My Little Brony: A Book Review

It seems the Brony craze is alive and well as its culture continues to fascinate and puzzle. It permeates art, music, films, and now fiction with the book, My Little Brony An Unofficial Novel about Finding the Magic of Friendship, written by K.M. Hayes (no relation). The novel, which is written from the perspective of a high school boy struggling with social acceptance, brings the reader into the world of Bronies. The writer successfully gives a brief history of the movement while also portraying gender stereotypes and how they negatively influence the central character in both his family and social spheres. With the help of a quirky female classmate, the main character learns to embrace his love of My Little Pony ultimately resulting in a newfound self-confidence and positive outlook.

 I feel that this book would be best suited for Young Adult readers and that it may speak to those who may have encountered similar struggles in their own lives and perhaps provide them with encouragement. In fact, shortly after completing this book, I sent my copy to a friend’s son to enjoy. My only criticism, is the use of strong language in one passage of the book. While, I understand the author’s choice to convey emotion, I feel that the book could have benefited from a wider audience without utilizing words that can be polarizing and would then have been an excellent candidate for school libraries or anti-bullying curriculum. Still, this novel was an enjoyable read and I feel that Bronies will appreciate the fictionalization of their shared experience.

Exclusive Rainbow Dash Hug Me Backpack from We Love Fine!

 

Super cute new My Little Pony Rainbow Dash backpack launched today on the We Love Fine website.

 

 

 

Here's what they have to say about their product:

 

"At WeLoveFine, we are exceptionally proud of our relationship with the My Little Pony fan community, who have not only been incredibly supportive of us but so creative and enthusiastic about their love of the show and the characters; their excitement is infectious! It's in part out of inspiration from the MLP fans' spirit that we decided to create a product brand new to our site. It is not only fun, but fashionable and indeed 20% (or more!) cooler. We are delighted to release it as buzz is reaching a peak for the upcoming debut of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season 3 on November 10th!

Introducing the Rainbow Dash Hug Me Backpack! This bright, cuddly limited edition Rainbow Dash backpack is exclusive toWeLoveFine.com and features a zippered 5x5" pocket (enough for your phone, keys and wallet), adjustable straps that extend to 35" and will fit comfortably on a ladies' small through a mens' 3XL! For ages 13 and up, it retails for $50."

 

Personally, I love the fact that they sent this promo image of a guy wearing the backpack along as well as the above images.

 

 

 I want to see this guy walking around downtown with Rainbow Dash slung over his shoulders. Bronies are obviously a proud people.

 

Navigating a Brony Convention

I returned home from Seattle exactly a week ago and I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the whole experience. I had never been to a typical convention before, just the MY LITTLE PONY Fair (which I now realize is a far cry from a typical convention) and I had never experienced a "Brony" event.

Mary and I set up our booth on Friday. It was pretty simple with some Fair info, merchandise and books. At the last minute, I threw in some "unblinded" blind bags and my binder of extra FIM trading cards into my suitcase since I had some extra space. By the end of the first day of sales, Mary and I had completely sold out of our "unblinded" blind bag ponies and I had off loaded some extra FIM trading cards, but not much else. It was interesting that when Bronies came to look in the blind bag bin, they were primarily looking for the "Mane 6" ponies and didn't have much interest in any of the other characters. Collectors tend to look for the other characters first, so this was a new perspective for me.

The vendor room consisted of about 30 tables of handmade pony items. Hats, scarves, fan made plush ponies, necklaces, keychains made out of the blind bag ponies, custom tee shirts, and fan art. Official merchandise was offered by WeLoveFine and Enter-Play cards, but other than that everything else was custom/fan made. It was a little strange to be in a room full of pony stuff and none of it be toy ponies or Hasbro produced.

Since we were classified as Vendors, we didn't have to wait in the epic registration line. It seemed to go on forever, but the Bronies seemed more than happy to stand in line for hours to be admitted into the event. We found that standing in really long lines is really typical at most conventions and it isn't considered a big deal or an inconvenience. Mary joked that we would be strung up by our shoelaces if it took six hours to complete Fair registration. I guess collectors aren't as patient (myself included).

We took a little break for lunch and attended a paper pony craft panel where you could make your own paper "bwob" pony, but had to wait for about 40 minutes after the scheduled time because an organizer had misplaced the supplies and they had to go buy scissors, crayons and glue. We actually welcomed the break to sit back and relax, and it was just as well since my first foray into pony themed paper crafts resulted in an epic fail. Poor Pinkie Pie "bwob" pony found her way into the wastebasket after about 30 minutes of struggling to get her pieces to stick together with little success. The finished product that was shown by the host of the panel was really cute. Mine... not so much.

After our unsuccessful go at paper crafts we went back to manning our table. We were able to chat with several Bronies about why they feel a connection with My Little Pony, and what motivates them to band together with other Bronies. The vast majority pointed to the sense of belonging that they felt among the Brony culture. Something that was lacking in their everyday lives. A few noted the quality of the Friendship Is Magic animation originally piqued their interest, but that they identify as a Brony because of the community.

Later that evening, we attended a bit of Ponystock, a showcase of artists who create music inspired by My Little Pony (yes, this is a real thing!) We stayed for a bit listening to Brony musicians sing ballads about rainbows and friendship and some singing about more serious topics like bullying and feeling lost and forgotten, but finding solace with their friends. It was kind of heavy stuff. Then a new artist took the stage and began a version of "Baby Got Back" but with modified lyrics that paid homage to pony "flanks" and hindquarters. I'm sure it was supposed to be tongue in cheek and funny, but it was a little too much for us and we decided to call it a night. We decided to bow out of the festivities on Saturday and Sunday and instead explored Seattle (Awesome city and awesome food!) We did check out Ponystock on Saturday night and witnessed a whole room of Bronies singing "The Smile Song" and Michelle Creber (who voices the character of Apple Bloom) sing some songs from her new CD. She was adorable!

While most of the Bronies were very nice and we enjoyed our conversations with them in small groups and we had fun, the experience was a bit intense and frenzied overall. However, the Bronies seemed to embrace this atmosphere by belting out songs in the hotel elevators and mooning over voice actresses. They had a great time and that's what counts. Everfree was their event and they loved it!

I'll admit that gaining a better understanding of the Bronies was my focus of attending Everfree Northwest (Well, that and having a fun weekend getaway with a friend.) I now tend to think that the Brony phenomenon is kind of a perfect storm that could have just as easily attached itself to any other pop culture icon, Pony just happened to be the catalyst. Without the organization of the community aspect of the Bronies, I seriously doubt that these same teens and 20 something males would sit at home and spending countless hours on  Pony fan art, Pony fan fic, and Pony inspired music. Some maybe... but it definitely wouldn't have the same following.

Also, if I was even remotely interested in getting a doctorate in sociology, I'd so write my thesis on Bronies. There is a gold mine of material at these Brony conventions!

Collectors Weekly article- My Little Pony Smackdown: Girls vs. Bronies

I was interviewed a few weeks ago for a Collectors Weekly article and it was published earlier today. I kind of love it. It basically sums up everything I've always thought about the whole Brony phenomenon and My Little Pony Collectors. Plus it has lots of shiny pictures of my ponies.

You can see the article on their website here or check it out below.

My Little Pony Smackdown: Girls vs. Bronies

June 28th, 2012

By Lisa Hix

My Little Pony galloped into the world in 1983 on a cloud of pink and purple sparkles, bent on winning the hearts of little girls. Set to a saccharine jingle, commercials showed pigtailed girls admiring these pastel-colored vinyl toy horses, unicorns, and pegasus, lovingly brushing their unnatural neon manes. And love them girls did.
Now, nearly 30 year later, My Little Pony mania has exploded again. But this time, the main drivers of the craze are teenage boys and 20-something men. Known as “bronies,” these bros fell under the Pony spell thanks to a clever new cartoon, “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,” which airs on children-centered digital cable channel The Hub.

Top: Shaun, a.k.a. Sethisto Scootaloo (left) and Summer Hayes (right) appreciate My Little Pony in completely different ways. Above: Toys at the My Little Pony Fair.

Soon after the show was launched in 2010, My Little Pony references sprang up all over the Internet, particularly on fan sites for anime, comics, and video games. “Friendship Is Magic” fan conventions began to pop up last year, as bronies went wild making custom fan art, from online images tweaked in Photoshop to handmade plush toys. The idea for a documentary about BronyCon—a major brony convention taking place this weekend in Seacaucus, New Jersey—raised nearly $350,000 through PayPal donations and Kickstarter, an online platform that helps artists fund their projects. As of today, the BronyCon documentary is the second highest-funded film on Kickstarter ever.
All of this has more than a few people scratching their heads. But perhaps the most confused are hard-core My Little Pony collectors—largely women in their 20s and 30s—who first developed a starry-eyed mane-combing devotion to the toys back in the ’80s. As many of these women have held onto their childhood treasures for decades, longtime Pony devotees tend to bristle at the fact that only when young men started making noise about My Little Pony two years ago, the world began paying attention.

Rocker Andrew W.K. bridges the gap between bronies and '80s nostalgia junkies.

“It was just so bizarre,” says Summer Hayes, the 30-year-old author of six My Little Pony collecting guides. “Here I’ve been a lifelong Pony fan, and all of a sudden this ‘Friendship Is Magic’ show comes out, and it’s like, what? Where do these people come from and why?
“I know a lot of My Little Pony collectors who don’t care for the bronies,” says Hayes, who lives in Indiana and helps run the only annual U.S. collectors convention, My Little Pony Fair. “They feel that they put so much time and effort into this niche collecting community, and then all of a sudden bronies come out and start getting all this attention. And it’s like, hey, well, what about us? We’ve been here forever, and nobody seemed to care. But now that there are all these guys in their 20s that are crazy about it, it’s suddenly important and it means something.”

The logo for the 2012 My Little Pony Fair recalls vintage '80s advertising.

Despite openly airing her friends’ frustration, Hayes herself feels no animosity toward the bronies. “To the bronies, I say, I think My Little Pony is awesome, so more power to you,” Hayes says. “I love Ponies. You love Ponies. It’s all good.”

“Now that there are all these guys in their 20s that are crazy about My Little Pony, it’s suddenly important.”

Also, Hayes says she gets why people love the “Friendship Is Magic” cartoon, which is tied to the fourth generation of the Hasbro toys, and she appreciates its strong female Pony personalities, as reimagined by Lauren Faust, known for her work on “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.”
The new cartoon follows six My Little Pony friends: Twilight Sparkle, an earnest, bookish unicorn; Rainbow Dash, a feisty tomboy pegasus; Rarity, a haughty, girly unicorn; Pinkie Pie, a buoyant party-loving “earth pony”; Fluttershy, a bashful, animal-loving pegasus; and the hard-working cowgirl earth pony called Applejack, a character who was in the original first generation Pony line.

The new cartoon, "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic," focuses on Twilight Sparkle (center) and (clockwise from left) Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

As much as she likes it, Hayes still can’t get her brain around why teenage boys, specifically, are so drawn to it. So we asked Shaun, a 24-year-old brony who makes a living running his “Friendship Is Magic” fan blog Equestria Daily from Arizona, to explain in an email interview.
Shaun says he first became intrigued by My Little Pony when he saw “Friendship Is Magic” memes popping up all over image-driven sites populated by comics and gaming geeks. Then, he watched the show and became enamored with the look of the animation, the characters, and the references to mythology, and so was inspired to create his fan blog.
Some bronies—who, despite the “bro + pony” origins of their name, can be male or female—even take the ideas presented in the show to another level, Shaun explains. “They turn it into a creed to live by, filled with love and tolerance.” Well, sure, why not?

Some bronies, as this brony convention poster shows, take the message of "Friendship Is Magic" very seriously.

Equestria Daily gets between 80,000 and 100,000 unique page views a day and makes enough money through Google ads to sustain itself. The blog is filled with fan-generated tributes to “Friendship Is Magic,” from images and animations to songs and games, often “mashing up” the fourth generation My Little Ponies with other pop-culture phenomena like “Mad Men” or “Harry Potter.”
“We only get 22 minutes of Pony a week when it’s actually in season, so the custom stuff helps drive it forward between episodes,” Shaun explains. “Crossing it over with other geek-culture things is a good way to get noticed and spread it beyond the current fandom.“

A fan-generated "mash-up" from the Equestria Daily blog spoofs "Mad Men."

Most bronies, Shaun says, have zero interest in the Ponies that came before “Friendship Is Magic,” the first three generations of the toy, or the two girly My Little Pony cartoon series that aired in the ’80s and ’90s.
“A good majority of bronies don’t have anything to do with the older stuff,” says Shaun, who goes by the Pony name Sethisto Scootaloo online. “‘Friendship is Magic’ essentially made Ponies ‘cool.’ Lauren Faust wanted to make something everyone could enjoy, and did an amazing job of it. It’s not too surprising that kids of both genders would be into it. I’ve always compared ‘Friendship Is Magic’ to a Pixar movie: It’s filled with stuff only a more mature viewer would get, but still keeps it carefree and fun.”
But why do bronies get so much attention? Shaun has some ideas. “Traditional media sites love reporting on the armada of young adults who can’t get enough of sparkly unicorns and rainbows. They rarely dig into the actual show, and a lot of them actually link to or play scenes from the ’80s cartoon, which isn’t very popular among us. Still, brony culture does grow at an astounding rate. It’s hard to go anywhere on the Internet without at least catching a glance at some Pony stuff.”

The term "bronies," short for "bros who love Ponies," can be used to describe female fans of "Friendship Is Magic." But most of them are boys and men.

While Shaun and other bronies are uninterested in the Ponies’ origins that first inspired Hayes and other longtime collectors, rocker and motivational speaker Andrew W.K., who’s 33, seems to bridge the divide. In an interview with Dan Solomon at MTV Hive, Andrew W.K. talked about why he will be speaking at Canterlot Gardens, a brony convention happening in Strongsville, Ohio, September 28-30, where he will discuss the party philosophy of Pinkie Pie.
“I remember quite clearly when My Little Pony first came on the scene,” he says. “I was always, always really into the Ponies because, one, they had soft plastic skin. They had chubby feet — their legs get broader and broader toward the base, which I imagine gives them more traction for when they gallop or trot. And they had really nice, fragrant hair. It was mostly girls who liked it, so I was able to spend a lot of time playing with very beautiful girls, some of whom were kind enough to give me their Ponies, or lend them to me for extended periods of time.”

This 1985 Butterick pattern with My Little Pony transfer was posted on Patternpalooza's Flickr. Right, TheVintageToyAdvertiser.com unearthed this vintage French ad.

Of course, it’s likely that multitudes of boys, like Andrew W.K., grew up secretly loving the original ’80s My Little Pony toys.
“They are marketed to girls; you can’t deny that, with the pinks and the purples, the babies and the bottles,” Hayes says. “That’s what little girls are supposed to like, I guess. But then again, they’re just a fun toy.”
At age 2 in 1984, Hayes received her first My Little Pony, and became obsessed. By the time the first generation of Ponies were out of production, she had amassed about 400 Ponies, which lined her childhood bedroom walls. She also had all the play sets, which she would use to build a “whole Pony city.” And as she became a teenager, she put it away but still kept it all.

Summer Hayes in a family snapshot with her My Little Pony collection, 1987.

“Growing up, I had a boy cousin, the same age as me,” she says, “and I remember being with him at my grandmother’s house when we were little. I, of course, had Ponies because that was my thing. So we played with them together, underneath the trees and in the pool. It’s funny because he would make He-Man and his friends ride the Ponies. He’d be like, ‘Whoa, Masters of the Universe doesn’t really have enough horses for guys to ride on, so we’re going to put them on an army of Ponies and charge to Castle Grayskull.’ I don’t see anything wrong with it. I played with his Hot Wheels when I was a kid, and nobody said anything about that.”

The changes My Little Pony has gone through, starting with the first generation in the top left corner to the anime-style G3.5 in the bottom right. Images via Summer Hayes.

Those iconic chubby and doe-eyed Ponies made in the United States from 1983 to 1992 are known to collectors as the first generation, or G1. Under the Kenner imprint, Hasbro reintroduced My Little Ponies with strange new skinny bodies in 1997, and this second generation is unpopular with most collectors, Hayes says.
The third generation, debuting in 2003, was closer to the classic My Little Pony mold. Then in 2009, Hasbro revamped the Ponies again producing only the “Core Seven” characters with a more anime look, a line collectors dismiss as G3.5. But when “Friendship Is Magic” was launched in 2010, the new fourth generation’s anime-style grew more accepted. Hayes has ‘em all. “I’m a completist, and I really enjoy all Ponies. I practice all-generation appreciation.”

This rare vintage My Little Pony called Rapunzel was only available through mail order in the 1980s, and Hasbro didn't make enough to meet the demand. Image via Summer Hayes.

One might think that a collection of mass-produced and widely distributed plastic toys would be relatively easy to complete. But Hasbro produced limited-edition mail-order Ponies, like the ’80s long-tailed Rapunzel Pony, which now goes for as much as $800. And outside of the 600 U.S.-issued Ponies, Hasbro has licensed My Little Pony molds to toy companies all over the world.
“Unknown Ponies keep showing up,” Hayes says. “As recently as six months ago, collectors discovered a whole separate line of Ponies that were produced in Venezuela that we never knew about. Someone found a stash of mint-in-box ’80s Venezuelan Ponies, and of course, they went on eBay and sold them to collectors. We don’t know everything. I’m sure we’ll get to a point where there’s no new information, but it seems like every couple of years we find a new country or a new variation.”

Summer Hayes holds My Pretty Pony, the 1981 predecessor to My Little Pony, in her Pony Room.

Now Hayes has more than 2,000 Ponies and their accessories, which are showcased in their own “Pony Room” at the home she shares with her Star Wars collector husband and their 17-month-old son. Her toddler, no surprise, doesn’t seem to know these toys are meant for girls.
“My gosh, he loves them!” Hayes says. “But I don’t let him go into the Pony Room. Isn’t that sad? I took him in there once. And he’s at that age now where he’s like, ‘Ahh!’ and he’ll just run to the shelves and try to clear them off in one handful, you know, to get all the Ponies on the floor. I’m like, ‘Mmm, this isn’t going to work for me. This Pony goes here, and this one goes here.’
“But I do have a lot of extra Ponies,” she continues, “things that I’ll pick up at yard sales and shops. Even if I have the Pony, I usually buy them to trade with other collectors for accessories or things I might need. So I’ll get those out for him. He thinks they’re pretty great.”

A Portland-area brony flaunts his collection of the current, fourth generation of My Little Pony. Image by Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian.

It’s not especially shocking that little boys like miniature horses, or all toddlers are drawn to pink and purple sparkly things. Unfortunately, according to Shaun, bronies aren’t breaking down the gender barriers much further.

“Traditional media sites love reporting on the armada of young adults who can’t get enough of sparkly unicorns and rainbows.”

“I think brony culture is making specifically My Little Pony more acceptable, not so much the other stuff,” he says. “Kids’ shows marketed toward girls aren’t too popular among bronies when they pop up on the official Hub or My Little Pony social-media pages.”
Indeed, bronies are fierce in their devotion to the show, connecting in real life at conventions, the oldest of which is only two years old. This year, nearly a dozen of these brony conventions are scheduled to take place all over the United States and Europe. The much-ballyhooed BronyCon happening this weekend in New Jersey will feature series creator Lauren Faust; John de Lancie, who played “Star Trek’s” Q; and popular “Friendship Is Magic” voice actors like Tara Strong. With the help of those Kickstarter funds, this BronyCon will be documented on film for ages to come.

Applejack, shown in her first-generation incarnation, is the only original My Little Pony to become a main character in "Friendship Is Magic." Image via Summer Hayes.

By contrast, there are exactly two major My Little Pony collecting conventions. Hayes’ My Little Pony Fair, which is in its ninth year, and its sister convention, UK PonyCon. Even so, the Pony collectors beat the bronies to the big screen: Hayes and other old-school Pony collectors were featured in the 2011 documentary, “My Little Obsession,” which, Hayes says, screened at several brony events last year.
And Hayes has noticed the registration for this year’s My Little Pony Fair, happening July 7 and 8 in Orlando, Florida, has shot up from around 350 to about 450—in all likelihood thanks to the brony movement. Hayes says she welcomes all Pony lovers, but also wonders what the bronies, most of whom don’t collect the Hasbro toys, will bring to the collectors’ table.
“I’m really anxious to see how it will turn out this year,” she says. “Last year, when we had the Fair in Rhode Island, we did get several bronies, but they seemed to be the ones who were already interested in Ponies before this trend hit. These new bronies, the ones that have emerged just last year, they’re really into the show. I don’t know what they’re expecting from the My Little Pony Fair. I would hope that the bronies that are coming to the convention do have an appreciation for the toys. Otherwise I don’t know why they’re there.”

This smaller Blind Bag version of Twilight Sparkle is more appealing to bronies: She looks more like the cartoon character, and you don't have to comb her hair.

Shaun says he does buy smaller plastic Hasbro Ponies known as Blind Bags, because they “come with molded hair that is more true to the cartoon look. I never was into the ones that require brushing. The more show-accurate out of the box, the better.”
So perhaps this tidbit is drawing bronies to the My Little Pony Fair: Hasbro representatives, as usual, will be there, and they’ll be bringing a limited-edition fourth-generation Pony, made specially for the event, with them. The same Pony will be available at UK PonyCon in October.
However, bronies are more likely to collect elaborate fan-made custom plush toys, which are unlike anything Hasbro produces and sell for hundreds of dollars each on eBay. Hayes says customization, the practice of repainting a traditional vinyl Pony and re-rooting its hair to make your own character, has long been a part of My Little Pony fandom, but the bronies have taken it to the next level with their plush toys and memes.

An example of a fan-made plush toy of Pinkie Pie, currently for sale on eBay.

While Hayes and her collector pals may seem dwarfed by the enormity of the brony movement, as an unstoppable viral force, they are actually a part of a much larger pop-culture phenomenon: Gen-Xers who are obsessed their own childhoods. Hayes’ other friends collect Star Wars, He-Man: Masters of the Universe, and Strawberry Shortcake.
“The ’80s were, like, the best time to be a kid, ever, because everything was all about kids,” Hayes says. “I have a 17-month-old, so I’m out looking at the toys today. There are some okay toys, but to me, these are nothing compared to what we had.”

Rainbelle, a custom Pony seen at the My Little Pony Fair. A fan repainted her and rerooted her hair.

But even if you still have your first-generation Ponies—and they’re not totally beat up—it doesn’t mean you’ll get big bucks for them. “I see people at flea markets, who are like, ‘I have this Pony; I’m going to put $20 on it,’” Hayes says. “And it’s a Peachy, which is probably one of the most common Ponies ever. You might be lucky to get 2 bucks out of it. It’s best to do the research before you go slap a crazy price tag on it.”
And those ’80s Ponies are losing their limelight, as the decades-long My Little Pony collectors struggle to hold on to their identity in a world where the bronies seem to be taking over, driving the Ponies into their future.

A poster for last year's BronyCon, featuring Shaun from Equestria Daily. It was designed by Timon1771, an animator at Bronytoons.com.

“A couple weeks ago, I was in Ohio with my friend Mary, who also likes to collect Ponies,” Hayes says. “We were in line at an Old Navy, and she was explaining to her husband about one of the events at the Pony Fair. The cashier by the counter, who was wearing a Star Wars shirt, goes, ‘Are you a brony?’ It was just really random, like, ‘Wow, a cashier at Old Navy knows what a brony is.’ That is wild. But Mary was like, ‘No, I’m not a brony. I’m a collector.’”

Hasbro's Design a My Little Pony Contest is Live!

Details for Hasbro's Design a My Little Pony Contest were announced a few minutes ago on the My Little Pony Facebook page.

The winner will receive a trip to Comic Con 2012.  You have now until May 16th (or when 15,000 entries have been received) to enter.

Good luck everypony!

My Brony Vocabulary Lesson… I’ve Been Schooled!

(image by j-brony)

I consider myself well versed in My Little Pony. Show me a pony and in most cases I can tell you their name, country of origin, known variations, year of release, and rough current market value. Show me some of the prattle on the Brony message boards and occasionally I get stumped and have to resort to a Google search (which more often than not leads to some questionable material.)

I’ve been a My Little Pony collector for ages and over the years, we collectors have developed our own language when it involves ponies. We use SS when we are talking about So Soft Ponies, TAF to abbreviate Twice As Fancy, TE to describe Twinkle Eyed Ponies and so on (For a complete list of My Little Pony acronyms and definitions check out this helpful post on the old Arena.)

I’ve taken for granted how confusing it must be for someone new to collecting who reads a sales listing like this one:

 “Deflocked SS Truly has rubs to NDS symbol. This is not the Nirvana NSS version of this MLP. “

I think the above statements are very easy to read and understand, but to a collecting newbie I may as well be speaking in another language.

 Now that the shoe is on the other foot and I find myself muddling through the newly established Brony subculture and terminology, I find myself frequently scratching my head as I try to decode their secret Brony language.

So far I’ve learned the following terms:

PMVs- Pony Music Videos made by fans

Fimfic- Friendship is Magic fan fiction

Pony shipping (and I don’t mean the kind that involves bubble wrap and a mailer… I’m quite familiar with that kind)- derived from the word "relationship", is a general term for fans' emotional and/or intellectual involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction (This is totally copy and pasted from Wikipedia!)

Clop- I’m just gonna say I would have been better off not knowing about this one… at all…ever.

Is my life somehow richer with this new found knowledge? Probably not, but at least I know what Bronys are chatting about so I can either check it out or avoid it like the plague. Sure, I could stick to my own Pony corner of the web that I’ve happily inhabited for the past decade, but then I’d miss out on the interesting new perspective that Bronys bring to the table.  They are rabid fans and I don’t blame them. My Little Pony is amazingly mind-blowingly awesome. I’ve just had twenty years to let it sink in.

Custom Apparel Webstores Market to Brony Demographic

With so many new adult My Little Pony fans, including those who are part of the "Brony" phenomenon, there has been an increase in demand for T-shirts and apparel that sport pony images. In the past, collectors were lucky to see a handful of licensed clothing items at shops like Hot Topic, but now with custom to print online webstores like We Love Fine and Zazzle the designs and possibilities are endless. Both of these sites offer a plethora of pony designs and can slap them on shirts, bags, art prints and other things you didn't know you needed until you saw it decked out with Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash.

On We Love Fine, artists (professional and amateur) can submit designs for approval into the My Little Pony category. If the design is approved, the artist receives 20% of sales on items using their design for non licensed characters and 10% of the sale using licensed characters (aka MLP). Not a bad return for a graphic artist who has an idea for a My Little Pony shirt that may be popular with the "Brony" crowd. Especially considering that the artist has no overhead costs and doesn't have to deal with the hassle of contacting the property owner (in this case, Hasbro) for licensing rights to sell their design.

While this is great for those clamoring for merchandise displaying their favorite My Little Pony characters intertwined with witty remarks and memes, It leaves some of the non-Brony My Little Pony collectors feeling like the brand it morphing into something more adult themed than they would like. Images of happy ponies frolicking appear side by side with Game of Thrones parodies and robo ponies.

As an adult I can see the humor in these designs, yet something doesn't feel right about taking a My Little Pony character and dressing them up as Uma Thurman in Kill Bill while wielding a sword or placing them in other un-ponylike surroundings like this Hunger Games parody shirt.

I wonder if My Little Pony has become too accessible to customization and influence by Bronies.  Will we continue to see an increase in products and marketing geared to an older male demographic? What happens if the Bronies loose interest and trot into the sunset chasing the next popular fad?

Ponies + Chemistry = Win!

I don't normally post about pony related artwork. While I appreciate the work that went into it, unless it is official MLP artwork or in the same style as official MLP artwork, I don't typically care for it. With that said, I'm finding that I'm impressed by a lot of the artwork that the "Bronies" have been churning out over at EQD. Some of it is quite creepy and I'm sure will give me pony nightmares, but some is pretty great.

This is my personal favorite at the moment:

I'm loving the awesomeness of pony-fying the periodic table. I spent so many late nights working with that thing in college while studying biochemistry. I'm pretty sure if I would have had this to refer to, the work would have been far less tedious. This product of win was created by MetalGearSamus over at Deviantart. I love the original idea and execution. Bravo MetalGearSamus!

MY LITTLE PONY Fair 2012 Tickets!

Tickets are now on sale for the 9^th annual MY LITTLE PONY Fair. Join MY LITTLE PONY fans just like you for a weekend of pony fun in Orlando, Florida on July 7^th and 8^th. Tickets can be purchased through our Eventbrite ticketing page. For additional information on this terrific event for MY LITTLE PONY fans of all ages visit us online at www.mylittleponycon.com

What is a "Brony"?

For those who may be blissfully unaware of this new crop of Pony fans, I came across this video by RocketBoom that does a nice job of explaining exactly what it is to be a Brony.

While it is a little odd that there are tons of new male pony fans clamoring over the awesomeness that is Friendship is Magic, as a lifelong My Little Pony fan I say, bring on the pony love!