Unpopular opinion time

I think season 1 is pretty weak, with the vast amount of ep being meh at best. I think nostalgia plays a big key in people thinking it’s great.

I’d say that Seasons 1, 4 and 7 are mostly equivalent to me. And i do think they were the best of the show.

@Mildgyth  
Seasons 2 and 4 are almost identical to me. They pretty much have the same amount of good, average, and bad episodes.

I swear, I’m the only guy that absolutely hates S7- I think it’s the second worst after S3. Oh, and I love S8, which was a return to form after the show lost its way in S6 and S7.

@Vivace  
Pretty much this. Although S1 isn’t lacking for legendary eps either.

@Meanlucario  
Or just variance in personal taste? It had a quite different flavour, which others might like more than you do.
 
 
@Mildgyth  
4 on par with them is an interesting pick - it has some great eps, but ,well, it has about every kind of ep.
 
 
@GenericArchangel  
Care to explain this ridiculous opinion?

@Latecomer  
You’re talking to a guy who fully believes that if season 1 was a later season, much fewer people would like it.

@Meanlucario  
I don’t really even know how to answer that, since so much of iv is formative of the characters, world, and structure - removing half of it would warp the show beyond recognition. But I do enjoy all of the episodes indivduallu as well, and I doubt that would change if they were randomly plucked forwards - on the contrary, I sometimes compliment later-season episodes bi saying they were good enough for Season 1.

@Mildgyth  
I say that for 5 and 7

You’re cuties.

First five seasons were good, then they dropped the ball and forcibly kicked it further and further away from the standard set by the past five years.
 
If you treat Season 6 and on as a soft reboot like the writers did, it’s somewhat tolerable.

@Vinylshadow  
Even with the Soft Reboot perspective S6 pissed me off way too often, it was clear that it was something entirely different to what proceeded before it, only S7 felt like the show I recognized

@Kiryu-Chan  
Which is kind of odd, ,given the steady staff turnover - surely the people making S7 were the ones who made 6/8/9 and nnot 1/2/3?

@Latecomer  
IIRC Season 7 had only one episode written by a pre-S4 writer. For Seasons 8 & 9, Ed Valentine had the longest FiM tenure of all the writers outside of the showrunners until about the last minute.

@Latecomer  
Most of S7 had the Lady Writers as story editors as opposed to S6, 8 and 9, which had Josh Haber/Nicole Dubuc, and it shows.
 
Heck Haber came back for the last 3rd of S7(His first episode back was Daring Done) and it shows
 
The first half of S9 had Haber/Dubuc as story editors, then the second half had Haber alone, and it shows

@Kiryu-Chan  
Lady writers did the S9 opener, so I had high hopes for it, but…

@Myoozik
 
5 had some great episodes, but it doesn’t get on the level of the other three because it also has the only two episodes of the show i’d call bad.

@Kiryu-Chan
 
I have to object to at least some of this.
 
The last third of season 7 had A Health of Information and Once Upon a Zeppelin. Two of the better episodes of the whole season.
 
The first part of the season had Fluttershy Leans In, Forever Filly, Honest Apple, Hard to Say Anything, Not Asking for Trouble, Triple Threat, which are generally considered the weakest episodes of the season, and Parental Glideance and Fame and Misfortune, which are two of the most controversial.
 
 
Season 7 seems to be held in such high regard because of Royal Problem, Discordant Harmony, and PErfect Pear. Those are the three pillars upon which the whole thing stands. But the same story editors that oversaw Perfect Pear also signed off on Honest Apple, one of Applejack’s absolute worst episodes when it comes to her characterization.
 
edit: For the record I like Season 7. I just don’t think it’s that much better than any other season.

@Mildgyth  
Which are…? (Princess Spike and…?)

@Wiimeiser
 
The Hoofields & McColts.

@Mildgyth  
I would have guessed What About Discord? for the other…

@Mildgyth  
Only two? Mi mind boggles…
 
 
@gingerninja666  
Or perhaps we enjoy things a bit different? for instance, I loved Honest Apple and liked several others of the ones you mentioned as weak.

The only thing I didn’t like about season 7 was how ludicrously absent most of the mane six were in it. For the record, Twilight was the most-appearing character, and even she only appeared in 16 episodes. Fluttershy only appeared in 10.

@Wiimeiser
 
I liked that one.

@Spinny  
Actually, Twilight had 17, and Flutters had 12. Those are higher than Starlight’s 10, the one who “stole season 7 from the Mane Six.”
 
@Latecomer  
Yeah, I think I can count most of season one on my list of bad episodes.