My Little Pony 2F: Ponibooru, We Hardly Knew Ye...

[Anarion]

Delancie touches On What we all saw when we first started. Not quite memes, no quite in-jokes, not quite nifty fanon, just ruthless, in-the-moment optimism. Delancie rekindles that when you see him. It's like watching a loved one open the perfect gift.

He's also really high-profile and involved in an active project to portray the fandom (whereas Tara is just fun and likes trolling and Lauren Faust is amazing but also doing other stuff right now).

This I agree with. If I was not going with friends, would have been a waste. I'm doubly sorry we couldn't find you, I'd like to think a purple hours over a meal would have improved your trip considerably

Friendship is magic and all that. Also though, I think most people would agree that meeting new people is really tough, even when you share interests. Having a group basically has this crazy resonance effect where everyone gets progressively happier.

Well, yeah. That's natural.
There are people who think Love & tolerance means a smile and a Louisville slugger. There are people who dress up as Fluttershy instead of Gir or some other cute character and being a paycho who wants to light stuff on fire. There are people who will stop at surface level, change the bitmap and be satisfied. "Look!" they say, "my space marine totally has a Fluttershy cutie mark!". This is technically pony. But it's standard con stuff.

The things achieved by the other, smaller percentage are, in my mind, worthwhile. On one hoof, I wen to a convention, heeled out, made some tawdry jokes and drank coffee at a convention center. On the other hoof, I helped a bunch of friends get together and har a good time, bond over obscure references, and destress while refilling the Friendship tanks to get them through the next while. That's where I'm focusing.

You need all of these things. What makes bronies impressive, and what I think De Lancie has latched on to, is a combination of a desire to do some good in the world and sustained enthusiasm. There are many charities and wonderful organizations, but they rarely move people. Everyone says they care about giving food to the homeless and helping eradicate disease and poverty and so forth, but many people do not act. Bronies act. Sometimes that's because we care about friendship and community and the values of the show. And sometimes, it's because somebody saw a space marine with a Fluttershy cutie mark, it made that person feel happy, and that happiness translated into spreading enthusiasm around.

Also, keep in mind that the people who go to a convention are people that are really passionate about the things they love. And passion can transfer. 4000 people went to Bronycon, and I can say confidently that many of them are either working or will be working in the future. And if they hang on to the values of love and tolerance, charity and enthusiasm that the fandom espouses, I think that will translate into those people doing good in the world later in life, independently from just spreading pony images and talking about a cartoon.

shame? Why? I can maybe understand sheepishness, shyness, but shame?
If you're ashamed, don't do it. I can't understand a simple situation where you know there is a big emotional cost and you go in anyway.

I wouldn't say never do something if you're ashamed. Sometimes people feel shame going into something, get there, and realize it's different than what they expected.

What I would say is don't do anything that you really feel is bad, or wrong, or that makes you unhappy. If you're actually worried that other people will give you a hard time for liking ponies, watch the show in secret and talk about it over the Internet. But if you're all by yourself and all you can think about is how other people might make fun of you if you get caught, you might be a bit too paranoid.

Also, keep in mind that if you're feeling so ashamed, you might not be giving other people in your life enough credit. Not all of them will love My Little Pony with you, but many will just give a bemused smile and move on with little or no change to how they treat you. I've personally introduced a few friends, who said they kind of liked the show but don't go out of their way to watch it, which has been fine. I got one girlfriend really into it, but sadly we broke up a while ago for other reasons. And my parents found me out last summer when we were all listening to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and I answered their unexpected fandom question very confidently. And both my parents basically shrugged and moved on.

OotS was my first. xD

Penny Arcade was my first, followed by xkcd, and then Ozy and Millie, which went from totally mainstream to "how did I end up here?" I didn't get into OoTS into way later when a guy in my D&D group made a Miko reference.

I am alive again after some sleep.

Here are Con pictures I have taken, due to lighting (especially after the fire and lights became less bright) and being a generally horrible photographer, many picture are slightly blurry and /or dim.

For some quick highlights:

The building so filled with love that it was on fire

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Tara, Lauren and John in cute Hats

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Lauren receiving her Gift

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Pony threaders! I am bad with names so I will not identify who is who. Note the back of Peter New and John De Lancie hidden in the corner of the first picture.

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Ponythreaders, identify yourselves, I want to know who you are.

[Brazen Shield]

Do I really need to identify myself?

Hint: I'm the only girl XD

[Anarion]

Do I really need to identify myself?

Hint: I'm the only girl XD

Every other ponythreader

[Eakin]

I was reading DMFA from strip, what, 12? It was my very first webcomic. It also shaped a fair bit of my mind for that reason.

OotS was my first. xD

Sluggy Freelance was the first web comic I read. I gave it up a few years ago though.

Occurs to me that Bon Bon would make a good Only Sane Mare

Bon Bon is the clear straight man in the double act that is her and Lyra's relationship (add your own play on the word "straight" here). I don't think I've ever seen a fan work where Bon Bon was the comic element.

I dare say that the fanon here is getting to be to the level of Harry Potter (imo). The amount of fanfics and art is growing more each day. That being said I have read more fics about this fandom then I have for other fandoms I been apart of. Heck I even started to get into drawing again so I can put up my own fan art. I still suck at art so it will take a lot of practice. I believe I am rambling in this post but that is okay.

Thanks again all and keep up the super work!!

Heh, yeah the amount of fan content is insane. I have no drawing talent but I have enjoyed writing fan fiction.

Best part of writing and posting it is getting feedback and comments on it. It's interesting to see what people respond to, and it's not always what you expect it to be. And just an hour ago I got a really well thought out comment about how one of my stories had a great theme going about struggling with mortality, the psychological impact it's had on Twilight to be growing up and living in the shadow of immortals and how it's driven her to push herself incredibly hard and sometimes in unhealthy or self-destructive ways.

So I read that and I thought "Geeze, I thought I was just writing about ponies." But the guy made some really compelling arguments so I'm going to have to keep an eye on it as I write the next few chapters

[Aotrs Commander]

...

*looks around*

Well, ponythread is still here, I suppose, and appears to be nominally not on fire or something... Surprised we're on the same thread, actually.

Should I take this as a good sign...?

[Tectonic Robot]

I am alive again after some sleep.

Here are Con pictures I have taken, due to lighting (especially after the fire and lights became less bright) and being a generally horrible photographer, many picture are slightly blurry and /or dim.

For some quick highlights:

The building so filled with love that it was on fire

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Show

Tara, Lauren and John in cute Hats

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Show

Lauren receiving her Gift

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Pony threaders! I am bad with names so I will not identify who is who. Note the back of Peter New and John De Lancie hidden in the corner of the first picture.

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I detect a Raz! :O

[Anarion]

...

*looks around*

Well, ponythread is still here, I suppose, and appears to be nominally not on fire or something... Surprised we're on the same thread, actually.

Should I take this as a good sign...?

You should have seen it. We were all self-regulating without you or the mods. We even spun out an offtopic discussion into a different thread. Basically, you've succeeded in pushing us out of the nest and now we can fly.

[Kd7sov]

...

*looks around*

Well, ponythread is still here, I suppose, and appears to be nominally not on fire or something... Surprised we're on the same thread, actually.

Should I take this as a good sign...?

Well, apparently a bunch of Ponythreaders went to Bronycon, and Bronycon caught fire. Is this an improvement? Is it related to your absence? Are the two events I mention related to each other?

[Kairaven]

I will say that I am not in any of these pictures. Although I may have been shown somewhere in some of the "Hour with De Lancie" videos people have taken.

Also, Thanqol's prize is the the only remaining item yet to be fulfilled. (and Voice message) It's because I have not received it yet, and don't have details, the producers are probably exhausted from the con and still have to head towards BUCK and Galacon I believe. So I apologize for your reward delay Thanqol.

[Khosan]

!!

Why not? It hasn't been canceled, has it?

It's still going. Just after a long enough period of me not participating (school happened, a lot), I got removed from the Dropbox and Google Docs containing everything. Last I heard, they were making a push to have something to show for Midwestria and UK Bronycon.

I totally understand the whole 'art sucks when it's mandatory' bit.
What are you working on? I remember discussion o whether you should do a competing product, but no definitive results.

Probably a competing product. Competing doesn't sound quite like the right word though. This is just something I wanted to do and, honestly, it was the design aspect I was really interested in.

I'm going to have to change some things regarding my original plan. Timeline, mostly. Instead of you arriving the Spring before Twilight arrives, I'm thinking it'll be maybe the generation prior. So you might see filly versions of the Mane 6, but most of Ponyville would be very different.

[Luka]

How exactly do you mess around with a Pony Avatar, if you don't mind my prying?

You seem to have a reputation, Luka.

Cuz everyone had that version of their normal avvies and I wanted one just for fun?

Tht's because I said that like every 5 pages and they just won't believe me when I say that I don't like them yet..... they even got mad at me for it.

You keep telling yourself these things and we keep not believing you.

Dude, I don't even know anything about the show, don't read fics and said that I just dislike the aesthetics.... How exactly can't that be believed? and no denial, it's tru

[Soras Teva Gee]

...

*looks around*

Well, ponythread is still here, I suppose, and appears to be nominally not on fire or something... Surprised we're on the same thread, actually.

Should I take this as a good sign...?

Its been kinda a weird pace in this thread.

Speaking of which we should probably start coming up with the name. For the next one.

I submit

My Little Pony XLVIII:I say ol' chap, how about those Equestrians?

Certain parts emphasized as nessecary whatever our subtitle. Its not funny anymore.

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

2 things:

Why is this not a real game:

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2nd. Shouldn't we start voting on the next thread name, so it gets disregarded by Trixie?

I propose "I say ol' chap, how about those equestrians?" As proposed on page 35.

[Gamerlord]

2 things:

Why is this not a real game:

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Because there are few people who would be able to watch Fluttershy get zombiefied by Chrysalids.

[Merellis]

Cuz everyone had that version of their normal avvies and I wanted one just for fun?

Tht's because I said that like every 5 pages and they just won't believe me when I say that I don't like them yet..... they even got mad at me for it.



Dude, I don't even know anything about the show, don't read fics and said that I just dislike the aesthetics.... How exactly can't that be believed? and no denial, it's tru

We got mad when you kept saying it in nearly every post. We don't need to keep being reminded that you don't like ponies whenever you post. Especially when you're swimming in that river like your life depends on it.

And dude, you've established that you like Luna and Rainbow Dash, have a pony avatar, and post in here with enthusiasm.

Just accept the reality:

[INoKnowNames]

Cuz everyone had that version of their normal avvies and I wanted one just for fun?

Dude, I don't even know anything about the show, don't read fics and said that I just dislike the aesthetics.... How exactly can't that be believed? and no denial, it's tru

If you dislike the aesthetics, why did you want an avatar for fun?

Speaking of which we should probably start coming up with the name. For the next one.

With my changed number of posts per page, I forget when threads end and begin...

I submit

My Little Pony XLVIII:I say ol' chap, how about those Equestrians?

Certain parts emphasized as nessecary whatever our subtitle. Its not funny anymore.

I propose "I say ol' chap, how about those equestrians?" As proposed on page 35.

Hey, that came from me!

2nd. Shouldn't we start voting on the next thread name, so it gets disregarded by Trixie?

Wait, what?

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

Because there are few people who would be able to watch Fluttershy get zombiefied by Chrysalids.

Wouldn't Chrysalids just mimic her though?

Hey, that came from me!

Wait, what?

Yes, and now we are using it, as we told you we would. Thank you for your input. And voting for next thread name is a thing here, given that we run a thread bi-week more or less... And Trixie disregarded precious votings, that's why I made a joke of it.

Edit: BY THE GODS!!! HOW I DID NOT SEE Soras Teva Gee PREVIOUS POST... I think that it got posted while I was looking for the original text...

[Aotrs Commander]

You should have seen it. We were all self-regulating without you or the mods. We even spun out an offtopic discussion into a different thread. Basically, you've succeeded in pushing us out of the nest and now we can fly.

Huh.

Well, that's... surprising.

Will nominally put Ponyard in charge again (even and especially if he didn't even know he was nominally in charge - if it ain't broke...) next time in a month.

Its been kinda a weird pace in this thread.

Speaking of which we should probably start coming up with the name. For the next one.

I submit

My Little Pony XLVIII:I say ol' chap, how about those Equestrians?

Certain parts emphasized as nessecary whatever our subtitle. Its not funny anymore.

I don't normally chip in with thread titles (since unless it's hilarious, I don't really care) but I whole-metaphorically-heartedly agrree; very definately want to see a return to numbers/Roman numerals, since that joke has long since stopped being amusing.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Hey, that came from me!

Yes yes it did.

Wait, what?

Trixie (who does the OPs) sometimes disregards whatever we come up with, this is not quite a democracy.

[PhoeKun]

Trixie (who does the OPs) sometimes disregards whatever we come up with, this is not quite a democracy.

Woe betide those who think about just making the next thread themselves. There are rules to be followed.

[INoKnowNames]

"The. Worst. Possible. Thing." is a Rarity gag that shows up a lot in the season 2 episode "Lesson Zero." It's a silly episode.

Ah. Not that far yet.

"But yah, not being in love with the show doesn't mean you can't hang around with the associated memes or whatnot. The worst-kept secret about Brony-ness is that it's an internet counter-culture meant at its core to reject the open hostility of the internet. Also ponies.

That middleish sentence there.... I honestly have no idea what you just said.

I assume you mean things like "geniune academic interest, I'm writing a paper on this phenomenon" or "morbid curiousity, I just wonder what the fuss is about". These do not make you a brony. You run considerable risk of becoming one, though!

... you guys know your stuff pretty dang well. Just that long watching people struggle against ... "the herd", if I recall right?

Yes yes it did.

Yay! I'm relevant!

Trixie (who does the OPs) sometimes disregards whatever we come up with, this is not quite a democracy.

Not to be mean to Trixie, but shouldn't it be? Unless Trixie's a mod or something, in which case please don't kill me.

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

Yes yes it did.



Trixie (who does the OPs) sometimes disregards whatever we come up with, this is not quite a democracy.

As far as I understood, there was a vote to make voting not count. So I postulated that therefore that voting didn't count making voting count. But yeah that's why I sent my question to the tumblr.

[Maxtronaut]

And I want to see Maxtronaut shooting Thubby again

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MOTHER OF FAUST. O_O

*Shoots Thubby 9 times.*

I WANT THE TWILIGHT ONE. PLEASE.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Woe betide those who think about just making the next thread themselves. There are rules to be followed.

THIS IS BOWLING PONYTHREAD, THERE ARE RULES!

[Anarion]

I don't normally chip in with thread titles (since unless it's hilarious, I don't really care) but I whole-metaphorically-heartedly agrree; very definately want to see a return to numbers/Roman numerals, since that joke has long since stopped being amusing.

+1, understandable numbers written in a correct format please.

Woe betide those who think about just making the next thread themselves. There are rules to be followed.

Unless you're Thanqol.

MOTHER OF FAUST. O_O

*Shoots Thubby 9 times.*

I WANT THE TWILIGHT ONE. PLEASE.

Spoil that picture, it's killing the screen.

[INoKnowNames]

THIS IS BOWLING PONYTHREAD, THERE ARE RULES!

.... could have sworn I saw something on Screw The Rules I have Money about this... found it.

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And I'm going to need to take a break... I fear I'm getting too close to the point of no return....

[Siosilvar]

Woe betide those who think about just making the next thread themselves. There are rules to be followed.

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Good one.

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

.... could have sworn I saw something on Screw The Rules I have Money about this... found it.

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And I'm going to need to take a break... I fear I'm getting too close to the point of no return....

With the SamusPony and posting Pinkie were appropiate...

Welcome to the herd!:

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Now with themesong!

[thubby]

*is quietly nibbling on fanfiction*
wait, wha-

MOTHER OF FAUST. O_O

*Shoots Thubby 9 times.*

I WANT THE TWILIGHT ONE. PLEASE.

*looks at bullet riddled fanfic*
*teleports to maxtronaut, still filled with bullet holes*
I will end you

[INoKnowNames]

With the SamusPony and posting Pinkie were appropiate...

Welcome to the herd!:

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Now with themesong!

*3* Things.

1) I can't see what's in the Box. *attempts to get scary-hypno-pinkie out of eyes*

1a) Samus Aran is freaking awesome. Samus can be whatever she wants.

1b) It's hardly my fault that I become hyperactive when video games are mentioned. Proud Video Game Nerd, now and forever! I still have my Super Nintendo...

2) Still not even close to being finished with the series yet, so my feelings remain neutral at best over it.

And 3) Themesong? Gross. Singing.