I recently read an article about the annual BronyCon, www.bronycon.org, held a few weeks ago in Baltimore MD. After finally realizing that this was a real event, I naturally turned to the Internet to find out more.
The BronyCon is a convention focused on the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Attendees are almost all male and call themselves bronies.
The August BronyCon had over 8,000 attendees, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BronyCon.
In a Baltimore Sun article, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-08-02/entertainment/bs-ae-brony-culture-20130730_1_little-pony-bronycon-2013-tv-show, quotes one attendee:
“Many bronies say their obsession centers on the show’s cast of well-rounded, relatable characters. Weiss said he’s most like Fluttershy, as they are “both kind of socially awkward but we both like to muster the courage to speak out when we need to.” And Max Stahman, a first-year graduate student at the University of Maryland, is drawn to Rarity, a pony who is “somewhat snobbish and can rub people the wrong way, but ultimately has the best intentions and is a nice person.””
and
“”It’s one thing if it’s ironic,” Miller said. “But when you’re wearing a shirt with [the character] Pinkie Pie on it because you genuinely like Pinkie Pie, that’s different.””
Hopefully after telling my wife about all this, she will stop making fun of me going to see Serenity every year. If not, there is always Pinkie Pie shirts.