I Prefer The Later Seasons Of MLP: FIM To The First Three · 1:23pm Oct 8th, 2017
I Prefer The Later Seasons Of MLP: FIM To The First Three
Before I get into this blog just be aware that these are my own personal opinions. You are more than welcome to disagree with them. But these are just some of the reasons why I personally prefer the later seasons of MLP: FIM to the first three.
I personally think that seasons 4-7 of MLP: FIM have been quite good. I respect that the writers are trying new things. I think if they kept repeating all of the same things from seasons 1-3 the show would have gotten boring really quick. But instead they chose to give characters more responsibility and really evolve them throughout seasons 4-7. Now are the episodes perfect? No. But looking back, seasons 1-3 were not really perfect either. And they were more targeted towards a very young audience. Whereas seasons 4-7 are more targeted towards a teen and adult audience. Which is something I appreciate.
In season one, the biggest thing the characters had to worry about was going to a dance and solving a friendship problem during a sleepover. I mean unless you count Nightmare Moon. But they beat her in like five seconds so...no. I don't really count that.
In season two Discord was introduced but he was not a very good villain. Don't get me wrong. He was highly entertaining to watch. But he fell flat in many ways, especially when compared with other villains such as Tirek who would be introduced later. I never viewed Discord as a threat though. He was more of a chaotic force who didn't think of how his actions were effected anyone else around him. This is part of what made his reformation in season three so believable. At his core he was always just a big trickster who enjoyed wallowing in the constant annoyance he brought to the individuals around him. When he made a friend, his desire to cause trouble for creatures around him vanished in time because he started to realize the inconvenience he was causing for the individuals he cared about.
Season two also introduced Chrysalis as a villain but she was not that good either. Her plan was really flawed. And the whole episode with Chrysalis was more or less just a retelling of the ending scenes of Disney's The Little Mermaid. No seriously. Its exactly the same down to their outfits. What I mean is that in the ending scenes of The Little Mermaid, Ariel rushes to Prince Eric to warn him that he is actually marrying Ursula who is disguised as a princess from another kingdom, all while a battle takes place around her. Sound familiar? That is because the ending of the second season of MLP: FIM was pretty much identical. Given it has a twist to it that made it uniquely fit in the world of Equestria (like Shining Armor being Twilight's brother and so on). But the similarities are uncanny. Once you notice the similarities you really can't un-see them. It doesn't make the episode terrible though. It is still a solid episode in its own right. But I recognize it more for introducing Queen Chrysalis as an antagonist who would go on to make better and more threatening appearances in seasons 5 and 6.
I honestly can't watch season one anymore. It is way too childish and season two is barely watchable perhaps for Discord and Chrysalis to a certain extent but that is about it.
Please understand that I am not hating on seasons one or two. I am just pointing out some pretty glaring flaws which prevent me from watching the episodes as much as I would want to watch a season 4, 5, 6, or 7 episode.
And then you get to season three and the stakes actually get raised a bit. Sombra was a pretty decent villain, definitely better than Discord or Chrysalis. And the episode where Twilight earned her wings was interesting and fun. But other than that the show followed a similar format to seasons one and two. Not much of interest really happened.
Then season 4 rolled around. And oh boy. That was the best thing that ever happened to the show. Every single episode was good. Seriously. Not a bad episode to be found. Tirek still remains the best villain out of the entire series.
Seasons 5-6 were more slice of life than anything else but they did introduce much needed character development for the main characters and even the new characters.
And season 7 has been just as engaging and fun as season 4. I would say that seasons 4 and 7 are on a similar level, with season 4 perhaps being slightly better because Tirek was still the better villain. But the Pony of Shadows was still a great villain for season 7. And I have to say that season 7 did a great job of introducing family dynamics into the show which had previously been missing in other seasons.
I feel that the characterization of the main characters and even the new characters in seasons 4-7 is a lot better than in previous seasons. In seasons 1-3 the characters didn't really progress much. But in seasons 4-7 the characters really started to evolve and actually learn from their previous mistakes.
I also think that the writing has gotten a lot better. There are some episodes in episodes 4-7 that legitimately made me cry. I can't really say that for any of the episodes in seasons 1-3.
But that's not to say that seasons 1-3 weren't good in their own right either. I appreciate what they did; they set a great foundation for the show to work off of. And that's great.
While I appreciate that seasons 1-3 laid the foundation of the show, seasons 4-7 are the heart of the show. And I find myself going back to watch episodes from those seasons rather than going back to watch the episodes of seasons 1-3 which had a more childish voice with little to no stakes.
So all in all, I prefer seasons 4-7 to seasons 1-3. Seasons 4-7 took necessary risks with the characters and stories and have more of an adult voice to them.
Seasons 1-3 took very little risks, was more similar to a Loony Tunes cartoon than a high fantasy adventure, and had a more childish voice. Now this didn't make them bad. But I am glad that the show has evolved past that.
I am now very much looking forward to season 8 and seeing what they will do as far as introducing many of the new characters and locations fom the movie into the show.
But hey. These are just some of my own thoughts. To each their own. I know people are always going to like it dislike different aspects of the show for their own reasons. And that is just my personal opinion.
Feel free to share some of your own thoughts in the comment section below. I am curious to hear your thoughts on this. But please try to keep your comments polite and respectful, especially when replying to people who might have a different opinion. Thank you in advance.
I see someone has just watched S7 finale and fangasmed so hard she had to make a blog post
And I don't blame you one bit! That finale was pure metal! I mean, 15 main characters and they all play a role? A new badass, edgy villain? Ton of Equestria lore and history?! This is a dream come true!
Anyway, I agree with what you said. Except maybe A Canterlot Wedding. That was my favorite finale until I saw Shadow Play yesterday (mostly because I'm a sucker for weddings
).
4691139 As an episode, A Canterlot Wedding is flawed. And you know. It is basically just the ending scenes of The Little Mermaid made into an episode. With Changelings and lasers and shit. But it isn't terrible. I wouldn't go back and watch it. I prefer the premiers and finales of seasons 4-7. But! It did establish Queen Chrysalis as an antagonist who actually made an even better appearance in season six. So i appreciate the foundation that the episode laid for future episodes.
4691142
Okay okay, cool. Now can we please move to talking about how badass the Pony of Shadows is?
4691145 Yes. He is so freaking awesome! OMG. And the whole lore and everything was just...wow! I never thought MLP: FIM would go to a place like this in the show. But I am glad that they did!
4691147
The Pony of Shadows was everything I imagined he would be and probably even more! Plus, the animation when he wakes up and spreads his wings at the end of part 1 was so fluid and beautiful!
Ikr?! They went all out with this one! The episode was overall dark and serious, and pretty much a high fantasy adventure. It's even more awesome if you read the comics, which I fortunately do
And of course, I'm glad they answered one of the show's biggest questions: where did the Elements and Tree of Harmony come from.
4691155 Yeah, I thought all of that was really great! You might want to mark your comment as having spoilers though for those who haven't seen it yet. :)
4691159
Done
4691162 Thank you very much, my friend.
And the seasons finale honestly makes me wonder what they are going to do with the previous heroes of Equestria. They obviously can't be sent back in time because that would create too big of changes in the timeline of the world. So the question is, what will they do with these new characters in future episodes/ seasons?
4691166
Idk, but I'm so looking forward to it! So much potential!
Seriously, the 7th Season of MLP is the best! 7th Season! Most shows would've rotted by now! If not rotten, then the characters would've befriended Gods and angels and traveled across the multiverse. MLP did none but it's still producing high quality content and breaking new grounds!
4691166
Also, can we please appreciate that the fucking SIRENS are now canon?! I was like
4691179 This really shows the growth of the characters and the quality of the writing in general.
4691203 I know right?? I had a major fan attack over that!!
I think one of the best parts of S6-7 is that we have been getting more male characters! Finally some awesome Stallion designs but though there isn’t a great character yet but I hope at least one of the M6 gets a boyfriend down the line that could add into the story.
4691237 I completely agree! I think it would be great if the main characters got introduced to some potential love interests down the road. Heck, even Big Mac got introduced to a love interests in season 7. Who is to say that the other main characters won't get introduced to some minor love interests at the very least as well?
You know I kinda always wondered when some people say that earlier seasons had more clever humor. Made me feel a bit dumb to be honest since to me it was always kid's cartoon. Charming cartoon but still a kid cartoon.
I do like newer episodes more than the old ones but that's mostly because I have seen old episodes, saw old episodes spoofed over and over and well I had my fill of first two seasons. They served to introduce us to characters and now we know them. Also newer seasons introduced my favorite character and I can't anymore imagine MLP without her!
I can't quite agree with you regarding villains though. Like I can't consider Sombra a good villain considering we never saw the guy at all. I did like Discord more when he was a villain, Chrysalis ok yeah she was dumb and changelings were horribly wasted but what do you mean by "Little Mermaid" comparison? Because Chrysalis took place of Cadance to get Shining? Still missing a lot of crucial themes to be a carbon copy or retelling.
4691213
Most importantly, it shows that the writers ACTUALLY care about telling a good story. Same cannot be said about some other shows that are sadly popular among kids *cough*Teen Titans Go*cough*
4691217
I was sitting, and when that scene happened, I quickly stood up
4691258 The reason I say that Sombra was a good villain is because he actually succeeded in enslaving the Chrystal Empire's residents and then isolating them from the world for one thousand years. Sure, we didn't get to see much of him in season three. But we saw the effects of what he did, which were devastating. And also the season five finale reaffirmed his level of evil when it showed he had essentially taken over the entire world and thrown it into a full on war.
When you look at Nightmare Moon in the season five finale, the creatures of the world seemed to follow her and even agree with many of her principles.
Chrysalis was actually more of a threat in the season five finale then she was in her introduction, which is interesting.
Discord was a fun villain, but he wasn't the best by any means. Discord's end game was just to cause chaos. That isn't really evil as much as it is an inconvenience for the creatures around him. That's actually why it was believable that he got reformed in season three. He was never that big of a villain to begin with. Even in the season five finale, he is more shown as being a major pain in everyone's side than a big antagonist.
As I mentioned before, A Canterlot Wedding has a lot of flaws. And you know. It is basically just the ending scenes of The Little Mermaid made into an episode. With Changelings and lasers and shit. What I mean by this is that you know how Ursula tries to marry Prince Eric while Ariel tries to rush to him and reveal the truth, all while a giant battle is taking place? Sound familiar? That's because the end of season two is essentially the last half of The Little Mermaid Movie. Right down to the outfits that Cadance and Shining Armor wear which are pretty similar to the outfits that Ariel and Eric wear to their wedding. But it isn't terrible. I wouldn't go back and watch it. I prefer the premiers and finales of seasons 4-7. But! It did establish Queen Chrysalis as an antagonist who actually made an even better appearance in seasons five and six. So II appreciate the foundation that the episode laid for future episodes.
Again, I am not bashing the first three seasons on MLP. As I mentioned in my post, I can recognize that they were a great foundation that the show could be built upon and they should be commended for the effort that went into making them. I just think that season 4-7 have been more mature, sophisticated, and have become the real heart of the series.
4691273 Fortunately, I have never really seen too much of Teen Titans Go or even the new Powerpuff Girls show, Which, I've been told, is a good thing. :')
4691274 It would be nice if the sirens made a return at some point. XD I think they would be great antagonists in the show.
4691275
Actually Sombra was the only villain who failed in Season 5 to actually defeat Celestia. Yes we were told he is evil and all that, but all he did was enslave what is basically one city and then to avoid defeat he cursed himself and empire to 1000 banishment which is just an act of spite when you can't take defeat honorably. He is really more of "tell" than "show" kind of villain anyway.
I don't like Nightmare Moon at all but she did in season 5 actually rule the Eternal Night so she actually gets more done. Chrisy and changelings were wasted potential, I am not going to defend them. Maybe season 8 will prove me wrong.
Discord is the most powerful of them and chaos like his would end up with far greater consequences than mild inconvenience. He was warping reality and the personalities of his victims. Each day in Equestria would depend on his mood, one day he is feeling happy so milk for everyone but then next day he just happens to wake up on the wrong side of the bed... I think you are severely underestimating chaos just because Discord has charming and fun personality. He is not "evil", he is beyond good and evil, he is more of blue and orange morality.
Also when did I said you were bashing episodes at all? I was just agreeing with you that newer seasons are better and that people are far too nostalgic for the older ones or see something in them that I just don't see.
4691280
Yes, it IS a good thing. You're lucky you don't have evil little relatives who keep watching that shit on TV in your house, which forces you to watch it too.
4691287
I think everything is possible at this point.
4691290 I just didn't want to come off like I was trying to be too harsh on the first three seasons of the show. I actually enjoyed watching the a great deal. And I could even see myself sitting down and watching them again. But I prefer watching the later seasons (as I mentioned) to watching the first three for many of the reasons I have previously bought up.
In the season five finale, Sombra is shown invading the entire world with his armies; and even getting the upper hand over Celestia's armies. So I would have to say that he is the greatest threat I could personally see from the season five finale/ a look at what would have happened if he was never stopped.
I do admit that you have a point with both Nightmare Moon and Discord. They are each a threat in their own way. But this was more apparent in the season five finale than it was in the episodes they were introduced in, if that makes sense. Because the mane six sealed Discord away for a time, it laid a foundation for his reformation later on because he obviously didn't want to get turned to stone again and he thought for a time he could get himself out of the deal, which of course ended up not happening.
Chrysalis, is wasted potential. I completely agree with you there. Her concept is good. Don't get me wrong. But thus far, her attempts to invade Equestria have been incredible weak and ill-planned. It's almost like she needs to team up with someone who can make the plans while she works on more of the military strategy and brute force to get things done. I actually think that pairing her with Tirek would be interesting for this reason.
4691292 I am sorry that your relatives make you watch those horrible shows. T^T RIP, your eyes.
4691301
In short MLP is was, is and will be awesome.
And well Sombra was invading just Equestria, a country that so many had no problem conquering. Doesn't help also that he is rather generic tyrant since he has no personality. He is bland and his power isn't that impressive since he was having a stalemate with Celestia. Even Flim and Flam had more success which is kinda impressive. For me to like a villain he kinda needs to show that he is powerful and to have a personality and for this reason I could never rank Sombra high. Just telling me "he is scary" is not what I want from a villain.
Chrysalis to be good just needs to remember that she is emotion eating shapeshifter. Besides impersonating Cadance I can't recall any changeling at all using shapeshifting power for any meaningful gain. There is lots of potential for manipulating Mane Six by impersonating each of them for starters.
4691317 That's a good point about Chrysalis. She really could be using her Changeling abilities to more of an advantage. She 'kind of' got that right during A Canterlot Wedding but she was a little too careless and trigger happy when it came to releasing her armies to attack Canterlot. In other words, she basically just had one plan; no plan to fall back on or anything. And she was also too eager to get things done quickly. Those are some things that prevent her from being as good as she can potentially be.
Sombra, while perhaps lacking in personality did have a fallback plan if his first plan didn't work out. Which was to isolate The Chrystal Empire and then use traps he has previously set up during his time as the ruler to manifest again in the event of his defeat and help him make a return so he could rule over the Empire once more. You have to admit that was pretty smart of him to do.
The season seven finale makes me wonder if the Pony of shadows when separated from that one pony it was possessing is its own entity. and if it could potentially team up with the nightmare entity that infected Luna? That would be pretty awesome to see!
4691349
And worse we didn't even see how Chrys managed to take all princess and Mane Six captive. We are just not allowed to enjoy her. And now she doesn't even have minions, she is all alone. But she seems to have some idea how to fix the odds...
And oh yes Sombra was smart with his traps. That's why I do rank him above Nightmare Moon...actually forgot my ranks...
And who is to say that Nightmare and Shadow entities are not part of some greater entity that preys on ponies with negative emotions? It seems that ponies with negative outlook on life either feed or create dark entities.
4691404 I wish that we could have seen how Chrysalis took everyone captive as well. :(
Your idea about the nightmare and pony of shadows is interesting. It definitely makes sense since this dark aura has seemed to infect many different characters throughout the series.
I agree 100%, though personally, I like season 7 and 5 more than 4. And Shadow Play was amazing.
4692390 Seasons 4-7 are all kind of a tie for me to be honest. They are all good in their way. But seasons 4 and 7 stand out to me because of the consistent good episodes, music, and great season premiers/ finales.
I think you've made a sound argument Lyra
4700459 Thank you for the kind words, my friend. I am happy that you think so. :)
4700928
Your very welcome Lyra. ^_^
4702397 Yay! XD
4702403
Yay indeed X3
4703170 :)
4703341
^_^