Jessica Briggs December 17th, 2012 My Little Brony My Little Pony is both a television series and toy franchise

that has existed since the 1980s. The current generation of ponies is, known to the pony figurine collectors as G4. The show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic airs on Saturday mornings at 7am on the cable network The Hub, and will start its third season on Saturday November 10th. The show is about a young violet unicorn named Twilight Sparkle who is sent to the town of Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship, and to write letters back to her mentor Princess Celestia reporting on what she has learned. During the series pilot Twilight Sparkle is introduced to the rest of the "Mane 6", a cyan tomboyish pegasus named Rainbow Dash, an orange farm pony named Applejack, a white fashion designer unicorn named Rarity, a pink party throwing pony named Pinkypie, and a yellow timid, yet kind animal loving pegasus named Fluttershy. Together these six ponies discover different aspects of the magic of friendship. Rounding out the main cast is Spike the baby dragon, Twilight's assistant and pet. As well as Princess Celestia herself. Princess Celestia is an extremely powerful white unicorn-pegasus. The series itself is directed towards young women and school aged girls, but My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has spawned an internet subculture of older fans who call themselves "Bronies" and "Pegasisters". For the sake of argument, this paper will refer to both adult male and female fans as "Bronies." While My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic uses its simplistic style and talking ponies to attract its original audience, it's the relatable characters, timeless lessons on friendship, fantasy elements, and pop culture references only a more mature audience
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can understand that draw in the Bronies. The Bronies have a massive online community and through that community are challenging what is appropriate media for the different genders. Bronies are fans of the show outside the targeted demographic. The word brony is a combination of bro and pony. According to a survey by Know Your Meme user Verbose, Bronies are typically male fans in their teenage and young adult years. (Verbose) These people were probably introduced to the show via having to watch the show with their younger siblings or children who are in the target audience. Then after watching a few episodes they are attracted to certain aspects of the show or something about the series appeals to the brony and the brony becomes addicted. Bronies have their own subculture and utilize sites like Equestria Daily, DeviantArt, Ponychan among others to display their pony related content. Phrases that were used in the show have become part of "bronyspeak." One such phrase is "Brohoof" Brony content started out as memes or screenshots from the show with captions on them. The captions are usually references to other pop culture items. Bronies started posting the ponifyed memes onto 4Chan. Soon 4chan was being flooded with pony images. Some posts were "Post Y will be a Pony" or another one has Rainbow Dash with a goofy smile on it with the caption "Mods are asleep post Ponies" . The battle between bronies and those who hate them erupted into a flame war that caused the moderators at 4chan to ban accounts from accessing the site and putting up pony imagery. (Know your meme) The bans were eventually lifted however the stigma that surrounds bronies still stands. The stigma of being a guy that loves a show directed towards young girls. One hater posted that Rainbow Dash was a lesbian and that the darker ponies were slaves to the white pony overlord. Lauren Faust protected her franchise when she replied stating that nowhere was Rainbow's sexuality even apparent, and that the pony's color had nothing to do with race. There are three
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races in Equestria. The Pegasi, the Unicorns, and the Earth Ponies. All of the races have the ability to have any color of skin they choose. According to Verbose's survey the most popular pony out of the Mane 6 is Twilight Sparkle. Among the different groups surveyed Twilight was the most popular out of the male, heterosexual, and pansexual groups. Female respondents preferred Pinky Pie by an 11% margin. Homosexuals and bisexuals preferred Rainbow Dash. There was no least favorite pony. (Verbose) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is rated number one in TV Guide's Best Fans contest. Like any other fanbase, bronies hold conventions where they can cosplay, interact with the cast and production staff. Bronies also post PMVs or Pony Music Videos on YouTube. One brony posted a feature film length crossover with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The videos are called Turnabout Storm. Phoenix Wright is summoned by Twilight Sparkle to defend Rainbow Dash who was accused of murdering another pony. As of this writing Turnabout Storm is missing its final part. The Brony phenomenon has reached the Hub's management, proving itself to be a valuable market. One piece of evidence is the fact that the Hub has not pulled down full episodes of the series from Youtube, or livestreaming sites. Also some fan-given names such as "Derpy Hooves" and "DJ Pon-3" have made it into the series canon. (Kontour) Derpy Hooves is a background pony with eyes that look in different directions, due to an animation error. On May 27th, 2011 Hasbro and the Hub collaborated on a special promo. The promo was a parody of "California Girls" by Katy Perry. It was sent to Equestria Daily and includes Bronies in the lyrics. This parody also canonizes DJ Pon-3's name. Her fan name is Vinyl Scratch. She

only appears in scenes where she is the disk jockey for a party. (Kontour) She also appears in a Toys R Us exclusive pack along with Nightmare Moon. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic premiered in October 10th, 2010 on the Hub, a cable network that was a collaboration between the Discovery Communications Network, and Hasbro. Hasbro used this opportunity to give some of its older franchises a reboot. Hasbro owns the intellectual property rights to Transformers, and My Little Pony. The creator Lauren Faust, known for her work on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for imaginary friends, is, herself, a fan of the G1 My Little Ponies. In an interview by Equestria Daily Lauren Faust was asked about her introduction to the franchise. She replied that she had been a fan since she was six, and once the first unicorns and pegasi were released "There was no turning back, I kissed Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake goodbye and soon I was spending every penny I was given or had earned on collecting every pony thing that came out." (Equestria) Faust admitted that some of the characterizations and stories were from stories she had and were inspired from characters from G1 and G3. For example: the character Rainbow Dash. In G3 Rainbow Dash was a cyan earth pony with a personality similar to Rarity. In Friendship is Magic Rainbow is a competitive cyan pegasus who longs to be part of the "Wonderbolts" Princess Celestia's personal areo acrobatic team. In the episode "Suited for Success" when asked by Rarity about the changes she wanted made to her dress, Rainbow replied that "It needs to be about 20% cooler" that phrase has become one of her catchphrases. On Screwattack.com's

show Death Battle there is an episode where Rainbow Dash fights against the Transformers' Starscream. The episode ends with Rainbow devouring Starscream's spark or life force. (Screwattack.com) That battle is still debated between Bronies and Transformers fans.

One thing that differentiates the My Little Pony figures from other equine toys is the Cutie Mark. Every pony has one on their flank. In Friendship is Magic the cutie mark is a symbol expressing the pony's true talent. It only appears when said pony discovers their true talent, and not a moment before. Throughout the series the Cutie Mark Crusaders, three young fillies who have "blank flanks", search everywhere for their talents. Thus the pony must find his or herself before it appears. In the series references and jokes are hidden in the cutie marks. For example Dr. Whooves. He is a brown background pony with an hourglass cutie mark. One make or break aspect of a show is its characters. If a TV series has flat or "perfect" characters, then they aren't relatable and the show doesn't do well overall. In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the characters are not perfect and have their own flaws. For example Twilight Sparkle has anxiety issues, and Fluttershy has low self-esteem. The flaws are usually used as challenges for the characters to overcome, and make for good episodes. In the previous animated series and specials the characters were somewhat one dimensional. They resembled horses closely however their characteristics were a little flat. The depth that Lauren Faust gave her ponies was absent from these series. In fanfiction circles characters that have no flaws are disliked or are referred to as a "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu". In fanfics Mary Sues are commonly shallow, fake and if written by an author who generally despises them, the Mary Sues are usually destroyed. Suffice it to say in MLP:FiM these characters do not exist. The closest pony to Mary Sue is the "Great and Powerful" Trixie. Trixie is the antagonist for season one episode 6 "the boast busters". She is a blue unicorn who brags about her magical skill, but if put to the test, Trixie's skills fail and Twilight has to come and save the day. The lesson of that episode is to not brag too much of one's talents but there is a time and place where said talent is necessary. The episode "Suited for Success" has Rarity volunteering to make an original dress for each one of
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her friends. The other five ponies soon take advantage of her offer and have her remake the dresses to their exact specifications. Unfortunately these dresses turn out to be hideous and the ponies learn not to take advantage of their friend's generous offers. Rarity's original designs were worn to the Grand Galloping Gala at the end of season one. Actually if the "Grand Galloping Gala" was featured in a G1 or G3 episode, the ponies would probably be more interested in finding royal stallions for themselves as opposed to using the gala to fulfill their own dreams. The Gala would probably be shown as a perfect party where nothing goes wrong. In the final episode of season one, Rarity had an anti-Cinderella moment and destroyed her glass slipper on the stairway. She was disillusioned with Celestia's relative Prince Blueblood, and refused to give him a chance to find her. The song Rarity sings while she is creating the dresses "Art of the Dress" is based on Barbra Streisand's song "Putting it together" The song along with other songs are catchy. There are videos on youtube showcasing all the songs from MLP: FiM. Other popular songs from the show are "Winter wrap-up" and "At the Gala." The man responsible for these hits is Daniel Ingram. According to an article in the Rolling Stones, Due to the bronies' demographic being extremely different from the target audience, Mr. Ingram has the challenge of creating songs with mass-singalong ability. (Rutherford) In the same article Ingram claims he hasn't forgotten the true demographic. Daniel Ingram is a master songsmith, and has successfully risen to the challenge. Mr. Ingram can write a song that can change from a soft flowing brook, to a multivoiced chorus. Daniel Ingram's music has been converted to 8bit midi files and posted on YouTube. Even as midis the songs have not lost their magic and bronies can still sing along with them.

Another element that Bronies find attractive is the fantasy. Compared to earlier generations the In Equestria there are griffins, hydra, dragons, and other monsters. Princesses Celestia and Luna have powers similar to the Egyptian god Ra. While Ra carries the sun across the sky in a solar barge, Princess Celestia raises the sun at dawn, and her sister Princess Luna cares for the night. A millennia ago Princess Luna was jealous that the ponies played in the day Celestia brought forth and slept through her beautiful night. Princess Luna became Night Mare Moon and was banished to the moon for 1000 years. Princess Luna also has the power to enter other ponies' dreams at night. She used this ability in the sixth episode of season three. In this episode young Scootaloo was terrified by the ghost stories Rainbow Dash was telling during a camping trip. Astronomy was also included when Twilight had to correct a mistake involving an Ursa Minor. Since MLP:FiM is a show for little girls, Lauren Faust and her team were limited on how violent the show could be. The monsters couldn't be grotesque and battles couldn't be bloody. So the creators relied on their back up weapon, comedy. In the series pilot Night Mare Moon led the ponies on a chase through the forest and there were demonic looking trees. While the other ponies were too scared to travel Pinky Pie sang a lesson about "Giggle at the ghostly" and laughed at the trees. The fear left the ponies. In another episode there was a battle between the pony settlers of Applelusa and the native bison tribe of the area, similar to the Wild West where Native Americans fought against the pioneers. The two groups were fighting over the fact that the settlers had planted their apple trees on the bison tribe's stampede path. The battle was fought with apple pies instead of bullets. Because the weapons were apple pies, the natives and the settlers came to a compromise. The settlers carved a new stampede path through their orchard and promised the bison some of the apple pies.

Another make-or-break aspect of a show is the series antagonists. Antagonists keep the show from being mundane, listless and boring. They exist to "mix things up" as it were, and give the protagonists a challenge to solve. For example Batman wouldn't be the same without the Joker or as the evil Lord Zedd said in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers "The Morphin Grid is the eternal struggle between Zordon and myself". Zordon was the good guy during that time. My Little Pony: Friendship is magic delivered on this as well. One of the most memorable villains is Discord. After a fight with the royal sisters Celestia and Luna, Discord was imprisoned in stone for a millennium until the Cutie Mark Crusaders accidentally released him from his prison. Discord resembles a mix of different creatures all rolled into one. He is deceiving, spiteful and sarcastic, well deserving of his voice actor. Discord is voiced by none other than John DeLancie. John DeLancie is best known for his role as Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek Voyager. As a result the franchises Star Trek and My Little Pony are forever linked. Bronies also love the pop culture references that are skillfully hidden in the show. When Twilight completly loses her temper she "evolves into a Rapidash" The animators create ponies that look like celebrities. The creative staff have to keep the references obscure so that their target audience doesn't understand the reference. There actually are booze jokes, such as when Spike was sleeping at a nighttime picnic with a punchbowl on his head. Pinkie commented that "the punch is now Spike-ed" and references to famous movies like Gone with the Wind. "As Celestia as my witness..." (Saberspark) The finale for season two was a reference to the British Royal Wedding. Without the pop culture references the show would remain just for little girls. Adults watching would not be attracted to the series and would ,as one reviewer claims, be more likely to kill themselves.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's overall theme is love and tolerance. Its lessons are for all ages and all genders, even though they are taught as a letter to Princess Celestia. In the second season Princess Celestia allows any pony to send her reports on friendship. For the rest of season two, if another pony learns a lesson they can write the letter. In season three the lessons are not as obvious. In the current season the line "Dear Princess Celestia..." hasn't been heard. Bronies are more likely to "love and tollerate the s*** out of you" as opposed to hating someone. Compare My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! and there is a major reversal in attitude. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a shonen anime based on a children's card game. The character Anzu Mazaki, Tea Gardner, is known to give friendship speeches. She is, regrettably, the character most likely to die in an average ygo fanfiction. The reason for this is the exact same friendship speeches she gives, and she breaks up the popular yaoi or male homosexual, pairing of the Pharaoh and Yugi Mutou. For the record the Pharaoh and Yugi Mutou are very close friends but they show no signs of a romantic relationship. Shonen is a style of anime directed towards boys, while shoujo is a style directed towards girls. By this definition alone, My Little Pony is a shoujo cartoon. In America shoujo style cartoons are not as popular as their shonen counterparts. One piece of evidence is the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on the CW. This line up includes such anime like Dragonball Kai, Yu-gi-oh! and Yugioh ZeXal. These anime are shonen anime and are focused on action. This same line up once included a shoujo anime called Mew Mew Power. Mew Mew Power didn't stay on for more than one season and was cancelled. This all boils down to the if something is "girly" then it must be bad mentality. In actuality this mentality can be changed. It is not written in stone that "Men like hard action and women prefer softer relationship oriented media" For instance pink, the most
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feminine color, was once thought to be masculine. Also women at one time were forbidden to wear pants. The Bronies seek to change this "if it's for little girls it's bad" mentality. According to philosopher John Stewart Mill, 'we tend to accept whatever is usual as natural.' If whatever is usual is consistently challenged, then the new usual is dubbed natural. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, while masterfully using the cinematic apparatus, contradicts feminist film theory. In feminist film theory it is the male protagonists that drive the storyline and the female protagonists are objectified. In MLP:FiM the main cast are female ponies. The main male protagonist is Spike the baby dragon. The male characters exist as family members and friends to the mane six. On occasion, mostly with Rarity, it's the stallions who are the objects of desire. Unlike with Prince Blueblood, the stallions Rarity desires usually are desired for qualities in their personalities rather than just on appearance alone. Perhaps there is something about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that appeals to men on a subconscious level. Something that frees them from having to be the tough guy. It is similar to a female fan of Xena: Warrior Princess Some unknown thing about the show tells the viewer it's ok to be different. For the female fans of Xena maybe it's seeing Xena defeat her enemies in combat that inspires confidence to take on hard challenges. The bronies have a challenge set before them. As gold is refined through fire and becomes stronger. The brony community was refined in the fires of the b-board of 4chan and still has grown stronger. As Lauren Faust said "The only thing that will change this is support... If you like a show involving girls, watch it and buy the stuff. Spread the word, refuse to be ashamed and ask for what you want. " (Equestria) The brony community is doing just that, showing support to the show and each other. One brony offered his house as a place to crash when another brony was threatened to get kicked out of his own house.
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In conclusion, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic contains content that is cross-gender and cross-generational. The overall theme is presented for the audience to understand. The content is presented in a way that is obscure for the intended audience but that adult fans of the show can get easily. Bronies are challenging the notion of what should be considered masculine media just by liking a show that is socially acceptable for little girls.

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Works Cited Bahrani, Taher. "Research on Humanities and Social Sciences." The Pedagogical Values of Cartoons. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RHSS/article/view/1267/1188>. Burgess, Jean. "'All Your Chocolate Rain Are Belong to Us?' Viral Video, YouTube and the Dynamics of Participatory Culture." QUT EPrints. Queensland University of Technology, 2008. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://eprints.qut.edu.au/18431/>. Death Battle! - Starscream vs Rainbow Dash. N.d. Screwattack.com. 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2012. <http://www.screwattack.com/shows/originals/death-battle/death-battlestarscream-vs-rainbow-dash>. "Equestria Daily: Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust." Equestria Daily: Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust. N.p., 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1retrospective.html>. Greenwood, Fiane. "Bronies: My Little Pony Reboot Finds a Passionate Grown-up Audience." GlobalPost. N.p., 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/bronies-mylittle-pony-reboot-finds-passionate-grown-audi>. Kontour, Kyle. "Learning to Love and Tolerate the Bronies: What The Brony Phenomenon Can Teach Us About A New Era in Participatory Culture." MediaCommons. N.p., 15 Oct.

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2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2012. <http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/content/learninglove-and-tolerate-bronies-what-brony-phenomenon-can-teach-us-about-new-era-particip>. "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic." Know Your Meme. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic>. Rutherford, Kevin. "Behind the Music of Pop Culture Smash 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'" Rolling Stones, 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/behind-the-music-of-pop-culture-smash-mylittle-pony-friendship-is-magic-20120420>. Saberspark. "Ballad of the Brony (Remastered)." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybXXSHDRE4>. Verbose. "Survey of the Brony Subculture." Scribd. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2012. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/94234033/Survey-of-the-Brony-Subculture>. Wood, Walton. "ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies." The Empirical Twilight: A Pony's Guide to Science and Anarchism. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v6_1/wood/>. \

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