Production staff and cast Lauren Faust, the then-executive producer, expressed appreciation for show's adult fans on her
DeviantArt page. Faust had not expected men without children to watch it, but said, "The fact that they did and that they were open-minded and cool enough and secure in their masculinity enough to embrace it and love it and go online and talk about how much they love it—I'm kind of proud." Of her surprise to the unexpected fandom, Faust said, "From the messages I've received, these episodes have lifted spirits, brought parents and kids together, changed perspectives and inspired the most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of places. Who would have thought it from a show about candy-colored ponies?" Faust believes that her future animated shows aimed at girls will be easier to sell considering the male adult fandom of
Friendship Is Magic, and that the type of programming is not as great a risk as is perceived. After Hasbro issued a
cease and desist to the
Fighting Is Magic project over the use of copyrighted and trademarked characters, Faust offered to provide the developers with original character arts to allow them to continue to develop the game without copyright issues. The internet groups surrounding the fandom have enabled the show's producers to quickly assess their work; director and producer
Jayson Thiessen stated "As soon as the episode airs, I can go online and see people's responses in real time". Many of the creative staff are on various social media services and directly interact with the fandom, including doing questions-and-answer sessions live during the broadcast of new episodes.
Daniel Ingram, who writes and composes some of the
songs featured in the show, was pleased with the fan's reaction to the series' music but said, "I never forget about the original demographic of our show, which is six-year-old girls. Just because it's for kids... I don't think that influences me in terms of how sophisticated I want to make the music."
Ashleigh Ball, who voices
Rainbow Dash and
Applejack, attributes increased attention her band
Hey Ocean! has received to the brony community.
Michelle Creber, who voices Apple Bloom and provided the singing voice for Sweetie Belle, has collaborated with fan musicians in order to create new works. De Lancie helped to make a
Kickstarter-funded documentary at the fourth
BronyCon convention about the growing fandom,
Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. Faust, de Lancie and Strong were credited as executive producers on the project. The funding drive ended with over $320,000 in pledges, making it the second most funded film project on Kickstarter at the time. After its release, the project has announced plans to remake the documentary to incorporate additional footage taken at European fandom gatherings. This has been shown at film festivals in 2013 and released for home media distribution. Similarly, Ball's surprise at the appreciation of the fandom led her to participate in another documentary,
A Brony Tale, directed by
Brent Hodge, recording her participation at the January 2012
BronyCon event in New York City, as well as discussions with members of the fandom. The film, which was picked up for distribution by
Morgan Spurlock, debuted to critical praise at the 2014
Tribeca Film Festival, and reached theatrical and home media markets in July 2014. At times, portions of the brony fandom have reacted passionately to changes in the direction of the show, such as in the change to "
The Last Roundup" involving the character
Derpy Hooves. Similarly, the Season 3 finale episode "
Magical Mystery Cure" ended with main character Twilight Sparkle transforming into a winged unicorn (alicorn) and being named a princess. This change was revealed prior to the episode's airing and a portion of the fandom were critical of the change, referring to it as a "
jump the shark" moment for the series while others considered that it was a significant change of one of the show's more popular characters that most of the brony fandom could relate with. The showrunners stated in response that while Twilight's physical appearance would change, this would not otherwise alter her personality or the general concept of the show. Equestria Daily's Shaun Scotellaro considered the fandom's behavior to be "your typical overreaction to something changing in your favorite series". Margaret Loesch, president and chief executive of Hub Network, said that they have kept their nods to the fandom to subtle hints. She added, "We haven't driven this movement, the fans have, and we don't want to get ahead of that. We want to nourish this phenomenon, not manipulate it." In the first episode, a background gray Pegasus pony is shown in one scene with a cross-eyed stare, which was the result of an overlooked animator's joke. The 4chan boards quickly dubbed the character "
Derpy Hooves" (based on the
Internet slang word "
derp") and created a more detailed personality for her, despite having minimal screen time. Faust responded to the fans, and the production team has kept the "Derpy" character with the cross-eyed look starting with "Feeling Pinkie Keen", where the team incorporated her into a
slapstick sight gag. In the original broadcast of the second season episode "The Last Roundup" as well as on the home media release
The Friendship Express, "Derpy" was called out by name by Rainbow Dash and was given lines (as voiced by St. Germain) and klutzy mannerisms as a direct call-out to the brony fandom. Though many fans appreciated the inclusion, some viewers had a negative response to the character, believing her portrayal insulted the
mentally handicapped. Hasbro subsequently modified these scenes and while "Derpy" is still present in subsequent broadcast and digital versions of the episode, she is unnamed and a different voice is used. According to Hasbro's Nicole Agnello, "Some viewers felt that aspects of the episode 'The Last Roundup' did not stay true to the core message of friendship which is the heart and soul of the series. Hasbro Studios decided to make slight audio alterations to this single episode." Despite Hasbro's intentions, some members of the brony community were disappointed to which they made efforts to restore the original voice. The appearance was planned as a big reveal for the brony fans, according to co-director Jim Miller, and that "she is here to stay" according to Hasbro's vice president for entertainment Mike Vogel. The Derpy character is used often on Hasbro's marketing of the show. For example, Hasbro's exclusive pony toy at
San Diego Comic-Con and My Little Pony Fair in 2012 was based on "Derpy", and has the same cross-eye look. This name was reused in the "Equestria Girls" advertisement. The character also appeared as a DJ in the season 2 finale "
A Canterlot Wedding – Part 2" and became part of the new release of
My Little Pony toys in late 2012, as well as the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive figurine. The character additionally had an expanded yet also non-speaking role in the second
Equestria Girls film
Rainbow Rocks. Fans of the show also nicknamed a male pony character with a brown coat, messy brown mane and an hourglass cutie mark "
Doctor Whooves" because of a purported likeness to
David Tennant's portrayal of
the Doctor from the long-running BBC television series
Doctor Who. The character had a minor speaking role in the episode "Call of the Cutie" and a brief role as a time-keeper in the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000". Other licensed media further carry the homage: Enterplay's trading card line associates the character, named "Time Turner", as dealing with "all things timey-wimey" around Ponyville, alluding to a famous quote from the episode "
Blink", while one of the store-exclusive covers for the
Friendship Is Magic comic set the Doctor Whooves character among many iconic
Doctor Who elements. The character was openly named Doctor Hooves in
The Elements of Harmony: The Official Guidebook, published by Little, Brown and Company. Professor Colin Burnett of
Washington University in St. Louis considered the adoption of these fan names and characteristics within the show as demonstration of co-creative collaboration that can exist in modern media, emphasized by unexpected demographics of bronies that helped to bolster the creators' success with the work. As a tribute to the older fandom as well as all other fans of the show, the milestone 100th episode "
Slice of Life", which was first broadcast in 2015, featured several of the background characters that the fans had made popular, including Derpy (now named "Muffins"), Doctor Whooves and DJ P0N-3 among others.
Hasbro and Hub Network Hasbro and Hub Network (prior to its rebranding as Discovery Family) have also sought to market to bronies. Steiner said, "You develop the best show you can, and hope the humor will translate to a broader audience. But I've been in the business for 25 years and I've never seen anything like this." A company spokeswoman said that bronies are "a small group of
My Little Pony fans who don't necessarily fit what one might expect to be the brand's target audience", while its core audience in the older market is predominantly females. Hasbro has allowed the fandom to be an organic movement leading to its growth and success, according to Stephen Davis, head of Hasbro Studios. Before the brony fandom arose, Hasbro had introduced new
My Little Pony toys, including convention-exclusives, at San Diego Comic-Con. With a brony element in attendance, the convention-exclusive toys have reflected the brony culture; a large poster was published in 2011 that included several background characters that had attracted the fandom's interest. A toy of a pegasus pony character named Derpy Hooves was made available for both the convention and My Little Pony Fair in 2012.
Toys "R" Us provided early, limited numbers of new toy based on the zebra character
Zecora, due for release in late 2012 by Hasbro. Both Zecora and "Derpy" toys sold out within the first day of the convention. Shapeways had previously published fan-financed and -created models without Hasbro's license before being asked to cease and desist such practice; the new approach with Hasbro's blessing has been seen as helping to break down the walls between content and fans in the age of social media. Teenage and adult fans have shown interest in clothing with images from the show; Erin Comella, brand manager for
My Little Pony, said that these fans are "literally dressed in the brand". In part of the older fanbase, Hasbro has come to consider
My Little Pony as a "lifestyle" brand, and , has arranged over 200 licenses across fifteen categories of products. Though Hasbro has not revealed how much of
My Little Pony product sales are bolstered by the brony fandom, Caitlin Dewey of
The Washington Post suggests that the continued success of the franchise four years after its introduction is tied in part to bronies' interest in the show and products, and Hasbro's williness to market products towards the adult audience. Hasbro and Hub Network have used advertising parodying others' works that are more geared towards the adult fans. Hub Network used a promotional billboard in Los Angeles showing the pony characters parodying the films
Bridesmaids and
Poltergeist. Hub Network also made a parody of
Apple's
App Store, which included the phrase, "There's a pony for that." A promotional campaign leading up to the second season finale, "
A Canterlot Wedding", in which Twilight's brother Shining Armor marries Princess Cadance, parodied elements of the
2011 British royal wedding, including the placement of an advertisement in the
New York Times wedding announcement section. At the onset of the fandom, Hasbro was generally tolerant of uploads of content and derivative works on sites such as YouTube. However, in late 2011, a fan-run website called "Ponyarchive" that was reposting for no cost the complete high-definition episodes that were being sold on iTunes closed down after receiving
cease and desist letters from Hasbro. The otherwise "hands-off" policy has enabled the growth of the fandom. Though many fan-created videos combine copyright footage of
Friendship Is Magic with adult elements from films inappropriate for children like
Inglourious Basterds or foul language from musical artists such as
Wu-Tang Clan, Hasbro has not taken a stance against these videos and has recognized that the parodies and remixes form a culture of participation that has helped to draw larger attention to the show. In November 2012, Hasbro sent a cease-and-desist letter to
MLP Online, A monthly
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic comic began its run in November 2012 by
IDW Publishing. The comic, like the show, is aimed to appeal to younger children with their parents, but includes various pop culture and fandom nods to draw in the older readers. IDW has reported that over 100,000 copies of the first issue were pre-ordered, outselling numerous other comic for that month, and making it the best selling issue in IDW's history, as well as one of the best selling single issue comics of 2012. IDW have made plans to reprint the first issue to meet further demand as well as republish the first set as a standalone volume early in 2013. The monthly comic and its separate "micro-series", featuring single-issue stories that focus on one character, have regularly been along the top 100 issues sold each month, one of the few non-
DC, non-
Marvel comics outside of
The Walking Dead that appear in this list, and remain IDW's top-selling publication. In addition to releasing official digital albums of songs from the show due to brony demand, Hasbro has worked with
Lakeshore Records to create an album of
EDM remixes of the show's songs, entitled
DJPON3 Presents My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Remixed; the album is inspired by the numerous fan remixes.
Criticism The adult fandom has been perceived negatively by some critics, with coverage of the brony fandom overshadowing the show itself. Much of the fandom's ridicule from others comes from the perception of the mostly adult male fanbase enjoying a show that is marketed to the young female demographic. Through this, the brony community has encountered ridicule through
trolling on internet forums, not only from its inception at
4chan, but also after moving away from the site. Some media have been critical of the adult-oriented material created by fans. In some cases, these videos may appear in Internet searches that children may perform while looking for online copies of the program or while searching for images of characters from the show, forcing parents to have to discuss pornography and sex with their children. For example, the parody series
PONY.MOV, animated by animator
Max Gilardi in the style of
John Kricfalusi, places the characters in explicit adult situations and was described by the web site
io9 as "disgusting ... and most certainly
NSFW". A study found that "a particularly extreme subset" of the brony fandom shows characteristics of
hegemonic masculinity, where male members strive to keep their majority in the numbers by purposely excluding and alienating females. In addition,
Vice reported on alt-right attempts to infiltrate brony and furry fandoms, where edgy and politically incorrect memes proliferated. In
Rolling Stone, journalist Lauren Orsini acknowledged that extremist subsets of the fandom had existed since at least the mid-2010s.
Other media Before Hasbro revived the toy series with its
Friendship Is Magic line, the
My Little Pony toys were collected mainly by women who grew up with the toys during the 1980s and 1990s.
Bonnie Zacherle, the original creator of the franchise, noted that the toys and show were originally conceived to appeal to preschool children of both genders, and considers it a "good thing" for the adult fandom to have the same appreciation of the show as the collectors. According to Summer Hayes, author of six books about
My Little Pony toy collections and organizer of the annual
My Little Pony collectors' fair, some of these collectors appreciated the attention of the brony community. Hayes said that the brony community has participated in the toy fair, and that other collectors resent the sudden popularity of
Friendship Is Magic. She said that these earlier fans and collectors had thought; " ... what about us? We've been here forever, and nobody seemed to care. But now that there are all these guys in their 20s that are crazy about it, it's suddenly important and it means something." Hayes also said, "To the bronies, I say, I think My Little Pony is awesome, so more power to you".
Stephen Colbert gave a shout-out to the brony fandom at least twice on his comedy news show,
The Colbert Report,
Erin Burnett of
CNN's
Outfront reported on the 2012 Summer BronyCon, and ended the segment with a recolored character from the show representing the pony version of herself. The fans gave her some artwork of her character as a way of "welcoming [her] to the herd".
NPR's comedy radio show ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! highlighted the brony fandom in an episode in June 2011, and the following week quizzed former US President Bill Clinton about elements from the show during a telephone interview segment called "Not My Job"; Clinton correctly answered the three multiple choice questions, leading at least one journalist to jokingly refer to him as a brony. An episode of Hot in Cleveland'' dealing with fan conventions included references to the brony fandom. Lexicographer
Grant Barrett listed "brony" as a memorable new word of 2011.
Time named "the bronies" as the ninth-best meme of 2011, the Internet meme research site
Know Your Meme listed it among its top ten memes of 2011, and
PC Magazine named it one of 2011's top memes. ==In popular culture==