It's a disease...

Agreed.

I share the feeling. I had a 'brony' moment for about a day. I drew a pony picture, went "well that was fun" and, then I went back to "why do people go ape shit over this again?".

You Forgot pony music and pony music videos.

I'm in a tower, sniping the little #$%^..... but I'm running out of ammo and they're coming faster and FASTER...

I agree almost completely. I'm still a fan, just not a crazy obsessive forceful brony. Sometimes, you have to let something go a bit to let it live fuller. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that, NOT drowning in a sea of pony art.

Your guess is as good as mine. Granted I, myself, used to enjoy My Little Pony but it becomes a case of over-saturation to the point of apathy. (Especially since I have a friend that is a brony and won't stop spamming pony links every damn day)

I still sometimes wonder who are the ones that legitimately enjoy it and who are being ironic, though.

Yeah, but the way i see things, i doubt it's the majority who are just trying to be ironic...

Oh, of course not. But I just wonder sometimes.

For me it's the combination of endearing, cute, funny, and just how plain happy the show is. That and it's a rare time when there seems to be a lot of communication between the creators and fans. And of course the treasure trove of little subtle jokes and references (perceived or intentional), sight gags, and all sorts of things that nerdy times love to look for and geek out over.

One just really wants to keep coming back and seeing what sort of awesome silly/funny meme-worthy expression or line of dialogue there will be the next week. And in doing so the characters that deliver those things tend to gain a following...and since ALL of them are capable of delivering what the bronies are looking for...well...that's where the fanaticism comes from, in my opinion.

I can't follow all of the fan stuff out there, myself...there's simply too much. I haven't followed the forums since the end of season 1.

I understand. But wouldn't you agree people are overreacting to the show?

To a degree, yes. The video of a group of guys singing "Winter Wrap Up" and carrying around a pony flag around in public is a pretty damn good example of people taking it too far.

I don't know. It has me wondering where I fall in the spectrum... I mean I REALLY love the show, and I bought the toys, and I've made art and even custom figures...I'm much more than a casual fan, but it's still not something I would announce on the streets or to anyone outside of the few friends I have who are also into the show.

So I guess I'm saying I'm biased. As with most things, I know where my personal boundaries lie, and they always seem to be in the extreme grey area. X3

I honestly don't think I could really pinpoint it exactly. It either clicks with you or it doesn't. (And I have to say, at least for me, a lot of it has to do with all the fan stuff that's sprung up around the show.)

I'm also not terribly fond of bronies who try to shove it down everyone's throats...

well, it sure must be a huge click.

Don't get me wrong; i liked the show to the point of actually watching the first season twice. But i really do believe people are over-glorifying the show. it's not something terribly innovative or obscure. It is still the warm-hearted kid's show it was supposed to be.

The fandom has definitely spawned some interesting "sides" to the characters, and as awesome as 's inspired portraits and others' fan art and comics tend to be; i still believe it to be overblown.

Totally agreed there. Can't really add much else.

Its just like Star Trek.

I'm afraid i don't follow :(

I mean the same thing have happened to other things, just like you said: some people that gets obsessed by the show to a degree of zealousness. Just like you described it in your fifth paragraph. I just took Star Trek as an example. :P

Ah, yes! Well Trekkies don't tend to be as "in your face" as bronies are. But yeah, the obsession level is comparable :P

Y'know, I've seen people use this exact same in the past as a reason why they dislike furries in general. The loud minority spewing their material left right and center until everyone else gets sick of it, and ruining the perception of the group as a whole.

Bronies like that are annoying, but they're hardly unique; you get that sort in -any- community/group/fandom/etc

Surprisingly enough i've never come across such people. (Maybe because i'm not too involved with the fandom)...

But i can see it happening, and it would definitely be something intoxicating. I would've ragequit long ago, i believe.


However, for me to get sick of the pony overflow even surprised me, i tend to be quite tolerant about these things... i just really can't get why all the excitement and zeal.

I guess it looks somewhat fun, but most of the hype seems to come from the fans themselves, considering it's a show for kids. As for how the hype all started, I have no idea. Was it the artist behind it?

Well, it IS a good show. I watched the first season through and it was a rather fun experience, but it wasn't life changing or specially exciting...

I have this theory where people feel guilty about liking the show, and they try to make others like it so they don't feel bad themselves, so it turns into a thoatshove show. :P i don't know... really.

I don't think it's everywhere because bronies are trying to force it down your throat. That is, it's not about proselytizing to (or getting a rise out of) the "unwashed masses" at all, at least for the vast majority of cases. I think it's everywhere because people find it legitimately fun to mix-up ponies with other things they also enjoy. And why shouldn't it be fun?

I agree, though, the way some bronies gush is a bit cringe-worthy, though I'd guess a significant portion of that is in exaggerated jest.

Nothing wrong with brushing up a fandom you like. But picture this simple example.

You know there's a bronybooru, and a ponibooru, and a thousand other pony image boards.

Why in hell would you bother flooding other specialized boards with the same material available in EVERY OTHER image board? (e621 is a raging example) FA and DA i can understand, people post their work and the like, but...

it's like if you flooded a non-furry site with furry hentai. It's out of place because there ARE places to upload furry smut with people that agree (and like) furry hentai.

It comes to me as plain and rude shoving.

I believe most furries tend to be a little more restrained now-a-days. I haven't come across many of those "lifestylers" that used to shove furry down everyone else's throat.

And yes, e621 is a raging example of pony shoving.

I don't think I can explain it but then I don't think I could explain the appeal of furry. MLP FiM is just too awesome to not be totally into.

Awesome? Yes. I agree completely.

To the point of intoxication? I... i wouldn't say it's any better than any other nice kid's show.

I don't know what it is. I didn't expect to get so deeply into it either but something drew me in. I've been into current toons since Tiny Toons and involved in all these little fandoms over the years. Nothing has been as all-consuming as this show. It's the most creative fandom I've ever seen too. There's just something about it I guess.

Me recuerda a una ocacion hace añares, solia ser fanatica de sonic hasta que entre en internet y me encontre con los fans...

Hay gente a la que simplemente le van los extremos, el resto simplemente nos gustan las cosas y sabemos cuando "es suficiente" :P

Sabes... creo que hasta el Sonic fandom ha sido menos intoxicante que los ponies...

simplemente es demasiado.

ciertamente a sido menos intoxicante, pero estaba dando un ejemplo nomas :P

Y si, en ocaciones concuerdo conque es demasiado ya.

Meh, every fandom is fucked up is someway and there's little to nothing anyone can do about it. I just have to keep reminding myself one thing, you can like something WITHOUT having to like it's fans.

I agree. I hate Portal fans.

Yeah, and I hate Sonic fans.

Not a clue, Kiit has a co-worker who is a "brony" probably a year back he went off on a giant half hour tirade (Kiit ignored most of it but we were waiting for a bus to go home after work) and had went on and on about how evil and vile and terrible furries (all the negative internet/real life comments/opinions about furries) and how all furcons are yiffcon this or yiffcon that. now he goes on hour long tirades about how great the new my little pony stuff is, how the old MLP is garbage and keeps trying to force Kiit to watch it (to the point he shoved his iphone in Kiit's face with an episode on youtube playing).

at first when people started doing fanart, Kiit's thought process was that it would be like the rest of the fanart fads, where one or two weeks, then it dies off and things go back to normal, but it hasn't and there have been a few people that Kiit stopped watching because the post nothing other then MLP art, there were a few that Kiit went to look through their gallery, and for 2-5 pages of their gallery was pure MLP stuff.

Kiit has tried to watch a few episodes, but Kiit didn't care much for it.

Yes, it's a rather overblown fandom. :u

I think, in part, it has to do with the social aspect of it perhaps? The studio has given official permission to post episodes, parodies, art, hold get-togethers on places like u-stream (In a lot of ways it's kinda like what goes on in the furry fandom.); the fans get to hang-out, hold podcasts, etc. without the looming fear that they're gonna get legal reprisals for it. The atmosphere has allowed it to become a teeny-tiny subculture.

In other words the producers have been very encouraging of their fans in terms of the social aspect in a way in a way that hasn't really been done by a nationally broadcast show before. And it's with a pretty cute, fun and imaginative show on top of it all which may even double the impact of the encouragement.

There will be folks who take it too far, but like Zerosamor said, you get that with every fandom.

I understand the dangers of makng something so appealing. The fandoms and the hordes of people that ruin it for others.

It's just the proportion that blows me away.

Can't deny the whole thing where Lauren Faust was constantly reading/replying to the fans was a bit exciting, but i really don't believe it has anything to do with the aftermath of the show.... or maybe it does XD but i just can't see it.

Basically imagine if the Sonic fandom had the internet and 4-chan in the early 90's and this is what would have happened. I love this series, it deserves it's praise and it's a perpetual meme generator the likes of which the internet has never seen, however some fans turn into fucking Celestia's Witnesses and just wont accept that that some people will never like the show and it give the rest of us a bad rep. Although I really shouldn't judge, drawing porn of the shows creator(even if it's only to troll the more obsessive bronies) isn't doing anything positive for the fandom's reputation either.

Sadly this fandom is only gonna get uglier as the series loses steam with each season. I'm terrified by the epic shitstorm that'll occur when Hasbro inevitably ends the G4 line and moves on to G5 or something, I'm not sure if the internet's body can take it.

I hate the sonic fandom for a completely different reason. Hahaha. But anyway; i see what you're going for there. As much as catering to a show... you have got to admit it has gone WAY over its quota.

And as much as i liked the show (and even when i still want to draw some fanart...), i can't wait for it to run out of steam. The fandom is really getting on my nerves.

Holy shit. That would be AMAZING!

Just think of all the cupcakes I could make.

One can safely assume that bro-anything in contemporary vernacular is absolutely bad news.

Haha, hadn't thought about that, but you're completely right.

Is a gay pride parade overreaction to something a lot of people enjoy? Some would say yes. But we all have to deal with it.

Live and let live. It's all a party. Yes, there are wackos of that particular flavor, but they're the hood ornaments on a very large, very diverse boat. Some people sit at the helm, others in the cabin. I like the show as a tool for finally getting the girls some decent programming that doesn't define femininity by the exclusion of masculinity.

Just enjoy the beautiful and sometimes hilarious (and inappropriate) fan art. It'll recede in a year or two and Friendship is Magic will be just another facet of culture. Like South Park or Transformers.

i can see why people would make a pony char and talk abut the show a lot but it has gotten out of control.

Maybe some of what you're reacting to is the way the internet enabled the pony fandom to generate (almost) fully formed, virtually overnight. I wonder if having to deal with a sudden influx of pony content rather than a gradual development has affected fans and detractors with a greater rush of enthusiasm and frustration, respectively.

Also, are you asking why pony fans act this way, or are you asking why people have become so attached specifically to FiM? If it's the first, I don't think I have anything more to add. If the second, I can only describe my own experiences. First, I will admit to some fannish moments like people complain about. Thankfully that's died down; it was irritating when I realized that my favorite conversational topic among family was pony-related. But in answer to the question, most of the time when a stray pony thought or a fragment of one of the songs comes to the front of my consciousness I find myself involuntarily smiling. It's like candy for the brain or something. Or candy for some people's brains anyway. Obviously not everyone's.

And it is, as you say, 'just' a well-done children's show. It lacks guile and cynicism, both of which are commonplace for people who spend more than a minimum of time on the internet. This is just speculation on my part, but perhaps people latched onto Friendship is Magic because they wanted something to enjoy with the sincerity of a child. (Actually, that might be worth looking into. Compare/contrast the fannish behaviors of children and adults who watch FiM.)

creo que es un fenomeno que ha alcansado niveles insospechados de popularidad debido a los elementos que retoma de otras animaciones como el humor mezclandolo con lo nuevo

el fanatismo dificilmente puede explicarse, tomemos como ejemplo lo que sucedio ahora en monterrey con el reciente concierto de Justin Bieber, como artista es un producto que ha resultado exitoso entre el mercado al cual va dirigido

ahora en el caso de los ponys supongo que no se esperaba tal reacion pero el algo bueno, sobretodo para los que fabrican los juguetes y demas productos

aun asi no deja de ser un fenomeno aislado en mi cuidad (mty) no se en otros lugares, pero si noe s en internet y en los sitios que normalmente visito fuera de ahi no veo trazas de dicho fenomeno aun, abra que esperar a que la serie aterrize y ver que ocurre

el fanatismo es una forma de exprecion y de escape par a muchas personas

como fanatico desde las primeras series debo decir que prefiero la santiguas aun y cuanod las neuvas tienen su encanto, (las 3.5 jamas existieron para mi)

puede que ya te hayas atravezado la etapa de enamoramiento a los ponys debido al hastiante y vomitivo desenfreno del fandom, pero solo te dire...

puedes correr pero no esconderte

A mi no me parece para nada diferente a lo que algunos furries hacen. fanart, fanfics, fanloquesea con personajes originales, propios o una mezcla es gran parte de lo que se ve en el furry. A mi no me sorprende en lo absoluto que exista gente obsesionada.

Por mi parte, me gustó el show, me agradan muchos aspectos del mismo, me agradan los personajes, pero es solo eso. Supongo que todos los que me conocen de este mundillo no se sorprenderán siendo que siempre he sido uno de los más centrados en el furry.

I think I can explain all of this. Over cupcakes. Cupcakes that were made from love and kindness.

...and Rainbow Dash.

it's an ok show. I've seen a few... but OMFG-BRONIES are F-ing annoying

pero ponis, pánd.
PO NIS
OwO asi las 24 h
XDDDDD

It's a show where the plot revolves around a cast of all -female- characters who are all very diverse in their personalities. If you don't like one, chances are you are going to like another one. The obsession stems from some people's love of characters. This show and 'bronies' are all fueled by the lonely male drive.

i'm gonna scare some bronies, hehehehe!