A raucous gathering at an Anaheim hotel on a recent Saturday night looked like any fanboy mini-convention — about 150 people, mostly guys in their late teens and early 20s, watched animation on big-screen TVs, recited dialogue from memory and jumped out of their seats to cheer for a storied franchise.
But it wasn’t a Marvel superhero, a Christopher Nolan blockbuster or a million-selling video game that had them rapt. It was the rainbow-hued fantasy world of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,” a reboot of a classic kids TV series airing on cable network the Hub, that has found its way into the hearts of an unexpected demographic: adult men.
“My Little Pony” has spawned a testosterone-fueled subculture in Los Angeles and around the country so strong that its devotees have a name, “bronies” — combining “bro” and “ponies” — and produce a steady stream of flying-pony-inspired blogs, rock bands, fan art and YouTube videos. . .