Pony Memes that Annoy You

[Corsair]

I read a lot of pony fan fiction. It's one of that things that really draws me to this fandom. But there are certain themes and memes that come up all the time that really annoy me.

Near the top of the list is the "Scootaloo is an orphan" meme. Just because the show has not depicted her family, that doesn't mean she's an orphan. We never saw Rainbow Dash with any family until S4, and we still have not seen Fluttershy's family.

But, OK, some writers can make the orphan thing work. Its the stories that have her living in a box or living in the treehouse that really bug me. Equestria is as near to a utopia as a world can be (excepting monster attacks.) Does anyone really think that in a society like we've seen on the show, that a young filly would be living on the streets by herself? Especially in a country town like Ponyville, someone would know about it and take the poor girl in. Heck, Pinkie Pie knows everything about everyone. there's no way she'd let someone live on the street.

Speaking of Pinkie, another thing that bothers me is writers over-using Pinkie's "4th wall" breaking. For anyone that doesn't know, 'breaking the fourth wall' is a term from theater, and means that the characters on stage speak to or directly interact with the audience. I've read too many stories with Pinkie completely breaking character and using internet memes or talking to the narrator, or just revealing that she's the only one that knows she's just a character. Pinkie Pie, when written well, is zany, fun, and excitable. She's not a meme-spewing motor-mouth. (Some of the writers on the show need to learn this too...)

So, is there anything about the show or that fandom that bugs you?

[RarityDash]

Does rarijack count as a meme? if so, it's starting to kinda get there with its prevalence...

Other than that, the big thing that really irritates me is when Celestia is vilified, especially when it is to make Luna look good. Just because fans love Luna for some reason, doesn't mean they can rewrite what we know of the characters and make it so she wasn't in the wrong. All that tyrant Celestia and Lunar republic stuff just kind of grates on me.

[Corsair]

Does rarijack count as a meme? if so, it's starting to kinda get there with its prevalence...

You're just mad there's not a "Raridash Daily" Tumblr

[starswirlthebearded]

I'll be honest and say at this point... all the fandom memes annoy me pretty equally.

Scoots being an orphan, Celestia the tyrant, Dr Whooves and Derpy, 95% of the shipping (though I admit some of the shipping art is cute)... People just latch onto things and they get tired quick. I'm sure I could think of more, but I can't think of one fandom created meme that doesn't get on my nerves at this point...

[RarityDash]

You're just mad there's not a "Raridash Daily" Tumblr

You know what else is kind of annoying? That one yellow background pony that gets all that attention. What's up with that?

[franshpout]

At first I thought them funny and some of the fanmade stuff added to the fandom, but I find them really redundant today. MANY memes just annoy me...The Lyra liking humans is one of them... Because she sat like a human she instantly became a human researcher or something and... well, I'm just tired of seeing that on everything about Lyra!

There's also, I'll admit, the Derpy and muffins thing. It's like it's the only thing she can do in life... like muffins ._. I dunno... some people like it, but when that's the only thing that I see about Derpy, in any art, any comic, any anything... It really gets old. Would like to see something else for once.

And another one, the Pinkamena Diane Pie psychopath cupcake whatever thing... I feel like it takes really little to create something. I get that it's fun to do something from so little, but when everyone just... seems to accept it as some sort of ''fact'' it's just so UGH!... How did it make her a psycho?

There are others that I'm tired of seeing that have been mentioned there such as the orphan Scootaloo or even Celestia being a tyrant. I just agree with you on these as well XD

[Blueblood]

I'd say most of the stuff about Blueblood, though honestly no one works with him much these days, and if anyone does make an effort, it generally turns out fairly unique and well done. Mostly, though, it comes from writers from an egalitarian country (the US) writing about an aristocracy with little personal or historical understanding about why such a thing was ever so much as tolerated, let along actually liked.

Ah, but that's not quite the question...

To be honest, I haven't soaked myself too much in the fandom to have really tired out on anything. Over-consumption has not spoiled my appetite.

[Lux]

As a writer of fan fiction I admit I did an Orphan Scootaloo story once. My apologies but in my defense I did write it so she wasn't living in a cardboard box or the CMC tree house. (I put her in the basement of a vacant house by the why).

As for memes that I don't like, here are a few.

• Grimdark stuff - I'm definitely not a fan of violence and gore just for the shock of it all. Dark story lines are fine as long as it's justified.
  
• Pinkamina/ Psychotic Pinkie Pie - See above and also as this has been overdone.
  
• Celestia being a tyrant - I know that many want to write a story where Luna or Twilight is a hero, but bringing Celestia down to raise others up isn't good.
  
• Crossovers - I'm not a fan of 90% of these as most just swap out Character X for Pony X without much reason. Maybe it's just my feeling of keeping worlds separate from each other.
  
• Alicorn stories - While I do give these the benefit of the doubt, I see many of these either A make a pony an Alicorn and then do nothing with it or B make the character a Mary Sue where there are no challenges.
  
• Most shipping - It's not shipping itself that i dislike but the fact that many shipping stories tend to just be for less of a romance and more of something else much more Mature.
  

[QuickLime]

• Pinkamina Diane Pie cupcake nonsense
  
• Taco Tusesday is to Sanata what Muffins are to Derpy
  
• Derpy is muffin obsessed
  
• Scootaorphan
  
• All unicorns are snobs
  

[chaser]

if shippings count then those

[brianblackberry]

Its the stories that have her living in a box or living in the treehouse that really bug me. Equestria is as near to a utopia as a world can be (excepting monster attacks.) Does anyone really think that in a society like we've seen on the show, that a young filly would be living on the streets by herself?

Towards the end of Flight to the Finish, we see Scootaloo's room, where Dash and her friends come in to inspire her, then we see her zoom out of her house once she is inspired. So Scootaloo having a home, canon! Take that fanfics!

As for annoying tropes (tropes would be a better word than memes for this subject since we are dealing with fan fiction and not just image macros), I would say the most annoying one for myself is the whole "Lyra is obsessed with humanity" trope. It has become so prevalent, that it is usually all she cares about now in any story about her.

Another is the whole earth ponies are lower class/earth ponies are just horses without any abilities trope. It was stated in show what their abilities are and why they are important, so I hate those stories that attempt to artificially impose a caste hierarchy on a society between the species where it is obvious in the show, there is none.

Anything grimdark, especially the whole "ponies as serial killers" bit.

[SirJude]

I guess one thing that really gets on my nerves is lack of character broadness in fan ideas. Just focusing on one aspect of the character just bugs me because we've seen other sides of them, so just making them follow one little pathway is rather frustrating. I'd rather see some more conflict between characters or just something other than the core happy personality ideas.

[moonshineTheleocat]

Condemned Pinkie Pie.

20% Cooler

[CaptainMcDerp]

I have to admit that most of the shipping stuff doesn't bother me. I find it pretty amusing except for the obviously disturbing ones.

Some of the memes I find annoying are:

• Lyra obsessed with humans.
  
• Grimdark/super depressing/edgy just because.
  
• Scootaloo is an orphan
  
• Scootaloo being totally and completely broken over her inability to fly/obsessed with flying all the time.
  
• The CMC/young ponies being drawn sensually.
  
• Pony is depressed because they aren't a pegasus/unicorn/flying purple people eater.
  
• Anything Cupcakes/Smile HD related.
  

[DerpRavener]

Through a combination of being easily amused and having only limited involvement in the fandom, there aren't a lot of memes that really bother me. Some are just because my approach means I don't encounter them more than is enjoyable (the derpy-muffins thing for example) while for some others such as assumptions about Lyra liking humans or her relationship with Bonbon, I don't really mind because yes, there's insufficient evidence for it, but the characters aren't really developed otherwise. The fanon ends up being the majority of what there is about them, so I feel like it's basically optional and either adding to the show or easy to simply dismiss.

If there is anything that annoys me, it's generally along the lines of X done for the sake of X in writing: for example, crossover done just because the author likes FiM and whatever it's being crossed with, or grimdark for the sake of grimdark. Done well, both of these can work and logically flow, or borrow from and add to the setting, but too often the former ends up kinda thin and copies surface elements but loses the core themes of one or both works, while in the latter case why someone felt the need or though it was a good idea to make something which stands in such opposition the show itself. If one really wants to make or see something depressing or gory, say, there are plenty of settings out there in which to work with those as central concepts. Placing it in the land of rainbow-coloured equines isn't going to help anything.

Though come to think of it, I think this is more a pet peeve about writing in general than relating to FiM in particular.

[CaptainMcDerp]

If one really wants to make or see something depressing or gory, say, there are plenty of settings out there in which to work with those as central concepts. Placing it in the land of rainbow-coloured equines isn't going to help anything.

Though come to think of it, I think this is more a pet peeve about writing in general than relating to FiM in particular.

I think it's so prevalent in FiM because disturbing elements provide such a contrast from the show itself, which gives readers a quick and easy emotional response. Was Cupcakes a high-quality fic? No. But it still spread through the internet like a wildfire. Why? Because it was shocking.

It's easy to draw in readers through the magic of shock factor but it's much harder to write a truly compelling and enjoyable fanfic without those elements. Especially without falling into the realm of melodrama. Cheap romance can fall into this category too. It provokes an emotional response with little effort, resulting in the thousands of poor quality shipfics we see everywhere.

[FrankT]

Portraying Pinkie as a psychotic killer.

The whole "everypony" thing also gets a little stale after a while.

[Hawkeye12]

Oh boy, let's see here...

Celestia the tyrant: Luna may be best princess, but that doesn't mean Celestia's a tyrant and a troll and all that. I don't mind when she pulls the occasional joke on someone (I actually find it funny) but being a tyrant is just... meh.

Scoots the orphan- She lives with foster parents. Don't mess with my headcanon!

Sonata= Taco Tuesday/Derpy=muffins/Lyra=humans, etc- They're cute and all, but it gets annoying if thats they're only character trait.

Alicorn OCs- Just... no.

Aaand my most hated trope of all in the fandom- lack of character depth. I may not be the best writer (I don't even have a Fimfiction XD) but I read plenty of it, and it always annoys me when a character is based off of one or two personality traits. I'll use Pinkie for an example, since it's probably the most prevalent with her. Most fans see her as comic relief, and nothing more. She has depth, she can say something smart every once in a while! But really, this happens with all of the characters, and it bothers me.

[Parker_Izing]

Molestia/trollestia/tyrantlestia

[SymphonicFire]

Molestia/trollestia/tyrantlestia

• Molestia- This doesn't even make sense. I don't even see how this could have started in the first place.
  
• Shipping- It's cute for the first time, but it starts to get annoying when people keep doing it with the same characters, and don't get me started with fanfics.
  
• Pony creator OCs- *sigh*...it's a great tool to show a rough idea for your OC, but it might have too much freedom. I see many OCs with broken horns, dragon wings, more horns, sharp teeth, bat-eyes etc. all on one pony. Then they give it a weird back-story and name. It's like baking a perfectly good cake and adding sprinkles, bacon, and cheese. These kind of OCs are difficult to roleplay with since they wouldn't really exist in the mlp world.
  

[Corsair]

Lots of shipping hate in this thread. Didn't expect to see that, considering the shippers on the site staff I talk with regularly. *Glares at Raridash and Steel.* When I first got into the fandom, I didn't get shipping at all, but it's grown on me over time. That still doesn't mean that I think Mane 6 / Mane 6 shipping would actually work, but its cute when done right.

And oh God, "Cupcakes" Pinkie. Hate hate HATE. For like a year after that stupid story came out, you could not avoid the Cupcakes stuff. "Rainbow Factory" is about the same (but that got a good song IMO.

)

Tyrant Celestia is another theme that got a good song (

) but the idea behind it is stupid. That one particularly annoys me when there's a story about Equestria violently invading another country or another world.

One I don't think anyone has mentioned is the "Twilight freaks out because she's now immortal and will out-live all of her friends." For one, we don't know if Twilight (or Cadance) are immortal, for two, it's just a way to create unnecessary drama.

[pegasusexpress2010]

I don't really care for Scootaloo being called a chicken. I personally think she is one of the best characters in the series for story potential and she deserves better than that.

I detest Friendship is Witchcraft with a passion and hate anything that is spun off from it, including Sweetie Bot (and I like robot ponies). Sweetie Bot being more popular than canon Sweetie Belle is an outrage to me.

As a matter of personal opinion, excessive fanboying/fangirling over a single character is something I don't particularly care for, especially when it devolves into the point of hating the other characters and/or bashing their fanbases. This is a show with an ensemble of strong, developed characters, and I don't really think it's worth it to watch the show for just one character. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a favorite, but I show respect for almost all of the other characters.