Anti-bronies and Bronies as a whole

[3arlGrey]

Sorry to bring something like this up, but I've wanted to get this off my chest for a while.

Can we honestly really call ourselves "bronies" anymore? Ever since it's debut last year, it's

popularity has skyrocketed, and because of that;

This is what I feel is how much we've grown since then. Bronies have amassed so many haters I'm

shocked by the flamewars on all the fanart and fanvideos I watch. Because of this, I feel that

people like us have become more of a minority. I'm not attacking furries in any way, and in fact,

I am one of the "young" followers of the show, but there are plenty of more subcategories than the

ones above. There are people here who are into that kind of thing, and they're still decent users. But

because of the massive heap of NSFW pictures that's been eroding the fandom recently, I've grown

to dislike it, and more people have begun to take it for granted as a society for furries.

I don't hate the fanbase I follow, but I detest it when we are generalized as inconclusive

spammers, haters, and followers of Rule 34, grown men filed for mental disabilities,

all because of some black sheep who couldn't handle people having a different opinion than them.

I know people who hate that they are "bronies," because they are lumped together with idiots like

those, and I sympathize with them.

Ever since the battles on 4chan, the serene stalemate has been broken across youtube and sites

I visit. Someday, I even fear that anti-bronies will do something drastic and flag down MLP and Hasbro

enough for them to lose their own franchise and show.

I didn't word this quite as well as I hoped, but I wanted a few opinions on this.

[QuickLime]

So wait because some MLP fans are stupid we need to act like "Brony" Is a badge of shame and avoid using it?

Yeah no.

[Davroth]

I'm calling it right now. Bronies will like Trekkies in the future.

On topic: It's always the same in any fandom. Look at Doctor Who, or Star Trek, or Naruto, or whatever really. Sure, maybe we don't want to associate ourselves with certain parts of one specific fandom, but what would changing the name accomplish? Supposedly we would open a new exclusive club of sophisticated MLP FiM fans, wouldn't the unwelcome subjects you pointed out try to push into that as well?

Take the good with the bad, I say. Everything else can only be a fruitless effort.

[ZephyrBurst]

Pretty much what Davroth said. This kind of stuff is within every sizeable fanbase. There's no stopping it, but you can avoid it.

[Rosewind]

I think that's a pretty big over generalization there. Sadly it takes one bad apple to flavor the barrel, and -- like others have pointed out -- you'll find this degree of "negative fanaticism" within any fandom.

Of interest is how you're pulling furries into your argument. I suppose this could be an entire debate by itself, but I think it's important to define what exactly a furry is. If by that definition, a brony is a furry; someone who enjoys fantastic or funny animals that share human characteristics. Does that mean that bronies like to dress up in carpet suits and have sex? The FiM movement inside furry culture is growing, and you'll find a lot of artists that enjoy pony also enjoy furry too, but the actions of the few should not define the many.

As far as the NSFW stuff floating around, it's a matter of anything else on the internet -- if you don't want to see it, you can pretty easily avoid it -- and if you're someplace where you might find it, you're probably looking for something else anyway. You'll find many members of this forum do not mind the NSFW side of pony fandom (if you're over 18, you can see there's a thread about this in the mature forum), and I don't think it should make a difference to anyone regardless.

Finally, I think a lot of the negativity you see is a basis of fact about where FiM culture originally spawned: chan boards. It won't take a rocket scientist to tell you that those places in particular spawn just as many trolls as people who like the series. That section of the internet is pretty vocal, and I see you're mentioning it, so you probably see more of the flames and trolling than someone who doesn't bother with chans.

My take away message for you -- since you mentioned that this issue has been bothering you -- is to enjoy what you like, hang out with other people that enjoy it too, and pay no mind to the people that would love to ruin what you enjoy, as there are plenty of them out there.

[knight]

I think this applies to every fan community. Sure. there's always going to be the weirdos who end up with a fettish for the fandom, rather than the passionate love for it that most have, and that is always going to be what the media looks for in a fandom. ALWAYS. It's called 'dirty laundry' for a reason. It's all news systems are interested in.

They don't see 'anime', they see 'hentai, pervy japanese guys, slutty con-goers'. They don't see 'furries', they see 'freaks, zoophiles and pedos'. The media digs up the dark side of a community, no matter how pure the source, or what the original idea is.

BECAUSE the media emphasizes this, it forces normal fans to reconsider their status as that show/thing's fan, as it makes them look bad.

I think, if anything, it should empower us, as bronies, even MORE to try to erase any sort of bad name either the media or the mass amount of 'bad brony material' that the said 'bad bronies' can dig up by standing behind the true message of the show, love and friendship. It's truly a pure message, as a certain Bob Marley said, "The people, who were trying to make this world worse... are not taking a day off. How can I?"

That being said, I'm not going to dictate artists, such as myself, for what they depict, whether X-rated or not. Communities cannot exist without the balance of 'dark' material as opposed to light. There is no such thing as a 'heaven' of any sort of community. Even religion.

.....

But I'm not even gonna go there.

[Firebolt]

Yeah, there's always going to be a few messed up folks who take things way too far.

I'm actually not worried about this, period. I like a show. I am not a Brony because I like MLP in the same way I'm not a Trekkie because I like the original Star Trek or Worf (Although if anyone draws a picture of him holding Flutterhsy for me, I will have a new best friend and you will have a sparklingly awesome fanfiction of your choice, tastefully written of course, I have my moral code to consider.).

I never really consider myself a "part" of any fandom. I'm just here for the ride, as it were. If the show goes south (like Bleach and Naruto) then I stop watching. I enjoy this community, but hey, it's a spare time thing, (which I have too much of at the moment). If it goes south, I leave. No big deal either way.

[Acynder]

I love that Persona 3 avatar.

[Han Valen]

I'm completely indifferent to the bad apples of the fandom. And if someone says I'm like said apples simply because I consider myself a brony, I'm indifferent to that as well. You'll find both on the Internet and IRL; it's extremely indifferent to 'offend' me. I'm thick-skinned like that.

I ain't get let not a god damned one make me feel insecure with any of my social stati.

[Guest RarityUnderground]

A thought-provoking topic, to be sure, but not a worrying one. Simply put, variety is the spice of life. How dull would it be if only we existed in the fandom (loosely used of course)? Consider us the polished diamonds of the community as it were. Without those you are worried about, how would we shine at the top as beacons of poise, grace, and humility?

[Incantatious]

I completely agree with Rosewind.

Being a brony means different things to different people: Some call themselves bronies because they are simply male fans of the show, (and many more female fans now call themselves bronies too), some call themselves bronies because MLP FiM has changed their lives and now they want to leave their mark on the world.. It ranges from so many things and carries a spectrum of different things depending on what people want to define themselves as

As much as I love and admire the work of so many in the brony community, I don't feel 'proud' as such: I didn't make that work and it doesn't reflect on me purely out of the fact that I am also a FiM fan. Similarly, when I see people in the brony community who conduct themselves poorly, I don't feel bad or take that as any reflection on me as a fan, because I didn't behave like that. I don't think it should to anyone. Because just as with any popular fandom, there will be conflict within it. The most embarrasing irony of this, is that so prominently and proudly bronies have claimed "love and tolerance" as it's spearhead, and yet the fandom has expanded to the point that it carries within it such a myriad of people that it kind of collapses in on itself when they find that some can't even tolerate one another. *face-palm*

There are some incredibly talented artists who depict ponies in situations some of us want to see, and I'm not, and will never be, the slightest bit ashamed to admit that I think it's pretty awesome.

[SirShadowdeath]

*Reads Post*

*Looks out Window*

The storm is coming.....

On topic, I can simply say this.

Every fandom, every religion (yes, I'm comparing them) has fans, followers, and extremists. For every following, there are haters and "non-believers".

Fact is, NSFW content will always exist, as long as life on the internet exists. It might be disturving to some, but it's human nature to twist simple ideas.

Just live your life, don't feed the trolls, and like/do whatever you want.

[3arlGrey]

@Acynder, thanck yuu.

Also, I wasn't suggesting that we just drop the title "brony" altogether, I just wanted a bit

of input on this.

Thank you all for your positive feedback. It's helped me place a bit more trust into this

community as a whole.

[ChancellorPuddinghead]

I say love and tolerate the stuffing out of X person for Y reason -

We can't throw up a white flag of surrender whenever there's the least bit of conflict or aspect of something that doesn't seem appealing to us.

Sorry to bring something like this up, but I've wanted to get this off my chest for a while.

Can we honestly really call ourselves "bronies" anymore? Ever since it's debut last year, it's

popularity has skyrocketed, and because of that;

This is what I feel is how much we've grown since then. Bronies have amassed so many haters I'm

shocked by the flamewars on all the fanart and fanvideos I watch. Because of this, I feel that

people like us have become more of a minority. I'm not attacking furries in any way, and in fact,

I am one of the "young" followers of the show, but there are plenty of more subcategories than the

ones above. There are people here who are into that kind of thing, and they're still decent users. But

because of the massive heap of NSFW pictures that's been eroding the fandom recently, I've grown

to dislike it, and more people have begun to take it for granted as a society for furries.

I don't hate the fanbase I follow, but I detest it when we are generalized as inconclusive

spammers, haters, and followers of Rule 34, grown men filed for mental disabilities,

all because of some black sheep who couldn't handle people having a different opinion than them.

I know people who hate that they are "bronies," because they are lumped together with idiots like

those, and I sympathize with them.

Ever since the battles on 4chan, the serene stalemate has been broken across youtube and sites

I visit. Someday, I even fear that anti-bronies will do something drastic and flag down MLP and Hasbro

enough for them to lose their own franchise and show.

I didn't word this quite as well as I hoped, but I wanted a few opinions on this.

Love and Tolerate - and don't admit defeat even before you've been defeated. - You also need to reference the Great Pokemon vs. Pony war of 2011 - *sigh* Many a Pikachu died that day.....

lol - there was no war of course - just a really awesome image on deviant art of the Mane 6 going all 300-like on some Pikachu - I may have a game mat printed out with that image

[accountdeleted]

Meh...

While I do kinda agree with OP to a degree (picture, about it) I do NOT think that we should change what we call ourselves. In everything, there is the best and there is the worst. We need to make sure that we are the best, we need to have no fear that the worst will outshine us.

Also... didn't furries try to split the fandom, to get rid of what was perceived to be wrong with the fandom?

[Thoth]

Oh boy...

Look, my view on this is similar to everyone else's. A fandom is NEVER crystal-clean. You will always find a dark corner. Hell, I'm one of the biggest guys in the Rio fandom, and I've seen X-rated art and fics based off of it. Heck, someone made, essentially, a Cupcakes-themed Rio fanfic. They even STATED it was because they read 'Cupcakes'.

See, from that, I can only presume that we as a community are viewed for what we are. Communities will get viewed for one aspect. It ALWAYS happens. Bronies are CONSTANTLY trolled on an Ed, Edd, n Eddy forum I visit. It's not because the Bronies there are bad people, but because "Guys liking ponies" comes off as odd. And of course, it's not understandable because the word "cartoon" and "ponies" are mixed with "watches". Put those together, and the respect is dashed in place with suspicion and looking it up. That leads only to part of the fandom.

Thankfully, media outlets have BARELY scratched our huge community, and have NOT found the darker side. First impressions always lead to Equestria Daily, or perhaps other places. We are a huge community, and with more good impressions, it shines. There will ALWAYS be people with different interests. If a guy has a fetish with ponies...in those situations, by Celestia he's that man. We just have to tolerate it. Toleration is a huge part of this fandom, and something we look for. Frankly, people just need to learn to tolerate the odd, and accept the slightly-adnormal but admirable, that being our good side of the fandom.

In general, there's never one side to a story. There's always two. Two sides to a road. Frankly, people can judge. Opinions exist. However, we can't force people to tolerate. If they can accept the communities "other side of the coin" attribute as other fandoms have had, then I'm sure people can see us as normal. After all, with fans now telling the world about why we love this show, and the reasons why it's NOT fetish-fueled, and how it's a love for these ponies and the show and crew itself, then I'm sure people out there will read and understand. This world is crazy, I mean we prove it, but it's not crazy enough to not understand an opinion or million.

All I know is, I love FiM, I love being a Brony, and I love you guys. If people can't see past the bad and look at the good in life, then we're not the bad people. It's them.