Being a long-term brony, do you miss the fandom in the early days?

[Megas 27,048]

Somewhat, yeah

 

I can't help but feel a sense of bitterness and resentment towards the fandom these last couple of years, There's still some awesome people in the fandom that's for sure, but for me personally the cons far outweigh the pros. I feel the fandom definitely felt more upbeat and lively in the earlier days, I still had fun talking about the show with other fans(despite really shitty moments from the fandom like MMDW, Derpygate, Canterlot Wedding, among other things), and it just felt fun. Nowadays it's almost the complete opposite; dealing with some fans is like talking to a screeching child refusing to listen while you're dealing with the worst aneurysm ever

Edited October 11, 2015 by Megas75

[KatonRyu 1,026]

Quite simply, no. What I enjoy most about the community at this point in time is being able to discuss new episodes and the like, and that was no different back then. After the show has ended, I'll probably stick around the fandom for fanfics and fanart, much like I did with Pokemon. (I know Pokemon still runs, but the ship I liked has long since died).

[3Dode 55]

No, because I still see the fandom the same as I did back then, because when you spend a lot of time in a fandom you're bound to burn out like a sugar rush.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Carterclaymore

[Chronamut 355]

I just entered this fandom forum wise an let me tell you - compared to every other community out there this one is still the happiest and best - even if it does erode over time, that erosion is still better than when a lot of other communities STARTED.

 

seriously, you people have no idea how GOOD you got it as a community. Enjoy it

[Moony the Cat 3,695]

Well, i started being a Brony very early, but i dont miss anything.

 

And i also dont see, how this fandom is dying 

 

Sure, i left as well...so im not a good example...but i still see lots of bronies in Forums and on Internet sites and the last news i heard, was that a new movie is announced.

 

It doesnt feel, like the Fandom is dying. At least not for me. And there is nothing i miss.

[SanityNotIncluded 335]

In a way, I do. I joined the fandom around late 2013, so while I missed the worst of the fandom drama, I was there at what might be called the height of the fandom's social and creative output. What really drew me to this community was the sense of togetherness which came from all that. Over time, the content creation died down a lot and a lot of people I knew disappeared without leaving any contact details.

 

Probably the two hardest hit areas for me were the analysis and music communities. While the analysis community still exists, it really isn't what it used to be. When it first started, it was a place for people to explain their wacky headcannon theories. Nowadays (with the exception of The Brony Notion, which still does headcannons), it's basically just a 'reviewing' community which gets pretty toxic at times. As for the music - again, it still exists, but a lot of big names have either left the fandom or don't produce stuff anymore.

 

It's entirely possible that I'm just clinging to the past, though. Based on the number of posts in episode threads here, it certainly doesn't seem like overall interest in the show is dying down. Either people are producing less content or I just haven't found most of the new stuff.

[Solid 1,326]

By early days, I'm talking about S1 -S3. Year 2010-early 2013.

I just want to know what you think and if you have felt the same thing as I have.

 

 

I'm very strong and passionate about my obsessions. Like I get really serious about a series or hobby and my obsessions are long term. I've been a proud brony for 3 and a half years and I've been a huge fan of Pirates of the Caribbean ever since the first movie. I'm starting to feel effects of being involved in fandoms for a long time. It seems that these fandoms just kind of die and I feel like the only person who is still standing strong. A lot of people I knew in these fandoms when I first joined moved on to another obsession or fandom. The fandoms I'm in are getting old and I've been watching them be replaced by new ones. I've easily felt it every time I walk into a Hot Topic. Each time I walk in there are less and less pony merchandise and the wall where the MLP section was has been replaced by The Avengers and Doctor Who. Don't get me wrong, MLP is still popular and the brony fandom is getting bigger everyday. Idk. I became a brony during season 2 when the fandom was at it's peak. I guess I just miss the fandom the way it used to be when I first joined.

 

How do you feel? Do you miss that peak? When everyone shit themselves over Derpy, AliTwi, and EQG?

When Derpy turned from a pony with an animation error to an actual character? That was some good ol' times.

 

I was also pretty amused when I saw Lauren's reaction to the EQG toys on Twitter.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Solid Scorpion

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

In a way, I do. I joined the fandom around late 2013, so while I missed the worst of the fandom drama, I was there at what might be called the height of the fandom's social and creative output. What really drew me to this community was the sense of togetherness which came from all that. Over time, the content creation died down a lot and a lot of people I knew disappeared without leaving any contact details.

 

Probably the two hardest hit areas for me were the analysis and music communities. While the analysis community still exists, it really isn't what it used to be. When it first started, it was a place for people to explain their wacky headcannon theories. Nowadays (with the exception of The Brony Notion, which still does headcannons), it's basically just a 'reviewing' community which gets pretty toxic at times. As for the music - again, it still exists, but a lot of big names have either left the fandom or don't produce stuff anymore.

 

It's entirely possible that I'm just clinging to the past, though. Based on the number of posts in episode threads here, it certainly doesn't seem like overall interest in the show is dying down. Either people are producing less content or I just haven't found most of the new stuff.

Well as for Music let me tell you while it is a bit smaller than it used to be, the reality I discovered is that people just don't LOOK for the newer people, but stay fixated on the older music people and as their content slows and stops they feel like things have declined much more than they have. Fic wise there is a bit less content but still tons, same for Fan art (though that decline actually started before all of the others basically right after the end of S3)

 

As for me, Hey iv been around since october 2010, since the original /co/ threads. And I do but that's mostly because the particular Community I was a part of (Synchtube) died with the site in early 2013, Iv found places since then but nothing has been as perfect as my time on channels like Filly and Yaridovich. I however DON'T miss things like having to deal with ridiculous double standards targeted at some of my favorite characters, I don't miss a single bit of the Drama in 2013, which honestly  largely drove me away from the fandom for years, I was still around but it wasn't till 2015 that I really reingaged. Really while there's a sense of bitter longing among some of the long term fans i feel the fandom is a lot more peaceful now that it was in 2012 and ESPECIALLY 2013. So yeah I miss some things but not others.

 

My advice is really just don't get bitter, we were never going to be the GEEK FAD forever, nothing is. Though im sure all the drama around S3 did nothing to help keep us on top! Doesn't change that we are still one of the largest fandoms online, with a number of active forums and a massive creative output. Just go with the flow. In sheer numbers we are still huge, but since we really only get enough new people to stay stable we don't have a creative drive quite as BURNING anymore. Iv noticed pretty consistently that the fans in just about any fandom who produce the most in a short period of time are usually the new ones burning with NEW THING enthusiasm. And they they level out as time goes on.

Edited November 6, 2015 by M'gann M'orzz

[Lexamena 391]

Is this like that weird phenomenon that occurs like right when you start a new job, like all the people that work there are fun and badass but soon they start quitting one at a time, and then before you know it, you're the badass fun person to all the lame new people and it kinda sucks from then on? I hate when that happens.

I love this forum so far. I have been on some drama llama snarky ass forums and some doucher I'm better than you forums and I actually really really like this one. Hope everyone stays forever.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Lexamena

[Steel Accord 6,658]

@@RainbowPastel,

 

Me? Not at all. Not because I didn't enjoy them but because unlike a sadly large amount of people, this fandom has not managed to disillusion me into thinking it's not what it was when it began. The only thing that's different is the novelty has worn off a bit and if that's all that attracted me, well I would be very shallow, but it's not. 

 

What makes me a brony and what makes this fandom is the passion, the drive, the friendliness of the community as a whole, and coupled with it's own and the show's ability to change lives in a profoundly positive way as it did my own.

 

I've been a brony since season one and my enthusiasm for both the show and the fandom has not waned. Brony for life!

Edited November 6, 2015 by Steel Accord

[Lexamena 391]

@@RainbowPastel,

 

Me? Not at all. Not because I didn't enjoy them but because unlike a sadly large amount of people, this fandom has not managed to disillusion me into thinking it's not what it was when it began. The only thing that's different is the novelty has worn off a bit and if that's all that attracted me, well I would be very shallow, but it's not. 

 

What makes me a brony and what makes this fandom is the passion, the drive, the friendliness of the community as a while, and coupled with it's own and the show's ability to change lives in a profoundly positive way as it did my own.

 

I've been a brony since season one and my enthusiasm for both the show and the fandom has not waned. Brony for life!

Nice!!!!! With extra !'s for min post size.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,328]

I do sometimes. 

 

I feel what kind of killed it a bit for me was all the pointless drama in 2013. That's when the Twilicorn freak out happened, that's when the Equestria Girls freak out happened, that's around when more and more people watched the show like some imitator of some critic on YouTube. I mean sure, we had reviewers in the early days, but the only person really known doing it was Paleo. Sure, Digi and Tommy were there but at the time, they actually analyzed the show before they devolved into just critiquing it. I don't even think I can even call the analysis community that name anymore since I see more of just reviewing than actual analysis. They are basically the fandom equivalent of TGWTG. Maybe this stuff just happens to fandoms of shows that last multiple seasons maybe not.

[SanityNotIncluded 335]

Well as for Music let me tell you while it is a bit smaller than it used to be, the reality I discovered is that people just don't LOOK for the newer people, but stay fixated on the older music people and as their content slows and stops they feel like things have declined much more than they have. Fic wise there is a bit less content but still tons, same for Fan art (though that decline actually started before all of the others basically right after the end of S3)

 

As for me, Hey iv been around since october 2010, since the original /co/ threads. And I do but that's mostly because the particular Community I was a part of (Synchtube) died with the site in early 2013, Iv found places since then but nothing has been as perfect as my time on channels like Filly and Yaridovich. I however DON'T miss things like having to deal with ridiculous double standards targeted at some of my favorite characters, I don't miss a single bit of the Drama in 2013, which honestly  largely drove me away from the fandom for years, I was still around but it wasn't till 2015 that I really reingaged. Really while there's a sense of bitter longing among some of the long term fans i feel the fandom is a lot more peaceful now that it was in 2012 and ESPECIALLY 2013. So yeah I miss some things but not others.

 

My advice is really just don't get bitter, we were never going to be the GEEK FAD forever, nothing is. Though im sure all the drama around S3 did nothing to help keep us on top! Doesn't change that we are still one of the largest fandoms online, with a number of active forums and a massive creative output. Just go with the flow. In sheer numbers we are still huge, but since we really only get enough new people to stay stable we don't have a creative drive quite as BURNING anymore. Iv noticed pretty consistently that the fans in just about any fandom who produce the most in a short period of time are usually the new ones burning with NEW THING enthusiasm. And they they level out as time goes on.

Yeah, you're probably right about all of this - especially what you said about the music community. Thanks for giving me a well-needed kick up the arse .

Edited November 6, 2015 by SanityNotIncluded

[Guest]

I've never been a brony, but I was here in the fandom from like... The 3rd month after it became a thing, and I will say that there definitely was a different feeling back then. When things were more underground and we didn't need to worry about some random brony doing something stupid enough to generate enough attention to cause a big thing was a far simpler time.

[Winterbass 763]

Being someone who joined the fandom around the time when the fifth episode aired I do sometimes miss those days. Fandoms usually tend to have kind of a growth spurt during their early days and it's usually that time when I really like a fandom. Artists and musicians grow, people came up with crazy new stuff every day, projects got started and people came together more often. Yeah, there was also a lot more toxicity but in the end there was also just more to see and do.

 

That time is over, most of the classics that made the fandom what it was grew over it or just aren't "in it" as they were. Maybe that's a good thing or a bad. Who can forget the infamous Rainbow Factory fanfic, SAM and Cheerilee's Garden? Who can forget music like Ultimate Sweetie Belle, guys like Omnipony, H8_Seed and ChainAlgorithm?, art by CrookedTrees etc? They're not there anymore. The guys who made the cornerstones of the fanbase are gone and all that's left are the dozens new people that live on the platform those people build. They're great at what they do, but they're just not the "founders" of a fanbase. I can only look back at that time with fondness. Call me a nostalgiafag as much as you want, but there's something you can never find except during this "growth spurt" of a fanbase and that goes for any fanbase, not just this one. In the end, it was a crazy ride but that ride's over.

[Jonny Music 3,303]

I joined the fandom right in between Seasons 3 and 4, so I didn't mind it at all.

[cider float 2,535]

Yes I miss those days. I watched S1 and S2 episodes over and over because they were so good.

[-Nobody- 514]

I had a lot more fun in the fandom back then (okay, maybe not 2013), and there seemed to be a lot more fan created material. 2011-2012 was probably my favorite "era" of the fandom. I had a lot more friends who were into it back then, and now almost all of them have moved on. But that being said, I'm still having fun on this wild ride.

[Trixie Heartstrings 433]

I became a fan in early 2014, because that's when I was finally brave enough and had enough interest to start watching the show. So I missed what people are calling "the golden years" of the fandom, but as I keep hearing people talk about "the good old days", I sometimes get the feeling that I missed out. I didn't know about the fandom until 2012, and I wasn't interested in the show or fandom until 2013. Then the drama with alicorn Twilight and Equestria Girls scared me away, along with the fact that there was no way I could watch the show w/o being caught, and I was too scared about the reaction I'd get. It probably would've been better if I started watching in 2011, 2012, or even 2013 because I was depressed in those years, and it seemed to end once I started watching MLP. I'd rather not be bitter about my later introduction to the show because I don't want to waste my life being upset about how I didn't watch the show until later.

[Varexiz 1]

Well, I wish it was the same. For some reason, it just feels so different. It honestly had a totally different feeling back when I first became a brony in 2012. I'm not sure how or why it changed, but I do miss it. The music doesn't sound the same either. Which is unfortunate. 

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

I miss those days like I miss my childhood. Both were full of wonder and awe. It was like I was in a whole new world. Even after a year it was still so bucking awesome. Then 2013 happened and opened the flood gates for all these brownies. Not saying all you new bronies are bad, its just that the bad bronies are more obvious now more than ever. 

 

When I go on forums-not this one, users here are chill- if you say one thing wrong you are treated like a criminal. "I like all ponies." 'How can you like all ponies? Its either one or gtfo'

 

Or my favourite, "Changelings master race and if you disagree then you are stupid as buck"

 

Theres also no more love and tolerate in the fandom. 

 

 

Just curious; what other brony forums are there? I tried everypony for awhile but it was deader than dead. This is the only other one I know of...

 

Also, not a long term brony. I was a massive fan of the show from about mid 2012, and obsessed over it, but was not on the forums until about a year ago, so I don't count as a long term brony. I am curious as to what the fandom was like back then. Seems like it was a more active time. maybe?

[Agandor 37]

Only thing I regret is not getting more involved with the fandom in the early stages. I always watched music videos and art and such, but never really interacted with too many bronies, and now I just feel to grown up for it. Maybe I've gotten more cynical over the years, but making new friends with the same interests has become less and less important, I'm usually fine with being by myself.

[ColdGoldLazarus 8]

To be honest, I have some very mixed feelings about that. I was introduced to the show during the summer of 2011, after Season 1 had ended but several months before Season 2 began. When people refer to the heyday of the fandom, that's what I tend to think of, when the world of Equestria was still mostly unknown, when the fanart was detailed, the fanfics were like Lord Of The Rings, and the people were nice. Looking back on things now, I can see the fandom was... well, pretty far from perfect, but I didn't really come across the darker parts back then, and I still think the majority was pretty great at that time.

 

I wasn't as present or involved, though, when Season 2 began to actually air, partially due to fade in interest, mostly due to school. When I came back into things a few weeks before A Canterlot Wedding aired, something had changed, but I was still having a great time. Chrysalis proved a most effective muse, and I was pretty prolific during that following summer as well.

 

Then came Season 3, and things just kind of went downhill. A decline in the show quality with episodes like Spike At Your Service and Keep Calm And Flutter On, and of course the great Twilicorn flame wars Debate. I was starting to come up with some original concepts to boot, and despite Sunset Shimmer catching my interest, the first Equestria Girls was a pretty solid disappointment, compounded by a long hiatus. I've never had a particularly strong investment in the community aspect of the fandom (no offense) but the constant arguing still bred a pretty darn toxic atmosphere, and the fanfics which were my bread and butter were less enthralling.

 

Season 4 was something of a return to form at first, but the overall zaniness turned me off after a while, and that horrible waste of time calling itself a Season finale was the straw that broke the Camel's back. I went through something of a 'midlife fandom crisis' at that point, and for better or for worse, have been able to distance myself from the show since then. That's not to say I've given up on it entirely, though I may have were it not for Rainbow Rocks. I don't think I need to tell anyone how fantastic that movie was, and it went a long way toward restoring my faith in DHX.

 

Season 5 has somehow topped that, and with the amazingness of Amending Fences, is honestly the best season of the show yet, a relief after the stupider aspects of Season 4. I am honestly looking forward to Season 6 and the eventual theater movie; fingers crossed.

 

But to answer your question, yes I do still miss the early days of the fandom. While I think the show is back on the right track again and I think I've personally matured a great deal by now, I am not so fond of the majority of the fandom in its present state, and to be perfectly frank, I just miss the days when Nightmare Moon was the one and only antagonist, when the mysterious Canterlot hadn't yet been supplanted by the obnoxiously gaudy Crystal Empire, when our interpretations of Equestria varied wildly but the tone of the various fanworks was consistently epic.

 

(And part of me hopes that the upcoming movie can bring back that sort of feeling.)

 

EDIT: Further musing on this, I think part of it (to me) is a matter of scale and specialization. Maybe it's hypocritical of me to lambast Twilight's Kingdom while praising a fanfic like The Empty Room or Within and Without, but I feel that the show writers' specialty lies mainly in the down-to-earth slice-of-life stories that stuck to Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, which mainly defined the first two seasons. And to be honest, I feel like the mere concept of the Crystal Empire is a huge mistake in a lot of ways, and undermines the more mysterious aspects of Canterlot. With a smaller, more ill-defined world in canon, it gives the impression of a very big world beyond the borders of what you know; the more of that you define, the more that feeling of mystery (and openness to interpretation) is diminished.

 

As for the specific case of Twilight's Kingdom, part of my problem with that was in terms of the simple vibe of it. As many have observed, that felt like an episode of Dragonball Z, a show I've never been particularly fond of. That episode calls for heavy metal and edgy black and red, where the kind of 'epic' I'm thinking of is more the Peter Jackson or HP Lovecraft -esque style. That kind of thing wouldn't work well in most episodes of the show, but with the movie I think they have a chance to return to the kind of feeling that the series pilot brought us, opening with a book and the legend of two sisters. On some level, I think that initial lack of a strong status quo is what attracted me to give MLP G1 an honest shot during the latter half of 2013, as my enjoyment of FIM began to diminish.

 

Idunno, maybe I'm just spouting nonsense. I can't really decipher what I just wrote, myself.

Edited December 21, 2015 by ColdGoldLazarus

[EverEverOn 346]

Now, I only joined the fandom last summer, but the first things I saw about it on the internet were stuff from the early days of the fandom. Back then things were surely much different, but the way the fandom is now is definitely a bit better. At least, in my eyes it is. It seems to have gotten bigger and more calmer than it apparently was a couple years ago. 

[GeekySonic 1,150]

I don't think I'm qualified to say. I became a Brony last year, but I started interacting with the fandom around 2012.

 

It was mostly observation, but when I did communicate, I bashed Bronies. I hardly consider myself a long-term Brony, since obviously, I was on the opposite side. But I was still here, in a sense.

 

No, I do not miss the early days. I ruined them for myself, and maybe others. It was very confusing for me, and I couldn't get over the "weirdness". It's rather selfish of me, but now that it's settled down, it's become easier for me to declare myself a Brony.