The Old Generations

Well, G4's been dead for a while and G5 is nothing of note, so I decided to go back and finally fill in the gaps with G1 and G3

...Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by them

My Little Pony 'n Friends, the first half of G1, was far and away better than I thought it'd be at first glance

The animation's not great, the stories aren't deep, but the VA are having the time of their lives and bring so much life to the characters

The two pilot episodes, Rescue at Midnight Castle and Escape from Catrina offer an interesting start to the series, then the movie lays the groundwork for the animated series, and the first ten-part story (a little over an hour long once you trim out the openings and endings) is basically another movie in and of itself

Kinda baffling that episode lists put the pilots at the end of season one and two, because they create some pretty jarring continuity errors placed as-is, such as the ponies living in a castle instead of Paradise Estate, and Megan's outfit changing to something far more sensible than what's in the series proper (why on earth are you wearing flats instead of boots?!)

Ah yes, Megan (or Meegan, as the ponies sometimes call her) and her siblings, Molly and Danny

Probably the best HiE characters ever made, and it's a shame more fics don't use them more often. Basically the parents to the ponies, because without them, their IQ usually drops into the negatives (especially prevalent in season two as they start showing up less and less)

There's also a lot more species that show up, even if only for one story, ranging from demons, witches, several different types of goblins, trolls, and ogres, dwarves, gnomes, sapient animals, one stereotypical zebra, and even the French

Then there's My Little Pony Tales, which drops the fantasy aspect for a more mundane contemporary feel. The ponies act less like ponies or horses and more like humans, to the point they'll walk on their hind legs and drive vehicles and operate machinery

The characters themselves get more focus, whereas in the first half of G1 they feel like they're picked at random, and we have a core group of seven close friends with lives, dreams, and secrets of their own

There's even (recurring) male ponies now, and some of them are utterly reprehensible creatures that you (should) actively root against. Sometimes they'll get development, but rarely does it stick, and the series teases friendship and romance between them and the girls, but then has them flirt with other members of the group for no reason, or be rude, mean, spiteful, or even resorting to blackmail a few episodes later

And then we reach G3

Not 3.5
Not yet

It's back to fantasy, and the toyetic nature is on full blast, yet the stories it tells are...well, still incredibly simple, but there's a few incredibly amusing gems, and the characters are not afraid to rib one another and snark about their one dimensional characterization

Plus, there's a character that's...literally just Trixie Lulamoon, voiced by Kathleen Barr herself, same voice and everything.
Tabitha St. Germain's here too, although not as Rarity or Luna or any of her other familiar roles or voices

If you're hankering for more My Little Pony and still haven't seen the early material, I highly recommend giving them a go