Gigapony

The Lyra and Pinkie Pie vinyl figures from Funko arrived just yesterday in the post. I'm super happy to finally get my hands on a proper figure of Lyra who, with Pinkie, will now join Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in gracing my shelves with their cuteness.

Because she's bloody adorable! In seriousness though, she has a very nice design with really good colours and manestyle. Her design seems well thought-out and not as haphazard or random as some of the other background ponies, and she looks like could easily fit in with the Mane 6. That, and of course her funny gag moment in the background made her a fun character for people to play with. As a background pony, fans are free to come up with whatever characterisation they want for her, and that makes her a lot of fun. Interesting fact: I have a mate who's a non-brony (though he respects the show and its fans) and he says that if he had to pick a pony, Lyra would be his favourite because of how cute she is, and because of her sitting.

Here, let me save you the trouble of reading mine (as it's rather long), and tell you that I most certainly am as whiny and annoying as the haters. And you know what? I don't care. If they can be whiny and annoying and get brofists and circle jerks on the innernet than so will I. Screw being the better man.

THIS. Look, I got no problem with people not liking something. I don't like a lot of things myself. In fact, there's some shows (a lot, even) that I really do hate. Some of these have even gotten downloadables on Xbox just like MLP, and I continue NOT CARING. It's not worth my time to care about crap I don't like, so why do these people have to spend so much effort hating our stuff? Which brings me to... No, I know for a fact, and I would bet money on this, that if Microsoft released Strawberry Shortcake or Barney stuff, most/all non-fans either wouldn't care, or have a few lols at it and move on. Hell, I can honestly see non-fans buying the stuff just for the lulz or the irony. It would NOT have people raging at it like whenever anyone makes ANYTHING even remotely MLP-related. And that's what bothers me about the haters. It's the non-stop effort to actively rage about this bloody cartoon and make sure everyone knows about it, where they wouldn't rage or make a fuss about anything else they don't like. EXAMPLE TIME. I don't like American football, I never have and never will. I don't understand the appeal of it. YET, I can acknowledge that a lot of people do enjoy it quite a bit. Xbox released a HORDE of football stuff. Jerseys for basically every team there is. TEN TIMES more stuff than the handful of MLP stuff. If the haters can be justified in spewing venom about stuff being released for something they don't like, then by extension I should be allowed to go and rage and bitch and whinge about the football stuff, right? But I don't, and nobody else does either, because it's stupid to do so. But MLP gets this and people say it's normal and that "haters gonna hate". It's not normal, this much negative activity is not normal. It's gotten ridiculous.

Yes indeedy. In Japan, "anime" is the catch-all term for "animation". MLP, Bugs Bunny, even Toy Story or Gumby would be called anime. And this comic is heart-stoppingly cute. They managed to draw them in a way that's recognisable and ramped the cuteness up to 11. And it looks like they stayed true to MLP and kept it very kid-friendly which is a huge plus. I'd love to read the raw versions of these. *goes hunting*

Like most have said, being an open brony (in an environment where it's safe for you) and visibly wearing merch to show that is perfectly fine and (ought to be) completely acceptable as it would be for anyone else to wear, say, a Batman shirt out in public. Obnoxiousness is, again as others have said, pushing your hobbies (be it ponies or anything else) in the face of others who have given you no prompt to do so and very likely don't wish to have something shoved down their throats. HOWEVER, and I think it's important to play devil's advocate here; while I condemn obnoxious bronies and the damage they do to our fandom, forcing one's interests in people's faces is by no means exclusive to bronies and I've seen other fandoms do quite the same (and not receive nearly the amount of hate for it that bronies do).

It's entirely possible. Fandoms with a lot of adult fans such as G.I. Joe, Transformers, Pokémon, and even the original G1 My Little Pony, all started out with their target audiences who grew up with them as kids. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and I think the current generation of MLP is a big enough phenomenon now that these kids probably will grow to have fond memories of these ponies, and continue the fandom into their adult years. It's one of the big reasons I think this franchise and its associated fandom has the potential for a lot of staying power in the years to come. I wouldn't be half surprised if, thanks to the kids of today, a couple decades from now us old farts will be able to buy the special 20th Anniversary edition of Twilight Sparkle.

I should've clarified, I agree with what you say, old-school weapons do fit, and things like cannons and muskets and whatnot (especially when redesigned to fit around pony ergonomics) are a welcome expansion of MLP lore. I recall one poster showing a picture of what pony weapons might look like, with a series of classic-styled cannons, catapults, and muskets that I thought was pure genius and a successful way to introduce weapons without it seeming forced or out of place. What I meant was more of like "My OC uses an AK-47 and a Glock .50 calibre Whatchemacallit" (sorry I know now't about guns) type of thing, where they're using extremely detailed depictions of real world modern firearms that just look UTTERLY out of place. This is especially silly (to me) when their cutie marks essentially amount to a photograph of said weapon.

Personally (and I want to stress the word "personally" here, as my opinions are just my opinions and anyone can do what they want with their OC's), my big list of no-no's are based around whether or not the OC feels like he/she can belong in the show and not stick out like a sore thumb. To that end, I do admit I have a big distaste for "Dark" OC's. OC's who look like they were designed by King Sombra after he had a bad acid trip and listened to some Rob Zombie, for example. OC's who have a "dark and grim past™" and/or "horribly abusive/dead parents" do bug me as well. Angsty OC's who are all nihilistic and whatnot and who have unnecessarily dark, convoluted and tragic backstories that simply do not fit with the show's cutesy aesthetic. Gun-toting OC's are the worst offenders for me. A HANDgun in a world without HANDS is pushing it a bit to me, plus firearms are COMPLETELY out of place in MLP. To me, no amount of dark colours, skull cutie marks, and bloodstains will ever make the show's marshmallow-shaped ponies look badass. It's just too jarring an effect to see what looks like a living plush toy cursing and beheading other living plush toys. To me the best OC's are the ones that, even when they're evil/antagonists, they're flawed in a comical way. That they balance badassery with silliness and cartoonishness. I've tried (though I can't say if I've succeeded) to make my own OC's follow that template. NOW, that said, I must stress again, that nobody needs to give a flying feather about what I just said, because it's THEIR imagination, and THEIR character, and they have every right to make them in any way they want.

She appears twice in the cafeteria during the "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" sequence, and at the end of the credits she shows up dancing with a muffin. EDIT: And of course I was ninja'd twice.

Back when I collected Transformers, I made it a point to open every single figure and play with it before putting on display, and every so often I'd pull a few figures out to play when the mood struck me. Hey, I paid for the things, I'll enjoy them however I want! Though I can't say the same for my MLP toys (what few I've amassed so far) as I haven't actually opened them yet. I have a few mini-figures but I can't bring myself to tear up the very nice packaging. This is a pity because I'd quite like to play with them!