QUOTE(Radien @ May 22 2012, 06:12 AM) 
I'm replaying Dragon Quest IV. In the game, there's a point where you can help to start a new town, and can give it a name. I succumbed to temptation, and named it "Equestria" this time around.
I am totally doing something similar to this the next time I start an Animal Crossing town.
QUOTE(Vinyl Scratch @ May 21 2012, 11:20 PM)
I'm going to spend this time I have to answer something that was brought up another use of this site. "When the brony thing blows over, will you look back with pride or shame?"
While I could go on about how the "brony" thing won't just "blow over," I'll address the question as it should be.
I will look back onto the community a lot like I do now - pride. Who cares if it might be weird to like a show like My Little Pony? It's weird to do a lot of things, yet a lot of people do it. There's nothing shameful about liking a show like this.
I will look with pride, for the pony community is one of the most accepting and caring fandoms I've been apart of. My pony friends have been extremely supportive of me in my difficult times, and I've seen other incidents where the community has stepped in to help people, even directly prevent them from killing themselves.
I love everything about pony. I love the show, the fanbase, the community, the original content - everything. I will not look back with even a cent of shame.
While I could go on about how the "brony" thing won't just "blow over," I'll address the question as it should be.
I will look back onto the community a lot like I do now - pride. Who cares if it might be weird to like a show like My Little Pony? It's weird to do a lot of things, yet a lot of people do it. There's nothing shameful about liking a show like this.
I will look with pride, for the pony community is one of the most accepting and caring fandoms I've been apart of. My pony friends have been extremely supportive of me in my difficult times, and I've seen other incidents where the community has stepped in to help people, even directly prevent them from killing themselves.
I love everything about pony. I love the show, the fanbase, the community, the original content - everything. I will not look back with even a cent of shame.
The people I've come to know as a result of the show and its online popularity has changed my life and caused me to become a better person. No exaggeration there. I can think of all the positive things that have happened to me, gaining close friendships for the first time, finally coming out as trans, all the people I've come to know... None of this would have happened, had this show not existed, and had it not gained its enormous online fanbase. There's a lot of things I like because they bring me joy, but the show and its fanbase go far beyond that. It's genuinely made a difference for me.
Pride or shame? ... The fanbase itself is really too large and diverse to really judge; there's an incredible number of being calling themselves pony fans, from the meanest people to the very kindest. There's the people who sent writers hate mail over the Derpy scene being changed, and there's the people who have started charities in the name of the show and its fandom. While it's convenient and feels good for people who like the show to say the fandom is only made up of its positive aspects, and it's convenient and satisfying for people who don't like it to say it's made up of only the negative aspects, the only truth is in how diverse and varied it is, and how like most things in life, it's neither fully good nor bad. I certainly feel pride about the good things, and shame about the bad. But for everything it's done or me, and everything considered, I would look back on this whole crazy pony thing with only the most positive feelings.
Of course, this is purely theoretical because, as you said, the fandom simply isn't going away. One day we'll see less pony avatars while lurking on message boards, but the fanbase will never leave entirely.
I don't expect to ever see the day it disappears.
And I'm very much okay with that.
