Bronies and Ponies: Equestria Journey

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

Armor Chronicles

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

Unexpectedly adult MLP fans

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

Armor's Tale

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

Ballad of Armor

Presentation for a school project about the subculture "Brony" lasting 1 hour.

Cartoon memes: Armor, Pony and friendship magic

One of the releases of the project "History of Memes" Agnia Ogonyok
was dedicated to the memes of armor culture.

Initially designed for girls 10-12 years old, the animated series My little pony ("My little pony") exceeded all expectations. No one could have thought that the sensational hit about cute horses would be interesting not only for children and teenagers, but also for adults. Who are the bronies, why are they called that, and who are they referred to?

Broni - who is this?

The cartoon series about cute ponies has united fans around the world, transforming simple curiosity into a true creative passion. Who are bronies? The word itself came from the English brony, where the words brother (brother) merged and This is the so-called fandom of fans of the series "My little pony. Friendship is a miracle."

Animated Friends

My Little Pony is a toy that became popular back in the 80s, but the real fame came to these children's toys in 2010, after the release of the animated series of the same name. The most surprising 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 Bronya

There is an entire online community of Bronies that has been slithering from fan sites into the real world with over 10,000 confirmed members already. There are also women, but 80 percent are men, most of them between the ages of 16 and 35, although there are also fans over 40.

At joint events, bronies dress up like their favorite characters, 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 takes place in Manchester.

A colorful escape from the gray world

Often, young people spend most of their social interaction on the Internet, and the release 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 the fans of My Little Pony

The friendship of magic, which is now beyond the target audience of little girls, affects everyone who is not afraid to admit that he likes 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, whether through the power of pure magic or traditional means. When they're not fighting monsters or completing another epic quest, they're living their lives in a calm and quaint little town called Ponyville. They have jobs, homes, friends and hobbies. This balance of adventure and friendly small-town atmosphere attracts more and more hearts.

Object for research

In the modern world, new communities of fans of a particular film, popular series, and animated series are constantly emerging. Another such phenomenon can be called armor. This phenomenon has become so massive that scientists from two American universities have become interested in it. They even did a study trying to answer the question of who the bronies are. As the survey showed, 87 percent are males, half (53%) are fans under 12 years old, 41% are people aged 20 to 30 years. Thus, the average age of the armor is 21 years.

The most popular response to the description of armor as men who enjoy watching pony cartoons is the question of their sexuality. As a result, 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 uninterested or unsure of their orientation. Only 2 percent admitted their homosexuality. About 60 percent are pupils or students, 40 percent are graduates.

The researchers also wondered what attracts fans to the cartoon so much and what they find attractive there for themselves. 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 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 they even made a movie about armor, 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 those people who are looking for purity and goodness among the dirt, anger and hatred on the World Wide Web. A pony is not just a small 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 latest update, we have 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 this system has brought new.

What is "armor"?

• Armor is an all-encompassing concept that replaces the Toughness and Vulnerability effects system that was used in the game before. While some abilities previously applied Fortitude and Vulnerability effects, they will now increase or decrease armor.

How does the armor score work?

• Armor is divided into three types: general, kinetic and energy armor. Kinetic armor protects against physical attacks, energy armor protects against spells, and the total armor value determines the amount of damage of all types absorbed. Currently, all abilities deal spell damage, and all auto attacks deal physical damage (there are some minor exceptions like Gunner, which allows Li-Ming's auto attack to deal spell damage). By the way, the pop-up numbers showing spell damage will be purple, and those showing physical damage will be orange.
• After the release of the update that added Varian to the game, the armor gains from abilities and talents began to add up. We had many options for implementing the new system, but we decided to keep it as simple as possible, as a result of which each point of armor reduces damage taken by 1%. Technically, this means that each additional piece of armor is even more useful. And 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 introduced armor rating restrictions. Nazeebo's Superstition (-30 Kinetic Armor) and Arthas' Anti-Magic Shell (+100 Spell Armor) provide the ability to overcome limitations, but operate strictly within the system. Currently, there are few such abilities in the game, but in the future we may add more talents and abilities to the game that allow you to bypass 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 you're Nazeebo and you have Superstition (-30 Kinetic Armor, +50 Spell Armor) applied to yourself, and then Brightwing grants you Fairy Dust (2 temporary increases to Kinetic Armor). in the amount of 75 units). So you will have 45 units. kinetic armor (-30 + 75 = 45) that protects you from physical attacks.
  • Now let's say you're under Superstition (-30 Kinetic Armor) and hit by Tyrande's Mark of the Hunter (-25 Armor). Your kinetic armor will be -30 (because it's already exceeded) and your energy armor will be 25 (50 - 25 = 25).
• Damage, which is calculated as a percentage of maximum health, is not absorbed by armor. This means that the Giant Slayer talent will correctly deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the target's maximum health, regardless of armor.

We understand that you may still have questions about the new system, and we will try to answer as detailed and intelligibly as possible. Currently, we are working on various options for explaining the principles of the new system both in the game itself and outside it. While these changes seem massive at first glance, you can rest assured that the balance team is keeping a close eye on combat as the new system develops. 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.

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

Origin

Like 90 percent of other online armor memes appeared on 4chan. The release of the series in 2010 at first aroused no more interest than other new cartoons, except that the participation of Lauren Faust fueled interest.
After the release of the pilot episodes, an article appeared on cartoonbrew.com saying that the participation of eminent animators in commercial projects is the beginning of the decline of animation. The article was thrown both in the comments and in /co/ forchan. Along the way, the creation of fan art began, which immediately began to be used anywhere. This began to arouse more and more interest of the section's visitors. Appeared trolls and haters spurred interest. As a result, /co/ broke through, primarily to /b/. Moderators immediately uncovered banhammers and started banning everyone who posted ponies. Pony threads wiped but still appeared in unmeasured numbers.
All this aroused an explosive interest. Then, in fact, the naming of armor (bro + pony) appeared. A separate Ponicchan board was created, the main website of the equestriadaily movement armor was created. Only after that the storm on the forchan subsided and it was possible to enclose the armor in a separate section.

Development

But the rest of the internet was just getting started.
First of all, MLP occupied deviantart and youtube. There were crowds of artists. Following them, musicians appeared, almost all famous musicians appeared at this time. Fanfiction began to be written en masse. Most importantly, there were indeed 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 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 the standard "did not watch but I condemn" but also real haters. The non-standard fandom has become its main feature.
As a result, the Internet, unexpectedly for everyone, was filled with a variety of fans of the series "for little girls"

present tense

The subculture has been around for 6 years. Now mlp has long completed 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 is no longer the same (Similar conversations appeared even after the departure of Lauren Faust). For the most part, this is due to a lack of understanding of the basic essence of the development of fandoms.
Bronies have successfully outgrown the stage of active forcing and moving into the stage of normal existence in an overly rapid development, there may be periods of decline or rise, but the fandom itself will eventually develop invariably. The amount of fan creativity 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. Bronies will no doubt be one of the biggest 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 did not attract many people, but the second and third gained insane popularity. By the fourth, more than four thousand people and the creators of the series had visited it. All kinds of armor festivals began to take place in all major cities of the United States and the capitals of European countries, Commonwealth kingdoms and even Latin America.
In Russia, these are the annual RuBroniCon, DerpFest in Moscow, Ponirebrik in St. Petersburg, SibBroniCon in Novosibirsk. BroniUKon in Kyiv.

Russian part

The Russian-speaking society appeared in 2011. First, the first reviews appeared on youtube, 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 come out, a little later the carousel was pulled up.
Russian-speaking armors live in almost all online communities. The largest armor site in Runet EveryPony, sections on imageboards, VK groups, joyreactor, etc.

Pegasisters

Pegasisters are the original naming of females in the Brony community. Since it would be strange to call them armor (from the word brother). But over time, this term has sunk into oblivion.
After that, they sometimes began to call the armor of those who associate themselves with Pegasus, but this also did not really take root.

Relation to the series

Despite the seemingly obvious fact that all the armor somehow came from MLP:FIM, the attitude of different groups of fans towards him can vary from adoration to cold contempt.
Holivars should consider whether armor is the entire MLP fandom or is it a separate subculture that will go on endlessly, and there is no and never was a final answer. Like any other subculture, some will always refer to themselves as true.
It is the whole wide spectrum united under the banner of armor; From paladins to darks, from artists to writers, from aesthetes to bitards, arguing and collaborating with each other form a true armor subculture.
MLP:FIM is a star.
In the heat, the stars are spinning the target audience of the series, for the most part they 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 bulk of the armor hangs out here, both the series itself and the work of fans are actively discussed here. Devianart, everypony, VK groups, etc.
Farther out in deep space live the Darks, the passing cloppers, the first-generation collectors, and other interesting groups. They may be indifferent to the series itself, they have their own party and interests.
And farthest away, somewhere in interstellar space, fluffies live in their small group, they may not even see the series in their eyes.

Answered by Yesenia Pavlotsky, linguist-morphologist, expert of the Institute of Philology, Mass Media and Psychology of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University.

Ask your friends what is br about nya. You will most likely hear that bron I with the wrong accent. Another interesting option is an abbreviation for Bronislav. There are hardly any experts who will answer that this is securing a table for you in a restaurant - today the word is used for this occasion booking. 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 usually react 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 believing that there is a language rule and the only correct option, opposed to the wrong one. We insist on this idea so much that we do not notice the arguments against it that language itself suggests to us.

Let's say it's hard to imagine the norm word sv about nit, because we were taught that this orthoepic distortion is the “stigma” of the illiterate. Even evidence in the form of shifted emphasis in a rit and d a rit we are not convinced. The desire to seek stability in one's native language is normal, but the facts cannot be ignored.

What's your word l s harvest? Nobody says that. There is a word skiing I and there is no other rule. Now does not exist, but before! In the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" V.I. Dahl this word is recorded as l s harvest. After, already in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" D.N. Ushakov, a variable orthoepic norm appeared: l s harvest and skiing I . It is not difficult to honor Ushakov, a linguist, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, and to admit that he understood this issue a little more than us, not scientists, but ordinary native speakers. After all, he would not introduce a gross error into the dictionary, would he? He introduced into the dictionary the variational norm that was relevant at that time: the language demonstrated the equality of the two options, and this had to be reflected in the dictionary. Variative 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: skiing I . No options. In any modern orthoepic dictionary you will find the same information. What happened? A situation normal for a dynamic system has developed: the word has shifted its emphasis, and due to the fact that the new norm has become stable, it has been fixed in dictionaries. Dictionaries, by the way, do not dictate the norm, but fix already established patterns, so 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 fighters for the purity of the language explain what is the difference between the words ski track and calling? No.

The words bron I , br about nya and booking very interesting to us as changing here and now. Moreover, they are at the stage of change when we are already ready for the new normal so much that we do not notice its novelty.

Here is a certificate posted on the gramota.ru portal:

"Dictionary of the modern Russian language in 17 volumes" in 1991 noted only the option br about nya(pointing to booking as a colloquial, non-literary word). The new edition of the dictionary (“Big Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language”, Volume 2, 2005) contains br about nya(common) and colloquial booking- official assignment to someone or something of privileged rights 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 about n I . The meanings of the word are combined in one dictionary entry: "military armor"; "protective lining"; “a ban imposed by the authorities on any items of common use in order to provide them for someone, for some state needs” (new, official word); “objects on which such a ban has been imposed” (a new, colloquial word); “the right to use such objects, a document for this right” (a new, colloquial word).

In the “Dictionary of the Russian language” by S. I. Ozhegov (1952) - br about nya and colloquial booking. This recommendation was preserved in subsequent editions of the dictionary, as well as in most other normative sources. At the same time, protective clothing, lining - only bron I .

In the "Concise Dictionary of the Difficulties of the Russian Language" N.A. Yeskova: only br about nya in the meaning of "securing for someone / something": br about nya for tickets. An exclamation mark is followed by a litter: "! wrong unit them. and wine. booking".

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

As a result, today it is recommended to distinguish between words br about nya- fixing something; a document confirming the fastening; and bron I - protective clothing, lining. conversational option - booking. This is an active pattern.

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

Probably the words br about nya and bron I will soon become history, and we can agree that there is nothing to worry about: there will be no more confusion.