If you are in the MLP community for a long time, how was it back then?

[K.Rool Addict 718]

1 minute ago, Ra1nbowCrasH said:

I feel like both the show and fandom peaked around Season 2, then hipsters started joining, we had Twilicorn, Lauren Faust left. A lot of stuff went wrong at that point. The mane (huehuehuehue I said mane instead of main) reason I think the fandom has gotten worse is the so many of my favorite fanfiction authors have left, quite a few of my favorite stories will never be finished. The show's quality, while not necessarily worse, has changed because most of the original writers have left. I also don't like being the only one in my group of friends still into the show.

 

I feel like both the show and the fandom got their absolute worst at season 2 lol. So many try-hard, ninnies trying to don ponies as a badge of hipster cred at that point. Twilicorn was the much needed chemotherapy that eradicated the majority of these trend-following oafs   Bow before your lord and savior, fellow /b/ronies:

 

 

 

[Derplight Sperkle 1,013]

I started watching between Seasons 1 and 2. Which was in 2011. 

 It's been six years already?!

Anyway I was there for all of the controversies like Twilicorn and Derpy's voice change. I even still have the original Derpy episode saved. The brony community was huge and all over the internet. There was ponies on every site imaginable. The merch was on store shelves and community outcry was massive. I had several friends in my high school at the time that were also into the show and we always discussed topics in class. I still remember the first brony T shirt I got was through paying a friend so no one else in my family knew. School projects had ponies interjected into them. It was a fun time in high school.

Bronies were ostracized for so long that I kept my like for the show in secret from most people I met. I kinda do that with strangers nowadays. It used to be horrible back then. I mean sure, today you can be berated for it. People were bullied mercilessly just for liking a show. I'm glad that has been toned down as of late.

[Whirlwind 1,055]

As far as 4 1/2 has gone by, the fandom has changed in a few ways.
I can't really name the differences off the bat, but I guess the bronies have changed a little bit since then

[Techno Universal 2,575]

To be honest the community was not much different when I first got into the show almost 3 years ago from now. I've changed a lot in that short period but I haven't noticed the brony fandom changing their ways all that much since then.  

[simba86 1,541]

I have been with it since the start "well actually long before the start because I watched MLP tales back in the 90's"

I remember it started out really small and then it just kinda took off and now I think it is shrinking and getting smaller and people are leaving the fandom

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

3 hours ago, Techno Universal said:

To be honest the community was not much different when I first got into the show almost 3 years ago from now. I've changed a lot in that short period but I haven't noticed the brony fandom changing their ways all that much since then.  

Well, considering that the fandom was more passionate until early 2013 at the end of S3  . The fandom has not changed much since then, with the occasional fandom is dying rants, the show is declining in quality rants, EG rants, etc rants  . I've hardly have a glimpse of the fandom's golden days 

[Powderpuff 390]

My main brony haunt back in 2011 was the My Little Pony page of Know Your Meme, and all the pony reaction images. I remember watching Pony and another super-big-at-the-time page (maybe Homestuck?) fighting for the most popular page on that site. I used to do realistic pony portraits in pencil, and my brother would find my drawings posted on KYM. I remember when neither the show nor Hasbro acknowledged us, and everyone being cool with that. And then the Equestria Girls video came (California Girls spoof), and everyone freaked out because Spike gave bronies a callout. I don't really remember anyone necessarily demanding anything of the show or having any high standards for it at that time, people just liked it for what it is. There was also the Pony Swag Megamix, which was totally awesome at the time, but now kinda cringe-y. I had no idea who any of the rappers were, and I still don't!

 

I was really into the toys from the beginning though, so that took me in a different direction. I would go to the merch section of ponychan, and follow the huge megathread where shy bronies told their harrowing tales of going into the dreaded pink aisles - the weird (sometimes imagined) looks they would get, but it all being worth it for the brushable Pinkie Pie with the little comb and pink hedgehog! That was years before anything like the Funkos ever existed, lol. I actually do like the brushables and through FiM I've fallen more in love with older gen MLPs, but...If you're a brony and you think the merch you have now is bad, imagine how it was in 2011!

Edited June 4, 2017 by Powderpuff

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

On 18.5.2017 at 11:01 PM, Burpy said:

How did it change, what do you like to remember, what videos are nostalgic for you, how the fandom changed and how is it going now in your opinion? 

Well, in the Past they were a lot more haters and trolls, i usually got attacked by at least one person, whenever i posted something anywhere. Nowadays i can even write in some Comic and Silent Hill Communities, without getting mocked at for my Avatar.

Since nothing else really changed, i dont think i have something that i like to remember, because its all still here.

With the Videos its a hard Thing, because i watch so much stuff, i dont even now what the oldest Video was. Probably some Music Videos with Fan Music. Sadly my Youtube doesnt work right now or i would have searched.

How the Fandom changed? Since im not talking to a lot of People, i really dont know if it changed it all. I didnt saw any change.

Its going fine now, i guess. Maybe im not the right Person to talk about the Fandom, since i rarely have any interaction with Bronys.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Lex Destrosio

[Callisto 1,877]

I feel weird being the "old guard" of anything, but, fan since the summer of 2012 here! If I had to describe the old fandom in a word it would be "passionate", for better and worse. There was a lot more excitement and joy and fun, and things felt more unified. It felt special, somehow, for all it's faults. I agree with everyone else that things started to break down in early 2013, but I think some of the old passion extended to early S4, too.

I look back on it with a lot of fondness. I became one of those grumpy critic types who you would think hated the show by the way I talked about it, and ultimately fell out early in S5. I came back at the beginning of last year, and I'm glad I did! This show means a whole heck of a lot to me.

As for what makes me nostalgic...this song always takes me right back to 2012:

also this

 

[Guest]

Does four years count as a long time? At least the Finnish community used to be a lot more active around 2013 or 2014 and it has got pretty quiet nowadays. There were those certain huge meetups that really used to be huge, but the last time I was there in 2016, the number of people there had decreased prominently.

To be honest I'm not actually good at perceiving changes at things like this. But it's something.

[Guest]

Been here since mid 2013 and it has changed a bit, mainly cause there are a lot more different people, plus some old friends of mine left.

[K.Rool Addict 718]

Oh shit, 

^ I can't believe this is from 2017. Blast from the past much? Seems like something straight outta early 2012 o.o

For those curious of how the content was back then, this is a pretty good example lol

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

I've been here since....um...I'm gonna get this wrong and then look dumb because it's right on my profile.  Hang on....spring 2014.  That's when I joined.  So, three years.  Not nearly as long as some.  S4 was airing when I joined.  Honestly, the fandom and forums seem exactly the same now as they did then, including the frequent topics asking old timers what the fandom was like "back in the good ol' days". 

[Deae Rising Shine~ 55,203]

Iremember back in 2013, where you could find all episodes in HD without watermarks and stuff easily, not like today, where a new episode gets uploaded and users have around 1 minutetime finding it before it gets already taken down. At least Dailymotion hasthem still

[FlootahBabby 265]

April 2012.

I really wish I could explain exactly how I feel about all this, but it would be a really long essay and it would sound so tangled when in my mind it's clear as a crystal. All I can say right now is that it's not just mlp itself that makes these changes, it's just growing up in general that has changed people in this community (at least me) that can be a reason for these changes.

[FlootahBabby 265]

On May 18, 2017 at 2:45 PM, Mesme Rize said:

There was barely any sort of analyst in the community it felt very new and fresh and incredibly exciting.

My god, I really dislike those guys. They're so full of themselves and act more like little girls than the ones the show is directed towards.

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

On 6/9/2017 at 1:12 AM, FlootahBabby said:

April 2012.

I really wish I could explain exactly how I feel about all this, but it would be a really long essay and it would sound so tangled when in my mind it's clear as a crystal. All I can say right now is that it's not just mlp itself that makes these changes, it's just growing up in general that has changed people in this community (at least me) that can be a reason for these changes.

If you where a kid, or teen back then, the changes would have been more noticeable because not only the show changes itself, but your mindset matures and also the perception of the show. Someone on the road to adulthood isn't expected to keep watching a show like MLP, but mainly because they wanna experiment new things and their liking changes...... JUST LIKE SWEETIE IN FOREVER FILLY 

On 6/9/2017 at 1:51 AM, FlootahBabby said:

My god, I really dislike those guys. They're so full of themselves and act more like little girls than the ones the show is directed towards.

I can agree, I've only seen analyst in the last days when they where enjoyable, but a short time later, they started to become repellent towards my liking . I understand the analysis, but if you do so only to seek flaws, demand your audience to adopt your views, and make far-fetched theories, sorry but no    

Edited June 20, 2017 by Steve Piranha

[Windseeker 546]

I first been involved in the MLP community around spring of 2012, and I started off on the rather interesting side of it... For those of you who remember all the creepypasta relics from eons ago (like Cupcakes or Rainbow Factory). Yep, it piqued my interest in MLP.

It went through a lot of growing pains as a new trend on the internet, a swirling Fimbulvetr of dank memes and controversy with inherently enigmatic elements before finally settling down as an actually established fandom with slightly more chilled characteristics, or at least I like to think, that's just my perspective on it though. (I could just be desensitized). I had a very weird start and I seen some pretty lulzy events in the fandom back then; mainly from the fall of Ponibooru to the Dark Skyes scam.

It kept me entertained, I certainly enjoyed it all lol

Edited July 12, 2017 by Windseeker

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

I joined G4 in autumn 2011, and watched G1 as a kid in the 1980s. A lot of classic Brony hits from back then while Everfree Radio had it's field days.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Buttonmash1973