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Explain to me this pony thing

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People have looked at animals and seen traits to admire over since well the dawn of time. Sly as a fox. Fast as a cheetah. Loyal as a dog.
I guess if you brought things into the extreme, you could go all the way into becoming it mentally.

It's not even taking it to the extreme, one thing is to say to someone that they are as fast as a cheetah or that they are as loyal as a dog, another thing is wanting to fuck a pony (or animal in general). It's a whole different level.

I agree with Devo that I find seeing grown people sexualizing animated characters meant for children very troubling.
 
When I watched it I found it pretty relaxing and refreshing. No dick and fart jokes. No violence. No bad language. All that stuff is great but after watching shows with it since I was a kid it was nice to watch something where everything is happy and fun.

I was also kinda high haha.

I will say one of the aspects of the show I really wish more shows would adopt is handling of pop culture jokes. MLP tosses them out there, but is subtle to the point of not knowing you missed something if you don't get it. Wish more shows would follow and not beat you over the head with "AHAHAHAH, LOOK WHAT I'M REFERENCING!"

Putting ponified character from the big lebowski into an episode for example.

PSOnPkX.jpg


No lines, they're just there to dodge a random bowling ball when it's kicked in their direction.

Doing a song in an episode thats a random send up to The Music Man.

Random blazing saddles joke

Star Wars ending
 
1. I have absolutely no issues with bronies and how they view ponies (sexually or not) as long as they have the ability to discern when or when not to proclaim their interest publicly. I don't go around telling people about all the new Pokemans I caught yesterday. Just makes for an awkward situation. I realize the people who sexualize ponies are a minority within a minority.

You are not the first to say that in this thread. Many people here seem to hold to the opinion that Bronies are somewhat fine as long as they don't talk about it too much... Because anyone ooutside the norm must feel shame and know he's a weirdo and outsider all the time, and shouldn't dare have the courage or confidence of us "normals"?


And I still didn't get a straight answer on why fantasizing about made-up ponied is somehow worse than other made-up stuff.
 

C.S. Lewis - "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly."
A lot of modern cartoons do this, really. Shows like Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, the new Scooby Doo... all do references (with varying frequency, P&F for example is an onslaught of them) with great subtlety and honestly handle it better than MLP and their constant "LOOK PONIFIED VERSIONS OF CHARACTERS FROM OTHER STUFF".
In all fairness those are also 3 fairly awesome shows. Also, I was not aware that they did this constantly. That said I've not watched the show recently, maybe you've seen some episodes I haven't?
 
I will say one of the aspects of the show I really wish more shows would adopt is handling of pop culture jokes. MLP tosses them out there, but is subtle to the point of not knowing you missed something if you don't get it. Wish more shows would follow and not beat you over the head with "AHAHAHAH, LOOK WHAT I'M REFERENCING!"

Putting ponified character from the big lebowski into an episode for example.

PSOnPkX.jpg


No lines, they're just there to dodge a random bowling ball when it's kicked in their direction.

Doing a song in an episode thats a random send up to The Music Man.

Random blazing saddles joke

Star Wars ending
A lot of modern cartoons do this, really. Shows like Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, the new Scooby Doo... all do references (with varying frequency, P&F for example is an onslaught of them) with great subtlety and honestly handle it better than MLP and their constant "LOOK PONIFIED VERSIONS OF CHARACTERS FROM OTHER STUFF".
 
C.S. Lewis - "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly."

Ha ha yeah ok. There's a difference between a grown-ass man once in a while watching a show for laughs compared to a grown-ass man collecting little plastic dollies and having their lives revolve around it. It's just weird.
 
Ha ha yeah ok. There's a difference between a grown-ass man once in a while watching a show for laughs compared to a grown-ass man collecting little plastic dollies and having their lives revolve around it. It's just weird.

Yeah, I'm sure you know how to live life correctly, unlike those sick weirdos bronies huh?
 
Ha ha yeah ok. There's a difference between a grown-ass man once in a while watching a show for laughs compared to a grown-ass man collecting little plastic dollies and having their lives revolve around it. It's just weird.
I wasn't talking about any of that. I just thought it was cute how you said you hadn't watched cartoons since 14 like it meant you were super mature or something.

Maybe you meant something else?
 
"LOOK PONIFIED VERSIONS OF CHARACTERS FROM OTHER STUFF".

Other than the Lebowski ponies I've never seen them really do that. As a Doctor Who fan I get a kick out of the Doctor who looking ponies, but I don't think it was intentional at first anyways. Discord is like Q, but other than the voice and them tossing in the finger snaps for his magic, no one who isn't into Trek is going to think he's based on an existing character.
 
Ha ha yeah ok. There's a difference between a grown-ass man once in a while watching a show for laughs compared to a grown-ass man collecting little plastic dollies and having their lives revolve around it. It's just weird.

The same could be said of any hobby when taken to unhealthy extremes. Inevitably, there are some people who make their whole lives revolve around it, but I don't think OP's friend is necessarily representative of everyone who's into MLP.

Disclaimer: I watched the first season to see what all the fuss was about, but don't really keep up with the show or the fandom. I'm just speaking from experience of having various other uncool hobbies.
 
cutesy pop culture tornado of color in a show about friendship and soft voices soothing topics in a time where people are making fewer social connections and have less personal human contact than ever. People are growing apart, people starting families much later, if they ever do at all, especially men of traditional fatherhood age. There are connections to previous popular cartoons via the production of the show. People feel less threatened about protecting their manhood or proving their dominance and have less qualms about indulging in things that make them feel good. It's a confluence of a lot of separate factors. Like a fusion reaction that produces free energy, MLP generated all this extra stuff.

My personal fave is MLP: Friendship is Witchcraft. HotDiggityDemon's parody was also pretty good. I like the ponies best in mature comedic situations, myself. But the show is still what it is, which is mostly fun.

/thread
 
I wasn't talking about any of that. I just thought it was cute how you said you hadn't watched cartoons since 14 like it meant you were super mature or something.

Maybe you meant something else?

I just think that anything bordering on obsession is a sickness.

And yes, I do think I know how to live life better, but hey, if you're happy, there ya go.
 
I don't get the defensiveness, it's clearly weirdo/deviant behavior. But I have friends who traveled across the planet to spend thousands of dollars watching grown men fight in their underwear all weekend aka Wrestlemania. They own it and immediately posted roughly a million updates on Facebook. I spend a large part of my day looking through BBW fashion tumblrs. I can't get enough of them chubby honeys. You're into what you're into, be secure. But comparing the plight of those who get an odd eyeball cast at them for wanting to fuck cartoon ponies vs people who were hung in the streets, had crosses burned on their lawns, etc? Come on.
 
If I feel isolated or alone, MLP would probably make me even more depressed than usual. I remember watching one episode online before MLP exploded and I was so fucking confused on what was supposed to be appealing about it. I don't diss or dislike cartoons, I'll admit my interest in them as a whole have plummeted to apathetic levels, but MLP seems like a show where the viewer makes themselves feel like a child again to enjoy the content of the show.

It feels so empty and forced yet there's a fanbase that absolutely goes batshit for it. One of the weirdest and most unexpected pieces of pop culture ever.

I don't get the defensiveness, it's clearly weirdo/deviant behavior. But I have friends who traveled across the planet to spend thousands of dollars watching grown men fight in their underwear all weekend aka Wrestlemania. They own it and immediately posted roughly a million updates on Facebook. I spend a large part of my day looking through BBW fashion tumblrs. I can't get enough of them chubby honeys. You're into what you're into, be secure. But comparing the plight of those who get an odd eyeball cast at them for wanting to fuck cartoon ponies vs people who were hung in the streets, had crosses burned on their lawns, etc? Come on.

You can't expect society to be tolerant of everything having to do with sex. If someone loves the idea of a woman pissing or shitting on their face and expects people not to snicker or laugh if they tell other people that, well, they're going to snicker and laugh.
 
I will say that I find the hardcore super haters to be creepier than the hardcore super bronies. It's a pretty harmless thing to spend too much time getting wound up over.
 
I just think that anything bordering on obsession is a sickness.

And yes, I do think I know how to live life better, but hey, if you're happy, there ya go.

Oh ok. That has nothing to do with the post I was responding to but we'll ignore that one as it obviously had no relevance to the topic at hand.

If anything bordering on obsession is a sickness, why did you bring up cartoons specifically?
 
I just had dinner, and my mom and sister were watching Fashion Police on the TV. And what did they show? A pic of some actress or whatever, in a full pony costume. I couldn't gather the courage to tell them that I had been reading a thread about that on the internet up until 5 minutes earlier.

I seriously don't understand how there are adults that find this show so appealing, so much that they become sexually and emotionally attracted to the characters, sometimes becoming obsessed with them. Of course that's probably only a small part of the fanbase, but still...
 
Here's my understanding of the brony phenomenon:
1) Adult male fans of cartoons learn that a new version of My Little Pony is coming, helmed by Lauren Faust, known for Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Due to Faust's previous work, these fans decide to give the new My Little Pony a chance. It ends up being a quality show, and these adult males become casual fans.

3) Socially-awkward adult males also gravitate to the show, as it represents innocence and pure-heartedness for them. Friendship and happiness aren't complicated and abstract in MLP, unlike real life.

3) Many of these adult males don't care that they are subverting gender/age norms by watching the show, and don't make any attempt to hide their viewings.

4) Friends of these guys, as well as the internet at large, have a negative reaction to adult males openly enjoying a show intended little girls. They assume that there is something sexual involved (because, you know, why would males be interested in anything that doesn't involve sex or violence?).

5) Adult male fans of the show notice the disapproval of their fandom. To piss off their detractors, they take their fandom to a new level of flamboyance. Some fans even start mocking the sexual allegations by pretending that it's true.

6) Confirmation bias leads detractors to think that they were right all along, and so, now feeling morally justified, double down on the hatred.

7) Repeat steps 5 and 6.


So really, the brony phenomenon is not all that mysterious to me. What annoys me is the anger people have towards bronies. Bronies aren't a majority group, nor are they a group in a position of power. People who go out of their way to mock bronies are bullies.

The irony of all this is that gamers were also looked at with disdain in the '70s and the '80s. It wasn't too long ago when the majority of adult gamers were socially inept. It wasn't long ago that adults playing video games was considered not normal, and therefore socially unacceptable.

Your favorite hobby was created and nurtured by beta-male nerds who creeped "normal" people out. If you can't respect that, don't play video games. And don't use computers or the internet while you're at it.
 
I will say that I find the hardcore super haters to be creepier than the hardcore super bronies. It's a pretty harmless thing to spend too much time getting wound up over.

'Super haters'? Questioning one's mentality when they cos-splay as ponies is a little bit different than being completely intolerant towards gay people or transgender people for example.

Sexuality isn't black or white, there are varying degrees of fetishism and oddness.
 
I have a co-worker who tried to justify watching MLP because "It wasn't as bad as everyone said", to which I replied "Then why even watch it when there are 50 fucking other tv-shows that are actually great", he looked defeated and then continued to browse 9GAG.

Seriously, I hate that guy, and not because of MLP, but because of everything.
 
You are not the first to say that in this thread. Many people here seem to hold to the opinion that Bronies are somewhat fine as long as they don't talk about it too much... Because anyone ooutside the norm must feel shame and know he's a weirdo and outsider all the time, and shouldn't dare have the courage or confidence of us "normals"?


And I still didn't get a straight answer on why fantasizing about made-up ponied is somehow worse than other made-up stuff.
It's not worse than other made-up stuff. They're all equally socially awkward. Like I mentioned, I don't parade my Pokemon hobby to others without warning. It's not about "fighting the normals" and being proud. It's about recognizing that you (or your hobby) is eccentric, and that not everyone wants that much info. Would you be ok if there were a contingent of people hellbent on letting you know about every Spock fanfiction they ever wrote? The example in the OP is clearly someone who is not "normal", despite how much you want to challenge the definition of the word.

From my experience (and from the looks of this topic, maybe others), bronies seem to be the most outspoken of the bunch. All I'm asking is that you recognize that the hobby is not socially acceptable (And it's not. Just as equally as Star Wars nerds or Pokemon nerds.) and act accordingly.
 
I don't get the defensiveness, it's clearly weirdo/deviant behavior. But I have friends who traveled across the planet to spend thousands of dollars watching grown men fight in their underwear all weekend aka Wrestlemania. They own it and immediately posted roughly a million updates on Facebook. I spend a large part of my day looking through BBW fashion tumblrs. I can't get enough of them chubby honeys. You're into what you're into, be secure. But comparing the plight of those who get an odd eyeball cast at them for wanting to fuck cartoon ponies vs people who were hung in the streets, had crosses burned on their lawns, etc? Come on.

doesn't happen often but Natural's Law is a law for a reason. You don't get the defensiveness, try getting the aggression.

She cosplays as her character.


eeeyup.
 
I have a co-worker who tried to justify watching MLP because "It wasn't as bad as everyone said", to which I replied "Then why even watch it when there are 50 fucking other tv-shows that are actually great", he looked defeated and then continued to browse 9GAG.

Seriously, I hate that guy, and not because of MLP, but because of everything.

Is someone only allowed to watch or like something that is critically acclaimed to be "The Best Thing Ever"(tm)? After all, why watch anything else when you could just play The Wire or whatever on repeat for the rest of your life?
 
From my experience (and from the looks of this topic, maybe others), bronies seem to be the most outspoken of the bunch. All I'm asking is that you recognize that the hobby is not socially acceptable (And it's not. Just as equally as Star Wars nerds or Pokemon nerds.) and act accordingly.

I speak up only when people directly attack pony fans.

I never talk about the show otherwise. Is this being overly outspoken?

I think it's awesome that I even have to ask this question.
 
I speak up only when people directly attack pony fans.

I never talk about the show otherwise. Is this being overly outspoken?

Also, I think it's awesome that I have to ask this question.
Absolutely not.

The people I mean are the people like in the OP (to varying degrees of course).

Edit: I also do want to mention that I do think a lot of people here have been pretty abusive to the bronies. Pretty unfortunate behavior.
 
When I was a kid in school, I'd always take art as an elective because I loved to draw (still do, but besides the point.)

Anyway, in class there was this kid. He obviously had some kind of mental handicap because he had ticks and he also had no social skills. He would usually sit over by himself and he had no concept of volume because he would constantly scream normal statements and/or questions like we were in the middle of a rock concert.

I was walking into class one day and he was there early and was near the entrance to class. I had to walk by him to get through and I happened to look down at what he was drawing.


It was this cartoony looking chick with giant tits, like you'd see on a Big Johnson shirt (popular at the time.)

at that moment he looks up and sees me glancing at his art. So quickly I just try to kill the awkwardness by saying "cool picture man."

Oh god the floodgates. This guy gets excited and wants to show me his art work. He spreads his art all over the table and it's just mountains of girls with massive massive tits.

I felt evil that day. When I see some of the Brony people and their obsession, I feel that same evil.
 
I think it's awesome that I even have to ask this question.

Lets just say that the brother sister-anime thread and the loli-videogame-girl threads might have been longer than this, and full of people on defense, not just the handful here.


but they're completely normal of course, and everyone was just reading too much into it.......

...
 
I've got a teammate, a very skilled programmer, who is really into MLP. I've tried to understand it but I simply cannot.

He has pretty much no friends outside of his pony club, is very difficult to get along with, and has communication troubles.

He wears only pony-themed clothes, even when dressinng nice he's got pony polos. He paints his fingernails the color of his favorite pony (he is straight and doesn't come off as feminine). He has tried to show me pony porn. He goes by the nickname of his pony-self and aggressively insists it's his real name.

He collects pony figurines, and sleeps with a pony plushie. He listens to pony-themed remixes of popular songs. He only willingly talks to females who like ponies as much as he does. He is an adult.

Yet at the same time, he tells me that ponies are not what his life revolves around, and outright denies enjoying any sexual representation of these cartoon characters.

What am I missing?

He tries to explain to me that he loves the concepts of love and friendship taught by the show. Not only do I feel that these kind of things can be easily classified as common sense, he doesn't demonstrate any of the traits he claims the show conveys.

It is his way of coping with loneliness, like that of an anime waifu or something?

I want this explained so I can better understand the people I work with every day.

It's funny - I've seen some MLP and it's like watching Spongebob in a way. I get the humor and what not. I just don't get how hooked you can get on it in that way... It kind of surpasses the usual anime hook I've seen.

Maybe it's the "because it's unpopular for men to like it, I'll like it even more as a man" type of deal.

Or he's one of those guys who takes his hobbies very seriously... and there's a few non MLP people out there like that.
 
Here's my understanding of the brony phenomenon:
1) Adult male fans of cartoons learn that a new version of My Little Pony is coming, helmed by Lauren Faust, known for Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Due to Faust's previous work, these fans decide to give the new My Little Pony a chance. It ends up being a quality show, and these adult males become casual fans.

3) Socially-awkward adult males also gravitate to the show, as it represents innocence and pure-heartedness for them. Friendship and happiness aren't complicated and abstract in MLP, unlike real life.

3) Many of these adult males don't care that they are subverting gender/age norms by watching the show, and don't make any attempt to hide their viewings.

4) Friends of these guys, as well as the internet at large, have a negative reaction to adult males openly enjoying a show intended little girls. They assume that there is something sexual involved (because, you know, why would males be interested in anything that doesn't involve sex or violence?).

5) Adult male fans of the show notice the disapproval of their fandom. To piss off their detractors, they take their fandom to a new level of flamboyance. Some fans even start mocking the sexual allegations by pretending that it's true.

6) Confirmation bias leads detractors to think that they were right all along, and so, now feeling morally justified, double down on the hatred.

7) Repeat steps 5 and 6.


So really, the brony phenomenon is not all that mysterious to me. What annoys me is the anger people have towards bronies. Bronies aren't a majority group, nor are they a group in a position of power. People who go out of their way to mock bronies are bullies.

The irony of all this is that gamers were also looked at with disdain in the '70s and the '80s. It wasn't too long ago when the majority of adult gamers were socially inept. It wasn't long ago that adults playing video games was considered not normal, and therefore socially unacceptable.

Your favorite hobby was created and nurtured by beta-male nerds who creeped "normal" people out. If you can't respect that, don't play video games. And don't use computers or the internet while you're at it.
I like this. This is a good post.
 
Here's my understanding of the brony phenomenon:
1) Adult male fans of cartoons learn that a new version of My Little Pony is coming, helmed by Lauren Faust, known for Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Due to Faust's previous work, these fans decide to give the new My Little Pony a chance. It ends up being a quality show, and these adult males become casual fans.

3) Socially-awkward adult males also gravitate to the show, as it represents innocence and pure-heartedness for them. Friendship and happiness aren't complicated and abstract in MLP, unlike real life.

3) Many of these adult males don't care that they are subverting gender/age norms by watching the show, and don't make any attempt to hide their viewings.

4) Friends of these guys, as well as the internet at large, have a negative reaction to adult males openly enjoying a show intended little girls. They assume that there is something sexual involved (because, you know, why would males be interested in anything that doesn't involve sex or violence?).

5) Adult male fans of the show notice the disapproval of their fandom. To piss off their detractors, they take their fandom to a new level of flamboyance. Some fans even start mocking the sexual allegations by pretending that it's true.

6) Confirmation bias leads detractors to think that they were right all along, and so, now feeling morally justified, double down on the hatred.

7) Repeat steps 5 and 6.


So really, the brony phenomenon is not all that mysterious to me. What annoys me is the anger people have towards bronies. Bronies aren't a majority group, nor are they a group in a position of power. People who go out of their way to mock bronies are bullies.

The irony of all this is that gamers were also looked at with disdain in the '70s and the '80s. It wasn't too long ago when the majority of adult gamers were socially inept. It wasn't long ago that adults playing video games was considered not normal, and therefore socially unacceptable.

Your favorite hobby was created and nurtured by beta-male nerds who creeped "normal" people out. If you can't respect that, don't play video games. And don't use computers or the internet while you're at it.
Of course. They're all just fans of wholesome television, but society needs to be taught a lesson!

No.
 
I have a co-worker who tried to justify watching MLP because "It wasn't as bad as everyone said", to which I replied "Then why even watch it when there are 50 fucking other tv-shows that are actually great", he looked defeated and then continued to browse 9GAG.

Seriously, I hate that guy, and not because of MLP, but because of everything.

Come on now, it's not a crime to watch the TV show and enjoy it.

Hell, I've even watched some of the episodes and generally liked them. There's a BIG difference between extreme pony fetishism and casually enjoying a silly TV show.

Just because the primary target audience is young girls DOES NOT immediately mean anyone who enjoys the show is a perverse fetishist.
 
It's not worse than other made-up stuff. They're all equally socially awkward. Like I mentioned, I don't parade my Pokemon hobby to others without warning. It's not about "fighting the normals" and being proud. It's about recognizing that you (or your hobby) is eccentric, and that not everyone wants that much info. Would you be ok if there were a contingent of people hellbent on letting you know about every Spock fanfiction they ever wrote? The example in the OP is clearly someone who is not "normal", despite how much you want to challenge the definition of the word.

From my experience (and from the looks of this topic, maybe others), bronies seem to be the most outspoken of the bunch. All I'm asking is that you recognize that the hobby is not socially acceptable (And it's not. Just as equally as Star Wars nerds or Pokemon nerds.) and act accordingly.
Fantasies are not socially awkward, everyone fantasizes - And all fantasies are made up. So the radical idea I'm trying to get through is that being attracted to real humans is not "better" than being attracted to ponies.

Other than that - I agree that we shouldn't allow rude or unpleasant behavior - But most people seem to think any mention of ponies or MLP by bronies is "unpleasant". There is a limit. The guy in the OP passed it when he showed the OP porn, but it was much worse than someone trying to show you a picture of a topless lady - It's just in bad taste and it's very unpleasant.
 
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