I am not a fan of the show, a brony, horsefucker, or a fan in any form. But since 2011 I have always been curious about the huge backlash the fandom grew to receive outside of 4chan. I say "outside of 4chan" because the general attitude toward the fandom seems to have been completely negative throughout its existence on 4chan, at least among those who did not understand or want to participate in the craze, while being generally tolerated on other websites like YouTube, reddit, KYM, various message broads and pretty much everywhere but normie social media like FB and Twitter from 2011-2012. In 2013 I noticed a huge shift as the brony stereotype went from the previously refutable/generic "fag" and "pedo" to the more specific and manufactured "neckbeard" and "autist", this stereotype being accentuated by the myriad of "le cringeworthy" images and videos that people dug up from the bowels of the fandom. After this shift ANY mention of MLP garnered fury and relentless name calling on almost any website. On 4chan after the trolling illusion the fandom had "employed" to protect itself faded away and it got itself its own board GR15 was instilled and pony became taboo outside of the board. Now in most places mentioning pony is completely taboo and breaking this results in unrest and negative sentiment which explains why pony is immediately buried or censored pretty much everywhere. Sometimes the tension is palpable when someone even gently references MLP in jest, why the fuck is this? How did this happen?
So, /mlp/, how did you dig yourselves into this hole? Did the fandom grow too fast for its own good? Even so, why do people hate such a harmless group with such a burning passion? 99% of the time the excuse has been that the fans are "obnoxious" but I've never seen them behave that way, did this trait bleed out of 4chan to the rest of the internet?
>>27911473
Autism never dies.
>>27911473
Blah blah blah
>>27911519
Not an argument.
>>27911473
they saw too many 80s and 2000s MLP ads
along with comparing MLP with Barney,>>27911488
but their tears.....just for that,everything was completely worth it
>In 2013 I noticed a huge shift as the brony stereotype went from the previously refutable/generic "fag" and "pedo" to the more specific and manufactured "neckbeard" and "autist", this stereotype being accentuated by the myriad of "le cringeworthy" images and videos that people dug up from the bowels of the fandom.
You answered yourself in the OP. Really it isn't bronies specifically, but all neckbeardy things (MLP, anime, furry, MRA, athiests) were all put into one image and projected onto anyone who fits one of those qualities. This fictional caricature that rarely exists in real life became the easy punching bag of the internet because it has all the qualities of everything everyone deemed to be obnoxious internet shit, and then the rise in "cringe compilations" and related content becoming mainstream only pushed the idea of neckbeards. Look at this image and tell me that neckbeards haven't become a mainstream meme and the easy punching bag of the internet.
>99% of the time the excuse has been that the fans are "obnoxious" but I've never seen them behave that way
Yes, but when the only idea you have of bronies is from cringe content, you would think that all bronies are neckbeards and are obnoxious and shit.
And really, the internet has always been the home to irrational hatred, so this isn't surprising at all.
>>27911473
Bronies are male fans of a female-targeted show who've had a significant influence on what appears in the show, as well as being on good terms with most of its creators. We create a good deal of sexually implicit or explicit content and aren't very politically sensitive, which the show's creators don't seem especially bothered by.
Those details have angered certain groups online- groups which have a strong influence over blogs and social media. They have encouraged the negative stereotypes associated with this fandom because they despise who it appeals to, the ideas it accepts, and how its members choose to express their love of the show. More than anything, they despise that the show's creators don't hate us.
Also, 4chan hates bronies because they're a large, active fandom. Not much more reason is needed here.
If you want to learn about the history of MLP on 4chan and how it became popular, read this.
pastebin.com/mwat380a
>>27911833
>>27911859
Ebin :DDDD
>>27911843
Good read, but I don't think "brony" came from /b/+pony. It was probably just bro+pony. Nobody knows where the term was coined (ponybro thread was fake) so it could be either, though.
