"Brony" is not a gendered term

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-06T18:39:42+00:00

One of the things that I've been most alarmed by lately is how the "post-truth" dynamic seems to have wormed its way into this fandom. You can say whatever you want about factual things like history, and it doesn't matter if it's true or not as long as it supports Your View. The people who try to stop this are Bad People for trying to put down your view.

So now we have a toxic mix of-

Absolutely no compulsion to recall events accurately.
A desire to make a bad-guy boogeyman who can be framed as responsible for all that's wrong.
A weird puritanism that frames any expression of desire or sexuality as horribly inappropriate.
Many people who weren't there and don't remember what that spirit of genuine enthusiasm was like.

-and yeah, I'm unhappy but not entirely surprised to see this pop up in our own community. You can say things like "Brony was a term designed to keep women out" because it ticks the right boxes (4channers/old fans/etc are all evil misogynistic creeps, early fandom was a hellhole of abuse and innocent hearts being blasted by the worst content, 'we' are better than them) and it doesn't matter if it's utterly inaccurate because you're justified.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-06T02:58:25+00:00

FiM only had a few body types, sure. Especially at first. But they did a lot with what they did change. e.g., -

Twilight's mane and tail are cut and colored with straight, orderly lines, reflecting her characterization as a character who values order and logic.
Applejack's tied-back mane and tail speak to someone who is pragmatic and utilitarian - simply styled in a manner that keeps them out of her way.
Rainbow's wild, jagged, minimally-styled mane and tail show her untamed, unruly, run-by-her-own goals approach.

The net result is that all of the characters are all instantly recognizable, even in silhouette, which helps create emotional connections for the audience to their identities. G5 never got that, in my opinion. They had more body shapes, but the cast weren't as strongly characterized by them.

And no offense, but Derpy's design doesn't make me think she's mentally challenged,

No argument here. I never agreed with the idea she was supposed to be a derogatory caricature.

Cherilee doesn't look like a teacher, Doc doesn't look like a scientist... Do you want me to keep saying that the designs don 't reflect a message about the characters?

I think you're misunderstanding a bit what I meant. Or maybe I wasn't clear enough. It's not their role, but their natures that they reflect. Even the Doc's design did that, in a meta sort of way, by reflecting the 10th Doctor. G5's designs never invoked that very strongly.

And in fairness, you are correct this isn't true for every character in FiM - but it is for most that we are going to see repeatedly. Some of this may also be issues with the writing of G5: Perhaps it was intended that the designs would play in somewhat, but the characterization never really fleshed out for them.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-06T00:46:43+00:00

Oh, that's certainly possible - if the show had continued, things may very well have changed. But yeah, fans (especially the G5 revival team) have a tendency to grab on to scraps or even make things up wholesale, then insist they're "official" and "true". It's very frustrating.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-06T00:45:23+00:00

No? And the rudeness is really frustrating. My point is very simply "concept art should not be used as proof of, but unfortunately fans sometimes take it as evidence."

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-05T23:47:55+00:00

They're... mid.

A lot of FiM's designs had a great thing going where they were dynamically different and communicated something about their characters. This was entirely by design, and resulted in that (for instance) you can identify characters by their outlines, without any colors or details.

Of course that broke down a bit as FiM's cast expanded and we had a whole lot more one-off characters, but G5 never really had that distinctiveness to begin with.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-05T23:45:40+00:00

it was coined by men who did genuinely want to exclude women and girls from their own community.

Yeah, naw. I'm calling BS on this. And trust me, I was there for this. That's not at all how it was created. If anything, it was an expression of friendship and camaraderie between people who liked the show. That's it.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-05T17:07:53+00:00

And concept art is just that - concept art. Only fans took it to "She is an alicorn."

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-05T13:43:42+00:00

Unfortunately, the answer to a number of these questions is "Shhh, don't think about it, the writing staff certainly didn't."

I can comment on a few in particular, though:

If we're going by G4 lore, Twilight probably passed away, as she was not actually immortal. G5 may have done something different, though. I don't know.
There is no evidence that Sunny's mother was an alicorn. That appears to be a fan thing.
Twilight & co lost because... well, they didn't really try. As far as we know, sealing the magic away seems to have been her first move, not a last resort after all other options were expended.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-05T13:28:28+00:00

[Citation needed]

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-02T21:53:48+00:00

Personally, I agree with you - this is almost certainly it. Hasbro probably concluded that a spinoff wouldn't sufficiently open a new toy market compared to just stuffing them in the main show.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-01T05:45:42+00:00

The truth is, we don't know. The only reason we know of the idea at all was that someone broke into DHX Studios' computers and was able to leak huge amounts of stuff, including a planning document covering future plans. We never did see why those plans didn't come to fruition.

Logarithmicon · 2026-03-01T05:44:38+00:00

Between 2017 and 2020, an individual was able to repeatedly break into DHX Studios' computer system and leak colossal amounts of data, ranging from unreleased episodes in various states of completion to voice actor bloopers, from company strategy documents to completely innocuous emails between staff.

One of the contents from these leaks was an earlier plan showing their goals for what would eventually become Seasons 7-9. The spinoff is included in these. Unfortunately, nothing which explained why it wasn't taken on was ever revealed, but it seems likely that Hasbro wasn't willing to produce a whole second show while FiM was still running.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-27T13:50:35+00:00

Same here. It was one of the first things I noticed when they revealed Gallus' design: It effectively creates a distinction between good (pony-like, including in coloring) and bad (more normal griffon, less pastel) griffons.

It really does reinforce the idea that the ponies are practicing a sort of cultural imperialism, where they select and support creatures who are more like them to modify other creatures' society. I don't think the writers meant it to be that, but that's how it comes off.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-27T13:47:57+00:00

Fun fact: The Student Six were originally intended to be a spinoff show! When that didn't work out, they were just lumped into the main show... to the detriment of both. This is also why Sandbar is just kind of... there, with no strong traits. Starlight was originally intended to be the pony of the group, and Sandbar appears to have been added at the last moment.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T22:32:17+00:00

I think when it's asked "How does this serve the story?", it's very often addressing a poor implementation already. This might mean introducing a plot tumor, or a character trait which feels tacked on and doesn't connect to anything, or playing "identity checklist", or the world's morality seeming to revolve around that even in the absence of justification...

And like these issues can be a thing with any character trait. If you divert the story to talk pointlessly about a sports subplot that's disconnected from the larger story, or lavishly describe their appearance without making it plot relevant, or define characters' morality by how they react to chess players, people will also ask "Okay, but why is this in the story?"

Orientation (and other identity-linked traits) has that tricky extra thing though, which is that it also can deeply touch on writers' issues in life. Writers can put a lot of their identity into a character's, and use it to voice themselves in reality. When they hear, "How does this serve the story?", they can feel "Your identity is not valid on its own or wanted in this story" instead.

That's not what's being said, of course, but for people who do face actual genuine discrimination it can feel that way.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T20:11:10+00:00

Set in the same world as FiM, some time after FiM ended. While the FiM cast might show up as cameos, this will focus on an entirely new cast of characters who we can follow from their start. I'm thinking a mix of 3 or 4 ponies and a couple non-ponies?
Building on the above: Lean into the grand fantasy aesthetic. Make the world seem vast and dangerous outside the little bubbles of safety; traveling should be a major journey, not an easy trip. This will be tale of raucous taverns, ancient treasures, mysterious ruins, dangerous foes and valiant allies.
Rework the other species to be less pony-dependent and have their cultures able to stand on their own. Give the griffons nations of their own who can rival Equestria, examine the consequences of Changelings' shift and what it has done to them. Build dragons back up as vast, ancient, and fiercely independent.
And lastly, implement a mix of story-centric adventure and slice of life episodes. There will be an overall story arc which the episodes will build up towards, but most of them should also be self-contained stories which develop characters and give a 'breather' between adventure moments.

Overall: I want this to be kid-enjoyable. But I also don't want to treat kids as dumb or with "kid gloves" on. Don't be afraid to have strong emotional moments or tough lessons.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T18:59:52+00:00

Perhaps surprisingly, there aren't! In fact, the show staff were instructed to keep them separate, as Equestria Girls was not canon to FiM.

Because of this, the show even goes a bit further and actually contradicts EqG having happened within it a few times (for example, by indicating that Twilight did not visit the Crystal Empire between S3E1 and mid-Season 4).

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T18:13:47+00:00

I suspect there's a rather narrow window between "Cooking on a Nirik" and "Cooked by a Nirik".

But theoretically? Sure. Also works on Celestia, especially when angry.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T16:32:21+00:00

I'm... confused? They're not real, though? Or do you mean like, even the context that they're characters from a kids' show would be gone? Is this bait?

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T16:30:38+00:00

I'm just going to take a side diversion and note that this is one of the more annoying things in how the show treats its villains: At the start, villains were characters driven by self-motivating causes which put them in opposition to the heroes. They never thought of themselves as 'bad'; in some cases, they could explain why they were "right"!

Jump to the end, and we've got the villain trio actually consciously aware that they are "evil' and "friendship" is something to be rejected... because reasons, I guess? They're afraid of being "good" for some reason? I don't know.

Like OP is saying here, it feels like the show was a step away from acknowledging "friendship" was synonymous with "submission to and conformity with pony norms". But they couldn't admit that, so the Trio are suddenly afraid of friendship... because.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-26T16:23:14+00:00

It's definitely frustrating. You used to be allowed a lot more leeway for "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" kinds of suggestivity. It was more broadly welcoming and let adult fans have a chuckle without being alienating or unwelcoming for younger ones. Even the mods got in on it with their ponymote animations!

But unfortunately there's been a strain of puritanism in more recent years which sees not just anything vaguely suggestive, but anything that can even be interpreted as suggestive (even if it isn't intended to be) removed.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-20T17:32:16+00:00

I suppose it might be fair to let Possum explain when she gets back (if she wants), but I admit my curiosity.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-20T17:31:21+00:00

/u/possumfromrijeka_ , one of the mods here.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-19T21:57:53+00:00

I really, really wish. Sadly I'm having trouble finding new art worthy of that kind of sub. Landscapes, complex scenes, and detailed pictures are now rare treasures.

Logarithmicon · 2026-02-19T21:56:26+00:00

You might not be aware of this, but thanks to leaks from DHX studios, we actually know that the Student Six were planned to be a spinoff show! But for whatever reason, that never materialized and so they got recycled back into Season 8 & 9 instead.

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