It might just be me, but i have this annoying thought in my mind that the number of new bronies/pegasisters are diminishing as the seasons go on. Now i started watching the show back in the summer of 2012, just before the third season aired and joined a fanbase that had a sudden wave of new fans, not as many as 2011 of course, but still a good amount. I recall reading so many rage comics (haha remember when that was a thing?) on MyLittleBrony about how the show changed lives. The site was littered with them.
Now the fanbase has evolved to a more stable state at the cost of less new members. To be honest, i haven't been doing my fair share of recruitment (2013 being the last year i successfuly converted somepony) but it's been mostly because everyone i told knows that i watch the show and chooses not to do so.
Or maybe we've succumb to others opinion that we don't shut up about the show?
Take a look at this Equestria Daily Poll which asks
Unsurprisingly and probably thanks to 4chan, 2011 racks in about 36.71%
with 2012 at 31.10%
2013 at 17.54%
for a total of 85.35%
If this pattern continues we are looking at 2014 being the lowest percentage of new members.
It's unlikely that recent events such as Equestria Girls, Fighting is Magic/JanAnimations C&D, and Alicorn Twilight caused such a dip because the year before was Derpygate and infinite 4chan trolls and mods. If there's one thing i can say about the fandom, its that it is resilient even when it seems like we want to give up.
So i'll assume, for myself, that all the talk that "Bronies push the show in everyones face when no one cares" got to my head. But it made me think, 'of course no one is going to give a fuck that i watch a little girls show'. The average person isn't going to say "Oh, i'll watch this show for the animation!" because its automatically presumed (due to previous generations) that the show is for girls which in their minds, gets passed off as such.
My take, be it a radical and maybe unpopular stance, is that we still need to inform people what the show really is. In 2011 when this all went viral, people questioned us, attacked us, (I know i did) and the fans responded. It got people interested and challenged them do something outside the societal norms. Thus, new fans are born.
To answer the blog title, No, i dont believe that bronies reached their peak yet. But the decline of new fans might be an afterthought to consider.
I'm feeling a renissance soon we can always use new members!
feel free to comment and stuff, what do you ponies think is the reason for this decline?
-BassBrony
Note: Please do not take this article as some dumb conspiracy that the fandom is failing. It's meant to be informative about the decrease of new fans.
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