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7930087
One alicorn did not. (SPOILERS INCOMING.)

Opaline is not the root cause of the collapse of Equestria. We already know from Generation 4 that the relationship between the Three Tribes was fraught; the Doom Legion's spreading of rumours would not have worked if there was no base resentment to appeal to. As previously noted, groups tend to stay together when they share the same enemies and have resources the others need. The last of the enemies that all three pony groups had were defeated in the Battle of the Bell, meaning that they no longer had any reason to cooperate.

Opaline waited until the three tribes were at war before making her move. If she had attempted something before that point that would probably not have worked, but Twilight was distracted by the ongoing conflict and was to unable mobilise the nation's army for obvious reasons. In short, Opaline is not the reason the tribes broke apart and went to war- she merely capitalised on it to further her own agenda.

I'm not quite sure why you're using toy sales as a metric. According to data released by Equestria Daily, sales are solid. Also remember the cost of living crisis is reducing the amount of spare change parents have to spend on toys for their children (as, let's face it, it's the parents who are footing the bill).

To answer the numbered questions:

1. Flash, as you correctly point out, is a discontinued program, so using it made no sense. Generation 4's film and Rainbow Roadtrip uses Toon Boom Harmony, which has received mixed reviews for being complex to use. G5 went for CGI to give the movie and show a distinctive look, though I don't know what software was used for animation. Personally, I think ANG looks pretty damn good for a movie made on $20 million. (For contrast, Elemental cost 10 times that to make.)

2. What Twilight and her friends did was not for nothing. What they did mattered in their lifetimes. I know it's an upsetting thought, but this is a hard truth aesop that nothing truly lasts forever. Furthermore, Twilight's teachings are not lost forever. Argyle preserved them, and they go on to be spread by a new generation of ponies. As Twilight Sparkle says herself in Ending of the End Part 2:

But there will always be more to do! Which is why we teach others about the Magic of Friendship! Others who will continue our mission after we are gone! Now I truly understand! The Elements were just symbols! The real magic has always been right here! And the more who understand how powerful friendship is, the stronger we will all be! Together!

I also can't help but feel you're conflating G5 with Hasbro's financial situation. As you're undoubtedly aware, the global economy is in a mess thanks to a combination of the war in Ukraine and a decade-long recession coupled with a pandemic. Everybody is feeling the pinch and tightening their belts, which in turn translates to reduced sales on non essentials such as toys. Although G4 released during a period of global economic uncertainty, the global economic situation was a good deal more stable than it is in the 2020s.

7929999

It's setting the world up and introducing us to the characters. If it explained everything there'd be nothing for the show to explore.

Yet, what major Plot Points that were seen from the Movie remained unresolved that the Shows could have tried tackling? What threat or obstacles were setup or hinted at for our Main Character to go try and defeat in the future? What heights of power was left for Sunny to go and achieve now that she had managed to restore Magic, bring all three Tribes back together again, and became an Alicorn?

This Movie is a self-contained story with a set Beginning, Middle, and End that has everything already accomplished by the time the credits start to roll. There was nothing to hint at Opaline Arcana in the Film like a cryptic warning or a Post-Credits scene of Opaline stirring and awakening now that Magic had finally returned, nothing to setup the Series going forward now that Sunny Starscout had accomplished her goals and got her Alicorn Status as a "Participation Trophy" for doing it.

"Tight-Mim" following the Movie has no point to it beyond the role of a Playable Epilogue and a time-waster now that Sunny and her friends managed to complete the Main Story that the Game had been entirely built around.

Zuko: "Well anyway, I'm just glad it's going to be over soon: because then we can be friends, and we can go on adventures, and we can have picnics..."
Iroh: "Uurgh I hate to tell this to you and break all of your little hearts: but that's it. We're not going to have any more adventures after this."
Zuko: "W-what do you mean?"
Iroh: "Well when we beat The Firelord: that's it for us, shows' over. We're done, kaput."

-Avatar The Last Airbender Abridged by GanXingba

7930184
There's one enormous plot point you've overlooked; now that the ponies have reunited, how are they going to live together and avoid repeating past mistakes? The film also closes on a shot revealing earth pony magic being reactivated, which is a major plot point in the early stages of MYM.

The main flaw with the self-contained story argument is that it applies to FiM too. Mare in the Moon Parts 1 and 2 tell a self-contained story that sets up no major mysteries. Why is it fine when G4 does it and inexcusable when G5 does the same? It comes across as a double standard.

Sunny did not attain alicorn status; hologram wings and horn are a temporary power up a la Super Sonic (compare to Twilight, where alicorn mode was a permanent change to her biology). Opaline was also being held back for the special, as the MYM special points out that prejudice does not go away overnight (there's your big narrative question answered).

I also find it interesting you quote the abridged version of Avatar-as Avatar got a follow-up series called The Legend of Korra, which picks up the story 70 years later and features some of the same characters. One of the main themes of the show is that peace is something that has to be actively worked towards-the exact same point G5 is making.

7930150
if she is not responsible then my original arguement comes back in. WHAT CAUSED IT!? This is NEVER answered. Whle there will always be rasicst and the Legion manage to push it far the simple fact that Equestria existed for 1000s of years after the worst form of racism that brought the windegoes in. and they showed up again in that . but they beat that. And with Twilight now ruler of Equestria friendship will be stronger. we leave G4 with friendship on the rise not just between the tribes but between all races. It would be even harder for a legion of Doom to pull the same trick off. Yet we get to G5 and everything the founders of Equestria, the Sisters, and the mane 6 is gone. That needs to be explained especially if you wanted to retain the G4 fans. But none from everything i see. No explaination or even a hint of one. so again why connect it to G4? if it was a hasbro mandate then the writing team needs to make a smooth transition. they didn't thus. BAD. WRITE.TING.

hasbro is the owner of MLP thus the main funder of any project involving it. their trouble will affect the production of the show and since G5 does not have the pull G4 had. G4 merchdising was everywhere so likely made alot money from those sales.

this the show is a failure.

7930237

The main flaw with the self-contained story argument is that it applies to FiM too. Mare in the Moon Parts 1 and 2 tell a self-contained story that sets up no major mysteries. Why is it fine when G4 does it and inexcusable when G5 does the same? It comes across as a double standard.

You seem to forget that the Two-Episode Pilot for G4 gave us a proper hook for the series going forward: whereupon Twilight having saved Princess Luna and recovering The Elements of Harmony is then hesitant on returning to Canterlot now that she had made friends, to which Celestia gives her student a new personal assignment: to learn about Friendship while living in Ponyville, which sets up the series of Friendship is Magic and gives the audience an in-road to new content from this universe.

I also find it interesting you quote the abridged version of Avatar-as Avatar got a follow-up series called The Legend of Korra, which picks up the story 70 years later and features some of the same characters. One of the main themes of the show is that peace is something that has to be actively worked towards-the exact same point G5 is making.

Again, while LoK is a bit controversial of a show and is a mess compared to TLA for multiple reasons: there was an in-road for new additional content that was rooted in the Avatar Universe shown in the theme of The Avatar Cycle: where the Avatar is reincarnated again into one of the Four Nations to maintain balance between the Four Nations and The Spirits, Avatar The Last Airbender was about Aang; an Airbender Avatar, while Legend of Korra was about Korra; a Waterbender Avatar. We've been teased at an Earthbender Avatar series where the technology levels of the universe have evolved further from the Industrialization Period of TLA, to the Roaring 20's of LoK, to now be akin to the Late 80's and Early 90's for the Earthbending Avatars' Series. To say nothing of what we might wind up getting in a Firebender Avatar Series...

7930262
And that racism never went away. So long as ponies exist, prejudice will. When groups lack a common enemy (such as the windigoes, who were destroyed in the Battle of the Bell), they often stop co-operating (or what historian Gordon Craig called negative cohesion).

Friendship was consistently portrayed as a survival strategy. The tribes came together as the alternative was death by windigo. The School of Friendship was established as part of the same survival mechanism.

Prejudice tends to be put aside when you have a common foe. And as the common foe was now gone, there was no reason to co-operate. You seem to be having a hard time grasping this concept.

7930292
1. And by the exact same metric ANG gives us an inroad into the new world by setting up the new adventures in the world presented with a new cast of characters. How will the world be? Can they live together in harmony?

Two can play at that game, Ohvist. I'm just getting warmed up.

2. Still the same world, though, which was my entire point.

7930293
Or: some stories are just so good that they don't even need a "Part Two" to it because it would be an outright impossible act to try topping based on what we saw from Part One or could be seen as little more than a direct slap in the face to the Fans that wanted those characters to have not only earned their "Happily Ever After"; but that they are allowed to KEEP it.

No matter how many times you saved the world, it always manages to get back into jeopardy again; you know what I mean? Sometimes I just want it to STAY SAVED! You know, for a little bit? I-I feel like The Maid: "I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for TEN MINUTES?! Please?"

-Mr. Incredible, The Incredibles

I guarantee that nobody seriously wanted G5 to be a direct Sequel Series to G4 where it followed the same path as "The Disney Fanfic Trilogy": to basically shit on the legacy of the previous series and the characters that lived in it. Just like nobody is asking for a Sequel Series to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: because there's nothing that could hope to top a fight between two God-Tiered Mecha the size of Galaxies duking it out with drills larger than the Observable Universe.

7930294
I'm game, ticket manager.

The Avatar World may be the same, but at the very least Legend of Korra didn't do anything to drag down or to completely destroy the legacies of the characters from Avatar The Last Airbender: the world of LoK is an evolution and product of the successes and peace that was made possible by Team Avatar in which resulted in the creation of a new fifth Nation where Benders and people from all walks of life live together in harmony with one-another and the radicalism of the era of The Hundred-Year War that was ever-present in TLA is largely absent, and any personal failings on the parts of Team Avatar and their families are self-contained and have no geopolitical bearing on the narratives in the grand scale of things.

G5 however is a regression of the world of G4: where The Three Tribes are now separated again like they were in Pre-Equestrian times, and all the ancient knowledge and teachings about Magic that were around in G4 is now destroyed and completely lost, and that this desolation was the direct result of The Mane Six and Twilight Sparkle acting like a complete idiot by doing the equivalent of setting fire to your own house the moment you spot a small spider inside: by getting rid of all Magic just to deal with a nobody weakling that even a novice like Sunny Starscout and her friends who lived for so long without Magic were able to defeat, and Twilight not bothering to leave behind any sort of information that the characters of G5 could follow and work off of to rebuild Equestria with: which has been reduced from a continent-spanning Empire to little more than a localized coastal region... all the while, everyone but Zipp Storm are acting like self-obsessed, shallow, narrow-minded, naïve idiots that we are somehow supposed to root for as The Main Characters.

7930296
Can you establish that nobody wanted it to be a sequel? I suspect somebody did or it wouldn't be. And your attempt to compare it to the Star Wars sequel trilogy is laughable. Quoth Admiral Producer:

No it absolutely is not. Outside of the basic conceptual premise, these are absolutely nothing alike. One actually expands on its new characters and delivers an engaging story with an original villain to boot, while the other absolutely destroys its new characters due to racist backlash and we end up with a Luke Skywalker that failed and “somehow Palpatine returned.” G5 never pulled any of this. Spike is shown to be as brave and glorious as ever in Chapter 6 and even confirms with a throwaway line that Equestria losing magic and becoming divided wasn’t Twilight’s mess. So that argument has already well been flushed down the sewers and drained into the ocean.

7930299

this desolation was the direct result of The Mane Six and Twilight Sparkle acting like a complete idiot by doing the equivalent of setting fire to your own house the moment you spot a small spider inside

No it isn't. Watch Chapter 6 of MYM again, and pay attention.

a nobody weakling that even a novice like Sunny Starscout and her friends who lived for so long without Magic were able to defeat

For the nine millionth time, Sunny was almost killed by Opaline- twice. In the former case the power of the cutie marks allowed her to briefly overpower Opaline, and in the latter case it was the combined efforts of every single pony in the land that activated the tree in Opaline's castle and brought her down. You'd know this if you paid attention to the show.

Twilight not bothering to leave behind any sort of information that the characters of G5 could follow and work off of to rebuild Equestria

Err, yes she did. She left a warning about Opaline-it wasn't her fault the tape got corrupted.

everyone but Zipp Storm are acting like self-obsessed, shallow, narrow-minded, naïve idiots

Have you even been paying attention to the show? None of the characters match that description. Pipp does have moments of vanity, true, but the entire crew have depth and compelling arcs. To quote Admiral Producer again (as he phrased this better than I could):

Sunny actually went through a tangible and emotional arc during the movie and has actual character flaws that are fully demonstrated.

7930293
yes some racism will exist and being will you it to gain power. HOWEVER, again look at where G4 ends. Friendship is strong and growing and with the return of the Windegoes during the LOD attempt reaffirms why Friendship is important. With Twilight at the helm bonds of friendship would continue to strengthen. yet G5 all gone. WITH NO EXPLANATION, JUST GONE! No hints, no clues just yeah it all failed and that's that watch our new show. No That is not a mystery, THAT'S A PLOT HOLE! There should be hints,clues, things pointing to how something so drastic and devastating happened. Just go on to do their own thing. Okay then don't tie it to G4. This points to a mandate by Hasbro to connect the two but the writers could have ass a viable way to explain the world they made so they brushed it aside. Take any of the decent writers here could have done better. This is bad writing and thus why G5 has failed in comparison to G4. G5 has no real foundation. one push and it collapses.

7930043

Things were left as mysteries. Why is it fine for G4 to do it but not G5?

just like in the StarWars sequel triology
it can me intested, if, and only if, you already have aplan for it

7:25-8:55

edit:




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7930296

7930299
Korra's Worldbuilding

7930312
So, you're going to state that Twilight Sparkle, a masterclass when it comes to researching, planning, and had the complete backing of not only Dragons but Changelings, Hippogriffs, Yaks, Abyssinians, Diamond Dogs, Griffins, Crystal Ponies, and had many years of experience under her belt with fighting against Tyrants, Warlords, Despots, Traitors, and Gods... just let someone as brazen and weak as Opaline: who lost a fight against a Tree and was easily duped many times by several idiots that had no grasp on Magic, had far less power when it came to Magic that they required Cutie Mark Magic which never existed in G4 to that degree in order to bail them out. At least The Mane Six and Twilight Sparkle could effectively throw down with powerhouses like Tirek, overturn a frontal assault by Changelings, outmaneuver an incoming Hydra. To say nothing of individual feats like generating a Sonic Rainboom that breaks both the sound barrier and visible light spectrum in one go, having enough flexibility with Magic to pacify an irate Ursa Minor, taming Cerberus, regularly breaking the laws of physics and Magic on a whim, posses enough fortitude and stamina to clear out half a large orchard of Apples in a few days with barely any sleep, reaching Black Belt in Karate, mining out several baskets of Gemstones...

The Mane Six and Sunny Starscout's friends are in completely different weight classes, and I'm supposed to go through some mental gymnastics to justify that Opaline is both dangerous and competent enough to be seen as a threat to a someone like Twilight Sparkle: whose managed to reach the level of a Magic Goddess, but at the same time Opaline is so idiotic and easily-distracted that she is continuously duped by a novice like Sunny Starscout who has no knowledge on how Magic even works?

7930310
Can you establish if people even originally wanted G5 to be a sequel series to G4, instead of an original story set within it's own continuity and possessing a separate Magic System that has absolutely 0 connection with the world of G4 like all the previous Generations were disconnected from each-other in the same way that every iteration of Transformers and Mobile Suit Gundam was all separate from each-other?

7930395
Actually Beast Wars and Beast Machines are connected to G1 though wars started out as seperate

7930426
True, but those are three out of 25 Transformers shows. Meanwhile, My Little Pony only has five official Shows encompassing four different Generations.

7930321

With Twilight at the helm bonds of friendship would continue to strengthen

That's a rather bold assumption. That's assuming everypony genuinely believed in friendship and was willing to work together because they believed it was good. This is a rather severe leap of logic IMO because living creatures are driven by one basic drive- what's in it for me? If there's no reason to work together, such as a shared enemy, they usually turn on one another.

No hints, no clues just yeah it all failed and that's that watch our new show. No That is not a mystery, THAT'S A PLOT HOLE! There should be hints,clues, things pointing to how something so drastic and devastating happened.

There is plenty of discussion of what happened in Make your Mark. Have you been listenting to a word I've been saying this entire time or have you been sticking your fingers in your ears going LA LA LA LA LA?

7930389
It's pretty clear by this point that Opaline figured out how to beat Twilight at her own game, as Twilight had one basic strategy the entire time; blast thing with rainbow laser. You're also assuming that the other groups would stay allied with all the racial tension going on in Equestria; to use a real world example, a lot of nations in Africa who had allied with the US during the early stages of the Cold War were considering breaking off and going it alone when they saw how Black people were being treated during the Civil Rights movement. The fear was if that's how they treat people who look like us within their own borders, how will they treat us?

It's not implausible that the other races would see the racism spreading throughout the country and reconsider working alongside such a nation. The Dragons stayed around thanks to Spike, as he was a personal friend of Twilight, but otherwise it's entirely logical to break off relations.

You're also comparing the characters as they were at the end of the show to the G5 crew at the start, which is not a fair comparison. To compare them fairly, use S1/S2 examples.

I'm supposed to go through some mental gymnastics to justify that Opaline is both dangerous and competent enough to be seen as a threat to a someone like Twilight Sparkle: whose managed to reach the level of a Magic Goddess, but at the same time Opaline is so idiotic and easily-distracted that she is continuously duped by a novice like Sunny Starscout who has no knowledge on how Magic even works?

This has honestly gone beyond parody at this point. You have had this explained to you many, many, many times (including in this thread), and yet your default response is to say 'no, you're wrong' and to go back to repeating your bullshit like some sort of carnival huckster.

This has to be an act, or some form of avant-garde performance. And it is precisely this sort of spreading of misinformation that got you kicked off the Generation 5 Group.

You think that shotting with Rainbow Laser was Twilights' only strategy? You clearly haven't paid attention to most of the show. She only ever does that with the sort of threats that are warranted with extreme firepower, for everyone else like Trixie and Starlight Glimmer the first time: she used subterfuge and misdirection to outwit her adversaries.

Again, why would it take so long for Twilight Sparkle to realize that the reason for all this tension that Equestria would be facing was because of one Pony mysteriously showing up to spread misinformation every other time that she appeared? Especially when this sort of tactic was already used in the past and more effectively by Queen Chrysalis in The Ending Of The End. Having already seen this tactic used once and being prone to learn from her mistakes going forward should have easily clued Twilight in to Opaline a few days after she started making her rounds.

The only way I could really think of for a Villain to be able to constantly get the drop on Twilight Sparkle and Co. to constantly get away with this crap would have to either be someone clever enough to have created a hostage situation similar to what happened in Fullmetal Alchemist: where after learning more about the threat of the Homonculi and their involvement with the Upper echelons of Central Command, Fuhrer King Bradley would have Colonel Roy Mustangs' personal Squad reassigned to other dangerous posts while Riza Hawkeye was made the personal attendant to The Fuhrer in order to keep Roy in-line and not try to cause a scene. The only problem is that G5 expects us to classify Opaline Arcana with the same level of competency as Fuhrer King Bradley without trying to do anything to show us her ruthlessness, skill, and power when she doesn't have any of that without Magical means. Even Salem from RWBY had plenty of reasons that made her impossible for Ozpin to deal with due to not only their shared history as former Lovers, but also because she was effectively immortal: meaning that she could just continue to bide her time to wear down her enemies through age and disease while she remains at peak fighting strength due to her control over the Grimm and having aligned interests with individuals through the promise and showcase of power that they could be granted through working for her.

"The Hearts of Men, are Easily Swayed..."

-Salem, RWBY

To insult your lone fanciful artillery piece further: once the distance is closed, the ranged advantage of the Artillery drops to zero in combat as your position is completely overrun by the numerous agile opponents that can strike at you from all sides while you're only able to engage one at a time; especially where your enemies are able to triangulate your current position based on where they've seen you firing from. A proper offensive would have to be with several multi-purpose weapons platforms like Tanks, Half-Tracks that are modified for either mid-range and short-range combat, and a battalion of Frontline soldiers working from a covered position to lay down covering fire to deter any frontal assaults on your position, including several squads of Snipers in the backline and Covert Operatives hidden within the ranks of our Heroes that could assassinate key targets and leaders. These are things that Megatron has due to his past as a Kaon Gladiator who went into politics for the sake of the oppressed lower classes of Cybertron; only to completely militarize once results weren't being produced efficiently enough and that through his time as an orator managed to align the interests of several key figures that would make up the bulk of his Decepticons like Soundwave, Shockwave, and Starscream.

Opaline doesn't have these sorts of advantages because she has all the charismatic powers, unifying vision, and combat prowess of a rotten potato: making us all wonder what exactly caused a nobody like Opaline to become as big a threat back then without anyone from G4 who was wise to these stratagems from having fought against Changelings, and someone that had a shared history with Celestia and Luna be allowed to even get away in the first place.

The only answer I can think of in this situation is lousy writing.

TYT is parallel, not canon.

7929999
The Movie was supposed to be the Pilot to the entire G5 Series; however it's writer made it as a Standalone with a self-contained plot and story that is completely resolved by the climax and doesn't try to do anything to setup the narrative going forward. And after the movie was done, the newcoming directors Robert Cullen and José Luis Ucha didn't bother to make any sort of Show Bible which is a blueprint for how the series going forward is meant to operate by: Magic Systems, Factions, Major Players, Heroes, Villains, the worlds' Ecosystem, and where the entire story is supposed to end at for the Characters that live in this world: which are all things that Lauren Faust made when she premiered G4.

The writing teams of all the different groups working on G5 content had no roadmap to plan and work around in order to create any sort of overarching narrative with a single end goal to reach, leading to the disjointed clusterfuck of a narrative that we have been suffering from to this very day. And since nobody within the writing team is capable of even admitting their mistakes for the longest time, any sense of course-correcting in recent times has now become too little too late: long after Opium Adderall who the narrative had been establishing as the Main Antagonist of the Series across the length and breadth of six Chapters that was 100% responsible for destroying the world of G4 has already been defeated.

"Once we defeat The Fire Lord: that's it for us. Show's over. We're done. Kaput."

-Uncle Iroh, Avatar the Last Airbender Abridged

7963017
Talk about a thread necro.

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