No, they aren't to blame for people remaining close-minded around bronies, but they definitely don't help.

Do they have a right to exist? Absolutely.
Do they have a right to find enjoyment in something that others may find weird? Absolutely.
But...
Do they have a right to claim that all bronies are okay with it, take advantage of the community's acceptance, and show a complete lack of self control when it comes to when & where it's appropriate? No.

On the other side of the spectrum, a lot of cloppers are completely close-minded and don't give a single f*** about what they do and/or the possible ramifications to the community as a whole. They're the types that think EqD should feature R34 in drawfriends, the types who proudly state they're cloppers when interviewed by media, and the types who harass and insult members of the community when they're told to simply exercise some extremely basis self-control (ex: keeping the details of their sex life private like a normal human being).

For those wanting to see these in SFM, it's likely not going to happen, and the reasons why are:

1. The reason SFM ponies look a bit stiff is because they're lower in polygon counts in order to work with the game engine. I bet you 2snack's model there has a higher poly count than what the Source engine can handle.

2. The dynamic engine in Maya does not cross-over to other programs.

3. Rigging a model for animation and cleaning its topology to render well with an actual rendering plugin (such as mentalRay) is no small task. It took me a full 3-4 weeks to tweak a pegasus model and fully rig it for animation, and I was cutting corners to save time as well (ex: only made 5-6 different facial expressions, which is not enough for a fully dynamic character). Video of final rig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYDZpAjiWjk

4. When you exclude the SFM/Gmod crowd, the actual 3D community is extremely small. Add on the fact that each person doesn't use the same program, and the community gets even smaller. For example, I can count on a single hand the number of 3D animators that use Maya for animating ponies (including myself), and we each use different techniques and setups for our rigs (aka: I may not know how to use 2snack's rig, and he may not know how to use mine).

The depressing thing about it all is that within actual 3D programs you have limitless possibilities, and the end quality is much, much higher than SFM, but there's so few people that know how to use them (hint: they're complicated) that the chances of any large scale community 3D projects is extremely small.

Your attempts at trolling are tastier.

Applejack had a lack of expressions? What?!

What about the squiggly, Winnie the Pooh style face in Simple Ways? That face was iconic, and while other characters did it later on in s4, AJ was the first, so give her some credit!

Yes, the fandom does suffer from group think, but not in the context you're describing.

Every single time anything remotely goes against the fanon, or Hasbro files a C&D, there's a large group of people who throw a tantrum, bitch at Hasbro, and create such a ruckus that even news sites will write an article about it.

The people you accuse of being drones are the non-vocal majority. Most of us don't really give a damn about EqG, Twilacorn, or what color Vinyl's eyes are.

You accuse those of us that don't speak badly about Hasbro's decisions as drones, but sorry, I'm not a part of your fantasy world. Most of us enjoy the show quietly in the background, and choose not to act like children over things that aren't really a big deal to begin with.

The only group think that exists are those like you who think the entire fandom actually cares every time the show does something YOU don't like.

Don't worry man. I think Season 4 put Applejack into the spotlight a lot, and actually got a lot of folks to change their opinions about her.

"Your Early morning/late night post tonight is a song that isn't really pony, but has a pony on the cover."

Meanwhile EqD denies dozens of songs from brony musicians each week because they don't think the song is pony enough, and accuse the musicians of doing a non-pony song and just sticking a pony picture on there to get more views.

Are you f***ing serious?

Black book from FO:E is now canon :P

There's about 200 bronies doing episode followups and reviews in video form already.

It's because the true story isn't what is seen at face value. Once you look past all the dark, violent overtones, the true story of FoE is about friendship and finding your virtue, both of which are key elements in the TV series.

Also, the reason why many people (including myself) enjoy post-apocalyptic themes is (ironically) not directly related to the post-apocalyptic elements themselves. It's about the qualities of a character/characters that come out in the face of adversity.

For example, some people (actually a lot of people) enjoy shipping fics. I don't. Why? Because a lot of the time shipping and romance happens exactly the same way as it happens in our world as we know today, and thus it doesn't feel particularly special, meaningful, or stand out in a way that can hold the story together. It feels relatively empty and forced.

FoE has shipping, and it was shipping I could actually enjoy. What changed is that adversity is now thrown into the mix. Such great adversity in fact, that even something as small as a smile or a hug to a friend carries such an emotional weight that you feel it as more genuine. It's like sticking a giant middle finger to the world around them to show that people/ponies can still live fulfilling lives, and it isn't just a lifetime of misery.

As an example, here's some popular post-apocalyptic movies and their underlying themes:
28 Days Later: Small group of people who become friends and attempt to recreate their normal lives amidst a devastating virus.
Book of Eli: A nostalgic longing for the past, and the various interpretations and influence of modern religion on morals/ethics.
The Road: A father protecting his son and the conflict between that and childhood curiosity/wonder.

As you can see, the true impact of the story is not about the world around them, nor is the world the antagonist. The world is simply a cause to the effect of the true antagonist: Emotion.