Entertainment Weekly's continuing coverage of Sparkledammerung: The Second Coming

[nenena]

A Brony explains why fans say 'neigh' to Princess Twilight:

Shortly after EW broke the news of Twilight’s transformation this Tuesday, the fan community exploded into a flurry of commentary — most of it negative. [...] The backlash has been even worse on fan sites like Equestria Daily (where the original post about Twilight’s princessification has drawn over 2,500 comments) and Reddit’s pony-centric message board (where hundreds of fans have expressed fervent hopes that the royal metamorphosis isn’t permanent).

So why, exactly, are bronies getting their bridles in a twist? “It’s just your typical overreaction to something changing in your favorite series,” Equestria Daily founder Sethisto (real name: Shaun Scotellaro) tells EW. There is, however, a little more to this specific outcry: “I think the main thing is that it’s happening to a character so many people connect to. Twilight Sparkle, she’s more of a nerd. She’s like all of us, that geeky nerd who reads books and gets all excited about stupid stuff.” The prospect of the show’s audience surrogate getting all gussied up, then, sort of feels like a slap in the face to MLP‘s grown-up fans.

And that's it.

That's the meat of the entire article.

That's the reason.

So this is what it boils down to: Bronies identify with Twilight because she's nerdy, but princesses are terrible, therefore Twilight turning into a princess is terrible.

Because princesses are terrible. No other reason given. LITERALLY NO OTHER REASON GIVEN other than "princesses suck and we hate them." And why do Bronies hate princesses so much? Why is their favorite pony turning into a princess somehow the equivalent of getting a slap to the face?

Because princesses are girly things, and as we all know, girly things are just terrible.

Like I said before, there is literally NO OTHER WAY TO PARSE THIS BACKLASH other than to see it for the astounding misogyny that it truly is.

Over 2500 comments on the Equestria Daily article and not a single one of them gives a reason to hate the princess transformation other than princesses suck and we hate them. Not a single one of the comments gives a reason any deeper than that. Not a single one.

The EW article linked above goes even further in depth covering the backlash against Princess Cadence's appearance in the season 2 finale. And why was there complaining about Princess Cadence? According to Sethisto:

“Cadance was a pretty pink alicorn princess. That’s, like, the exact opposite of what we wanted.”

And why, exactly, would a pretty pink alicorn princess be "the exact opposite" of what Bronies want? Sethisto doesn't say, but I'll bet money it's because traits like being pink and being pretty and being a princess are (*gasp*) GIRLY!!!!1! Never mind the fact that Cadence is a fantastic character who was clearly set up as being powerful, important, and central to the story of the season 2 finale well before the episodes aired on television. In fact, I think that's what made the backlash against Cadence all the more vehement: How DARE a new character who's clearly set up to be super-powerful in the MLP fictional universe and super-important to the plot of the show be (*gasp*) pink and pretty and a princess oh noes!!!!

In short, Brony fandom has once again established that it is firmly entrenched in the mindset that all things girly are terrible and gross and wrong. Which is REALLY UNFORTUNATE considering that this is a fandom for a cartoon for girls.

Comments

Facts

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a loyal supporter of Twilicorn, but the notion that the hatred toward this is "misogamy" is absurd. From what I've read on EQD, KYM, and 4chan, the reasons people dislike Twilicorn are:

1) It's a marketing move by Hasbro and a sign they are taking over control of the show.

2) She'd become an overpowered "mary sue".

3) It would wreck the "balancing" (2 unicorns, 2 earth ponies, 2 pegasi).

4) It would elevate Twilight above her friends.

5) Twilight would become "immortal" and watch as her friends died.

6) The show would switch from Slice of Life to Adventure in genre.

7) Twilight loses her "cuteness" when she has wings.

8) Because she's a princess, she'd have to move back to Canterlot.

Of course, those reasons don't make a lot of sense, but those are the reasons. Not some form of "evil males showing their hatred of women".

It's ludicrous to think that the anti-Twilicorn faction hates princesses. Luna has been one of the most popular secondary characters and has thousands of fanfics and fanart devoted to her. Celestia is beloved by almost the whole fandom. Even Cadance has been welcomed by a majority and has grown into a well liked addition to the fanfics and fanart.

In summary, the anti-Twilicorn faction dislikes Twilicorn not because she's becoming a princess, but because she's becoming an ALICORN.

Re: Facts

[nenena]

omg this comment

First of all, it's "misogyny."

1) It's a marketing move by Hasbro and a sign they are taking over control of the show.

EVERYTHING IN THE SHOW FROM THE BEGINNING HAS BEEN A MARKETING MOVE BY HASBRO

And you know what? THAT'S OKAY. But leave it to Bronies to desperately cling to the idea that MLP isn't ~supposed~ to be a show that sells toys to girls, because clearly nothing intended to sell toys to girls can be *good* on any level.

I'm sorry, but MLP has always been a marketing tool, right from the very first episode. It is a show whose primary purpose is to sell toys to girls. And it's still a great show on a lot of levels. Some of the best decisions in the show story-wise and character-wise were intended to tie in to those toy sales. Get over it.

2) She'd become an overpowered "mary sue".

Calling a female character a "mary sue" is nearly always a misogynistic argument. Congratulations, you just proved my point.

Especially when you're applying the label "mary sue" to the MAIN CHARACTER in a series whose powerup fits perfectly into the ongoing story of the series and has been foreshadowed for a long time.

When Bronies moan about the super-powerful magical unicorn who has always been the main character of the series being a "mary sue," then that is sexism.

4) It would elevate Twilight above her friends.

5) Twilight would become "immortal" and watch as her friends died.

6) The show would switch from Slice of Life to Adventure in genre.

8) Because she's a princess, she'd have to move back to Canterlot.

I already addressed all of this in my response to the guy who didn't want to be That Guy above.

7) Twilight loses her "cuteness" when she has wings.

If your argument is that Bronies who object to Princess Twilight aren't basing their objections in sexism, then... You really should be finding arguments that aren't as obviously sexist as this.

Of course, those reasons don't make a lot of sense, but those are the reasons. Not some form of "evil males showing their hatred of women".

I'd find this a lot easier to believe if the fandom weren't already so full of evil males showing their hatred of women. Have you SEEN some of the comments about Meghan McCarthy on the EW article?!

It's ludicrous to think that the anti-Twilicorn faction hates princesses.

Then why do so many of the comments start and stop at hating princesses.

Luna has been one of the most popular secondary characters and has thousands of fanfics and fanart devoted to her. Celestia is beloved by almost the whole fandom.

Luna, yes. But Celestia? The character that Brony fandom consistently portrays as an evil dictator? Are you kidding me?

Even Cadance has been welcomed by a majority and has grown into a well liked addition to the fanfics and fanart.

Notice how you had to qualify your statement there.

Cadence WAS welcomed after her episode finally aired. But in the weeks leading up to the season 2 finale? It was all the same: Thousands of comments about how much it sucked that another princess was being added to the show, and how Cadence was clearly intended as a cheap marketing ploy to cater to little girls (the PRIMARY DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE SHOW - oh noes!!). And as Sethisto explained so honestly in the EW article: this was all because Cadence was pink, pretty, and a princess. Traits that Bronies do not like and did not want.

In summary, the anti-Twilicorn faction dislikes Twilicorn not because she's becoming a princess, but because she's becoming an ALICORN.

And the reasons that you listed for disliking the fact that she's an alicorn

are either so stupid that you have to wonder if the Bronies making those objections either a) watch the show at all or b) aren't desperately scrambling to come up with objections in order to hide the basic "ew princess!" revulsion that many other Bronies openly express

or just plain BLATANTLY SEXIST.

Good job!

Re: Facts

[(Anonymous)]

I think part of the problem with both Cadence and Twilight has been that a lot of fans are still clinging to the notion developed back in season 1 that alicorns are near all-powerful gods in spite of everything the show has done to disprove that idea since then. Lauren Faust commenting on DeviantART a while back that if it were up to her there would be only two alicorns in the series didn't help either.

As far as Celestia goes though portraying her as an evil dictator is almost always done as a joke, not many fans actually have anything against her.

Re: Facts

[nenena]

The problem with the joke is that it's rooted in sexism. You see this a lot in male-dominated fandoms: every time there's a powerful female leader who isn't portrayed as an evil dictator in canon, male fans will inevitably characterize her as secretly evil and manipulative. Sometimes as a joke, sometimes seriously.

And I've seen plenty of Bronies who actually take the whole "Celestia is evil" thing seriously, mostly because she imprisoned her sister for 1000 years. You know, her sister who had turned evil and was never going to let the sun rise again. Yeah.

Re: Facts

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, I always thought it was just because she's an autocratic leader who's almost too good to be true and always seems to be in control of what's going on (at least in season 1 which is when the concept took root), as well as some silly ideas people got about her imprisonment of Luna as you said. I'm not convinced her gender plays a role in that...

Re: Facts

[nenena]

I'm pretty convinced her gender plays a role because a) you see the same thing happen every time there's a powerful and benevolent female leader in a canon with a male-dominated fandom, but almost never when there's a powerful and benevolent male leader, plus b) bronies are sexist in general, so.