Closet Bronies UNITE: Experiences and Discussion

[AssassinxFrost 7]

Public, I mean alot of people get butthurt but hey let them be. If you're gonna make someone feel bad about being a brony maybe there's something wrong with that person. Oh well

[Power Surge 0]

I'm a big closet brony with people that I know will be around me for an extended period of time. When I know that I will rarely see someone again an if I know that their knowledge of me being a brony will not affect me in the long run, then I go full out brony with shirts and songs and knowledge of the show. Sometimes I even am able to make a few more bronies when I do this, which Is REALLY awesome!

What happened with my friend is that he got tired of people judging him and trying so hard to hide it, so he went full out brony whenever he wanted. There was a ton of haters but he got through them and eventually noone cared anymore to waste their time to hate on him. He forced me t watch the first 8 episodes and I came back to him a week later having watche the entire show.

 

Ultimately, the decision of being a closet brony is up to if you even care.

[TotalNeon 72]

I'm most definitely a "Closet Brony", I only have a couple of friends and they seem to think bronies are weird and unnatural so I don't say anything. Literally nobody knows except you guys, and here I'm just another anonymous pony fan. To be honest, I don't even really call myself a Brony in private, I like the show but it's not a big part of me it's mostly the art, designs and fantasy aspects that I like about it- and the community. I like the other Bronies I've talked to though, although I haven't met another one in real life, unless they're closet Bronies too! That would be funny...

[Rarity_Sts 5]

I am indeed a closet brony. It would be VERY difficult to guess my favorite pony I would love to tell my Mom for merch purposes, but I don't know how to do it O.o Help?

[Raritas 6,820]

Sadly I feel I am considered a closet brony, however I do not want to be. My brother and a couple of close friends know, but other than that I stay quiet about it. I really wish I could be more open, but I am really shy IRL. I kinda get paranoid over stuff too easily, and I think that if people found out, it might backfire on me. Although, that could just be me getting overly worried.

 

I am not ashamed to be a brony, and I love the show and it's fandom, but I just feel I'm not ready to be too open about it.

[Viking 61]

I think I am just because the topic never comes up in conversation. I've got a couple friends who know because they tried to push me into this and when I decided to look into on my own I figure I'd tell them. But for the most part I don't think many know just because I don't feel the need to advertise it, although a big guy in a viking hat like me liking a colorful show would make a good jest.

[Blade Lightning 13]

I've toyed on and off with whether I should make this thread or not, and I decided that there's no harm in trying.

 

A few things that I first want to make clear:

 

1. This is not a hostile takeover of the fandom/this forum.  You can put down your torches and pitchforks.

 

2. I am not saying that closet bronies are superior fans.  I actually admire those of you that are open.

 

3. Please do not have your sole contribution to this be a flame about how closet bronies are terrible, cowards, and/or weak.  That's not the point of this thread.

 

Okay, now that that's out of the way, onto other things.  I've noticed the topic of closet bronies appearing in several threads.  Regarding this topic there seems to be three groups of people: those who don't understand closet bronies almost to the point of hating on them (there's a very small number of these, but I have seem them), those that wish to get the closet bronies out of the closet, and the closet bronies themselves.  I just thought that perhaps if there was a thread to discuss closet bronyism we could all understand each other a little better.

_________________

 

I suppose that I should start by saying why I believe that I'm a closet brony.  First of all, I'm a very introverted person.  I only tell people about my personal life if I believe that there is some benefit to it, and even if there is a benefit, I'll often convince myself that the negatives override any potential benefit.  Basically, people that I know IRL only know about me what I want them to know.

 

Second, I actively avoid making enemies.  Because of this, I have very few friends, but even fewer enemies (well, there's plenty of people that I dislike, but I hope that they have no reason to dislike me back).  Thus, anything that I reveal generally tries to be neutral.  I even avoid wearing shirts with writing on them.  Can you see where this is going?

 

Basically, I've decided that the risk of making enemies by revealing my being a brony makes the potential benefit of making new friends who are bronies not worth the trouble.  This effect even happens with my parents.  I know that they love me, and I love them, and I'm 99% certain that they would accept me being a fan of MLP.  However, the potential risks outweigh the potential benefits.  It's like playing Russian Roulette with gun that has a 100 round chamber that's loaded with a single bullet, but the best you could win by surviving is a certificate that says, "Congratulations!"  The chance of getting my head blown off is not worth a crappy certificate.

_________________

 

TL;DR: Are you a closet brony?  Discuss.

                 OR

Are you not a closet brony but wish to understand closet bronies better?  Discuss.

_________________

 

Somewhat related:  I'm curious how many closet bronies are also Fluttershy fans.  I know that I'm one.

yep, were in the same boat here, revealing that Im a brony would only cause problems, same thing with the parents, im sure they would be ok with it, but the risk is too high too tell them, I do plan to tell them one day, but not now and id probably lose more friends than gain, so literally the only other people that know that im a brony are other bronys.

[Ali_Derp 89]

Is This A Closet Brony?

I Haven't Told My Parents But I Don't Hide It From Them, I Sing The Songs From My Little Pony (Not The Theme Tune Though) All My Friends Know.

[Armin 168]

I wouldn't particularly call myself a closet Brony. I haven't felt the need to tell anyone about it really. If they find out then they find out, it's not the end of the world, and I doubt my parents would care either.

[Sylentmana 271]

I'm not open about it but I don't deny it if confronted or asked.  I used to be so far in the closet I was having tea with Mr. Tumnis.  I've actually made some friends through the fandom and I hope to make some more when I go to BronyCon. This fandom is the best one I've ever been involved in.

[pjsforever 89]

My interest in the show is kind of on/off, so it's not that big a part of my life, really. Sometimes I'm big on ponies and sometimes I don't really care.

 

So I'm a closet brony. Most of the kids at my school are judgemental jerks. My classmates usually respect me to my face though, and I don't want that to be replaced by disrespect and snide remarks about my "freaky weirdness" for liking ponies. Once one of the girls in my group saw me drawing a pony and she looked kind of freaked out for a moment, so I doubt my friends would take it that well (they're a little bit superficial) or they wouldn't really care. Or they'd find it cute which is almost worse. If my extended family knew, it'd just reinforce their condescending attitude towards me. -.- It's a pain in the ass as it is. I can already see the negative consequences. Plus, I live in Paraguay, and I honestly doubt there are very many bronies here anyway, so there's no point in being open about it

[CosmicDash 31]

I'm new, so I haven't told anyone yet. It probably won't be long before everyone knows, I have a habit of talking too much. I'm nervous though cause I could definitely lose some friends over this...

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

I am not a closeted Brony, I am not afraid that people know I'm a Brony. I do know some other people have different situations in life that might force them to go down the path of being a closeted Brony.

 

I use to be a closeted Brony with a more of a "Passive" interest in the show, I watched all of the episodes but then I really started to, "Apply," the show to my life now. Becoming an open Brony in my case has improved my life so much, I have started to run a mile every day and generally am a nicer more open person because I'm going to love and tolerate the sh*t out of everypony and everyone. 

 

However, that's just my case and it benefited me to not be a closeted Brony. Being a closeted Brony for some is just the better way to go.

[Cyangust 19]

Hello all Bronies!

 

For my first forum post I would like to talk about a topic that I have been thinking about for the last few days...  Im a absolute closet brony. 

 

Not a single soul in my real life knows that I like MLP and that I am half-obsessed with it.

 

I just dont know how people would react.  I know my best friend would probably OK with it and maybe even support it but there is always that chance that he will think otherwise.  Same with my parents.  However, I dont think my parents need to know.

 

I just want to ask all the nice people of this forum a quick question.  What kind of brony are you?

 

Whether it be closet or full-out-tell-everyone-you-meet.

 

I also want to say this is my first forum post so if I messed up in anyway please tell me and I will learn from my mistakes.  Thanks everypony!  

[DaReaper 1,944]

Well I'm open about it but i dont go around flaunting it around, if people ask I will tell them, if they dont ask they dont know, thats about the extent of it

[repsol rave 2,963]

i'm a closet brony myself too. there is only 1 other person in my life that knows i'm a brony, and that's my twin brother. 

and well, he's kinda a brony too. he helps me write my fanfics sometimes.

[Scrumpy 159]

I have no closet. I'm a need to know basis.

My boyfriend knows, my friends know. My parents don't know, but seeing as I don't live with them and it's never come up in conversation there is no real need to know, nor do I feel like it requires a closet, it's nothing to be ashamed of, if my parents had a negative reaction to it it would probably only be as far as rolling their eyes at the notion, but hey they roll their eyes that as a grown adult I play video games, and that is hardly "closet" worthy either. I mean whoever heard of a closet gamer. And last time I checked being a brony was to be part of a fandom, it's not a sexuality*, maybe at a stretch of the definition cloppers need closets. But general bronyism certainly doesn't.

*Though I must admit I do keep my bisexuality on a need to know basis too. (ie it helps to explain/ or you ask about it ergo I mention it)

Edited July 20, 2013 by Scrumpy

[Cyangust 19]

Thanks all!

 

I think now I understand that being a brony is not apmething to be ashamed of. I now know what I will say if someone asks.

[Nohbdy 4,108]

@@djangoshiny

@@Cyangust

Hello! It looks like your topics closely matched an earlier one, so I took the liberty of merging them. In the future, please run a search before creating a new topic. Thanks!

[Norman 177]

I'm not a closet brony. Everyone in my school knows I'm a brony pretty much. I also have 3 other brony friends, two of which go to the same school so I'm pretty well covered if someone tries to pick on me for it. Generally people just laugh though. Not too many haters.

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

I'm somewhere in the middle really, I'm not too open about it and I don't really yell that I'm a brony. I wouldn't be considered a closest brony because I have been in my Derpy t-shirt at school and I have a MLP background on pretty much every electronic device. Everyone in my family knows and one guy outside my family knows I am. I would say that there are around 15 people that know I'm a brony, a lot of younger kids know that I am because of a birthday and I was just drawing ponies, so I'm not that open about it.

 

I didn't see the point in hiding it, I did such a lousy job at hiding it. I was just watching MLP all day every day and got bored of always changing from MLP to something else so I just decided not to. Besides, one of the fun parts of being a brony is being open about it. It's nothing to feel ashamed of, people know I love cartoons why wouldn't I love a cartoon that's as good as My little pony.

 

Besides, if someone would want to get into a fight with me because of it, I can easily just run away I'm a very fast runner. I still wonder what I would do if that happened, I'm not too much of a fighter anymore and my stamina isn't as good as it was before. I don't know, I understand why people keep it hidden but I just managed to somehow do that wrong. I'm proud of being a brony that's why I prefer not hiding it and if you were a random guy and would ask me if I was a brony I would say yes.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Fluttershyfan94

[qp Perfecto qp 9]

well im an in the closet brony ........ i have only let one person know that i watch the show because they are the most un judgemental person i know....... my main freinds and my bus mates can never find out......... i had a crush on an asian girl so now they say "asian porn" to me and laugh......... imagine if they found out i love being a brony and watching the show.......... everything would go into the ground and id get absolutly hammered with comments......... my school is very un forgiving of these gender walls in society being crossed......... and all thats just freinds......... my whole year knows im strange and if they foun out i wouldn't be called channing tatum anymore (apparently im hot but i just dont see it....... im average in my books :/ ) id get some name relating to ponies and comments of homosexuality ........... all i know is that the world aint ready for a 16 year old guy who is straight to like something that goes against societys wall's ........... this is why im an in the closet brony

[LightsCameraAction 100]

I do my best to cover my Brony tracks, but I love the show so much that it has slipped out a few times. I have Vinyl Scratch (best pony) as my phone background and my step mom saw it and gave me a weird look. And people at school bully me a lot, so I try to keep it to myself. In fact, I haven't told any of my family straight up that I am a brony, and I have only told my step mom that I genuinely like the show because it was on while she was in the room and I wanted to watch it. I just think my family would take it the wrong way, my dad would think I am gay, which I am not. Not saying gay people are bad, but I am straight. My dad is also homophobic so he would probably explode at his own assumption. The rest of my family would just make fun of me, all the time. But if they haven't already found out that I am into MLP, then I don't think I have anything to worry about, because I have slipped up enough for them to put two and two together. Anyways, I am rambling now. So, uh, yeah. #ClosetBronyProbs

[Radiance64 7,053]

Closet bronydom... I remember it. Didn't last more than a month for me though, it just wasn't as easy as me as it would be for others since I didn't have anything to watch it on the internet with, first told my brother than my mother, bro didn't care and ma just kinnda laughed it off. I waited a bit to tell my dad though, there was a new episode that I wanted to watch so I just turned it on in front of him, didn't react too kindly but then he just left the room and asked if he could use something of mine so he was cool with it. Haven't told my sister who doesn't live with us but I really wouldn't care if she found out, I would probably just shout in her face how great the show is if she made fun of me or something lol.

I don't currently own anything wearable related to MLP but I wish I did. I have bought pony merch in public though, and always look at it when I can, don't really care what strangers think. So yeah, overall I'm pretty open for the most part, have been since I can remember. I honestly think most people should unless they have a legit reason.

[ShadowRose2k 271]

Well My friends know that I am a brony.  But its not a problem cause my friends are accepting of each others likes and dislikes.  To be clear not all my friends are bronys and I just don't discuss the show with those that are not. 

 

My Family knows and so do my wife parents.  Not a problem there.  However, no one at my Job knows.  From working with them the past couple of years , it is most likely not something ill let them know either.

 

Here on thease forms I'm sure you will atleast find people to talk with.