What has been your impression of bronies?

[BeerTent]

Met em online, met em offline... Watched the show with my nieces...

I mean, it's a good show... And I get that you want to share what you like with other people. It's part of establishing community... I talk about XCOM, you try XCOM, and we're both happy that you like XCOM. It's totally win-win!! Maybe you'll buy crazy amounts of XCOM dollhouses... I wouldn't, but hey! If that's your cup of tea, I won't ever knock it. I've seen weirder collections.

However... A lot of bronies really need to learn what's okay to show... If we talk XCOM... The first thing I'm going to show is most certainly NOT that slash-fic of Dr. Vahlen interrogating a Berzerker. Which is exactly as mortifying as it sounds. My days of not taking the majority of the fandom seriously has most certainly come to a middle.

 

[The Lunatic]

Overwhelmingly negative thus far.

Couple have been "Okay". But, the vast majority I've met just take it way too far and base their whole identity around a kid's show. And that's just a bit too weird for me.

I think a lot of people forget that some things are certainly best in moderation.

 

[Zhukov]

Never met one in the real world. That I know of.

Online... eh, no overriding impressions beyond them generally being nerds. But then again, most of the people I interact with online probably at least have nerdy tendencies so I suspect there's some sample bias there.

At worst they're harmless. You wanna watch a kid's show? Go ahead. None of my business.

 

[JoJo]

My overall impression is they're just people like anyone else, there's some very nice bronies here and elsewhere, there's also some right nobs who like the show for some reason. It's always funny to see someone with an MLP avatar advocating Nazism for example.

 

[springheeljack]

I never really cared at all about them. I was a little annoyed at first when they dominated everything and kept extolling the show like they were some kind of born again Christians. But that is all really

 

[Zen Bard]

I'll be honest...the impression is negative side. I personally don't understand grown men gushing about a cartoon for adolescent girls

But, to each his own, I guess. I'm sure all of us have obsessions that might seem strange to someone else.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's hard for me not to be annoyed by them with all the damn pony shit that got thrown in my face. It's eased up in the last year, thankfully, but Christ did it ever flood most sites (including this one) during its height.

It's nice to like things, and I'm sure you want to share that feeling with others, but ease the fuck down, will ya!?

 

[rosac]

Previously it was overwhelmingly negative when they were everywhere, turning random threads into pony threads, spraying images all over TF2 servers, just generally being obnoxious.

But now they've backed off I don;t care. They can be happy as long as it isn't being shoved in my face.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

In the words of Douglas Adams: "Mostly Harmless".

There are extreme sides to the fandom of course. I recall a certain someone here posting inflation porn of ponies for a period and some people take their enthusiasm for the show waaaaaaay past social boundries of, say, normal day life. However, there could very well be a Bronie beside you on the bus and he doesn't outwardly show it. Perhaps he has a tattoo under his shirt? Or maybe he's like most fans and knows when its appropriate to nerd out over cartoons: on the internet or with like-minded individuals. In any case, the fervor over it all has died down significantly (here especially it seems) and its not the 'war' it once was. As a member of the Pokemon loving community, I know excess fandom...

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

You know, I like the show. Even have a tshirt.
But I don't actually consider myself a brony. I don't clop, I don't write fanfics, I don't go to meetings or conventions(I'm actually pretty anti-con. Been to one once. Once.)
As a whole the community has done nothing to elevate the worries, fears and disgust of the larger nerd fandom. I mean are they worse than Anime fans, furries or obsessed WOW players? No, but those aren't exactly high bars ya' know.

 

[McMarbles]

My impression of Bronies is that they're not really much of a thing anymore.

 

[Silvanus]

Previously it was overwhelmingly negative when they were everywhere, turning random threads into pony threads, spraying images all over TF2 servers, just generally being obnoxious.

Some still do that last one (the TF2 one), last time I checked.

 

[balladbird]

In general I have no qualms with them. Some of their neuroses do rub me the wrong way, such as their "Let's make every trope on TVtropes apply to this show, no matter how nebulously they can be applied" mentality, or turning everything that has ever existed and ever will exist into a pony, but that's a pretty shallow level of irritation on my part. just something that makes me roll my eyes a little and go on with life.

For the fans themselves, about the same as any other fandom, really. Back when the brony craze was at its peak they were a bit more... err... almost religious about their fandom and the impact it had on their lives, but that aspect has cooled quite a bit in recent years.

They're just fanboys, and as a fellow fanboy of things, I can sympathize.

Really, the only thing about bronies that continues to raise my eyebrow is the ones among their number that tend toward the "Female representation should be the choice of the creators!" side of the inclusivity debate when it comes to female representation, then turn around and ask "Why don't the male characters in MLP ever get more time to shine?" without the slightest hint of self awareness.

 

[Bat Vader]

My impression is that they are like other fandoms. Some take the thing they like too seriously, some get mad when what they like is criticized, some are normal and are just a fan, some sexualize the characters in the show in a weird Rule 34 way. A friend of mine is a bring and he's a decent human being.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Same as any other fandom I suppose. I'm a part of the Touhou Project fandom and am active on tumblr, so I'm used to extremely enthusiastic and rather bizarre fandoms. The bad eggs I just write off as, well, bad eggs, so any actual Bronies I meet I judge on a case to case basis.

 

[happyninja42]

The only time I directly spoke to a bronie about MLP specifically, they were an ass about it. I was on a world of darkness roleplaying game site, and we were in the lobby just chatting about random stuff. One person talked about MLP but used references I didn't understand, so I asked what they were talking about. They said "My Little Pony", and I said "Ah, I'm not a fan of the show. " even included the smiley. The bronies responses was "Well you just suck." and another person said "If you don't like the show, you have no soul." This level of "you don't like what I like, therefore you are a horrible person" behavior, I find annoying and insulting, and to any bronies who act like that. Fuck you.

To all the other emotionally stable, and socially balanced bronies, who just like the show, but also don't mind if other people don't like it too, I have zero issue with them. There are millions of people in this world who like things that I don't like or understand the appeal of. They all have the potential to be obnoxious about it, no matter what the subject matter is. Bronies are no exception.

Like what you like, but don't shove it down my throat, and we'll get along just fine.

 

[madwarper]

You know, I like the show. Even have a tshirt.
But I don't actually consider myself a brony. I don't clop, I don't write fanfics, I don't go to meetings or conventions(I'm actually pretty anti-con. Been to one once. Once.)

You also don't wear kilts, nor eat haggis.

Spoiler

What's the definition of a Brony? a) Someone that likes MLP FIM, and b) wishes to self identify as one.
Not Clopping (whatever the fuck that is), writing fanfics, attending conventions, etc. does not preclude one from being a Brony.

Like you, I like the show. And, I own four Tee-shirts (two of which are Doctor Who and Cowboy Bebop mashups). I am a Brony.

OT: As for my own impression, like any group, there's a large population of people that are otherwise "normal". But, there a few outliers that can leave a lasting negative impression. Such as stalking and harassing content creators and getting banned forum nearly every from they visit... Not that I'm referencing anyone in particular. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.409984-Since-when-did-Twilights-friends-become-useless-and-replacable#17159602]

But, you know what they say about bad apples and bunches.

 

[FPLOON]

Well, first things first, I thought they made some pretty awesome tribute songs to the show... and that includes the last famous/infamous ones that are [still] the go-to Brony Music/Muscians to this very day... Granted, despite my "introduction" to the show, itself, was in January of 2011[footnote]In which there isn't the general consensus of how "most" people got into the show within said "introduction"...[/footnote], I didn't even know about the word "Brony" until 6 or so months later and, at that point, I had my best friend (who was also a "Brony" without actually knowing about that word beforehand) and I could not get enough of Pony Swag from Swagberg... Now, as far as Bronies being the first fandom I ever followed "live", let alone the longest, their tributes to the show was, at times, really cool to look at, to listen to, and even to read about... For the most part, I was mostly following the music, which included what was, at the time, posted off EQD, what was posted/discussed pre/post all of the Remix Wars so far, and even from my own general searching for new shit to listen to, just to see which songs I would put on my, at the time, Ipod Nano...

With that said, I never did follow any of the analysis videos because I honestly didn't care for them, the fanfiction I did read were ones that were "recommended" to me by my best friend, I was never sure whether to laugh or feel sorry for all of the "mini-controversies" that were going on when the first Balloon Party album was coming out, for example, and the less I talk about my dive into co-running a MLP:FiM fan site is something that even I think would be too soon to bring up fully at this point... Also, I love going to the Brony conventions that have been in the southern California area, even if my friend (who I kinda got into the show in general) would rather fly out-of-state to Bronycon and the like, and out of all of the Bronies that I've met first hand famous or otherwise, only one of them would I even consider the exception in terms of not even pretending to "love and tolerate" or any kind of general niceness and not because for over a year, some of the Bronies I hung out with thought that that particular Brony was "dead or something" and did not care if there was any truth to their assumptions or not...

Overall, they're alright... They're human, maybe even a part of some other fandom (like Furry, Gravity Falls, or recently Steven Universe), and can make some great tributes before either stopping due to loosing interest or because they're moving on to bigger, better things and, due to copyright, can not bring any of their "Brony Baggage" with them... As for me, it's all about that <url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1HZp4ClFXY>"ponies ponies ponies swag" and this:Note: I "used" to be an active lurker on EQAD and well as "too many" MLP-based pics, both SFW and NSFW, currently in my laptop... and don't get me started on the 2000+ music that's heavily related to MLP:FiM and still counting...

 

[McElroy]

You know, I like the show. Even have a tshirt.
But I don't actually consider myself a brony. I don't clop, I don't write fanfics, I don't go to meetings or conventions(I'm actually pretty anti-con. Been to one once. Once.)

You also don't wear kilts, nor eat haggis.

Spoiler

What's the definition of a Brony? a) Someone that likes MLP FIM, and b) wishes to self identify as one.
Not Clopping (whatever the fuck that is), writing fanfics, attending conventions, etc. does not preclude one from being a Brony.

Like you, I like the show. And, I own four Tee-shirts (two of which are Doctor Who and Cowboy Bebop mashups). I am a Brony.

I'd say Brony has a somewhat clear definition: they're the guys representing bronies in the mainstream media stories. As far as the ones that I've read/seen go, the pattern is clear: sings praise for the show, has got or is planning to get merch (esp. plushies), is willing to karaoke the songs, listens to pony-themed music, has an opinion on Equestria Girls, and so on.