Closet Bronies UNITE: Experiences and Discussion

[Zygen 6,066]

I'm a closet brony for many reasons. Some people better then others.

 

I don't tell anyone, not my parents or the people I know(IRL I don't have any friends, much less close enough to tell i'm a brony).

 

Honestly I highly doubt my parents would approve of me watching a show with ponies, they'd think I've gone mad or something, and worry somethings wrong with me. Thats how I feel it'd go.

 

At the very least my stepdad would have something other then I spend to much time on the computer to badger me about constantly, and it would put our already shaky relationship to even more shakiness, I already feel uncomfortable around him since I get the feeling he doesn't really like me. So putting the brony thing in won't help.

 

My mom tends to follow along my stepdad for the most part, so I don't think it'd go anywhere, plus my parents are prone to getting into fights at times, so even if she opposed my stepdad they'd get into a fight, and it wouldn't turn good for sure.

 

My brother is 50/50, he might hate it totally, or be ok with it, or he may just take me not serious and think I'm messing around.

 

One things for sure though, he'd tell it to whoever he could to embarrass me. Thats how brothers are. Yes I know its stupid to be embarrassed about it after many years, but i'm pretty self conscious.
 

As for my biological dad, idk, I mean i'm in pretty decent standings with him, but i'm not sure how he feels about masculinity. I have a feeling regardless he'd find it odd, and possibly think its dumb.

 

For sure most of my family wouldn't be accepting of it, they may be ok after a while, but chances are not. Its just not worth the risk.

 

Plus I wouldn't get much out of telling them, because I already don't like people seeing what I'm doing on my computer, so hiding MLP stuff is kinda natural for me. I don't care what it is, but having someone stalk my every movement on the internet bugs me.

 

They'd flip if I told them I want any MLP merch, plus I'd not have the guts to go buy it being shy and not that great socially overall.

 

Then comes the fact that people at school I know are haters, seems as thought everyone I know either hates it, or has no idea what it is. Not a good place to reveal your a brony to anyone, besides I don't have anyone close enough i'd want to tell.

 

So yeah, despite being a brony for almost a year, i'm still a closet brony, but I think I have pretty good reasons, I don't think i explained them all, but I think I explained enough.

 

I'm a closet brony till I get out the house atleast.

Edited July 21, 2013 by Zygen

[Greenganon 3]

I kind of am, but not really by choice. I don't really get out of my apartment much, and don't have any people in real life to talk to. But from what I've seen of this small town, there probably isn't any other brony here anyways...

But even if it wasn't like this, I don't know how much I would hide it or not, I'm pretty shy...

I've been brave enough to wear my DJ-PON3 shirt on short walks to the store a few times, and nobody has questioned me about it so far though.

[akalink 163]

I used to be, but not so much anymore. I'm going to keep it on the down low when school starts back up so I don't bring attention to myself. One of my roommate who is a pretty famous youtuber (I'm can't tell you who) has a girlfriend who is a closet Pegasister. He doesn't really care for it, but he doesn't even like cartoons that much anyway.

[FlutterBat 1]

I am a brony. I love being one, too! I am open about it to some people, but I dont walk up to people and say "I'm a brony! Woo!!" Sometimes i make indirect references to MLP. My phones wallpaper is Rainbow Dash too! I feel about 20 percent cooler now that I am a Brony.

[Xievie 498]

I am a closet brony because I do not feel the need to announce the fact that I like the show to the entire world.

You know. Sure if somebody brings up the topic, I'll gladly talk about it, but it's not like this is the ONLY topic to talk about. 

 

I HAVE talked to my friends on this topic. One of them isn't too fond of MLP, one of them casually has watched it, and another didn't really care so much.

 

Other than that, I don't see a need to bring it up. I'll just bring up something like... you know..?

Maybe when Dark Souls 2 comes out?

Maybe talk about our thoughts on Singeki no Kyojin that recently got popular?

Maybe make fun of how inferior the Xbox 1 is to the PS4.

Maybe fanboy over the E3 Final Fantasy 15 trailer?

Or maybe argue about which anime character has the best breasts?

 

I don't know. Ponies aren't my whole life, anyways.

 

Besides, I don't care what people think about me if I like this show. If they judge me and hate me for it, they weren't a friend I'd have wanted anyways. There are nicer people. I already know nice people.

[Tails_155 68]

I think I'll take the same approach I've taken with sexuality and atheism:

 

If you think it could seriosuly harm you socially, financially, or physically, don't tell people, but if you're willing to endure the potential consequences for "outness" go ahead. It's your life, you can judge how you handle it. If you don't think it's particularly important to be out about, why bother with the harassment? I am out about it because I am pretty passionate about most of my likes. However, outness isn't FOR everyone. Some people may be really affected.

[DubWolf 17,263]

My brothers sort of know I'm a brony. Heck, I showed them the pony.mov series and they liked it since they asked where I got the line "stay out of my shed!", but might have different views if they actually watched an episode. Knowing my family, stuff like my brony identity would spread fast, and I wouldn't want to explain to everybody I know why I like the show considering I don't like explaining, not to mention I have a hard time persuading others of my beliefs sometimes.

 

Outside of that, I'm an average guy in the day, brony at night!

[Misty Shadow 7,890]

I don't think I've ever actually told anyone in real life, but I'm pretty sure that all of my friends on the websites I visit know.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,673]

So-so. My mom sorta knows, my younger brother knows and my closest two friends know... One of my best friends is kinda a brony himself if only he actually had the time to get involved, which he doesn't. We've talked about the show or something related a couple of times. As for the other best friend and sibling, they just kinda roll with it so I don't make it any harder for them by bringing the topic up. As for my mom, well, at the time me and a pegasister were dating at the time so I told her that's how I got into this (which is a complete and total lie). She was happy that it was something positive and non-violent for a change.

[Stoney Pony 100]

I have one friend who is a brony from highschool. all my other friends are super tolerant and the ones that are not know that i am and they made fun of me for a bit and we never talked about it again. If they just left when they found out they would not be my friends. I dont tell people at parties because it never comes up and if it does like "oh those bronies are so gay." i dont tell them because it would make things weird but the people i see on a regular basis know. On a side note I always enjoyed the term "Coming out of the stable." XD When i first heard that i died!

[fishboyliam 28]

I never thought it was a good idea to be a closet brony. So I try to force it onto anyone I can, in a natural manner.

I'm even going to wear brony shirts to school. I'm going to get so many bro-hoofs!

Well, in the solar plexus.

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

I don't mind telling them.

 

I already told my mom, and she's ok with it, despite hating me at first.

 

As for my dad, he'll probably kill me and label me gay so.... No....

[Senator Armstrong 8]

Oh boy, How i would like to come out of the Brony closet so much, However i feel it really isn't the "Safe" option for me, see for one i've been bullied for 14 years, (I'm 17) for anything really, liking certain video games, Tv shows (Anime in particular) and just me being me, a Gamer/Nerd whatever i feel like being labeled, not to mention i've been single my whole life, which has kinda left a gapping hole inside me emotionally, which comes in the forms of me hiding depression/anger, and using sarcasm. Now the issue at hand here is, obviously i wish to tell my family about me enjoying MLP(I feel like hiding it and them seeing me watch it/do things in the fandom would have an even worse outcome then outright telling them) However, i feel my older sister and her boyfriend would call me gay and other homosexual terms i wish to not state, My dad watches Fox news, and well they kinda attacked Bronies, so that kinda explains itself, i feel the only person i feel sort of comfortable telling is my mom, but i feel she would just tell everyone else in the house, Honestly, i get paranoid doing anything pony related and luckily my friends are all cool with it.

[John 793]

Hahaha. I'm not too obsessed with the show(its not taking over my life or anything), so I've considered telling other people besides online friends.  I don't think people would care that much though.  I would just explain to them why I like the show (a lot of guys my age do, the animation is well done, the characters are funny, there are pop-culture references everywhere, and of course for the irony (which isn't my main reason, but still).)

 

Until then, I'm pretty sure this is how we act when non-bronies approach us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGEiIL1__s

 

"hey man did you... ... ..."

*Look around nervously*

*whispers* "did you see the episode of FIM last night?  Crazy!"

Edited August 17, 2013 by John

[Dog man 48]

Im myself a closet brony, only My brother knows. I shown the show and he loves it!

 

Im not planning on telling anypony else. but If I told my Mother I think she'd be okay with it. But I'm not gonna take that risk

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

@Antismurf9001, somebody found your thread while looking for another, and it overlapped heavily with an older one. Because of this, they've been merged to make a single thread to talk about closet bronies and to share stories about that and such

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

I'm not a closet brony, but I do my best at helping those who are.

 

It was tough for me at first, but after overcoming it and becoming advanced, I achieved bigger in life.

[Kaska 30]

Well here in RSA the show isn't even remotley broadcasted. The fandom is so scarce you can only find some bronys on the internet and well all my friends are anti brony. So to keep friends I stay quiet. And like this, no challenge at all. Just have to keep my friends of seeing my music tho...

[FlutterDawn 5]

I'm a huge closet brony.

Aside from the internet (where pretty much everyone knows I'm a brony), only one person actually knows, and I didn't even willingly tell him.

 

My younger sister might know. She saw my pony spray for TF2 and said with a grin, "Okay, nice.  "

 

There are a bunch of bronies at my school, but none of them know that I'm one. I'm too scared to tell them.

[Changeling_Catalyst 22]

I've been a pretty closeted brony myself, as only one other friend of mine knows. She should; she was the one who turned me onto the show. 

 

The most I've come close was to gently mention it in passing, when we were discussing fanbases of shows like Dr. Who, Star Trek, etc. I happened to briefly mention the brony fanbase, and, sensing scoffs and derision from all the others, I decided to clam up and keep hidden. 

 

It's nice to still have friendly bronies here on the web, but I find myself craving in-person friendships. 

[NikonJR 0]

Other bronies hate me because I'm a closet brony. I don't know what to do, I just have a fear, and I just stay away from my fear. Why do they hate me for this?

[Scarlet Sunset 0]

A lot of us are either older teenage guys or young men, and watching "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" isn't something we are expected to like. Most of us don't even want our parents to know. What are some of your thoughts, stories, and opinions on this?

A friend at school commented on my Derpy backpack. I asked him if he was a brony, and he denied. I got a little closer then asked, "Are you a closet brony?" He hesitated and then said yes. XD XD XD I brohoofed him, than my other friend and I (who make everypony aware of our broniness) went all, "OMG, YEEEEES!" in the middle of the hallway. So, awesome! /)-o-(\

Edited September 10, 2013 by Scarlet Sunset

[YellowXephosReturns 4]

ATTENTION! THIS IS WHERE MY THREAD STARTED AND WAS MERGED BY AN ADMIN SO COMMENTS AFTER THIS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY MERGED THREAD! THANK YOU.

this is a rare-ish disease that happens to live in some bronies (example: me) if you don't know what I'm talking about I'll explain... It's when a brony is too afraid to tell non bronies or people who don't know your a brony. as an example I can only talk to other bronies such as you guys I hate having Closetius Bronitus (just a made up name for being a closet brony )  because it almost isolates me from my friends because I think of the term "friends tell other friends there secrets because they trust each other" so I dislike being a closet brony for the soul reason it makes me feel bad. 

 

If you can relate post in the comments!

Edited October 4, 2013 by YellowXephosReturns

[Icy Void 19]

I'd say I'm even worse than that, I haven't even told my brony friends irl that I'm a brony. I can just never bring myself to mention that when they're talking about mlp and I'm pretending(by instinct) that I don't understand as much as I really do, which is really awkward.

[Wardaddy 470]

Same here brother. I keep my bronyism a secret largely for the sake of my social status. However, I'm not afraid to admit it when the time is right, and recently that's exactly what I did. But while I announced it, I'm not going to embrace it (as in buy merch or wear clothes), because that would lead to an endless series of public exposition and humiliation, not to mention awkward moments with family members. Sucks to be a closet brony, but it's for the best