Yes, we have a Search Option

29 May 2012

MY FAVORITE MLP:FiM FANON THEORIES


I once said that fanon is probably the most feeble, most fragile substance in the planet next to air. I still stand next to this statement because all it takes for it to break into pieces is a sentence; sometimes not even that. Just a little animation detail in the background is good enough to send all the lucubration's about ponies in Equestria right to the Moon. This isn't bad, especially in this fandom. We bronies have a tendency to find substitutes for everything almost immediately. If a theory that we had doesn't fit anymore, we come up with a new, better, more fitting one.

And I love them.

Yeah, I know that my reviews don't include fanon at all, and that's because I don't delve super deep into these theories, I just stay around the surface. There are many fan theories that I personally don't subscribe to, like Rainbow Dash and Applejack being lesbians (I think trying to pint point sexual orientation in a show for little kids is just ridiculous, especially when the show outlines it for you like how they did with Rarity for example).

So what you bronies can check after the break is what I consider my favourite fanon theories. I didn't want to put them in order or classify them, and I followed my very personal criteria to select them so expect to disagree with my opinion. It's alright, I am just doing this to have fun and because I ran out of episodes to review.

- Lyra and Bon Bon are the Bestest Best Friends Forever in all of Equestria.


One theory that bumps around this community a lot is that Lyra and Bon Bon are, not only a couple, but also married and live together. I'm okay with that theory, but once again, I really don't see the point of pointing out sexual orientation in this show. However, there is a theory that complements this one and is a valid option for those who don't like shipping (or pointing out sexual orientation, blah, blah, you know my drill). There is the theory that Lyra and Bon Bon are not a couple, they are just really, really good friends and super hardcore heterosexual life partners. I think this is my favourite, mostly because I can relate to this one a lot. I have a really good friend, really close, with whom I spent some of the best moments of my life. I see Lyra and Bon Bon the same way I see me and my friend. I love how every time we see them they are hanging out in the background, having hay smoothies, and talking about things we may never find out. That's one good reason to stay on my toes when I watch an episode, looking for them hanging out together.

- The ending of A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 happened inside Twilight's head.


The ending of Season 2 was probably one of the episodes fans of the show (regardless of age and gender) went completely nuts for. I belong in a minority that, while we do enjoy the episode, we can't help but looking at some nagging things that annoy the hell out of us. The best way to explain it is with the Mass Effect 3 ending backlash, only inverted. Instead of a lot of hate and a few people liking it, there is a lot of love and really few people not really liking it. So, because this fandom has a nice, big number of science fiction fans, there is a group of people that developed a theory that then turned into an animation. Everything after the second commercial break, right when Twilight and her friends get captured by the changelings inside the Chamber of the Elements of Harmony, happens inside Twilight Sparkle's head. All of it is a dream that's caused by Chrysalis' spell, and the real ending never happened. Instead, all the ponies are being kept inside chrysalis hanging from the ceiling, while the Queen feeds off of them.



Now, this is a fan theory and as such it has no real value towards the real canon of the show. But when the writer of the episode, and story editor of Season 3 says this...


...it's pretty awesome.

- Anything regarding Derpy Hooves.


I think I can't talk about fanon without mentioning the Queen of Fanon herself Derpy Hooves. I think I have yet to meet a brony who doesn't like Derpy. There is like a law written somewhere that punishes you with a spanking if you even think of hating Derpy or something. I personally don't mind if people don't like Derpy, because I love every single theory that bronies have come up with. I love them all, from her obsession with muffins to her having a daughter named Dinky who is actually a unicorn. There have been theories that touch every colour of the spectrum. She is an assistant to the pony equivalent to David Tenant's Doctor Who. She is a mail mare for Ponyville's post service. She is a ditz and a disaster magnet. She can only say the word "muffin". I think my absolute favourite is the theory regarding her eyes and why are they like that. According to this theory, Derpy can see the real world with one of them, but with the other she sees an alternate universe version of Equestria in which Nightmare Moon won and everything is dark and evil, so she has to keep bouncing between universes to keep things in order. I like this theory a lot because it basically paints Derpy like a complete badass, and if you add the fact that she has a daughter then she is a badass mom, and we all know that badass moms are the best thing ever.

Then again, Derpy is a character who's like 98% fanon, so she is the equivalent of a sandbox when we talk about characters from the show. That is until the show makers decided to put little Easter eggs regarding her, from her cocked eyes to having a clasp on her saddlebags shaped like a muffin. And shall we speak about "The Last Rounderp"? That episode that was supposed to be about Applejack but people refer to it as "The episode where Derpy talked". So yeah, Derpy is the most open ended element regarding fanon, but she has been validated by the makers of the show. That's like going to a concert of AC/DC and ask them to sing "Like a Rolling Stone", it's just bizarre that things like this happen.

- Photo Finish is actually Rainbow Dash in a disguise.


This one is very silly, to tell you the truth. I've only seen a couple of drawings regarding this, and personally I like it more than the other theory bumping around, the one that says Photo Finish is one of Pinkie Pie's sisters. I really don't know why I like this idea so much, to be completely honest with you. I think it's kind of hilarious to imagine the badass, speed demon Rainbow Dash dying her hair, grabbing a camera and going nuts for clothes and fashion while putting that over the top German accent and wearing those thick sun glasses.

- Princess Luna is an avid secret gamer.


I didn't put these theories in order of preference, but if I had to I think this would be number one. This theory in particular I am not sure where it came from. There was a comic where Celestia kept sending all those appliances that pissed her off to the Moon, amongst them being a PS3, so by the end of the strip there was a picture of Luna looking all adorable while playing Little Big Planet. I think that was the inception of Gamer Luna, a concept that Princess Molestia's creator John Joseco took upon and expanded into a completely original character. Princess "Gamer" Luna is the most adorable, funniest thing I've seen in drawing form. There is something endearing about seeing Luna wearing a headset and screaming in the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice to those newbies in Call of Duty, or going all methodical while organising her materials in Minecraft. I gave this theory quite a lot of thought, trying to figure out why we actually like Gamer Luna this much, because I am not alone in this, there are a bunch of bronies who love her, more than one can imagine. I think that, as much as this might hurt someone, we like to think that Luna stays up at night while playing video games until it's time to go to sleep, kind of like the majority of us does. How many of you have stayed up at night trying to finish that one level or that one mission that was just a few more minutes from ending? Or how many times have you wished to rise your voice above those annoying kids in Halo? I think the most relateable instances of Gamer Luna happen when facing disappointment, because it reflects what every gamer goes through. Also, and this is once again purely personal opinion, she is adorable beyond reason. There is something outrageously cute about a magical alicorn goddess who spends her free time playing games online.

And figuring out endings.

- Lyra wants to become human.


This is possibly one of the oldest fanon theories in this fandom. It all started in episode 7 of season 1. Lyra, also known as Incidental Unicorn #2, has always had her emotions run pretty high. Anytime she pops up in the background she is doing something. She bounces, she bites her tongue, she cries tears of sadness when a parasprite eats her cake, she widens her eyes and grits her teeth, but the one people remember the most is when she was sitting down on a bench, as sitting down like a human would with her back resting on the bench and her hind legs hanging from the edge. That was the most bizarre position I've ever seen a pony sit down in the entire series, and it started a trend that is far from dying, a trend that only got stronger when Lyra showed up in episode 13 holding a paper cup of hay smoothie with her hoof. This trend, this theory, is that Lyra wants to be a human, and so she tries to act like one. I like this mostly from a psychological point of view. What would motivate her to want to become a human? And why does she know of them in the first place if there aren't any in Equestria? These questions and many more are left un-answered and they make me want to know more about her. Besides Derpy this makes Lyra one of the most interesting background characters of the entire show just because of how fans have constructed her. Also, thanks to this theory we can enjoy some hilarious fanart.

This one in particular is my favourite.
This one escapes my words. It's just hilarious.

- Pinkie Pie is self-aware.


I think everyone is familiar with this theory, but I want to explain it for the newcomers' sake. Pinkie Pie has always been that type of character that is always over the top and silly, who always seems to be with the head in the clouds, and completely oblivious to everything surrounding her. She has a sixth sense called "Pinkie Sense" that allows her to predict the future, and the consistency of a rubber band. She constantly ignores the laws of physics and when we zoom into her mind it's either made out of felt, or movie references. It wouldn't be worth mentioning any of these things, if it wasn't because she is the only character in the show who acts like this. Let's be fair. It's a cartoon, and like any cartoon there is going to be a big use of cartoony situations. Every single character has had a genuine cartoony moment, like Twilight getting an anvil to the head, or Rainbow Dash tippy-toeing her way from behind a cloud. Pinkie Pie is different. She is always like that. She is fascinating to a degree that one must accept the evident: Pinkie Pie knows she is a cartoon character. She knows she is inside a cartoon for little kids, and she is having a blast with it. She walks in the air, she can teleport, she can appear inside chimneys, from the inside of bridges, she can walk like a chicken, pass through super small holes, create impossible artifacts, and pull check symbols made out of felt from the inside of her head. It's a combination of all these things that make one wonder if she actually knows we are watching. And, what do you know, that's what many bronies believe. Not only she is self aware, she knows we are watching, and she is happy about it. I guess that Terminator 2 was right to a certain degree. Something was going to go self-aware in the future, but it wasn't a super advanced computer. It was a pink pony.

4 comments:

  1. I like these fan theories.

    To be honest, that Canterlot WEdding "real ending", that is really creepy. Not like "Boo!" spooky, but deep down horrifying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great article, I knew some things but not all, so very educative to me anyway.
    I saw a series of pictures where Lyra teaches things about humans being completely oblivious to their real meaning, saw them on knowyourmeme but never could find a full set of them.

    Draggy, a brony (and dragon fan) from Odessa, Ukraine

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blast it, I had to rewrite this whole comment because I clicked on a link. Whatever.

    1. In regards to Bonbon and Lyra, it is cool you can relate with one fan narrative about their relationship, but pushing it towards a heterosexual relationship is still pushing a form of norms about sexuality regardless. Like Foucault argued, marriage and families have significant normative taboos on who you cannot be attracted to.

    That just me being picky about how you phrased it in that section. Now onwards to next one.

    2. I saw that video when it was on Equestria Daily. It is cool when one of the writers comments on them because it bridges that gap between professional world which makes the canon universe and the hobby/fan world which transforms and embellishes.

    3.I was first introduced to the awesomeness that is Derpy in the fanfic Equestria: Total War where Derpy becomes a general.

    Also, why do you think Derpy was in a snowglobe?

    4. Rainbow Dash always dresses in style. (Well, half of the time, when everypony is thinking she is sleeping and being lazy.)

    5. It does explain why she did not notice the Changling invasion. She had the speakers too loud and was playing something with loud explosions. While slightly different, I really like the Two Best Sisters Play series.

    6. This is one of my favorites. Lyra combined with Derpy are characters that the fanon has really embellished to the max. Hopefully, there will be more voice to Lyra in the future.

    7. Not much to say here other than, we know we will be seeing more of this in the future given the infinite powers of Pinkie Pie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't see how it's 'bringing sexual orientation' into the show when there are already couples there. That's like saying Shining armour and Cadence are talking about sexual orientation.

    Also, wait until you find out about Lyra and Bonbon. You're the only one here making things about sexual orientation lol.

    ReplyDelete