The strange world of Bronies

Discussion in 'Art & Culture' started by Magical Realist, Aug 27, 2014.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    Inside the Bizarre World of ‘Bronies,’ Adult Male Fans of ‘My Little Pony’

    They build motorcycles. They drink beer. And they love ‘My Little Pony.’ And—would you believe—there’s not anything wrong with that.

    Adult male fans of My Little Pony are people, too.

    That’s the crux of A Brony Tale, a documentary that takes you inside the unusual and unexpected community of grown men who live and breathe everything related to Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the rest of the pastel-colored animated equine friends. For the uninitiated, My Little Pony is a toy and merchandise enterprise that first became popular in the ’80s, but experienced resurgence in 2010 when the animated series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic popularized the franchise for a new generation of little girls. And also, apparently, adult men.

    These adult men call themselves Bronies. And they’re not what you think.

    They’re not overly effeminate. Many aren’t gay. They aren’t predatory, or even being ironic. They are just guys. Dudes. Dudes who like My Little Pony.

    Just take it from “Dustykatt,” the pseudonym for the first brony we meet in A Brony Tale, and the self-described “manliest” brony in the world. “I can build a custom motorcycle from scratch, can weld, and worked as a lube guy at a GM dealership,” Dustykatt says. “And on top of that, I watch a show for little girls.”

    And he’s not alone. There is an entire online community of Bronies that has blossomed out of the message boards and fan sites and into the real world. The BronyCon convention planned for August already has 10,000 confirmed attendees.

    There are many misconceptions about the Brony community that A Brony Tell sets out to dispel, and among them is how the community started, and how they got their name. Surprisingly, and against what most think, “Brony” isn’t a combination of “bro” and “pony.” The name actually comes from where the movement began, on the web community 4chan.

    Back in October 2010, near when My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic premiered, a few people, likely guys who stumbled upon the show or were forced to watch it with a daughter or a niece, posted on the 4chan boards that the show was actually quite good. They became a micro-community, discussing and praising the show. Soon, others came across the group and decided to check out the show to see if it was as good as they said it was. Then they started posting about it, too. So the name actually comes from where the community started, on the “b” 4chan message boards. Bronies.

    “What we realized when filming this is that Bronies isn’t about guys liking a girl’s show—it’s about the community they’ve created,” Brent Hodge, the filmmaker behind A Brony Tale, tells The Daily Beast. “That’s a big line for the Bronies: ‘We came for the show but stayed for the community.’”

    But “coming for the show” is the interesting thing here, and the thing that most people are having a hard time wrapping their brain around. Even Ashleigh Ball, who voices the characters of Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the My Little Pony series, agrees: “The pervert alarm definitely went off in my head when I first about it,” she says in the documentary. In the film, Ball serves as our entryway into the Brony community—the rational, skeptical voice who needs to be convinced that these guys aren’t creepy wackos, that they come from a pure, fun place that makes their movement worth embracing..."===http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...ronies-adult-male-fans-of-my-little-pony.html

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  3. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Many aren't gay. Or being ironic.
    Mmmh...........
     
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  5. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Formulations

    Quite frankly, after years of seeing men be manly by wearing sports jerseys from out of town, or owning and bragging about guns they don't need, and accepting that they are being neither gay nor ironic, I appreciate a bit of diversity about manhood. Because, really, in today's politicized world where empowered majorities losing their privileges complain about how they're being made to feel ashamed of who and what they are, it's true that the only thing in the world that could possibly make me feel ashamed of being a human male would be my fellow males.

    And the way around that is simple enough. Rather than trusting that their idea of what a man should be has anything to do with reality, I just fuck 'em. Oh, wait, that formulation doesn't quite work, but you know what I mean.

    I just say, "Fuck 'em", or something like that.
     
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  7. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Figured I may as well chime in here:

    I came to the show by way of my niece - she was watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - the current incarnation, or Gen 4 as it is known, when I came in from running errands; figured I'd stop by and say hi to my mother in law (since unlike most families, we actually get along!) and what not. And I saw her (my niece) glued to the TV, but couldn't see what was on - I could hear it though... and as a music nerd, it caught my attention. Melody, countermelody, beautiful harmony, a blending of tones and voices that reminded me of my ACDA Championship choir days... so I asked what she was watching.

    She was five at the time... and her response was to point at the TV and grin and say "I'm watching My Little Pony!"

    Now... my first thought was disbelief... the My Little Pony I knew of (from my childhood) was the Gen 3... well... terror that is this:

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    Typical childrens crap, with plots about as thick as 1 ply toilet tissue and music, voice acting, and animation to match...

    Imagine my surprise to come over and see that it was, in fact, My Little Pony... but a new incarnation, imagined by Lauren Faust, creator of Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, The PowerPuff Girls, and an animator for The Iron Giant.

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    A brand new art style, with succinct, crisp animation (all sprite based, amazingly enough), a voice-acting cast that ranges from the incredible Tara Strong (who you may know as Dil Pickles from Rugrats, Melody from The Little Mermaid II, Ben Tennyson from Ben Ten, Bubbles from PowerPuff Girls, Angel from Leroy & Stitch, Raven from Teen Titans, Poof and Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents, and a host of other roles) as the shows primary protagonist, Twilight Sparkle, all the way to John De Lancey (Q from Star Trek) as Bad-Guy turned Good Discord, spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, right through to musical sensation Ashleigh Ball (who voices Applejack and Rainbow Dash) who voiced Allura from Voltron, Black Widow in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and is the lead singer and flautists in Hey Ocean!, a vancouver based indie-band.

    The music is written primarily by Daniel Ingram, who has won several Leo Awards for musical scores (five at last count) and a trio of Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding original songs.

    The song, in question - Winter Wrap Up - http://youtu.be/IFPLN1001Fs?t=20s ( I apologize, the video is slightly out of sync, but it's worth a listen in HD)

    The episode in question touches on a subject virtually every child experiences - trying to find out how and where you fit in.

    It is, without a doubt, one of the single greatest "kids" shows out there... it's cute and colorful and everything needed to get a kids attention, but it has actual morals and lessons that every kid can learn from... on top of that, there are TONS of references only adults will get... like the little Jay and Silent Bob (in pony form) Cameo, Dr. Whooves, a tribute to Dr. Who fans everywhere, heck, even Weird Al had a part in the show!

    In all seriousness, give it a watch before you judge it - it's quite good!

    However, there is a "dark side", as there is with ANY fandom... some people take it way too far... and as with anything else on the internet... Rule 34... if it exists, there's porn of it... but, again, you will get that in every fandom to some extent. Don't let the... ahem... crazies... ruin it for you

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    The Brony community has done amazing things...

    http://broniesforgood.org/
    http://www.bronythankyoufund.org/

    A few more prominent fundraisers:

     
  8. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    If it's a charity thing I understand it.
    I prefer the old My Little Ponies.
    Are there two clubs or just one?
     

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