Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 12, 2018

According to the frequently questionable “expertise” of Wikipedia, statistical analysis suggests that one out of every 34 people in the United States may be a Brony. I’m frankly not sure what analytical methods were utilized to derive this conclusion, but if the actually kind of delightful (if often unintentionally hilarious) documentary Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony is any indication, you can probably spot these people by My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic branded accoutrements they carry (or even wear), not to mention their participation in huge so-called “Brony-cons”. As perhaps is abundantly clear from some of my writing, like our Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels Blu-ray review or My Little Pony: The Movie Blu-ray review, I have a somewhat jaundiced sense of humor about some of these supposed “kiddie” franchises, a sense of humor that is probably really annoying to the shows’ fans (and which, as detailed in the latter of those two reviews, has invited umbrage from certain public relations firms handling these accounts). That said, while I did burst out laughing at several key junctures in Bronies (not the least of which was a vignette dealing a support group for — wait for it — “military bronies”), I was surprisingly touched by several elements at play in this documentary, one which tends to touch (at least tangentially) on ideas of gender conformity and socialization.

While Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony has a number of kind of wonderful first person confessionals from a variety of “older” fans (not all male, mind you, despite that “bro” part of brony), in a way there’s really never any clear explication offered as to what exactly it is about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that would spark such rabid approval. In fact, the documentary may even beg this question itself by tracing this iteration back through the previous My Little Pony installments, going so far as to suggest (perhaps in jest, like my Thomas the Tank Engine review cited above) that the whole franchise was developed to sell tie in toys. The earnestness that many of these My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans display in their “testimonies” delivered straight to the camera is palpable, but the documentary perhaps might have tried to figure out why all of these people flock (herd?) to the show.

There certainly is passing lip service given to many of the honorable traits of the My Little Pony franchise, including its emphasis on teamwork, loyalty and persistence, but those three qualities could be used to describe any number of other cartoon enterprises. Still, there’s no denying that the Brony phenomenon is quite real, as evidenced by the conventions the documentary ventures to, as well as the simple one on one interviews across the globe that are presented. Everything from an Israeli guy who remixes songs from the show to any number of Americans who "only" collect My Little Pony paraphenalia are interviewed, and it's interesting to note, perhaps by way of some explanation, that at least one or two of these (mostly) guys mention how being a Brony gave them a much needed sense of community.

At least a few of these have somewhat uncomfortable parents (typically but not always the fathers) wondering what exactly it means that their teenaged or older sons are watching a show ostensibly geared toward young females. There is of course the subtext that Bronies must be gay, something that’s actually discussed freely by a couple of the participants (i.e., the perception, not necessarily that they’re gay), and one of the sweeter vignettes details an arrangement involving voice actor John de Lancie, who introduces one especially concerned father who has just recently found out about his son’s love of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to another Dad who has long known about his son’s fandom. This may all actually sound a little funny, and in fact it probably is, but there’s also an underlying sincerity to these people that may curtail any overly derisive laughter.

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bronies: The Completely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BronyDoc with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While this is a progressive presentation, it's clear that some of the source video utilized must have been interlaced, as evidenced by some pretty bad anomalies that crop up from time to time (see screenshot 18 for one particularly blatant example). Aside from the occasionally distracting issue, the rest of the presentation is competent if never mind blowing. The beautiful pastels of the ponies are represented quite faithfully in the clips from the show, and even in some of the cosplay on display at the conventions, but overall the palette just looked slightly bland to my eyes at times. The interview segments typically contain good detail levels, but contrast is occasionally 'undercooked", leading to a slightly hazy look.

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bronies: The Completely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony features only a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 mix that certainly provides reasonable support for what is in essence a talking heads feature, but a surround track (even a lossy one) might have given a better accounting of the cacophony at the conventions or even some of the brief musical snippets. That said, the first person confessionals are all delivered with excellent fidelity, and while there can be a bit of a hall reverb ambience in some of the convention interviews, those, too, are generally easy to discern.

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Bonus Segments

  Great Britain - Best of Buck (1080p; 6:04) has some fun footage and interviews from a UK Brony convention.

  Germany - Best of Galacon (1080p; 9:43) does much the same service for a German get together, which I have to say looks like it was considerably rowdier than the UK version.

Disc Two

The second Bonus Disc features extended interviews with:

• Lauren Faust (1080p; 2:06:55). You're not reading the length of this interview incorrectly, it really does last for over two hours, and has a picayune selection of data points from Faust's life, going back to her early childhood.


• John de Lancie (1080p; 18:38). De Lancie is extremely affable (as he is in the main documentary), and talks about his voicework as well as the whole phenomenon of bronies.


• Tara Strong (1080p; 58:59) gets the "Faust" treatment, with a wide ranging interview going back to her childhood.

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Have you been secretly keeping track of Twilight Sparkle and her cohorts and are now finally ready to announce your passion to the world? You're not alone, as Bronies: The Completely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony makes abundantly clear. Just get in a room with at least 34 other people, and chances are you'll find at least one fellow traveler, at least if Wikipedia statistics are to be believed. This appealing documentary may not provide a ton of actual insight, but it's sweet and often surprisingly touching. Technical merits aren't great, but fans of the My Little Pony franchise may want to consider checking this out in any case.