This is a question that many paranoid fanbase members will ask, including me today. And yes, just out of the blue did I start thinking about this. I thought "I need something to write about. My site has been dry lately!". But don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to reach for the usual articles about the episodes I do, I wanted something more important and interesting to talk about. So, to the article.
This question has been asked by many already, so much so as to warrant Google to autofill my search bar when I only typed in half of this inquiry. Should that be worrisome?
This question has been asked by many already, so much so as to warrant Google to autofill my search bar when I only typed in half of this inquiry. Should that be worrisome?
A follower on my Fimfiction.net account, by request of me, gave me the idea for this article. He will remain anonymous by his request. I was shocked to hear what he had to say about this, seeing as the fanbase dying was the last thing I would expect as a suggestion for a post, but I must do my job yes? No matter how ugly the truth (or perceived truth) is. He directed me towards the statistics on the site, making sure to note that stats on the site have been lower than usual this year. The stats can be found here.
According to the stats, which go back to 2010 when the site first launched, indicated that the site's popularity has been dimming this year, and somewhat last year. However, the amount of blog posts, registered users, and approved stories of all flavors have been and still are at an all-time-high. The only stat that seems unusually lower is the amount of stories actually being written and published.
But, in my opinion, the decline of one site's ratings (Especially just one part of them) hardly suggests the decline of a fanbase. So, with this topic in mind, I've gone to do some research and see what others have to say.
I've run across an article on Equestriadaily.com that put a different perspective on the matter, putting my mind at ease and presumably many others. The article can be found here.
In summary, the article written by Sethisto on a undisclosed date explains that the fanbase itself is not dying, only that it's not quite as trendy as it was in, according to the article, the height of My Little Pony's popularity in 2012-2013. Since then, everyone knew about the show, and it wasn't something to celebrate over in the context that it is a new and fresh idea. Perhaps this course of events is what lead to the mimicking of the end of such an exciting fanbase? It's a possibility. Then the author goes on to explain that, no the fanbase is not dying, only that the fanbase is celebrating and gathering together differently than before. That is why many perceived it to be the death of a fanbase, since at times change cannot be easily witnessed on one's own.
However, there are some who believe the fanbase to be dying, and seek to spread the ideology.
And by seemingly false reasoning too. An article I've run across on Dailydot.com suggests that perhaps there is another reason why the fanbase is dying outside of it just degenerating into something less popular, supposedly at least. The post can be found here.
Allow me to give my own opinions on why I think this article is not very truthful. The post lists 5 reasons why the fandom is dying, and I seek to provide my viewpoint on why I don't think these reasons are true. Check the source above to get the full descriptions.
1) Bullying and drama
Ludicrous. Yes, on Tumblr, I have been Seeing smaller amounts of drama (I've experienced some myself) but by no means have I seen bullying, at least not on a grand scale interchangeably between members of the fandom. Usually, it's individuals outside of the fandom that brings that in. I deal with social stigma online all of the time, especially on Youtube, about being a Brony. Being called gross, the reason why the world is terrible, a faggot, or any other derogatory terms is a direct result of people outside the fandom who can't accept me and others for having "Odd" interests. Suffice it to say that I've never experienced something like that but once, and that was years ago. It's pretty scarce, in my opinion. But perhaps there could be some bullying I'm not aware of, but I've never seen anything like that as of late.
2) Big name fans keep their distance
This is an interesting part of the article, so I will paste what this part said here in bold.
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic found one of its earliest fan artists in Yamino, a cartoonist who has garnered notice from Lady Gaga. But Yamino disliked dopey fan character Derpy Hooves, whom she said might be seen as demeaning to the mentally disabled.
When Hasbro agreed with her, bronies cast Yamino out of the fandom—with death threats. She has since stayed quiet, but just this month prominent brony musician Yelling at Cats recorded a rap song in which he threatens to murder her.
“And people wonder why ‘bronies’ have a bad name,” Yamino wrote in response.
On Thursday, Joanna Blackhart, the host of popular weekly livestreamed talk show, My Little Dashie, had a modest proposal for the fandom on her Tumblr: change the name."
I am not defending the Bronies, or Yamino in this one, but just giving my general outlook on both ends. As I said above, I cannot be aware of all bullying or harassment.
I've heard this one before. Yamino is likely a SJW or Feminist individual who dislikes Derpy for no reason other than being supposedly demeaning to the mentally disabled. However, what she dismisses is that everyone in the fanbase loves Derpy, including me. Well, mostly everyone. I haven't found anyone that didn't yet, and I don't expect to. She's highly respected in the fandom and the show itself, and is always treated with love and friendship pretty much ever since she appeared in the first episode. And, Yamino makes it seem as if the developers did this on purpose. Her eyes was the result of a animation error, but the fanbase responded extremely positively to her. So it's not like everyone hates her. If you ask me, Yamino is just grasping for straws. An article on Horse News sums up what I think on this subject, right here. However, Bronies making death threats is childish and makes a bad name for good Bronies, so I'm not justifying the death threats either. Both sides were wrong, and we must address that.
So in other words, we're still going to call her Derpy. Deal with it. Bronies who made the threats, grow up. Moving on.
3) Media oversaturation
"When bronies first came into mainstream awareness, everybody wanted a piece of them. From the Wall Street Journal to Fox News, journalists strived to understand—or at least gawk at—this strange new phenomenon of men who like ponies.
By now, even Jerry Springer has figured out the fad, and it’s getting tired—partly thanks to bronies’ vigilant (and justified) efforts to prevent being portrayed as deviants in the news. Even Walmart has tried to capitalize on the fandom, generating a retro-style shirt that many bronies think is better left on the drafting table.
Even though bronies didn’t always like the way the news covered them, the news did serve a valuable service by informing potential new members about the fandom."
I can't give commentary on this since I've never seen Bronies on the news. Maybe that's because I came into the fandom in 2013 and not from the beginning in 2010. Suffice it to say that not everyone likes how media covers them. Some people go out with the goal to make Bronies look gay, or intimidating, or any other tag Bronies generally don't want. And this doesn't only apply to Bronies either. Telling people about the fandom? As if the fandom is a minefield like that. We aren't looking at the majority of the Call of Duty fanbase here (I'm speaking from experience. There's a lot of hostile blokes there). Give Bronies a chance.
4) Fewer newbies
"With a hostile environment apparent to insiders and outsiders alike, it’s no wonder fewer people are choosing to identify as bronies. Right now, in the lull before Season 3 airs in November, a brony named Cerulean Spark told the Daily Dot he’s seeing the same old faces around his regular brony haunts. He calls this the fandom’s “long tail,” breaking away from its peak popularity and developing a smaller, more specialized following.
“I don't think anyone would disagree with the assertion that the days of the fandom’s explosive growth are over,” he said. “The fandom is very dependent on the show for new material, so the lull between seasons will inevitably cause a drop in fandom output and a corresponding drop in new members.”
Cerulean predicts the new season of will attract some new fans. However, the state they find the fandom in may deter them from staying very long."
Irrelevant. People including me are pumping out tons of fan-made content, including animations, fan art, videos, ect. You can type "Pony" in the most unlikely of places and still find them. Moving on.
5) Loss of founding values
"The four reasons outlined above are but symptoms of a larger problem. The biggest reason brony fandom is jumping the shark is that it lost the values that held it together in the first place.
Whenever Daily Dot reporters talk to bronies in the wild, whether at Brony Fan Fair or Otakon, they have one response for why they got into the fandom: the show’s underlying values of friendship, love, and tolerance for others above all else. But while those tenets are the backbone of the show, it’s getting harder for some to recognize them among fellow bronies.
“The whole point of the world that was put on television to show younger people how to cooperate and live with each other in harmony,” Cabal, the founder of brony chat serviceRainbowDash Network and a special guest to the first Bronycon, told the Daily Dot. “Soon, it will be like Pokémon or Hello Kitty. Younger kids will recognize these icons, but will never know the real reason why they still are pervasive in our culture as memes.
“Now, it’s just selfishness and the bullying of our members driving our numbers away.”
Ridiculous. I've never heard such rot about the fanbase before. Do I even need to go and explain how idiotic this proposition is? I'm not denying that there is drama and bullying in the fanbase, but again, it is so small scale compared to events like Bronycon, and events of that nature. I've attended the event just last year, and people of all ages were kind and social. I felt welcome and loved, and not in some hostile environment where I could be put on a stake for liking colorful talking horses. This part of the article is probably the most disgusting of all the reasons.
Now, I know this article was written in 2012, but I wanted to dispute it's points. Knowing that people may use information like this in the future to try and paint Bronies in a bad light, I feel it to be my job to make sure these points are moot. The author of the source article is Lauren Rae Orsini.
Keep tabs on her, yeah?
So, in summary, no, the fanbase is not dying. If it is destined to, it won't happen anytime soon, and the memories will be fresh in our minds even still. One Pony, One Love!
---
We bring the information to you to help you draw your conclusions. Tell us what you think below and subscribe to our news letter for more informational My Little Pony articles. Don't just take our word for it though, get out there and research for yourself! - Fateful Pony.
According to the stats, which go back to 2010 when the site first launched, indicated that the site's popularity has been dimming this year, and somewhat last year. However, the amount of blog posts, registered users, and approved stories of all flavors have been and still are at an all-time-high. The only stat that seems unusually lower is the amount of stories actually being written and published.
But, in my opinion, the decline of one site's ratings (Especially just one part of them) hardly suggests the decline of a fanbase. So, with this topic in mind, I've gone to do some research and see what others have to say.
I've run across an article on Equestriadaily.com that put a different perspective on the matter, putting my mind at ease and presumably many others. The article can be found here.
In summary, the article written by Sethisto on a undisclosed date explains that the fanbase itself is not dying, only that it's not quite as trendy as it was in, according to the article, the height of My Little Pony's popularity in 2012-2013. Since then, everyone knew about the show, and it wasn't something to celebrate over in the context that it is a new and fresh idea. Perhaps this course of events is what lead to the mimicking of the end of such an exciting fanbase? It's a possibility. Then the author goes on to explain that, no the fanbase is not dying, only that the fanbase is celebrating and gathering together differently than before. That is why many perceived it to be the death of a fanbase, since at times change cannot be easily witnessed on one's own.
However, there are some who believe the fanbase to be dying, and seek to spread the ideology.
And by seemingly false reasoning too. An article I've run across on Dailydot.com suggests that perhaps there is another reason why the fanbase is dying outside of it just degenerating into something less popular, supposedly at least. The post can be found here.
Allow me to give my own opinions on why I think this article is not very truthful. The post lists 5 reasons why the fandom is dying, and I seek to provide my viewpoint on why I don't think these reasons are true. Check the source above to get the full descriptions.
1) Bullying and drama
Ludicrous. Yes, on Tumblr, I have been Seeing smaller amounts of drama (I've experienced some myself) but by no means have I seen bullying, at least not on a grand scale interchangeably between members of the fandom. Usually, it's individuals outside of the fandom that brings that in. I deal with social stigma online all of the time, especially on Youtube, about being a Brony. Being called gross, the reason why the world is terrible, a faggot, or any other derogatory terms is a direct result of people outside the fandom who can't accept me and others for having "Odd" interests. Suffice it to say that I've never experienced something like that but once, and that was years ago. It's pretty scarce, in my opinion. But perhaps there could be some bullying I'm not aware of, but I've never seen anything like that as of late.
2) Big name fans keep their distance
This is an interesting part of the article, so I will paste what this part said here in bold.
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic found one of its earliest fan artists in Yamino, a cartoonist who has garnered notice from Lady Gaga. But Yamino disliked dopey fan character Derpy Hooves, whom she said might be seen as demeaning to the mentally disabled.
When Hasbro agreed with her, bronies cast Yamino out of the fandom—with death threats. She has since stayed quiet, but just this month prominent brony musician Yelling at Cats recorded a rap song in which he threatens to murder her.
“And people wonder why ‘bronies’ have a bad name,” Yamino wrote in response.
On Thursday, Joanna Blackhart, the host of popular weekly livestreamed talk show, My Little Dashie, had a modest proposal for the fandom on her Tumblr: change the name."
I am not defending the Bronies, or Yamino in this one, but just giving my general outlook on both ends. As I said above, I cannot be aware of all bullying or harassment.
I've heard this one before. Yamino is likely a SJW or Feminist individual who dislikes Derpy for no reason other than being supposedly demeaning to the mentally disabled. However, what she dismisses is that everyone in the fanbase loves Derpy, including me. Well, mostly everyone. I haven't found anyone that didn't yet, and I don't expect to. She's highly respected in the fandom and the show itself, and is always treated with love and friendship pretty much ever since she appeared in the first episode. And, Yamino makes it seem as if the developers did this on purpose. Her eyes was the result of a animation error, but the fanbase responded extremely positively to her. So it's not like everyone hates her. If you ask me, Yamino is just grasping for straws. An article on Horse News sums up what I think on this subject, right here. However, Bronies making death threats is childish and makes a bad name for good Bronies, so I'm not justifying the death threats either. Both sides were wrong, and we must address that.
So in other words, we're still going to call her Derpy. Deal with it. Bronies who made the threats, grow up. Moving on.
3) Media oversaturation
"When bronies first came into mainstream awareness, everybody wanted a piece of them. From the Wall Street Journal to Fox News, journalists strived to understand—or at least gawk at—this strange new phenomenon of men who like ponies.
By now, even Jerry Springer has figured out the fad, and it’s getting tired—partly thanks to bronies’ vigilant (and justified) efforts to prevent being portrayed as deviants in the news. Even Walmart has tried to capitalize on the fandom, generating a retro-style shirt that many bronies think is better left on the drafting table.
Even though bronies didn’t always like the way the news covered them, the news did serve a valuable service by informing potential new members about the fandom."
I can't give commentary on this since I've never seen Bronies on the news. Maybe that's because I came into the fandom in 2013 and not from the beginning in 2010. Suffice it to say that not everyone likes how media covers them. Some people go out with the goal to make Bronies look gay, or intimidating, or any other tag Bronies generally don't want. And this doesn't only apply to Bronies either. Telling people about the fandom? As if the fandom is a minefield like that. We aren't looking at the majority of the Call of Duty fanbase here (I'm speaking from experience. There's a lot of hostile blokes there). Give Bronies a chance.
4) Fewer newbies
"With a hostile environment apparent to insiders and outsiders alike, it’s no wonder fewer people are choosing to identify as bronies. Right now, in the lull before Season 3 airs in November, a brony named Cerulean Spark told the Daily Dot he’s seeing the same old faces around his regular brony haunts. He calls this the fandom’s “long tail,” breaking away from its peak popularity and developing a smaller, more specialized following.
“I don't think anyone would disagree with the assertion that the days of the fandom’s explosive growth are over,” he said. “The fandom is very dependent on the show for new material, so the lull between seasons will inevitably cause a drop in fandom output and a corresponding drop in new members.”
Cerulean predicts the new season of will attract some new fans. However, the state they find the fandom in may deter them from staying very long."
Irrelevant. People including me are pumping out tons of fan-made content, including animations, fan art, videos, ect. You can type "Pony" in the most unlikely of places and still find them. Moving on.
5) Loss of founding values
"The four reasons outlined above are but symptoms of a larger problem. The biggest reason brony fandom is jumping the shark is that it lost the values that held it together in the first place.
Whenever Daily Dot reporters talk to bronies in the wild, whether at Brony Fan Fair or Otakon, they have one response for why they got into the fandom: the show’s underlying values of friendship, love, and tolerance for others above all else. But while those tenets are the backbone of the show, it’s getting harder for some to recognize them among fellow bronies.
“The whole point of the world that was put on television to show younger people how to cooperate and live with each other in harmony,” Cabal, the founder of brony chat serviceRainbowDash Network and a special guest to the first Bronycon, told the Daily Dot. “Soon, it will be like Pokémon or Hello Kitty. Younger kids will recognize these icons, but will never know the real reason why they still are pervasive in our culture as memes.
“Now, it’s just selfishness and the bullying of our members driving our numbers away.”
Ridiculous. I've never heard such rot about the fanbase before. Do I even need to go and explain how idiotic this proposition is? I'm not denying that there is drama and bullying in the fanbase, but again, it is so small scale compared to events like Bronycon, and events of that nature. I've attended the event just last year, and people of all ages were kind and social. I felt welcome and loved, and not in some hostile environment where I could be put on a stake for liking colorful talking horses. This part of the article is probably the most disgusting of all the reasons.
Now, I know this article was written in 2012, but I wanted to dispute it's points. Knowing that people may use information like this in the future to try and paint Bronies in a bad light, I feel it to be my job to make sure these points are moot. The author of the source article is Lauren Rae Orsini.
Keep tabs on her, yeah?
So, in summary, no, the fanbase is not dying. If it is destined to, it won't happen anytime soon, and the memories will be fresh in our minds even still. One Pony, One Love!
---
We bring the information to you to help you draw your conclusions. Tell us what you think below and subscribe to our news letter for more informational My Little Pony articles. Don't just take our word for it though, get out there and research for yourself! - Fateful Pony.