What The Newer Seasons of MLP are lacking

[Rainbow Derp 24]

    It is a common thing to hear bronies say... "The show has lost it's magic" " I will never have that same feeling I had whe I first watched the show" etc. I was once opposed to this as I thought Season 4 was AMAZING,  I was loving all the episodes and how epic they were.  Once season 4 was through I entered the pony hiatus,  with not much to do so I randomly began watching episodes from season 1, and didn't realize exactly how much the show has changed.  There was just something about season 1 that made it feel... different,  I just couldn't put my finger on it. 

 

    But now that I've had time to think about it, I think I've cracked it.  It was all the world building and different areas of ponyville explored, and how every pony in Equestria lived by the fact that the sun, moon, weather, and seasons were all controlled by Celestia, Luna, and Pegasi.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, Ponyville and it's citizens was more believeable,  when an event that endagered the town occured the whole town would step in, and everyone seemed connected.  It seems that now it's all mane 6.  I can't even remember a time in recent seasons where the mayor steped in and told the town a plan or something.  It seems that all the town is now  is just filler for the background.

 

    Another thing I noticed, the writers kind of seem to be trying too hard to make things epic, they rehash characters and references that really don't need it, and they try to force memorable moments...  Season 1 pulled this off flawlessly without even trying (It may be because the world wasn't developed yet)  The epic action moments were just a plus, because it didn't have  to rely on being epic, it was just good, light hearted, and funny.  Also, just look at all the memes from season 1... they are still around, while memes from season 3-4 become irrelevent after a week.  Season 4 did still have some very memorable moments but it was lacking that same "feeling" from season 1.

 

    Finally I think that the mythical creatures have been quite absent in the past couple seasons (Besides timberwolves, orthros, etc.)  To me that is what made the show cool, they would run into dragons, gryphons, cock-a-trices, hydras, ursa minor/ major, the list goes on.  That is what I associate season 1 with,  the danger of mythical creatures.

 

    So thats the end of my small rant... and I do love all seasons I just wanted to get this off my chest,  just because how much different season 1 felt.  To fix this the writers need to put more emphasis on mythical creatures, and making a town that is believable and sticks to the fact that it is all run by magic.

 

   You guys have any other ideas?

[Visual Spectrum 1,932]

They need to hire me as a writer. I have so many ideas! That is what they are lacking! Someone with a creative mind like me!

They are also running out of lessons it seems. We are repeating lessons now.

[PrymeStriker 408]

Season four was a rollercoaster. When it hit lows, it's biggest problems were sloppy plots and forced or rehashed morals. However, I think those who are saying that the show isn't what it used to be are coming from a nostalgic point of view. Clearly, you're not going to experience the same kind of thrill and investment in a show the first time you watch it as opposed to watching newer material a few months or even years later. Going back and watching what the series "used to be" brings you back to a time when you were just introduced and the show was so amazing to you. In summation, I think those claiming that the show doesn't have its magic anymore are nostalgic for the first couple of seasons. As for me, I think the quality is slipping, but there is still great material from the show today. Did you see that season 4 finale?  

[Abia 258]

I actually didn't like season one all that much. Oh, it was enough for me to continue to watch the show, but I didn't consider myself a fan until I finished season two. Season four is easily and by far my favorite. You bring up a good point about the show is more about the mane six than it was originally, but I think that in season one the show was still taking its first steps; the writers weren't sure where exactly they wanted it to go. Now they have, and the show happens to be focused on character development as opposed to character interactions outside of our main cast. I have personally very much enjoyed the bringing back of older characters. I hated season four's Flim and Flam episode as much as I hated season two's, which actually made me appreciate it a lot more. Season three had very high highs and very low lows, while season four had very high highs and mediocre lows. Season one was a bit underdeveloped, and season two was a slightly more developed version of season one. I've personally enjoyed the show more and more as it's continued, and while the new seasons definitely do have their flaws, I'm still more than satisfied with the show's progress.

[Dattebayo 2,850]

*raises hand*

I loved season 4. Dare I say...I love it more than season 1?

 

"Datte!" I hear you shout, "shut your whore mouth!"

 

It's true that the good feels are not quite as there as that one were before, but I chalk that up to desensitization.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

I was not in this fandom from the beginning and I am still fairly new to it but I have to say season one was not my favorite season by a long shot. Season TWO and a nice majority of Four housed some of my favorite episodes. Season threes ending was just jarring with all its music and it fell flat for me while season one seemed... it was okay .

 

Not that I hate the eps of season 1 and 3, but 2 and 4 were gold in my opinion.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Well if the newer seasons are worse then you will simply see a decline in viewership.

As for season 4, if you look at the averages that both horse news and EQD have put up for average fan rateings, s4 was a massive rollar coaster that not only had the highest rated episode of the franchise so far, but also the lowest. So as long as they can continue to pump out episodes that rate well, and more often than episodes that are rated worse than half of s3 then they should do just fine critically.

 

 

 

 

And don't lie, even if it was terrible you can't leave the ride now. They could turn it into pony highschool and you would still be watching. The Ride Never Ends.

[KokuraiNoSenshi 3,463]

My problem with your problem is that, while world building is great & all, it is useless without something to back it up. I mean, oh goodie, you can build a world. Now what? Keep building the world? Never actually do anything with it? Well that's... Pointless. As the name implies, world building is designed to build the world, not carry a series. Once you have built the world, you have to expand on it & create adventures & conflicts & stories. Don't get me wrong, you can possibly do a bit of side world building, but if all you ever do is world build you are going to have this magnificent place with nothing going on.

 

I think the creators might be pandering juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a bit to the brony community. Now this is just a theory I have, but I seriously do feel that (EQG not withstanding) for the most part the creators have been working on trying to please us. Which is probably what lead to the S4 finale with Tirek. Oh sure we had action before but... Well it was never on the level of the S4 finale (which is probably the best example of this change). Now I mean it isn't all pandering to the brony audie-

 

 

 

 

...Ok so maybe there is a little bit of pandering...

 

Lastly as for the mythical creatures... I think they played their hand a bit early on that... I won't deny it, we got a HUGE amount of mythical creatures in the beginning & nothing since... I feel like if they hadn't, & we had the quality of animation we have now... Things would be a lot more interesting

 

TL;DR 1st point is ok, but world building only works if you play with the world you have built; 2nd point I blame pandering; 3rd point fair enough

And don't lie, even if it was terrible you can't leave the ride now. They could turn it into pony highschool and you would still be watching. The Ride Never Ends.

Ponies? In highschool?? Now who is the moron who thought that one... Oh you know where this joke is going;

[[NULL] 906]

Sorry to sound like I'm parroting here, but I didn't really like season 1 that much, compared to seasons 2 and up. If all the seasons were like season 1, I probably wouldn't be a fan of the show.

 

Sure, the atmosphere seemed different. It had somewhat different music, there were simpler-looking backgrounds, there was less saturation (or that could just be the video quality), and everything in the show was new to us.

 

But...

 

I can't say I'll miss many of the things season 1 had, such as the cringe-worthy moments, and writing that sounds like something from your typical children's book. ("As in this afternoon this afternoon?") Also, after many things the show introduced (some of which I'm admittedly a sucker for, so I'm biased) such as fighting monsters, and arguably more mature lessons, and better humour, I can't go back.

 

But my opinion doesn't really matter, of course. I am only human, after all.

 

The only complaint I can think of about the show's progression is Pinkie Pie. At first, she wasn't really that funny in season 1. Then she started becoming funnier in season 2, but in season 4, she started to become unfunny again.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Well, it would seem for alot of the longer term fandom members, season 1 is better in regards to the others not singularly because of its pure episode quality, but because of the atmosphere the fandom had around it during that time (it being a proto fandom), along with the more simplistic nature of the 1st season. So it creates a more "golden nostalgia" era of ponies for alot of them, with the fandom being in proto form and having no drama and being a very small (in internet terms) close knit community. This close knit community combined with the more mundane and slice of life scale the earlier seasons had (compare the s1 finale in scale to the s4 finale, in terms of setting, conflict and emotional weight) allowed for a more fostering community that creates a more postive memory surrounding the earlier seasons.

 

 

And it also depends on what you want out of the show, the earlier seasons were far smaller in scale, so people wanting a more simple drama about everyday life in a land of talking ponies received that in s1 as it was about building the everyday lives of these characters, and their various events and celebrations. The scale of the show in terms of dramatic production has most certainly risen since s1 (again, compare the first season finale to the fourth season finale).

[Pastel 7,630]

Season 1 wasn't that good actually. I think it looks better now because of nostalgia. The animation was different, Twilight was still a unicorn, we were still discovering the characters etc.

When you started to watch the season 1, you were still thinking "Why am I watching a show for little girls?", only to discover the show was actually good. But now you know the characters, the pony world, the creatures etc. very well... That's what changed.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Blobulle

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

I love season 1. I really do. I got into the show near the end of it and it's the original reason why I loved this show so much. I can still watch and enjoy it today.

 

 But I won't lie. I think seasons 2-4 are all overall better seasons. Especially 4. The episodes there feel more adventurous and unique. Season 4 went with a lot of really weird new ideas. Putting ponies into a superhero comic? Turning Fluttershy into a bat-pony? Have a magical book posses Rarity? Lot's of cool new things and ideas. And there was plenty of world-building. We got to see more of Manehatten, learned more about Equestria's history and the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord, we got to see Tartarus.

 

 Season 4 was more willing to take risks and to mix things up. There was still plenty of slice of life episodes and plenty of mythological things, but they were just mixed in with other stuff. I personally loved it.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,493]

I find it weird when many say that the show has 'lost its magic' with the later seasons. While that could be true from a nostalgic point of view which could be said about anything ever, the show has not lost that magic for me. Season 4 showed that. So many moments in season 4 had my eyes glued to the TV screen, and there were a lot of those moments. Moreso than any other season for me. Season 3 had its moments but 4 I feel like they really stepped it up.

 

In terms of the focus, I can see your point there, but me personally I am glad that they showed that all of the Mane 6 are still just as 'important' and still as involved as before. I do agree that other characters like Mayor Mare need a bit more focus in some episodes, but it doesn't bother me at all.

 

Season 4 was beyond amazing to me. :3

[Nightfall Gloam 18,260]

I don't mind Season 1 that much, but yeah, parts of it were a bit bland thinking of it now (just thinking of episodes like Suited for Success and Look Before You Sleep) and as for Season 4, I've just about completed watching it and I can agree with anyone who said that it had its share of boring/sloppy/stupid moments and all the "OMG!!!!! TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS A PRINCESS!!!!!!!" moments were just grating for me to hear. But at least episodes like Maud Pie and Daring Don't kept me entertained. I do think Season 4 was alright for what it is. 

 

If anything, I think it is possibly just that feeling we call nostalgia playing tricks on some of us from the community. Hey, it happens! I've felt nostalgia before!

[Rainbow Derp 24]

Hey u guys thanks for all the replys,  I just wanted to let you guys know that season 1 is not my favorite season,  in fact season 4 is!  I made this post to try and get to the bottom of exactly what changed from then till now... I will admit that season 1 had this certain feeling, nostalgic it may be but I still feel some of the qualities especially mythical creatures have been lacking.  Along with the towns involvement, and the fact that the mane 6 is getting a little OP...  But season 4 is home to many of my top mlp episodes of all time.  Here's to hoping season 5 goes back to it's roots.  Also it seems there will be a lot more traveling

(Giant Map in Comic Con Vid)

therefore world building, and this will probably also come with more mythical creatures. But along with this comes more time away from Ponyville .  I hope there are still plenty of episodes focusing on the town as a whole and the mane 6's epic adventures!  So we will just wait and see my friends

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

    It is a common thing to hear bronies say... "The show has lost it's magic" " I will never have that same feeling I had whe I first watched the show" etc. I was once opposed to this as I thought Season 4 was AMAZING,  I was loving all the episodes and how epic they were.  Once season 4 was through I entered the pony hiatus,  with not much to do so I randomly began watching episodes from season 1, and didn't realize exactly how much the show has changed.  There was just something about season 1 that made it feel... different,  I just couldn't put my finger on it. 

 

    But now that I've had time to think about it, I think I've cracked it.  It was all the world building and different areas of ponyville explored, and how every pony in Equestria lived by the fact that the sun, moon, weather, and seasons were all controlled by Celestia, Luna, and Pegasi.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, Ponyville and it's citizens was more believeable,  when an event that endagered the town occured the whole town would step in, and everyone seemed connected.  It seems that now it's all mane 6.  I can't even remember a time in recent seasons where the mayor steped in and told the town a plan or something.  It seems that all the town is now  is just filler for the background.

 

    Another thing I noticed, the writers kind of seem to be trying too hard to make things epic, they rehash characters and references that really don't need it, and they try to force memorable moments...  Season 1 pulled this off flawlessly without even trying (It may be because the world wasn't developed yet)  The epic action moments were just a plus, because it didn't have  to rely on being epic, it was just good, light hearted, and funny.  Also, just look at all the memes from season 1... they are still around, while memes from season 3-4 become irrelevent after a week.  Season 4 did still have some very memorable moments but it was lacking that same "feeling" from season 1.

 

    Finally I think that the mythical creatures have been quite absent in the past couple seasons (Besides timberwolves, orthros, etc.)  To me that is what made the show cool, they would run into dragons, gryphons, cock-a-trices, hydras, ursa minor/ major, the list goes on.  That is what I associate season 1 with,  the danger of mythical creatures.

 

    So thats the end of my small rant... and I do love all seasons I just wanted to get this off my chest,  just because how much different season 1 felt.  To fix this the writers need to put more emphasis on mythical creatures, and making a town that is believable and sticks to the fact that it is all run by magic.

 

   You guys have any other ideas?

The show hasnt lost anything, people get burnt out on all things eventually... except instead of blaming thereselves they blame the show... also about the trying to make it epic thing, why do people keep using that, they did that ONCE in the finale, season 4 has basically been the same as season 2 or 3 just with more off the wall concepts, also there were plenty of weird creatures this season, tatzlwurm, orthros, vampire fruit bats, breezies, ect

Edited August 30, 2014 by ryanmahaffe

[Snow Frostflame 3,568]

I don't think they lack in anything I think they are better then the older ones

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Season 1 is actually my second to least favorite season with season 3 being my least favorite. Yeah, season 4 is my favorite. I only actually hate 2 episodes from that season. Season 1 I still like, but you know, some episodes looking back have kind of corny dialogue and it really feels like the writers are still testing their waters. I don't really think the show got really good until about Dragonshy. 

 

I'm not saying that season 4 is perfect and that season 1 is terrible, I'm just saying that each have their pros and cons. Season 4 has got some characterization problems but in return, it's got some of the most adventurous plots and great animation.

 

Season 1 I already explained the flaws earlier in my post but it's got some of the best character interactions.

 

Another factor like other people in the thread have said could be the nostalgia of first checking out the show. It defiantly does seem like the best thing since sliced bread when you first check it out and eventually that magic will die out.

 

I think the show is doing fine personally. Season 4 does seem different, but I find it different in a good way.

[Darker 1,351]

Why is this show forced to make children learn old morals? That's getting old. It's not necessary, especially since the moral doesn't have to be the center of the story.

 

I mean, the title says it pretty clear: "Frienship is Magic" That's already a good moral.

[Old Fluttershy 349]

I enjoyed season 4 most out of all the seasons because of all the character development. Especially on RD's part I mean she finally got into the Wonderbolts reserves. Rarity won a big fashion show in Manehattan (also saw her more creative side, honestly that mare can make a dress out of anything). Fluttershy actually kicking out the Breezes. Spike learning a lot. Even Scootaloo had development.

While I agree that season 1 focused more on the background season 4 just had more memorable moments.

[Nature's Spell 526]

I came into the fandom between season 3 and 4 and my main interest has always been Twilight, so I'm really happy with her becoming a princess and Alicorn. So approaching the show from that perspective season 4 had a lot of ups and downs, but it ended up well. I think the whole "princess in waiting" saga was dragged on way too long and I'm not sure that waiting for the end of the season was a good idea, but it's what we got, so we can't really change it. Perhaps they need to go back to more slice of life episodes.

[Pony Munchies 47]

I think that the Show has turned some sharp coners and just barly got away with it. Now thaat I think about it the mythical creaters realy made me like the show. The show is supost to expand the land of equestria in season 5 and that might bring the mythical animales back in. I'm realy excited for season 5, And I think it will top season 1.

[Heliodor 156]

I LOVED season 4. Even if I didn't like an episode, it's not like I hated it, I just didn't enjoy it as much as some other ones. I liked s1 just fine, but I feel like the show hadn't matured yet. I actually don't feel like the show has lost any "magic" whatsoever; to me it has just continued to develop that magic. It's different from s1 sure, but it's still there; I'd even say it's bigger and better than ever.