“My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” Indeed, Wired reports, the new animated series

Meanwhile, while we were all watching grown-up TV shows like, y’know, “Glee,” “The Vampire Diaries” and “South Park,” an unlikely cartoon has captured the hearts and minds of geeky 20- and 30-something men.

(Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

No, not “Family Guy.”
Not “The Simpsons.”
Not the new “Spider-Man.”

It’s … um … “My Little Pony.”

More specifically, the newest rendition of the classic 1980s cartoon – “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” Indeed, Wired reports, the new animated series for young girls has gained a following from grown men who call themselves “bronies” – short for “bro ponies,” of course.

“First we can’t believe this show is so good, then we can’t believe we’ve become fans for life, then we can’t believe we’re walking down the pink aisle at Toys R Us or asking for the girl’s toy in our Happy Meal,” brony Luke Allen, 32, wrote in an email to Wired. “Then we can’t believe our friends haven’t seen it yet, then we can’t believe they’re becoming bronies too.”

Neither can I.

Here’s more from the Wired report:

Most people over the age of, say, 20 remember My Little Pony as a saccharine-smelling Hasbro toy and cartoon from the 1980s. In the decades since the release of the first line of ponies in 1982, there have been a number of dolls, TV shows and direct-to-DVD releases related to the My Little Pony name. Yet, save for a pop cultural archivist here and there (or perhaps a raver), very few of those variations have found an audience beyond the age-3-and-up children for whom My Little Pony is intended.

So, why the breathless adoration? Some fans say the show’s appeal lies in good illustration, excellent characters or, as Allen put it, a “perfect storm of ’80s nostalgia and cultural irony.” But nearly every fan Wired.com contacted can be far more specific about the source of the show’s genius: Lauren Faust.

Faust, as you know (right?), was a writer and artist on “The Powerpuff Girls,” a cute yet brash ’90s and ’00s show intended for girls that also gained an older, more masculine audience. I’ll admit, I watched it sometimes. (Hey, it was good! And nothing else was on.)

She helped reboot “My Little Pony” for Hub TV and Hasbro Studios, which also produces such shows as “Transformers Prime,” “G.I. JOE Renegades” and “Pound Puppies.”

“This might be a little short-sighted on my part, but I just assumed that any adult man who didn’t have a little girl wouldn’t even give it a try,” Faust, 36, told Wired. “The fact that they did and that they were open-minded and cool enough and secure in their masculinity enough to embrace it and love it and go online and talk about how much they love it — I’m kind of proud.”

I would think. But, much to the bronies’ chagrin, I’m sure, Faust is moving on from “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” Wired reports. The last episode of the first season aired last month.

Meanwhile, to keep themselves occupied – and just for poops and giggles – bronies have been creating a slew of Web content that honors “My Little Pony.” Think YouTube mashups of, for instance, the audio from “The Watchmen” movie trailer with footage from the cartoon (see below). There is, of course, a “Hitler Reacts To…” video in which Hitler himself is a brony. And “My Little Pony” fan art on the 4chan image-sharing forum (or the brony one, Ponychan), Wired reports.

Maybe these geeks are on to something.

Read more about the brony craze on Wired’s website.