Seasonal Rot?

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

It seems as though every episode that's come out this season has either divided the fandom or has been received poorly. We're seven episodes in and this trend shows no sign of ending. On the other hand, we've got a new showrunner (Josh Haber) and a team of new writers, so maybe it's just taking them a while to get on their feet, so to speak. Still, this recent trend has me worried about the future of the show. Will this community end up falling apart by the end of the season due to a precipitous decline in quality or will things start to look up as we get closer to the finale?

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

It seems as though every episode that's come out this season has either divided the fandom or has been received poorly. We're seven episodes in and this trend shows no sign of ending. On the other hand, we've got a new showrunner (Josh Haber) and a team of new writers, so maybe it's just taking them a while to get on their feet, so to speak. Still, this recent trend has me worried about the future of the show. Will this community end up falling apart by the end of the season due to a precipitous decline in quality or will things start to look up as we get closer to the finale?

Yeah, Kind of feeling that way too. I was REALLY hesitant when I heard Haber was taking the reigns this season, plus the fact that starlight glimmer was a new seventh character had me hesitant even WITH a good set of hands at the helm.

 

 

So far, we've had pretty much all the episodes besides Gauntlet of fire be super shaky or mediocre, and there's no sign of things really turning around. I'm highly unsure about things to come, sadly enough (Especially after Newbie dash :X

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

Yeah, Kind of feeling that way too. I was REALLY hesitant when I heard Haber was taking the reigns this season, plus the fact that starlight glimmer was a new seventh character had me hesitant even WITH a good set of hands at the helm.

 

 

So far, we've had pretty much all the episodes besides Gauntlet of fire be super shaky or mediocre, and there's no sign of things really turning around. I'm highly unsure about things to come, sadly enough (Especially after Newbie dash :X

My favorite episodes so far have been Gauntlet of Fire, The Gift of Maud Pie and On Your Marks. All the other episodes have been sort of 'meh' for me, although I did like Newbie Dash (though not as much as the three aforementioned episodes), strangely enough.

 

I'm hoping things start to look up soon; If not, then I hope the movie is enough to rejuvenate this fandom.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Silvestra Spooner

[Luna 831 466]

How did you not like the Trixie episode?were twilight finally made trixie at the end of the rope . The season is still early their is plenty of time.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

 to rejuvenate this fandom.

 

If you're wanting to rejuvenate the fandom, I'm afraid that's a lost cause: the fandom's dead. S3 dealt it a fatal blow, and its been dying a slow death ever since.

 

 

The brony fandom splintered heavily that season, and its just not going to come back due to that: many people wanted one thing or another from it, and S3 showed that its only got one direction, no questions.

The memetic status died in S3 and without its memetic status, new fans have slowed to a trickle, while the losses remain constant, if slow. Its a slow death, but inevitable no matter what

 

 

[Jeric 46,851]

If this is rot, I'll take seconds. While we haven't yet had that jaw dropping 'Holy Shit praise Jebus' episode ... I'm generally enjoying it better than Season 3 overall.

 

I will say that I'm certain that some of the the writers who have left would have probably executed the last episode better. All that means is that AKR and Larson could write one hella good pony yarn.

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

If you're wanting to rejuvenate the fandom, I'm afraid that's a lost cause: the fandom's dead. S3 dealt it a fatal blow, and its been dying a slow death ever since.

 

 

The brony fandom splintered heavily that season, and its just not going to come back due to that: many people wanted one thing or another from it, and S3 showed that its only got one direction, no questions.

The memetic status died in S3 and without its memetic status, new fans have slowed to a trickle, while the losses remain constant, if slow. Its a slow death, but inevitable no matter what

I think this fandom's a lot healthier than you think. While S3 certainly dealt a blow to the fandom and ended MLP's meme status,* the fandom seems to have remained stable since then. Even the Season 5 finale didn't seem to hurt the fandom too much.

 

*I'd argue that while MLP isn't as big or as visible as it was back in 2011, it's still a major part of internet pop culture.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Silvestra Spooner

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Not even close. As far as I'm concerned the season has been rather solid with only one real dud (No Second Prances) and that was only due to a rushed ending. This is a criticism with the show as a whole. The writers take on stories that are too big for a 22 minute time frame which leads to rushed endings that seem sloppy. That's been a problem since the very start.

 

But as for Seasonal Rot, not a chance. Season 1 is still by far the show's weakest season and Season 4 and 5 are far stronger than 2 & 3. If anything, the show has only improved as it has gone along.

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

Not even close. As far as I'm concerned the season has been rather solid with only one real dud (No Second Prances) and that was only due to a rushed ending. This is a criticism with the show as a whole. The writers take on stories that are too big for a 22 minute time frame which leads to rushed endings that seem sloppy. That's been a problem since the very start.

 

But as for Seasonal Rot, not a chance. Season 1 is still by far the show's weakest season and Season 4 and 5 are far stronger than 2 & 3. If anything, the show has only improved as it has gone along.

Hmph. Considering what you and Jeric have said, I'm wondering if I haven't got a skewed perception of the fandom's opinion on Season 6 because I hang out on Derpibooru all the time? Derpi is definitely more pessimistic about the show's future than this board is.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Silvestra Spooner

[Kaneki 1,073]

I thought the episode was OK, if we're referring to what I think. Personally, I think the fandom is still going strong, but probably not as much as it did, since all things die off eventually, but the series is going quite a bit slower than when usually things fade out. I still see a LOT of MLP stuff around, by this time in other fandoms it's completely dead.

 

Anyways, we'll have to wait and see what they deliver us with new episodes.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Hmph. Considering what you and Jeric have said, I'm wondering if I haven't got a skewed perception of the fandom's opinion on Season 6 because I hang out on Derpibooru all the time?

Trusst me this something all shows and franchises have got. There are multiple fansites out there and some are more positive and others are more negative.

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

Trusst me this something all shows and franchises have got. There are multiple fansites out there and some are more positive and others are more negative.

I think Derpi started going downhill after they got an influx of users from /mlp/.

[pony.colin 156]

I don't think so at the moment that it's rot. But maybe it's not exactly going to be a great season either.

 

If it's a rough patch of episodes then I would just wait and see how we go from here.  It's still possible for this season to "level-out" with things later in the season.

 

If the new writers need more episodes to get the "hang of" things then I would wait for more episodes to see. I'd give them more chances with episodes to see what they can do.

 

Can't really comment on the community size since I've always been largely passive participant.  But I think the fandom has kind of leveled a while to the point where it seems to be in equilibrium relative to the passing of hype.  So I don't think it gets smaller drastically from here (gradual process), but I don't exactly pay attention to stuff like that.

[Luminance 2,186]

Rot is such a strong word. I would prefer seasonal ripening as to which the fruit is still early in the process. It's too early to pick whether the fruit is either good or not and we'll have to wait until harvest to decide.

[Edgeworth1001 648]

Seasonal rot? Where were you half-way through Season 2? So far I've been fairly impressed by the season. I'm still somewhat disappointed with Starlight's redemption, but other than that I can say that the show's okay in my book.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

If you're wanting to rejuvenate the fandom, I'm afraid that's a lost cause: the fandom's dead. S3 dealt it a fatal blow, and its been dying a slow death ever since.

 

 

The brony fandom splintered heavily that season, and its just not going to come back due to that: many people wanted one thing or another from it, and S3 showed that its only got one direction, no questions.

The memetic status died in S3 and without its memetic status, new fans have slowed to a trickle, while the losses remain constant, if slow. Its a slow death, but inevitable no matter what

Honestly that happening was inevitable, nothing stays a fad for too long, that's just the nature of fads. Right now I guess you can say the current "fad" show is Steven Universe and no matter what how it goes, quality wise whatever it'll fall out of fad status in a year or two as well. Before MLP it was Adventure Time... and the same thing happened.

 

As far as things go, we are more or less stable and have been for years, we've transitioned from a big meme fandom to a regular if very large fandom. And that's fine really, it was an inevitable thing no matter how any particular season went. 

I think Derpi started going downhill after they got an influx of users from /mlp/.

Hilariously speaking of /mlp/ despite being the most cynical place in the fandom overall I think they are the place that ALSO is the most accepting of Starlight Glimmer as a main character. Iv noticed a bigger fanbase for her there than just about any other place. I think she might actually be more popular than Shimmer around there.

 

 

Also Derpiboouru has always been heavily tied to /mlp/ ever since it became more of a gathering for cloppers than anything else.

What I really don't get is the worship of Season 2 in particular, I think it and 4 are probably the most all over the place seasons in terms of quality, lots of really good and lots of the worst episodes in the series.

 

 

Overall S6 so far is similar to S1 to me very consistent but not as many super highs as some other seasons, but Iv liked basically every episode aside from On Your Marks which like most Apple Bloom episodes was kind of boring, though Newbie Dash was quite flawed I guess.

 

Also really at this point in S1-5 can you really name more than one "O MY GOD TOTALLY AMAZING" episode for each season just 6 episodes in?

the best I can do is S2 with the Opener+ Sisterhooves Social I suppose, but then S2 then got a lot less consistent later

 

So far the best S6 episodes personally IMO (ether Gauntlet of Fire or No Second Prances) are about on par with Tanks for the Memories or Bloom and Gloom which were the best of early S5 other than the opener, and NONE of them are as weak as Appleoosa's most wanted.

Edited May 9, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I feel like the show is somewhat in a sort of Season 3-ism like mode right now, at least with the fandom.  

For that matter Season 6 seems to draw a lot of parallels with Season 3. I mean we have:

• A new showrunner taking over
• Said showrunner placing a lot of focus on a very magically inclined purple unicorn
• A new Alicorn
• A premier set in the Crystal Empire
• The third episode of the season being a Pinkie Pie one
• Trixie returns
• A questionable moral about bullying
• Rainbow Dash joins the Wonderbolts
• Relatively little in the way of music
• Spike works on the Apple Family Farm and sucks at it
• The season is followed up by a movie (that is unless they really rush Season 7 out the door)
• Season following the coattails what many were calling the best season of the show thus far

Overall I like this season but nothing has really blown me out of the water, and to be honest I'm not really looking forward to any of the upcoming episodes either but we'll see what may come. After all hope springs eternal. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Sidral Mundet

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I feel like the show is somewhat in a sort of Season 3-ism like mode right now, at least with the fandom.  

For that matter Season 6 seems to draw a lot of parallels with Season 3. I mean we have:

• A new showrunner taking over
• Said showrunner placing a lot of focus on a very magically inclined purple unicorn
• A new Alicorn
• A premier set in the Crystal Empire
• The third episode of the season being a Pinkie Pie one
• Trixie returns
• A questionable moral about bullying
• Rainbow Dash joins the Wonderbolts
• Relatively little in the way of music
• Spike works on the Apple Family Farm and sucks at it
• The season is followed up by a movie (that is unless they really rush Season 7 out the door)
• Season following the coattails what many were calling the best season of the show thus far

Overall I like this season but nothing has really blown me out of the water, and to be honest I'm not really looking forward to any of the upcoming episodes either but we'll see what may come. After all hope springs eternal. 

Well the movie's not till fall of 2017, so assuming the season ends around this fall, that leaves a full year between S6 and the movie; I could see them putting out a half effort Half season before the movie.

[Unr3alGamer 230]

There was a Tweet I saw on Sethisto's Twitter by some random guy in relation to the reception the most recent episode's had, and he said: "Enjoy the show for what it is, not what you'd like it to be.", and I am going to respond with one of the rare cases of me using curse words: That's bullshit. I'll explain why:

 

When the show has had such a tonal and structural shift (in terms of writing and overall "feel") from its 2 early seasons, it's hard to enjoy the show for doing something different than what you initially came to watch the show for. I'm not going to adjust my expectations because the show has become different overtime. Why should I have to? And even if I did, why is it acceptable? 

 

Since we're using the term that relates to fruits, I'll illustrate my point using this analogy: Let's imagine you go to a Produce Store that sells all oranges, and oranges that tend to be very tasty. Let's say you buy those oranges from that store for 2 years, and then they suddenly replace their stock with apples. It's still a fruit, and it may or may not be flavorful, but it's not something you went to the store to buy. 

 

^ I feel like that is what's going on with MLP: FiM and how fans are perceiving it. If you want my take: Seasons 1-4 were very focused on developing its characters while putting them in more "fun" situations. Ticket Master had a chase scene that was a play on Benny Hill; Applebuck Season made fun (unironically speaking) of Applejack's weariness; Lesson Zero had fun with Twilight's insanity; Luna Eclipse had fun with Luna's royal voice; Too Many Pinkie Pies had fun with how many Pinkie Pies you could put on screen at once, etc. etc. Season 5 (and especially Season 6) takes a huge step back from all of this for the most part, and a good chunk of the episodes are very laid back and casual. Castle Sweet Castle, Brotherhooves Social, Amending Fences, Canterlot Boutique, etc. There are a few episodes that can be considered "fun", but compared to earlier seasons, they are few and far between each other. 

 

All of this may be playing a part as to why people are thinking the show is losing its quality, but personally, I think the show is losing itself because of a mix of all of the above plus the fact that the overall writing has gotten worse. Take yesterday's episode for example: The entire bit with RD imitating the Mane 6 makes zero sense and was entirely expendable. Sure, she's doing it to look more awesome, but how the heck did she think to herself "if I impersonate my friends, they'll think I'm cool and stop calling me rainbow crash!"? You could remove that entire bit out and the end result would be the exact same. 

 

I've found that there really is not one universal reason as to why Bronies watch the show; they all watch it for vastly different reasons. Some like it because it's cute and innocent; some like it because it's written well (not really, but whatever); some like it because of the characters and their personalities reflecting their own; some like it because of the potential with the lore (why do you think there's so many fanfics about MLP?); everyone has their reason. They'll still be around as long as the show is around. 

 

Edit: Also (in relation to Sethisto's twitter) I love how people are telling others that their opinions are subjective but only mention so when they toss out a negative opinion. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Unr3alGamer

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

 

 

^ I feel like that is what's going on with MLP: FiM and how fans are perceiving it. If you want my take: Seasons 1-4 were very focused on developing its characters while putting them in more "fun" situations. Ticket Master had a chase scene that was a play on Benny Hill; Applebuck Season made fun (unironically speaking) of Applejack's weariness; Lesson Zero had fun with Twilight's insanity; Luna Eclipse had fun with Luna's royal voice; Too Many Pinkie Pies had fun with how many Pinkie Pies you could put on screen at once, etc. etc. Season 5 (and especially Season 6) takes a huge step back from all of this for the most part, and a good chunk of the episodes are very laid back and casual. Castle Sweet Castle, Brotherhooves Social, Amending Fences, Canterlot Boutique, etc. There are a few episodes that can be considered "fun", but compared to earlier seasons, they are few and far between each other. 

 

 

Well that's new, generally speaking I see the exact OPPOSITE complaint, that the show got too crazy and silly and less "comfy" after Season 1 or 2. A lot of those people tend to really praise episodes like "Gift of Maud Pie" and the like that are more pure slice of life when they happen as well.

 

To some extent they are right that the show did get more over the top after S1 in particular, and a lot of the episodes you listed (like Canterlot Boutique or Castle Sweet Castle, I mean hell speaking of CB in particular one of the main complaints was that it was TOO much like Suited for Success.) for example are INCREDIBLY S1 feeling more than most of the other episodes in the later seasons. I don't think ether type of episode is particular superior, just depends on how they are pulled off.

Edited May 9, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[Unr3alGamer 230]

 

 

Well that's new, generally speaking I see the exact OPPOSITE complaint, that the show got too crazy and silly and less "comfy" after Season 1 or 2.

 

 

I meant more so that it doesn't have fun with itself the same way it used to. The show's new definition of fun is Slice of Life and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?. Zaniness, meme-tastic crap. 

 

But I know where you're coming from. I didn't particularly like Gift of Maud Pie, but not because it wasn't as bouncy. PM me if you want to know why.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

 

 

I meant more so that it doesn't have fun with itself the same way it used to. The show's new definition of fun is Slice of Life and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?. Zaniness, meme-tastic crap. 

 

But I know where you're coming from. I didn't particularly like Gift of Maud Pie, but not because it wasn't as bouncy. PM me if you want to know why.

 

Slice of Life shouldn't really be included in any discussion, it's it's own beast totally different than basically any other episode of the show and it's MEANT to be. It's a giant love letter to the fandom, that's all it's meant to be. It's not trying to be like any other thing in the show.

As for Princesses Dream, well. that was the least of that episodes problems.

 

I don't particularly feel like PMing anyone, if you want to let me know you can so though. I happened to really enjoy that episode though.

Edited May 9, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

There was a Tweet I saw on Sethisto's Twitter by some random guy in relation to the reception the most recent episode's had, and he said: "Enjoy the show for what it is, not what you'd like it to be.", and I am going to respond with one of the rare cases of me using curse words: That's bullshit. I'll explain why:

Well, its nice to hear that I'm not alone in being utterly repulsed by the last episode. :X

[Phanact 333]

I think you might be over-analzing a kids show, and its posssible that your expectations might be a bit high

 

Its a childrens show. Remember that.

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

I think you might be over-analzing a kids show, and its posssible that your expectations might be a bit high   Its a childrens show. Remember that

 

 

I can see where you're coming from, and I partially agree, but I also have a real problem with this "It's a kids show" argument.

 

 It being a kids show doesn't excuse bad writing, kids deserve quality entertainment too, and shows like this made for them can have really, really good writing. It being a children's show doesn't automatically mean there should be a lower standard.

 

 Now, some people are certainly expecting the "Wrong" things. Anyone who thinks MLP needs to turn into a Pony Game of Thrones clearly has expectations they shouldn't, or if they think the show should be super continuity heavy or very serious, that's not the kind of show this is. But expecting, or at least wanting good writing is fair.

 

 I love this show, and honestly I've loved season 6 so far, it's had a few flaws but I nearly always have a positive outlook on episodes. I do feel some people tend to get a bit nitpicky, or ignore an episodes good points just to focus on the problems, which can be a little frustrating, but that doesn't make their opinions always unreasonable, or mean their standards are too high.

 

 I hate most writing in TV for adults anyway, this Children's show has better writing than 99% of them to me.

Edited May 9, 2016 by BasementLuna