I am curious about that as well. I could not stand the original cartoons as they had every ear mark of 22 minute long commercials. Poor animation and story telling... but my daughter loved them and I dutifully bought the toys like a god dad.

As for the new show , oddly enough, I don't mind watching it with my daughter and I think I know why. Largely the episodes are a product of a more creative team, both in story telling and animation. In short it appears to be more a show from which toys are derived and not one created solely to sell toys.

It helps that part of the creative spirit behind Power Puff Girls and Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends was behind it. I am an animation fan too, so it is fun to catch elements and styles from those three shows in FiM. Perhaps the adult fans are seeing the same elements I did and appreciate the style. I know that does not answer your question... it is a curiosity.

I do not identify as a brony, but the show has caused me to want to take up my cartooning pen again, so that is a good thing I guess.

I'm interpreting this statement as indicating that you believe the Friendship is Magic fandom to be based on irony. I can assure you this is not the case; the show is genuinely good. The writing, while not overly-complex, refrains from talking down to it's audience. The characters are relatable and have individual strengths and flaws as opposed to being interchangeably "nice" as I am told they were in previous generations. The jokes are funny, and include many references to classic shows (Benny Hill, Loony Toons, etc.); I even caught a small Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference once. The bottom line is that if this were about anything besides ponies no one would wonder about the fandom. It's just a good show.

That's kind of a tricky question. Why does anything become popular? The optimal conditions would be that the thing is good, and people want to share it. I believe that's what happened here.

For example, I saw people arguing about MLP:FiM, so I decided to check it out. The first episode was kind of "meh, I guess it's watchable", the second one was kind of "waait a minute" and every consecutive one was pure delight to watch.

...also, it's sweet and nice, without making the watchers feel like idiots. Some people really appreciate that.

Of course, there will be a lot of "haha, I get that joke, I belong!" people as well. There always are, for everything :p

I'm looking forward to the premier of season 2. I hope I can actually make it up and watch it on TV (like I did with the premier of the first season).... but eight in the morning is really early for me on a Saturday.... I'll probably end up having to wait and catch it on Youtube because I slept through it.

I probably won't even have television at that point, so you've at least got the advantage on me.

Personally i love the fact that each episode they teach at least one lesson that is helpful for someone who would like to try and be a better person. Then there is also the creative story telling, the cute graphic and the animations. After looking up i realized that most of the people working on the show also contributed to my old favorite cartoons. I also find it very inspirational and i guess kind of a figure to look up to.

All of these facts made me an instant brony after the second episode and i wear my MLP tshirts proudly! :D

I'll be watching over stream through bronies.

It would probably be around 15:00 o'clock if my calculations are right, a damn fine time.

Oh fuck

this community is CRAZY

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/silent-ponyville-game.html

I like how its genuinely different from most other kids shows these days. When I look at Nickelodeon or the Disney channel I either see Zack and Cody clones or animated shows that are filled with random force fed spastic jokes. Shows like the Fairly OddParents where you get joke after joke thrown at your face in only a few minutes.

I find that MLP FIM has a nice balance between jokes and 'seriousness'.

And I just love the animations. So much details, just a treat to the eye : )

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/season-2-episode-1-return-of-harmony.html

So season 2 is out today, any opinions yet?

Q is the villain.

It will be fucking awesome!

It's gonna be SO AWESOME /)^3^(\

Oh shit it's starting

Currently watching it on the stream advertised on the MLPFIM Steam group: http://joowz.com/

This episode was awesome! But the cliffhanger... Next Saturday can't get her fast enough!

Start writing fanfics like I do, it kills time.

Still needs a lot of crossovers of good old games. Blood, Outcast, it all needs ponies.

I mad.

So how did you like the villain, he seemed to be a pretty cool guy, didn't he?