Isn't My Little Pony for Adults?
"Isn't My Little Pony for Adults?"
This was the question recently asked from a young adult, when my partner mentioned that some children who came over for the afternoon had been interested in all of my My Little Pony collectibles. -Of course, upon hearing this question I laughed (to myself).
I have been captivated and a fan of the My Little Pony franchise since I was a child, and I'm a child of the 90's. MLP was first on the market in the 80's, before I was born, so it's survived quite a while. I never outgrew MLP. My mother suppressed my purchases of the toys while I was living with her, but once I went to college and was on my own I found myself buying MLP merchandise whenever I could and it hasn't stopped since.
When "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" came out, I didn't watch it right away. Literally, they were already into season 2 by time I decided to give it a try. Growing up, I was never a fan of the MLP series from the 80's. I watched the re-runs on TV when there was nothing else on, because when you're a kid just about any cartoon will pacify you. The movie revivals in the late 90's and early 2000's were pretty cheesy and not well written. When FIM came out, word started to spread how good it was and I decided to give it a try. The first episode I tuned into was "Luna Eclipsed", which is the 4th episode of season 2. I was intrigued by it and the more episodes I watched the more I enjoyed the series. I felt like it was clearly written for children, but with adults in mind. The writing was witty at times, often funny, and sometimes even quite clever! The best part was that it had a clear vision of the storyline (at least for the first two arcs). The show was beloved by children, teenagers, and adults. It created demand for collectibles and merchandise, and it even spawned both industry and independent conventions all over the world. -Yet, I couldn't escape the nagging, mockery, and scolding from family, friends and acquaintances over my joy for the show and the increasing number of merchandise that it had helped me bring into my life.
WHY?
I was questioned as a teenager into adulthood about my collection of MLP merch, which was long before FIM aired. There were a handful of people who also had MLP figures, keychains, etc. in college, so I wasn't alone, but I also knew it wasn't popular for most adults to collect them. Typically, the question was always just "Why?".
"Why do you like that stuff?"
"Why do you spend money on it?"
"Why don't you grow up?"
"Why are holding onto this?"
I think I just became numb to all the questions after a while.
Back to the title question:
So, when I heard a Gen-Z-er make that comment, it was almost like the Universe had finally turned a whole 180° and the world had somehow corrected itself over time.
Gen-Z would have been children when this series came out and teenagers when it ended. The series ran from 2010-2019. Their whole perspective on it is totally different than mine or other adults were who taking it in while it was currently on air. - The person I mentioned in particular would have been 5 when it first aired and 14 when the last episode aired. I was in my 30's when the show ended!
I personally feel like MLP FIM lasted so long and spawned theater movie productions because of the adult fanbase. They were the reason so much money was being put into the franchise, because adults have the most expendable income.
I'm not going to dive too deep into the Brony culture, but Bronies were considered high school age and older. They were the ones making blogs, YouTube channels, podcasts, and the independent cons. Depending on who you asked, Bronies included females too. So, the person quoted in this blog post who obviously never had interest or stake in the series or fandom could easily mistake the whole 2010's revival as an adult fandom, if all he ever say were the adults making podcasts and vlogs, and especially if his circle of friends were also never interested in it. -I'm just saying I can see it happening.
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