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The latest incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony empire has generated buzz among an unexpected fan base: grown men.

So what if the target demographic for the television show and toys featuring brightly colored, sparkly equines is 6- to 12-year-old girls?

The nationwide contingent of men who call themselves "bronies" say they're man enough to admit they love "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic," The Hub television network's newest generation of the children's brand first popularized in the 1980s.

"Just because it's a kids' cartoon show doesn't mean it's not entertaining," says Jacob Schultz, a 20-year-old self-professed brony from Eagle Creek. "Ignoring the fact that they're colorful ponies, they have a good story and characterization behind them."

Schultz is part of a Portland-based group of bronies that recently began meeting to share their passion. The group's latest endeavor, July's "Northwest Bronyfest," attracted 80 My Little Pony enthusiasts -- mostly men, plus a handful of women -- for a two-day celebration of bronyism.

BERKELEY, Calif.—Fifteen young men in this hotbed of activism gathered at an Indian restaurant on a recent Sunday and made an appeal: Could the waiter please switch the TV from the news to "My Little Pony"?

Then the men heaped their plates with curry and clustered around tables to absorb the Pony cartoon, share trivia about the characters and play show-and-tell with the various plastic Pony toys they had brought along.

Meet the self-described "bronies."

The object of the bronies' fascination is "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," a remake of a 1980s animated TV show for preadolescent girls featuring plucky, candy-colored equines.

After the show launched in October 2010, video clips began appearing on 4chan, a website that largely draws geeky, tech-savvy guys. Before long, the bronies were born. They started holding local get-togethers, from Seattle to Brooklyn, where they recognized each other by the paper Pony cut-outs tucked in their shirt pockets. They'd discuss the latest shenanigans of Ponies with names like Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.

Shapecharge wrote:My two boys thought it was hilarious to give me one of those fucking ponies as a Father's Day gift back around '86 or so and I still have it. I should have smashed those two little pricks then but they made up for it in 2006 when they got me a BIG GREEN EGG for Father's Day. Not many people know I have one cuz I try to be cool about shit.

Turdacious wrote:I wonder where *twinklefingers* came from?

Blaidd Drwg wrote:That is some depraved shit.

Pinky wrote:

Blaidd Drwg wrote:That is some depraved shit.

Coverage of this on the Stern show made it sound much more depraved. There's a subset of these weirdos known as "cloppers".

Pinky wrote:

Blaidd Drwg wrote:That is some depraved shit.

Coverage of this on the Stern show made it sound much more depraved. There's a subset of these weirdos known as "cloppers".

nafod wrote:They shoot horses, don't they?

WildGorillaMan wrote:

Pinky wrote:

Blaidd Drwg wrote:That is some depraved shit.

Coverage of this on the Stern show made it sound much more depraved. There's a subset of these weirdos known as "cloppers".

Stop right there. I really don't want to know.