Should EqG become an 11 or 22 minute series?

[Toon4Thought 273]

While I've found the digital series vastly preferable over the "1 TV movie a year" format, it's hard for me to shake off the feeling that mostly relying on 3-minute runtimes simply isn't enough to pull off much of substance. A few of the shorts in particular, like "Overpowered", feel like they should've had much more to them than they did. To me, it feels like EqG has a lot of fantastic ideas just wanting to come out but just aren't able to because they never get the right format. Thus, I really hope the recent specials get enough positive press to convince Hasbro to turn EqG into a more full-length 11 or 22 minute series, so it could be able to finally unleash it's true potential. Granted, that would probably mean less episodes, but I think it'd be very much worth it in the end. The theme park special probably would've been better as 22 minutes anyway, and to me the three specials we got in 2017 prove it can work really well with the right direction.

You guys agree with me? If not, why do you think so? And if so, what direction would you want to see the series take?

[Sparklefan1234 161,853]

I would *love* an Equestria Girls spinoff series! 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,276]

It shouldn't become a show at all. It is already getting quite a bit attention from Hasbro despite its cliches and I really don't know what they could do with an entire show that isn't boring. EqG is just a boring franchise to me.

[Megas 27,063]

Oh god yes, there's a lot more they could do than just sticking to the ridiculously short format they have now. The shorts feels more like cockteases than anything

 

[Tacodidra 59,792]

I think the web shorts can be pretty entertaining for what they are, but I agree the short duration doesn't allow for more complex episode plots – the musical shorts are easily my favorites. As for Equestria Girls becoming a series, I find the EqG universe interesting, even though I prefer the one in FIM. 20 or 40 minutes seems to be the ideal length for an EqG episode – I have enjoyed the last few specials more than the earlier movies. That still makes it possible to make a proper story, with less filler, though some of the specials could still have been better in this aspect.

I'd love to have an EqG series, maybe during the FIM hiatus – but I wouldn't want it to replace the ponies!

[Props Valroa 26,034]

I wouldn't really want it. It's already overdone and overused as it is, personally. I can understand why people would like that, though.

[Thrond 3,257]

I tend to like the shorts a lot because they’re more streamlined and focused on character and world building rather than the kind of overstuffed plot EqG has previously been fond of. Personally I have plenty of interest in these characters but almost none in the series’ magical aspect, so an 11- or 22-minute sitcom would be delightful to me, because it means more funny situations. I feel actually exploring the magic side of the series in interesting ways would require screen time to be utilized in a way which the series seems to be uninterested in, so I don’t see a series helping that at all. 

Again, the entire reason Equestrian Girls matters to me at all is that I like seeing these characters in an unfamiliar scenario. Everything else I can take or leave.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

I like the shorts format, especially the songs.

An 11 minute series sounds great and they have shown that it can be used as a way to tell longer stories (FF - Most likely to be forgotten).

As long as they keep rounding up the rest of the cast and give less focus on Sunset and Twilight (less than before, the same as the rest of the humane 7 get), I think the show will be on a good track.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

I like the fact that they can vary the length so much; the fixed episode length constraint for the main FiM series can often be a poor fit to the story.

[J.J 918]

I think if they make spaced out pieces of one connected story IE(forgotten friendship) have it pan out over a month period of time, Forgotten Friendship was honestly just a much better story line than Friendship Rollercoaster, we need some centered around shadow bolts, find out what aria, adagio and sonata are up to, but they are definitely targeting dual audiences with the shorts and the mini series

[Goat-kun 2,498]

They should totally dedicate exorbitant amounts of resources for this endeavor.

[J.J 918]

2 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

They should totally dedicate exorbitant amounts of resources for this endeavor.

 

 

 

The actual show is going to end before to long, well, it's a mixed feelings type thing, I don't want it to end, but I dont want them to continue reusing plot devices, and you can only re-use villains so many times, there are a lot of diverse characters and potential to create decent stories, like RR, or FG. If you watch btw, is that the impression you get from the quality of the most recent EG? I liked it, but I didnt love it, as I usually do with EG material, the writing was incredibly under lived and the villain wasnt very good.

[cmarston1 5,951]

It really should.  The 22 minute episodes from last year and now the 44 minute specials have proven that the EQG franchise can work in episodic formats.  I do enjoy the shorts on Youtube, but I do agree that 11 or 22 minute episodes would really benefit the types of stories being told.

[Goat-kun 2,498]

1 hour ago, Aquaflame said:

The actual show is going to end before to long, well, it's a mixed feelings type thing, I don't want it to end, but I dont want them to continue reusing plot devices, and you can only re-use villains so many times, there are a lot of diverse characters and potential to create decent stories, like RR, or FG. If you watch btw, is that the impression you get from the quality of the most recent EG? I liked it, but I didnt love it, as I usually do with EG material, the writing was incredibly under lived and the villain wasnt very good.

Welp, that's a lot of feels.

• You can re-use villains as many times as you want if you know what you're doing. They are not unlike your heroes, and those get reused constantly.

• Diversity does not equal compelling characters.

• My impression: this is not how you write a good thot.

 

All in all, it would be lovely if you would all beg H-Bro for more EQG and stuff. Having them make one mistake after the other is also within the realm of my grand vision.

 

P.S: if you like villains you can always go watch anime. Next season of Overlord is just around the corner

[J.J 918]

3 minutes ago, Goat-kun said:

Welp, that's a lot of feels.

 

• You can re-use villains as many times as you want if you know what you're doing. They are not unlike your heroes, and those get reused constantly.

   

• Diversity does not equal compelling characters.

   

• My impression: this is not how you write a good thot.

   

 

 

All in all, it would be lovely if you would all beg H-Bro for more EQG and stuff. Having them make one mistake after the other is also within the realm of my grand vision.

 

 

 

P.S: if you like villains you can always go watch anime. Next season of Overlord is just around the corner

 

 

 

Never said I "liked villains" and yeah re-using Chrysalis hasnt went wrong thus far in my eyes, and Idk, maybe it was just the way you read my statement, because I dont think "villains" make the story, Principal Cinch was a crap vanilla "meany" intended to take the blame for everyone's mistakes... but you can't ignore redeeming qualities because there are qualities that arent as great, life would suck being that cynical... I love reforming villains, I love that because that is one of the shows themes, people watch MLP without reference of what the theme of the show is even about. You don't like Equestria Girls, and that is fine, nobody is putting you under the scope and even asking what it is you don't like, trust me I bet I dont have the hands on attention span to read all of that... but there are just a lot of things they can do with Equestria Girls, I loved Forgotten Friendship but I also hate how they converged the continuity, Having a character with a concrete identity means there is more to expand upon, and that was part of the point of what I was saying about "learning the same friendship lessons" reusing heroes becomes a franchise staple that ends up killing shows, or turning them into nothing but a mere TM cashcow...(you could argue that spin offs do the same thing, but merely just a way to reuse heroes in a new format)

 

PS: Never watched Overlord, never heard of it.

[Lonk Chase 255]

I bet Hasbro's gonna make one some day just because of how popular it's getting. Heck, it could possibly be G5 for all we know.

...actually we do know G5 is not gonna be that, so that joke made no sense, dang it

[Goat-kun 2,498]

45 minutes ago, Aquaflame said:

Never said I "liked villains" and yeah re-using Chrysalis hasnt went wrong thus far in my eyes, and Idk, maybe it was just the way you read my statement, because I dont think "villains" make the story, Principal Cinch was a crap vanilla "meany" intended to take the blame for everyone's mistakes... but you can't ignore redeeming qualities because there are qualities that arent as great, life would suck being that cynical... I love reforming villains, I love that because that is one of the shows themes, people watch MLP without reference of what the theme of the show is even about. You don't like Equestria Girls, and that is fine, nobody is putting you under the scope and even asking what it is you don't like, trust me I bet I dont have the hands on attention span to read all of that... but there are just a lot of things they can do with Equestria Girls, I loved Forgotten Friendship but I also hate how they converged the continuity, Having a character with a concrete identity means there is more to expand upon, and that was part of the point of what I was saying about "learning the same friendship lessons" reusing heroes becomes a franchise staple that ends up killing shows, or turning them into nothing but a mere TM cashcow...(you could argue that spin offs do the same thing, but merely just a way to reuse heroes in a new format)

 

PS: Never watched Overlord, never heard of it.

Having redeeming qualities as a character does not mean the character will have redeeming qualities for the audience. Those two groups of redeeming qualities are not the same. An irredeemable villain can be a darling too  If we were to look at the bigger picture, I wonder how many of such qualities the general target audience would see in FIM characters. That's where merchandise and money come in.

 

You do realize that reusing characters is just an awkward way to describe storytelling, and I have no idea why you're telling me that using recognizable characters for a long time is bad. Is this the new fad among the "I want Glimmer EoH" kids

 

P.S: not only do I dislike EQG, I am in complete and utter opposition to FIM narrative. They tried. It's not working. Let's do something more organic, shall we. Still, you might not want to ask why I'm here. That is eldritch knowledge that only few can safely store inside their heads.

[J.J 918]

2 hours ago, Goat-kun said:

Having redeeming qualities as a character does not mean the character will have redeeming qualities for the audience. Those two groups of redeeming qualities are not the same. An irredeemable villain can be a darling too  If we were to look at the bigger picture, I wonder how many of such qualities the general target audience would see in FIM characters. That's where merchandise and money come in.

 

 

 

You do realize that reusing characters is just an awkward way to describe storytelling, and I have no idea why you're telling me that using recognizable characters for a long time is bad. Is this the new fad among the "I want Glimmer EoH" kids

 

 

 

P.S: not only do I dislike EQG, I am in complete and utter opposition to FIM narrative. They tried. It's not working. Let's do something more organic, shall we. Still, you might not want to ask why I'm here. That is eldritch knowledge that only few can safely store inside their heads.

 

Although I want to see as much Starlight Glimmer as possible, reusing the same character isnt bad, I love the Mane Six, what is bad is reusing plot devices on the same characters, "Fame and Misfortune" shout out,(probably one of your favorite episodes)*sarcasm*, If you don't llike the narrative of the show, you will never be satisfied with it's direction, I can promise you that, because the message of anything should never be "someone is irredeemable", "cynicism and criticism are in a duality of absolution" Nobody is trying to destroy anyone in the MLP universe, there is no unwavering seething hatred for any one villain, it's about upholding harmony, and finding yourself in the process to do it, now sometimes it takes violence, IE (Tirek, a mindless power slave, that ACTUALLY is irredeemable), although you really shouldnt have a big bag of qualms with Starlight seeing as you discredit EG to begin with... I honestly am not that big of a Luna fan, she settled in the background and stayed there for me, reformation is the narrative & Discord will always have a unique identity even through reformation.

[Goat-kun 2,498]

35 minutes ago, Aquaflame said:

Although I want to see as much Starlight Glimmer as possible, reusing the same character isnt bad, I love the Mane Six, what is bad is reusing plot devices on the same characters, "Fame and Misfortune" shout out,(probably one of your favorite episodes)*sarcasm*, If you don't llike the narrative of the show, you will never be satisfied with it's direction, I can promise you that, because the message of anything should never be "someone is irredeemable", "cynicism and criticism are in a duality of absolution" Nobody is trying to destroy anyone in the MLP universe, there is no unwavering seething hatred for any one villain, it's about upholding harmony, and finding yourself in the process to do it, now sometimes it takes violence, IE (Tirek, a mindless power slave, that ACTUALLY is irredeemable), although you really shouldnt have a big bag of qualms with Starlight seeing as you discredit EG to begin with... I honestly am not that big of a Luna fan, she settled in the background and stayed there for me, reformation is the narrative & Discord will always have a unique identity even through reformation.

Of course I am dissatisfied with the friendship narrative. It is inhuman, and a detriment of good storytelling. The familiar episode plots are but one symptom of this failing concept. How tragic: the thing that bothers you most is a product of the thing you are endorsing out of sheer personal conviction.

 

My hatred of Starlight is between me and H-Bro. I am far from satisfied with their nonchalant approach towards character design and development. If they think they can make G5 work with this level of skill they are in for a rude awakening.

 

And again, a redeemable character inside an IP can be irredeemable in the eyes of the audience. You cannot reach people with your conviction. We do this to be entertained ... Well, most of us.

[Guest]

I would love it to become a show.

[Steve Piranha 28,777]

I think it should at this point. The more advanced human world offers good chances for story telling that Equestria can't do

[Toon4Thought 273]

Kind of odd to bump this topic, but this has just been flowing even stronger in my mind as of late, especially since they're starting to give FiM their own YouTube shorts (which I think is a smart idea since it helps keep the characters and world of that series fresh). It just makes me think, why not go in the other direction?

20 eps FiM and 10 eps EqG a year alongside some shorts for both would be awesome.

I think the reason I harp on about this as much as I do is because I feel EqG has massive and unique potential that it almost never gets to actually explore. While it's not quite entirely because of this (I really want to see more of Starlight being cute with Sunset, and a short or two could easily scratch that itch), it does take up a large part of it. It's sad to think about TBH.

[BornAgainBrony 2,395]

This has been bugging me as well. What we have now doesn't even feel like a series to me. I don't really know what it is. Show with overarching stories and plots that last more than 2 minutes, please.

[Thrond 3,257]

Seeing Friendship is Magic attempt the short format, without really changing my preference for Equestria Girls, has made me think that even an 11- or 22-minute moral fable format could work, though of course I'd still prefer the emphasis to be on character development and comedic situations. It has the potential to expand all of the things the shorts are doing well. It's just that, well, there's not a whole lot I want from Equestria Girls right now which the shorts aren't giving me. I'd prefer for the 3-minute shorts to be interspersed with 11-minute episodes, or for 22-minute ones to be intermittently peppered throughout the season.

I'm not sure how Hasbro could make that work, though - would that fit the advertising formats of either YouTube or Discovery Family? Would it be confusing to children and parents? I'm sort of skeptical of switching to a longer-form series, because I like what we have and I'm afraid that it'll be changed into something not as good. The potential is there, though. 

[CypherHoof 26,479]

Would like to see longer story arcs (like FiM has) instead of oneshots, but as it would seem to be mostly a youtube thing, I thought the whole point was that they didn't have to be constrained to hard timeslots to fit broadcast tv programming (or am I missing something?)