What was the best year to be a brony?

[Stone Cold Applejack 381]

What was the best year to have been a brony.

[(MARVEL) Blue Blood 991]

To me, there are no "glory days." I just become a fan of something whenever I happen to get into it. Most people I know got into it around when Season 2 started, but some, like me, got into the series after Season 2, but before Season 3. 

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

2012 seemed to be the one year where fandom activities peaked, especially owing to how fresh and new it was at the time. I had mentioned it in a previous post:

 

I'd say that the summer of 2012 was a really great time to be a Brony. That was the first year that the conventions really started getting big due to increased participation from show staffers (specifically voice actors). More media attention had been focused on the franchise on the heels of the "Canterlot Wedding" two-parter and Andrew WK declaring himself to be a Brony and subsequently appearing at Canterlot Gardens. Additionally, Hasbro began getting involved in advertising to the fandom (the sneak previews of "The Crystal Empire" were first played at a convention panel). It's also worth mentioning that all episodes were still available on YouTube at the time. Popular fan projects such as the .MOV series, the BronyCon documentary, and "Double Rainboom" were in full swing in terms of production around that time.

The series has been showing consistent year-after-year gains since then, but I really find that time to have been the definitive point when the Brony fandom really began to take off into popular culture and become as huge as it is today.

 

I don't think it's gotten any worse since then. That was just the one definitive point in time where the fandom's popularity and activity exploded to the level it's at now. A lot of the top works of the fandom, even today, were being produced or released at the time.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Wind Chaser

[RainbowPastel 185]

2012 was good considering I joined the fandom at the beginning of that year. Right befor the crazy year of 2013. I believe 2012 was most memorable for me

[Adorkable 2,737]

According to a recent poll by Equestria Daily, I think it was 2012. Apparently that's when most of the Bronies joined the herd. ^^

[Willow Root 16]

Before 2013 when shit hit the fan with Twilight being revealed to be a princess 

[Deathstroke 1,564]

I think in the early 2014 or late 2013 because season 4 gave applejack some momentum along with season 3 which was in 2013 otherwise i'll be a laughing stock of the fandom for liking applejack 

Edited July 22, 2014 by Deathstroke

[Argumedies 1,748]

I would say season 2

 

That's the time when this fandom really took off

[xX_PinkDragon_Xx 417]

2014 was an awesome year for bronies. There was a lot of fan works created. I hope 2015 and beyond are just as good, if not better.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

2011

It was small, tight knit, didn't have even a quarter of the drama the fandom produces currently, and it just seemed like a endless horizon. So little was known that anything and everything could be. It was a golden time of pony exploration.

[Zygen 6,065]

I personally joined the fandom in like late 2012, And sure I had memories and stuff from that year, and I was brand new to things, so probably more hyped about things, but I don't really like to think of things in that way if it makes any sense, because it just feels like many times it just ends up being elitist feeling. And I don't really like elitism. 

 

Plus i'm sure nostalgia has an influence, but I just don't like to think of it that way, because it makes me feel depressed for the future, like I won't have anything good in my future happen, so I take an optimistic take on it(Maybe some think it stupidly so to be so blindly optimistic, but eh.) 

 

I've had memories over the years, and had people i've met and seen leave as friends within the fandom, and we've had all kinds of other things happen and be created in the fandom, good and bad, but I remain optimistic that I will meet new people, or make new memories, or just have new things happen in the fandom.

 

Just my opinion, I won't blame anybody if they think me stupid, sometimes I wonder if i'm ignorant myself.

[Tetrakemy 221]

Season 4 was in mid swing when I joined in. Twas pretty awesome. 

[IceeBrony 251]

Anytime!

...of course this may be due to the fact that I suffer from temporal dyslexia. I have almost no concept of time in the classical sense. "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." -Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

OR:

Friend: "When was that trip we took to the beach?"

Me:

Friend: "...Right, stupid question. Why am I even asking you?"

Me: "A much better question! But I still don't know :P"

(Yes, that is the actual response I give)

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

I would say 2012, but I may be biased. I joined the herd in December of 2011, so there's that. I'm pretty sure I just miss those times...

 

Soooooo much.

[Barbaloot 197]

2010. before everyone flipped out about Mare Do Well and Tumblr decided to get crazy and before the cons started to scam us and etc.

[baltoist 303]

I would have to say 2012. It's when I joined the fandom.

[Lunar Glow 674]

I would have to say 2012. That is when pony merch started coming out, FimFics, you name it! I think thats when it was biggest and the most fun! Back then, it was like, 20% cooler. 

[Mr.Mort 15]

It's all a matter of opinion. There is no "Best year" as there are things to enjoy from the begining of the fandom to this very day.

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

I joined in 2012, and I agree that's when the fandom was at its highest. After watching Seasons 1-2 I discovered how much awesome pony stuff was online (fanfics, art, etc) and Season 3 was the first season I watched from the start.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

This year.  Because I didn't turn Brony until 2014 lol.  But that's a purely subjective, self-centered look at it. xD

[DND 2,354]

The spring and summer of '11 when the fandom was even fresher and cooler! Those were the glory days where bronies left the reaches of 4chan and gifted the internet pony art on DA, made wonderful ponified video memes on YouTube, and Luna was still the second Fluttershy and opaque-mained. I remember getting so impatient and hyped when I saw this Discord preview for the first time before season 2 started. That summer though left me plenty of time to enjoy what season 1 had to offer, though!

Edited July 22, 2014 by IncognitoKiwoy

[Cosmonaut 76]

This year.  Because I didn't turn Brony until 2014 lol.  But that's a purely subjective, self-centered look at it. xD

I also joined this year too, and I think this year has been a great year so far for the fandom. Many great animations, fanfincs, art, and music have been made this year and I love it. Love this fandom!

 

[Freewave 1,145]

I'm sure for the music fandom many people would say 2011. MLR was still important back then and the center of the community, Toastbeard was active with creativity and central for many important MLP songs. Remix Wars was highly active. The sky was the limit, there was plenty of attention to music back then, and less critique. Maybe the quality standards weren't quite in place yet but there was a great community spirit (although even by the end of the year people were breaking apart into cliques and starting to pay attention to status).  Most musicians listened to each other a LOT.

 

In 2012 is when everything really began firming up and you started to see the community change to what it is now. Balloon Party was the height of the music fandom for its success but also the splits from the have's and have nots and the beginnning of pino where people didn't want to make music about the show but wanted the attention. Many veterans left MLR and Toastbeard as a new wave of younger muscians came in. Remix Wars became so big it was difficult to digest. But you had Archie, Aviators, SGAP, and many others join in and plenty of great talent enter.

 

2012 was really the height of everything but in 2011 things were much more comfy and less serious about horesefame and careers. I think it made the music more enjoyable to have it made with love vs through a marketing dept. It helped when there wasn't so damn much of it like there was in 2013. 

 

Having the year off break after season 2 was very brutal to this fandom and season 3 really didn't create the amount of responses. You could say the music fandom is still in a freefall with so many musicians who have left MLP, few newer people getting the success they quite deserve, and less people actually tuning in to listen and comment to the music.   Then again maybe its back to healthy level to have it shrink down from 2013 to those remaining who want to be here.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Freewave

[Jammo 986]

2009. The year of Newborn Cuties and the birth of the Proto-Bronies. Good stuff. Good stuff.