As the days progress, I am happy to see that the most recent generation, G4, of My Little Pony is becoming more and more of a success for Hasbro, and that praise to Lauren Faust and hopefully the other people who worked so hard on it is being given where it rightfully deserves. I am happy that there is such a show out there that doesn’t undermine little girls and is greatly enjoyable for families as well as both genders.
However there is something about this franchise that tends to irritate me every now and again. And what it are the older demographics who like the show, a.k.a. the Bronies.
Let’s get something straight right off the bat. I’m not at all sexist, racist, or anything else likes that. When the news broke that more and more males were getting into this show, I was very happy. Happy that there’s a show out there that both genders could enjoy, young or old. I told everyone I knew (all gender, age, etc), to watch the show cause we all could enjoy it. I felt that this would be a cool show to unite all kinds of people happily. Shoot, my boyfriend was the one who showed me the show and got me loving it in the first place. And with that I showed my best friend, she showed her boyfriend, and so on and so forth.
My problem is, we have the internet, and from what I’ve seen, we have this franchise more and more just becoming one big meme where it seems that Bronies exploit the ever loving fudge out of, be it individual characters or the show as a whole. Yes, some memes are quite humorous and harmless, but ones like Scootabuse (that people enjoy Rainbow Dash abusing a little filly like Scootaloo instead of enjoying her company) and Molestia (Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, sexually molesting someone like Twilight Sparkle or other characters) are just awful.
This whole blog is in no means attacking the community whatsoever in a way that would start fights or anything. One big pro I appreciate from this community is that because of this show, more people tend to be more at peace, and handle the hate better with trolls and whatnot. BUT, when its seems like their only line of defense is “Haters Gonna Hate” and “What only hurts us, makes us stronger” I personally believe that there is a problem. Why? Because it doesn’t hide the fact that some Bronies may go overboard with this show which, in turn, makes the rest of the world see this show and its fandom as something that may not be as welcoming as you think. Now even so it seems the general public still doesn’t fully understand the fandom and subculture. Male bronies in the fandom alone makes the world scratch their head and probably get creeped out immensely. That men are collecting little girl toys and watching a little girl’s show? People might see that as pedophilia or something. But how I saw it was that because of its popularity, that maybe Bronies think that it’d be a cool collection to one day save and then sell for bundles of money. Minus the toys, I thought if people and Bronies were to debate their love for the show, they can explain the delights from the show they get and how all can learn from it and then those not knowing the show or can accept that sub culture even more than before and possibly respect it. But it just seems that some Bronies think that just cause this show is getting so much attention means they should get outrageous i.e. change your name to one of the characters from the show or exploiting a character like Pinkie Pie to the point that she’s now seen as a murderous psychopath. This is what makes the general public want to shun the community instead of embrace it like I use to.
Now this part is just my own opinion male bronies. I think that if it wasn’t for the internet, most men probably wouldn’t give a hoot about the show and see it as just another little girl’s show. Because lots of individuals who spend their time online know how things there are more likely to reach big popularity more there then TV nowadays, least that’s how I see it. I could be greatly wrong, but think of it this way. If this show didn’t reach the popularity it did online and there was barely a trace of the show there, would the fandom be smaller since the show is on a tv network that you have to pay extra for even receive? What about international fans who have to wait months later for it to even release in their respective country, would they or any other person even want to take the time to watch it because of the way The Hub advertises the show?
Now like the pro I mentioned earlier I have many other likes to this fandom. I love how this show inspired so many artistic talents out there. I love how there’s so much wonderful artwork out there of the mane cast, the background ponies, and even oc ponies too. I love all the beautiful music mixes and original work we’ve gotten and I can’t stop singing all the songs and humming too. I love seeing videos of them on YouTube be it a YouTube poop or music vid or whatever! I enjoy that people are making games for these ponies, all different kinds of games. I’m thankful for all those kinds of Bronies out there as well as the ones who enjoy the show like me and take it for what it is without abusing the fandom and going overboard.
