Mister-Karter

Hiya! :D

You know... After 12 years in the fandom I just stopped asking myself this question. Human psychology is weird, we build rockets to send them into space and still can't figure out how our own minds work. There are tons of research on why bronies are like this, and none of it gives a simple, let alone correct, answer. And neither can I.

As for me... Well, I guess it works as a some kind of a counterweight to all this violence I see happening across the globe (and I'm sooo into politics, because I want to know how our world works, so I see A LOT of violence on a daily basis), something I can base my morality on, some simple and pure (even Christian) ideals like Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, etc. Yeah, it sounds really weird that a kids show basically teaches me how to be a good person (I tried religion once, since it basically teaches you exact same values, but that's not my thing I guess), but nowadays I see lots of really smart grown-up people that somehow don't know what friendship is, how human relationships work. People that hate others for their opinion or refusal to have one. And this way, I came to an understanding that most people are just grown-up kids. And so am I. And while we can understand complex matters like economy or politics, create families, travel, follow our own dreams, we need to be constantly reminded what it really means to be a human. Because I think that many of us have basically forgotten what such simple thing as empathy is, and that if we choose to emanate hatred, we will infect others with it, that's how society works, we're raised by it. And later generations of MLP (G4-G5) are all about these ideas and values. And besides, it's a good show, it has plot twists, character development, lots of action and other stuff that only adults will notice, to accompany the lessons of friendship it tries to teach us.

Next, people are somehow more sympathetic and empathetic towards animals rather than other humans. Especially cute little harmless ones, you know, with live expressive eyes and stuff. Cats, dogs, foxes... Magical ponies. You give them an ability to think and talk, some design tweaks – BOOM, everybody loves them even more.

And last, but not the least... The fandom itself. These are the most awesome people I've ever met. From all over the world: America, Canada, Germany, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Taiwan, China, Australia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Denmark, and so on and so forth... Friendly, creative, smart, willing to make the world a better place, sharing their positivity with others... Probably one of the main reasons I'm still on board with all this pony stuff. It's an infinite and self-sustainable generator of media-content and new friends, and I love it.

To sum things up: cool show, cute characters, simple and relevant ideas – and a perfect combination of all these three, which is important. And, of course, bronies themselves.

It's all individual. For instance, some people don't care about ideas, they just like the character design. And some don't really watch the show itself, they're here for new friends.

Sorry if it all sounds gibberish to you, I haven't practiced my English properly in months even as text writing. But I hope I gave you a somewhat comprehensive list of reasons why MLP is loved by so many that you see it being crossovered with pretty much everything in the universe.