There was a little girl with a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic coloring book in the pew across from us at church today. A few things:

1. Princess Celestia is like really super pretty.
2. Do the coloring book illustrators even watch the show?
3. If any of the characters gets so much as a broken leg, they'd have to get taken out and shot, and that is sad.
4. Coloring books are for little girls.
5. So is My Little Pony.

   That's their primary target. Little girls. For those of you not keeping up, lately the show's started pandering to the "brony" periphary demographic (and, you know, the pegasisters, but that's a much more forseeable fanbase. Aside from the ones who consider themselves "bro"nies nonetheless, which is kind of weird? Anyway.) I'm not going to complain or anything; there's plenty of that elsewhere, with much more pursuasive arguments one way or another than I could certainly muster, suffice to say that I think that we must trust the showrunners to do the right thing, so everything that has happened so far has been what's best for the show. Still, it's an interesting phenomenon. No show before has had quite such an interesting relationship between being a children's show to begin with but having an unexpected yet endearing popularity amongst adults.

   There have, after all, been other children's shows popular among adults, and not even just for drinking games. Yo Gabba Gabba, for instance, was (and still is/might be?) quite popular due to its fresh funky beats and trippy visuals, but it didn't feel the need to curry favor with older fans of the show. (Unless it was from the very beginning, and the entire thing was for adults the whole time. Which admittably does explain the presence of some of the show's more eyebrow-raising musical guests, such as of Montreal or Shiny Toy Guns the Shinys. Actually, what was up with having guests at all? Are DJ Lance Rock and Biz Markie not good enough or something?) Loads of shows contain some, ahem, parental bonuses. So there is precedent for appealing to an older audience. Friendship is Magic takes this to mindblowingly insane new levels. If the current trajectory continues, the show's bound to create some kind of bizarre eloi/morlock dichotomy between a show for little girls and a show for college-age men.

   I guess they're just reveling in their popularity. It's certainly what I would do. Lots of kids' shows are popular, but not quite like this. I mean, at least it's not Barney. Barney, right? It remains popular, and not even the show's intended audience likes that show. At least not very much. They continue to watch because they are culture-starved children who are starved for culture. I speak from experience.