Unpopular opinion time

The show had a fantasy element, and a few very short fights in the second episode, so it’s not like the precedent wasn’t there.

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
G4 wasn’t really trying to have robust worldbuilding. Season One was meant to be a character study of The Mane Six, and everything else was in service of that goal. I still think the show needed either a soft reboot or a time skip after Season One.

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
To be honest, it kind of sounds like you wanted the show to be something different than it was and found it disappointing that it wasn’t. So… maybe other people didn’t? Or at least, not in the same ways.

(My feelings varied by season and episode, but I was always honest about them. But I do think there was at least some good in more or less every episode - the problem is that it was sometimes outnumbered by the bad.)

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
There are some annoying parts, but I think for a show more or less making things up as it goes along it does quite well.

Hmm, you think?

@DerpyFast
Then it only proved it failed.

If you’re referring to the whole “combining spells” thing, that concept didn’t even exist until she came along and she made me resent it for even being a thing. It was less about her being inventive and more of a freaking asspull to make her more powerful.

starlight felt like someones oc how powerful she was without explanation and becoming twilights student

@Spinny

@DerpyFast
Well they certainly did lay the foundations for a robust fantasy worldbuilding only to not pursue it at any reasonable capacity.
It also doesn’t help they sort of laid down a semblance to a structure in the lore only to throw it out the it just because.

Also. WTF kind of “empire” is ruled by a princess and a prince that consists only of a city?

We never got to see it nor do we even have a name for it. It doesn’t even show up on the official map.

She was kind of what Twilight should have been since season 1.

Also. They missed an opportunity to have a tyrant alternate universe Twilight as a main villain in the Ponyverse. Although, it’s often been teased. Discord was the only one that even brought up that possibility that Twilight could go mad as the ruler of Equestria.

I think some sort of Twilight Sparkle (Alter) would have been more fitting as a series finale villain where Twilight has to confront and come to terms with her dark side as a final lesson before she ascends to ruler of the Pony realm.

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
None of the new places do really. And speaking of which I’m serious. Search zecora and idw

Oh hey, Starlight Glimmer is being talked about negatively again.

All is right with the world.

Also. You know how Tank’s propeller appears to be powered by some form of magic energy? It’s almost like they initially went for a concept of ponies utilizing magic power technology. But it was never really touched upon by the writers. Almost like they’ve scrapped the idea midpoint.

Magic powered technology would have and should have been the key to closing the gap between unicorns and the other pony races. Magic enchanted artifacts are a thing too. And they seem to work in a similar manner. It seems a clear “magic” is some form of energy or force that powers life in their world. It’s in the environment where it affects the basic functions of their setting, including anomalies and such. Mythological creatures also seem to be magically infused. Magic is also utilized in several forms. Magic affects everything.

I would imagine even weapons or machines that would powered by magic “fuel cells” could have made sense. Crystals that seem to be of abundance appear to contain magical properties, like as if they’re some form of fossil fuel, like coal. Or at least serve as a medium for magic use. Kind of like how we use quartz irl.

I hate this thread.

@Spinny
I honestly find more annoying the whole “powerful because of being emotionally volatile”.
I never liked the concept of emotion based powers since they’re often feel inherently unreliable. Pinkie Pie technically speaking suffers the same since she is extremely prone to become weak and even downright useless if she ever gets minimally sad.
The concept came in to justify her power bursts, but it crosses a bit the line of someone that throws a slightly stronger punch because honestly anyone angry would understandably use more strength and instead feels like she simply launch magical haywire because she lacks discipline.

It doesn’t help she and Pinkie are both overtly emotional and extremely unreliable whenever they have to solve a problem at hand, just making it look that emotion based powers are indeed a terrible idea. The elements of harmony use a similar principle but is based more in depth emotional connection that interact with the user’s values.

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
alternate timeline evil twilight would have required starlight to stay a villain because otherwise it would ask how did she get into their universe and honestly starlight was a interesting villain

@WaynePonePone
Well if that dude Feather Flatterfly is such a scantly noticed pony but I’m a big fan of his, does that count as unpopular? And not contentious?

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
And that’s one reason the show is such fertile ground for fandom.

@Background Pony #4C59
From an episodic writing perspective, “unreliable” is a positive adjective.

Season 1 was overrated, and didn’t age nearly as well as a lot of people like to think it did. Its animation really held it back, and the writing was somewhat more basic in nature. For one thing that I can’t help but nitpick, unicorns in general used magic significantly less on a casual basis (i.e. not the primary focus of a scene) in S1, and magic auras were kind of trash with that animation; magic colors were inconsistent, most notably with Celestia flopping between blue, light purple, sometimes in the same episode, which happens in The Return of Harmony (which was S1 animation, and probably held Discord back to at least some degree, at least in visuals).

A result of the animation in Season 1 is that you rarely, if ever, have two unicorns levitating objects separately, in distinct colors, within the same scene, and the lack of a small detail like that being present made it feel rather watered down, in hindsight.

@Background Pony #4C59
That’s also a way I like to think of her. Good at snap judgements (tactician)… questionable in long-term planning (strategist), especially at the start of her arc; her shortsighted nature was somewhat prominent as an issue up until S9.
@Spinny
You’re acting like it made her invincible, or that it wasn’t the entire point of the episode that wowing Twilight with magic skills wasn’t actually productive, or helpful for her on an emotional/interpersonal level until she cut it out and made amends.

@Spinny
Twilight just needed to get good to have that powerful level of magic

I didn’t necessarily mind if we didn’t see those places that much. I know they exist and there are characters who come from there, even if I never see the actual place. I live in the US, and heard/know about other places like England, China, France, etc., but I’ve never actually seen those places.

@AC97
Starlight is a savant.
Within specific niches she has uses, but is often pretty lackluster for much more wider scenarios when the resolution requires something else.

@Latecomer
Not really. When it comes to problem resolution (which this show is more focused on rather than blunt force) this usually mean they either cannot solve the problem or even make it worse. What really feels special with those two is that they never really think things through, and said issues often inflict suffering in others, not out of intention because I concede they don’t do it on purpose, but it’s rather significant the goof outs involved.

This fandom when someone talks shit about Discord

This fandom when someone talks shit about Starlight Glimmer

Nothing ever fucking changes, and let it be known Bronies still hate ponies more than anyone.