Do you think the show lost quality in the years?

[leonbrony17 1,216]

I can't judge that.

 

I haven't seen much of season 5 and 6 yet. The final of season 6 was surprising good especially compared to final of season 5. But other episodes are instead worse.

 

What do you think about that?

Edited December 30, 2016 by leonbrony17

[Poetic Stone 1,040]

No, I don't think so the show has be great, and I hope it keeps getting better.    

[Denim&Venöm 16,522]

Not at all. The material in season 1 seems a little out of place now by comparison. 

[Lexamena 391]

I personally think the show has gotten too deep in story now. They almost can't write an episode without me thinking "uh that's just created a plot hole" or "that is so out of character for so and so". They've gotten too much back story and character development, which in general is not a bad thing. I personally enjoy the earlier seasons better when there weren't many epic episodes.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

Season 5 is fantastic. Season 6 is meh. 

[FlareGun45 2,221]

I say, both. It lost quality it certain ways, but gained in others!

[Starlighty 790]

I think they have gotten away with the original purpose of the show... .

 

 

To me most seasons were good but there were always episodes that just didn't quite work or were just plain boring..... I miss the whole 'frienship" thing they brought into play because YOU can always come up with a new concept... THAT"S why I like the map idea because it was taking them out of their comfort zone and making them work on such problem together in a new place. 

[Swifty 249]

All i say to this is that if i had started watching after season 4 or maybe even after season 3, i'd have taken a look at this show and moved along soon after. All the charme it once had is gone. It has become just another cartoon of many.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Swifty

[llamalauncher 84]

Season 6 really moved away from the whole friendship thing. The quality went down is some areas and the writing is not as good id say. The season 6 premiere is a great example it was a terrible premiere

[Bats 16]

All the seasons were good except S5 that turned Flutters into a background pony

[trademark2 485]

No, I think the show is slowly getting better. i am sick of posting this I have said it so many times, but there were some new writers in season 6, so thats why season 6 was a bit slow and there were mistakes, but season 7 is going to be amazing. I guarantee you those new writers learned from the reactions they got, both positive and negative!

 

Sometimes it's hard for show writers to improve. But it should be easy for MLP writers to improve, because they get so much fan feedback on the episodes. Very detailed feedback. Like even I missed some of the inconsistancies, like rainbow dash acting out of character in 28 days later. LOVED that episode, but have to agree after they pointed it out. You can't expect a newbie to get that right the first time. I bet there will be another RD wonderbolt episode too to make up for newbie dash

Edited December 30, 2016 by trademark2

[BlueStreak98 828]

I personally think the show has gotten too deep in story now. They almost can't write an episode without me thinking "uh that's just created a plot hole" or "that is so out of character for so and so". They've gotten too much back story and character development, which in general is not a bad thing. I personally enjoy the earlier seasons better when there weren't many epic episodes.

The changing staff of writers contributes to this, no doubt. In that way you might argue the show is a victim of its own success.

[The Nth Doctor 652]

Absolutely

 

just look at characters like Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity

Especially during episodes like Cart Before The Ponies, Tanks for the Memories and Princess Spike

 

When a show has to butcher characterization for the sake of the plot, you know the quality has plummeted from what it used to be

 

It peaked during Season 4 and has been falling ever since

[Megas 27,068]

I dunno, S6 is the only season I've had any real issue with quality so far, but for me it was a pretty big drop in quality. If it continues into S7 then I'll start worrying

Edited December 31, 2016 by Megas

[PinkiePie97 913]

I've said this before, but I thought the second half of season 6 was weaker than the show has been in the past. Still liked it, but not as much. Hopefully, it can bounce back in season 7, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's starting to hit seasonal rot.

[Partialgeek514 4,920]

I personally like the later seasons a bit more than the earlier one's, though Season 5 is my favourite so far. As for show quality, I most definitely see that the show has evolved over the years and I think that everyone has their own preferences on which phase of the evolution they liked best. I find the first few seasons had a feel to them that I don't see in the newer episodes and I think that's kind of sad, but I also see that if the show had never evolved, it would have completely stagnated long ago. I wouldn't like the show to be six season ones. I don't think the writing quality has changed tons, but I do think it has changed as the characters have developed and as the writers try to think of new ways to make the show interesting.

[LeafFerret 3,382]

I guess so, the thing about the show is that the main characters are pretty much no different to what they were in season 1 and there was very little character development in the Mane 6 and that became a problem in later seasons, you never saw them trying out stuff that their friends like which is kind of ironic since Starlight had to do all of their interests that Twilight had never done. Plus it seemed that the characters had regressed midway after Season 4 as the hype of the show sort of died down and only the true fans were following it. 

 

As for season 6, it was obvious that the quality of the show wasn't going to be the same as we had inexperienced writers or ones who did not have a good knowledge of the show plus the show was going into a transitioning period moving away from the Mane 6 saving the day all the time and having Starlight developing into a main character of the show and having to learn friendship during the season.

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

I think it has grown a little too self-aware as the seasons went on. Which makes sense, given the brony phenomenon.

I don't perceive this change as something positive. Since I value genuinity and spontaneity above all else.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

I'm not sure. The show have changed throughout the years, and while it has improved in some areas, it dropped it on others. Most of the Mane6 were affected a bit negatively this season for the most part as they've lacked their years worth of development. Ironically, the one who averted the most is Flutters   . I also have a bit of an issue with Starlight, because I feel they've neglected her potential as a character, and lives in the shadow of the Mane6. I think she truly shone in the finale, but that should've happened earlier. I think the mantle of main character has to be passed on, even if they have to slowly introduce new protagonists 

[OmegaBeamOfficial 622]

I wouldn't say It's lost quality over the years, It's a rather rocky road for me. Season 1 wasn't anything spectacular, of course it used to be to me because that was the season that got me into the show in the first place, but Season 2 really doubled the awesomeness. Season 3 wasn't as good as Season 2, but it was still a fair attempt nonetheless, with a well executed finale. Season 4, yes! That is to date my favourite Season of the bunch, heck, it deserves that praise just for the finale ALONE, but Season 4 had a lot more hits than misses. Season 5 & 6 are a mixed bag, the majority of the episodes were at least decent, but there were some horrible ones too. Now of course this has happened since the beginning, but never this frequently, it kind of makes me worry about the future of the show. Will the movie be good enough to get the series back into good graces? Is Hasbro gonna pull the plug if Season 7 is slammed and reboot the series again? So many bad things could happen that we just don't know yet, it scares me... Oh, sorry, I'm rambling about cartoon ponies again aren't I?

[Glacies Frost 428]

This season was average. Some good, some bad, some meh. I'm going to be honest, I haven't noticed severe quality problems so much as some ponies making mountains out of mole hills. I'll admit, I will get into debates with other ponies over just about anything regarding the show, even playing devil's advocate for fun, but it's all in love of this show. I don't mind where it's going. I still like the Mane Six, the support cast is good... the writers have an occasional problem or two with characterization. Writers make mistakes. I speak as a writer when I say that. 

 

I don't hold it against the show. I think certain... episodes, perhaps even certain seasons have boosted the fans' expectations of the show. Now, holding high standards is a good thing, I don't think it's bad. No, it's just we're more likely to be disappointed the higher our expectations and standards fly. Gotta get grounded once in awhile.

Edited December 31, 2016 by GlaciesFrost

[Clod 8,293]

I think it has dropped quite a bit. Maybe that's just me losing interest (well, not regaining as much as I had before abandoning it one day) but some episodes were just horrible and there wasn't much that was memorable from the season. The one I remember best is The Cart Before The Ponies, because that's the one I tried to come back to the show with. I had no idea it was going to be so bad. It pushed me away for another couple months. It was so hard to watch what were some great characters become... whatever that was.

 

Though I guess there wasn't a whole lot that was bad, but there was definitely not too much (if any) that was great, or even memorable.

[Thrond 3,257]

I think it's rebounding after a bit of a stumble, personally. I still enjoy the first three seasons a fair bit in their own ways, even if season 1 seems rather quaint in hindsight, but season 4 was the first to really disappoint me. On re-watch I've found it a lot more generally upbeat and enjoyable, but it's where I started to feel that the show began to stagnate, as it seemed to me that it had a lot of silly gimmicks without a lot of genuine experimentation or plots which deepen the characters in any way. It's probably an inherent issue of episodic shows like this, as there's only so far you can go when your main form of progression is expanding on character backstories, but even though I don't have as much of a problem with season 4 as I used to, it's still perhaps the season which I see the least advancement in. 

 

Season 5 still has its good points, but it frustrated me even more than season 4 for somewhat different reasons. I can't deny that the season was ambitious, but I frequently felt that its reach exceeded its grasp, and there's very few episodes in season 5 which I find wholly satisfying - I'd say less than half, if we don't include those I found flawed-but-enjoyable. It also had the mane six take "mentor" roles, which everyone else praises but which I found to make the lack of new developments for them significantly worse. Unlike season 4, I think the best episodes of season 5 usually add something new to the characters, but there's simply fewer great episodes, and many of those which aren't so great (including, in my heretical opinion, the beloved "Amending Fences") have absolutely nothing to add to the mane six at all. 

 

But as I said, it's rebounding, and while season 6 had its own issues - in particular, far too many simplistic episodes in its latter half - I do find it considerably more fun than season 5, and the scaled back ambitions which everyone else complains about are actually pretty refreshing to me. Whether or not it succeeded, season 6 at least tried to explore the characters from new angles, specifically ones which might actually be interesting, and it had more episodes than ever take focus entirely off of the mane six due to the introduction of Starlight Glimmer, a problematic but fascinating character whose arc is one of the more challenging things the show has attempted. This is a good thing, because it allows for more development of characters who need it, and if we're lucky, the example set by season 6 might leak over to even more secondary characters in season 7. The mane six episodes are often some of the season's weakest, but at least it had very few episodes where they were infallible, and at least the first time through there were no episodes which I didn't think had at least some redeeming value, even if I didn't like them very much. Re-watches could change that, though, as they often do. 

 

Hoping season 7 continues season 6's upwards trend. 

[FirePuppy 627]

All the seasons were good except S5 that turned Flutters into a background pony

I wouldn't overreact like that if I were you. Fluttershy might not have had as much major roles as the others, but there were characters that actually had worse luck than her. Rarity didn't have any major roles early in Season 5 either, while Fluttershy had at least one at that time. And Rainbow Dash wasn't very lucky herself at times in that season, too. In fact, Fluttershy had about the same total amount of dialogue as Dash did in Season 5. More than that, Spike didn't have a lot of major appearances in S5 either, so that cost him a lot.

 

Which is why Season 6 had to be fair enough for Rarity and Rainbow Dash. But yeah, it was pretty unfair to Fluttershy.

 

My instincts tell me that Rarity and Rainbow Dash (and maybe Applejack) will be in bad luck for Season 7, allowing both Pinkie and Fluttershy more appearances for that season. So please, quit complaining and try to trust my instincts. I'm sure the writers will think of something for them.

Edited December 31, 2016 by FirePuppy

[cmarston1 5,952]

Seasons 4 and 5 are my favorites, but season 6 felt a bit underwhelming, and I don't know how season 7 will turn out, so I don't have a clear answer.