Unpopular opinion time

@Twi Clown
I don’t really either, if it helps? Though I’m iffy on including them in my headcanon.

@WaynePonePone
Farewell. I hope you enjoyed pony for a while at least.

@Latecomer
I blame the fandom’s refusal to accept change, seen as the constant drama towards every change in G4 and G5 as a whole just made him dislike the franchise.

It’s sad, but it’s his decision and there’s nothing we can do to change his mind.

I consider season 9 to be a final middle finger to bronies, essentially hasbro giving us one last middle finger before G4 ends. I figure they got fed up with bronies and their antics, and ultimately wanted to cut all ties with them, to be honest who can blame them, a toy manafacturer like hasbro could do without all the adult themes and nsfw stuff adult fans create; it compromises brand image and is a PR disaster waiting to happen.

During develpment of G5, I visulise execs saying “We’ll make this so crappy no adult will want to watcn it”. (I know some folk enjoy it, fair play to them.)

@WaynePonePone
Regardless of all this, I still like MLP. You don’t have to love every episode, season, generation or character to be a fan; It’s a show not a religion though some fans would have you believe otherwise. Don’t be so quick to tear up your brony card.

I’ll admit that Season 9 isn’t my favorite season, and it has bad episodes, but I did like some of the episodes from it, including from the previous one.

Also, I feel like I’m one of the few who had little to no problems with the series finale as a whole. There were some aspects that bugged me but for the most part I thought it was a great sendoff to the series. If others have umbrage about it, whatever so be it, I enjoyed it and I’ll never forget the emotional blind reaction I had to it with my best friend.

@Hollowfox, Always The Worst Person
Change can be good or bad - sometimes both for different people - but in the long run it’s more or less inevitable.

@midob
I’m sorry, but this sort of conspiracy theory speaks to me of an inflated sense of one’s own importance to others. Hasbro had it’s own reasons for making Season 9 and G5 as they were, and I’m pretty sure they were still seeking brony interest for the former and possibly also the latter. (It didn’t have to be linked to G4.)

@Latecomer
A) still wish people accept change, but well said.

B) I thought they stopped because the 2017 movie underperformed at the box office before Hasbro made G5 a reboot sequel to G4 instead of a stand-alone sequel without you-know-who-voiced-Twilight.

@Latecomer
I have…no clue why conspiracy theories about companies making things deliberately bad are so popular. Like…they want to not make a return on investment with something they produce…because why?

@CloudMistDragon
They get the money in other ways.

Same reason some have started to make entire movies and then just throw them out.

The ultimate form of it not mattering what they make.

@river mines
It’s just the overall problem with G5’s pacing. Things happen super fast and also end super fast.

I think for the ponies I adore I still adore them. I don’t think I’m completely distancing myself from the franchise, just that I’m probably not into the official stuff anymore. There’s not much to watch anyway. The reason for staying is like most people who stopped watching way before me, for the fan stuff and for interactions with people. The non-pony threads are still fun to be around, though not as much as before either.

@Latecomer
Yeah I don’t buy into that rationale either

@WaynePonePone
It’s weird how people interact more with fan labor and fanfic writers or fanartists do things different (and better in the eyes of former fans) than G4 or G5 and yet studios cannot hire them for anything.

Testing, Testing, 1,2,3 is underrated, and has one of the most genuinely sweet moments in the show.

Legit got me tearing up a bit.

@Latecomer
The thing is, the kirins besides Autumm Blaze are simply put not quite characters but rather set pieces.

@DerpyFast
Underrated? I’ve never heard anyone describe Testing Testing, 1, 2, 3 as a bad episode, everything I’ve ever heard about that one made me feel pretty safe to say that it was generally regarded as a classic. Even during a time when people were much more critical of Season 4, I was always seeing acclaim for that episode as one of the best of the season, praising how relatable it was with how we’ve all had issues with studying.

@CloudMistDragon
Okay, you caught me.

Now that you mention it, I don’t think I was even discussing the show on the forums until season 6 or 7, so I actually have no idea what the consensus was on the seasons between.

@CloudMistDragon
Because of entertainment like DCEU, MCU, whatnot and yada? Oh, and Velma.

@WaynePonePone
I have never ever heard you say that way before until now. What changed?

@CloudMistDragon
To be fair, an anti-brony take could in theory be seen as an attempt at greater return if bronies were seen as a detriment to the brand. (Companies often don’t like unclear or mixed demographics.) But I’m still doubtful about it.

@Latecomer
Not to mention, while again, it is possible in theory, in practice most companies wishing to be successful wouldn’t deliberately put people with a clear dislike for a project unless they can either keep them with a tight leash or desperate enough to just play roulette.

One thing is accusing a company of incompetence and another thing is deliberately sabotaging their own product.

@DerpyFast
Thank you for humbly admitting the truth.

@Twi Clown
The big thing that makes me doubtful of these theories is just how adamant companies are for always seeing their numbers go up. Even if the bad show/movie/whatever they produce isn’t actually the big money maker…it still makes the company look bad and helps drive their numbers down.

@TheQuietMan
I don’t know about the others but the case of dceu and velma are the worst case of all, in which the creators of the project (Snyder and Minty) weren’t really fans of the franchises, so instead of trying to work based on how the franchise is, what they did was try to transform those franchises into what they worked on,
basically it’s the same like an ice cream man being in charge of cooking a fish and instead of learning fish recipes he decides to transform that into fish ice cream.

@Latecomer
Yeah, part of me wonders if there might be some at Hasbro that are a bit uncomfortable with Bronies, but there’s certainly not the reaction like Disney had to the fandom that sprung up around The Owl House

@TheQuietMan
I guess I’ve just seen too much negativity toward both generations. It’s not fun having those words linger in my head while watching the show. I think I’m basically brainwashed into thinking nothing about this franchise is good and I don’t want to care anymore. MLP makes me tired and I’m tired of MLP. It was fun while it lasted I guess.

Also the fact that Comet doesn’t show up anymore is another proof that Hasbro either doesn’t care or lost faith in G5 or both. This new prominent character joining the main cast representing a brand new adventure waiting to happen only for him to not exist ever again? It’s clear they don’t want to move foward with new stuff.

@WaynePonePone
I’ve been seeing negativity toward MLP since…forever. Literally everything I like has negativity toward it. Everything imaginable attracts some kind of negativity regardless of how positively it’s received. World’s filled with negativity, you need to get used to it and focus on the positivity, what you can do to create a more positive world instead of worrying about everyone else’s opinions. And as a big Comet fan who wants the guy to just show up again already, I can admit that we were never actually promised that he was going to join the main cast.

@WaynePonePone
First of all, you might need the pep talk. And someone here i know may try to help.

Second, don’t let them get to you too much. Ultimately, it’s their opinion and I’ve given up long ago on changing their minds, even if for the better. If they want to be stubborn or flawed like that, so be it.

And finally, even if you notice those flaws, if you ultimately like it then they’re not problems. Besides, there’s nothing you can do to a huge company. Their IP, their rules, their decision.

@CloudMistDragon
Well you beat me to it as I was writing that.