Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Fans of My Little Pony

2013 • 88 minutes

About this movie

This unique and engrossing documentary explores the cultural phenomenon of Bronies, the rabid community of adult fans of the children???s cartoon show ???My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.??? The film chronicles Bronies from around the world as they share their stories and prepare to attend the annual BronyCon convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Revealing the Bronies??? community???s struggles to overcome ridicule and misunderstanding from society, the doc discovers that the elements of the cartoon embraced by the community ??? honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic ??? are universal concepts that extend beyond age and gender. A FilmBuff Presentation.

Ratings and reviews

I watched the documentary twice with friends of mine. And let me tell you, if you're looking for a fair, non-biased documentary about bronies, THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR! The doc is biased in a way that sugarcoats bronies, in contrast to Channel 4's "Crazy About One Direction", a documentary that slams the fans of that British boyband. Now, I used to take part in the brony fandom, and they didn't mention anything bad about the fandom that could've been interesting points, like what happened to Derpy Hooves in 2012. If bronies are looking for something that detaches them from the "lonely, autistic manchild" view which is horrible as all hell (me being friends with an autistic), this won't stop that. The people in the doc complain about how people harass them and how they don't want to be treated as manchildren. I was very surprised when the brony from Blighty was autistic. If I wrote more about this, I'd hit Google Play's review limit, so I'll end it with this: Don't buy this documentary, don't even pirate it (they weren't even prepared against piracy). It's not worth your time.

I'm not really into FiM anymore, but I'd just like to defend all bronies in saying this documentary gives a bad example. I feel for all the bronies who watched this. It seems like this documentary is solely set on humiliating bronies and it's not very nice or civilized to do that to people who have done nothing wrong to begin with. So what if they're grown men watching a show intended for kids. There's no such thing as a kids only show, just a kid-friendly show. Don't watch this, please.

This was a surprisingly delightful film about a community I didn't know much about. It really made me smile and it's wonderful to see soo many boys & men embracing this obviously very positive & creative culture. It was fascinating to see the different people from around the world who have stumbled upon this kids tv show, and what they're each taking from it. I was especially touched by Lyle's Dad trying to understand what this is that his son has fallen in love. In a world where being a man is so often accompanied by violence and misogyny, it's refreshing to see an alternative culture embracing kindness, generosity, creativity, and tolerance.