As voice actor Ashleigh Ball prepares to visit Bronycon, the unusual fandom of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010) is explored.As voice actor Ashleigh Ball prepares to visit Bronycon, the unusual fandom of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010) is explored.As voice actor Ashleigh Ball prepares to visit Bronycon, the unusual fandom of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010) is explored.
- Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
Benjamin Humphrey
- Self - Interview
- (as Military Brony)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Despite not being a Brony myself, I found this documentary to be extremely uplifting. In keeping with the good vibes of the fandom, it tries to accentuate the positives without mentioning the more sinister connotations that detractors have associated with supporters of the show. And while that means this isn't a balanced cultural analysis, it does make for ninety minutes of feel good entertainment that made me smile, if only for the reason that the show brings together people who might otherwise feel lonely and marginalized. Don't underestimate the importance of that.
As a documentary it was very well made. The will she/won't she go to the conference storyline with Ashleigh Ball was a bit contrived but gave the film some forward motion and structure. The cinematography was surprisingly good and they captured a lot of interesting, varied footage from around the country on what must have been a fairly meager budget. The way they weaved in news clips, interviews with creators and fans, scenery shots, the analysis of the psychologists...it gave the film variety and it never felt stagnant or boring. The scenes with the ex-military brony added a sense of deepness and soul and were definitely the emotional centerpiece, especially the interview in the car on the way to the convention which was actually quite inspiring and didn't feel forced or scripted.
The art direction was cool and stayed true to the show, with bright block colors adding to the positivity. All in all it was a very natural, enjoyable documentary and at the very least will serve as a fitting historical reference point for this bizarre yet strangely inspirational fandom.
As a documentary it was very well made. The will she/won't she go to the conference storyline with Ashleigh Ball was a bit contrived but gave the film some forward motion and structure. The cinematography was surprisingly good and they captured a lot of interesting, varied footage from around the country on what must have been a fairly meager budget. The way they weaved in news clips, interviews with creators and fans, scenery shots, the analysis of the psychologists...it gave the film variety and it never felt stagnant or boring. The scenes with the ex-military brony added a sense of deepness and soul and were definitely the emotional centerpiece, especially the interview in the car on the way to the convention which was actually quite inspiring and didn't feel forced or scripted.
The art direction was cool and stayed true to the show, with bright block colors adding to the positivity. All in all it was a very natural, enjoyable documentary and at the very least will serve as a fitting historical reference point for this bizarre yet strangely inspirational fandom.
I think the real star of the show is Ashleigh Ball, who ends up being our vessel, essentially, for exploring this quirky fandom of grown men who like a cartoon for little girls. I even gave My Little Pony a shot after watching this doc and while it's not for me, I now understand the appeal. It's definitely a well made cartoon show (I only watched the first three episodes, mind you). Well done to Hodge and company.
The title of this film should have been, Ashleigh Ball: Attention Whore and other losers. It seems like the only people that they interviewed for the Bronies were socially inept, in other words, losers. They interviewed a "tough" mechanic and a man from the army in order to show how tough the fans are, however, both men seemed to ill-fit in a 'normal' crowd and both confessed, through their criticisms of what society expects from a boy, that they envy women and even wish they were women. Most of this I found mildly compelling. The interest ended there.
Most of the scenes in this film are of Ashleigh Ball, a voice actress who voices two of the Ponies in the My little Pony Cartoon. She bursts onto the scene, parading herself in various outfits and plugging her band. She talks about herself extensively and pretends that she thinks the Bronies are weirdos and that she thinks the interest in the show is bizarre, however, due to her poor acting ability, it is overwhelmingly obvious that this is her dream come true. She sees herself as the star of the show even tho all she does is provide the voice of two characters. She is not involved in the writing, or anything else to do with the production of the show, but she seems to feel like the most important person in the room whenever Bronies are mentioned and she reads about her characters and watches video and looks at fan made pictures for hours to feed her inner narcissism. If anything, this was a documentary about how entitled, connected and privileged Ashleigh Ball is.
I was interested to hear what the psychologists had to say until I realized that they were far from objective. Their own son is a Brony. Terrible work, No focus, hard to watch.
Most of the scenes in this film are of Ashleigh Ball, a voice actress who voices two of the Ponies in the My little Pony Cartoon. She bursts onto the scene, parading herself in various outfits and plugging her band. She talks about herself extensively and pretends that she thinks the Bronies are weirdos and that she thinks the interest in the show is bizarre, however, due to her poor acting ability, it is overwhelmingly obvious that this is her dream come true. She sees herself as the star of the show even tho all she does is provide the voice of two characters. She is not involved in the writing, or anything else to do with the production of the show, but she seems to feel like the most important person in the room whenever Bronies are mentioned and she reads about her characters and watches video and looks at fan made pictures for hours to feed her inner narcissism. If anything, this was a documentary about how entitled, connected and privileged Ashleigh Ball is.
I was interested to hear what the psychologists had to say until I realized that they were far from objective. Their own son is a Brony. Terrible work, No focus, hard to watch.
Pretty good doc about a quirky group. I liked it well enough, am only giving it 10/10 because it was way better than the rating it has right now.
Bronies are weird. Mostly. I found some of their stories interesting, particularly the military guy and the "manly" guy, but other than that the rest are guys in rainbow wigs. On top of that, the fandom is noted online for their creation of hardcore pornography based around the show. That's not touched on at all in the film. The film serves more as a biopic about Ashleigh Ball, and to that it does its job. But it's not a tale about bronies... not as they are in reality.
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was self funded by Hodgee Films.
- GoofsAt one point in the film, Mike Bernstein says that the fandom started on 4chan's "/b/" (random) board. While it is true that the fandom did get its start on 4chan, and started to pick up steam on "/b/", the show first started getting noticed on "/co/" (cartoons and comics). Additionally Mike says that the word "brony" comes from "/b/ + pony", when really, this is not entirely true, either. Contrary to what Mike says, "brony" is widely accepted as having come from "bro + pony".
- Quotes
Ashleigh Ball: As long as My Little Pony exists there will be Bronies.
- Crazy creditsNo Ponies or Rainbows Were Hurt During The Production Of This Film
- ConnectionsFeatures Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island! (2005)
- SoundtracksBig Blue Wave
by Hey Ocean!
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 19m(79 min)
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content