Is anyone else bothered by how the show treated the CMCs in seasons 8-9?

[xLuneti 55]

The journey of the CMC from season 1 to season 7 is very perfect in everything. It's hard say everything in words, but from the girls having a preescolar voice to run their own camp of friendship was a big step, and having some episodios like Forever Filly where they made clear that Sweetie Belle is growing up and she is not a little girl anymore help a lot, but season 8-9 "reset" this and everyone started to act like the cmc were in season 1 again, and worst, like they were not capable of anything. Episodes like Marks for Effort and Growing Up is hard to do makes this very clear.

 

So, my question is, anyoene else is bothered by how they treated the Cmcs in season 8-9?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I felt that the CMCs didn't really get a fair treatment after they got their cutie marks. Marks and Recreation was okay, but CMC episodes after didn't make the cut, especially when Scootaloo's parents showed up in Season 9 suddenly. The writing for that whole episode was terrible because the writers spoiled it even before Scoot's parents showed up. 

PS. I altered the topic title to make it a little more clear.

[Splashee 28,538]

Let's take Mark for Effort  as a special case: This episode was an introduction to Cozy Glow, and it was executed very well I think. Not CMC in general, but to get the villain introduced in such a sneaky way. The CMC simply had to be acting badly in order for that episode to work. They might have gone back to their stupid Season 1 behaviors, but I think it was needed for this episode. No matter how you develop as a character, at one point in time, you will get tricked/fooled by something or someone. It is part of growing up, and I think CMC needed that as an experience.

 

For Growing Up Is Hard to Do and especially The Last Crusade, the fans were being served a last good bye to the CMC by giving them what they have asked for: Scootaloo's parents, and seeing them as grown-up ponies (lazy designs). Both episodes were executed very poorly in my opinion, and made me slightly enraged. Season 9 was full of missed opportunities, and the show staff could easily have tackled all of our fandom questions, and actually made a really good ending to the show. Instead, they were constantly trying to sell more tickets to The MLP Movie 2017, and constantly doing the School of Friendship theme and Student Six (important development?), for no reason what-so-ever. CMC was at least treated with 2 episodes, and Apple Bloom got treated with an Apple Family episode.

 

CMC was badly handled after they got their cutie marks. That is my take to it. It wasn't Season 8 or Season 9 that made them stop developing. They were replaced by the Student Six, but so was the Mane 6 as well.

[EpicEnergy 22,516]

I wasn't bothered, I enjoyed the episodes that featured the CMC. I think it would have been better to end the CMC's storyline in season 5 where they reformed Diamond Tiara and got their cutie marks, that was a good enough closure to their character arc in my opinion.

[Evil Pink One 13,381]

nope.... you guys are toooooo passionate.

[Evil Pink One 13,381]

@xLuneti uhhh I give you your first bro hoof! 

[xLuneti 55]

1 hour ago, Splashee said:

Let's take Mark for Effort  as a special case: This episode was an introduction to Cozy Glow, and it was executed very well I think. Not CMC in general, but to get the villain introduced in such a sneaky way. The CMC simply had to be acting badly in order for that episode to work. They might have gone back to their stupid Season 1 behaviors, but I think it was needed for this episode. No matter how you develop as a character, at one point in time, you will get tricked/fooled by something or someone. It is part of growing up, and I think CMC needed that as an experience.

 

For Growing Up Is Hard to Do and especially The Last Crusade, the fans were being served a last good bye to the CMC by giving them what they have asked for: Scootaloo's parents, and seeing them as grown-up ponies (lazy designs). Both episodes were executed very poorly in my opinion, and made me slightly enraged. Season 9 was full of missed opportunities, and the show staff could easily have tackled all of our fandom questions, and actually made a really good ending to the show. Instead, they were constantly trying to sell more tickets to The MLP Movie 2017, and constantly doing the School of Friendship theme and Student Six (important development?), for no reason what-so-ever. CMC was at least treated with 2 episodes, and Apple Bloom got treated with an Apple Family episode.

 

CMC was badly handled after they got their cutie marks. That is my take to it. It wasn't Season 8 or Season 9 that made them stop developing. They were replaced by the Student Six, but so was the Mane 6 as well.

I think a way more good episode For Growing Up is Hard to do would have been of instead of the CMC to get to a festival but they are too young and naive for it, would be the older sisters of mane 6 are too nervous about the CMC going alone and getting anxious over possibles outcomes for them, so RD, AJ and Rarity would follow them on secret just to find out they are doing fine by themselves realizing that their little sisters effectively grow up.

Edited December 2, 2021 by xLuneti

[Evil Pink One 13,381]

2 minutes ago, xLuneti said:

I think a way more good episode For Growing Up is Hard to do would have been of instead of the CMC to get to a festival but they are too young and naive for it, would be the older sisters of mane 6 are too nervous about the CMC going alone and getting anxious over possibles outcomes for them, so RD, AJ and Rarity would follow them on secret just to fine out they are doing fine by themselves 

why not make a comic about it? or a light novel?

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,689]

1 hour ago, xLuneti said:

I think a way more good episode For Growing Up is Hard to do would have been of instead of the CMC to get to a festival but they are too young and naive for it, would be the older sisters of mane 6 are too nervous about the CMC going alone and getting anxious over possibles outcomes for them, so RD, AJ and Rarity would follow them on secret just to find out they are doing fine by themselves realizing that their little sisters effectively grow up.

Sounds too similar to the Forever Filly episode.  

[Octavia Heartstrings 28,477]

I'm bothered by how seasons 8 and 9 treated all the characters, to be honest. In general, those seasons shoved aside and flanderized the established main cast in favor of dull and pointless new characters.

[Tom Gallagher 33,534]

9 hours ago, lyrabetes3939 said:

I'm bothered by how seasons 8 and 9 treated all the characters, to be honest. In general, those seasons shoved aside and flanderized the established main cast in favor of dull and pointless new characters.

Exactly my thoughts.

[JMTV99 1,348]

Yes 100%. I tried my best to forget the Season 6-9 never existed, but just...ugh.

For me, the CMC character arc ended with Crusaders of the Lost Mark. That's all I'm gonna say. 

I'm done.

[HedonismBot 224]

On 2021-12-02 at 6:31 PM, xLuneti said:

I think a way more good episode For Growing Up is Hard to do would have been of instead of the CMC to get to a festival but they are too young and naive for it, would be the older sisters of mane 6 are too nervous about the CMC going alone and getting anxious over possibles outcomes for them, so RD, AJ and Rarity would follow them on secret just to find out they are doing fine by themselves realizing that their little sisters effectively grow up.

Multiple fans have suggested that it should have aired several seasons prior (when their behavior would have been reasonably plausible), but that's also an interesting idea.

And then there's "The Washouts": We see that Scootaloo being offered the perfect alternative to the Wonderbolts: a career which would match up perfectly with her skills and interests, but not require flight. And then we were given the message that that was a BAD thing, and there would be no further discussion of what non-Wonderbolt pursuits she might pursue.

Plus sticking them in the school as teachers felt like the lazy way out, like the writers just wanted to stick them in the finale somewhere.

[Megas 27,172]

27 minutes ago, HedonismBot said:

And then we were given the message that that was a BAD thing,

The only thing we were told was bad in that episode was that Scootaloo was getting in with the wrong crowd, which is even more clear both given the Washout's disregard for safety and the fact that LD pressured her to do something she wasn't comfortable in

[HedonismBot 224]

50 minutes ago, Megas said:

The only thing we were told was bad in that episode was that Scootaloo was getting in with the wrong crowd, which is even more clear both given the Washout's disregard for safety and the fact that LD pressured her to do something she wasn't comfortable in

The problem was that regardless of what message the writers intended, Scootaloo's emotional "I can't fly!" rant to Rainbow Dash (coupled with Rainbow heavily implying that she was expecting Scootaloo to somehow follow her into the Wonderbolts) stole the show. If they wanted to conclusively have the audience believe that Scootaloo taking an interest in the Washouts was a bad move, then her wing situation should have been left out of it.

That or reform Lightning Dust and have her offer to let Scootaloo have another shot when she's grown up (and they've implemented actual safety measures).

[Megas 27,172]

4 minutes ago, HedonismBot said:

The problem was that regardless of what message the writers intended, Scootaloo's emotional "I can't fly!" rant to Rainbow Dash (coupled with Rainbow heavily implying that she was expecting Scootaloo to somehow follow her into the Wonderbolts) stole the show. If they wanted to conclusively have the audience believe that Scootaloo taking an interest in the Washouts was a bad move, then her wing situation should have been left out of it.

That or reform Lightning Dust and have her offer to let Scootaloo have another shot when she's grown up (and they've implemented actual safety measures).

The show didn't have to spell out why it was a bad idea, they really made it really obvious. Scootaloo joined the Washouts because they would let her do stunts regardless of her flying ability, but that lack of flying ability wasn't the reason why it a bad idea, they didn't care about her well being, even when she was having second thoughts. Show never rules out that Scootaloo could be a stunt pony now or in the future given her skills can improve(though the show seemed more content with forcing the stupid school on her, so so much for that)

[HedonismBot 224]

On 2021-12-19 at 10:43 PM, Megas said:

Show never rules out that Scootaloo could be a stunt pony now or in the future given her skills can improve(though the show seemed more content with forcing the stupid school on her, so so much for that)

Well, that was a problem with the CMC in general - they all developed their own individual talents over the series, only for all that to be tossed out in favor of taking the easy way out to include them in the finale.

Though it is especially problematic for Scootaloo - "Flight to the Finish" had her learn that even if she can't fly, she's still special in other ways. Then the one and only time there is any discussion of her translating said "other ways" into a career, it almost gets her killed. Then the finale sticks her in a profession that she had only briefly hinted that she might have any interest in whatsoever. Not to mention nopony ever bothered to introduce her to the wonderful world of aeronautical engineering. The unintentional message to people with disabilities seems to be "Don't bother looking for a workaround to achieve your dream, don't bother seeking out a respectable alternative, just take whatever mundane job you can get and be happy with that".

[Megas 27,172]

47 minutes ago, HedonismBot said:

The unintentional message to people with disabilities seems to be "Don't bother looking for a workaround to achieve your dream, don't bother seeking out a respectable alternative, just take whatever mundane job you can get and be happy with that".

At no point does the show ever say that, you'd have to be actively making shit up to believe otherwise(and believe me I'm probably guilty of this myself). I do think plugging her to the school at the end of the show was really dumb but it's not like she didn't want to be a part of it

[HedonismBot 224]

1 hour ago, Megas said:

At no point does the show ever say that, you'd have to be actively making shit up to believe otherwise(and believe me I'm probably guilty of this myself). I do think plugging her to the school at the end of the show was really dumb but it's not like she didn't want to be a part of it

I did say "unintentional" - I'm well aware that they'd never actually send that sort of message on purpose. It seems they were just timid about acknowledging that Scootaloo had a bona fide disability (even when they finally did after "Growing Up is Hard to Do", they included the line "fans are welcome to interpret things how they like"), which would make it hard to competently deliver any sort of disability-related message.

Edited December 22, 2021 by HedonismBot

[Rushing cash 834]

I don't think they were worse, certainly not by much since S5, but as always they had some hits and some misses. Perhaps they could have got a more complex arc since getting their cutie marks, or got more individual arcs. As for S8-9, I think they got a bit less focus since the school thing and the students, but other than the pretty underwhelming Growing Up is hard they were alright, and the other characters reacted to them accordingly I would say.