Letters From A Disgruntled Friendship Student

by milesprower06

For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils (Bonus Chapter: JanAnimations Eulogy)

THE FOAL FREE PRESS
HOUSE FIRE LEAVES NO SURVIVORS

Tragedy struck Ponyville late last night, as an intense fire broke out in the Mash residence. Firefighters were unable to effectively combat the blaze, nor were they able to enter the house to make rescue attempts. It has gone on record as one of the deadliest fires in Ponyville's 80-year history.

With firefighting measures proving useless, the inferno burned unchallenged, until the frame of the house collapsed in on itself at 3:20 AM, two hours after it was reported. The fire department's worst fears were becoming more and more of a reality when no remains of the occupants were found. All four members of the Mash family were thought to be inside, and are presumed dead.

Very little survived the fire and subsequent collapse of the house. Of what remains, the most intact item is an old pong machine. It is not known what started the fire, although 8-year old Button Mash was known for enjoying the Silly Filly Train Sets, which have been prone to spontaneous combustion.

"Button Mash was an avid gamer, and he will be missed dearly by the community." Princess Luna offered in a statement. Button's last major appearance was with Princess Luna as he helped with the 24-hour LAN Party in honor of Luna's estranged sister, Princess Molestia.

Author's Note:

"But, Mom, I need to fight the coherds to save the village of Gumbai if I want any luck in defeating the alixes of Humgonia!"
- Button Mash

JanAnimations Studios
C&D'd on March 21st, 2014

(Yes, another chapter parodying the actual episode is forthcoming. The title of this episode, given the sudden developments, and the milkshake scene in the BA Pilot episode, seemed very appropriate.)

Comments

[Monochromation]

Oh dear.

Well, time to bring out my glass case of emotion so I can sit in it for a few hours.

[Bad_Seed_72]

Aww, fuck.

[Tatsurou]

Oh...
Oh dear...

[Lovenought]

Jesus buck.

[Funky Pony]

I don't know what to do now

[Jonathon Smythe]

(Hangs hat over heart)

[Reddened Chaos]

Because im late and dont know: did jananimations die?

[milesprower06]

4117123 Read the text, he got C&D'd by Hasbro.

[MerlosTheMad]

4117089

Indeed.

[JXWheeler]

Pfft like hell we are going to forget Button Mash! There will still be stories of him popping up! Screw Hasbro for doing that.

[Reddened Chaos]

4117126 so they shut him down? Why the buck would they do that?!?
(Also a quick question for your special promotion: would that cast include Luna, Nightmare Moon, fleur de lis, and maneiac?)

[Arxsys]

Damn... freaking damn.

[Darkened Paradise]

Wait...if Jan was doing this for free...why should Hasbro care? Granted, it is their IP, but why does it matter as long as no actual cash is being exchanged?

Just a thought

[milesprower06]

4117141 Choose anyone you want.

I cannot gauruntee I'll get to everyone. The easier it is for me to write up a humorous reply, the better chance you have of getting featured. So something by a character I didn't even have make an appearance would be tricky.

[Reddened Chaos]

4117146 fair enough i was curious, i may try writing to each.

[Chrono_Ryono]

4117145

Copyright laws are fucked when it comes to fan content. Profit is irrelevant; the use of someone's intellectual property is a copyright violation by definition, and their justification for cease and desist (and, in worse cases, suing) is "to protect the value of their property."

It essentially boils down to, "If popular fan content is allowed to exist, people might gravitate toward that instead of paying for the official stuff, so it's in our interest to attack it." And, to anyone with a functioning brain, this reasoning is retarded. If someone seriously makes the decision to stop watching the show and instead get their pony fix through fan content alone, that has nothing to do with the fan content. Outlawing such content won't "keep them watching the show" - they'll just abandon the franchise entirely in that case.

This asstarded reasoning is also a large part of the digital piracy issue.
"Preventing them from downloading it will force them to buy it instead."
No, a large chunk of pirates simply wouldn't buy it at all if they couldn't pirate it. That's not a defence of either side, it's just a fact.

[milesprower06]

4117162 Shit like this is making me consider no longer supporting the show.

[Chrono_Ryono]

4117165

B-b-but...
Without the show, there'd be no inspiration for this hilarious fic...

[Anyne]

4097984 Yes, it is

[milesprower06]

4117187 You misunderstand.

Writing Letters is not supporting the show.

Buying official pony merch is supporting the show.

I have over $300 in official merch.

[Chrono_Ryono]

4117192

True. I misinterpreted "supporting the show" as "watching the show."

I've got some merch as well.

[Henki Pie]

Sign
I will miss you Jan Animation Studios. I will miss you.
Henki PIe

[Jixstun]

On the one hoof, they give us Maud Pie.

On the other, they take away Jananimations.

I consider that a considerable net loss, Fandom-wise.

I still remember when everyone thought Hasbro was leading the way by allowing whole Episodes on Youtube & allowing the Fandom to flourish, but now that the show is big & syndicated, they can't indulge us anymore, even if they want to, which I suspect they don't if what they said about Equestria Girls being what the Fandom wanted is any indication.

[Superluminous]

I'm never sure whether I should love Hasbro for creating the show and doing it properly this time or hate them for shit like this. I'm leaning towards the latter, to be honest. Jan made that video a long time ago and they didn't care, so I'm not sure what prompted this. The Molestia thing was, while still awful and bad, slightly warranted. People searching for Princess Celestia would find Molestia on the first result page, which was bad for the children the show is aimed at. I don't like it, and I think Pinkiepony or whatever her name is is bad for taking it down, but there was reasoning behind that decision. However, having read the C&D notice, I see no real reason to remove button et al. from YouTube. It didn't harm the show in any way and Hasbro lost no potential money to it. It's not like he was making money our of it except (possibly. I don't know) monetizing the video on YouTube. Even then, YouTube payed him for views, not potential Hasbro customers. It seems illogical. There may be other causes, but they haven't been released to us yet. Until we know for sure, this is just Hasbro being stupid again.

This is getting ridiculous, really.

~ Decaf

[Kiue Jin]

4117192

Damn it man, you made me thing that the person behind JanAnimations Studios (Or at least someone important to it. I'm not really sure how many people are apart of JanAnimations Studios) had actually died in a tragic accident. Bad Author *Smacks over the head with a rolled up newspaper.*

[Aegis Steelshield]

Am I the only one beginning to think that Hasbro doesn't deserve the bronies?

[milesprower06]

4117317 I would think that the biggest hint wouldn't be the C&D at the bottom of the page, but the fact that JanAnimations is not two years old.

[Kiue Jin]

4117617

*Continues to bop with rolled up newspaper* I'm fully aware of my failings as a reader. I just wanted an excuse to bop someone with a newspaper!

[FanOfMostEverything]

In a way, this is a sort of twisted compliment. "Your work is so good, people might mistake it for ours."

It still sucks harder than a black hole prostitute, though.

[Ebony Gryphon]

4117113
Go have a really sad yank?
(First and only time I've only made a family guy reference."

[PiMan]

I'm kinda surprised that Jan took "Let's Go and Meet the Bronies" down, given that it had enough of a blessing from people connected to the show (Tara Strong and John De Lancie). Although these two chipping in doesn't mean anything to the legal department, so I can still understand it.
Some of Jan's content was obviously edging or crossing the line into copyright infringement (mainly Button's Adventures), but I think it would have been an open-shut case in favour of Jan for the rest of his videos falling under parody and/or fair use (assuming USA laws). ShadyVox has made it clear however that since Jan would like to work in the animation industry, they don't want to burn any bridges with Hasbro or be seen as unnecessarily belligerent.

4117303
I think Snowdrop also hasn't been chased because there was/is no intention of making it an ongoing thing. Button's Adventures was aiming to be a series of short videos, while Snowdrop is just a single hit of 14 minutes.

[meerkat8472]

I just have one question, does this mean no more Button's Mom?

[SuperPinkBrony12]

4117287 Yeah. Maybe Lauren Faust needs to come back. Hasbro has sadly lost sight of why the show became so popular in the first place. At the rate this is going Season 4 may be the show's last hurrah before Hasbro kills it. They're too afraid of anything becoming "too interesting" for little girls. Hasbro, this is NOT what Lauren Faust had in mind when she created this wonderful series. She wanted to show everyone, including you, that you can take chances on a little girls show and make it enjoyable for everyone.

[Weeping Angel]

Even throughout this sad eulogy and goodbye to a great series, I still managed to chuckle a bit, especially at this line:

although 8-year old Button Mash was known for enjoying the Silly Filly Train Sets, which have been prone to spontaneous combustion.

You will be missed, JanAnimations and Button Mash.

[EddWar]

[Bronze Statue]

[Lag Incarnate]

4117586
Yes, you're the only one beginning to think that.

[Aegis Steelshield]

4117843
Well excuse me for not keeping up with the fandom. I haven't watched but four episodes of S4. They weren't even in order.

[Lag Incarnate]

4117894
The most recent one was kinda trippy. God damn it Luna.

[Eclipse LunarSol]

The train thing made sense.

[Aegis Steelshield]

4117910
Yeah, new episode is out, isn't it? What was it?

[1stChosenStar]

Why is it that Hasbro is taking down only the most popular people within the fandom? If anything they should be praised for the amazing works they create.

[Blitz the Dragon]

Of all the voices proclaiming "This show is for little girls!" Hasbro's is the loudest.

[Scarheart]

Just think: If George Lucas owned Hasbro, he'd be encouraging this stuff from the fans.

[Allsmiles]

(... Eulogy is an appropriate word choice. This sort of thing is a death knell... Attacking one's own fandom is a good way to stop there being a fandom... ... The Brony fandom is a phenomenon that the world didn't foresee, expect, or account for. And now four seasons in, it looks like Hasbro's gearing up to end it.)

[SuperPinkBrony12]

4117162 Yeah. It's just a case of not tackling the problem at its source, and punishing everyone for the acts of a few. Not everyone is a pirate, so there's no need to treat them all as such. Take down the pirates, but leave the supporters alone or you'll lose the very fanbase that helps make your product a success.

[Changeling-Drone]

But but but but

Oh DAMN

Is the channel still up

IS DONT MINE AT NIGHT STILL UP??????

Hasbro......

[TheMainManeMaineBrony]

4117704 surprisingly, no! Button's mom was never shown in the official series, so hasbro can't stake a claim on her.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

4118404 No.

[blank check]

I really want some rich brony (looking at you, Gaben) to buy the FiM IP and make it public domain, while still funding the show.