GAT_00: I've always thought the whole Bronie thing was incredibly creepy. It's not like a kids show you grew up with.

Actually, it kind of is. Bronies and pegasisters tend to be ages 24-34, which puts them squarely in the demographic for G1 My Little Pony, which peaked in popularity around 1986. A great many of the new fans enjoy 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' (G4,) simply because it's a better version of the same ponies we pegasisters or the female siblings of bronies (as it was a less tolerant time for gender expression,) enjoyed when we were little. Applejack is still there, Spike is still there, but instead of two-dimensional cardboard-cutouts who are just there to sell toys, the newer versions are credible, realistic characters with plots entertaining enough for adults and a significant quality increase in every aspect, particularly music and voice acting.

If you examine the first-generation version and the current one, it's a similar quality and features upgrade between, say, an Apple IIe and an Apple iPhone. Nobody argues with a bunch of Eighties and early-Nineties kids liking iStuff. And then, when you consider how many bronies and pegasisters are at the age when they and their friends are all having children on purpose (seriously, it's like Babies R' Us up in my Facebook,) and what absolute drivel the rest of children's programming tends to be (except 'Adventure Time,' 'Young Justice' and 'Legend of Korra,') then the whole Brony phenomenon really starts to look more like a lot of expectant dads adjusting to the idea that the new baby may be a girl.

That, and consider what's been happening, economically and socially, for 24 to 34-year-olds. We've had a stagnant economy, overwhelming student-loan debt for degrees that in no way guarantee better career performance, housing is still in crisis, outsourcing is removing a lot of the fields we're good at, a lot of us have served in the war, and politics continue to completely ignore the needs of people our age in favor of pandering to the Boomers, the old people who show up to every election, and, in a really cruel move, the Millennials who really don't know how lucky they have it. A lot of us want children desperately, but are too responsible to have them until our finances are better, and others in the group have children at the expense of everything else they love.

It is a dark, struggly time for the demographic, with the horrible job market frequently forcing us to move far away from every friend we have just to survive. All the social media in the world can't replace friendship, and with jobs, housing and opportunities going the way they are, this is a generation that feels incredibly alone.

Until we put on 'My Little Pony' and log into the forums to talk with the others of our kind.

What other media is there that is SO escapist, so cheerful and so hopeful? There are no Democrat-Bronies or Republican-Pegasisters, because we are all fans of the show and that is what we gather to talk about. When work is a horrible pain in the ass and our friends are far away, we still have our fellow Bronies, and considering how many local meet-ups and watch parties there are, becoming a Brony is one of the quickest ways for a person in a new area to find friends of their same age and education level. The show emphasizes tolerance, acceptance and sharing, which is the same basis that many religions use to bring people together, except that this, being a TV show, isn't un-PC to discuss around the watercooler or controversial enough to provoke fights.

There are Brony charities to give us purpose and every day brings new triumphs, some as small as bringing a Princess Cadence toy to the Toys For Tots drive and knowing it will make a poor child's Christmas and some as big as the school Bronies For Good is building in Uganda. It gives us something to share and something to live for, even at times when the rest of our lives are, by necessity, fairly dull and gray.

If it wasn't 'My Little Pony,' something else would have come along to give this broken, bent generation hope.

And considering what our parents did with this time in their lives, I think we could do worse than collecting a few plastic ponies and writing a few fanfics. I mean, the Greatest Generation invented outlaw bikers, the Boomers did more drugs than Keith Richards on a bad day and Generation X gave us the dot-com bubble crash. Compared to that, I think y'all can put up with some bucking image macros and the odd Shining Armor cosplay.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I used to think it was weird to watch MLP. I'd make fun of "bronies" or just shake my head and wonder at those creepy guys watchin a girls show. Then I actually started to think about it, and I realized that for some reason, I found it ok for adult women to watch not only My Little Pony, but also GI Joe/x-men, just not adult men. However, when I tried switching "man watching MLP" to "gay man watching MLP" it became more acceptable to me, which was somewhat of a shock as I considered myself fairly liberal/progressive yet apparently still held onto some pretty ugly stereotypes. It was an uncomfortable and embarrassing self-realization.

So then I tried watchin the show, and turns out it was pretty awesome. I don't call myself a brony or a trekkie, or a whedonite, or (insert-fandom-moniker-here), I just enjoy the show and laugh at the image macros. I also remind myself anytime I'm presented with something that seems weird that it is not my place to judge, and my own interests could be scrutinized the same way. I became that which I once made fun of, after all.

In a way, I like to think I've matured out of "being a man" the same way you grow out of "being a teenager," and am hopefully on my way to "being an adult" - where in addition to paying your bills and taking care of friends and family, you accept that everyone is allowed their own happiness no matter how unusual it may seem.

And that is the power of ponies.

Wayne 985: If you're a grown man, without kids, and you're watching My Little Pony, you had better be stoned. Otherwise, I really have to assume you have some sort of emotional or mental immaturity or that you're close to being a pedophile.

This stuff is remarkably creepy. It's not an "all ages" show, it's for little girls and, yes, I judge you for obsessing over it. I'm all for geekdom, but at a certain point, it has to be said: if you're a man, be a man. You people are about a step away from leering at children on a swing set.

The problem isn't that they watch it. I watch childish shows and i'm ok with that, but i don't label myself but what I watch. I'm just a guy. I don't consider myself a GAMER because i play video games. I'm just a guy and one of my hobbies is playing games. I also have many other hobbies.

I never watched My Little Pony and i'm willing to accept that it may actually be entertaining, but i would never label myself a BRONY just because i watch it. People who consider themselves Bronies are just people with nothing else going on in their lives who need to seek attention because OH MY GOD I'M A GUY AND I WATCH A SHOW MARKETED TO GIRLS! I used to watch "Invader Zim", but i never went around calling myself a ZIMMY or a ZIMITE or whatever. I watched it, i enjoyed it and i never felt the need to yell random catch phrases from the show in peoples faces, unlike many others I've met who have since made me hate the show.

And the only reason i say that Bronie's seem to have nothing else going on in their lives, is because 9x out of 10 when one is called out, they usually start spewing out about their education and what they do for a living, as though it makes it any less sad that they're people who define themselves by the fact that they watch a tv show marketed to little girls. Congrats, you watch my little poney, i doubt you literally have "10 Masters degrees" and play over "5000 different instruments" (Yes thats one of the many arguements I've heard as to why it's ok that they're a "brony").

If you're a grown man, without kids, and you're watching My Little Pony, you had better be stoned. Otherwise, I really have to assume you have some sort of emotional or mental immaturity or that you're close to being a pedophile.

This stuff is remarkably creepy. It's not an "all ages" show, it's for little girls and, yes, I judge you for obsessing over it. I'm all for geekdom, but at a certain point, it has to be said: if you're a man, be a man. You people are about a step away from leering at children on a swing set.

Grand_Moff_Joseph: Because People in power are Stupid: Please stop with the pony pics. We are all adults here.

I know, right?  I mean, why the heck would anyone post a pony pic in this thread?  TFA may be talking about ponies, but that's obviously no excuse to post a pony in this thread.

I've always thought the whole Bronie thing was incredibly creepy.  It's not like a kids show you grew up with.

The more I see it, the more I'm convinced that the hatred towards the show boils down to deep misogyny.

The issue is not that adults are watching a kid's show, that's been happening for awhile. The issue is that MEN are watching a show for GIRLS.

The issue is not the weirdness coming from a portion of the fanbase, there have been weirdos devoted to different franchises for awhile. The issue is that there are MEN in the fanbase of show for GIRLS.

Friendship is Magic is not the first, last or only kids show that has been able to get an adult fandom (Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Rocko's Modern Life to more recently Adventure Time, Regular Show, Phineas & Ferb come to my mind), but you don't hear the old farts decrying the collapse of society about those shows between their sessions of cloud yelling and fixing the onions on their belts, because at least those are not shows specifically for GIRLS.

Bottom line is, some "adult men" are concerned about their precious sense of "masculinity" being tarnished by the possibility of enjoyment of something that is not pre approved by the Great Committee of Manliness that seems to exist somewhere in their brains...

Because if there is something seemingly terrible, is a show that not only has 6 lead characters that happen to be female, but those female characters have aspirations, ambitions, virtues, faults, fears and shortcomings that are NOT related to or defined by their interactions with MEN. Almost like if they where individuals...

So at the end, all talks about pedophile tendencies, and not being an Adult ^TM is all a way to not discuss their latent chauvinism or their need to over compensate.

/See, I can stretch and generalize too...
//Great deal of the show's success is due the haters, so thank you, Manly Men Brigade...
///I don't agree at a 100% (not even close), but George Carlin had an interesting (IMO) piece about the subject of (misguided) masculinity.

Snark Shark II: So... why can't people just like stuff?

I like fishing, but some people would find that boring. These threads always become " stop liking what I don't like."

Maybe being a brony is slightly weird but no weirder than being a wrestling or football nut. Congratulations, you nerd out about grown men wrestling each other to the ground over and over again. It's only acceptable because people have been doing it for generations but you have to admit, objectively it looks a little homosexual. People with glass houses and everything...

There's nothing wrong with being homosexual. There is something wrong with mental or emotional regression.

likefunbutnot: I have a Rainbow Dash hat (there is a bad picture of it in my profile). It is 900 million percent cooler than anything else I could ever put on my body. That hat gets me dates.
Even if I do have a non-ironic appreciation of ponies and friendship and little purple dragons, which I totally do, I also have an appreciation for the fact that I put on that hat and girls think it's adorable. I am not trying to brag here in any specific fashion but I am doing very well at this point and it is all because I have an awesome hat.

Oh just stop it. Not even you believe what you just said.

Also Anthony Bourdain is not cool, when I see his name I think about someone who calls out and says uncalled for nasty things about various television cooks/ food personalities cause he doesn't like their particular brand of presenting or whatever. So he has no credibility with me regardless of what he says or does. The opposite of 'cool'

0.0 x 1.2 = 0.0

Not possible. The guy is an ass.

Because People in power are Stupid: Heron: So liking any animated show you didn't grow up with makes an adult "creepy"? I wasn't aware that sequential drawings magically became pornography at the age of 18.

It's creepy because it's meant for little girls and their parents, not 20 somethings living in Mom's basement.

The moment that you say that there is room for adults (as in parents) to find some enjoyment in the show, you admit that there is something for everybody in the show.

The adults don't get the references because they are parents, they get them because they have certain age.

If the argument was about OBSESSING about the show, then I would agree that it's not healthy, but no more or no less than being obsessed with any other aspect of popular culture (or anything really).

If you found creepy the liking in Pixar movies or other kids shows that are NOT specifically for girls (Phineas and Ferb, for example), I wouldn't agree, but at least there would be a consequent line of thought.

However, finding the mere LIKING and ENJOYMENT of the show creepy because it has certain demographic is a dumb argument.

FirstNationalBastard: Grand_Moff_Joseph: The amount of haters in this thread is kind of comical, actually.  Sorry if anyone ruined your day, ITGs.

Almost as comical as the projection and shoddy reasons they give for being assholes.

You have the "ZOMG PEDOFILE U WANT LITTL GURLS" people who are projecting in imax, you have the "SOMEONE WATCHING CANDY COLORED PONIES COULD CONCEIVABLY MAKE ME LESS OF A MAN!" geniuses, and there's always the "SEXUAL DEVIANTS! WE IGNORE ALL OTHER RULE 34 BESIDES PONIES! NFL SLASHFIC? I HAVE NO RESPONSE FOR THAT! PONIES ARE ALL THAT LEAD TO DEVIANCY!" people.

Really, if someone you don't even know watching a show about candy colored ponies threatens your masculinity, you ain't much of a man to begin with, are you? And BTW, your standards of masculinity are about century out of date.

The Pedophile screamers? Projecting their own urges. They're the ones with children on the brain.

Deviants? Eh, go look at Anime fans if you want to see deviance in action. And even then, what business is it of yours?

So, take to your fainting couches, and deal with it.

[i6.photobucket.com image 500x281]

Masculinity never goes out of style. Why just the other day I was felling trees on the back forty and thinking damn I'm manly. All kidding aside bronies that I've met are the stereotype basement living scared of gals type.

encyclopediaplushuman: The average brony is an 14-25 yr. old. guy who just loves the show.

One of my TFette friends has an 11 year old son who really wants to go to New York's next big Brony convention. We had a serious conversation a few months ago about whether or not he was turning in to a pervert or something, which was really grounded in her concerns about furries or possibly concerns about his prepubescent masculinity. I guess those fears are valid, but the reality of the fandom is ridiculously inclusive and pretty much the same as the ideals of the cartoon. It's not like it's a bad thing to espouse the value of sharing and kindness and library science.

gad: Also Anthony Bourdain is not cool, when I see his name I think about someone who calls out and says uncalled for nasty things about various television cooks/ food personalities cause he doesn't like their particular brand of presenting or whatever. So he has no credibility with me regardless of what he says or does. The opposite of 'cool'

I'm with you, mate. Any Bourdain thread on Fark must contain 80% of posts where he gets his balls licked.

My wife and I use MLP as a palate cleanser after watching depressing shows and movies. We're burning through Downton Abbey and my wife cried 3 times in one episode and when it was over she asked for MLP because it's fun, happy, colorful, and everything works out in the end. I have no problem admitting this.

These threads are so entertaining. And great for figuring out who has a stick up their ass.

I just don't get the outrage.

Bronies are just the new furries. There are many many similarities between the two fandoms, and very few differences. And in fact, there is a huge amount of overlap between the two.

And just like there's nothing inherently wrong with liking anthropomorphic animals, there's nothing wrong with liking My Little Pony. The wrong part is when you identify yourself based on this fandom, spent large amounts of time dedicating yourself to things about the fandom, and turn it into a sexual fetish.

Snark Shark II: So... why can't people just like stuff?

I like fishing, but some people would find that boring. These threads always become " stop liking what I don't like."

Maybe being a brony is slightly weird but no weirder than being a wrestling or football nut. Congratulations, you nerd out about grown men wrestling each other to the ground over and over again. It's only acceptable because people have been doing it for generations but you have to admit, objectively it looks a little homosexual. People with glass houses and everything...

It has to do with the fact that grown men are fans of a show that is targeted, marketed, made for....PRIMARILY... little girls. It's creepy and strange. A grown man being way into wrestling is also a bit strange, but it doesn't carry the caveat of being targeted mainly towards little girls. When it comes to these Bronies it has and will always be the little girl factor. It's downright scary. Could you imagine being a little kid back in the day and saying to your dad, "Hey, let's play some catch." Your father turns to you and says, "Not right now son, Strawberry Shortcake is on and I want to catch the end of it." But, the Bronies will say, Strawberry Shortcake didn't have the types of adult references that MLP has. All cartoons have winks and nods to adults because many of us have to watch this dreck with our kids. It has nothing to do with watching a cartoon. It has everything to do with an adult male watching a little girl's cartoon.

And as far as MLP goes, I honestly don't get the whole brony thing, but...

(1) Extremists of any sort of fandom are creepy. Although I would keep further distance from an NFL nut than a brony. At least I don't have to worry about a brony being a drunken lout who wants to punch me in the face because Rainbow Dash botches a field goal.

(2) Kids entertainment that adults can enjoy with their children is always a good thing. It's way too easy to crank out banal crap that distracts the kids with "shiny things" but make the grown-ups want to take a drill to their own brain.

(3) I don't know what it is about the MLP animated gifs and the captioned pics, but they always make me smile smile smile.

Olympic Trolling Judge: President Merkin Muffley: Oh look, it's FirstNationalPedo again here to tell us how his pederastic urges are totally normal.

Aw, you're just mad because he didn't like your Peyton x Eli fic.

You're the least funny shiatty novelty Fark account.

Some people sure have very strong opinions about a Saturday morning cartoon.

So... why can't people just like stuff?

I like fishing, but some people would find that boring. These threads always become " stop liking what I don't like."

Maybe being a brony is slightly weird but no weirder than being a wrestling or football nut. Congratulations, you nerd out about grown men wrestling each other to the ground over and over again. It's only acceptable because people have been doing it for generations but you have to admit, objectively it looks a little homosexual. People with glass houses and everything...

ImNotFatImFluffy: except..... bronies are guys.... always.

If you talk to the people who are serious about it, you can have a whole gender politics lesson on whether "Bronies" are sufficiently inclusive of the feminine or whether the proper term for adult female fans is "Pegasisters." The truly serious fangirls I know mostly go with "Brony" as a gender-neutral term, but there are a couple who really do feel that the distinction and recognition of their gender is important enough to require its own terminology. It's half-ridiculous, but at the same time just about anybody who has ever taken a Woman or Queer Studies Class gets to hear all the same arguments about a slightly different set of distinctions.

By the way, I'm just going to leave this here: The Howard Stern Show visits Brony-Con and comes away with some of the most disturbing audio you can imagine:

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

Post Ponies. DO EEET.

the bronies like to distract from the real issue people have with them, which is, any movement with "bro" in the name is made up of complete douchebags.

Nothing like a pony thread to bring all the sexually insecure Farkers out of the woodwork to biatch about bronies.

Wait until you find out that Bourdain is going to be on Archer.