If I were in college still I'd write a sociology paper on it. You could point to any number of causes for it. Certainly I think there has always been a segment of society that loves to be contrary, and in these times of hate-filled political discourse, sleazy reality shows and relentlessly negative internet discussion, what could be more counter-culture than ponies teaching about the magic of friendship?

And really, with the state the world is in these days and the increasing fear that it's hopeless to expect things to get better instead of worse, I think there's comfort in going "back to basics" as it were. It reminds me of the popularity of that book from a while back, "Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten". We may all recognize the Aesops being taught as simplistic, but it's the simplistic ones that tend to be taken to heart as inspiring. "The world may be beyond my control, but strip away all of the bullshit and I know what it takes to be a good person, and that's not such a bad goal in life."

It's also got what I call "The Yo Principle" going for it. Cuteness cut with just a slight amount of ironic humor and a certain badass-ary is a potent combination.

And finally, as I mentioned before, the show is actually pretty good. It has a nice clean art style, some impressive animation for a Flash-based toon, entertaining characters, and the occasional really-catchy song.

Plus, the season 2 premiere apparently has the ponies facing off against "Q" from Star Trek. Now we know where he's gone since J.J. Abrams wiped him from continuity:








The kids of today obviously dodged a bullet.