Oh jeez… I might tear up if I read too much into this thread. Certainly a handful of musicians I miss, along with pony social sites, new conventions popping up and attendance skyrocketing, and the massive size of the fandom generating huge amounts of content and being super hype for the next episode. A lot has remained unchanged, albeit on a much smaller scale, but every time a pony site goes down or someone leaves the fandom and distances themselves, a little more of our little world grows dimmer.
I miss IRC chat groups, when there were so many people in the fandom that even random niche interest groups usually had a smaller niche group inside them who were in the fandom; the nearly palpable excitement and excited discussion over new episodes as soon as they were announced and aired (who remembers the massive hype and excitement as soon as S2’s previews aired? How about when Luna Eclipsed aired? So much fun and excitement I wish could be captured again) and even occasionally seeing the random pony fan on the street; you don’t see that much in public anymore. I miss the rapid influx of flash games and new artists, and hearing that yet another site had opened up to cater to a branch of the fandom’s community.
Those things, we will likely never see again with the franchise, but it was so much fun while it lasted. I actually get a bit depressed thinking about it because I feel like I really was part of something, for the first time, and I hope to see it all the way to the end.
