The Last Bronycon

Re-watching this for probably the first time since 2020. I realized there are actually TWO different Brony documentaries, the other one is called A Brony Tale, which came out two years after the Kickstarter one. That’s the one I saw on Netflix sometime in the mid-2010s. From what I recall, that documentary is also pretty flattering to Bronies but also somewhat infantalizing. Does anyone who knows more about the MLP fandom and the Brony subculture than me have any thoughts on this?

Also, for anybody coming back to this video nearly 5 years on; i think FiM is making a bit of a comeback? I work in a high school and one of the students regularly watches MLP Infection au animatics and pirated FiM episodes on her lunch, so... make of that what you will lol

I still remember watching this video for the first time and being utterly blindsided by the Friendship is Witchcraft stuff "Wow there sure were a lot of MLP abridged series--but Jenny couldn't mean THAT friendship is wit--" *the incest song begins playing* "...wow i'm dumb"

Did Jenny and Griffin ever perform Friendship is Witchcraft songs live at conventions?

Thank you, Jenny. I'm a better man for having known ("known") you.

I went into this only knowing all of the negative parts of the mlp fandom and the bronies and I felt like this video really shed some light on it as a whole. I ended up feeling really emotional towards the end and even teared up a bit afterwards when I went to watch the announcement of the last bronycon.

Fantastic. I had 0 opinion on this subculture...and now I feel pretty affectionate towards it. (problematic problems aside). "Other Room!" got me choked up. hahaha, what?? Thanks for the loving insight.

Why does the end of this video make me emotional? I'm not a brony, I don't know any bronies, but even after 3 viewings I still get a little choked up at seeing all those happy people saying goodbye to something they've loved for so long :'(

I was really into MLP FIM the show (up until Season 5 when it started to lose me), but I wasn't deep into the brony culture, so totally missed Friendship is Witchcraft. I followed Jenny's recommendation and watched the wedding episode... and OMG I laughed so hard! I will destroy you and steal your fiance! Booty booty booty booty rockin' everywhere!

Speaking of fandom crossovers.... Have you heard that Hasbro apparently will be releasing some D&D themed ponies soon? I thought that it might be tangential to your interests. 😁😁

Man I cant wait for deer season to open up!

Just wanted to throw in on the love pile here. Really great work, no one I'm happier to be a patrony for.

ive been listening to the FiW songs and i hope that leads others to vote for the patron rambles about music. lol the g**** bard remix fcking slaps. oops

I have learned more about My Little Pony and "bronies" than I ever wanted to know. Education is magic!

Amazing video! I never got deep into fandom. I'm just one of those people who checked the show out because of all the weird media attention around 2011, and I really liked it - even most of the newer episodes are pretty good (the 100th episode is trash though). I even own some official comics now. I always assumed that the furry/clopping stuff was a small minority, since it wasn't on the front page of EQ daily. Huh. Anyway, even though I never ventured that deep, this video brings back some memories. Thank you!

This is hands down one of my favorite videos. Awesome work!

“Are we the baddies?” -Hasbro executive leaving a meeting about sexy cartoon horse pillows and Transformers movies.

loved the video! The fandom was a really formative part of my childhood: it's how I realized I was trans (I think this was pretty common)---so technically MLP did make me gay lol. anyways your thoughts in this video made me reminisce and re-contextualize my brony experiences, so ty!!

Such a wonderful video Jenny! I am constantly floored by the amount of research and thought that you put into your videos!

Oooooh boy did I learn.....a shocking amount from this video.

I remember snarking when the movie came out that the theater audiences were going to consist half of little girls with their parents, and half of grown men with erections. In retrospect that was pretty reductive, and these days I'm less inclined to judge someone negatively just for liking a piece of media. I still can't say I really "get" Bronies--but then, I don't need to "get" it because it has nothing to do with me--but I still want to thank you for making this video. It showed pretty definitively that the Brony phenomenon, like pretty much everything else in life, is more complicated and nuanced than it looks from the outside.

Jenny, your eye make-up is so good. The shading makes your eyes sparkle! Can we PLEASE have a tutorial someday? I need to replicate your bottom eyeliner skills. Awesome video, very balanced and ultimately uplifting.

This has made me nostalgic for the only fandom i’ve really been a part of - pretty little liars (which is where i got my patreon name from) and fuck man i miss fandoms where everyone is just there to have fun and no one cares about the ships. #booradleyvancullen

Of course you were horse famous (thanks for the lovely term). What the hell is your life, Jenny?

Loved it! But I do have to say I was a bit disappointed you never mentioned the Bob's Burgers Equestronauts episode. That is what I always imagined a Bronycon was like!

It says a lot about Jenny's creative skill and talent that I was fascinated and charmed by this video despite not particularly caring about MLP one way or the other. This was a great mini-documentary.

So I missed the premier of this because I was busy at 1am getting my beauty sleep for work this morning, but it was such a great surprise to wake up to! The first thing that I did when I got to work was sit down at my desk to view this great new thing that you made Jenny, though after clicking play I was almost immediately set upon with requests from my employer to "do some actual work", whatever that means. So I had to wait until lunch time which is fine, as it gave me a chance to watch this with my sister who also happens to work at the same place that I do, and who also happened to have her own collection of ponies back when we were kids so I'm pretty sure that she was even more hyped for this than I was! lol And I have to say, this was a really great watch with a ton of information that both of us previously weren't even remotely aware of; with my sister having never even heard of the term Brony before so she was especially fascinated by this realization! I know that I'm a broken record every time I say this Jenny, but this was absolutely fantastic! A well researched and well presented documentary with a lot of your own personal first hand experiences with the fandom that just adds so much heart and authenticity to it, unlike whatever that thing was that John de Lancie made. lol As always, thank you for the time and effort that you put in to making this (and everything else) as both my sister and I learned a whole lot here and it did make her a bit nostalgic for her old ponies that she unfortunately no longer has because as kids were almost always really dumb and never think to save our favorite toys! Also I'm glad that I can continue to do my small part here on Patreon to help support you so that when YouTube gets trigger happy with the copyright strikes you don't have to worry about anything and can just focus on enjoying life and making more amazing videos for all of us out here at whatever pace is most comfortable for you. You're the best! =)

Just when I though Jenny couldn't get cooler, I learn she's horse famous.... Gosh Jenny, you keep raising the bar!

"horse famous" why does that make me smile so much :D

Loved the video! It made me feel weirdly nostalgic. I came into the brony fandom at part 3 of your list and transitioned up to full collector at around part 4.

Wow wow wow, when you said you were going to take us on a journey you weren't kidding. That was a saga. I remember very fondly watching Friendship is Witchcraft with my best friend in early high school, and I really enjoyed the world of MLP in its hayday, even the fandom. (And while I never was as invested as you, before G4 I did have a large collection of G3 ponies my sisters and I played with as kids) But after listening to this, I'm kind of glad I never went much further into it and left while I still had fairly good impressions of the fandom as a whole. It also feels like your Horse Fame, while presumably nice at the time, has somewhat soured so I'm really glad you have found a new niche that you are passionate about - the amount of care and detail you put into this video is clear! It was worth the wait.

This is your magnum opus

Wow, thanks so much for this Jenny. I normally love your videos purely for the engaging style and humour you bring to any topic, even when I have no previous interest in it. This however was one of those internet-driven phenomena I saw happening around me, and was curious what was behind it all. I love the tracing of the ironic 4chan origins through unexpected sincerity and then into the negative impacts on the show and original fandom. My inner geek-anthropologist is very happy this oral history, straight from the horse-famouses-mouth, now exists :D

this effectively made me feel nostalgic about something i’ve never experienced haha great video. also that stacy’s mom cover slapped.

i LOVED this. i was waiting for you to address the tiktok discourse around FIW and god you went so hard

this is my favorite movie of 2020. i want a “we’re going in the sin dumpster” t-shirt

Wow, that voice clip showcase! Those are all you? Totally beside the point of the video but that was seriously impressive

Bravo! That was a masterpiece… a story only you could tell so well! On the downside, it did make me nostalgic for cons in general… *sniff*… Also, very relieved to hear that Tara Strong is such a “good egg”, as we say here in Britland. I love her prank of going to cons dressed as Harley Quinn (where everyone apparently just ignores her among the million other Harley cos-players!)

I’m also really happy, as an autistic person, that you brought up how the brony documentary made autistic people out to be infants and had a really damaging narrative about both autism and being gay. What a great video that was able to walk the line of examination and criticism

Jenny, the amount of hate you’re getting on twitter is so wild and I love your content. I’m sure you’re used to getting Twitter hate at this point in your career though. Keep on with the content!

I'm surprised that you didn't mentioned the Alt-right / Nazi part of the fandom, which is still a big thing nowadays (here's a good twitter thread https://twitter.com/woot_master/status/1231401516034088961 )

Can confirm that furries have fully claimed the brony fandom at this point. To be honest I never felt like that fandom fully went away because it still has a pretty decent sized presence at furry conventions. This was such a great video, Jenny!!!

Do I care about Bronycon?? No. But I care that Jenny cares about Bronycon.

I was sneakily watching this at my desk at work but once the body pillow footage came I lost my shit.

Oh my god this is your best video

This right here is some of the best documentary content I've ever seen on any topic. I am a complete outsider to this subculture, and I find everything about this video fascinating. And you've done a fantastic job covering the good, the bad, and the ugly, without exaggerating or slanting the overall video. Outstanding.

Because of that documentary I've had this lasting image of bronies as emotionally underdeveloped and/or sexist, homophobic, ruinously insecure nice guys. I'm all for honest enjoyment of any media but it painted such a regressive picture of healthy adult affect, all with zero self-awareness of what was on the screen. Glad there was a takedown all these years later lol

You outdid yourself.

So, if I'm understanding correctly, Jenny solved the Applejack Problem ... let's see ... more than 2½ years ago! - and yet the fix still hasn't been implemented? 🍎🤠😠

Wasn't hip to this fandom before finding your content. Not my "thing" but you are such a compelling intertainer you make it fun for me. Sorry about the strike, I guess it's the water you swim in now on youtube.

Ahhh, you scrolled by my old website, Moondancer's Dream! Man, that brings back memories. Also those webrings, yeah! I do miss the internet having all those weird little personalized cul-de-sacs.

Copyright has become such a scam. People act like copyright is this intrinsic moral law of the universe. It’s not. It’s new. And it very clearly has become a tool to allow huge corporations to annex our shared culture, depriving future generations of what is rightfully theirs. People who shill for copyright are not much different than the polluters who want to keep pumping carbon into the air regardless of the effects it has on future generations — effects which are already very much apparent. It is, at best, grievously short-sighted. Prediction: In five hundred years, our current system of “intellectual property” (copyright, trademarks, patents) will be considered an archaic affront to basic human rights, rather like “creative feudalism”. It will be mentioned alongside multi-level-marketing and trickle-down economics as one of the peculiarly unchallenged scams of our era. People of the future will wonder how we could have possibly been so stupid.

Thank so much for making this video Jenny! I learnt so much! I remember first hearing about Bronies and googling them because I didn’t understand the phenomenon, but I couldnt find more than “bronies are creepy incel weirdos” or actual Brony content. It’s so great to have a nuanced explainer of how the fandom originated and operated from someone who was apart of or at least adjacent. Again, thanks so much for all the work you put into this Jenny, it’s my new fave video of yours!

I had no idea.

This was so interesting omg I started watching FIM in 2011/2012 when I was like an edgy tween girl who watched it because of its emerging cult status and kind of was in the ironic watching crowd? But I ended up finding a show that made me comfortable in my femininity & genuinely loving it even if I almost felt too old to engage with it (even at 12/13! Which is wild because I WAS the target demographic). I have really fond memories of it even though I only watched one season and never engaged in brony stuff. Feel like I finally know what the deal is with bronies but also like helped me get my head around the timeline of how I even came to watch it lol The last bronycon looked really sweet and fun too🥺

Glorious! This video deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of Jenny videos.

Did you not do a premiere for this one to avoid the bronies piling on? Or was the premiere process just a hassle in general? I enjoyed the premiere of the LBT vid.

"I've already got a copyright strike on this one"--man, those Bronys really are *fast* on the turnaround.

instead of your Patreons, can we be your Pony-ons?

Okay this video is a complete masterpiece.

Friendship is Witchcraft was my favourite part of the fandom, I watched it constantly. So happy you mentioned it!

What a great video. This was honestly really well-written and put-together, tangents and all.

Really enjoyed watching!

Well that was nice. So many body pillows though... That sensual (ugh) Twilight Sparkle is going to haunt my nightmares. I kind of got back into MLP through the G4 show which I never would have given a chance if it weren't for the adult fans spamming ponies everywhere as the G3 movies and shorts I grew up with were honestly awful (G3.5 was by far the worst iteration, both toys and shorts, cmv). I've sort of been an observer of the fandom since 2014 and it's weird to remember that there are people who don't know what it actually was. Same with furries; I've been following a few furry artists for a decade now without being involved myself and seeing people find out about the fandom without really *getting it* is a strange feeling.

This might be my new favourite video from you. I never thought I would feel bitter-sweet for a fandom I never participated.

Such a great video! I'm sad I had to leave the premiere early but truthfully I don't think anyone would have wanted the live reaction of me gaining the knowledge that "clopping" exists.

Great work Jenny, really happy to be a patrony right now

Well done. I never would have guessed I wanted to learn so much about bronydom, but I'm glad I did. A lot of interesting stuff.

Damn part of me feels so like wth is up with these people and then I remember I like transformers and there's just as much negetive stuff and gate keeping there. It's just from fans who were fans of the original and in particular the comics. I don't think the weird sexual stuff is there though... Oh wait starscream fans. Nope never mind. It's just as strange, it just seems less strange because it's seemingly more traditionally masculine. Great and entertaining video though.

Exactly what I was hoping for! Also I'm embarrassingly giddy after seeing my name in the credits for the first time. I'm glad it was this video.

This was really great.

Excellent! 😁😁😁

The video was awesome! Thank you Jenny!

I’m sad that I had my phone on DND and didn’t notice the premier til 32 min in when I happened to open YT. I watched the chat for a while but not the video yet (til tomorrow). Premier Chat only is an interesting way to experience YouTube

Well, it's not like I have anywhere to be Tuesday morning... 😁

I really needed something to take my mind off things 🙏 thank you Jenny

Me: sleep u👄u Me seeing that Jenny posted a new video at 4am: no sleep 👁👄👁

I'm so excited! Just upped my pledge to watch the preview!

Ahhh so exciting! I was JUST about to sleep but I’ll be sure to put this on right before I drift off 👀👀👀 I’m so hype