BornAgainBrony

Based on what you said at the time, no, but then with the addition of this... ....yeah. Riight... umm those two sentences directly contradict one another. First you get defensive as if you're trying to say, "Hey, I'm not cruel." Then you turn around and say that people deserve to suffer if they can't adapt to every random tangent that society decides to veer into. I could invoke Godwin's Law to tell you just how dangerous of a viewpoint this is, but I think you already know better. Maybe this is just another one of your jokes, but at this point, knowing when you're being sarcastic and when you're not is about as practical as practicing psychic mind-reading. But "adapt or suffer" is basically the same thing as saying, "Why don't you just try NOT being gay?" You appear to be equating what is "normal" with whatever the majority decides. And if tomorrow, "normal" becomes something different, then whatever was normal yesterday can either adapt or go join the freak show. Now this is a philosophical question that we could debate for ten years and there's probably no way to answer it. Which is better? Being able to adapt to anything and everything, or being true to your nature? For this though, as I said before, I can only point to our nearest genetic ancestors. Compared to them, it is we, the humans, who are the oddballs. Yes, they still have territorial spats and get into fights, but by POWERS greater, they are more social and affectionate. It should come as no small surprise that there is a yearning for it in our present culture with fences around every piece of property and people holding shotguns saying "Stay off my lawn." I've seen just as many scenarios where people try a million different things but keep getting the SAME result. Reality is just as "insane" as the individual. Well the end remains to be seen, but typically the former is required before the latter can occur. If you saw someone wolfing food down like a glutton, I wonder what your first thought would be. And then if I then told you that the person hasn't had a meal in two weeks, what would your next thought be? I suspect if the world were balanced in this way, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. It may not be an addiction at all now that I think of it. It may simply be that people are gobbling up all they can because they know they may never experience it again. This should be very easy to for anyone with an ounce of compassion to be able to grasp. This basic fundamental emotion is ridiculously absent in our current society. The only glaring exception to it is romantic relationships, but that's a VERY unhealthy solution to the problem. The meme-form of this is argument: " Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by *jerks." *jerks was not the original word used in the quote. It's a very simple analogy for the problem though. Just because you need something doesn't mean it's an addiction. Maybe you only need a slow and steady flow but even that isn't available. It's only an addiction if you keep needing more and more of it over time. But since even the basic need can't be regularly fulfilled, we have no solid data to go on to say whether or not it's an addiction.

Morally-speaking, just no. Their society is stable, and just wanting to have a threesome with a pair of Ponies is definitely not a valid reason to try injecting a new concept into an alien society that could end up having a very destructive impact. Ever seen Pleasantville? While it was meant to be a metaphor for the sexual revolution, from the perspective of an explorer visiting a foreign land, I thought the more literal point it was making was downright horrid. Take a hint from Star Trek and obey the Prime Directive. This doesn't mean I oppose the idea of polygamy (or perhaps more accurately polyamory), but my gut tells me that even in our own society, it wouldn't be any better than the current "system" of relationships. Even in a world where you're in a relationship with multiple people, even if all parties are OK with it, there is still likely going to be "favoritism" towards one person or another. That invites jealousy, leading to territorial behavior, leading to the same conflicts we have in a monogamy-based society. But instead of it being a question of, "Who is and isn't getting any?" it becomes a question of, "Who is getting the MOST?" I also suspect though that Equestria would see little need for such a thing. I don't think romantic relationships there are NEARLY as big of a deal because it's such a snuggle-fest world where hugs and cuddles are pretty much available for free and you can wear your heart on your sleeve. A lot of people treat romantic relationships as being like "friends but with sex and exclusivity" but there's a more fundamental element of closeness that exists, but humans generally save THAT for romantic relationships as well. Ponies don't. It's possible for them to have a degree of intimacy without it being sexual or romantic, and that is something that is mostly absent in human society. It may sound hypocritical to say that after saying that a world of "free sex" wouldn't work, but that's simply because of how hormones are designed to work.

As the old saying goes, if you give into fear, the terrorists win. That said, I did have this thought already as it applies to Bronycon or any other public venue, and if anything like that ever happens (things like the Vegas concert incident aside), I'm rushing straight at the shooter. That said, hatred of Bronies isn't nearly as big as it used to be and if it was going to happen at all, it probably would have happened years ago.

There have been enough actual tales of things like this happening, in a kind of "Dances With Wolves" or "Avatar" sort of way where people were displaced from their home/culture either accidentally or intentionally and assimilated afterwards. Learning the language, the customs, etc. Ponies being as understanding as they are, I can't see this being a problem, and the learning experience would also bring with it some rather hilarious moments.

Also the Time Vortex from Doctor Who. How else did you think Hooves ended up in Equestria? And doesn't gummispace in Kingdom Hearts sort of look like this?

It shouldnt. Hasbro blew it by not doing what fans were doing on Etsy. So games are big now, but look at how much officially licensed Zelda merchandise is. You can easily find a necklace with any symbol ftom Hyrule on it. How did Hasbro not think about this when Bronies emerged? They need to think MORE than just toys. Not all merchandise is toys, and they completely missed out capitalizing on the adult market, a somewhat more serious manifestation of consumer.

No doubt about the writing continuing. I wonder more about the future of the fandom community as a whole.

Go figure... happy meal toys that cost a fraction of the toy store ponies but they manage to give AJ her hat.

Get my affairs in order as if I was terminally ill so I could leave people all my stuff. Give money to Brony-involved charity projects. Apologize to anyone I may have wronged. Also I would spend the year wearing Kevlar because with my luck I would end up in the middle of a shooting before the year was up. Visit friends and family as much as I could.

Even if it's a kid, I light up a bit at work and I'll acknowledge the outfit or toy they have when I'm doing cashier. I do the same online and will go off topic for one post about their avatar. And of course when someone starts coming down on a Brony over the usual reasons I'll go straight into troll mode and have a good laugh at scaring the Bronyphobes.

Good call on paintball, or maybe laser tag. LARP is fun too, but after playing in Discord's "holodeck" it might be lackluster, so I might have to bribe him to GM and alter reality a bit. Go stormchasing... car racing plus insane weather = double fun. Introduce her to drone racing, perhaps. As a Pony, I would just hope I had wings so we could fly together in the quiet above the clouds at sunset and as the full moon rises.

In Equestria, Rainbow Dash all the way. In E.G. it's a very close tossup between her and Sunset and think Sunset would have a good shot at winning out. Take that for what you will. Maybe it's just that she seems to fit closer to the angsty confusion that teen-hood actually felt like to me, which makes her seem more genuine compared to the Mane E.G. 6? Dunno. It's much easier to accept radically unique personalities in Equestria, vs those in what seems like it was meant to be a parallel to our own Earth.

Wasn't that specifically encouraged in the School of Friendship? I thought for sure that it was. And while it would feel like an insult to call anyone "creature" on Earth, it doesn't seem out-of-context in their world. I kind of wonder what term progressive humans would use if we were suddenly thrust into a Star Trek-ish galaxy teeming with sentient life-forms of every shape and size.

It makes for a wonderful Brony identifying mark so I can't complain. In a hardcore sci-fi world it would be accepted that "person" is inseparable from "pony" and either would be acceptable, but... ehh... I'm more than down with it. Real challenge is NOT saying "pony" in 'secular' conversation... I've come close a few times

I might be inclined to give this a shot, if I can find the time and the money. This hits on something that's been playing on my mind since the Bronycon announcement; that the fandom needs to evolve beyond the "Comic-con" format if it is to survive. Potter fans and Furries are good examples of this. They rent spaces just to hang out or to have immersive role play experiences. It's cool if there's events where you can chase autographs from cast members and buy tons of art work, but there also needs to be something that in one way is less extravagant, and that's just a place for fans to hang out and just enjoy being with each other. Music festivals are a great example of this. That's something that can much more easily survive the end of G4, or the chaos of G5 (if it ends up being pure horse manure).

A pretty similar argument could be made for a lot of things that are now a "way of life." Teaching moral lessons through parables was most likely the original purpose of storytelling, because it could be conveyed effectively to anyone, even those who were mostly illiterate. In our modern age of mostly doing it just to earn a profit, this purpose has mostly been lost, but occasionally, something wondrous happens and that ancient 'magic' is made anew.

That's something I love about it too. And while Twilight isn't my favorite pony, I love that she embodies a zeal for both science and magic, and that it's possible for them to co-exist instead of fighting each other (not sure if the parallels to our world were intentional, but it spoke to me a great deal).

Some of the SFM stuff is very good, considering the limited budget, so it's not impossible to believe it could work. But I trust fans with this more than someone just trying to earn a paycheck.

You would actually have to keep it secret? Difference between 8 and 12 inches isn't much really as far as finding a good hiding space.