You mean 'cult' right? At first I though it was just another fad. But it is a surprisingly good watch.arbane said:
Concerning Ponies and the People Who Like Them, or, "I am Not Convinced"
- Thread starter mechanixis
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Hasn't really changed anything in my life.
Brony is a fun label, saying everypony in common speech is amusing and easy to do.
I'm probably not the hugest fan ever that sparks your comments, I haven't written or read any fanfiction, though I have started simple drawings.
Then again maybe I do count among the people you refer to, I watched 15 episodes in a day or two and only stopped then due to release schedule, but I do that with any show I love.
Maybe there is a degree of "Nothing better to do" augmenting the strength of my fandom, Who knows?
You also need to account for an almost meme level modifier.
It is a genuine love for the show as you point out, but that doesn't stop bandwagons and memes from exaggerating that further.
I also half disagree, avatars are the only image we put forth for ourselves as contribution to a visual identity, but that doesn't mean the digital persona is so concrete as to make each thumbnail an unwavering aspect of our psyche. Sometimes you just want to tell people that Ponies are cool.
Brony is a fun label, saying everypony in common speech is amusing and easy to do.
I'm probably not the hugest fan ever that sparks your comments, I haven't written or read any fanfiction, though I have started simple drawings.
Then again maybe I do count among the people you refer to, I watched 15 episodes in a day or two and only stopped then due to release schedule, but I do that with any show I love.
Maybe there is a degree of "Nothing better to do" augmenting the strength of my fandom, Who knows?
You also need to account for an almost meme level modifier.
It is a genuine love for the show as you point out, but that doesn't stop bandwagons and memes from exaggerating that further.
I also half disagree, avatars are the only image we put forth for ourselves as contribution to a visual identity, but that doesn't mean the digital persona is so concrete as to make each thumbnail an unwavering aspect of our psyche. Sometimes you just want to tell people that Ponies are cool.
This should explain itmechanixis said:
Sociology 1301
Definitions:
Status= Sociological term for a position in one's society, which determines honor, prestige, and expectations concerning the individual's interactions with society. We all have many Statuses. (Examples: Teacher, Student, Banker, Construction Worker, Police Officer, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Atheist, fan of sports team x, member of club y, patriot of country z, etc.)
Master Status= The Status that is most important to a person's identity. (Often a political or religious Status, other strong possibilities include race, gender, sexual orientation, but can be any status)
Minor Status= Secondary Statuses (Any Status that is not the Master Status)
Social Solidarity= The feeling of unity, of "We," among a group of individuals sharing a common Status (Master or otherwise)
Statuses can usually be ranked to a certain degree, from the Master Status at the top in terms of importance, either to the society or to the self, then down through the various Minor Statuses.
It is known that, under adversity, social solidarity among a group of common status holders tends to increase.
Furthermore, it is also known that people tend to rank statuses who's holders have high social solidarity as more important than statuses with low social solidarity.
This leads to the simple equation:
Minor Status + Adversity = Increased Social Solidarity Amongst Minor Status Holders= Minor Status being ranked at Higher Importance
Said adversity need not be constant. A single dose can unite a group nearly indefinitely. While the adversity may fade, the Social Solidarity often remains, being passed down to future generations of status holders as well as to new recruits. This is how nearly all groups in society operate (All political parties, all religions, all clubs, all high school cliques, all sports fans, all nations, all fandoms, literally just about everything).
Applying this to My Little Pony:
"Brony" Status + Adversity (Occurred originally on /b/, still present on other sites but less common now) = Increased Social Solidarity Amongst "Bronies" = "Brony" Status becoming more important.
Add to it the fact that groups with high social solidarity, with little barrier to entry, tend to attract new members (Especially if the group tends to "evangelize" or even if it just attracts attention to itself by its nature [As is the case with the Bronies]) and that new members of said groups tend to pick up on that social solidarity and conform to the status, further increasing solidarity, and you get a rough approximation of why MLP:FIM is so important to so many people.
Status= Sociological term for a position in one's society, which determines honor, prestige, and expectations concerning the individual's interactions with society. We all have many Statuses. (Examples: Teacher, Student, Banker, Construction Worker, Police Officer, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Atheist, fan of sports team x, member of club y, patriot of country z, etc.)
Master Status= The Status that is most important to a person's identity. (Often a political or religious Status, other strong possibilities include race, gender, sexual orientation, but can be any status)
Minor Status= Secondary Statuses (Any Status that is not the Master Status)
Social Solidarity= The feeling of unity, of "We," among a group of individuals sharing a common Status (Master or otherwise)
Statuses can usually be ranked to a certain degree, from the Master Status at the top in terms of importance, either to the society or to the self, then down through the various Minor Statuses.
It is known that, under adversity, social solidarity among a group of common status holders tends to increase.
Furthermore, it is also known that people tend to rank statuses who's holders have high social solidarity as more important than statuses with low social solidarity.
This leads to the simple equation:
Minor Status + Adversity = Increased Social Solidarity Amongst Minor Status Holders= Minor Status being ranked at Higher Importance
Said adversity need not be constant. A single dose can unite a group nearly indefinitely. While the adversity may fade, the Social Solidarity often remains, being passed down to future generations of status holders as well as to new recruits. This is how nearly all groups in society operate (All political parties, all religions, all clubs, all high school cliques, all sports fans, all nations, all fandoms, literally just about everything).
Applying this to My Little Pony:
"Brony" Status + Adversity (Occurred originally on /b/, still present on other sites but less common now) = Increased Social Solidarity Amongst "Bronies" = "Brony" Status becoming more important.
Add to it the fact that groups with high social solidarity, with little barrier to entry, tend to attract new members (Especially if the group tends to "evangelize" or even if it just attracts attention to itself by its nature [As is the case with the Bronies]) and that new members of said groups tend to pick up on that social solidarity and conform to the status, further increasing solidarity, and you get a rough approximation of why MLP:FIM is so important to so many people.
Note: I am not a Sociology major, I've only taken a few introductory classes out of curiosity. If there is anyone out there who knows more about this and sees a mistake that I made, please correct me.
@OP: You forgot that it makes the fans feel self-righteous because they like something 'deviant' while those who don't are just mindless trolls.
That aside I basically agree with what you said. Oh, and the image macros still aren't funny.
That aside I basically agree with what you said. Oh, and the image macros still aren't funny.
Because it's fun.
And because there are lots of like minded people who feel the same.
And because we enjoy having fun.
And apparently that's a crime nowadays. To enjoy what is fun with other like mindedponies people.
And no, we aren't forcing it on you either. How is having Pony avatars different from ZP avatars? Or Xbox Mii-thingy avatar[footnote]I don't know their actual name. But whatever Xbox's avatar system is called[/footnote], or anything else that's popular enough for people to put as their avatars?
So the image macros can sometimes be a bit overwhelming in threads. I admit, some people need to learn how to use spoiler tags, but how is posting a Pony image different from any meme image?
Maybe some people eyes just can't take the overload of friendship, rainbows and love!
And because there are lots of like minded people who feel the same.
And because we enjoy having fun.
And apparently that's a crime nowadays. To enjoy what is fun with other like minded
And no, we aren't forcing it on you either. How is having Pony avatars different from ZP avatars? Or Xbox Mii-thingy avatar[footnote]I don't know their actual name. But whatever Xbox's avatar system is called[/footnote], or anything else that's popular enough for people to put as their avatars?
So the image macros can sometimes be a bit overwhelming in threads. I admit, some people need to learn how to use spoiler tags, but how is posting a Pony image different from any meme image?
Maybe some people eyes just can't take the overload of friendship, rainbows and love!
The show is genuinely funny, which I'm sure that 95% of people will agree that they enjoy humor. It's a show that caught people off guard by how good it is and how humorous it is (it's My Little Pony for Christ sake). The memes and overall attitudes toward it just elevate the humor and makes the whole show more fun and more meaningful.
I think it's when the fans start posting image macros everywhere and dropping the collective IQ of the forum.TimeLord said:
I watched the first 5 episodes to get whats about the show.
First thought
redictable
Second thought:Its kinda good,but its ruined by people
Third though:Wait a minute, This isn't a MLP cartoon.Sure it has the name, But it has that Nostalgia...Oh wait, Power-puff Girls.When i was watching, I didn't notice the name, I imagined it as "Friendship is magic" cartoon.
First thought
redictableSecond thought:Its kinda good,but its ruined by people
Third though:Wait a minute, This isn't a MLP cartoon.Sure it has the name, But it has that Nostalgia...Oh wait, Power-puff Girls.When i was watching, I didn't notice the name, I imagined it as "Friendship is magic" cartoon.
It's a really good cartoon with a pretty amazing fandom. Compared to most fandoms who spend half their time arguing about faux symbolism and the other half arguing about whos crack ship is better.
Also, for every action their is an equal and opposite reaction. You get a ton of people who hate on the show without good reason, so the fandom responds by posting ponies. It's the Herd equivalent of flaming you, but with love and silly pictures instead of insults.
90% of the Pony threads are made by people who don't understand why it's popular and would like to know why. Again, for emphasis. 90% of the Pony threads are made by people who don't understand why it's popular and would like to know why.
edit: Bolded the most important part.
Also, for every action their is an equal and opposite reaction. You get a ton of people who hate on the show without good reason, so the fandom responds by posting ponies. It's the Herd equivalent of flaming you, but with love and silly pictures instead of insults.
90% of the Pony threads are made by people who don't understand why it's popular and would like to know why. Again, for emphasis. 90% of the Pony threads are made by people who don't understand why it's popular and would like to know why.
edit: Bolded the most important part.
Agreeing with the OP here. Love the show? Good for you! Flooding the forums with threads and references, though, gets obnoxious pretty quickly. The Walking Dead was an incredibly popular TV series, and it must have gotten four or five threads, max. I've seen upwards of 25 in the past month on MLP. We get it, you like the show. I certainly do not have a problem with you liking it. However, it would be wonderful if you would let the rest of us move on somewhat.
Because the "the last enemy you just killed..." threads were bastions of intellectual genius.James Raynor said:
The threads have always been like this. We aren't "dropping the collective IQ" of the the Escapist. Seriously, while this place may be less crazy than places like 4chan, that's only because we have stricter moderation here, not because everyone here is smart. The buttloads of repeat threads on different subjects and threads focusing on stuff like "You can sleep with whoever you want, Buuuuuuut..." can attest to that.
I tried "unhappy Pinkie Pie" and "bored Pinkie Pie" in Google and that image I used was the best I got!Wenseph said:Good one, but that one's happy and should be used for pony threads. I made another one.TimeLord said:This is the best I could do in short notice xDWenseph said:Don't worry, I found the picture. We should really make a pony version of it.
EDIT: Whoops, double post
Just tells you everything you need to know about Pinke Pie really.