I think that post Faust mlp was fundamentally directionless compared to Lauren Faust era mlp (s1 up to but not including Canterlot wedding) and this all comes down to the meta-narrative reason why Lauren Faust created FiM in the first place. It being her ultimate critique and commentary on the cartoon industry and the state of children’s media. That reason for the show’s existence dies very quickly after she left. There is no big meta-narrative driving the show after she leaves. There are many examples of such critiques stemming from this big, driving meta-narrative vision that she had. The running joke of no-pony liking pinkies singing in episodes such as part 2 of the premiere, over a barrel and baby cakes was satire, beautiful satire and a great commentary on all the overproduced, unnecessary midi music that plagues so much of children’s movies and shows. A dog and pony show, being another beautiful critique on the trope of the “fight girl” in so much of children’s media by positing the opposite, that women don’t have to become more masculine in order to be strong and it does that beautifully, having rarity use her wits to get out of her situation all the while never changing anything about herself. And then there’s of course the most overarching one which I think is best explained in this quote from a Craig McCracken interview from 2013. “When she (Lauren Faust) grew up, everything that was made for her was never good and everything that was made for her brothers was really high-quality. Why can’t shows for girls be good?”. Why shouldn’t kids media force children to grow mentally and emotionally if they want to be entertained rather than jingling meaningless eye candy in front of kid’s faces and rehashing simple inoffensive themes/morals over and over again, you know? It’s that bitter nourishing rhubarb onto the sugarcoated crust of childhood pie that sits something of a premium these days and is lost in post Faust mlp.The meaningless eye candy jingling of the Tirek fight, the transformations, the castle and practically everything else in the s4 finale and the non-existent character writing with 0 accompanying setup and therefore 0 accompanying payoff of the s3 finale ( the same is true for almost all of s3/4), is a stark contrast to the combined skillful use of discord’s powerful yet self-destructive arrogance and a setup of the entire 1st season to weave together a story with real payoff from real setup by real characters in a real story and this is done constantly throughout Faust era mlp, with most episodes being used to set up other episodes creating a cohesive narrative where everything feeds into everything else rather than contradicting each other, narrative-wise. post Faust mlp basically turned into a parody of itself and exactly the kind of cartoon that she was criticizing, commenting on and poking fun at.
>>42541716Even if there are episodes that do this post Faust (like cutie map and amending fences), they’re usually self-contained to the episode and don’t fix the problem that there was no more big, meta-narrative ideal guiding the show in one direction anymore and thus, struggled to do much that didn’t fit into 23 minutes. It’s basically a different show, set in the same universe. and don’t even get me started on post Larson and going into Haber era mlp. like multiply what i said above by 50. the only meta thing he manages to do is complain about bronies.
I think you're basically correct about this, although I'd place the roots of this particular species of rot squarely in S4. That's where you start getting the real mad-libs episode concepts (what if they were superheroes, what if Fluttershy turned into a bat, etcetera) and where the characters and the world as a whole come apart at the seams that were sewn together in the Faust seasons. Plus, that's where the obnoxious self-aware humour and self-referential writing start to rear their heads in earnest. It's the fanfic season. S3 holds up the Faustian spirit surprisingly well, up until the Twilicorn incident.
>>42541773I think by magical mystery cure, the change was already apparent. if MMC was more or less the same but S3 was spent setting it up, much like how the gala episode was very well set up in S1 and how return harmony's setup was basically all of S1, then it would have been pretty good. The driving idea that led to Faust era mlp being as much of a cohesive narrative as it was, was already gone by S3, because of canterlot wedding. This Antony c vid explains my opinion of canterlot wedding far better than I ever could, and if you look into it, most of the same shortcomings of canterlot wedding are present in S3. https://youtu.be/y36UT2tOvkI?feature=shared
>>42541800So far as I can tell, the reason S3 manages to give off the superficial appearance of aligning with the Faust seasons is because it largely stays character-focused. What it lacks is character interplay. The dynamic of the Faust seasons is based around setting up strong, contrasting personalities for each of the Manes, then writing episodes that highlight those contrasts and how they negotiate them. S3 is more of a series of individual character studies. We still get to explore those strongly-defined characters, but there's much less of them playing off one another and demonstrating how their friendship overcomes their differences. It's not quite the same, but it's still miles ahead of the nonsense that started in S4. Also, yes, FiM didn't truly die until Twilicorn, but it was admitted to the hospice at around the point in ACW where Celly and Chryssi had an anime beam struggle.
>>42541830>S3 is more of a series of individual character studiesI wonder how much of that comes down to the fact that it's a half-length season. If they had a full 26 I feel like we would've gotten more pairing/group episodes, the fact that they did two dedicated Spike episodes says to me the original plan was that and they got told about the shorter season mid-production.
>>42541840I've never gotten why spike episodes exist, he's very clearly written to play off of the mane 6 and especially twilight. Almost every episode where he's left to his own devices, makes up some personality that's then forgotten by the end of the episode ( thankfully, because if they stuck, then spoke would have been a way worse character) because his, much like applejack's, personality is based on the ponies he interacts with and THATS written very well. His ambiguous relationship between twilight was my favourite running joke of the series. In great episodes like winter wrap up, one minute they could act like friends, another they could act in a caring mother and son way, and in another they could act like passive aggressive, bratty siblings. It was one of my favourite dynamics of the show. Spike should have never had his own episodes, the only one that I can remember that actually stuck the landing is gauntlet of fire, but that one's more of the exception to the rule than anything else.
>>42541855I don't mind the idea of him having an episode, but I think a duo episode's a far better idea for the reason you say. By himself he's just a dipshit kid, and one dipshit kid by himself is far less entertaining than the trio of dipshit kids.
>>42541716There is no difference between Season 2 and everything after Season 2. Vogelfag was right. It's just the same. You can watch a Season 2 episode and the right after watch a Season 9 episode and you get the same experience. Different chefs, same meal. The exception is the RoH of Harmony, which feels more like Season 1. Imagine calling Season 2 of Faust's narrative when they demystified dragons into bully teenagers and actually Nightmare Moon was not an obscure pony's tale that nopony recognised when she came back, but actually everypony knew her and she now has a national holiday. LOL.
>>42541936>the entire town gasps when they hear her name>obscure pony's taleEh, you're gonna struggle with that one. Them not immediately recognizing her is a little strange but the statue in that episode does look a little off, it's within the realm of being explainable. I do agree there's a big tonal shift between season 1 and season 2 but I don't think season 2 directly contradicts season 1, it just gets more openly fan pander-y and very aware of its own success.
>>42541855>why spike episodes existIt's very clearly just a writer seeing spike and deciding he deserves to take a episode slot.
>>42541936I never expected much from dragons in the first place tbdesu. They didn't exactly set them up for novelty when the first non-Spike example we see is living in a cave and hoarding gold.
>>42541716Not reading that
>>42541955They have Nightmare Moon iconography during Nightmare Night. They know what she looks like. There is more evidence supporting that almost nopony knew about her than her being a national icon like Pinkie Pie trying to guess her name and Twilight crossreferencing different sources to find out more about the legend.
>>42541716
Yeah I'm not reading all that
>>42541980How insightful.
>>42541936You just had to mention the beast. It's too bad the writefag side of the fandom never interacted with the reviewer side of the fandom and vice versa to actually create something or at least for the reviewfags to see how incompetent they are at analyzing storytelling.
>>42543145The beast?
>>42542281I'm flabbergasted
>>42544018Don't be.
>>42541716can I get a TLDR
>>42545534no
>>42546305please?
>>42546660Read the fucking subject of the thread!
>>42547131Ok :(
>>42541716faustfags losthaber won
>>42548134
>>42545534Tldr: stop being a faggot.
>>42548553it's not bait
>>42541716>The running joke of no-pony liking pinkies singing in episodes such as part 2 of the premiere, over a barrel and baby cakes was satire, beautiful satire and a great commentary on all the overproduced, unnecessary midi music that plagues so much of children’s movies and shows.what about the smile song?
>>42549571It IS.
you mean if I make shitty threads, I too, can get (You)s?
>>42550021You made a shitty reply, so yes.
>>42541716>setup of the entire 1st season>with most episodes being used to set up other episodes creating a cohesive narrative where everything feeds into everything elsewould you be able to expand more or give examples on these couple points here anon?and thank you for being able to put into words that which I cannot
>>42541716>>42550525really great thread by the way, I fucking CRAVE these kinds of threads
>>42541716>That reason for the show’s existence dies very quickly after she left.Selling toys?
>>42550585The meta-narrative reason, not the financial reason.
>>42550529Yea, 4chan have actual good discussion if you force them too. Turns out the best way to do that is to write a wall of text to disinterest the gooners.
>>42549654>>42550525Really the only reason the satire could be abandoned is if the song is more valuable than the satire. This is pretty much the only pinkie song that is more or as valuable as the satire. I can't really name another one?
>>42550525To answer your second question, feeling pinkie keen introduces us to the idea that twilight obsesses over things she cannot control. This is taken to its extreme in lesson zero and then the idea is further expanded upon in its about time, where the idea is expanded to twilight obsessing over things she cannot control robs her of the ability to think about the things she can control. https://youtu.be/5QUwiLyTTCQ?feature=sharedWatch this video if you want a great explanation of it's about time. Made by a guy who's great at analysis and critique, you might see in some of his videos that I just copied his script in my post, kek. This is just one example (but it's my favourite one, lol). Another one is setting up the characters special talents before we actually hear them in cutie mark chronicles, like in boast busters and dog and pony show. >and thank you for being able to put into words that which I cannotKek, it's usually the other way around for me, I'm glad I could be the one to write down your own opinion better than you could. As for your first question, I've got college soon and my mobile network blocks 4chan so I fear that this thread might die by the time I go home and answer your question, so I wouldn't mind if you link a discord username or something just in case this thread does before I get home.
>>42550953@snipergaming1979 btw on discord
>>42541716>this all comes down to the meta-narrative reason why Lauren Faust created FiM in the first place.if you think that creating something genuinely good requires someone to criticize and deconstruct other media then you're too high on postmodernism
