Is anyone else on the brink of losing total interest in G4?

[Wardah]

Media hubs pick up on what is trending, but in the 1990s, it would have taken a considerable amount of effort for the material to have become so widespread. Now it takes nothing at all. That is the actual difference. It isn't scope. It's era.

I am relatively certain it /is/ a matter of scope - a tiny niche collector community being at odds with itself over a new version of some toy would not have merited mass media attention then or now - not sensational enough.  Yes it might have gotten some tmblr posts, but having news articles on the television would not have happened as it has with G4 nor would it have reached the general public's knowledge. 

I have been a pony fan since I got my first Cotton Candy in the early 80's.  I remember life before internet.  I remember internet before it had pictures or web domains, web-rings, search engines, and relying on descriptions to make trades.  I remember struggling to get RealPlayer to work so I could listen to the newest audio clip on Dream Valley, and building my own pages in GeoCities.  I got My Little Pony Monthly by e-mail.  So trust me when I say, I remember.  It's actually what made me leave for a very long time.

Whether we see bronies as part of our community or not, the point I was trying to make is that the general public doesn't differentiate.  The saying goes you only get one chance at a first impression, and like it or not G4-bronydom has become the first impression of us as a whole for many people outside our tiny corner of the 'net.

I honestly want to like bronies but some of them are just really unbearable. Like I was excited at all the fanarts and customs and remixes and some brony people were genuinely nice and took FiMs lessons to heart. I'm sure they don't appreciate the negative connotations either. Bad eggs have to ruin it for everyone and not just with pony. For example if I talk about liking anime there's always some people who equate all anime with the adult stuff.

[Taffeta]

Media hubs pick up on what is trending, but in the 1990s, it would have taken a considerable amount of effort for the material to have become so widespread. Now it takes nothing at all. That is the actual difference. It isn't scope. It's era.

I am relatively certain it /is/ a matter of scope - a tiny niche collector community being at odds with itself over a new version of some toy would not have merited mass media attention then or now - not sensational enough.  Yes it might have gotten some tmblr posts, but having news articles on the television would not have happened as it has with G4 nor would it have reached the general public's knowledge. 

I have been a pony fan since I got my first Cotton Candy in the early 80's.  I remember life before internet.  I remember internet before it had pictures or web domains, web-rings, search engines, and relying on descriptions to make trades.  I remember struggling to get RealPlayer to work so I could listen to the newest audio clip on Dream Valley, and building my own pages in GeoCities.  I got My Little Pony Monthly by e-mail.  So trust me when I say, I remember.  It's actually what made me leave for a very long time.

Whether we see bronies as part of our community or not, the point I was trying to make is that the general public doesn't differentiate.  The saying goes you only get one chance at a first impression, and like it or not G4-bronydom has become the first impression of us as a whole for many people outside our tiny corner of the 'net.

Your experiences and mine are pretty similar, in a nutshell. We don't actually disagree on the overall issue - where we differ is how we see the manifestation of the brony madness. I see it as the advance of technology and the web generation and you see it as a more widespread phenomenon because of it's publicity, but the two are interrelated.

In short, you couldn't have had this happen for G2, even if G2 was popular like G4, because the mediums didn't exist. But the reason I think G1/G2 is worse is that these were people who knew each other well before hand, even got along well beforehand, and they were ripped apart by something that, in hindsight, was ridiculous and toxic. We were all too young to behave like adults about it, so it gained traction inside the community.

It's true that there was no wider seismic impact. But maybe this is where we differ? I think that a community civil war where parties that were formerly friends turn on one another over semantics is a bigger tragedy and a harder thing to overcome.

I don't deny that bronyism has damaged pony collecting reputations, but I have talked to more people about my ponies since being an adult than I ever did in the nineties. I guess what I'm saying is that it was much more personal then than it is now. Now it's generic people being idiots. Yes, they create a stir, but I don't agree that the taint will never fade. I think it will, because the media will get bored and the fad fans will go away and we will still be here.

But if the G1/G2 war had really cut up the community in the way it threatened to do at the time, none of us would be here at all. To me that's much worse.

People outside shouldn't be dictating how we think and feel about our collection. I realise that's an idealist statement, because of course, it does. But the only way to change that opinion is to not hide it and let the world continue to think that MLP = brony lunacy. For me, if brony lunacy is impacting on how we behave and whether we are embarrassed to talk about our collection - they have won, and they do dominate the pony community.

This is from the girl who has taken a small G4 pony all over the place in Japan and who has been looked at funny a few times on the trip for putting said pony on the top of sign posts or on fences or whatever to take a photo of her in x location. I do this to send home to my sister, in an ongoing Fluttershy's log of Japan. I don't care if the Japanese - or anyone else - thinks I'm strange. I already know that.

For the record, I left the pony community for a long time because of active bullying by two community members that involved intimidation and threats and spreading lies about me and my family to the online community. They were popular and feared so nobody did anything. They were Shadows. I was not. Maybe I feel this on a more personal level for that reason. But I came back, and they are gone. So I see that as a sign that bad things really don't taint good things forever.

[Leave a Whisper]

That's a good question and seems to have a bearing on how people feel about G4 or being proud of loving ponies.

One possible answer I think is that before G4, MLP wasn't really recognized by the mainstream so much and G4 really became well known.  The mainstream has a limited attention span so one aspect is assumed to represent the entirety of a subject.  Therefore if you are a fan of MLP, you must be a brony. 

Of course the mainstream has a good attention span for seedy things so whatever negative stuff they've heard must also apply to you. 

For example, I always wear a pony T-shirt to church for the last year.  My congregation is getting used to it, and some weeks ago I had a conversation where one brother said So you're a brony?  He said that because that's all he knows about adult MLP fans.  When I said no, I am into my little pony but I'm NOT a brony, he asked why.  I said bronies mostly like only the current show, and I love all My Little Pony including all the older stuff, and that bronies have other passions that I don't necessarily know of, or ascribe to.  It's like a club, and I have no interest in joining it.

I think if G1 adult pony lovers were more known before, then the distinction wouldn't be as hard to conceive of. 

Also of course there are people out there (especially on Youtube comments and probably lots of other places I don't go to have experienced it so much) that are out to offend everyone they can, and knowing that not all adult pony fans are bronies, they call us that saying things like "adult MLP fans are bronies", and when you say no I'm not, they say Yes you are and enlightened conversation ensues.

Those are some really good answers.

[lostpony]

Thanks, LaW.

A lot to think about here, as to viewing the present through the lens of the past.  Negativity is harbored on both sides of a split, and does not foster unity...but over time the flame wars fade away, and those with love for ponies remain.  This will be true again.

Yay another Le Miz fan.  I too like to pose ponies for pictures and when I did it in Yosemite, I have to admit I looked for opportunities with less bystanders but those who caught me in the act were supportive not displeased.  Every pony needs to dream.  Unity is the dream I dream.

Brony madness <-- how soon can this be a meme?  When the Brony Madness fades, pony love will remain.

Life before Internet?  Come on, you geezers are just making that up to scare children.

[Leave a Whisper]

Thanks, LaW.

A lot to think about here, as to viewing the present through the lens of the past.  Negativity is harbored on both sides of a split, and does not foster unity...but over time the flame wars fade away, and those with love for ponies remain.  This will be true again.

Yay another Le Miz fan.  I too like to pose ponies for pictures and when I did it in Yosemite, I have to admit I looked for opportunities with less bystanders but those who caught me in the act were supportive not displeased.  Every pony needs to dream.  Unity is the dream I dream.

Brony madness <-- how soon can this be a meme?  When the Brony Madness fades, pony love will remain.

Life before Internet?  Come on, you geezers are just making that up to scare children.

It's true whippersnapper! We really didn't have this newfangled internet that you young'uns talk about. And once...our phones had cords!

[lostpony]

And no buttons, you had to put your finger in one of the holes and go all the way around the circle, over and over until it was dialed.

Uphill in the snow with no shoes, both ways.

[Leave a Whisper]

And no buttons, you had to put your finger in one of the holes and go all the way around the circle, over and over until it was dialed.

Uphill in the snow with no shoes, both ways.

Hey c'mon now we had shoes! BK Knights were the best!

[kissthethunder]

" For me, if brony lunacy is impacting on how we behave and whether we are embarrassed to talk about our collection - they have won, and they do dominate the pony community."


I really like this statement. I also like how you brought up your own experiences in the community about toxic/bad things not lasting. And that's very true. The G1 vs G2 madness ended and there seems to be a mutual appreciation of both even when collectors don't actively dabble in one or the other. There's also the matter of G4 eventually simmering down. The show will end, the toys will dry up, and it'll be another corner of the communities whole.

I don't condemn bronies mind you, I take people on an individual basis. I've met fantastic bronies and then I've met scary ones. I collect early G4 and that collections almost complete save a few harder acquisitions like StarSwirl.

It'll run its course eventually and oddly that kinda gives me a great deal of comfort.

[Al-1701]

I do believe most of the brony community will evaporate shortly after the show ends.  Though, Hasbro has already green lit a eighth season, so I think we're sadly in for a long haul with both an uninteresting generation and an insufferable fanbase.

[LadyMoondancer]

Like it or not, the 'first impression' your average person in the first world has of a 'My Little Pony Fan/Collector' is not generally positive. 

Yes, it's stereotypical.  Yes, it doesn't represent all of us, not even a fraction. Doesn't stop folks from replying to my statement of "oh I collect My Little Pony" with "oh, you're a one of those 'bro-nies' then?' with a dubious look.  So I just don't ... mention it anymore.

I think the awareness of bronies isn't quite as widespread as it may seem.  There are people at my work who knew I collected ponies, and it was months (and in some cases years) before they would wander over and say, "Hey, did you know some GUYS collect these?  They're called 'bronies.'", like this was information I wouldn't know about, lol.

[Dandy]

I feel you, I've lost interest. I'm actually in the process of selling my G4s and focusing on only collecting G1s. They took way too long to come out with brushables that weren't repeats and focused too much on the merch I didn't care about--and while I don't have any real problems with Equestria Girls as a thing, it just seems kinda silly in a bad way and missing the point of MLP.

[lostpony]

I do believe most of the brony community will evaporate shortly after the show ends.  Though, Hasbro has already green lit a eighth season, so I think we're sadly in for a long haul with both an uninteresting generation and an insufferable fanbase.

Sure, just like G1 people and original Star Trek people all disappeared after their shows ended.

Wasn't your last post about bronies that they worship themselves not pony?  As long as you wish them gone, that's just perpetuating the rift.

While plenty here don't care for FiM, plenty more of us think it's not an "uninteresting generation".  I just got started so I hope it goes on a few seasons more and if you don't like it, well, here's a pony for you: 

[Al-1701]

What I'm saying much of the brony community are fair weather fans.  Once the show ends (whenever that is), much of them will leave for something else because it's not really about pony for them.  And those who stay will be absorbed into the larger community as we either move into the fifth generation and even life after pony.

Them already confirming Season 8 also leaves me kind of raw because it confirms the show has not lasted so long because of current reception.  At this point, it's to keep the generation alive as well as justify Hasbro's continued interest in Discovery Family.

[Leave a Whisper]

I do believe most of the brony community will evaporate shortly after the show ends.  Though, Hasbro has already green lit a eighth season, so I think we're sadly in for a long haul with both an uninteresting generation and an insufferable fanbase.

Sure, just like G1 people and original Star Trek people all disappeared after their shows ended.

Wasn't your last post about bronies that they worship themselves not pony?  As long as you wish them gone, that's just perpetuating the rift.

While plenty here don't care for FiM, plenty more of us think it's not an "uninteresting generation".  I just got started so I hope it goes on a few seasons more and if you don't like it, well, here's a pony for you: 

They mean the trendy crazies.

[Taffeta]

What I think is important from the G1/G2 lesson - and the reason I think I raised it in this thread - is that ultimately, then, the community (ie, us) ripped each other apart over stupid things that didn't matter. G2 did not stop or change the existence of G1, them existing should not have made G1 fans go nuts. Nor should G2 fans have got so gungho about organising societies and whatever to defend them. It went a bit haywire. But we learned from it.

The community (ie us, what I still call and think of as 'ponypeople', as that is not gender specific, not age specific, and basically only species specific. I apologise to any pot plants, dogs, cats, rabbits or any other living or non-living entity who feels excluded by my terminology. It is a word of the past, from that time when we had three television channels and no VCR) has moved on from that. G3, and G4 have had their critics, but the community is still intact. The community is not what bronyism has created. That is their own community. It isn't ours. They are not all bad people. Some of them are insane. But they are nothing to do with us at all.

So like we didn't need to get all het up over G2 suddenly appearing, I think that letting them annoy us too much lets them win. So that shouldn't be a reason to give up on or lose interest in G4. Giving up on G4 ought to be about the toys or the show or something related to My Little Pony. Not some random crazies who are not anything to do with us.

G2 fans, please do not think I am comparing G2 ponies to insane bronies. What I am doing is saying that the new thing doesn't change what the old thing was, and in the long run, the old thing will still be as loved. And, as with G2 and its general acceptance, those "bronies" who are not insane and who stick around will just be absorbed as fans and that will be that.

Maybe that's already happening, as there are a lot of G4 only fans here, but no longer disrespect for other generations.

So yeah, ultimately I think that if you let crazies ruin your affection for something, you are probably the one who is losing something and they are winning.