J-115

Look, all I'm saying is that clop gives us a bad name. It's something that anti-bronies can throw at us as an example of how terrible we are, and there's no defense against it because they're right. Generally clop is what makes me uneasy about being a fan of FiM because it feeds into a very negative stereotype that I don't want to be swept up under. It's creepy as hell and people aren't doing enough to shut it down, which gives the appearance (and possibly just represents the reality) that the average brony doesn't see anything wrong with it. Frankly the fact that people here are outright defending clop makes it pretty damn clear that this isn't a fandom I should be part of. If the best argument they can come up with to defend it is "horses aren't horses", and they stick to that like glue, then that does a pretty beautiful job of illustrating how dead-set people are on defending the indefensible around here. Goodbye. No-one here will miss me and I have to say, the feeling is mutual.

I didn't say you were a clopper, I said you were rationalizing that clop is okay, and that's exactly what you were doing.

I... wow. They have horse bodies, and they don't just call themselves ponies, WE call them ponies as well. They aren't people. It's frankly a little frightening that people exist like you who can rationalize in their own bizarre way that masturbating to a children's show about animals is okay, even if that rationality directly contradicts with the reality that is in front of them. Just know that if someone who isn't themselves into clop (which is to say, 99% of the human race) catches someone else clopping, they would think that that person is a horrifying pervert.

They're horses with human-like faces. They walk on all fours, they have big ears and tails and they call themselves ponies, not to mention that their whole body shape is nothing like that of a human. They're horses.

My definition of friendship: when two or more people like each other enough to openly discuss at least some of their likes, dislikes, fears, wants and so-forth. The more they like each other, the more of their likes, etc. they can openly discuss and the better friends they are. The key difference between a friend and an acquaintance, at least in my eyes, is that an acquaintance tolerates you while a friend actually likes you. If it's not abundantly obvious by now, I don't have a very profound definition of friendship.

What an utterly vile thread this is. Back from 2015 you have one guy calling anti-bronies "cyber terrorists" - for the record, terrorists blow up 22 kids outside of an Ariana Grande concert, they don't waste their time hurting the feelings of random people on the internet. Then you have one guy saying that people hate child molesters "just because they can". This is just... wow. And to respond to the anti-brony that revived this thread... it's hard to disagree regarding the porn. You'll find fan-art and animations created in the ample spare time of adults for just about anything you can be a fan of but the pony porn really does cross a big red line in that there are kids who watch this show who could very easily run into that stuff. Not to mention that they're horses, so it's bestiality, and the fact that they're from a children's show throws more than a hint of pedophilia in there. Clop (so many people are into it that they have a creepy little name for it) is without a doubt the biggest problem this fandom has, image-wise and generally. Years ago I was on another forum and one guy who was super-into MLP was run off the site when someone else accused him of being into clop. In retrospect there was no evidence of that but I think that illustrates beautifully the reaction that normal people have to pony porn and there's no reason why bronies shouldn't have the same reaction. We need to seriously stigmatize that shit and we need to do it yesterday. We should have been stigmatizing it from the beginning but I guess people took the "love and tolerance" motto a little too far, tolerating what should have been deemed intolerable.

I've also seen pony stuff on clearance at Wal-Mart. That's how I got a few of the figures on my desk, actually. Anyway, to actually contribute to this thread (old as it is): I've seen good amounts of pony stuff at Wal-Mart and Target, although it's admittedly a small section of the store compared to what other franchises get, and shrinking if the clearance items are any indication. I also saw tons of pony stuff by the checkout at my local Fry's Electronics once, but that seemed to go away quickly (whether that's because everyone bought it or no-one bought it is for you to decide). I have no qualms about shopping online; the VAST majority of the merch on my desk was bought on eBay. I've only had one experience where I didn't get my item, and even then eBay gave me a full refund with only minimal effort on my part. I've bought rare-ish stuff from as far away as Poland, and I live in the States!

I've never had even the slightest interest in being a furry, but I do love the television show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I don't love the show because the characters are talking animals, I love the show because it's funny and clean, has many good lessons to share and is generally just very well written. I also like the art style and the animation; again, not specifically because it contains talking animals but because it's very high quality. So am I a furry? Not by any logic I can come up with.

I've never been to any of the writers' or show runners' social media pages but I always just assumed they were liberals based on the fact that they write for a living and produce a children's show about the magic of friendship. I'm not a liberal myself but it really doesn't bother me what they say on social media so long as politics stays out of the show (and the movie). I stopped caring about the politics of my entertainers a long time ago so long as the product they produce isn't outright propaganda.

To me it seems that they've completely fallen out of love with the show. I'm sure they loved MLP at one point but based on their behavior it's abundantly clear that the time has come for them to move on. They're not going to achieve anything by complaining but to drive people who still like the show away from the community. It's a lose-lose situation: they waste their time and they do damage to the community they used to love.

Frankly, before I got into MLP it had been a very long time since I had enjoyed a piece of media so much. I've spent the last year and a half - the length of time I've been a fan of MLP:FiM - devoting what is doubtlessly an abnormal amount of time and thought to this children's show, but I don't regret it for an instant. It puts a big smile on my face and that's the bottom line. When I'm old and gray, I'll probably dust off the box I keep all my pony BD-R's in and watch them again. I've loved pony episodes consistently enough over the last year and a half to be convinced that this is a show I'll always like.

I've had lengthy phases where I've completely avoided the bronies just because so many of them complain and rant so much. In fact, I had essentially removed myself from the fandom (aside from watching the show of course, because the show is awesome) until I decided on a whim to check out how this site was doing just now. I've got to say that it restores at least some of my faith in the community to see that there're at least enough people who think like me to fill up this thread. Anyway, as for what needs to happen with the community, these are my two cents. The people tearing apart the new episodes for every microscopic flaw or every little thing that they subjectively don't like need to either 1) take a chill pill and stop worrying and love the ponies or 2) just stop watching the show and disengage from the community entirely because they clearly don't like it anymore. If you don't like the show anymore, stop. Pack up and go away quietly. We don't care that you don't like the show anymore because we still do. These people who hate what the show has become are making it more and more difficult for people like me who still like it to justify spending time with the community. This community is supposed to be for people who actually like MLP, otherwise the bronies would be called a hatedom instead of a fandom.

I don't really consider myself a brony (I prefer to call myself a "pony enthusiast"), but virtually anyone who knows what a brony is would call me one just because I watch the show. So, going by the perception that I am a brony, I would say that what I like about being a brony is watching the show. Period, full stop, end of discussion. I've got zero interest in fan-made content (except for that which I make myself because I'm a self-centered [four-letter word]) but I love love LOVE the show. I love the writing, the art style and animation, the lessons, the characters and how they interact... pretty much everything barring the musical numbers, though I've learned to tolerate those after having sat through the entire series so far. We're into season seven now and I'm still a huge fan.

When I started watching was September 2015. I'd been thinking about giving the show a shot for a few months but I was worried about what my parents would think about my watching a little girl's show so I kept putting it off. In the end my curiosity got the better of me and I watched the show in secret. It took me a few episodes to latch onto the show but I'm glad I kept watching through the first few episodes where I was still feeling weird about not being in the target demographic because it's become my absolute favorite show. It took me a while to finish the first season (because I was watching in secret binge-watching was more difficult than it could have been) but after the month it took me to finish season one I had become an enthusiastic fan. As for how I started watching, I was one of the people who really didn't like bronies but it had occurred to me that I may have been unfairly assuming that the show was bad just because I thought the bronies were annoying, so I decided to see if the show was any good. Now here I am, having seen every episode to have aired in the U.S. and posting on a brony forum, with a big collection of merch to boot.