Unpopular opinion time

@trashboat  
Whats wrong about her?

@Background Pony  
Nothing specific, I just don’t like her, But whatever, I don’t give a Shit about the show very much anymore anyway, So whatever

 
What many people don’t get is that farms are crazy expensive to run, especially in the 1st world. The resources, the property, and the upkeep. Rarity only runs a small cottage scale boutique, it doesn’t take her that much resources to run a clothing store, she caters to wealthier costumers who would pay big for her designs, her gem finding spell makes it even easier for her to make a source of income.

Power Ponies is a better episode than people give credit.

The whole discussion of Big Mac just makes me wonder more about our little fandom’s obsession with background ponies and side characters. They aren’t the main characters. They have little, if any, characterization and yet people get absolutely livid over them.
 
I don’t know of any other fandom that does this (possibly Star Wars, but I’ve already pissed off enough people with my heretical beliefs about Boba Fett so I won’t get into that,) and I genuinely don’t know what to make of it but the phenomenon fascinates me. I don’t get it because having a constant stream of named characters to develop and keep track of annoys me, and I’m glad the background pony love seems pretty much the domain of the fandom where I can ignore the stuff that doesn’t interest me.
 
In Big Mac’s case I wonder how much of the outrage is because some people want a developed male character to latch onto other than Spike, who I genuinely and deeply find awful. Personally, I don’t think the show needs such a character. At all.
 
I will now await my being burned as a heretic.

@gasmaskangel  
You sexist pig! (JK)

@Itsthinking  
Wait, doesn’t it have everything people liked? Twilight getting downplayed, a good Spike focus, and Flutterhulk (at least more casual fans would appreciate it, not so much on dp).
 
@gasmaskangel  

 
This. Now we can be burned together.

@Grieffon  
A lot of people didn’t like the Spike focus and were confused by the villain.

@Itsthinking  
Really?
 
she seemed rather straightforward.

@PonyPon  
That’s why a lot of people said they disliked her. Honestly, the real antagonist of that episode was members of the audience who actually think Spike is as useless as he thought he was and yes, those people do exist. They’re also the same kind of people to say that the episode was bad.

@gasmaskangel
 
And now I feel like a misogynist!
 
We’re not talking about a male character joining the mane cast and stealing the spotlight and suddenly getting all the best lines here. That happens all the time with new villains that come out of nowhere. We’re talking about characters that are already there from the start. For me it’s about community and continuity. Getting the main characters to mingle with the common folk is something I always liked to see because it gave the setting depth and showed a potential for different dynamics-more variety of interaction. I now see that something like that is way too much for a 22-minute show to deal with.
 
Is there time for another lower deck episode?

@Itsthinking  
I agree with you abou Power Ponies

@Bolan  
I wouldn’t call it misogyny, if only because that word gets slung around so lightly these days that it is virtually meaningless. There is nothing wrong with wanting a character who you can identify with.
 
Hell, I’d love to see more cynical bisexual libertarian atheist characters. I just know its not gonna happen, so I can either cope with it or hate pretty much every piece of media I come across for not including my specific set of differences.

@gasmaskangel  
I vote cope.
 
It’s less painful.

@gasmaskangel  
How about…you identify with a character that shares more than just your physical traits? There’s certain character traits I can relate to regardless of gender/age/species, they don’t have to be exactly like me.
 
To be honest, I think the biggest problem with fiction is people wanting protagonists to fit into their very specific niche and not realizing that fiction is meant for a wide audience. So they either make a self-insert (ugh) or are going to leave some people that can’t look beyond physical appearance behind.

Unpopular opinion: I think Big Mac is just a glorified background pony that people take too seriously, and contribute little to none to the show.

@Itsthinking  
That’s more or less my point, just worded better because my brain does not work properly.
 
Tokenism is crap, it hamstrings writing and feels insulting to those you are supposedly trying to include, as I can say from experience every time I see something with a token gblt character.
 
@Grieffon  
Agreed.

@gasmaskangel  
I know most of those movie “tests” are crap, but the one for LGBT characters in film specifically is designed to make it so they aren’t tokens.

@Grieffon  
>glorified background pony  
Explain.

@ClownDicks  
It’s a character that contributes little beyond it’s individual story, and sometimes even less, but latched onto by the fans and built up as something greater.

@gasmaskangel
 
Yeah, I don’t want the male characters to form a coup and take over, I just want them to get a little respect every now and then. A little respect.
 
As for Big Mac, sure I have a little in common with him, like I don’t talk much but that’s about it. I rooted for him because he felt like a normal everyman in this world of crazy magic insanity. He seemed like a wise and steadfast guy who could act like a foil to Applejack and maybe a friend to others. In the beginning he had this kind of power but with each successive appearance, that power has diminished to the point where he’s just there for the lulz. I know it’s been like that forever but still, it’d be nice to hear him actually have an opinion or spout something witty once in a while.
 
Besides Cheerilee he doesn’t even have any canon friends. It’s sad.

@Bolan  

@Grieffon
 
You don’t seem to get it. We know he’s nothing but a glorified background pony. That is the problem. He could be more than that if they tried, but he’s not going to be.
 
It’s okay to wish for things.

@Bolan  
Can’t even say anything about gender without fear of ad hominem attacks. Some people would say “so many other shows have the female characters in his sort of role, why can’t it be the opposite for once?”

@Itsthinking  
Two wrongs don’t make a right, Social Revenge Warriors.