On Saturday the 12th of October, the last three episodes of the current generation of My Little Pony will air on Discovery Family — and bring a nine year adventure to a close.
I got involved with this current incarnation of the fandom on October 10th, 2010 when episode one of season one aired… Several of us in an animation forum I frequent had been looking forward to it from when it was announced that Lauren Faust would helm the reboot.
And it was actually really good; tons of world building and far more ‘adult’ than we had been anticipating for the franchise.
It was about six months later that I started pondering building something Gen-4-esque in Secondlife…
Through the rise and fall of “Roanoak”, the several sims for “Fallout: Roanoak“, and the other various pony-like enterprises I’ve undertaken in SL, I’ve made so many friendships, been to a half dozen conventions, and met so many great people…
All because of a cartoon about tiny talking horses.
It’s a bittersweet end for me, as so much of the last nine years for me has been wrapped up in all of this ‘horseplay’. But it’s best that the show end strong with its legion of fans.
In secondlife I will be hosting a bit of a wake on the 12th on the sim Trotsdale — the sim I created over eight years ago to support the pony fandom in SL. I’m trying to get all of my old admin and players together for a final bow on that day as well.
And, because of this, I’ve had to re-create the Empress for the event.
The original avatar for the Empress was lost in the passage of time, but she deserves to be updated anyway — so after a dozen hours of work she wanders the realm once more. Her outfit has been updated to reflect the passage of time as well; a modern yet stylish look referencing more of the 30’s than the Victorian era.
A few of the old-timers from the last nine years have asked about continuing Roanoak a bit — so it’s possible that there will be another chapter over the holidays. But this is just a thought currently. 🙂