Is the fandom dying?

[FoaMi 23]

I always thought the mlp fandom was similar to the halo fandom. When you think it's dead....and then out of nowhere somebody remasters all of the halo's, puts it into one game and then releases it for free on pc in 2016....

(Is that actually happening with halo?)

[Duality 10,740]

I've only just joined the fandom recently, and it seems that I'm nowhere close to being the only one (based on other comments on this thread and observations made on Equestria Daily and similar brony sites).

 

In addition, the amount and quality of art on the aforementioned brony sites is at a very high level (in my quasi-n00b

opinion  ), indicating that brony artists are still going strong, even if older artists have moved on (as in the case of several I have noticed), and hence that the fandom is continually in a state of moving forward, losing older bronies at about the same rate that new ones join; i.e. not diminishing overall, while still giving the impression that it is dying by the public loss of more well-known bronies (while more join the fandom, relatively unnoticed).

Edited August 22, 2016 by Duality

[Luminance 2,186]

I think it's plateau at it's peak and now fluctuates whether people leaves or join.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

The amount of times I've seen this question asked . . . . it truly is starting to get somewhat frustrating.

[Sweet Palette 246]

It'll have it's ups and downs, but this fandom has proven to be as big as the biggest of them. And don't forget, that MLP has been a pop culture icon since the early 1980s, and continues to create new content for new generations. Heck, I think G4 has created it's own place in pop culture that will undoubtedly live on forever. Even when FIM ends (as much as we wish it wouldn't) it will make way for a brand new series which I'm sure we'll fall in love with. How do I know this? Because if Hasbro wants to keep thier audience, they'll be under allot of pressure to create something that will fill the gaping whole that G4 left behind.

Edited August 22, 2016 by SpicyDemon

[Barpy 2,225]

The amount of times I've seen this question asked . . . . it truly is starting to get somewhat frustrating.

if you would been into Team Fortress 2 community you would get insane by now

[RealityPublishing 323]

Between the "Is the fandom dying?" and "Has the show jumped the shark?" threads this fandom feels like it's always in crisis mode.

The show's run 6 seasons already. Crisis mode is completely understandable considering many shows don't last as long as this has. 

 

Is the fandom dying? Meh, not really. Sure, it declined, but the reason we're not getting as much attention is because FOX finally got off our backs. Thus, people just kinda accepted who we are. Sure, people probably don't like us, but there's other hot topics going around. Bronies have kinda become a classic fandom like Trekkies and Furries, it's just not news anymore. Nowadays you've got 12 year old kids and their FNAF helmets or 14 year old kids with their Undertale shirts that make the title of "scum". They're the ones that are dying quickly. Us? We're that big blob in Agar.io that floats around in the middle of the map waiting for others to run into us. 

Edited August 22, 2016 by RealityPublishing

[SunflowerPrincess 345]

It isn't dying. I think that now it's made of more people that still care about the show while many lost interest and moved on or were in the fandom just because it was popular, kinda like now the Pokemon fandom is filled with casual fans because of PoGo.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

This question pops up incredibly often. The more I see it, the more I'm inclined to liken to a relationship between two people. At first, when the fandom was exploding, that was the 'being in love' part of the relationship. It's all new and exciting and you can't get enough of it. What is happening now is the next step of the relationship: the evolution of 'being in love' to 'a stable relationship'. The constant excitement and giddiness wear off, and the feeling underneath goes from constant craving for company to a deeper feeling that is not as 'in-your-face' but still very powerful in its own right. The fandom has reached this point, which means there isn't an exponential growth of art and fics anymore, but rather a stable flow. The fandom will persist for years after the series has ended, so there is no fear of the fandom dying for a long while yet.

[manic 121]

Well, it's less of a new thing and people have found new things to get mad at, so there is less attention on it. 

 

Also some aspects of fandoms die hard. I'm mostly into the art aspect of it, and that usually lasts a long time. It may not be the main/only thing I draw, but it will forever be part of the repertoire.

Edited August 22, 2016 by manic

[cmarston1 5,959]

We are at season 6 of the show by now, and I don't really see the fandom getting any bigger than it currently is right now.

Or at least not by a huge amount.

[Foxy Socks 2,600]

The show is still quite popular. I don't see the community becoming a lot larger, but it is definitely not losing popularity. People have been more quiet about it, which makes it seem less active, and it may be.

 

I have not joined since last year, so I don't know really, though it seems to be still a big community. It definitely won't be going down soon, and even if it does, I still see it being a nice community.

 

 

There are a lot of topics about this, and it proves how much the community cares about the show and the fandom. Since they do, I doubt it will lose popularity that easily. I am not saying it won't, but the community will always be there somehow.

[FoaMi 23]

The show is still quite popular. I don't see the community becoming a lot larger, but it is definitely not losing popularity. People have been more quiet about it, which makes it seem less active, and it may be.

 

I have not joined since last year, so I don't know really, though it seems to be still a big community. It definitely won't be going down soon, and even if it does, I still see it being a nice community.

 

 

There are a lot of topics about this, and it proves how much the community cares about the show and the fandom. Since they do, I doubt it will lose popularity that easily. I am not saying it won't, but the community will always be there somehow.

I think one of the reason i've been thinking that the fandom is dying is because of all the classic brony artists who just stopped. Music was such a huuge part of the fandom, and now theres's barley anyone making any. TheLivingTombstone used to be a huge part of the community too, but now only makes non-pony music. Same thing with WoodenToaster, I think he died or something. All the "original" brony artists are just gone. I dunno, I think that the fandom is still really big, its just less recognizable due to a lot of the creators getting more attention and moving on to greener pastures. Imagine if TLT made a pony song nowadays, he'd get so much hate.

[cider float 2,538]

The fandom's hype, members and strength has been shrinking for quite some time. It is noticeable to say so. The creative artists have been disappearing and all the enthusiastic members disappear. Or many have gone quiet and went onto other things. One must know that a lot of creative artists use fandoms and such as a platform to improve their craft before they go off and get real work.

 

Bronies have been a sort of revolution on gender based cartoons so that era has sort of passed by as people became much more accepting on generally all gender related things.

Edited August 25, 2016 by cider float

[simba86 1,541]

i dont think it is dying, but it is not as big a thing as it was

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

See this is how it always goes, some guy is like "where be my old favorites, they gone THE FANDOM IS DYING!" without bothering to check on all the NEW content creators who've replaced them

 

People come and go, that's the nature of fandom, but content creation levels have been remarkably stable since about mid 2014 or so. Down from the peak in 2013 but very stable. 

Seriously can you conceivably label a fandom that has like god knows how many cons in the US alone and still occasional new ones popping up as anything remotely close to "dying" it's not the IN HIPSTER THING anymore but it's still very large, probably the largest western cartoon fandom still. I mean you don't see dedicated Steven Universe or Rick and Morty conventions do you? 

Edited August 26, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[ashi 261]

No, but it has gone relentlessly cliquey and horrible like all fandoms.