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The show received praise from television critics and parental groups. It also found an unlikely audience in a large group of Internet users in late 2010 and early 2011. These older fans, typically males from 18 to 35, were drawn to the show's characters, stories, animation style, and influence of the show's propagation as an Internet meme. The fandom adopted the name brony (plural bronies), a portmanteau of "bro" and "pony". Though initially considered to propagate the humorous and ironic concept of grown men enjoying a show for young girls, the fandom has shown deeper appreciation for the show far beyond this concept, and is considered part of a New Sincerity trend. Its technology-savvy members have created numerous works in writing, music, art, and video based on the show, have established websites and fan conventions for the show, and have participated in charitable events around the show and those that create it.
The appreciation of the show by an older audience came as a surprise to Hasbro, Faust, and others involved with its development
No shit!
, but they have embraced the older fans while staying focused on the show's intended audience. Such reciprocity has included participation in fan conventions by the show's voice actors and producers, recognition of the brony fandom in official promotional material, and incorporating background characters popularized by the fans (such as the fandom-named "Derpy Hooves") into in-jokes within the show. As a result of these efforts in part, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has become a major commercial success with the series becoming the highest rated original production in The Hub's broadcast history.
So the creators unsurprisingly endorse it
One of the first critical reviews of the show, published shortly after the initial broadcast in October 2010, was written by Amid Amidi for the animation website Cartoon Brew. Amidi wrote that the show was a sign of "the end of the creator-driven era in TV animation".[1] Amidi's essay expressed concern that assigning a talent like Faust to a toy-centric show was part of a trend towards a 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."[1][2][3] Though the show had been discussed on 4chan's cartoon forum before the essay's publication, the alarmist nature of the essay led to more interest in the show, resulting in a positive response for the series for its plot, characters, and animation style.[2][4] This reaction soon spread to the other boards of 4chan, where elements of the show quickly inspired recurring jokes and memes on the site.[2] Some of these included adopting phrases from the show like "anypony", "everypony", and "nopony", instead of "anybody", "everybody", and "nobody",[5] or jokingly stating that they watch the show for the "plot", a reference to the ponies' flanks.[6]
The number of Friendship Is Magic posts drew attention on the site. Fans of the show defended it against various trolling attacks from other 4chan boards, leading to a temporary ban on the discussion of anything related to ponies.[4][5] Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, briefly acknowledged the popularity of the show on the site at the 2011 South by Southwest festival.[4][7] Poole has since created a dedicated board for discussion of the show and its fandom. Though the discussion of the show continued at 4chan, fans created other venues to discuss it, and the fandom spread to other Internet forums.[4]
Wow.
The adult interest in the show is comparable to that of The Magic Roundabout, Tiny Toon Adventures, Rocko's Modern Life, Animaniacs, The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, Yo Gabba Gabba!, and Phineas and Ferb: older audiences appreciate jokes aimed at adult viewers and a sense of nostalgia for older cartoons and animated films.[8][9][10] Many of the aforementioned shows had attracted college-aged fans who, when Friendship Is Magic was airing, would be raising children of their own.[10] The show references works that older viewers would recognize, such as I Love Lucy, The Benny H
That is complete bullshit. Phineas and Ferb is funny and the dr character is aimed at adults but a few chuckles due to nostalgia is not comparable to THIS
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