The fandom is dying. · 9:21pm Feb 20th, 2022
Lets face it, the fandom is dying.
Every year, a few more people leave the fandom. Some of them have moved on with their lives. Some have found new fandoms, new objects of devotion.
I've seen it personally. The MLP meetup group I used to be a part of has been inactive since 2020. I rarely see any of the people I've met at the meetups, if at all. Ficfiction.net is slowly bleeding to death, as writers slowly immigrate to other sites, other hobbies. It's only a matter of time before this site, and this fandom, fade away entirely.
So where does that leave me? I've been part of this fandom for nearly a decade. I joined this site almost nine years ago. During that time, I've amassed a modest following, read lots of interesting stories, met equally interesting people. With all the feedback I've received over the years, I've honed my writing skills; I can confidently say that I'm a much better writer than I was nine years ago.
So what happens when that part of my life disappears?
Sorry, rambled there for a bit. I've...got a lot on my mind.
The fandom may not be at its peak as before, but I highly doubt the fandom and Fimfiction will fade completely.
After all, there are still active fans and communities for things like D&D, Star Trek and such- which much like MLP, have been around for decades. Not to mention that G5 is certain to draw in more people, many of whom will want to know the source material and preceding generation(s).
So while it's unlikely to ever reach as big as before, I don't believe it'll die completely.
Generation 5 is right on the horizon. We have the movie but more is coming.
One thing about stories written in this period is that they do not have to worry about canon blowing a hole through them. This happened to me a few times in the past. Also the fans that are left seem more forgiving than the fan-base several years ago.
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Since when have we cared about canon?
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Eh, I've zigged instead of zagged because canon changed something with a story in progress.
It might not be at the heights of popularity that it once was, but I believe that fandom will continue onward as long as people can find something to draw or write or make a song about that features the characters we know and love. When that stops happening, only then could the fandom rightly be called "dead."
The thing is though, aren't you one of those people who's slowly detaching from the fandom and drifting off to other things? Two blog posts today, a story last month, and before that? September of last year. Please don't take this as me busting your balls or anything like that, and I'm fully aware that life happens and that things have to be put aside to focus on it when it does. But it looks to me like you're in the process of checking out, and so making a blog post expressing that you're unhappy that other people are doing likewise strikes me as, well, just a bit ironic.
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Oh I'm not leaving the fandom anytime soon. I've just been busy lately.
i am in the same boat friend it's been all of 8 years for me being here.
i have met several good people here and made several vary good friends.
it is sad that i agree that the site is slowly losing vary good authors and i have saw story's just stop to never be updated or even canceled.
i do know of 3 authors that were down for a long time from covid and the one is going to struggle the rest of his life.
and as you say it is time to stop rambling.
It's obviously in a decline since the show ended in 2019 but it won't ever *die*, there will always be people in the Gen 4 fandom and with the Gen 5 stories being written already, this site should continue on for a while
The diehards aren't going anywhere, and Hasbro will cater to us on occasion. "Not bizarrely popular" is not the same as "dead", and this fandom means too much to too many of us.
The ride never ends
All fandoms go through ups and downs but just because something is not mainstream anymore doesn't mean the fandom's dead.
I hope it doesn't die, I still enjoy reading some Fimfiction but the authors leaving does slow the income of stories. The hayday is passed but they were great times and there are still tons of stories to read and be written.
Let them be. My enjoyment for the show isn't measured by the amount of people in the fandom.
Poni will never ever die but im sure it will become more niche and with the already fractured fandom the subfandoms will become more and more niche. Doesn't bother me because it means more intimacy with the content and in a strange way, more authentic
It's not dying, it's settling. The meetup group has been inactive since 2020 because of a certain virus that's been active since 2020.