Saturday, October 19, 2019

My Final Thoughts on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Consider this the season nine overview, as it's the closest to one I'll bother writing. I just don't have the energy nor the time to write one out. By the time I got to The Last Problem, I had completely underestimated how disinterested I'd been in the show. There are a lot of reasons as to why, but there are three big ones.

The first one is the fandom. And in case anyone comments, I do believe that not every fan is awful, but there are those who attack people because they have views that don't agree with theirs; in fact, I received a chewing out over what I said about Sparkle's SevenFrenemiesThe Last Crusade, Between Dark and Dawn and The Summer Sun Setback. I have absolutely zero regret in tearing them apart (although in hindsight, I felt I was too generous towards The Last Crusade; since the review was posted, I decided that it now deserves an Atrocious score (-10/10) because of implications regarding child neglect), and I stand by what I said about each of those episodes. Regarding those who can't accept that everybody is different, including their opinions, they can fuck off for all I care. The same applies to those who attacked Jim Miller on Twitter over the early Dutch leaks. How can they be expected to preach "love and tolerate" if they don't even follow that philosophy?

The second reason is the content distribution. For the the last few seasons, it's been absolutely dreadful, especially with seasons eight and nine. For the latter, episodes were leaked early in English in China, sometimes two episodes a week, and by the time they've properly aired in America, the hype will have been pissed away and there won't be anything new to talk about. And then what? The only thing I can think of is Equestria Girls, and even then, shorts come out once a week (unless they were leaked early elsewhere).

And then there's the last (and possibly most controversial) reason: the show is fucking boring. I mean, my God, season nine was an absolute slog to sit through. If I wasn't dedicated to writing up weekly reviews, I'd have quit watching at The Point of No Return. It got so bad, I thought I'd be better off watching season six again; at least that was able to keep my attention for the most part! It did have good episodes - Common Ground and The Big Mac Question being the best of the season - but the majority of them were forgettable at best (Going to Seed) and downright horrendous at worst (A Trivial Pursuit), and some even presented some of the most toxic lessons that the show had ever taught. Episodes like The Last Crusade are a prime example as to why you should proofread your scripts; if you don't, you're going to end up implanting unfortunate implications without knowing it.

The point of season nine, from what I understand, was to have Twilight taking over for Celestia and Luna, but even then, it barely got any focus from half of the season and a lot of the episodes felt like those you'd see in seasons 1-7 (as well as parts of 8). There has been a lot of wasted potential for tying up loose ends in the series; are there other zebras like Zecora? What became of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon after Crusaders of the Lost Mark? What were Babs Seed's fellow Crusaders from Manehattan like? (There's more I'm probably missing, but you get my point.) But instead, they focus on boring as piss rehashings that it gets to the point you end up comparing them to older episodes.

It'd be easy to blame Jim Miller and co. for the problems season nine had faced, but it's on the writers entirely to make their ideas work, and they haven't cared in the slightest about telling an interesting story with the ideas thrown their way. It takes a lot of thought and effort to make something entertaining to everyone. Instead, they gave us the worst season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. As much as I've been critical towards season six, I felt that they were at least trying to tell entertaining stories and in some cases, they failed spectacularly. Is season nine the worst of any kid's show? No, it's the laziest and most boring, but it's at least in the range.

So where will things go for me in the future? Honestly, I'm not sure, but whatever it is, there's no turning back; I've been enjoying new things like the DC Super Hero Girls reboot (also created by Lauren Faust), I'll continue to enjoy Thomas and Friends for as long as I allow myself, and there's the likes of 101 Dalmatian Street I'm thinking of checking out. Life is too short to think about the things you don't enjoy; as of now, I don't enjoy My Little Pony anymore.

I don't like dealing with shitty fans and their shitty behavior, I don't like the idea of early content only to wait weeks for the next episode to air, I don't like seeing the writers rehash ideas that have already been done in the past, and most of all, I don't enjoy watching something that's supposed to be entertaining that's boring me to death. I'd much rather watch Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice or hell, even Foodfight!. Watching either would've been far more entertaining than the garbage that MLP had put out this year.

And... that's that. My last ever take on a franchise that's gotten worse since 2015 (despite some improvement with 2017 and, to some extent, 2018). And no, I'm not going to bother with Generation 5; good, bad, or in-between. These days, companies like Hasbro don't seem to care about the quality of the content they distribute just as long as they're making money. If you ask me, the franchise ought to be put to bed for good; there's nowhere left for it to go except... just sell toys, I guess. It's like it doesn't know what it wants to be in the future.

But that's just my two cents on the matter. If the kids still enjoy it, especially since it's aimed at them, more power to them. Same goes for the older fans who liked Generation 4. After venting all my grievances, I feel like I finally have some closure with my relationship with the show, and now I can look forward to the future.

Farewell, and thank you for reading and putting up with my rambling for the past several months.

17 comments:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fTxGFm-RnI&list=PLlFpcK7SW6p4TPQXqAmsyKCD7ktX4rAoX&index=33&t=0s

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    1. The comics started going bad when the main series hit #25, that issue wrecked the comics forever.

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    2. Well comics got back to their roots with issue 40 and onward.

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    3. I don't care either way, it lost me.

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  2. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. While I still like a good amount of the characters, early parts of the show, plush, some fan games, fan art (with some exceptions), I'm still disappointed at how the show got worse over time and ended up being such a waste of time in the end, especially with the finale. I'm sad to hear that you ended up losing your interest in the franchise, and sadly, I think it may have happened with other people, a lot of fan artists and creators I liked left and/or stopped with content based on the show.

    I think I may not watch Beast Morphers anymore also if Hasbro's going to treat it the way they treated MLP in the end (similar to how Saban treated the majority of its Power Rangers shows in the Neo-Saban era).

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    1. And also, the whole "love and tolerate" thing for MLP sadly basically ended up becoming a polite way for them to say "FUCK YOU HATER!!!"

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  3. ...wow, this seems like a pretty raw topic for you right now. I just have a few remarks:

    1) I'm so sorry for the shabby treatment you've received from some fans. I personally disagree with many of your reviews, but you usually make your case well and don't go giving others grief.

    2) ...yeah, there's absolutely no defending DHX's (lack of) cybersecurity.

    3) You're absolutely right that the writers have to make whatever ideas they have work, but working on a licensed property is a bit different than working on a creator-driven project. I can tell your for an absolute fact that the lack of follow-up on zebras and Diamond Tiara were both Hasbro-level mandates. I'm not sure about their reasons for the former, but regarding the latter, the higher-ups apparently thought Crusaders of the Lost Mark was the end of Diamond Tiara's story. Also, the rotating cast of writers DEFINITELY didn't help matters.

    4) I hope that you soften your stance on My Little Pony at some point, but if not, I wish you luck in your future endeavors. Either way, we'll always have Canterlot.

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  4. Guys I've been having problems with Tonya Alleyne on YouTube talking about the series finale and every time I throw at him with my opinions he brushes them off. Like I tried telling how season 9 doesn't make sense, the royal sisters are immortal, Greek mythology, but he said it does make sense and alicorn immortality was never canon and told me to grow up.

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    1. Just ignore and block him, shitty fanboys who can't respect opinions are useless to talk to/argue with, and he sounds like one of those fanboys who can't take criticism and accepts literally anything handed to him, without thought, simply because there are colorful ponies in it.

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    2. Tonya, the person you're having problems with. I've read his comments and he's just very butthurt and can't take criticism/negative opinions from fans.

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  5. Everything you just said about Season 9 was taken out of my mouth. Season 9 has been nothing but a confusing and wasted mess.

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  6. Honestly, Best Gift Ever feels more like a series finale than the actual series finale. That is depressing.

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  7. I can certainly see on why not every MLP Fan did not enjoy the Finale of the show, I was surprised on how you hated the Finale Season, but to be polite, I respect your opinion, Zack. :)

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  8. I've seen friends of mine say MLP's ending was better than Steven Universe's and.. no, I'm sorry, we could talk about how that ending might not work for everyone, but at least it felt like a send off and had a lot of heart behind it.

    Season 9 of MLP broke me, I actively can't bring myself to watch the show again anymore, all I see now is a waste of my time and potential

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