I wanted to talk to you all today, since in a month or two is the one year anniversary of G5 Adventures, why I chose to start this series to begin with. All because I was shunned and bullied by one member of the Cinematic Adventures community named... Dramamaster'.

And since the event was... well... kinda hard for me, I'm going to have my friend Admiral Producer help me share my story and explain why this group and this series mean so much to me.

I respect his work more than anything, but... he had revealed to be a tyrant and a bully who thinks his poop doesn’t stink (that's the nicest way to put it).

The first year or two of being in the Cinematic Adventures program were nice. I mean, I read a lot of the stories and I commented in the forums and stuff. But then... I got a desire to do more.

I wanted to ask Dramamaster if I could help write some of the stories and help lessen the load on him and Enigma a little bit. And... well... this was his response.

"Mr. Enigma left me in charge of his absence. And under my orders, ALL future projects for the 'Cinematic Adventures' and terms of development are under management of the Grand Jury. No lower-ranked members are allowed to touch are work... especially you. You keep your nose clean and remember your place... or I'm expecting you to be trouble."

I know... it's crazy, right?

And then, I wanted to do my own series with G5, since it was inspired by Cinematic Adventures. And then... well... this is our conversation.

Me: I was hoping... you guys wouldn't mind if I made my own g5 take of movies? Like... a series inspired by Cinematic Adventures.

Him: No. We forbid it. Thank you.

Me: What is your problem with me?! I'm nice to you and Enigma, and yet I'm treated like trash! You're just... RUDE!! All I want to do is make my own story with g5 and my own plot line, and you don't even give it a chance! I want to know your problem with me, right here, right NOW. I don't want to take advantage of your own series or anything-- I just want to let my own creativity show with my own series in my own way! All I wanted to do was gain your respect... but you're just a bully. I wanted to help you on Cinematic Adventures so you didn't have so much on your plate, not take it over. I was being NICE. But now I see where THAT got me.

Him: Thank you for your honesty. But I gave you an honest answer and the only taking it personally is you. If that’s how you feel about my decision, consider this your last time in the Cinematic Adventures. Goodbye. You can come back in one week when you’re in good behavior.

I admit, maybe I did get a little mad, but... could you blame me? I was just forbidden from writing a story, and this site is what it's all about.

So... I wrote my series anyway, and I haven't been let back into Cinematic Adventures since. And that's fine. I enjoy reading their stories from time to time, but I finally get to see the stories I want written... well, be written.

After a couple of months or so, I wanted Admiral to reach out to Dramamaster, thinking we could put this behind us and form some sort of truce... maybe even become friends.

But... you guys might wanna brace yourselves for what you read.

Admiral Producer,
It has come to my attention that you wish to address some concerns surrounding a previous member of the Cinematic Adventures team, Ponydog127. To suggest that the two of us have had some sort of history whether it be with the series my boss has been developing for years and a series that this user made in my opinion out of 'spite' because it happened to share the exact same cinematic universe style that my boss started first... why don't we just start from the top? The very reason as to 'why' that user was blocked away from our group in the first place.

In actuality, it wasn't so much because of their G5 series that being the reason as to 'why' they were blocked... but it was the spark that set everything into conjunction. They were asking, practically 'begging' for us to consider a 'G5' crossover for the Cinematic Adventures and they wanted to write it for themselves. We're not talking like those commentaries in some of our stories, like recently a user incorporating the G5 cast to react to our renditions of the projects, I mean 'literally' a G5 Cinematic Adventure story not written by us. I made it very clear to Ponydog, under Mr. Enigma's behalf, that we did not 'want' that type of story included in our series nor did we even 'need' it because Mr. Enigma already had a vision of what he wanted. So, I politely told him 'No', that it was 'out of the question', and all we asked in return is a form of respect and understanding between a metaphorical employee and their superiors, in which case the ones who determine who get to stay in the group or who's banned from our activities.

And how does your 'dear friend' respond to me in return after I gave him an honest answer? They yelled at my face, they insulted me, and they claimed that I was being unreasonable. I should not be telling you what kind of friend they truly are because no matter what I say the only one who's going to know that user any better is the one who probably knows them the longest and in which case it happens to be 'you'. But this much has come based on a matter of impression: They are immature, they are unprofessional, they didn't 'think' before they 'spoke', they don't know how to take 'no', and if I was their boss who 'paid' them to stamp invoices or prepare houses for deploying chemicals for pest control or that boss who pays them to wait tables, would you think I would 'not' fire that employee if they yelled at me in that exact scenario? Or let's try another approach: If it was YOU that person yelled at, after you gave an honest answer that they weren't anticipating and they snapped at your face the same way they did to me, how would you feel after that?

And you want to know what's the kicker of this scenario? I didn't 'have' to block' Ponydog from the group, they 'chose' to leave... they 'wanted' out of the group, and we granted them that request as their 'right'. And because I had no doubt they were 'never' going to change their behavior, that this was the kind of person we'd expect, it was only 'then' that I decided to ban them so we can move on and focus on our work with more 'professional' members, ones who follow orders. And what does Ponydog do after that? It's then he decides to do his G5 crossover series, which just 'happened' to be Cinematic themed, and it just 'happened' to feature some movies that we were already 'planning' to do HEAVILY in advance. And even if Mr. Enigma did say it was fine with him, guess what? It was NOT fine with his second-in-command, that being the Dramamaster himself and to this day I've been VERY disappointed in your 'friend' ever since and all because he only wanted the answer that he 'wanted' to hear, not what he 'needed' to hear.

But you know what REALLY irks me? If he wanted to do something G5 related for the Cinematic Adventures, we had a Beta who makes commentaries using the G5 cast as I mentioned before and Ponydog could've just as easily worked with him as their assistant and together they could've come up with some solid material, albeit he works 'under' the Beta and the Beta is the one doing the actual posting. He claims that he's not trying to compete with our stories, but we've seen the way he's rushing with his work, he doesn't take ANY time to really put the effort in his work, and what he calls inspiration I see it as 'spite'. He claims that he didn't like the way he was treated for attempting to 'steal' out projects, but the fact of the matter is that I would've been more respectful to him if he showed more respect for the mods that make up the Cinematic Adventures team. We put time and effort into our work, we don't always get a new chapter in every day, but we always discuss all our ideas on the developmental stage as a team regardless of if we accept everyone's ideas or not.

After all of that, I have NOTHING more to say to Ponydog because they 'made' their choice a long time ago and now they have to live with it. Whatever they want to do it's their choice, they are no longer a concern for either me or even Mr. Enigma. They may as well just do us all a public service and just leave us alone. But I wouldn't expect you to understand my frustration. Your his friend and as such under a matter of bias, no matter what I say you'll always take their side and that I cannot argue with because I would do the same for my friends. What I 'am' hoping for is you at least take this time to understand 'why' this happened in the first place.

Anyways, I got too many things going on and I have no time to build mountains out of molehills. The Cinematic Adventures team has so much to do, and we have so little time to waste.

Good day to you.

So... it doesn't look like we're gonna be friends after all. What he said really hurt, because despite me making stories at a very quick pace, I do take my time coming up with ideas beforehand.

I do want to say something though. Admiral, you're a big reason why I'm still writing.

You all are.

Without your friendship and support, I might never have gotten out of these low points in my life, and now, I'm so honored to be writing for you all now.

If your opinion of me based on these messages change and you decide to leave that's fine. I know my true friends will stay beside me no matter what.

I'm with ya, friend! Even if not all of your stories interest me, I'll never stop following you!

I’m With You Too Keep Up The Good Work.

You got some fans, me included. Besides, I like seeing the G5 gang going on these adventures.

7924244
You may not know me but don't you worry, I have Discord dms with Eldorado so I'm gonna present this post to him and I'll make sure he gets punished

7924244
As someone who is also shunned and blocked by dramamaster, I know how you feel

We aren’t on speaking terms, either

And it’s been four years almost since we fell apart

And then, he blocked me.

What was the reason why it wasn't allowed?

I don't remember exactly, but I guess they didn't want any competition.

I still don't understand why people running a group that's the literary equivalent of mashing different action figures together have egos the size of galaxies and unironically throw around sentences like "under my orders, ALL future projects for the 'Cinematic Adventures' and terms of development are under management of the Grand Jury." I couldn't utter such a sentence without laughing, I don't think.

I have even less understanding why anyone would willingly associate with such people. Everyone who writes their own stories instead of joining this cult of movie reskins is doing the right thing.

Incidentally I'd love input on how to actually solve this problem; to date, basically everybody who's ever reported them for this behavior has explicitly said they don't want me to ban them. Which makes me completely unable to do anything, really. I'm tempted to just ignore them and actually start throwing down some real ban time, but if the people in charge don't change their ways and I end up having to completely destroy the Cinematic Adventures team, a whole lot of those same people are going to be mad about that, so, I've thus far largely stayed uninvolved except to warn people that fire is hot and then sigh when they go full-body diving in there anyway.

7924244
Yeah, even I'm starting to get fed up with him. The guy is a fking control freak, plain and simple. But hearing this... yeah, I just unfollowed and blocked him. I also just left the Cinematic Adventures group and this time... permanently.

The dark chapter in the history of the MLP fandom would finally be closed.

7924274
Why don't you just do it already then?

It would give these people, especially Dramamaster, a massive reality check.

7924281
But then, if people found out that our group was responsible for the whole 'ban Dramamaster strike', they'd start attacking us.

I guess separating the fanfic from the author is not enough.

I do agree something needs to be done about Dramamaster and his abuse of power. But... I'm just not sure what.

What do you think, @Admiral Producer?

7924283
That's... a very good point.

7924281
Well, for one, it's because most of the stuff they do isn't itself all that actionable in itself. I'm not banning someone for calling you "dumb," or not wanting to be your friend. That's what most of this stuff boils down to; messages where it's anything really significant are incredibly rare. In most of these cases, the solution is for the person being treated so poorly to just leave the group. I can't force them to be your friends. I can't force them to implement your ideas in their fanfiction. They've got such massively inflated egos that they declare people Untouchables for daring to suggest that their stories aren't divinely inspired Magnum Opera without flaw or imperfection, and as much as I personally think that's ludicrous and insane I can't ban someone for having a fat ego.

I can tell people to just leave the group and go write their ideas anyway, and I do. They frequently tell me very explicitly that they don't want to get anyone banned, they just want the rudeness to stop. I tell them that's impossible. But then everybody goes back to the group for more. And then they get treated harshly again, and come crying to me again. And now, I actually have quite a bit less sympathy for the "victim" in the matter because you knew the stove was hot and you slapped your palm down on it anyway.

They like trying to suppress competition and insist that only THEY are allowed to write stories a certain way, which is insane. This is fanfiction; they didn't ask Hasbro's Grand Jury for permission, they just started writing. Y'all can just leave the Cinematic Adventures group and write your own stories at any time. They can't stop you. They can't ban you from the site or revoke your stories, because for all their pompous bluster about how glorious and powerful they are, I'm significantly more powerful and I say you can stay. They can kick you out of their group, but... oh no, now you don't have to listen to the Holy Imperial Mandates of the Grand Exalted High Emperor or whatever the hell. How horrible that would be.

As I see it, Option A is I can get aggressive with them and start handing out bans, but that'll likely end with the High Congress of Nonsense getting completely destroyed and the group basically ceasing to exist. Option B is I leave things as they are, and everybody who continues to willingly associate with them just has to accept that they're going to get mistreated over minutiae and that's just the cost of doing business with whatever drug they infuse these stories with to keep y'all on the hook. I don't see an Option C. Would love to be shown one! I'm only human, and it's possible I've missed something! But I don't know how to fix this in a way that's not going to anger everybody all over again when the group inevitably doesn't survive the leadership purge that will almost certainly ensue if I start down that road.

7924297
I kinda thought that maybe we could state our opinions on the matter someplace Dramamaster could see, but... then again, standing down might be the best option.

But then again... I don't like the thought of doing nothing.

7924290
I haven’t seen anything outright objectionable from them yet aside from Dramamaster’s ego-filled PM messages, but you keep me informed and if there’s evidence of them doing something nasty to anyone again, then I’ll be sure to let Eldorado know about it.

7924297
Ok, I get it. You didn't have to be salty about it, I was just asking.

But yeah, I'm choosing to leave the group. Permanently this time.

The reason I went back there was because a good friend of mine was one of the admins there.

7924303
That's your choice, and I respect it.

7924302
Definitely. I haven't heard from Dramamaster since you talked to him last, but... I hate standing by and doing nothing.

Hey... I got an idea! Anyone wanna help spread word to all your friends on Fimfiction and followers about our group?

If Cinematic Adventures wants to fight, we need to put up one of our own. And that means getting the word out about our group in any way possible.

7924303
That wasn't intended to be salty, I'm sorry you took it that way. I was just trying to be thorough.

7924301
What does "stand down" even mean in this context? Are we in a battle? I don't understand what's going on here.

7924311
Well, they ARE our competition, and they've treated so many people this way other than me. I guess I just want justice for that.

7924308
By getting word out, you meant by promoting our group, or something else?

7924313
Yep-- whether promoting it on Youtube, on our blogs here in Fimfiction-- it needs to be shared. We are stronger together after all.

7924302
Admiral, do you think you could either advertise the group, the series and what you think is important about it on your blog and maybe on your YouTube channel?

7924315
Does promoting it on "The Shameless Self Promotion Bureau " might help or no?
The Shameless Self-Promotion Bureau

I also have Deviantart, Twitter, Discord, and Tumblr

7924320
Promote it on there too! Anyway you can!

7924312
Right, and if they need slapped around I'll happily slap them around, even if it completely destroys the group. I'd thought that this attitude would have chased most of the people away by now, though, and it just hasn't materialized. Most of what gets reported is just unfair and unjust behavior that isn't really against site rules, and the people being mistreated just refuse to leave the group. It's like talking to brainwashed cult members half the time.

If they do any kind of organized "attack" against you guys, which I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to, but if they do anything clearly in violation of site rules, I can have their entire "team" banned in 30 seconds. There's no "fight" for them to win, here. You guys should just do your thing regardless of what they say about it.

7924322
I think you're right. Hey, do you mind sharing our group to anyone else you might know?

7924324
I don't know anyone who I think would be interested, and I would caution you against just blanket-spamming out messages about it. Post in Shameless Self-Promotion Bureau and some other places, sure, or blog about it or specifically reach out to people you're pretty sure are going to be interested, sure. But be careful of being annoying to people; that's not going to win you any sympathy. If you ever find yourself copy-pasting a message or thread post or something to say the exact same thing (or something very similar) somewhere else, you're probably spamming.

It's honestly been awhile since anyone's come to me whining about Cinematic Adventures, but I do encourage everyone who does so to leave the group, find alternatives, or otherwise consider writing their own material.

7924326
Dually noticed.

Those heartless scoundrels!

7924378
I... I wanted to thank you too, Toonwriter. You're one of my closest friends on here too, you know.

7924244
Hey I've just commented back then on one of their stories about a possible plot hole and how their animation style on both of the movies doesn't add up and they've just completely blocked me from commenting on their jurassic park crossover and their other stories. This is how petty and hotheaded they get no rational reason. Getting petty and worked out is not the way to go that's why I stopped being associated with Drama Master, Enigma and the rest of their Cinematic Adventures if they can't take a comment which a perfect praise for them because they see it as 'destroying' their work.

7924391
I'm sorry that happened to you.

7924392
Well at I least know you still take the time to calm down and talk even if its a bit of a struggle for you the moment I tried to ask the villain man's death in "Scooby Doo and the Witches Ghost". I tried to question a comment like that in one of the Cinematic Adventures stories and Dramamaster and Enigma blocked my ass a long time ago with such a petty attitude and I didn't even know it until I tried to comment on their Jurassic Park Crossover story. I didn't even get a message back why. That's how these people get all riled up for just starting a discussion about the story. Isn't that what the comments are for?

...I appreciate you all sticking by me like this. I... honestly thought that if I told you guys what happened, you'd side with Dramamaster instead.

7924416
Not every story you write interests me, but im still drawn to your series nonetheless.

7924389
Thanks, pal.