shaun-howell:

Let me clear this up for all of you…

Two weeks ago, during the live Twitter event for THREE’S A CROWD, an LARGE group of BRONIES (their description) attacked Sibsy, Meghan McCarthy, and all other show staff present for the BRIEF background appearance of Flash Sentry on the train platform. He did nothing, he said nothing, he just stood there for 8 seconds and left. For the GREIVOUS crime against everything right and beautiful, those present were called lying cunts, assholes, and several death threats were issued.

And so, for the last two weeks, I’ve been calling them out for this. It was childish, vulgar, and at the very LEAST, impolite. So let’s go through this a point at a time…

- While Lauren crafted MLP FiM as an all ages show, it’s target demographic is still kids. Kids (well, their parents) buy the VAST majority of the toys and merch, and HASBRO will ALWAYS default to that demo in ALL decisions concerning the show. The show IS NOT, HAS NOT BEEN, NOR WILL BE produced to appease the adult demo.

- HASBRO very MUCH loves and appreciates it’s adult viewership, and has thrown us quite a few bones in the last 4 years, but we’re still just a TINY sliver of the pie chart. They watch what we do and produce content from those observations, but rarely listen to our stupid ideas or suggestions, and in a just and sane world, that’s exactly as it should be.

- We got Equestria Girls because HASBRO (like Mattel and several other toy companies) saw the popularity of MONSTER HIGH and wanted to try and appeal to that buyer base. Now, understand that HASBRO has DOZENS of properties in their control and could have picked any of a number of them to re-imagine into a series of dolls (such as Strawberry Shortcake, por ejemplo). But looking over all the humanized MLP art created by us, they decided to go with Equestria Girls, and guess what? It did GREAT! I know, you’re saying “But I Didn’t Like It, And Neither Did Anyone I Know!”. Yeah, but once again, that pesky target demo swept in and gave HASBRO very satisfying numbers on both the cartoon and the dolls. Hence, MORE dolls, merch and another cartoon.

- Meghan McCarthy didn’t lie, so just drop that crap. When asked on Twitter a few months ago if Flash Sentry was going to be a character in Season 4, and she answered TRUTHFULLY, no. Standing there and saying nothing for 8 seconds doesn’t make you a character, it makes you a background pony ( a real one, not like Applejack). But bronies wanted Equestria Girls to not only be non canonical to the main story, they wanted it to be GONE! So this reminder that the two are STILL connected sent these DUMMIES into a petulant frenzy, slinging spaghetti hither and yon. For what? A lie that wasn’t a lie and a character that wasn’t a character.

- Do you folks follow the show staff on Twitter? I do and it’s quite enlightening. Bronies are now being openly MOCKED by the writers and deservedly so. Constant trolling from Jason and company about all alicorn casts, waifu stealing, and the like, based off their sperglord encounter. Are you proud of this? Do you feel good to be reduced to a punchline? And remember, you’re a VERY small part of the market; you have NO clout with HASBRO via pointless threats of a bouycott. Now you can BET that Flash Sentry will make AT LEAST one more appearance, probably more. Again, congratulations.

- After all of this (and the coming shitstorm off of tomorrow’s episode), why would HASBRO lift a finger to do ANYTHING for this fandom? Don’t try to make the flimsy excuse that “Well It Was Just A Few Guys Claiming To Be Bronies, Not All Of Us!”, because NONE of you decried or criticized these folks for their actions. So to HASBRO, this fandom is coming off like a bunch of self entitled psychos that could be potentially dangerous to any of their people at an MLP event or convention. Again, why would they risk it?

- I DEFY you to name another corporate entity that has done as much as HASBRO has for Bronies. C’mon, let’s hear it. They embrace characters we love, feature characters we’ve built up, and made merch SPECIFICALLY for us! God knows they didn’t have to, but they did because the REALLY did appreciate the love and support we gave this show… and you’re giving them ample reason to regret that decision.

So if you’re mad about my gentle teasing over fedoras, waifu stealing, or just how much Twilight Sparkle is looking forward to her weekend getaway to the Crystal Empire, then maybe I’m not the Tumblr to be following… because I’m doing FAR less damage to this fandom than some of you are.

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