Episode 41: My Little Pony

and that is if he's wife. People talk or and I kind of I could see that. Maybe that's close. You knows Latin, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Um, we are talking about my Little Pony and Browny Con. I'm excited about is because I don't know if you grew up with it, Iffy, but I grew up with my Little Pony. Yeah. It was in the background, but it was when they were really trying to like really shove gendered brands to kids.

So like the boys got you Jos and the little girls, you have Barbie and my Little Pony, and and you had Polly Pocket and I forgot what was the other one? Was the other one Max power or something? Um? I played with everybody's toys. I think I have said on here that I notoriously I would. I would, I would switch out Ken and M My Barbie would bang M G I Joe and Batman Bruce Wayne. Um. We are joined today by transgender supermodel and television host a Reice Wanser.

Thank you Hello. I know you wanted to talk throughout that, so I was like, I don't want to. I don't want to stifle you anymore. I'm glad I can laugh at your guys loudly now because everyone's like, where is that third voice coming from? It's just always here in the studio. Um. So, what was your first experience with My Little Pony? Then? Um, I actually have to I'm thirty two years old, A proud thirty two holler um, you know, child of the eighties, child of the nineties.

So my sisters, though, are in their forties. So I had all the original My Little Pony and they were my hand me downs, and so I had like the big Little Castle. I also had Sheera Togo with it. But yeah, so it was a pony mix. I didn't realize they weren't the same cartoon for a while until I started watching the movies and it was super cute, like there was there was a Careberrys movie too, but we're not talking about that today. But I remember everything

was super trippy back then. Watching Psychedelic Yeah, if you watch it now, it's like an adult, you're like whatever they on when they made this, like it's kind of nuts. I think that's really funny because I find that about a lot of cartoons, Like we've talked about Nickelodeon cartoons, and they slip in a lot of adult humor, like in Rocco's Modern line, Oh yes, how he was a sex operator, um and he would be like, oh baby baby yeah, or like Mrs Bighead where she was like

sexually predatoring rock. Oh, she's like rack it. Yeah yeah, and if obviously Rent and Stimpy was very much adult humor. Yeah, Renis was actually really gross to watch as an adult. It's it's grotesque, but I'd like that they did that on purpose, like the boogers and the like the animation. Yeah, the animation is really like the pimples and the words and stuff. But of course as kids are like I love it. Yeah, it's super cool, but as an adult,

you can't eat and watch it. You can watch it, but I'm just like, oh god, no, I'm not gonna even yeah, true, true true. Um so wait, you had My Little Pony back when you were younger. Did it re emerge in your life? Oh my god, yes, girl, because it came out on Netflix with With the Power of Friendship one. What is it like? The friendship is Friendship is magic. They don't impale me, guys. I have a real job that is not involved by Little Pony.

So I did watch the entire zero is that because I don't have much to do with my real job. So you watched it while you were there? Oh yeah, Now, like like you know, it's just castings and auditions and then sometimes you book something. Yeah, model life. But um so when you're not you go home and watch Netflix. Yeah yeah, so I watched all of it and it was quite enjoyable. Yeah. I, um, I haven't gotten back

into my Little Pony, but I still have. I was telling you before we started recording, I had my Little Pony birthday party, I think when I was two or three. So I have one of the original My Little Ponies. Um. I believe it's pink um. I think it has rainbow here and it has a jewel and it's forehead. It's very pretty actually and still in really good condition. Works. So you're a good kid. I was weird. I like

one my mom passed down her barbies from like the sixties. Yeah, so I had those when I was a little and uh, and then I had my little pot so those I would play with. But my my little ponies, I guess I kept. I think because it was from my birthday. My mom kept it in like a safe so smart. Yeah, just because I know a lot of kids who ruined their toys. I was not one of them. Like I had two little Mermaid dolls. One went in the tab and one to not because one's hair. You can ruin

one you can not. Remember, my dad bought me like the whole Star Trek collection of toys and and he I obviously opened it up and played with it. And I remember when the new trilogy started, all the different news uh, I keep wanting to say news sites, but it wasn't news. All the different like news reports that were coming out for the new Star Wars trilogy. We're talking about how expensive like toys from the original trilogy were. Was my dad was like, see, I had so many

of those toys. If you didn't open the today with them, it would be worth money right now. It was like, yeah, but I'm a child, of course I'm gonna play with him. Also, that's Star Wars. I had Star Trek toys. It's not the same. Also, there's like history behind the Star Wars toys of how like they really changed and read after what action figures were, and I feel like that gave more weight to why they costed money versus just it

being a Star Trek toy. It was next generation so it wasn't even like that old by the time that he was watching these news reports. Would you like us to send this to your father? Yeah, I'm real big at like bringing up like old stuff when I see my day, Like every time, I'm like, dang, Dad, you're making money off of playing video games, you know, and you didn't want me to play. Love it well that this is a therapy hour for you. Never mind, Dad, you didn't have Yeah, yeah, it's not like I will

say though. I was, Oh man, I was a bratty sister because my little brother came along and I did not like him being the new center of attention. He had a buzz light ear toy and I threw it in the pool and it no longer talked. I was bad. Anyways, we're talking about My Little Pony um so much so to get into it, My Little Pony, if you don't know, is a toy line and media franchise developed by American

toy company has Bro. So this is interesting because this we have seen as a trend as Iffie and I have done this show that the toy was developed, you know, first, and then the show essentially to sell more toys a long commercial essentially, and till this day, toys still run the world. One of the biggest rumors out is that the Justice League Unlimited show was canceled simply for the

fact that it wasn't selling enough toys. You know, I haven't verified or fact checked that, but you know, I know a few friends and animations and they, you know, they said that rings true in a way. Wow, I'm still waiting for them to make a Barbie of me. Yeah, yeah, I agree happening. Yeah, isn't that so dystopiant? It's like Black Mirror. Not enough people like you, no Barbie, Yeah, you need more like if you want to bar Um. So, yeah, My Little Pony as a toy line and media franchise

developed by Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Sasherley, Charles Mooinger and Steve de Iguano, and we're produced in so the Pony's future, colorful bodies, mans and unique symbol on one of their bodies like one of their sides. Um. Such symbols are referred to in the two most recent incarnations as CUTEI marks. I Love that. My Little Pony has been revamped several times with new and more modern looks to appeal to a new market. They kind of

all seemed to be this. I mean, just from an outsider, I didn't realize that they had different looks to them. Um, would you say the ones that you see now are different than your eighties They have lost us a significant amount of way. Really, yes, they're like Ana Pony is like, they're they're a little they're a little thin. I'm going you think it would be the opposite, because I feel like people are embracing thicker bodies. The older ponies were

body positive. Oh my gosh, there were some thick girls my Little Pony. I'm going to look at eighties verse now, Oh my gosh, I was already in there. That's so fascinating. Okay, I will take a gander at that on our break. They got significantly thinner, but they're super kid. They just look more like Powerpuff Girls version of My Little Ponies whatever the eighties was going for, which is just an invention. I guess, yeah, what an imaginary pony would look like.

But I love them all the same. Yeah, that makes sense. They represent magic and fun, kind of like the Powerpuff Girls, see exactly. So following the original My Pretty Pony toy that was introduced in nine, My Little Pony was launched in two, and the line became popular during the eighties, and the original toy line ended up running from nine eighty two to ten whole years in the United States and to globally, so even after they stopped in the US, you know, people outside of it was like, we still

want these ponies, makes sense. So then they had two animated specials and an animated feature length film and two animated television series produced during the period up until and then The First Incarnation's popularity pretty much peaked in the nineties, which is when you know, everyone at this table pretty much remembers it clearly. But the following year Hasbro decided to discontinue the toy line due to increased competition. One hundred and fifty million ponies were sold in the eighties.

There's a lot of ponies. I feel like I had about eight. That almost makes me wonder if that was the kind of beginning of the trope of like I want a pony for my birthday. Oh my god. But the thing is, you could get a pony for your birthday, but now it's a play on words, and your parents still win. Right, Yeah, let me get this straight. So the popularity picked and that's when it was discontinued. It

didn't come back until seven. I almost wonder if if it then became like a prized kind of possession, because for several years you couldn't buy new ponies. Um, me and my neighbor used to trade them. Really, yeah, we would trade my little ponies. In the early nineties, I was like, let's call me like a seven year old boy. I'm transgender kids anyway, I was like, just so, you know, so I think I was a brownie at first, but

fun rules for trans people. But yeah, not anymore. Now I'm just a regular my little pony, just like a female I know that that makes me want because I feel like the the and we'll get to this, the idea of a browny. It initially started off as like male My Pony Friends, because for some reason you have to to to make that distinction, but it also seemed to eventually encompa eventually encompassed like adult My Little Pony Friends,

and then it went down the dark side. I feel like there was a period of brownism where it was it was, it was wholesome, and then very quickly, like many adult men tend to do, make it sex. Oh god, I was serious. Well, and we'll get to we'll get to browny con and everything. If people don't know what we're talking about, we will get to that in a

little bit. But wrapping up here with the toys. Yeah, So the brand saw more popular revival in two thousand three with the toys that were more closely resembled the original toy line, and that sold a hundred million ponies globally. By interesting that it's like been able to stay relevant this entire time. Gosh Um Hasbro launched the fourth incarnation of the franchise, in which started with the animated series My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, which you were talking

about on Netflix. Um. The brand grossed over six hundred and fifty million in retail sales and over one billion annually in retail sales. And What's so interesting about this is, even though I'm sure toys were in mind while it happened, this is an instance where the the animation came before the toy and I feel like that what kind of led to its success. I dabbled in Brownie is Um for a hot sec because because you know, even though I'm not an edge lord, I still have lots of

edge lord tendencies. And I loved how much people were like, Brownies are dumb, and I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna be a Brownie since you think it's dumb.

Uh and and and one of the reasons that it kind of blew up and even kind of spawned brownies was because the source material, the animated show kind of had that perfect formula of being made essentially for children, but anybody can watch it and enjoy it because it's It was right around that period of animation where we had shows that were technically quote unquote for kids, but had enough weight where no matter your age, you'd like it like Adventure Time and The Regular Show and the

World of Gumball and you know, and all those cartoons. It's you know, even though they're on Cartoon Network and at prime time time for kids, a lot of adults and older people really have been into the show because they were written to the top of their intelligence instead of just pandering to children. Yeah, I wanted to say here. Psychologist John Rosemond described My Little Pony toys as great soothing, quiet time toys. It's really interesting having none of the

violence or sexuality of other toy franchises. And I think what they're alluding to is g I Joe, which was also popular at the time, Transformers, he Man, some of those other ones. I'm sorry. That also reminds me because my sister, as you call it, a quiet time toy she specifically requested at her first baby shower, said no noisy toys, and My Little Pony would be perfect because none of them make noise, squeak, they don't talk, they

don't do anything. And back to the toys too. They also had like licensing with Build a Bear because I have a big Build a Bear in mind. My little play that a friend got me for my birthday and now it sits in my closet, like guarding the closet, like up in the rafters. But um, it's interesting because it's absolutely a quiet time toy because it doesn't make

any noise, They don't do anything. It is kind of funny the people that get I think, like you were saying that, um, the people that get attached to My Little Pony because it represents um friendship and it represents kind of this magical fantasy land. That's a way. I mean, I don't know if the current series does this, but kind of you know, an escapism escapism essentially, and so which is kind of the opposite of a lot of

its counterparts of that time that we're more violent. Um. But it is fascinating to me the people that grew up with it, that stayed with it because I feel like My Little Pony people are like very into My Little Pony, um, which is like me growing up, I was super into anime and that kind of I don't know,

they have a lot of similarities. I think, I agree, because it's about, like think with the escapism just because it makes you feel safe, especially like the world is such a scary place when I see like the rainbow coming out of the back of a horse just flying to like go save her friend from this lightning storm.

It's kind of nice. Um, well, we're going to get into My Little Pony friendship is magic this show and talk a little bit about um the origin and history as well as Brony con right after this break and we're back talking about My Little Pony and if he before we move on, we have to talk about My

Pretty Pony. Yeah, you gotta talk about the predecessor before you get into the actual, So you got to talk about the source between that created the material and before My Little Pony, there was a there was an unsuccessful first launch which was called My Pretty Pony, which was a pony figurine that has launched in one and it was created by an illustrator by the name of Bonnie

Zacharly and a sculptor called Charles Moon Schinger. And it was a ten inch tall hard plastic semi gro test figure that was able to wiggle its your squishes tail and ink one eye. This thing was huge and it also kind of had like the early permanation of what you would call a cutie mark, because there's some had like just a whole bunch of a whole bunch of hearts on the little, you know, rear flank of the of the pony. But it was like big. We've all we all looked at it during the break and commented

on how big it was. So it's so funny that they that when it wasn't successful, they're like, it probably was because it was too big. It looks like something you throw. Yeah, you know, I'm just like, I hate you. It's creepy and it's sad. If it looks sad, it has a sad horse eye. I don't like. I hate when horses look sad. It's like, don't ride me. But they didn't go out without a fight, because first, you know,

they went my pretty party. Then they had my Pretty Pony and Beautiful Baby, which came with a smaller baby pony figure. And I think that was probably when people noticed, when they probably did one of those like uh, what was those group test with kids, and they're like, oh, we like this, it's small. I don't pull my back out lifting this, And that's what they went with. But a recent I we're talking about during the break that

we both had um puppy surprise surprised puppy. Surprise was a puppy that you opened its tummy and you could take out puppies, and it's just it was a surprise how many you got. Some people had, like my neighbor had too, and I had four, so I was kind of like the beacon winner. But it's so like we were talking about this, and if I know that you have you have a little girl, like, it's so fascinating our fascination with baby, like to give a baby a baby,

because it's like you yourself are a baby. To give them babies, well, it's one of the I feel like the most earliest human traits that hasn't phased out where it's like, well, yeah, you still give birth and have to take care of it. And it is whild watching like my daughter have a baby, like we never pushed baby dolls on it. Like she started treating her stuffed animals like before before we even got her a single

baby doll. It's just like a natural human thing. You don't see little boys searching for spears and stabbing their stuffed animals yet that And I think it's because it's just still around and something that is I guess useful to humans, but the baby toys across the border are always weird. Like my daughter now has this Baby Alive, which gets this weird Yeah, it's like I don't like

the name. Yeah, it's it gets worse. It eats. It has like this weird like plato that you smush and make spaghetti, and then like it's makes slurp sounds and and and then it's supposed to poop the plato out, but if you're familiar with the the texture of plato, all it does is get stuck and then creates this weird imagery as Dad sticks a jad stick up there to dig out the plato. And yeah, I feel so bad because like she's staring at me and I'm like, I just got to get the food out for you. Baby.

It's first enema. Oh, it's so it's it's I'm like this toy backfired big tea literally, So if Baby Alive when we're not talking about it. Baby Alive first came out in nineteen really and it had many iterations. I had a Baby Alive when I was little. I was in love with it. I think mine might have cried. There was like definitely a baby that I had a

baby alive. But then I definitely had a baby. Um, I had a water baby that was very popular and a baby that would you would like squeeze it would cry it with like tears would come out of its eyes. Back to My Little Pony depressed, So there was there was a short road before we got to Friendship His Magic,

So it didn't just jump there. That's kind of like the best the biggest one right now, but you know, it started as as as early as six with My Little Pony television series, which you know the language to talk about My Little Pony mirrors that if you remember the Transformers episode of their being jin one Gin two, and that's kind of that era, that early kind of

small toy era. Then after there was another My Little Pony series that was the My Little Pony Tails that ran for a short bit and then we got to My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, But it all started with the first one called My Little Pony in Friends. Yeah, and um, we should also mention that was produced by sun Bow and that's why a lot of we we've talked about Sunbow because they're the ones that the g I Joe UM, So there is a lot of similarities. Um,

and I think Transformers. Yeah, yeah, Transformers as well. So there is a lot of similarities all the Disney, like all the uh not Disney. It's all that like McDonald's toys that we used to get in Happymales that came together. The Girl Boy the Sunbow had it on lock. Yeah. Speaking of my little pony friend Chip is Magic Aresa. I wanted to know some of your favorite characters and what they're like, Like, is there is there one that like a lot of people gravitate towards that are people

like favorite. So everybody loves like Twilight Sparkle because she's like the main character basically, but I never gravitate towards the main character as much as I can like them, Like, I still like her. I think she's cute, but like I'm much more of a rarity. So she's like the bougie one who's like a fashion designer, has like diamonds

on her butt. I'm like, that's me all day. But um but my friends would think I was like a rainbow Dash, which is like the rainbow colored one, and she's like the gender neutral one just about which I can see. I can absolutely see. But she's a little more rough and tumble than I am. And then you've got like apple Jack, who I would definitely coin as a lesbian, but we cannot go there. I'm sure we cannot.

Do you think that they know her in that way though? Um? Yeah, she's like she's like the tomboy one who does like farm work and stuff and um, but she has like a male counterpart, which is like his name is McIntosh or name, Yeah, a big macintoge. It's like her male counterpart that also does farm stuff. So I don't you don't see them being romantic, Like his name is literally big mac. Yeah, that's so that. I was a big macintog.

I was like, that's an apple. I didn't even think of that until just now there's an apple on his butt. I'm an idiot, but it's okay. But then, um, you've got like the queen Ones, who are Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, and they're both good in their own way, like one just represents night, one represents a day, which is just beautiful. I used to have a Princess Luna

key chain when I first moved here. Broke. I'm very upset anyway, And then um, it's funny because they still got Spike on here, which was he was not such a cute dragon in the eighties because they yeah, they brought him back and they made him super adorable, looking like he looks a little like Dexter from Jex's Laboratory made into like a dragon. Oh yeah, I was gonna say. Um,

So Tarace Strong is the voice of Twilight Sparkle. Um. I know that she's like really big in the She's actually gonna come on our Harley Quinn episode that we have coming up. But she, I mean, she's voiced so many people, but also very famously voices Twilight Sparkle in the in the My Little Pony World. Um. And so Twilight Sparkles, like you were saying, her baby dragon assistant Spike and her friends in Ponyville. That's where they are are referred to as the main six. So are there, um,

because I know you've seen all the episodes. Are their themes that they have, like, um, it always comes back to friendship, Like what you're supposed to be doing for friendship, how you're supposed to treat people or treat others. There's always like a sense of selflessness among them all, which is it's a really like That's why it's like even as an adult, I'm like, where did these values go,

like when they all become monster? Well, yeah, you see people like step out other people to get to the top. And that's not like that for any of them. That they'll have like these little dilemmas, but they always do the right thing, or if they don't do the right thing, they learn their lesson and apologize and then go back in. Just there's always they always hold themselves accountable for things.

And so I think it's got a lot of really great lessons to teach kids, but also to teach adults, like maybe be nice to one another and just you know, be nice to your friends and treat them like your family. And oh and they're all so different, which I like, each of them has their own personality, like their own cut personality, like this one's a little fashion designer, this

one does farm work. But they can both be friends, you know, and there's something beautiful in that because we all, like we live in l A, we all hang in our own little cliques are we all do the same exact thing. And so but when you meet someone outside your click, you find out you have a lot more

in common than you don't have in common. So I just think it's interesting how they can bring up together all these characters and they all have their own episodes or their own focuses, and they all can still be friends at the end of the day. It's really ef thing cute. It's cute. I love that. I um, I wanted to say that we have a top five episodes of My Little Pony. This is according to the rap here we go. Yeah, so so they started off with My Little Pony of the movie in four, so we're

not even in Friendship's Magic Terror. Yeah, and they say rescue at Midnight Castle. My Little Ponies TV debut was the only entry in this list not from the newer one, but it makes the cut thanks to its influential Rainbows and Darkness storyline. So they so it was so good that they're like, you know, we're gonna throw this on the list. I've I have not seen that episode because

that's an older one. I haven't I'm sure I've seen it, but I'm sure I haven't seen it in about I know right, Like it's probably been a long time because we used to tape everything off TV, which is in my mother's house, and I had a technique with mine. You know, you started off. I think it started off with like adult Swim which Hunter Robin? It said, which Hunter Robin? And it had a few episodes then like one quick skin of Max Flick, and then it continued

with the rest of of the series after that. I'm smart and see. But that was the thing. That's like when you forgot which VHS you put it on and you accidentally record over it. That was that was a wild time for technology. We record over some good stuff. Right. Luckily I didn't have any bad channels, so I'm almost unlock about that. It was just my little pony me, not this little pervert, right, Rainbow Bright Gosh, I was also a pervert. Moving on to number four, the cutie

mark Chronicles. This was season one, episode twenty three of The Newest Uh Friendship and Magic Um. This is this episode connects the radix of the ponies cutie marks with an efficacy. It's a really cute episode. Oh yeah, can you tell us about Okay, it's a really cute episode. Okay, So one of like the younger ponies don't have their cutie marks yet because their personalities aren't really that distinct, yet you have to grow into what your cutie mark

is going to be. So yeah, it's isn't it cute? Yeah, Like it's really cute, just because it's just like trying to gender your child anyway, just kidding, just kidding. I was like, I'm gonna get off my little gay soap box. We lgbt Q agenda on here. No um. But yeah, just like trying to tell your kid like they should be a lawyer or they should do this. It's kind of neat to let they let them find themselves, and

they like one of the babies gets super frustrated. I can't remember her name right now, forgive me, but she gets frustrated because her every all the other kids are getting their cutie marks, and she's like, mine's not developing yet. And they're like, look at will, like you'll just give it some time, try some new things, and they have her try all these different things that she might like to do and see if that might be the thing

that like awakens her cutie mark. It's so cute. You would give an example of some different cutie marks, like I see one is like carrots. Apples like want to be like apples want to be like carrots. Wanna be like diamonds, want to be like a rainbow, want to be like a stormy cloud or like a thundercloud. Uh, it's it's something you'd get as like a cute stamp tattoo as an adult. It is kind of funny that they all have tattoos on them right on their ass.

Given a great example for kids. Um So. Then moving on to number three on this list, Sonic rain Boom. This is season one, episode sixteen. Um So. This kind of plunges into social anxiety, which is interesting for them to tackle. Um Speedster Pegasus Rainbow Dash starts off nervous about a flying competition by episodes and she's trembling in

the fetal position. We also get inside into the aerial Pegasus city clouds Dale, and the story finishes with an explosive rescue that earned Rainbow Dash respect from cartoon nerds across the spectrum of the internet. Do you remember this episode? It was a fun episode just because it showed you like a different hierarchy of ponies too, because the other ponies couldn't get to this Cloudsdale. It's only Pegasus ponies I can get there. So if you've got wings, you

can get there. So I was like, oh, is this the up class class? Only rich people can get up? Exact this is clouds Dale. You can only get here if you here exact exactly. Cloudsdale helps those who help themselves. So then they had a Friend Indeed, which had the Cranky Doodle donkey moving to pony Vial and Peaky Pie is desperate to cheer him up, and Pinky pretty much ends up bringing Cranky's loneliness into the spotlight and basically shows the world that he's a depressed Why are all

donkeys animated donkeys depressed? Depressed? I'm like, they seem like they're happy on farms and they're very pretty. My friend had my friend when I was living in Texas, they had donkeys, this most Texas story I've ever told. But they're very actually pretty in real life, Like they're gorgeous.

Donkeys are actually look a lot more like my little ponies. Like, if we're gonna go with anatomy of a horse, like we have number one being Twilight Kingdom's Part one and two where the ponies take the centaur Lord Tairek in a blaze of camaraderie, Grace and resplendent multicolored mats, basically wrapping up the interwoven plot lines from season four and beyond.

Towighlight Kingdom draws on lore from the earliest days of My Little Pony, and it sounds like the end all be All be like it sounds like I'm trying to think of another cartoon, but it sounds like the Crease saga for My Little Pony, which was the Creas saga. Next men is when you had Phoenix pop up or I guess the Phoenix saga is what it's known as. But the Crease shows up and it's like it slaps

if you remember. It looks like there's a closing song here, Let the Rainbow Remind You, UM, which delivers the most concise explanation of pony philosophy. Together, we will Always Shine. I didn't realize that they had songs in this. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, it's it's it's not every episode, but like songs just sneak up on you, but they're always cute, Like it's always like a good song, but its friendship is all was the theme that, like they never shy

away from that. UM. So we are going to get into Bronie Con and so of the controversy of it. Right after these messages and we're back. Actually, I'm going to ask both of you because I feel like we all have different definitions of this. How would you describe Broni Con? Well, I think, like I know that bronies are like male My Little Pony fans, Like they can be fans of the male ponies, or they could be males fans of the female ponies. It's not like discriminatory.

They're just like grown men that love My Little Pony. Nothing wrong with that. I absolutely love it. Um if you what about you? What was your first introduction to Brownie Con? Oh? Man? I So I was Brownie Con kind of came on my way out because I was like a Brownie probably just the early Price season one time,

and just kind of thought the aesthetic and everything. I really like that it kind of was bringing this new era of like kind of like they were touching on stuff that basically had people treating others what respect and all this stuff. It was before all the quote unquote naughty stuff started getting involved. But so like Briniana kind of popped up around the time that it already had reached it started reaching its peak for me, and I've

already I've already jumped off that ship. Yeah, it says the appreciation of the show by an older audience came as a surprise to Hasbro. I think there were two different sets. I think it was kind of this initial like humorous slash ironic concept of like people, these older people enjoying a show for young girls in quotes, um.

But then I think that they it actually did develop into know, these are people that that really love the show and and embraced and so has Bro embraced the older fans while still staying focused on the show's intended audience. So Brownie Con is an annual fan convention held on the East coast of the United States for fans of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. So that was really specific. It was for the new show, although I'm sure it

spans all the shows now. Um, among them a Dalton teenage fans of the show who called themselves Brownies again it's a play on Bro and Pony. Um. Ten events have occurred to date, with the most recent one in July drawing five thousand, four hundred sixty five attendees. Though originally planned to run through. It was announced at the closing ceremonies of the convention that twenty nineteen would be

the final year. Yeah, I mean that's kind of expected, only because the fervor and hype and everything surrounded My Little Pony friendship is Magic has kind of died down since then. Like, you know, I feel like towards the later seasons, people were already kind of jumping off, and then they did the one where they're like real humans and people were not no one like that at all. It also seemed like a weird move, just on the back end, knowing that people were already oddly sexualizing some

of the ponies, like to then make them teenagers. I don't know if they thought like, oh, if we do this, this will stop you. I don't. I think no one, whether it was fans and from any facet was a fan of this. But it just kind of put off everyone, and it just kind of like fizzled out night. You know, I don't hear too much My Little Pony talk anymore, like it used to be like the way people are talking about Spider sonas like everyone was talking about creating

the My Little Pony versions of their selves. It was just really at the height. And I think it's the the fandom itself, and even the show is kind of like simmered down. So it makes sense. It's interesting because I relate all of it to advertising, like what happened, you know? And then if you don't like where it's going, like get new writers in the writer's room, Like see what has fresh ideas. You don't have to work with the same people all the time. Get some fresh ideas

in there. I'm not saying clean house. I'm saying clean house guys. Learn how to run a business. Yeah, Like this thing has been alivee for like thirty years. Get rid of them, get rid of the weak lane. But I mean, even like looking at the past, it seems like that's just the wave of my little ponies. It's like a flash in the pan. It's popping for a bit, and then as soon as the interest kind of slows down, it just we pull out and we'll come back later,

you know. And I think that's because if you think of like a company like Hasbro itself, it has its rotation of toys. So like even though for my little pony fans and everyone involved in that, it's like, oh, it's over Hasbro has already probably been pushing a new product marketed towards little girls that kind of fills that hole that was left by My Little Pony, but it just doesn't have that mass appeal that friendship is magic. He Um. I did want to say, this is from

geek reply that, um, Brownie's have an image problem. Um, why did you laugh? Well, because it's did you know that it kind of originated from four chan, So that already in itself not not the safest environment for women and people of color, I feel like, but this is from a Wired article in defense of Brownie's. Brownie's watched the show because it's not a typical kids show. It has humor at different levels, clever writing, and the action is good. There's a community of Brownie's that watched the

show together, at least chat online, share art. I do see a lot of that on Tumbler and deviant art. There's a lot of My Little Pony art, um, fan fiction games and meet up at conventions. So like everything, like anything that we have talked about this year, there are dark sides too, you know, and bad fans that give the rest of us a bad name. Well, here's the thing. It's not even that. I think it's just

a general Internet nerd um thing. As someone who's been on the Internet since uh, you know probably if I had to put a number one, i'd say probably when I was eight. You know. It's the what happens on the Internet is if there's a weird fringe thing that not everyone on the Internet understands, and they find one off thing about it, then that becomes the laughing stock.

Like it's funny to see people now real chill on furries because you have someone like Sonic Fox, who was like this huge advocate and this well rounded, cool individual

who you want to champion. But before Furies were the punching bag of the Internet, because it's like you are the You are these weird group of people who like to pretend to be animals, and you have sex and mascot suits and and and that's just the kind of cycle of the Internet is if there's a weird outlier in some type of nerddom that and and like it doesn't matter if it was one brownie who did uh who made like rule thirty four version of it, then

that's that's the the whole communities image now, because that's the thing that's gonna go viral that people are sharing. Yeah,

and so that's and that's kind of the thing. And there will be a new version of brownies or furries as we get you know, deeper into new nerd ums and new fandoms and some and people find a way to I mean, the rule thirty four, out of all the things to have come out of fortune, has been the truest and real rule of the Internet, which, if you don't know, rule thirty four is so the four Chane used to come up with all these weird rules. Um, and I believe it might have originated from b which

is just the worst part of fortune. But we all sifted through it for memes and lulls. But you know, they had a list of rules and rule thirty four and I broke I broke rules one and two right now by talking about b U. But rule thirty four was if it exists on the Internet, there is porn

of it. And but but so, like that's what's so curious and interesting about Brownie's is they kind of got that tough shake of like, you know, because like the existence of Brownie was interesting because it took this it flipped the gender norm by them existing in general, was it was these group of males who this show that was marketed towards little girls, found something in it that they enjoyed and appreciated it, and that's actually something pretty cool.

And then you have people who just were like, I can't enjoy a thing without turning it into a porn thing, and then that became attached to that same group, and now that's what people thought of the group. But but but you know, that's, like I said, it's just the cycle of of the internet. I think it's an interesting thinking about Brownie is the way you just said it, Uh, Like, why it was so taboo for like a group of

like grown men to latch onto the show. And I think a lot of it has to do with what we're taught about color as children, because it is a pastel world that they're all living in, and so to think of grown men in a pastel world, it doesn't compute. And so if the if the show was darker, like a little like you know, just darker period, like, if everything was more saturated, maybe it'd be a little more

believable that they liked it. But it's like, no, these are pastels, you know, So I think it's really weird to even like where why you're saying it like that. I was like, oh my god, yeah, grown men in a pastel universe. I can't see it. Weird, so weird, And it's just colors. Colors in universal they're everywhere. At least everything we're fed in media and in life is just kind of the foundation of it. Are these like

gender norms that were unaware of? Yeah, I did want to say to their credit because they were saying that it has, you know, some adult themes, that it's not

just for kids necessarily. The lead animator and writer Lauren FoST, who was responsible for this reemergence of My Little Pony, the latest show the Friendship and Magic, She when she was first approached about doing it, said she was extremely skeptical about taking the job at first because she had always found shows based on girls toys to be boring

and unrelatable. She said My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys, but she was disappointed that her imagination at the time was nothing like the animated shows in which the characters, according to Fast just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing, and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying. So it's come a long way. So it has that that was a full read. She

likes snatched my little pony's wig. She's like, by the way, but I mean, but she's and so that was what it was, and it was kind of this, um so she said, with the chance to work on my Little ponies, she hoped to prove that quote, cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smushy, cutesy wootsy goody

two shoes. And I think that is why we have some of the like you said, gender neutral or tomboy characters are like even some like that are working in the farms and like it's not just these pretty princesses a sense, yes, some have like real last jobs. Yeah so um yeah. So I think that that with this new iteration, they wanted to tackle some of the stereotypes for girls, and that's why I think it also appealed

probably to a larger audience and became what it did. Um. I feel like they could take it a step further, like let's have like a parole officer pony, you know, let's let's go there are police. But I'm just like

where it's like a judicial phony. Yeah, because like you're wondering why it's falling off, it's because it's probably getting repetitive, so repetitive that you had to turn them into people and so stretch it like you wanted to stretch it before stretch it again, you know, because we're not going to let this die out. We're just gonna see it again in six years space again. Space hit them up. I can write on my Latin pending my little Pony,

Intergalactic Pony, Honey stars are magic. We leave anything out or anything that we needed to mention. I'm trying to any final thoughts on my little Pony. My absolutely, I'll always love my little pony. They held hold a special place in my heart. Um and one protects your closet. Oh no, it's like nine. It's like nine. That's just the biggest one. No, people give them to me as gifts all the time. I've never bought him my little

pony myself. Like a friend friend Chris got me like a Christmas ornament of rainbow dsh and I was like, thank you, wonderful and then um so it was on my tree and then I have a rarity with my little beanie baby Princess Diana Bear sitting on top of it, and so they're purple together. But um, and then I have a wait, did you see your Princess Diana from like you have a tag protector for it? I do? And what I have another one that's in the case.

It's like in the case it's probably worth like ten whole dollars on either and if it's not, everyone DM me, I will sell it to you anyway. I'm not attached to those. Um a reason. If you could as sign IFFI and I am my little pony, Oh my god, how fine? Okay, Um, you'd have to be like a chill a pony if he because like a chill stylish pony, because you're up on the brands. I'm watching you. I was like, that's theme is that champion? They just came back? How did you get that? How he cop that? Like

it's out has let. Yeah, and then you would have to be I'm like a worker. No, you'd have to be some sort of like balance pony, like that's like a Sally Jesse Rafael pony, because like, no, because you're good. Bit I love that. I love that. The adjective like me was balanced peacemaker, peacemaker pony. I feel like you'd be a good peacemakers like a peacemaker pony. Like. Look, guys, let's talk this out. See everybody so quick. Question the Princess Diana beanie baby? You said, is it the purple

one with the rose on a chill? Yes? I have two of them. It's going for one dollars on even that's not enough to cover my phone bell. I know, but I'll think about it. Thank you times, get really tough. I'll do it. Yeah. You know you got a Honda one. You just happen to get one of the only expensive ones, right, Yeah, I would say that's Um, we talked about my little pony. My God friendship is magic. Yeah. So I hope you really enjoyed it. It was fun to talk about. Uh,

do you have anything to plug for our listeners? Oh? My god? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter if you want to. I'm not really on Twitter like that, but follow me on Instagram at Aristocrat. I'm the only one with the blue check mark collar. And then um, you can watch my new show called What the Flip on in two More's YouTube channel, and it's a an LGBT show tackling issues within the community, which has nothing to do with My Little Ponies, but friendship is still magic there.

You know, we'll probably tweet out some my Little Pony fan art I work I love. We'll probably tweet some out someone turned me into a pony. Please do it. Um I am at ms Annie Fernandez. And you know we didn't get to cover we didn't get to dive into all of the like I know, there was a director video like animated um My Little Pony the Princess promenade which I remember, but um, yeah, I guess if you're my Little Pony fan, hit us up, send me pictures of your ponies. I'll try and find mine. I'm

gonna find mine in my baby box. I think I have it, so yeah, send it to us, send it and you know me, I'm if you I F Y n W A D I W E on Twitter and Instagram as you know, uh, definitely always doing some stuff, so please look out for that and just go on my Twitter to see my future show. So I was gonna try and look them up and name them for you, but you know the cat so I'll see it And until next time, remember always stay narrat