Thrond

I think more subtle approaches are possible, but the crew on the show just aren't capable enough.

I mean, Twilight and Discord could do something random, and either one of them could learn something from the experience without an intention to learn or teach in the first place. The first thing that comes to mind with that kind of premise is a vacation episode or something similar like if Discord wanted to hang out with Twilight. I don't know if Twilight would ever go out of her way to do something with Discord, but I could be wrong.

@Number62 Admittedly I don't know why anyone would go out of their way to do something with Discord. Sometimes I don't even understand why Fluttershy tolerates him. 

Still... I kinda wish he got a chance to annoy the rest of the mane six. 

Tall CMC's still bore me. 

What are they confused about that anyway? It’s a good episode.

@Lambdadelta I said that I don't mind the CMC acting like children. 

Pretty much 

@Kiryu-Chan Yeah, I didn't say it was satisfying, but then, I think all of this season's attempts to provide closure have been unsatisfying, and that all of the good episodes would have been the same if the show were renewed for season 10. 

Not that I would want a tenth season. This show has already been on for too long. 

@AlexanderThrond 

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If you try to give closure to a show that didn't need it, you get an ending that has nothing to do with what the show was about. Or, in this case, a show about friendship ending with a story about who will rule the country. 

Well, I agree about that one. I still think Twilight as principal of Friendship School is more suitable for her character arc. The story about ruling and royal stuffs should belong to S4. 

Am I the only one who find Spike and Rarity's "conclusion arc" is more satisfying than Twilight overcome her Twilighting to become a ruler of Equestria? 

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which confuses me a little because it's wildly inconsistent and mostly tells self-contained stories. 

Then people just complain about writing and continunity for nothing, those poor show analysts. If the inconsistent is just a norm then they should just turn off their brain and enjoy the show like some casual dumb fun Saturday cartoons... 

Just because the inconsistent happens more than often, doesn't mean it's acceptable and people want better things (what's better is debatable) The show has set the bar for itself and there's no going back.

Anyway, let see whether the finale can make or break the show...

@Lambdadelta Honestly I like the Rarity stuff even less, but at least that concludes the Spike romance arc in a way that makes sense.

I think this show can be very good on a moment-to-moment basis, but I’ve gotten so used to the show’s bad continuity that it doesn’t really distract me from an otherwise good episode. I feel some people are missing the forest for the trees this season.

But I also have no high hopes for the finale. I kinda just want to get it over with; if episodes this season are tolerable, that’s a win in my book.

There's plenty to like, it has some great episodes, but I don't feel they do enough to bring it up, especially since some of the show's lowest points come from S6 alone

@Kiryu-Chan 

I know a lot of people don't like "No Second Prances" but that episode made me a Trixie fan.

@Kiryu-Chan I guess I should have phrased this differently - it's more like a trend in my own opinion. I recognize that me liking seasons 6 and 8 and not liking seasons 5 and 7 is not the majority opinion. 

But Sandbar is a pony.

That's what I said. 

Still, it's weird that we don't see anyone aside from the other five who aren't ponies. 

Alright, that's good to hear. I'll see when it comes to YouTube. 

the CYOA Wake Up has a pretty funny moment when Pinkie gets Sunset to experience a sugar rush

@Kiryu-Chan I kinda felt like that was an extension of Pinkie being funny, though. Coulda been anyone else doing that with her. 

This ep is all about Plant abuse and repetitive WINKs.

@Lambdadelta I definitely agree that Trixie saying "wink" got old pretty fast. 

 I'm just going to ignore the writer's canon &

stick to my own headcanon if things don't turn out the way I'd like them to. 

I would say the writers don't go out of their way to make a bad show. I mean, why would they want to hope that their show sucks? Of course, there are more than a few instances in which I can't figure out what they saw in their material.

@Number62 I'm sure they're very  much trying to make a satisfying conclusion to this show, but I'm baffled as to why they this is what they think that looks like. 

Also, NO Sparity. 

@Them's Seeing Ponies It kinda seems like they’re trying to make something relatable to the kids instead of trying to make something funny, which makes me think the writers don’t understand how kids use social media. Someone who gets it would be able to do both.

@Kiryu-Chan Which villain is this?

There are some social media-related ones I like and some lower-tech ones I don’t, but generally I find that to be the case as well. 

I was talking about Vingette from RoF. Technically last season, but following that up with a season heavy with social media ones is pretty frustrating

@Kiryu-Chan I thought the commentary on social media was pretty weak there as well, but I liked Vignette because she was supposed to come across as vapid.

Well, there is a plan for how the show is released so other tv networks in different straying from that is bitch because people who really care about the show don't want the show ruined for them. It's not necessarily "because it's america this is the schedule you must follow," it's because it is the planned schedule regardless of the country. 

@Misscellanio I was under the impression that it was the networks which decided when to air specific episodes. 

I did say tv networks

I used to enjoy the funny faces, TBH.

Now it feels like the animators are in a competition to be the "meme of the week/season". 

I've heard about this one for a while now. Sounds like Twily was hideously out of character which automatically makes me hate it.

@Kyoshi It's not weird or anything, it's just her being overly obsessive without the empathy that usually grounds it.

It's safe to say this ep is a case of creatively bankrupt.

Rainbow Dash had a really great episode this season in “Common Ground,” but so many writers like to use her when they’re just phoning it in.

@Them's Seeing Ponies 

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Pinkie doesn't function the way the rest of the six do, and I think the writing staff struggles with this nowadays; they want to prove to the peripheral fandom that they're pumping out an emotional and 'mature' series, but they can't use Pinkie in the same way, nor can they replicate the brisk, comedic Craig McCracken-esque style that fit Pinkie so well in the earlier seasons. 

It's the fault of Pinkie character design in the first place that hinder her future character development, or... the incompetent of the writers? Every original cast in early seasons is some cartoon archtype characters you can find in TV Trope, Fluttershy is the shy one, Spike is the butt-monkey, Rarity is fashionista etc then eventually, they changed to something more than what stereotype define them but still keep their charms. What did they do to Pinkie? They made her the best character in Pinkie Pride then make her stupid in Filly Vanilli (the episode right next to Pinkie Pride), and they were written by the same writer, that shows how they handle Pinkie. Maud used to be a joke character just to add dry humor to the show, and look what she is now, a rock specialist, befriend with Starlight, she loves her sister but can get tired of her shit sometime, got a boyfriend and smile more than often, that's the progression, what are their excuses? She isn't even the main character!

In the movie, Pinkie can work in comedic and dramatic moments just as fine as everyone else, I dare to say she is one of the best part of the movie (and I even dare to say she should be main character of the movie instead of Twilight Sparkle). If they cant make her funnier, then make her deeper. If you want a character grow, put them into a tree and throw a bunch of rock at them, keep doing that and it will works. Throw a reality checks to a happy-go-lucky character can strengthen their character, but I think the writer afraid of throwing any rock, remember Yakity-Sax? Status Quo is so unbreakable in season 9.

In short, I blame the writers.

@Lambdadelta I was trying to point out that it was more the incompetence of the writing staff than Pinkie's original design. I think there's more potential for Pinkie than the staff seem to realize; it's just that I think they're using the wrong approach instead of expanding her character while staying true to her Faust-era traits (which was a fun-loving optimist as seen in episodes as late as Pinkie Pride and Lost Treasure of Griffonstone as opposed to a flat hyperactive figure, which episodes like Yakity-Sax seem to interpret her as). While it depends on opinions of how the later seasons have handled the cast, I feel the writers have basically sunk into a rut with Pinkie, as if they're unsure on how to move her forward without a concrete 'goal' to achieve (the same applies with AJ - notice how they spontaneously introduced a goal for Fluttershy after seven seasons largely to create this sense of progression). Not to say she hasn't budged an inch since the pilot - Party of One and Pinkie Pride are both excellent examples of Pinkie development as both challenge her philosophy (the kind of conflict that Pinkie needs most to develop, as she lacks any long-term ambition to head towards) or, as you said 'throw stones' at her current flaws, whilst allowing her to maintain her essence of optimism and conveying a fun story simultaneously. However, the departure of writers such as Meghan and AKR seemed to have damaged Pinkie significantly as well, as the later writing team began to interpret her more as a generic 'wacky' character with huge emotional canyons (think her reactions to 'losing' Maud or taking criticism in Yakity-Sax), which stalled her progress even further than the McCarthy seasons (which I still like, but Pinkie's character in her non-focus episodes feels more awkward than the earlier seasons to me). 

I also understand your points about season 9. I suspect the writers want to give each cast member a kind of send-off, but the actual material they've released suggests that they're running dry of ideas for the six and resultantly resort more to ticking the boxes (Cheese Sandwich returns? Check!) than crafting a satisfying story or taking risks. It's a problem I've had with some of Haber's work in the past, but it seems more conspicuous here than usual thanks to naturally heightened expectations. 

@Them's Seeing Ponies

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By comparison, the show in S4 and beyond began to shift its priorities away from comedic slice-of-life capers into an attempt at a more full-blooded and moralistic fantasy series, which, while it works at least adequately for the rest of the six, simply didn't work all that well for Pinkie, as the show's focus now lay onto 'big', dramatic character moments and emotional scenes as opposed to comedy.

I never really felt that Pinkie stopped being funny, to be fair; I even liked the moments that annoyed other people. 

But yeah, she’s been subject to (in my opinion) the most baffling instances of the show contradicting itself, like “Yakity Sax.” I thought the show was still doing right by her as late as season 6, but these three latest seasons have just had nothing for her. This show makes writing for these characters seem like a Herculean task, even though they’re rich enough that the episodes should write themselves.

Personally I don’t think this approach works well for the rest of the mane six; it’s okay for Rarity and Rainbow Dash, because those two work best when they have something specific to worry about, but without the abundance of comedic digressions from the early seasons, they all feel simplified. The best moments in this show are still when we learn something new about the characters in a tossed-off gag, and that’s less frequent now. 

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they want to prove to the peripheral fandom that they're pumping out an emotional and 'mature' series, but they can't use Pinkie in the same way, nor can they replicate the brisk, comedic Craig McCracken-esque style that fit Pinkie so well in the earlier seasons. 

...sometimes I think this show needs to lower its pretensions sometimes and focus on the aspects of itself that work the best inherently.

I’ve felt this for several years now, and I truly believe that many silly episodes from earlier in the show are more mature than the serious stuff that came later. It honestly surprises me that this take isn’t more common, but I guess people who share my opinion don’t stubbornly cling to the show years after its peak.

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It's a problem I've had with some of Haber's work in the past, but it seems more conspicuous here than usual thanks to naturally heightened expectations. 

I find it ironic that Haber is such a weak story editor, because I think his writing is often very good. I think he “gets” the characters, but it sometimes seems like he doesn’t really care if anyone else does.

@Lambdadelta

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In the movie, Pinkie can work in comedic and dramatic moments just as fine as everyone else, I dare to say she is one of the best part of the movie (and I even dare to say she should be main character of the movie instead of Twilight Sparkle).

The movie might actually be my least favourite Pinkie Pie appearance ever. She was just noisy in that. 

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but I think the writer afraid of throwing any rock, remember Yakity-Sax? Status Quo is so unbreakable in season 9.

In short, I blame the writers.

I think the show has trended towards making the characters more boring since season 4; often, the only new angle they can come up with is some kind of job change. 

I wish this season had more of the friendship school. That was such a breath of fresh air.

Oversaturing it may lead to flanderization. Careful what you wish for.

Some people think that is already the case and they have a point but I don't mind. 

I mean, that's basically what a lot of My Little Pony episodes are like, and I'm not always a fan of it either, but I do think those two episodes are about different things. "A Royal Problem" is about appreciating other people's jobs, whereas "Between Dark and Dawn" is more about realizing how much your sibling's presence means to you. 

I wish we could have an episode where we learn about Celestia & Luna's lives during their childhood. 

I guess that could be fun.