My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic franchise ranking Part 1: Bottom 5

I Won’t Lie, as a kid, if you were to tell me that a show called My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is this smartly written, more nuanced show that could appeal to all ages, id probably have laughed in your face, hell, i used to put down my own cousin for liking this show, i was young, i didn't know any better, the whole “ponies are for little girls thing” blah blah, yall have heard it a million times, so its ironic that i find myself here 10 or so years later completely eating my own words, because not only was watching this show the biggest surprise i’ve had in a long time, like the best one i’ve had in years frankly, but i'm also just so enamored with how smart the writing is, this show could be funny, sweet, charming, endearing, and even rather emotional at times, like wow holy sh!t how heavy it could get sometimes. 2 - 3 months it or so it took me to watch it all, the main show, the Equestria Girls spinoff and so on, and it took a 2nd rewatch of everything to finally give me a concrete perspective, on how it all falls in line for me, so now i’m gonna take everything in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Franchise and rank it all worst to best.

In The Case Of This Franchise when i say worst, that honestly doesn't mean much, because at least for my money, i got equal enjoyment out of just about everything in this entire show, so even what ranks at the bottom of my list i still go positive on and would give a B or so at lowest, so keep that in mind while reading through this, so, now let's get started, this is my ranking, of everything in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Franchise”

#23: Coming in last place is the newcomer on the block, A New Generation, when i first saw this film, i absolutely hated it, i thought it absolutely dumped on and completely undid all the accomplishments of twilight and her friends, not just with them being dead (which admittedly broke my heart, but that wasn't THE big issue), but just by the very nature of all the races in equestria all hating each other again and such, it just infuriated me, but, after a rewatch or two, the film just started to grow on me, on all other fronts, i think this film is pretty good, it does well with establishing these new characters to follow, they're all very likable and have clear, distinct personalities, motivations and arcs, they may not be household names, but they definitely left a good impression, the songs (mostly) are good hummable tunes as well, that being said, i do still hold some of the same criticisms, purely with the decision to storywise, connect this to FIM as a sequel of sorts, i get it from a business perspective, FIM hit and it hit hard, so they want that nostalgia money, i just think this story would better suit itself as its own thing, its own show, especially considering GEN 1, 3, and so on never were sequels to each other and stood on their own. and i am still soured on the fact that twilight and her friends are just, dead, i do realize that as characters they're not gonna live forever, but if i could pick an alternate universe where this isn't set as a sequel where they're dead, id probably pick that alternate timeline, but all things considered, this is a good movie that sets up a lot of promise and potential for where these new characters could go, and i am invested, enough anyway, to wanna see where it all goes from here
Grade :B-
Fave Character: Izzy Moonbow
Fave Song: Fit Right In https://youtu.be/jgylBbB0618 

#22: Next up we have the Equestria Girls: Holidays Unwrapped special, the most slice of life-esque piece if the EQG series, not much i can say about this one, the whole but with them all trying to get out of school by faking a snowstorm was hilarious and my favorite part of the special, everything else that happens, the snowball fights, the silly costumes at the end, all that isnt bad it just feels tacked on, like the bit with faking a snowstorm was meant to be the main, or only plotline in this one, but they felt they needed more to reach that 44 minute goal, again, not bad, just feels like it all could've been 2 or maybe even 3 separate 22 minute specials altogether, all around enjoyable but not the most engaging or rewatchable one of the EQG side of things.
Grade: B

#21: The Rainbow Roadtrip special: an intriguing display of slow build and mystery, if not at times maybe too slow, which is what i took issue with in a few scenes, that aside, everything else is nice and laid back, Hope Hollow is a nice little setting, Mayor Sunny and Petunia are pretty interesting, to the point i wouldn't have minded seeing more of them down the line. And it was also nice to see the animation style used for the 2017 movie, which made for very vibrant use of color, even in scenes here where there was a lack thereof.
Grade: B

 

#20: MLP: FIM Season 8: This season got a lot of flack, for all the imbalance of characters, and even out of character moments from fan faves, the list goes on, and while it's my least favorite of the main 9 seasons, and certainly felt more choppy, and more slow paced than i would've liked, i still got a fair amount of enjoyment from it, the student 6 grew on me over time, but for all the right reasons, they took time to develop them and give you a reason to care about them as opposed what any lesser show would do, and just immediately say, these are your new main characters now, the originals never mattered, you have to love these new guys now, so bravo on them for trying.
Grade: B+
Best Song: We’re Friendship Bound
https://youtu.be/p5cZGbzMM2s  

#19: EQG Movie, Dance, and Mirror Magic Specials: if the holidays unwrapped special felt like it couldve been seperated into 2 or 3 22 minute specials, i actually feel THESE specials couldve each been longer by 20 or so minutes, the stories are well steictured and dont feel overtly choppy, they just couldve been expanded a tad bit, nothing more, more enjoyable EQG content all the same
Grade: B+ for all 3