@CMC Scootaloo  
Keep telling yourself that.

@CMC Scootaloo  
I hardly doubt eg will end. Chances are boulder media will take over and continue the series, even if it means they’ll continue separately from g5

@mjangelvortex
 
“Or alternatively, the leaks were legit but they later dropped the concepts entirely due to both the fan backlash and the studio change.”
 
Perhaps because of the fan backlash. As far as I remember, word that Hasbro has plans with Boulder Media has already gotten around before the leaks happened.  
But fan backlash is entirely possible. Which still wouldn’t explain why the hacker claimed the concept arts came from a DHX server then, when Hasbro had already decided that Boulder Media is going to make Generation 5 at that point, though.  
But if it was like this that backlash made Hasbro abandoning the idea, then I hope Hasbro has learned from it and realized that it will be better to continue My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with a sequel in Generation 5 and to have different ponies/creatures (Student Six, anyone?) as the manecast of the sequel.  
It would be the smarter decision for a lot of reasons.

@mjangelvortex
 
“The show is nearly ten years old. That’s not “ending prematurely”.”
 
The problem with that logic is, that you measure it in years and in number of seasons. But it can’t work that way. You can’t say “A show ends at the right time if it gets ten years old” or “It’s the right time to end it if it has reached nine seasons”.  
Doing that would be a generalized way to measure when a show will end. But shows have so many different genres, so many different settings, so many different styles, there is a multitude of all that, too much to generalize it and to find the one perfect length for TV shows.  
Compare “The Simpsons” with “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. The former show is a simple, comedic Slice of Life show about the residents of a rather small town somewhere in America. It still keeps going, yet it should have ended a long time ago, because the potential has run out long ago due to the small setting. “The Simpsons” was always meant to be set in that small town, that’s the entire point of it, switching the plot to a different town to make the show last longer would immediately defeat its purpose. So they stayed there in that town even until today and despite that the potential has run out, they keep making it and making it and probably repeat the same things to new generations of the audience that don’t know earlier seasons of it. “The Simpsons” has gotten stale and boring, that can be rightfully said.
 
“My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” draws from a whole world. And a huge cast of characters. It’s not set in just Ponyville. It is set in other towns and cities and places of Equestria in regular patterns. It doesn’t solely focus on the manecast, it occasionally makes episodes entirely about secondary characters, even has the occasional moment that tells a little story about a background pony. It’s a show made in a way that gives you a feeling for the entire world it’s set in.  
And that is why it could last another nine seasons without getting stale or feeling boring. It has a whole world and its population and tons of unexplained lore to draw from, all things that “The Simpsons” doesn’t have.
 
When a show ends prematurely and when it doesn’t isn’t and shouldn’t be defined by the number of seasons or by a subjective feeling of “I think that’s enough”. It should be defined by it how much individual potential the show in question has.  
“The Simpsons” and “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” are two different shows in two different styles with different amounts of potential. You can say that “The Simpsons” should have ended after ten seasons, but the same approach won’t work with “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”.  
That is why “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” ends prematurely after nine seasons. Its potential is far from used up and all the remaining potential it has left, which is still a ton, will mostly lay dormant once the show is over. It could go on for much longer.  
And considering that, I sincerely hope Generation 5 will be a sequel that keeps the same universe and world. A hard reboot would be a shame because of how much potential it would send down the drain.

@Background Pony #7D9D  
Thank you.
 

@mjangelvortex  
This comment deserves an award!
 

It was fun while it lasted. And I’m glad we’ll still have reruns and fan content after everything is all said and done.
 
@Someguy88  
@IceKitsune  
Yep. This has been my experiences with other fanbases too. For example, the description brought up the Invader Zim film that’s coming out in August. That fanbase has been making fan content for a long time and hasn’t really stopped.
 
Likewise, the Mother video game series ended over a decade ago and it still gets fanmade content and attention (it getting exposure through the Smash Brothers games helps). Likewise, Transformers G1 still gets a ton of attention (both officially and by the fanbase) even though it ended in the late 80s and despite the fact that Transformers has made multiple adaptions after G1.
 
@Invader-Dreji  
@Background Pony #B6F4  
It’s always good to look at the cup as half full. A lot of those existing series and upcoming series do have a lot of promise in them too.
 
@CMC Scootaloo  
Some shows aren’t even lucky to last two or three seasons let alone nine. The show is nearly ten years old. That’s not “ending prematurely”. Far from it.
 
The show was planned to last this long since 2014. Compare this to EQG where they did plan additional specials for season 2 (including a season finale) and season 3 but were ultimately cut short early.
 
And while I wouldn’t mind if it continued some more, I’m also okay with it ending this season like this.
 
@CMC Scootaloo  
Or alternatively, the leaks were legit but they later dropped the concepts entirely due to both the fan backlash and the studio change.
 
@CMC Scootaloo  
And that’s okay. I’m just hoping people don’t get too overzealous with the recommendations like the early days of the fandom.

@CMC Scootaloo  
It’s not ending prematurely, it’s just ending.

@Background Pony #7D9D
 
Not if it means to end something prematurely. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will end it prematurely, before it can unfold its full potential. That’s the shame about it.  
Well, unless Generation 5 isn’t a reboot (or only a soft reboot) and it is instead a sequel to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. That is currently still a possibility and it would not be an unlikely development, considering the success of G4 and the tremendous risk it is to reboot a franchise.

@CMC Scootaloo  
Honestly, no. G5 should build on that concept and make it better. Change is good.

@Background Pony #7D9D
 
You can’t compare My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with that show. It has vastly more potential, especially because it doesn’t rely on a tiny cast of two or three characters. That comparison doesn’t add up.

@Background Pony #7D9D
 
That isn’t your call to make. Also, it’s condescending to say that the preservation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is important so that future generations can see it and to get new people into the fandom? I think that was enough Internet for today.

@CMC Scootaloo  
Same people wanted Fairly Odd Parents to keep going, and look what happened, now anyone who petitions it to keep going, is told to get a life by former fans, and rightfully so.

@CMC Scootaloo  
Condescending much, pfft.

@CMC Scootaloo  
G4 has gone on long enough. And personally I like the ideas from the leaks of Spike actually being raised by Dragons as opposed to ponies.

@IceKitsune
 
Well said and I’m glad someone with experience can vouch for that. Once My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is over, it will be very important to preserve it for future generations and to advertise it to interested people so that we can keep the fandom stable and active.

@The New Pony
 
Just because EQG ends doesn’t mean G4 does. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic still has 13 episodes left. And the official comics and the new manga series will continue beyond the end of the show even.  
There’s no end of G4 in sight just yet.

@Background Pony #9A92
 
The hacker said, when posting the stuff he stole, that he got the content from a server at DHX. Which included the G5 Reboot concept arts. But now we know that DHX won’t even work on Generation 5 and that Boulder Media will do instead.  
Since DHX isn’t the company that will work on Generation 5, it will not have any concept arts for Generation 5 lying around. So the hacker can’t have these supposed Generation 5 Reboot concept arts from a DHX server like he claimed. Which means he faked them to make it look like that. Only the other stuff about Generation 4 is legit (since the concept arts are fake, it’s likely the Meghan McCarthy mails in which she talked about G5 are fake, too), because we already saw a lot, if not all, of that getting confirmed in the show.  
The hacker either created those G5 Reboot concept arts themselves, or, the hacker who posted the leaks and the guy who posted the Generation 5 Reboot concept arts are two different people, with the latter using the situation with the hacks to gain some questionable Internet fame by trolling everyone and pretending he is the hacker.

TECHNICALLY The new Equestria Girls Special is the last for DHX! Not for the franchise! You’ve got to STOP thinking negative! I think positive ALL the time! Besides, Hasbro themselves didn’t say ANYTHING about EG officially ending! It’s just, DHX will no longer be producing EG anymore and it’s possible for Boulder Media to take over, BUT Nick Confalone and K. Hadley will no long be a part of a future Season. There’s been some rumors from Hasbro that their planning for season 3, and it could be possible that they’ll switch it to Boulder media instead of DHX!
 
It’s ALL up to Hasbro THEMSELVES to figure what to do for EQG! It’s NOT up to me, Not Nick Confalone, Not K. Hadley, not even up to you guys or the rest of the fandom either! HASBRO!!!!

@Someguy88  
Honestly it has been my experience, being in multiple fandom over the years, that fandoms very rarely completely die out even after years of being inactive. Fandoms really only hibernate at worst. Something will always be made, discussions will always be had and when something new comes up (like G5 in our case) it will wake up again until that has been discussed to death and ended then it goes back into hibernation again.
 
New people will always discover the show in some way or form and join the fandom to make stuff for it even after everything is over and done with.

@Someguy88  
True, but with the storyline of FIM wrapping up and Twilight and her friends becoming the rulers of Equestria, the fandom will slowly diminish…unfortunately.

Well I mean… it’s not like the entire fandom is going to shut everything down, right? We’ll still have fanart and fanfiction and stuff.
 
Also I still need to draw stuff for MLP.

@The New Pony  
Well said.

Farewell G4, you’ve given us an amazing 10 year ride. Your time on Tv may be coming to an end but your presence will live on Forever in the Hearts and work of those you touched and inspired. Salute!
 

@Background Pony #7039  
I have no faith in that.