Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony

This documentary does an excellent job describing what the brony community is like. A lot of it is from the view of other bronies, but you get to see or hear a lot of what other people think.

There's no shortage of heartwarming moments, and plenty of funny situations as well. The animations made for this documentary are very professional and look like something out of the show itself, not to mention the music that fits so fluidly with the animation.

They did a great job capturing the real antics of the bronies who were interviewed during the documentary. It didn't feel like they had a camera crew following around.

In all, it's a pretty entertaining documentary and also pretty informative even to bronies, but you certainly don't have to be a brony to enjoy and learn a lot from this film.

I am not a Brony. I have never seen an episode of My Little Pony. Before seeing this documentary I was aware of the Brony phenomenon, but was relatively removed from it. I watched 'Bronies' to try and learn a bit more about the people behind the fandom, and was hoping to find an unbiased account of Brony culture, warts and all. I think overall this documentary was successful in a few ways, but was mostly overshadowed by it's failures.

It's a very self congratulatory piece of film; plenty of discussion of the community aspect, the creativity and fun of it all, the feeling of 'fitting in,' but it's all at a very cursory glance. People say they like the morals and apply them to their lives? How about a few examples? You think the writing and animation are well done? Why not go a bit more in depth? There was very little that needed to be said by this documentary, yet we're consistently fed what feels like a party line.

If you're looking for an objective documentary, this is not it. There is superficial lip-service paid to the female fans of the series, but it comes in the form of a short musical number and one documentary subject who is never on screen without her male counterpart. For a fanbase which has taken up a decidedly masculine moniker, I'd expect some discussion of how it effects women who want to be involved. Additionally, there is no discussion of the darker sides of Brony culture, like the fan- produced My Little Pony pornography known as 'Clop.' The documentary goes so far out of its way to avoid this subject, that it actually even includes a reference to 'clop' in a musical number, but immediately changes the subject.

It feels at times like the documentary was never intended to explain Bronies to outsiders at all, but rather to be a celebratory exploration of the growth of Brony culture, to be viewed and enjoyed by Bronies themselves. This would be easily explained by the creative crew, and the Kickstarter funding. There's nothing wrong with this, but why phrase it as though it were intended for outsiders? Why even add the animated sequences with the professor teaching us about MLP history?

It's not all bad, honestly. The creator of this documentary clearly knows how to pace a film. Scenes go as long as they need to, dialogue is generally moving the film along, and overall it's quite well shot. Some of the characters are quite compelling, and the creative side of Brony culture is very well represented.

I think if there was one major takeaway from this film, it's that people who like MLP are producing a lot of content for the fan community, and that creativity is a major tenet of Brony culture. The film is very successful in conveying that there is a strong community, and a lot of creative content being produced. It's major failure though, and what causes the whole thing to fall flat is that it doesn't successfully convey why the Bronies become attached to MLP to begin with.

So I just downloaded the digital copy of this for $12.99 and I'm assuming the reason you're reading this right now is probably because you're wondering if this documentary is worth it. In my opinion, it is if you are a brony yourself.

Outsiders will not find anything here that will interest them, or keep them hooked for 90 minutes. This was definitely a love letter to the bronies, from the bronies. This doesn't mean that it's a bad movie, but you should know that going into it. Now unto what did and didn't work for me.

My biggest issue was with pacing. The movie seemed to jump from one thing to the other with almost no transition at points. I would sit there wondering to myself "did they really need to include that clip?", but this is only a big problem in the first half hour or so. It's when the movie actually makes it to the conventions that I began to really enjoy it.

There were a couple other problems, but that was the one that really stuck out for me. Now unto the good. One great thing that the filmmakers did that I really enjoyed, were the portions at Bronycon. These sections of the movie did a good job at showing off exactly what it is that we do as a fandom. I found myself smiling at a couple things said in interviews that only a brony would understand. I was not in attendance at this particular convention, but this movie made me want to be there. It looked like a fun time. The other conventions weren't handled as well as Bronycon, but I still enjoyed them.

Anyways, buy this if you're a brony. Be free to skip right over this is you aren't

Overall, I enjoyed this film. It follows some good individual stories, and I really enjoyed the original animation created for it by JanAnimations and others. One of the things I enjoyed about this film isn't even in the film itself - it's how responsive the filmmakers have been to input. The film was funded through Kickstarter, and all through the production process, backers were given details about how things were going, and the crew took suggestions and feedback. Not only through Kickstarter, but through their Twitter accounts, YouTube replies, and e-mail.

I look forward to the day that this film becomes available on Blu-ray, film festivals, and perhaps more! Go buy this film now at their website if you're curious, or wait a bit for those other methods of distribution! /)

"Isn't it amazing how a group of adult men can completely take over a show meant for little girls; making it virtually impossible to search or do anything related to the show without being exposed to over-sexualized, misogynistic, sexist crap, and they get a documentary that praises them for stepping outside of their perceived gender roles? Meanwhile 45% of the gaming community is comprised of women and I get dick pics and rape threats if I try and go on xbox live."

Three stars instead of one because it's rather impressive that the documentarian could create something so smarmily self-congratulatory, yet riddled with homophobia and much less flattering to "bronies" than he'd like to think.