Unpopular Opinions Regarding the Show

[The Recherche 29,967]

2 minutes ago, Thrond said:

It seems kinda fitting that people like the background ponies so much, because this show is a toy tie-in and there are way more toys than main characters. But honestly I don't get it either. 

True. I will say that most of them have perfectly fine designs; Lyra is a bit bland, but Bon-Bon, Vinyl, Octavia, and Whooves all have a bit of visual flair. They also have a good amount of very small, but important characterization. Derpy in The Last Roundup being a good example. Even if they are charming enough, though, charm does not really trump actual characterization for me. Like I said; that is why I am not really sad to see the whole background character craze dying off.

You can even see the trend dying out with merchandise; a lot of more fan-oriented merchandise from back in the mid 2010s focused a lot on characters like Vinyl, Lyra, Derpy, and Whooves; you often couldn't even rely on them to have a full Mane 6. Nowadays, though, almost all MLP merch aimed at fans instead of young girls mainly stars the Mane 6 first, then secondary characters next. The Kotobukiya and Mighty Jaxx merch being the best examples.

Pardon the rambling, but there was really nowhere else to get that off my chest.

[Lone Traveler 91]

Season 8 and 9 should have featured the School of Friendship and the Young Six far more than they actually did. These season showed through its questionable quality of episodes involving the mane cast that there was nothing more to do with the main characters. I think if the show spent more time with the new concept and characters they could have been far more interesting. The show was halfway stuck between wanting to do something new and also being too scared to actually change the focus, and it winded up failing at both changing up the show and keeping its old quality. I personally liked the Young Six despite their lack of development, and I think Hearth Warming Club and What Lies Beneath were two of the best Season 8 episodes. With more development and bonding with the Mane Six I think they could have been great characters and that the fandom would have been kinder on them. They also should have had teachers and employees other than the mane six at the School of Friendship so that the concept actually made sense. Having these characters with full time jobs teach there full time with no backup was really stupid and it was such an easy pothole to fix. Chancellor Neighsay's reaction in School Raze to the there being no employees left perfectly expressed my thoughts.

[Malarkey 45]

I do not hate any character or episode or major decision made throughout the series. A small selection of episodes are very boring and there are some minor characters I do not care for, but I do not have the energy to be angry about anything in this show.

Apple Bloom is one of my absolute favorite characters in the whole show.

My favorite duo dynamic is Rarity + Fluttershy, and my least favorite duo dynamic is Rarity + Applejack.

This is just my own personal taste but I'm not really interested in worldbuilding and lore. As long as I see ponies having cute moments on my screen, I'm happy.

Pony Life is just as enjoyable as Friendship is Magic to me, even if for different reasons.

In my personal preference, I overall like the movie and Rainbow Roadtrip style more than the FiM style. 

When it comes to EQG: Rainbow Rocks, I like the Rainbooms' songs more than the Dazzlings' songs.

I love Flurry Heart. She's adorable and makes me smile.

Among many disliked episodes that I like, one of them is Princess Spike. I found that episode a lot of fun to watch (partially because it was humorous to me, but also because I loved all the art direction and background ponies and set designs).

 

These are just my own opinions and I don't think they are "correct" or anything--I fully understand and respect anypony who disagrees.

[Sparklefan1234 169,718]

2, 4, 6 Great! is "bad" but Tanks for the Memories has Rainbow Dash acting a lot dumber, IMO.

I know what the episode was about but you'd think Rainbow would know about hibernation. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Sparklefan1234

[Toastypk 923]

Does liking a supremely underrated background character count as something "unpopular"?

Cause if that's the case...

This dude is adorable and it seems no one talks about him or even draws him. He has less than 12 fanart pictures of him on derpibooru!

[Shadowmoth2011 150]

On 2021-06-18 at 2:13 AM, Will Guide said:

Child or not, Cozy Glow is a prime example of how Not even children are exempt from being irredeemable. She already was sent to Tartarus and didn't get better and continues to be a, as Pixar's Soul puts it.

“I’m a manipulative megalomaniac whose intensely opportunistic.”
“This one might be a handful. But that’s Earth’s problem.” – Jerry

DUDE I LOVE THAT MOVIE

Anywho, here are some of mine:

• I don't mind Flash Sentry as a character - I never really have. He just exists, and has some cool moments.
• I really enjoyed "Spike at Your Service".
• In fact I usually tend to enjoy Spike episodes more than most. His episodes, Fluttershy's episodes and Maud Pie-centric episodes tend to be among my favorites most often. Heck, my favorite episode period is a Spike episode. 
• I have a soft spot for Diamond Tiara, even prior to her redemption, due to my overall liking for CMC episodes and her showing several character tropes I tend to like.
• Pie family > any other family in the show 
• I cannot stand Amending Fences, and Moondancer has to be the most annoying, loathsome little grubs I've seen in a show. 

[The Recherche 29,967]

6 minutes ago, Shadowmoth2011 said:

In fact I usually tend to enjoy Spike episodes more than most. His episodes, Fluttershy's episodes and Maud Pie-centric episodes tend to be among my favorites most often. Heck, my favorite episode period is a Spike episode.

I will say that I often find Spike episodes to be a mixed bag, but Spike himself is actually a fantastic character as a whole. He is surprisingly layered and well-developed as the show progresses.

I am not sure if liking Spike counts as an unpopular opinion, admittedly. I do think I can get away with saying Spike being one of my favorite characters is at least semi-controversial, though, especially with a roster as large as FiM's.

[Sonic Shimmer 4,131]

Season 9 wasn't as good as the earlier seasons were.

[Stancet 687]

I will tell you a really unpopular opinion

-Aside from some obvious hiccups, I believe there was great consistency in the shows quality from beginning to end.

Some Bronies say there was a point the show stopped being as good as before, but I don't think there are objective grounds for that claim.

[HedonismBot 239]

On 2022-04-17 at 5:57 PM, Sonic Shimmer said:

Season 9 wasn't as good as the earlier seasons were.

That actually seems to be a pretty popular opinion.

If anything, my opinion that seasons 8 and 9 aren't total garbage (but do contain some of the show's most glaring screwups) is relatively unpopular.

[ponyuiqfh1i9f8jj298fuj2 38]

i don't get the season 9 hate so much. season 8 i understand but i don't get why s9 is posed as worse than it for a lot of people. i actually really liked a lot of the episodes from s9 personally

Edited April 21, 2022 by snowfall_shy

[baba_booey 4,302]

I'm sort of neutral on Slice of Life overall. I can respect that the writers no doubt had fun with creating the episode and the references to the MLP fandom, but putting that aside it does sort of just go all over the place with it's narrative and feels pretty incoherent, especially if you don't really 'get' the fandom references. It doesn't really surprise me that, in my view at least, people's enjoyment of the episode tends to correlate with how much they enjoy MLP fanon, and for me it's definitely more of an episode I respect/appreciate than one I actually enjoy watching. As I've said in the past, The Simpsons' '22 Short Films About Springfield' did this sort of episode much better IMO, at least on the basis of just how each plot felt connected to some extent or another.

(man i rambled for much more than i intended to)

Edited April 21, 2022 by ExpitheCat

[Stancet 687]

7 hours ago, snowfall_shy said:

i don't get the season 9 hate so much. season 8 i understand but i don't get why s9 is posed as worse than it for a lot of people. i actually really liked a lot of the episodes from s9 personally

I kind of agree with you. Part of it was the obvious fact that all the story threads were being concluded at the same time, and a larger part was the reveal of Grogar actually being Discord to everypony's disappointment. But there was enjoyment to be had in Season 9, and since I am not one of the show's staff I try to be mature by saying it's not my job to tell the creators how to end their show. Most fans who hate Season 9 would probably do it worse.

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

1 hour ago, Stancet said:

I kind of agree with you. Part of it was the obvious fact that all the story threads were being concluded at the same time, and a larger part was the reveal of Grogar actually being Discord to everypony's disappointment. But there was enjoyment to be had in Season 9, and since I am not one of the show's staff I try to be mature by saying it's not my job to tell the creators how to end their show. Most fans who hate Season 9 would probably do it worse.

Well, purely ideas wise I have liked 99% of fan suggested ideas for Season 9 more than what they actually did with Season 9, so I don't entirely agree with that. But most fans aren't professional writers, so of course it's kind of a given they might not be able to actually write those ideas as well, doesn't invalidate their criticisms though.

Edited April 21, 2022 by BastementSparkle

[Stancet 687]

10 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

Well, purely ideas wise I have liked 99% of fan suggested ideas for Season 9 more than what they actually did with Season 9, so I don't entirely agree with that. But most fans aren't professional writers, so of course it's kind of a given they might not be able to actually write those ideas as well, doesn't invalidate their criticisms though.

I'll probably take back what I said earlier. You probably explained better what I was trying to say. I have ideas too, but I prefer to be thankful for what I got. That's because I'm too easygoing nowadays.

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

2 minutes ago, Stancet said:

I'll probably take back what I said earlier. You probably explained better what I was trying to say. I have ideas too, but I prefer to be thankful for what I got. That's because I'm too easygoing nowadays.

I was like that for most of the show, but Season 9 manages to turn me into a Quibble Pants type person every time I think of it without fail. 

[Stancet 687]

7 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

I was like that for most of the show, but Season 9 manages to turn me into a Quibble Pants type person every time I think of it without fail. 

Well... me too... on one or two points.

[Totally Nyx 36,007]

Here's an opinion I'm probably alone in. I actually really liked Newbie Dash.

[EpicEnergy 23,168]

9 hours ago, Totally Nyx said:

Here's an opinion I'm probably alone in. I actually really liked Newbie Dash.

Spoiler

Just kidding 

I liked a little, except that one part where Rainbow Dash copied her friends too much and pretended to be like them. That was one of the few times FiM made me cringe so hard.

 

[ponyuiqfh1i9f8jj298fuj2 38]

11 hours ago, Stancet said:

I kind of agree with you. Part of it was the obvious fact that all the story threads were being concluded at the same time, and a larger part was the reveal of Grogar actually being Discord to everypony's disappointment. But there was enjoyment to be had in Season 9, and since I am not one of the show's staff I try to be mature by saying it's not my job to tell the creators how to end their show. Most fans who hate Season 9 would probably do it worse.

yeah that part was kinda weird but i think the actual episodes were better. also it's still way less bad than the school of friendship imo

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Season 1 and some of the season 2 put me to sleep though.... The rest of the seasons didn't....

But all in all the fandom....

I actually enjoyed all the seasons.... Until I joined the fandom... 

Also why I'm greatfull to have watched all the seasons without fandom influence.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Kujamih

[Spidey10 846]

Fame And Misfortune wasn't that bad. And Putting Your Hoof Down was quite good.

[SergioFernandez 33]

I always saw Spike as a teenager, and that's why I never had a problem shipping Sparity...

[North Star 5,209]

52 minutes ago, Kujamih said:

Season 1 and some of the season 2 put me to sleep though.... The rest of the seasons didn't....

But all in all the fandom....

I actually enjoyed all the seasons.... Until I joined the fandom... 

Also why I'm greatfull to have watched all the seasons without fandom influence.

came here looking for fans trashing the show and get fans being trashed instead  I mean it is an unpopular opinions thread

don't know if this is 'unpopular' or not, but I have mixed feelings about GM Berrow as the writer of the new Gen pony. On the one hoof she makes cute pony media, but she ain't a badflank like Faust  

[Tacodidra 61,046]

I prefer pretty much all the pop-influenced songs in the series (the ones with clear verses and choruses) to the more musical-influenced ones. The former are just catchier and thus more memorable to me, the latter work in the context of the show but I rarely go back to them.

I like the Student 6, especially Ocellus (surprise!) and Smolder. I always felt having a large cast of characters made the show more interesting, even if it sometimes meant my absolute favorite characters didn't get to appear in every episode.

While Pony Life was nowhere near the quality of FIM, I found it alright and thought season 2 was a significant improvement over the first one. Some of the new characters were nice, too – I thought the Wild Siders were an interesting group of characters, just a shame they were swept aside so quickly (I couldn't help but wonder how much more FIM would have done with them and the whole idea of a "wild" alternative universe, or Potion Nova for that matter).

Edited May 3, 2022 by Tacodidra