You may think you are hard-core – but are you hard-core enough to harness the magic of friendship?! While rocking a tail, rainbow stripes, and sparkles? If you haven’t seen My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, you might not realize quite how much raw passion can be sparked by glittery horses.
I myself was a huge fan of the original My Little Pony back in the years after the initial debut of the toys in 1982. Fast forward to 2010, when a new iteration premiered while I was in a haze of sleep deprivation from having my own babies. The ponies in Friendship is Magic evolved to have even bigger anime-esque eyes and the ability to shoot off sassy one-liners, but they still wear their sappy emotions on their sleeves (or, flanks).
The show ran for nine seasons, as well as had several movie specials and spin-offs. While the series may have ended, and it is spread across streaming services, there are still ways to catch up on the whole saga. Read on for more about the show’s impact, as well as how to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Best Way to Watch: Philo gives you access to the first 8 seasons of the show through Discovery Family, and is just $25/month. Season 9 is available in Hulu’s Streaming Library, which starts at $7.99 per month. You can also get the first 4 seasons on Netflix.
Watching MLP: Friendship Is Magic Online
The best option for the most My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is Philo, which offers Discovery Family in its $25/month plan. Through this option, you can watch the first 8 seasons of the show.
If you want to watch season 9, you will need to have access to Hulu’s Streaming Library. Hulu offers a free trial month and several different monthly plans. All of them will allow you to watch Bloods. The basic plans are listed below:
- Hulu (with ads): This plan costs $7.99 per month but provides an annual billing option priced at a discount. This plan is ad-supported.
- Hulu (no ads): This plan costs $17.99 per month. With this plan, you get all the movies and TV shows in Hulu’s streaming library commercial-free.
Netflix will let you watch season 9, and is available to stream by subscribing to Netflix via one of the following plan options:
- Premium – $22.99 per month – 4K HDR – allows four simultaneous viewings
- Standard – $15.49 per month – HD – allows two simultaneous viewings
- Standard with ads – $6.99 – HD – allows 2 streams at a time, but you have to watch ads
Also, check out our review of Netflix for more on the service.
A variety of seasons and episodes are available on Discovery Family Channel through other streaming providers, including FuboTV and DIRECTV, although neither has the full set.
Buying the Series
You can also buy the show, spending a set amount per episode or per season. Amazon and Itunes offer it for $2.99 per episode or $19.99 per season. Google Play and YouTube cost the same for HD but offers you the option of SD for $1.99 per episode or $14.99 per season.
Watching the movie
If you specifically want to watch the 2017 My Little Pony movie, you can rent it with Amazon Prime Video. You can also buy it for $9.99 on Itunes or Google Play or on Vudu for $9.99 SD or $12.99 HD. The specials are available to purchase on Vudu as well.
More About My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Some of the fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are little girls, the stereotypical audience for such things, but many are adults, and many are male – including self-called “Bronies.” Why do we now have an adult fascination with a fantasy world based on equine adventures? Why spend so much time watching ponies learn lessons about how to run their little kingdom together? Why celebrate using the “power of friendship” to save the day? Really, perhaps the question ought to be, why do we wonder at any of that? Why is it so weird to want diversity and friendship? If Bronies were into video games and spent all their time on virtually blowing people up, nary an eye would be batted.
Sadly, although we pay lip service to wanting a society of peaceful coexistence, such a place is not where we choose to spend our free time. We’d seemingly rather engage in vicarious crime than explore the intricacies of how to relate to each other. And so, I say, bring on Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the “Mane 6” in Equestria! Friendship IS magic, damn it, so let’s start acting like it.
Plus, there is some actual geek cred to be had here. “Weird Al” Yankovic, William Shatner, and Felicia Day have all voiced characters, and John De Lancie plays a character satisfyingly similar to his role of Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Fortunately, there is plenty of the show to watch. There were nine seasons that ran through 2019, along with a number of specials including the rather bizarre “Equestria Girls,” featuring human-pony hybrid versions of the ponies interacting in a high school.
