Difference between revisions of "Parody and Reference"

Revision as of 22:05, 28 October 2025

Since the time My Little Pony began in the 1980s, it has kept a certain amount of popularity, and has therefore popped up in reference and parody many, many times over the years.

While a page like this can never be complete, and the instances can go from good to bad to ugly, or from really important to not as much, as much as possible it can be of interest to see what the franchise has inspired and affected over the course of its existence.

Transformers and G.I. Joe

With My Little Pony and Transformers both being major Hasbro properties, they have been used in connection with each other and in crossover and references many times.

• In the 2007 Transformers film, Ironhide crashes into a pool at a house. A little girl walks out of the house, thinking that it was the Tooth Fairy. She carries a large G3 Pinkie Pie plush with her as she goes outside and talks to Ironhide.

• In Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), a CGI G4 Rainbow Dash model is held before it is transformed into a weapon.

See this article on the Transformers Wiki for an extensive list.

G.I. Joe, also being produced by Hasbro, will occasionally be marketed beside My Little Pony.

• On G4's show Action Blast! during intervals is a segment called The Cobra Commander Show where G.I. Joe's arch-enemy Cobra Commander discusses his view on the world. One episode reveals that he likes to play with My Little Pony dolls and watch the My Little Pony cartoon series.

TV/Movie/Shorts References and Parodies

• On Clarissa Explains It All, Clarissa in an episode rents a series called "My Little Unicorn."

Very worth the trade, Stephanie...

• November 26, 1993 - In season 1 episode 9 of Boy Meets World, "Class Pre-Union", Cory's little sister Morgan Matthews trades her mom's brownies, a tiara, and G1 Glow 'n Show Dazzleglow to Stephanie for Stephanie's dress, necklace, and hat (and her mom's car).

Dee Dee becomes a Pony Puff pony in "Dee Dee's Tail" (season 2 episode 22 part 2)

• 1995-2003 - In the Cartoon Network show Dexter's Laboratory, Dee Dee and her friends are obsessed with the Pony Puff Princess and the Pony Puff ponies.

• October 14, 2005 - Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy had a parody of My Little Pony in "Ecto Cooler / Schlubs" that was called My Troubled Pony. The series was canceled before the ending was made, so Grim hunts Schlubs for gold bars to make an ending. The credits show Grim watching television, with the ending of My Troubled Pony on, drawn crudely with crayons by Billy.

Veronica Mars "Mars, Bars" episode: 'Thug Life' My Little Pony tattoo

• February 20, 2007 - In "Mars, Bars," (season 3 episode 14) of the television show Veronica Mars, there is a jail cell scene where Veronica has a drawn-on tattoo of a My Little Pony with the words "Thug Life" written over it.

Looks like the Dream Castle (title needed)

• In one of the Cyanide and Happiness (adult animated comedy) shorts, a girl can be seen playing with dolls and a playset that looks a bit like the G1 Dream Castle.

Princess Sparkle on the vanity.

• 2003-2007 - On The OC, the character Summer Roberts has a G1 Princess Pony Princess Sparkle that keeps her name in the show. Summer's love interest Seth Cohen has a Breyer with the in show name of Captain Oats.

Honestly would be a nice piece of merch...

• March 25, 2007 - In Disney's Meet the Robinsons, a running gag of sorts is that Bowler Hat Guy likes fantasy horses. He is seen with a unicorn binder, and meets up with the main character at a fantasy horse themed diner where he drinks from a cup with a pegasus (who looks like Firefly) on it.

• February 16, 2009 - On Nickelodeon's original movie Spectacular!, a scene shows the character Nikko Alexander passing his ex-band mates while in a "flashy" cowboy outfit. Nikko's ex-girlfriend says in response to his outfit, "I always wondered who wrangled My Little Ponies!"

• As a matter of fact, Venus Terzo who plays Marion Lane on Spectacular! was a voice actress in My Little Pony Tales and in some G3 animations, and Shannon Chan-Kent who plays Janet was a voice actress for G4 My Little Pony.

"I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you..."

• October 28, 2011 - In season 7 episode 6 of Supernatural, "Slash Fiction," Sam and Dean have to change vehicles to stay undercover. Much to Dean's dismay, the vehicle they are in has a yellow Chap Mei fakie hanging in the front, which at some point gets grabbed and tossed into the back of the car.

Screenshot from the Teen Titans Go! season 1 episode "Nose Mouth"

• 2013- - In the show Teen Titans Go!, the character Raven loves a show about colorful pegasi called Pretty Pretty Pegasus. Raven herself, and some of the pegasus characters at times, are voiced by Tara Strong, the voice actor for G4's Twilight Sparkle.

• In the anime Little Witch Academia, there are a few scenes where G4 My Little Pony figurines can be seen in the background.

"Bro, this is MY little pony."

• January 22, 2016 - In a Studio C short called "A Friend's Dying Secrets," two characters are standing over their friend's open casket and find that he has a lot of things that are going to be buried with him, including, as one of the two says, "MY little pony," a G4 Rarity styling size brushable. The scene was even too much for the actors to hold it together as they start laughing and comment on it in the final cut.

Briar (Tara Strong, pink) and Bramble (Andrea Libman, purple) in DuckTales

• 2017-2021 - In Disney's remake of the show DuckTales, episode "The Missing Links of Moorshire!" (season 1 episode 12), two kelpies that appear as pink and purple ponies show up. Named Briar and Bramble, not only are they colorful ponies, but they are also voiced by Tara Strong and Andrea Libman, who voice half of the G4 Mane Six. In fact, they are voicing kelpies in the opposite colors of the ponies they voice (Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie).

• Also, season 2 episode 14 is called "Friendship Hates Magic!" in reference to the title of the G4 show.

• Robot Chicken is a show that makes adult shorts using mostly stop motion animation and familiar toys as their characters.

• September 17, 2006 - From season 2 episode 11 " Adoption's an Option", a short called "Pegasus Abuse," involved the mythical winged horse Pegasus having his wings severed and turned into a My Little Pony-esque creature by a demented little girl (voiced by Cree Summer), who whipped him into accepting his fate, and his new name - "Sunny Muffins." This was a parody of a scene from the TV miniseries Roots, in which the African man Kunta Kinte is flogged into accepting his new name, "Toby."

• One of their skits is called "Apocalypse Ponies," and features Pestilence Pony, War Pony, Famine Pony, and Death Pony.

• March 27, 2016 - From season 8 episode 13 "Triple Hot Dog Sandwich on Wheat," another short called "My Little Pony Phase" shows a modified G3 Pretty Pop with a tattoo on her flank where her usual symbol would be. Tara Strong, who voices Twilight Sparkle in G4, voices this character.

The type of bag that was used in the show

• July 4, 2019 - Stranger Things has a character named Erica Sinclair who loves My Little Pony. In "E Pluribus Unum" (season 3 episode 6), she and Dustin Henderson have a whole conversation about how they are nerds. It features a backpack that was actually also reproduced as part of the official merchandise crossover between the two franchises.

"Nice horsey, nice horsey!"

• May 16, 2022 - In Disney's live action movie Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers, during a scene where Chip and Dale are escaping through a convention hall, they get caught up in a herd of G4 my little ponies in the 2017 movie animation style.

Looks like he needs more...

• December 21, 2024 - In adult animated comedy series Helluva Boss, the character Blitzo is often hinted at having an obsession with horses and ponies, in reference to SpindleHorse, the animation studio behind the show. At the start of season 2 episode 12 "Sinsmas," as another character named Stolas wakes up in Blitzo's house, he sees plush, figurines, merch, and a cartoon show on television for their in universe ponies.

Documentaries

• 2011 - My Little Obsession by MustbeJewel, who runs the Maryland Pony Meet, was a senior project sold in DVD form with one printing design from 2011 and a later revamped printing in 2024.

• 2012 - Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony

• 2014 - A Brony Tale

• November 15, 2019 - The Netflix documentary show The Toys That Made Us has a My Little Pony episode (season 3 episode 3) where they interview many people who brought My Little Pony to life and continued its success, including Bonnie Zacherle and other toy designers, Lauren Faust, and many more.

• September 30, 2020 - As they are showing home videos of the kids in American Murder: The Family Next Door, one of the girls is wearing a G4 pony shirt.

Game References and Parodies

• The Backyard Sports series of video games has a parody called "My Precious Pony." The character Maria Luna collects them, and part of her Meet the Players bio states that she has "one [sic] the largest 'My Precious Pony' collections in the Northern Hemisphere."

People and Politics

• In 2005, when US President George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States, political cartoonist Steve Sack drew a cartoon depicting Bush brushing a pony toy with false eyelashes under the title "My Little Crony," since it was recently after the dismissal of Michael D. Brown for failing to handle the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

• Radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham refers to former Senator John Edwards as "Silky Pony" and plays the My Little Pony theme music when discussing stories about Edwards.

• The CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan I. Schwartz, was known for having a pony tail, and was therefore nicknamed "My Little Pony" by Dan Lyons of Newsweek. [1]

News

• April 1999 - The magazine Family PC featured a review for G2's Friendship Gardens video game.

• July 20, 2024 - The Guardian featured an article about an exhibition called "Come As You Really Are," which featured several collections, including Miranda Worby's large pony collection.

• 2024 - The Strong National Museum of Play has a National Toy Hall of Fame, and in 2024 they inducted My Little Pony to it, along with Transformers and Phase 10.

Book References and Discussions

• 2016 - My Lil Pony Tale is a picture book, written by Bonnie Zacherle herself, about her own inspiration for and experience with My Little Pony.

• April 1, 2017 - Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016 by Sherilyn Connelly took a critical look at bronies and the general public's criticism of My Little Pony being too girly or too commercial.

• March 12, 2018 - From Howard Hughes to My Little Pony: 21 True Casino Stories includes a brief mention of men being entertained by women dressed as G4 characters.

• September 11, 2019 - Meet the Bronies: The Psychology of the Adult My Little Pony Fandom took a look at various trends within the brony community.

Collector-Driven Guidebooks

Guidebooks by Summer Hayes

Guidebooks by Debra L. Birge

• My Little Pony Collectibles (October 15, 2018) is a general guidebook written by the people behind MLP Merch.

• Restoring My Little Pony, by RetroGeekCrafts.

Music References and Parodies

• 2024 - The Living Tombstone added their remix of the fanmade song "Discord" to a vinyl record titled "Internet Childhood."

Miscellaneous References and Parodies

• Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, released an April Fool's joke revealing that the newest d20 RPG setting would be an adaptation of the My Little Pony setting to a role-playing game.^[1]

• Something Positive referenced My Little Pony in a similar way on May 28, 2008.^[2]

• For April Fool's Day in 2006, the front page on Slashdot.org (a popular news site) was redesigned in the fashion of My Little Ponies.^[3]

• A parody of "My Little Pony," known as "My Little Pwny" has appeared on many gaming forums, including Bungie.

• A Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip by Nicholas Gurewitch, titled "Gamblin Man," features a My Little Pony look-alike named fancy-dancy magic-prancy running in a real-world horse race, but flying away in mid-race.^[4]

See Also

• Conventions and Culture

References

Note that the original draft of this page mentioned some or all of the references originally here as "stolen from Wikipedia." Anything added after that, was not. :) And edits have been made to the original list.

1. ↑ Here Come the Ponies
2. ↑ Something*Positive
3. ↑ Slashdot's Ponies
4. ↑ The Perry Bible Fellowship