What is a Brony and Why am I one?

[harbl_the_cat]

How can I be the only silver stacking brony?

A Brony is a term that generally refers to a teenage to adult male fan of the Hasbro television show My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic (MLP:FIM, MLP or FIM), which was released about 2 years ago and is widely available on the internet.

By some non-scientific estimates, there are as many as 1-2 million bronies in the community (the highest rated episode of MLP had about 4 million views, of which, it can be argued as few as 1/4 to as many as 1/2 were bronies).

The entire series is available on Youtube for free or iTunes.

Hasbro and the Hub have fully acknowledge the existence of the Brony fandom, both by incorporating viral memes started by them into the show, advertising, and even modifying their toylines to match fan input.





The history of the brony community is pretty well described here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brony_(My_L...ony)#Brony

There are many reasons there are so many bronies, including:
-the show is awesome
-the animation is very well done
-the voice acting is great
-the music in the show is very good
-the show is full of geeky Easter-eggs that nerdy guys can appreciate as well as pop-culture references that most anyone can appreciate (they managed to tastefully sneak in an Apocalypse Now! reference, which was incredible)
-the storylines both episodic and arching are very interesting
-the wholesome, innocent moral of each episode surrounding friendship is almost always universal

In addition, the show possesses VERY strong capitalist and libertarian undertones which is a big point for me. While almost every social, political and economic issue is explored in the show, overwhelming theme is that with the exception of some extreme circumstances, all problems in society are best solved through the lowest level of voluntary interpersonal (or interpony) interaction WITHOUT the intervention by the government.

The only legitimate role of government, as a steward of personal liberty and passive empowerer of individual initiative is also a wide reaching theme; as Princess Celestia and the Mayor of Ponyville both act as passive overseers and referee's as opposed to active players in the lives of those they govern.

I believe one of the biggest reasons the show has garnered a massive male following as well, is because the show revolves around a group of females without being misandrinistic (that is, demonstrating a hatred or patronizing attitude towards men or stallions) or portraying females as inferior to males.

The Mane-6 ponies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and even the supporting cast of background ponies (and zebras, donkies, buffalo, cows, and griffons) have a diverse suite of lifestyles, cultures and relationships, but the governing philosophy is always directed to respect, friendship and embracing each individuals unique character - whether inborn or developed.

This runs very counter to the prevailing philosophy of modern society, where individuals are silo'd into buckets and stereotypes and worse, regulation, is developed to further trap individuals into collective stereotype (modern race-baiting and neo-feminists movements are good examples of this).

Also - the prevailing currency in Equestria is a small, gold coin called a "bit" (not bit-coins) - I contend it's a pure gold standard by which they operate.

[Honey]

Thanks very much for this and I now understand your appreciation of the show! I had no idea that there was so much involved with this and that there were that many followers.. I will have to take some time and check out a few episodes..

Honey

[harbl_the_cat]

(04-13-2012 02:46 PM)Honey Wrote:  Thanks very much for this and I now understand your appreciation of the show! I had no idea that there was so much involved with this and that there were that many followers.. I will have to take some time and check out a few episodes..

Honey

There's lots of really good fan made art, music, stories, etc. at http://www.equestriadaily.com/ as well.

[SonofYAHWEH]

My daughter loves it, she is 5.

[Honey]

I wish my daughter was young enough to go back and show here these videos... It certainly kicks but over "Dora"!~ : I can watch them.. but getting an 11 year old girl to watch them now just ain't gonna happen. I missed the boat...

SonofYAHWEH.. good for you! Your daughter is 5. Oh.. they grow so FAST!!! Take a mental picture (and lots of real ones) because before you blink... she will be 11 and too big for all of that. My daughter just turned 11 and the conversations we have are almost better than most adults I have conversations with. They are SMART at 10 or 11. Don't underestimate them. Their pure insite to issues is amazing and not cluttered. at age 10 or 11 (for girls anyway).. they go from just BLACK OR WHITE beliefs to the more complex "grey" issues. It is a riot to talk to your kids at this age and probably the most important age to sit and have conversations with them. Sometimes they will clam up and not tell you anything... and you can't push them (or they clam up more)... and other times, they just want to talk to you about everything and ask you all sorts of questions. The key is when they get in these moods.. talk to them. The most amazing conversations will come out of these moments...

[harbl_the_cat]

The season finale was absolutely epic... it was like a classic Disney Movie. You could just watch it standalone and be really impressed.

I wish I could have a wedding again after watching this... I just might try to convince my wife to re-marry me... if she's wasn't too creeped out by me windmilling and fistpumping for 41 minutes.

Full Episode:

[Honey]

Your wife must be a very patient woman! tee hee!