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Thoughts on Bronies

Started by Munch, October 24, 2014, 02:53:59 PM

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Hydra009

#15
Quote from: Munch on October 24, 2014, 02:53:59 PMSpeaking as a 33 year old dude who when he was a kid did watch the original my little pony cartoon series, since then I forgot mostly about that and grew up loving x-men, batman, computer games and all the usual stuff.
I never even pegged my interest when seeing my little pony stuff still produced years later, including when the current generation of it became popular, and so of course I wondered what this whole brony thing was based around any why it existed.
Same except I was curious what all the hubbub was about, so I checked out an episode or three, which quickly snowballed into watching the whole season and jonesing for more.



QuoteSo on that end it made me wonder just why is there such a following for adult men, bronies, to get behind it. At best what I can take a stab at, is some men saw the show, and liked it, the story, the character design, the overall premise of the series, and became a fan.
Bingo!  I particularly liked the characters.  All six of the mane cast have their own distinct personalities, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses.

And this show has some serious talent behind it.  Lauren Faust did a hell of job taking on a more or less defunct franchise and really breathing new life into it.  She said she wanted to appeal to kids while still making it bearable for their parents.  She definitely accomplished that.  Maybe a little too well.

And John de Lancie played a nearly omnipotent being with god-like powers who reeks havoc and sows discord among the protagonists.  And he also played Q on Star Trek.

And there's even Weird Al!

QuoteThey told others they liked the show, and got given some negative feedback by them, which resulted in them forming a cultural following for men who felt the same, and formed a fandom around that, made even stronger when it got ridiculed by people like online.
It's the other way around, actually.  There have always been neigh-sayers, even at the early stages of the fandom, but the brony fandom isn't a reaction to them, they're the reaction to the fandom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olLDrvc1qt4

The video gives a great explanation of the origins of bronies.  Basically, 4chan (of all places) really catapulted it into the public eye.  And while /b/ + pony (or alternatively, bro + pony) may have initially meant adult male fans, the term has expanded to encompass all fans of the show.

QuoteMy overall thought on bronies and the haters is while I think MLP-FIM is a good show, and can understand it having a following, its always struck me as a little extreme to form a cultural fanbase around it for grown up men, not to say that its a bad thing, just that given this show came from a long line that had always been advertised for little girls, yeah, you can see why people would argue it being just for little girls and why they find it strange.
There's a lot that can be said about the little girl argument, so I'll try to be brief.  But basically, the argument boils down to claiming that one shouldn't enjoy something if you aren't the primary demographic, which is just incredibly dictatorial (who are you to decide what someone else can and cannot like?) and patently untrue.  Pokemon, Disney/Pixar movies, etc are all thoroughly enjoyed by people well outside of the primary demographic.  There's nothing wrong with that.  In fact, broad appeal well outside of the target demographic is the sign of a wildly successful show.  Okay, so that gets the age argument out of the way, what about the other half of that objection - that's it's for girls, not for guys.  There's something really screwed up about that sort of sentiment - that liking something "girly" is beneath us guys, that liking a show like this is somehow a threat to our masculinity, which is a complete and udder cowpile.

Here's what Lauren Faust says about this:  "I love the idea of 'all ages' entertainment - media that is enjoyable to male and female, young and adult.  But the perception currently out there is that, if the main character is a girl, or if a significant portion of the cast is female, it is 'for girls' only and exclusively.  And usually, if something is planned for both genders, it means most of the characters are boys - and that maybe, if you’re lucky, there are a couple of girls who get to tag along.  I long for the day that female characters are not considered novel."

Amen.

Hydra009

Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 24, 2014, 06:27:11 PMBronies are still a thing? I thought that fad had died out. I haven't heard anything about that community in like a year. That's ages in internet-time.
Quote from: GrinningYMIR on October 24, 2014, 06:37:00 PM
They're less vocal but hardly dead, still growing in some areas. But a lot of them have moved on to homestuck and the like
The fandom is still very much alive, but is now largely insular.  It took the internet by storm for a couple years, but I'd imagine that non-fans didn't particularly like the deluge of pony stuff encroaching into their corner of the web.  Fair enough.  There's a pretty strong reaction against it now to the point that pony stuff just gets downvoted on a lot of non-brony sites.  The various pony boards, equestria daily, my little brony, etc have become safe havens for bronies, instead.

Also, some people have at least partially gone over to other fandoms and devote less time to ponies.  Personally, I've really gotten into Game of Thrones and haven't followed FiM quite like I used to.

GrinningYMIR

Consider me a near brony, blame Tara Strong and the music for that

And MSA rainbow dash
"Human history is a litany of blood shed over differing ideals of rulership and afterlife"<br /><br />Governor of the 32nd Province of the New Lunar Republic. Luna Nobis Custodit

_Xenu_

You guys do realize that Pinky is a Brony, right? Not that anyone is being rude or anything, I just think that needs to be taken into account.
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Munch

#19
The funny thing about the MLP longevity is how looked on youtude back at the older mlp series and episodes, gen1 right though to gen 3.5, there isn't really anything in these that makes any of the characters discernible or even likable, they were just obvious personality lacking toy products made simply with no complexity to appeal to the simplier minds of children to sell those products.

What this new series seems to do is give is a massive injection of personality, on level with things like the powerpuff girls, dexters lab or other nickelodeon cartoons, and add complexities that both kids and adults can relate to, instead of the characters just being flat, watered down characters.
I mean there are dozens of cartoons now that follow this formula, but maybe its because of what a massive leap this series took away from the original format of...



to this -



yeah, its a definite shift in tone.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

AllPurposeAtheist

All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

AllPurposeAtheist

And here I thought anime was just cartoons.. I had no idea my little pony was so life changing.. Still, anyone call me a bronie and I'll simply have to kill you. I'm sorry..
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Jason78

Who am I to judge an adult male that likes a child's cartoon show?  I watch pokémon.
Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

Mr.Obvious

Quote from: Hydra009 on October 25, 2014, 01:15:36 PM
The fandom is still very much alive, but is now largely insular.  It took the internet by storm for a couple years, but I'd imagine that non-fans didn't particularly like the deluge of pony stuff encroaching into their corner of the web.  Fair enough.  There's a pretty strong reaction against it now to the point that pony stuff just gets downvoted on a lot of non-brony sites.  The various pony boards, equestria daily, my little brony, etc have become safe havens for bronies, instead.

Also, some people have at least partially gone over to other fandoms and devote less time to ponies.  Personally, I've really gotten into Game of Thrones and haven't followed FiM quite like I used to.

It never bothered me, I thought it was hilarious. Both the storm, as you say, and the reaction to it. I'll admit that the 'brony-fandom' in essence strikes me as odd, but whatever. If you like it, you like it. Plain and simple. And if I harbor prejudice towards you for that, then fuck me, not you.
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

Munch

Quote from: Jason78 on October 25, 2014, 08:36:43 PM
Who am I to judge an adult male that likes a child's cartoon show?  I watch pokémon.

Thats actually a great point to make. I'm certain there are countless people even as old as me that got into the pokemon craze and still think the world of it today. and honestly, given what I've seen on pokemon, and MLP, I'd say MLP is the better in terms of story, morals and character development.
Never liked pokemon myself, but loads of people did.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

PickelledEggs

APA... Anime is love. Anime is life.

AllPurposeAtheist

#26
Quote from: PickelledEggs on October 25, 2014, 08:57:30 PM
APA... Anime is love. Anime is life.
You guys really should go outside and experience sun and oxygen once in awhile.. I hear it also helps life exist..
And no..not some fucking cartoon of the sun and oxygen molecules..
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Hydra009

#27
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on October 25, 2014, 09:59:19 PM
You guys really should go outside and experience sun and oxygen once in awhile.. I hear it also helps life exist..
And no..not some fucking cartoon of the sun and oxygen molecules..
Since when does watching TV shows every once and a while mean you don't do outside stuff?   :think:

Hydra009

#28
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 25, 2014, 08:38:31 PMIt never bothered me, I thought it was hilarious. Both the storm, as you say, and the reaction to it. I'll admit that the 'brony-fandom' in essence strikes me as odd, but whatever. If you like it, you like it. Plain and simple. And if I harbor prejudice towards you for that, then fuck me, not you.
Exactly.

I just like adorable stuff every once and a while.  It really helps me de-stress and/or keep sane.  That and I have an atypical fondness for cartoons.  As a kid, like 90% of the stuff I watched was animated, and only around 10% was live action.  Even today, it's somewhere around 50-50.  Since in the US, animation is almost entirely either kid's shows or comedies, it's a pretty limited pool to choose from, and I'm forced to go to anime for more adult-themed content.

Plus, I just really like the format of cartoons.  There's more freedom of expression because you're not limited to what human actors can do.  If you can imagine it and draw it, you can make a story out of it.  You can create these fantastic worlds and just go wild with it.  And there's another thing I love:  the fantastic.  I work and study and pay taxes in the real world.  And eventually, I'll die in the real world.  I've made my peace with that.  But I refuse to dream of the real world.  That and that alone is my one small act of defiance.  I dream of worlds without limit - beautiful, terrible, wondrous, and chaotic - worlds where anything is possible.  Worlds that are profoundly unlike our own, worlds like Nirn, Cadia, Mirrodin, Toril, Trantor, Rakis, and yes, Equestria.  And I never tire of stories about them.

PickelledEggs

I don't like the sun. I go outside when it's dark out.