Brony Advice: Your Questions Answered #88, 89, 90!

#88) I'm in love with Fluttershy. Kids at school have figured this out, and I can't hear the end of it... They do nothing but hate on me because I have sexual feelings for Fluttershy. Why are they doing this? Why can't they leave me alone? They even went so far as to follow me home and… ah, watched me through my window having… ah… intercourse with a special Fluttershy plushie of mine... They went and told the whole school. I didn't even know they had followed me! After this, everything got worse.

I attempted (but luckily failed) suicide because of all these horrible things...

<sub>Answer: I'm not sure what sort of advice you're expecting here, so I guess I'll just have to throw a few responses at you from different angles and see what sticks. A part of me hopes - and knows - that this question is a joke, but an even larger part of me hopes that it isn't; it would be highly interesting and entertaining if you really did have these feelings for the character of Fluttershy. I'll point out that while it's obviously unusual to be so into a character from a show as to declare that you're in love with them, a lot of people probably do feel some form of rudimentary affection for a cute and vulnerable character like Fluttershy. So, from an almost paternal perspective, I can sympathise with you having some sort of emotional connection to the character.

That's where my sympathy largely ends, though. If people at your school found out about your 'love' for Fluttershy, then it's absurd to imagine that they wouldn't rip on you for it. Saying that you love a cartoon character – and one representative of My Little Pony, no less – invites people taking the piss out of you. I don't buy the whole 'they saw me screwing my Fluttershy plushie through the window' thing, because that's far too hilarious to be genuine. At least close the curtains or something, man! Outside of that basic action you should have taken to maintain your privacy, though, I don't think I'm going to bother pointing out all of the reasons why having sex with a plush toy of Fluttershy is messed up – I'd just be torturing you.

Your double-pronged question – why are they ripping on you and why won't they leave you alone – are hardly in need of an answer, because the answer is so obvious. They're ripping on you because what you're allegedly doing is so unusual. It's interesting that you also equate love to sexual desire; while the two aren't mutually exclusive, had you said that you have strong feelings of affection for Fluttershy's character, I'd be more likely to sympathise with you. I've had people in the past tell me that they feel themselves attracted to the innocent and timid nature of Fluttershy, because they want to protect her and look out for her, which is slightly more innocent in itself and generally harmless.

Instead, you just jumped straight in with the whole 'I enjoy ramming my cock into my stuffed animal' argument, which is quite distasteful and odd. If you're feeling suicidal, there's no advice that I can give that can deter you. I can, at least, argue that by failing in your apparent attempt – and by still being alive at the time of writing – you obviously still have something to live for. If that thing is your sexual attraction to Fluttershy, then I suppose I'd advocate continuing to engage with it if it's keeping you alive. However, under typical circumstances, I'm afraid that I'd argue that you dug yourself this hole (I have no idea how the kids at school figured out your feelings, but I imagine that you're responsible for not keeping that private) and that now you have to live with the consequences.

On the plus side, no matter what people say to you at school, your crusty Fluttershy doll won't judge you, even if her eyes are saying, "Kill me...".</sub>


#89) What do you think about the "Friendship is Magic" fandom, compared with, say, "Dr. Who" fans, Trekkers, "Star Wars" fans, etc.? I mean, do you think that we could see, ten years from now, references to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in the same way that we see now, after three decades of "Star Trek" and Star Wars, "The Force" and the Vulcan salute, as a well-know pop-culture reference? Could we see, some day (for example), an episode of "The Big Bang Theory", in which Howard Wolowitz argues with Rajesh Koothrappali about who is best pony?

<sub>Answer: I hope "The Big Bang Theory" will have been cancelled in ten years time. Just kidding, but not really. Anyway, I do think that "Friendship is Magic" could become a highly-cited show due to its pop-culture friendliness and its relative popularity on the internet. There is a shop in my local town centre that sells a lot of 'nerdy' merchandise including "Dr. Who" toys, "Star Wars" toys and so on. They've been around ever since I was a kid, selling anything from "Dungeons & Dragons" guides to shirts with pop-culture references on them. Recently, they've started stocking "Friendship is Magic" blind-bags, and there's a big Rainbow Dash sticker on the wall behind the desk.

Despite being a one-off example, this to me suggests that "Friendship is Magic" is slowly earning its place as a genuine part of popular culture. There was a time when I had to go online to see ponies from the show (not counting the dolls and so on, which can be found in supermarkets just about everywhere), but now I could realistically go to a shop in my local town in England (where the show barely even airs unless you have some random-ass obscure channel) and see pony-related references in person. I could probably strike up a question with the staff members and find out that a few of them are bronies, if the mood struck me. Not to mention that in the US, there are shops such as Hot Topic which seem to target certain merchandise to bronies. This isn't in any way dissimilar to the sort of merchandise you can find about "Dr. Who" and some of the other science-fiction shows you listed up there.

"The Big Bang Theory" kind of relishes on its overt geekiness, so it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that it would one day make a reference to "Friendship is Magic". I'm not going to list all the places that have referenced the show and bronies, but suffice to say that extended media interaction with bronies – news articles come out all the time discussing the fandom – coupled with the financial success of the show suggests that it will continue to hit an increasingly wide market. That's not to say that the show will ever become as famous as "Star Wars" - 'Use the Force' is a quote that almost everyone in all sorts of societies knows about, and I believe that it will stand the test of time long after "Friendship is Magic" finishes.

However, there's a big difference between "Star Wars", one of the best-known film series of all time, and "Friendship is Magic", a small cartoon (even if it is based off of a leading world toy brand) written in L.A and pieced together in Vancouver. There are a lot of similarities between those who enjoy "Friendship is Magic" and those who appreciate the shows you mentioned, and so I imagine that while "Friendship is Magic" may not ever be as popular and well-known as "Dr. Who" (that show in particular being ingrained in the British psyche for decades), it will continue to grow for a while in its scope and brevity, and as more people find out about it, the chance of references popping up will become more likely.</sub>


#90) Hey there! I have had something that has been concerning me for a while. I really enjoy drawing ponies, but the problem is I can't seem to stop drawing them. I keep trying to draw different things, like humans and such, but I fail and end up drawing ponies again! Am I crazy?

<sub>Answer: You're not crazy for being in one artistic 'zone' right now. I'm not an artist, but I understand that a lot of artists find that if they continue drawing one type of thing, they can at times begin to struggle with other sorts of art. I imagine that it's just a case of being out of practice, which nobody can blame you for.

The important qualifier in your question, to me, is that you mention that you really enjoy drawing ponies. As long as you are enjoying yourself while drawing them, I don't see why you should stop drawing what makes you happy. While I understand the compulsion to want to draw other things – maybe you have non-pony commissions to do, or your watchers are requesting you stop hitting them with quite as many My Little Pony images – if you're having fun drawing ponies, I advise you to continue doing so.

It's certainly not something that you should be concerned about. The only time you would need to take active steps to get away from the ponies would be if you got bored of drawing them, or if you had something else that you really wanted to draw. In that case, I'd suggest that you stop drawing ponies completely, and just keep practicing at humans, or whatever else you want to draw. Art is a broad spectrum that means different things to different people: no doubt you can apply your creative energy to something, and if right now that something is ponies, then I see no reason to stop just yet. If the problem continues, and you really find that you can't draw anything else, you may wish to speak to people who can make art better than I can for tips. I'm of the opinion that 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it', until you find yourself becoming bored of ponies.</sub>