What did you think of bronies the first time you were exposed to them?

[cider float 2,535]

For me it started out like this. I thought they were trolls or those people on the internet I could never get (besides bronies there were people in sites that made absolutely no sense)

[ThePoniMan 164]

I judged them hard. I was like, "That's a bit... Weird." I didn't really know any in real life, so it was even harder to understand them. However, I am not one to quickly criticize people, so I didn't necessarily think of them as "bad" or "disgusting" as many would say. I thought of them as "different."

[repsol rave 2,963]

first i was really judgemental towards bronies. when i first found out bronies where a thing i just thought of them to be reaaaally weird.

but once i watched on episode for myself i got hooked too, and i saw what attracted people to something that was really just a child's show.

the community being super friendly helps too!

[Megas 27,067]

I thought it was weird, nothing more, nothing less

[SkullcandyPegasus 603]

My usual reaction is to dive in head first ... So once I'd heard of bronies, I open a tab and started watching.

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

I confused them for cloppers at first and I was greatly disgusted with them.....

 

(I don't have anything against cloppers now though)

[Adash 193]

I was a little judgmental, but I watched an episode that night and became a brony.

[Frostgage 7,972]

I didn't really have an opinion at first because I didn't think they actually liked the show, just that it was a widespread joke. When I learned it was a serious fandom I didn't mind but thought it was strange

[PlunderSteed 1,251]

I thought it was kind of funny.  Granted, I joined in the summer of 2011, when the majority of the fans were 4chan refugees and random artists.  At the time, my exposure to the fandom was limited to YouTube and ICanHasCheezburger.  Since my interactions with other fans was indirect at best, I didn't suffer from any "over-exposure" or spaghetti annoyance.  Since then, my view of the fandom has declined steadily.  There are still tons of interesting, entertaining people in the community, but the sperglords certainly dominate huge chunks of it.  I'm not a fan of that, and have essentially retreated into the parts of the fandom that are military groups or rock/metal content generators.

[MountainDrew 1,876]

Yeah, I thought bronies were pretty weird as well when I first heard about them.  Though over time I grew up and stopped thinking about bronies so close-mindedly (not sure if that's a word but oh well  ).

 

And now I'm in college with three brony friends that are amazing and have helped me through some of the more depressing moments in my life 

[Banul 3,831]

I was very judgmental at first. Then I grew up.

[DeadAccount 4,603]

I wasn't sure what to think. I didn't feel any hate on them. I just wanted to know more about them

[LittleMac 3,084]

I thought it was weird, I'll admit. But I felt sorry for them more. I mean, I had seen the YouTube comments and I hated seeing them get picked on even if I didn't understand at the time

[Blackshirt Brony 415]

I had assumed they were an elaborate meme conjured on 4chan... And I was correct.

Edited May 17, 2015 by RadioSilence

[D1SC0RD 987]

i was intrigued. i always love cute things and i thought it was nice that these people liked cute things too. im a girl but i still felt lame as shit and cliche for liking adorable stuff so i was happy to see a community of people who didn't really care about what their interests were

[That One Pone 584]

"wtf?"

 

Yeah. Basically, that's what I thought.

[Pastel 7,627]

Nothing specific, just another fandom for another show.

[Jennabun 1,578]

The first time I ever heard of bronies was when I saw a documentary thingy about it on Netflix. I watched it, and I felt like I really understood them. After that, I was so supportive of bronies. I fully believe that people shouldn't be shamed for perfectly healthy hobbies and interests. I hate when people assume that boys and men who enjoy traditionally "feminine" interest must be creepy & weird. It's totally closed-minded. Boys can love ponies too! Since that just always made sense in my head, I've always defended bronies as a general group.

 

I'm a little bit more realistic now though, as I can admit that the brony community definitely has faults too. Like, I've seen that some bronies really are, for a lack of a better word, creepy - taking an interest in mlp and becoming waaaaaaay too obsessed with it to the point where it is no longer healthy (like extreme escapism where they cannot function in the real world anymore). Some bronies can also be quite mean and exclusionary to people who don't fit the perfect archetype of what a brony is supposed to be. But those people tend to be the minority, and I try to remind people of that. Basically, I'm still a super supportive pegasister, but I remain critical.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Jennabun

[Captain Levi Sparkle 112]

Well when I found mlp I was 11 so I had very little understanding towards bronies. I thought that they are all fat and weird (sorry ). I didn't even give a change for them. It was just me and mlp. But when I started watching mlp fanvideos and fanart I started to have more respect to this fandom. After talking to bronies in Youtube I realised that I had grown to like these people. So that's basically it.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Thought it was an irony thing, like The Room's fandom. Then learned a bit more and thought y'all just fucked horses, like the Sonic fandom does with hedgehogs. Then I learned a bit more, and thought "whatevs."

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

Admiral Regulus, summer of 2011: WAT. 0_o Ooooookay, that's weird. But okay.

[Attack of the Pwns 894]

The first time I heard of bronies, I already was one. Honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised that there was actually a group of young men who weren't afraid to admit they watched MLP. After that, I dove in head first.

[Kylo Ren 58]

I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again: I was drawn to the fandom by the franchise, not the individuals that comprise it. I thought bronies were an unbearable lot when I was first introduced to the fandom four years ago, and I still think they're unbearable to this very day. Nothing has changed.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Kylo Ren

[10InTheTardis 509]

When I herd about the heard (flip that.) I was about two years old. Well, two years old mentally, that is. Physically I was 11.

The way I found out about them was through an adventure time roleplay forum (I was so dumb and so bad at RPing back then it literally made me unable to watch adventure time without cringing.) When one of the people on it changed their avatar to EQG Twilight and talked about it with someone on the forum they knew from real life.

 

Since they were about the same age as me and female  thought bronies were just what the kids who liked my little pony, and since back then I was a 'rabid pewdiepie fanboy' (Also unable to watch his videos without cringing at how dumb I acted.) so I just thought "hahaha lol XD bronies like bro and ponies hahahahahah XD -insert outdated meme here-", after I found it it was older people, a lot of which were guys, I hated them, but then a bit after I turned 12 I grew a brain and a bit after I turned 13 I tried the show (I had already "tried" it in grade 6, "tried" in quotation marks because it came on once while I couldn't find the remote, so I watched until the theme song, after which I shut it off. Also, I thought Twilight and spike were evil because they were purple I guess.)

At the beginning of the school year I decided I would try watching at least 1 full episode of mlp, but since all I had to watch it on was my 3DS so I couldn't change my netflix account to the 'kids' one no one used, I just went on youtube and watched some fan videos, and then I saw one called doctor whooves and assistant, and since I think I was on season 3 of doctor who I watched it and it was awesome!

(Eventually I just borrowed my mom's iPad and watched the actual show on that.)

[MLG4Ever 876]

I was 13 and I just thought that we where weird and I thought that the "rumors" about them were Fake but sadly after I got exposed to the bad side of the fandom, they were all true that happend while I was 14 (happend just months ago)

Edited May 17, 2015 by MLG4Ever