Pony Venting Thread

@Latecomer  
Well yeah, but if all that I liked was season one then I’d personally have been gone from the fandom nine years ago. I know the fandom and the show don’t explicitly correlate but that makes this fandom pretty special and unique. The fact that people stick around way longer than they like the show certainly doesn’t seem to be the way fandoms normally work.

@EquusStorm  
Doesn’t it? I haven’t followed Disney Star Wars at all, but I still think I’m a fan…

@EquusStorm  
S1 also has the nostalgia value going for it since it’s like you said, a lot of people’s gateway into the show.

@EquusStorm  
Alot of large franchises are like this. I sit around in the Sonic fandom despite barely engaging with it at all.

I feel like Season Eight was made by people who really “get” Season One, which is probably why I got the same feeling watching S8 as I did watching S1 for the first time.

We honestly have so much fan content and still are such a big community that the show isn’t even an absolute requirement if engaging with that part of it. I’m just the kind of person who has to see all content before venturing out of the shadows…
 
There are a few other things I’m interested in, Pokémon and anime for example, but I never talk about them because I’m so far behind; I feel like I have to be 100% caught up and an absolute scholar before I even bring up something I’m interested in to not get scolded for not knowing something minor that ‘everyone should know’

@DerpyFast  
Really? I feel totally the opposite… I find Season 1 feeling pretty rare in the later ones.
 
 
@EquusStorm  
Well, I guess that does help with discussion and stuff… but honestky, there are shows I’ve never even really watched, just read about.

@Latecomer  
When was the last time you sat down and watched Season One?

@DerpyFast  
As a whole?….never? I’ve not seen more than bits and pieces of it sine it aired. The thought that younger me might fall in love with a Season 8 quality show… well, I suppose ut’s not impossible.

@Latecomer  
Partway through Season 8 I did a deep dive into Season One. Season One was ten years ago, and I feel like fans who dislike later seasons but haven’t actually watched S1 recently would have a mini existential crisis if they revisited it.
 
I say this because I like the newer seasons and I had a mini crisis after going back.

@DerpyFast  
Might give it a go then - though not sure if I want to. It was nice to have one season free of suck…

@Latecomer
 
It’s so bizarre. I’ve been in the fandom since December of 2010, and I can tell you that a lot of the show’s perceived greatness was just the fandom projecting things onto the show and/or bending over backwards to give the show the benefit out the doubt. The modern fandom would not have given Season One the time of day. When I revisited it, I found that Season One was pretty great, but for reasons mostly unrelated to the fandom’s initial hype.

@DerpyFast
 
Yeah I tried re-watching S1 with my fiance a couple years ago and legit couldn’t do it. It’s really really hard to go back from expanded lore and the now-ubiquitous expanded main cast to somewhat roughly animated tea parties and sleepovers between the mane six, when I’m now so used to them owning businesses and saving the world numerous times. It’s kind of jarring.
 
I feel like we’re kind of on the same wavelength here in terms of retrospect from a decade later haha

@EquusStorm  
The thing is, I’ve always held onto the thought that all of my friends including myself would experience the whole show together. That’s why I’ve been so persistent with them about catching up because I’ve engaging with them about these episodes were so much fun and I would feel that they would connect with my thoughts compared to engaging about these episodes with complete strangers.
 
With my specific friend, I think his “falling out” with the show has to do with his never-ending battle against his mental problems along with his life situation. He has a lot of art projects that he wants to accomplish and make a reality but can’t seem to find a balance between playing and watching other things that may seem foreign to him and accuses me of using him and his reactions for my entertainment. I really don’t want to admit it but that’s just how I get enjoyment when being social with other people but I always hope that the other person enjoys what I show them as well.
 
@EquusStorm  
That’s how I feel as well! Like when a new game I want comes out, I know that I have to avoid going to any threads related to the series the new game is a part of.

@EquusStorm
 
The most jarring thing for me was that Applejack’s voice was basically a whole octave higher than what you’re used to.
 
What gets me is that in many ways, Season Eight actually is what the fandom thought Season One was. I’ve made the joke that Equestria is just “Greek mythology and horse puns”. It’s a charming aesthetic, but it’s not the same as worldbuilding. The way The Hippogriffs’ culture was shaped by The Storm King’s occupation, or how The Changelings have to forge a new identity for themselves after the defeat of Chrysalis; THAT is worldbuilding.

@DerpyFast  
And that’s what I can definitely appreciate about the later seasons, that sense of world building that it did. You can also add Our Town adjusting back into regular society after Starlight’s ousting.

One time I tried to rewatch Season 1, and I watched episode 3. And honestly this is probably one of my least favorite episodes. It’s so unenjoyable to see the rest of the Mane 6 try to manipulate Twilight. I feel like it’s too early for this type of episode where they act like jerks. It doesn’t help the fact that AJ is the only one with a more sympathetic reason to join.
 
I feel like the problem with Season 1 is to advance the plot they make 1 character look very and some of the others look like idiots/jerks.
 
Especially Rainbow Dash like in Dragonshy. Or Rarity in Sonic Rainboom.

@Kiryu-Chan  
Surprising, given seasons 2-4 were my favorites of the entire show.

After all the large-world and big picture adventures from what I assume are adults, rewatching season one gets you… an overarching plot the whole season about looking forward to dresses and a party in Canterlot. Ok sure that’s fine for a kid’s show but that’s a really lame thing to build up a whole season for.
 
 
My suspension of disbelief is strained, for one thing, in that Rarity owns her own business but for some reason has never been to Canterlot which is like a quick easily affordable train ride away if she really wants to go
 
But yeah a lot of S1 episodes show the main cast in a weird light that seems incredibly jarring against the later seasons. To be fair the (excellent) Rarity/RD reconciliation episode in s8 has kind of the same spirit, and it can certainly be justified by them only beginning to learn to be friends, but it’s definitely clear S1 was intended to entertain children rather than build the world for future seasons more than a basic amount. That’s perfectly fine, and it obviously got me into the show, but it’s held in very high reverence by people who probably haven’t rewatched it recently and imo doesn’t hold up in objective quality compared to s2+ despite being very good quality compared to the average kids show of its time

@Penguin Dragneel
 
I can see it with the wedding from the S2 finale, Twilicorn, and the treehouse-castle from the s4 finale, though imo the writers did a BRILLIANT job of incorporating the demands for merchandising into some extremely impressive finales. It didn’t feel forced and wound up being two of the best seasons in the show overall. S3 a weird outlier decent overall with a few great episodes.

@EquusStorm  
I actually wish we had gotten more simple season arcs like the Gala. By S5 the huge epic stories just felt more and more like the show was high on its own farts as it went on

@Kiryu-Chan  
The Season 7 finale was what made me realize that.
 
They got so caught up in appealing to the bronies that they completely forgot why MOST people liked the show to begin with.

@DerpyFast  
If it lit our dreams, wasn’t that enough?
 
I might try it again, but I expect the verdict will still be “I don’t dislike a single one of these”.
 
 
@EquusStorm  
…I think it may be you who’ve changed, not Season 1. What’s wrong with sleepovers and a party in Canterlot, after you already saved the world?
 
The Rarity thing is a bit odd, though. Could be they didn’t settle on Canterlot and Ponyville being neighbours till later in development - and of course, trains weren’t as much of a thing in S1. But then, you could say the last episode is also built on forgetting that.
 

 
And which you consider to be “wrong”, if either, is a very personal preference I think.
 
As for “objective quality”… well, the art did get a lot more detailed. Besides that, I’d like to see your standards…

Seeing all these roundabout discussions about season quality just made me realize that every one of them has its ups and downs. Some are better and worse than others yes, but I’ve been more tolerant on a lot of the bad stuff from later and that the early stuff wasn’t all gold. I just like and appreciate the show too much to get too bothered or nitpicky about stuff.

@Myoozik  
Probably the best attitude… but easier said than done.