@Phorm I know EXACTLY who you're talking about, and yeah, that's the one. Seems like a nice enough guy and, hey, I put up with Rik's military fetish for 15 years (though to be fair, Rik "likes" military imagery the same way I "like" Elder Gods, body horror, and parasitic wasps: morbid awe). But yeah, feels like it's indulging something that the Mane Six and their personalities were intentionally written to NOT represent...

@zebratron2084 @Phorm

YES. I have always hated guns in pony fanart, mainly because one of the reasons I got into MLP:FiM in the first place was to get the heck AWAY from all the violence-and-war-soaked horror as entertainment that was popular at the time.

To the point that, after "May the Best Pet Win" aired, when I saw some post on ponychan where the guy was saying "Rainbow Dash sang 'fast like a bullet'! That PROVES ponies have GUNS WARFARE MURDER etc." I wanted to SLAP the guy.

@zebratron2084 @Phorm

I know the artist, and I am ever envious of his level of detail... not thrilled with the guns, but I cannot dispute the technical skill in the slightest.

He seems mostly harmless, and I hope I'm not wrong.

@JulieSqveakaroo @Phorm Yeah, I've never seen anything toxic or pathological or hateful about any of his work -- and I can even objectively, sociologically understand how a perfect goodnatured person would be fascinated with guns.

Rik taught me a lot about that: they're admittedly kinda neat in the same way that I find old vending machines super-neat. They're mechanical and fiddly and have a lot of culture around them. I don't think arming Equestrians is necessarily a sign of a bad personality trait or anything, especially since I know Fallout: Equestria is a real and very well-rounded thing, though I've kinda ignored it otherwise.

I even like guns a whole lot when I'm behind my laptop and there are things made of pixels trying to kill me. :) But then, say, Nuclear Throne and Enter the Gungeon arguably have the exact opposite of machismo behind their portrayals of being armed... (And I was always more of a Shovel/Casey/melee kinda gal anyhow.)

I just find them substantially unsexy. Like, a cigar rates something like 1500 milliBuscemis and a gun is maybe 500-800 depending on the context.

@JulieSqveakaroo @Phorm Fascinatingly, a sword or axe is only maybe 250 milliBuscemis' worth of unsexy, even though the people they're used on end up just as dead, further evidence I shouldn't make a moral thing out of this. And a dagger is even less, maybe even running into the 100-150 milliDanson* range.

and of course a woman with a trebuchet, mangonel, catapult, or onager is just sexy as hell. same goes for a nuclear missile (cf. Tetsuo, Arial).

(*this of course is the SI unit of being unexpectedly sexy despite utter antiquation)

@zebratron2084 @JulieSqveakaroo

That is a fascinating observation that I have to admit agreeing to.

Like, a shotgun is probably ~1200 mBuscemi on my scale. But on the other hand, a girl with a Flechette Gun a la Molly Millions? Wooooo *Fans self uncontrollably*

For some reason, I have always loved unrealistic, absurd, and impossible weapons - while more or less reviling real ones.

@Phorm @zebratron2084 @JulieSqveakaroo

where does networked orbital gun platform that fires cans of unpleasantly warm soda at people to ruin their meal rank?

@001zlnv @Phorm @JulieSqveakaroo for me? off the scale sexy.

for the record, the three canonical major Vexalyne soda brands in Parallax are "Warm," "Meh," and "Uncle Fluffy's Tuna* Soda"

* now comes in salmon, herring, and sea urchin!

@zebratron2084 @Phorm @JulieSqveakaroo

but not "uncle fluffy's squid ink for gamers"

@001zlnv @Phorm @zebratron2084

... affectionately named "The Pew-Pew Dew Spew"

@Phorm @JulieSqveakaroo

Yeah, I have real similar weaknesses.

I mean... rayguns. Even if they do have lethal purpose. Put enough flanges and wibblers on them and they're like 6 kDansons.

Although strangely, now that you mention it, i found Michael Caine wielding a shotgun in Get Carter INCREDIBLY sexy. but it's all about the way he wielded it. subtlety and reserve are much sexier than martial bravado or steely resolve in my whole kinkmath.

@Phorm @zebratron2084

Not going to lie... the more 'TankGirl' the scale of sureality and oversized insanity of the weapons... yeah... that's hot.

@JulieSqveakaroo @zebratron2084

I can speak to his being extremely kind, thoughtful, and inclusive. He's very understanding, and he's never been in the least bit awful from what I've observed.

I've interacted with him at conventions, and even in person (he's somewhat local to me, and I've picked up commission from him). He also streams regularly, and I'll confess I watch them passively from time to time.

His love of weapons seems to be of the "Historical and Technical Appreciation" variety. My own squicks being what they are, I'm still not thrilled when I see Rarity holding a 50 Cal sniper rifle, but I'll confess that's probably my hangup.

The issue I tend to see, at least in that community, is that very often "I want my ponies to have GUNS" is a prelude to "Oh, by the way I'm fashy as hell, too". He does not seem to fit that description in the least, by by estimation.

@Phorm @zebratron2084

Genies?

@KinkyTurtle @zebratron2084

Yes, very much many genies.

Kinda an interest of mine, I suppose, and this particular artist has a very nice classical take on Anthro genie ponies.

@Phorm @zebratron2084

I wondered if that might have been an autocorrupt of "ponies". :}

@KinkyTurtle @zebratron2084

Geniefication of ponies is not yet an automated corruption, but we're working on that technology.

@xinjinmeng @zebratron2084

You know, I had a real "Wait, what?" moment when Walter showed up in a later episode, given what he was open carrying there.

@Phorm @xinjinmeng @zebratron2084 Am I the only one around here who thinks he might not be carrying?

@Phorm @xinjinmeng @zebratron2084
I'm more confused that he and the guy next to him sit like bipeds and everyone else is on 4