Do we sometimes give the writers of the show, too much of a hard time?

[Mesme Rize 15,692]

I know what some of you might be thinking. This is another "no criticism allowed" Thread, right? No, i have no intentions of doing that. This is about something else entirely.

 

Everytime i go around the fandom after the episode aired, i see thousands of Reviews popping up from Random people and everyone has a certain style of reviewing each episode. While some, if not most of these reviews are well thought out, some of them seem very bad, maybe even down right mean towards the writers.

 

For example. A review of an episode should never get personal towards the writers. You should never say they're stupid, or worse, they should quit their Job instantly. I think that Spike at your Service was the worst episode ever and that Merriweather Williams is the worst writer of the MLP Staff. However, that dosen't mean she is a bad writer overall. She made some great episodes for Spongebob, which proves that she has skill. You shouldn't jump the gun and say to a person, that she has to quit a Job. A Job that might feed her Family and pays the Bills.

 

Yes, we have to criticize the Writers for what they do, or else we will get one Rainbow Falls after another. But we also have to defend the writers from stuff like this, because in my eyes, that's not right.

 

What do you think? Do you agree, or should we actually criticize the Writers as harshly as possible?

[SpikusFyre 486]

I have no strong opinion one way or the other.

[Rawzy 1,302]

I mean, I think that we should be praising them more

 

If we support the writers of the show, then we may see even more references from the fandom added into the show, like they did in episode 100.

 

Us bronies shouldn't show any hostality towards the writers, think about what they have done for us!

[Megas 28,148]

Fans have a tendency get way too personal when ever a writer screws up or makes a mistake, and this goes for both show and comic writers. I remember one thread where someone asked if the writers lurked these forums, one particular response literally went along the lines of

"God I hope not. I'd hate to see Williams, Powell, and Polsky read posts of bronies demanding their fucking BLOOD just because they screwed up on an episode or 2"

 

Criticism is a good thing, there's no denying that, but with how many fans often attack and insult writers, writing ridiculously long posts about why a certain episode or comic was an insult to humanity, all while wagging their finger as it they're some sort of flawless expert in show-writing and storytelling, it wouldn't surprise me if the writers would shy away from criticism or stop working on FiM all together because of it. And honestly I wouldn't blame them

Edited September 12, 2015 by Gattai

[Odyssey 5,719]

Oh no, I don't think we should be that hard on writers. To me, I always feel as if each writer is better at writing one thing than another. Like Merriwether Williams, for example. She has shown to be really great at writing comedy as seen in Spongebob's greatest episodes like Band Geeks and Chocolate With Nuts. As such, some of her more serious works in MLP:FiM tend to come off as off-putting, but that isn't a criticism. Comedy is just what she is better at writing.

 

I also don't think it's just the writer who make the decisions on what they write. You still got the story editors and the directors, which take a lot of control on how they want their product to be. As such, writers also don't really have much of a choice on what stories they choose. Because of that, we'll see Cindy Morrow writing Rainbow Dash as a supportive role model in Hurricane Fluttershy, but really reckless in Tanks For The Memories. Again, this isn't a criticism -- I'm just saying that writers don't get a lot of choice in writing, so it explains why some characters act differently in different episodes despite being written by the same writer. But then again, what do I know? I've never been in the writing industry, really.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Odyssey

[Grtxkkyz 389]

Yeah, I kinda agree we have been rather harsh with them. If the yaks are of any indication, they're a not-so-subtle caricature of how a good deal of bronies throw hissy fits and make a fuss out of it whenever something in the show isn't the way they expected.

[cider float 2,539]

Nah seems like bronies give them way too much credit thinking the show is better than they really think.

[Justin_Case001 4,934]

Yeah, I kinda agree we have been rather harsh with them. If the yaks are of any indication, they're a not-so-subtle caricature of how a good deal of bronies throw hissy fits and make a fuss out of it whenever something in the show isn't the way they expected.

I've heard arguements that the yaks were actually intended to be a representation of bronies.  I don't believe that, but it's certainly a funny and apt comparrison.

 

And yes, the community is often to harsh on the FIM team in general.  It's hard to make stuff.  It's hard to please people, impossible to please everyone.  Cut 'em a break.  They do their best.  It's different than a novelist, just one person writing a book, their unique vision that doesn't get homogenized and altered by a whole team of people.

[Celli 4,349]

I agree that some fans get a bit too harsh. TheMysteriousMrEnter is an  example of someone who's outright insulted a few writers, not just on FiM, either. He's called himself out, though, admitting he was harsh towards a couple writers. 

[Silver Letter 1,832]

 

 

It's different than a novelist, just one person writing a book, their unique vision that doesn't get homogenized and altered by a whole team of people.

I don't know a whole lot about it but professional writers have to answer to editors. They don't work on a book alone if I understand it right. Just like a show writer has to answer to a corporate vision which always comes first.

 

In my opinion, I try to respect what the writers have to work with for FiM. I think that they do their best and although, I might criticize their mistakes, I am usually satisfied with the results.

[PonyWaifu 559]

The writers of this show are freaking amazing. I also recommend reading the comics. The writers there are top notch. I really wish they would adapt a couple issues into the tv show,.

[Varrack 1,080]

Why criticize them for the bad things when there are overwhelmingly more good episodes than bad ones (IMO)? They work really hard to make great episodes and some of the ones they've produced have blown me away. I won't hesitate to criticize Lesson Zero but there really aren't that many bad ones...there's 104 anyway, so there's bound to be a few not-so-perfect ones.

[Goat-kun 2,531]

It’s quite hard, walking on a thin line between bootlicking and rabid animosity. It also doesn’t help that I have somewhat of a grudge against creative content creators (Mummies are sad, gingers have passion, and all hail from Freljord where ice is in fashion). But don’t worry. I’m fully aware that all is just, like, my opinion, man.

 

A healthy dose of courteous criticism never hurt anyone, and all artists should accept it and use it as they see fit. It’s how a fandom can contribute to their professional growth and provide feedback to the man upstairs. And some episodes are genuinely bad and whoever wrote them should feel bad so they can improve, but their superiors should feel far worse for their oversight. All said, I find positivity to be far more destructive than any harassment since corporations and PRs (read community figures) have been abusing it for ages and turned it into a buzzword/get out of jail free card.

 

P.S: That still means you have to criticize while taking show’s boundaries and limitations into consideration. So swing that tire iron baby, just be precise.

[VengefulStrudel 1,495]

For example. A review of an episode should never get personal towards the writers.

 

 

I completely agree with this. A constructive review should always be objective, and always regarding the product, not the person behind it. Just because someone may make a bad episode doesn't mean they are a bad writer, nor a bad person. Such reviewers seem to be extremely difficult to please, but very easy to disappoint. As in, nothing is good enough, but do one bad thing, and they'll haunt you forever for it.

 

Generally speaking, though, I think MLP:FiM has way more good episodes than bad ones (my least favorite one is Princess Spike, so far), so, I think they deserve more praise than they do flak. Of course negatives should always be pointed out, but in this case the positives overwhelmingly outnumber them, and the negatives are relatively minor things in most cases.

 

Well, those are my 2 cents.

[superdogz1999 551]

Actually not as we do have the right to criticise a person's actions. We would get angry about it if say MA Larson killed off a favourite character of many. (Which Hasbro wouldn't allow anyway) This would condemn the actions of the Writer by our fandom. We already Criticise the actions of the writers already when it comes to bad episodes like "Putting your Hoof Down" and "Appleloosa's Most Wanted." But to my perspective, the majority of episodes are above the quality of those two episodes above. But Everypony makes mistakes right and we criticise them to fix their mistakes.

[Steve Piranha 29,496]

Criticism is good, but yes, we go overboard very often by attacking the staff personaly. It's have been mentioned that the yaks episode was a slight jab from the writers at us due to that

[Guest]

While I try not to excuse crappy writing, and I encourage criticism when it benefits the writers I do believe there are some people within the MLP fandom that are insanely critical of episodes and the writing. Some people overanalyze a show targeted at an audience younger than them and then get super defensive when you point out they are overanalyzing by saying crap like "JUST BECAUSE IT'S FOR KIDS IS NO EXCUSE FOR IT TO SUCK". Really it all boils down to some people need to look at it for what it is and not what they want it to be.

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

Larson is pretty much the scapegoat for anytime something goes wrong.

[Guest]

Larson is pretty much the scapegoat for anytime something goes wrong.

Ironic too because a lot of the stuff people don't like he has nothing to do with! Like if I recall the Equestria Girls movies are written by McCarthy.

[Number62 1,267]

I'm pretty sure the writers can take almost any nasty comments since that seems to be part of the job, and as far as they're concerned, those people are just random people on the Internet. They can't make everyone happy, and some people will react worse than others. That being said, I feel that insulting any one of them as a person is wrong since that has nothing to do with why an episode might be bad.

[cider float 2,539]

I'm pretty sure the writers can take almost any nasty comments since that seems to be part of the job, and as far as they're concerned, those people are just random people on the Internet. They can't make everyone happy, and some people will react worse than others. That being said, I feel that insulting any one of them as a person is wrong since that has nothing to do with why an episode might be bad.

They can probably take them because they don't go searching for them unlike some bronies.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

I believe in constructive criticism to writers. As in, tell them where they messed up and where they need to improve. Don't go bashing the writers like what some people do. If we're talking reviewers, Mr. Enter used to have this problem of saying writers need to be fired or blacklisted for writing mediocre episodes of MLP. Even he eventually realized that was stupid.

 

What I'm saying is, criticize the show constructively. 

[AlbaTross 1,586]

I know what some of you might be thinking. This is another "no criticism allowed" Thread, right? No, i have no intentions of doing that. This is about something else entirely.

 

Everytime i go around the fandom after the episode aired, i see thousands of Reviews popping up from Random people and everyone has a certain style of reviewing each episode. While some, if not most of these reviews are well thought out, some of them seem very bad, maybe even down right mean towards the writers.

 

For example. A review of an episode should never get personal towards the writers. You should never say they're stupid, or worse, they should quit their Job instantly. I think that Spike at your Service was the worst episode ever and that Merriweather Williams is the worst writer of the MLP Staff. However, that dosen't mean she is a bad writer overall. She made some great episodes for Spongebob, which proves that she has skill. You shouldn't jump the gun and say to a person, that she has to quit a Job. A Job that might feed her Family and pays the Bills.

 

Yes, we have to criticize the Writers for what they do, or else we will get one Rainbow Falls after another. But we also have to defend the writers from stuff like this, because in my eyes, that's not right.

 

What do you think? Do you agree, or should we actually criticize the Writers as harshly as possible?

Hi, as this thread is about the writers of the show, it has been moved to Show Discussion.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Should we review the writer? Yes. As harshly as possible? No.  I mean here's the thing, as fans we're going to see the flaws of a show far far more so than anyone else, even the writers.  In a recent panel (don't ask me which one, I don't recall) several MLP writers said that they couldn't really tell who wrote what after it had been edited.  Now some people might be thinking 'How could you not tell you colleges works apart?' It's because they don't pay as much attention to details as us or at least as rabidly as we do.  XKCD has a brilliant comic on this:

 

Also the converse is also true, we shouldn't overly praise writers either. For instances, after the 100th episode MA Larson was praised beyond belief. Not to say he didn't do a good job (For the record I don't like that episode but that's neither her nor there) but he shouldn't have been praised as much as he was if we're trying to separate the writer from the sort of reviewing process. 

[Swifty 249]

We are way too nice to them. There is no excuse for terrible plot holes. There is no excuse for Party Pooped.

 

NO EXCUSE!!!!!

They better didnt show the yaks as bronies. Else....