My Little Pony is for boys too....

[Taffeta]

Going through the MLP&Friends comics I got recently from LM (most of which I never even saw as a kid, ironically) and noticed this.

Just to prove that G1 MLP stories were officially for boys to enjoy too.

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I remember boys at school who had ponies. One of my friends' had two younger brothers - one had Tootsie and the other Magic Star (I remember as I was jealous of MS ).

So much for G4 fans thinking G4 was the first time the male fanbase had any wider acknowledgement.

[pinkkittywinks]

I love that!!!! I do know in Greece MLP was marketed at boys and girls as the promotional material said "children" rather than "girls" or "boys".

Love pkw xxx

[Ponyfan]

That's really interesting.   I've got to get some of the comics someday.


I've always felt that Rescue at Midnight Castle/original My Little Pony special was made so that boys and girls could enjoy it. 



Ponyfan

[Mewtwofan1]

     Huh. I always thought the g1 specials like rescue at midnight castle were made for children in general, rather than one or the other. Good to know hasbro has tried to appeal to both genders before g4.

[Nemesis]

Aww, that’s so cool! Nice find, Taffeta!

I’m a big fan of toys being marketed as gender-neutral... Kids don’t start attaching gender to everything until adults teach them to do so. :/

Out of curiosity, is that a U.S. or U.K. comic?

[Carrehz]

awww, hehe. I love it.

[freezestime]

! I'm glad they included it, although wasn't Jem also made with both genders in mind? Like they included like racing and stuff (Idk I'm not a Jem fan)

[SpacePinto]

That is so cute!

[EnaRocketQueen]

Very positive message- love it

[Leave a Whisper]

Cool find you two.

[MJNSEIFER]

I feel that Bonnie at the very least said that it would be nice if girls and boys could enjoy My Little Pony, though I don't know if she literally said she planned on it being for both.  Or it could have been that she was pleased to hear that boys liked it - I'm sure she touched on this subject in one way or another.

[Taffeta]

Aww, that’s so cool! Nice find, Taffeta!

I’m a big fan of toys being marketed as gender-neutral... Kids don’t start attaching gender to everything until adults teach them to do so. :/

Out of curiosity, is that a U.S. or U.K. comic?

It's a UK comic.

@freezestime, I know there are quite a lot of Jem fans who are guys, albeit I am not sure it's for those reasons. Jem is definitely aimed towards girls but although there's a lot of fashion flapping from Kimber especially, there's a bunch more stuff going on as well. Though I have to admit Rio and Riot both kind of fail the chauvenism test. I guess it was the eighties. Probably so does Eric but he's rather a jerk anyway.

Some of the most dedicated contributors to the community over the years in terms of resources etc have been guys (eg TotallyJem). But the Indy500 did definitely appear in a Jem ep. It does rather showcase how not to drive, though, and also that Jem has no respect for the lives of other drivers because she's willing to use Synergy to make Pizzazz crash and who knows who else. So maybe not the best example, morally speaking...

I should also mention that because this is a UK comic, it's not necessarily "from Hasbro" but from the comic themselves. Whether it was endorsed by Hasbro or promoted in that way is unclear. But I also think some of the TV specials are not gender specific in their aim.

I also feel the need to say that "being girly" is often considered to fit a certain stereotype. I don't think RamC etc are "more adventury" to appeal to guys. That rather suggests girls can't like those things too, which is the fundamental problem behind some of the themes heavily pushed in G4. (Can't Rarity be a successful businesswoman in something other than fashion, and does she have to be so superficially obsessed with clothing, hair, and jewellery??)

[lordalexander74]

I feel that Bonnie at the very least said that it would be nice if girls and boys could enjoy My Little Pony, though I don't know if she literally said she planned on it being for both.  Or it could have been that she was pleased to hear that boys liked it - I'm sure she touched on this subject in one way or another.

Forget exactly what Bonnie said... someone did ask her thoughts on the brony fandom, was some kind of compliment/respect thing

[Rodneytheponydude]

I was a g1 pony boy as a kid and i never felt uncomfortable collecting ponies

[BlushingBlue]

I feel that Bonnie at the very least said that it would be nice if girls and boys could enjoy My Little Pony, though I don't know if she literally said she planned on it being for both.  Or it could have been that she was pleased to hear that boys liked it - I'm sure she touched on this subject in one way or another.

Forget exactly what Bonnie said... someone did ask her thoughts on the brony fandom, was some kind of compliment/respect thing

This was in 2008, well before the whole brony thing, but Bonnie did say explicitly that her initial, more naturalistic concept for MLP was intended for all little kids:

"It was first a preschool toy. It wasn't supposed to be a Girl Toy. But of course, when they changed it to pink-and-purple, it became a mostly girls' toy. And not to say there weren't little boys who liked to play with them, because they did... And I felt bad, you know. It's like, why shouldn't little boys play with ponies too?"