Though the "FIM" in FIMFiction directly relates to Friendship is Magic, I don't doubt that many writers will transfer over to the next generation of MLP once it releases. The coming of the end for Friendship is Magic has caused me to look at some of the things, writing-wise, that honestly annoy me when it comes to creating fanfiction. I've got two drawn up:

1. I hope there isn't galaxy-based control ponies, or something like that.

Seriously. When creating any big villain story, it is almost impossible to not have them try to impact Princess Celestia and Luna. Of course, that means that the sun and moon would no longer rise if those two were somehow taken out of the picture. That generates a long and detailed thought process of how the sun and moon would still rise, or if the world would be in chaos, or perhaps just frozen or scorched over. Aside from going into the ridiculousness of season 9's trailer - I sincerely hope no pony has that much power while in gen 5. It's simply annoying.

2. A static era of technology.

In one of my stories, an arc battles Nightmare Moon who defeated Celestia and now rules in Canterlot. With her rule, she visited other cities and brought a few forms of technology back to Canterlot, such as radio and elevators. Of course, during season 1, there were no radios or elevators. The scientific know-how was completely dependent on the sort of renaissance era technology, other than what smarter ponies built. But when we saw Manehattan, when we saw arcade machines and electric fans, it sort of ruined the scheme of "only those intelligent ponies can build insane machines". I hope for a more conscience base for the technology in the next generation. Whether it's futuristic, amish-like, or based on the present.

Those are just a couple of my digs writing-wise at FIM, hoping aggravations like these won't make an appearance in the next generation.

What are some of your desires? Do you agree with one of my gripes, or do you think they simply add an extra step that helps building the world of MLP?

I just hope we can avoid heavy handed social commentary. Let the lessons be as ageless as possible and let the non-lesson episodes have the creative freedom needed to make a good story.

I guess what I hope for is the same thing G4 offers - characters interesting enough I'd want to read about them in any form, and a world so interesting I'd enjoy visiting it even with a full cast of OCs. It's this interlock of axes that creates FIM's massive fanfiction potential.

Another good example to follow (at least to a point) is backstory - personal ones were got out of the way fairly early while still leaving some room for expansion (perhaps not as much room as was actually taken) while historical events were mostly conveyed through second-hand sources like fairytales and plays, allowing fanfic writers to pick their own interpretation..

Can we have writers that do redemption arcs that are a bit more consistent and would make sense?

Example:

Starlight Glimmer creates several alternate Equestria time lines, causing death and destruction on a level that make a Sith Lord think he's not evil enough. She is redeemed and made a student of Twilight Sparkle.

Cozy Glow causes all magic to cease in Equestria, which would make Tirek envious. She is sent to Tartarus to be Tirek's cellmate.

An adult fully aware of what she is doing gets little in terms of punishment while a foal is condemned to eternity in hell.

Wat.

(I mean for G5)

Fanfiction writers can do whatever they want. :)

6803471
Schitzo-tech is a trope my friend

Okay, I do kinda agree with number 1. Don't get me wrong, I like Celestia and Luna in the show, but I don't feel they were handled the best. I think it would've worked better if they were played more like Zordon from Power Rangers; they would offeradvice, exposition, and aid to our main characters, but not be tied directly into the life cycle of a planet. Have Equestria be like the United States or the United Kingdom, with elected officials to run the country, rather than the incredibly important goddesses who if incapacitated or killed would proverbially kill the planet.

Number 2 I wholeheartedly agree with. Small towns like Ponyville can stay as they are (though personally I'd at least give them landline phones) while places like Manehattan and Canterlot get the best of cutting edge technology.

Now here's mine.

Number 3: Get rid of the whole destiny concept.
One of the things I didn't like about gen 4 was that, if what the writing said was true, than Twilight and her friends were "Destined" to wield the Elements of Harmony. That basically means them, and ONLY them, could ever wield their power. I have problems with this because this pretty much means that none of their accomplishments really matter. Of course they were going to defeat Nightmare Moon, because it was their DESTINY to do so. That pretty much means that every time they beat a villain with the Elements, we have no reason to worry because we know they're going to win. Because Destiny foretold it so.
Make it so that it was just happenstance they found the Elements or whatever magical power macguffin for the series run, and that it was the characters' choice to do what they do. Because some people, like me, do not believe in destiny or fate. Some of us believe in choices and free will.

Number 4: BETTER! VILLAINS!
The villains all pretty much suck. The only one that really impressed me was Nightmare Moon, and she was only a real threat in the first 2 episodes.

Number 5: A Consistent Tone
This is one thing I never liked about Gen 4. The first two episodes painted a picture of sort of an adventure/fantasy, with bits of action placed in. There have been several moments throughout the series run that also paint this picture.
But these are few and far between, as the show is much more focused on:
-Applejack being too stubborn or too much of a workaholic
-Rainbow being either too lazy or too arrogant to the point she looks like an ass
-Rarity obsessing over some dress order or her good looks
-Pinkie Pie learning that Rainbow doesn't like her pies
-Fluttershy learning to be self-confident and assertive (FOR THE 500th TIME!)
-and Twilight trying to get her Senpai (Princess Celestia) to notice her.
It's not that hard to intertwine action/fantasy/adventure elements with slice of life elements. Shows like Steven Universe manage to do this all the time. Hell, Power Rangers manages to make it look easy! Give the viewers a healthy dose of action/adventure/fantasy while also teaching us important life lessons.

That's just what I'd look for in the next Gen.

6803471
I've never understood the mindset behind the first point. For Equestria, there's nothing inherently godlike or super special about raising the sun and moon. It just happens to be their special talent. Ponies raised the sun and moon before Celestia and Luna, they could do it again without them. It would be a lot harder, as it'd take many unicorns working together to move heavenly bodies, but it's not impossible.
Controlling the environment is just what ponies in Equestria DO. Controlling the moon and sun is hand in hand with controlling the weather and manually changing the seasons. The alicorn sisters just happen to have a talent in the field and wield a LOT of magical power, that's all.

6803471
I hope that whatever Gen 5 comes up with, it's actually able to rise above what the fans can dish out, because I'll be honest, pony fanfiction is infinitely more enjoyable than the show imo.

6803560
I honestly never thought about it like that, and you've actually just sparked a story idea of a rogue group of unicorns that attempt to block the princesses control of lowering the sun and moon.

6803574
Given the massive writerbase and total freedom from editorial control, fanfic is always going to be better in some areas.Especially the more "adult" aspects - the show has to stay kid-friendly.

Even so, I fell that FIM has produced many good episodes not predicted by any fanfic writer - so we should just leave each creative process to it's own, because they're not interchangeable.

6803592
The show can stay kid-friendly, but then it had better not dip its toes into more adult stuff like FiM has been doing in later seasons and coming up short because it can't go all the way in.

6803471
I just hope that G5 MLP will have the same kind of energy and enjoyablity of G4 MLP FIM and not be a SJW cringefest.

6803499
I agree with you.

6803510
I agree with you. You got a adult sadist who psychically and mentally tortured an entire town and was willing to have oceans of blood on her hooves all because her childhood friend moved away and she never receives an ounce of punishment while a filly gets sent to Tartarus with Tirek. That does not sit well with me.

6803592
Let's remember the writers of the show are also under a lot of pressure to make deadlines and they have to do what the show's director wants, because it's his dog and pony (pun intended) show.

6803544
Hehe, senpai Celestia

The best thing about fanfiction is...

... variety! Let’s have ALL OF THE ABOVE for G5!

6803685
Well then, having the right director/showrunner is pretty key, no?
6803712
Hear, hear.

6803700
I call it as I see it.

6803712
AMEN!

6803544
I will add Number 6: All new Main Characters.

Adding a whole new set of characters might also help with Gen 5. give them their own personalities but make them just as rememberable as the ones we all know and love and give them their own quirks.

6803669
How about social messages delivered with energy and enjoyabilty? (Anyway, I'm not sure how that affects fanfic potential.)

6804877
Definitely a good point.

6804958
Yep, also another idea: looking back to the first generation for a few characters. While a good many characters from generation Four are based on or inspired by Gen1 characters, not all of them are based on Gen 1

6804946
Well as long it does not involve social messages like "Orange Man bad" and "all straight males are evil" and "national borders are sexist and racist."

6805769
Most of those don't seem very applicable to pony... although admittedly we don't exactly know G5's setting yet.

6803471

As I have said on a similar thread, basically just make this:

But with friendly magic ponies. That's all you need to get me onboard.

6803574
6803592

I hope that whatever Gen 5 comes up with, it's actually able to rise above what the fans can dish out, because I'll be honest, pony fanfiction is infinitely more enjoyable than the show imo.

Given the massive writerbase and total freedom from editorial control, fanfic is always going to be better in some areas.

Look, most fanfiction sucks, because most fanfiction authors are amateur beginners who don't know what they're doing. There's just so much of it that some exceptional works are bound to appear as a matter of statistics.

Taste and individual standards is also a major factor. We all have our favorite stories but it's not like they're all the same ones. As in, with so much material to choose from we can all pick out the ones we each happen to like the most.

On the other hand, we get one show, made by one crew. Take it or leave it. It's not really a fair comparison.

6805732
Never saw Gen 1, but it might work.

6805835
One example of something from Gen1 was Bon-Bon, whose Gen1 counterpart appeared in the show 'My Little Pony Tales'

Oh. Huh, the more you know.

6805875
There's not really any alignment between them, though - I'd say it's the cores of G1 stuff that's more important. Like how Rainbow is Firefly, or Pinkie is Surprise (even while Surprise is also a Wonderbolt), and Tirek is, well, Tirek (although Nightmare Moon also shares aspects there.) Can you guess who Applejack is?

6803499
100% agreed. As for the Fandom, I really hope there is less mindless clop. But I know there will be

6805783
Not to mention that fanfiction writers have a lot more freedom to explore topics the show never could due to its TV-Y rating.

6805783
You make a valid point. That said, even put up against shows of a similar caliber and age rating, Gen 4 feels too restrictive.

6806542
While on the topic of mindless clap why is pastel ponies having sex even a thing I mean that is just so totally wrong and disgusting.

Sorry I just had to put that out there I understand if people don’t like me after this but I don’t really care

6806547

Right, but that's what I meant about taste and stuff. See, I actually prefer fanfics that go for the same tone as the show, or maybe a little bit more serious. And I know I'm not alone in that because I've gotten story comments along the line of: "I love this because it feels like it could happen in an episode." But then, some may like their pony stories darker, more mature and/or dealing with heavier themes. With fanfiction it's easier for everyone to find stories that suit them.

6806639

I don't know about "restrictive" but I do think it's pretty flawed. At this point I basically like MLP despite the quality rather than because of it. Hence why my hopes boil down to "make it like Ducktales 2017" because that show is oddly similar but with more effort and care put in.

6806745
I'd rather see them take a page out of JRPGs in regards to storytelling and worldbuilding. But right now, above all else, I just hope that stuff which was leaked has been scrapped.

6806830

I'd rather see them take a page out of JRPGs in regards to storytelling and worldbuilding.

I'm not sure what you mean by that, can you elaborate?

Really, I just want them to stop being lazy with the writing and raise the standards a bit. Other than that they can pretty much just keep doing the same thing they did with G4. Because, well... *gestures at fandom* ...this all happened for a reason, you know?

6803471 I don't know yet. I am kind of hoping for the same while also hoping that some new authors will shine (as well as the chance for some of us to step into the spotlight).

We'll have to see.

6806742
I'd say it's because they they are mammals who give birth, and therefore sex can be presumed, and that the presence of romance suggests they are unlikely to see it as merely reproductive - but that would just explain why they do it, not why we care to "watch". For that, I'm afraid we have to fall back on Rule 34.

6806745
Do you feel the show has always been of low quality, or that it declined over time?

6806899

I'd say it's a bit of an up and down kind of thing in general. It's not a constant decline, rather some episodes are just more half-assed that others, while some are quite good. If anything I think the series hit its peak somewhere in the later middle half.

But if I had to pick, I'd probably say it's always been this way: They got a lot of things right, but the truth is that MLP has never been outstanding in terms of writing. I mean, heck, most of their villains got defeated via invincible plot devices. It took them ages to get rid of the Elements of Harmony and then they still fell back on the same solution with Tirek.

The main cause of this, I suspect, is that they started off thinking they were just making a cartoon for kids and didn't expect it to blow up the way it did. It's just that it's kinda kept going like that ever since: I consistently get the feeling they don't take their craft as seriously as they could. I dunno, maybe they were just worried about messing too much with a winning formula, or the unprecedented success made them think they didn't have to try harder.

Hopefully they make the next generation knowing there's a bunch of adults watching now and really bring their A game.

6806947
While there probably are ways that the show could be made better, I don't know whether any particular DuckTales-ward changes would necessarily be improvements. But then, I'm not sure exactly which elements you would like to integrate.

(I will say that it wasn't until the second season that I considered any episode of the show "half-assed", so maybe I have different standards.)

6806987

While there probably are ways that the show could be made better, I don't know whether any particular DuckTales-ward changes would necessarily be improvements.

While I would like an MLP series more geared towards adventure, it's not like I want them to just copy DuckTales or anything. It's just that DuckTales is basically everything I like about MLP except with more effort put into it.

Like, it's a mostly episodic show that focuses on humor, but early on Dewey and Webby start investigating the mystery of the nephews's lost mother. Meanwhile, there's a second subplot about Magica De Spell trying to return from her banishment and get revenge on Scrooge and his family. Both of those subplots keep going for the whole season, and the emotional payoffs for them are actually pretty strong. That's the sort of writing I want to see in my MLP. I'd just like the writers to think ahead and build up to stuff.

I also appreciate that DuckTales, despite mostly trying to tell funny stories about talking ducks on treasure hunts, doesn't shy away from heavier themes like death or family tragedies. I mean, it's not actually dark, but it gets dramatic and emotional when it needs to and when it does it goes all out expecting the viewers to be able to handle it.

6807170
So more through-plots and more drama... What's your opinon of Avatar?

6807175

First series is great, big fan. Didn't make it through Legend of Korra but I can't say I hated it or had much to complain about in regards to the writing.

Quite different from MLP, of course, so I'm not sure I want to compare them. Like, I like both MLP and Avatar but I'm not sure I'd want an MLP series in the style of Avatar.

6807188
I agree - but it seemed as close as DuckTales and I'd actually seen it. And I'd love to see such a richly made world - not that Equestria's "make -it-up-as-you-go-along" approach doesn't have it's own charm, mid you.

6807201

I really do recommend checking out DuckTales if you haven't. I was a fan of the original and did have some doubts going in, but it is just much, much better than I expected it to be.

Also it has Tara Strong and Andrea Libman voicing a pair of colorful magic murder ponies, and it's amazing.

6806849
I say JRPGs because those kinds of games are amazing at worldbuilding while simultaneously blending character and event-driven conflict. It's not something I'm capable of explaining in super elaborate detail, only that if I was in charge that's where I'd be looking for inspiration.

6805772
After what I saw in the leaks and what they planned for poor Twilight and Applejack, I have a bad feeling that G5 MLP will be something like that.

6805772
I admit I haven't seen all the leaks, but i'm not sure what gives you that impression - certainly the changes I,ve heard about to those two don't seem related.