Debunking "The Toxicness of MLP's Fandom"

Okay, this is from back in August of 2020, so it's old. But I came across one of DakariKingMykan's rants about the MLP fandom. And I took notice of just how many of his points are not factual. And as I rip off Rationality Rules' intro, this is Debunking "The Toxicness of MLP's Fandom".

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Before I start, I'd like to request that you not attack Mykan after reading this. He's a jerk. But the last thing we need is to provoke a flame war. If you have issues with Mykan, address those issues in this comment section. At least here, you'll be listened to rather than deleted.

If you're here to defend Mykan, then address your issues towards me, not the other users. I will delete posts that provoke other users, that includes provoking Mykan's supporters. So please keep it civil.

MLP has been known to have the most notorious reputation of being one of the most TOXIC fandom in history.

This is not an unsupported story, it's all over the net (Google it, and you'll see)

This one of many things that are factually not true. But seeing as this is Mykan, it's not surprising either. But he even provides the means to debunk him by telling you to Google it. When I Googled "what are the most toxic fandoms", I can assure you that the results of that search don't support Mykan's claim. MLP is NOT the most toxic fandom in history, it is not even in any top 10 lists for the most toxic. Someone even set up a tournament-style bracket of the 64 worst fandoms. And MLP isn't even on that list. Do you know what I did find was in the top 10 worst fandoms? I suppose it's not its own fandom per se. But I've seen 2 top 10 lists that mention Anti-Fans as one of the most toxic. And what is Mykan? An Anti-Brony.

Just to narrow the search a bit to actually try and "beg the question" to Google, I also searched "is the MLP fandom toxic". Even that provides a lack of sources proving the MLP community is toxic. The only thing I could really find was a post by The Atlantic that had too many factual inaccuracies to be accurate. One of the best posts I've found was the perfect definition of what a good fandom is and what a toxic fandom is:

Good fandom is healthy and appreciative. Good fans support each other in a collaborative community. They work to build each other up. Toxic fandom is the opposite. It is when fans attack other fans with purity tests. It's when their criticism of some aspect of the show is framed in exaggerated emotional terms. Toxic fans are essentially the abusive party in an abusive relationship with the content they're a fan of. That is, they aren't just there to celebrate it, but to control it and neg it.

Anyone who has been to a BronyCon would know that the brony community is, by this description, a good fandom. The fact is that most people who make claims that the Brony community is toxic are outsiders that only see the most extremist cases and believe that that's the norm. All fandoms have a toxic side to them. Anyone who says differently is either lying or ignorant. But the majority of the MLP fandom is not toxic. It's just that people notice the toxic side because they are the loudest.

From my point of view, here is what causes a lot of it.

It usually involves Bronies...

Toxicity in the brony community usually involves bronies?! What a shocking revelation!

Seriously though, that's just redundant.

In the early years, when FIM was new and young, people began to fan and favor the show like moths attracted to fire. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, I got nothing against it.

That's a sign that it was good.

Also, another thing is that grown men are liking a show intended for 4-year old girls. Nothing wrong with that either, and I got nothing against it. (I watch girly shows myself... SAILOR MOON... BRACE FACE... TOTALLY SPIES, there's nothing wrong with it)

I don't buy his claims that he has nothing wrong with that. Especially considering that most of his examples aren't intended for younger audiences. Even MLP isn't meant for girls that young. And he wouldn't be pointing this out if he had nothing wrong with it.

People seem to think that I attack Bronies just for liking the show. I can assure you, THAT is a load of crap...

I have nothing against people liking the show,

I believe that he doesn't attack bronies just for liking the show. What I don't believe is he had nothing against people like the show. With how against the values the show he is, and considering that fans of the show also share those values, one can't have issues with the show and not have issues with the fans.

I didn't start watching MLP until 2012. so it was 2 years old, and even then it was already chaos.

I noticed people who were supposedly "Fans" of the show were taking it WAY TOO FAR.

A lot of people started watching MLP at about the same time.

As for fans taking things too far, that's inevitable in any fandom. It's called extremism. Just because they're extremists that take things too far, it doesn't mean they aren't fans. But I know where this will lead. You're trying to argue that this is most of the fandom. In actuality, it's the mass minority.

-Treating it like it was some kind of cult/religion/way of life

Way of life = Certainly there are people like that. And it's a good way of life, so I don't see the problem with that.
Religion = It's possible that there are people like that. But it's not like MLP is the only fandom that has religions made about them. Jedi is a real religion (sort of). But again, that's an extremist thing.
Cult = I doubt that. If there are cult members, it's a small niche part of the fandom.

-Bullying other people around the net WITH IT.

Where there members of the fandom that have bullied people? I have no reason to say no. Is the fandom composed of bullies? No. There aren't enough bullies among the fandom to blame bullying on the fandom.

They were so captivated by the show and it's teachings of friendship, that they began to RUB IT in our faces, telling us to "Watch the show"

"Like it"

"Believe in friendship" as if it were the ONLY thing that mattered in life.

Plenty of people from the fandom did suggest that others watch the show before they judge it. But not enough of them actually rubbed it in anyone's faces. Perhaps the problem is that there were just so many people doing it. But I highly doubt that they told people to like it.

As for the "believe in friendship" comment, here's where Mykan is being dishonest. He claims that they say it as if it's the only thing in life that mattered. NOBODY says that. Nobody thinks that... at least I hope not. And assuming that did happen, it was the extremist minority.

Those who like me DID NOT believe in friendship, and DID NOT see it as THE ONLY THING were treated very cold and harshly by Bronies, even given death threats. (I'm not making this up, Google it and you'll see)

Bronies were known to Cyber-bully and harass non-fans of the show, which can bet sparked and called for retaliation.

That's just a lie. Bronies at the time were more likely to be the victims of bullying than to be the instigator.

There was one guy (Who happens to be on this site, but I won't give his name) who not only harassed me YEARS PRIOR to the series, but kept rubbing it in my face and insulting me about it.

I don't know what this has to do with bronies. If someone was an issue BEFORE the show even started, then by definition, the Brony community isn't to blame.

I already didn't trust MLP because I knew it promoted friendship and moralities in a very overbearing way, one that did not really reflect the realities of humanity.

This is not true. On multiple levels, it's not true. If someone made the argument that the morals weren't applicable to real life because of the fantasy setting, that is demonstrably not true. But I don't think that's what Mykan is trying to say. I think Mykan wants you to believe that the morals in the show don't reflect the real world. But despite what Mykan would have you believe, that is demonstrably not true. The only way to make that fit a narrative that would make it true is if the messages in the show were the misinterpreted messages that Mykan claims them to be. Mykan would have you believe that humanity is far too corrupt for MLP to be a proper reflection, or for the messages to be applicable. But Mykan has lived a sheltered life. He doesn't know enough about the real world to make that assessment.

And then there's the claim that the messages are overbearing. Again, you know Mykan was lying if he hasn't seen the show yet. But even if he had, that would still be a lie about the show.

Still I decided, if I'm going to hate the show, I may as well watch it, so at least I KNOW WHAT I'M HATING.

This proves that Mykan never gave the show a chance. He literally just admitted that he decided to hate the show BEFORE EVEN WATCHING IT. But the fact is that you can't have a proper opinion of a show, positive or negative unless you watch it first.

Worse than that, more and more people were becoming "Brainwashed" by MLP's teachings, still claiming that Friendship is the one true things, which made them lose the grips on reality.

Not even the most extremist of the fandom would be defined as brainwashed.

"Believing in friendship will guarantee you a long and healthy life"

Said nobody ever. Not even the show.

"Ignore all bad things and they will go away."

Said nobody ever. Not even the show.

Nope, in my honest opinion... MLP FIM is as dangerous as BARNEY AND FRIENDS.

What's ironic is that Mykan isn't even wrong about this. He's right for the wrong reason. Just like MLP Barney and Friends has absolutely no danger.

Also, I'm pretty sure Barney was intended for a younger audience.

The shows do not assist children in learning to deal with negative feelings and emotions, or how to deal with real life situations like Death, abusive parents, poverty, ect, ect.

I'm not exactly sure about Barney, I can confirm that that's not the case for MLP. Tanks For The Memories, though it didn't specifically have a death, was about the grieving process for losing a loved one. Also, Applejack's parents are canonically dead. Abusive parents isn't something that can be fixed by learning children learning a lesson on a show. So there's be no point. As for poverty, that also can't just be fixed. Also, a decent amount of people who would have to deal with poverty probably couldn't afford to watch MLP in the first place, so the target demographic wouldn't have access. It's like making an episode telling the Amish how to be more social.

While I CAN admit, it is a show intended for young children, and they probably wouldn't want to do things that way, that doesn't make it too right.

It doesn't make it right or wrong.

Sesame Street
Mr Rogers

they showed us those things and more, just as other shows did.

Dealing with disabilities, dealing with friendships ending, dealing with toxic friendships, dealing with death, learning that uniformity isn't good, communication, cooperation, bullying... these are all in MLP, and just scratch the surface. In fact, one of the best lessons is near the end of the series, teaching children that adults can't just do whatever they want. Apparently, that's a lesson that Mykan, a 30+-year-old, still hasn't learned.

The real danger from the ponies is "denial: the refusal to recognize the existence of unpleasant realities. they give people a one-sided view of the world where everyone MUST be happy, MUST be friends, and problems MUST be solved and that FRIENDSHIP can do it all."

Except for the times when the show doesn't teach that. The show never taught everyone must be friends, be happy, and all problems can be solved by friendship. The part of the show that says friendship is magic, that's intended to mean literal magic as one of the fantasy aspects of the world. Magic isn't real either way. But the "friendship is magic" tagline is also slightly misleading. Friendship is a form of harmony. And it's the magic of HARMONY that's the true power. But that still goes back to the fact that magic isn't real. But that doesn't mean it can't be used to send real-world messages.

But all the reasoning in the world and attempt make Bronies understand that proved ineffective, they remained just as stubborn, just as hostile, and just as brainwashed as ever, continuing with their bullying, threats, ect, ect.

Mykan at this point is just projecting. No bronies are brainwashed, bullying is a minimum, hostility and threats are nearly non-existent in the fandom, they only appear stubborn to Mykan because Mykan himself is too stubborn to admit that he's the one in the wrong in most cases. And I know for a fact that he doesn't use reasoning against bronies to make them understand anything, because he doesn't use reasoning. It's the bronies who try to use reasoning with him. But there comes a point where that's useless because Mykan admits that "it's either my way or the highway". If he doesn't approve of something, he disregards it. That makes him even more closed off than he claims bronies are brainwashed.

Then there's this site, which seems to be a central core for the toxins

Even if this site was toxic, has Mykan never visited sites like 4chan? If he thinks this site is toxic, he'd have a stroke if he visited 4chan.

-riffers
-trolls
-Groups dedicated to insulting others.
-Merciless downvotes of fics and comments (Due to spite for Author/Commenter)

Riffers, I won't deny it. There's nothing inherently wrong with riffing. But Mykan is like Trump. He complains about Saturday Night Live making fun of him. Yeah, that's what Saturday Night Live does to everyone. Trump isn't specifically a target (aside from providing for plenty of content to use). Mykan is complaining about constantly being targetted by riffers. Hehe doesn't want to hear that he's not specifically a target. Then he can't fuel his persecution complex.
Trolls, that's just a fact about being on the internet. If you're anywhere on the internet, there are trolls there. This site is no different.
Groups dedicated to insulting others... I haven't seen those on this site. But perhaps that's because unlike Mykan, I don't attract hate.
Merciless downvotes... Has it ever occurred to him that the reason he gets downvotes is that he deserves them? The truth is that Mykan wants your spite. Because he refuses to accept that he's wrong, and therefore he wants something to use as a reason to prove he's right. Perhaps the most affective way to spite Mykan is to ignore him. Pretend he doesn't exist.

I was a victim of this long before this site was made, and here it was WORSE...

This is another case of a pointless argument. If it was happening long before the fandom, then the fandom isn't to blame.

-I post just ONE chapter of ANY FIC at all... WHOOF... it gets no less than 16 downvotes just like that, because apparently there's some shit rule around that people think fics with HUGE dislike ratios aren't worth reading.

In most cases, that is the case.

Worst of it is, they admit they do it deliberately out of petty spite for me and my fics.

I doubt anyone admitted to doing it out of spite. But I'd believe that they admitted to downvoting his stories. The actual reasoning though is that those people know Mykan and his stories, and therefore don't need to read them to know that they are bad and filled with hate. And that's another thing. His stories are written with hate in mind. Hate, misogyny, a misguided corrupt view of how love works, etc. He also never has anything original. Most of his stories are just copies of previous stories. Even if he didn't serve those downvotes, I can assure you that every upvote he gets is undeserved (with the exception of My Best Friend's Wedding Gift, which deserves all the upvotes you can give it).

I even gets tons of downvotes just for saying "What?" or "Hello" or even "Thank you" or even when I'm answering someone's question.

SERIOUSLY... that is petty spite and outright bullying, but a fine example of how toxic these people really are.

Anyone who thinks downvoting is a form of bullying is disconnected with reality.

Also, fighting toxicity isn't toxicity. Nor is downvoting.

-Whenever someone gives me a nice comment, they get thumbed down, and/or mercifully bullied and hounded by the haters, who apparently think I should not be encouraged or praised for my own style. (They even went as far to bully Nicole Oliver and Tara Strong for liking my artworks and tweets)

Mykan believes that having his own style makes him undeserving of scrutiny. Despite the fact that he doesn't actually have an original style, even if he did, people hating that style proves that it's not a good style. And nothing about his style is entitled to praise.

As for bullying show staff, I'm not convinced that happened. I'm also not convinced that they like the artwork either. But that's a different topic.

and people call ME toxic? Look in the mirror, or who do you think taught me to be toxic? (YOU)

In order to debunk this claim, all I have to do is point out that he's been having these issues BEFORE MLP. The brony community didn't teach Mykan toxicity. Anti-fandoms are some of the most toxic people there are, unlike Bronies. Anyone who has been to a BronyCon would know that Bronies are far from toxic.

Nope, I and other people on this sight are being targeted by the toxicness of the unscrupulous fans of the show who disregard the show's teachers and resort to bullying, riffing, mocking, to garner laughs (They're as pathetic as the people of Melromarc discriminating against the Shield Hero)

Nobody is specifically being targeted. And Mykan just compared himself to the Shield Hero. First of all, he admitted that that comparison would mean that the Shield Hero was being targeted long before he was transferred to Melromarc. Secondly, the Shield Hero would have to be guilty of some of those accusations. Finally, the Shield Hero would also be a hypocrite for spreading that toxicity around.

And of course, I'm sure there are plenty of people who have no clue what I or Mykan are talking about. It's a reference to an anime, Rise of the Shield Hero. He's falsely equivocating himself with the protagonist of the story, and bronies the antagonists. That's as logical of a leap as Trump claiming that he's right because he's being criticized, and Lincoln was criticized, and Lincoln was in the right. It doesn't work like that.

No, we tried to reason, we tried to be civil, but they want toxic, they'll get it!

I'd like to know, has Mykan ever tried to reason and be civil? I suppose I can affirm the "civil" part under the right circumstances. But I never experience him trying to reason with anyone.

But they should note this... They created us Anti-Bronies with their toxic ways and rude manners, and hateful ways of spiting us.

Another lie. Nobody makes someone part of an anti-fandom. That is a choice. And I've pointed this out a couple of times, But Mykan admitted that his issues began long before MLP. So Bronies couldn't have created him as an anti-brony. Anti-fandoms would exist and be just as toxic even if the fandom they opposed has absolutely no toxicity. Anti-fandoms are toxic by nature. They are the toxic opposition to a fandom. You can be opposed to fandom and not be toxic. But when you actively attack a fandom, you are the toxic opposition. And the toxicity of an anti-fandom is absolutely unrelated to how toxic the fandom may be.

We won't stop because they won't...

Another lie. Anti-bronies won't stop whether or not the Bronies stop. Or whether or not the Bronies started it. For the fourth time, Mykan has admitted that he had these issues long before MLP. It's like modern African Americans blaming modern Caucasians for past Caucasians enslaving past African Americans.

But the point is, the fandom is rather toxic, and so is its Hatedom (which I am part of) and the people on this sight are mostly unscrupulous and dishonest people who try to turn life into a big popularity contest.

More lies.

Although, on a technicality, I will grant the part about the popularity contest in a way. People write stories because they want others to see them, and hope that their stories get popular. However, the part about saying life is a popularity contest is not true one bit.

Well, I'm not leaving, especially not because people DEMAND or BULLY me to leave. I'm staying right here, and standing up for my rights.

Technically, nobody has a right to continue to be on the internet. However, it's not up to other members of that site whether they can continue or not. It's up to the owners of the site.

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If you made it to the end, I applaud you for your endurance.

Comments

[AnimeFan419]

Yeah I have ran into a few toxic people like that and I think that you are right most are not like that but there are definitely some that are hostile and like to drag everyone down. I read your long paragraph because I felt that you were polite and reasonable so you deserved a chance. In some arguments I just skim through because to me it sounds like angry impulse posting. A lot of it is complaining about the media going woke and it shocks me every time because by definition MLP is already woke. How is it that some people in this fandom complain about woke when literally MLP can technically is woke. Like you said they are a vocal minority but sometimes they can be draining and some parts of the fandom are either willfully ignorant even after I explained why minorities do not want to see the most extreme versions of themselves anymore. According to some woke mean Awareness of social injustice. The toxic side of this fandom has the aura of what about me and seems to want to make it everything about them when the stereotypes are going away.