What was your opinion of ponies and boys/men who liked ponies before FiM?

[SteveMorison 407]

It has always seemed in society and media that ponies is a symbol of girlyness and that liking ponies or wanting a pony is a contradiction to masculinity. Going back to before FiM, did you find ponies cute or not care too much about them? If a male friend of yours told you he always dreamed of having a pony as a pet, would you have teased him or not cared at all? Personally I don't remember caring about ponies either way, then again I have never met anyone male or female with an interest in ponies, so can't really answer for sure.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,939]

I never knew anyone personally that like MLP before FiM, but I always found MLP to be rather...generic before FiM. IT seemed pointless to me. That is one of the many reasons why I am so happy that FiM happened, it made MLP wonderful. Before it was always kinda...meh. Basically the stuff that gave it the bad rep in the first place, at least the 3rd gen and 3.5. 

[IDoNotSpeakEnglish 89]

Oh, may I answer this? Well, my old self didn't care about ponies but, I am ashamed to say, I'd probably be stupid enough to make fun of someone who did and think that they were gay(and, I am incredibly ashamed to say so, but I would have been stupid enough to have a problem with that), just to keep my feeling of masculinity and stay with the "cool kids".

But, myself of now wouldn't have problems with someone that likes them even if not because of Friendship is Magic. Both because I'm not worried about my masculinity and... because I actually enjoy generation 3... not really 3.5, but I like G3. 

Edited August 7, 2015 by IDoNotSpeakEnglish

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

I don't care at all. I didn't know anyone who liked MLP before FiM, so I can't really answer.

[Magic Rasin 180]

 I can't really say since I was basically a brony when I watched the premiere and discovered the fandom when party of one came out.

[Moony the Cat 3,707]

Well i got into the fandom with the older gens...so...i would never think someone would be strange just for liking ponys.

 

Um, i was always afraid that others could find me strange trough 

But, since ( because of some drawings ) i was in a furry forum once, i dont find it strange anymore that males like to draw Animals or that they could like ponies because they are cute   I never saw it as strange if a male liked ponys...or any other cartoon animals. Because i liked them too.

[CrystalNight 181]

I never watched the original mlp generations since i was more into DBZ, Yugioh, Pokemon, etc. The fact that men are liking it use to be uncomfertable for me due to me thinking it was popular but didn't know to much about the actual fandom outside of liking the show. Now it dosn't bother me much at all that men like it since i have nothing agaonst men liking girlie things. Stay pony my friends!

[Malinter 3,064]

They did exist back then. Tho most of the older older ones were in it for collecting the toys/merchanise than the show which is more or less the opposite of the later gen4 "bronies" who like the show more than the toyline. XD

[Attack of the Pwns 894]

I'd like to think I wouldn't ever judge someone, and I probably wouldn't have said anything, but I probably would have secretly thought it was pretty weird. But no, I wouldn't have automatically started calling them homosexual or anything like that.

 

I wouldn't have been bothered at all by any of my friends saying they wanted a pony as a pet, when you have a llama you don't get to criticize other people's decisions as far as pets go. But, I would have found it odd that they chose the term "pony" over "horse", before FiM I saw pony as pretty feminine and horse as gender-neutral.

[Steve Piranha 29,451]

I'd probably find it ridiculous before 15 years old, but after that, I hardly pay attention what people likes or what not. Besides, this is the internet, where you can find stuff like 2 girls, 1...... you get the idea  , dudes liking MLP, even pre G4, falls short in the scale of weird things in the internet  :comeatus:

[Megas 27,892]

I honestly didn't even know they existed

 

 

[Ochre_Dust 329]

I learned how to ride a horse years before FiM. It was pleasant enough, but it wreaked havoc on my bowels. All the jostling and bumps makes a person need to use a bathroom badly.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Ochre_Dust

[Januaree 38]

I didn't really know about the fandom even when I discovered FiM. But if I did, I most likely wouldn't care about it.

[SquipyCheetah 449]

Opinion? I more so had a lack of opinion for never having anything to do with ponies and the fans before FIM

[Luna_tic 120]

Honestly, when I found out about Bronies, I was very critical.  I didn't make assumptions about sexuality though, I was more concerned about pedophilia.  As I got more used to the idea of the existence of Bronies, I just thought that they were a bit odd and harmless.  Then I began watching Friendship is Magic as a way to kind of have a laugh at the fandom... Changed my life and I've been a Brony for about a year and a half now.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Luna_tic

[superdogz1999 551]

I was a bit neutral on the idea of the fandom before becoming a Brony, so I didn't care. But even a couple of years before I joined, I have heard of the show. But now I enjoy being a Brony.

[alpinefroggy 451]

Understand? No. Make fun of? Also no. My friend group (well more of an aquatints group with a few friends). Was a pretty diversified group of people. Lots of geeky interests and likes and lots of different sexualities. I had one decent friend I knew who used to walk around in a flamboyant pinkie pie sweatshirt.

 

The show came up through him and other peope in this group in 2013 although I didnt really know a lot of what was going on. I didn't really care although as a person of similar interests I was intrigued. Thus it wasn't till a fateful rainy day one Thursday in very late 2014 where they closed schools for the day in which I started getting the show. My first episode was a week ahead from that day as I deliberated what exactly I was doing. And then I watched and one thing led to another...

[whillyumarie 6]

At first I was quite astonished with the 'bros who love the ponies'. And still find the people here amusing, to say the least. It was a show that was intended for children, especially to little girls. So a community who also liked watching MLP is surprising. 

 

 

[Denim&Venöm 19,672]

I was mostly indifferent to them. Frankly, Pegasai, Unicorns & talking horses didn't appear in the media I watched as a kid. I vaguely heard of MLP prior to that, but knew nothing of it. What I was aware of was through parodies & caricature. If one of my friends said they wanted a pet talking horse, I would've went "O.k. Makes sense. Who wouldn't want a pet talking anything?" But as you said, no one I knew was interested in ponies.

 

I mean think about it. After G1 ended, pony related media was pretty much gone from the public eye until FiM premiered. So it's no surprise no one talked about it before now. 

 

I'd actually like to find a forum dedicated to MLP prior to G4 and see what people thought, or a forum populated by old school fans and what they thought of G4.