Seasonal Rot?

[Sunny Fox 5,939]

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.

Except that FiM has proven in the past that it can reach higher than the previous incarnations' level of idle entertainment for children and can actually engage and entertain adults. It's quite valid to point out which episodes do or do not manage to deliver the level of quality that the show has shown in the past. That said, I haven't exactly enjoyed the past two episodes, (and I'm happy to tell you why) but it's surely too early to declare the end of FiM right now.

[Unr3alGamer 230]

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.

Let me ask you this, then:

 

Why do they continue watching the show and run into what they think is a good episode every now and then? People only use this argument when people have a negative opinion (or maybe even a different opinion) on episodes. It's a double standard to keep positivity afloat.

 

Good episode comes around: "OMG MLP IS AMAZIN'"

 

Bad episode comes around: "Oh well it's a kid's show. People are just looking too deep into it."

[Phanact 333]

Let me ask you this, then:

 

Why do they continue watching the show and run into what they think is a good episode every now and then? People only use this argument when people have a negative opinion (or maybe even a different opinion) on episodes. It's a double standard to keep positivity afloat.

 

Good episode comes around: "OMG MLP IS AMAZIN'"

 

Bad episode comes around: "Oh well it's a kid's show. People are just looking too deep into it."

You are correct. That is exactly what it is.

 

So?

Except that FiM has proven in the past that it can reach higher than the previous incarnations' level of idle entertainment for children and can actually engage and entertain adults. It's quite valid to point out which episodes do or do not manage to deliver the level of quality that the show has shown in the past. That said, I haven't exactly enjoyed the past two episodes, (and I'm happy to tell you why) but it's surely too early to declare the end of FiM right now.

I agree, but this is a fandom that we invest so much time and effort into, that I think we need to understand that sometimes episodes aren't as good as we'd like. Others enjoy them I'm sure

[Melted Dog 161]

I believe that it isn't seasonal rot; there were some bumpy spots fandom-wise in earlier seasons. I think that because some of the fandom believe this (or S7) to be the last season, they're judging the episodes more harshly.

[Unr3alGamer 230]

 

 

You are correct. That is exactly what it is. So?

 

You made that same argument earlier.

 

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.

 

It's stupid. Don't use it.

[Steve Piranha 29,303]

I feel like this season started like S5: fine episodes, but nothing otherworldly. Well, at least most of these episodes were better than most of first half S5 in my opinion. I don't think we've reached seasonal rot yet, but I fear we are getting close to it. About the fandom, I don;t think it's dying, just burned out the excitement of being a unique fandom 

[Guest]

With unpleasable fandom comes the unavoidability of seasonal rot.

 

Literally fans ruined a good chunk of this show.

 

"We're the target audience!"

 

>Changes the show to cater to them more.

 

"STOP PANDERING TO US!"

 

>Ignore the fandom

 

"STOP IGNORING US!"

 

You can't win with this fandom, Hasbro is on the "fuck it" mentality.

[Jangocoolguy 433]

Not, so much "rot" as "a slight change in course".

 

Sidral makes a good point comparing S6 to S3. Hard for new people to take over while still retaining what the previous team did.

 

Heck, any show that's been around this long would be having trouble about now. One might even venture to guess that FiM may or may not be the victim of the Shark with A) Starlight joining the cast or Flurry Heart.

 

Though stuff "Gauntlet of Fire", "The Gift of Maude Pie" and "On Your Marks" show they still have it, while "No Second Prances" had things to enjoy outside the main story. So I'm not ready to abandon ship yet!

Edited May 9, 2016 by Jangocoolguy

[cmarston1 5,954]

I wouldn't necessarily say that the show has gone through seasonal rot or that season 6 is a bad season perhaps.

Even if I have liked the episodes released so far, I can't say that it has really impressed me yet,

I feel similar this time as I was during this period of season 5 to be honest.

Hopefully just like last season did with it's second half, things can get pick up and get much more interesting.

Edited May 9, 2016 by cmarston1

[Midnight Chimes 69]

It's more a case that people are demanding more from the show because of its past reputation. If you look back to season one, it was not a golden era by any standards; the episodes were as hit and miss as they are now, only then people had no preconceived expectations other than "it's a dumb kids show with ponies", which accentuated the positive.It's only natural to be less forgiving of poor episodes when they are riding on the back of five (generally) good quality seasons, but no, the show has not entered seasonal rot.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

I wouldn't necessarily say that the show has gone through seasonal rot or that season 6 is a bad season perhaps.

Even if I have liked the episodes released so far, I can't say that it has really impressed me yet,

I feel similar this time as I was during this period of season 5 to be honest.

Hopefully just like last season did with it's second half, things can get pick up and get much more interesting.

 

Actually when it comes to S5 im the opposite, aside from Canterlot Boutique, Rarity Investigates, Crusaders of the Lost Mark and to a lesser extent the Mane Attraction I felt the second half of S5 was quite a bit weaker than the first.

It's more a case that people are demanding more from the show because of its past reputation. If you look back to season one, it was not a golden era by any standards; the episodes were as hit and miss as they are now, only then people had no preconceived expectations other than "it's a dumb kids show with ponies", which accentuated the positive.It's only natural to be less forgiving of poor episodes when they are riding on the back of five (generally) good quality seasons, but no, the show has not entered seasonal rot.

Not just this, I think the fact that we are coming off the generally really highly regarded S5 is coloring how people are rating early S6 episodes, just like how quite a few early S4 episodes got significantly overpraised when they aired (im looking at you Castle-Mania and BATS!) because we were coming off the generally more poorly regarded S3.

Edited May 10, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[PacificGreen 1,163]

For some reason, I feel as if this most recent season...feels a little off to me... It's kinda hard to describe, and maybe it's just because I've been slacking on watching the episodes, but I think it also may have to do with the fact that, as@@Jeric has said, we haven't really had a "high-HSQ" episode this season, and the fact that a lot of story arcs are already pretty much resolved (like the CMC getting their cutie marks, Rarity opening more boutiques, Shining and Cadence having a baby, and so forth). So I kinda feel like most of the stakes are already lowered for this season, and we're sort of going back to the old season-1-and-2-slice-of-life-and-Rainbow-still-trying-to-impress-the-Wonderbolts kind of eps, except with more plots already done than before.

 

So in the end, yes, it's still MLP, but it seems there's not going to be much of a dominant story arc like there was in Seasons 4 and 5, or much advancement of the series in the foreseeable future. Maybe there'll be something big for Starlight in the eps to come, but she still seems to be more of a Discord-like character at this point, and we don't really know whether that "big thing" will actually happen for her.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

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

This is completely inaccurate. The fandom didm't die and it's far from it. It merely calmed down from its boom and lost its fad status. That is all. All fandoms have gone through it. Notably: Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtlemania) and Pokemon. All of them went through a fad phase, the fad died out and the fandoms are still very much alive decades after their fad phase ended. The same thing will happen with the My Little Pony fandom and technically it already has. Don't forget the MLP fandom is NOT exclusive to FiM, we're only a branch of the overall MLP fandom which started with G1 and if it weren't for the G1 fans, the G4 fandom wouldn't exist.

[Conred 274]

There was surely a drop in quality when Larson, McCarthy, Thiesson and Amy Rogers left the show. The episodes are ranging from poor to "OK".

 

You can notice that by the fact that Jim MIller had to put up with so much negative opinions that he stopped to respond to fandom questions. It didn't happen in S5 or S4 when he was actve just like he was in the first weeks of S6.

 

I think the problem lies in Josh Haber un passionate direction of the show and no real aim at what he wasnt to do with established characters and universe created by Faust.

He gives episodes to writers who are not expierenced with cartoon industry or aren't even a fans of the show. Most recent example is Dave Rapp with Newbie Dash.

There is clearly a lack of connection between Faust original pace of the series and current series. People like Larson and McCarthy and Amy Rogers were the only one that left fulfilling her original ideas and now there only a bucnh of new writers using her playground to do mediocre things with it.

[Aurora Glimmer 494]

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.

You're kidding me, right? I'd have thought /mlp/ would've been tearing her apart like there was no tomorrow.

 

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

Yeah, there's an awful lot of pr0n on Derpi.

[Guest]

This is completely inaccurate. The fandom didm't die and it's far from it. It merely calmed down from its boom and lost its fad status. That is all. All fandoms have gone through it. Notably: Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtlemania) and Pokemon. All of them went through a fad phase, the fad died out and the fandoms are still very much alive decades after their fad phase ended. The same thing will happen with the My Little Pony fandom and technically it already has. Don't forget the MLP fandom is NOT exclusive to FiM, we're only a branch of the overall MLP fandom which started with G1 and if it weren't for the G1 fans, the G4 fandom wouldn't exist.

 

Just pointing out that is not necessarily true. Many fandoms popped up out of nowhere and more or less died. A fandom does not ALWAYS survive after losing its "fad status". Do you see much activity from say... The Hamtaro Fandom? That thing was huge when it came out, I remember tons of sites dedicated to it... Now... It's more or less dead with only a small amount of enthusiasts left.

 

Even stuff that retains "fans" don't really keep a "fandom" when new content comes to a halt. Like Powerpuff Girls before the reboot had tons of fans, but when the show ended, everything more or less went dormant. You didn't see much out of them. The "fans" remained, but the fandom itself more or less died. There were no collections of fans gathering online or offline for the show at that point.

 

MLP is not immune to this. Only a SMALL amount of fans are able to maintain a "fandom" status after the initial fad status wears off. With Brony merchandise leaving stores, and the possibility of the show ending, bronies may reach that point.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Just pointing out that is not necessarily true. Many fandoms popped up out of nowhere and more or less died. A fandom does not ALWAYS survive after losing its "fad status". Do you see much activity from say... The Hamtaro Fandom? That thing was huge when it came out, I remember tons of sites dedicated to it... Now... It's more or less dead with only a small amount of enthusiasts left.

 

Even stuff that retains "fans" don't really keep a "fandom" when new content comes to a halt. Like Powerpuff Girls before the reboot had tons of fans, but when the show ended, everything more or less went dormant. You didn't see much out of them. The "fans" remained, but the fandom itself more or less died. There were no collections of fans gathering online or offline for the show at that point.

 

MLP is not immune to this. Only a SMALL amount of fans are able to maintain a "fandom" status after the initial fad status wears off. With Brony merchandise leaving stores, and the possibility of the show ending, bronies may reach that point.

 

Again true, but PPG and Hamtaro had the misfortune of being one-shots whilst My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is part of a brand and thus the fandom will have a more difficult time dying out. As I said before, the G4/FiM fandom is not the entire MLP fandom, it's just a branch of it, nothing more. Just like Transformers: Prime Fandom is to Transformers, the TMNT '12 fandom to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Star Trek: The Next Generation fandom to Star Trek, The Pokemon Gen 1 fans to Pokemon, The Batman TAS fans to Batman etc, etc. They're only branches, they don't make up the entire fandom as there so many entries to their respective franchises, each entry creating fans of its own. MLP is very much the same way, Friendship is Magic was a colossal success and when it's over, Hasbro will make a another entry to the franchise drawing in new fans and fans of previous shows alike.

 

This is why Transformers is brought up with every discussion where someone says that "The Fandom is going to end". It isn't. Like Transformers, Hasbro will want MLP to continue its success and so long as there are new entries and content on the side to chew on whether it be movies, comics or books, the My Little Pony fandom will continue on.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Again true, but PPG and Hamtaro had the misfortune of being one-shots whilst My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is part of a brand and thus the fandom will have a more difficult time dying out. As I said before, the G4/FiM fandom is not the entire MLP fandom, it's just a branch of it, nothing more. Just like Transformers: Prime Fandom is to Transformers, the TMNT '12 fandom to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Star Trek: The Next Generation fandom to Star Trek, The Pokemon Gen 1 fans to Pokemon, The Batman TAS fans to Batman etc, etc. They're only branches, they don't make up the entire fandom as there so many entries to their respective franchises, each entry creating fans of its own. MLP is very much the same way, Friendship is Magic was a colossal success and when it's over, Hasbro will make a another entry to the franchise drawing in new fans and fans of previous shows alike.

 

This is why Transformers is brought up with every discussion where someone says that "The Fandom is going to end". It isn't. Like Transformers, Hasbro will want MLP to continue its success and so long as there are new entries and content on the side to chew on whether it be movies, comics or books, the My Little Pony fandom will continue on.

 

There were collectors of toys, but there was not in any way shape or form a true, passionate Fandom of MLP before G4, at least to a appreciable degree.

G2 didn't even have a show, and G3 is pretty much completely forgotten.

 

I get that there are people who watched G1 as kids, and there's still some nostalgia for G1. But to pretend that MLP was ANYTHING close to a decently sized fandom before FIM is being delusional. The MLP fandom of MLP itself (Lore, characters, ect.) just did not exist to a degree of a truly large size for prior Gens. FIM is the first one where Lore and characters and concepts are seen as the truly important factor for fans, and not just toys for collection purposes.

[Harmony Spark 265]

I'm sorry for this shocking topic and I made sure I watched plenty of new episodes and thought about my opinion and did some thinking. But I sorry, to say this

 

But My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic is going Thorugh SEASONAL ROT.

 

I can safely say that Season 6 is the tipping point were the episodes are not interesting, either don't make any sense or the fact that Starlight join uh the Mane 6 is such a forced idea and I honestly think this show is just getting lazy.

 

While I did like some episodes like Gauntlet of Fire, No Second Prances and the Crystalling but

Apart from that, I mostly found the episodes boring and meh at best. Most of the stories are pretty weak and not engaging, Starlight isn't good as a main character as she had plenty of good time as a villain, her reformation was rushed, the jokes so obviously trying to appeal to the brony fandom up to a point where it's fan service, the fact that t completely fucked up Lauren Faust's original visions of Celestia and Luna being naturally born alicorns, hardly ever any adventure, Twilight is just a perky happy pony who makes friends, that's it. All the other mane 6 are just default and whenever we get an episode getting their life long dream, it feels so meh. Like it was all building up to nothing. Canterlot Boutique was a good episode but since Sassy saddles works at it now, it's hardly affected Rarity's life. Rainbow Dash's dream to become a Wonderbolt was great, but episode was just her dealing with harmless nicknames. When we know Dashie is tougher than that. Also Starlight has no character. She's literally Sunset 2.0

 

The latest episode, Heart's Warming Tail, was just another fucking Christmas Carol episode and they did nothing new it's basically the same story.

 

I watched nearly all of the episodes and I remember so little from it. I really want to like this season, but I'm sorry I'm just not engaged into this show anymore.

 

I can't beleive in saying this, since MLP introduced me to the wonderful world of animation and Ill never forget this show changed my show around. But this show is not perfect, and while this show will always have a place in my heart, I can safely say that MLP:FIM is just going through the inevitable seasonal rot.

 

What do you think?

Please don't hate on me, I just want to voice my opinion.

[Jeric 46,837]

This is a common point that is mentioned several times during a season. Here are some other topics to validate that. 

 

Season Five, Another Season Five

Season Six

Topic in which someone claimed that Make New Friends but Keep Discord would be a seasonal rot episode (turned out it was a huge favorite of many). 

 

I could post the Season Four threads (there were many) but I made my point. This has been a claim for some time. It is fine to state a show is declining (or that one is losing interest), but I do dismiss the use of buzzwords based on principle, especially in the face of a common psychology. 

 

I'll reiterate when I said previously. I'm still enjoying the show and as long as I can have a few smiles each episode I will feel that it is successful. I also believe that Season Five was a really really tough act to follow as it was a near masterclass in short form animated story telling. 

[Whirlwind 1,048]

I agree with everything you stated about Starlight Glimmer.

 

She is without a doubt a poorly written character which at this rate should have never received a character reformation.

In all, that was the Lowest point Hasbro had made in the series. But they constantly keep trying to Force Starlight in more episodes of season 6.

And What the hell! They could have at least given here more charm and more emotion, rather than a humorous and embarrassing pony.

[Luminance 2,183]

To your opinion, it may feel like the show has take an turn in unfavorable circumstances. If Hasbro were to listen to us, they'll make a show that may either be like or dislike too, same if they ignore us. It's fine if the season goes stale but for the sake of the show, I don't want it to change just to pander to fans. It's fine the way it is.

[Silver Letter 1,831]

I also concur with some of the general attitudes surrounding the topic. Perhaps it is a problem of standards slipping? Some of the more odd decisions can't be ignored overall. But if season 6 is the final season before the mlp film in 2017 then at least there won't be anymore potential rot to deal with.

[1Bit 1,531]

Don't understand this topic at all, honestly. I've been more engaged with the show in recent seasons than I ever was previously. Some of the topics covered and general display of the characters has been much more endearing and interesting in my opinion compared to the earlier seasons we had. The earlier episodes were light-hearted and definitely made me feel good, but I feel like these later seasons have handled topics which are much more interesting and development of characters has been on point.

 

Also, Starlight is my favourite character currently  :=: but whatever. Plenty of people seem to feel the same way as you so sure.

[ProjectRKA 2,840]

I agree with everything you stated about Starlight Glimmer.

 

She is without a doubt a poorly written character which at this rate should have never received a character reformation.

In all, that was the Lowest point Hasbro had made in the series. But they constantly keep trying to Force Starlight in more episodes of season 6.

And What the hell! They could have at least given here more charm and more emotion, rather than a humorous and embarrassing pony.

 

This is typical Hasbro marketing, really. The only reason Starlight was added as a main character is to sell merchandise off her. And I'm guessing they didn't really have much story to add onto her, which is a shame. In my opinion, she seems like she could've been an interesting character to develop on in the show. Like, take a look on her past, develop her personality further like they've been doing with the actual main 6.