What if you just found out about MLP, but there is no brony fandom?

[Beat Shock 581]

Imagine if there wasn't a single person in the world that liked MLP, and you didn't know about the show.

 

Everyone but you is brain washed to be a hater of MLP. You don't know that they are brain wash, and you happen to see MLP for the first time...

 

What do you do? If you have no fandom to support you, and if no one will think the show is cool, will that deter you to become the only brony in the world?

 

(Season 1 and 2 are already out by the time you find out about it.)

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Well, I don't care... I would still love and enjoy the show... I probably wouldn't care... People think what they want to. I just would tell them, I enjoy the show...

[Jalaton 155]

Well part of the reason I even watched the show was because I knew that there was a fandom and that other people watched it, I figured something had to be good about it if lots of people my age liked it. I don't even know if I would have even watched a full season, maybe I would have watched the whole thing but then I would probably just forget about it. The community is the reason why I didn't just watch the episodes and then never look at MLP again.

[Pan the Fabulous Ferret 2,642]

when I found out about the show, I was unaware of what a brony was, let alone that there was a fandom for the show... i fell in love with the show not because of this fandom and I would do the same again. Though alot of things would be different.

[Luna317 43]

if only one person like the show it will probably be cancelled and i wold watch the show as long as i can before it gets cancelled. i wold tell no pony about my love for the show.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

Me'h the only reason I started watching MLP was because I saw it in commercials, it wouldn't affect my view of the show much, although, I would of never met all this awesome people :3

[Ethan Pow 332]

I'd still watch it, even with all the hate, being in the furry community before, I wouldn't care much for the hate anyway .... still watch with even with the whole world against me

[Fubz 300]

I'm mainly in it because of the cool artworks n music n dat That's the main reason I'm in because Iove the Brony fandom, probably even more than the show xD

[Juggler 345]

I would still watch the show and love every second of it. But it wouldn't be such a big part of my life as it is now. It would only be one more show to the list of shows that I follow.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Juggler

[Pix3M 607]

I would have never given the show a chance to begin with. Seeing how many people like something is often a useful heuristic to know if something is good.

 

If you go to say... newgrounds, would you seriously try a game that has an average rating of 2 stars hoping that it's something that's actually worth something rated 5 stars? I would rather focus on the higher-rated ones so make the best out of my time. If by accident I'll love a 2-star game as much as another 5-star one, it's very unlikely as my opinion of that game is most likely going to be the same as everyone who voted so low.

 

Even then, if people said it was horrible, I would look at it and wonder why it's bad. In this case, I wondered why it's good, and ended up getting deeper into this fandom.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Pix3M

[Mephala 2,633]

Seriously, I wouldn't care. I love the show, and I honestly don't really mind if people dislike me. Lots of people already do, a few more makes no difference to me

[Zerul 554]

I love MLP. I don't care if the world frowned apon anyone that did like it I would still be a fan of it.

 

<===== You'd better believe I'd be doing this with a Pinkie Pie shirt on

[Beat Shock 581]

I should have posted this in the topic description, but I just wanted to say, I would fall in love with the show!

 

I would use it to troll people on the internet, and my TRUE friends would respect my like for the show, so I would still be a proud brony to them!

 

Though the only people I would keep secret from would be my family and relatives, because they might think I am crazy like a few of the messed up people in my family tree.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Beat Shock

[OptimisticNeighsayer 478]

I seriously don't know how I would react. While I do like the show on its merits, I'd have a much harder time articulating what those merits are except for the fact that there's a fandom. So I'd probably be in even more doubt about the show's merits than I currently am now. But if I enjoyed it I probably would still not care that I was the only brony in the world, especially since 1) I likely wouldn't know that others are haters, not being very social to begin with and 2) I keep my likes and dislikes my own business and would make no effort to try to convert anyone.

 

However, there is the possibility that people will, if they are brainwashed, call me on being a fan. Of course, there I might have a motivation to try to examine why I like the show and convince others otherwise, although it would probably force me to watch a hundred other television shows in order to show similarities between the elements that people would reasonably like and convince them not to judge it so off-hand. But once I get the point that no one, not even those you would believe to be like you in personality or tastes, or at least highly open-minded and intellectually honest, to be convinced to at least appreciate the show's merits, then I might start being suspicious that there's some conspiracy going on. Or I'll stop watching the show out of disenchantment and give up, but still remember it fondly.

 

So my reaction would fundamentally depend on if and how those haters interact with me.

 

So let me guess, the purpose of this thought experiment is to examine how people's perceptions of the show are colored by other's reactions to it? If I were honest then, I'd probably still not like the show, but probably not as badly as the "haters" since I'm not brainwashed myself.

Edited September 3, 2012 by JustFairness

[PegasisterTaco 318]

Well, I really wouldn't even care. I don't have to announce my love for MLP to a world of damned haters that could destroy my life for liking it. That's their problem. I would just secretly watch the show in the darkness of my room.

 

If a single being WERE to find out without me realizing, though, I wouldn't even care. A lot of people already do dislike me (out of the fandom) so what in the darn world am I going to do about it? Let the haters hate. They can't interfere with my interests.

[murkyx 904]

I'd be probably still be open about it. Heck, I'll brainwash them back and MAKE ponies popular again! The show is brilliant, but the fandom is also too incredible to give up on. No doubt that I could convince SOMEONE to like it again.

[Celtore 2,770]

It was the fandom that attracted my attention in the first place

 

But if there wasn't a fandom and I stumbled upon MLP completely by accident, I think it would probably be placed on my "guilty pleasure" list. I dont know if I would share my love for the series, but I would probably treat MLP similarly to how I treat the Phoenix Wright series. Very much endeared, but not very often expressed.

[Page Turner 607]

In that case I never would have watched it in the first place, as it was a Brony who introduced me to the show and convinced me to give it a chance. If it weren't for the commiunity, I would have seen 'New My Little Pony Show' somwhere, and just said "that's Nice" and then go back to watching Anime.

[silvadel 1,393]

I think most bronies found it by referral. I mean if you are outside the target demographic, you don't just watch every cartoon that appears a few episodes to see if any of them cater to a larger than target audience. As for me, I seeked it out because of posts I saw saying that it was indeed a good show, so I gave it a chance and ... Actually my cable box died after I only saw a couple of episodes but had a bunch taped -- so there was a time there where my bronydom was in jeopardy (if I had moved on) -- but I taped several on the new box then hunted the rest down on youtube.

[Dasher 119]

I would probably like the show but no one but God himself would know about my love for the show. After all I would still be a closet brony if my dad didn't walk in the room when I was watching fiw (wich wouldn't exsist) with my friend.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Dasher

[Zygen 6,066]

I don't think it would affect me that much. I actually didn't know much about the show until I knew about bronys tho but If I found out by other means I might actually still watch it.

I guess i can't really know for sure. But i really wouldn't scream it out(I'm to quiet for that lol) It would just be something I'd watch randomly.

It wouldn't be quite as awesome I guess if there wasn't a fandom tho.

[Lunar Guardian 80]

I actually did watch fragments of episodes over my sister's shoulder before I knew bronies existed. I just kind of shrugged it off and really never gave it any thought.

[Crutch 898]

Well, I wouldn't really care that much, but it wouldn't be anywhere as interesting. Sure, it is a good show...but the fandom just makes it totally AWESOME!

[Homura Akemi 974]

I would have thought d'aaw, what a cute show, but then I would move on and hardly ever think about it again, except when I heat about my mom's students bring Celestia toys to class.

[NavelColt 22,880]

I'd still enjoy the show, but I would only interact with it as far as watching the episodes, and watching clips on Youtube, if anyone actually posted any, being haters. Not much else. I wouldn't have fourteen billion brony songs on my I-Pod, I wouldn't frequent pony sites like this one, and I wouldn't view this fanbase as superior to others as far as attitude goes, but that's it.