In defense of My Little Pony

MLP is not new. The toy—always the toy comes first—was introduced in the early 80s, originally as My Pretty Pony. Whatever. They were colorful, they came with accessories, and they were marked with symbols on their flanks. Their target audience of little girls ate them up. They hit the TV and movie screens in the mid 80s. Somewhere in the 90s they all galloped off into the sunset, and we figured we'd never see them again.

We were wrong.

According to Wikipedia, Grinwout's source for all things related to MLP, we are now in the fourth generation of ponydom. Normally this would escape the notice of most adults without young children, except that this time out MLP has spawned the notorious Bronies, grown men fans who—while presumably living in their parents' basements when they're not trying to figure out what kind of work they're out of—are eating them up.

Todd VanDerWerff, while not necessarily standing up for the Bronies per se, does stand up for the present TV show, which he claims is the best program available for today's kids:

What’s wrong with telling our kids that there’s nothing more wonderful than the moment when someone says they’ll love you forever, even if that’s an impossibility, given who we are? What’s wrong with telling them that doing good things is something that will have impact far beyond yourself and your immediate friends and neighbors? And what’s wrong with believing in these things just a little bit yourself?

Forget about Bronies. Or better yet, incorporate them into your thinking. Check out VanDerWerff's article on The A.V. Club.
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