My thoughts on MLP G5 and how it relates to FHS · 3:27am Dec 22nd, 2023
I've wanted to make this journal entry ever since I saw Chapter 6 of MLP: Make Your Mark, so I think it's time I finally do, cuz there is a lot to unpack. Be warned that there will be spoilers if you have not watched Ch 6 yet. If you'd like to skip to the part with me talking about how this relates to Flurry Heart's Story, scroll down past the two hyperlinks followed by the bold text.
Full disclosure: I was not impressed. Yeah, it's great to see a familiar (albeit different) face again, I do think it was nice to have some episodes dedicated to a climactic battle with Opaline, and there are finally some new villains for a change, but...they made TONS of mistakes.
Let's go in order starting off with "Isle of Scaly".
First of all: the dragons... sweet mother of Celestia, the dragons. I'm just gonna say it now: their designs are ugly. They aren't bad designs for dragon characters per se, but the established designs we had in G4 were way more unique and totally different. Here, we have them all as quadrupeds and they just look like ponies with the shape of their horse-like legs and bodies. Again, those are okay for dragons, but they don't make me think of the ones from the show that this is supposed to be a sequel of. Them having hair is okay in my opinion since eastern dragons tend to have hair or fur (and I have some upcoming OCs that do), but it looks weird on other types of dragons. I guess in terms of my headcanon, you could say they are a mix of Eastern Drake and Northern or Southern Drake, but it somehow still doesn't look right in this show. They remind me of some of the ugly designs of the dragons in the comics. And apparently they ALL have their own unique magic fire. Okay? Only Spike did in G4 but now all of them do for some reason. If you thought that was weird, they have cutie marks now too, which makes no sense and is never explained, plus Spike still doesn't have one, so what was the point even?
Speaking of Spike, he had magic fire in G4, so it makes sense that he can teleport more than just scrolls now in his older age, it just seems a bit crazy that he can now just blow fire and BOOM! Sunny's friends appear in Opaline's castle from all the way over in Maretime Bay because magic! Also, why the heck does he look like that? We saw him at the end of the show and that is NOT Spike the dragon. I am biased with not liking his design since my design for future Spike was radically different (and I designed it before the end of G4 so it's different from that version too), but again, we had a design for future Spike and it's completely gone now. But then again, this is coming from a show where Twilight doesn't even have her taller form in those holographic messages even though that would have been recorded after the events of "The Last Problem" in G4. It feels even worse for Spike. Again, that does not look like him and it also doesn't sound like him. A deep voice makes sense, but the one they went with sounds a bit dopey. At least they didn't do Cathy Weseluck's voice this time, but the new one is still off-putting. But whatever. All I can say is, I'm way more interested in what I have come up with for the dragons. It may be a bit different from some things in G4, but it seems G5 has already ignored pretty much everything about the G4 dragons, and not just their designs.
But the biggest problem this episode had was when Spike told Sunny about how this all went down. Twilight's decision to hide the magic in the crystals still makes no sense, but it gets worse: apparently she was the one who put all the dragons to sleep for hundreds of years to...protect them? What? Also, Opaline was established to be a "fire alicorn" (we still don't know what that means) in an earlier episode where she said she was one (and most likely born as one) in her childhood when she knew Celestia and Luna as kids, however, Spike says that Opaline got her fire powers when she stole fire from the dragons which happened over a thousand years after the former. Not only does this show contradict things from G4, it contradicts its own freaking canon. Uggggghhhhh....
Well anyway, things get a bit more interesting in "Root of All Evil" but there are still a lot of issues. Misty finally admits to Opaline that she had betrayed her a while ago, but shouldn't Opaline have known all along? Not only was it already so obvious, but she also said she knew about the growing of the Friendship Tree in Zephyr Heights which happened AFTER Misty got her cutie mark, so how would she also not know about her having a cutie mark, let alone being reformed? It would have been way better if Opaline told Misty she knew all along that she was working behind her back, she just needed Misty to think she didn't know and then use that to her advantage, but I guess that's too clever of writing. And that scene where Opaline lets Zipp and Pipp fool her was just stupid. Obviously it's a trap! Opaline can be a fun villain at times, but her biggest issue is that she's dumb. Despite being possibly thousands of years old, she is so gullible and never thinks, plus we have no real interesting motive for her, just that She's a Villain like the song goes. The villains in G4 were way more interesting. Heck, even Sprout did better as one. At least with him, we see how his jealousy of Hitch and his conditioning to hate ponies that aren't like him mixed well enough to turn him into a dictator. With Opaline, there's still no motivation aside from her backstory which has already been debunked by what Spike said, plus it sounds like she's lying. I wish they'd have Celestia and Luna come in and admit that they were very unkind to her in their youth and they can see now that it's made her into a monster, so they have to apologize and see if it works. Also, when Opaline gave Sunny the whole "We are not so different, you and I" speech, did it sound an awful lot like she was about to tell Sunny she's her mother? I know it's a cop-out, but I feel like if they pulled that reveal on us, it would make Opaline more interesting. It would have given Sunny a reason to show some concern for the villain and be horrified once she sees her mother get eaten up by the tree. It could also explain why Argyle knows so much about old Equestria and has all those artifacts in his study. There were so many opportunities to do more with Opaline that they didn't take. Well anyway, Opaline is defeated in a pretty shocking way, but we all know she's not dead and will probably return. I almost kinda feel bad for her with how she had her cutie mark stolen by the tree's roots, went in after it and then got herself trapped in there. The look on her face looked like she really knew she'd fucked up. It's definitely a new and interesting way for a villain to be defeated.
Alright, now let's get to the "Secrets of Starlight" episode, and no, it has nothing to do with Starlight Glimmer. Sorry.
This episode is...weird. The new characters are okay. Violet Frost has a weirdly shaped face and Comet looks like ponified Skrillex, but what's really odd is how these ponies are obviously crystal ponies and this place is obviously the Crystal Empire, but nah, it's all new stuff. It's not a bad setting or plot, but I'm really not feeling the new villains. Allura had potential to be a better villain than Opaline, but she's just as dumb as her and Twitch is annoying and useless. Allura fell for that trick with the portal like a complete moron and didn't really seem like a threat. It's kind of obvious the reason she was looking for the portal was to get to Equestria, and now that she's there, maybe things will get more interesting. She could pull through and be a better villain later on, but I'm not hoping for much.
I can't really think of much else to say about my reactions to the show itself, so I highly recommend you watch the following videos by these brony analysts that cover things I didn't have time for.
https://youtu.be/FADj9phgfkE?si=QHXusAmnFEOJGhn4
https://youtu.be/uFSTBRhmFpI?si=75WfP9ewF54-7jaU
Alright, and now for the part about FHS.
I have been asked before if I am going to do anything with G5 in my fanfictions and reference it in any way. Well I have a bit more of a definitive answer now: in terms of the timeline, definitely not. It has already ruined my headcanons for the dragons and the gap between G4 and G5 does not align with how I envisioned FHS ending. I obviously won't spoil what I have planned for the ending as that is too far away into the future and things are subject to change, but it is NOT like this. For a while, I was thinking I could find a way to segue into the ANG movie, but now that we are getting all this conflicting lore talking about Twilight and Spike, there's no way it's possible.
So yeah, let it be officially known the G5 timeline is non-canonical to Flurry Heart's Story. G5 has become too much of a jumbled up mess that contradicts G4, my fanfiction, and even itself. I will not be acknowledging it in any way. I was kinda thinking of doing my own version of Sunny and her friends by putting them in the timeline sooner and having them be kids or something when Flurry and her friends are older, but I don't even think I can do that anymore. The only thing I can imagine is if I use Opaline but make her backstory way different and probably not even make her a villain, but at this point, I think most of my own readers want to just move on from Opaline and wouldn't care to see her or anything from G5 be used in my stories.
If this disappoints anyone, I am sorry it came to this, but I cannot say with confidence that I have faith in G5 to get better. I always thought it worked better as short-form content with Tell Your Tale, and honestly, I think that is the future for G5. They always mess up when they make bigger storylines and try to cross over with G4 and it looks like most fans agree. I still love the characters in this show and I want what's best for them, but they work a lot better in their own world with their own problems and not having anything that relates to the former series. I don't know how true this is, but I have heard that the reason we don't see other characters or hear their names is because Hasbro lost the media rights to G4 to Warner Bros/Discovery and have to buy some it back. This could be why we've only gotten Twilight and Spike and only seen Celestia and Luna in a flashback. This doesn't mean that Friendship is Magic is owned by Warner; it's still owned by Hasbro, they're just limited to what they can do in relation to their new MLP media. If all of that is true, well I guess that could be part of what has ruined G5. They couldn't touch a lot of material from G4, so they had to make things up and just ended up contradicting so much in the process. Then again, maybe it's a good thing that they can't use a lot of G4 material because we've already seen how they've ruined Twilight and Spike.
How all this legal crap works with entertainment confuses me beyond belief and I think it's one big reason why most modern media is trash. Copyright limitations and companies having a stranglehold on creative aspects can screw up the process, thus proving that books written by one person was a better way to go and produced finer literature. This is why I focus more on my own ideas rather than following tons of media made by big corporations just for profit and not to tell good stories. One creator has his or her own control of things and doesn't have to worry about what some greedy executives say. Instead, they trust their audience to know what they want and listen to their feedback. This method promises a better story written by a genuine individual who isn't doing it just for the money. Flurry Heart's Story and My Little Sister is a Dragon are my own creations and are meant to go in line with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, not the newer My Little Pony shows we are currently getting. I started making art for FHS in 2018 just for fun. It was before FiM ended and started writing the story after it ended, so I had no idea we'd be getting a new movie 2 years later or what to expect of it. For the sake of the integrity of my writing, I am going to have to ignore G5 from here on out. My stories are dear to me and my readers. There is no point in ruining them further with lore from a show that can't even decide what it is.
What’s wrong with Cathy Weseluck?
5760209
what do you mean?
I’ve seen both of these and I enjoyed and agreed with them. Also, Tell your Tale is better
5760211
This part.
Yeah it works better to keep FHS as far away from G5 as possible at this point Alex!
Personally i dislike the drama here
I love g5 and i will stand by it
5760220
yeah, how was I implying there was something "wrong" with her?
5760311
What drama?
5760337
Its not exactly drama
I just enjoy g5 a LOT!
its Hard for me to accept criticism but im trying
I just think g5 was ok
5760338
I mean you can always just ignore the criticism, but don't go around accusing me of starting drama. I didn't even make any personal attacks in this blog entry.
5760339
Im sorry i wont do it again
5760339
Anyways yeah g5 has a bit of a mess in timelines but i do think theres a clear timeline
But it takes place WAY in the future so Really? Flurry Heart's story wont even be affected by it
Just one minor Deviation and thats it
5760336
The way you said it. “At least they’re not doing (insert x here)” implies you have a problem with it.
5760343
Well FHS isn't canon, so it doesn't matter. I only mentioned it because my readers asked before if I would ever start hinting at G5 or set up for it, and I said I wasn't sure and was waiting to see if the show would pull through, but it didnt' so I let people know that. And actually, yes, FHS would be affected by it. I wouldn't have to tell people I am considering G5 non-canon in this post if that weren't the case. I can't say how since it would spoil the ending I have planned for FHS, plus the ending could be subject to change.
5760344
What I meant was her voice would be unfitting. I don't have a problem with Cathy Weseluck, just the voice would not fit. It didn't even fit very well for adult Spike in G4. It was great for Spike as a kid though. Why would you assume I dislike her or her voice?
5760350
Thats fine
Honestly for me i do like alt timelines
5760350
again sorry for being that way
I look forward to your next chapter
And as stormy said on deviant art
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
And Ill see you in the new year!
5760351
The phrasing you used.
5760352
That's sadly what it will have to be now, but it kind of already was since I do change a few little things like the origins of the Elements (which were never totally clear anyway). G5 does honestly feel like a soft-reboot at this point anyhow.
5760354
Next time I'll be more specific then. Her voice was fine, but it's a good voice for KID Spike.
5760356
Yeah
Tell flurry and co ill see you in the new year
Well... if it helps, you're not alone regarding your assessment of G5 when it comes to your own fanwork. I admit to enjoying it well enough, but I've long since decided to not include it in my own fanfics other than maybe isolated details here and there, for reasons largely similar to yours.
Given all the inconsistencies you mentioned (some of which I did notice myself), I confess I'm not exactly surprised you're taking this approach, but all the same, thank you for taking the time to let us know. :)
Looking forward to what's next for Flurry Heart's Story (and hopefully will soon take the time to get properly caught up... 😅). Take care.
5760420
There are still some things I do enjoy about G5, but it's gotten too far from believable and it's contradicted so much that it cannot line up even with Friendship is Magic, so I don't even consider it a proper sequel show but a reboot.
And there's a lot of good stuff in store for FHS! The next thing will be a short story about how Scutellum and Elytra left the hive before Pharynx transformed, and then after that: the next story for MLSiaD and then the next episode of FHS. They're going to be really fun stories!
5760631
I get you. And I do overall agree with you. I still consider it a sequel basically by necessity, so to speak (as the ties between both series are just too evident to ignore), but I admit to applying Fanon Discontinuity to it, even as I do enjoy it somewhat myself.
And those certainly sound interesting! Hopefully I'll be caught up when they come out! Good luck for your work on them! :) And Merry Christmas!
5760688
Merry Christmas to you too! :)
about to tell Sunny she's her mother?
I agree with this. I hope Opaline comes back and is really Sonny's mother.
Spike says that Opaline got her fire powers when she stole fire from the dragons which happened over a thousand years after the former. Not only does this show contradict things from G4, it contradicts its own freaking canon
considering this, it can be said that Opaline got her cutie mark even later than Misty.
5762412
I think it would’ve been more interesting.
Well the tree stole her cutie mark which means it is real, but she’s a villain enough for her to do something like that.