Thrond

The series has never really dealt with the problem of Equestrian magic leaking into humanland; I always thought it was setting that up for a later special that never happened. Tying the human Sunset Shimmer into that would have been extra cool. I always preferred the idea that she was just off somewhere else, but it would explain a lot if the Sunset we know somehow replaced her. I still wonder how innocent an alternate version of Sunset Shimmer could really be, but maybe she had her own redemption arc offscreen. At the same time, I just don't feel like Sunset's redemption arc was "ongoing," even in 2017. That was kinda my problem with "Forgotten Friendship" - I don't feel like it adds anything, because I don't think there's a lot left to add to that story. It would have been better to give her something new to worry about.

Season 1: There's a purity to this season. It's simple, but the show's charm is there from the start. It doesn't try to be more than it is, and it's very good at being what it is. Season 2: The stories here dig a lot deeper than in season 1; I like this show the most when it's about anxiety, and this season focuses a lot more on what makes the mane six tick. And it does that while mostly keeping the vibe of season 1, which I love. After all this time, still my favourite season; there's only like one episode here that I don't have any fun with. Season 3: Not that many episodes I love here, but it's still pretty consistently charming. Season 4: Much as I disagree with the direction this season takes, I think it does the best job of pushing the show in a more mature direction without compromising its charm. It has a bit more worldbuilding, slightly deeper lessons, and a bit more continuity, but it's still mostly about the mane six and still has the lighthearted feel of the early seasons, though by this point it's starting to fade. Season 5: I don't like that many episodes here, but pretty much every episode I liked this season is among my favourites in the series. Season 6: Looking back on this season, it doesn't seem like it should work, but I still think this is by far the most enjoyable of the last five seasons. I think it's very funny, and I found it had a lot of fresh ideas for the mane six - a rarity in the latter half of the show. Season 7: Twilight Sparkle episodes started being good again for the first time in four years. Really a bright spot in a season without a lot of those. Season 8: The school probably changed the series more than anything since Twilight became a princess. Even that turned out to be a gradual transition, though; season 8 actually feels like a big step forward in so many different ways. I wish I liked it more. Season 9: For how much I dislike the direction this season wound up taking, the finale had no business being as good as it was.

Are you sure? The "really liked it" option seems to have 46 votes - that would be The ones with only 2 votes are the "didn't like it" options.

yeah

I find myself streaming more often than buying discs, but this is maybe the biggest reason I haven't given up on physical media entirely. You know, I always think that, and then I don't watch the bonus features. I'm still interested in special editions though because I like the box art. I had a feeling that database wasn't giving me the whole picture... Yeah, I stream most of my movies and TV right now just because it's cheap and convenient, but I still buy Blu-rays for the best picture. Plus they don't rely on my inconsistent internet connection...

I think at this point they probably use streaming services and video-on-demand instead. Physical media in general is on its way to fading from the mainstream. If parents do use discs, I would presume they're DVDs: DVDs are cheaper, most TV cartoons are only released on DVD, and little kids are probably not that picky about video quality. TV shows just aren't guaranteed to get a Blu-ray release the way that movies are. A cursory glance at blu-ray.com tells me that even Adventure Time hasn't gotten blu-rays past its sixth season, and many other cartoons don't even have that. Who knows, maybe there will be a huge Blu-ray boom in the near future and even shows for small children like My Little Pony will be released on high-definition optical discs. But I suspect the audience who would buy such things is fairly small.

I sort of decided that the way to reduce my "self-inflicted misery" was to mostly ignore the new show.

In truth, it's not even the two-parters I'm thinking of; those episodes at least try to compensate with something else. Of those episodes, I personally think "Twilight's Kingdom" pulled it off as well; I liked how stopping Tirek was directly tied to Twilight's confidence in her role as a princess. And both of the one-part finales succeed in this area too. Though "Return of Harmony" is kind of a weird example because all of those scrolls came out of nowhere at the very last minute, so she seems to get over her despair very suddenly. My problem is more with one-off episodes focused on one character where they're right from start to finish and mostly have to overcome some external pressure. I think "Fluttershy Leans In" is the most notable example - Fluttershy spends the whole episode just standing up for herself, leaving little of interest aside from noting how far she has come. And that's something that would be far more effective if we saw her actually struggle with standing up for herself only to come around and pull it off. To be honest, I think this is something that even popular episodes like "Gauntlet of Fire" suffer from.

YEARS LATER... Season 7 "A Flurry of Emotions" - I think this one is really cute, and I like when this show touches upon the stresses of parenthood. Plus I felt it made Twilight interesting again after four years of dullness; I found watching her balance personal issues with her duties as a princess to be much more relatable than pretty much anything she did in seasons 3-6. "Triple Threat" - I mostly like this because I like Thorax and Ember, and I particularly like how this shifted Ember's characterization towards being a bit more aggressive. But I liked Spike in this too, mainly just because I enjoy watching these characters get way in over their heads with politics. Time and time again, the stuff that people complain makes him look bad just make him more sympathetic to me. Season 8 "School Daze" - That school is such a dumb idea that I still think it's remarkable how good it wound up being, especially here. I think the students are cute, and I loved seeing Twilight & co. standing up for them. And Starlight has rarely been used better. "The Mean 6" - This episode is funny. "Father Knows Beast" - I found this one surprisingly moving. I think I like it more than most because I value the drama of Spike never knowing his parents and Twilight struggling to compensate more than having all of Spike's problems solved immediately. I don't like all of the answers here, but what I get out of this is not unlike what I get out of "The Perfect Pear" or "The Hearth's Warming Club." Season 9 "Uprooted" - I feel this one has a lot of the same charm that brought me to the show, which I find often isn't the case from season 5 onward. The wit of season 1 isn't all here, but the vibe is. "The Point of No Return" - I never got sick of Twilight's freak-outs. They're one of the funniest and most relatable parts of her character to me; I wouldn't go as far as she does, but I get the feeling. This one is very similar to "Lesson Zero" from season 2, but it updates that formula in a lot of smart ways. "Going to Seed" - I found the low-key nature of this episode really refreshing, and yet it's still really funny. "Between Dark and Dawn" - Celestia and Luna's banter is always fun. Also, the song in this rhymes "absconding" with "vagabonding," which is incredible. "Growing Up is Hard to Do" - This episode is funny, and I like its moral about not overestimating your maturity. "The End of the End" - Did you see that part where Rarity threw the rock?! That was crazy. "The Last Problem" - This is really well-done and full of cute and funny moments. I don't like what it's about, but I can't imagine a better episode about that. Other I thought "Rainbow Roadtrip" was pretty cute. Equestria Girls "Rollercoaster of Friendship" is still my favourite Equestria Girls special because I think it's funny.

One thing I like about Rarity in Friendship is Magic is her struggle to balance her love of high society with her humble origins. She’s the subject of a lot of “be yourself” morals because of this; she wants to be accepted by the people she admires without turning her back on the people she loves. I like that, eventually, she overcame that problem with her own talent and hard work; I bet she doesn’t need to worry about the Canterlot upper crust insulting her friends now that she is a famous designer. Although, this thread is about Equestria Girls Rarity, who seems like she doesn’t have to deal with that... But what the two do have in common is that they can pull off pretty much any look. Always fabulous, that Rarity.

I like to think that while the wedding was Applejack's idea, the honeymoon was all Rainbow Dash. So it must have been something that would get the adrenaline pumping...

Sure but it wouldn't have to be a "friendship school" in the new series, it could be anything. I'm just using that as an example of the show addressing serious real-world issues while staying upbeat and optimistic.

The character inconsistency in the last two seasons was really bizarre, but I might have tolerated some of those episodes if they had some degree of depth. That's how I felt about "Growing Up is Hard to Do," honestly. "Non-Compete Clause" and "2, 4, 6, Greaaat!" annoyed me more for their shallowness, which is what I'm complaining about here. I mean, I'm just thinking about the season 8 premiere, where Twilight triumphs over the racist chancellor to keep her school open. That seems like a good way to do it. Well, no, I don't think a darker approach would fit, but I don't see that as particularly likely.

I'm still trying to resist it; the next My Little Pony cartoon is gonna have to win me over all over again. I have no attachment to the brand, and I generally avoid cartoons for little kids. But a year without the show has made me miss the cute ponies, even if I don't miss what Friendship is Magic turned out to be. So I'll spitball about what I might be looking for in my cute cartoon escapism. What I would want: A focus on slice-of-life, character-driven situations. I think I liked Friendship is Magic best when it told stories about social anxiety - that is, stories where the mane six acted out because they were afraid of being judged or felt they needed to compensate for something. That made it so they were sympathetic and relatable while still making us hope they learn their lesson. I'd hope for similar themes in the next show, but even if it were about something different, I still think that smaller scale is what works best for this format. A relatively restrained art style. In Friendship is Magic, all of the crazier cartoon faces of the later seasons just broke the show's charm for me. Meanwhile, the movie and Rainbow Roadtrip had awkward lighting effects and weird details that I found distracting. It would be nice if the next cartoon was more fluid and had more detail than Friendship is Magic, but its charm came in large part from the fact that it didn't stretch or contort in the same way that some other cartoons do. A bit more clarity about the characters' ages. This was a maddening part of Friendship is Magic - I think the mane six are all adults, but the CMC are not, which added to the inconsistencies in their character arcs. It also might be useful to have a younger main cast, because the main six being adults felt like a limitation in the later seasons; the show couldn't really explore their adult lives in the way I wanted it to. If there are sentient species other than ponies, I think it would be cool to see them mingle with ponies more often. I find most of the talking creatures in Friendship is Magic equally cute. I don't have strong opinions about the next show being different from Friendship is Magic. At that point I just have to judge whether it's something I would want to watch. But if the G5 show is similar to its predecessor, then I don't want these mistakes repeated: Biting off more than it can chew. I was always incredibly frustrated when Friendship is Magic tried to tell stories about subjects it couldn't address directly. Too often it used really clumsy metaphors that seemed condescending at best and nonsensical at worst. Honestly, Friendship is Magic was already starting to improve on that front in the last couple of seasons, so if a new show can continue that trend but combine it with stronger character work, it might have potential. Otherwise, maybe don't approach heavy topics like death or mental illness or inequality. Overly moralistic storytelling. I don't mean this in terms of "forced wokeness" but more regarding the awkward story structure of the later seasons, where episodes were often structured around one character acting rudely and only learning their lesson at the end, when someone else forces them to see the light. Having a decent moral doesn't automatically make your story interesting. Similarly, I don't want to see characters prevailing over purely external conflicts that serve only to showcase their virtues. You want to show me a character's development? Have them prevail over anxieties that would have crippled them earlier in the show. That's way more satisfying in a show like Friendship is Magic. I'm gonna be a contrarian here and say that I don't want a greater focus on action and adventure. The mythology in Friendship is Magic worked best as fairy-tale background fluff, when it was just there to complement the ponies' journies. The contrivances introduced to let the ponies go on so many adventures in the later seasons frustrated me, and I found a lot of the Equestrian history we learned pretty generic and dull. It's not what I'm here for. And frankly, the bizarre epic fantasy ideas often posted here seem like the opposite of what I go to the cute pony cartoon for. To be honest, if I see tall princess Twilight in the new series, I might opt out by default even if that show does everything else right. But that would be my problem, not the show's. I kinda liked when Friendship is Magic tried taking on serious issues with the friendship school, though; watching these characters I care about successfully fight against xenophobia and prevail is optimistic in a way that seems to me like it fits.

It kinda seems like that was an annual thing that would happen while Friendship is Magic was still going. There was also a series of shorts between seasons 8 and 9, which was something that only happened once, though I really disliked those shorts so I don't miss them. Even Equestria Girls ended abruptly in 2019, which I think is because it was really just an extension of Friendship is Magic. It really seems to me like that leg of the franchise is done. My Little Pony has gone somewhere different. Isn't there a My Little Pony show on television right now?

The final year of My Little Pony still isn't on Netflix at all for some reason, so I'm kinda stuck with piracy now that I'm not subscribed to Treehouse anymore. I didn't find the songs super memorable in that, but I really liked all of the character designs. As personalities go, only Kerfuffle and Torque Wrench really stuck with me, alas.

It's tonally pretty different from the rest of the show so I think it doesn't really have the qualities a lot of people watch My Little Pony for. I liked it a fair bit even I find it a bit simple and frivolous. The world needs more Kerfuffle fan art, though. Also, I wonder how many people actually watched it. If your only experience with the show is watching recordings off your PVR or catching up months later on Netflix, it's easy for me to imagine that you never learned that Rainbow Roadtrip is a thing.

I never cared that much about Grogar, so the big finale twist didn't bother me that much. It seemed to me that he would probaby just be another generic cartoon villain; at least the Chrysalis/Cozy Glow/Tirek team up was silly.

I get the sense that people wanted different things from this show. I'm not very interested in its moralizing or its setting. I was mostly drawn to this show for its humour and its characters, and I was drawn in around the end of the second season, when the main cast was relatively small. The show didn't really evolve the dynamic between the main characters, which has led that to become one of the weaker parts of the later seasons; most new elements in those relationships are driven by external forces. Those later seasons also try to incorporate the morals into the plot more, but it comes at the expense of the loose plotting and frequent digressions of the early seasons. Since I don't care about that, the later seasons will often bore me with their contrived fables and narrative payoffs, while annoying me when they can barely even rehash the character dynamics of the earlier seasons. But other people consider that very important, and watch every episode with an eye towards what lesson kids are taking from it. I sort of assume these people watch a lot of children's television. I figure these people are most impressed by the higher ambition of the later seasons, which regularly take on more complex topics and sometimes show a more mature side of the characters. I think the show treats that as a zero-sum equation - characters become more mature at the expense of the qualities that made them relatable. But not everyone liked those qualities as much as I did. If you found, say, Twilight's anxiety to be annoying, you probably welcomed the seasons where she calmed down a bit. And other people still seem most drawn in by the potential of the setting. I've read plenty of posts by people who don't actually care about the mane six or the morals about friendship, and generally don't enjoy the show's lighthearted tone and lightweight approach to worldbuilding. Sometimes I wonder if these people care more about fanfiction than the show itself. I think that's the extreme end - these people probably never actually liked the show - but there's also people who appreciated that the later seasons placed more emphasis on old legends and stuff like that. I assume the latter group mostly started watching the show a few years into its run, or at least were focused on fanfiction up until season 4 or so. I think these people appreciated that an increasing percentage of episodes focused on more than just the mane six's silly problems in Ponyville. Not to mention that there's people who like Starlight Glimmer way more than the other main characters. And these observations completely ignore the kids for whom the show is made. This is what I've come to think based on reading far too many forum posts about this silly little show. I probably haven't gotten the whole story; maybe someone in the other groups can speak for themselves about how the show's evolution in terms of quality. But I do sense that the difference comes down to why you like the show, which in turn is influenced by how much you like shows for little kids in general.

Lists like that tend to consider historical importance, so I guess this might make one of the lower rankings in one such list, because it successfully rejuvenated an iconic brand, plus its first few seasons were somewhat notable at the time for the online peripheral fandom. And fewer classic TV shows have consistent track records than you might think; would anyone deny the importance of Star Trek, even though nearly every version of that show has several episodes nobody likes? But I just don't feel like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic deserves that pedestal. So much of it just isn't all that good, and - admitting that I don't watch many cartoons - it seems like it was rapidly eclipsed and spent most of its run playing catch-up. If we're talking "best," I don't feel like Friendship is Magic has the consistency to rank on such a list at all. But I guess time will tell what its legacy is, and if I look back at the show, there's at least one season that is mostly great, and a binge of all my favourite episodes would take me across all nine seasons. For me, I'm not sure that's enough to call the show great, but I think a lot of people feel otherwise.

Yes, but I also think that's part of the show's charm.

I think the former leads to the latter; her parents suck, so she doesn't know what appropriate parenting looks like, so she's jealous of Rainbow having parents who are actually supportive and present in her life. Which I think is fair to an extent - at least Rainbow's parents are better than Scootaloo's, and Rainbow probably shouldn't have bottled up her feelings - but that doesn't mean that Rainbow is wrong to be upset.

Maybe but she would need to train and study a lot and that's not really how she wants to spend her time. Kinda like asking if Twilight could ever have Rarity's fashion sense, though actually that might be a lot harder.

What I mean is that I find him interesting as a symbol but not really as a character. I don't think there's much to him aside from his prejudices; "nice Neighsay" is not something I care about at all. Not to mention that he pretty much only made wrong choices in the time we saw him, which calls his competence into question. While I think he had a point about the mane six being inexperienced, his biases make it hard for me to sympathize with his goals of "protecting" Equestria from "threats." To him, anything outside his idea of a "pure" pony society was a threat. Nothing about that seems reasonable to me. I guess but I can't help but feel that he would find some way to justify it to himself. It seems too easy for him to conclude that the student six are just "the good ones" or something like that. Plus I find that character just a little too close to real-world issues for such a naïve approach, even though I like it in other cases.