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

[kmlv23]

I've been doing some serious thinking about the Brony fandom lately. At one point I was proud to call myself a pegasister, as a proud fan of FiM, a brand new collector and a lover of the cute toys i kept seeing. But now that I've become more involved with the fandom I just...i'm getting more and more embarrassed of what I'm seeing. The Facebook pages are...infantile and idiotic at best. I can't MAKE myself go to a single meet up because of the attitudes I see on the Facebook pages and groups and how largely UNWELCOMING the Bronies in my area have been. Seriously, I just want to know what happened to 'love and tolerate'? What happened to the people who just loved animation? When did it become shipping and roleplay pages and why do they HAVE to exist? I'm just confused and upset and slowly becoming more and more disheartened with the only fandom I thought I could stick with...

[Bow Tie]

I know exactly how you feel! I was so excited to find a group who shared similar interests as me, but everything went wrong very quickly. I found some great people, but most of them were childish/immature and hated on G1-3.5. I couldn't be apart of something that hated anything that wasn't the "pure and perfect" G4. I quickly became embarrassed to be associated with most of them. ESPECIALLY after some of the meet ups I went to. I know there are some great people in that fandom, but it's hard to when you're mostly surrounded by hate and immaturity. I stick to the "collector fandom".

[MilkyTaroMochi]

Can't fault you for feeling that way. A few of my friends are bronies and pegasisters, but they're really nice and great to be around. But I have certain come across some pretty bad ones, and heard some stories. For a group/fandom that say they're all about love and tolerance, there sure is a lot of negativity and "elitism"(?) around them.  Things are different now than when the fandom/show was starting up.
I have to admit that whole "Last Roundup" (I think that was the episode) situation really kinda had me disappointed in a lot of bronies. 

[ZennaBug]

That sounds awful.    My problem with the whole concept of a fandom is exactly this.  In my experience, it's a bunch of people who like the same thing, but aren't necessarily invested in it.  When something new comes along, it dissolves.  People lose interest.  Or everyone is so focused on their own ideas that they forget to play nice.  But you know, just because that particular part of the "fandom" has lost its appeal, doesn't mean that you have to give up on ponies.

The pony community as a whole has been around for a very long time and has worked very hard to be welcoming and friendly.  I don't think that any of us have ever really used the term fandom to describe ourselves, because we're not.  We're a bunch of people who came together to celebrate and share our love of ponies, no matter what generation.  We are friends, we take care of each other.  So even if you find yourself feeling lost, just remember that there are still a few small islands on the internet where people care about one another. 

[PurpleCheeseStick]

I'm pretty sure my opinion on the brony fandom has become very clear during my time here to other members- thanks but no thanks, basically. I think that's just what happens with most fandoms these days, regardless on what it's about. :C Anime nerds, Homestucks, bronies, they're just largely made up of young kids in middle school to perhaps early twenties (mostly) who just aren't very mature in the mental sense yet. I think that's largely why you don't see the collectors going crazy and making a bad name for themselves- as I understand it, a lot of the members here on the Arena for example are older and at the more mature stage of the game, some of them married and settled down with kids of their own!

I definitely understand where you're coming from, the same happened to me with Homestuck. After I watched the videos (like groups of cosplayers spitting into a bucket and having one member drink it) and heard the news and watched it unfold (the ruthless attacks that tore an artist to pieces and made him hate himself just for drawing a pairing he liked, to dumping paint on a poor girl with a skin disease who ended up in the hospital and going home with a paranoia to ever leave her house again for continued harassment) I finally just stepped back out of the fandom and quit, I'd had enough.

As with many things of this generation, particularly kids in their teens - early twenties, I feel this brony thing is just a fad for a lot of them. Give it a year or two and it'll start to fizzle out. The good people will usually end up staying, and the others will move on to go be fanatics about something else. Perhaps in time things will calm down and the bronies won't be known for being so mean as they are thought of as now :c

[StarlightGaze]

At first I thought this was a really friendly fandom when I joined, but when I started to look outside the websites I frequented, I found out there are a lot of immature and hateful Bronies. It's really embarrassing.

When I think about it, the people who actually started the Brony fandom are from some other site, which is a pretty awful website, and it doesn't take much for people to corrupt everything they touch.

[kellyponyfeathers]

I also think that purist bronies will lose interest after a while and move on to something else.  The fad will run its course; fads always do.

[Taxel]

I know how you feel. I've admired custom ponies on dA for years, but my best friend finally got me to give FiM a try one day. I loved it, and got into the brony fandom and started collecting. But things got sour pretty quickly and I noticed how downright nasty a lot of bronies were. Someone ended up attempting to scam me when I ordered art of some pony OCs for my birthday (my first USD commission ever) and it was just absolutely horrible. I now refuse to order USD art commissions, unless its from a very close friend. Things just kept getting worse and worse and I was disgusted with the whole fandom. Even my so-called "friends" that were bronies (before FiM ever existed) got really mean. I don't know what happened. :/

I no longer go to any brony-centered places and do my best to avoid from Googling anything FiM releated. That's worked out well for me and I'd never look back.

[Spike]

This is the problem with fandoms. They seem to change lots and as more and more people start to like it, attitudes change too. I've seen lately with the brony fandom, there has been some intense fights. Not really proud of calling myself either. I'd rather call myself a collector of candy colored equines

[NoDivision]

But you know, just because that particular part of the "fandom" has lost its appeal, doesn't mean that you have to give up on ponies.

The pony community as a whole has been around for a very long time and has worked very hard to be welcoming and friendly.  I don't think that any of us have ever really used the term fandom to describe ourselves, because we're not.  We're a bunch of people who came together to celebrate and share our love of ponies, no matter what generation.  We are friends, we take care of each other.  So even if you find yourself feeling lost, just remember that there are still a few small islands on the internet where people care about one another. 

My thoughts exactly

[Cherry_Sunset]

I'm not going to lie, I didn't like ponies before FiM, but anymore, I get embarrassed when I tell people I like ponies, because a lot of the (grosser) fans have pedophile attitudes, I've heard of attacks on other fans because someone doesn't like Fluttershy, and of course, I'm disheartened by the drama that surrounds a little gray pegasus.

I'm very selective in who I let know about what I like, and even then, I don't use the Fim labels, I just call myself a My Little Pony fan Besides, the older generations are great too, and I've evolved beyond that.

Eek! I just realized I might have come off as derailing this thread I just wanted to share my thoughts as to why I agree with not using a FiM label anymore!

[kmlv23]

See and this is just reinforcing everything I've been thinking. For the most part everyone here is really nice!! Why can't the bronies be like this too??? Ugh I will never understand.

[Taxel]

Because most forums, and what seems like most people (especially online), just plain aren't nice.

[kmlv23]

Because most forums, and what seems like most people (especially online), just plain aren't nice.

........congratulations, I think you just won 5 internets with your wisdom.

[aellos]

Haha, I really don't think you're alone.
I feel just like this. I know it's not everyone, and everyone I've met in real life that claims they are a 'brony' has been very nice!

But I don't want to be associated with a fandom who's loudest members are super racist, sexist, cissexist and ableist. I just decided to step back and hang out with people here.