IN CASE YOU didn’t know, a ‘brony’ is a man who likes My Little Pony. So much so, in fact, that he might feel compelled to dress up as one and attend a convention.
To explain. Since the new version of the My Little Pony cartoons started airing in 2010, it’s won a growing adult fanbase. Entire websites, like Equestria Daily, exist to service this crowd – publishing My Little Pony art, My Little Pony fan fiction, and scene news.
As might be expected, bronies come in for a certain amount of mockery. But this is unjustified, they say. One tells the Daily Dot:
A common stereotype about bronies is that we are sit-at-home guys who do nothing but watch My Little Pony and live off of welfare. A lot of bronies are normal people.
Here are the bronies, in all their glory:
In pictures: Meet the men who dress up as My Little Pony
People dressed in My Little Pony cartoon costumes stand at BronyCon in Secaucus, New Jersey on July 1 (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
People dressed in My Little Pony cartoon costumes have their photograph taken at BronyCon (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
Jared Bentley, left, dressed as My Little Pony cartoon character, The Smooze, helps his friend Daniel Chadborn dressed as a samari Dischord (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
Josiah Tyrrell is dressed as the character Flam from the My Little Pony (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
William Scruggs is dressed as Canterlot Royal Guard from the My Little Pony cartoons (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
Matthew Zadonia carries a stuffed animal from the My Little Pony cartoons as he stands with others at BronyCon (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Whose Little Pony?
Listening to a presentation at BronyCon (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
They also argue that they’re misrepresented by critics and the media. When the AP went to a brony convention this year, reporter Dave Collins found 4,000 people eager to tell him why there was nothing wrong with their hobby. One said:
I thought about what people would say. ‘It’s creepy. It’s weird. It’s a … show for little girls. [But] it’s just a great show … the story line, the plot, the beautiful animation.
The show’s creator Lauren Faust has also hailed the fans, telling Collins that our culture routinely dismisses anything targeted at girls as “the equivalent to saying that something is stupid”. She said fans are “forward-thinking and modern enough to look past this misogynistic attitude”.
This video shows bronies reacting to the spine-chilling climax of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 2 Finale. They really care about it.
YouTube/ACRacebest
Got another five minutes? This short documentary from dottedboy explains some of what brony-ism is all about:
YouTube/dottedboy
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