Why I decided to follow Friendship is Magic
Why I follow My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Many a person has asked me why I decided to go full-on "Brony" and follow My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, especially in the face of things such as Toontown Rewritten, The Lord of the Rings Online, and when I'm busy developing Bella's Mansion: Director's Cut. Why give so much attention to this children's show based on an even more childish line of toys?
Well, to put it bluntly: Something about this series just spoke to me. Maybe it was my 5-year-old counterparts love for children's movies such as Pinocchio ( a movie that I still own on VHS to this day ) talking in my ear, but something just told me that this is where it's at.
Now, I am aware that Friendship is Magic hasn't had a "Perfect" run, but in all honesty, what television series that's been going on for over 7 years hasn't had a few bumps in the road? Shows like South Park and Family Guy are prime examples of that. At the very least, the few bad episodes it did have weren't nearly enough to bring down the entire series, unlike a couple of other television series' I've seen over the years. In all fairness, the series has done quite well overall throughout it's run. And I'm eager to see how well the movie does on October 6th.
Honestly, the main reason why I started following this series is because of Disney. It had shown up at a time when I had lost all hope and faith in Disney. Star Wars Episode 7 and 8 had received such vastly mixed reception that it honestly left me returning to the original saga. Old Disney and Pixar classics were getting new sequels that nobody asked for, while other classics were mostly ignored. And this was also in the wake of Disney's Toontown Online fiasco from 2013, which was still fresh in my memory like a homeless bum waiting to get thrown out of a convenience store.
But the biggest blow to me, personally, that told me Disney didn't know what they were doing anymore, was the fate of Disney Infinity. When I did some background research into the subject to learn why it had been canceled, my first thought was that there had been some kind of mistake. How could Disney make so many terrible business decisions with the game, that it not only ended with the game getting canceled, but also causing Disney to disband their entire gaming branch, costing at least 300 people their jobs? It also doesn't help that the recent negative reception of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales further assured me that Disney, as a whole, was past it's prime, and was headed downhill fast. And that I needed to get out while the getting was good.
But at the same time, something held me back. This company, their movies that I had seen back in 2000, these were my childhood. And here I was, getting ready to leave it all behind because Disney had decided to fall apart. It was a very difficult decision for me to make, but I eventually decided that it was for the best. I'd rather leave with the memories that I DO have, rather then wait for Disney to put out another terrible sequel that utterly destroys them.
And yes, I am aware that Disney has made a few excellent movies in recent years, such as "Moana" and a sequel that actually did fairly well, "Finding Dory", but that's still not enough to redeem them for all the garbage we've received from them throughout the years. Especially the unnecessary sequels such as "Cars 2". I still haven't forgiven them for the disaster they caused with Toontown Online in 2013.
So needless to say, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic gave me the outlet I needed to get away from Disney and all the messes they'd made on the rug. And it's not like I'm a true 100% diehard fan or anything, as I only follow the television series and the movies, but it really tugs at my heart to say that I'd rather watch this show over most of Disney's recent content.
I do respect Disney's importance in the world and their popularity in decades long past, but that doesn't make them the greatest company ever to exist today. That is why I can feel confident in saying that I will never watch any of their new movies again. I'd rather just stick with what good movies I do remember from their lineup and leave it at that, and let new series like Friendship is Magic come in and have some significance in my digital media enjoyment.