This is something that came to mind when I saw a fanart on tumblr, and the OP mentioned having watched the show when they were 9 years old... if they were 9 when it first came out, then it means that person is in their 20s now!

So I was curious, is there anyone here who watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as a child, and do you still like it as an adult? What was it like being part of the actual target audience for the show?

I used to watch it when it came out, and I was 14. I considered myself a brony, but I left the fandom before things went... bad. Not necessarily because of the fandom itself, but because I just lost interest. At the time, I found the show and the fandom kind of empowering, because in my mind it meant people were accepting that it's okay to like girly things, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. That was the general vibe from the early stage fandom.

But then, the adult male fans started to think that the show was actually for them and to make matters worse, Hasbro actually caved in to their demands. (If you want to learn more about the fandom and you have an hour to spare, you should watch Jenny Nicholson's video on it.)

Anyway, this is just something I've been curious about, since back in 2012-2013 there was a lot of discussion about how the fandom could be an unsafe space for little girls, who are the main target audience for the show. I've never had unlimited internet access when I was growing up, so it was difficult for me to imagine a 7 or 8 year old browsing the web. But now I see that maybe that wasn't such an impossible scenario after all lol

But that is a discussion for another day, perhaps...