MLP G5: What Went Wrong 

A show will live or die by their showrunner. Lauren Faust was exactly what MLP needed. And even though she left after season two, she'd built a strong base and a strong team to continue on. G5 doesn't have that and it's killing it.

Instead of a sequel to G4 I think everyone would have wanted a prequel focusing on the time the tribes were divided or early in celestial, and luna’s lives and their adventures.

My theory is that Hasbro wants to get rid of the adult fanbase they amassed and delibrately sanitised the writing and style.

Yeah, the biggest problems with G5 are that it should've been it's own thing and not a sequel to G4, causing lore/world building continuity errors in the process. Also, there is too much disconnect and inconsistency in general with the different VAs to the varying animation quality and styles from the big budgeted 2021 movie to the 2D YT shorts to the downgraded 3D of MYM to even the comic style. Not to mention the characterizations being all over the place with Izzy turning into a Pinkie clone and mediocre writing. Even from the beginning it feels like Hasbro has been playing it safe with this gen by going the CGI route which I didn't really like including the designs, still preferring G4's styles. G5 is just very underwhelming to me and the new characters aren't interesting to me either and as said, it's going backwards instead of forwards.

I agree that G5 feels rather underwhelming and underbaked at this point in time. Ive already made peace with the fact that G4 and G5 are separate entities practically, but I am very glad for our smaller cast of characters. I do like their designs a lot and they work with the CGI 3D animation but I feel like they don't translate as well to a drawn aesthetic because of that. I really wish the movie did a better job of exploring the premise or even setting up the underlying mystery of the magical mystery, having that story be mainly in the comics right now feels a little odd. I can only hope that Make Your Mark will eventually expand on it.

The G5 Dragon looks like something straight out of cocomelon

G5 creeps me out a bit

The problem with G5, simplified: G4: grandma making the perfect cake. G5: grandson that doesn't know how to bake trying to follow her recipe.

My one deal-breaking problem with g5 is that setting. They really went ahead and killed everyone from g4 to use "the same" world. The way to make me like something is not killing what I love and building something new on the grave.

I was so hyped for G5. I waited years for it to come and loved all the concept art. Buuut I was left dissapointed. How could they just completely erase everything Twilight and her friends achieved in uniting not just the different kinds of ponies but creatures as well? I saw one piece of concept art that had all the original Main 6 characters looking like vikings or ancient Greek citizens. That would have been so cool to see! There was a lot of potential and yet we get hot garbage :/ I didn't hate the movie, it was cute and I enjoyed watching it. Series is meh. Overall it is nothing compared to G4.

MLP G5 had a lot of great potential, only to fall backward on itself. Instead of being its' own thing, they rely on referencing G4 because it's so popular. G5 doesn't know what it wants to be; it basically devolved to G3 with the story and characters.

What I'm worried about with G5 is that its had some horrible executive meddling or its been rushed. Maybe both. The signs of it are clear since it's been shown that there were a ton of ideas that just never got implemented into the movie or special, and even the shorts suffer from showcasing any major lore building. Only the comics for some reason seem to have this, but it might be due to a different person heading the project. As for the animated content, it also bothers me they dont explain any of the magic outside of 'it's your sparkle' or some cutesy mushy nonsense. Why do all earth ponies have cutie marks then if they can all do the same thing? shouldnt one's magic come from their spark of specific talent? It overall truly is trying to be g4 without realizing what made g4 actually good, and is more distracted with that than actually making their story and world make sense. I'd love to see what they can do with what's been established and also address where their main movie villains even went.

The biggest problem with “G5”: 1: IT TAKES PLACE IN A FUTURE EQUESTRIA THAT NO-PONY ASKED FOR 2: IT RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

At first I thought it would go the "history" route. Sunny's father has these artifacts from the distant past (G4), I thought it picked that road. I think that's a cool idea, as the main 5 are looking for & finding items from the past, connecting G4 to G5. As a big fan of G4 I have questions, the main one, "what happened"? G4 ended perfectly!

Yeah, sadly, I have to agree. Continuity stuff aside... To me, it seems G5 lacks someone who would simply... care about both quality and any sort of 'lore.' Lauren cared, and so did Meghan and most of the stuff running G4 after Lauren left. G5 looks like it lacks such a person. Aside from the movie, everything seems to be mashed together following a pattern 'throw in some jokes, add some ponies arguing, and resolve everything with a hug, gag, or a song.' Zipp seems to be the only character the staff cares about. The rest of the crew are getting almost zero character development, as if the writers forgot about them. This doesn't bode well... All we can do is wait and hope it will improve when 'Make Your Mark' hits the stream.

I couldn’t agree more. G5 is doomed to live in the shadows of G4. Perhaps that is what Hasbro wants in a way. It’s clear from their marketing they are targeting moms and very young children much like they did over a decade ago. Ultimately that’s fine; if that is the direction Hasbro wants to go in (likely for financial reasons) then they have every right to do so. What bothers me is they still don’t want to loose the G4 fans they have, so they give us glimpses of what could have been (for example making G5 connected to G4) without fully delivering (and yes I’m aware there’s more backstory in the comics, but again that is ultimately done for G4 super fans and I think that level of depth should be seen in the actual show). It’s a marketing decision, and one I wish was actually utilized to its fullest potential. G5 is ultimately a step backwards from G4 and is no different to other generic “girl” cartoons available. In 2022 both adults and children want more from media (Bluey is a prime example of this success) and G5 in terms of characters and story telling seems to have come out of the mid 2000s. I did enjoy the movie, but everything since to me has been a disappointment. I hope things pick up with the series, however I am not optimistic.

I would have been okay with G5 being a 'sequel' if they a) included aspects of the old series, like windegoes, b) had made Twilight and her friends a TV show theorizing about the past- showing some clear differences from what we know so we would know that what they understood of their history must be false or c) Had crazy friendship pairings to start the series, say a town of yaks and earth ponies that got along, or dragons living near unicorns because they both had an appreciation for all things shiny, give the series some intrigue. If we were exploring how we got from point a to point b at all, in any capacity, I would have been happier with it. Instead, we're left both disappointed and wondering

I really is amazing how a series so rich with lore, characters, and overall expectation on how the world works could turn into such a dry sequel. It really does feel like no effort is being put into this series and it feels like the original creative team isn't involved either. This series is going to crash as hard as the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

I have to take a bit of an issue with how My Little Pony and Friends has been described. Growing up with it I watched as not one tea party ever occurred, not once. Both Tirac (Tirek) and Lavan died. The witches from the volcano of gloom were soundly defeated, twice. Squirk and and Krank were, well, flushed for the lack of any better words. Seriously, they were caught in a nest and sucked won a whirlpool. Give me a better description if you can. I'd honestly like to hear it. The Raptorians were vitrified, turned into glass in other words. Porcina, who had been manipulated by the Raptorians was turned from her harmful path, but she was never in charge to begin with. In Escape from Catrina, Catrina was confronted with the choice between her life and well being. Or her addiction, she chose the former. To characterize this first series as something that was vapid and giggly is a supermassive mistake. It was very hard hitting at times, albeit in a rather rushed fashion. And didn't really pull any punches when you get down to it. The biggest problems it had were pacing and execution. Even then I was aware of that, and re-watching it again on DVD only drives that point home all the more. After seeing the New Generation movie I had suspected that the following series would never hit the middling heights of said movie, and so far, it's looking like that will be the case. So yeah, that is where we stand in regards to the latest version. Lastly, Rescue at Midnight Castle aired in 1984, so we're two years out of that 40 year marker still.

So far, I like G5. It definitely needs more time finding its ground in terms of storytelling [and pacing in certain Tell Your Tale episodes] but I have hope considering the new villainess we see at the end of the Make Your Mark Special. The movie's art style is gorgeous and I've come to like Tell Your Tale's. It works very well for the format! My main gripe has to be that Hasbro decided that there was so much development in G4 that they didn't want to use a completely new world in G5 but we haven't gotten much worldbuilding on how these other places came to be. I thought for sure Zephyr Heights was Canterlot, but then along came the comics to denounce that theory.

I will agree with your point on this. I really like Friendship is Magic and there was something special about that show because some of the MLP staff that worked on that show are Doctor Who fans, Beatles fans, Star Wars Fans, etc. That show had pop cultural references which I like, and their writing was really good and there are good stories I do like from Friendship is Magic. If they are going to do a Make your Mark TV series, why not explore the old places in the Make your Mark series like Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Manehatten and The Crystal Empire? I think you are spot on about the writing and I think that is why I think the Make your Mark special was a weak special and If I was the showrunner, I would make sure to make good stories like what G4 did.

What’s even worse is that the plot for G5 goes FAR beyond the oversimplification of Twilight and her friends. They’ve established that it’s set 1,000 years after FiM and SOMEHOW Twilight is dead from old age, despite being an Alicorn like Celestia and Luna (who were well over 1,000 years-old at the start of FiM, with Celestia’s aging compared to 1,000 prior in a later flashback where she vanished Luna to the moon for a millennium is basically no aging, so Alicorns are either immortal or survive thousands of years). Not only that, they clearly didn’t care about carrying on the appeal of FiM as they clearly wrote the store to not feature any prior characters outside of pointless cameos and references that mean nothing, change the artstyle from what I can only describe as what a fantasy world in a little girl’s imagination, complimented by German expressionism elements and blatant surrealism, is abandoned for a hyperrealistic art direction with architecture and buildings looking akin to the late 20th century at the least, uninspired designs, and (in the case of the RU-vid shorts and the Netflix show, mostly the former) complete abandonment in of the unique and creative facial expressions FiM was known for. What SHOULD have been done was set it a couple or few decades later that way it can focus on not just the movie’s new cast of characters but also the fillies of Gen 4 (especially the Cutie Mark Crusaders) as adults as secondary characters. But nah, just kill them off i guess Hasbro. In the wise words of AVGN: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

If it really wanted to be connected to g4 then the show could’ve been an actual show in that world, solving the continuity errors, like an old tv show from Sunny’s dad’s time that Sunny could’ve been inspired by and they could’ve found out that Twilight and her friends were real ponies that were turned into a tv show to inspire people by the 2 girls who were inspired by the friendship journal or someone else.

I always loved this quote: "It is strange how, just as soon as an article becomes successful, somebody starts to think that it would be even more successful if only it were different. There is a tendency to keep monkeying with styles and to spoil a good thing by changing it." Henry Ford - My Life and Work Here is a portion of a press release by Hasbro: After a decade of heart-warming friendships, daring adventures, and endless laughs, the beloved pony world of Equestria is expanding to introduce a new generation of ponies to a new generation of fans. With even more humor, heart, and adventure, audiences will be swept away to a contemporary and immersive pony universe brought to life like we’ve never seen it before. It really seems like Hasbro has fallen into the trap Ford describes. Hasbo's attempts to introduce "a new generation of ponies to a new generation of fans" has left their existing fandom finding little in common between G4 and G5 (different characters, different settings, different animation style, etc.). Pretty much everything that made G4 special to its fans has been purged in G5. I believe the 3d style was the "contemporary universe" stated above and planned panacea for G5. The 3d style has instead turned into a liability (expensive, quality issues, and restrictions not found in 2d). Oddly, a very similar issue occurred when Turner tried to make a sequel to Jonny Quest. The sequel called "Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" had a massive advertising campaign and also relied (in part) on computerized 3d animation called Questworld. It lasted two seasons and was a failure due to the numerous changes (characters were older - this ruined Jonny's pup Bandit, violence turned down, an emphasis on Jonny rather than his father, etc.). Remember that saying - those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it? I think it is going to happen with MLP G5. If Hasbro felt G4 was getting a bit "stale", and wanted to use the same world, then promoting the fillies from G4 to the main cast and keeping the same style would have been the best approach. You see this a bit in anime. This gives your existing fanbase something to latch on to. It also allows you to keep all the unique places you have developed in Equestria (Canterlot, Carousel Boutique, etc.) rather than building anew which has left G5 looking pretty mundane.

6:55 If you're seriously considering applying to work on MLP, take a look at Jim Miller's interview to Equestria Daily to know what you're getting into. It's not just one person or team making the creative decisions, it's a lot of back and forth between Hasbro's marketing, the writing staff in the USA and the animation studio in Canada, to juggle all the different interests and constraints. Lauren Faust left because she didn't want to deal with that. To give you an idea of Hasbro's level of micromanagement, here are some examples of things they specifically requested (other than the obvious stuff everyone knows about, like the pink princesses): - Vinyl Scratch being mute - Vinyl and Octavia being roommates - The Power Ponies - Rainbow Dash and Applejack being together in the end So you have to navigate that sort of stuff and try to tell a coherent story. It can be an interesting creative challenge, but it's not for everyone.

I liked the G5 movie but so far everything after that has been pretty lackluster

The fact that the deleted scenes/art and the comics seem to show better world building than what we're actually getting makes me think Hasbro is interfering way too much with the creative process.

I wish g4 MLP stayed forever 😢

What makes me sad is that I really LOVED The 2021 movie. The main characters were great on their own, and while the story was not perfect, it felt like it would be a promising New Generation of Ponies. Unfortunately, The rest of Gen 5 was such a giant mess, that I wasn't exactly a fan for long. I was not expecting these g5 shows to be as Phenomenal as FIM, but they felt like a large downgrade from what I loved about MLP.

The biggest problem with gen 5 is that it was connected to gen 4. It was never allowed to stand on its own. Only being on Netflix was a big mistake.

Honestly Cleo G4 could have kept going via spin off series like friendship school tales or the power ponies and the G5 could have been its own thing not in the same world but I would really like to know how they would start all over again from scratch?

What drew me into MLP with G4 was that it was so unlike G3 and ... G3.5 ... **shudders uncomfortably** - it wasn't this uber girly fru fru thing, or didn't feel like that - unlike G3, it had characters anyone could enjoy (who worked together really well), whose experiences were relatable, a variety of stories anyone could find enjoyable, worldbuilding, character development, GREAT use of humor (with good timing ... usually - not always, but a lot of the time), episodes with a lot of heart, and a sprinkle here and there of adventure... oh, and continuity actually being somewhat maintained well... oh, and really catchy songs - one thing I think G5 DOES have going for it right now. Definitely orther aspects I neglected to mention, I'm sure, that made FiM stand out. I feel like if future generations of MLP could have some kind of balance of those elements, like how G4 had these various elements somewhat balanced (IMO) - regardless of who the specific characters are or dimension the story takes place in is like, it'd be hella enjoyable at the least (IRRESPECTIVE of if ultimately could match the energy that G4 had or not). Oh hell, I'll just say it: On top of all that, we need someone who at least thinks, plans, and has experience growing up with the franchise *like* Faust did to have that happen, IMO. (As in, doesn't have to be Faust, but should be someone who thought like she did, put her experience with the franchise, her heart, her deciation into it like she did - which IMO made the show continue to stand out even after she left (and in that I include keeping the right people involved to keep the show going after she left)).

I said it years ago, you simply could have given G4 characters their own mini series after G4 ended. The characters to work with Sunset Shimmer Starlight Glimmer Trixie Vinyl Spike The Dazzlings That's just several with a lot of potential. You don't even need to keep the flash medium, you can animate them however you want. I'm not gonna lie, I would love to see Sunset Shimmer in that G5 movie rendering.

If anything I blame Netflix, who defined "Boss Baby" as ideal children's entertainment and cancelled everything that didn't look like it.

The Movie The Reboot The Special The Comic The Game The Series (epsode 1 yet to be aired) What a clusterbuck of continuity! I have no freaking idea where the story is currently and where it is going.

G4 is a classic one. But g5 idk but i hope it works out on the storyline. Im interested what happend to twilights reign

I think any pony movie is doomed to succumb to corporate meddling I really think Hasbro tried to catch the same lightning in a bottle without understanding why. It's leading G5 in the wrong direction

G4 grew in popularity because it appealed to people naturally, thru good direction, writing, characters, animation, etc. Faust knew what she wanted the show to be and was able to lay the foundation for MLP:FIM to be successful. And it grew and developed by itself, throwing acknowledgement to its previous generations, but not relying on its connection to them as a reason to exist. G4 was its own thing. G5 feels artificially hyped. It wasn't created with the goal of being its own thing, it didn't develop naturally. It was created to try and ride the success of G4 with (aside of the movie animation) as little effort as possible. Story-wise, in making it a direct sequel to G4 rather than its own thing, its now stuck. Basically establishing that everything G4 ever did was pointless, erasing all the work Twilight had done for Equestria and wiping everything away. The new comic that came out recently only drags G4 thru the mud even more, for the sake of G5. I like [the idea of] G5, I like the movie and the characters. But it really feels that (unlike g4) it has no goal in-mind. Its just exists because G4 was popular. Make Your Mark and the youtube mini-series definitely give the impression they dont know what direction they are going in. Imagine if G4 started back in 2010 with the RainbowRoadtrip movie and the Ponylife youtube series instead. Might have affected G4's success. Losing some your main voice actors before the series even begins is also a real show of confidence. To sum up, G5 isn't itself bad, but it was handled poorly. Honestly, if they had just cut ties to G4 and let G5 be its own thing, with a goal in-mind, it could have done alot better.

I totally agree, it feels like they’re just trying to make something popular to make money. The movie was pretty good but then they made the weird RU-vid series which felt like a gross pony life and made the characters all weird, and then they went through all the trouble of making a 3D series when they don’t have that big of a budget for it. I also dislike a little bit of their looks, their faces look too human like and it’s easy to tell on the toys. I’ve collected the toys for years and have ONE g5 Izzy toy, and her eyes aren’t on the sides of her head like, a pony should? Also the eyebrows and hairline throw me off. They don’t have a horse hairline they have a human one and it’s WEIRD to attempt to style. I liked the characters a good amount after watching the movie but watching them be weirdly all over the place with different writing for them and different voice acting makes me confused what their exact personalities are and which ones I like or not. That’s just my thoughts on it.

G5 feels like the opposite of IDW Sonic- G5 MLP tries adding onto a lore that forces it to be reliant, while IDW Sonic starts fresh and keeps up a pace built up from previous comics.

Honestly G5 feels like a slap in the face of all the progress that Twilight and her friends made in the previous series. As how could ponies slip so far back?! I realize that all societies have their highs and lows but according to the comics things almost immediately into Twilight's reign began to slip! Why not show us a world where things **progressed?** Show us a world thats just as advanced at G5 yet at the same time confirm that things are **better** because of Twilight and her friend's efforts. By all means have a new threat present itself but don't make G4's cast's efforts be in vane to where some one else has to fix their mistakes!

The thing with g5 is that there is only one regonizeble land mark wich is Canterlot from the comic book series but other than that it just feels like a whole different planet

G5 basically undid everything that happened in G4. They basically said that everything twilight and her friends did didn’t last and fell apart to where ponies live separately again like literally the wayyy beginning of G4s backstories. Like how did they go so wrong 🤦‍♀️

I really loved G4 (My profile pic says it all) and I was really disappointed in G5. I didn't connect to the characters well except for Sprout, which I feel like is a very interesting take on a "comic relief" character in making him the main villain. Other than that, though, I feel like they basically changed their target audience to little kids again instead of family.

I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was cute and fun, yes there were some parts I didn’t like, but overall it was a pretty good start for gen5. But the special is so bad, it felt rushed and it had to many plot points. Also I feel like the 3D animation is too complicated to make episodes in. It is good for a movie, but it isn’t good for a show. Especially since a lot of the animation in the special lacked compared to the movie. I think they should have gone for the style from the start of the ‘New Generation’ movie for the special, and eventually the series. Hope this makes sense - I’m not good at explaining Edit: also I’m sorry if I repeat anything in the video, as I’m in the car so I haven’t watched it yet!!

I think G5 had to deal with the lore from G4. I also think that the Make your Mark episodes would explain what really happened during Twilight's reign.

6:53 Heck, they could easily ask the majority of the fanbase for good ideas. I'm sure that they can filter through all the chaff and find some real gems, and it would be budget friendly, too, if they just did this every so often. In fact, a good time to do this would be during their annual MLP conventions. They can see if anyone in the fanbase has any good story ideas for continuing the generation that is running at the time (in this case, G5), or some ideas for a future MLP show. Like you, Cleo, I also have ideas for an MLP show and it is even in a totally separate universe (and it is anime style, too, complete with chibi scenes mixed in 😁). It involves solving the mystery of a continuous, centuries-long, magic-fueled natural disaster that spans the entire show. It also would have the main characters slowly learn and develop their own strengths/virtues at different paces, with each reaching their peak at the end of each season. There would have also been a big reveal about one of them during the show finale (I came up with an awesome major scene for that one). The main character gang would have also been a mixture of species, like the 'Student 6' was. I have no skill at coming up with individual adventures for each episode, though. I'm definitely no Lauren. This idea is just a compilation of main plot points and scenes that would be scattered throughout the show. The story writers would have to fill out the rest. Still, a small grouping of plot points and major scenes would have given the show makers a direction to go on and can easily be created by anyone with a good enough imagination.

G5 in a way feels like a fanfiction of G4. I'm glad we got a new cast of characters and it's not a complete reboot. I just wish G5 wasn't building on an already established world and lore. That's why I was more intrigued when I started watching Filly Funtasia. I still think G5 has potential, it just has to work with it and not only focus on the pony races.

After the New Generation Movie.... This god damn series took a ninety degree nose dive in god damn flames...

1:52 as someone who did watch gen 1 in the past, i think this bit isnt completely right. there wr a lot of monsters in g1 that wr interesting, and fights and such, and villains and characters that even made a comeback in g4. though it had a lot more cringy moments and acting xD, i did love the og one since it felt adventurous aswell. (not speaking of the other gens though, i didnt like what came after until g4)

I feel like people are being so harsh on G5. Obviously it isn’t perfect, but we have only gotten one movie, one special, and one web series not meant to be taken too seriously anyway. I like what It has to offer so far and am looking forward into seeing what it develops in to.

Hasbro be like……. ‘We could use a g6!’

5:47 - At this point;”HASBRO NEEDS TO GO LITERALLY BELLY UP” they are just making “VERY STUPID BUSINESS RIGHT NOW”!!!!

I feel like mlp gen 5 represents our normal world going backwards.

MLP could’ve so easily used twilight’s predecessor that they showed in the very last episode, and how she learned the magic of friendship just like twilight did (or another fun thing they could’ve done could been a Cadence tail like ✨ my little pony love is magic✨)

I feel that g4 is more memorable and charming than g5. The quality of the new gen is less than before.

My biggest problem so far with G5 is the special None if it made sense there was no reason to keep the dragon egg a secret there’s no reason to keep the magic glitching a secret there was no reason for that fight on top of the lighthouse and I hate the design of Sparky. The feature film was fine it was fun and the shorts there’s something to watch sometimes I get a good laugh like the one about dumpster diving.

Hasbro doesn't want the fandom and are clearly doing their best to pretend it never happened. You'd have to be blind and deaf to not know what made G4 so popular in the first place, the fact that G5 is so soulless is no accident.

In a way, I kind of would like to see a sort of revival of G2 but in a similar style to G4 (perhaps as hybrid of G4 & G1), I have a pet theory that because it was the first reboot of MLP back in the late-90s and people at the time were unaccustomed to such big toy reboots at that time and the toys were so different in design compared to G1's era, I imagine many parents and older siblings who were more familiar with the original G1 toys may have assured the G1 toys were at a glance just knock-off fakes pretending to be MLP or something along those lines, also video and computer games were starting to seriously take over from toys in general, basically, people often don't like change, especially if it the first time regardless of quality... if I'm not mistaken, because of this I think was a bit unfair to G2 back then but understandable, nowadays people are a bit more use to change and a bit more reasonable in their criticisms, though sadly many still don't like changes to their preferred version of favourite franchises, especially the less reasonable younger ones who are not as use to things being changed or updated, they often can't even except the older versions either, from what I can tell anyway.

Mlp: fim was a journey that was worth going on from the exciting beginning to the ending that went out with a bang, Lauren Faust and her team truly created characters that will be remembered for generations and Twilight’s message to the whole was that friendship never dies and she’s damn right! Just look at the awesome fan base that we’re all lucky to be apart of it. G4 was one of many reasons why my love for marine biology grew especially because of Fluttershy, she loved animals in general and I love marine creatures! Truly awesome show! But the idea of having g5 taking place thousands of years in the future with friendship and magic forgotten was extremely bad, I wonder who’s the idiot who decided that this was a good idea, thus ruining Lauren Faust’s work including her team! And hell even Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6’s work for uniting all of the creatures of equestria, not just the different kinds of ponies, but also the other creatures as well and turning villains like Discord into good people, G5 just washed it all away FFS!!

When I saw the G5 ANG movie, I had high expectations for the series. It was set in a dystopian apocalyptic world. I thought the series was going to be the Transformers Prime of MLP where every episode starts with a character saying "Prevuously on My Little Pony." They would have adventure episodes focusing on rediscovering their lost past and linking what happened between g4 and g5. Each discovery they make leads to another question creating a fear of the unknown and a dread of the truth. Until they uncover the truth which is revealed to be scarier than the unknown. But no... It looks like it just wants to be a baby show. Not even a typical tea party girl show but something for an even younger audience. Sad.

I just dont like the g5 they just sucks 😑😑

G5 has it's ups and downs, but when they changed the voice actors i got pissed.

I think the reason why G5 doesn't appel to me that much is because of the 3D animation. I'm just not used to it and the tale your tale animation is not better either.

So here's the thing. G5 was strategically flawed. g4 was successful and profitable. The urge to milk it and link it to G5 was also unsustainable. However, by creating a high budget film with expensive voice actors, they essentially overlooked the fact that they created an expectation for a product they weren't interested in maintaining. Linking it narratively wasn't bad, but it was tricky, because G4 ended with excellent resolution. Third, they weren't willing to commit to a narrative aesthetic where the story gave the viewer an experience as to what to expect. All three locations are pretty, benign, and more or less stable. Sure, Canterlogic is a little bit facsist, but by and large no one is starving. The stakes seem pretty low. They we lead into what was essentially the message of season 9 being forgotten, with the races in opposition and magic gone. So what's the problem? Only Sunny seems to care. Magic doesn't MATTER to this world, but we are told of course it must matter, because it's magic as we say so. Then we get the youtube series and... no. Whomever greenlit this was wrong. You do not create an expectation for one product, then completely reverse it with this. Narratively these did nothing but undermine everything you were trying to establish. Honestly, they would have been better off releasing 4 of these shows where the ponies infodumped over what they knew about Twilight's time. Setting up a coherent world would at least give us an idea of what to expect and the stories to anticipate. Finally the second movie dropped on netflix and it establishes... almost nothing. It's the season 7/9 lesson all over again. Racism bad. Worse, it doesn't even get INTO racism. People are racist because they're bad, mistaken, or evil. Once they're not, they're not racist anymore. Uggggh... Here's my fear. Hasbro is scared. They want to play it safe and they are making what they think is safe content. But this world, right now, is not safe. The problems 10-14 year olds face today isn't fixed by 'well suddenly they're not racist anymore'. Show me real conflict. Show me actual struggle. Show me the consequences of failure. Be bold or chill for 4-5 years. There's some awesome animation on netflix alone that you're competing against. They might not talk about roe vrs wade, but an arbitary rule banning pegasi from flying or unicorns from casting can be a stand in for the conflict of following the rules and when not to follow the rules.

I wish that G4 CONTINUES

Gen 5 is very out of place. I don't understand how it's supposed to play in Equestria when they have almost nothing that could indicate them being the same universe. They are like centuries appart and nobody cares to explain why that happened and how it changed so drastically, instead they are just bouncing and laughing at useless tasks in a 40+ minute filler episode where absolutely nothing happens. They ruined a great potential, it's sad, depressing and disappointing

Also, what's the deal with the cutie marks now? Is the cutie mark magic just gone now as well? Is destiny no longer a thing? I mean we've had the theory sprout is such a bad chief and stuff because it's not his destiny but now I'm starting to think that the cutie marks are just decorations. Hitch is a good example, he has absolutely nothing related to animals and yet they all love him, and he now has a dragon who has wings without the molt.

G4 took some time to really hit its stride. I expect G5 to take some time, too.

i'll put my thoughts this way; i wrote two lists of questions i have for g5 on a google doc the other day; one for what we got, and one for if it wasn't tied to g4. The one for not tied to g4 had 16 questions..... the one for what we got was 47. grantid, three of the major questions got answered by the comics, knocking that 47 down to a 44- but the comics shouldn't be doing that job for the main series.

G5 seems to have rather pointlessly kept itself in the same universe as G4, but was set so long after the original that there is basically nothing familiar and it may as well have been a completely new setting, because yeah, centuries ago the show we like happened, but everything is so different now it's being set in the same world is basically academic at this point. Edit: Not helped by the fact that switching from 2D to 3D *already* adds a level of disconnect as is.

G4 was lightning in a bottle, all the right things at the right time.

I’m personally mixed on g5 of MLP as a whole. I really liked the movie (although it’s not one of my favorites) but I wasn’t really a fan of the special which I have very mixed feelings on. I didn’t really watch too many of the Tell Your Tale shorts because they just didn’t interest me that much. Overall I’m concerned for the future of g5. I’ll still try to give it a fair chance when the series comes out, but I can say for certain that I won’t like it as much as Friendship is Magic.

Spot on as always. I sense a short run of G5 due to its many flaws, followed up by a better G6 that's trying to be more like G4.

G5 is just My Little Pony Tales 2, just for G4 this time. It’s a bad spin-off/continuation like MLP:T was for G1. Of course, I haven’t slept and it’s 6 am so this might be inaccurate at _best_

I liked generation 3 because it made interesting characters that could then exist in generation 4, such as breezies while in ther first one it created spike which also got more attention in generation 4

Lauren Faust made G4 what it was. You can still see in dc superhero girls the soul of mlp. Lauren Faust was basically a nerdy boy, she liked girly stuff but also a lot of boy stuff. So many references little girls would not get. Like discord hiding in the cardboard box, Indiana Jones references, and etc.

it just doesnt give off the same energy that mlp had yknow

Honestly I would have loved to see a story of celestia and Lunas early rule and how they became alicorns, sure it’s connected to gen 4 but it’s not reliant on it in the same way and already has solid drama built into it

I'm a fan of the g5 animated stuff on the level of its "cute and enjoyable", but im a much bigger fan of the g5 comics story-wise. I think they're a WHOLE lot better at telling an interesting story with what g5 has given it, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where they're going!

If they focused more of the budget on the story then it would be 100% better, I don’t think the 3D look is even worth it.

I have little sisters and l have *never* seen them watching anything g5 related except for the movie, but they still regularly binge g4

I honestly really love the new animation but like you said its going back to the cutesy sidr

Im really not liking G5 ._.

Friendship is Magic is better than the movie. I love Luna and Celestia.

I’ve stopped associating G5 with my precious childhood hood go-to show G4 It’s just too painful

The only thing I can think of that is good about G5 so far is the boy pony Hitch being a “mane” character. Unfortunately I cannot find any merchandise of him. Only Sunny, Izzy, and “Tweedle-Dee” and “Tweedle-Dumb” pegasus ponies. I don’t know their names because my 4 year old daughter didn’t want to finish the movie so I’m calling them what I think they should be called.

I really loved A New Generation, and whilst Tell Your Tale is enjoyable to watch and does make me laugh at times, it’s not sonething I generally rewatch, considering we’re already God knows how many episodes into the series. Similarly, Make Your Mark is the same for me. I watched it once and will probably forget about it. It’s things like this that make me wonder if I’ll actually be a brony for much longer if this is the way the show is going. Sure, I’ll probably still buy G5 toys as and when good stuff comes out, but I’ll definitely keep rewatching G4, along with ponytube videos like yours that were originally inspired by that legendary show.

i've said it before and i'll say it again, gen 5 does not have the same world as gen 4, not at all, it just does not feel like the same world, they would have been much better off setting gen 4 in its own world and in a way they kinda have, considering the very little effort they are making in drawing from the lore of gen 4.

i wish mlp g4 have character spinoffs like spinoff of applejack or other characters and having there own villains

It’s missing other mythical creatures.

1:32 If only we _could_ ignore them, amirite? 1:44 It's worth clarifying that this description _doesn't_ apply to the original "My Little Pony n Friends" cartoon. The first cartoon was an adventure show through and through, and it's what Lauren drew from when she thought of her own ideas for the franchise. 2:50 Indeed. But I've described it as putting the world's best make up on an incredibly vapid person. The art may be beautiful, but the writing was very generic. 3:05 Hearing that G5 would be a sequel sunk most of my expectations for it. Having an interesting setting was one of the reasons FiM became such a success and I wanted them to come up with a lot of cool new lore for us to discover. But I was also skeptical that they would truly expand on anything in G4, given how uninterested the writers for G4 often were in exploring the setting. So far, all of my fears have come true. There seems to be no attempt to maintain continuity beyond establishing that the Mane Six lived in the distant past. FiM's setting was a world that largely ran on magic, yet everything seems to be working the same without it. Indeed, the connection to G4 was easily the most common complaint about the movie, and connecting the series may have actually hindered G5's popularity instead of supporting it. 4:32 Having the silly short series before the main series may not have been a wise idea. If they did it the usual way, then people who didn't like TYT's style could easily dismiss it as an irrelevant side series. But this was the first major series after the movie and we still had a few months before anything else came out. Its problems may have tainted the generation for some people. Then again, I've seen more praise of the web series than of the Make Your Mark special. It's going to be something if "Pony Life" is actually the more well liked series this time around. 4:54 Casting more prominent actors for the movie may have been a short sighted decision. Maybe it would draw more eyes to the film, but it also means that any replacement actors would have to live up to their performances. Even if they did, it can be hard to work past first impressions. So far, Izzy's the biggest sticking point among the fanbase. 5:23 That's really one of the most frustrating things about G5. FiM raised the bar and other cartoons raised the bar even higher. To see the franchise continue to degrade instead of evolve really churns my butter.

The biggest mistake they made with g5 was making it part of the same universe as g4. It’s basically doomed to be eternally compared to g4 by anyone watching

This should have just been it's own thing.

Yeah I felt like they just hit the big red reset button on G5 when there was so much still left unsaid from G4. Plus the world just doesn't make sense.

They should hire you as a consultant to guide them in the right direction. I agree its very disappointing. I was excited about the fact it was in the same universe but I have just been extremely disappointed and have so many questions about what happened and we aren't getting answers just a boring meaningless story.

What's the difference between the Generation 5 and the Generation 4 Ponies? 🐎🤔

Follow up. A small number of G5 products showed up in my local Dollar store at the middle of April. Tehy are still there! They have been moved from primary display space in the toy aisle to secondary to bottom of the shelf and now thrown into bins under the shelf. Not one of them has been sold. Today they cut the price in half from $5 to $2 with sale price stickers. They can't even give this stuff away. If it's not moving at the dollar store, then it certainly isn't moving at Walmart. Toys 'R US had a couple of items for a week before they went on clearance and have not been restocked. Most of the toy line was not picked up. Walmart is the same issue I found a couple of package damaged items in the clearance bin. In the old days they would have an entire section of the toy aisle set up as a complete display of everything and then have a mid-aisle feature. Now its like they are embarrassed to even show them. It's like they went straight to the clearance bin when they came in.

If Hasbdo wanted it to be connected to G4 to make writing easier, I would’ve wanted a backstory series on Celestia and Luna. Since something I personally didn’t like about G4 is how they were these all powerful characters but always seemed so weak in comparison to villains and even Twilight. That way it’s easy to make it since die hard fans already would love it and newer fans would be introduced to a “new” series while not being confused on certain characters since Celestia and Luna were already side characters in the G4 show.

For me I was excited for G5 the movie was amazing but it made no sense, and the make your mark short film thing I skipped through some of it because I was bored of it and I haven’t completely watched all of MLPFIM I still have to watch season 9. Plus that Alicorn villain design looks like an outfit I would wear but my mom and auntie wouldn’t let me one foot out of the house in it