Soapbox time, where the fandom expresses its opinions! As always, we are open for submissions on these. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD.
Have some headlines:
- Hasbro's Complete Rebuild of the Pony Brand Better Borrow More Heavily From G4 than G5
- Are Ponies harnessing dragon magic?
- Which one has a better message? Cafeteria Song or Battle of the Bands?
- Hasbro's eOne acquisition might be the reason why Season 9, Rainbow Roadtrip and some EG specials weren't released internationally
And go read them below!
Hasbro's Complete Rebuild of the Pony Brand Better Borrow More Heavily From G4 than G5
By: crux
We finally have news about generation 6 and it's not surprising that Hasbro has decided to go all-in with a complete relaunch of everything. Catching lightning in a bottle twice is not something that many companies pull off, primarily because you have assholes like me who are going to nitpick every little thing. This problem is only exacerbated even further by the rise in Youtube analyzers influencing millions of viewers to their potentially bad opinions. It's pretty damn easy to control a the hive mind and convince someone that liked something that their opinion is wrong when you have a million subscribers.
This means Generation 6 needs to absolutely knock it out of the park. Hasbro needs to STUDY what made G4 so good early on. Why so many people swarmed in for adorable ponies doing adorable things. Hell, bring Faust back as a consultant. She created the perfect blend of style and story to really set the internet on fire.
G6 needs a style like FiM. Cute ponies with small snouts, big eyes, and the bean shaped body that made G4 so popular. It needs a world that isn't like earth. No phones, no social media, no Pipp Petals freaking out about being shadow banished. Kids don't need an exact mirror of their lives to be entertained. Some of the most successful kids franchises out there have NOTHING to do with the modern world. Frozen, Lion King, How to Train Your dragon, Moana, the list goes on. We don't need ponies walking around complaining about not getting enough likes on ponygram or whatever to "Relate" to them. The "fellow kids" nonsense is just cringe.
And Hasbro needs to accept that they have an adult fanbase that loves ponies. A lot of them with no kids or girlfriend and lots of disposable income to buy plastic crap. Who will overwhelmingly waifu whatever doormat or broken girl they can find. Dig into that. Luna and Fluttershy were top tier waifus from the beginning for a reason. I'm pretty sure, at this point, the world has woken up to the idea that pandering to these people means BIG MONEY. Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, early Overwatch, Expedition 33, they all deliver the waifus. Hell, even the hyper-woke Hazbin universe dropped a generic goth furry waifu in Loona and she's one of the most popular characters in existence when it comes to amount of fanart.
There's a lot of potential here to both bring people back and drag more people into the pony fandom, and a lot of money to be made. If we get some kindergarten slop with generic villains and ANY kind of ugliness in the style, people will drop it. I hope they drag an army of pony fans into a room and show them whatever character models they are cooking up from every possible angle. Make sure these ponies look phenomenal and the nerds will come.
Are Ponies harnessing dragon magic?
By: ManaMinori
According to the MLP: MYM episode "Growing Pains", when a projection of Twilight Sparkle appears from the Unity Crystals (possibly the same projection of her that the Tree of Harmony itself had used a number of times, in some g4 episodes, given how we see that the projection in g5 not only bears the resemblance of a younger Twilight Sparkle than that of the final episode of g4, but also seems to have the same glittery sparkles around her as the Tree of Harmony's projection in g4) the dialogue that she provides is: "If you're seeing this, magic is now more powerful than it's ever been, and Earth pony magic has been activated for the first time in the history of Equestria. Magic is alive. Always changing. Growing stronger. There are evil forces out there who will want to exploit it. Once, a pony tried to steal all the magic in Equestria for herself... and almost succeeded.
[static]—but the spell is broken. You are exposed to the world once again. You must watch out for Op— [static]
—before she op—
[static]
—I'm with you."
Interestingly enough, at the end of "Growing Pains", after Hitch spontaneously grows what eventually becomes known as a "Together Tree", one of Sunny Starcout's lines is "earth pony magic is something else! Who knew you had the power to grow magical trees?!" and when Sparky the baby dragon first comes into contact with the tree, he magically connects with it, due to his horns gaining glowing swirls around them as soon as he touches it. This signifies, along with Zipp's own comment that the tree needs to be further investigated, that there is something much more mysterious about this tree that we will soon discover during later episodes.
In the holiday special, "Winter Wishday", Zipp pieces together that the tree in BridalWood, known as the Wishing Tree, has a star inside of it that activates when the unicorns traditionally recite their holiday greeting during Winter Wishday. Their greeting "Frosty Shivers", since magic has been restored back into the land of Equestria through the Unity crystals, has been allowing the unicorns to perform an ancient spell that activate dramatic changes in the weather- without even realizing it- specifically that of snowstorms that gradually worsen over the course of time.
Now, interestingly enough, I do find this to connect with the magic of the dragon named Whimsy Whetherbe, first and only seen in the My Little Pony g3 special “Twinkle Wish Adventure”. This dragon has been shown to live on the location of Willy Nilly Mountain, which is said to reside just beyond g3’s Ponyville, and have weather that changes willy nilly, according to the ponies. The dragon herself has also been shown to be able to breathe a magical breath that can either make the temperatures really hot or really cold.
And while in the special of g5, Izzy suggests to the unicorns that they change their greeting from “Frosty Shivers” to “Warm Wishihoof” to counteract the spell of the snowstorms that they have been unknowingly causing through the entirety of Equestria, I still have to wonder if they are continuous to harness dragon magic specifically that of the dragon, Whimsy Wetherbe, to make it warmer for themselves. Not only does this later coincide with the g5 villain, Opaline and her reveal of being a fire alicorn, but also her ability and desire to harness dragon magic. If, according to the g4 comics, namely the Friendship is Magic comics #61- 62 (Convocation of the Creatures), a dragon archivist named Blacktip speaks of the other races’ culture being considered as “newborns’ when compared to the long history of the dragon’s culture. This could easily be implied that the dragon race was one of the very first, if not THE first on the scene, long before other races, in the grand scale of things.
Back to the harnessing of dragon magic, by the ponies through the power of the wishing tree of g5, though, this was also shown in g3 originally, when Whimsy herself stole the Wishing Star, Twinkle Wish, from the ponies, and wished upon it to acquire friends of her own. And ultimately at the end of the special, once the ponies reacquired the star, they wished upon it for it to snow. So while it may be a case of dragons using a form of pony magical artifacts, rather, to wish upon for their own means within g3, it could also be the case within g5 that ponies have learned to use that same wishing star to be able to harness dragon abilities like that of Whimsy and her weather changing effect spells that have long since been lost during the times of g4 into g5 when magic was nonexistent for many moons, thanks to Twilight putting it all into the unity crystals in order to keep it from Opaline.
Which one has a better message? Cafeteria Song or Battle of the Bands?
By: G4 EVER
When it comes to the most iconic Equestria Girls songs, most people would probably pick either Cafeteria or a Dazzling Song. And yeah, all of them are absolute incredible in terms of musical composition. But if we go beyond the music and look at the message — which one is actually more helpful?
“But you look a little deeper and you will see, that I am just like you and you are just like me.”
— Cafeteria Song
“Why pretend we’re all the same? When some of us shine brighter?”
— Battle of the Bands
Let’s start with the Cafeteria Song. It’s upbeat, it’s energetic and overall really positive.
This is the Mane Six telling everyone at Canterlot High: hey, we might be into different stuff, we might not hang out in the same circles, but deep down? We all want the same things. We all want friends, respect, a little happiness. And that’s something we can unite around. Their whole vibe is: yeah, we're different—but we’re in this together.
The Cafeteria Song is basically saying if you’re a popular kid or a nerd or someone who eats lunch in the library (hi), we’re all part of this school. We should put those differences aside and work together. And honestly, that kind of message does hit and seems really helpful and inspiring. Because in a place like high school, where people get judged so fast and put into boxes, it feels good to be reminded that we're more alike than we think.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
What if… some people don’t share that goal? What if for some crazy reason, someone actually wanted Sunset Shimmer to win the Fall Formal instead of Twilight? After the Cafeteria Song, the school unites—but it also feels like everyone now has to agree with the Mane Six's thinking or be kinda… left out. You’re either with them or you’re not. And no, Twilight and the Mane 6 will never actually kick people out or hurt them—obviously. They’re not villains or high school jerks. But just as a concept, that kind of forced unity can feel a little weird. Like, what if you don’t want to sing the same song as everyone else?
That’s exactly when the Dazzlings come into the equation.
Their whole point is: why are we pretending? People aren’t all the same. Some people do shine brighter—in music, sports, popularity, whatever. And let’s be real, high school is full of cliques. Popular kids, nerds, theater kids, athletes, loners, the band geeks—you name it. These labels aren't just silly stereotypes. For a lot of people, they’re the only way they feel seen or understood. And when the Dazzlings show up, they don’t ignore those differences. They acknowledge them and encourage you to focus on them. Yeah, they totally exploit them too—but still, they’re the first to actually say, "Hey, you're not like everyone else—and that's not a bad thing."
And that hits hard for students who might’ve felt invisible under the Mane Six’s big shiny rainbow of “let’s all get along.” Because sometimes unity feels more like “fit in or get out.”
And there’s truth to that. In real life, we do have different goals, talents, and identities. But the Dazzlings’ message, while empowering at first, leads to chaos. Because when everyone’s focused on being the best, the most powerful, the most important… nobody listens to each other anymore. Suddenly it’s just a bunch of groups yelling over each other, convinced they’re better. That’s exactly what happened in Rainbow Rocks. The concept of superiority and inferiority is formed. The school became a mess of competition and division.
So yeah, the Cafeteria Song might seem a little cheesy or idealistic (for some people). But it’s not about erasing individuality—it’s about reminding us that we can "come together". That we should "come together" when it matters. The Dazzlings used differences to divide people. The Mane Six used empathy to unite them. If we look a little deeper than just our external appearance, we will see that we are just like each other.
And maybe the real lesson is this: we are different. Some of us do shine brighter—in sports, in art, in music, in leadership or any other niche. But differences doesn’t have to lead to division. Unity doesn't mean we all think the same—it means we all care enough to try....
Hasbro's eOne acquisition might be the reason why Season 9, Rainbow Roadtrip and some EG specials weren't released internationally
By: FirePuppy (Tadashi Satoru)
Really, Hasbro, was it that necessary to waste a ton of money on one useless acquisition? I have to be honest, if that hadn't happened in the first place back on August 22, 2019, we would have had Season 9, Rainbow Roadtrip, the Friendship is Forever clip shows, and the rest of the Equestria Girls specials on Netflix -- not just in the U.S., but worldwide as well. Just so you know, most of the international productions for Forgotten Friendship and Rollercoaster of Friendship were exclusively released on Netflix back in 2018. But because Hasbro wasted a f***ing $4 billion on one single acquisition instead of wisely spending a portion of it on plans to release everything I mentioned on Netflix, this resulted in a noticeable decrease in the amount of dubs produced and released for most of those installments, and no new Generation 4 content being released on Netflix ever again.
Of course, the acquisition led to significant financial losses, resulting in Hasbro eventually being forced to sell most of Entertainment One's assets, which, thankfully, didn't include Pony Life or any of the Generation 5 content. And yet, following the sale of eOne and the rebranding of Hasbro Entertainment, all we get for 17 months in a row since the first day of 2024 is the French dub of Rainbow Roadtrip on YouTube!
At this rate, based on Hasbro's current financials, I think it's going to take a long time for them to earn enough money to release everything in the MLP (G4) and EG libraries anywhere internationally (their 1-year revenue is currently in a record low since 2016, and at the same time, their long-term debt is still higher than it was before the eOne acquisition).
