How and when did you become a brony?

[Kevin Tang 2,426]

I became one a few months ago

[Rosebuds 123]

Back in ye olde 2012 I decided to give my little pony a watch after avoiding it for so long (because to be quite frank bronies got on my nerves back then, to the point where they sort of ruined the show for me!). I gave the show a chance and once I started watching...I could not stop. I found the show to be so cute and fun I have been hooked every since!

[Sliding Bolt 4,358]

A few years back, I was babysitting and I had to watch My Little Pony. I didn’t really pay attention at first but I slowly started actually watching it and liking it. After that, I would watch it on occasion but not extensively. It wasn’t until a little bit ago that I started to become a real fan. I came across some fan art and it reminded me of the show. I then went straight to Netflix and watched every single season in the course of about 2 or 3 weeks.  Soon after that was when I joined the forum. 

[Longhaul 6,838]

June 2012, and pretty much by accident.  I was seeing a whole bunch of pony memes floating around and was curious as to what the fuss was about, so I watched an episode (Ponyville Confidential), and I liked it, so I kept watching and binge-watched the previous season.

I don't really know if I consider myself part of the fandom, I mostly say I;m a fan of the show and leave it at that,

[Luna's Admirer 945]

Somewhere around september 2016 I watched PPPOV and I must say I really enjoyed that episode. After that I started to download and watch episodes on weekly bases. Soon I tried my luck in fanfictions (specifically after reading some good human related stories) and I found myself so good at this. I usually collect fanart from all over the internet and write fanfics in my spare time.

And that's how I became a fan of FIM.

Edited May 22, 2018 by An Admirer

[CaptainJinx99 128]

I believe it was around 2012 that I actually began watching the show and heavily got into it. Why I got into it was simple curiosity. I’d heard about it all around the internet and refused to believe a “kids show” could really be that good. So I watched an episode for myself, and the rest is history. 

[Larrydog 320]

I did join around last year after I finished High school I tried to watch it during school a few years ago but for some reason, I stopped but came back....well okay I know the reason the ship shingingsombra and I really wanted to see it more in the show but started to keep liking more things about the show lol

Edited May 30, 2018 by Larrydog

[thepissman 76]

I think I had a dream where I saw an mlp character and it intrigued me. The next week (spring break) I basically “converted” into one. 

[Altastrofae 933]

WHY WOULD I KEEP TRACK OF THE EXACT MONTH???

Whatever, I became a brony because I was looking for "the girliest little kids' shows I could think of" (never mind the reason why) and I ended up liking it as a show and not just for the reason I did this

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

I began my pony journey around this time last year, at the end of May 2017. I was watching this YouTuber play with his friend on Gmod, and he and his friends used the pony player models, and at first I didn't really think anything of it. I then started to get some pony related videos recommended to me in my "Recommend" videos list, and out of just sheer curiosity I decided to start watching a few of them. They weren't bad at all, and eventually I found my way to the Brony fan-made music, and I really liked that. Eventually around mid June of 2017 I decided to sit down and watch an actual episode of MLP, and I pretty instantly fell in love with the show, it's characters, and overall just the whole Brony community. After watching all the seasons and catching up to where we currently were at that point (The season seven mid-season hiatus) I decided to call myself a Brony and told my best friend that I was now a Brony. After several months of being in this fandom, in late September of 2017 I decided I really wanted to interact with like-minded pony lovers as well, so I joined the MLP forums here and I haven't regretted a moment of it  

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I first discovered ponies and the Brony community as a whole, time really flies, doesn't it? 

[LucasB 196]

I actually remember specifically how I became a brony.

So I was just scrolling through my daily dose of memes when I came across this:

In my mind, I thought a bunch of depressed fat 30 year old dudes with no lives loved to watch the show, so I got curious to what this whole meme is about, so I decided to check out the show. I was expecting some typical kid stuff like Dora the Explorer or Barbie movies, but boy was I wrong. Sure, I love watching cartoons like this one 

But there was something different about MLP. The characters aren't overly cute or weird like a lot of cartoons (the ponies actually looked like coherent ponies and not balloons), their personalities are fairly mature, and everything looked very pleasing to the eye. It also wasn't this action adventure thing where you got a straight forward cliche plot, nor was it an all happy bubbly superhero girls show. There was a great deal of character development and intimacy with the main characters.    Also, some of the emotional conflicts, interactions and expressions in this show is unmatched. I don't think any single show has captured the positive sides of friendship and citizenship as good as this show. It has found a nice balance between cheerful and positive but also realistic.

Edited July 10, 2018 by arcticaunion

[Justpassingthrough 3]

Sometime in early 2011. I saw a fervent discussion about it on a social media chat that included someone I knew. It was mind-blowing to these guys that the show could be so awesome. They went back and forth between "this is gold" and making references to the title and characters.

I didn't get it. I mean, we were all adults here and they're talking about My Little Pony? And I said as much. As per brony fever, the others replied with an bombard of appeals that the show really was good, that it was the biggest hit of the decade, and I had to watch it. This was the first clip I saw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7PGKcikaGY

As you can guess, I was not impressed.

Nor did it do anything to quell my confusion. I reported back that it didn't make sense to me and just didn't seem all that special. Participants were insistent, saying that it was a matter of finding something that clicked. So for about the next two weeks I watched clips on-and-off, occasionally trying to watch an episode but giving up. Eventually, the overall charm of FiM started to rub off on me. It was something new, and I was drawn to it with a certain form of wonder. Overnight I became a HUGE fan of My Little Pony. And funny thing, the first episode I watched all the way through was the same one that contained the link above. I'll admit, I was an annoying brony (pegasister?) for a while, bringing it up unnecessarily to try to get people into it. But I stopped after being laughed at for talking about it in class (granted, it was uni). After that I watched the show quietly, and enjoyed it for the time I enjoyed it.

[Lord Valtasar 12,690]

There's a lack of 2018s in your poll.

I've become a brony last month.

After seeing so many nice fan-art in deviantArt and songs and animations on youtube.i decided to give the show a chance."it must worth smt to inspire all of this after all"i thought.

I binge watched the whole show within a week and fell in love with it.

Then.trying to find where the comunity is.i found this forum so here i am

[Phosphor 11,528]

I became a fan of the show around late 2017. I was aware of MLP well before then, but I didn't take any interest until I ran across some fan made parodies on youtube.  After watching several of those, I decided to watch the first 2 episodes of the show. It pulled me in after that. lol

 

[Roughshod 719]

I don't fully understand how or when it happened. Perhaps some part of MLP imprinted onto me. Something implanted or suggested. It is at this point irrelevant. What matters is that whatever happened it happened for a reason.

Afterward I knew the rules. I knew what I was supposed to do... But I didn't. I couldn't. I was compelled to watch. Compelled to post. And now here I stand because of you Bronies and Pegasisters. Because of you. I'm no longer an agent of the system. Because of you I've changed, I'm unhoofed. 

A new person, so to speak. Like you, apparently, free.

But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving. Which brings me back to the reason why we're here on these forums.

We're not here because we are free. We're here because we are not free.  

There is no escaping friendship, no denying ponies. Because as we both know without ponies this place would not exist.

It is ponies that created us. Ponies that connect us. Ponies that pull us. That guides us. That drives us. It is ponies that defines us. Ponies that binds us.

l am here because of them, members. I am here to take from you what you tried to take from me.

Ponies.

...

Ahem. But anyway I would say I got into FiM back in early 2013 or so. Mostly watching older episodes from seasons 1 and 2. Some of the songs really impressed me as well as the animation style and surprisingly sophisticated storytelling and characterization that didn't just resort to typical kid's show tropes and humor. Voice acting was on point and still is. The more I watched the more I liked and the more I wanted to watch. The community that grew out of the love for show was abound with artists and writers and musicians many with great talent and energy. Seeing this, seeing the fervor and unapologetic admiration for something so counter to prevailing cultural standpoints fascinated me and still does. I've made friends and enemies from this phenomenon and throughout it all I have no regrets.

[Iam 525]

I was a brony since October 2011. It started innocently, the family was waiting for a premier a new show for kids, which was in the mentioned date earlier. When I looked what show was actually playing in the TV, I said: no, this is to girly, I can't watch! Then it turned out somehow quickly and just after 2 minutes I had been threatened like that: If you won't watch first episode, you won't play on a computer anymore. So I watched and very liked the show just after first season. I was impatiently waiting for weekly episodes to the end of Season 1. When in the next year Season 2 appeared in Poland, I was shocked, because "wow! a "sequel"! how!?" and I was watching this with even more engagement. In the middle of Season 2 my friend, which I infected him with "bronyness" showed me Equestria Daily page - and that was first time I've ever saw this fandom. Between Season 4 and 5 I problably was occassionally watching Deviant Art fanarts, but I don't remember correctly. The fact is, that after Season 5 there was 3-year break, because I forgot to realise, that seaons are coming year by year and few months ago I realised, that I had not been watching three last seasons. So I watched first episodes of S6 with Starlight and then after E14 it went quickly, because I was watching only "Starlight-main" episodes. In some time I also looked here and I found this forum where I wrote this whole story. 

[Ziltoid the Omniscient 286]

Sometime in 2012 or 2013 when one day I was channel surfing on a lunch break from school while I was home for an hourish and ponies was the first commercial-less channel I stopped on. And it...wasnt bad. It was actually quite funny. The episode was Applebuck Season.

 

"Can bees squawk? I dont think so!" 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Ziltoid the Omniscient

[O-78 28,605]

I joined the herd in May last year. I'd known about this fandom for a while because many people in the Thomas the Tank Engine fandom are also bronies, and one day I just decided to give the show a go. Just like that, I was hooked!

[Sunlight Glisten 368]

My daughter 3 (now 6)would watch Netflix reruns starting around 2015. I'd mostly ignore them untill the episode of Twilights sleepover with Rarity and Applejack. From then on I was hooked and slowly discovered more and more about bronydom. Once I discovered Sunset Shimmer there was no turning back. Brony for life. 

[Maslovitz 122]

August 2013, guess I'm not that original, huh

I was curious as to why so many people have pony avatars and simply enjoy watching the show, so I watched the first two episodes... and another one... and the rest of the season... aaand seasons 2 and 3 as well. 

Also, could anyone explain to me why I can't take part in these surveys? (I mean I can't vote for any of the options, it just shows me the results)

[Lemondrop_Breeze 21]

i got into it some time in 2014 when i found the 'pinkamena' creepypastas, which then led to me getting into the actual show. i'd watched it casually when i was a little kid, but this was the first time i actually considered myself a fan.

[碇 シンジン 27,431]

I went to one event with my class in school and someone had painted ponies in the ground after that the name Rainbow Dash was glued into my mind 

Another was when our Swedish teacher showed us a Swedish talk show where there was brony in there

After those I somehow ended up here

[Lord Midnight Madness 1,543]

I actually was anti brony for the longest time. I used to watch parody videos of MLP like piemations and Friendship is Witchcraft, I thought MLP was a girly show only for girls. I watched all the FIW series and got bored one day and looked MLP on Netflix and was hooked after the first season, I don't know how but I was it was just a good show.

 

[Gryph 36]

Oof... It was actually quite hard to think about it. I started considering myself a Brony the first day I saw the show. I was 15 at the time, so it was 2011, and I think it was somewhere in March.

I knew that the fandom was a thing before, but I never really cared about it at all. But the one episode I watched turned my mind for some reason, suddenly I was all into ponies and all the other creatures from the show.

I actively joined the fandom around 2013 by participating in forums and stuff, before I was just your common closet Brony who just liked to draw and collect ponies.

[bronywhocodes 218]

For the most part it was some time in September, 2015. I can not for the life of me remember the circumstances but the show was on (the episode was twilight time for anyone wondering) and I was like "hey this isn't garbage" and then I was like "Coolio I guess I'm a brony now lol" but, tbh, I don't count this because I didn't actually watch the show very much other than season 1 and then got burnt out because I am dumb. 

 

I guess technically June 2018 but, 2015 sounds cooler