The Show's Biggest Strength And Biggest Weakness, In Your Opinion?

[Castle Bleck 19,449]

To me, its biggest strength is how it's able to continually expand upon its story elements and keep us invested.

 

However, its biggest weakness is how it tends to rush/"tell, don't show" the introductions of said story elements.

[Moonlight 7,291]

Biggest strength: the characters. You're bound to find at least one character you like or relate to.

 

Biggest weakness: its humor. A lot of the times the humor is awful and makes me feel embarrassed to even be watching. Some people might find it funny, I just don't personally.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

The show's biggest strength comes from it's characters and how they interact with each other.

 

It's biggest weakness is when it thinks it's ambitious but it can't deliver. Basically the show tries to have it's cake and eat it too, especially in the two-parters. 

[Silver Stream. 708]

Biggest Strength will be the characters of the show and the songs. Also the many "grey area" lessons that the show sometimes teaches. Such as "It Ain't Easy Being Breezy" and "Mysterious Mare Do-Well" 

 

 

Weaknesses: The fandom and the inconsistency with the character development/execution. 

[Aurora Storm 83]

I like the music, the character interaction, the humor (usually), the animation style, the little nods to the fanbase.

 

My critiques....I don't care for Fluttershy's slooooowww character development. She's shy and timid but they could do more with the character than just focus on those baby steps. Get her involved in a cause or an adventure unrelated to her anxiety, or at least show that she's making even bigger strides. (I did like her bit in Tanks for the Memories though) I'd like to see more Celestia too. My favorite Celestia moment was actually with Luna in Slice of Life. I wouldn't mind seeing more of those interactions. PInkie Pie....She's endearing in her own episodes and often annoying in ones where she's not the central focus.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Aurora Storm

[Odyssey 5,719]

Biggest Strength will be the characters of the show and the songs. Also the many "grey area" lessons that the show sometimes teaches. Such as "It Ain't Easy Being Breezy" and "Mysterious Mare Do-Well" 

 

 

Weaknesses: The fandom and the inconsistency with the character development/execution. 

 

I wouldn't really call the fandom a weakness. Sure, there are things like the nods to the fandom which can get grating at times, but otherwise the fandom doesn't have much impact on the show. The fandom is completely different thing in and of itself with its own chunk of flaws.

[Silver Stream. 708]

I wouldn't really call the fandom a weakness. Sure, there are things like the nods to the fandom which can get grating at times, but otherwise the fandom doesn't have much impact on the show. The fandom is completely different thing in and of itself with its own chunk of flaws.

I only call the random a weakness because despite us not having a big impact on the show, our perception of each episode and every detail determines whether an episode or movie made it or not. Whether it was something exceptional, or the worst mistake in history not to mention the confusion we may sometimes bring to other people wanting to give the show a chance. Also if anyone is curious about the show and searched things on Google, they find a few interesting art pieces that might make them take a step back.

 

 

I speak from personal experience as I've only bern a fan for a year when I could have given the show a chance sooner but it was the fandom that kept me at bay. It was from channel surfing that I finally gave it a chance.

 

Also, at times the fandom can cause many yo despise the show because whenever they see something harmless, let's say...a scene where Spike says hi to Rarity and get the heart eyes...many either cringe or fangirls St the sight regarding everything knowing the uproar it could bring.

 

I'm not saying the fandom is a BAD thing but I personally find it a weakness to the show and perhaps the franchise. It's my personal opinion on the matter. I mean the random.can even be a strength as well depending on how you see it. Such as the fandom being the main reason why the show still exists after so long. *shrugs* I just see.no wrong in seeing it as a weakness

Edited December 8, 2015 by Silver Stream.

[Megas 28,135]

Strengths: Characters for sure

 

Weaknesses: I'm gonna go on a limb and say Adventure episodes, or at least the serious ones. Honestly whenever it comes to serious adventure episodes, especially premieres and finales, I've been enjoying them less and less 

[cmarston1 5,964]

The biggest strengths would be the main characters, the animation, and the music.

The biggest weakness would be the overreliance on reforming villains.

[AmberDust 1,118]

Biggest strength: Interesting and varied characters, which balance each other out and create lots of potential for new character dynamics to come to play.

 

Biggest Weakness: I'd say "rushing", but what bothers me more than that is the inconsistency among the writers. I mean, some of them seem to pay very close attention to pre-existing lore, the lessons characters have learnt, etc, while others will stretch and bend the world to their will, resulting in confused perceptions of lore (Baby Cakes) and character un-development. (Basically any Fluttershy episode in season 5)

@@Silver Stream., I see the fandom as a sort of mixed blessing.

We have a lot of excellent, interesting, generous, and creative people in this fandom, which I'm reminded of every day when I log onto the forums and see people helping each other out, sharing advice, and, more recently, grouping together to donate to MCM...and that kind of thing makes me very happy and proud to be part pf this community.

...But thanks to this show's overwhelming number of fans, we also have a very large and unfortunately public dark side. The biggest empires are destroyed from within, after all...or, rather, a fish rots from the head? Either way, there's a lot of strife going on within this fandom that is driving people away and making us seem like Steven Universe fans a rather toxic group, so people can't really see the good parts of this fandom until they're already in it, which usually takes either a very persuasive friend or a very open mind. ^^'

 

But yes, I can see how the fandom can be a weakness, especially in terms of PR.

 

 

 

I apologize for the stab at the Steven Universe fandom, I know they aren't ALL bad, just some of them are terrifying  self-proclaimed social justice warriors who drive artists to attempt suicide through misplaced passive-aggression.

[PoisonClaw 8,174]

Biggest strength: The Characters and the continuity. Most episodic shows like this very rarely acknowledge past events or character development, but this show has full fledged characters that grow and change with each passing episode and previous episodes are references more often than you would think.

 

Biggest Weakness: The time limit. More than a few episodes try way too hard to cram far too much into 22 minutes (44 for two parters) that certain aspects of an episode are either ignored, the pacing is all over the place, or rushed to a conclusion to fit into the time limit. When an episode really flows though, it tends to stand out. 

[CastletonSnob 3,089]

Biggest strength: Interesting and varied characters, which balance each other out and create lots of potential for new character dynamics to come to play.

 

Biggest Weakness: I'd say "rushing", but what bothers me more than that is the inconsistency among the writers. I mean, some of them seem to pay very close attention to pre-existing lore, the lessons characters have learnt, etc, while others will stretch and bend the world to their will, resulting in confused perceptions of lore (Baby Cakes) and character un-development. (Basically any Fluttershy episode in season 5)

@@Silver Stream., I see the fandom as a sort of mixed blessing.

We have a lot of excellent, interesting, generous, and creative people in this fandom, which I'm reminded of every day when I log onto the forums and see people helping each other out, sharing advice, and, more recently, grouping together to donate to MCM...and that kind of thing makes me very happy and proud to be part pf this community.

...But thanks to this show's overwhelming number of fans, we also have a very large and unfortunately public dark side. The biggest empires are destroyed from within, after all...or, rather, a fish rots from the head? Either way, there's a lot of strife going on within this fandom that is driving people away and making us seem like Steven Universe fans a rather toxic group, so people can't really see the good parts of this fandom until they're already in it, which usually takes either a very persuasive friend or a very open mind. ^^'

 

But yes, I can see how the fandom can be a weakness, especially in terms of PR.

 

 

 

I apologize for the stab at the Steven Universe fandom, I know they aren't ALL bad, just some of them are terrifying  self-proclaimed social justice warriors who drive artists to attempt suicide through misplaced passive-aggression.

 

I haven't seen Baby Cakes in a while. What part of lore was confused in that episode?

[AmberDust 1,118]

I haven't seen Baby Cakes in a while. What part of lore was confused in that episode?

 

Just the level of power that these babies had. I mean, Pound Cake could full-on fly while Scootaloo is still struggling, and Pumpkin Cake can float, (among other incredible feats) which we've only ever seen Starlight Glimmer do.

[Silver Stream. 708]

Biggest strength: Interesting and varied characters, which balance each other out and create lots of potential for new character dynamics to come to play. Biggest Weakness: I'd say "rushing", but what bothers me more than that is the inconsistency among the writers. I mean, some of them seem to pay very close attention to pre-existing lore, the lessons characters have learnt, etc, while others will stretch and bend the world to their will, resulting in confused perceptions of lore (Baby Cakes) and character un-development. (Basically any Fluttershy episode in season 5)@@Silver Stream., I see the fandom as a sort of mixed blessing.We have a lot of excellent, interesting, generous, and creative people in this fandom, which I'm reminded of every day when I log onto the forums and see people helping each other out, sharing advice, and, more recently, grouping together to donate to MCM...and that kind of thing makes me very happy and proud to be part pf this community....But thanks to this show's overwhelming number of fans, we also have a very large and unfortunately public dark side. The biggest empires are destroyed from within, after all...or, rather, a fish rots from the head? Either way, there's a lot of strife going on within this fandom that is driving people away and making us seem like Steven Universe fans a rather toxic group, so people can't really see the good parts of this fandom until they're already in it, which usually takes either a very persuasive friend or a very open mind. ^^' But yes, I can see how the fandom can be a weakness, especially in terms of PR.   I apologize for the stab at the Steven Universe fandom, I know they aren't ALL bad, just some of them are terrifying  self-proclaimed social justice warriors who drive artists to attempt suicide through misplaced passive-aggression.

A blessing as well as a curse. I'm already part of the fandom but it doesn't change my opinion on them I general. It's because I have an open mind that I shamelessly claim myself as a member of the mlp fandom despite the cons it possesses. I'm not implying I dislike the random or anything, I just see it as a weakness for the show though it provides good strengths as well. I will agree with that on the SU random as well as I am part of that too....but it also goes for the MLP random...hell Evert large fandom out there.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,700]

Characters by far are the show's strengths. but that's a very agreed upon thing it looks like XD

 

 

The shows weaknesses IMO are finding a way to have good "high stakes" arcs without stumbling. Its very hard for them to find a way to have a villain show up, be introduced, show themselves to be a threat, and not have multiple plot holes pop up or have the cast equally contribute to the problems.

As an example of how villains can stumble, look at sombra for example. they introduce him, but he's basically characterless and the story is designed with him as a tool, rather than a character for the episode.

 

Alternatively for adventure episodes, its hard to have all the group be relevent for adventures unless you explicitly trot out the EOH as the Deus ex machina "I win" scenario.
They've pumped up twilight's power to incredible levels and the other 5's skills just don't really matter in defeating a villain unless they're there to act as a power battery for the EOH, yeah? Look at the comics for example, this happens ALOT since villains like chrysalis are shown to be only threatened by Twilight due to her magic, but something like "Throws a lasso" or "Is goofy" for pinkie pie just really isn't much of a threat by itself, yeah?

 

As such, the show has issues where They need to rely on using an instant win condition with the EOH, which causes plotting problems (which is probably why they got rid of it) due to being a binary Win/lose mechanic, or they have issues maintaining the group as a whole's importance against a villain.

(the only times this is averted is when they Explicitly give the others super powers to even the playing field like in Power ponies and Do princesses dream of magical sheep)

 

 

 

Slice of life is very easy for them to do, but Adventure is a VERY hard beast for them to do right as the show was designed as slice of life as its primary story method.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Unlikeable Pony

[Number62 1,267]

Characters by far are the show's strengths. but that's a very agreed upon thing it looks like XD

 

 

The shows weaknesses IMO are finding a way to have good "high stakes" arcs without stumbling. Its very hard for them to find a way to have a villain show up, be introduced, show themselves to be a threat, and not have multiple plot holes pop up or have the cast equally contribute to the problems.

As an example of how villains can stumble, look at sombra for example. they introduce him, but he's basically characterless and the story is designed with him as a tool, rather than a character for the episode.

 

Alternatively for adventure episodes, its hard to have all the group be relevent for adventures unless you explicitly trot out the EOH as the Deus ex machina "I win" scenario.

They've pumped up twilight's power to incredible levels and the other 5's skills just don't really matter in defeating a villain unless they're there to act as a power battery for the EOH, yeah? Look at the comics for example, this happens ALOT since villains like chrysalis are shown to be only threatened by Twilight due to her magic, but something like "Throws a lasso" or "Is goofy" for pinkie pie just really isn't much of a threat by itself, yeah?

 

As such, the show has issues where They need to rely on using an instant win condition with the EOH, which causes plotting problems (which is probably why they got rid of it) due to being a binary Win/lose mechanic, or they have issues maintaining the group as a whole's importance against a villain.

(the only times this is averted is when they Explicitly give the others super powers to even the playing field like in Power ponies and Do princesses dream of magical sheep)

 

 

 

Slice of life is very easy for them to do, but Adventure is a VERY hard beast for them to do right as the show was designed as slice of life as its primary story method.

 

I feel the same way about the show's weaknesses, or at least the two-parters of the show tend to be the lesser episodes to me. With everything pretty much being up to Twilight (and friends) and no one else, those stories lose credibility. It's not like they're Equestria's version of the Justice League. This would extend to screwing over the alicorns, especially the sisters who are pretty much useless against major threats. Hell, Celestia couldn't even show up in "Do Princesses Dream of Magical Sheep?", and the explanation is too flimsy.

 

To highlight my point, imagine a DC comics show based in Metropolis, and Superman is already active. Whenever some huge/any supervillain trashes the city, Superman is never around to do anything, or the villain will always have a conveniently endless supply of Kryptonite if he tries anything. You don't have to be a fan of comics or Superman, but I'm sure you'd think this is stupid.

 

For the strengths, the characters of course. If the characters leading a story don't interest you, then you wouldn't be curious to see what else they do. The songs and music are another plus. I'm not sure if there are other shows (or cartoons at least) with frequent musical sequences, but this definitely helps this show distinguish itself.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Number107

[CastletonSnob 3,089]

Would you say the show is bad at adventure episodes and world-building?