@Background Pony #CC5B
 
I don’t think LyraBon took off because the characters stood next to each other and that automatically meant they were together. I mean, everytime any pair of characters has a bedroom eyes screenshot you see it on imageboards with text on it with angry sex being demanded (usually in jest, sometimes not)
 
But when the fan interpretation of said characters “clicks” it gets legs and becomes its own thing, which is why these parts with these two make it in into the show material on purpose; this is how popular it’s become.
 
In this case, the fanon interpretation of these background characters made sense for the ship (it’s hazy whether their fan-proposed dispositions existed before and were the key to the fan support or were modeled to serve their relationship). It isn’t a crack pairing between established characters with lines. This is why it is successful.
 
This is also why Octascratch is successful.
 
And (depending on your “version” of each character), I ship them both. So nyah.

@Background Pony #774E  
“It’d be better if they didn’t at all so that the shippers wouldn’t lose their damn minds”
 
You’re exaggerating. Voicing excitement =/= does not equal losing their minds.
 
Also, tough potatoes, they did this scene anyway. It excites the current shippers and gives more attention cause so much of the fandom built this idea up.
 
“if all you’re going to say to people who don’t like the shipping is “Shut up, your opinion sucks.””
 
One could say the same about others saying to the people who DO like the ship is ‘Shut up, your opinion sucks”, just as much. Considering shippers are by nature more defensive then the opposite, the latter seems to happen more often then the former.
 
Being either a shipper or a non shipper isn’t inherintely bad, obviously. But there’s a difference between a non shipper and a killjoy. Just like the difference between a shipper and someone who shoves their ship in people’s faces where shipping isn’t even a topic. (This IS a shipping topic page, so why are you even here?!)
 
Point is, those extremes are the exceptions, not the casual norm. They have more important things to worry about.

@Background Pony #8286  
It’d be better if they didn’t at all so that the shippers wouldn’t lose their damn minds and also if all you’re going to say to people who don’t like the shipping is “Shut up, your opinion sucks.”

@Background Pony #CC5B  
So…what exactly are you asking? That if MLP actually wants to imply a ship indirectly without taking the direct heat Adventure Time took, all shippers should just stay silent, be quiet, and not be excited in the least? Its statistically impossible that they weren’t oblivious to the fandom quirks with all the fandom shoutouts in the show and movies already.
 
In other words, when its obvious, stop complaining. Let it go. The writers of MLP do not live in some magical realm where only platonic feelings exist. Let them do their little nods to the fanbase.
 
And as for the fanbase obsessed with shipping, what exactly do you expect?
 
MLP:FiM creates a unique environment that’s the opposite of most normal shows. Instead of a group of males and females who make fun little DIRECT hints or teases at shipping toward each other, we have 6 females that are adults yetare almost completely innocent to the idea of dating, with the exception of Rarity and Spike, but they are so co-dependent on each other in different ways that the idea of intimacy is not far off, even if it almost never actually happens in the show.
 
They’ve created a completely natural shipping-nexus.
 
And do the writers know that, and exploit that? Oh most definitely, they confirmed being self-aware of their own shipping teases back in early S4. Just because they’re not making main character ships happen and canon, doesn’t mean they’re not going to exploit indirect shipping teases and background pony ships maliciously.

@Background Pony #CC5B  
I just want it known that I am not a non shipper, I’m closer to an omni shipper really.

@Background Pony #774E  
@OneOverTwo  
Indeed, it kinda bugs me to that we can’t have that, or ever have two characters be platonic friends. In the case of LyraBon it’s always been, “These two are standing next to each other! They must be lovers!” I never got that, though I’m probably one of the few bronies not into ‘shipping.
 
Also, I hope this doesn’t mean we can’t still portray them as “platonic friends” now without taking heat from fans going, “They’re gay! Even EqG2 says they are! You can’t make them hetro’, or just friends! It’s not canon! Yer a homophobe/jerk if you don’t support popular pairings like this!” Honestly, if it were up to some ‘shipping-crazed fans every character would be a lesbian. (Though, I will admit even some hetro’ pairings like say DiscoShy, and ApplejackXBigMac are just as weird, and oddly popular to… I miss the days when crack-pairings were just meant to be funny, but many are actually quite serious about those. I also find RariSpike odd, or at least when he’s still portrayed as a kid… Which is kinda creepy.)  
This fanbase is oddly quite obsessed with ‘shipping, which is honestly my only beef with the brony fandom, as much as I love being a part of it.  
It’s because of that, I’m becoming more of a fan of “platonic” relationships between characters in the show. Is there ANYONE else like that here?
 
I mean, people can ‘ship all they want, I’m not telling people to stop. I’m just wanting the fanbase, and show-runners themselves to respect us “non-shippers” to, or those of us that prefer platonic pairings.
 
@WatermelonRat  
It’s possible they intended it to be interpretated either way. Normally I defend “pandering” in the show/comic, but this might be a concept to heavily taken from the fanbase, I feel if it was intentional. (Which looks like it is.)

@OneOverTwo  
I think “ship tease” is the most accurate description for this. It’s not official, sure, but I have a hard time believing that the people who put this bit in were unaware of the fanon.

@Background Pony #774E  
I just don’t like that people keep saying “Confirmed” instead of “Heavily implied” or something.

What I find most ridiculous is that two people of the same gender can’t show affection for each other without some idiots automatically making it into a gay thing, whether it be someone for or against gay relationships.

There was no way this was accidental. Someone involved in animating this scene knew how it would be interpreted.

@aroddo  
No problem. My explanations are definitely a bit long winded, XD, but I like giving solid details. :)

@aroddo  
Haha, I like it.

@JeremyStorm  
verrrry hidden in the last page of FIM#20.  
They play “go fish”.

@aroddo  
>They even snuck in a Fallout Equestria:Project Horizons reference in the comics.
 
Seriously? That’s almost enough to make me want to check them out again.

@CronoM  
why, thank you for a more elaborate answer than I had any right to expect. :)
 
Personally I love the nods to the fandom.  
They even snuck in a Fallout Equestria:Project Horizons reference in the comics.
 
How can anyone complain against that? :D

 
Uhhhhhhh  
This is exactly what I feared would happen!  
Forget it, I’m walking away.

@Background Pony Number 17  
The fact that a homosexual relationship in a children’s cartoon would be considered ‘innapropriate’ makes me sick.

@Background Pony #6C38  
It reminds me more of “Madoka Magica: The Rebellion Story” when they tease the hell out of Kyoko x Sayaka during the entire movie. Then this happens.  
 
And cause some drama in the fandom and some people still deny it. Even though it should be pretty freaking clear to anyone with eyes that they are totally gay for each other.

@Background Pony Number 17  
Heh, yeah, there is definitely that Sailor Uranus and Neptune dynamic going into this ship right now.

@aroddo  
The reason is because its more then just a fan ship. Let me explain the backstory…
 
Essentially, if you didn’t know, lyra and bonbon have been put together in the background many, many times. The first few times were most likely random, but after the fandom grew attatched to the idea enough for a large amount of fan material to appear, instead of doing it less, DHX started to make them together even more frequently, even in the Background of Hearts and Hooves day. It even escalated to the point where their fandom status as the resident lesbian couple(voice changing pony and sitting/human obsessed pony). They were never given such a in-the-front role as they were as one of the competition in this movie, but they were already established in the covers of the official comics as the Background Mane 10  
>>326462  
and even the Background Mane 6, a concept spawned by the fandom prior but actually highlighted in the DHX approved comics later  
>>408540
 
So the debate was out of control between ‘proof or nothing’ or ‘its obvious their intentions’; A lot of positive feedback, but a lot of negative feedback towards the concept as well. Its obvious there would be, but its still disappointing.  
(Even as a (blank) in every other area, I have no issue with same sex shipping in fiction or real life…its 2014, and if were going for gender equality, make same-sex relations a social thing, not a religious thing. Lust in itself is a sin in most religions, but love isn’t, and I doubt its something any deity or karma we believe in is going to hang us with a noose over. So why should same-sex intercourse be treated any differently then male-female intercourse? Different gender intercourse was put on a pedestal because it encouraged reproduction, basic anthropology. That’s just my two cents.)
 
Back on topic, things then got more complicated when Lyra was shown hanging around (although not nearly as intimate as this) with a unicorn named Noteworthy in Filli Vanilli. There was some debate whether they were abandoning the background ship, if it ever existed or not, or whether Noteworthy was supposed to be Lyra’s brother, as there were some resemblances in cutie marks and eyes. About as much as Twi and Shining armor.
 
Inevitably, the background Lyra and Bon Bon shots didn’t stop increasing, so the Noteworthy debate eventually died down some.
 
Then came this movie..
 
This movie had no issue whatsoever in making things fanon, canon. EG’s did it a little with the derpy muffin tribute at the end, but this movie went all out with Vinyl/DJ-PON3’s altered Base Cannon, a concept born from a popular flash.
 
Personally? I can’t personally think of any other intention beyond making it obvious they were a couple here without getting the too extreme right-wing soccer moms involved(like a scene with them kissing). Rubbing cheeks together and looking at each other that way really has one implication that I can think of. (I’ve only been a casual shipper of Lyra and BonBon, all this got from me was a “wow, Cool :)” and a “props to you DHX.”) It ain’t generic shipping fuel, its high octane, mere inches away from the Adventure Time full on implication given about the two main female characters once dating.
 
Some of the people that were always negative feedback on this potential ship are more aggressive then ever, and some of the shippers are too excited to see their pairing ‘canon’. Both appear to talk about it so much they leave large heated arguments in their wake.

@JeremyStorm  
I’ve seen subs of the original Japanese versions of Sailor Moon S. The thing is, the writers never came out and admitted to Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune’s “friendship with benefits” in the show. That said, they implied THE HELL out of it, to the point where it was obvious to anyone watching what the writers were suggesting even if they weren’t actually stating it. So, turning them into “cousins” in the American dub wasn’t all that weird when you think about it. The folks doing the dubbing were expecting exactly the reaction you had to it.
 
I see the same thing happening with Lyra and Bon Bon here. The animators are having a laugh by suggesting something that, if made explicit, would be totally inappropriate for a children’s cartoon. So it’s not stated, just blatantly implied. We’re supposed to chuckle and nod, and go on as if nothing improper was happening.

@Background Pony #6C38  
I remember watching that when I was about ten. All I remember is thinking, I’ve never seen cousins act like that before.

[deleted]

@Peruvian_Pony  
I just thought it was a nice scene.  
I know about the LyraBonbon fanship, but I didn’t know that people got into heated arguments about this. :D