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I saw this article last week and, well, it kind of threw me for a loop. It’s about “Bronies” — men who like the My Little Pony cartoons. You know, the one that’s meant for little girls in preschool.
Apparently, a bunch of Bronies attended BronyCon Summer 2012, which was an “all ages, family friendly” convention that drew 4,000 men, women, and children, many of whom were wearing pony-themed costumes in a rainbow of hues.
It would seem that these guys, who are largely in their teens and early 20s, are really into the life lessons taught by the cartoons and there’s nothing creepy about it at all. Rather, they value the friendship and happiness depicted in the magical My Little Pony world. While I’m sure Bronies are all into the My Little Ponies with the truest of intentions, the fact that they’re into it at all is still a bit odd, don’t you think?
As I said, this is a family friendly event, so there are strict rules about costumes, including they must be PG-rated and “costumes that make noise must have volume control.” Go read that link; there are a couple of paragraphs about costume weapons. Ahhhhh… now that’s sounding a bit more like something men would be into.
From reading the convention’s website, it sounds like BronyCon is a total phenom — it grew from 105 people the first year to 4,000 the next, with all sorts of unhappy Bronies turned away once capacity was reached. I can only imagine that you do not want to make a Brony unhappy — an unhappy Brony means a little less sunshine, fewer rainbows, and not enough sparkles in the world.
What can you do at BronyCon? In 2012, there was gaming and concerts and a huge charity auction and “guests of honor” who would sign autographs at designated times. There were all sorts of artists and vendors “just waiting to fill your bag with pony swag.” Convention panel topics included “Ponies: The Anthology, Part 2″ and “Studying the Herd” and “Pony Parliament.” I’m not actually sure what any of those about, but I suspect that if I were a Brony, I’d be fascinated.
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this amazing gathering. Alas, I missed BronyCon for 2012, but there’s always 2013, if any of you are interested.
So what do you think about all this?
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Hee hee – this past weekend, Bill Clinton was on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, and for his little quiz-game at the end, they asked him questions based on a My Little Pony movie.
He got them all right.
Perhaps he’s one of the 4,000?
(to be fair, the wrong answers were all either preposterous or subtly perverted; clearly not the My Little Pony message)
“Q” is a brony. That’s a fun little fact.
I was expecting a big “Fooled Ya” at the end of this post. Am now sitting here, highly disturbed and wondering how I am to go about my day.
Yes, I knew about the BRONY phenomenon from that episode of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, also. (It’s a repeat – aired sometime last year, I think.) Still sounds weird to me, but I never could stand My Little Pony, anyway. I guess I don’t value friendship and happiness enough.
Okay, I grew up with the original My Little Pony. For my parent’s wedding, I got the MLP Wedding Pony set and I had coveted that thing for years. So that was exciting.
When the new one came out I was annoyed at the clear bastardization of my childhood. How dare they make a vaguely anime looking pony series called Friendship is Magic – I mean, gag me. Ew.
Guess what? The new MLP is HILARIOUS. It reminds me of Phineas and Ferb – a family friendly, genuinely interesting and amusing show complete with snark and wit. Sure, there’s a moral in there somewhere. But it’s really the snark that gets me. It’s so funny and clever.
So anyway. My 19 year old brother just wrote me a letter from his mission in Australia confessing to be a closet Brony, ha ha. My husband doesn’t mind watching it, because it’s really good. And of course, Toby, who is now 4, wants to marry Rainbow Dash. He ADORES My Little Pony. And since I will never have a little girl, I am happy to share the MLP love with him. Passed down from generations. Sniffle. It’s so beautiful.
As a follow up about Toby, I love having a show for him to watch that is not cars, guns, or swords. I do wish that MLP would cater to their audience and add in some male characters, but I’d still rather have him watching MLP than Zombies Ate My Ferrari Let’s Shoot Them or whatever TV shows are big for boys right now.
However, I think conventions of any sort are weird. I’d kill myself because TOO MANY PEOPLE. The idea of dressing up for something like ComicCon, where you can be anything, that sounds cool. The idea of dressing up as a pony…that weirds me out a bit.
Um . . . no. I don’t want to know this. I hope any men I know who are bronies stay in their closet!
Curse you, Jen – I thought this was going to be about exposing your daughters to The Outsiders! I was about Graceful’s age when I first fell in love with that book and read it at least 3 times a year…
Sadly, I did know about this phenomenon. I hang out with too many nerds, and I read a webcomic that openly mocks bronies from time to time. I gather that it can also be a sexual thing (a la the “furry” fetishists) and also that bronies get really, really angry (and not very sunshiney or rainbowy) when they are mocked.
I’m not a huge fan of MLP, even after my 7 year old girl watched the entire series recently. That said, the bits I listened to were pretty cool. However, as the mother of a 10 year old boy who loves sparkly things and used to like having his toenails painted — until peer pressure and mockery stopped that — I’m proud of these guys for being forthright and honest about their fandom. I also love their magical thinking. Yes, it’s silly, but no worse than the screaming fans who lust after the characters in Diana Gabaldon’s books, or the Twilight (and even Harry Potter) fans who dress up for their gatherings. I just wish our culture was more accepting of this type of behavior from boys & men, and less inclined to be disgusted, feel disturbed, and automatically dismiss the participants as deviants and/or gay.
I can only say this makes me tired and sad.
Hmmm- gotta say I hadn’t heard of this! The random thoughts that will now cross my mind whenever Kier plays with MLP. Well it takes all different kinds I suppose!
Well. I’m speechless.
::blinks::
I’m going to second two of your dear readers:
1) This so should have been about Ponyboy and the gang, not MLP.
2) I haven’t watched any of the new MLP because I don’t like the new “look” (see also: Strawberry Shortcake). I guess now maybe I’ll have to DVR one just to see what it’s like…
Go bronies! I admit, I’m cool with it as a parent desperately trying to teach her kids that there are no boy toys vs girl toys, boy colors (blue/green) vs girl colors (pink/purple), etc, etc. Some days I loudly curse the current mainstream parenting culture.