What If? (Libra)

[Libra]

What if fluffies had actually made it to the sales floor?

This has been on my mind for a while, I don’t know why.

If Hasbio had successfully completed their fluffy project and the fluffies hadn’t been released early (Is it PETA in fluffy cannon or is that a person to person thing?); would they be a successful selling product?

I personally think fluffies wouldn’t be all that popular. Kid wants a toy pony, parents agree then learn they have to feed it and that it poops. Oh, let’s not forget that they can have set and make babies.

If fluffies had gone down this path, I believe they would have become a status symbol for the wealthy. The average person may not be able to afford them. Then there are the pet policies in apartments. Oh, they a toy? Okay, new fluffy policies for apartments. Fluffy fees please.

I aslo believe fluffy rights would be more of a thing and fluffies would be recognized as animals, not 5oys eventually and would be recognized as such. However, they are not a naturally occurring animal and could never be allowed to be out and about as feral. Abandoning a fluffy in the wild/streets would be equivalent to bio and environmental terrorism. Laws to protect the natural world (already need them because of humans) from fluffies would be needed.

I know this maybe more thought into the fluffy verse than needed; however, it sits in my mind and think it could be a fun concept to play around with.

Question 2: Would fluffies be better off in this world or the one they got instead?

Thank you for reading this thought thread.

[Jibboom]

They would be much better off in our world, for the reasons you gave. But imagine how their existence would be detrimental to us as humans! Our concept of natural, sentient life is mysterious and controversial enough as it is! Do we need to add biological AI to this spiraling nightmare?

[XNIGHTX]

I think they would sell pretty well they are pretty much just like dogs and cats all three shit and piss everywhere at less they are trained and taught otherwise the only difference is well they can talk simple constructed sentences. Otherwise they are all the same their attitude is based on how you raised and train them.

[Scum]

There’s nothing you stated that I disagree with. In alot that I’ve read they were supposed to be a luxury custom pet and/or status symbol at least at first. I’ve also read alot that they were only supposed to sell sterile ponies to the public. As for fluffy fees in rentals well isn’t it a universal truth that landlords will get you any way they can?
But when it comes to bioengineering life I always remember the words of Ian Malcolm, “Life will find a way.” Eventually somehow someway they would escape captivity and establish a feral population. The end results being basically the same as shared cannon. Maybe fluffy abuse could be seen as a form of protest against the wealthy or classism.

At the end of the day fluffies are what you want 'em to be and I, for one, appreciate sharing of other’s interpretations.

[Scum]

I find myself thinking of fluffies more like parrots that any other pet. They’re loud, messy, fragile, require their own room, need a specific diet, they ‘talk’, they NEED attention, they die easy, and they only appeal to certain people.

[XNIGHTX]

True but so are alot of dog/cat breeds they are loud, fragile, need special diets and attention cats not so much on loud and attention but dogs yes

[I_might_be_weasel]

I think they would have a similar role to expensive, pure bred dogs. Recreational abuse and abandonment would be non issues given the cost. And they would definitely be sold sterile.

[XNIGHTX]

Yea but you know some people are gonna mess up and leave theirs able to breed

[Vanner]

If fluffies had been completed, they would be closer to alicorns in intelligence, temperament, and trainability. All their quirks and bugs would have been fixed, ranging from their brittle bones to their penchant for drowning.

They’d be uncommon because they’d come from Hasbio either already fixed or genetically neuter. Neuter is more likely, growing the biotoys one at a time rather than risking someone cloning a breeding pair or a scenario where they escape into the wild. You just tell the fluffy it’s a boy or girl, then buy Hasbio accessories for it in pink and blue.

Fluffies would be exotic, expensive pets like birds. People would see them as substitute children, and they’d be treated like the precious bundles of joy they were supposed to be.

They’d be too expensive to abuse and most people would be horrified at the idea of industrial abuse scenarios. Eating them would be completely out of the question.

Whether they’d gain rights is a matter for debate. I’d say no, as a successful product would never ask for self determination. “Fwuffy nu wan suffwage!”

[StoneRouge]

Instead of trying to answer this question myself, I say leave it to the two most analytical people on this website (In my opinion) to answer this question.

@Thk and @Oculusfluffy what are your thoughts on this?

[NobodyAtAll]

I did a story about exactly this.

[Oculusfluffy]

@Libra You know, its funny. I’ve been meaning to create an opinion piece regarding this topic. The question is not new, and has been asked a bunch of times. Heck, I had the idea for the opinion piece when I first saw this on the subreddit.

@Libra

What if fluffies had actually made it to the sales floor?

So here’s the first thing that came to my mind - a lot of fluffy stories have already depicted fluffies as being sold. So in a way, they already made it to sales floor in some canons.

@Libra

If Hasbio had successfully completed their fluffy project and the fluffies hadn’t been released early (Is it PETA in fluffy cannon or is that a person to person thing?); would they be a successful selling product?

@Vanner

If fluffies had been completed

That is assuming that fluffies in all or most canons aren’t completed. And that isn’t always the case. Some stories have it that Hasbio released fluffies as intentionally flawed. Assuming you were working with a canon stills et or close to MLP, or near post-Cleveland, then fluffies would be incomplete. But over time, the fiction became less about fluffies being incomplete, and more flawed, either due to intentional corporate oversight, or it being just a part of their nature.

While working on my Avocado series, I have been chatting @Carpdime about an idea that seems quite evident is that, at least in the “Avocadoverse”, that fluffies are based off a “My Little Fluffy” cartoon, which can be imagined to be a “Muppet Babies” version of MLP, the way fluffies were a cutesy baby-ish in-joke create by early bronies on 4chan. The idea behind this approach is that fluffies are complete the way they were intended, but poor management and the like resulted in them becoming a nuisance (at least first).

@Libra

I personally think fluffies wouldn’t be all that popular.

I really think that, for fluffies to be popular, they have to be based off something popular in-universe that spawned them. Its something I feel the anti-brony abusers never understood about MLP, let alone fluffies - for fluffies to be popular, they have to understand why people would want the product in the first place, and why MLP was the cultural phenomena it was at one time.

@Libra

Would fluffies be better off in this world or the one they got instead?

First response - there’s more than one world. Different artists/writers have different interpretations and headcanons. Some ideas are recurring, but you can’t say “the one they got instead”, because we all don’t operate within the same world. The Avocadoverse does not take place in one with The Fall of Cleveland, and I imagine the same might apply to Plum, and so on.

Second response, I’ve been writing Avocado in that vein. Where fluffies are treated as a sort of sentinet pet with rights, but their population was the result of poor management due to being an “animal marketed as a toy”.

I recommend reading an opinion piece I also did regarding whether fluffies are an animal or biotoy. And I need to get round to writing the opinion piece regarding my opinion that fluffies are perfect “they way they are”.

@Vanner

Whether they’d gain rights is a matter for debate. I’d say no, as a successful product would never ask for self determination. “Fwuffy nu wan suffwage!”

I feel there is a distinction between a fluffy that is sold as a product by a coproration, and a fluffy that was born feral and only knew the free life. Or better yet, a fluffy that has seen the horrors of living under humans, and preferring living the free life. Its part of the reason why I feel that the Blade Runner approach should be seen with fluffies - how much rights should fluffies have, based on their restrictions? Of course, its very much open to debate, and there are no easy answers.

[Libra]

Oh! What is the name, I’d like to check it out.

[NobodyAtAll]

I wasn’t gonna namedrop any of my stories unless I was asked to do so. I’m trying not to plug them so much.

But the story I’m talking about is called “Yhprum’s Law”. It ties into another story, “Fluffycide: Sorry, We’re Closed!”, but the basics of that story are covered at the start of “Yhprum’s Law”.

The Fluffycide story was supposed to be an homage to ginger_fig, and also a deconstruction, but NaruEve said it came across as a hatefic, so I wrote “Yhprum’s Law” primarily to make up for that.

I’ve said this before, I’ve said a lot of things before, but a few of my stories were written specifically to address complaints made about other stories.

Because I listen.

[OtherCoraline]

If Hasbio had a 100% lock on fluffy production (i.e. sell only gilded stallions. Advertise different colors as mares or stallions. All mares are kept in breeding facilities and never see the outdoors) then Hasbio would make out like a bandit.

Fluffs would initially be a status symbol for the rich. But as the novelty wore off, there would be cheaper “budget” alternatives. It would allow regular income people to finally nab a fluffy, but there would still be alicorns and MLP Mane 5 colored fluffies that would to pricey for a regular person. That way Hasbio caters to both the hardcore and the casual.

When fluffies only breed in controlled breeding environments, and all units out in the public and neutered, that means no ferals whatsoever. Population is low and no one would dare throw out a fluff. There may be a few runaways, but without the ability to breed, no long term herds would be able to form.

Without herds destroying the ecology and economies, people wouldn’t hate fluffies. It’d either be you like fluffies or have no interest, like any hobby. So without that hate, they would be closer categorized to animals and living things.

tl;dr If Hasbio kept a hold of fluffy production, the majority of fluffy lives would the hugbox dream huggies and luvs and toysies that they all hope to achieve.

[NobodyAtAll]

That’s pretty much what I think would happen.

They wouldn’t stay a status symbol for the rich, I mean, shit, they were made for children.

Demand would be through the roof, and in a world where Hasbio is smart enough to prevent the PETA break-in, they would also be smart enough to not ignore the opportunity.

I’m pretty sure that every girl wants a pony at some point during her childhood. And obviously, fluffies don’t need a stable, so actually owning one is more feasible than actually owning a pony. Lots of people have a spare room, and converting it into a saferoom is child’s play compared to building a stable.

Point is, fluffies might start as something only rich people have, but I don’t think that would last very long. About as long it takes for the dollar signs to appear in the Hasbio suits’ eyes. There might also possibly be some kind of KA-CHING! sound.

[Arch]

I doubt it would’ve been anything more than a fad that would’ve been quickly outlawed for the highly questionable ethics of genetically engineering a creature that’s intelligent enough to speak, for the sole purpose of selling as a toy.

[Thk]

Q1
Very much based on Hasbio and the world itself. Worldbuilding never focuses on the broader implications of the existence of the technology.

The first time the pubic is made aware is always through Fluffies. In some ideas Hasbio is the only company who ever had that tech and it was destroyed while no other entity pursues it.
In others the tech is readily available, but only used for Fluffies.

I’d have to stick mostly to the US as my interpretation, and using my idea of how they were intended to be sold (sterilized, two years old but looking like a baby their entire lives, sold as a herd, highly efficient digestive systems allowing them to eat almost anything including many poisons with minima physical waste, weak but durable (ish) with easily mending wounds, thirty year max lifespan, legal agreements that whatever happens is on you, highly complex programming which leads them to assume tropy roles like Determinator, Comic Relief, Lancer, TheDragon, Woobie, Villain With A Heart Of Gold, and so on).

1. Public reaction would be a shrug unless there was an incident (which this scenario precludes) or there is a culture war to be had. Given they would be pricey I doubt a politician would be able to get much traction, and the inevitable human gene editing to make superior babies and let furries live out their fantasies would overshadow Fluffies for religious wackos.
   They present the same danger as Deepfake tech, which has existed for like a decade with no real regulation.

2. Hasbio would have clever marketing, using accessories (playsets and vehicles), genetic defects (Gold Plastic Syndrome), nostalgia (premium $20 figures), and fan fanatics (super premium $400 figures) to basically market shit to folks their entire lives. Get a shirt printed with your favorite on it from a machine in the big themepark-like stores, reenact scenes from constant shows, and so on.

3. Hasbio couldn’t get away with calling them soap. They’d be classified as animals immediately. Modified animals, but animals. The difference would not factor until there’s a problem, though advocates would fight to get them human-like rights.
   The thing I’n exploring in my work, eventually, being the modified humans who see them as a bit like some fucked up cousins would start to come into play, though I imagine only in standard Fluffverse is the public so distracted by the Fluffies that Lab Brats (my modified humans) start popping up for nonpoor families. The regulation on their existence and broader discrimination would keep them rare.

Q2
Far better. The way I see it Abuse is culture. A culture that would not have existed in the same way that skinning Bengal Cats on Halloween or Friday 13th is.
Fluffies would certainly die by accidents. But I doubt they’d be anywhere near as fragile. Hasbio would plan lifespans with human age milestones, ensuring they’d sell you shit your whole lives.

Summary

[ripoffMcgee]

They would have been very different from fluffys we have know . They definitely would not be able to breed hell they may not even have a defined sex, they would also show a lot less agency they would act more like an npc in a game than how they are now .

[NobodyAtAll]

I can see Hugbox v. Abuse becoming the next Roe v. Wade.

I imagine more liberal parts of the world would lean towards hugbox, and would be quicker to make laws for the benefit and protection of fluffies, while more conservative parts of the world would be neutralbox at best.

Though I don’t think any pro-abuse movement would gain much traction on a national level, for the same reason that, say a pro-slavery movement wouldn’t gain much traction: because a lot of people, even the most diehard of conservatives, wouldn’t want to be associated with that, even if it’s just because it would be PR suicide. They might privately agree, but they wouldn’t publicly endorse it.