I mean other than on TikTok and Reddit I haven’t really seen it

7877400
You can be the judge of that but the intro movie "A New Generation" doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence.

7877403
I mean the state of people bashing on MLP Gen 5 per say

7877400
It’s not just bad. It’s worse. Just look at how many people on YouTube are milking the hate for views and jumped on the “G5 is ending” conspiracy theory train a couple months back to get hate clicks. The G5 hate ultimately boils down to 25% reasonable criticism and 75% misinformation and deception. G5 isn’t nearly as bad or horrible as these people want you to believe, but they don’t care about looking at and analyzing it objectively when they can instead embellish the minor flaws and act angry to farm outrage among the fandom.

The worst part about this scheme is that it’s working and that’s why people like me and others are taking a stand against it.

7877405
Ahhh well I am not terminally online so

7877405
And unfortunately for G5, it doesn't seem to inspire much in-terms of its' abysmal editing that tried to make a big deal out of someone in Chapter One who at the end of the day: had absolutely zero involvement with the episodes' conflict aside from an entirely vague garbled warning by a glitchy message that your average viewer could just pop over to the kitchen for a drink before coming back and missing the entirety of Opalines' half-minute of screentime.

Opalines' scene should have been regulated as an End Credits Scene that would have ended with a fade-to-black that would have helped to build hype as a Hook for the audience going into Chapter Two by ending Chapter One on a much more ominous note, instead of being sandwiched in-between two scenes that should have been left alone to have the Mane Five actually go through with their Maretime Bay Day Celebration they've been building up to and giving the audience a meaningful payoff to the episode by showing the festivities they have been constantly talking about throughout the episode.
I mean, could you imagine if there was a Season One of Friendship is Magic where the audience has been built up to the Grand Galloping Gala as this big major party that only the cream of the crop are ever invited to and that each of The Mane Six has their own reasons for going there; only for the Season to end without giving us "The Best Night Ever" and Season Two beginning with The Mane Six describing the events of the Gala that we were not allowed to see? I guarantee that the audience would be VERY pissed off about the lack of a payoff after having been dragged around for an entire Season.

7877423
While I will concede that your placement of the Opaline scene sounds so much better than what we actually got, your bottom point is rendered outright moot by the fact that the Chapter One special isn’t a full season like you’re trying to imply. No sane showrunner with half a brain would ever make a one-episode season unless they’re expecting their show to be immediately booted off the air. The Chapters aren’t seasons. They’re just Netflix’s way of dividing up one full first season into smaller chunks for individual binge releases. I’m not a fan of the format personally as it does create confusion, but all four chapters have constituted one full season. The specials in themselves don’t constitute seasons.

7877400
It is a pretty serious problem. Much of it is caused by people engaging rose-tinted spectacles mode; they bash it for perceived failings whilst forgetting that the early years of FiM often had the same faults. Case in point; MYM Chapter 2 is often criticised for being meandering in its story, which is true to an extent; it takes a while to get going. However, people who claim this frequently forget Seasons 1 and 2 of FiM were equally meandering in their story. In fact, they had no overall arc at all.

7877400
To be honest with you I don't understand why people went insane about that ever since the new generation summary came around everybody went nuts and basically going hating on it just because it's like a sequel to it it doesn't mean it has to be bad and that crazy Mix Master is the one who's causing this whole Mayhem spreading so much hatred to it and I'm just surprised nobody doesn't call him out or at least shutting down his social media

7877428
Basically it was supposed to be a slice of Life episode yes they could have part one and two sooner or later but it doesn't have to be all like story or all the time just only some parts of episodes and sometimes it's just not good enough for some people who just wants to watch the show

7877423
I will agree with you that the pacing of the special is a bit of a mess; it's easily the weakest bit of MYM. But (and it's a rather big but) it's only one special, not a season. Opaline gets plenty more to do in Chapters 2 and 4, and in the latter case the writers directly addressed many of the criticisms of Chapter 2. Chapter 1 is setting up the world and major upcoming conflicts of the series, in which case it serves its purpose.

I find the inclusion of the Gala interesting, though. The Gala is only mentioned a handful of times in Season 1; if somebody had missed The Ticket Master, for instance, it's fairly likely the gala would mean nothing by the time the final episode rolled around. Said episode (The Best Night Ever) is also fairly meh, but that's more to do with Early Installment Weirdness.

7877405
Yeah I've been hearing that controversy about the G5 ending soon or something and I felt like people just taking it out of mohill or something and whoever tried to make up this information really need to look it up really closely the only time I will believe if G5 is actually ending is anybody who works at Hasbro of the show otherwise I'm not going to believe any leaks or rumors about it I already learned my lesson about Super Smash Bros

7877400
Bad? Probably. Does it actually matter in the end? Nope. Precisely because Hasbro doesn't give the slightest of fucks about what we think. We're the bastard offspring of G4 they never wanted or planned for.

Now they just put up with it.

7877433
I have absolutely no idea what you said.

7877439
I think when I mean is people always like the storyline but sometimes having a slice of life what annoys the people just because it doesn't carry on the previous episode

7877426
Than why do they bother calling them Chapters in the first place, when they could have just as easily called them: "Season One, Part 1"?
More importantly, why do they feel the need to dedicate an entire Chapter to such an empty Christmas Special that does nothing to try exploring the individual holidays of The Three Tribes outside of just their name and the relatively minor traditions that the Characters are involved in? And need I bring up how often that Chapter had constantly relied upon Deus Ex Machina to get anything done: from using Lantern Magic to build The Marestream, wishing really hard to reach Zephyr Heights through a snowstorm, and calling upon the Magic to find The Marestream when it's buried in a thick snowbank? What, are the Main Characters too dainty for the Writers to bother giving them any meaningful obstacle where The Mane Five would need to use their skills and abilities to overcome in a Holiday Special?
Do they forget that Zipp has all that detective equipment she usually carries around with her, or that Izzy could have used her Magic to track down an object she might have left aboard The Marestream? Hell; Pipp could have her cellphone remotely tied into the Marestreams' sound systems to use it to blast music with so The Mane Five could track the vibrations through the snow. SOMETHING that would involve The Mane Five putting in effort to achieve their goal of returning to the Lighthouse in time for seeing The Red Star from Bionicle, I know that it's called "The Wishing Star"; but what it is supposed to do or how it relates to the Earth Ponies holiday beliefs: I and many others have no Coking Clue...

7877428
Season One may not have had an Arc; but there was a finish line built for it that The Mane Six were wanting to reach: The Grand Galloping Gala. Having a set endpoint for the Season would allow for you to build up the story to reach that goal, and that would be good enough for most of us.

Than why do they bother calling them Chapters in the first place, when they could have just as easily called them: "Season One, Part 1"?

Season One, Part 1 sounds messy in comparison. I know that’s just an example, but I think whoever is in charge of structuring these wanted the name “Chapter” in order to symbolize that it’s a chapter of one continuous story. Because that’s what Make Your Mark is at the end of the day. It’s meant to be a more story-focused show telling one continuous arc out of the whole Generation 5 universe. That’s probably why it was only meant to be a limited series from the get-go with only 21 episodes. I’m no professional distributor by any means, but I do know that having section names like “Chapter” this or that gives off more of the impression of one story split into different parts, which is what I believe they were going for. Not saying I’m a fan of it as I previously said, but…it does grow on you after a while.

More importantly, why do they feel the need to dedicate an entire Chapter to such an empty Christmas Special that does nothing to try exploring the individual holidays of The Three Tribes outside of just their name and the relatively minor traditions that the Characters are involved in?

Worldbuilding. A big criticism Make Your Mark gets is the lack of worldbuilding, but if I’m to add onto a previous point that TheBlueEM2 made in a different thread, I think what you guys apparently miss is that this is worldbuilding. By having your locations be socially and culturally distinct, you are adding to that world you created, and fleshing it out. This allows the audiences or the readers to fill in the blanks and feel like they’re living in that world. Bridlewood, Zephyr Heights, and Maretime Bay already felt different and unique from one another right off the bat and the addition of these separate traditions just adds on to that in a lot of ways. I find the concept of three different holidays very interesting as it’s realistic to our reality. Not everyone celebrates Christmas and some celebrate other holidays in its place, so by doing this, the writers are making the world feel more fleshed out by not having everyone celebrate the same holiday. This was something that the MLP staff did in FIM Season 8 with the Young 6’s traditions in “The Hearth’s Warming Club” and the reprisal of this theme works here.

And need I bring up how often that Chapter had constantly relied upon Deus Ex Machina to get anything done: from using Lantern Magic to build The Marestream, wishing really hard to reach Zephyr Heights through a snowstorm, and calling upon the Magic to find The Marestream when it's buried in a thick snowbank? What, are the Main Characters too dainty for the Writers to bother giving them any meaningful obstacle where The Mane Five would need to use their skills and abilities to overcome in a Holiday Special?

What are you going on about? MLP has always relied on Deus Ex Machina, why is this only a problem now? You know, the whole point of the Elements of Harmony in the first three seasons, the unfinished spell from Starswirl that suddenly exists in “Magical Mystery Cure,” the Chest of Harmony giving the Mane 6 enough magic to defeat Tirek, the creation of the Cutie Map and how it seems to operate on its own rules with no explanation when summoning others like Spike, Starlight and Sunburst, etc? A more sophisticated spell from Starswirl in “The Cutie Re-Mark” that allows for time travel for more than a minute despite “It’s About Time” already establishing that there was only one time spell in the Canterlot Archives, making you wonder where the heck Starlight found it? The creation of the Castle of Friendship? How the Tree of Harmony became the Treehouse of Harmony in “Uprooted” despite the premiere itself establishing that the Tree was really gone? Like, there’s so many examples, dude. This is a franchise aimed at kids first and foremost. G4 was never a saint in this regard.

Do they forget that Zipp has all that detective equipment she usually carries around with her, or that Izzy could have used her Magic to track down an object she might have left aboard The Marestream? Hell; Pipp could have her cellphone remotely tied into the Marestreams' sound systems to use it to blast music with so The Mane Five could track the vibrations through the snow. SOMETHING that would involve The Mane Five putting in effort to achieve their goal of returning to the Lighthouse in time for seeing The Red Star from Bionicle, I know that it's called "The Wishing Star"; but what it is supposed to do or how it relates to the Earth Ponies holiday beliefs: I and many others have no Coking Clue...

You’re suggesting that Zipp takes her detective equipment to a holiday musical she and Pipp are leads in? That makes no sense. Also, Pipp and Izzy couldn’t’ve foreseen that the Marestream would get buried under a mountain of snow, so that point is invalid. You’re acting like the Mane 5 were supposed to have knowledge of the script ahead of time and that they were supposed to come prepared for anything no matter what, despite the fact that this holiday special is detached from the overall plot and that the main source of conflict is purely personal in nature, which makes it more relatable.

7877434
Thing is, I care more about The Grand Galloping Gala than how little I care for the sum total of the G5 Winter Holidays due to how seemingly little we are given a chance to actually care for them. The Three Holidays aren't explored in as much detail as that of Hearthswarming Eve that honestly; I feel the Winter Wishday Special should have been about Sunny Starscout wanting to bring back the old Holiday again while also finding out some way to incorporate elements of the new Holidays by exploring each of them in detail. No need for Sunny to bother with going to these out-of-the-way locations to simply try celebrating some bland Holidays with her friends as a simple passive Observer, here Sunny would become an active Participant in the Holiday festivities as she talks about the idea of Hearthswarming Eve to the other Tribe Leaders in order to get them interested over how long ago The Three Tribes stood united against the chill of Winter through embracing their differences to form a united front that could challenge adversity. And while bringing back Hearthswarming would be the goal in Sunny Starscouts' mind for the Special; her learning more about the new G5 Holiday Traditions and how their cultures managed to piecemeal the original holiday and dilute it into three separate traditions would be something that would peak the interest for those of us who absolutely love some World-Building and Lore that G5 has been cruelly starving us of.

7877452
The endpoint of this show is the defeat of Opaline and that’s been made blatantly obvious. I say having a set story end goal justifies the means to get there, considering the writers have an overarching plan that they’re carefully laying out.

First off, to all of you who enjoy G5, thank you. YouTube is my go to source for MLP news, but most of the talk about G5 I’ve seen on there has been extremely negative, and as someone who honestly prefers G5 to G4, it hurt to see.

Now, about the G5 hate. Yes, there is a lot of it, and the main cause seems to be that most people are comparing it to the last MLP content they saw before G5 came out; the later seasons of Friendship Is Magic. The problem here is that while later seasons where still mostly geared towards kids they were writing in things for older fans too. Starlight and Trixie’s friendship for instance, is written more like a friendship in it’s adolescent years than the more child like friendships we had gotten before with the likes of the CMC and Mane Six. G5 on the other hand is written not for fans of Friendship Is Magic but for a new audience of kids like G4 was when it first realised. The only real reason they kept the setting as Equestria was so they could shamelessly show G4 Easter eggs to please older fans. Make no mistake, G5 is tailored for a new audience, not a returning one.

So on that grounds it makes more sense to compare Make Your Mark to season one of Friendship Is Magic. That season had a two part premiere to introduce the characters and the world, followed by twenty four slice of life episodes, most of which were self contained. There was no overacting plot, as the episodes’ only purpose were to teach kids morals. Make Your Mark on the other hand, having already introduced the characters and world in the movie, stuck to the slice of life with a mortal mixed in formula, but has a villain with a constant background presence and an ongoing character arc for Misty. G4 had no story reason for you to keep watching after the premiere, so it all depended on whether you enjoyed the characters. G5 also has enjoyable characters, but also has an ongoing story to keep viewers intrigued.

7877455

What are you going on about? MLP has always relied on Deus Ex Machina, why is this only a problem now?

Not everything in G4 had a "Magic Solve Everything" button like it did with G5 Chapter 2. Remember "Swarm Of The Century" where Twilights' Magic actually caused more problems? That there was resolved by Pinkie Pie becoming a One-Pony Band to lead the Parasprites out of Ponyville. How about "A Dog And Pony Show"? Rarity used her own wit and cunning to get herself free from the Diamond Dogs. "Applebuck Season"? Applejack and Winona had to wrangle the herd of Cows to get them to stop. "Winter Wrap Up"? Twilight used her Organizational Skills to get Ponyville back on schedule for Spring. "Stare Master" and "Dragonshy"? Fluttershy intimidated the Cockatrice and Dragon on both occasions. "Sonic Rainboom"... Rainbow Dash used her speed and agility by pushing herself as hard as she could to perform the Sonic Rainboom. In none of these instances and more was the plot ever resolved by The Mane Six using Magic alone, and it always involved the characters using at least one of the many traits and skills that we had seen them use in their proverbial toolbelt at the time without relying upon The Elements of Harmony to get it done.

Or, are you so hyper-focused on Big Scale Events that Small-Time Stories fall out of favor with you?

You’re suggesting that Zipp takes her detective equipment to a holiday musical she and Pipp are leads in? That makes no sense.

They're in Zephyr Heights and she's the Crown Princess of the place, all she has to do is pop by her room to pick up spare equipment she has there.

Also, Pipp and Izzy couldn’t’ve foreseen that the Marestream would get buried under a mountain of snow, so that point is invalid.

People tend to leave things in their car cupholders whenever they step outside. Also, with how glued Pipp is to her phone, do you really doubt that a Media Star like her would somehow not want to see if her phone could synchronize with The Marestreams speaker system to play music with? It would have made for an interesting example of Chekhov's Gun in both instances.

7877440
Ah, I follow now. This has been addressed as an issue in TYT, but they seem to be working towards addressing that. The only challenge with stories that build between episodes is it can make jumping in later on a bit harder. In the days of TV it could also cause problems when episodes were re-run out of order.

7877452
I suspect the endgame they're building towards for MYM is the defeat of Opaline. Seeing as they have already fought, I suspect for the finale they'll be pulling out all the stops and ending the arc with an absolutely spectacular battle bringing in all the characters.

I'm gonna get downvoted to hell and back on a tank of 87 Unleaded, but personally, have come to enjoy the full series after I had to watch a Bronies React to get used to the new animation. I'm guessing that some of the community are people who hate change with a passion, some don't like the animation, and some just judged the show by its cover art. The tracks for C4 were especially good and I put them on my main Spotify Playlist. Sure the pacing could use some fine tuning but other than that, great show in my personal opinion.

7877456
Getting Hearth's Warming running again would be difficult with a lack of what caused it to be adopted in the first place. Christmas remains culturally relevant as Christianity is culturally embedded in western societies such as Britain and the United States. In comparison, nopony has seen a windigo in thousands of years (and given they were destroyed during the Battle of the Bell they are an irrelevance anyway). I'm also rather uncomfortable with the idea of imposing a holiday on other groups when they have their own traditions (a reason why I have a problem with the cultural dominance of Christmas riding roughshod over other traditions, but that's a debate for another time). Personally, Wishday was perfectly servicable Christmas fare.

7877479
Couldn't have put it better myself!

7877501
That would be pretty awesome to watch

7877494

Not everything in G4 had a "Magic Solve Everything" button like it did with G5 Chapter 2. Remember "Swarm Of The Century" where Twilights' Magic actually caused more problems? That there was resolved by Pinkie Pie becoming a One-Pony Band to lead the Parasprites out of Ponyville. How about "A Dog And Pony Show"? Rarity used her own wit and cunning to get herself free from the Diamond Dogs. "Applebuck Season"? Applejack and Winona had to wrangle the herd of Cows to get them to stop. "Winter Wrap Up"? Twilight used her Organizational Skills to get Ponyville back on schedule for Spring. "Stare Master" and "Dragonshy"? Fluttershy intimidated the Cockatrice and Dragon on both occasions. "Sonic Rainboom"... Rainbow Dash used her speed and agility by pushing herself as hard as she could to perform the Sonic Rainboom. In none of these instances was the plot ever resolved using Magic alone, and it always involved the characters using at least one of the many traits and skills that we had seen them use in their proverbial toolbelt at the time without relying upon The Elements of Harmony

And in that same logic, G5 hasn’t always relied on magic or Deus Ex Machinas to solve its problems either, so you’re still off the mark by a wide margin. What about the very first episode of Chapter 2 “Izzy Does It” where the problem is not solved by any magical means, but instead is solved by Izzy sprucing up an old wagon to store all of her crafting supplies when she begins to feel creative burnout? Or in “Portrait of A Princess,” where the main conflict is purely between Zipp and Pipp regarding their sibling estrangement? There was no magical solution implemented in that episode to solve the problem. The resolution relies on Zipp realizing how wrong she was and apologizing to her little sister before they are able to find a way out, no magic necessary. Or in “Ali-Conned,” where the episode’s main conflict revolves around Sunny’s identity crisis and how the ponies only kiss up to her when she’s an alicorn? That episode was resolved by her friends explaining to her how much of a difference that she had on their lives, and they show their gratitude by making her a community garden, the thing she’s always wanted? Or in “The Cutie Mark Mix-Up,” where although it is magic that starts the plot, the conflict isn’t solved simply by magical means (unlike a certain G4 episode it’s similar to, wink wink). Rather, the resolution happens when Sunny and Hitch both realize that they were wrong about one another’s jobs and apologize through words. And I’d also like to point out that t episode isn’t really concerned about the technicalities of who does what, but more so on what their jobs mean to each other and how it makes them who they are. Or in “The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover” where the resolution happens when Izzy opens up about her homesickness to her friends and they turn her room into a little piece of Bridlewood to cheer her up? “Hoof Done It” where the resolution is between Pipp apologizing to Zipp about stealing the lantern and Zipp apologizing to Misty? “Top Remodel” where the plot is sprucing up the abandoned Canterlogic factory into something for the community to use, “Sunny Side Up” where Sunny and Hitch host a cooking show and their resolution is intimate when they apologize to one another about taking things too far and reminisce on their childhood? “The Manesquerade Ball,” where the resolution is Zipp apologizing to Misty, who comes clean about not having a cutie mark, which that scene is then followed by a dance number and a dinner scene, no magic required? Just so many examples. You’re being very selective when you say that G5 only relies on magical solutions. If your main argument is that G4 rarely relies on magical Deus Ex Machina solutions compared to G5, then I’m sorry, you’re wrong. Because G5 does have that same self-restraint when it comes to magical solutions as I just pointed out.

They're in Zephyr Heights and she's the Crown Princess of the place, all she has to do is pop by her room to pick up spare equipment she has there.

Her detective gear is back at the Crystal Brighthouse, not in her castle room. It’s doubtful that she has any spare parts there as her entire setup is inside her bedroom in Maretime Bay, not Zephyr Heights. And to top that off, why would she even think to do that? The musical lasted six acts and Sunny was rushing she and Pipp to death. They didn’t have the time to check in Zipp’s room for the off chance that spare equipment might be there. It was too much of a risk. Remember, the story is driven by a that time crunch as they have to get back to Maretime Bay in time to see the Wishing Star.

People tend to leave things in their car cupholders whenever they step outside. Also, with how glued Pipp is to her phone, do you really doubt that a Media Star like her would somehow not want to see if her phone could synchronize with The Marestreams speaker system to play music with? It would have made for an interesting example of Chekhov's Gun in both instances.

You’re implying that the Marestream even has an outlet to plug in her phone, which we haven’t yet seen if I’m recalling correctly. Sure, it would’ve been cool to see, but you would’ve also called that contrived anyway considering that both that hypothetical solution and the magical one we got would’ve only lasted a couple of seconds in both instances, so I don’t see how we’re accomplishing anything different here.

You’re suggesting that Zipp takes her detective equipment to a holiday musical she and Pipp are leads in? That makes no sense.

They're in Zephyr Heights and she's the Crown Princess of the place, all she has to do is pop by her room to pick up spare equipment she has there.

It still seems like a slightly odd thing to take into a stage show rehearsal space. I'm a railway enthusiast (railfan to use US parlance), and for that I own specialised camera equipment. The logic here would be like me lugging all that gear from New York Central to a Broadway Theater. And that's assuming Zipp even has spare detective gear. For all we know she only has one spy visor.

7877509
Here's hoping it looks something like this:

(1:22-4:18)

Damn, Sonic Frontiers had some awesome bosses.

7877511
Though interesting side note; in Bridlewoodstock, the note Pipp gets from Ruby Jubilee greets her as 'Your Majesty'. This is actually wrong; as a Princess, the correct title is 'Your Royal Highness'. 'Your Majesty' is used exclusively to refer to the ruling monarch. Curiously, the movie gets it the wrong way round as well; Queen Haven is consistently referred to using variations of 'Your Highness', which for the reasons stated above it wrong.

7877518
Interesting, I didn’t notice that. That’s a fun piece of trivia if I do say so myself. Thanks for sharing that. You learn something new everyday.

7877521
I'm from one of the few countries in the world that still has a monarch as a head of state. Consider it specialty knowledge.

(In case I haven't mentioned it, I'm from that rarest of breeds... a British Brony.)

7877511

You’re implying that the Marestream even has an outlet to plug in her phone, which we haven’t yet seen if I’m recalling correctly.

One Word: BlueTooth. Pipp could have synch'd her phone to the speakers that way.

My issue isn't with the rest of the series in this instance here: just Chapter 2 for being too over reliant on having Magic do everything without giving a chance for the Non-Magical members of the cast a chance to shine in tough times. This is supposed to be a Group effort where the members of all Three Tribes can come together to showcase their talents, not "Sunny Starscouts' Magic Lamp effort with Sunny and her Entourage as backup dancers".

7877524

My issue isn't with the rest of the series in this instance here: just Chapter 2 for being too over reliant on having Magic do everything without giving a chance for the Non-Magical members of the cast a chance to shine in tough times. This is supposed to be a Group effort where the members of all Three Tribes can come together to showcase their talents, not "Sunny Starscouts' Magic Lamp effort with Sunny and her Entourage as backup dancers".

I…literally just described how Chapter 2 isn’t over reliant on having Magic do everything in my above comment. Are you dense?

One Word: BlueTooth. Pipp could have synch'd her phone to the speakers that way.

Again, it’s just swapping out one quick solution for another. We’re not accomplishing anything different by going with the Pipp using her phone to play music on the speakers option. If we really wanted to fix how the Marestream got out of the snow, we’d have to rewrite the whole scene, context included, and I ain’t doing that as the scene’s fine as it is.

7877527
Sorry, with how the Chapter setup is; I keep lumping the Pilot Episode of Make Your Mark with the Episodes between it and the Christmas Special as "Chapter 1". So what I really meant was Chapter 3 being the over-reliant one on Magic Lamp-Kun.

God the setup of this show is very, very, very confusing to remember... dafuk do we need a Pilot Episode and Christmas Special as "Individual Chapters" sandwiching the rest of the episodes in Season Ones' story anyway?! AGAIN! JUST CALL IT "SEASON FRICKIN' ONE" Blockbuster-Killer!!!

7877530

Sorry, with how the Chapter setup is; I keep lumping the Pilot Episode of Make Your Mark with the Episodes between it and the Christmas Special as "Chapter 1". So what I really meant was Chapter 3 being the over-reliant one on Magic Lamp-Kun.

God the setup of this show is very, very, very confusing to remember... dafuk do we need a Pilot Episode and Christmas Special as "Individual Chapters" sandwiching the rest of the episodes in Season Ones' story anyway?! AGAIN! JUST CALL IT "SEASON FRICKIN' ONE!"

It’s fine, and I understand your frustration. Again, I’m not a fan of the format either, but what are you going to do? We’re not the ones distributing it, Netflix is. Just calling the whole thing Season One would’ve been the ideal way to go about it, but I do understand why they went for the Chapter format as confusing as it is. The specials are admittedly of slightly lower quality than the regular episodes themselves, but there’s still plenty to enjoy. I even find enjoyment in the Pilot Episode despite all its flaws for the fantastic character arc it gave Zipp. For me, that plotline elevates it.

7877531

I even find enjoyment in the Pilot Episode despite all its flaws for the fantastic character arc it gave Zipp. For me, that plotline elevates it.

On that, we are in agreement. Zipp Storm seems to be the only character who keeps going through these character arcs and developing more as a Main Protagonist should. But for reasons beyond our understanding of Hasbro or The Blockbuster-Killers intentions: Sunny Starscout is the one who the show is supposed to be focusing upon 24/7 as the Groups' leader despite having relatively little in the way of development and peaking due to her being Ascended in the Movie for what is practically nothing of her own drive or volition or desires of self-improvement: she already achieved everything she wanted to set out to accomplish by reuniting the Three Tribes.

7877534

But for reasons beyond our understanding of Hasbro or The Blockbuster-Killers intentions: Sunny Starscout is the one who the show is supposed to be focusing upon 24/7 as the Groups' leader despite having relatively little in the way of development and peaking due to her being Ascended in the Movie for what is practically nothing of her own drive or volition or desires of self-improvement: she already achieved everything she wanted to set out to accomplish by reuniting the Three Tribes.

Sunny definitely needs a lot more focus, that I will agree with you on. For some Luna-forsaken reason, the show’s only given her two episodes of development post-movie and that’s honestly quite sad. Because those two episodes (being “Ali-Conned” and “Sunny Side Up”) were able to mine a lot of potential out of her. Heck, even Tell Your Tale did more with Sunny’s character. I know you’ve sworn off watching that series due to your fear of it being a Teen Titans GO! clone (which it isn’t), but I’d honestly recommend watching it if only for the episodes where Sunny gets growth, and the little bits of development they give for her throughout its run.

I will say she is a fantastic protagonist overall, however, and that’s supported by her absolutely wonderful journey in A New Generation, the Tell Your Tale episodes, and the two Make Your Mark episodes focused on her, but I will agree that she needs a lot more focus going forward as the main character. Hopefully Chapters 5 and 6 accomplish that as they’re running out of time to rectify this. If it makes you feel any better though, I think Zipp was meant to be the main character of Make Your Mark from the start if the pilot episode is anything to go by. It’s starting to shift more towards Misty in later episodes though, which I don’t mind.

7877536

Hopefully Chapters 5 and 6 accomplish that as they’re running out of time to rectify this.

That's a major point of contention: how the show seems to constantly flit between plot points without doing anything to actually resolve it, dragging it's heels through conflicts with unsatisfying payoffs, making entire episodes where little of substance actually happens, divide all efforts between two separate shows with different styles and demographics instead of just focusing on one alone, and having a team without any real concrete plans for where the show is to even go in after Opaline Arcana is defeated...

...Though a part of me wishes that we'd see a flashback involving the return of Cozy Glow as an Anti-Hero character similar to Illidan Stormrage where she'd get some level of interaction with Twilight Sparkle over her actions following a vague Destiny instead of chartering their own paths through life before they depart for battle against Opaline.

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That's a major point of contention: how the show seems to constantly flit between plot points without doing anything to actually resolve it, dragging it's heels through conflicts with unsatisfying payoffs, making entire episodes where little of substance actually happens, divide all efforts between two separate shows with different styles and demographics instead of just focusing on one alone, and having a team without any real concrete plans for where the show is to even go in after Opaline Arcana is defeated...

That isn’t true though. Aside from the Unity Crystals getting less and less focus as the episodes go on, Make Your Mark has been very good at resolving its conflicts every episode and it’s obvious just by watching. I don’t know why the slice of life format is suddenly a problem for you in G5 when it wasn’t in G4. Each Chapter led to an endpoint and the core of the show is still about learning lessons about friendship and seeing the characters grow from it. So it’s not a problem that the plot doesn’t move forward every episode because MLP’s never been about that. In regards to Make Your Mark and Tell Your Tale, G5 has so far been dependent on these two shows co-existing and building off each other, which makes it interesting. We have the shorter-form content for when we want to get to know these characters on a personal level and just vibe with them while watching them do everyday, ordinary stuff, whereas the longer form content exists for the more emotionally moving and/or story-related lessons. I think that is a very unique format, so it’s going to be interesting to see if Tell Your Tale can carry everything on its own in 2024. I’m not going to say that G5 is doomed yet unlike you, no offense, because it’s too early to tell what this new direction is going to look like.

Also, Opaline Arcana hasn’t even been defeated yet. We don’t know where G5 is going to go storywise after this. I’d understand if you’re pointing this out after “Secrets of Starlight,” but I think we’re going to get a new antagonist and a new arc.

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I don’t know why the slice of life format is suddenly a problem for you in G5 when it wasn’t in G4. Each Chapter led to an endpoint and the core of the show is still about learning lessons about friendship and seeing the characters grow from it.

Because in most of G4: the major conflict with the Seasons' Villain that The Mane Six would have to face off against would usually show up for the last two episodes of the Season, thereby allowing for the Slice of Life elements of the show to stand out much better due to the audience not having to constantly keep the villains' actions that they are performing away from the Heroes offscreen in the back of our minds as we watch them, Season 9 notwithstanding.
Here in G5 however, where Opaline Arcana has been established as being the Main Antagonist of the show, her actions are constantly being dangled over the heads of every character as the serrated blade of The Sword of Damocles that is slowly inching closer and closer to falling, that it makes it painful for us to watch as Zipp Storm is seemingly the only one of the Five who's actually taking Twilights' warning about Opaline from the Unity Crystals with the appropriate level of gravitas while all of her friends decide to constantly goof off with mundane everyday activities: she knows that something bad is going to happen just as much as we the audience does. And based on what sort of powers and abilities Opaline has coupled with ancient knowledge of Equestrian Magics she has in her arsenal: The Mane Five are nowhere near enough to actually stand a direct chance against Opaline once she reaches her full strength... Something that "Consequence" really encapsulated quite well.

Because in most of G4: the major conflict with the Seasons' Villain that The Mane Six would have to face off against would usually show up for the last two episodes of the Season, thereby allowing for the Slice of Life elements of the show to stand out much better due to the audience not having to constantly keep the villains' actions that they are performing away from the Heroes offscreen in the back of our minds as we watch them, Season 9 notwithstanding. Here in G5 where Opaline Arcana has been established as the Main Antagonist of the show, her actions are constantly being dangled over the heads of every character as some Sword of Damocles that inches closer and closer to falling, that it makes it painful for us to watch as Zipp Storm is seemingly the only one of the Five who's actually taking Twilights' warning about Opaline from the Unity Crystals seriously with the appropriate level of gravitas while her friends decide to constantly goof off with mundane everyday activities: she knows that something bad is going to happen just as much as we the audience does, and based on what sort of powers and abilities she has coupled with ancient knowledge of Equestrian Magics

FIM wasn’t ever a plot-focused show in the way we define the term and had multiple villains as its rogues gallery. Make Your Mark is telling one continuous story and the way it builds up its antagonist is done in a way which multiple shows have done in the past. Need I remind you of shows like Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and Amphibia, all critically acclaimed shows which slowly built up their singular antagonist while mixing in a ton of slice of life episodes and making that their main focus? Make Your Mark’s storytelling formula isn’t a bad one and to top it off, it’s worked before with other shows. Just because it doesn’t follow the same structure as FIM and instead has a singular antagonist doesn’t make it bad by default. In Amphibia’s case, they actually spent a whole season with no tease of Andrias as the big bad until that was revealed at the end of Season 2. And yet that show is beloved and still found acclaim. Dangling Opaline’s actions over our heads with each episode isn’t bad because it builds anticipation towards the climactic first showdown, which happened in “Missing The Mark.” And that actually contributes to a significant plot development as all of the Mane 5 are aware of Opaline now, so the status quo has clearly shifted in a massive way. In turn, the plot is moving forward. Misty no longer works for Opaline and has redeemed herself, the rest of the Mane 5 now know that Opaline exists, Opaline is at full power, etc. Having a singular villain format and doing it this way isn’t bad as other successful shows have proven. The remaining Mane 5 not taking the warning seriously was intentional because they had nothing to worry about in at the time. The message wasn’t ever finished, so they couldn’t piece it together. And to be fair, Zipp takes everything seriously and for good reason, so having her be on the case makes sense in the grand calculus of the narrative. It was only after Misty stole Sparky and took them to the castle to save him do things change in a massive way.

I will agree though that the G5 animatics by RobinJacks, especially “Consequence,” are phenomenal. I hope they get continued.

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You’re from Britain? I didn’t know that! I was actually in Scotland during the first part of July and I saw a ton of cool castles there. Which country in the UK do you live? I’m quite curious. You mentioned the royal family, so I’m assuming England, in which I’ve been there too. :)

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Agreed 100%.

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I mean to be fair, Hasbro does care about us at least a little bit considering the amount of wink winks they gave us throughout FIM’s run and especially in “Slice of Life.” And let’s be honest, “The Perfect Pear” would never been made without us constantly demanding Applejack’s parents be given a backstory. And in G5’s case, they do take criticism very well considering the quality was improved massively from Ch2-3 to Ch4, animation included, and they even gave us a behind-the-scenes reason for Jazz’s ears being gone. So the staff are allowed to communicate with fans at least, which is a huge positive.

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FIM wasn’t ever a plot-focused show and had multiple villains as its rogues gallery.

Yes. But in the grand scheme of the story: most of them were seemingly banal or benign with only relatively small-time goals compared to the Season Villains at the Season Finale which helped to expand the world of Equestria by showing off how vast the world is or how colorful the antagonists' personalities are in how they can play off of members of The Mane Six like they do.
G5 for the most part: ONLY has Opaline Arcana as a Villain and nobody else. The only other characters that actually came close to position as Villains in G5 were Sprout and the G5 Posey: both of whom are Earth Ponies; and last I checked Sprout was doing community service after destroying the Lighthouse in the Movie without any relevancy until The Mane Five stole the CanterLogic Factory from him and his family, and Posey simply runs a Bouquet Stand. And because of the fact that the show only has three locations for The Mane Five to visit and there haven't been any sentient talking magical creatures showing up yet before The Breezies have in "Mini-Season Five"; there's very little chance that we'll get to see any other talking Magical Creatures anytime soon enough to warrant another Season for the show. Because if they had that Breezy Card to pull from the very beginning; why would Blockbuster-Killer string us along for several "Mini-Seasons" as so much of the audience began turning away from G5 in droves just after "Mini-Season Two"? Most of us showed up into a Magical World in order to either see Locations of Pure Wonder or experiencing Fantasy Creatures, not bumming around some bayfront town with brief excursions to a forest populated by Goth Unicorns and a Technologically-Advanced modern day City filled with vapid Smartphone using Pegasi. Really can feel the Magical World coming out with such places like that existing...

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G5 for the most part: ONLY has Opaline Arcana as a Villain and nobody else.

Again, you missed the entire point of my argument. Having one singular villain isn’t a bad thing for this show and it’s a formula that’s proven to work in the past with several successful shows to boot such as Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and Amphibia. Other shows also have this formula too, they’re just not as well-known. The point is, having a show with one overarching villain isn’t a bad formula at all. It’s called a story-focused show, which is a valid form of storytelling.

why would Blockbuster-Killer string us along for several "Mini-Seasons" as so much of the audience began turning away from G5 in droves just after "Mini-Season Two"?

Again, Netflix’s distribution strategy is stupid. This was all meant to be one season, but whoever was in charge of releasing the episodes chopped up the format for individual binge releases. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. Also, the majority of the audience for G5 didn’t turn away from it after Chapter 2. In fact, it actually grew bigger with so many Misty stories exploding into existence and the fandom couldn’t stop talking about her. So the audience for G5 didn’t shrink, it actually increased in size. Perhaps you’re referring to the G5 hate channels, and no. They didn’t turn away from G5 either, considering that they had a new topic to milk for views and farm outrage among the fandom.

Most of us showed up into a Magical World in order to either see Locations of Pure Wonder or experiencing Fantasy Creatures, not bumming around some bayfront town with brief excursions to a forest populated by Goth Unicorns and a Technologically-Advanced modern day City filled with vapid Smartphone using Pegasi. Really can feel the Magical World coming out with such places like that existing...

Um…how about the fact that magic exists in this world, specifically earth pony magic, which is given a main focus? Or the fact that we have an alicorn villain, magical holograms, a magical lantern which serves as the power source for an equally magical airship, the fact that a lot of elements, such as the Bridlewood forest, are magical in nature? Like, the Magical World aspect isn’t lost on this generation in the slightest. Y’all didn’t complain when Equestria Girls pulled that off at the time.

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You know what? Let’s just agree to disagree on this topic, alright? It’s getting late and we’ve already found common ground in the fact that Zipp is a fantastic lead. So let’s just accept that and move on from this. We are cluttering the comments and you don’t have to invade every single G5 thread as it’s counterproductive. I want to be done with this.