The other day, I was watching TV on mute - I find all noises distracting - when an advert for My Little Pony came on-screen.
“Does that even still exist?” I asked my wife (a pointless question, as it clearly did).
“Yes,” she replied. “For some reason, they're very popular with teenage boys.”
This blew my mind. Why would they be interested in it? Surely they’re the completely wrong catchment. Not because they’re boys - I don’t hold with toys being gender specific - but because they’re entirely the wrong age group to appreciate it.
For one, My Little Pony was designed for pre-and-infant-school kids; the gumpf-selling bastion Argos lists them as suitable for kids of 3+. But what confuses me the most is the current teen generation isn’t even the right age to enjoy them for nostalgic reasons, as they’d be too young to remember them first time around.
I can’t fathom it out. Am I missing something massive? Why would they be into a toy with no purpose, least of all to people approaching adulthood? It’s not as if they teach you anything about equestria, which is ironic, as Equestria is apparently the name of the land the My Little Pony figurines are meant to inhabit. Horses don’t come in lurid primary colours, with manes as long as they are tall. The only thing My Little Pony teaches you is how to own a tiny plastic horse.
When I questioned my wife’s assertion, she assured me it was true and said I should Google it. I wasn’t falling for that; the day you look up ‘Do teenagers like My Little Pony?’ is the day the police come knocking on your door; that, or Jeeves will swing by, asking why you searched the whole question and not just a few key words.
“Does that even still exist?” I asked my wife (a pointless question, as it clearly did).
“Yes,” she replied. “For some reason, they're very popular with teenage boys.”
This blew my mind. Why would they be interested in it? Surely they’re the completely wrong catchment. Not because they’re boys - I don’t hold with toys being gender specific - but because they’re entirely the wrong age group to appreciate it.
For one, My Little Pony was designed for pre-and-infant-school kids; the gumpf-selling bastion Argos lists them as suitable for kids of 3+. But what confuses me the most is the current teen generation isn’t even the right age to enjoy them for nostalgic reasons, as they’d be too young to remember them first time around.
I can’t fathom it out. Am I missing something massive? Why would they be into a toy with no purpose, least of all to people approaching adulthood? It’s not as if they teach you anything about equestria, which is ironic, as Equestria is apparently the name of the land the My Little Pony figurines are meant to inhabit. Horses don’t come in lurid primary colours, with manes as long as they are tall. The only thing My Little Pony teaches you is how to own a tiny plastic horse.
When I questioned my wife’s assertion, she assured me it was true and said I should Google it. I wasn’t falling for that; the day you look up ‘Do teenagers like My Little Pony?’ is the day the police come knocking on your door; that, or Jeeves will swing by, asking why you searched the whole question and not just a few key words.