to think those grown up-men who like My Little Pony are "a bit" weird?

[CloudyApple]

I have met a couple of them who were really into My Little Pony TV show. They knew the name of ALL the ponies, all the songs, collected figurines, etc
Oh, and they had no children.

My first question, as a parent who has live with the back noise of those voices would be... why would anyone without kids watch this?

But then, seriously, why? I mean, why?

What do you think they find in it?

In all seriousness my mum used to have to beg people to have her apple.

Even making 100 bottles of Apple wine, apple crumble, apple pie, apple sauce the tree still had a million apples on it.

They have moved now and I have threatened an apple tree as a housewarming present, the reaction was price less.

< wrong thread>

Thank you Piper I will look for it!

There are lots of different fandoms out there, MLP, Sherlock, Star Wars, Football, Cricket, TOWIE, Dr Who, Grand Prix racing...

These all involve people who share a common interest, and it's no more weird to be a fan of MLP than to be a fan of, say, rugby league, and have all the players, kits, stats, scores etc memorised and discussed with other like minded individuals constantly, buy and wear the new kit, attend the matches.

They 'get out of it' what sports fans get from their hobby.

The first I heard of Bronies was reading a very sweet thread on here a few months ago, started by the mum of a late-teen Brony - I don't remember the details but I think he might have had mild autism, and I seem to remember that the mum was very worried about how best to introduce his friends to his love of MLP. Anyway, I remember thinking that she sounded like a very considerate, sensible and open-minded mum.

Piper, UK Ponycon is in about two weeks in Leicester, it's got a good mix of the old and new ponies, brony related stuff and it's very child and family friendly. We even have a dedicated kid's room this year (I work there).

Frankly I find football to be a stranger thing to have a fascination with, not the sport itself as such but the obsessive culture that's built up around it. Give me a colorful plastic horse any day. Buuut I don't like football so it's not for me to judge.

Dd 9 is hugely into ml, I confess I have grow to love them. All 3 seasons are on US netflix if anyone is interested.

She tells me male fans are Bronies and Female fan's are pegasisters.

Has anyone mentioned the very very sweet documentary on bronies? I thought it would all be about... well, odd and possibly bad things, like those guys who have the women dolls.

Instead, I got the loveliest reminder of what fandom is, was, and ever will be - lovely, offbeat people having an amazing time doing stuff other people don't really get. It's all good op, really don't worry.

...I've got back into fandom recently (not MLP, not admitting my new love) and I miiiiiissed it. It's like coming home.

I'm 31 and I buy the comics for dd myself- don't watch it, but I'm def. a comic nerd... And I have a rainbow dash on my desk at work :-/

Fandom is a wonderful thing. Like a worldwide family. I'm not a brony/pegasister but I have a fair few fandoms and OTPs bronies are no weirder than other fandoms in my experience.

My DD is 8 and absolutely loves MLP. She was teased by her cousin as she said it is babyish. I pointed out it is loved by all ages. I think the little ponies she collects are very cute and great variety. The stories are not patronising but full of friendship, being yourself and have very witty lines. Dd's first Christmas present bought today - a Dr Whooves tshirt. Coolest kid in the playground!

I haven't seen the new MLP though I had some ponies as a girl.

I got into Pokemon when I was about 12, and played it into my 20s, I'm a bit behind with it now I have a toddler to take care of, but I still think it is cute and have a Pikachu plush.

I'm also a huge Harry Potter fan and DH and I like our Star Trek etc. I'm a huge Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks animation fan and so we had a large collection of 'kids' movies before we had a kid. We're geeks.

So even though MLP isn't my thing (so far, I might need to check it out) I can totally understand being geeky about kids stuff.

I like the cartoon Arthur too!

Just read the Jezebell article.

I love this:
some wear color-coded badges — available to anyone who wants one — that alert others to the wearer's social comfort level. A green badge indicates that you're happy to socialize with strangers, yellow means you only want to talk with people you already know and red tells everyone that you'd rather be left alone.
It's a compassionate amenity for a community with a large number of members who manage varying degrees of autism and, from what I witness, everyone respects each other's boundaries

Can we borrow this for real life at all times. I'd appreciate it a lot. (I may have undx AS or am borderline for it).

I do find it odd. I love Hello Kitty but I am very careful if I buy something Hello Kitty it's more for an adult than a child. I agree it's age and not gender.

Andrew, you can get a DIY kit. You will need old newspaper, PVA glue water mix and white tissue paper.

And, if possible "Sticky backed plastic" al a Blue Peter".

Here's one I made earlier . . .

I'm not say all bronies are weird but if you do some googling there is definitely a darker more sexual vibe to it which I find fairly disturbing. It probably is a minority but it doesn't sit right with me at all.

Flip, I'd argue if you google anything there's bound to be porn somewhere, I found a ( doctored obv)pic of Ms Hoolie from balamory in full s&m style gear within a few pages of google image hits.
I was a child when Pokemon first came over here and the amount of graphic images for that was astounding!

I've got no problem with Bronies anymore than women who collect expensive candles or people who love the Tour de France, it's not my bag but I can completely understand having a passion.

It's only a few years back comics & being a geek were weird and now it's mainstream....we're just a few good films away from everyone wearing MLP tshirts (in a non ironic way)!

My dad is into MLP, she also has sn..... When she was 14 she brought rainbow dash on a day out to lake Windermere where she ended up getting mobbed by a bunch of Japanese tourists on the ferry !!

God knows why it's so popular but plenty of people seem to like it

You could say adults who watch and collect harry potter stuff are weird.....
Makes me really thankful for having non ignorant friends and family.
Spirited i like the old ponies. The new ones are not a patch on them!

Meh, each to their own.

I used to have an old Minty pony but it got lost when I moved out of my parents house.. I don't much like the new ponies in all honesty, DD's both love it though - Pinkie Pie has the most annoying voice on the planet. It's like nails down a blackboard!!
There are many worse things young people could be into than MLP and pretty much everything has a more disturbing side, a look on fanfiction websites will tell you that (try looking for Lazytown fanfic. Then again, don't. I fell for that one to my never ending WTF).

The sexual stuff isn't really a surprise when you've been in fandom for a while. It's natural for people to add a sexual element to something they're passionate about, that's partially why porn has so many film parodies. It's called Rule 34: if it exists, someone somewhere has drawn porn of it. A friend of mine did a full 30 minute presentation on it once and she had no shortage of weird characters and pairings. Dr Suess, Joe Shuster and Don DeCarlo (creators of the Grinch, Superman and Archie respectively) were well known for drawing porn based on their popular works.

As princess above said, everything I have been in a fandom of, porn is there, it's called "the rules of the internet" - Rule 34 is: If it exists, there is porn of it.
The bronies are called furries. Furries are into anthropormorphic animals and make porn of it. The creators have asked them to stop and they haven't, which I find disgusting. I love MLP I think it's really good, I think because these people watched MLP when they were little in the 80s, they watch it now because it brings back a sense of their childhood, these men are essentially men-children who live in their mother's cellars and wank to animated horses. They go to conventions. But it's not really different to going to anime conventions dressed as monsters from an anime, the only majour difference is, MLP is not an anime, it is for children, these men have no children, have never seen a woman in their life but draw them as a hobby and make the women look like horses (vice versa)
it is strange. Also, a child from Make A Wish foundation asked to put a pony on the series that had a disability just like them. Hasbro reached out to the bronies and said DO NOT MAKE PORN OF THIS PONY. They did. I think it's a BIG problem they're actually having to ASK.

My little pony?

Grown men?

Fucking weird. Absolutely.