It's different because they hinted at something huge in the premier, something they didn't do in the other two seasons. Then the rest of the episodes kind of just forgot all that destiny stuff ever happened. They hyped it up so big then it was just like, "welp, generic filler episodes until we give them the finale."
My only hope for s4 is that they stop all the pandering. Subtle things are fine, or something more overt every now and again...but s3 has had fanon in like every other episode. You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Trying to appease the bronies has not really done the show any favors. And I still don't really see where you're coming from on that point Poetic, that's pretty much been the same formula they've always used. Hinting at something gives something to anticipate, but doesn't really necessitate a change in formula. And in this season we only have to wait half as long for what they hinted at to come to fruition.
The reason the episodes feel different is because Lauren isn't helping at all apparently. She posted on her twitter that she helped a bit in season 2 but did nothing in season 3. I think season 3 is actually pretty beast (ignoring the spike episodes).
Lauren actually left the show entirely about halfway through s2, and even in s2 she had MWGG and SBFF (sp?) that she was working on, so I doubt she had much to do with s2 anyway.
I still think the show is awesome /great my opinion has not changed since the day I first watched it on July 09, 2011.
Doesn't seem that way when I re-watch S1 eps and compare them to recent ones. :I I guess you could still say I'm "accustomed" to the old seasons, but I've only watched every episode one time, aside from a few favorites, making me appreciate the older ones much more. Though it's pretty standard that this happens across most cartoon series. I'll keep watching MLP of course, but they need to stop trying to please us so haphazardly and forcibly. The amount of fan-service in this season has started to make me feel a bit ill...
People are making far to big a deal out of this Alicorn Twilight thing, umhum people this may suprise you but... TWILIGHT ISN'T THE ONLY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW!!! Even if her origional overlapping story-arc is coming to an end and a new one is starting, we still have ALOT of stuff to work with. Rainbow Dash just started her wonder bolts Training and took scootaloo under her wing, so theres lots of expansion to be had there. Spike could still do with alot of character development, we still have yet to truly learn what kind of Dragon he is. And then theres the Crusaders that are always learning & growing, not to mention we still have yet to meet Babs CMC Branch in Mane-Hatten. So yeah, i'm still gonna watch, why, cause I could care less about Twilight, yeah she's being made into nothing but a plot device mary sue even more so then she was, but SO WHAT, we still have ALOT of fun characters to work with and to develop, and a vast world to explore & expand. Also again I personally watch the show for the Crusaders moreso at the point then anything else, so as long s Twilicorn doesn't hog ALL of season 4 and we can still get some fun Crusaders, AJ, Dash, & Spike eps, i'm good!
Well considering Bronies pump out at least a dozen or so fanfics an hour, its no surprise, NOTHING the writers do from now on will be free of that feel because you dang bronies went and wrote fan-fics for everything already, you really have no one to blame but yourselves you know.
Lauren Faust hasn't been in charge since season 1 ended, and she hasn't worked on the show at all since season 2 ended. Funny, the day I first watched it was August 9, 2011 (give or take). Funny, it was just one month difference.
As I stated in the first sentence of my post... I was wrapping up with the original thought and an addition to a possible unspoken reason why she left. She may have been butting heads with the bigwigs at Hasbro.
Honestly, I have to agree with you. We really have no idea what season 4 will be like at this point. For all we know, season four could be a great fresh start with lots of new material. Overall the episodes have still been pretty enjoyable, and though there are some things that I wasn't very fond of (like discord's return) I still don't think that its been that bad. As for the whole Alicorn Twilight thing, everyone really needs to relax. We knew that this was coming. We have been seeing Alicorn Twilight merchandise pop up for weeks now. This shouldn't be a huge surprise.
I'm just going to put this out there. People who are complaining that they are pandering us are really annoying me. We have been basically begging for the return of Discord and Trixie, we prayed for a Scootaloo episode, we could only dream of seeing Peewee again and of course who didn't want to see Luna make a return. And guess what? They gave all of that to us and you are upset about it? For anyone who thinks that them giving us what we want is bad, would you kindly explain yourself, I am actually curious as to why you think this way.
Yeah the pandering thing has pretty much become a joke, the writers don't pander to anyone but themselves and Hasbro. And maybe actual Pandas, as I have heard Panda's make up most of the shows Chinese fanbase XD. But yeah back on topic, Lots of Anime & cartoons mix things up as they go on, doesn't always mean its a bad thing. I mean think of it this way, Pony is going out of its Dragon Ball Days, and into its DBZ days, which is by no means a bad thing. Now if it does another big change come season six and becomes a Dragon Ball GT, then, then we can panic! XD But yeah again I'm not a huge Twilight fan as is atm, so who knows, this might make Twilights season 4 episodes interesting. And again as long as we still get some fun AJ, RD & Crusaders eps, i'm all good.
Let's not make a generalization. I for one would like as least amount of fan-attention as possible....though I understand both reasons why people are as annoyed with the complaining, as why there is complaining to begin with. Regardless, in my opinion, the fan-attention was poorly carried out, and the show's purpose turned a bit sour... which is adequate enough to cause the complaints we're seeing here. Though I don't really call them "complaints". Concern is perhaps a better term.
This. I've always wanted the show to do its own thing, with maybe a subtle nod to the fans or fanon reference used very sparingly. Instead, they're giving people exactly what they want, which feels as if they just shoved it into the season in order to get us to shut up. Poetic explained it best a page or two back, with Applejack's song being, in my opinion, one of the worst examples of this. Or just the fact that Applejack has almost become the main character with as much show time as she's received, since people have been complaining for the last two seasons that there wasn't enough AJ. A little quote from Bruce Almighty pretty much sums up my thoughts on pandering. Bruce: "There were so many. I just gave them all what they want." God: "Yeah. But since when does anyone have a clue about what they want?"
It's never a good idea to pander to fans unless the program is getting horrible ratings. After all, if the show really needed all these changes in order to make their fans like it, they wouldn't have all these fans in the first place.
OT: I think that me and my friend Josh were and still are one of the few people who actually enjoyed Dragon Ball GT back in in the day and still enjoy it even now.
Same here, and I think it's messed up to use GT as an analogue just for the sake of arguing about this being a terrible change, because it's just presumptuous and rude to assume that everyone agrees that GT was awful, when in fact some people genuinely enjoyed/enjoy GT.
Well, there are fewer slice-of-life episodes and the jokes are more deliberately memey and socially-aware now. Aside from that, though, I don't see how the show has changed significantly. Unless the change in the humor I spoke of is just a big deal for you. Don't get me wrong, I love Season One and appreciate Faust's contributions to this show. I just... don't quite understand the level of fan worship she gets. I actually think it's a good thing that she's gone on to other things (has anybody picked up that Galaxy Girls thing she's so passionate about yet?). To be frank, I've only grown to enjoy the show more as her influence has waned, and I think several of the show's best episodes have had little or none of her input.
