I don't think I can be a pegasister anymore...

[Bounty Trotter]

Don't let the fandom dictate how you enjoy MLP. If you love the toys and love the show, keep on watching and collecting. Avoid those places where that type congregate, and stick to the pockets of sanity and tranquility like this forum. If you don't want to be called a pegasister, then don't use the term, and when someone asks if you are, just say, "Nah, I'm just a fan of MLP."

As a male fan of the G4 show, I'm kinda saddled (no pun intended) with the title brony. I don't mind it really, but I'm definitely cut from a different cloth than the typical brony. I love the show, I collect the toys, I carry my blind bag Fluttershy with me everywhere, have a couple pony shirts I wear, and I'm working on a Fluttershy costume, but I don't get into the stories or music and whatnot associated with the fandom. I do love some of the art though. I've been a geek for years and years, and I've become comfortable with liking what I like and showing it. If anyone has a problem with it, well, that's their problem and not mine!

Just remember, you dictate the fandom. Don't let the fandom dictate how YOU enjoy it.

[StarlightGaze]

I feel like I'm digging my own grave here by wanting to get more involved in the FIM fandom. I find myself acting like a fandom nanny, chiding Bronies who are misbehaving and telling them to be more tolerant, while at the same time trying to defuse drama and draw away trolls. It really is like dealing with a bunch of children! I guess it kind of goes without saying though when a bunch of people are drawn to something that's primarily meant for children. Sometimes a person's inner child can get way out of hand.

[Spike]

Don't let the fandom dictate how you enjoy MLP. If you love the toys and love the show, keep on watching and collecting. Avoid those places where that type congregate, and stick to the pockets of sanity and tranquility like this forum. If you don't want to be called a pegasister, then don't use the term, and when someone asks if you are, just say, "Nah, I'm just a fan of MLP."

As a male fan of the G4 show, I'm kinda saddled (no pun intended) with the title brony. I don't mind it really, but I'm definitely cut from a different cloth than the typical brony. I love the show, I collect the toys, I carry my blind bag Fluttershy with me everywhere, have a couple pony shirts I wear, and I'm working on a Fluttershy costume, but I don't get into the stories or music and whatnot associated with the fandom. I do love some of the art though. I've been a geek for years and years, and I've become comfortable with liking what I like and showing it. If anyone has a problem with it, well, that's their problem and not mine!

Just remember, you dictate the fandom. Don't let the fandom dictate how YOU enjoy it.

I also enjoy the art and take my time making art for it. But I also do make art for older gens. I love making G1 and G4 art..

Some of the music is good, the relaxing ones mostly! Like the princess luna dedicated night lullaby. That's a nice one. I also carry a pony everywhere. I carry DJ. Not DJ-PON3, DJ from the G1 range. She has a spinning tail mechanism.

I am pretty sure the typical brony are very insecure with admitting they're a brony to people in real life but are craaazy about it online. Too crazy imo..

[ApertureScience]

I'm the same way, but I'll tell you this:  Bronies are almost always nicer when you meet face-to-face.

[Katai]

There will always be the wierd ones and the normal ones. I'd LOVE to find some "normal" pony fans. Just regular productive adults that just happen to like ponies. But alot of folks are immature at best. They get crazy, loud, immature, childish. Its the same with most anime fans. Not all but most, and thats why I avoid them. I'd love to gush over animation and such but with some calm, QUIET people...

They''re out there though difficult to find. I have one friend now whos just that.I can nerd out with her but shes fairly normal. 9-5 job, that sorta thing. Its just nice to talk to an adult!!

[Al-1701]

I only belong to one brony board which is Equestria forums.  It's a generally friendly place.  I'm glad to say I haven't really seen the crap you people do, but I already tend to steer clear of it.  I wouldn't touch some other pony site with a ten foot pole.

However, when the brony shirt with G1 ponies on it came out, my jaw practically dropped at the conniption people through on Equestria Daily.  Maybe it's because I'm a longtime fan of G1, but I took it in stride.  If it had Fizzy and Wind Whistler on it, I would have bought one.  However, people commenting on the Equestria Daily article were treating it like a betrayal and wanted to burn whole stocks of the shirts.

I was also introduced to the ramblings of David Kerr who wrote a doctoral thesis of why the royal wedding was bad which was a wall of asinine ranting.  I actually into an argument with him about Twilight and company surrendering when the changelings already held Canterlot Tower as he believed they should have fought to the death.  I was like 1) this is a kids show 2) sometimes surrendering and waiting the enemy out is the best option.  I eventually just left the argument because he got more insane with every post.

I don't think this is a fad.  While the community will ebb, I don't think it'll disappear.  Hopefully that ebb will take the bad behavior with it.

No one requires every fan who like FiM to accept the Brony/Pegasister label.  If you don't want it, don't take it.  Be a fan of MLP and enjoy what it has to offer.

[Spike]

I only belong to one brony board which is Equestria forums.  It's a generally friendly place.  I'm glad to say I haven't really seen the crap you people do, but I already tend to steer clear of it.  I wouldn't touch some other pony site with a ten foot pole.

However, when the brony shirt with G1 ponies on it came out, my jaw practically dropped at the conniption people through on Equestria Daily.  Maybe it's because I'm a longtime fan of G1, but I took it in stride.  If it had Fizzy and Wind Whistler on it, I would have bought one.  However, people commenting on the Equestria Daily article were treating it like a betrayal and wanted to burn whole stocks of the shirts.

I was also introduced to the ramblings of David Kerr who wrote a doctoral thesis of why the royal wedding was bad which was a wall of asinine ranting.  I actually into an argument with him about Twilight and company surrendering when the changelings already held Canterlot Tower as he believed they should have fought to the death.  I was like 1) this is a kids show 2) sometimes surrendering and waiting the enemy out is the best option.  I eventually just left the argument because he got more insane with every post.

I don't think this is a fad.  While the community will ebb, I don't think it'll disappear.  Hopefully that ebb will take the bad behavior with it.

No one requires every fan who like FiM to accept the Brony/Pegasister label.  If you don't want it, don't take it.  Be a fan of MLP and enjoy what it has to offer.

Are you serious? When I saw that shirt, I thought "Hey, that's a cool shirt and probably the only pony shirt I'd buy!" I don't like the majority of bronies purely because they "bash" previous generations. I grew up to G1.

[Falconaitae]

Personally I have to give one thing to the Brony community. If they didn't make so much noise over the internet, I would never hear about the new MLP series and would not get dragged into pony world. My first reaction was "Oh MLP, I remember this from when I was 8 years old".   But at some point I just had to check what is this all noise about... I checked and caught pony virus So yeah, thank you Bronies for letting the world hear about ponies

As for bad things in fandom... just consider, that most of them are 15 - 23 years old, so different attitude, different behaviour and higher need for affiliation. Personally I wouldn't go to a pony meet, just because I don't like to hang out with students and school kids, which are often majority of attending people.
Also really, some actions need to be taken as irony or pure trolling - don't take them seriously. For instance the grey pegasus issue... It's always funny to make some big corporation do something the way you want it to do - just for the sake of it. If someone really cared that much for a cartoon character name, then bad for him, but I think that most people were trying to "save the Pony" just for the fun of doing it.

Of course, there are some catfights in Brony community, and some really questionable content, but mostly I find good things.
BTW I wonder, if for instance Whitedove consider herself a Pegasis

As for bronies, and previous generation - I think it's ok as long as they keep it funny and light hearted. For instance the videos that show FiM characters reacting to their old-gen counterparts, personally I find them hilarious (Rarity: "I will destroy her!" or Rainbow Dash trembling in fear after hearing, that she "always dresses in style"). For me that's a good humour, and I actually like the previous generations - except G3.5.

[achab1984]

I have nothing to do with them. It will be the hot item till something new comes out. Its always been that way. I love ponies and I will always be here. I love all years ( not sure about G2's yet)

I was on some of the Pony sites on facebook also and had to get off of them. I could not stand the art they made. The ponies were killing each other, they were naked and looked like something you would see in a naughty mag. These are not the ponies that I loved when I was a kid. I got off them and have never looked back
And the words that they were saying to each other was out of this world. Half of the time I did not know what they were talking about.....LOL   
 

[Falconaitae]

they were naked

Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhC7h5LtTZc


Anyway, there is also a lot of good quality fan art, just search for ponies on Deviantart, or look at EQD

[Al-1701]

Are you serious? When I saw that shirt, I thought "Hey, that's a cool shirt and probably the only pony shirt I'd buy!" I don't like the majority of bronies purely because they "bash" previous generations. I grew up to G1.

Same here.  Watched the cartoon when it repeated on Disney (I was not even three when the show's original run ended.)

The bashing of the previous generations is what really puts me on the fence.  I don't like the G3 era of media, but that means I avoid it.  I don't seek it out to insult those who like it.

[Elisto]

I suspect, as others have already said, that this is just how large, diverse fandoms can get. It's disappointing that it's happening to MLP of all things (this is the last fandom I would have expected to be so divided), but with some time, I think it's possible to find a way to like what you like, be part of the fandom in a way that you're comfortable with, and avoid the stuff you want no part of.

In a lot of ways, this is reminding me of the early Sonic the Hedgehog fandom; if you were a fan of the "wrong" series/storyline (which I was apparently, since I didn't play the games), you were mocked and not at all made to feel welcome or part of the fandom. Even the forums that were supposedly open to all fans weren't always good at that, and the ones that were just for certain parts of the fandom just had bad attitudes all around. And of course there was porn, hate-art, and other stuff I personally didn't want to see and had to learn to avoid. And until FiM can along and seemingly took it's place, Sonic was THE THING non-fans would frequently comment that they were sick of seeing EVERYWHERE. So it could feel like the hate was coming from everywhere. In fact, all of that is still true to some extent. But I'm still part of that fandom, I found some places where I don't have to deal with the elitism and hate, and while it's taken some years, I think the fandom in general has mellowed quite a bit toward each other, even if fans are still passionate about the aspects they love.

I suspect the MLP fandom may follow something similar. I don't consider bronies to be a "fad," they seems too sincere in how much they like it, but I do think eventually those more obsessive, elitist fans will tone it down a bit, either as they mature or as they get tired of expending so much energy on being obnoxious instead of just enjoying what they like. It may take a while to figure out how, but I think it's still possible to be in the fandom while avoiding the awful parts. For me, I just come here for pony info (and no, in all honesty, I don't think this place is perfect, but it's the best I've seen, so I stay), look at some pony art on deviantArt, but only from people and groups who I like (and sometimes avoid the comments), and learning where I absolutely don't want to go (like Google Image Search for ponies, or Brony Meets...regular Pony Meets are fine though since they seem more diverse). It also meant, for me, learning to just accept the fact that some people like things like porn or are rude and insulting or whatever I don't like, and that doesn't have to matter or reflect on me. And if non-fans misjudge me because of it, well, they're just ignorant, and I can correct them or ignore them.

I don't know if any of that really helps. It's still depressing to feel like you don't belong in the fandom of something you like. But do think it's possible to find a way to make some corner of the fandom fit you, and you don't have to use any fancy title like "Brony" or "Pegasister" to do it.

[KtKat]

This definitely happens with other fandoms too.  Especially with the presence of the internet, if spreads and gets out of control.  Eventually the scope becomes so wide, its not just children or horse lovers and animation buffs but all kinds of people with intentions good or bad.  So when you go to a meet, you're finding a lot of people who may not be like you, may be way younger or way older, people who like the show for many different reasons.   And I think that's great!  You just have to find your niche, and that's what places like this forum are wonderful for.

In general, its something you learn to deal with over time, and you keep showing up to find like-minded folks, but it does get frustrating when you want to say "These are my people!"   But really they are not.   

[Vampasaurus]

I feel the same ans sometimes it really bums me out. I've loved ponies since I was a wee-lad watching it with my older sister. I always kept it hidden, so my friends wouldn't tease me. years pass, FiM comes out and I find out it has this huge following and I'm super excited. Finally I can talk about ponies with other guys, or at least other adults!

Then slowly, the fandom goes insane. It's like a nightmare to search for pony art nowadays. You can't go a single page on any image search without weird fetish stuff or flat out pony smut. And that ripping on OC thing is everywhere, even if you didn't make a winged unicorn. My pony-sona/oc/mascot, Spooky, even got some nasty comments for being a gary sue. I had to take my drawing off deviantart because it was just full of hate. "Love and tolerate" is a total joke.

So I'm out. I don't need to be a brony to enjoy ponies. I'll just be a vampasaurus. I prefer the arena 10000 times more then then anything else. I swear it's the only decent place left on the internet.

[Majesty]

Those bronies give the nice bronies a bad name.  Well, you can still be a fan of FIM and talk about it here ont he arena.  Maybe you can stay away from the brony fandom in the wrong places.