Wow, that fallout · 12:57am Dec 2nd, 2015
Be honest, how many of you looked at that title and thought I was gonna talk about Fallout 4? 
But yes, I'm talking about that fan fallout regarding the last five or so minutes of the S5 finale. And now that the fires have cooled down a bit, maybe it can be met with some thoughtful debate.
As for me, frankly, S5 has been mostly a letdown for me. There's only a handful of episodes I truly love this season (and those are the opening two-parter, Make New Friends But Keep Discord, Amending Fences, and Hearthbreakers are all perfect), but five episodes out of twenty-something isn't a really good number. Or maybe it is, I'm not that great with fractions.
Pictured: fancy mathematics
My point is, I honestly don't want to write more blogs about the S5 episodes. All you need to know about my opinions regarding them is that while even the worst ones have impressive visuals and scenes, most of it is either middling or outright trash. A few in particular (that is, Brotherhood Social and Raiders of the Lost Cutie Mark) were, like Slice of Life, highly regarded by fans, but when I analyzed them and their presentation a little more closely, they fell apart like they were made of pulled pork.
Like, if the Sisterhood Social lets anypony participate so long as they represent comraderie, why isn't it just called the Sibling Social or the Friendship Social? You can't get much more "no boys allowed" than Sisterhood Social. I can't enjoy your story if I have to ignore the parts where it's supposed to make sense.
And Diamond Tiara being an abused filly is such a fucking cliche, I don't even know where to begin. None of the bullies I encountered EVER came from bad homes or had any sort of self esteem issue. Most of the time, they just bullied me because they were bored. I figured THAT out because when I went out of my way to make them laugh, the bullying stopped almost immediately.
Pictured: early childhood trauma
As for Di, I think it would have been more interesting if she was bratty just because she didn't know how to employ her cutie mark. She sees her parents, how they act in control of every situation, giving orders, etc. And they're crazy-successful, to boot. She has a huge legacy to live up to, and that can be a lot of pressure for someone so young. And because her parents are running a business, maybe they just can't have enough family time to clear the air and let Diamond in on why her tactics don't work but theirs do. (It all comes down to respecting your underlings.)
But NOPE. Let's just rush rush rush in a flat character to help us deliver a cliched plot that has no grounds in reality!
And they do the same with Coloralura's agent. Another flat, unlikable character to give us a cliched plot. And this was Amy Keating Roger's last episode for the show?
Pictured: me
But yes, I've rambled enough. Next blog, more info on what I'm doing these days, and what writing projects I'm working on. (Here's a hint: not all of it is ponies!)
I love Crusaders of the Lost Mark, but I agree that Diamond's out-of-nowhere character development and sad backstory could have been handled much better. That first DT song was really laying it on thick, it felt like it was trying too hard to make us feel sorry for her rather than just let the dialogue and her reactions speak for themselves. And her mom, gah (more on characters like her in a bit). I realize there's only so much they can do in a 22 minute (give or take) timeframe, but I've seen pieces of paper more three-dimensional than Spoiled Rich.
I'm with you on Coloratura's agent all the way, too. God, I hate that character. And by "that character", I mean all 500,000,000 variants of that character that have appeared across pretty much every medium ever for years, including the aforementioned Spoiled Rich. It's the one-note, one-dimensional "hate sink" whose only character trait and purpose is "I'm a douche! Hate me!". And because there'd be no story if he wasn't a douche.
I'm not saying every antagonist ever has to be a completely three-dimensional character with a detailed backstory and multiple layers of characterization, but it is so painfully obvious when they introduce a character who's only there to create a conflict and for the audience to boo and hiss. Snore.
All in all though, looking back, there's a lot I really like about S5, but there's also a lot of stuff I'm pretty lukewarm on. And some stuff that didn't live up to its full potential. Like Do Princess Dream of Magic Sheep? - there was a lot of potential here to explore Luna's issues and inner turmoil post-Nightmare Moon, issues that are very much based in reality. But no, it feels like we spent most of it on pandering and "LOLOLOLOLOL BIG MAC IZ SAILUR MOON!" nonsense. Meh.
You know what's weird? I haven't seen a single whit of Fallout 4 talk on this site since it hit. Granted, I keep my sample size small, but even in the greater gaming blogosphere it seems to have just been at a low simmer.
It's kind of odd reading this, as I think my episode like-to-dislike ratio is the exact inverse of yours. I can think of five episodes that didn't work for me, I loved the rest (though usually for weird out-there reasons that few people are touching on), and I liked this year's EQG even more than Rainbow Rocks. It was like this collection of all episodes was firing on all cylinders so hard that it sometimes just completely had no energy left any time it was time to do adventure plots. :D
Anyways, I'm sorry to see the season didn't work for you. I'd end off with a joke to try and lighten the mood, but that appears to be a risky proposition wherever I go these days. :P
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Ah, so your comment on my last blog was a joke. Okay. Sorry if I came off as abrasive, then.
I didn't think S5 was a big loss, though. I just think it was mostly, well, average. And what irked me most, as discussed in the blog post itself, was that every episode people claimed was "so awesome" (Slice of Life, Brotherhood Social, and Raiders of the Lost Cutie Mark) turned out to be putz when you get past all the fanservice and flat characterization.
But enough of my bitching.
Which scene do you think could summarize all the best parts of S5?