The Bronies

[DarknessSavior]

I've sat by a while and said basically nothing. But it's starting to go everywhere. byuu's board has a few people with pony avatars, and they had a gigantic thread about it for a while. I kinda glanced over it, but didn't think it was that big of a deal.

But then I started noticing it. It's everywhere. I'm big into internet reviewers, like TGWTG. One day, I noticed on reviewtopia that they had a Brony podcast. Not that big of a deal, I guess, since you can just avoid it if you're not interested. But then, on blistered thumbs, one of my favorite weekly columns started being overtaken by the ponies...

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2012/05/dlcelightful-treats-05-27-12-one-word-titles-other-hazards/

D(LC)lightful Treats is a column done every week that is supposed to showcase 10 free games that you can play, that are supposed to be pretty good. But in the last...month or so? The author has been including at LEAST one pony game per week, sometimes even calling one of them the MUST PLAY of the week. This week, he included one that is absolutely awful, even to the point that he admitted it himself. The only real positive thing that he could say about the game was that it featured chiptunes of the series' music. That's not enough to recommend it on a column like that.

I started commenting about it, and apparently he's essentially taking the stance of "Well, it's my column, deal with it or don't read it". But he's basically only putting these games in there because he's a fan of the show. I made the argument that if someone from another equally annoying fandom (say, rabid Naruto fans) did the same thing, they'd be the laughing stock of the internet and it likely wouldn't go on very long.

Then, this: Pony Fantasy 6

Seriously? You're going to edit the sprites, make them look god awful, and change the story, and call that something worth playing? It's not even done very well. I've seen some terrible hacks here, don't get me wrong. But this makes badhacks (the guys who made the idiotic hacks that were essentially just the romhacking equivalent of penis jokes) look good.

I don't get this fandom. Look at the video. There's HUNDREDS of upvotes. HUNDREDS! Wtf is wrong with people? Under normal circumstances, grown-ass men would be incredibly ashamed to even like a show like that, let alone to inject it into everything they do with their lives.

~DS

[Garoth Moulinoski]

Supposedly, this show with the ponies has really story telling, or something like that. Supposedly, it contains adult humor while keeping safe for children (as in, safe that the adult jokes go over children's heads).

That's as far as my knowledge of it goes. I've seen some "bronies" in Kotaku and some commenters from Sinfest, but I usually skip their discussions which sometimes hinge on Gay vs Anti-Gay discussions.

A lot of these bronies will deny any homosexuality... And really, just because something looks like it's for little girls doesn't mean it literally is for little girls...

...Of course, when I think of the toy line the show is based on, My Little Pony does look like it should not only be for girls, but for little girls younger than age 10.

I shrug and I continue on with my life.

[I.S.T.]

A. What's wrong with a man liking a girl's cartoon? I doubt you dislike men who like boy's cartoons...

B. All fandoms are fucked up. The latest ones especially so. You wanna see one even worse than MLP? Look up BBC Sherlock on Tumblr.

Know that while you stare into the abyss, it stares back.

[Nec5]

Yeah, I didn't get the whole My Little Pony thing that people seem to think is cool or funny.  I just chalk it up to people needing to feel cool or unique or into something.

[Kyrael Seraphine]

You're only noticing it now?

[BRPXQZME]

[Ryusui]

MLP: FiM is, on its own merits, a well-written, well-animated, and genuinely entertaining show. It is unironically good. It does have a couple of weak episodes, but the majority more than make up for it.

I'll admit I was a hard sell - I still haven't seen the first few episodes. All I'm saying is, don't let the (yes, quite possibly insane) fanbase give you the wrong idea: it's seriously one of the best cartoons to come out in recent years.

[I.S.T.]

I am glad I'm not the only fan of that web comic here.

[DarknessSavior]

MLP: FiM is, on its own merits, a well-written, well-animated, and genuinely entertaining show. It is unironically good. It does have a couple of weak episodes, but the majority more than make up for it.

I'll admit I was a hard sell - I still haven't seen the first few episodes. All I'm saying is, don't let the (yes, quite possibly insane) fanbase give you the wrong idea: it's seriously one of the best cartoons to come out in recent years.

No, Ryusui! Not you too! :<

I watched the first...15 minutes or so of the first episode months ago, back when the thread at byuu's board came up. I just couldn't get into it. And before someone goes "You have to watch more!", that's usually more than I'll give almost any show I watch without a friend recommendation first. If I can't find anything to keep me wanting to watch the show, I don't watch it.

~DS

[Ryusui]

The first two episodes set up the premise of the series. I recommend you jump in the deep end. Start with Lesson Zero and enjoy the fireworks. :3

EDIT: Also: "Baby Cakes."

[KaioShin]

Just don't make one mistake and try to argue with a Bronie about it like you kinda attempted with commenting on that news column. They'll hunt you down and kill you by sheer force of numbers. I'm not talking from personal experience, but I've seen it happen on numorous other places. This stuff really annoys me too since it infests stuff that isn't even remotely related to cartoons or even television, but they are everywhere and need to be in your face about it too. It's like furries all over again, only in much greater numbers this time. Try to ignore them the best you can, it's the only thing we can do without just hurting ourselves in the process.

[Kyrael Seraphine]

I take offence at that! I wear glasses because I have to, and I wear old clothes because I'm a cheap bastard. The brony thing has been going on for what, two years now? I think it's 1/5 people who genuinely like the show, 1/5 people who cling to any sense of community and 3/5's people trolling.

I can see people liking the show. Hey, stranger things have happened. Some people liked the Green Lantern movie, and others think Dragonball Z was the pinnacle of animation until Naruto arrived.

[BRPXQZME]

I take offence at that! I wear glasses because I have to, and I wear old clothes because I'm a cheap bastard.

Oh, so you were... doing it before everyone else?

(my mom way overbought and I’ve been rotating the same 40 shirts since middle school)

[Garoth Moulinoski]

A. What's wrong with a man liking a girl's cartoon? I doubt you dislike men who like boy's cartoons...

B. All fandoms are fucked up. The latest ones especially so. You wanna see one even worse than MLP? Look up BBC Sherlock on Tumblr.

Know that while you stare into the abyss, it stares back.

Some of the stuff my sister's shown me has been genuinely funny. But she might be protecting me from of the other stuff (and I know what it is, but I'm not going look for it). The show itself is, from what I saw from the last episode and my snippets from previous ones, really good. Too bad that they're so long, that the chances that someone will interrupt me for some favor increase to 110%. Seriously, I planned to watch the last episode from start to finish.... I had to miss out on 40% of the middle to help my mom with something. "C'mon, you couldn't have waited til after, or at least ask before it started?"

My parents... they always wait til the middle of something I'm doing in order to ask for help.

[Jorpho]

I did watch about two-thirds of the first season, mostly just to see what all the fuss was about.  The fandom seems to have grown more insular since then, though, and I've only seen the first two episodes of the second season.  (John de Friggin' Lancie! A masterstroke of casting by any estimation.)  Occasionally I lean towards watching more, but then I see something extremely creepy online somewhere and I veer back towards the many other things I should be doing.

I am glad I'm not the only fan of that web comic here.

For those of us not in the know, which webcomic would that be?  Are you being hipsterish?

[I.S.T.]

http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/

In the middle of a storyline right now. Best to start from the beginning. Not really as long of a read as you'd expect, due to it being a weekly comic.

[kingofcrusher]

I agree with the hipsters sentiment. People who genuinely really enjoy something based purely on its own merits don't go around wearing their fandom like a gorilla suit and making sure everyone damn well knows that they like it. The show may be well-written, but honestly I think it's the irony that comes with grown men liking a little girls show that they really love-- else they wouldn't have invented the term "bronies" to denote such a thing.

[Spooniest]

People who like things "ironically" are doing it because they want you to make fun of them. They're trying to draw attention to themselves, because they're what we colloquially refer to as "attention whores." To that effect...

[I.S.T.]

Or they're the type who like to watch movies at home and mock them viciously.

Perhaps with a robot to their left and right.