I love Google Images. You just never know what you’ll find and over the years I’ve found some truly odd images. And this has to be among the stranger finds. Apparently there are people obsessed with My Little Pony. I really shouldn’t be surprised, for pretty much anything you could name, people have turned their solitary obsession into a full-fledged hobby, with similar-minded people coming together from all over the globe. The internet has made this particularly easy, and I can only imagine that the sheer number of different groups, organizations, associations, clubs, etc. surrounding almost anything we could name, no matter how obscure, has exploded over the last decade. Anyway, I stumbled upon a My Little Pony imageboard — an internet forum — called Ponychan.
An entire thread titled “Alcohol Thread” began with “What is your drink of choice and why? Are you bastards even old enough to drink?” A fair question, given the only reason I am so very familiar with My Little Pony is because I have an 8-year old daughter. The thread includes images of ponies drinking beer and cider, as forum users express their favorite alcoholic drinks.
My wife informs me — I have no idea how she knows this — that there is an entire subset of adult males who are into My Little Pony known as “Bronies.” That’s more than a little creepy.
So here’s a few of the drinking ponies from the thread. I can only imagine the neo-prohibitionists would be going crazy if these were to see the light of day, emerging from the murky shadows of the internet. Children’s characters drinking? Oh, the horror!
But I’ll raise toast to the ponies. Drunk ponies could only be more interesting than I remember them, having to endure their sober exploits with my daughter Alice. Thank goodness she’s moved past the little ponies, but sadly what’s she’s into now — iCarly, Victorious and the Winx Club — are hardly much better.
Must have to dig deeper into the bottom of the internet keg – this was enlightening, a little hilarious and then there is the creepy part you mentioned – Bronies. Don’t want to even try and imagine what treasures you might find there. We have a companion blog ( not in our brewing circle) with related subjects on raising kids…http://adventuresinbabyraising.com/
Its a big old world. Why ponies? The characters are likeable, there is no violence, there is a lot of crossover humor, the songs and music are adorable, production values are high, viewers can see certain character traits or aspire to these traits and the central message is of friendship — that even the bad guys… er… ponies can be redeemable. Not everyone fits the same pigeonhole and its a fan-movement that fosters kindness and tolerance in a world of petty snarking, judging and unkindness. Enough is enough, its a show of optimism and simple pleasures — a 20 respite from postmodern cynicism.
Bronies are simply people who like the show for the same reason that an 8 year old likes the show and, like all good cartoons, there is something for the grown up in there for who’ve been dragged along. Bronies are simply responding to the adult elements embedded in the show’s DNA and show that not everyone is cool with gritty realism, shaky hard focus cams, violent drama, overtly sexual themes and stories of power abuse.
Bronies are not escapists or simpletons either, nor are we ashamed of liking something that promotes values of friendship and harmony, my partner is also a brony, she and I are both studying our PhDs — and I drink beer she drinks wine.
Cheers