Because laughter is always the best cure

I must confess, I started this week in a bit of a foul mood.  My Tumblr Dashboard, my Twitter homepage, even my personal email were overflowing with "OMG!  HAVE YOU SEEN THE LYRA SEX TOY!  MY LITTLE PONY IS RUINED FOREVER!!!!" messages.  All of them complete with photographic evidence.  Everywhere I turned, from Reddit to Ponibooru was like the ruined battlefield of a civil war reenactment staged by green pony butts.  And you know what?  The first, let's say, dozen times I saw it, I said to myself "Self, that's the end.  It was a fun ride, but it's time to nuke the site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure."  Then I realized I was talking to myself again, and decided to just sit back, relax, and avoid the plot that devours nations.

Of course avoiding it was out of the question because the bloody thing was everywhere!  For all I could tell it was being simulcast twenty-four hours a day by all the major networks, FOX, and ESPN 8- The Ocho.  I was waiting for my mom to send me an email asking "Is that the kind of thing you and your brownies are into?"

So, I was upset, it made me feel like as a fandom all we've really got to look forward to is a downward spiral into Lovecraftian madness.  Worse, I feel like I have enough trouble explaining why an adult woman with a relatively normal life and career spends so much time drawing and so much money buying Little Ponies.  

But if there's one thing I've learned in my short time as a fan, it's that crazy reactions tend to spur equal and opposite levels of overreaction.  Rather than join in the rending of We Love Fine garments and gnashing of teeths, I decided to just focus on not panicking and have fun with the absurdity of it all. And apparently a lot of other fans felt the same way.

It was cathartic.  Instead of going all loose cannon and throwing my brony badge down on the Chief's desk, I poked fun at the whole fracas...er, ruckus.  I got to laugh with the joke rather than weep in its general direction.

So, yeah.  People are going to do weird shit.  The word "fan" comes from "fanatic" for a reason.  But that's true of anything.  From Star Trek to Dark Shadows to Hello Kitty, there are always going to be folks who take their love into creepy, biblical directions.  But it's not the end of the world nor the end of the show that we love.  It's just a thing.  And a downright silly thing at that.