My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Page 231

On November 05 2011 12:41 RoKetha wrote:
I actually really disliked the Wall Street Journal article because it paints a completely inaccurate picture of the fanbase being centered around the franchise and toys, with the show just being incidental. The reality is that the fanbase is essentially a separate world from the franchise with the only point of contact being the cartoon; select fanfictions (Past Sins, Fallout: Equestria, Progress: Luna Versus [the origin of Abacus]), PMVs, and artists are more universal to the fanbase than the merchandise. The majority of the fanbase doesn't own any merchandise related to the show to my knowledge.

It really doesn't give anyone the message that the cartoon is an all-ages, top-quality work of self-described "perfectionists" with credit to many of the writers and animators from the best of the past two decades of cartoons. Heck, it doesn't even mention Lauren Faust or her goals with the show. The history of the show's rise to popularity is glazed over at best.

All of this leaves nothing to take from the article but shock value. There's no message for companies or investors about what the show actually did to attract this demographic; not the company's stance on copyright, not the targeted advertisements, not the involvement in the community early on from Faust and others, and not the emphasis on good writing that Faust brought in from the beginning. Nor is there anything accurate to be learned about the broader community.

It really saddens me that for all the time these professional journalists take, the page on KnowYourMeme has more in terms of both history and insight.