Poison Trail
You don’t make a franchise into a cinematic universe, you start one as such. The way the seasons have always been designed does not leave much space if at all to expand, and it shows. Loose ends are quickly closed off, character development is going in circles for many main characters, some to the point of actual regression, and retcons about what can and cannot be done happens regularly now (What is a cutie mark and what can be done to one? Well, which season’s version do you want?). Elements of a show which hasn’t been built to last, and is kept alive merely because it still is profitable, to the apparent surprise of those at Hasbro pulling the strings.
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By now it would be too jarring to shift to a longer-lasting model with recurring villains and multi-season arcs. It’s too late to go with a “cinematic universe” and all it implies when we’ve already been shown all too often that continuity and establishing a long-term story are not priorities.
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By now it would be too jarring to shift to a longer-lasting model with recurring villains and multi-season arcs. It’s too late to go with a “cinematic universe” and all it implies when we’ve already been shown all too often that continuity and establishing a long-term story are not priorities.