Hi, I'm Klondike, and I have come up with a cycle that will help us understand how we became fans of MLP, and what we went through. 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. After seeing so much MLP fan art and comics all over the Internet, he/she will be brought to the second stage. Stage 2 - Frustration At this stage, the pre-brony is very pumped after so many bronies attempting to convert him/her. In most cases, this is a very short cycle. Eventually, the pre-brony will be brought to the brink of 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 most 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 the next stage. Stage 4 - Realization 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 the next stage. 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. 1, 2, and 4 can be skipped. 1 and 2 can be skipped if the pre/brony is open-minded and is willing to try new things. Fortunately, I only went through 3 and 5. Now, we all understand the Cycle and 5 Stages of Brony Development.
3 and 5. Maybe I'm not the best example though... as I even could watch Winx Club without much problems, I'm not normally a hater. And, cartoons are my weakness. ...seeing the poll so far, I think we'll have to wait a bit before it has much relevance though.
Only 3 and 5. When I first read about how popular MLP was, I think I was somewhere already suspecting I was going to like it. Welcome to Everypony, Klondike! ^_^ *glomperdyglomp*
I went 3 then to 5 then on to 8. I LOVE the show the community so much. I went really fast through stage 3, I was like that until episode 3, then I fell in LOVE with the show.
3, 4 and 5. Though to be honest, I spent more time trying to determine what was attracting people to the show, rather than what was attracting me personally. And, I was already aware of my sexuality.
I only skip phase 2. I was never annoyed by ponies, but I did snob it off as something I couldn't be interested in. Even when someone I was subscribed to read cupcakes on camera. I rationlized as he only likes it because he likes kids shows for some reason. I finally got curious enough after seeing my first PMV. As soon as I started watching I was a Brony within 2 hours. Phase one took 4 months. Took a long time before I even thought to look into it.
STAGE 1 - DENIAL Estimated Time: 2 months. I first started seeing pony images show up sometime in mid to late April. It was not until around mid-May that I saw a thread show up on a message board I used to visit entitled "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic." At first I thought, "How the heck can adult males like this show?!" I dismissed it for a while, but then eventually I kept seeing images of ponies show up every once in a while, and as the aforementioned thread kept growing, I saw phrases like, "Are you a brony now?" and "Welcome to the herd!" After looking up the word "brony," this piqued my curiosity. By the time mid June came around, is when I watched MLP:FiM for the first time, just to see what it was all about and how so many guys around my age could like it. STAGE 2 - FRUSTRATION Estimated Time: Never. No one tried to convert me, as I'm a self-conversion case. STAGE 3 - CURIOSITY Estimated Time: 3 days. So, moving from Stage 1 to this stage, I decided to watch an episode or two, and figured that I'd watch it and hate it. Of course, I was wrong about that. I was hooked once I reached Episode 3 or 4 because by that point, after each episode ended, I had a yearning for more. It took about 3 days for me to watch the entire first season. STAGE 4 - REALIZATION Estimated Time: 3 weeks. By now it was the middle of June, and I had already watched the entire first season, but whenever I tried to think, "I'm a brony now," all that I thought was, "I'm a br— NO! Don't get sucked into it! You will never be one of them! What is wrong with you?! You're an adult man and you are watching MLP? You've fallen off the deep end." Although I enjoyed the show, my inner psyche kept rejecting it. During this stage, I happened to google the word "everypony" and found this forum and EPR. For about three weeks I lurked the chat and the boards. After a while, I got the impression that this was a very kind and welcoming community. It was by early July that I decided to just bite the bullet and see if the brony community would welcome me into the herd. STAGE 5 - ACCEPTANCE Estimated Time: July 10, 2011 to the present. That's the day I joined this community, and you guys certainly wasted no time in welcoming me! By this time I had accepted my bronydom and when I thought, "I'm a brony," my mind accepted and embraced it, at least online and to myself. I have yet to reveal it to anyone IRL.
PROTIP : We already had this thread =p Same answer as before, each step was taken, but was mild, and lasted under 3 hours.
I did every step except step #2. Each step took briefly a day or two, or even a couple hours or so. Anyways this is a repeat thread. (Just with a poll. Lol.)
3, 4, and 5. Nightmare Moon, Celestia and Twilight Sparkle made me like it. Though the entire season, I was wondering where the *squee!* Luna went.
