The Future of My Little Pony and the Brony Phenomenon

[Toastie 110]

MLP g4 will probably be like World of Warcraft. It will go on for years and it won't get any smaller and people will still do fan art ect for them, and if it does die then there will still be a pretty heavy fan base for them. So don't worry, I'm sure the fan base will still be here to support you for years    /) 

[GrimCW 658]

I don't care how long the fandom lives as I'll be in it forever. I'm not one to turn my back on thing I like just because its become more or less popular. Not sure about most but I know I'm not the only one that'll out live the show. While the numbers may drop as some lose interest always expect some to cling forever.

 

Those like myself are much of the reason for "reboots" to many series over time. .

 

The rest think others have very much covered in good detail.

 

 

Sry for bad grammar Tia a pain typing on my phone

Edited March 22, 2013 by GrimCW

[Dr. Eggnog 203]

I think that the fandom will last for a while after the show.  Then a new generation will come in that doesn't get why it's so great and it'll slowly die down.  But the impact will still be had.

[GeekBrony 85]

3 factors:

 

1. There are people who committed time and effort into the fanworks that you see in the brony community

2. If the show finishes, think about "Double Rainboom" (the first fanmade episode thats coming March 30th) and realize that fans could create fan episodes

3. Just like Star Wars, Star Trek, Anime, etc. The whole fandom might live on after the show ends.

 

Yeah, so pretty much forever! :3

[starlight_wish 15]

i think as long as there are fans who enjoy the show, there will be a fanbase to support it. <3 i think it may be like sailor moon or dbz, even though they may end (actually, sailor moon has a new series coming out this summer! <3 so excited) everyone remembers them and keeps them up. making costumes, drawing fanart, and similar activities. ^   ^

[Unique Pinkie Pie 173]

it shall live

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1zZAyLemrI

 

because there will be more and more fans and i doubt it will all just end tomorrow

or will it?

that is the question

[MatrixChicken 879]

I think the brony community will last on for a good long while, maybe years after the show ends. This is the case with so many other shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, for instance. The show ended years ago, but there's still many fans making artwork and such; I just started watching it sometime last year.

 

So, what I'm saying is, even after the show ends, there will still be people who had never watched it, and possibly would like it if they did. People will still be becoming bronies, and making fanart and music and videos.

 

I'd love to do voice work, but like with you, I'd rather not be screaming ponyriffic lyrics and dialogue throughout the house when my family's around. 

 

My advice: keep working at all those things you mentioned; voice work, fanart etc. Eventually, you'll be able to confidently pull it off, and I'm sure the brony community will still be around when you do.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I have seen many examples of canceled tv shows making a comeback in other media.  In recent years, "Darkwing Duck" and "Rescue Rangers" came back as comic books.  The original "Ducktales" cartoon was based on Uncle Scrooge comic books that were first published in the 1950s.  And there is the "Smurfs" movie, which has a sequel coming out soon.  Fandoms are like horror franchise killers.  They never really die for good.  

[Zygen 6,066]

I think the fandom as a whole is going to last for a long time even after FIM ends. For multiple reasons. Like the fact that the communities great, the fan content is amazing and if we already are doing great now and theres other fandoms out there lasting years and years still after the shows ended or where good or whatever, so why should this be any different.

 

I love this community and fandom. I want it to last forever to, and I think it'll last for quite a while.

 

Heck it might last even longer if G5 is any good. And even after the part of the fandom more open dies down or something which will be quite a while. We still will have people watching MLP i'm sure.

 

I think and hope this fandom will be around for a while, it may not end up being the same exact people per say, but it'll last for a while I bet. If other fandoms can last as long as they have on fan content and such alone, i imagine ours can to.

 

Plus I certainly don't want this fandom to end, I love this place. This place has made me alot less depressed, along with help from the show. Leaving is certainly one of the last things I wanna do.

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I would also like to be involved in fan-made video projects.  I am interested in both writing and voice acting.  I just do not know how become part of a group that it doing it. 

[Pilot 40]

The fandom will last for an extremely long time. There's a lot of untapped potential in the show and everything in it. Even when the show has ended, people will be creating new fan episodes and ponies for years before people start to run out of ideas.

[Ficta_Scriptor 165]

The show itself will run on for a few more years at least. I'm betting on 6 seasons, but it could very well end up being more. Even after that... It's obvious that fans will still be around. I can honestly see myself having kids and showing them the show in a few years time, and still being a part of the community. MLP fanfiction has provided me with some of the best reading experiences of my life, all made better by the fact that I can chat to the authors. The fandom will eventually shrink, but i can't see it 'dying' for a long time.

 

I'll be sticking around for at least the next few years. As many others have said, MLP has literally changed my life, and I'd hate to let go of something like that.

[King 5,625]

I would also like to be involved in fan-made video projects.  I am interested in both writing and voice acting.  I just do not know how become part of a group that it doing it. 

Search on sites like ours, and you will usually find someone who wants to do something similar. Form a group yourself and start work

[EndtheRaven 161]

I hope you all are around for a very long time. The show and community really changed my life and brought about a lot of potential I never knew I had. You guys have basically created WORLDS with your art, music, writings, etc. Theres so much that can come out of this, so much more to be created. Plus we have a bond that most people will never find in life. It's truly amazing. Even in real life, people are incorporating mlp making merchandise, in their music, various other things for business. It's like we're a society nearly. haha it's quite a lot for a fandom to accomplish in such a short time, and I think there is only more bright things ahead. 

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

Snip

 

Hello. We actually had a thread from a while back that was virtually identical to the one you made. I've merged them for the sake of convenience, and in the future please take care to use the search feature to find topics that may be similar to ones that you are planning to create .

 

On topic, as long as we can keep from petty infighting I think that the fandom has a lot of staying power. I'm certainly not going anywhere anytime soon, and there are many artists and writers who will likely continue to create fantastic work years after the show is gone. I'm fairly optimistic about the future of the community.

[Appetite4Democracy 452]

It'll probably last until the next generation of MLP comes out. By then, there'll hopefully be a new wave of bronies. That is, if MLP Gen 5 is good. Gen 6 will do the same, hopefully. I say it would last until a decade or two after the last generation of MLP. Or, at least the last GOOD generation of MLP.

 

I still hear people talking and making memes about shows that were cancelled back as far as the 80s and 90s. It's not going away.

Edited March 23, 2013 by Bloo47

[King 5,625]

Bronies have done alot more in the space of 2-3 years than other older fan bases have done in 10 + years.

Our community is very strong and supportive, and I dont see it ending any time soon as I have said before.

 

We're more of a community than a fan base to be honest though...

 

I say that with pride because we have actually transcended being a "fanbase" Its alot more then that now

[Stratos 109]

Hopefully we're around for a long time!  It took me too long to finally join the herd and I'm blown away by the new stuff I see everyday!  The fanmade art, stories, animation and music!  I feel like I'm a latecomer, but I hope that's not true in the sense that I'm coming in at the end.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

Okay, let's get real here. There are several sci-fi/fantasy fandoms that survived, and even grew, after their shows ended. Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who are the top three examples. There are other sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, literary ones, that survived the death of the author. Lord of the Rings, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Wizard of Oz are the top three examples.

 

I'm not going to go into the 'why' they survived, because that's not the point I'm working towards here. I want to talk about the 'how'.

 

What all these fandoms have in common is that at some point, they made a transition. One that many fandoms have difficulty getting past. They transitioned away from being about the individual shows/books/movies and into being about the world and it's inhabitants, the characters, the cultures, the message, the themes, the style.

 

To make that transition, the fans did not simply consume. Because if they had, the fandoms would have ended with the original stories. Instead large numbers of fans created. They theorized about the odd name changes in the Similarion. They took the small pieces given to them and built the history of the Klingon Empire. They puzzled over why and how Atlantis got destroyed no less than three separate times in Doctor Who. Essays dissecting even the smallest detail were written and shared in fanzines (pre-Internet), along with poetry, paintings, stories, and the like. New characters, created by fans, explored new worlds/lands and had new adventures all in the name of the originals. Long after the shows had ended fans were now in control of media outlets and brought their shows/movies/books back or brought them into new media with reboots, reinterpretations, continuations, etc. New fans came in and the fandoms grew.

 

The MLP fandom has everything it needs to make that transition. Fannon is rapidly evolving and filling in the gaps. Storytellers in a variety of mediums are stepping up to show their interpretations. Music, animation, poetry, conventions. We've got bronies working on pony written languages, heck, I'm aware of a couple of people writing pony literature. Not stories written *about* ponies, but stories written *for* ponies, basically creating some of the books that are on Twilight's shelves. We've got people who are also in these other long-lived fandoms who bring along their enthusiasm and desire to see it happen again.

 

We've already accomplished so much. Witness the various MLP charities, like the 'Bronies for Good' who raised money to build a clinic in Uganda, and is currently raising money for an orphanage. Other brony-driven charities and organizations are out there really and truly making the world a better place.

 

Several people have left the fandom because 'it's not about the show anymore'. This is a good thing. Because if the fandom never moves away from being 'about the show' and makes that transition into a self-driving fandom, then it really will end when the show ends and all this potential will be squandered.

 

And that will be sad.

[Wyyrd 1]

Even if the show stops airing, I shall continue my brony ways. The fandom will live on forever if we put the effort to remain loyal to our ponies. So it will last as long as the bronies decide it will last, and I believe in the bronies as a committed group!

[Dreamsong 253]

I've been deeply moved by almost everything I've experienced in and seen of the Brony community and fandom.

 

...At it's core seems to be people striving to bring into their own lives and circles of influence, the core ethos we see written into the show.

 

It feels so good to be among that... and yet I couldn't help wondering....

 

 

 

How long will the Brony fandom last?

 

How long will the Brony community last?

 

What will become of the fandom and the community when the show no longer is running?

 

 

 

Myself, I love the goodness at the core of Bronydom. It resonates so deeply and clearly with my heart... the kind of goodness I see woven in and throughout the show and carried into "the real world" by so many Bronies makes my spirit sing in sympathetic vibration.

 

I hope it lasts forever.

 

 

 

What do you think?

[Limey 524]

It has the potential to last for ages, look at Star Trek, their fandom is still going incredibly strong. Granted, when the show ends the fandom will shrink, but the main core of fans such as myself will last alot longer. I could never give it up, its just so great. Of course it will end eventually, but I cant really put an estimate on when that will happen. 20 years? 30? 50? 70? who knows?

[Up From The Ashes 56]

'Til the end of time. As long as their are fans deep down inside ourselves, the fandom of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will continue to strive onward into the years to come..

[Sonicrules831 520]

The Brony Community will always be around. See my signature? Brony4Life. Even if the show ended the fandom will still be here. The show and fandom have influenced me so much. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

[Windwaker 194]

The Brony Community will always be around. See my signature? Brony4Life. Even if the show ended the fandom will still be here. The show and fandom have influenced me so much. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

 

Yeah. I agree with him. I will always be a brony. Until the show is crap. Then I'll probably leave the fandom.

 

Babs: What's a brony?

 

I'll tell you when your older. It may cause paradoxes.

 

Babs: What's a paradox?

 

STAHP ASKING QUESTIONS!