A Brony Tale

The film explores the brony phenomenon, the adult fan base of the children's animated show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that arose shortly after its premiere in 2010.

The film is structured around the journey of Ashleigh Ball, one of the principal voice actresses for the show, including her initial reactions to learning of this older fanbase, and her travel as a Guest of Honor to one of the first fan conventions BronyCon held in New York City in 2012.

Hodge, a close friend of and previous collaborator with Ball, was curious as she was as to this phenomenon and opted to film her travel and appearance at the convention for the documentary.

[2] Ashleigh Ball, one of the lead voice actresses in Hasbro's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, begins to notice that she is receiving fan mail for her work on the show, but is perplexed over the fact that most of it is coming from teenagers and adults.

[3] While focusing on Ball's trip to BronyCon, the film also briefly features fellow My Little Pony voice cast members Nicole Oliver and Andrea Libman.

[6] In an interview with Everfree News, Hodge went into detail on the film, explaining that it was an outsider view on the brony community that had evolved from simply a documentary on Ball and her voice career.

"[14] John Lucas of Straight.com said, "Brent Hodge's documentary about fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic suggests that there is no such thing as a typical "brony"; the subjects here include a sensitive Iraq War veteran and a burly motorcycle mechanic...A connecting thread is provided by Vancouver-based voice actor Ashleigh Ball... by the end Ball is touched by the realization that she's an integral part of something much larger than a kiddie show.

"[16] IGN gave the film a score of 9.1, praising the portrayal of the fandom, interviews, the scientific study of bronies, and subject of gender roles.