Are you a Brony? (AKA, are you a male who watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?)

Cafe Society
61

I’m female, so I didn’t vote in the poll. And I hesitated to post to the thread, too. I tend to try to hide my fandom vices from anyone who isn’t a fellow fan IRL, and some fandoms I hesitate to mention at all. Sadly, this is one of them, but not because of personal distaste or guilt, so much as a widely spread poor view of it, which I feel has been somewhat demonstrated in the thread already.

I’ve been to two Brony conventions (convention-attending is one of my favorite hobbies) with very different moods. One of them was a failed convention, and the second-worst convention I’ve ever been to. (Las Pegasus, if any of the self-professed bronies in the thread are curious.) People weren’t unpleasant, there were lots of guests, but there weren’t enough attendees and both the dealer room and artist’s alleys were kind of depressingly empty. The other con, on the other hand, was one of my favorite con experiences in recent memory. People were friendly and helpful to each other, I had a good time chatting with other fans in line, etc.

I’m sure one and I think both the cons had a complete ban on erotic works in the dealer and artist rooms. Both cons also had a range of attendees, male and female, some older than myself and some much younger, including children, and I didn’t see any sign of misbehavior. I saw one young woman in a Fluttershy costume asked by a normal hotel guest to pose with his daughters, who were clearly thrilled to be unexpectedly surrounded by ‘ponies.’

I won’t deny that the porn-creating section of the fandom can easily cause spontaneous, self-defensive blindness if viewed unexpectedly. And I will say that I do think some of the porn-lovers are genuinely fans, who like fans in many fandoms, want to dirty up their hobby for their own fun. I don’t really mind it as long as it’s clearly adults, drawing adult characters, for other adults. That said, I haven’t really had trouble avoiding porn, although I have made a slight effort to avoid it (I do not look at the MLP tag on tumblr, for example.)

Really, I think a lot of the bad rep is a mixture of people being annoyed by how big the fandom is, and the fact that a fandom so big means there’s a greater number of people who’ll be particularly ill-socialized. I’ve experienced that sort of behavior at sci-fi, comic and anime conventions, so I don’t think it’s unique to MLP. What may be unique to MLP is the combination of a poor impression going in from non-fans dealing with fans, and the increased chance that someone will have a bad encounter with a ‘brony’ because there are so many of them spanning a wide range of behavior.

62

You might be right. I try to avoid fanboys as much as possible. But there was another male fan, too, and he talked about Doctor Who and didn’t look at my tits, at least as far as I could say.

63

I’ve heard of the show though never seen it myself. However, the Brony phenomenon was first brought to my attention in the riotous episode that parodied this particular fandom on Bob’s Burgers.

64

I skewed your results. I didn’t watch My Little Pony but then I didn’t watch something else instead either. Not to be an “I’m above TV” snob but well … yes I’m one of those “I’m above TV” snobs I guess.

65

Well, Dr. Who has human women with boobs (and in the case of Pond, fantastic legs), so yours are less novel to Whovians than to Bronies.

66

Maybe they look smaller on the outside.

67

The current iteration, “Friendship is Magic” is a significantly different in nature and humour to the other versions.

Interestingly, the other versions have their own fans from unexpected demographics. There are massive fansites of forty-something year old women who adore and collect the toys of their childhood.

68

Good point!

I want to add something I remembered about this fanboi which was even more appalling: he was a 40 YO engineer who had recently moved here from Dallas. Can you not control yourself at 40?!

Thing is, I loved MLP when I was a child. But any interest I might have had in watching it kind of got turned off by his lecturing :eek:.

69

Absolutely not, and I find the phenomenon quite disturbing. Not so much the guys that just watch it (which I still don’t totally get, but whatever), but the weirdos who’ve made some whole lifestyle around it.

70

I am an engineer, and I work with other engineers. Most of us are “normal”, but there are some… let’s just say that they have no self-awareness to realize how socially oblivious they are. I suspect widespread Asberger’s, really.

I worked with a guy who just retired who was so clueless that he’d follow me into the bathroom hellbent on continuing whatever dull and pedantic rant he was on. He actually once tracked me down to show me a P&ID while I was using the urinal. He was in his 60s, and I’m sure he would’ve stared at any cleavage available* and probably made inappropriate comments.

  • Everyone has to wear uniforms, labcoats, or coveralls, so no one here dresses the sexy.
71

I like cartoons like Spongebob, Invader Zim, and Billy and Mandy, but I couldn’t watch MLP. Gave up during the first episode.

72

Rather than quote/reply to multiple posters, I’ll just comment a few things that were brought up previously in the thread,

-I agree with the idea that, just as watching re-runs of Star Trek in syndication doesn’t make one a Trekkie, just watching episodes of MLP:FIM doesn’t make one a Brony. I would say a Brony is a fan of the show does at least one of the following: buys merchandise, goes to conventions, follows MLP in other media (comics, games, novels, etc) creates/consumes original works, and/or visits and posts on Brony boards.

-It’s very much a kids’ cartoon. Unlike a lot of other cartoons that have appealed to both kids and adults, MLP doesn’t really derive it’s crossover appeal from snark, rapid-fire witty banter, edgy humor, or loads of pop-culture references packed into every episode. (Although fans can probably find examples of all of the above, especially in more recent episodes.) It also doesn’t depend on an immensely stupid character for humor, such as Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. I think MLP built its appeal on its very strong writing, characters, and development.

73

Also, I don’t think its fair to judge a show by its fandom. Any show or sub-genre successful enough to generate a passionate fanbase is going to have it’s share of jackasses and pervs. It stands out a bit more for Bronies because of their size/vocal internet presence and the squick factor of grown men getting into a show created for little girls.

74

Indeed, and people don’t like having their assumptions questions. It invites questions like, “Why can’t grown men like shows created for little girls? What is so different about shows created for little girls?”

The fact is, programming aimed at young girls has been, frankly, appalling for decades. There’s a few exceptions, but the fact that a show has been created that’s aimed at little girls but still has wider appeal is to be lauded.

75

MLP is aimed at young girls but why does that automatically mean an adult male can’t like it? It’s obvious to me that the writers of MLP by and large don’t write the kind off tepid treacle which most kids shows contain. This is the main appeal of the show for adults.
BTW I just want to point out that this isn’t the first show that is popular with adult males that was originally aimed at girls. There were male Sailor Moon fans going all the way back to when the show aired on TV.

76

I have to agree that simply being an adult male fan of what by all accounts is a perfectly good show does not make you a perv, and I think there is something really wrong with people who immediately jump to that conclusion. I think that part of it is a wonderful thing. Girls have been encouraged to play with boys’ toys for a long time. I see nothing wrong with boys or even teens wanting to play house or playing with dolls. Maybe it will emphasize more for these men that at least for some of them, a home and a wife is worthwhile.