Seasonal.... Rot?

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

In my opinion, no. It's been a great season so far. The show is getting better and it doesn't seem like it'll be going downhill anytime soon.

 

Lol, am I the only person who liked season 3?

 

Nope, I liked it myself

 

Am I the only one who didn't like the first season? Honestly though the show is only getting better if you ask me. I came in and binged watched all the seasons to catch up. Every season had its highs and lows like with everything. I really found myself disappointed when I learned how short season 3 was and season 4 has so many things I love. Season 5 is amazing as well only one thing I disliked thus far. But I've been watching with an open mind avoiding spoilers and not going in with many expectations. 

 

 

I didn't really like season 1 either. To me, it was just a decent kid's show. It had some good episodes (Party of One, Sonic Rainboom, Cutie Mark Chronicles, etc) but season 2 was when the show became more than just a decent kid's show. I was also disappointed about season 3 being short, but that doesn't stop me from liking it. Even though it only had 13 episodes, pretty much all of them were awesome.

 

I'm somewhat in the same boat as the other two. I actually did like the first season but if you had to ask me which season was the worst I'll point to Season 1 in a heartbeat. If you ask me the show has improved with each season, and while the analysis community says that Season 3 was the worst and it was interesting to see their view, it is not a view I myself share. I liked Season 3 despite its flaws and really there was only one episode, maybe two that I disliked, I just wish it could have been longer.

 

If you ask me the show has been getting better and it hasn't been going through seasonal rot at all.

 

My ranks?

 

Season 4

Season 2

Season 3 (only because it was short, I actually had trouble deciding between 2 and 3)

Season 1

 

No rank for Season 5 yet but it might overtake Season 4 at the rate it's going.

[SteveMorison 404]

This may be Rarity fan bias, but I hate season 5 so far. My favorite pony has been turned into comedic relief. Pinkie, I can understand. She represents the element of laughter, so it's expected for her to do stuff that makes us laugh. Rarity shouldn't get this treatment, though. Season 4 did a great job with her, but now she's the butt of a lot of jokes this season. Rarity of all ponies doesn't deserve it.

Rarity doesn't even seem to be in the show alot this season, any examples of comic relief?

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

No offense, but I kinda disagree with some of your points.

I wrote that in full expectation that I would get a lot of people to refute me. So I'm not really offended. In fact, I acknowledged that in the post. In the last paragraph of what I said, I said something along the lines of not really caring if people disagreed, and disregarding their disagreements as being differentiations in taste which wouldn't change my opinion. And also, I find arguments about differentiations in taste are pointless and stressful.

 

Most of what you said, I won't respond to due to this. That's not something I can refute except by being repetitive and saying what I've already said. I have different tastes in which episodes I find good and bad from you. I can understand why people would prefer the later seasons, like or dislike certain episodes, or generally disagree with me. Also, I'd like to make clear I mean no spite or ill-will with what I say, by the way. I'm just being straight-forward.

 

I will respond to clarify my opinion however, or any laspses that might've been perceived in my judgement.

 

I don't criticize things because it's the "cool" thing to do. I have my opinions, and if they happen to coincide with other people's, then that's nice. Other peoples' opinions don't influence my first reaction to something, and I form my opinions on episodes without regarding theirs.

 

Whilst I did say that Season 4 and 5 were better than Season 3, they're still overall not that great. In terms of characterization, they've just gotten worse. And that's the biggest aspect of the seasonal rot. (Other than the overt fan pandering) They're just better in that I can sit through the episodes and be more interested in what's going on, that's what I meant to say. but that doesn't mean all of it is good. They're also still not as entertaining to me as Season 2 because I genuinely enjoy that season the most out of all of them. Not Season 1. That one was kind of weak as it hadn't found the right balance yet. I believe Season 2 was just the right balance of exploring interesting new concepts, not pandering TOO much to the fanbase but making things more interesting for wider audiences, and developing the characters. The balance, again in my opinion, went off-kilter after that. I'll admit I had trouble wording that one.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

Absolutely not, this is the best season yet!

[Celli 4,338]

Nope. I think the show is only getting better. I think moving on to different directions is helping the show.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

Rarity doesn't even seem to be in the show alot this season, any examples of comic relief?

The Cutie Map Part 2, Make New Friends but Keep Dicord, she was portrayed as a typical damsel in distress in Slice of Life, being the one the bug bear captured. She didn't do anything in any episode except Castle Sweet Castle. Yeah, so far in, she is the worst so far. This is probably her bad season even though I though Season 3 was. 

[SteveMorison 404]

The Cutie Map Part 2, Make New Friends but Keep Dicord, she was portrayed as a typical damsel in distress in Slice of Life, being the one the bug bear captured. She didn't do anything in any episode except Castle Sweet Castle. Yeah, so far in, she is the worst so far. This is probably her bad season even though I though Season 3 was.

I don't think anything worse happened to Rarity in Cutie Map part 2 than the other mane 5. The bug-bear also captured Pinkie Pie and bit Rainbow Dash, as well as slamming Rainbow Dash into a house.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

I don't think anything worse happened to Rarity in Cutie Map part 2 than the other mane 5. The bug-bear also captured Pinkie Pie and bit Rainbow Dash, as well as slamming Rainbow Dash into a house.

I still think she got the short end of the stick this season so far. Fluttershy got development (finally) Twilight got a lot of lines, Rainbow got one and a half episodes, Pinkie got an episode, Spike got an episode. Applejack had really good moments. Then there's Rarity. 

[ponylaces 1,870]

I still think she got the short end of the stick this season so far. Fluttershy got development (finally) Twilight got a lot of lines, Rainbow got one and a half episodes, Pinkie got an episode, Spike got an episode. Applejack had really good moments. Then there's Rarity.

 

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. According to that leaked episode list, there seems to be a Rarity episode (or possibly even two) this season.

[Justin_Case001 4,881]

I'd say seasons 1 and 2, particularly 2, were more consistent, but the show is definitely still great.  The later seasons have a bit more up and down, imo, but also have some of the best episodes in the series.  It's still very strong.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. According to that leaked episode list, there seems to be a Rarity episode (or possibly even two) this season.

Season 4 was Pinkie's bad episode, and she got some episodes. A really good one, too, at that.

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

Well, I think not. It is true that two of my least favorite episodes in the whole series have been in this season, but we also got the Cutie Map, Griffonstone, Tanks for the Memories, Slice of Life, and we haven't gotten into half season yet 

[colt_following 169]

I think the show is getting better; it's increasing in scope and demographic, an they're willing to take bigger risks on stories.

 

One thing I *desperately* miss right now though is that Season 1-3 feeling of the Mane 6 being just a group of friends getting close together and learning to be better individuals. It was just so simple and unassuming. Not that the later seasons get overwhelming or something, but the show is headed in a way that seeks to be bigger than the Mane 6 alone.

That gives me good hope for high-quality stories in the future, but also makes me sorta sad and reminiscent. It's certainly NOT deteriorating, though, just changing.

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

We are far from seasonal rot.... Princess Spike was a bit meh, but this season is shaping up extremely well.

[Prince Firemane 309]

Actually, I believe that this show is working on a kind of bell curve. Season 1 was in the middle, Season 2 was the peak, season 3 was the valley, season 4 was the middle again and season 5 seems to coming back to the peak. I'll explain.

 

Season 1 was the introductory season, the one that familiarized us with the characters and the world in which they live. Because of that, it has the most simple stories. However, it shined in its own light because there was subtextual depth to these characters, showing that these colorful rainbow-laser-blasting ponies could be well rounded in three dimensions.

 

Season 2 grew from this as we and the writers were familiar with these characters and that allowed them to be able to expand upon the mane six in surprisingly dark ways. We were shown dark facets to Twilight and Pinkie Pie specifically that while played for laughs, shows tragic and heartbreaking levels of loneliness and possible self-loathing. The subtext again shining brilliantly as we were shown that the rest of the mane six would also probably be broken shells by season 5 if they had never discovered their friendship.

 

Season 3 took the dive, but really only because one of the seasons had to. I personally adored season 3, but it did feel rushed and rough. But I attribute that to the writers having to divide their time between it and Equestria Girls, which they had never done before. But still, season 3 brought in more dark aspects, especially in legitimately showing an on-screen death. The death of a villain, yes, but still death nonetheless. It also, with surprising tastefulness, referenced death again in the closest we'll ever get to a confirmation that Applejack's parents have indeed passed on. It also showed the first taste of a story arc that lasted multiple seasons, culminating in the boldest move of the series: the ascension of Twilight Sparkle. That marked a notable shift in the series' dynamic and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt it was the series finale at the time.

 

Season 4 grew from there. It provided another, smaller yet more detailed story arc in the form of the Keys. It gave the mane six real trials to face when it came to their individual Elemental virtues that had to be overcome. It also expanded upon the lore of the show that had only been hinted at; the genesis of Nightmare Moon, the origin of the Elements of Harmony, etc. It also took a bold step by getting rid of said Elements, as the predictability of the defeat of metaphysical entities of evil had grown stale. Even though by the season's end they got effective replacements for the Elements in the form of Rainbow Power, it hasn't been seen since. It also again expanded on the darkness of the show. The finale showed the appearance of a villain escaped from what can be literally seen as Hell itself. Tirek showed a different take on the show's dynamic of villains at that point. He didn't resort to manipulation or trials to get to his goal; he boldly took it head-on with steadfast resolve that led him to, however briefly, actually achieving that goal. He indirectly also gave more depth to Twilight, showing that she can be pushed to such a limit that she would be ready and willing to take a life, to be filled with such unbridled rage that she tried her damnedest to blast him to nothingness. It also showed Twilight's growth as a Princess, the writers actually planning out bronies' main gripe with the season, that she's useless as a Princess. She was able to adjust and grow into her title to the point of being gifted with her own castle by a vastly powerful, primordial source of magic.

 

Season 5 so far is expanding on its predecessors in different ways. It's having characters actually grow and mature. Especially with Applebloom who had a full and complete cathartic revelation when it came to her cutie mark, seeming to finally accept that it will come at its own time and she will be proud of whatever it will be. Darker tones have been covered as well, though not noticeably as much as other seasons. It also expanded on Discord's character. It showed how fragile he really can be in spite of a stronger and absurd exterior, how fragile he feels his friendships are after his recent betrayal. Fluttershy has gotten a lot of secondary development as well, now being more willing to speak her mind instead of being the stuttering, whimpering doormat she was in season 1.

[superdogz1999 551]

According to my observations, it is starting to go downhill. The 100th episode was an example of this with a little bit of an uncreative storyline. It seems that the writers are ducking down to the bottom of the pit when it comes to storytelling.

[Lisa 5,553]

You know I think the entire reason people are finding the show to "decline" in quality is because people are already becoming nostalgic over Seasons 1 & 2. It only takes about one year and a half for nostalgia to kick in.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

According to my observations, it is starting to go downhill. The 100th episode was an example of this with a little bit of an uncreative storyline. It seems that the writers are ducking down to the bottom of the pit when it comes to storytelling.

 

The 100th episode was a landmark episode. Shows usually celebrate landmarks with a love-letter to the fans.

 

Star Trek celebrated its 30th by crossing over TOS and DS9

TMNT Celebrated it's 25th with an episode crossing over the Mirage Comics, the '87 series and the 2003 series

Doctor Who always celebrated its landmarks with Multi-Doctor stories

There are more examples I could bring up.

 

This is a common thing with television shows. Whether you enjoyed the 100th episode or not, it doesn't prove the writing has gone downhill.

 

I have to disagree with the show's writing going down. I quite enjoyed 4 and am currently enjoying 5 and I can easily say that they had better stories than what Season 1 had to offer.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

The 100th episode was a landmark episode. Shows usually celebrate landmarks with a love-letter to the fans.

 

Star Trek celebrated its 30th by crossing over TOS and DS9

TMNT Celebrated it's 25th with an episode crossing over the Mirage Comics, the '87 series and the 2003 series

Doctor Who always celebrated its landmarks with Multi-Doctor stories

There are more examples I could bring up.

 

This is a common thing with television shows. Whether you enjoyed the 100th episode or not, it doesn't prove the writing has gone downhill.

 

I have to disagree with the show's writing going down. I quite enjoyed 4 and am currently enjoying 5 and I can easily say that they had better stories than what Season 1 had to offer.

I think the show has declined a little bit after seasons because Hasbro trying too hard to approve adult fan. However, I still love the show and try to be positive as much as posible... Hope Party Pooped will prove the show is not deteriorated (hope my fears are just some silly delusions created by negatives in the fandom recently...)

[cider float 2,537]

Season 1 and 2 were the best. Season 5 is the worst so far.

 

 

The Cutie Map Part 2, Make New Friends but Keep Dicord, she was portrayed as a typical damsel in distress in Slice of Life, being the one the bug bear captured. She didn't do anything in any episode except Castle Sweet Castle. Yeah, so far in, she is the worst so far. This is probably her bad season even though I though Season 3 was. 

 

Lauren Faust knew how to use all the characters perfectly because she created them especially Rarity.

Edited June 24, 2015 by cider float

[Pastel 7,630]

To me the show is still as good as when it started. Not better nor worse.

But it's different from what is used to be, so I can understand why some people think it's getting worse. Also, nostalgia plays a part too.

[baba_booey 4,302]

Yeah... no. Quite the contrary, actually, I personally think the show's getting better. Sure, Season 3 was.. meh, but Season 4 and 5 both have had some of my favorite episodes of the series (i.e. Rarity Takes Manehattan, Lost Treasure of Griffonstone).

 

Plus, I'm not saying Season 1 and 2 are bad, but I feel both had their share of stinkers and "meh" episodes as well, especially Season 1. Boast Busters (my least favorite episode of the series), Baby Cakes, Putting Your Hoof Down, Sonic Rainboom, The Show Stoppers.. I could go on.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

I'm still going to go ahead and say that the seasons have only served to get better as the show goes along.

 

I'm not big on analysis but if I really had to analyze I'd say Season 1 had more weak episodes than any other season, 3 included. There was a post a saw on a analysis video that best summed it up.

 

 

Luaren Faust routinely seemed to have no idea what she was doing. Bronydom started mid season 1 and after it finished. It continued to climb during the hiatus between the first two seasons and peaked somewhere during season 2. The more you visit the older portions of the fandom the more you have views distorted by nostalgia and stupid visions of what the show might be had Faust not left. I for one am actually glad she is gone, or at least not in the driver's seat anymore.

 

When you examine season 1 both critically, and with the common criticisms leveled at the previous two seasons in mind, you realize that many of the issues actually started there.

 

> FiM is the worst two parter for rushed plot and contrivance after contrivance. Destiny was used here as heavy handed subtext, it was first introduced here, yet Meghan and Larson get blamed for Twilicorn and destiny as a cheap storytelling device, yet Lauren started it herself.

> The Ticket Master had AJ utter one of worst lines in the show. Talking to Spike, she said, "Ain't that just like a boy, can't handle the least bit of sentiment" after noticing Spike react a certain way. This, coming from an admitted feminist, looked really, really poor. It's one of the only, if not the only time gender is brought up in such a direct way. Faust is supposed to be subverting these tropes, right? Isn't that one of the main points of the damn show? She co-wrote this, and here we have AJ reinforcing gender stereotypes. What the actual fuck?

> Bird in the Hoof and Applebuck Season both slip into cringe humour territory, you know, the stuff that is reviled in current show's considered unwatchable like Spongebob. The show really hasn't had other episodes like that since.

> Boast Busters screwed up so much they turned the cast that was present into hecklers, some of the most rude and disgusting things to do in public. In doing so they helped create an entire cult following for Trixie, the planned antagonist of that episode. In the end the ponies run her out of town, where is that love and tolerance i keep hearing about? AJ says that "Magic is who you are, Twilight." The fuck, isn't that who Trixie is too? Just a different type of magic? Seriously, the ponies were at their most unlikable here, Mare Do Well doesn't even come close.

> Look before you Sleep had AJ and Rarity acting more like their younger sisters than reasonable adults. Twilight was shown to be an idiot, because reasons.

> Bridle Gossip portrayed Pinkie as straight up asshole who used fear mongering to whip the ponies into a frenzy against poor Zecora. Pinkie contributed to the problem here, and not just in an innocent way, this runs contrary to her character. What happened to the pony who wanted to be everyone's friend? Zecora's hut is filled with trite borderline offensive tribal imagery. It wasn't enough that Zecora's design is enough of a disparity, nope, we gotta plaster the place with all kinds of stupid stuff. Because Faust lacks subtlety. The other thing this screws up is the moral. Twilight is resolute in not judging a book by it's cover through the episode, right until the end when she drops her convictions and believes Zecora is bad. She lost all credibility. The moral about not judging a book by it's cover, one closely tied to racism and bigotry, and fuck it up. They should not fuck up a moral that serious. 

> Feeling Pinkie Keen delivered a god awful moral of "sometimes you just gotta believe things!1!!" It came with an unintended secondary moral, one that put science and religion at odds. Faust said that was unintended, so ignorance is to blame, which isn't good at all.

> The Show Stoppers started off by showing everyone the CMC's talents, only to have them be completely oblivious to set them up crusading. Which might be the biggest contrivance in the show, ever.

> Over a Barrel lacked the same subtlety as Bridle Gossip with the Indian attire of the Buffalo. Pinkie was an idiot, and contributed to multiple problems in this episode, similar to how people got mad at her in Filli Vanilli.

> Owl's Well that Ends Well has the mane 6 praising an animal with equal to or greater praise than what they gave Spike at the beginning of the episode. An owl they just met, and they're doing that? Twilight berates Spike for the way he feels. That complaint about Spike being abused? It started right here, and it's arguably the worst case of it.

 

That's almost thirteen episodes that dropped the ball in serious ways enough to ruin episodes for a lot of people, including myself. Don't get me wrong, the greats in this season were pretty great, but still, that's almost half the entire season. The length of season 3. Pinkie being a moron and trouble starter, Spike being abused, Twilight being shoehorned into lots of episodes. Some of these things persist into the latter seasons, it's true. I'm not going to ignore that or excuse it. But I'm also not going to pretend season 1 was some golden goose that could do no wrong because Faust. For the above reasons, it's my least favorite season. The show has improved on some of these things, especially the delivery of it's morals. The people who think the latter seasons are complete trash often cite that without Lauren's guidance, they don't know what they're doing. That McCarthy doesn't know how to run the show. To them I say fine, fair enough. But as I've shown, many of the issues in the recent seasons are still in season 1, and they started there. And Season 1 had Faust, so what's it's excuse?"

 

Now I actually have some more criticisms to add to this one.

 

-Friendship is Magic, I'd have to argue the thing, for me, that makes this the worst episode with a major antagonist is that Nightmare Moon when compared to every other major antagonist is by far the weakest villain the show has churned out. Even weaker than Sunset Shimmer. I'll go into a more detailed post in another thread explaining why, but to make a short summary, the other villains in this show either had solid plans or managed to do significant damage., The reasons for their loss was either due to arrogance, an asspull or luck. Nightmare Moon was just all around stupid and just did nothing other than just inconvenience the main characters a little. From the looks of Princess Twilight Sparkle, it looks like she didn't even manage to make an impact before being banished either.

 

-Griffon Brush-Off. Okay so besides the fact that Gilda was a one-dimensional jerk that used outdated "totally radical" speech, there was another thing that didn't sit well for me. Now keep in mind, I like Pinkie Pie as a character but there was always one thing that annoyed me and that was the fact that she doesn't learn that not everyone can be your friend and spent the episode trying to force RD and Gilda to hang out with her or sabotage Dash and Gilda's friendship, which she succeeded in. Yeah, I know that Gilda was a jerk but that doesn't give Pinkie the right to decide who RD can hang out with. I have friends who hang out with people I don't really like, but hell, it's their business who they want to hang out with, not mine and out of respect for my friends, I won't speak ill about theirs.

 

-Boast Busters. I know the person I quoted tackled this already but I need to add something here. Trixie wasn't really in the wrong at in this episode. Yeah, she made up the story about the Ursa Major and she did show off her magic but here's something you have to consider. She's a magician, a showpony, an entertainer, that's what an entertainer does. Do what you can to entertain the audience. What the Mane 6 did in that episode was pretty much the equivalent of me going up to a reviewer who makes reviews of movies, show episodes, games or whatever to entertain the audience and go "Hey, you think your opinions better than mine, huh? Pretentious show off, shut up and keep your opinions to yourself!", Sounds like a jackass thing to do, doesn't it? The Mane 6 were almost entirely in the wrong in this episode. The only thing Trixie really did wrong was make Rarity's hair green.

 

-Look before you sleep. I know it's been said but, Rarity and Applejack really annoyed me in this episode. I mean here they are, they're supposed to be reasonable adults, with their own careers and here they are acting like children! It was like watching Spongebob and Patrick argue, that's how bad it was! And really Twilight was being pretty stupid here, I mean her friends are blatantly fighting right in front of her and instead of intervening in a reasonable manner, she's just like "this isn't in the book!" And that scene with the tree, that was just dumb! Instead of doing what she can to get rid of it, she sits there like an idiot and goes "Does this count as camping!?" Say what you want about Twilight being "too smart or perfect" in Season 4 but it's better than her being completely stupid like she was here. I'll say that this episode aged less gracefully than the bad episodes in Season 3, 4 and 5! At they acted their age those!

 

-Swarm of the Century. As a Star Trek fan, I appreciate the fact that it was a nod to Trouble with Tribbles but still this whole situation could have been avoided if Pinkie had just told everyone what the problem was in the first place and why she was collecting instruments! And the ending painted the Mane 6 as the ones at fault for not listening to Pinkie! I disagree, I'd say it was Pinkie's fault for poor communication skills!

 

-Over a Barrel. Tastelessly handled and simplified how things were between the Aboriginals and Americans in America's history.

 

(now for the one that gets me crucified)

 

-The Best Night Ever. Not a bad episode, in fact it was pretty good. The only criticism I have with it is that as a season finale, it's pretty underwhelming. Again, it was a very good episode but it felt like just another episode rather than a finale. Again most of the shows I watch usually have a grand opening and finale for every season so take this one as you will.

 

I'm not saying I didn't like the episodes listed, but I can make some criticisms here and this is why I personally think that Season 1 has aged less gracefully than 2, 3 and 4.

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

 

(now for the one that gets me crucified)

 

-The Best Night Ever. Not a bad episode, in fact it was pretty good. The only criticism I have with it is that as a season finale, it's pretty underwhelming. Again, it was a very good episode but it felt like just another episode rather than a finale. Again most of the shows I watch usually have a grand opening and finale for every season so take this one as you will.

 

 

YOU TELL ME, I THOUGHT AT FIRST RETURN OF HARMONY TWO PARTER WAS THE S1 FINALE WHEN I JOINED THE FANDOM 

[cider float 2,537]

The show is still better than most of the stuff in Cartoon Network but yeah it seems the seasons have gotten worst over time. Season 5 seems to really drop the ball. I could probably name 3 to 5 episodes that I could say I enjoyed in Season 3 or 4 but Season 5 is just seriously needing some work.