Top 3 Best Shows.
 
Alongside Regular Show and Adventure Time.

Yes, yes, and absolutely.

Yes, it is legitimately good in my opinion. I mean, look at us, your average derpibooru-an, sitting here sincerely enjoying a show made for a much younger audience…that have vaginas.
 
Although its constituent elements are derivative, the quality I feel comes from how those elements come together. The characters, setting, animation, music, and stories all come together to form a glorious whole that makes us care to the point that any deviation from that upsets us…at least in my opinion

It’s good for what it is, a sometimes bland social comedy. The fantasy bits always seemed weak and out of place, seeing how the mane six are physically and emotionally unsuited for saving the world adventures. This show isn’t going to be the next Avatar, so it should really stop trying.

@gasmaskangel  
Well, yeah. Or try to fuse them together into something that makes sense, but currently it is too schizophrenic to reach any new heights that were acquired with stuff like, say, Samurai Jack.

@Background Pony  
Either way I think the show needs to decide what it is and stick with it.

@Trickquestion  
You know, I agreed with you until the whole thing about the fantasy elements being better.
 
A longer-arc slice-of-life is what the show truly needs more off, the fantasy elements are mishandled like eggs on a mixer.

@Trickquestion  
It’s basically a good show in spite of itself. It has all the strengths you mentioned, but has a format horribly ill-suited to capitalize on them.

@gasmaskangel  
There’s other things that I really like about the show, but that’s my main reason, too.
 
I really want to see Lauren’s other question posted here, though; I’m curious as to how others would answer it.

It isn’t the plot, decent animation or even the humor that won me over. It was the characters.
 
The mane six are in my opinion some of the most genuinely likable characters in recent memory. They are proof that you don’t need a character to be a bastard, lol random or endlessly sarcastic to be interesting.
 
I would argue that the cartoon itself isn’t the best in terms of writing or plot or even humor, but you genuinely enjoy spending time with the characters.

It has amazingly three dimensional, dynamic, and psychology realistic characters, who posses a complex and malleable dynamic with each other. The world of Equestria is fascinatingly original, with many interesting creatures and places, and a society that seems surprisingly thought out despite the lack of attention given to it.
 
What really hamstrings it from being a truly great show (and leaves me enjoying the IDW comic and fan content more often then not) is the self contained, slice of life format the majority of the episodes follow. The majority of them are enjoyable, with a small minority of episodes being weak in certain critical aspects but not completely terrible, but they just cannot reach the highs of the fantasy orientated episodes. And for a show that is supposedly about characters learning lessons and becoming better people, the lack of story arcs and consistent characterization is really disappointing.
 
In short, it’s trying to be a slice of life most of the time and a fantasy a little bit of the time, but the fantasy aspects are far superior to the slice of life aspects, and that format really hinders the show’s interesting ideas from being fully developed.

It’s an average cartoon whose treatment of the characters gave me enough reason to keep watching it and wishing to know how it evolved.

A little of column A, a little of column B.
 
It certainly holds itself very well against most other animated series.
 
But, really it was the “Dancing Bear” aspect of “Grown men like this?” that got me to check it out in the first place in summer 2011. Glad I did though.
 
So yeah. It’s a mixture of sorts.

@Background Pony  
Which is why you’re here.

Well, the only real complaint I have is that Twilight is apparently the smart one, yet she never applies her supposed intelligence and is constantly having to look for bits of information that she’s supposed to already have memorized. Oh, and also the whole thing with the fact that the only one that gets to lead is the noble with literally zero people skills.

It’s better than most cartoons on TV even at its most mediocre.

it sucks and i hate it