Yeah, I feel like that's overkill. Celestia amusing herself by playing pranks on her subjects = funny. Celestia being a sadist = not so much. And yeah the "Twilight raped her friends" thing also needs to die.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:21:55 AM by JapaneseTeeth

So what you're saying is:

The Fanon isn't exactly bad in principle, it's just the way it's pulled off sometimes that makes it annoying/disgusting/whatever?

I can get behind that. Context is always important when I look into these sorts of things anyway

edited 25th Sep '11 10:18:30 AM by gingerninja666

I agree. I don't mind if there's a fan art or something that portrays Dash as a lesbian, or Celestia as a troll, or whatever. It's when it gets to the point of "If you don't agree that Dash is lesbian, you're an idiot" or whatever that it becomes stupid. Fanon is fine, but trying to shoehorn it into canon or totally disregarding every other aspect of the character never ends well.

Case in point, In the context of the show itself, I don't think Dash is lesbian. But that doesn't mean I have a problem with fanart that depicts her like that.

Except for Lyra/Bonbon being an OTP. I have no problem with that.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:26:06 AM by JapaneseTeeth

That's true as they say Tropes Are Not Bad

Exactly. And to be honest, unless it just goes into just plain wrong territory, there's really nothing about the fanon that really deserves all the flak it gets. Hell, I even have a hard time insulting Cupcakes Pinkie, because as much as I hate it, the Ask Pinkamena Diane Pie Blog wouldn't have existed without it

edited 25th Sep '11 10:24:25 AM by JackOfAllTrades

My problem with Look Before You Sleep was, that it was OOC for twilight, because originally she wasn't even socially awkward. Fluttershy is socially awkward. Twilight is just anti-social.

All of the first episode is about her not wanting to make friends, and even later, if she has any character flaws, it's that when she is overstressed, or hindered in her obsessions, she often falls back to her original grumpy, anti-social state.

Twilight's weakness is that she basically gets testy and grumpy and pushes help away when she's badly stressed. That, and she's really, really by-the-book.

, I think it's a combination of both. Fluttershy and Twilight are both socially awkward in different ways. Fluttershy understands relationships, but isn't assertive enough to speak up around other ponies. Twilight isn't nearly as shy, but she simply doesn't have the experience to understand how relationships work. She can't learn it in the context of an academic subject, so she has to learn it by experience rather than by the book, which is what she's used to.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:28:43 AM by JapaneseTeeth

This is probably a case of Alternate Character Interpretation, but I've always seen pre-FIM Twilight as a study-obsessed bookworm, who ends up being both anti-social and socially clueless. After all, if you don't socialize, how would you learn what the social norms are? The fact that she uses reference books for even simple things like slumber parties and running a marathon indicate that (a) she knows she's unaware of various social norms, and (b) she's still clueless enough to try to get the answers from a book, instead of asking someone. Pity she didn't have a copy of "Winter Wrap-Up For Dummies" in the library.

As for fandom, I've always been a strictly Canon guy, myself. Fandom things are amusing, but in the end if it's not Word Of God, it's just periphery fluff.

—R.J.

What would you say is the BEST "Ask..." blog?

And what would you say is the WORST "Ask..." blog?

Best: Ask Surprise

Worst: I dunno.

"Fanon is the set of theories based on that material which, while they generally seem to be the "obvious" or "only" interpretation of canonical fact, are not actually part of the canon."

If some people believe that Rainbow Dash is lesbian, but not all, then it is NOT fanon. The term itself is based on "canon", as in "practically canon, just not directly stated in the show".

Best: Ask Pinkemena Diane Pie

Worst: No idea

Honorable mentions go to Ask Berry Pnuch (not a typo) and Pinkie's Question Party. ABP is the blog that made me fall in love with Berry, and PQP has such a perfect grasp of Pinkie's character (and great, fitting art for her as well)

Ask Twilight Sparkle was great if only for the Spike one ;_;

oh great I'm sad again

edited 25th Sep '11 10:38:46 AM by AceOfScarabs

"Not stated in the show" is the operative phrase there. The problem I have is when people start looking at the show and going "Look! She's a lesbian!"

But then again, I tend to think there are differing degrees of fanon, so if we're going by the strict definition, then it might not count. The context people in this thread seem to be using it in is "stuff that most of the fandom assumes to be true, basis in canon or no". I.e. Steven Magnet's name is considered "fanon", even though there's zero basis in canon for that.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:38:21 AM by JapaneseTeeth

I never though the term Fanon needed a very strict definition. I always thought it just meant: "Canon for the Fans"

Different people have different Fanons. I have Fanon for certain things, you have Fanon for certain things. I didn't know there needed to be a general consensus for something to be classed as Fanon

edited 25th Sep '11 10:43:28 AM by gingerninja666

I don't agree with the definition of fanon, in the sense that "it has to be a widely accepted fact that just hasn't been proven yet". As long as the idea for something is known and popular, I can count it being fanon even if others disagree and argue about it. I think the fact that EVERYONE has to agree to it is just arbitrary

edited 25th Sep '11 10:44:53 AM by JackOfAllTrades

Yeah, I'm using a looser definition of "This is stuff that's generally excepted by the fans, based in canon or not". So I include stuff like Steven Magnet or Lyra/Bonbon. It also allows much greater freedom in being able to choose which parts of it you agree with.

How would even go about confirming something like that anyway.

Are there FANON ballots every day or something?

Is that supposed to be Konota!Dash in your avatar? Where's the rest of her body?

edited 25th Sep '11 10:49:44 AM by gingerninja666

(Small rant incoming, feel free to skip.)

It's a bit of a testy issue for me. It's actually really annoying having to explain that I enjoy characterizing Dash as bisexual for reasons other than her mane color - like I should even have to point out that that's not even part of the reason. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and in this one case, I interpret a particular character with a rainbow color scheme to not be straight. One has nothing to do with the other! Deal with it!

Anyway. It's very true that different people have different degrees of fanon, and there are different fanonverses, too - which I define as clumps of fanon that have grown large enough that people generally accept them. JTeeth's fanon (strictly for example purposes) might include Lyra/Bonbon, Ditzy Doo, and Doctor Whooves, while, I dunno, Jack's fanon might include Sepia Tock and Derpy. Every bit of those constituent fanons are fanon on their own, but the lattices and connections are different. Does that make sense?

edited 25th Sep '11 10:49:45 AM by RedSavant

Sepia Tock? Who?

And my fanon would be Ditzy, not Derpy

But otherwise, yes, I totally understand what you mean

That's exactly what I think.

Each person has their own individual Fanon, and until Canon comes along I don't think anyone's Fanon can be considered straight up WRONG.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:53:20 AM by gingerninja666

^^Sepia Tock's the main character of the one non-Doctor Whooves fic on Eq Daily about the brown stallion with the hourglass cutie mark. =)

^Exactly. Only canon can supercede fanon, and arguing over whose fanon is more true is silly, particularly if there's no evidence at all. Competing fanons with shreds of evidence can make for interesting and worthwhile debates, and thus are a different matter, but those are few and far between in FiM.

edited 25th Sep '11 10:56:25 AM by RedSavant

@Red: That's basically how I view fanon.

@Ginger: It's actually a Yukkuri version. If found it on Ponibooru somewhere and it amused me.

I prefer this "Ask Twilight" blog.