View source for Being Indian in the Brony & Furry Fandom

श्री

Whenever I go to brony and furry conventions there are many times I question whether I actually belong in the fandom.

= Brony Fandom =

Even before I started going to in-person conventions, in the online community, I realized that there are not that many desi folks like me who are part of the community. Whenever I watched youtube videos, went on public forums like '''equestriadaily, mlpforums.com, discord''' communities, I realized that a majority of the community is predominantly white. 

I remember at one point researching why people leave the brony fandom, I remember one of the top points is the lack of diversity.  This is obvioulsy aside from moving on with life cause that's with everyone - including me and I myself have since moved on to other fandoms like Bluey, Hellaverse, and Furry Fandom but still remain true to my MLP roots.
[[File:Brony fandom lack of diversity.png|none|thumb|877x877px|https://www.ranker.com/list/why-former-bronies-lost-interest-my-little-pony/anna-lindwasser]]


But I was actually watching MLP, I remember there was one episode in particular that really struck out to me. It was the one and only episode where a clearly Indian-inspired pony was introduced in the show:

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I felt so much more seen when I watched that episode. Cause when I watched the other episodes of MLP, it clearly seemed more geared towards a more White American audience. But adding ponys that were clearly inspired from more diverse backgrounds really helped make me feel more seen. 

Even though that was only one episode in the show, I'm so glad that they added it. Plus it's true we South Asians know to use our masalas lol.

[[File:Spice box with various blends.jpg|thumb|center|The Spice Box I use at home looks like this. In Marathi cooking, we use a lot of Goda masala along with Garam, Lal Tikhat (Red Chili Powder), Harad (Ground Tumerik), Dhane Jeera Pood (Coriander-Cumin), Mustard Seeds.]]

= Furry Fandom =

Funnily enough, first time I ever went to FWA, I did 0 research and had 0 context on what the fandom is about. In fact, the only thing I asked Google was whether fursuiting or wearing a costume was mandatory cause I didn't have a fursuit (but I did have one of those cheap Amazon horse heads lol). 

When I first got to the convention, I was awstruck by how different the atmosphere felt. 

This was basically my first ever large convention I've been to that was related to some pop culture thing because the only conventions I would go to otherwise would be for school, business, or Indian conventions like MMA (Maharashtra Mandal). 

So it was such a big culture shock when I first walked into the Mariott Marquis and saw people walking around in cat and dog costumes. I felt so underdressed cause I just pulled up with my basic Tech Bro HackGT shirt while majority of people were wearing (if not a fursuit), some tails, paws, lanyards, etc.
[[File:Selfie at FWA 2023.jpg|thumb|326x326px|Me at FWA 2024 - My First Furcon]]
And I just loved it so much. It was so different than anything I've seen before. I loved the energy. How chaotic it was. I was addicted.

But as I got more involved with the community, I realized more and more that I'm actually an extremely small minority in the community. 

First, I didn't realize that a large percent of the community identified as LGBT+. It took me a while to understand why so many people were wearing pronoun badges and why I was seeing so many pride flags everywhere. After my first time in FWA, I went to Momocon 2 weeks afterwards and noticed that there weren't nearly as many pride flags on display.

I've never had anything against LGBT+ but it definitely was different seeing so many flags on display when in Atlanta, the only time I would see it would be in a shop every now and then and the infamous Klaus rainbow stairs.

More than the LGBT+ and sexuality part (cause to me that's mostly a private thing - cishet people like me never get asked those sort of questions -- like oh you're straight (instead of oh you're gay)? and I have enough LGBT+ friends to know that they just want to be treated normally and respected cause life's full of way more interesting stuff), what really made me got me more was just how few BIPOC folks I saw. Way before I got involved in the fandom, I would talk to a lot of my multicultural friends about typical geeky interests like anime, comics, gaming. I remember how much I loved talking to my friends about that sort of stuff.

But when it came to furries, I just didn't know any of my close frineds who had remotely any sort of idea what the fandom is about. And the more friends I've made in the community, the more I realized that I'm really an extreme minority in it. 

One of my first exposures to furries was [https://x.com/SonicFox SonicFox] when he won the Game Awards.

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I was in the call with my high school buddies and they were all cringing when he said "he's gay, black, and a furry so everything a republican hates."

I've also seen other videos of Black people like [https://www.youtube.com/@FinnThePanther FinnThePanther] (big shout out, helped me really understand furry culture when I was new) explain how "different" it feels to join the fandom as a BIPOC person which you can listen to in following podcast:

<spotify width="400" height="200">episode/3nFF7UoeLiIwgCwPndCNMC</spotify>

Things have changed and when I go to furcons nowadays, I feel like the community has gotten a lot more racially diverse than it previously has been. I myself have also gotten more involved with the community and actually spent time talking to people. I remember first time I went to FWA in 2024, I didn't really speak to anyone cause I was so shy and so bewildered by the whole experience of going to a large convention in general. 
[[File:Me meeting Sarah in Korea.jpg|thumb|Meeting a friend in Korea who is part of the SLARPG fandom. [https://bsky.app/profile/dubit-sparkle.bsky.social dubit-sparkle] on bluesky]]
But since then, I've traveled a ton and I've also furs from other ethnicities and backgrounds like East Asian, Indigenous, European, etc. I remember, when I traveled to Korea, I met one of my friends from the SLARPG fandom (yeah all the way in Korea!) and it was cool hearing her experience going to FurryJOA and MalangPony (furry and MLP cons in Korea) where those fandoms are not as popular compared to the western world. And just going around Korea, I was surprised by how much anthropomorphic art and even mascots for cat cafes there were on the streets.  

However, I've yet to meet many more desis myself in the fandom. I still feel awkward when I go to furcons because of the lack of South Asian (desi) folks. When I went to Further Confusion, I thought I saw some desi furs there, but at the same time it'd be weird to just go up to random strangers and ask them what race they are, even if it lets me connect with them based on cultural experiences. 

And I think the main reason for that is our culture. I did a good amount of research into this and found that India, despite being the largest country by population has barely any conventions.  And the one comic convention there is like Delhi Comic Con are actually pretty small. But they have been growing in size over the years as the world becomes more globalized. 

[[File:Overview of Furry Culture Slide.png|center|thumb|960x960px|One of my friends over at Emory Furs presented this [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1La44cwB21a22dZQnaLee1Zzx37_oj7nNskW9CcfkVRs/edit?usp=sharing Google slide deck at Eaglecon 2026] which is derived from a [https://furscience.com/research-findings/demographics/1-2-ethnicity/ survey conducted and published by Furscience here]. You can see Central Asia/India is only at 0.7 all the way at the bottom for those who self-reported their race.]] 

But at the same time, it's not like our culture doesn't have anthropomorphism. A lot of Indian culture is tied to Hinduism and as a person raised as a Hindu, I'd argue that Hinduism is one of (if not) the most anthropomorphic religion out of all major religions. Many our deities have animal features because of legends described in our holy books. Ex. Sri Ganesha has an elephant head because Lord Shiva cut His head off while He was guarding the door to His house while his mother was taking a shower. Another example is Hanuman who is another major deity in Hinduism and his face resembles a monkey or ape because he belongs to the Vanara race—a group of forest-dwelling beings as described in the Ramayana.

Also growing up, I used to listen to songs/animations like these when learning Marathi (similar to Hindi which is language in this music video). So anthropomorphism has been a large part of my childhood and it is no doubt a large part of cultures globally.
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So in conclusion, I don't care that I may be 0.7% of the fandoms make-up. I know that I enjoy this community and I belong here. 

This community has changed me so much as a person. I used to be so shy before. It's really helped me get over my fear of being in public and talking to people. I've made so many friends in the community who have genuinely helped me in both my personal and professional life. 

It really helped me understand that being "cringe" is a self-ascribed word and that you have control over your own life. And to always take advantage of opportunities when they arise cause you never know when you're going to get them back. 

And at the end of the day, I don't want to live my life for other people, but live it for myself.