DoomBanana

It feels like the show runners had seen the terrible reception fh had and decided not to force it. Whether for better or worse though i feel like many would never be satisfied since it's sort of difficult to run a huge charater arc in an episodic show like this that would be satisfying for most(alicorn twilight being the example), especially for a character like fh.

It's not that people hate fluury hear in particular, but just an idea of a character like that. A character that breaks preconceived canon, cheapens twi's and cadence's stories(somehow?) and is not much more than a plot device for the S6 opener (she's less than a year old at the time). So how much you hate her depends on how much those aspects matter to you. Then again, i feel like she's less of her own character, and more so exists as part of the cadence, shining duo, they benefited more as characters from flurry's existence i think. The only thing is there weren't many episodes that explored that side of it, but what can you do.

There's Stygian. Perhaps Luna too since their stories are similar. But you could also say those are not quote "true"* end quote add an asterix redemptions since they were possesed. On topic of Starlight and Tempest, i really feel like their backstories are not that much different. Both got sorta betrayed(or felt betrayed) by the friends they trusted most and went a dark path afterwards. Tempest's was somewhat better executed with the entire physical disability side of it, but at the core her reasons are very similar. Not to say that Tempest's backstory is bad, but more that Starlight's isn't as bad as some may perceive it.

The way it is described in the show is more like a mute on a social site rather than getting the solitary, making it sound way less cruel. And i feel like that's the general vibe they were going with. And that's from POV of discord who has reality bending magic, if we're going to headcannon how it works(for example it being like ultra solitary) then we could also say that for anyone else it would be like a lengthy nap(discord even yawned when he was released the second time).

Perhaps a topic that's a little bit too complex/involved for kids to really relate to/be interested in. On the other it leaves room for theories which i think is it's own kind of engagement.

Of the characters that are something more than an episodic character(like sven or zephyr) which people would remember for more than the duration of said episode + 1 week, i'd probably say flurry heart. Shame as it is by no fault of the character itself. I like that episode. Not 5/5 but a solid 4/5 with almost 4.5/5 towards the end(around where ember comes in). It drags out in the middle a bit but that's honestly common. So now you do.

While this is a retread of FWF, there are a couple of key differences to this episode, making it unique enough and not simply a carbon copy of FWF. Considering these, i think, reframes the episode somewhat, and is important to be able to break away from comparing it to FWF and enjoying it on it's own 1. This episode portrays how AJ and RD tryinig to one up each other can put others at risk, whereas FWF completely skipped over this. Any of the traps set by RD and AJ in the latter could've easily gotten someone hurt, yet that idea wasn't explored. Here on the other hand, such dangers are the primary focus of the episode. 2. The idea of this is somewhat different too. How i see it, FWF was mostly about keeping competition friendly. On the other hand NCC seems to explore the idea of cases, where competition is detrimental to the core activity. In this case the school activity is supposed to be based around and promote cooperation. 3. Some say that the episode is pointless because AJ and RD didn't learn anything. I think that it is simply natural for their characters (in terms of psychology) to interact in that way, simply put their competitive natures will always clash in some way and that is completely fine. Their arguing at the end doesn't necessarily conflict with the main idea of the episode either as described above. On top of that, while it's impossible to really confirm if the idea of the episode stuck with AJ's and RD's characters, this was as much of an episode for student six as well. Not that they are the only ones that learned anything, but it is something to take into account too. The point about them "almost letting someone drown" is also somewhat misused i think. While it is true they probably should've made sure everyone was okay first, they took the necessary precautions beforehand(life vests) and what happened to yona's vest was very coincidental. However when they noticed something was wrong they didn't go on arguing and had started analyzing the situation and working toward the solution, they simply weren't quick enough to compete(ha, get it) with an actual fish and a shapeshifter. More importantly, it gave the episode a huge sense of stakes. Of course, not every episode in a show like this needs to threaten someone dying to create tension, however used sparringly it can become, i think, a strong x factor for an episode. If you actually expect someone to die in MLP of course. The execution of the episode could've been done better, some of the humour didn't hit that well and the learn from the opposite idea could've probably been done a little better. It wasn't an exceptionally good episode, however i think it definitely wasn't as bad as many make it out to be. Perhaps the community just became much more keen on picking apart episodes it considers subpar due to how much people want to see the show do as well as it did in their favourite episodes. And, of course, constantly comparing it to FWF doesn't help either even aside from being used as an example for the previous point.

Disagree. If anything, faust era is only season 1. 2 and 3 feel more like Larson and co. On that note i feel like as great as they were, 1 and 3 are imo the weakest seasons. 1 has too many 5-10 minute plots stretched into 20 minute episodes and 3 ended up rushed and with a streak of episodes i didn't enjoy that much towards the end. 2 was one of the best though. 4 and 5 are some of the best seasons, slightly leaning towards 5 as being the favourite. 6 is one of my personal favourites because of the more relaxed and for fun episodes, and the great stylized outros they did for several episodes. 7 is, once again, some of the best, competing with 5 and 2. Not sure why you separate 8 and 9 into it's own era, both were very enjoyable nonetheless, up there with 4 and 6. In general i don't really see the point of separating the show into eras? There weren't really any major unnatural changes in how the show felt past season 1, maybe a little bit of 2 really. So why highlight S3-5 together or for example 6 and 7, then 8 and 9 separately? Also big disagree on the decline thing. Maybe it's because i binged it all at once but it felt very enjoyable from S1 E1 to S9 E26. Every single season had episodes i didn't like that much and that's just the nature of the show being as episodic slice of life with many different authors doing different episodes. However, the general enjoyement has been the same throughout.