Are the School of Friendship and the Student 6 bad?

[Savygriffs 5,022]

No they aren't. I might be extremely bias, but I honestly kind of prefer them to the Mane 6. (Uh oh)

Plus I think the School Of Friendship is a neat idea. :3

 

Again, kinda bias since I prefer the older FiM seasons to the newer ones, AND the fact I got a Silverstream obsession, but ya know. Opinions man.

[Landi 597]

The School of Friendship was already a bad concept from the start, and it's poor execution made it even worse.

First off, it does go against what was established in the beginning of the show. While it may have not been explicitly said, it was strongly implied that Friendship is something that is learned through experience, not just something learned in a classroom. While Twilight did report all she learned back to Celestia, it was through her experiences of having friends and living her life in Ponyville that she was able to learn these things. The School of Friendship as a concept just doesn't make sense, and seems like a huge waste of time for both the students and faculty since friendship is something that is meant to be learned throughout one's life experiences.

Then there is the whole issue of the mane six teaching there. Not only are they without any real prior teaching experience (maybe barring Twilight), they already have their own life careers that they have been working up to their whole lives. From owning a small chain of clothing stores, to running a farm, to being a full fledge Wonderbolt, each of the mane six have their own time-consuming careers that involve a lot of focus. If the mane six are all of a sudden supposed to teach full time in a school, than that leaves them very little time to actually continue on with their own careers, let alone have much free time if any at all. Considering that these characters had been working up towards fulfilling their own careers since season one, it was disappointing to see them essentially ripped away from these careers, and it made no sense.

Then there are the Student Six. These characters just feel very bland and unnecessary, yet they still showed up in a decent amount of episodes in season 8 (and a few in season 9). They pretty much just became friends the first scene they were introduced, and their personalities seemed very uninspired (many one-off side characters felt much more developed than these six). Them being added just took screen time away from well-written characters like the Mane six (who were sometimes sidelined or even "dumbed down" in the last two seasons just to make the Student Six look better). It seems like the Student Six's entire purpose was just to show different creatures being friends, rather than also being interesting characters.

This combination of bad concepts and poor writing and execution really made these things, especially the School of Friendship, very unlikeable, which is my many, including myself, strongly dislike them.

 

 

[RulesofRarity 489]

Yeah, I didn't like the School of Friendship. The School just symbolises how friendship became a religion in the later seasons that needed to be "taught" to the other species in the show. The Student Six were just dull. 

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

Hasbro mandated that the School of Friendship become a thing in season eight and the show staff had no choice but to include it in without really much leading up to it. It just came up right there and then and became 'integral' to what season eight was trying to accomplish. I put integral in quotations because the school didn't have as big of an impact as expected and wound up being used less and less until it became nothing more than another location. The student six on the other hand had potential but this was underutilized as well. I get what they were trying to do here but it didn't get executed well resulting in what we were given.

Had the school and students come up say in season six, that might have given them a better chance. But, that didn't happen and instead it all came when it did. At least the student six were developed further in the comics provided they were even remembered by some of the writers as existing.

[Megas 27,069]

12 minutes ago, Ganondorf8 said:

Hasbro mandated that the School of Friendship become a thing in season eight and the show staff had no choice but to include it in without really much leading up to it. It just came up right there and then and became 'integral' to what season eight was trying to accomplish. I put integral in quotations because the school didn't have as big of an impact as expected and wound up being used less and less until it became nothing more than another location. The student six on the other hand had potential but this was underutilized as well. I get what they were trying to do here but it didn't get executed well resulting in what we were given.

Had the school and students come up say in season six, that might have given them a better chance. But, that didn't happen and instead it all came when it did. At least the student six were developed further in the comics provided they were even remembered by some of the writers as existing.

Hasbro only wanted the School to appear, but the writers were the ones who dedicated the entire season to it, and the Student Six were entirely made by the writers themselves(Jim Miller even going as far as saying they were Vogel, Haber and Dubuc's idea)

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

20 hours ago, Soundwave said:

Hasbro only wanted the School to appear, but the writers were the ones who dedicated the entire season to it, and the Student Six were entirely made by the writers themselves(Jim Miller even going as far as saying they were Vogel, Haber and Dubuc's idea)

I'd say their dedication was solid but didn't quite measure up depending on you who ask.

[Brony Number 42 9,935]

On 2021-08-10 at 2:33 AM, TomDaBombMLP said:

I ever met the Student Six, I’d punch them

Is that a response Twilight would approve of?

[Brony Number 42 9,935]

I like to see the show evolve. I like seeing the creatures outside of Equestria. As for having the Mane 6 become teachers, this makes sense from a show point of view. This keeps the main characters involved.

There are the undertones of, "Equestria is better and we're going to civilize you creatures." I don't think this is bad, I wrote a blog on it. Equestria should protect its way of life. Making allies is better than conquering.

I was hoping G5 was going to be the Student 6.