Brony discussion split

[ZeroAX]

Anyone want to discuss the Sonic or Final Fantasy fandom instead? Those are also very entertaining.

[TSTR]

y u no liek teh cheez 7k

[dsheinem]

Anyone want to discuss the Sonic or Final Fantasy fandom instead? Those are also very entertaining.

See, again, the difference as I see it is that these are series created for both kids and adults: they are designed to have relatively wide appeal. Even Sonic, though he has a lot of non-game stuff aimed at kids, in video game form is able to appeal to a broad audience of kids, people who grew up with Sonic and are now adults, etc.

I appreciate the response from irixith earlier, but I still don't think I've gotten a good answer to the question: What is the attraction for an adult (regardless of their gender) in My Little Pony?

I see nothing in the show that isn't also present in like 90% or more of other kids cartoons that don't have giant fan communities around them. It is largely insipid, predictable, and designed for audiences that can't handle the narrative complexity of something like "Spongebob Squarepants" or the character depth of something like "Sam and Kat". Why the intense fascination and community-forming by grown-ass people around this show as opposed to any other show for the pre-teen and under set?

[AppleQueso]

I just like it.

Characters are likable and their interactions are fun to watch.

I find the aesthetic pleasant.

Do I really need any other reasons?

"But why does it have THAT LARGE an internet presence/fanbase?"

Nobody knows the answer to that. Not the fans, not the detractors, not the creators of the show, nobody. It's like asking why the internet loves cat pictures so much, it's just one of those weird things the internet decided to run with.

[dsheinem]

I just like it.

Characters are likable and their interactions are fun to watch.

I find the aesthetic pleasant.

Do I really need any other reasons?

"But why does it have THAT LARGE an internet presence/fanbase?"

Nobody knows the answer to that. Not the fans, not the detractors, not the creators of the show, nobody. It's like asking why the internet loves cat pictures so much, it's just one of those weird things the internet decided to run with.

But it isn't like cat pictures - cats are loved/hated pretty much the same across demographics. There's no "barrier to interest" with cats, but there is with My Little Pony.

I am not trying to condemn anyone for liking the show or its style, etc. - I AM trying to figure out what the appeal is for adults (especially over what seem like so many other similar kids shows). Spongebob, for example, does a lot of pop culture riffing, plays with genre in interesting ways, etc. There's a lot of satire and parody at work, which gives it that "can be appreciated at different levels" vibe.

Frankly, I think that many people who are "critical" of bronys probably try to give them the benefit of the doubt first and, after actually watching the show and seeing how hugely childish it is, can only attribute the liking of the show to an unusual interest in stuff that is designed for kids (which has historically had connotations of "creeper," "short bus," etc. ) OR that they are primarily interested in being confounding for the sake of being confounding (in other words, they are seeking attention or are trying to annoy people). When someone sees the autism-spectrum coded badges, when someone sees lots of unexpected gender dynamics, etc - those assumptions are reinforced by (largely unfair) stereotypes.

Personally, I don't think that any of these more "insulting" explanations for fandom is the case - but hearing the community say "we can't explain our interest" doesn't provide a reasonable set of other explanations for me to latch on to, either. The community needs to do a much better job of clarifying what it is that an adult audience can derive from the show...

[TSTR]

And clarifying why they need traffic lights to talk to each other.

[dunpeal2064]

Here's how I see it:

Me: Watches the OG Power Rangers series, wears a tee: Okay!
GF: Watches some MLP: Okay!
GF: Watches some Power Rangers: Still okay!
Me: watches some MLP: nah you fuckin creep, get off ma kid's dick

And that's not right. Power Rangers is fucking awful.

[AppleQueso]

I can tell you why **I** like the show, (General Norris Erik Twice summed up its merits pretty nicely, certainly better than I could, it's a character show basically, and its appeal is something that imo takes time to grow on you as you familiarize yourself with the cast) but I can't tell you why anyone else does, and to be frank I found the stuff I'd seen coming out of the fandom even **more** perplexing after I actually started watching it.

So IDK, a lot of this discussion is just retreading the same ground that has been tread ever since the 'brony' thing started. It's kinda tired. I'm not part of the 'community' or whatever, I don't really care to try and explain to people what they're all about because frankly I have no idea anyways and I'm not sure why anyone else is so particularly concerned.

It's a show about talking rainbow horses. A bunch of people inexplicably like something that you don't understand the appeal of. It happens.

Really I'm kinda mad I let myself get roped into all this.

[ZeroAX]

Anyone want to discuss the Sonic or Final Fantasy fandom instead? Those are also very entertaining.

See, again, the difference as I see it is that these are series created for both kids and adults: they are designed to have relatively wide appeal. Even Sonic, though he has a lot of non-game stuff aimed at kids, in video game form is able to appeal to a broad audience of kids, people who grew up with Sonic and are now adults, etc.

No they weren't. Final Fantasy was created for teenagers and Sonic was created for kids. The fact that they have universal appeal has to do more with their excellent design (more or less when it comes to FF). It's the same for Disney films compared to other animated films. But most people who don't actually play games/watch animated films, when they see an adult doing it they will call him childish and a man-child.

I don't mind those charactirizations personally mind you, I'm way past the age where what other random people think of even registers, but I also make sure not to judge others for what they like. And I repeat, does a community like "gamers" have the right to judge others, when gamers like "dressing up" as made up people, or when they threaten with death and rape a woman who just made a bunch of youtube videos saying "you know what, I'm bored of seeing women in video games as just boobs"(more or less). Not to mention that many gamers (specially MMO players) have addiction problems with games.

Now I know you didn't take the brony example to such an extreme, but I'm just saying, there are many extreme stereotypes out there. And if nothing else, I've never heard the brony community actually hurting someone.

[dsheinem]

I'm not part of the 'community' or whatever, I don't really care to try and explain to people what they're all about because frankly I have no idea anyways and I'm not sure why anyone else is so particularly concerned.

It's a show about talking rainbow horses. A bunch of people inexplicably like something that you don't understand the appeal of. It happens.

But you see how that comes across?

"I just like it 'because'! If you don't get it, oh well! I refuse to provide explanations that defuse your insulting assumptions! Thhhbbbbbt!"

And thus no progress is made, and the ideas that people enjoy it JUST for the sake of confounding people or getting attention (at best) or perhaps due to mental wiring issues or dangerous libidos (at worst) persist...