Join the Q: Brony Tales
Created | Updated Feb 14, 2016
Brony Tales
I have been interested in the modern version of the My Litte Pony TV programme for a while now, and my interest was piqued by Dmitri's Entry that included mention of the Bronies who are not the expected audience for a pink and purple cartoon series.
I can see why the series captures the interest of people older than the targeted children as the storylines are (whether by accident or design) multi layered and relevant to a diverse range of people.
One of the first episodes I watched that had a clear relevance to adults was 'Winter Wrap Up', where Twilight, the main character, was trying to find a job to do to prepare the town for the Spring season at the end of Winter. The ponies had managed this for years before she arrived in Ponyville, so she just got in the way when she tried to help with different tasks, but in the end she found her role as a manager. I'm not sure exactly what the cartoon was intending to convey, but I found it very amusing from an employee perspective!
Other episodes that are particularly good are definitely the ones with Discord in. Discord is voiced by John de Lancie who played Q in Star Trek the Next Generation, and like Q he can do pretty much anything, changing shape, creating objects, transporting ponies to different places instantly. He has a dry sense of humour and is not easily convinced that 'Friendship is Magic', so adults can particularly identify with his more detached view of the fluffy world around him.
The series also contains storylines that seem to aim to educate children, but can be viewed more deeply from an adult perspective. For example in series 5, there was an episode where Twilight's cool tomboy friend Rainbow Dash developed something like Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) in Winter because her pet tortoise had to go into hibernation and she didn't want to be without him. Eventually she went into a full blown depression and just lay on her bed all day saying, 'whatever'... One of her friends then gave her 'tough love', telling her she would just have to get used to the idea of being petless for the Winter and she just cried and cried until there was nothing left. Surely no brony could fail to be moved by that1? Her friends then thought she would be all better, but she instead sat quietly after putting the tortoise into hibernation and read to him until the end of the episode, which was just right.
Another interesting side story in the series relates to a boy pony - in one episode he was able to fulfil his dreams, so he dreamed he was a princess pony who could do magic to save his family. In another episode, his little sister wanted to go to a sisterhood event, but her big sister was otherwise engaged so he put on a dress and went with her. As a boy, his vocabulary was limited mostly to just 'yup' or 'nope' but at the sisterhood event he was very eloquent and chatty. His sister was worried about him being found out, but in the end the organiser admitted that the event had a loose definition of 'sister' so there was no problem.
Many internet column inches have been devoted to exploring the themes of the series, for better or worse and even the characteristics of the Bronies have been analysed in the State of the Herd Census run by a dedicated Brony.
All very fascinating!
