Brony fandom

The brony fandom is composed of adult fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, an animated children's television series produced by Hasbro that ran from 2010 to 2019 as part of the My Little Pony toy franchise. The series tied in with the 2010 relaunch of dolls, play sets and original programming for the American children's cable channel The Hub (later rebranded as Hub Network, and later, Discovery Family). Lauren Faust was selected as the creative developer and executive producer for the show based on her previous experience with other animated children's shows such as The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on Cartoon Network. Under Hasbro's guidance, Faust developed the show to appeal to the target demographic of young girls, but created characters and settings that challenged formerly stereotypical norms of "girly" images, adding adventure and humorous elements to keep parents interested. The series initially received widespread acclaim from both television critics and parental groups. It also found a large audience of adult Internet users in late 2010 and early 2011, forming a subculture. These fans, mostly consisting of adult men, were drawn to the show's main characters (collectively known as the Mane Six), stories, animation style and the influence of the show's propagation as an Internet meme. The fandom adopted the name bronies, a portmanteau of bro and pony. The term pegasister, a portmanteau of pegasus and sister, is sometimes used to describe female fans of the series, though the majority of female fans prefer to identify themselves as bronies and reject the label of pegasister. Though initially considered to propagate the humorous and ironic concept of adults enjoying a show intended for young girls, the fandom gradually showed over time a deeper, genuine appreciation for the show far beyond this concept, a trend that...