What Bronies See When They Brohoof: Queering Animation on the Dark and Evil Internet

After the cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic began airing in 2010, a network of adult fans, predominantly young males, formed an Internet-based vernacular culture in homage. Calling themselves “bronies,” this virtual community circulated “photoshops,” computer-generated visual humor, and discussed them online using an emic folk speech called “bronyspeak.” This article examines several photoshops in the context of the discussions in which they emerged. Bronies, like earlier fan groups, poach elements from the original show, “queer them” in consciously transgressive ways, and use them to challenge prevailing attitudes toward gender and sexual orientation in graceful, yet disturbing ways.