Why episodes get mixed reviews (possible spoilers)

[Pony Of The Month 534]

I've noticed that a majority of the show's episodes have mixed reviews. If you ask me, that's a good thing because it means that bronies aren't just blindly falling in love with every episode they see, and they are critically analyzing the show for themselves, rather than being told to like or hate episodes.

 

However, I think a lot of bronies are taking the show WAY too seriously, and overly criticizing everything. Which is understandable, because they're protective of their favorite cartoon, and don't want it to jump the shark. They criticize episodes even BEFORE they are released! It's okay to criticize, but only if you know what it is your criticizing. Yesterday, everyone saw the words "Princess Coronation" and immediately started screaming "TWILIGHT IS AN ALICORN! THE SHOW HAS JUMPED THE SHARK! THIS IS THE END OF THE FANDOM AND THE WHOLE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!!" But today, the synopsis and title of the finale were revealed (I'm not spoiling that here, so if you want to know what it is, go to equestria daily) and judging from that it really seems like "Twilight's epic journey" is not what everypony thinks it is.  

 

And here's another reason: There's a character for EVERYONE. Some people may have what I call "favorite pony bias" which means that their favorite AND least favorite episodes have something to do with their favorite pony. They want the writers to portray their favorite pony the best way they can. They seem to be overprotective of their favorite pony, and may harshly criticize a certain writer for not portraying that character the way that they want them to. 

 

There are also characters that some bronies are not huge fans of, and may dislike the episode, just because it focused on whatever character they don't like.

 

I've said this before, but bronies take WAY too much credit for the show. They will accuse the episodes to be to similar to fanfics, when there's a more logical explanation for that: There are SO MANY fanfics, that episodes are going to resemble some of them. The writers aren't taking ideas from fanfics, they just happened to come up with similar ideas. It's more likely than you think it is. Also, without any evidence whatsoever, bronies will scream "THEY'RE THROWING PANDAS AT US!" (pandas=pandering) There is no evidence for this (most of the time) so you really shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

I already said that bronies are being overprotective and overcritical, but now I'm going to elaborate a bit more on that. One of the biggest criticisms I hear is the redemption of antagonists. First of all, Trixie wasn't COMPLETELY redeemed if you think about it. The way she tripped at the end of Magic Duel was not just for laughs, but it shows you that Trixie has quite a bit left in her that hasn't been redeemed. They could do a "real" Trixie redemption later in the series if they wanted to. Secondly, this is the only kids cartoon that I've ever seen be criticized for redeeming its villains  I'm used to cartoons either redeeming villians at the end of their first appearance, killing them off, or not redeeming them, but featuring them in every other episode. (Plankton, from Spongebob.) I kind of like how they give the villains second chances rather than throwing them away or keeping them forever. And when you think about it, if MLP kept all their villians, those villains would become incredibly stale. Just imagine having one of the shows major villians in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. That would be terrible! 

 

My point is, that although it's a good thing that episodes get mixed reviews, it seems like they are getting mixed reviews for the wrong reasons.

[~Lawful Sturdy Wing~ 522]

Very well thought out post and I couldn't agree more. I must admit I disliked this episode before I watched it because I cannot stand Fluttershy, but you are right, we must overcome pony bias

[Phaeston-e12 173]

I've noticed that a majority of the show's episodes have mixed reviews. If you ask me, that's a good thing because it means that bronies aren't just blindly falling in love with every episode they see, and they are critically analyzing the show for themselves, rather than being told to like or hate episodes.

 

...

 

There are also characters that some bronies are not huge fans of, and may dislike the episode, just because it focused on whatever character they don't like.

 

...

 

My point is, that although it's a good thing that episodes get mixed reviews, it seems like they are getting mixed reviews for the wrong reasons.

 

From what I can gather, one of your argument seem to include that quite a lot of criticisms include argument that's no more than 'mere opinion', which I agree with, but those kind of arguments have little merits in terms of how constructive those kind of criticisms are.

 

However, I would argue that the justification can be made for people such as me analyzing the quality of the show from a literature's perspective. As a person who's very interested in the children's fiction, it's quite interesting to see the amount of decision the story-writers make to fit the demand from the upper echelon (Hasbro mostly) and what is appropriate for a targeted audience at the same time. I try to understand and think about the quality of each episodes based on the limitations the story-writers must work with, what the intentions in the storyline were and whether those intentions were executed properly or not.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Phaeston-e12

[Shanks 10,816]

Some of them do overanalize and nitpick I am still glad there isn't the automatic "this episode is perfect" response  for every episode because while I love this show there is the occasional episode or aspect of an episode that has dissapointed me. Hopefully these mixed reviews push the writers to make the show even better.

[ProjectRKA 2,848]

The episodes are getting different reviews simply because people have different opinions on the episodes. Simple as that.