Just to let you know, the fact that you are doing this on The Escapist of going to cause a HUGE selection bias. You're really looking at Gamer bronies, along with a bunch of other factors. Just keep that in mind when you start presenting that all bronies are video gamers and the like. Maybe Equestria Daily would be a better place?
Questionnaire:
1) What age, gender, and nationality are you? 27, Male, American
2) What other culture(s) or subculture(s) do you associate yourself with? Gamer, I suppose, is the only interest I have that would count as a culture or subculture. Thats Gamer speaking broadly, Card Games, Board Games, RPGs and the like.
3) What do you think defines someone as a brony? Watching the show and enjoying it enough to want to be considered part of a group that identifies itself as a group that likes the show.
4) How did you first hear about the show? Escapist. I saw a bunch of Pony avatars start cropping of, and threads about the new MLP, saw a link to the first episode on Youtube, I watched it and the rest was history.
5) Why do you like the show? While retaining a focus on being compelling for little girls, it manages to treat those girls with enough respect for their intelligence that it manages to be appealing to adults as well. The creators are also in top form, being skilled animators, designers, writers, and voice actors. While many shows for kids phone it in, MLP care for its creation, and it shows.
6) Do you actively try to get people to like the show or ?convert them? to bronyism? Semi-actively. If a person seems to appreciate animation or, "Cuteness". Ill mention it to them, say that it is really good, relate my story of going from a skeptic to a brony, and find a link to an episode. But I don't try to hammer it home.
7) What are some of the stereotypes about bronies that you hear? Are they based on truth or outright lies? Some people think that Bronys are just man-children, but that is usually just trolling. Some people complain that Bronies are too obsessed with there interests, but that is true of any interest. I genuinely think that the state of discourse of bronies, politeness and courtesy on the internet, is significantly higher then other demographics. Obviously there are exceptions, i'm speaking in the broad sense here.
8) Do you like the brony community? Why/Why not? I think its a little nicer then average, and the content is usually a breath of fresh air. Also, the fan contributions can be of amazing quality. Seeing such an unusual interest being expressed is a treat, so yes, I like the Brony community. I like it enough that I admit to enjoying more interjections from the bronies as off topic tangents then is strictly fair.
9) What is the most important aspect or trait of Brony culture? That the lesson of the show be reflected by the adults. Embracing your inner child, appreciating cute and whimsicle, and trying to behave towards each other with the simple lessons of the show learned. Yes, there may be a more mature twist and a sense of tounge planted firmly in cheek, but the Brony community needs to try to, every once in a while, cut through the cynicism of age and get back to the kindergarten lessons of being nice. It's important to have a vehicle that makes, "Love and tolerate" seem like a positive and active force, not a childhood cliche filthy with cynicism.
10) Rate how big your fandom for the show is on a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the largest.[/quote] 4, I suppose. I really, really love watching the show, and remember the cuteness and humor long after the episode ends, and I discuss the show with a few friends and occasionally on The Escapist, but I don't exactly contribute.