Why Bronies (and Pretty Much Everyone) Should Hate the Brony Documentary

[sageoftruth]

I think I get what you're trying to say. Even if the target audience is Bronies, it's still okay to address the less flattering aspects of the fandom, as long as it's done in an endearing fashion. I enjoyed the otaku-based anime, Genshiken, because of its ability to pull this off. One of the characters was a militant otaku, who openly denounced people of "normal" taste and refused to admit to enjoying real life pornography, since it hurt his otaku image. He was clearly taking his interest way too far, and yet he was still great as a comic relief character, and didn't make me wince once, mainly because he was fleshed out as having more character than just what was mentioned earlier.

Still, it probably takes a bit of talent to pull that off with characters. Perhaps the makers of the MLP movie just weren't up to the task. There's always next time.

 

[Dangit2019]

I've just spent a good hour and a half reading and re-reading this entire thread, and I feel very enlightened. I'm a Brony, and I was foolish enough to pay $12 for this doc. I wanted to see what we as a community look like from the view of a totally neutral party. Not some Westboro hate monger but someone open minded enough to be willing to see all sides of the fandom. What I got was a John De'Lancie pony singing about how great Bronys are and I must admit I enjoyed it first time. Then I looked around on the various mass of pony sites to figure out the general reaction and found quite alot of unhappy people. I didn't understand so I watched it again and I was left with this feeling of incompletion.
The whole thing with the Doc and the season 3 finale left me kinda shaken and its only now I find myself thinking, "Do we really take ourselves too seriously? I mean did we really need a Documentary about how not-in-the-least-bit-odd we are?"
It didn't challenge anything about the community that interested me, like how the input of us as a group impacts the show, the "Derpygate" nonsense and what I most want to know, Hasbro's actual opinion of bronys as a demographic.

I think it could've been something if a neutral and curious filmmaker tackled it instead of a bunch of guys too scared to criticize anything that they like. At least then, the guy could explore deeper reasons that people get attached to the show instead of just saying "It's really good, just trust us." I mean, that's definitely a good enough reason to like the show, but a full length movie? It just isn't substantial.

Also, on the last part, I'm still amazed they got through the whole thing with nary a mention of 4chan. Why? Are we ashamed of that now?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I don't hate the documentary. I can't say that i was impressed with it or that i'd spend money to watch it but for what it was it was decent enough. Bunch of interviews, some footage of conventions, some stories of the people who participate in the fandom, fair enough. I mean, i wouldn't have minded something more insightful but i don't think you can reasonably apply a lot of deep psychological analysis to a matter as simple as "There's this cartoon about ponies a lot of people really like."

There was a lot of drama on /mlp/ when the doc was released and i never really got where they were coming from. I don't think someone new to the fandom would have had a lot of interest in their little bubble of fandom gossip, petty infighting, panicking about every minor detail of the show and bizarre porn. I'm a Brony and i only visit /mlp/ once in a while to shake my head at it.

What i absolutely can't understand is why anyone would think ponyporn should be mentioned in a documentary like this one. Why would they give exposure to a few weirdos who exist in every fandom just for the sake of mentioning them if all that would do is make the rest of us look weird? The word "clopping" was mentioned in the documentary... exactly once as a throwaway joke. They acknowledged it's existence and it doesn't matter nearly enough to dwell on it.

 

[secretkeeper12]

I think what he's talking about is Tiarawhy, who makes porn and other animations. There was apparently some big brouhaha over whether her non-pornographic stuff should be on Equestria Daily, or something.

Since her stuff does get put on Equestria Daily, it's really not a big deal anymore.

Yup, that's who it was about. It was a while ago that I heard of it, but I'm glad to see it worked out. Guess I'll be quiet now.

 

[ShadowKatt]

You know, I don't mind so much the "documentary". I regard it, more or less, in the same manner I do most of, say, Michael Moore's "documentarys". It's less documentary and more opinion peice, and there's really nothing wrong with that. it's a free country.

What I do NOT like is that this "documentary" was put together to put the brony fandom in a better light, to show off the good side of the fandom and help to balance out the overly-negative side of the brony public image. In short, it's more or less a public service for us, me being one of them. And they used Kickstarter to do it, which I'm fine with too. It takes a lot of money to film, well, ANYTHING if you want it to have any semblance of quality. However, they have the GALL, after getting as many donations as they did and surpassing every milestone they set to THEN charge people, mostly the bronys themselves, for the "documentary". That just makes me sick inside. When you sell something like a movie, you're doing so to make your money BACK. Why do you think the box office results are so important? People, mainly the producers, want to know if they made their money BACK. This was all funded in advance and now they're charging money on top of it for pure profit, even after the massive amount of money they received from donations.

 

[Bashfluff]

I think what he's talking about is Tiarawhy, who makes porn and other animations. There was apparently some big brouhaha over whether her non-pornographic stuff should be on Equestria Daily, or something.

Since her stuff does get put on Equestria Daily, it's really not a big deal anymore.

Yup, that's who it was about. It was a while ago that I heard of it, but I'm glad to see it worked out. Guess I'll be quiet now.

Interesting. I don't know if that's worth mentioning still, but.... It's interesting.

 

[Luna]

Irl, I don't associate at all with this sort of thing. Keeping this one thing I kinda like to myself/10

(username + avi + posting in mlp threads here + watching the show on youtube)

 

[JDLY]

I'm gonna have to agree with UltraTwinkie here.
Disclaimer: I haven't seen it yet, though I plan on it.

This documentary's subject was bronies.
When it comes to sexualization and R34, that has more to do with human nature. Humans sexualize everything to some degree. Is the reason these characters are sexualized by fans due to them being bronies? Hell no. If that was the case every brony would be a clopper. It's due to them being human. And the subject of this documentary was not human nature.

The same goes for death threats and the like. These threats aren't written by people because they're bronies. They're written by people because said people have deeper, psychological problems. Which is, once again, not the subject of the film.

When it comes to fandom infighting and ponies popping up frequently on other sites, more of a case can be made.

Though I personally don't think it would amount to much. While there used to be quite a bit of infighting, it has died down considerably. There is no longer constant shaming of bronies how are into R34, grimdark, or other less common interests by other bronies. There was at one time, but the majority of bronies pointed out to these "shamers" that they were completely disregarding "love and tolerance" within their own fandom, and it stopped for the most part.

Lastly, while I don't frequent many sites, the amount of pony stuff that pops up on the non-brony ones has died down as well. With each season comes an influx of new bronies who don't know of all the pony-specific sites, so they take their enthusiasm to any site they frequent. But in time they find pony-specific sites and stay there for the most part.

 

[Something Amyss]

what criticism could anyone have for bronies that didn't devolve into "they like ponies?"

None. Because every argument that could come up with could be levied against any other fandom. Which would be like picking a fandom and shaming it for something so common, and for little reason.

A documentary that tires to bring up the negative would do nothing. Because there is nothing to really cover.

You cannot criticise the attacks on American soil that happened on 9-11 because all religions have extremists.

See, that's also false equivalence.

"Well, all fanbases do that" is utter crap.

 

[The Ubermensch]

The way they glossed over cloppers

Its not a documentary, its propaganda

As of Third Impact I am officially out of this fandom anyway; /mlb/ is all cloppers and shit posts, Ponychan is so far up its own arse; a demand to archive a 5 post thread... terrible, the music is all terrible; I'm sorry but mando can't sing, is a pretty boring composer and thought he could sue 4chan, and Dubstep is not music, it's noise, The culture saturation is problematic; "Derpy's math class brought me here!" "Brony's plz go" "Nah cause pony is the best", I could go on.

I didn't want to admit it but the fandom, the majority of it now is cancer; like literally. The culture saturation is the literal equivalent to cancer. Touhou and Homestuck are benign growths, Pony is literal cancer.

We had a good run, and it was fun while it lasted. Touhou was always better without being in your face about it.

 

[The Ubermensch]

You cannot criticise the attacks on American soil that happened on 9-11 because all religions have extremists.

See, that's also false equivalence.

"Well, all fanbases do that" is utter crap.

I know you were trying to make your point but...

Going 9/11 is like saying Hitler

What do they do? rule 34? Harmless and commonplace compared to other, worse rule 34 where other show fandoms like Mike and Og go into pedophile territory.

CMC's got some shit dude... Cloppers pedo

Outrage over twilacorn? Again, harmless and commonplace compared to to other fandoms.

No; this was fucking retarded; if the fandom had any fore sight they would have seen this coming. I know several did.

Derpygate? Just bronies complaining about how parents are ruining yet another TV show.

But it was handled so badly. Death threats... Yeah the Evangelion fandom did it for instrumentality and probably some mass effect guys for retake... but... Derpy's VA was kind of terrible

bronies have done nothing special, and nothing to set them apart other than colorful ponies. That's why there is nothing to cover. Its like having a documentary on juggalos and how they fight random innocent people, then come the bronies saying "yeah I am pretty hard core, I like to go past the second light post. I am pretty wild."

No, they culture saturate and then rub it in the host cultures face obnoxiously.

Bronies are one of the more tame fanbases out there. Hell, its possibly the most boring mainstream to exist.

Arguably the behaviour is reactionary, but the culture saturation is a problem.

 

[tamago]

I want to watch this, but I am not sure I want to pay the full asking price.

 

[J. Mazarin]

ITT: Maximum over-rustle


Look, for all the talk about "other fandoms do this too", not all of them are created equal and some are definitely much worse than others.

If you're a brony, though, there's always a bright side.... at least you're not a Sonic fan.

 

[MrPeanut]

The way they glossed over cloppers

Its not a documentary, its propaganda

As of Third Impact I am officially out of this fandom anyway; /mlb/ is all cloppers and shit posts, Ponychan is so far up its own arse; a demand to archive a 5 post thread... terrible, the music is all terrible; I'm sorry but mando can't sing, is a pretty boring composer and thought he could sue 4chan, and Dubstep is not music, it's noise, The culture saturation is problematic; "Derpy's math class brought me here!" "Brony's plz go" "Nah cause pony is the best", I could go on.

I didn't want to admit it but the fandom, the majority of it now is cancer; like literally. The culture saturation is the literal equivalent to cancer. Touhou and Homestuck are benign growths, Pony is literal cancer.

We had a good run, and it was fun while it lasted. Touhou was always better without being in your face about it.

You keep spouting that word out but yet I very much doubt you know what it means considering the way you use it.

 

[Daget Sparrow]

Having said that, at least the documentary produced one gem of scintillating awesomeness:

This video pisses me off. The second half of the clip is purely self-congratulatory praise for the Brony community (going so far as to categorise themselves into their various circles), then further making an unnecessarily massive deal about "girl bronies" who invade the 'presentation' to remind us that girls can be Bronies too.

May I remind the world that MLP s a show designed for girls, watched in all of its incarnations by girls, and that we (as men) came in and made a big deal about us watching their latest iteration of the show? This is almost exactly how some men act about women playing video games - as some sort of threatening outsider, which in this case is completely hypocritical.

Sorry for the rant, but I have been angered, and only soothing cold beverages can quell my rage.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Agreed, OP another gripe I have is refusal to acknowledge the fandom's origin on 4chan, in fact if you want to be educated about bronies don't watch this documentary. It doesn't in any way sell the fandom to people who are unfamiliar with it, one of its intended purposes, it just goes on and on about how bronies are God's gift to mankind.

So it's a giant circle jerk? I could go anywhere and get that for any fandom anywhere on the internet for free.

 

[The Ubermensch]

You keep spouting that word out but yet I very much doubt you know what it means considering the way you use it.

I'm probably not using Culture Saturation correctly yes; I should really be saying Culture Assimilation.

But cancer I'm using correctly. It's growing unstoppably and preventing the fandoms around it from functioning normally.

Agreed, OP another gripe I have is refusal to acknowledge the fandom's origin on 4chan, in fact if you want to be educated about bronies don't watch this documentary. It doesn't in any way sell the fandom to people who are unfamiliar with it, one of its intended purposes, it just goes on and on about how bronies are God's gift to mankind.

So it's a giant circle jerk? I could go anywhere and get that for any fandom anywhere on the internet for free.

This is a special kind of circle jerk. I say this as someone who know exactly what you are talking about if you start talking about two dictionaries and a chicken.

I might pirate it, haven't decided. But funding a kickstarter for it and then having the gall to charge for it; get fucked

 

[lord canti]

The way they glossed over cloppers

Its not a documentary, its propaganda

As of Third Impact I am officially out of this fandom anyway; /mlb/ is all cloppers and shit posts, Ponychan is so far up its own arse; a demand to archive a 5 post thread... terrible, the music is all terrible; I'm sorry but mando can't sing, is a pretty boring composer and thought he could sue 4chan, and Dubstep is not music, it's noise, The culture saturation is problematic; "Derpy's math class brought me here!" "Brony's plz go" "Nah cause pony is the best", I could go on.

I didn't want to admit it but the fandom, the majority of it now is cancer; like literally. The culture saturation is the literal equivalent to cancer. Touhou and Homestuck are benign growths, Pony is literal cancer.

We had a good run, and it was fun while it lasted. Touhou was always better without being in your face about it.

I have to say that I too am getting tired of this fandom, but for different reasons. I hate this fandom now because to many people are taking it seriously. The rage about twilacorn is a perfect example of this. Such a shame I actually really enjoyed the fandom at one point and then they became very thing that people always called them and worse.

 

[The Ubermensch]

The way they glossed over cloppers

Its not a documentary, its propaganda

As of Third Impact I am officially out of this fandom anyway; /mlb/ is all cloppers and shit posts, Ponychan is so far up its own arse; a demand to archive a 5 post thread... terrible, the music is all terrible; I'm sorry but mando can't sing, is a pretty boring composer and thought he could sue 4chan, and Dubstep is not music, it's noise, The culture saturation is problematic; "Derpy's math class brought me here!" "Brony's plz go" "Nah cause pony is the best", I could go on.

I didn't want to admit it but the fandom, the majority of it now is cancer; like literally. The culture saturation is the literal equivalent to cancer. Touhou and Homestuck are benign growths, Pony is literal cancer.

We had a good run, and it was fun while it lasted. Touhou was always better without being in your face about it.

I have to say that I too am getting tired of this fandom, but for different reasons. I hate this fandom now because to many people are taking it seriously. The rage about twilacorn is a perfect example of this. Such a shame I actually really enjoyed the fandom at one point and then they became very thing that people always called them and worse.

Twilacorn was the best thing to ever happen, and because the fandom took it seriously it just ended up being terrible. We could have all come together and sung Come Sweet Death while the element of magic awakened and Shinji strangled Asuka, I mean Twilight initiated Third Impact, I mean Shinji became a princess, I mean Rainbow Dash fought of the EVA series, I mean... Fuck.

My point is the instant the fandom started to take itself seriously is the instant Celestia worked with SEELE to start up the human instrumentality project.

I have to admit though, the few threads on /mlp/ that took the Third Impact mentality were all kinds of fun. I wish I had a screen cap of when the butt hurt one came in and one after the other we posted the lyrics of Komm Susser Todd.


"God's in his heaven; all is right with the world."

Sound familiar my bronies?