I came across this interesting video about the My Little Pony fandom (the Bronys). It is by Jenny Nicholson, who has a great long-form YouTube channel, and who was an active part of the Brony fandom, so she is a great guide.
It is not a fandom I know much about, so this was a fascinating introduction to me. What I appreciated is that Jenny Nicholson is non-judgmental but is also not afraid of pointing out negative things about the fandom.
Interesting; thanks for sharing the video. I remember plastic, candy-colored My Little Pony from the 1980s–I was a teenager and in my prime babysitting years, and many/most (I no longer remember the proportion) of the kids I babysat (boy and girl) had these toys. The 1980s in the USA was a time of many children’s cartoons, most of them existing to sell toys.
What is it about young men that they are just so terrible? I remember a decade ago at work, there were a couple of man-babies with hundreds of dollars worth of plastic bobble-heads in their cubicles. I kept a minimalist desk–only what I actually needed for work was there. At one point, a man-baby and his friends stopped by my cubicle to ask me flat-out why I didn’t have children’s toys in my cubicle. I said sardonically, “So you can judge and make fun?” The point went whoosh over his head–“EXACTLY!” Just like the bronies, their entire self-worth is based on trying to humiliate women.
Haven’t watched this video yet, but have seen other talk about things… a lot of the specific ‘Brony’ fandom is also very explicitly only fans of the ‘gen 4’ MLP, not the earlier series (which were a lot more kid/toy-focused) and not anything later. Partly this is the timing of 4chan folks going to make fun of MLP and actually liking parts of it; part of it is the actual smart writing by someone who had grown up with the older versions and wanted to write a version of MLP that was what she would have wanted to see growing up; and a good chunk of it was the whole meta-plot of ‘geeky outsider becomes someone important’ which could sadly be easily twisted by the 4chan sorts, many of whom are the classic ‘I’m not considered as important as I think I should be, and it must be somebody else’s fault’ potential fascist footsoldiers.
And, as Katydid says, a lot of these folks sadly base their self-worth on being able to put other people (especially women) down, again because of the ‘lord give me the self-confidence of a mediocre white man’ cultural aspect that drives so much of these Internet cesspools. They must be important and on top, even if that means searching for the smallest of ponds to be a big fish in.
Sorry, I just discovered this unapproved comment.