A Trip to Equestria

[Marcus Kehoe]

I saw this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJLL-DNu3P4

then I had to see what it was parodying. year in half later I now own a weeks worth of pony clothing and yell at people for saying there's a best pony.

 

[Dreadman75]

I only got into the show earlier this year but I still remember how it all started:

I had gone to Dallas for A-Kon this year and there was a LOT of pony related pictures, buttons, badges, some cosplay...etc. Out of the group I went with one (perhaps more, they just hid it well) was a brony already and he often said how much he liked the show. He even got a picture depicting what he would look like if he were a pony. (It was pretty well drawn, all things considered.)

Anyways from then on I just couldn't seem to get the show off my mind. Everywhere I looked I just couldn't seem to not see something related to it. Unfortunately I was also very much aware of the slight stigma that came with it, which prevented me from looking it up sooner. I kept saying to myself "If they like it that's fine. It's just not my thing." But I couldn't stop the niggling doubts. Later on in the summer I finally broke down said "Oh, what the hell..." and started from episode one, then watched episode 2 for the conclusion, then episode three...you all probably know where this is going.

Half a year later finds me eagerly awaiting each and every new episode. There is just something about the show that is so damn...compelling. It's a great show, very well done all around. I very much regret not seeing it sooner.

 

[Coppernerves]

Half a year later finds me eagerly awaiting each and every new episode. There is just something about the show that is so damn...compelling. It's a great show, very well done all around. I very much regret not seeing it sooner.

The shows' main merits are the awesome architectures, the mish mash of technologies and materials, the extremely strong, vibrant personalities of the characters with flaws that fit really well, the cuteness, the humour, and the clear, strong, almost psychedelic but rather elegant aesthetic.

All of that was in the first episode.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

My first experience with the show might have been a little odd. The first video link I saw here on the escapist was this:
"Wow," I thought, "Psycho cartoon ponies, sounds worth a laugh." That, and many mentions that the show is dull for the first 2 episodes and rapidly picks up from there later, I watched the entire first season waiting for Fluttershy to go apeshit and show her true colors.

Spoiler

Apparently that was just an off day, she is very rarely insane.

Still, I found the show amusing enough to keep watching, quite funny most of the time.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

This is the video that got me interested:

Spoiler

I started wondering what all the hub-bub was about and before I knew it I was up to episode 4 and wanting more.

There's the nauseating amount of adorableness/cuteness of the characters. Then there's the great animation and visual aesthetics - it's awesome to see all the COLORS being used at 1080p, it's just NICE on the eyes after a week of gritty brown shooters k? The plot and humor is genuinely light-hearted but still funny to me as an adult.
It's sad that some people are only entertained by high-brow political jokes or jokes involving sex/mature shit, sometimes it's nice to get away from all that and laugh at the simple stuff I say!

Finally there's the creative community that has popped up around the franchise, about whom I could probably write an entire book about. Seriously, the musical and art talent has really sprouted from the darkest corners of the internet (as it always does when there's a uniting theme/topic!).

Hasbro + Lauren Faust have been accommodating with explosion of popularity, they chould've made the decision to reject the internet community because we're not all roses & tulips (there's enough gore/rule34 regarding MLP to make people's eyes bleed/brain impode and I'm sure Hasbro/Faust are fully aware of it).
Instead they embraced the community and keep throwing things into episodes, stuff that only the bronies will understand. E.g. Pinkie pulling the Gen3-face, to kids it would've meant nothing more than a quick laugh...but most bronies literally backed 5 meters away from the monitor yelling "HOLY FUCK...!!!!" while simultaneously exploding in laughter/awe at Hasbro & Faust for pulling that shit. I know I did. Seriously, nobody saw that one coming.

And that's why I love MLP:FiM.

For non-bronies...you don't have to watch the show with a critical eye, expecting it to blow you away because it has such a massive following. It's not perfect.
But you don't have to assume it's just for kids either, because there's more to it than that.

Remember, a sign of being a mature adult is the ability to enjoy EVERYTHING regardless of what age demographic it may (or may not) be aimed at. "It's for kids, I ain't even watching that" is something only said by those who are insecure about their maturity, or those looking to "act like adults" (but aren't) and don't quite grasp what it is to be an adult.

 

[Misterian]

I learned about this show shortly after I discovered TV Tropes.

Even before learning about the whole 'Brony' thing, I kept seeing MLP:FiM pop up as various examples on certain tropes and figured it meant that the show was popular ( either that,or there's a VERY devoted fan that single-handedly placed in those examples).

I eventually started watching the first few episodes to see what all the fuss was about, and, well, things started to work their way up from here and next thing I knew I was calling myself a Brony.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Watched about 5 episodes of it before I stopped giving a shit.
All it did was made me lament how I was able to find every single episode of it on YouTube but not one reliable place for
Transformers Prime

 

[Easton Dark]

I watched this around when it was released


Then I watched the show

Here I am

If you want to sell something to me, connect it to Starcraft somehow.

 

[Leemaster777]

Ah, you never forget your first time, eh? Full of shame and self-loathing.

Anyways, I first found out about in on this very site. I entered a pony thread, thinking it was about the OLD show. I eventually realized that they were all talking about a NEW show, and I got curious.

I'll admit, for the first 5 minutes or so, all I could think was "this is about the gayest thing I could be doing with my time right now". My finger was hovering over the close button... but then this happened:


...and I was like, "well, I guess I'll tough it out". After I finished the first episode, I thought, "well, that wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting, but I think I'm done". The next day, I had ponies on the brain all day, so that night, I went back and watched episode 2. Then 3. And I think you can figure out where things went from there.

 

[Owen Robertson]

I just randomly selected one episode to watch, it was "Putting your hoof down" and needless to say it was amusing. Then I started to watch from the beginning.

I don't see why people can't enjoy it just because its main audience are young girls and their parents. As I know it, Avatar: The last Airbender seems to aim at young boys but I've never seen anyone get criticised for liking it.

'Cuz it's for boys, and MLP is for girls. And insecure heterosexual males like to project onto anything different from them. So when some men decide to challenge masculinity as we know it, they lash out, in fear of their sexuality. Or they're just troglodytes who can't appreciate anything beyond a sports arena or engine block.

 

[Owen Robertson]

For non-bronies...you don't have to watch the show with a critical eye, expecting it to blow you away because it has such a massive following. It's not perfect.
But you don't have to assume it's just for kids either, because there's more to it than that.

Remember, a sign of being a mature adult is the ability to enjoy EVERYTHING regardless of what age demographic it may (or may not) be aimed at. "It's for kids, I ain't even watching that" is something only said by those who are insecure about their maturity, or those looking to "act like adults" (but aren't) and don't quite grasp what it is to be an adult.

It's not even that, I just didn't see what all the fuss was about it. I've watched plenty of things out of the intended age demographic (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy being the big one). I honestly didn't get that much different a vibe from this show than I did from it's 80's predecessor, and even back then, my only thought when watching that was "When is Dungeons and Dragons coming on?"

I don't hate it, don't mistake me. The show wasn't insulting or insipid, I just didn't get wow'd by it like so many seem to. Maybe I really am gettuing too old, I don't know.

To each their own. I'm not a brony but I don't dislike it. And when my buddy comes over I indulge in his past-time because that's what good friends do right? He watches an episode of an Anime I like, I watch an episode of MLP. Fair Trade.

 

[Alcamonic]

I am willing to give shows the benefit of a doubt.
Just because they are animated doesn't mean I can't find amusement in them as a grown adult.

I regret nothing!

 

[bossfight1]

Obligatory welcome to the herd.

Well, like many, I watched the first episode with an attitude of "FINE, I'LL WATCH IT, ARE YOU HAPPY WORLD?!?!"

22 minutes later I sat there, and clicked on Episode 2. And I remember my exact words...

"...Well, shit."

 

[Lugbzurg]

Went to youtube. Watched 3 1/2 episodes and realized it's a kids show aimed primarily at young women.

Did not like.

I get the feeling we haven't been watching the same show...

It was in fact created to target, not little girls specifically, but families in a gender-neutral fashion. Otherwise, it wouldn't have a darklord getting decapitated, with his head thrown into a chasm, several charafters being metally and physically corrupt by dark forces, or least of all... THIS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IY-qctgww
See if you can name how many methods of violence are used in that clip. Even both your hands together can't count that high.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I saw more an more Pony avatars popping up on various places on the internet. First i thought they were from some sort of Newsground flashanimation or something but then i found out that they were from some MLP reboot. Okay, i thought, so some silly cartoon became a meme for some reason. But when i found out that people actually enjoy it i decided to give it a watch. And yeah, it's a fun show and i'm pretty glad something as cute and innocent as Friendship is Magic could gain such a big audience.

 

[VeneratedWulfen93]

I went downstairs one morning and I caught an episode that my little brother was watching. I watch alot of cartoons still and sat down since it was a colour explosion. I was one of the second wave of bronies who started when season 2 did so thats about a year ago now.

I've lost friends because of it but I don't care. I have plenty of better friends and anyone who would not like someone because of a show they watch is a horrible friend.

All together the trips still going, getting some more shirts and figures while waiting for Fighting is Magic to come out. The show also contrasts nicely with the ultraviolence I usually partake in, such as 40k and its nice to enjoy something without blood explosions.

 

[Legion]

Heard people talking/arguing/ranting/crying about it.
Decided that I shouldn't judge unless I watched it.
Watched the first episode (at this point the second season was almost out), was surprised about how funny I found it.
Watched all of the episodes over a week or so.
Watched season 2 episodes as and when they came out.
Started watching season 3 but realised that I didn't really have any interest in it any more.

I have never understood the "brony" community, or anything like that. To me it's just a TV show that is funnier than I expected, but often too sickly sweet for my liking. I honestly cannot fathom the obsession.

Right now it annoys me more than anything, because I cannot seem to avoid all of the things I like being "ponyfied" everywhere I look. Anime's, games, TV shows, books etc. all seem to have pony versions of them now and it's beginning to grate on my nerves.

 

[Creator002]

I got into it because my cousin was. I actually attempted to watch it a number of times but kept getting distracted during the first episode. If you look back about a year through my posts on here, you'll see that I posted in a pony thread. Literally, right after that, I jumped into the first episode and just kept watching. Was hooked after episode 7 or so.

EDIT - Incredibly late edit, but I found out the day I started watching was March 26, 2012 (since I posted on my cousin's Facebook wall that I started liking it). However, there's no post on the Escapist on that day that reflects it, however, I will continue to FIND. THAT. POST!
EDIT 2 - I can't find it. :'(

 

[Dtox333]

I started seeing avatars pop up with strange looking, brightly colored animal characters in them (they didn't strike me as ponies at the time, most of them were of rainbow dash) on websites like deviantart, and thought it was just another fad.

Then I started seeing images show up, whole pieces of fanart (the very first that I saw was of pinkie pie needing a cup of coffee) in galleries and sprays on TF2 with these characters, and started to wonder what they were about.

What finally got me to look into the whole thing was when I was on EVE and the topic on our mumble chat (in a room of like...dozens of people) was about that show, and a guy said it was the new my little pony.

I was dumbfounded when I heard "my little pony," being that I grew up knowing it was a toy for girls, so I had to check it out.

I watched some clips on youtube, some of which convinced me to try the show (namely the ones shown in this very thread). Although I wasn't exactly sold on the first couple of episodes, I was pleasantly surprised to see that, despite it being all sugary and brightly colored, I was more intrigued than I was wanting to cringe, I still had to skip the songs, though.

I don't know what it was, but something kept me watching episode after episode, until I finally decided that I was in love with it and watched as much as I could.

I didn't join the fandom till about a month later, and I've been a brony since (which has been about a year and a half by now).

 

[FireAza]

I watched this around when it was released

Strangely enough, that was the first of the show that I saw too! Which leads me into my story!

So I saw the video above, and I had no idea what it was, though I thought the animation style looked pretty neat. It wasn't until a little while later, lots of people on a forum I frequent had suddenly changed their avatars and were talking about "My Little Pony", and I'm all "dafaq?" Anyway, everyone seemed to love it, but I wasn't too convinced. Eventually, I decided to see what the fuss was about, and watched the first episode. I thought it was OK, but not great, so I left it at that. Then the people on the this forum told me the first episode was a two-parter, and I should watch the second part. So I did, and I thought it was better than the first episode, but only a little.

I left the show for awhile, but I was still curious about it, so I started watching a few episodes of it on YouTube just before I left for work. I started to enjoy the show a bit more, so I started watching an episode a day before work. I then found myself thinking about the show while at work, and before I knew it, I had caught up to the latest episode.

Ponies man, they sneak up on a fella!