@Responces to my last post: Hmmm, that does sound pretty awful. Fanfic writers tend to come up with all kinds of fun ideas for mane 6 character interactions to this day even while sticking to the G rating that the actual show has, usually with good enough results. So without bashing them, I have to ask, what exactly is stopping the actual show writers from making those types of episodes about the mane 6 actually interacting like that, instead of overusing the Cutie Map stuff to where even the people who were okay with it are now getting sick of it?

edited 18th Jun '17 10:28:17 PM by marston

My guess, its simply because formulas are easier to work with. The earlier episodes didn't have much of a formula other than conflict>resolution>aesop. Seasons 4 onwards added something to the formula for a few episodes. But of those the Keys were limited by their nature as finite Plot Coupons that had to be distributed to the Mane 6 (so there were only 6 episodes one of which was the season finale) and Starlight's cameos were both unobtrusive and building up to the finale. Both also ceased after the respective season because the Keys served their purpose and Starlight become more prominent. The Map was just the most obviously generic formula they have at this point.

There's also the matter of character development. "All Bottled Up" cements that as a group, the Mane 6 had all but finished their development, leaving further development restricted to the individual or external level bar a complete shake up such as a breakup or drifting apart or a Time Skip. And those that had clear goals like Rainbow Dash or Rarity had achieved them or are close to doing so. In many ways their story is almost done, their roles had been completed and their driving conflict has been resolved. The same applies to the CMC as well.

There is still some potential for new stories, but those involving the mane 6 as a group are running out. And I think the writers know this given Starlight's redemption, prominence, and having her own circle of friends besides the Mane 6.

edited 18th Jun '17 11:08:15 PM by MorningStar1337

Characters don't finish their development. That's like saying there comes a point in self-improvement where you become perfect and never need to grow as a person again.

Maybe that term was not the right one, but what about their role in the story? Their potential for conflict (in this case internal conflict)?

They have their little pony shit together.

Pears? D:

Ewww

Anyway,after seven seasons it doesn't surprise me that the wind has gone out of their sails,it happens to all long runners at some point,could be they were intending to end it sooner but Merchandise-Driven means they have to make it last longer.

edited 19th Jun '17 5:57:26 AM by Ultimatum

IIRC, popularity actually meant it lasted longer. I remember hearing something about how the show was just supposed to be a neat little kids' show that goes for a couple seasons before burning out and being replaced by something else, but the plan changed when its popularity exploded, resulting in it continuously being renewed.

"Slice of Life" was created on the 100th episode - the official point of syndication for television shows, where it no longer has to be bound to a single network but can be rerun anywhere, effectively immortalizing the series - as a way of thanking the periphery fandom for their role in keeping the show alive and running so much longer than anyone ever expected it to be.

edited 19th Jun '17 6:14:48 AM by TobiasDrake

Post of the Day #1858

wow

I'd be surprised if that post didn't thumped

Well, that discussion itself no longer exists in the system... but could we please not quote stuff that's rather... thump-worthy in itself? That's not something worth reading. I don't mind looking at the past and all, but, oy.

Should I stop doing POT Ds? (The posts are chosen completely at random, in case you didn't realize)

I like them. That one was just bad luck.

Nah, I don't see an issue with the idea. It's just some posts(like that one) are too inappropriate to post. Some content is worth not repeating, you know?

I like some of the funny ones that come up. I haven't seen an issue beyond once in a while bad ones to repeat the words of at best.

A good move to do is take a look at it before you post it on here. Is it inappropriate? Yes? Go random again. Is it not inappropriate? Post it.

edited 19th Jun '17 8:45:11 AM by Irene

I think part of the reason it's hard to say what's up with the show is because the writership has almost completely turned over at this point. I mean, there are very few writers who are still on the show from back when it started, and the new people are going to have their own ideas about which direction to take it. The shift in focus might just be the result of that.

That said, I would love to see the show focus back on the mane cast and their interactions rather than focusing so much on external conflicts.

I do wonder about the post-movie seasons. I have no idea to what extent this season is being affected by the movie if at all but I definitely imagine it's been siphoning some resources for a while now and now that it's almost out, will the show change next season or will it be more of the same?

i think we should keep the potd system as we have it. good post, bad post, thump-worthy post, or funny post, it should stay as is.

anyway i would chalk up a lot of the inconsistencies of the show, be it lore-wise, character-wise, development-wise, quality-wise, etcetera, to the fact that the writers are almost all cycled out. they all have different ideas for the show and different interpretations for what happened in previous seasons and that reflects in the work. and i'm sure there's a non-zero amount of writers that don't actually care about the show they're writing for.

for a while now i've felt that my little pony: friendship is magic isn't a very good overarching show. it's better when looking at individual episodes than when looking at it as a whole.

I can live with external conflicts as long as we get to see the Manes interacting during it. Like, the best part of most Friendship Mission episodes is when they stop bumblef*cking around waiting for the plot to hit them in the face - literally in Rarity's case - and get to actually trying to solve it. Especially when trying to resolve whatever conflict creates an opportunity for the characters to conflict between themselves.

As much as Honest Apple shit the bed at the end, it hit the nail on the head in terms of how to create new interpersonal conflicts between the characters: by putting them into new situations they haven't been in before and letting them behave in the way that they do. It really is as simple as that. The only way they can run out of interpersonal conflicts is if they run out of new situations that they can be put in.

You show me a writer who says that literally everything that could possibly happen to his characters has happened and I'll show you a writer who simply ran out of creativity.

Is there a "clean" version of "Equestria, the Land I Love" that doesn't have any sound effects? Like, on a CD or something?

I can't say I disagree with that thought, but I'd put more stock in that if it were one dedicated team of writers that's been on board from day one. Easier for them to say "here's something we haven't done before" and it's actually something new, since they know by heart what they've already done before.

With different writers coming and going in the setup we currently have, I worry that either something that's new for the current writers has already been pretty much done by someone else in the past (I'm sure we already have some examples of episodes that are technically different but sort of the same), or we get stuff that's jarringly inconsistent with the show's history (like my problem with Honest Apple).

edited 19th Jun '17 4:53:13 PM by KylerThatch

Or the new writers just feel like taking the show in a different direction. Let's face it, every single person has their own idea of what the show should be like, and that includes the writers.

It feels deliberate to me. I feel like this season's trying really hard to do the past six seasons' worth of worldbuilding by expanding the universe and exploring the world outside the Mane Six. The camaraderie between the Six suffering as a result of dramatically reduced screentime is basically a side effect.

Like the parents. We got an episode about Rainbow's parents, there's the upcoming one about AJ's, and I think I read about another upcoming episode where Twilight's parents are finally going to acknowledge she exists and get focused on? If Rarity's parents get an episode, we'll go from 2/3 of the cast having parents to the entire goddamn set in the span of a single season.

I, uh...I may have been reading promos of upcoming episodes to find out if a Twijack Friendship Mission is coming up. Near as I can tell, Starlight's is the only Friendship Mission in the entire season. Even the Cutie Map wants the Mane Six to take a break from each other for a while.

edited 19th Jun '17 6:42:22 PM by TobiasDrake

Uh, Rarity's parents have been around since season 2. They showed up at the beginning of Sisterhooves Social. They haven't gotten a focus episode, but they did show up.

edited 19th Jun '17 7:38:11 PM by JapaneseTeeth

So have Twilight's, but I'm not counting brief appearances that let us know they exist without telling us a single thing about them. Technically, Rainbow Dash's dad has also been around since season 3; it was just such a brief cameo that when it came time to make Parental Glideance, the writers had little problem kicking him out of continuity and pretending that never happened.

edited 19th Jun '17 7:44:24 PM by TobiasDrake

Makes sense. Your post just made it sound like they didn't exist at all. If nothing else, we know that Rarity's mom probably isn't a good cook, given that she seems to like Sweetie Belle's cooking.

Anyway, I need to sleep now.

edited 19th Jun '17 8:29:51 PM by JapaneseTeeth