So, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is that MightyFine is having another My Little Pony T-shirt contest and the prizes are huge! Lots of money to be won and the pot gets bigger the more people enter so start designing!

Now for the bad news… it seems like this contest is for Bronies and Friendship is Magic fans only. Both of the judges are from Brony and Friendship is Magic fan sites. Couple this with the fact that they still haven’t added adult sizes for their Retro My Little Pony shirt and this doesn’t mean great things for vintage MLP fans. While they don’t specifically prohibit submitting vintage MLP designs, how can they possibly win if the judges are only fans of the new stuff?

I love the new show as much as anypony but I’m a little mystified why they’re excluding the original fandom in such a big way like this. As someone who loves ponies new and old, I want to celebrate all of ponydom, not just the new stuff. I know this is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease because Friendship is Magic is getting a ton of press but I’m starting to get a little annoyed that it’s become an either/or thing. If MightyFine isn’t willing to make retro merchandise, can’t they at least sell that license to a company that is? It feels like squatting.

You can be a fan of both Friendship is Magic and the original MLP content. Or you can just be a fan of Friendship is Magic or just a fan of the vintage stuff. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to be an MLP fan. One isn’t better than the other, it’s just different. The fans “taking sides” is annoying enough but to have the companies holding the license to make merchandise taking sides seems like a new level of slight.

I don’t want this to deter anyone from submitting designs to the contest because I still want there to be awesome FiM designs out there and I want one of you to win that nice big prize. I just wish people weren’t trying to make this a fandom Civil War.

What do you guys think?