I’ve watched a few episodes and think they’re high-quality and well written to also appeal to adults, much in the same way that Pixar movies are. It is still fundamentally a kids show, though, and didn’t hold my interest longer than that.
I do find the meme-culture to be awesomely hilarious though. Few things can crack me up like a good pony meme image.
This.
I am not a guy. However, I do have a 4 year old, and have seen it a lot. It seems like a nice kids’ show, but I don’t see the appeal beyond that. However, my daughter is also the kind of kid who likes to watch her favorite episodes over and over, so it’s also possible that she (and thus me) are repeating the most straightforward “hey, we are ponies having an adventure” episodes.
So, for adults who really enjoy this show, are there one or two episodes you usually recommend that you think illustrate the adult appeal? Which ones would really hook an adult?
Possibly the single most “grown-up” episode I can think of is “Suited for Success”, which features Rarity making formal dresses for her friends for an upcoming occasion. It struck a chord with a lot of people who have had to deal with picky customers and compromise their vision to suit someone else, especially freelancers and small business types. It’s essentially a short musical rant on the themes of “it’s exactly what I asked for, but it isn’t what I want” and “it doesn’t matter that you’re the expert, you have to do it their way”. It’s presented in an exaggerated way to get it across to kids, but if you’ve ever done custom work-for-hire, it hits pretty close to home. (Everything gets resolved in the end, of course, but not without the perfectionist small business-owner working herself into the ground and dealing–melodramatically–with serious professional embarrassment.)
It was my son (3 or 4 at the time) who introduced us to MLP. I find it better than most of the other shows currently out there. It’s not just animals blowing each other up, or kids being mean to each other in school. When it is, it shows the consequences. Plus come on, he’s been introduced to time travel, hydras, basilisks, counter-spells and tons more . . . it’s like a D&D-prep cartoon!
(He also gave each member of our family a name based on one of the “Mane 6” and it actually fits our personalities pretty well.)
By far the best and most emotional episode is probably “Pinkie Pride”, one of the few truly musical episodes from a cartoon full of singing. Fully half the episode is songs, and it even guest stars Weird Al. One of the songs especially, Pinkie’s Lament, is a sad, slow song contrary to the many many happy and upbeat song in the series by that character. Its also the best song in the series. However, without a background in how Pinkie Pie typically is and perceived by everyone, you may not get the emotional jolt many people did when they watched this.
Try first “A Friend in Deed”, also a Pinkie episode with a great song, to see what kind of Pony she is.
For a good Fluttershy episode, there’s “Dragonshy” or “Hurricane Fluttershy”. She’s a very shy and demure pony that sometimes you just want to grab and shake to snap her out of it, but when she comes through for her friends its hilarious to see the change in personality
A more ensemble episode with a great story and song is the 2 parter the ends season 2 named “A Canterlot Wedding” part 1 and part 2. This is a great episode for the cast and especially for the technically main character Twilight Sparkle.
For a Rainbow Dash episode, try “Sonic Rainboom” and immediately follow that up with “The Cutie Mark Chronicles”. Rainbow’s the boyish jock of the group, always wanting to compete and showoff. The first episode is her own solo episode and the 2nd one is more of an ensemble one that gives you a bit of history on all the other characters.
Applejack is the country girl and her episodes generally deal with her farm that she works on with her grandmother, brother, and little sister. “Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000” is a hilarious episode with a great catchy song that took its inspiration from the Simpsons’ Monorail episode and song.
“Luna Eclipsed” features one of the most popular supporting characters, the formerly evil sister of the pony realm ruler. This episode is just downright hilarious. Lots of gags and memorable quotes.
Balance named a pretty good Rarity episode in “Suited for Success”. I would also add that “Simple Ways” is also really good, though she co-stars with Applejack in that one. It gets her personality through pretty well though
If you don’t have time to watch all of them, you can try watching some of the songs and see if you think they are catchy enough to find out the context. Some of the best songs in the series are “Winter Wrap Up”, “Find a Pet Song”, “The Flim Flam Brothers song”, “Smile song” (warning, do not click on Smile HD), “This Day Aria”, “Bats”, “Apples to the Core” and the aforementioned all songs from Pinkie Pride
MLP is a refreshing break from the grimdark of many modern shows.
Each time I watch it, I simply end up in a better mood. Note I said “watch it”, I stay clear from MLP fanfiction and the general community, and it’s not really a big part of my life.
I thought the reference was “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man
That’s where the Simpsons got it from so I guess you’re right.
“MMMystery on the Friendship Express” is one of the most hilarious things you’ll ever see.
I hope I’m not violating any rules by saying that I believe the people who post these kinds of pictures and stories are trolls who hate MLP and possibly sociopaths.
I have a young daughter and son who both enjoy the show, and it’s certainly one of the better kids show that’s on. The internet culture that’s built up is largely hilarious, and as a family we’ve spent time searching the internet for good pictures of our favourite characters (with ‘safe search’ firmly on), and a lot of the fan-produced comics and art is also very high quality.
Thanks for the episode suggestions, I will try to slip some of those into our rotation!
I’ve caught a few episodes by way of living in the same house as a Brony. I’ve caught a few episodes but nothing I really remember except for the odd call back in conversation with my son. It’s just not my thing, didn’t catch my interest.
Yes, Virginia there is a Brony culture. My son is a normal, healthy 20 yr old who dates, works, has a circle of age appropriate friends that he hangs out with and is a Brony. He likes MLP and the Brony culture.
He embraces much of the hipster neo-nerd culture. He, also, plays Magic, He plays D&D, Pathfinder, Deadlands, etc. He listens to electronica. He reads manga and watches other anime. Some of his friends are Bronies,. Some are not. Some of the girls he dates are Pegasis. Some are not. All of it is pretty standard fare for the '10’s nerds.
I’m not sure where the line is in this forum, but the amount of ignorance in this vile post cannot be overstated.
The line was back on the previous page where they got a mod warning.
Every group has their haters. Heck, even haters have Taylor Swift.
I thought you said he was normal. 
I think I saw some My Little Pony around 20 years ago, on account of my sister. Does that count?
Heck, those are just your regular, run-of-the-mill nerdy geek boys. You’d’ve gotten the same whether it was a gaming or cosplay convention, MtG tournament, or professional football game.
They never say anything interesting, they won’t stop talking about their character/deck/favorite team, and if you’re a girl they’ll only look at your boobs. Surely you’ve met similar guys at Whovian get-togethers - though maybe less annoying if you actually want to talk about the object of their obsession.
Actually, you didn’t mention anything about their having horrific body odor, so you even encountered a higher caliber example of the archetype.