Men who love plastic ponies

My Little Pony's new fans are men.... aged over 20.

No this guy is not selling his daughter's old My Little Pony collection at a garage sale.

He's a "Brony" - a fully fledged fan of the popular Hasbro toy which first hit shelves in the 1980s.

And he's not alone.

PROUD: A Brony at the 2012 Bronycon.

The term Brony, is a mash-up of the words Brother and Pony. Get it?

In recent years thousands of males aged 20+ have become unexpected Bronies - fans of the pastel ponies originally targeted at young girls.


A quick search on Google will reveal various fan sites where Bronies can share fanfics, fan art and participate in general discussions on MLP.

COLOURFUL: A Brony in all his glory.

The Bronies even have an annual convention, Bronycon, which was held in New York for the second time this year and attracted 4000 fans.

Why are they fans? Most cite their interests in MLP were sparked by the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic which premiered in 2010.

CUTE: The latest MLP characters to hit the TV screen.

Luke Allen (below), a thirty-something self-confessed Brony, told Wired.com that he loves his daily fix of the TV series.

“First we can’t believe this show is so good, then we can’t believe we’ve become fans for life, then we can’t believe we’re walking down the pink aisle at Toys R Us or asking for the girl’s toy in our Happy Meal,” he explained to Wired.

Creators of Friendship is Magic wanted the show to reboot the My Little Pony franchise and appeal to a larger audience.

Enter Lauren Faust (below), an American animator, who had worked on shows like the Powerpuff Girls,.

As creative director Faust wanted to challenge the established "girly" nature of the existing My Little Pony line, creating more in-depth characters and adventurous settings.

She came up with Equestria: a land where MLP characters Twilight Sparkle, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie get up to all sorts of magical adventures.

SMART: The brains behind Friendship is Magic.

While many are quick to negatively label the show's interest from the male demographic, Faust is among those who defend the new fans.

At this year's Bronycon, Faust said Bronies were forward-thinkers helping to change society's negative attitudes towards females.

“We live in a society where saying that something is for girls is the equivalent to saying that something is stupid, or saying that something isn’t worthwhile,” Faust said.

“I think that’s awful and I think that kind of attitude needs to be changed,” she said. “And these men are doing it. … They’re proud that they’re forward-thinking and modern enough to look past this misogynistic attitude.”

TRAILBLAZER? : A Brony shows off the latest addition to his collection.

Faust might see them as trailblazers, but Bronies have also gotten under the skin of a lot of original MLP fans.

Summer Hayes (below), an original MLP collector told Collector's Weekly that collectors don't like the attention Bronies have received of late.

“(Collectors) 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," Hayes said.

PONY PEOPLE: Males and females of all ages at a Brony meet.

Fan or not of the Bronies, if Bronycon's attendance rates are anything to go by, they're here to stay.

Last year at the inaugaral convention only 100 fans attended - this year the event reached capacity at 4000.

Zac North of Dayton Ohio traveled to New Jersey to attend Bronycon and told CmdStore why he was a fan.

“It’s colorful and innocent, which is something I don’t have in my life,”  North explained.

The 26-year-old dressed as his favourite MLP, Discord, and donned a multi-colored costume compete with dragon tail.

He was not alone.

YOUR TURN: Weird or Fantastic?