Hi there, name's Pony Lore and I'm currently planning an, at least, hour long documentary style video on youtube describing the rise of FIM and I'd to know from all of you what made the show special, at least in your eyes. I'll take anything from statistics and provable facts of about the show's creation to your own personal views and opinions. I want nothing held back.

I'll be posting this question to a few other groups as well, so you might see me a few times today.

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Personally, i enjoyed the fairly competent problem solving, the interesting characters that played well off of each other, the simple yet effective art style and g4's use of Greek mythos as inspiration for creatures and world building quite fun.

G4 felt as though it had a good balance when it came to the age group it was trying to entertain (and grabbing the age group they weren't intending): not so simplistic as to keep a hold of the attention span of babies, but neither did it fall into the trap of slow paced drama that is expected of most modern day adult entertainment (I may be biased here as i rarely enjoy drama as a genre.)

the show didn't feel like it was trying to spread an agenda or political message which helped its sincerity and allowed fans to pop up from almost all walks of life. the separation from real world problems (the earlier seasons anyway) made it an easily accessible form of escapism for wild speculation and creativity.

the continuity, cause and effect felt by the later seasons from the actions of the previous were also greatly appreciated.

The escapism helped many fans of the show who were going through problems at the time to simply catch a break and find some modicum of comfort.
The speculation allowed for fans to interact with each other as most fandoms do, however with the subject matter being somewhat unusual (guys talking about a show primarily for girls), this could have caused new perspectives to be shared with those who would not usually converse with each other, testing waters seldom tread.
The creativity was explosive at the time, art work, music, animations, literature etc. each piece created was another personal connection one had to the show and although many fans have left the fandom, their legacy helps to inspire new fans and creatives to join up years after the show has ended.

Im not very good at explaining but i hope you understand the gist of what i am trying to say and there may be others who have different or even reasons that are antithesis to what i have written down, but im sure everyone will have their own spin for why they like the G4 universe.

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I watched FiM in middle school and fell in love with it because it was a great escapism tool for someone like me who didn't know how to make friends or talk to kids at school. Of course that wasn't the only form of escapism I used it for, back then I didn't know it yet but I was trans. I would watch the show and imagine myself as one of the mares or daydream about meeting Twilight and asking her to turn me into a mare or sitting in class and daydreaming about what'd happen and how awesome it'd be if I suddenly turned into Pinkie Pie in the middle of class.

The show is still entertaining to me today. But I became a fan because I loved imagining myself living in a better, more accepting world like Equestria.

When I was a kid I'd spend every Saturday watching the newest episode pirated on YouTube then I'd spend the next two hours watching and reading people's analysis of the episode. The fandom was always the part that made me love MLP. Though I discovered the more adult parts too early which I think damaged my emotional development, I still love the show and this website

I can sum it up in one word: characters. I cannot imagine having been anything like as invested in FiM had it not been for how interesting the Mane Six were as characters. I'm sure that's the single biggest reason there's so much ponyfic, too.

Building off of previous comments about characters, we saw a lot of who they were, not just what they did; you got the sense that they had lives outside the plot of the show. As one example, something that impressed me was that the characters had jobs - most kids shows wouldn't have addressed that. Then again, I suppose most kids shows wouldn't have used a mostly adult cast. Each character was also pretty balanced in terms of character flaws and strengths, which helped contribute to no clear front runners in the fandom Best Pony debate.

The sole blog post I've made on this site probably explains it better than I can in a mere comment. Long story short, several good fanfics had only the source material as a common factor, which got me to check the show itself.

How memorable and well written the characters were, there's very few characters who could be considered recognizable if placed in a wildly different situation but all of the mane 6 had strong enough personalities that it was possible. For example you could ask yourself, 'What if Pinkie and Rarity were homicide detectives?' and you'd instantly come up with a story. Besides that I think that at least until a A Canterlot Wedding, the world building was absolutely phenomenal, and really captured your imagination. Admittedly I think the last aspect of Equestria everyone got fascinated by was Changelings and S3-S9 never introduced anything more captivating, but it still built on that lore until at least Season 5.

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I'm a bit late to reply but I wouldn't mind discussing with you if you would like.