Does anyone kinda miss the letters?

[SolyWack 482]

Im not sad that there gone, more screentime for the actual show part of the show.

 

But I sometimes find myself realizing (in the newer episodes) that i dont really catch the lesson because im not looking for it.

 

Then i go high on nostalgia trips about how just f-ing incredibly amazingly awesome mlp was to me back then.

 

Mabye im just conditioned to the show, and will never have that "newly amazing" feeling, or mabye its just a nostalgia trigger for me.

 

But is anyone else not upset they are gone, but sad they are at the same time?

[S.F. 1,560]

I used to like their messages at the end of the episodes (including the diary from S4), it's not the biggest loss, but I wouldn't mind it at all if they came back in one form or another.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I don't really miss them. I find it far more interesting to search for the lesson for myself in those episodes, which most of the time isn't really hard for me.

 

Sure, they have there nostalgic feeling to them and nostalgia can be nice. But i don't like to compare the newer episodes with stuff from S1 and S2 and rather judge it on it's own.

[Frostgage 7,975]

I'd never really thought about it but I totally agree, they were a really nice way to wrap up an episode. It's sad they're gone but I guess things change

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

A bit, nostalgically of course. I'll admit the letters and journal had problems, mainly that it was blatantly dumping the moral on you, but it had it's charm and I didn't mind them, particularly when the Season 1 letters were brilliantly used in The Return of Harmony.  I do find it rather weird though that were back to sort of a Season 3 thing, were the old method of moral telling could still be used but simply isn't, since in Season 3 there were a grand total of 2 letters written. 

Edited July 12, 2015 by Sidral Mundet

[Shanks 10,816]

The letters had their place and I wouldn't mind seeing the occasion one in the future when it calls for it but as the show is growing and evolving there is less of a need for these letters. Earlier on in the show the lessons were much simpler but as more and more of the lessons get more subtle and implicit the letters feel less and less appropriate and probably would have become redundant if they continued to be used in nearly every episode.

[Daring_Do 552]

Interesting thing is, I think I read Faust originally didn't want to make the lessons explicit out of respect for the target audience's intelligence (but Hasbro had other ideas, so she came up with the friendship letters). After hearing from a brony that the letters weren't a thing anymore, though, Faust missed them because they'd gotten to be such a big part of the show structure.

 

Or something. I'm going off of memory here; I might not have all of that right.

 

Course, since *we* can't always spot the lesson now, I'm not sure if kids would be able to... Or maybe I'm just not giving them enough credit.

[Guest90210 3,568]

Personally, I don't miss the letters. I found them to be a little redundant after awhile, and they were beginning to be used to shoe-horn in a moral message rather than letting the viewer decipher and interpret it themselves.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Rivendare

[Troblems 5,617]

I hated the letters. They sapped up too much time reiterating a plotline that had just been seen. I can see how it might be nice for younger viewers though, to have the lesson shortened and hammered home, but as an adult watching the show, they were a waste of time.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,377]

They are nostalgic for sure, but honestly I think the show is better of f without them. One of the reasons I have been loving season 5 so far is how brilliantly the messages have been delivered for the most part. Having them be told in a subtle or thought provoking way is far more interesting to me than them being outright explained in the end just incase we missed it. Some of the episodes this season have not been as subtle of course, but I still prefer that to the letters, not that the letters are bad or anything, I just think the show has moved well beyond those.

 

Give me something like Tanks for the Memories or Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep over the letters any day of the week.

[cmarston1 5,959]

Not really.  Just like the removal of the elements of harmony I don't miss them very much.   The show doesn't need the letters to get across the morals anymore and that may be for the better.

[Dark Qiviut 22,388]

Nostalgic as they may be, I don't. Even when they learn the moral, the reports make them feel way too absolute. By weaving the moral into the episode throughout and not spelling it out for the audience, they become less obvious.

[PegaDash1 78]

I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it, yeah. I mean, I think the friendship lessons are good for all the foals watching the show. Plus, it was there since the beginning.

[Midnight Gaze 131]

Yeah, I loved the letters. Although, it's probably just because I think the first seasons of MLP are better than the recent ones. I really haven't liked MLP long enough for nostalgia.

[Blake of Gilead 140]

Eh...not really. The gradual phasing out of the letters, in my honest opinion, shows how the show has evolved.

[APegLegPirate 168]

You don't have to be a genius to work out the morale of the story. It's more or less slap bang right in your face throughout the whole episode anyway.

[Blake of Gilead 140]

...Not really. As was mentioned earlier, the show's morals are more subtle nowadays.

[Cwanky 17,572]

Nostalgia aside the letters are mostly redundant now. Plus they tend to condescend the audience and treat them as incapable of learning and understanding an episode's lessons and morals.

 

I will admit though that at times the letters do often reveal interesting aspects of their author, whether its Twilight, Spike, or Applejack for example. Also unfortunately, they are some of the rare interactions we actually see that involve Celestia, indirect as that may be.

[Lisa 5,553]

No, because I never cared for them ever.

[----------------------- 171]

Perhaps it was good for the time, but there's that popular formula of "show, don't tell". Many people would prefer interpreting the moral in their own way rather than being told directly what it was; some a bit dazed from the outcome. Figuring it out through your own ways is more clever and makes the episode flow nicely. It was a nice element in the past, but seeing the show progress into new ways of conveying the message is more preferable.

Edited July 13, 2015 by zigragirl

[Pastel 7,630]

I don't care about them, I'm fine with or without them.

Some letter scenes are good, like in Filli Vanilli, but sometimes they're just meh.

[Malinter 3,064]

While I don't miss them per-se, I do regret that we will never have another moment where a certain somepony sends Celestia a letter while cider-tipsy XD

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

I don't think I cared for them in the first season.  I liked it better when each of the Mane Six were writing letters to Celestia.  I think I liked it best when the Mane Six were writing in their shared friendship journal-thing.

 

So no, I don't miss the letters.  And no, I can't say I'm sad about it, either.

 

And stop being nostalgic, all of you!  Weren't that long ago, really. xD  When we hit season ten you can begin to be nostalgic for letters to Celestia.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Now I know why I like the letters... the interaction between Celestia and Twilight/mane5 through those letters. Now Twilight became a princess, her assignment is over, so writing letter is unnecessary. I feel bad about letter removal but it has to be done. The mane 6 need to learn those moral lessons for themself not for Celestia. Ponies still have to learn more lessons but in practical way. Farewell letters

 

The letters are gone, Celestia's role in the show is fading away... Godamn, changes sometime are scary...

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

Not really. They were a holdover from Season 1, where the show fell under educational & Informative guidelines and had to have a clearly stated lesson at the end. As the show kinda-sorta matures and it finds a wider audience, the writers probably want to step away from tacked on definitions of the plot anyway. The morals are usually clear enough in an episode that it's not necessary.