Hiding the fact that you're a brony in public.

[Jorgito93]

I don't consider myself a brony anymore, but i really don't care about what people think of me when i buy ponies.It's none of their business.

[Ponyfan]

I'm not a brony  but there have been a few times when I've bought pony stuff that I've been thrown off guard  by people's reaction. One time I was at Walmart buying some DVDs and had a pony one on top. There was one lady in front of me and the cashier asked if those movies were hers. The lady in front of me rudely said "I wouldn't buy those types of movies" and I said "Those are mine" or something like that.  I went to Gamestop and saw they had the Guardians of Harmony Chrysalis  statue with two Changelings. It was on the top shelf and I couldn't reach it so I had to ask a store employee for help. I told him exactly what I wanted and he said "You want what?" I then had to point it out to him because he claimed he couldn't see it on the top shelf although it was in plain sight. The last time was when I bought BAB Starlight Glimmer at the BAB store that just opened at my local mall. The employee asked me if I was buying her as a gift for a special child. (I think I read somewhere that BAB employees are required to ask who the animal is for.) I replied it was for me and that I had several of the BAB ponies that I bought online.

Ponyfan

[KarentheUnicorn]

I've been liking MLP for 34 years, not really what you'd call a brony and I don't identify myself as a brony.

But, I've never found a need even as a teenager/young adult to hide the fact that I like MLP (since I started liking MLP at about 11 years old back in the 80's). I really didn't/don't care what people think about me liking MLP.

If people wanted to talk about me or make fun of me for what I like, well that's on them not me. You gotta realize, people are going to do it anyway, no matter what you do, so why worry about it?

You can't control what people think, do, or say so WHY let those same people have control over you?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Ehhhhh I stopped caring long ago what cashiers say when I spend money... unless they get too judgemental.  Then it's straight to their manager to explain that as a retail employee, their opinion means nothing.  Take the customers' money, don't make commentary...   
 

I mean, I used to buy really odd things together JUST to weird out the cashiers.  Try walking up to a register with fruit, rope and Vaseline in your cart.    Or toothpicks and tampons.  Ponies seem pretty normal compared to little ol' me in a creative mood! 

[Mewtwofan1]

 

I mean, I used to buy really odd things together JUST to weird out the cashiers.  Try walking up to a register with fruit, rope and Vaseline in your cart.    Or toothpicks and tampons.  Ponies seem pretty normal compared to little ol' me in a creative mood!

Haha! 

[silverdragon54]

I mean, I used to buy really odd things together JUST to weird out the cashiers.  Try walking up to a register with fruit, rope and Vaseline in your cart.    Or toothpicks and tampons.  Ponies seem pretty normal compared to little ol' me in a creative mood!

Disposable painter's coveralls and six rolls of duct tape, when I started to make my pony fursuit. 

I wear my bronyness on my sleeve. I have a little plushie Applejack hanging on my backpack, I wear pony shirts sometimes, and I plan to embroider some cutie marks on my hat!

[SunbeamV]

I think if you've seen the way the brony fandom conducts itself, and then still self identify as part of that, you may indeed want to keep that under wraps in public.

[Gator]

I'm an adult collector, but secret about it.  My ponies are hidden away.  If I find something to buy, I lie and say it's for my sister or niece. 

[lostpony]

First, I'm no Brony...not that I'm any better or anything; I'm worse.

I wear pony T-shirts everywhere except to work.  I forget I'm wearing them and once I had a lady working at the music store ask me why adults like to watch my little pony and I was wondering, why's she asking me? then I remembered I was wearing a Rainbow Dash shirt, haha.  My shirts are getting pretty worn out and I need to get new shirts; I'm getting G1 ponies next time.

I buy all sorts of pony stuff, not just mlp but generic unicorns and such (even Wells Fargo horses) and sometimes I've had cashiers ask about my kids and I'm like, I don't have any kids.  These are for me.  A worker at my thrift store once said that I always find her such nice things, and I was like, You know she's me right?  The result is they sometimes tell me if there is a pony in the store I should check out when I come in, and casual conversation about if I found any ponies that day.  There's a babies n toddlers store near where I work that I go through a couple times a week and I don't think they get many adult collectors and a couple of times they've had a pony for me behind the counter when I come in.  A few weeks ago they had a used Starlily for $25 in superclean perfectly working condition and when I pointed at it they said We thought of you when this came in.

I'm right out in the open with it, and I'm very sorry to hear about any negative experiences anyone has had by being judged according to the misbehavior of those few who ruin our public image.  I'm also very sorry the OP missed out on some discount plushes because of being shy about it.  I understand not everyone wants to deal with the potential judgment. 

Oh this reminds me, I was taking my Masquerade picture for the Bathing Beauty contest in a little pocket-park yesterday.  I brought a log in my Radio Flyer wagon and a bucket full of my stuff for the shoot and I was right there on the grass setting up and shooting openly on a bit of grass towards one corner while people had their kids playing in other parts of the park.  I was all comfortable and into it, on my stomach shooting upwards and such.  At one point a young man tapped me on the shoulder and said Little Pony? and I nodded and we grinned at each other for a second and then he moved on and I went back to shooting.

Lastly, a lot of workers at Build-a-Bear have their own ponies at home, or Sonic, or other characters.  They hire people in particular who like that kind of thing and who aren't going to be judgmental of adult collectors.  When I went in there all persnickety about how I wanted my Luna wings and picking out the right one (their individual head shape etc does vary a little), the girl was happy to help me find the right one and stuff her exactly the way I wanted, and said she's more used to the kids and didn't get to help a collector every day.  I guess the kids are thrilled to have their ponies and not so OCD about the details as I am.  I think if any worker was judgmental about an adult collector in any way, that worker would quickly be fired.  BaB is a class act, and you never need to be shy about going in there to buy for yourself so those of you who are timid about doing so should really make an exception for BuildaBear.

[Leave a Whisper]

I'm also in the not a brony camp, but definitely an adult collector (g1-g3), and I... literally leapt spectacularly through a 2nd hand shop just yesterday and grabbed a pony. And bought her. xD I alsosometimes wear pins or stuff on bags, and I have a few primark and h&m pony clothing items. other than that, it's not really too obvious until you enter my house xD I have all my army ponies displayed in the middle of my living room and in case someone is visiting that doesn't know I collect I just go 'oh, yeah, that's 1/3rd of my MLP collection. I collect ponies'.

I just imagined you executing an amazing leap over the heads of several customers, before doing perfect pirouettes all the way up to the cash register with pony in hand.

Post Merge: June 26, 2017, 06:29:23 PM

 I'm a collector, I neither hide nor flaunt it.

Post Merge: June 26, 2017, 06:33:04 PM

Ehhhhh I stopped caring long ago what cashiers say when I spend money... unless they get too judgemental.  Then it's straight to their manager to explain that as a retail employee, their opinion means nothing.  Take the customers' money, don't make commentary...   
 

I mean, I used to buy really odd things together JUST to weird out the cashiers.  Try walking up to a register with fruit, rope and Vaseline in your cart.    Or toothpicks and tampons.  Ponies seem pretty normal compared to little ol' me in a creative mood!

[SaraMari]

Def not a brony either, But I do like G4 and fim, I have a fim shirt I wear quite regularly and it has unfortunately caused bronies to talk to me. I wear g1 shirts sometimes too, but I like to keep them nice so it's not as often.

I don't hide my pony love, I'm at the thrift stores several times per week buying ponies and toys. Never get asked about it. On the rare occasion a cashier does say "oh is this for your kid?" (And I always say no, it's for my huge toy collection!) I've found they actually just ask as a segway to talk about their own kids...

And having cashiered in the past, I literally didn't even look or notice what people were buying. I just wanted to get them out of line asap. Small talk about the weather or day and get you out.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I wouldn't consider myself to be a part of the brony fandom (I've got some online friends in the fandom and do follow the works of some people in it however) since I love every generation of MLP to death, but I don't hide my interest in MLP from people.

I don't really care if people see me going through the toy aisle in stores looking at ponies or going to the toys in thrift shops searching for them, I like what I like and I don't care what others think. Ponies make me happy.

Of course I don't like try to make it obvious that I collect ponies either. Just like everything else I like, maybe some times I'll wear a T-shirt with a pony design on it when I'm out.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

People I work with know I like ponies.  I have mini funko Luna and Celestia in my office, next to my Dobby Buddha, Smaug Funko, and Jiji (Kiki's Delivery Service) bean bag plush.  I got paid to go to Comic Con last year (I love my job) and the other girl that got to go with me saw that I'd bought a bunch of G1s from one of the booths (and the seller gave me a discount because I made a comment about deflocking the so-softs I was buying and making them pretty again because they were in very sorry shape). 

But sometimes when I buy stuff from the store I do use my 13 nieces and nephews as an excuse to buy toys and kids DVDs.  It depends on my mood that day and how "open" I want to be with strangers who decide to have random conversations with me because I'm not really a people person to begin with.

[Shiverdam]

I'm a collector of ponies and I would never call myself a Brony (too many negative connotations) but you bet I don't hide it. Why should I? It's a part of who I am. Plus, the more people know, the more eyes you have on the lookout

[Wardah]

I'm more of a toy collector and cartoon fan in general than a brony. But weird thing is especially when I was younger I was more worried that they would think I was buying them for my (actually nonexistent) child than that I was "too old" to be buying toys.