Has MLP Gone Downhill

[Frostgage 7,977]

I honestly don't notice that much of a difference, the core components of colorful ponies and friendship are all still there. Maybe I'm just not watching hard enough.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Character development such as?

 

Buck Testa just gave a few examples in that post.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Yes, but it's always been part of the package. As you said, darker story lines have their place in this show, and I know their not the main focus. However, there has always been darkness in it, and this guy refuses to accept that.

I never said that they weren't a part of the show and I never said I didn't accept them as a part of the show. I just said that it wasn't what I liked about the show and that the show was going a bit downhill for me personally because it felt like they were placing more emphasis on them.

[uml4mj4m 134]

Think of it like this;

 

Everything goes downhill after a certain amount of time, usually after a couple years. My Little Pony could have very well been cancelled in around 2013, but the fans practically made the episodes now.

 

So yeah, a little bit I guess.

 

 

 

 

I'm not good at talking, and I do love My Little Pony.

 

[luftschloss 833]

In my opinion, MLP may have gone slightly downhill. Pinkie Pie's jokes are bland (no, don't leaf me! Ha, leaf me...), a bit too much Twilicorn, and a ton of plot holes. Like the ONLY OTHER Alicorn princess that we didn't hear about until HALFWAY THROUGH THE SERIES. And then, the Alicorn Twilight. I know you people have probably had enough haters of Twilicorn, but think about it. She was a prestigious Unicorn student with widely known magical powers, having defeated many villains, and then boom- no more awesome adventures. Just helping her deal with being a princess. Also, shouldn't the other Mane 5 have been turned into princesses too? Sure, that would be a lot of princesses, but Twilight wouldn't be anywhere without them. However, the MAIN THING that bothers me about Twilicorn is the fact that she was obviously just made a princess to sell more toys on Hasbro's part. THAT is what I really despise. I'm sorry if this post offended you in any way, I just needed to get my opinion out there. Have a nice day!

[Felix 1,363]

Nah, I wouldn't think so. I actually thought season 4 was even better. ^^ The old seasons did have their buffs, but generally speaking I thought the concept was better if you know what I mean? :3

[Dulset Tarn 441]

but generally speaking I thought the concept was better if you know what I mean? :3

I think the thread would appreciate if you explain what you mean.

[Sobana 100]

I think some of the reasoning why people think the show is going downhill is because they secretly want G5 to start. To try to recapture some of that cute innocence from season one with new characters and personalities we don't know.

 

Eventually it might go downhill or just to predictable to where it's no longer interesting, I just don't want the people from way back in season four to brag about them calling it out now.

[Odyssey 5,718]

Really? I think that MLP:FiM has gotten better. Season 4 may not be perfect, but it has given a gateway of many interesting ideas for Twilight's role as a princess and how it'll affect others around her. Plus, Season 4 is more story-driven, and I like that in a good show.

 

At this point, I'd rather get hyped for Season 5 rather than complain which Season is good and vice versa. This sudden hate for Season 4 isn't doing any favours for anybody who's excited for the upcoming Season. :S

[Pastel 7,630]

and a ton of plot holes. Like the ONLY OTHER Alicorn princess that we didn't hear about until HALFWAY THROUGH THE SERIES.

Are you talking about Cadence? How is that a plot hole? Why would we have heard of her before A Canterlot Wedding?

 

Maybe there're other alicorns we still don't know about...

Edited March 3, 2015 by Blobulle

[StoneCold 144]

I believe the show's quality has become more variable, not necessarily worse.

 

While season 1 did not have any really bad episodes, it also didn't have (in my opinion) any great episodes. All fell into the same level of 7.5/10.

 

Now, we may have lower lows, but I think we also have higher highs.

[Prince Firemane 309]

To me, the show seems to line with a bell curve. Season 1 started out in the middle area, it was there to introduce the world and the main characters, as well as allow us to familiarize ourselves with them. Season 2 kicked it up a notch and was the peak of the bell curve as it introduced us to more in-depth and not-so-positive aspects of the characters, as well as established more of the world at an acceptable pace. Season 3, however, plummeted down to the bottom valley of the bell curve by expanding the world too much too quickly and giving too little information, as well as being rushed because of the production of Equestria Girls. Season 4 rolled back up to the middle area as they slowed the pace more and provided more insights, but was still negatively influenced by the production of Rainbow Rocks. From what we've seen of Season 5, it has the potential to rise back up to the peak of the bell curve, but of course we can't make any judgment until the season airs.

 

My problem with the show is the paradigm of slice-of-live versus adventure. Seasons 1 and 2 are where the slice-of-life shines. In season 1, we were given their base personalities and interactions, apropos to the first season of any show. However, season 2 gave us more details, more insights and didn't shy away from the negative aspects of these characters. This balance of positive and negative, to me, is what made them three-dimensional and made us love them.

 

However, in seasons 3 and 4, the stakes were raised. Even though from the very beginning we knew the series was Twilight's journey, this was the first time we were shown that Twilight was being groomed for something greater than Princess Celesta's protege. This was also the first time we've seen the writers abandon a story arc, where season 3 set up the Equestria Games to be something great while season 4 failed to deliver by focusing on the one major character who previously had nothing to do with the story arc at all.

 

When Twilight became a Princess, the stakes were raised even higher, there was necessity for a new paradigm to reflect the greater stakes. However, the slice-of-life failed to deliver as they continued to rehash old issues that were already solved. They presented us with no new flaws in the characters almost to a detriment as they indirectly showed these characters as being unable to learn from their mistakes. We get it, Pinkie Pie is weird. Fluttershy is a quivering doormat. Rarity is an attention whore. Applejack is bullheaded. Rainbow Dash can't figure out her loyalties. Twilight is a neurotic mess. These are things we know and things we have known for a long time, but each slice-of-life story presents these flaws as if they're something new each and every time they're shown. In fact, they will act as if previous catharsis had never happened in order to maintain the paradigm. Twilight began to overcome her rash generalities and neurotic tenancies that make her expect the worst in every situation. Cadance even gave her a relaxing breathing exercise that was actually working. By Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight actually overcame her insecurities much quicker than ever before and did what needed to be done, showing growth. When season 4 came around? Bam! Back to a neurotic mess! As if none of that growth had ever happened!

 

The adventure episodes get bigger and bigger every time they happen and many times they have had permanent, world-changing effects on the series, but the slice-of-life doesn't reflect it, it needs to reflect the alterations that the adventures have set up. Many times, we've heard Twilight talk about how they're always going to be friends no matter what. But we've never seen "no matter what". Well, we've seen it once when Discord returned and effectively broke their friendship. But even then, it was all magic and was fixed with a spell. There was no catharsis, no reflection, no growth; just a spell to maintain the status quo. There needs to be bigger risks to their friendship to definitively prove that they're really as good of friends as they're trying to force us to believe. Perhaps one of them messes up so badly that it's not immediately forgiven and forgotten by the end of the episode.

 

I think season 5 has potential, it seems to be another large story arc that hopefully will have a greater influence than the Keys story did. I think these writers are very able to write a mixture of adventure and slice-of-life. It seems that the characters will be following a map all over Equestria, that provides us with potential for well-managed world-building and provides the characters with potential for new slice-of-life situations, flaws and solutions. We just have to wait and see.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

It's changed, but as far as the quality is concerned it's stayed about the same. I get the same amount of enjoyment from watching episodes from each season.

[The Boulder 121]

Gosh, I hope its not getting worse... That would be The. Worst. Possible. Thing!!!

I've never felt the excitement of watching a new episode before, only reruns, since I discovered ponies between S4 and S5, so I really hope this isn't the end of the good stuff...

 

I'd definitely say Season 3 was probably the worst season overall, and season 2 is my fav, but idk what to say about S4... It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't horrible or anything.. -_-

[Arctofire 227]

Looking at the trailer for season 5, I think that the staff are certainly taking a step in the right direction. This seems to be about the mane 6 together, and not just about Twilight Sparkle, which is a small gripe I had with all the two parters after Return of Harmony.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Arctofire

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Looking at the trailer, I think that the staff certainly are taking a step in the right direction. This seems to be about the mane 6 together, and not just about Twilight Sparkle, which is a small gripe I had with all the two parters after Return of Harmony.

Ehh I'm still a bit cautious given what we saw during the animatic as Twilight was the only one raising concerns about the castle as well as she was off by herself on the mountaintop in the trailer.  I hope you're correct but I guess we'll just wait and see. 

[Sazama Ichida 2,367]

Are you kidding me? If anything it keeps getting way better. I don't like the earlier seasons anywhere near as much as Season 4.

[luftschloss 833]

Well, yes. I do believe however that there is a greater variation of good and bad episodes in the later seasons. In Season One, there were mostly good episodes with maybe one to three bad ones depending on what you like in an episode. In Season Two they were pretty much all good. In Season Three there started to be a greater variation (ahemSPIKEATYOURSERVICEahem) and then in Season Four it was basically split down the middle. The show is still good though, I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

[Stickman, The Legend 332]

I'm actually happy to say this: I think MLP is getting better and better. So to whoever thinks MLP has gone downhill, go check out Season 7, then come back and tell me you don't like this still.

[Zachary 5,522]

Actually This show is Still better, So It's not going Downhill.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

In my opinion, Season 7 is starting a downhill trend that I'm not fond of. I've personally found the 4 recent episodes to be mediocre at best, and in the case of "Hard to Say Anything," downright atrocious (more like hard to say anything other than it's terrible am I right?)... -_- To me Season 7 so far has become,
(excuse me if it offends you, I guess?) cringy. It's something I've been afraid might start happening to MLP for a while. If Hasbro continues to produce more episodes of such quality, I may start skipping quite a few episodes. I already watch it after the stream so I can skip sections of episodes...

Edited May 16, 2017 by Squirrel Luigi

[Prospekt 11,023]

The show isn't the same as it was in earlier seasons, but that doesn't mean it's gotten worse. It's just got a bit of a different focus now. Characters have evolved, writers have come and gone, and new characters have been introduced. The show is certainly more fresh. 5 seasons was long enough for the CMC to get their cutie marks. 6 seasons was long enough for Rainbow Dash to make it to the non-reserve Wonderbolts. These loose ends needed to be tied up for brand new character arcs (like that of Starlight Glimmer) to be worthwhile.

If Twilight was still a sorta awkward new resident of Ponyville writing letters to Princess Celestia every single week, things would have gotten stale. Rainbow Dash's vision of being a Wonderbolt was clear from her very first scene in the pilot episode. Rarity finally started making a name for herself in the fashion industry as the show went on, after starting as the dependable seamstress for the Mane 6's first trip to the Grand Galloping Gala. The CMC's quest for their cutie marks began early on and set the stage for several seasons' worth of antics and personal growth.

My point is that the show needed to either evolve or end. Stagnation kills my interest in any series.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

On 3/2/2015 at 1:23 PM, Buck Testa said:

In my opinion its gotten a LOT better since season one. Take Pinkie Pie for example, the original concept of her was that she could not really sing. I mean think about it, her songs made ponies annoyed, they started WARS, and they happened so frequently that it was almost jarring at times. Sure she had some good gags and some laugh out loud moments but she was far from a developed character then. 

 

Enter season 2 and beyond. Her songs went from juvenile sounding and usually just one minute time fillers to songs like The SMILE song, which still gives me chills to this day. While she is still a joke character when the spotlight isn't on her (though that isn't a good practice to get into) she more than makes up for it in episodes where she is the main focus. Pinkie Apple Pie, Maud Pie, Pinkie's Pride, and others with her as the lead are some of my favorite episodes to date because they show how dynamic she can be. 

 

How about Rainbow Dash? The original from season one would never of been able to have a scene like This because Lauren Faust didn't believe her capable of being a good sister to Scoots. 

 

All of them have had massive character development and its what I love best about the series, as well as the massive improvement in the quality of the songs that are in the show. Even Season three which is my least favorite season has some real amazing songs in it like A True True Friend or even Celestia's song 

And THEN season 6 happened 

man how my tune has changed since that season ended. It was doing so well, and then the old writers started leaving and new ones came in, and it was like the writing quality was kicked into the abyss. Season 7 hasn't been AS bad as season 6, but its just inoffensively mediocre at best and painful to watch as of these last two episodes. I cannot express how much these new writers peeved me with their incompetence and laziness. I'm not talking about the animation or things like that, cause those have remained relatively consistent, but the writing is just garbage now. All that character development I was praising the show for is floundering under these peoples supervision, rendering them as mere caricatures of their former selves. 

Its so disappointing how a show that I was actually praising not but a few seasons ago has been tainted by terrible writers. So yeah, my vote has changed quite a bit.    

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

 

It has stayed the same for me. Several great episodes, lots of good ones, several meh episodes, and a couple of poor ones... the same as season 1 and onward. Maybe because I don't understand the whole negative thinking I see so much and I don't take the show too seriously, the show is just much simpler for me to enjoy and the mediocre episodes are easier to laugh at and move on from. So yeah, for me the show is doing great.

[Will Guide 21,365]

It's gone through its ups and downs! What's important is that it stays entertaining, which it still is to me.