My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[TigerintheShadows]

I have another friend on my Scholar's Bowl team who, in addition to being a legit anime nerd, is another female Brony. (I say "female Brony" because apparently the term "Pegasisters" has been rejected by the more hardcore female fans of the show.) I've seen the show myself. It was decent, but, in my opinion, it isn't worth frothing at the mouth over.

[Leonard Meltsner]

I discovered the show the other day, being intrigued with all of the internet memes. It was actually Darcie's Facebook post about her son being a Brony that prompted me to watch the first episode. A few days later, I've watched the first 42 episodes.

And just a few stats for the haters: Of all of the fans of the show, bronies, pegasisters, and little girls included, the average fan age is 21 years old. Of those, 86% are male, and 63% are pursuing a higher education. This show has amazing plot, animation, voice-over, music, character development, and more. It may be aimed at children, but there's also a certain radio drama aimed at children that a few of you may've heard of, and I'd bet that you probably like it too.

[darcie]

I'm so glad I could influence your media decisions in this way.

He seriously loves those ponies. He was humming Pinkie Pie's Parasprite Polka the other day. So everyone else can be thoroughly entertained by the same tune:



I also realized that I'd completely forgotten your username here when I read the post above.

[Leonard Meltsner]

I can't believe I've admitted to being a brony on Facebook. Thank you for not making me seem as crazy on there.

And I love the seriousness of Pinkie's expression throughout the polka! I knew that Pinkie needed the instruments because she knew about the parasprites, but I originally figured that she needed them just to sing a song about what they were. Because that's how she rolls.

[Amethystic]

Today I saw that one of the guys on my bus has My Little Pony key chains on his backpack.

[darcie]

I can't believe I've admitted to being a brony on Facebook. Thank you for not making me seem as crazy on there.

I'm totally down with embarrassing one's self on Facebook. And making people seem less crazy by comparison to my own craziness.

[Leonard Meltsner]

I can't believe I've admitted to being a brony on Facebook. Thank you for not making me seem as crazy on there.

I'm totally down with embarrassing one's self on Facebook. And making people seem less crazy by comparison to my own craziness.

Did you notice how no one commented anything else after I said that? I think I made it too awkward or strange or something for the post to continue.

[darcie]

They just... um... couldn't refute your statements. And had no knowledge or experience to add to the discussion. Yeah, that's it.

[Leonard Meltsner]

My friend was wearing a Rarity shirt the other day, and I was like "Nice shirt", and she was like "It's from My Little Pony, you know. It's Rarity, the best pony", and I made a *Pfft* sound, and her jaw dropped wide open. It was pretty funny. *loud gaspy whisper* "You watch MLP?!?!"

[TigerintheShadows]

I've seen more episodes now. I'm honestly really liking this show. I mean, I'm no Brony or anything (Pottergeek, Avatard, and Trekkie work just fine for me) but this show is pretty cool.

So, LM, which is the best pony?

[darcie]

My kids took a quiz to see which pony they are most like. Of course, more fun is taking it again and manipulating the answers to get the pony you want. My two little crazies are most like Pinkie Pie, the older one is either Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle, and I'm either Twilight or Fluttershy. Or Rarity, if I pretend I really like dressing up.

[Leonard Meltsner]

I'm most like Twilight, but I can NOT decide between Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. So, I'm going with Derpy.

[Young&Mighty]

I'm most like Twilight, but I can NOT decide between Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. So, I'm going with Derpy.

Same here, same here

[TigerintheShadows]

They are called pegasisters when they're girls.

As I've mentioned, many female fans reject the term because they find it silly, and most of the girls I know who watch the show would balk at the thought of being referred to as a "pegasister". I think Brony is going to be the general fandom term regardless of gender, honestly.

[Joy]

Well, I must admit, I'm a bit of a Brony (pegasister, whatever). I'm more towards the age group, I know, but I looked down on this show, and I have different tastes, so I still call myself that.

I'm not totally crazy about it (no nostalgia or anything. ) but it's a good show.
I'm worried about where MLP is going. Are they dumping the brony fandom in the dust to sell more toys?

[Caswin]

I'm worried about where MLP is going. Are they dumping the brony fandom in the dust to sell more toys?

From where I'm standing, that would be the opposite of a good idea if all they cared about was selling toys and making money.

(Personal opinion on the "female brony" thing: I'm fond of the idea of "pegasis", but it's disrupted by the fact that if you say it out loud, it sounds exactly like "pegasus", which probably led to the rise of "pegasister", which isn't nearly as graceful... so, yeah, "brony", whatever.)

[TigerintheShadows]

I like the direction in which the show is going. I like that the team isn't afraid to take chances and try new things. The bronies who are sitting around complaining about everything are the obnoxious ones in this equation because they're being so possessive of the show. Why can't they be just as open-minded as they had to be when they were first introduced to the show? I've wanted Twilicorn to happen for ages now, and I think that, if done right, Equestria Girls could be a really great show.

[Leonard Meltsner]

Okay, this post has been dead for a long time now, so I have some more things to bring to the table on these issues. First, in case y'all haven't seen it yet, the 2013 State of the Herd Census was released today, with more than 90 % of the fans preferring brony as an all around term rather than male-specific.

Also on the topic of the census data today, I find it funny that at the age of 18, I'm still below the average brony age of 20.19.

The show is becoming more and more fan-oriented as we go, despite the marketing-wrenches that Hasbro throws in. M. A. Larson pulled off the finale magnificently, and for those who think otherwise, I'd watch Digibrony's review of the episode and other reviews on both side to get a more balanced perspective. (Language warning, though the review is fantastic!)

Also, Larson tweeted recently that from a writers' meeting that they were working on what was possibly the most epic thing ever done on the show to date.

What I'm hoping for from Equestria Girls is that it's, to quote Dern, "really good, or really, really bad." If it's good, I can enjoy it. If it's terrible we can all make fun of it. If it's mediocre, that'll just be boring and a tad depressing.

I think that's all.

[Joy]

Mmkay, what's Equestria Girls?

[Leonard Meltsner]

A humanized spin-off of MLP where the Mane 6 travel to Earth via magic portal for some unspecified purpose, join a middle/high school and undoubtably become tangled in preteen girl drama. Rumours are that Spike will be a dog.