Tell Me about When You Came Out as a Brony

[shroommu 10]

Hiii, I'm Shroom!

 

I'm currently writing a paper for my English 2010 class about the brony culture as someone who is not involved in your community. I'd like to collect some stories you guys have about coming out to your friends, family, or coworkers as a brony. What kind of reactions did you receive? Did people treat you differently once you'd revealed your "true identity"? Were they surprised when you told them, or did they see it coming?

 

If you don't mind talking about it, you're welcome to either post your story here in this thread or PM it to me.

 

Thanks for your time!

[Guest90210 3,569]

I'm sure most people's stories are a lot different from mine, but one day I came from the mall with a brony hat. My mom saw it and said "It has a pony on it...Kids these days. Must just be some trend", and didn't say anything after that. I've never felt the need to explain it any further than that to anyone. Everyone else I know just assumed it has to be good in some way for me to like it, or just don't care to ask.

Edited May 4, 2014 by Rivendare

[GaleFenrir 281]

Well, I suppose I'm kind of odd in that I never treated it like a big deal. I just off-handedly mentioned to my friends one day that MLP:FiM was neat. That was about the end of it.

 

/shrugs

[Owldelicious 17]

After watching the first couple episodes, I was hooked and decided I liked the show. I haven't gone up to anybody to explicitly say, "Hey, I'm a brony!"; instead, I simply started wearing merch in public.

[Odyssey 5,719]

Well, thankfully, after I admitted to my parents that I'm a brony, they're pretty content with it. Even then, I sort of regret saying so, since my mother often tells me rather embarrassing questions such as "How was that new MLP episode?" or whatnot.

 

I have a brother who is fine with my interest in FiM, but he is indifferent to the show. I don't really like talking about ponies with him since he wouldn't really care about what I have to say about it.

 

When I talk about something from FiM, I try my best to not mention that it comes from FiM, since I want to avoid negative reactions. I do tell my closest friends, though, and a fair few of them are actually bronies. c:

[Discordian 6,021]

I never "came out". Saying it like that would imply it's something I ever tried to hide. I've always been pretty open about liking MLP. I don't make a big deal out of liking the show in either a positive or negative manner.

 

I tell people all the time that if you don't make a big deal out of it, neither will anyone else. For the most part this is true. No one's treated me any differently since I started watching the show except one group of assholes who tried to call me a pedophile for liking the show. After a few months of it I just left that site, even though it was my main forum at the time. It wasn't just because of that but they never let up. To them I was a horrible person who shouldn't be allowed to live but they thought that before they even knew I was a brony, that just accentuated it all.

[Scootalove 10,692]

When I came out as a brony, I was really surprised to like a show that I never about until I became a brony. Frankly, no one made fun of me when I came out as one since I kept it as a secret for a while.

[FlitterFlutter 1,595]

This is how I told my mom that i liked My little Pony. well here is some back story to start with. I was about 16 and I started to relies that I liked the show that would not have been an issue if i did not want a rainbow dash plush so bad and I had no credit card to get on. So I was forced to tell my mom. I was petrified that she might think of me as less of a son or something like that. But I wanted the plush so bad I did it anyway.
I decided to start the conversation and be as quick and blunt as I could no beating around the bush for this guy. I just said "mom I like My Little Pony" she just looked at me for a while with that look that only a mother can give you that she said "OK why should I care?". It was the best thing that she could of said she just simply did not care. So in short no nothing changed non of my friends cared no one treated me different. In fact I made a couple friends that where also a fan of the show. I hope that my story helps you on your paper feel free to use it. Also you can PM me if you have any outer questions of need help with the paper.            

[Shanks 10,817]

My Mom was the first to find out by seeing my Applejack shirt, I was going to tell her anyway so no biggie and her initial reaction was positive actually, of course my brother finds out who has a rather shall we say inaccurate view of the fandom and came up with the brilliant idea of telling my Mom about the R34 and fed her this load of bullshit about there supposedly being a bunch of pedophiles in the brony fandom which he probably got from Howard Stern (he is a big Howard Stern fan). Sure I am not being accused of either but that made things way more awkward than it should have been. Before then I occasionally wore my Applejack or Twilight Sparkle shirts in public because I saw them as no different than say my Batman shirt, I do it behind both of their backs but the thing is I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO! My Mom has this unfounded fear that I will get jumped by a bunch of nutjobs for wearing a pony shirt in public but lets get real here, I am a 6 foot tall 315 pound weight lifter the odds of me being jumped while not entirely impossible are fairly slim because muggers tend to be pathetic cowards and the worst reaction I got was some inbred hillbilly piece of trash giving me the evil eye.

Edited May 4, 2014 by EarthbendingProdigy

[King Sejong 859]

   I came across the show by accident, it was on Saturday 26, 2011 after Thanksgiving, I was preparing to spend the weekend with my mother, I had time so I turned on the TV, I saw My Little Pony was on, prior I have heard praise about the show, so I thought I check it out and see what made it so beloved, that was the première of Mysterious Mare Do Well, and I was impressed, after my weekend was over I began to watch the previous episodes to catch up, suddenly I began to watch the episodes over again, and the show came into my life at the right moment. I was struck by PTSD from my military years, the stress of city life and my family's distance triggered major anxiety, although I had odd jobs, it was a hard existence equal to what I experienced in the navy, but MLP kept me happy when all I wanted to do was nothing, then came season three I had more stability by that point, so I began to watch the show regularly, and I was entertained and intrigued, then I cam across bronies on the internet for the first time, so I found myself relating to most of them, especially military bronies, it was great to see so many enthusiastic with MLP, after Magical Mystery Cure I was emotionally moved, and would end with me joining the herd. In August, I saw fan made videos like Button Mash, Snowdrop, Double Rainboom and pony music videos, and I thought they were amazing, just to see the amount of talent that went into this work, next like before I came across Equestria Girls by accident, at first I thought it was another fan made video, until I saw the credits, then I realised it was real, after it was over I was so moved, it began to look for brony sites, so I came here. This fandom is great, I have made so many friends, and it has improved my demeanour, now I have my own business, a new home, a new laptop, now I want to do something amazing with the ponies, and post my work on the internet, but most of all I want to meet bronies, and see what we can do together for the ponies we have come to admire, I attend my first brony meet up in a week, and I am eager to welcome new friends, all united by this extraordinary show.    

[Avatar tag: shipping 299]

I told my friends long before my parents. The conversation with my friends went something like this:

"Have you guys watched the new MLP show yet?"

"Lol nope."

"It's actually pretty good."

"You seriously watch that?"

"Yeah."

"K, whatever."

They didn't expect it but they don't treat me any different.

 

My family was a different story. I went to a local brony convention last summer and didn't tell them where I went. Months of curiosity went by before they decided to use the internet to find out what was going on that weekend. (Yeah, I figured that would've been the first thing they would've tried but whatever). There was an artists convention going on as well that weekend and that's where they originally thought I was. Until they saw the website for the brony convention and took a look on the slim chance I might have went there. On the site, in the photos section, was a photo of the vendor hall. I was right in the foreground in a department shirt.

 

They didn't say anything for months before my mom saw a coupon for MLP merch in the paper and pointed it out to me. Once I found out the knew, life was awkward for a short time. My mom was curious and wanted to know more about our fandom, my dad thought I was gay and didn't want to talk about it, and my sister thought it was weird. However, once I explained that I just watch the show and don't sit in my room brushing little ponies' hair, they warmed up to it and they all embrace it.

Edited May 4, 2014 by FMStorm

[shroommu 10]

Here is the completed essay, in case anyone is interested. Thanks for all your help!

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/97168-thanks-for-your-help-and-an-essay-about-bronies/

[Scoots and Dash 208]

I was in the car, headed to drop a friend off back at his house and I just blurted out that I liked My Little Pony Friendship is Magic to my Dad to prove to my best friend I didn't care what people thought about it. Since then I openly say quotes from the show or do little things that people notice. Some people notice what's it's from, others just shrug and look the other direction. I've never had someone go super hater on me. Someone remarked that he hates me jokingly, nothing more.

[Arctic Night 884]

I only "come out" as a brony if someone asks. Of course, nobody asks me if I'm a brony.

Edited May 7, 2014 by King Ghidora