Which writer is as good as Lauren?

[Freewave 1,145]

1. Season 3 was consistently above the series average. Even the worst episodes wouldn't qualify for worst 3 in any other season.

2. Season 1, if you average it's episodes out, is way, way worse than Season 3.

3. Lol at pacing. The show in general has problems with that, and Season 1 was a much worse offender than Season 3- and Season 2 is about on par.

4. None of the high points?

It has Pinkie's best episode(Too Many Pinkie Pies is far better on the whole than any other Pinkie episode, and has all of one real issue- Twilight being too Trigger Happy).

It has Sleepless in Ponyville and Magic Duel.

It had the first good Merriweather episode.

It had the strongest two-parter up to that as far as writing goes(RoH was so much fun, but it has a lot of problems. Kinda how Feeling Pinkie Keen is drop dead hilarious, but falls apart completely in the plot department, but not as extreme. The Pilot's second episode is pretty bad, and ACW is saved by everything but the writing, which is pretty bad).

 

1. Again not having the worst episodes didn't mean you had the best episodes.

I had 5 of my top 30 eps from s3 and the top one was #21. None broke the top 20

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/my_top_30_favorite_mlp_episodes/

Again that's an opinion but a very calculated one.

2. Nah not really, the second half of the season had some of my favorite episodes. Again see the above list.

3.Nope, i dont think pacing became a big gaping problem until S3. Just look at the season premier's and finale's as prime examples.

4. Pinkie's best epsiode is regarded as Party of One. That's one of the top 5 if not the top in a lot of people's book.

[RWB2 17]

1. Again not having the worst episodes didn't mean you had the best episodes.

I had 5 of my top 30 eps from s3 and the top one was #21. None broke the top 20

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScientist/my_top_30_favorite_mlp_episodes/

Again that's an opinion but a very calculated one.

2. Nah not really, the second half of the season had some of my favorite episodes. Again see the above list.

3.Nope, i dont think pacing became a big gaping problem until S3. Just look at the season premier's and finale's as prime examples.

4. Pinkie's best epsiode is regarded as Party of One. That's one of the top 5 if not the top in a lot of people's book.

 

 

 

 

You have Pinkie Keen and Bridle Gossip in your top 20. Putting Your Hoof Down in the Top 6.

 

FPK does everything that isn't humour wrong. Characters are dumb and out of character, plot is forced beyond belief, and the moral is just bad.

 

BG is anti-racism done badly. 

 

Putting your hoof down is worse in terms of writing than MMDW, and is essentially just Boast Busters but with good humor.

 

Also, including all two-parters except Sombra in the Top 16 is scary, since all of them are ridden with bad writing, especially ACW and the Pilot.

 

All these episodes would adorn a Bottom 10 list if I made one. 

 

 

We aren't gonna agree anytime soon, since more than half of your top 30 would be rated terribly low on my list... even ones that I like despite their flaws like FPK and PYHD.

[dekutree64 711]

I must agree with the choir. Lauren's character and world design skills are excellent, but I'm not much a fan of her actual story writing. The first 3 episodes were decent, but nowhere near the top of the heap. And from what I've heard in interviews, it sounds like her original plan was for the show to be 3 seasons, culminating in Twilight becoming an alicorn and replacing Celestia. Much much better the way the new writers have done, having her join Celestia and continue the story as friends.

 

As for favorite writers, Meghan is #1 for me. Canterlot Wedding is still the best episode(s) of the series, but the S4 opener is up there as well, along with many others. And even though I don't like Equestria Girls all that much, it's still way better than I expected, and avoided most of the annoying movie tropes I was dreading.

 

Other favorites are Corey Powell (Sleepless in Ponyville is second best episode), M.A. Larson, and Cindy Morrow.

 

Not much a fan of Dave Polsky or Merriwether Williams... although I do like Dragon Quest. Why does everyone hate on it so much?

[Forlong 1,725]

I'm sorry but season 3 as a whole was the weakest. Half the length, none of the high points, and many episodes consistently rushed with poor pacing. It wasn't consistently GOOD, its was consistently AVERAGE.That's nothing to feel proud of when you have a fanbase as big as MLP following it.

Oh the lack of logic.

1. Length is meaningless.  If you want to make it a sticking point, compare season 3 to the first and second halves of the other seasons.  Or just rate them based on average.
2. Scootaloo episode.  Your point is invalidated.
3. Rushed?  I have to heartily disagree.  The only episode with questionable pacing is Magical Mystery Cure.
4. Season 1 had twice as many episodes, but has three times the number of generally disliked episodes.  Faust followers really need to take a long hard look at season 1 before declaring the third the worst.
5. Can't wait to hear the stupid excuses you come up with to hate season 4.  I know it's coming.

[hawkflame 3,310]

I think people are being unfair to Lauren here regarding the pilot. The first episodes are probably the hardest to write because you have to establish the characters and the world upon which everything is based. Only after that can you really stretch and flesh things out and really play with the ideas you're given. Everything in the later episodes are only enriched because we know who they are and where their friendship comes from. Is it the best story? Maybe not. But as far as setting up the series, it's fantastic.

 

And as far as far as who's the best writer, remember that just because a writer is the only one credited doesn't mean that he or she is the sole person behind the script. I don't remember the exact details of the writing process, but I do recall the staff saying it was a collaborative effort. I know that , for instance, Charlotte Fullerton didn't write the line "20% cooler" even though that was in her episode- I believe she said at a com that either Lauren or Rob Renzetti came up with that one.

 

And I have to agree with Freewave regarding season 3. There were four episodes out of 13 that I genuinely disliked (Crystal empire two parter, Keep Calm and Flutter On, Spike at your service) and had some issues with Magical Mystery Cure, which I generally liked. That's not a good percentage. I can't think of 8 episodes out of 26 from the first season that I disliked as much.

Edited November 26, 2013 by hawkflame

[Hansel 1,511]

I think people are being unfair to Lauren here regarding the pilot. The first episodes are probably the hardest to write because you have to establish the characters and the world upon which everything is based. Only after that can you really stretch and flesh things out and really play with the ideas you're given. Everything in the later episodes are only enriched because we know who they are and where their friendship comes from. Is it the best story? Maybe not. But as far as setting up the series, it's fantastic.

 

This is very true, but we can only judge her story writing ability by what we've seen, and whilst the pilot episodes had a very interesting concept and a lot of potential, it was poorly executed imo. 

 

I'm not saying she's a bad story writer, I believe she was one of the main writers for Foster's, and she did a pretty good job on that, but as far as MLP goes, she did a far better job at creating the over-all concept for the show as opposed to writing specific episodes. (which is made even more evident by the fact that the pilots had interesting ideas, but they weren't told as well as they could have.)

Edited November 26, 2013 by Hansel

[hawkflame 3,310]

This is very true, but we can only judge her story writing ability by what we've seen, and whilst the pilot episodes had a very interesting concept and a lot of potential, it was poorly executed imo.

 

I'm not sure what else she could have done, though. She had to set up this entire world, establish the characters, and tell a two part epic at the same time. And for what it was, the pilot wasn't that bad. Was it the most entertaining episode of all? No. But the fact that it was able to do its job as well as it did speaks to the effort put into it.

[RWB2 17]

I think people are being unfair to Lauren here regarding the pilot. The first episodes are probably the hardest to write because you have to establish the characters and the world upon which everything is based. Only after that can you really stretch and flesh things out and really play with the ideas you're given. Everything in the later episodes are only enriched because we know who they are and where their friendship comes from. Is it the best story? Maybe not. But as far as setting up the series, it's fantastic.

 

And as far as far as who's the best writer, remember that just because a writer is the only one credited doesn't mean that he or she is the sole person behind the script. I don't remember the exact details of the writing process, but I do recall the staff saying it was a collaborative effort. I know that , for instance, Charlotte Fullerton didn't write the line "20% cooler" even though that was in her episode- I believe she said at a com that either Lauren or Rob Renzetti came up with that one.

And I have to agree with Freewave regarding season 3. There were four episodes out of 13 that I genuinely disliked (Crystal empire two parter, Keep Calm and Flutter On, Spike at your service) and had some issues with Magical Mystery Cure, which I generally liked. That's not a good percentage. I can't think of 8 episodes out of 26 from the first season that I disliked as much.

 

Actually, I think the pilot is solid... as far as pilots go. It's just when people start comparing it favorably when compared to more solid episodes it becomes problematic.

 

The Crystal Empire might have problems, but it's a better written two-parter. The Pilot doesn't get to excuse itself with the fact that it's the pilot. 

 

 

Heck, the Pilot is the one thing actually already up the blog in my sig:

 

http://mlpforums.com/blog/1348/entry-8371-review-friendship-is-magic-part-1-and-2/

 

"Friendship is Magic is a pretty good pilot(mostly due to the strong first episode). It has a lot of problems, but most pilots do, since the writers haven't quite learned to play to their strengths yet. "

 

 

 

I understand that Lauren did some really important work with both the Pilot, overseeing the later projects and so on. However, this doesn't change the fact that she didn't write a single episode that would quite qualify for great, and several other writers did(Megan, Larson).  

[Hansel 1,511]

I'm not sure what else she could have done, though. She had to set up this entire world, establish the characters, and tell a two part epic at the same time. And for what it was, the pilot wasn't that bad. Was it the most entertaining episode of all? No. But the fact that it was able to do its job as well as it did speaks to the effort put into it.

 

It did do the job, and as far as I'm concerned, it was okay. The second part was incredibly tedious, though. I felt really bored watching it, and this is was what I mean by "poorly executed" The concept was good, the characters and world were introduced very well, the setup to the story was... okay, but the telling of the story, the journey (both metaphorically and actually) were... meh.  

 

However, It did actually have better pacing then any of the other 2 parters, though, so I'll give it that.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Hansel

[Freewave 1,145]

 

Oh the lack of logic.

1. Length is meaningless. That's not what my wife says If you want to make it a sticking point, compare season 3 to the first and second halves of the other seasons.  Or just rate them based on average.
2. Scootaloo episode (without touching upon his being an orphan or handicapped). 
3. Rushed? The only episode with questionable pacing is Magical Mystery Cure, and the premiere, and a few other episodes int he middle. Ooops nevermind
4. Season 1 had twice as many episodes, but has three times the number of generally disliked episodes. Got any real stats? Faust followers really need to take a long hard look at season 1 before declaring the third the worst.
5. Can't wait to hear the stupid excuses you come up with to hate season 4.  I know it's coming. I'm waiting at my keyboard in sheer anticipation. What? Mom? No I don't want to clean my room, I'm busy!!

 

Why bother, you're butthurt because i don't have the same opinion as you and you clearly look like you want an argument. If you guys want to rally around s3 as being the pinnacle of the series despite the lack of strong episodes, with a year long GAP between seasons where people wait around bored, with Equestria Girls added int he mix, and WITH a rather sizable exodus of a chunk of the fandom the go ahead and put on your tin foil hats and feel smug. It's not that strong, the songs aren't that good (Bab's Seed and Raise This Barn), and there's things they could have done better. It's no season 2. That's simply the way i see it.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Freewave

[RWB2 17]

Season 2 is stronger than Season 3, yes(but also very up and down in quality). Season 1 is far worse than both, though.

[Forlong 1,725]

And I have to agree with Freewave regarding season 3. There were four episodes out of 13 that I genuinely disliked (Crystal empire two parter, Keep Calm and Flutter On, Spike at your service) and had some issues with Magical Mystery Cure, which I generally liked. That's not a good percentage. I can't think of 8 episodes out of 26 from the first season that I disliked as much.

Based on your experience with the season, and only yours.  Yeah that doesn't sound egotistical at all.

General opinion (not just yours or mine) is that three episodes don't work (Spike at Your Service, Just For Sidekicks, and Games Ponies Play) and that six were good (The Crystal Empire, Too Many Pinkie Pies, Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolts Academy).  The remaining 4 are either regarded as average or leave the fandom divided.

 

Why bother, you're butthurt because i don't have the same opinion as you and you clearly look like you want an argument. If you guys want to rally around s3 as being the pinnacle of the series despite the lack of strong episodes, with a year long GAP between seasons where people wait around bored, with Equestria Girls added int he mix, and WITH a rather sizable exodus of a chunk of the fandom the go ahead and put on your tin foil hats and feel smug. It's not that strong, the songs aren't that good (Bab's Seed and Raise This Barn), and there's things they could have done better. It's no season 2. That's simply the way i see it.

 

So responding to me is a waste of time?  I had no idea your time was worthless.  Also, don't type in the quote boxes, please (unless it's to correct spelling and/or grammar errors).  It makes it unnecessarily more difficult to continue a debate that way.

 

1. Sleepless in Ponyville not being the Scootaloo episode you expected is irrelevant.  A lot of episodes are not what you expected and that has no effect on their quality.
2. Please explain how all those episodes felt rushed.  I'm not just going to take your word for it that The Crystal Empire was rushed, because you're the first person I've heard that from, up against dozens of people who reported no issues with pacing in that episode.
3. Indeed I do.  No MLP "Worst episodes" list complete without The Show Stoppers, The Ticket Master, Feeling Pinkie Keen, or Bridle Gossip.  Season 1 has as many disliked episodes as the second and third combined.
4. I don't recall saying season 3 was the pinnacle of the series, just better than you pretend it is.  Season 3 has Too Many Pinkie Pies, Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolts Acedemy.  Lacking in strong episodes my back-left.
5. The time between season 3 and 4 is meaningless.
6. Please provide evidence that bronies actually left the fandom, rather than just claim that they would.  FYI: no one did.
7. Even if you try to do actual research, you'll find that only about 20% of bronies even really thought of leaving the fandom.  And you're pretending that the overwhelming super-majority is only filled with crazy people.  That sure makes sense. :okiedokielokie:
8. "Babs Seed" and "Raise This Barn" are generally loved.  And I don't like "Babs Seed".  Our opinion on that song does not reflect the opinion of that masses.
9. And now you're comparing season 3 to some mythical season that exists only in your head?   You can't judge an episode for not being something else.  That's just stupid.  You have to judge episodes based on how well they do what they are trying to do.  I can't believe there exists someone that needs this explained.

[hawkflame 3,310]

 

Based on your experience with the season, and only yours. Yeah that doesn't sound egotistical at all.

 

And since when is giving my opinion, especially since I never gave any pretense of it being anything other than my opinion, "egotistical?"

[Stellafera 3,836]

Why bother, you're butthurt because i don't have the same opinion as you and you clearly look like you want an argument. If you guys want to rally around s3 as being the pinnacle of the series despite the lack of strong episodes, with a year long GAP between seasons where people wait around bored, with Equestria Girls added int he mix, and WITH a rather sizable exodus of a chunk of the fandom the go ahead and put on your tin foil hats and feel smug. It's not that strong, the songs aren't that good (Bab's Seed and Raise This Barn), and there's things they could have done better. It's no season 2. That's simply the way i see it.

 

If I like Season 3 the most and it had two out of my top 3 favorite episodes and Season 1 was my least favorite season with only one episode (Suited For Success) ranking particularly high for me... what does that say about that?

 

What it says is that "strong episode" is very much a matter of opinion.

[Freewave 1,145]

 

Based on your experience with the season, and only yours.  Yeah that doesn't sound egotistical at all.

General opinion (not just yours or mine) is that three episodes don't work (Spike at Your Service, Just For Sidekicks, and Games Ponies Play) and that six were good (The Crystal Empire, Too Many Pinkie Pies, Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolts Academy).  The remaining 4 are either regarded as average or leave the fandom divided.

 

 

So responding to me is a waste of time?  I had no idea your time was worthless.  Also, don't type in the quote boxes, please (unless it's to correct spelling and/or grammar errors).  It makes it unnecessarily more difficult to continue a debate that way.

 

1. Sleepless in Ponyville not being the Scootaloo episode you expected is irrelevant.  A lot of episodes are not what you expected and that has no effect on their quality.
2. Please explain how all those episodes felt rushed.  I'm not just going to take your word for it that The Crystal Empire was rushed, because you're the first person I've heard that from, up against dozens of people who reported no issues with pacing in that episode.
3. Indeed I do.  No MLP "Worst episodes" list complete without The Show Stoppers, The Ticket Master, Feeling Pinkie Keen, or Bridle Gossip.  Season 1 has as many disliked episodes as the second and third combined.
4. I don't recall saying season 3 was the pinnacle of the series, just better than you pretend it is.  Season 3 has Too Many Pinkie Pies, Magic Duel, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolts Acedemy.  Lacking in strong episodes my back-left.
5. The time between season 3 and 4 is meaningless.
6. Please provide evidence that bronies actually left the fandom, rather than just claim that they would.  FYI: no one did.
7. Even if you try to do actual research, you'll find that only about 20% of bronies even really thought of leaving the fandom.  And you're pretending that the overwhelming super-majority is only filled with crazy people.  That sure makes sense. :okiedokielokie:
8. "Babs Seed" and "Raise This Barn" are generally loved.  And I don't like "Babs Seed".  Our opinion on that song does not reflect the opinion of that masses.
9. And now you're comparing season 3 to some mythical season that exists only in your head?   You can't judge an episode for not being something else.  That's just stupid.  You have to judge episodes based on how well they do what they are trying to do.  I can't believe there exists someone that needs this explained.

 

 

The Discord picture is pretty appropriate because you're pretty deliberately trolling my opinion, thinking yours is superior, and continuing to look for an argument.  I thought the top s3 episodes (i had 5 in my top30) still had some pretty big flaws. Too Many Pinkie Pie's climax was watching paint dry and he friends couldn't tell who the real Pinkie was? Trixie and Twi's magic battle wasn't a battle at all but a game of magical Hoops with one just trying to outdo the other. Not near as epic as the Ursa Minor finale. Discord trolling Fluttershy all ep but somehow deciding to be the nice guy at the last moment?  The premiere two-parter didn't establish Sombra as well as it could have and had pacing issues. Scootaloo and Flight Academy are both solid, just not as high up in my mind.

 

You argue that the fanbase doesn't like much of season one but do you have REAL statistic to back that up and show that season 3 was viewed as stronger? Don't ask me to provide evidence to you if you don't have any yourself to back up your own opinions.

 

I look at season 3 from a musician's perspective and most of the orginal brony musicians left during and after the season and many didn't spend a lot of time writing about half of the episodes. How Many Spike at Your Service, Games Ponies Play, Just For Sidekicks themed songs do you know, not a whole lot!!. Making music in the fandom it was completely apprent that fannon is dependent on strong cannon. If it dries up as it did in season 3 then it hurts the fanbase.

 

Tombstone, Alex S, Silva, H8 Seed, Glaze, Jackleapp, and COUNTLESS others left because they stopped feeling like the show inspired their music and because they thought the show and the fanbase was "dying out". If you really did not see any of the backlash and worry about this community with season 3 and with nearly a whole year off then you had your eyes and ears closed. I moderate on MLR music forum and its incredibly apparent that making music about the show isn't as strong or important as it used to be to a lot of people. It was also apparent on THIS forum in countless threads (we have a whole Twilicorn section here for all the drama) and outside of it.

 

Let's just agree that a FULL season 4 has the opportunity to be a better season, shall we? Going back and forth is dumb if we're arguing about our own opinions which we agree differ significantly.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Freewave

[Nerdy Luigi 2,064]

All of them do a wonderful job really. Some of them miss a little bit (mostly those written by McCarthy, except S4 episodes)

[Forlong 1,725]

The Discord picture is pretty appropriate because you're pretty deliberately trolling my opinion, thinking yours is superior, and continuing to look for an argument.  I thought the top s3 episodes (i had 5 in my top30) still had some pretty big flaws. Too Many Pinkie Pie's climax was watching paint dry and he friends couldn't tell who the real Pinkie was? Trixie and Twi's magic battle wasn't a battle at all but a game of magical Hoops with one just trying to outdo the other. Not near as epic as the Ursa Minor finale. Discord trolling Fluttershy all ep but somehow deciding to be the nice guy at the last moment?  The premiere two-parter didn't establish Sombra as well as it could have and had pacing issues. Scootaloo and Flight Academy are both solid, just not as high up in my mind.

And yet you keep coming back.  Stop lying to yourself.  If you really thought responding to me was a waste of time, you wouldn't respond to me.  Also, you rank nearly half of the episodes of season 3 in your top 30, and say it's a weak season?  In case you don't know the math, the 25 remaining episodes on your list cover about half of the episodes in seasons 1 and 2.  As for your criticisms...

 

In Too Many Pinkie Pies, it was made quite clear that the clones memorized basic information about Ponyville, making the difference less obvious.  Also, Twilight hadn't seen Pinkie with the clones for as long we did.  As for the watching paint dry test being boring: THAT WAS THE POINT!

 

In Magic Duel, Trixie's motive was to humiliate Twilight, not kill her.  Also, the point of a duel is to test skills without killing anyone.  And Twilight pointed out even that was a bit extreme for Trixie.  You're complaining that Trixie wasn't completely out of character.

 

And once again, where are these mythical pacing issues in The Crystal Empire that you keep going on about?

 

 

You argue that the fanbase doesn't like much of season one but do you have REAL statistic to back that up and show that season 3 was viewed as stronger? Don't ask me to provide evidence to you if you don't have any yourself to back up your own opinions.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.830628-Poll-My-Little-Pony-Your-favourite-season

 

 

I look at season 3 from a musician's perspective and most of the orginal brony musicians left during and after the season and many didn't spend a lot of time writing about half of the episodes. How Many Spike at Your Service, Games Ponies Play, Just For Sidekicks themed songs do you know, not a whole lot!!. Making music in the fandom it was completely apprent that fannon is dependent on strong cannon. If it dries up as it did in season 3 then it hurts the fanbase.

Judging MLP as a musician's perspective is pretty absurd because IT ISN'T A SONG.  As a TV show, it has a completely different structure than music.  Also it is not a writers job to inspire rookies.  That is some pretty silly criticism.  "Facehoof" sums it up quite well.

 

 

Tombstone, Alex S, Silva, H8 Seed, Glaze, Jackleapp, and COUNTLESS others left because they stopped feeling like the show inspired their music and because they thought the show and the fanbase was "dying out". If you really did not see any of the backlash and worry about this community with season 3 and with nearly a whole year off then you had your eyes and ears closed. I moderate on MLR music forum and its incredibly apparent that making music about the show isn't as strong or important as it used to be to a lot of people. It was also apparent on THIS forum in countless threads (we have a whole Twilicorn section here for all the drama) and outside of it.

How is the fandom dying?  And you can't use those guys leaving as the core to the argument, because that would be circular logic.  Allow me to answer for you: it isn't.  Check out the brony analysis community.  They all have more subscribers than ever before.  You isolated the creative bronies, and only the song writers in that group, to claim that the fandom as a whole is dying.  It's just like the Faust Followers saying that because they don't like the direction of season 3, that it isn't part of the "original vision" of the show.  You want to elevate the importance of your opinion, even though you're a very small part of a bigger whole.

[Zygen 6,065]

Actually Lauren wasn't really that memorable for the 3 episodes she wrote, being the first three ever essentially.

 

She is memorable more for her ability to create the concept and the base she did for the show, which was expanded upon by the other writers on the show.

 

So really almost all the writers if not all are better writers then Lauren. However Lauren was great at building the base for the great show we call mlp

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

As everyone else has mentioned, Lauren only directly wrote three episodes ("Friendship is Magic, Part 1 and 2" and "The Ticket Mater"), the latter of which was co-written by Amy Keating Rogers. Bear in mind that these were really the first three written in terms of the overall production of the series -- and if I remember correctly, "The Ticket Master" was written even before the pilot. Originally MLP was designed to have two 13 minute episodes; thus "The Ticket Master" results in some very uneven pacing and general early installment weirdness (e.g., Spike doesn't have a crush on Rarity; Pinkie and AJ can somehow levitate the tickets over their heads). "Friendship is Magic" is likewise prone to a slower pace, but this may have been unavoidable due to the fact the show had to take the time to introduce the premise properly. Even so, I tend to think Lauren's strengths rested with world building, not necessarily dialogue or weaving together the action.

 

Season 1 is probably the most inconsistent of the three full seasons shown thus far. I don't blame Lauren in any way; rather, I think the entire staff was searching for their comfort zones with the characters and setting. Toward the end of the season the episodes became consistently stronger and the characters more fully developed. Do you recall how Rarity came off as a shallow fashionista for the first half of the season, only to rebound with "A Dog and Pony Show", "Suited for Success", and "Green Isn't Your Color"? Lauren had massive input into those episodes, but writing them out and directing the action is a collaborative effort. Lauren planted the seeds and the rest of team has watered them. In short, no one person is solely responsible for the success and failures of MLP.

 

But to the point of the topic's main subject -- if you ask me who among the writers is as good as Lauren, I'm inclined to say it really depends on what you mean by "writing." Writing as it pertains to dialogue and characterization is different than mapping out the central conflicts and settings for an episode. Meghan McCarthy, M.A. Larson, Amy Keating Rogers, and even Dave Polsky are very good at dialogue; Meghan and Larson tend to get tasked with major worldbuilding episodes; Meghan handles a lot of action-oriented episodes; Polsky and Merriwether Williams excel at slapstick/physical humor; Larson, Rogers, and Corey Powell do well with keeping characters consistent. Lauren appeared her strongest as a writer when it came to worldbuilding and providing the baseline for character personalities (the latter is stacked in her favor thanks to her position as the lead developer), but I'm not so certain she always had the best sense of pacing.

[Freewave 1,145]

And yet you keep coming back.  Stop lying to yourself.  If you really thought responding to me was a waste of time, you wouldn't respond to me.  Also, you rank nearly half of the episodes of season 3 in your top 30, and say it's a weak season?  In case you don't know the math, the 25 remaining episodes on your list cover about half of the episodes in seasons 1 and 2.  As for your criticisms...

 

In Too Many Pinkie Pies, it was made quite clear that the clones memorized basic information about Ponyville, making the difference less obvious.  Also, Twilight hadn't seen Pinkie with the clones for as long we did.  As for the watching paint dry test being boring: THAT WAS THE POINT!

 

In Magic Duel, Trixie's motive was to humiliate Twilight, not kill her.  Also, the point of a duel is to test skills without killing anyone.  And Twilight pointed out even that was a bit extreme for Trixie.  You're complaining that Trixie wasn't completely out of character.

 

And once again, where are these mythical pacing issues in The Crystal Empire that you keep going on about?

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.830628-Poll-My-Little-Pony-Your-favourite-season

 

 

Judging MLP as a musician's perspective is pretty absurd because IT ISN'T A SONG.  As a TV show, it has a completely different structure than music.  Also it is not a writers job to inspire rookies.  That is some pretty silly criticism.  "Facehoof" sums it up quite well.

 

How is the fandom dying?  And you can't use those guys leaving as the core to the argument, because that would be circular logic.  Allow me to answer for you: it isn't.  Check out the brony analysis community.  They all have more subscribers than ever before.  You isolated the creative bronies, and only the song writers in that group, to claim that the fandom as a whole is dying.  It's just like the Faust Followers saying that because they don't like the direction of season 3, that it isn't part of the "original vision" of the show.  You want to elevate the importance of your opinion, even though you're a very small part of a bigger whole.

 

You're deliberately being a bit of a troll i hope you know.

 

So your "facts" on how the community views the seasons

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.830628-Poll-My-Little-Pony-Your-favourite-season

 

 

Which season of MLP is your favourite?

1

     26.5% (31)

2

      52.1% (61)

3

          6% (7)

So you quoted a source that showed the season 3 IS the public's  LEAST favorite?? By a 4 to 1 margin from season 1??? How does that backen up your argument? The thread you showed had no stats on which episodes in season 1 were the most popular or least favorite. For someone who says the "public" dislikes chunk of season one you don't have the facts to back it up.

 

Sure i have some favorites from S3 but none in my top 20. That's weak in my book and that's why it's my least favorite season. That's why the majority voted it as such.

 

Judging MLP as a musician's perspective is pretty absurd because IT ISN'T A SONG.  As a TV show, it has a completely different structure than music.  Also it is not a writers job to inspire rookies.  That is some pretty silly criticism.  "Facehoof" sums it up quite well.

 

 

How does this even.... make any sense?    Music has been a part of the show since the beginning and that's why there is musical fanbase for it. The MLP Fannon includes art, writing, and music. Each community operates differently. Just because you don't create anything in the fannon doesn't mean that there isn't a community that does.

 

I can speak from first hand how people in the music community have responded to season 3 and having a year off between seasons and its not pretty. That section of the fandom really suffered because there wasn't a whole lot to write music about in those 13 episodes and because of the monstrous gap inbetween seasons. That's a double blow frankly. That's part of the taint that is on season 3. Again you can see all the threads on MLP forums about that and not notice or you can realize that it was very much a concern. I read the threads on the MLR forum that i moderate and its all over there. I'm all for Season 4 to start so we can put season 3 far behind us.

 

You want to elevate the importance of your opinion, even though you're a very small part of a bigger whole.

 

Yet you don't see the hypocrisy that you're some how "right" that season 3 is better then season 1 even though your own facts (the link you provided) don't back it up. My individual opinion is moot if the majority hold it.

 

Let's just drop any further dialogue as this argument is getting decidedly off-topic and frankly a bit more heated then it should be.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Freewave

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

 

Oh the lack of logic.

1. Length is meaningless.  If you want to make it a sticking point, compare season 3 to the first and second halves of the other seasons.  Or just rate them based on average.

 

 

Let's not also forget that many really good animes were short by design because an entire story was planned ahead of time and told from start to finish. 

 

 

Again, I'd like to put in that season 3 would be my favorite season if not for how short it was(meaning, the writers didn't get the chance the shine like they would have if they hit that groove in a longer season that gave them more time to work with)

Edited November 29, 2013 by Shoboni

[Forlong 1,725]

So you quoted a source that showed the season 3 IS the public's  LEAST favorite?? By a 4 to 1 margin from season 1??? How does that backen up your argument? The thread you showed had no stats on which episodes in season 1 were the most popular or least favorite. For someone who says the "public" dislikes chunk of season one you don't have the facts to back it up.

So The Ticket Master, Bridle Gossip, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Griffin the Brush Off, Boast Busters, and A Bird in the Hoof were masterpieces?  Do you even pay attention to the fandom?

 

How about views on YouTube?  Season 3 has 6 episodes with more than 400,000 views, 3 of witch have over a million (with one closing on 2 million).  Despite being around much longer season 1 and 2 episodes can't seem to manage that with a lot of their episodes.  Yes, obviously more people are watching Wonderbolts Accedemy than Suited For Success because season 3 is the weaker season.

 

 

How does this even.... make any sense?    Music has been a part of the show since the beginning and that's why there is musical fanbase for it. The MLP Fannon includes art, writing, and music. Each community operates differently. Just because you don't create anything in the fannon doesn't mean that there isn't a community that does.

The purpose of a TV show is to tell a story.

The purpose of a song is self expression.

"I read a book once, and the gameplay was terrible."

 

Being a musician does not make you somehow more qualified to judge the show.  The songs in the show, maybe; but that doesn't make or break the plot of an episode.  There exists a person who needs this explained to him?

 

 

I can speak from first hand how people in the music community have responded to season 3 and having a year off between seasons and its not pretty. That section of the fandom really suffered because there wasn't a whole lot to write music about in those 13 episodes and because of the monstrous gap inbetween seasons. That's a double blow frankly. That's part of the taint that is on season 3. Again you can see all the threads on MLP forums about that and not notice or you can realize that it was very much a concern. I read the threads on the MLR forum that i moderate and its all over there. I'm all for Season 4 to start so we can put season 3 far behind us.

Once again, you're treating the musicians as if they're the backbone of the fandom.  I also like how you use their continued contribution into the fandom via discussion threads as farther evidence of their departure.  That sure makes sense.

[Freewave 1,145]

So The Ticket Master, Bridle Gossip, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Griffin the Brush Off, Boast Busters, and A Bird in the Hoof were masterpieces?  Do you even pay attention to the fandom?

 

I think there's flaws in all of those and eps like Bird in the Hoof were terrible. Just because i think season one is stronger doesn't mean that i don't notice the flaws in eps like Boast Busters or Pinkie Keen or think they are irrelevent. In the end the fandom was created in that first season but expoded in growth during the second one. It contracted a bit in the third.

 

 

How about views on YouTube?  Season 3 has 6 episodes with more than 400,000 views, 3 of witch have over a million (with one closing on 2 million).  Despite being around much longer season 1 and 2 episodes can't seem to manage that with a lot of their episodes.  Yes, obviously more people are watching Wonderbolts Accedemy than Suited For Success because season 3 is the weaker season.

 

Full eps shouldn't BE on youtube. Hasbro knocked down full ep rips and uploads many times over the last couple of years so those aren't valid stats that have been up for any long duration. Viewing something doesn't mean you like it either.

 

The purpose of a TV show is to tell a story.

The purpose of a song is self expression.

"I read a book once, and the gameplay was terrible."

 

Being a musician does not make you somehow more qualified to judge the show.  The songs in the show, maybe; but that doesn't make or break the plot of an episode.  There exists a person who needs this explained to him?

 

Once again, you're treating the musicians as if they're the backbone of the fandom.  I also like how you use their continued contribution into the fandom via discussion threads as farther evidence of their departure.  That sure makes sense.

Again you were explaining that no one in the community was leaving or saying that season 3 was a downturn in quality and i'm telling you that a lot of people WERE saying that on MLP forums, on MLR forums, and elsewhere. Only reason i brought that up for the music community is that's where I'M coming from. That's from my POV. It's coming from the people i talk to in skype chats and forums every day. The reasons for them leaving are a lot more complex then JUST the quality of the show and probably have a lot more about how easy it is to be recognized in the fandom and in careerers and popularity BUT how well the themes of the shows eps translate to music, fiction, or art DO MATTER when creating fannon. I don't care how much people value the music portion of the fanbase (you don't seem to and thats fine) but if people have nothing to create art or music ABOUT then fannon and fandom will shrink. If you don't think having people like Tombstone, Wooden Toaster, Jackleapp, Silva, H8 Seed etc etc etc etc  around effects how much confidence people have in a continuing fannon i assure you IT does. If you want to dismiss all i'm saying just to argue you own points then that's your own problem.  I've explained it, you're either listening or your not.

 

Again I don't wanto dwell on season 3's mistakes and missed opportunities. Many of the ep's overall weren't that bad anyway it was just way too short a season being the biggest problem. I want them to prove that it was smart to stick around for season 4. I'm hoping that's the case as that's why I'M still here.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Freewave

[hawkflame 3,310]

So The Ticket Master, Bridle Gossip, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Griffin the Brush Off, Boast Busters, and A Bird in the Hoof were masterpieces?  Do you even pay attention to the fandom?

 

How about views on YouTube?  Season 3 has 6 episodes with more than 400,000 views, 3 of witch have over a million (with one closing on 2 million).  Despite being around much longer season 1 and 2 episodes can't seem to manage that with a lot of their episodes.  Yes, obviously more people are watching Wonderbolts Accedemy than Suited For Success because season 3 is the weaker season.

 

Keep in mind that's not a fair comparison, because a *lot* of season 1 and 2 uploads were taken down. 

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

Again you were explaining that no one in the community was leaving or saying that season 3 was a downturn in quality and i'm telling you that a lot of people WERE saying that on MLP forums, on MLR forums, and elsewhere.

 

Again I don't wanto dwell on season 3's mistakes and missed opportunities. Many of the ep's overall weren't that bad anyway it was just way too short a season being the biggest problem. I want them to prove that it was smart to stick around for season 4. I'm hoping that's the case as that's why I'M still here.

 

I'd like to point out that(if we look at ancient brony history) people left when season 2 started because they didn't like the transition from E/I and slice-of-life-programming to more general humor and adventure. There's entire forums for fans of edutainment/life-lesson programming(like Arthur) that will tear anything not season 1 a new ass(as stupid as that sounds)

 

And I though season 1 was fine, To Many Pinkie Pies was kind of a less than steller start to the normal episodes but it got better after that.