Let us not forget a certain invertebrate who lives in a pineapple under the sea…

If my memory serves me right, we successfully made a solid spongebob reference for almost all of the Season 3 episodes. Not to mention several of the main writers from the older episodes of the show now work on MLP.

MLP:FIM is the ultimate cartoon.
It takes nearly everything that's awesome from many of the other great cartoons of the 90s and early 2000s, and rolls it all up into one show.
Fantastic voice actors, enthusiastic animators, a brilliant musical score, and the Hub's willingness to foster community growth rather than crush it.
The prefect storm, ladies and gentleman. Other shows would do well to study closely.