By Kaydee Donohoo
Staff Writer

So you may have noticed that the Hub Show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” has a large following that is not the target audience of younger girls. What immediately comes to mind might be men in their 30s… but this is not always the case. The show has lots of both male and female fans from the stereotypical older age, but also high schoolers, and all ages in-between.    

I too was skeptical when I heard about Bronies. I wondered why grown men decided to be in a fandom of brightly coloured small horses. Why is the franchise so suddenly popular after 30 years from its original debut in its fourth generation? Well, once I learned I found those fans don’t like the show because they are looking for something odd they’d stand out with. They like the show simply because it is a good show.

The show has many well-known crew members you’ve probably seen before. MLP creator Lauren Faust was also a creator of ‘90’s favorite “The Powerpuff Girls,” and co-creator of “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” If her work doesn’t speak for itself, also note that in 2004 she was nominated for an Emmy Award, as well as a 2005 Annie Award.

As found on IMDB, in 2010 Lauren Faust said in reference to the large male following of her show, “The fact that they (gave the show a chance) and that they were open-minded and cool enough and secure in their masculinity enough to embrace it and love it and go online and talk about how much they love it—I’m kind of proud.”

The long and short of it is that the many Bronies and Pegasisters are captivated by great writing, talented voice actresses, and comfortingly bright animation.

The shows brings in unexpected humor, often from the gang of six main ponies (punnily named “the mane six”). Each character exaggerates the lovable and less-lovable qualities each of us have in one form of another.

There’s Fluttershy, your kind-hearted timid pal who can’t be assertive to save her life. And everyone knows a Rainbow Dash, who might come off of a little full of herself, but also shows fierce loyalty to her friends.

The show kicked off its sixth season earlier this month and fans are anxiously waiting to see how much recent changes will affect the show. The previous season followed the aftermath of a main character, Twilight Sparkle, gaining wings and princess status. As she already had a spell-casting horn, her species was upgraded to alicorn. Now a major step above her friends, she may even be immortal, some fans speculate.

There was a major outcry in the fandom’s older audience that this was too big of a change for the show to stay focused on lighter plot points and characters, and that the storyline was catering too much towards wanted toy sales.

Wiki blogger Ghostkaiba297 predicts the creators will “probably end [the season] with the other Mane 5 becoming alicorns… if there’s a Season 6, the rage will disappear as soon as we realize the other Mane 5 retain their personalities and play similar roles to before.”

New episodes of My Little Pony air on the Hub on Sunday mornings, but you catch up with earlier season on Netflix or sites like Amazon and YouTube. Also on YouTube is a world of fanmade parodies, spin off episodes, creative song remixes, and much more. Watch out for the regularly posted “Best Pony Videos of” with a month and year to see the highlights of “My Little Pony.”