Wasted potential for the show

[Thrond 3,260]

My beef with this show is mostly with what it did do rather than what it didn't. In terms of specific events and backstory, I got most of what I wanted. I just also got a lot of stories I didn't care about, and even the ones I did were wrapped in a general tone and storytelling formula that only ever seemed to move further and further away from what I originally liked about this show. 

Still, it might have been nice to get more of these:

• Princess Cadance. In general I found her way more relatable than Celestia and Luna, despite the fact that we never learned half as much about her. She's implied to still be relatively young, and as such she was always more grounded than the older alicorns despite the fact that we only ever knew her as an alicorn princess. But we only saw two sides of her at most, and barely any of either of them. I wish she was a more developed character; I loved it whenever she showed personality traits that countered the pretty princess stereotype, and what little scraps we got about her backstory seemed fascinating. 
• Rarity's parents. There were a bunch of episodes about the mane six's parents in seasons 5-7 and they were always really cute. Why did Rarity have to be left out? It also would have answered some questions about where Sweetie Belle lives, and I've always wondered exactly what Rarity's relationship with her parents is. 
• More from Rarity and Rainbow Dash's careers; alongside Applejack's, which we got a lot of and didn't change much over the course of the series, they're the only two that didn't eventually become completely arbitrary. Rarity managing her boutique chain and Rainbow Dash being a Wonderbolt were major highlights of the later seasons that delighted me every time they came up, so I would have loved to see more of them. And it would have been great to learn more about the people those two were working with. 
• I wish we had gotten a more coherent idea of Spike's past and future. Past, specifically, because I want to know who raised him... well, as long as it wasn't Twilight. Future, because I feel like the show didn't do enough to show him dealing with the absence of dragon parents in his life; that could have been a really interesting story.
• In retrospect I feel like the Cutie Mark Crusaders should have been split up more. We got a lot from Scootaloo, but I wish they handled some of the stuff around her disability and her family issues better. We sort of stopped getting Sweetie Belle stories after the trio got their cutie marks, which was a shame. And despite having a whole episode about it, Apple Bloom never quite seemed to forge her own path separate from the group or her family. 

On 2021-05-08 at 8:34 PM, Megas said:

Like they actually explained that they're never around for Scootaloo and they actually try to convince us that it's perfectly okay because they're the greatest ponies ever by basing them off real life heroes. But I'm sorry, that's a load of bullshit especially since one of those heroes always tried to be with his kids whenever he had the chance.

I'm in an odd position because I didn't recognize that inspiration, so I mostly saw that as a story about bad parents trying to be better and screwing it up. That's the general arc of the story, and I don't think it makes sense if Scootaloo's parents are supposed to be good at parenting. My problem is just that I don't know why Scootaloo still likes them so much. You could probably solve a lot of the problems with that episode by digging a bit deeper into that. It's all very watered down. 

[HedonismBot 229]

1 hour ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I'm in an odd position because I didn't recognize that inspiration, so I mostly saw that as a story about bad parents trying to be better and screwing it up. That's the general arc of the story, and I don't think it makes sense if Scootaloo's parents are supposed to be good at parenting. My problem is just that I don't know why Scootaloo still likes them so much. You could probably solve a lot of the problems with that episode by digging a bit deeper into that. It's all very watered down. 

Especially considering that back in "Parental Glideance", Scootaloo complains that she didn't have anyone to properly support her. And when we actually see her family, suddenly she acts like she's okay with that. Does not compute.

And yes, the way her condition was handled leaves much to be desired. We had multiple instances of her wishing she could fly, multiple examples of technology that could help her fly (if there's no hope of her doing so naturally), and never the briefest discussion of anypony helping her fly. The whole thing felt like even more evidence of her being neglected.

Edited May 20, 2021 by HedonismBot

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Yunno what I was thinkin' bout lately that was wasted potential? Some sorta bond between Chrysalis and Ocellus that they used to have. Cause why would Ocellus fear of becoming Chrysalis specifically? They had to have had something in the past.

[Thrond 3,260]

14 hours ago, HedonismBot said:

Especially considering that back in "Parental Glideance", Scootaloo complains that she didn't have anyone to properly support her. And when we actually see her family, suddenly she acts like she's okay with that. Does not compute.

I think a lot of what happens in "The Last Crusade" would have lined up just fine if only Scootaloo's attitude were different. After all, that's already an episode where Scootaloo has to show her parents that their parenting decisions are wrong. Making that story about how much Scootaloo has accomplished as a Cutie Mark Crusader is IMO the least interesting option. 

14 hours ago, HedonismBot said:

And yes, the way her condition was handled leaves much to be desired. We had multiple instances of her wishing she could fly, multiple examples of technology that could help her fly (if there's no hope of her doing so naturally), and never the briefest discussion of anypony helping her fly. The whole thing felt like even more evidence of her being neglected.

If they had actually tried to suggest that Scootaloo was neglected, I think that could have been a dramatic storyline that could have offered great bonding opportunities for her and Rainbow Dash. Would definitely have liked that more than "The Washouts."

But I dunno, I don't feel the show was particularly consistent in suggesting that Scootaloo wanted to fly. In both of the episodes that directly focus on her disability, it's more like she's pressured into caring about it, first by Diamond Tiara and then by Rainbow Dash. On the other hand she certainly talks about flying a lot, and gets multiple dream sequences where she flies. But I think if we had seen her not worry so much about flying, so the problem was instead that ponies don't accept her for who she is, that could have worked too. 

[HedonismBot 229]

35 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

If they had actually tried to suggest that Scootaloo was neglected, I think that could have been a dramatic storyline that could have offered great bonding opportunities for her and Rainbow Dash. Would definitely have liked that more than "The Washouts."

But I dunno, I don't feel the show was particularly consistent in suggesting that Scootaloo wanted to fly. In both of the episodes that directly focus on her disability, it's more like she's pressured into caring about it, first by Diamond Tiara and then by Rainbow Dash. On the other hand she certainly talks about flying a lot, and gets multiple dream sequences where she flies. But I think if we had seen her not worry so much about flying, so the problem was instead that ponies don't accept her for who she is, that could have worked too. 

There was also "The Fault in our Cutie Marks" (Where she says "I know what it's life to want something that's out of reach" while looking at her wings), "Surf and/or Turf" (where she's turned into a sea pony, goes underwater, and is life "So this is what it's like to fly", and it forms a large part of her bias towards Seaquestria over Mt. Aris), and "The Washouts" (where she reveals that her motivation for joining the titular team was wanting something cool to do with her life now that the Wonderbolts are basically off the table). Plus it's not like there's much evidence against the idea that some part of her yearns to fly. And yes, having Rainbow Dash hook Scootaloo up with a glider or something and help her practice flying with it would have been the perfect way to develop their relationship, better than most of what we got after "Flight to the Finish".

 

I'm not at all saying that the writers intended to suggest that Scootaloo was neglected, just like "The Last Crusade" probably didn't intend to portray her parents as negligent jerkwads - just that that was the vibe given off by what was presented across the series. It was probably just a well-meaning attempt at disability representation executed in a way that left some room for improvement (it wouldn't be the first time the show had screwed up a moral).

[bigbertha 412]

Trixie. She shows up with an interesting and three dimensional personality in No Second Prances, steals the show in both that episode and To Where and Back Again, and proceeds to be completely tied to Starlight stories for the rest of the show. I don't really like Twilight's characterization in No Second Prances, but there was so much more that could've been done with that Twilight and Trixie dynamic and it was abandoned after that episode. That's not even mentioning the stories that could've come from Trixie and the rest of the mane six or an actual Trixie spotlight episode where she's not just relegated to being the co-lead.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,816]

#1 Newbie Dash - This episode should've never been made. I could rant all day about how bad this episode was. This was not the way to start Rainbow Dash's career as a Wonderbolt. Period. I really wish the writers did something where Rainbow teaches the Wonderbolts a major lesson in friendship and she is promoted to a high position in the Wonderbolts. 

#2 Chrysalis's Redemption - I really feel that Chrysalis getting redeemed would've put the icing on the cake, even if it came at the very end of the show. Besides, it would've shown that even someone as bad as Chrysalis deserves a second chance

#3 The Rush to Make Twilight a Princess - I still feel up to this day, the writers could've waited longer to make Twilight a princess. Squeezing everything into one episode felt way too fast.

#4 Princess Cadence - Like some others said, I wish Cadence had more of a role in the story. Her biggest was ACW but that was really it. 

#5 Big Mac - I really wish that they could've done a little more with Big Mac, like explore his feelings more

#6 Post Redemption Diamond Tiara - I felt like the writers just literally pushed Diamond Tiara under a rug after her redemption. I really wanted to see how she would get along more and how involved she would be with the CMC's new journey.

[HedonismBot 229]

1 hour ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

#1 Newbie Dash - This episode should've never been made. I could rant all day about how bad this episode was. This was not the way to start Rainbow Dash's career as a Wonderbolt. Period. I really wish the writers did something where Rainbow teaches the Wonderbolts a major lesson in friendship and she is promoted to a high position in the Wonderbolts. 

The idea of having a character achieve their lifelong dream only to have it not quite meet their expectations is an idea worth exploring, but you're right in that the pro-hazing tone of "Newbie Dash" was not the correct way to go about it. Plus "Rainbow Falls" and "Rarity Investigates" point to a seriously toxic culture, so yes, it would have been nice to have Rainbow deliver a desperately-needed friendship lesson (Rainbow Falls did that a little bit, but not enough it seems).

 

1 hour ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

#3 The Rush to Make Twilight a Princess - I still feel up to this day, the writers could've waited longer to make Twilight a princess. Squeezing everything into one episode felt way too fast.

"Magical Mystery Cure" was originally intended to be the series finale, so waiting longer kinda wasn't an option. Though I suppose they could have started her on that path earlier.

 

1 hour ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

#6 Post Redemption Diamond Tiara - I felt like the writers just literally pushed Diamond Tiara under a rug after her redemption. I really wanted to see how she would get along more and how involved she would be with the CMC's new journey.

The writers wanted to do more with her, but Hasbro shut them down, claiming that her story was finished. Which is kind of baffling - as I understand, Hasbro was for the most part relatively hands-off with what stories get told. At least the comics made good use of her.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,816]

20 minutes ago, HedonismBot said:

The idea of having a character achieve their lifelong dream only to have it not quite meet their expectations is an idea worth exploring, but you're right in that the pro-hazing tone of "Newbie Dash" was not the correct way to go about it. Plus "Rainbow Falls" and "Rarity Investigates" point to a seriously toxic culture, so yes, it would have been nice to have Rainbow deliver a desperately-needed friendship lesson (Rainbow Falls did that a little bit, but not enough it seems).

Yes, this is why Newbie Dash to me is the #1 worst episode because it failed to address the real issue about a certain culture. Instead, the lesson should've been about the ignorance on the Wonderbolts' part and Dash putting them right in their place. 

22 minutes ago, HedonismBot said:

The writers wanted to do more with her, but Hasbro shut them down, claiming that her story was finished. Which is kind of baffling - as I understand, Hasbro was for the most part relatively hands-off with what stories get told. At least the comics made good use of her.

This is why Hasbro needed to back off more and let the writers do their thing. Even if they were hands off, they should've had her as a huge supporting character. 

[JMTV99 1,348]

3 hours ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

#1 Newbie Dash - This episode should've never been made. I could rant all day about how bad this episode was. This was not the way to start Rainbow Dash's career as a Wonderbolt. Period. I really wish the writers did something where Rainbow teaches the Wonderbolts a major lesson in friendship and she is promoted to a high position in the Wonderbolts. 

#2 Chrysalis's Redemption - I really feel that Chrysalis getting redeemed would've put the icing on the cake, even if it came at the very end of the show. Besides, it would've shown that even someone as bad as Chrysalis deserves a second chance

#3 The Rush to Make Twilight a Princess - I still feel up to this day, the writers could've waited longer to make Twilight a princess. Squeezing everything into one episode felt way too fast.

#4 Princess Cadence - Like some others said, I wish Cadence had more of a role in the story. Her biggest was ACW but that was really it. 

#5 Big Mac - I really wish that they could've done a little more with Big Mac, like explore his feelings more

#6 Post Redemption Diamond Tiara - I felt like the writers just literally pushed Diamond Tiara under a rug after her redemption. I really wanted to see how she would get along more and how involved she would be with the CMC's new journey.

THIS!! SO MUCH THIS!!

1 hour ago, HedonismBot said:

"Magical Mystery Cure" was originally intended to be the series finale, so waiting longer kinda wasn't an option. Though I suppose they could have started her on that path earlier.

Honestly, Magical Mystery Cure should've been a two parter instead of being a half hour episode so that way the changes feel natural instead of being artificially rushing out all at once. As much as I do like Magical Mystery Cure for what it was, but I feels like it suffer the Disney's Doug effect a little bit in which these changes were artificial rather than natural.

1 hour ago, HedonismBot said:

The writers wanted to do more with her, but Hasbro shut them down, claiming that her story was finished. Which is kind of baffling - as I understand, Hasbro was for the most part relatively hands-off with what stories get told. At least the comics made good use of her.

Well, that's not fair considering that there's a lot more potential in her.

1 hour ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

This is why Hasbro needed to back off more and let the writers do their thing. Even if they were hands off, they should've had her as a huge supporting character. 

Exactly! Hell, if Hasbro would've give Lauren Faust and Company a lot more creative freedom that they wanted to do from the very beginning instead of breathing down their necks all the time, then I think show would've been fantastic (consistency wise). Okay, not as good as Season 4 & 5, but definitely better than Season 6-9.

Edited May 21, 2021 by JMTV99

[Castle Bleck 19,241]

On 2021-05-19 at 10:10 AM, ZiggWheelsManning said:

She would need to use Dash Rendar's jet pack or call up Tails to fly

To quote Skylar (Cybermorph), "Where did you learn to fly?"

[Rafa Stary 2,179]

There are a lot of things that I consider as wasted potential in the show, but the one I criticize the most is definitely the lack of originality of the last 5 seasons, focusing too much on fanservice, rehashing concepts and material from past episodes and bringing back old villains really was the weakest point of the last part of the show for me, yes, I admit that I liked several of these episodes, I liked the return of Chrysalis and the Changelings, I liked her interaction with Tirek and Cozy Glow, "Brotherhooves Social" for me is much inferior to "Sisterhooves Social" (my favorite episode), but I still liked it, but I definitely don't think this was the best decision they could have made, none of these rehashes lf ideas were better than the original ideas in my opinion.

It's the same criticism I make to Dragon Ball Super, multiple sagas and concepts in that series are simply rehashes of old stories, ideas and characters, with a lot of fanservice and nostalgia, is it cool towsee it? yeah, but doing it over and over again is not good, I never think they are any better than the original stories/ideas, The Golden Freeza saga for me was not even a little better than the Freeza Saga, Cell Max does not compare to the original Cell, the recreated scenes definitely do not have the same impact as the originals.

Seasons 5-9 of FiM are the same thing, well, I can even make some exceptions for Seasons 7 and 8, I know that many didn't like the School of Friendship and the Student Six, but I really liked the new concepts presented in that season, and I really liked Cozy Glow, they were very original and new ideas for the show, the pillars/Stygian story also has its originalities and the introduction of Starlight Glimmer was very good too, but Seasons 6, 9 and the rest of Season 5 simply have no excuse. For me the only thing these rehashes did better was Sombra's characterization in Season 9, the rest for me was all inferior, speaking of Sombra, the use of his character in Season 9 for me should have been followed by the other 3 returning villains as well, the end of the series for me should have been the same thing they did with Discord at the end of Season 4, he became a villain again by helping Tirek, but he was only an initial part of the threat, Tirek was the main threat and was the final villain, they should have done the same with Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow in Season 9, with them (and Sombra) being minions and Grogar being the final villain.

The 2017 movie for me was the best example for how much original and fresh the latter Seasons could have been, the movie was super original, everything you see in it is new, the characters, locations, Seaponies, Klugetown, the hunt for Twilight, etc, I really loved it, that's the path the latter part of the show should've taken in my opinion, it's almost baffling to me how after the introduction to Glimmer, The Cutie Map only led the characters to 4 new places in the entirety of these 5 seasons (and funny enough, only one of them is visited again in future episodes, Las Pegasus )