>>212968782I think a big part of what attracted people to the show is society's culture rotting. Women are taught femininity is evil, so they are all a bunch of evil dykes nobody likes. Guys are naturally attracted to the feminine characters for their personalities.
Also society is highly technical and it is eroding social cohesion, where MLP is largely non technology based, and highly social.
The show was intended to be watchable for all audiences, so despite sounding like the girliedt thing ever, only a few characters are actually girly, and even that girliness is a secondary character trait. (Rarity likes fashion and runs a business, fluttershy likes animals)
It's basically peering into a fantasy world of a non corrupt, non evil society.