Unpopular opinion time

Honestly, I’m not sure the series would have been as big of a hit as it was were it not for two things:  
A) The borderline civil war 4chan had over discussion of the show and B) The resulting media hype over grown men watching a little girls show.  
There might have been EqG but the sheer volume of media produced seems unlikely to exist. But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

@Brass Beau  

 
This, to an extent. Yes, the show is good, but without the whole brony “meme” thing happening, we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it a decade later. I will note that the fandom has largely moved on from these roots, but it would not have existed without them.

@GenericArchangel  
Do you think the show would have gone so long without bronies?

@Latecomer  
Hell no. It would have gone for maybe three seasons,maybe EQG would have come out, definitely no movie,no comics,no Funko figures.

@Dex Stewart  

 
I see that as an absolute win

They’ve made funko for just about everything. I’m pretty sure we would have gotten them regardless(though they did get them before G1 Transformers, so who knows if it would have gotten them before without the clout)
 
The main toyline and show was still popular enough for the target demographic, so it could have still lasted past S3, whether it would have gone passed 4 or 5 though is a mystery(for comparison’s sake, Rescue Bots aired on the same channel and lasted for a while, running over a 100 episodes, the only other Hasbro show that did so as far as I remember, and it didn’t have the same clout as FiM. It also got a sequel series)

@Latecomer  
Absolutely not. Through Season 3, sure, but after? Hard to say how long it would’ve made it, but 9 seasons is absurd under other circumstances. Most shows in general don’t last that long.

@GenericArchangel  
And honestly, I think it went on for way too long. First half of S7 showed that they still had it in them, as well as the specials and a few scattered episodes here and there, but those are sandwiched between some really steep low points imo

@Kiryu-Chan  
It would have been nice if at least the last season had been better written.

@Latecomer  
I liked the last season,I just had a few issues with it. Maybe I’m biased,since Power Rangers Dino Charge’s ending was… uniquely bad.

@Dex Stewart  
I dunno, I found it… interesting. And probably still the best Neo-Saban show.

I mean, at least Dino Charge’s ending only affects Dino Charge’s seasons and not the entire show lol

@Kiryu-Chan  
Wasn’t obvious at the time, though.

@Latecomer  
@Kiryu-Chan  
Yeah it was definitely an enjoy the ride,not the destination situation.

@Dex Stewart  
As I said, I didn’t not enjoy the destination.

@Latecomer  
I’m wondering how MLP fans would react to a similar situation. Like the mane six negate existence.

@Dex Stewart  
It’s fine as long as they fix it again… probably.

@Latecomer  
I’m thinking of that one episode where Starlight is time hopping,and everything is different every time she changes something. What if they just stayed in the Nightmare Moon timeline.

@Dex Stewart  
Then the series would be quite messed up.
 
But MLP and PR don’t quite work the same way.

@Latecomer  
Six colorful heroes defeat monsters…sounds the same to me. Oh,wait,that’s the Dino Fury summary.

@Dex Stewart  
I do recall a rather good EQG music video set to the Dino Charge opening.

@Latecomer  
I just remembered,this exists

I am arguing the unpopular thesis that MLP G4 was about to end almost every third season, but it was probably still up to the show runners to convince Hasbro to give the whole thing another chance. So it is not surprising to me personally why season 4 and season 7 are among the best seasons ever and are still quite popular with large parts of the fandom.  
I dare not to claim now that the lack of success and relative unpopularity of season 8 due to the school setting meant that it was finally over after season 9. In my opinion, we could have used a tenth season to tie the loose ends up, but that’s the way it is. Well, we can be glad that the journey took so long.
 
And no, I’m not repeating that I’m really looking forward to G5. ;-)

@Brass Beau  
I feel like that’s more fact than opinion

@Angrybrony  
I know it’s a meme but it’s all so tiresome, it’s going to sound like i’m exagerrating and all but merely being a casual brony is emotionally taxing because you just want to watch a cartoon and all you got in return is people obsesively psychanalyzing you and dedicating entire videos calling you the scum of the earth. Fandoms in the day of the Internet is absolutely not funny anymore,participatory culture is not funny anymore: Everything is constantly dissected and put under a microscope. That’s not funny,people mock the concept of safe space but the truth is “safe space” cant exist anymore and that’s horrible,you should be allowed to have your “happy place” as sheltered as it sound. Sure, too much escapism is dangerous but my point is you cant even reach that state of happiness in entertainment anymore,the Internet actively prevent it by bombarding you with a clutter of information because “no shit is too minor”,every nontroversy is dug up and discussed forever,discussing fans behavior is now on par with analyzing a work and that shouldnt be a thing because by doing so ,it result in an hyperfixation in anecdotal worthless clutter. And since it’s the unpopular opinion thread,i’ll leave here my conclusion : i’m going to miss the opposite of participatory culture aka consumer culture,i dont think there was anything wrong in being a passive consumer as long as you didnt lost yourself in media (i should known,i’ve been my happiest during the last decade of consumer culture),at least i wasnt mortally depressed and sad then