Bronies React is a YouTube series, created by user ACRacebest
originally as a response to "Teens React to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". After the popularity of the first episode, more were made. Each episode has Race and several of his friends (often changing each episode) reacting to various things related to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, such as popular fan-made content or important episodes in the series.
See also Analyst Bronies React.
Bronies React provides examples of:
- Adam Westing: M.A. Larson in the season 5 premiere video gives us a hilarious self-parody.M.A. Larson: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute... Rainbow Dash can fly? I wish I would have known that....
- All Periods Are PMS: ACRacebest makes a joke about Luna turning into Nightmare Moon each month. Cue audience booing.
- And That's Terrible: At the end of their reaction to the season 3 premiere, Orchestral Design is expressing Tranquil Fury annoyance at the lack of Octavia...Orchestral Design: And that makes me mad. [flips table]
- Bad "Bad Acting": Saberspark while being "sucked in a wormhole" at the beginning of the season 4 finale video.
- Big "WHAT?!": At the reveal of how Starlight Glimmer developed her philosophy against cutie marks, we see Viva Reverie standing on a beach with a forlorn music in the background.Voiceover: Starlight became a crazy dictator because a friend got a butt tattoo...
Viva Reverie: ... WHAT? - Big "YES!": IBringDaLulz reacts this way when Chrysalis defeats Celestia.
- Brick Joke: Nowacking has two in the Friendship Games reaction.
- Saying that Pinkie Pie is reduced to comic relief in the movie, then taking it back later when Pinkie actually clears out the confusing "two Twilights" situation.
- Early on, he mocks the fact that Cathy Weseluck won't have any line in the movie, since Spike is a non-talking dog. Then Spike gets granted speech, and we see Nowacking on the phone.Nowacking: Okay, scratch that, we're gonna need to bring Cathy in. [...] I know what I said, James! People make mistakes!
- Call-Back: Sometimes, references will be made to the cast members' individual works. For example, in the reaction to the season 2 finale, Solrac sings a bit of "This Day Aria" in the way he has become known for.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Most of them get a shot at this, but Solrac is a consistent example.
- Cold Open: Usually to introduce the cast for that episode, but also often for comedy.
- *Cough* Snark *Cough*: For "Slice of Life", when Lyra mentions "the benches we sat on..."BlackGryph0n: *Cough* pandering...
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Spoofed by Nowacking in the video for the season 4 finale, who puts a hand before his potted plant when Tirek destroys the Golden Oak Library.
- Creator Cameo:
- Writer and story editor M.A. Larson is present for the season 5 premiere video.
- Voice actresses Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett join BlackGryph0n for the Bronies React to "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". Maddy Peters also appears "in spirit".
- Voice actor Vincent Tong reacts alongside the Bronies to The Movie.
- Claire joined Gabriel Brown for the Grand Finale, a two-part episode her character had no lines in.
- Cry Laughing: ACRaceBest's reaction to the new design of King Thorax goes from laughing hysterically, to the point of almost choking, to putting his face in his hands and start sobbing. And then he returns to laughing.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: BlackGryph0n has to actually cover his ears when Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett start yelling "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!" next to him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone.
- Didn't See That Coming: Everyone is as dumbfounded about Grogar's true identity as the characters are in the Grand Finale.
- Dope Slap: When RD Spartan (of Fire Team Harmony) starts a rant about how he had a realization, doing so by mocking the style of ACRaceBest (slow zoom on the face and talking faster and faster), Twilight Spartan puts this to a stop with a dope slap. Then he asks what the realization was, but RD Spartan has already forgotten.
- Double Take: BlackGryph0n does this in "Slice of Life" when he realizes Derpy really is talking.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: In My Little Pony: The Movie, when Princess Celestia questions Tempest "How may we help you?", BlackGryph0n repeats it more fiercely, and cocks his pistol.
- Drinking Game:
- LittleshyFiM plays a variation during "Slice of Life". He takes a bite out of a muffin whenever something "interesting" happens.
- Now has its own page.
- Driven to Suicide: Played with in the Equestria Girls installment. When the silhouettes of the human Mane Six appear during the opening credits, BlackGryph0n takes out a knife, puts it to his throat... and then scrapes off some stubble, saying that he forgot to shave that morning.
- Dutch Angle: Used in the season 5 finale episode, when ACRacebest starts pondering how Starlight Glimmer could have fit in the King Sombra timeline and the camera gets more and more slanted.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The first episode (and, to an extent, the second) were less about comedy and more about giving serious reactions and opinions on what they are shown. Since then, the episodes have become more focused on the guys having funny reactions.
- The Bronies themselves are hit hard by all the weirdness when they rewatch and react to the first episode 11 years after it aired. For examples, the early animation style, the word "alicorn" not being in use yet, Twilight lacking wings or the different effect for the use of magic.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Race (normally very against villains being Easily Forgiven) thought Cozy Glow's fate in the season 9 finale had crossed a line.
- Facepalm: In the season 6 finale episode, a facepalm is AnimatedJames's reaction to Discord yelling "I have a Fluttershy to save!" while inside the Changeling Hive.
- Fanservice: IBringDaLulz gets a Shirtless Scene at one point, and Saberspark spends an entire react shirtless at another. Nowacking joins the club in the finale.
- Feet-First Introduction: Used in the 100th episode review, to milk out the suspense as we discovers an Octavia cosplayer from the bottom to the top, who's revealed to be none other than Dustykatt.
- Flipping the Table: Orchestral Design does this at the end of all his appearances, protesting the lack of Octavia in the episodes. And then, with the reaction to the 100th episode, which does features Octavia heavily, he flips the table again, this time in joy. And once in slow motion, when he sees Octavia and Vinyl Scratch sharing a house. And then, in The Stinger, he flips a table from the roof of his house.
- Get a Room!: The general reaction to Lyra and Bon Bon talking about their "friendship" in the "Slice of Life" video.Nowacking: OH MY GOD, JUST BUCK ALREADY!
- Gonna Need More X: LittleshyFiM starts the 100th episode reaction by saying that he'll take a bite of a muffin anytime something interesting happens. Of course, barely past one-third of the episode...LittleshyFiM: I'm going to need more muffins.
- Grammar Correction Gag: In the Rainbow Rocks video, BlackGryph0n flips a lid over a double negative (when both Fluttershy and Applejack says "Me neither!" when they should say "Me too!").
- Group Hug: "The Perfect Pear" ends up with ACRacebest joining with the other Bronies at a convention, in tears, and all of them hugging each other.
- Head Bob: In the Legend of Everfree video, "Deadpool" shakes his head a bit to show he's talking, as we can't see his mouth. As seen at the end of the video, AnimatedJames could barely breathe or speak in the mask, and dubbed over his voice.
- Head Desk:
- One of the Bronies does this when imitating Spike, only to hurt himself and curse.
- This is a Running Gag with AnimatedJames in the Rainbow Rocks episode, especially when Flash Sentry shows up or is mentioned.
- AnimatedJames again, in the "Slice of Life" video, takes note of doing it... "not too hard this time". And then he writes "BANG HEAD ON TABLE REALLY REALLY HARD" when he notices the Freeze-Frame Bonus Medium-Shift Gag.
- Race himself does this unintentionally in the Season 7 premiere, which is so hard, he cracked the table he banged his head at.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X":
- BlackGryph0n and PhillyPu both call out Princess Celestia for saying "duty".
- No less than four reactors note call out Princess Luna for the same thing in "A Royal Problem".LittleshyFiM: Just look at her face, she knows what she did.
- He's Back!:
- The Living Tombstone returned for the season 4 finale react despite people thinking he left the fandom, when in reality his absences were due to being busy. note
- AnimatedJames did three reacts before he said some fairly controversial things and seemingly left the fandom. But he made a comeback in the Legend of Everfree react dressed up as Deadpool.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: ACRacebest and Saberspark, as shown in Race's Vlogs.
- Hilarious Outtakes: Many of the Bronies React Bonus end up with some outtakes from the last episode, mostly of the Bronies flubbing their lines.
- Hostile Show Takeover: In the Cupcakes episode, Slenderman seemingly kills Mic the Microphone and takes over for him about halfway through.
- Hurricane of Puns: The Season 3 reaction turns into one rather suddenly.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- M.A. Larson saying that he doesn't see why everybody think there are references to communism in the season 5 premiere... while wearing a chapka and drinking vodka.
- In the Legend of Everfree video, RD Spartan and Twilight Spartan criticizing the Magical Girl costumes of the movie. Remember that they are wearing Halo-inspired Powered Armor with added wings and Friendship Is Magic paintjobs.RD Spartan: Can you imagine going out to the town dressed like that? You'd look ridiculous! Ah ah ah...
Twilight Spartan: This looks like crap, especially those giant-ass wings.
RD Spartan: Yeah, right. I mean look at that, just sticking out, bumping into shit...
Twilight Spartan: What did you say? [moves his own wings into RD's helmet]
RD Spartan: Ow, ow, my eye!
- I Need a Freaking Drink: D.Notive's reaction to receiving the Equestria Girls trailer is to go make himself a drink — before even watching a second of it.
- Inner Monologue: AnimatedJames has one at the beginning of the 100th episode ("Slice of Life") video, pondering what commentary he could do that isn't already referenced in the episode or wouldn't be done by the other reviewers. In fact, he does the whole thing with a voice-over for his thoughts and taking notes, until the ending where he begins to talk, and is cut mid-sentence by the title card.
- Lame Pun Reaction: A quite long-distance one in the Rainbow Rocks reaction. After Nowacking makes a bad pun about Maud, the scene randomly cuts to someone else jumping in their car, driving to Jesse's house, and punching him in the face.
- Large Ham:
- Depending on the episode, people like Race, Saberspark, BlackGryph0n, and Tombstone act like this.
- Orchestral Design and Solrac, however, are always like this.
- Nowacking is no slouch either and can get quite animated — and not solely when in-character as Vinyl Scratch.
- Also, Josh Scorcher.
- Late to the Punchline: BlackGryph0n thinks this is the case (it isn't) when, near the end of Rainbow Rocks, he calls Sunset Shimmer's magic journal a "phone book".
- Long List: In the Bonus video for the Season 8 finale, when asked what they disliked about the episode, LittleshyFiM says "I'm glad you asked, just so happen I made a list." When he deploys the rolled-up paper, it falls to his feet, inside the hallway, and then down a flight of stairs.
- Losing Horns: Josh Scorcher invokes it in the review of "The Crystalling"; when the book sporting the artifact-repairing spell is destroyed, he pulls out a trombone to play the "Wah-wah-wah-wahhhhhh" tune.
- Manly Tears: Jaxblade sheds a few sincere ones during "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". He swears at the beginning of "The Perfect Pear" that it won't happen again, only to crack up mid-episode during the love song.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The collective reaction to the villains blowing up the Canterlot Palace in the Season 9 finale.
- Match Cut: Pointing out references in the watched show to another is common within any episode, but for the Friendship Games reaction this goes one step further. The similarities between Applejack releasing her arrow in slo-mo and Merida doing the same in Brave is demonstrated with a transition from the former to the latter. Indeed, the sequences matches perfectly.
- Mood Whiplash:
- The first several episodes are rather lighthearted... and then, for Halloween, we get the guys reacting to Cupcakes.
- In the reaction to the season 2 finale, the cast act their usual funny, snarky selves... then, Twilight starts singing her sad reprise of "B.B.B.F.F.", and everyone becomes much more solemn.
- And then directly after the above, when Chrysalis — disguised as Cadance — steps in, Race is smiling, thinking she's going to comfort Twilight. Then when Cadance's horn glows and she starts surrounding Twilight in fire, he gets an Oh, Crap! look on his face, followed by a scream.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Viva Reverie parodies the trope in the Season 5 Finale episode, when King Sombra is admiring his Crystal Ponies army:Viva Reverie: You feel that? It's like hundreds of people all drawing new fan-art based on content from this episode...
- Naked People Are Funny:
- In "Bronies React to Season 6 Premiere", Saberspark starts out going shirtless, but then threatens to take his pants off and leave them off until the series can give him a good season 6 episode. When it delivers, he immediately puts his pants back on. In the bonus video, he walks off wearing only a hat (but there's a censor bar covering his lower half).
- In "Bronies React to Legend of Everfree", BlackGryph0n states that he'll take off a piece of his costume each time the movie does something that displeases him. By the end of the film, he's just about to strip completely nude before the camera cuts away.
- Ninja: BlackGryph0n dresses up as (and acts like) one during "Bronies React to Cupcakes".
- No Indoor Voice: Solrac's very shouty, to say the least. Justified, as he's known for that in the brony fandom.
- "Not So Different" Remark: When AnimatedJames (as Deadpool) gets a booing crowd for making a dirty joke, he just snaps that they were all thinking it as well.
- N-Word Privileges: AnimatedJames is the one to make ironic racial jokes the most often... 'cause, you know, he's black.James: Wait, was that Ratchetness? I can't quite remember if that was Ratchetness or Jaxblade. Black people all sound the same to me...
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Everyone is referred to by their usernames or other nicknames.
- Parodied in the Halloween special; everyone is dressed in a costume, so they are referred to by whatever they are dressed as. For example, Race is a cow, so he is called "Cow".
- Only Sane Man:
- The entire cast is pretty nuts, but Dusty and D.Notive seem to have a firm grip on this role.
- When they aren't around, either Tombstone or Saberspark end up as this.
- ...Or So I Heard: When AnimatedJames notes that some fans would want the "Humane Six" to not wear any clothes, he then insists he's not one of them.
- Precision F-Strike: Occasionally, and sometimes censored.
- Rage Quit: Orchestral Design in the season 2 finale reaction, after his Flipping the Table.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Among the Bronies appearing in this series are Dusty, who is nicknamed "The Manliest Brony in the World", as well as BlackGryph0n and Robbob, both of whom are in the military. Gryph0n, in fact, often records his footage while wearing his fatigues. Lampshaded by Robbob in the beginning of the season 3 premiere reaction...Robbob: [walking into a room wearing his full military gear] Well, just got done saving America. Time to watch some ponies!
- Record Needle Scratch: In the "Slice of Life" video, AnimatedJames suddenly brandishes a STOP sign, causing a scratching record sound, before making a "rewind" gesture to get a better look at the Freeze-Frame Bonus.
- Relationship Sue: Played for Laughs In-Universe when Flash Sentry appears. Everyone just hates on him (at least until Sci-Twi shows no interest in him).Dustykatt: Waifu stealer!
BlackGryph0n: Twilight should be dating my OC! - Rooting for the Empire: During the review of "To Where and Back Again – Part 2", ACRacebest is rooting a bit too much for Queen Chrysalis, and admits it himself.
- Running Gag:
- "I bet Luna's gonna have a really big role in this episode!"
- A running gag about AnimatedJames is that he doesn't sound Black (with a few variations)...[James stays stone-faced during Snips and Snails' awful rap from Rainbow Rocks]
AnimatedJames: And I thought I was White... - In the Friendship Games review, Ratchetness sarcastically saying "Thank you, Sugarcoat," with every instance of her Brutal Honesty. In the last instance, after she gives "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Cinch, however, he realizes he actually means it.
- BlackGryph0n: "Six seasons... a hundred and forty-two episodes... and I still hates the theme song."
- ACRaceBest constantly wonders (more like, hopes) if every incident in Season 6 would result in Starlight Glimmer being removed from the mane cast. They don't.
- Also, Race randomly punching a pillow for no reason.
- Characters jokingly being pronounced dead, complete with flat delivery and dramatic closeup when the person says the word "dead".
- "We're going to forgive [blank], aren't we?" Said by AC whenever an evil character is about to make a Heel–Face Turn. He actually cheers when Chrysalis rejects Starlight's offer in the Season 6 finale, and is estatic when Cozy Glow is sent to Tartarus in Season 8's finale.
- "Wait a minute, what... [blank]?" (Inception BWAAA noise''): Mostly in the first few seasons when the show was hinting at something for the following season.
- AC going on a nonsensical monologue at some point in the review. Later videos had other reactors stealing his shtick.
- Reacting to a character saying "we've got this" with the song "We've Got This Together" from the movie.
- Sarcasm Failure:
- In the first video, when one of the teens in the Teens React episode they're reacting to uses "on the other side of the street" as a euphemism for "gay" (and basically calls Bronies gay in the process), practically everyone in Bronies React is unable to do anything except glare at the camera or just make a "what the hell" expression with their face. Yes, even Solrac is silent. D.Notive is the only one who responds to question the use of the phrase.
- In the React for "The Perfect Pear", after Pear Butter's love song, most of the reviewers just admit that they can't bring themselves to make fun of it, as it was genuinely touching.Silver Quill: Alright, MLP. I am very cross with you right now. I'm trying very hard to be a snarky so-and-so, but when this is this sweet, and this memorable... ain't gonna happen.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Solrac is Carlos spelled backwards.
- Self-Deprecation: "Good job, guys. Now you've reached brony levels of awkward."
- Shaped Like Itself: When asked to describe MLP: Cupcakes in one word, Mic the Microphone says it would just be "Cupcakes".
- Ship Sinking: Parodied In-Universe when Sunset chews Sci-Twi out in Friendship Games, and Nowacking freaks out that the movie is sinking his ship. "Ships are made to float!" He finally break down in tears. "They love each other! They just don't know it yet!"
- Skyward Scream: Saberspark's reaction to seeing that the season 5 premiere was partially written by M.A. Larson (with a superimposed Larson doing an Evil Laugh at the same time).
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Saberspark censors his Precision F-Strikes, though nobody else does.
- Spit Take: AnimatedJames has one in the 100th episode video, as he is drinking when Derpy locks the Mane Six out of the town hall.
- Squee: EileMonty's reaction to a large portion of episode 100.
- The Stinger:
- The reaction to Derpy's censoring...IBringDaLulz: Can the Bronies survive? Would I go gay for Mic— what?
- And then, in the reaction to the season 3 premiere, in a more Foreshadowing way...ACRacebest: [is leaving the room, stops] Wait...
[plays clip from the episode, where Celestia and Luna are talking about Twilight being "ready"]
ACRacebest: [turns around] Ready for what? [video ends with the famous Inception sound] - Repeated with the reaction to Friendship Games, appropriately in relation to the Stinger of the movie, again with the Inception sound.ACRacebest: [about to leave the room, when he turns around] Wait a minute. What time loop?
- The reaction to Derpy's censoring...
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Everyone seems to call the vines in the season 4 premiere "Tentacles".
- String Theory: In "Bronies React to 'The Perfect Pear'", when Applejack's parents are finally introduced, LittleshyFiM points to a wall with various pictures from the show linked by strings.LittleshyFiM: Well, there goes the space aliens theory.
- Take That!:
- Nowacking in the season 3 premiere reaction video says that King Sombra looks like a bad OC pony... or, in other words, an OC pony.
- The Gak commercials during the season 3 premiere irritate everyone.
- AnimatedJames in the Rainbow Rocks video he says that since this is his first time on the series, he should come up with a good style, and settles on making fun of the other Bronies' styles, to hide his own lack of talent:AnimatedJames: The Seth MacFarlane method!
- Later he quips:AnimatedJames: The music in Equestria Girls always make me feel I'm listening to a female version of One Direction. Or just... One Direction.
- This Is Gonna Suck: In the 100th episode, just after Octavia talks on-screen, ACRacebest realizes what this means (i.e. Orchestral Design about to go nuclear) and covers his head with a pillow.
- Three... Two... One...:
- In the review for the season 7 finale ("Shadow Play"), after Twilight says "I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained," Dustykatt quips: "Magical explanation in three... two... one..."
- At the beginning of the review for the Season 8 Premiere, Dustykatt again states "Movie recap in three... two... one..."
- Tinfoil Hat: Joe Stevens wears one at the very beginning of the Equestria Girls trailer video. And his plushy mascot too.
- Trailers Always Spoil: During the season 6 finale episode, ACRacebest is extremely upset that the trailer for the episode spoiled the fact that Discord and Thorax show up, and lets out a lengthy rant against the guys the in charge of the advertising.
- Tranquil Fury: Orchestral Design in the season 3 premiere at the lack of Octavia. At first.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: "Bronies React to Cupcakes"; Saberspark does not like it. He has trouble just talking after the first few minutes.
- Walking Shirtless Scene:
- Saberspark in "Bronies React to Season 6 Premiere". Apparently, it's because he didn't feel like putting in the effort to get dressed due to his belief that the show didn't put enough effort into the episode. It feels more like fanservice, though.
- Nowacking in the reaction to "The Last Problem", who tears off his shirt randomly at one point and remains shirtless for most of the video. (That's after his transition, though, so it stays safe.)
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: In the reaction to the season 2 finale, when the first episode ends and the credits start to roll, Orchestral Design runs off to get a drink. Cue a "Please Stand By" screen.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: AnimatedJames is quite puzzled by Lotus Blossom's accent in "Slice of Life", as voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.James: What the f[bleep] accent is that?! It's like every Asian comedian's impression of their mom combined into one voice...
- Wingding Eyes: In the Season 5 Finale episode, when Deadpool shows up in Jaxblade's house (Makes Just as Much Sense in Context), he gets hearts over his eyes at the mention of My Little Pony, and then thin white stripes as he leaves, dejected.
- You Answered Your Own Question: AnimatedJames in the Rainbow Rocks video:James: Okay, why are they all sabotaging this specific act? I mean, why don't they sabotage Snips and Snails'... okay, never mind, I answered my own question.
