G5 quality compared with non-pony cartoons

[guardmaster 13]

With how divisive G5 is, I feel that maybe we shouldn't just judge it strictly to comparison to other Generations. G1-3 don't really set too high of a bar, in quality, while on the other end of the scale G4 is still seen as masterpiece in its prime and one of the most influential cartoons in the past decade, setting up a very high bar. It might be also be worth discussing how it fares as a standalone cartoon and how non-bronies might watch it. Do you think its holds up as something more general animation fans might enjoy? There are quite a lot of bronies who genuinely enjoy it.

Edited April 15 by guardmaster

[Rafa Stary 2,991]

You have a good point here, and well, I think you can't try to compare it with the whatever are the Gumball, Adventure Time and Steven Universe of the current generation, you have to compare with cartoons with the same target audience, and I think it really stands out when compared to stuff like...Paw Patrol.

Now let's remember that G5 is actually made up of a movie, a 3D series and a short 2D series. I think what really made G4 so good is that the team behind it actually tried to make a show with interesting stories and characters, and not just a generic cartoon for kids like...Paw Patrol (sorry I can't think much here )

Now in G5, I do think they tried to repeat that with the Movie and Make Your Mark, regardless of how the reception was, I can see they really tried to do something interesting.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for Tell Your Tale, at least partially, there are episodes that I think they tried to do something really cool, but there are also a lot of them that I think they didn't care and made something fast and confusing that feels like it's aimed completely at kids only. Maybe Kids nowadays are more used to faster and shorter videos so they made TyT 5 minutes per episode with very flip flop fast silly comedy and chep animation, that is something I just don't see in the Movie and in Make Your Mark, they feel more mature in comparison in my opinion, I actually like to say that it's like they made the Movie and MyM for the Bronies, and TyT for kids.

So I think G5 with the Movie and MyM really stands out when compared to other cartoons, it just wasn't as impactful as G4, while TyT falls in the trunk of infinite generic cartoons for kids while at the same time it tries to be as strong as it 3D siblings, and that is not good because it's now the only series to carry this generation.

Well, in the end I actually talked about mostly about G5 itself than anything, sorry, I just can't think of many other cartoons to compare with it, that's pretty much my view of it, maybe if other member showed up...

[Misty Shadow 7,867]

G5's quality compared to other non-pony cartoons of today is pretty high. While we do get the occasional jewel like Bluey...people need to be real and admit that we can do better than Bluey.  I'm serious, even if I didn't like G5, I'd be saying that. When people act like we're getting all these great kid's cartoons today to spite G5, they always bring up Bluey and the once in a blue moon good modern Disney Channel show that ended after two or three seasons...and that's about it. We still have nothing coming close to topping the original Avatar: The Last Airbender.  

[The Nth Doctor 662]

G1 is a lot better than people give it credit for, especially once you get past the animation. It's a lot of good dumb fun. My Little Pony Tales feels like a proto-G5 done incredibly well (Coltsville is basically Maretime Bay since there's nary a unicorn or pegasus to be seen outside of one obligatory 'check out our new toyline' episode

Finished up my G5 rewatch recently and started a She-Ra and the Princesses of Power rewatch and dear sweet merciful Luna does it blow G5 completely out of the water in the first five episodes in terms of character, world, and story for a show based on a toyline

[Octavian 5,421]

On 2024-04-15 at 7:02 PM, guardmaster said:

ow it fares as a standalone cartoon and how non-bronies might watch it.

I can't comment in general, but in the UK Gen 5 has no penetration whatsoever that I can see. Like a loyal, deranged pony fan, I mention ponies to the intended audience in my family every chance I get. The movie was 'aight, but in my experience the rest of Gen 5 blows in terms of getting fans hooked, or keeping intended audience fans hooked... at least among kiddie media in the UK. I could happily get them to watch FiM and they actively wanted FiM merch, but not Gen 5. I think Gen 5 is a decent story and the characters are wonderful, but there are too many other brands that can say similar things to kids, without most of the flaws that Gen 5 has in terms of visual appeal of the series at times (especially crucial early signature eps like the pilot) and, for UK fans, a lack of cultural capital with parents (my sister and my brother in law hated me pushing MLP because it's seen as naff here, but FiM was unstoppable and Gen 5 just isn't in the same way  )