Das Bo Schitt, a brony?

So at the release of episode 10, it took the use of three sound effects in the episode to spark the big rumor, is Das Bo Schitt a "BRONY?" Now, for those of you who don't know, a "brony" is defined from the internet as someone who is a fan of the new TV show, "My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic". The show strangely exploded well beyond its key demographic of little girls, to males ages 20 and beyond, even getting so much as Stephen Colbert involved as one. So, that said, am I a brony? Let me take this time to annoyingly beat around the bush and ask a question of my own; is that REALLY the definition of a brony?

It's becoming more evident that the term "brony" is a lot like one of those broad, convoluted labels up there with gamers and furries, all of which sound like weird social classes. These types of labels lump together all participants into one generalized label and still don't clearly distinguish the very casual from the very extreme. It just takes playing video games for entertainment to immediately be given the gamer label nowadays, even if it's only for 2 hours every other day. That label is shared even with those who deteriorate in front of World of Warcraft for 20 hours a day and crap in a sock if it meant they didn't have to get up to use the restroom. That's what the brony term sounds like; a loosely generalized label that will get tiring having to specify to the many that don't make it past first glance, or those don't even want to if it means they have an easy target to giggle at.

That being said, if you're asking me if I've watched and enjoyed the show, the answer would be yes. Whenever hype surrounds a TV show, movie or video game to a heavy degree, I'm often up for taking part and gaining personal perspective, and this particular show even had the backing of some of my closest friends. Now I'm a fan of great characters and subtlety, and this show has both, regardless of it's very ham handed title and target audience that understandably repels people at the first glance. I can safely say I understand the appeal of the show beyond it's target audience, as we adults can still appreciate natural feel, good characters and above all, good humor.

HOWEVER, getting back to the mention of those generalized labels, I'm choosing to reject the "brony" label just the same as I choose to reject the "gamer" label. I think the show is good, but I'm not here to make a heavy handed social movement. I'm not jumping into MLP groups, going on recruiting runs, saying people are stupid for not liking the show or racking my brain wondering if a particular person also likes the show. You can keep the label, I just think the show is good.

It's weird that I feel I have to explain my stance on this, yet even though I'm looking to take the middle ground, it's inevitable people are going to lump me with the brony label anyway. They do it all the time to ease their filing systems, fabricate an easy target and/or add another name to represent a case in their favor. All the headaches could have been avoided if both the bronies and the non-fans could just agree to disagree, but the overzealous fans make the non-fans want to retaliate and vice versa, which brings us to this "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists" sort of mentality.

Well, my answer was already given, so at this point, I'm just dragging on. In closing, it's a fun show with good characters and that is what makes it effective in delivering its lessons to its key demographic as well as going beyond it. Just don't expect me to go joining your Steam groups and definitely don't expect me to speak as some recruiter. Remember, furries are catching the brutal rep they have because of the high volume of overzealous ones, so let's not repeat history.