Hey /mlp/ When I was a little boy ( approximately 6-7 years old), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic came out, but I didn't care for it since it was a cartoon for little girls. However, I had a sister who really liked it and loved to draw those ponies, and because of that, I remember seeing one or two episodes. The first was the second part of "Return of Harmony," and I thought that the show was ending with this episode and that Discord had won. The only thing I remember from the second episode is that my sister was really into it since she told me it was the second season because of a train or some small detail in the background of the intro . That's all I remember from the show itself. Plus, I knew the general structure of an episode where, at the end , the lesson would always be spelled out for the audience in the form of a letter from Twilight to Celestia, and I remember the voice of Applejack because of her voice actor. But besides that, we had a family PC with internet access, so naturally, my sister was searching for ponies on YouTube and Google, and soon enough we saw pony.mov (don't worry, I won't say that this animation traumatized me or my sister since even then I knew that it was just a joke , and my sister just ignored it, so no nonsense about how bronies destroyed our childhood). When I watched it , I only thought of it as a joke: " Oh, someone saw that ultra-sweet and girly cartoon and decided to make it super edgy because it's funny, hehe," and that's it. I forgot about it for the rest of my life , and I saw ponies only in the background when I was watching and playing TF2 (in animations or as sprays). I also remember one meme where it was an edit of Fluttershy trying to scream "yay" when Rainbow Dash was shouting at her, " Louder !" and Fluttershy then burped or something. Suffice to say, there was no or almost no pony in my life, and I completely ignored /was oblivious to it. All that ended , I think, in 2013/14 because ponies disappeared as a trend, so there were no ponies for me after that.
Now that I've grown, I have always liked to be reminiscent about my childhood, which was pretty great. So, when I went through every part of my childhood, in 2025, I reminded myself of this cartoon. I started searching for it and, of course, I discovered you/Bronies (or horsefuckers, if you prefer that). I went on a really deep dive into what all that was even about, and I was shocked to find that there were Bronies in my country with their own Bronycons (maybe because my country is in the top 10 countries with the largest 4chan user base, surprisingly or not). They even invited voice actors from my country's dubbing. While here it was very small and no one really talked about it , I saw that in the U.S. it was quite a phenomenon. When I was " researching " all this, 4chan got hacked, so I decided to visit the site when it came back to maybe find answers to my questions . While I got some interesting opinions and facts , I'm still a little confused and not sure if I could answer to the simple question, " Why ?" So I went and watched the show ( original, not my dubbing) on YouTube. While I love how classic and traditional the show is and like its the most innocent thing in the world and i love the good people who created it and im so happy that it exists and that it gave so many good memories to many people , and for sure it's one of the best creations of the 2010s, the show didn't hook me at all. Maybe I watched it all too fast and not one episode per day or week, like it was originally intended, since I watched like three episodes a day . But all I saw in seasons 1 and 2 ( I stopped watching at season 6, episode "Dungeons and Discords," because the show really lost its magical nostalgic feeling after season 3 or 4) was just a regular cartoon that, for me, was quite boring and many times just plain mediocre ( the "Swarm of the Century" episode). Yes, it is very good and very well-made ( while "Winter Wrap Up" is simple and boring to me, it's a very well- structured episode with a good lesson and little to no bad things about it). It can also be very unremarkable. So while its quality is well above average ( especially today), and while it could be a factor in the fandom's initial creation and growth, it can't be just that, right? Sure, it could be considered great where everyone was watching it with very low expectations because of the Cartoon Brew article, but even then, this very well-made cartoon made people think about it all the time and inspired them to create so much about it . You seem to love and be very focused on the characters, and you really like creating art and stories with them.
So I'm asking you, /mlp/, to maybe explain or help me understand the whole phenomenon-how it was created, why it was created, who created it, etc. It may be the history of the fandom or just a short explanation of who liked it and why they decided to create all this stuff. I' d be very thankful for all answers. I write this out of pure curiosity, and it's all well intended and in good faith.
It was me; I created it all. Clopping? Yeah, that was me: I coined the term. Bronies? Yeah, I'm the Pony Community Leader. Ever heard of Equestria Daily and Derpibooru? I am the secrect site admin of both websites. Pone Stream 2? I planned and constructed it myself. Awesome stuff. Thx for your interest.
>>42582268It began as I recall on /co/ threads, and got so popular that moot banned it in 2011, only to create /mlp/ in 2012. For the outside brony fandom and the pegasisters and the like, I'm not as sure. I know only our own history some; I was 11 when the show started and liked it, may have watched an episode or two, but have only actually been here for a year. I randomly started watching the show one day as a joke to see what it was like, then I ended up watching the first four seasons and liked it.
>>42582268yeah it was this guy >>42582277
>>42582268It was a lightning in a bottle situation. Internet culture at the time was primed for something like it to happen. It had the right combination of talented staff and surprisingly broad appeal. It was a grass roots community just having fun for the sake of fun, no matter how silly they would look from the outside.Unfortunately, since those days the internet has lost its sincerity, its sense of silly fun, and its open-hearted comradery. All of that has been replaced with algorithm-controlled constant stimulation, righteous indignant outrage, and a level of tribalism I'd expect out of football fans. The age of ytmnd and newgrounds could spark brony culture, the age of twitter clout and political obsession can not. We've been quite lucky: this prison we were forced into was secretly a fortress that protected us from the enshittification, but the taint of modern internet has been slowly creeping in, strangling us all the same.Also, ponies are really fucking hot.
>>42582258Shut up faggot
I was in highschool when it aired Some of my friends were raving about it so I decided to watch it ironically and got hooked until like around season 3
>>42582279OP here-That i think i understand: There were some people on /co/ that were aware of new mlp cartoon coming out but weren't specially excited aobut it but after the Cartoon brew article came out bashing this show for no good reason people started to defend it and spam it and even more people startd joining in beacuse of this article and pony spam and started watching the show and seeing that it was good so they also started posting about ponies and people then started joking about it how this show is absolute magic or something then others on /co/ started getting anoyed so then people started posting ponies to troll them and people started having fun while doing so and this started the creation of fandom i think but im not sure is this exacly the case beacuse i could omit or forgot someting or just don't get the whole picture since i wasn' there.
>>42582305OP here-What hooked you (sincerity of the show, characters or wordbulding etc)?
>>42582295OP here-So you guys just wanted to have fun while doing something togheter and this show was the perfect way for it? Like was it about trolling and spaming on /co/ than watching episodes toghter on streams and than creating fan fiction and art about it-was it just that? (sorry if i sound mean or it sounded degrading i didn't mean to)
>>42582295A good way to put it is that after the iphone and cheaper home computers got everyone online in 2010ish, the internet was like a fresh agar plate, a field of raw memetic nutrition without any dominant culture. It was inevitable something would grow to dominate this substrate, this ecosystem, since there was no competition, and pony was the thing to do it, mostly by chance ("lightning in a bottle"). Lots of libido needed somewhere to go, and it chose something fun and loving, as is human nature.Then the apex predator came onto the scene - corporate greed - and started shifting the foundation of the internet to make it more profitable. Capital interests engineered ultra addicting platforms and drew everybody away from smaller isolated cultures into one large monoculture that they can monitor and control. In the monoculture, growing movements are 'digested', systems are put in place to interrupt and capture the free flow of libido so as to transform it into money - think like electric dams stopping up rivers. That kills every single significant cultural formation before it can get anywhere, unless it's aligned with capital interests and can make enough money to sustain itself through its own manipulation of the monoculture, as in doing its own advertizing and grifting - in other words things can't grow big if they're honest and simple, they have to become manipulative and predatory due to the top-down pressure.So anyways yeah the fandom exists mostly for the sake of the fandom. The show was a good seed, at its core is genuine love and passion from the crestor, Faust; that inspired and nourished the fandom's own love and passion, and now we keep the love and passion going. The people here kind of intuitively feel that the only way for a culture to survive in this environment is to cultivate this genuine love, and the show is a touchstone or a talisman we can always come back to, to remember what that looks like. We've kind of attuned to the show such that we can see the love and passion put into it very clearly. But we don't just rely on the show, many individuals here are genuinely loving and passionate about things themselves, and I notice that our comminity over time has organically organized itself such that it's very easy for real love and passion to find a platform. Like I said, it's human nature to be attracted to love, and so our culture still gets new blood even 14 years later, and these newfags eventually turn into people who generate love and passion themselves. The economy within our fandom isn't built on greed but on wanting the artist to succeed and keep up their craft for the sake of the fandom. Our fandom is, despite the absurdity, an amazing community that exemplifies a certain honesty and cameraderie that mass culture has all but destroyed. I think most people here would agree that if more irl communities - like towns and neighborhoods, not fanclubs - were like this, the world would be a much better place.
>>42582323It was just something fun to watchAt the time I was also watching a bunch of other shows weekly
I'm not reading any of this
>>42582366OP here-ok i can see that- that the show could be funny since when i was watching it there were some goofy frames, scenes or poses or just characters behaviour that i found funny.
>>42582350Op here-Wow that was very passionate of you to write all this so thank you very much and while i don't know excaly how authoritative your writing is and if its an general opinion of the fandom but it is very well written and very Insightful but i have question if i understand your text correctly so is my summary of your text correct?-So people in 2010 were looking for something over witch they cand bond togheter and pony came at the right time and had all the right "ingredients" to sustain an fandom and after a while people start caring about the community of the fandom to protect it from general "slop" culture?
>>42582528I don't think people were intentionally looking for something to gather around, people just wanted to have fun and pony was a large, intoxicating culture full of fun. It's kind of that mob psychology, if you've ever been at a good music show, the crowd's energy is infectious and energizing, so people want to be part of the crowd. I think the way it's gone is that all the people who only engage on a surface level without really seeing the love - the people who like slop - have fallen away from the fandom and left only this core of people who really passionately care and create (and we've always had a core like this). The people who care have always been the beating heart of the fandom that drives it forward, the mere consumers kind of loosely accrete around the heart, enjoying it but not with a serious dedication and love for it. But some of those consumers eventually realize the real value in what we do and eventually join us or wholeheartedly support us. I know two or three young guys, like 18-20 year olds, who just got into the fandom within a year or two ago and they're already making art and contributing to projects; I myself have been inspired to seriously practice art only 3 years ago, after 9 years of just being a supporter of the fandomSo I don't think any of the factors that keep this community healthy and in harmony were really conscious and intentional (although I think we're becoming more conscious and intentional about it) I'm just trying to describe the natural systems that caused us to end up this way, like how unthinking cells form a heart and an immune system without intentionally deciding to. It's fun to analyze culture like this and I'm glad you appreciate it.
P.S. I was hooked on the show at like 11-12 yrs old, so I couldn't say any particular thing, only that I liked it. What I appreciate about it now is that it's very clever and funny, it's innocent yet still somewhat deep, it's full of archetypes and tropes that inspire imagination (instead of trying to subvert everything), and the characters are very idealized without being perfect or unrelatable. OFC all this applies mostly just to the first seasons.
>>42582571Op here- So, the show was a sincere labor of love that inspired you to do the same and create and build upon the show's mythos, etc. Additionally, you enjoyed what other people were creating and wanted to support or help them in doing but im wondering is this it or is there more to it. This is all very nice and sweet, but could you (and please don't be offended by it) tell me about all the stereotypical and dark side of the fandom-that it was first created as a joke to troll and then bronies were just autists who wanted to have sex with ponies since this is what i was told/read a lot of times and i want to have whole pciture of this fandom.
>>42582258>6 - 7 years old at 2010>can't parapharase jack shitChecks out. Seriously, learn at least some basic writing skill. No one is gonna read that mind vomit in a form of text wall.
Op why are you so gay?
>>42582595I think he is writing an assignment on us for college, LOL
>>42582581>What I appreciate about it now is that it's very clever and funny, it's innocent yet still somewhat deep, it's full of archetypes and tropes that inspire imagination (instead of trying to subvert everything), and the characters are very idealized without being perfect or unrelatable.OP here-Yeah, I mostly agree with you on the show . It is innocent, funny, and I especially agree with and appreciate archetypes and tropes that inspire imagination (instead of trying to subvert everything).
>>42582586I agree with your summary yeah. I mean nothing like this is ever simple. I find myself in this fandom just because this is where I chose to grow roots, I guess. I've always come here to /mlp/ instead of e.g. twitter or tumblr and so on, because here is where many of my friends are and here is where I see all this art that I've grown to savor. People who are part of a culture for a long time end up adding their voice to the culture, inevitably, not just on the internet.>the stereotypical and dark side of the fandomStereotypes exist for a reason, you could name any one of them and find at least a couple of examples that fit perfectly - certainly a ton of autistic people. But as always it's never right to generalize that to all people under a given label, and "dark" stuff is definitely more exaggerated when it comes to this kind of thing.That being said, ponies were definitely an effective way to troll people in the earlier edgy days of 4chan, and people used them a lot. Often they started out not being fans, just using ponies to make people mad, but then BECAME fans just by being around the content so much. Controversy and hate from the outside always contributes to attention and growth, so in that respect it was one of the ingredients to our success. I don't think anybody could tell you how pony porn contributed to the fandom, or whether it's just a result of the popularity, but it's certainly a pretty significant aspect of the culture, like it or not. You'd be very hard pressed to find one of these people who genuinely loves the show and the fandom who doesn't also love the porn.Someone should have a link or a screencap of the first pony thread on /co/ that started it all and coined the term "brony", I don't know how to find it exactly. You could also probably find it on google "first pony thread on 4chan" or "origin of the word brony"thanks for the interest OP, I've gotta go eat something and start my day so I can't give you any more essays haha. remember, don't feed the parasprites.
>>42582624Thank you very much.
>>42582258Have you ever heard of this thing called a "paragraph"?
>>42582723sorry i'll maybe repost it in future with text fixed
>>42582586The "ironic to sincere fan" pipeline was extremely short. Sure, ponies managed to get a rise out of people (to this day we are still contained on /mlp/), but anyone who went further than just posting an image of Pinkie Pie in an attempt to troll found out that the show is unironically great.The earliest pony threads on /co/ are archived, you can see how quickly it on, with people discussing the lore, making memes, writing greentext, some art too. Also clop has been there since the earliest days, though it was of a much lesser quality, and there was probably some time before the average brony was either a secret or an open clopper. The "the fandom has a dark side that I DON'T SUPPORT" discourse is basically dead nowadays. You can appreciate the story of FiM and lewd art at the same time, they are not mutually exclusive.Do you have any other specific questions?
>>42582792Thank you very much for your answer, and I would have more of a request regarding that question . Could you provide me with those threads or help me find them , or tell me how to look for them? I would be very excited to see and read original MLP threads.
>>42582258Wait did you just say 67. Those who know.
>>42582792Oh, sorry, I have one more question because I may understand the sincerity of the fandom. I have trouble understanding the intensity of the fandom because while you may have loved the show, you were doing crazy numbers to the point that you got banned on /co/. So, if you could explain the explosion of fandom, that would be great.
>>42582907 Sixxx sevennnn.
>>42582807Check the threads labelled 'ponies': https://hyperindex.mlpg.co/>>42582910By itself, FiM was something completely new. Other than moeshit, there wasn't much that competed with MLP in terms of cute appeal, and the show did it extremely well. The personalities were well-written, well-designed and enjoyable to watch/listen to, the world of Equestria begged to be explored, it had super catchy songs. It also got a huge boost from coming completely out of left field: MLP was known as this crappy little girl's show, so when it turned out to be good (and your favourite celebrities and YouTube channels were making references to it) that was incredible, and so it snowballed. The creators were also tuned in on the fandom, with Derpy's cameo appearance in Feeling Pinkie Keen, but especially in The Last Roundup (though this was in 2012). And that leads into the early conventions that a lot of the show's writers and VAs attended, the dedicated music scene, etc. etc.Much of what this guy said >>42582295. MLP:FiM came out just when the internet was becoming an accessible medium to everyone. It was also much less of a chaotic time, politically. You got adolescent males talking about My Little Pony being their favourite show: they were a laughing stock, but despite their bumbling awkwardness, people still got the impression that the show was seriously good.LittleShyFiM has made a brief history of the pony fandom that I also suggest you check out: https://www.whatisabrony.com/
Bump
>>42582258bumping this thread to allow more anons to share their experiences
OP here-I have another question if anypony wants to share his views.Are there any anons who were first bronies on this board as in they were fisrt to watch MLP FIM and praise it and rail up the others to join them? If not are there any places on internet where they could be found?
>>42582318>>42584932>>42582586>OP herejust namefag, Jesus
>>42582602thishe's probably new to 4chud and doesn't really know how shit's supposed to be posted herefortunately for him his thread isn't on P10 with derailed discussion
>>42582602No, this is purely just for me. I'm just curious that's all.
