Good evening and welcome, this is "Editie NL" of Wednesday the 30th of january.
They are originally intended for little girls, but now grown men also adore my little pony.
I have a belt here, with the my little ponies on there.
It has the mane 6 and a dragon on it.
I bought it when I was in the US.
As you can see I also have a T-shirt, with Applejack on it, whom I also like.
Yes it definatly is a fad, more about that later..
Back in the 80s there was an enormous fad for little girls. Maybe you remember, when you were small..?
Okay, "My Little Pony"..
The fad then ended, it was quiet around the small horses for a while.
But suddenly, 2 years ago, the animated show got remade.
And since then, My little pony returned, also in my house.
I don't know why...because unexpectidly a group of fans was added (my daughter... my daughter...)
Grown men, bronies they are called. A contraction of "brother"
or "bro" and "pony"
and they form a complete sub-culture in the US with millions of followers,
also in our country there are grown male fans of my little pony.
This is the 22 year old student "Harry van der Laan" and he is a fan of...
My little pony... My little pony..
What?! Harry?!
I'm a fan of my little pony: friendship is magic:
Right.. the remake of the sweet animated movie from the 80s which was really aimed at little girls.
"hello mr and misses cake, how are preparations going for the feast?"
But now is a hit amongst grown men.. The bronies.
With an estimated millions of bronies in the US, and are bronymeets/cons heavily visited.
And now they are also conquering The Netherlands.
(Paul Sikkema, Adolescent Researcher Orius.) That may sound very weird, but a remake was made which is way quicker than it used to be,
also with much better animation quality.
They also say the storylines are very interesting..
It is in the first place aimed at little girls, but there is still a lot of humor in the show..
I liked the animation very much,
there are some characteristics in the ponies that I can relate to.
Yes, but it remains a bit strange, grown men who adore my little pony.
maar wel gewoon mee
My little pony, I used to wonder what friendship could be...
On internet fora it is suggested bronies would be gay,
sometimes even a connection with pedophilia is made.
I really don't think that is the case. They are, indeed mainly male, although there are some females.
But as far as you can see, they are just normal guys, very creative, a bit nerdy..
I'm a bit of a nerd.. I study chemistry..
But according to himself a very normal guy that likes games, movies... and ponies.
But however cute they are, it isnt only about the happy little horses.
Apart from ponies we also have other common interests,
like science..movies..games... more than just the show
You come for the ponies, but you stay for the bronies.
So a community is created,
which is something typical for the age group of around 20 year olds..
to be busy with a group and what it's about may just be of secondary importance.
My little pony, did you know you're all my very best friiiieeennnddsss
That will probably not be released on a CD very soon..
But, it's a big group of dutch people that are interested in the series.
The main power of the series would be that the ponies have certain characters which bronies can relate to
maybe this goes for you aswell. Do you not want to admit it?
You could still secretly go to our site where the characters are described
and you can check for yourself if you can perhaps relate to one.
And do look at the reactions of our viewers already under the article,
and there will no doubt be some added.