Does Anyone Else Ever Find The Fandom...Overwhelming?

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Maybe it's because I'm a relatively new Brony, and I always felt like I'm kind of "late to the party" in terms of the Brony community for the same reason, but sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by the shear amount of creation that the community puts out. There's so many talented people, more than I have seen together in any one fandom, and I feel like I'm missing out by barely seeing and hearing a fraction of 1% of what this amazing community produces.

 

I went on FiMfiction for the first time today, same with derpibooru, and in both cases I was taken aback by all the stories and art (respectively) posted on these sites. There's so much content to navigate through, trying to sort it out is like drinking from a fire hose. Not to mention sites like deviantArt with a large Brony presence. There's so much that's out there, and I've only seen a tiny bit of it, and I kinda feel bad about it, like I'm missing out.

 

Anyway, anyone else ever feel this way? Are there any fan "essentials" that I need to check out so that I can feel caught up with the fandom? I've read Cupcakes and My Little Dashie, I've listened to a lot of the music by musicians like Mandopony, Alex S., and the Living Tombstone, and I've watched a lot of videos on YouTube (nomorethan9 and others), and I've seen a fair amount of fan art in passing. That's probably a fair amount of participation for the average Brony (I'd like to one day contribute my own art and fanfics to the community). But I still can't shake the feeling that I've only scratched the surface of what's out there.

 

What do you guys think?

Edited December 4, 2012 by Sky Nomad

[Night Shine 767]

Actually, that's a very intriguing discussion topic.

 

I remember when I first got into Minecraft in October 2011. Any and every idea that I had, whether it be pixel art, redstone contraption, or just a cool building was either a)out of my skill level or b)already done, better than I ever could.

 

Compared to that, when i came here, I was extremely relieved and excited to find out that my ideas weren't already done. I'm not irrelevant; I can create things that haven't been done before, or at least not done very much/in a very well known manner.

 

For example, after watching Return of Harmony for the bajillionth time a while ago, the thought crossed my mind,  "What if there were Elements of DISHarmony?!" A very quick Internet search revealed, to my joy, that almost nopony else had expanded on the idea

(besides a couple of old threads) that i could find. Overjoyed, I went to writing it as a fanfic, and here I am now. Check out the link in my signature.

 

Still, I can understand feeling overwhelmed by everything everypony's already done. But with every new episode comes a million new ideas to be expounded on.

 

 

 

 

....anyway, rant over. I think the only thing you really "should see", per se, is MLD and......Cupcakes, if....welll.....you have the guts for it. I didn't. >.<

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

I've been told I'm a great creative writer in terms of using literary devices and imagery, but I am horrible at developing interesting plots, that's my biggest obstacle in fiction writing. As for art, I've only recently begun researching an art pad and software, and my drawing skills...could use improvement. I feel like I'm trying to balance the fine line of a) getting my hoof in the door and being relevant, and improving my skills. I'm worried if I try to focus on one I'll neglect the other.

 

But yeah, it can be frustrating when you have an idea in your head and later find someone has already done it (felt that way recently when I looked to see if anyone had done "Always Sunny in Fillydelphia," sure enough. Done.) Maybe I'm just not thinking hard enough on this, I'm sure there's millions of ideas out there that I could use in the Brony fandom, I just have trouble looking past obvious ideas or low hanging fruit that are pretty much garaunteed to have been done by now.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Sky Nomad

[Spring Storm 276]

I definitely feel overwhelmed by all the content, so much so that I probably don't check as much of it out as the average brony does. 

[Night Shine 767]

I've been told I'm a great creative writer in terms of using literary devices and imagery, but I am horrible at developing interesting plots, that's my biggest obstacle in fiction writing.

You know, I often have too many ideas for stories and characters and not enough time to write them beyond just noting the concept. It seems we may have opposite problems as writers. Maybe we could collaborate sometime, yes? :3

 

(sorry for irrelevance to the thread, btw)

[DaemoN67 4]

When I first discovered ponies a couple of months ago, I got very caught up in fan fiction and music. It was, as you said, very overwhelming. So you're not alone! 

[Starshine 16,330]

Well, you don't have to experience everything a fandom can offer to call yourself a part of the fandom

 

While this fandom is godawful huge, everything focused on one thing, the show itself. You don't have to know every single fans interpretation of the show to appreciate it.

 

But I still can't shake the feeling that I've only scratched the surface of what's out there.

 

Uh... You might not want to see everything. There are things best left unseen, words best left unread, and sounds best left unheard. This fandom have its own share of 'demon'

Edited December 4, 2012 by Twinkleshine

[Clarity 3,094]

I don't feel the same way. Perhaps it's because I happen to focus solely on Applejack-related content as it's only content of her that I'm interested in this fandom. There isn't much of that, so no, I don't feel overwhelmed.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Santa Clare

[NavelColt 22,876]

Yes, the fandom is pathetically active, and can easily seem overwhelming, and people react differently to that. It's not something you see very often from fandoms, and when you do, they're usually short-lived and act as 'spikes' and not long-lasting phenomenons. The thing is, this fandom's lows are the highs of an average fandom, from how big and active and creative we are. The great thing about it is that, if you let it, and you enjoy reading fan fiction, looking at art, watching videos and other content, you never -truly- have a stale moment with this fandom. Waiting in-between seasons isn't that hard when you literally have an internet network of bronies creating new fan content of every type, 24/7. Newbies have a world to explore, and long-time bronies have new content they stumble upon every day.

 

Anyway, this is how I felt for the first few weeks of truly getting into the fandom. My best suggestion for you is stay active here, and use the Pony Bulletin forum to keep track of news as it happens. Also keep tabs on EQD. They're the pony hub of the internet, and have entire sections that are updated daily of every creative medium. Continue to browse Youtube for videos and music, DeviantART as your main art outlet and FIMFiction for your fanfiction outlet. It might seem overwhelming, but most of the worthwhile content can be found on these handful of sites. You simple need to find the time to sort through it in an organized manner

 

It get's to a point where you're -mostly- caught up and have a vast knowledge of most of what's going on throughout the various artistic mediums, like where I'm at. At that point, you won't feel overwhelmed anymore, because you'll be 'in the loop' as it were, and can simply keep up with the brand new, fresh content as it happens.

 

The fandom's fruits are vast and it's riches deep, and there is more than enough for everyone to enjoy, and perhaps add to themselves.

[Ethan Pow 332]

Overwhelming, not really but daunting yes... specially coming across people that do something you want to do and they do it much better. Sometimes this is good to have a challenge to improve their skills.

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Yes, the fandom is pathetically active, and can easily seem overwhelming, and people react differently to that. It's not something you see very often from fandoms, and when you do, they're usually short-lived and act as 'spikes' and not long-lasting phenomenons. The thing is, this fandom's lows are the highs of an average fandom, from how big and active and creative we are. The great thing about it is that, if you let it, and you enjoy reading fan fiction, looking at art, watching videos and other content, you never -truly- have a stale moment with this fandom. Waiting in-between seasons isn't that hard when you literally have an internet network of bronies creating new fan content of every type, 24/7. Newbies have a world to explore, and long-time bronies have new content they stumble upon every day.

 

Anyway, this is how I felt for the first few weeks of truly getting into the fandom. My best suggestion for you is stay active here, and use the Pony Bulletin forum to keep track of news as it happens. Also keep tabs on EQD. They're the pony hub of the internet, and have entire sections that are updated daily of every creative medium. Continue to browse Youtube for videos and music, DeviantART as your main art outlet and FIMFiction for your fanfiction outlet. It might seem overwhelming, but most of the worthwhile content can be found on these handful of sites. You simple need to find the time to sort through it in an organized manner

 

It get's to a point where you're -mostly- caught up and have a vast knowledge of most of what's going on throughout the various artistic mediums, like where I'm at. At that point, you won't feel overwhelmed anymore, because you'll be 'in the loop' as it were, and can simply keep up with the brand new, fresh content as it happens.

 

The fandom's fruits are vast and it's riches deep, and there is more than enough for everyone to enjoy, and perhaps add to themselves.

"In the loop"...that hits it right on the head. That's the phrase I was looking for...

 

Finding the core fan works is what I'm after at the moment...the works that every brony should be familiar with (MLD, etc). Once I feel like I've thoroughly versed myself in those, I can settle into my little niche in the fandom, and one day start contributing to it myself.

 

I know this all might sound a bit strange, or a weird way to look at things, but I'm still trying to...well...fully bring myself into the loop. I'm still trying to find my place in this community. I already check EQD several times a day.

 

On another note, I stumbled upon a MLP:FiM wiki that is just for fan works. I can imagine this will help me while I try to fully immerse myself into the brony community.

 

Twinkleshine - That's true, lol, but there's also so much beauty that this fandom creates, and trying to balance looking for the beauty that this fandom has already created vs. keeping a keen eye out for new beautiful works can be a bit daunting.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Sky Nomad

[Fridge 382]

Maybe it's because I'm a relatively new Brony, and I always felt like I'm kind of "late to the party" in terms of the Brony community for the same reason, but sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by the shear amount of creation that the community puts out. There's so many talented people, more than I have seen together in any one fandom, and I feel like I'm missing out by barely seeing and hearing a fraction of 1% of what this amazing community produces.

 

I went on FiMfiction for the first time today, same with derpibooru, and in both cases I was taken aback by all the stories and art (respectively) posted on these sites. There's so much content to navigate through, trying to sort it out is like drinking from a fire hose. Not to mention sites like deviantArt with a large Brony presence. There's so much that's out there, and I've only seen a tiny bit of it, and I kinda feel bad about it, like I'm missing out.

 

Anyway, anyone else ever feel this way? Are there any fan "essentials" that I need to check out so that I can feel caught up with the fandom? I've read Cupcakes and My Little Dashie, I've listened to a lot of the music by musicians like Mandopony, Alex S., and the Living Tombstone, and I've watched a lot of videos on YouTube (nomorethan9 and others), and I've seen a fair amount of fan art in passing. That's probably a fair amount of participation for the average Brony (I'd like to one day contribute my own art and fanfics to the community). But I still can't shake the feeling that I've only scratched the surface of what's out there.

 

What do you guys think?

 

I know what you mean, I'm always amazed at not only the sheer volume of work put out but the sheer talent too. From voice acting, to animation, to pictures and stories its amazing what you can find.

But you have all the time in the world to discover it all

 

Whats amusing it I've heard from from a few people on here that they don't even watch the show anymore, they literally only follow the 'Fanon'. Personally I think thats a shame but to each their own.

 

My personal favorites are the Doctor Whooves and Assistant youtube videos and pretty much anything put out by Pony in a box Productions.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2012 by Fridge

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

Perhaps I look at it with a different viewpoint, but to me, it's less overwhelming and more exciting.  I mean, there's more content being created every day than I could ever hope to have time to watch, so there's I can never get bored!  What's truly exciting is when I find those gems in the mountain of content, such as Doctor Whooves and Assistant, or Epic Wub Time: Musicians of Ponyville, or even A Derpy Christmas.

 

If anything, it's more that I feel bad that I don't have the guts/talent to contribute anything of my own...  I might make some music one day, but that day is far off.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

Sometimes I do, only because there's so much of it out there. I don't know where to start. My friends know about a zillion popular brony artists and fanfics, and I only know a handful. I'm more involved in that aspect than I was when I first discovered MLP, but I'm not quite "in the loop" either. I never visit EQD and I look around YT and FIMfiction sometimes, but not often. Mostly I follow the show and collect stuff in the darkness of my apartment. I'm like Pinkie in Party of One, only crazier.

Edited December 4, 2012 by TailsAlone

[Batbrony 15,994]

When I first started getting into the brony community back in February/March, I definitely felt the same way!  In fact, the sheer vast amount of fandom created content is one reason I became a brony in the first place!  I love fan created content, and when I first started browsing pony vids on YouTube, I simply couldn't believe how much had already been created or parodied.  In fact, I still can't believe how much has been created; so don't feel bad or like this is an unusual situation Sky Nomad, I'm pretty sure we've all felt as overwhelmed/out-of-the-loop as you do right now.  Heck, I still mostly rely off of random searches to find new pony content, save for some of the YouTubers I follow!!!  

 

If you'd like some more YouTube recommendations, here's some of my own that I can offer; (1) Solrac (YouTube account Yaplap): first pony vid creator I started following, this guy is hilarious!  If you start watching his vids, be warned, you might want to start with your volume low; the guy has an interesting way of redubbing songs from the show.    (2) Black Gryph0n, creator of the Ponylicious series, this guy also happens to be a military brony, and probably the most active content producing military brony I've ever seen.  (3)  SherclopPones: creator of the "Friendship is Witchcraft" series, hands down one of the funniest, if not the funniest redubbed version of the series.  (4)  Chunkboi: a lesser known MLP YouTuber, this fella produces videos of MLP dubbed over with dialogue from Valve games, mostly TF2 and Portal.  The vids are very high quality and quite hilarious.  (5)  ZephyrStar: one of the creators of, and the account that posts, the legendary "Ponies the Anthology" series, which consist of Anthology Part 1 and Part 2 so far.  If you haven't yet, check those two vids out; they contain some of the funniest and highest quality fanmade vid content I've ever seen in this community!!!!  (6)  hotdiggedydemon: if you're in the mood for something a little more risque, hotdiggedydemon is the guy for you; he creates the infamous .MOV series, which is both hilarious and kind of perverted at the same time.  I enjoy the guy myself, but his vids are definitely for older viewers, and even older bronies might not appreciate his sense of humor.  However, his animations happen to be all original as well, which is quite impressive, all being done in a Ren and Stimpy-esque style.  (7) FiMFlamFilosophy: a sadly underrated YouTuber, this fella is the creator of the Rainbow Dash Presents series, which are hilarious retellings of some of the more famous and infamous fan fictions within bronydom, his best so far probably being his parodies of "Cupcakes" and "Rainbow Factory".  The guy creates original art for his vids, which is quite impressive, and the voice work is hilarious, especially considering the fact that he voices all female characters with guys and vice versa for male characters.  Finally (8) kyrospawn: doesn't generally produce original content, but if you're looking for a 5 second clip of a favorite quote from an episode, kyrospawn is the account to visit.  This person always takes fan-favorite clips (and even some lesser known ones) from every episode and posts them to his/her account; they have hundreds, if not thousands of tiny 5 second clips in their account at this point.  Well, that's all the YouTubers I can think of; oh, one more thing, if you haven't yet, look up "Dash Academy" on DeviantArt; hands down the best MLP webcomic series I've seen, and definitely worth a read!  Hope this helps!!! 

Edited December 4, 2012 by Batbrony

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

Don't bother trying to learn about everything, you can't do it. By the time you get caught up in one area you're behind in another. Start with what's current and stay current. If you haven't noticed yet, anything that's truly awesome and worth looking into will be reposted, spammed, and beaten like a dead horse, so the older stuff will make its way to you somehow. Go to Equestria Daily once or twice a day to find the majority of what's going on; if you only go once, do it in the evening.

 

And if there's something that you wanted to do but you've found it's already been done, do it anyway.

[Zenoctilles 102]

The thing is, you don't really need to consume every last bit of content just feel like a "full" brony. Focus on the show, read a little bit of EQD, be part of online communities like this one, that is really all you need. 

 

I only read EQD and post on certain MLP message boards occasionally. I sometimes partake in social events with my local meetup group. I love MLP, but I try not to take it too seriously, lest I became one of those "crazy fans" - something I always seek to avoid.

 

But, find one bit of the fandom that you like and focus on that if you feel as if you need to delve into it a bit more heavily. For some, it's fanfic; for others, it's fanart. Some really like the fan videos. 

[Betez 1,734]

I feel like it can be very overwhelming at times. Whenever it begins to feel this way for me, I try to distance myself from it for a little bit. I've learned to get used to it. And at times I like how big the fandom is.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

I choose not to bother with keeping up with the fandom. It's like trying to watch every video on youtube at this point. (Hyperbole: 8 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube every minute.)

 

When I want to contribute, I simply look at the area and way in which I wish to contribute, and see if it's been filled. However not everyone has an as-capable grasp of their own creativity and language as I do...

[Paleopony 690]

It's true that the amount of creative content is overwhelming, but that's one of the reasons I love this fandom so much!

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

3 hours ago, Paleopony said:

It's true that the amount of creative content is overwhelming, but that's one of the reasons I love this fandom so much!

Exactly what I’m thinking! 

Edited September 14, 2021 by TomDaBombMLP

[dead account 2,703]

There is so much stuff, I can't possibly see all of it within my lifetime. And this would be the fan art alone!

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

Not really, I’m glad there’s an endless amount of ponies!

[EpicEnergy 22,076]

I'm not overwhelmed by the amount of fan-made content out there, mainly because I don't feel like I missed out or need to catch up with all of it.