I'm pretty sure that's ironic. If it's not, then I'll assume those guys are just as bad as bronies.
You also didn't address the rest of my post.
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Explain to me this pony thing
- Thread starter GrizzNKev
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I'm pretty sure that's ironic. If it's not, then I'll assume those guys are just as bad as bronies.
You also didn't address the rest of my post.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I don't see any reason to defend people using pony avatars when we're on a board where the vast majority of people are using avatars from video games, comics, anime, sci-fi, greatest robot puppet show ever, etc.
There's also tons of Disney memes out there, like hipster Ariel.
As for people dressing up. I've gone to anime and sci fi conventions and have done costumes before, so I don't really see any problem with it.
So we're back to square one I see.
Anyway, I'm out. I guess this is something that goes beyond my comprehension.
Link
The Autumn Wind
Except for a lot of people that fantasize about threesomes but haven't been involved in one, the reason isn't for lack of trying.
RedNumberFive
Banned
And developmentally challenged adults!
As has already been pointed out, there's nothing about Disney films comparable to the Brony thing.
Also, you mistake [URL="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ParentalBonus]Parental Bonus[/URL] for "intent to be enjoyed by a wider audience" (unless by "wider audience" you mean "little girls and their parents"). Parental Bonus is in every kid's show. It's not unique to MLP and doesn't make it actually, secretly designed for grown men.
I've seen this defense before with a link to an interview with the show's creator about the fandom. She said (and I quote exactly) "I created it for little girls and their parents". Somehow Bronies take this to mean "made for grown men, too."
Well yeah, because that's exactly what it means, no? A lot of grown men are parents, and if the show is made to appeal to grown men who are parents, it's only logical to assume that it will also appeal to grown men who are not parents. This doesn't mean that it's somehow "secretly designed for grown men".
ReadingRambo
Member
Is the concept of age-appropriateness really that hard to grasp. If I meet a grown-ass man with MLP stickers on their computer (as opposed to say a Game of Thrones sticker) I immediately assume they are at the very least socially maladjusted. It is an association that can absolutely be detrimental for an individual as it is very off-putting.
BlazingDarkness
Member
SirButterstick
Banned
Cut to the brass tax, it's just fucking weird.
Link
The Autumn Wind
I got exactly 18 seconds into that before I had to close it. What could they possibly talk about for 8 minutes?
It's multiple guys, so similar questions.
WorriedCitizen
Member
I find bronies weird and creepy but then i like the show myself as i confessed earlier (i'm a grown-ass man). What really amuses me about this thread is to see some of the users who otherwise always sit on their moral high horse of tolerance struggeling with mlp and the bronie scene.
Devil Theory
Member
Are you really comparing a fantasy about sex with consenting adults with fantasies about having sex with non-consenting children?
Toparaman said:
Imagine you're a parent, and you invite a recently-acquainted coworker over to hang out. When the coworker arrives, he sees your eight-year-old daughter watching MLP, and begins to discuss with her the show, characters, and it's intricacies, and evidently, takes it even more seriously than she does.
Is it unreasonable for you, the father, to be against and possibly afraid to have this person around your child?
Toparaman said:
What point are you attempting to make here? I don't understand, are you insinuating that men who find the woman cosplaying MLP attractive have the same claimed pedophilloic tendencies that obsessive fans supposedly do? You do realize they're joking, right, and they just find her, (a woman, not child or cartoon character) attractive, and it has nothing to do with the MLP aspect? Or am I missing something?
Orcastar said:
You gain mutual enjoyment out of something due to the happiness, experience, and fantasy it creates for your child to have, and you can share in that -- not because as a parent you enjoy the show exclusively and can watch it independently of your child, alone.
Because they're hot women... not childish ponies? There's a wide chasm of difference here, and your leap fell right in.
Air Zombie Meat
Member
Honestly the term brony is awful and automatically conjures up images of obese acne ridden neckbeards in pinkie pie fedoras. How about just being a fan of a show without attaching a label and a lifestyle to it? I doubt the fanbase would have attracted anywhere near this much attention if it wasn't for those things. Seems like thats part of the appeal for some though.
Brian Griffin
Member
Because it's not actually incredibly relevant. Since when did being in the target audience of a product become a requirement to be able to like it without being ridiculed?
I'm a game developer and a large number of people in my office have Nerf guns and action figures at their desks. Should they all be pointed and laughed at?
A lot of adults enjoy Disney/Pixar movies. Should they feel ashamed for it?
Should men older than 25 and all women stop playing Call of Duty and Gears of War since they aren't the target audience?
The brony phenomenon is surely an interesting one but being different from the majority is not a crime and does not make you a valid target for insults.
This is a cycle that has played out thousands of times before in our cultural history:
- One group does something that the majority group thinks is weird.
- The majority group attacks the smaller group and pushes back against their actions even though they are harmless.
- The smaller group hangs on and fights to be taken seriously.
- Eventually, another group comes along that is doing something weirder, so the majority turns it attention to the new group.
- Rinse and repeat.
Personally, I find this whole process extremely boring and slow. Why can't we all just skip to the end and except everyone for who they are and what they enjoy?
Off topic:
Pace è salute!
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Hooooooooly shit.
The fluttershy dude has an actual neckbeard, that is just madness.
edit: NEIGHSLAYER oh my god this documentary just keeps on giving.
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
Iiii'm pretty sure that's not how the question was meant.
Also, all other 'Bronies' I met so far are incredibly nice and pleasant people. Including the girls. I will not call them "Pegasisters" because that's just stupid. And no one did wear a fedora at any point. Or had a neckbeard.
Kageshinzo
Member
ITT people can't quite grasp the concept of societal norms.
For the record, I find the whole MLP - brony phenomenon weird and, in a way, creepy. Does it bother me much, though? Not really. Unless they start evangelizing their shit in which case, shut the fuck up. I don't go around posting memes and gifs and inside jokes of video games to my friends who are, obviously, not into my entertainment/hobby of choice. Do your own thing in your own inner circle and we'll get along just fine.
Unsurprisingly, this is also applicable to all enthusiast hobbies, not just MLP.
For the record, I find the whole MLP - brony phenomenon weird and, in a way, creepy. Does it bother me much, though? Not really. Unless they start evangelizing their shit in which case, shut the fuck up. I don't go around posting memes and gifs and inside jokes of video games to my friends who are, obviously, not into my entertainment/hobby of choice. Do your own thing in your own inner circle and we'll get along just fine.
Unsurprisingly, this is also applicable to all enthusiast hobbies, not just MLP.
Enter The 36 Chambers
Member
8 pages in and people are still defending this freaky shit. Outstanding.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
"have you pleasured yourself to a MLP image?" "I guess, yeah"
"What's the most sexually attractive feauture of a pony?"
Again, this whole brony thing is forever tainted.
I fail to see how these people go from the alleged good-hearted themes of the show to jerking off to a cartoon pony.
Also, they start off with that? At least ease into it first.
All of those examples (except maybe for the Nerf guns) are directed toward a much broader demographic than fucking My Little Pony. It's nowhere near the same.
Again: My problem is not with people who enjoy the show, it's with grown people, mostly men, who make a lifestyle of wearing MLP apparel and defining their whole persona as bronies. They're probably a lot happier than I am though.
That I agree with, but I still believe there's something inherently wrong with adult men being fans of a cartoon aimed at preschool age girls. If you believe that's perfectly fine then... I dunno.
EDIT:
This post speaks truth.
Flying Toaster
Member
Reading this entire thread has introduced me to new horrors I never knew existed...
D
Deleted member 10571
Unconfirmed Member
I expected to laugh, it made me sad instead
BlazingDarkness
Member
It's profoundly depressing
Brian Griffin
Member
I've seen part of the marketing side of the games industry and for most AAA games males under 25 are all they care about. Sure they are fine with older men and women playing them, but that's not who the games are "for".
Why do you let the lifestyle of a small group of people bother you enough to post on the internet about it?
Lots of people like lots of weird shit. Watch the show Taboo on NatGeo and you will get a much clearer picture of how much "weird" is actually out there. There's a ton and much of it is "weirder" than bronies. Until someone studies these guys I'm going to reserve my judgement and assume they are perfectly decent people who happen to enjoy something in a way I don't understand.
Also, I don't think many preschool girls have seen The Big Lebowski. Someone posted earlier about a reference to it in the show so who's that for if the show is just for little girls? Just sayin'
Wow. That was weird.
Thai and DevilTheory, my point completely flew over your heads. My point was that if adult males are potentially pedophiles for being MLP fans, there's no reason that adult female fans of MLP aren't potentially pedophiles as well. The fact that you both misinterpreted this as a suggestion that guys who think that cosplayer is hot are pedophiles...how the hell did you both reach that conclusion?
Again, gender norms at work here. It's fine (even cute) for ladies to be into childish stuff, but for dudes, it's creepy.
Yes! Are you serious? In the scenario you described, the coworker is clearly obsessed with the show, not with your daughter. At most, he wants to make friends with another fan. Jesus Christ, man. What a perverted mind you have.
The hypocrisy of this is just too rich. For decades, fantasy was considered the realm of little boys and social outcast teenagers. The only reason you can proudly have a Game of Thrones sticker on your laptop without fear of condemnation is because of those "off-putting", "socially maladjusted" adults who dared to be uncool and weird in public.
That's a very small minority of games, and an even smaller minority of popular games. The vast majority of games are aimed at teens, followed by kids. Let's not pretend that Gears of War is aimed at adults, okay? Dostoyevsky is aimed at adults. Kubrick is aimed at adults. The only recent AAA games I can think of that even attempt to be mature are the Bioshock series, the MGS series, and GTA4/RDR.
Again, gender norms at work here. It's fine (even cute) for ladies to be into childish stuff, but for dudes, it's creepy.
Yes! Are you serious? In the scenario you described, the coworker is clearly obsessed with the show, not with your daughter. At most, he wants to make friends with another fan. Jesus Christ, man. What a perverted mind you have.
The hypocrisy of this is just too rich. For decades, fantasy was considered the realm of little boys and social outcast teenagers. The only reason you can proudly have a Game of Thrones sticker on your laptop without fear of condemnation is because of those "off-putting", "socially maladjusted" adults who dared to be uncool and weird in public.
That's a very small minority of games, and an even smaller minority of popular games. The vast majority of games are aimed at teens, followed by kids. Let's not pretend that Gears of War is aimed at adults, okay? Dostoyevsky is aimed at adults. Kubrick is aimed at adults. The only recent AAA games I can think of that even attempt to be mature are the Bioshock series, the MGS series, and GTA4/RDR.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
You're not making a good case.
Nope. Still not remotely the same. You're implying liking something aimed at twenty-somethings and something aimed at pre-school girls is similar. It's not.
For the same reason you're posting here: Because someone opened this thread and I felt like participating on the discussion. It's not like I'm actively persecuting bronies on my free time. I actually want to see both sides of the issue but so far I haven't read a single argument good enough to change my mind.
Also, I've been on sites and communities that were suddenly filled with ponies and pony memes in a matter of days, so it's not like they're something you can easily avoid if you spend the amount of time we do on the internet.
EDIT: Off-topic: I can't help reading all your posts in Seth McFarlane's voice. Sorry.
Brian Griffin
Member
How so?
So where is the line? Is it an age gap thing or maturity gap or both? Can a 90 year old like Call of Duty without ridicule even though he's 65 years over the target age? The idea that there are rules to liking something doesn't make sense to me.
I can imagine how that would get annoying.
ReadingRambo
Member
I said Game of Thrones, not Harry Potter. Age of the intended audience is an important factor here.
LaserBuddha
Member
Such much wrong here.
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
They're not sexually attracted to young cartoon ponies. That part of the bronidom is just a game of who can be the weirdest. It's like that kid you could pay $0.25 to mix up all the leftovers the table had from everyone's plastic tray when you were in junior high and then he'd eat it. He didn't like the taste, but he did it anyway because people were egging him on. Well, in high school, that guy met the him that was the him at the other junior high, and they were like... "fuck, now I gotta be weirder than the other me", so they started eating the tray itself, or their boogers, or dog shit. And then they went to college and they had to take vodka shots in the ass. Now they're prison guards.
The only time it gets truly worrisome is when you run into one of the few people who obviously forgot that it was a joke and they started thinking it was real. But there are people like that in everything, though. Shit, we have weirdos around that freak out about fantasy football... as if their fantasy teams were real teams and their fantasy players were real people (I mean beyond the actual player who generates the stats). They'll write crazy stories about it, too, and even have fantasy scandals about one player's fantasy wife fucking another player's fantasy wife, like in Major League. There's no helping that. Just inch away. Don't move too fast... they notice the fast movement of prey.
I'd say it's maturity. What if it was Teletubbies, or Blue's Clues instead of MLP? Would it still be okay?
But anyway, I think I'm done discussing this, since I don't think I'll my mind. I was actually done three posts ago.
I tried watching some MLP on YouTube in order to find out why it kept on popping up on GAF. I remember my sisters watching it back in the day but this looked nothing like the show they watched. I thought perhaps MLP was just a front and there really was some comedic gold to this show that had nothing to do with a cartoon that looks like it's targeted towards 9 year old girls. What I found was a cartoon that was not funny, not really interesting, and simply noting special. This has made the whole MLP thing even more weird.
No, it's not logical because it requires you to ignore many things to make this connection. If a child is watching a show, the parent will see it too and will often watch it with them to share in it with them. Parental Bonus is a bonus. The main content of the show (the characters, situations, settings, and plots) are still aimed at little girls. Each episode will contain a few parent bonuses just to throw some bones to the parents.
I've watched some child television with my niece who is 3. There's no parental bonus in Dora the Explorer. It's boring, but my niece loves it so we watch it so I watch it too. MLP on the other hand is much more bearable thanks to parental bonus. However, the plot (of the one I watched) was still about making matching dresses for a dance or something like that. If you're not into wearing matching dresses, why would you as a grown man by yourself watch a show about that?
It comes down to this: you can like MLP if you want. That's fine. You can like watching a show about matching dresses and you can like matching dresses yourself. I don't care. But let's not kid ourselves. Let's not lie about why you like it. I see two options: you either like little, girly things; or you like being part of a "counter cultural movement thing" and this is an easy one to be a part of.
Brian Griffin
Member
I'd still be okay with those but maybe that's just me. My personal philosophy is that anything someone does that doesn't hurt anyone should be accepted, regardless of how weird it might be according to society at the time. When I was younger I didn't like furries, crazy anime nerds, and would have disliked bronies if they had existed because they were all groups of weird people who annoyed me because they were weird. As I got older I realized that this is an incredibly stupid way to think.
Playing the game of - these people are weird so I don't like them but this other thing that these other people like isn't as weird so that's OK and I really like this thing over here even though those other people think I'm weird but they don't get it so I'm right and it's not actually weird - became annoying to manage in my brain.
We all do and like things that other people think are weird. Trying to put values on our weirdness and the weirdness of others so some people come out on top and can feel justified in insulting those below them is not something we should be indulging in.
The only winning move is not to play.
Good talking to you.
Kageshinzo
Member
Or, if the images in this thread and any discussion about MLP and bronies are to be believed, they really just want to fuck the cutesy ponies.
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