mega thread The state of the Brony fandom (Numbers, Popularly, Future)

[shy0wl 484]

To be honest, I really miss all the hype and all the sh**storms that the fandom caused back in 2012.    It was such a huge meme and being a brony was the most "out of the ordinary" thing at the time and many didn't like it, but the ones who did like it were very vocal and it only caused a ton of pony videos and fan art and songs and all these great things, along with some other hate but that only fueled bronies.  I remember when I joined in July 2012 that when I first started watching the show I made sure literally no one knew about it, and there was a sense of adrenaline rush every time I watched the show because of that. I even miss seeing those old "welcome to the herd" and "love and tolerate" memes pop up at every corner of the internet...  

 

2012 was the peak point for pony, not only number of people who watched the show/were in the fandom but the amount of people aware that it existed.  I wish I could relive those days, lol

Edited September 5, 2016 by shy0wl

[Luminance 2,186]

I think it's plateau and at least steadily fluctuating.

 

looks at the upcoming movie...

[immblueversion 331]

I agree that a lot of interest has settled down; there aren't nearly as many media articles awing over, dissecting or ripping down the brony culture as before. But what do you think will happen when the MLP movie comes out next year? It's slated for a wide international release, and any childless adults who opt to watch it over "Blade Runner 2" that weekend are bound to put themselves on the radar again. Now, odds are it might not outperform "Blade Runner 2", but in the event it did... hoo boy.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

It went from being a meme to being an actual fandom similar to Star Wars. From what I can tell, most of the people in 2011 didn't actually care for the show.

 

I am a 2011 guy here and i can assure you, that (atleast from what i saw) alot of people cared for the show back then.

 

I agree that a lot of interest has settled down; there aren't nearly as many media articles awing over, dissecting or ripping down the brony culture as before. But what do you think will happen when the MLP movie comes out next year? It's slated for a wide international release, and any childless adults who opt to watch it over "Blade Runner 2" that weekend are bound to put themselves on the radar again. Now, odds are it might not outperform "Blade Runner 2", but in the event it did... hoo boy.

 

I still don't think that it will be a very big success outside of the US and that it will make decently in the US.

 

We shouldn't expect it to be one of the most successful movies of next year.

[NeonCobalt 256]

It went from being a meme to being an actual fandom similar to Star Wars. From what I can tell, most of the people in 2011 didn't actually care for the show.

Well I don't think that's really fair, there were plenty of people back then who cared for the show, although I joined early 2015, so I'm just saying this based off of what I've seen from that period. That being said, the fandom does seem to be less meme based nowadays, so if there were people just here for that, then they may have left.

[simba86 1,541]

according to google trends "MLP FIM" reached its peak in April 2012 and its been on a jagged decline since, kinda sad to see tbh

 

that pretty well sums up the fandom, it is nothing like it was

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

I agree that a lot of interest has settled down; there aren't nearly as many media articles awing over, dissecting or ripping down the brony culture as before. But what do you think will happen when the MLP movie comes out next year? It's slated for a wide international release, and any childless adults who opt to watch it over "Blade Runner 2" that weekend are bound to put themselves on the radar again. Now, odds are it might not outperform "Blade Runner 2", but in the event it did... hoo boy.

It will for sure outgross Blade Runner 2. Remakes of 80s films, especially cult classics, are generally flops. Just look at Ghostbusters, and that had little competition opening weekend.

[Kiri 7,288]

Hmm... I first started watching the show back during the hiatus after the second season. I wasn't too active in the fandom, minus checking Equestria Daily for episode releases and Drawfriends.

 

It wasn't until last year that I joined fan sites and got super involved, but what I can say is that things seemed to be a lot more active in 2013. I do remember tons of people leaving the fandom after Twilight got her wings, but the event also seemed to spark a ton of interest in the show and inspired tons of fan content and discussion/theory videos. I think the fandom has already hit its peak.

[NeonCobalt 256]

It will for sure outgross Blade Runner 2. Remakes of 80s films, especially cult classics, are generally flops. Just look at Ghostbusters, and that had little competition opening weekend.

I would NOT be so sure about that. You have to remember that Ghostbusters was kinda surrounded in controversy.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

I am a 2011 guy here and i can assure you, that (atleast from what i saw) alot of people cared for the show back then.

 

 

I still don't think that it will be a very big success outside of the US and that it will make decently in the US.

 

We shouldn't expect it to be one of the most successful movies of next year.

 

I predict the movie will underperform. 

[cider float 2,538]

It's peak was around 2011-2012 when Season 2 finished laying out it's episodes. There was a lot of tidbits for bronies to play around with, the anti-bronies were very active as well as the bronies that opposed them. The revolution of watching cartoons regardless of gender seemed to be the brightest and most active that time as well which spurred the passion and zeal of bronies around the net and across conventions. Bronies had a purpose to fight for and it was when around that time. During Season 3 it started settling down and soon became lukewarm. After Season 4, I felt nothing of the 2011-2012 spark.

[Paianis 489]

I'd say peak popularity was reached around the start of Season 3. The first signs of change were in January 2013 when Hasbro, Inc. started to suppress fan-created works that contained characters from the franchise (I'm pointing at you Fighting Is Magic). For the rest of the year full, unedited episodes started to be removed from YouTube and discover-ability for first-time viewers became more difficult.

 

That being said, there have been great strides in creativity in the FiM fandom since then, the most notable being WarpOut's Lullaby for a Princess Animation. The music, while not as bombastic as in 2012 and not as memorable as in 2011, improved in quality in the post-peak years. I would even argue that the show's message matured and was more refined from Season 3 onwards.

 

So while we may not be as popular as in the past, we are also not as infamous anymore, we're a better community in terms of our relations with mainstream cultures and other sub-cultures, than we've ever been before.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Paianni

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

The honeymoon may be over, but the marriage continues...

[cider float 2,538]

Just in case the fandom starts shrinking is there any way to revitalize the fandom?

[Steel Accord 6,660]

It needs revitalization? I must have hallucinated EQD still publishing all that fan material and the Halloween themed videos from all those hallucinated bronies I'm subscribed to.

[cmarston1 5,959]

A possible G4.5 or G5 series.

[GeekySonic 1,150]

I hear whispers that there's a My Little Pony movie coming out soon. That might do it.

[Ra1nbowCrasH 272]

Vote Trump. He'll make Equestria great again!

[KiraTakahashi 748]

I highly doubt its fan base would decline anytime soon.

[cider float 2,538]

I highly doubt its fan base would decline anytime soon.

Well just in case we come across the ponycalypse

[KiraTakahashi 748]

Then bring out the giant plushies.

[leonbrony17 1,216]

I thought the fandom is already shrinking.

The most bronies on this forum say that the fandom shrinks ans shrinks and it's impossibles to stop this.

[Lil Pip 775]

Same was said about SC2. Since BW they have had a decline, but are still thousands of views at once daily, yet everyone calls it a dead game and games that get less than 100 views at once on Twitch still plan on sequels. But the popular and/or meme opinion is its a dead game because its not brood war status. 

 

I don't think mlp will die, I think it'll decline in popularity slowly, but still be more viable than basically all other shows that are not quite as mainstream as itself.

[Ganondorf8 11,298]

The fandom appears to be retaining its current course of being steady and gaining new members at a decent pace. I don't particularly see any problems that warrant concern right now, but maybe it's a good idea to have a backup plan just in case.

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

I don't think it is shrinking, just the opposite. I think we have a couple of years before the fandom starts to truly and noticeably dwindle. You'll always have people declaring something is dying... doom criers are always in the background sounding off that it is the end of times.