Apr
9th
2021
The iPone has arrived - and people are spontaneously combusting · 10:14pm Apr 9th, 2021
I think the new pones are ridiculously cute, and a smartphone (regardless of how it works - we're officially in the far future after all) with a hoof-indent for better, uhm, handling is peak adorable. That's got to be one of the next inventions in the Track-Switch verse, for mankind's ongoing quest to become more accommodating to ponykind.
I'm very much looking forward to this. Not because I expect a great movie, but because I expect to be entertained. Same as with the last movie.
That said, this is just so incredibly sad:
How do you prepare someone for the very real possibility of death threats - for the crime of designing a cute pony differently to someone's entitled expectations? Seriously... the state (of parts) of this fandom.
The state of any fandom really, this sort of thing really does seem to attract the monomaniacs.
Posted a "Take a deep breath, y'all" blog a few minutes ago. But there's a reason I avoid Twitter. Freaking people, man.
5494067
It's called hyperfixation for a reason, sadly.
5494067
I blame 4chan.
That and this weird obsession a ton of guys have with settings being set in stone.
Yeah, it is pretty cringe how people are reacting. Especially considering that by that very designer's own admission it was a corporate mandate and their hands were tied.
Not to diminish the sadness of someone threatening death over a cute pony, but this kind of toxicity exists in every fandom. I'm a part of the furry fandom, I'm a brony, I'm a Trekkie, I'm a, uh, Warsie, I'm a Whovian, I love all kinds of shows, and it never fails that when even the most minor of changes occurs, there are some "fans" who scream in rage, like when Jodie Whittaker received death threats for being the new Doctor. Even if you really don't agree with the direction of the series, there's *never* an excuse for that kind of absurdity.
I've been trying to give them encouragement in the MLP threads because to me it looks cute! I mean, if I end up not liking it, I have G4 and all kinds of stories to enjoy, there's nothing to lose. I can only hope the positivity ends up outweigh the negativity by a vast majority. I'm tired of this toxicity, too. No one deserves death threats for wanting to make people happy.
I didn’t like what I saw of Pony Life, so I didn’t watch it. If people enjoyed it, good for them. Not my thing, but not everything has to be.
What I see so far of G5 looks super adorable, and if when we get the finished product it isn’t great, I can ignore it or I can write fix-fics, no problem. Or do my usual focus on background characters that I like and write about them.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of EqG, but the movies I watched, well, they had more songs than I liked, but other than that they were pretty good. Some of the shorts were excellent.
Pony cell phones are fun to imagine, although perhaps I’m biased on that.
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Yeah, this. I’ve got several years worth of reading in my RiL, which honestly I’ll never catch up on, and if it turns out G5 has zero redeeming qualities whatsoever I can keep on writing G4. If it’s good, so much the better, I’ve got writing fodder and so do lots of other talented authors.
People. Are. Clueless. Nitwits. Evidently, many of them think that actors come up with their own lines, and artists can throw in any sort of thing they like into a scripted production. Yes, I don't like what the phone hints at,* but the design itself is clever and pretty. And people are angry at the artist? Fekkin' hell.
---------------
* Corporate dictation of content.
Yeeeep. Bit more nervous but still cautiously optimistic about G5, myself.
But Twitter?
Once again glad I'm not on there, just from what I've been hearing secondhand.
Good grief, at least get mad at the people actually responsible for this, not the artists, if you're going to get mad at anyone. And I think it's early even for that given how well G4 was able to roll with some of Corporate's punches (and it's not likely getting mad at Corporate at this point is likely to change anything, either -- and if it does, there's a fair chance it'd just be panicked disconnected flailing out of this and into some other problem).
5494199
Tomb Raider fandom and the 2013 reboot. Lara Croft with human limits and, most importantly, without big boobs. Complete and total carnage. Or Mass Effect 3. So yes...
The hate is just as wrong there, but for MLP it just makes me a whole lot sadder. That's not logical, I know. It's just... how can people like that even be fans of something like this?
Anyway, I'm not expecting much of G5. Don't see any reason to despair yet either.
5494244
Same here. And I also never liked EqG.
Do I feel cheated or that I've somehow lost out? No. As you say, G4 is so massive it'll probably keep me occupied for the next decade. Who is still talking about the last movie? Other than the character of Tempest, I found it pretty forgettable. Good fun, very entertaining, but ultimately nothing that defines FiM for me in any way.
So yes, if G5 sucks, it'll just be G4 SoL forever. :b
I'm cautiously optimistic though. There's also going to be a ton of beautiful art. I mean, there already is.
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At the last GalaCon VA panel, there was this guy who asked if the VAs 'would accept it if their characters were to be used in a new series that goes against the canon and if they'd decline to voice them'. Yes really.
The look on Tabitha St Germain's face was priceless. 'Uh. Uhm. Well. I'm... not going to turn down a job that pays my bills?'
Like, some people appear to think that Hasbro employees are irreplaceable superstars who decide how MLP gets developed. Same with artists.
For a show with the main purpose of selling toys to non-fandom customers... I guess that's sadly inevitable.
At least they've got some actual fans on the design team.
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I get that MLP means incredibly much to some people... but for me, life's too short to get mad about something like this. The anti-woke culture war battle lines have also already been drawn, based on a few seconds of animation and a still.
Like. Seriously.
Wonder what they use as a power suply. Exploding mana batteries? Or stuck with electricity cos the magics gone?
If they have so called smartphones, wonder if that means the Tree Of Harmony got corrupted by a computer virus, which broke magic?
5494631
As an animator I worked on a few hit games during my career, but the vast majority were forgettable or flops, even if they got released. When I finished up one, the studio or client would offer another game to work on, and you can bet your life I happily took the mind-numbingly boring but extremely lucrative job of drawing a thousand frames of fish swimming for Super Black Bass Pro Fishing Game on the SNES. (Nobody ever sent me death threats for making Barbie look too skinny, so I suppose it was a different age.)
Sadly, the reason FiM was so good was that the corporate suits didn't give the slightest damn about the contents. To them, it was just a 30 minute commercial for their plastic toys. That's why Lauren was left alone to create a unique and wonderful fantasy world—at least for a while.
When I worked at another game company, the suits in the marketing department got involved in the sequel to a huge hit game I'd worked on. They utterly destroyed the franchise by dictating bizarre content and micromanaging the day-to-day stuff of the sequel, guaranteeing it would be a flop. Meanwhile upstairs, a brilliant game designer was working on the ugly step-child of the company's projects, and turned that into a mega hit—because she was left alone to do what she did best.
TL:DR, Suits ruin everything, and fans who blame artists for suit decisions are frikkin' idiots.
5494680
That would be awesome, but I'm sure it won't be anything that interesting.
5494730
I guess that sums this up perfectly.
Now I want a beer with you and hear more about your work history.
5494680
That would actually be awesome (and reminds me of a story idea I had years ago).
5494641
Oh, those too? Greeeeat. [facehoofs]
Like, what even is there to get really upset about so far? No, rhetorical question, please don't answer that; I have better things to do, at least, and it sounds like you do too. :)
I do hope the show staff aren't getting hit too hard by the, ah, more vocal and unpleasantly so sectors of the fandom, though.
5494768
It would take me at least three just to get through the Atari years!
5495403
Three beers on me then, I love this kind of stories.
Too bad there's a big pond between us, otherwise I'd say let's meet up at GalaCon next year.
Anyway, cheers. ;)
5495478
I travel a lot (or did before the plague), so it's not an impossible thing!
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