NeuroTypical

Not to mention, well, this:

Considering the lessons of that series are timeless, I'm thinking it'll continue to age well for a while. My next opportunity to find out will be when my kids have kids of their own, and I'll break out the MLP when I babysit.

Starlight is one of the most accurate and realistic redemption stories that G4 had to offer. It's true that folks don't just switch from evil to good, and when someone decides to leave behind the bad, that doesn't make the past all better. I was grateful to the show to see how Starlight struggled after so many years of being a villain. It was almost impossible for her to accept that her old town had forgiven her. And yes, she's not 'all better', as we've seen. And yes, she deserves punishment, but instead she has been granted friendship. Folks who have been through a 12 step program, or are trying to dig themselves out of a hole they dug for themselves, folks who have wrecked relationships, see themselves in Starlight. There are plenty of ppl out there who have caused harm to the point where folks want them to get turned into a statue or dropped into a hole forever. The notion that someone can have a shot at redemption after such flawed and horrible actions, is one of the cool messages of G4.

I'm disappointed. Better than Pony life, but still something that you'd expect to find playing at the daycare so the kiddos won't bug the adults. I hope to find a little Lauren Faust magic at some point, I'll give it another bunch of episodes to prove itself.

Depends on the pony. I used to have a real live Shetland pony, and we absolutely hated each other. But she demanded her ear scratches. And then glared at me when I didn't do them long enou

Indeed. G4 dealt with some pretty sensitive topics in a decent way. Zecora's introduction dealt lightly with racism, and the buffalo vs. homesteader ponies episode come to mind. It's not the addressing topics, it's how they do it. I thought the G5 movie is going well - they dealt with mob violence, charismatic leaders doing bad things, and deep racial divisions. It was the movie kids needed after 2020 and '21, because we'd all lived through it.