Rate S6.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

Now that the mid-season hiatus is upon us, let's talk. How would you rate the season as a whole so far?

[cmarston1 5,951]

I would give a 7/10.

So far it hasn't really blown my mind or anything, but it has been enjoyable enough to satisfy me at least somewhat.

[Jeric 46,835]

It is a solid and satisfying showing. I don't ask for anything more out of it than to make me laugh and feel invested. I got more than I asked for ... again. 

[twiia 1,842]

It was okay, not bad, not great. I'd give it a 6/10

[Inky Well 2,945]

I would give it really high mark. Not so many TV-shows are living so long time keeping public interest.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

6/10. 

 

I'm really, really hoping the second half will be a massive improvement.

 

This season has been bogged down by a lot of crap (Newbie Dash, Applejack's "Day" Off,  Flutter Brutter) with only a select few standouts (Gauntlet of Fire, The Saddle Row Review).

 

With any luck the Fox brothers and Dave Rapp haven't contributed too much more to this season, while Ed Valentine, Lewis & Songco, and even Polsky are just getting started.  

[user1342342 143]

 

No sir, I don't like it.  

 

Maybe my standards are high, but I think they wasted too much.

[DuskRain 193]

Ehh. There has been a few really good episodes, But I don't think it can ever compare to season 5. I loved that season so much. Mostly because it had a definite and compelling storyline, and was very very exciting.

[Deae Rising Shine~ 52,429]

I like it, but I liked all seasons^^

[Captain Sorzo 56]

I'm not the best at assigning numerical ratings, but I'd give it around a 4/10.

 

Week after week, I've been bored, disappointed, or outright angered by this season. Most of the show's veteran writers have left, and it painfully shows. No one except for Polsky, who continues to squander his talents on characters he doesn't write compellingly (Apple Bloom and the CMCs as a group), and Haber, whose episodes I've never liked to begin with, wrote for the first four seasons. Of the new writers that have worked on S6 thus far, only Lewis/Songco and Confalone have shown promise, and even they have mixed track records. Even the songs, almost always a highlight in past seasons, have been middling at best. I don't know if Ingram is overstretched or simply not synergizing well with the current writers, but he's lately fallen well short of his very high par...at least in my opinion. Appreciation of music largely comes down to personal taste, after all.

 

Exacerbating my frustration with the season's first half is that it's repeatedly focused on Rarity, whom I consider to be far and away the show's greatest asset, only to deliver very poor characterization on no less than three occasions. Today's episode in particular stands out,

portraying her as someone concerned solely with social perceptions and financial success, to the point of encouraging others to compromise their art beyond recognition to achieve those things. That's the very antithesis of who Rarity is, of everything she stands for. The episode feels like Mike Vogel watched Canterlot Boutique and decided to do the opposite, to the point that the "Rarity" on display here might as well have been Sassy Saddles until the episode's final act.

 

 

The one bright spot in this mess has been Saddle Row and Review. It feels like it's been ages since the show has been genuinely fun, and it was wonderfully refreshing to see a glimpse of the series' magic again, with excellent group chemistry amongst the entire Mane 6 and a constant barrage of jokes that were actually funny. But in the end...it was nothing more than straightforward comedy. There was no substance to be found, no thematic complexity, meaningful character exploration, or powerful emotional resonance. Well done humor's certainly worth having, but I've come to expect more from this series. I loved Rarity Investigates last season, for example, but not half as much as I did Canterlot Boutique; as was the case with those two episodes, comedy and substance can compliment one another beautifully, but if asked to choose between one or the other, given equivalent levels of quality, I'll always prefer the latter.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Captain Sorzo

[Megas 27,065]

Not gonna lie, I've been pretty lukewarm to this season. Lots of crap with AJ and RD in particular getting screwed, 3 standouts and the rest being meh episodes, not good or ok, just meh. Really hope the second half picks up because this one is already looking like my least favorite season by far

Edited June 11, 2016 by Megas

[Moonlight 7,279]

I don't like using numerical ratings so I'll say this is my least favorite season by far. Most episodes I found so boring I had to try watching them three times before I finished it. I really hope the second half is a great improvement over the first half because I'd honestly call the first half awful.

[Plonkett 341]

It's so-so. The opener and mid-finale were very low key compared to last season's. Hopefully things will pick up in the second half.

[Grtxkkyz 387]

It's been alright. Some episodes hit, other miss, but yeah, the fact that the most veteran writers of the show have left is leaving some deep wounds on the show. I for one, am disappointed at the little World Building we've had, considering the whole "Explore Equestria" thing. While we got a really good look at draconic culture in a sweet Spike episode, the great majority of the current chapters doesn't dwelve deep into the concept. I'm also a little sad at the lack of more new monsters for the bestiary, so far we've only got Slingtails and Draconic sea serpents. Gotta admit, i kinda missed manticores and windigoes, but yeah, i still would love to see more creatures. Still, the season's been running smoothly andl let's see what the next half has in store.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Dino-Mario

[King of Snake 54]

As things stand it's my second least favourite season. I still like it a lot though.

 

Anyone know when the second half of the season is coming?

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

So far, I'd rank Season 6 Part 1 better than Season 4 but not as good as 2, 5, or probably even 3.

 

Trend-wise, we're looking at a lot of very safe, tried-and-true premises, as well as supporting characters that lack depth for the most part, with the biggest exceptions being Sunburst and Princess Ember. In addition, while the Mane 6 have shown some character growth in specific episodes, most open character arcs have had little to no contribution done to them. I found "On Your Marks" to be a relatively standard episode for the new Crusaders that only moved the needle a little bit on their character development while staying relatively safe on everything else, while the map didn't appear until "Spice Up Your Life" and the rumored "Explore Equestria" theme has not delivered. Although no new locations have been introduced, I will commend that existing locations have been expanded.

 

Although writing trends have been relatively lackluster, individual episodes have delivered well in their respective endeavor. After the fast-forwarding of Starlight's reformation, "The Crystalling" straightened out Starlight Glimmer's role in upcoming episodes. While some episodes had safe, unremarkable storylines, certain ones did show off impressive technical prowess, such as character and effects animation, along with character, set, storyboard, and sound design, and music. Even the writing sometimes saves itself from being totally pedestrian by putting in some fun and interesting dialogue.

 

I haven't really been blown away by any episodes in this season, and the ones I list as my favorites this season are for different reasons than my favorites of previous seasons ("Winter Wrap-Up", "Hurricane Fluttershy", "Pinkie Pride", "Amending Fences", etc.). I haven't felt that we've gotten the full package out of one of these episodes yet, but here are some selected favorites:

 

• "The Crystalling" helps to set Starlight Glimmer on a good path towards becoming a more regular character, and portrays a great character arc for Sunburst as he overcomes his own past demons. The baby and the Crystalling itself are just background noise.
• "Gauntlet of Fire" is the "good Spike episode" we've been waiting for. It shows his loyalty and virtuosity in spite of his humble "fish out of water" position. While Princess Ember's character arc feels trite as far as proving herself to her father, her team-up with Spike provides a great development opportunity for everyone involved.
• "A Hearth's Warming Tale" wins on pure entertainment value; iconic MLP characters playing the roles of iconic Dickens characters against some of the most intricate backgrounds, awesome effects, and well-composed music the show has had to offer.

Some of the duds:

 

• "Newbie Dash" had slow pacing and coasted by on an extended gag for its entire second act. The moral was unclear and meant a thousand different things to a thousand different people.
• "Applejack's Day Off" tried too hard to wring an entertaining and structured episode out of a paper-thin and boring setup that's below the level of Applejack and Rarity. The Idiot Ball went around quite a bit to pad up time. This is the very definition of a "filler" episode.
• "Flutter Brutter" mainly suffered for how tonally disjointed the portrayal of its main character was between the third act and the first two, and how its progression implies that a character's emotional state absolves them of accountability for their negative actions towards others.

[The Nth Doctor 652]

5/10

 

 

A Hearth's Warming Tail was so far the best episode this Season

 

Here's hoping the rest of the season isn't as boring

 

CURSE YOU MID-SEASON HIATUS!

 

Shame they couldn't give us an epic mid-season episode

 

Should've ended with HWT rather than Spice Up Your Life 

[Swifty 249]

There have been 3 out of 11 episodes i liked and would watch again. Not a good track record so far.

During 2 episodes (including this one today) i even started to daydream, because it was so boring.

 

And it seems that

after Nightmare Moon's cool performance even Chrysalis gets more action than Celestia in future. Seriously, wtf is wrong with the writers? I can only shake my head in a disillusioned manner.

 

Edited June 11, 2016 by Swifty

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Very hit or miss for me (At the moment, we still have 14 more episodes). While there have been a couple of gems I really like, like Flutter Brutter, The Saddle Row Review (Or whatever the title is suppose to be) and Gauntlet of Fire, most of the rest of the time, the episodes have been kind of boring. Major examples would be the premier and Applejack's Day Off. I found A Hearth's Warming Tale to be dull as well. While it was very visually and musically appealing there was little to no new substance to it, just a really rushed and warped version of a Christmas Carol, a story which already is over-saturated in media. Newbie Dash and No Second Prances have a lot of issues in my mind which probably means I won't be visiting them again. And then there's the focus on several characters at the expense of other one. Rarity and Starlight seem to be sharing a large amount of the focus this season, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack seem to have fallen to the way side. Fluttershy as well but she had a rather strong outing with Flutter Brutter in my mind so the impact is lessen for me. Starlight is also still an issue. I don't empathize with her and the show keeps pressing her into the show more and more which in turn is driving me to dislike her more and more. And while I enjoy Rarity, I would like a balance between the characters, not just the writing staff playing favorites and elevating their favorites while other characters only get a bare minimum of attention given to them. So overall I like it but there are a lot of bumps and cracks in the work that I can't help but notice.

[Slashy 101]

My issue is that it has been bizarrely...average in a way that makes it boring. The thing is most episodes are done well enough that even when they are bad they just come off as boring.

 

I feel like in most cases nothing is really given any sense of wonder, we have major events happen and they are basically tossed aside (Flurry Heart, Starlight Glimmer, Rainbow Dash Wonderbolt) with only Rarity and Spike really getting anything of note. I think Josh Haber needs help, he has admitted his faults in coming up with compelling stories and writing adventure tales and it shows.

 

This is the first season that feels like a set of unused ideas for the previous season.

[silvadel 1,393]

From the leaked titles, it looks like they saved the best for the end, so I will need to reserve judgement.

[Sketchy Tail 206]

6/10

 

I like it so far, but I think season 5 is probably one of the best. I don't hate S6, but some of the episodes were pretty meh.

 

Hearth's warming tail was probably the best episode of the season, followed by Saddle Row Review.

 

The songs so far were pretty nice too, especially the hearth's warming songs.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

I would say this first half season was better than S5's first half, which had the most interesting episodes during the second half

[Leere 8,290]

8/10 - it has been really great so far and i'm really curious to see what they going to do in the second half.

 

Favourite to least favourite episode so far:

 

A Hearth's Warming Tail - 10/10

The Saddle Row Review - 9.5/10

No Second Prances - 9/10

Spice Up Your Life - 8.5/10

Gauntlet of Fire - 8/10

On Your Marks - 7.5/10

The Gift of Maud Pie - 7.3/10

Flutter Brutter - 7/10

Applejack's Day Off - 6.5/10

The Crystalling - 6/10

Newbie Dash 5.5/10

Edited June 12, 2016 by Your best friend

[Teavvi 627]

Probably a 7/10. It hasn't been the best for me. Just...no?