Inside Vancouver
Meet the Bronies: The adult-male fans of My Little Pony
By Nicola Humphrey published Apr 1, 2012
Produced by Vancouver-based studio DHX Media, the animated kids' show My Little Pony has found favor with an unlikely demographic: 20-something males.
In the land of Equestria, a unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle is sent to study the magic of friendship. There, she combats Nightmare Moon to restore equilibrium in Ponyville. That story line, which debuted on The Hub television network in October 2010, is at the heart of the animated kids’ show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. As the Vancouver-produced Hasbro spinoff unfolds, Twilight Sparkle gains her heart’s desire—just as, in the real world, do many who’ve been touched by the magic of MLP.
Among that group are some unlikely beneficiaries. When the show debuted, super-fan Shaun Scotellaro, 23, launched Equestriadaily.com, where “Bronies” (20-something tech-savvy devotees, mainly male—hence the “bro”) post appreciative art and fiction. Like their sainted unicorn pony, Bronies did not find peace and friendship immediately. “There is always an initial stigma that pretty much every male fan of the show has to go through before they get into it,” says Scotellaro from his home in Arizona. Then the love hits them hard; he’s had to cut back on college classes to run Equestria Daily, which sees up to 700,000 unique visits a month.
“People want to know why guys like it. Why is that weird? It’s a good show,” says supervising director Jayson Thiessen, 34, one of two My Little Pony directors at Gastown studio DHX Media. He credits fellow director James “Wootie” Wootton and original executive producer Lauren Faust (known for successes like Powerpuff Girls) for MLP ’s success.
Thiessen is a rock star in the Brony world. Last September, he spoke at BroNYCon, the pinnacle of conventions held in “Manehattan.” Audience members grilled him on the finer points of the show. Scotellaro speaks for many when he says, “I was sort of in awe of him the entire time.”
