A Brony Tale: A Review Post


It's been a long-time coming, but Horse-News finally pirated purchased a copy of this year's brony documentary (we seriously have one of these once a year anymore). We have watched it in its entirety, and have gathered opinions from the only place that matters to us; /mlp/.

Let's hop right into it.




Right off the bat, the biggest real complaint that people have with the film, which is a documentary about the origins of bronies (and Ashleigh Ball's experiences with them), is the error of the origin of the word brony in the first place. Told by everyone's favorite venue authority Final Draft of Everfree Network, the film claims that the word "brony" originated on /b/, and outright denies the accepted origins of the word being a combination of "bro" and "pony" (we provided screencaps of the word's first usage on /co/ in another post).


While this may seem to be a minor detail, the fact that Final Draft's assessment was trusted, even after he declares on-camera that he was not present for the beginning of the fandom, and joined when it was already a "movement", binge-watching numerous episodes, is a lapse in judgement that many consider critical to the core of the film. This sentiment is especially noticeable on 4chan, where it all began.


This error was brought to the Director's attention when it was noticed by the board, but was brushed off during an AMA (likely because it is far too late to address the problem). In addition, some nor/mlp/eople took issue with some of the representatives appearing in the film, including several with whom they have previously feuded.

Some viewers were also upset to discover that the section titled "Brony Escorts" had absolutely nothing to do with prostitution, and demanded a refund.

Beyond those complaints, the majority of the viewers agreed that it is a decent film, and easily one of the best "brony" documentaries made to date.


The documentary is loosely framed around Ashleigh Ball's decision to attend Bronycon, and her first real encounters with bronies en-masse. She mentions how she assumed that they were all perverted beforehand (and that her opinion was presumably changed in the end), and gives a history of her performing career leading up to her work on My Little Pony as Rainbow Dash and Applejack. We get to see some #horsefamous musicians, some EQD staffmember, some interviews with Hey Ocean! (the men in the band are NOT fans of the bronies), some psychologists, some charity work, and of even a whole "Brony Family".

Other things that the documentary features include:


Mandopony demonstrating his "O" face.


A furry cramming meat in his mouth.

Neil Degrasse Tyson


Saberspark after eating a lemon


An Associate Producer temporarily removing the stick from his ass


An amateur proctologist who wants you to smell his finger, after having just examined the Associate Producer.

A house full of betas

The 11th Street Crips
Ashleigh looking cute
Ashleigh looking less cute
Ashleigh looking...uhh...good
Ashleigh looking for a soulmate


And Ashleigh Ball eating something that will most assuredly be Photoshopped into something else, and then into a Subway sandwich.

7/10 its was okay. If you have to explain to somebody what a brownie is, use this documentary, THEN use the others, it will probably work better for you.

A Brony Tale is available on Apple stuff and Amazon.


Comments (22)

  1. On the plus side it wasn't BronyDoc.

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  2. I still don't hate that these people can't JUST say they enjoy a little girls cartoon, and that's it.

    It has to be a movement that "re-defining masculinity" and "pushing boundaries" and "is unique." It's not a religion, or at least it shouldn't be. When you're talking about gender norms, like Saber was in the pink aisle, it's true- men generally aren't likely to enjoy something like that. The fact that MLP fans do is deviant in some ways, but it's not a fucking movement, and it certainly isn't unique. Fucking Weeaboos watch loli shit and have for years. They aren't changing shit.

    The people interviewed here were mostly okay. I think the best example would be the military brony from the national guard. He was calm and rational about it, and he made sense. These docs all have the same problem, the don't focus on people like him. People who are otherwise normal who enjoy the show, post about it occasionally. Maybe for some it inspired them to write or draw stuff. That's okay in my eyes, and it's like 90% of the fandom. But you can't make a doc about someone who just watches the show and that's it. Someone who doesn't go to cons or make an ass out of themselves by spreading the fandom like some religion.

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    1. I still hate**

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    2. It's a family oriented show, we don't need to call it a "little girls show."

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    3. Except it is a little girls show. The more bronies try to side step this, the more pathetic it is.

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    4. It's because most men lack a meaningful cultural identity in the modern world. People leave empty, meaningless lives and seek to fill that emptiness with the only thing they truly know: mindless consumerism. They were trained from birth to work, consume, and die; all for the greater good of modern "egalitarian" society (i.e., corporations and the elite).

      That's why the special snowflake syndrome is so common; people live in an age of spectacle where everyone is equal, everyone is the same yet somehow every person is supposed to be unique. "Bronies" are simply the symptom of the disease, our rotting cultural civilization.

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    5. Oh just shut the fuck up Professor Positive. You must be a hoot at parties.

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    6. >It's because most men lack a meaningful cultural identity in the modern world

      Nah, just 'tism and internet

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  3. Fact: Harry Tru-man enjoyed the pink aisle

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  4. Second picture confirms Walter White is brony.

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  5. I still don't like this one bit. Fucking Mandopony and DustyFatass were in this godforsaken documentary? How is it that these fucking hacks and talentless assholes who behave very badly in public get their 15 minutes of fame, and I can't even get my goddamn start!? I legitimately want to make a fucking career out of this, and they have more publicity than Princess Fucking Diana! I'm fucking done. This is one dream of mine that cannot be made into reality.

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    Replies
    1. I suggest not posting as an Anon. Make yourself known, find a Niche. Its the best advice I could give.

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    2. Go to bed, Drowning in Horseshoes.

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    3. >Go to bed, drowning in Horseshoes.

      What does that even MEAN?

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    4. Yep, figured it was you.

      Digi says hi.

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  6. you know what would make a better documentary? the real side of the fandom, the part that doesn't make a big deal about it, i mean there's too many documentaries trying to find out if there is some super secret reason we're fans of the show. There isn't. And then there's semi-celebrity culture going on where some bronies are more popular than others because why not?

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    Replies
    1. How about we just don't have documentaries anymore. This shit is just a money cow for some fuckers.

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    2. That sounds boring. You're boring anon.

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  7. Now I'm curious. Where can I watch this for free?

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  8. At least this is semi-permanently on the film's IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3219678/goofs

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  9. Any non torrent links or stream links for this autistic spaghetti fest?
    >Inb4 go to piratebay

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