Hey, I'm the guy who asked the brony question, just wanted to thank you for the very detailed response, and to apologize for costing you followers, and on behalf of my gender for forcing you out of a fandom that you had every right to be in. Sadly I'm more surprised by the fact that there are people over 7 who watch MY LITTLE PONY then I am by the fact that a fandom has a sexist, homophobic branch of followers.
No need to apologize! If people really did unfollow me over the Brony post (and I have no proof that that was the reason anyway) they were following me for the wrong reasons. Nor do you need to apologize on behalf of your gender - there are just as many great guys as there are shitty ones, and the same goes for women and everyone in between. At any rate, I get asked about my opinion on Bronies a lot, so now I have my own post to show them rather than repeating the same points over and over again (hence why I decided to go all-out with the evidence).
I had other reasons for no longer watching MLP:FiM beyond my distaste for Bronies. I’m the type of person that prefers a continuous storyline, so the “Status Quo is God” episode style grated on me after a while. There’s only so many times I can watch the Cutie Mark Crusaders miss the point of discovering their own talents AGAIN. I also find that with the combination of my “job” doing research for reviews and my fibromyalgia, I don’t have nearly as much time/energy for just watching stuff anymore. So lately the only animated children/teen shows I’ve been keeping up with are Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Young Justice (*sob*).
As for people out of the target demographic watching the show, I liken MLP:FiM to Sesame Street. The best children’s shows are well written enough for adults to enjoy too (Animaniacs being another fantastic example), and Lauren Faust specifically stated that she wanted parents and kids to watch the show together, and that’s how it should be.
Pegasister here. I just wanted to say that if you look at the relationship that the MLP creators have with their older fanbase, there actually are many instances where the fans have influenced the show. Two examples off the top of my head are the use of the fandom term "Alicorn" to describe unicorn/pegasus combined ponies like the princesses, the fan made song "Equestria Girls" that Hasbro covered and used in an MLP commercial. Please do not take the worst of the fandom and stereotype the rest!
*sigh*
I said several times that I don’t consider all Bronies (or just adult MLP fans in general) to be bad. But I have many reasons to strongly dislike the worst of them. I didn’t discuss Pegasisters at all - perhaps it is confirmation bias, but it seems to be exclusively the male fans that cause all these problems.
I also mentioned that every time I speak out about this, someone goes on the defensive, just like what you’re doing right now.At least you’re not calling me a bitch or a cunt like others have. So thank you for being polite.
I am well aware that the adult fanbase has influenced the content of the show. I am also well aware that there are probably more good adult MLP fans than bad ones. It does not change that there are far too many asshole Bronies out there, and it bothers me that so many people just say “But they’re not all like that!” instead of saying “Yes, this behaviour is wrong, it needs to stop, and I’ll call someone out on it if I witness it.” It’s just like a guy butting into a feminist discussion about rape to say “But not all guys do that!” as if that isn’t obvious.
