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2012-01-10, 09:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2008
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-10, 10:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
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- Where?
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
So the submission page for the Artist's Training Ground is down, am I supposed to email my drawing just to Phoe directly, or is there a less chaotic was to go about it? >_>;;
Incidentally, my drawing turned out pretty nicely tonight, despite the fact that I'm banging out a 100 degree fever with a bad stummy virus. Poor physical health improves my art? o_0
Spoiler
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2012-01-10, 10:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2011
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- Somewhere south of Hell
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
oki doki Loki! Haven't caught up yet but this came up in the car, and it really needs to be addressed before Braz spends all my money
So without further preamble...
ATTENTION EVERYPONY;
OPERATION FAUST
IS NOW IN ITS PLANNING STAGES
Sadly, for those of you not in North America1 this is irrelevant, and maybe even depressing for some of you. So, spoilers.
Spoiler
1. The Basics
BroNYCon is in approximately five months. It will be a two-day event. It will most likely be on a weekend.
Lauren Faust herself will be there, which means most of the globe will be there. It's a con for Pony, so most of the people will be cool, and those that aren't can be loved, tolerated, both, or just ignored. And we want as much of ponythread there as is humanly, equinely, gryphynly and playgrounderly possible.
And for anyone watching at home; lurkers count. if you are in this thread long enough to wonder if this applies to you, IT DOES.
2. The Operation
The plan is to spend that time coordinating everypony who can and will go, and get them there. If we can ignore the time crunch, it will be fiscally and emotionally better to drive.
Starting approximately 5 days before the conventions starts, Brazen Shield and Starry Notions will rent a van or two and make the 400+ mile trip along the 353 mile route. On the way, we will pick up as many ponies2 as possible, and shuttle them with us. We will then reverse routes, head home, and drop said ponies off. The more ponies we have, the better this trip will be; pick ups will help us foot some of the cost, while also having a cheaper alternative to flight or driving their own way or bussing.
3. Potential Issues
Obviously, this endeavor could fall through big time. If nine out of ten ponies are in southern States, and one is in Canada, we won't be able to swing by for our Canadian friend. If the number of ponies gets to the magical middle ground, we won't be able to fit them in one van, but also won't be able to rent a second van. If a pony backs out at the last second, we may not have enough buffer money to cover the loss (we got lucky, with four jobs providing christmas overtime- not happening until next christmas). If an emergency comes up for me or Braz, we have to drop out and that could mess up EVERYPONY'S plans though one of our goals is redundancy to eliminate this issue.
4. What We Need
Primarily, information. I've been a laypony group organizer for a long time, and the one thing -The. One. Thing! - that is guaranteed to send me into a neurotic fit and tirade, amateur Bleakbane style (possible with more sailor's lingo, to boot) is when EVERYONE responds to "when are you available" with "I dunno, it depends. When is everyone else available?"3
We need to know who wants to come. Who can legally drive in the US. Who handle a bajillion people in their vehicle, all chatting. Who can afford their own trip. Who can afford to be nice and help another pony with their trip, seeing as my previously stated goal was to develop a pool so everypony could go within reason.
This is still conceptual, but the more detail we get the more we can supply. We WILL develop concrete as it happens, so please, feedback! I'll update this regularly, either as a repost or with links to his post as needed (votes on which is preferable are appreciated).
5. REQUIREMENTS
All caps for a reason.
• are you willing AND legal to be a primary or back-up driver?
• money to attend the Con; RSVP with the convention may be a requirement4, see footnote.
• money for gas/snacks.
• legal majority OR Guardian Permission - a big one or I'd haveforcedenticed Vbob to go last time.
• Location: I don't need an address (yet!) and wouldn't have you post it publicly in any case. But I need a rather good general idea so I can start planning routes IMMEDIATELY.
• idea on comfort zones: if being shoved between two burly hairy bronies is a problem, I need to know before I schedule you for Hairy Man Car 2.*
• PJs, blankets, pillows, comfort objects: think camping. No only might we have to rotate-crash in the vehicles, but odds of having mattress rather than floor space at a con are teensy.
Foreign Bronies: if you can afford to fly in, we WILL pick you up, and we WILL put you up. If you can hit an airport en route, I will steer from the roof with a complicated pulley system to fit you in the vehicle. Though I'd prefer another driver take over and just tie me up top (in a Rainbow Dash t-shirt, naturally) so we don't all die in a terrible, rainboom-esque conflagration of awesome.
I know I'm missing something, but I'm kinda blegh. Haven't eaten all day and am about to fix that so I'm surprised I could keep even this much focus! Jade, help me out if you can; I'd like to coordinate across the board, as you will perforce have to help me with the housing branch of planning. Of course if we he enough folks we can also foot the bill for that Stable idea...
1: Am I supposed to Capitalize North America? I mean, it's technically a proper noun, but...
2: Humans can come too. No saddle comments though, that's just awkward in mixed company.
3: Seriously. The level of rage this instilled in me is only trumped by the group's confusion at why nopony knew what was going on. Luna's Lightning, but did it not occur to you that I need bricks before I can build a masterpiece out of Lego? I can't conjure matter from Jack, people! I'm not a Moros!
4: conventions are funny things; all the ponyfolk and merchandise and music and stuff was awesome, but the really cool part? Walking to breakfast, 24 strong, and all eating. Singing random pony snippets. Hanging out. So if push comes to shove, we could rotate badges or something, but I'd prefer we all get together and ignore the con, rather than leave some folks out. So RSVP is nice, but we shall see.
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2012-01-10, 10:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
HERE COMES TOM
Episode 1: The Quote Menace
I’m thrifty to the point of stingy. I rarely purchase things, I cut back on food so I don’t have to pay as much, etc. But when it comes to ponies? I have a shirt, stickers, and a few dozen figurines. Lauren Faust found the secret to my wallet. (Hint: It’s my heartstrings. Lyra I love you!)
Meh, I browse 4chan fairly often. They have the best literature board on the web. It’s not saying much, but if you can just sift through the blatant trolls, you can find some pretty informative discussion. Sure, people are jerks, but I have a fairly thick skin. I prefer dealing with the jerkery and one-up-man-ship of 4chan than going on a forum that is impeccably polite but has no real substance.
Just want to clear it up, I have no problems with people from here. Any problems I’ve had with the brony community are from other communities and real life. In fact, as I wrote in my letter (which y’all should read, ya hear?), our little corner of the fandom has been, for lack of a better word, magical.
That’s not true. Not true at all. It depends on what 4chan boards you browse (/lit/ doesn’t do much raiding, I’d go so far as to say a solid majority of boards don’t raid), but the boards that raid? They raid hard. Ponies, actually, started out as a semi-raid from /co/ against /b/. The /co/ folks were lamenting that they never had the chance to raid anyone, and decided to raid /b/ with ponies. As it turned out, some folks from /b/ became enamoured with the cartoonish pastel ponies, and it stuck around. That raid could easily be considered the beginning of our fandom.
As exciting as it is to see ponies in a mainstream store, I am a little worried. Hot Topic, from what I’ve seen, has a tendency to cash in on superficial memes. Folks buy the shirts and such for the irony, but don’t really have an appreciation for the content. I’m concerned that ponies might just become another fad, that people lose sight of the things that made ponies so popular in the first place.
Is saying “I was into ponies before they were ironic” a hipster thing to say? Is being concerned about being a hipster a hipster thing to say? Is there an end to self-recursion?
I’m not a big fan of that. Some folks aren’t going to like ponies. They may even be parasprites about it. That doesn’t mean we should respond in kind, and that certainly doesn’t mean we should post NSFW pony content on their websites. That’s so far from loving and tolerating that I don’t even know where to start.
Hokey Smokes! How about Queen Meanie? No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty!
That’s amazing Thanqol. I never ceased to be awed by your creative potential (and the community’s as a whole, I might add).
One summer I took an online math class. It wasn’t terribly difficult, I knew all the content, but dear Celestia it was long. Something along the lines of 12 hours a day, just sitting in front of my laptop, answering math questions online.
My cat, bless her tiny kitten heart, took to jumping up on my shoulders and napping there. She would get up on my shoulders every day, and stay for hours. Up to 7 or 8 hours at a time. She loves people, and, if I may brag, loves me quite a lot. It was adorable.
After the class ended, whenever I would sit down anywhere in front of my laptop, she would jump up on my shoulders and stay there. Because I’m far too weak to disrupt my kitty’s sleep, I would let her stay there. I ended up getting pages and pages of writing done while waiting for her to get off my shoulders.
Moral of the storie? Cats are awesome, and they make you more productive.
You say “Gor lummy” but you don’t drink tea? How is this even possible?
Sloth is a funny one. It sneaks up on you, it does. First you want to talk a load off your feet, rest a while. You’ve earned it, you had a long day. Then you don’t really want to do anything the next day. That’s reasonable too, everyone needs time to decompress. And then you start napping constantly, cutting short other engagements because you don’t want to do anything. And that’s where the problems start.
Interestingly, I’ve faced off quite well against the sloth. I keep myself fairly caffeinated whenever I start to get drowsy during the day. If the day starts winding down and I realize I’ve accomplished little? I get off my lazy plot and try to accomplish something lasting.
The bigger problem for me is vanity. It’s my vice of choice. Wrath, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, those are all easily dismissed. But vanity (or pride) is much more insidious for me. There’s a fine line between caring about how you look, using creativity in how you dress, taking pride in yourself, “dressing to impress,” and being obsessed with physical appearances. I rationalize it to myself as a creative impulse, and there’s some truth to that. The mixing and matching of cut, colour, size, fit, pattern, levels of formality, style… It takes inspiration, it does. To the potential neighsayers who would bring up the more negative aspects of grooming and appearance, i.e. the use of readymade outfits, wearing exactly what other people (implicitly) tell you to wear, I bring up the example of cooking. Cooking is an art. You buy the ingredients, granted, but cooking is more than just the quality of your ingredients. It’s about what you do with them. A good chef can make excellent food from poor ingredients. A bad “chef” buys TV dinners. I find that a useful metaphor to describe the differences between my conceptions of a stylish person and a fashionable person.
But you see that, right there? That’s part of the problem. That rationalizing an unhealthy and over the top obsession with personal appearance, with myself.
Ultimately, I don’t have any answer to my (self-posed) question. That’s why vice is my favourite, I haven’t been able to fight it off.
Whoa there! Have you seen ponies with smaller eyes? They’re nowhere near as adorable. Those massive eyes are necessary I tell you, necessary!
The eyes are one of the first differences I see when I compare Gen 4 against any other generation. There are a whole host of differences, granted, but it’s the first. And the more distance we can put between Gen 4 and its troubled history, the better.
As is the Star Wars Holiday Special. I can’t imagine either are representative examples of what the community wants. Not that you were implying that.
My personal thought about what is “pony” and what is “not pony” is somewhat different. I see “pony” as a process, more of a state of mind than a set of easily definable traits. Sure. Works of pony art tend to have similar qualities, but I see those as arising from a deeper similarity, from the wellspring of pony-ness.
What is this pony-ness, you might ask?
Well, I’m happy to oblige!
“You’re talking to yourself again.”
No I’m not, people want to know!
“People? What is a people?”
They’re like ponies except a lot less cool. And- wait, who are you and how did you get in my brain?
“Poni poni poni poni poni poni poni.”
Good answer. Anyways.
With ponies you have two parts, the spirit and the setting. The setting refers to the characters, the world, how it’s set up, how Equestria runs, all of that good stuff. The spirit is a little harder to define. The spirit is the sum of the themes and ideas that are presented by the show. Things like “Love and Tolerance,” the idea that all ponies are good at heart, etc. The show combines the two (by definition) to create the delicious programme we all love. Fan fics and works of pony art can combine the two, but they can also go further. Fanfic authors can combine the pony setting with real world ideas and themes, or can combine the pony spirit with a more real world setting. I’ve never read Fallout Equestria, but it sounds like one of the former. Both are viable ways to explore ideas and themes from a number of perspectives, both teach us more about Equestria and help us to appreciate the show more, and both are equally valid forms of fanworks.
I was a part of a debate by some members of the music community when they were trying to determine “what was and wasn’t pony.” We didn’t get very far. We ended up just saying “I know it when I see it.” And that’s how EqD got music judges!
Tolkien was… interesting, to say the least. Contradictory in a number of ways, but certainly incredibly intelligent.
He was hoping to create some sort of Western Christian mythology, akin to the myths of the Greeks and Romans, but for Western Europe. In fact, one of his early ideas was to assign a real world location to each of the locations in Middle Earth. After all, Middle Earth was supposed to be the real world hundreds of thousands of years before the present day. I’m glad he changed his mind all the same.
So he was intentionally pulling from archetypes, pulling from legends. That was his purpose. However, many elements of his writing were not as commonly used at the time of his writing, and only after were they popularized and copied because of his work.
I’d like to see an in depth study of Tolkien in the context of his time. Most people just consider him a holdover from the 19th century, and in many ways that may be true, but that’s also overlooking a completely different side of him. When it comes to the notion of stories as stories, self-reference, and other post-modernist staples, he was far ahead of his time. When it came to characterization (specifically with women), he was centuries out of date. One of those contradictions I mentioned above.
I really need to start doing this emoticon thing. That is one adorable Pinkie.
Dostoyevsky is far more dangerous if you read it than if you throw it. Sure, he can crack a skull open from a few feet away, but if you read it? He’ll scramble your brain from the inside out. “The Grand Inquisitor” was the most powerful passage I’ve ever read in anything, and that was the ideology Dostoyevsky was arguing against. And The Brothers Karamazov was supposed to be a trilogy. Can you imagine?
Ponythread TF2? Aww yeah. My Steam name’s Gaelbert. I’ve been playing medic recently (not well, just playing it). I have a name change item that I’ve been meaning to use. I want to change the name of my medigun to something about Fluttershy. Anypony have any ideas?
Whenever I drop into Chocolate Hammer, there’s never anything going on. It’s quite depressing actually.
For Christmas I asked for a vacuum and a pair of socks. I don’t need a whole lot, I have everything I need already.
For Christmas I got:
A vacuum
3 pairs of socks
And…
Spoiler
Have I mentioned that I love my family?
The ancient Celts had the same practice. The next day began at dusk. They applied this to larger time spans as well. The year would begin at Samhain, held at the end of October. Whether or not this actually happened is up to some debate, but it’s an interesting way to look at things.
I would love a pony…
Man, I always miss the best stuff. How’d that go?
As terrible as it sounds, I would like Applejack’s parents to be dead. That’s always been my personal canon.
Hey. Fun game.
I like the part where you can press shift to scoot fast.
I haven’t been a huge fan of the arrow or the Candle Jack memes either. Only twice have the arrows provoked a reaction from me. The first, this. The second, the first time I heard the arrow meme coupled with the opening lines of the MLP theme song. And then I saw it everywhere and it wasn’t amusing anymore.
I named my laptop Applejack. It’s never let me down, no matter how much I’ve subjected it to. It’s not flashy, doesn’t really shine on its own. But its beauty is its reliability and consistency.
Say you have two identical cars parked next to each other. One of the cars is yours, the other is your neighbours. Say every night a gang of hoodlums and delinquents takes a part from your car, and switches it a part with your neighbour’s car. They do this every night, until eventually all parts are changed. Which car is yours? Did it ever change? What was the margin?
I don’t have an answer to that, really. It depends on whether you define items as the sum of their characteristics, or if there is “something else,” something that, by nature, you can’t quantify. This “something else” is what people use to define things. It’s the difference between the word “tree,” a picture of a tree, the smell of a tree, and an actual tree. Some things are eternal, they exist outside the realm of space and time.
Exactly.
You know what I said above, that I don’t have an answer? I lied.
Have any of you ever seen Vertigo, the Hitchcock film? I’m going to use that as an example to explain my thoughts. (Yes, I owe much to Zizek.) I’d give a spoiler warning, but I think there’s a half century expiration date on that so…
A quick summary: John is hired to tail Madeleine, John falls in love with Madeleine, Madeleine dies. John meets Judy, John falls in love with Judy, John realizes Judy was Madeleine. Or at least that’s what happens on the surface. John was in love with Madeleine. He cared deeply for her, wanted to be with her, everything. He broke down after she died. Then he met Judy. John was in love with Judy, but was obsessed with turning her into everything Madeleine was. Even after he realized “Madeleine” was nothing more than a creation, and that Judy was the actor who played “Madeleine,” John still insisted on turning Judy into Madeleine, through hair, clothes, mannerisms, etc. John was trying to recreate all of the characteristics of Madeleine in Judy. And he succeeded. Judy was exactly identical to Madeleine.
So why was the entire thing so disturbing? None of you sympathized with John in his obsession. It was sickening, not laudable. Through his quest to find Madeleine, he no longer loved Madeleine. When he crossed the line and tried to replicate Madeleine’s characteristics, he erased his past love for Madeleine. Before he did that, he really did love Madeleine. After, he didn’t.
Confusing? Yes. Counter-intuitive? Definitely. Make sense? It shouldn’t. But I think there’s something behind it.
When you love someone, you love them for who they are. Sure. Characteristics might have a little to do with it, but that’s not the essence of love. A clone of your wife with all the same traits will never be the same as your wife, and you will not love her. This distinction is what the conception of love is based off of.
So why am I agreeing with Thanqol if I’m saying that actions can be erased? Because they can be erased, they can be changed, but that doesn’t mean they never were, and, importantly, that doesn’t mean they don’t continue to be.
John’s love for Madeleine will live on forever, even though it was erased. Barry Bonds’ early accomplishments on the diamond will remain, even though his later actions tarnished all credibility. Actions are, are erased, change, but still remain. They are replaced, but forever they will remain in their point in history. Actions transcend history. Actions transcend time, and actions transcend space. When all humans have died, when the Earth is destroyed by the Sun, when our Solar System collides with another, when the Universe has died of head death, my actions will live on. My actions are eternal.
I have certain “causes” I fight for, spend most of my (non-pony) time on. They are my life, my passion. Nearly every action I take has something to do with these causes. And I fully expect to fail. I will fail, my causes will fail. But as the Rev. Lasher said (in Vonnegut’s book Player Piano) “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose, Doctor. The important thing is that we tried. For the record, we tried.” Actions, successful or unsuccessful, have a timeless quality. They live forever.
So what’s my answer to the question about the cars? Well, the first of them is yours. The second of them is yours. Both of them are yours. And neither of them are yours.
I can’t wait until they let me rewrite all the property laws.
Wow, that was pretentious. How ‘bout dem ponies?
Intriguing. Care to explain more?
And at this point, I have long since ceased being surprised by any subject that pops up in this thread. Life is a microcosm of My Little Pony.
Jazz has all the answers. And ponies have all the questions.
John Cage is a pretty chill brony. I have major respect for 4’33”
You might be surprised. There’s a movement of electronic music producers trying to push the boundaries of what can be considered “music.” I’m working on an album of that sort, actually. It both excites and frightens me. This could be the final frontier of music. I’m still not sure though. When everything is music, can anything be?
So jelly!
Awww…
What’d she say? Don’t leave us hanging, brony!
Yep, the Futurists. They weren’t who I mentioned earlier, but the Futurists were trying to create music with machines not typically known for their musical abilities.
I love Trixie. She’s an amazing character. But there’s no way that the show could live up to her portrayal in fanon. No matter what they did, it would be a disappointment. The thing I love about her fanon is that Trixie is simultaneously strong, yet weak. I can accept multiple fan theories and give them the same legitimacy in my head, but if a show did that it just couldn’t work.
I got a little Berry Punchy during a couple of the holidays. I think I dropped into the IRC and spewed vulgarities on New Year’s Eve and Christmas. Is this true, IRC ponies?
Shipping the show Trixie with Twilight wouldn’t make any sense. But by and large, that’s not how the ship is shipping. Most Twixie ships I’ve seen have been Trixie, crushed and alone, trying to build herself up again to beat Twilight Sparkle but slowly realizing she is maybe a little too obsessed with Twilight. That dynamism, by the way, is why I like Trixie the fan character.
And besides. Brusque dismissals and rude behavior are par for the course with arrogant or troubled people trying to deal with their inner feelings.
Oooh! That was actually a lot of fun to read! You should write a fanfic on that.
So this isn’t my field at all (as if I had a field), but some of the beginning sounded roughly comparable to the practice of successive approximations, am I rightish? A Riemann sum with ever smaller subdivisions? Or am I completely off base here?
(It’s been a while since I’ve had to do math. Or the harder sciences, really.)
Excellent, excellent idea.
I would hate to be a relationship like that. I don’t want to be the same as another person, I want to learn from them, care about them, interact with them, see them as a whole and distinct person.
I don’t have the technical knowhow to hold forth about copyright laws, so I’ll just talk about my personal thoughts.
I’ve produced music in the past, legit music. In a band and everything. But everytime I produce anything, I always release it for free and give people the right to do pretty much anything they want with it. I subscribe to the notion that “the author is dead.” I don’t hold much stock in the word of an author, and I see the consumption of any form of art as a dialectic, a back and forth between the viewer and the work of art. There are stories more ancient than words, melodies that predate instruments. When I “make” some sort of artistic creation, I don’t claim any right of it. I didn’t make it, I merely modified and worked with what was already there. The entire history of human technological and cultural progress has been through collaborative efforts, and I’m not egotistical enough to want to change that.
Anyways, that doesn’t help you at all. I’d be interested in seeing an eventual paper though, if that happens.
As much as I love the Wet Mane meme, I prefer the non-palette swapped versions. Fluttershy looks pretty strange in those.
On the topic of the Zodiac picture:
Whatcha know about Nightmare Night son?
Okay, well I’m not really Nightmare Night. I think I’m a Rainbow Dash, can’t quite remember. But the qualities of Nightmare Night fit me perfectly. Emotional? Passionate? Yeah, pretty much me.
The feminist jab was against those who call themselves feminists but believe that men can’t watch My Little Pony. I haven’t met any of those people, and I’m not sure they exist.
I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not a huge fan of Swagberg or Pony Swag. Sure, he’s talented, but it seems like he’s just rapping about ponies to get fans, not because he actually cares. Some of the lyrics just sound forced, they don’t really fit.
Speaking of which, what ever happened to The Electric Cowbelles?
And some of us have real diabetes as well.
Lines like those have their place in some music. Some genres are about the rage, the anger, and a line like that would be perfectly in place. But pony music? No. Not at all.
Is that some reference to Erwin Rommel? I’m confused.
It is the best episode.
You know what’s crazy? A lot of those musicians are real people. Like, with faces and everything. And they’re nice! I was part of a pony music forum and got the chance to talk to a lot of the more internet famous pony musicians.
I don’t listen to much metal anymore, but I did like what I heard (although I am holding out for the vocals).
As I type, I have 4 pony IRC channels, the Ponythread, pony music, and 3 pony related documents up in tabs.
I’m glad I’m not the only one to feel that way. It was terrible.
I’m glad you didn’t end up putting it in. As talented as some of the rappers are, certain moments were downright painful. Let’s just say that there are segments of the song that I’ve skipped every time I’ve listened after the first playthrough.
Thank you. We’ll see if I have this right.
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2012-01-10, 10:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Spoiler: I'm a writer!Spoiler: Check out my fanfiction[URL="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7493788/Forum-Explorer"here[/URL]
]Fate Stay Nano: Fate Stay Night x Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
I Fell in Love with a Storm: MLP
Procrastination: MLP
Spoiler: Original FictionThe Lost Dragon: A story about a priest who finds a baby dragon in his church and decides to protect them.
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2012-01-10, 10:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Wow, nice work!
And so far it looks like everypony's just emailing their submissions to Phoe. I'm going to wait another hour to see if the submission page comes back online before I do the same in hopes of saving her needing to go without sleep again.
Pony road trip? Suddenly I want to fly over to California and hit the road on the way to BroNYCon rather than take the shorter route straight there.
Regardless! Barring any unfortunate incidents you can count me in. I'll have to pass on the road trip part, but I'll be at the convention.
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2012-01-10, 10:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
- Location
- Where?
- Gender
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2012-01-10, 10:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
@Sius: That is one awesome idea and color me interested if not able to make any firm commitments at the moment. I literally am not even 100% on where I might be on the Eastern Seaboard come this summer. I was already planning on attending though.
(I'm 25 with a perfect driving record though and made many trips around the NYC area so if availible I would gladly help drive)
@Gaelbert: Awesome quote post.
But ponymotes... ponymotes are rubbish.
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2012-01-10, 11:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Quotepost Part II: Act I: Princess Celestia Also Rises
While I was gone, wrasslin’ my demons and real life issues, I realized a few things. One of those was that I miss you guys. I care about you guys. A lot. It’s silly, perhaps, but I do. And a lot of those feelings were channeled into that note I wrote to y’all on Christmas day. This one.
Thank you monkeyboyinc. Now, I see that no one responded to it (except for a couple of people. Thank you SiuS and Leo, I really appreciate it.) It’s a little ironic, actually, that a note praising the community for its inclusive feel was ignored.
Really, I’m not. But I would appreciate it if you folks could give it a read through. It’s important to me, it comes from the heart. I’ll post it here, again, if you don’t mind. (I suppose I’ll post it here even if people do mind, but I hope they don’t. If people mind, I suppose I could edit it out. But I can’t imagine that happening.)
Hello all. This is Gaelbert.
I’m not yet at a stage where I feel entirely comfortable coming back. I still have certain things I need to deal with, but you all have been on my mind, and I thought it was important to let you know.
Just over a year ago, I first watched MLP. I actually started watching the show a few days before the first thread showed up on GitP if my memory serves. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. I could tell there was something special, but I didn’t know if the few episodes that I watched were a fluke, if it would be able to keep up the magic. Then I sat down and watched the rest of the episodes out at the time (maybe 7 or so), and realized that I had found something special. It was sincerely loving and kind, but yet at the same time realistic. The only other show that ever struck a chord with me on that level was Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood. The people who watched MLP were genuinely changed by its message. The fandom was almost completely full of people who loved the show for its sincerity, people who took the messages of friendship, love, and tolerance to heart. I know it’s changed me personally. It’s given me the patience to deal with the troubles and troublemakers in my life. It’s given me the inspiration to write again, to pick up my guitar and instruments and create music. It’s given me good cheer, something I desperately needed. And it’s given me the courage to face myself when I hit the bottom, and to turn myself around. I know it’s been the same for many of us.
As the season continued, of course, its popularity increased exponentially. With that increased popularity came the memes, the Youtube videos, and so on and so forth. The productive capacity of this fandom is something truly inspiring. But as the fandom increased in size, it started to change a little. Phrases like “Love and Tolerance” were thrown around like a meme, whereas previously it had almost been a mindset or a way of life. Some of the sincerity of the fandom started to fade. I can understand that, and I’m not necessarily blaming anyone. The show had an almost overwhelming sincerity to it, and not everyone is able to accept it for what it is. Some folks have to defend themselves by abstracting themselves from the essence of the show, setting up layers of irony between themselves and the core values of the show. The fandom started to change. It still had a magic to it, but it started to move into different territories, territories less based on the morals of the show. Which, as I said, is fine. I can understand that.
But what I’m really trying to get at here is the GitP pony community. It never changed. It still has the warmth and camaraderie I remember from the beginning. New people have joined, old ones have left, but the essence of the thread, what makes it so appealing? It’s stayed here. I’ve been on a few different pony communities, and so I feel justified in saying that this is unusual. We are unusual in that we’ve managed to keep the heart of the show, the sincerity of the show, alive and well in the content of our posts, in our interactions with each other, and the friendships that we’ve made. It’s all still there.
By every right we should have failed. Places like this community don’t appear on the internet. We should have descended into cliques, we should have started sniping at each other and passive-aggressively attacking one another from behind the veneer of “Love and Tolerance.” We certainly have folks with the amazing charisma and talent to bend the community around themselves, if they so chose. But we’ve stayed true to the founding credo of the community throughout the year, and I don’t see any signs of that changing in the future.
I honestly don’t know where I would be without the ponythread and its community. I had some rough times earlier this year, and certain people (who know who they are) were there for me when I needed it. Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.
Normally this would be the part where I start listing prominent members of the thread, thanking them for their kindness, praising them for their creativity, or congratulating them on their achievements. I’m not going to do that, though, because a list is defined by who it excludes as much as what it includes. The thread is what it is because of all of us, not just certain posters. Every single person in the community has acted with grace and dignity, has had an attitude of love and respect towards each other. Every single person. The saying often goes that a group is only so strong as its weakest link. We have no weakest link. In the year I’ve been reading and posting, I can’t think of a single fight I’ve been in, or even any sort of fight or serious argument that I’ve witnessed. It seems like the people in our community continue to act out of the spirit of love and tolerance, even when others may overlook it.
So that’s why I want to get to know you better. I want to talk to you. All of you, each of you, any single one of you. You are all amazing. I know sometimes when people read something like that, they think “He’s never talked to me, he doesn’t mean me.” Well I’m talking to you now, and saying that I mean you.
So I’m going to give you my email address. gale*daze*at*gmail (remove the asterisks). I want to hear what you have to say about the most recent episode. I want to hear about your fanon. I want to hear about your new drawings. I want to hear about your possible projects, I want to hear about your fanfiction, I want to hear about anything and everything that goes through your mind, I want to hear about you. I want to hear the things you think are too insignificant to post, and I want to hear the things (if you’ll let me) that you feel are too important to post. I want to hear about you as a person, and I want you to know that if you ever need anything, I have your back. The entire ponythread has your back. I don’t care who you are, how long you’ve been here, if you’ve ever participated in some small part, posted once, I want to hear about you. I can’t promise that if you come to me with a problem I’ll be able to solve it. I can’t promise that I will be a particularly good proofreader, or editor, or judge. What I can promise is that I will do everything within my power to help you with whatever you need.
I’m going to finish this off by saying I love you. And when I say that, I don’t mean it in a joking, not serious manner. I mean it sincerely. I care about every single one of you. Each and every one of you is an amazing person, a beautiful person, and you’ve managed to make this community feel like home for me. A home on the internet? It doesn’t really make sense, but you all managed to do it.
Thank you, folks. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to get to know more of you in the future.
I’ve noticed a few ponies mention that they feel they contribute nothing to the ponythread. First, I’d like them to read the above, the note I wrote. It’s directed at you.
On a different level though, I had some of those same feelings. I was feeling like a One Trick Pony, but without a trick. So a no trick pony. It was sad. So what did I do? I threw my brain into a blender, and did whatever came out! Make sense? No. I didn’t think so. What I did was get off my fat lazy plot and start doing things. I’m of the belief that actions are what we have. Perhaps all that we have. So I started actionalizing my creative impulses. Below are the results.
One of the things I did over during my pony hiatus was learn how to draw ponies.
"You drew ponies during a pony hiatus? How does that make any sense?"
"It appears we have some neighsayers in the audience! Hush, or be silenced by the Short and Unfortunate Mudworthy!"
(I made an OC. He’s Trixie’s little brother. Growing up with the Great and Powerful Trixie was not good for his self-esteem.)
Anyways, as I was wandering through the wilderness looking for reference pictures of the G&P T, I was linked back one of our early threads. Specifically, Thread IV. The page I was linked to happened to be a somewhat important time for me, so I looked around to see what I had posted. Long story short, I found some gold. First, a quote I recently attributed to darthbobcat actually was something I’d said. Let me tell you, that worked wonders on my self-esteem. (darthbobcat, I miss you.)
Secondly, I found this:
Thanqol, did anything ever happen from that? Or did more important stories come up?
And third, I found the fanfic that I started last year and never touched again. Bracing myself, I opened the spoiler, and was shocked. It was not nearly as bad as I remember. It still pains me to read, but I had some ideas in there that I want to flesh out. So I’m going to.
But first, let me tell you a little about myself and my writing. I write a lot. The thing is, I write nonfiction. I’ve worked as a regular columnist for a newspaper before (before they found out my age and “let me go”, anyways), and if I may allow myself the boasting, I’m quite good. Damn good, actually. When it comes to fiction (and poetry too, for that matter), I have some other issues. Either the stories I write are so incredibly banal and trivial that I hate them and consider them pointless, or they’re so deeply intimate that they scar me and I can’t ever let anyone read them. The last full story I wrote was one of the latter. It gave me nightmares for months (I don’t scare easily, and my sleep has always been perfect) and I still haven’t fully recovered. I can’t walk the line between the two categories. They either pain me through their insignificance, or pain me through their significance. Here’s an example of the former:
SpoilerSpin, spin, drop, roll, rise, stretch, and… hold.
Fleur de Lis held her pose for the few remaining moments as the final harp notes faded away.
“I have to say, that was exce-“
“I know. And I’m done for the day.”
Fleur cut off her instructor, a wiry colt named En Pointe, and walked out of the studio. She was good. She knew she was good. Her lean form and astoundingly flexible body were perfect for the modernist style that emphasized supple curves and gently flowing lines. Even outside of her natural blessings, she was quite fit and able to perform even the most complex techniques with great ease.
She trotted down the street back towards her flat, subconsciously stepping into pirouettes and gracefully leaping over puddles. She was so immersed by her narcissistic reflections that she failed to notice the particularly dapper stallion trailing her, off to one side.
Realizing she wouldn’t notice him without additional prompting, the male unicorn stepped in front of her and spoke.
“Well, that’s certainly one way to end a practice session.”
Fleur de Lis raised her head, annoyed at being addressed so by a newcomer. Her brow furrowed as she saw the cut of his suit. A pony with class, she though. But no matter.
“Who exactly are you, and why should I give you the time of day?”
“Just as biting as you are skilled! Well, I suppose I have the honour of introductions. I am Fancy Pants, a resident here in Canterlot, and you, my dear, are Fleur de Lis, are you not? Formerly of Manehattan?”
She nodded slightly in acknowledgement.
“You still haven’t answered my second question, Mr. Pants, and how is it you know so much about me?”
“Please, call me Fancy Pants, if you will.
Technically, it’s poor. Stories can be good in spite of technical difficulties, but this one can’t and will never be. I, as the author, was so bored that I was unable to complete more than a few hundred words. I stopped in the middle of a scene. Flat characters, etc. Now, granted, it’s the first few paragraphs. But still. I could feel it going nowhere fast. Part of the problem was it started out of a desire to make an elaborate pun out of a certain figure in 20th century dance history. You get out what you put in, and all I’d get out of that was a bad pun.
Where am I going with this? Well, when I was reading through the old fanfic, I realized that it had the potential to walk the line. There was depth in it, but it wasn’t so intimate that it would hurt. I made a few modifications, and I’m posting it here.
Spoiler"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."
A small filly struggled through Canterlot's sodden fields. Rain poured relentlessly out of the dark sky. While the rain would eventually give way for Canterlot's fabled gardens and many-coloured flowers, this was scarce comfort for a filly caught out in the storm.
She finally made her way into Canterlot, drenched to the core and shivering. The streets were deserted, nopony in their right mind would be outside in weather like this if they had a choice. Her mind slowly faded out and made its way back in time, back to half-remembered fires on the hearth and snug blankets. It felt like so long ago, before... She dozed off, oblivious to the wind and the rain.
"Dear, you must come inside! You'll catch a cold like that, sweetheart!"
The filly opened her eyes and stared at the mare before her. She was a deep majestic purple, as beautiful and dark as the night above. The filly opened her mouth to reply, but only a cough came out.
"Here, follow me inside. I'll get you warmed up, you poor thing."
The mare led the little pony inside a nearby home. The windows were shut tight against the cold, and the house was lit by candles. The mare pulled a bowl of soup out from over the remnants of a small fire gestured towards the young filly.
"Here, drink up," she said as she dried the young pony off. "What happened to your parents? Do they know where you are?"
"No," the filly managed to squeak out through the bowl of soup.
"Well they need to know where you are dear. Where can I find them?"
"I wish I knew."
She let out a small sigh and fell asleep on the table. The mare took the rest of soup, dumped it on the fire's embers, and tossed the bowl to the side.
"She will do much better than I thought," said the mare before fading out of sight.
The filly woke up the next morning in a back alleyway. The sky above was light blue and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She stretched, blinking herself out of sleep.
“Where am I? Last night… what happened?” she thought aloud. She wandered out of the alley and into the street, just in time to nearly get ran over by a horse-drawn carriage. She scrambled out of the way in time to see the passenger, a purple unicorn, stare out the window, oblivious to the near-accident.
She backed out of the street, only to feel a hoof on her shoulder.
“Name and residence, please,” said the policepony behind her. “Are you aware of the trouble you could have caused? That carriage right there goes to Princess Celestia’s palace. If I were you, I wouldn’t be wantin’ to make trouble with her Highness now.”
She stammered. “Trixie, sir, and I’m new here. I don’t have a residence. I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to make trouble with anypony.”
“New here? What brings you to Canterlot?”
Trixie sat quietly for a second, trying to put her mind in order. She didn’t rightly know why she had come. She had lost her home, her family, she had no place to go, and then she had a feeling. A feeling that if she went to Canterlot, things would work out. Life would be good. She hesitated, trying to think of a reply the policepony would accept.
“I heard there were jobs here, I was hoping to live here.”
The policepony grimaced, “Ya know, I’m under orders to kick out any immigrants. We don’t have housing nor jobs for nopony, and anypony coming here just adds to our trouble. I’m terribly sorry Miss Trixie, but you’ll have to leave here by nightfall.”
Trixie started to protest, then reconsidered. She didn’t know why, but she did feel better. She hadn’t expected to come all this way to turn back upon entry, but something made her feel as if things would be okay.
“I’ll be gone by then, sir. I’m sorry I took up so much of your time.”
“Okay then. Get a move on,” he said.
Trixie turned and began to walk away. She was just a little filly, so far away from anypony she knew, but she knew she would be fine. Her guardian angel would protect her.
Her reminiscing was cut short by the sound of shouting and wailing coming from behind her.
“But where will I go? This is my only home, I’ve lived here forever! Please, you can’t do this to me. Have you no kindness, sir, have you no kindness?”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but if you don’t have a home you’re going to have to leave the city. We can’t afford to have beggars and street urchins laying about anymore. I don’t care where you used to live, you just have to go,” the policepony said.
The voice toyed with Trixie’s memory. It sounded familiar, but from a distant past. Who was it? She turned around.
“Moondancer!” Trixie exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in forever, how are you doing?”
Ignoring the policepony, Moondancer looked at Trixie with a face full of scorn. “How does it look like I’m doing, Trixie? I lost my family, my home, and now I’m losing my city.”
“Forgive me cousin, I didn’t know. Come with me. We may be able to get something sorted out for the both of us.”
Moondancer looked dubious, but she followed Trixie anyways.
“I need to leave the city as well. I don’t have any idea where I’m going, but we’ll do better together, won’t we?”
“I suppose so,” said Moondancer. She turned her head for one last look at her former home and neighbourhood, then set off.
The two spent the afternoon sharing their stories of woe. Moondancer had been a pony from a wealthy family. Her father had been a high ranking official in Celestia’s court, and the family had grown wealthy off Celestia’s benevolence. One day, however, disaster struck. Moondancer’s father was tending one of Celestia’s orchards when a bough fell, breaking his back and paralyzing him. He was unable to move, and his calls for help went unanswered. He slowly bled until he passed into unconscious and then to death. When Moondancer’s mother found out, she was devastated. Over the course of the next year she slowly wasted away, then she too passed on. Moondancer was left alone in the family estate. She tried to maintain it, but it was too much for one small pony to handle. Moondancer was kicked out of her own home and forced to live on the streets.
As the two ponies slowly walked to the edge of the city and discussed the past, the sun began to fall. Trixie and Moondancer crossed the city gate as the day melted into the twilight.
“Twilight was always my favourite part of the day. It ends the fires of the day, and brings in the cool, gentle caress of the night. The night makes all equal in her velvet cloak.”
Moondancer turned towards Trixie, her eyes sparkling. “Really? I think I have something to show you then. Follow me.”
Moondancer tugged on Trixie’s leg, leading her down the slopes of the rolling hills. They traveled from the boundary of the city in silence. Moondancer stopped at the crest of the last hill before the great and powerful River Danter.
The ponies gazed at the land before them. “I used to come out here often, at night. I’d stare out at the sky and the stars. They shine so bright, I felt like I could hear them. They were whispering something I couldn’t understand. Trixie…” Moondancer nudged Trixie. “Look. Up in the sky. Look Trixie. I know can see it. Look.”
Trixie raised her head towards the heavens. There were so many lights, shining, sparkling, twinkling. Trixie’s eyes blurred. “They’re certainly beautiful, but I don’t see it.”
“I know you can. Focus Trixie. I need you to focus.”
Trixie wiped her blurry eyes and looked up at the sky again. Her vision blurred, but she held her gaze. The stars… the stars! They were moving! The stars in the night sky shifted and moved until they spelled out a message.
“What is that? What’s going on?” Trixie shouted.
Moondancer smiled. “I can’t see anything. Nopony can. You’re the only pony who can read the sky. Tell me Trixie. What does it say?”
The stars spoke to Trixie, “I am the Ruler of all the Nations of the World. Long have I dwelt in the heavens, but now I shall return to the Earth to right the wrongs of the World. I will restore Equestria to its fabled past. Trixie, prepare the way for me. I will fill you with my power and you will trod your enemies underhoof.”
A beam of moonlight shone down on Trixie. She could feel herself lifted into the air, rising higher and higher. The moonlight moved with Trixie, and she could feel her body opening to the light. Power and strength rushed in, in a strange electrifying sensation. She flew over the land, accelerating faster and faster. Her eyes shut and she remembered no more.
Blues sat on a stool outside his house. He had played a gig that night, but it didn’t go so well for him. He was out of touch, true, but that shouldn’t have been enough for the audience to throw him out of the bar. Oh well, he thought. At least I got a few bits out of it…
Blues’ eyes were caught by a shooting star. It looked much closer than most shooting stars, and it was moving rapidly. In fact… it was heading for Fillydelphia. Blues watched as the star flew closer and closer, until it finally crashed into a park a block away from Blues’ house. He trotted over to the wreckage of the crash. To his astonishment, he saw a pale blue unicorn with a cutie mark of a starred wand and moon. Light shone from the unicorn, and she appeared to be unharmed despite the fall.
“Who are you?” he said in wonder.
“Who am I?” she repeated groggily. The world was blurry, and she was on the verge of collapse. Suddenly, her eyes slid into focus and she stood up straight.
“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie.”
You might be asking yourself, what’s so impressive about that?
Well, nothing. Yet. There are some places I want to see it go. I’m having trouble getting there, but I’m going to try. I’m not posting it here because I expect people to read it. It’s not a finished project. My plan is to keep writing, get to the end, then scrap it all and rewrite because I was a moron and completely misunderstood my characters. But it has a seed of potential in it, and that’s something I want to see flourish.
It’s based on a true story by the way. Steinbeck wrote “A thing isn’t necessarily a lie even if it didn’t necessarily happen.” (There’s a reason that’s in my sig. I’m of the opinion that Steinbeck went drastically downhill after he published East of Eden. His writing started to go downhill before that, actually, but East of Eden was a bright spot. It was his last. His last novels and articles were terrible. The Winter of Our Discontent was sickening, it was so bad. But. He always kept his ability to turn a phrase. The quote’s from Sweet Thursday, published two years after East of Eden. They’re words that I live by) By that logic, you could argue that all stories are true. I might even go so far as to agree with that. But this story is a little more personal. A little more true than most, if you will.
I can’t tell you how much this hurts. Over the last 6 months, I’ve been working on the libretto for a MLP themed rap opera. I’d dropped some hints about it in here and in the IRC. I had the rapper lined up, I completed the libretto, and I’d begun working on the beats when I saw this. This rap battle is exactly what I had planned for the climax of the album. You might tell me, you can still work on it. Sure. I can. But the magic’s gone. I have no desire to anymore. Petty? You betcha. It’d be petty to take out my frustration on the track. It’s a pretty good song, albeit the mixing was imperfect at best, some of Twilight’s lines were downright painful, the rappers could have had better flow. See? I’m doing it. I’m being petty. It’s a good song, I’ve heard much worse.
But damn if it doesn’t hurt. So. To let off some steam, I recorded a remix. It’s… Well, you’ll see. It’s a work in progress, as I had a cold at the time, so I didn’t bother to use a noise gate, or good recording equipment, or anything like that. It’s more of a proof of concept. So please be gentle. Here it is.
Yaplap is a pretty big influence on me.
As I mentioned above, I started drawing ponies. I’ve never drawn seriously before. In fact, the last time I drew anything at all (excluding the 15 minute MS Paint pony I made last year) was at least 4 years ago, perhaps much longer. So I’m weak, but I was bitten. I was bitten by the bug that makes you want to get better. I sat down every day and drew something, anything. I was astounded, to be frank, by my improvement. The last time I felt this good about anything creative was when I just started picking up classical guitar so many years ago. Drawing ponies was relaxing, it made me feel good about myself, and it helped with the struggles I was going through (and still am, to an extent). In the spoilers are some of my efforts. I’ll be cross-posting this in the Ponythread Learns to Draw thread, and hopefully I’ll stay there.
Spoiler
This is some concept art for the rap opera album I was writing, with a few of the lines.
Spoiler
Raz? This one’s for you.
Spoiler
So what else is there? I’ve thrown out music, pictures, philosophical pondering, pony modification, and a fanfic. I have no way to record my interpretive dancing to MLP songs and remixes. My love-letter and poetry to Rarity is unsuitable for a PG-13 forum. You would think I’ve hit a wall, the extent of my meager abilities. But you’d be wrong.
Guy Dapple? Drop that bass.
(Guy Dapple is another OC I created it. Stuffy, intellectual, philosophical type. Does a lot of culture and pop-culture analysis, hint hint. If you get the reference, I love you. Even if you don’t get the reference, I love you, but still.)
Thread vs. IRC: Part II: Revenge of the Subtitle
Background:
Since the creation of the IRC a few months back (October 25, 2011), its existence has been controversial. It’s become something of a meme to blame the IRC for the slowdown of the thread and a whole host of other issues. I attempted to investigate the legitimacy of these claims by comparing the speed of the thread pre- and post- IRC creation (link here).
The results were inconclusive for a number of reasons. First, I didn’t have enough measurements. There was no consistency in pre-IRC measurements and speeds, and there weren’t nearly enough post-IRC threads to come to any reasonable conclusion. Based on the pre-IRC data set we were able to determine that the ponythread moves in cycles. These cycles are likely seasonally related. I wasn’t able to observe a full year, and even the early observations I did have were likely tainted from a number of confounding factors. The first few threads moved incredibly slow by our current standards, likely due to the small community of the time and the relatively low exposure ponies had received by that point. (On a side note, I’ve been a member of the thread since 2 days into the original. One of the reasons I was attracted to it in the first place was because of how fast it moved. By today’s standards, those first threads were dead. Oh, for the naivety of youth!)
Anyways, the only correlation I was able to tease from the data set was that the speed cycles. Any other conclusions were simply untenable (in fact, the next strongest relationship was an inverse relationship between ponythread speed and the show. The thread appeared to move faster when there were no episodes. Obviously, this relationship cannot be seen as sound. The lack of episodes didn’t cause people to post more, the summer caused people to post more and the summer caused no episodes to show. I also found a positive relationship between thread speed and shark attacks. No one would claim that this is a causal relationship.) And the end of my first “study,” I stated that I hoped to use a different angle in the future. That’s what I hope to do now. I also mentioned I hoped to continue measurements of the thread speed, and add my later observations into that first study. I still intend to do that. However, taking the speed of the ponythread right now would be incredibly misleading. As I mentioned earlier, the ponythread speed accelerates in cycles. Right now, the holiday season is causing massive deceleration. I’ll return to this tact at the beginning of the summer. By that time, we’ll have a full year of roughly comparable measurements.
Hypothesis:
The hypothesis I’ll be testing is “The IRC negatively affects the ponythread speed.” The null would then be “The IRC has no negative effect on the ponythread speed.” Independent variable is IRC, dependent variable is ponythread speed. (Actually, the variable I measured was IRC speed, for reasons I discuss below. While there is a theoretical difference in the two, in real life it shouldn’t produce a massive difference. And it would be impossible to measure otherwise.) I’ll lay my cards on the table. I’m in the middle right now, leaning towards the latter. My bias shouldn’t affect my measurements, but I want full disclosure.
Methods:
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to create (or observe) an alternate universe where the IRC was never created. If I could, I would merely need to compare the speed of the alternate IRC-less universe and the actual IRC universe. I had plans and a conceptual design for a time machine, but my funds were far too thin to make it a reality. So, I had to turn to another solution. What I landed upon was the idea to compare the speed of the IRC against the speed of the ponythread. If the speed of the IRC affected the speed of the ponythread, it would appear to support my hypothesis. If the speed of the IRC was positively correlated with the speed of the ponythread, then my null would be disproved. If I was unable to make a connection between IRC speed and ponythread speed, or if I was to find an inverse correlation between the two variables, I would be unable to discount the null (basically, I wouldn’t be able to say the IRC slows down the ponythread). To try this, I would need logs of the IRC and the speed of the ponythread. Because the ponythread is based on a forum, it would be easy to swoop in and measure posts per hour. The IRC logs would be more difficult, not in the least because I was on a self-imposed pony hiatus.
Fortunately, my good friend and cousin Lurk[Animal] recently was infected with the brony virus. He likes to lurk, meaning it would be easy for him to gather IRC logs for me. Starting December 27, he began recording the logs. Since I understand there can be concerns about the privacy of the logs, I did not look at the actual content of the logs. Instead, I directed my cousin to copy and paste the logs into a Word Document. He pasted them in 12 hour chunks (or whatever he was able to), then I counted the lines (by multiplying [number of pages-1] * [lines per page] + [lines on the last page]), and finally computed an hourly average. I then took the hourly average of the IRC, attached it to the hourly average of the ponythread speed for the same period, and BLAM! Data points.
At the culmination of the observation process, I was left with three weeks of observations, with roughly 2 observations a day. Sure, a few hours were missing here and there, but hopefully the amount of points would make that irrelevant.
I was then able to move into the next portion, the investigation of the data. I also did something else, noting the times the IRC and ponythread appeared to be most active. That information will be at the bottom.
Concerns:
There are many, many possible confounding variables. That’s part of what sank my last project. However, there are a few counters to that. First, I’m not actually trying to determine that the IRC causes a decrease in ponythread speed. I’m merely trying to find out if an increase in IRC speed can be linked to a decrease in ponythread speed. That should take care of a few issues. It is possible that winter holidays caused the relationship between IRC and Thread speed to change, but that’s a problem I’m willing to accept. I find it unlikely that winter break could actually flip the relationship to its opposite. Still, if someone was willing to record the speed of the IRC over the next few months and present me with the results, I’d see what I could do with it. I’ll be doing some of that on my own, albeit not too seriously.
Another possible concern is the amount of content in each post or line. This type of measurement is biased against a forum, because it calls all posts or lines equal. There’s no differentiation between a one word line or a SiuS megapost. In some cases, dedicated spammers on the IRC have filled up dozens of lines in a matter of seconds, posting no more than one word per line. This biases the measurement towards my hypothesis, by overmeasuring the IRC and undermeasuring the forum. Normally, this would be a big no. But in this case, I’m actually trying to support the null (I could go back and switch the null hypothesis with the hypothesis, but that would require a change in methodology and frankly, I’m too lazy for that.) In this case, it’ll be okay. It just means that any data supporting the hypothesis should be considered ever so slightly more dubious, and any data supporting the null should be considered strongly than it actually appears.
Data:
Here’s where the magic begins. Let it be known that I hate statistics. All the statistics courses I’ve taken start out well, then I peter out towards the end. Since I’ve removed every trace of the statistical analysis software package from my computer, and since I’m not quite nerdy enough to feel comfortable performing a bivariate regression analysis for fun, I’ll just be making a scatterplot. Simple, easy, fun. And frankly, this doesn’t call for any more than that. It’s not like lives are on the line here. If no easily observable relationship appears on the plot, then that’s enough for me to accept the null. Even with the fancy statistical tools that political and social scientists have these days, waaaaay too many of their experiments are tainted by bias anyways. Seriously. People go in wanting to find a relationship, then tease the numbers until it appears. Don’t get me started on the supposed “no two democratic states have ever gone to war with each other.” It’s hideous. So I’m not going to try to muddle the issue with my fancy mathematics. I’m going to throw the numbers at Excel and see what happens. If I can’t see it, then it’s probably not important enough to get hot and bothered about.
Now to the good stuff.
Scatterplot in the spoiler:
Spoiler
Dataset in this spoiler:
Spoiler
A brief glance at the graph will show a roughly football shaped distribution, pointing upward and to the left. It’s a fat football. There’s a term for how fat the football is, the term probably equals around .3 in this case. But I’m not going to tell you what the term is or what it means because it doesn’t matter.
A few more notes on the distribution: There appears to be something of an empty spot in the middle, an oval running perpendicular to the line of best fit. This is abnormal, but has no major bearing on this experiment. However, I do hope to take a closer look at that in the future. See the questions below for more details.
Additionally, you’ll notice that the line of best fit isn’t a very good fit. Many of the points are a fair distance away from the average. There’s a term for that. It doesn’t matter, so I’m not going to talk about it anymore. This is normal (har har)for the softer sciences. We don’t expect nice, one to one correspondences. That’s not how the real world works. We get far more messy. It’s fun.
Conclusions:
Since the line of best fit suggests a positive relationship between the IRC speed and the thread speed, we are unable to reject the null. This means that we have found no evidence to suggest people posting in the IRC slows down the speed of the thread. In fact, the evidence suggests a slight positive correlation, meaning that the faster the IRC, the faster the thread moves. Why is this? I’d put forth the idea that when people have time, they post in both the thread and the IRC. When people don’t have time, they post in neither. It makes sense.
So what can we say? First, this doesn’t prove that the existence of the IRC doesn’t slow down the ponythread, merely that the speed of the IRC doesn’t. It is likely that some small amount of traffic was diverted from the thread to the IRC. I say small because much of the content of the IRC is qualitatively different from the content of the thread. The content of the IRC can thus be described as a small amount of overflow from the thread, and a large amount of “original content,” i.e. content of a nature that was never discussed or posted in the thread. My personal belief is that the IRC takes a flat percent of content from the ponythread, say something like 5%, although using numbers for nebulous concepts such as “content” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If that’s the case, then the IRC did cause an initial slowdown when it was created, but it hasn’t changed much since.
However, it is important to stress that hypothesis is only my own personal idea. It is not backed up by data. The only empirical data we have suggests there is no negative relationship between the ponythread and the IRC, and that there may very well be a positive relationship.
Questions (in RP form)
Gale Daze enters a typical Victorian style room. Overstuffed armchairs abound, the walls are lined with bookcases filled with many leather bound books. The smell of musty books permeates throughout the air. The color scheme is muted earthy tones, quite subdued. The room is cluttered with various knickknacks from all across the globe. None are particularly interesting in their own right, but it’s likely each has a story behind it. In the center of the room is a rich mahogany coffee table surrounded by two armchairs. It is exactly how one would expect an interview of an intellectual to look. Prof. Guy Dapple is seated at one chair, and the other is clearly intended for Gale Daze.
Prof. Dapple speaks first.
“Gale Daze! So good of you to come! I’m always so glad when I get the chance to see you again. I have a little something here for you before we begin the interview.”
“Guy, you shouldn’t ha-“
Gale Daze is cut off as Prof. Dapple launches a pie at her face, hitting her cleanly between the eyes.
“I should have known. The room looked an awful lot like a spectacle. You need to be careful though, pretty soon that detournement is going to become a spectacle in its own right.”
“Hush, you! I live authentically. Now sit down, make yourself comfortable.”
Gale Daze produces a handkerchief, wipes her face off, and sits down in the empty armchair.
“So. Let’s begin with a basic question. Can you tell me about your new project?”
“Didn’t you read the report I sent you? All basic information about my experiment and intentions can be found in the ‘Background’ section at the beginning. I don’t have time for questions like this, you know I’m a busy pony, Guy.”
“My apologies. Well then, let’s get this started in earnest. Is it true that you had an affair with Prince Blueblood?”
“My lawyers have advised me to respond ‘No Comment.’ But just between you and me… He has some, uh… performance issues.”
“Do tell!”
“Every time we went to see a ballet, or concert, or any type of performing art, he would just freak out! He hates performances, absolutely loathes them. He’s not himself at all when there’s a musician in the room. Quite strange, really. I’d love to get to the bottom of that hang-up, but that would require spending more time with him, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“That’s not nearly so interesting as I was expecting. Moving on. Is it true that you still have the IRC logs that you used for your observations? What are you planning on doing with those?”
“I realize there are concerns with the privacy of the IRC logs. As I said above, I did not read any of the logs, nor do any more than skim over them to make sure there were no massive problems. However, I do have the logs on my computer. If someone would like to see them, PM me and we can discuss this. If you just want to see one specific part of the logs, then I’ll be likely to send it to you. If you want all of the logs, that might cause more problems. If that becomes the case, then I’ll post in the thread and the IRC, asking if anypony has a problem with me sharing the logs for the indicated dates and times. If nopony has a problem with that within the next few days, then I’ll send you the logs. There is one exception. If somepony doesn’t trust my measurements or wishes to replicate my steps, I will send the data set immediately. Experiments are worthless without replicability, and I would have no aspersions cast on my methodology.”
“Where do you hope to take this from here?”
“Well, it would seem that my topics for investigation are slowly being exhausted. Really, ponies don’t care a whole lot about the topics I found already, and the quality of topic is only going to decrease from here. But this recent dataset gave me a few ideas. I’m hoping to examine a relationship between times (and timezones) and posting speeds. A quick series of observations to see whether we have one timezone that’s more prolific than others. That’d have some real world application too, if you stretch it. It’d be nice to see when the busiest times to drop into the IRC are, it’d be nice to find out the quiet times. The same goes for the thread. Sometimes people want to post fanfics when it’s quiet, to hope that their efforts won’t be overlooked. And hopefully my efforts will make it easier for them.
Originally my plan was to use this dataset for those observations. I have the data already, it would make sense, you know? But then I realized that this was vacation for a lot of ponies. Vacation causes ponies to post at weird hours of the day. As things go back to normal, I’ll start gathering information.
Beyond that? Who knows. I like the idea of empirical analysis of ponies and pony communities. It’s something I can do, it’s something creative, and it’s fun. If any ponies out there listening to this interview have an idea, I’d love to hear it.”
“Quite. Now Gale Daze, tell me honestly. Do you consider yourself a nerd?”
“Guy, if making an empirical analysis of the influence one online pony community has on another pony medium makes me a nerd, then I just don’t know what to tell you.”
“A follow up to the previous question. Are you pretentious?”
“Indubitably. But! Lest you get the wrong impression about me, let me show you the other project I’m working on.”
Gale Daze pulls out a 400 page MLP Colouring and Activity Book. She flips through the pages, showing Prof. Dapple the sloppily coloured pictures of ponies.
Spoiler
“I picked this up at Target the other day. It was only 2 bits! I like to think of myself as a Renaissance pony, one as comfortable in the kindergarten art room as in the 3rd grade classroom.”
((TL;DR))
“Lovely. One last question. Sum up your research for us. Does the IRC slow the ponythread?”
“No.”
“Well, thank you very much for taking time out of your schedule to come in and speak with me. Before you leave though, I have something for yo-“
Gale Daze stands up, cutting Prof. Dapple off. She reaches under the table and grabs the banana cream pie that Prof. Dapple had been discreetly trying to through at her.
“Didn’t I already tell you? This sort of detournement is getting stale and played out, old friend. You need to get something new, something fresh. Something authentic.”
Gale Daze starts to put the pie down, thinks the better of it, and walks out as Prof. Dapple’s tirade fades away in her ears.
“Those are fighting words, miss! Get back here so I can teach you a lesson! I might be old, but I can still…”
Gale Daze walks out the door, only to be rocked by a large explosion. She looks over to where her now charred and smoking car was parked.
She turns her head back towards the house with a look of amusement before beginning her long walk home.
“Touche, my friend. Touche.”
Lest you think that I take myself too seriously, here’s the other project I’ve been working on:
Spoiler
It’s magical.
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2012-01-10, 11:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
The Dude pony avatar by http://supermatt314.deviantart.com/
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2012-01-10, 11:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Yes yes it is. As for the next con I will let you know when things are loser I should have a job or two between then but I also have PAXEast and am planning to do some traveling over the summer so I have a lot of saving to do but I really do want to do another BroNYCon as this last one was the best time I have had in awhile.
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2012-01-10, 11:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
I love Trixie. She’s an amazing character. But there’s no way that the show could live up to her portrayal in fanon. No matter what they did, it would be a disappointment. The thing I love about her fanon is that Trixie is simultaneously strong, yet weak. I can accept multiple fan theories and give them the same legitimacy in my head, but if a show did that it just couldn’t work.
And as somebody who lives near NYC trust me, trains and other mass transit are your friend. Nobody drives into New York, there's too much traffic. Park at Secaucus and ride in, round trip on the train is still cheaper than paying for a garage.Proof-reading is totally unnecessary in the digital age now that we have spell cheque.
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
MLPFIM Card game design.
Spoiler
Set up
In the beginning of each battle, each player draws 6 cards from their deck of 40 cards. Then each player put pony cards with total levels no greater than 6.
Game Play:
On a player’s turn, starting with the player with the lowest starting level total, the player draws a card and may put a card into play. Also on their turn, a player may choose Characters card in play and attempt to defeat another player’s Obstacle card. During an attempt, the player plays any number of Support cards from their hand to increase one or more of the Character’s Strength values. Characters can be used as Support cards at a weaker effect. The owner of the obstacle may play Counter cards to increase an Obstacle’s Strength. If the resulting Strength Value is greater than that of the obstacle, the player wins an Element. Used Support Cards and Discards are discarded.
The game ends after one player wins 6 Elements, each other player has no Characters, or after the final remaining player’s 10th turn, the winner being the player who won the most Elements.
Types of Cards:
Character: Character Cards are used to defeat Obstacle Cards or as level 1 Support cards in a pinch. Each Character has a level between 0 and 6 and three Strength values: Mind, Body, and Heart.
Obstacles: Obstacle Cards are used to draw more cards or remove Characters from play. Obstacle cards have levels between 1 and 6 and three Strength values: Mind, Body, and Heart.
Support: Support Cards are used to power up Character Cards.
Counter: Counter Cards are used to power up Obstacle Cards.
Design ideas:
There are 6 types of factions, one for each Pony.
Twilight Sparkle: Twilight decks will have powerful Support and Counter Cards but her Characters are weak for their level.
Rarity: Rarity decks powerful Counters that make their Obstacles hard to defeat.
Fluttershy: Fluttershy decks will swarm the enemy with many Characters, allowing them to always have a strong Character of each Strength type in play.
Rainbow Dash: Dash decks will have Character cards with Strengths higher than that expected at their level with the drawback of weak Counters.
Pinkie Pie: Pinkie decks have set themselves up for surprise victory of rounds.
Applejack: Applejack decks will have many ways to draw cards and reuse discarded cards.
Gitp's No. 1 Cake hater
On Vacation until Aug 7th.
Spell currently researching: Explosive Pie.
Weapon currently crafting: +1 cakebane kris
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2012-01-11, 12:42 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Well, I like the idea, but I have a couple questions. Is there some sort of resource players draw from to play cards? So that you can balance powerful cards around mana costs, to steal the MTG terminology.
Are the obstacles known before the character card is played? Because otherwise any decent deck is going to have a sampling of characters and obstacles with two high values and one low one become a huge liability.
Seems like players are using several cards in every attack action. Do players draw a fixed number of cards a turn? Up to a certain hand size?
Is there a "global enchantment" type of card that makes changes to the whole field of play? If there isn't you could simply fold this effect into character cards, where just by being in play they have an impact even if they don't attack. As a follow up consideration is there a cap on characters per player? I can see decks designed around having four "booster" characters supporting a single juggernaut style attacker, versus having several attackers in order to be able to surmount obstacles with different strengths.
I'm intrigued, at the very least. Actually, this reminds me of a Shadowrun card game (I think it was shadow run, may have been some other cyberpunk setting. This was waaaaaaaay back) where one player was a hacker trying to steal projects from the 'corps, and would attack projects the same way you describe obstacles working.
EDIT: Oh yeah! and why even put obstacles out in the first place? What's the reward for successfully defending? Unless obstacles gave your characters terrain-type modifiers, or served as the aforementioned global enchantments...Last edited by Eakin; 2012-01-11 at 12:48 AM.
Proof-reading is totally unnecessary in the digital age now that we have spell cheque.
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2012-01-11, 12:57 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Proof-reading is totally unnecessary in the digital age now that we have spell cheque.
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2012-01-11, 01:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
*Hugs Gaelbert*
It's nice to have you back among us.
I read it the first time you posted, and I read it again then. I *was* planning to respond, but... the honest truth is that it really did read like a "farewell forever" message - one that you didn't even post yourself. So, the unfortunate result of that train of thought was "why bother replying to something you will never see?", so it never got posted. Yes, I realise now that I should have sent an email, but I'm an idiot like that sometimes; and I got distracted by other concerns.
Anyway, I re-iterate that it's good to have you back in Ponythread.
Unfortunately those images are blocked at work, but I'll try to check them out when I get home (time permitting). All I can say for now from reading through those massive posts is that your creative impluses are certainly inspirational.
Speaking of inspiration, suddenly I have the desire to work on a My Little Pony: Friendship is Munchkinism card game. The ideas are roiling in my head so much, I really wish I wasn't at work so I could write some of it down before I lose it.
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2012-01-11, 01:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
I dunno. Swarm would need to be elongated or forced into two syllables. "swore-orm" just sounds tacky, where the typical American will slur tyranid into tran-id/t'ranid. So tyranid, shortened, sounds like it is supposed to have multiple syllables where swarm itself does not.
You follow? I feel like I'm explaining poorly.
Ah, that would be why I couldn't follow up to see if that guy was Orzel.
And let's be fair, mate. I would feel like the BIGGEST tool of the only reason I went up to someone and asked if they were Orzel is because they were black. though not noticing the humongous bid was specifically on Rarity? That was dumb of me.
I did try calling your name though; nopony told me until after the con that my voice was raspy and too low to be heard more than two feet away.
...
Yes Bleakbane, yes. I was a little horse. See?
Spoiler
See? Totally awesome statuette courtesy of Kyouhen, who is a pretty cool pony.
Starting point for my van will be California bay area. Depending on distribution, I may wire money and have somepony else pick up another one if there are a bunch of folks in that area, rather than drive the empty miles. And if multiple vehicles are needed, then odds are they will take different routes, so if a Canadian pony wants in, then we could probably grab you (though it would be so very much easier of you were to cross the border yourself, and go to a meeting spot).
Soras, your quote dropped, but it's good to know we may have more folks!
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wow, Gaelbert XD
Good to see you again! And in force, too!
As exciting as it is to see ponies in a mainstream store, I am a little worried. Hot Topic, from what I’ve seen, has a tendency to cash in on superficial memes. Folks buy the shirts and such for the irony, but don’t really have an appreciation for the content. I’m concerned that ponies might just become another fad, that people lose sight of the things that made ponies so popular in the first place.
That surge of folks who say "love and tolerance" an mean beat you to the point of flatulence? That is the ironic pony crowd; the ones who say "light problems on fire!" but wear fluttershy instead of Gir on their shirts.
Just like with clop, shipping, or grimdark. There are those for whom pony is just a medium, or characters they like drawing, despite the content. And yet we are all still here Wong awesome. For every ironic pony, there is one person who legitimately stops and wonders "am I dong the right thing? I could be nicer, couldn't I?" I am far more worried about folks being nice to the point of sterility. Aggression happens. As Areta would say, fighting is natural. Only premeditation is immoral.
Is saying “I was into ponies before they were ironic” a hipster thing to say? Is being concerned about being a hipster a hipster thing to say? Is there an end to self-recursion?
As soon as you stop caring about irony, it becomes water off a duck's back.
To use a strong example; censorship of saucy material. The guy who combs through everything looking for porn has porn on the mind more, and is a slave to porn much more, than the guy who casually flips through a booklet, who has it on the mind more than the guy who knows about it but doesn't care.
Being a hipster is a label. As soon as your actions no longer qualify you're free. And to be fair, there is a difference Between hipster and contrarian; it's one thing to dislike the people brought in by going mane stream, it's another to have liked MLP:FiM solely because no one else did.
Search your heart, mate. Are you here because you like the show or the fandom? Or are you here because no one else was at the time?
I’m not a big fan of that. Some folks aren’t going to like ponies. They may even be parasprites about it. That doesn’t mean we should respond in kind, and that certainly doesn’t mean we should post NSFW pony content on their websites. That’s so far from loving and tolerating that I don’t even know where to start.
So if there is a problem that could best be solved by guerrilla warfare, guerrilla warfare it is! But as soon as the other side capitulates, you need to stop.
Or as my Da put it, "don't start no $%!¥, don't take no*$%!¥".
But you see that, right there? That’s part of the problem. That rationalizing an unhealthy and over the top obsession with personal appearance, with myself.
Ultimately, I don’t have any answer to my (self-posed) question. That’s why vice is my favourite, I haven’t been able to fight it off.
So he was intentionally pulling from archetypes, pulling from legends. That was his purpose. However, many elements of his writing were not as commonly used at the time of his writing, and only after were they popularized and copied because of his work.
Let's say you write a unique story; we'll call it Wonderland.
If Thanqol, Phoe, DBC, Raz, and Esper all write stories, relatively simultaneously, and then I wrote a story that pulled from all of them, it would be derivative.
But to my understanding, the work each of them wrote would also be derivative, even though it was just exploring ground in Wonderland you yourself touched but never tapped.
Tolkien drew from a collective mythos. That is derivative, whether or not he more fully defined the mythos thereby. Tolkien's work is phenomenal. It is good without being groundbreaking; in fact, that very lack of being edgy is part of his style. It reads like history; nothing new, plenty grand. That doing wonderfully with pre-existing components, without having to add new bits is actually what I found so entrancing about darthbobcat's work. He didn't so much write MLP stuff as he seemed to present old stuff in such a wonderful new light. Everything he wrote, I could see being utterly canonical (which feels weird, considering this includes; LARPing conventions, humans, demon overlords, mane6 strike force) and that's a different sort of masterful, a different sort of skill that I cannot help but compliment.
So too, does Tolkien live up to the greats such as DarthBobcat :smallbiggrin;
The ancient Celts had the same practice. The next day began at dusk. They applied this to larger time spans as well. The year would begin at Samhain, held at the end of October. Whether or not this actually happened is up to some debate, but it’s an interesting way to look at things.
Quick, everypony look over there! *flees* Truth be told, I'm uncomfortable addressing pagan beliefs in depth until I know I wont alienate anypony.
Say you have two identical cars parked next to each other. One of the cars is yours, the other is your neighbours. Say every night a gang of hoodlums and delinquents takes a part from your car, and switches it a part with your neighbour’s car. They do this every night, until eventually all parts are changed. Which car is yours? Did it ever change? What was the margin?
I don’t have an answer to that, really. It depends on whether you define items as the sum of their characteristics, or if there is “something else,” something that, by nature, you can’t quantify. This “something else” is what people use to define things. It’s the difference between the word “tree,” a picture of a tree, the smell of a tree, and an actual tree. Some things are eternal, they exist outside the realm of space and time.
I am a sovereign being. The answer as to which is the correct rubric is whichever I need at the time.
This becomes more interesting when you add other sovereign beings to a group, but the universe exists at my leisure, so I'm good.
Thanks, Mostin!
Wow, that was pretentious. How ‘bout dem ponies?
Actually, wait, if you don't remember I don't wanna be the one to remind you
And besides. Brusque dismissals and rude behavior are par for the course with arrogant or troubled people trying to deal with their inner feelings.
... <<;
I would hate to be a relationship like that. I don’t want to be the same as another person, I want to learn from them, care about them, interact with them, see them as a whole and distinct person.
I you define a relationship as being a greater being, and each person is a constituent part, then you would begin to understand Thanqol's point. I swing a bat at a ball; at the point of contact the bat goes "crack" and the ball goes "zip!" and an entire world of physics is transferred between ten in only those two sounds. Perfect unison makes the bat an ball a unit, but does not make a bat a ball or a ball a bat.
Related; frost and I stand on a field. We just cut down the enemy healer and are being charged by a shieldsman on his side an a florentiner on mine. We look at each other.
He squints a bit, lifts his chin. I smarm my right brow, nod once.
We both stab out towards our targets in a feint; pull up sharp on the lead foot, retract, poise in cat stance (I hear his was actually a T stance, he's much less a ballerina than I). We both rotate clockwise bringing the boffers up in salute, while jumping as a unit spinning counterclockwise, land, and bring the swords down to rip into enemy guard from an unexpected direction.
And that whole thing was coordinated in the heat of a fight with a chin and a nod.
The shieldsman was blocking an archer who took my armor with a torso blow, and the florentiner was berserk and had a 10 count between dying and having to leave the field, so awesome as that was we should have just got out of dodge... Heh.
The feminist jab was against those who call themselves feminists but believe that men can’t watch My Little Pony. I haven’t met any of those people, and I’m not sure they exist.
I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not a huge fan of Swagberg or Pony Swag. Sure, he’s talented, but it seems like he’s just rapping about ponies to get fans, not because he actually cares. Some of the lyrics just sound forced, they don’t really fit.
This is utterly antithetical to me, personally. If me and you are in a system, it doesn't matter whether I'm ascendant or descendant. I'm always the other person, so I can act from a centered, caring perspective. So boosting someone else up at your expense is fine, but keeping someone else down so you are bigger in relation like that? It makes me nauseous.
Is that some reference to Erwin Rommel? I’m confused.
Which is apparently a word, but you'll fight me over 'flavour'? You're not an antagonist, phone; you're a ****.
It’s a little ironic, actually, that a note praising the community for its inclusive feel was ignored.
Thanqol, did anything ever happen from that? Or did more important stories come up?
"Take my love, my anger, and ALL Of MY MONEY!"
I made a few modifications, and I’m posting it here.
Luckily, there is a secret weapon; my device has both bookmarks and a "reading list". I may be able to bring this up there, and have a bunch of fics for when I can't do anything else. Heck, Mare in the Mirror is there, I think.
I can do this!
This rap battle is exactly what I had planned for the climax of the album. You might tell me, you can still work on it. Sure. I can. But the magic’s gone. I have no desire to anymore. Petty? You betcha.
That is one of the worst feelings ever and it pains me that you have had to go through it
Fortunately, my good friend and cousin Lurk[Animal] recently was infected with the brony virus.
... *ahem*. Carry on.
*In some cases, dedicated spammers on the IRC have filled up dozens of lines in a matter of seconds, posting no more than one word per line.
Since the line of best fit suggests a positive relationship between the IRC speed and the thread speed, we are unable to reject the null. This means that we have found no evidence to suggest people posting in the IRC slows down the speed of the thread. In fact, the evidence suggests a slight positive correlation, meaning that the faster the IRC, the faster the thread moves. Why is this? I’d put forth the idea that when people have time, they post in both the thread and the IRC. When people don’t have time, they post in neither. It makes sense.
What you're failing to take into account is who posts what. We have had folks drop out from ponythread. EsperDerek's last post that I can recall was him saying "IRC ate me, but I'll try to stick around." I haven't actually seen a post from Kris Strife in months; since before I even began planning to go to BroNYCon. BillyBobJoe seems to be the reverse, only poking his head in since we were so neat on the IRC (apologies for maybe putting words in your mouth though, BBJ).
We have split. We have predominantly thread ponies, predominantly chat ponies, and a body of mixed ponies. there are just those of us who, having less individual stuff to slog through, have wedged in tighter to fill the gap (to use a visual metaphor). I post more often. Some other folks do too.
So we have kind of "lost" ponies to IRC which is what we feared. What we are really finding is that it's not so bad, and we actually benefit from folks having a place to vent their faster-paced insanity. I myself tend to jump on IRC for about ten minutes1 when I need to talk to somepony, rather than unsung the GitP PM service.
So what we feared (a split) did occur, it just didn't have the result we thought it would.
If that makes any sense. I'm suddenly loopy... *stares at a Trophy* Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
“I picked this up at Target the other day. It was only 2 bits! I like to think of myself as a Renaissance pony, one as comfortable in the kindergarten art room as in the 3rd grade classroom.”
-coloring book pages-
1: though let's be honest. We can count the number of times I actually left IRC that fast on a single hoof... >///<;
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2012-01-11, 01:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2005
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- BROOKLYN!!
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
It's based on my Sunken Fang card game. In that game levels went to 10 and you "mill" your deck when a card enters the discard pile equal to its level.
I took it out for MLP
Are the obstacles known before the character card is played? Because otherwise any decent deck is going to have a sampling of characters and obstacles with two high values and one low one become a huge liability.
Seems like players are using several cards in every attack action. Do players draw a fixed number of cards a turn? Up to a certain hand size?
Is there a "global enchantment" type of card that makes changes to the whole field of play? If there isn't you could simply fold this effect into character cards, where just by being in play they have an impact even if they don't attack. As a follow up consideration is there a cap on characters per player? I can see decks designed around having four "booster" characters supporting a single juggernaut style attacker, versus having several attackers in order to be able to surmount obstacles with different strengths.
Obstacles are also your main removal.
Blank Flank
Obstacle
Foal gain -3 Heart
Defeat 2 nonFoal characters
Mind- 2
Body- 2
Heart- 6
I'm intrigued, at the very least. Actually, this reminds me of a Shadowrun card game (I think it was shadow run, may have been some other cyberpunk setting. This was waaaaaaaay back) where one player was a hacker trying to steal projects from the 'corps, and would attack projects the same way you describe obstacles working.
EDIT: Oh yeah! and why even put obstacles out in the first place? What's the reward for successfully defending? Unless obstacles gave your characters terrain-type modifiers, or served as the aforementioned global enchantments...Last edited by Orzel; 2012-01-11 at 01:44 AM.
Gitp's No. 1 Cake hater
On Vacation until Aug 7th.
Spell currently researching: Explosive Pie.
Weapon currently crafting: +1 cakebane kris
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2012-01-11, 02:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
- Location
- In a cornfield
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Oh goodness, so much I need to post but I'm stuck at a conference with only a phone. So short version: SiuiS and Gaelbert please poke me if I don't post responses at you soon.
This Machine Surrounds Hate And Forces It To Surrender
Ponythread Learns to Draw!
SpoilerBleeeeh! Alfalfa Monster!
Avatar by Aruius
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2012-01-11, 02:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Holy epic quoteposts Batman!
I've been vaguely following the thread for the last couple of weeks while being too busy to get into the conversation, but this is too much. I think I noticed a Hemingway reference, a few variations of existential philosophy, and something about making rhymes for Tyranids. Bravo ponythread, bravo. *slow claps*
Anywho, just thought I should post and mention I'm still alive. I was pretty interested in the fact that Hasbro has contracted themselves into not distributing their own show internationally. Always interesting to realize that we're missing a huge piece of the puzzle and I'd bet those contracts were very lucrative if Hasbro agreed to limit its own distribution rights.
@SiuS: I notice your advance planning and applaud the effort. I will, unfortunately have to pass. I'll be working full time during June. In addition, I tend to be really uncomfortable in crowded conditions and really like having my own bed and room (probably comes from being almost an only child, as my only sibling is 11 years older than me and I always had my own room).
@Gaelbert: glad to have you back. I read through your letter and found it very touching. As someone with neither the time nor inclination to do art and none of the time (but a little inclination) to write creatively, I particularly appreciate it. My hope being here is that I can say some interesting things, spark some discussion about the episodes, and maybe inspire some good ideas from other people, or at least have a good conversation. I keep coming back because everyone here is incredibly interesting.
@Gaelbert again: Much respect for a mathematical study of the IRC. That takes a lot of time and thought to do right, but I really respect you for actually trying to answer the question with evidence as opposed to opinion, intuition, or gut reaction.
@Orzel: that card game design reminds me a bit of Legend of the Five Rings (which is a good thing, that game was crazy fun, although I haven't played it in years). A few questions I have.
1. Does having extra characters potentially allow you to tackle multiple obstacles in a single turn?
2. Can multiple characters work together, either directly summing or providing some kind of in-play support bonus?
3. What kind of additional card draw will there be and how important will card advantage be for the game? (i.e. if you did manage to draw 2-3 extra cards, would that be a minor bonus or a complete deterrent to anyone tackling your obstacles?)
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2012-01-11, 02:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
It is three in the morning here, so I'ma just say this:
1) Gaelbert! Welcome back! *hugs*
2) I did read your letter, and you're on my list of "People I really ought to talk to". Except I'm horrible at remember to chat at people.
3) Thank you so much for doing your analysis. It's good to see the hard facts about this.
I'd say more, but that's about all the mental fortitude I have at this hour. Night!I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.
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2012-01-11, 03:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Rarity fans rejoice!
SpoilerADVENTURE!!!!!
My current story ponies-Ponylagann in the Ponythread.
Spoiler
NightScream
Ponyard
SkyRocket
Filly Pokey Pierce
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2012-01-11, 05:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Well hell, that's a pretty long quote post. What am I saying, it's an epic level quote post. I have to go through this slowly.
Anyway, welcome back.
@SiuiS
That sounds like a good plan in the making. I wish you guys the best.
I'll have to sit this one (and any future CONs) out though, until I graduate and have at least a steady job to tide me over. (It costs upwards of RM2000-3000 to book a ticket, one way to LA/NY over here, which is a full month salary of an average worker.)
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2012-01-11, 06:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Derby, UK
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Because I am That. Awesome...
*facepalm*
Oh, hush, you're just as bad.
Only because I picked up from you.
Clearly I am an excellent teacher.
I did read that, actually, though with it being on the IRC, and you being self-exiled from Ponythread, I didn't make a response here as it didn't seem like you'd get it... And, then, of course, despite making mental note of it for future reference, succumbed to my usual incompetance and allowed it to be driven out by other things... One thing drives out another, as Barliman Butterbur always said.
(And which I frequently echo, it must be said, as unless directly prompted by email and/or PM, and I am pretty terrible about contacting people for non-wargames-related updates... I got an email just after Christmas from the guy who left on Monday group after about ten years, and realised I'd completely forgotten to email him about what happened, as well as to check up, like all year... I am just dreadful at this sort of thing... Even when stuff is sitting in my inbox and marked as unread to remind me about it, it takes ages for me to get around to doing it...)
Though by the looks of it, I'm in good company...!
I think the lesson to be learned here, if any, is when making such a grand gesture, do it in a place where people are more likely to notice and/or remember, (such as ponythread itself!) because we all have memories like sieves!
Well done, that pony! Take a soggy biscuit and go to the top of the class!
Ahahahahaha!
Awesome.
Originally Posted by SiuiS
It would appear at the current rate, the soggy biscuit supply will be running low and the top of the class will become crowded...Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-01-11 at 06:42 AM.
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2012-01-11, 06:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2005
- Location
- BROOKLYN!!
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
1) Yes.
2) In the original game, Sunken Fang, the Wizard and Paladin factions could work together to summon more characters and get over the 1 character/obstacle card per turn level. Werewolves and Undead could do the same by winning Street (obstacles).
3) Card draw is VERY important. If your opponent has more Support cards in hand than you have Counters, he will beat you 90% of the time if his Character has equal Strength as your Obstacle
SpoilerSample of the curve
Fluttershy (Any Deck) Level 4
Character- Pony, Pegasus, Mare
Shy (Cannot defeat obstacles unsupported)
Animal friend (Counts as +Level Support when supporting animals)
Mind-4
Body-2
Heart-6
The typical curves is Level 1 for a 1/1/1, 2 for a 2/2/2 etc. Vanillas get +1. Rainbow creature curve up a level while Twilights curve down.
Cockatrice (Any Deck) Level 4
Obstacle- Monster
Draw 2 cards
Mind-NA
Body-NA
Heart-6
Obstacles go for level 1 for 4 strength and a 4 cards drawn. Each level gets you +1 Strength for 1 less card drawn. Level 6's force you to discard or have requirements.
Stare Master (Fluttershy) Level 4
Support
Target Mare
Support +4 heart
Turn to Stone (Any) Level 4
Counter
Target Monster
Counter +4 heart
Supports and counters are 1 to 1. Lower level Support and Counters have fewer requirements.
Last edited by Orzel; 2012-01-11 at 07:11 AM.
Gitp's No. 1 Cake hater
On Vacation until Aug 7th.
Spell currently researching: Explosive Pie.
Weapon currently crafting: +1 cakebane kris
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2012-01-11, 07:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
I've seen it performed live. Of course they forgot to start the stopwatch and it went on for six minutes, but I still liked it.
I wouldn't have bet money on hip-hop being the logical conclusion of the musique concrète movement, but it really was.
... I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.
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2012-01-11, 07:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
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- Gobbotopia
- Gender
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Road trip thing sounds like fun, and sounds like a great way to scocialize, but count me out. i'm beginning to realize i'm not really that into ponies, and only called myself one after watching all the episodes, and only did that because i was bored. Now i only watch the next episode cuz i kinda feel like i need to.
BTW, is my little tyranid on that website yet?Avy by Thormag
Spoiler
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2012-01-11, 07:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
I finished today's ATG! Even though it took all evening, and the submissions box is broken, it's done!
Spoiler
I'm also pretty happy with thinking up a Lyra joke that I'm pretty sure hasn't been done yet.
In unrelated, I hate Bon-Bon's mane. It's stupid.Last edited by Thanqol; 2012-01-11 at 07:42 AM.