Hand-Knit Purse with a Derpy patch

Antelope Valley Line Riders...

Never mind the sparse train schedules, ISN'T THIS PONY CUTE? Twilight Sparkle makes everypony's commute a little bit more upbeat...

Basically, I was derping around while out railfanning last weekend, and doodled ponies all over my copy of the AV / Ventura line timetable.

...

More on atsf-asbel.deviantart.com.

Animation Update

Well, after a bit more work, I managed to animate a walk cycle, complete with follow-through of the hair, accurate cycling between steps (the animation term for this is Y-4 cycles) and layering the animation.

The animation is designed to express a theme put forth my the animation program I joined a while back --Acme Animation--for our spring semester competition. As the theme is "tolerance", I could not help but take MLP:FiM's core values of love and tolerance, apply them to an animation, and in the process build some "puppets" for later use.

The loose synopsis of what I'm working on is what follows.

• A non-equine character, known as a Diamond Dog (first appearance S1E19, "A Dog and Pony Show") is sitting alone.
• Rarity walks into the foreground of the frame.
• She glances  at the Diamond Dog, and then pretty much makes some form of a gesture shunning him (plausible situation, considering Rarity
• At about this point, I basically have the Diamond Dog start tearing up.
• Fluttershy enters the frame, notices DD. Hesitates for a bit.
• After pausing for a couple seconds, she hugs him.  At this point, the tears subside.
• After this, I close with a title explaining that tolerance is accepting someone in spite of being deemed "different" by society.

With only a couple more classes left before I wrap it up, and with a weeks' worth of bone-rigging behind me, this project is approaching completion very, very quickly…and is soon to make my portfolio 20% cooler in ten seconds flat!

IT'S ALIVE!!!111

Here's one for all the brony animators out there...

After a while tinkering in Toonboom, I managed to get a basic pony template set up using the bone-rigging tool. Works quite well, too!

Ohhh, I'm so enthusiastic, I must interject...
~yaaay~
uh...um...if that's fine with you of course.

Oh, and also...readers...would you like screengrabs of it?

Twilight Sparkle F59PHI is Best F59PHI

Made this in MSTS the other day, and uploaded it to my other blog. However I figured I'd publish this here...

Also, all credit to Marc Nelson of http://www.3dtrains.com/ for designing the locomotive shape!

FLUTTERSHY IS BEST PONY

Was there really any doubt?

MLP Royal Wedding Details

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/25/my-little-pony-royal-wedding-tori-spelling_n_1378351.html

So some TV show about little 'ol ponies is getting this much hype? What next, Season 3 will be hyped by wrapping an Amtrak engine--probably #454--to resemble Twilight Sparkle?

Off to the MSTS reskins! (Will upload pix on Equestria Press)

A Quick Caution:

Out there be explicitries...

If you're somepony like me--not too fanatical about R#34 stuff--perousing Tumblr isn't really going to be your cup of tea.

Yup. Hentai. Rule 34. Pixels turned to lines, and lines turned to displays of explicit media.

Believe me, I'll love and tolerate those who do consider the stuff "art", but my thoughts on that kind of stuff is that it's base and tasteless.

Well, off to dump my history again...

...

Rainbow Dash - agile weatherpony, athlete, enthusiast of fine literature, and...RAILFAN?

Nope, just a McDonalds' pony, a fence, and a pain-in-the-haunches kind of autofocus which makes me so frustrated I could just scream! *eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

Charging Head-over-Hooves into Junior-Highschool Territory...

Today's ep of ponies involved peer pressure and herd mentality. Next week's involves self-confidence, and shortly thereafter comes one confronting gossip.
...
While these themes are ever-prevalent, they reach their caustic, cataclysmic xenith in junior-high, middle school, well...whatever you wish to call those melting pots of puberty, angst, and conflict that basically take all those sixth-year to eight-year students, isolate them, and try to keep complete and utter disaster from happening.
...
I never thought pre-tween society would have a role model in the form of an adorkable, open-minded, mauve-colored unicorn that was historically part of a massive advertising gimmick to create a demand for otherwise undemanded girls' dolls. Now even men, that's right, MEN who have middle school as a flickering, faint, dying repressed memory in the back of their heads adore them without shame.
...
So now that society's all listening, it's no suprise that they plan to start kicking many of the social issues which run unchecked in today's campuses, social circles, and general peer-to-peer relationships right in the haunches.
...
After Derpygate, I doubted HUB, I questioned their success, and their pragmatics. Instead, they had to assure no controversy was swirling about them before their grander, broader plan came into fruition.
...
Keep your eyes on the ponies, but your ear to the wire. The hatred and vitriol of cyberbullying and flaming, in the coming years, will begin to die down a little...

Some of the Best Fanfiction I've Read:

"Of Steam Gears and Wings": Basically the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now fully grown, up against an imposing dieselpunk dictatorship:
Part 1:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MJa5p5vpGSBmekMhpF6-GUo1iLyxM-S99yxRnNxnd9A/edit
Part 2:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bm4zEc2ZSXiq-6Y1xgn0JEWDi0JMf2UOkgTilOjgz8Y/edit?pli=1

"Icarus": While it contains some light DashXTwilight shipping, it instead molds it to fit the tale of a power-craving pegasus ruler seeking to stage an overthrow of Equestria with the pegasi at the pinnacle of the social hierarchy:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/12398/Icarus

"For Those We Left Behind": A slice-of-life piece in which Twilight attempts to learn more about her mother posthumously--a mother she barely even knew.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/15062/For-Those-We-Left-Behind

More as I stumble upon them...

-ATSF Asbel-

Fillmore and Western, Here's your chance!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/03/episode-announcement-mmmystery-on.html

Sounds like mystery episode taking place on...a train?

Well, time to hand this one off to a tourist railroad--the Fillmore and Western, to be exact. Having perfected the "Mystery Dinner Train", having close ties to Hollywood, and a scenic rail line with a ready-to-run steam locomotive (F&W #14), they could easily bring ponies to the real-world rails.

Here's a shot of FWWR #14 in action, hauling a charter train:

All they really need is some modified station signage to ponify the line (Piru = Ponyville, Fillmore = Fillydelphia, the list could go on!), some ponified pullmans, and plenty of costumes...and they'd be in business!

Hey, if they're looking for a car attendant...sign me up!

The Equestrian Scrolls Predicts a Potential Love Triangle.

Oh my gosh.

I've heard rumblings of this storyarc from the greats ever since the days when Hasbro decided to re-brand the pink castings of Celestia as "Princess Cadence" and sell some kind of wedding playset with "Shining Armor".

Long story short, for a while Hasbro was producing figurenes of Celestia using a rose-pink plastic--now, of course to devoted bronies, this is heresy. I, on the other hand, would regard it like a variation of a Lionel 6464 boxcar or SP Caboose--nothing out of the ordinary, just a bit rare. However, enough people pressed Hasbro to make more authentic figurenes so...yeah. Just sell off the last of 'em, or have an idea for this brilliant marketing move--make more, re-brand, and add something with plenty of play value and new trinkets.

I guessed the screenwriters down at Studio B would be cooking up a brilliant introduction to the characters. And suprisingly, deep in my subconscious, I sensed an iminent love triangle storyarc.

Now, if these fellas at Equestria Daily predict that my OC is the dragonborn, I'll take them seriously...

FUS RO DAH!
(If I have the Thu'um within me, you should be thrown backwards now...)

MY ORIGINAL CHARACTER

ASBEL IS BEST PONY. 'NUFF SAID.

Made with ponycreator: http://www.generalzoi.deviantart.com/

What? Phase V Amtrak colors? Yes, I am a bit of an Amtrak aficianado as well...no worries, Amtrak has a number of ex-ATSF switch engines. (Primarily CF7s and SW1500s)

From the Desk of ATSF Asbel: GO AHEAD, COME AT ME (HAS)BRO! CANONIZE MY CHARACTER!

Two Fluttershy Episodes in a month?

"Putting Your Hoof Down" airs this weekend. Awesomeness!
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/03/putting-your-hoof-down-episode-clip.html

...and apparently, if you haven't slaked your FlutterThirst, here's another episode lined in for later this month.
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/02/episode-hurricane-fluttershy.html

This is on par with two BNSF freights being fleeted down the Surfliner. It's unbelievably awesome when it happens...

Plus, we got another crazy Twilight Sparkle episode...yes, crazy Twilight is (at least in my opinion) cutest Twilight.

-Asbel over 'n out-

WRT Derpy Hooves: "We Put Her On The Map"

Spread the word, everypony. Spread the word that Derpy (along with fan relations to Hasbro) is in peril of fading away.

http://www.savederpy.com/
For individaulity, for endurance, and for being able to smile and laugh despite struggling. Hang in there!

EDIT: Something lighthearted for everypony reading this: http://equestria.fadri.org/comics/034-Offensive.jpg
[ATSF Asbel guarantee: Pre-read this one, nothing incredibly vulgar. Just an un-derped Derpy Hooves pointing out some hypocrises.]

A couple "Save Derpy" Petitions

Help us save our favorite mailmare!
http://www.change.org/petitions/save-derpy-and-hasbros-creative-process
http://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-studiosthe-hub-return-derpys-scene-in-the-last-roundup-to-normal
http://www.savederpy.com/

Did they just...

Here's my original take on the Derpy Hooves "removal":
Well, some whiny viewers of MLP apparently must have threatened to take Hasbro to court or something because of the whole thing with Derpy Hooves. So therefore Hasbro decided to go back, ALTER THE ANIMATION, AND RE-DUB THE SCENE, eliminating Derpy's name and crossed eyes. Seriously. The only people they made proud are the anime butchers who work for 4kids...

Not kidding though. They removed Derpy.

From my recollection, Snips and Snails both fulfill more of the archetypes of a mentally handicapped individual. I mean, when your "talent" is being mentally slow, that's actually crossing the very same boundary.

Derpy also serves as an expression of the individual who may be deficient in some areas but is still an endearing, well-liked member of a social community. By making her conform, Hasbro sent a worse message: ableism (the act of discriminating against someone based off of mental capability) is socially acceptable.

I've fought for mental equality on other accounts and pages before. I'll admit, though, I didn't even know what I was talking about. I also couldn't grasp its meaning.

This however, hits home. I can't say for certain what kind of impact it has, but it muddies the waters a bit for my fellow bronies and I.

LINKS:
Comparison of Original and Edited scenes
BaldDumboRat's response
SaberSpark and PaleoSteno's response

'nother Personality Test

Re-took the pony personality test the other day, and not suprisingly ended up with Twilight Sparkle.AJ was actually a close second...hmm...

Yep, chalk another "win" up for the bronies...

Well, actually, the text which I think is rather pertinent:
"...Kirsten had been working hard with her own therapist to develop strategies for soothing herself. When she found herself in a bad-mood rut, she had agreed with her therapist, she would visualize Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy intellectual character in the animated children’s show “My Little Pony” — of which her knowledge bordered on encyclopedic and whose goofiness made her laugh..."

This isn't the first neurodiverse brony / pegasister case I've heard of. Nor will it be the last. Brony legend MindlessGonzo (a master of grimdark pony tumblr dubs) is also on the spectrum (he mentions this in his "Tagged" video linked to here at 0:49...never mind the rather risqué video background) along with many others, myself included.

As a former neurodiversity blogger, I revere this as good news. Never has an internet fandom been this socially constructive. Also, with hit-or-miss social skills programs at many schools, easily-accessible social scenarios, and a raging debate about "cure versus therapy", I'm relieved to see a series gain acceptance which covers many of the same bases as high-quality social skills programs. Many fundamentals of social interaction are demonstrated and stressed, interpersonal conflict is thrust into a very easily-analyzed relief (believe me, I learned how to settle flame wars this way), and the social aesops, know-hows, etc. are easily carried over into real life.

This is so awesome, fellow Bronies. /)*3*(\
Keep up the good work!

This Figures For An ATSF Fan...

I was half-expecting to get Twilight Sparkle, considering the fact I'm a more analytical brony.

Also strange that my two picks for best pony, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, are almost polar opposites on said chart--I register second-highest for Twilight's entry while for Fluttershy's I am about 50% below average. This is quite strange considering her reaction to unfamiliar individuals is much the same as mine.

My theory to how this quiz works: each question has responses which are linked to particular ponies' traits, behaviors, or personalities. At the end of the quiz, the results are tallied up and are measured towards a character.

To take the test, click here!

Hearth's Warmi- OH EM GEE, IS THAT A SPIRAL TUNNEL?

After watching "Hearth's Warming Eve" (S2E11) I noticed that the rail line featured has a curious track arrangement resembling that of the Canadian Pacific near Yoho, British Columbia - a spiral tunnel.

My best theory as to what the right-of-way could resemble is included











For reference on station codes, see the "EqGRwy Station Codes" page.

Sweetie Belle Derelle!

This blog has been Derelle'd!

Animation Appeal and Gen. IV Ponies

So the other day I studied the twelve fundamental principles of animation, a set of techniques devised by Walt Disney in the 1930s to assist in making fluid, appealing animation. One of the traits, "Appeal", pertains to character design. As charisma is important with actors, appeal breathes life into animation.

Now, the latest generation of "My Little Pony" seems to have taken the appeal to its target audience, prepubescent girls, and broadened it. In previous generations, the character appeal has been meant to target one audience.

I somehow ended up with some Generation III merchandise, and while is has many elements of the Generation IV artwork and character design, I clearly can tell I was not the intended recipient of its "appeal". Heart-shaped highlights, strongly vivid colors, and strong bright colors, along with typical American animatics and such applied.

Generation IV artwork, on the other hand, takes stylistic traits from 1990s videogames such as Animal Crossing, "moé" anime traits (while the eyes are large, they do resemble those of say...Elicia Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist, intended to be one of those "KAWAIIDESU!!!111" kind of characters), and of course by lowering the bright polychromatics a bit, as was done with Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. (Lauren Faust, creator of MLP:FiM, also worked as a storyboard / conceptual artist for the aforementioned series).

At the same time, the characters / scenery / imagery still maintained its solid drawing style, implying a sense of dimension. Subtle details, such as secondary action and overlapping action, abound in the animation, indicating a sense of physics not obtained with much modern animation.

All in all, character appeal, physics, and an attention to detail make it one of the most widely-appealed MLP series-es of all time.

Confound these Ponies!

Yep, another brony blogger, another railfan blogger, and another point at which Equestria and the real world collide.

So let the randomness begin!