| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure Comedy Fantasy |
| Format | Animated series |
| Developed by | Lauren Faust |
| Written by | Lauren Faust Amy Keating Rogers Cindy Morrow Chris Savino Meghan McCarthy Charlotte Fullerton M. A. Larson Dave Polsky Merriwether Williams |
| Directed by | Jayson Thiessen James Wootton |
| Voices of | Tara Strong Ashleigh Ball Andrea Libman Tabitha St. Germain Cathy Weseluck Nicole Oliver Michelle Creber Madeleine Peters Claire Corlett |
| Theme music composer | Daniel Ingram |
| Opening theme | "Friendship Is Magic" by Rebecca Shoichet |
| Composer(s) | William Kevin Anderson Daniel Ingram |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 (Season 3 is in production)[1] |
| No. of episodes | 52 (37 aired) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lauren Faust (first season, and second season pilots) Chris Bartleman Blair Peters Kirsten Newlands Beth Stevenson Stephen Davis |
| Producer(s) | Sarah Wall |
| Running time | 21-22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | DHX Media Vancouver Hasbro Studios Top Draw Animation |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The Hub |
| Picture format | 16:9 widescreen, 1080i (HD) 4:3 cropped, 480i (SD) |
| Audio format | Stereo 5.1 surround |
| Original run | October 10, 2010 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | My Little Pony Tales |
| External links | |
| My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Online | |
| Production website | |
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver (formerly Studio B Productions). The show is currently in its second season in the United States, and is broadcasting internationally in dozens of countries in over ten languages.
Lauren Faust, an animator for several other successful children's shows, was selected by Hasbro as the creative director and executive producer for the show. Faust sought to challenge the established "girly" nature of the existing My Little Pony line, creating more in-depth characters and settings. She focused more on adventurous themes than the previous My Little Pony animated works had, and centered many stories on resolving difficulties between friends. Faust and her team incorporated suggestions from Hasbro to meet both the educational/informational rating for the show and for marketing of the toy line, but were otherwise given a free rein with the show. Faust later stepped down as executive producer near the end of the first season, but remained as consulting producer through the second season, and subsequently left the show. Jayson Thiessen, the show's supervising director, became the "showrunner" starting with season two.
The show follows a studious unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle as she is tasked by her mentor Princess Celestia 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. Each represents a different facet of friendship, and discovers themselves to be key parts in the "Elements of Harmony". In the series, the ponies share adventures and help out other residents of Ponyville, while working out the troublesome moments in their own friendships.
The show has been critically praised for its humor and moral outlook. Despite the target demographic of young girls and their parents, Friendship Is Magic has gained a large following of older viewers, predominately male teenagers and adults, who call themselves "bronies". Reasons for this unintended appreciation include a combination of Faust's creative contribution to the writing and characterization, the expressive Flash-based animation style, themes older audiences can appreciate, and a reciprocal relationship between Hasbro, the creators, and the fans. Elements of the show have become part of the remix culture and formed the basis for a variety of Internet memes. The show has prompted a fan convention known as BroNYCon.
Contents |
Hasbro, Inc. has produced several iterations of toys and entertainment related to the My Little Pony franchise in the past, often labeled by collectors as Generations 1 through 3.[2] The animated cartoon series My Little Pony Tales, produced in 1992, was the toy line's most recent television series prior to Friendship Is Magic, and it featured the pony designs of the first generation.[3][4] It was followed by various direct-to-video releases, which featured later designs up to the third generation.[5] The same way Michael Bay's film had helped to boost the new Transformers toy line, Hasbro wanted to retool the My Little Pony franchise and update it to better suit the current generation of young girls.[6] According to Margaret Loesch, CEO of The Hub, revisiting properties that had worked in the past was an important programming decision, influenced to an extent by the opinions of the network's programming executives, a number of whom were once fans of such shows.[7]
Animator and writer Lauren Faust approached Hasbro, seeking to develop her girls' toys property "Galaxy Girls" into an animated series.[8] Faust, who had previously worked on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, had been pitching original animation aimed at girls for years, but was always rejected by studios and networks because cartoons for girls were considered unsuccessful.[9] Following her pitch to Hasbro Studios' Lisa Licht, Licht showed Faust one of their recent My Little Pony animated works, Princess Promenade, "completely on the fly," as Licht considered that Faust's style was well suited to that line and asked her to consider "some ideas where to take a new version of the franchise."[6][8]
Faust was initially hired by Hasbro to create a 'pitch bible' for the show, allowing her to bring on additional help for conceptualization.[6] Faust said she was "extremely skeptical" about taking the job at first because she had always found shows based on girls' toys to be boring and unrelatable.[9] My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys,[8] but she was disappointed that her imagination at the time was nothing like the animated shows, in which the characters had "endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying." With the chance to work on My Little Pony, she hoped to prove that "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness." To do this, she incorporated many elements into the design of the characters and the show which contradicted idealized stereotypes of girls, including diverse personalities, the message that friends can be different and can get into arguments but still be friends, and the idea that girls should not be limited by what others say they can or can not do.[9] Elements of the characters' personalities and the show's settings were based on her own childhood imagination of the ponies' adventures. Faust stated that as she provided Hasbro with more of her ideas for the show, she was inspired by their positive response to the non-traditional elements. Faust had initially pitched the show to include "adventure stories" in a similar proportion to "relationship stories," but recognizing the younger target audience, as well as the difficulty to write complex plots around these 'adventure' elements, she trimmed back on this content, focusing more on inter-character exchanges. The show still incorporates episodic creatures intended to be scary to children, such as dragons and hydras, but places more emphasis on the friendships between the characters, executed with a comedic tone. By the time the show was green-lit, Faust had developed three full scripts for the series.[6]
Faust began to work out concept sketches, several of which appeared on her deviantArt page, including ponies from the first generation (Twilight, Applejack, Firefly, Surprise, Posey and Sparkler) which would later build on the core for the main cast of the show.[10] Hasbro approved the show with Faust as Executive Producer[11] and asked her to complete the pitch bible. In order to do so, Faust brought on her former collaborators, Martin Ansolobehere and Paul Rudish, who had worked on other animated shows with her. Faust credits Rudish for the inspiration of the pegasus ponies controlling the weather in Equestria, as well as the character of Nightmare Moon during this period. Faust also bounced ideas off of her husband, Craig McCracken, a fellow animator and creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. After submitting their initial version of the pitch bible, Hasbro requested more character designs from Faust's team; subsequently, Faust brought aboard Dave Dunnet and Lynne Naylor to further refine the background and character styles.[6]
Upon completion of the pitch bible, Hasbro and Faust began looking at studios for the actual animation. Studio B Productions (now DHX Media Vancouver) had previously done work with Adobe Flash-based animations, as well as shows that featured a large number of animals, and Faust felt they would be a good selection. Studio B requested that Jayson Thiessen be the director, a choice Faust agreed with. She, Thiessen, and James Wootton led the completion of a two-minute short to pitch the final product to Hasbro, resulting in the company's decision to sanction the full production. Faust estimates that from being initially asked to develop the show until to this point took roughly one year.[6]
The show is developed in Hasbro Studios in Los Angeles, where most of the writing staff is located, and DHX Media Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia for the animation work.
Faust's initial writing staff at Hasbro Studios included several writers that worked with her on her previous shows, and were approved by Hasbro. These included Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Meghan McCarthy, Chris Savino, Charlotte Fullerton, M. A. Larson, and Dave Polsky. The writing process began with Faust and Renzetti coming up with broad plots for each show. The two would then spend a session with each episode's writer to brainstorm, allowing the writer to script out scenes and dialog. Faust and Renzetti then worked with the writer to finalize the scripts and assign some basic storyboard instructions. Hasbro was involved throughout this process, including setting some concepts to be incorporated into show. Examples of Hasbro's influence include having Celestia be a princess rather than a queen, making one of the ponies focused on fashion, and portraying toy sets in relevant places within the story such as Rarity's boutique.[6][9] In some instances, Hasbro requested that the show include a setting, but would allow Faust and her team to create the visual style for it from which Hasbro would then base the toy set on, such as the Ponyville schoolhouse. Faust also had to write towards "Educational/Informational" standards that Hasbro has required of the show, making crafting some of the situations she would have normally done on other animated shows more difficult; Faust provided the examples of having one character call another an "egghead" as a "delicate" joke, while having one character cheat in a competition to also be a careful balance.[6] Due to intellectual property issues, Hasbro had lost some of the rights on the original pony names, and as such, the show includes a mix of original characters from the toy line and new characters developed for the show.[8]
Completed scripts were sent to Studio B for pre-production and animation using Adobe Flash. Thiessen's production team was also given the opportunity to select key personnel with Hasbro's approval, including art director Ridd Sorenson. The Studio B team would storyboard the provided scripts, incorporating any direction and sometimes able to create scenes that the writers had felt would be impossible to show in animation. The animators would then prepare the key character poses, layout, background art, and other main elements, and send these versions back to the production team in Los Angeles for review by Hasbro and suggestions from the writers. Thiessen credited much of the technical expertise with the show to Wooton, who was able to create Flash programs to optimize the placement and posing of the pony characters and other elements, simplifying and economizing the amount of work needed by the other animators.[12] For example, the ponies' hair and tails are generally fixed shapes, animated by bending and stretching them in curves in three dimensions and giving them a sense of movement without the expensive cost of animated individual hairs.[8] Once the pre-production work was approved and completed, the episode would then be animated. Though Studio B performed this animation work initially, the final steps of creating the animation were passed to Top Draw Animation in the Philippines, an animation studio that Studio B had worked well with in the past, in the later part of Season 1 and beyond.[13]
The voice casting and production is handled by Voicebox Productions,[14] with Terry Klassen serving as the series' voice director. Faust, Thiessen, and others participated in selecting voice actors with Hasbro giving final approval.[6]
The series' background music is composed by William Kevin Anderson, while Daniel Ingram composes the songs.[15] Songs from Ingram were only included if they would make sense in the episode's script, while the team provided Anderson with music cues they wanted in specific parts of the episode, allowing him to create appropriate music for each scene.[6]
Prior to the show being green-lit, Hasbro and Faust had planned for episodes to be 11 minutes long, which Faust wrote towards in her first full length script, "The Ticket Master", that was part of the pitch bible. However, Faust desired to have more traditional, 22-minute length episodes, and Hasbro eventually agreed to this approach. The initial production stages were very tight, requiring a schedule twice as fast as Faust had previously experienced, and frequent remote communication from the Los Angeles writing offices and the animation studio in Vancouver. At times, the two teams would hold "writer's summits" to propose new ideas for characters and situations, with the animation team providing suggestions on visuals, body language, and characterization. Faust estimates that the time to complete one episode was one year; at one point, the team was simultaneously working on all 26 episodes of the first season at various stages, and upon the green-lighting of the second season, that number temporarily jumped to 32. Episodes then aired about a month after completion.[6] Thiessen explained that they had pushed to start season 2 work right after season 1 was completed to prevent staff turnover.[12]
Near the end of the first season, Faust announced that she had left the show, and for season two she stepped down from Executive Producer to Consulting Producer. Her involvement in the second season mainly consists of story conception and scripts. Despite her decreased participation, she still has high hopes for the staff members, stating that "the gaps I have left are being filled by the same amazing artists, writers, and directors who brought you Season 1. I’m certain the show will be as entertaining as ever".[16]
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My Little Pony animation series |
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My Little Pony |
Friendship Is Magic takes place in the land of Equestria, populated by varieties of ponies (including pegasus and unicorn variants), along with numbers of other sentient and non-sentient creatures. The show is centered on the character Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn pony sent by her mentor and ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia, to the town of Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. In the show's opening episodes, Twilight is initially resentful of this assignment, more concerned about the foretold appearance of Nightmare Moon. When Nightmare Moon does appear, vowing for an everlasting night and causing Celestia to disappear, Twilight sets off with five other ponies—Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity—to obtain the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. Before Twilight can activate them, Nightmare Moon appears and shatters the Elements. Twilight, in a flash of inspiration, realizes that her new friends each represent the Elements of Harmony, herself being the final piece, Magic. Together, the magical power of their friendship reverts Nightmare Moon to a repentant Princess Luna. Celestia reappears, and after reuniting with her sister, allows Twilight to stay in Ponyville to continue studying the magic of friendship.[17]
Later episodes of the show feature individual episodes that follow Twilight and her friends dealing with various problems around Ponyville. At the end of each episode, Twilight sends a report back to Celestia explaining what she learned about friendship from these adventures. This part of the formula was eventually abandoned in the second season episode, "Lesson Zero," in which Twilight was convinced to be less rigid in her perceived duties; afterward, all the principles contribute reports or the formality is disregarded when appropriate. There is a loose continuity in these episodes; a theme throughout the first season, for example, shows the ponies' preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala that occurs in the final episode of the first season.
One central theme of the show involves "cutie marks", iconic symbols that magically appear on a pony's flank once he or she has discovered his or her special talent in life.[18] While physically young adults, the six main characters are envisioned to be similar in maturity to human teenagers in 12- to 18-year-old range,[19] and one episode, "Cutie Mark Chronicles", highlights how each received their cutie mark as younger fillies.[18] Several episodes focus on the exploits of a much younger trio of pony characters that call themselves the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" who have yet to receive their cutie marks. The three are teased by other young ponies as "blank flanks". In response, they desperately hurry to try to discover their talents to receive their own cutie marks, often doing so in comical fashions.[18]
The show revolves around the adventures and daily life of the unicorn pony Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong, singing voice by Rebecca Shoichet), her baby dragon assistant Spike (voiced by Cathy Weseluck), and her friends in Ponyville:
The main cast also encounter three younger fillies that call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders who often get into humorous situations while trying to gain their cutie marks. They include Apple Bloom, Applejack's younger sister (voiced by Michelle Creber); Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister (voiced by Claire Corlett, singing voice by Michelle Creber); and Scootaloo, a pegasus that idolizes Rainbow Dash (Madeleine Peters).
The show takes place in the fictional land of Equestria, which is ruled between Twilight's teacher, Princess Celestia (voiced by Nicole Oliver), and her sister, Princess Luna (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain).
Many recurring characters also appear as supporting characters. These include the eccentric zebra Zecora, who lives in nearby Everfree Forest and dabbles in herbal medicine (voiced by Brenda Crichlow[20]), as well as the friends, acquaintances, and family of the six primary characters. Villains in the show include the draconequus Discord (voiced by John de Lancie)[21][22] and Nightmare Moon (the corrupted form of Princess Luna).
In total, 52 episodes have been produced and 37 episodes have been broadcasted. The series is in production for a third season.
| Season | Start Date | End Date | Number of Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 10, 2010 | May 6, 2011 | 26 |
| 2 | September 17, 2011 | TBA | 26 |
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is one of several animated shows used to premiere The Hub, a retooling of the Discovery Kids channel of Discovery Communications in United States markets. The block of programming is a joint development of Hasbro and Discovery, designed to compete with similar family-friendly programming blocks on other networks such as the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.[23] The first episode of Friendship Is Magic premiered on the first Hub broadcast, October 10, 2010.[23] In March 2011, the show was renewed for a second season that will air 2011-2012.[24][25] The season two premiere on September 17, 2011[26] had 339,000 viewers.[27] Shannon Chan-Kent, the singing voice performer for the character Pinkie Pie, has begun recording for an upcoming third season.[1]
The series is rated TV-Y. The first season was broadcasted with the "E/I" ("educational and informative") logo, but this no longer appears starting in the second season.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has been distributed to international markets, including Treehouse TV for the English-speaking audience in Canada, Boomerang in the United Kingdom, Okto in Singapore,[28] and Cartoon Network and later Boomerang in Australia. Some of these international broadcasts, including language translations, were arranged with association from the Turner Broadcasting System Europe to distribute Friendship Is Magic, as well as other shows based on Hasbro's intellectual properties, throughout various channels they own in those regions.[29]
The series is or will be available in the following languages, sorted in the chronological order of debut. The series is or will be automatically available in countries wherever the following television channels are broadcast.
| Language | Dubbed title (literal meaning) | Channel broadcast | Date of debut |
|---|---|---|---|
| European French | My Little Pony: Les amies c'est Magique ("Friends are Magic") | TiJi[30] | August 26, 2011 |
| Italian | My Little Pony: L'amicizia è magica ("Friendship is Magic") | Italia 1[31] | August 29, 2011[31] |
| Dutch | My Little Pony: Vriendschap is betoverend ("Friendship is Enchanting") | Kindernet block on Nickelodeon | Early September 2011 |
| European Spanish | My Little Pony, La Magia de la Amistad ("The Magic of Friendship") | Boing (official)[32] Cartoonito Spain (unofficial)[33] |
September 12, 2011 (official)[34] September 1, 2011 (unofficial)[35] |
| German | My Little Pony: Freundschaft ist Magie ("Friendship is Magic") | Nickelodeon[36] | September 19, 2011[37] |
| Danish | My Little Pony: Venskab er ren magi ("Friendship is Pure Magic") | Boomerang[38] | September 26, 2011[38] |
| Norwegian | My Little Pony: Vennskap er ren magi ("Friendship is Pure Magic") | ||
| Swedish | My Little Pony: Vänskap är magisk ("Friendship is Magical") | ||
| Arabic | ماي ليتل بوني ("My Little Pony") | Cartoon Network Arabic[39] | October 6, 2011 |
| Polish | My Little Pony: Przyjaźń to magia ("Friendship is Magic") | MiniMini[40] | October 15, 2011[40] |
| Mexican Spanish | My Little Pony: La Magia de la Amistad ("The Magic of Friendship") | Discovery Kids[41] | November 21, 2011[42] |
| Brazilian Portuguese | My Little Pony: A Amizade é Mágica ("Friendship is Magic") | ||
| Hungarian | Én Kicsi Pónim: Varázslatos Barátság ("My Little Pony: Magical Friendship") | Minimax[43] | December 11, 2011 |
| Russian | Мои маленькие пони: Дружба – это чудо ("Friendship is a Miracle") | Karusel[44] | January 2, 2012[44] |
Episodes of Friendship Is Magic are available for digital download through the iTunes Music Store.[45] Shout! Factory will be releasing a 5-episode Region 1 DVD of Friendship Is Magic on February 28, 2012, entitled My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - The Friendship Express. This DVD will contain five non-sequential episodes: the two-part premiere episodes "Mare in the Moon" and "The Elements of Harmony" (Season 1), "Over a Barrel" (Season 1 Episode 21), "Hearth's Warming Eve" (Season 2 Episode 11), and "The Last Roundup" (Season 2 Episode 14).[46] Hasbro has also signed a deal with Leapfrog Enterprises to release episodes of the show for the Leapfrog Explorer tablet system.[47]
Like with the other generations of My Little Pony television shows, the Friendship Is Magic show is accompanied by figurines and playsets based on the show.[48]
Hasbro has a section of their website for Friendship Is Magic information for children and their parents, including character backgrounds, videos, and interactive games and media. In conjunction with Ruckus Media, Hasbro released an iOS application Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day in October 2011. The application allows children to practice reading and incorporates mini-games.[49]
The series has received positive reviews from critics. Todd VanDerWerff of the A.V. Club favorably notes the show's "sheer and utter joyfulness" and lack of cynicism, unlike many other shows that garnered a cult following of parents and adults. He compliments the characters' stylized appearance, the stories' relative complexity for kids TV, and the solid jokes which make the show enjoyable to parents as well as their children, and gives the series a B+.[18] Genevieve Koski of the A.V. Club later commented that Friendship Is Magic is an example of a show that, while considered "'girly' entertainment" similar to boy bands, has been able to tap into the nerd culture to allow it to gain wider acceptance than other comparable forms.[50] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media, an organization focusing on the parenting aspect of children's media, gave the show a rating of four out of five stars, emphasizing the show's messages of friendship, tolerance and respect, but advises parents to be wary of the "influence the characters might have on their kids' desires, since it's rooted in a well-known product line of books, toys, and just about everything in between."[51] Matt Morgan writing for Wired's GeekDad column, praised the show, for having "rebooted the long-time Hasbro property while managing to lace it with geeky undertones" and being one of the few "girl-focused shows that a geeky dad can appreciate with his daughter."[52]
Kathleen Richter of Ms. believed that Friendship Is Magic did little to change the nature of older animation for girls which she considered were "so sexist and racist and heteronormative." As one example, she considered that, through the character of Rainbow Dash, the show was promoting the stereotype that "all feminists are angry, tomboyish lesbians." She also considered that the only darker-colored ponies shown to date were in positions of servitude for the "white pony overlord."[53] Lauren Faust responded to these claims, stating that while Rainbow Dash was a tomboy, "nowhere in the show is her sexual orientation ever referenced" and "assuming [tomboys] are lesbians is extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys", and further stating that "Color has never, ever been depicted as a race indicator for the ponies."[9] Amid Amidi, writing for the animation website Cartoon Brew, was more critical of the concept of the show, calling it a sign of "the end of the creator-driven era in TV animation." Amidi's essay expressed concern that assigning talent like Faust to a toy-centric show was part of a trend to focus on profitable genres of animation, such as toy tie-ins, to deal with a fragmented viewing audience, and overall "an admission of defeat for the entire movement, a white flag-waving moment for the TV animation industry."[54]
Despite the target demographic of young girls and their mothers,[48] My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has become an Internet phenomenon with many fans of the show being males 14 to 35.[55] The response from the Internet is traced to cartoon and animation fans on the Internet board 4chan,[48] responding to Cartoon Brew's Amidi's negative essay on the show and state of current animation trends.[56][54][57] The members of the cartoon, or /co/, board of 4chan, having not yet seen the show, considered the alarmist nature of the essay and began watching the show, and quickly warmed up to the series for plot, characters, and animation style.[56][58] This reaction soon spread to the other boards of 4chan, where elements of the show quickly caught on as recurring jokes and memes on the site.[56] The number of Friendship Is Magic posts, counter to the usual attitudes and image of 4chan, caused a large stir on the site, with fans of the show unrelenting against various trolling attacks from other 4chan boards, leading to a temporary ban on anything pony-related, which was soon overturned.[58][59] Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, briefly acknowledged the popularity of the show on 4chan at the 2011 South by Southwest festival.[58][60]
Though the discussion of the show would continue at 4chan, many fans of the show created other venues to discuss the show, leading to its spread onto other forums and the rest of the Internet.[58] Sites such as "Equestria Daily" and "Ponychan" have been created to share artwork, stories, and news about the show, receiving upwards of 500,000 visits a day,[61][62] and many artists use art sites like deviantArt to display fan art based on existing and fan-created characters.[55] Fans have also started series of local meet-ups and small conventions, such as BroNYCon, which featured the show's supervising director Thiessen as its guest at its first gathering.[58][48] Most of these fans are themselves surprised by their fondness for the show. Shaun Scotellaro, operator of Equestria Daily, one of the main fan websites for the show, stated that "Honestly, if someone were to have told me I’d be writing a pony blog seven months ago, I would have called them insane."[55] He speculates that the spread across adult fans was accelerated by its presence in online gaming, which sparked further interest.[63]
The adult interest in the show is comparable to similar shows such as The Powerpuff Girls, Animaniacs, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Rocko's Modern Life, Phineas and Ferb, and SpongeBob SquarePants; a combination of jokes aimed at adult viewers, and a sense of nostalgia for older cartoons.[64][65][66] Many of the aforementioned shows had attracted college-aged fans that, at the time of Friendship Is Magic's airing, would be raising children of their own.[66] The show has made references to works that older viewers would recognize, such as The Benny Hill Show, X-Men, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Diamond Dogs, and The Big Lebowski.[8][65][67] Two episodes, "Suited for Success" and "The Best Night Ever," feature lengthy musical numbers inspired by Stephen Sondheim, including the song "Putting it Together" from the musical Sunday in the Park with George.[68][69] Along with the interest of the older demographic, the show's viewership increase from 1.4 million per month on its premiere to 4 million viewers per month by the end of the first season,[63] making it the highest-rated show of any Hasbro offering at the time.[52] Advertising Age reports that the viewership of the show has since doubled between the first and the second season, alongside the online "viral" spread of the show.[67]
Older fans of the show have adopted the title "brony," a portmanteau of the words "bro" and "pony."[70][71] Though generally taken to refer to male fans, the term is often applied to any fan of the show outside the target demographic, regardless of gender.[58] Another term, "Pegasister," has been used to describe older female fans of the show.[48] In a promotional ad prepared by the Hub for the show, using a parody of Katy Perry's "California Gurls" entitled "Equestria Girls," the lyrics acknowledge the word "brony" as part of its lexicon.[55] The brony community has gained media attention through outlets such as Wired, Fox News, and The Wall Street Journal.[72] During a phone interview on NPR's comedy radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in June 2011, former President Bill Clinton successfully answered three multiple choice questions about Friendship Is Magic, leading at least one journalist to jokingly refer to him as a brony.[73][74] Lexicographer Grant Barrett listed "brony" as a memorial new word of 2011.[75] The brony fandom has been perceived negatively by others due to the strangeness of the older fans' dedication to the show, which has in turn overshadowed the show's critical success.[76] The FOX News comedy talk program, Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld, poked fun at the brony community considering the largely predominately male, young adult demographic.[77]
The brony community is considered to represent one aspect of New Sincerity, where these older viewers not only watch the show but participate in creating new material around it.[55] As such, a number of Internet memes have grown from the brony fandom. The community has adapted catchphrases from the show, such as using the words "anypony" and "everypony" as replacements for "anybody" and "everybody," while creating their own Internet meme-like statements, such as the phrase "Confound these ponies," inspired by the Merrie Melodies short The Dover Boys.[59] Numerous videos that incorporate footage from the show, including music videos, parodies and remakes of movie and video game trailers, and other mashups are posted on a daily basis to YouTube.[55][78][79][80] In one case, a video made by a high school student named Stephen, using science to dissect some of the physical impossibilities on My Little Pony as part of a class presentation, was highlighted by several news outlets[81][82] and featured on the Tosh.0 website.[55][83] Remixed media of professional works using Friendship Is Magic footage have been noticed by their respective creators, such as by Edgar Wright for the My Little Pony versions of the trailers for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Hot Fuzz, and the cast of Top Gear for a video setting clips of their show to the pony characters.[78][84] Numerous fan projects have created Friendship Is Magic-related video games, such as the brawler game My Little Pony: Fighting Is Magic, or modifications of existing games like Team Fortress 2.[85][86] An organized group of fans, calling themselves the "Humble Brony Bundle", has polled donations from its members towards the Humble Indie Bundle, a charitable indie video game sales drive for Child's Play and Red Cross, topping the contribution list for one sale while contributing the largest single donation of over $16,000 for a later sale after getting into a friendly competition with Minecraft developer Markus Persson (aka "Notch").[87][88]
Time named the brony fandom as the ninth best meme of 2011,[89] while the Internet meme research site, Know Your Meme, listed it among its top ten memes of 2011.[90] PC Magazine named the brony fandom as one of the top memes in 2011.[91]
From the messages I’ve received, these episodes have lifted spirits, brought parents and kids together, changed perspectives and inspired the most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of places. Who would have thought it from a show about candy colored ponies?
Lauren Faust, the creator and executive producer for the show, has shown appreciation for the older fans of the show through her deviantArt page.[16] Faust early in the show's first season had stated, in response to Richter's criticism, that she had expected people "to instantly label it girly, stupid, cheap, for babies, or an evil corporate commercial" and instead encouraged people to watch the show with "an open mind."[9] She had not expected older people without children to watch the show, but stated that "The fact that they did 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."[55] Faust and the creators have acknowledged some of the fan-created elements of the show and reflected it back into the show's animation. In the first episode, a background pegasus pony is shown in one scene with a cross-eyed stare, a result of an overlooked animator's joke.[8] The 4chan boards quickly dubbed the character "Derpy Hooves," creating a more detailed personality for her, despite having minimal on-screen time. Faust responded to the fans and has since kept the Derpy character with the cross-eyed look and incorporated her into a slapstick sight gag during one episode.[8] According to supervising director Jayson Thiessen, they consider Derpy "like a little Easter Egg for people to catch."[8] As part of a relief effort for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Faust auctioned several original drawings from the show along with a new sketch of Derpy Hooves, which alone sold for more than $2,000 on eBay and more than $15,000 in total charitable earnings.[8][68][92] At the conclusion of the first season, one of the show's animators affirmed that Derpy would be a scripted background character within the second season. Another pony character, sporting neon colors, wearing sunglasses, and manning a DJ mixer for one episode, was given the stage name of "DJ P0N-3" by the fans,[93] which later was reused in the aforementioned "Equestria Girls" Hub ad.[94] Similarly, fans of the show have named a male character with an hourglass cutie mark as "Doctor Whooves," in reference to The Doctor from the long-running BBC television series Doctor Who.[8]
Hasbro and the Hub have also sought to market to this demographic. Linda Steiner, the senior vice president for Hasbro Studios, noted that while she hoped that the show would attract a "broader audience," she had "been in the business for 25 years and [had] never seen anything like this."[68] The company recognizes the brony community as "a small group of My Little Pony fans who don't necessarily fit what one might expect to be the brand's target audience," while its core viewership in the older market is predominantly females.[48] Despite being a small audience, Hasbro and the Hub network chose to "salute and embrace all the viewers who have embraced our brand," according to Margaret Loesch, CEO of the Hub and former executive producer of the original My Little Pony animated series.[67] Hasbro introduced new My Little Pony toys at the 2011 Comic-Con International, including a collectible one available only at the convention.[95][96] Clothing vendors that sell officially licensed My Little Pony merchandise, such as Hot Topic, have expanded their lines to include themed shirts for both genders. The Hub promoted the show through a billboard near the Valhalla Motion Pictures Building in Los Angeles, using an image of the pony characters spoofing the film Bridesmaids.[97] On October 3, 2011, the billboard was replaced with another one spoofing Poltergeist.[98] In addition to the "Equestria Girls" ad, the Hub made a parody of the Technorati-centric Apple App Store, including a play on the motto: "There's a pony for that."[99] Hasbro has generally not taken a stance against full episodes being available on sites like YouTube, which has enabled the growth of the fandom.[63] Though many of the fan-created elements of the show use copyrighted footage of the show and combine them with mature elements such as those from R-rated films, such as Inglourious Basterds, or foul language from artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, Hasbro has not taken a stance against these videos and has allowed them to be hosted at various outlets, recognizing that the parodies and remixes form a "participatory culture" that has helped to draw larger attention to the show.[100][101]
The Pirate Party of Germany sitting in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, or the parliament for the German state of Berlin, have insisted on the inclusion of "pony time" during sessions, where one episode from the series is shown, an action that has displeased many of the other members in the Berlin parliament.[102] Characters in the show, such as Rainbow Dash, have been used by organizations such as the internet activist group, Anonymous, to deface the websites of political parties like the Social Democratic Party of Austria.[103]
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