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I think there are conflicting desires Bronies have between wanting to spread the fandom and simply wanting non fans to stop dismissing it. If you legit want to get more people interested in the show then starting from the beginning is the only way to go. The other more humorous or audacious episodes people suggest only serve the second desire, since they risk setting up expectations that the rest of the series can't meet.

I think even people who dislike her would have to concede that the show would not be nearly what it is without her. I'm sure a lot has been made already about her personality, design, voice etc. but from a basic visual standpoint her hovering tic prevents the show from ever looking stiff when she's on screen and single-handedly elevates its surface appeal. She's an invaluable presence for a low-budget television cartoon. I'd go so far as to say she's one of the most ingenious cartoon conceptions in history.

And also her nuanced personality makes her the most interesting character in the show, imo. I find her personal arcs to be the most engaging of the Mane 6, and I still think there's plenty of room for drama with her and her relationships with the other characters.

^Your condescension is uncalled for. An opinion doesn't represent anything but the opiner's views. He's making a statement and inviting conversation about it. He's not expecting everyone to agree with it 

And there's no way of knowing if anyone who's left the fandom would like the later episodes better since they don't have an interest in watching them to judge

I think the show falters now about as often as it did in early seasons, but I feel like it's a rarity for a kids cartoon to become more ambitious as it goes along, so I appreciate that it usually stumbles now because of that as opposed to just fading out as another dull cartoon that no one cares enough about to get angry at. I haven't followed any cartoon this long until this series, which I think is a testament in itself to the efforts to keep it fresh even if they don't always stick the landing.

The closest I came to leaving the series/fandom was halfway through season 4 after a period of promising synopses blandly executed, and I feared the show was drifting off as another generic girly cartoon. Since then, I feel like there's been a more concerted effort to maintain the show's subversive streak that's earned it its fans. There've definitely been lousy episodes since then, but none bad enough or string of them long enough to make me seriously consider leaving, and I feel like Jim Miller and the writers are always looking for ways to keep the fandom's attention from one episode to the next. The Best Gift Ever was a reminder of just how great the show can be when everyone is on the same page.

I'd expect Rainbow Dash to be in it if nothing else. And I hope she is just to spite the OP.

For real though, they must be planning something pretty feelsy if they're bringing Patton's real life family into the mix. Looking forward to it.

13 hours ago, bwrosas said:

Show of hands/hooves, who seen Family Matters? Does Steve and Laura Ring a Bell? How did the thing between them start and how did it ultimately end (when the series was done) and how long did it take to get too? And how many bumps and obstacles did it go through, before they finally ended up together?

 

Point I have with that, is Spike and Rarity are somewhat similar in a sense. (And please don't mention "Age" as an excuse as why they shouldn't be, let's not go there.)  The point, is how many seasons did it take for Laura and Steve to finally be together, about 9 whole seasons, which ironically is just about what MLP FIM is coming up too.

 

And it took special episode towards the end of S9 for Laura and Steve to wind up together.  And ironically, it takes one Hoilday special for Rarity and Spike (Spairty) to become semi/if not officially canon in FIM.

 

I know it sounds confusing, but trust me, when you put the pieces together, you'll understand.  Hmmm..., makes you wonder if the creative staff were big Family Matters fans and fans of Steve and Laura being/ending up together.

 

I don't know the background of Family Matters, all I know is Spike's crush on Rarity is a joke that got old in the first season, and there's no real foundation for a relationship there. It's not like Fluttercord where there's a legit mutual spark and they both make considerable efforts to please each other. Rarity's personal and professional ambitions are far beyond what Spike is capable of supporting, and I'd hope a show that otherwise has a fairly decent handle on interpersonal relationships would be able to put its foot down on this eventually once they think they've wrung all the laughs and cute feels out of it. There are plenty of other characters in the show that would fill that role for Spike a lot better, and I really hope the writers will push him toward one of those eventually.

I really hope they don't go any further with Sparity. There's no chance of a two-sided relationship there. There are plenty of other more appropriate characters in the series for Spike to hook up with.

My only explanation for the series' baffling promotion of that ship is so they can make romance jokes that no one at Hasbro will take too seriously while they save more legit ships for the end.

I'm not real familiar with the world of cartoons outside of MLPFIM, but from a character dynamic standpoint I'd go with Stranger Things. It has similar themes of friendship and love being what matter most, and is witty and wholesome despite being darker and more violent than FIM

Rugrats and Hey Arnold I guess would also be similar with their youthful ensemble dynamic. 

Yakety Sax needed to take that time it used up showing Pinkie aimlessly moping around and used it to elaborate on the idiotic moral. 

There's actually a pretty big synthwave revival movement going on right now in indie circles. A couple artists named Kristine and Dana Jean Phoenix closely resemble Pat Benatar's sound.

I hope they're a little looser with the morals next season. The big thing that still holds this show back is how stories with very solid dramatic potential get watered down to fit in a moral in the last two minutes. It's always been at its best when it's more concerned with the unique complexities of its character relationships than with trying too hard to make them fit broad truisms. Best Gift Ever was a reminder of just how fun and heartwarming the show can be when it just drops the didactics and lets the characters work out their problems naturally.

There's definitely a notable difference between the show's ambitions in the BigJim era and the Thiessen era. He's downplayed the slapstick elements of the first few seasons in favor of a more dialogue-driven approach, which is an unusual direction for a children's show to take in its later seasons. I won't say if it's necessarily better or worse, but it will make the series as a whole interesting to analyze whenever it ends.

Something that keeps me coming back to MLP is that, predictable as they're often accused of being, the episodes never go quite the way you expect them to go. The writers display an awareness of how unoriginal their basic premises are and there's palpable suspense in finding out what new angle they spin on it. Sometimes it's for worse rather than for better but nevertheless the curiosity remains intact from episode to episode.  

RD's been shown to go to great lengths to humor people. Loud as she is she actually doesn't like serious emotional conflict. I don't think she'd have it in her to flat out tell Twilight she doesn't want to teach even if that were the case, and I'm also not so sure Twilight would take it so well.

Dash certainly does have teaching chops as evidenced by Top Bolt and Flight to the Finish. I could definitely see her being able to fully relish the job once Twilight relented on the EEA.

Rainbow Dash would probably look at the OP and just say, "Yeah, I'm pretty awesome"

Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. Used to really be into The Walking Dead but it's pretty much become schlock now.

Stranger Things' 80s atmosphere and synth music has massive Pony parody potential, imo.

We honestly deserve the hammer being thrown down on us. Apart from the illegality of the whole thing it's just so blatantly disrespectful of the crew. They don't need more idiotic fans whining at them right now based on a bunch of incomplete info nuggets.

2 hours ago, MegaSean45 said:

Season 9 being the last season makes me nervous. That might not be enough time for all our unanswered questions being answered in the show. At least the ones that matter the most. I hope this is fake.

If these are true we still got roughly 19 hours of Pony to answer all our questions, or about 8 Star Wars movies. 

The mandated didactic streak of the first season is unfortunately forever going to be a repellant for potential new bronies. It really is most rewarding if you start watching from the beginning but a lot of people just aren't going to have the patience and tolerance for that.

We can wax nostalgic about them now but the show's periphery appeal was seriously hampered by the letters to Celestia. I imagine they were part of the e/i demands back when that was a thing and they made the show feel like a PBS cartoon. You really had to be willing to bear with the series to not be immediately turned off by how cloying they were. I was relieved when they tweaked the formula in season 2 and have since worked to incorporate their morals with much more subtlety.

I don't "miss" them per se but I wouldn't say I necessarily dislike the mane 6 and CMCs' more simplistic characterizations early on, because that's what makes their development all the more enjoyable to witness.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. I think the premise called for a more serious-minded and subtle filmmaking approach but McDormand gives a great performance as always. 

If you're shipping Spike with anypony you're obviously disregarding long-term biological issues. Just taking things at face value based on the personality of the characters, Spike does seem to be a much better match to Sweetie Belle than Rarity.

I've seen some people float the idea of the dragons and griffons getting into a kerfuffle forcing RD and Spike to be intermediaries. Think that could work for an ep down the line. And as has been said, Garble now has reason to come after RD as well as Spike. 

What also really sticks with me after season 7 is how RD and Scootaloo's relationship is developing into something more complex and unique; what with their conflict in Parental Glideance borne out of the singular contrast in their upbringings despite considering themselves "sisters". I think there's a lot of potential in possibly interweaving Spike and Scootaloo's individual character growth into a bigger storyline involving a bond among all three characters.

10 hours ago, Br O N Y said:

So you would actually turn someone down just because they don't watch a certain TV-Show?

They don't have to watch it but they have to be okay with me watching it. It may seem trivial, but I can't be intimate with someone who judges me for one of my deepest insecurities. If that means I'm single for the rest of my life, so be it.