Everypony is welcome at BronyCon. Photos by Kevin Kane

They have been dismissed as creeps and perverts and man-children. Fox News has likened them to terrorists and called them “stupid and unbelievably ridiculous.” They’ve been viewed as portents of the apocalypse. They are “bronies,” grown-up fans of My Little Pony, and they are arguably some of the most misunderstood individuals on the planet.

My Little Pony is a franchise initially engineered to sell toys to little girls. Sales of the colourful plastic ponies with ‘cutie marks’ on their flanks took off in the 80’s. Since then there have been four permutations of the television series, the most recent being My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It follows “Twilight Sparkle as her mentor Princess Celestia guides her to learn about friendship in the town of Ponyville. Twilight becomes close friends with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.” This is the cartoon series that has captured the imagination of a group entirely out of its pint-sized target demographic: young men.

The backlash has been harsh. Many assume it must have a sexual motivation, encompassing perverse fantasies of having sex with the ponies. Others harbor disgust over males playing with little girls’ toys (the subtext being that girls’ toys are somehow inferior). Others feel that males watching shows made for girls somehow makes them ‘gay.’

Michael Brockhoff is the Executive Producer of the new documentary Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. He was fascinated with this group of people and wanted to dispel misconceptions about the bronies. “I think people naturally tend to be afraid of what they don’t know,” says Brockhoff. “Certainly, if you hear an adult male is watching a show that was intended for little girls, that touches a nerve.”

One animator who works on the show noted, “I think the story lines, and lack of stereotypical ‘girly’ elements throw people for a curve and intrigues them. Once people get past the names of the ponies and the pink & purple color schemes, they then realize that it’s just a well-written adventure show.” Most bronies Brockhoff encountered were fans of the show for myriad reasons – they admired the Flash animation and liked the storylines and strong characters. But many have more profound reasons.

“We live in kind of a cruel world, particularly the Internet culture,” says Brockhoff. “The brony-world is purported to be this area of the Internet where they interact with each other using a set of rules that are essentially learned from the show itself. It’s a moral compass without being a religious compass.” Indeed, there is a strong moral vein throughout the series, where values of honesty, integrity, bravery and goodness are celebrated. The ponies work together in harmony to defeat evil forces.

Using crowd-funding, the documentary took 8 months to make. It was the fifth most successful crowd-funded film of all time, bringing in $322,000. The documentary follows bronies scattered across the world as they gear up for the big Brony Convention (BronyCon). This was the apex of fandom, where they could engage in cosplay, buy merch and commiserate with others in the ‘herd’. The film depicts the struggles many bronies go through in ‘outing’ themselves to the world, where they are often targets of scorn and derision.

Bronydom has been the focus of a massive online study to determine defining characteristics. It concluded that the majority of bronies are educated heterosexual males around 21 years of age. Bronydom serves a social function as well as a guidance function (a sort of W.W.P.D or What Would a Pony Do?). Psychologist Marsha H. Redden mentions in the documentary, “It’s a retreat to something that is happier, which stresses getting along with others, and is an escape from the worries that these young people are facing.” A significant number of bronies actively fundraise for charitable causes like cancer research and developing scholarships. Others have offered a financial ‘hoof up’ to other bronies in need. 

Mike Dodd is a radio personality that has been broadcasting This Week in Geek for the last six years. Last summer he went through a bout of depression and My Little Pony was what pulled him out of the mire. He identifies as a proud brony, he even got a ‘Derpy’ hooves tattoo on his arm. In the fall, he launched Last Exit to Ponyville, a program dedicated to all things pony and brony. The show has been astonishingly popular garnering 350,000 listeners a month. It examines pop culture references within the show (one episode saw The Big Lebowski referenced with a “Dude” pony and a “Jesus” pony in a bowling alley), philosophical themes within episodes, and discussions of the seamier fringes of the movement (the sexualizing of the ponies, congruous with ‘Rule 34’ which states: on the Internet, porn exists for every conceivable subject). Dodd has received flack for being a brony, often from the more misogynistic and exclusive factions of fandom. He views this as a ridiculous penalization of positivity and kindness.

Bri Leeson is a 21-year old Hamilton contractor, one of a smattering of women in the community –  these are female bronies or ‘pega-sisters’. She outed herself as a brony in this video. This fell on the heels of an especially difficult time. “I was diagnosed with a mental disorder that messes with my emotions. I don’t know how many times I have contemplated ending my time on this planet. I turned to the Brony community and because of them, I overcame that.” With them, she found a “sense of family, friendship and undying loyalty to each and every member. In the family, status means nothing. I find the Brony community is better therapy than any counselling.”

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of bronies is their complete lack of sarcasm and irony. In this snide realm of internet bullies, snap judgments and caustic remarks, that is a very refreshing thing indeed.

You can download a full digital version of Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony documentary here.

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Tiffy Thompson is a writer and illustrator for the Toronto Standard.  Follow her on Twitter at @tiffyjthompson. 

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