Why are certain other pop-culture fandoms associated with Bronydom?

[GuillermoGage 246]

I have noticed that many Bronies are also into hip and trendy new things or geeky things.

 

Team Fortress 2, an online shooting game that debuted in 2007, is associated with Bronies, and there are apparently "Brony servers", which I assume is places where people chat about the show via headset while playing with others.

 

Then there's Doctor Who, and various other cheeky British things.

 

Probably other nerd stuff like Minecraft, a fandom which in turn is supposed to have interest in The Hunger Games.

 

So... are people here into the same crop of somewhat distinguished fandoms that are making waves now?

 

I would like to think that I have a refined taste in entertainment. Therefore I simply like the ponies on their own individual basis, and they do not mesh in with what else is popular now.

 

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I hardly ever play Team Fortress 2, I've never watched Doctor Who, and I don't play Minecraft that often. 

 

So obviously not all bronies are into that stuff.

[Party Cannon 876]

I hardly ever play Team Fortress 2, I've never watched Doctor Who, and I don't play Minecraft that often. 

 

So obviously not all bronies are into that stuff.

 

I have not done any of these in the slightest.

 

@GuillermoGage You do bring up an interesting conundrum akin to the whole "chicken or the egg" thing. I would say there are a few who are bronies solely for the reasons you gave, yet the vast majority I think sincerely loves the show/franchise.

[Rarietty 632]

Most fandoms intertwine with other fandoms, mostly because some people are introduced to other fandoms through the fandom they're already participating in. For example, I was introduced to MLP because I was on a Disney forum way back in August of 2011 and I saw other people discussing it.

 

Heck, I've even been introduced to other fandoms through MLP, such as Adventure Time, Vocaloid and Homestuck. Since the Brony fandom is so massive, it attracts people from other fandoms, as well as makes the fans of the show try to introduce it to other members of varying fandoms. It's extremely rare to go on a non-MLP related forum and not see a MLP thread somewhere.

 

Yeah, and Doctor Whooves and other crossovers helped a bit too. 

Edited December 10, 2012 by Rarietty

[Marshmallow 1,137]

Well Team Fortress 2 was one of the first places to where MLP spread after starting on 4chan. So the TF2 brony community became one the biggest and most important ones. Many people got introduced to the show though the game, hence why so many bronies love it.

 

There's no real reason as to why it got popular in Team Fortress 2. I guess that both 4Chan and TF2 have the same kind of audience (young male adults) so many people who frequent 4chan probably played TF2 as well. That and the style of both MLP and TF2 are somewhat similar with vibrant colors etc.

[MorningFlash 214]

I started playing Minecraft because of the Hunger Games mod and the videos on YouTube. 

I see why things like Adventure Time are associated with the Brony fandom, because they're all animated and the audience is not nessasarily what you would think it would be.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I'm truly not in any other fandom besides this one. Mostly because I just can't follow two fandoms at one time.

I also have never watched an episode of Dr who in my life.

[GuillermoGage 246]

I'm truly not in any other fandom besides this one. Mostly because I just can't follow two fandoms at one time. I also have never watched an episode of Dr who in my life.

You know that song "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid? There's a line that goes "How many wonders can one cavern hold?"

I sometimes imagine it as "how many fandoms can one person have?".

 

Heck, I've even been introduced to other fandoms through MLP, such as Adventure Time, Vocaloid and Homestuck.

Ooh, Homestuck, there's another one. I tried watching/"playing" Homestuck. I clicked through things quickly and grew impatient, but got to the part where there are animated color scenes after twenty minutes. When does it get to the part where the grey-skinned people with the black hair, yellow eyes, and horns show up? Apparently they are called trolls. When does it become funny or interesting?

[Arcus (Silver Lining) Wind 983]

I don't think it's so much that they are associated with ponies, as it is that everything just gets pony-fied.  Also I think a lot of people where fans of those things before becoming bronys, and they have gotten others to enjoy them as well.

[Rarietty 632]

Ooh, Homestuck, there's another one. I tried watching/"playing" Homestuck. I clicked through things quickly and grew impatient, but got to the part where there are animated color scenes after twenty minutes. When does it get to the part where the grey-skinned people with the black hair, yellow eyes, and horns show up? Apparently they are called trolls. When does it become funny or interesting?

When I said Homestuck, I meant "I had no idea a fandom for it existed until I became a Brony". I've read up to act 2, but due to the constant posting rate as well as the confusing story (well, past act 2, I guess. I haven't got to the point where things get confusing yet) it's almost near impossible to get into the fandom unless you've been following the story since act 1 was first posted. I do like the interactive segments and the animation, though. 

[Fridge 382]

I've played TF2 but only on the xbox occasionally, watched a few episodes of doctor who and to be honest I much prefer the rendition done by pony in a box and doctor whooves and assistant. I can't get on with Minecraft and think the Hunger Games is a rip off of Battle Royale.

[GuillermoGage 246]

I've played TF2 but only on the xbox occasionally, watched a few episodes of doctor who and to be honest I much prefer the rendition done by pony in a box and doctor whooves and assistant. I can't get on with Minecraft and think the Hunger Games is a rip off of Battle Royale.

It is not a ripoff! Just for the sake of this post, imagine me screaming that in caps lock.

 

Yeah the idea of a deadly game has been used many times. I plan on eventually reading Battle Royale the novel, have read about ffity pages of the manga, and it looks like the movie is indulgent Tarantino pulp.

 

Also, I'm probably literally one the biggest fans of Suzanne Collins' previous series, The Underland Chronicles, on this entire Earth (at least definitely the English-speaking world from what I could find scouring the Internet), and I say that without hyperbole. It has kind of given me higher expectations of The Hunger Games Trilogy than the average reader, and even then it is not unoriginal to the point of being a ripoff.

[Evilshy 5,090]

It's simply a case of shared fanbases. Many people who like the same thing have more shared tastes than just that one thing; look at yourself and your friends and count the number of things you both like. Then, if you were to post those interest on the internet, you'd find that plent of people would also like those combination of things. Lots of people on 4chan liked MLP, and lots of those people also liked TF2, who also like a lot of other things it has been spread to.

 

Also, the Minecraft/Hunger Games thing is more because if you want to act out Hunger Games in a video game, a sandbox building/survival game like Minecraft is about as close as you're going to get short of a somebody actually making a Hunger Games game. It's also the quite easy to mod and set up servers for.

Not to mention the fact that was massively popular before Hunger Games got huge.

[GuillermoGage 246]

It's simply a case of shared fanbases. Many people who like the same thing have more shared tastes than just that one thing; look at yourself and your friends and count the number of things you both like. Then, if you were to post those interest on the internet, you'd find that plent of people would also like those combination of things. Lots of people on 4chan liked MLP, and lots of those people also liked TF2, who also like a lot of other things it has been spread to.

 

Also, the Minecraft/Hunger Games thing is more because if you want to act out Hunger Games in a video game, a sandbox building/survival game like Minecraft is about as close as you're going to get short of a somebody actually making a Hunger Games game. It's also the quite easy to mod and set up servers for.

Not to mention the fact that was massively popular before Hunger Games got huge.

Yup, I recognize that aspect. And as a result I get offended if the Minecraft Hunger Games don't literally have 24 people in a free-for-all. Same applies any shooter game with a "Hunger Games map".

 

I hardly ever play Team Fortress 2, I've never watched Doctor Who, and I don't play Minecraft that often. 

 

So obviously not all bronies are into that stuff.

That's because us Rarity fanboys are refined in their taste in entertainment and down just dive into any common nerd fodder.

[Fridge 382]

It is not a ripoff! Just for the sake of this post, imagine me screaming that in caps lock.

 

Yeah the idea of a deadly game has been used many times. I plan on eventually reading Battle Royale the novel, have read about ffity pages of the manga, and it looks like the movie is indulgent Tarantino pulp.

 

Also, I'm probably literally one the biggest fans of Suzanne Collins' previous series, The Underland Chronicles, on this entire Earth (at least definitely the English-speaking world from what I could find scouring the Internet), and I say that without hyperbole. It has kind of given me higher expectations of The Hunger Games Trilogy than the average reader, and even then it is not unoriginal to the point of being a ripoff.

I'm not going on the books, only the movie. Anyway its just my opinion and not one I scream to the heavens lol I accept that others may think differently.