What's so bad about 'Slice of Life'?

[Steve Piranha 28,765]

Hey everypony! I've heard a lot of trash talk about episode 100 lately and was wondering if someone could explain to me why they dislike it so much. Personally, I liked it. Secret agent Bon Bon was adorable, and don't even get me started on how much I fangirled over Doctor Whooves. If I disliked anything, it was Vinyl and Octavia's rampage through town, but I really liked the song. So why didn't you like the episode? 

In my opinion, Octavia and Vinyl's rampage was flawed for being too long, and the music kinda sucked in my opinion, but it was VERY refreshing seeing those background (formerly?) characters. Derp, Doc Hooves, Lyra (who sounded like Blythe Baxter from Littlest Pet Shop XD) and secret agent Bon Bon FTW. Besides, first episode in a while which made me invigorated 

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Remember: you guys Enjoy this colorful magical talking ponies show for your OWN SAKE not to please anybody else. Listen some good constructive criticisms to see other perspectives to fully understand the both side NOT TEAR IT APART. When you see any mindless bashings... USE YOUR MOUSE and SCROLL DOWN

Done. Now you can enjoy the show

Edited June 25, 2015 by Lambdadelta

[Abia 258]

It was all right.

 

I enjoy it when the show makes subtle nods to the fandom. This was an entire episode of fan service. For me, it was.. too much. There were parts I enjoyed, but overall, not my cup of tea.

 

There were many things that got on my nerves. Derpy and Doctor Hooves, for example. That whole bit felt forced to me, especially the "Allons-y" reference.

Vinyl and Octavia were pretty cool, but nothing special. Lyra and Bon Bon were good, my favorite part of the episode. "Agent Sweetie Drops" was hilarious.

 

I prefer substance episodes as opposed to silly ones like this.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

It was all right.

 

I enjoy it when the show makes subtle nods to the fandom. This was an entire episode of fan service. For me, it was.. too much. There were parts I enjoyed, but overall, not my cup of tea.

 

There were many things that got on my nerves. Derpy and Doctor Hooves, for example. That whole bit felt forced to me, especially the "Allons-y" reference.

Vinyl and Octavia were pretty cool, but nothing special. Lyra and Bon Bon were good, my favorite part of the episode. "Agent Sweetie Drops" was hilarious.

 

I prefer substance episodes as opposed to silly ones like this.

Silly is what I come to watch ss1 mlp in the 1st place Maybe I come to an episode for its entertainment value first then hidden depth. What an casual viewer I am =). Anyway, I love deep episode but I expect no perfection

[cider float 2,535]

Sigh another topic where a person needs continuing validation that Slice of Life was a great episode....

 

Carry on with the therapy....

[King Sejong 858]

   It really hurts me to see the vitriolic comments made about Slice of life, even some of my friends here on the forums have expressed ire for the episode, although the larger bulk of the fandom is positive for Slice of Life, the few negative and surly reviews of the episode have caused me grief, this episode was a gift to the bronies, it was DHX saying thank you for making MLP into a overwhelming success, and fans threw it in their face, they finally got what they wanted, and rejected it with whinny, spoiled and arrogant comments. My faith for the fandom is severely shaken, and it makes me want to leave, the forums at least, only to return after the show has ended, for I can not help but lament when fans, no matter how few, still have to ruin our fun, and this was a fun episode, Slice of Life was a grand present to us, and I am grateful that the cast and crew have honoured us, now we must honour them, the bronies that have chastised Slice of Life, the cast and crew, and the fans who do like this episode, think about what you are doing, think about the how other feel about the episode, think that of the episode besides the story mechanics, finally think about the damage you can cause for casual bronies, the children who watch MLP are showing more maturity, that most of the adults in our fandom, we have to band together, and display that we are better than any negative opinion for Slice of Life. 

Edited June 25, 2015 by King Edouard

[cider float 2,535]

   It really hurts me to see the vitriolic comments made about Slice of life, even some of my friends here on the forums have expressed ire for the episode, although the larger bulk of the fandom is positive for Slice of Life, the few negative and surly reviews of the episode have caused me grief, this episode was a gift to the bronies, it was DHX saying thank you for making MLP into a overwhelming success, and fans threw it in their face, they finally got what they wanted, and rejected it with whinny, spoiled and arrogant comments. My faith for the fandom is severely shaken, and it makes me want to leave, the forums at least, only to return after the show has ended, for I can not help but lament when fans, no matter how few, still have to ruin our fun, and this was a fun episode, Slice of Life was a grand present to us, and I am grateful that the cast and crew have honoured us, now we must honour them, the bronies that have chastised Slice of Life, the cast and crew, and the fans who do like this episode, think about what you are doing, think about the how other feel about the episode, think that the episode was too flawed based on plot, finally think about the damage you can cause for casual bronies, the children who watch MLP are showing more maturity, that most of the adults in our fandom, we have to band together, and display that we are better than any negative opinion for Slice of Life. 

Isn't that a bit too much drama for one or two dismissive notions on an episode?

[Buck Testa 5,503]

There is nothing wrong with the 100th episode because it wasn't meant to be a serious episode to begin with. It had flying panda monsters and shark jumping for goodness sakes. 

 

Yes, structurally it was all over the place, but when the episode is meant to be lighthearted fun with some zany off the wall plot twists you should forgive any faults it has and take it as the fun it was meant to be.

[Revy 184]

Where the heck do you go, cause no offense, you either managed to find the one site on the internet that's allowed to bash the 100th episode without a massive backlash or you're accentuating the negative and ignoring the positive on the sites you are visiting and I believe the latter a lot more than the former.

 

Personally I hate the 100th episode. Imagine the show is like a restaurant and the meal the episodes. Each meal is it's own steak or fish or main dish you'd prefer and is seasoned ever so lightly that it adds character and flavor to it but never to the extent that it overpowers the main food and on occasions some people add their own seasonings (Seasonings being an analog for fan works).  Now imagine for the celebration meal, instead of a well prepared meal, you get a thin ass steak coated in seasoning so heavily that it's not much more than a mountain of spice on a plate and everyone claiming it's the best steak ever. Or alternatively, the show is usually a Grade A steak and the 100th episode is a greasy $0.50 cheeseburger.  

And that's also why I get a tick whenever someone says it's their favorite episode or one of the best the show has ever done, cause i feel, I repeat that this is just how I feel, that they don't actually enjoy this show, that the story, characters and world can all be thrown out cause it's clearly not what the people care about.  While I know that's not true, the 100th episode is not what MLP is or ever EVER should be, not by a wide fucking country mile. 

 

That is quite a detailed response for a cartoon show. 

 

#Overanalysing.  Why cant people just enjoy something a little different. 

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

That is quite a detailed response for a cartoon show. 

 

#Overanalysing.  Why cant people just enjoy something a little different. 

Not to say that your way of viewing the episode is wrong, but I get my entertainment value from rich characters and story telling, not zany humor and fandom nods, that's why I don't like it (well the short version of it anyways).

People don't all like the same thing.  I can understand other's reluctance to have the more negative views come out, given all the drama this fandom has had for the past 3 years, ever since Twilicorn, but the truth remains that that you can't please all of the people all of the time and saying "You're not suppose to think about it" is not a very good reason as to why the episode is good, especially on a show which is praised for not being a mindless girls cartoon.

[LHfunk 422]

The reasons I've seen that people don't like it is that it was fan pandering and un-MLP like. Which is stupid, because this is the 100th episode. The show would probably much different and likely much less enjoyable without the fandom. This is a huge milestone that requires something amazing. We got that. Enjoy it.

[SteveMorison 404]

Marmite episode if i've ever seen one. Personally didn't like it when I first saw but liked it more on rewatches. Would give it a 4/5 and would say it's the 3rd best of the season so far.

[Splendormane 203]

i didn't hate it. I just feel it had to much going on in 20 minutes and was very rushed

[Batbrony 15,994]

Hey everypony! I've heard a lot of trash talk about episode 100 lately and was wondering if someone could explain to me why they dislike it so much. Personally, I liked it. Secret agent Bon Bon was adorable, and don't even get me started on how much I fangirled over Doctor Whooves. If I disliked anything, it was Vinyl and Octavia's rampage through town, but I really liked the song. So why didn't you like the episode? 

 

Me?  I have nothing at all bad to say about "Slice of Life."  In fact, it was pretty much perfection for this Derp-fanatic.    I won't go into exactly why here, since I already rambled about that enough in my review/fangasm about the episode, but if you'd like to know you can read my full thoughts here: https://mlpforums.com/blog/1009/entry-17002-batbrony-reviews-mlps-100th-episode-slice-of-life/

 

As for people who didn't like it, I'm surprised you've even seen a noticeable number of people bashing it.  After it aired, from what I saw at least, people just could not stop gushing over it.  The worst reactions I saw were no worse than 'meh,' but that's it, so I have no idea who you've seen going around bashing that delightful romp of joy. 

[Gestum 2,493]

I personally hate slice of life.  I would even go as far as to say that it's the worst episode of the show. The whole thing was rushed and was just fan service. A little fan service here and there isn't bad, but to base a whole episode around it is just stupid.

[bumperappledash 8]

I didn't like it, honestly when I read the plot summary, I was expecting the mane six to be in it way more and talk more than a few lines.

 

I know a lot of people's favorite ponies are background ponies, but for me, nothing beats the mane 6, nothing is better than them.

 

I felt like considering this being the 100th episode, in the 5th season, I felt let down.

Edited June 25, 2015 by bumperappledash

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

Nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

[sweetolebob18 724]

Up until the point where Vinyl's sound machine went blasting through town, it was easily the best episode of the season.  That device reminded me of the 70s & 80s, when some folks had cars w super giant speakers & the rampage wasn't too bad (classic old time cartoon).  However, I felt the ending was a little anticlimactic.  Still, 4 stars out of 5 & one of the better episodes.

 

Still, I have noticed that I have close to Negative Infallibility about episodes.  If I like them, no one else can stand them

[ANGEL33 87]

NOTTA DAMN THING WAS WRONG WITH THE EPISODE!!!!!!!

[baba_booey 4,299]

My main problem with this episode is how messy it is. Yes, I'm aware it's moreso to be seen as something that's more focused on having fanservice, but even then, the story to the episode is still important, and that's the problem I have - it's too "all over the place" for my tastes.

 

With that said, I don't really dislike it, but to me, it's just.. meh. It may just be my person point of view, and that I prefer having a more "solid" story in episodes, but.. meh.

[Chara 1,565]

For me, the episode was epic! I loved everything about it. I cant see why people hated on it.

[BalanceBrony 259]

There will always be people who come to MLP for their own reasons. To people who loved it for the good story and writing, this episode would be trash. As many have said in this thread, the episode does lack structure and proper plot.

From my position, I am a brony who watches each episode from the perspective of enjoying the show. I enjoy plot, characters, and writing. But I also enjoy aton of laughs. But that's me. What you guys need to understand is that this episode is a bit off from the normal expectations of the show. Yes, it was a special episode for bronies, but I could totally understand that anybody who likes the show for the show would be annoyed. This episode would only be enjoyed by people who enjoy the fandom, which is not everybody.

MLP become popular and famous for it's good morals, story, characters, and writing. To people who like the show only for those things, this episode was actually one of the worst, because it was nothing but a flood of memes with a letter to the fans as the moral. People who aren't into the fandom would have wanted a good epic story for episode 100, because that's what made the show great in the first place- and they did not get such a story. This episode was special, and that's fine. But it is not what the show is known for. So, more casual bronies who don't into the memery and fanon- they would be ticked. Which is what happened.

Many of us enjoyed the fun romp that was Slice of Life, because we felt it addressed us. But many of us saw it only as an interruption that took the show off rails for an episode, to pander to the crazed fans. I fall into the first category. I had a right blast, because I take each episode at face value- as the thing that it was meant to be. In my opinion, it is only really justified to hate an episode if it fails in the personal mission it had. But I can understand the people who hated episode 100- because it was different from the normal formula, that many bronies love way more than the memes.

Edited June 30, 2015 by BalanceBrony

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

I really enjoyed the focus on background characters this episode. I don't know anyone who thinks otherwise.

[#1FluttershyFan 206]

I haven't heard anyone say they disliked it but if anyone does, my guess is most people don't like it because of the fact that there were all the background ponies. THis is because a lot of fans had ideas of what these characters were like and they enjoyed coming up with back stories and personality traits for the characters but with this episode, it tells you what to think of the characters so people can't speculate what they're like anymore. For example, however cute secret agent Bon Bon was, it probably shattered a lot of people's fanfics or ideas of the character. All in all, this wasn't my favorite, just because I wasn't a huge fan of the plot but I think it was pretty well done.

[xenozfan3 188]

Even though I didn't get all the references I still loved it.