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Should the show follow fan service?


HoovesOnIce

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Recently in these past 6 episodes we have been getting all episodes the fans have wanted. First with Sunburst, then Maud, after that an episode of the aftermath of the CMC and the most recent episode was about dragons.  Is this whole thing just a strange coincidence or are the writers listening to the fans. If they are listening to the fans is that a good thing? The fans of course have great ideas a bunch of times but if we keep returning old characters they may dry up and lose their specialty like what happened in Adventure time with Lumpy space princess and Lemongrab. Tell me what you think about this. Are they listening to the fans too much?

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We aren't at the point where there is too much fan service in FiM, but we are very quickly approaching that mark. World building is fine, but they should not be throwing fanon or fan theories into official canon.

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I had no idea all that stuff had been wanted by fans. But, I'd say there's a good chance it's coincidence that we got episodes like that. Also probability; I mean, it's the sixth season, so it stood to reason that we would get another dragon episode, another Maud episode, and a CMC episode, especially since the latter is a pretty large focus of the show. I suppose it's possible that fan pandering happened, but it just seems unlikely to me. Either way, the episodes were good so it doesn't really matter.

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Wasn't episode 100 'slice of life', um that? inb4 all the pandas

 

I'm not exactly sure of how much of it is really fan-service as it is the writers finally approach a number of different ideas that they had yet to try out before. Wouldn't be all that against another 'Slice of Life' but I feel that would probably be best only after a large set of "regular" episodes like last time. Maybe, not really sure at this time.

Edited by pony.colin
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No they shouldn't fan service lots. Slice of life was good because it was a 100th episode special and a fan service. It loses its feel when they do it every episode.

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I personally don't think the show should follow fanservice... At least not constantly, as it can feel like pandering. Honestly, I'm okay with a bit of fanservice here and there as a reference, but the show should still maintain a decent story and likeable characters. I think too much fanservice would also be a sign of the show suddenly declining in quality and attempting to keep any remaining fans interested.

Edited by shoyrumaster11
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It really shouldn't follow fan-service that much in my opinion, especially as it has the chance to derail the show or just not make much sense at all. It can seriously harm the quality of the show, and Slice of Life was sufficient as a fan-service.

My guess is that the writers for this season are either lazy or uncreative, and so are turning to ideas fans are suggesting in order to fill the gaps.

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I think fanservice should only be inserted if it's appropriate for the story so it doesn't detract from the episode, quality is important. I think some background characters should get more involved and have more serious roles. Fan service isn't everything, character growth and development is more important.

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The odd bit of fan service here and there is okay, I loved 'Slice of Life', but it's not something they should make a habit of.  People enjoyed the cartoon before there even was a fandom, and capitulating to the fandom routinely would be the surest way to destroy the cartoon by dragging it further away from its original style and concept.

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I really really don't want too see more fanservice from the show. Even though I like Slice of Life, I can't say that I want another episode like it. Especially when episodes could be used for more important things. Such as finally giving Celestia some much needed development.

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Blatant fan service, like say, "Slice of life" is fun in small doses. A little reference, or callback, or something every now and then is fun, but if they go overboard it would start to get annoying. Sure, give us a drop of fan service here and there, but don't overdo it.

 

 That said, some people seem to define "Fan service" as "Doing anything the fandom might want". If something as simple as Exploring more of Equestria and revealing some lore is considered fan service, then there's no way for them to avoid it. Bronies have already developed the world of Equestria a million times over, there's no realistic way for the writers to completely avoid elements that match up with somebody's fanfic or something, considering how much we've done.

Edited by BasementLuna
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Blatant fan service, like say, "Slice of life" is fun in small doses. A little reference, or callback, or something every now and then is fun, but if they go overboard it would start to get annoying. Sure, give us a drop of fan service here and there, but don't overdo it.

 

 That said, some people seem to define "Fan service" as "Doing anything the fandom might want". If something as simple as Exploring more of Equestria and revealing some lore is considered fan service, then there's no way for them to avoid it. Bronies have already developed the world of Equestria a million times over, there's no realistic way for the writers to completely avoid elements that match up with somebody's fanfic or something, considering how much we've done.

 

These are largely my thoughts as well. One needs to be careful how they define fan service without considering the actual intentions of the show staff.

 

That said I really haven't felt there's been too much fan service at this point, and I don't see us hitting that crest anytime soon.

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Hard to tell when they pander to fans and when they not. There are already vocies that say that they pandered to fans and Equestria Daily by bringing back Trixie in the next episode.

 

I would say that her character returning is not pandering, but if they make a joke about EQD or Sethisto then that would count as obvious fanservice.

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Slice of Life was great. Would I want multiple "Slice of Lifes?" No. Slice of Life was special because it was for us bronies, and it was a harmless and kind gesture from the show staff. I found it very sweet. To repeatedly create these types of episodes would cause the message to lose its meaning.

 

Amending Fences? I can get behind that for sure. It brought 3 background characters into development, and they were fantastic. There wasn't a bit of pandering either. Minuette wasn't a dentist, and she had her own unique personality (which I thought was charming and just downright adorable). And it wasn't an episode for the same of being an episode, it heavily involved a main character.

 

I would love more "Amending Fences" type episodes.

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Not what I was thinking when I read "fan service." xD

 

I think fans like to feel as though they're being listened to, but I don't necessarily think this is the case.  If that is what they're doing, they should stop before it's too late.  Aside from the things that practically anyone could've come up with, the fans are notoriously and overwhelmingly bad at deciding the direction of MLP.  An argument could be made that the season five finale pandered to edgy fanfic-lovers, and I've noticed that some viewers straight-up lost interest in the show at about that point.

 

I don't think seeing certain characters return or having some actual, relevant world-building qualifies as pandering.  But the moment it unmistakably gets to that point is the moment things really go downhill.

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I mean, to a point they should, but not for every episode. 

 

I think its awesome when they recognize fans and what they want, but there's a point where they shouldn't stray away from the origins of what the show was.

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Well, I kinda think they're going overboard a bit with Maud. She was introduced in S4, and she has become one of the most recurring characters in FiM :huh:. Other than that, I don't think we have reached that point of the show being a blatant fan service..... intentionally at least  :please: . with so much stuff the fandom has done, it's hard for them to make something that don't coincide with someone else's work  :fluttershy: . Oh, and Slice of Life don't count, as it was a commemoration episode  :icwudt: .

 

I'll forgive them if they do one tiny little bit of fan service for me though  :squee: .......... BAT PONIES  :angry:

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Recently in these past 6 episodes we have been getting all episodes the fans have wanted. First with Sunburst, then Maud, after that an episode of the aftermath of the CMC and the most recent episode was about dragons.  Is this whole thing just a strange coincidence or are the writers listening to the fans. If they are listening to the fans is that a good thing? The fans of course have great ideas a bunch of times but if we keep returning old characters they may dry up and lose their specialty like what happened in Adventure time with Lumpy space princess and Lemongrab. Tell me what you think about this. Are they listening to the fans too much?

It could be that the writers planned to do something with Sunburst since Starlight is getting attention this season. It would be a logical choice to have him in an episode with her. As for the others, those could just be coincidences. 

 

I don't think the writers should go about listening to fans too much; it gives the latter the wrong idea that the writers are pandering to what they believe should be in the show over what the writers are able to come up with. It's fine for fans to voice out ideas but the writers should have full reign over what they want to write and let their writing impress the viewers. So long as the fan service aspect of it is kept to a minimum, I am fine with it. 

Edited by EQ_Theta
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I think it's less of a question whether the show is following fanonservice {that's a word now. I'm declaring it a word}, or if they're merely winding up on the same path. A lot of things fans are clamoring for tend to lean towards things we haven't seen in the show before. Likewise, since there is only so much one can meaningfully do with only six characters, the writers have been expanding secondary characters and locations more, which in turn aligns with fan demands.

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