I used to identify as a brony so I guess I'll answer too.
1. How you got into MLP and why you like it.
My best friend, a collector of MLP before FiM, talked to me about the show a lot. How she was excited for it, how Zecora was cool, etc. I'm on Reddit and dA a lot, and with my friend's love of the show (we have extremely similar tastes, almost identical) and how popular it was I decided to watch an episode or two. I was immediately hooked. How familiar it felt to the cartoons of my childhood (Powerpuff Girls and Foster's of course, as well as others) was awesome. It was one of very few recent shows I'd allow my children to watch. The characters are fun and although Rainbow's technically not a lesbian or anything of the sort, seeing a positive character LGBT kids could identify with was just too awesome.
2. Single? Married? Any dads? Any moms?
I'm in a serious relationship, we just celebrated our third anniversary earlier this month. We have a son but I'm not sure I'd fit in the "mom" category for this, as he was adopted. Lol.
3. Do you collect or just watch the show and discuss?
When I identified as a brony I only really watched the show and discussed it with my friend, but was interested in collecting the figures with molded hair (that one set and blind bags). That was because as a photographer and collector of dolls from a very windy place I've grown to really hate dealing with photographing things with hair. Its so annoying. xD However I have since begun collecting G4s, but I still try and avoid them as much as possible because I dislike supporting Hasbroken and their show about dismissing gender stereotypes and their toys about enforcing them.
4. Have you developed an interest in the other pony generations?
I did, and that was one of the reasons I no longer identify as a brony. I fell in love with G1 and after buying my first one I was hooked. I'm now a collector of all generations although I mostly have G1s and G4s at this point.
5. Any other pertinent facts I should know in order to truly understand what bronies are about!
Personally, I do not ever wish to be called a brony. In my eyes, calling me a brony would be an insult (bolded 'me' because it just relates to only me, anyone can call each other/themselves bronies and I won't care, how others choose to identify themselves is their business. However I do know other people that consider being called a brony an insult). I was very active in the brony communities of Reddit and dA for quite some time, however the communities degraded more and more as time went on. They started out as wonderful communities, full of giveaways, kindness, and fun (of course there are always bad apples though). But that didn't last long. When I left the brony community and stopped identifying as one they were not happy places. They were full of rude, judgmental people as well as heaps of scammers (I've got my own horror stories about brony artists on dA and have heard plenty of others). Not to mention the not-safe-for-kids parts of the community/fandom growing like wildfire and no longer being "that awful thing you know is there but try not to think about" and instead being "that thing you cannot avoid and run into 10+ times a day in these communities". I also am very against the brony bashing of anything pre-G4 on dA. I've seen bronies jump on artists drawing in a G3 style and telling them "they're doing it wrong" and the only way to get views/feedback is to draw G4. The artist cried and deactivated their account it got so bad. Heck, even when my artist comments (basically a description) on pre-G4 pony photos state very clearly that the ponies are not G4 bronies still get their panties in a bunch and whine about how wrong they are.
And before anyone jumps down my throat, I don't have anything against bronies that are good people. The issue I have is with the brony community as a whole based on my experiences. I don't know if the specific brony communities I mentioned have gotten better or worse, but I do not wish to find out. I've never run into a rude brony here on MLPArena, heck I've only ever run into one rude person period, so obviously I am not talking about the bronies here, but the bronies in the communities I've mentioned. And if anyone decides to quote me out of context and try to say I hate all FiM fans or something and make me look like some awful person, prepare for extreme fakie grenades. XP
"Some people have been called bronies because they collect MLP, regardless of generation or if they watch the show."
Bronies are FiM fans, and only FiM fans. It is not a blanket term for MLP collectors.
"Some people have been called bronies because they collect MLP, regardless of generation or if they watch the show."
Bronies are FiM fans, and only FiM fans. It is not a blanket term for MLP collectors.
Ah sorry. Just saying what I have heard before.
Its alright. Its just that some collectors don't want to be referred to as bronies, and some would find it offensive to be personally called a brony. MLP was around before FiM and bronies and some people don't understand/respect that and older collecters can get really upset/angry/defensive/etc about it. It can be a touchy subject is all. :3