MLP's main attraction is that it is a huge internet joke. But here's the thing we're forgetting... this isn't for guys, this isn't for anyone over the age of 12... this is meant for little girls who actually feel insulted by the countless terrible toyetic doll cartoons they wind up getting. We guys have it lucky. We get these great, well written action shows with cool toys. Girls get Bratz. Not only are they horrible toys, but it was one of the WORST cartoons ever with vapid characters and a passive aggressive parody of Barbie. When 4Kids dubbed Winx Club, they threw in a lot of sexist stuff that turned the characters into bimbos, including the theme song that threw in the lyric "Don't touch the hair."
Face Palm!
Not to mention the new Strawberry Shortcake I caught because my sister got a DVD free in a box of cereal. My GLOB! It was the dullest thing I ever saw. They were just throwing a party and showing the preparations. No antagonist... no storyline... no nothing! I felt like jumping through a window. That's not a cartoon. That's an animated act of mundane!
So I have the utmost respect for the new series because the underlying concept was to make little girls a smart, well written cartoon show. Something they richly deserve. It just happened to attract an unexpected audience, but so didn't other extremely well done girl's cartoon, Kim Possible.