Screw Attack Magazine Issue #9 just released, and they have a massive article all about pony, including some of the more prominent artists in the fandom. It's pretty rare to see such a positive (And accurate) piece of news about the pony craze, and this one does it perfectly.
There isn't an easy way to link to it that I can see, so hit up the magazine page and head over to page 160.
148 comments:
>Screw attack
ReplyDeleteNot sure if want but all right. If it's not negative...
I'll check it out as I have a friend who watches their vids.
ReplyDeleteWill someone please give the editor a polite pat on the back, and let him know "their" isn't a single sentence in this thing that doesn't have a grammar or spelling error of some description?
ReplyDeleteTook a quick look at it...
ReplyDeleteThe author was more critical than anything. He admitted he thought he was getting addicted, but kept hitting back with futile attempts at "securing his masculinity"... Which, I think saying you enjoy watching animated ponies with complete confidence, is one of the more ways to prove your worth.
That and he particularly enjoyed bashing on bronies themselves.
Wow.... I enver though something like this could get into Equestria Daily!!!! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks yo very much!!!!!!
Just to clarify... there are 2 articles, one that rants about the fandom and one showing the best of the fandom, so read the whole intro on page 152... Thanks! :D
I couldn't read more than a few paragraphs of this. So poorly written. Ugh.
ReplyDelete@Ante87
ReplyDeleteThe first article is without a doubt poorly written... There is a grammatical mistake in the title, for gods sake.
Hey cool, an artist friend (Hinoraito of the manga "Spaced Out") of mine is featured in this magazine too! Article itself is okay, other then the massive spelling mistakes. Maybe they should've gotten some pre-readers and betas to look over it ;)
ReplyDeleteThis plus Rainbowdash is gonna be on Death battle, why the sudden change SA? A week or 2 ago on SideScrollers Craig, Jared, and Chad were making fun of MLP, but now they seem really pro-MLP. Did they finally watch an episode, or was the G1-brony fanbase bigger then they expected and they decided to change their position for the company? :/ I wounder...
ReplyDeleteYay for accurate/positive reports!
ReplyDelete@theviolentlolita
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they spelled it right and realised we're not discussing "brownies."
Hm. I definitely disagree with the stuff that the article said about Rarity at the end... :|
ReplyDeletethe first part sucks
ReplyDelete...not the best cartoon in the world....pff , my plot lol
the second part though is awesome
First page of the article is p.156, not 160; however, a sort of prologue to the article begins on p.154.
ReplyDeletepage 160?!? what's that even... I am not good at navigating modern websites... can't find it, but will keep trying!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna read it right now. I like ScrewAttack, they are quite unbiased.
ReplyDeleteArrgh! Why can't I find it?
ReplyDeleteZOMG I FIGURED IT OUT!! MIND = BLOWN!
ReplyDeleteit's like a magazine. On. The. Internet!
...
...I'm too easily amused...
Apparently you have to download the .pdf
ReplyDeleteFirst article has got to be a joke. Grammar errors abound, to the point that I couldn't take it seriously at all. He outright hates on the show and insults us verbally several times, and says we have problems when we get too hyped about it (which I somewhat agree with), then procees to type in ALL CAPS for a paragraph about his most favorite show EVER. Eeensy-weensy bit hypocritical there. If it was written as a joke, its funny I guess, but man, learn to proofread. Ugh, and he HAD to put in a large version of one of 'those' images, argh.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the comments by the 'brony' group were awesome, I particularly enjoyed the ratio of Fluttershy fans in the bunch, yay.
So... the writer makes comments about how MLP:FiM has rabid fans and craps all over us, then becomes a rabid fan decrying the cancellation of MEGAS XLR? They basically do exactly what they say they "hate about fandom" and is turning us into one of the most hated fandoms behind Justin Bieber? Are they taking the piss, or are they just ignorant? And yes, all those misspellings... do they not know what a spellchecker is? That was terrible.
ReplyDeleteJust went back and checked it out again after seeing there was a second part to the article. Much, much better and definitely worth a read.
ReplyDeleteI have to say again though, that first part is just atrocious. If that's all it takes to get an article published in a "magazine," I think it's time I got started on my journalism career.
The first article is hardly worth the E paper it was printed on. The guy writing it obviously never had anyone proof read his work and he keeps claiming to be unbiased while writing one of the most obviously skewed articles I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks to him for the nearly page sized barefly safe for work furry crap.
Not sure if I want to soldier on and see if the others are any better.
On the point of the show's humor, he really took the worst, the WORST example he could find to prove his point, that the show had bad jokes (stubborn as a mule joke from Applebuck Season, even I cringe at it for how bad it is). But I respect his opinion, and despite major spelling errors everywhere, his article was quite amusing to read, probably because I had so hard to take the criticism seriously.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second article, I'd like it to have been more like the first one and less about interviews with those already blessed. It's more interesting to read an article like the first one praising and arguing why the show is good, rather than boring interviews.
I agree with those who said that the first part of the article is very poorly written. The thing is that, I bet it's written like that on purpose. It looks like it was written by somebody who tried to impersonate a troll from 4chan who happens to be a closet brony. It's written for shits and giggles, but I think it's just sad. I rolled my eyes when he started typing "one" instead of !.
ReplyDeleteThe second part was alright. Basically a "How did you get in the fandom?" article, which is actually pretty cool! But in the end, it's not objective analysis of the fandom, which is what I was looking forward to.
Now what I am looking forward to is the Death Battle this Friday. I swear to God, if Rainbow Dash loses I'm going to buy a Starscream toy so I can smash it with a sledge hammer >:C
Let's just love and tolerate them.
ReplyDeleteThe whole rant can be shortened to one sentence:
ReplyDelete"Y U NO LIKE MY FAV SHOW?!?"
Gee, man, get over it already.
Ugh, that first article pissed me off. I have NEVER seen an instance of any one of us shoving the fandom down another person's throat. And he goes on about Megas XLR. Honestly, it was good, but I don't rave about it. People like that make me want to break my laptop more than it already is. But the OTHER article made my boo-boo's all better. Thanks, bronies!
ReplyDeleteThat's a huge non gaming related article in a gaming magazine...
ReplyDeleteBut considering that it's brony related, that's pretty amazing!
I do have to say there is also something... not as positive before it. I don't think we are that extreme though. Still reading the more enjoyable how they got into the fandom parts after it.
ReplyDeleteRead both...while Megas XLR and Spectacular Spider Man getting cancelled was awful (I mourn those shows, I really do...especially Megas XLR, I don't think we'll ever see something like that again) the guy certainly didn't need to be so negative, and while he says he gets it, I don't really think he does. I do agree with some points he made though.
ReplyDelete*sigh* That "rabid fans ruin everything" argument. Again.
ReplyDeleteIt almost amazes me, how most of the internet community, that is normally so hateful against "hipster mentality", can so openly admit that all popular things have vocal fandoms, and their enjoyment of a certain work is directly inverted by the amount of vocal fans, in other words, popular things suck.
Oh god, anthro Dash and Fluttershy.
ReplyDeleteCAN NEVER UNSEE.
@Marcoooootje1
ReplyDeleteyes, but there's a thing; a thingy above the download link that looks like a mini-internet-magazine. YOU CAN TURN ITS PAGES!!! :D
I wish they could see how it just further reinforces us when every excessive detractor turns out to be massively hypocritical or proves themselves to be horribly biased before too long.
ReplyDeleteHuh... I'd have to say that... the first pony article has to be a joke. It's like a hater tried watching the show, but wanted to retain his "Manliness" by continuing to bash the show after watching it (because now he has more reason to bash it? I dunno)
ReplyDeleteThe second article, a tale of which we are all familiar of, how people became bronies, what we like about the show, favorite characters, favorite music from the show, and what we like about the fandom. I'm really unsure of what Screw Attack was going for in their magazine...
It looked promising, then the grammar got worse, then it started looking like 4chan, then suddenly it turned into brony introductions...
ReplyDelete...the heck did I just read?...
Bronies, if you Tl;DR, your decision will be respected.
First article was genuinely interesting. Interesting perspective, interesting use of grammar and sentence structure, interesting to think about how this passed any sort of editor...
ReplyDeleteThis article has way too much smart-alecky snark for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteI started by out jokingly pointing out to myself that he'd begun his article with a grammatical error. Then I did so again for the second sentence.
ReplyDelete...By the end of the second paragraph, the intellectual's soul of mine was already in agony.
...Can I say that even ponies can't get me to like Screw Attack?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what bothers me more, the very basic grammar mistakes or the continuous unnecessary swearing in these articles.
ReplyDeleteGod that first article was poorly written. No wonder the printed word is dying out.
ReplyDelete@Flutteryay
ReplyDeleteIt's safe, the name "Screw attack" is named after the move Samus learns in the Metroid franchise.
I stopped reading midway through the article. That guy came off as waaay too insecure about his masculinity.
ReplyDeleteFirst part, it's bad on purpose and thats the point.
ReplyDeleteWhy was that guy so obsessed with Megas XLR? Sure it was beyond the impossible awesome but it's past it's life expectancy with the censorship. With ponies we don't have the problems with getting stuff past a radar. (Thank you animaniacs and the sadly departed WB cartoons.)
This article had me laughing, it also had me missing some of the good old days of cartoon network as nostalgia bonus.
Second part, it's good with a purpose.
This showed the brighter side of the community and the people are genuinely interested in the show and give a carefully thought out reason for it. Plus many mentions back to the story 'cupcakes', it is possible that 'cupcakes' can't ever be forgotten now as a pinnacle of darkly written stories.
One last thing, while I don't like Rarity there are several shining moments I like to bring up in a list of top five things to like about her.
1. Seducing a dragon while stealing it's treasure.
2. Whining in a high pitched voice to a bunch of dogs who would be hurt by such whining.
3.Stupid Rock.
4. Disney Princess style dreams and mannerisms. Most notably the dream that she can actually get someone of royalty to agree to marriage with her in one night.
5. HELLOOOOO BLUEBLOOD.
the "My Little Brony" article was pretty neat, though I have one big beef with all of them:
ReplyDeleteNO RARITY.
I do not approve. ):<
The SECOND article was very sweet and enjoyable, the first one pissed me off with his rather sexist and homophobic slander. If you're a boy who likes ponies it's 'gay'? If a guy likes something that's 'lame' he deserves to be 'punched in the vagina'? Lovely. I love it when people use the formula girly = terrible and lame.
ReplyDeleteYeah, second article was worth the read but skip the hate in the first.
In case you guys wanted to know. Screwattack is doing a death battle with Rainbow dash.....and starscream.
ReplyDeleteI found the first article tragicly funny. Megas XLR was an epic show, but it was canceled because the creators couldn't keep up with releases, (at least that is what I remember reading; I haven't been able to find the info since, so please take what I'm saying with salt). So complaining that it died while other shows lived is pointless.
ReplyDeleteThe whole first article is a rant at it's finest, just enough coherency that it can be followed, and just enough insanity that it destroys it's own credibility.
You know what, I'm invoking Poe's law. it has to be a parody of complaints against the show and its fans. its the only way half of the junk in the article has any reason to be there.
The second article is very enjoyable. It is nice to see them talking to different fans about the show and communtiy.
To be honest I've been a SA hater ever since Craig said that Bad Religion sucks on his GameVault of Crazy Taxi. Plus, they just mostly come off as douchy hipster wads.
ReplyDeleteJust my opinion.
That's positive?
ReplyDeleteThe first part does almost nothing but bash us.
I hated the first article (more like a very long post on 4chan than an acctual magazine article, and also strengthens my opinion that videogame newsites don't need a magazine.) but the second article was ok enough.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you pointing out that the first article is a parody: I can't say I was able to get through the whole thing. But if it really was, it did the job very poorly by opening with a neutral or even positive tone and by including grammatical errors. Good parody does not rely on intentionally making oneself hard to understand for the sake of looking like an idiot, and it makes a directed point rather than rambling about various stupid things.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning I respected the first guy writing because he seemed like pretty likeable guy. But then he started spewing hatred on people loving the show (sure, there are SOME creepy bronies out there) and if someone found MLP: FiM to be the best show ever he almost stated as a fact that they'd be wrong. It's an opinion - they are rarely, if ever, wrong.
ReplyDeleteThen he went on praising MEGAS XLR as if it was the best cartoon ever and tried to justify himself by saying that he at least was aware of it. Just felt a little like hypocrisy to me... :/
Honestly i'm torn. I'm a longtime fan of Screw Attack, but recent moves on their part are pushing me, what with the site change and all...i'm also curious to see how this death battle will go over.
ReplyDeletemfw "[Trixie] gets almost no love from the community"
ReplyDeleteMaybe next time they'll get someone who isn't a sexually insecure 17 year-old, hopped up on mountain dew and his latest COD multiplayer game, who slept through the majority of his reading and writhing classes to write an article.
ReplyDeleteReally, that first article had zero professionalism in it whatsoever. Excessive use of caps lock. Pathetic spelling and grammar. Constant spouting about how "gay" things are. An inane rant about the cancellation of another show. Sad attempts at mild humor.
I think the part that impacted me the most was his declaration that we don't realize that "most the internet despises us". Really now? Since when did I start caring about the anonymous denizens of the internet's opinion of me?
On the bright side, at least they included a counter-article. I'm just surprised I made it all the way through the first.
This is rather confusing, he first loved it but then got confused and started bashing the show?
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's another review that seems to be more positive.
This depresses to no end. I used to like Screw Attack, before their ego got to big. There is an arrogance about them that makes it one part sad, one part hilarious when they feel (SGC cancellation anyone?)
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the only 'fair' article out there is written in the style of the average forum post, complete with copious 'there, their, they're' confusions.
ReplyDeleteI know Screw Attack isn't a full-on, professional publication, but don't they have an editor?
2/5. It tried, and it was honest.
The first article is written by some douche dealing with masculinity issues, I could take criticism of the show and fans so much better if they didn't constantly derail into "I R MANLY AND U R GAY FOR LIKING THIS!", could point to actual examples of Brony idiocy (he is desperately ignoring the awesome fan trailers and remixes) or actually had the ability to describe the issues they have.
ReplyDeleteIs FiM the best show ever? No. But it is the best show designed for young audiences under the constraints of th E/I logo by far. I think the fact that it can appeal to older demographics really says something about the talent behind the show.
>there were no Rarity fans
ReplyDeleteSuddenly, my day was made.
While I agree that there are glaring grammatical and spelling mistakes throughout, I feel that they did a fairly good job of balancing out the opposing viewpoints. Granted, it can easily be argued that the anti-brony viewpoint is pretty much inherently flawed no matter how someone tries to argue it, the fact remains that people will continue to take that stance. He makes some valid points, but also fails to understand a lot of the context behind his examples: Bronies do not try to shove the show down people's throats against their will, they try to convince people to form their own informed opinions of the show with the understanding that it will not appeal to everybody. When someone gets defensive about this like the author of the first article did, he unwittingly becomes exactly what people are calling him out on (that he denies): someone who can't stand it when people like something he doesn't like. He also goes out of his way to find out the shady aspects of the fandom that exist for ALL fandoms; honestly, not having gone searching for the kind of fan-content he finds objectionable, I've never come across anything like the pic he had in the article. Why people willingly search for things that they know will piss them off is beyond my understanding, and why they get all bent out of shape over people having different interests and tendencies just doesn't make any sense. Who cares what you like or don't like? It's interesting to get to know others' opinions from an objective point of view, but ultimately it is inconsequential in how you live your own life (unless it's politics, but that's a whole other can of worms entirely since it does affect how people live). It's seriously time for people to just live and let live.
ReplyDeleteThe parts about the stories being completely predictable though, while valid, ignores the fact that the only original ideas these days is in how existing tropes are executed; in this regard, yes, MLP is hindered by Hasbro's guidelines for the show, leaving the stories to be a bit mediocre. The characters are not nearly as "typical girl-character" as he thinks they are, just because they embody certain character tropes; it's the execution of their personalities and the resulting social dynamics of the group that make them relatable. They may be a bit simplified, but they do have a tremendous amount of depth not usually seen in this category.
Sesame street is not nearly as comparable as he thinks it is with regards to morals about friendship and such, because the way Sesame Street approaches such things is much more direct. Without giving adequate time for a story to unfold that viewers can get invested in, it doesn't allow viewers to develop the sense of empathy for the characters and the situation, which is critical in making the moral lesson stick. It's not as if these morals are new concepts to us, it's just that a lot of us haven't really given them much thought until watching FiM brought them to our attention again via a story much more relatable than what is essentially equivalent to a passage from a religious text in its depth and scope.
I stopped liking Screwattack around the time when they started advertising that nasty game "Fracture" like mad. I am really happy they did this article though; if you check the Knowyourmeme MLP page you can see that searches for MLP have skyrocketed; seriously. Check it out.
ReplyDeleteReading both articles was rather interesting.
ReplyDeleteOk, the first article made me feel pretty mad, but I got the feeling there was something more to it. I think it was a parody of the pony-hating comments that are abound on the internet right now. It also seemed to be a parody of bronies as well. I definitely think it was poking fun at the rabid fanaticism that exists of any show.
Any show can spawn the fans that have a zealous love for it, and by god you BETTER love it or face the consequences. I think the best thing to do is step back and think about how you react to this. Freak out and call it crap for raising an opinion different from our own? That does us no good but make us look like the fans the article makes fun of. And it makes us look just as childish.
Step back and calm down. Think about your initial reaction. I'm mad, but I had to stop and think about why before I did anything. I realize hating someone for disagreeing is childish. Let's be better than that, and take this first article as an indication that we need to be mature and accept dissenting opinions.
The second article made me feel a lot better. It's nice to hear other people's reasons for liking the show.
Ugh, this article, I can't believe it.
ReplyDeleteNO RARITY.
For shame. She is best pony.
"most of the internet despises us"
ReplyDelete...
We ARE "most of the internet" :P
On a serious note, the whole article should simply be neglected. Some person ranting about bronies, big whoop. Ignore'im.
@640x480
ReplyDeleteYou are a terrible person. Rarity is best pony.
The First articul was satire, albeit it not good satire, the second was good and positive so Yay
ReplyDeleteSome things to clarify.
ReplyDeleteThe 1st article was not a joke, it was written by someone who doesn't like My Little Pony and sees no point in watching it. Yeah the spelling is awful, but blah blah. Anyway, yeah, Hybrid didn't write the first article, and nor was it written for anypony that likes the show.
Wow... this guy needs to invest into MS Office. His grammar is atrocious.
ReplyDelete@James Corck
ReplyDelete>guy spells out the word "one" in the middle of a string of exclamation points
>not sure if troll
...is it really not that obvious to anyone but me? :3
The first article is not a parody, nor is it a satire, it is someone who genuinely doesn't like bronies, and I think Hybrid felt the need to include both sides of the argument for fairness sake.
ReplyDeleteThe second article was about the collaboration of a ton of bronies on ScrewAttack who got together and told about their experiences with the show. Also, Hybrid doesn't edit the articles, it is up to us, the writes, to seek out editors (as visible by the mistakes in my article, I kinda needed one). So, the writer of the first article was really to blame for the crappy editing. I had told him before hand it diodn't look good, but he said that it wasn't bad enough to merit re-review. Also, big props to Hybird for working the entire thing for us. You rock man.
many people are not realizing that there are 3 people on the article, hold your horses and leave the hate and get reading comprehension folks it says on top who wrote what
ReplyDeletethe intro done by a guy that likes the show and knows the goods and the bads and understands them, as a fan he appears to concentrates on the good (shouldn't that be the behavior regarding fanbases? for the sake of everyones sanity that is)
the hate done by a person that goes by "MEGAMANXX5000" (that nick alone should tell you immediately what kind of article you are about to read)
and the last guy that does the positive side
many of the arguments the hater brings are non- sequitur and other fallacies but lets leave that alone, besides haters shouldn't be allowed to talk at all, nothing productive comes from haters, people not liking something and arguing why is one thing, but hating something that someone else likes that doesn't affect anyone borders with religious extremism
on his "defense" he said normal bronies should stop the guys that are dressing as characters (possibly furries) buying toys and that kind of behavior before bronies become the most hated fanbase on the internet after bieber fans, he never said we are worse than bieber fans, we are hitting that point though specially when some bronies on youtube reply to a guy that doesn't like the show with a "watch an episode you WILL like it" that is forcing people to like something shoving it down their throats and its not appreciated
even then all he wrote is basicaly "change the way you are to please random people on the internet"
in the end the article as a whole is completely destroyed by that one individual that over exaggerates the bad in a poor attempt of humor instead of honestly pointing out the flaws and actually you know, analazying them? like comparing it to other fanbases (trekkies, furries, otakus/weeabos,etc) all of that ends up
making all of his good or intresting points look like rants rather than a proper "analysis" and completely biases a newcomer wanting to know more about the fandom
that's why you get 1 guy to write a whole analysis and not a douchebag and a fanboy to do individual analysis on just 1 matter unless the idea is a debate between the two and generate discussion on the reader
It's kinda funny when writers for video game magazines try to write in a pseudo-rage-charged fashion like Seanbaby, or try to make themselves into this outdated character of "uber-masculine meathead who disregards sounding intelligent in favor of CARS VIOLENCE BEER FUCK YEAH," when they clearly are not Seanbaby or 80s action stars.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the article was pretty blasé. It seems like the only reason people are making articles relating to MLP anymore (or in the first place, for that matter) is to capitalize on the "digital oddity" side of it; nothing was really said or mentioned that really added anything to what was contributed by articles in the past -- just interviewing people with the usual rote questions such as "Why ponies?" and "Who/what is your favorite X?" -- so in a sense it just feels like spinning tires in a mudhole.
@Coyote
ReplyDeleteWell, that isn't the way the magazine is written. These were originally published as two SEPARATE articles at different times. The first article by MEGA was more of an analysis (sorta) and the second was a brony collaboration headed by Watershocker. These articles often aren't made especially for the magazine.
Okay So he's just being a complete dick and saying that we are the scum of the earth and says it's a push to even refer to us as humans... I stopped reading, I couldn't continue with all this slander...
ReplyDelete@Gaarathedancingpanda
ReplyDeletethanks for the clarification!
that explains a lot actually since they are way too opposite to give a clean view to the reader, be careful with that on other articles regarding different subjects, the black and white perspective is not really good
In the first article, he talks about how viewing the show made him want to watch more episodes. Then does not get why people like the show.
ReplyDeletemind explode.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have the articles in question without me having to freakin download the entire 94 MB pdf file? I have dial up and I don't feel like waiting until tomorrow to read these articles. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs negative and poorly written as the first article was, I have to say it made me laugh (I'm not defending the guy, I definitely don't agree with anything he said!).
ReplyDeleteThe second article was positive and I'm glad I ended on that note!
@snowfi6916
ReplyDeleteYou can read it in the little applet that shows the samus cover art.
The first article was too amateurish, second article was just too gushing. I like articles that are unbiased (positive or negative), and while the author of the first one TRIED to stay that way, the tone and constant grammar errors made it come off condescending bullshit. The second article was a complete love-fest. I mean, I'm glad people love the show and want to share their thoughts/feelings, and it's an interesting read, it's just... not actual journalism.
ReplyDeleteThen again, that's just me.
I like how the rant is immediately followed by brony surveys.
ReplyDeleteThe article written by the hater misses the point.
ReplyDeleteHow is it our fault that animated series he happens to like get cancelled? In his rage, he assumes that many of us don't also like the kind of thing he likes. He is blinded by rage and hatred.
He brings up valid points, but it's nothing that doesn't happen with other fandoms, and it's nothing we haven't argued amongst ourselves about.
Oh, and gentlemen of Screw Attack: EDITORS. YOU DESPERATELY NEED THEM. Your layouts look pro, but your text betrays you.
@bersl2
ReplyDelete*ahem* Please read my previous comment. Thank you
@THEY
ReplyDeleteit's called hypocritical humor. take everything he said with a grain of salt. he has a point with the over-defensiveness some bronies have with the show.
I kind of agree with that last note. Season 1 didn't really show a lot of the generosity of Rarity that well. ( The biggest highly as noted was suited for success, and you cannot use the fashion show against her because she wanted to do AJ's and Twilight's dresses for them before she came up with the idea for the fashion show )
ReplyDeleteBut in episodes like Dragon Shy she seemed to be helping just so she could claim some of the treasure the dragon had.
I still like Rarity a lot mind you, don't get me wrong at all.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the articles yet, but it seems that a bunch of people think we are forcing ponies down people's throats by expressing that we enjoy the show on various websites. Strange.
ReplyDeleteThis link is to an artist's (Wolfy-Nail) reaction to FurAffinity's new pony-themed banner.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6517407/
It's Safe, but the comments seemed to have started a war between bronies and furries. Here's my comment on all the commotion (I'm "Aldebaron")
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6517407/#cid:47116047
The intro made it sound like the article was positive, but then the next half looked like it was written by a 12 year old with Down's. He was really searching for reasons not to like FiM, even after saying he was getting addicted. The parts he picked out as being evidence of bad writing were isolated incidents that even I didn't like. I also hate how people tend to pick out the creepiest minority in the fandom and make them out to be the vast majority.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Screwattack kicks flank.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I very much like the coverage they are giving, but the first article really... isn't good. Basically, a chap says: 'Animation's great but fuckity fuck fuck. I did something "feminine" once and that makes me sensitive and able to judge this, and even the effect it has on its fans, even though I am missing the point.' I suppose calling all the bronies 'bastards' repeatedly is meant to be endearingly tongue in cheek. Hey! it isn't.
I do applaud the (far larger) fan surveys afterwards though... and I very much get the idea that they are trying to balance it out... but I guess I agree with 'Vanishing' (above) here. On the whole, I was just left with a bitter taste by the tone of the first article. But ah well, if you don't get it, you don't get it.
403'd on me...oh well I really didn't care enough to read it
ReplyDeleteits not there any more I searched for it did they take it down?
ReplyDeleteI think the real problem witht he first article is the writer was trying to write satire, but doesn't exactly know how to write satire without losing his target audience. he probably was trying to make a stylistic attempt to show us how we sound sometimes, but he ended up not balancing it very well, so instead of "look guys, we gotta work on this, and we gotta accept that some people just aren't into this sort of thing." it comes off as "ZOMGuGUISE ARE FREAKS I'M ONLY HERE FOR THE VISUALS OF THIS MEDIOCRE SHOW!"
ReplyDeleteTheres alot i want to say but Im too lazy to type, so ill be brief.
ReplyDeleteMost importantly, this is a community run magazine by multiple people, for fun, with no gain, so excuse any of their typos, grammar, and error in punctuation.
Second, the 2 parts are CLEARLY pointing out opposing views. Dont get angry at the 1st guy for not liking it and hating on the brony community. That's why its in there. Its the opinion for someone who has clearly watched a majority of it, and gave it a chance and DIDNT like it. While yes, i DO think he's going a tad too far to blatantly insult the whole community and lump them into one conglomerate, AND that he's not helping the world's view on gamers by threatening people with death and beatings (because he's on the internet), he did put his opinions out there, and just like everything else this fandom puts up with, just let him be. Its not his thing. Just move on.
I wish for the actual postitive look it was more than just interviewing some of the members of the community with the same questions. I wish it was more of an interview with some back and forth, rather than a questionare they filled out and emailed to whoever put the whole thing together.
Also, I wish there were some better Bullet Points/Sidebar notes and stuff. And Maybe a bit of consistency in the fan art and images they used. Should have tried to use more screen shots from the show.
In all, I enjoyed it, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Screwattack community, but I wish a BIT more effort went into the presentation (I DID read the whole issue too, not just this article. Despite being the issue's longest article, it also looks like the least amount of work was put into it in post.)
Finally, to everyone else, dont get butthurt about the one guy's opinion. Take it with a grain of salt for someone who doesn't get the community and read all of it. You dont have to agree with him, but its unfair to judge something without having all the information. As much as this guy bashed it, he DID watch a majority of the show, and poked around some of the community (he did wander into some of the more weird parts of it, whihc honestly, I at times agree with. Not a fan of Shipping/R34/Fanfics myself, but I dont hate on those who enjoy it...well kinda on R34. but not actively..)
I can't help but think the first article really wasn't meant to be taken all that seriously... can't help but agree with parts of it sometimes, but the tangents... oh so many tangents.
ReplyDeleteI like how there IS actually a lot of negative stuff on the first few pages, especially about bronies.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I tried to go back there to read the rest but it says "forbiddan access".
Help?
402:forbidden access
ReplyDeleteDid we accidentally Screw Attack?
That first article; The Brony Infection: An Analysis was pretty poorly written overall. I had some trouble making out sentences here and there. Someone needs a new editor. lol But eh, he made some good points, I have to admit. I can see where he's coming from and agree with him on one or two points he made. Though I certainly wouldn't call this article "positive". It's not all negative either. He does make some good points about how the show could attract such a large fanbase. I realize most here will dislike the article since it leans more toward the viewpoint of trolls to Bronies, than on the side of the Bronies themselves. But I don't think it was all terrible. Just not the most supporting article about Bronies to come out. I also noticed his, what seemed like rabid, attraction to Megas XLR. After complaining about the same thing from the Brony community about MLP:FiM. So.. yeah. There's some hypocrisy here obviously too.
ReplyDeleteThe My Little Bronies section after was kinda cool. Asking members what their favorite pony, episode, etc is and asking how they came to find out about the show and community.
@Matt Dusza
ReplyDeletesince it's free errors in grammar and punctuation ought to be acceptable? That's just silly. Furthermore, if you think SA doesn't make money from their site, their agreement with gametrailers, and their conventions then I'm afraid you are misinformed.
Just because someone's business strategy isn't charging for specific items of content but rather aggregating and creating content for ad revenue doesn't make it any less of a business.
I only got to read the first one (the bad one) and was going back for the other one... 403 forbidden access ...
ReplyDeleteI am WaterShocker on ScrewAttack, Hybrid Rain and Gaarathedancingpanda can vouch for me as well. I currently have an Octavia avatar on the website.
ReplyDeleteMegaMaxx5000, like every other user on the website (and on the internet, for that matter) is entitled to his opinion and the ability to write it down. However, when it comes down to it, an opinion has to be presented in a good fashion, which means: proper grammar, good formatting (which was done by Hybrid Rain, in this case) but most importantly: good presentation of the ideas.
What Mega did was downright comparing a show that he doesn't seem to like or understand (which is, again, acceptable) and compared it to one of his favorite old shows saying that it's so much better and because of it the ponies are terrible.
The fundamental problems here are that:
MegasXLR is from a different time, different network, and a different demographic. While comparing them as animated shows is very possible, it still falls into two different shows that aren't exactly supposed to compete with each other.
Also, for the record, I actually prefer the team's older show, "MTV's Downtown" which I personally thought was better written than MegasXLR, despite its shorter lifespan.
Would I compare Downtown to MLP? No. Because I fully understand that they are two completely different shows and ideas and the main element they have in common is the fact that they're animated. That being said, I love Downtown and MLP on almost the same level.
MegaMaxx could have definitely used some proofreading and editing in his writing to make his article a little more "readable" so that the common reader won't be disgruntled by the actual article. It's definitely hard to respect and see what he tried to convey when the writing itself could use more work.
"My little bronies" or the 2nd part of the article, was actually created in May, a little after the drought started. I noticed that there were many users on the website (dubbed G1s) that were also bronies, and I decided to gather their opinion on the show by asking them 6 basic questions.
The idea of the blog was to:
-show the good side of the show by having fans talk about the good parts of it without any sort of bias
-introduce the show to those who didn't know about it (the original format on the website had videos,PMVs and music as well)
-Do a community project for the website, which had always been its strongest point.
It was never meant to be a response to MegaMaxx's article, since his was written a few weeks ago. Hybrid approached me to write a response for MegaMaxx, which I then told him "Use the blog post we did together with the other G1s, it shows the good parts of the show from fans and many have commented and said it was unbiased, so I believe it could serve as the best response"
And thus we managed to bring two opposing sides of the fandom into an article.
In retrospect, I do regret the short paragraph about Rarity. It was mainly meant as a joke since no one picked her as their favorite Mane pony, so I decided to "mess with her" for a little bit and write my own short critique about her as a character. My opinion on her has changed since then, for the better, and although Fluttershy is still my favorite, Rarity has moved up a bit in the ladder.
I think we overloaded it. Dont worry though. Here's a mirror to download the pdf directly. Dropbox FTW.
ReplyDeletehttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/35981222/SA%20Issue%209.pdf
@DJB123
ReplyDeleteIm not talking about Screwattack. Im talking about the people who made this magazine. The people who did this are NOT PART of screwattack, just members of the community. And no, they DONT make money off this. They nade it and uploaded to screwattack's website. SA has always been big on user submitted content, and this is no exception. Now if this was written by the SA crew, even free, then yes, it should be better. It's their product that they are offering, and it should be of a higher quality, even if free. but this isnt done by them. Its user content. Just like you cant complain about things on youtube or forum comments.
@Denon
ReplyDeleteI didn't visit the site, but furries feel victimized by bronies? Haha that's the funniest thing I've ever heard!
@TGPFluttershy
ReplyDeleteI FUCKING LOVED DOWNTOWN. I wish that went for more than one season.
Screw Attack... oy.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, they'd already been in a bad light for me since they decided to be jerks a while back, and so I've honestly got no desire what they say. Screw Attack is Gamers First and Everyone Last, and aren't all into the whole "love and tolerate" scene.
That's just what I've seen of them, and it's sad, because I used to like thim.
@D. Shadows
ReplyDeleteI hate rants, period. I do agree about Megas XLR. It was a brilliant comedy sci-fi spoof of so many things. And had it been made in Japan, it likely would have lasted as long as Gintama (which I can't believe is still going!). Alas, American TV sucks and kills anything that is actually good, replacing it with "Jersey Shore" and "The Real Housewives of... where ever". Megas was too good. They had to kill it quickly, lest the audience would then come to expect quality programming.
Let's just hope they don't figure Pony out! Otherwise... we shall have to declare war...
@Salen Stormwing
ReplyDeletewell they ARE a gaming website. As much as Im not too fond of alot of the kissasses of their community, I do love their content itself. I respect their opinions and views alot more than alot of other outlets, even if I dont agree with them. They dont bullshit around the subject, which is why I love them. So ponies arent their bag. Who said it had to be?
@Matt Dusza
ReplyDeleteI can complain about forum comments and youtube actually. In fact, I'll do it now:
You know that stuff on forums and youtube? Man that stuff sucks! GRIPE!
I read the whole first article, then I forgot it within 5 minutes. I can't tell what that guy is saying worth shit. Oh well, I'll just pretend I TL;DR'd it. :D
ReplyDelete@DJB123
ReplyDeleteRABBLE!!! RABBLE!!!! RABBLE!!!!!
I don't mind the idea of including both sides of the fences (and the second article was really good and well polished), but it'd be cool if the writer didn't just repeatedly attack ad hominem in between passing off his opinion as objective fact and accusing people who like the show of doing just that.
ReplyDeleteAgain I don't mind negativity, but if anything, people who dislike the show should be ashamed of that article, because if the author is above age 16 he's not showing it. But that's just my 2 cents, I couldn't care less :p.
@Aceed
ReplyDeleteAnd no that age thing is not a comment on his spelling or grammar, it's on the way he presented his ideas.
Meh, not a big fan of Screw Attack.
ReplyDeleteI like the Escapist better, at least they promote ponies.
I read the article thoroughly, and well, it wasn't positive. It might be accurate if he was describing, say, the fanbase of 4chan, but the places I visit (mostly the FJ pony thread and equestriachan) have communities filled with perfectly normal, interesting people.
ReplyDeleteObviously there are bad apples in every bunch, but I find he represents the community as a whole by those bad apples, as if they were the majority.
"MLP IS THE BEST CARTOON EVER" wrong.
ReplyDelete"MLP IS ONE OF THE BEST CARTOONS EVER" much better, MLP really deserves all the hype.
It seems that this guy (who wrote the article) forgot the fact:
30% of the people who are not bronies: "I dont like the show, that's it"
70%: "I HATE THIS SHOW, WHY DO YOU LIKE A THING THAT I DONT LIKE?, ITS FOR LITTLE GIRLS, AND YOU ARE GAYS AND STUPID BECAUSE YOU ARE WATCHING IT, HATE!, RAGE!"
There are more haters than people who just "don't like MLP"
@Scubasage Didn't read the article I agreeyeah you can't judge the fanbase just based on 4chan you're gonna get different flavors of the fandom since it's so diverse. But I still hold that the good far outwieghs the bad in the community though there are things that could stand for improvement.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I was willing to stick with the first article up until he derailed it to rant about Megas XLR being canceled. He was giving some fair points up until that part. I'll agree that it was a shame that it was canceled so soon but at least try to stay on topic. You just undermine your points when you just go off on a rant.
ReplyDeleteThe interview part was a very good way to wash out the taste of the first part. It was a weird feeling, going from hate to love so quickly but good job.
@Firleycat
ReplyDeleteThat was actually the Idea... :)
The first article sucked. Rest of the articles rocked.
ReplyDeleteThank you all very much for checking out the ScrewAttack Magazine. I wrote the review on Street Fighter III: Third Strike - Online Edition. While I know it is not perfect - I truly appreciate everyone that takes the time to read it. I put myself in a intentional crunch-time to see if I can produce a well-written article with as little errors as possible in a manner of hours. I believe I did a fair job. If you read the review, and have feedback - please tweet me @figcoinc. I really would like to write on a regular basis, but I am humble enough to ask the readership for their feedback. Thank you all again.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I couldn't read this. The magazine browser thing has a terrible UI, and the articles are terribly written, with grammar mistakes in every sentence. Not worth my time. :/
ReplyDeleteI got the feeling in the first article that virtually any fanbase could be substituted for brony. Fan, after all, is just a shortened form of fanatic. The only difference being who gets pissed off. Second article was just a fun piece and mirrors how many of us got here which was very positive.
ReplyDelete@Matt Dusza
ReplyDeleteThey are a gaming website yes, but I've seen them being fairly hostile to other genres and communities, above and beyond the typical "Our Community is Great" sort of deal you get with places.
They do make a decent content, but I found it hard to support them with my page and video views when they would attack other communities. And I didn't say ponies had to be their bag, but SA has this bad habit of drawing themselves a line in the sand just to say "We're right, and everyone else is horrible unless we say they aren't".
Can't everypony just get along?
I will freely admit Megas XLR was better than Ponies, and Spectacular Spider-Man was on par if not better
ReplyDeleteFurthermore I don't believe either show was cancelled because of lack of fan support
>Trudges through first article.
ReplyDelete>Gets motivated to post about how homophobic, self-defeating, and poorly written it is, undermining the arguments he's trying to make.
>Sees that pretty much every comment here is already doing that.
>Sees that one of the fellow ScrewAttack contributors (Watershocker) also did this.
Well ok then :V In fairness to this guy, he kinda was beating around a good point in the first few pages of the article: that the show is indeed aimed at little girls, so the Aesops are a bit predictable, there's some shows out there with more engaging stories and more hilarious jokes. As he says, this show isn't Jesus, no matter how much I love it. But then later, he also pointed out what I'd personally use to counter that argument with: after he was done watching, something intangible made him want to go back and watch more. I've personally found it impossible to put that intangible thought into words (when trying to explain to my friends why I like the show), so I generally end up either 1) rambling through anecdotes, and/or 2) telling them to just watch it themselves, and make their own decision.
I was kinda hoping the second article would be more of a direct counter, making a well-written argument for the show. But, it's essentially #1 from a few sentences ago, so I certainly couldn't do any better. And indeed, perhaps it's the best way to sell the show -- seeing that many people from different backgrounds like the show for a variety of reasons.
And also to his credit, it sounds like he watched several episodes (clear references to Applebuck Season, Green Isn't Your Color, and Best Night Ever, all solid episodes), and he still didn't care for it. No show is for everyone, so I do give him credit for giving the show a serious chance (We all know plenty of parasprites who bash the show without even trying it).
And with that, I am out of Love&Tolerance for today. Dear ScrewAttack, L2Editors. FFS. Toodles, Pav.
I liked the expected manly defense against the show. I had kind of the same reactions too when I saw the fandom and watched the first few episodes
ReplyDeleteMan, that first guy was really mad about a show that got canceled six years ago. It was rather funny how much he ended up undermining his own points with non-sequiturs.
ReplyDeleteSorry to go off-topic, but I saw a couple of Megas XLR episodes back in the day, and while it was decent, it seems very hard to believe that even just in the giant robot category that it would be in the same league as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Code Geass (if that counts), Escaflowne, or even something like Gundam Wing or Full Metal Panic. Was it really that spectacular?
At any rate the first article is just so badly written and presented that it's impossible to take seriously. I hope this isn't the guy's normal quality of writing, because if I ran an amateur publication and this wasn't some sort of severe aberration I'd just tell the person to stop sending in articles. Maybe the editor had several anti-MLP articles to choose from and purposely chose this one because it was so stupid?
Anyway the second article was an interesting collection.
I guess I'm not a thorough reader. I wasn't noticing the mistake the person made... but maybe that's because once it started becoming clear that he disliked the show's fanbase in a less than intelligent and composed manner, I stopped paying attention and looked at the brony profiles that came after. Those were fun! :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm not going to attack the first article's grammar and orthography. Who am I? Shakespeare? A Literature Professor? A dictionary? But yeah... tacky.
ReplyDeleteWell, really. I never expect something good from someone whose screen name is in UPPERCASE and with 1000000's of numbers. Yes, he makes valid points, about how our fandom is in the verge of disaster and that we bronies sometimes push our content down into others throat (many times unwillingly.) We mean no harm but sometimes we get a little overexcited (well, I do... >_>)
And then he goes to fanboy over MANLY bad ass stuff and MEGAS XLR... is this a joke? Unfunny one :/ Yeah, while MLP and XLR are like apples and oranges and they don't pander to the same target demography I'll be honest. I watched some XLR chapters and found it like 90% of the animation in that days: "Boring, recycled trash, full with painfully obvious references to long gone times, with an un-original script that thrown me away after 3 episodes." No wonder the ratings were low.
Then you have MLP, and while it's not bloody classic literature, it doesn't recycles the good classic stuff from the golden age of animation; IT MAKES HOMAGES! Some are swift, some are not, but they are brilliant. If DisQord was made on propose (and I can bet all my money on that) it was a mastermind move! Discreet Q homage for the Trek fans in the form of a Q like character, mannerisms and visuals included, directly from the original actor! And it's not shoved in your face. You realize this amazing factoid once you find out who the voice actor is! FAN BONUS.
The second article is... CELESTIA! The most honest stuff I've read in a good while. Only one blurb comes a little creepy (yeah, I'm a fan of Twilight Sparkle too and she is adorkable, but dude, clam down :V) but the rest just shows you that this is the best fandom ever.
Yeah, like others said, the second article could have used a better formatting, and concept even, but it was very good still, and I enjoyed it very much.
ReplyDeleteThe first one, meh, just the grammar would make such an article not worth reading. I mean, expressing opinions is fine and all, but dude, put them in readable (and enjoyable) form please. Nonetheless, the guy seemed honest in his comments, and I have to say I enjoyed reading of a new kind of voice, even if he was a little obsessed with the "darker" side of our community, I gotta say.
I actually liked the first article >:3
ReplyDeleteAs much as I like to read articles that praises the show with pure, unrelenting adoration, sometimes I feel the need to balance things out by reading articles that have a more love/hate aspect when it comes to ponies. Especially by people that at least watched it beyond the two pilot episodes.
Heck, the article even reminded me of the things I sometimes dread that have and might happen in the community *cough (no offense). *Pushes that aside...
Another thing is when he covered the plot. True he had nothing nice to say about it but it got me thinking way back when I first watched some of the said episodes, it too got me thinking. The plots are predictable but why the heck am I finding myself liking the plots all the same. Probably because the paths chosen to finish said plot were actually damn interesting. *I'd go all Chinese proverb on it with straight and curved roads and all that mambo jumbo but meh...
Lastly it strangely gave me the lolz ^^
In my head I was all "YES! Suffer and cringe as you find yourself writing an article all about ponies!! Scream as you witness your Mancard Burn!! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Yah. I'm sadistic that way... Still find it hard to get that out of my system. Not that I think watching, writing, drawing ponies ignite mancards into oblivion. *Sigh curse my psychotic nature...
Again we have another person using the perverted side of the fanbase (which is part of nearly any fanbase) to stereotype all of us. Goddamnit, why do people think we're all furries or some person who lives in their parent's basement? I'm 21, junior in college, and studying criminal justice. I like to work out, play games like Gears of War, and I would have probably joined the airforce if I had a better chance of becoming a pilot. Add to that is my love for this show. I am what this guy called "a normal brony". Well I hope he realizes that the "normals" are the majority. Get your facts straight before you make a completely biased rant (yes XLR was amazing, but you're making hypocritical arguments by going nuts over it).
ReplyDeleteomg haha I used to be an active G1 and would go to ScrewAttack daily. Thanks for reminding me about that website :D
ReplyDeleteReally great article as well :P
I'm not sure I'd call the article on 160, "postiive."
ReplyDelete@CoffeeGrunt
ReplyDeleteTHANK you. I'm glad I'm not the first one this irritates to no end. My first thought was "this CAN'T be a real professional magazine, do they have NO editor?!"
wtf, was this magazine edited by discord or something?
ReplyDeleteLack of Rainbow Dash.
ReplyDeleteI am disappoint.
And the first article brought up good points (the "I have no idea why I like this" aspect of it), but ruined it by blathering on about how Megas XLR shouldn't have been cancelled for a good chunk of it.
Wow. That was just... horrible.
ReplyDeleteNot the content or the spin, such as it was, but BLEH, such AWFUL grammar. I only managed a couple of pages before I realized it was apparently a stream-of-consciousness first draft, without any of the endearing potheadedness of Hunter R. Thompson. -:/
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Calbeck
ReplyDeleteHunter "S." Thompson, blargh -XP
...and I forgot that the site doesn't actually REMOVE deleted comments without leaving the dead space behind, sorry. -:/
@Gaarathedancingpanda
ReplyDelete"The first article is not a parody, nor is it a satire, it is someone who genuinely doesn't like bronies, and I think Hybrid felt the need to include both sides of the argument for fairness sake."
Some folks are calling it parody or satire, because they're trying in good faith to give the writer at least a little credibility.
The problem here is that this guy doesn't HAVE an actual argument to make. He has a rambling, largely incoherent mess which is made worse by being shot through with bad grammar and spelling. In fact, most suggestions here that it was parody or satire revolve around the belief that no one could write that poorly, and be published, without it being "intentionally bad".
Nor is this loose collection of half-formed thoughts balanced in any way by the series of one-sided "why I like the show" statements which follows after... for the same reason that you wouldn't consider it "balanced" to pat a horse on the head while doing a piss-poor job of branding it.
The only reason why it's positive and accurate is because they're connected to the Internet, and are able to see the brghter side of Bronies. Other news posters, as I see it, are more grounded in the old perception of what My Little Pony is, and, as opposed to doing genuine research, would rather take it at face value and slander the show and its fans for all its worth.
ReplyDeleteYou know, kind of like what Fox News does 24/7.
You know, reading the "Brony Infection" bit by MEGAMAXX5000 made me realize how happy I am that I can enjoy all kinds of shows instead of being jaded to the point of exclusively liking shows with intense plot (and therefore unable to enjoy a character-driven show or otherwise). He also seemed to be convinced that everyone that enjoys the show faps to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to assume he's not too bright based on his inability to realize where FiM's value comes from (and the fact that my quickly written comment has fewer grammatical errors than a single sentence in his article). At least he has enough sense to tell that the animation and music are great (meaning he has functioning eyes and ears).
I'm adding to this comment as I read, and I just don't want to go past his fourth page. This whole article he's been stating his opinions and perceptions as facts and making a real douche of himself. Now he's projecting his issues onto all bronies. For fuck's sake.....
He obviously didn't put any effort into his analysis of bronies, so I won't put any effort into my analysis of him: he's just a troll that's in denial and hasn't tried the show and Megas XLR sucked.
Thank God for the article that followed - it was like brain bleach for the past six pages of pants-on-head stupidity.