Hello, everypony. I have a few questions...

[Darke Pony 27]

Hello, my name is Adam, and recently I have started to watch the MLP:FiM series.

 

Now, I have a few questions I was recommended here as a friend of mine told me this was a wonderful forums generally free of grief, and thought it would be the best place to clear some things up for me, without the wanton flaming, trolling, and brony hate seen so many other places.

 

Here's the first question:

 

#1:Am I in fact a brony?

 

Although I watch and to a reasonable extent enjoy the show, I own no merchandise, none of my friends are aware I watch it and I (sadly) would be somewhat ashamed to admit to them such a thing. Is there a way to define a brony, or indeed, are there different types of bronies?

 

I have, in my darker days, visitted that cesspit of a website, 4chan, and observed the Pony Board with somewhat of a morbid interest. Yet, although I was under the impression that 'bronies' were a fan of spreading love and tolerance, whilst those on that board would berate and flame each other, post pornographic images and tales of the ponies, and very few seemed as polite and well-mannered as some of the people I have seen on some threads here.

 

Secondly,

 

#2: Am I a 'furry'?

 

I was told, when mentioning the show on another website, that because I found the ponies heartwarmingly adorable, that I was - pardon my language - 'a furry little faggot'. Does liking this show indicate some sort of subconscious attraction to the ponies? Certainly, I have seen many 'bronies' on the aforementioned board that certainly did.

 

#3 Can somepony give a small list of MLP-jargon?

 

I am aware of such phrases as pegasister, brohoof, replacing 'body' with 'pony', but are there others that are commonly used? I'd rather not be confused when a fellow forumite mentions a phrase

 

#4 I delight in exposing plagiarists - is this wrong?

Although this may seem a tad black-and-white, but there are many facets to it - although I have exposed said person to the community, I have at the same time angered/upset them. Should I just let them enjoy their stolen work without turning a community against them?

 

 

Thank you for looking at this, it means a lot to me - having been reasonably recently been introduced to the world of MLP, there many thing I am confused about.

 

 

[Discordian 6,013]

I welcome you here.

 

On the note of being a brony and a furry the two are not synonymous for the most part. It's true a brony can be a furry and vice versa but you aren't one just because you are the other.

 

Being a brony is a bit subjective. If you don't like to be called a brony then you are simply a fan. There's no solid definition to what a brony is really. One would imagine they'd need to be a fan of the show but beyond that, whether you take part in the fanbase, like the fan-made works or have merchandise or not doesn't qualify you as a brony. The title "brony" itself is merely a name and you are only one if you wish to be and there's no rules to being one if you are.

 

As for furries, it's also equally as ambiguous. Some consider a furry anyone who finds animal-like creatures attractive, cute or all-around interesting. Others would claim a furry is only a person who enjoys anthropomorphic animals such as video game characters like Star Fox.

 

Being a furry does not necessarily mean one is sexually attracted to furry characters, as some might have you believe. Much like being a brony if you don't consider yourself a furry than you aren't. Just because you might like shows like Road Rovers which have furry characters in them it doesn't make you a furry. A furry is explicitly one who is a fan of furry characters specifically for being furries, not because they necessarily care about them as a character but for being specifically what they are. If you like a furry character for being a furry character, you are POSSIBLY a furry but it's still a point of subjectivity.

 

I'm beginning to repeat myself which means I'm typing far too long and my character count is up to 1300 at this point so I'll stop now. I'll leave the other questions to other people.

 

Just remember that the whole "furry faggot" thing is a misconceived label for bronies and, in fact, is also a misconceived label for furries as well since furries are not necessarily homosexual (though some would have you believe otherwise)

 

Being both a furry and a brony myself I can outright tell you I am not homosexual (not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with it if you are. ) and that there is a major difference between a zoophile and a furry. 99% of furries would never look at a real life animal the way they would a furry character because to a furry they are NOT the same thing and most furries would find it reprehensible to be a zoophile.

 

Likewise being a fan of ponies and thinking they are adorable says nothing of your sexual interests or character as a person. That's just a testosterone-fueled misconception that "guys should not find anything cute or adorable and all things cute and adorable should burn"

 

It has come to my attention that I typed another 900 characters after saying I was gonna stop. Gotta learn to get to my point faster.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Discordian

[An Old Head 4,815]

Hi there, welcome to the forums. We shake you warmly by the hoof.

I was going to answer your questions about bronydom and furries, but Discordian got those already.

Common words used here:

Ship - the act of creating a romantic interest between two characters, mainly for fanfiction
HiE - stands for Humans in Equestria, the act of placing a human in Equestria for a fan fiction
Clop - the general term for when Rule 34 is applied to ponies
(\ - general brony greeting that represents a hoof, short way of saying Brohoof. If someone says to you "(\" you should say "(\" back.
PMV - stands for Pony Music Video, where clips from the show are synced to a certain song to create a video
OC - stands for Original Creation, and is a custom character made by others that doesn't exist in the actual show, used for fan fiction
Fanon - this word references to spin-offs and created ideas that aren't officially in the show.

 

I haven't got all of them up there, so fill-ins from somepony else would be appreciated.

Also, we welcome the exposure of plagiarists - it's absolutely wrong for somepony to obtain undeserved credit, and it's vital that they are recognised as frauds. One of the key ideas of bronies is to promote important life values from the show - preventing credit theft counts as an important value.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Flipturn

[MelancholicMemory 2,022]

First of all, hello and welcome to MLPForums! I hope you love it here!

 

As for your questions.

1. Yes,  you are a brony if you want to be. It is your choice whether to identify that way, and there is no rulebook determining who is and who is not a brony. You don't have to be crazy about the show to fit in with the group.

2. Probably not. The two groups are seperate. It is possible to be one without being the other, although it also possible to be part of both groups as well.

3. If a horse pun is possible, bronies will probably use it. I can't think up a comprehensive list right now, though jargon isn't very important.

4. I wouldn't say it is good to delight in such things, it is good to expose plagiarism for the sake of the original artist/writer/etc.

[Darke Pony 27]

Thank you, for putting some of my worries at rest

 

Haha, I often do the same. I'll start a post thinking 'Ok, just a few words then I'm done..' - 8 paragraphs later....

 

I think I'm going to like it here I was honestly expecting someone to start flaming, btu I'm glad to see this community is better than that ^-^

[Discordian 6,013]

Hi there, welcome to the forums. We shake you warmly by the hoof.

 

I was going to answer your questions about bronydom and furries, but Discordian got those already.

 

Common words used here:

 

Ship - the act of creating a romantic interest between two characters, mainly for fanfiction

HiE - stands for Humans in Equestria, the act of placing a human in Equestria for a fan fiction

Clop - the general term for when Rule 34 is applied to ponies

(\ - general brony greeting that represents a hoof, short way of saying Brohoof. If someone says to you "(\" you should say "(\" back.

PMV - stands for Pony Music Video, where clips from the show are synced to a certain song to create a video

OC - stands for Original Creation, and is a custom character made by others that doesn't exist in the actual show, used for fan fiction

Canon - this word references to spin-offs and created ideas that aren't officially in the show.

 

I haven't got all of them up there, so fill-ins from somepony else would be appreciated.

 

Also, we welcome the exposure of plagiarists - it's absolutely wrong for somepony to obtain undeserved credit, and it's vital that they are recognised as frauds. One of the key ideas of bronies is to promote important life values from the show - preventing credit theft counts as an important value.

Actually I believe "fanon" is the word you are looking for. Canon is what is OFFICIALLY a part of a franchise.

 

I may have ranted a little bit but I've been in enough arguments/debates about furries and bronies and how they are correlated that I've got a well-built argument on my side.

 

Also you can alternate /) and (\ easily enough. It doesn't have to be one or the other for a brohoof or a return brohoof or greeting.

 

Here's one you might see often: /)(^3^)(\

 

It's the equivalent of Rainbow Dash's "So awesome" which is practically a meme at this point. I forget which episode that was in, was it Over The Barrel in season 2? There's also an emoticon for it to which is :: with "wub" in between them, like this: Take a look at the emoticon page for details on that.

[Darke Pony 27]

Oops, double post, apologies <3

 

I'm used to the page refreshing once Post is clicked

Edited January 7, 2013 by Darke Pony

[An Old Head 4,815]

Actually I believe "fanon" is the word you are looking for. Canon is what is OFFICIALLY a part of a franchise.

 

I may have ranted a little bit but I've been in enough arguments/debates about furries and bronies and how they are correlated that I've got a well-built argument on my side.

 

Also you can alternate /) and (\ easily enough. It doesn't have to be one or the other for a brohoof or a return brohoof or greeting.

 

Here's one you might see often: /)(^3^)(\

 

It's the equivalent of Rainbow Dash's "So awesome" which is practically a meme at this point. I forget which episode that was in, was it Over The Barrel in season 2? There's also an emoticon for it to which is :: with "wub" in between them, like this: Take a look at the emoticon page for details on that.

 

Oop, thanks for pointing that out. Wouldn't want to get those confused.

 

And just for the future... the So Awesome face was from Applebuck Season. (SE4E1) :3

[Discordian 6,013]

It's hard to find flame wars here as long as you are careful. It's usually not good practice to start accusing before finding out the whole story anywhere you go and that includes here. The forum's big enough that we have a lot of opinionated posters so don't take a strong opinion as an attack or flame. We're just passionate ponies/people.

[Darke Pony 27]

Hi there, welcome to the forums. We shake you warmly by the hoof.

 

I was going to answer your questions about bronydom and furries, but Discordian got those already.

 

Common words used here:

 

Ship - the act of creating a romantic interest between two characters, mainly for fanfiction

HiE - stands for Humans in Equestria, the act of placing a human in Equestria for a fan fiction

Clop - the general term for when Rule 34 is applied to ponies

(\ - general brony greeting that represents a hoof, short way of saying Brohoof. If someone says to you "(\" you should say "(\" back.

PMV - stands for Pony Music Video, where clips from the show are synced to a certain song to create a video

OC - stands for Original Creation, and is a custom character made by others that doesn't exist in the actual show, used for fan fiction

Fanon - this word references to spin-offs and created ideas that aren't officially in the show.

 

I haven't got all of them up there, so fill-ins from somepony else would be appreciated.

 

Also, we welcome the exposure of plagiarists - it's absolutely wrong for somepony to obtain undeserved credit, and it's vital that they are recognised as frauds. One of the key ideas of bronies is to promote important life values from the show - preventing credit theft counts as an important value.

Ah, excellent, thank you I was aware of 'ship' and the brohoof /), as well as clopping, but I had been wondering for some time about OC, PMV, and HiE Much appreciated!

[Discordian 6,013]

Oops, double post, apologies <3

 

I'm used to the page refreshing once Post is clicked

Normally it does actually. The site is well built and has a lot of retroaction effects but it doesn't work 100% of the time. You'll get used to the way it works though.

 

Oop, thanks for pointing that out. Wouldn't want to get those confused.

 

And just for the future... the So Awesome face was from Applebuck Season. (SE4E1) :3

Ah, my bad. Been a while since I've watched season 1 and the beginning of season 2.

[Darke Pony 27]

Just another quick question - sorry for the hassle - I've only been watching the TV series for about a few days, at around the rate of 2 or 3 episodes a day - how heavily will this affect my contribution on the forums, assuming I have a somewhat limited knowledge of Equestria?

 

I have had a look at the Wiki, but it's more likely I'll be picking up the knowledge form watching shows moreso than trailing through wiki pages (Which is, mind you, something I have done to extreme in some cases).

 

Thank you all for being so welcoming ^-^

[Discordian 6,013]

It's no hassle at all, bud. The only thing it'll affect is how well you can participate in some episode discussions and how they might connect to future ones. Plus some memes didn't get started until later in the series so if you find one you might not get it until that episode (like Rarity's "THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!")

 

Our forums are far more than just ponies though. You can check out the art sections for both pony and non-pony art and artists as well as the Everfree Forest at the bottom of the main page for talk about other things. I personally tend to hang out in the Media Board most often since I'm a big gamer and love old cartoons. I only ever peak out once in a while so people remember me. I lost a lot of cred when the forum got bigger but I was one of the original members when the forum first started. The forum got so big that all my posts get buried by all the newcomers! lol

 

Seriously though, welcome welcome. In spite of the massive expansion this is a great place overall and definitely one of the better forums I've personally ever been on. (This coming from a guy who spends time on gaming forums like Gamefaqs which is essentially a cesspool in 90% of it's forums)