My Little Pony XLVIII: I say Ol' Chap, how about those Equestrians?

[Anarion]

*crawls into thread*

5 days without power is NOT fun. But I'm back now, to continue doing the... nothing that I did beforehand I guess. :)

Final vote counting for the really actually final results from Season 2.

[SiuiS]

Those abominations are an affront to palentologists everywhere, and I swear by the spirits of Robert Bakker and Michel J Benton¹ they shall be abolised when I take over, and the very memories of them be expunged from history in the white-cold rime-rimmed frost of justice!

Ooh, censorship! You are evil!

'Cos, you know, people and animals die (see: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Fleet, Terrahawks, Marvel's Tranformers comic run and all the other things that I'd been exposed to by then). So, no, a laughable play for sympathy for an improperly-named sauropod being eaten by an improperly-named tyrannosaur in a fashion tamer than half my sodding dinosaur books did not, in fact, make anything even remotely moving.

I want to go on record as saying that this is especially funny as it was only a thread or so ago you said "psssh cycle of nature, I don't even!" before saying "meh, this is how things occur. It is predictable and cyclic."

Especially since that, unlike Bambi (which at least had the decency to have sorta half-a-point, in an anti-hunting or Man verses Nature sorta way), that was villifying carnivores and predators as Evil; an attitude I find unequivocably and indefensibly excreble. Predators are predators, that's what they do! And 99% of them are far more interesting than most herbivores, nonsentient equines included!

But that's the point. If you are the herbivore, then carnivores ARE evil. They exist for the sole purpose of hunting down you and your loved ones, running them to exhaustion and then, if you're lucky, killing you before gulping down parts o you and leaving the rest to rot. They are nature's serial killers, even More so evaluate to them, it's as natural as anything and you're bein rude for not cooperating.

Analog: undead are so much better, because they don't have hormones, or emotions, or any of that stuff to get in the way. (paradigm shift based on you purposefully giving up the things that give existence value).

Personally, I want to see life from the perspective of a bacterial colony, pilgrims in a new land eking out a bleak but enjoyable existence, before the Powers That Be sic a baleful menace on them; antibiotics! Genetically engineered to hunt down and destroy them, Aleaxes who hamstring the poor critters while the wolves and bears of the countryside (phagocytes) prowl in the dark, ever present.

Brohoof... er Lichclaw...? I dunno.

Sweet! /)
Oh Celestia the cold ill never be warm again o_o
*crawls over to a heating vent and shivers in the fetal position*

Just want to raise a point on this issue;*
The film is portrayed entirely from the viewpoint of the Herbivores. The predatory carnivore is, indeed, portrayed as a vicious and unmerciful killing machine, because from the point of view of it's prey, that's exactly what it is.*

Also, whilst wiki/imdbing the film to check littlefoot's voice actor, I noticed that in the non-existant sequels they not only raise a sharptooth baby of some kind but it also grows up Bilingual. Which is to say, it's canon in the extended universe of the franchise that there is, ontop of all the other factors, a largely insurmountable language barrier between the protagonists of the first film and the predatory antagonist. Which kind of rules out there being any meaningful room for interaction, don't you think?

I actually feel bad for Chomper.

[dark]

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poor carnivore was raised by a brontosaurus¹ to feel bad for eating animals. When he got bak with his parents he grew, so he's not all bad, but they meet up again and he can talk. Suddenly, his food is people!

I remember an old show, I think it was Outer Limits, where a lady saw in a catalogue an advert that was 100% guaranteed to help you lose weight. No ifs, ands or buts.

She ends up receiving a pair of glasses that, when donned, gives all your food tiny mouths and you can hear them begging and pleasing not to be eaten, or screaming when bitten or pricked with a fork or knife. And the glasses don't come off. The episode ends with her having sewn her mouth shut, an sting f starvation surrounded by an arena of now moldy fruit.

Can we expect better for the poor tyrannosaur? Perhaps this is how he became Rex; in order to survive his heart hardened, utterly, and with no remorse it is easy to rule.

I don't even remember the name of the hotel. *Like I said, I was being treated, and all that info wasn't really up to me. *But it was the hotel where everyone else was. *I think if I had the choice, I'd go alone. *I liked the panels more than the vendors. *Anything I would have wanted was either A. sold out immediately (there was a fantastic Spitfire image at one of them, by the time we saw it, it was already sold. *Plushies of course went super fast), or B. Ungodly expensive. *See plushies. *Though they were a lot cheaper than I would have thought. *When you see em going on eBay for thousand of dollars, you get shocked when some of em aren't even triple digits.

Well, that all being said we'd still like to hang out for a spell, maybe treat you to dinner.

Yeah, lots of issues. *It was because I was there :p I was going to say that in their defense, it was by far the biggest one yet, so they didn't know how to handle it, but I don't know how experienced the staff is, how well they knew the convention center, and whatnot.

I believe this was the first after the con coup, where all the Ponies lobbied to incorporate as a non-profit, so no one person could have utter control an so no one pony could muck things up. Titanium Fox (Jade) could tell you more.

"OOh, a new thread. What's happening in he--"
O_o;;

*Is torn between shock and a warm fuzzy feeling at somepony noticing me hiding here*

But that means they've seen us! They're seen us naked!

That does it, time to start practising drawingTotal Tread Domination again!

Yay~! You'll make our queen so proud~
Go-Go-Gadget sculpt sound spell!

And I keep pointing out about the misuse of horrendous levels it usually has (seriously? comparing throwing something out of a window with jumping off a building?)

Ah, but "all my friends and their friends dressed up like ponies and watch a tv show and talk about it, so I did too!" is pretty close to bridge jumping.

Maybe got better....Cuz I'm doing almost nothing now

You could say you're bitter and jut not talking. You could also say you have come to understand the fine-point difference, and are becoming a better person. Depends on how much effort you're putting in to it.

honestly, I can't tell from ducks and geese.

Geese are the ones who hold you up with brass knuckles.

I don't need to change the world; I have changed myself. The world will be collateral damage.

I didn't say need, I said inevitable.

Also, good morning. I am cold, stiff and liberated, for I have finally put the past to rest.

Oh?

Lies and slander!

Maybe. But you're on the list now! Mawahahahahaha!

Besides, you've made;
A pony
A drawn pony
A digital art pony
An anatomical sketch

Whereas I've only made... Oh horse apples.

I am but a humble drawpony who moonlights as a transporter for threadgoers...

>.>

Ostensibly, one of the highlights of the trip. Maybe next time though we can get an extra day of vacation and, like, a hotel? Because beds are awesome. XD

Well you did seem to be the best rebuttal I had to the question

*whistles*

I had to break a heart.

It was awful to do, but it had to be done.

Oh. Unfortunate. You're a stronger filly than I. Or hen. Or whatever Charger is (filly still?)

And thus, the true identity of Crackle was revealed.

Not enough yes in the world for this.

Haha, yeah. And I wouldn't describe it as a positive thing to say to a fellow.

Also, what scandalous rot. Crackle is crackle. Crackle is best dragon, and if certain unsuccessful changelings feel the need to bask in his Crackley awesomeness then, well, that's understandable.

He? Crackle is totes a girl dragon. Dem eyelashes!

Oh man, so tempting to commission awesome, epic style interpretations of Crackle. I mean, eight legs means he must have phenominal traction.

phenomenal traction

phenomenal traction

SO THAT'S HOW SHE GOT SO POULAR AMONGST FANS!

edit:
Crackle is Best Dragon Dump!

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Guys? I need someone to DM for me guys. I have the best paladin idea.

Man, just looking in fear at the portal before you got whisked away gave you some crazy hallucinations.

Thubby, can I get some of that stuff? For... uh, science, you see.

EDIT: Train of thought ran into a passing whale. Classic.

Och. I'll be honest guys. When the RP gets to the point of god-modding, you should prooobably tone it down.

Although...

I think all the ponies who really had a problem with RP being so predominant noes to the IRC. Hm.

My friend (if I could call him that) has finally gone back to Europe.*

I can now post the things I got/did at bronycon. Yay.

I missed ANOTHER Ponythreader?!?!

Seriously. Next time I am posting room number, food and drink available, and hours of operation.

All the stuff I got; my brother has some other stuff we got in his room.

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Still not sure why y'all wanna prevent my espionage, but okay...

A poster signed by:
Dustykatt*
Atryl*
Eurobeat Brony*
Egophiliac*
Empty10 (He made it)*
SpeccySY*
Aphex*
Raikassu*
Final Draft*
123Hamster*
Pixel-Kitties*
Solrac*
KevinSano*
KefkaFloyd

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This reminds me! We had lunch with Foozogz! Met a bloke, name a metacritter, an his mate Stormy Skies. Good bronies. Also, strangely well connected. We had lunch, and one of his other guests none other.

Quite the proliferation of celebrities.

Thanqol: Do Not Serve These Ponies is brilliant. And I want more. And I will show you that I am not a hasbeen you prolific son of a diamond dog just you wait and see I'll make new fics which will blow yours right out of the water

I mean, uh. I feel that a year is far too long to have gone without producing pony fiction. And will be working on fixing that. Along with Heroics.

Yay heroics!
Also yay Raz is participating in thread again! You know why this calls for right?

AN RP!!

*hefts SRM-Mdnyte1 like a bazooka, priming the Haremization ray*

I think we have a winner.

I concur.

Awww man, not you too. Dam you, slowly recovering economy.

SWEETIE!
*all the hugs*

Someone has scanned the backs of all the Character cards for the Friendship is Magic trading cards. Among other things, apparently there is a seventh Element of Harmony, Love, which Shining Armor and Cadence co-wield. Personally, I'm invoking Death of the Author on that one.
There are also a couple of errors on them though, for one, apparently Pinkie is Tank's owner.
I like how the text on Discord's card is upside down.
And apparently Discord is only four-fifths of the maximum threat to Equestria? There must be some REALLY nasty villains in season three....

The cards were specifically a team-up to "canonize" as much fan material as possible. I think that points I then being legit.

I also think they used the preexisting template for Cadence and Shining Armor, and were all "element? Hm. I can make a joke out of this" and thus a shout-out to the fifthseventh element was born.

They've slid in the Dude. Is this any different?

A seventh element of Harmony, eh? Well, I guess that assembling all the elements wasn't really all of them. Time to rewrite and retcon the rest of the series!

Oh fie! You've just got no sense of meta humor.

*phew* Finally finished the thread after several hours reading. Geez. You guys really picked up the pace while I was out of it, huh?

Yeah, sorry ^.^

Anyway, didn't sleep the full 48 hours. Only 17. Feeling refreshed. Also decided to skip work. They can live without me for one more day.

I wish I could have slept for 48 hours. Or skived out of work today. Or both! But no. Kitten snuggles have suffice though.

Glad to see you're rested though. Any jetlag? Or shall I dub you the Iron Pony?

Bronycon! Best time of my life! Met plenty of cool thread ponies as well as some of my friends from Canterlot.com- two of whom I simply bumped into in an elevator. Speaking of elevators, guess who got a brohoof from Tara Strong while riding the elevator at the hotel? That's right, me! Aww Yeah.

Those elevators were like, mass effect all over again. They. Took. FOORRREEEVEEERRRRRR.

But nopony cared because they were tickets to awesomeville. I still remember DD jumpin to the side and peeking out the closing elevator doors. "guys, was that de Lancie?". Or ms. Faust rushing by with her five-pony security contingent. Or descending on an unsuspecting con, hands raised dramatically an getting applause.

Murder when you needed the wee fillie's room though >.<

Other highlights include meeting other bronies by chance and simply chatting with them (everyone in this fandom just seems so friendly), including some British bronies at the airport; Seeing John De Lancie, Lauren Faust and Peter New at the restaurant (got a pic with Faust, will post later); Getting all kinds of swag (though I sadly missed out on a t-shirt I wanted and mever got a plushie); playing the MLP trivia drinking game with threadponies.

Aww, you should have invited them to dinner! We love meeting new ponies.

And that drinking game. @.@

Guys? Make sure your trivia cards (MLP trading cards in this case) are factually correct about 50+% of the time before using them. Okay? Ouch. XD

I will post pictures later when I get a chance. For now, quote posts by the bazillions.

Right! I'll post mine when I can, y'know, reliably upload them! so, like, within a month >_<

This is pretty much why I went to Bronycon. The con was great, but only because I hung out with so many cool people there.

I'm going to surprise nopony here an paraphrase Thanqol.

Expectations are generally bad for you. How many bronies stick around because the thread is awesome, whether or not they like any other part of the fandom, or even the show?

So what if the convention wasn't roses and cupcakes while angels massaged the tension from your soul. It was fun! It was a group outing, where you could let your guard down. Who at the pony convention would mock you for liking ponies? Who at the pony convention would respond to something they don't like with "I'm not going to tolerate that."?

I had fun, hung with friends, told jokes, as was inspired. There was a con in the background, which was pleasant but not entirely necessary backdrop².

That's beautiful man.

I'm glad it's well received. It's a very personal sentiment, and one that I had lost. Thanqol promised a dragon he would make her proud; I remembered my duty and the joy it once brought me.



And it was adorable. :3

I'm a unicorn actually, it's just that most of my skills are in magic items and potions. Control Weather spells are not easily distilled into potion form.

Hmm... Now I wonder...
Ah well. It would be hard to tell unicorn from earth pony in such resplendent armor in any case. I presume the one Celestia knighted and bequeathed the enchanted ceremonial armor to was you? For bravery in the face of astounding amounts of griffon-propelled rocks while saving school fillies?

Why there were school fillies at the con ill never know...

I know this has been brought up already, but remorseful? No.

When Trixie returns she will be riding on the back of an Ursa Major that she has tamed herself. And everypony will love her.

The point of the episode is finding out that she's simply using very complex illusions spells to make herself look better, thus proving that she has learned nothing. Or something along those lines..

That. Would be. Fan. Tastic!

When did you find this out?

The meet-and-greet! When not talking to any one pony I audibly searches the room for interesting tidbits. Delancie was making a bland joke, one of the groups over was debating telling Tara that Twilight was only second-best pony for lulz, and ms. Faust was answering a question.

I initially continued eaves dropping because I thought it was a good tangential discussion; she was talking about mediaeval art structure And the patterns and such of the time. In the same way that we look at an anime picture, and we understand it is a specific abstraction of a person, the artists who painted Celestia in these medieval pony times were using the style of their day. And so when she was designed, it was not intended that Celestia had pink hair, it was an abstraction by the artists.

The anime reference is mine, but the rest is pretty word for word (as close as can be coming in to the middle, and having trouble telling that the convention happened over a weekend instead of a day...) what she said. It sounded like she was surprised at the connection fans made, and while didn't want to refute it, considered it wrong in her headcanon.

Which is interesting. Ms. Faust, the creator an progenitor of our show, has headcanon. She has notions that she will readily admit may be the formula behind the visual and thematic results, but are not official or even correct in any capacity. I believe this is also where I first heard about Rarity's parents. The ponies "have parents" in the sense that they are not established as not having parents. Sweetie Belle was dropped off to establish the already-decided idea that she does not live with Rarity. During this brainstorm they thought it would be funny to have Rarity's parents be tacky. So they did it.

Applejack is also specifically called out as having parents too. They aren't dead, the narrative has just thus far had no need of them.

Also, Rarity was supposed to have a fake English accent.

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I swear I don't remember what her dress looked like. (must go check photos).
[quote]

Both days she wore why I know as sun dresses³. The first one was a bland-ish floral print, the kind of subtle red-green-white-beige you see on couches from about fifteen years ago. It set off perfectly with her hair and jacket, the hair bein a bob and the jacket a light brown woolen demicoat, coming down to mid-back, mostly providing sleeves. Her nails were a delightful shade which danced between light mocha brown, and dark dusky lavender without ever settling on either. They were more rounded than square (which is good; I hate square nails ) and obviously used nail gel instead of the usual paint, polish or lacquer.

The second day saw her in a more snug, flowing velvety orange and strappy sandals. I saw her on stage and marveled. Woman has taste.

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I want to sig this. Can I sig this? This is literally the best complement I have ever received. Ever.

Please! Though I don't understand how that can be. Do your friends even know you?

Huh. See I stopped watching it after that point, because the change in the tone of the show no longer interested me. Oh, and the addition of that girl with the blond hair. I hated her so much.

I will eventually get around to giving it another go.

Do so. It wasn't too bad. The sudden genre shift to "you're old and can't handle our newfound world with your fogey ways" is a ruse designed to ... Well, I don't know it was stupid. But it does pick up.

And yes. She offends me. She Had no redeeming traits except the main character immediately fell in love? How transparent. She develops a bit of character, but mostly it's enough to make you think "I suppose I don't want you to die in a fire after all..." about three episodes before she dies in a fire.
Heh.

Oh right, that reminds me. At the airport, I was waiting in line for check in. A guy comes up behind me and says "Oh hey, I see you went to Bronycon" and points out my Dash bag. Another British Brony! And it turns out, he was SmittyG, the creator of that picture. I mentioned that I had been at his table, debating whether or not to buy a saucy picture (decided not to, to save awkward questions from friends/family). He gave me a copy of that AJ pic for free. :D

I have so far managed to hide it from my Mother. While I'm now open about my love of ponies, I don't think my Mum needs to needs to know about my love of ponies. Especially ones in ball gags. ._.

Smitty is a pretty cool guy. I felt sorry for him though, he got robbed by a cab driver. Smitty arrived in Newark airport and the cabbie took him into downtown manhatten, then drove off before he could get his bag from the trunk.

Also, the one thing I love about bronies is that they will just come up and talk to you if you have pony merch on you. I met four British bronies while waiting at the airport, and had some great conversations with them. All of them were very different in how they viewed and interacted with the fandom too.

Nice! Braz had a run-in with him actually. She said AJ was her favorite and he showed her the picture. They had an awkward love/tolerate moment where she had to explain she wasn't that into ponies, while still trying not to hurt his feelings or come off as judge-y.

It is really cool how well folks just mosey up and talk. I am pretty sure that is what made the convention so awesome. It had appeal outside of buying mercy and sitting in panels.

I felt sorry for all the other VAs. It must hurt pretty bad to get a moderate cheer/applause, only to have to watch Tara/John get the standing ovations whenever they entered. Admittedly Tara and John are pretty high-profile with their interactions with the community, but c'mon, Andrea Libman (Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy) Was there!

But Andrea Libman got a Fluttershy style ovation! That's all

That's a shame dude, I was really excited about the game. Your sprites are good though.

Yes. I too was pretty excited. I am interested in what your own product will be though. I think you had some good ideas, and would love to see them implemented.

I figured that you'd actually use those dice, instead of having them around on a table for the novelty value like I would have. Enjoy!

I am trying to did or start a pony d6 game for just that reason XD

Yeah, this. The con would not have been anywhere near as good without you guys (and my friends from Canterlot, who I sadly did not get to see much of).

Seriously. Dinner. Invite them.

Speaking of gifts, thank you again for the AJ hat! I'll have to see if I can borrow one of my Dad's cowboy hats and wear it over AJ to the next con.

Pics! Pics for the ponythread!

I was going to point out who everyone was, then Starry pointed out that I should probably let others identify themselves.

To be fair, I'm pretty close to just emailing everyone and asking. There was a sign saying "do not enter if you aren't okay being on film of some kind", but it never says I could caption those pictures... Such a weird morality I have.

Oh gods, I want one! WAAAAAANT!

I am a paycheck away from buying the ingredients, deciphering its construction and waking up the next day without having written anything down.

Erm...


Yeah.

Okay, so I'm going to google this. But I want to know; how bad is it gonna be?

I have a selection of those cards. All the art is taken from the show or vectors, but there are some hidden gems there. I am looking forward to how the fandom will take the line about Lyra and Harvest sharing Bon Bons.
[quote]

what

Bah, you and your drinking games. I had Pillowfort. And, wait, Peter New was at Outback Steakhouse? I missed that. >_<

You also missed Lauren standing behind you for the first ten minutes. You're a very silly foxen~*

But, yes, everything else - chatting with Bronies, seeing Pony celebrities (and getting the hug that I will never play down), and acquisition of swag - was awesome. Super awesome.

SSWWWAAAAAAAAAG

Why do ponies insist that I am adorable. Am I a Texan Fluttershy? Or, at the very least, a Texan Twilight Sparkle?

That last one? Yes.

My texts home just kind of broke down in comprehension when Canadian Fluttershy happened. That and the hug of Lauren Faust.

"what does 'GLAARP' mean? Is he quoting Crackle?"

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Yeah. Nicole Oliver certainly needed more love at that convention.

I am in the awkward position of not being able to frame a rebuttal that won elicit "Giggety" or "eewwww".

The only way that Cupcakes affected my initial viewing of Party of One was that, when Rainbow Dash went into Crazy!Pinkie's room, I was basically yelling at the screen, "NOOOOOO RAINBOW DASH GET OUT CUPCAKES IS GOING TO BE CANON" but then she got into an argument with rocks and everything was funny.

Oh yeah. Me too. I like to think that scene was to ... What's the word? Joss Cupcakes.

That's one heck of a catch up post.

Who's a smug pony?

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I'm a smug pony~

Bluh. I have the same problem with this fic as I do with so many other well-written fics. I enjoy it until something little detail, some niggling thing makes me think "this isn't Equestria" or "this isn't Twilight" and my suspension of disbelief is ruined. And it's not because the characterisation or ambience is bad, not really. It's just the feeling that the story is trying to force itself into happening in Equestria, to particular characters, instead of being a bunch of ponies doing pony stuff and pony things happening.

In this case, I can't help but feel the story is ocurring in some strange, urban fantasy universe someplace between Discworld and the Dresden Files. It's an awesome place, full of action and weirdness and humour and great characters and I'd love to read more about it. And it's a crying shame it's pretending to be Equestria.*

Um... Am I making any sense here?

That makes perfect sense actually. This is what people mean by "this reads like a fanfic".

Topaz' Traditionally Tardy List of Pony tabletop RPGs:

Ponies & Parasprites, Season Two (Homebrew)
My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic, Season Two (Homebrew)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Roleplaying Game (Homebrew)
Pony Tales the RPG (D6)
Friendship is FATE (FATE system)
The Savage World of My Little Pony (Savage Worlds)
Puzzles and Ponies (Homebrew)
Ponycraft (3D6 Homebrew)
Friendship is Magic, the Tabletop RPG (Homebrew, these forums)
Sereg's Pony RPG (D10 Homebrew)
Unknown Ponies: Failure is Awesome (Unknown Armies)
Don't Rest Your Hooves (Don't Rest Your Head)
Ponies for D&D 4e
Ponyfinder thread on Paizo forum
Storyteller based Pony RPG tumblr
Fallout: Equestria (Fallout Tabletop d100 project from [email protected] )

Further contributions and updates welcome!

Bully! Do you have any recommendations for a good d6 game, good miss Topaz?

I take it you weren't here, I'd say about a dozen threads ago, when SiuiS missed an entire thread so he did a quote post about the entire thing. It took up at least four full posts (50000 character limit) and possibly a fifth not sure on that part.

I actually stopped because people were complaining I was bringing up closed discussion XD

The good news is that WeLoveFine is offering a 25% off pony merchandise sale for the 4th of July, that will be open for the next three hours.

The bad news is that I've spent the past three hours trying to get their site to work. All the bronies have destroyed their servers.

I WILL STRIKE THEIR SERVERS LIKE THE FIST OF AN ANGRY GOD

Our Dem-mlpartists post got posted and this happened:

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Only one new question though. For anyone:

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DIBSawwwww.

I just realized I don't know where we are posting these, or if I even have Tumblr. Weird.

Yep!
Jut sort of
Like
Doing what I'm told here.
Kind of. Maybe.

Yeah, he was right behind DD. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have noticed him if it weren't for that hat he always wears.

Y'know, a lot of people wear hats as an iconic thing... and I have wanted a bowler hat for ages... hmm... [/tangent]

Hats are awesome and make it harder for people to flick*You Incessantly in the gorram horn Droplet, Vorpal I will NOT forget this!!!!

*ahem*

Absolutely. Someone told me they thought Nicole looked awkward at the panel. I didn't really notice, she seemed okay being there.

They were weary towards the end. Four thousand people all clamping for attention, even nicely, can get old. I still feel bad for Mr. And Mrs. Cake's photo op getting between Lauren and hanging out with Delancie.

Took me a while. A long while. And I actually deleted some quotes because I couldn't remember what I was going to say, or decided that it wasn't important to respond to.

Goodness I hate when that happens.

Ooh! Awesome! I'll get over there now and- *checks time* aw dammit!

I know right?

Concept:*

Sad pony saying they weren't invited to the fun.*

OR

Bruised Changling saying he was the one Twilight jumped on.

Ooh ooh ooh

Wait, can we all respond or is it one question, one pony?

*crawls into thread*

5 days without power is NOT fun. *But I'm back now, to continue doing the... nothing that I did beforehand I guess. *:)

Being loved by your friends is not 'nothing' u.u

Its breakfast! OMNOMNOM LOVE












¹: if Bleakbane let's me survive 'brontosaurus' then I've moved from acquaintance to friend XD

²: Which totally belies the exact extent to which I enjoyed the convention. It's like my cake had icing, which was also cake, an thus had its own icing! Enjoyable, all the way down.

³: I know! So appropriate it hurts in the best possible way, right?

[Tvtyrant]

~Jealousy inspiring life at bronycon snip~
~more snippedy~

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I'm a smug pony~

I'm sorry, but I will only Mother of Celestia once a day. Try again tomorrow :P

[Luka]

Ah, but "all my friends and their friends dressed up like ponies and watch a tv show and talk about it, so I did too!" is pretty close to bridge jumping.

Actually, I didn't like it at first, but I just though the one I was given just looked way too cool and liked it a lot ..... And that just means I like this specific one, just in case
And no it's no close to it, completely different things.

You could say you're bitter and jut not talking. You could also say you have come to understand the fine-point difference, and are becoming a better person. Depends on how much effort you're putting in to it.

I actualy mean that I ran out of what to say/do and I don't know what else to say/do.... But the first too, a bit, with a bit of frustration.

Geese are the ones who hold you up with brass knuckles.

....
....wat?

[BlasTech]

Final vote counting for the really actually final results from Season 2.

I so don't envy you having to go back and retally all those votes ...

But that means they've seen us! They're seen us naked!

"Beg pardon, Siuis but ... we don't normally wear clothes."

Yay~! You'll make our queen so proud~
Go-Go-Gadget sculpt sound spell!

\o/

I am trying to did or start a pony d6 game for just that reason XD

If you ever get around to starting one on the forums here. PLEASE invite me. I'm jonsing bad for some kind of adventure pony RPG thing.

[the_druid_droid]

Ostensibly, one of the highlights of the trip. Maybe next time though we can get an extra day of vacation and, like, a hotel? Because beds are awesome. XD

Beds are awesome.

I have never been so tired in my life.

It was worth every minute of semi-hallucinatory exhaustion.

Let's do this next year! (With more hotels and beds though)

[RdMarquis]

*Pops out of a pile of paperwork* Wow, am I late to this new thread.

[Pendulous]

Well, that all being said we'd still like to hang out for a spell, maybe treat you to dinner.

Oh, sure, it would have been cool, definitely. I did kind of hope someone would see me wandering around. The only person that stopped to see if he recognized me...well, didn't. Also, holy crap your long post, that was a lot to delete.

And I'm not sure if votes are still going up, but I absolutely can't stop listening to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4X4Z...layer_embedded

Love is in Bloom, official version, extended. Beautiful. If I ever get married, it'd be the perfect song to play.

[SiuiS]

Geez, Guys. I know the thread kinda dies after a good quote post, but this... Well, it is a holiday...

But maybe...

guys? am I the only one here? Am I really just a crazy changeling? Will the camera pan out to see me surrounded by a variety of mirrors at different distances and angles, a twisted funhouse of my own deranged psyche? I remember Celestia putting me in the dungeon all those years ago... Am I perhaps just keeping mysel going working towards some unseeable goal, surviving off the vestiges of love from my sliver personalities? Do I see Thanqol in the mirror and just not notice?

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

[maximus25]

*Crickets... mind crickets*

[Tvtyrant]

I'm still on, just on pony chat so it is filling my pony lust.

[kpenguin]

Geez, Guys. I know the thread kinda dies after a good quote post, but this... Well, it is a holiday...

But maybe...

guys? am I the only one here? Am I really just a crazy changeling? Will the camera pan out to see me surrounded by a variety of mirrors at different distances and angles, a twisted funhouse of my own deranged psyche? I remember Celestia putting me in the dungeon all those years ago... Am I perhaps just keeping mysel going working towards some unseeable goal, surviving off the vestiges of love from my sliver personalities? Do I see Thanqol in the mirror and just not notice?

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

Come to the IRC~

[Soras Teva Gee]

Geez, Guys. I know the thread kinda dies after a good quote post, but this... Well, it is a holiday...

But maybe...

guys? am I the only one here? Am I really just a crazy changeling? Will the camera pan out to see me surrounded by a variety of mirrors at different distances and angles, a twisted funhouse of my own deranged psyche? I remember Celestia putting me in the dungeon all those years ago... Am I perhaps just keeping mysel going working towards some unseeable goal, surviving off the vestiges of love from my sliver personalities? Do I see Thanqol in the mirror and just not notice?

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

Green text and the mega-quote returning in one day... It seems the Mayans were off slightly.

[thubby]

Geez, Guys. I know the thread kinda dies after a good quote post, but this... Well, it is a holiday...

But maybe...

guys? am I the only one here? Am I really just a crazy changeling? Will the camera pan out to see me surrounded by a variety of mirrors at different distances and angles, a twisted funhouse of my own deranged psyche? I remember Celestia putting me in the dungeon all those years ago... Am I perhaps just keeping mysel going working towards some unseeable goal, surviving off the vestiges of love from my sliver personalities? Do I see Thanqol in the mirror and just not notice?

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

i think he is
no he's not
oh ya, prove it!
we're talking to him and each other.
that just shows how messed up he is
...
i hate you

[Sean Mirrsen]

If you ever get around to starting one on the forums here. PLEASE invite me. I'm jonsing bad for some kind of adventure pony RPG thing.

I'd start a Roll to Dodge game here, but despite some epic successes in regards to quality, all my RTD's end up getting cut short. Mostly by my own fault.

[SiuiS]

I'm still on, just on pony chat so it is filling my pony lust.

Come to the IRC~

What, IRC is popular again? Huh.
I might consider actually getting a client that supports colored text!

Green text and the mega-quote returning in one day... It seems the Mayans were off slightly.

While the thread itself creates the necessary context for a post to be considered 'in-character' which is one of the few contexts in which full color is allowed. My specific geas prohibits posts in all green. I'm kinda walking a line here, but I believe the spirit of the rule informs where a grey area in the letter arises.

That is to say, give the Mayans a bit of leeway, I'm not fully back in the swing yet.

i think he is
no he's not
oh ya, prove it!
we're talking to him and each other.
that just shows how messed up he is
...
i hate you

Guuuuys, you're not heeeeelping~

[Tvtyrant]

New Dash Academy! Yay!

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[Balmas]

Short of using a different theme (most don't look good to me) The basic one is unicolor unless if someone wants to make a simple background or knows a good themes to change it to.

Was there any other suggestions for an avatar? If not anyone have a copy to use, I never saved one of thread-pony.

For the members page thing, can I get whatever has been collected? I'd like to get that set up on the tumblr even if it needs to be added to later.

And another new question came in:

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I shall take that question.

[BlasTech]

Geez, Guys. I know the thread kinda dies after a good quote post, but this... Well, it is a holiday...

But maybe...

guys? am I the only one here? Am I really just a crazy changeling? Will the camera pan out to see me surrounded by a variety of mirrors at different distances and angles, a twisted funhouse of my own deranged psyche? I remember Celestia putting me in the dungeon all those years ago... Am I perhaps just keeping mysel going working towards some unseeable goal, surviving off the vestiges of love from my sliver personalities? Do I see Thanqol in the mirror and just not notice?

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

*Changeling brohoof*

/)

[thubby]

Guuuuys, you're not heeeeelping~

"guys"?
what makes you think there's more than one of me?
*grins just a bit too wide*

[SiuiS]

"guys"?
what makes you think there's more than one of me?
*grins just a bit too wide*

What makes you think there's NOT more than one of you? That's the problem!

*Changeling brohoof*

"Why thank you, ordinary pony citizen. I too am an ordinary pony. Bully!"

~_^

[maximus25]

Well, I pulled an all nighter and tripled the length of Show and Spell. Decided to publish the first chapter and submit it.

It's been approved. Now to start work on the next chapter!

[Tvtyrant]

Well, I pulled an all nighter and tripled the length of Show and Spell. Decided to publish the first chapter and submit it.

It's been approved. Now to start work on the next chapter!

Nice! Will read tomorrow night when I have slept a bit.
Read it!

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I liked it! You did an excellent job making the petty crime make sense in the context of the story, and not having the punishment seem arbitrary.

[TheAmishPirate]

New Dash Academy! Yay!

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Huzzah!

Fun fact: The red-maned pegasus in panel one here belongs to none other than our own masked pony.

[Thanqol]

Huzzah!

Fun fact: The red-maned pegasus in panel one here belongs to none other than our own masked pony.

Whitefire is a pretty pony.

Imagine her as Mask trying really hard to be Charger.

[Aotrs Commander]

First off, what the hell have you people all done to the internet in my absense?! Before I went away everything was fine - I've come back and I'm pretty much having to run all the web pages - not just on this site, but several others as well - in compatibility mode, or it don't work properly.

Can't be the computer or an update to IE or something, because it hasn't been ON in the intervening period...

I'm also suddenly finding that the pages randomly refresh by themselves on this site while I'm trying to type, which is &*£%ing annoying, since you loose everything you've been working on with no rhyme or reason. I'm going to have to start using Notepad EXCLUSIVELY to type my frakking posts in, since I've had to type most of my responses to SiuiS TWICE.

NOT amused.



I'm surprised no-one brought up the Jalyrkieon APC - did no-one think it vaguely familiar...?

Personal rambling spinning off that below.

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See, that's one of my flaws born from a strength. I try to not blindly follow things, but that means I'm rather susceptible to mental/social attacks that imply that I'm wrong or that I missed something. Someone says that Bronycon guests were actually uncomfortable/tired/acting-for-the-Bronies? Part of me instinctively believes it and says that I'm horrible for not noticing and/or doing something about it, even though realistically there's little I could do about it.

That also kind of extends towards accusations towards the fandom, as long-time threadponies might have noticed. I still freak whenever someone implies that this fandom is worse than other fandoms. Like the hoax "Bronycon Orgy" thing that briefly circulated. Or the fact that there might be little girls trying to look up "Cupcakes" on YouTube because they liked the song. I am very easily convinced that I am a member of the worst fandom ever, even though the other one I was this deep in had incestuous underage R34 all over the place if you knew where to look.

I'm rambling. Um. The Gentleman understands that a fandom is made up of people, and that there are very fantastic people and pretty awful people in any group you care to name, but he's still afraid that he's put in his lot with a bunch of bad eggs and is frightfully insecure about his position as the 'good fox'. And he thinks that he's much worse than other people say he is, so he's very easily fooled into thinking that he's part of a bad group, or that he deserves blame for being part of something that caused other people grief, or that he's naive, even though realistically he shouldn't have to worry at all.

Don't make me whack you upside the head with a rocket launcher or somethin', dude.

...

*sigh*

If it's of any consolation, my Mum always says you can't change the world, you can only change your little bit of it. You can't stop people being people, but you can set a better example by being you.

Now, I on the other hand, am quite capable of stopping people being people...

...

Guys?
*shivers, alone*

Keep yer wig on.

I want to go on record as saying that this is especially funny as it was only a thread or so ago you said "psssh cycle of nature, I don't even!" before saying "meh, this is how things occur. It is predictable and cyclic."

"Balance of nature" as depicted as an unchanging status quo, is what I have problems with, not "cycle."

But that's the point. If you are the herbivore, then carnivores ARE evil. They exist for the sole purpose of hunting down you and your loved ones, running them to exhaustion and then, if you're lucky, killing you before gulping down parts o you and leaving the rest to rot. They are nature's serial killers, even More so evaluate to them, it's as natural as anything and you're bein rude for not cooperating.

Yes, that's not biased at all, because herbivores totally never eat living things.

Oh wait.

Yes. Yes theydo.

And by "living things", I mean "things they haven't even killed before eating."




You don't ever see depicitions of trees of shrubs, cowering, unable to flee of defend themselves as evil deer tear off their bark skin and eat their extremities, do you? Of the horror of watching a wicked elephant shatter a grove of a nice acacia family, solely to scratch an itch?

Personally, I want to see life from the perspective of a bacterial colony, pilgrims in a new land eking out a bleak but enjoyable existence, before the Powers That Be sic a baleful menace on them; antibiotics! Genetically engineered to hunt down and destroy them, Aleaxes who hamstring the poor critters while the wolves and bears of the countryside (phagocytes) prowl in the dark, ever present.

I'd settle for something showing the world from the predator's perspective for a change, with the herbivores being mindless slash monstrous.

I actually feel bad for Chomper.

[dark]

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poor carnivore was raised by a brontosaurus¹ to feel bad for eating animals. When he got bak with his parents he grew, so he's not all bad, but they meet up again and he can talk. Suddenly, his food is people!

I remember an old show, I think it was Outer Limits, where a lady saw in a catalogue an advert that was 100% guaranteed to help you lose weight. No ifs, ands or buts.

She ends up receiving a pair of glasses that, when donned, gives all your food tiny mouths and you can hear them begging and pleasing not to be eaten, or screaming when bitten or pricked with a fork or knife. And the glasses don't come off. The episode ends with her having sewn her mouth shut, an sting f starvation surrounded by an arena of now moldy fruit.

Can we expect better for the poor tyrannosaur? Perhaps this is how he became Rex; in order to survive his heart hardened, utterly, and with no remorse it is easy to rule.

Now, let's be clear. I generally consider that killing and eating sentient creatures to be Evil. (Eating dead sentient creature you didn't kill sorta depends on your acceptable cultural burial customs.)

What makes me mad is the consistent depiction in this sort of thing (i.e. anthropamorphication of animals within a natural environment) as "predators - and by extension anything that eats meat - are teh evils".

Most of ALL from HUMANS, who are very emphatically NOT herbivores; talk about hypocrasy!

I might take it from ponies (though as I've said, Equestrian ponies are probably not herbivores, thought they may be primarily vegetarians; which is not quite the same thing.)

I could list many - oh so MANY - children's shows where predators of all stripes are painted as monstrous, (because it always has to be about worms or gerbils or mice or something) and very few where the reverse is true. (And in shows where carnivores are involved as characters and not villains/monsters, their diet is strangely glossed over. What does Simba eat, one has to ask, Disney? 'Cos cats are carnivores, and unlike dogs, they aren't designed to eat anything they find lying around...)

When have, say, weasels ever been portrayed in a positive light? You know, weasels that kill prey that in comparison to their body weight, is like a lion single handedly taking down an elephant? Where's the stories of the brave weasel hunters, daring the lair of the giant rabbit prey (because, y'know, rabbits still have pretty damn big teeth - and even a lowly squirrel can bite right through your fingernail), not unlike slaying a dragon?

No, weasels eat "cute" (sic) animals, so they must be evil.

Grrrr.

[size="1"]¹: if Bleakbane let's me survive 'brontosaurus' then I've moved from acquaintance to friend XD

No, actually, you get a pass on that one. Like some actual palentologists (the aforementioned Robert Bakker for one), I'm still a bit peeved they decided to follow nomenclature procedure and not make an exception that once, because Brontosaurus is by far a better name than Apatosaurus; and especially since I was brought up initially on the former. (Eobrontosaurus, thought to be close relation (or possibly Camarasaurus) incidently, was named by the above.)

When you start calling Pteranodon by the wrong name or talking about pteradactyls and calling them dinosaurs - then we'll have problems.

(There is no such thing, and never was, as a pteradactyl. They are pterasaurs and there is a pteradactylus, which is a very small pterasaur. Incidently, the error I pointed out in the children's "educational" video when I was four was not only calling Pteranodon pterodactyl, but giving it teeth as well. And I remember that very clearly (I think there were other problems, but those were the standouts. I think Mrs Thorton was quite taken aback when I reeled off a whole list...!)

[maximus25]

Nice! Will read tomorrow night when I have slept a bit.
Read it!

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I liked it! You did an excellent job making the petty crime make sense in the context of the story, and not having the punishment seem arbitrary.

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Thank you. I have Eakin to thank for the crime idea, and when I was coming up with the punishment, I just asked my friend what he thought. Replacing a fine with community service seemed the way to go. I struggled a bit on whether or not this would be deemed 'out of character' for Applejack or not, but to me it makes sense, she wants to help, but she knows Trixie won't just accept her charity, though she will stoop as low as to steal them.

[Thanqol]

Yes, that's not biased at all, because herbivores totally never eat living things.

Oh wait.

Yes. Yes theydo.

And by "living things", I mean "things they haven't even killed before eating."

You don't ever see depicitions of trees of shrubs, cowering, unable to flee of defend themselves as evil deer tear off their bark skin and eat their extremities, do you? Of the horror of watching a wicked elephant shatter a grove of a nice acacia family, solely to scratch an itch?

C'mon man, you know better. If you're going to argue something at least use valid arguments. Plants lack a nervous system capable of feeling pain or fear, there is absolutely no comparison.

[Aotrs Commander]

C'mon man, you know better. If you're going to argue something at least use valid arguments. Plants lack a nervous system capable of feeling pain or fear, there is absolutely no comparison.

And animals aren't sentient.

What's your point? Doesn't make plants any less alive, does it?

Plants to animals is EXACTLY like animals to sentients. It's exactly the same boundary condition step-up.

But we aren't talking about real life, are we? We're talking about sentient mammal-imposed bias; exactly the same bias that divides the world into "you're only "cute" (sic) if you're furry or have feathers; reptiles and fish and amphibians and invertebrates are all "icky and gross" and can bog off."

If you're going to anthropamorphise, at least have the decency to, y'know, do it equally and fairly, doubly-especially if you're going to do it in a "natural" (e.g. no-civilisation) environment.

(And it's not like you don't see plant characters in children's shows, either. Probably most famously, Bill and Ben's Weed.)



And, for that matter, you're leaving aside the fact that some plants can communicate with each other. Warn each of of animal predation... And some can move - even quite quickly. And count. At the end of the day, "pain" in this context is just a warning system to indicate to the creature that damage is occuring. Plants do have systems in place for such eventualities. They may not feel "pain" as animals do, but as a philospher, are you writing off the fact that, in some abstract sense, they may have some damage-related pain analogue, on a conceptual level...?

Watch enough time-lapse photography of plants in action, and then tell me they don't suddenly seem much more than the static scenery they are always shown as.

And then apply the same set of standards as get applied to herbivores to plants.



About the only show I have ever seen that did a reasonable job was the Animals of Farthing Wood (an animated adaption of the books of the same name), which showed no compunction in killing off sentient animal characters - on-screen - even baby animals. It was very morally neutral, with the titular creatures agreeing not to eat each other on their jounrney from their doomed wood to a new home - but that still meant Fox and Weasel and the like hunted other animals that weren't their companions.

[Thanqol]

And animals aren't sentient.

What's your point? Doesn't make plants any less alive, does it?

Plants to animals is EXACTLY like animals to sentients. It's exactly the same boundary condition step-up.

The gulf from inanimate to nonsentient is fundamentally larger than the gap from nonsentient to sentient. The game from nonsentient to sentient is a human construction that nice people like Jane Goodall would be happy to tell you all about.

I mean, I am not a vegetarian or an animal rights activist. I just care that you're using invalid arguments.

If you're going to anthropamorphise, at least have the decency to, y'know, do it equally and fairly, doubly-especially if you're going to do it in a "natural" (e.g. no-civilisation) environment.

Why on earth should stories be fair?

About the only show I have ever seen that did a reasonable job was the Animals of Farthing Wood (an animated adaption of the books of the same name), which showed no compunction in killing off sentient animal characters - on-screen - even baby animals. It was very morally neutral, with the titular creatures agreeing not to eat each other on their jounrney from their doomed wood to a new home - but that still meant Fox and Weasel and the like hunted other animals that weren't their companions.

That was a fantastic show.