Ranking The Writers of Season 6

Just like with Season 5, we got a lot of new writers this season (in fact new writers were quite common this season). So how did the writers fare this season? Which returning ones hit their stride or redeemed themselves, which returning ones did poorly, which new writers did well, and which new writers struggled? Well, let's find out.

Including the returning writers, we had 13 writers this season. So how do they stack up?

13. David Rapp (Episodes written: Newbie Dash (Collabed with Dave Polsky for story), Flutter Brutter (Meghan McCarthy credited with story), Where The Apple Lies (Collabed with Meghan McCarthy for story))
Reason: I really hate to pick on the odd one out, but David Rapp just isn't suited for FiM or any cartoon for that matter. He only previously wrote for live action shows, and there's a difference between writing for that and writing for cartoons. Out of all his episodes, not one of them have been very solid, though he seems to have done better when he wasn't in charge of the story. I just don't think he should've been picked up, he clearly wasn't prepared for the transition and it's clear no one on the DHX staff was able to truly help him (Meghan and Haber were busy but Dave was noticeably absent this season so I don't know why he didn't try to do more to help David).

12. Neal Dusedau (Episodes written: Applejack's "Day" Off (Collabed with Michael P. and Will Fox for story))
Reason: I'm surprised Neal was allowed to return when neither of his Season 5 episodes were good (and in fact they were quite terrible). Pretty much the only sign of improvement he showed in "Applejack's 'Day' Off" is that he now tries to explain his plot holes instead of just ignoring them. But the thing with plot holes is, you can't write your way out of them once you put them in there, the only way you avoid plot holes is by carefully checking your story. It also pays to get an outside eye to look it over (try practicing what you preach, Neal).

11. Michael P. and Will Fox (Episodes written: Gift of The Maud Pie (Collabed with Josh Haber for story), Applejack's "Day" Off (Collabed with Neal Dusedau for story), P.P.O.V. (Pony Point Of View) (Collabed with Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt for story))
Reason: The Fox brothers have potential to be good writers, or at least decent writers. But they haven't been paired up with a writer that can truly help them out, they got bad luck three times in a row this season. For "Gift of The Maud Pie" they got saddled with Josh Haber when he was on his "Rarity must be in every episode" binge, which created a massive plothole that ruined the story. For "Applejack's 'Day' Off" they got stuck with Neal Dusedau and I think it's obvious who ended up doing most of the work. And for "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point Of View)" they were given two writers from medicore shows that had only previously worked with Michael Vogel and were not prepared to help two lackluster writers. All three of their episodes featured Rarity, and it's clear they understand her, more or less. Maybe if they got someone like Michael Vogel or Dave Polsky to help them, they could improve.

10. F.M. De Marco (Episodes written: 28 Pranks Later (Meghan McCarthy credited with story))
Reason: F.M. wrote a few episodes for the recently wrapped up "Littlest Pet Shop" cartoon that was also done by DHX, and for the most part his works were very medicore, only producing two really good episodes out of a total of five. Perhaps because of that, he wasn't suited to the task of getting stuck with an attempt by the writers to revisit "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" and justify the mane six resorting to the nuclear option (ignoring the other half of people's complaints about the episode). I think he tried his best, but perhaps the only thing he was good at was writing Pinkie Pie (Pinkie is often a weak point for Meghan, so I imagine she left Pinkie to Marco). Maybe he could improve if he came back next season, but considering he's also written for two Netflix exclusive shows based on Dreamworks' How To Train Your Dragon, he may not have the time to come back for Season 7.

9. Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt (Episodes written: The Times They Are A Changeling (Collabed with Michael Vogel for story), Viva Las Pegasus (collabed with Michael Vogel for story), P.P.O.V. (Pony Point Of View) (Collabed with Michael P. and Will Fox for story))
Reason: At least when Michael Vogel was helping them out, Kevin and Chris could turn out good episodes as we saw with "The Times They Are A Changeling" (albeit after a clunky start and mostly because of its strong moral) and "Viva Las Pegasus" (not really much of anything to find fault with there aside from the lack of a song), sadly due to their past writing credits they were not ready to help The Fox Brothers who had already seen both of their collabs end in disaster. Naturally, the result of pairing up four very inexperienced writers (who's episodes didn't even really share a character in common) led to "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point Of View" becoming a waste of potential and a very lackluster episode late into Season 6. At least for now I think they need to stay with someone like Michael, someone who can find the time to really help them out, because given what these writers have previously worked for, they could very easily mess up.

8. Meghan McCarthy (Episodes written: Flutter Brutter (credited with story, episode written by David Rapp), 28 Pranks Later (credited with story, episode written by F.M. De Marco), The Fault in Our Cutie Marks (credited with story alongside Josh Haber, episode written by Ed Valentine), Where The Apple Lies (collabed with David Rapp for story, episode written by David Rapp), Top Bolt (collabed with Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco for story, episode written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco))
Reason: Meghan was noticeably absent this season, since she was busy working on the theatrical movie due out next year. But she still found time to contribute to a couple of episodes. However, at best she only really helped hold David Rapp in check by taking charge of "Flutter Brutter"'s story, for "28 Pranks Later" she apparently didn't bother to tell Marco his story was a few seasons too late, what she contributed to "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" is hard to say, "Where The Apple Lies" turned out to be an unnecessary Applejack flashback episode, and there wasn't really a need for Meghan to help Joanna and Kristine with "Top Bolt" given that they'd already done well with "Gauntlet of Fire" and "Legend of Everfree".

7. Dave Polsky (Episodes written: On Your Marks (collabed with Josh Haber for story), Newbie Dash (collabed with David Rapp for story, episode written by David Rapp)
Reason: I think that since this season was big on call backs to Season 2, and Dave was not present for Season 2, he wasn't consulted upon very often. And sadly, both times he was not allowed to write on his own, which is a huge shame considering he has done well in past seasons. He understands the CMC very well at least, even if "On Your Marks" seemed to struggle for a bit with what it wanted the CMC to do now that they had their cutie marks, don't know if he was responsible for the cringe comedy attempt in "Newbie Dash" or what (if anything) he contributed. I wouldn't mind seeing Dave take over as story editor in the next season, assuming this season isn't a sign that he's sliding back downhill.

6. Ed Valentine (Episodes written: The Cart Before The Ponies (collabed with Michael Vogel for story), The Fault in Our Cutie Marks (Josh Haber and Meghan McCarthy credited with story))
Reason: Ed seems to have fixed his fatal flaw this season, his set ups this time around were noticeably trimmed down and shortened, and he showed he can remember his own continuity and that the CMC are his strong point. Sadly, "The Cart Before The Ponies" seems to indicate he can't do anywhere near as good with the mane six (or at least half of them). He's pretty much in the same boat as he was before, with one clunky episode that had a very promising premise, and one good episode that just needed a bit of polishing. Maybe he and Dave should collab sometime?

5. Nick Confalone (Episodes written: No Second Prances, The Saddle Row Review, Dungeons & Discords)
Reason: One of the only writers allowed to write solo this season, Nick decided to step out of his comfort zone and with each of his episodes he tackled a different character in the spotlight compared to his past episodes which were both Pinkie Pie centered. For "No Second Prances" he tried his luck with Twilight and Starlight, for "The Saddle Row Review" he attempted a Rarity spotlight episode, and for "Dungeons & Discords" he focused solely on the guy characters. "No Second Prances" was also his first attempt at doing a more serious episode compared to his comedic works last season. While he managed pretty well all things considered, you can tell he wasn't comfortable with a more serious episode and prefers to stick to the light hearted comedic ones that he knows he's good at (which isn't a bad thing, sometimes it's best to stick to what you know you're good at. Broadening your horizons is nice, but it never hurts to realize when you're just not cut out for something). Because of that, he didn't quite it make into the top four or top three.

4. Michael "Mike" Vogel (Episodes written: A Hearth's Warming Tail, Spice Up Your Life, Stranger Than Fanfiction (Collabed with Josh Haber), The Cart Before The Ponies (collabed with Ed Valentine for story, episode written by Ed Valentine), The Times They Are A Changeling (collabed with Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt for story, episode written by Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt), Viva Las Pegasus (collabed with Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt for story, episode written by Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt), Every Little Thing She Does, To Where And Back Again Parts 1 and 2 (collabed with Josh Haber)
Reason: I really wanted to put him higher, but I'm kind of worried that maybe he got too much praise too soon and that in reality he's not quite a strong a writer as he thought he was after "A Hearth's Warming Tail". Sure, he hasn't produced any outright flops, and he's done well collabing with Kevin and Chris as well as Josh, and he probably just didn't prioritize collabing with Ed since "The Cart Before The Ponies" was likely one of the last episodes to be worked on, but it seems like with the exception of "A Hearth's Warming Tail", "Stranger Than Fanfiction", and "Viva Las Pegasus", there's always a character he just doesn't get. "Spice Up Your Life" had Rarity holding a massive idiot ball, "Every Little Thing She Does" seemed to confirm he views Starlight as just unicorn Twilight 2.0, and "To Where And Back Again" (and to an extent "The Times They Are A Changeling) indicates he may not see Spike as much beyond a goofball and a clutz. I think he wanted to do "To Where And Back Again" alone and had already mostly written part 1 when Josh Haber intervened and insisted upon a collab. There's a very real chance Michael may take over as story editor next season (Meghan may still be busy with the movie and Josh Haber has been tapped for a Skylanders t.v. show) so we'll have to see if he can as strong a story editior as Season 3 Meghan McCarthy, or Josh Haber in this season (though Haber was not immune to mistakes).

3. Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco (Episodes written: Gauntlet of Fire, Top Bolt (collabed with Meghan McCarthy for story), Movies written: Legend of Everfree)
Reason: It's amazing how well Joanna and Kristine have rebounded from their terrible debut a season ago, now they've penned what many are proclaiming to be the best Spike episode of the show, and what some are considering the best Equestria Girls movie (Rainbow Rocks still holds that title for a lot of fans though). So why are they not in the top two spots or even on the top? Well, "Top Bolt" is why. I don't know if it's really their fault, but the way Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail's friendship was potrayed and written in that episode, it made it seem like Sky Stinger was an abusive pony, and that context just hurts the episode since I really don't think Sky deserved his happy ending (Vapor Trail wasn't trying to be subtle, so at some point Sky had to be aware of what she was doing. And keep in mind, abusers can put on act and pretend to care about the ones they hurt, it's called passive agressive). Sadly, for now at least I have to count that against Joanna and Kristine, which is a shame considering they were looking so good. Maybe they'll be able to rebound next season.

2. Jennifer Skelly (Episodes written: Buckball Season)
Reason: It's amazing that a writer plucked from the depths of obscurity could write a very good episode all on her own. While Jennifer probably should've watched a few episodes in Seasons 2, 4, and 5 before penning "Buckball Season", she managed to write just about everyone in that episode well. It wasn't just Snails who shined here (though he was definitely the highlight), Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were great, and hopefully Jennifer will get picked whenever the writers get around to doing a PinkieShy episode (it's one of the only pairings they've yet to really explore, the only other ones I can think of are TwiJack and RariLight). But since she's only written one episode and not all of the main cast were present in it, there's no telling how she'll develop if she gets brought back for the next season (and I hope she does return, she's got potential).

1. Josh Haber (Episode written: The Crystalling Parts 1 and 2, Gift of The Maud Pie (collabed with Michael P. and Will Fox for story, episode written by Michael P. and Will Fox), On Your Marks (collabed with Dave Polsky for story, episode written by Dave Polsky), Stranger Than Fanfiction (collabed with Michael Vogel), The Fault in Our Cutie Marks (collabed with Meghan McCarthy for story, episode written by Ed Valentine), To Where And Back Again Parts 1 and 2 (collabed with Michael Vogel))
Reason: This season pretty much cemented Haber as the de-facto successor for Meghan McCarthy and unlike Meghan he took a more active role in helping other writers out (whether they needed it or not), snagging both the premiere and the finale (though he passed off writing for the Equestria Girls series to Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco) as well as collabs with Meghan and Michael. Most of his episodes were pretty good, with only "Gift of The Maud Pie" being the episode that would've benefited from him not being involved (Rarity's inclusion hurt the story, yes it was funny seeing her act like Pinkie Pie but sometimes you gotta scarifice humor for the sake of a coherent story). It's speculated that, with him getting picked to write for a Skylanders t.v. show, he may not be able to come back next season and write or serve as story editor, and if he does leave I'll miss him. I don't think Meghan could've picked a more worthy successor (aside from maybe Dave Polsky, M. A. Larson had his chance but he allowed for "Castle, Sweet Castle", "Appleloosa's Most Wanted", and "Princess Spike" to slip through as they were).

And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we rank all of the new characters of Season 6 from worst to best.

Comments

[superfun]

For me, it goes:
1. Mike Vogel
2. Nick Confalone
3. Josh Haber
4. David Rapp
5. Michael P. and Will Fox

The rest sort of blend together for me in terms of ranking them.