I think a Brony may have tweeted me on Twitter… not that there’s anything wrong that that.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember that back in August I posted this picture:
I posted it less so people so could see the My Little Pony balloon in the backseat and more so I could low-key fish for compliments on my statement necklace.
This My Little Pony balloon is for a man who’s turning 44. http://t.co/H7QcNVjKok
— Katie Hoffman (@bykatiehoffman) August 30, 2014
We surprising/embarrassing my boyfriend’s cousin with the balloon at an expensive Brazilian steakhouse, because is there any more appropriate venue for a My Little Pony balloon?
A couple weeks later, long after possession of the balloon had been transferred to my boyfriend’s cousin, I had moved on with my life, and it was then that I received a notification that I’d received the tweet below (which you can easily find on my Twitter page, but I’m redacting information because I’m accusing this individual of being either a Brony or a general creep):
I didn’t think much of it, because the answer was no. The balloon had probably deflated two days after it was purchased weeks ago. I thought this was a one-off brush with a Brony, so like many of my Twitter replies, I ignored it and went back to taking BuzzFeed quizzes. Everything went back to normal again until earlier this week, when the potential Brony contacted me again on December 3rd, tweeting a plea that sounded much more desperate than before:
Since it’s been a full two months since I posted about the balloon, I had to do some investigating. I’m not sure which surprised me more: that someone would think that I kept a My Little Pony balloon for two months (although, to be fair, last year I got my boyfriend a balloon for Valentine’s Day and stowed it in the trunk of my car on the way over to his apartment, because have you driven with balloons in the car? It’s hell. But because it was out of sight, out of mind, I completely forgot to give it to him, so it stayed in there for 6-8 months like a little surprise party every time I opened my trunk) or that this person’s account was still active on Twitter, because I assumed it was some kind of weird spam. I had to look at his Twitter feed.
His main use for Twitter is soliciting the balloons people tweet about.
His bio reads:
Yeah i collect balloons and i ask a lot sorry! video games, bands, building stuff, anime, manga, cosplay, drawing, reading, writing, maybe chess haha
I decided to follow the trail of his tweets and replies to discern a pattern, and the majority of the balloons he wanted were My Little Pony. I could only think of three explanations:
1. He’s a creep doing something creepy.
I did some Google searches that I regret now (that may also make me even creepier than Balloon Brony), and this explanation is completely logical:
2. He’s a troll/balloon catfish.
When I first told my boyfriend about this whole situation he warned, “Don’t respond to him. That’s what he wants.” Could be. I could see his account being a hoax, especially since he’s only following 34 people (including yours truly!) with 13 followers of his own. Yet, aren’t these kind of pranks that are only entertaining when someone actually buys into the premise of the tomfoolery and complies under false pretenses? I don’t think anyone is buying the necessary shipping materials to send some stranger on Twitter their old balloons. If this is some kind of “elaborate” joke to make people look stupid, it’s not a particularly good one. “Guys, I made an account where I ask people for balloons! You gotta check it out.” ???? Maybe he’s just seeking attention?
3. He just collects balloons.
Maybe I’m the problem here. Maybe I’m cynical! Is collecting balloons really so subversive? Just because I don’t like anything enough to have my own collection, does that entitle me to question anyone else? Twitter is a social networking platform that provides a steady stream of balloon inventory! Maybe he’s just utilizing every available resource to grow his balloon collection.
Whatever the reasoning was, I had to engage with him. I’ve added my notes in pink.
My final remark might send him over the edge, but the good news is I don’t really care, because I don’t think he was being very forthcoming. I’m not sure what to make of any of this, so I’ll ask you. What do you think is going on here?
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