A calm, controlled discussion of the brony phenomenon.

[Tanassy]

The show isnt bad.
But the community is.

I agree with this, to an extent.

That happens all the time. With like, everything.

[~Bubblicious~]

I honestly like watching the show, its just something about the art style and how everything is portrayed that really catches me eye and holds my attention. However, when people OBSESS over something, it kills it for me. That's what killed Soul Eater for me. I watched the episodes in all Japanese as soon as I could, and then I started watching it again when English subs, etc. , came out. Then all of a sudden- BAM! Soul Eater is popular as all hell and there's idiots acting like they've been a fan of it for forever. People doing that stupid stuff killed it for me. Black Butler, even, is really shooting up in popularity and just like Harry Potter- my love for it hasn't diminished. However, the blatant shows of Pony-Love or Pony-Hate I've been seeing is honestly killing MLP for me. I still watch it here and there, why? 'Cuz I like it. Otherwise? I prefer to just sit back and relax on MC or whatever other game rather than watch MLP.

[Dracoslythe]

Oooh yay.  I get to go back to when I was a wee little girl now.  :3

Yes.  I love the show.
Why?  Pretty much for the same reasons that Derek likes it.  The animation is fantastic, the VA's for the most part are great, I love the music from it, I LOVE the humor (I spotted quite a few references from other [older/for adults] things in S1) and overall it's just a cute little show to watch and it's actually enjoyable, unlike 95% of cartoons on television today.
But then again, I've been a MLP fan for quite a long time.
I have a bunch of G2 and G3 stuff still; I had to get rid of some of it (they went to my aunt...she's got a closet full of...G3 toys, I believe?  xD) when I got FiM merch.  xD
Been teased about liking ponies since middle school, so jumping into FiM wasn't really a huge deal for me.
I learned about FiM back in like...March or April, but never had a chance to sit down and watch it until early June.
Yes, I make references, mention it quite a bit and have a bunch of macros (I have to say though...Derek has a HELL of a lot more pony pics than I do xDD), but I do that with several other things too.

The community...I love and hate it.
I love that mere minutes after something is revealed, there's already jokes about it (i.e. Discord Shuffling, the Rainbow Dash memes [although those kinda get boring quick], etc.).  It's also things like this that make me shake my head, but can't help but to love this fandom (kinda like I do with Jkid.  :3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYX1HzRiIpM&feature=related  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VVIZc6L3rc&list=UUGiAwEj-NYDKHyJambHqhlg&feature=plcp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egl076EHmFU&feature=related
Then again, I love these kinds of videos.  There's also the AMAZING fan compositions (Super Ponybeat, for example). and even the cute little stuff (Such as the Bridesmaids parody [that was an official billboard if I'm not mistaken, but there was some fan works of the mane 6 as humans]).

On the flipside, there are the fans that make even me shake my head and go "why...?"  Such as...the ones who treat the show like a goddamn bible.  It's a show, for Christ's sake.
And then, even though you all know I do enjoy a good Rule 34, I don't like looking at Pony R34.  Most of it is just sickening, and the first thing that comes to my mind is "why would you do that!?"  And then there's those who jump up and down if you don't worship Celestia as a god or something.  Or if you don't like the same characters they do, they get all pissed off.
^small percentage of bronies, thank god, but they are very vocal, like Derek said.  And because there are so many bronies, there's quite a few of them laying around.
And then there's those who are just on it for the bandwagon ride, and will jump off as soon as something more interesting comes.  -_-;

[TheGameNinja]

The Bridlemaids billboard was official. In fact, they're about to put up a new one for season two. The episode set to air on the 22nd is a Halloween episode by the way. :3



And that brings up another thing: just how awesome Hasbro and everyone else involved with the show has been about this whole thing. Cartoons have been cancelled because they were attracting unexpected audiences. Both Megas XLR and Invader Zim were cancelled because the networks didn't like that they were attracting an older demographic. Hasbro could have pulled the plug on the whole thing when they found out about the fandom's internet presence but they didn't. They embraced it! They made ads like the Bridlemaids billboard and the Equestria Gurls video. They don't have fanvideos or even the episodes themselves pulled from YouTube. Though I'm not sure everyone in charge quite understands it. XD

[Dracoslythe]

The Bridlemaids billboard was official. In fact, they're about to put up a new one for season two. The episode set to air on the 22nd is a Halloween episode by the way. :3



And that brings up another thing: just how awesome Hasbro and everyone else involved with the show has been about this whole thing. Cartoons have been cancelled because they were attracting unexpected audiences. Both Megas XLR and Invader Zim were cancelled because the networks didn't like that they were attracting an older demographic. Hasbro could have pulled the plug on the whole thing when they found out about the fandom's internet presence but they didn't. They embraced it! They made ads like the Bridlemaids billboard and the Equestria Gurls video. They don't have fanvideos or even the episodes themselves pulled from YouTube. Though I'm not sure everyone in charge quite understands it. XD

Poltergeist.  xD
/excited nowww

But yeah, I really like how those involved in the show are actually PUSHING it more towards the older demographic of fans (once they found out about us, at least xD)
It's like they aren't even pushing it towards the target demographic anymore xD

[TheGameNinja]

Oh, they do still push it towards the target demo. Ever been to the Pony section toy aisle? A lot of the toys are still in the style of previous generations of the franchise. Much more, without having a better word for it, "girly." And then there's the talking baby Pinkie Pie thing... They could at least use Sweetie Belle or some other younger pony for those kinds of toys. =3= Some of the better ones are the gift set that came with the ones with molded, non-brushable hair and the blind bags. The standard $5 brushables look okay though.

[Dracoslythe]

Oh, they do still push it towards the target demo. Ever been to the Pony section toy aisle? A lot of the toys are still in the style of previous generations of the franchise. Much more, without having a better word for it, "girly." And then there's the talking baby Pinkie Pie thing... They could at least use Sweetie Belle or some other younger pony for those kinds of toys. =3=

Yes I've been down the toy isle. x3
lol I agree.  I think Apple Blossom would have made a cute baby toy.  =3=

[TheGameNinja]

Here's a good article to read:

http://life.icrontic.com/article/why-grown-ass-men-love-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-so-much/