How mainstream is this fandom?

[MasterNeutral1 32]

yeah a lot of people at my school had no idea what a brony was or that my little pony was a show. actually before i was dared to react to it, i had never heard it was a tv show either. and this was only a little over a year ago zzz

Edited May 10, 2015 by MasterNeutral1

[JamesBobbyDReed 103]

We're only mainstream in the fact that most have probably heard of us weirdos in passing at some point. Otherwise, nope. Maybe that changes a bit with the movie in 2017, but who knows.

youre the first person ive seen

mention the 2017 movie in one

month

[colt .45 259]

It's mainstream enough to have been in a super bowl commercial. However, when i saw Rainbow Rocks at the theater, there wa no adevrtising in the newspaper, the marque at the theater did'nt want anyone to know it was playing there, and no posters inside.

As far as merch in tha hood... it's usually older, outdated, low end merch. I can sometimes still find blindbag series from a year ago at Family Dollar & dollar gen. And yes, it moves quick. Whenever they put out pony merch, it's picked over quickly, and soon after gone.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

A lot of people who aren't on the internet seem to only think of the toys or generation 3. It's not mainstream. 

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

Mainstream enough that if I mention MLP most people ask "Are you a Brony? Can girls even be Bronies?"

So yeah. The fandom's mainstream enough. Plus we've gotten parodied on TV shows so often it's gotten pretty boring.

[Jeric 46,834]

This thread appears to be related to the My Little Pony franchise and/or the Bronydom in general. Thus, it has been sentenced to Sugarcube Corner.

[DragonFlyer 328]

Well seeing as I just stumbled upon a Brony t-shirt in the men's section of Walmart I think it's getting more mainstream...

^ I didn't take that picture but that's the shirt I'm talking about...and oh yes, of course I bought one.

I think the fact that a lot of people are "closet bronies" might have something to do with the fandom not being as well-known in the general public. According to a recent poll on Equestria Daily a large majority of fans don't wear pony-related shirts etc in public...I guess I'm in the minority there. I know there are other bronies in my town (they always beat me to the comics and one of them left a "fellow brony" note on my car) but I never seem to run into them. Nonetheless, while the fandom may not be as big as the likes of Star Wars or Harry Potter but I absolutely think more people are becoming aware of it.

[xenozfan3 188]

It may not be mainstream but when I got my car fixed yesterday out of town a couple of mechanics knew what a brony was from my rainbowdash keychain. Its not a very big city either.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Its not mainstream; AT ALL.

Like, it was probaby more well known a couple years back even. FIM died as a meme around season 3, and hasn't had nearly as much internet presence since then. Additionally, following S3, alot of the internet big names whou promoted this show began to turn on MLP, loudly stating they did not view it as favorably as before, which hurt its word of mouth.


Honestly, I don't see FIM being more than a flash in the pan. Give it 5 years, no one will really know what a brony is.

[Lisa 5,552]

DeadMau5

 

Deadmau5 isn't actually a brony. He was joking around when he wore that Fluttershy shirt. Just to mess with people.

[MLG4Ever 876]

Deadmau5 isn't actually a brony. He was joking around when he wore that Fluttershy shirt. Just to mess with people.

Oh...I see... Someday I will get you Mouse!

:okiedokielokie:

[JamesBobbyDReed 103]

Deadmau5 isn't actually a brony. He was joking around when he wore that Fluttershy shirt. Just to mess with people.

where did you read or hear that?

[Lisa 5,552]

where did you read or hear that?

 

He said it on twitter.

 

 

deadmau5 is known for being a massive troll

Edited May 10, 2015 by Papillon

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

chances are, if you search something,

anything, even a door,

I googled "door".

 

Found this:

 

Also this.  Not MLP, but close.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I googled "door".

 

Found this:

 

Also this.  Not MLP, but close.

Aren't google results affected by your normal search history or something though?

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Aren't google results affected by your normal search history or something though?

Not if you've just opened your browser and you have it set to clear all history after closing.  Plus, it's not like youtube.  If I search mlp, then change the search to door, it doesn't mix mlp stuff in.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[Pastel 7,627]

Strange, I did the same experiment as @Justin_Case001, and I didn't find those pictures.

 

Anyway, MLP:FiM is mainly on the Internet, but not that much elsewhere...

[Sommar 1,289]

It's more well known on the internet than IRL. I never heard of anyone IRL talking about MLP nor do I see a ton of merch in stores like Target and Walmart. Disney and Marvel on the other hand are very mainstream.

[zombienixon 330]

It's more well known on the internet than IRL. I never heard of anyone IRL talking about MLP nor do I see a ton of merch in stores like Target and Walmart. Disney and Marvel on the other hand are very mainstream.

 

Pretty much.  I've only seen people in public with any kind of MLP merch or clothing like maybe three times.  I've been at a bunch of meetups, and only had a few people say anything about them liking it too.  It's a niche interest (a lot of people don't even know that this is even a thing) but still big enough to have things made for people like us outside of the target audience. 

[SilverComet 169]

[OFFTOPIC]

 

I know that MLP/bronies is a meme

and chances are, if you search something,

anything, even a door, you will find a 

picture of a pony next to it on google

images.

 

First positive result:

 

 

tinyurl.com/doorponygif

[Lulaypp 2,554]

Anyway, MLP:FiM is mainly on the Internet, but not that much elsewhere...

 

I agree... I can be pretty sure it is not popular in my country... I live somewhere in South East Asia...

[Shanks 10,811]

Ponies have gotten quite huge with a rather significant following but though MLP is much closer to being "mainstream" than it was a few years ago it still has a ways to go before that is in fact the case. Ponies have always been "mainstream" with little girls but because of the belief that ponies are for little girls and only little girls there is a stigma that is still associated with anyone else other than them being into ponies, one that is being challenged and is changing minds but one where said stigma is still quite strong. Much of this is due to some rather entrenched societal views on gender roles which won't change overnight which means it will probably take a while before anyone other than little girls being into ponies is considered mainstream. This newfound "brony" audience has had an influence on the show without alienating that "target demographic" and could potentially have an effect into G5 and beyond.

[Honsou 399]

More like the anons over on /mlp/ and /pone/ but yep!

Anonymous is legion.

 

We are everywhere. We are everyone.

 

Anon is 4chan.

 

Oldfag here, completely and utterly disgusted by the newfag 4chan that we see these days. I remember when 4chan was unfilitered and god knows what you found in there.

 

As for mainstream?

 

Completely not. Most people are vaguely aware of us, but for the majority they just brush it off as nothing. 

[Earth Pony 22]

Pick a cartoon, any cartoon with a huge fan following. Hardly any other cartoon fanbases are well-recognized either. The fact that MLP hasn't gone mainstream doesn't really surprise me.

[KatonRyu 1,026]

It's mainstream enough to be hated or looked down upon by a lot of people, so I would say that means it's relatively mainstream. I've heard the question "Are you a brony?" asked with apprehension, thinly veiled contempt, or simply non-understanding by various people IRL so apparently at least in the Netherlands it's fairly well known, just not enough to actually be accepted.