Pre-Brony Encounters with the Fandom

[Tall_But_Short_37 233]

So this thread is basically to talk about the interactions you had with MLP:FiM (if any) before you became a brony.

 

I have two examples that've happened to me.

 

The first one is quite funny looking back on it. I was not a brony myself at this time, but I had heard of the growing fandom. I didn't pay it much mind, and was fairly neutral. I remember one day deciding to look it up and see what all the fuss was about. I came upon a MLP forums (I believe it was this exact one), and just spent a little time looking around. I didn't understand most of it, but the 1 thing I distinctly remember from that experience was seeing a whooole bunch of people freaking out because some rainbow pony had a duet with some shy pony (which of course is the Find a Pet song). At the time, I didn't have any clue what was going on, but in retrospect and now being part of the fandom myself, I understand now why everyone was freaking out and I think back on it and laugh!

 

The other story is that quite a while ago my mother brought home a Rarity McDonalds toy she'd found on the street. It was quite beat up and dirty, but I kept it for some reason. It sat in my room for quite a while collecting dust, until I found it again after I became a brony! Now I'm glad I didn't just throw it away that day!

 

Anyone else have any good stories like this?

[kirbyboi 588]

I have a similar story to your last one you posted:

 

Before I became a brony, Mcdonalds were including the MLP toys in your Happy Meal (Not the recent keychain ones, this was a while ago, around 2011 or somewhat). My little brother got a Happy Meal, and he accidentaly recieved the girls toy instead of the boys. It was a Pinkie Pie figure that came with a comb. I made fun of it, and then a few months later I was hooked on the show. So I went back and dug it up, and now it's a part of my collection, and my first ever pony toy I got.  

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Ha fir me it was way back when the shows popularity was still growing. I was on a gaming website using the forums and discussing about upcoming games we would ask get. Overtime I slowly saw a few pony avatars and topics and I became very curious as tip why they were using ponies as thier avatar. I asked them and the recommended to watch the show. To more at the time I thought the whole thing was a joke and I declined watching the show until about 2012 when its popularity grew even more than before.

 

And yeah those guys eventually got me to watch a episode.

[Mellow 73]

Well somewhere in june I became (a slightly famous) member of this server called interscopenetwork it was a good server until it became more popular and I wasn't hanging with my friends anymore it was just over crowded all the time. Anyways there was this one guy who was admin that was a brony and he would always do quiz's (it was a jailbreak server) about mlp. The first I remember was what pony was in his spray it was rainbow but I had no clue. so after a while of this I decided to look more into mlp. And that's about the same time I joined here

[Pinkie D Pie 1,036]

Mine comes from a time when the first season had yet to be over with in 2010, I was randomly scrolling though the internet when I saw a picture of Twilight in the air balloon as she is going down to Ponyville in the opening song of the show. I had no idea it was MLP at the time, I didn't even know what it was about. That's the only one I got.

[Appetite4Democracy 452]

-Everyone obsesses over MLP

-Why do people like this?

-Watch a few episodes

-NotBad.jpg

-Watch more

-Keep watchin'

-WATCH ALL THE EPISODES!

-I LOVE THIS

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I saw my friend drawing a pony.  That was around the middle of season 2.  I didn't know about it so I just shrugged it off.  I went home searched MLP. Watched it. Loved it rest is history.  That was my first encounter..

[Rolls Royce 606]

I was surfing around on Memebase when I saw the tab for "My Little Brony" up in the corner of the screen.  I clicked on it, and that's how  I first found out about the fandom.  About a year and a half later, I get hooked on the show, and I end up here.  I call that a great find.

[An Old Head 4,816]

I never really had a massive encounter with the fandom, but a member of a known Maplestory private server that I went on was an enormous Brony - had Rainbow Dash in his avatar, signature, and frequently quoted the show. Didn't think much of it, I just let the guy do whatever really, didn't concern me.

 

Later, I was browsing Tickld.com and found a screenshot of the first episode on Youtube with a comment saying "When my mother came in I switched to my p**n tab because it was easier to explain". That was when I realised a load of other people were in on the show as well, so I went looking for an episode to watch and ended up on a live stream for The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. The scrolling of the comments all generally enjoying the show was really entertaining to someone new to it all

After that I went to watch the series from the beginning. I remember being impressed that words like "imperative" were being used in a show targeted at small children, but still felt extremely awkward watching it Eventually told myself "Right, I'm now a fan" after Pinkie's scene in the next episode where she goes "It was under Eeeee!"

 

Oh dear, I've rambled... So there were my pre-Brony encounters, they were minimal but enough to get me in with you guys. So glad it happened ^.^

[The Stranger 812]

My encounter with our beloved fandom before I came across it and joined was when I would watch television I'd on occasion come across the Hub channel that aired My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic on specific days of the week. At first I thought nothing of it but after a few weeks I noticed myself watching the opening sequence of the show without realizing I was. 

 

I'd get uncomfortable and quickly change the channel. About two months later I found myself recording the episodes on my DVR and watching them at night when no one was awake. Next thing I know I'm hooked and I start searching for pony content on the internet.

 

Eventually I joined MLP communities. This is my 4th MLP community Forum and so far it's the best one. I've abandoned the other forums because I prefer this one as of now. 

Edited January 4, 2013 by Data Void

[Shanks 10,816]

I haven't had much interaction with the fandom before getting into the show, the earliest I can remember though is this one time I just got off work. And this one coworker of mine had his wife picking him up from work and she was wearing this shirt that had the Mane 6 and said the word "brony" on it. The only exposure I had prior to that was this cousin who was really into G1 and G2 when we were kids so I didn't really know what a brony was. Before I could ask her though she was already gone and I was going to look up just what the heck it meant but I just simply forgot about it. Fast forward a few months or so later and this good friend of mine kept telling me about the show and how I should watch it were him talking about cartoon ponies and me just sort of faking it and humoring him while secretly thinking to myself "really we are talking about this?" When he mentioned Discord is when I really got curious, so I watched the Return of Harmony two parter and then watched season 1 and 2 and the rest is history.

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

I hate remembering my first experience. It was when FiM first came out I thought to myself great a continuation of the lame 1980's cartoon for girls. Then as the year went by i heard talk of Adult Males calling themselves Bronies. I thought how pathetic,people living in the past and hanging onto nostalgic memories(Note: I am a cynic) Then about the time season 2 was over and the fandom was large i said hey lets watch this see how "good" it is.  Watched the first episode squeeled like a school girl and saw it was Made By none other than Lauren Faust. The fandom then took me.

[Phoenix237 353]

My first experience with MLP: FIM is kinda weird.

 

In this video game website called "Screwattack.com" there is a show they have called "DEATH BATTLE!!". They basically have famous characters fight to the death

Examples are:

Mario vs Sonic, Link vs Cloud, Ninja Turtles battle royal, Thor vs Raiden, Kratos vs Spawn, etc.

 

If you haven't seen it I recommend it. The fights are all fair and the results are what they would be if these characters did get into a death fight. They use science and facts to determine the winner and give explanations as to why one would win. Plus the fight scenes are awesome.

 

Anyway getting off topic. One day a battle came out. That battle was "Starcream vs Rainbow Dash". I thought the choice was odd, but I watched the battle anyway. Not gonna spoil who won, but i wouldn't bet my money on the guy who got tripped by a dog in the original generation. Im looking at you Starscream. Can the guy even fight? Anyway I actually enjoyed the episode a lot more then I should have (with my mind back then) and saw the comments with a lot of brony topics. I searched them up saw episodes to see the what the fuss was about, and was hooked.

 

So basically I started to watch a show ment for kids (which other like myself have come to enjoy as well) after watching another show that had Starscream and Rainbow Dash fight to the death.

Kinda funny since almost all of the recent death battles endings are violent.

 

Anyway that's my encounter to MLP: FIM before I became a brony.

[Feather Gem 967]

I saw the new toys and got so mad at Hasbro.  Stop taking away everything I love!  I was thinking, because the miniature ponies were gone.  And I loved them.  So i sent Hasbro a letter saying Keep the show!  Keep it all!  JUST BRING BACK THE MINIATURE PONIES FOR GODS SAKE!  And kicked the box at the toy store xD

 

Later...

Mcdonalds got the toys.  (only Twilight, RD, Cheerilee, and Pinkie.)

I loved them.  I pointed out Twilight to my sister since it was the time of her Twilight phase.  I asked my mom to order a happy meal so I could get one.

Before the thing ended, I had Rainbow Dash and Cheerilee.  Although I wanted Twilight and couldn't care less about Pinkie Pie.

 

Later...

I watched the Teens React To... and got upset with them.

[LoKé kRude 31]

Well, back when I got my first issue of gameinformer in late 2011 the most memorable feedback letter was this guy raging about how gameinformer called MLP frilly. Me and my mom had a good laugh for this one.

Other than that, didn't really enconter much of the fandom other than the occaissional random excert from the show on youtube. I didn't really see the whole "bronies invading the interwebz" thing people were talking about so I was more or less neutral. I do remember the Elder Scrolls VI: Equestria video that pretty much made me a brony.

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

Back in March or so one of my favorite newspaper comics had a Sunday strip about a MLP and Game of Thrones crossover. I thought it was freaking hilarious and I showed it to one of my friends. I was a massive Game of Thrones fan at the time ( I still am to some degree). So that was pretty much my first encounter with FiM. After becoming a brony the comic was even more funny .

Edited January 4, 2013 by DashForever

[Tom95 59]

This one guy in my animation class, Jeff, is a major brony. so I asked him about it and then he just wouldn't shut up about it. I also made a weapon in my animation called the RD45H. Its pretty much a Scattershot from Halo 4 with Rainbow Dash's coloration and it shoots rainbow lasers!

[DoctorWhovian1902 596]

Well, back when I got my first issue of gameinformer in late 2011 the most memorable feedback letter was this guy raging about how gameinformer called MLP frilly.

 

I remember that, back when I was subscribed to Gameinformer (it doesn't really appeal to me anymore). I also remember hearing bronies in our fencing club singing songs from the show and talking about it as though they really liked it. I was confused but didn't judge them for it.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

I used to be a hater, actually. I disliked the fandom, but then I actually watched the show and ever since then I've been a brony myself. It's funny how things work sometimes.

 

My first encounter with the fandom actually were some bronies on Newgrounds.

Edited January 4, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Mr Rarity 14]

I was actually a hater before I was a brony. I was just your normal hater just trying to get a rise out of someone. And now I am here.

[Zygen 6,066]

Well, before I knew anything about bronies I just kinda was pretty netural. Honestly the most Anti brony I ever got was singing the MLP theme with with a mocking tone, or sometimes we sung "My little pony is such a big phony," And it kinda died after that lol. Mind you this was before FIM but still.

 

Anyways I really just like most things was curious and decided to check this out, after seeing a video of Fluttershy on youtube with stare master with her staring down the cocktrice with Guile's theme playing, Somehow this sparked me into more Fluttershy Clips, and eventuelly I gave in and watched the show.

 

But I was pretty neutral, especially to actually bronies since I never met any IRL bronies. I didn't even know what bronies where until when I watched the show .

[Paleopony 702]

On 2013-01-03 at 9:08 PM, Appetite4Democracy said:

-Everyone obsesses over MLP

-Why do people like this?

-Watch a few episodes

-NotBad.jpg

-Watch more

-Keep watchin'

-WATCH ALL THE EPISODES!

-I LOVE THIS

That was my experience in a nutshell.