LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: If you're a parent or even of my vintage, you might recall My Little Pony, a popular children's toy in the 1980s marketed primarily to young girls. I can still sing the jingle, in fact. It's probably seared in my memory because Mum never bought me one - not that I'm bitter about that, Mum. But it seems I'm not the only one with a penchant for combing and brushing their hair, as the song used to go. There's a cluster of My Little Pony fans out there known as Bronies - bros who like ponies. Here's Monique Schafter.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER, REPORTER: It's a Saturday in Sydney and fans from around the country have gathered to celebrate the world of My Little Pony.

FAN: I came all the way from Townsville to be here.

FAN II: It's really colourful and vibrant and just happy.

FAN III: Each pony represents laughter, kindness, generosity.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: In the 1980s it was a popular children's toy, but in 2010, My Little Pony was reinvented as an animated TV series.

It might be aimed at kids, but My Little Pony has a legion of adult fans around the world. One of those is 38-year-old father of three Paul Hocksenar.

PAUL HOCKSENAR, EVENT ORGANISER: The show has a good moral content, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it; it just leads by example. And, as a result, it's gained more attention than just being treated as a kids' show. Eight million fans - and that's adult viewers, not just the children. So, it has captivated the world.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: These days, guys like My Little Pony just as much as the girls. They call themselves Bronies.

JONO COLWELL: It started off being a term for a male who likes the show, 'cause they were so much more visible and everyone liked to pick on them so much more, calling them man-children. ... We thought, "Well if people are going to call us this anyway, we might as well take it and make something of it," and it's since become sort of a gender neutral term. But I feel that my masculinity does not need to be defined by what I do or don't like. I'm a man. I'm perfectly fine with liking My Little Pony. I also like guns and explosions and all that sort of stuff.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: One of the main attractions at the convention is My Little Pony voice actress Ashleigh Ball.

ASHLEIGH BALL, VOICE ACTOR: I play two of the main six - two ponies. One's Applejack, who talks oddly. She's a country pony and she's just kinda happy bucking apples and living on the farm. And then there's Rainbow Dash, who's the Pegasus pony and she's the fastest Pegasus in the sky. So, they're just kind of like two - oh, there they are right here. (Holds up document showing cartoon of ponies) There I am. Yeah.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: What do you love about My Little Pony?

FAN IV: Ah, well, the show. Mostly the community, for the most part 'cause it's such a big, open community that will let anybody in. There's little to no judgment here. You could be dressed up as anything - a dragon, for example, and nobody would care, nobody would go, "Oh, that's weird or anything." Everybody would start hugging him, for example. Him or her - I don't know.

FAN V: Kind of like the kind of thing where you need to get away from a bit of the bad things in life, social bullying and all that. We have a lot of that kind of thing going on in this world. So, basically, we're just here to escape from that.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: The My Little Pony community takes their fandom seriously. Not only do they get dressed up, they create pony art, play pony games and even 3D print themselves.

3D PRINTER: I can do a complete scan from, like, ground up. No matter what they're after, it's just a matter of getting them to sit still for two or three minutes, which is probably the hardest part of it, and then just running over them with an individual scanning camera.

Despite what the outside stigma is, actually it's amazing fandom. It's the best fandom I've ever seen. ... (reading from t-shirt "Go the ponies, Appetite for Friendship". A cross of my two favourite things: Guns 'n' Roses and ponies.

FAN VI: It's something that fathers often don't have with their young daughters is a similar interest, but we do and that's something I value.

LEIGH SALES: Guns 'n' Roses and ponies - that is an awesome combination. Monique Schafter reporting.