WebVideo This is Not An Abridged Series, It is A Youtube Poop
Fans call it an abridged series, but that would be too nice. Abridged series follow the same storyline as the course while adding in humor and a little meta humor. This series changes everything and every character is completely different for no reason.
Nothing in it makes any sense and we are expected to just go along with it because it provides a catchy song or two. This is not the quality of an abridges series, good or bad. This is just a Youtube Poop series, because that's the quality of it, poop.
For no other source of proof, just look at the (in)famous take on the Canterlot Wedding episode where they support an incest relationship. You will feel better avoiding the series entirely after just listening to the song in that episode.
WebVideo Used to be Interesting, then Wasn't
I realize this series got hate for being unfunny and shallow in its humor.
While I prefer Mentally Advanced, I did get some mild enjoyment from this one. It put an interesting spin on old characters and was kinda satirical of both the fans and fandom controversies.
Then, it ended. It SHOULD have continued with Smooze. It should have shown Pinkie adjusting to her role as a mother. It should have delved more into these characters giving more dimensions.
But what happened?
Incest is not funny. This episode was done for spectacle, but the joke was weird and the whole scenario seemed forced.
Even if you dropped the plotlines and just went for the South Park-brand of satire, that would be fine, but MAKE YOUR JOKES HAVE A POINT!
I realize this is a very love it or hate it series, but I Took a Third Option. I say the series DID have its high points and was watchable. But somewhere along the way it got lost. It's not un-salvageable, I just don't see why it had to take such a turn for the worst.
WebVideo From the desk of Princess Twilight Acorna Sparkle:
This is an abridged series. An abridged series has a number of options for an approach to a series that it's canon format doesn't have. It can be retold through caricatures and lampshaded mercilessly. It can be a menagerie of references to make up for a lack of real humor. It can be as weird, light, dark, or positively crazy as it wants. Or it can just be another lame, half-assed work of people who thought they were funny.
Fi M has a periphery demographic that can tear apart an episode minutes after it's airing, and a character a month after the season ends. As such, Jenny and Griffin make it a point to do these things, with originality and charm to match. Sweetie Belle is an adorable synthetic life form that thinks she's real, Rainbow Dash is a blind idiot who can actually be prone to needing explanation on her own anatomy ("Whoa, what are these weird thingies on my back?") and Princess Celestia reluctantly must contend with the exploits of a god mode sue otaku that she regrets having taken in as a student. What Fi W does is takes the many untested layers of Fi M, and knowledge of the fanbase itself and adds it's own brand of zany humor that proceeds to get darker as it all progresses.
There are a number of alternate character interpretations and a disturbing version of the reality presented that wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it was shown vanilla. Little hints are dropped at past events in this alternate version of Equestria that flesh out a storyline, however inconsequential it may end up for the main purpose of it, which is the humor. It gains it's own identity and voice as it goes, but the issue in it can mostly be taken with the sheer absurdity present in every single line of dialogue. People forget that Twilight Sparkle, for all intents and purposes, is a sue to some degree, or many of the morals, and episodes of Fi M proper happen to involve a number of inconsistencies and snapbacks on the parts of the writers that keep this fanbase as divided as it is.
The show separates itself without being a tryhard at being weird. And the amount of work that goes into each episode trumps many of it's would be competitors. Don't write it off unless you're looking for something more grounded. In which case just watch the show.
WebVideo Entertaining as Witchcraft
This abridged series is my favorite so fare. The story of the series as a whole is comprehensible with somewhat consistent continuity and characterization. It's not merely a redub, but it has its own ongoing storyline, making it more of a reimagined universe with the same setting and characters. And of course, the most important element is that it's entertaining. Not only from the cleverly written dialogue, but also from how they rewrite the episodes into a new take.
'The Good'
- Great writing
- Great voice acting, with some amusing ones (Celestia, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon) and some that sound decently legit (The mane cast, mainly)
- Decent original songs
- The creativity is astounding
- Comprehensible and consistent story with a continuity
'The Bad'
- The mouth flaps don't match at all
'The Gypsy'
- It's clean (PG-ish)
WebVideo Good... until you watch any other MLP abridged series
At first I thought the series was funny. I thought the characters were good, but then I realised that most characters were the same characters from the original show just given out of place backstories that did nothing to influence their personalities. And the characters that do have their personalities changed? Their personalities are exaggerated. Twilight utterly idolises Celestia to the point of emulating her, Rainbow Dash is a single-minded, thick, egotist. Luna or "Molestia" (hurr-hurr) is socially awkward to the point that it's outright painful and she sounds like Stitch if he was German and was learning English as a second language. The only exception to this is Pinkie who is sadly the most fleshed out character. Applejack and Rarity are basically the same as they were in the show (save for something about a war that only ever gets used to set up a joke) And Fluttershy. Try taking your favourite food and trying to mentally make it unappetizing without altering any qualities of the food, it's difficult, but that didn't stop them from doing it with Fluttershy and making a massive hash of it. She is still quiet, she is still a pushover. And she's now a fucking psychopath. The voices sound similar to the original characters which makes the characters seem more like their originals which clashes with characters like Fluttershy and makes Twilight and Rainbow Dash the two most annoying characters in the damn series. There are single lines in the show that make me laugh still but a few good lines won't make a production good. Some parts of the overall story were actually interesting (The smooze cult in particular) But that doesn't help when all the characters are bland (with one exception) a lot of the lines are cringe-worthy and it pales all around to almost every other MLP abridged series out there.