How open about being a brony are you?

[Ed Lyons 105]

I've made this poll to see how open bronies really are about their liking for the show.

[DuskRain 193]

I wear MLP clothing, but its not something I talk about openly. I will if the ask.

[Sir Xarthas VI 471]

I'll wear various merch out in public and with my friends. Though most of the stuff I wear is kind of confusing as to what it's referencing. For example, I have a grey ring with a purple treble clef on it. Now to ordinary sheeple, it would seem I just like music, and the colour purple. But to other bronies --those who recognize the colour combo and the symbol-- they'd know it's a reference to Octavia. I also have a dog-tag necklace with Vinyl's cutie mark on it (two bridged eighth notes), that only bronies would probably get. As for other merch/clothing, I've worn various pieces of clothing related to mlp, that anyone would recognize as mlp. I just don't really care what people think of me, and if they were to actually confront me about it, they're mind would be tied in a pretzel knot and twisted like a wet towel.

To be honest, I don't think any of my friends have caught on yet. Or maybe they have, and just don't really mind. Either way, I still don't care. :grin2:

[Mothra 783]

Pretty much a closet brony, save for a couple friends irl that know my horrible secret of liking a kids show. Other than that, Im sure my parents know, but they wont talk about it to me, and visa versa 

[Asteroids 39]

I'm open, but only if I'm asked about it. It's just something I enjoy, no big deal. My stepsister saw my mlp bedsheets and asked me if I was a brony, I said yes. (Is brony the right word though? I am a girl after all). My mother knows I like it and she couldn't care less. I even watched some of it with her.

[Rainbow Cloud 19,572]

I kind of feel bad admitting it but I'm not open about it at all, I would like to be and would like to be able to express that I like the show but it's kind of complicated I guess.  None of my family or my irl friends know about me being a brony however I contradict this online where I'm open about it, the reason I don't get found out is that I keep my online life very much separated from real life.

[DageNox 109]

NO, no, and god nO. I prefer to stay quiet about my interests usually and some people aren't mature enough to accept others. I rather not have someone hassling me about it and I know someone will.  I can be open about it only online through strangers, because hey they hardly know me, so they can't really bother me like someone in my school would. I don't need to wear it or talk about it to enjoy anyways,

[Randimaxis 8,665]

*laughter*

 

Other than the fact that there's a part of me still trying to figure out why I've become atattched to these pastel-colored ponies, why should I not be?  Of course, I don't have any merch to wear... or really display... so, it's not like folks ask.  Plus, my wife thinks it's kinda cute, and my best friend thinks it's weird, but accepts it - he just has NO interest (and has reiterated this MULTIPLE times).

 

When I was in middle and high school, I got beaten and put-down by the BEST of the WORST - do I really give a damn what folks think about my liking My Little Pony?  

 

No.  No, I do not.

 

[Snow Frostflame 3,571]

As open as a doorway without a door... I dont care what others think about me, I'd just rather be me than something else.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,208]

I am pretty much completely open about it all. I wear MLP clothing regularly, I have a Derpy wallet with an MLP lanyard and mini Twilight plush on it, and if others ask about it I am open with that as well. No need to hide something that I enjoy.

[FlyingChicken 154]

I'm very open. I always tell my non brony friends to watch the show (even though I know they will not). I don't exactly have pony clothes but I will definitely wear one if I had. 

[chirox the pony 1,336]

Well my friends know (and don't care) but I won't actually talk about it around them. I think I don't talk about it much due to the negative image the fanbase has. 

[Detritus 258]

Do your friends know?

 

Nope. I don't have any friends though, so it doesn't matter.

 

Do you talk about it around people?

 

I do occasionally talk about it to my sister (the only person who knows), but it feels awkward and I can sense that she's uncomfortable with it. For that reason, I don't bring it up that often.

 

Would you wear MLP clothing around people?

 

No, probably not. I tend to avoid wearing shirts with anything printed on them because it draws too much attention to me, and a pony shirt would be even worse for that.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Detritus

[Kivil 1,721]

I answered yes to all of them because I wear pony merch in public and at school if I could, I do talk about the show frequently and all of my friends know I am a brony because most of my in real life friends are bronies and if they aren't they at least know the basics of the show.

[immortal storm 52]

i am only  open to only a thought

[Biggybrony 245]

If anyone asked I would be open about it but nobody does so not many friends do know. I don't have any merch and I don't wear any pony clothes. I have pony wallpaper which I don't attempt to hide and pony music popped up on my iTunes once and no-one batted an eye.

[Pinkiest Pie 405]

Well, I keep it a secret, unless i'm online. The problem is, 14 year old kids in my school don't take bronies kindly... (I am 14..)

I answered all those questions no..

[cheri 23]

I keep it dont ask, dont tell, and nobody has asked so it has remained a secret

[GeekySonic 1,153]

I'm pretty open with people who care. Besides that, I have a few pony shirts. I'm also pretty good about buying the merch in public. I've picked up shirts, cards, toys, Christmas ornaments, and such with relative ease.

 

I've heard stories of struggles doing so, but nobody is quick to stop a 6'1 bearded teenager and say, "You know that's for girls, right?".

 

Some of the guys here are douchebags about it, and that was pretty discouraging, but I learned to ignore them.

[Guest]

I've always been open about everything that I liked, I don't see any reason to change that now. MLP is simply another one of my interests, I don't feel the need to hide it nor do I feel the need to shove it down everyone's throats. I am more than happy to discuss it openly as I would with any other things which I'm passionate about

[Holiday Agnaktor 1,436]

Sooooo...

How open I've been has changed drastically over time; at first, I was a really, REALLY paranoid closet-brony, and my worst nightmare was anyone finding out The Truth, (I like saying it that way, it makes it sound like some deep plot... ) but now I'm really open about it.

 

Whether you asked for it or not, it's story-time!

 

So, at first I was as paranoid as can be, deleting histories, cookies, etc, even though I kind of wanted to find other bronies at school and such.

I started dropping really obscure hints, like saying "Eeyup"  , and sometimes, when I felt extremely confident, say something along the lines of "How would you like it if it was 20% cooler?"  

Of course, this didn't do anything, except make some situations extremely awkward. No one knew what I was talking about, and everyone just dismissed it as me being my usual weird self.   

Eventually I expanded my "repertoire" by drawing symbols related to MLP during class. No one reacted to it. 

 

One day, during English class, I got bored, and I drew a picture of the moon with Nightmare Moon's face in it. Some classmates saw it, and their first reaction was: "Wow! Nice drawing! What is that though?"

I immediately regretted my decision, and panicked. What if they found out? 

So I told 'em it was the "Eye-Monster". 

They actually believed it. 

 

From that moment I became a lot less panicky about pony stuff, and started doodling more pony stuff in class. I showed some of it occasionally, just to see their reactions. No one ever found out. 

At this point I kind of wanted them to find out, just for the irony of it all. (I'm rumoured to be a vampire, and a gothic. And that my favorite colour is black. All of the previous statements are false, actually. I'm neither a vampire or a gothic, and my favorite colour is purple. )

 

I decided to buy an MLP shirt, just to see if anyone caught on. After a long time of searching on the internet I settled for an inconspicuous shirt with a simplified version of Vinyl Scratch. It wasn't that obvious that it was from MLP, but it clearly showed a Unicorn.

I wore it to school, thinking that all hell would break loose, but nothing happened. 

A few days after I got the shirt, one of my classmates asked me if it was a unicorn. I told him it was, and he said: "Okay."

That was it. I finally realized that people only only see what they expect. In my case they don't expect the ponies. 

 

I got really confident after that, and started browsing MLPForums in class, and showing my friends my drawings of ponies, etc.

They STILL didn't notice. It was pretty funny.

 

One day, I was browsing MLPForums, and one friend said: "Hey, aren't those (pointing at my screen, filled with avatars of ponies,) ponies? I had toys of those when I was a kid."

I reacted happy, and said: "Yeah, those are ponies. It's cause I watch My Little Pony."

Everyone in my class heard me, and everyone was shocked. It was hilarious.

 

So now I wear my merch with pride, and I'm a proud brony.

 

(Yay, I love writing stories like this, I should do this more often... )

[Ed Lyons 105]

Sooooo...

How open I've been has changed drastically over time; at first, I was a really, REALLY paranoid closet-brony, and my worst nightmare was anyone finding out The Truth, (I like saying it that way, it makes it sound like some deep plot... ) but now I'm really open about it.

 

Whether you asked for it or not, it's story-time!

 

So, at first I was as paranoid as can be, deleting histories, cookies, etc, even though I kind of wanted to find other bronies at school and such.

I started dropping really obscure hints, like saying "Eeyup"  , and sometimes, when I felt extremely confident, say something along the lines of "How would you like it if it was 20% cooler?"  

Of course, this didn't do anything, except make some situations extremely awkward. No one knew what I was talking about, and everyone just dismissed it as me being my usual weird self.   

Eventually I expanded my "repertoire" by drawing symbols related to MLP during class. No one reacted to it. 

 

One day, during English class, I got bored, and I drew a picture of the moon with Nightmare Moon's face in it. Some classmates saw it, and their first reaction was: "Wow! Nice drawing! What is that though?"

I immediately regretted my decision, and panicked. What if they found out? 

So I told 'em it was the "Eye-Monster". 

They actually believed it. 

 

From that moment I became a lot less panicky about pony stuff, and started doodling more pony stuff in class. I showed some of it occasionally, just to see their reactions. No one ever found out. 

At this point I kind of wanted them to find out, just for the irony of it all. (I'm rumoured to be a vampire, and a gothic. And that my favorite colour is black. All of the previous statements are false, actually. I'm neither a vampire or a gothic, and my favorite colour is purple. )

 

I decided to buy an MLP shirt, just to see if anyone caught on. After a long time of searching on the internet I settled for an inconspicuous shirt with a simplified version of Vinyl Scratch. It wasn't that obvious that it was from MLP, but it clearly showed a Unicorn.

I wore it to school, thinking that all hell would break loose, but nothing happened. 

A few days after I got the shirt, one of my classmates asked me if it was a unicorn. I told him it was, and he said: "Okay."

That was it. I finally realized that people only only see what they expect. In my case they don't expect the ponies. 

 

I got really confident after that, and started browsing MLPForums in class, and showing my friends my drawings of ponies, etc.

They STILL didn't notice. It was pretty funny.

 

One day, I was browsing MLPForums, and one friend said: "Hey, aren't those (pointing at my screen, filled with avatars of ponies,) ponies? I had toys of those when I was a kid."

I reacted happy, and said: "Yeah, those are ponies. It's cause I watch My Little Pony."

Everyone in my class heard me, and everyone was shocked. It was hilarious.

 

So now I wear my merch with pride, and I'm a proud brony.

 

(Yay, I love writing stories like this, I should do this more often... )

this closely relates to my story but at first, it was a state of denial for a while. I was so paranoid that I isolated myself in my room and wedged something inbetween my door and wardrobe which would make sure nobody could get In. I had noise cancelling headphones because they work the other way so nobody could hear the already

-7 decibel sound. I then found out my brother is a brony and watches it on full volume with his door open! I never told anyone but one day, I told a very trusty friend and kept it a secret until I slowly gave hints to people who found out. My biggest and smallest circle of friends

(I have three) all know I'm a brony and most of them are too. Other people know and are fine with it. Thank you for sharing your story though.

[Holiday Agnaktor 1,436]

this closely relates to my story but at first, it was a state of denial for a while. I was so paranoid that I isolated myself in my room and wedged something inbetween my door and wardrobe which would make sure nobody could get In. I had noise cancelling headphones because they work the other way so nobody could hear the already

-7 decibel sound. I then found out my brother is a brony and watches it on full volume with his door open! I never told anyone but one day, I told a very trusty friend and kept it a secret until I slowly gave hints to people who found out. My biggest and smallest circle of friends

(I have three) all know I'm a brony and most of them are too. Other people know and are fine with it. Thank you for sharing your story though.

Yeah, at first I only watched MLP in the dead of night, making sure that no one noticed, and I kept volume low, and jumped at every sound, as if the whole family would charge into my room. I watched it on our IPad, but I forgot to delete the history...

After a few days my sister was doing something on the IPad, and she asked me, "Frosty, why does 'My Little Pony' pop up when I type in the 'M'?"

I blushed heavily, and told her that that was because I watched that.

She told me I was a loser, and to go get a life.

She isn't hating as much now, but she still doesn't like it much.

 

Four friends of mine know:

One of them, the one I told first, reacted with disbelief, and now doesn't want to talk about it.

The second, a friend at school, reacted with slight surprise, but was cool with it.

The third, a friend from fencing, was really surprised when he found out. I managed to manipulate him into trying MLP, and he's been a casual brony for some time now. He actually realized what MLP stands for, when I told him I browse MLPForums.

The fourth, much like the second, is just cool with it.

 

I have more stories to tell, about how they found out, but I'm currently typing on my mobile phone, and my internet isn't very stable, so I won't tell them now.

If you guys want to hear those stories, please just say so, and I'll write 'em down tomorrow. (It's getting late here, I should've gone to sleep half an hour ago... I have two important tests tomorrow, so I'll have to rest now...)

[Broken Gear 29]

I wouldn't say I'm open about it. I mean, sure my friends know but we are a bunch of... not entirely ordinary people , so they are more accepting than most people. I probably would wear some merch (in circles I move in I'm known as a person who does things just to shock people so they wouldn't know any better).

As for talking about it around people... I would just feel uncomfortable and it might make others uncomfortable too, so no.

[Gestum 2,493]

Nobody knows, just like it's supposed to be.