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Post by acehoneycomb on Apr 19, 2016 9:56:33 GMT -5
I was however annoyed by the Dragon Lord's CONSTANT repetition of 'big and strong'. Seriously, writers, could you not come up for a synonym to that phrase? It's not as irritating as Starlight Glimmer constantly referring to Sunburst as a 'big important wizard', but it still raises my ire. Otherwise, you are right, 'Gauntlet of Fire' was a minor improvement over the previous episodes, despite being the most clichéd and predictable episode of the entire show (even more so than the other recent episodes).
Although obviously M.A Larson and Amy Keating Rogers leaving and Meghan McCarthy leaving to work on the movie (which I pray will be good) was a big factor in the show's descent into predictability (although Jayson Thiessen ceasing involvement in the show to also work on the movie was also a problem) even the old crew weren't incapable of producing bad episodes. 'Tanks for the Memories' and 'Appleloosa's Most Wanted' were both bad episodes, yet both were written by members of the original writing staff (Cindy Morrow and Dave Polsky). Also, it's not as if 'The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000' and 'A Friend in Deed' (asides from the Smile Song) were great episodes, despite being written by Larson and Rogers (McCarthy was unable to avoid this too, she had involvement in the lame and boring Power Ponies).
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Post by acehoneycomb on Apr 17, 2016 1:44:28 GMT -5
We can chalk this predictability up to Josh Haber being the season's story editor. While he didn't essentially participate in the main writing process for all the new episodes so far, he DOES write the basic outlines for each episode. Considering predictability is one of his most crippling flaws, I'm personally not surprised how clichéd the new episodes have turned out to be. While I found season 5 disappointing, at least there were some standout episodes like Amending Fences and The Mane Attraction, whilst all the new episodes can be easily summed up in terms of quality as being functional, but greatly lacking in originality. Asides from 'Gift of the Maud Pie' (which I didn't watch because it sounded dull and because I'm not really a big fan of Maud) all the new episodes seem to sit on the same level of quality/enjoyment, that 'eh, it's okay' level.
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Helloo
Apr 3, 2016 15:51:29 GMT -5
Post by acehoneycomb on Apr 3, 2016 15:51:29 GMT -5
Glad to see you hanging around, Bobdude! Yeah, I understand what you mean about G1 feeling all around 'nostalgic'. Even as someone who was not alive during the 1980's, the G1 cartoon is, as TV Tropes has mentioned before, a very '80's show. The voices, writing, character designs (such as Sting in 'The End of Flutter Valley' and the Rooties/Ruties in 'Bright Lights), the animation style and the overall aesthetic make even myself feel nostalgic for such a ghostly, lost time period.
Tales is a similar breed of 'nostalgic'. Similar to the G1 cartoon, Tales is a wholeheartedly unapologetic product of its time and I fully appreciate it for just that. Stating it straight, the show made the 90's look cool (at least that was my impression upon first viewing it way back in 2012). The aesthetic, some of the clothing (Bright Eyes and Lancer's wild attire in 'Roll Around the Clock' is a complete riot), the voice acting, Teddy's hairdo (and his sunglasses), many of the plotlines (typical 90's stuff made magical by that distinctive Tales charm), some of the 90's slang that occasionally crops up and the background score (I point especially to the rock music heard during the rollerskating competition in the aforementioned episode (I like to call it the 'action/adrenaline music judging by the occasions in which it is played) and most of the score of 'And the Winner Is...' (I may have already voiced my opinions on the score, but I also appreciate the score heard at the end of 'The Choice' for having that 90's rock twang to it)).
So, overall, both shows are ones I appreciate for being time capsules to lost eras, and a reminder that it is not just the contemporary and present-day we must embrace, but the past (and the future) as well. This seems to be the problem with a sizeable quantity of bronies, who automatically label everything before FiM as 'dated' and 'girly' rather than making any variety of attempt to appreciate what came before on its own terms and as what it is rather than how it measures in quality against FiM. Comparing G1, Tales, G3 and FiM is similar to comparing vanilla ice cream to chocolate, and strawberry ice cream to pistachio. Each has its own set of personal strengths and weaknesses, and it's only natural to find one (or two) more enjoyable than the other(s).
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Post by acehoneycomb on Apr 3, 2016 15:27:12 GMT -5
Having thought about it, the broken Aesop featured in 'The Ticket Master' was really just a cheap ploy to get the Mane Six to the Gala so Hasbro could market merchandise based on the event and the first season of FiM could have a suitable story arc/conclusion. Tales wasn't heaped with this responsibility (there was no merchandise produced by Hasbro involving the Cleveland Bays in any form, and the show was more episodic in nature than FiM) so they were allowed to present a more realistic moral.
As for my opinions on 'And the Winner Is...' I'm pretty unsure as to how I should rate the episode. It's not the best in terms of quality, but I'm a sucker for the musical score (featuring one-off background music such as the rock guitar music heard during the scene in the ice cream shop and the score heard during the scene involving Clover and Sweetheart on the seesaw). 'The Ticket Master' featured a broken moral, some pretty bad dialogue, and moderately unlikeable characterizations for the Mane Six (excluding Twilight, obviously), but I do find the chase scene with Twilight and Spike enjoyable (mainly due to its cartoonish humor, something I feel that FiM has been sorely lacking in as of late).
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Helloo
Mar 10, 2016 2:33:39 GMT -5
Post by acehoneycomb on Mar 10, 2016 2:33:39 GMT -5
Another new member! Nice! You'll mostly see me, Starswirl and Yoshi around me (the place has been pretty quiet since Notes left) but Bobdude does show up occasionally. So you're a fan of G1 in addition to Tales judging by your avatar? Pretty neat, because I am similar in that regard.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Feb 15, 2016 16:07:44 GMT -5
I'm hopeful that the sixth season will be decent. Season 4 was pretty meh, and Season 5 was flat-out disappointing, but hopefully the impending sixth season will take a break from all the really obvious fanservice and perhaps actually deliver a good, heartfelt episode every once in a while (lookin' at you, Amending Fences, now THAT was a great episode).
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Post by acehoneycomb on Feb 13, 2016 1:45:53 GMT -5
You probably mean seasons 4-5 of the show. The first three seasons didn't have much in the way of fanservice, except the Derpy shots. It seems that by this point all the show wants to do is pander to the bronies by throwing in as many references and fanservice as possible, resulting in episodes like the Luna episode which didn't care how it handled the message of self-harm so long as it could throw a ton of brony fanservice in our faces.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Jan 31, 2016 3:05:06 GMT -5
Yeah, the Breezies somehow turned from cute insect ponies to... Some really creepy mutants. Furthermore, they were only one-shots that didn't really need to be resurrected from G3. I guess it was for familiarity? Considering how much fanservice FiM tends to throw in these days (for example, the Luna episode was basically only created as a fanservice farce), I'm kinda surprised that character names from the much-hated G3 were thrown in.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Jan 30, 2016 12:14:37 GMT -5
I assure you that pretty much everyone is a fan of the song, to the point where bronies attempt to insert them into the FiM canon for some weird, unknown reason.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Jan 30, 2016 9:54:03 GMT -5
Yeah, they're good, obviously not as good as Tales, but definitely better than seasons 3-5 of FiM. Although they do suffer from poor animation and weak characterizations (although there are exceptions to these rules) they still have great stories and are classics. Besides, they're the genesis for MLP media, without G1, we wouldn't have Tales, now would we?
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Post by acehoneycomb on Nov 24, 2015 3:08:55 GMT -5
I agree that the moral wasn't handled in the best way, but it didn't ruin the episode for me (although the episode itself was mediocre, personally).
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Post by acehoneycomb on Nov 23, 2015 3:11:52 GMT -5
I agree that 'The Ticket Master' could have functioned as an 11-minute episode. However, there are some episodes, such as keep Calm and Flutter On and Magical Mystery Cure that were already rushed as 22-minute episodes. G1 had 11-minute episodes, as did Tales, but most episode were divided into 'parts', for example, the Return of Tambelon appears to be a 40-minute episode, yet it's actually 4 10-minute episode edited together to form a story arc.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Nov 23, 2015 3:05:03 GMT -5
Teddy is a mixed bag for me. Agreed with you on the Ace point, Yoshi, Happy Birthday Sweetheart and Blue Ribbon Blues feature prime examples of Teddy at his worst. Although his relationship with Sweetheart is cute, I'm not sure why it always had to be the focus of a Sweetheart episode, shame she never got a solo episode (although I guess Gribet came close). I've heard that there's a comic where Teddy befriends a French foreign exchange student and is revealed to actually be very shy, also possibly sensitive, which seems justifiable given that his worst behavior occurs when he's angry/offended. Unfortunately, Teddy does really suffer appearing in some bad episodes. Sweetheart/Teddy episodes usually are the worst of the series (the only 'bad' episode that's not a Teddy episode for me is probably Just for Kicks, which I see as a guilty pleasure). However, Teddy himself is an interesting character. I just wish that the show did more with him besides reveal his softer side (think of a Teddy episode, or any episode featuring Teddy for that matter, that doesn't do this to an extent). What other secrets does he hide?
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Post by acehoneycomb on Nov 16, 2015 3:00:16 GMT -5
G3, out of all the generations, is definitely the most misunderstood. People like FiM because it's 'awesome' and since G3 isn't, they immediately diss it. Media can be great in different ways; G3 is not awesome, as bronies claim G4 to be, but is more like eating candy. It's sweet and notable, but often misunderstood by a large number of people. I tried to rectify the G3 hatred by creating some reviews of the early specials and some of the movies (up to the 'Princess Promenade', I never finished that) on the MLP Arena last year, but it was extremely difficult to write reviews for movies such as 'The Princess Promenade' and so gave up. I might be able to finish them someday, though.
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Post by acehoneycomb on Nov 16, 2015 2:55:23 GMT -5
About 19 months actually, from March 1993 to October 1994. The show itself only lasted five or six months, in comparison. For references, G1 actually ended in 1995, basically it slowly petered out as time went onwards, until the brand was exclusive to the Netherlands.
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