A Brony Tale Page #2

Harley Davidson mechanic.

I have built and can build

custom motorcycles

from scratch.

I can weld.

I can run a CMC machine.

I played college football.

Uh, what's the other one?

Bodyguard ranch hand

for a science fiction writer,

I worked as a GM glue guy

a GM dealership.

On top of all that, I watch

a show for little girls.

I'm known as DustyKatt

in the fandom,

and I'm known as

the Manliest Brony in the World.

If this guy can like

a girls' show for what it is,

you can too.

Every character

doesn't have the answers, right?

They have to go find

the answers,

They have to learn

from their mistakes,

and that's what draws me

to My Little Pony,

Because you have

character-driven story

where the characters

learn something and grow.

There's six main characters

in the show.

Twilight Sparkle.

Her characterization

is fairly easy.

Twilight

is the intellectual shut-in.

Now you have Applejack,

who is the hard worker,

that pony you can go to,

but her problem is

she can't let others help her.

Fluttershy,

too shy for her own good.

That's one of her fallacies

that makes her a character.

Rainbow Dash...

my, what an ego!

She'll never get

into the Wonderbolts,

Because the Wonderbolts

are a team situation.

There's no "I" in "team."

Rarity...

Element of generosity...

to a fault.

She has to get over that.

She has to learn from that.

And then we get to Pinkie Pie,

party animal extraordinaire.

Off into left field

all the time,

but still, when somebody

needs to be picked up,

when someone is feeling sad,

she's there every time.

Each individual character

is so well rounded

within an archetype

of personality,

so people can see themselves

as a Rainbow Dash,

a Rarity,

or an Applejack.

That is the basis

of excellent storytelling.

Don't think of it as

six little ponies in Ponyville.

Think of it as six friends

learning from each other.

It just happens to be wrapped up

in a package of pastel ponies

that's animated well.

This is a show for kids,

but it doesn't wallow

in that point.

I'm just a guy who happens

to like a TV show.

I love My Little Pony.

I love what it does,

I love the message it sends,

and I want to be a part of it,

and I want to be able

to play in that universe.

We're suppose to chug beer,

ride motorcycles,

be degrading to women,

and like explosions.

That's what's engrained

in our brains

from the minute you're born

and put into a blue crib.

Well, I like what I like.

I don't need society

to tell me what I like,

and that's all there is to it.

Ei-ei-o, and here it goes!

As Twilight Sparkle

would say,

"We must science this

immediately!"

About a year ago,

the Brony Phenomenon

sort of fell into our laps,

and as soon as I heard about it,

I thought,

"Somebody needs to study this."

"Fandom" is a term that's used

for the community,

and in general,

people usually look at fandoms

with kind of a little bit

of a, like,

"These people

need to get a life."

Well, in fact, actually,

where does the term "fan"

come from?

"Fanatic."

You know it could be,

um, the Carolina Panthers.

It could be, um, Star Trek.

Uh, it could be

My Little Pony...

Oprah.

It could be Oprah.

It could be anything.

Our Bronies

ranged from 14 to 57,

with the average age

was around 21 years of age.

Then there's

the question of gender.

We usually ran around

85% male and 15% female.

Some female Bronies

like to be called Bronies,

some like to be called

Pegasisters.

And we question

if that 15% female,

how much of those are Bronies

because they have

a Brony boyfriend.

Hmm-hmm. Yep.

Bronies score lower

in neuroticism.

Neuroticism is sort of like

a tendency...

and I've sort of wrote

it's a tendency

to experience negative emotions

like anger, anxiety,

to worry, to be stressed,

and the Bronies

have lower scores,

so again, that would tend

to say this is a group...

now, there are going to be

Depressed Bronies,

and there are gonna be

Anxious Bronies,

But that's very positive.

Education level...

What we found was around 35%

of our Bronies

were in high school,

while about 62% were in

or had completed college.

And then one of the biggies,

the sexual orientation question,

which...

many people when they first

hear about the Bronies

will say things like,

"Well, is it a bunch of gays

and that?"

84% of the Bronies will describe

themselves as heterosexuals.

One and a half percent

label themselves as homosexuals,

and about 10% bisexual,

and then around 3-4% asexual.

Asexual is,

based on clinical experience,

some people who just simply

are not interested in sex.

It's still a puzzle,

when I think...

It's still a puzzle.

It's a puzzle to us as well,

but, um, I think that it's...

that the, um,

that society as a whole

is becoming less negative

in their attitudes

toward Bronies.

My name is Mike Bernstein,

and I am the broadcast director

of Everfree Radio.

Everfree Radio

is an online radio station

and network of programs

dedicated and mostly marketed

towards the Brony community.

I ended up watching it

because I thought,

"Okay,

clearly this is a phenomenon.

I have to understand why."

And I watched the first episode,

and the first episode

is a cliffhanger, a two-parter,

so I'm like, "Okay, well,

I gotta watch the second part."

You know, you gotta see how

the beginning story arc ends.

And then, you know,

I got to the end

of the second episode.

I'm like,

"Yeah, that's pretty decent.

It's okay. It's not bad.

You know, I better watch

the third episode

To make sure

that it's, you know,

maintaining

that level of quality,"

And then the fourth

and the fifth,

and by the time

I got to the 17th episode,

I kind of hung my head

in resignation.

It's kinda like, "Damnit."

You know?

"I guess I'm a Brony.

Oh well, better come

to terms with it."

4chan is an image

and message board

where the Brony movement began,

basically, back in...

I think it was October of 2010.

Somebody wrote an article.

They were citing My Little Pony:

Friendship Is Magic

as showing that companies

were micromanaging programs.

Well, new cartoon shows

are all about merchandising,

so somebody on 4chan went

and decided to watch it

and said,

"Hey, it's pretty good,"

And so they made

a post about it.

Other people

started watching it,

and they're like, "Hey, yeah,

it's actually pretty good."

And it became this kind of,

like, weird phenomenon.

They ended up becoming kind of

like their own little clan.

So more people watched the show

to try and figure out,

"Okay, is this just a big joke?"

And then they started posting

images on the boards,

and then the moderators of 4chan

decided,

"No, we don't want all

these pony images everywhere,"

So they shut it down,

so then they start another one.

It became this whole, like,

flurry of online activity.

In a sense, 4chan was the start

of the Brony community.

It's the deep depths

of shameless Internet.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes