Is FiM's potential being limited?

[RainbowTashie 378]

There was a recent post on a topic I made a while back called "Why is "Its for kids" being used as a cop out?". It basically said that MLP should remain this innocent Slice-of-Life show designed to sell little girls toys and nothing more. This makes me question, are these people trying to limit the show's overall potential? If Friendship is Magic was your traditional, episodic gag cartoon with no continuity, or character development, like SpongeBob or Ed, Edd n Eddy, then it's fine for it to remain a silly slice-of-life show. But it's not, whether you want to accept it or not, FiM is more like Gravity Falls, Adventure Time, My Life as a Teenage Robot, or Codename: Kids Next Door. A character-driven show that, while episodic, has things in the world that change, characters that evolve and develop, and plot points that come back into play in later episodes. 

 

To say it should not evolve past a Slice-of-life structure, and should remain this safe cartoon to sell toys for it's entire run not only limits it's potential, but it can also turn fans away. Believe it or not, fans in and out of the target audience want the show to grow and change. There can still be Slice-of-Life episodes, but they shouldn't be the only focus. If Season's 4 & 5 are any indication, there's going to be more adventure in the series from now on. So do you think FiM's potential is being held back?

There's a fine line between keeping it appropriate for it's target audience and accommodating for us bronies. They have to play it safe. I mean it's not like they planned this to happen or that any of us ever expected it to happen

[Fractured 2,684]

FIM is a great show. Just not an amazing one.

 

You'll notice all the best SOL shows (Avatar, Clannad, Gravity Falls, etc.) function primarily because they're unstable. When you understand and recognize that things in a show can rise and fall, and anythings possible, you start to appreciate the characters more for who they are

 

FIM is stuck in a glass case. It edges that line, but at the end of the day, you know that not only is everything going to be fine, it will turn out better than before(with the destruction of Twi's library being the first permanent negative change). It's nice, but it always leaves that distance where you can't quite fully connect to the show's characters because it's obviously idealized. In real life, people win, but they also lose; the combination of light and dark is what takes a show and gives it life. FIM is almost there, but until it can capture that idea, it will always just be "not quite the best".

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

In a sense it is, but that depends on how one looks at and determines what that potential is and/or can be. How does one define that? Are we comparing that to other shows like Avatar or Game of Thrones?

 

Again; how does one define potential?

[TheMisterManGuy 344]

In a sense it is, but that depends on how one looks at and determines what that potential is and/or can be. How does one define that? Are we comparing that to other shows like Avatar or Game of Thrones?

 

Again; how does one define potential?

Well, I'm not asking Avatar or Game of Thrones out of it. But I'd like it to be in line with something like, Gravity Falls. An episodic show with an overarching plot. I'd also like it to tackle some more mature themes from time to time. It's done that before, but even those were held back a bit. Also, I'd like to see a few episodes where someone actually does lose, in real life, people win some, and lose some. They don't have to go overboard, just embrace some of these aspects a bit more than in the past.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Well, I'm not asking Avatar or Game of Thrones out of it. But I'd like it to be in line with something like, Gravity Falls. An episodic show with an overarching plot. I'd also like it to tackle some more mature themes from time to time. It's done that before, but even those were held back a bit. Also, I'd like to see a few episodes where someone actually does lose, in real life, people win some, and lose some. They don't have to go overboard, just embrace some of these aspects a bit more than in the past.

 

Well, being someone who has never seen Gravity Falls I can't really comment on that comparison.

 

In any case I wouldn't mind seeing an episode where the outcome isn't all positive, but it won't bother me if we don't see it either. Just have to wait and see.

[Eloquence 2,076]

I think "potential" is a pretty all-encompassing topic, so I'll just try to tackle a couple of things in my response.

 

I'll start with the SOL vs. Action debate, as that comes up a lot in discussions of how much the show should consider its brony audience vs. its target audience. Honestly, I think this shouldn't be discussed at all in that context, because I find the idea that the show's action elements are "for bronies" while its happy, cutesy SOL stuff is "for little girls" to be erroneous and laughable. This very thread proves how much a lot of bronies love and prefer SOL, and on the flip-side I know there are little girls out there right now using their Twilight sparkle toys to shoot make-believe death lasers at bad guys. In fact, I would argue that the epic action-packed quests are more important for the little girls watching FiM, because with the way the world is right now, little girls need to hear that they can be strong and powerful more than anyone, and they're told that less often than anyone.

 

When discussing how much action and adventure should be in FiM, we need to stop framing it in a "how can we balance appeasing bronies and appeasing little girls" context. Whether we see it or not, we're not nearly as different as some people might think we are in terms of what we might enjoy.

 

I'll also touch on whether FiM should go more into "dark" subject matter. I do not think that it should, at all, and not just because it's for children. Everything about FiM, right down to its color choices, is designed to create a comforting and uplifting atmosphere, and frankly I think our world needs a show like that. That doesn't mean it can't tackle hard issues, like Applejack losing her parents, but I don't think having the good guys always win and having things always be ok in the end detracts from FiM at all.

 

Actually, the way they tackle hard issues is very ingenious, as much of it is often coded so as to still present a "happy" narrative. Take Somepony to Watch Over Me for example. It wasn't a sad episode, it didn't seem to be addressing hard issues, but if you look closely it absolutely was. Applejack's behavior in that episode was heavily driven by the loss of her parents, making her overprotective of Apple Bloom because she didn't want to lose any more of her family. That is some rough stuff, but you could easily choose not to look for deeper meaning in it if you didn't want to be upset by something like that.

 

In sum, I think FiM's doing a great job, especially given what it has to work with. I don't think it's potential is being wasted, at least not any more than is inevitably wasted in any story, since no story is perfect.