@Ebalosus  
until the start of S3, the two-parter/opener/closer episodes might as well not have happened at all  
It’s a perfectly valid basis for dislike– I’m not a fan of that “feature” either and think the show would have been far stronger overall if it had had S4/S5-type continuity out of the gate– but I don’t think it’s much of a basis for an indictment of the first two seasons, given that a highly episodic format with little intraseasonal continuity was actually a mandate from Hasbro at the time; Corporate didn’t relax that at all until Season 3, and when S4 came back it was more of a suggestion than an instruction.
 
They still should have had Twilight at least mention that she had a brother in Canterlot early in S2.

@Ebalosus  
You seem to forget that FIM is an episodic series, and that it is not meant to have an overarching narrative. You also seem to forget that even when the show does have story arcs, they’re always somewhat weak and only have a few episodes to them while being completely absent in most other episodes. If this were something like avatar the last airbender, your criticisms might be fair, but for an episodic comedy series, they basically amount to wanting the show to be something it’s not. As for the 2-parters, those episodes are outliers and are not meant to really set up/conclude much other than their own stories.

@Ebalosus  
Huh. In both cases, that had never occurred to me.

@LanceOmikron
 
Copy-paste my definitions of action and movement from there, and the gist of Mass-Effect-2-itis is all action, and very little overall narrative movement. In ME2’s case, it was that the character stuff was great, but didn’t really tie much into the story of that game in a meaningful, interwoven way.
 
In FiM’s case, it’s that until the start of S3, the two-parter/opener/closer episodes might as well not have happened at all given their lack of meaningful effect on the story/setting/narrative.

@LanceOmikron  
I think “Mass Effect” in any forms mean “It suck” in Ebalosuspeak  
Jk but at one point he really couldnt shut up about Mass Effect 3 ending that famously caused a lot of controversy (I dont care about Mass Effect so dont yell at me plox)

@Ebalosus  

 
You’ll have to explain that one in greater detail. I’ve completed all three Mass Effect games, and I have no idea what you mean by that.

@Ebalosus  
I approve of the use of “faffy” in conversation.

@Background Pony #EE77  
@Ihhh
 
I thought season 1 was pretty good for the most part, but realise that it was a case of doing-what-it-had-to-do-to-get-things-rolling, and until S3 and especially S4 came along, I feared that given how faffy S2 was, the show was going to suffer from a severe case of the dreaded Mass-Effect-2-itis. If you want to know some of the particulars of why I’m not a big fan of S2, I suggest you take a leaf out of Tex’s book, and see what I’ve posted in the unpopular opinion thread on the subject.
 
To be honest, I fully accept that both my dislike of S2 is a minority opinion, and the reasons for my dislike are a matter of personal taste.

@Background Pony #EE77  
I’m curious what he thinks  
I am as well, but an opinion based around “Season 2 was a shitshow” genuinely does belong in the Unpopular Opinions thread; S2 regularly ranks as one of the most-liked seasons, and often led the polls until S5 came along.

@Background Pony #EE77  
All I know is that he hates seasons 1 and 2 for some reason.

@TexasUberAlles  
Eh, he’s entitled to his opinion. I’m curious what he thinks about season 1, though, as well as Gravity Falls and My Life as a Teenage Robot.

@Ebalosus  
what a shitshow S2 was  
Wait up– you posted in the wrong tab, E.

If Josh Haber is the new story editor, then I’m totally OK with this, given what a shitshow S2 was with Renzetti as the story editor.

@ChuymaruZ  
Keep digging, I’m sure you’ll work your way out of that hole sometime…

@TexasUberAlles  
@Background Pony #1158  
>implying only adult/bronies like sparity

Howdy, y’all, what’s goin’ on in–  
_{what is even wrong with you people ffs}
 
@Lucky Shot  
Larson is the primary source of everything bad about the show in seasons 3-5  
FYI, you posted in the wrong thread; here’s where most of your posts belong.
 
…Also, yeah, oops– Larson had nothing to do with Season 4.
 
That explains why season 4 was actually kind of good!  

 
appears to be a Disneyfied Harry Potter  
Nnnot even close, sorry. Writing style is completely different, character backgrounds and motivations are completely different, setting aside from “school for ___ in a fantasy novel” is completely different; shocking as it may seem, the concept of teenagers going to some kind of magic people school while a war happens in the background did not in fact spring fully-formed from the forehead of J/K Rowling like a YA Athena.
 
‘‘Tradition’’ was never a mentioned factor in the Friendship Games. Both sides act like the actual competition itself is super important to them, which makes perfect sense for Canterlot High, but none whatsoever for Crystal Prep since they’d never lost  
♪ Call it power, call it magic  
If we lose, it will be tragic  
More important is the knowledge we’ll have lost ♪
 
♫ And as for me and all the others  
We only want what we deserve  
That our school will clinch the win  
And my legacy will endure ♫
 
This also doesn’t excuse Rainbow Dash walking directly up to her and getting her magic absorbed  
So your contention is… that it was somehow out of character for Rainbow Dash to do something hasty and shortsighted and dumb that would have registered as a bad idea if she’d taken half a second to think it through first? That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.
 
you know I’m right and need an excuse to discredit me  
That’s a wasted effort on their part; you seem more than capable of handling that task on your own.
 
@Spinny  
Starlight’s ‘‘snap-of-the-fingers’’ reformation  
I’m still holding out hope that she’ll suffer some repercussions in S6 like Sunset did in Rainbow Rocks, and that we’ll get at least a little more in the way of backstory to make her rocketsled to villainy seem slightly less “completely and utterly bughump insane”.
 
@ChuymaruZ  
KEWLKIDGREENTEXT want evidence of fanservice  
KEWLKIDGREENTEXT citing secret of my excess  
hahahahaha What an episode to plant a ZOMG FANSERVICE!!1! flag on, holy ships– JJJ was laughin’ at you there, Bub. Like the BP said, it was written sometime in Dec.’10 or Jan.‘11– only a few months after Season 1 first started airing– and Larson himself has said they didn’t really have any idea that there even was an adult fandom until early 2012 when S2 was almost finished airing.

@ChuymaruZ  
I’ll take that as a “no”, then.

@ChuymaruZ  
Did you know that episode was written before brony influence could have possibly reached the writers?

@Background Pony #EFE7  
>want evidence of fanservice  
>citing secret of my excess  

@Vergil Senpai  
“Bloom and Gloom”, maybe?
 
@Vergil Senpai  

I dunno, that seems to make more sense if it’s Twilight telling Zecora to try to fight Chrysalis even if she thinks there’s a chance Chrysalis will honor her promise, rather than Twilight saying it’s possible Chrysalis will keep her word so better try things her way.
 
@ChuymaruZ  
Maybe you can refresh my memory and list some of the pop-culture references and fanservice in “The Cutie Mark Chronicles”, “The Return of Harmony”, “Secret of My Excess”, “The Cutie Map”, and “Amending Fences”?
 
@Spinny  

“Bloom and Gloom”, maybe?
 
Seriously, you guys are making Murrison look like a fawning fanboy.
 
@Lucky Shot  
Maybe you can refresh my memory and list some of the name-drops and thefts from brony culture in “The Cutie Mark Chronicles”, “The Return of Harmony”, “Secret of My Excess”, “The Cutie Map”, and “Amending Fences”?
 
@Rokesh  
Many people agree that male MLP fans are weirdos and likely pedophiles.
 
@TnAdct1  
So, ixnay on “Bloom and Gloom”, then. Yep, it’s official: Murrison is more positive about the show than Derpibooru users.

@Background Pony #EFE7  
“Bloom and Gloom” was basically an episode that, rather than taking full advantage of Babs Seed getting her Cutie Mark, instead turns out to be a very predictable episode (anyone NOT expecting Luna to show up in this episode) that basically went through the motions of “post Cutie Mark concerns” and didn’t really add anything entertaining to salvage its major shortcoming.

@Ihhh
 
Could’ve sworn you said you didn’t care if others hate the episode. Don’t post a response if you don’t care.

@Jades  
You go on thinking that.

@Vergil Senpai
 
Oh god I honestly thought Twilight’s characterization was the worst thing to come out of this episode with Glimmers redemption. It’s the main reason why it’s so bad in the first place.

@Vergil Senpai  
God that plot armor….
 
Given how Haber wrote Friendship games as a giant love letter to sunset shimmer becoming super important in the group, and Starlight is being built up as super powerful and important (while also seemingly being a sunset replacement for the pony world…)
 
I’m bracing myself for the finale of this season (or even the premier) to basically be Friendship games: Starlight edition for its climax. (With starlight saving the day by becoming enlightened about what friendship is and going super alicorn)