Bronies Get the Cracked Treatment

[Reishadowen]

Because why type when this wonderful gif express my thought perfectly, LETS PARTY!

...Uhm...how is Pinkie pie firing what is obviously a fuse-lit cannon by smacking her foot into it? Are her hooves made of flint? LOGIC!!

Bronies is a fandom I too, cannot stand. It's not that they like the show. I don't care less about what people like. It's how they go about justifying plastering it everywhere, like they're some bizarre kind of colourful horse-based revolutionaries. Look at us, we don't fit in with male gender stereotypes! We're rewriting the definition of manly!

You don't like the show. You've become the show. While I think Trekkies take it a little bit too far sometimes, and I don't get their jokes, I can understand why you'd get into a franchise as big as that. THAT, at least, is the target audience. You guys are getting off over a story about FRIENDSHIP. I'm not sure how hard I have to hit these nails for you to understand. They are happy little horses who are struggling to understand friendship. This is morality for kids. You should not be entertained by this drivel. Good God.

You know, I used to have that point of view. "OMG! Stupid little girls' show! Adult men cannot do anything but want to do MANLY THINGS! Grrrr, watch me lift this 250 pound barbell! GRRRRRAAAAAAAAHH!"

Seriously, just watch the show. Yes it is made for little kids, but not ONLY for little kids. There is a reason people besides it's target audience watch it, and it's not because they're all freaks. There is some actual good content in the show, and if you just set your stigma about "omg, I'm watching a little girl's show, I'M A MONSTER!" (again, speaking from experience) off to the side, and just let yourself enjoy a few episodes, you'll be back for more.

...

Now, that being said, I must post once again, the standard internet disclaimer: People online talking to other people online, will 50% of the time do everything in their power to annoy the person they are talking to. Why? 'cuz. That is the rule of interaction over the internet. If it wasn't MLP avatars and memes they were bothering you with, it would be something else. Probably Dr. Who or some badly dubbed Japanese anime.

Ugh. Every freakin' time. Look. It's a girl's show. If you want to watch it, go ahead and watch it. I'm not going to complain. However. Those avatars. Those gifs. You don't have them because you like them, you have them because they're My Little Pony. I personally don't like my avatar. I chose it because I had nothing else to choose from. I'd change it, but it's kind of associated with my name now, and I'd rather not confuse people. But I like Armoured Core. Kind of. I enjoyed the second game. Okay, back on track.

...Ok, I have no idea who you are, and your avatar as a gundam only brings to my mind that you like giant mechas. If you changed your avatar tomorrow, I would not care one way or the other, I think there are only a few people on this site who would.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

-_- Not that anyone will listen...

I listened, but then, I'm a brony, so I appreciate anyone backing me up. XD

 

[Promethax]

I found the article to be pretty easy on it, which is surprising considering the subject matter is cancer.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

Summation my issue isn't with the entire fanbase, just those who would wear the moniker bronie. Because for all intents and purposes you are saying that this is the most important thing in your lives. Which is nonsense. And to further said nonsense the image a lot of you use to express yourselves in the virtual space is not only overused (kudos to any of you who create your own pony artwork, thats totally cool and i respect that) screenprints and shots from the show which end up with people mistaking you for each other due to the incredible similarities between many of the ones chosen.

Its all to do with how you appear to the everyone on the outside, and whats showing is incredibly closed off. I will repeat this because it needs to be said, liking the show isn't the issue, the horde mentality and the us vs them, thats a real issue.

Anyway im bored. Assasins creed needs to be played. Have a lovely evening, your discussion has been more rational and thought out than many i have had with you lot. And i appreciate your calm responses as opposed to the GIF spam and the love and tolerate lies so often relied on.

A brony is a male over the age of the originally targetted audience that enjoys the show and is a fan of it.

If I happen to fit into the descriptions, it's only right that I use that to describe myself. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and whatnot.

I'll give you the avatar thing, most people wouldn't know. The "us vs. them" thing goes both ways though. Or really, it's that way with almost any fanbase. COD vs. BF being the more recent example. Star Wars vs. Star Treck, and so forth and so on. People group things into "like" and "unlike" it's just how we work.

Well, I can see that we're not going to convince each other, so have fun with your game, and I look forward to debating you again sometime. Not about this specifically, but you get the idea. I can respect a well thought out debate that amounts to more than rage induced spittle flinging.

 

[hittite]

I found the article to be pretty easy on it, which is surprising considering the subject matter is cancer.

I prefer to think of us as an incredibly infectious virus. Or the Borg.

"We are the bronies. Friendship is magic. You will be assimilated. [sub]Um... that is, [sub]if you don't mind...[/sub][/sub]"

 

[A Satanic Panda]

Because why type when this wonderful gif express my thought perfectly, LETS PARTY!

...Uhm...how is Pinkie pie firing what is obviously a fuse-lit cannon by smacking her foot into it? Are her hooves made of flint? LOGIC!!

Your worried about a combustible fuse when the mare that recites the Norse God of pranksters is firing table cloths and balloons out of a cannon?

 

[Melon Hunter]

That bolded part will apply to pretty much any form of media ever. When was the last time you picked up a book, game or film, or watched a TV program without any form of encouragement or endorsement beforehand? I know I can't remember, and I get through a lot of media.

Well, that's the thing: I reach my own conclusions about everything I enjoy, no exceptions. Some endure, some do not, and some are seen in a new perspective over time, but on the whole, nothing I consume has anything to do with anyone else. Which isn't to say that I find out about them exclusively on my own, but my experience with them is more or less exclusive to me, for better or worse.

Granted, I'm an extremely reclusive cynic that takes little at face value, absorbs few opinions without several others to compare them to, and that goes out of their way to maintain the maximum amount of distance from people possible, except with an entire four people in the world. I'm not saying everyone has to do it that way, but it has a lot to do with why your claim that everyone is influenced into the things they enjoy is nonsense. I also have no regard for what others, even the few close to me, think of the things I enjoy, nor am I concerned whether my opinions will make me popular or unpopular with anyone else.

So to answer your question, "The last things I read or played (disclaimer: I don't watch or enjoy television or movies on my own, so anything I watch was because someone else wanted to, and thus doesn't qualify here), the last ones before that, and so on." If you'd like specifics, Armored Core 3, as a result of my personal Armored Core series retrospective of late, and before said retrospective, Sonic Generations.

I'm not unwilling to try something with good PR, though, but the last thing I played due to popular public opinion was Mass Effect, and I hated it. Before that, however, was Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which I found surprisingly enjoyable, and I didn't even pick it up for myself to begin with.

Something I need to make clear, though, is that I don't see my stance on things as better than the way anyone else does it. I'll say mine is more earnest, more honest, and less stressful at times, but it suffers from the burden of truth, so to speak; everything is under scrutiny, nothing is taken at face value, and I sometimes feel the need to question others because it's in my nature (or I've at least developed it as my nature; I can't really remember anymore, truth be told), and sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth.

On the other hand, it's liberating to know that I can enjoy something without fretting, and get some amusement out of someone criticizing it, should the need strike them; they're probably right about whatever they're complaining about, even. But it doesn't matter as long as I like it, because I like it for my own reasons, and that's the nice part.

And that brings me to my next point, which I promise will have less exposition.

I'm not saying people are influenced into everything they enjoy, though. This is my point. Most fans of MLP heard about it and watched it on the Internet. They most likely saw the growing fanbase, and the various fanworks being produced around it. But do you honestly believe that after watching however many episodes, most people said "Welp, I guess I better keep watching this show because so many other people watch it! That must mean it's good!"? If you do, you are wrong. The fact that it's ironic to watch MLP as a grown man is not a means to an end. Many fans enjoyed the show on its own merits, and accepted the rather unusual nature of the fandom as a given, not to troll people.

I know this will mean nothing to you, but the vast majority of fans genuinely enjoy the show, and don't simply watch it because it's the 'cool' thing to do. You can keep repeating "It's just a fad" to yourself, but that isn't going to change anything.

You know no such thing, first off. Every opinion has some merit in my eyes as long as it's earnest, whether I agree with it or not.

Do you? Your original post about how you could count the number of people who watched the show independently and genuinely liked it on one hand would suggest you're being quite the hypocrite here. No, I do not know that for a fact, but having been part of the community for several months, I would say it is not a wild extrapolation to place those who genuinely enjoy the show firmly in the majority. And by 'not going to change anything', I meant that most people are firmly entrenched in their opinions on this matter. I doubt anyone will suddenly throw their arms up and proclaim "You're right!", just because you said it was a fad, or if conversely, a fan were to try and objectively prove it to not be a fad.

Secondly, I don't genuinely buy that the vast majority of fans enjoy the show on its merits alone, and I doubt you do either. When you need to come up with and employ the use of terms like "brony", it's not about the show anymore; it's about the phenomenon, it's about the experience as a whole. Without the fan base, without the terminology, without the memes, without the ability to turn up your nose in a smug manner at the unwashed masses, without the animated .gifs, would it matter to most of you as much, and would you be offended by my disapproval? No, probably not. This is evidenced as soon as the first post, when the commenter remarked about their fears that the show was falling out of style. And that's fine, in its own way, even if a little tragic in my opinion (but really, who asked?) but what gets my goat is when people try to defend it by saying it's not the case.

Well, that and seeing it everygoddamnedwhere I look. Adblock has become my tether to sanity around you guys.

Well, I do think people enjoy the show for its merits alone, and as someone who both watches the show and is involved in the community surrounding it, I can assure you I'm not just making stuff up to provoke you or to oppose you just for the sake of it. If there were no real fanbase, and the community around the show never existed, the experience would undoubtedly be poorer for it, but I would still enjoy the show. It's a simple 20 minute pleasure. I watch the Yogscast's ongoing Shadow of Israphel series, but I am in no way involved in the admittedly large community surrounding that. I still enjoy the videos immensely. Again, the community, the experience as a whole, enriches the show, but again it is not a means to an end.

I suppose the overarching point of this astoundingly long post is that no-one here is being a fan of the show to annoy you. Yes, I realise some people are over-zealous in their enjoyment of MLP, but this is an unfortunate side-effect of any fandom. It is not our raison d'etre. I would appreciate it if in future we could all get along and people weren't condescending to one another over whether or not they like a cartoon, but it's the Internet, what can you do, eh?

 

[Kimarous]

Because why type when this wonderful gif express my thought perfectly, LETS PARTY!

...Uhm...how is Pinkie pie firing what is obviously a fuse-lit cannon by smacking her foot into it? Are her hooves made of flint? LOGIC!!

Okay, I just have to address this.

1. It's probably just a button that looks like a fuse.
2. Rule of Funny
3. You're asking for logic from Pinkie Pie?

 

[Erttheking]

I came to this thread to vent my annoyance with the subject of MLP because there is a group dedicated to this subject.

There are also user groups for Fallout, the Elder Scrolls, Bioware, Blizzard, pretty much every popular gaming thing, actually. Do you also complain when people choose to talk about any of those?

Maybe we shouldn't bother with the forum at all and just move all discussion into user groups. The horrible, inconvenient user groups.

no I don't because those are topics on video games on a video game website.

But..this is the off-topic discussion. So pretty much whatever you want to talk about. So..Good game?

I don't like MLP and I have long ago lost my patience for seeing in in the threads (because it appeared again and again and it was a bunch of people trying to force me to watch a show I didn't like).

Oh yeah sorry about that, I'll have my man let your family go, you don't need to watch the show.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I listened, but then, I'm a brony, so I appreciate anyone backing me up. XD

Well, if somebody's reading it than that's something I guess. As aforementioned, I'm just getting rather tired of what these kind of threads typically devolve into...

 

[anthony87]

Meh, Bronies got mentioned in a tiny segment of a 4 item article and he barely even said anything. I'd hardly call it getting the Cracked treatment.

Then again it's a Soren Bowie article so that's always a plus.

 

[Lord Honk]

I haven't met a single "brony" in the flesh, or any person who actually knows the hype around My Little Pony for that mattress, so everybody just thinks I'm a nutter when I run around in pink shirts with baloon print. Might as well, I'm having fun either way.

 

[Konaerix]

*Looks at the multiple moderator warnings given on this thread*

Holy crap this is a heated subject...

Anyway, I'm not surprised by this despite me not being a brony. No popular thing can hide from Cracked.com for long, not even multicolored ponies fans.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

For all the people saying "OMG IT'S A SHOW FOR LITTLE GIRLS", I'll just leave this here:

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

 

[Berithil]

For all the people saying "OMG IT'S A SHOW FOR LITTLE GIRLS", I'll just leave this here:

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Thank you, SO much. I love that quote. I was actually going to post it in relation to this thread, but was too busy to look up the whole thing.

 

[Purple Shrimp]

out of curiosity, how many bronies have actually watched the old My Little Pony? I ask because whenever it comes up they start screaming "30 MINUTE COMMERICAL FOR HUNKS OF PLASTIC RAHR RAHRH" but they also love to accuse people who dislike the new show of judging something they haven't actually watched, and I'm just curious if they can comprehend the hypocrisy

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

A bunch of stuff.

A bunch of other stuff.

I just lost a massive post to my own gargantuan carelessness and have no will to type it all again, so I'll summarize:

"When was the last time you picked something up with no encouragement or endorsement?" is a really strange way to try to say "people aren't always influenced into everything they enjoy". Just throwing that out there.

I never claimed anyone likes the show to annoy anyone else. I had to say this like, three times, by the way; please respond to what the other person is saying, not what you think they're saying.

Nothing I said contradicted my actions, so calling me hypocritical is a little questionable.

Most people see themselves as cool and topical when they emulate what is cool and topical to most other people, in absolutely everything the world over. Those that don't often do it to feel cool and topical with a smaller group of people in an effort to feel superior to the larger group. Those that do neither of these things are the exception, not the rule, and shouldn't think otherwise. You do the math given the current topic.

You didn't say your opinion was "not going to change anything".

I know this will mean nothing to you,

You said that. And in that regard, you are wrong, on both accounts. If you had said your opinion wasn't going to change anything, I probably would have said "Yeah, you're prolly right; I see no evidence supporting it." Thus I encourage you to say what you mean as much as I encourage you to reply to what I say (not what you think I said), because I'm going to read what you say exactly as you said it.

My annoyance regarding the show has nothing to do with the show or anyone's enjoyment of it; it is aimed solely at the evangelists of the fanbase, with their avatars, their .gif, their memes, their smugness at those who tire of them, and, if I may be shallow, their show's god awful aesthetic that I'm way past tired of looking at.

I'm not accusing you or anyone in particular of that evangelism. I'm just saying it's long past gotten old. No one cares what you like (and I say that with no disrespect), but when what you like becomes something one is beaten over the head with at every single opportunity, it risks graduating from non-issue to relentless irritation, and while it's my problem for being annoyed in the first place, the annoyance in itself is my issue with the show.

The people who claim they like the show solely because of the show, not because of the phenomenon, are just an annoyance they've introduced since, but it's not an annoyance exclusive to fans of the show. They merely represent one of its many incarnations.

...This post still ended up pretty long.

 

[Outcast107]

out of curiosity, how many bronies have actually watched the old My Little Pony? I ask because whenever it comes up they start screaming "30 MINUTE COMMERICAL FOR HUNKS OF PLASTIC RAHR RAHRH" but they also love to accuse people who dislike the new show of judging something they haven't actually watched, and I'm just curious if they can comprehend the hypocrisy

Never really watch the old shows. Though I don't bash it like some others do within the community (Though I never heard them say it.) Though it bugs me that the other side of haters are saying "ITS A GIRL SHOW STOP LIKING IT BRAGH!"

Please, if you read what Lauren Faust said about the show is that yes it is for girls but it is also for adults as well. Their parents so they can have something to watch together. This is why the show is popular. IT doesn't dumb down the show because it a "girl show."

Hell I perfer a girl lead role since we have way to many male ones. Which is why I can't wait for Avatar the legend of Korra.