User:Amelia/FIM

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is an American-Canadian animated fantasy-adventure-sitcom television show that aired from 2010 to 2019 at a total of 229 episodes, nearly a decade, making it by far the longest lasting of any My Little Pony television series. Friendship is Magic, often shortened to FIM, or due to its ubiqity to the brand, simply MLP was created by Lauren Faust, who intended the show to appeal to many demographics, girls, boys and their parents, through clever writing, a wide cast of characters and stories and hidden jokes.

First airing on The Hub before moving to Discovery Family, Friendship is Magic was a massive success, quite literally gaining a cult following overnight with older viewers and capturing the hearts of children all the same. The show managed to avoid the stigma often held against cartoons animated in Flash animation due to its unmistakable style, vibrancy and energy.

The show primarily followed its six core cast members, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, collectively known as the "Mane Six", as well as their various friends, relatives and at times, enemies. The stories, themes and topics the show tackled were as versatile as the cast itself, as many episodes featured epic adventures, relaxed character-driven plots, stories centered around competitions, bigotry, environmental dangers, cultural differences, insecurity, self-confidence, misleading advertising and far more.

Backed by a massive toyline and a variety of merchandise, Friendship is Magic backed the relatively humble and often shunned toy to being among the biggest toy franchises on the planet, consistently generation over 500,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 USD a year during its run.