Meet 'bronies' -- grown men who are fans of My Little Pony

those rules are actually basically standard cosplay rules

I am trying to decide if it is funny or terrifying that "don't bring live, dangerous weapons" comes AFTER "don't put hate speech on your costume"

"peace-bonding" for instance derives from old-line sci fi cons, here's a citation from 1987

oh jesus christ i feel so bad for the security guys having to work this. fuck. what must they think.

most of the security staff are probably thinking "I never thought I would see so many men in pastel pony costumes at once", with one person thinking "this takes me back..."

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lob2qyktYJ1qbye1fo1_500.png

I'm just glad bronycon exists to make anime, comic, and gaming cons seem safe, sane, and mainstream by comparison

xp lol

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdi5gnmXPm1r4dir2o1_500.jpg

i like bronies because we all get to be that guy, at least for a moment

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/l_zpsd4fe513b.jpg

Have we finally figured out what Bronies are yet? Are they like doofus steampunkers or are they some sort of new and weird self-selecting band of misogynistic ultraconservatives who sooth their cognitive dissonance with cartoon pony fluff.

And how closely connected is it to Furries? Seems pretty close... A lot closer than like, adult tabletop gamers who I've found mostly to be into the tactical/warfare "I am a military genius! you are now overwhelmed by my chaos marines bwahaahaa!" aspect of those games. Or comic book collectors who are equally addicted to male "soap operas" like Dexter and stuff and also collect DVD sets.

I mean they're just chibi horses. How has that developed into a whole "thing"?

theres no mystery about who they are

they're dudes who want to fuck ponies.

The difference between bronies and furries as I can see it is that bronies are usually younger and a lot more "in-your-face" with their reddit/4chan "LOL TROLLED U" aesthetic while furries tend to not want people to know that they are furries.

gotcha. ok.

they're just dudes who like a cartoon, pretty wide spectrum of dudes who fit that criteria

^

weirdos/assholes of any variety are always more fun to talk about

lol @ 4 ass

To be a pro knee has many meanings I'm glad you asked a question. Have you ever kissed to do for the sunset on early morning I felt a beautiful rapture sweet pony kiss and nuzzle? You may be a bro nie if you can appreciate a warm caring eyes the gentlemen a swish swish tale of my little pony

Why would someone announce they are a brony? Whatever happened to dignity?

Grown male friend of mine who likes Friendship Is Magic will only look at Equestria Daily on his ipad on 3G, because he doesn't want it to show up on logs at work

― Devendra Bumhat (sic), Tuesday, 26 March 2013 00:46 (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pat0?

Also re: the Bronycon rules; are there actually any weapons in the MLP cartoons? Or are these just C&P'd from standard cosplay meeting things.

Security guard photo is amazing.

http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/it-happened-to-me-im-more-into-my-little-pony-than-my-kids-are

Adult tabletop gamers/adults who watch MLP or Adventure Time or any other cartoon actually = literal worst people on earth

as far as i can work out (i took part in a skype interview with some bronies, but they were none of them male) the ones who get erotic/romantic feelings about the ponies are sort of like dudes who are into moé? this mix of identification/protectiveness/desire/etc/etc/etc.

"the ones" = the males you weren't talking to or the fems you were?

(did any identify as pegasister not brony?)

Also re: the Bronycon rules; are there actually any weapons in the MLP cartoons? Or are these just C&P'd from standard cosplay meeting things.

Uh, I don't think so? Not that I can remember, anyway. Any villains on the show usually get defeated by magic.

the men i wasn't talking to, as described by other bronies, seemed to be like dudes who like moé. None of the bronies I talked to were into sexy ponies, or at least didn't admit to it. irc a couple of them did the prim "well, i would call myself a my little pony fan" thing, but 'pegasister' was not a word that was used.

will I ruin my day if I google moé?

ehhh, it's a reasonably SFW g-image search

ah okay so the girls weren't self-id'ing w/ "brony" (?)

oh, no, sorry, they mostly self-ID'd as "brony" but the fact that it's got "bro" in the name meant caveats from all? So one said something almost exactly like "obviously i'm not what you think of when you say "brony" - i'm not a cis white straight dude who etc", but was still ok with "brony" as the fan term. And then there were one or two who said something along the lines of "well, i would call myself a my little pony fan, rather than 'brony', but i don't mind".

anybody more familiar with the phenomenon than i am wanna explain this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9l-jW0d_H8

He's really sweet and goofy, very earnest. We were talking about gender roles and what "girls/boys should like/wear/do" and he made his announcement. That was it. I didn't find it undignified at all tbh. I only wished anyone aside from me knew what he had said. He has a tshirt and everything. It hasn't come up again, though.

Okay, that makes sense. I thought it was some sort of obnoxious announcement like "OH HAI EVERYONE I AM A BRONY" but in context it doesn't sound bad.

http://i.imgur.com/7fOvxaJ.jpg

aaaaand

http://i.imgur.com/Gdc9rhS.jpg

O_o

happy Easter, everyone

http://i.imgur.com/WXbOMna.jpg

what i have to live with

High pringles quotient

once upon a time i thought i could just lol away at bronies, but these things that i can't comprehend make me feel bad.

yeah. adults I can lol at but i feel weird loling at teenagers. they're ~going through~ things

but also O_*

http://i.imgur.com/5SFds9A.jpg

oh man. theres a strange schadenfreude you get from most of this stuff but disappointed parent stories just make me sad

how the fuck did this happen

;_;

as far as the direct influence, it's totally a product of 'moe'-ism - a component - and really the idealized object - of the hikkikimori/NEET thing, catching on more and more with gamer-y types in America

brony culture came directly out of 4chan's basement-dweller scene, which was built on anime-fandom, and is still informed by a lot of its slang and themes. that post-anime worship of cute/comforting escapist objects

larger problem?... I guess, like with the Japanese origins of NEET-ism, it's obv about men who feel they can't compete, the loss of a sense of purpose/roles (which is probably why a lot of these guys are into the fedora look too, they're reaching for this lost sense of manhood even as they're departing from/avoiding it)

i'm sure we've discussed this before on ilx but i've always been confused by the 4chan tension between a) MLP, anime/manga, other sincere idealized worship of sundry pop culture and b) trolling, gore threads, unwelcoming subculture, anonymous-type shit. i guess they both come together in misogyny.

and in misdirected young male energy in general. get a bunch of young men who need to get out of the house together for an extended period of time, and there's going to be this spectrum of an idealized 'cute' idealism/escapism (of the love object unconsummated, or relationships at all for that matter) on one end, and total rage/oblivion on the other (no purpose, no career).

I just hope most of them grow out of it. I like to think that they just need to get out and socialize more, but that's where the consumerism/gaming/anime/Internet-addiction comes in, which I think is probably the real problem here