So since Grey was talking about looking at old threads, I found this again: http://www.everypony.com/forums/showthread.php?1286-The-5-Stages-of-Brony-Development I've spent a fair amount of time in this fandom now, so I'd like to adjust this model so it's more accurate (the majority of it is copypastad so I'll put my additions in italics so you'll save time): Stage 1: Denial At this stage the pre-brony believes, "Pfft, MLP is for girls, I'm above that!" The time span of this stage may vary from a mere hour to weeks, and results will vary based on his/her prior stance on MLP. He/she may be tempted to become bronies through other brony friends, but this is highly unlikely, due to everyone believing MLP is for girls at first sight. The person will either stay in this stage forever or, after seeing so much MLP fan art and comics all over the Internet, he/she will either be brought to the second or third stage. Stage 2: Frustration At this stage, the pre-brony is very pumped after so many bronies attempting to convert him/her. Again, the human will either stay in this stage forever or they will enter the next stage. Stage 3: Curiosity In this stage, the pre-brony starts getting used to all the MLP fan art and comics, and will try watching MLP videos. In some cases, the pre-brony's current stance on MLP is "Hmm, this could have potential..." At one random point, the pre-brony will be very suddenly brought to one of the later stages (usually stage 4 or 5). If the human doesn't enjoy the show, they'll either go back to stage 1 or 2. Stage 4: Realisation The pre-brony will realize that deep down inside, he/she enjoys it, and he/she might begin to question multiple things, such as what else could be wrong with him/her (Something wrong with MLP fans!?! Pfft!), his/her own sexuality, etc. After thinking about this for awhile, the pre-brony will come to either one of the next stages (or in some cases, become a closet brony). Stage 5: Acceptance At this point, the pre-brony will accept that he/she is a brony, and will look back at the stages he/she went through and what he/she used to think about MLP and bronies, and understand that what he/she went through was normal. If he/she has friends that aren't bronies, he/she can spread the word about MLP to them and try convert them too, and repeat the cycle. It's the ciircle oof liiiiiiife....sorry, I just had to. The new brony will either stay in this stage or move onto the next stage. Stage 6: Settling down After usually spending a bit of time in stage 5, the brony will then almost seem to hold back. They usually see that others may not want to be bronies and quieten down. It doesn't mean that they're any less brony than they were previously, it just means that they don't make such a big deal out of it. After entering this final stage, the brony may possible leave the fandom. So I got bored and came up with this. Feel free to discuss and criticise it.
Completely accurate. Except for a rare person (like me) who goes "WWWWWOOOOOOOOOO PONIES" and likes it immediately.
While I don't agree with your stages completely, they do seem to be a fairly accurate representation. Nice work. Would you mind if I saved your staging system into a Word document with full credit given? It looks like something I may use in the future.
That's what happened to me. First day I was like 'Hm, I've heard quite a bit on this, maybe I should check it out'. The following result was a multi-hour pony binge that left me clambering for more. So, no. I didnt go through these stages.
What about hidden stages 7 and 8? I. Stop caring. II. Start trolling. Transcendence is freedom. Or rather, leaving the concept behind you. All you second and third wave people, I don't understand you.
Perhaps I can help. I was in the third stage for a couple of months before I actually watched an episode. I had only seen some of the artwork (and didn't even know it was MLP at first) and watched a few clips from the show. After weeks of research, I finally decided to give the show a try. Perhaps it was just my personality type. I hope this helps.
If you want, sure go ahead. But make sure you give Klondike Kream even more credit. They're the one that wrote the original. - - Auto Merge - - That's what I would call "exiting the cycle", which is described in the final stage. - - Auto Merge - - You normally skip out some stages. I followed the path of stage 1 > 3 > 5 > 6.
Stage 1: 28 hours Stage 2: Skipped Stage 3: About 1 hour Stage 4: About 1 month Stage 5: From then until now, which is about...10 months.
As soon as I found out it existed, I wanted to find out more about the fandom. So, I'd say for me it went 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 - - Auto Merge - - Dang it, Minecraft, look what you've done to me!!
it's kinda 3=>5=>6 for me. I was delaying watching first episode for about a week, before actually watching. 5 and 6 happened in mater of one day.
Man, as a frequent 4Chan troll, I was pretty dang pissed when bronies hijacked our site. I was one of the main activists against them. Look at me now.
That is wrong. Some people do not like it even when they watch the show. And i am permanently on stage two, no matter what. Here is what i like to call "The Brony And Anti Brony Map" 1. The guy hears about MLP. A. Get interested B. Ignore it C. Get angry If the dude goes through answer A, he watches the show, bringing us to 1A: Aislike it B. Like it If the guy goes through A, Anti-brony for life and the quiz ends there. If he goes to B. He is a brony. And anyway, 1B is: A:Ignore all the stuff forever and it ends there. B: Get annoyed at all the stuff. C. Get interested [takes to 1A] If the guy goes through B, He is taken to 1C. Speaking of which: A. Watch the show [takes to 1A] B. Never watch the show If the guy goes through B, he is an anti-brony forever. And that, party peoples, is the REAL thing. [Also, i said "party peoples" because you bronies use pony slang, so i use my catchphrases. Simple as that.]
If you look at the OP carefully, it says: The original version left out the possibility of someone not liking the show, which is easily possible. I edited the original diagram so that it was more valid.
