In my last blog post http://mlpforums.com/blog/456/entry-11293-kids-shows-vs-mature-shows-and-the-double-standards-in-quality/ I talked about the double standards in regard to expectations in quality of "mature shows" and "kids shows" but one argument I would like to get into is one of the most common talking points used in the "its just for kids" argument and it is that the plot must be simple in order for children to understand and appreciate it. I have heard this particular point repeated many times when I and others have brought the multiple inconsistencies and out of character moments in MLP, particularly in season 4 with responses like "they can only fit so much in a 20 minute episode" and that is indeed true but there are several several childrens shows where this has never been a serious problem.

Batman The Animated Series is one of the best examples of this, many of the episodes played out like short movies with complex plots dealing with profound issues such as grief, betrayal, crime, vengeance, fear, hope, psychological illness, love,live and death and many other matters many of which fairly dark and mature were presented in ways that were appropriate for young children without patronizing them or making the characterization bland or dumbed down. I am well aware that some of those subjects are not palatable for MLP because they are still viewed as inappropriate for a "girls show" which I honestly find sexist and insulting we have clearly seen that MLP can still tackle many fairly complex subjects without resorting to any of this in the past so why were they able to do this in past season but have for the most part fallen off the wagon in season 4?

I think much of it is due to twilicorn, the concept was pushed onto the writers by Hasbro with not enough time to properly flesh it out which has resulted in a season finale that I have said many times and will say again is the worst episode of the entire series. This combined with Hasbro likely pressuring the writers to get season 4 finished as soon as possible I believe is the main factor in why season 4 has the most glaring inconsistencies and out of character moments of any season aired so far.

But what about more simple plots? There are many examples that prove that those too can be done in a very profound matter without leaving quality on the cutting room floor. The original Star Wars trilogy is perhaps the best example of this I can think of. George Lucas has admitted that he has borrowed the ideas for the plot from many sources from samurai movies, ancient legends, myths and stories and even spaghetti westerns and if you think about the themes you can see them. An evil intergalactic empire, the fate of the galaxy at stake, an ancient order of warriors thought to have been extinct in hiding, a magic "force" that permeates all life and you have a fairly basic plot. Yet despite the simplicity the original Star Wars trilogy are remembered as great classics because George Lucas and the staff who worked on those movies set out to make them as good as they possibly could and succeeded.

And this is the very same reason why MLP has done well because Lauren Faust and the show staff have set out to make a good show and for the most part they have, but that does not mean they are infallible and as we have seen from twilicorn Hasbro can and will meddle if it feels that it is their best interest and there is no guarantee that Hasbro will not pull something like another twilicorn again and of course some of the writers actually have made mistakes that are indeed their own failures. Pinkie Pie's rank flanderization has been a serious problem throughout most of season 3 and Rarity being ignored was also a problem of that season. Pinkie Pie's characterization for the first half of season 4 seemed to improve with 2 excellent episodes but has backslided since then and is yet to recover, but to their credit the writers are making up for Rarity being ignored in season 3. Spike has also suffered from a flanderization by being turned into a 2 dimensional whipping boy who seems to be the butt of nearly every single joke which also started in season 3. Fluttershy's problems with consistency have been an issue since the beginning of the series with her learning lessons and then forgetting them which limits her full potential as a character and results in a lot of needless repetition of certain lessons.