The Reputation of the Brony Community/Fandom

[null1 606]

We need have one of our own do something out of the blue in a heroic event, like save a baby, or a serviceman in the military be awarded for valor. Something that seriously gets the public's attention and to see the better side of what we are.

Edited October 9, 2012 by DeltaTangent

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

There's a large amount of furries on the Internet and even at my school that hate on bronies... I don't understand it myself, being a furry for 7 years (but not anymore) it really goes against even why furries stand for. I really think furries and bronies could be close allies. But, maybe that's for another chapter in our history.

I agree. That's a sad situation I attempted to tackle in another thread some time ago.

 

Many of the non-furries who hate us don't make a distinction between bronies and furries. One implies the other from their perspective. It's possible that furries see bronies as a watered-down clone that somehow disrespects what they're all about, or tarnishes a good name that they desire to guard but don't even possess. Like a bunch of groupies that are riding a "me too" bandwagon. Then there are bronies who hate furries because they're afraid of people misconstruing their appreciation of the show as a sexual abnormality, because you know we already have enough battles on the pedophilia, homosexuality, and irresponsibility fronts.

 

What you have there are two fandoms that honestly have very little in common but often overlap, and see each other as the root of all their public relations woes and fighting about it instead of finding in each other an ally, something neither of us have found anywhere else.

[Brave Hooves 113]

I don't know, I see plenty of people that hate on bronies just for watching the show, and for having, say, an avatar of it even if they never once bring it up in conversation at all...

 

I think that those are just fanboys that hate others fandoms. I was hearing a few months ago that the Sonic fandumb had declared war on ours... Turns out it was nothing but a few fanboys going at each other's throats with immature racial/homophobic slurs at deviantart, I think, I forget where but that's usually where fandumb drama starts anyways.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,674]

Let's say for the sake of argument that the brony fanbase is heavily scorned and stereotyped for being sick pervs who want to have very dirty "fun" with horses, cartoon or real ones and that pretty much everyone online and real life either knows about it or at least have an idea about it. What consequences could this possibly have?

 

Obviously the fans themselves would be affected; most notably the ones "out of the stable" which might force some to leave the fanbase altogether. Really not sure how the community as a whole would be affected and my best guess would be that it would withdraw a little further into obscurity. Could Hasbro feel the effects as well? That seems to rest on how (irrational) parents would respond to this happening.

[Castoro Chiaro 181]

I wish people in the Brony fandom were more proactive about calling people out for bad behavior, because I think a lot of the bad stereotypes about Bronies around the net come from the unpleasant vocal majority, rather than the fandom as a whole. I've noticed this fandom has a "don't like, don't look" mentality about a lot of its issues...and in my mind, that doesn't fix anything. Allowing problematic issues to go unchecked just means more trouble in general.

 

I don't personally identify as a Brony, but I've met some awesome people who do. We need to hear more from THEM, not the jerks who are the ones generating such a negative view of the fandom in general. Of course it's unavoidable you'll run into hate for the sheer fact you enjoy a "little girl's show"...and there's really not much you can do in those cases. I think fixing what you can, and knowing when to walk away or tune out negativity is key.

 

At least on the net. In real life, that's a bit more of a prickly situation...

[chaoticpony 12]

Well from what happened at school like a couple of months ago when I became a brony. I only told a bunch of my best friends and for some reason and spread around the school quite quickly and one day I walked in to my computers class and a furry walks up to me and calls me gay for watching mlp? I don't know is it furrys all together or is it just a few people from the furry fandom?

Also a few randoms have walked up to me and called me a clopper I have no clue why but they did.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Theannoyingbrony

[brian577 120]

Yes, I do value our reputation. A good reputation is never a bad thing. There are dozens of articles that are championing Bronies, when's that last time you saw an article that said anything good about furries? We may not be popular with the haters, but (with the exception of shock jocks and talk show hosts) the media seems to treat us a with a fair amount of respect. If the negative aspects were the prevailing subject the media focused on do you really think the company that censored a mentally challanged pony would want to be associated with bunch of horse *******? Do you think they would sell us merchandise or let us air a thank you commercial on their own channel? Hell No!

 

 

I'm not saying we should police the fandom, but we try to promote the positive aspects and keep the "less savory" aspects behind closed doors.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Yes, I do value our reputation. A good reputation is never a bad thing. There are dozens of articles that are championing Bronies, when's that last time you saw an article that said anything good about furries? We may not be popular with the haters, but (with the exception of shock jocks and talk show hosts) the media seems to treat us a with a fair amount of respect. If the negative aspects were the prevailing subject the media focused on do you really think the company that censored a mentally challanged pony would want to be associated with bunch of horse *******? Do you think they would sell us merchandise or let us air a thank you commercial on their own channel? Hell No!

 

 

I'm not saying we should police the fandom, but we try to promote the positive aspects and keep the "less savory" aspects behind closed doors.

 

^This, I've seen people that are shamlessly into the less savory stuff and still hate finding it outside places where it belongs. Granted we don't have as big a problem with it as some fandoms do.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Shoboni

[Crystal Sparkle 344]

The Bronycon documentary will hopefully make the reputation of the fandom positive. Hopefully people won't judge the brony community from sources such as Howard Stern...

 

That...name... *hiss*

 

But as everyone said, people are always going to be so narrow minded, unless they actually grow some balls and try it themselves before making and harsh criticism.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Crystal Sparkle

[AegisReflector 886]

No matter what subculture the Brony community gets associated with, I'll still be a huge fan of the show and nothing will stand in my way of me defecting out of it. Just like if people dislike me for liking the show. I'll simply ignore them and I'll still watch the show. Very simple solution.

 

I do hate how Bronies are automatically stereotyped as Furries because of all the fan connections between the two, since there is a HUGE difference, but I don't let that define me as a type of Brony. As long as I stay true to the show and spread love and tolerance towards everypony, then that's all that matters.

[Pinkachu 37]

Me and my friend used to make memes about the show and I started watching it and actually got interested in the show.

I just think If I told one of my more mature friends they would just make fun of me.

So I just keep it to myself and enjoy the show 

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I think this is a multi-faceted topic and one not easily covered in one discussion.  There are at least three groups of people to consider: those who have had little to no interaction with Bronies and whose opinion of us is based largely on where we stand in regards to societal norms that dictate things like what kinds of entertainment we should or should not enjoy based on our age and gender, those who have had legit interactions with the fandom either online or in person, and those who either are or have been part of the fandom at some point in time.  It's also not nearly as simple as lumping people into one of three categories as opinions can vary even within a given category.  Heck, past Bronies may even warrant their own category as they have their reasons for no longer being part of the fandom whereas those of us who still are in the fandom have our reasons for staying in it.

Barring being able to conduct a mixed-methods, longitudinal study on Bronies, we'll just have to settle for our opinions and impressions.  My personal opinion on Bronies is quite positive, not that I can truly be considered unbiased.  How a fandom is portrayed to other people is one thing, but actually being in it is another matter entirely.  I do think our fandom is based around love and tolerance, and we do seem to get along with one another well, and welcome each other with open arms, for the most part.  I don't sense a lot of elitism and we don't have a crippling schism that divides us.  Stuff like how cringy a fandom is takes a back seat to how I feel I'm treated in a given fandom and whether I have a sense of belonging.  The Brony fandom has passed that test with flying colours.

[Yakamaru 3,129]

NECROPOST LORDS! I SUMMON THEE!

Necropost Lords are not amused.

 

On-topic:

A Fandom can never be a community in and of itself, unless that Fandom is limited to one small specific area, like for instance a city, and the people in that city know each other and identify as belonging to that same Fandom. You can however have communities inside the Fandom. This forum for instance count as a community. But it's not all there is to the Fandom in terms of members nor communities. You have a plethora of other different forums and different communication mediums where people inside(and outside) the different Fandoms interact.

The MLP Fandom, just like the Furry Fandom both have their stigmas surrounding them. Bronies are called pony-cuddling manbabies while Furries are called zoophiles. It's true for an incredibly low amount of people in the Fandom, I won't deny that. However, they are a minority inside a minority. It's also a Fandom, not a community. If you want to call yourself a Brony even if you are a mass murderer, you are full within your rights to call yourself a Brony. The same way if you fuck dogs and call yourself a Furry, you are well within your rights to call yourself a Furry.

Fandom literally means "people who are fans of something".

As for the reputation thing: People need to stop being thin-skinned. Your very existence is offensive to someone out there. The only proper and common sense thing to do is to give these morons the middle finger. Some people will hate simply because they can. Some people will hate because they are ignorant. Some people will hate because their beliefs make them hateful.

I am pretty sure I made a post on this forum somewhere on hints/suggestions on how to be/not to be/act when you encounter someone who are either indifferent or negative in their reaction to you identifying as being X, but I can't for the love of god find the thread let alone the post..

Edited September 6, 2017 by Yakamaru