Armor(brony) is a subculture of adult fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series.

Inception

Like 90 percent of other internet memes, armor appeared on 4chan. The release of the series in 2010 initially aroused no more interest than other new cartoons, except that Lauren Faust's participation fueled interest.
After the pilot episodes were released on cartoonbrew.com, an article appeared telling that the participation of eminent animators in commercial projects is the beginning of the decline of animation. The article was uploaded both in the comments and in / co / forchan. Along the way, the creation of fan art began, which they immediately began to use everywhere. This began to generate more and more interest among visitors to the section. The emerging trolls and heters spurred interest. As a result, / co / broke through, primarily into / b /. The moderators immediately uncovered the banhammers and began to ban everyone who posted the ponies. Pony threads were wiped but still appeared in immeasurable quantities.
All this aroused explosive interest. Then, in fact, the naming of the armor (bro + pony) appeared. A separate Ponichan board was created, the main site of the equestriadaily movement booking was created. Only after that the storm on the forchan subsided and it was possible to fence off the armor in a separate section.

Development

But the rest of the internet was just the beginning.
First of all, MLP occupied deviantart and youtube. Crowds of artists appeared. They were followed by musicians, almost all famous musicians appeared at this time. Fanfiction began to be written en masse. What is most important, there were really many talented and active participants, their work was interesting not only to "their own" but also to outsiders.
The first armored gatherings began to gather, at first small but soon also official, large conventions. Fandom has grown into a full-fledged subculture. Of course, all this was faced with a misunderstanding of people, there were clouds of haters not only standard "I did not look but I condemn" but also real haters. The fandom's non-standard nature has become its main feature.
As a result, the Internet, unexpectedly for everyone, was filled with various fans of the series "for little girls"

Present time

The subculture has existed for 6 years. Now mlp has long finished its victorious march, and has gained a foothold in almost the entire Internet space. The My Little Pony fandom is one of the largest and most developed fandoms in the world. As in any other environment, oldfags appeared, claiming that mlp was not the same (Similar conversations. Appeared after Lauren Faust left). For the most part, this is due to a lack of understanding of the main essence of the development of fandoms.
Bronies have successfully outgrown the stage of active forcing and, beyond the rapid development, having passed into the stage of normal existence, there may be periods of decline or rise, but the fandom itself will invariably develop in the end. The amount of fan art is so great that you can stumble upon unknown interesting content for years.
All this is also very attractive for beginners who often start creating new content themselves. Brony will undoubtedly remain one of the largest and most creative fandoms on the Internet for years to come.

Off the internet

It is not known when the first armor gatherings began, but by the end of 2011 they were flourishing. In June 2011, the first BronyCon took place, however, it gathered a few people, but the second and third gained insane popularity. By the fourth, it was visited by more than four thousand people and the creators of the series. All sorts of armor festivals began to take place in all major cities of the United States and the capitals of European countries, the kingdoms of the Commonwealth and even Latin America.
In Russia, these are the annual RuBroniCon, DerpFest in Moscow, Ponirebrik in St. Petersburg, SibBroniCon in Novosibirsk. BroniUKon in Kiev.

Russian-speaking part

The Russian-speaking society appeared in 2011. First, the first reviews on youtube appeared, the first threads on the boards began to be created and wipes were carried out with pictures of ponies. The first amateur translations began to appear, a little later the carousel was pulled up.
Russian-speaking bronies live on almost all online communities. The largest reservation site on the Runet EveryPony, sections on imageboards, VK groups, joyreactor, etc.

Pegasusters

Pegasusters are the original designation for females in the armor community. Since it would be strange to call them bronies (from the word brother). But over time, this term has sunk into oblivion.
After that, they sometimes began to call the bronies of those associating themselves with pegasus, but this also did not really take root.

Relationship to the series

Despite the seemingly obvious fact that all bronies in one way or another originated from MLP: FIM, the attitude of different groups of fans towards him can vary from adoration to cold contempt.
Holivary is it worth considering bronies as the entire MLP fandom, or is it a separate subculture that will go on forever, and there is no final answer here and there has never been. As in any other subculture, some will always call themselves true.
It is the entire wide spectrum united under the banners of armor; from paladins to darks, from artists to writers, from aesthetes to bitards, arguing and collaborating with each other form a true subculture of armor.
MLP: FIM is a star.
In the heat of the stars, the target audience of the series is spinning, they generally do not care about the fandom, and if they climb into it, the results are usually deplorable.
A little further in the habitable zone, the main part of the armor hangs out here, both the series itself and the creativity of the fans are actively discussed here. Devianart, everypony, VK groups, etc.
Further in deep space, there are darks, cloppers who passed by, collectors of the first generations and other interesting groups. They may be indifferent to the series itself, they have their own party and interests.
And the farthest, somewhere in interstellar space, the fluffies live in their small group, they may not even see the show.

Armor and Pony: Equestria Journey

A small documentary film,
where the creators of the MLP animated series share their opinion on the armor culture,
and the Brony culture figures about the animated series.

The Chronicle of the Armor

The longer documentary (2 parts, 1 hour each) details:
when, where, how, from what and why the brony culture was formed.

Unexpectedly grown MLP fans

Another documentary film (duration one and a half hours)
about several specific representatives of the Broni culture.
They are all so different, but they are united by common
principles of life and passion for the animated series "My Little Ponies".

Armor's Tale

Film (just over an hour) featuring Ashley Ball - one of the
voice actresses for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls.

Ballad of Armor

Presentation for a school project about the Broni subculture, duration 1 hour.

Cartoon memes: Armor, Pony and friendship magic

One of the issues of the "History of Memes" project by Agniya Ogonyok
was dedicated to the Brony culture memes.

The answer is Yesenia Pavlotski, linguist-morphologist, expert at the Institute of Philology, Mass Communication and Psychology, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University.

Ask your friends what is br O nya... Chances are you will hear that it is bron I am with an irregular accent. Another interesting option is an abbreviation for Bronislav. There are hardly any experts who will answer that this is the assignment of a table to you in a restaurant - today the word is used for this occasion reservation... Is this correct and what kind of confusion is in front of us?

Let's consider a curious phenomenon before answering this question.

It is known that active native speakers react mostly painfully to changes in norms, and this is natural. It is hard to get used to the fact that a word in a new form or in a new meaning is used more and more often, because we are used to thinking that there is a language rule and the only correct option opposed to an erroneous one. We insist on this idea so much that we do not notice the arguments against what the language itself tells us.

Let's say it's hard to imagine a word star O nit, because we were taught that this orthoepic distortion is the “stigma” of the illiterate. Even the evidence in the form of shifted stress v a rit and d a rit we are not convinced. The desire to look for stability in the mother tongue is normal, but the facts cannot be ignored.

What is your word l s reaping? Nobody says that. There is a word ski I am , and there is no other norm. Now it does not exist, but it used to be! In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" V.I. Dahl, this word is fixed as l s reaping... After, already in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" D.N. Ushakov, a variable orthoepic norm appeared: l s reaping and ski I am ... It is not difficult to do honor to Ushakov, a linguist, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, and to admit that he was a little bigger than us, not scientists, but ordinary native speakers, that he understood this issue. After all, he would not introduce a gross error into the dictionary, would he? He entered into the dictionary the variable norm that was relevant at that time: the language demonstrated the equality of two options, and this had to be reflected in the dictionary. The variable norm, as is known, reflects the transition of a word from one state to another.

Orthoepic dictionary of the Russian language R.I. Avanesova 1983 tells us: ski I am ... No options. You will find the same information in any modern orthoepic dictionary. What happened? The situation was normal for a dynamic system: the word shifted the stress, and due to the fact that the new norm became stable, it was recorded in dictionaries. Dictionaries, by the way, do not dictate the norm, but fix the already established patterns, therefore, whenever words change, showing stability in new forms and meanings, this will be reflected in dictionaries and reference books. Another thing is that normative dictionaries are not updated monthly and annually.

Can someone from the purity advocates explain the difference between words ski track and is calling? No.

The words bron I am , br O nya and reservation very interesting to us as changing here and now. Moreover, they are at that stage of change when we are already so prepared for the new norm that we do not notice its novelty.

Here is the help posted on the gramota.ru portal:

"Dictionary of the modern Russian language in 17 volumes" in 1991 noted only the option br O nya(pointing to reservation as a vernacular, non-literary word). The new edition of the dictionary ("The Great Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language", Volume 2, 2005) contains br O nya(common) and colloquial reservation- official assignment of preferential rights to someone, something, to use something, to receive something.

This is how dictionaries used to fix this word:

In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" ed. D.N.Ushakova - two stresses with one heading word: br O n I am ... The meanings of the word are combined in one dictionary entry: "military armor"; "Protective lining"; “A prohibition imposed by the authorities on any objects of common use in order to provide them for someone, for any state needs” (new, official word); "Items subject to such a ban" (new, colloquial word); "The right to use such items, a document on this right" (new, colloquial word).

In the "Dictionary of the Russian language" S. I. Ozhegov (1952) - br O nya and colloquial reservation... This recommendation was retained in subsequent editions of the dictionary, as well as in most other normative sources. In this case, protective clothing, lining - only bron I am .

In the "Concise Dictionary of the Difficulties of the Russian Language" N.А. Eskova: only br O nya in the meaning of "assignment to someone / something": br O nya for tickets... The exclamation mark is accompanied by the litter: “! wrong unit them. and wines. reservation ".

In the "Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language", ed. S. A. Kuznetsova - only reservation... There is no other option. "

As a result, today it is recommended to distinguish between words br O nya- fixing something; document confirming the attachment; and bron I am - protective clothing, cladding. Conversational option - reservation... This is an active pattern.

But there is also a trend. If you turn to speech practice, then the words br O nya you will most likely not hear in any of these meanings. Unless you will discover Bronislav for yourself. For native speakers who are between 25 and 35 today, there is only a word bron b (alternating with bron I am as with equal rights) in two meanings: that which closed the headquarters in the game "Tanks" on the Dandy prefix; and what you get as a result of booking a table in the institution. As we can see, the language system gets rid of the word br O nya and transfers its lexical meaning to the "heir of the first priority" - the word bron I am ... But vernacular reservation does not sleep and at any moment is ready to take all this inheritance for himself.

Probably words br O nya and bron I am will soon become history, and we can agree that there is nothing wrong with that: there will be no more confusion.

Originally aimed at girls 10-12 years old, the animated series My little pony surpassed all expectations. No one could have thought that the sensational hit about cute horses would be interesting not only for children and adolescents, but also for adults. Who are the bronies, why are they called that, and who are they?

Who is the armor?

The animated series about cute ponies has united fans all over the world, transforming just interest into a real creative passion. Who are bronies? The word itself comes from the English brony, where there was a merger of the words brother (brother) and This is the so-called fandom of fans of the series "My Little Pony. Friendship is magic."

Animated friends

My Little Pony is a toy that became popular in the 80s, but real fame came to these children's toys in 2010, after the release of the animated series of the same name. The most amazing thing is that not only little girls, but also adults, including men, became interested in the novelty. Who are bronies? Like any other people who love their cartoon characters.

Youth and youth subculture Brony

There is a whole Internet community of Bronies, which smoothly penetrates from fan sites into the real world and already has over 10,000 confirmed members. There are also women, but 80 percent are men, most of them between the ages of 16 and 35, although there are also fans in their 40s.

At joint events, bronies dress like their favorite heroes, communicate with like-minded people, and make new friends. Fans express their love for My Little Pony, write poetry, create themed avatars and attend conventions, the largest of which is in Manchester.

A colorful escape from the gray world

Young people often spend most of their social interaction on the Internet, and the appearance of the cartoon caused an increase in the crowd of fans, single fans found each other, creating a whole subculture. And everyone who finds it difficult to make friends can feel comfortable, they can interact with each other, talk about any topic, and this gives them confidence. They feel like they are part of something.

Who are they - My Little Pony fans

The friendship of magic, which is now outside the target audience of little girls, touches anyone who is not afraid to admit that they like colorful and funny characters. Each of these ponies has a unique personality as well as a magical element known as. Together, they can use their powers to defeat evil villains and mythical monsters, be it the power of pure magic or traditional means. When they don't fight monsters or go through the next epic quest, they live their lives in a calm and quaint town called Ponyville. They have jobs, homes, friends and hobbies. This balance of adventure and the friendly atmosphere of a small town attracts more and more hearts.

Research object

In the modern world, new communities of fans of a certain film, a popular TV series, including an animated series, are constantly emerging. Another such phenomenon is armor. This phenomenon has become so widespread that scientists from two American universities have become interested in it. They even conducted research trying to answer the question of who the bronies are. As shown by the survey, 87 percent are male, half (53%) are fans under 12 years old, 41% are people aged 20 to 30. Thus, the average booking age is 21 years.

The most popular response to the description of armor as men who enjoy watching a cartoon about ponies is to ask about their orientation. As a result, the scientists received the following figures: 70 percent turned out to be normal, that is, they indicated their heterosexuality, and the remaining 30 percent included bisexuals and those who turned out to be disinterested or unsure of their orientation. Only 2 percent admitted to being homosexual. About 60 percent are pupils or students, 40 percent are graduates.

The researchers also wondered what attracts fans about the cartoon and what they find attractive there. It turned out that 46 percent of the respondents like the feelings and emotions that the series evokes, 14 percent appreciated the good level of animation and graphics, 43 percent find that instructive moments, and for 16 percent the animated series is a real cult and the meaning of life. The phenomenon turned out to be so unique that a film was even made about the bronies, which was extremely unexpected for adult fans of the children's cartoon.

The philosophy of this youth subculture is much deeper than the cartoon itself. Fandom refers to itself as those people who are looking for purity and goodness in the midst of filth, anger and hatred on the World Wide Web. A pony is not just a little horse, it is not just a cartoon character. This is probably good, but why then there is a strange feeling when you see an adult bearded fellow with a pink plush pony in an embrace ...

Blizzard Entertainment 2017-1-6

In the last update, we added a new armor system to the game. However, it cannot be called completely new - in fact, armor has been a fundamental part of the game for a long time, but under a different name. In today's article we will try to briefly and clearly explain what new this system has brought.

What is "armor"?

• Armor is an all-encompassing concept that replaces the toughness and vulnerability effects system previously used in the game. If earlier some abilities applied the effects of resilience and vulnerability, now they will increase or decrease the armor value.

How does the armor score work?

• Armor is divided into three types: general, kinetic and energy armor. Kinetic armor protects from physical attacks, energy armor - from spells, and the general indicator of armor determines the amount of absorbed damage of all types. Currently, all abilities deal spell damage, and all auto attacks deal physical damage (there are some minor exceptions like the Cannoneer talent, which allows Li-Ming's auto attack to deal spell damage). By the way, pop-up numbers showing spell damage will be colored purple, while those showing physical damage will be colored orange.
• After the release of the update, which added Varian to the game, the additions to armor from abilities and talents began to add up. We had many options for implementing the new system, but we decided to make everything as simple as possible, with the result that each point of armor reduces the damage taken by 1%. Technically, this means that each additional point of armor is even more useful. To make the system work in a balanced way, we introduced upper and lower limits for the armor indicator (+75 and -25, respectively). Matt Cooper talked about the reasons that prompted us to change the system.

Exceptions and interactions

• You will notice that there are talents in the game that allow you to bypass the imposed restrictions on the armor stat. "Superstition" Nazeebo (-30 to kinetic armor) and "Anti-magic carapace" Arthas (+100 to energy armor) make it possible to overcome the restrictions, but they operate strictly within the framework of the system. Currently, there are not many such abilities in the game, but in the future we may add more talents and abilities to the game to circumvent the general rules. If two such effects are active at the same time, priority is given to the most powerful of them.
  • For example, let's say that you are playing as Nazeebo and have imposed the Superstition effect on yourself (-30 to kinetic armor, +50 to energy armor), after which Brightwing applies the Magic Pollen effect on you (2 temporary increases to kinetic armor in the amount of 75 units). So you will have 45 units. kinetic armor (-30 + 75 = 45), which protects you from physical attacks.
  • And now let's imagine that you have the effect of "Superstition" (-30 to kinetic armor) and at the same time you are hit by Tyrande's "Mark of the Hunter" (-25 to armor). Your kinetic armor will be -30 (since the limit has already been exceeded), and your energy will be 25 (50 - 25 = 25).
• Damage calculated as a percentage of maximum health is not absorbed by armor. This means the Giant Slayer talent will correctly deal an additional 1.5% of the target's maximum health, regardless of armor.

We understand that you may still have questions about the new system, and will try to answer as detailed and intelligible as possible. We are currently working on various options for explaining the principles of the new system, both in the game itself and outside of it. While these changes at first glance seem very large-scale, you can rest assured that the developers responsible for the balance are closely watching the progress of the battles while the new system is being worked out. We are ready to promptly make any necessary changes to the game in order to maintain the balance and quality of the gameplay at the proper level.