MLP G5 Discussion and Speculation Thread

@Background Pony #E222
That is never going to be an adequate excuse.

@Background Pony #80C2
why so, their desperation for something they went is very much similar.

Well, there’s some truth to that. Aside from the fact that G5 “suffers” (as some of us see it) from being a sequel to G4 (despite the legitimate hope of being something completely original), I’ve noticed things that G5 seems to suffer from so far. Much like Equestria Girls, G5 opens a page that obviously not everyone likes.

EQG featured a world that felt much closer to ours (aside from the high school scenario), but built on the sentiments of the fandom that already had a lot invested in the setting of G4. G5 follows a similar path (from my perspective only). Just a little bit more connected to the lore. It shows modern (cultural) things, but at the same time tries to build on the legacy of G4.

Well, it does a “good” job of establishing new things (like Hitch being a dragon dad), or an overshadowing villain, but still tries to be cute and sweet. Much like G4. The problems I see here are rather maginal. G5, in my opinion, suffers from how it’s been presented so far.

G4 built (despite some very weak seasons and episodes) on the effect of appearing on a weekly basis. The fandom, no matter how it was composed, discussed on a common basis afterwards. Did you like the episode? Did it add anything to the lore? Who was/is your personal favorite?

G5 (so far) does not. The downside to presenting it on Netflix/Youtube is: it all happens relatively simultaneously. Without a clear focus. Don’t get me wrong. I actually like everything about G5 so far. Heck, it even annoys me that MYM counteracts TYT. But I really wish we as a fandom would stop glorifying G4, and give G5 more than a chance. Yeah, I know. G5 is not perfect, nor is it “fabulous” so far. But: I for on my own am glad at all that we have something like G5. And we are still at the beginning.

Personally, I feel very entertained so far. The songs are good. Ponies are still cute (Main Cast, Background Ponies are still dumb as fuck). The animations are visibly getting better. And, with a little more effort from the creators, the timeline might even be halfway good. [which it is not - mistakes in doing two things at once]. Still, hell yeah! G5 is not perfect. Tell me back in G4 first season that someone had the same “Boo! This sucks all!” effort. Because back then, honestly, no one knew any better. I would wonder who among us has really been a fan from the beginning. Honestly? I only joined with The Return of Harmony Part 1.

It’s still a series for little kids (girls, actually). But I’m still very grateful that we have it. And that’s just my personal opinion anyway. G5 has already won for me in having not only a male main cast with Hitch, but also that he is a father. And who sees that as something negative. I’m sorry. I personally like good portrayals of male characters. And not just “it’s all waifu material”. So… G5 ist gut. G4 war besser. Mögt es oder nicht. L… ;-)

@Background Pony #E222
Oh my god.

So, back in the day, there was this weird obsession with “recruiting” people. I’ll have to find the chart, but there was this emphasis on not showing people episodes that made the show look “dumb” or “girly”. Only show people the episodes that make the show look “cool”.

There were at least two really infamous continuity errors. The first was how the snow was missing at the very start of Winter Wrap-Up. Later on, in Cutie Mark Chronicles, Nightmare Moon was missing from the moon in the flashbacks.

The early fandom also took it upon themselves to establish a chronological order for the Season One episodes.

There are plenty of things you can criticize G5 for. But for all its faults, it’s actually trying to have lore and continuity. I’m having fun with it, and we’re speculating on things the show actually intends to deliver on.

They just need to communicate more with each other so they can complement each other in their work at G5. Thus the remark that they need discipline, we don’t need a repeat of S10 or the arrogance of the team behind the last seasons of G4. But despite that, G5 is pretty good, primarily because of the characters - the MYM writers had fumbled quite a bit in the first episodes of C2.

Sunny needs a backbone, she is a bit too blue-eyed and naive despite the good character traits demonstrated in E3. Opaline should beat her up to give her a nudge towards what it means to be an inspiration to other ponies, there are underlying tendencies that should blossom for her to be Twilight’s successor. Sunny needs challenges and enemies, moreover she was an inspiration and a leader in the movie, this needs to be substantiated.

Opaline has become popular as a villain, so like Sunny, she should be a bit more than just a caricature of an evil pony, her background and motive can be built up to make her interesting and more dangerous in addition to being Sunny’s archenemy. She provides unimaginably great opportunities for future lore development about both the past and the future of G5, as there is much that is poorly known about the alicorns.

Misty may become the new member of the Mane 5, who may become the New Mane 6 in S2 of G5, but it is not certain, she may instead take a somewhat smaller role in the group like Spike and the Mane 6. She has become very popular because she is a pony in a gray area, her reluctance, eagerness, kindness and nervousness means that she aroused the interests of many.

The controversies surrounding the uncontrolled magic, the Unity Crystals and the problems with linking between the G4 and G5 because the “magic disappeared” problem is in the way, drags the G5 down. So far, the IDW team was the one who came up with the most logical and tolerable explanation for the Unity Crystal’s origin.

I think the “barrier” case is to “explain” the absence of the non-ponies of the MYM team. They could spare themselves that, and transform it to only apply to the crystals in question that Opaline was looking for. One should rather move this to the topic of Equestria’s collapse which IDW comics suggests was a very violent and recent event where the world that the Mane 6 had built completely unraveled and fell apart.

The old Discord was a big hit, many like the old and mournful draconequus as a memory of older times. The IDW team had to have a long series of side stories to cover the period when MYM is active, possibly because the end of the Discord Arc will happen at the same time as the finale of S1 of G5.

There is a strong possibility that a much bigger threat than Opaline and the mysterious alicorn civilization will be revealed in the final episode of MYM S1, as if our G4 heroines’ world were to be destroyed to create a new world, it should be the strongest, baddest and most dangerous enemy in the Ponykind’s history.

And it wasn’t Opaline. Twilight defeated her in the end and took her magic. Because it is highly unlikely that an alicorn as wild as Opaline would not have resisted as the Mane 6 will take away her magic.

@Dustcan
I saw one on yt but it wasn’t edited to be a full song or anything because the Pipp and Zipp scenes were still there.

This is how you tell the series isn’t making much of an impact. I thought the song was good but where are the remixes? Where’s the people making rock, piano or guitar covers of it?

Is anyone else bothered by the manes not rooting from the neck like real ponies? I know this issue has been there since past gens but it’s still unnatural to look at

@The Crystal Artist
not really, parts of their pony bodies(like shoulders) are human like, so if their whole mane is contained on just their head, it wouldn’t be much different.

Masterpiece? No. But it had balls. How many cartoon shows can you find that did toon violence comedy on female characters? Even Tiny Toons in the 90’s had reservations dropping an anvil on Babs Bunny. I guess there was Elmyra, but sure.

The Pinkie Sense episode was what caught my interest. G4 was clearly not trying to be a girls cartoon show. It was just trying to be a GOOD cartoon show that happened to have girl characters and referencing cues from legends like Tex Avery to boot.

@hironakamura
Dude the series has only been out for like, 4 days.

These things take time, people don’t just suddenly pull out remixs overnight.

@icicle wicicle 1517
Not from my experience during the days I watched streams. People were making fan art and song remixes as the stream aired.

@hironakamura
Icey is right, I think you do need to calm down there

@Mr.Myoozik
yeah

Meanwhile I’m glad that G5 is a sequel to G4.

I mean, I was always going to give G5 a shot. And I’ve been pleased with its content so far. But I would be lying if the knowledge that watching G5 technically means I’m still seeing the story of the show I watched every Saturday for the last 10 years continue wasn’t a major draw for me.

@Dustcan
First time I’ve heard that.

So, I’ve watched 8 episodes of Chapter 2 and so far, I’m quite liking it. I’m definitely looking forward to more episodes.

@Background Pony #2ACF
That’s not evidence that Cheese is older.

@Mr.Myoozik
No. I just have more memories to compare things with. I can’t help gut see G5 and realize what MLP used to be back in the past. You guys don’t even know anything from the 80’s, for example. My Saturday morning cartoon exposure of MLP had this https://youtu.be/O-Ll5zaPcIE It was sandwhiched between Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man, She-Ra, Rainbow Bright, Care Bears, Thunder Cats, etc. The animation is dated but the stories are timeless. G5 is Coco Melon. That’s what they’re aiming for. Considering we had great iterations for other franchises like Beast Wars and Transformers Prime who arguably has a young demographic target too. Why can’t mlp have great quality stories like Transformers don’t kiddify their target audience? Is it because Transformers is for boys and Hasbro thinks girls are stupid?

Take this MLP g1 episode for example. https://youtu.be/cUKOw9t1gWY This shit blew my mind when I realized villains can look small and weak while friends can be found among big scary monsters. G4 built up on the idea that a cartoon show doesn’t need to be a 22 minute commercial. They can actually tell decent stories for children and respect their intelligence. G5 is going back to that toy commercial phase. Is it because streaming isn’t bound by FCC rules?

That’s how I feel. That’s why I’m not calm about this.

@DerpyFast
Kinda wish that guy is still there.

@The Crystal Artist
Jonathan Tan was part of Detentionaire’s voice cast. As for Jenna Warren, Samantha Bielanski and AJ Bridel, I can’t rememmber anything remarkable they did, unless you count Justin Time, The ZhuZhus and Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (Jenna has roles in all those three series).

Had a thought at work:

The Unity Crystals are stored in Sunny’s house.
Zipp has the most to personally lose if magic disappears.
Hitch is personally responsible for Sparky, whose dragon fire is a source of power for Opaline.

It’s nice how the characters are getting personal connections to the big plot elements.

@hironakamura
That’s cool, but you still need to calm down and you can always just tune out instead of staying around just to complain some more. Seriously, it looks like you’re about to get a hernia.

I have my problems and issues with G5 like you and everybody else and it isn’t perfect, but the elitism you’re going for doesn’t really help you any favors.

@Mr.Myoozik
It’s not elitism, it’s an opinion.

@Lord WyrmSpawN
An elitist opinion