My Problem With Magic In G5 (And how to fix it!)

[Ash Thunderstrike 3]

This is going to be a VERY long post, so skip to the end if you want a summary of the whole thing. I am also new to the fandom, and haven’t watched a lot of the new show, so feel free to correct me politely for any mistakes I made while writing.

 

I have a big issue with magic in My Little Pony: Make Your Mark. I will be splitting my issues into three parts.

 

PART 1: It’s too flimsy as a system, and is a lazy writing choice.

We learn in the pilot for Make Your Mark that magic glitches and can possibly stop if ponies aren’t being kind to each other. In the pilot, Posie starts a small revolution against unicorns and pegasi to ban flying/magic that almost destroyed the crystals. If something that small can permanently destroy magic, or at least put it out of commission for a while, is incredibly stupid and makes no sense. This means that if Opaline or some other villain does something terrible, why would it take so long for the crystal to be destroyed if all it takes was a small group of angry earth ponies to nearly cause the permanent destruction of magic?

This makes the villains underwhelming due to their evil having little effect until they fully commit their master plans, making them seem less threatening unless they have immediate responses from their deeds. They fixed this in the comic with Discord stealing a part of the crystal and planning to destroy magic, making him seem threatening while also creating an immediate problem, creating a sense of urgency (though immediately underplayed by the comic’s filler episodes, though that’s another rant for another day.)

Another example of how this creates bad and lazy writing, is how it is played as the only thing the villains aspire to destroy/enslave/abuse, ect. Since the crystal is such an easy target for the writers to make as a macguffin, making Oplaine and any possible future villains less creative in their plans. FIM had a varied amount of antagonists, each with their own villainous goals they wished to achieve. If it all ties back to one particular thing (ie magic), then the villains become stale and boring.

The final problem is one that can unfortunately kill the entire series permanently. If the flimsy magic system continues for G6 onwards, it will cause the writers to recycle plots from G5, making future series more boring and uninteresting.

Though the situation looks bleak, there are ways we can fix the issue, and make the series even better.

 

1. Make magic permanent!

By making magic permanent and not breakable so easily, it solves some of the problems I mentioned. Now, how could this happen? Well, perhaps in one of the specials, the characters find a way to permanently stabilize magic, but with it having the potential to break forever due to mean behavior helping to keep ponies in line being a good way to stop evil. So the mane 5 would be presented with a dilemma: Stabilize magic and hope everyone will stay kind, or keep it flimsy and indirectly threaten everyone with no magic. In the end, they would (of course, since this is a kids TV show, not a Ray Bradbury book) stabilize magic, and everyone is happy, solving that issue. Unfortunately, this could be a series finale thing, ruining any chance of having a show without this issue, but keeps the lessons and episode ideas from coming back in G6.

2. Start a new universe!

To stop the whole “flimsy magic” theme, Hasbro could pull a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and set it in a new universe. This can keep flimsy magic to G5 only, and help quell other concerns people had (lore inconsistencies, modern technology, ect.).

3. Give villains other motives

Having antagonists that have evil plans other than ”destroy/abuse magic” can help make them more interesting and threatening. It can also still affect magic, giving the protagonists 2 things to deal with, and forcing them to use creative problem solving instead of casting fireballs or whatever.

 

In summary: I feel like the “magic is easily broken by mean behavior” thing causes lazy writing, bad villains and crappy worldbuilding. In all of the chaos, it can be fixed to make the show better, yet it is still an issue nonetheless, and one I am very disappointed by. If you have any opinions about Make Your Mark’s magic or the show in particular, feel free to voice your likes and dislikes about it. Have a good day!

[Brony Number 42 9,927]

I think those are good points. I don't like the idea that ponies have to be good or else magic fails. Also I don't like magic being the motive for ponies to stay nice. "If it weren't for the fact I like magic, then I would be bad."

Make magic a natural force, not derived from friendship. That is so vague. What constitutes being nice? It gives a Big Brother is watching feel. You better be nice or else magic fails.

You can exploit this fact. Somepony could invent a magic meter. It measures the strength of magic. You can then use it to test for "badness" in a pony. If a pony is accused of a crime, just ask him some questions. If he lies then that is bad, while weakens magic, which the meter can measure. I can imagine a dystopic 1984 work based on this idea.

[Splashee 28,537]

Let's write a plot/story that can be solved in 8 episodes, that won't feel like a reboot of the previous generations:

...

 

I would rather have them (Hasbro or whoever was in charge of G5) try to look at what the fans want from MLP, and build something engaging and fun for us. But nothing can really be fixed with G5 since that has already been written. Let's hope G6 will do things better (I hate saying that).

 

G5 is still "entertaining" for the entire family. That's better than nothing (I hate saying that too).

[Ash Thunderstrike 3]

22 hours ago, Spooky Brony 42 said:

I think those are good points. I don't like the idea that ponies have to be good or else magic fails. Also I don't like magic being the motive for ponies to stay nice. "If it weren't for the fact I like magic, then I would be bad."

Make magic a natural force, not derived from friendship. That is so vague. What constitutes being nice? It gives a Big Brother is watching feel. You better be nice or else magic fails.

You can exploit this fact. Somepony could invent a magic meter. It measures the strength of magic. You can then use it to test for "badness" in a pony. If a pony is accused of a crime, just ask him some questions. If he lies then that is bad, while weakens magic, which the meter can measure. I can imagine a dystopic 1984 work based on this idea.

Wow, a magic meter dystopian society forcing people to be good would make an AMAZING fanfic! Thanks for the response 

[flutterJackdash 218]

Still, this is also fairly early on yet and the writers haven't had a chance to show us what's planned. A little hint or clue here or there doesn't dictate the motive for every other villain in the show, nor whether or not magic will remain fragile. We really only know Opaline's motives, and Misty's, and Misty's motive is not the use or abuse or destruction of magic: it is the acquisition of her cutie mark. Opaline seeks to use and control it, believing herself to be the progenitor of the species and the power as a whole, all kinds of arrogance there. Personally, I'd rather wait and see, and if it turns out as horrendous as this post suggests? Then, yeah, I'll be upset. Until then, I mean, I don't want to jump the gun or get overexcited about something that is strictly potential and no real.

It would be nice if they took more cues from the comics writers, though.

And I do quite like your suggestions, they all have a great deal of merit and would make for a better show with better and more versatile options for proceeding story arcs.

[Props Valroa 26,040]

G5 would have been a lot better if it was it's own universe, and if Opaline had more personality rather than "I am evil, so therefore I act evil". Misty's motivations seem fairly sound, but Opaline seems rather one dimensional to me.

[Ash Thunderstrike 3]

4 hours ago, flutterJackdash said:

Still, this is also fairly early on yet and the writers haven't had a chance to show us what's planned. A little hint or clue here or there doesn't dictate the motive for every other villain in the show, nor whether or not magic will remain fragile. We really only know Opaline's motives, and Misty's, and Misty's motive is not the use or abuse or destruction of magic: it is the acquisition of her cutie mark. Opaline seeks to use and control it, believing herself to be the progenitor of the species and the power as a whole, all kinds of arrogance there. Personally, I'd rather wait and see, and if it turns out as horrendous as this post suggests? Then, yeah, I'll be upset. Until then, I mean, I don't want to jump the gun or get overexcited about something that is strictly potential and no real.

It would be nice if they took more cues from the comics writers, though.

And I do quite like your suggestions, they all have a great deal of merit and would make for a better show with better and more versatile options for proceeding story arcs.

Thanks! I know it's still early, and I am excited to see where both the comic and the tv show go in the future, but I am keeping my hopes up (with a hint of skepticism) of seeing improvements.

4 hours ago, Props ValRoa said:

G5 would have been a lot better if it was it's own universe, and if Opaline had more personality rather than "I am evil, so therefore I act evil". Misty's motivations seem fairly sound, but Opaline seems rather one dimensional to me.

Yeah, that should've happened. Also makes Twilight and co. potentially look bad lore-wise.