Real Manly Men Watch...My Little Pony?

No. “Bronies” watch My Little Pony. Here at PJ we’re just bringing you the cultcha.

“I just felt a new kind of happiness and purpose about me,” said Bachelder, an Omahan who started a podcast called BroNEcast in April 2012. Nearly a year later, he feels like his shows, which have gotten as many as 7,000 views in one day, have given him a solid ground and direction.

“Considering the show helped pull me out of a depression, I think it’s worth it to give back to the show and the fandom that has sparked from it,” Bachelder said.

He is one of a group of adult men and some women who watch “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” a show on Hasbro’s TV station, The Hub (Channel 100 on Cox Cable in Omaha). They chat about it on social media, form clubs of like-minded people and buy show-related memorabilia.

They call themselves Bronies — bro ponies.

The movement has a name and its own conventions: Pon3 Con.

Shawn Mitten, Pon3 Con co-chairman and co-founder of Nebraska Bronies, said this year’s convention has been expanded into two three-day conventions, one May 10 through 12 and the other sometime in October. Planners are preparing for 1,000 participants and expect no fewer than 500.

Conventions mostly consist of panels with local and national Brony celebrities, booths for groups and artists, games, costume contests and giveaways.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that there are professors of Bronies studies now too.

The movement so intrigued two researchers — Patrick Edwards of Georgia and Monica H. Redden of Louisiana — that they conducted an online study of Bronies and their motivation.

About 24,000 responded to their survey, and the breakdown of sexual preference among males who completed the questionnaire was approximately the same as in the general population.

The survey did indicate, however, that approximately 36 percent of Bronies don’t talk about their alliance with the movement.

Well, that’s the first rule of the Bronie club. You don’t talk about the Bronie club.

The RNC is reportedly launching a Bronies Outreach Group and carving the 8 million who watch Duck Dynasty out of the party base.