposure as S7 turns into S8, etc. Again, don't take my word for it, it's been happening since S3.

2: Their opinion will remain, but become increasingly less outspoken as much of their like-minded brethren succumb to point #1, leaving them with far less the deadest against crowd they once had at their back.

A year from now the changeling drama will be forgotten by most, as folks find something else to cause flame wars about. In the meantime, I sure wish more people realized this for themselves, and found more productive things to do than argue about the same thing on forum after forum. Express your discontent and move on with an open mind. Going into S7 I wish more people would have some faith in the story-telling of the team behind this show - Twilicorn, Sunset Shimmer, reformed Discord, etc all started off as incredibly iffy ideas as well, but they all turned out for the best, because DHX took those ideas and ran with them.

As for me, I find the new designs pretty interesting - the changelings are like fairies now, not dissimilar from the G1 flutterponies. Can't wait to see what else there is to learn about them come S7 and beyond.

Until then, I'll be over here enjoying the important things, like how there's no more starving changelings, and that Thorax finally fits in with his kind.