How long will the FANDOM last?

[Hurricane]

My one fear is that our fandom will the course of Final Fantasy, or Ultima.

With the former, Directional and tonal changes will slowly change it for the worse, with less and less acceptable things being handed to us, but we will soldier on, telling ourselves out of nostalgia that 'The writers/Hasbro know what they're doing. They're just trying to keep it fresh. Everything's going to be just fine.

With the latter, Hasbro will attempt to milk every possibly bit of coin from the friendship is magic franchise, but will get too greedy. There is already potential of this occuring with Equestria Girls, where that will become the focus, and the ponies will be pushed to one side, rushed, and eventually given up.

Whatever happens, the next few months will give everyone a nice recovery breather, and arguably the most important episodes, season 4 episodes 1 and 2, will ultimately decide the fate of the show and the fandom.

[Rocky]

I think it could last a while. What with all the serious artists of the field, I'm not thinking it would die anytime soon following the end. Though, things go in and out of style all the time. Can't be 100 percent sure of the FIM Fandom fate, but it looks positive.

[Parker_Izing]

the series would be here and cherished as long as material of it exists, fandom material could last even more, but would be more specialized an "for insiders", not for anybody out there, and dunno, if little memes, or brony/show's slang could last indefinitely (no one remembering it's origins)

[GunOfTheMonster]

I sure hope that there are people around the world who see the great value in this show to keep its legacy going as long as possible. I know that I will certainly watch this with my own kids one day! XD

[Rarishy]

Meh... it can go either way. If it wasn't for the writers, the VA's, and DHX, this show would of been DOA... There are some major hurdles though;

1) reconciling the disappointment season 3 had upon a lot of the fanbase

2) how quick the fan base exploded on the scene in 2011 which could affect peoples decisions to quit the fandom

3) the possibility that other countries will air MLP re-dubbed by their own VA's (this can potentially expand the fan base further)

4) the existence and willingness of trolls to harass the community

5) and of course... the availability of MLP related media and merchandise (via. Hasbro and fans)

Otherwise I don't see any problem with MLP becoming an instant classic like say Looney Tunes or LOTR.

[ThePhoenix]

There is little doubt in my mind we will carry on. Our community could be considered the minority, but like i say before. Many people take stick for it, and i doubt we'll just blow over.

There may be a day where we are no more, but today is not that day!

(Internet cookie and hug for those who reconise the quote)

I get the reference. xD Infact I just watched that not that long ago. lol

On the main Topic:

My big concern is that, On other roleplay sites and forums MLP is dieing. Not because it's not popular. but because people are using it as a face and it's making the fandom look bad. This Forum and Equestria Daily are the only two forum sites that I see alot of activity on. The friendly and home-like kind of activity. As far as regurlar roleplay like Myspace and the like. It's dieing off and fast.

As for MLP: FiM's popularity and wether it's fanbase will disapear. I highly doubt it. Rp might. but the show will for sure be a classic in the hearts of every brony that exsists today. We all know why we love the show and the memories we all share will always be there. Soon we'll be able to share that with the next generation and the fanbase will live on.

That's my belief. :3

[ShadowMage]

I feel as though MLP: FiM will fall into a sort latent sort of fandom. It'll be something that people will look back to and find comfort, relieve old memories, relearn lessons that it's easy to forget. I can't see the fandom dying though. Everything about the show, characters, lessons, world, is just too much for people to not honestly love. As long as something doesn't happen to sully the pure innocent beauty that is FiM, I feel that the series will have a place in the hearts and minds of thousands upon thousands of people. The fandom may become less active as a whole (Less conventions and such), but there will no doubt be those who are divinely inspired and will create, becoming a beacon of light long after the fires of the series burn out.

[Huscarl]

'It will be remembered forever!.... As long as there are people around to remember it......'

[Bright Glow]

I think it depends on morely about how open is the community for the nex generation of MLP shows and ofcorse how creative and good they will be. I'm sure there will be a basic fan comunity as alway was. This will be a huge challange for the FIM orientated or focused pages how to keep their FIM fans and open for the newer series.

[Mistfire]

I think this is gonna last. The fandom just BOOMED a few episodes into the first season, and I'm sure that even with a bad G5 line, we'd still be able to enjoy it by say, idk poking fun at it?

Then there is all the fangames and fanimations. Look, there is just too much to lose just like that! Just be positive and at least hope it'll last

[Kirby Krackle]

Very said, everyone! This fandom will live as long as its people do. Let's never forget the show and everything its inspired, but most importantly, let's never forget the people who made it possible and the friends we've made along the way.

[TehBbqdPizza]

Very said, everyone! This fandom will live as long as its people do. Let's never forget the show and everything its inspired, but most importantly, let's never forget the people who made it possible and the friends we've made along the way.

To be honest, once some kind of show begins, there will always be fans of it, and it'll last a very long time, even if others think it's terrible. There's been a good deal of TV shows that's been made in the early or mid-20th century, and has been long dead, but there's still people who like it today.

Even with no fan-made games or animations, if at least a small group of people like a show, it's already an indication that there's already a fandom to it. The same applies to literature and ideas.

Now say, if fandoms died out that fast as we thought it would, there won't be a G4, or even a G3 (and G3.5) or My Little Pony Tales, and MLP would've just ended right there.

[elsporko]

My one fear is that our fandom will the course of Final Fantasy, or Ultima.

With the former, Directional and tonal changes will slowly change it for the worse, with less and less acceptable things being handed to us, but we will soldier on, telling ourselves out of nostalgia that 'The writers/Hasbro know what they're doing. They're just trying to keep it fresh. Everything's going to be just fine.

With the latter, Hasbro will attempt to milk every possibly bit of coin from the friendship is magic franchise, but will get too greedy. There is already potential of this occuring with Equestria Girls, where that will become the focus, and the ponies will be pushed to one side, rushed, and eventually given up.

Whatever happens, the next few months will give everyone a nice recovery breather, and arguably the most important episodes, season 4 episodes 1 and 2, will ultimately decide the fate of the show and the fandom.

It could end up like a Zelda situation where each new season is hated by fans and then when the next one comes out the new season is the worst ever while the previous one is declared a classic.

[Starfox64x]

It would probably last as long as the creators keep pumping out quality content... Sure if the show ends, the core will soldier on for a while, still working around the fan content, but without good content from the creators the majority or the fandom will leave for something else. Without the creators making something to cover the broadest group of people, no one will get into the deeper portions of the fandom.

But i think many people will continue to be fans, it just may not as be as organized... In twenty years they come out with a new FIM, there may be mild excitement, but it won't be as organized, there probably won't be sites coming back to life immediately or anything... but the individuals will stil be excited and eager for the returns...

[ShadowWalking18]

Forever!!!!! There is too much creativity in this as others stated before.

The brony fanbase will last as long as human society last. *Maybe longer if we take over the plant I'd love to see a brony president or prime minister.*

[Bright Glow]

Well I belive FIM is enough good to be a classic so even if the show will end and many of the fans will step over still there will stay many fans active to keeping it live.

[brianblackberry]

The secret for shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars to why their fandoms never really fade is the size and longevity of the franchises themselves. Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons, and never truly ended in Britain where books and audio-dramas kept going; now with the series running again, it is more popular than ever. Star Trek is pretty much continuous, only having a real lull in the Seventies and a brief one from 2005 until 2009; heck first run Star Trek was on TV continuously from 1987 until 2005, that kind of franchise staying power guarantees huge fandoms for the foreseeable futures.

For Friendship Is Magic I was originally going to compare it to the hit series, Babylon 5, which ran for five seasons (excluding TV movies). The fandom was large when it ran, but when the show and movies ended at the end of the Nineties, so did the fandom. These days while there are numerous B5 fans, the fandom is for all practical purposes, been dead for a decade.

That isn't a fair comparison though, Friendship Is Magic fandom has something the Babylon 5 or X-Files fandom did not (other than ubiquitous broadband and Internet use), and that is the massive flow of creative and diverse fan derivative works. I never seen a fandom dedicated to a specific show have such an outpouring of artistic creativity, in art, in stories, in plushies, buttons, games, etc. before FIM came along. Because of this and the how alternative universe stories that developed, the fandom will go on.

That being said, it will also greatly shrink. It is inevitable, people move on. What will happen is the fandom with shrink to the more dedicated artists and writers who will continue and develop fandom material and even alternate universe, and those who follow them (even casually); a few new peeps will discover and get involved but for the most part it will be a much smaller, but a much more closely knitted fandom.

[Mistfire]

Brian.. *sniff*

That was...Beautiful...

[Kodokuna]

"Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die..."

Sadly I knew that the show was eventually going to end once Twilight Sparkle had to remind her friends for the third time that they were actually friends.

I wanted the show to run longer than the Simpsons, but with it being a show meant for children, tones and topics are limited from the deep and dark issues that I wished they could have explored. Instead, I feel they are recycling ideas.

To be quite honest though, it's pretty much the only thing I follow these days. Long live the Fandom.

[Sparkleheart]

Well Fallout: Equestria has *itself* spawned it's own sub-fandom, so yeah, I think the creative edge might keep the pony fandom going for a good long time now.

And besides, of *course* Hasbro's gonna make new generations of MLP that should at least keep everything on life support.

[pollo20x6]

Maybe it will die down, but to think it'll die, nah.

cuz everyone will always remember it as that show that took men by surprise. And because of that there will always be some interest.

[arrowghost]

The secret for shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars to why their fandoms never really fade is the size and longevity of the franchises themselves. Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons, and never truly ended in Britain where books and audio-dramas kept going; now with the series running again, it is more popular than ever. Star Trek is pretty much continuous, only having a real lull in the Seventies and a brief one from 2005 until 2009; heck first run Star Trek was on TV continuously from 1987 until 2005, that kind of franchise staying power guarantees huge fandoms for the foreseeable futures.

For Friendship Is Magic I was originally going to compare it to the hit series, Babylon 5, which ran for five seasons (excluding TV movies). The fandom was large when it ran, but when the show and movies ended at the end of the Nineties, so did the fandom. These days while there are numerous B5 fans, the fandom is for all practical purposes, been dead for a decade.

That isn't a fair comparison though, Friendship Is Magic fandom has something the Babylon 5 or X-Files fandom did not (other than ubiquitous broadband and Internet use), and that is the massive flow of creative and diverse fan derivative works. I never seen a fandom dedicated to a specific show have such an outpouring of artistic creativity, in art, in stories, in plushies, buttons, games, etc. before FIM came along. Because of this and the how alternative universe stories that developed, the fandom will go on.

That being said, it will also greatly shrink. It is inevitable, people move on. What will happen is the fandom with shrink to the more dedicated artists and writers who will continue and develop fandom material and even alternate universe, and those who follow them (even casually); a few new peeps will discover and get involved but for the most part it will be a much smaller, but a much more closely knitted fandom.

Wow, BBB, that's a lot of fine reference you have. Well, as for me, as long as the quality is good, who would want to decline that show and close it. However, one thing is difficult to bear is its longevity, the longer it runs, the more difficult to maintain and also expensive. A Simpsons producer said that during an interview back in 2010 mentioned about this difficulty.

I hope it better last, just like how I used to love Biker Mice from Mars from the old 90s days, but not in today's time when it just ended only in 1 season and less than 30 episodes. To me, I find that not cool with still a lot of potential. Maybe it's just the anti-competitiveness of Spongebob cost Biker Mice's life, similar to how El Tigre ended in only a short 2 season.

[Twi]

I'm pretty sure the fandom will last for a really long time. There are millions of people who enjoy MLP, and even if the show ends, I'm pretty sure the fandom will live on.

[arrowghost]

Let's hope the value of it will last as mine, like I used to like Teen Titans and Avatar, once the show is over, the value dies with it over time until the interest of it is finally about 5% and can't talk much about or sometimes don't want to draw about them again and move on to a new cartoon.

[Djharmony]

The thing is, MLP is super different. Look how many gens they're for example. And also, Hasbro makes a killing of this show.