Starlight Serenade

I have a background in business management and I am sorry, but I do not think you personally ever looked at any of their financial reports. Please review the publicly available information of the 2021-2022 report from Hasbro and Businesswire: https://investor.hasbro.com/static-files/78098a21-d496-4e87-892f-152b82ee1fe7 Hasbro Reports Strong Revenue, Operating Profit and Earnings Growth for the Full-Year 2021 | Business Wire Note: Objectively speaking, just with the first movie- G5 appears to be successful based on this report. The film was #1 in the Netflix Kids Top 10 in more than 80 countries on its opening weekend, driving high viewership and audience engagement. It also led to greater than 100% growth in toy and game point of sale in the fourth quarter versus the previous year, and double-digit growth in licensed merchandise revenues for the year. However, it’s important to note that the success of a single product doesn’t necessarily reflect the overall financial health of the company. For example, it appears that Hasbro’s overall revenue declined in 2023 and 2024, but this was due to a variety of factors, not just the performance of G5. MLP is just one part of Hasbro’s diverse portfolio of products. The company’s overall financial performance is influenced by many factors, including the performance of other products, operational costs, and market conditions. If you would like to learn more, here is the Hasbro website where you can examine the publicly available annual reports in great detail: https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/annual-reports Well reality shows that it was concluded from their Global Brand Manager on LinkedIn who stated it was the final chapter beforehand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parishipabari/recent-activity/all/ Oh I do not believe anything is predetermined in this world either, but the circumstances behind G4 were unique and I do not think they can be replicated. That does not mean that I do not think that a future series cannot reach mainstream popularity or even surpass the previous gens, but it won't be under the same unique circumstances G4 had is what I am trying to say. Sure fan projects exist, but that's something completely different from the main franchise. I do agree that with hiring the right people that something amazing can be accomplished, but the way Hasbro has been implementing their business strategy in general lately, has led me to believe otherwise. Of course I would happy to see a reemergence for MLP and the fandom down the line.

In my honest opinion, I don't think G5 was a failure, but a certain minority will be quick to say anything that isn't G4 is. G4 was not as perfect as some think it is, the later seasons were not as popular in terms of views. I thought they were fine and had some great moments here and there, though some episodes were recycled from earlier seasons with a slight twist. I recall seeing a rumor that there was a small increase in terms of viewership leading to the end of the series by season 9, but that was when they announced that the series was ending! Most likely due to fallen popularity...which is something certain people try to say about G5 with baseless speculation and rumors. For example, I do not know where people got that MYM was "cancelled" when I can't seem to find an official source online stating that. Not even Wikipedia has an source claims for those rumors!!! These series are planned long in advance. Doing a quick google search showed me discussion boards where certain groups of people perpetuated that narrative repeatedly, yet there was only one LinkedIn post from an official post that stated they were concluding MYM ahead of time. Funny how that works. Looking at Hasbro's public financial statements from the past few years, many of their IP's and MLP/G5 were not a huge success either. G5 had over a billion social media interactions and certainly has made considerable money when you look at the various media it has produced- even in the face of a failing toy market and new move to release content on different platforms(in this case, Netflix Paywall). G5 had a movie, several shows, shorts, specials, and more! Some series don't even receive a second season or second series. G5 is not perfect, but you have to give credit where credit is due even if you don't personally like something. Though it definitely did not revive the Brony fandom, I do not think anything will ever revive the fandom's popularity to where it was a decade ago. The nostalgia is intense whenever I talk to Bronies who watched MLP a decade ago. G5 certainly did bring a lot more eyes again with social media analytics, but I think regardless- the circumstances will never be the same. This might be brutal for some to hear, but I think the early seasons popularity that G4 experienced were simply lightning in a bottle. The quality in the early three seasons was much better and the advent of social media were major factors that helped boost its popularity when you compare G4 to the previous gens (those are still great series, definitely recommend to check them out). Bronies were never popular for good reasons in mainstream media, heck they are still seen negatively in some circles that I have seen online. I will say something that I noticed as I joined the fandom after G4 aired. There are so many wonderful fan projects catered to adults of the MLP franchise online that deviated a lot from the original source material. Now there's nothing wrong with that and anyone from all ages can certainly enjoy this show (or cartoons in general), but I think it aided in misleading and conflated certain people's expectations from this franchise. I do not doubt for a moment that those people will continue to criticize anything new until they eventually realize that they were never the intended audience and that things will never be the same. To be honest, I do not have faith that G6 or any future adaptions will ever replicate the extenuating circumstances that surrounded the early seasons of G4 and that's okay. We can still enjoy the new series here with like minded people online. I am not a ardent supporter of any specific generation and am perfectly fine with criticism for any of the generations. I simply just want to watch ponies.

Yes, I know that. I tried to look up some posts including the Crystal Empire in name to no avail unless I am missing something else.

AH if it's that one, then it's at the Crystal Empire, I think. Thank you for clarifying it, I was checking all kinds of other stuff.

Alright, I'm going to try this one. Maretime Bay? Hmmmm I got to look around.

Wow, I enjoyed reading your take on the episodes and comparisons to similar issues I have encountered several times from the fandom since G5's airing. FYI- I'm going to go a bit off tangent at times as I have so many thoughts. I'm sorry to hear that you have been insulted by others who claim to be a part of this fandom. I have been told to "go kys" and other horrible things before by "G4 purists" who cannot accept anything that isn't G4 or any valid criticism, however they feel like they can nitpick the tiniest things from G5 and basically make it their premise of hate. I don't mind if someone has a different opinion and has valid criticism, but if they start insulting me from the start and aren't willing to hear a different opinion, I realized that I cannot have a healthy discussion with those people. I felt MYM had a great batch of episodes where the writers explored several ideas introduced back in FiM and tried to improve upon them. It was refreshing to watch. I thought they did a great job with Misty's arc. You mentioned redemption arcs and I understand that some people do not like the redemption of a villain trope, but I liked the notion that they tried to attempt it for Starlight. Some people don't believe in second chances or that by forgiving these characters somehow means that we're okay with all their previous heinous actions, but that is not the case or the idea at all. For all these redemption stories, the idea is to look further beyond that as person. It sounds crazy to some, but people can change and everyone changes in different ways as we all grow in different ways. Some can argue that things could have been executed better and more, but these situations are never perfect. The examples you provided regarding Nebula, Tempest Shadow, Princess Luna, and Lilith sound like nice exceptions at first, however when examined further- they have all done some terrible things that people would never forgive, but they were forgiven just like Starlight. It's purely subjective and there will always be some form of scrutiny from fans. Hell, I remember seeing arguments from people who thought Luz should have tried to redeem Belos! I give Dana Terrance props for doing something different for an animated kids show. I do agree to an extent that some people are projecting their own personal issues and want to impose all these negative and toxic behaviors from these adult shows to kids shows as well. I have seen IRL and in shows where friends and couples have trashed each other as well. They would seemingly classify it as "normal behavior", which is sad to see. I'm glad G5 is doing something different and portraying healthier relationships between characters. As much as I loved G4, I think that those later 4-5 seasons felt like a chore to watch at times. G5 generally doesn't feel that way for me. Sure, FiM had some fun little moments sprinkled here and there, but it wasn't the same show I came to love in the first few seasons. It doesn't mean I hated them, it's just that I found that the consistency of quality fell through after season 3. I was surprised to see that the G4 purists overlook all that stuff due to nostalgia, but nitpick the smallest thing they don't like about G5. I recall seeing a while back that some people were trying to compare the best episodes of the entire G4 franchise to only the best episodes of Tell Your Tale. I have met people who act like MYM does not exist because, and I quote, "it is 3D/CGI and therefore does not count as a series". In my opinion, the reality is that G5 has "caught" up to G4 in terms of general quality when you examine the entire plethora of series so far. It's just that a certain group of think that anything that is a sequel must be 100% better in every way or it's considered a complete flop and in this case, it's not. Every series has its ups and downs. Some people may not agree with that and other opinions I expressed here- and I'm okay with it. There are plenty of valid criticisms where G4 and G5 have plenty of issues, but they are still wonderful in their own ways. There are some passionate fans here who see that and I'm thankful for them. Unfortunately, there are other people who do not want to give any credit where credit is due.