Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts! The Great and Powerful Brony is here! Gaze in awe as I astound you with my thoughts and theories concerning that most magical and exciting of entertainments, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!

Or just sit back and enjoy the musings and reviewing of someone who appreciates the show and much that it has produced.

What sets this blog apart?

An important question! I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. So many more talented folk have created reviews of the series and its episodes, so I won't even attempt such an act. Instead, I will focus more on the merchandise and the fandom, well, the merchandise to start.

We'll go into the physical quality, concept, and layout of as much as I can get my hooves on. We'll speculate and imagine, set off plot hooks in wild directions, and who knows where we might end up? As time goes on, I'll probably feel more comfortable about reviewing things other than merchandise, but that's for the future.

A little about me...

I've been a big fan of the show since early 2011. Of course, growing up in the 80's, many of us saw the MLP franchise as the distaff version of the male favorites, such as He-man or G. I. Joe. I do remember watching and being impressed by the original movie, but, overall, the franchise was not my cup of tea. Then, at least...

Cut to 2011. When I was first linked to an episode of MLP:FIM (the first episode, in fact), it was in the spirit of "now what craziness are people I know going on about?" So I watched. And watched.

It hit, and it stuck, as it may have for many of you reading this. However, there was a difference for me. This show, with its greater characterization and richness than much of the recently-made animated shows I had seen, did something I had not expected. For you see, I was (and still am, though far better now) one of that segment of the human population which deals with depression. I had fought it in many ways over the years, with counselling, with medicine, through self-help, but there were some hurdles I was not able to cross. For whatever reason, however it happened, watching the show, thinking about it, identifying with the characters, was exactly what I needed. Anyone who knows me personally will say that, in that time, my attitude about life in general has changed, and I am a more pleasant person for it! Not perfect, by any means, but a vast improvement.

It is for this gift, which I attribute to Lauren Faust and all those who have worked and continue working on making such a program, that I am thankful. The best way I could find to show this thanks was to support the show, and yes, even to support its merchandise. And so I have. Inevitably, I ended up with so much (though not nearly all!) that the thought of letting people how about the good and the bad came to mind, so, here we are!

How will this work?

Well, therein lies the rub. I've never done this before, so I expect the format will evolve, as things become more comfortable, and as I gain experience doing this. However, the current plan is as follows:

- Start off with presentation and packaging (if applicable)

- The physical presentation itself, any noteworthy flaws or praise-worthy aspects

- Dig into the background, history of character or characters (if any)

- Imaginative discussion and speculation (where the plot-hooks and ideas go)

- Finally, two overall scores. One from the standpoint of the intended audience (children), and the other from the fan and collector's view. These will be measured in 1 to 5 Horseshoes. Leave in the possibility of something so wowing me as to go above that, or so disappointing me as to go below.

As you can see, this is only the most basic of frameworks, but I think it should cover everything for the time being.I can't guarantee any specific schedule for reviews. They'll come as they come, but I'll try to make them regularly, if possible.

So, welcome, and thank you for giving me a chance here! The first review should be coming along soon!