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The Bronies Get Their Own Charity
blackbearnh writes "There's a long history of media fandoms organizing fundraising campaigns, donating blood, and doing other charitable activities. However, even large and well-established groups such as Trekkies/ers and Star Wars fans usually work with established non-fannish charities like the Red Cross or Toys for Tots. Some may see them as a plague on the Internet, the Brony community has taken their charitable endeavors to the next level by going to the trouble of creating a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity. The Brony Thank You Fund received word from the IRS last week that, after nearly a year of work, they had been granted tax-exempt status. The Fund is currently raising donations to endow a permanent animation scholarship at CalArts, and is the same group that made news last year when they became the first fan group to purchase commercial time on national TV, for a 30 second spot praising My Little Pony and encouraging donations to Toys for Tots."
I guess it's good they're doing charity, but it's just so creepy.
People trying to make the world a better place- it's awful!
How about people who are genuinely appreciative of an animated cartoon with all-ages appeal, quality animation, and great voice work.
Not everything needs to be some kind of snarky ironic entity. There's room in the world for sincerity, as much as the Internet tries to beat that sentiment into oblivion.
And for the record, less than 20% of bronies self-identify as furries, the vast majority are heterosexual, and the fandom has nothing to do with pedophilia.
Real sincerity is the new ironic fake sincerity.
Actually, the show writing isn't the horrible syrup you might expect --- it's actually made to be tolerable for a parent to watch alongside their kids. There are frequent joke references that would go *completely over* the head of the "target" demographic age, but are thrown in for 20 to 30-year-olds. The voice/character acting is high quality. There is surprisingly little blatant "buy all our playsets and toys!" pushy in-show merchandizing (especially for a kids' TV show produced by a *toy company*). And the main character is a "nerd" portrayed in very positive light --- the show has a refreshing air of anti-anti-intellectualism, and is the opposite of "math is hard! let's go shopping!" Barbie.
The Fund is currently raising donations to endow a permanent animation scholarship at CalArts
The Klingon Language Institute also has a scholarship so fandom born scholarships are not unheard off.
"modify your life such that it now revolves around that show, and you feel compelled to convert others to your obcesson"
So, what were you saying about Chicago Cubs fans here in central Illinois?
Watched the show at the behest of a friend. Liked it, it was very enjoyable. Told a different friend about it.
She got about ten times more into it than I did. She started a meetup group in New York, then created a brony *convention*. She invited me to come up and help.
So I did. And I met a bunch of new, fun people in the process.
I always liked the show, but never took it as far as some of the other fans. The whole thing ended up causing me to meet a large group of fun, quirky people, so overall it was very positive.
I haven't been too involved in the past year, since a ton of drama started up and I got tired of hearing about it. I'll probably still watch the show, but my days of flying up to NYC for cons is over.
Though I'll likely be up there to visit friends in the summer. Oh, and Rarity is best pony. Sorry folks. :)
Not all fettishisms are sexual.
All of the fun ones are.
You just made zombie Baby Hitler cry.
I've watched every episode and can say without a doubt that the production quality of the show is extremely good. The story arcs are well crafted, the character building is great and even the side plots have a purpose beyond mere entertainment. The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was the Miss America tie in for last season's finale. It fell flat IMHO. The finale itself was good though.
Gotta say I'm a Pinkie Pie fan, her slapstick comedy routines are timed perfectly. She did a spit take in one episode that had me ROFL.
If I were to place MLP with a peer set of TV series it would be Breaking Bad, The Wire, DragonBallZ, FireFly, Cowboy BeeBop and maybe GOT (it still hasn't proven itself, we'll see how this season wraps up).
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
And the main character is a "nerd" portrayed in very positive light
The creator if the show did state that she wanted the main characters to have a wide variety of traits (the hard working one, the nurturing one, ect) as a kind of 'you can be who you want no matter what it is' message to the target audience of young girls. The nerdy one being the lead was a nice touch.
Also, a fun bit of trivia /. readers will probably appreciate, an episode once had a that character working with time dilation equations here.
To be fair, I think the show is well written to work on "dual levels": both the little girls watching it, and the parents who might be dragged in to endure spending some time with their children. From actually *watching* episodes, I can attest that the writing has enough to offer to keep an adult entertained, too (so long as you're still capable of appreciating storytelling without constant gory violence, profanity, and explicit sex). It is indeed a matter of taste --- but for folks who enjoy absurdist humor, genre spoofs (which would often be over the head of "target audience" girls), character acting, sight gags / slapstick comedy, running jokes, etc., it's an enjoyable show. Yes, there are plenty of other great hobbies besides watching a TV series --- but that is true of *every* TV series.
Daughter (who just graduated high school) watches My Little Pony (the current incarnation, not that horrible 1980's crap), and I've seen a couple episodes, and ... you know ... kids could be watching worse things. The writers don't talk down to the viewer, the dialog is fast and witty and sometimes genuinely funny, and they don't beat you senseless with the moral.
She was part of a brony group in high school, but about half of them quit when the other half got.... wayyyyy too into it. But that's not necessarily a reflection on the show. Geeks can take anything and make too much of it. (Ahem...)
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
In fact, a bunch of adults forming a fan club for a cartoon and calling themselves "bronies" is creepy too.
How is it any more creepy than a bunch of adults forming a fan club over a TV show and calling themselves trekkies.
The "brohoof" stuff is kinda creepy though.
Live long and prosper, dude.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Considering what I see sports fans do....
(\ Brohoof back at ya.
Yes, it's a silly fandom for a kid's show. But it's an amazing community unlike any I've seen on the internet -- and I've seen a lot. The creativity and generosity of this fandom is off the charts, and that's the kind of crowd with whom I'm proud to associate.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
They are both equally disturbing.
Neither is preferable.
I'm in neither group, but I've seen my share of Star Trek and was at least curious enough to watch an episode of MLP to see what the fuss was about.
I think that many people find the Idealism of Star Trek appealing. It's not just about spacemen and phasers, and it's not just about exploring space. It carries a lot of idealism about what humans can overcome and become culturally (not just technologically). The idealism resonates with many of the fans.
Likewise, My Little Pony seems to convey a certain optimism and promotes compassion and empathy (and it was at least mildly amusing).
I wouldn't go to conventions or anything, but people who are fans of things that are pretty benign and encourage empathy, compassion, idealism, and the bettering of humanity aren't really a bad thing.
So, when people want to shit on them because the fans don't conform to societal norms of being aggressive, self-serving, materialistic, dominating people kind of come off seeming like assholes to me.
Maybe they are weird or eccentric, but it a lot more harmless than a lot of things we idolize in this culture.