Season 9 Discussion Thread [Warning: SPOILERS!!!!!]

@Background Pony #2EC0
 
@Latecomer
 
S5 fans ass-kissed Larson because he flattered and pandered to them like nobody’s business.
 
Haber didn’t. Quite the opposite, he was rather spiteful and trolly to them on Twitter. This led to a Larson-Haber slapfight. Larson enjoyed an incontestable cult of personality until the Haber era, when more people showed up who openly despised him. (Note that Larson had no reason to gaf since he had left the show for… whatever he’s doing now.)
 

 
@Vivace
 
Merriwether wrote Mysterious Mare Do Well, which apparently everybody went back in time and retroactively hated when I wasn’t looking.
 
However, the writer I definitely remember bronies harassing on Twitter because “ur episode sukk” is Dave Polsky. He and Merriwether did Spike At Your Service, which sucked. He did the Discord redemption episode with Teddy Antonio.
 
I distinctly recall Polsky resolving to improve and (in my view at least) doing far better episodes later on, but this was years ago so w/e.
 
Polsky alone wrote Feeling Pinkie Keen, Over a Barrel, Too Many Pinkie Pies, Games Ponies Play, Daring Don’t, Rarity Takes Manehattan, Twilight Time, For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils, Equestria Games, Appleoosa’s Most Wanted (sic), Brotherhooves Social. I would definitely say these episodes get better from earlier to later.

@Tirimsil  
Actually, almost nothing from Dave Polsky’s drafts of Spike at Your Service made it to air. You can read two different full scripts that he wrote for it in the leaks, both of which were completely abandoned and they’re far, far better than the turd we got stuck with.

@UserAccount
 
That’s a tragedy, since it means Polsky was blamed not only for what he “did wrong” (which was largely Spike fanboys mad that Spike wasn’t banging Rarity), but for what he didn’t, too.
 
I remember so many Spike-kins flipping out because of the embarrassing Cloudsdale National Anthem thing. I thought it was a hoot lol

@Tirimsil  
Oh, Polsky was certainly the FIRST controversial writer. It was just usually more to do with the content of his episodes than their quality, if you know what I mean?
 

 
 
@Tirimsil  
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions based on UserAccount’s opinions of quality please. Try and find out what’s in the drafts yourself.

I still haven’t watched the final three episodes, but that’s because I don’t have a lot of time and because of the fact that the episodes were written by Josh Haber and Michael Vogel. What I’ve seen are some spoilers (it’s kinda inevitable in DeviantArt to be honest) and, without saying what I saw, at least the visual changes are good and what you would expect for a finale. It’s kinda like when you hear that Spike got wings without watching his episode. It’s what you would expect.
 
After the final episode, we sometimes would like to share our love to the show in different ways. Maybe writing some fanfiction, editing a video, making a fanart… And that’s ok.
 
I think all the problems I had with the show comes from the fact that the show is just a procedurally-generated story getting more and more off the rails from 2010 to 2019. An example I always bring up is Applejack’s sudden fear of huge crowds in Made in Manehattan. Although I really like this episode, this might be the only problem I find in the story. I don’t see why Applejack has fear of big crowds in a time where we already see her in Manehattan without that fear.
 
Still, this show was for years a nice balanced show with nice comedy, a very appealing art direction, likeable songs, likeable characters (not you), great concepts, great stories… and, hey, it’s My Little Pony. And for many people, this represents something we love or used to love. Maybe that’s why people react the way they do at the 9 years ellipse. A lot of people were very young when the first episode came in 2010. So to see the characters growing up the same way the fandom grew up, probably makes the emotional connection we have to our favourite characters very strong.
 
The show might be ended, we are going to miss these characters. But it’s like finishing a movie you love. The fun might be over, but the sense of wonder makes you talk about how amazing that was.
 
And that’s what My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is to me: Memories that will last forever.
 

@Tirimsil  

 

 
If you’re talking about Slice of Life, Larson has openly admitted a lot of the pandering was Hasbro’s idea.
 
A big part of Larson’s popularity, other than a majority of the fandom liking his episodes the most, is that he’s usually been very open about his experience on the show, his work ethic, his criticisms, things he liked and things he screwed up, areas he could have improved on, etc. A lot of that is kinda lost on Haber

@Kiryu-Chan
 
Yeah that’s cool, I’ve been around since Sonic Rainboom; there was simply never a widespread hatred of MMDW. Equestria Daily choosing that time to tell people to stop whining doesn’t mean anything. I’ve never gone to ED a single day in my life, nor did I need to to catch any of the actual “big drama” around the show, because big drama is not confined to one site.
 
Larson can talk about how crappy his work was/is and pass the buck however much he wants. Polsky actually bothered to improve and Haber’s era is already good to begin with. The problem with anything centering around “Hasbro said this” is that at any given time there are five people who claim to be given five contrary official rulings from Hasbro. (… but I would honestly believe it if Hasbro did indeed tell these five people all something different.)

@Tirimsil  
It seems that you did actually manage to miss things though - like the widspread backlash against Mare-Do-Well.
 
ANd what has Larson written that wasn’t good?

@Latecomer  
Ponyville Confidential is probably his weakest, but even that has stuff I like.

@Tirimsil  
Even at his worst, Larson’s writing was miles ahead of anything we’ve ever gotten from that hack Haber.

@Background Pony #FAAD  
That’s why I wanna hire him for my show!
 
Not only that, but Larson ADMITS the show’s flaws! He’s a very humble writer - one we can very much appreciate!

Every time I see somebody speaking bad things about the writing of the latest seasons, I feel like telling them that most of these writers worked for Hasbro shows animated by Boulder. So the chances of them returning for G5 are quite high!

@Tirimsil  

 
Something that is repeated in MLP FiM is that the ponies are not good at social communication, so they constantly misunderstand one another, come to hasty conclusions and tend to talk past one another or simply not talk about each other on topics they need to vent. This is much of the basis for the focus on friendship in FiM, as the ponies are very emotional creatures that could be very self-centered and not adept at socializing in depth. This is intended for entertainment for growing children who needed to learn how to socialize with each other as they slip into the community, “friendship lessons” and focus on friendship - which has formed the basis of popularity for viewers of the TV show.
 
The ponies are just too intense in the emotional field.
 
Besides, Tirek had said it took him several weeks to figure out how to use the bell - and Discord simply didn’t have the Legion of Doom under surveillance. They probably had at least a couple of months or more to undermine social stability, and they didn’t have to cover all of Equestria. For Canterlot, Ponyville and Cloudsdale, the central country is at an appropriate distance from the larger population centers of Equestria. That’s why the windigos had come to Canterlot, Chrysalis had been able to concentrate the distrust of the ponies without diluting it to the rest of Equestria.
 
Also, there are very serious limitations for the producers in their work on the TV episodes in just 22 minutes at a time when the focus had to be directed to the action event.

There were intended bulidup eps - like the original GUIHTD.

@Background Pony #8A54  
He was the polar opposite of Haber’s pure, unbridled arrogance. I’ve never before seen a writer so blatantly apathetic as he is.  
@Background Pony #FD12  
A good reason not to bother with G5.  
@Latecomer  
All thrown away because of Haber and Jim Miller, who thought they were geniuses who could do no wrong.
 
“Buildup? Nah, the audience will all just accept what we write. After all, we’re the ones defining canon.”

@Background Pony #FAAD  
I’m pretty sure they came up with the buildup too…

@Latecomer  
Sure, and then they decided that it wasn’t necessary. That means that the writing staff, in their infinite wisdom, declared that these things could just happen suddenly without any foreshadowing at all. Of course, they also likely knew that anything they wrote would be furiously defended by certain people, hence the complacency.

@Background Pony #A90D  
There was foreshadowing, just less of it. And this has never really been a show that devotes much of it’s time to arcs.

That Appledash tease was the worst thing to come out of the finale.

@Background Pony #20FA  
Yeah their ship is so stereotypical

Popular, though, including with Ashleigh Ball. So if they were throwing in ships anyway…

@Latecomer  
But why make the rainbow haired one a lesbian?

@Background Pony #8A54  
Right? “Lets make the tomboy a lesbo guys, and ship her with the traditionalist pony who’s desire since season 1 was to continue the farm”. Poor Faust, she even said making the tomboy a lesbian was disrespectful.

@Background Pony #8A54  
I don’t know if they thought about it in those terms specifically. She could be bi.