# My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic debuted October 10, 2010 on the newly launched Hub network, and within weeks 4chan's /co/ board had adopted it with unusual passion. The teen and adult male fans who called themselves 'bronies' built one of the strangest fandoms of the early 2010s, spawning fan art, imageboards, remix videos, and years of culture-war fighting over what a My Little Pony fan should look like. ## Origin My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic aired October 10, 2010 as part of The Hub, a cable channel co-owned by Hasbro that took over Discovery Kids' slot[1]. On October 19, animation industry site Cartoon Brew published a critical piece titled 'The End of the Creator-Driven Era in TV Animation,' arguing that credits from Lauren Faust and Rob Renzetti on a toy tie-in signaled a defeat for artist-led TV animation[1]. Threads on 4chan's /co/ (comics and cartoons) board pushed back against the article's tone, and users started watching the show to see for themselves. By the second episode on October 22, /co/ was posting extensive pony threads, and the fanbase named itself 'bronies' as a portmanteau of 'bro' and 'ponies'[3]. Equestria Daily, a news portal for everything MLP-related, was launched in January 2011 by then-23-year-old Shaun Scotellaro and was drawing more than 175,000 daily visits at its peak[2]. - **Platform:** The Hub (broadcast) / 4chan /co/ (viral spread) - **Creator:** Lauren Faust - **Date:** 2010 ## Overview The show itself is a flash-animated series developed by Lauren Faust, whose earlier work included The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends[1]. Aimed at young girls, it centers on six pony friends learning lessons about friendship in the fictional kingdom of Equestria. The Cartoon Brew review that first drew outside attention to it dismissed the show as another toy-driven property signaling the end of creator-driven animation[1]. The brony fandom that formed around My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is what turned it into an internet-scale story. Bronies made Pony Music Videos (PMVs), Garry's Mod animations, character ask blogs on Tumblr, and huge quantities of fan art[6]. Female fans sometimes called themselves 'pegasisters'[3]. Fans also nicknamed background characters (the DJ pony fans dubbed 'DJ-Pon3' being the best-known example) and pushed Hasbro to acknowledge them, which The Hub did in a 2011 Katy Perry parody that name-dropped bronies directly[5]. ## How It Spread Friction between bronies and non-fans on 4chan escalated in early 2011. On February 26, moderators on /b/ and /co/ started saging pony threads and banning users who posted in them, giving the reason that the threads were mostly reaction images with no original content[3]. The mass bans backfired into a flame war; they were lifted on /co/ on February 27 and on /b/ on March 1[3]. On February 16, 2012, moot announced the creation of a dedicated /mlp/ board, publicly calling bronies 'one of the biggest subcultures in 4chan history'[3]. Off-site growth followed the same trajectory. Equestria Daily tracked pony post counts on /co/ from October 2010 through February 2011, publishing statistical graphs of the fandom's early growth curve[2]. Reddit eventually hosted more than 50 pony-focused subreddits, and Cheezburger launched a spin-off site called My Little Brony in July 2011[3]. Tumblr became the home of character ask blogs like 'Ask Applebloom,' which launched in July 2011[3]. Garry's Mod fans built pony ragdolls for the Source engine sandbox, which Equestria Daily flagged for its readers in July 2011[6]. Mainstream coverage was less friendly to the fandom. Hasbro's legal department sent cease-and-desist notices to fan YouTube uploaders in late 2010, taking down episode mirrors and dedicated archives like Ponyarchive.org[3]. Jerry Springer's 'Outrageous Guilty Pleasures' episode cast two self-identified bronies against the wishes of voice actress Tara Strong, who had organized a social media campaign asking fans not to appear[4]. Springer used the segment to bait guests with questions about zoophilia, and much of the fandom read the whole thing as a hit piece[4]. ## How to Use The fandom typically produces content in a few recognizable formats. Pony Music Videos (PMVs) cut show clips to unrelated songs. Character ask blogs on Tumblr let a fan roleplay as a specific pony answering user-submitted questions in-character, a template set by early blogs like 'Ask Applebloom'[3]. Garry's Mod ragdolls pose the six main ponies inside the Source engine, often crossed over with Team Fortress 2 characters[6]. Dubbing show clips over famous movie or game trailer audio is another common output, as are stand-alone fan animations like the PONY.MOV series[3]. ## Cultural Impact The Hub itself embraced the adult fanbase quickly. In May 2011, the network released an extended 'Equestria Girls' parody of Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' that name-dropped both bronies and the fan-nicknamed DJ-Pon3, which Equestria Daily readers treated as formal recognition from Hasbro management[5]. Coverage outside the fandom was more suspicious. Jerry Springer framed bronies as a fetish curiosity in his 'Outrageous Guilty Pleasures' segment, ignoring Tara Strong's campaign asking fans to boycott the casting call[4]. Daytime talk and local news pieces recycled variations of the same 'grown men watch a girls' cartoon' angle throughout the show's run. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? It is a 2010 flash-animated series developed by Lauren Faust for The Hub network that grew a huge adult internet fandom known as bronies[1]. ### Where did My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic come from? The show debuted October 10, 2010 on The Hub, and 4chan's /co/ board picked it up after an October 19 Cartoon Brew article dismissed it[1]. ### What does My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic mean online? Online it refers less to the kids' cartoon and more to the brony subculture that formed around it starting in late 2010 on 4chan[3]. ### How do you use My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in fan content? Fans typically make Pony Music Videos, Tumblr character ask blogs, Garry's Mod animations, and fan art starring the show's six main ponies[6]. ### Is the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom still popular? The show ran through 2019 and the fandom peaked in the early 2010s, when moot called bronies 'one of the biggest subcultures in 4chan history'[3]. ### What is a brony? A brony is a self-identified adult or teen male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a portmanteau of 'bro' and 'pony'[3]. ### What is a pegasister? 'Pegasister' is a term some female fans of the show use for themselves as an alternative to 'brony'[3]. ### Who created the show? Lauren Faust developed My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for The Hub after earlier work on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends[1]. ### Why did 4chan create a dedicated /mlp/ board? Moot launched /mlp/ on February 16, 2012 to give the brony community its own home after years of friction with /b/ and /co/ over pony threads[3]. ### Did Hasbro or The Hub ever acknowledge the brony fandom? Yes; in May 2011 The Hub released an 'Equestria Girls' Katy Perry parody that name-dropped bronies and canonized fan-nicknamed DJ-Pon3[5]. ### What was the Jerry Springer brony episode? Springer aired an 'Outrageous Guilty Pleasures' segment with two self-identified bronies over voice actress Tara Strong's public campaign asking fans to refuse the casting call[4]. ### Why did Hasbro send cease-and-desist notices? Hasbro's legal team targeted fan uploaders hosting full episodes on YouTube and archive sites like Ponyarchive.org in late 2010[3]. ## References 1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130904004703/http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/the-end-of-the-creator-driven-era-29614.html]() 2. [https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/brony-census.html]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic]() 4. [https://www.dailydot.com/news/jerry-springer-my-little-pony-bronies/]() 5. [https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/extended-equestria-girls.html]() 6. [https://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/garys-mod-ponies.html]() 7. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=My%20Little%20Pony%20Friendship%20Is%20Magic]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library