My Little Pony

Anyone else with this obsession here? :P

It was absolutely massive in internet nerd culture around 2011-2012 (and is still pretty big now) so certainly it picked up a lot of those kinds of personalities that sometimes coincide(?) with the autistic spectrum.

As for me I couldn't really be more "Brony" if I tried.  Always in forums about it, huge collection of figures, plushies, t-shirts, go to conventions, etc.  If there's a flat surface there's a pony on it, if it's a vertical surface then a pony sticker.  And as anyone who knows the show/characters would spot with the username, there's usually some indication of my interest somewhere.

I really love how much creativity there is in its community.  So many brilliant fanmade videos on Youtube.  So many good cosplays at conventions.  Etc.  There are um, infamously less tasteful corners (don't ask) but I really think they're something of a minority.

Generally speaking when I get into things I get into them really heavily and for years.

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  • I agree with the aggressive and unnecessary part!  But it's more that people have a knee jerk reaction of "you like something that is aimed at small girls, that must mean you want to attract them and do nasty things" - a rather poor assumption based on a very dim view of men (I guess we've kind of earned it, but prejudice affects all genders and it always sucks) as I've never actually heard of any of our brony types doing that.  On the contrary, more often supporting childrens charities and such.  (Obviously, I know the most notorious pedo in recent history did both.  Awful.)

    Rule 34 exists yes, but one has to remember the definition of rule 34 is "if it exists, there's porn of it, no exceptions".  It's far from just MLP, it happens with everything, and I don't see it as a reason to target us over other things - anime for example has its fair share as well!  Even let's say, Doctor Who does.  It's not like I saw a bunch of people who are into making lewd art of horses and thought "hey yeah I'll associate myself with that!".  Just really acknowledging that it exists, like it does of everything, before anyone else does.  People like to highlight it to make us look bad because, well, that's what the internet does.  But I'm not going to distance myself from it just because a dark corner exists, because then I'd have to distance myself from everything that exists.  There is so much good in the MLP community it far outweighs the bad.

    TBH I've seen a couple of the classic episodes and even they didn't seem too bad.  G1 seems pretty dark here and there.  G3.5 they lost their minds (and obviously reaslised as it was short lived then came the massive reboot), but G3's Christmas special once you get past the really sickly first 10 minutes.. well I think you have to already be well down the rabbit hole to enjoy it but I ended up kinda liking that one

    Good to hear though!  I think most everyone has an interest that is a bit quirky or open to p**staking, indeed some would say goth is one of them, so it's nice to treat fans of what you don't like/understand how you'd wish to be treated as a fan of what others don't like/understand.  To be fair, I used to cringe at cosplay actually, didn't help that my only exposure to cosplay was cringe threads (much like many people's only exposure to bronies, furries, 'autists' (to borrow from 4chan) and other 'easy targets').  So you get a distorted view.  Going to a convention completely turned that on its head, I have huge respect and admiration for it now.

    Yeah in any of these subculture kind of things you get elitism and the "No True Scotsman" kind of stuff.  What you do is find the inner circle who is in it for each other through thick and thin, I find that they're the ones who don't really try to step on each other for attention or try to dictate what a true brony/goth/furry/trekkie/whatever is.

    Thanks, sometimes the deep end helps But I'm very fortunate in that although like any brony I get a lot of s**t online if too obvious about it in the wrong places, IRL no one seems to bat an eye and I have really good friends who don't make a fuss.  I'm under no fantasy that things don't get said when I'm not there, that's just human nature, but people are kind to my face at least!  (*touches wood before I jinx it and end up bullied into thinking the edge of tall buildings look awfully nice*, lol)

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  • I agree with the aggressive and unnecessary part!  But it's more that people have a knee jerk reaction of "you like something that is aimed at small girls, that must mean you want to attract them and do nasty things" - a rather poor assumption based on a very dim view of men (I guess we've kind of earned it, but prejudice affects all genders and it always sucks) as I've never actually heard of any of our brony types doing that.  On the contrary, more often supporting childrens charities and such.  (Obviously, I know the most notorious pedo in recent history did both.  Awful.)

    Rule 34 exists yes, but one has to remember the definition of rule 34 is "if it exists, there's porn of it, no exceptions".  It's far from just MLP, it happens with everything, and I don't see it as a reason to target us over other things - anime for example has its fair share as well!  Even let's say, Doctor Who does.  It's not like I saw a bunch of people who are into making lewd art of horses and thought "hey yeah I'll associate myself with that!".  Just really acknowledging that it exists, like it does of everything, before anyone else does.  People like to highlight it to make us look bad because, well, that's what the internet does.  But I'm not going to distance myself from it just because a dark corner exists, because then I'd have to distance myself from everything that exists.  There is so much good in the MLP community it far outweighs the bad.

    TBH I've seen a couple of the classic episodes and even they didn't seem too bad.  G1 seems pretty dark here and there.  G3.5 they lost their minds (and obviously reaslised as it was short lived then came the massive reboot), but G3's Christmas special once you get past the really sickly first 10 minutes.. well I think you have to already be well down the rabbit hole to enjoy it but I ended up kinda liking that one

    Good to hear though!  I think most everyone has an interest that is a bit quirky or open to p**staking, indeed some would say goth is one of them, so it's nice to treat fans of what you don't like/understand how you'd wish to be treated as a fan of what others don't like/understand.  To be fair, I used to cringe at cosplay actually, didn't help that my only exposure to cosplay was cringe threads (much like many people's only exposure to bronies, furries, 'autists' (to borrow from 4chan) and other 'easy targets').  So you get a distorted view.  Going to a convention completely turned that on its head, I have huge respect and admiration for it now.

    Yeah in any of these subculture kind of things you get elitism and the "No True Scotsman" kind of stuff.  What you do is find the inner circle who is in it for each other through thick and thin, I find that they're the ones who don't really try to step on each other for attention or try to dictate what a true brony/goth/furry/trekkie/whatever is.

    Thanks, sometimes the deep end helps But I'm very fortunate in that although like any brony I get a lot of s**t online if too obvious about it in the wrong places, IRL no one seems to bat an eye and I have really good friends who don't make a fuss.  I'm under no fantasy that things don't get said when I'm not there, that's just human nature, but people are kind to my face at least!  (*touches wood before I jinx it and end up bullied into thinking the edge of tall buildings look awfully nice*, lol)

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