Is bronyism just a fad?

[Lightning Fluttershy 1,844]

I've been thinking, do you think bronyism is just a fad that will pass? Do you think that once MLP: FIM stops being made we will just stop?

 

Personally I don't know. I'll except when the time comes for the show to close but this forum has brought me friends and many laughs. Will you stop when the time comes or will you remain a brony?

 

I don't think I will stop being a brony even after the "fad" has passed or when the show stops airing. I've had to many good times on the forum and with other bronies to give it up.

 

What do you think?

[Ethan Pow 332]

everything will pass but the nature can continue in new shows... it might be a fad but I will die a happy brony I hope. lets preice the heavens with our love and toleranace

 

who in the HOOF do you think we are?

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

I don't think it is just a fad, some may leave yes, but there are so many dedicated members to the fanbase that it will last years afterwards... it's like the trekkies (not the battlestar galactica fans, they died out.) They are still strong and it's been decades... that's how i see bronies. They won't just let go. They will continue to love the show, its merchandise, and the community.

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

I think it will pass eventually quite a few years after the actual show ends. But in those few years there will be fanfics, stories, books, animations alike that will keep it alive.

[rcollinz13 428]

Look at it this way, the Star Wars movies are done but the fandom is still well and alive. I definitely think a lot of the fandom will split off and find the next thing, but I'm sure there will be people that stick around regardless. i know I will. Care to join me?

[Lightning Fluttershy 1,844]

everything will pass but the nature can continue in new shows... it might be a fad but I will die a happy brony I hope. lets preice the heavens with our love and toleranace

 

who in the HOOF do you think we are?

 

I know who we are and I think you may have misunderstood me. While the fad may pass on for others it won't for me. I'm a brony for life and plan to keep it that way!

[Marshmallow 1,137]

Honestly, I think that after the show ends, the community will gradually lose interest and the fandom will slowly die. I'd like it to be otherwise, but realistically it won't last forever. The fandom is probably near its peak right now or it may even already have reached it. In only a few years, I predict that the community will start to get smaller and less active. So yes, in this sense, it is a fad. Of course there will still be some people who will stay faithful to the show years and years after, but it's probably a minority. Most of us will probably move on... eventually.

 

Of course there's a chance that I'm totally wrong. Maybe the fandom will keep expanding and expanding until every single person on Earth is a brony and we decide, from a general consensus among every humans on Earth, to rename the world "Equestria". That would be a preferable scenario.

[Zerul 554]

I've read countless stories on how MLP changes peoples lives.To them it may be much more than a show.MLP may not have saved my life but I look at it as more than a show (: even if the fandom "ends" I will still be a brony at heart and I wouldn't want it any other way

[AnonBrony 1,468]

This is not simply a "fad"

A fad is something that is popular for a certain time then dies out usually with no one remembering it. It shall not happen is this case. This fandom at an alarming rate. And its gonna continue to grow. I doubt its gonna simpy die in a couple years. We shall always remember the times we had, the memorys of the show, the memorys of bronies we met, the music, the stories, the fun. We aint gonna forget it. some might, but i have hope most won't. I won't.

Look at trekkies, and the star wars fandom. They have lasted to this very day. Hell, my dad is a trekkie. He still watches Star Trek every now and then. I bet many of us are still gonna watch some episodes evry now and then. Maybe hear some songs. The point is this aint gonna die. We shall live on forever. Even if we aint gonna grow much anymore, we are still gonna live. Maybe there not gonna be anymore fics or music made. Not many of talking to one another, going about a dialy lives. But we are still gonna be Bronies through snd through. Maybe enjoying its in silence, or maybe even still in contact with fellow bronies, we are still gonna live.

This aint gonna die. This should not just die, and we shouldn't let this die. This show, this fandom, evrything. This has changed many things. Many lives. Hell this may even cause social change. If it weren't for this fandom i wouldn't be who i am today. This fandom changed me for the better, and i am grateful. And i wouldn't want to see wuch an amazing group of people just die out.

...

Just my two bits.

[Klopp 2,050]

This thread appears to be related to the My Little Pony franchise and/or the Bronydom in general. Thus, it has been sentenced to Sugarcube Corner.

 

This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

[Miss Light Diamond 2,802]

I will be a brony until the day I die and then if we all get are own personal heaven I guess I will a brony in the after life as well, and I think that it will calm down, not die. I think people will start to find other shows when MLP stops Airing, But im sure everyone will keep being a brony.

3000 seasons then a movie I think that will be good.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Flame Dancer

[Ink 191]

It will definitely stop being that thing you see everywhere on the internet once it ends, but the fanbase will still be going strong for a decent amount of years, I believe. What some of you all who mention Star Trek and Star Wars and what not, remember that those franchises have lots and lots of canon material - MLP:FiM is just a TV show. We don't have any movies or novels or comics or anything, so it's a lot smaller compared.

[QuantumDot 5]

I really don't think it is, for most.

 

Have you heard of New Sincerity?

 

What seems to be the main attraction to bronyism is the happiness it brings, the pure, unironic enjoyment people get out of it. I think that people who are bronies/pegasisters only ironically will quickly lose interest when the show isn't in the public mind any more.

 

When you sincerely enjoy a show, or the culture surrounding it, it isn't a fad.

[applejack is best pony 22]

Bronies are forever!

Really though that's a tough question. On the surface the answer is yes. MLP FIM is a fandom and that makes it a fad of sorts, which I think will lose a massive amount of its fan basis within a year of the show getting cancelled; whenever that is.

will Bronydom fade completely out though? No, I doubt it ever will, not really. The show has touched too many people and brought too many together, as you mentioned, for it to ever die fully. I can say, as I'm certain almost everyone here can, that mlp fim has changed my life and will always hold a special spot in my heart, no matter how old I get.

[NotDavid_ 62]

This is not a fad, Fads die in about 0-13 weeks Bronydom is almost 2 years old! (By 4th version) Also you should not worry if it ends any time soon too! MLP:FIM shall last to 6-8 seasons (By most ideas) and shall be still grow tell 5-8 years or so...

[One 498]

Fads are short lived, this is like 2 years old. Also you can still get things like Invader Zim t-shirts even tho the show was cancelled along time ago, so apply that concept to mlp.

[MarkKB 32]

As a veteran of both the Kim Possible and Lilo & Stitch fanbases... I don't know.

 

I can tell you that neither of those communities lasted more than a year or two after their respective shows ended, though. Kim Possible especially was in a position similar to MLP - several major websites and forums cropped up, and people even did some custom animation (nothing quite in the same quantity as MLP, though, and since YouTube didn't exist yet, much of it were in .avi or .wmv files that are now lost. ). Sure, there are still people in the fanbase, some of the old forums are still plodding along, and fanfiction is still being posted on a semi-regular basis, but it's just nowhere near the same.

 

The FiM fanbase seems to be at least a magnitude bigger than either of those, though, which gives me hope that it'll be a lot more long lasting - especially if, like, say, Scooby-Doo* or Transformers, the base show continues to iterate and reinvent itself. And my gut tells me that this thing's got some spunk that wouldn't just peter out when the show ends**. However, if you want clear-cut, well defined answers, I can't give them to you.

 

* There were no live actions movies. NONE, I TELLS YA!

 

**Then again, the KP community had that some kind of feeling, so, ya. I guess the numbers in this case might make a difference, though.

Edited August 27, 2012 by MarkKB

[Evil Lemon 9]

Being a brony is not a fad. The show is not a fad. A fad is something that lasts for a short time then slowly disappears until no one remembers it. Have any of you been paying attention to how large the brony community has grown? It's like an entire different world on the internet.

 

Their are so many forms of art, music, games, comics, fan based animations, fanfics for my little pony. It would make no sense if it just died one day.

 

I view the my little pony fandom like a brand new sports car that is owned by everyone. Everyone takes care of it and customises it so it can keep running smooth. Now why in the world would you abandon this sports car that you've loved for so many years and let it rust and die?

 

sure some people will leave the brony fandom some are probably leaving right now but my little pony will never die unless you want it to. It will only die if you give up.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Pink Menace

[~Chaos~ 3,967]

I don't think this fandom is a simple fad, at least thats what I hope, I'm pretty sure that say, in 7 years, we will still be alive and kicking, other fandoms have lasted for years and years, so why not this one?!

[Flame Blitz 85]

I don't think so. Dragon Ball is over, and there's still a huge fandom. The same for a lot of animes, cartoons and shows. We are a loyal fandom.

[Flying Whales 311]

I don’t believe it is simply a fad, yes once the show comes to an end I think the popularity will surely die but I think for some of us the show and it’s values have become apart of us. I know personally I have grown attached to each of the mane 6 and for me it won’t be so easily forgotten.

 

I don't think so. Dragon Ball is over, and there's still a huge fandom. The same for a lot of animes, cartoons and shows. We are a loyal fandom.

.

 

Yeah, a lot of shows are like that, I mean Invader Zim has been over for years, it went away and now it’s come back (as far as merchandise anyway). I see My Little Pony being a lot like Invader Zim once it ends.

[MarkKB 32]

I've done some thinking and I feel I should qualify my post somewhat (since it is somewhat cynical - but that's only because I've been through this before. )

 

I don't think the fandom will die - as I said, most fandoms don't truly die, and there are always people who are willing to make new content and talk about the show and what-not. But whether or not the majority of fans will move on, or enough that it becomes hard to maintain a community?

 

Probably not. I would agree that it seems like there's too much momentum to slow it down - it seems more like the Portal community than anything I listed, But I wouldn't go far enough to say the community will definitely survive, just that its highly likely and that I hope it will.

Edited August 27, 2012 by MarkKB

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I think the fact that we've come far enough to have dedicated conventions says it isn't, and the sheer sized we've reached. I mean, just look, some fandoms took a decade to reach this size.

[Driz 1,552]

Naw, we're more than just a fad... Even when the show ends, I believe that, thanks to all of the fan-made content, the bronies will still live on.

 

The community went way further than the show itself. That's something I'm personally hanging on to, and something that I hope to be marked in history forever.

 

It's a fact though that, after a certain time after the show ends, the community will die as well. But it'll still be remembered by the bronies as one of the most friendly, lovin' and carin' communities of all time~

[BaBaBrony 111]

Unlikely. Star Trek had 30 years between TOS and TNG but people still remained Trekkies in that time. There's no reason why bronies shouldn't continue after FiM ends.