Could be some countersignalling involved; “traditionally masculine normies would not give any consideration to this show because they think cartoon ponies are exclusively for little girls—therefore by performatively liking the pony show I can visibly prove that I am somewhat unusual in a harmlessly quirky sort of way”
Although since autism doesn’t usually lend itself to elaborate status signalling ploys, it could just be genuine appreciation. With the demographic then skewed by way of filtering out some of the aforementioned traditionally masculine normies.
My daughter was into it for a little while, and sometimes I would watch the shows with her. Once you get past the ponies and rainbows, it’s a pretty well done children’s show with relatively complex but safe humor that adults can appreciate, similar to shows like Bluey or Pixar films. People with autism might be more likely to overlook the ponies and rainbows overtones that would be a social signal that “this is for girls” for anyone else, and then keep watching for the reasons I gave.
Honestly? I’m not autistic (I don’t think? Jury’s out I guess.) But I sat down and watched it as a joke with a roommate, and then we just… kept watching it. A lot of the stories were pretty well written, a lot of the jokes are genuinely funny, like beyond kid show stuff. The community is pretty welcoming and inclusive and friendly.
disclaimer: i worked for the show’s original creator, Lauren Faust.
autistic folks often struggle with social interaction, which typically deprives them of meaningful relationships. the main character is a huge science nerd who loves books and thinks she’s too good for friendship. then she meets folks who love and value and enjoy her company, and life becomes more vibrant for her. this premise presents a believable escapist fantasy about what it’s like to discover meaningful connections with others, and the educational aspect provides a basic blueprint for understanding people and navigating social conflict. there’s also a few characters that are autism-coded (most notably the beloved Maud Pie) and are treated with warmth while demonstrating interactions with folks on the spectrum.
but if the “friendship education” aspect were the only thing that mattered, then any ol’ kids show would do. Barney teaches friendship lessons, so why not that? it’s not enough.
the difference here is that the creators took the writing seriously and wrote it (or at least the first few seasons) like a fantasy sitcom instead of strictly a kids’ show.
already, the fantasy + slice-of-life combo is super novel and enticing, it’s why Harry Potter is so damn popular. these gals hang out and have fun and do stupid silly shit around town and live life and struggle with their 9 to 5, but they also go on adventures and fight dragons and save the world and unearth the deep secrets of the land.
for the fantasy aspect, she was inspired by stuff like Lord of the Rings, so there’s LORE. instead of falling back on comedic nonsensical logic (like how Fairly Oddparents’ “Da Rules” would have arbitrary ‘laws’ like “no wishing for a hot dog on Tuesday unless it’s raining” or whatever), there’s a believable world with a consistent internal history, a magic system that operates on rules, vivid fantasy races like gryphons and changelings, a grounded causality to natural and magical phenomena, wars and invasions, social upheaval, all that good fantasy shit.
as for the sitcom aspect, the dialogue is pretty witty, with all of the characters trading friendly banter that exploits their archetypes, which makes for a fun dynamic. they’re also all adults with sensible jobs and careers, so the show will often touch on the struggles of adulthood and being working professionals, which makes it more relatable to adults. (any tax-paying freelancer can relate to the Rarity episode where folks commission her for dresses but then keep undermining her expertise by demanding shitty adjustments that makes the dresses look awful. contractor vs client conflict.)
autistic folks love fantasy, and also love consistent logic. so now there are a bunch of them attracted to the foundational aspects of the show. plus a bunch of neurotypicals who just like the show ‘cuz it’s good. girls and women like it ‘cuz they finally have a “girly” product that’s high quality and doesn’t talk down to them or encourage unrealistic body standards or rampant vanity consumerism or the pursuit of status. boys and men like it because it lets them get in touch with softer and more emotionally expressive sides themselves without shame. both of these things attract liberals invested in breaking gender roles.
that creates a fandom with shared interests, which tends to attract relationship-deprived social outcasts because it’s an easier place to make friends and break the ice.
so now you have a bunch of normies having fun and being a little more gender liberated, and a bunch of outcasts making friends and connections for the first time. it becomes life changing for some folks. they meet their lifelong friends and loved ones. normies introduce outcasts to touching grass, outcasts introduce normies to geek culture, horizons broaden on all sides. the fandom blossoms. it becomes its own self-sustaining culture and economy with conventions and meetups. fan artists and musicians get elevated to celebrity status and many go onto successful careers. my former roommate did fan pony voices and now she’s the voice of 2B in NieR Automata lmao
then gamergate happens and the nazis and perverts take over rip
Honestly, a lot of forced gender stereotypes as kids? Its often you seek out things that are deemed “not for your gender” because no one likes being left out. MLP Was being released while these men were kids, and its honestly really well written; thers bright colors, heartfelt plots, fantasy, and colorful ponies are just kind of fun. A combination of all those things lead to it being one of the biggest online fandoms (at least one of the most well known).
Sure there are creeps, but in honesty they are the minority, and there will always be creeps within any fandom. The stereotype of “old men liking little girl cartoon” is perpetuated due to preconceived notions. I’d argue theres more lewd/dead dove surrounding pokemon than MLP.
Either way, its influential for a multitude of reasons. Mainly accessibility (it was very easy to watch *everything* online or on cable), catchy songs and characters, bright colors and pretty art, pretty solid plot and overarching plot lines, and being the most prominent “girls show” promotion wise in its time. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it. (much like frozen in its time, or miraculous ladybug etc)
As an adult autistic man, I don’t actually know anyone who watches MLP as an adult. I find it extremely boring personally but if i was to guess, autistic people are less likely to fell the need to fit in, NT people will often say they dislike something because its for little girls rather then because they actually don’t enjoy the content. Autistic people often ignore social norms.
I’m an autistic adult but not a man. I grew up with earlier generations of My Little Pony, and the show is just straight up better than those shows/movies. It’s well written and compelling rather than just pretty colors on a screen for babies.
Iirc, a lot of early “bronies” started watching as a joke, but a lot of them stopped joking and kept watching seriously because they actually liked it. Then it became popular because people wanted to see what was so great about this little girl show that a bunch of dudes were watching.
The autism part seems self explanatory to me tbh. A neurotypical man might feel too much shame due to social norms to watch a little girl show. An autistic man is just less likely to ascribe to these social norm due to being autistic.
Not just autistic men, I never enjoyed it but two of my good friends watched the show in high school, I’d tease them about it but, these were the people also telling me to watch breaking bad, the walking dead, and game of thrones so it’s not like they were into shows like that generally, anime fans, so I’m assuming it has some anime influence who knows
Not sure if you’ve watched it, but many of the monsters in it are straight out of the Monster Manual. In a couple of episodes, they just go full on D&D party. It’s got Weird Al. It’s got Q from Star Trek basically as himself (Q that is). The show is geeked out as fuck.
One explanation I was given by a friend was, “it’s a show where female characters are actually friends and nice to each other and care about each other.”
The whole “brony” phenomenon started out by random chance, basically. Somebody wrote a stupid article before the show even came out about how (they assumed) it would be racist, sexist, smart-shaming garbage, which became a meme on 4chan, which caused a lot of channers to watch the first few episodes just to see what the fuss was about, and they discovered that it was pretty fun and told their friends, leading to a small but steadily growing fandom in weird corners of the internet.
But then, the people who watched it started actually trying to embody the ideals that the show teaches children about, the love and tolerance and hope and helpfulness. Which meant that when other people were being bullied or ostracized from their own communities and went looking for help or support, they were increasingly likely to find some guy with an unusual fondness for pastel equines offering unconditional support and acceptance.
Once somebody “joined the herd” they would be surrounded by people with shared interests just being nice to each other. On the relatively ordinary end, this meant always having somebody to talk to about personal issues, being encouraged to try out artistic pursuits, stuff like that. On the more dramatic end, I know at least three people who were about to commit suicide when they were dragged away from the edge by a brony. There were gay and trans kids who were kicked out of their homes or ran away from abusive parents and only avoided becoming homeless because they were given shelter by bronies. Fucking… neo-nazis and would-be domestic terrorists who were turned away from the dark side by somebody with a fluttershy avatar deciding to love and tolerate the shit out of them.
The funny thing is, the show isn’t even all that great. I mean, well above average, but I don’t think it’s in the top 10% of media, let alone one of the all-time classics. But the community that built up around it was downright magical.
As an autistic person into Sonic the Hedgehog, my theory is that when you struggle with faces, you get really attached to cartoons where everyone is a different color and they all have crazy hair shapes or accessories.
“autistic” is how you should view a trend that the people who engage in it say they are. It’s an internet joke that proves 99.99% of the population has no idea how to write funny.
Comments
It started as a meme and then once it stopped being funny the memers found out that A LOT of dudes actually want to fuck the cartoon horses.
Could be some countersignalling involved; “traditionally masculine normies would not give any consideration to this show because they think cartoon ponies are exclusively for little girls—therefore by performatively liking the pony show I can visibly prove that I am somewhat unusual in a harmlessly quirky sort of way”
Although since autism doesn’t usually lend itself to elaborate status signalling ploys, it could just be genuine appreciation. With the demographic then skewed by way of filtering out some of the aforementioned traditionally masculine normies.
I’ve seen Hello Kitty clothing in Men’s Department other then that too
It’s just a good show
My daughter was into it for a little while, and sometimes I would watch the shows with her. Once you get past the ponies and rainbows, it’s a pretty well done children’s show with relatively complex but safe humor that adults can appreciate, similar to shows like Bluey or Pixar films. People with autism might be more likely to overlook the ponies and rainbows overtones that would be a social signal that “this is for girls” for anyone else, and then keep watching for the reasons I gave.
Because MLP:Friendship is Magic was a pretty good and funny show.
And the “autistic” aren’t afraid to like what they like, even though the non-autistic asshole pigs will insult them for daring to enjoy things.
I spat out my drink.
Honestly? I’m not autistic (I don’t think? Jury’s out I guess.) But I sat down and watched it as a joke with a roommate, and then we just… kept watching it. A lot of the stories were pretty well written, a lot of the jokes are genuinely funny, like beyond kid show stuff. The community is pretty welcoming and inclusive and friendly.
Have you not seen the size of Horse Dick?
Here’s a quick little video that gets into it a bit. https://youtu.be/4fVOF2PiHnc?si=V93aoU_okr3aOkm0
I can’t figure out if the title here is missing a word (among) or a comma (i.e. “Why is MLP so popular, autistic adult men?”)
Guess that means I’m the target demographic.
disclaimer: i worked for the show’s original creator, Lauren Faust.
autistic folks often struggle with social interaction, which typically deprives them of meaningful relationships. the main character is a huge science nerd who loves books and thinks she’s too good for friendship. then she meets folks who love and value and enjoy her company, and life becomes more vibrant for her. this premise presents a believable escapist fantasy about what it’s like to discover meaningful connections with others, and the educational aspect provides a basic blueprint for understanding people and navigating social conflict. there’s also a few characters that are autism-coded (most notably the beloved Maud Pie) and are treated with warmth while demonstrating interactions with folks on the spectrum.
but if the “friendship education” aspect were the only thing that mattered, then any ol’ kids show would do. Barney teaches friendship lessons, so why not that? it’s not enough.
the difference here is that the creators took the writing seriously and wrote it (or at least the first few seasons) like a fantasy sitcom instead of strictly a kids’ show.
already, the fantasy + slice-of-life combo is super novel and enticing, it’s why Harry Potter is so damn popular. these gals hang out and have fun and do stupid silly shit around town and live life and struggle with their 9 to 5, but they also go on adventures and fight dragons and save the world and unearth the deep secrets of the land.
for the fantasy aspect, she was inspired by stuff like Lord of the Rings, so there’s LORE. instead of falling back on comedic nonsensical logic (like how Fairly Oddparents’ “Da Rules” would have arbitrary ‘laws’ like “no wishing for a hot dog on Tuesday unless it’s raining” or whatever), there’s a believable world with a consistent internal history, a magic system that operates on rules, vivid fantasy races like gryphons and changelings, a grounded causality to natural and magical phenomena, wars and invasions, social upheaval, all that good fantasy shit.
as for the sitcom aspect, the dialogue is pretty witty, with all of the characters trading friendly banter that exploits their archetypes, which makes for a fun dynamic. they’re also all adults with sensible jobs and careers, so the show will often touch on the struggles of adulthood and being working professionals, which makes it more relatable to adults. (any tax-paying freelancer can relate to the Rarity episode where folks commission her for dresses but then keep undermining her expertise by demanding shitty adjustments that makes the dresses look awful. contractor vs client conflict.)
autistic folks love fantasy, and also love consistent logic. so now there are a bunch of them attracted to the foundational aspects of the show. plus a bunch of neurotypicals who just like the show ‘cuz it’s good. girls and women like it ‘cuz they finally have a “girly” product that’s high quality and doesn’t talk down to them or encourage unrealistic body standards or rampant vanity consumerism or the pursuit of status. boys and men like it because it lets them get in touch with softer and more emotionally expressive sides themselves without shame. both of these things attract liberals invested in breaking gender roles.
that creates a fandom with shared interests, which tends to attract relationship-deprived social outcasts because it’s an easier place to make friends and break the ice.
so now you have a bunch of normies having fun and being a little more gender liberated, and a bunch of outcasts making friends and connections for the first time. it becomes life changing for some folks. they meet their lifelong friends and loved ones. normies introduce outcasts to touching grass, outcasts introduce normies to geek culture, horizons broaden on all sides. the fandom blossoms. it becomes its own self-sustaining culture and economy with conventions and meetups. fan artists and musicians get elevated to celebrity status and many go onto successful careers. my former roommate did fan pony voices and now she’s the voice of 2B in NieR Automata lmao
then gamergate happens and the nazis and perverts take over rip
Honestly, a lot of forced gender stereotypes as kids? Its often you seek out things that are deemed “not for your gender” because no one likes being left out. MLP Was being released while these men were kids, and its honestly really well written; thers bright colors, heartfelt plots, fantasy, and colorful ponies are just kind of fun. A combination of all those things lead to it being one of the biggest online fandoms (at least one of the most well known).
Sure there are creeps, but in honesty they are the minority, and there will always be creeps within any fandom. The stereotype of “old men liking little girl cartoon” is perpetuated due to preconceived notions. I’d argue theres more lewd/dead dove surrounding pokemon than MLP.
Either way, its influential for a multitude of reasons. Mainly accessibility (it was very easy to watch *everything* online or on cable), catchy songs and characters, bright colors and pretty art, pretty solid plot and overarching plot lines, and being the most prominent “girls show” promotion wise in its time. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it. (much like frozen in its time, or miraculous ladybug etc)
Hope this helped a bit 🙂
-an autistic who grew up on the show
This question feels a decade late
I love learning new things. Today, i learned ” post title “
As an adult autistic man, I don’t actually know anyone who watches MLP as an adult. I find it extremely boring personally but if i was to guess, autistic people are less likely to fell the need to fit in, NT people will often say they dislike something because its for little girls rather then because they actually don’t enjoy the content. Autistic people often ignore social norms.
Ah ahhh ahhhh AHHHH ahhhhhhhh
I’m an autistic adult but not a man. I grew up with earlier generations of My Little Pony, and the show is just straight up better than those shows/movies. It’s well written and compelling rather than just pretty colors on a screen for babies.
Iirc, a lot of early “bronies” started watching as a joke, but a lot of them stopped joking and kept watching seriously because they actually liked it. Then it became popular because people wanted to see what was so great about this little girl show that a bunch of dudes were watching.
The autism part seems self explanatory to me tbh. A neurotypical man might feel too much shame due to social norms to watch a little girl show. An autistic man is just less likely to ascribe to these social norm due to being autistic.
IM NOT AUTISTIC…I just like the the colors and the shap language and the voice and the characters are cool
So yea…
The songs slap lol
Not just autistic men, I never enjoyed it but two of my good friends watched the show in high school, I’d tease them about it but, these were the people also telling me to watch breaking bad, the walking dead, and game of thrones so it’s not like they were into shows like that generally, anime fans, so I’m assuming it has some anime influence who knows
Not sure if you’ve watched it, but many of the monsters in it are straight out of the Monster Manual. In a couple of episodes, they just go full on D&D party. It’s got Weird Al. It’s got Q from Star Trek basically as himself (Q that is). The show is geeked out as fuck.
Because Shining Armor is the king of autistic adult men.
colors and soothing
It’s worth pointing out that bronies are kinda gone these days, the show ended, most people moved on.
One explanation I was given by a friend was, “it’s a show where female characters are actually friends and nice to each other and care about each other.”
For the same reason many Reddit mods are MLP fans—-they’re channeling their PDFilia in a way that seems somewhat suspect but not completely damning.
The whole “brony” phenomenon started out by random chance, basically. Somebody wrote a stupid article before the show even came out about how (they assumed) it would be racist, sexist, smart-shaming garbage, which became a meme on 4chan, which caused a lot of channers to watch the first few episodes just to see what the fuss was about, and they discovered that it was pretty fun and told their friends, leading to a small but steadily growing fandom in weird corners of the internet.
But then, the people who watched it started actually trying to embody the ideals that the show teaches children about, the love and tolerance and hope and helpfulness. Which meant that when other people were being bullied or ostracized from their own communities and went looking for help or support, they were increasingly likely to find some guy with an unusual fondness for pastel equines offering unconditional support and acceptance.
Once somebody “joined the herd” they would be surrounded by people with shared interests just being nice to each other. On the relatively ordinary end, this meant always having somebody to talk to about personal issues, being encouraged to try out artistic pursuits, stuff like that. On the more dramatic end, I know at least three people who were about to commit suicide when they were dragged away from the edge by a brony. There were gay and trans kids who were kicked out of their homes or ran away from abusive parents and only avoided becoming homeless because they were given shelter by bronies. Fucking… neo-nazis and would-be domestic terrorists who were turned away from the dark side by somebody with a fluttershy avatar deciding to love and tolerate the shit out of them.
The funny thing is, the show isn’t even all that great. I mean, well above average, but I don’t think it’s in the top 10% of media, let alone one of the all-time classics. But the community that built up around it was downright magical.
austistic =/= brony
As an autistic person into Sonic the Hedgehog, my theory is that when you struggle with faces, you get really attached to cartoons where everyone is a different color and they all have crazy hair shapes or accessories.
Im not autistic. Wait…….
“autistic” is how you should view a trend that the people who engage in it say they are. It’s an internet joke that proves 99.99% of the population has no idea how to write funny.
It’s my daughters fault. She got me hooked.
Some people have tried to say that I’m autistic and I have absolutely no feelings or clue about My Little Pony …
It’s great if it has a positive appeal to some folks …
But, I’m pretty ambivalent?
Hate & Love
Ambivalent can be just as strong as a feeling
Dunno
It must by a young adult’s thing, for this 60 yr old autistic adult man has zero interest in my little pony
Because friendship is magic
Nonthreatening, with an overall message of inclusiveness and acceptance.