I don't have a Brony name

Alright, for those who don't know, a "Brony" is a male fan of the MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC cartoon.  I have seen every episode of this cartoon available on Netflix.  I know the names of all the "mane six" ponies and a majority of the supporting cast.  I have a fairly good grip on the ongoing storyline and major events that have gone on in this show.  I have read most of the comics that IDW put out.  

So, am I a Brony?

No. 

I'm the father of two six year old girls.

Being a dad means you have to have a general knowledge of what your kids are into.  There will be a time later that they will keep their interests from me, and that's part of being a teenager.  For now, if they show an interest in something, I have to have an interest too.  I'm not one of those sit-com dads who are utterly clueless as to everything going on in their kids existence.  I do work a lot and am not the best dad in the world, but I do try to keep up.

Also, much of the programming aimed at kids is utterly horrible.  ADVENTURE TIME?  Are you kidding me?  McDonalds is giving out ADVENTURE TIME toys in Happy Meals!  That show should never be viewed by a little kid.  That show shouldn't be viewed by anyone, its terrible and falls right in with all the horrible crap coming down the pipe which acts like its supposed to be for kids but is really for teenagers and young adults.  So when I hear about this MY LITTLE PONY cartoon and people whose opinions I trust say its very good I watch it with my kids and see what they think and I, with the Missus, determine if its appropriate for them.

As a parent and a person who has enjoyed cartoons for his entire life, I can say that it is a high quality cartoon.  The animation is very done and very consistant.  The voice acting is high quality.  The stories are well written.  Every episode has a good message for the kids.  I can watch it without wanting to flee the room.  This show is of such a good quality that I am not surprised in the least that it has branched out from its initial target demographic.  Of all the things out there competing for my kids attention I'm glad that this and PHINEAS AND FERB have won out.

And I do know that there's a little fandom that's on the verge of sub-culture status going on.  I've made my jokes about it.  I've posted up little MLP images online because its ironic that a gnarly old Karate guy like me would do such things and hitting folks with unexpected things like that amuses me.  But, you won't catch me making the trip to Bronycon any time soon.

This past Christmas I has discovered that there's a My Little Pony collectible card game.  I asked about it and whether it would be suitable for my daughters.  Its mainly for kids ten and older, but there's nothing objectionable in there and younger kids had been picking it up.  I got the kids some starter decks.  They liked it.  I found out there were going to be tournaments at Comic Kings.  I took them up there.  They were easily the youngest kids there.  The majority of people there were guys in their late teens and early twenties. Full on Bronies.

Was it creepy?

At first I was a bit skeptical, but these young men took the girls under their wings.  Taught them about the game.  They were perfect gentlemen to my daughters.  One guy gave the girls at least 50 cards that he wasn't using to help them round out their decks.  They have a vested interest in new players, obviously, but they were genuinely very gracious and very helpful.

There is one guy who worries me a bit, not because he is creepy or inappropriate, but that I think he's taken his fandom into fan-dumb.  He's asked me if I have a Brony name, and he told me his which is how he wants to be referred to.  He's easily in his late teens.  I understand having a nickname.  Still, I get the feeling that he's just a little too into the scene and probably needs to get himself laid good and proper.

Still, I've been going down to the shop every weekend with the girls.  They likeplaying in the tournaments.  They asked me to play in it too, which I obliged them because I like a good card game and the game is pretty fun.  I did look up that whole Brony Name thing and it seems there charts and name generaters online.  I won't be adopting any of that.  

I'm glad that there's a quality show like this around for my kids and its OK if folks who aren't little girls like it too.  But seriously, walking around with an MLP t-shirt is fine, but talking to people in serious "ponyspeak" is something you just shouldn't do.

You can be a Brony without being that guy.

Drivin' and Cryin'.

And we're off! Its Wednesday, October 19, 2011, demolition man be demolishing, and this is The Side. Been working in the same building trying to tear it down to the point where we cam fix it back up. Been over a week now. I'm starting to think we should have just used dynamite and started over.

FANDOM!!

After the terrible accident at the race this past weekend that claimed the life of a drive, we got to talking about being fans. Now, the fella who unfortunately passed away is not someone I had ever heard of before this happened. I don't follow racing. This guy was a former champion, and according to those who knew him and competed against him, was a pretty stand up guy. Lot of people liked him, and for those who did, I'm sorry for your loss.

In talking about him yesterday another racing death got brought up. That of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now, speaking as I guy from Virginia, who grew up in Blackwater, among more than his fair share of country-type folk, I don't give a damn about that guy. He had a reputation of racing like jerk and playing hardball out on the track and that caught up with him. He wasn't a big champion, and there are plenty of drivers who won a lot more races than him. And yet, he's this major figure in the sport and near hillbilly sainthood. The story was the lead story on the front page of the local newspaper for three days, and one idiot on the radio claimed his spirit made the flowers in her garden bloom.

Now, in discussing Earnhardt I got to hear some real doozies of fandom. One person told my friend, "Yeah, I stopped watching NASCAR after my driver died." which he was referring to Earnhardt. This got the response, "Yeah, I stopped watching basketball after Magic Johnson retired." And I also heard about some joker who said he saw Earnhardt come around a corner and new that the guy was something special. Bullshit. he came around the corner of that track just like every other driver who came around the corner of that track. It wasn't like Michael Jordan jumping across the court for a dunk, or Randy Couture putting brakes on Vitor Belfort. Those were stand out performances. The guy who made the comment was just trying to pull the old 'I liked him before anyone else' card.

There are people who are fans of a sport, and there are those who are fans of people in a sport. It is kind of weird when you have someone who is a fan of an athlete but doesn't care about the sport at all. Its kinda like saying "I stopped reading comics after jack Kirby died". I do understand being sad when your favorite guy out there retires or unfortunately gets hurt. I just don't get giving up on something entirely just because one person is no longer there. Did that one person make the sport so much more entertaining that its just not the same without them there? And in the case I'm mainly talking about, and this is going to sound mean, but I'm a freaking redneck so I can say it, did that one guy drive fast and turn left in such a dramatic fashion that the others paled in comparison and the sport isn't the same without him?

I do respect those drivers. I certainly couldn't do what they do. Still, when you here some of those comments, its really easy to understand why people make fun of NASCAR fans. Its not all the fans of course, but like anything else its easy to go from fandom to fandumb.

MUSIC!!

Yep. Had to do it. Primus sucks.



That's it for me. Time to go demolish some more. See y'all Friday.

Creating your own fiction, and why somepeople should be medicated.

Being involved in comics you come across rabid fandom. I'm talking about people who send in death threats over storyline, those wishing ill fortune and death upon artists and people who think batman can defeat Superman, Bruce Lee and God all at the same time. I've been suckered into the "who would win in fight...?" debate at conventions way too many times. I've finally gotten to the point that I just don't answer the question, or if I do I turn it into a joke.

The writers and artists working in comics are doing their best to make readers give a damn about the stories and characters they work on. So, if you're upset that Ultra-Dude lost his powers or his dog died or whatever then someone did their job right. So we feel attached to the characters we read about, which is cool, but as I mentioned above it often goes to far.

You can't go around wishing horrible things to happen to people who are just working on comics. I think Ed Benes is a crappy artist. I think Judd Winick can't write a fight worth a damn. I'm sure Dan DiDio is taking DC Comics in bad directions and abusing his power as editor-in-chief to satisfy his own fanboyism. However, I don't want anything horrible to happen to any of them. If I don't like an artist's or writer's work I don't buy it, simple as that. The case of DiDio is trickier and much more frustrating, and yes I have written the man a letter in the past stating my displeasure at his work, however I never threatened physical harm nor did I state any wishes for something brutal to happen to him. Do i think he should be removed from his current position? Yes. Do I think he should be out on the street and unable to feed himself and his family? Absolutely not.

As for the characters and stories, there's plenty of people who would like things to be different. If there weren't there wouldn't be so much fanfiction out there. There's nothing wrong with thinking character A and character B should be a couple, it just becomes a problem with those obsessing over it. Write your fanfiction, and get it out of your system.

I have seen something really bizarre lately: a guy so obsessed with his notion as to what should be in his comic reading that somewhere in his mind he's not interpreting what is on the actual pages correctly. He's insisting that things are said and there's images on the pages that just aren't there. This is compounded by a rampant egotist that when you go to correct this person he insisted that you are wrong, and any evidence used to prove your point is somehow faulty. This is an extreme case however and hopefully this person will get the medical attention they need.

There is what is. There is what we want we want it to be. It's great when those two things come together, but we can't force it. There's people out there just a bit 'too into it', like the weirdo I just wrote about. He's constantly touting his superiority and telling people to read more comics. Honestly, he needs to read less.